A turbulent world

In the recent referendum, Aberdeenshire voted strongly to remain in the EU. Surprisingly for those of us who attended the count and added up the votes, for and against, we found the fishing communities a bit less “Out” than we had imagined. In fact Banff and Buchan had under 1,000 more “Out” votes than our neighbours in Gordon constituency where that issue was of lower priority.

But the test of a democracy is perhaps how we treat our minorities not simply how we chose our majorities.

At the Scottish Parliament election in May all candidates standing in our area, Conservative, Labour, LibDem and myself for the SNP, supported staying in the EU. We now share a duty to the minority who voted to leave.

I have attempted to contact the representatives of all the lead organisations representing fishermen across the UK.

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, whose membership comes from across England, recognises that in any renegotiation of quota for fishermen, “it is realistic to expect that there will be a price of some sort.”

Scottish associations seem more bullish and I look forward to hearing how we retrieve vessels and associated quota sold by us into foreign ownership.

But with Scotland very substantially voting to stay, our Parliament has voted to empower our First Minister to work with the countries and institutions of the EU to protect our interests. No party opposed this, albeit the Conservatives – authors of the current chaos – abstained.

Since they last represented our area in Parliament – ending in 1987 – we have, under successive SNP Parliamentarians, moved from being in the worst quarter for unemployment into near top of the league. Standing up for people actually delivers. That is what all political parties must now do.

The current power and policy vacuum at Westminster cannot, must not, continue. Although I fear for – I never imagined that I would put it this way – the character of public life after David Cameron. We must rebuild.

More optimistically, I have just left the Parliamentary chamber after an enthralling address by the Irish President. He talked of our shared heritage and the need for an inclusive world.

In our corner of Scotland, we have received new friends into our communities from all over. Just as many of our friends and relatives have relocated to other countries – for example I have a great many relatives in the USA.

My Boy Scout patrol leader, Spigniew Skrodski was the half Scots son of a Free Polish Army soldier who came here to help in our time of need in the 1940s. Spigniew subsequently died as a pilot in our air service.

There is no greater disgrace than if we tolerate current attacks on “new Scots”.

I think Irish Poet W B Yeats got it right 100 years ago when he wrote:

“Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”