I know I was away and wasn’t really paying attention, but wasn’t it announced recently that Boris Johnson was going to lovebomb Scotland this week? Which means, if his previous relationships are anything to go by, he’ll come up here to spill red wine on the sofa and hog the laptop, our neighbours in Ireland will call the police because they’re concerned about the shouting, he’ll deny responsibility for a pregnancy, and then he’ll break up with us by text. That will at least save us the hassle of another independence referendum.
Perhaps he’s too busy to bother with Scotland this week, on account of having to ignore questions about whether he’s a racist. Hint: he is a racist. His nyaffesque advisor Dom has employed certain Andrew Sabisky who espouses the racist view that people of African origin have lower IQs and who believes in enforced contraception in order to “prevent the creation of a permanent underclass”. Johnson’s spokesracist’s, sorry spokesperson’s, inability to rotundly deny the comments made by Andrew Sabisky apparently endorses the racist idea that white people are more intelligent than black people and the eugenicist notion that the reproduction of poor people needs to be controlled by the state.
It is suspected by many that similar views are also espoused by a certain Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. This racist trope about intelligence was elaborated in a book called The Bell Curve back in the 1990s, which has formed the basis of right wing racist fanboyery about intelligence and eugenics ever since, even though the book’s argument was thoroughly debunked by people who actually understand a) statistics, b) genetics, and c) the dodgy concept of IQ testing.
The late evolutionary biologist Stephen J Gould pointed out that racist assertions about IQ testing generally rest upon four untested assumptions. Firstly that the nebulous concept of intelligence, which comprises a number of distinct modalities, can be reduced to a single number. Secondly that people can be ranked in a linear order of intelligence, which means that you must make a decision about whether a person with, say, good memory but poor mathematics skills is more or less intelligent than a person with good maths skills but poor memory. Thirdly there’s the assumption that intelligence must be primarily genetically based, taking little or no account of childhood environment and nutrition and factors such as systemic societal discrimination or poverty. And fourthly there’s the assumption that intelligence must be essentially immutable. Which is obviously not the case as Boris Johnson was regarded as one of the more able pupils while he was at school, but these days he’s clearly an idiot.
The real question here is why Boris Johnson thinks that a person who holds long debunked racist views about intelligence and eugenics is a suitable person to be employed as a government advisor. Given Johnson’s long history of racist and homophobic comments and misogynistic behaviour and his sense of entitlement that’s the size of a planet, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that he himself holds such views. All the more so because back in 2008, when Johnson was editor of the Spectator magazine, he allowed the publication of an article by the columnist Taki which asserted that intelligence was racially based and which characterised African Americans in grossly racist terms.
It’s well known that Johnson has referred to children in Africa by the racist term “picanniny” and described them as having “watermelon smiles”. He has also written about the effects of colonialism on Africa saying, “The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more.” When he was Foreign Secretary he had to be prevented from reciting Rudyard Kipling’s poem (On the Road to) Mandalay while on an official visit to Myanmar, a paean to British colonialism in a country which fought long and hard to resist British attempts to conquer it. Racism very often goes hand in glove with homophobia, and it’s also well recorded that Boris Johnson opposed equal marriage and referred to gay men as “tank topped bum boys”.
Also while editor of the Spectator, in 2004 Johnson allowed the publication of a disgustingly racist poem which called for the extermination of the “verminous Scotch race”. The poem was an overt call for the cultural and physical genocide of Scottish people. Apparently it was satire. Who knew? Johnson has never apologised for this, because when English people are racist about the Scots it’s just a bit of banter, and the real offensiveness is when a dour Jock with no sense of humour and a chip on their shoulder has the temerity to complain about it. But can you imagine the outrage if an SNP politician had allowed the publication of a ditty calling for the extermination of the English? There would be a special show on BBC Scotland devoted to the evil cancer that lurks at the very heart of Scottish nationalism. Newspapers would constantly drag up the incident every time someone expressed support for Scottish independence. We’d never hear the end of it.
Even now, as the press in England berate Johnson for his refusal to condemn the racist views of his advisor, none of them have cited this anti-Scottish poem as more evidence of Johnson’s racism. Double standards aren’t enough for British nationalists.
