Within a week of the performance artiste whose stage name is Boris coming to Orkney to save the UK, the leader of his Scottish branch office has resigned with immediate effect. Surname Surname gave no indication during First Minister’s Questions just a couple of hours earlier that he was about to hand in his jotters, although given the way in which he was handed his head on a plate you could be forgiven for thinking that he’d had enough of the weekly exercise in humiliation. However there were credible reports from Sky News, seemingly confirmed by Surname Surname’s opponent in the Scottish Tory leadership contest Michelle Ballantyne, that he resigned before he was pushed out by Tory HQ in London.
Let’s put it this way, whatever you might think about the SNP’s strategy for getting us to another independence referendum, we should at least all be able to agree that the Tories are crapping themselves at the prospect of the next Holyrood elections. As things stand at the moment it would appear that there are people in the Scottish independence movement who have considerably greater confidence in the Conservatives’ ability to prevent another independence vote than the Conservatives do themselves. It’s obvious that the Tories see the writing on the wall, the writing that says INDEPENDENCE in very large letters, and they don’t know what to do about it. Even Adam IT’S THE LAW Tomkins, the Scottish Tories’ former constitutional affairs spokesman, has admitted that independence is now the majority position in Scotland.
A party which is confident in its ability to deliver on what it regards as its core mission in Scotland, to prevent independence from happening, doesn’t lose its leader just 168 after he was elected by the membership. Whether Jackson Carlaw resigned because he says that he’s not the best person to make the case for the Precioussss Union, or he was pushed out by London because they don’t think he’s the man to save the Precioussss Union, the hard reality for the Scottish Tories is that even the best person can’t make a case for something that’s unsustainable and indefensible.
It seems far more plausible that Jackson Carlaw was pushed. If you look closely you’re likely to see Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings standing behind Jackson Carlaw with a knife and a very smug look on their faces. If the erstwhile Scottish Conservative leader had indeed decided to resign of his own accord, he’d have informed his colleagues in Holyrood before the public announcement and would have put plans in place for interim leadership until a new leader could be elected. However the announcement came as much of a surprise to Holyrood’s Tory MSPs as it did to the everyone else. Still, they shouldn’t complain too much. Now they have a little taste of what it feels like to be the Scottish Government, only finding out about important policy changes from London when they read about them in the papers. How’s that respected and valued partner in a family working out for you guys in the Scottish Tories, eh?
They also now know what it feels like for their bosses in London to overrule Scottish democracy. Irrespective of what you think about Jackson Carlaw and his abilities or lack thereof, he was elected by the members of the Conservative party in Scotland and possessed a direct mandate from them to lead, a mandate independent of the party HQ in London. The Scottish Tories have learned the hard way that the Scottish democratic shortfall applies to them too. They stand exposed as a powerless and toothless branch office of a party which has no respect for democratic legitimacy, not even that of its own membership. Now this party thinks that it can sell the British state to an increasingly doubtful Scotland when they’ve just shown us all that they have no respect for the outcome of Scottish democratic processes. All we have to do now is to remind whoever it is that takes over from Jackson Carlaw that their predecessor was removed by London, that they too can be removed by London, and that their own party has amply demonstrated that it doesn’t do democracy as far as Scotland is concerned.
There have been persistent reports that the Tories in London want their Scottish party not to campaign on opposing independence at the next Scottish elections. This is not because they’ve had a change of heart, but rather because they believe that if the Scottish Tories make “no to another indyref” the centre of their campaign and then, as likely, lose seats and vote share, then it will make it more difficult for Westminster to resist demands from a victorious SNP for another independence referendum. However the Scottish Conservatives know that if they don’t campaign first and foremost on opposition to another independence referendum, they’re going to find it difficult to motivate those who oppose independence but who don’t support Conservative policies to come out and vote for them. They fear that the London strategy will only make their defeat even worse, and there will be fewer MSPs in a weaker party trying to oppose the SNP. Jackson Carlaw was most closely associated with “no to indyref2”, his defenestration by London means that the next Scottish Conservative electoral campaign will be one that’s designed, built, and imposed from London.
The leadership of the Scottish Tories has become a poison chalice, a one way ticket to political failure and oblivion. When BBC Scotland reported the news of Surname Surname’s surprise resignation on Reporting Scotland, they were unable to find any Conservative MSPs to comment. Obviously it’s par for the course for the Tories to go into hiding whenever there’s bad news for their party, however this time they were hiding because they were terrified that they might be asked to stand for the post of leader. At the rate things are going, it appears that George Galloway is the leading contender.
In the meantime the Tories are bereft of leadership in Holyrood. Assuming that she remains in post, that would make deputy leader Annie Wells the de facto leader of the party until a replacement for Jackson Carlaw is found. Annie Wells, Saviour of the Union. However reports are that Ruth Davidson is going to stand in the meantime. Is this the price she has agreed to pay for her peerage?
At this early stage, only Moray MP Douglas Ross has confirmed that he will be standing for the leadership of the Scottish Tories. That’s the Douglas Ross who repeatedly missed votes in Holyrood because he preferred to go and referee fitba matches. The Douglas Ross who went asked shortly after his election to the Commons what his political priority would be said “tougher enforcement against Gypsy travellers”. Ruth will look after Holyrood until Douglas can be parachuted in as a list MSP in the next Scottish elections. But by that time it’s likely to be game over for the Tories in Scotland.
Because of the news of Carlaw’s resignation, I’m holding over today’s podcast until tomorrow.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
I’ve been looking forward to your take on Surname Surname’s ‘resignation’ and you haven’t disappointed. Great blog Paul! 👏👏
Sorry to see him go – he was such a useless tosser and watching his humiliation every week by Nicola was such a joy. Failed used car salesman and failed Tory leader – what next for the florid faced fool – House of Lords anybody?
Arnold Clark?
It’ll be even more entertaining if Douglas Ross gets the job. Nicola will chew him up and spit him out.
No chance!
But what is your view on transism?
This decides my being and whether I support Independence or not!! At least that’s on another blog.
It shows that in relation to leading the Scottish Government, the FM has got it almost right. Let others disintegrate around you as you hold a steady course.
Still the Lib Dem’s are touting for Tory voters. The party of Home Rule is the mini tory party and labour are who?
So, what IS your view on transism (which isn’t actually a word, you just made it up)Hamish? Or maybe it would be more pertinent to ask, what is your view on the Gender Recognition Act?
No. It would not be pertinent to ask. Do not derail this thread with a discussion about the GRA.
I wasn’t attempting to derail anything Paul, but apologies if it appeared that I was. However, I think it would be very useful to read your take on this dangerous bill at some point. Coverage of the proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill would also be useful to inform your readers of another, extremely dangerous, proposal coming from our own administration.
Both of these bills strike me as rather odd, coming from our supposed liberal government. In fact, they stink of British state intervention.
I’ve talked myself out of venturing forth into the back garden and laying some slabs. It’s too hot, I’m too old, and if Ruth Davidson can take 6 months off on full pay, I can surely skive off for a mere 24 hours.
I look forward to another wee cosy Glenn Campbell interview with Davidson on the window sill of the BBC Northern Stockade at Pathetic Quay.
Who can forget her Rape Clause squirm?
Well, by October when the Brit Nats stagger back from their 3 months’ holidays and Party Conferences, it will all be over.
No Deal Brexit will be a reality, because the English contingent have taken their bat and ball home and aren’t playing any more.
Go on, Glenn, rip into her with Andra Neill gusto.
Aye, right.
Would she let Johnson drive her home from a party now?
The Linesman Ross, who lies with such ease on camera, will have to explain to Scots working in our Fish industry, his constituents, why they won’t be selling any more fish on the Continent, and Davidson will have to tear herself away from texting during FMQ to wave a paper at Nico and scream about the SNP’s massive Badness on everything from Education to scrapping Happy Hour in Supermom’s favourite Edinburgh nightclub.
