A Mandate from the Masses

There is a Monty Python sketch that starts 'I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired'. There are a few variations on the internet but this is the closest to the one I remember learning as a teenager. It showed me the power that words have to persuade. It also highlighted how some politicians can talk and talk and say nothing.

I was reminded of this sketch yesterday because the Electoral Commission rejected the SNP's wording for the question on the referendum for Scottish independence. SNP ministers wanted to ask "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?" rather than the wording which will be used, "Should Scotland be an independent country?"With whom should the electorate agree?

Do the SNP ministers want voters to agree with right-thinking people? Well I'm sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up with being told about agreeing with the SNP on referenda. I'm certainly not, and I'm sick and tired of being told that I am.

Change the world

P.S. The title of the blog comes from a Michael Palin line in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 'Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony'.