Reflections - An interview with SPVR

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Going round in circles

Today is the first day of some significant moves to lift aspects of lockdown. I have certainly seen a wee bit more in the way of visitors coming to our area. But as we were never overrun with visitors in the immediate area within which I walk, I can't separate the summer increase from other factors. South of the border there seems a curious reluctance to lead with some changes. When the President of the United States has appeared in public wearing a face mask, it is hardly radical to require us to protect others by covering our mouth and nose. Making it the law to wear a mask in shops removes ambiguity and creates simplicity. I carry my mask at all times and yesterday found an unexpected benefit to doing so. On my walks, if someone engages me in conversation and there is no physical barrier that will naturally keep us well apart, on goes the mask. For example, I had a bonny conversation a couple of days ago over a low wall with someone who has had to shield. We had some commo...

Unfinished ...

Yesterday was a hard day wrestling words. Or should that be wrangling? No; definitely wrestling. Because wrangling is defined as "engagement in a long, complicated dispute or argument." And that's scheduled for later today when I start my participation in the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Bill Stage 2 debates and the 55 amendments we have to dispose of between 0900 and 1400. The wrestling yesterday was trying to force words into a sensible structure for deploying in an argument. It took some time, five online meetings to be precise and a few off-the-field time-outs for tea, coffee and a couple of consultations with a dictionary. There's a rule of thumb about speechifying. Preparation takes ten times as long as delivery. And that's only about constructing the words into the right order for a decent wrangle. For some subjects, the acquisition of the background knowledge to enable you to find the right words is a lifetime's effort. I expect that I shall ...

Baron times

The latest list of peerages brings back to centre stage the question of what is democracy? And it's not just my political colleagues who are noticing the relevance of the question. Although the SNP have nailed their colours to the mast and have never put forward anyone for nomination. I confess to having brought forward a resolution to our national conference some years ago suggesting that we should do so. On the basis that we should be there to keep an eye on Scotland's interest in a body that had significant power over us. I cannot quite remember when I did this. May have been 2006. But our conference was very clear in its view. The proposition was heavily defeated. When the second story, it comes below that huge explosion in Beiruit, from the New York Times engages with the democracy question raised by the PM's list of new peers, you know that this is a matter which is further undermining the idea that Scotland is part of a democratic state. Here's what the ...

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