The Conservative leadership contenders are vying with one another to see which can be the most unpleasantly right wing, like an episode of Britain’s Got Unbalanced. Johnson loyalists are briefing against the insanely ambitious Rishi Sunak, telling the right wing press that the former Chancellor is a socialist. Saying that Sunak is a socialist is like describing Jeffrey Epstein as a philanthropist who was deeply concerned about the welfare of pubescent girls. Sunak’s campaign has replaced the last i in his given name with an exclamation mark in order to make Rish! seem like he has a personality, which has the unfortunate effect of making him come across like one of those teenage girls who replaces the dots on the i’s in her name with little hearts, but only if she is an obscenely wealthy and out of touch child who had spent the last three years plotting to assassinate her tap dance teacher. Rish! launched his campaign by confessing that his worst fault was his perfectionism, which might have been more convincing, although it would still have been cringe worthy, if he hadn’t at the time been sitting in front of a sign which spelled the word ‘campaign’ wrong.
At this juncture all any of them have to do to be ahead of the game is to point out that unlike Liz Truss, they can actually find the exit from a room which only has one door. That’s how low the bar is set.
One of Sunak’s leading supporters in the Scottish Conservatives is West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP Andrew Bowie. Bowie is even more smug than Sunak is, which is quite remarkable since Bowie doesn’t have Sunak’s several hundred million pound fortune. Rish! is a man of the people, but only if the people can afford luxury yachts and their own private helicopters.
Bowie excitedly told the Times newspaper this week that one of the reasons he backs Rish! is that the Prime Careerist in waiting wants to introduce legislation allowing his government to ‘circumvent’ Holyrood because according to Tweedlesmug and Tweedlesmugger, ‘the SNP does not govern in the interests of the people of Scotland.’ Yes, it was actually a Tory party that imposed a hard Brexit on Scotland that Scotland didn’t want that said that. The Conservative party does not govern in the interests of the people of Scotland, a fact which the people of Scotland have recognised, which is why the Conservatives have not won an election in Scotland since the 1950s.
What Bowie is neglecting in his smuggery is that the only reason the SNP is in any position to govern at all is because the people of Scotland voted to put them there. Democracy in the UK has become so devalued that a representative of a party that has not won an election in Scotland for over thirty years before Andrew Bowie was born, can actually propose legislation to allow that party to overrule the Scottish Parliament because the people of Scotland obstinately keep voting in a way that Bowie’s party doesn’t like. It is not for the Conservative party to decide what the interests of the people of Scotland are, it’s for the people of Scotland.
The entire point of the devolved Scottish Parliament in the first place was to allow the British state to neutralise one of the strongest arguments for independence, which was that independence was needed in order to protect Scotland from Conservative policies and Governments that Scotland didn’t vote for. All the way through the 1980s and 1990s, the Labour and Lib Dem parties told Scotland that a devolved parliament could give Scotland the control it needed and would be able to mitigate damaging Conservative policies. We see now how hollow that promise is. Both Labour and the Lib Dems are determined to ignore Holyrood because the people of Scotland had the temerity to vote for a Scottish Parliament promising another independence referendum,. There is nothing that Holyrood can do to make up for Brexit and Holyrood is powerless against a Conservative run Westminster which is determined to unilaterally trash the devolution settlement despite all the fine words of 2014’s Vow.
Naturally this blatant affront to basic democracy has been met with howls of outrage in the Scottish media. Or at least it would have been outraged if it wasn’t so busy whipping up some SNP baddery about the Arran ferry or telling us how the next UK General Election cannot possibly be a de facto referendum, because reasons.
If the people do not believe that a governing party operates in their interests, they can vote against that party at the next election. That’s how democracy works in countries which actually have a functioning democratic system. In Scotland as a part of the UK a party that Scotland has rejected at the polls for seventy years and which has a mere six Scottish MPs can appoint itself the arbiter of what is in the interests of the people of Scotland, and that is just fine with most of the media in Scotland. Democracy in Scotland is broken and in no small measure that’s because most of the media in Scotland will hold power to account only when it’s Holyrood power.
All three of the major British nationalist parties are betraying Scotland. All three of them show by their deeds that they are British nationalist no matter how much they deny their own nationalism and try to make out that the only nationalists in Scottish politics are those who seek independence. All three of them collude to render meaningless the traditional understanding that this so-called union is a voluntary partnership of nations. Scotland, they keep telling us, has the absolute right to self-determination, but the second that it looks like Scotland might wish to exercise that right they find one reason after another to block the independence referendum that Scotland in a democratic election voted to have, and they keep finding spurious reasons for discounting that election result while hypocritically insisting that the outcome of the 2014 referendum must be respected – but not the promises and commitments that they made in order to win it. Scotland’s right to self determination in this UK is like being told by the British nationalists that we have the right to watch the TV whenever we want, but only after they have smashed the screen and hidden the remote control.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Excellent article as usual Paul. Hmm, I had a weird experience just yesterday, i saw the name ‘Rish’ somewhere and immediately read it as Risk. Riski Rishi Rish! Wee Bowie is wanting a wee seat at the HOL’s, dream on mate, what a smug useless, arrogant, taker of public money, that guy is.
Does Sunak not know that the clip of him on film, saying he doesn’t mix with the ‘working clarss’ a few years back sort of confirms they know he is as far from being ‘socialist’ as anyone could possibly get!
Scotland’s media is not Scottish that is where the problem lies, lies lies…broadcasting as we all know is a reserved power to the English government, which would be like France having to ditch France24 and watch DW German news or even the BBC to get their ‘news’. The ‘media’ is powerful and no matter how much the establishment and mega rich attempt to demonise ‘social media’ it’s their propaganda and interference in governments across the globe that in fact controls the narrative and influences those who do not have time or interest in searching for the actual facts.
I guess before the internet, it was easier to manipulate and brainwash people, but it’s a worry that support for Scottish independence is not now at least 60%, or maybe it is who knows.
Will we ever get to see the results of the poll on that, which the EngGov have had hidden by law?
Brainwashing, nasty media and stupid people who believe the trash.
Still in Orkney, still wondering what on earth is wrong with some Orcadians. It seems that even although torydom is rubbish and not sorting out the ‘fishing stuff’, ‘not made worse by brexit’ apparently…that ‘the FM (the word used was that horrid one) has been niggling right through lockdown, about independence and another referendum…’ huh huh, says I, and surely by being independent then things can be discussed and you’ll be able to hold your government to task…met with blank…’but Orkney is not part of Scotland, we have Norse dna, nobody really knows…’ eh yes, the historical is known, and Pictish before the Norse, with every chance of Gaelic thrown in there too, but also, you would be able to negotiate more powers for the islands with independence.
Who knows what is wrong with them, urgh.
Paul, I’m curious with the ‘wall’ in Kirk and also Corn (wall), I’m sure you’ll have a better knowledge about this. A ‘wall’ connection, from one end to the other perhaps?
In fact, I can maybe locate this from other folks dissertation stuff.
Info appreciated a’body.
The ‘wall’ in Kirkwall was (I think) originally the Norse word ‘vagr’ meaning ‘bay’, which would have been anglicised or scotticised as ‘wa”, giving something like Kirkwa’. When English norms superceded Scots ones, Scots words like ba’, fa’ and wa’ were considered vulgar and miscorrected to ball, fall and wall.
Sadly, I have English/British folks who live here but can’t understand me, and I’m not broad in my accent, though can soon adapt that…
What about Cornwall though? Don’t think the Norse, as such, were there? Anglo Saxons maybe?
As Freaky Friday has said the wall in Kirkwall is from Norse Kirkjuvágr ‘church bay’ which gave the Scots name Kirkwaa which was then hyper corrected to English Kirkwall. The same Norse element vágr is found in the name Stornoway from Norse Stjórnavágr ‘ bay of steerage’. In Norse vágr was the word for a broad bay. A more narrow inlet was termed a vík. As Welsh Siôn pointed out the ‘wall’ in Cornwall is unrelated, coming from the English term for the Welsh. Cornwall was known as ‘West Wales’ to the Anglo-Saxons.
The Anglo-Saxon word Wealhas referred to originally Celtic speaking peoples who had come under the sway of the Roman Empire. Although they were also Celtic speakers the Picts and the Gaelic speaking Scots were never called Wealhas by the Anglo-Saxons. It later was also used to refer to Romanised peoples who had abandoned their original Celtic language for vernacular Latin, hence Walloon and Wallonia. The word was later borrowed from Germanic by the early Slavs who used it to refer to all Latin or Romance speaking peoples, hence Vlach, the name of Romanian speaking groups in the Southern Balkans and Włochy, the Polish word for Italy.
The term Wealhas is thought to be an early borrowing into Germanic (before the Angles and Saxons came to Britain) of the Celtic tribal name Volcae. The Volcae originally lived in what is now Southern Germany and would have been one of the first Romanised Celtic peoples that Germanic speakers came into contact with.
That’s grand. Thanks
I’ve never once in my life had any negative comments about my use of Scots from people of any nationality – and that includes folks from countries the world over – apart from some British/English.
I don’t know about the Scottish names, but Cornwall is possibly derived from the Celtic-speaking tribe of Cornovii who lived in the south western peninsula, with the additional Anglo-Saxon element of Wealas meaning ‘foreigners’ or ‘slaves’ or ‘Romanised ones’. (You of course have this same element in my country’s name in English to this day – Wales.)
After the Romans left (post AD 410) and the Anglo-Saxons started to arrive on these islands, they came to call the peninsula the equivalent of ‘West Wales’ (in order to distinguish it from ‘North Wales’ , i.e. modern-day Cymru).
Another theory for Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow) is that the Celtic inhabitants lived in a corn/horn shaped peninsula and this gave rise to the name of the Celtic nation of Kernow/Cornwall, with the latter again affixing the Anglo-Saxon term for ‘foreigners’ or ‘slaves’ or ‘Romanised ones’.
That’s good. Ta much
It shows the unionists are only willing to participate in democratic debate and votes when they are able to corrupt the system for them to win. Democracy is voting for britnat parties, only.
Time they respected the 62% vote to remain in the Eu which as a referendum was more recent. Something they threatened Scotland would be thrown out of in 2014 and one of the main reasons to vote No. They know it, we know it.
But they jump from Britishness to Englishness at the spin of a ruble.
Westminster is a corruption of the Democratic process.
Ask the unelected Davidson, Foulkes, McConnell who claim to be democrats.
My guess is that the notion that the Union is voluntary will be dropped eventually. “You can leave the UK whenever you like, but we maintain a veto over that decision” is too obviously incoherent and gets them into a mess on the (admittedly rare) occasions they’re asked about it on camera.
The line that Scotland can no more vote for its own independence than East Anglia could has been trailed for a while by Conservative outriders on social media. That’s at least consistent, and it’s what their base really believe, so I expect it to become the line before long (especially if a majority do vote for independence in 2024).
Aye, but of course it’s not Scotland voting for indy, but the the Scottish people as it’s them that have the right to self-determination under international law, not the land itself.
If the latest census shows that most folks in East Anglia nationally identify as East Anglian and not British/English, they the will gain the right to self-determination too.
If it was only countries that had the right to self-determine, many former colonies would have not had that right as most were never countries (as we know them now at least) before.
This is why we must always talk of the right of Scots to independence, not of Scotland. We are the nation, not the land we live on. Scotland is just the historic homeland of the Scottish people, handily well defined borders-wise with it’s own laws etc already. If it was taken from us, as is being attempted by an aggressive, racist foreign force right now, we, the people, would still have the right to self-determine and to take it back, ultimately by any means necessary.
We had a foretaste of that already, when just after the last indyref, some woman down south exclaimed in the media in evident triumph, “well, you’re English now”. Meant not in a friendly sense of sisterhood, but as an overt reclaim of possession.
Because let’s face it, in the last week or so of the IR1 campaign, when everything began to look perilously close, the story all over the media suddenly wasn’t about Scotland’s right to independence at all, it visibly morphed – thanks to the arrival of the London media expeditionary force – into England’s endangered right to ownership.
People here, not least those who let themselves be fooled last time that “we’re all in this Union together”, need to rapidly wake up to the fact that the notion of equal rights is a self-delusional fallacy. We’re owned, and will always be owned, until we’re free. Only then can we be equals. What the English Establishment really wants is our beautiful land and our plentiful resources; for them the people of Scotland are just inconveniently in the way.
Talking of smashing the TV, tonight once again the contenders for the English crown of PM debate live on our TVs, the thing is for who’s benefit are they debating? because in this instance not even the English electorate get to vote on sod all whatsoever, because this election whether anybody likes it or not isn’t up for election by the public so what’s the point?
No one in the entire British isles gets a vote on this until there are only two of these idiots left and even then it’s only the Tory party members that number around 150.000 or so spread mostly throughout England who get to vote in the result of that
So what’s the point of taking up time on the whole of the British isles television screens for the benefit of only 150.000 people when the other 66 million of us get no say in the matter
Do we just call it Tory TV now? have the Tory media not realised that perhaps the population of these islands is really not quite as stupid as they’ve tried to make us
Well in Scotland we’re not that stupid, we can count and understand words and everything, even in different languages as well as English Ingles Ienglish
This is the most insulting to the intelligence Tory propaganda the media have ever foisted upon us
Totally agree, but the debates help our cause. They are a free advert for independence.
Their self-entitlement will be their undoing. We in Scotland can readily see how much of an affront this is to the ordinary person, brazenly disenfranchised, but there must be many in England who are beginning to see that too.
We have long known that Tories like Gresee-Mugg hanker back to Victorian times and practices, but this is full media exposure of the once-secret Tory wet dream: unrestrained rule by a privileged few like back in the 1700s.
If you are a Tory member living in France/ Monaco/Switzerland/ Isle of Man/ Channel Islands/ India/ Pakistan/ Russia/ Antigua……tax exile, are you allowed a vote?
All three of the major British nationalist parties are betraying Scotland.
But they are not Scottish, they are British / English. They do not see it as a betrayal of their country for they are not Scottish. Their country is Britain/England.
For them (the supremacist British nationalists), we Scots are a different nationality. A lesser nationality in a same way Hitler saw e.g. slavic peoples as lesser. We are people to be mocked, denigrated, subjugated.. told we have no culture…our language is just bad English. They believe we should not have the same rights as them. The British can self-determine, but not the Scots, nor the Welsh, nor the N. Irish.
Ultimately, that’s what is driving this. The British political elite are deeply racist towards the peoples of other countries, seeing Britain/England as superior and born to rule. It is what drove the empire. That racism extends to all non-brits / English, including us Scots. Why would their be a ‘Scottish cringe’ if it was not avoid being subject to abuse for being from north Britainshire?
And now we are seeing the full force of that deep hatred of Scottish people. They are willing to take away our basic human right; the right to vote / self-determine. It is no different to banning Jewish or Black people from voting. The Scots are a people / nation, but an ethnic minority within the UK. Our elections are to be overturned…we are to be banned from holding our own votes…our governments are to be bypassed with policy we voted against at the ballot box forced upon us with no way out.
The UK is becoming what our forebears stormed the beaches at Normandy to stop.
And it is what will seal the final end of the UK.
Ace, s-s.
Absolutely bloody right
Well, this is a persistent theme of yours, but I fear it says far more about you than it does about any reality. (More than a touch of projection there.) The “English” don’t hate us, in fact they are generally hardly even aware of our existence. As any Scot with long experience knows.
