Like the battle of Waterloo, the battle for Scotland was a damn close-run thing. The effects of Thursday’s no vote are enormous – though not as massive as the consequences of a yes would have been.
The vote against independence means, above all, that the 307-year Union survives. It therefore means that the UK remains a G7 economic power and a member of the UN security council. It means Scotland will get more devolution. It means David Cameron will not be forced out. It means any Ed Miliband-led government elected next May has the chance to serve a full term, not find itself without a majority in 2016, when the Scots would have left. It means the pollsters got it right, Madrid will sleep a little more easily, and it means the banks will open on Friday morning as usual.
But the battlefield is still full of resonant lessons. The win, though close, was decisive. It looks like a 54%-46% or thereabouts. That’s not as good as it looked like being a couple of months ago. But it’s a lot more decisive than the recent polls had hinted. Second, it was women who saved the union. In the polls, men were decisively in favour of yes. The yes campaign was in some sense a guy thing. Men wanted to make a break with the Scotland they inhabit. Women didn’t. Third, this was to a significant degree a class vote too. Richer Scotland stuck with the union — so no did very well in a lot of traditonal SNP areas. Poorer Scotland, Labour Scotland, slipped towards yes, handing Glasgow, Dundee and North Lanarkshire to the independence camp. Gordon Brown stopped the slippage from becoming a rout, perhaps, but the questions for Labour — and for left politics more broadly — are profound.
For Scots, the no vote means relief for some, despair for others, both on the grand scale. For those who dreamed that a yes vote would take Scots on a journey to a land of milk, oil and honey, the mood this morning will be grim. Something that thousands of Scots wanted to be wonderful or merely just to witness has disappeared. The anticlimax will be cruel and crushing. For others, the majority, there will be thankfulness above all but uneasiness too. Thursday’s vote exposed a Scotland divided down the middle and against itself. Healing that hurt will not be easy or quick. It’s time to put away all flags.
The immediate political question now suddenly moves to London. Gordon Brown promised last week that work will start on Friday on drawing up the terms of a new devolution settlement. That may be a promise too far after the red-eyed adrenalin-pumping exhaustion of the past few days. But the deal needs to be on the table by the end of next month. It will not be easy to reconcile all the interests – Scots, English, Welsh, Northern Irish and local. But it is an epochal opportunity. The plan, like the banks, is too big to fail.
Alex Salmond and the SNP are not going anywhere. They will still govern Scotland until 2016. There will be speculation about Salmond’s position, and the SNP will need to decide whether to run in 2016 on a second referendum pledge. More immediately, the SNP will have to decide whether to go all-out win to more Westminster seats in the 2015 general election, in order to hold the next government’s feet to the fire over the promised devo-max settlement. Independence campaigners will feel gutted this morning. But they came within a whisker of ending the United Kingdom on Thursday. One day, perhaps soon, they will surely be back.
(Artículo de Martin Kettle, publicado en "The Guardian" el 19 de septiembre de 2014)
8 comentarios:
Una de cal y otra de arena, ya veo. Muy bien lo de la medalla al Catedrático y muy mal lo de la convocatoria del puesto. Nada es blanco y negro del todo, y saber aplaudir los aciertos es bueno para dar credibilidad a la Asociación, supongo.
Sólo una reflexión para expresar un sentimiento de vergüenza que tendríamos que hacer nuestro el conjunto de funcionarios ante semejante deterioro de nuestras Instituciones públicas. Lamentable que esto pueda pasar, con total impunidad, y sin respuesta alguna de los Grupos Parlamentarios con representación en la Mesa de las Cortes.
¿Consta que los Grupos Parlamentarios no han dicho nada sobre el asunto? ¿O más bien es que no consta que hayan dicho algo?
¿Tendrá para ellos alguna importancia estos asuntillos de carácter doméstico?
No es la primera vez que una convocatoria para la provisión de un puesto de libre designación queda desierta.Es patente que, cuando el candidato "oficial" (que además ocupa el cargo temporalmente mediante comisión de servicios) se presenta, se le asigna el puesto; el resto de solicitantes son meros comparsas, aunque tengan mérito y capacidad probadas. Pero en algunos casos, pocos, surgen "problemas" y entonces se declara desierto el concurso por falta de candidatos que reúnan las condiciones requeridas.
Esto más que una arbitrariedad es una burla , por no hablar de prevaricación.
Conozco a un funcionario de impecable trayectoria profesional, que optó a una de estas plazas.Cuando declararon desierta la convocatoria, casi le da una depresión. El perfil es el perfil.
Sería muy interesante recoger aquí un pequeño extracto de las palabras que pronuncie el homenajeado en las Cortes de Aragón.
¿Cómo es posible elevar el nivel de exigencia en el funcionamiento de las instituciones para que casos como el expuesto no se produzcan ni se repitan?
¿Tiene remedio la situación de la función pública aragonesa? Creo que no, por falta de voluntad política en el actual equipo de gobierno, pero vaya mi admiración hacia quienes intentan no darse por vencidos todavía.
Ánimo, lograremos echar del templo a los mercaderes que han venido a profanarlo.
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