Mrs Scotland – A Victim of Domestic Abuse

The Complaint

Statement received from Mrs Scotland.

‘Please can you help me?   

It’s my partner Westminster. Yes I know it’s a funny Christian name but no funnier than loads of others. Anyway for the last however many years we’ve been living together and during that time we’ve has our ups and downs like most people. Truth be told, he’s always been a bit of an arrogant sod but I just put that down to having the posh Christian name.

Lately though his behaviour has gotten dramatically worse and I’m beginning to get a little scared. It began to escalate when he became more friendly than usual with his Uncle Sam. Now please don’t get me wrong, I love Uncle Sam to bits – he’s a great big cuddly bear of a man who’s the life and soul of any party – plus he’s bailed us out of a few scrapes in years gone by.

A few years ago though, both Uncle Sam and Westminster seemed to both go through a personality change at the same time. They started involving themselves in matters that were really none of their business and trying to pick fights with all and sundry. From that moment on things really went downhill fast and now Westminster appears to have transformed himself into a rampaging bully. He’s started picking on the weak and vulnerable. , He’s also persecuting people depending on the colour of their skin or where they come from. If that wasn’t bad enough, he insists on throwing what little money we have in the direction of his already rich cronies. These are the same bunch of bankers who caused us so much financial grief not so long ago due to their blundering incompetence. All of this means I have no money of my own to fulfil my plans to improve my health, education and general wellbeing.

 Other friends are now deserting us due to his actions. Oh sure, they’re still nice enough to our faces but underneath I’m sure they must be sniggering behind our backs.

The final straw for me was when he really went too far and started ensuring the disabled employees at a company called Remploy all lost their jobs. “That’s it. No more,” I thought. I really want to leave but I’m so scared of what the future will bring on my own. I really want to make my own way in the world and rebuild old relationships and perhaps build new ones but I don’t know how.

Please help me?”

 

The Case for the Prosecution.

‘Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you are charged today to determine whether the accused, Westminster is guilty of abusing his partner.

First of all I must stress that domestic abuse does not have to include violence toward the partner. Indeed no such claim will be made. Domestic abuse can take place where there are instances of psychological and financial abuse and I will prove beyond any reasonable doubt that such instances did occur, were present over a great number of years, and are still occurring to this day.

 Experts in the field express the belief that for domestic abuse to occur some of the following conditions should be present.

The Abuser

1. Cycle of Abuse
2. Economic Abuse
3. Emotional and mental abuse

The Abused Party

1. Learned Helplessness

The prosecution will provide members of the jury with examples of each of these conditions in turn -examples that will show, without any shadow of doubt, that Scotland has been abused by Westminster over a number of years.

Cycle of Abuse

This comes in several stages ladies and gentlemen:-

1. Build-up of tension
2. Incident of abuse
3. Reconciliation or honeymoon period
4. Calm

 

Ever since the beginning of the 20^th century, Labour leaders had been promising the people of Scotland greater devolution and ever since the time of Keir Hardie they had failed to deliver on these promises.

 All four of the above covered in one short sentence.

1. Scotland waits impatiently for promised devolution to materialise
2. Promise of devolution is not delivered on time
3. Further promise of devolution in the future substituted instead
4. Scotland waits impatiently for promised devolution to materialise

In 1979, members of the jury, as part of my misspent youth, I was part of a team campaigning on behalf of George Reid and the SNP.

 I remember knocking on one door in particular and then spending a great deal of time arguing against the occupier’s claim that the SNP were a bunch of ‘Tartan Tories’ for voting with the Conservatives in the recent ‘Vote of No Confidence’

My claim that, whilst the SNP were naïve in that regard, at least they had made an attempt to stand up for their principles appeared to be swaying this voter but then he came up with the following statement.

“Listen son, I hear what you’re saying but I’ve been a Labour supporter all my life and I’ve been a Rangers supporter all my life and the only way you’ll get me to vote SNP is if Rangers get relegated to the Second Division and we both know that’s not going to happen. So please kindly remove your good self from my doorstep.” (Or words to that effect)

I really do wonder, if that poor chap has been suffering sleepless nights waiting for my knock on his door to force him to make good on his promise.

