Magnus Linklater puts it succinctly - 'What a lamentable affair.' Very true indeed. These absentees should be named and shamed. They have their jobs because the public voted them into office (well some of them; others crept in by the back door).
I'm no ardent royalist, but to ignore such an occasion when our 83 year old Queen and her 89 year old husband took the trouble to attend, is downright bad manners. MSPs have no excuse as they knew of yesterday's ceremony as long ago as last October with an update on arrangements issued at the start of April this year.
Of the individual parties 26 out of 47 SNP MSPs were present, labour had 29 out of 46 there, the tories had 13 out of 16 and the libdems 11 out of 16. One of two Green MSPs turned up but the sole independent MSP did not.
Christine Grahame, the SNP MSP, admitted that she had stayed away because of her republican sympathies. She said, "I had no intention of being there and I made my position clear before the event. I do not want to be seen as a hypocrite. I do not believe in the aristocracy running our country."
Ms Grahame, until we have legislation to the contrary, you should conform to the wishes of your electorate and I do hope they're not impressed with your behaviour on this occasion. Of course party spokesmen are verbose with their excuses with one saying, "They were further eight who had already booked their holidays as the Parliament is in recess and it was before we were notified about the Queen's visit." Rubbish. I don't believe eight booked their holidays 8 months in advance.
Some 10 year old children travelled from as far afield as Canada, the US and Germany yet a third of our representatives refused to attend. What a disgrace and a sad day for Scottish politics.
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Perhaps what was being snubbed was the concept of undemocratic, hereditary, political power.
Indeed scunnert, but surely they could make their protest another day. After all, it was the first 10 years and if they don't support that then they shouldn't be in the job.
Totally agree.
I can accept that there might be legitimate cause for some not to be there - I mean it's the last week of school in some parts of the country and there may have been events that their kids are involved in or something. It's possible that some may have booked holidays before last October and have partners who are committed to taking leave at this time.
However, not turning up to such an important event, marking a significant milestone for the parliament is churlish and rude. I note that the Queen had a stinking cold and could have called up Anne or Charles and sent them in her place, but she didn't.
Glad you agree with me Caron. Yesterday wasn't the time for any MSPs to attempt to make points against the monarchy.
Of course a very few would have been able to attend for various reasons, but 47 of them is shameful.
I'm a republican, but I didn't see it as a royal event at all. Surely it was a celebration of the Scottish Parliament, unless I missed something. Might have been weird if the Queen had said she was busy.
I admit I could probably think of a legitimate individual reason to miss even the most important of events. (In fact today I'm working at home due to minor family illness.) But these effects usually even themselves out so one can't help but attempt to 'read' the overall message here.
Today's Scotsman coverage has that list of absentees and perceived reasons at: http://bit.ly/y9mEJ
Mek I thought it a ceremony in honour of the 10 years of having our own parliament once again.
I reiterate, if those MSPs didn't see it that way then they shouldn't be doing the job. If they can't turn up for such an occasion, how effective are they in their jobs I wonder.
Thanks for the link.
The fact the Queen was there was just an extra touch. Even though you don't support royalty, you've got to admire her coming along at her age - even though it was just across the road.
Sorry SR, but was it really that significant an event? Only because most of us have 10 fingers, count in base 10 and therefore 10 is a "nice round number" I would suggest.
The fact that the Earth has orbited the Sun 10 times since the parliament started doesn't really hold any great cosmic significance, at least not for us Capricorns ;o)
The true significance is less to with the number 10, rather more to do with the growing maturity of the parliament. We've had 2 1/2 electoral cycles now, and seen the prospect of permanent Labour (coalition) rule wither and die to be replaced by minority, consensual SNP rule. In that sense it's an opportune moment to pause for thought, reflect on what's been and ponder what will be.
Finally, I can't agree that failure to attend yesterday equates to being ineffective as an MSP. At least I hope there's a wee bit more to the job than pitching up now and then to tug your forelock in front of the Queen!
As the Queen put it “Your challenge … is to ensure that [the Parliament] continues to reflect the priorities and aspirations of all Scotland’s people (her emphasis) and to retain the public’s confidence and trust.”
Having fought for it so long, it would have been the decent thing to do and attend this celebration.
