On Wednesday Anas Sarwar, the branch office manager of Labour’s Scottish accounting unit tweeted: “Every vote matters – and at the next General Election a vote for Scottish Labour is a vote to put Scotland’s voice at the heart of government.”
However less than 24 hours previously Labour MPs had voted against a motion in the House of Commons to bring forward a bill to give the Scottish Parliament the power to hold independence referendums. The proposed bill, which was introduced by Alba MP Neal Hanvey, was supported by the overwhelming majority of Scottish MPs, including most SNP MPs. Both of the two Labour MPs representing Scottish constituencies, Ian Murray and Michael Shanks, voted against the proposal to give Holyrood more powers. There’s Labour’s “putting Scotland’s voice at the heart of government” in practice for you. Those two Labour MPs joined with other British nationalists from the Conservatives and the Lib Dems representing mostly English constituencies in voting down a measure which was backed by the overwhelming majority of Scotland’s elected representatives in the House of Commons. 57 Tory MPs, 147 Labour and 13 Lib Dems opposed the motion.
Despite Sarwar’s claims, which are not borne up by the evidence of how Labour MPs actually vote, we all know that every Westminster seat which Labour succeeds in taking from the SNP will be hailed by Sarwar as ‘proof’ that Scotland has rejected independence. Sarwar will celebrate every vote that Labour takes from the SNP as ‘the death of independence’ and he will be joined in doing so by a chorus of voices from the British media in Scotland. A vote for Labour is a vote to minimise Scotland’s influence in the British Government. It ought to be obvious by now, even though the media in Scotland chooses not to highlight the fact, that Scotland only has influence on the British Government when the Labour and Conservative parties fear the possibility of independence. It was fear of independence that led to the creation of the devolution settlement and the Scottish Parliament, it was fear of independence that forced the Labour and Conservative parties to promise Scotland a slew of greater powers, promises which they were quick to renege on as soon as they thought they could get away with it.
The truth is a vote for Labour vote is a vote to stay out of the EU, refuse any independence discussion, weaken the powers of the Scottish Parliament, and to keep taking instructions from London.
P MP Chris Law has said that the fact all Labour MPs present ,including Ian Murray and Michael Shanks, voted against the bill, “clearly demonstrates that they aren’t the least bit interested in giving the people of Scotland the powers it needs to determine their own future.”
Sarwar talks about “strengthening devolution” but is unable to say what extra powers a Labour government would transfer to Holyrood. The prospect of Labour devolving more powers to Scotland if Keir Starmer wins at the General Election later this year has been deemed far-fetched by some after several notable U-turns. In September last year Scottish Labour MSPs didn’t support a motion calling for the devolution of employment law, despite a Labour manifesto pledge in 2021 to back the policy. Sarwar had also previously supported the devolution of drug laws to Holyrood, but U-turned and backed Westminster control over the legislation.
What Sarwar means by “strengthening devolution” is stripping powers from the Scottish Parliament, which Labour has not controlled for over a decade, and transferring that power to local authorities where Labour has a better chance of being in charge, often by doing deals with the Tories. This weakens the ability of Holyrood to stand up against an overweening and centralising Westminster.
The Labour party always saw the true purpose of devolution as providing a means for the Labour party to wield power even after it had lost control of the House of Commons. Sarwar’s “strengthening devolution” is not about what is best for Scotland, it’s about what is best for the Labour party, it’s about weakening Holyrood in order to make it less of a political challenge to a Starmer government and boosting Labour controlled local authorities which pose less of a political threat to Westminster rule. It’s the classic story of divide and rule, all wrapped up in the typical British nationalist mendacity – telling Scotland that as Westminster reduces Scotland’s ability to stand up to it, Westminster is really “strengthening devolution.” It’s just another in the long litany of British lies.
Let us not forget that Tuesday’s Commons vote was only necessary because the democracy denying anti-independence parties refuse to accept that the current Scottish Parliament has a clear and unequivocal mandate for another independence referendum won during an election campaign which was dominated by the subject of whether to hold another independence referendum. The people spoke but the anti-independence parties are still not listening. Just last week Labour’s Anas Sarwar had the unmitigated gall to appeal to independence supporters to vote for his party and was still trotting out the same arguments that he made over four years ago, arguments which he had put to the voters and the voters had rejected.
But here we are still, trapped in a British nationalist groundhog day. After gaslighting the people of Scotland, aided and abetted by the anti-independence media, by claiming that the 2021 Scottish Parliamentary elections had not after all been about an independence referendum, and that the record majority of pro-independence MSPs was not really a demand from the electorate for that referendum, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament did not have the power to hold an independence referendum. Indeed it went further and ruled that Scotland did not have the right to self-determination.
All of this flew in the face of what the anti-independence parties and the majority of the Scottish media have been telling Scotland for decades about the supposed nature of this so called United Kingdom, yet from that same media there was scarcely a peep about Scotland being voted down yet again by MPs from outwith Scotland, making a mockery of the claim that the UK is a voluntary union. The Scottish media has been far too busy obsessing about ferries and £600,000 donated by supporters to the SNP.
If you want to know why support for independence is not higher, there’s your answer right there.
Neal Hanvey, the sponsor of the bill said: “A clear majority of Scottish MPs voted for this bill to transfer the power to legislate for a Scottish independence referendum to the Scottish Parliament only to see it defeated by the combined votes of Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs in other parts of the UK. This explicit repudiation of Scotland’s national rights is a significant and defining moment. Scottish democracy was dealt a critical blow by Westminster today but the inalienable right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs must and will prevail.”
Tommy Sheppard, an SNP MP who backed the bill, said: “With Labour MPs like Ian Murray and Michael Shanks voting against more powers for the Scottish Parliament and Scotland’s democratic right to choose our own future, it’s clear voting SNP at the General Election is the only way to make Scotland’s voice heard and put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.”
