Three weeks into the campaign and the threat of the mass exodus of celebrities from Scotland has begun, if Scots have the gall, the temerity to vote for independence. Well, there is one threat, but it comes from someone who made the same threat in 2007 - and that threat was to leave if the SNP won a majority in Holyrood and became the government. The SNP did not win a majority of seats but did form a minority government and, by any standard and compared with what went before, did rather well. Did the celebrity leave? Not a chance but she did get her share of publicity for making the threat, which was probably the intention in the first place.
Would we miss her? I suppose those who consider themselves friends might do but as her circle of friendships seems to be ever more centred in London and the South East of England, her friends may actually see more of her - despite her having lost an alleged six stones in weight. Does her presence and opinions actually matter that much to us? There might be those who see her as a role model of sorts; Alan Sugar seems to like her a lot and has her sit in judgement on those to whom he may be prepared to offer a job. Those who compete to be Lord Sugar's Apprentice, certainly display those qualities which a certain type of business magnate seem to admire and consider essential to succeed in business. The contestants tend to be strong on mendacity, ruthlessness, self-promotion, selfishness, arrogance and an almost unlimited capacity to give me the boak. Is it significant that our very own celebrity is considered eminently suited to judge whether or not the candidates for Lord Sugar actually measure up? Rod Stewart has a slightly less flattering opinion of her.
There is no doubt she has been a great business success and Scotland needs to encourage people with her kind of drive but according to a Guardian article at the end of 2010, her company employed 42 people in Scotland and 1,200 in China. She has threatened to take her business to London but of course she will hardly close the outlets which sell her products, unless spite really does get the better of her and she is prepared to lose a market because Scots decide they want to be independent. So, how much money will she be prepared to lose? Note a lot I suspect. Anyway, do these people who travel under the collective title of "celebrity", of various standing from A to Z, really believe they matter so much to the rest of us, who see more to life than hanging on the generally vacuous utterings of those we are told are "celebrities", actually give a toss whether they go or stay? They are generally surrounded by those who are prepared to feed their vanity to the point they begin to believe their own publicity and lose all sense of reality.
She has raised the ire of some of the cybernats, who delight in attacking anyone who disagrees with the mantra produced by SNP HQ, but outside of this piece and a few others that may be written, not all of them necessarily critical, she will be largely ignored. Scots have much better things to do than pay much attention to the utterings of someone whose lifestyle may not be altered one jot by independence, because independence will give them some hope that their country can finally reach its potential and alter their own lifestyles out of all recognition. Go if you must Ms Mone and feel free to hold any opinion you like on the question of Scotland's independence, but kindly keep your threats for those who might be interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment