During Breaks At Work There's Always Alex Salmond

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Well being as I am an Englishman living in Wales who's a member of Plaid Cymru really couldn't resist " Alex Salmond The Dream That Will Never Die" when I saw it in the library. It's his account in diary form of the Scottish Independence Referendum two years ago. During breaks at work it was finished and was worth it.

Now to quickly recap why I became a member of Plaid Cymru as I would not vote Conservative if there was a gun pointed to my head I became disillusioned with Labour partly because of its sleep apnoea approach to the closure announcement in May re Tata Steel (happily about to be withdrawn according to the news) as well as the negligence and incompetence it has run Bridgend in both the assembly and the council. As I've explained in previous posts if a town could cry in despair like a widow in a funeral it would be Bridgend. Also I came to the view that Wales could live without England, it wouldn't be easy and mistakes would be made but it could be done.

I won't bore you (at least not today) with why Plaid Cymru has fallen behind in the race for independence from the SNP (though I'd say a large portion of the blame could fall on its previous leader Ieuan Wyn Jones) it has brought itself back from its lows thanks in no small regard by its current head Leanne Wood.

So we look with admiration and, let's face it envy at what the SNP have achieved.

Alex Salmond has many skills as a leader. Personable,witty, clever but not condescending. Able to adapt himself to an audience but not being patronising to it. But largely of course he is a man of principle, that of independence.

These qualities show themselves in the book. As well as the forces of "the establishment" targeted against them headed it would appear by the Labour Party in an action which has turned out to be the political suicide note for them in Scotland.

This book was published last year just before the May general election where the SNP won almost all of the Scottish seats so that they became the third biggest party in the UK. What the book also shows with hindsight was how unlucky Alex Salmond was given that one of the arguments used against independence was that Scotland would no longer be in the EU (bet there are many EU officials who regret that now).

History will look kindly on Alex Salmond (the loser) and not on those who won the referendum. Perhaps he can take a little comfort from that.

Until the next time.