Who are today's real nasty party?
Which of Britain's political parties do you think would be most likely to act as in the way described in the following true story?
During a general election campaign, a nurse confronts the leader of a government, complaining about the stress under which NHS staff are placed and adding that she has to make use of food banks.
The governing party goes into full attack mode against the nurse: a parliamentary candidate
(I would say MP except that technically there are no MPs during a general election)
wrongly describes the nurse on a BBC programme as being married to a councillor of an opposing political party.
Facebook pictures showing the nurse on a holiday abroad are plastered all over social media as she is vehemently attacked online by hundreds of supporters of the government party. The same pictures and appear in a prominent newspaper.
It soon comes out that the parliamentary candidate who attacked the nurse on the BBC was encouraged to do so by a government minister who told her that the party had checked out the claim and it was accurate.
Only in fact it wasn't, and the parliamentary candidate concerned had to apologise. The leader of her party and head of the government excused the candidate with the words "She made a mistake, an honest mistake and she apologised for that."
If you have not already heard this story, which party do you think attacked the nurse in that way?
If you answered that it must have been the Conservatives, and gave that answer because of your view of that party or for any reason other than that the Conservatives are running the UK government at the moment, perhaps you ought to have a serious think about your attitude to people who don't share your political views. No, it wasn't the Conservatives.
If you answered that it sounds like the sort of thing the New Labour government did, then to be honest you have a point. Perhaps you remember the smears against 94 year old NHS patient Rose Addis under New Labour or the New Labour special advisor who tried to dig up dirt on the Paddington Rail Crash survivors group? But on this occasion it wasn't Labour.
In fact the government concerned was the Scottish government and the culprits were the SNP.
Scotland deserves a better voice than the SNP, letters which also stand for Scottish Nasty Party.
During a general election campaign, a nurse confronts the leader of a government, complaining about the stress under which NHS staff are placed and adding that she has to make use of food banks.
The governing party goes into full attack mode against the nurse: a parliamentary candidate
(I would say MP except that technically there are no MPs during a general election)
wrongly describes the nurse on a BBC programme as being married to a councillor of an opposing political party.
Facebook pictures showing the nurse on a holiday abroad are plastered all over social media as she is vehemently attacked online by hundreds of supporters of the government party. The same pictures and appear in a prominent newspaper.
It soon comes out that the parliamentary candidate who attacked the nurse on the BBC was encouraged to do so by a government minister who told her that the party had checked out the claim and it was accurate.
Only in fact it wasn't, and the parliamentary candidate concerned had to apologise. The leader of her party and head of the government excused the candidate with the words "She made a mistake, an honest mistake and she apologised for that."
If you have not already heard this story, which party do you think attacked the nurse in that way?
If you answered that it must have been the Conservatives, and gave that answer because of your view of that party or for any reason other than that the Conservatives are running the UK government at the moment, perhaps you ought to have a serious think about your attitude to people who don't share your political views. No, it wasn't the Conservatives.
If you answered that it sounds like the sort of thing the New Labour government did, then to be honest you have a point. Perhaps you remember the smears against 94 year old NHS patient Rose Addis under New Labour or the New Labour special advisor who tried to dig up dirt on the Paddington Rail Crash survivors group? But on this occasion it wasn't Labour.
In fact the government concerned was the Scottish government and the culprits were the SNP.
Scotland deserves a better voice than the SNP, letters which also stand for Scottish Nasty Party.
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