Brexit’s going pear-shaped. It’s aw gaun wrang, but it’s not because the British government possesses the negotiating skills of a three year old in the middle of a temper tantrum. Oh no. It’s not because Brexiteers have decided that the best way to deal with the issue of the Irish border is to treat it like a suspicious rash and ignore it in the hope that it will go away. It’s certainly not because Theresa May is trying to achieve an outcome which only exists in a parallel universe where David Davis strides the world stage like a colossus and the EU falls over itself to offer Britain everything it wants without any consequences. That’s the universe where you still have your cake long after it’s passed through of your digestive tract and out the other end to grace the contents of a Conservative party political broadcast. It’s not even because Brexit was always going to be like entrusting a damage limitation exercise to a bunch of pyromaniacs. The reason that Brexit is going to be a failure is none of these things. The real reason that Brexit is going to end up in a sorry and ruinously expensive humiliating mess is all because of Thatessempee. It’s great that that’s been cleared up then.
David Lidington, the Conservative Minister for Putting Uppity Scots Back in Their Box, was all over the newspapers on Sunday in order to blame Thatessempee for threatening the glorious sunny uplands of a freebooting Brexit. How dare the Scottish government insist that the Conservatives can’t be allowed to use Brexit to overturn the foundations of the devolution settlement. How very dare Thatessempee point out that it’s not just the results of the EU referendum that counts as the will of the people which must always be respected. It’s only Tories who get to lecture others on respecting the results of referendums. It’s not fair for Nicola Sturgeon to do it as well. It’s out of order for the Scottish government to demand that the Conservatives respect the result of the referendum of 1997 and to respect the promises and commitments that they made to the people of Scotland in 2014 in order to secure a No vote.
According to David L., Brexit is at risk because the Scottish government want the British government to abide by the devolution settlement. Despite reports in the press that the Conservatives were going to back off and concede that devolved powers currently being exercised by the EU should be restored to Holyrood after Brexit, it turns out that they have no intentions of doing so. And if you’re surprised by that, you probably also thought that David Mundell is a strong and effective voice for Scotland in the UK cabinet. The Fluffy one is such a strong and effective voice that there was no need for him to be present at the cabinet’s recent meeting about Brexit because it made no difference whether he was in the room or yelling all the way from Dumfries, the rest of the cabinet were still not going to listen to him.
It’s not even that the devolved powers currently exercised by Brussels are going to be held by the Westminster parliament after Brexit, which would be bad enough. It’s worse than that, the powers are going to be held by Conservative cabinet ministers under the so-called Henry VIII powers. Scotland will have absolutely no means of holding them to account. This overturns the very foundations of the devolution settlement which Scotland approved in the referendum of 1997, and which was – theoretically – strengthened and entrenched by the result of the referendum of 2014.
There is no way that the Scottish parliament is going to consent to what the Tories have in mind. It doesn’t matter that the Conservatives might be prepared to devolve some powers after a time, or might hold on to fewer than they had originally intended. It’s not the business of the Scottish parliament to reduce its powers and to go along with a Conservative decision to unilaterally overturn the devolution settlement just to help Theresa May and the swivel eyed Brexiteers in her party she’s trying to placate get out of a hole of their own making. It’s not the business of the Scottish government to assist the British government in a course of action which impact studies carried out by both the Scottish and British governments have demonstrated will damage Scotland’s interests.
Lidington’s speech means that the British government isn’t going to back down and agree to respect the devolution settlement. We’re heading straight for a constitutional crisis, one which the Conservatives and their allies in the British nationalist media are going to portray as reasonable offers from a thoughtful and generous British government being rejected out of hand by vile Scottish nationalists in order to further their separatist agenda. It’s not like the British government ever wanted a deal in the first place. If they were sincere they would have ensured that Clause 11 of the EU exit bill was debated in the House of Commons. They’re positioning themselves to blame the Scots for the failure of Brexit. Their failures and shortcomings are all the fault of Thatessempee.
In no particular order, the failure of Brexit to meet the fantasies of Little England nationalists is the fault of Remainers. It’s the fault of the Irish. It’s the fault of the EU. It’s the fault of Thatessempee. The only people who have absolutely no responsibility for how Brexit is working out are the people driving it. The people who are insistent that they can achieve six impossible things before Brexit have no responsibility at all for their own delusions. Although to be fair, here in Scotland we genuinely have no idea whether the Conservatives bear any responsibility for how Brexit is working out because Ruth Davidson is almost invisible and won’t answer questions on anything except her favourite recipes in Bake Off.
