Fresh from the hustings at Perth, where Liz Truss, the front runner in the Great Tory Thatcher in their Eyes contest, assured a gaggle of elderly Scottish Tories that she will not “allow” Scotland to have another independence referendum and lied about the SNP agreeing to the referendum being a once in a generation event as a condition of being granted permission to hold it. The play doh Thatcher’s campaign team revealed her big plan to halt the independence movement in its tracks and send it hamewards tae think again.
The basics of Truss’s plan were detailed in a report in the digital i-news by Katy Balls, who is the deputy political editor of the Conservative Spectator magazine which was once edited by Boris Johnson, although you might have greater confidence in her reporting if this deputy political editor knew that Nicola Sturgeon was the leader of the Scottish National Party and not the “Scottish Nationalist Party”. But then Balls is a Tory journalist and won’t want to acknowledge that the Conservatives are the English Nationalist Party. But I digress.
Balls tells us that if elected as Prime Minister by the membership of the Conservative party, Truss intends to revive the combative and confrontational so-called muscular unionism championed by Johnson in the early days of his premiership before being persuaded to abandon it by Michael Gove, who feared that it was counter productive and a gift to the independence cause. Because if there is one thing guaranteed to make your average Scottish person go, “Aye, that WILL be right, pal.” it is being hectored and disrespected by an unpopular Conservative leader that they didn’t vote for.
Truss believes that because she went to primary school in Paisley for a few years she has an instinctive understanding of what Scotland wants and how to best get her message accepted by Scottish public opinion. There is however one way in which Liz Truss does indeed have her finger on the pulse of the Scottish zeitgeist. She thinks Michael Gove is an oily wee skelf too, so she is not at all inclined to take his advice on how to handle the demand for Scottish independence, or indeed anything else for that matter. According to Balls : “Truss has no plans to even give Gove – with whom she has clashed on a range of issues during her ministerial career – a job in the Cabinet, let alone a role on the union. Her instincts differ from his.” So it’s going to be back to the blatant hectoring and disrespect. It will be an active aggressive approach instead of Gove’s passive aggressive one.
Central to the new aggressive approach will be an instruction to ministers and Conservative MPs to cease mentioning the i-word. They will be told to no longer mention Scottish independence but rather only to refer to “Scottish separatism.” Truss thinks that this will frame independence as a negative act, possibly in the deluded belief that Scottish people will think that separating Scotland from her government is a bad thing.
Perhaps Truss wants to move away from talking about Scottish nationalism because it does not sound so bad when contrasted with the blatant English nationalism of Truss’s Conservative party, but it is unlikely that she possesses that much self-awareness.
In any event, calling Scottish independence “separatism” is rather like insisting that someone you know who intends to emigrate to a new and better life in a country with a sensible and democratic government is planning a trip to the airport where there will be queues and passport control and their luggage might get lost. It’s childish and petulant and redolent of a self-centred attitude, so it’s very much on brand for Liz Truss then. It’s an infantile attempt to frame Scottish independence as being all about England.
Truss also wants to make further unilateral changes to the Scotland act in order to give parliamentary privilege to members of the Scottish parliament, her hope is that this would allow for “more robust questions” of the SNP government from opposition politicians, by allowing them to lie with impunity. Truss is one of those Tories who believes that the Scottish media gives the SNP an easy ride. Now that’s practically the text book definition of delusion.
There are plenty among the Scottish Conservatives who fear that Truss’s aggressively confrontational approach will blow up in their face, Balls reports : “As one Scottish Tory put it to me during the parliamentary stages of the contest: ‘I’ll back anyone who is not Liz.’ They worry that Truss’s rhetoric could backfire – and push people in favour of independence if the Tories sound as though they are talking Scotland down.”
Truss’s basic problem is that this sort of nonsense might appeal to the moon howling British nationalist contingent on social media, and to the union flag wavers of the Conservative party membership, but it is likely merely to provoke at best eye-rolling and at worst outright anger from that wider Scottish public to whom Truss must appeal if her new strategy is to have any success. Why not go the whole hog Liz? You could call it Scottish rupturism or Scottish Grand Canyoning instead.
Boris Johnson was unable to sell his so called muscular unionism to a doubtful Scottish public. Johnson is a liar and a cheat but like all successful con artists he is basically a show man, even so, the people of Scotland proved immune to his charms. Liz Truss’s problem is that she has no charm at all. She comes across as a low rent Artificial Intelligence version of Margaret Thatcher, only without the intelligence part, strangely robotic and awkward, bereft of empathy or emotional intelligence. If the Conservatives are remotely serious about stopping independence, they have to demonstrate that they can come up with a message that has an appeal beyond the monarchy loving Winston Churchill worshipers who make up the core of their support in Scotland. So far they have dismally failed to achieve that, and Truss looks as though she will merely make things worse.
Truss is not even in Downing Street yet but she is already proving that she is a gift to the independence movement.
I won’t be about tomorrow as I need to prepare some paperwork for my appeal against the DWP’s ridiculous PIP decision.
______________________________________________________
My Gaelic maps of Scotland are still available, a perfect gift for any Gaelic learner or just for anyone who likes maps. The maps cost £15 each plus £7 P&P within the UK. You can order by sending a PayPal payment of £22 to weegingerbook@yahoo.com (Please remember to include the postal address where you want the map sent to).
I am now writing the daily newsletter for The National, published every day from Monday to Friday in the late afternoon. So if you’d like a daily dose of dug you can subscribe to The National, Scotland’s only pro-independence newspaper, here: Subscriptions from The National
This is your reminder that the purpose of this blog is to promote Scottish independence. If the comment you want to make will not assist with that goal then don’t post it. If you want to mouth off about how much you dislike the SNP leadership there are other forums where you can do that. You’re not welcome to do it here.
You can help to support this blog with a PayPal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button below. If you don’t have a PayPal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button.
Quite an interesting paper from 2011 Liz Truss might like to read, if she can engage her prefrontals for more than a fleeting second. The thrust was about the EU, but the general principles are the same:
Click to access SN06110.pdf
“1.1 Continuation and secession
In general, under customary international law, when a state breaks up, treaty obligations and membership of international organisations pass to the continuing state – if it is possible to discern one.
…
If a continuing state were identified in the event of Scottish independence, it would almost certainly be what was left of the UK without Scotland. This would leave Scotland as a new state, without the treaty obligations and membership of international organisations that it had had as part of the UK”
and then:
“1.2 Separation
The situation of separating a voluntary union of two recognised states is different. It appears to give rise to a presumption in favour of continuity of treaties with regard to each component part, though this is subject to expressed intention to the contrary.”
So basically speaking it seems that Truss will turn her back on Crawfod & Boyle who were given the remit by Cameron to claim the status of Continuing UK – hence Scotland becoming independent via secession and all us wonderful humans being secessionists, in favour of calling us separatists, hence our Independence through separation and hence an equal rights separation and sharing the treaties and memberships. Which would mean Scotland having a seat on the Security Council, ho hum.
I have a feeling the prefrontals weren’t properly engaged. Either that or, secretly, she’s one of us.
Welcome to YES, Liz!
Excellent, instead of having an independence referendum( which she’s not going to allow anyway) we have Separatist referendum instead, we haven’t had one of them yet.
Thanks liz.
Well, on that subject, of the UK Government being its own worst enemy as far as prejudicing its case in a court:
https://www.scottishconstitutionalfutures.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1767&articleType=ArticleView&articleId=2514
“Dauvit Broun: By Publishing the Legal Opinion in Support of Their Position, Has the UK Government Created a Threat to rUK’s Position as a Continuing State?”
It’s why anyone on our side of YES who try to insist the ScotGov and the LA should be totally open about all its consultations and plans, aren’t on our side of YES.
Broun emphasises this from the Crawford & Boyle:
“This serves to reinforce the importance of negotiations in predetermining the consequences of independence.”
But I don’t think he’s taken it far enough. It seems to me that WITH a negotiated agreement, mututally beneficial to both the rUK and Scotland, the international community will with one or two possible exceptions, be glad to accept the decisions and move on to the next problem.
WITHOUT that agreement, both rUK and Scotland suffer, and it only takes a little too much hostility from either side to drag the thang on for years, to the detriment of both.
Therefore there can be no “vengeance” or “spite” from either side. And what might be needed is a good independent arbiter.
I’ll read the link later and thanks for providing it. I find it difficult to believe that anyone took Crawford and Boyles opinion seriously or that it was viewed as serious legal advice. Like GERS they started with the desired outcome and worked their way backwards including asserting that the Treaty of Union was the equivalent of a non treaty with 41 Maori chiefs. I think we’ll find when push comes to shove that this was simply a document to undermine the Yes argument, it was after all just 1 of many including the IFS despicable pensions opinion, published I might add at nigh on the same time as the DWP rebuttal.
Cameron, Crawford and Boyle put themselves in a very bad place even if they had received permission from the crown, and that would be an interesting question for the Queen.
Well I’ve read it, and it is an excellent example of brown nosing the union’s backside. Although pretending to critique the declaration of Wallace that Scotland was extinquished, he then goes on to declare that indeed it was and even if it wasn’t it’ll be westminster’s that gets to decide. I was way too kind when saying he was brown nosing. People please read this.
Note that he says Scotland was extinguished, but doesn’t in anyway explain how or indeed why. You would have thought that particular detail might have been Article 1 in the Treaty.
He then goes on to declare that England certainly wasn’t extinguished because the Queen was Elisabeth the second and Scotland never had an Elizabeth😂
Sorry folks I just can’t believe this f##kwit was employed to teach Scottish history.
