For most people who support the idea of Scottish independence, it’s not about identity. Even for those who do prize a Scottish identity, that Scottish identity is not usually an ethnic one. Scottishness is a state of mind. It’s about where you live and how you choose to identify rather than being about where your parents or your ancestors came from. You could say that the difference between the civic nationalism espoused by the great majority of Scottish independence supporters and ethnic nationalism is that the first is about the future, the second is about the past.
Scottish identities are complex and multilayered. A minority of people in Scotland feel British first and Scottish second. A larger group feels Scottish first and British second. Another large group feels Scottish but not British at all. And there’s a segment which feels British but not Scottish. Scottish independence will not force an identity on anyone. Those who identify as British will still be British. Those who choose to travel on a British passport will still be free to do so.
This doesn’t mean that you will have to have a British passport following Scottish independence. It means that you can choose to retain one if indeed being British is important to your identity and how you define yourself. It’s just that independence will also give those of us who’d prefer a Scottish passport the option of getting one. Following Brexit, a Scottish passport will be far more likely to offer the freedom to move and settle anywhere in Europe than a British one will. You could even have both passports, should you choose. Most countries recognise dual citizenship, Scotland will be no different.
Back during the 2014 referendum campaign Magrit Curran – remember her? – went on the tellybox for an interview. The then Shadow Scotland Secretary bewailed how a Yes result in the referendum would make her children foreigners to her because they live in London. The interviewer nodded sympathetically. The trauma. The horror. But had the interviewer being doing their job properly, they would have remarked that Magrit was factually incorrect. Her kids would not become foreigners to her following Scottish independence.
In just about every country in the world, the offspring of citizens are entitled to citizenship through their parents. The children of a Scottish citizen, especially children who were themselves born in Scotland but who later moved to London, would naturally have the right to Scottish citizenship. Magrit’s weans wouldn’t be foreigners to her, because following independence they would like her have the right to claim Scottish citizenship.
But Magrit’s weans wouldn’t be foreigners to her because Magrit would also be entitled to retain British citizenship. Back in 2014, the British government confirmed that it had no plans to change its citizenship laws should Scotland become independent. Changing the laws about British citizenship following independence would mean stripping the likes of Michael Gove and Liam Fox of their British passports. Can you see them voting for that? No, neither can I.
What the current British citizenship laws mean is that everyone who is currently a UK citizen who lives in Scotland, or UK citizens who were born in Scotland but who now live elsewhere, would still have the right to British citizenship following an independence referendum. And so would their children. In order to qualify for British citizenship by descent, you need to have at least one parent who acquired British citizenship at birth by virtue of being born somewhere which was a part of the UK – at the time of their birth. Scottish independence does not change the reality that at the time of birth of every person born in Scotland who is alive today, we were born somewhere which was part of the UK.
Everyone who is alive in Scotland today and who is a British citizen would under current citizenship laws retain the right to British citizenship following independence. This is what happened when Ireland became independent. The children of everyone who was born in Scotland who is alive today, or who will be born right up until the date of Scottish independence, will likewise be entitled to British citizenship by virtue of the fact that they have a parent who was born a British citizen on British territory.
What this means in practical terms is that the first people who won’t have the right to British citizenship following Scottish independence will be the children of the first baby to be born in Scotland following the formal date of independence – assuming, that is, that that baby has a child with someone who isn’t a British citizen themselves. So we’re talking here about the children of people who haven’t been born yet, a generation which won’t be born for some 20 years following the date of Scottish independence.
But even if it were indeed the case that Magrit Curran’s weans would have a different passport from her – so what? Is your love for your children and your relationship with them predicated upon a piece of paper? Surely not. If you really would be estranged from your own kids simply because they have a different citizenship from you, that’s not an argument against independence, it’s an argument that you’re desperately in need of family therapy.
