The Teddy

When I first heard about Libdem Image, the merchandise stall at Liberal Democrats Federal Conference, I thought maybe I would buy a notepad and pen to use around uni. I did buy both of those things, but I also bought something I was by no means expecting.  This is Mike:

He is named for a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP. Well, I’ve narrowed it down rather far just by that so I might as well tell you: the bear is named after Alistair Carmichael. There is a very good reason why he is not called Ali. He is not called Ali because I am too scared to name him Ali. I am too scared to support a genuinely nice man who just made a stupid mistake and who deserves a second chance – and who is also a killer DJ. I am scared so I call him Mike, almost a codename that you’ll only guess the reasoning behind if I hint there’s something to be guessed at. And I don’t have to tell you why I’m scared. You know why.

That photograph was taken at Bournemouth airport, while I was waiting for a delayed flight on the way home from Conference. My university course started on the Monday, and, as I’m a first year, I definitely had to go, so I had to cut my trip short. I sat there thinking about how I had to call the bear Mike because if I called him Ali people in Scotland would think that I thought Alistair was right to do what he did – I don’t; I think he made a mistake that shouldn’t damn him forever. People would think that I was excusing him and that I am corrupt, just a cog of the ‘Westminster-elite’.

Then I thought about how lovely everyone at conference had been when I discussed my fears with them – not about the bear specifically, just Scotland in general – and was overcome with gratitude. Then I thought about the fact that I wouldn’t see them again for months and, coupled with sleep deprivation as a result of Libdem Disco, these thougths quickly resulted in me burying my face in Mike and crying as I waited for my plane.

This wasn’t the only time this happened during conference. In fact, it had happened earlier that day. A Scottish woman at the Liberal Youth stall was talking to me about whether or not Tim had shown passion in the Q&A when he was talking about sixteen and seventeen year olds (whether he did or didn’t, the words he was saying were things I have said directly to him, in person, before, which was an amazing feeling) and this eventually led into a discussion of the SNP, as all discussions between Scottish Liberal Democrats eventually do at some stage.

I started rambling about the SNP claiming to ‘speak for Scotland’. No, they do not. They speak for SNP voters who make up a certain percentage of the Scottish population at any given time. Anyway, this got me worked up to the point where I remembered a friend’s use of the word ‘neoliberal’ during a heated discussion a few nights previous. I couldn’t even get the word out. Before I knew it my voice was cracking and my vision had gone wobbly around the edges. After I struggled out a few more sentences about how I really do like and respect this friend, the woman I was talking to said something like, “Now that’s passion!”

I don’t remember your name, but thank you. That made me giggle and from there I started to pull myself together. Images of blurry view flashed through my mind as I held the teddy in the airport, but remembering you telling me to be strong made me sit back up and try to read some of the novel I had brought with me.

So, the last time I wrote anything about the SNP, the ‘cybernats’ found it, and subsequently found me on Twitter… that was a fun couple of days… Oddly enough, I’ve only ever experienced that kind of vitriol from SNP supporters online. Every SNP supporter I’ve met in person has been lovely. My best friend supports the SNP. I’m also sure that the No/anti-SNP side has its share of cyberbullies too. I’ve just never come across them.

Why would I? I’m very clearly pro-UK. No Better Together troll (Is that a thing? They seem too meek to troll) is going to harass me. It’s the same with any conflict of movements. The Labour Leadership contest, for example. It is highly possible that the Corbyn campaign organisers had no idea how loosely the term red-Tory was being flung around, because it would never have been directed at them. So this is me acknowledging that my side has its faults and, I hope, if you are a Yes/SNP supporter, you can see that your side has flaws too.

The funny thing is, all this shouting and anger gets in the way of real debate and scrutiny. I genuinely do disagree with the SNP on several areas of policy, which is a good thing. It is the job of the opposition to find fault with the actions of the government, in this case the Scottish government at Holyrood. But disagreement is never discussed, because as soon as I start to criticise an SNP policy, I’m a representative of the Westminster elite, despite having lived in Hamilton – which was briefly held by the SNP in the 70s – for all of my seventeen years.