Double standards is really what this is all about. During the general election campaign Jeremy Corbyn was pilloried for anti-semitism, but Boris Johnson got off verminous-scotch free despite having uttered, published, or tacitly approved sentiments which are far worse than anything Jeremy Corbyn has ever said or done. Yet here we are, in the UK in the 21st century, where we have a Prime Minister with a long history of either espousing or publishing racist or homophobic views, who has appointed an advisor who openly advocates eugenics and who believes that IQ is determined by race and who refuses to distance himself from those reprehensible and offensive sentiments. You don’t have to believe that black people have lower IQs than white people in order to get a job in Number 10, but it helps. Meanwhile government ministers are refusing to comment and claiming that they haven’t seen the reports or that they don’t know the individual concerned. In the UK there’s only accountability if you’re poor, if you’re black, or if you’re a supporter of Scottish independence.
We got to this sorry place because the British media not only tolerates double standards, it actively pursues and encourages them. It suits the likes of Boris Johnson to hold these views, because it reinforces the belief that the rich deserve their wealth and the poor deserve their poverty, and helps to ensure that within the UK, no one will ever be in any position to do anything about it. We live in a state which has the greatest gap between rich and poor in Europe. With Boris Johnson in charge it’s only going to get worse.
You can help to support this blog with a Paypal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button. If you don’t have a Paypal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.
If you have trouble using the button, or you prefer not to use Paypal, you can donate or purchase a t-shirt or map by making a payment directly into my bank account, or by sending a cheque or postal order. If you’d like to donate by one of these methods, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com and I will send the necessary information.
Please also use this email address if you would like the dug and me to come along to your local group for a talk.
Gaelic maps of Scotland are available for £15 each, plus £7 P&P within the UK for up to three maps. T-shirts are £12 each, and are available in small, medium, large, XL and XXL sizes. P&P is £5 for up to three t-shirts. My books, the Collected Yaps Vols 1 to 4 are available for £11 each. P&P is £4 for up to two books. Payment can be made via Paypal.
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
Wee Ginger Dug 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
Just saying thank goodness you are back. We can’t take much more of this nightmare.
Thought Mr Sabisky might have made the network news, but shabby threats have led to self-censorship.
Johnson isn’t a fit and proper person to hold any senior government position, and that also applies to those like Carlaw who turn a blind eye to his many faults.
I would agree with you completely but for your final sentiment, WGD, that,
“With Boris Johnson in charge it’s only going to get worse.”
Thing is, ‘being in charge’ brings responsibility and duty. Yes, LBJ is responsible for these obnoxious sentiments from one of his own legion of spads (I guess Sabisky is one of those ‘weirdoes’ that Cummings has actively encouraged to join the No. 10 team) – but will LBJ take responsibility for it? A big fat No, I fear – it’s against his character so to do. Always has been, always will be.
Now, don’t get me wrong – I hold no candle to him. But we are beginning to see what Sajid Javid was up against before his ‘resignation’ as Chancellor. Rishi Sunak (who sounds like a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation) and not-so-pretty Patel are on notice as in-house South Asian pets.
For the rest of us, we are one step closer the fascist state Johnson, Cummings and others crave. Once they have disposed of their European enemies across the water, they will look for enemies – those not like them – within their own (and our) islands.
Be afeard. Be mightily afeard.
LATEST
Sabisky has resigned.
They must have heard the Dug bark and realised the game was up. CH4 news also covered it tonight.
“We live in a state which has the greatest gap between rich and poor in Europe.”
Utterly shocking if correct, sources??
Do you include e.g. Spain, the Balkans, Poland etc. etc. in ‘Europe’ here. I’m not suggesting you’re wrong, just like some confirmation.
How about this compiled from Eurostat regional analysis.
Sorry, thought that one was small enough to fit its a wee bit too big.
Thanks, that looks very striking. However what do the ends of the bars signify, some particular percentile? Also the vertical scale, there doesn’t appear to be a key. Indeed, how can an individual have a ‘GDP’ ??? (I’ve studied statistics but I’m not an economist).
The ends of the bars indicate the highest and lowest regional GDP PC for the regions of those nations as a percentage of the EU average. Some countries are too small to have regions do not, obviously, have a highest and lowest region to report. In the UK the highest regions are in London and the SE, the lowest is in Wales.
The red bar indicates the average for the nation.
