Snake Oil Salesman
The Independent newspaper has given George Galloway a platform to share his views about Scottish independence, but because he has so little of substance to say the little man with a giant ego falls back on his trademark - the 'purple prose' which marks him out as the Ray Harryhausen of UK politics.
In this case George conjures up an image of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in support of his argument four a No vote in the referendum, as if the politics of fascism have any relevance to the debate about whether Scotland should become an independent country.
But in his inimitable way George goes on to talk nonsense, for example his assertion that Scotland has 'decisively fallen out of love with New Labour' when the truth is that north of the border New Labour never gained much traction in the first place.
The reality Scottish Labour Party has really fallen between two stools, never quite standing up for its Old Labour values or embracing the 'modernising' New Labour programme of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown which came to the fore after 18 consecutive years of Conservative rule at Westminster.
The SNP has exploited Scottish Labour's ambivalence to New Labour ruthlessly and very effectively, stealing the party's clothes and moving to the political left, so much so that Scottish Labour is now regarded as neither fish nor fowl.
And that has been the case for years as Scottish Labour has bones through an amazing number of leaders: Donald Dewar, Henry McLeish, Jack McConnell, Wendy Alexander, Iain Gray and now Johann Lamont - the latter having voted against Scottish devolution in 1979 before going on to become an MSP in the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
The other point George gets badly wrong is to blame the Tory bogeyman for the decision not to have a second 'Devo Max' question on the independence ballot paper because this ridiculous position was supported by all of the Westminster based UK parties at the time - including Labour and the Lib Dems.
So if you ask me, George, a politician who supports self-determination around the world yet not in Scotland, doesn't know what he's talking about which is why he failed to be elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011 having been roundly rejected by the voters of Glasgow who can see through his 'snake oil salesman' political pitch.
By George Galloway -The Independent
If No triumphs it will be despite the mainstream parties rather than because of them
The strange death of Labour in Scotland is the principal reason why the country this weekend is looking down the barrel of a prolonged and anguished death. The polls still show a lead for the No camp but uncomfortably close. It’s not just the punter who wagered £800,000 on the preservation of the Union entering squeaky bum time.
David Cameron may lose his premiership over this and Ed Miliband, even if elected, could have office torn from him within 12 months. Nick Clegg never seemed more irrelevant. But the 300-year-old Britain will be the biggest loser of all.
These are three centuries in which, for good and ill, this small island punched way beyond its weight, shaping much of the modern world, through a booming slave trade – the biggest empire the world has ever seen – the Satanic mills of the Industrial Revolution, the birth of socialism, trade unionism, the co-operative movement and the international supremacy of the language.
Scotland never was a colony, but a colonial partner in crime. Indeed, before Britain existed as a state, the Scots parliament, as was, proclaimed two colonies, Nova Scotia and Ulster. The financial catastrophe of the attempt to colonise Panama in the Darien Expedition beggared Scotland’s economy, marking the end of solely Scottish imperial ambitions and ultimately to the 1707 Union itself. Thereafter, the skirl of the pipes and the twirl of kilted soldiers helped terrorise the world into submission.
I’ve been touring Scottish town halls for almost a year and the referendum campaign was already in full swing. But only in the last few days, it seems, have the British political class and the mainstream media woken up to the fact that Britain could be about to change, utterly. Though it won’t be a beauty, terrible or otherwise, that will be born if it does.
The next 18 months will be a nightmare of grudge and division as the divorcing couple squabble over the national CDs, DVDS, house, dog and car. Almost a million Scots living in England will be marooned in a foreign country, a physical border will become an inevitability given the Scottish government’s intention of attracting a million new immigrants, while the British government is seeking to cap immigration. And a flight of capital, first one way then another, as Alex Salmond implements his intention to spark a Dutch auction over Corporation Tax and regulation, a race to the bottom, at least for working people, will ensue.
Shorn of Scotland’s soon-to-be 50 MPs, the Tories will have a head start in all subsequent elections but will have lost half the country. If Ed Miliband emerges as leader of the biggest party in May that could only be for the shortest premiership in modern history, with Scotland departing in the following spring. This could even cause the postponement of the general election.