The new Scottish state will need to implement a citizenship law to establish the parameters for who qualifies for Scottish citizenship in the future, and that’s something that can only be determined once Scotland is independent. The British state can’t prejudge who would or would not be the citizen of an independent country, which is one reason why it’s only right and proper that the franchise for the independence referendum should be restricted to those of us who currently reside in Scotland.
In the vast majority of countries, people have the right to citizenship when they are born in that country to people who are legally resident there. Those who acquire citizenship by virtue of being born in the territory of the state generally have the right to pass that citizenship on to their own children when those children are born abroad. It is likely that Scotland will extend citizenship to all British citizens resident in Scotland at the time of independence, to everyone who was born in the territory of Scotland, and to their children who were born outwith Scotland. Personally, I would hope that upon attaining independence, the new Scottish state will also offer citizenship to everyone who is legally resident in Scotland upon the date of Scottish independence – irrespective of their current citizenship. That would be a marvellous gesture to demonstrate the inclusivity of the new Scottish state.
However if you feel British no one is going to take that away from you. At least no one in Scotland. Those who identify as British will be every bit as able to participate fully in Scottish civic life as any Scottish citizen. Independence is not about forcing an identity on anyone. It’s about governance, it’s about democracy, and it’s about giving the people of this country the powers that we need in order to determine the path that this country takes.
The plan for this article and several others dealing with key points in the independence debate is to collate them and publish them in book form when we have a date for the independence vote. Some of these articles have already been published on this blog and others have yet to be written. The idea is that when we know when Scotland will be voting, I will do a crowd-funder specifically for the purpose of raising money to get the book printed, and then it can be distributed to Yes groups and campaigners and given away for free.
There’s already a Wee Blue Book, let’s have a Wee Ginger Book too. This isn’t meant as competition for the Wee Blue Book – which is a fantastic initiative with proven success – but rather it is to be complementary to it. Different writing styles and different books can appeal to different readerships and different demographics. The more information we can get out there, the more people we can persuade to Yes. If you have any suggestions for topics for articles to include in this book, let me know and I will write something up – if I haven’t done so already.
My new book has just been published by Vagabond Voices. Containing the best articles from The National from 2016 to date. Weighing in at over 350 pages, this is the biggest and best anthology of Wee Gingerisms yet. This collection of pieces covers the increasingly demented Brexit years, and the continuing presence and strength of Scotland’s independence movement.
You can order the book directly from the publisher. Ordering directly means that postage is free. You can order here –
https://www.vagabondvoices.co.uk/rants/barking-up-the-right-tree-2019
You can also order a book directly from me. The book costs £11.95 and P&P is an additional £3.50, making a total of £15.45. To order just make a Paypal payment to weegingerbook@yahoo.com, or alternatively use the DONATE button below. Please make sure to give me your postal address when ordering. Orders to be sent outwith the UK will incur extra postage costs, please email me for details. If you can’t use Paypal, or prefer an alternative payment method, please email weegingerbook@yahoo.com
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Another myth nailed from the list which must be getting short…
Not sure if it was tongue in cheek to continue the Brexit myth of the red EU passport yet true blue British uniqueness which isn’t unique… Some Tartan paint perhaps ? 😉
[…] Wee Ginger Dug Questions of identity For most people who support the idea of Scottish independence, it’s not about […]
Honestly, as you say even if this myth were true, so what? My wife is Japanese, and of our four kids, three lost their Japanese citizenship when they took on German citizenship. My wife shows no sign of loving them less because they are ‘foreign’.
Ironically they had to do this because the UK government is going all nationalistic, so they needed a European passport, otherwise they could have kept their Japanese nationality…
“Oh but,” the Britnats bleat, “I don’t want my relatives in England to be foreigners”.
To which we ask, “What’s wrong with foreigners?”
Britnats either gulp in embarrassed silence or say “Nothing” thereby negating their lazy, flimsy argument.