The fact is that if the Conservatives are prepared to risk the Irish peace agreement in order to slay the mythical monsters which inhabit the dreams of English nationalism, they’re sure as hell not going to hesitate to trample all over the Scottish and Welsh devolution settlements. Brexit has exposed the reality of the so-called Union. It’s nothing more than a fig leaf covering a reactionary and backward looking Little England nationalism which will blame the Scots and the Irish for its own incoherence. English nationalism can have its hard Brexit, or it can have the Irish peace process and the Union. The Conservatives are opting for hard Brexit, and in doing so they are killing off the Union they claim to love. They’ve only got themselves to blame.
The Wee Ginger Dug has got a new domain name, thanks to Indy Poster Boy, Colin Dunn @Zarkwan. http://www.indyposterboy.scot/ You can now access this blog simply by typing www.weegingerdug.scot into the address bar of your browser, the old address continues to function, the new one redirects to the blog. The advantage of the new address is that it’s a lot easier to remember if you want to include a link to the blog in leaflets, posters, or simply to tell a friend about it. Many thanks to Colin.
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Wee ginger dug = dogs bollocks
I can just hear the interviewers of Good Morning Scotland and Reporting Scotland and on the STV News asking Ms Davidson or Mr Mundell if they are going to honour the outcome of the 1997 referendum and the Smith Commission.
The problem is that I am a fantasist with tinnitus.
I can’t even listen or take it anymore. I genuinely do very much admire your tenacity, Paul, and keeping the spirits of the people of Scotland who are not idiots up. But I can’t take anymore. We can see how this is going: indyref , potentially, and if we vote no it’s hell on earth. I don’t know how preaching to the converted will help, except sustaining our spirits.
No small tasks, and I admire you for it, but I just can’t take anymore. Like the Chimplandia politics that Scottish people who have no business commenting on them warble about: Trump goes…or not. We have reached the apex of reasonability and sanity on both sides of the Atlantic. And I don’t even fully trust the SNP. So…we shall see.
Lie down in a darkened room for a while, scotsmanic. Go for a walk. Do some yoga. Give yourself a wee break from it all. Come back when you’re feeling better.
The good energy; the creative vibe, is going to come from the Independentistas. And, I’m coming back as well. So there…
This is totally within reach. (Think back to when Ferguson threw on Hewitt in the 83 final against Real Madrid, and Hewitt scored in extra time with a diving header. That’s the sort of spirit we need. Pure genius and magic.)
Keep the faith, man. Or woman. We are nearly there. Just a wee bit further. Dig deep.
Keep you chin up Scotsmanic. Just keep educating people on facts and the promise of a better place. Even a sensible comment to a devout Brit Nat is not wasted. Yours be be the one that makes him/her think.
Then when indyref kicks of the buzz of 14 will return.
How will negativity help? Grow a pair.
“…a parallel universe where David Davis strides the world stage like a colossus…”
Instead of which he bestrides the world like a colostomy. With the inevitable consequences for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught underneath.
@scotsmanic,
Don’t give up on it, there are worse things. Try being down here in England’s First Colony (EFC) where we don’t even have a proper nationalist party, just a bunch of fake ‘progressives’ who can’t bring themselves to utter the word ‘independence’ and who are engaged on a constant mission to keep a deeply corrupt, nepotistic and corrupt Labour Party in power come what may.
Did anything come of rumoured moves to found a rival nationalist party down your way?
@Marconatrix,
Still in the formation stage, but it’s looking pretty positive.
The process has been helped by the cack-handed behaviour of Plaid Cymru’s leadership and senior management with regard to the infiltration of the party by lobbying and other ‘special interest’ groups and their vendetta against Neil McEvoy AM for calling those groups out (which has led to McEvoy – one of the few genuinely impressive Plaid AMs – being kicked out of the Party’s group in our pretendy parliament).
The apparatchiks of the party have now also suspended an entire branch in Llanelli for raising a stink about the candidate imposed by the centre in the last Imperial election – a woman who managed to turn a previously-winnable seat into a safe Labour one whilst dropping to third place.
Diolch. Diddorol ond cymhleth mae’n debig …
My main fear would be if the new lot became dominated by right wing blood-n-soil types, as a reaction to Plaid being seen as the home of every trendy lost cause.
Brilliantly put, Nigel. And I for one feel for you and your compatriots down there in EFC.
.
If I were twenty years younger and in much better health, I’d have been up there with you by now. It would have been nice to work for a country where the people didn’t want to be cringing serfs any more. And I could have done a better job of trying to learn the Gàidhlig than I did in Uni all those years ago!
Aye, I get that hopeless feeling too sometimes. I think it’s all lost, that we chucked it away in 2014 and we’ll never get a chance again.
