Others said the campaign had a darker side and stirred up fear of newcomers. Some backers of the Piddington referendum compared their fight against the asylum accommodation to the 1940 Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany.
Villager Herbert Owen, 76, said after voting on Tuesday that the independence referendum “isn’t just about Piddington,” adding: “It means everything our grandparents, our parents fought for. Today is the Battle of Britain.”
Comparing unauthorized immigration to an invasion has become increasingly common among politicians including Nigel Farage of Reform UK, and far-right groups that have been active in organizing and attending anti-immigrant protests.
What a bunch of assholes. From earlier in the article:
Residents of Piddington, which has a population of about 350…
That makes sense. Small town people need to have no say over issues pertaining to classes of people who are “different” from themselves. They’re too insulated and lack exposure to those who aren’t like them to properly recognize that they’re human beings in all the ways that they’d recognize if they knew someone from said class.
Brief story: decades ago, while I was on excellent drugs at a rave, my homophobia (thanks, Mom!) instantly disappeared when I realized the hilarious gay guy, in a group of us smoking cigarettes, was no different from me. “He just wants to take his drugs and have a good time on Saturday night,” I realized. He was no different from me!
Small town people need drugs and a good time with people unlike themselves.
To be fair this does describe the SNP quite well! I’m a strong believer that a democratic institution is only worthy of the name if you can leave, but the Yes campaign’s whitepaper was very sloppy on its economics for example, it did a lot of wishful thinking around oil prices and Westminster paying for pension entitlements. The SNP is also incredibly crooked as it turns out, I’d be properly miffed if I was a Scot that petty corruption was damaging the credibility of the broader independence movement.
I have a lot more time for Plaid Cymru though, they’re doing the right things on the subject and they’re definitely a lot less shady in my view. Welsh independence is obviously even more challenging economically, but Plaid seem to be pacing themselves sensibly and building trust rather than going full-tilt into an ill-conceived gamble. I can see them delivering independence credibly in the future. Also they’ve done very well to gain enough seats from Labour to overturn their century-long Welsh streak.