Both Sides the Tweed

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.