Pete Hesgeth, who quite bizarrely is US Defence Secretary, said yesterday that troops sent to Los Angeles were expected to stay for at least 60 days. No clear reasons could be given. It is clear that they may stay longer.
In other words, Trump is clearly setting the federal government against the state government of California, with the threat implicit in this being that every other state should take note. Although the US is a federal system, Trump is making clear he will not tolerate dissent, and cares not a jot about precedent, the constitution or law on such matters.
I cannot see how this cannot end without some form of conflict.
I also worry about the precedent being set for the UK. I seriously wonder how long it will be before a Westminster government, whether Labour or Reform, or a coalition of the two, decides to suspend devolved power in the UK, following the same trend.
The stresses that develop in the USA are often exported to the UK. This one might travel, and the consequences would be profoundly uncomfortable.
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Given that Wales and Scotland now have their own distinct Political Leadership could this result in a very messy Unilateral Declaration of Independence?
It could
I stress, this could get very messy and that worries me – and it will all be Westminster’s fault.
“The stresses that develop in the USA are often exported to the UK. This one might travel, and the consequences would be profoundly uncomfortable.”
I believe most of the apparatus and much of the ideology is here are funded by the US far right via Reform, Turning Point UK, Heritage Foundation, Big Tech and the satellites around Tufton St. Our Yr10/11 students (14-16) are already bombarded by their propaganda via social media, online game chat rooms (and parents of course). 50% of a recent sample (of 50 kids on a taster course) want the return of the death penalty, more than that want deportation of criminals, etc. We need to stop assuming that this generation will be as liberal as ten years ago.
Thanks, John.
I fear you are right.
I agree.
Johnson said that “devolution is a disaster” when he was PM, and Badenoch thinks the same (indeed Badenoch – if she had power (God help us!) would I have no doubt try hard to abolish Holyrood and the Senedd.)
Nicola Sturgeon at a YesCymru event in May said that the devolved settlements of Scotland and Wales are always at the gift of Westminster legislation, and therefore can be repealed through Westminster legislation. Independence is the only guarantee against the threat that Westminster would abolish devolution. (I think Badenoch – who is tacking to the right of Farage – would do this more readily than a more politically savvy Farage – even though he wouldn’t hesitate when ‘the time is right’.)
Therefore, independence for Scotland and Wales (and thus England too) is essential to break away from Westminster orthodoxy.
Agreed
I find it entirely credible that HMG in Westminster will prevent the legal process of Scottish independence, will interfere with the internationally agreed arrangements in the Good Friday Agreement for the future political re-unification of the island of Ireland, and will frustrate any moves by a Welsh Senedd towards Welsh independence. I EXPECT them to do so.
We have abandoned any pretence that we believe in the rule of law, especially international and constitutional law. As for national laws, they are only relevant for protecting the powerful and their wealth. We are moving rapidly towards authoritarian rule. Labour, Reform UK and what’s left of the Tory party are led by authoritarians, not consensus politicians. Cabinet government disappeared about 40 years ago.
“Might is right” is the new creed, at home and abroad.
But their victory is NOT inevitable.Not without our consent.
Much to agree with
As the oleaginous Enoch Powell is reputed to have said, “power devolved is power retained”. There’s some truth in that, and the Tories, at least, understand it well.
They know that nothing would advance the cause of indy in Scotland as much as any attempt by Westminster to end Holyrood, and as the English establishment is desperate to hang on to Scotland (at the same time they’d love to be rid of Northern Ireland) I think caution will get the better of them, even as the demographics advances in a pleasing fashion for indyfans.
Expect huge denials and rebuttals of those polling numbers, but ending devo? I think not.
I am in favour of Scottish Independence (and Welsh, and also Irish unification). As a septuagenarian of English origin I am probably not the likeliest Independentista, but I live in hope. What worries me, especially in the present climate of “war readiness” and plans for more nuclear subs and missiles, is that if Scotland were to reach a point where Independence seemed irresistible, the army would be deployed “in the interests of national security” to maintain the obscenity of a nuclear base on the Clyde. Getting rid of the Scottish Parliament would be seen as a necessary adjunct to that.