And they have the cheek to call indy supporters bigots when they show they clearly hate foriengers.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
I know one woman locally who recently had her collar felt by immigration despite marrying a Scottish soldier in Germany during his National Service over 40 years ago,and a woman on Arran,again married to a Scot,with a good business,forced to go back to South Africa and reapply to come back.In her case she had to be earning £36K or over to stay,which wouldn’t be easy on Arran.In my innocence I had assumed marriage conveyed citizenship on the partner born elsewhere,but I guess this must be part of the so-called hostile environment brought in by Mrs May at .the Home Office
If I remember correctly that regulation for non-EU immigrants started in 2015 or thereabouts. Under these regulation non-EU immigrants who have been in the UK for 6 years but are earning less than £36,000 are liable to be deported.
The Royal College of Nursing pointed out that under those conditions around 6,000 nurses per year from non-EU countries would be deported. They managed to get a delay in implementing the new regulations for nurses. I think for 12-18 months initially but not sure if they managed to persuade the Home Office to exempt nurses altogether.
Now they are talking about not letting people into the country unless they are going to be earning £36,000.
That regulation doesn’t apply to non EU citizens who are married to UK citizens.
Very well said.
Consider the bunnet well and truly doffed. 🙂
Passports
After Brexit an independent Scotland will be in the passport printing/issuing business.
What do you reckon the Scottish diaspora worldwide that have entitlement to Scottish passport is, 10 million? Of which I reckon one million would want (need) one.
If we charge 100 quid for one (cheap at the price) and estimating production and administration (jobs!!) costs of say 10% we could look forward to an inflow of funds which my clculator tells me is 90 followed by 6 zeros.
A wheen of cash!!
Could we fund an increase in the state pension for senior citizens with that??
Just thinking out loud or rather through my keyboard.
In my opinion, the Scottish Government should start right now in issuing Scottish Passports with the legend “Becomes legal on Day One of Independence”. It would double up as a good indicator of support for that day.
Further to the above the quality would have to be first class because for 50 quid there´s a guy up the barras…….
“We’re Scotland. We don’t do that kind of thing.
You must be thinking of some other country… maybe in today’s news?”
PS, one small detail: many countries are not comfortable with dual citizenship in the strictest literal sense. They only want to see *one* passport – the one that *they* consider valid – but in most cases they do not enquire what other passport(s) that person may also be carrying.
The Jackal had dozens of passports, as does Jason Bourne.
Johnson has a US Passport, and a UK one, and probably qualifies for a Turkish passport on his grandfather’s side.
My dear late lamented brother had Canadian, UK, and Irish passports.
He wasn’t an international hit man, but.
Or was he?
He flew all over the place from his McDonnell Douglas base in Toronto.
Mmmm.
Will Andrew Neil be applying for a French Passport since he has a wee but ‘n’ ben Over There?
The rich have no problems with anything as common as a passport.
They buy islands, never mind villas or gites or wee heilin’ hames, the apparent choice of many of our Red Blue and Beige Tory MP/MSP Brit Natters.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that Mags Curran has a wee tapas bar in Spain or somewhere warm and Southern.
If Spain replicates the UK Homeland Security ‘hostile environment’ towards EU nationals working here come November, will the EU reciprocate, and chuck 300,000 Brit Silver Settlers out of Spain’s Costas?
.
The Scottish Passport should be a Saltire on the front and back covers, IMHO.
We would be able to spot fellow Scots a mile off at airports and ferry terminals.
I long for the day when I am the proud owner of a Scottish passport, that day being not too far off now.
A thought.
If the estimated 400,000 English born living working and retired Up Here opt to retain their ‘English’ passports, when England becomes a ‘third country’ outside the EU in October, and Independent Scotland remains within the EU, will said English born workers be subject to the same tit for tat ‘hostile environment’ being meted out now by the UK Border Force, and be deported, sent back South?
I recall that Project Fear I announced that 700,000 would flee Independent Scotland last time.
