Remember 2014? All we heard from the chorus of British politicians and the media was “What’s your plan B?” That was just about the currency of an independent Scotland, because the British government was saying that it wasn’t going to enter into a formal currency union with Scotland. It was relentless, and it successfully scared many people into the false belief that the day after a Yes vote in an independence referendum, Scotland wouldn’t have any money at all. An elderly neighbour of mine sincerely believed that a Yes vote would mean that as of 19 September 2014 she wouldn’t be able to spend the money in her purse at the local supermarket. All she had heard was, “Scotland won’t be able to use the pound!”
There was of course no reason why Scotland couldn’t continue to use the pound unilaterally, which is what Ireland did in 1922 until it established its own currency some years later, a currency which it kept pegged to sterling at a one to one rate. That didn’t stop the scare stories. It’s a familiar tactic from the British state. Double down on the fright wigs at the expense of any positive thought or contribution. Boris Johnson even wears a literal fright wig. The dependence on scare tactics may not be unrelated to the fact that the British government is made up of individuals who’ve never had a positive thought in their lives. Threats, bullying, and intimidation are amongst those British values that the BBC doesn’t like to celebrate.
Theresa May was in Scotland on Tuesday, but there’s a distinct lack of a similar chorus of “Where’s your plan B?” from that same British press. That’s not to say that they didn’t cover it. They did cover it. In between the story about the cricket player being prosecuted for an alleged assault and the story about Boris Johnson’s latest dickwaddery there was a very brief mention, a blink and you’d miss it sort of deal. Balance, rigour. Nicola was far too polite to point out to Theresa that if there is a plan B it’s in outer space, orbiting Uranus.
Nicola Sturgeon is demanding that Theresa May says what she’s got in mind in the event that the EU reject’s the Chequer’s plan which was so painfully thrashed out between Tory cabinet members when they weren’t thrashing one another. She has pointed out to the Prime Minister that talking up the prospect of a no-deal Brexit makes it all the more likely to come to pass. Theresa didn’t take the advice well. But then if Theresa took advice well then the UK wouldn’t be in the mess that it’s currently in.
It’s not an unreasonable demand that Theresa let’s us know what alternatives she has in mind, seeing as how the EU has already given its preliminary assessment of Theresa’s plan, and it is something along the lines of Et maintenant tu te fous vraiment de nous, which is a French expression which can be approximately translated as “You’re really just taking the piss now.” Only a lot ruder.
This isn’t a currency union we’re talking about here. The UK can’t unilaterally decide that’s it’s going to press on regardless of what the EU says and there will be no practical difference to ordinary punters. Failure to reach a deal will have consequences, but instead of trying to work on a deal that’s going to be acceptable and which will avoid the seriously negative consequences to ordinary people, the British government prefers to run about like Cleavon Little in Blazing Saddles, holding a gun to its own head.
Theresa May is trying to persuade people in Scotland that Brexit can bring about a brighter future for Scotland. There’s as much chance of her succeeding with that argument as there is of Ruth Davidson taking time out of her busy schedule of book promotion to answer questions about the dark money scandal. Theresa was so lacking in confidence in her own arguments that she wouldn’t even take questions from the Scottish press, which isn’t exactly known for giving Conservatives a hard time. As the Brexit process has lurched onwards, Scottish opposition to it has only grown. The only way Brexit will make Scotland brighter will be as more and more people burn the Tory election leaflets paid for by dark money that fall through our letterboxes.
Nicola Sturgeon has warned Theresa May that using scare tactics as a negotiating tool isn’t a good idea. Supporters of Scottish independence know that well. Opponents of independence might have won the 2014 referendum on the basis of a scare campaign, but they did so at the price of mightily pissing off a substantial part of the Scottish population. So much so that within hours of the result being declared, the independence movement was reinvigorated and renewed as thousands of very angry people resolved that they were going to do their utmost to ensure that there would be a second referendum. If the Better Together campaign had instead fought on the basis of a positive vision of the UK, and more importantly had delivered on it afterwards, then Scotland wouldn’t currently be looking at a rematch. Moreover a rematch which is going to be contested on very different ground, with very different arguments, and with a very different result. Westminster’s scare stories of big scary monsters with big scary teeth have only bitten Westminster on the bum.
