50 MSPs (Members of the Scottish Parliament) snubbed the Queen by not attending her address to the Scottish Parliament to recognise and celebrate 10 years of devolution. One of these wonderful characters, a Christine Grahame (Scottish Nationalist Party for Scotland South), stated she stayed away to work on email:
“I’m earning and working for my constituents far more than if I sit hypocritically in the chamber watching a monarch for an institution I do not support. – BBC News – MSP ’snubs’ Queen to read e-mails
What a wonderful thought, working so hard for you constituents. Do you do that all the time, or just when it plays into your media positioning hands?
So why does this make me angry? Easy, I’m British, I am three quarters English and a quarter Scottish (my father’s father was a Scot, everyone else was Sassenach). I grew up in England under the rule of the British Government, in the British Parliament, that ruled Great Britain. Through a series of dealings with that amazing visionary Tony Blair and his brilliant New Labour government, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all achieved devolution, and acquired their own parliaments, but somehow we failed to establish an English parliament.
Let me just repeat that, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are granted their own parliaments, housed in state funded buildings, and stocked full of time wasters MPs, aides, secretaries, mandarins, and all the other essential servants of governance, who have their saleries paid by the state. So my British taxes have gone to fund a tier of middle politician, not talented enough for the big national game, but playing competantly politely in their own league. I am sure regional government is required, and that is why we have county and district councils spread across the whole of Great Britain, so why do we need this extra layer of tax payer funded tomfoolery? and if it is so vital for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland how come it is not essential for England?
Overlooking this basic flaw in the plan, let us now look at this specific incident. The monarch of the kingdom of which your country is a part comes to congratulate you on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of your own devolved waste of money parliament. This monarch is both your Queen, and the figurehead of the larger government that funds your job, your parliament, and your email server.
Now I believe in an old Scottish idiom “He who pays the piper calls the tune” and so Ms Grahame, SNP Scotland South, I’d say your choice is simple; either step down and fund yourself completely independently with no assistance, salary, office, email, or monies provided by Holyrood and its evil Sassenach tax funding, or show up when you’re called to attend parliament.
For those who are wondering, the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood cost more than 10 times its original £40m estimate and was completed three years late in 2004 for £431m. The bill was paid by British taxpayers, and not just Scottish taxpayers, even the Scottish Parliament’s own auditor hit out at the poor use of public funds.
