The sluagh ghairm of the second Scottish independence referendum is ringing from the hills and glens of the country. All across this ancient land, an anguished people cry out, “It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for Pot Noodle and Marmite, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.”
The descent into Brexmess continues with Tory xenophobia and lists of foreigners, a plummeting pound and empty supermarket online shopping carts. Brexshit means 1970s Soviet shopping opportunities and the welcoming attitude to non-citizens last found in 1930s Germany, along with a pound that will soon be trading on a par with the Zimbabwean dollar.
Many voted for Brexit because they wanted to return the UK to some mythical glory day long in the past. Well they got their wish. The pound is now trading at a historic low, on a level not seen since the 1840s and we’ve got soaring levels of poverty and inequality that wouldn’t be amiss in Victorian times. At this rate if we wait a bit longer Westminster will take us all back to 1706 and Scotland won’t need to bother with another independence referendum.
Still the Tories must be happy. A plummeting pound, an economy in the toilet, a future that’s bleaker and more barren than Iain Duncan Smith’s soul, and xenophobia as public policy is a perfect way to keep immigration down. The centre ground of British politics is now a right wing blood and soil nationalism that even Margaret Thatcher would have thought was a tad on the extreme side.
The pound is predicted to fall even further. It’s a far cry from 2014 when sterling was touted as the gold standard of currency stability and Scotland was threatened that if we became independent we’d have to adopt the euro with all its uncertainties and risks and warned us that we’d not be allowed to keep the pound. How things change, during the next independence referendum, Chancellor Philip Hammond is going to come to Scotland and threaten us that we’re going to have to keep the pound. Or as it’s now known, approximately 68p.
At the SNP party conference on Thursday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that she’d be introducing a draft bill for a second independence referendum which will go ahead if the Westminster government doesn’t protect and respect Scotland’s expressed desire to remain a part of the European Union. Scotland didn’t choose to be here. Scotland wouldn’t be standing on the edge of another independence referendum if the Unionist parties had kept the promises that they so solemnly vowed back in 2014.
Sure, those of us who truly believe in independence would still be arguing for it, but the difference is that few would be listening. They’d be pointing to how Scotland’s membership of the EU was safe. They’d be saying that we still had the pound and how it was a great advantage instead of a millstone around our necks. They’d be noting how the permanency of the Scottish Parliament was enshrined and absolute, they’d be marvelling at all the shiny new powers it had been granted. They’d be listing the jobs that were safe and the new opportunities that were being created. Instead here we are, wondering whether to stock up on Marmite with a currency that will soon be less than the euro while hoping that our jobs will still exist in a few months time.
So the ball is in Theresa May’s court. It’s up to her to prove that the Tories will do all those things that they promised Scotland that they would do. Where’s the respect for Scotland? Where’s the promise that Scotland would be a valued equal partner in this Union? Where’s the commitment that there needed to be a UK-wide agreement on Brexit before it could proceed? If Westminster won’t protect the interests of Scotland, then Scotland has every right to take whatever steps necessary to do it ourselves. The Scottish government is publishing this bill for consultation, and then it will be presented to Holyrood, unlike Theresa May’s Brexit which is being done by fiat without parliamentary scrutiny.
Ruth Davidson took to Twitter to accuse the SNP of creating division. Ruth certainly knows a lot about creating division, her party is responsible for most of it. There won’t be a second independence referendum if I have anything to do with it, claimed Ruthie. To which thousands retorted, “But you don’t have anything to do with it, and you can’t stop it.” There’s a pro-independence majority in Holyrood and All Ruth and her wee band of converts to the cause of Brexit can do is complain on the sidelines. Funny how converts are often far more zealous. Ruth opposed Brexit, but now that the Tory party in England has espoused it wholeheartedly, Ruth’s recanted her previous views and the woman who leads the party that’s created the greatest divisions and the greatest risks and the greatest uncertainty rails against those who seek to put an end to the malignity that she and her colleagues have created.
Ruth can complain all she likes about a second independence referendum, but her party’s abject failure to protect and respect Scotland is the reason we’re having it. Ruth should go and do what she’s good at. Posing for whacky photo-ops with farmyard animals, otherwise known as Tory list MSPs.
