On a trip to the local mini supermarket the other day, the fruit and veg section was almost empty, there was nothing on the shelves that usually hold the ready made sandwiches and the ready meals section was devoid of the normal selection of food. This is not an isolated occurrence, all over the UK people report shortages in supermarkets and empty shelves which were once stuffed full of produce. The shortages are being caused due to a combination of the pandemic and the British Government’s ideologically driven decision to pursue the hardest Brexit it could get away with, driving away untold thousands of the EU citizens that the UK relied on to fill low paid jobs like delivery drivers. No other European country is currently facing empty supermarket shelves but in the UK we have a right wing media which colludes with the Conservatives in blaming it all on Covid as though the entirely avoidable chaos of the Tories’ hard Brexit had nothing to do with it.
Meanwhile energy prices are soaring just as the British government has cut Universal Credit,throwing thousands of the poorest households in the UK into penury,they have announced a hike in National Insurance which will be disproportionately be felt by those on the lowest wages. For thousands of people in the UK this winter, it will be a choice between heating their homes or putting food on the table. For many people already in poverty in a few days they have seen the end of furlough, the loss of £20 a week Universal Credit, food shortages and rising prices and now a huge jump in energy costs. UK electricity prices are now the highest in Europe. (https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/electric-power/091321-factbox-uk-electricity-prices-now-most-expensive-in-europe ) Red wall constituents in the North of England , now you know why your parents never voted Tory. To be fair the problems with the UK energy supply market are not entirely due to Brexit, Brexit has compounded problems that have built up over decades due to Conservative privatisation and deregulation and a lack of investment. The exact same thing has led to the UK having the most expensive railways in Europe.
Today we discovered that the much heralded trade deal with the USA which was supposed to be one of the biggest benefits of Brexit won’t be happening any time soon. Back in 2017 Johnson boasted that the UK would be “first in line” for a post-Brexit trade deal with the USA. However now President Biden has said that a trade deal with the UK is not a priority for his administration. The Americans have no plans even to start talks with the UK about any possible future US-UK trade deal. It’s not even on their radar. About 30% of the USA’s international trade is with Canada and Mexico, a further 13% is with China. Just 2.5% of America’s international trade is with the UK, about the same as India, Taiwan, Vietnam. Agreeing a trade deal with the UK is simply not that important for the Americans. So not only is the UK not “first in line” for a trade deal with the USA, there isn’t even a line. Under international spotlight the so-called Global Britain has shown itself to be exposed and weak and lumbered with a leader who can only express himself in stuttering soundbites as he desperately tries to avoid answering simple questions.
Johnson has shown us the real benefits of an Eton education. It imbues members of the British upper middle class with a confident arrogance that makes them think they can keep on bumbling through even when they are hopelessly outclassed. When Scotland was told in 2014 that it needed the UK in order to keep punching above our weight Better Together never clarified that that would only be in the international laughing stock stakes.
Additionally Biden has made it clear that both he and the Republicans in Congress will not consider any trade deal with the UK if the British Government does not respect the commitments it made in the Good Friday Agreement to ensure that there would be no border checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland.
According to reports in the same right wing press that told us that the UK would have few problems quickly striking a post-Brexit trade deal with the USA, faced with the prospect of there being no trade deal with the USA for the foreseeable future, the British government is now looking at joining the USA’s existing Mexico-Canada trade deal as a junior partner. That would be the same Conservative government which insisted on leaving the EU customs union and single market after Brexit because it claimed that it couldn’t countenance the UK being a “rule taker” and not a “rule maker”. It now seems that it can after all accept the UK being a rule taker just as long as the rules are made by Canada, Mexico and the USA. The irony is that had the UK remained in the EU it would still have been a rule maker.
However British nationalism left the EU because it can’t contemplate the UK being an equal of other states and having to negotiate and compromise like a grown up. So in pursuit of the fantasy of British exceptionalism it threw away the UK’s place in the EU and its existing trading arrangements and now the British Government is left scrabbling around trying to rescue what it can from the wreckage of its own vanity. I don’t recall any Brexit supporters telling us that once the UK left the EU it would be free to do what it’s told by Mexico. But that’s what Brexit has turned out to mean in practice.
But still, we can always rely on the Scottish Conservatives to get straight to the heart of the really important issues that affect Scotland as a part of the UK. Douglas Ross spent most of his allotted time in the most recent Westminster Scottish Affairs Committee asking why there aren’t more Scottish families on Gogglebox.
Brexit is a disaster. The UK is facing the worst crisis since the end of WW2, an avoidable and unnecessary crisis which was created by the vanity and hubris of the right wing British nationalists of the Conservative party. Only independence can rescue Scotland from this British exceptionalist mess and put us on the path to becoming a normal north west European nation.
