Bowie: ‘The Union has fought the virus’ and the virus has highlighted its weakness

Just as Mile Briggs accuses Douglas Chapman of being smug about Scotland’s lower coronavirus death, his Westminster associate, Andrew Bowie, is quoted in the Scotsman:

‘Together our Union has fought this virus. Together, we have supported one another. And together we will fight the economic fall out to come. Over the last few years, the strength of our union has been tested as never before. It has proven itself to be as solid as the rocks on which these islands are built.’

Why do I think of A.A Milne’s Winnie the Pooh when I read that?

‘When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.’

Let’s have a wee look at Bowie’s thing – the Union – and what it has really meant for Scotland. How might his wee brain deal with these?

  1. Scotland has half the death rate of England because of the Union?
  2. Scotland has a much higher death rate than Norway because of the Union?
  3. The UK government delaying the lock-down to protect business has been good for Scotland?
  4. ‘Ireland has contained and effectively suppressed coronavirus in the population at large, a tribute to early and successful action by authorities and the public’ because they’re still in the Union?
  5. Those SNP coronavirus assessment centres are thanks to the Union?
  6. Scotland’s hospitals, uniquely avoiding the closures due to Norovirus last winter, is not due to the SNP policy of inhouse cleaning and catering but to the Union?
  7. NHS Scotland’s higher staffing is due to the Union?
  8. NHS Scotland superior A&E services are due to the Union?
  9. Scotland’s care homes all passing inspection while many in England have failed, on infection control, is due to the Union?
  10. And, to top it all off, Scotland’s economy, already damaged by Brexit but with worse to come, is because of the Union?


He can have that last one.

11 thoughts on “Bowie: ‘The Union has fought the virus’ and the virus has highlighted its weakness”

  1. There was another Bowie who fought at the Alamo, over a piece of ground that belonged to another country.
    No one wants the demise of Mr Bowie (other than in a political sense), but he will lose the fight over Scotland, which he wants “Greater England” to subsume (“Scotland extinguished by Union, asserts Cameron government legal advice 2014”).

    Scotland needs to move on from these imposters, and grab its own future as quickly as it can.

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    2. “The rocks on which these islands are built”.

      Some geology for Mr Bowie.
      The “Caledonian orogeny” was when part of a big lump of land called Laurentia ( from whence Scotland came) collided with part of another big lump of land called Avalonia (now England and Wales, in the main). This happened about 400 million years ago, roughly.
      Cornwall is different again, being part of Armorica. But the Cornish are very aware they are NOT English.

      So, the “Scottish rocks” had very different origins from the “English rocks”.
      Looks like we WERE different, ARE different and WILL BE different again!
      Right down to the rocks beneath our feet.

      Odd that, no? About as odd as when David Bowie, who lived in New York, exhorted Scotland to ….”Scotland, stay with us”. All in his penthouse, presumably !

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  3. I kindly remind a certain Mr.Bowie of a absolute geographical certainty pertaining to the rocks that Isles are build upon
    Those rocks in the south (due to geological forces) are actually slowly but surely sinking below the waves

    Whilst those rocks in the North of these isles are actually rising
    Our Indenpenance not in that way but in more tangible ways will greatly accelerate their demise and raise our wellbeing in so many positive ways

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  4. I now have to remind Mr Bowie of more and real tangible facts particularly in the field of the Union fighting and overcoming the economic effects of the virus
    Approx 10 months ago the IMF produced a balance sheet on the UK & 67 other Nations
    Re.UK.what did they find
    Liabilities in excess of assets by £4.2 trillion
    Conclusion – Technically bankrupt
    And not if but when the next major fiscal shock arrives
    Then the only way out for UK is a GENERATION of the severest austerity
    How has this state of fiscal affairs arose
    Simple UK has sold off the vast majority of the State assets and now find themselves with. Little of worth to be included in the asset colum of their balance sheet
    Upon reading this IMF report Mr.G.Soros
    Stated it would advisable to now slowly but surely to divest yourself of any UK holdings you may have
    And without getting involved in politics
    Then i cannot see why Scotland would not go Independent and if that were to happen then the fiscal consequences for what is left of the UK is unthinkable
    So Mr.Bowie the rocks to which you refer
    Are more akin to Quick Sand
    Believe me the power brokers are well aware of what i speak

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  5. The “important factors to consider” that WHO states for coming out of the lockdown are these. The first is that transmission is controlled. Then, sufficient services are in place to test, trace, isolate and treat or quarantine new cases as quickly as possible along with close contacts. Also, steps have to be taken to minimise the risk of outbreaks in places like care homes and hospitals. There must also be in place effective preventative steps in workplaces, schools and places where it is necessary for people to meet. There must be control of flights and travel at borders to eliminate as far as possible importing new cases. The people need to be well informed and to be willing to play their parts in the move out of lockdown.

    The testing, tracing and isolating part is probably better done at local level with co-ordination at the centre. Control of flights and travel would likely be for central government.It was clear from the questions put to the FM in the course of the daily brief that “Union” Jack, the SoS and MP for Dumfries and Galloway, thinks Scotland and the rest of the UK should be linked together and unlock together.

    From the tabbytraveller site it is clear that the Borders area has a relatively high rate of infections and a relatively hogh rate of deaths. My guess is that one factor contributing to this is travel, within the Scottish border area and across the border. If that guess is correct then Scotland might well want to have some travel limitations in the borders and perhaps elsewhere in Scotland and to do that quickly after transmission is controlled.

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  6. English/British nationalist incompetence emanating from Westminster has definitely showed the so-called united kingdom to be a very sick joke. Scotland must go its own way.

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  7. I believe it is a most excellent matter that those in the Unionist camp are increasing their futile efforts to politicise this virus
    And grasping like a drowning man at every twig and straw that the media cast their way
    Little do they realise they are merely loading up shotguns which can & will only backfire in their own faces
    This is so because currently Scottish NHS
    and government are by far outperforming
    Their counterparts down south and in main with regards to the cases,tests /million of population and the Nrs. really diverge in Scots favour when it comes to deaths /million
    Such will only continue to diverge even more in our favour
    So i say more air to their trumpets and power to their fiddling elbows as the bum notes emancipating will be decried later once the 1st wave of the pandemic is over
    and we are armed with irrefutable statistics that pulls the trigger of their backfiring shotguns and silence the shrill notes of their trumpets and fiddles
    So please all refrain for the now by NOT
    responding for as long as possible and giving them the current facts and status of comparative on this virus
    Keep your powder dry and HOLD HOLD HOLD Till a mortal blow can and will be struck
    For them ignorance is their big weakness
    And our power as this unfolds
    In their case and for us their eager stupid actions & Ignorance is BLISS

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  8. Pingback: Never mind Ross and Jack, this would be the sweet one for me! – Talking-up Scotland

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