What they truly care about is (a) their own prestige in the world and (b) their presumed ownership of our territory. They haven’t evolved enough to have any developed socio-political position on us, let alone a widespread antagonistic one as you keep trying to assert; apart from the inevitable few prejudiced in any society, for them “we the people” are only even visible when we presume to get in their way. A bothersome annoyance when we begin to challenge their assumptions about our own country. Not least because their assumptions rest on very shaky foundations indeed, so any challenge doubly unsettles them.
Ownership of valuable resources. That’s the real issue here. It’s all about that and the very real benefits which it conveys. This reverse-prejudice monomania of yours is just for the birds. More importantly, though, an unnecessary and unhelpful distraction.
Hi Grizebard, I totally agree and made sure I was quite specific who I was talking about.
‘major British nationalist parties’
‘The British political elite’
‘supremacist British nationalists’
Paul correctly uses the same language, especially in this extreme right Brave new Brexit Britain. The UK/Britain is already independent, so any British nationalism is inherently dangerous. When Scotland is independent, there shall be no need for flag waving politically, and I will not be voting for flag waving parties.
I stand by my belief that to deny a specific people / ethnic minority the right to vote (self-determine) is unquestionably deeply racist. The united nations is what it says:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation
It’s a union of peoples. For nations are not counties, lands, but ultimately, peoples. Peoples can be of different backgrounds, ethnicity, nationalities, but what defines them is the collective agreement they are one. In our case, that is ‘we are Scots’. Anyone in Scotland who wants to be Scots can be so, including French Mrs SS. Voting for independence is the ultimate statement of that.
Those that are currently denying our right to vote are not Scots / Scottish unionists, they are British nationalist supremacists. To deny the Scottish people the basic human right to vote makes them this and we should not dress it up otherwise. There is no question about this. We cannot say e.g. denying people of African country nationality (originally) in the UK the right to vote is racist, but then say it is not when it comes to Scots. We Scots are equal to all peoples.
It is not the electorate of England that is doing this; they face their own battles (like having no pro-EU option any more), and as you say, don’t think about us much if at all, as we are just 8% of the UK population hidden away behind the remote hills to the very far north of them. I only have a problem with an English/British person (or anyone) who thinks the government I get is up to them and their government gets to decide the future of the Scottish people. And such people are in minority in the UK.
We shall see if the the foreign British/English government buckle and accept democracy or continue down the dark path they have set upon.
The Scottish people / nation voted for an independence referendum, and only enemies of our people / nation would not accept that and let us freely and peacefully get on with that.
Let’s all hope that it’s bluster and they back down. However, as someone half Irish, all I can say is don’t trust the British/English. They can get violent if they don’t like the way you are voting. lots of other countries can concur.
I’m not going to add to your latest epistle on the subject except to say that you won’t win over a single soul to independence by propounding some sociological theory. And that’s the bottom line we’re here for, is it not?
There has to be something way more substantial than merely alleging your opponents are downright evil, especially when it’s an obvious generalisation too far. (Arguably racist in itself, thus.) People will dismiss this sort of thing out of hand as an argument from someone with a bee in their bonnet, of no relevance to them. (And they could be right.)
We need talking points way more useful than theoretical mud-slinging. When someone is attempting a robbery, their motivation is largely irrelevant. It is the robbery itself that immediately captures the attention!
I’m not going to add to your latest epistle on the subject except to say that you won’t win over a single soul to independence by propounding some sociological theory. And that’s the bottom line we’re here for, is it not?
No, I don’t think it is. Not for me anyway. I’m here to discuss independence, the factors driving it, the history, the sociological aspects, polling and demographic trends etc with other political geeks of my voting persuasion. To predict / understand what will happen needs a fundamental understanding of all that. That’s what I’m interested in and here for. Blogs are not for campaigning.
People are not going to vote for independence based on what some people are saying in the comments section of a blog. They won’t even vote for independence based on the content of Paul’s articles. No more so than they’d vote for it based on a National or Herald article. At most, they might find themselves informed of something they didn’t know or think about before, making them take something new on board. However, it is UK and world events driving independence, from the democratic deficit, to the EU, economic crises… the decline of the empire… destruction of the post-war consensus…a dying britishness.
Paul’s eloquent way of putting things will be just one of the voices that are giving them information that they are taking on board. They don’t need me telling them what to think of the British political elite when these are deporting asylum seekers to concentration camps in central African while stripping ethnic minorities (by even standard definition) of the right to vote.
The UK government is hard right and authoritarian. Le Pen is actually far less extreme. We are now seeing the ultimate manifestation of that; the rights of minorities to vote being removed (or at least attempted).
Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
“Relax, ” said the unionist
“We are programmed to receive”
“You can check-out any time you like”
“But you can never leave!”
Just watched yet another prime-time TV programme exclusively featuring Tories – their values and proposed policies. Their pitches included – explicitly stated this evening – the relevance of their pitch to the Tories winning the next UK general election i.e. not just to delivering their 2019 manifesto. It set me musing on the intrinsic biases associated with all this media coverage.
Only Tory MPs and Tory Party members have any agency to deploy based on what has been shown in these TV ‘debates’. However, the Tory Party and its leading lights have been gifted an exclusive opportunity to communicate well beyond that tiny electorate. (Candidly, not at all sure they are exploiting this in a positive way!)
I remember well when our FM broadcast to Scotland’s people during the pandemic – on public health matters. I well remember she was questioned in detail by a host of antagonistic journalists. But this was not deemed sufficiently balanced!
If I remember correctly, following the FM’s public health presentations the BBC gave opposition politicians an immediate opportunity to criticise her on TV.
These Tory leadership debates should be followed immediately by a programme giving a platform to opposition politicians to comment on what the wider UK electorate – beyond just Tories with a leadership vote – has just heard.
Well said. Characteristically perspicacious on presentation and media imbalance.
As you hint, I’m also not at all sure that this time the Tories, in pandering to their miniscule ultra-right bubble in full public view, are gaining any advantage whatever from the opportunity!
But at least nobody can protest afterwards that they didn’t know what was going to come down the pike and hit them where it hurts. (Although is that not exactly what is happening with Brexit…?)
It’s as though the media are intent on bringing out the most far right wing behaviour in each candidate for the delectation of the viewers, SKY the BBC ITV all of them demanding on behalf of their *audience* that before any of them dare to be elected they must dedicate themselves to the cause of English right wingery or they’re not worthy to be PM
“Whom the gods wish to destroy…”
Andrew Bowie
2017 majority 8,000
2019 majority 800
{laugh} The sub(-Lt.) is clearly taking on too much water!
Err em!
“Left hand down a bit number one”
“Do try to find the bit that isn’t stone work this time”.
Haven’t watched any of the leadership debates. I am not a Tory so won’t get a vote so not remotely interested in any of them. All of them per newspaper reports wish to deny the Scottish people a vote in another Indy referendum so they are undemocratic and basically fascists and I don’t watch fascists on TV. Additionally watching that crap is not worth the rise in my blood pressure
I agree. The radio has been radio Tory for a long time. Every news or current affairs or discussion is packed with Tory MPs, Tory supporters, Tory journalists and analysts and = every now and then, a short pre-recorded (edited) clip of a non Tory.
Tom Mills wrote an excellent book “The BBC: Myth of a Public Service” which tells the story of how it became a Tory policy machine. Management decided that the public needed to know a lot about finance and markets and nothing about labour conditions and social benefit.
The current chairman of the BBC donated £400,000 to the Tory Party.
https://archive.ph/sNBoR
You’re missing out on a bit of schadenfreude, I have to say. Their debates are appallingly awful, a total mess and they’re all over the place, frantically leaping between the three groups of electors whose votes they’re campaigning for(MPs, party members and the general public).
So bad that the candidates are now “being urged” to boycott the third debate tomorrow night. These morons have been preparing and plotting since Christmas and this is really is the best they can do. LOL
The Times is reporting that both Truss and Sunak are considering pulling out of the debate tomorrow.
https://archive.ph/bvQth
BBC reports 17 minutes ago:
Tory leadership TV debate shelved amid infighting concerns
The next live TV Tory leadership debate has been cancelled, after host Sky News said Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss declined to take part.
The two contenders clashed repeatedly during a debate on Sunday over each other’s economic plans and record in office.
It comes amid concerns in the Tory party about infighting in the contest.
[…]
Babies? Prams? Dummies?
No, just dummies…all of them.
[…] Source […]
An email from a Believe in Scotland member with some interesting numbers. These have not been verified but appear quite accurate to me (who knows little about economics):
IN.
£64bn : General Taxation (Income tax/NI)
£10bn : VAT raised in Scotland.
£7.5bn : Whisky revenues.
£12bn : Oil revenues on per barrel taxation, there are a myriad of other oil taxation revenue streams, held in ‘extro-regio’ accounts, to hide the utterly huge scale of Oil revenues from Scots. £12bn MINIMUM.
£5.5bn : Scottish Salmon and seafood industry.
Total just from 5 revenue streams : £99bn
OUT.
£30bn : Holyrood budget.
£3.5bn : Barnett Consequentials.
£15bn : Reserved Aspects Spending by WM on our ‘behalf’ (common called the Scottish Subsidy).
£48.5bn in TOTAL Scotland expenditure by WM.
SO, just based on 5 revenue aspects (all 5 sourced from WM figures btw, if you know how to read GERS, they trap themselves) we have a Scottish SURPLUS of a stonking £50.5bn/YEAR.
Any number crunchers out there who can verify these figures?
Kemi Badenoch says it’s all the SNPs fault and they’re awful and bad, rubbish at governing and divisive and, well you know all the stuff they say
Every time the British Nationalists do this they just keep insulting the intelligence of 50% of the Scottish population, I mean long may they continue to do that, it makes the case for independence but you can’t help wondering why they don’t care that they’re doing it just to prove to Englands voters their intent to be hard on us pesky Scots, thereby cementing the truth that the English in fact do not like nor want us as partners they just keep wanting to own Scotland but get rid of the folk in it
I’m not excluding Wales in this because I guess those folks are pretty much in the same boat for continually voting Labour, which is entirely the wrong party for Englands liking as well, Wales votes Labour for the moment, they’ll get it in the neck when they change to Plaid Cymru
“The trouble with Scotland is it’s full of Scots” Tory voters hate that
“The trouble with Scotland is it’s full of Scots” Tory voters hate that
____________
“I know” , said a bright young Tory apparatchik. “We haven’t had a Highland Clearance for some time. Why don’t we send them all on a one-way ticket to Rwanda? And no-one can call us racist as we’re all British, anyway. We finally get to crush those seditious Scots. Win-win, no?”
Thus she, Kemi aka Gove’s stooge, must also conclude that voters in Scotland are THICK…as the SNP do NOT elect themselves into power…..see that’s a question needing asked….Do Tory and other BritNat politicians assume the Scottish public to be THICK by constantly electing , via a majority, SNP politicians as their favoured Scottish government AND via a majority to represent them at WM ?
I mean there is no alternative as tis the public who actually LIVE in Scotland and who thus are the ones, as citizens of Scotland, who experience and live through the governance provided by the SNP ( and Greens) yet time and time again the SNP win elections in Scotland and majority of MP’s in Scotland to send to WM.
So are we all , in Scotland, supposedly sleepwalking through chaos and mismanagement and thus be seen to be embracing and welcoming all of what BritNat politicians call bad governance via the SNP….or are we all simply too THICK ?
Ask the BritNat politicians why SNP elected over their BritNat parties….would be fascinating NOT fascinating to hear what they surmise to be the answer to this…and as a question it needs asked and a answer IS required ……seems Scotland as a country is not just to be deemed as too poor, too wee, and too stupid but it’s citizens are also, according to BritNat politicians, Maso*hists deprived of intelligence when they constantly vote for a party that FAILS them on everything…
Perhaps the BritNat politicians will frame it as the NEW wonder of the world…as in the EIGHTH wonder …a mystery as not a structure per se but a structure of government.
How credible……sorry meant incredible a position to take…..I think the drug problem at WM must be worse than we all thought…..so what ARE they on ? ( my guess is hallucinogenic…has to be).
More on Richard Sharp, Chairman of the BBC. Is this really someone qualified and appropriate to oversee a pubic service broadcaster?
From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Sharp_(BBC_chairman)#Career
Unionists were frothing at the mouth after the FM was photographed at the Open in St Andrews on Thursday. “Get on with the day job” they wailed.
The Mail today have now revealed what Johnson was up to that same day, it was getting a hurl in an RAF Tornado jet courtesy of the taxpayer.
Then on Sunday, he hosted a wee BBQ at Chequers for 130 guests while an emergency COBRA meeting in London took place to plan for the coming heatwave, so much for his day job.
Nicola Sturgeon exists, British Nationalists hate that
Alex,
Just as well he went for his hurl last week. Apparently the landing strip at RAF Air base HQ has melted in the heat!.
New definitions for old words:
to melt = ‘to suffer a surface defect’
Flights have been suspended at London Luton Airport due to a “surface defect” on its runway, caused by high temperatures.
I am sure we may find a few tories at St Andrews. In fact not finding a Tory / Brit Nat is the hard part
When even Tory supporters in England are shaking their heads in dismay at the appalling spectacle of contenders intent on succeeding the Prime Charlatan and making prize fools of themselves into the bargain, you really have to wonder why the BBC in Scotland are so determined to ram these theatrics down scots’ throats.
I mean just look at BBC Scotland/Politics web-page for all that is NOT happening right now in Scottish politics…
Not even a passing mention of Able Seaman Goldstein Bowie’s latest smugfest makes the grade as newsworthy at Pacific Quay, or should that be Elizabeth House ?
Your “All three of them collude to render meaningless the traditional understanding that this so-called union is a voluntary partnership of nations” is equally true of the media, precisely who is controlling whom will never be clear because that’s how mafias operate.
The days when politicians “worked for us” is long gone in the UK, the days when the media did honest journalism likewise, so what do we do ?
We jettison the lot and sail on… Independence is the only way.
I thought politicians, especially those that got to the top took politics seriously. How stupid am I then by being amazed at the quality of what is on offer as the next Prime Minister of the UK. They all stood there in front of the cameras and made up policy totally on the hoof. Not for the betterment of the voters but to try and win the votes of other Tory MP’s and members.
How ridiculous is it that Truss says she would cut £30 billion from taxes without any consideration at all about where this money would come from. She wants to cut Corporation tax from 19% to 15% while Sunal already has plans in place to raise it from 19% to 25% in the next couple of years.
What we witnessed was total fantasy politics, utter bullshit being presented as serious policy, no wonder Sum#nak lost £17 billion to Covis fraud and £30 billion or so down the back of the settee that nobody can account for.
We really can do so much better than this but first we must be Independent. This is now an emergency and remaining as part of the UK is just not an option. Dire.
Apparently though, like Brexit, you just need to BELIEVE.
Then once things do NOT pan out as originally presented….they then just blame someone or something else.
Remoaners and the EU are being blamed for Brexit not working…..from the SAME people who are constantly REmoaning about the SAME Brexit that they instigated, campaigned for and signed off the deal on via their POLITICAL party as the UK government…..