I disagree with the SNP in three main areas … so far. I disagree on policing, health and education. Policing: I despise centralisation and think local government should have far more devolved powers to make decisions about policing in their area. The community knows what’s best for itself. Health: alright, admittedly it’s just one move that’s been made in health that I have an issue with, but I think it was a really weird decision. That is the decision to close – or reduce, I’m not clear on which – several smaller hospitals, to create one super-hospital. Now, maybe the issues it’s currently having are just teething troubles but this doesn’t change the fact that surely the most important thing about a hospital is its proximity.

Finally, I disagree with the SNP on education. I think I disagree with my party on areas of this too. In nursery, a two-year-old should not have to be monitored for their progress in becoming an “effective contributor”, especially when they have genetic conditions and can’t hold their own head up. Primary school – I was in Primary Six when the Curriculum for Excellence was introduced – why they make the pupils memorise “effective contributor”, “confident individual”, “successful learner” and “responsible citizen” is beyond me. In my class, these words were empty, all sounded the same and if you dared to use one of them in serious conversation, you were instantly a teacher’s pet. These may be admirable qualities for a teacher to try and foster in a pupil, but making the pupil aware that these are the objectives their school is aiming for makes the whole place feel like a factory, like they’re just churning out people who fit these criteria and if you don’t manage to fulfil them all by the time you leave you’re unequipped to go to high school.

Then, in Secondary School, I spent the entirety of Higher Physics with my teacher complaining about the new National 5 qualification (I was the year ahead of the CfE’s introduction) and worries amongst staff that they wouldn’t get the course finished by the end of the year. I’m also worried by the internal nature of Nat 3 and Nat 4 qualifications. I think doubts in the legitimacy of these qualifications compared to the old Standard Grades will force pupils to stay on for the Nat 5, who could previously have left at the end of fourth year to go to an apprenticeship. I believe this is the end of my CfE issues list, but it’s probably worth checking back with me. Also, I don’t know how much of this is our doing, but this is what I meant by disagreeing with the party.

However, despite all this, there are areas that I happily agree with the SNP on. Last night (25.9.15), I was in the gallery of the Charles Kennedy Memorial Debate, on whether to remain in the EU, or leave. Fiona Hyslop MEP from the SNP, Alex Cole-Hamilton from the Liberal Democrats, Ian Duncan MEP from the Conservatives and Alistair Darling from Labour made up the ‘remain’ side. It warmed my heart to see these four parties working together on such an important event.

I seem to agree with the SNP on other areas of foreign affairs too. I saw someone from the SNP accuse Tim Farron on Twitter of not being compassionate enough in response to the refugee crisis! Tim, who was the first to visit Calais, whose voice wobbled in the leader’s speech on Wednesday when discussing refugees. Apparently he wasn’t open enough! I get the feeling our parties could work together in helping the refugees.

Additionally, I believe we agree on the environment. I don’t know the SNP’s exact policies on the subject, but they seem to want to look for big, ambitious solutions. I agree with this, and like to think many people in the Libdems do too.

I really don’t want to be scared anymore. Disputes between politicians should not get in the way of important areas of policy agreement and disagreement that really ought to be discussed.

So I want to finish with a couple of pleas. I am scared to publish this because, as hard as I try to be diplomatic and fair, somebody is going to get angry at me, and do so loudly. I’ll start with my own side. Please, do not refer to the SNP as ‘nationalists who also happen to be socialists’. They are people with opinions and this is not conducive to the debate that will be so vital going into the Holyrood election. And to anyone who is angry at Alistair Carmichael: please, if I want to support someone’s case because I understand what he must have been going through at the time, don’t let that get in the way of policy discussion. Please, just let a teddy be a teddy.