A poor unsuspecting ungulate is chewing the cud somewhere, blithely unaware that it is about to be mounted by the Next Prime Minister and dragged before the assembled Brit Nat Jock press to be immortalised on the covers and news bulletins of North Korea’s Jock Branch.
What animal has an asshole half way up its back?
A Highland Coo.
It is not too much of a stretch to conclude that Carlaw was given the Big E by Johnson last Thursday over a bowl of Tomato and Boris soup in the empty Campbell’s canteen, and the Linesman anointed Grand Panjandrum with Highland Spring water at the same time.
I don’t buy it that he decided to quit at 3.43 pm yesterday, and just blurted it out to a passing BBC hack.
Would you buy a used politician from the Blue Tories.
The Carlaw Stab Back, used to work every day, several careless owners, low mileage, no MOT, service history misplaced.
Who’s next? That Dick, Leonard, Willie, or Steven Gerrard.
That’s quite a treble bet. I’m tempted.
[…] Wee Ginger Dug Bye bye Surname Surname Within a week of the performance artiste whose stage name is Boris coming to Orkney to […]
You have to feel sorry for the Tories ( I’m kidding FFS ), they are such a shower of useless tossers. They are on a par with Labour when it comes to picking “leaders”. Shoorley they can find someone honest and smart? Well, maybe not.
In the interests of fair play, the SNP could give them someone on loan. It’s not like it’s a long term commitment.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
A Comment on the circumstances surrounding Joanna Cherry and the late Rule Change impeding her proposed nomination in Edinburgh South
Do you really believe this is a wise move Nicola ? . I mean Really ! .
Think again this won’t end well, especially before the Holyrood inquiry starts
It cost many thousands of £££ to put Joanna Cherry into Westminster, if she came out of Westminster she causes a by election once again costing many thousands of £££, then if she were to be allowed to stand again as a MSP that would again entail many thousands of £££
Not to even mention the cost and jobs of her staff at Westminster, all of which paid by the SNP members, that means me
I like Joanna Cherry a great deal but she’s behaving like a child with SNP members money and not giving a thought to the cost, until *she was asked to reimburse some of that cost herself then thought better of it*
It’d be great to see her in Holyrood but the SNP members have so far funded a great deal around Joanna Cherry, we just can’t have elected representatives chopping and changing their minds for their own personal reasons when it involves wads of cash
The suggestions that this is about favouritism for another candidate is a deliberately misleading invention by the usual suspects
Very weak argument……as my gran used to say, always look at the bigger picture son
Really what is the bigger picture then? do tell
Eilidh,
Read Kevin McKenna in today’s National. Saturday 1st Aug.
I did and I don’t agree with most of what he wrote and not for the first time either. He is a paid hack who switches opinions re Indy depending on whether he is writing in the National or The Herald. Most ordinary Scots who support Indy dont give a damn about Joanna Cherry wanting to jump ship to become an MSP etc. and they also don’t read Indy blogs. They just want Scottish Independence.
I’m an ordinary Scot and I thought he made some very good points, I read a lot of blogs and opinions for pro and anti indy, it keeps me informed and curious. I want independence for Scotland, I think now that is the only alternative to Westminster. However, as a Scottish woman, I am appalled that the GRA bill appears to threaten womens’ rights. Coupled with the justice bill I don’t think it will persuade me to vote SNP at the next election. I do wish there was an alternative party for independence, they would have both my votes.
👍
Not like you to criticise anyone from the SNP Dr Jim. Best not do it again you may find yourself branded as “….just too fucking stupid to see it, and that’s your problem” or ” you sound like an old fart……”. Copyright Alex Clark.
LOL look in the mirror Cubby 🙂
Every morning when I am shaving.
Meanwhile, the good ship Nicola sails on – steady as she goes, Ma’am.
As usual Paul, you couch the circumstances of the dismissal of ‘Surname Surname’ so aptly. I wonder if the SNP have also shot themselves in the foot making it impossible for Joanna Cherry to stand in Edinburgh Central, if selected, after a poorly judged decision by the SNP NEC. Democracy what democracy in the NEC! SNP higher echelons are needing a good rid out. BTW, I am not including Nicola in that.
Is it possible Davidson could just resign her seat now, I know she has a very low majority, and a by election held with Ross the Tory candidate. Or one list MSP’s asked to fall on their sword( for the union) and the next candidate on list moved in, if Ross was made the next on the list.
Hope this makes sense.
Anyway with Davidson free to lead the next anti Indy campaign without being trashed by Nicola every day.
Douglas Ross already was voted in on the list in the Highlands & Islands in 2016. I am not sure what the rules would be around him coming back on the list. I suspect, as he resigned, it is not possible at all until 2021.
Have a look at the Phil Gallie history of standing for Ayr for westminster after resigning his MSP position (list) not winning Ayr and back in Hollyrood on the list, all in 5 weeks.
Thanks, interesting. We’re really second guessing what Cummings plan is, me, I’d put Ross in Holyrood as the sacrificial lamb leaving Davidson free to take up a post at Scotland office. Beads and baubles are on their way, she’ll be used to hand them out.
Like I say second guessing.
And then hold the podcast further, pending discussion on gerrymandering and selection policy…
Oooh, I see Cherrymandering is the latest hashtag – things you wish you’d thought of at the time…
Och no, who’ve you been chatting with Paul? Tenterhooks.
WM – they’re up to something. You can smell it. Tellin’ yaes.
Yep.
Hmmm. I had suspected they might have kept Mr Carlaw in place till after they’d made their move on the devolution settlement and Holyrood. He was such a biddable soul for Conservative central office. 😎
Maybe he had a red line he would not cross. Stranger things have happened
Certainly has the old spidey sense tingling.
I know I have been watching too many crime dramas but…a vision of Boris,directed by Dom having a “chat” with Jacko at the soup factory round the back of the toilets, popped into my mind……
‘Thanks so much Jacko for your 40 years of sterling service to your beloved party But it’s time to go ….You know it is.
When Boris?
Right this very minute Jacko
Adieu and if you open your mouth we will destroy all those lovely years of servile Oops sterling, service,
All that gone with a couple of tweets saying what we really think of you Jacko…Your future in ermine gone because you opened your voluminous trap. Shame …so sad.
Rictus smiles all round.
It’s just the way we roll Jacko it’s our modus operandi…Ah Latin my favourite language ….good for confusing the plebs.’
From one of the plebs ….Au revoir Jackson …all those years of supporting cruelty and oppression Tory style ,just to be kicked on your backside out the Tory door .
Not a peep did we hear during those years, of any proposals From you to face and deal with child poverty in Scotland. Not a peep from you in finding the rape clause unacceptable in a civilised society. Adieu from me.
I see Joanna Cherry was also pushed out of Holyrood. Just be something in the air.
She was not in Holyrood.so no pushing involved
True, it was more a question of getting in the retaliation first. Not a good look, that, for how to (mis)treat one of the SNPs most effective campaigners. It simply adds fuel to the fire of all the malignant trolls who infest websites like this one these days. Et à quoi bon?
Looks like we are going to get another surname surname so Paul doesnt have to change anything. Although he does actually have three surnames so i suggest he is called surname surname surname to differentiate him from common or garden surname surnames. And “Douglas” “Gordon” “Ross” is MP for Moray, where he has been useless as a councillor, regional list MSP and now MP.
I have every expectation that he will make a useless Tory Branch office manager.
sorry for surname that should be forename – duh
Bye Bye Surname Surname. He will be replaced by…. er (another) Surname (another) Surname!
Ross is the temporary MP for Moray not Gordon
So he is. Fixed it now.
I do hope that Surname Surname will still be a regular cartoon feature on this blog Paul. With regard to Douglas Ross, (forename forename?) should he become the next branch manager for the Scottish tories he will probably be as part-time as his London boss, those fitba matches won’t ref themselves you know
I certainly won’t miss surname surname but having Ruth the mooth and her nebby wee voice at FMQs is something I hoped I would never hear again so not looking forward to that.