Blame culture covers a multitude of ORIGINAL Tory sins……and there is always a plentiful supply of victims that they, Tories, can target to take the responsibility for the many Tory faults….I mean Boris Johnson has already ‘checked out’ as Caretaker PM to act in the exact same way when he was the so called ‘actual’ PM…so why do we expect those Tory MP’s who supported, defended and relished having him as their leader (also voted through his policies and bills) ….. to act in any other way than the opposite of serious in their (playing) politics….it’s all a game to them…..and more importantly to them a lucrative source of income beyond their deserved entitlement.
Actually, the integrity surrender of the Fourth Estate in Scotland is a far worse crime against democracy than even the self-induced myopia of the Unionist-supporting political alliance, since people can at least live in hope of voting out politicians (even Ian “Plastic Tory” Murray will run out of road one day), but we seem to be permanently lumbered with media types who give every impression of having totally lost their professional bearings. It should be possible for anyone in what is an essential (and can also be a noble) calling, to give a fair and accurate rendition of current events, and transcend their own personal opinions and human prejudices.
It was easy to be a “Proud Scot” when Labour were safely in charge, write reams of analysis about how Scotland has been disadvantaged over the ages, declaim that civic society is becoming more self-aware as a consequence and is on the move. Now, these selfsame practitioners, increasingly challenged by those tectonic shifts to live up to their own fine words, appear to be suffering from a collective outbreak of funk. No, media Totos, we’re not in your cozy old Brigadoon any more. You badly need to “grow a pair” and escape your well-paid comfort bubble. Not least because it’s soon enough going to go pop.
Post-indy, we certainly need to take steps to ensure that we have a media environment that serves a wider democracy, not a shrinking minority of privileged reality-deniers with dodgy funding sources.
The Richard Murphy has an interesting take on bonds.
The report ,I think’ is that in November last year the BoE released bonds of around £4billion at 0.125% for repayment in 2073.
Fifty years hence.
They had sunak talk about not laying down debt for our grandchildren to pay on the Sunday raffle show.
He must have signed off on that and a lot others.
He says we have to be ‘honest’ with the people.
The SNP are not able to magic money like that.
Boris Johnson “got Brexit done” except he didn’t did he? or all the candidates for his job wouldn’t be constantly saying they’re the ones to *get Brexit done* and that’s something I don’t understand along with millions of others I suppose, because they didn’t and can’t *get Brexit done* when they left with no EU deal and keep insisting they don’t want a deal but like Oliver Twist they want the EU to give them some more of what they signed up to not wanting
So in order to really “get Brexit done” the only way they can do that is to rejoin the EU which they don’t want to do but can’t get any better deal anywhere else so have to keep pretending to England that there is more they can do but it’ll have to be later because “Now’s not the time”? generation? “referendums must be respected”? even if they’re advisory? which they all are
How do the British Nationalists extricate themselves from the dilemma of telling England the biggest lie in modern political history? well it’s England, so apologise and have another referendum, except they can’t because they’ve claimed the nasty SNP and Scotland can’t have one so how do they explain having another one on their chosen subject, so Brexit will continue to be the thorn in the side of all three of the British nationalist parties whoever manages to get themselves elected
They lied their way in and now they can’t lie their way out
News just in…… The Glen Sannox, one of the ferries that isn’t built is sailing up and down the Clyde
One Tory last week referred to one of the ferries as having sunk!!
The Pentland ferry crashed into Swona I believe
This afternoon in westmonster there were questions to the defense team.
Shadow minister raised the delays to the fighting vehicle, years late ansstill unfit for use.
Government’s response was that these projects are very difficult and are always delayed.
One excuse in westmonster not allowed in Hollyrood by the same party, one using the excuse in one parliament but not allowing any deviation inthe other.
Great news that the Sannox is moving under its own power, I look forward to seeing it on the englander news.
Democracy in the UK – TV debates for the post of Prime Minister were nearly all the viewers have no vote in the choice. I haven’t watched any of them, why would I, I don’t have a vote and if I did it wouldn’t be for any of this bunch of low calibre candidates.
Watching them struggle to answer the easiest question because they are either dense or too lazy to look up any facts makes you realise how good Nicola Sturgeon is (unless you are an Alba supporters were she is apparently, a MI5 plant, the offspring of the devil or not clever enough to appreciate the enormity of his intelligence – guess who?).
I think the folk who call the FM a plant are themselves plants, the vegetable type
A strain of Brassica oleracea, I’d guess …
Vote of no confidence debate going on live now in Westminster, Johnson looks like he has had the hair of the dog all afternoon after yesterday’s party.
Alkmaar
Brilliant attention to detail there by the outgoing PM (as per):
“Boris Johnson begins by saying he has “no idea” why Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has insisted there is a confidence motion today, when they could be discussing their online harms legislation or the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Speaker cuts in to say it was in fact the government that called for the motion to be discussed today, after it refused to accept the wording of a Labour motion.”
Sounds like there’s some more attention for the narcissist going on. What’s to do?
And in tomorrow’s National:
Goodness me! looks like the great and powerful Boz isn’t as all powerful as England thinks he is
Chalk one up for us Scottish losers eh
From McHarg: “Competence of indyref Supreme Court reference to be decided alongside the substantive issue; full hearing in the autumn.”
and this:
“It’s not uncommon. Eg standing questions/time bar questions are sometimes rolled together with the substance.
It does raise the intriguing prospect that they might decide the substantive issue, but also decide that the reference was not competent.”
Which presumably now sets the precedent as there previously wasn’t one according to Graeme Cowie, researcher at the House of Commons Library, specialising in constitutional law.
Maybe I shouldn’t say it, but I think this from the LA’s referral:
“[11] … Given the various other provisions of the SA which allow the Lord Advocate (and others) to require ongoing proceedings to be referred to the Court, para.34 of Schedule 6 is specifically designed to allow those empowered by it to seek resolution of a devolution issue before the question becomes the subject of proceedings.”
and this for pointing out the potential Catch-22
“[3] … The Lord Advocate needs to have the necessary degree of confidence that a Bill would be within devolved competence in order to “clear” such a statement. [for the Minister to introduce the Bill]”
were the clinchers, really. It’s safer for the UKSC to hear both at the same time – competence of referral and substantive issues, which will:
“[13] … The Lord Advocate’s position on Keatings will be more fully explained in her Written Case for this Reference.”
Presumably she, too, has until Aug 9th to submit that.
Basically, the referral has got through preliminaries successfully.
This puts comparisons with Keatings to rest, I think:
“[13] … In the context such a qualification was not suggested on behalf of the Lord Advocate in Keatings, and to that extent, the present Lord Advocate departs from that position.”
People have complained that the ScotGov opposed Keatings. Well, I gave 10 hard-earned quid to the crowdfund and don’t regret it, but Keatings wasn’t the ScotParl or the LA, and it would I think have been premature for the LA Wolffe to tip the hand too early. Timing is everything.
Oh, and just another thing which may or may not have any relevance:
mmm, [redacted] 🙂
One last thing by the way, at the risk of being sexist. I’ve often thought that if Scotland is to be led to Freedom, it will be by women. Hence part of the reason I voted for Constance as depute when I was in the SNP. Us men are such dildoes, frankly :-).
The SP throwing out the UK gov attempt at shutting the case down isn’t exactly front and centre in the media, at least it wasn’t when I looked a couple of hours ago. Some commentary on FB from the usual die hards claiming this was no big deal and of little significance. However you just know how big a deal it would have been for the media if it had gone the other way.
Aye, every hour on the hour from Pacific Quay with an OB unit posting opinions from the usual suspects…
It’s in the National as “Scottish independence referendum showdown in Supreme Court sees first loss for UK”, as you say the Unionists are playing down the “loss” – In reality the UK’s opening gambit has failed, but I doubt even they are surprised, but it’s one step in the right direction.
OT.
Global warming.
Just looked at the National Grid demand this morning, 8% of the demand is being met by Coal, young tree, and open cycle gas turbines.
Nearly 50% by combined cycle gas turbines.
All burning and producing Co2.
No problem there we just need to enjoy the sunshine.
The raffle has been reduced to 4 muppets, warp speed at the tory party.
Scotland is covered in coal. CCS projects reneged upon by Westminster. Coal CCS project at Longannet in Fife reneged upon. Gas CCS project at Peterhead reneged upon by Westminster. Funds cut.
European countries are continuing on with CCS Projects. The North Sea is the best place for CCS with the technology available.
Scotland could have been at the forefront Creating economic fuel power and energy. Refused by Westminster. Westminster reduced grants for solar power. Economical and safe. Especially stored with a battery. A constant source of power.
Scotland is best placed but ignored by Westminster. Scotland has to pay for Hinkley Point. Nuclear the most expensive and dangerous of all fuel sources. Dangerous contamination. Nuclear dumped on Scotland without a mandate.
Tidal projects refused at the Humber and Swansea. Tidal the most economical and the safest. Along with wind, wave and water turbine. Hydro water power in Scotland for years. Pitlochry etc. Since the 1960’s. Rance generated tidal power in Brittany.
There were 2 bulb turbines at the Awe Barrage modelled on the Rance machines to provide power from the river compensation discharge.
We export One GW of wind power all day to englandland from Hunterston via the HVDC cables.
Seems to be another export that is not assigned to Scotland.
When the Eskine Bridge was a project there was an alternative to build a tidal barrage at Gourock, they built the bridge.
Tidal has to be mated with a pumped storage station to time shift the output, the tides have a 13 hour cycle, near enough, and we work with a 24 hour clock.
Huge power outputs available and we know the tidal variation in time and volumes.
Today’s load is very high on the grid and we’re burning fossils, nuclear output is down as the stations are closed.
The Hunterston station is a load on the grid and will never run again.
The National reports on the Supreme Court victory for the Scottish Government:
Scottish independence referendum showdown in Supreme Court sees first loss for UK
https://www.thenational.scot/news/20287950.scottish-independence-referendum-showdown-supreme-court-sees-first-loss-uk/?ref=ebln
Once again – the archive function is taking a long time and may not work. Will post it below if it appears.
Patience! Here’s the archive https://archive.ph/aldDK
Oddly, I can’t find this story on the BBC.
BBC Radio Scotland reported it briefly on 11am and lunchtime news broadcasts but oddly gave much more time to Tory leadership elections.
Finally this has appeared.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-62223123
Not reported as any sort of defeat for the UK government.
Desperately playing it down with the help of the usual suspects. Of course it’s a defeat for the Westminster government who demanded it be thrown out immediately.
None of the Tory contenders for next PM have shown any interest whatever in climate change and environmental protection. Quite the opposite. Westminster is a world beating, global catastrophe.
Researchers warn that the Atlantic is ‘pretty much dead’
https://archive.ph/sWSzv
Boris Johnson opened his cabinet meeting this morning by declaring that the *UK* was right to be the first to declare a climate emergency and the first *country* to set targets for net zero
The man has propaganda cuckoos flying around inside his lying head
Saw the wee clip on utube.
Nice to see that they’ve saved money on name cards, just folded paper with their names or positions on.
Such sudden changes in jobs must make it very hard to keep track plus all the unknowns that have been promoted, maybe even they don’t know each other.
More of brexit been done, funny that the muppets are telling us that it needs to be re-done.
Figures from Ireland suggests that the protocol is working to the benefit of all of Ireland with lots of all Ireland trade.
Ireland’s Brexit boom is a great example of how Scotland can benefit as an independent country outside England’s Trump wall.
It’s only ever those inside walls that end up paying for them, and the higher the wall, the more it costs.
Just to let everyone know. This bout of fatigue is pretty bad and has not yet lifted at all. I’m going to take the next few days off from the blog to try and rest and recover. Sorry about that, but I will be back as soon as I can.
Take all the rest you need, look after yourself, your health is more important than the blog.
Hope you feel better soon.
No need to apologise. Given the weather it is hardly surprising you are fatigued but above all that your recent output has been phenomenal therefore a good rest has definitely been well earned.
Take care
Headline on the Herald main page:
“UK government ‘very confident’ of victory in indyref2 Supreme Court battle”
I think that, as the Scottish Government spokesperson saysm the UKSC will be the judge of that – and should be allowed to do its job.
The UK Government was, apparently, very confident that BoJo would lead them into the next General Election – whatever happened to that?
I see the likes of Dunlop QC for the presumptious UK Government is apparently claiming that “That is far from unusual, & doesnt involve a win for either side. Its merely procedural.”
Well, if the reference had been “thrown out” of the UKSC, the Unionists would be cock a hoop or whatever the expression is, about how the SNP had lost lost lost the UKSC case at its first hurdle.
Therefore, since whether to “throw it out”, or “not throw it out” is a simple binary decision in itself, by a simple process of normal semantical logic, not the strong point of Unionists it must be admitted, the SNP have won won won the first hurdle of the UKSC case.
QCs are supposed to specialise in logic, I’m a bit surprised at Dunlop.
He does – and also spin.
And information leaks
This one-time “we’ll revise our ‘no’ on indy in the light of subsequent events” lying waste of trees is whistling Dixie on behalf of its dwindling handful of increasingly-desperate readers. A credibility vacuum as deep as outer space.
So the next “hurdle” – or decision point – in the UKSC reference by the LA, will be after the 9th Aug. On which date presumably the messengers at arms will be waiting to submit the written cases a few seconds before the deadline.
After that, the Lord President / UKSC will decide whether to decide the case on the basis of written submissions, or proceed to an oral hearing.
Seems to me the LA will want the full oral hearing, as her case could be disadvantage and perhaps, quite severely, by not being able to actually answer the Uk Gov’s written case and argue the merits interactively
From my deep level of ignorance, I could see the following done orally but not in advance in writing:
UK Gov: “Ah, Dicey, therefore Holyrood is the slave of Westminster”.
UKSC: “Ah yes, Dicey, so indeed Holyrood is the slave …”
LA: “Slavery was abolished in the UK in 1833.”.
UKSC: “Oh, right, we find for the LA”.
Mmm, if only …
From the reference:
“5. The Lord Advocate considers:
(1) There is a genuine issue of law that is unresolved;
(2) That issue of law is of exceptional public importance to the people of Scotland and the United Kingdom; and
(3) It is directly relevant to a central manifesto pledge that the Scottish electorate has endorsed.”
for information for the UKSC:
1. the “people of Scotland” number approx 5.51 million as at 2022
2. of these, as at 27 April 2022, the “Scottish electorate” number 4,255,180
3. the total number of duly elected representatives at Holyrood is 129, minus 1 for the PO = 128
4. there are 64 SNP MSPs, and 7 SGP MSPs – 71 is a clear overall majority of the 128 MSPs
seems to me the democratic fate of 5.51 million, and the expressed will of 4.25 million in an election, deserves more than a “case decided” on the basis of submissions.
And this where protection and preservation of the Rule of Law, the prime duty of Judges, does indeed at times embrace politics – the politics of an election – no matter how reluctant Judges are to consider politics.
The LA’s #3 is a clincher, I reckon, because it’s effectively telling the SC, which (despite its grandiose title) greatly inclines towards political solutions rather than juridical ones in situations like this, that the necessary political route is being persistently blocked by UKGov in an extended act of manifest ill-will, that it clearly needs to be unblocked, and that the SC is the main – and most appropriate – means of unblocking it. So “ball in your court and over to you”, SC.