The lesson here is that if you conduct your politics using fear, intimidation, and threats as the main tools in your political armoury, you don’t merely look like a tool, but the whole project is highly likely to end up in tears. Your tears. Base your politics on fear, and you will sooner or later be held to account for it, because people are far less likely to forgive being threatened than they are to forgive a positive promise or commitment that was only partially delivered.
Goodwill is a precious commodity, when you squander it it’s gone for good. The British government hasn’t just squandered the goodwill of the people of Scotland, it’s trashed it, squashed it, and thrown it on the rubbish heap along with any prospect of a sensible Brexit strategy. When you base your politics on scare tactics, it’s because you’re afraid of the people, and sooner or later, but more likely sooner, the people will let you know what they think of you.
There won’t be any updates to the blog until the weekend as I am off to Islay first thing tomorrow for a few days to speak at the Islay Show as part of The National Roadshow event. If you’re in Islay, it would be great to see you there! We are also launching my new Gaelic map of Islay and Jura at the Islay Show.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
Spot on as ever WGD.
The amount of power that is given to and taken by the Tories is totally out of proportion to their ability to handle it.
Politics is an art form. It really can change people’s lives for the better. NHS stand up please. We need quality politicians who are totally dedicated to the art of politics and the implementation of policies which are targeted for the improvement in the length and quality of people’s lives.
The Tories haven’t been about that improvement or about using their meagre political skills for the social good. Their prejudices are part of their psyche. Their politics reek of class hatred which is poisonous for our children.
We really do need in Scotland to choose to leave the Tories far behind to ensure a much better life for our children and grandchildren.
Am I being a paranoid cybernat? STV news showing a pic of smiling Treeza and other side of screen a stern faced Nikla. Although TBH the smiling Treeza pic was the more unsettling one…
I have to say, sadly, I do not think there will ever be a second indyref. Seems to me, with the recent £1 billion (coming from money sucked from Scotland in the first place) getting chucked at Scotland by Scuminster, and Nicola Sturgeon agreeing…we have been sold down the river by a careerist who loves her solid chunky salary. I genuinely don’t even want or mean to be this cynical, but this are looking bad. I do not even believe Sturgeon is trustworthy now. But that’s just me.
Aye, right, scotsmanic.
I confess, I don’t think a second indyref will happen. But the fact that Scuminster responded to Stuart Campbell’s channel as they did means that they regarded it is a threat, and acted accordingly cos he is an indy supporter. Which gives me a tiny bit of hope, unless they were just taking egocentric umbrage at him and setting out to trash him for his previous wide-o cheek. Who knows.
You ever think Nicolas sturgeon might be planning something that we don’t know about think about it she’s letting them play there cards and seeing there possible outcomes and deciding when to play hers she’s not stupid like may is revealed now would mean the BBC and the rest would distract us while they go to sabotage us behind our backs better to move the pieces into place while distracting them with the nice guy act.
I smell shite
Pathetically transparent.
You folks are barely trying now, are you?
Nicola Sturgeon a careerist? Well, if she was, as a 16 year old she certainly wouldn’t have joined a fringe party in the 80’s called the SNP. She would have copied the corrupt labour careerists, and joined British Labour. Then she could have gone to Westminster and forgotten all about Scotland, same as the rest of the traitorous, lying Scottish Labour MP’s. If she had, there would have been a good chance of her being PM at the moment. Considering the ability of the average British politician, she would have walked it.
No, Nicola decided to brave the hatred and misogyny of British Labour dinosaurs and the stranglehold and detestation of the Scottish Brit Nat media, to fight for Scottish Independence. Just try and imagine, standing up to British Labour Unionists and bigots, as a young girl, out canvassing in Glasgow streets in the 1980’s.
