Refusing to share

What on earth is it that makes people cling to power so desperately? Westminster, the bastion of “family of nations”, squeals like a stuck pig as soon as another family member asks for just a little more power.

Shouldn’t it be happy to see the family right? Instead, it stamps its rage into the school playground and storms off in a huff. Why? Sheer, bloody-minded control, that’s why.

The trade unions are just as guilty. When the Tolpuddle Martyrs were persecuted for standing up to the ruling classes, the working classes united.

From this a union was created, and then a political party. The most important aspect was that all members acted in unison and with the same political aim. This was democracy at its finest.

Nowadays, the majority of union members do not support the Labour Party. So why should that party receive such exclusive financial support to the detriment of the other parties that members do support?

A members’ referendum might indicate a preference to spread this financial support. The SNP, the Scottish Socialists and the Greens are all left-of-centre parties.

Yet paradoxically Labour don’t just get the lion’s share, they get all the financial backing.

So where is this same shining democracy now that our forefathers fought and even died for?

Well, that soon gets swept under the carpet when, just 
like Westminster, the question of relinquishing or sharing power looms, despite the fact that the members are the 
Union.

ROBERT GRITTON

Glen Drive

Aberdeen