Kenneth Roy
The circling of the vultures
The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing was released on 20 August last year. He is thus entering the sixth month of his freedom. This fact has not escaped the notice of the Scottish Conservatives’ justice spokesman, Bill Aitken. ‘The point is that [he] is still alive,’ he observed during recent questions to the justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, in the Scottish Parliament. Yes, well, we’d all gathered that; it did not really require the ever vigilant Mr Aitken to remind us of Mr Megrahi’s inconvenient survival.
His friend, at least for this purpose, Lord Foulkes, initiated the discussion by asking ‘what further representations’ the Scottish Government had received on the prisoner’s release. Very few, Mr MacAskill replied, adding; ‘I have to say to Lord Foulkes that it ill befits us, in the name of humanity, to circle like vultures. He is going to die. That is why he was released.’ The justice secretary also said (although this was not widely reported) that the continuing use of chemotherapy was increasing Mr Megrahi’s life expectancy ‘at the cost of his quality of life during his last few days’.
If Mr Megrahi survives a little longer, the 20th of February – the half-year anniversary – will be a date to be out of the country. No doubt Bill Aitken and George Foulkes, and their chums in the popular media, already have it marked firmly in their diaries. The vultures will no longer be circling; they will be swooping on any liberal target in their sights.
Of course, I hope Mr Megrahi is still alive – and not only for the usual humanitarian reasons. Six months on, we will be able to assess more clearly, if only for the purposes of symbolism, the great damage said to have been done to Scotland’s reputation by Mr MacAskill’s decision last summer and to quantify the disgraceful advantage we are said to have gained as a result. At the moment, there is no evidence that there has been either damage or advantage. How much longer must we wait? Not for Mr Megrahi to die – that may be a question for God, if there is a God – but for the validation of any of the hysterical claims of August 2009.
You may remember some of them.
We were assured by the scoundrels of the media, for whom patriotism is always the last refuge, that the Saltire had been ‘shamed’ by the waving of flags at Tripoli airport on Mr Megrahi’s return. Brian Wilson, the former Labour minister, is not one of the scoundrels; he is merely an occasional Daily Telegraph columnist. But even Mr Wilson felt that ‘decent Scottish stomachs’ had been turned by the sight and that Scotland’s reputation would inevitably suffer. The Saltire was ‘shamed’ five months ago today. As I look up and down John Finnie Street, I see no visible sign that decent Scottish stomachs have been irreparably damaged by these distressing events – we negotiate our way over the kebab sauce on a Monday morning much as we did before the Saltire was shamed. Likewise, as I trawl the internet, I can find no evidence that Scotland is ‘a pariah in the eyes of the world’ as the decent stomachs of the Scottish press maintained last August. The overwhelming likelihood is that nothing, absolutely nothing, has changed. The ‘shaming of the Saltire’ invites the same question as the ‘big freeze’ or the ‘swine flu pandemic’ – what on earth was that all about?
It may also be possible to over-estimate the damage to Scottish-American relationships. Mr Trump seems more determined than ever to proceed with the building of what BBC Scotland insists will be the greatest golf resort in the world. Why, in the face of American outrage, did he not pull out? I am trying hard to think of reasons for The Donald to go on doing business in a country so shamed that its own press believes it to be a pariah. In the United States, meanwhile, there is a national love affair with Susan Boyle, perhaps the most melodious current ambassador of the pariah state. Perhaps they think she’s Irish.
The trade deal. Surprise, surprise, we are still waiting for the fruits of that particular conspiracy. I cannot remember the exact detail of how this was going to work – I confess I was not much interested even at the time – but it seemed to involve, in exchange for Mr Megrahi’s release, the migration of Middle East oil money in Scotland’s general direction. Five months on, where is the loot? We are entitled to know when the partners in the great conspiracy will fulfil their side of the bargain.
Yesterday it was announced that, despite a slight decline in UK unemployment as a whole, the number of people out of work in Scotland has risen to 202,000 – 61,000 more than a year ago. The Scottish economy continues to shrink. Prospects, except for the holders of pension pots in the public sector, are dire. We may, nonetheless, be on the brink of an economic miracle. By 20 February, Scotland may be awash with oil money achieved at the expense of the Lockerbie victims. However, there is a more prosaic scenario. There never was a conspiracy. There will be no Middle East oil money. It was simply yet another attempt at writing a modern novel.
Mr Megrahi is dying. Mr MacAskill continues to speak plainly and with dignity. If only the rest were silence.
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28.01.10
Issue no 200
Why does Ronnie
have to do it all?
Kenneth Roy
finds the living proof that Scotland is indeed
a small country
[click here]
Two ways to go
Catherine Czerkawska
explains from deep personal experience how the hospice
ethic is unique
[click here]
Why do we bang
them up?
Murray Ritchie
examines the reasons for Scotland’s addiction to imprisonment
[click here]
Let’s stop smiling
Walter Humes
on the absurd
requirement
to be upbeat
[click here]
We are blind to
some of our greats
R D Kernohan
defends Scottish reputations unjustly reviled
[click here]
Next edition: Tuesday