Apparently it would problematic for the international community and international law for Scotland and England to be accepted as their former States. Again I have to no explanation why.
Just for the record, Scots law is recognised by the international community or it would not have been necessary to designate the court at the Hague as Scottish territory of indeed to even try the Lockerbie bomber under Scots law.
Loved this yr2 thanks.
I think he gave as an example of our non-existence the fact that no Scottish treaty presently exists bit that, on the other hand, England’s treaty with Portugal from the 12th century still exists. He fails to realise that this is an argument FOR the existence of Scotland. Portugal lost her independence for 80 years or so when her Monarch was also the King of Spain [sounds familiar?]. Yet when Portugal regained her Independence [illegally, by the way] that treaty popped back into place. So, there is Life after Union….
That last observation in particular is highly pertinent. Our legal sovereignty is already well-established internationally. So much for “extinction”.
I didn’t read it that way. I read it as him simplifying the UK position, and showing how the international community would understand what the UK’s position was. For instance:
“By promoting the legal opinion in a public forum, the UK government has accepted either that England as well as Scotland does not exist, or that the UK is simply England by another name.”
was more to show how the UK Government had restricted their own ability to claim otherwise and negotiate a Czechoslovakia type of divorce or whatever might be appropriate.
It increased the standard response of course “Fine then, we’ll secede and only take whatever share of the debt we can be bothered with”.
ScotGov didn’t make the same mistake, it talked about negotiations after a YES vote and wisely left it at that.
The legal opinion is the rod they are using to try and cudgel us into submission, the assumed superiority of England’s claim to decide how and under what conditions we leave this union, he explicitly states that yr2. He absolutely agreed with Gallagher and Boyle that Scotland no longer exists. Withdrawing from the Treaty and Repealing the Act of Union is separation, that’s our decision not Englands.
My comments were directed at his bizzare assumptions not your excellent posts on the desirability of separation rather than secession.
In short, they will attempt to depart as they have ruled: by bluff and an assertion of predominance that they don’t actually possess. But by then the people of Scotland will largely have overcome their own self-doubt and stopped accepting their legitimacy to rule over us, so their bluff will be called.
Which balloon will be pricked beforehand anyway, I still feel, by the constitutional showdown that is imminent.
We’ll have to agree to disagree Golfnut, about his position on this. For me, he made it clear here:
“In this paper I will explore how their assessment of the UK’s identity in international law could lead to a situation which, according to Professors Crawford and Boyle, would play into the hands of the Scottish government, undermining the UK government’s position about Scotland and the rest of the UK’s status in international law. “.
Seems clear to me he disagrees with Crawford and Boyle’s conclusions, far from agreeing with them.
Well, one can at least conclude that the legalistic defence of the Union already seems to be coming apart at the seams. Welcome, folks, to headless chicken Unionland…
I think Golfnut and I having different opinions about the author himself, also shows the different interpretations the Annex A by Crawford & Boyle can have. Some thought it showed the rUK as the cUK and it was the definitive article. Some took it as an insult – the claim that Scotland had been absorbed by England! I agree with this though, and thought the same so Broun confirms for me, the opinion I already had:
“But their opinion is a finely crafted piece of legal architecture which shows clearly the weight-bearing assumptions on which it is based.”
which I thought was a truly stupid thing for the UK Government to do, so early in the “game”.
” I agree with this though”
I mean the bit I quoted, not the nonsense about Scotland being absorbed by an enlarged England 🙂
I wonder if that’s not because — given the UK’s arguably more time consuming to get and wide-ranging membership is nomore — she considered a later fight with Scotland for the Security Council seat worth sticking it with half the UK’s debt?
Excellent, if we’re doing a 50/50 split we get 50% of the assets, probably one cancels out the other anyway and I’m sure I don’t know what we do with an aircraft carrier or Trident. EBay maybe.
Stands and applauds with a feck off big grin on his puss.
Churchill: oh, yes!
That’s another nodding dog to add to Truss’s collection.
Analysis of the Tory hustings in Perth from Lesley Riddoch. I posted it on the previous thread but it’s appropriate here.
Lesley Riddoch: Tory members are not just denying indy, but devolution itself
https://archive.ph/N7oxv
Wouldn’t it be good if there was a way to identify Tory card holders and make them live according to Tory values….pay for further education, pay for prescriptions, no free bus passes, kept waiting on a hospital trolley in the corridor, waiting hours for an ambulance …..
I wish you all the best with your appeal at the DWP, I hope everything works out well for you.
So , ”taking back control ” from the EU was actually a ‘Separatist’ movement instigated by Westminster in the eyes of Truss ?
So here we are again….on a FAMILIAR Tory treadmill…..same one we had with BJ as PM.
Boris Johnson sent out his ministers every day to LIE…COVER UP…..MAKE EXCUSES….DENY…etc etc…..for HIM.
NOW…..we have Liz Truss….not even WON yet…..i.e. IN the actual JOB…..as PM yet.
And already ……ministers and Tory MP’s….are LYING….COVERING UP….MAKING EXCUSES….DENYING….etc etc ….for HER.
Liz Truss said ” British workers need “more graft”? (abridged version of comment)
Sajid Javid (who is backing Truss) was asked what she meant by that on SKY News.
He said ” That comment as I understand it was made a number of years ago. I don’t know the exact context it was made in”…..then he waffled out more excuses which bore NO relation to Truss’s comment or it’s TRUE meaning which also kinda made you think if he did not, as he said, “know the exact context it was made in” why then is he explaining what he thinks she meant……
Kit Malthouse (who is backing Liz Truss) said on LBC Radio ( and this is a beauty of an analogy……mind blowing even….confirmation that they truly think we are ALL cretins).
““Lots of people work extremely hard. But every single school report I ever had said ‘could try harder’. So I don’t think there’s anything wrong with encouraging people to work as hard as they possibly can.”…..School report !…..in the name of the wee man.
So YES we are now in FAMILIAR territory and on yet another Tory treadmill same one we were on with BJ as PM ….so yes Liz Truss is very much yet another gift to Scottish independence because she like ALL Tories are just plain rubbish at politics……..they take us for fools while expecting us to respect them ,trust them, believe and support them as politicians (or do they even care what we think? NO they do NOT care)……while they continue to make a multitude of cock ups and then try to cover them up, deny them, LIE and make excuses and use weak analogies as a way of explaining the square root of Jack Sh*t…….(is Brexit and those voters who still worship at it’s altar the REAL reason why they, Tories, think they can continue on the same old tired well trodden path as per usual…as in a destructive one…for us that is….Yes I believe it is at the root ).
Enough……anyone in Scotland who is STILL convinced that staying part of the UK is the best future for Scotland after all of this (and MORE)….well that being the case…. I am afraid that for me that rationality (or lack of) is one even I could not fathom as to the reason(s) why. …I suspect the reason(s) they SAY that they want to still be a part of the UK are NOT the REAL reason(s).
However I suspect those still in denial are diminishing in numbers in Scotland and NOT the actual majority as many uber BritNats like to promote is the case…..as in the diehard usual suspects who would see us all in the gutter before they face up to reality……even then I think they would STILL wave their Union flag………with relish and also with a fake pride that supports something NOT worth supporting (many examples to most definitely back that up both historically and via the here and NOW).
Sad that some STILL seek to endure this eternal Hell and thus ensure it is inflicted also upon others who do NOT want it to continue…for what?……..
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
I see no difference between the propaganda being deployed by England’s Tories in relation to Scotland and Putin’s with respect to Ukraine.
Both claim that they have to govern neighbouring countries to save the people from separatist governments who,in their opinion,have failed their electorate.
Of course,both Russia and England really covet their neighbours’ resources and the rest is just b/s to cover up the real motive.
No army crossing Scotland’s border,yet,but just a matter of time with the extreme right wing Tory government installed at Westminster brooking no opposition to their rule.
…and both ( Russia and England ) pine for their lost empires , so cannot ”allow separatists ” to reduce their perceived areas of influence .
You are of course perfectly right re England exactly parallelling Russia in its faded colonial attitude. I don’t agree though about an English army of occupation, whatever administration is in place in London. By the time it gets to the stage of Scotland’s widespread refusal to accept the legitimacy of London rule, the game would be over and everyone north and south of the border, and virtually everyone elsewhere in the world as well would know it.
In that respect England isn’t Russia. It hasn’t the power to sustain the consequences of being that degree of international pariah.
Actually, it seems the expectation of our imminent departure is already present to some (if subconscious) extent among many in England already. All this Tory posturing is desperate “whistling in the wind” to try to salve their fragile self-worth about it.
As THE political party and their supporters who many identify as hypocrites are currently castigating Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP for actions they claim to have occurred, as in throwing of eggs and spitting at Tory members, outside the hustings at Perth …..well………
Are we then to do the same to Boris Johnson and all of those Tory MP’s supportive of Brexit when a Labour MP was killed by a British Nationalist who was also a supporter of Tory Brexit…..something I would say was MORE extreme and heinous.NO?
I have to be honest ….I cannot see, with the large(ish) police presence outside the venue, that if some Tory members were spat on or had eggs thrown at them that they would NOT have went up to a police officer and complained….also are the Police blind surely if they witnessed this then arrests would have been made….because apparently NO were arrests made……..and spitting at people is considered an assault.