Any independence supporter thinking of voting Labour at the next general election needs to be reminded of the shameful determination of Shanks and Murray to keep Scotland subservient. You can be quite certain that the media in Scotland won’t want to draw attention to that fact.
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The only justification for claiming that Scotland does not have the right to self determination is to deny that Scotland is a country.
As far as London is concerned,that happened back in 1707 at which point England and it’s parliament renamed itself the UK.
This now needs complete exposure so that the lies from the London based political parties are laid bare.
Trying to deny Scotland is a country is where the Monarchy comes in very useful in comprehensively rebutting that idea and demonstrating that Scotland is very much a country.
The Monarch wears a different crown in Scotland, bears a different Coat of Arms, flies a different standard and is most certainly not the Head of the Church of Scotland. So definitely not a region or county but definitely a country.
So keep him for the moment. He has his uses
Must have choked the we souls to see Liz the last wheeled down from Balmoral with the Scots crown on her coffin, small details that have huge significance and we are absolutely aware that Liz made those things happens. 2 crowns one head.
Golfnut
Sarwar will celebrate every vote that Labour takes from the SNP
Luckily, the polls show that Labour have not gained a single SNP voter net. Not one. None, zip, zilch. It’s all – as I will keep saying so word gets around – due to unrealistically low projected turnouts. At best 50% UK-wide in current polling.
In Scotland, just 36% of the electorate say they are planning to go out and vote for a unionist party so they can be ruled by Westminster with MPs who want to be there, with this down on 2019. It’s not up as VI numbers suggest, these are very misleading.
We are either facing a UK-wide mass boycott of the coming election, which mean the projected UK Labour win would be a loss due to no mandate and Scotland would leave the UK due to the final collapse of the British political system….or, as generally happens ahead of elections, mid-term low turnout projections vanish as the day draws close and people engage. Those people would be Tory voters in England and SNP voters in Scotland. This would see Labour’s numbers collapse UK-wide like Blair’s did by 11+ points, while in Scotland, SNP numbers would shoot up like 2011 by possibly 10-15 points, and Yes with this, from a base of >50% now
Last night ”Scottish Labour ”( sic ) broadcast a Party political with Sir Kid Starver taking up much of the allotted time, spouting his usual drivel about ”change ” , parroted by his Scottish Branch manager , Sarwar .
They both spoke almost identical words , but not a single FACT about what Labour would do if in Power ! Just ”Change ” ,”Change ” and more ”Change ” !
Anyone who was impressed by this duo was clearly a fan Mike and Bernie Winters .
For younger viewers, Mike and Bernie were allegedly a comedy duo in the 1960’s .
Eric Morecambe , when asked what he and Ernie Wise would have been if not comedians , memorably answered , ”Mike and Bernie Winters ! ”
That is the calibre of the Labour Leadership today .
P.S. When Mike and Bernie appeared at a theatre in Glasgow ( The Empire, I believe ) Mike stood on stage first telling jokes and getting no response , then Bernie came on to the cry from the audience ”Oh f*ck , there’s two of them !”
That is my reaction when Starver and Sarwar appear !
Ah, the old Glasgow Empire, where ‘no turn was left unstoned’.
People who support Independence need to go out and vote for Independence supporting parties. An increased turnout. Or not complain about it.
Why people think voting for a unionist party will bring Independence is a mystery?
Use it or lose it. Independence supporters need to go out and vote every election. Or stop complaining,
On average turnout. 40% council election. 50% Holyrood election. 60% GE. 85% referendums.
The Tories are toast. Lame ducks. A few months to go. Just an embarrassment.
Every word the media in Scotland utter at this moment is in support of Starmer’s LabTory party
If Labour say they’re a shoe in to win every Scottish seat Scotland’s media will gleefully report that without clarification or fact check
Strengthening devolution is a cracking line for Labour to use, when what it actually means is strengthening the English/UK government’s (whoever that is) determination not to
It’s pretty simple politics really, England cannot win at democratic politics in Scotland so they remove the obstacle by removing democratic politics altogether
We all had somebody in our street that said “It’s ma baw and I’m takin it hame” when they couldnae win the game, plus England has the entire media on the subs bench
The SNP are the only option for change
You don’t have to like the colour of the hammer to bang in the nail
Latest Yougov UK has a projected turnout of 51%. No victory for Labour in that. Zero mandate.
More useful polling rather than this silly mid term VI nonsense.
https://archive.is/gBBQ7
Scottish independence in the EU would be better than the Union, Scots say
FRESH poll analysis has shown most Scots believe leaving the UK and joining the EU would be better for the country.
A survey by Redfield and Wilton Strategies asked voters whether Scotland would be more likely to experience a variety of outcomes as part of the Union outside the EU, or as part of the EU and outside the Union.
The outcomes explored included more immigration, higher wages, a stronger economy, lower cost of living and a less polarised public.
Analysis by expert Alex Scholes – writing for Professor John Curtice’s blog What Scotland Thinks – showed almost every outcome was framed positively for Scotland being an independent country in the EU.
Scholes said the poll, conducted last summer, made it clear Brexit and EU membership would be a key issue at any future independence referendum for Scotland…
…For the most part voters believe that an independent Scotland would be accepted into the EU. In this Redfield & Wilton poll, 47% said it was ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ that the EU would accept an independent Scotland’s application, while only 27% thought it ‘unlikely’ or ‘very unlikely’.
This tells you the outcome of iref2 and why the racist, Scottish people / nation hating English government & opposition has stripped us of the right to vote for the parties in government we choose based on the protected characteristic that is our national identity.
Not R&W have found an 4 point swing to Yes since the summer, first and foremost coming from unionist party 2019/21 voters.
49(+4)% Yes
51(-4)% No
And they are the least good pollster for Yes/SNP there is.