As I see it the Joanna Cherry situation is a problem of her own making. If she wanted to be an MSP why did she stand for Westminster again and of course she was re-elected there last December. In the early years of the Scottish Parliament it was acceptable to jump ship from one to another but I don’t think it is right now over 20 years since resumption of the SP that a sitting Snp MP gets to deprive another from getting a chance to stand. I don’t really care whether that is Angus Robertson or a n other. Joanna picked her horse last Dec I think she stay on it. There a few Snp MSPs retiring including my own Gil Paterson can you imagine the chaos there would be if several Snp Mps decided to stand as Msps and won then causing multiple by elections
The SNP’s finances are not great. Unlike the other parties they do not have big donors anymore so rely on members’ subs and the short money they get for being the 3rd largest party in Westminster although the latter probably comes with strings attached.
Given the state of their finances I can see why they don’t want to be funding unnecessary by-elections this close to the Holyrood elections. Furthermore if by some odd chance they lost a Westminster by-election then that might damage their push for a bumper Holyrood election and hence indyref2.
It should also be remembered that the Unionists turned long and hard about Mr Salmond holding two seats. The SNP then repaid them when Mags Curran and Kathy Jamieson were MSPs and MPs even if it was for a relatively short time.
Ms Cherry was being strategically inept in what she was trying to do and not for the first time.
Horses for courses and she is better suited to the legal side of things in Westminster
Thanks to Dr Jim, Eilidh and Legerwood for highlighting the ins and outs of the Joanna Cherry issue in a sensible and informed way. There’s far too many frothing at the mouth type of people out there constantly chomping at the bit to pounce on the FM. You know the Nicola Sturgeon / SNP Baad mantra that doesn’t seem to abate even on some so-called pro-independence sites. We could be around 9 months away from kicking Westminster up the erse and then with that people like Joanna Cherry will come home to sit in Holyrood, chase after an even more prestigious job or return to her former profession. Let’s all settle down, support Angus Robertson and win this battle that’s dragged on now for over 300 years.
Never been keen on marmalade. I would only choose it as a last resort. Other choices like honey or jam are normally available.
Care to say what you don’t like about him versus what he’s actually done for Scotland?
I’m truly at a loss with this kind of justification here. Does the SNP believe in democracy or not? This is a constituency that is part of Joanna’s existing WM patch, yet Angus is to be parachuted in on leadership fiat without a murmur being allowed? If the rules were transparent and clear, surely Joanna wouldn’t have even thought to go out on a limb over this? The rules were apparently being hastily rewritten on the fly specifically to queer Joanna’s pitch, deliberately intended to cut off the limb she had gone out on. And all, one might rightly suspect, because of internal policy differences that have so far not seen the light of day but which are festering away under the surface and threatening to erupt into the full public gaze at any time.
We.don’t.need.this. We really don’t right now.
As I said already, this graceless conniving just gives the (professional and amateur) online grumblers exactly the ammunition they crave. People like me are trying their hardest to persuade everyone and their uncle to get behind the SNP for the ultra-important challenges soon to come, and this is like a slap in the face. If the power brokers of the SNP want to retain our faith in them amid all the buzzing indy exceptionalists, they have to start behaving like they know what they are doing amd where they are going. This unseemly gerrymandering is seriously demotivating. We have enough problems as it is with external fissiparous diversions; the last thing we need are internal ones on top.
Glad to see Surname Surname ride off into the sunset – yet another shallow Tory with no interest in Scotland.
Excellent briefing from Nicola this afternoon, disturbed to hear the Tories have written to the Lord Advocate regarding Care Home Deaths – anything to detract from their absolute shambles in controlling the virus – hope he throws it back in their collective faces given that Scotland was forced to follow the 4 nations approach before being given the powers to do differently,
Smart move, totally unjustified, but as part of a smear campaign sets the tone for whatever narrative they intend to build.
Any death is terrible but did the tories ask the Lord Advocate to distinguish the number of deaths in local authority care homes, private sector, charitable sector.
I suspect the middle one will be the worse. Its prime motive is profit.i think some may donate to said tory
Love it when you say ” how’s that working out for you? “Makes me smile every time.Hope your next book of gems is coming soon.I will be 1st in the queue.
James Dornan – now designated an all ‘wimmen’ shortlist. He’ll need to self ID. WTF are they doing?
Thinking. You might try it at some point, it can be quite instructive….
Wee Ginger Dug,
Did this Linesman not roe the party line and voye against Pay rises for health servuce staff? twice maybe?
If so he’s already in the First Ministers hip Pocket
What? Your statement makes no sense.
How does being a Tory who has twice voted against pay rises for NHS workers translate into “being in the First Minister’s hip pocket”?
he means that if covid is brought up in FMQs ,Nicola will bring up Ross`s voting record
Can’t say that I agree with your reasoning. Electorally, Scotland was lost to the Torys years ago and they care not if there is 100% support for independence. They will, however, maintain their vice-like grip and will do so regardless of how they are perceived.
After the events of Salmond and Cherry, those who supported Nicola Sturgeon must surely now realise that she is not what she appeared to be. The SNP must either to be returned to its raison d’etre (which is highly unlikely) or it should be allowed to go the same way as SLAB.
Clearly they do care. Otherwise they’d have been happy for the hapless Jackson Carlaw to remain in place because it wouldn’t have made any difference.
And your second point doesn’t follow from the first – or was it just a bit of random SNPbad unrelated to the topic at hand?
Thanks for replying.
We’ll have to agree to disagree. The point I was making was that the focus should be on achieving independence rather than the machinations of the Tory party.
Implying that this was simply down to an opportunity for SNP bad is unwarranted and unfair. Of course I want the SNP to be the party of independence but the evidence indicates that it is not. And whilst that is difficult to accept, there’s no point in ignoring it.
This business with Joanne Cherry was entirely unnecessary and it will serve only to turn much of their support against them. At the very least it is a gift for the opposition. I will not promote independence?
Yes the business with Ms Cherry was unnecessary. Mr Robertson had announced he was going to put himself forward for selection as a candidate for Ms Davidson’s constituency seat. A few days later Ms Cherry announced she wanted to be a candidate for the seat. Why? She had just been re-elected to Westminster a bare 2 months previously.
There was no need for that move which created an unnecessary situation.
I wasn’t aware of that Legerwood. So yes thanks for that eyeopener.
I’m not sure, but prior to her announcement I think Ms Cherry had said that the battle for Indy would be fought at Holyrood. Perhaps she feels her legal talents would serve the Party better there than at Westminster. Having said that, there are other seats available but Davidson’s Holyrood constituency is part of Ms Cherry’s Westminster seat. Your right though its an unnecessary situation.
The branch members spent a few months persuading Joanna Cherry to stand for Holyrood. It’s my understanding that this is the normal way for potential MPs and MSPs to be selected.
Oh great another eejit saying Snp or Nicola dont support Indy any more. Who would replace the Snp some wee diddy Indy party that 2 men and their dug would vote for?
Re Joanna Cherry, my comment @ 5:21PM
👍
The Scottish Tories’ fundamental issue is that who is leader is not their biggest problem. What they now stand for is. One for the biggest reasons why Ruth Davidson quit last year is that she would have had to defend Boris Johnson’s actions regarding Brexit, with no control over his decision making. Jackson Carlaw may also have had this as one of his reasons for quitting. Ironically, Ruth will now find herself in that position at FMQ’s, trying to defend her party, and the Union as it now looks, against Nicola Sturgeon’s pointed attacks. Brexit, Johnson’s toxicity as PM, and now the appalling Coronavirus shambles South of the border will all come back to haunt the Tories in the run-up to next May……. The TV debates will be something to behold, as I fully suspect that Ross will get savaged by Sturgeon on all 3 of these topics, while he stands there trying to defend his party, and an increasingly discredited UK Union, while trying not to piss off his bosses in Downing Street, especially Cummings……..