There won’t be a blog update tomorrow as I have a physiotherapy appointment in the morning and as usual I’ll be wiped out afterwards.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Neatly done and well said.
We’re just about at that time.
Aye Paul, a nice summation. Brexit is really just one facepalm after another. The slow clap of facepalms.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19597373.northern-ireland-saved-crippling-co2-shortage-brexit-protocol/
Northern Ireland saved from crippling CO2 shortage by Brexit protocol
AS UK taxpayers prepare to fork out millions of pounds for lifeline supplies of gas, drinks bosses in Northern Ireland have revealed they are unaffected by desperate shortages in Britain – due to the Brexit deal signed by Boris Johnson.
Johnson has already admitted that there is no chance of a free trade deal with the US before the next election is due in 2024. So in order for him to claim some kind of benefit from Brexit there are these noises being made of an attempt for the UK to join USMCA.
Even if it did manage to be accepted into the North American regional trade pact (hahaha) then I believe that it would add just 0.2% to UK GDP and for that it would no doubt have to jump through hopes imposed on it by…well Mexico.
So this is the reality of Johnson’s “sunny uplands” and the opportunities that Brexit would bring. Ironically the EU has already negotiated free trade deals with both Canada and Mexico while the UK remains out in the cold.
Meanwhile back in the real world and well away from Johnson’s fantasies:
https://archive.ph/IQ9Ax
Being last and worst is still world beating though, Boris Johnson has proved he is the best at ruination, he will be historical
Brexit aside,all the problems currently inflicted on Scotland are down to decades of England’s Thatcherite governments pursuing right wing ideological policies.
The Brexiteers were told years ago that the UK could only survive in the 21st century as part of a trading bloc.
So….first up EFTA followed by the Pacific trading bloc which was completely insane and now the North American one.
Fact is,no one really want’s Englands Tories because of their duplicity and constant attempts to dominate proceedings.
Only proud Scots are prepared to put up with their shenanigans.
Oh well, another fantasy of Johnson bites the dust. This one didn’t take long LOL
“Downing Street has poured cold water on the prospect of the UK joining a North American free trade area with the US, Mexico and Canada.
The idea of a bid to join the USMCA partnership was floated during Boris Johnson’s trip to America, as it became clear that the prime minister had been forced to give up his dream of a post-Brexit free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington.”
https://archive.ph/79DUA
It’s hard to comprehend the sheer effortlessness of the brass-neckery. Leave the EU to “take back control” only to start kite-flying about being a fawning supplicant to NAFTA (or whatever it’s called now). That doomed flight rapidly crashed due to an icy downdraft from Biden & Co.
How anybody here can take the BoJo Clown Circus seriously these days is beyond me. Nobody abroad clearly does.
Best to you on the med visit.
I see a couple of things missing.
Be it England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, agriculture has languished, farmers could not/cannot compete with large overseas producers in or out of the EU (or other trade deals), so foods that could be grown and produced here are imported.
Supposedly, this keeps grocery prices lower, but in truth, prices in stores don’t reflect prices on the farm.
Farms and farmers are made subservient to a flawed system.
The “system” does not create food, it ships, packages, and markets the food.
I suggest the source of food, farms, are much more important and are the very base of any system or treaty.
In the proverbial loaf of bread, mere pennies in cost can be attributed to the price paid to the farmers for the grain.
The rest is tied up in a multi-billion pound system, all powerful and politically connected.
Much the same with manufacturing.
Build it here.
Make it here.
Grow it here.
Scotland should lead rather than follow this system that eliminates local production.
If the system is flawed, then fix it.
Starting with the few dozen people who own most of the land.
This will not be the last pandemic, foreign trade issue, or other catastrophe.
Looking out across fallow fields and scenic estates while foods are not available is sad.
Beware of foreign alliances is sound advice, be it food, fuel, or commodities.
Imported “things” should be a nice adjunct to a solid base of sourced products from ones own country.
Made in/grown in Scotland is essential.
Absolutely agreed, farmers have paid dearly for the “bigger is better” model for decades, and once bustling high streets have become deserted.
Where I grew up the local town had shops aplenty making good business in the local economy, basic foods were locally sourced obviously, the exotica you got from Liptons. Everything from saddlers to the old fashioned ironmongers, whatever you were looking for if they didn’t have it they knew the shop that did.
Now it’s a commuter ghost town, and everything’s 20+miles away.
A few butchers, bakers, and fish-vans survived elsewhere and oddly went through a bit of a revival during Covid with farm-shop and veggie-box deliveries becoming for some a much appreciated lifeline.
On my last visit to Derbyshire (grandkids) immediately before the pandemic, the owner of a local organic farm was barely making ends meet. Covid turned that around dramatically, but the heartening aspect is their clients continue to build, overtaking those who found Tesco more convenient.