As to those shouting and displaying banners re Tory Scum and abusing BBC Journo who represents for many a Pro Union propaganda machine….well sorry but although I myself would NOT do or say it at any Pro Indy march or anti Tory protest ( as assume surely evident anyway to one and all) what about all of those Brexit supporters outside WM parliament who were following, intimidating, verbally abusing and surrounding MP’s who supported Remain …..and laughingly some of the MP’s they called Traitors were TORY MP’s like Anna Soubry……was that OK to do in the name of Tory Brexit……
Also looking at Twitter many an Indy supporter is showing the kind of Pro Tory, Pro Union and now I am sure also Pro Brexit supporters antics (deplorable ones) on the 19 September 2014 in Glasgow’s George Square…..as in those against the SNP and independence…..and now also remaining in the EU.
So is THIS but yet another double standard they are setting….Do as I say NOT as those who SUPPORT us and OUR policies DO……..sounds about right for Tories and Unionists obviously………
Cue faux outrage from the Daily Torygraph….Daily Express (also known as S*x-It-Up-Press…missing letter is an ‘E’) on CyberNats who they identify as SNP supporters but word is they were NOT but then truth seeking and facts for both of these papers, and t’other’s, is a weakness….as they never attempt to seek either……as like the political party they support….LIES rule to CON a BritNat fool….of which there seems to be an abundance…..very Uber ones too……….
No…not condoning those who were NOT SNP supporters actions if they DID indeed do what they were accused of doing…Jury out on that re Eggs and spitting)….just saying you can’t sit on a moral high horse when those who support and vote for YOUR party are committing WORSE and more SERIOUS actions against opposing political parties and their members….thought THAT would be obvious….but then Tories don’t do honesty and fairness….tis for them alien concepts….as these are not the things that not win elections….or referendums.
* “as these are not the things that not win elections”
Arrgghhh……delete second “win”……as should have been :
“as these are not the things that win elections”
Any other mistakes….well sorry but anger makes you grammatically incorrect it seems…or is it just me ?……………Ha Ha
OMG….even my correction had a mistake……..LOL
Word to delete is second ‘NOT’ as opposed to ‘WIN’
That’s it I’m off to join a convent….or a sect….or whatever……..
The magic spit that can travel 50 metres, sure I’ve seen something similar in the past.
Jfngw
This May and could be used in evidence…….
There’s always another shooter behind the ” grassed-up- know-oll”
(sorry…thats the best I could come up with….its late.)
Balls is the name and talking it is, apparently, the game!
Whoever gets in and Truss is the most likely she will just be a puppet to those pulling the purse strings – reminds me of the program Years and Years with Emma Thomson – will we now have reality mirroring fiction!
I don’t know where I read it but it is like a ‘Goldfish leading a shoal of Piranhas’.
What we are seeing in Tory leadership campaign is the candidates telling the faithful what they really want to hear- it’s a bit like turning back the carpet and finding out the dirty smell was dog t***d after all. Unfortunately the ERG bampots currently hold sway in Tory party so what we are seeing is what we will get.
This whole process is long, futile and irrelevant to most peoples concerns but the only silver lining is it will make the ~approximately 20% soft No’s more amenable to another Referendum and voting Yes. The Yes side should realise that Truss or Sunak help highlight many of the negatives of being in the UK so clearly that now is time for Yes side to highlight positives and clearly address all the issues (currency, border etc) that we know will be pumped out and inflated to try and spread fear. If this can be done effectively not only more high profile and influential people will come over to Yes side but Referendum will not only take place but be won by a clear majority. This in turn will help unite nation for first few years post independence,
Even as a lapsed Catholic I feel that I am certain to go straight to Heaven as I am enduring my allotted time in Purgatory by living through the never-ending Tory Leadership contest .
In fact , such is my suffering , I am almost sure that not only will I be welcomed through the Pearly Gates but may be canonised immediately for my forbearance in the face of such awful and unremitting boredom .
Ha ha Jim amen to that!
OT
I just had a quick look at the SNP accounts for y/e 2021, page 14
“(PPERA) 2000 … requires the National Treasurer
…
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Party will continue in operation.”
then from the auditors, page 15 :
“In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the National Treasurer’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate”
which possibly explains a belated disclaimer elsewhere that “… that we really feel we should leave the matter to a trained accountant”
Quite.
“Going concern” means that “ring-fenced” can come out of future revenues, as it does for so many businesses – like the biggest, and the smallest like mine. Here’s some news – most businesses don’t have enough in the bank to pay the bills for the next 12 months – or buy supplies.
This is a good article
Yesterday the school exam results for England and Wales were released, they were roughly in line with Scotland’s results released last week, that’s where the similarity ends, whereas here the ScotGov was lambasted across the media. yesterday not a peep from the same media.
Aye, stewartb’s comparative perfectly illustrated the BBC in Scotland’s completely unique take – This is not due to some rogue journalist in play but a dedicated propaganda outfit BBC management is not only aware of, but actively condone.
and with BBC journos to coordinate the propaganda attacks in place across the Scottish papers.
Same BBC Journos reporting the two wannabee PM’s (currently touring the UK, mainly ENGLAND, on a self promotion tour) every attack on the Scottish government’s supposed poor performance in Scotland…..while services in England under the UK government is crumbling……and the current zombie government in the UK twiddle their thumbs…and the party loving PM is off on yet another jolly…..
Amidst all of this BBC Reporting Scotland ask ” What can the Scottish government do to help in the current cost of living crisis” ?…….
https://www.thenational.scot/news/20672519.public-abuse-disagree-undermines-independence-movement/
I agree with every word of it.
It’s all very well claiming Cook “provoked” a reaction, but even if true it’s totally counter-productive to respond with the reaction.
It lets all of us down, it letgs YES down, and it deters soft NOes and the undecided, who think it makes us a bunch of extremist nutters.
Name and shame the idiots who do this.
“It lets all of us down, it letgs YES down, and it deters soft NOes and the undecided, who think it makes us a bunch of extremist nutters.”
Och behave yourself.
It was a diverse group in that crowd organised by “Perth against Racism”, it was not a YES event – They had been chanting “Tory Scum” most of the day, THAT was what embarrassed Tory attendees, particularly since overseas media crews had interviewed the demonstrators and reported them well behaved and in good spirits.
The problem for the Tories was finding a diversion to the bad publicity and James Cook duly obliged AFTER he had broadcast to the 6 o’clock news.
He would either know precisely which group out of the hundreds demonstrating would most likely create the diversion angle he wanted, or there would have been a plant, doing so “off-camera” was more likely to limit guarded response, in short it was all of it a set-up.
Now WHO within the target group was recording what followed is unknown, but what we are told via the same media is that the post containing the footage was soon DELETED. Now why would they ?
Plants or foolish, the result would have been the same, instead of being a news story about Scots disenchantment with the Tories, it’s about THAT video….
The only “extremist nutters” present were inside the venue.
All reporting it does it make the UK media look anti-Scottish. It’s called selective reporting, and the public don’t take kindly to it. It’s a non-story, so why is on the BBC? To try and make Yes look bad, not because it’s newsworthy. The public are not daft. I think everyone can agree that idiot protester in crowd ranks pretty low down the ‘news of serious concern to voters’ right now.
Every country has it’s idiots, and they don’t sway voters. Absolutely nobody in Scotland is going to vote a specific way based on a news report of someone being an idiot. Jeez, for all we know ‘abusive’ Yessers could just be false flag britnats. Plenty on the interweb.
People support indy based on its merits, namely the best form of government for Scotland. Independent or not, we’ll still be sharing our country with same people, idiots included.
Of course if the Yes movement was led by right-wing extremists and when encountering Yes supporters, these seemed to be likewise, then that would put potential supports off, particularly if the UK parties were all moderate democrats.
But half the electorate is yes. That’s people’s mum, dad, sister, brother, gran, granddad, son, daughter, best mate work mate…. So anyone arguing that yes voters are nasty extremist separatists are only going to harm their cause as that’s what they are falsely accusing people’s close friends and family of. Vilifying a group might make people think twice when they don’t know anyone from that group because its fringe / tiny, but the days of Scottish indy supporters being a few guys in a highland pub are long gone. Most Scots have actually backed Yes when asked in previous polling; just some have wavered. So if you call a Scot a separatist nationalist, you are calling most people in Scotland that. It’s not wise.
As for ‘traitors’. Well nobody British can be a traitor to Scotland (for backing the union) as Scotland isn’t their country, Britain is. That’s got to be respected as much as we ask for the same in return.
James Cook says he’s Scottish. That might mean for him a regional British identity, or a joint national one, or he his Scottish but thinks the union is better, or even maybe is one of the 62% (2011) Scottish only but secretly supports indy? You won’t get far in the Scottish media establishment being an open Yes.
The test of his nationality is to simply ask him, that if offered a choice between Scottish and British passports, which would he take? Scots would take the Scottish, Brits the British. Of course he might tell a porky here, so you’ll never know! Just have to accept his self-id! 🙂
Of course if anyone claims to be Scottish when they are actually British, it means they are ashamed of their national identity. Which speaks for itself about where we are.
Oh and I might add that Cook has chosen to work for an other nation’s national broadcaster. He said he’s Scottish, but unless he’s British too, it’s not his national broadcaster either. The BBC is a foreign broadcaster unless someone is British in national identity.
A better question to ask him might be whether people of Scottish national identity should have to pay for the BBC on pain of fines / jail if they are not actually British? Scots have no national broadcaster, but are forced to pay for that of another people / nation against their will. He is taking money from Scots against their will; that much is true and a fair criticism.
It’s all to be civilised and law-abiding then?
I suggest you tell the Tories and the media, who ignore their own rules. They make them, and gnash and wail when other don’t follow them. The event was staged to create news. Perhaps the demonstrators swallowed the bait. Perhaps they were rent-a-mob. Perhaps the BBC can attempt to ‘interview’ multiple anti-Tory members of the public in more civilised settings in future.
