By Rab Bruce’s Spider

I try not to watch BBC’s Question Time because, as revealed in our recent post by Major Tom, it’s little more than a platform for the establishment to promote their view of the world. It seems I missed one of QT’s better moments yesterday when a lady in the audience berated a Tory Minister for the cuts to Tax Credits which will leave her and her family in dire straits. The lady said she had voted Tory because she believed they would do the best for her and her family and she feels betrayed by their assault on the poorly paid.

The response on Twitter has fallen into two categories, with a great many people saying they have no sympathy for anyone who voted Tory because the lady is getting precisely what she voted for and obviously was happy enough knowing that the Tories had targeted the disabled and unemployed for the previous five years. On the other hand, the view being expressed by some is that people who realise they have made a mistake should be welcomed into the anti-Tory fold.

Now, the response of, "I told you so," is a natural one and we all do it. Indeed, with five years of Tory attacks on the poorest in society, it is difficult to understand why anyone on low income would vote for them at all. What we must not forget, though, is that the majority of people in England have not had the experience that people in Scotland encountered and are not as politically aware as many Scots are now. Too many of them watch and listen to the BBC and believe the distorted view of Britain which is pushed their way; too many of them read the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph and swallow the propaganda without thinking there might be an alternative to what they are being told.

And as for that alternative, English voters do not have the choice of voting for the SNP or Plaid Cymru which is available to people in Scotland and Wales. Their only reasonable choice was Labour, a party which was attempting to be Tory Light and seemed not to really know which direction it wanted to go in. Even now, under Jeremy Corbyn, the media are portraying Labour as shambolic and rudderless although, to be fair, UK Labour seems to be doing its best to emulate the incompetence of Scottish Labour. Faced with the antiquated and grossly unfair First Pat The Post electoral system, voters in England were presented with a terrible choice. Sadly, they chose the party which had the best spin and media support. Many of those voters believed the lies and are now regretting it.

So how should we react to people like the lady on Question Time? should we castigate her or sympathise with her? When you put it like that, anyone who truly supports the values the Yes movement espoused must surely offer sympathy. There is no harm in saying to this lady or others like her who have come to realise their error, "Yes, you made a mistake because you didn’t take the time to inform yourself of the true state of affairs. Now that you have realised this, please join us in opposing the way the Tories are governing. Educate yourself by going online and finding alternative views. Encourage your friends and family to do the same and, hopefully, the next election will have a very different outcome."

After all, it is only by more and more people recognising the ideological brutality of Tory rule that the UK will ever change.