Scotsmanic, you seem to me, to be posing as a Yes supporter. Your quote, ‘I have to say, sadly’, immediately gave you away. Also, no Yes supporter would be as negative about Indyref 2 as you for no GOOD reason.
Reminds me of BBC’s foremost Brit Nat Glenn Campbell, ‘Sadly Theresa May wouldn’t give us an interview’. To which I have to say, “Well go and shove a fcuking microphone into her face, same as you do with the First Minister of Scotland”. Btw, I know what I’d do with his microphone if he shoved it into my face.
Well said, Marlon. However, we must be careful not to feed trolls like Scotsmanic. Just boot the transparent wee b@st@rd back under his bridge!
I agree. However, what he said wasn’t the usual nonsense. He made a specific claim against Nicola. And, I think it’s good for us all to remember the effort and endeavour, against tremendous odds, that she has put into the cause for the past 30 years.
I wholeheartedly concur.
Yes. well said.
Well said, Paul.
This time, we refuse to allow the MSM to slap down the Independence message.
We are literally fighting for our Freedom while Wangland is preoccupied with No Deal Brexit disaster.
Fact.
Nobody is taking my European citizenship away from me against my will.
We target pensioners who were bamboozled enough to believe Lord Darling, that well known Socialist and Man of the People, when he was lying in debate about Scotland not being able to ‘keep’ the pound, and announcing that the oil was running out.
We attack attack attack every time these scare stories, threats, and lies, pour forth from the mouths of Brit Nats or Broadcasters in the Pay of the English Establishment.
There is no time for politeness or helpless silence because our broadcasters and journalists are in the pocket of their billionaire bosses..
If Willie Rennie stands up in Parliament and announces that Independent Scotland will begin with a £15 billion deficit, then we call him out for the liar he is.
Certainly BBC and STV broadcasters won’t challenge the nonsense churned out by the Establishment. They are part of it FFS..
I’d replay the notorious Gordon Brewer chaired ‘debate where he, and Jim Murphy, Ruth Davidson and Willie Rennie shouted down the First minster for half an hour, uttering such a stream of lies and threats that had many of us foaming at the mouth in rage at the time as a Political Broadcast by the YESCampaign.
Attack, attack, attack.
No more Mr and Mrs Nice Guy.
Yesterday’s prearranged coordinated MSM attack on our NHS by all the TV channels, BBC Radio Jordanhill and the Dead Tree Scrolls was a backlash following last week’s humiliation over the WoS censorship debacle.
The message was clear. Look how powerful we are. We can say anything because there is no alternative media to refute our lies.
Jenny Marra ‘understood’, wrongly that the CEO of Tayside was to receive a £300k golden parachute.
That didn’t stop the liars and benders of the truth having an orgasmic SNP BAD day, did it?
There wasn’t a retraction today, was there?
No more.
We are fighting for our lives and society now.
You can’t have a ‘Plan B’ when you don’t even have a proper ‘Plan A’ … just a pity that not everyone realises Treeza’s ‘Plan A’ is merely a bad joke at which the EU are laughing off their collective socks.
Well plan a is a bust that cheques one was plan a and the Europeans ripped it up in 2 minutes a plan a that took the English conservative government 2 years to hand in to the European union gone in 2 mins and no plan b hence there its everyone else at fault attitude from them.
I’m not sure the “Blazing Saddles” reference really applies here. In that scene, Bart held his gun to his head to free himself from the dumb racist mob.
From here, it seems Scotland is Bart while London is Taggart and Brexit is the campfire scene.
Sorry, ot, but I’ve just had a disheartening time reading the btl comments on the BBC news site. I’ve never come across so much anti-Scottish bitterness and hatred. Roll on Independence
Ignore them Susan. I’ve long since turned away from btl comments on Britnat sites. They’re deliberately offensive and bigoted. They’re looking for reaction and to cause distress. It’s the conditioned response their press have created. (their choice *shrugs*). If they wish to live their lives spreading hatred and fear it says a damn sight more about them than anything we could.
