Brian Nugent must be a believer in E B White’s quote: “Trust me, Wilbur. People are very gullible. They’ll believe anything they see in print.”
He makes the same mistakes he made during the independence campaign; he thinks we are all stupid.
Now some simple maths to show the truth of his assertions in last week’s Sounding off. Shetland SNP membership up 300 per cent? This actually equates out as from a total Shetland electorate of 18,000 we have a total SNP membership of around 300, which then makes SNP membership in Shetland a mere 1.6 per cent of the total electorate.
There were 5,669 yes votes in Shetland, a mere five per cent of which now make up the SNP membership.
Out of the 4.5 million voters in Scotland a mere 2.06 per cent are SNP members, so hardly the huge jump or rocketing membership Brian claims.
The SNP membership is obviously made up of the 37 per cent of Scotland’s electorate who voted yes, so Brian’s assertions are poppycock. All that has happened is a few yes voters have joined the SNP, leaving the no voters where they have always been, in the majority.
Brian also concocts a lament of dissatisfactions with the wide spectrum of new powers being given to Scotland. It is important to remember that these powers were promised not to those who voted yes but to those who voted for the union.
It was those whose loyalty to the idea of union remained, who won those very substantial extensions to Scotland’s ability to manage its own affairs.
The new powers were given to make Scotland stronger as part of the union, not to enable its disconnection from it.
In other words Brian, just to rub it in, as the old Greek saying goes, “to the winner go the spoils”, not to the loser go the spoils.
Just to put Brian right on another point: for two years those who were always going to vote no led in the numerous polls which were regularly conducted. Then, shock horror, a rogue poll indicated a lead for the yes camp shortly before decision day.
The talking shops went into overdrive as the YeSNP side attempted to profit from this poll and the no side worked to correct this apparent gain.
The YeSNP lost their attempt to split the UK in two. In essence, those who were always going to vote no did so, then in accordance with the predicted polling results over two years, went on and won the referendum as expected, to keep Scotland in the union and remain in the United Kingdom.
Therefore Brian, as the loser you should accept the result of the majority. Brian and the YeSNP are the vocal minority still out there, shouting about independence because they did not get what they wanted.
Unless I am mistaken, they wanted independence, not extra powers within the union. If that is what they wanted, then they must be the ones who changed their vote, yet funnily enough they are the same people who proclaim they voted yes.
They are entitled to nothing, except constant reminders that the democratic wish of the Scottish people is to stay with the union.
Gordon Harmer
Bayswater,
Brae.