Bigger may be more “efficient” but for whom, it sure as hell isn’t better….
Yes indeed, so many Tory chickens are coming home the roost is going to need an extension, if they can get the materials delivered….
I read some of the media hype over the UK joining the USA Mexico-Canada trade group completely bemused – so desperate are the right-wing for a positive story to distract from peoples’ woes, skip by Biden’s line on the UK, ignore the US being the biggie in the deal, all to paint a picture of sunny uplands down Mexico way… It’s more ludicrous than Truss’s “Cheeeeese….”.
England’s long love affair with the Tories may be straining, but it’s about ready to explode in Scotland…
I don’t know why the major news outlets (BBC, ITV, Sky) aren’t expressing Brexit as at least *part* of the cause of the UK’s problems. This should be regular headline news. It should be a scandal that is rocking the government hard. Instead, there is barely a whimper from the nation as a whole.
Also, where are Labour in all this?! Starmer is a red Tory, who is incredibly losing ground to Johnson of all people. This country is fast becoming a joke. If Scotland gains independence, I’ll seriously considering emigrating up there. The sticking point would be the weather, but I think I could endure that for a much better country!
I agree that it is a scandal how badly served by the media the people of the UK are. Believe me, it is even worse for us here in Scotland, see the previous article from WGD on BBC bias.
It’s hilarious to me when people say the BBC is biased *against* the Tories. Please. They’re the Tory propaganda wing.
I give you Laura Kuenssberg and Nick Robinson, two blatant mouthpieces for the Tories on the BBC. They of course are just the tip of the iceberg.
This article published today by Media Lens is a long read but makes many interesting points.
https://www.medialens.org/2021/gaslighting-the-public-serial-deceptions-by-the-state-corporate-media/
And the weather’s not
Oops – pressed post too soon. The weather’s not THAT different in spite of what the devious BBC may say. Wetter in the west and colder in the north but that’s true everywhere.
So you’d be most welcome and when the next referendum comes along you know what to do. 🙂
https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/United-Kingdom/average-yearly-precipitation.php
Capella, I’ve just harvested my tomatoes, grown outside over the summer, in Glasgow.
The crop is bubbling nicely in my big iron pot, with a chopped Spanish Onion (hard to get.) Brexit supermarket onions are wee totie things, the size of tangerines.) and a Scottish juicy leak.
The delicious mix will be frozen and used for various pasta sauce mixes, home made pizza bases, and stuffed in peppers.
I have already made tomato soup, which has been frozen and will constitute the starter for Christmas dinner dabbed up with slices of my Everlovin’s home made soda bread.
Any one who has braved Blackpool promenade in October knows what raw English weather is really like. ‘Baltic’, is I believe the term.
But long may the English perception of Scotland be of a rain swept heath.
They have been warned off, the Bullshit Broadcasting Corporation believes they are there, as during WWII, to present every defeat as if it is a victory. It’s why they celebrate Dunkirk as if it was a well planned success, rather than the shambles it was in reality (a fore-runner of Brexit, probably spearheaded by old Etonians as well).
One of their presenters pretty much admitted it when a listener blamed Brexit and he responded it was ‘more than his job was worth to go down that route’. It was a couple of weeks ago so not an exact quote but close enough.
“to present every defeat as if it is a victory”
Ah yes, for example the ‘Great running away and hiding behind a gigantic moat to be saved by foreign pilots’.
The biggest moat in Europe is the only reason the Nazi tanks didn’t get as far north as the Romans before getting bogged down in the northern mountains by ‘dirty toothless natives’ like every foreign army has throughout history. Naff all to do with English exceptionalism.
Ah, but in part it’s the weather that makes us who we are. And rural Scotland on a good day is breath-takingly wonderful.
Instructions from HM government to British media are don’t mention Brexit, and no I didn’t make that up, I promise you
Perfectly described. A complete and utter, self-inflicted mess.
The USA UK non-deal has now disappeared from the BBC website news. It’s gone down the memory hole never to re-emerge. Instead we have diplomatic “Boris Johnson tells Macron: Donnez-moi un break over new pact”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58654624
Also – US lifting ban on imports of British lamb, says Boris Johnson
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58654045
Sunny uplands galore.
But in poor wee stupid Scotland where everything is grim:
“Hospitals inquiry: Mother says daughter’s death was ‘murder'”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58652497
This one is a particular disgrace but I’d doubt more than a few in Scotland would actually be surprised given rumours of kamikaze attempts by incontinent pigeons from the roof of Pacific Quay after Glenn (Lieman for the country) attempted to feed them his latest video “in my opinion” pastiche.
