In a sign that the by election defeats in England last Thursday have spooked the Conservatives, there are reports that senior figures in the party are calling on Rishi Sunak to consider holding the election in late spring next year, as they believe that this would be the best way to minimise the inevitable losses that the Tories are expected to suffer. Those in the party who favour the idea fear that leaving the General Election to the last possible moment in November or December next year risks missing an “economic sweet spot” when inflation has come down but before the full effect of interest rate rises on mortgages has started to bite. Those who have been shielded from the effects of interest rates due to being on relatively low fixed-rate mortgages are gradually seeing their deals expire. One Tory MP told the Guardian newspaper: “Every person who ends up paying an extra £500 a month because they’ve come off their mortgage deal between the spring and the autumn will end up blaming us.”
Some Conservatives feel that an earlier election would be the best strategy to avoid the complete and utter trouncing that anyone with a functioning moral compass believes that the Tories really deserve. On the basis of lies the Conservatives delivered a hard Brexit that has wrought massive economic damage, during the pandemic they privately made a mockery of the lockdown restrictions that in public they were urging everyone else to abide by, meanwhile they used the pandemic as an excuse to enrich themselves and their cronies with a procurement process for government contracts that was blatantly based upon favouritism and was an open invitation to corruption.
Meanwhile, like a vampire’s familiar, the Tories spent their days demonising the poor, the marginalised and the powerless. They threw up a distracting smokescreen of culture war issues as they got on with undermining the devolution settlement, introducing voter suppression measures and trashing democracy, in the UK as a whole, but especially in Scotland.
Then after enabling and defending Boris Johnson, who lied and cheated throughout his term in Downing Street, the Conservatives compounded the damage by inflicting the chaos and disaster of Liz Truss upon us all, a wretched inadequate of a politician who was only prevented from wreaking even more damage because the catastrophe of her government became apparent after just a couple of weeks. Truss then blamed her downfall on the “leftist establishment” in the money markets and the Bank of England. Yes, you read that right. That’s the kind of fantasist bollocks that is espoused by large and influential parts of the Conservative party these days.
As we all know, once Liz Truss imploded in office, the Tories turned in desperation to Rishi Sunak, the man rejected by the party membership just a few short weeks before. Sunak acceded to Number 10 promising that he’d restore professionalism, integrity, and accountability to government, none of which he’s done. First Sunak appointed the odiously inept quasi-fascist Suella Braverman to the Home Office in order to pander to the frothing far right in his party even though she had been forced to resign from the same job just days before for breaches of the ministerial code. Then in May he continued to defend her after it came to light that she had sought the assistance of civil servants in order to secure preferential treatment in dealing with a speeding offence.
Sunak has since studiously avoided making any public comment about the parliamentary censure of his former boss Boris Johnson and the Conservative MPs and peers who colluded with Johnson in a campaign of abuse and intimidation aimed against the committee of MPs who were investigating Johnson’s lies.
The low quality and poor character of the leading figures in the Conservative party is genuinely frightening and for the first time in my life I genuinely fear for the future of democracy in the UK.
This fear is compounded by a timid and supine Labour party which is so fixated on grabbing the authoritarian levers of power that the British system allows to the party which wins a majority in the Commons that it has turned itself into a mirror image of the party which it claims to oppose. Labour is as gung-ho for Brexit as the Tories are, wrapping itself in the British flag while it is as determined as the Conservatives to demonise and punish the poor and refuses to reverse or undo the vile policies introduced by the Conservatives in a display of performative cruelty.
This is a Labour party which will do absolutely nothing to reform the dysfunction which lies at the heart of British malaise, the House of Commons. That’s because every bit as much as the Conservatives the Labour party is in thrall to the seductive promise of absolute power that the Westminster system offers. Labour is never going to change a political system that it seeks to profit from. All that Labour offers is a respite from the Conservatives, a respite bought at the cost of turning itself into a party very similar to the Conservatives. And then having done nothing to change the underlying system, England’s electoral pendulum will inevitably swing back to the Tories and we will find ourselves at the mercy of a Conservative party which wholeheartedly espouses corrupt reactionary nationalist authoritarianism in the mould of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán or Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Without the threat posed by a strong SNP, those Tories will most assuredly seek to abolish the Scottish Parliament.
This is why, despite its shortcomings and inadequacies, anyone in Scotland who values democracy needs to vote SNP at the next General Election. It is the only party which has a realistic chance of winning Westminster seats. Voting for other pro-independence parties will merely split the pro independence vote and allow an anti independence candidate to win. Paradoxically, Alba and the other pro independence parties are only significant as long as the SNP continues to dominate Scottish politics. If the SNP loses that position then Alba and to a lesser extent the Scottish Greens become political irrelevances, minor parties with no realistic chance of power or meaningful influence for decades to come.
If the SNP loses its dominant position in Scotland, the narrative will not then be – Scotland rejected the SNP because the SNP was not vigorous enough in its pursuit of independence. It will be – Scotland has rejected independence and is content with the Westminster system, and this country will be even more vulnerable and exposed to the harm and indignity that Westminster chooses to inflict upon us all because people who support independence fell into the trap of allowing the perfect to become the enemy of the good. In the words of the Chinese proverb: “Better a diamond with a flaw than a stone without”, because Labour and the Tories will only use that stone to batter any hopes of Scottish self determination into submission. The Tories will abolish the Scottish Parliament the next time they gain power. The only people who will be satisfied will be the anti-democratic opponents of independence.
I will be off for the next week as we have a visitor coming to stay. He’s bringing his dog so I will have a dog in the house for the first time since the stroke. I’m really looking forward to that and having a dog about for a week will help me see if I can cope with a dog again. If so, I’d love to get another wee ginger dug. Fingers crossed.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Hope you take to the visiting dog (and it to you!!), this blog is yet another excellent summary of what is happening.
Like you I feel terrified, and depressed, at the direction those two desperate parties (Lab&Con) are taking us. We are going to need strong leadership and cojones to prevent the inevitable.
Every thing you cover in this blog is spot on. The other indy supporting parties is a godsend to the unionist parties, without trying they have divided the yes movement and will hope to put us back in our box, while they can continue ripping us off by robbing us of Scotland’s natural resources, as they know Scotland is the most naturally gifted part of the of the UK as far as wealth is concerned.
Just for the record, there are several Independence supporting parties in Catalonia and I feel Scotland’s politics needs the same. I come from a socialist stand point, but I totally recognise that there’s nothing preventing someone of a neoliberal bent from also supporting an Independent Scotland. I completely get that in a FPTP situation it makes sense to coalesce around one party to give them the best possible chance of winning any given seat, but realistically there are always going to be vociferous Yes folk who cannot bring themselves to vote for that one party, for whatever reason. I personally am willing to be convinced that voting for Kirsten Oswald, in my seat, is what I should do for the cause of Independence. The problem I have is that I don’t see her doing what I think needs to be done and I despise what she has been doing, very publicly, as convenor of the NEC. At this moment I don’t feel I can put my trust in her and, by the nature of the constituency, I think she may be on a shoogly peg anyway, whether I vote for her or not, as this place is always pretty marginal between SNP & Tory.
For me a Scotland United approach is the way to go and I struggle to understand those who will just dismiss the idea because it emanated from the mouth of someone they don’t like.
I’m also in KO’s seat and I have reservations. Scotland United is the way to go. We can fight it out amongst ourselves once we’re shot of the Union.
🌱 plant called albanista.
And it’s comments like that that merely perpetuate the divisions that already exist.
I’d be willing to bet that you are a keyboard warrior and nothing else. You may well be a party member, but you’ll be one of those that never ever gets off their arse to do anything useful for the cause of Independence. Sniping from the sidelines is far easier.
Hamish is nothing of the sort! I can vouch for that.
You’re probably a slaverin’ Salmondista ….and we know his way…”My way or the highway”.
Be gone with you.
Enlighten me then. What has he done, bar spout off on here. I’m more than willing to admit my error, if I’m wrong.
I’d be more than happy to tell you my history, by the way. I don’t wait for The SNP to call a day of action. As a former SNP branch organiser with over 1200 members at the time, I remember one of those days of action. We had 6 people show up, including me.
There’s too many gobshites in this movement who are content to let others organise while they snipe from the sidelines.
Kilteds
Been a treasurer, secretary at branch and constituency level, foot soldier long before 2014 came along, helped out at local and by-elections both U.K./ Holyrood and the rest. Met A Salmond and N Sturgeon a number of times – quite liked both of them and the rest.
Don’t like the SNP selection process for candidates as I tend to feel those that say the right things even with their OBE’s get precedence over local people- my interpretation. So snipe away. I still fight for independence 🏴
So all SNP? Nothing that’s purely Yes, without party affiliation? You do realise that most of the population can rally around a cause, like Independence, without agreeing with great swathes of the SNP’s agenda on other policies. You absolutely have to work with everyone, alienate as few people as you can and be the broad kirk that reflects the wider population. Without that Independence will not be achieved.
I salute your achievements so far, but I’d be much more impressed if you’d listed non-party Yes activity, but I also completely understand that in many areas of Scotland the SNP is the easiest way to get involved in the movement because local Yes Groups either don’t exist or are inactive. I just wish more members like yourself would rectify that and reach out to the rest of the community, both members of other parties and those who have no interest in party membership, and get those Yes Groups active.
I occasionally help out on the Yes Southside Saturday Street Stall in Shawlands. There are activists from several parties who work that stall, including some SNP stalwarts. Not once have I ever seen Nicola there and that’s her patch. That baffles me.
How do you think the SNP is the largest party and is in power but with the efforts of individuals way before 2014 came around.
I come from Glasgow and in the 70’s the stories of being spat on or called a tartan Tory and a few more comments linked to the sectarian violence in Ireland are spot on. Labour fiefdom it was. If the public want to go back to Teddy Taylor (Tory) Jim Whyte, Maria Fyfe and the rest it ain’t cos of activists in the SNP.
👍
I agree a Scotland United approach is best option but not for a Westminster election and FPTP.
Be under no illusion if SNP lose seats even in face of increased number of votes for independence parties then this will be spun by Westminster parties as support for independence dropping.
For Holyrood election there is a role for Scotland United but for Westminster if you vote Alba you are effectively voting Labour/Tory or Lib Dem depending on individual seat.
But I never hear SNP people say this about the Greens John. You’ll possibly lose more votes to them as I’m sure they’ll stand.
Two points to your comments:
1.The Greens have a low vote on FPTP votes and a much larger vote in List vote situation.
The Greens Party’s primary aim is based around environmental issues and people that vote Green in FPTP elections have this priority as well. I would imagine the Green Party vote would be much higher in a PR vote as demonstrated by their list vote in Holyrood elections.
2.In contrast SNP & Alba’s primary aim is independence so in a FPTP election they are fighting for same voters. I do not like FPTP but it is the Westminster system we have and it forces people into voting for parties who have a chance of winning a constituency or your vote is really wasted.
In Westminster elections I have often not voted for the party I absolutely prefer but for the party that will defeat the one I dislike most.
FPTP benefits SNP in Westminster elections and IMO you have to use the system to make your vote as effective as possible. I would like to see an independent Scotland and despite reservations about SNP performance still consider them, at this point in time, the most effective vehicle to achieving this especially in a FPTP election. If this changes in future my vote may change.
I do not like FPTP but it is the Westminster system we have and it forces people into voting for parties who have a chance of winning a constituency or your vote is really wasted.
Look at it this way: under FPTP your own vote is always “wasted”, in terms of being irrelevant in deciding who wins the seat, unless the candidate you vote for ends up winning by a single vote. That’s the only situation where you can look at the final result and be justified that voting tactically was the right choice. If that didn’t happen, you “wasted” your vote on a lesser-evil candidate who would have won anyway.
Since the odds of the result coming down to a single vote are effectively zero, even in the most marginal seat, you might as well vote for your actual first preference, even if they have no chance of winning, and contribute slightly to their local and national popular share.
The whole reason we are discussing impact of switching vote from SNP to Alba is that most seats in Scotland are relatively marginal now so it does not take a large number of votes switching from SNP to Alba in several seats to let Labour or Tories in. In a Westminster election the overall local or nation popular share counts for virtually nothing. (Lib Dems had far more votes than SNP at last Westminster election yet SNP are 3rd biggest party and get all the benefits that this status entails which even though I support independence I also think is unfair.) This is entirely different to Holyrood where the natinal share of votes will actually equate into seats.
