Mark means well, but sometimes his efforts at complimenting me go a little awry, such as this morning when he commented that he’d written a lot of nice stuff about me in his diary. ‘Oo, read it out!’ I said – so he did, and -well, most of it was great; stuff like how good it was to be with me, what an awesome person I am, how happy he is, etc: but in a long list of my amazing qualities he noted my ‘chubby cheeks, facial hair and massive boobs.’
Mmm… thanks, darling…
Moving swiftly on, let us consider today’s question: who is actually running things? Who is in charge here? The people of Scotland are about to get a vote on their future, ostensibly so that they can have more control over their own country. I’ve got a lot of sympathy with this: Scotland is a nation with a long history and on the whole if the majority of people there want independence, I think they should have it. Of course this has implications for the UK as a whole, for the role of the Queen, for Scotland’s role in Europe, and so on – but it is a question to be decided by the people of Scotland. After all, that’s what democracy is about, isn’t it? The voice of the majority decides what happens. That’s what we all believe in, isn’t it? Even Winston Churchill who, god knows, was a long way from me politically, had this to say about it: ‘Democracy is the worst system – apart from all the rest.’
Actually I have paraphrased a little: here’s the original quote –
http://wais.stanford.edu/Democracy/democracy_DemocracyAndChurchill(090503).html
Yes, the people of Scotland will decide. But here’s the rub: today Standard Life, a big employer and investor in the country, have weighed in with the comment that they will leave and go to England if Scotland votes for independence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26362321
To be honest I find this outrageous on several levels; but mainly because a financial institution with vested interests should not be publicly trying to influence a democratic vote. The principle of democracy is one person, one vote – but this is being skewed by corporations and their vested interests. I worry very deeply about where we are going with this. I worry that the people in charge are not the government we voted for but the multinationals behind the scenes. I worry that if we privatise many more of our institutions there will be no-one and nothing left whom we can trust. The Royal Mail has gone, the NHS is being parcelled up – how much longer before your MP, like the speaking clock, is sponsored by Accurist? Or McDonald’s?
Vote for your McP, anyone?
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 