Sometimes your subconscious utters what you cannot. For some days now I have had a tune in my head and it seems to have stuck there. It’s called ‘Both Sides the Tweed’ and it was written by Dick Gaughan just after the 1979 devolution vote. Like all good songs there’s complete disagreement about its meaning. Ardent unionists don’t like it because they see it as closet nationalist and ardent nationalists don’t like it because they see it as closet unionist. The chorus of the song goes;
Let the love of our land’s sacred right,
To the love of our people succeed,
Let friendship and honour unite,
And flourish on both sides the Tweed.
So why is it in my head? There’s two reasons. Firstly, I was with some friends of mine last week who were talking about student fees and the cuts going on in education. In Scotland, we are not charging £9000 a year to students. However, we have made the stipulation that any student who is not a Scottish resident will be charged fees. Some of those in the company who were English felt this was unfair.
Now, I can see this from a logical point of view. Obviously if England charged fees and we didn’t, a flood of students would cross the border to study here. We’re a small country and we don’t have the resources to cope with that. And yet, argue it as I might, a part of me was in agreement. I don’t like it either. It feels mean.
The second reason this tune will not go away, is because I was preparing a brief on the possible knock on effects of the White Paper in Scotland. As I went through it, I realised that we were going to be facing a similar situation. The chronically ill, disabled and elderly in England are going to be abandoned by the private consortia coming in. Naturally they will try to find help where they can, which means crossing the border to where there is still an NHS. And Scotland will find itself in the dilemma where it is faced with large numbers of very sick and dependent people whom we will be unable to fund. What do we do then? Are we really going to legislate to keep them out? And if we don’t, will it be possible to continue an already overstretched NHS?
I am troubled by this. The SNP and Nicola Sturgeon in particular have played a blinder on health and other issues and I will be voting for them in the Holyrood elections. I want Scotland to be able to decide on its own affairs far away from the toxic mire that Westminster has become, and I want to escape the meltdown that is coming in the English NHS. But I do not want to abandon those affected by these proposals, especially those who are the sickest and most vulnerable. And I don’t, because we are kin. Whatever the future may hold for our governments, whatever the rivalry between us and however many times the English mention the 1966 World Cup, there is a tie between us that binds. And it is the pull of that bond that I have been feeling.
So what is to be done? Well, I think it’s time to revive the good old Scottish tradition of reiving; that is, a border raid. The SNP and Plaid Cymru have taken the attitude that the White Paper is a reserved matter for England and have not voted on it or taken part in the debate (apart from one Plaid member). Well, there’s a time for the West Lothian question and there’s a time for a good bit of murder, looting, pillage, cursing,ranting and general rioting. This is not a time for reason or parliamentary niceties. This bill, the Health and Social Care Bill, represents all that is meanest, lowest and most venal in our society. It has to be treated like the enemy it is. This is a time of war; a war of ideals between the best and the worst in us. And in this instance, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish need to take the lead. We are holding the torch for the NHS as a public service; we need to march to the front of the column and show the way, not pull up the drawbridge and retreat behind Hadrian’s Wall, Offa’s Dkye or the Irish Sea. And we are kidding ourselves if we think that if we do that, that the bill will not creep. This needs to be killed at its source in Westminster or else it will only be a matter of time before it comes to us as well.
What's the spring-breathing jasmine and rose ?
What's the summer with all its gay train
Or the splendour of autumn to those
Who've bartered their freedom for gain?
No sweetness the senses can cheer
Which corruption and bribery bind
No brightness that gloom can e'er clear
For honour's the sum of the mind.
Let virtue distinguish the brave
Place riches in lowest degree
Think them poorest who can be a slave
Them richest who dare to be free.
Let the love of our lands's sacred rights,
To the love of our peoples succeed,
Let friendship and honour unite
And flourish on both sides the Tweed.
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6 comments:
English NHS? There's no such thing. It's the NHS in England, which isn't the same thing. Unfortunately, we don't have any English institutions in the way that there are Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish ones. We have to settle for the distinctly second best British or 'national' (whatever that means) versions.
By the way, it's the Irish, not Northern, Sea that separates the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.
Anon,
You're quite right about the Irish Sea; I'll correct that. That's what happens when you do blog posts too late.
There is actually an English NHS, with a separate structure and Welsh, Scottish and Irish ones. And at the moment I am very glad there is - it means that we will escape for a while what is going to happen in England with the introduction of GP commissioning. But it will come to us - there already have been moves up here to try and get in the likes of Serco and United Health in running the NHS by the back door like they have in England and right now we need to take the fight to Westminster.
Re student fees:
What if a student has a Highland Granny but was born and stayed most of his/her life in England?
What if the student moved in with his/her Highland Granny prior to applying to a Scottish University?
Was Prince William's home address Buckingham Palace or Balmoral Castle?
Can't see how this can be done fairly unless separate passports are issued for all UK countries with passport control somewhere around Hadrian's Wall!
Am I missing something?
Don't forget also that students from the EU will get free education in Scottish unis when the English can't and will have to pay! How can anyone justify that?
... and Julie, I love the poem! Brilliant! Can I use it sometime please?
:-)
Passport Control at Hadrians Wall!!!! not trying to nick a bit of England are we??
Thanks for all the comments. I'm in flux about this at the moment. If Scotland attempts to go its own way on the NHS and doesn't impose some controls, then there's no point. We'll be flooded by those who are deprived of proper medical service in England and it will defeat the purpose. If we do, it feels mean to me. I don't like it. I would prefer to stop what is happening at Westminster so that the White Paper doesn't go through in the first place, but what are the possibilities of that happening?
WD - very valid points. I think the way it's done at the mo is purely residency; you need to be resident in Scotland for a year before you can vote in the Holyrood elections (which is actually much better than Westminster, I think it's 5 years for that), so I suppose all the Highland Granny's children could sneak up the year before and study.
Sam - is that the case, that EU students don't pay? I thought they did, but I'll check it.
Barry(the Elder) - like the name. Now, we Scots would never pinch bits of England - well, not much anyway.
One more thought. If the White Paper goes through, the fact that there is still a public service in Scotland and Wales will act as a contrast and possible thorn in the side to the politicos in the three major parties down south, so we could do you a favour that way.
Sam - I would love to claim ownership of the poem, but it is in fact Dick Gaughan's words for 'Both Sides the Tweed'. It's a great song and best sums up my feelings on this.
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