It only remains to be seen how capable that body is of properly fulfilling its constitutional duty. In effect the SG is implicitly challenging the court if it is fit for purpose…
“In effect the SG is implicitly challenging the court if it is fit for purpose…”
I can neither confirm nor deny that possibility 🙂
Latest from Leadershit Race:
The last ballot is tomorrow
Rishi Sunak – 118 (up 3)
Penny Mordaunt – 92 (up 10)
Liz Truss – 86 (up 15)
Kemi Badenoch – 59 (up 1) [ELIMINATED]
It’s gonnae be someone white English. Conservative members won’t stand for anything else.
Rishi Sunak and his people are briefing against Penny Mordaunt so he only has to face Truss in the final because she’s more unpopular than him with the members, Penny Mordaunt is still the members favourite choice and if they don’t get her there’ll be a right stooshie at the voting
BoJo removed the whip from Tobias Ellwood becuase he didn’t fly back for the ridiculous vote of confidence his government called for in itself.
Ellwood, as Chair of the Defence Select Committee, was meeting with the President of Moldova. Moldova borders Ukraine, and is the nearest country to Odesa, and a major point of resupply, and sanctuary for refugees.
So much for BoJo the protector of Ukraine; his own pathetic vote of confidence comes before his so-called support for democracy for Ukraine.
Just imagine someone so dim that they can make Boris Johnson look like a political titan, this is that person.
Good news for us though! The Airhead’s Airhead. (apologies to Airheads everywhere)
This is the Foreign Secretary who thought that the Baltic Republics were close to Ukraine … and then there’s …
I hope someone has a clip of her telling Sergei Lavrov that Russia has to get out of Rostov 😂
No vid. as yet, Capella, but, with Dr Google’s help:
https://www.euronews.com/2022/02/11/uk-ukraine-crisis-russia-britain-kremlin
An easy mistake to make – unless you’re the Foreign Secretary whose job it is to know something about it!
Oh my hat!!!… 🙂
A chicken pecking around looking for a brain
As a man, I never thought I could get so creeped out by a woman who says “, opening up new pork markets.”, and then grins like it’s a cunning plan.
I think I finally get how some women feel when some men speak. 😀
Whoever wins, they will be a worse PM than Johnson. The UK is on steep downward trajectory that there’s no getting out of until it all falls apart and England loses Britain, the last remnants of its empire. Only then can the rebuilding start.
I must admit I do appreciate athleticism and sportsmanship but L Muir who won a bronze running around at the world championship with the butcher’s apron slung around her deadens my heart.
In 1970 I finished 6th in the world at middleweight in the Tokyo world Karate championships, no one from the UK at any weight ranked within the top 20, just me the lone Scotsman who paid for it myself
Nobody cared, except me of course
Dr Jim must be the one and only Scottish (Desperate) 7th Dan!
And me, and Alex Rorrison and one or two others you inspired. On Dojo’s that became very crowded for a while after Brucie boys films came out.
Yep, the world was Gung Fu fighting crazy by the mid 70s and I was singing and playing guitar in rock bands and not being famous there either
I shoulda been a politician they get rewarded for failure
A great British win there Jim! 😉
The leader debates, translated by Janey Godley:
https://twitter.com/JaneyGodley/status/1548994373412683777?s=20&t=4tngYQSzhii6g-NGhUsZsw
Glad Janey’s getting well and making us laugh again
Churchill took all Persia’s oil. Britain and the UK caused unrest. In order to take all their oil. They spread rumours the PM was gay to cause unrest. M15/CIA. The papers and historical documents are in Washington. (Boston library?)The PM ended up in jail. The Shah who had been deposed was reinstated. Democracy destroyed in Iran and all over the Middle East.
The West took all the Oil and resources. They could have just bought it. It would have been cheaper with less havoc and human cost. The Oil crisis 1960/70’s. Fuel crisis. Rationed electric. Fuel and energy crisis. Total mismanagement and poor bad decision. A 3 day week and candles. Winter of discontent. The dead could not be buried. An extreme climate. Climate change theories emerged 1990’s. More extreme climate in the 1960/70’s.
World population growth. The pill 1970’s. More contraception became freely available. Less children born in the West. World population will peak then fall. There will be more to go around and less poverty. Poverty being eradicated worldwide. A more equal world.
More equal places are more cohesive and peaceful. With Agreement and without eternal war. World War 1 caused by the European Royal family. Victoria’s children and grandchildren disputes and rivalries. The divine right to rule’. Millions died. Flu killed even more.
Universal Suffrage 1928. The Royal head of the secret masonic organisation. Unequal, unfair, bigoted and racist. Illegal and unfair bypassing rules and regulation in secrecy. Not democratic, Blackballing others with no explanation.
The West supported Iraq. Saddam. The Iran/Iraq War for years. Killing and maiming millions of people worldwide for years. Since WW2. Destroying the world and peace, causing havoc all around. The Second World War more deadly because of air power. The deadly atomic bomb developed at the University of California. Multiplicated worldwide.
Now including on the Russian border. Breaking treaties and agreement. A deadly assault. The outcome of conflict to maintain Russian borders. The conflict caused by US/UK and NATO. With illegal weapons trained on Russia from all sides,
The saga has been repeated all over the Middle East, Ever since. The UK has been illegally selling weapons since the 1960’s. Bribes and corruption, Harold Wilson. Kept secret under the Official Secrets Act.
Nuclear Trident illegally dumped in Scotland. Kennedy and MacMillan. 1960’s, Kennedy was not in favour but MacMillan insisted. A total waste of time and money ever since. Contaminating rotting hulks dumped at Rosyth, They were going to be dumped at Fort William but ended up 40mins from Glasgow. An illegal hazard. That would not be tolerated anywhere else,
UK/France shaped the Middle East divided the territory illegally. Against International Law. Secretly and illegally. Took all the resources and left many in poverty and dispute. The illegal wars. Blair and Brown should have ended up in The Hague. The Iraqi war kept secret for 100 years under the Official Secrets Act,
The US/UK causes conflict and hardship worldwide, The illegal, secret Balfour Agreement 1917. Russian Revolution 1917, World War 1-2. War.
and devastation. German illegal occupation. State of Israel. Ruining the world economy.
The tax evading multi rish imposing tax rates on others. Making people ill, poorer, and causing conflict all around. Total hypocrites breaking International Law with impunity,
Scottish Independence will make the world a better place, Break Westminster power to cause death and destruction worldwide. Kept secret, illegally not democratically, under the Official Secrets Act. Legislating against the people who elect them.
Broken manifestos and promises. Telling lies to get elected. Immoral and corrupt. Illegally lining their pockets with public funds and monies. The reason they join a unionist political party. Self interest.
“You can’t trust polls” says BBC journalist live on the TV this morning when talking about the current Tory party conathon on the great British public, “polls are engineered in such a way as to show the candidate they want the public to choose rather than the actual results of specific questions” said the BBC journalist
So what we in Scotland all knew to be true is that polls are fake, they’re not only fake, they’re engineered specifically to create lies on behalf of those who commission them, well again we in Scotland already knew that, but here’s where it becomes disgusting with media organisations, after they realise what they just said they backpedal at 100 mph to insist that it’s only the current polls by the Tory party in relation to this particular situation of choosing the next PM that are fakes but all the rest are genuine
If there’s anybody out there who thinks lying to the public was bad enough with Boris Johnson we have a whole set of the Bastirts doing it to their own voters as we speak, and if they’ll do it to them
why on earth do some folk think Englands political parties have not been doing it to Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland for as long as they’ve existed
As I’m writing this I’m hearing that it’s apparently OK with Tory voters that they’re being lied to because it’s what they expect and *factor that in* to their decision making
So the whole of England is aware that their own government is lying to them and they *factor that in* yet there are still some folk in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland who still want to believe that these creeps just wouldn’t lie to us
They came for our oil to live off for the last 55 years now they’re coming for our water to put out the fires they ignored would happen with climate change
It is me, or is the National site down?
Down for me too.
So’s the Herald.
Not dark ops then lol 🙂
Sorry about that – didn’t expect it to embed!
Oops – spoke to soon – again
Herald down as well.
Just watched an interview with Rishi Sunak being asked a question about Scotland and the union, to which he replied (paraphrased) he was the chancellor who set up wonderful things in *Darlington* which as everybody in Scotland and at least some people in England should know is not remotely in or near any part of Scotland
So much for prospective candidate for English PM Sunak who’s from eh Mexico? Iraq? China?
See how that works Rishi?
You must stop calling him “Rishi”.
He is now “Rish!” – what a plonker.
Rish is Rich.
(We all knew that …)
Enjoy!
Darlington, Scotland.
Cracker. I suppose all of the north looks the same to tories. I can see how he mixed up Darlington, England with maybe Dumfries/ Dundee/ Duns etc of Scotland.
Perhaps he has mind that a certain Scottish ‘Darling’* (though not to us) now spends his time on the ermine-lined benches of the House of Lords ….
* One of the anti-heroes of my short story, “Nobody’s Darling ac McDoughnut’.
😂😂☺️
That was supposed to third 😂
The National has just ‘returned’.
The National site was down a long time from around 1am this morning maybe the heat blew their servers or something or hacking attempt?
Och lol.
https://tinyurl.com/rse7chmy
Russian TV host claims Northern Ireland should be spared from nuclear destruction threatened against England, as province will ‘unite with Ireland’
A television propagandist for Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia has claimed the country should strike England with a nuclear missile but not harm Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
But it’s basically true though, it’s not the Celtic counties of these isles nuke willy waving.
Good afternoon all. An apology first; I try not to swear in public but I’m afraid I do not have the ability to come up with suitable alternative words. This is O/T but I just can’t control how outraged I am at the scumservatives and their double standards. I could nor believe the hypocrisy of the scumservative Cu*ts applauding the head scumservative as he left PML (Lies – I don’t think he has answered one of the c800 question asked since he became head scumservative). I revile every one of them and all that they stand for. I just needed to de-chest. Sorry for the rage and foul language – but I feel better for it now.
PS I’m sure/hope that there are some decent people in the tory party!
Now that The National is up and running – time to lay bare the sheer graft and incompetence of Boris Johnston’s Covid response.
Covid: Public Accounts Committee report lays bare Tory ‘incompetence’ over PPE
https://archive.ph/uUXBA
Alex Massie in The Spectator today (20 July) is ‘excelling’ himself. He has written an article with the headline: ‘The impossibility of separating Scotland from Britain’. Lots of scope to interpret that in different ways but I suspect we know the impact Mr Massie is aiming for on his base readership.
In the final lines of his piece, which harks back to the role of Scots in the British Empire, Mr Massie writes: ‘Hence this irony: to be AUTHENTICALLY Scottish, Scotland must also be TRULY British.’ (my emphasis)
Tinges of blood and soil nationalism appearing here? Or just the recurring need to concoct something to pay the bills?
Can I be inauthentically Scottish, please?
For massie authentic Scotland is the “White Heather Club” Larry Marshall and Cartoon Calvacade
Truss is through with Sunak, Truss will be the perfect replacement for Johnson 🙂
I’ll eat my tartan bunnet if the Tories don’t go for the white English option.
And Truss will mean my prediction that whoever comes after Johnson will be worse than him will come true. Johnson is a picture of trust and competence compared to Truss.
But there’s to be a ‘leak ‘ enquiry – why do I always see @Yes Minister’ when I read that??
The cream has really risen to the top during this farcical debate!
Let’s hope it becomes Truss – if only for humour’s sake.
So the Tories have engineered the members favourite out of the contest using every dirty trick in the book against the candidate the actual Conservative party members wanted, Penny Mordaunt, and so obvious has it been as to what they did and how they did it an inquiry has been immediately set up to expose their scullduggery, and what should be remembered folks ……..they did this to their own Tory voters
Such is the depths the Tories sink to, and it should show us all what these people will do to cling on to their wee empire clique club of fascists
The members will be furious. Good. The leader debate tonight should be an absolute clown show.
Theres’ a leader debate tonight…..are you sure Capella?
Prime Minister Truss…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha there’ll be dancing in the streets of Rostov tonight.
97% of Tory members are white comfortable off over sixty year old males.
Thinks the Colonel in Fawlty Towers, and multiply that by tens of thousands..
Sunak?
Steady on .chaps…
Prime Minister Surgical Truss…ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
She loves cheese though- favourite is Wensleydale? Could be wrong, they all look the same. Tories that is.
Not your most eloquent, Jack, but one of your best.
She’ll appoint The Fat Owl of the Remove as her Cabinet Secretary, and Deputy PM.
This woman is seriously flawed.
Sometimes I laugh that hard the tears run down my leg.
Someone said that..but who it was escapes me at the moment.
As I have oft observed: England; the Tribe That Lost Its Head.
This lot have an80 seat majority Down There.
Adapting the US political motto:
In Truss we don’t.
Truss as a child for a short time lived in Paisley. Andrew Neil went to school in Paisley. What went wrong?
Thankfully now a SNP majority council.
BBC says the “head to head” debate will be held next Monday. or perhaps not!
I can’t believe our luck – as Jack says 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂…
Dominic Cumming’s nickname for Liz Truss
“The Human Hand Grenade”
Quite apt as she will blow apart the United Kingdom.
“I gave Truss the nickname “human hand grenade” when she worked in department for education. She said this week it was a ‘compliment’ as she gets things done.
No it wasnt, it was because she caused chos instead of getting things done…she was a compulsive pathalogical leaker”
https://mobile.twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1549782798608785408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1549782798608785408%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2Flive%2F2022%2Fjul%2F20%2Ftory-leadership-race-live-sunak-mordaunt-truss-latest-uk-politics
THIS is an archive I took of the BBC in Scotland’s Scotland/Politics web-page earlier today – https://archive.ph/joQDt today.
Just feast your eyes on what purports to concerns Scots most – Of only two listed Scotland/Politics items, one is a slanted piece on John Swinney they created days back to portray “balance” in what was rapidly descending into a 100% Tory-fest, the other on the return of DRoss to refereeing and probably falling flat on his face again much as he does in politics.
However, just 6 out of our 45 MPs from Scotland become a force to be reckoned with according to the BBC ?
In Scotland because the BBC promote them may get a say on the next appalling idiot to become leader of the Tories and PM of the Disunity.\\
Ireland and other non-English speaking countries across Europe have been rightly appalled at how far UK’s journalistic standards have fallen, and particularly so should we in Scotland.
Pacific Quay, or “HMS James “we’ve seen the emails…” Cook as I prefer, are working overtime to overwhelm the Scots instinct of not giving an aviatory procreation what 100,000 blue rinses in Southern England decide of the two final candidates Westminster Tories shortlist to two
Once this latest farce by the UK’s ENTIRE media ends, and HMS James Cook’s in particular, Scots’ lives will have been improved by a fraction of hee-haw…
Absolute disgrace. The journalists should hang there heads in shame.
Radio 4 has been BBC Tory for so long now I get quite a shock if any other political party or leader gets any attention. Mick Lynch got some space a couple of weeks ago but he had to ground the trains to do it.
What can we expect when the BBC is chaired by a banker who donates £400,000 to the Tory Party and the Director General is a former Tory Councillor.
Still – I must say this leader election is amusing. I can’t be bothered listening to them but the clips and comments on here are great fun.
For a week the daily hail, express and telegraph were printing mordaunt bad stories.
Just havea look at the headlines in the shop toilet paper racks to find out who will win.
