Sunday 18 October 2015

Quote of the day - on the curse of left-wing nationalism

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The summation of what left-wing nationalism looks like.

Ironically, the Scottish government’s underperformance rests precisely on the formula that makes it dominant. Special-interest groups are indulged, populist spending protected, services left unreformed for fear of making enemies, tabloid-friendly changes embraced and an “other” (the English, represented by Westminster) fingered for every failure or disappointment. The SNP’s soft autocracy in Scotland is the thread holding together the party’s distinctive tartan of universal handouts, leftist posturing, melodramatic flag-waving and structural conservatism. It amounts to a style of government that is more akin to Argentina’s Peronists than to the reformist Scandinavian social democrats to whom SNP politicians flatteringly compare themselves.

The difficulty is that it's hard to respond - we're most of us patriots and want the very best for our nations. And the nationalists know this so respond to criticism with cries of that most heinous of crimes - not caring about our country.

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