Rick's b.log - entry 2022/07/15

A day of random domestic stuff

So I decided that I wanted some of that cool air in my room. I opened the shutters, then placed my new fan on the inside windowsill just next to the mesh bug screen, and set it to level 2.
Yup. Cool air was being pushed into the room. I went to bed and eventually fell asleep. Waking again at about half seven, it was much cooler, almost chilly. Niiiice.

I absent-mindedly watched random rubbish on Youtube until about 11am. Well, why not? I'm off work today as we are making a bridge (public holiday on Thursday, so stretching the weekend).
Then I got up and decided to clean the bathroom. No idea why. I think I went to put my feet into some cold water to cool down, and one thing led to another, you know? A full clean, washing down the tiles, scrubbing the grout with an old toothbrush, etc etc.
As it was the back of the house, it was fairly cool. Plus, you know, there's an amount of spray involved in using the shower head to rinse down the tiles. That wasn't unwelcome either.

Then I put some clothes in the washing machine, and let the it get on with things. Supposedly a 30°C wash, I didn't bother to check what temperature it actually reached. Assume anything between 20°C and 40°C...

As the washing machine was doing its cycle, I bagged up the rubbish for the now fortnightly collection. Normally it would be collected today, but as yesterday was a public holiday, it gets pushed off a day.
I only half-fill the bin with the usual rubbish, so I did some tidying in the kitchen to fill the rest of the bin. It's slow going as the bin is tiny these days so there's not much space left, even if it is half empty.

Heat!

I rather hope that this record breaking hot summer is not followed by a record breaking cold winter.

Ants

It's not a problem. I have some magic juice that will trigger a colony collapse. One of these days, you'd think they'd learn not to mess with the human. But...

Watering the potatoes

Irrigation.

I just hope it won't completely flatten them, or wash the soil away, or anything like that.

My first melon

Baby melon.

To give an idea of size, that odd thing you can see to the right is a bamboo fork. I put it there to mark where the plants were when they were just seedlings.

The ungovernable country

Obviously, the partisan press is jumping in. Looking at the headlines, in between complaining about wokism and regurgitating stuff from Bored Panda, it would appear that the Daily Mail is in favour of Liz Truss and has issues with Penny Mordaunt.

Well, Truss is about as blue a Tory as can be found right now, which probably explains that. I hope and pray that whoever gets in "does a Boris" and calls an election to reinforce their mandate... and loses. We need to be rid of those bastards.

Meanwhile, I sent a request to the SNP about three weeks ago asking if I would be eligible to vote in any independence referendum ('cos I was born in Scotland). It was their "contact us" form on their website. Still waiting for a response...

Scots Wha Hea

To my mind, mounting a big "better together" campaign to stop devolution, and then a mere couple of years later willingly walking away from an even bigger union while constantly repeating the mantra that it was the "democratic will of the people" and making Brexit painful on dumb ideological grounds (all those red lines), does entirely justify the entirely separate country of Scotland revisiting its relationship with England.
In other words, Scotland and the Scottish would indeed be justified in asking themselves if they want to remain shackled to the increasingly insular English, and a government that is in such disarray that it is beyond parody, or redemption.

But, time this battle well. Because "once in a generation" or not (and not, because that's a mantra about as stupid as "Brexit means Brexit"), there will not be a third chance. Not in the lifetime of anybody living right now. Well, not unless Westminster does something incredibly stupid like starting a war. Thankfully Johnson hasn't gone there...but he's still around and wants his Churchill Moment, so...

Anyway, Alex Salmond screwed up his opportunity in amazing style. It's like he didn't bother doing any homework at all, just hoping a rousing rendition of Flower of Scotland, Cap in Hand, and Scots Wha Hea (for the traditionalists) would suffice.

But, no. <sarcasm> Surprisingly </sarcasm> the people want real answers to real questions.

Let's try a few.

So, let's assume that Scotland votes for independence and a date is set. On the 30^th of November, Scotland will cease to be a part of the United Kingdom.

• What currency will be in use on that date?
• Will Scotland be an EU country or on track to rejoin?
• Then what currency will be in use?
• Who will defend Scotland? Or, rather, what would independence mean to The British Army?
• What about the NHS? Or the BBC? And other country-wide institutions?
• Will Scotland be a nuclear power, or will England finally move their subs?
• If all of that moves, what jobs will replace those lost?
• What sort of arrangements will be made with England regarding transportation of goods? I don't imagine companies like Baxters etc would appreciate a customs regime to push a truck fifty miles south.
• What about if Scotland joins the EU, or some sort of EFTA-like customs arrangement?
• Will there be a hard or soft border between Scotland and England?
• What will happen regarding shared resources? Water supplies, national grid, telephony, etc etc?
• Can Scotland afford this? It's not going to be much good looking at North Sea oil when the world is like "eww! oil! baaaad!".