Oh, and that 49 was actually 49.5%; just a fraction below.
Polls come and go, they’re manipulated and reinterpreted to mean anything a particular analyst want’s then to show, and most of the public don’t understand them unless they show a clear for or against something and even that may not be true depending on who, when, how and where those polled are
If the UK/England claims Scotland is a country but part of a union, then so are they, yet they have the power to deny Scotland and Wales the exact same power they have to ask particular questions of the electorate eg Brexit where England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland were treated as one country
It’s the system of governance that’s at fault
A system designed to give all power and all ultimate control to England
Four countries, one nation, one union one power overall, that power being gripped by England
Which one of these descriptions describes Scotland? none of the above
Scotland is not treated as a country or as part of a union, we’re treated like a distant colony owned by the country of England, it just happens that we’re right next door
Scotland is akin to a holiday home where our citizens are the caretakers and gardeners, where our English owners complain we’re not doing things the way they want them done
They take our earnings and repay us what they decide is the right amount, no negotiation, no consultation no discussion whatsoever, and if the representatives we elect complain on our behalf England cuts our budget even more as punishment for not serving their instructions and voting for one of their English political parties to ignore us at a more local level
Former Labour FM now Lord Jack McConnell returned £half a billion pounds of our money to England, his excuse? he couldn’t *think* of anything to spend it on
Former Labour FM Henry McLeish not a Lord because he was caught red handed with his hands in the Scottish till, no murder tent outside good old Henry’s dwelling
Prior to these two we had the pretence that devolution was brought about by the Labour party to make life more wonderful for us all, that is not even close to any kind of truth, without devolution to Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland the UK would never have been allowed to join the then EEC now renamed the EU
Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland were merely assets and tools for the use of in England’s plans for accession to the European trade market which they hoped to one day control and couldn’t hence their original reason for Brexit
In typical English style, if they can’t control a thing they try to destroy a thing, just like they proceeded to do to the Republic of Ireland when that country dumped England and why they despise the Republic to this day because we can all see how well they’ve done because those folks are right next door and members of the EU
Oh how it must have rankled the English Brits over Brexit when representatives of the Republic of Ireland had more say and respect in the EU than England did
No country that the English Empire ever controlled benefitted from that control until they rid themselves of that England control
England does not serve any union with Scotland Wales or Northern Ireland, it’s we who serve England, 65 other countries that extricated themselves from England control cannot be wrong, they did not make a mistake and not one of them would ever vote to return
Vote SNP to get independence for our country first, then if you don’t like that party once we’ve got it there will be more to choose from at that time
You can’t get to a destination without getting on the bus first, and it doesn’t matter if the bus is not the colour you like, there’s paint to change it to any colour you prefer later, and the beauty is we get to pick that colour and not England
England can’t change their system and Scotland can’t effect change on their system so leave them to paint whatever colour they want and we can paint ours
We’re far better off than the Republic of Ireland when they left, and look at them now, every man woman and child is better off than here in the whole of the so called UK
They have everything of their own, TV Radio Film Defence, what have we got?
200 people watching BBC Scotland and the UK government defends their right to *allow* us nothing, 200 people is all that watches BBCs flagsip news, and Scotland pays £350 million quid TV tax for that
“…Scotland only has influence on the British Government when the Labour and Conservative parties fear the possibility of independence.”
But not any more, it seems, Paul. These British nationalists simply now deny the elction results in Scotland (Scotland’s democratic rights) when those results are not to their liking. They now just ignore the SNP (and thus the peoplke of Scotland).
So, we’re ignored when we vote unionist parties and ignored also when we vote for indy parties.
What the hell are we supposed to do now? Do the people of Scotland now take matters out of the politician’s hands with a national civil disobediance campaigns We cannot keep going on like this.
The Westminster Gov breaking International Law once again. UN principles of self determination and self governance when people vote for it. A Scotland convention need to approach the UN. To enforce the legal principle on the Westminster Gov.
People need to vote for it in Scotland. The mass of people who support Independence. That is how Devolution was achieved. Appealing to the EU. Self governance principles. Scotland voted for Devolution. The Tories blocked it for twenty years. Getting rid of the Tories helped. It could help again.
People in Scotland need to unite and come together and appeal to the (EU) UN. Q Westminster unionists could lose their seat at the UN for not following procedures and UN principles.
When Scottish voters elect a clear majority for Independence in their parliament the unionist media ignores the result ; when Labour win the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election ( to give them a whole TWO Scottish seats ) the unionist media proclaim the end of Independence .
Isn’t democracy in the UK wonderful ?
Welcome to life in a country occupied by an aggressive imperial neighbour which controls everything, from elections to the media.
I’m a firm believer in taking the professional footballers approach, keep fouling and antagonizing them, then display very large smiles as they lose the plot and drop themselves in it
Michael Gove denies funding for Scotland is politically motivated
The question could be reversed to: is funding in England politically motivated, and the answer to that must and can only be yes, or why does Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland have to contribute to the £thousands of £millions of £pounds spent on immigration issues in England when none of the other three countries within this so called union have any issue whatsoever with or control over immigration
The so called small boats are nowhere to be seen around any of our shores are they, but £millions we must pay to send absolutely no one except Tory ministers by private jet transport to Rwanda not even counting the £millions to the French authorities so they can have a laugh at the stupidity of the English
The list is very long of the subsidies taken from Scotland to keep England’s incompetent big boat afloat
They’re bringing in yet more ridiculous laws on motoring now
Apparently you can remove your hand from the steering wheel to change gear roll down your window or light a cigarette but you can’t raise the same hand in a courtesy gesture to another road user, and to be caught doing so may result in a £1000 fine
I await in the full prospect of joyous celebration as Police services across these islands ask who’s going to be enforcing that one, thanks very much but it won’t be the polis I hear them say, politely of course
In other news from the Western Colonies, as you are unlikely to get much news where we are:
https://nation.cymru/news/commission-recommends-more-powers-for-wales-but-hedges-its-bets-on-independence/
Commission recommends more powers for Wales – but hedges its bets on independence
18 Jan 2024 7 minute read
Wales should get extra powers in the fields of justice, policing, energy, broadcasting and rail infrastructure, according to a Commission that spent two years looking at options for the nation’s constitutional future.