For the BBC it is all about validating their own propaganda campaign to oust Jeanne Freeman, for the Enquiry it is all about establishing facts over the construction of QEUH.
I do not call the National Insurance hike that I believe it is a Brexit tax.
I see Johnson being racist towards my French family again.
Either speak politely in French or in English. Deliberately mixing your language with that of another people for the purposes of mocking them is pure casual racism.
Last time my relations were ‘French turds’, now it’s this.
What with the Brits marching through the streets dressed in military garb telling me/my mum to ‘go back to Ireland’ (even though I’ve never actually been there), and the English being racist towards my wife, daughter and extended family, including forcing Mrs SS to apply to stay in her own Scottish home, you wonder why anyone would even question for a second why I support independence.
Fake news though some might believe it, this time it was made up.
An insult which only actually apply to unionist voters, ironically.
He didn’t say it but quite believable it’s the sort of thing he would say after calling Scots *verminous* which he did say
Or calling people from France ‘French turds’ and black people ‘picaninnies with watermelon smiles’.
Well he DID say this, too …
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/prenez-un-grip-boris-johnson-ridiculed-over-response-to-france-submarine-row/ar-AAOI2CT?ocid=msedgntp
Oh desr – I believed it! Because it’s true. But it would have been the first true thing he has uttered in a long time.
Ha ha – turns out it was a Kevin McKenna parody in the National. 😂
Kevin McKenna is such a miserably poor writer that he has to invent a bogus headline event to write something, on the internet we’d describe that as trolling and pay him no attention yet newspapers have sunk so low they create room for such people as long as they hold a journalist card
Still, as long as he’s prepared to discredit himself even more than he already is
Well done Scotland.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19597828.lord-advocate-dorothy-bain-says-scots-class-drugs-can-given-warning/
Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain says Scots with Class A drugs can be given ‘warning’
Ever-predictably, the “Scottish” Tories are agin. They are desperate to keep being able to claim – however mendaciously – that the Scottish Government isn’t working. That’s the extent of their engagement with political life.
Och lol. Dumbasses that campaigned for a labour shortage now panicking about labour shortage.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-58652210
Edwin Poots wants immigration rules relaxed over farm labour shortage
Northern Ireland’s agriculture minister is proposing that immigration rules be relaxed to allow Filipino meat plant workers into the UK.
Some food manufacturers in Northern Ireland are facing staff shortages.
The industry has been dependent on a flow of EU workers, which has stopped due to the UK’s post-Brexit migration rules.
“There are butchers from the Philippines who are ready to come here,” Edwin Poots told BBC News NI.
Has anyone told him the Philippines is 86% Roman Catholic?
Maybe the Brits figure they can pay the Philipeno folks less than the European folks they chased out
Following on from Jimmy Buchan. Brexiteer rinse and repeat. These morons were telt, but didna listen. Now they want special treatment. As if BoJo gives a toss.
But somehow their exceptionalist pleadings always make it onto the BBC. Just more media toadying, or conversely an embedded rebel providing some subtle exposure…?
Jimmy Buchan is a member of the Ruth Davidson lodge of special ones
All the best with the physio. Take care. Aileen
Holyrood MSPs get their vaccination certificates
I fear you’ve taken today’s announcement by the Lord Advocate rather too liberally… {grin}
Ah! So that’s why the MSPs were all shouting “Ya dancer”.
Is this an analogy of the Brexiteers understanding of trade negotiations, wary of the threats that didn’t exist before Brexit and unaware of the ambush they face once they return to the trade table.
It’s funny how the presence of absence of particular food in a shop can distil what should be an academic question of supply chains and regulations into something that carries an emotional punch to bring home the reality of Brexit. Empty shelves tell their own story, but for me it was trip to a supermarket in France last week that brought home the message. Specifically I’m talking about apricots. There they were – 3 of 4 different varieties – in an elaborate display. Apricots aren’t exotic or particularly difficult to grow – but I think they require more sun than we get here. I realised I had not seen or tasted an apricot in Scotland all this summer – even during their peak season. I guess they are just a little too niche and a little too tricky to get here in time for most supermarkets to bother. At the same time M&S are closing their French branches because they can’t get the Scottish salmon and beef out there for those who enjoy it.
So these foods disappear, and we go a little more from Oz back to the monochrome of Kansas.
I think you need to look up the meaning of “exotic”; ts literal meaning is “not from here”.
Apricots are native to central Asia, so they most certainly are exotic. They’re extremely hardy, they’ll survive -30°C, but they flower too early (Feb/Mar) & won’t set fruit if the flowers get frosted.
Sunshine isn’t the issue, our long winter is.
Keep your eyes and ears open, Scotland. If they intend dismantling our devolution settlement they sure as hell won’t desist from destroying yours, too.