It must be truss just for the laugh but we will not be happy with her being operated like the muppet show.
The Times and Sunday Times has discovered that the Supreme Court has not rejected the English government request to prevent the review from the Scottish Government over the referendum.
News moves slowly for the Unionists.
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/events/1549742701305905152
Dirty tricks department on overtime this week.
For NMRN.
So …. Case is on the Case.
The same Case who had to excuse himself for investigating Cases of wine at Downing Street during Partygate. What a Case!
@Welsh Sion @ 7.18pm on July 20th
Case has “launched a leak investigation” into the case…..surely no investigation needed…if there was a leak then obviously there must have been a hole in the case…hence why it leaked….no case to answer….for case….other than him obviously being a heid case if he thinks we see this is worthy of a case for investigation from Case himself…..I rest my case…another one.
No need for this to be a case for Sherlock Homes….as Simon says….he is launching a case for a “leak investigation”…..perhaps not a hole but a mole…..in the case….mole as in animal not birthmark…..case will have to do some burrowing in his investigation if it is a mole that caused the leak in the case…..but with Case on the case…..it will be a case that, when concluded, will eventually be filed under…..secret….like their polls…..Tories don’t do transparency….as exposed in the many case studies done on ALL Tory behaviour(s)………pre and post Boris Johnson.
Have a nice day WS
The full cheese and pork market speech from Truss is to be applauded, a class act for sure that might never be beaten for crassness LOL
Jesus wept. She really is a s***e version of Johnson. He towers over her in ability.
And so much for selling the wonderful foods of the ‘UK’; it was all English!
Where was the haggis and whisky from Scotland…our fish/shellfish…our Aberdeen Angus beef…
True story.
Mrs W_S and me were doing a Guardian (I know, I know, but I submit to Mrs W_S’s whims occasionally) crossword earlier this week when the clue,
“Detestable person (informal) (4)”
came up.
Taking it to be the Guardian, I thought of ‘TORY’ and was pleasantly surprised that the ‘T’ was correct, though the other letters did not coincide with the clue where the ‘R’ would be.
As we progressed, we then discovered the answer would be, ‘T-BLANK-A-BLANK’.
I’m sure a lot of you are ahead of me in thinking of what the answer would (or should) be …
Sadly, a despite THAT answer being completely possible because of the crossword grid and the clues crossing the ‘T’ and ‘A’, I was disappointed to learn that the Guardian were looking for TOAD.
Ah, well. You can’t win ’em all.
You read higher class papers.
My crossword answer would be Turd.😊
Guardian – “Higher Class”?
Leave it out, mate. I usually gets by with the Daily Sport.
It’s got more t*its than the ‘Ouse o’ bleedin’ Commons, innit?
A couple of points regarding the final (allegedly) PMQ’s of the Convict.
1 When SNP Members of the House of Commons start clapping the Speaker gets into an almighty tizz and shouts at them to stop. Yet, when Tories (who putsched their Leader) do it, it seems that that’s ok. Why one rule for one Party and not the other, Mr Speaker? (Clue: My question is rhetorical.)
2 When the Leader of Plaid Cymru at Westminster addresses the Chamber in Welsh and Irish, there’s an immediate rebuke from the Speaker’s Chair that only English and (Norman) French are allowed in the Houses of Parliament. Yet, today, the Convict is allowed to address the Chamber in Spanish – hasta la vista, was it not? Again: one rule for some Members and another for Members of other Parties …
hasta la vista in Latin American Spanish does not mean ‘until I see you ‘ but rather the equivalent of mach a’seo. I don’t know the Welsh for this but am open to instruction. Anyway, it shows that Johnson simply has no class.
And that the Speaker does not accept a British (all senses) language in the British House of Commons – but will allow a couple of Romance languages.
Looking forward to hearing more of the gaelic and Welsh at the end of commons spaff.
The unionists hate it.
Remember the tories in Hollyrood when Kate Forbes did the speech.
Lord Offord you know him who got his Lordship after he gave the Tories cash said in the Lords *The SNP haven’t made the people of Scotland happier or healthier in the last 15 years” in reply to Lord Fffffookes who asked him if he would use the *strong arm* of the UK government to stop the SNP
Scotland was deliriously happy and much healthier the previous 300 years of course
So in Foulkes’ tiny mind, the people of Scotland are entitled to expect (the UK’s version of what passes for) democracy only if they vote Labour, Tory or Liberal Democrat otherwise unpleasant consequences should be rained down upon them and their Government courtesy of the English bit of the UK. No doubt his boss, Knight of the Realm, Starmer agrees. Must remember that next time there’s a GE.
Cheap shot from auld nappy arse under cover of covid there.
From a previous post about turds. Both lords would fit the bill metaphorically speaking of course. 👐🏻💩 yeh let’s bring back typhus, highland clearances, WWI, serfdom, poverty, hunger, . In fact maybe that’s what the tories are doing ?
Actually Fffookes went on in his speech to say that he was glad Starmer was going to be the next PM because he’d not be as weak as the Tories on Scotland and he’d put a stop to Sturgeon
They live in a fascist world of their own these British Nationalists, they would never dream of talking about Northern Ireland in these terms for obvious reasons but they think they can just get away with saying and doing what they like with Scotland and they don’t think for a moment that there are people in Scotland who’d do far worse to them than the Irish did if they tried this stuff today on Scotland
The 1970s are gone and technology rules now, has the idiot no clue what that means with people who know what they’re doing and decide to do it to them
‘Western Britainshire across the Union Sea’.
https://archive.ph/8tXdv
Arlene Foster criticises RTÉ for referring to Northern Ireland as ‘the north’
FORMER DUP leader Arlene Foster has criticised RTÉ for referring to Northern Ireland as “the north”.
In a post on Twitter, the ex-first minister hit out at the broadcaster for not using “our properly constituted name”…
…However, the story the RTE tweet was referring to was headlined “Efforts under way to boost NI barn owl population” and the top line of the story read: “Efforts are being made in Northern Ireland to increase the barn owl population after decades of decline.”
Her post was greeted by hundreds of responses from Twitter users, with many commenting that “no-one makes you watch RTÉ”.
Other users said that “a rudimentary search of their Twitter feed would tell you that RTÉ frequently refer to Northern Ireland”, while another said that “RTÉ use the term Northern Ireland consistently on live television broadcasts”.
‘No-one makes you watch RTE’ 🙂
I was struggling to recall what Liz Truss’ permanent pixelated expression reminded me of; then it struck me with the impact Oliver Hardy’s wooden mallet/frying pan/ clubbed fist had on poor Stan Laurel’s bonce in picture after picture.
Laurel’s famous dazed glazed look was cruel, but in a banana skin slapstick kinda way; we all laughed.
You may recall the minor masterpiece “On the blue ridge mountains of Virginia ” during which the barman supplied Ollie with a wooden mallet, one deft blow from which transformed Stan’s basso profundo singing to a high pitched soprano, his dazed startled expression pre-Truss, but uncannily similar to the Lady in Waiting.
As LBJ quipped: ““He’s [Gerald Ford] a nice guy but he played too much football with his helmet off.”
Truss looks as though she keeps banging her head against brick walls.
Stock up on European cheeses, Duggers.
Independence here we come.
She’s been to the training. I listened to a R4 interview of Liz Truss by Nick Robinson this morning, putting her through her paces, and she performed far better than I expected.
They all certainly had a presentational skills course, Capella.
They all clench their fist and use the knuckle of their index finger to make their key points now.
No finger wagging..just knuckle dragging.
Gove started it..so it must be one of his companies who got the training gig.
Some use both knuckles simultaneously..ambidex…edrine.
The VIP lane in action.
it wouldn’t surprise me if she got the interview questions by e-mail last night an Robinson is not what you would call impartial.
Nick ‘He didn’t answer’ Robinson.
Yeah, we all know who you are.
Another bbc free publicly stunt.
Mediocre is better? Lol
Are ex Dom’s allowed to vote? 100000 tories changes the PM of the so called state of U.K. ( Jardine on bbc scotchland refers to the “nation”-subliminal messaging.)
Bottom line, Truss / Sunak have no support in Scotland
Tax cuts for the rich and austerity for the rest of us. That’ll improve the economy – of the rich.
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss show Westminster is ‘arrogant and out of touch’, SNP say
https://archive.ph/cilfJ
Easy job when the interviewer follows the script.
Much like dale on LBC, an easy time is given, pre agreed questions andthe scriptedanswer.
Compare the flounder on the same format to his live none script version.
Peppa Pig comments to the CBI.
The EBC and robinson are english nationalists.
A date for the diary.
Supreme Court sets October 11 date for indyref2 case evidence hearing
https://archive.ph/QkU4Y
Yes, it says arguments will be “heard”, but I don’t know if that means the written cases will be heard and the decision made on them, or will it be a full hearing with both sides able to address the written cases and raise counter-arguments – which would be a further victory for the Lord Advocate and ScotGov. Plus a whole load more public exposure.
Still, it’s going well.
It’s official court ruling now that the BBC are deceitful liars and have been covering up their lies for 25 years in the case of Martin Bashir and the Princess Diana debacle that the BBC knew all along and were partners in the collusion and secrecy, the ruling comes as a former nanny to Diana has been awarded an undisclosed sum of moolah following the conclusions of the court, so can I say it once again in BIG
THE BBC ARE OFFICIALLY RULED BY THE BRITISH COURTS TO BE LIARS
We should all care about this (not particularly the Diana thing) but the facts of who and what the BBC are, and now what the courts have ruled them to be, and it’s not over yet
As a lover of cheese I must say that I am so excited at the possibility of Wallace and Gromit’s cheese supplier being the next PM of ”the nation ”.
She is also rumoured to be keen on Pork and has a weakness for apples , but only British ones , which is more good news for foreign competitors of the British food industry .
Anyone concerned that she couldn’t find her way out of a paper bag should be reassured as she hasn’t yet found her way out of the room where she kicked off her campaign for PM so will not be faced with the difficult task of entering and exiting a paper bag any time soon .
As a confirmed traveller I am also pleased that she has pledged to redraw European maps to avoid confusion between the Black and Baltic Seas – I often end up in Riga when I am aiming for Odessa .
It has been confirmed that , unlike Richi Sunak’s false love affair with the Scottish outpost of Darlington , Liz has stated that she will not be relinquishing her Scottish holiday cottage in Aberystwyth .
The Tories are known for their expertise in *Jograffy*
Dizzy Lizzy’s gaff of the day:
“I expect to hit the ground.”
Yeah, she missed out the word *running*, what she should have said was she’s *running* to hit the ground, I’m giving myself an LOL for that
Davidson is backing Sunak, so we can expect Truss to win.
Still waiting for Davidson to resign over the Brexit she *swore* could never happen
Which reminds me…did Blair McDougall ever resign over his emphatic declaration..”The idea that Boris Johnson could EVER become PM is for the birds…it aint gonna happen.”
Care for some Trill Blair?
This from LinkedIN, Tam:
Blair McDougall
About
A strategic thinker, creative campaigner and effective speechwriter. More than 20 years of experience working around the world in government, politics and NGOs. A leader with a record of delivery in the most challenging situations.
Experience
Consultant strategist, campaigner and speechwriter. Associate Director at Arden Stategies
Self Employed
Jul 2016 – Present · 6 yrs 1 moJul 2016 – Present · 6 yrs 1 mo
Glasgow and London
Working across the UK and internationally to help organisations with their strategy and communications. Offering an executive speechwriting service for executives in NGOS, the private sector and progressive politics.Working across the UK and internationally to help organisations with their strategy and communications. Offering an executive speechwriting service for executives in NGOS, the private sector and progressive politics.
Director of Strategy and Policy
Scottish Labour Party
Nov 2014 – Jul 2016 · 1 yr 9 mos
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Responsible for managing the political strategy, communications output and policy platform of the Scottish Labour Party. Principle speechwriter and adviser to leader of party and shadow ministerial team.
Campaign Director
Better Together Ltd
Apr 2012 – Oct 2014 · 2 yrs 7 mos
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Chief Executive and Campaign Director of the winning campaign to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom during the 2014 Scottish referendum.
[…]
Of course we got stuck with this guy
The most bland ineffective boring non committal apologetic excuse for an appointment to the position anyone could ever make, at the time I firmly believed there must have been no other applicants, maybe he was just the best at being interviewed for jobs, unfortunately doing the job was way beyond the description his CV portrayed of him
Nice but dim the depressingly invisible Blair Jenkins
Dateline: 12 August 2014
Place: Inverness
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y3mYwqawcU
It never grows old – Note the compere James Cook, he of “we’ve seen the emails” fame prior to being given a US tour on full pay until it all blew over, now in charge at Pacific Quay…
Scots have been bombarded for the last fortnight on the Tory succession, this despite <30% electoral support in Scotland, and Blair McDougall is finally reliant on a Truss…
As expected. Davidson backs Sunak and so….
Seriously though, a non-white, non-English leader of the Tories? Come on.
Iiinn one, 1 hundred and 80eee
As various TV news programmes and their political commentators tell us that Sunak and Truss are both pushing their credentials as true adherents to the ‘Thatcherite’ creed.
Everyone and their dog know that Thatcher, her government and her policies were – to say the least – unpopular in Scotland. And the likely electoral impact in Scotland of neo-Thatcherism? Predictable?
So pushing this Thatcherite line rather lays bare the Tory rhetoric of ‘strengthening the Union’. The Tories don’t care, it’s only Scotland after all – or perhaps it’s more that even now the Tories (now joined at the hip with Starmer’s Labour Party) believe they DON’T NEED to care, confident of locking Scotland in the UK’s legal/constitutional prison.
I’m not even drowsy, having spent the past few days dozing on and off during the heat of the day, cosseted in the blessed shade of our North facing living room.
So here I am catching up with the Diary of a Dug’s Life , Barking Up The Right Tree, in the middle of the night, wide awake..
The news that Dross is back on active duty with the SFA (did he get SSP while he was sidelined?) slipped under the wire almost unnoticed.
He has his SFA bung, his MSP wage and expenses and index linked pensions package contributions, plus exes, his stipend as ‘leader’ of the Jock Branch of the Blue Brits, as well as inexplicably a full time wage as an English MP plus an index linked pensions package and exes…he defies the laws of physics..he can be in four places at once, apparently, otherwise why is he getting full time wages for part time work?
Because we Jocks are mug enough to let him away with it.
Discuss.
Meanwhile, If you weren’t glued to your BBC screen watching ‘The Lionesses’ beating Europe, or the clickyba ODI’s, there was always the 600 hours of free publicity given to the runners and riders vying to take the Keys of the Kingdom from Johnson’s fat podgy hands.
BBC England, in summer whites.
I note from the array of brilliant comments here, that we are down to two; Sunak and Truss, both small government low taxes zealots, now that the Blue Tories, ably aided and abetted by the Yellow Tories between 2010 and 2015, have reduced England’s civic social democracy through a programme of savage cuts to public service institutions, , while ensuring tax breaks to their rich pals, to Edwardian status..a rich elite ruling over a lumpen proletariat, low paid, poverty laden society, where millions can’t make the rent, heat their wee hooses, or feed and clothe their kids.
