Crumbling UK has no institutions and values that are worth saving

This was published by The National on November 7th, 2023.

Michael Gove’s Department for Levelling Up is proposing to define extremism as the “promotion or advancement of any ideology which aims to overturn or undermine the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, its institutions and values.” Anyone paying attention knows this will criminalise what remains of free speech is this dysfunctional union and make the support for Scottish independence illegal.

The definition also assumes that the crumbling UK is a democracy and has institutions and values worth saving. It isn’t and doesn’t.

The head of state is a hereditary monarch who uses the system for his and his family’s advantage. The unelected House of Lords is a feudal anachronism. The voting system enshrines minority rule by disenfranchising the majority. There is no written constitution, allowing a rogue government to legislate against those who disagree with it. Vital public services have been deliberately underfunded and then sold off, leaving the population immiserated. Politicians are funded by wealthy oligarchs to whom they owe allegiance once in power. Money can always be found for war, weapons and strutting around on the world stage, but never for peoples’ needs.   

And the biggest one of all – Westminster refuses to recognise Scotland’s right to leave this unholy mess because it’s still busy stealing our assets.