Ajax and Cassandra by Solomon J. Solomon, 1886.
There is no way I’m reading Robin McAlpine’s latest lofty (Alpine?) tirade in the National. I haven’t read anything by him for years and I’m not going to. The doctor says I’ve to stay calm.
Cassandra? Pretentious or whit? How many National readers know who she was?
In the Trojan war she was the daughter of King Priam who said: ‘Don’t open that effing horse that the Greeks have left behind! There’s something bad inside!’ In Greek mythology she was always warning folk not to do things because it would end badly. She was always right and, of course, unpopular. See Ajax above dragging her off.
So Robin feels a bit Cassandra-like these days because the SNP leadership never listens to him and everything is going to hell in a handbasket.
Well, actually it’s not but that doesn’t stop a modern Cassandra.
Jungian writer, Laurie Layton Schapira explored the Cassandra Syndrome, a ‘condition’ involving dysfunctional ties to the “Apollo archetype” – order, reason, emotional distance – John Swinney? – leading to suffering, sometimes hysteria/conversion symptoms and disbelief from others. This broader view links to women (or anyone) whose intuitive or emotional insights are dismissed.
Who else self-describes as Cassandra? Just Warren Buffet.
The archetype resonates widely in private or among peers, but publicly claiming it long-term is something very few prominent figures want to own. That’s because the myth captures the loneliness and thanklessness involved. It’s a role more often thrust upon people than eagerly adopted as McAlpine has.
Schapira identifies three aspects:
- Implied superiority — You’re positioning yourself as the clear-eyed prophet while others are blind, in denial, or foolish. This echoes “I told you so” with a mythic halo. If said preemptively or repeatedly, it can seem like humble-bragging or victimhood mixed with ego (“I’m special because I’m ignored”).
- Social perception — People generally dislike chronic pessimists or those who claim vindication in advance. It can alienate audiences, colleagues, or the public, making you seem aloof, elitist, or attention-seeking. In politics or commentary (e.g., Robin McAlpine’s usage), critics might mock it as performative martyrdom.
- Psychological angle — It risks the “Cassandra complex” trap in a meta way: believing your own warnings are uniquely accurate can lead to confirmation bias or dismissing valid counterpoints. Jungian interpretations (e.g., Laurie Layton Schapira) link it to dysfunctional dynamics with “Apollo-like” rational/authority figures, sometimes tied to personal hysteria or over-identification with victimhood.
Source – THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX: Living with Disbelief: A Modern Perspective on Hysteria by Laurie L. Schapirahttps://innercitybooks.net/bookshop/author/laurie-l-schapira/the-cassandra-complex/
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I just labeled it a pretty serious case of grandiosity (which admittedly he has had for years). ‘Cassandra…’ Give me a f’ing break. 🙄
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I read it. Thank you for calming me down.
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O/T apologies
Yesterday Keir Starmer posted this on ‘X’
“The test of any Prime Minister is: do you leave your country in a better place than you found it? I’m proud that the answer is yes”.
Still delusional I see.
I mean if it were really the case that he has made the country better via his premiership, then why, after only two years as the Labour UK PM , is he now being replaced ?
Obviously his deluded observation is not supported by either his own MP’s nor indeed the public.
I wonder if as a reward for being yet another failed UK PM we will see him , Starmer, eventually being given a life peerage.
As we all know how certain UK political parties do so love to reward their own people for being political failures.
Since Brexit we have had six PM’s yet somehow Brexit is not being seen as the main cause of all of this political failure, instability and chaos.
Labour pledged in their manifesto that they would “Make Brexit work” yet we are still seeing the damaging economic impact of Brexit , so surely it is obvious that it cannot be made to work as a policy if we are still out of the SM and the CU ?
So then how long will this new and latest Labour UK PM last ?
The Sunday Mail had a front page headline yesterday:
“Burnham: I’ll deliver for Scotland”
Didn’t they headline a similar front page with Starmer ?
Yep the huge problem for Scotland is that it is what was delivered (via Starmer) and now also what will be “delivered” (via Burnham) that is the worrying factor.
As in what has been delivered before by the various UK PM’s and what will be delivered by yet another new UK PM is not what Scotland needs nor wants, but instead it will be, yet again , what they, UK PM’s, want to impose upon us as something that only benefits and suits them and most certainly will not benefit nor suit us the people of Scotland.
It seems that since the first Independence Ref in 2014 there has always been “time” for a constant change of new UK PM’s, yet somehow we , Scotland, are always being told that “Now is not the time” (as in ‘Never’) for another justified Independence Referendum.
Now that is UK PM’s dictating to Scotland what it can and cannot do, as in what we are allowed and not allowed to do in this, checks notes, ‘Union’.
While simultaneously they themselves are always allowed , time and time again, to deliver constant changes and reversals to their policies and also to the (latest new) direction that they want to take for their UK State (including what they want to do to Scotland not for Scotland).
The same UK Policies and new directions that mostly end up causing more problems that results in constant instability and chaos.
Seems to me that the real problem for Scotland is us still being a part of their UK State , us still being overruled by WM and so then us always still being dictated to and so then overruled by their various (ever changing) UK PM’s (that as a situation will, I am sure, not change with Andy Burnham as the latest Labour UK PM).
Liz S
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It’s a shame that he appears to have been captured by the “Real Independence Supporters” because he was an effective speaker during the 2014 campaign, articulate, well-informed and able to counter unionist lies.
Something happened on his way up the High Street and his eyes were opened to the perfidy of Nicola Sturgeon and Co and he’s been a committed opponent ever since. I can’t remember what it was, perhaps an encounter with Craig Murray at the Storytelling Centre, but it was probably connected to the Alex Salmond trial, or the Westminster psyop as I believe. Pity, but worse things happen in political info wars.
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