The NHS, LA funding, education, police and emergency services, to name but a few, have been starved of funds, and privatisation of Health, Social Care, and even England’s police and emergency services will be on both leadership hopefuls’ tick lists over the next 24 months…oh, and selling off council houses
The carpetbaggers and privateers are having a field day.
Petrol will never come down in price; same with gas and electricity.
Living standards will slip back to early 20th Century levels..
The poor are always with us? Aye, richt.
But Dross needn’t worry. He’s got four jobs…
Free in ’23, Duggers.
Truss has got the gig. England is white..
If you didn’t know better you might think that somebody is determined to have Truss as next PM.
https://www.channel4.com/news/rishi-sunak-inside-the-tory-leadership-candidates-fortune
‘A message to Irish people in Australia who want to come home
“To those young Irish people in Australia who want to come home: I want you to know that we are working hard to change things for you, that we WILL change things for you, and we will make Ireland the home that you deserve.” – Mary Lou McDonald – Sinn Féin
(https://www.facebook.com/sinnfein/videos )
Hopefully one day soon, Scotland’s political leaders will be able to reach out to young people in the Scottish diaspora in the same way – when we have the agency to ‘change things’ for them!
Wonderful speech to the National Press Club of Australia, available on utube.
They scullduggeried their own members out of their preferred choice, Mordaunt, and replaced her with no choice, Truss
Hmmm
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/channel-4-news-investigation-rishi-sunak-b2128628.html
I see on the discussions of cervical cancer screening results Scotland is better than England but worse than NI. Wales aren’t aware of any issue! Either way the timeline should be reduced as fast and as safe as possible. Don’t want to speed up results at the cost of accuracy.
Noticed on the map of the U.K. the whole of Ireland was seen, Isle of Man and even the Isle of White. The large archipelagos of Orkney and Shetland seem to have sunk into the sea. Surely that is news worthy in itself. Sorry `orcadians and shetlanders. You must be fed up with this. The western isles outer Hebrides are still above seal level.
Stephen ‘The Country’ (WalEngland and its Jock ‘Territory’) Jardine is apparently fronting an hour’s phone in on Glsagow, reported somewhere, as the 3rd filthiest city in the world, the galaxy, the universe on BBC Steam Radio at nine to day, as promoted on BBC Brexit’s Jock 90 seconds News Where You Are this morning.
Stephen Jardine, fuck off, ; my contribution as a 74 year old Glaswegian to your disgusting little Brit smear.
Have you no shame at all?
A predictable if not mandatory reaction from your ” fourth estate, fifth columnists ” Jack. Edinburgh and Glasgow listed in the top five popular cities in the world for visitors must be countered. Wonder what they have planned for Edinburgh our Capital which occupies pole position.
In not so sunny Ayrshire in my caravan. Nolan on raidio Ulster talking about fuel prices. £1.71 unleaded in some stations as opposed to £1.91 in some of the big supermarkets-doners to the tories? Rip off everywhere.
Is Nadhim Zahawi still Chancellor of the Exchequer? I’m losing track. Turns out he co-founded Yougov but mislaid his shares in Gibraltar. HMRC are looking into it but if he is Chancellor, wouldn’t he be responsible for HMRC?
https://www.taxpolicy.org.uk/2022/07/13/zahawi-capital/
Yes.
I suspect the “investigation” is to close off future accusations rather than chasing wrong-doing.
How cynical! 😮
I’m sure Boris Johnson is still the Chancellor, Foreign Secretary, and Minister of everything
He’s like a Terminator, he won’t die
This is a story from 5 days ago on the Sri Lanka collapse. Robbie Mochrie analyses default and what we can learn from it. Sounds a bit like BREXIT.
.Robbie Mochrie: Independent Scotland can learn this lesson from Sri Lanka
https://archive.ph/dk1Co
I’m a bit lost, this is the second time of reading, as to the purpose of this article. The current Scottish government have proved beyond any reasonable examination to be a prime example of financial probity, unmatched in the UK and probably for most of the world. An independent Scotland inherits, I say inherits because access has been denied to much of the revenue generated by Scotland’s vast resources. Unless of course the author is trying to warn the Scottish electorate against ever being tempted to vote into government the Muppets currently occupying the opposition party’s.
I see it as a warning against the level of incompetence and corruption we see in Westminster and the lack of any democratic means of stopping it. The UK has oil revenues to cushion it, as Tony Benn noted with relief after the IMF loan when the black gold started filling up the coffers. BREXIT has damaged trade revenue and COVID has massively increased lending. But Liz Truss is promising tax cuts and she’s the current favourite to be the next PM.
We can do better and need the constitutional framework to ensure it.
Well said, it’s just a pity he wasn’t as clear and succint as you.
He may be burdened with more knowledge than me – especially on the subject of economics. 🤓
I see bbc/ Port of Dover/ U.K. govt are blaming the French for delays going through French customs checks.
Just a thought if the U.K. was in the Eu would there not be less checks required. covid subdued cross Europe travel, now Brexit is biting.
Ironic that it’s the English wanting to visit Europe.
The English told the French they’d be coming on holiday and demanded more French customs officers and the French said Oh ho hoch
Best wishes to Kirsty Blackman for her appearance on Radio 4’s Any Questions from Tarland, Aberdeenshire this evening.
The BBC has selected the following to join her in ‘debate and discussion’ – Labour’s sole MP in Scotland, Ian Murray MP; the Tory Minister in the Scotland Office, Iain Stewart who is MP for Milton Keynes South plus a journalist, the latter presumably for objectivity/balance. The BBC have opted for The Herald’s Iain Macwhirter!
The usual BBC Brit chair, the solitary Red Tory MP of 59 in Scotland propped up by the Morningside Blue Rinse brigade who will be shooing Surgical Truss into the Golden Walled apartment in No 10, and a tubby wee Brit Jock who headed Sarf to get a Blue Tory seat, and of course, Macwhirter who mad e a wee wedge with his Road to the Referendum documentary, and book in 2014, and who is now a born again Brit.
Seems about right, balancewise.
Borders, currency, trade embargo by England losing us 60% trade, EU veto and forced to use Euro, oil running out, £15 billion deficit, Russia will invade, food prices will go up in Asda, Barrhead travel will sack their workers and move to England, the Banks, insurance comapnies and money lenders will quit5 Edinburgh and head for London, the Capital of the world…I could go on.
The absolute tenet will be that England will not ‘allow’ another Referendum, so the matter’s closed…Back in your Box, Jox.
Levelling up, will get big licks maybe…
and of course what about the 32 % who voted leave,? And the SNP/ Nicola Sturgeon do not speak for the Scottish people, but the Lone Gunman Murray, and an MP from Milton Keynes do…
What a waste of time..just don’t turn up, Kirsty.
You know that it is a put up job.
Let’s all laff at Murray, nah nah nah nah!
So gonnae be white English Truss.
https://archive.ph/H3FUp
Scottish Tories ‘resentful’ about Truss vs Sunak leadership fight
SCOTTISH Tories are backing Rishi Sunak in the party leadership race through gritted teeth and are angry the two remaining candidates were both senior members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet, sources suggest.
Conservative MPs and MSPs from north of the Border appear to be unenthusiastic about the choice they have been left with and are grudgingly throwing their weight behind the former chancellor over foreign secretary Liz Truss, the Times reports.
Euan Blockley, a former councillor for Linn ward in Glasgow who now works for Tory MSP Liam Kerr, said there was “anger and resentment” among party members and speculated there could be spilt ballot papers when voting starts.
“From everything I’ve seen of Liz Truss so far there’s just so many gaffes coming out of her campaign already and I don’t want to see that, so I think it will probably have to be Rishi Sunak on balance,” he told the BBC.
It’s the problem for the North British Tories. They are north British, but their southern counterparts are now not British, but English.
As I’ve said before, the Brits in Scotland voted leave, but in England they backed remain. Scots in Scotland voted Remain, but the English in England voted Leave. This has split the North British Tories from English nationalists for the benefit of Yes.
‘spilt ballot papers’, s_s? Whatever are they spilling on them?
Jock Blue Tory speak with forked tongue. Say one thing then do the opposite.
An extra box marked, ‘None of the above’ or
the baroness untruthful.
“and are angry the two remaining candidates were both senior members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet”
Now they know how angry some are when most of the candidates on any Indy debate are unionist, given that it’s a binary debate.
Maybe, if they practised a little more of the principles they pretend to possess, they would attract more suitable candidates to their party.
The Scottish Tories are seemingly reluctant to throw their weight behind either of the leadership candidates – silence from DRoss , Turdo , Sarwar , Baillie ….oops …wee mistake .
Is Turdo still a Tory ?
That would be ‘their weight’ in Imperial units of course. Probably about 4ozs, soaking wet.
Intellectual heavy weights ?
Depends whose turn it is for their sole functioning neurones then that one is the ‘heavyweight’ for the day.
Yep the big story today on the BBC propaganda channel is that there is a big traffic jam caused by French people maybe having Covid or maybe didn’t want to come to here. Not wanting to come to UK I totally understand
Meanwhile on Misreporting Scotland last year I discovered that the language skills of BBC Shortbread reporters are even worse than I thought. BBC bloke -I can’t be bothered looking up his name interviewing tourist’s at Fort William train station re how cost of living crisis is affecting their visit to what he pronounced as Lawaber – where’s that?,that would be Lochaber you stupid moron going by the accent said reporter was Scottish too. Maybe he thought he was he was using the gaelic pronunciation who the heck knows.
I am just waiting on BBC Scotland blaming the bomb scare on MV Hebrides ferry at Uig on Skye last night on the Snp
But, but the queueing is all worthwhile to get the stamp in their blue passport.
Benefit of Brexit don’t ya know!
Doh- that should have said on Misreporting Scotland last night 😄
More than englandland is taking back control of their border, France perhaps.
Good news is that there’s no delay on the route from Calais to Dover, a dingy company is in action, no paperwork requested.
Careful what you vote for.
As we have to contemplate the imposition of a Truss premiership on Scotland and the tax cutting, trickle-down economists that advise her, it’s worth remembering Kansas!
‘THE GREAT KANSAS TAX CUT EXPERIMENT CRASHES AND BURNS –
‘Just as President Trump is ramping up his push for a major tax cut that he believes will pay for itself through faster economic growth, the Kansas template for that approach has crashed and burned. After four years of below-average growth, deepening budget deficits, and steep spending reductions, the GOP-dominated Kansas legislature has repealed many of the tax cuts at the heart of Governor Sam Brownback fiscal agenda.
‘Since Kansas enacted tax and spending cuts in 2012 and 2013, Brownback and his allies have argued that this fiscal potion would generate an explosion of economic growth. It didn’t. Overall growth and job creation in Kansas underperformed both the national economy and neighboring states. From January, 2014 (after both tax cuts passed) to April, 2017, Kansas gained only 28,000 net new non-farm jobs. By contrast, Nebraska, an economically similar state with a much smaller labor force, saw a net increase of 35,000 jobs.
‘The tax cuts did produce one explosion, however. The state’s budget deficit ….., despite major spending reductions. Kansas falls well below national averages in a wide range of public services from K-12 education to housing to police and fire protection, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute’s State and Local Finance Initiative
‘At least in one deep red state, the Trump formula of big tax and spending cuts is no longer the path to political success. In 2012, Brownback called his tax plan a “real live experiment.” It appears to have failed.’
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2017/06/07/the-great-kansas-tax-cut-experiment-crashes-and-burns/?sh=2dc2b5f25508
Ah, but the United Queendom needs no lessons from the US or indeed the country of Kansas (as the next PM might say), the UK economy will hit the ground…
On every US banknote is inscribed the words ” In god we trust”, I look forward to Scottish banks issuing notes inscribed with “Oh God, wee Truss”.
Having read many of Richard Murphy’s takes on the Tory perspective of low tax economies, this fogma (not a typo) from the Tories appears to have convinced Labour that the King has clothes after all, yet unlike the “Wizard of Ozz”, it’s going to need more than three clicks of the heels to get “Dorothy” back to “normal”.
They appear to have no clue how national economies actually work, or they know damned well the damage it will do pursuing this “fogma”, but don’t care as it makes them a buck.
Clown Brownback’s “real live experiment” will have chastened the Kansas legislature, but it will not matter a damn to the true believers in England despite thousands of them waiting 6 hours at the England border to get clearance to cross to France, all because Europe hates us rather than the inverse.
And the French at Dover reply “Vot eez zhu problem weeth you EEngleesh, eets your problem to go on holidays not for zee French to hire more staff to accommodate you*
And in Scotland we say *Haw haw haw*
Why don’t British people just show their European passports?
Oh, no, wait…
#facepalm
Really is the ultimate Trumpian ‘We want a great big British wall, but the furriners in the EU should pay for it!’.
Huh?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-62260474
Port of Dover urges France to ‘adequately resource’ border
It was the Brits that demanded to queue for customs and passports checked at Calais. This is exactly what they wanted. They ‘overwhelmingly’ voted for it.
You see, it is never England’s fault.
We had a taster to what would happen this summer following the disgraceful behaviour of England ‘fans’ as they marched ticketless on Wembley last summer intent on crashing into the Euro final, smashing everything and everyone in their way.
It is reported that 19 million were on the move over this weekend as the English schools broke up, and the English did what they always do, flooded South to Dover, fully expecting that the French Border Police would disregard the fact that England was a third country, out of the EU, with Freedom of Movement of English citizens banned by Priti Patel, and that the French would merely wave the millions of Brits through passport controls, unchecked, on to the continent of Europe just like before, before England took back control of their borders. The English mob on the March,,remember Dunkirk, the Somme, 1966!
It may be argued that England is now gripped in a collective madness..that they actually believe that the world should bow down to them, or face the consequences…
Brexit got done all right.
They are breaking the NI Protocol agreement, and the EU is fighting back. Bloody Frogs and Krauts..England will show ’em.
Desperate English patients are taking out second mortgages or buying hip replacements by credit card as the English NHS collapses, and 1 in 9 English citizens form a 6 million plus waiting list, the NHS has 105,000 vacancies it can’t fill, Johnson’s 40 hospitals will not be built, and there 1.3 million jobs they can’t fill because 1.3 million care workers, nurses, doctors, hospitality staff, and fruit pickers have left England and gone back to Europe following Brexit…But it’s all the Froggies fault..not the 19 million idiots who were so deluded that they thought that it was a good idea to converge on the southern ports on one day…
England is a mad place now.
They actually believe that the rest of Europe should bow to their will.
..
And the BBC in Scotland post “Scots holidaymaker frustration at Dover port queues”, another “Bitter Together” production… 🙄 – Note the use of the singular tense… Aye just one found, probably already on BBC Speed-Dial, “Glasgow-based actor Dave Allan”, stuck in a queue..
I very much suspect that “English” support of the Tory Brexit madness has well and truly worn off over the last 6 years – This is not media reporting in England on current majority opinion, but much the same propaganda as Scots have suffered since before Brexit, telling them what they think much as “there is no demand for a referendum”.
I doubt even in England the result of the Brexit referendum could be repeated today – We are now surrounded by an ocean of lies via the media – At least those in England understand now why Scots are just “a tad upset”.
Yeah but they’re global
Hello All
Just back from swanning around in French, France.
Sailed through customs and such, both going in and coming back out.
(Travelling North from Folkestone on the M20 did pass a 15 to 20 mile long line of trucks waiting to enter France).