This is GDP PC rather than GDP PC PPP which would be a better indicator of real world purchasing power for the national populations concerned, generally lower prices in nations with lower average GDP tend to mitigate real world national prices. GDP disparity within a nation does not generally have such a mitigating effect except in the case of housing where hyper inflated areas will have higher house prices/rents driven by the higher wealth on offer there.
Highly recommended reading (as well as other Dorling books):
http://www.dannydorling.org/books/onepercent/
Danny himself gave a presentation at London Branch SNP fairly recently, too. A definite eye-opener with strong evidence backed by excellent academic research.
Spain extreme poverty 5%. Poverty 25%
Balkan’s extreme 5% Poverty 15%
Poland extreme poverty 5% Poverty 20%
Britain, USA, Russia. Extreme poverty 5%. Poverty 15% (rising).
Division in wealth?
Spain – Mediterranean diet. High life expectancy. 4 months holidays. 1 month Easter. Two months July/August. 1 month Christmas.
Child poverty could be eradicated in Scotland. £10 a week payment to thousands of poorer children. Soon
Worldwide extreme poverty will be eradicated. Hans Rosling
I’m a White Scot with two Black foster-sons in Kenya. I can’t tell you just how f*ucking furious Boris Johnson-Cummings makes me.
I wish our SNP Government went in more for censuring people – it might make them sit up and take notice, and it would improve awareness and increase support for our cause among our good English friends who hate, loathe and despise the current Westminster regime just as much as we do.
I remember reading a piece decades ago, the Fabian society were for eugenics.
There’s the new Tory branch office manager the SNP is an evangelical faith cult.
Here’s me an atheist, tch!
Full on nasty now.
Onwards and upwards.
🐼🐼
Apologies for being O/T
‘Derek Mackay won’t face charges over messages sent to teen.’
http://www.thenational.scot/news/18240296.derek-mackay-wont-face-charges-messages-sent-teen/
This all over the MSM, of course.
NOT.
Who is going to be remembered by future generations?
Mahatma Ghandi,Martin Leuther King,Nelson Mandela or BoJo?
My money is not on BoJo or his dodgy genes.
The diversity in African DNA may well be what saves modern man from extinction and we should remember that we are ALL out of Africa originally.
Mixed race people do better. Sportspeople, musicians, actors, academics every work of life. Racism holds people back.
The DNA in everyone goes back to a few people in Middle East/Africa. They migrated all over the world. People became acclimatised to different climates to survive. Without migration people become inbred. For survival new genes/ DNA are needed.
You can’t say England or English can you
You always say Britain or British instead
You mean like when I wrote:
“when English people are racist about the Scots it’s just a bit of banter, and the real offensiveness is when a dour Jock with no sense of humour and a chip on their shoulder has the temerity to complain about it.”
M’kay. You just keep doing you, Terrence.
‘The Fast Track Queue for EU Membership: Scotland versus the Western Balkans.’
…However, it (Scotland) would almost certainly be moved to the fast track line. From there, it would still be subject to the same checks as everyone else. However, assuming the paperwork is all in order and there haven’t been many or significant divergences, one would expect it to overtake the other countries in short order and join the EU relatively quickly.”…
http://www.scer.scot/database/ident-12427
…………………………….
Worth a read.
https://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/post-brexit-britain-to-be-the-largest-and-most-destructive-tax-haven-in-the-world/
‘The Conservative Party’s Eugenics Problem.’
…”The Tories’ embrace of austerity has meant defunding New Labour’s hands-on approach, and has abandoned their liberal eugenics for something more sinister: eugenics by indifference. The cuts to adult social care, the underfunding of the NHS, the bedroom tax, cuts to council tax benefit, the explosion of JSA sanctions, the stubborn insistence on the work capability assessment has, as we know, led to at least 120,000 excess deaths during their period of office. These are the most vulnerable, the most infirm, the most precarious people. In other words, this is eugenics as social murder, a dying off of what Ebenezer Scrooge called the “surplus population”: people who cannot work and/or live lifestyles that attract moralistic sneers from the very class that oversees this system. The horror is only acknowledged by the Tories in one way, as the (justified) consequence of failures of individual responsibility. They made the wrong choices and they have to take responsibility for them. The victims and survivors of Tory austerity are unpeople who deserve no sympathy, no recognition of their humanity and if they are to be noted at all, it’s as butts of eugenics fantasies spoken aloud.”..
http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-conservative-partys-eugenics-problem.html
…………………………………………….