Moreover, the idea apparently being considered in Downing Street is to campaign against the SNP by completely avoiding the subject of the Union, and instead attack the SNP’s domestic record. Quite how such a campaign strategy would work, given that the Scottish Tories have campaigned on the Union in the last 3 elections in Scotland, even advocating pro-Union tactical voting to woo pro-UK Labour and Lib Dem voters, escapes my understanding. If they try and avoid the Union, it leaves the SNP with a clear open goal to attack them on it, while the Tories squirm as they try to avoid criticising Brexit, Johnson and England’s messy handling of Coronavirus. Who their front man is will not make the slightest difference if they are trying to defend the undefendable!
For the Scottish Tories to play musical chairs with their leadership like this, at Downing Street’s urging no doubt, displays either lack of awareness that their party South of the border is the real problem, or a desperation to avoid admitting this truth for fear that doing so confirms the SNP argument that Scotland has no say in how it is being governed in the Union. For if the Scottish Tories admit that they cannot influence an unpopular UK Tory government, how can they justify remaining subject to it?
We’ve been given plenty of previews of just how they intend to run this campaign, just today , yesterday and many days before they have wall to wall SNP bad on being 4th worst for Coronavirus deaths in Europe. It’s a direct lie, refutable with empirical evidence, but they don’t care. There’s a lot more to come and as far as they are concerned the campaign has started. No doubt the beads and baubles will appear before long.
Spot on Christopher.
”Ironically, Ruth will now find herself in that position at FMQ’s, trying to defend her party, and the Union as it now looks, against Nicola Sturgeon’s pointed attacks.”
Looking forward to observing that scenario, Christopher. She was scunnered with Coco previously (Operation Erse) and she’s now going to have to stand up at FMQ’s and attempt to bat away the Tories power grab, the Westminster no-deal Brexit, rising poverty stats, spiraling unemployment figures, the Russian ”intervention” and ”dark money” issues, if they raise their ugly heads again, and a Coronavirus that won’t go away in England due to her boss’s total inability to get a simple message across: On a par with a two year old child’s ability to issue or follow a 1 step instruction.
I doubt that she was privy to this (Westminster) decision as we all know that she bailed out when the the writing was on the wall for her …. Mrs Failure. That wall is now covered with defective BritNat graffiti. As you say, ”ironically”, I say the best of luck to her (not) under the circumstances now. In her (Davidson’s) own words Nicola Sturgeon will be preparing WELL to ”put the boot in”, which in turn will ultimately lead to Ruth Davidson being deemed, outed, as being the wee washout of a charlatan, commonly known as a conwummin in Scotland, that she truly is. Chickens coming home to roost for the whole kit and caboodle at long last.
So Ruth the Mooth is off to the Lairds,another few points for Indy, we don’t even have to try.
Reblogged this on sideshowtog.
[…] via Bye bye Surname Surname […]
Sadly there are still too many traitors in Scotland. Carlaw and DRoss are sickeningly interchangeable.
New face – old face – the song remains the same – bow and scrape to Westminster.
Can I ask a question I asked on another forum? Can anyone tell me explicitly what Angus Robertson has done which had scored a victory over opponents. I know Ms Cherry has on several occasions, but I’m struggling to find that one time that Angus achieved similar in his 17 years.
Serious question
What victory”s apart from the Brexit court case re prorogation of parliament has Joanna won. Angus was a really good Snp leader at Westminster so I would say that is a victory. I think Angus is much more of a people person Joannas talent is the legal stuff. Convincing hearts and minds of people is really what is important for the future of Indy and being a team player
Douglas Ross admits on STV that if the SNP win a majority at Holyrood Nicola Sturgeon will hold an Independence referendum
Professor John Curtice says no matter what the Tories do they are bound by the policies of Westminster and Scotland has rejected that and he can see no way in which the UK government can constitutionally deny Scotland a referendum
These mischaracterisations and misinformation surrounding Joanna Cherry are tiresome, simply untrue and agenda driven at the folk who either don’t seem to understand the costs of elections or don’t want to mention any of that because it suits the lies they’re telling, the SNP is mostly funded by its members and the party is answerable to the members in what they allocate our money to, Joanna has a job and was funded by the members to do it, we don’t have gazzillions of ££££ to spend on personal notions by any particular MP or MSP at any given time no matter how good that person is at their job, if you remember that self gratification already happened before to no benefit to the party whatsoever and cost us hundreds of thousands
The Tories Labour and the Lib Dems all know and state that if a majority is won at the Holyrood elections by the SNP Scotland will have a referendum, those who say it won’t happen have their own agenda and it’s not Scottish Independence
It was branch members in Edinburgh who asked her to stand was it not.? Who asked Angus?
Really!!!do we have that confirmed by them someehere
Eilidh, you can ask them. They have a branch Don’t be surprised if Mr Robertson’s nomination is less than 100%.
If Angus doesn’t get then fair enough but it is a bit much for a person to be reelected as an Mp in Dec then couple months later decide she really wants to be an MSP
I doubt the branch officers would tell me as a humble member of the public from another city the fully story. Confidentiality may come into play
Branch members asked her? Did the other branch know about it? Don’t think so. It’s called poaching
This article from Ian Dunt appeared in yesterday’s New European. He firmly states that Johnson cannot defeat the SNP in the battle for the Union:
https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/ian-dunt-on-the-unstoppable-march-to-scottish-independence-1-6769598?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social_Icon&utm_campaign=in_article_social_icons
That’s a great line at the end of well written summary of the current situation facing westminster.
” That is what English Nationalism has created, a man alone, in a raft, at sea, insisting he is a navy”
Thanks Christopher for a great link!
”We don’t have gazzillions of ££££ to spend on personal notions by any particular MP or MSP at any given time.”
And what p*sses me right off is that people like me have been funding the SNP (and working my physical butt off) for years now whilst others sit and gripe about them from the side-lines (England or elsewhere), parking their fat (or skinny) erses in front of their wee computers, and won’t part with a bl**dy penny.
I like Ms Cherry too however maybe she shouldn’t have stood as a MP as recently as last year. Staying power needed. We don’t need a a Westminster bye election as well or was she intending to do the two jobs if successful.
Desperation. The Tories can change leader after leader. Their days are still numbered. Tanking. Like a dead weight. Lie, after lie, after lie. Liars always get found out. They could not make a bigger mess.
Who wants the poison chalice. Who will be dragged out next. Labour infighting as usual. Fighting not to win elections.
The Tories will be voted out. Vote Tory to die younger.
The branch members will vote for who they want. There are plenty of spaces or places to be filled. Too many good people available. Trying to give women equal chance. Gender balance. Fairness.
This is my take on the Carlaw resignation: Whether it came about through pressure from Westminster or Holyrood is immaterial.The fact is…the tories best period of electoral success in Scotland was under Davidson’s relentless ‘fight for the union’ policy.A ‘one trick pony’ granted but it worked for them.I think the move to have Douglas Ross leader in Scotland is merely a smokescreen to what the tories REALLY want….and that is Rooth the Mooth back facing the FM at FMQ’s…..that is where they see their opportunity to reclaim lost ground (do you remember their glee the day Davidson told Nicola to ‘Sit Down!’….they love that kind of grandstanding ). Ross is retaining his Westminster seat….in effect…..Davidson is back…and all the way to May!
My hope is that the Greens declare their major policy for the 2021 Holyrood elections is to secure a mandate to hold an Indy ref in 2021. And so I can avoid voting SNP.
A +30 years SNP member, I’m disgusted by the treatment meted to Alex Salmond, Grouse Beater, Michelle Thomson, and now Joanna Cherry and James Dornan.
Nicola Sturgeon declares she has set aside politics, meaning independence, to concentrate on Covid, of which she has no medical nor statistical expertise. She has been milking the Covid daily briefings.
Dr Phillipa Whitford – sound medical knowledge – should be the person, with Jean freeman, fronting the Covid daily briefings.But, that would be limelight competition for Ms Sturgeon.
Years of campaigning, for this debacle? Jeez, I’m pissed off.