I’d imagine the trend will be reversed come NO Deal November, with many in the South heading to Scotland within the EU.
A Saltire cover; I like that.
a saltire on the dark red EU background! Wouldn’t that stand out nicely!
Re British passports/citizenship –
Once Scotland is Independent (and NI has gone its way into Re-Unification, toss up which happens first!)
it’s up to England/Wales to decide who is gets to have English passports. The British passport will no longer exist!
Can see the Govt quite happily dumping anyone and their children/grandchildren born outside of England/Wales
I love your posts Jack. You get so emotional, I get quite caught up in your emotions with you.
I also can’t wait to get my Scottish passport with a saltire on it.
I live, with my independence supporting, English husband, in Spain. Absolutely NOWHERE near the costas though. And my Scottish born children have English spouses and live and work in England. They are also looking forward to having their Scottish passports.
They all consider themselves European and the two that live in London have been on all the marches against brexit. They do not want their lives to be inward looking. They want to keep their right to work and travel throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
I also have a wee grandson, unfortunately born in england, and I’m hoping as his mother is Scottish, and of course me his granny is Scottish, he’ll be entitled to a Scottish passport too and his life will doing and going wherever he wants or needs to and the world will be his oyster.
Well said Benmadigan
Once Scotland is independent the British passport will cease to be.
It’s very likely that those people living in what is currently the UK will be given passports by an independent Scotland in certain circumstances similar to the reciprocal agreement UK made with Ireland but that is by no means certain.
England does not want people who it believes should not have a UK passport getting a Scotland passport with reciprocal rights through any new reciprocal agreement .
Reciprocal agreements only work if both countries agree on the extent of freedom of movement and rights to work in both countries.
The reciprocal agreement UK have with Ireland will not be what Scotland gets with UK when Scotland becomes independent.
The reciprocal agreement with Ireland only exists because or partition in Ireland
If Ireland ever reunified the current reciprocal agreement will be ditched.
Furthermore the reciprocal agreement uk have with Ireland includes getting social security benefits in both countries
For many a year, well, until I looked it up earlier today, I was under the impression that ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ was the longest word in the English language.
No, it’s not ‘smiles’, because there’s a ‘mile’ between the first ‘s’ and the last ‘s’.
Whit ur you Duggers like?
Behave.
Apparently the longest word in the dictionary is, wait for it, ‘Electroencephalographically’ , defined as the adverb derived from the noun ‘Electroencephalograph’, ‘an instrument for measuring and recording the electric activity of the brain’.
I am informed that ‘‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ does not appear in the modern English dictionary, and has an arcane ancient meaning, referring to those who are against those who are against the ‘established’ Anglican church, or something.
No mind.
For those who suffer Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, I’ll get to the point.
(Oh, look it up.)
It may be argued that Michael Gove requires to be examined ‘Electroencephalographically’.
Or for the more prosaic and non PC among us, this man needs his ‘head examined’.
He is not the ‘full shilling’.
He is a bottle of Tizer short of a picnic hamper.
His heid buttons up the back.
At what other conclusion can the man on the Clapham Omnibus arrive when, courtesy of Mike Settle at the newly rebranded ‘Herald Borisland’ , who quotes Gove in a deflecting headline about an article on the leaked Operation Yellowhammer Risk Analysis?
“Tory Brexiteers denounce ‘Establishment plot’ to sow fear of No Deal Brexit among public.”
Buried beneath the headline is the impact of No Deal on our way of life.
For brevity, a few snippets.
“delays to fresh food, medical supplies and fuel as traffic jams form at key entry points;
a hard Irish border;
passenger delays at EU airports, on Eurostar and at Dover;
potential clashes breaking out between UK and European Economic Area fishing vessels with predictions more than 280 ships will sail in British waters illegally on Brexit day and
public protests across the UK, which may “require significant amounts” of police resources.”