New UK Government bill will ‘deliberately dismantle Wales’ powers’ warns MP
22 Sep 2021 3 minute Read
https://nation.cymru/news/new-uk-government-bill-will-deliberately-dismantle-wales-powers-warns-mp/
A new UK Government bill will “deliberately dismantle” Wales’ powers, according to an MP.
The Government’s Subsidy Control Bill is receiving its second reading at Westminster today.
The Bill gives the UK Government full control over the UK’s state aid regime, which means that the Welsh Government can be overruled on how business subsidies can best support Wales’s economy.
Under previous devolved laws, control over state aid policy would have automatically fallen under the Welsh Government’s remit after Brexit.
[…]
To compare.
Tick tock…
[…] Source […]
What’s the bet BBC Scotland are at present furiously sending in FOI requests in the hope they can find some babies that have died in Scottish prisons. You know the routine, any story that comes out of England must be presented as worse in Scotland, with the associated ministerial witch hunt which will be totally absent from the reporting in England.
Meanwhile, there is a hole left in the Indy coverage, and it’s that eye over the media in Scotland. No, I don’t mean to try to fill it, if anything I’ll be doing less at the moment for Indy, not more. Frankly I’m quite bored now, bored in the house.
So – to actually take that Police warning ability being extended to class A drugs, note that the ability was already present for class A and class B, so it’s not brand new. Second that it wasn’t just LA Bain that did this off her own bat, there was a review submitted by the previous LA – Wolffe. Presumably the review is finished and its findings are being followed. So no, the Tory opposition wasn’t unaware, or shouldn’t have been, if they were really interested they would have known about the review happening.
Righty, the Scotsman reports Clare Baker of Labour in favour of this. The Record is positive which isn’t surprising, it had a campaign going to do this, so it’s pleased.
But from the Herald: “Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain took opposition MSPs by surprise after announcing that “simple possession offences” of all drugs, including class A substances, can now be dealt with by police issuing a recorded warning.”
*Sigh* – how many of the facts did the Herald reporting just completely ignore or distort?
B*ger. Should be “Already present for Class B and C”.
And, a side prediction – the net trust rating for Sarwar is currently -8, but look for him to go positive bit by bit. Which, considering that a proportion of Labour voters also support Independence, is a good reason not to insult the bejasus out of him. Labour themselves will be working on overtaking the Tories as main opposition in Holyrood, and stand a good chance of succeeding. It’s a couple of weeks old, never mind:
https://newsnet.scot/news-analysis/nicola-sturgeon-only-politician-with-positive-rating/
Oh dear, extrapolating basic good sense off into the airless stratosphere again. If Sarwar was any good, it would make perfect sense to be sympathetic, but the man is a dead-stuck (and dead duck) unreconstructed retrogressive Unionist, and as long as he is the figurehead for the Northern Twig-not-Branch Office, nothing good is going to come of it. So rather than being absurdly “nicey-nicey” about him to no effective purpose whatever, far better to galvanise opposition within the party to him and what he represents, and the only way that can happen is by publicly highlighting his general uselessness both for Labour as well as for the wider community.
As for the possibility that Labour can overtake the Tories again in Scotland, let us hope not, because as things stand it is merely another cheek of the same Unionist arse, and if anything worse for us under ultra-Establishment Brexit collaborator Starmer than ever, but it can still provide an easier route for any latent indy backsliding than the Tories ever can. (The transparent hope and intent of the party’s many frustrated negativists within BBC Jokeland.)
Don’t ”insult the bejasus out of ” Sarwar?
Yes, let’s give this ambulance chaser a free pass to misrepresent our hospitals , our nurses , doctors , GPs’s , our vaccination success , our Care Homes our Education system.
Yes, let’s give this millionaire socialist free rein to tell us what a great job he and his mates did running Scotland , bringing in PFI which has drained Council coffers for decades , or sending money back to Westminster that they couldn’t spend.
Yes, let’s give this weasel-mouthed chameleon a bye when he supports unions which deliberately beggared women council workers in Glasgow for years AND fought against their attempts to redress this disgraceful discrimination in the courts.
He has painted the target on his own back!
Sarwar was a bad MP mouthpiece a bad MSP mouthpiece and now a bad leader mouthpiece wearing the same suit as the guy before him and the woman before that and the guy before that
all of them are just walking talking dead parrots owned by Westminster, there are practically no political insults he doesn’t deserve, he might as well be a BBC newsreader
Sarwar is a champagne “socialist” spiv. As such he has an appeal to working class Tories. No substance, just self interest wrapped up in an unintelligible, mealy mouthed pretence of caring. Dross is a spiv but is too bloated and lacking in apparent sophistication to appeal to anyone except the most extreme right wingers. The Liberal spiv only serves to underline that the role of the front men for the British Parties in Scotland is to lie to people. The proverbial three stooges.
