Tomorrow (when you are probably reading this) ought to be a public holiday in lieu of today, and away with pointless celebrations of the mere fact that the banks are on holiday.
Saint David’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day and Saint George’s Day are all in the spring, these islands’ best season. And having a public holiday on Saint Andrew’s Day would serve the same function as Thanksgiving does in the United States: it would just be bad form, and simply not done, to display anything to do with Christmas until this preceding festival was out of the way. Happily, the day after Saint Andrew’s Day is the First of December.
Wales is a happy and even hallowed land. Seventy-four per cent of those who could have voted for devolution there declined to do so. Ex-Labour Independents and small parties have lately captured many council seats, captured and retained the erstwhile Commons seat of Aneurin Bevan and Michael Foot, and captured and retained the corresponding seat at Cardiff, all on programmes as far from the economic sectarian Leftism that New Labour used to profess as from the social and cultural sectarian Leftism that New Labour now professes. Where that Commons seat was concerned, the favourite New Labour device of the all-women shortlist took a hell of a kicking.
A lesson to us all…
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I love the new democratic thinking "could have voted". Its a bit like the Referendum on the Good Friday Agreement.
ReplyDeleteBy general agreement it is estimated that about 94% of the Nationalist population voted yes. Hardly surprising as thats in line with the vote in the Republic of Ireland.
The same CAIN website (actually the alter ego of QUBs Politics School) estimates that unionists voted about 55% for the GFA.
The DUP cry foul as so many of these "unionists" were "Garden Centre Unionists" the sort of people in Lagan Valley, Strangford and North Down who would much rather spend a day looking at bedding plants in B & Q than actually voting in an election (natural abstainers).
The DUP believed these occasional voters who lacked committment were given too much weight.
Oh, no one pretends that devolution is terribly popular in Wales, where fully half the eligible electorate couldn't be bothered to vote at all, and half of the rest voted No. If it had been held on the same day as the Scottish one, rather than a week later, there would have been a No vote.
ReplyDeleteNew Labour has lost Wales, a fact with a chicken-and-egg relationship to that of Old Labour's regrouping there.
Natural abstainers? In Northern Ireland?
Im afraid due to our high levels of temperance, many including myself are indeed "abstainers".
ReplyDeleteOne of our greatest leaders reguarly denounces the Devils Buttermilk. One of the few things I have in common with Dr Paisley