To take your hypothesis about the odds of a single vote having any impact to its natural conclusion you would have to conclude there is no point in voting.
This is entirely different to Holyrood where the natinal share of votes will actually equate into seats.
In addition to the detail that it’s the regional, not national, vote share that affects the number of seats at Holyrood, the same principle actually applies: the chance of your own vote deciding who wins a list seat is virtually nil. So I was wrong to single out FPTP.
To take your hypothesis about the odds of a single vote having any impact to its natural conclusion you would have to conclude there is no point in voting.
Well, voting is still guaranteed to influence the reported vote share, which can have an incremental psychological effect even though it doesn’t directly affect seats won. That’s not a lot of point, but it’s still a stronger hook to hang your electoral jacket on than the all-but-guaranteed-not-to-happen chance that your vote will determine whether a Yes or No party actually wins the seat.
You are incorrect on Holyrood elections.
The better a party does in FPTP aspect of vote the more this is weighted against that party in List vote – this is why SNP get so few List MSP’s despite polling top in List elections. This is weighted to give an overall balance of MSP’s at Holyrood that reflect %age totals of votes cast. This definitively is not the case with Westminster where power is everything eg 2019 Tory ‘landslide’ with appoximately 40% of vote. The psychological aspect of %age vote might mean something to you but take it from me it means nothing to the two main parties at Westminster.
You are incorrect on Holyrood elections.
The better a party does in FPTP aspect of vote the more this is weighted against that party in List vote – this is why SNP get so few List MSP’s despite polling top in List elections. This is weighted to give an overall balance of MSP’s at Holyrood that reflect %age totals of votes cast. This definitively is not the case with Westminster where power is everything eg 2019 Tory ‘landslide’ with appoximately 40% of vote.
How does any of that make my point incorrect? Regardless of whether we’re talking about a vote for Westminster, a Holyrood constituency or the Holyrood list, the possibility of an individual vote making any difference to the final seat count is infinitesimal.
The psychological aspect of %age vote might mean something to you but take it from me it means nothing to the two main parties at Westminster.
Recent history shows that it means quite a lot to them. A growing popular share for a third party is a bad omen for the main ones even if it hasn’t yet had any bearing on seats. Why did Cameron commit to an EU referendum despite UKIP never having won a Westminster seat?
Reply to Keaton comments at 2.44pm
You do realise that the Conservatives put a referendum on EU membership in 2015 manifesto (i.e. before election) partly because the rise in UKIP in polls meant they were scared that UKIP would take votes off them in marginal constituencies and they would therefore lose these seats and if they lost these seats they would lose power. This no way equates to the situation in Scottish Politics and Alba winning a higher percentage of votes at expense of SNP at a general election.
As for the rest of your post you remind me of John Cleese in Monty Python 5 minute argument sketch – indulging in a pointless argument for the sake of it. Futile and pointless and I am not willing to pay for another 5 minutes.
All the best
You say there are several Independence supporting parties in Catalonia, I say that Scotland is the same, and the English unionist parties use this through there media outlets to divide and win. As for your socialist stand point, I was down the Pit in 1958 age sixteen where arguments were eyeball to eyeball, this is why I don’t comment so much, as I would rather still argue face to face. Needless to that I was a Scottish Lab supporter, who has seen them for what they are.
‘Without the threat posed by a strong SNP’
You’re having a laugh. Name one thing that has changed due to the SNP contingent in Westminster in 7 long years (other than Joanna Cherry preventing the prorogation of Parliament and being consigned to the backbenches for her trouble).
That’s not the reason she went to the backbenches voluntarily or otherwise and you know it.
Im having a laugh at you Gordon … you seem to be of such a short -term mind.
This….is for the long haul….probably beyond my death.
It’s great to hear that you are hoping to be able to cope with a dog again. I hope the visiting mutt makes that a burning desire and you get one.
You’re absolutely right. The only thing that will prevent a Tory government of the future scrapping Holywood is the fear of increasing support for Independence.
If the SNP are vanquished through lack of support then that will be all it needs for them to start mobilising against the threat of Independence forever. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them try to bring out a bill that makes Scotland part of the Union forever unless to leave with the agreement of the entire electorate of the UK.
Those calling for a “Scotland United” style campaign are of course right, a United front is a far stronger opponent for Westminster to take on. I can’t see that happening though while the majority of the SNP’s detractors continue to attack the party while calling for it to join with them.
There are many among their number who are specifically using Alba and other Independence supporting parties as a front to spread their hatred of the SNP. These people never want to see Independence and they hope that by driving the wedge deeper between the largest party and the supporters of other parties that this will cause a divide so great that any thought of Independence can be buried for good.
That’s the danger facing those who seek Independence, allowing others to use issues that are not about Independence to divide and weaken us. It’s what they do and it’s what they’ve always done to weaken their enemies.
The British state faces a greater threat to it’s existence than ever before because of support for Independence in Scotland. They will use, and are using every trick in the book to prevent that, I wish more of us would recognise that fact. Not everything or everyone is as it seems.
Good article, hope you enjoy the next week with the dog’s company.
[…] Source […]
In a general election small parties with the same agenda as a main larger party only succeed in reducing the point and effectiveness of the larger party thus giving Westminster exactly what it wants, division that they in turn convert into their interpretation being that Scotland does not want independence
There are Scottish elections, and those are the ones any of the smaller parties should be contesting with any hope of them having any success
To contest a British wide general election in the certain knowledge of failure for themselves surely must give thought and question to those who support such a party as to why they would want to diminish the perception that Scotland didn’t vote for their largest party because of internal argument, which is the very hope and desire of Westminster
Don’t vote SNP and Scotland becomes weaker, surely the place for other argument comes in Scotland’s own elections to try to become that largest party
No smaller independence party in Scotland can become the largest in a general election, as Paul is unquestionably right in saying, all you do is weaken Scotland by voting for the Peoples popular front of Judea and or the Judean popular front
Vote for the big hammer to hit the big nail and not lots of little hammers arguing about who’s more entitled to have a hammer
The flaw there is that the big hammer keeps missing the big nail. They seem rudderless at the moment and I wish Humza had picked his cabinet on the basis of talent, not loyalty. He could have brought people in from across the party and he chose not to. Strategically that was a bad move. There’s been too many bad moves.
I want to be able to vote SNP at the GE, but I will not vote for Kirsten Oswald unless the Scotland United policy is adopted. We can end this union at the next GE, but we have to broaden our approach and our appeal. We need to consider everything short of violence and it’s really important that we ignore any actions by Westminster to prevent us talking to the International community. Independence is dependent on international recognition and we have a big advantage in the UKs decent into being no ones favourite nation. We need to weapons that for our own benefit.
*weaponise, not weapon.
Stupid predictive text and poor proof reading.
“I want to be able to vote SNP at the GE, but I will not vote for Kirsten Oswald unless the Scotland United policy is adopted.”
If the SNP won’t do what I want then I won’t vote for them, statements such as yours look more like a blackmail attempt than any attempt at showing a United front.
No Alex, you’re not understanding. There are many thousands of passed off people in the Yes Movement, not just me.
Have you seen the polls? Yes is holding up, but you cant say that about the SNP. I’ll very happily vote SNP when they get real and show some fight.
Pragmatism is always more successful than dogma.
If you don’t vote for the snp the pragmatism you get is Tory and labour britnats in power for 5 more years. You must accept that will be the consequence of such actions. Of course maybe that is what you want?
If it ….. it’s a … 🦆
Clearly you are the one who can’t even understand what this article is trying to tell you.
You clearly don’t agree with the message but it is right all the same. Without a strong SNP there is no prospect of Independence for Scotland for many decades at least.
Alex – I am beginning to suspect that some (not all) Alba supporters just wish to destroy SNP based on the bitterness over AS treatment. In addition I am beginning to suspect that some Alba supporters are plants and just wish to destroy independence movement as a whole.
In saying this I do believe there is a constructive role for other independence parties in independence movement and that they do need to talk to each other but the SNP are still by far the biggest political party of independence movement and there are no Westminster constituencies where an SNP candidate standing down in favour of an Alba or other independence candidate would do anything else other than enhance chances of electing a Labour or Tory MP. If anybody in independence movement thinks this is a desired outcome they are either stupid or twisted.
The Holyrood election process is far better suited to a multi independence parties.
I am not an SNP member or even long term supporter but as a post 2014 supporter of independence this all seems so self evident I am surprised it needs so much explanation.
A true adherent to the Salmondista doctrine:- ” I will not vote for the SNP unless the Scotland United policy is adopted.”
My way or the highway.
Be gone with you.
If you don’t vote for the SNP you will not get independence. It really is that simple. So if you don’t like them because of whatever silly reason, hold your nose and vote for them, because that really is the only way we will achieve independence.
I’ve been doing that for years and we are no further forward.
You know the famous quote about doing the same thing over and over and it not working?
A true adherent to the Salmondista doctrine:- ” I will not vote for the SNP unless the Scotland United policy is adopted.”
My way or the highway.
Be gone with you.
And there’s the problem. Tam the bam indeed.
I’ve heard our host tell Yes Groups about the Catalans having 2 words for a nationalist. That’s the origins of all this adding ista to words nonsense.
This is an open forum and I thank Paul for that, so I’ll not begone. Debate is a good thing and those who want rid of people who don’t agree with them will always be people I challenge. There lies the roots of fascism.
I absolutely agree with this, being worried and depressed in turn. We so need out of this Union. Meantime great news about the dog. I hope that works out because you’re a dog man and you know how to give a dog a great life.
Divide and Conquer appears to be the current strongest strategy for the Unionist cause and it appears to be gaining traction with detractors of the SNP .
Some of the fiercest opponents are , ironically , those defectors to Alba who were elected under the aegis of the SNP banner .
I would have respect for any party dissident to put his/her principles on the line by resigning their seat and standing for the Party that best reflects their own priorities . Not to do so is , in my mind , an indication of either cowardice or self-indulgent grandstanding .
Put up or shut up !
There’s an Alba supporter who regularly posts on the National btl and criticizes the SNP (and of course the Greens) accusing them of “putting party before country”. It’s obvious he doesn’t have one iota of irony.
I just don’t get why you don’t see the difference. Alex is saying vote for the SNP, but under a Scotland United banner. He’s not proposing that SNP sitting MPs are deposed in favour of Alba people. Humza is saying vote SNP and no other. To me that’s a case of pragmatism against dogma and I know enough people who are dissatisfied enough with the party, for a multitude of reasons, to not buy the dogma.
1 policy, to make Scotland an Independent country should be our priority and we can do that at a GE next year.
All we have to do is bite the bullet and agree to disagree on everything that divides us, because we have a bigger fish to fry.
Alex Salmond is no longer in power.
He got defeated by a Tory in an election. He will not be a MP or MSP again.
Sometimes you have to admit your time is up and go gracefully. Too many like Jim Sillars believe they have rights over the rest of us.
Life ain’t that simple or kind.
A good idea is a good idea, no matter who says it.
I think that’s where you’re mistaken, no idea from an unelectable politician can ever be a good idea as far as the public’s concerned when you’re asking the very voters that made him unelectable to buy his pitch
Whenever Tony Blair appears on TV you can practically hear the groans from voters and yet he was the most popular most successful Labour leader ever in modern times, but now the voters dislike him intensely and won’t listen to a word he says
If the voters don’t like somebody it’s not in any political parties interests to affiliate with them, it’s a vote loser and exactly why the media use him against the Labour party
In Scotland Alex Salmond and Jim Sillars to name just two are used against the SNP
Once the public decide they don’t like something or someone you can’t make them undecide by insistence, it annoys them into doing the opposite
As the campaign for the general election heats up you’ll see Jeremy Corbyn being used against the Labour party in exactly the same way
Public perception is everything, get the mood wrong and you’re out, remember Miliband?
Who could possibly have seen this coming. Have they still got any pledges left to drop?
I have no interest in starting any discussions around this issue, which have been done to death, but that’s another stab in front for ‘Scottish’ Labour, and will only deepen the cross-border divisions between England and Scotland / Wales.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66299705
Labour drops pledge to introduce self-ID for trans people
Labour has ruled out introducing a self-ID system to allow people to change their legal sex without a medical diagnosis.
Leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously said his party would introduce such a system if it wins power.
This is how North British Labour voted.
18 for
2 against
0 abstained
2 did not vote
+ Show details
That’s 90% for out of those giving an opinion / vote.
Watch this develop as it will be the final straw on the camel’s back.
Not this particular policy to be clear, but English Labour chasing the right while ‘Scottish Labour’ still sort of wants to be moderate centre to left as that’s the vote it used to attract and the Tories have the hard right covered.
The battleground for Independence isn’t here among Yes activists and members of the SNP/Greens/Alba and their opposite numbers in the Unionists camps who support Tories/Labour/LIbDem ect.
The battle is not for the 30% or so at each end of the Independence/Unionist divide, it ‘s the battle for the 40% or so right in the middle.
Most of them are vaguely attracted to one side or the other and vote accordingly while some choose not to vote at all. We are trying to win over those normally non political hearts and minds and that is why the image of the SNP is so important.
The SNP is public enemy number one for the British state simply because all those in the middle, those who are genuinely swithering and thinking about supporting Independence are much less likely to do it if they can be convinced that the SNP is useless or corrupt or untrustworthy or failures.
There is zero chance of a non political person thinking about Independence going out and voting for Alba instead of Labour but he or she might have been tempted to go out and Vote SNP.
That in a nutshell explains the relentless negativity surrounding the SNP and orchestrated by the UK media in support of their British State masters. The really sad thing is that among those who genuinely want Independence but have issues with the SNP are enemies of Independence posing as supporters in order to conduct more attacks on the SNP.
It is so obvious that there are many Unionists hiding in sheeps clothing among supporters of Independence that I can barely fathom how some completely miss this when it’s staring them in the face.
The way we will win Independence is only by showing strength to those running the show and that means returning as many pro Independence MP’s as possible. The best chance of that is voting for the SNP, there is no other party where that 40% in the middle will possibly even consider,
That will be the choice you have in the next General election, vote SNP or accept that any dream of Independence is over for a very long time.
Thank you for spelling out the basic facts as they stand in 2023.
I think Alba supporters are a mix of:
frustrated independence supporters who have no grasp on reality and think they can achieve independence through their fervour and disregard the 40% you correctly describe as the key. In their self righteousness they fail to see how their fervour turns off the very people from 40% that we need to persuade. N short they cannot see bigger picture for their own fanaticism.
Alex Salmond loyalists who cannot see that his time has come and gone and that he does seem unfortunately to be somewhat bitter after his trial and that far from being helpful many of his and his supporters interventions are counterproductive to independence movement.
Fifth columnists from anti-independence side who can see that bringing down SNP will put indoor backburner for 20 years.
Lastly it is interesting to note from recent Spanish elections that Catalonian Independence parties hold balance of power and are demanding an independence referendum as condition for support. This is the only immediate way that we can get Westminster to possibly agree to another independence referendum in Scotland and for this we require to maximise pro independence MP’s. Last time I checked this means voting SNP at General Election as from 2019 GE no other independence parties were anywhere close to being elected anywhere.
I would suggest AS Scotland United suggestion for upcoming Westminster election is a desperate ploy to try and keep the MP’s who were voted in as SNP and switched to Alba.
Lastly I noted the leader of major Catalonian independence party is still in Belgium as Spanish Police are trying to arrest him for embezzlement at which point a little bell went off in my head.
It got me to wondering why amid so much scandal in British politics that AS (not guilty) and NS have been persued with such vigour by the law in recent years?
Vote SNP under FPTP. For STV and Holyrood vote SNP then other Indy Parties. For D’Hondt it is better having other Indy Parties on the list.
People who support Independence need to get out and vote. Stop moaning. Or get unionists ruining the economy.
The really important issue in Scotland for the next Westminster election is for Scots to decide whether Scotland is a country/nation or not.
The Tories and Labour grandees are making it clear that,as far as they are concerned,Scotland ceased to exist in 1707 and subsequently Scots do not have the right to self determination.
They will certainly be intending to do what Spain has done with Catalonia and declared the UK state to be indivisible for ever and ever.
To that end,it has to be a simple message that a vote for the SNP is a vote for seccesion from the UK state and that a vote for the Anglo parties will be to finally end Scottish identity and,more importantly,aspirations.
This situation where nothing else matters is not of our making but as a result of complete intransigence by the UK state with their Ein Reich,Ein Volk ideological nonsense.
Your “Better a diamond with a flaw than a stone without” is no better demonstrated than by this Tory logic as posted over on Youtube –
Beyond the highly relevant lobbyist angle highlighted, what Frost demonstrates here is what influences the very government of the UK and the paucity of thinking all of them share be they Tory or Labour – This is what England is wedded to whether they like it or not, and this is the lunacy from which Scots must escape with all speed.
As Frost reduced future global effects to “a bit warmer”, I wondered how the 10,000 UK citizens currently stranded on Rhodes would react in the here and now – Thousands have been evacuated from Greek islands already, even a detachment of the Pompieri has been sent in to assist from Romania, and that before it gets “a bit warmer”.
There was a Scotonomics podcast recently with Steve Keen, where he coldly laid out what he thinks WILL happen to change capitalist thinking such as exhibited by Frost, as once beyond the “tipping-point” we will already be in the unknown, a live experiment of destroying an entire planet with an eye on share prices – Will it take a US state failing, or a country, or the millions evacuating northward where it’s “a bit warmer” for it to register just how bloody dangerous the game they are playing ?
Scots may not be able to stop this lunatic elite from destroying England further than they already have, but we sure as hell can abandon them to their fate.
As an independent state, we can join those of like mind looking to future generations, prepared to do something rather than argue about the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
No wonder he made such a mess of brexit, not exactly a shinning example of someone on top of his brief rather someone who was handed a piece of paper half an hour before he was on.
Idiot of a man.
Unfortunately his idiocy is a fair reflection of Tory party (and their funders) outlook, greed.
He’s a Lord purely to influence decisions there.
With Labour and Tories both set on diluting what needs done in the short term over global warming, this is the warmup act for the “affordability” fairy.
Even the basic premise that it’ll be “a bit warmer”, is deeply flawed and shows no understanding of the complex processes in play.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is weakening, has been for some time; since before the industrial revolution. The question is becoming: not if it will shut down; but, increasingly, when it will. When it does, it’ll weaken the Gulf Stream and, more importantly from a Scottish perspective, the North Atlantic Drift (the Gulf Stream’s northern arm). That, in turn, will mean cooler conditions in the areas affected by it.
Cooling enough to adversely affect agriculture in much of northern and western Europe; as well as similar in eastern North America.
If it happens soon, as it might, we’ve already had a glimpse of what will happen. Earlier this year, when there was a very slight downturn in agricultural output, southern European suppliers had no trouble selling all of their wares, hassle free, in the rest of the EU; there were empty produce shelves here.
Warmer temperatures might do away with Frost!
🤣
BBC radio Scotland to interview Lord George Foulkes at 8.30am on his campaign to prevent and or fine Scotland’s Government from having free speech
We’ve just heard from a professor on Foulkes call for the civil service in Scotland to be disallowed from working on the independence agenda who says there is no provision under the acts of devolution to prevent the civil service doing the job the government of the day demands
The civil service should be completely impartial in all matters political, and in his opinion for the UK government to be even considering sanctions on the Scottish government for speaking about independence is solely politically motivated
8.30 folks this must be worth a listen, if only to hear Foulkes lose his sh*t live on the radio
As predicted he lost his sh*t and finished up by declaring that the UK government campaigns to keep the union together with their own money, own money? oh really?
Lord George also declared that WE ARE NOT A UNION OF EQUALS then tried bluffing his way through the rest of that by waffling about responsibilities because somewhere in his drink sodden mind he realised exactly what he’d just said
We desperately need out of this union. The UK government stance on climate change is appalling, they need to hold on to Scotland as in the next 20 years the south east will be running out of water, there will be drought in England food production will not meet demand, prices will rise exorbitantly and we will see climate refugees heading north. Meanwhile the elite will continue to profit from public misery l.
The Tories are now going to give two year visas to young folk from the EU to come and work here. For economic reasons. The beginning of the end to Brexit. It was always young people who came to work. Articulate and smart.
The notion that young folk here could train and fill the jobs. 3%+ unemployment? There are no one to fill the jobs. Try to get a plumber, electrician, joiner etc.
The hospitality, healthcare and farming industry needs workers.
Asylum seekers are not allowed to work. Beyond ridiculous without settled status. The reason why people come on boats. They cannot be processed unless they are here. Racist and bigoted. After causing all the illegal wars that make people migrate.
The Tories in an awful state. ‘Brexit has not happened’ is the claim because it can’t without doing even more harm to the economy.
Scotland needs to get Independent and get back in. Scotland is losing £Billions. On tax evasion, financial fraud and illegal wars. Westminster misrule and mismanagement. Poor bad decisions. Ruining Scotland revenues and resources.
An election in the Spring? People who support Independence need to get out and vote. A higher turnout and stop moaning. Use it or lose it.
We are only a short step away from the SNP being declared a terrorist organisation and it being an offence to discuss Scottish democracy or in fact anything which delineats Scotland from England.
England is becoming a fascist state now that it is free from the shackles of the European courts.
What would have once been considered outrageous anti democratic rhetoric is now the norm.
This is the BBC Scotland interview with ffsake https://youtu.be/-6YCoYS40WM
That was painful to listen to. What a blowhard, you know I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak before and I thought For someone who represented Labour in Scotland he had an unusual accent for a Scot.
I looked him up in Wiki and found he was born in Shropshire, went to a local school in Moray before attending “The Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School” which is a private school in West Hampstead.
He’s very much a Tory in my eyes and always has been.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Foulkes,_Baron_Foulkes_of_Cumnock
The National is conducting a poll. Should YES be on the ballot at the next election. YES is currently on 74%
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23678779.poll-yes-ballot-paper-next-election/?ref=eb&nid=1302&u=a60e0e23c1cb42bde22067cc67201bf6&date=260723
What goes on the ballot paper for a General Election in not decided in Scotland, so this is a bit of a moot question.
In the article it says:
There is precedent for the SNP placing slogans on the ballot paper, with the phrase “Alex Salmond for First Minister” appearing on the list vote ballot during the 2011 Holyrood elections.
So perhaps there is space for a slogan?
This is a UK general election over which Scotland has zero control or input
The parties can put anything they like on their manifestos however
The responsibility for Scottish elections and council elections in Scotland is devolved and it is a decision for the Scottish Government together with the Electoral Commission as to what can be printed on the ballot paper.
Westminster is responsible for UK General Elections and the wording on the ballot paper is regulated according to The Representation of the People (Ballot Paper) Regulations 2015. So it will be UK law that governs what is on the ballot paper
The rules are pretty strict, starting with:
1. Nothing is to be printed on the ballot paper except in accordance with these directions.
2. So far as is practicable, the arrangements set out in paragraphs 3 to 13 must be observed in the printing of the ballot paper.
3. No word may be printed on the face except:
(a)the heading “Election of the Member of Parliament for the …………… constituency”;
(b)within that heading, the name of the constituency;
(c)the direction “Vote for only one candidate by putting a cross [X] in the box next to your choice”;
(d)the particulars of the candidates; and
(e)words forming part of the emblems mentioned at paragraph 10 below.
There are another 10 clauses after that to comply with.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/656/schedule/2/made
I see the Herald too are running this story and it’s all about the SNP doing something similar in Hollywood elections for 2006 and 2011. They are trying to muddy the waters and imply that the Scottish government could do so for the next General election. They are shit stirring in other words.
Only names of candidates and party on election ballot papers, I don’t know what the National thinks they’re doing conducting a poll on something that can’t happen
Unless they know something the rest of us don’t of course
This is why I see things like this as annoying. I have no doubt there will be people taking part in this poll who believe that the Scottish government could put Yes on the ballot paper if they wanted to. The fact that it couldn’t happen won’t stop some from insisting that Yes is not on the ballot paper because the SNP don’t really want independence.
That is the type of thing that can and does happen more frequently than I care for. It’s called making a rod for your own back.
You’re right of course Alex, all the usual suspects will do and say exactly as you predict
The National should’ve informed folk correctly before encouraging them to take part
It’s not the right way to go about these things, raising and dashing hopes of non starter alterations to voting rules that can’t happen
It’s just more grist to the mill for the SNP bad complainers
OK – point taken! I thought it a harmless effort to guage opinion of the readers. However, it may be impossible to transfer to a Westminster election.