The UK Government should legislate for the transfer of justice and policing to the Senedd, with a timescale for all parts of the justice system to be agreed, starting with policing, probation and youth justice.
The Senedd should be given full responsibility for rail services and infrastructure, ending the kind of funding injustice that has seen Wales miss out on funding because the HS2 rail project was classed as an England and Wales project, even though no part of the route will be in Wales.
[…]
We don’t get much news where we are, even from where we are
Scotland has Justice and Policing, but we don’t really, we have the Crown office, well it’s located here, and the Alister Jack secret bureau of *we don’t know how many employees work there and they’re not telling anyway*
We’ve got rail, but not really, because we don’t have track, that’s British/English
So if the track guys go on strike the trains don’t run, because we can’t negotiate with the track guys
With everything England devolves there’s a gotcha built right in there to prevent total control and smooth running, so England can complain that you’re rubbish at smooth running of stuff
Aye. Thank f**k someone else has noticed. Not that it will make any difference to the deluded Brexiters / British nationalists.
https://archive.is/ZcWqf
Low general election turnout likely with ‘dull as dishwater’ Sunak and Starmer
The polling expert Prof John Curtice has warned of low turnout at this year’s general election, in part because voters regard Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to be as “dull as dishwater”.
Speaking at an event for the Citizens Advice charity, Curtice cited boring leaders as one of three reasons why the voting numbers would be down.
“We have two party leaders, three if you include Ed Davey – none of them enthuse the electorate, none of them is popular, all of them are regarded as dull as dishwater,” he told an online seminar on predictions for the election year.
The two other factors likely to suppress turnout were the ideological similarity between Labour and the Conservatives, and opinion polls suggesting Labour will win comfortably, he said.
This is an election Nicola Sturgeon would have romped to total annihilation of both English parties
I agree. Humza is better than I thought he’d be, but he lacks that something that Nicola had/has with the public. Such a shame
Damning with faint praise. Mr Yousaf has a different style but seems to be just as capable of connecting in a positive manner with people and groups as Ms Sturgeon did in her way. He has certainly gone to great lengths to travel the country to allow people to get to know him and take his measure.
For a lot of years I’ve watched FMQs (always on the Parliament website – hate the BBC preambles etc!!), but lately it’s a struggle.
Too often Humza presents an appearance of being almost apologetic, and I think it’s his physical ‘hand-wringing’ stance. Too much like a Rev IM Jolly, for me!!
At least Nicola was a far better watch. Humza is a likeable guy, and I voted for him as FM, but (presentational-wise) he has to improve.
All public speakers whether politicians, lecturers etc have gestures which are often unconscious ones but are tuned to the rhythm of their speech. Ms Sturgeon was no exception. Her splayed fingers and cupped hands were her signature gesture when speaking. Such gestures do not indicate an apologetic or defensive posture therefore not much can be read into them.
As to Mr Yousaf’s responses to questions, particularly from the media, I have found them to epretty robust on the whole which is to be applauded.
I agree. Humza Yousaf was not my choice for party leader and i don’t agree with all of his priorities. But since his election I have found his responses at FMQs impressive. His leadership on the Gaza/Israel war is outstanding.
I voted for Yousaf as I was sure of his secularity and socially liberal views; Forbes I worried could might not be able to leave her religion at home fully as needed when you represent others, not yourself.
That said, I wasn’t really sure of Yousaf in terms of how well he’d do, so I wasn’t shouting his name from the rooftops. Sturgeon was such a hard act to follow.
I have been impressed with his handling of the role, and he’s carving out his own version of our FM rather than e.g. trying to just copy what went before, super successful as both AS then NS were.
Polls show he has consistently risen in ratings since becoming FM, while other partly leaders such as Starmer / Sarwar have declined in popularity for the reasons Prof C talks about in the article I posted previously (‘dull as dishwater and offering nothing different to the Tories’). Unionist voters have warmed to him as SNP/Green have, which is key.
He will never get the same ratings as Sturgeon due to his religion and family ethnicity. But the people who will always rate him badly simply due to this are Tory/UKIP/BNP etc types who won’t vote Yes/SNP ever anyway so it matters not.
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2022-0098-judgment. pdf (remove space before pdf)
84 to 90 in “(2) The Scottish National Party’s additional arguments: self-determination and the
principle of legality”
I don’t know why Hanvey ran his Bill, but it may well be to do with the UKSC judgement which effectively ruled out the Scotland Act as a means to a Referendum, but effectively stated that the means of self-determination still existed within the UK state.
Well, that was just voted down by the UK, in spite of as the article says, a majority of Scottish MPs voting for it.
The thing is this – if the Scottish Government and Parliament via the Scotland Act, with the MSPs voted in by the People of Scotland do not have the legal power as it’s allegedly reserved, then it MUST reside with the MPs who are voted in by the People of Scotland. Hence the UK Government has denied self-determination, and hence:
“or where a definable group is denied meaningful access to government to pursue their political, economic, social and cultural development”
when Scotland would need recourse to the ICJ or perhaps the UN Decolonization Committee which meets in June to consider its list of NSGTs.
I have absolutely no idea if that is what the Bill was all about.
IIRC he put forward this bill in order to remove, once and for all, any doubt about whether the UK is a democracy. In spite of the British parties’ repeated claims to support Scotland’s right to choose the form of government best suited to its people, enshrined in the Smith commission, this vote denies any means of effecting that right.