But if I stop fighting for it, what then ? I lie oan ma death bed (ten minutes after ma last shift coz the pension age is noo 96) and think “If only……”
If only I had gone on that march. If only I had tweeted that lying toe-rag back with the facts. If only I had gone out canvassing. If only I’d stood up at that hustings and said what I thought. If only I’d donated to that Crowdfunder. If only I’d worn my YES badge. If only I’d stood outside Holyrood and protested when they came to take our powers away. If only I’d kept voting SNP instead of starting to feel the paranoia that even THEY were out to get us…….
…….if only.
It took us 20 years between 1979 and 1997 to get our own Parliament
It took another 10 to get the SNP into Government
It took another 7 to get us the first Independence referendum
It will take us until this year to win the second & last
Hang on in there
Yes, there will be another independence referendum soon. (Maybe not this year, but soon.)
No point in quitting now, is there?
Been thinking about how this fecking unequal union will end and no matter which scenario I land on, I see the incompetent Tories fingers all over it.
The end is nigh… 😀
[…] Wee Ginger Dug The blame game Brexit’s going pear-shaped. It’s aw gaun wrang, but it’s not because the British […]
As Paul points out a whole series of predictable movies by the Tory party well practiced in its colonies throughout throughout the world and for centuries .
The usual method is divide and rule , they are trying it with every member state in the EU just now , as if it hasn’t been observed by all the major players .
If that fails a fall back position is required look for someone to blame .
The Immigrants
The pesky foreigners .
The Irish .
And last but not least ,The Jocks who support that pain in the arse , that SNP lot who by their actions are making jolly old Blighty look decidedly amateurish by running stuff like , The Health Service , Transport and almost everything a wee bit better than the chosen ones , our superiors , our well educated elite.
The sad bit is the fellow Scots who believe these people actually care if they exist , they are under the impression that they are somehow viewed as being one of them , a different kind of Jock , the house trained type , it’s going to come as a real shock when the veil is lifted and England shows its true intentions , just like Trump his country comes first , what makes these house Jocks believe they will be treated differently from the Scapegoats Above .
If there is a constitutional crisis, what is likely to happen? It’s a bit scary just thinking what Westminster might do.
Collapse ? Self combust ? Send in the troops ? I don’t know but I’m going to be ready for it – 50% of the population wants Independence, we aren’t the tiny minority any more
We elected a government with a mandate for Independence
Like I said earlier, I’m not going to die wondering what if
It’s indyref 2018…….bring it on peeps
Aye, bring it on. Time to get real.This is serious and we have to go for it.
Pure dead brilliant, Paul. Every word scintillating and every word true!
yes, indeed Paul – I admire your unflagging persistence and good humour.
I don’t know what Scotland is going to do nor when. Lack of info and impetus create despondency as our friend Scotsmanic said above but we have to battle on
Anyway, here’s the latest on what the EU is going to put in the legally binding UK withdrawal agreement as far as regards what May signed up to for Northern ireland last December. The full document will be released in the next couple of days .
Thanks for the link Benmadigan. The legal detail for the four month late phase one agreement on Brexit will be great to agitate the leave extremists. I wonder if our media will ignore it. Maybe.
Friends in Ireland think that the border issue is the weak link as it will make the DUP throw a wobbly, possibly causing trouble in Westminster. Good if it does.
Hi Ben Madigan – thank you for your excellent summary of the state of play re the border in Ireland and how the EU is going to lay out the law in very clear, unambiguous terms to ensure that there is no hard border in Ireland and that the GFA is fully upheld in all respects after Britain exits the EU.
Blame the dug.
The Tory Government will use the EU bill to prevent any devolved administration from forcing any changes to the UK constitutional arrangement. Which doesn’t exist. This is the definition of what they style as “constructive ambiguity.” Or in this case, the UK “Single Market.” How’s that for irony.
There is no Brexit plan, but it is a wonderful opportunity to pull the chains of all of the uppity peasants. A good reminder of who the boss is.
Their first target was NI with the Good Friday Agreement just to rile the Irish. Next came the peasants in England and Wales with the stitch up of Corbyn, and by association the Red Orchestra aka the Labor Party.This week is just the SNP’s turn.
The enemies and saboteurs of the volk have now been officially named. Release the hounds – otherwise known as the Street of Shame and their cooperative friends in the BBC, et al. The trolls must be whipped into a frenzy.
The Tory mentality is vile. They have no shame. To be a Tory, is to live the 18th century.
Prepare for a tidal wave of mendacious and mediocre drivel, served with an abundance of outright hypocrisy. They will be armed to the teeth with it. Try to see the humor in it. They’re more to be pitied than scorned.
It is our Calvary. We must endure it one last time before we are finally free of them. Don’t let the bastards get you down 🙂 They are fighting for a loosing cause. It is inevitable. A House divided cannot stand.