Johnson is to meet Merkel on Wednesday and Macron on Thursday to reiterate that the EU “scrap the Irish backstop or Britain will leave without a deal on October 31.”
Stephen Barclay, whom I tipped to take over from May as the best worst of a bad lot, was photographed signing “the “commencement order” that will trigger the end of the supremacy of EU law in the UK on the Hallowe’en date.”
The Hounds of Hell have already been unleashed.
Priti Patel (if a shiver of dread doesn’t trickle down your spine at the mere mention of this dreadful woman’s name, you are dead from the neck up) “ is said to be pressing for free movement of EU workers to end on the day after Britain leaves the EU even though a new system has yet to be fully agreed.”
Three million EU citizens working here will instantly be ‘illegal aliens’.
This is the woman who would bring back hanging.
But worry not, Gove is at hand, defender of the Common Herd against ‘The Establishment’, and their Gunpowder Project Fear Plotting.
Whit?
Some of you, having read thus far, may be querying Settle’s ridiculous headline.
Gove attended Oxford where he became great pals with Boris Johnson.
Whatever became of him?
Gove’s wife Sara Vine writes for the Mail, and they aren’t short of a bob or two.
They are as London Establishment as it gets.
He succeeded Johnson as President of the Oxford Union, and during the expenses scandal,
flipped his homes allegedly:-
This from wiki:-
“This caught the attention of satirists at Private Eye, who accused Vine of hypocrisy after it claimed that £7,000 of public money was spent on the kitchen of Vine and Gove, including a £750 table and £430 dining chairs. Gove then designated his Surrey constituency home their second property and claimed for items there too. Over the three years between his 2005 election and the start of the expenses scandal Gove claimed more than £66,000 in expenses, three times the amount claimed by Miliband, said Private Eye. Vine has argued that these allegations were false and “twisted interpretations”.
You can’t get more Establishment than Michael Gove, and his mucker Jacob Rees Mogg.
The body of Settle’s article is not about an ‘Establishment Plot’
It describes the descent into madness by the English Establishment.
Here’s more from Gove, from the ‘Electroencephalograph’ Wing of the Establishment.
“But, in an unusual move, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office Minister in charge of no-deal contingency planning, tweeted: “We don’t normally comment on leaks – but a few facts – Yellowhammer is a worst case scenario – v significant steps have been taken in the last 3 weeks to accelerate Brexit planning…”
Later, he admitted there would be “bumps in the road” as Britain left the EU but stressed the leak was an “old document” and the Government had now implemented several additional steps to prepare for a no-deal outcome. He also strongly emphasised that the UK would not impose a hard border with Ireland.”
The man has clearly lost it.
He boasts of ‘an extra £2 billion’ in the No Deal Brexit fund.
That’s roughly £33 each, to stock up on Marvel Powdered Milk and terry towl nappies?
‘There won’t be a hard border?’
Somebody better tell his Oxford Buddy Johnson before he hits Berlin on Wednesday.
Mike Settle picks an ‘Establishment Plot’ as his leader to put the fear of Johnny Furriner into us Proles, instead of “Operation Yellowhammer, Stockpile Now!”
It is getting madder by the minute.
Time to fire the Indyref Starting Gun.
Did you ever get the feeling that we are being driven relentlessly to disaster , yet the people doing the driving are high on LSD ?
”Free movement for EU citizens will end on day one of a no-deal Brexit, under new Home Office plans – despite warnings of chaos and of people trapped in legal limbo.
Priti Patel, the new hardline home secretary, is pressing for border restrictions to be imposed immediately on 31 October, even though no replacement system is ready”..
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-eu-brexit-freedom-of-movement-ends-november-boris-johnson-priti-patel-home-office-a9064376.html
O/T
Johnson and Davidson, the loud mouthed Tory charlatans, are remaining ”shtum” now for one reason or another.
