Here are a few tidbits from a guest piece at Harry’s Place by Tom Gallagher, Professor of Ethnic Conflict and Peace at the University of Bradford. He certainly doesn’t miss and hit the wall!

“It is now reasonable to ask exactly which epoch does the Scottish National Party want to join, as it drags along a compliant Scotland in its wake? Increasingly, the language it uses to scorch its opponents and groups like the Quilliam Foundation which dare to give it wise counsel, is from an epoch associated with rather scary and confrontational nationalism.”

“Just as small groups of restless, angry and sometimes idealistic young Muslims have found it difficult to engage with the West, this is true of the SNP, except that its ‘West’ stretches from the English Channel to the Cheviot Hills and is called ‘England’.”

“Several conditions and complexes make it altogether natural for those currently directing the SNP to link up with disseminators of a politicised version of Islam. Like not a few Islamists, the party is fuelled by a grievance culture. England is viewed as an overbearing and intrusive force which has thwarted the evolution of Scotland into a successful country with a much larger population and a more illustrious role in the world.”

“The SNP is defined by its separatism just like the Islamists: neither wish meddling outsiders to be able to dictate, or even influence, what happens in their respective sacred spheres. Powerful tribal leaders whose authority rests on their ability to look into the soul of their respective nationalist and religious faithfuls, and divine the path to salvation, play well not just in the strongholds of Al Q’aida but among part of the SNP ranks.”

“I suspect Osama Saeed was far from overjoyed by the furious outburst from an SNP spokesman when questioned by The Times about Quilliam’s concerns about their high profile activist’s track-record … even Nick Griffin of the British National Party has ditched such bombast.”

“These words encapsulate the self-righteous provincialism of the SNP. Mere foreigners, unless they drink from the fountain of nationalist purity, will never understand a country whose magnificent and complex history does not yield its secrets easily to outsiders. This kind of clap-trap has been pushed by ruling nationalists from Mussolini to Enver Hoxha and Kim Il-sung.”