Interesting how Labour trolls bubble to the surface here every now and again with the same guff.
“Interesting how Labour trolls bubble to the surface here every now and again with the same guff.”
That’s always the answer from people of your ilk isn’t it, when someone posts an opinion that doesn’t conform to your “norm”?
It’s why there’s no open debate, AND why Independence support is stuck at 50%. “You’re a troll because I disagree with you“. That’s not exactly going to encourage the undecideds and soft NOes to post on this forum asking questions, or even making statements looking for constructive debate – as can be seen in just about all forums where it’s the same old faces every time, all agreeing with each other. Only forum that allows contrary opinions is PeterABell.
For your information the last Labour politician I voted for in a General Election was Brian Wilson – for the usual reason back then – to kick out and keep out the dreadful useless Tories like John Corrie in a marginal constituency at the time. I’ve never voted Labour for Holyrood, only ever SNP x 2.
I despair.
It’s why there’s no open debate, AND why Independence support is stuck at 50%.
TBH, this seems all a bit far fetched to me. As I recall your said yourself, your average Scot goes nowhere near indyblogs; these really are political geeks paradise. And even if they did, they don’t decide their support for indy on BTL comments!
The reason why we are not independent yet is because it’s a slow process that politicians themselves cannot hurry up. What is happening is a long term decline in Britishness in Scotland associated with the end of an empire, destruction of the post-war consensus, and the rise of European cooperation. The SNP, Greens are not the cause of the break up, but a result of it. Scots increasingly don’t want to be part of the UK so are seeking out parties which back independence. Yes parties cannot really do much to accelerate the process as it is wider events beyond Scotland that speed it up or slow it down.
God help us if it was a simple political decision like an election. People might just reverse it in a few years. This is probably what will happen with England and brexit when we are gone.
No, indy is a fundamental existential decision deeply linked to national identity and the fate of that nation in a complex, and often harsh world. This is why when countries vote for indy, it’s for life, not just for Christmas. They collectively agree they are nation and would be better to take things (back) into their own hands. As a rule, when a population feels a loss of control, with active repression of their political wishes by external rulers. then they push for indy. And often the final stage happens super quickly, like the fall of the berlin wall, as it has been brewing for many, many decades.
The fate of Scotland does not lie in the hands of indy blogs. These reflect voters, but don’t really influence them. They are important though as they let those of like mind hang out and that’s key to moral. Bigger events which are outwith the control of Scotland will tip the balance finally in our favour. Just as the financial crisis catapulted the SNP to an outright majority and iref2, I suspect the winter of brexit discontent may be the straw that completely breaks the union’s back.
Amen to all that.
(I suspect that yir2’s oft-repeated concern stems from a wish to direct hopefuls to a fairly-reasonable pro-indy site like this one, and doesn’t want them to encounter the least thing that might offend instead.)
My main current concern is that a serious crisis, instead of dramatically tipping the balance as it ought, might cause the overly-cautious among us to retrench to the supposedly-familiar instead of launching out into the unknown. And as we all know, the ever-devious Unionists never lose any opportunity to use their own gross mismanagement to try to thwart the necessary escape from it.
I do hope the police find those responsible for leaks in the Salmond enquiry.
While he completely killed any remaining respect I had for him with his opportunistic false accusations of multiple code breaches against the FM, nobody should be leaking confidential stuff. In this case, I think we can guess it was unionists to the unionist press.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58661817
Excellent article. So many good points.
Leave the EU to “take back control” which is exactly what the eu has done by imposing controls on uk goods entering calais. in doing so, this has turned kent into an enormous lorry park. the delays to uk exports have forced M&S to close 11 supermarkets across the EU. But “taking back control” is exactly what the uk has not done. lorries in calais roll on to a ferry and roll off at dover straight onto the uk motorway network and onto their final destinations. no checks or controls are in place and implementation of controls has been delayed, again, until after xmas. !!!! Invariably, once these eu lorries have delivered their goods, they return to the eu empty and avoid the kent lorry park. these dead miles increase the cost of goods from the eu to the uk customers. So just to recap, missing goods which used to come from the eu and the empty shelves you see are not due to uk border controls, there arnt any. they are due to other related issues eg, eu companies who understand what will happen once bojo does finally impose controls and have decided to look for other markets within the eu. Logic would dictate that in dec bojo will once again delay border controls in the uk and push back their implementation until autumn next year, however, bojo has proven to be less than logical, brexit hasnt really started yet, there is a lot worse to come. even the bbc and kier starmers labour party’s moratorium on ever mentioning brexit will be very difficult to maintain.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19600044.empty-supermarket-shelves-panic-buying-likely-no-action-taken-uk-warned/
Empty supermarket shelves and panic buying likely if no action taken, UK warned
It is of course right-wing voters that are guilty of causing the empty shelves by their political decisions, but also because they are the people that selfishly grab all the remaining packets of loo roll rather than just taking what they need.