Independence is the radical notion that the people who live in a country should have the right to decide how that country is governed. It’s the dangerous idea that a government is best made up of people who live in that country and who are elected by the people of that country and are answerable to the people of that country. Scottish independence is about one thing only, that it’s for the people of Scotland, wherever we came from, to choose the path that this country takes. Because it doesn’t matter where you were born. It doesn’t matter what ethnicity or race you belong to, all that matters is that we walk together on a journey to a better Scotland. Our path is an inclusive path, a path of tolerance, a path of peace, a path that leads to a more just and fair society. That’s the path to Scottish independence. And we’re walking it.
Audio version of this blog, courtesy of Sarah Mackie @lumi_1984 https://soundcloud.com/occamshaver/wee-ginger-dug-13th-oct-2016
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Wee Ginger Dug 
You just keep telling it like it is, Paul!
Woof Woof
a sun hack tweeted the following – and this was reported in the guardian as news –
‘Big year for Nicola Sturgeon, will she really be bold enough to call a second Indy referendum knowing she’ll be finished if she loses?’
– we’ll aw be finished, ya numptie ffs.
It always was better than the other path, just as it was always going to take some folk walking down that other path a little ways for them to see just how dark it was going to be.
So, the choice.
An isolationist, intolerant, austerity policy driven and societally divided UK, governed over by a Conservative party and far right ideology run amok? Or, a tolerant, inclusive and progressive independent Scotland working to repair the damage of austerity ideology? A Scotland which will require everyone’s input and energy to make those repairs (and they won’t happen over night), but which can and will flourish with that effort and that engagement.
Westminster or Holyrood?
We CAN do this. We always could.
Day by day it appears a very rare second chance may be headed our way. We’ve had a peek through the looking glass at better togetherness and for two years kept good faith and respected the result of indyref1 whilst awaiting delivery of pledges and assurances given. Didn’t work out so well for all concerned.
I think they’ve had more than enough time and respect by this point.
Do you mind if I copy and paste your comment to other Scotland related pages on FB, because I feel you’ve hit the head of the pin with this?
Not a problem. 🙂
Thanks. Would you like to be quoted as the author?
Probably more useful to direct folk straight to the article itself and then let them have a good read of everyones comments. They’ll come across mine soon enough. 🙂
Did exactly that, in fact your comment was the roper for the article.
[…] Wee Ginger Dug The path we’re walking […]
“There won’t be a second independence referendum if I have anything to do with it, claimed Ruthie”
Quite frankly, who gives a toss anymore for what Ms Davidson has to say? She has been caught lying and jumping ship often enough to go to the Moon and back.
Oh Yes, Ms Davidson, that beacon of honesty that during the indiref1 campaign didn’t have any problem spouting right left and centre that the only way to ensure that Scotland would remain in the EU was by voting no to independence. I am yet to see any remorse from this self-serving lady for saying that and misleading the electorate, particularly now that it is well in the open her comments were a big pile of crap. To be honest, the misleading effect that those comments have had on people should be sufficient for indiref1 to be declared invalid.
Ms Davidson, that symbol of loyalty to her fellow countrymen, capable of publicly rip to shreds one of her most popular party colleagues on TV to highlight the disaster that Brexit would be to increase her profile, and then jumping ship immediately after the referendum and changing jackets so she could stab on the back all those that followed her advice in Scotland and voted to remain in the EU. It is obvious that Ms Davidson is far too spineless to stand by her words, to fight for her country and to push back the injustices and excesses of the political party she represents. One has to wonder, if she and Mr Mundell don’t help to buffer those excesses from their own party and bring any benefit for Scotland now that their party is at Westminster, what on earth do we want them for? Decoration?
Then, like Judas, diminishing the jocks, laughing the jokes and getting pats in the back from the xenophobes : that has to be the cherry on the cake for Ms Davidson’s credibility and ‘good intentions’.
And of course, let’s not forget about those…, shall we say holes in her research… at Holyrood. With her damning verdict on NHS Scotland when she was using the reports from hospitals in England??, and what about her demands from the FM to find solutions to the problems caused by Ms Davidson’s own party? And the criticism of the whisky sales abroad? Well, holes so deep that make Kezia’s trademark contradictions and permanent confusion look thorough, calculated and meticulously scientific.