The buck stops with the FM as we are all too aware. Of course she should face the electorate on a daily basis, it took courage, the kind of courage Johnson doesn’t have. The attacks have been relentless, the kind of attacks Johnson or the rat pack haven’t faced. I for one have little doubt that the First Minster giving a clear concise message, the bad news and the good news while the so called press tried to trip her, bait her, has been instrumental in saving many lives. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Visibly exhausted she didn’t shirk what she considers her responsibility..
Sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting la la la very loudly and attempting to block out the reality thats staring you in the face , unquestioning allegiance to the leader masks whats going on anyone questioning the direction the SNP are going in are dumped , indeed anyone here who questions progress is labelled a unionist plant , do the current embedded wee gang of gatekeepers ever question anything ??? or are you to busy Oh look at the polls we are slightly ahead of where we were 6 yeas ago it’s now guaranteed , independence THE WORD THAT CANT BE SAID .
Yes the polls might be going up slightly thats because the threat of a second indy ref vote is further away than it was in 2014 , you are being taken for mugs by a leader and a party thats been hijacked;and lost its way yes independence as long as the core principle is dropped
A member since before 2014 membership card binned today this lot are not getting another penny from me and at least 10 votes from surrounding households are going to a party any party that actually wants independence .
Remember Gerald Ratner he thought he was untouchable well check his status today it happens
Yep the electorate are so sick of hearing the opposition banging on about No to a referendum, No to Independence that the voters are actually starting to demand one.
Sickening isn’t it.
Can you show me an example where “anyone here who questions progress is labelled a unionist plant”. Would love to see some evidence as such statements seem to have flown right over my head.
You’re telling me that I’m being taken for a mug and that the party. has been hijacked, I reckon I might have the last laugh on that, You’re a quitter, tear your membership card up hahaha I doubt you’ll be missed. You really weren’t that important to Scotland winning it’s Independence after all.
People exactly like you that can find nothing better to do than attack the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon are the mugs who are doing Westminsters job for them. I guess you’re just too fucking stupid to see it and that’s your problem.
You know what really pisses me off? Here the Tories are showing us their panic, lack of ideas, and utter desperation as they plainly have no clue how to prevent Scotland becoming independent but all that some independence supporters want to talk about is how bad the SNP is. Just who does that benefit? It sure as hell isn’t the indy movement.
Yes the SNP is far from perfect. There are many things about the party and its current leadership to be unhappy about, however the assumption that the SNP no longer wants independence is simply that, an assumption. It’s an assumption which arises from the frustration that the majority of Scotland have not, until very recently, shared your enthusiasm for independence. Dedicated readers of this and other pro-indy blogs and Facebook pages are not a representative sample of the Scottish population. We certainly won’t persuade people to come over to our side if all we do is fight amongst ourselves about who is the purest indy supporter.
But here’s the thing. It matters diddly squat if the SNP leadership were to go full on gung ho for independence if they can’t be sure that the majority of the population are behind them. When we have the next indy vote – I want to win it. Because if we lose the subject really will be off the table for a generation or more.
You know, maybe if people spent more of their time and energies persuading undecided people and soft no voters of the advantages of independence instead of attacking the SNP, we just might be a bit closer to winning Scotland’s independence. Some people seem to put more faith and trust in the words of Boris bloody Johnson than they do in the main party espousing independence. What’s going to lose us independence is if people can’t focus on who our real opponents are, and cause splits and fissures in the indy movement which will only benefit the British nationalists.
When fictional party espousing Independence actually do just that?
The only one I have heard talk about that is indeed Joanna Cherry. Maybe you can correct me.
What? I can’t even follow what you’re trying to say.
What I can tell you is that I know Joanna Cherry personally, and I know for a fact that while she has differences of opinion with the party leadership she does not believe that Nicola Sturgeon “doesn’t really want independence” or that the SNP is a “fictional independence” party.
Well put. Ignore concern trolls whether genuinely concerned indy supporters, 77th Brigade pros. or ‘enthusiastic’ BritNat amateurs.
I have supported independence all my life and have voted SNP at every election since the late ‘70s. There are things I disagree with them strongly on though and I have let my membership lapse.
However, I will continue to vote for them as they are our only hope for the foreseeable future
I predict the next leader of “Scottish” Conservatives will be Dross.
”And so I can avoid voting SNP.”
Avoid voting for Scottish independence in other words (do you live in England?). Do what you like. On you go. Naebody’s interested. We’re winning or haven’t you noticed?
You’re disgusted with the SNP? Anything to say about the Westminster political cabal sitting in London, more so in Scotland? The abject poverty, absolute misery and strife that they’ve heaped upon Scotland for decades, if not centuries? No? Disgusted with them? No, I didn’t think so.
And we all get this let’s support Alex (Joanna, Philippa et al) ploy versus Nicola and then when you get rid of Nicola it’ll be let’s get rid of Joanna. We’re not daft. Do you think the Scots came up the Clyde on a bicycle, velofello?
Absolutely well said Petra.
The Britnats ruined Scotland over deaces and more, the ‘poor man of Europe’, people dying well below retirement age ( great no £’s to have to go to their pensions then win win for the Brit coffers!) due to poverty and terrible housing, no opportunities, where the Britnats flooded the schemes with drugs…(they were called council housing estates in England, not schemes!) and the Britnats be in no doubt would take Scotland back decades, removing more wealth resources and revenues. Hello privatisation of your wonderful Scottish water, huge tuition fees for our young, such massive economic damage the young have few options if any (post Brexit yikes!) but to be hauled into the Britnat army, I hear they are recruiting successfully due to people being desperate and out of work now ie Covid19.
The Britnats will destroy Scotland, again, ecomically and socially, the SNP stuff can be sorted later, but all the talk of remving funds and votes from the SNP, well let’s hand more power to the Britnats they must be laughing into their champers right now looking at Indy twitter and facebook!
The work that the SNP have done to improve lives of the people in Scotland will be reversed quick as we can say ‘oh Fk what have we done’ if the Britnats manage their soft coup at Holyrood and it we are not out of the woods re that yet. I am sticking with the party of independence, warts and all, hell do the Britnats jump ship when their parties play dirty? Do they hell!
Spot on AH. Says it all for me. A crying bl**dy shame that such a wealthy country, one of the richest on the planet, has been gagged, bound and shackled to such an extent that its subjects have been and are still suffering today.
Food banks? FGS Scotland is absolutely capable of feeding 5 million people, so why are our folks starving to the point of chronic ill heath or in fact premature deaths, more so our children? . Westminster can’t cope with its 60 million plus population food, water or energy wise. Time to bail out and let them get on with it. More so to pay us for our food, water and energy.
Many years ago, on assignment in Algiers I was involved in a car accident. Off to the dingy police station. My passenger was a fellow Scot who had moved to England and declared himself as English.
In the police station following the accident – “Votre nom? Nationality? Ecossais. My colleague said ‘ even in your hour of need you couldn’t say you were English, you had to say you were a Scot”. Nothing came of the car accident.
Some time later, my colleague was being demobilised and was experiencing difficulty obtaining an exit visa. The authorities finally required that I as, project manager must attend to confirm his demob. Off to Visa Control – authorities addressing me – “Passport S’I You Plait, ….ah Glasgow! Glasgow Celtic, tres bonne equipe. “Mon ami est aussi ecossais mais passport Anglais” said I. Ah, bon,signature ici pour visa. Bon voyage.
I claim an Indy pedigree, but will not be fooled by careerists nor alternative agenda creeps. Been round the block a few times.
You sound like an old fart that thinks he knows better than the rest of us. S’I You Plait.
FGS get real. What block exactly have you been around? Wings over Scotland? The dead end when it comes to liberating Scotland now.
Football fans love to sing ” call me a saint” when their team is not doing well and they want a Saint of a player to score a goal for them.
As an independence supporter I just want a saint of a party that will actually stand on a manifesto for INDEPENDENCE. I want to place my cross alongside the name of a party that will stand on a more than 50% vote is a mandate for Scottish independence. Call me a Saint of a party and deliver us from the UK.
If you support Independence then it is obvious that you vote for the SNP, the clue is in the name of the party. You are of course welcome to vote for whoever you like, as are we all, but I can say with certainty. Nothing other than a vote for the SNP will take us any further forward to our objective.