”Apparently Johnson’s controllers are not allowing him to do radio & TV interviews – the more he appears, the more people see what a charlatan he is, how ill-informed, ill-prepared, a mere blatherer. His controllers are very scared that the Brexit con is collapsing. – And it is.”
.
And Davidson;-
https://twitter.com/snb19692/status/1162015001147785216
Sorry. Didn’t realise that these links would ”open up” like that on here.
Petra, that’s a scary pic.
You know how sometimes you are gently drifting from sleep to awake when you just know someone hovering over you, just, well, looking at you?
It used to be my mother in law when we visited, and she ‘stared’ us awake at some ungodly hour to chomp down a Full Irish Breakfast whether we were hungry or not.
Well, that ‘s the Bejaisus! scary moment that I had when I came across this really ‘weird’ snap of Davidson.
No cheeky grin for the cameras. No chubby cheeks jolly hockey sticks toothy smile and wave from the haunches of an unsuspecting ungulate to the masses via the obedient camp following Brit Nat Hacks and Snappers.
In this snap, her shotgun rider’s expression says it all.
We are well and truly ‘houghmagandied’. (Spelling?)
Well, Scotland, the land of her birth, is not an appurtenance of her adopted nation, England.
We voted to Remain.
We are a sovereign nation.
We are de facto Independent now.
Perhaps there’s a safe seat Down There?
It’s her only hope now..
She is captured by a candid camera; a tired, weary, beaten Blue Tory Never Was.
England has completely lost the plot.
Tatu3, I understand fully.
The liars and demons who brand the YES Movement as anti English can rot in their belief system’s version of Hades as far as I’m concerned.
There will be the opportunity for all, including English and Welsh citizens, to come here, and take out Scottish citizenship.
‘There’s plenty of room’, and there will be even more when we ban blood sports, and ‘take back control’ of the 1/5th of Scotland fenced off for the Filthy Rich psychos to blast moor hens to pieces for sport and sate their pathological lust to kill living creatures for fun.
Scotland is, and will remain, an outward looking, welcoming, nation, an international member of a Social Democratic Society.
Mags Curran might not fancy her relatives being ‘foreigners’; how very racist xenophobic of the wee Blair Gravy Trainer.
I have family all over the world.
None of them consider themselves ‘foreign’ in Curran’s sense.
They are my family, and that’s an end to it.
Brit Nats get ‘Natsier’ by the day, as we career towards Farage’s ‘Independence Day’.
Tatu3, I get very ’emotional’ about an imminent Independent Scotland.
I sense that you and I are not alone in that.
Blame the rain for me on here when there are books to return, shallots to be bought, and ‘good mornings’ to be exchanged.
It would make you laugh. A case of, ”do as I say, not as I do.”
If you want your British citizenship application to be approved by the Home Office, you must satisfy their ”Good Character” requirements, such as you should not be deceptive, notorious, dishonest, give rise to a risk to public order, breach tax and financial affairs or have any criminal convictions, etc, etc.
One wonders how many Westminster politicians, Home Office Civil Servants and in fact Priti Patel herself, now Home Secretary, have actually breached the ”good character” criteria? That’s the Priti Patel who was forced to resign, by Big T, as International Development Secretary in November 2017 after holding 12 secret meetings in Israel without following protocol … a clear security risk. No problem then as National security is the key role of the Home Secretary! What a bunch of scary hypocrites.
https://ukcitizenshipsupport.com/british-citizenship/british-citizenship-application-good-character/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuduemPKO5AIVgrTtCh2iwAT3EAMYASAAEgKduPD_BwE
@ Jack collatin says …. ”Petra, that’s a scary pic. You know how sometimes you are gently drifting from sleep to awake when you just know someone hovering over you, just, well, looking at you? It used to be my mother in law when we visited, and she ‘stared’ us awake at some ungodly hour to chomp down a Full Irish Breakfast whether we were hungry or not. Well, that ‘s the Bejaisus! scary moment that I had when I came across this really ‘weird’ snap of Davidson.”…
Ha ha ha. Sorry about that Jack. I got a bit of a shock myself when her ugly mug appeared on my screen.
