First let’s look at this chart.
That’s Scotland’s fiscal position relative to that of the UK according to the latest IFS projections. It’s not a particularly bonny position though, of course, it is only a projection. Nevertheless, the picture is quite clear: fiscally-speaking Scotland gets a pretty good deal from the UK. An above-average contributor? Sure. But also, importantly, an above-average recipient. Scotland contributes (thanks to oil) like a tiny-London but receives like a mini-Northern Ireland. Nowhere else is like this.
Now have a keek at this:
Stephen Noon, you will recall, was one of the architects of the Yes Scotland campaign and someone, I hope he will not mind me saying, generally considered one of the sharper SNP blades.
Taken together these two tweets demonstrate why so many people find arguing with the Nats such an exhausting business. Because, you see, it ends up like this:
Jack: Look, these IFS numbers are pretty grim, aren’t they?
Nat: Not really. They’re irrelevant. And wrong. Stop counting Scotland out.
Jack: I wish you wouldn’t talk like that. These are Scottish government figures, you know.
Nat: OK, let’s suppose, for the sake of argument, these figures are right. You know what that proves? It proves I’m right and you’re wrong.
Jack: What?
Nat: We need to do things differently. Your own figures prove it.
Jack: I thought you said the numbers are irrelevant?
Nat: They are.
Jack: Even when they’re right?
Nat: Especially then. Because now is only a moment and the next moment will be different. Don’t you see that your own numbers condemn your constitutional preferences?
Jack: They’re not my numbers.
Nat: But you love them all the same.
Jack: What?
Nat: Why else do you give a little cheer when numbers like these are published? Why else do you obsess over them?
Jack: Because they make clear the manner in which you live in a fantasy reality of your own creation.
Nat: See, there you go again. Talking Scotland down. Let’s aspire to something better than that. If the numbers are right they prove my point and if they’re wrong they prove it too. Now, shall we talk about Foucault?
This is what I mean when I say the SNP can squirrel just about any proposition and make it seem as though the only sensible answer is independence. Numbers are only numbers and facts are changeable; good news proves Scotland can do it, bad news demonstrates she must do it. Life is an each-way bet, old chum.
Add a slogan, indeed a worldview, that fits on a badge or bumper-sticker – We stand for Scotland – and you have a party that’s ideally-placed to thrive whether the question at hand turns on questions of identity or economic insecurity. Tongs, ya bass.
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