Even before 2014 there were nothing like the number of dissenters on Indy blogs telling you to dump the SNP because they wouldn’t have gotten away with it. Now it is tenfold if not more creating division. Coincidence? Well, you’d be an idiot if you thought it was.
Only the SNP can get another referendum and win it, don’t be fooled by the squirrels because it’s a certainty that those opposing Independence are wanting to fool you with side issues that matter not, so as we fail.
Keep the head, our opponents reside in Whitehall and Westminster and not in Holyrood and we should be targetting our ire at them and not the Scottish government because that’s exactly what Whitehall and Westminster are trying to get you to do.
Not many are that daft though thankfully and that’s why support for Independence is at 54%?
All very true. It’s just irritating though that the SNP itself (as with Joanna Cherry’s treatment) sometimes gratuitously donates ammunition to the diversionalists. The party used to be famous (notorious?) for its iron discipline, which is not easy in an organisation which is such a “broad church”, but cracks in policy and strategy are beginning to show. The stresses are internal as well as external.
We don’t realistically have anywhere else to turn, but given what’s at stake, all rather inopportune, no…?
All very true. No not really. As I posted previously if peope like me had not voted Greens on the Regional list in 2016 then it is more than likely that there would not have been a majority for independence to vote for an independence referendum in the Scottish parliament.
This is today, not 201x. Quit looking backwards and start looking forwards. In case you haven’t noticed yet, things have changed. Significantly.
(By all means though vote Green or whatever else if you prefer. But just do it because you believe in their politics and not for pissing aimlessly around.)
Grizebard you seem to have a problem understanding my posts. So I’ll say it again just for you. I vote for Scottish independence – not “pissing aimlessly around”. The point is that if in 2016 I had followed the advice of people like you there would have been NO majority for independence in Holyrood.
Unlike the just vote SNP twice people I do look at my regional situation and come to a judgement as to what is best for Scottish independence.
Your post is insulting and not by accident.
Talking of reading and understanding posts works both ways, chum. This.isn’t.2016. Duh. So why you keep harking back to the past instead of looking forward is beyond me. Once a party begins to accumulate support beyond the mid-fifties, it begins to escape the slough of despond of the list. The SNP is almost there now in the polls, which is why it’s no coincidence that there’s such a blizzard of organised gloom-and-doom going over social media now.
Take insult where none was intended as much as you like, and by all means use your good judgement when it is required, but that will necessarily require you to wake up to The Now.
Grizebard in my region the SNP list vote in 2016 was divided by 9. In 2021 there is a very good chance the SNP may win all 10 constituencies that will mean the SNP regional list vote will be divided by 11. I am looking ahead – pity others cannot do the same instead of chanting party mantras eg both votes SNP.
Of course if the SNP put a mandate for independence in their manifesto I would vote SNP twice for ACTUAL independence as distinct from maximising the number of independence supporting MSPs.
You are still thinking defensively. The list is only an apparent obstacle when your support on the list is less than the number of MSPs you glean from the constituencies (all of them, even, as you say). But once you have won all the constituencies you can’t grow any more from that source. It sets a very real and absolute upper limit. The only way you can grow further is from the list, and that is perfectly possible once your support on the list grows beyond the limit set by your constituency wins.
This is what I’m trying to get over. You can look at this two ways. You can see the list as a totally useless no-hope no-go area and thrash around maybe fruitlessly for alternatives, or you can see it as a further opportunity. It’s only the former as long as party support on the list lingers around the 50% mark; enough to win the constituencies given a divided opposition, but not enough to gain anything more on the list (as we all well know from all the endless discussion). But once your support grows beyond the halfway mark, the list becomes your friend, because it can add further to your gains, and in direct overall proportion with no limit, as it should.
It’s the inability of so many to fail to see the altered possibilities presented by the current sustained rise in the polls that is so depressing. And ironically, by negatively focussing on the supposed alternatives, it is even perfectly possible to rob the SNP of potential gains in the regional lists by diverting too many votes elsewhere, and all to no useful purpose besides, just as with the likes of RISE before.
Now, it is undeniable that this won’t necessarily be true absolutely everywhere, and voters will have to weigh up the local situation for themselves. But so will the alt-indy parties, and if they are serious they will stay away from the more tricky situations, where voting SNP x2 is even more essential than elsewhere.
Glass half-empty or glass half-full? Or even better, glass 2/3rds full, and making the absolute most of it!
”Even before 2014 there were nothing like the number of dissenters on Indy blogs telling you to dump the SNP because they wouldn’t have gotten away with it.”
You don’t have to look too far to see who’s actively, fervently, encouraging this now. Question is why is he doing this, more so from south of the border? Answers on a postcard.
So why not say in the SNPs manifesto that a greater than 50% vote is a mandate for independence. What is wrong with that? I want independence and I want to vote for it. Don’t you?
I’ll look after my head no problem – it’s in fine fettle.
“The clue is in the name of the party”
PS Alex – the name of the SNP does not mention independence.
I want Independence. Only the SNP can deliver it.
You don’t want to support the SNP you don’t want Independence.
Simple.
Hamish, I want independence and I want to vote for INDEPENDENCE. Simple.
Fine, but you have to have 50% of the voting public of Scotland with you as well, if you’re to get what you want. Small detail. Nothing simpler.
I want to vote independence.
We all do. Well some of us do.
Labour won’t do it, nor Lib Dem’s, nor tories, nor wings, nor tommy Sheridan. You insult over 100000 snp members if you think we don’t.
(I presume that was intended as a reposte to the ever-combative Mr. C, not me.)
There will always be people who will be unable to vote for anyone but their traditional party, and that is their right, but matters will never be settled until we deal with the independence elephant in the room, so it’s a pity if those who genuinely support independence get diverted into glittering dead ends that merely endanger the inevitable confrontation to come.
Given where the SNP currently sits in the polls, the tempting notion of an alt-indy list party (especially one whose policies and strategies are largely imaginary) is a solution whose time has passed, and multiplying the diversion several times over only compounds the error. This is a time to focus above all.
And I say that as someone who is not, and has never been, a member of the SNP.
Grizebard if telling someone they are “pissing aimlessly around” when deciding who to vote for when they are making their best judgement on who to vote for to benefit Scottish independence is not an insult then you must keep some rough company. So call me combative if you want but I do not accept insults.
I have on a number of posts gone to great lengths to explain how I voted in 2016 and how my approach will be in 2021. No one has said where I was wrong in 2016. You just punt the same approach in 2021 as in 2016 – vote SNP twice and say that it makes sense because the SNP are at 55% in the polls. Of course that takes no account of regional variations. Nor does it address the situation in my region where if the SNP win all ten constituencies they will be dividing their vote in the regional list by 11.
I direct you to my latest reply upthread. You keep harking back to the past as if saying it often enough will somehow make it relevant, but it is truly failing to appreciate the changed situation. You remind me very much of the old saying about generals who lose because they are always trying to re-fight the last war. The ones who win are the ones who are prepared to re-assess everything afresh, and are able and willing to fight on new ground with appropriate new tactics.
We really are in a different situation now, though alas as yet you still don’t seem to have noticed.
It’s the suicide squad from the *I hate Nicola* party and if you’re not one of them you’re a *Sturgeonista* , I remember these tactics being used by the British Nationalists not so long ago on us, now the same people are using them against real Independence supporters for being the wrong kind of Independence supporters and we’re all mugs if we don’t believe the rumours that they made up in the hope of discrediting or bringing down the only party who can help to deliver Independence, and they invoke the name of the former FM who hasn’t uttered a stutter to back up their boring claims of who doesn’t like who so that proves?, well what exactly does it prove and who cares anyway if politicians fall out or don’t fall out, what is this the after school big girls blouse gang who won’t join in the game unless they get to make the rules and pick the leader, their fake righteous indignation stinks the place up
They all sound like the same people who argued over which was the best band, the Beatles or the Rolling stones, you weren’t allowed to like both, you had to pick a side to get in with the right people or you were nothing
Most of us aren’t 12 anymore, and anyway I’ve got a picture of Nicola Sturgeon dressed as Wonder Woman on my bedroom wall so there, and I dumped my Alex Salmond picture after he left the band
Dr Jim
You use the analogy of Beatles and Stones.