”Perhaps there’s a safe seat Down There (England)? It’s her only hope now..”
I don’t see it Jack. I reckon that many English people are beginning to suss her, the ignorant nonentity, out. She’ll more than likely head off to the R0I with her Irish partner. You know will want to remain in the EU as her party, along with the Baker’s Dozen at Westminster that she has no control over, attempt to drag 5 million Scots out of the EU.
……………………………………………………..
Patel still at it. Good character, my backside.
”Her latest ”deception” is as Home secretary she took up to £1,000 an hour advisory role before getting the watchdog’s approval.”
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/26/priti-patel-accused-of-breaching-ministerial-code-for-second-time
Just to let you know Petra, that if you include more than three links per comment, your post automatically goes into moderation. It’s an anti-spam measure, as spam comments often include a slew of links to porn sites or whatever.
Petra, you may recall the sting played on Jack Straw, and the original Bools in the Mooth tortured vowels accented Malcolm Rifkind by one of the Red Tops, when they were recorded ostensibly offering their ‘names’ to a fictitious Chinese Company to lobby on their behalf for a mere £5 to £10,000 A Day.
If true, then Patel whored herself cheaply at £5000 for he month, albeit for 5 backbreaking hours in 30 days.
She reportedly hovered up £10 grand before the pesky Watchdogs cottoned on.
It all seems to perfectly innocent too.
” Acoba approved the appointment but with strict conditions. The committee said given her seniority and profile as a secretary of state there was a risk that it could be perceived Patel’s contacts “might assist Viasat unfairly”.
As a result, Acoba said Patel could take up the appointment but should not draw on any privileged information available from her time as international development secretary, should not lobby the UK government on behalf of Viasat and should not provide advice on any contracts with the UK government.
Viasat provides products and services to the Ministry of Defence. It also works with the UK Space Agency, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.”
Aye,right.
This is the grubby wee state to which we are still shackled; but not for much longer.
Kickbacks come in many forms these days, not just Neil Hamilton Brown Envelopes. Not that I am saying that any politician would take advantage of their position for money, mind, though, but.
I am sure that it’s all perfectly above board.
BTW how much do Brown and Darling get as a fee for a ‘speaking engagement’?
It will be the incredulous question asked by historians in decades to come.
With England on the brink of calamitous permanent damage, why were they all still on holiday in the middle of August 2019?
On the day they decree that man and woman will be forced to work until they are 75, or die from exhaustion, this wee odious woman is trousering a year’s State Pension for five hours toil? Allegedly.
They will ask incredulously: How did we let them get away with it?
Because in this Elite rigged corrupt system they are fat bloated money grubbing privileged members of the buffer zone between the Iron Heel Oligarchy, and us, the Great helpless Unwashed.
Up until now we have not had the power to bring this obscenity to an end.
Blue Tory Placemat Jaime Green gets £1200 a week plus exes Up Here because he was on the Jobs For The Boys Blue Tory List, not chosen by something as tiresome as the electorate.
In another time, in another country, we’d be dragging them in to Town Squares on tumbrils and heads would roll.
Time we took up knitting.
The is a Day of Reckoning coming very soon now.
We shal stop them killing our citizens in the name of Free Market austerity.
Are you listening, Ruth Davidson, Jackson Carlaw, Willie Rennie, Alex Cole Hamilton, Richmond Lardslurper, James ‘Fenian’ Kelly?
Your days of allowing a foreign government to torture and kill Scots citizens are numbered.
D’Honte and Land Reform will be among the immediate top ten radical and revolutionary changes in Independent Scotland, that’s for sure.
Rant over.
That Scotch Broth is not going to make itself.
check out the typos.
Beilin’ pure ragin’ Ah um.
Paul, a couple of questions for you.