Time to move on.
It may relate to this from the UKSC judgement which used (overused maybe abused) the Canadian High Court judgement about Quebec:
“In all three situations, the people in question are entitled to a right to external self-determination because they have been denied the ability to exert internally their right to self-determination.”
from 88 which starts: “There are insuperable obstacles in the path of the intervener’s [the SNP] argument based on self-determination. First, the principle of self-determination is simply not in play here.”
If the UK won’t “facilitate” a referendum, nor devolve the ability to the ScotParl, then Scotland is being denied the ability to exert internally [to the UK] our right to self-determination.
But who knows?
Prof Robertson has a great article on reasons to be cheerful. If the climate – weather or political – is getting you down, then I recommend having a read:
Independence, what is it why and how do we want it? that is the question
There are those who want independence within a remaining UK treaty of nations, there are those who want complete and total independence out with any connection with the other countries, and there are those who want to cherry pick who Scotland remains connected with by choice, and all of this ending amicably
It can’t happen in any of these cases, because we don’t have the first choice as an option says England’s parliament
The threat is and always was if Scotland ends the union then we become enemies of England, it’s that simple and it scares some folk
It scares some folk because it’s supposed to, that’s England’s power and threat to hold over the heads of some of Scotland’s politicians, and it’s been that way since pre 2014
*Do a deal or we shut you out for years and Scotland won’t have the cash to begin to build a new country from scratch* that’s England’s threat
All the other 65 countries that left the British Empire were issued with the same threat
but they’re gone aren’t they
The truth is Scotland will never be friends with England, they are a bullying nation and always have been so what’s the difference between now and the future? none!
England will co-operate in the end, they always do, they just put the frightners out to be big and scary, but let’s face it little bunches of folk in foreign countries all over the world are not the least afraid of England’s threats so why should Scotland be
Scotland’s politicians need to do what we’re demanding they do or all the piddly wee political non entities will keep insisting they can do what our existing largest party cannot, and in the end some folk will vote for that believing they can
I like Humza Yousaf in a personal sense, but I do not believe he is the man ready to lead sword in hand to face down the English and tell them to sod off and stay out of Scotland’s business, he’s got a family so he’s vulnerable, I might be wrong though and it’s in there somewhere
I believe there’s about to be another big change coming where unafraid independence becomes the agenda instead of this *keep the peace* approach
The one thing we must not tolerate anymore are the threats, Alex Salmond was out due to *the deal* Nicola Sturgeon was out due to *the threats* which one will Humza be?
Is it time for an unattached fist thumper who can’t be threatened and won’t do the deal ? is there such a person ready to step up for Scotland? I hope so
Lesley Riddoch?
I wouldn’t call Lesley a fist thumper although she is someone I like a lot and was the speaker at only political meeting I have ever been at. Fist thumpers are not liked by most folk these days. Quite often some folk equate people like that to evangelical preachers and nutcase politicians like Donald Trump. I do think good charismatic orators can convince folk to support Indy though
When Humza Yousaf expressed his view that he wished the word National had not been in the title of his party he might have remembered that former FM Nicola Sturgeon did the same thing and she was wrong to do it too
It doesn’t matter what you call a thing, any opposition to that thing will pervert the name and meaning of whatever you call anything, it’s in the nature and always a strategy of the opposition to degrade and denigrate whatever you stand for, so when Humza did that he just allowed every twonk and doubter to do exactly the same thing Twonk and doubt
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the word national, every country in the world uses it, even the news is expressed as national, football, health, emergencies, the list is endless
It’s only the perversion of the word by the people who don’t support the cause behind it that are the problem
We survive wars pandemics fires floods and every disaster known to mankind yet now some folk are afraid of *words*?
It’s people who pervert words and language every day, be afraid of them, not the words
Indeed.
Strange in a way to read this from Owen Jones https://archive.ph/DTbGs
He’s not the only English socialist supporter to express frustration over principles which were the bedrock of Labour party support, having turned to sand, but where are they to turn to in the hegemony of England’s politics ?
Yet that is exactly what Sarwar, Baillie, Murray, Shanks, etc. are trying to sell to Scots, a lack of principles, as it’s ” just politics “, the only “Change” you’ll get is what you already had in your pocket…
This is the exact same ” just politics ” which lies at the root of the Post Office scandal, it was lack of principles in management all the way through to ministerial level which allowed so many lives to be destroyed, yet there’s a chorus of “Oh look, a Fujitsu…” via the media…
Like or loathe the SNP, they are our only hope of real change, to get off London’s hamster wheel….
Ah, “one day the Labour party will be democratic like it used to be” except it never was, it was always an undemocratic Tory party that lied to gain power on the promise that it would become democratic when it gained power
It lied to the voters and lied to itself, yet still there are Labour supporters who cling to the original lie about the lie that never was, and why folk like Owen Jones offered the chance of that hope being realised would turn on Scotland as quickly as he condemns Sir Kier Starmer’s u-turns on everything he utters
Hundreds of years of being a part of the slave owning class is always better than starting at the bottom with the actual slaves
Being ruled by a monarchial system is not new to England, so in general most English folk can never understand why Scots or indeed anybody don’t want to be ruled by them in some kind of top down ruling class trickle down monarchy
Simply put, “But why don’t you want to be ruled by us we’re just the same as you” ??? they don’t and never will get it
Fiona and Marlene kick off the new year by interviewing Lesley Riddoch about her film “Denmark” which is touring the country.
This is in your article Paul.
Tommy Sheppard, an SNP MP who backed the bill, said: “With Labour MPs like Ian Murray and Michael Shanks voting against more powers for the Scottish Parliament and Scotland’s democratic right to choose our own future, it’s clear voting SNP at the General Election is the only way to make Scotland’s voice heard and put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands.”