A wee voice from the future. Let’s call it the year 2023.
Trump is gone. (Possibly dead, certainly not President). Some reasonable Democrat is in charge.
The Conservative party in England is defeated, forever.
Scotland is an independent country again. Thriving.
Ultra-capitalism has had it’s day.
Co-operation and collaboration is the new way. Countries work together for the common good.
Climate change is taken seriously. Fossil fuels are being phased out.
Renewable energy is the way of the future.
Education is king.The Queen of England dies. Jackie Bird retires.
The youth have a spring in their step. The world is a better place.
Sounds like my idea of heaven! Just hope I live that long …..
And can only get better, with people who care for each other, their respective Countries and the spaceship we live on. Thank you for initiating these thoughts.
Ian
…. I really need tae get a packet o’ those tea leaves !!!!!!
And full English Brexit crisps.
For when the One Great Scorer comes
To mark against your name,
He writes – not that you won or lost –
But how you placed the blame.
Brilliant! Mr Kipling will be spinning in his plot!
A good summation Paul of where we are. Thank you.
Perhaps their agenda, by push push pushing, is to push us into Indy ref 2 before too long, then at the last minute, announce either another GE or another EU ref…or both!
They are complete and utter conspira-tory-alists and will stop at nothing for their tory glory.
Have Indyref2 on the same day. Or the day afore.
Which is why Nicola has always been clear that there’s no referendum before the details of the proposed UK wide EU withdrawal agreement are known.
The problem with forming such an agreement is that there are areas where the minute we officially leave the EU according to the law of Scotland all control transfers from our elected EMPs to our MSPs.
Therein lies the rub. Westminster don’t have a compliant Holyrood administration willing to simply sign of on decisions made on our behalf or changes in the laws of Scotland that would remove them from the picture.
The idea that the Sewel Convention can simply be dismissed ignores the process involved in passing laws within Scotland. For one thing Holyrood doesn’t have to idly sit and accept any changes to the law being imposed on it by Westminster. An emergency session to annul any changes before they are signed into effect and it’s back to the drawing board.
Failing that, the First Minister can advise the Queen to withhold consent explaining why it’s prudent and her duty to do so. A Constitutional Crisis perhaps but not one of Holyrood’s choosing. Remember the Millar case hinged partly on the Westminster Government having to respect due process rather than ignoring Parliament. This is more of the same.
A more impish thing to do would to withhold the Grand Seal of Scotland without which changes to Scots’ Law can’t be made. A token gesture perhaps but one that Sturgeon as it’s Keeper might be entitled to do.
Reblogged this on mikeinkwazi.
Right on the nail Paul. Just got back to catch up on these stories yesterday. I’m getting pretty fucking weary of both May’s government and the media attempting to rewrite history on the hoof over Scotland’s part in this epic Brexit galactofeck. Most especially their attempts to paint others as the bad guy in their search for scapegoats to take the heat that is rightfully theirs.
So let’s be crystal clear on responsibility for the EU referendum and the Brexit scenario we’re seeing laid out before us. The responsibility for ALL of it lies with the UK government, its practice of politics and decades of media abuse and misinformation. Most particularly, it can be laid at the feet of the current Conservative government, its own infighting and the more reactionary right wing media. As for the hard of thinking who keep insisting that this was a UK vote and that somehow this absolves the UK government of responsibility for endangering existing legal and constitutional arrangements, agreements, assurances and pledges?
I don’t recall that the devolved assemblies were given the option of opting out. Also? Cameron was well aware of the constitutional dangers he was inviting before the vote ever took place. I’ve posted some of what follows before, but right now I’d say it’s worth repeating.
Pre EU referendum and post 2014 indyref.
https://archive.is/gftF5
https://archive.is/rIKNI
https://archive.is/Hu9LK
Concerns were indeed raised by Holyrood long before the vote became a reality. For equals and partners, it appears one has the luxury of simply ignoring the other when it’s not the advice or answer they want to hear.
An EU referendum, regardless of whether the Tories promised the electorate of the UK or not, should NEVER have been allowed to come to pass. It constitutionally flew in the face of some fairly hefty existing agreements with other members of the UK. A Brexit result was ALWAYS going to end in constitutional crisis and endangerment for the interests of members’ populations.
Quite rightly, of the scenarios in question within a recent study, Northern Ireland and the threat to the GFA takes centre stage. The thought of hard borders and a possible return to direct Westminster rule, not to mention the economic catastrophe waiting to happen, and the breaking of a hard won peace agreement against the wishes of populations north and south, must be unbearable.