‘Me me me’ applies to every aspect of their lives.
This could all lead to English riots again. When you push a ‘there’s no such thing as society’ right-wing dog eat dog message, people fighting over the last packet of bog roll and trashing the streets is what it ultimately culminates in.
Re electricity transfers.
Info
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1081934212006008/permalink/1692630237603066/
FMQs today sees the FM forensically destroy DRoss’s puerile drivel of deflection and dog whistle nonsense then followed up by tearing the latest incarnation of Labour yes men leaders in our parliament (Sarwar) a new one for his hypocritical posturing and diversions from the truth
They couldn’t lay a glove on her
Then we have the unelected members of Holyrood lined up in the lobby outside, the members of the press from the Daily Mail and the Daily Ridiculous both given the opportunity by the BBC to prosecute the same garbage that the FM just tore apart moments before
What’s insulting to us all about this behaviour from the BBC and the print media is that in their minds they believe the Scottish public are so stupid that just like goldfish they’ve forgotten these lies and deflections have been exposed for what they are only a matter of minutes before, but the job of the unelected British Nationalist media is to call the FM a liar without using those words and to have zero responsibility or accountability ever having to justify themselves
Watched it on the live stream from Scottish Parliament tv – no BBC re-framing of what was said.
You’re right. NS was fit for the whinging duo of DRoss and Sarwar. I don’t think Sarwar should have raised the issue of support to shipbuilding on the Clyde and Prestwick Airport. Maybe he thinks the unions will support his efforts to paint the SNP as anti workers. But he is hamstrung by his own party’s past record and its present leadership.
As for DRoss trying to score points over A&E waiting times. Dear oh dear. He will raise this when he gets back to London for his other job won’t he? How’s England’s record on A&E doing?
Scotlands NHS is outperforming Tory England by 17% and of course the British army has never ceased to give aid and support to Englands NHS since they were called in a year ago, so when you consider who’s subsidising whom the Scottish taxpayer has been paying our share of the military budget to support England who seem to think that the British military is something only England pays for
Easy mistake for them to make though UK England Britain they think these titles are all them
BP have told the government that they are about to restrict supplies of petrol and diesel to their stations because of the HGV driver shortage. They claim that the average stock at their stations is currently around 2/3rds of normal stocks and that future deliveries will be rationed to between 80% and 90% of the usual.
BP has “two thirds of normal forecourt stock levels required for smooth operations” and that level is “declining rapidly”.
It’s not looking good at all for the Clown Prince and his cabinet of fools and jesters. Not looking too good for Joe Public and his family either this winter.
https://archive.ph/wrKFP
I remember the last time this happened and many forecourts in England ran out due to selfish ‘me me me’ overbuying.
In Scotland, things were fine as Scots just kept on only buying what they needed.
Archive news from August 2021
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58281665. Army helps nhs ambulance crews in England.
The Labour party in Wales preside over the worst A&E figures ever so it’s no surprise that Sarwar gave that topic a body swerve at FMQ’s.
The number of people waiting for hospital treatment and in A&E are the worst ever recorded in Wales, new data shows.
The Welsh Ambulance Service, which is seeking help from the military for the third time since the pandemic began, recorded its second worst response times to the most urgent “red” calls.
The figures also show another record-breaking month for people on NHS waiting lists, with more than 600,000 waiting for treatment.
Last month, just 68.7% of patients spent less than four hours in an A&E department before being admitted, transferred or discharged – well below the 95% target.
And nearly 8,000 people had to wait more than 12 hours. The target says no-one should wait that long.
https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2021-09-23/number-of-people-waiting-for-hospital-treatment-and-in-a-and-e-worst-ever-recorded
DRoss today also was complaining about ONE person this week having to wait more than 12 hours in Scotland’s A&E, the figures in wales put that into some kind of context. England’s NHS too, is performing dreadfully and is even more overstretched than in Scotland but you won’t hear that being brought up by any Tories in Westminster and neither will you hear it on the BBC.
Maybe all the people in Scotland who’ve required medical intervention and received it in a timely fashion should write personally to the FM thanking her so she can stand there and take the time (which would be about a fortnight) to read out the names of all of those folks, I mean wouldn’t she be entitled to do that seeing Tory and Labour read out the names of the very few who don’t
A long sheet of paper trailing on the floor for yards would be hilarious as she puts her specs on and begins to read
I don’t post very often but came across this in the guardian.