Sturgeon has been criticised by some of the more idiotic Indy supporters for saying the behaviour was unacceptable. She did the right thing, and no reasonable unionist can criticise her for it.
Hence this from Chris Deerin brings a smile to the face:
“It was, unfortunately, unmissable that Nicola Sturgeon explicitly defended Cook but not Moscrop. In fact, I’m afraid I found her response contemptible. The abuse was “not in my name” she said, which is fine, if boilerplate.”
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/scotland/2022/08/nicola-sturgeon-scottish-nationalist-mob
This was then leapt upon by Tomkins: “Mr @chrisdeerin
on top form here. He’s right that Nicola Sturgeon’s response to the Nationalist mob outside the Tory leadership hustings in Perth this week was “contemptible”.“.
And what it is these two paragons of society find “contemptible”? Is it that Sturgeon commented on Cook, “explicitly defended Cook”?
No, it’s that she didn’t make a similar comment about someone else who wasn’t even in the news as far as I know who apparently tweeted that she had had her jacket pulled and was called a whore. Well, that’s wrong, but do Deerin and Tomkins really think that Sturgeon knows everything that goes on, everywhere, all the time? That she reads the whole internet?
Unionists let themselves down all the time, and it’s why we need to behave ourselves – so that the uninvolved can see who are the real bigots.
I may be being cynical. I would have thought the political correspondent James Cooke would be very familiar with all the players in the Independence Movement. Is it at all possible that the journalist chose to approach the particular individual deliberately to get the response he did? I am in no way supporting the argument but as friends said to me the greater majority of those protesting outside Perth Concert Hall did so peaceably. We need to be careful and mindful how we approach the time ahead.
The Farage wannabe Lord Frost has gone full tonto on Scotland, the SNP, and devolution. he doesn’t realise it yet but it is exactly the attitude he shows that drives Scots closer to Independence and makes us all the more determined to dump him and everyone like him.
According to him, Scotland isn’t a country, its people are British and no other nationality is allowed.
https://archive.ph/KaG8A
We have them terrified now, they are aware of the true level of support for Independence and it has them panicking and kicking out in fear, whihc can be read in Frost’s diatribe.
Frost and others just like him too are very much a gift to the cause of Independence.
This is in direct contradiction to the United Nations GFA peace treaty. Huge numbers of citizens of the UK are legally not British, but Irish.
Time to repost Martina Anderson telling David Frost, “…the next agreement you honour will be your first.”
And national identity is a protected characteristic under the equality act. It literally is illegal to insist someone is British when they say they are not. Scots a legally recognized national minority (in the UK) under the ECHR.
Ultimately, British isn’t a nationally, it is just a citizenship anyway. See passports. I am of Irish nationality, but I’m not a British national; I just qualify for British citizenship by birth / parentage.
Too much of ‘ein reich, ein volk’ for my liking, but not unexpected, they’ve been parroting this tripe for years. Stating the obvious that Holyrood is subordinate to the union parliament is stupid because the reason we want a referendum is to stop it being subordinate to Westminster. What part of that does he not understand? Note that he uses the ‘subordinate’ parliament and not the union parliament to determine the percentage of elected representatives – could that be because of the voting system used at Holyrood, bearing in mind that if Holyrood used the Fptp system we would already have over 75% of MSP’s?
The other noteworthy comment
‘ exceptional for states to allow their own dissolution.’
Allow?
Oh it is Golfnut.
Civic nationalism = You can be Scottish if you want, but we can’t force you to feel that way. We’d like you to though.
Ethnic right-wing British nationalism = You are / are not British.
In the first case, the individuals decide (and vote accordingly). In the other, the racists do.
The UK government have already redefined words to mean different things in England to the rest of the world let alone Scotland, following that they openly admit that democracy is something that they control and decide and there can be no other version of it, now they’ve gone even further and have come to the conclusion that arithmetic is wrong
The new arithmetic in their new Union of the one is that no matter how many of a thing is counted, the how many of the thing that they want, will be decreed as more
If Scotland throws the dice and gets a double six Englands snake eyes wins, if Scotland gets 50%+ 1 in a referendum (that they decree we cannot have) then whatever number they achieve will be the winner even although the principles of arithmetic dictate that in any universe less than 50%+1 is less
All the great scientists of physics and mathematics living or dead from from Archimedes to Stephen Hawking are now according to the British state WRONG !
1 is a greater number than 2
The National on “Lord” Frost’s Telegraph article.
Lord Frost brands Scottish independence ‘morally wrong’, calls for devolution to ‘evolve back’
https://archive.ph/Po4zr
Let’s not forget that as CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association he was opposed to BREXIT.
Who on earth decided an englishman should be CEO of the Scotch Whisky Association?
The same sort, who, back in the day, appointed John Redwood as Minister Responsible for Western Colonies.
Frost’s reaction is itself quite revealing. On the one hand he doubles down with the English entitlement bluff, on the other hand he implicitly reveals its hollowness by demanding a “poison pill” 75% threshold in the referendum that “will never be allowed”. The incoherence of this gammon betrays the Tories’ ever-increasing private fear of an escalating loss of control, and his choice of hurdle reveals his judgement as to the baseline support for the Union – as we ourselves have long suspected – at a mere ~25%.
Yep, you can’t have a referendum, but if you do have one blah blah blah
Oh and it’ll be different rules to any other referendum ever held in the world before and eh, so there, England rules OK ,
Signed, a wee man
This is the Cymru viewpoint:
Wales and Scotland not nations and independence should be made ‘impossible’ says Lord Frost
19 Aug 2022 3 minute read
https://nation.cymru/news/wales-and-scotland-not-nations-and-independence-should-be-made-impossible-says-lord-frost/
I wonder – is England a nation, then?
A lot of good comments under the article there.
Yes indeed. And what comes out in particular is what is increasingly being exposed as the real reason why London is unwilling to “let” us go, despite the now oft-repeated allegation that we are inveterate “spongers” on its assumed “generosity”: its deep dread of a perceived international loss of face. Not economics, even, just hegemony. Appearances.
As it was over all the media in the last week of the previous indy campaign, when things looked like they were going pear-shaped for the Union. Suddenly it wasn’t about Scotland at all any more, it became all about England.
I’d pay scant attention to the utterings of ‘Frosty the no-Man’, he is a verbal prostitute available to the highest bidder and frankly no different to the two Tories vying in a “race” which was a foregone conclusion months before it even began, yet avidly followed by HMS James Cook despite max 3% in Scotland actually having a vested interest let alone giving a shit over it without the aid of laxatives.
James Cook on the other hand IS a laxative
It is all of it a sham, facilitated by a media bought and sold in the same manner as Frosty, but contributing SFA to national well-being or intellect.
Next ?
I agree it’s empty-barrel rumbling, but he does inadvertently reveal the panic over indy that is spreading through the Tory ranks. Ordinary people are beginning to smell the fear.
And just like Truss, the more he rants on, the more he convinces the wishful-thinking “middle-of-the-roaders” here that their cozy devo fools’ paradise is going to be ruthlessly snatched away from them. There will be no “middle way”, only full autonomy or full submission.
For whingy Labourites, no more Mitigation Hell, just Hell.
Agreed
Yes very good, Frosty thinks England would be humiliated and taken advantage of by the rest of the world.
Karma maybe.
Well, Welsh Sion
They certainly all were nations a couple of weeks ago in Birmingham!
Which country won the world cup in 1966?
The problem with the likes of Frost is that for them, Britain = England. They are one and the same, not like here in Scotland.
They want England to exist, but Scotland/Wales/NI (even Eire) not to. The don’t want a border at Gretna nor Offa’s dyke; they want England to go all the way to the Shetland and Anglesey.
But England can only exist if Scotland, Wales, and N. Ireland to do. There’s no having their cake and eating it. Britain is the union and England/Scotland/Wales/NI the nations / countries. Or Britain is the country an England a mere region; something which is possible, but isn’t the case.
Unitary state also just describes how laws are made for a state, not whether it contains one or more countries / nations. The UK is a multi-national (nations / peoples), multi-country (lands) unitary state.
If the Scots are a people, then they have the right to self-determine under international law and that can’t be stopped without violent repression by the English government. Nobody could possibly argue the Scots are not a people.
Or which womens’ team “brought it home” very recently?
They really are in full cognitive dissonance, mostly papered over as you say by simply conflating the two identities. They have never had any real notion that there is a Britain outwith England, and here that was nowhere more visible than when struggling with their representations during the acute phase of the ongoing Covid Crisis, where their long-established presumptions came into hard contact with the long-established autonomy of health care across {ahem} “the country”.
You can’t have a unitary state if you have different legal juridictions, which incidentally is their next move.
As far as Frost is concerned, the key thing isn’t so much his attack on Independence, as is his stated wish to roll bacl Devolution.
Last poll that included support for Devolution was probably the last SSAS, and it showed support for Devolution at more than 90%, with around 8% who want to abolish Holyrood. Which means Frost is talking only to those 8% as far as Scotland is concerned.
It’s the Tories threat to Devolution that is the big game changer, including for Independence, and not surprisingly Sturgeon is on top of this. From the Herald:
“NICOLA Sturgeon has warned the “Tories are coming for devolution” after a senior Conservative peer suggested devolved powers could be returned to Westminster. ”
The Herald has many times stated it is the paper of home rule (devolution) and indeed it was. It doesn’t have to support Independence, but it should support devolution or betray its founding principles going back to the 19th Century I believe.
Frost and his ignorant ilk can be a useful tool, in all senses of the word, to split the anti-Independence camp cleanly in two.