From Scotgov’s point of view, the situation economically is equally stark and the constitutional one no less black and white. HMG broke their word. It’s that simple. The pledge of 2014 was that only by voting no could Scotland guarantee continued membership of the EU. It was a cornerstone of the HMG/Better Together campaign. There was no maybe. There was no caveat of EU referendums. The assurance was pretty straight forward. That was the vision of the UK going forward presented to the Scottish electorate. Also on that note? The act of repatriating powers has become somewhat of a sticking point in the ongoing Brexit Bill negotiations and involves the input of all the devolved legislatures and their respective devolution settlements.
So, a UK wide vote… A vote which the legislatures weren’t really allowed the option of opting out of and which has threatened longstanding, existing settlements within the ‘union’. Given the lack of thought to the effect this would have on the other partners within the current UK? Who is really responsible?
An arrogant, ignorant and frankly uncaring Conservative UK government. A government that basically didn’t give a shit about its standing obligations, agreements, pledges or assurances. Nor did they see fit to inform ANYONE else (see under general public) that their actions may have such catastrophic economic and constitutional consequences.
Apologies for the rant.
Excellent commentary Macart. My question is; why the fuck don’t we here this kind of response from our own politicians? About time we started showing our true metal I say.
Mainly you don’t hear it because you’re not given the opportunity. The Scottish government are fairly loud about all of the above in chambers, on the Scotgov site and their own party site. Getting these issues aired in the mainstream media and with the right context though?
Pretty nigh on impossible.
Have you noticed for instance, that in the midst of their essenpeebrexitbadness not a single one of them has remembered Scotgov’s attempts to find a veto or opt out pre EU ref? Not one of them has pointed out that Scotgov foresaw constitutional crisis and attempted to warn PM Cameron either.
Spooky, no?
Sam at his brilliant best, Crabbit.
I comment on Brewer’s Sunday politics below. Miles Briggs is dragged onto the programme, and not Mundell, nor Davidson, nor The Linesman nor Murray the Walking Union Jack.
They are all in hiding, too cowardly to face the Scottish electorate.
No more Mr and Mrs Nice Guy.
I look forward to The Clunking Fist Brown visiting Clydebank Town Hall next time. It’s about a mile from my house. I’ll be there this time to give him a warm welcome.
We have been betrayed by our very own, and all for money and power.
There’s a name for that.
I have yet to meet anyone not boiling mad and ready for action.
Enjoyed the rant.
‘For equals and partners, it appears one has the luxury of simply ignoring the other when it’s not the advice or answer they want to hear.’
As an equal partner in this ‘Union’ can we not adopt the same tactics as the UK/Westminster/English Parliament?
Some of these Brexeters are so delusional, that they think Ireland will leave the EU and join with the UK. This would solve their border problem of course. So, if they convince themselves that this is likely, then they can kick the can down the road, a little longer.
Brexiteers sell outs is what they are anyone who voted leave sold out the nation and with those who voted no sold there union along with it.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female and commented:
“The fact is that if the Conservatives are prepared to risk the Irish peace agreement in order to slay the mythical monsters which inhabit the dreams of English nationalism, they’re sure as hell not going to hesitate to trample all over the Scottish and Welsh devolution settlements. Brexit has exposed the reality of the so-called Union. It’s nothing more than a fig leaf covering a reactionary and backward looking Little England nationalism which will blame the Scots and the Irish for its own incoherence. English nationalism can have its hard Brexit, or it can have the Irish peace process and the Union. The Conservatives are opting for hard Brexit, and in doing so they are killing off the Union they claim to love. They’ve only got themselves to blame.”
There are several ways of looking at the pronouncements from the Right Honourable David Roy Lidington, CBE, Minister of the Cabinet Office, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
One – as discipline within the UK government has effectively broken down and communications within non-existent, egotistical charlatans are flying kites, making fact-free portentous announcements, mouthing off and generally wasting bandwidth. The signal to noise ratio (or, perhaps, the noise to signal ratio) defies the ability of error correcting code or cyclical redundancy checks to determine any useful information – a darkened room beckons.
Two – a common political ploy for getting away with bad news is to pre-announce something worse then make a concession or two, seemingly backing off a bit, the resultant outcome being exactly what was intended. However, this scenario demands some negotiating skills. At which point you all fall about laughing at the concept of the UK government having any negotiating skills. The darkened room looks increasingly attractive.
Three – ruling out kite flying and negotiating tactics one is left with the pronouncements as fully being intended policy. Which is worrying. Whereas much of the UK government’s previous intended policy on Brexit has disappeared like sna’ af a dyke (more of which is forecast as a distraction again) when encountering the implacable stance of the EU, whereas the devolved administrations have the fig lead of the Sewel Convention.