It’s like many papers online. Just clickbate. I would hope they would stop doing this as the trolls just submit multiple responses
The National start a new series, looking at indpendence in countries around the world, starting with the Maldives.
New Independence is Normal series explores indy worldwide
https://archive.fo/SRgsE
The last time I looked into it Capella, Edinburgh had the 4th largest financial market in Europe, in terms of assets managed; Glasgow’s is not insignificant either, it is somewhere in the teens.
Obviously London dwarfs everywhere else, then come Zurich and Luxembourg. So, Edinburgh’s market, which is globally significant in some areas, is larger than those of: Amsterdam; Frankfurt; Madrid; Milan and Paris, or anywhere else. Following them, there are not many other European markets larger than Glasgow’s. Even if relative positions have slipped a bit since Brexit (don’t know, haven’t checked), we’re still looking at a lot of people, with plenty of skills operating in the sector.
But, somehow, we’re too stupid to organise a national bank?
The Labour party jumps to help out with Lord Foulkes’s runaway big gob as Tony Blair steps into the row exclaiming “Scotland is an equal partner in the union, I hand wrote on a bit of paper and gave it to Donald Dewar, see that’s proof so it is” says Tony Bliar
So that’s what England is now producing as their claim of evidence that we’re equal
No legal document, just a scribble from a disgraced former Labour PM
That’s nearly as good as *The Vow* when the Daily Record made that up to con Scotland
Could this happen in any other country in the world and the population would accept this constant lying and undermining with a shrug of their shoulders?
Definitely not
Painful as it may be to say but there seems to be a lot of political representatives that claim to represent Scotland who were actually born in England and tell us we are subordinate to them, one even believes Scotland should not exist.
Foulkes is merely saying out loud what the majority of the MP’s & MSP’s from England actually believe. They don’t see Scotland as a country but a possession in the same way they did all their colonies.
All 65 colonies that are now independent, including America
How on earth do they all manage?
Blair’s real beef with Lord FOO is that this loudmouth blurted out an inconvenient truth, that the warm words (that’s all they were) of Blair and New Labour sought to hide.
Scotland is NOT equal partner in the union. I don’t see what is controversial about that. It would be if the UK were a body like EFTA, the EU or even the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Membership of such is for sovereign governments, theoretically enjoying parity of esteem.
While cooperation on certain matters. (notably trade) is often enjoined, members reserve certain matters for themselves, such as defence and foreign affairs; or (Lord FOO’s bête noir) their own constitution.
Imagine a future where the British-Irish Council consists of four independent states: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. THAT would be s a partnership equals. Blundering loudmouth Lord FOO is right; Tony Blair is a liar (who knew?)
A lot of Londoners must have migrated to Edinburgh to run the financial sector on our behalf. They’ve always been good at managing our money.
But it will be interesting if the National gets into the detail of how the new decolonised countries survived without the benign guidance of Westminster.
There are plenty of recent, arguably better, examples from post Soviet and post Yugoslav republics, that are now nation states, along with Slovakia.
AFAIK all the Soviet Republics had the right of secession written into their constitution and the process was relatively straightforward once the Soviet Union dissolved. Yugoslavia is a different case because of the NATO war and current dispute over Kosovo.
We, however, don’t appear to have the right of secession, according to the sages of Westminster.
I was more referring to them ably setting up a central bank, despite having little free market experience to call upon.
Similar sized, or smaller countries, by population can do it with a handicap.
But, uniquely and despite having free market skills, we somehow, can’t.
Well, you see, we are too stupid Drew. After all, it is 330 years since William Paterson founded the Bank of England. We’ve forgotten how to do things sine then.🤓
Nato didn’t start a warin Yugoslavia they only got involved after the failure of the UN to prevent various instances of ethnic cleansing particularly the Srebrenica massacre. I have visited Bosnia and Croatia and seen the scars of that war. Then and with the Ukraine warnow the UN are absolutely uselessand will remain so until there is no veto allowed from the permanent members of the security Council.
So , Tony Bliar , War criminal , has come out against Lord FFS ?
He apparently has /had a written note ( ? ) that claims HE told Dewar that Scotland IS an equal partner in The Union .
Well , say no more ! That is conclusive !
If Tony says it then it must be true . I’m sure that Alastair Campbell will second this view , for they are both honourable men !
COMPLETELY & UTTERLY OFF TOPIC:
A birthday cake which one of my darling sisters sent me (its my birthday today and yes I’ve been kissed lots of times) arrived by courier this morning.
why on earth she thought it a good idea to put the candles in the cake (aye…all 72 0f them) …I’ll never know.
Spent all morning digging them out the squashed cake.
Never mind…its the thought that counts….eh no?
Happy Birthday Tam – at least she didn’t light the candles before she sent it – look on the bright side! 😂
I hope there’s marzipan in it. Happy birthday. Still young enough to see independence 🏴
🤣 All the best anyway…
I’m from Glasgow so I get *connels* on my cake
As long as it’s tasty good’s good
Happy burdy Tam
Enjoy the cake and keep hold of the candles as they’ll help you get through next winter. Happy birthday.
Latest reports are that a fire brigade was seen rushing to Tam the Bam’s house to put out the flames. The Fire Chief, Angus McWaxey is reported to have said that in all his life as a firefighter, he had not seen so many candles or a birthday cake and that the resulting inferno was one his crew had not seen in over 40 years service.
Hope you had a good one, Tam – and now tell me in the time meaning fashion of addressing firefighters, “Go to blazes!”
🙂
Oh my goodness…..I never anticipated such a response!
Many thanks to all of you for your kind regards…. and yes Sion…”the fire’s oot!”
Thanks guys … means a lot.
Why are Labour ‘dividing the UK’ like this? Why are they not ‘uniting the UK’ on policy? 🙂
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-66315485c
Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour split over self-ID for trans people
Sir Keir Starmer has said that he disagrees with Scottish Labour’s stance on how trans people should be able to change their legal sex.
On Monday, Labour said it would retain the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria when an application is made.
So much fun and games to come here as Starmer attacks LGBT folks, migrants, Scots, ‘benefits scroungers’ etc; any minority he can in the quest for Tory votes. Labour continue to fall in the polls, so he will ramp this right wing s**t up ever more in response.
Oh dear, this doesn’t sound very ‘anti-English xenophobic’.
https://archive.is/wip/A9Kj9
Scottish citizenship plans to be revealed in new independence paper
SCOTLAND will follow an Irish citizenship model after independence which allows the children of Scottish citizens to automatically qualify even if they have been born outwith the country, it will be announced today.
The Scottish Government proposals will also see British citizens have the right to claim dual nationality at the point of independence.
Awkward if that’s the line you like to push.
Suffice to say I back this approach. Was made to feel so welcome by my fellow Irish folks. This contrasts my wife being forced into British citizenship out of fear of being stopped at the border, as has been happening to many of her compatriots.
Mum English, Dad Scottish, sister born in England, all the rest of us born in Scotland
My generation was post war when fathers had been scattered all over the place coming back from around the globe and kids were being born all over the place like popcorn coming out of a hot pan and pram making must’ve been a lucrative industry, in fact anything with wheels was good at that time
In 2014 details of citizenship and other issues were never dealt with in advance and it created the space for the UK of England to cast doubt on Scotland’s ability to do even the simplest of things, folk being what folk are, when doubt creeps in to their minds it was then pretty easy for many not to make the decision to vote for independence
Failure to prepare is preparing to fail
Humza Yousaf to his credit is doing what should have been done pre 2014, he’s preparing to win, and still the usual suspects are complaining
What’s wrong with these complainers? they seem to want to do it in exactly the same loser way as last time, do they want to lose again?
Pre 2014 saw a great deal of cart before horse on unanswered questions, some incredibly trivial to be fair, but nevertheless took up space and time on the airwaves dealing with the impact of people’s scepticism and fear of the unknown
Nicola’s guiding this along very nicely, Oops! I mean Humza, of course that’s what I mean
For young people this will be a breath of fresh air. Opening new horizons and hope.
The Irish have it sussed. The Welsh and Scots have been told far too long that we can’t do things- some believe it, unfortunately.
It is a lie of course.
Vote SNP- Vote Independence 🏴
The best people to govern Scotland are the people of Scotland🏴✅
Channel 4 news tonight had an item that was ostensibly about the launch today of the Citenzenship paper. The whole issue of citizenship was dealt with in 30 sec or so and could be summarised as: ‘burgundy passports’. It then had a complete and totally unconnected change of direction that had nothing to do with citizenship.
See for yourself.
https://www.channel4.com/news/scotlands-first-minister-still-refuses-to-say-whether-he-will-suspend-nicola-sturgeon-from-the-snp-if-she-is-charged
I’ve had my doubts when C4 have engaged in such activities before that they are no better than the rest of the UK political/media bubbleverse, but Kathryn Sampson’s framing of that piece is more Daily Mail style than STV.
There must be panic in the corridors of power when they are so desperate…..
“You can ask the question in a hundred different ways” said Humza out loud, because these are the things a politician should say to give the media the nothing they deserve, but I guess we all heard what he thought of Catherine Sampson and all those *people* who use this filthy style of ask a question report a denial *journalism*
How many times have you beaten your wife? politician denies beating his wife
Daily Mail style is right Bob, we have the Piers Morgan’s of the world to thank for this kind of sewage
Expert opinion backs the Scottish government in developing policy for independence. Westminster says NO. Shock!
Humza Yousaf hits back at UK plot to limit Scottish independence spending
https://archive.fo/rPYP0
In the UK state,the right to self determination is “reserved”.
Those in in Scotland who oppose this spending on independence should remember that the UK government of England has used taxpayers money on several occasions to commission polls on Scottish independence then refused to release the results of those polls
Taxpayers money was also used by the UK of England to set up their own *union unit* specifically tasked to keep the union together, does anyone believe nobody got paid for these positions?
Taxpayers money is also used to fund overseas consulates and embassies, assistance from these institutions was denied to Scotland former FM Nicola Sturgeon
And leave us not forget the institutions over which Scotland is allowed zero input but we pay for their existence, the BBC in Scotland is untouchable yet Scots pay for it, our government cannot hold that organisation to account on behalf of the people of Scotland yet we pay for it, the BBC in Scotland can say and do whatever they’re instructed to say and do by the UK of England government but Scotland pays for it
As people like Martin Geissler of the BBC in Scotland undermine and openly mock the Scottish government on a daily basis he feels safe and secure in the certain knowledge that the BBC will not sack him because doing exactly that is his job, but every Scot in our country pays his wages by enforcement under the rules of UK of England law
The tax on owning a television which the UK of England calls a license
Now would people like to talk and learn about the future of Scotland from the government we elected or do they *want* to be taxed to hear the opinions and propaganda of the government of the UK of England that the people of Scotland did not elect?
BBC Scotland’s flagship channel 9 claims it reports all the news from a Scottish perspective, why on earth would they have to even say that? we pay for it, yet the BBC advertise this as though they’re doing Scotland some kind of favour
Except the BBC news where we are is only available to Scotland as when and if a major English sporting event such as a football match replaces it
BBC Scotland Pacific Quay at the Clyde costs us over £330 million per year, what do you think about that use of our public money Scottish taxpayers, and you can’t vote the BBC out because every one of them is a hand picked UK of England employee
And still Scotland pays
With all the furore in the Tory press supporting Farage I also recall how they surpressed the evidence of private companies and shadowy groups holding information on Trades Unionist and others. No doubt we are all on their lists too.
Sorry No vacancies;
Sorry your zero contract is ending…
Try next time for promotion
Sorry we are the BBC /Stv/ rugby club etcetera/
You wear a cravat? How does Chairman sound?
It’s how the tory/labour/ Lib Dem Brit nats work
Neil Oliver is saying today on GBeebies that the heatwave is fake:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66314338
Interesting that the article shows the use of Stevenson screens to measure air temperature. These were invented by Thomas Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson’s father. There’s one outside the cottage in Braemar where Stevenson lived. He was said to have written Treasure Island there. However, the topography for Treasure Island was more likely to be Stonehaven where there’s an inn by the harbour and a headland. The salt merchant there was “Sauty Siller” a tall man with the surname Silver. Stevenson’s father built lighthouses and little Robert accompanied him on his travels around the coast.
