It is not often that I agree with any of the, often drivel and generally nonsensical, tweets that emanate from Tom Harris' Twitter feed. Tom, the Labour MP for Glasgow South was, until disgrace forced his retirement from the position, 'Scottish' Labour's Twitter Tsar and tweets with a regularity that can only be admired and envied, particularly when you consider that he is, also, a Shadow Minister for DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) in Red Ed's Worstminster team. Where he has found the time to tweet on almost 29,000 occasions is beyond belief and such dedication can only be admired.Yesterday, however, Tom finally saw the light and I am, personally, delighted to welcome him to the cause of Scottish Independence. Hi, Tom.
At the end of his coming out tweet, he added the hashtag 'bettertogether' which is, of course, the Scottish NHS slogan and the well known British Columbia healthy eating programme strapline. Tom, obviously, wanted to draw our attention to the Unionist campaign to prevent Scotland throwing off the shackles of Dependency by become a proper Nation like everyone else and to warn us of the dangers that the said campaign posed.
He particularly, I have little doubt, wanted to make us think of what might have happened were the UK still under the one Government, as was the case until the Scottish Parliament reconvened in 1999, just 13 short years ago.
He wanted, I am certain, to warn us of the dangers posed to the NHS in England by the apparent privatisation of the service down south when we have the marvellous Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister of Scotland and Cabinet Secretary for Health in Scotland who has firmly opposed such nonsense up here and to suggest that only the Independence of the Scottish National health Service has protected it thus far. Well done, Tom, for drawing our attention to their scaremongering.
He then wanted us, I am sure, to consider the Police service where, once again, privatisation is rearing its ugly head in England. In highlighting the issue, he drew our attention to the redoubtable Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice who has protected the public from the reduction in officer numbers suffered in England by, actually, increasing the number of Police Officers here in Scotland. Thanks Tom for pointing out the dangers of the Union and highlighting the benefits achieved by having an Independent Scottish Police Service.
One of Tom's great interests I think is education and he wanted, almost certainly, to draw particular attention to the tuition fees of £9,000 now faced by students in England compared to those of £0 in Scotland and warn us of yet further danger posed by the Union. In doing so, he highlighted the excellent work done by Mike Russell, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, the man in charge of Scotland's Independent Education System.
Go Tom, go.
I now reach Tom's epiphany and am happy to reproduce below the tweet made by him yesterday in which he warned us not only of all of the above but, also, came out fully, firmly and categorically in support of Scottish Independence:
Q: What's the positive case for "independence"?
A: What would you like it to be?
#bettertogether #teamUK — Tom Harris (@TomHarrisMP) June 13, 2012
That's the whole point, Tom, thank you so much for pointing it out to those, as yet, undecided about how to vote in 2014. Come Independence Day, an Independent Scotland can start to shape the future in any way that we, the people who live in Scotland want.
Welcome to the club, Tom, I am delighted you are now going to vote YES. After all, you have pointed out the benefits.
Thanks.