This anecdote is important ladies and gentlemen of the jury as, in addition to providing historic evidence of Westminster’s abuse, it also provides an example of learned helplessness, a subject that will be covered in greater depth later on in my argument.

Suffice to say that a great percentage of the people of Scotland supported the UK Labour Party’s incorrect statement that the SNP were responsible for the election of Margaret Thatcher by introducing a ‘Vote of No Confidence’. If the Labour Party had fulfilled their promise to deliver devolution without any provisos, no ‘Vote of No Confidence’ would have been required.

Now it is time to move forward to the present day and put under the microscope the actions of Westminster’s latest ‘Rogues Gallery’ i.e. the latest in a long line of lieutenants the accused utilises to prolong the abuse.

I would like to draw your attention to the current crop of henchmen Westminster employs to ensure the abuse continues. 

Members of the jury, I present to you in no particular order: David Cameron, Alistair Darling, Danny Alexander, Ian Duncan Smith and George Gideon Osborne.

Is it only me folks or can anyone else see the characteristic that links all five of this alliance? 

Yes that’s right; I refer of course to the thinly disguised sneer behind the mask. The sneer that seems to say, “I don’t believe a word of this mince I’m dishing out to you plebs but if it enables me to earn the ‘big bucks’ a la Tony Blair, then I’ll stomach it.”

David Cameron and George Osborne I’ll leave to the history books to define but let’s take a close look at the main characters in the current abuse allegedly being perpetuated against the victim in this case.

Is it only coincidence that the initials for Alistair Darling, namely AD, is a mirror image of the initials for Danny Alexander, DA? 

Is it only coincidence that the initials IDS for Ian Duncan Smith, architect of the Bedroom Tax, so closely resemble the initials IBS for Irritable Bowel Syndrome? I leave it to you, members of the jury to draw your own conclusions or to submit your own punch-lines if you prefer.

Let us discuss Alistair Darling, leader of the ‘Better Together’ campaign. This is the same Alistair Darling who became the only former Labour Chancellor in history to receive a standing ovation at a Scottish Tory Party Conference.  Let’s just say ladies and gentlemen that if you were to rewind the story of the conversion of Matthew the tax collector from end to beginning it would so closely resemble the CV of our Alistair.

And this, members of the jury, is Westminster’s chosen disciple to spread the Gospel of Better Together to a traditionally left of centre congregation. Is this not contempt almost beyond belief

Now members of the jury, the prosecution intends to focus on the effects the alleged abuse has had on the victim in this case and also present examples of other facets of the abuse, namely:- emotional abuse, economic abuse, financial abuse and learned helplessness and ask you to examine each in turn. I will also provide cast iron proof that the ‘honeymoon period’ of the abuse is well and truly over, and that only the contempt remains

Emotional, Economic and Financial Abuse

 An abusers main mission in life is to control his victim.

 ‘Your talents won’t last for ever then what will you do without me?’

‘You don’t have any abilities to earn a living on your own.’

‘You’ll never be able to survive without me to look after you.’

How would you feel, members of the jury, if you were repeatedly told you were of no value? How would you feel if you were constantly advised that you had nothing to offer? How would you feel if you were continually instructed that without someone’s patronage and protection you would be unable to survive? Yes ladies and gentlemen, these are rhetorical questions. You would feel worthless and downtrodden, afraid to open your mouth for fear of ridicule. Yet that is what occurs in this case on a daily basis.

Substitute, if you will, the above well-known signs of an abusive relationship for

‘It’s not your oil and even if it was, it is/isn’t beginning to run out.’(Delete as appropriate depending on whether Westminster is making the case for English or Scottish consumption).

‘What will you do when the big bad wolf comes knocking on your door without Trident to protect you?’