In fact, if anyone wants to fund an opinion poll around the end of August / beginning September (I’m looking at you ballotbox Scotland or Diffley), that Devolution question should be front and centre, rather than the usual Independence question. It can also be used to inform the UKSC in October. Something like the usual:
Would you like to see Devolution in Scotland:
1). Have more powers
2). stay the same (status quo)
3). have less powers
4). be abolished
Anyone with influence please pass this on, if they haven’t already thought of it.
Devolution is what has saved the union for the past 25 years.
Only a prize idiot would mess with it (actually devo uber max now) giving it is backed by 3/4 of the electorate short of indy.
As I have said lots of times, you can’t stop Scots self-determining unless you stop them voting at all. You need to stop all elections in Scotland to stop them voting Yes if they want it.
“Devolution is what has saved the union for the past 25 years.”
I think the opposite – Devolution makes Independence inevitable. Had we achieved devolution in 1979, we’d have been Independent years ago, before Gordon Brown “Saved the World” in 2008.
I’d to convince Indy supporters back in 1979 to vote YES to Devo on exactly that basis – take what you can when you can and take more later, then more, then the rest later on.
I fundamentally disagree. It was well within the ability of the Union to have evolved elastically and thereby survived. That is exactly what Belgium has done over the last few decades. It is the rigidity of power concentration in London that is destroying the Union, just as it lost the American Colonies in a previous century. The Union is destroying itself, eating itself away from the inside.
As for Labour’s 1979 “Assembly” – don’t make me laugh. That was (by intention) a miserable shrivelled thing – an impotent talking shop with no powers – that would have soon enough imploded from its own inconsequence, further damaged our fragile self-confidence, and set back independence for years.
‘– take what you can when you can and take more later, then more, then the rest later on.’
This works on different levels. Following the publication of English school exam results, I’ve been reflecting on the relatively disadvantaged NE England compared to other English regions. This is evident not only in educational attainment but for example also in scale of drug deaths, in historic levels of investment in infrastructure and new evidence from IPPR North on public finances which shows regional economic inequalities between the north and south of England getting more not less entrenched – contrary to ‘levelling-up’ rhetoric.
Back in 2004 when there was a referendum on establishing a regional assembly for the region, I was spending a lot of time working there. I recall gently advising NE business contacts to vote for an elected assembly even though what was on offer from the Labour Government at the time was limited – very modest – powers.
My humble advice to those with a vote was to take what was on offer – create a focal point, a focus for advocacy towards Westminster – and over time use democratic levers to demand more powers. In the event, on a turn-out of just 47%, the result was clear-cut: 78% of voters rejected devolution. I still think the good folk of NE England made a strategic error back then!
I think an element of cause and effect. Labour and the Libs didn’t support devo for nothing. They did it to ‘kill independence stone dead’ because they knew if they didn’t offer it, people would turn to the SNP.
At the same time, Devolution has created a Scotland which is different to the UK and more its own country. This has has a particularly profound effect on national identity. Generation devo are like 3/4 Scottish only. It is only the post-war baby boomers that still feel British.
I think there’s no doubt that if London tried to shut Holyrood tomorrow, Yes would hit the kind of levels that vote for the latter in 1997. That was more my point.
The Tories are in the process of redefining DEMOCRACY :
Lincoln got it slightly wrong :
Democracy is government of the people ,
by the people of the Tory Party ,
for the benefit of the Tory People .
This is still one of my favourite quotes on Democracy :
”We can have democracy in this country , or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few , but we can’t have both .” ( Louis Brandeis )
I read in the National that BBC *journalist* James Cook says in a civilised society he wouldn’t be abused
Scotland apparently isn’t civilised now folks
This is the arrogance of journalists fighting back defending a position that they don’t have, we can simply not vote for politicians who are liars, we can ignore Tam down the pub who’s a liar, or report the car dealer, or blame and return the internet sizing when we get stupid unfit for purpose clothing, but if a journalist lies to our faces live on TV we can’t not vote for him, we can’t report him, we can’t return him to Amazon for being faulty
Understandably some folk get particularly angry when those people who lie to them can get away with calling it their job and nothing is done about them by the BBC, an organisation who extracts public money under menaces of UK government retribution if that money isn’t paid to them
In public we must all ignore the media, let’s show them how civilised we can be, in private, bin bag and landfill
In need of *cleaners*? call 555 5555
Read the ‘Talking up Scotand’ blog on his output, 6th August this year.
He was on the R4 programme telling the world he was impartial, start with the invisible emails between Nicola Sturgeon and the French embassador that he saw.
According to Frost, James Cook was saying Britain isn’t a civilised society.
Cook was reporting from Britain right, with the protesters were British citizens? He was a BBC journalist in his own country of Britain.
Or was he in a different country?
“I read in the National that BBC *journalist* James Cook says in a civilised society he wouldn’t be abused”
I also read that in civilised society a journalist would not blatantly lie in public that he had read emails which did not exist, thence compelling his gardening leave in the US to allow the dust to settle, ie allow his lies to be forgotten…
Civilisation is not what Lisa Summers, Glenn Campbell or James Cook say it is otherwise we’d all be lying through our teeth for a living and drawing a salary from London Tories…
Not exactly popular in Scotland.
https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/sunak-narrowly-leads-truss-on-popularity-in-scotland
Nicola Sturgeon, Leader of the SNP and First Minister
48% Favourable
13% Neither
38% Unfavourable
=+10% Favourable net
Ex ‘Neither’:
56% Favourable
44% Unfavourable
Not bad going at all for her busily preparing iref2.
Anas Sarwar
28% Favourable
34% Neither
32% Unfavourable
=-4% unavourable net
Douglas Ross
17% Favourable
23% Neither
54% Unfavourable
=-37% unavourable net
Shows you just how unpopular they are in Northern Ireland though, over they were in an undisclosed hidden location, *hidden location* I mean really
I note that is favourability too, i.e. it is more asking about personality, not competence / whether they think the politician is doing a good job. So it shows Sturgeon is remarkably well liked personally. It’s quite something for a politician who has been at the top for so long and who is driving forward what is very significant change.
Of course many saying unfavorable, won’t necessarily dislike her personally, but because they are anti-indy, they feel they need to respond in this way.
James Cooks performance appeared jus that. If he felt threatened he just walks away. There was a crowd barrier in place and Police in attendance. Instead he went away and then came back several times. Maybe some bbc conflict resolution or deescalation training could be arranged? Maybe the limelight was too much ?
Also what is Truth and what is lies could be a follow up course.
Is there a NUJ anymore to reinforce standards?
James Cook could at a stroke prove he was the good guy he says he is and not a liar by *publishing the email*
If he’s that honest and good a journalist I’m sure that he and the BBC retained a copy of this as proof of what he and the BBC claim they are, unbiased news reporters and that the FM is the liar
So c’mon BBCs James Cook prove you’re not a liar and #publishtheemail
It’s not abuse if you actively seek it out. Abuse must be unsolicited to be classed as that, obviously.
If you approach people unsolicited (as Cook did, including filming them without consent) and chose to freely engage in a debate with them, it’s not abuse as your freedom to go about your life / job isn’t being abused.
There was at least one eejit that used the word ‘traitor’ and ‘scumbag’, but otherwise he seemed to think asking people how long they’d been in Scotland was unpleasant. When did this happen? People ask my wife that all the time and I’ve asked it many times. The normal answer is ‘We moved here in X…. been here 6 months now’ or similar.
That said, if Cook is British – which you might expect being an anchor for the British national broadcaster – he couldn’t be a ‘traitor’ for being pro-Britain.
All I know is people who work for the BBC are not going to be acting in Scotland’s interests / the interest of Scottish people, but British interests as that’s what they are paid for. If they worked for the SBC it would be different.
There is no such thing as an impartial state broadcaster. That’s just silly. Even if they were totally impartial domestically, they are never going to be internationally, which applies in the case of Scotland and the BBC.
Heavens the SNP were originally banned from the BBC.
The person who asked how long he had been in Scotland was not asking him a direct question, it was rhetorical as he was ‘aware’ of the subject she raised but she found it surprising he wasn’t more than aware (something called CoR, I don’t know what this acronym stands for, unless it’s followed by blimey, I presume its ‘Cost of something).
I’m not sure the Yes movement should engage directly with the media at events, they are not impartial and not going to report accurately. I personally would just turn my back on them.
Who measures impartiality, I’m sure those that worked for Der Strummer thought they were impartial, it depends on where you define neutrality. The BBC charter contains the requirement to support the British state, that is not an impartial position for a media organisation, especially when it covers independence or world events, it makes it a player in them.
Maybe they meant how long have you been back in Scotland since you were sent to America by the BBC to keep your head down after the lies about the email
Sarah Smith has been sent there too, it’s what the BBC do with so called journalists people have found out to be liars and mouthpieces for the BBBritish Nationalist Broadcaster
CoR = Claim of Right.
Thanks, obvious when pointed out, I had ‘Cost of’ stuck in my head I my head and spent a while trying to work out what the R was. Now I also understand why the questioner was surprised he was only ‘aware of it’.
Watched the Cook interview on twitter on night of the Perth colonial sideshow.
What struck me about Cook was his aggressive manner whilst gobshiteing something about”our country”.
At the time I was quite surprised or even shocked about his unbridled antagonism towards people whilst working for the State Broadcaster.
Highly unprofessional at the very least but almost unhinged was my thoughts at the time.
Have to agree, he was enjoying himself. He has form, not just the email lie but Jim Murphy and the actor in George square. The bbc of course are renowned all over the world for being lying bastards, I remember the incident in Holland( I think) where the c word was used, I don’t remember the Dutch PM being asked to apologise. Instead of apologising perhaps Nicola should have used the opportunity to remind viewers that cook and the bbc have form.