Well here is my analogy: the Michael Caine film, ‘Get Carter’
Get Salmond, Get Cherry, Get Dornan………….Get Michelle Thomson, Get Grousebeater… and there has been a lot more besides them.
When you go close your eyes tonight, better have a look under your bed and you might imagine there are ‘reds under the bed’.
But you will soon realise it’s just all in your imagination.
Does anyone really know what “divide and conquer” means? I sometimes have my doubts because it appears as there are some who will join in the bandwagon and start working with Whitehall to undermine the SNP as they are the most obvious vehicle for Independence.
Seriously, it really doesn’t take any thinking at all. It’s the SNP who are the danger to Wesminster’s grip on Scotland and the party most likely to lead them to Independence so their goal is to attack the SNP and undermine them.
They’ve been doing it for years, ever since the SNP first won became the biggest party in Holyrood and elected Alex Salmond as First Minister. They FEAR them so they attack them. until now they have used the media but now they are using social media much more than before.
I don’t blame them as that’s what I’d be doing too, unfortunately for them there are not really that many people paying attention yet and support for Independence is growing all by itself. I think they are wasting their time, it’s too late and they blew it after 2014 with EVEL the day after the referendum.
No one will trust them again, we are being led by a clown who doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing from one day to the next. It’s the worst government ever and guess what people are noticing. Their handling of Covid-19 is a total shambles, back to normality by Christmas? The man is an utter buffoon and dangerous with it.
Those that are calling for the head of the First Minister just as we show continuing support for Independence are not our friends, the reason support has grown for Independence is due to the First Minister wise handling of this crisis in comparison with the best that Westminster can come up with which has been a shambles.
I can understand people being frustrated but they have to see the bigger picture and that is to win Independence we need the majority support of the people of Scotland. We are getting there slowly but surely and I’ll take that any day rather than a gung ho attitude that would have us die on our sword.
“We are being led by a clown” – you may be Alex but I am being led by the best FM Scotland had ever had.
A long and interesting post Alex but no clear mention of why there cannot be a mandate for independence in the SNP manifesto. The party of independence should have this as a given.
Remind me then Cubby who’s in charge of the treasury and controls the furlough scheme, in charge of borrowing and welfare. Responsible for defence and building aircraft carriers in our name as well as Trident.
Not to mention spending OUR money on HS2 and many other infrastructure schemes that benefits England. Tell me then Cubby who is in control of that lot?
It’s not the First Minister.
Alex, I don’t think you need reminding – neither do I.
Another post but no mention of why there cannot be a mandate for independence in the SNP manifesto.
You say “cannot be”. How do you know what will or will not be in the SNP’s manifesto?
For goodness sake Alex. It is obvious I don’t know what will be in the manifesto.
You are just deflecting and playing around with words. Do you want them to put independence in the manifesto – yes or no?
Again I agree, but I believe that there will come a time when the SNP leadership will have to make a judgement call and go for it without the firm assurance of a win.
History shows that you can only ever get so far by letting circumstances dictate direction, and at some point you have to intervene and give things a steer. I firmly believe that there will soon come a point when the only thing that lies between us and independence is a full-on campaign prosecuted with conviction and self-assurance sufficient to turn enough of the still-hesitant around.
It will never happen without. Beware: Fortuna is fickle – there is no guarantee of continually upward progress. If we wait too long, the opportunity will have passed, and we will only realise it after it’s all too late.
An excellent summary… There will be another face along in a minute to replace Jackass, but the script will be the same, lies and propaganda via a willing media.
The Tories know they have lost grip on Scotland as Labour before it, sowing division and confusion over SNP with whispering campaigns has been their only hope to delay independence, and as evidenced by some comments above, it has gotten some traction.
It’s the oldest trick in the book, set the enemy army arguing among themselves about inanities and their discipline breaks down.
There is no positive future for any of the 4 nations with this corrupt London cabal.
England is still mesmerised by the Tories and the “sunny uplands” of Brexit.
NI is coming to terms with re-unification.
Wales is where we were not so long ago but building support fast.
Scotland now has the momentum for independence, time to stand as one with a single strategy, we can argue about the quality of the soup after the battle is won.
1. The Scottish National Party.
2. The aims of the Party shall be Independence for Scotland.
If more people joined, donated and campaigned. Instead of carping at the sidelines it would help.
Even when Scotland votes YES. There will be still be reorganising negotiation. Scotland has come a long way since 2000 Devolution. Just twenty years ago . To a majority in Holyrood, Westminster. Support for SNP/Independence rising.
A pandemic that has to be contained. One off events never seen in a lifetime. Another IndyRef that can be won. In a year or two. It really is amazing how Scotland is getting through to better times.
People pulling together for the sake of their society and community. In spite of everything going on. Quite an achievement. People pulling together and obey the rules and regulations. People keeping safe and helping others.
Support rising. Independence will come soon. There will be renegotiations and reorganisation. It is in Westminster’s interest to co operate. Not be negative. International Law supports self determination and self government when people vote for it. It gathers support.
“2. The aims of the party shall be independence for Scotland.”
Well why don’t they put a mandate for independence in their manifesto.
Have you got a crystal ball that tells you now what will be in the SNP manifesto for 2021?
Nah, I didn’t think so. Me neither.
Alex, the question is do you want them to put it in the manifesto. Or do you not have an opinion? You seem to have an opinion on plenty of other matters.
Let’s be perfectly clear, you have never asked whether or not I want the SNP “to put Independence in the manifesto or not”. Instead, you have been second guessing what will be in the manifesto and inferring that there will not be a mandate for Independence in the manifesto. These are your words just on this article.
“So why not say in the SNPs manifesto that a greater than 50% vote is a mandate for independence. What is wrong with that?”
“A long and interesting post Alex but no clear mention of why there cannot be a mandate for independence in the SNP manifesto.”
“Another post but no mention of why there cannot be a mandate for independence in the SNP manifesto.”
If you can find where you asked me a direct question then show me, FWIW I do want the SNP to put a mandate for Independence right at the top of their manifesto. Guess what? I believe they will do exactly that but don’t feel the need to go around pretending that I know whether they will or not. It is you that is “playing around with words” and making no sense whatsoever.
Alex, Glad to read that you agree. I have been saying that I want actual independence to be in the manifesto for some time now. If you want to play around with words/quotes fine.
The trouble is that you interpret everything as an attack on the SNP.
Hahaha Now you can read my mind too.
Alex Clark @12.22pm “have you got a crystal ball” – well it seems you have.
Not the old “you can read my mind trope” – surely you must be running out of old tropes to use.
Actual independence won’t be in the manifesto. There will be a commitment to a referendum, not to a declaration of UDI. It’s not going to happen Cubby.
That’s my view also, in case it wasn’t clear.
Whether or not it is going to happen is up to the SNP obviously. Funny how Alex Clark accuses me of having a crystal ball but I am not the one forecasting the future. I am the one expressing what I want. Alex hasn’t the courage to say that you WGD have a crystal ball but he just goes ahead and uses his own crystal ball to agree with you.
I never said anything about UDI by the way. An election mandate for independence is not UDI it is democracy – something sadly lacking in Scotland.
Its less likely to happen if SNP members don’t ask for it and just accept it like Alex Clark who says he wants it but just accepts it ain’t going to happen.
Another commitment to a referendum – deja vu.
They haven’t published the manifesto for Scottish Elections yet!!!!
The Tories are dropping down like flies. Scotland’s away day leader. Not fair play. What a shambles. A total non achiever. Lost 4 elections. Will lose even more. 4th rate loser. The bottom of the barrel. Rats in the sack of non achievers.