Do you really need any further examples of the accused Westminster’s total disregard for his victim?  How about this:-

Is it only me that seems to have missed the request from Westminster to change the anthem played at English sporting occasions from Land of Hope and Glory to the British national anthem namely God Save the Queen? Was I asleep when the required legislation was passed?

Can you possibly imagine the repercussions if the Catalan people decided to replace their anthem – Els Segadors – with the Spanish national anthem – Marcha Real. It makes me shudder just to contemplate it. What do you imagine, ladies and gentlemen, would occur if the good old folks down Texas way decided to replace Texas Our Texas, the anthem for the state of Texas, believe it or not, with The Star Spangled Banner? Yup you guessed it, the National Guard would be camped outside the Governor’s mansion before you got to ‘…..and the land of the free’.

Yet here in this country, the issue merited not so much as a whimper of protest.

Now don’t get me wrong, the English, as far as I am concerned are welcome to the song but it’s the principle that counts.

That is not just an example of the contempt that Westminster holds for the victim but also another example of learned helplessness and learned helplessness is exactly what we will delve into now.

Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness, although mainly tied to the animal kingdom, can also apply to many situations involving human beings. When people are subjected to prolonged periods of abuse, they may develop symptoms of helplessness, and inertia that causes them to behave inadequately and overlook opportunities to improve their quality of life. In severe cases, it may cause the victim to miss openings to escape the abuse and also to manufacture situations that can only reinforce the helplessness.

Up to now, members of the jury, the prosecution has concentrated on presenting the sins of the alleged abuser. I now want to switch your attention to the catastrophic effects the abuse has caused. Let’s have a look at each one in turn.

While the subject of sporting anthems is fresh in your mind, let me firstly draw your attention to that unsolvable enigma that is the Scotland football team. This, ladies and gentlemen is an institution that has introduced a completely new phrase into everyday vocabulary. That phrase is ‘Glorious Failure’ a phrase, I believe to be applied uniquely to said institution.

It is known that in the remote circumstance that Scotland qualifies for a future World Cup, as things stand at the present, the following scenario is preordained:-

Scotland is drawn against Outer Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Brazil. Scotland is ‘horsed’ 3-0 by Outer Mongolia, scrapes a draw against New Guinea and therefore needs to beat Brazil 2-0 to qualify for the later stages. They perform unbelievably brilliantly, are 2-0 ahead in the 94^th minute and then the referee awards a dodgy penalty and it’s the next plane home for Scotland.

 It’s written in the stars.

Even your average Scottish football supporter is aware of this phenomenon. If you were to attend a sporting event involving the English, their supporters would be singing the British national anthem. If you were to attend a Wales V USA football match, the Welsh would be giving ‘Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ laldy, the Americans would be chanting ‘USA…..USA……USA’ at the tops of their voices. (OK so they could do with employing a new lyricist.) Attend a Scotland football match however and you’ll hear either the refrain of ‘We’re Crap But We Know We Are’ or a selection from the Sound of Music being belted out with great gusto.

Yes folks, not only are the Tartan Army great ambassadors for Scotland due to the phenomenal work they do raising money for children’s charities, they also recognise Learned Helplessness in the National Psyche when they see it.

Do you need another example?

On a similar vein, why not consider the Scottish rugby team? How many times does it look like a guaranteed try, only for the player to try one ambitious pass too many and for it to be adjudged to be a millimetre forward? How many times have we seen the Scottish Rugby Team give away ridiculous penalties at crucial times?

 Learned Helplessness in the National Psyche strikes yet again.

If you don’t learn from the mistakes of the past…etc etc

.That ladies and gentlemen is the final example of ‘learned helplessness in the national psyche’.

And that ladies and gentlemen of the jury ends the case for the prosecution.

 I am absolutely convinced that the argument that Mrs Scotland is a victim of domestic abuse has been proved conclusively.

All that remains is for someone, anyone. c’mon don’t be shy. to present the case for the defence,

Your verdict is of the utmost importance imaginable. Only you can break the Cycle of Abuse. If you reject the plea from the victim then all I can say is ‘There is none as blind as they who will not see’

And that itself is a symptom of learned helplessness.