‘UK citizens to launch legal action to keep EU citizenship.’
..”According to Article 20 of the Treaty of Lisbon, EU citizenship is additional and separate to national citizenship. Presently, there are no provisions for removing this citizenship and its associated rights from individuals, regardless of whether their nation leaves the EU.”..
http://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/uk-citizens-to-launch-legal-action-to-keep-eu-citizenship/17/01/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
O\t – Excellent news – Angus Robertson is running for Edinburgh Central next year 🙂
Johnston is a migrant born in the US, brought up in Brussels, with privilege, on public money. His father was an EU diplomat. He is a total hypocrite. Deporting others. Along with the rest of the Tories a total hypocrites. Migrants deporting migrants.
Westminster illegal wars causing the worst migration crisis in history. The European countries have to pay for it. To try to sort out the mess.The Westminster hypocrites use their mess as an excuse for Brexit. Ruining the economy and killing people.
No wonder people in Scotland want Independence. They have to vote for it. Vote out the Tories. Support for the SNP/Independence increasing. The SNP mitigating all the Westminster failed policies. Improving the Scottish economy. Re Grousebeater. The SNP achievements.
The English cannot be tarred with the same brush because the majority did not vote Tory. Tory vote UK 14,000,000. LibDem/Labour 14,000,000. Others against the Tories. SNP 1,300,000. Out of an electorate of 45,000. Turnout?
The majority in the UK did not vote Tory. Or Brexit. The young support staying in the EU. There will be a backlash. The Tories will muck up. Support for SNP/Independence increasing. Demographics. Another IndyRef. If Scotland gets better off. So does the rest of Britain.
Ireland could reunite. If the Irish had waited 5 years. Ireland would not have been illegally Partition. Partition. 1923. Universal Suffrage 1928. Nearly 100 years of bloodshed and strife, for unionist votes at Westminster.
The Irish could have voted for Home Rule/Independence. There were already Bills going through Westminster. Delayed by the 1WW. Britain/Ireland could have been much better off economically. Instead of wasted public monies.
The Tories have cut funding on essential services. NHS/Education/Welfare, £13Billion a year from 2015/2020. £65Billion. They are spending monies on HS2/Hinkley Point/Trident. All a total waste of monies with no business case. Wasting £Billions.
“The problem with Scotand is that it’s full of scots!”
So said King Edward, according to Holywood.
The concern is that it won’t be long before that those in power at WM come to the same conclusion – if they haven’t done so already.
Worrying times.
Trumpian appointments and sackings already… Who’da thunk it? 🙄
Mr Johnson and his cadre of backstabby chancers (struggle to call them a government honestly) really should’ve been more careful on what they wished for. They kinda hope you’re not paying attention when those not fit for a duty of CARE are given positions beyond their ability to care.
It’s easy to hate right enough. It’s easy to ingrain hatred generationally. It’s also easy to manipulate that hatred. There only needs to be the smallest difference, a point of focus, that little something that can be chipped away at until it becomes a divide and then an unbridgeable chasm. They’ve been dividing and subdividing demographics for personal gain for generations on this basis. Find one of those chips to exploit, create a narrative and launch. The political class, probably more than any other, are guilty of fomenting and projecting a false hatred.
Colour, religion, sexuality, fitbakickybaw teams, ANYTHING. You name it, the sociopaths in suits can find a way to manipulate and project the anger and frustration of the great unwashed into hating an innocent demographic for said personal gain.
Mr Johnson is on a clock. He needs to make some kind of success out of the Brexit idiocy in short order at this point. That or have a believable scapegoat ready to hand. If he can do neither?
Well?…Sometimes when you foment such rage and frustration? Sometimes folk can catch on to where the fault really lies. Sometimes it can come back to bite you on the arse.
Probably worth a thought for them.
Double Standards 43529 (b):
Feature on BBC web page today about a BBC Radio 4 programme: “How to argue with a racist”. Refers to the debunking of five racist myths including,
3. England for the English
The method for debunking?
Conflating “Britain” and “England”. Then there are references to “the island” and “French taking over” (even that is dodgy, it’s meant to be an allusion to the Norman Conquest of England).