You’d think the “Coast man” wold have known that.
He’s right!
Its all down to my over-candled burfday cake!
I see elsewhere the albanists believe that in order to save the SNP from electoral defeat next year the FM must be challenged by an unknown. Only then will independence be safe.
That’s awfy nice of them. Considerate souls are they not.
Do you think they are zipped up the back?
I actually think the FM is doing a reasonable job and as long as he keeps fighting the Tory / Labourites and has Independence as the main reason to vote SNP at the next election then they will do well.
Not quite what some want to hear.
🏴
The same people were saying for a long time that getting rid of Nicola Sturgeon, the most popular politician in the UK never mind just Scotland was the way to guarantee Independence. Ho hum.
It’s odd that they consistently offer the best advice to derail independence at every turn. And it’s very odd that their vocal presence online doesn’t equate to votes, particularly given that they cannot blame FPTP tactical voting for a disappointing turnout in the Holyrood elections.
But it would be a bit much to suspect that the UK government would manipulate online discussions. Sure, they’ve been caught doing it many times, and we also got full details via Edward Snowden when they boasted internally of their abilities. But they’d never do that about domestic matters. There are laws making it illegal for them to target Westminster politicians and while there are no such laws restraining them around Holyrood, we all know that these are thoroughly decent chaps who all went to the right schools and have the highest moral character. They are only concerned about the integrity of the British state, & losing massive chunk of that state simply wouldn’t be of any interest to them.
That’s the British way to do it
Precisely….
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Humza Yousaf so far, I think he’s doing well
One hundred percent correct Dr Jim he does what is required as the 1st Minister but his number one priority is Scottish Independence and a Direct Vote anyway that the legals say is okay! The mistakes he has made he has corrected which is why everyone who are not SNP FIRST are screaming and shouting to get rid of him..Lol..I always enjoy reading your stuff…
But Jim you are upsetting poor SGP wee independista ( in name only🦆🌱) . If such individuals are so hell bent on attacking the FM as they did with Nicola then we can only assume that they are not independence supporters. They have aligned themselves with Jackie Baillie and co.
The lie that snapping one’s fingers provides independence is just that.
As the FPTP GE election looms they have a choice.
Support the SNP or by action you support the Brit Nat parties. It is that simple.
The best people to govern Scotland are the people of Scotland.🏴
I see Jack is throwing a hissy fit over the Scottish government’s white papers on Independence. I hope this is just the start of them trying to bully the Scottish government and the people of Scotland into abandoning any thoughts of Independence.
These people are clueless and speaking not just for myself I’m sure, I know that this pathetic attempt at bullying will have the complete opposite effect from the one they want. I want Humza Yousaf to hit back as he has done with Cracker Jacks latest outburst.
We should demand that the Scottish office is closed as it is totally irrelevant to good governance in Scotland, that should save a few bob and we can spend it on the Scottish governments priorities such as providing extra money to help feed children that the Tories are forcing to go without food by cutting benefits to the bone.
Excellent idea. Union Jack is just a gauleiter whose job is to oversee the Scottish Government and interfere whenever we do something he doesn’t approve of. The Scottish Office is as redundant now as it always has been.
This in the National https://archive.ph/s2iY0
As you observed, they really haven’t thought this through, again….
The English barely mention FM of Scotland Humza Yousaf’s name and I think there’s a reason
I think there’s a panic in the breastie of the English government over Scotland at the moment, and I might be wrong but I suspect it’s because they don’t know how to attack Humza Yousaf without coming off as simultaneously racist to Muslims and Scots
They’re used to attacking the easy white target, which is most of us, but I do get the feeling they don’t know how to cope with Humza, they’re so used to being racist with us they don’t know how not to be racist against Humza, and are afraid whatever they say about him will look like that and the rest of us will be offended on his behalf
And they’re probably right
We can all remember how they mercilessly mocked Alex Salmond, and when Nicola became FM it was even worse how they attacked every aspect of her appearance, hair, clothes, shoes, ugly cartoons in their newspapers, even her very name
They’re not attacking Humza in the same way because the racist Bastirts don’t know how, they just instinctively know they’re racists and they haven’t worked out how not to be
That explains a lot, Dr Jim.
Get it up ’em !!
Brilliant Dr Jim 😂
So lots of English companies refuse to deliver to many Scots.
When I order from EU companies, they will happily deliver, but England charges me (£61 in this case for a small item of bathroom furniture) an ‘anti-furriner’ wall maintenance fee on top.
And we’re told we are the subsidy junkies while they charge us for their wall.
Considering that furniture from the EU into the UK has no import duty i’m struggling to see what you are waffling on about England charging you to bring your item into the country.
This is just Scotch mist then?
The first charge is VAT the second is the fee that the courier charges for the fees related to processing your parcel. Both were charged post Brexit and will continue to be paid when Scotland is in the EU. So neither are fees charged by ‘England’ to maintain the ‘wall’ post Brexit
But thanks for reinforcing to everybody that you are xenophobic but trying to claim that you are.
They don’t need to – could reality take it off our bill / give extra to Holyrood
Seems that you stand with the Brexiters on this – one of their arguments for leaving the EU was that there would no longer be a requirement to charge VAT (EU member states have to charge at least 15% VAT on non essential items). Like you they wanted the VAT taken off their bill.
The usual personal insults. You really don’t like Scots do you? Any chance you get you call Scots ‘xenophobic’.
FFS, I’m a dual national with an EU wife who campaigns for free movement*, yet you seem to think you can convince people I’m ‘Scottish so must be xenophobic’?
Ok, so clearly you are a brexiter. Otherwise you’d agree that the increased costs are as I said. You would attack brexit and back comments to that effect if you were not hiding who you really are?
The English Trump wall needs to be paid for and Scots are paying for it. End of. If Westminster had agreed to iref2, I couldn’t argue this, but as things stand it’s the bare faced reality.
I note it’s also weird how you stalk me. Have you past history / convictions for this? You seem a wee bit obsessed with me and maybe you need some help about that.
—-
Xenophobic article from the grocer:
https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/brexit/brexit-trade-barriers-have-cost-brits-an-extra-7bn-report-finds/679569.article
British households have spent an extra £7bn since Brexit to cover the costs of importing EU goods such as cheese and meat, according to new London School of Economics research.
The trade impact of leaving the EU has pushed food import prices up, researchers found, resulting in an increase of £250 in household bills since December 2019.
A wall costs money to build and maintain. Just the £12 ‘clearance fee’ England charged me is a perfect example of this.
—
*It saddens me a lot that English people voted for a wall at Gretna, but it’s their choice
You really don’t like Scots do you? Any chance you get you call Scots ‘xenophobic’.
Again your are trying to say that attacking you is attacking ‘Scots’ im calling out you personally the fact that your Scots’ has nothing to do with it.
FFS, I’m a dual national with an EU wife who campaigns for free movement*, yet you seem to think you can convince people I’m ‘Scottish so must be xenophobic’?
Thats up there with the ‘I can’t be racisit, i’ve got black friends’ that the NF/BNP spouted back in the 70s try and be a bit more original. Also i’ve never said that being Scottish is the reason your Xenophobic – your just lying once again.
Ok, so clearly you are a brexiter. Otherwise you’d agree that the increased costs are as I said
You need to to show what there increased costs are that you paid because of Brexit. The image you posted showed VAT and Clearance charges both which you would of paid when the UK was in the EU. Thus you have not payed any extra charges, so another lie.
£12 ‘clearance fee’
As mentioned you also paid fees before Brexit so nothing to do with your ‘wall’ another lie.
I note it’s also weird how you stalk me. Have you past history / convictions for this? You seem a wee bit obsessed with me and maybe you need some help about that.
If you don’t like my posts I suggest you do what you have advised other to do to your posts and simply skim past them, no body is forcing you read them let along reply to them.
Ok, so clearly you are a brexiter
Nope but as mentioned above your are – you want VAT taken off your bill, only Brexiters want this as its not something possible with EU membership.
More detail on your £12 fee that in your imagination goes to ‘England for its wall’
This is an additional fee we charge in order to clear your parcel through Customs quickly and pay the customs duty, excise duty and import VAT on your behalf. This allows us to cover the cost of handling the parcel, administration, collection of monies and provision of facilities for Customs clearance.
If a parcel is received into the UK, either from the EU or Rest of World, addressed to you, we will clear the goods through HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
So it basically pays (in your case) for they payment of the correct amount of VAT.
Highlighting even more that this:
(£61 in this case for a small item of bathroom furniture) an ‘anti-furriner’ wall maintenance fee on top
Was just your usual xenophobic crap.
Simply put, if my English neighbour complains about companies from England not shipping to her… about the costs and inconveniences of Brexit… about how the latter mess is due to the construction of an ‘anti-migrant’ wall… you’d not call her xenophobic.
So why do you call me that for making identical complaints given her and I live in the same country with the same government? What is the difference? Why treat me differently?
It’s my nationality of course (Scottish / Irish). That’s why you use the insults so freely. You discriminate based on a protected characteristic. It’s like the Scotsman, Englishman, Irishman jokes that have been historically so popular in England.
I attack my own central government (like it or not)… companies from the state I live in which won’t deliver to me… those that repress democracy and try to subjugate the people of my country, including my English neighbours (up to 40% of which back indy)… and you attack me because, well, I’m Scottish (and Irish). That’s where we are at. This is what it comes down to.
And no, before brexit people didn’t get an extra bill a few weeks later for a large sum on top.* That never happened. The English government won’t let me vote for the government of my choosing, but forces itself on me and bills me for wall payments. There’s no way to argue otherwise. End of.
And going forward, can you please stop stalking me? It’s getting creepy.
—-
* https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/brexit-the-new-online-shopping-and-delivery-charges-you-need-to-know-aXEsX8G2Gv6K
Brexit: the new online shopping and delivery charges you need to know
From VAT and duty, to handling fees and surcharges – the new charges you could have to pay next time you buy something from an EU seller
From the xenophobes at Which. No wait, it’s an English site so they’re good.
Simply put, if my English neighbour complains about companies from England not shipping to her… about the costs and inconveniences of Brexit… about how the latter mess is due to the construction of an ‘anti-migrant’ wall… you’d not call her xenophobic.
You really need some evidence to back this up otherwise it is you just hying once again.
It’s my nationality of course (Scottish / Irish). That’s why you use the insults so freely. You discriminate based on a protected characteristic. It’s like the Scotsman, Englishman, Irishman jokes that have been historically so popular in England.
Again you have no evidence to back this up so once again another desperate lie.
As for that article
VAT charges
You would of paid VAT on your product when UK was in the EU so no change
Import charges
Customs charges can range from 0 – 25% depending on the goods
As you demonstrated with you picture you paid no customs charges
Delivery charges and ‘handling fees’
As i highlighted above the courier you used charges a handing free (£12 in your case) on any import weather or not is from the EU or not , so once again Brexit had nothing to do with you paying this
Credit and debit card charges
You would of paid slightly more becasue of this, but this is charged and kept by the Credit Card Company – none goes to ‘England for its wall’ as you claimed.
So once again your claim that:
but England charges me (£61 in this case for a small item of bathroom furniture) an ‘anti-furriner’ wall maintenance fee on top.
Has been proved to be a lie which you twisted into a xenophobic post. I note you don’t even try and ague this, instead reverting to lying about how I would react to a hypothetical post and posting random articles which have no releationship to your orginal post.
Certainly, buying something online from Europe, only to receive a bill from England for a large amount on top some time later, is a new ‘benefit’ of Brexit.
But England’s anti-funnier wall needs paying for somehow, and the English government is using Scots taxes for this. They don’t need to – could reality take it off our bill / give extra to Holyrood – but as they are ‘subsidy junkies’, so I am forced to pay for a wall aimed at keeping my family out as they are ‘not like the British’ while being told I’m the xenophobe.
If you’re in need of a wee laugh this might be just the tonic 😁
https://twitter.com/JaneyGodley/status/1685211721474908161
🤣🤣🤣 love it
So crazy it is probably true!!😂
Glad to see Janey is still sharp as a tack. Ouch!
🤣
In case you thought Tories were uniquely cruel, greedy and divisive – their trans tAlantic rile models are setting a high bar.