David Frost , the poor Brexit negotiator NOT the deceased talented interviewer , is now claiming that there is no Scotland only the UK – we are ONE !
So , why is there the EVEL legislation at Westminster ?
If there is only ONE nation then this legislation would be redundant .
Will he be pushing Westminster to repeal this needless law ?
EVEL is repealed.
English votes for English laws (EVEL) was a set of procedures of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom whereby legislation that affected only England required the support of a majority of MPs representing English constituencies. The procedures were in place between 2015 and 2021. They were developed following devolution in the United Kingdom as a result of the West Lothian question, a concern about the perceived inequity of MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, sitting in the House of Commons being able to vote on matters that affected only England, while MPs from England were unable to vote on matters that had been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd.[1]
[…]
EVEL was suspended in April 2020,[6] and in July 2021 the House of Commons abolished it, returning to the previous system with no special mechanism for English laws.[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_votes_for_English_laws
Use of the EVEL mechanism was suspended in April 2020 to streamline parliamentary procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] In June 2021 Michael Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, speaking to The Times newspaper proposed abolition of the EVEL mechanism, saying: “Ultimately, it’s a convention which arose out of a set of circumstances after the 2014 referendum, where you had a coalition government… We’ve moved on now.”[37]
On 13 July 2021, the House of Commons approved the government’s motion to abolish EVEL, with the government claiming this would remove unnecessary complication.[7] Although Labour welcomed the move, some Conservative backbenchers expressed concern that this simply recreated the previous problem.[38]
[Same source]
Thanks for that info ! Must try harder to bring down the Westminster cabal ! LoL !
He was grandstanding and very obviously trying to wind up the crowd.If any journalist tried to ask me a question in the street I would tell them to go away. He should not been filming people with permission
The BBC crew’s professional cameras would have swept the crowd’s faces from long range previously, security would have done similarly and be watching for any signs of trouble.
Cook had no need reason to take “in your face” shots, but did so to provoke a reaction from the safety of the inner security cordon.
The Tory PR machine was desperate for a story to obscure their embarrassment over the hostile reception, Cook duly obliged.
It seems the next thing would be to get a load of James Cook masks and wear them at the next protest.
Don’t get mad, get even.
I like that idea but the bbc will create a programme on stalking headed by Jim naughtie interviewing ex PM ( often quoted as a badge of honour) Gordon Brown, Sarwar and Jackie Baillie to demonstrate balance.
BBC Scotland your time is up. over 50% of us don’t trust you.
How the UK is defined for the purpose of registration at the UN.
Hope the link works.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/215556435841901/permalink/804183590312513/
Out of date.
Cymru is NOT nor ever has been a ‘Principality’
Cymru does not have a National Assembly – it has a Senedd or Parliament
Reference: https://nation.cymru/opinion/is-wales-a-principality-country/
Or better, yet.
https://iswalesaprincipality.com/
He he he he he, Golfnut
If remember correctly the UN agrees with you.
Golgnut,
I can’t recall how the UN sees it – I know that Leanne Wood (when she was my Number 1 boss) fought with others to get recognition of us in Europe and the ISO as NOT being a principality, and won.
See, e.g.
https://aberdareonline.co.uk/node/16319
However, in the link you submitted here you used the document which the UK submitted to the UN in which it calls us a principality with an assembly. So, basically, the UK doesn’t even understand its own component parts!
Golfnut*
(Apologies I got your name wrong.)
No probs,
I think it was a post or comment way back during the last indyref but I can’t remember the detail.
Whoever listens to unelected Cook or Frost. Just a couple of chancers on the take. Nobodies.
The Tories will be gone in 1+ years. Someone else will have to clear up their mess as usual. No one with any sense cares about BBC or watches it.
Another IndyRef coming soon.
Whole UK Gov Accounts 2019/20
Published June 2022. Internet.
EU page 35
12.9Billion UK contribution to EU
3.4Billion EU grants and
subsidies paid by the UK on
on behalf of the EU
8.4Billion Income from EU to
reimburse grants and
subsidies
2.3Billion UK interest in the
European investment bank
EIB
1.6Billion receivable relating to
the EU financial settlement
The EU cost nothing and brought benefits. The nearest 450million pop market. Shared Defence costs = Less cost. CAP payments. To keep food costs down. Grants and subsidies. Renewable investment etc.
EU reciprocal healthcare benefits.
EU healthcare staff and other essential workers. Now gone. Brexit.
I think a group of nuns singing quietly would be accused of being left wing trotskiest nationalists….
Saves the bbc/msm challenging the the actual right wing anti Scottish group in the hall. Small coterie dictating Scotlands future.
I would agree that Cook should have reported on what was said rather than be news.
He seems to like it? Why did all the other journalist there not appear on the TV for an alternative view? Simple it does not follow their agenda.
As for some there on the day I am sure some be working for the unionists encouraging others to do their bidding.
I think a group of nuns singing quietly would be accused of being left wing trotskiest nationalists….
– Well, of course. Once the get into the habit, there’s no stopping ’em.
And the most reactionary of all was surely Sister Maria, ‘How do you solve a problem like … ?’
Next time Cook appears like that the protesters should start a good old chant like
‘Show us the email’
Don’t call him a liar, remind him that we know he is.
Absolutely
#publishtheemail
Also remind him of one key fact:
“Police Scotland say there have been no arrest at the protests.”
Which would suggest he’s quite thin-skinned for a Scottish journo, or it’s all manufactured.
Which means there was no evidence of any abuse.
Whilst looking for something else this evening I stumbled across this amusement from 2015 – A Grauniad piece complete with photo of a less than happy victim.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/10/is-it-really-ok-to-call-him-tory-scum-protests-direct-action-anti-austerity-conservative-party-conference
A full 7 years before the Tory PR machine in 2022 attempted to make a huge thing about Scots calling Tories “scum” and accusations of throwing eggs and spitting evidenced to BBC in Scotland’s satisfaction because Jamie Halcrow said so, he of the perpetually offended variety.
I’m not for a second denying an egg probably launched from somewhere (Jamie Halcrow’s bookie ?) at the Perth conference, but the media furore over “Tory scum” soon lost it’s fizz by the time the two varieties of “next useless PM” landed in Manchester for a re-acquaintance with “Tory scum”, whilst James Cook was still smirking over having successfully diverted the real news yet again…
Progress ?
Cook & Frost are paid enormous remuneration from the UK Gov. BBC £5Billion.
Never have so many been appointed beyond their capabilities. An absolute disgrace.
Does this mean England isn’t ‘civilised’?
https://archive.ph/3GCuS
Tories enter Manchester hustings to chants of ‘Tory scum off our streets’ from protesters
” Never allow the UK Family to split up”…..said Liz Truss.
Her solution to this is to continue to treat Scotland as if they are the…proverbial black sheep of that family…..the so called UK family is very much a dysfunctional ‘family’ where the one who assumes to be at the head of the ‘family’ has failed to even recognise one of it’s so called ‘family’ , Scotland, even as a RELATION……instead it has treated us as if an OUTCAST that is best ignored thus we are not to be formally recognised as part of the actual MAIN party of their ‘family’….or indeed EVER as an individual in our own right…..but we are still expected to contribute to the family financially….that being the MAIN reason we are still allowed to keep the family name…while still part of the the UK or Britain dependent on whether they, the self imposed HEAD of the family, remember NI or not…..
UK Family values….LACKING IN….commitment, respect, stability, honesty, empathy, kindness, integrity, appreciation and conflict resolution….. indeed these values when seen as normal family values are alien to Liz Truss and ALL their, Tories, interpretation of their so called ‘UK family’…..
UK Dysfunctional Family (lacking) values….as INTERPRETED by Tories….controlling behaviour, lack of communication, criticism, neglect, lack of INDEPENDENCE and privacy, abuse, secrecy, lacking empathy, conflict….. IS the UK ‘family’ that Liz Truss and her government are at the HEAD of …..as tis very much always only their NEEDS and WANTS that take precedence…..over ours in Scotland or indeed Wales and NI..
Scotland to them is the disobedient child that needs to be controlled, chastised and only to speak when spoken to by THEM……that is not a ‘family’ that is an abusive relationship where those who see themselves as being the HEAD of their ‘family’ do so by threats, intimidation, humiliation, insults , constant monitoring, isolation and controlling behaviour….actually the direct OPPOSITE of the analogy given by JK Rowling in 2014 …….words that I am sure will NOT come back to haunt HER but will be remembered by many should she seek to once again TRY a similar STUNT in 2023……..I mean HER wee analogy is no different to Liz Truss’s ‘UK FAMILY’ quote as BOTH were said to CON voters in Scotland…..to keep the so called ‘UK FAMILY’ together….but not really EVER a ‘FAMILY’…via the actual definition of the word family…
Independence is OUR way of ending this cycle of abuse we have endured as part of their so called ‘UK FAMILY’ where we see ourselves NOT as ever part of a close FAMILY or even as part of a family at all…..more a case of that we are desperately seeking estrangement from the …..(UK) ‘family’……….sooner rather than later preferably……..etc etc
I refer you to “Meet the Brittens – a dysfunctional family like no other”, a published story of mine, dating from 2013, NMRN
Johnson seems to be enjoying himself in Greece while the UK is in crisis.
Looks like another p*ssed English tourist being propositioned by a couple of Timeshare reps !
Hope he has sobered up before he signs any deal which will make the UK even poorer .
The Tories gather in Manchester for the Leadership Hustings Number 329:
Guardian cartoon from the 16th.
