www.bobsmithart.com

 

Abused at the hands

of the aggressive

unionist community

Joan McAlpine

 

Dick Mungin, in his recent opinion piece (22 June) is guilty of the same extremism and misrepresentation he accuses others of.
     He refers to my own work and says I accused unionists of being anti-Scottish. This is a crude misrepresentation of what I said, and indeed my political position generally. I think he is referring to my recent column in the Scotsman, in which I analysed the trend towards ultra-unionism as identified by James Mitchell, the professor of government at Strathclyde University.      The piece argues that while in the past there were staunch unionists who were nevertheless passionate about Scotland and its culture, today's unionist parties are so driven by opposition to the SNP, they adopt anti-Scottish positions. Often, particularly in the case of the Liberal Democrats, they turn their backs on their own party's home rule policies. I would urge Scottish Review readers to make up their own minds by reading the piece themselves rather than Mr Mungin's misleading reference.  See here: www.thescotsman.com
     I have often praised unionists like Donald Dewar, for example, and most recently Brian Wilson for his stance against the behaviour of the Crown Estate. I would refer readers to my maiden speech on the latter subject which praised the land reforming efforts of previous Labour/Lib Dem administrations in Holyrood.
     A characteristic of the SNP government has been reaching out to others – for example when choosing areas of improvement in the Scotland Bill, we focused on those where there was an element of cross-party agreement: corporation tax, Crown Estate, digital network, borrowing powers, excise, and more influence in European policy.
     Recent attempts by unionist commentators like Mr Mungin to paint the SNP government as intolerant because of its majority are part of a calculated strategy which has little influence on voters. It will fail because, as recent academic research showed, the SNP succeeded in reaching out to all sections of society, the first political party to do so. We intend to build on that consensus during our time in government.
     Finally, for Mr Mungin to take anonymous comments from the internet and ascribe these opinions to mainstrean politicians is absurd – it is also a game that everyone can play. As a pro-independence writer I have been subject to all sorts of bile and personal abuse from the very aggressive online unionist community. I wouldn't dream of suggesting that these comments somehow reflect the approach of my parliamentary colleagues on the Labour, Liberal or Conservative benches.

Joan McAlpine is a journalist and broadcaster and a newly-elected SNP MSP