I am sorry. Ms Davidson can tweet, can wail and pout to the cameras as much as she likes, because as far as I am concerned she hasn’t got any shred of credibility left.
Anyone who believes a word of what Tank Commander Davidson says is quite plainly just stupid.
Mundell and Davidson are placemen, they follow the party line.
They defer to Dahn sath so as to hope for a wee sinecure later in the HoL.
After all, Mundell claims Scotland does not even exist. Says it all.
Another great piece, Paul.
I only managed to read your last one earlier today but was unable to comment as I seemingly was “not connected to the internet”……..strange! Anyway, I thought your article was brilliant and reckon that’s the way to deal with Mundell and his ilk.
Loved it Paul, your writing has soared to new heights over the past few weeks and you have excelled once again. Your knack for getting a serious political point across while having us pee ourselves with laughter is a rare gift.
That’s a catchy slogan.
The time will soon be free.
If not for the vow they would have lost. The gained a reprieve and tried to figure out how to cheat Scotland out of powers promised, then set a trap for it. All the things they scared folk with are now happening…right now…in their precious union…the union they let George Osborne take a shit on.
The screeching and sneering you hear from them from this point on, is not joyous pride but sheer bloody panic.
Lets do it this time. Lets take this shitty union of theirs and cast it into the dustbin history.
Could Dugdale and her So Called Scottish Labour Party and Home Rule Wullie Rennie and his Famous Four really vote against a second Referendum?
It would be political suicide. Scratch that, the Red and Yellow Tories are already on life support.
Nevertheless they would have to at least abstain, in the hope that YES lost a second referendum.
They’re good at that; abstaining.
The Paths of Glory, Paul. Nice words.
They are not hoping that YES will lose, they are working on it.
Beware the conjurer’s technique of misdirection. While we are watching the antics of the politicians, the background boys are preparing the tools for rigging the votes.
Not this time, Les. We’ll be watching.
Ruth’s wee helpers will not get away with counting postal votes this time.
Or rather, she won’t be able to ‘mislead’ at polls closure, that the No Postal count is encouraging. Will she even be in post come Indyref 2?
Sterling stuff,Paul.
Perhaps I should rephrase that….
Independence – constancy to purpose is my driver, so I’ll be out door knocking, delivering leaflets and talking.
Ruth Davidson? She disgusts me – “What a lovely place, too good for Scots, to vandalise and steal”. What a snivelling instant smile, creep of a human being.
Aren’t we living in interesting times? Great piece Paul.
“1970’s Soviet shopping”..Let me tell you that in 90’s it was pretty crap for a while too! Better now.
Tusk, had stated that it is either hard Brexit or nothing .
In other words, ” you have had your frites, Westminster.”
A flat non nein, ne, to Boris who claimed it would be easy to get a better deal than the position we were in as members of the EU.
Where does the pound go now? nd H ouses of P parliament sauce is made in the Netherlands now. Ironic, watch it soar in price. Marmite was invented by a German chemist called Liebig. I am surprised the goons dahn sath would want to eat foreign stuff after Brexit!
A sketch by Kenneth Williams years ago on food in a restaurant had him refusing courses of “foreign muck”. He said then, “let’s have something British.” ” A cup of tea.” The waiter then asked: ” Chinese or Indian?”.
Profound!
It’s well past time that we went our own way. The full weight of the establishment will be on us this time though because the British state will not tolerate the loss of our resources because of Brexit. It’s going to be dirty and they won’t let us go easy and its a sad but true fact that hard times are ahead.
The propaganda from the msm is just the tip of an enormous iceberg and available history gives us only a hint of what the British state is capable of in the pursuit of its aims. Particularly when threatened.
I don’t want to be negative but we need to be realistic with regard to the task ahead. This time it’s different.
The times they are a changing… that at least got a mention on MSM Radio 4 11 o’clock ‘News’ but strangely no mention of events in North Britain … must be nothing newsworthy then!
I’m reminded of the Tory leadership election and Ruth trilling that the next PM should not stand in the way of a second independence referendum.