Ian Smart has risen from wherever he was hibernating to let us know that Nicola is using the Scots language to stop ‘black and brown people’ , his words, from coming to Scotland. Mark Drakeford is according to Smart just as bad and that we aren’t lefties we’re just racist.
The problem for us Scots Welsh and Irish is we’re not English, we tend to speak our own dialects and languages and that makes us racist for refusing to be English
The National did quite a good job of exposing the ridiculousness of people like British Nationalist Ian Smart who is a well known hater of all things not deferential to the English state
How did somebody this anti Scottish get to be president of the Law Society of Scotland. Doesn’t he realise that if we didn’t speak Scots instead the Queens English how on earth would he and his like be able to identify the ‘ right sort ‘.
Queen Victoria’s first language was German, obviously the Queens English wasn’t her fault, and she spoke an earthy gutteral english, she might not have passed Smart’s standards but maybe that’s why she liked coming to Scotland, would have felt a lot more like her tongue.
The band’s really starting to get together when you hearing from the likes of Smart.
Substitute the other nationality with our own (or indeed, any other type of ‘fuzzy-wuzzy’):
“We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English.“
– Winston Churchill
It’s politely suggest it is racist to insist Scots / Welsh / Irish speak English rather than their native languages when in Scotland / Wales / N. Ireland.
As a Scotsman, I’ve taken the time to learn English to perfection and use it when conversing with English people, including when I travel to England. I’ve got basic French too, and use that in France whenever I can. I had a nice we break in the Canaries recently, and did my best to learn some Spanish, including essentials such as ordering a large beer, much to the enjoyment of the locals.
I have noticed that foreign visitors to Scotland often attempt a bit of Scots and/or Gaelic once they learn about these and realise many Scots use them daily, if just in part. While I have seen this from Welsh and Irish visitors, it’s very rare from English/British visitors. Instead the tendency here is to mock Scots speaking their native languages like it is some sort of Russ Abbot sketch. This is particularly the case from British nationalists.
A court case I was involved in over 20 years ago.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1515825.stm
Some attitudes of the bwanas never change.
A head chef who was sacked for speaking Welsh at work has been awarded more than £10,000 in compensation.
The award for racial discrimination and unfair dismissal comes five years after Gwilym Williams was sacked from a hotel near Caernarfon after refusing to speak English to Welsh-speaking colleagues.
Yup, this is what is the basis of ‘you can’t have a referendum unless we superior Brenlgish people give you permission. We have a right to self-determination (e.g. Brexit), but you are lesser humans than us, so don’t. You are not Scottish. Scottish doesn’t exist as a nationality / culture; it’s lesser British. You are just a region of our Brengland, with your country our living space’ is.
I see England doesn’t have the best examination system after all. Nor the best results. I assume the unionists in Scotland will keep quiet.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-62617693
Isn’t it funny how the Evolved nation of England can’t run their education system or their health system or their transport system or their water system, I mean these are all just a few of the things they have full responsibility for as an Evolved nation on an unlimited budget
Who subsidises whom?
https://nation.cymru/news/work-already-begun-to-transfer-water-from-wales-to-drought-hit-england-says-national-infrastructure-boss/
‘Work already begun’ to transfer water from Wales to drought-hit England says National Infrastructure boss
19 Aug 2022 6 minute read
“Work has already begun” to transfer water from Wales to drought-hit areas of England, the Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission has said.
Sir John Armitt, speaking on The Briefing Room on Radio 4, said that water companies in England did not want to invest in reservoirs and that they were unpopular with communities that did not want to see their land flooded.
[…]
_________________
unpopular with communities that did not want to see their land flooded.
– OK to flood Welsh communities, though …
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/lost-village-tryweryn-becomes-visible-15017181
Independence explained:
If independence is so bad why does England congratulate every other country that has it
No country commiserates with another country that has its independence
Every 4th of July England doesn’t send commiserations to America or Ireland or, well the list is long isn’t it, sorry about your independence day?, no country ever sent that message
Conclusion: independence must be very good
O/T (sort of) Among the 265 stalwart Tory MPs who voted down an amendment back in late 2021 to prevent (English?) private water companies being able to dump raw sewage into rivers and the sea, as is currently happening down south “live on TV”, were:
Andrew Bowie (Conservative – West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
David Duguid (Conservative – Banff and Buchan)
Alister Jack (Conservative – Dumfries and Galloway)
John Lamont (Conservative – Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
David Mundell (Conservative – Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale)
Douglas Ross (Conservative – Moray)
Oh, and a special mention goes to Scotland’s political reject
Alberto Costa (Conservative – South Leicestershire)
Green-minded readers out there who may stilll be uncertain, please note: the only way to be able to properly protect our precious environment, both physical and political, is to definitively escape this moronic self-harming madness and write our own rules. About everything.
And please note, if Truss & Co have their way, their rules will soon be our rules also.
Support for independence first thing ‘tomorrow’ (ex DK) based on prospective PMs:
52% Truss
51% Sunak
Writing in The Times, Britain’s leading polling analysts Sir John Curtice said: “Simply arguing that another referendum should not be held at all seems unlikely to win many converts.
“While 44% oppose a referendum in the next five years, 48% are in favour.
“Ultimately the Union will only be safe if people in Scotland come to believe in it. But it is far from clear that the next prime minister will have the right strategy to achieve that.”
Based on a reading of this article (so Y/N numbers TBC).
https://archive.ph/sBjfR
From panelbase, which is one of the least Yes friendly pollsters.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1561314654495858688
I know as much as BBS! 🙂
I can’t find the tables at Panelbase but the fieldwork dates and GE voting intention are on the WhatScotlandThinks website now.
https://whatscotlandthinks.org/poll/panelbase-19-8-2022/
Cheers.
Seems my numbers were right. For a snap, plan free referendum held tomorrow, with Truss as PM we have:
49% Yes
45% No
= 52% Yes ex DK
Johnson
48% Yes
44% No
= 52% Yes ex DK
Also the lowest support for brexit recorded:
https://whatscotlandthinks.org/questions/how-would-you-vote-in-a-second-eu-referendum/?removed
72% EU
28% Brexit
There seems to have been a standard Y/N, but it was asked after other questions, so we have to take care about the influence of these.
Ultimately the Union will only be safe …
__________
What the %$££U)*&$ does this mean?
Safe in perpetuity? Safe until the Sun goes out? Safe until breakfast time tomorrow? Safe until the next crisis?
Safe for whom? Safe FROM whom – the Caledonian and Taffy barbarians? or safe from the meddlesome lot at Westminster, the latter of whom have shown they don’t really care for ‘the Union’ in respect of Northern Ireland, at the very least?
Why the reference to a ‘union’ in any case: as eny fule kno, the Westminster mindset is one of only one country (aka Greater England) and the other ‘appendages to the Union’ are not really nations anyway (pace Lord Frost)?
Why should this ‘union’ be safe – when it can be reformed (I know, I know), amended, cancelled at any time? What benefits do we serfs gain from this ‘union’ being ‘safe’?
And answer came there none.
Ian Smart “We need to talk about “Scots”. About an overtly racist project hiding in plain view”
SAME Ian Smart who tweeted this on 5 May 2013 :
“Better 100 years of the Tories than the turns on the poles and the P*kis (*a) that would follow independence failing to deliver”
SEE there is ALWAYS a tweet……..perhaps he will say he has been on a diversity training course thus THIS former lapse (racist remark) is a thing of the past….
Ian doing HIS bit to distract Scots from the current UK sh*tshow under ONE of HIS preferred political parties, the Tories, whose politics are very similar to the political party Ian normally supports as in the Labour party ….the bigger picture, as in the REALITY. is that the UK has FAILED Scotland….Scots language aside…..Ian is doing his bit by providing a red herring on which he hopes MUCH focus will be on….in another weak attempt to save his (non) Union……the feeble minded grasp any straw….to try yet another LAST resort…..this one jumps on the racist bandwagon…..another attempt to stop Scots being Scots…..eh by gum Ian ya canna dae that laddie…..ya walloper….
Can the English still speak their different ‘regional’ dialects though Ian…….or must they too unify into only speaking a form of the Queen’s English and all speak like JR Mogg…..to make it easier for refugees to pick up THEIR distinctive speaking patterns…..so in Tory UK no accents in English regions or language distinctive to a country like Scotland allowed…
Or will it just be confined to Scotland using Scots ?…..
What’s next… no bagpipes or Kilts in Ian’s UK world….one where Lisa Nandy will oversee that ALL Scots traditions and identity in the Scottish will be beaten out of them a La Spain treatment……..
I am sure Ian will be in the audience for ‘The BIG Beasts Tour’ (title of tour courtesy of media obvs) with DAME Arlene Foster the GB News presenter and BARONESS Davidson the one who abandoned Scottish politics to seek her fortune as a Tory peer with multiple jobs outwith the HOL……when they both tour the UK ???? to try and save the (non) Union which ironically has been destroyed by their OWN political parties…..I think they have both overestimated their ACTUAL popularity via media promotion compared to the ACTUAL reality of how they are seen by a MAJORITY of Scots and t’others in their UK….bring them on and their (Nutty)Case for the Union….
I suspect it will be a #ProjectFear and #ScotlandIsSh*te with much #SNPBAD tour….suppose special guests will be Gordon Brown and t’other usual suspects to try to keep the Scots subdued on behalf of Liz Truss the next Tory PM….you’ll have had your referendum Scots or as we call you BRITS …..time to shut it…again…..bow down to Liz Truss your NEW leader…..as Foster, Davidson, Brown and Ian Smart will do to try and save their (non) Union…..Lord David Frost will be a special special guest on the tour as he has an opinion too on independence (as in NOT for Scots but only FOR Brits now out of the EU)…..VERY similar to Ian Smart’s.
