It's time?
/John Redwood’s Diary - The treatment of Scotland and England
I like Salmond. He's straight talking and a skilled operator. His experience in Westminster puts him head and shoulders above most of the Holyrood crowd and he has a superb deputy in Nicola Sturgeon. Politics this side of the border is far more interesting than down south and the general level of political debate is superior. Whatever happens in the end there can be no doubt that Salmond and the SNP are going to be good for Scottish political life and very probably Scottish life in general.
Alex Salmond has reason to feel pleased with his work. He has found a series of issues where Scotland can be given better treatment than England, based on the more favourable financial settlement. His intention is to use these issues to make English voters angry about the injustice of the Union settlement, so there is pressure for English - and therefore by definition for Scottish - independence from south of the border. It is beginning to have an impact.As irritating as I generally find Redwood, this is a pretty good post on 'the Scottish question'. Salmond is going down well up here in Scotland even amongst people strongly opposed to independence. He's a canny Scot and is going to give Gordon Brown some sleepless nights over the next year or two.
I like Salmond. He's straight talking and a skilled operator. His experience in Westminster puts him head and shoulders above most of the Holyrood crowd and he has a superb deputy in Nicola Sturgeon. Politics this side of the border is far more interesting than down south and the general level of political debate is superior. Whatever happens in the end there can be no doubt that Salmond and the SNP are going to be good for Scottish political life and very probably Scottish life in general.