Who wants the poison chalice. The Tory complete and utter mess. The Brexit catastrophe awaiting. They will be voted out.
Catching up on the comments this morning, there seems to be a lot of irritation on here. Or maybe I am just being over sensitive and it’s just the cut and thrust of people exchanging passionately felt views. I hope it’s the latter, not because I think it is a matter of life or death for independence – that is coming soon regardless – but because it could contribute to delaying it.
For my part, I think Nicola is doing an excellent job but I can equally understand that some people feel impatient with her. I have commented before that my dad was a craftsman and the apparent slowness and deliberation of his every move used to irritate the hell out of me when I just wanted a job done. To a bodger like me it all seemed unnecessarily slow and there were times when I seriously wondered if he really wanted to do the job. But once it was over I benefited from the results. Deep down I knew he was right all along but I’m still a bodger!
Nicola is a professional and is meticulously, inching forward our move to independence. It isn’t easy for her, we can only imagine how many issues she has to deal with each day and the burden of responsibility she has to carry. Those who spend their time destructively criticising her need to take a step back and find a more positive way to contribute. Metaphorically speaking, maybe they should just watch, make the tea and try their best to help, just like I did for my dad.
Nicely put there, Arthur. Especially liked that personal touch.
Indeed well said Arthur, we are all bodgers in our own way but craftsmen in others, the latter we learned that from those who preceded us, we just express it in different forms. e.g –
My love of woodwork skipped a generation – My grandfather bought thousand of ex-MOD tent pole bases knowing they were solid teak beneath the green MOD paint. Every strand of our family has that one beautifully turned and oiled bowl which originated in an MOD junkyard, treasured not for it’s undeniable beauty but the originator. The origins may fade, but the bowl will pass through generations long after…
On your comment of “irritation” in posts I agree totally. What has been most noticeable of late alongside the resident doom and gloom mongers and conspiracy cranks is a curious rise in new contributors and bluntly, disruptors.
I figure this blog has been targeted for assault, time to man the ramparts and quietly dismiss these clowns else it will end up drowned like ABC’s HYS 😉
Arthur, Well said
Fighting a pandemic is the cause. An IndyRef in a pandemic is not going any where. It needs to be won. Not mucked up. The most support at the moment. Until the time comes.
Once the pandemic is recovered. That is the time to move forward. Ahead at the present. Building up support Democratically. One campaign at a time, to be successful. Time for achievement.
Scotland has come a long way in 20 years. Even more success to come. Getting over the line. If people vote for it.
I recommend Scot Goes Pop’s recent article for a number of posters above to read.
[…] The Wee Ginger Dug has a very witty name for the ousted Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw. He calls him Surname […]
Alex Clark, you are all over the place.
At 1.03pm you post that you think the SNP will put a mandate for independence in their manifesto.
At 1.34pm you say you agree with WGD that the SNP will NOT put a mandate for independence in their manifesto.
Did your crystal ball get all cloudy or was it just because WGD said it ain’t gonna happen. What an about turn in 30 mins.
“That’s my view also in case it ain’t clear” – a classic by Alex Clark.
You have the cheek to say I am using a crystal ball.
23 contributions all ill tempered and contributing nothing to the debate. HELLO ?
Bob, please do not be so hard on yourself.
Give it a rest Cubby. I would like a break, not to have to sit here and moderate comments.
Thank you.
It’s your site. Your wish is my command. Bye for now. Have a good break. I will miss your take on matters even though I do not always share it.
As I have said previously if you do not wish me to post you just have to say. I just express my opinions and pose questions that some others find uncomfortable and unfortunately react with insults. Like most people I do not care to be insulted.
The referee always has the choice to penalise the instigator or the person who retaliates or both.
Mibbies me, but I believe the whole issue will eventually be resolved by political decisions based on public/societal will. The wheels of this machinery will be oiled with constitutional law (made up on the fly if necessary) of course. But mainly it’s going to come down to the people just what kind of country they want and want to live in.
Until very recently, not enough people in Scotland either felt they could or indeed should run their own affairs. Their reasoning/reasons for this are their own. But like it or not, we’re here today because that is exactly the case. These folk are changing their minds…slowly…but they are changing their minds. The world as they knew it has fallen from beneath their feet and they’re looking for friends with their open hands out. The reality of politics Westminster style is coming to visit them in their own living rooms and no it’s not pleasant.
Scotland is either a popular sovereignty, or it’s not. The majority will decides issues, or it doesn’t. Seems to me that parliamentary sovereignty and the will of the few hasn’t worked out so well for the UK parliament. Question is. Would Scotland’s population be happy to become independent on the decisions taken by a minority in their own parliament, or would we prefer to instruct our parliament as a settled majority?
It’s not enough to have been right and in the right. Just as it’s not enough to win. People have to be persuaded, be reassured and be safe among new friends. Also? And I can only speak for myself. I believe it matters a great deal HOW you win.
Worth a thought.
👏👏👏
Douglas Ross leadership is fiction. It is a cover story. Ruth the Mooth will be back to minimise damage (I.e. No election campaign to save the Union). The Tories expect a hammering and they don’t want any record of having made Holyrood a topic of Union choice.
Even if every Tory seat in Scotland were lost ( and it can’t be). London Tories will continue to keep control of the Union and Boris will keep saying No.
Ruth will run off to the Lords and it matters not who leads the Tory Branch office post the Holyrood election.
How do we contribute to the new party?
Cant believe Gethins took up a role with St Andrew’s. Shows how right wing the SNP has moved. Shame we need a new party to advance independence but typical of the pervidious nature of the British state.
Wormtongue speaks!
(But we’ve heard it all before. Yawn.)
What new party? We’ve got the SNP and the Greens 😀 As to Stephen Gethins working as a Professor at St Andrews, I’d say well done to him especially as he’ll be teaching people like Alex Salmond who previously attended the University as a student.
I thought this was a pro Independence blog? The new Independence party- how do we help fund it ?
Yeh, and the Marquis of Montrose went there in the 1640s so what, ideologies change. In May1945 East Berlin was Nazi, Kommunist in June… your point is? If he is teaching as opposed to advising, which I doubt, he will be teaching the progenitor of alumni such as Michael Forsyth and Michael Fallon… need I say more.
[…] The Wee Ginger Dug has a very witty name for the ousted Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw. He calls him Surname […]
Saturday’s Telegraph confirmed the Scottish Tories’ 2021 Election strategy. Apparently they will focus on the economy and education – not the Union.
Focusing on the economy right after Brexit is a highly risky move……. And abandoning their core topic after spending the past 3 elections banging on about it is an even riskier move……….
More ominous was a report in today’s Sunday Times concerning Alex Salmond. He is apparently planning to release his new book next year – right before the election when “it will have the most impact.” And that he has enough information to “sink the Titanic” if senior figures in the SNP try to play “silly buggers” during the inquiry into how he was treated over the sexual misconduct allegations.
If Wee Eck (his old media nickname from before 2014) puts his ego before the main objective, especially when next year’s election might well force the door wide open to it, then my low opinion of him will be confirmed. He can surely read the political climate as well as anyone, and must have realised that his lifelong ambition is now within reach given the post 2014 behaviour of the Tories, especially South of the Border! All he has to do is play his part, especially if the SNP win a majority next May……
The stars are aligning, with the English Covid-19 shambles, a dream opponent in Boris Johnson, and most of all, Brexit as the ultimate example of the democratic deficit between England and Scotland. Independence before 2030 is a growing possibility.
https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2020/08/03/the-road-to-independence-how-covid-and-brexit-pushed-scotlan
Hi Paul,
Are you on holiday? Haven’t seen anything from you in a week and I miss my daily read! 😊
I hope everything is well with you.
Rona Crawford
On Fri., Jul. 31, 2020, 3:50 a.m. Wee Ginger Dug, wrote:
> weegingerdug posted: ” Within a week of the performance artiste whose > stage name is Boris coming to Orkney to save the UK, the leader of his > Scottish branch office has resigned with immediate effect. Surname Surname > gave no indication during First Minister’s Questions just a ” >