Besides, life’s too short to spend fretting about such folk. We’ve got better things to be getting on with. 🙂
Well said, Sam. If you spend time plootering about in cesspits of that ilk, the only person who suffers is yourself. Upward and onward, Susan.
I read about this last night. Talk about hitting below the belt. I was genuinely sickened and really have to ask, how low can they go?
Lower than you or I can imagine, Marconatrix! Every time wevthink they have reached “rock bottom” they prove that it has a basement!
Absolutely disgusting that Britnats use this subject for their SNP baaad propaganda. They have no sense of common decency. Vote for independence and create a decent Scotland.
OBE – what British Empire???? Talk about living in the past.
Sad, low creatures.
Try the “Scotsman” btl for pure bile and hatred. I think in my experience it is the worst. Absolutely disgusting. Probably people paid to write this stuff.
Visit went well then. 🙂
LINK
Remember the process folks. Why ask for clarity on plan B? Why ask for clarity on the negotiation process to date?
Because…
THAT is what the FM promised would be the case in the event of an indyref being called. That the nature of Brexit/the Brexit deal/or lack thereof would be unambiguous. The PM of the UK NEEDS to say the words. She needs to state the nature of the UK’s position as it will be for March 2019. It needs to be loud and it needs to be on public record.
Not hearsay. Not an unnamed source in cabinet. Not metropundit polsplaining.
The clarified position from No.10 itself.
Worth reading
“Is the UK-Scotland Supreme Court case the start of a new phase of constitutional conflict?”
I wonder what they mean by ‘in the autumn’, Sam?
December 23rd?
The Kangaroo court will adjudicate that our Government’s Continuity Bill as ultra vires :
I think we all know that.
Reasons to be Independent: Part One.
There was a line near the end of that piece which caught my eye Jack.
“UK-Scottish relations are in a poor state”
Not Westminster – Holyrood. Not EWNI – Scottish. But UK-Scottish. Even in such a balanced article…
THERE IS NO UK WITHOUT SCOTLAND (for the hard of hearing at the back). Bipartite treaty, two signatories, one political construct and yes, relations between parliaments are at an all time low for very good reason. Both our mandated representation and a fair sized chunk of our population are pig sick of being treated as second class citizens in our own homes.
We’re sick of being told who we’re meant to be and what we should or shouldn’t ‘get behind’. We’re sick of being defined, pigeonholed and mushroom farmed by self entitled, patronising, arrogant and ignorant pricks. Soulless, thoughtless, empathy free voids who legislate without care or consideration for the populations in their care. They pass legislation to suit themselves and tiny demographics which keep them in the lives to which they’ve become accustomed and that’s ALL they do. It’s about who gets to sit in the big chair and frankly today? Who gives a flying fuck?
The people they are legislating for are divided and divided again along so very many lines and ALL because of those arseholes’ inept self interest. They kinda hope you’ll forget what they’ve done and how they do it.
I remember though. I remember how I felt on the morning of September 19th, 2014.
The culmination of their practice of… politics… and their media saturation had done its work. Just. I can’t begin to describe the devastation, the pain and the disconnect I felt. It didn’t last. Cameron saw to that with his disrespectful speech. The images of seig heiling goons in George Sq. added an extra spur. Pain and devastation were rapidly (and I do mean rapidly) replaced with rage. Every parliamentary debate in Commons since, regarding Scotland and the behaviour and actions of government benches in particular, has reinforced that anger and added contempt to complete the picture.
Their actions were not about partnership, not about olive branches or honouring their agreements and assurances, but punishment and subjugation. Their behaviour? Dismissive, arrogant, ignorant and self congratulatory. Scotland’s benches weren’t there to be honoured partners, but stalls for the big boys to throw abuse at. Our representation to the union laughed at, denigrated, patronised. A continuing litany of media abuse over the past four years really didn’t help their cause of ‘unity’ much either, but that’s also their choice.