If No triumphs it will be despite the mainstream parties rather than because of them. All are held in derision, even contempt.
Labour voters switching to Yes have risen from 13 per cent to 35 in a few months. The Blair era of privatisation and war may have fatally undermined them. Scotland has decisively fallen out of love with New Labour. Lord Snooty, aka David Cameron, could be the Prime Minister who presides over the death of Great Britain. All of the opinion polls, even before the two-year campaign, showed an overwhelming majority for greater devolution, the so-called Devo-Max option, but Cameron ruled out a second question about it on the ballot paper.
It didn’t have to come to this; none of the angst and turmoil, the divisions, even among families. Britain’s political class may have achieved what Hitler failed to do. Destroyed Britain. As the late Scottish comedian Duncan Macrae put it. “They didnae ken. They ken noo!”
What's New Pussycat? (30 March 2012)
Fishes and Bicycles (6 May 2011)
Fishes and Bicycles (2 December 2010)
The news today that George Galloway has won the Bradford West by-election is a devastating blow to the Labour Party.
Bradford West has been a safe Labour seat since 1974 - one where Labour has actively courted the Muslim vote - but the bottom line is that the voters rejected Labour in favour of a political demagogue.
Now as regular readers will know - George Galloway stood in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections - and got absolutely nowhere.
My view is that the voters of Glasgow were too canny and wise - to be taken in with his particular blend of bombast - which is designed to appeal to disaffected Muslim voters these days.
Which is not to say that George does not raise some important issues about wars and military intervention in foreign countries - the present conflict in Afghanistan being a case in point.
Because the original mission was to deny a safe haven for the al-Qaeda terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks on New York - yet what purpose we are serving there now seems a mystery to many people - including me.
But George Galloway was against the original military mission - which was fully backed by the United Nations (UN) - it has to be said.
Just as he was against the decision to intervene in the civil war in Yugoslavia - of course - which ended the 'ethnic cleansing' regime of Slobodan Milosevic.
I haven't hear any of George's thoughts about the military intervention in Libya - come to think of it - which finally got rid of Colonel Gaddafi and his murderous crew.
Although I would be surprised if he was anything other than completely opposed to that decision either - which had the support of the UN and Arab League.
To my mind George is against just about everything - except George.
Which is why I think the voters of Glasgow decided he wasn't worthy of a seat in the Scottish Parliament - and sent him packing elsewhere.
As I said at the time Holyrood needed George - in the same way as a fish needs a bicycle.
But I suppose Labour now needs him in Westminster - like the party needs another hole in his head - because how does Ed Miliband explain such a crushing defeat?
George knows - of course.
Apparently God was on his side - which we know because he said so on Twitter - proclaiming his great victory over Labour was 'By the grace of God...'
A dog whistle comment if I ever heard one.
So George Galloway has failed to win a seat in the Scottish Parliament elections.
Now this comes as no great surprise - here's what I said about the relevance of his campaign for a list seat in the Glasgow region.
Seems like the voters in Glasgow agreed with me - that the former Respect MP had little to offer Holyrood.
Which chimes with my own views - because I didn't vote for him either.
George Galloway is to politics what Jose Mourinho is to football - though without the evident talent and smouldering good looks.
'Gorgeous' George is a tired old pussycat these days - both vain and vainglorious in equal measure - whose current claim to fame is that he writes a regular column - wait for it - for the Daily Record.
The other day George was rude and condescending about Christopher Hitchens - saying that he would 'pray' for the avowed atheist - who is terminally ill with throat cancer.
George also boasted - as is his wont - about his public debates with Hitchens in 2005 - suggesting that these had been a great success - and that he had come out on top.
So I watched these recordings and other interviews on You Tube and it seemed to me that - as on many other issues - the former MP is simply deluding himself.
The two men clearly detest each other - which makes for great theatre and sparky TV.
Yet for me Hitchens had the measure of his opponent - whom he would probably characterise as a populist demagogue.
Apparently George is interested in standing for the Scottish Parliament in next year's elections - and his penchant for flowery words and phrases would certainly bring some colour to its debates.
But as his political interests have always been dominated by foreign affairs - Holyrood needs George about as much as a fish needs a bicycle.