Republicans look to give themselves a pay raise after securing benefit cuts for the poor
https://archive.fo/NAGvf
I’ve mostly given up correcting typos these days – too many – but obviously rile = role. Though rile is quite apt too.
Another Andy Murray Moment from the BBC, not a single mention across three full length articles that this abhorrent and frankly despicable policy only applies to England & Wales:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66347594
Whereas of course it’s in the headline when a legal story applies only to Scotland:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66347594
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37725251
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58562272
Keir Starmer getting the treatment from D D news.
This is about Cornyn of course, a complete lack of awareness regards what’s happening in Scotland, the attack on the democratic process and the politicians leading it.
Read Sturgeon for Corbyn.
Sorry.
They use their media to decry Scotland because we’ve known about this stuff for years
Nicola Sturgeon warned and predicted all of these events in 2014 and Scotland didn’t listen, now look where we are
England is dragging us to hell and still there are folk in Scotland that think voting for British political parties can fix it
It can’t, England decides who will be the UK government, Scotland’s votes mean nothing, it’s a pretense
He is spot on with this take down of Keir Starmer. The way the media trashed Jeremy Corbyn’s reputation was a wonder to behold. But that’s what oligarch media does. Orwell was right.
Ouch, tory with red rosette. Baillie, tory -doesn’t need a rosette.
Independence is the only way🏴
I see Salmond ex SNP x 2 is saying the SNP are disloyal. Irony.
Remember how the media used to use Jim Sillars every time they wanted to rubbish the SNP, now they’ve got themselves a couple more
It’s the pretense that politicians who are supposed to be on the same side are arguing with each other when in fact Sillars was never on the side of the SNP, he was ex Labour and only married to a famous one that made him relevant at all
Slippery Salmond is only being used in the same way because of his determination to destroy the SNP because Nicola Sturgeon refused to assist him over charges brought against him by the courts
As for the other two SNP to Alba defectors their fate will be registered by the voters of their constituencies at the next general election for not having the courage of their so called convictions to stand for the party they defected to after stealing the votes of the people who elected them
Honourable men, or huffy wee weans? not a tough decision to make is it
Time to ditch the Treaty.
Ruth Wishart: Labour will continue the attacks on Scottish devolution
Sky news talks about child care in England and Wales, the interviewee says Rishi Sunak is promising to do what they’ve already done in Scotland but doesn’t want to pay for it, the Sky news presenter cuts off the interviewee and suggests that the UK should look at the Netherlands model
On ULEZ in London, Welsh Labour MP says he passionately believes in devolution and the ability for local people to decide their own policies (then his face went red) but not Scotland because they’re doing devolution wrong
On oil and gas the Welsh Labour MP says “we’ll *honour* Tory commitments” then waffles on about turbo charging green energy immediately after they’ve sucked out every last drop of oil and gas from Scotland’s north sea
Labour, the party you can’t depend on to lie in a professional manner without getting a red face
It’s why Starver is doing so well in England, his face never goes red when he lies and he’s a better at it than even Sunak
C’mon England, which multi millionaire liar are you going to foist on Scotland next? and why have you never asked yourselves the question as to why folk with enough money to buy a whole small country of their own desperately want a job that only pays £££ a couple of hundred thousand quid a year?
Why did our First Minister, leader of the Scottish National Party, choose to support the LBQT event instead of the AUOB event? This event has been on the calender for months.
Independence first and foremost. Everything else comes after.
I don’t know, maybe you should ask him. If the FM reads the comments section of WGD maybe he will answer you.
My guess is he prefers to spend his time with people who are less hostile to the SNP. We all know that the SNP stands for independence.
I was not going to follow this up but on relection I think I will. The FM is also my MSP and I have known him for several years. I have volunteered, like dozens of other activists, on all of his election campaigns. (I can no longer campaign actively owing to age and family ill-health).
Since he became FM I have sent two emails to the constituency office – both polite and asking for clarification of his words and actions on two occasions. I chose to send to the constituency office rather than the more civil servant ridden FM’s office, as I thought I would get an answer ‘closer to home’ from people I had at least set eyes on.
On both occasions I got an automated reply saying that the emails had been received; after that, silence, no response, no reply.
If my MSP reads this he might reply and that would be a step forward.
You have every right to be aggrieved if your MSP fails to answer your queries. I would escalate – email him as MSP.
Having said that, I read the same criticism of Nicola Surgeon’s constituency. It seems that once someone becomes FM they have less time for constituency matters. They need to install proper managers to respond on their behalf.
I once emailed every single SNP MSP on an issue I felt strongly about. Some responded with a stock email. Some responded with a thoughtful reply. Sorts out the sheep from the goats.
If you hope for a reply might be an idea to tell him who you are first.
Maybe he had already agreed to attend the event. I see someone on the National asking the exact same question although they never attended either event just like me. I had something else on.
Life’s like that at times.
I did see Socialist worker posters in display. Had to smile as when I was first in the SNP, SW and sister papers were all red labour and British. They detested the SNP calling us tartan tories. How times change.
Now their Labour Party is just as Tory
Humza Yousaf and Jamie Hepburn will be speaking the Independence rally in Edinburgh in 5 weeks time on 2nd September. Starts at 13:30 at Johnston Terrace by Edinburgh Castle.
Let me ask you a question, in order to garner votes in support of independence which event is more likely to have people that may not all support independence already? does the FM speak to the people at that event or attend a rally that is already composed of committed supporters of independence?
Is AUOB so unsure of its position on independence that it needs the FM to be there to convince them of that for which they already claim to stand, or do the people who keep blathering on about this kind of drivel solely do it for the purposes of attempting to continually create trouble and aggravation?
Independence first and foremost is of course a widely incorrect statement on every level , because of course convincing the voters of Scotland to support the proposition is first and foremost
Marching up and down is a nice symbolic way to spend a few hours demonstrating a desire for independence, it however is of no consequence whatsoever in terms of attracting any change of attitude or attention of those that oppose it
Catalonia put 1 million people on the streets and the Spanish government ignored them then brutalised them, in terms of attitude towards Scottish independence do you expect the English government to be more favourably disposed to such similar demonstrations, or is a ballot box demonstration of support a more productive method?
No matter how loud you shout England will refuse to recognise Scotland’s legitimate right to democracy, votes is the only way for the international community to support Scotland’s right to independence publicly, then and only then will it happen
No blustering rhetoric, no claims of right documents, no other historical documental chuntering will be paid the slightest bit of notice by the English establishment
People power is the only game in town, all these aside girnings are distractions from the only political party who can achieve that end, and those that say otherwise are doing England’s work for them in dividing Scotland and conquering as they have always done
Well said Dr Jim, couldn’t agree more!
BBC Scotland radio tells huge fat lie on deposit return scheme this morning
The BBC made the claim this morning that the SNP had to scrap the DRS because the Greens minister Lorna Slater had got it wrong it was not fit for purpose and has now cost £86 million and hundreds of jobs
That is a monster lie, Tory MP Alister Jack sec of state for Scotland in London vetoed the DRS on behalf of the UK government
BBC Scotland did not even mention his or the UK government’s involvement
BTW the Welsh scheme which is virtually identical to Scotland’s is at this moment in time still on course for going ahead, maybe Welsh glass is different to Scottish glass, or the Welsh whisky bottling factory isn’t owned by a Tory, who can say?
That is the sole purpose of BBC Scotland, to lie for Westminster. When they’re not lying they are distracting you with fitba and country and western music. Yee haw! Hillbilly Elegy radio.
Or as we know the Tories initially supported glass schemes all over their precious ‘United’ Kingdom:
_____________________
A Welsh Government source pointed out that the UK Government’s original DRS had included glass bottles and that Welsh Conservatives had initially supported that position.
Tory MS Janet Finch-Saunders had said: “There has been increased interest in whether glass bottles should be included in a DRS. I am pleased to agree with Polytag that glass should be part of the scheme in Wales.
“Scotland’s DRS will help tackle the plague of glass bottles littering communities because its inclusion of glass will see the recycling of an additional 53,000 tonnes of containers. It would be fantastic to see such a boost to recycling here in Wales too”
In December 2021 Ms Finch-Saunders addressed school children on the steps of the Senedd, in an event that was coordinated by Surfers Against Sewage, saying: “We know that between 77% and 83% of recent survey participants reported they would use a DRS on most occasions for the types of containers explored, including plastic bottles, glass bottles and metal cans. This is why I have been proud to recently secure commitments that such a scheme would be all-in and to consider whether lids and caps would be accepted.”
As far back as 2018, then Tory MS David Melding was calling a bottle deposit return scheme “game-changing” (not a colossal mistake) when Michael Gove announced the UK Government would introduce it.
“Mr Melding said: “We know that deposit return schemes have hugely successful return rates in countries like Norway, Finland and Australia, so it is welcome news that Conservatives in England will be leading the way to end the scourge of waste in our environment.”
And even Tory Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies described DRS as a “fantastic idea” in principle, when he visited Bang On Brewery in November 2022.
However, a spokesman for him pointed out that in a press release issued at the time, Mr Davies said: “[It] is vital concerns are sorted out before the scheme is implemented. I will raise these with Welsh Government ministers.”
Source: https://nation.cymru/news/welsh-governments-glass-deposit-scheme-will-wreck-businesses/
Aye it’s interesting what the BBC in Scotland can come up with to obscure the “news where you are”
– Stoney silence for 2 days on their website over Alister Jack’s fit of pique over SG’s latest paper (as headlined in the National), the number one issue concerning Scots was apparently ‘ambulance chasing lawyers’ seeking compensation for a candidate having failed four years ago to join Police Scotland because of her medication issues….
– Yesterday PQ presumably got the green light from the State of a Secretary for Flounce in Scotland that they were not being overcritical and James’s gong was not under threat, hence published their “Humza Yousaf dismisses criticism over IndyRef spending” spiel – Impartial ? Try fawning.
Today HMS James Cook continues the “Sun” distraction approach with the prime concern for every Scot apparently being Killin’s public nursery provision https://archive.ph/qjxO5
As if the political control of Stirling Council was not already known after Red and Blue Tory shenanigans, it was obviously not SNP else even BBC Scotland’s newest reporter ‘Cameron Angus Mackay’ would have said so or his Editor would have stapled his knackers until he did, nice to see some traditions still remain – Naturally no mention of political parties, merely the SG – No opposition political accusations made, no “tsunami” of rhetoric, ie a totally sanitised filler…
It’s still the number one topic of conversation among Scots 6 hours later apparently, “the news where you are”…
In the news where you aren’t, there is this https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/07/30/scottish-government-to-equip-western-isles-hospital-with-2-4-million-mri-scanner/
Yes, heard the lady with the English accent on the radio complaining as after all that’s one of the reasons she came up here!
In all the gin joints……. The bbc scotttislandy canny find a Scot.
English people are allowed to complain about the Scottish government, Scottish businesses etc. However, the Scots, Welsh and Irish are not allowed to complain about the UK / English government that rules them, nor about English / British businesses; that’s classed as xenophobic. See my conversation with my stalker above as an example.
Provocative. 😦
Indeed
Factual.
Scots must walk on eggshells when attempting even the most legitimate criticism of English policies. If it’s not coated in “I love the English but …” then it’s viewed as xenophobic. A chip on the shoulder.
The opposite is very much NOT the case.
You’ve not heard Stephen Flynn then?
This was related to my earlier post where I complained about English companies refusing to deliver to most of Scotland (now I’m in northern Greenland, sorry Aberdeenshire I’m experiencing it), even if there is dual carriageway almost to the door and a mainline railway 5 mins away.
Then I complained about Brexit creating ‘unexpected’ (at least initially, as per news articles of people experiencing this) large secondary customs clearance payments. Even if some items do not have customs duties (food does, hence people starting to go without eating), you are still paying for England’s Trump wall through your taxes taken by the English government and extra customs administration fees couriers are forced to add on top for new mountain of paperwork. The wall must be paid for.
To paraphrase Trump, England decided it was ‘Gonna build a wall and make the Scots pay for it’. That’s now happening. If we were free to have our wee iref then really I couldn’t complain as we’d be voluntarily paying for it ultimately. However, that’s not the case.
This got me accused by our English visitor of ‘xenophobia’; an accusation never directed at English / British people who complain about exactly the same things, including those living next door to me who do exactly that. Nope, it’s reserved for people who identify as Scottish, Irish, Welsh etc.