Their problem? Some of us were paying attention. We saw how they acted. How they practised politics. How they treated their ‘partners’. We see and we remember. Blue Tory, Red Tory, Yellow Tory and any colour of Tory in between. THEIR politics has brought the United Kingdom to its knees both nationally and internationally. Their politics has broken the society of the UK into teeny tiny bits that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men would have a bit of bother putting back together again. THEIR politics has undermined trust in institutions, in political process, representatives and even between people in the street.
THEIR politics.
Maybe should have crossed their minds that politics didn’t have to be that way and we shouldn’t all be where we are today.
Magnificent, Sam.
May and Nokes were in Scotland yesterday, and the Scottish MSM were denied access to them.
Asbestos has been reintroduced into products in the US, and in 8 months time, Liam Fox will have negotiated a trade deal with his pals in America to flood our Do It Yourself warehouses with US Government subsidised garden sheds with corrugate roofs that will give you cancer.
I wonder if the most pointless politician in the history of Scotland, and that in itself is quite an achievement, James Kelly, is smirking now after his battle to ‘decriminalise’ the little guy on the terraces of Ibrox and Parkhead now that an idiot in Celtic garb harangues an ex Rangers Player in an airport, two Croatian Supporters are stabbed on their way to a European match, Glasgow shoppers are subjected to a Reign of Terror as Wigan and Rangers supporters cause violent mayhem in broad daylight, or, and I predicted it would happen, one man is stabbed to death and another seriously wounded at the top of Kilbowie Hill in Clydebank on a Sunday early evening hours after the Aberdeen Rangers match, during which the Famine Song and the Billy Boys got big licks.
Well done, Kelly.
Boris Johnson compares Muslim women to post office boxes or bank robbers, and we stand by and do nothing. We let these bigots, racists, violent men and women away with it, because they are tenuously associated with the Brit Establishment, and our newspapers and TV collude in covering it all up.
As long as you are for the Union you can riot, kill, insult religions, threaten minorities, and label me a ‘separatist’, as some sort of insult.
Caroline Nokes turned up in Glasgow Yesterday. She thinks that the fruit in Lincolnshire is more important than anything in Scotland.
They sneak in and they sneak out, meet in secret locations, and wave at invited hacks and broadcasters, then get out of Dodge double quick, before the natives discover they are here and might want a word.
Then BBC Distorting Scotland headlines a £1.3 billion City Deal for Edinburgh?
Darling and Brown did it during the Referendum. Secret meetings with POTUS Security addressing an audience of Yoons, faithfully recorded and filmed by the Brit Nat Propaganda machine, and dutifully headlined on STV and the BBC Stockade at Pacific Quay.
I gather that they can’t even give tickets away for Ruth Davidson’s/Andrew Neil’s book review of Mum 2B Ruth’s Magnus Opus in London this September.
They can’t even give them away.
The Woman whom Andrews Marr and Neil tipped as the next PM of England and Wales?
She was at Big T’s side yesterday in Edinburgh, but was promptly airbrushed out of the event when May was roundly booed by a crowd in our capital, which, lest Ruth forgets, is Edinburgh, not London.
Sam, we are at war.
Not a ‘guns’ war, but a ‘roses’ war.
When I was out for the rolls, I briefly listened to a Johnny Beattie (Beattie with two ‘e’s’)phone in on humans eating dogs and calls to tighten the law.
Christ on a bike.
They are trying to destroy Scotland and BBC Radio Jordanhill carries on as if it were 1953.
I quote Schiehallion’s .’Nae Union’.
“If you’re not for Scotland, then against her you must be”.
I am as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take any more.
Brilliant post, Sam.
Rant over.
The Constitutional crisis is well and truly here, the sh#t just hasn’t hit the fan yet. Robert Peffers does a sterling job trying repeatedly to remind people that the uk monarch wears 2 crowns, Westminster plays that fact down for good reason.