It is the forward for Keir Starmer’s Pamphlet for the Fabian society. The Road ahead ( no sniggering at the back) It reads sounds like a fourth years homework project. Dreary stuff but worth a look just to see how far from Labours traditional roots they really are.
The pandemic has shown that the British people are still just as resilient and compassionate as we ever were. It has also shown us what matters most – our health, the places around us and the people we love. The next Labour government will place all these things at the heart of our ambitious plans to remake Britain. But Covid-19 has also exposed the many fragilities in the ways we live, work and are governed. Inequality of opportunity and a lack of security are not inevitable – they are a result of a decade of Tory government that stripped back the state and left our country’s foundations weakened when the virus struck. Our country is now at a crossroads. Down one path is the same old insecurity and lack of opportunity. But down the Labour one is something better: a society built on everyone’s contribution. It is a future where a modern, efficient government works in partnership with a brilliant, innovative private sector to create good jobs and harness the potential of technology. One where workers can expect more flexibility and fair pay for a fair day’s work. One where we update our public services, education and health for the challenges and opportunities of the future. One where the epic challenge of our generation – climate change – is tackled head on and where the jobs created come to our shores. People in this country are crying out for change. The Labour path would give them real control over their lives and their local area. It would give power to make decisions to local communities rather than people in Westminster. The Tories have been in power for more than a decade. They have failed to match their talk with action. Labour would make ourselves accountable to the British people. To achieve this, I propose 10 simple key principles to form a new agreement between Labour and the British people. My message to anyone who agrees with those principles is come with us. Let us take the road to a better, brighter, more secure future together.
Keir Starmer MP September 2021.
I’m not British myself, but Scottish and Irish, so his message wasn’t directed at me, nor most scots who are not British either.
https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/census-results/at-a-glance/national-identity/
Maybe his words will appeal to voters in England, who I guess are his target audience.
“Maybe his words will appeal to voters in England, who I guess are his target audience” – Correct, ever it has been his ONLY audience.
Sorry , I fell asleep after the first few words !
His parents must have been so proud of him, calling him Keir too. Hasn’t he done well! A QC, leader of the Labour Party, ex DPP, MP, author of learned position papers setting out his vision for Britain…if he sticks in he might even become Prime Minister of England.
BBC Scotland campaigning away for Keir Starmers English Labour party by re roasting the old chestnut that he can’t get into 10 Downing street without Scotland voting Labour which was and still is an absolute lie, the only way for Labour to win in the UK is for England to vote Labour and those Scots who fool themselves into thinking differently need to take a long look at the way numbers work, Scotland voted Labour every year since the stone age and got Tories because that’s what England voted for, for God sake when are the Labour supporters in Scotland going to open their eyes to that fact of simple arithmetic
Of course Labour supporters in Scotland must all be as Tory as the Tories now because you ain’t getting anything that bears any resemblance to a Labour party with Keir Starmer in charge anyway
Is there still anybody out there who actually believes that Anas Sarwar represents remotely anything close to a description of a Labour MSP, he only just scraped his backside into the Scottish parliament as a MSP because of proportional representation on the list and now just repeats every word DRoss says only five minutes later
Labour aren’t just the Tory light party anymore they’re just Tories full stop.
Time to roll away the stone Labour folk and let the light in, or at least learn to count
Oh god. Expect selfish Tory overbuying to cause shortages soon.
We really need a better word that ‘panic buying’. That suggests worried innocence. But it’s just not what the reality is.
Nope, when someone has a trolley full of loo rolls, look at their face. It’s not panic, it’s ‘These are MY loo rolls and you can go f**k yourself and your community spirit. I don’t care what you think as I’ve got all the loo rolls and there’s no way you are getting any’.
At the same time, you see the decent people. They are the ones looking at the shelves with very worried, even panicked faces, but still just pick up one packet so others can have some too.
https://news.sky.com/story/bp-prioritising-fuel-deliveries-as-driver-shortages-hit-supplies-12415175
Motorists urged by Number 10 to ‘shop for fuel as usual’ as BP shuts some petrol stations
Someone has stolen our phrase – ‘winter of discontent’*:
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/we-are-facing-a-winter-of-discontent-and-your-boris-bill-will-drop-through-the-letterbox-shortly/ar-AAOK9Fp?ocid=msedgntp
Think of it as your Boris bill. It will soon be coming through the letterbox in the form of much higher electricity and gas prices. It will be there at the supermarket checkout and it will also likely show up on the Christmas shopping receipts.
[…]
________
(*Yes, I do know it was invoked by that *other* WS some centuries back. But still. I also know that Duggers have been using the term regularly recently. And with justification.)
There is a special circle of hell reserved for the likes of DRoss and his ilk. They disgust me.
……
Paul, Take care.