Irish Examiner view: Lament for the best kind of nationalist
Alex Salmond, from Linlithgow in West Lothian, led the SNP to power in Holyrood in 2007 and ran a tightly organised minority administration for four years before inflicting a defeat on Labour in 2011.
It’s only in recent years that the term “nationalist” has come to be used as an insult and as a cypher for extreme or unsound political views, frequently with a racist tinge.
But it’s not a description that would have been recognised by Alex Salmond, Scotland’s former first minister, who died unexpectedly last weekend at the age of 69 after giving a speech in North Macedonia.
Mr Salmond took the Scottish National Party from the margins to a point where he came close to masterminding the break-up of Britain with a quick-witted and truculent style which sat engagingly alongside a hangdog expression.
Salmond, from Linlithgow in West Lothian, led the SNP to power in Holyrood in 2007 and ran a tightly organised minority administration for four years before inflicting a defeat on Labour, his principal enemies, in 2011. This set the stage for a referendum on September 18, 2014, the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn.
Salmond led the Scottish government until his resignation after an unexpectedly close 'no' vote, and was replaced by his one-time protégé Nicola Sturgeon.
But their relationship soured when allegations that he sexually assaulted female civil servants at his official residence, Bute House, were levelled against him. An internal investigation was said by a judge to have been “tainted by apparent bias” and he was awarded more than €500,000 in legal costs.
When the cases came before a High Court jury, he was acquitted on 12 charges — while the 13th carried that uniquely Scottish verdict of “not proven”.
The sundering was complete and the SNP was never again to campaign for independence with the focus and unanimity it had once possessed.
His nationalism was, he said, rooted in “tales of Burns and Wallace”. He mocked compatriots who went south to find a seat as “Sudeten Scots”.
Salmond wrote a racing column for the and was a dedicated follower of the Edinburgh soccer club Heart of Midlothian, a team named after a Walter Scott novel.
His death is a loss to the political geography of Western Europe, and a blow to all those who believe there is a place for nationalism — putting the interests of your country first — that deserves to have its name spoken in the contemporary landscape.
There’s not a government in the world whose treasuries are not seeking innovative ways to raise more funds from the taxpayer. And when those measures can be represented as a social good, then it’s happy days. Or what gamblers might like to call a win-win.
In Ireland, the final stages of the Gambling Regulation Bill are on the cusp of being passed into law after debates in Seanad Éireann. This will create a new statutory authority and a social impact fund that will be supported by a mandatory levy.
Operators will face various measures to protect vulnerable groups, including banning credit card betting and around advertising. There will be a watershed for the broadcast of gambling advertisements, but no complete prohibition.
Given that gambling is an international pastime, and one which has accelerated online, it is interesting to see how the forces are lining up across the border, where Labour chancellor Rachel Reeves is mulling over a €3.5bn tax raid on the sector which draws more than €12bn annually from the British public.
One of the drivers has been the growth of fixed odds betting terminals in many high streets which offer prizes for £100 (€119) per spin.
There will be formidable industry opposition, headed by the Betting and Gaming Council whose chief executive Grainne Hurst once worked for the Conservative MP Philip Davies.
Those readers with longer memories will recall that he placed a sizeable wager that he would lose his seat in Shipley, Yorkshire, at the general election, which he duly did.
Ireland will be watching any change in taxation approach to assess if lessons can be learned for our own marketplace.
The most recent figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) indicated that there is a higher level of problem gambling in the Republic than previously estimated, with one in 30 of the population affected. This equates to 130,000 adults.
Problem gamblers spend more than €1,000 a month. ESRI estimated that a further 279,000 adults show moderate evidence of problem gambling, including borrowing to fund their habit. Online generates three-fifths of the total spend of people with problem gambling.
Politicians will be observing closely to gauge whether their new legislation can affect an improvement in these rather depressing statistics, and to see whether enhanced financial benefits for the Exchequer can form a future part of that programme.
The fact that Barack Obama has entered the campaign for the White House in a high-profile manner might be seen as a useful vote of confidence in the campaign of vice-president Kamala Harris. But it is more likely to reflect a worry that her message is not getting across to a key constituency in the battleground states — men.
That Obama, US president from 2009 to 2017, admonished some black men for not “feeling the idea of having a woman as president” is an indicator that the Democrats don’t feel they can leave any votes out there.
Equally worrying is that, while Harris has improved her party’s standing among black voters since Joe Biden left the race, she has not recovered that share of vote which the Democrats enjoyed in 2020, according to the latest /Siena College poll.
Two of the nation’s most-contested states — Pennsylvania and Arizona — show how difficult it is for either side to maintain decisive advantage. Harris scores well on abortion, but Trump does better on the economy.
Pennsylvania is the state which contains Gettysburg, the location for the decisive battle of the American Civil War. It may also decide the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.
