My Great But Short Escape from Harperland

(Click pic to enlarge)

Well I have to say that as I lay on those grassy dunes, staring up at the clouds, listening to the roar of the waves, drinking in the fresh North Sea air, it was really easy to forget the horrible sights, the grunting sounds, and the foul stench of Harperland.

Especially since the only Canadian news I saw on Scottish TV was a few seconds of Great Majority Leader and the royal couple, wearing cowboy hats at the Redneck Stampede.

Which was just as well eh?

Because if I'd known that the Great Harpony didn't just look ridiculous, but was also sounding like a man possessed.

“Conservative values are Canadian values.”

Thus spoke Stephen Harper in front of 900 hootin’ and hollerin’ supporters at the Calgary Stampede. The Liberal era was basically over, he claimed, gone like “disco balls and bell bottoms.” The citizens of this great land have moved into the Tory temple and “Canada is more united than ever.”

It might have ruined my holiday.

Or not. Because as I told Sébastien as I showed him the battlefield of Culloden, where a Scottish army was slaughtered by the English.

A lost cause is only a lost cause if you don't believe in it enough.

More than 250 years later Scotland is still here. And while the Con government in London is planning to slash medicare, raise tuition fees, and privatize schools and hospitals.

The Scots are expanding their medicare system, delivering more and better services for seniors, and providing their kids with free university educations.

Which only goes to prove that you can have the country you want, if you are prepared to fight for it.

And that sooner or later all tyrants bite the dust.

All things considered, Mr. Harper must feel he has the golden touch. He must feel that he can get away with anything. But when you’re the man on the mountaintop, as he is right now, that sense of invincibility can be destructive. Hubris takes over when what is most necessary – given that from the pinnacle, the only remaining route is down – is humility.

But of course now I'm home, and staring at this horror show...




So now I don't know what to say eh?

Except does that sinister Con drag queen have a costume for EVERY voice in his head?

When he gets tired of playing a cop, or a hockey "expert", will he play Margaret Thatcher or Mussolini ?

And if so when can I get my money country back?

And of course, holidays are wonderful, and a great escape from Harperland.

But as we say in Scottish...Och aye the noo broon coo.

They don't last long enough...