The “history” continues referring to the invasion by the Huns (shurely shome mishtake) and how before them you had the Romans in control and before them some “farmers”.
Not a mention of the Celts – just another essentially Anglofest. And this to promote a programme celebrating diversity and to attack racism.
Where does one start?
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4tLGJxdLg1zxKYl5v5B9wPc/five-racist-myths-debunked
Although, I know it’s the BBC, I’m entitled to still quietly despair.
BREAKING NEWS:
Donalda is going:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51545876
Donalda MacKinnon is to stand down as the Director of BBC Scotland in the autumn.
Well, it’s not all bad news then… 😂
The Tory Brexit negotiator in chief is demanding that the UK be treated as an equal by the EU.
60m population does not equal 500m.
Perhaps they don’t teach maths at Eton.
I wonder if they are demanding that Trump treats them as an equal as well?
Good luck with that approach.
Most unusual behaviour from the Tories who usually regard themselves as having no equals.
If you check out new appointees to ofcom it might be scary to realise that most are from bbc backgrounds, and their talking about regulating other social media platforms,
Is free speech about to disappear in Britain,
There’s been a great deal of support shown for Scotland to follow the Kosovo UDI route to independence, since Mr Murray posted an article online to that effect .
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/01/westminster-cannot-block-scottish-independence/
In that article Mr Murray outlines that on its judgement on Kosovo, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) specifically confirmed that the agreement of the state being seceded from was not necessary for Independence and that this position was supported by the UK Government.
He then goes on to drop the Kosovo account, following making his statement in relation to the ICJ ruling, with no mention of what actually happened to Kosovo thereafter. He rather just skips to focusing, and convoluting the situation imo, on Catalonia by saying, ”So the key question is, could Scotland get recognition from other states for a Declaration of Independence? The attitude of the EU will be crucial and here Catalonia is obviously a key precedent. But it is one that has been totally misunderstood.”
His theory being that the Scottish situation will be different from Catalonia, as the EU will no longer be bound by loyalties to the UK with it no longer being a member. Serbia, the state that Kosova seceded from meanwhile, has never been a member of the EU but that hasn’t stopped members of the EU from blocking Kosovo from joining.
Crucially, what he doesn’t point is that Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, 12 years ago, and not only hasn’t been accepted as an EU member state, but has been rejected by the UN as 93 out of 193 UN member states don’t recognise the Republic of Kosovo. Additionally there’s no mention either of the fact that the ICJ ruling is an advisory opinion only on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence which, more importantly imo, is not binding in relation to decisions being made by states to recognise or not recognise
Currently Kosova has been blocked from joining the EU by five of the EU’s member states (Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain) due to them not recognising the 2008 (UDI) declaration of independence from Serbia. Spain of course points out that the way that Kosovo has achieved its independence (UDI) could result in a similar path being taken by the Basque Country and Catalonia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Kosovo
I’m not saying that the stance taken by the UK Government on the Kosovo situation is irrelevant. If anything it once again just demonstrates that they are a bunch of hypocrites. Nor am I saying that the background / circumstances relating to Scotland and Kosovo are in any way similar, in particular as the Scots have been members of the EU for over 40 years now. I’m just pointing out that it’s not as straightforward as some would like to have us believe. The article makes no mention either of the implications of calling UDI on the likelihood of legal challenges being lodged against the Scottish Government or civil unrest on the streets of Scotland due to a large percentage of sovereign Scots wanting to remain in the Union. What Mr Murray does highlight however is that the ” British government may try to react by sending in the British Army … we cannot rule it out … hopefully that will not involve anyone getting killed.”
Is this the way that we really want to go? Calling UDI, with all that entails, just to find out at the end of the day that there’s the possibility that we won’t be accepted by the EU, UN and the International community at large? The very outcome that Nicola Sturgeon is trying to avoid.
As you point out there are a lot of holes in that argument for UDI.
The UK recognising Kosovo as an independent state after it declared UDI is not really any sort of precedent for how the UK would react, or could be made to act by the International community, to Scotland taking the UDI route.
To the British state Kosovo was a faraway place of which they knew relatively damn all and cared even less, apart from the time Tony Blair sent in British Armed forces to stop a massacre. It was no skin of Britain’s nose to recognise Kosovo. It was not one of ‘ours’
The true precedent that would reflect the UK’s reaction to Scottish UDI is in fact Rhodesia which was one of ‘ours’ and the British state was not for letting it go. It did not end well.