Four – UK politicians, generally, have shown a complete inability to acknowledge or learn about the complexities involved in the UK disengaging with the EU preferring to mouth neologisms, make vapid announces and, again, waste bandwidth. The msm is no better, filtering announcements through a narrow partisan view of the world. Practically anything your read in the msm needs to run through a translation algorithm to try and discern some reality – of which there is little. It takes several readings of David Lidington’s announcement in various places to try and determine what is intended – see three above.
Five – we do forget though that Brexit had, initially, nothing to do with Brexit and UK’s relationship with the rest of the world, and everything to do with preservation of the Conservative and Unionist party who were being encroached upon by UKIP and it was UKIP which was banging on about the UK’ relationship with the rest of the world. Now we are caught in the cross fire of the tory party(s), blue and red, fighting within themselves trying, and failing, to form a coherent view of their (not our) place within the world.
So, along with Schrodinger’s Irish Border, the Red Tory party’s inclination to lean perhaps towards ‘a’ customs union (whatever), the devolved administration’s refusal to agree to whatever is finally proposed by David Lidington and the EU getting visibly irritated by the UK government, the tipping point of implosion/explosion of the either of the UK tory parties is getting somewhat closer. Fortunately, we have our lifeboats ready. And Paul ably described in the previous blog why, this time, Scotland will become an independent country.
Thank you for that penetrating assessment. I almost wrote ‘clear’ but thought better of it. Everything looks clear and fresh after the latest PR snowstorm. But once the thaw comes and the drifts melt, you see the true landscape — a quagmire! The solution to Brexit is as clear as mud and the UK government are faffing about like the proverbial fart in a cullender … ‘interesting times’ ??
Of course, the Union the Tories love is not with the Scots but with the resources of Scotland, Labour’s love of Union is with people, as long as they vote Labour, which is Labour’s god given right, oh and the resources of Scotland.
Would the Scots be willing to take in any English folk who voted Remain? Asking for a friend…
Tell ‘your friend’ that may be a good plan. 🙂
All are welcome to live in Scotland and become in their hearts a Scot. Come and help us build a new free independent country. Remember you will be able to have a UK and a Scottish passport.
Aye! The more the merrier, darthtimon. As Andy Anderson says above “Come and help us build a new free independent country.” One with heart, backbone, brains and all the other things that are missing from a country governed by WM.
Failte/Welcome. Can we leave the anti Scottish MPs down there?
Come on up the kettles on
Want a Laugh ? – Listen to the Messiahs latest speech today , most of his aspirations & Promises have been successfully delivered here in Jockland against the wishes of his branch office , indeed in spite of them .
Even his about turn of his parties stance on the EU if you listen carfully most of the things he declared as new and groundbreaking has already been rubbished by his party when voiced by Nicola Sturgeon , but is all of a sudden deemed ok when voiced by Labour ,
A very confused party, that confuse everyone .
Scottish labour what a sad joke. It’s hard to understand why any ordinary voters that are not hard of thinking actually vote for this party. A great mystery.
And still you will get certain “Yes” groups voting for his Blairite Branch Outpost.
[…] https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2018/02/25/the-blame-game/ […]
England, the only country in the world utterly terrified of standing on its own feet.they appear to see themselves as exceptional. yet do not have the balls to go it alone.
Great point. Well said.
What winds me up is David Lidlington saying the Scottish and Welsh governments should shut up and take what they are given ‘in the national interest’. They *are* looking out for the national interest. Perhaps the only parts of the UK that are at the moment.
Who’s National interest?
Part Two
Apparently some outfit called ‘Ferret Facts’ refuted Joanna Cherry’s statement on that other Uncle MacTom, Andrew Marr’s Show that Scots students didn’t face huge debt, and exorbitant house prices once graduated and making their way in the world.
£11, 740, as opposed to the ‘huge debt’ of £32, 200. Yet the Ferret implied that she lied.
Meanwhile Brewer’s ‘Don’t mention the WM Scottish Affairs Committee meeting in Kirkcaldy when NONE of the new Brit Nat MP’s on the Committee could be arsed attending’ avoidance tactics continued to lead his dwindling band of viewers up the garden path.
Shirley-Anne Somerville FM minister at Holyrood was in the studio.
Before discussing the filmed report on the Revolt of the Lecturers and concluding that not charging tuition fees in Scotland was worse for our students than charging students £36,000 in England and the EssEnnPee were BTW BAD, Brewer tried to blindside Somerville by opening on Clause 11 and David Lidington’s accusation that if Brexit fails it will be all that Bad EssEnnPee’s fault.
Apparently the stramash over Clause 11 is a merely matter of UK wide trading standards about ‘bleach and paint’, according to an increasingly snarling old Brewdog.
Brewer’s dismissiveness came across as childishness. Who put the ‘pus’ in ‘pusillanimous’?