This is not true Tommy. No matter what any Indy MP says in Westminster is a total waste of time and money. The action by Neale Hanvey proves how useless it is to even try to make change as we can never ever win using this biased parliament.
We could achieve more by voting for No MP in a general election at all. Simply boycott it. This would cause a constitutional debate.
You will not progress independence or anything else at Westminster.
Of course not Indy MP means no short money for the parties.
They force us to take part or they break us
It’s the English way
Worth reading Prof Robertson’s article on the Covid 19 inquiry and WhatsApp messages, deletion of. I understand the Scottish “newspapers” headlined Nicola Sturgeon today and her deleted messages. The BBC has also focused on this.
Deleted WhatsApp messages – ‘Don’t swallow the state-sponsored propaganda spin of half truths and innuendo!!’
Good btl comments too.
Ms Sturgeon’s statement released today. She gave them enough rope then this – brilliant
…which has now forced Nicola Sturgeon into making a public statement to correct some of the more ridiculous nonsense in circulation from the media.
I may be troubled by some of the questioning at the Inquiry, but it is infinitely preferable to the King James version from Pacific Quay…
Don’t think ‘forced’ is the right word here. More a case of Ms Sturgeon biding her time giving them enough rope then… Egg on faces time
The inference being SNP politicians are liars just the same as England’s have been proven to be
This is the create a “plague on all their lying houses” argument, to create apathy and disillusion in the voters
I’ve just commented on T.U.S that this new attack on Nicola and the SNP is a godsend of an opportunity to go on the offensive. Fingers crossed because your enemy exposing themselves like this doesn’t happen very often.
Time to get back on the horse Nicola.
Golfnut
Absolutely, they’re never going to leave her alone anyway, it doesn’t matter what she does they must hound her because she was the most successful and the one most trusted
She also must be careful, they hate her existence because they fear her
I hope she grasps this opportunity to let them have it.
I think her statement released yesterday proves she has grasped the opportunity with both hands.
One day there will be payback, these rags will rot on the shelves.
OTOH 😂😂
How desperate the unionist rags are now.
It oddly reminds me of the media’s behaviour during the pandemic itself – Instead of assisting public understanding during what was a very real public health emergency, the media seemed almost orchestrated to play propaganda games at the SG daily briefings in order to sow confusion, patently driven by a political agenda disguised as public interest…
This is a “When did you stop beating your wife?” story,typical of the Anglo press when dealing with a non Anglo Scottish government.
They just can’t help themselves.
A Scotland no longer under control from London is a crime against the state in their view,and justifies printing anything in order to discredit our government.
The problem is that some Scots are taken in by this and consider their propaganda as facts.
London bus found on the moon.
Fact!
London bus found on the moon.
Fact!
_______________
I have it on good authority it was being driven by Elvis.
Just heard Yvette Cooper on Kuenssberg when asked whether Starmer should meet with the FM as suggested by Humza say that Scotland wants a Labour government and that our Scottish SNP government is failing. The arrogance of this English Labour MP was astounding. She can take her Labour government and shove it they will be no use to Scotland. I will be saying that to the first Labour canvasser that comes to my door. However I have more chance of seeing a unicorn than one of them
The police will have no interest whatsoever in any Nicola Sturgeon deleted WhatsApp messages. There would be nothing in them that would damage her or the Scottish government. Johnson and Sunak’s deleted WhatsApp messages however would be a totally different kettle of fish. The police very much do not want to go there as from those of Johnson and Sunak that did survive we have an idea of what the deleted ones might be trying to hide.
Leave their rags on the shelves, cancel your TV licence, do not pay to be lied to. The media is the number one enemy of democracy in Scotland so recognise them as such and know that their sole purpose in political terms is to destroy support for Independence and that means attacking the SNP. It doesn’t matter to them if what they write are outright lies, no one, absolutely no one is going to pull them for it.
All we can do is make sure and tell all within earshot that the media are lying to them in support of the status quo and on behalf of the British State.
“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”
Oscar Wilde
Also
‘If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.’
Mark Twain
As well as the assorted turds who masquerade as the media in this country calling for another ( Blue Tent ? ) Police Inquiry into Nicola Surgeon’s Whatsapp messages , we have the unsavoury sight of Aamer Anwar ( who should know better ) joining in the call on behalf of bereaved families . Anything for a little publicity !
Anything for a little publicity !
____________
Aamer who?
When you have figures such as the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain making statements to parliament containing words like “I reject Russell Findlay’s assertions” and Anas Sarwar’s statements as “Just not true” right there you see the total strategy the Union of England uses to defame and denigrate every Scottish institution in public but privately seek to use those same institutions against Scotland
England’s representatives use their newspapers to “assert” criminality with statements that are “just not true” when investigated
The Lord Advocate uses refined language to inform Scotland’s people that the Tories Labour and Liberal Democrat parties are a bunch of liars
These parties are under the management and direction of their superiors in England
They call themselves Scottish political parties but that also is a lie
These people have zero loyalty to Scotland, even if they were born here they’re not Scottish, it’s like claiming a vampire has a nationality, it’s ridiculous
C’mon Nicola, pull on your big girl pants and give these people a leathering, (and no that wasn’t sexist)
Humza’s a nice fella doing his best and improving a little, but if I see him wringing his hands and ending his sentences on a higher pitch than he started once more I’m heading over there to give his media people a kick up the backside for not hiring a behavioural expert to teach him how to operate his body language and speech, and then think that if you have to do that why the hell did you make him FM in the first place?
