Full marks to the good people of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for suspending Glasgow councillor Jahangir Hanif for firing an AK-47 rifle while in Pakistan.Â
Is this illegal in Pakistan? Apparently not. Then why suspend the man? I have my own theories, most of them revolving around the belief that the SNP are a bunch of irrelevant, economic illiterates who are chasing a dream just as constructive as that of the separatists of South Ossetia. A bunch of clowns overcome by a whinging sense of political correctness (as Councillor Hanif found out) and whose claim to represent the interests of a proud nation makes as much sense as punishing someone for firing a rifle. As the influence of the SNP seems to ebb and flow with the fortunes of the Labour Party, I really hope that Gordon Brown has a plan up his sleeve and that the SNP retreats back to holding the measly handful of real seats it used to before the quasi-high school debating society forum of the Scottish Parliament was established.
Does it matter that Councillor Hanif was with his children at the time that he fired the AK? Of course it doesn't. People who live in third world places grow up around rifles, more often than not AK-47's. The children returned to Britain with a better understanding of what life for most people is like than the fat and pasty bodies who decided to discipline their old man. If Councillor Hanif had lied and told his lefty masters that he exercising a cultural tradition, he'd probably have been commended. It's hard to believe that these are the same people who a few years ago tried to campaign outside screenings of Braveheart. At this rate they should rather claim the children's TV series Balamory as their own.
The incident highlights the complete disparity between the SNP (isn't it properly the Scots National Party in real English anyway?) and the part of the world that contributed so much above it's relative size to making Britain great and the world a much better place. I cannot reconcile my full-Scots blooded wife and her fiery temper, my Glaswegian father-in-law (who was the toughest man I ever met) with a bunch of left-of-centre professional politicians who choose yellow as their party colour, sound like people drummed out of the CND for being too pacifist, but yet claim to represent their interests.Â
History generally shows that any political party who puts the word 'national' into their title abandon reason at more or less the same time. This was illustrated to me recently by an active supporter of the SNP I once met who saw no contradiction between him being a complete xenophobe calling for the dismantling of the United Kingdom while carrying a Union Jack to Rangers-Celtic derby games. I'm really glad that the SNP will never be more than a lunatic fringe. Scotland deserves better than this bunch who, left to their own devices, would like to see the place nothing more than England's tartan hat.