The ‘ Withdrawal Bill ‘ in its current form has the Queen of Scots sign an act of Parliament into law against the express wishes of a majority of Scottish MP,s. The expressed will of Scotland’s democratically elected Parliament, and the expressed will ( by Referendum ) of the ‘ People of Scotland ‘.
The ‘ Declaration of Arbroath ‘ has something to say about that. So yes, Constitutional crisis.
STV did a news item on the Stone of Destiny a few days ago.
Claiming that it was used fir hundreds of years to crown Scottish monarchs but was now used to crown “British” monarchs.
Who are these British monarchs?
Never heard of them.
Sorry this is off topic. I have received a new UK passport and was pleased to see that Gaelic as well as Welsh are used in it.
Meanwhile here in Aberdeen the jakeys sit outside the Sherriff Court drinking tins of cheap lager. Union Street becoming to resemble a beggars paradise with more empty shops too numerous to count. Over 20,000 people have left the North East area last year according to a recent survey. . Above all this depression and never mentioned is Scotland’s oil which continues to flow south 24/7 into the hands of our London rulers and the coffers of multi national oil companies. We sit idly by, helpless, while the downward spiral continues with enforced austerity. The Labour/Tory council continue to dance to their master’s bidding and Aberdeen Townhouse continues to fly the Butcher’s Apron to remind us that Scotland is nothing more than a colonial outpost. Can we reclaim the gift of freedom which Bruce fought for in 1314 and which we lost in 1707 ?
Grafter, this; picked at random from the Net on Norway’s Oil Fund, from Sept 2017.
” Norway’s oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, has topped $1tn in assets for the first time in its history. The oil fund, which started in 1996, reached NKr7,811bn ($1.001tn) in market value on Tuesday. Officials confirmed it was the first time it has breached the trillion-dollar barrier. In a country of just 5.2m people, the oil fund has been an extraordinary success, growing faster than ministers imagined to become one of the world’s largest investors, owning on average 1.3 per cent of every listed company in the world. “I don’t think anyone expected the fund to ever reach $1tn when the first transfer of oil revenue was made in May 1996. Reaching $1tn is a milestone, and the growth in the fund’s market value has been stunning,” said Yngve Slyngstad, the fund’s chief executive. The fund was set up to help manage Norway’s oil wealth for future generations by taking all the revenues the state receives from petroleum and investing it in financial assets abroad. The fund has grown at a dizzying pace, with its assets rising 13-fold since 2002.At the end of 2016, about half of the fund’s assets were due to the returns on its investments, approximately 45 per cent due to inflows from oil and gas revenues, and the rest due to currency movements. The oil fund has undergone significant changes over its history. It started by investing purely in bonds but now holds close to 65 per cent of its assets in shares. It made its first investment in property in 2011 and has now built up a $30bn portfolio, mostly in the US and Europe. ”
Maggie Thatcher sold Britoil to her pals in the City.
They are sucking oil from Scotland’s waters for nothing now.
We must stop this Rape of Scotland now.
The lies about currency was one thing that drove me out of my mind in Indyref1.
Firstly there was a paper which laid out the options so not only was there a Plan B there were Pans C and D also.
Secondly I knew that Ireland had used the Pound Sterling post independence – (Note: I recommend this be for a short period only a la Craig Dalziel’s book).
Thirdly having worked for an American bank for 25 years I knew that the only way WM could stop Scotland using the pound, would be to stop the Pound Sterling being an Internationally Traded Currency. Since the consequence would be to shut down London as a financial center,…. just not a possibility.
USA tried to stop Panama using the dollar as their currency. They had problems doing that as Panama ignored them. US banks got really fed up of replacing the notes from Panama – falling to bits utterly filthy but still legal tender (and I mean really gross). They now have an agreement with Panama whereby they exchange used notes in the same way they do for the US Banks (and charge them as they do banks). Panama does however use its own coinage.
