SNP’s distorted world view; Everything revolves round the SNP, everything revolves around the leader, in a political party that doesn’t work well with others, it isn’t a surprise that the Citizens Assembly was doomed to failure, the SNP aren’t open, balanced, transparent, and inclusive, and they don’t want ideas unless they are seen as the instigator which is why Scotland is held back, they don’t have vision

Dear All

If you think back to what I and others have said about the SNP, it is a cult, a party within a party made up primarily of 4 sub groups, Sein Fein lite, LGBT, Muslims and the rich. All headed and fronted by someone who uses the cult of personality as their instrument to exercise total control.

If you are not a member of the cult, you are not a member of the cult, that doesn’t mean you can interact with them, but you are seen as someone to ‘used’, whether that be as a foot soldier or an outsider who supports a cult idea. The SNP don’t work well or play well with others, they don’t build bridges; they use and attempt to subjugate people into groups.

The old saying of ‘divide and rule’ applies!

The problem with the Citizen Assembly is that the SNP couldn’t allow the body to be a non-partisan assembly of ordinary Scottish citizens because if you discuss problems, you by default have to talk about who caused the problems. As the SNP has been the devolved government in Scotland for over a decade; the injustices, whether it be health, education or social come right back to their door. When I was an SNP member, I saw close up how they operated when it came to responsibility, the ‘leaders’ would foster their work onto someone else.

This is why the SNP is and always will remain a party of protest and not of government, the day job comes last. Government maybe their meal ticket in terms of perks and money but it is a bother, a part-time exercise, something to be done as quickly as possible. Then they can ‘party’, network and get their ‘selfies’ while standing up for various aspects of identity politics, while they engineer their place as a defender of rights.

The truth is that they in practice aren’t defender of rights but rather a sinister crowd who practice oppression using the resources and funding of the State. If you are a charity, you have to bow to the SNP or see your funding cut or dry up….. as if by magic.

The fate of the proposed Citizens Assembly is now in doubt, there is no cross party support as the Conservatives and Lib Dems are out for boycotting it. The Assembly is seen as a propaganda unit for a second Scottish independence referendum after SNP MP Joanna Cherry opened her big gub to vent. In some respects, the Citizen Assembly is much like the SNP’s National Assembly which I attended on 4^th September 2010 in Perth, round table discussions to look at policy ideas.

I pushed for Police Scotland and a national Fire Service, but my main focus was Police Scotland at that meeting, with my trusty ham sandwiches and cans of pepsi, I set off for Perth. As the SNP don’t work well with others, and also as they don’t do the ‘day job’, is it a surprise that the SNP made a mess of the planned Citizens Assembly?

I would say; not a surprise but par for the course.

The SNP really at the heart of the cult, don’t want ordinary people gathering information on the biggest issues facing the nation. They don’t want information that would then be used to guide both parliament and the people on the best way forward unless they are the instigator of the ideas. They have to be centre stage, they have to take all the credit and they are so insecure that only they can hold the limelight.  These traits exhibit should in some respect explain the lack of quality legislation which comes out of the Scottish Parliament and Government.

Holyrood is 20 years old, but the institution is a failure, in terms of vision, output and leadership. There is no going forward together as a nation under the SNP, there is an ‘us or them’ mentality which haunts everything they do.

In late February, I laughed as SNP MP Joanna Cherry wrote in favour of CAs. She said that “Citizens Assemblies could be used to great effect as Scotland moves towards its second independence referendum”, and that “Citizens Assemblies would have a transformative potential in the independence debate”.

Her cat out of the bag comments completely destroyed the credibility of the Citizens Assembly and damaged the reputation of former Labour MEP David Martin because she created a stigma about it. David Martin has since attempted to defend the idea but the idea is now damaged beyond repair. Anything that it produces will be seen through the prism of it being an SNP idea.

Does anyone seriously believe the assembly will be independent of government?

That it will be open, balanced, transparent, and inclusive?

Naw to the first and naw to the second, especially when you think back that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon unveiled her plans for an assembly while revealing her intention to pursue a second independence referendum before 2021.

No referendum before 2021, just like there will be no Westminster General Election before 2022, well anyone with any sense in this country won’t be wanting to go to the polls early while there is such flux in politics at the UK level.

Brexit is the on;y political game in town, it dominates all political thinking in the UK.

If I was in the business of offering advice to co-convener of the assembly, former Labour MEP David Martin, it would be to bail out, and that same advice would also apply to Dr Oliver Escobar, the Scottish Government’s adviser.

You don’t sell’ damaged goods’ as ‘new’ when you know that everyone knows it is damaged.  The main and underlining problem is that no matter how hard David Martin and others try, the damage is done and the assembly is utterly tarnished in some people’s eyes as another wing of the SNP.

Just like Yes Scotland!

I wrote about Yes Scotland as ‘run by the SNP, staffed by the SNP for the benefit of the SNP’ back in the day. Then like now, the SNP fronted that organization with another former Labour politician, how things don’t change in the SNP mindset. The SNP don’t have ideas, they just rehash and repackage the same ones under different packaging, fronted by different people but the goal is always the same, allowing them to control power either directly or indirectly.

Finally, you should read up on the cult of personality, then you will understand the SNP better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality

Then look at the tenure of Salmond and that of Sturgeon, now what do you see? Do you see people who are open, balanced, transparent, and inclusive?

Of course you don’t!

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University