Robin McAlpine on the state of democracy in Scotland

There is a rather alarming article on the state of democracy in Scotland by Robin McAlpine which is available here, called

"The foundations of Scotland’s democracy have crumbled and you should worry."

Lest anyone think they recognise his surname when they are thinking about a very different branch of the clan, Robin McAlpine is the son of a Labour turned SNP councillor, founder of the Common Weal think tank, and author of the 2016 book, 

"Determination: How Scotland can become independent by 2021." 
(Common Print. ISBN 978-0-9930965-4-9)

In other words his article cannot be dismissed as some Tory Unionist criticising the SNP while trying to discredit the cause of independence, as he is clearly none of those things. He writes that he often gets invited to speak at SNP branch meetings "and when I do I am the picture of diplomacy (you don’t go to someone else’s house and criticise the wallpaper)" or at least he used to get frequent invitations to talk at SNP branches. 

I somehow suspect that now he has written this article such invitations may become more rare.

The article expresses concerns about almost every aspect of civic life in Scotland including the civil service, press and opposition parties.as well as the Scottish government and has uncomfortable messages for all of them.

It is often, though not always, unhealthy for democracy in any state, country or nation for the same one party, whichever one it is, to be as dominant for a long time as the SNP have gradually become in Scotland over the past thirteen years.

I would suggest that anyone with an interest in the future of Scotland would do well to read his article.

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