Today's Scotsman reports that Scottish government agency Transport Scotland has announced that Scotland's trains are to be rebranded with a Saltire livery which will remain in place even if the operator franchise changes. Stations will also be redecorated using a dark blue colour scheme and blue signs.As usual, Labour sees through the SNP's gradualist tactics. George Foulkes said: "This is all part of the SNP's independence by creep" by employing a "strategy of incremental changes".
A Labour Party spokesman added:
We have to ask whether the SNP is getting a government agency to use the Saltire for their own nationalistic aims, rather than for simple patriotic pride in Scotland, which we all share.Absolutely right. Despite protestations that work on a new livery started before last May's Holyrood elections, it is obvious that the nationalists' pretendipendence agenda will have been at work here. It’s rarely far below the surface.
But the real insight, to my mind, came from the Conservative Party spokesman, who said:
We welcome this move, because it helps to reclaim the nation's flag from the narrow nationalism represented by the SNP. The Saltire and the Lion Rampant are for all of Scotland, not just people who want independence. It is similar to the Union Jack being reclaimed from the BNP as a sign of patriotism, not nationalism.Spot on, and that's why the SNP’s tactic will backfire. Any attempts to misappropriate either the Union Flag or the Saltire for narrow nationalistic purposes can never work, simply because our flags have such broad appeal that they’ll always be reclaimed by the majority.
As Annabel Goldie said last December:
To reject independence is not anti-Scottish; it is not unpatriotic; it is quite simply wanting the best for our country. Let me say clearly to Alex Salmond – the Scottish National Party does not have the monopoly of Scottish patriotism. Scottish patriotism is a proud and deep emotion, shared by millions of people outwith the Scottish National Party. Our saltire and the lion rampant are the symbols of our nation, they are not the badges of nationalism.
Interesting to see anybody aligning themselves with the views of the
largely discredited George Foulkes who appears to see racism and
extremism round every corner.
Even the form leader of the Labour
party dismissed Mr Foulkes attempts
to paint, unintentionally of
course, the SNP as racist in nature
with comments like
"on the extreme outskirts of nationalism to think it is OK to do things that could be very harmful to English people""
see - tinyurl.com/5qscf4
In terms of the article a few more
balanced comments are :
"Transport Scotland, whose own logo was inspired by the Saltire, stressed work on the new train design had started before the SNP came to power last year."
Passenger watchdogs said the Saltire livery would reduce confusion and save money in the long term.
Robert Samson, the Scotland manager for Passenger Focus, said: "We can see value in not changing the branding every time the train operator changes.
"It will also help bring uniformity, because there is a mishmash of First ScotRail and Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT] liveries at present, and different signs all over the place at stations.
"The new livery gives Scotland's railways a national identity without being Nationalist."
Transport Scotland said the rebranding aimed to provide the country's railways with a livery that will not change each time a new company takes over.
The planned revamp is also to emphasise that the network is largely funded by taxpayers, rather than the private sector.
Gary Bogan, the head of franchise futures for Transport Scotland, said: "The current range of train liveries creates confusion in the minds of passengers about whose railway it is, and who is paying for it. It does not create a unified brand image.
"Changes in the franchise do not coincide with when we need to repaint trains. We aim to create a brand which is independent of the franchisee.
"We want people to make the same connection as red buses have with London and yellow buses have with schools."
Traquir
1. George Foulkes was much misrepresented over those comments. He said at the time: “I'm not suggesting for a second that the SNP are racist, or indeed, anti-English”. He was speaking only of the way in which certain unguarded or rhetorical comments by SNP politicians can form the basis of a validation of extreme views.
2. Back on-topic, the design agency (Redpath) initially pitched to Transport Scotland in March last year. But according to this report they’ve been working on the brief for just under a year.
3. You're very welcome to comment on the blog but next time please don't paste huge sections of copyright material, as I have no facility to edit your post. I can only let it stand or delete it completely.