Throughout the interview Somerville was excellent, and her body language and demeanour towards Old Brewbag spoke volumes.
She reaffirmed what we all know:- It is an attempted power grab.
For me, the high point of the interview was Brewer demanding that the Minister guarantee a refund to foreign students paying £16,000 live, on air, off the top of her head.
Brewer, really?
Then a wee dig at guaranteeing EU students during the ‘transition’ period, and since ‘we’re leaving the EU’, why do English and Chinese students have to pay? Gordon, you may be leaving the EU, but the rest of us have other ideas. Good ProudScotBut Brit Nat Mantra there.
Andy Anderson, on your concern that the Brit Nat Media might stifle the truth about the Irish Border Farce, and indeed any bad news story about Brexit, Paul’s excellent articles, ‘ We Own The Future’, and most poignantly ‘The Blame Game’, set out some of the very real challenges we face in light of England’s desperate self inflicted wounds.
Part One.
Gordon Brewer on Pacific Quay Brit Nat Stockade Sunday Politics chose to ignore this momentous historic week in Scottish Politics completely yesterday.
We had a half hour of marshmallow news, time fillers put together deliberately to avoid discussing the collapse of the Brit Government’s Brexit and an abdication of public duty to expose the utter pointlessness of WM’s ‘house trained’ emasculated ProudScotsBut mouthpieces Up Here.
Apparently the most pressing thing affecting Scots this week was the news that University Lecturers throughout the UK are on strike because the UK University Body which decides their pay and pensions is behaving like good little Tories across the public sector and attacking the Uni Staffs’ pensions and conditions of employment.
Public bad, private good.
The Pacific Quay Stockade filmed lecturers outside Glasgow Uni, and a Brit Nat Shop Steward with bull horn hollered the mantra ‘Whaddiwe want!’ on cue on camera in a strangely fake Fred Kite ‘working class’ accent.
The Activists were out in force.
This was ‘Wag The Dog’ manufactured news, with Pacific Quay implying that all this unrest in a Sussex University is really a Scottish problem, and it’s that BadEssEnnPee fecking it up yet again.
The item segued into a feature on Tuition Fees and Students’ debt burden, with the voice-over and caption advising that the average student debt in Scotland was £11,740 while in England it was £32,200.
Some woman, Lucy Hunter Black, an Edinburgh University Researcher (?), argued that since a Scottish Student’s debt was so much lower than an English swot, the Scottish student with ‘£25,000 debt’(whit happened to the ‘£11,740 figure?) would be more likely to repay the lot whereas the poor English student with £50,000 debt (no, the £32,000 figure has gone too)would default on the fee and not pay it all back. We are in the realms of madness here.
That trusty old Brithack Alex Massie, a regular Bad EssEnnPee-er on Brewer’s Droop, that well kent ProudScotBut semi educated tenement dwelling faithful Anglo Retainer, argued that although Scots Students were not charged £36,000 in fees for a 4 year degree course, the debt for ‘disadvantaged’ students, unlike rich ones like Massie himself who attended Trinity College Dublin after a fee paying school in darkest Perth, was higher because the BAD EssEnnPee had ‘slashed’ their grants and bursaries incurring debt for living expenses which meant the less well off (I love that euphemism) were put off going to Uni.
We were already a long way from the Uni Lecturers’ strike by now, but it was all good SNP BAD stuff by now. Welcome to the Blame Game.
And so the programme rambled on, pointlessly, needlessly, in a week when Mundell was excluded from the Brexit meeting at Chequers, and England’s Government opted for Hard /No Brexit.
Part Three
Gordon Brewer was on a roll.
There must be some other Pacific Quay Blockade Propagandist dealing with Brexit, and the EU, and Scottish Independence, and the Scotland in Europe Papers.
Brewer is apparently the wee pretendy parliament man.
Then we had ten minutes of the Disgrace that is Police Scotland.
Ten more minutes of Dead Air interviewing Michal Barton Durham Chief Constable about the problems he had investigating a complaint in Scotland …because we, the Scottish Public are demanding answers…….whit!
Still, it meant that yet another chunk of the programme was taken up with wah wah wah wah wah .
Now 29 minutes into a 35 minute BBC Scottish Politics Afterthought, because Marr and Smith had covered the Westminster view of the world for two hours beforehand, and Brewer at last gets ‘round to Brexit.
Well, sort of.
In the studio for a whole five minutes plus change, the tenacious Yes Women for Scotland’s Ash Denham from the SNP, and, oh ye gods, no, not Ruth Davidson, not David Mundell, not the newly elevated Lord Duncan of Jobsfortheboys, not ‘It’s the Law!’ Professor Adam Two Jobs WATP List appointed political failure Tomkins, not serial political failure Murdo the bigot Queen’s Eleven toll charges on the South Queensferry Bridge Fraser, who were presumably not available because of ‘diary commitments’.