And that's just off the top of my head for starters. Without serious and considered answers to these sorts of questions, voting for independence might be reckless. Granted, about as reckless as the past span of Tory rule, but still not a good idea.

I can forsee both Scotland and Northern Ireland ditching the United Kingdom. I can also forsee England being about as obstructive as they can be, even if it's against their own self interest (case in point, just about every single part of Brexit).

For the sake of Scotland and it's place in the world, all the questions should be answered first. The British might have the spirit of "muddling through", and for the benefit of my international readers, that phrase is a sort of a cross between "making it up as we go" and "a wing and a prayer". That's not the way forward. Well, maybe for the English, but what England does after two parts of the UK fall off the map is, well, England's problem. Not Scotland's.
But it would, clearly, be better to have a non-acromonious relationship. It'll be hard, I can already imagine how the likes of The Express and The Daily Mail will take this. And, sadly, both of those are read by people who wouldn't think any further than how their paper tells them to thing. For f's sake, The Express even puts cue words in CAPITAL LETTERS to tell its readers how to think.

The thing weighing heavy against independence is that while that mob in the south may be fifty one cards short of a full deck and wetter than Irn-Bru, there is at least a familiarity to their rabid bollocks. People may not agree. People may have felt physically sick when Johnson was handed the keys to Number Ten, but things carry on pretty much as they have done for decades. Yeah, okay, Scotland is England's bitch, the entire country knows that. But they also know that there is safety in the known. Or rather, the unknown is scary. In these very uncertain times, even the knowns are starting to become scary, while the unknowns are positively Lovecraftian.

So, does the SNP have answers? Or it is going to be another round of blind faith?
The answer to that question will determine whether or not IndyRef2 has any hope of succeeding.

Ants

If they knew what I know...

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Gavin Wraith, 15th July 2022, 23:28

The spirit of muddling through is often proudly mistaken for pragmatism by the Brits. In practice it means turning your back on problems until they sandbag you. Actually thinking ahead is one of those damned continental tricks, like rationalism, art and intellectual activity, that the Jacquerie would have brought with them if they had managed to export their damned Revolution.

Gavin Wraith, 15th July 2022, 23:50

Oh, and I think I have the answer to Brexit and the Northern Ireland problem. The Isle of Man revives the ancient kingdom of Dalriada, annexing both Scotland ( with its nuclear subs), and the whole of Ireland. The Queen of England wisely swears fealty to the new power. Parliament is relocated from London to Douglas. The EU takes Dalriada as a new member, but with a special dispensation for those who do not wish to partake of its privileges.

David Pilling, 16th July 2022, 02:38

Hmm. I thought SNP policy was to go nuclear free. Power stations, weapons, the lot.     I encounter Scottish people who strongly do not want independence.     I imagine sorting out independence will be an epic process.     You could add, what fraction of the UK national debt will Scotland be taking.    Will the SNP join a coalition government after the next election - many interesting consequences if they do - one of which is declining chance of people voting for independence.    I've been convinced since Tony Blair's devolution that Scotland would become independent, but with Boris Johnson gone and the Tories on the wane, the moment may have passed.    Another consequence of Covid.

Rick, 16th July 2022, 11:08

It may come to pass that a Lib/Lab/SNP coalition happens, because unlike you I don't think the Tories are on the wane as there is no useful opposition (one of the main reasons I hate Corbyn, he failed to step up when it was absolutely necessary).    That being said, it would be foolhardy of anybody to call an election in the summer of discontent as people will be looking for heads to roll.    You could add, incidentally, another consequence of Brexit.

Rick, 16th July 2022, 11:09

😂 All hail our new Dalriadan overlords.

Rick, 16th July 2022, 17:34

We're now on orange alert for heatwave, as of 1pm tomorrow. I think it's supposed to be something like 36°C...

J.G.Harston, 17th July 2022, 12:56

And the SNP have to stop answering questions about post-indy Scottish governance in terms of post-Indy *SNP* governance. After independemce the most likely occurance is the population saying "thanks, ta", kicking them out and going back to normal voting patterns.

David Pilling, 17th July 2022, 16:36

Whenever Nicola Sturgeon appears she mentions Brexit as the number one reason for Scottish independence, I'd say it has been a net positive for independence.     With the Nationalists in a coalition government they would have trouble with the idea that Scotland is governed by outsiders. For that reason perhaps they'd only go for a supply and confidence voting arrangement.    Any Labour government would be intent on pouring money into Scotland.    Against which a Tory peer described Blackpool on the news yesterday as "the biggest slum in the UK" (no argument that's what the stats show).    Tory voters in the South are turning to the Libs because they don't like the idea of more money being spent in the North - "levelling up" has no meaning according to some of the media.

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