It’s the standard ‘Scots are anti-English’ angle. Anyway, I’ve given my stalker too much time on this and life is short.
Then I complained about Brexit creating ‘unexpected’ (at least initially, as per news articles of people experiencing this) large secondary customs clearance payments.
Nope you said:
When I order from EU companies, they will happily deliver, but England charges me (£61 in this case for a small item of bathroom furniture) an ‘anti-furriner’ wall maintenance fee on top.
To which have I have demonstrated that these charges would of been charged when the UK was in the EU.
Once again you lie to try and cover your tracks.
This got me accused by our English visitor
I’ve never once mentioned on were I come from? How do you know what Nationality I am ? Are you stalking me? Or is your Xenophobia once again shining through; I must be Scottish because I am challenging you a ‘Scot’ and only English people would challenge you.
Please stop stalking me. You are weird and creepy. Your obsession with me is getting out of hand.
I do have a memory of you saying you were English previously many moons ago in another thread. Feel free to correct me here. I don’t hide who I am in terms of national identity, party I vote for etc. It’s suspicious when people do that, especially on blog such as this
Scottish / Irish indy supporter who mainly votes SNP, now lives near Insch in Aberdeenshire, works in the energy industry. Not hard. Happy to say so to visitors old and new regularly so they know where I stand.
And it’s odd that you are offended at the suggestion you might be English? Why? What’s wrong with being English?
People ask me if I’m English all the time when I’m overseas. I’m not offended – they are just going for the statistically most likely option when they hear me use that language fluently. I just say ‘Scottish actually’ and they laugh, saying sorry and mentioning Braveheart most of the time. Why did you react negatively here? Why not just say ‘I’m actually Xish’ as normal people do? It’s like you are hiding something?
It’s not for me for you to honest about these sorts of things – it’s for everyone reading. If you don’t do that people will not trust what you are saying. There’s just no getting around it. But that’s your problem, not mine.
And I am paying for the brexit wall. It’s not free. It’s coming out of my pay packet or when I order stuff. You just make yourself look silly arguing otherwise when countless articles in the British press talk about this. Walls cost money and we Scots are funding England’s one either directly or indirectly.
Now please stop following me around – it’s not healthy to get obsessed with people on the internet. 🙂
Please stop stalking me. You are weird and creepy. Your obsession with me is getting out of hand.
Please stop trying to police my posts, if you wish to decide who can post then you can start your own blog and do so. You can also skim past my posts if you do not wish to reply to them.
(The above is what you have said to other posters repeatedly, maybe take your own advice.
It’s suspicious when people do that, especially on blog such as this
What does were I come from have anything to do with it – would you have felt different if i was a Scottish poster or an Irish one.
It’s not for me for you to honest about these sorts of things – it’s for everyone reading. If you don’t do that people will not trust what you are saying. There’s just no getting around it. But that’s your problem, not mine.
At least you are now admitting that you were lying.
Now please stop following me around – it’s not healthy to get obsessed with people on the internet
See above if you don’t like my posts ignore them, but if you continue to lie I will call out those lies
Even if some items do not have customs duties (food does, hence people starting to go without eating)
There are no customs duties on food arriving from the EU(Provided that it meets the ROO that shows the food comes from the EU). You simply cant stop lying can you.
https://archive.is/Su6op
Brexit food trade barriers have cost UK households £7bn, report finds
Why are you making people mistrust you? You only hurt yourself trying to use pedantry to lie to people about the reality?
You delude yourself alone.
I’ve never said that trade barriers have not increased costs in general terms, one again you are lying by trying to imply that I am. I simply posted that this was a lie:
When I order from EU companies, they will happily deliver, but England charges me (£61 in this case for a small item of bathroom furniture) an ‘anti-furriner’ wall maintenance fee on top.
and that this was a lie.
Even if some items do not have customs duties (food does, hence people starting to go without eating)
I note you have not denied lying about these things simply throwing around random articles is a desperate attempt to cover up your lies
Indeed they have worked extremely hard to convince people that a Scottish person merely using the word *English* must universally mean one is anti those people and a sure and certain brainwashed drone of the evil SNP
Interview number 73 on Argyll street was an English person so that’s the one they’ll use on the news where everybody is, it’s not as if the media stand on street corners inviting only English people to comment, they’d get caught at that
If you search for ‘Scots anti-English’ on google, you get this.
Multiple links to all sorts of similar stories about anti-English sentiment from the Scots:
https://archive.is/QwXVy
If you try the reverse ‘English anti-Scots’ you get all the same stories because the British/English press just don’t suggest there is any anti-Scots sentiment; only the other way around.
It’s like it’s us preventing English people from freely voting for the government they desire…
This is imperial domination 101 though, so hardly a surprise.
When England denigrates others they call it their friendly sense of humour banter, the other way round it’s anti English, but of course I’m a mean miserable lazy moaning Scotch Jockstrap so I deserve mocking for being a lesser person
I’m half English on my Mum’s side, I grew up with this every time we went south for a visit to the rellies
My Edinburgh father’s patience was legendary, and his sarcastic irony sailed above their heads like an advanced civilisation from outer space, leaving total bewilderment behind him
Aye, this the printed version https://archive.ph/qjxO5 and of particular note
“We’re moving to ensure that I can keep working”
“No doubt other soon-to-be families or young couples won’t be looking to move into our house right now.”
and
“I’m in a really lucky position in that I’ve been able to negotiate a geographical relocation with my company. Obviously, not everyone has that option.”
I’m uncomfortable when people talk about “the English” as if every single English person was the same. There are many kind, intelligent, creative and progressive English people who are against the cruel and nasty Tory government that lords it over them as well as us. Here’s an interview of Roger Waters of the Pink Floyd on his activism in support of the Palestinians etc for which he suffers much abuse. Being wealthy now he can probably bear it.
I’ll try not to embed it so you can choose whether to watch – 36 mins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8n51xlrMy8
Aye, agreed.
🙏
Agreed. My husband is English. He is kind, intelligent etc 😊.
🙏
I’m uncomfortable of apologists. The interview I quoted further up was an accurate representation of what happened. Bob Lamont posted the link although interestingly what I heard has been missed out in the bbc article. Obviously an omission, on their part.
Next time I say English. I mean Irish. For the Irish I will say the French, for the …….
If it’s true and relevant it can be said in my books.
England is and always has been a problem throughout the world or the 65 countries they once ruled would not have taken their independence from it
England’s collective behaviour of self absorption is perpetuated and encouraged by the population of that country, they like appreciate and even vote for their own deference to those they consider are of an elevated birthright, therefore as a collective the attitude to those they consider of lesser status is naturally and instinctively demoted to levels below themselves
This is the success of the ruling classes of England, such propaganda has never been maintained in any country in the world since Roman times, which is the basis of how the English model survives to this day
Many other countries and regimes have attempted to copy the English model and failed, the reason being that when a people discovers freedom and democracy it cannot be unseen thereafter, this is the success of England, a propaganda that keeps a people desiring not to be free because they believe they already are, and it’s others that have the problem in not understanding the infallible logical superiority of their argument
No matter how much the world changes and learns, England cannot, or it would have done so by now
England has been taught and *learned* a way, and cannot unlearn it
The ruling classes of England are mostly Norman, not English. The current monarchy are German. Queen Victoria was the first of the Hanoverians to speak English and that was because women couldn’t inherit the throne in Hanover. Her predecessors, the Georges, mostly lived in Germany and spoke German. But the Victorians changed their name from Saxe Coburg Gotha to Windsor during WWI for obvious reasons.
William the Conqueror spoke French and the court continued to speak French for generations after they took over. The poor Anglo Saxons were colonised. It’s the Norman model that survives to this day.
It’s a lot more complicated than simply writing off a whole nation because the rulers are absolute monsters. The history of colonised nations is an interesting topic for anyone who wants to be free of this type of domination. How much of British policy is dominated by the interests of US multinationals in energy, arms manufacture and health care, for example.
If you’re going to do that sort of potted history then we’re all from Gondwanaland and there’s no excuse for anyone to be the slightest bit different from anyone else except to ignore evolution and environmental conditioning as something that never happened
Well we are all originally from Gondwanaland, but human society has developed since early tribal days, through feudal monarchies, into modern nation states. Scotland is one of the earliest nation states. We need to preserve that sovereignty, or recover it, and repealing the ToU is essential
There are a lot of nice English people who live there and in Scotland but there are those who refer to Scotland as North Britain as I found out to my shock and horror when on holiday in Belgium with a group of mostly English people last year . I literally had to point out to one person who lives in England (non Scot) that North Britain does not exist and that Scotland has always had separate legal,education systems and national Church from England. It is not the faults of Scots if people who live in England keep electing right wing morons as politician. Quite a lot of them in my holiday group were rampant Brexiteers and were bereft that Bojo had just resigned as PM. You are right though that too many foreign countries and companies influence UK government policy
The Brexiteers were motivated by the slogan “take back control” which is a perfectly legitimate goal. Unfortunately, it is their vile Tories who control them and they have a very poor education system in England so that the natives are unaware that they are being controlled by the oligarchs. They think Bojo is on their side. But he is just skilled in whipping up their xenophobia and directing their rage at foreigners instead of the Tories. It’s a time honoured tactic.
Still – at least you had an opportunity to educate them while on holiday – a sort of summer school.
There are three major problems here, none of which further the cause of Independence, quite the opposite:
1). The increasing anti-England and anti-English comments below the line on Wee Ginger Dug
2). That only one person is actively trying to stop it
3). That as this blog doesn’t welcome different views it’s very unlikely anyone here will see my comment.
I can see your comment so wrong again How is telling what happenned to me on holiday anti English. It is fact!!!.
It is blatantly obvious that additional charges are being applied by EU companies when delivering to Scotland that were not there before Brexit. I bought stuff from same company before and after Brexit and additional charges were notified to me at time of purchase after Brexit that were not there before and the company told me that. I paid them as I wanted the item. Brexit was not voted for by Scotland but imposed on Scotland due to the desires of those who live in England and Wales. It should be noted some of those who voted for Brexit in England are not English but Scots,Irish,etc
It’s the confusion between being anti the country and anti the individual that causes some people to feel uncomfortable
I don’t think anyone is seriously being anti the individual, because that’s like saying all lions will eat you so kill them all, when the best way to protect yourself from being eaten by lions is not to be where they are, then you’re safely removed from danger
Lions don’t take offence over folk avoiding them, it’s only human beings who rationalize that as personal to the individual and decide to be offended on another’s behalf
Vegetarians don’t cause meat to be offended by refusing to eat it
Individually most people in most of the world are perfectly fine and would be easy enough to get along with, but as nations are composed of collectives and various styles of nationalisms environmentally imbedded within those societies, allegiances to a society becomes a more polarized and complicated issue
If there is one lion and ten people the chances are you won’t be eaten, the lion will walk on by, but ten lions and one person probably equals lunch for the lions because you’re in lion territory therefore in the mind of the lion you volunteered yourself
The human race like animals defends the territory they consider theirs, the difference with humans is we develop personal bonds and a pride in our individual territories, if we didn’t we wouldn’t have competitions between countries in sport academia the space race and many other nationalistic based human creations
We are a product of our environment mixed with pride and constant hope for better, our ancestry has little to do with our current thinking except for that of argument over who what is or was historically better or worse behaved than the other, because as a species humans have evolved to be in conflict in order to overcome adversity with our intellect, and when that fails we resort to our unfinished evolution and become the lions
If you posted on twitter that you didn’t like to eat spaghetti every week, within minutes you’d be bombarded by offended spaghetti protectors insulting you and demanding a retraction, then you might remove yourself from twitter afraid and uncomfortable to express your opinion on spaghetti ever again
I doubt very much whether people in Ukraine are arguing the existential finer points of whether they like each individual Russian person or not, their country is being eaten by bombing Russian lions, Scotland is being financially eaten by English lions, so to protect ourselves we must not be in what they believe is their territory and claim it as our own
This is with the papers saying Labour are a shoe-in to win the next GE.
https://archive.is/BMgx7
‘Crisis of confidence in UK’: Poll reveals Scottish pessimism
ALMOST two-third of Scots think the next five years of life in the UK will be worse than the previous five, with just one in ten expecting things to improve, a damning new poll has suggested.
