Let's be honest: the election campaign is over in Scotland as at least five percent of the adult, male population are currently in Germany watching the football. Even when Scotland go out of the tournament the fans are not going to scamper back home to vote next month; they will stay in Germany and engage in Scotland's main pastime which is bevvying.
The bulk of the population who are not in Germany seem to be jammed into bars, watching the team on giant televisions. My eldest son went to watch Scotland's opening match against Germany and was unable to form a coherent sentence the next day which he spent in bed. Like all my sons he is an Anglo-Mexican, but if you like football and bevvy then Scotland welcomes you into her arms.
To be fair, the election is less important in Scotland than it is in England, as the majority of the issues that concern us on a day to day basis are decided in Holyrood and not Westminster. London is responsible for my pension, but both main parties have accepted that the triple-lock will apply for the duration of the next parliament. Sure, they could renege on that, but unless that happens, the pledge stands. Apart from my pension, it is pretty much Holyrood all the way as far as I can see.
Holyrood is not the "wee pretendy parliament" that Billy Connolly mocked back in 1999. It is now a very powerful institution that is 100% responsible for the health service, tax rates, local government and a big chunk of benefits. As a disabled man I used to get Personal Independence Payment from London, now I get Adult Disability Payment from Edinburgh. The Tories have threatened to replace PIP with a voucher system, but that does not matter to me as I get ADP.
Of course, I would like to see the Tories defeated, but a Tory victory would not bother me very much. There is not much that they can do to me in Scotland unless Holyrood allows it.
No comments:
Post a Comment