We don’t have the time to train Humza how to not be Humza, lend him a hand and give him some lessons in assertiveness
At the moment we need a bit more Mohammed Ali than Mahatma Gandhi, (and no that wasn’t racist)
Mainstream media lexicon lesson 2512b:
Unionists declare …
Nationalists/Independence supporters claim …
Janey Godley producing incisive political analysis as usual:
https://twitter.com/JaneyGodley/status/1748697843655725344
I bet this isn’t all that far from reality
🤣
That will have everybody smiling except the media… 😂
Shame… 🙄
Westminster Tories shut down pandemic funding and personal to concentrate on ‘getting Brexit done’. Both poor, bad decisions costing lives.
Less people died in Scotland (pro rata) because of better decisions taken by the Scottish Gov. Earlier lockdown timing and wearing masks longer.
Westminster Gov spent £270Billion over two years funding Covid. £370Billion over a life time. Westminster Gov wasted £Billions. On a worse outcome.
Keeping all Whatsapp messages is impractical. Phones will not work overworked message data. Overloaded.
The decisions were being documented by literature as per Scottish Gov policy. Far safer and extensive record keeping. Far more practical and ethical.
My apologies for the length – In one of James’s inevitable ‘double-down’ moments for a gong, he sends out David Wallet Locked-Hard to bat for the BBC-Scotland-Steam.
“Was Sturgeon just following WhatsApp guidelines by hitting delete?”, https://archive.ph/HGzSM
Read it and weep, but try to stifle the laughter as I go through the first 5 paragraphs of total shite, aka e-n-u-n-c-i-a-t-e-d.. b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t !
“Questions about Scottish government WhatsApps from the pandemic era have rumbled on for months.” – No shit Sherlock, you’ve been the BBC Scotland doing the rumbling..
“There have been claims that some messages were handed over too slowly, and even accusations of exchanges being deleted” – No shit Sherlock, you were central to the claiming as “impartial” national broadcaster, BBC Scotland..
“Right now, the figure in the spotlight is Nicola Sturgeon” – No, Mr Enunciation, how the hell did you mis-spell ‘James Cook’ ?
“Last week the counsel to the UK Covid Inquiry said the former first minister appeared to “have retained no messages whatsoever” from the pandemic.” – Hard though it may be to believe at Propaganda Quay, we ALL heard what was said and in what context – Most learned during the dishonorable Sarah Smith period that James was incapable of telling the difference between an email that did exist and one which didn’t but which held an expenses paid holiday to the US as compensation to being unemployable in the UQ.
“In a statement issued yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said messages communicated through “informal means” were handed to the inquiry last year.” – No Sherlock, her private messages – Despite HMS James Cook’s desperate efforts over these last few years to portray SG behaving as unprofessionally as Boris Johnson Inc. in order to get a gong c/o the State of a Secretary for Scotland, you finally blew it…
I’ve got the Spanish Ambassador’s email address if it’s any help…
STV news roll out reality TV ambulance chasing lawyer Aamer Anwar to accuse Nicola Sturgeon of guilt by association, his case against the former FM?
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are both guilty so Nicola Sturgeon must also be
Top grade lawyering there from a man who believes only white people can be racist
Now that’s racist isn’t it
https://archive.is/TfTY3
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “Statehood of a people is not in the gift of its neighbour, it is the right of a people and it is the right of the Palestinian people.”
Except if you are Scottish.
This is from a Labour (and the Tories hold the same stance) party that backs the mass slaughter of Palestinian children, as it sees them as lesser humans compared to English people, so expendable for England’s own geo-political goals. Yet it still backs the Palestinian’s right to their own independence state.
Scots are even lower ranked as race, as they are not even allowed to self-determine. Their land = England’s West bank colonies.
There are going to be seismic changes in geopolitics once the West is no longer dependent on fossil fuels.
That day is coming and well understood in the Middle East where e.g. the Saudis are divesting into global sports etc.
Closer to home,the owner of Ineos is adopting a similar strategy with the closure of Grangemouth and purchase of Manchester United.
The USA will have no vested interest in supporting states that are of little or no economic importance to them.
However,for now,the West needs to try and keep a lid on things due to Russian and Iranian ambitions in the region.
Control of the Red Sea is still vital to global trade,hence the direct military involvement of the Americans but it is of less importance than historical dependence on oil.
I would expect to see a diminishing interest in the area by the West which may in the long term benefit the peoples of the region.
We are now in the situation where Israel has become a terrorist state whose goal is to ‘wipe Palestine off the face of the earth’, i.e. no two-state solution.
That seems to be increasingly pitting it against even traditional allies.
We’ll all be dead before the use of fossil fuel stops fuelling global conflict. The current middle East crisis is over 1.5 Trillion cubic feet of gas located in what should be Gaza’s international waters. The EU, the USA and the UK gov are fully supportive of bombing the shite out of Gaza and Israel’s plans to build a new canal and pipeline to Europe are well supported. Sunak’s family investment of £1.5 billion in BP’s expansion in the area is pretty well documented along with British Gas. This conflict mirrors the Houstis bombings who just happen to sit on top of oil, gold and silver, a raft of essential minerals including cobalt. This is about corporate greed and personal enrichment and nothing will stop the pillaging until and unless we stop the corporations directing government policy. Even in Germany meat production is being targeted in an attempt to to increase the plant based corporations a bigger share and control of the market. The Germans are fighting back.
