Dear All
Bad taste in certain circumstances can be a
lot of fun, however in politics, there are limits.
Margaret Thatcher is dead, and I can’t say
that while she was in office I was in anyway a fan.
Poll Tax!
The Poll Tax was a disastrous policy for
the Conservative Party.
Leaving that aside and other policies which
I wasn’t happy about, she is dead and as such she and her family despite
political differences deserve common decency and respect.
Much is said in Scotland by the SNP and independence
supporters of ‘Scottish Values’, as if Scottish Values of decency are much more
higher than English ones.
That concept has flown out the window by the
Greens in the Scottish Parliament opting to hold a debate on Margaret Thatcher
on the day of her funeral.
It is as Tory Chief Whip John Lamont says “crass
and distasteful.”
I have to say I thought better of Patrick
Harvie.
Holyrood is ridiculed by many as being
second best to Westminster.
If anything this shows how bad it actually
is.
The Scottish Conservatives are to stage a
last-ditch effort to get a Holyrood debate on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher
postponed until after her funeral.
Whether commonsense and good taste will
prevail is debatable, but if I was in parliament, I would advise entire
Scottish Tories to boycott the event.
If people wish to debase themselves, I
wouldn’t provide them with an audience.
In Westminster, for the most part members
conducted themselves in a dignified fashion, you expect this, the tone was
right, because everyone should remember, Margaret Thatcher has family.
Tory MSP John Lamont has said he will go
into tomorrow morning’s business bureau meeting, at which Holyrood’s schedule
is decided, to demand it is moved.
Lamont says his party has no problem regarding
debating the topic itself, “no such thing as society.”
On that issue, Margaret Thatcher is wrong,
there is such a thing as society, I see along with others every day.
There are countless acts done by others for
the benefit of those in need and all without thought.
In my youth, I used to do voluntary
teaching for free; actually it cost me to teach as I never got expenses.
In a small way I was doing my bit.
And this is similar to what people right across
the country are doing whether it is the Muslim and Christian Communities
handing out food to the needy or people volunteering to help run the local kids
Football Team.
Society does exist.
Lamont added:
“Staging such a debate as Baroness Thatcher
is being laid to rest is tasteless and hugely offensive but that is exactly
what the Green Party wants. It’s no surprise to see some members of Labour and
the SNP gleefully joining in with this stunt.”
In the independence debate by the SNP and Greens
much is made as I already mentioned about Scottish Values, and the tag of ‘we
can made our country anything we want it to be’.
And who can forget Blair Jenkins of Better
Together being so vocal about keeping the independence debate ‘clean’.
Is this clean?
I find it pretty disgusting, as I say I am
no fan of Thatcher.
Apparently the final decision will be with
the SNP minister for parliamentary business, Joe Fitzpatrick, who represents
his party at business bureau meetings.
Because Parliament schedules are decided on
a vote reflecting the number of MSPs for each party and as the SNP has a
majority, it in effect has the final say.
A spokesman for Mr Fitzpatrick said:
“It is entirely for opposition groups to
determine how they use their allocated parliamentary time. If the Green Party
wish to move their business to another day, we would be happy to facilitate
that.”
If that is a hint to Patrick Harvie and
Greens, they should take the opportunity to grab the lifeline.
In the final analysis, it comes down to
decency, Margaret Thatcher’s family deserve to be treated with respect just in
the same way as any other family who has lost a love one.
I hope Patrick Harvie and the Greens will
do the right thing and pull this, it is “crass and distasteful” and there is no
need to compound it by going ahead and leaving people in no doubt of that.
Defending his party’s decision to press for
the debate on the day of her funeral, Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie
insisted MSPs were entitled to hold an “open debate”.
He said:
“Margaret Thatcher has died, but the
tragedy for huge numbers of people is that Thatcherism as an ideology still
lives. We aim to encourage honest consideration of the legacy of Thatcherism,
the core elements of which competition and selfishness continue to affect our
society and our economy. Despite her efforts to undermine Scotland’s shared
values and public services, it is important to assert that our society still
exists. By encouraging an open debate I hope we’ll see a bit less of the tribal
politics Holyrood has suffered of late.”
Is that an excuse for exhibiting such
dreadfully bad taste?
If it can moved it should be moved.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
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