We are to be Gaslit by the dregs of the Union…..perhaps both should consider bringing along Cinderella too….. to balance out the ACT…..a DUP Peer and a Tory Peer Save the Union Tour…..how apt…you could not make it up but THEY will (as in make it up)…………LOL
Why tour to try and save the (non) Union when their parties say majority in Scotland does not want a referendum or independence……#ConfusedDotCom
#LyingForEnglandTour…tumbleweed from Scots…and me…in more ways than one…LOL
Can the English still speak their different ‘regional’ dialects though Ian…….or must they too unify into only speaking a form of the Queen’s English and all speak like JR Mogg…..to make it easier for refugees to pick up THEIR distinctive speaking patterns…..so in Tory UK no accents in English regions or language distinctive to a country like Scotland allowed…
___________
This from earlier this year …
https://nation.cymru/news/mps-should-ditch-dialects-and-speak-standard-english-like-nye-bevan-says-telegraph-columnist/
MPs should ditch dialects and ‘speak standard English’ like Nye Bevan says Telegraph columnist
08 Jul 2022 3 minute read
MPs should ditch their dialects and “speak standard English” like Aneurin Bevan did, according to a Telegraph columnist.
Allison Pearson, who says she spoke Welsh in her youth before her parents discouraged it, took aim at deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner’s “working-class grammar”, saying that her attitude would “hold back children from poorer backgrounds”.
Angela Rayner, who is from Stockport, had criticised Hansard, the official record of speeches made at Westminster, for correcting her grammar.
[…]
“speak standard English”
Well good luck with that……are we all to be sent to CAMPS….to learn to “speak standard English” ……when do we get to send THEM to CAMPS to learn to BE HUMAN…..and stop all of the B*LLSH*T…..
Flood the Zone…when push comes to shove….HUGE issues put on the back burner (ignored) while NON issues promoted as the REAL burning issues….that’s the path and journey they are TRYING to take us all down (literally DOWN)…..and many, as apparent (but are they ?), ‘ordinary’ peeps are embracing it…..where the impact of right wing generated trivia is negligible to them as ordinary peeps, and their lives , compared to the HUGE impact of the HUGE current REAL issues very much thanks to the political parties they support and vote for and the media who promotes the NON IMPORTANT message(s)…….which amounts to the square root of Jack Sh*t in significance…..
Is gobbledegook a language as seems quite prominently used by some in certain political parties and too by those who support them…..as in via both the media and some of the ‘public’……….
Is the problem really down to “dialects’ and “language” or is that the politicians and their media need in deploying yet another scapegoat and distraction to persuade some that how they speak is the root of all evils associated with failures….
One needs to aspire to speak proper English if one has aspirations to progress…
Meanwhile being a right wing racist will see your career progression propel to dizzy heights via certain ‘alternate’ and mainstream media platforms courtesy of ALL language and dialects/accents……is anyone helping Darren Grimes with HIS elocution lessons as , far from being an expert on accents/dialects, I hear a distinctly Geordie accent via HIM….or is HE an exception to their RULE….canny lad can continue as HE is one of THEM……OK YA…useful idiot with regional accent aids them in that he represents a working class lad done well for himself (but has he really ?)…you can trust HIM….he’s like you people….working class…..not elite like ‘middle class’ REMOANERS………#AnotherConfusedDotCom…( Did Alison Pearson forget about Darren Grimes…the canny lad)…………
To be a PLUM one needs a PLUMMY accent…..will that be a burning issue via the Baroness and Dame’s Save the Union Tour ?…….
One Country One Language……
ONE PARLIAMENT to RULE them ALL…….ONE PARTY to find THEM….ONE PARLIAMENT and PARTY to bring THEM ALL…and in the DARKNESS BIND THEM…..in the land of ENGLAND where the SHADOWS LIE (literally LIE)……….
Stop the UK I want to get off…….Och Aye the Noo….Hoots Mon…eat my Shortbread.
I encourage students to use ‘outwith’ in their theses where appropriate. It really is a great word if you want to say e.g. ‘while outwith the context of this study…’.
Sometimes English external examiners question it, and I enjoy correcting them in that it’s perfect [Scottish Standard] English.
Perhaps people don’t understand the nature and character of *the Tory*, why does he/she want to be a Tory? what is it about the concept of being a Tory that attracts certain people to it, and what environment did these people come from?
The *British* empire has brought death destruction and deprivation to almost half the world before they were removed from over those 60 odd countries
If all you know is a hammer then *everything* else becomes a nail
In the film the Godfather a lieutenant of Michael Corleone asks to leave the *family* and go on his own to form his own *family*, the Godfather replies “This is not the time to break up the family, I have important plans in motion right now that will affect us all”
We see from this movie depiction of the Mafia Don that the Tories use the same language as murdering thieving gangsters who have no moral compass but that of themselves and their own futures, incidentally that lieutenant was later betrayed and blackmailed by threat of death to his brother and later killed himself, so that was the end of his future, he was given no choice but to stay and die
But hey, it’s only a movie, or is it life imitating art or art imitating life? but it’s an awful lot like Tory ideology isn’t it
I blame the Normans – who conquered Sicily as well as England and spread their feudal power relationships everywhere they went.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Mafia
My husband’s friend is called Norman….he’ll be surprised to know he is to blame ….mind you I’ve had my doubts about him…LOL
😉
Hope you are well Capella…have a nice day
Very well thanks. I’ve been travelling in the effete south lately and visited that very remote and drouthy place, Londinium. Glad to back in these cool high pastures.
My grandparents hedged their bets. Some of their offspring had Norman names (Norman, William, Robert etc) and others had Celtic names (James and Alexander) all the women in my family are called Margaret – except me.
We know a lot about ‘Norman Castle’ in my part of Wales. He’s an ubiquitous sight … (or should I say, ‘site’?)
A keep?
A keep(er), perhaps.
Mind you – you’d think Cymru would be the original location for “Dungeons and Dragons”, wouldn’t you?
Considering the influence of Lord of the RIngs on DnD, and considering in my opinion anyway, the influence of Wales in some of the place names (Dol x) for instance, and even a bit of the shape of the map and certainly geography, I thought LOTR was based partly on Wales, partly on Scotland, and some on England.
It’s a good thing we can go off topic (a little), yindyref2
Seen this?
https://nation.cymru/culture/morfydd-clark-welsh-lord-of-the-rings/
Makes a lot of sense, she’ll make a great Galadriel.
I might have to set up another Amazon a/c to get free prime for a month …
Roy castle was alright… played the 🎺🎼
And so was ‘Norman Wisdom’.
But, hey … whose listening gto our witterings, Hamish? 😉
Then again Norman Tebbit…..the dark side of the ‘Normans’….
Not to forget, Lamont. Wasn’t he a Norm, too? (Not ‘Normal’, obviously …)
Memory lapse by me but YES…indeed WS
The NORMANS ….perhaps that could be a new trivia for the right wing to take up as a MAJOR issue……the Stormin’ Norman’s….
Have a nice day
🙂
You reminded me, NMRN.
Major’s wife was/is the female of the species, too: Norma.
Are we going to include the ‘Norma’s’….are we….where will it all end…..she is merely guilty by association……when do we start on the Edwina’s….those who curry favour…..can also be spelt CURRIE.
Racks brain for others of same first name (Norman not Norma)….wait a minute NORMAN Bates….
I rest my case…M’Lud
As a student of linguistics, and sometimes dialectology, we sometimes I can tell you we refer to NORMs as ‘Nonmobile Older Rural Males’ – these individuals are usually richest sources for dialect (in any language.)
I cast no aspersions on any members of the congregation here present that I am in the presence of any such NORMs …
Wisdom?
Noted (as an in-joke in my profession):
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/language-norm-letter-1358776.html
Sharing good (and more serious) news:
“The poll reported in the Sunday Times showed that support for independence was currently at 25% in Wales but would rise to 28% if Rishi Sunak won the Conservative leadership contest and 30% if Liz Truss did the same.”
___________
Support for Welsh independence set to rise if Liz Truss becomes Prime Minister, poll shows
21 Aug 2022 2 minute read
https://nation.cymru/news/support-for-welsh-independence-set-to-rise-if-liz-truss-becomes-prime-minister-poll-shows/
I see Alex Bell has popped up again. I’d never heard of him till he was sacked by Salmond and went huffing off to … well, basically, anybody who’d listen to his whimpering. This time they gave him a fiver and he says he’s decided the case in the UKSC, and he trots off happy as Larry to Spoons for a couple of days, getting a cappuccino and free refills all day long (cough, doesn’t make him a bad person). Little did he know he could have held out for a tenner!
LOL. yes he’s not the only one. Jim Sillars is in the Herald as well “in despair” once again about the state of the “Soviet-style” Yes movement.
The Herald is where all the political dregs go for their final paydays.
Yes, Sillars is another faker 😎
The would be the Jim Sillars that funds the English Labour party and Jackie ‘Bombs not bairns’ Ballie right?
Labour’s Mr Whippy
I seem to remember Ruth Davidson wittering on about Ulsterisation of Scotland, now I read she is teaming up with Arlene Foster to tour Scotland, staunchly no doubt, sometimes the jigsaw just fits together with ease.
Ruth Davidson and Arlene Foster
Two pantomime Dames?
or
The Two Ugly Sisters?
You decide.
Two ugly Unionists is insufficient ?
Nah – ruled out for tautology, Bob.
🤣
Ruth’s lending Arlene a sash and a flute, Arlene’s bringing her own drum