Magnus Linklater is rather scathing in the tImes
If there was an Independent Scotland(a flight of fancy or whimsy)
these MSPs presumably would expect.
Whomever was the constitutional(as the queen is at the present time) representative of the Scottish nation.
to be treated with the respect the office should be due from the Scottish peoples.
On the other hand can they complain if others behave to the Representative(however chosen) of the Scottish nation.
in the ill mannered way and discourteous as they have.
I don't think they were protesting. CG may have leapt at the chance to make it a republican issue but that is just CG isn't it?
No - rather than a republican conspiracy I think we are looking at a massive cock-up by the Scottish Parliament staff.
The fact that 5 government ministers were absent suggests to me that MSPs were under no instructions to attend. Even those who do not like the SNP Government will acknowledge that they run a very tight ship as far as PR is concerned. Being seen to snub the Queen is not good PR.
If the Parliament authorities had wanted a full turnout they shouod have told the group business managers that attendence was required. Evidently they did not do that, so people thought it was optional.
Result a great hullaballoo about a perceived insult which MSPs did not actually intend.
Subrosa,
On the whole, I think it was a badly organised thing, but there are a couple of points to note.
One - this wasn't the 10th anniversary of the Parliament. It was the 10th anniversary of the Queen "officially" opening it - we'd had a Parliament a couple of months previously.
Two - Your comment "Ms Grahame, until we have legislation to the contrary, you should conform to the wishes of your electorate." - Just wondering what you mean by that? Are you suggesting that her electorate are all ardent royalists and support the Queen? Or are you suggesting MSPs should not be permitted to have their own views regarding the Queen's position as Head of State?
Either way, good-ish analysis I reckon!
Another point to note is that the Queen hosted a reception for MSPs at Holyrood Palace on Friday night which was also a 10th anniversary do - many of the MSPs who did not attend the function yesterday did attend the do on Friday. Clearly they thought that they didn't have to do both.
So the lesson is 1. Keep it simple - don't confuse them with too many functions and 2. Tell them if they are meant to be there!
Forfar-loon, no it wasn't such a big event but the PR setup (as indy says later) made it such.
My point isn't so much about anybody tugging their forelocks, hindquarters or anything else for the Queen, but as employees of the Parliament, they should have attended the official chamber ceremony.
Just staying away isn't good enough. As I said earlier, if the Parliament was a private business they would have made sure they attended - jobs on the line and all that ...
Indeed fitaloon. You're not clicking on my links! That's the link in this post lol.
As Indy says Niko, it's an awful mess and not helped by all the lame excuses coming from spokesmen.
Indy, are you sitting down? I actually agree with you. They hyped it up with asking for all the 10 year olds and publicising the events, then forgot to ensure the official chamber event was organised.
Rather silly behaviour from the absentees though. I would have thought they had more common sense.
That's right Malc and yesterday was the ceremony to mark the official opening.
I don't care what the views of MSPs are concerning the monarchy. The Parliament is there official place of work and they should have attended the official ceremony, regardless of whether Queenie was there or not.
Thanks for the compliment, much appreciated. :)
Indy, I wonder of Christine Grahame was there on the Friday evening?
I'm not sure the comparison with private business holds water subrosa. It's the nature of the role of MSP that people will be out and about at various times, tending to important constituency matters or essential ministerial duties - these canals won't open themselves you know ;o)
If the ceremony was indeed an official (i.e. compulsory) piece of parliamentary business then one might expect a bigger turnout. But judging from that old "Future of the Monarchy" debate and phone vote on ITV (Remember that? Where Scotland was the only bit of the UK to turn red instead of royal blue!) I'd say Brenda was lucky to get the numbers she did, and the turnout might just be representative of the mood of the nation.
Or look at it another way: do you think the Queen really missed Christine Grahame's shining countenance glowering back at her?
I've added a poll at Brigadoon in case anybody wants to cast a vote on this affair.
Forfar loon, my main point was about the lack of attendance at a formal occasion which has been lengthy in its planning. Nothing really to do with the Queen there.
FL, you know full well what I meant about the comparison with business. Many businesses have people very regularly out of the building working, but they'd attend if there was an official event.
I shall go and vote right now. :)
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