Instead the cowards sent Miles Listory Dim But Nice Briggs while the rest of them hid behind the couch at the Scottish Office.
Now Brewer has previous form helpfully pump priming Yoon wet behind the ears guests.
Brewer opens with:- ‘Miles Briggs, Jackson Carlaw (no don’t laugh) said on radio yesterday that an agreement on Clause 11 had all but been agreed. Is that your understanding of it?’
Or words to that effect.
‘Um, yeah’, waffle waffle waffle.
Now, Briggs has no authority, or knowledge of, or any mature political, economic, or EU level knowledge of anything to do with Brexit, or what’s going on inside Mundo the Michty’s head.
But Brewer allowed this List Tory MSP to waffle on as though his opinions mattered and had the full weight of the WM Cabinet behind them.
He is a Member of a bunch of Cross Party Groups, to give him his due, but none have anything to do with the EU.
In precis, Ash Denham, an extremely able politician tersely reminded Brewer that they had not resolved Clause 11 and that to imply so was false. The power grab was still on.
I love the wee two minutes slot at the close of Brewer’s programme used to summarise the SNP BAD content.
Hamish MacConell, scribe with that well known champion of Scottish Independence, The Times, reiterated that there was ‘clearly’ some agreement on Clause 11 with WM retaining some 25 of the 111 powers in the meantime for some reason or another. Source, MacConell?
Yet more unsubstantiated and unchallenged nonsense.
Shona Craven from The National was much more circumspect.
David Lidington was setting up the SNP as the Fall Guy when Brexit collapses in ruins.
She won’t be asked back.
If the Scottish Government veto WM Trade Deals through devolved powers, will WM merely overrule our Devolved Parliament’s Sovereignty?
Brewer didn’t go there.
And there you have it. The Pacific Quay version of a week in Scotland’s politics.
Brewer looks jaded, and appears to have found his niche in the backrooms of Brit Nat Empire’s Propaganda Wing, shredding the past, smothering the truth, dreading the future in an Independent Scotland.
We cannot afford to let this nonsense continue unchallenged.
I am minded of Eric Morcambe’s response to Andre Previn when he criticised the big man’s piano playing:
‘I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order’.
Apologies for Parts One Two and Three mix up.
Take it you’ve clocked Mr Russell’s response to Lidington’s speech Jack?
Tick tock.
Sam, it’s playing out as we expected.
I suspect that May hopes to limp along to the Easter recess relatively unscathed.
Corbyn and Starmer seem as obdurate, bone-headed, and well, thick, as their Blue Tory counterparts.
‘A’ Customs Union but no single market, no freedom of movement, no ECJ, and no UK contribution to the EU budget, and freedom for UK Companies to trade in competition with EU 27 for markets in the rest of the World under WTO conditions.
Of course all WM leaders know that the EU will reject this nonsense, yet they trudge along, unchallenged by the MSM.
Hard /No Brexit now a certainty.
NS has rejected WM Clause 11 proposals.
I watched Miles Briggs blubber his way through Brewer’s desultory 5 mins on the English Parliament Power Grab the other day.It’s about bleach and p[aint one minute, it’s about the fictional UK Single market the next.
The tired old lie about Scotland doing 4 times the trade with rUK than the EU and how Scotland remaining in the EU would endanger this cosy but fictional relationship, was trotted out unchallenged by Briggs the Patsy.
Brewer and his production team insult us all with this drivel.
Mundell and Davidson seem to have burrowed deep under the duvet this weather. Must be all that SNP BAD snow that Humza has inflicted upon us.
Yes, they will attempt to blame their current woes on the devolved assemblies. Probably just as well that public record details the fact that this ‘UK’ vote was foisted upon Scotland against its wishes, standing assurances and also explicit warnings issued by Scotgov.
This needs spreading at every opportunity. We don’t let them get away with shifting the blame for this epic bout of self harm on to any other. The EU referendum, the constitutional and the economic consequences which have followed are owned ENTIRELY by a Conservative UK government and the right wing media.
TBF, Labour’s own heid bummer being a Brexiteer doesn’t cover them in much glory either and their own adherence to misleading narrative and practice of politics UK style hasn’t helped. (shrugs)
Karma. Accept no substitutes.
A Q.E.D. moment on the many times we’ve posted the importance of knowing your devolved and reserved powers.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/here-come-the-monsters/
Who trusts the BBC ?
Mark Millar creator of KickAss “I don’t trust the BBC any more”
http://indyref2.scot/mark-miller-i-dont-trust-the-bbc-anymore