First do you know about ‘The Moreno Question’? This is a question devised by a Spanish PHD student, Luis Moreno, at Edinburgh Uni back in the 80s. He wanted to compare the strength of dual identities, British/Scottish in Scotland with the Catalan equivalent in Spain. To do so, he devised a survey question with the following format:
1. Catalan/Scottish, not Spanish/British
2. More Catalan/Scottish than Spanish/British
3. Equally Catalan/Scottish and Spanish/British
4. More Spanish/British than Catalan/Scottish
5. Spanish/British, not Catalan/Scottish.
The question has become quite famous in academic circles and has been used in England, France and elsewhere.
From memory the result for the one and two combined percentage was about 70% in Scotland but only about 35% in Catalunya.
This seems somewhat at odds with street turn outs in Catalunya and Scotland, so my second, third and fourth questions are, do you think Catalan identity has shifted since then? If so, how much do you think that is down to Catalunya having control over its own media? Do you think we would be independent by now if Scotland had had a truly independent MSM over the ensuing decades?
Thanks for the heads-up Paul (2:36pm).
Thanks for the rant, Jack (3:27pm). Great. Add to that the corrupt crowd that have “interests” in energy companies, private medicine and so on. One thing for sure is that when we get our Independence we’ll be watching the crew in Edinburgh like a hawk. Every solitary penny will have to be accounted for by the people who will be serving us …. not themselves.
One of the things that could hurt our movement is making claims that turn out to be false. So I think you need to be very careful about including this article in your book. It is not at all certain people claiming Scottish nationality after independence would retain British nationality, The comparison with Ireland is an easy one to make but there have been two major nationality Acts since then, in 1948 and the current one in 1981 (enacted 01 Jan 1983). People in Canada automatically lost British nationality on enactment of the 1948 Act and became Canadians, Newfoundland (up to that point were independent of Canada) lost claim to British nationality and automatically became Canadians upon confederation. Nigeria got its independence in 1965, I believe, and did not retain British nationality. Hong Kong, a former British territory, did not retain British Citizenship after the handover. It is worth point out that individuals have no say in this process. Those alive in Newfoundland, for example, had no say in losing British nationality and getting Canadian nationality. In hindsight it did not work out too badly for them, but it is the example rather than the outcome I wish to point out.
It’s nice to think we could offer Scottish nationality to all the people currently living in Scotland and to those who would like to come to Scotland from elsewhere but that is unlikely to happen.
The real reason Scotland is not racing to independence is close at hand look to your friends your neighbours your colleagues who vote for England to control Scotland and then ask yourself the question why is that person voting for England to continue controlling Scotland .
You will find it obvious in many instances although one thing is very apparent and that is that you never see a march for England’s continuing control of Scotland you never see T-shirt’s or badges for it, the people who want it to continue also in the main wish to be anonymous.
Are they ashamed ,do they fear reprisals , should we be pushing them harder for their open honest opinions.
Every time BBC question time comes to a place in Scotland most of the local population don’t recognise anyone in the audience , I think it’s a quiet tactic ,they want to stay hidden ,anonymous, that’s why there are so many postal votes.
Secret votes are fine but how do you find out why people are voting the way they do or do we just accept that we never can.
I already have two passports, when I acquire a nice new Scottish one I shall let my British one moulder in a drawer for I shall only have need of the two which reflect and define who I am. I’m a Scottish New Zealander. Born and resident here and a naturalised NZ citizen after growing up there.
One of the spawn is here in Scotland the other back in NZ but she grew up here and her old man was born here so I would hope Scotland would extend citizenship to her, she plays the pipes and insisted that I wear a kilt with all the trimmings including a skian dhu to walk her up the aisle in Wanaka NZ. We had a ceilidh band in kilts for the reception and enough Scots to correct their instructions for the Gay Gordons.
It was a Scottish NZ wedding. The groom is part Maori (Ngai Tahu).