Will jenny Marra appear on Distorting Scotland tonight to apologise for ‘misspeaking’ over the former CEO of Tayside’s NHS’s severance package. Not £300,000 but more like the contractual £90,000 entitlement?
I’ve been looking at the Benefits Described pension to which our MSPs are entitled’
Index linked (it goes up every year) it equates to 1/40 of their salary currently circa £63k pa., for every year of service if they pay the higher rate contribution of 11%, or 1/50 of their salary for every year of service. The pension is for life, inflation proofed.
I see Ms Marra has been a List MSP (we didn’t vote for her, she was ‘selected’ by the Party to such High Office) since 2011, which I reckon means that she’s probably racked up 7/40ths of £64k up until now.
That’s roughly £11,200 a year, or £215 a week, if she had the good grace to resign now and take the money and run.
If she trundled along until 2020 of course, she would have amassed 9/40ths of £64K, which is £14,400 pa., or £277 a week.
If she retired from public office in 2020, and hopefully had a long and happy retirement when she reached 65, after 25 years, say, her package for 11 years as an unelected List MP would be £360,000.
Index linked and inflation proof to boot.
Nice work if you can get it.
Not many pensioners can.
I invite anyone to check this. I got the details from the official MSP Pensions site.
Correct me if I am wrong.
There are dozens of List benchfillers on this incredible pensions deal, while children on school holiday starve.
Oh,God, please let me be wrong.
Have a lovely time on Islay, Paul. A grand part of the world. Jura too.
Paul, if you get to Islay weather permitting, remember there is a quirky ferry arrangement – the ferry arrives at one end but leaves from the other on a Sunday , it may even operate that all week I only know of a Sunday visit.
If you find it unacceptable that the BBC broadcasts Britnat propaganda and you live in the Glasgow area then show your displeasure by going along tomorrow Sat 11th august at 1 pm to the demo at Propaganda Quay (also known as Pacific Quay) in Glasgow. Let them know that their lies are not acceptable to decent Scots.
Sorry. But I’m going to be a bit controversial, or should I say, revolutionary.
From the main article: “Nicola Sturgeon has warned Theresa May that using scare tactics as a negotiating tool isn’t a good idea.”
I’ve been thinking about how we lost the first Indyref and how we could win the next one. It pains me, but I have to say, Nicola is wrong. Fear is what won the last referendum for the unionists.
Fear of losing our pensions.
Fear of being ejected from The European Union.
Fear that Scottish companies would up sticks and head down South.
Fear that we would lose Scottish shipbuilding contracts.
And fear is what will win the next one. We should use it to the max. Now. The article above is titled, ‘Plan B in outer space’. Which shows that Wee Ginger Dug appreciates how well that jibe worked against the Yes movement. Let’s all repeat it right back at them. Only louder.
Let’s lose this holier than thou attitude that pretends we will prevail because we are the nice guys. No one can deny fear’s potency. Cast your mind back over the battles that were won because one side (the victors) had acquired a new weapon that the enemy did not possess;
Agincourt – The Longbow.
American Civil War – The Springfield Rifle
World War 2 – Radar
If these weapons had not been deployed, the battles might have been lost or incurred many more deaths on both sides. Not being a history buff I’ll let others quote further examples.
Each time FEAR swung public opinion. Firstly we had Indyref 1, then Brexit. Make no mistake, Project fear 3 is already well underway.
Again from the main article; “if you conduct your politics using fear, intimidation, and threats as the main tools in your political armoury, you don’t merely look like a tool, but the whole project is highly likely to end up in tears. Your tears.”
This is completely wrong. Ask yourself whose tears are flowing over the result of Indyref 1…Yes voters…or No voters.
We are not too wee. We are not too poor. But, if we don’t wise up soon and turn Westminster’s most powerful weapon against them, I suspect we could be accused of being too stupid. And we will lose again.
I, for one, am tired of always trying to be the nice guy. I’m tired of losing. I want to win. Roll out Scotfear.