There is also the issue of the ‘people of Scotland are sovereign’ which people keep on about but ditch as soon as it becomes an obstacle to whatever course of action they want to take such as UDI for example. People either are sovereign or their not.
UDI is not the way to go.
More than anything Legerwood I can’t stand this cherry picking of ”facts”, no matter which side it comes from. That article would leave you thinking that everything has been hunkydory for an independent Kosovo following the ICJ ruling, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.
And you’re right, the ”we are sovereign” (but Scottish supporting Unionists aren’t) argument that leads people to believe that we can just call for UDI, rip up the Treaty of the Union, and so on, and it’ll be hunkydory for us too is just sheer nonsense. The bottom line to achieving our independence, and always has been, is the necessity to have a majority of Scots supporting Independence and what I find strange is that many of the key individuals pushing the ”sovereign” dogma are, in conjunction, doing their utmost to turn people against the only political party capable of achieving our objective.
Kosovo of course was only recognised by Western Powers as part of a Geopolitical game, largely carried out in the shadows as far as we are concerned.
For what purpose we can only speculate but it is currently a major hub for narcotics and human trafficking.
To pick holes in your hole picking Petra.
Accession to the EU is by qualified majority. Spain + Romania + Greece+ Cyprus + Slovakia do not represent a block with enough votes or enough population percentage to stop a new countries’ accession if all the rest vote in favour.
The ICJ ruling is advisory but still represents the judgement of the ultimate judicial arbiter on matters of constitutional dispute (Along with UNCLOS for maritime disputes.)
The ICJ ruling on Kosovo was gained in part by the contribution of a British advocacy which made the point that the seceding territory is under no obligation to obey the rules of the host state.
Having said that, I wholly concur that a unilateral declaration of dissolution of the union opposed by the other partner in that union would be the very, very last resort when no other avenue for Scotland to exercise its right to self determination remains open.
Glad to read that you did not use the incorrect term UDI.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilateral_declaration_of_independence
Indeed, Cubby, Scotland is not a ‘sub-national entity’, so the term UDI does not apply.
Nor are we ‘insurgents’, or a ‘religious cult, as the hapless little business failure Carjack Lawson, leader of the Brit Nat Losers snarled.
We are repealing the Act and returning to Self Determination.
We don’t seek England’s permission.
There was never a tether to act as a tipping point the end of which we Scots were required to reach.
We are a proud democratic nation.
The Union is dead.
England is closed now.
As an advisory ruling it seems to be on a par with Lord President Cooper’s obiter dictum in the case of MacCormick vs the Lord Advocate in the 1950s. Something that can be quoted in future cases but not the force of law.
I don’t know about that Chic. From what I can make out 23 countries voted in favour with 5 against. Take a look at this article.
‘The Fast Track Queue for EU Membership: Scotland versus the Western Balkans.’
..”Kosovo is obstructed by the fact that five of the EU’s member states – Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain – have not recognised its 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.”..
…”Assuming Scotland’s independence is consensual, there is no reason to believe that Spain or the other EU members that have not recognised Kosovo would object to its membership.”..
https://www.scer.scot/database/ident-12427
The current requirement for the number of member states voting for a new member is 15, or 18 if not proposed by the Commission. Anything else is political. Slovenia held up Croatia’s entry for a while using a border dispute with Croatia, which is a material barrier to accession and because they had a dispute concerning who would deal with the Slovenian bank which collapsed in Croatia.
Ratification of the new Accession Treaty by all members is required but that is not the same as the vote.
Th bottom line is this Chic (vote, ratification, recognition), it would seem that Kosovo is still not an EU member 12 years on due to, in PART, 5 EU member states not recognising their independence status because of the way that it was achieved, i.e. through UDI. Spain of course is highlighting that their opposition is due to the fact that if Kosovo is accepted via the UDI route it would set a precedence for the Basque Country and Catalonia. To my mind that’s not an issue that would be so easily resolved, say like a border dispute.
If we had to do likewise (UDI) could we potentially find ourselves in the same situation? Locked out of the EU due to the opposition of a handful of countries?