The Boss and I got nice little stamps in our UK / European passports to prove it (maybe worth a Bob or two in years to come).
Treated with kindness and courtesy throughout our time there. The natives were even very tolerant with me murdering their language.
The car we were in did have a noticeable blue and white “ECOSSE” sticker on the back, and naturally I was wearing clothing appropriate to hot or cold climate.
But as another blog states in relation to all things, “it’s Sturgeons fault”.
Still I think when the use of the FM’s surname by a so called Independence supporter, really just shows them up as a britnat.
Exactly as we all expected,
The QC adds that the motivations of the Scottish Government, or political parties, in passing the bill are “not legally relevant”.
“The legal consequences of the Bill are, relevantly, nil,” she writes.
“Any practical effects beyond ascertaining the views of the people of Scotland are speculative, consequential, and indirect and should not properly be taken into account.”
She went on: “The legal effects of the bill would be limited to facilitating the holding of a referendum vote, identifying those eligible to vote, the timing of the vote and affirming that the Referendums (Scotland) Act 2020 would apply.
“The bill would not purport to alter or impede any legal rule constituting or affecting the Union of the kingdoms of Scotland and England either directly or indirectly.
“The referendum would have no prescribed legal consequences arising from its result. It is not, unlike some other referendums, self-executing.”
Don’t know what happened there.
link: https://tinyurl.com/kd898xpk
They’ve given the Supreme Court a problem with this, if the court says Scottish people have no right to express themselves, big big constitutional and world problem, if they say it’s political and don’t want to know, they’re admitting the UK are undemocratically and illegally trying to block free speech if the UK brings its case on pure legality, so what do they do?
My guess is they claim they can’t rule on a non existent bill until it is a bill, thereby dodging the whole business and dumping it politically on the UK of England Guv who’ll be left with attempting to make *now is not the time* sound legal, which Nicola Sturgeon will laugh completely ignore and press right on with the 2023 referendum date until the UK of E plucks up the courage to legally prevent that by having to admit Scotland is the property of England, which will send support for independence through the roof, it might even open the eyes of some of the mental mad brigade to realise they only live by England’s whim
Andrew Tickell’s recent article pointed out that the Scottish government can ask for a ruling on any devolution issue that is not the subject of proceedings.
https://archive.ph/2jH8v
AS you can see, Cymru is following you intently, Scotland:
https://nation.cymru/news/scottish-lord-advocate-points-to-welsh-referenda-as-part-of-case-for-indyref-2/
Scottish Lord Advocate points to Welsh referenda as part of case for Indyref 2
22 Jul 2022 4 minute read
Scotland’s top law officer has pointed to Wales’ 2011 devolution referendum as part of the case for allowing the Scottish Government to hold a second advisory referendum on Scottish independence.
The document setting out the case for the second independence referendum, written by Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain QC, was submitted to the Supreme Court this week and published by the Scottish Government today.
In a 51-page filing, she referred a prospective Bill on a referendum to the UK Supreme Court earlier this month so judges can rule if it is within Holyrood’s powers.
Her document points to the fact that referendums had now become “an established part of the constitutional arrangements of this country” with “four referendums of national significance […] held since 2000”.
The second of these was “a referendum was held in Wales on the proposed transfer of legislative competence to the Welsh Assembly,” just 14 years after the original devolution referendum.
“Whilst detailed legislative provision has been made for the conduct of referendums within the United Kingdom, there is little consistency in their use and no consistent practice in respect of their legal effect,” the document says, with some being binding and others, like the Brexit referendum, advisory only.
The case also points to the fact that it is already accepted that the parliaments of Wales and Scotland can hold referenda on constitutional issues governing the future of their own nations as “the devolution settlements for Scotland and Wales now declare that the devolved institutions can only be abolished on the basis of a referendum of the people of those countries”.
[…]
Excellent points. Thx 🙂
Yes, especially that last one. Cheeky, even!
“courage to legally prevent that by having to admit Scotland is the property of England”
Which it’s not. It’s going to be fun watching them dance on that particular pinhead.
The SC is indeed in a bit of a bind. Unhappily also for the British Establishment, which has never wanted this fundamental constitutional uncertainty brought to resolution, not least because London has always secretly expected that if it ever came to a juridical showdown, it would lose and Scotland’s rights would be upheld. But BoJo & Co have obtusely forced the issue anyway. Oops! Where angels fear to tread…
Consider that the proponents of the Union refuse to co-operate in a political solution, so that the only available political solution is a referendum by whatever means remains available. The SC has always preferred a political solution, so the only available way out for it (as well as the minimalist one) is simply to recognise the SG’s position, and “job done”.
It is considerably harder instead for the SC to declare that Westminster is absolute over Scotland’s rights, in flagrant dismissal of the historical background of the formation of the Union. That would be an absolutist juridical position that would immediately create a UK constitutional crisis of the first order with potentially significant political consequences, and take the court somewhere where it has previously been extremely reluctant to go. In effect it would, once and for all, be denying the Declaration of Right and throwing a metaphorical grenade into the very notion of a voluntary union. (Suck that up, PSBs!) Somehow I can’t see it lighting that blue touchpaper.
Then consider this: if the SC upholds the SG’s position, it is highly likely that an S.30 order would be hastily forthcoming from the UKGov, since it would want some administrative fig leaf to cover its embarrassment at being thus sidelined, and enable it to have at least some influence over how the then-inevitable referendum was conducted. (That is the carrot that Nicola has already hung out for it.)
If, and it’s a 50/50 IF, the SC finds in favour of the SG rather than hide behind the Scotland Act, it kills the S30 narrative stone dead. It could be offered and it could well be refused if it comes with conditions unacceptable to the Scottish people.
Indeed. I think that has already been made clear by Nicola. She has indicated a willingness to compromise, but there’s no doubt that there are definite implicit no-nos. Recall that it was Nicola who negotiated the S30 deal last time. So now there is precedent.
My latter point here though is that there’s no harm in allowing UKGov to save face if it makes a “yes” result even more unchallengable. But a “DIY referendum” is plenty good enough too, if need be.
Just listened to Any Questions which came from Tarland in Aberdeenshire. A bright audience and some good questions. But oh dear – Iain Macwhirter was in a terrible temper. He voted YES in 2014 but would vote NO now because there’d be a border with England. I think there’s been a border with England for at least 800 years and probably since Roman times. What an irritated state he got into talking over Kirsty Blackman who stood up quite well in spite of being surrounded by unionists. The audience applauded though.
McWhirter is a fair-weather friend in a funk. He was happy to chronicle the multiple injustices perpetrated upon Scotland, but only so long as he could remain safely wrapped in his comfort blanket, the Union which is the real source of most of them. With a steadily growing probability of achieving real independence rather than his preferred never-ending Mitigation Hell, waiting for an English saviour who will never come, he has lost his nerve. As with most of his kind.
‘would vote NO now because there’d be a border with England’
Exchanging one border with England – that, with goodwill and common sense, doesn’t really need to be a barrier either to the movement of people or to trade after our independence – for a border, a greater barrier, with ALL members of the European Union as a result of something that a majority in Scotland did not choose?
What a narrow British nationalist Mr Macwhirter has turned out to be!
By the way, who did the audience applaud?
It panned out just as we have come to expect, the chair, Anita somebodyorother talked over Kirsty Blackman’s attempt to answer any of the questions.
The three Ians/Iains were allowed to twitter on interrupted spewing out their Brit propaganda of course. Drug deaths, hard border with England, minimum alcohol pricing not working, currency…my Brit bingo card filled up very nicely.
The anchor commented on Blackwood holding her head in her hands several times…Kirsty explained that she was fed up having her answers shouted down.
Macwhirter wanted independence but no border between england and scotland, use the pound, the queen, Supreme Court and England will say No declared born again Brit Macwhirter shouting down Kirsty throughout, and all that Independence LIte jazz which failed the last time. He declared in his rants that he was not a separatist…
He’s Brit Jock, in his old age, a dyed in the wool member of the Brit Scotia Nostra.
Iain Murray was touting the Brown Blair Federalism route, and assured us all that when Starmer was swept to power things would be different.
The other Ian, was just the usual Jock Blue Tory talking the usual rubbish. The anchor made sure that the SNP voice would be stifled.
This is BBC.. A bullying 4 rabid Unionists slapping down the nasty Nat.
Evil sinister gaslighting.
I did suggest earlier that Blackman refuse to attend..
Perhaps now the pro Independence politicians should refuse to appear on these farces..let them have blanket God Save The Union broadcasts, I say.
Disgraceful imbalance of a spectacularly evil level. Fascist state?
Looks like we shall have to take back our country any way we can.
You put it so graphically Jack! But I think Kirsty did well in this bull pit and the audience seemed to recognise that.
Keeping Sterling and the monarch ( however short lived that might be)kind of shuts down their intention of being the Continuing State, no wonder they’re in a ‘ state ‘.
Cant understand why the SNP dont put Stuart Hosie up for these debates more often than they do.
He’s coherent….direct….and doesnt suffer foolish contempt gladly.
Didnt hear the prog in question and I’m sure Kirsty put up a brave stand but we really should be bringing out our big guns at this time and Hosie certainly would be in my front line.
They applauded the the Rev Frank Ribbons who asked the first question and expressed shame at the UK government and said he wold vote YES now. They applauded Kirsty Blackman a couple of times and there was a quiet sprinkle of applause for Ian Murray when he announced the next government would be a Labour government.
As if Scotland’s situation is going to be fundamentally any different with Starmer in charge in London. As sold by his solitary Scottish stooge, only kept in his pseudo-job by the grace of Edinburgh Tory voters.
Aye, a deeply problematic border, just like the one with the Republic of Ireland. Been in existance for ~100 years now and never troubled BritLabourites like him in all that time. Yet Magrit Curran to be totally cut off again from her kith and kin. Duh. Funny how mental barriers can be suddenly conjured out of nowhere when it suits. By people who insist they are internationalists!
In the case of Iain Macwhirter, “mental” is the right word. He was perhaps severely annoyed at being dragged out to the back of the Cabrach to sit before an audience of rural folk politely supporting independence. Disorienting!
He doesn’t want to be separated from England, but is perfectly happy to be separated from 27 countries in his continent?
He sounded Jim Sillars frantic tonight.
Both he and Murray referred to ‘the country’, that country being England and its conquered colonies… good little serfs of their English Overlords.
I fully expect the Scottish Government (Known in English circles as one of ‘the devolved administrations’) to fire off a letter of protest to the EBC over this blatant attempt to belittle Scotland, our nation.
I repeat, refuse to appear on this garbage.
He was probably in a temper because, like Campbell and the rest of the media Scotia Nostra, he invested heavily in an oft-repeated blank assertion of Brit legal supremacy that has been undercut by the Supreme Court itself, which evidently shares no such certainty. Petty extrapolators straining to be “holier than the Pope”, already made to look foolish, thrown into confusion and in ignominious retreat. Would try the patience of a saint. (Which they ain’t.)
So. the LA caught some people on the hop,well, me, frankly, by submitting the written case early. This of course gives the UK Government time to give up and humbly beg forgiveness which is, also frankly, what the rest of the world will expect. Or more relevantly, agree to do the S30 as a noble gesture.
Anyways, from the case, I’ve only started skimming, there’s this:
“The answer to the question will determine whether, if formally asked to do so, she can give the necessary clearance to allow the Minister to make the necessary statement in terms of s.31 SA.2”
Which if course complelely blows the Unionist version that the LA refused to give the clearance – she has confirmed that she was never asked, in fact as Sturgeon said, she asked the LA to make the reference.
Oh another point. From the National:
“The document outlines both sides of the argument “in line with the Law Officers’ statutory role acting in the public interest”, the Government said.
However, in response to a written question from MSP Alasdair Allan, Bain added: “I will represent the Scottish Government’s interests at the hearing and will argue the case personally.””
The LA will argue the ScotGov’s case – so it is a full hearing, not just a reading of the written cases. I wasn’t sure about that.
Seriously, if the UK Gov had any sense they would do something before October 11th to make it unnecceessary, like an S30, and contrary to the doomongers dooming and glooming, I don’t think a negative change to the Scotland Act would actually do it.
An S30 offer is another option of course, if wiser heads in London prevail now that BoJo is heading out the door, and UKGov sees the way the wind is blowing and tries to reclaim some initiative.
But would such offer in of itself negate the pending case? Again render it hypothetical? Whatever happens, I hope not. It’s high time the constitutional position was clarified for all to see, and thereby silence much of the current groundless posturing.
Well, it could be made conditional on withdrawing the reference – if the court allows the withdrawal which it probably would.
Just reading the Context with the LA presenting the arguments for both sides/ Doesn’t stop the AGS from doing the same. Then presumably the LA will argue why our side is right, and theirs is wrong.
Mmm I like this:
“and accordingly that this Court is able to provide authoritative legal guidance on the issue.”
or, to put it another way, do your job and don’t shirk your responsibilites. She takes no prisoners.
‘Seriously, if the UK Gov had any sense they would do something before October 11th to make it unnecessary, like an S30 ..’
The British/English establishment – as embodied in the current Westminster government – has a big decision to make:
(i) hope to deny a referendum now and forever without Westminster’s permission by challenging and WINNING the case at the Supreme Court; or
(ii) contesting the Supreme Court case and LOSING, with the consequence that the Holyrood Parliament will have the power to use a referendum on independence whenever (if ever after the next one it is necessary) the Scottish Government win a Holyrood majority to do so.
Interesting risk assessment for Unionists . The alternative, brutal scenario is that whatever the Supreme Court decides, ‘muscular Unionists’ – by way of a Tory, Labour and Lib Dem consensus – seek to use Westminster’s ‘authority’ to change the rules by legislation. That would not be wise!
Yes, it’s all very interesting. Up to Part 4 now and I’ve had enough. Pleased to see Dicey mentioned, specially in the context that UK referendums began in 1973, long after Dicey went to his study in the sky.
In regard to your latter point, though the SC is hardly a constitutional court in the proper sense (at least in English eyes), the UK does have a constitutional basis in its founding treaty – the one which (eg.) continues to this day to preserve Scottish legal rights. So a judgement by that body which takes such basis into proper consideration is in effect a constitutional judgement. It is the one ruling that successive English administrations have always sought to avoid, such absence permitting them maximum flexibility. But if such judgement, having been delivered, were then subsequently overridden by Westminster in an exercise of raw “muscular” power regardless, that would in effect amount to a bloodless coup. English annexation, no less. From the Unionist point of view, definitely not wise, because by that act there would instantly no longer be a Union in name, and sooner rather than later no longer a Union in fact either, as the vast majority of the people of Scotland finally woke up to unavoidable reality and mass rebelled.
Funny that the Brit nats all with English accents are training Ukrainian sailors in secret Scottish waters. Hush, hush, of course. Do the Ukrainians know that Scotland is effectively occupied militarily.
Scotland isn’t “occupied militarily”. Like everything in the British Imperial world, it’s all done on the cheap. Not least by convincing enough natives that it’s their bosom pal.
If even just 2/3 of the adult people of Scotland wanted independence, it would happen tomorrow. The military has nothing to do with it. Cheap shot. Try harder.
Yes we are, grizebard.
Although you may have some vested interest in maintaining the farce that we are not, which escapes me.