Commissioned by Alba, the polling found that 63.8% of Scottish adults expect the next five years of life in the UK to be worse than the five years up to now.
In contrast, just 12% of people said they expected things to be better over the same period. Around one in four (24.2%) said they thought things would remain much the same.
Alba said the poll, run by Find Out Now between July 6 and 14, was “not good reading for anyone hoping to present a positive vision for the future of Scotland as part of the UK”.
What is the SNP policy on new oil and gas fields ? Not sure after the Stephen Flynn interview on Sky, I had thought we were pushing renewables ?
The Scottish government are updating their Energy policy and have just completed a consultation on a draft document. This document “Draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan” goes into it in a lot of detail.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/draft-energy-strategy-transition-plan/pages/3/
In a nutshell the plan is to produce 50% of all energy from renewables by 2030, in 2020 renewables provided around 25% of all energy needs. Then by 2045 Scotland will be net zero. So over the next 20 years or so, oil and gas production will be slowly wound down such that by 2030 it will be at around 35% of 2019 levels and by 2045 it will be just 3% of 2019 levels.
I haven’t read the document, just the introduction but as I say it is very detailed and I’d expect you will find the answers there to any specific questions.
Puzzled. Energy is a reserved matter. How can the Scottish Government have a policy on it? How can they have a consultation about it? Did they get a S32 from Westminster? If not, why is Union Jack not issuing a S35?
I used the word “policy” which is wrong, the title of Chapter 1 which is the page I linked to is more accurate “Our vision for a just transition to a net zero energy system”.
You are absolutely right, it will remain just a vison unless Scotland becomes an Independent country. I’ve no doubt that that this vision will be a combination of the SNP and Greens policy. Old Pete asked about SNP policy and this is what they say on the SNP website:
https://www.snp.org/policies/pb-what-is-the-snp-doing-to-support-renewable-energy-generation/
I can’t see any published SNP document on “Energy Strategy” differing much from the “Draft Energy Strategy” document by the Scottish government linked to above.
Well then – the Scottish Government can develop a Constitution Strategy and hold a consultation about it. Ditto Foreign Affairs Strategy and Economic Strategy. A year of consultations.
Yes, and that’s what they are now trying to prevent.
Slow transition.
We still need oil for plastics and such like. We could extract at even lower levels but for the fact labour and tories have given it away to insatiable England free of charge. This will also happen with our renewables without Independence. The Scots are a generous nation.🏴
aye, without Indy Scotland will collect no revenues from the wind turbine bonanza, and we’ll also get these giant pylons.
https://www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/projects/project-map/east-coast-132kv-upgrade/
Sunak, Shapps, Rees-Mogg, Frpst and the rest of the crooks are not content with destroying the UK, now they want to carry on their work and destroy the world.
Mustn’t let anything trivial, like a planet on fire, get in the way of profit. After all, it’s not the Sunaks, Shapps, Moggs, and Frosts who will suffer.
However, Scotland might be trampled underfoot by the fleeing millions trying to find a cool place with lots of water. It’s bucketing in these high pastures as we speak.
This article talks of massive pylons etc taking renewable power south from the Highlands.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-66336599
When scotland is independent will this type of thing still be needed or can it all be done more locally and on a smaller scale? Thanks
They need to be near the source, that can’t be avoided. Lines can be buried underground, it just costs more money to do it that way.
Perhaps we should offer the electricity planners down south some holiday homes near the proposed routes? A bit of self-interest usually solves things with those in change down there.
Scottish Power have a plan to install a new high voltage DC cable system from Dornoch to Hull similar to the Hunterston to Angelsey that exists.
Why don’t they make the existing 135kV cable system a quad cable to upgrade the capacity?
Anybody know why Brechin to Dundee needs a huge upgrade?
I think it’s likely because of this 150 wind turbine offshore windfarm just off the Angus coast.
https://www.seagreenwindenergy.com/
The power comes ashore at Carnoustie and is then transported by underground cable to a new substation at Tealing a few miles north of Dundee and just off the A90 where it will be tied in to the National Grid.
I did note Douglas Fraser’s framing of that article – From the opening paragraph note the deliberate exclusion of insulation (which WM has long been opposed to rolling out nationally) in preference to quoting “triple glazing” as some form of miracle solution.
Also note his vague reference of this energy being taken ” to the south where most of the demand is ” to avoid any reference to England, despite almost 80 years of unchanged demand if not a reduction from SCOTLAND’s SOUTH….
Fraser is no ignoramus, but his pay packet depends on ensuring the public are kept in that condition.
For sure there have been strained parts of the network in Scotland for decades yet nothing was done even before the Nissan Leaf first graced the stage in 2010.
As England’s population has expanded and EVs have become the latest “must have”, the England problem becomes a Scottish one… Enter Douglas Fraser…
Are we all feeling embarrassed and insulted by Rishi Sunak and his English government today?
We should be, because with this announcement today Rishi Sunak confirmed without any shadow of doubt that in 2014 when his government appeared on our TV screens every single night to insist there was no oil left in the North sea and Scotland as a consequence would be stupid to take our independence into our own hands
Rishi Sunak his government and all of Britain’s unionist class are blatant liars, and they lied to us in the sure and certain hope that within Scotland the people who live here are completely stupid with brains as small as goldfish
Hundreds of new oil fields, hundreds, and all of it to be drained away down to England to sustain the voters of that country who vote Tory Labour and Liberal Democrat
They are smilingly stealing Scotland’s future in broad daylight and telling us to be grateful to them for doing it
What I’m seeing is the English government selling hundreds of licences ( worth £billions )which will include share dividends payable directly to the English Treasury for every barrel extracted even after independence.
The oil and gas industry will have to be Nationalised if we want to stop this.
The SG could screw them over heavily by just announcing that the oil and gas industry will be taken back under Scottish control without compensation to those facilitating the theft of Scotland’s resources.
Nation!!!! Grid
National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) welcomes Ofgem’s recognition of the “clear case” and “consumer benefit” of the Scotland to England Green Links in their consultation on the ‘Final Needs case’ of the project.
The two subsea links, which will have a capacity of up to 4GW, will transport enough electricity to power four million homes. They are the largest electricity transmission investment projects in Britain’s recent history and will support hundreds of green jobs throughout construction and operation.
The first 2GW link is a partnership between NGET and SP Energy Networks and will run from Torness, Scotland to the Hawthorn Pit Substation in Durham County, England with approximately 176km of offshore cable. The second 2GW link, a partnership between NGET and SSEN Transmission, will originate from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and terminate at Drax in North Yorkshire, England with 440km of cable running undersea.
These projects are part of National Grid’s work upgrading the electricity transmission system to deliver the UK government’s target of 40GW of offshore wind generation by 2030. In addition to the Eastern Links, it is developing 14 major projects across its network to facilitate the target representing a £10 billion investment. This includes two further Scotland to England high voltage links (also in partnership with the Scottish transmission network owners) and proposals in the Humber, Lincolnshire, East Midlands, North of England, Yorkshire, North Kent, as well as four in East Anglia (one of which is a proposed offshore link between Suffolk and Kent).
England is a resource starved over crowded little country.
Their leaders need Scotlands resources-it’s oil and gas, it’s hydro electric, its wind turbines, its fish, its agriculture, its tourism, its whisky, its people.
Enough is enough.
Independence 🏴
Yes Hamish,
And they have the capacity to import 6GW from the eu at present with a new German HVDC system given the green light.
Nuclear power stations in the uk.
Torness unit 1, 600MW, AGR, closure date 2028
Torness unit 2, 600MW, AGR, closure date 2029
Sizwell B 1200MW, PWR, closure date not avail.
Haysham 1, unit 1, 500MW,AGR, closure date 2026
Haysham 1, unit 2, 500MW, AGR, closure date 2026
Haysham 2, unit 1, 600MW,AGR, closure date 2028
Haysham 1, unit 2, 600MW, AGR, closure date 2028
Hartlepool 1, unit 1, 600MW,AGR, closure date 2024
Hartlepool 1, unit 2, 600MW, AGR, closure date 2024
Notice anything?
Westminster Gov decommission nuclear costs £13Billion a year. £130Billion+.
Scotland should pay less for fuel and energy. In surplus and nearer the source.
GE soon. Watch out for con people with bribes.
Here’s a Tory telling the truth for once.
Agreed… And the C4 report itself https://www.channel4.com/news/does-the-uk-need-more-north-sea-oil-and-gas-extraction
I’m highly sceptical of the stated 4% Russian gas, there is NO direct pipeline.
I suspect that figure was from the beginning lpg imports before the shit hit the fan over Ukraine, the lie they infamously hid behind to excuse the UK’s rocketing mains gas prices…
As opposed to LNG
If the UK of England is selling 80% of all this oil to other countries and transporting it around the world doesn’t that make the UK the subject of the same criticism on carbon footprint that Rishi Sunak is levelling at every other country that he claims would have to transport oil to the UK which is a damned lie, because the fact is we don’t need to do this at all
What Sunak is lying about is the UK is not working towards net zero, they’re selling the pollution to other countries for profit instead of using the cash for investment in renewables right now, and the licences for these oil fields are a prelude to even greater sales far beyond any 2050 target of ending oil, because many of these fields will take up to 20 years to even begin any oil extraction
So in truth Scotland is and always was sitting on oceans upon oceans of oil well into the future and would have been mega rich like the gulf states by now if we’d voted YES in 2014, and they lied barefaced to our entire nation night after night
We knew it, they knew it, the media knew it and the only politician who said what they were saying was “incorrect” and that they were “serial misleaders” (apparently politicians cannot name each other liars) was the deputy FM Nicola Sturgeon who predicted Brexit and exactly what they’re doing now, and if we all remember our recent history was why we all welcomed and applauded her when she became FM, and why the British, their media and some insider politicians immediately set out to destroy her from day one, and they’re still doing it
Hopefully not for very much longer
Supporters of this England union are either moronically stupid, evil Bastirts, or both
Oil & Gas is taxed. 50% of production went to the UK Treasury. Oil production should be taxed according to price. The higher the price the higher the tax. When the price was $120 a barrel. The Oil production was taxed at 80%. (2010). 50% of reduction went to the UK Treasury. 20% Corporation tax. 10% supplementary tax.
The price fell. Cameron/Osbourne did not reduce reduce the tax fast enough causing a slump in production and a lose of jobs and revenues. 120,000 jobs were lost. The Oil industry cut exploration. Shell building in Aberdeen is being demolished.
US fracked gas is imported into Grangemouth. US is trying to cut Russia gas exports to Europe to sell US fracked Gas.
How far “the news where you are” is manipulated and controlled in the UK, is rather nicely exampled by this piece in the National https://archive.ph/pDtGO
Who may attend, who may ask questions and when they may publish, are all strictly controlled by ‘mechanics’ to ensure nothing is left to ‘chance’….
[…] 221 Comments Posted in Uncategorized Edit […]
I’m enjoying the glorious idiocy of the usual suspects on the national trying to argue it could all be indy supporters who signed the petition to remove Ferrier.
My response was thus:
If you are right and it was 100% independence supporters that wanted Ferrier removed, that would be absolutely brilliant news, and the very worst possible case the union, obviously.
What a total disaster for the UK if this was what actually happened, i.e. unionist voters were 100% happy to have a nationalist as their MP, and a somewhat disgraced one at that! If so, we can look forward to these voting nationalist at the next election (presumably as they’ve gone off unionist parties), alongside the Yes supporters that wanted Ferrier removed for her personal misdemeanours (it couldn’t be related to SNP performance as she’s not SNP, and has not been for a long time).
I suspect this wasn’t the case though sadly, and in fact quite a lot of unionists probably signed the petition.
Seems to me if this was an attempt to suggest Yes division, it’s not been thought through properly. How amazing it would be if unionist voters were all happy having Ferrier as their MP!
I read the comments below a few articles today at the National though usually I don’t bother. From what I can see it looks like there are more Unionists than genuine Independence supporters posting there these days.
Hey folks,Usual Tam comment coming up,,,but not quite,
Half an hour ago I was on a football forum,,,I stopprd to light a cigarette,,,,,my mouse cursor’ started to move involuntarily,,,,,,,and try as I may I could not bring it back. So I shut down the computer and reawakened…..in Glasgow.
I know its strange…….I cant fathom it either.