”One of the major barriers to Kosovo’s membership is the intransigence of other European states. Five EU members still do not recognise Kosovo’s independence: Greece, Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania show no sign of softening – and Spain’s opposition has hardened thanks to recent events in Catalonia.”
https://theconversation.com/kosovo-is-still-locked-out-of-the-eu-ten-years-after-declaring-independence-why-91869
‘BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Spain would have no objection to Scotland rejoining the European Union as an independent nation, as long as the secession process from the United Kingdom was legally binding, Spanish foreign minister Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.’
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-spain-politics-scotland/spain-would-not-oppose-future-independent-scotland-rejoining-eu-minister-idUKKCN1NP25P
Kosovo’s main problem is that although it has been recognised by more than half the members of the UN it still has not reached the number required for UN membership.
The EU Acqis currently requires applicants to be UN members. The law will need to be changed before Kosovo can join.
Are you saying that if every UN member recognised an (call it UDI) Independent Scotland, EU countries like Spain couldn’t block us from joining, Chic?
Yes. Unless they change the accession voting requirements.
Oh well forgot that Spain is a member of the UN, lol.
What I’m trying to establish Chic is this. If we don’t get our Independence through what is considered to be a ”secession process from the United Kingdom that is legally binding” could countries like Spain block us from joining the EU?
Being robbed bl**dywell blind.
http://www.businessforscotland.com/revealed-the-accounting-trick-that-hides-scotlands-wealth/
Check out the latest links.
https://indyref2.space/forum/topic/links-tuesday-18-february-2020/#postid-1234
I am suffering from blogger’s block, Duggers.
Donalda Mackinnon will preside over the closure of BBC Scotland, that very expensive flop, designed to fail from the get go.
Then as a reward for stemming the cries for a Scottish Six (what’s £30 million anyway) newly ennobled Baroness Mackinnon of Lochboisdale will get the job of downsizing and rightsizing the BBC, and oversee the wrecking ball as it smashes through their Glasgow Brit Nat Propaganda Redoubt on Pathetic Quay, thenhead slowly southwards to even more riches and glory in London, her spiritual home.
Carjack Lawson announced his ‘team’, which is laughingly described as a ‘Shadow Cabinet’, which of course, it isn’t, as these hacks know. There is no such organisation in Scotland.
Hereis the new ‘A’ Team and how they performed at the 2016 SGE
Miles Briggs Lost but List.
Liam Kerr Lost but List
Anne Wells Lost spectacularly but List 9She’s a heart attack away from Leading the Blue Tories in North Britain.) Oh, stop laughing.
Liz Smith Lost but List
Murdo Fraser Lost (7times now) but List
Donald Cameron Lost but List
Jamie Green Lost but List
Maurice Golden Lost but List
DEan Lockhart Lost but List
Graham Simpson Lost but List
Adam Tomkins Lost Bt still WATP Two Jobs Tomkins Lost (thumped actually) but List
Rachael Hamilton An actual elected constituency MSDP !
And, the ‘Danny Ocean’ of the List Pack, Carjack Lawson, spectacularly failed businessman of this parish, who clung on in a wee posh corner of this realm,
It is an affront to our democracy that this bunch of Chancers are pocketing wages, on top of dough from their real jobs elsewhere, when the electorate clearly rejected them by name, at the ballot box.
The swamp has been well and truly drained now.
And for the Fourth Estate Fifth Column to ‘big them up, as though they were the people’s choice and knocking on the door of power is a disgrace and laughable but not necessarily in equal measure.
Thanks for that list, Jack. Too bad that the vast majority of Scots have no idea of the background of this ”bunch of chancers”.
..”Meanwhile, Murdo Fraser (chancer) has become the party’s constitution spokesman, with Adam Tomkins (chancer) moving to focus on “strategy”. Jamie Greene (chancer) will speak for the Tories on education, with Liz Smith (chancer) moving from that role to be the group’s chief whip.
Mr Carlaw (Chief chancer) has two deputies – Liam Kerr (chancer) and Annie Wells (chancer). Mr Kerr will retain the justice portfolio, while Ms Wells will focus on the environment, climate change and the COP26 summit in Glasgow.”..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-51547582
… Ms Wells will focus on the environment, climate change and the COP26 summit in Glasgow.”..
______
Well-placed ‘expert’ on the production of hot air …
_______
Anagram corner:
Annie Wells = Well insane / Inane swell