As you turn out of Rhuu and motoer up the waterside, just check out the vast complex in Faslane…
If we rose up tomorrow, and marched on Edinburgh, do you sincerely believe that the English don’t have martial law contingencies in place to quell us rebellious Scots?
Grizebard- It’s that right? military take the queens shilling give an oath to queen and country ( which one) and take the orders. Never heard of the military occupation of Scotland with wades roads, highland clearances and the like? Subtlety assimilated the hungry and poor serfs to do the bidding in the americas, Asia and the rest. Glorify the Scots fighting spirit and gullible sooks it up. Nowadays at the Edinburgh Military festival.
Try walking on the hills around Coalport/ fasland and say the military aren’t part of the issue.
Even the FM of Scotland would be refused access by a gun pointed at her.
It’s subtle but there. Have you not heard the speeches from the military chiefs?
British forces protect Britain but we know how that is really.
Cheap shot? Poor terminology.
After 1745 Scotland was under military occupation for 50 years. General Wolfe was stationed in the North East for some of that time. He hated Scotland and its barbaric inhabitants. It was Wolfe who advised the PM, William Pitt, to recruit the Scottish Highlanders into the army. They were used to rough conditions and “no great mischief if they fall”. He found them useful in the battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec.
A good way of using up enemies.
Nick Abbot on LBC Radio just now is on fire (hilarious)…Ch732 for last half-hour to 1pm
Dizzy Miss Lizzy promising to kindle a ‘bonfire of all remaining EU regulations by the end of 2023.
In other news…..my niece’s daughter cut her first teeth this week. 🙂
Liz Truss is shouting at the French, Rishi Sunak says Britain is in a national emergency
How do both of these people set about sacking themselves?
The Tories caused the damn mess now they’re trying to blame some ethereal fifth dimensional Tory government that somehow existed in a different parallel universe to the plane of existence the rest of us are on
You know who are even more to blame than the Tories? Sir Kier Starmer and his bunch of wait and see join in with the mob Labour party, so afraid of losing public support, so gutless and afraid to maintain an opinion they went along with the whole debacle in the hope of waiting it out to win an election by default at the incompetence of the Tories instead of standing up for their own constituents and voters, the Labour party have demonstrated clearly under Starmer they are cowards and chancers and are totally untrustworthy on any level, they’d betray their grannies for the chance of getting a Tory vote, so untrustworthy are they that they welcome Tories crossing the floor and jumping ship to their party with cheers and applause, why? because they’re the same
In Scotland we have rabid English nationalists pretending to be *British Scots* who don’t care what happens to Scotland as long as there’s a chance of advancement at the feet of their masters serving the realm they hold dear which is England, why? because they’re gutless wasters also afraid to stand on their own two feet and look others in the eye as equals and not begging serfs
They create excuses of borders finance, business, even religion for goodness sake, but whichever football team they pray to can’t and won’t rescue them from the mess their betters have gotten them into, at the first opportunity the Gods these people pray to will disappear like snaw aff a dyke if there’s ten bob more to be earned in the land they worship, the land of English nationalist ££££, just like the Rugby players run at full pelt to join up and be British for a few extra ££££ offered to them by the English, you know the ones who call themselves *British Scots*
The *British Scots* complainers moan about one border yet the English British nationalists created 27 of them, and for what? an ideological bet that England would be better and more powerful than it was before they did it, oh what a laugh, a jolly funny wheeze old chap we conned the backsides out of an entire country even better than Donald Trump conned the Americans with his build a Mexican wall that has nearly caused total civil unrest in an already mentally challenged atmosphere of gun toting movie wild west proportions
In another country the military would’ve arrested the damn lot of he Boris Johnsons Starmers and the rest of them that did this and put in an interim government to fix the mess they caused then put them on trial for anything they could think up then jail the lot of them
If Scotland does not take our independence from these characters it will not end well
Stop sittin’ on the fence Jim! … 🙂
A wee foot tapper to start the day.
Pete Seeger. This land is your land.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/215556435841901/permalink/1147349665995902/
Hope the link works
Golfnut,
Maybe it’s just me:
This content isn’t available at the moment
When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people or changed who can see it, or it’s been deleted.
Try this:
And here’s the Welsh version performed by one of my primary school headteachers and Dafydd Iwan (who you may have heard about recently leading the community singing of Yma o Hyd [Still Here] during our World Cup Qualifiers):
Quelle surprise.
While:
The Tory diaspora are in a parallel universe to the rest of us. Truss !!!
As an aside, has Ross decided that he will support the winner yet?
The entire planet is only just coming to terms with the stupidity of brexit.
Abbi Garton-Crosbie has been delving i nto the stellar record of Alister Jack while he has been the Scottish Secretary. Stellar as in permanently in the dark.
IN FIGURES What has the Scotland Office been up to for three years under Alister Jack?
https://archive.ph/hDJ9a
What you get when you “click here” on the previous article:
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack criticised for delivering ‘nothing for Scotland’
https://archive.ph/WtMQW
This would only result in increased support for reunification.
The border constituencies of NI all overwhelmingly back reunification as is!
https://archive.ph/2HZr0
New British rules for non-Irish EU citizens who want to cross the border branded ‘absurd’
NON-Irish EU citizens who want to cross the border into the north must apply for prior travel authorisation from next year.
In changes Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry has branded “absurd”, the British government’s new immigration rules will hit tourists and people who regularly cross the border for work or leisure.
One of the most hated things about the partitioning was English troops people stopping Irish people from freely travelling around their own county/island.
An Irishman needing racist English government permission to bring a polish girl he met in the pub home is not going to go down well.
It’s like the Tories want the end of the UK.
Mr Farry said it was “absurd” that people travelling from Dublin to Letterkenny in Co Donegal, who would naturally take the quickest route along the A5 in the north, would need an ETA.
“If you’re travelling between Clones and Cavan town you will cross the border into Co Fermanagh two or three times,” he said.
But then English/British governments are not exactly known for being intelligent of late.
It’s all bubbling up very nicely, s-s, both here and in ‘The North of Ireland’.
Their UK is finished,and they know it.
All that lovely oil, gas, agriculture, fish, timber and grouse moors, and BushMill, and the Giants’ Causeway, slipping through their podgy inbred fingers…
It is JC. Interesting thing is that it’s the neutral, pro-EU/protocol Alliance that’s complaining. They represent the middle ground that is key to reunification now unionism has lost it’s majority permanently.
Please stop with your “An Irishman needing racist English government permission..” obsession, you are neither helping the Irish nor helping us trying to fathom a way out of the almighty calamity a few Tories have created.
Your “It’s like the Tories want the end of the UK” almost hits the mark, it’s about turmoil and what might be exploited from the confusion, viz disaster capitalism…
Sorry, but that was the reality of the Irish border manned by foreign, ‘occupying’ English soldiers. It was like German troops stopping French people in occupied France to Irish people in the north.
The reason for the troubles was English/British repression of the minority Irish civil rights movement; it was not specifically about the original partitioning. It was active discrimination based on ethnicity (in a similar manner to what happen in the southern US states to black people) that led to the troubles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland_civil_rights_movement
Just imagine we try to vote for indy and England sends in English troops to overturn the vote, with these proceeding to kill, burn and rape their way across Scotland. England then occupies part of southern Scotland where you live. You are then discriminated against, getting pulled over and searched regularly when you try to cross into free Scotland by foreign, English troops, who abuse you, calling you ‘jock scum’ and the like. How would you feel about that? That was the reality of the hard border in NI and how such hatred and distrust developed.
The GFA agreement was not about ‘stopping terrorism’, it was about forcing the UK to give equal rights to Irish people in the north, including the right to move freely across their own island. It is why there is such international outrage at England messing with the GFA and the proposal that Irish people will need to ask England’s permission again to bring their Polish partner home for the evening.
We are also now going to see if our Yes movement is actually to be a Scottish civil rights movement given the government of the majority English/British UK population are stating Scots don’t have the same civil rights as them, i.e. the right to self-determine. English/British can freely choose to leave / join unions, but people of Scottish ethnicity / nationality cannot.
Scotland has no right to self-determination, only the Scottish people (=nation) do. We gain our UN right to self-determination though our collective agreement we are Scots and not British. London saying Scots cannot freely vote for the government they wish for (self-determine) is no different to it saying black people cannot, and there is only one correct technical term to describe that.
We should not pussyfoot around that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a jus cogens rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter’s norms. It states that peoples, based on respect for the principle of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity, have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no interference.
To argue English permission is needed for iref2 is to deny a minority ethnic / national group the right to vote. Literally.
That is what this will come down to in the courts if it must. It will be whether the Scots are a people / nation, and if they are, then they unquestionably have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no interference. The law making powers of Holyrood are ultimately irrelevant here. We can express our desire for sovereignty by any free and fair vote.
I have been waiting to see if the English/British government would actually try to strip me and those of my nationality of the right to vote. When they went ahead and tried to get the iref bill thrown out, it confirmed what they think of Scots people, and that is not respect. They think us lesser / subordinate to them as a people. They must to try and deny us the basic human rights that they themselves enjoy.
Christ almighty do you ever actually LISTEN
SNP NEC are set to ‘ intervene ‘, with Nicola’s approval in the SC hearing.
Because if Scotland is a colony subjugated under English rule, so is Wales.
https://archive.ph/IsAEw
For some reason I seem to keep managing to post before I’ve finished.
Pressure on Anas Sarwar over indyref2 as Mark Drakeford supports vote
SCOTTISH Labour has been asked to explain its position after the First Minister of Wales, Labour’s Mark Drakeford, said the SNP had a mandate to deliver a second independence referendum.
My guess is that Drakeford is Welsh (and British), unlike Sarwar who’s just North British?
England’s First and Final Colony.
Just ask Adam Price.
As for First Minister Drakeford:
[…]
the Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford has now backed the Scottish Government’s calls for an independence referendum.
The SNP “won an election on the basis they would seek another referendum”, the Welsh Labour leader told BBC Radio 4 on Friday.
“How can that be denied to the Scottish people?”
[…]
Scottish Labour leader told to follow Mark Drakeford in backing independence referendum
23 Jul 2022 2 minute read
https://nation.cymru/news/scottish-labour-leader-told-to-follow-mark-drakeford-in-backing-independence-referendum/
I’ve always said the Welsh PW is a decent man who respects democracy, even if the party he’s in don’t
Off topic (but TV related)
French deputes vote to scrap TV licence:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/french-mps-vote-scrap-public-154601680.html
France’s National Assembly on Saturday approved a measure to scrap the TV licence fee as part of a drive to boost purchasing power. Public broadcasting will in future be financed by VAT.
The National Assembly voted on Saturday to scrap the 138 euro levy – which finances public broadcasting – as part of its plans to boost purchasing power – a central theme during recent elections.
The measure passed with 170 MPs in favour and 57 against, during the first reading of the so-called ‘rectifying finance bill’ for 2022. The right-wing Republicans (LR) and the far-right National Rally (RN) voted in favour and the left alliance Nupes unanimously against.
[…]
OT – A fairly good if scathing takedown of the Tory race to be the next PM…
BBC radio Scotland providing free Tory advertising with the attacks on SNP and Independence.
25 mins in with the programme and no alternative views
Where’s the impartiality. Small % of tories in Scotland will vote. So why the Daily Mail/Telegraph types was to wall.
The ex chair of the School of art must be please by the adherents in the newsroom.
Tories talking about integrity is a laugh. Protect our borders ( no not ours) the borders from Europe. No more immigration says a speaker who came from abroad. You really couldn’t make this up.well not quite true the bbc do.
He’s not gone yet!
Boris Johnson ‘tells Downing Street aides he’ll be prime minister again in a year’
https://archive.ph/SSATd
He did say ” Hasta la vista baby”
Meanwhile – on a Yorkshire Moor – Boris Johnston creates photo ops in army fatigues, running around with rifles and throwing grenades. The Tories in the shires will be delirious with joy.
This may be Boris Johnson preparing his troops to ”take back control ” of Scotland !
Quaking in our shoes – so we are 😱
He’s more likely to shoot himself in the foot IMO.
It looked like soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland he was training with.
RRof Sc- sub branch. Just a coincidence?
Helping an new independent country against a large neighbour….. oops.
The SNP voter isn’t a new species:
How many times have we heard the opposition to the SNP talk about pulling the wool over the eyes of Scottish voters? which when you think about it is a really stupid thing to say, and it’s as though SNP voters, us nasty nationalists were all born or materialised out of thin air as Nationalists
instead of what we were which was Labour Tory and Liberal Democrat voters up until we found out we were being conned and ripped off by the English political parties, the SNP came along and Boom! they offered better so all us ex Labour Tory and Liberal Democrats all of a sudden became described as these nasty nationalists who left their parties for a new one, but we’re the same people we were before so why are the Tories Labour and Liberal Democrats so nasty towards their own ex voters by calling us stupid
Is it because when they had our votes they thought we were stupid ?
Note to non SNP voters: We were once you, well except for the British nationalist head case types of course
they offered better so all us ex Labour Tory and Liberal Democrats all of a sudden became described as these nasty nationalists who left their parties for a new one, but we’re the same people we were before so why are the Tories Labour and Liberal Democrats so nasty towards their own ex voters by calling us stupid
___________
Though I guess if you graduate from being an anti-Royalist, pro-European Union Liberal Democrat to a fervent supporter of a new royal yacht (which the Windsors don’t want or need), a devout no-deal Brexiter intent on ripping up protocols and Tory, then you’ve got a good chance of being lauded and becoming the new Prime Minister …
Who’s trying to pull the wool over whose eyes?
Brengland’s footsoldiers at work it seems.
https://archive.ph/ioS90
SNP MSP Karen Adam’s Peterhead office vandalised with glass door smashed
AN SNP MSP has contacted police after discovering that the glass doors at her constituency office had been smashed overnight.
On Sunday afternoon Karen Adam, the MSP for Banff and Buchan who won her seat last year, found that the office on Chapel Street, Peterhead, appeared to have been vandalised. It came after the office was soft-launched just two days ago.
The representative uploaded photos of the damage to social media, writing that “this is not the way to protest”.
The National:
In the post, Adam wrote: “Police being called. I’m trying to do the job I was elected to.
“Transphobic stickers at my office and now this. Shame on them. My staff deserve better. They deserve to feel safe. Also a shameful waste of resources and time,” she added.
The attack comes days after Adam hosted her first surgery in the space, focusing on the cost of living crisis with representatives from Citizens Advice Scotland, the Trussell Trust, Social Security Scotland and other groups.
British football fans.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-62283083
Led by Donkeys collects a few assurances form the Tories about the free flowin border at Dover post BREXIT
And no Elphicko overdub… 🤣
Absolutely brilliant…
superb
O/T Mike Small of Bella Caledonia says his site has been under cyber attack for months trying to disable his ability to function .
He does not apportion blame on any specific individual or body but … my own guess is that the anti-democratic forces of The Union are being rallied to fight the good fight on behalf our masters down south .
Watch your back , Paul !
Seems the dirty tricks and black ops of the brit state have been dialled up ro 11 recently.
The No campaign looks to have begun in earnest in advance of the inevitable democratic event about to unfold.
Game on.
Brexit: The End. Dover and Out.
Who d’ya think you are Sion….The Beatles?…lol
By the way….as of midnight….I’m 71.
Mick Jagger…Susan George and (oh god) Liz Truss share my birthday.