Guess she got the thumbscrews and the rack when she visited Londinium after that little burst of independent thought. 🙂
I’m glad Johann Lamont and her band of Tory footsoldiers chose to pose outside Asda in 2014 while smilingly warning the Jocky Scotches of the supermarket horrors facing us in the event of independence. Thank god she didn’t choose Tesco. That would have been embarrassing. Which the Asda outing wasn’t. Was it?
Thursday 13th October 2016
First day of the SNP conference in Glasgow, Nicola opened proceeding with a blistering speech, “Don’t think for one second” she told Theresa May, “That I will not do everything in my power to keep Scotland in the EU single market, and should it become necessary call a second referendum on Scottish independence”. She went on to say “Next week I will bring forward a bill at Holyrood, for consultation, on a second referendum” the hall erupted, the Hampden roar condensed under one roof. She has now thrown down the gantlet for Westminster, to start talking seriously with Scottish ministers on a way to keep Scotland in the single market, even if England leaves, or face the consequences. Passing the bill in Holyrood will mean that at any time in the future Nicola can call a referendum, and this will hang over Westminster like an axe, give Scotland its place or the axe will fall severing all ties. Although bias media commentators on the BBC and STV tried to play this down as Nicola trying to keep hard line SNP members, itching for a fight on board and saying the poles still do not give clear water for another referendum, think again. With over 50% saying they will vote Yes this time round, and think, when we started the campaign in 2014, we came from 32% to within touching distance. We are in a much better position this time round, for we have learned much in the mean time, and the unionists can not use the same old scare stories, the Scottish people are not daft, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Already Tory MPs have been out in force on television talking about the black hole in Scotland’s economy because of the falling oil price and how Nicola is putting, not only Scotland, but the whole of the UK in dire straights by all this uncertainty and how she should call off any talk around a second independence referendum. Oh aye and she is going to take the word of anyone in Westminster after the way they treated Scotland following on from the last independent referendum. All the goodies we were to get, including a guarantee that we would remain in the EU and single market, something close to federalism, the most devolved government in the world, if we vote No. What we got was English Votes for English Laws, making our MPs second class citizens and told “You voted to remain in the UK, now shut up and get to the back of the buss”, exciting or what?
There was a good debate on low wage and how young people are being exploited, working beside older men and women doing the same job, mostly in the service industry, but receiving, in some cases half the wage. It passed by acclaim. Similarly one on tolerance to foreign nationals that have come to work, study, bring up their children and make Scotland their home here, “They are Scotland” we were told.
Interesting observation you make. Tory MPs hitting the media. We inly have one Tory MP in Scotland, Si the rest must come from dahn sath .
So what credence does one place on their “nutterings”?
The Toryukip alliance has no mandate north of the Tweed, in fact, May is an imposed PM.
The uncertainty is caused by Westminster, no plan A or even Z. As the currency drops and we are still in the EU and single market, wait for real outsider Brexit as the three chumps headed by May start chapping doors to be heard from the outside.
They’ll ken then !
We own 8% of the Bank of England. We own 8% of the 100’s billions which English Banks received in QE. We own 8% of the Embassies. WE own 8%…I could go on.
The only black hole is in Willie Rennie’s head.
The heat has been turned up.
It is no longer ‘just politics’. It is the future of our country, the wellbeing of our citizens, our children and our children’s children.
Woe betide if Davidson Dugdale or Rennie spout too wee too poor lies ever again.
They hate the country in which they were born.
They would rather live as slaves, and help destroy our nation.
The well spouted Scottish deficit is part if the concealed UK deficit!! Macro powers lie at Westminster and what a mess they have created. Norway’s managed oil fund is the largest in the western world. A wee poor country, or was!!
The accumulated Westminster deficit is in trillions and rising. Trident and other vanity projects will increase this.
And still the May regime is adrift. It seems cabinet government is subterranian these days. The FS announces British armed intervention is being considered and the next day May slaps him down….again!!
Is it May-hem or just plain incompetence? What next?
Protests initiated by the FS outside the official residence if the FM in Edinburgh to protest against proposals for Indyref2?
I suppose we await the CHancellor’s autumn statement on Marmite and other consumer edibles to point the way forward on the falling pound and rising inflation. Has May for a view on that and is poised to slap him down too?
It begs the question, how long can she last with all those loose cannons in the Cabinet?