Golfnut
I do not believe for one second that the England UK political state Labour or Tory supports Palestine’s right to anything, but I do believe they know those are the right words to say in the circumstances to appease any voters they might need in any forthcoming elections
The only right to self determination of any people on this planet is if they are or will be friendly towards the Western regime and have something to offer that regime
In that locale Palestine and it’s people are detrimental to the West, whereas Israel’s support can always be counted upon for stability in that region
For many young people they will not even know that all of what’s happening now has happened before in the 70s and was predicted to happen again right about now
Russia was behind it then and I have no doubt in my mind Putin’s Russia is the instigator of it now
The British state will speak lots of words, but in the end they want what Netanyahu wants, an end to Palestine as it currently exists
I’m 100% certain all the talks between England America and Netanyahu has been about how the blame can be apportioned and who resigns after it’s done
The cover stories will have been worked on and rehearsed, Netanyahu will take full blame for going too far, step down to a new appointee and the British and American states will be exonerated of blame for their part, mostly
Hand wringing of leaders will be public, speeches will be made, but the end will have justified the means and they can get on with the job of dealing with Putin
Politicians don’t kill people they just make sure the right people kill who they say are the wrong people, then they tell the rest of the people what a terrible catastrophe it all was and must be avoided at all costs in the future, blah blah blah vote for me I care more than the other guy
I am 75 years old, seen it, heard it, been there, it’s not new, none of it
The less understood on how politics works (we know who they are) are screaming their collective wee heads off at Humza Yousaf who made an offer on national TV to work with Labour should that party win the general election should really try harder to understand that that was not what Humza Yousaf did at all
Using national TV Humza Yousaf told those in England that were watching that by voting Labour they could end up with the SNP in a supportive role in the House of Commons, and also those Tory voters in Scotland that might be considering voting Labour just to get rid of the SNP to think again about what they think they want
The very idea of such a thing is repugnant to voters in England as we’ve seen several times before with Miliband and Corbyn
The minute England thinks Scotland might have any influence whatsoever in THEIR parliament they switch off any desire to vote Labour
What Humza Yousaf was doing was attempting to lessen any majority victory that Labour might achieve thereby creating the possibility that Labour might actually be forced to depend upon the SNP, and that can only be good for Scotland
We know Scotland despises the Tories but some don’t remember the damage that Labour did to Scotland no matter which of the English parties were in control, because the most important thing to England is control of Scotland, they don’t care which of the English parties does it as long as England can say Scotland has no interest in self determination, and boom! no Scottish parliament as quick as you can say Jack Robinson
Labour are using this election as a referendum on Scottish independence, they just won’t admit it until they win
Investment in renewables is down grading Oil & Gas importance. Worldwide. Saudi trying to update their economy. To diversify before their assets devalue. The most undemocratic place in the world. Their economy is failing.
The Oil revenues are all that they have to support their economy. Going down. Desperation increasing. Try to cover up by football and sporting fixtures to get revenues in.
Yousaf is doing all right telling it like it is. Some people do not like the truth.
Westminster trying to hide under the Official Secrets Act. Losing control.
The Tories will be gone in months. Why waste time with them. They have done enough damage to the economy and people’s lives.
This racism of course extends to Scots, Welsh and Irish N. Irish people, hence us not being allowed to freely choose the government we wish for our nations; only English / British (nationalist) people have that right.
https://archive.is/FHSit
I took my children to the Caribbean to live free from British racism, and have never looked back
Life in Grenada, the island my grandparents once left for the UK, is safe and caring. Here, I feel that freedom is my birthright
I look forward to indy and waving goodbye to British / English parties like UKIP, the BNP, Britain First, National Front, Reform UK etc. We shall still have racists and they’ll form their own we parties, but PR will keep them in check pretty well unlike British FPTP where they are ‘swing voters’ influencing party manifestos.
You are part correct in referring to racism, but instead of recognising the extent to which it has been weaponised by the “master-race”, (yes even blobs such as Murray and Dross) so it is convenient to boil it all down as a matter of colour as Zoe experienced.
Zoe’s story could be emulated a hundred times over as white, turkish, romanian, bulgarian, french, and god help the belgians given the famed Jeremy Clarkson exhibitionism, or even Hartlepool, Liverpool, Abergavenny, it’s ever about the difference, do you fit with my narrow frame of reference as being one of US locals in Hertfordshire applied to the racial soup which was the United Queendom…
It’s called prejudice…
I also look forward to waving goodbye to it’s orchestration and abuse after Indy…
The logic of racists:
British racists: ‘You Scots are drunken subsidy junkies!’
Scottish person: ‘That’s racist, I think Scotland should leave the UK due to such attitudes south of the border.’
British racists: ’Can’t be racism as Scotland isn’t a country / the Scots are not a distinct people; we are all British!’
If Sturgeon had broken Scottish government policy by using Whatsapp for decision making and kept all the association confidential data on her phone for no good reason at all, so breaking the law (data protection act), she’d be in serious trouble at work and with the police.
But we live in deluded English / British brexiter land, so the stories are that’s she’s in the wrong for not doing the above.
Reality TV lawyer Aamer Anwar claims he has been instructed to make a complaint to Police Scotland about the former FM
Love Island next?
If Sturgeon had been using WhatsApp to handle / discuss confidential data / decision making, and had actually kept all this on her own device when she had need for immediate access to it, there’d absolutely be a serious case against her.
Anwar needs to do a data protection act training course to get up to speed. Hell, these days we are not even allowed to keep people’s CVs on our work computers once a post has been filled. HR can only keep them with restricted access if the candidate agrees to have it kept on file and that agreement is stored with the CV. If I kept someone’s CV on my PC when there was no related job opening any more, that could be me keeping personal data on someone with no good reason! Ok if I had their permission and kept that on file too I’d be ok, but to be on the safe side, it’s deleted.
So yes, I regularly delete stuff to stay compliant. And I keep nothing like the above in my personal files nor use whatsapp for handling the like. It’s all on the server where levels of access are controlled on a ‘need to know’ basis. Email and Teams for communications.
WhatsApp is what my Grandkids use to communicate because it’s free
None of this is about Apps anyway, it’s all about tactics, politics, elections, and the destruction of those that could influence outcomes
*Bring me the head of Alfredo Sturgeon*
Hell mend what going to happen to the big England and its union over this constant harassment
“Storm Isha: High winds disrupt distribution of The National”
First it’s blue tents, now it’s the National.
MI5 have a lot to answer for.
Must be officially 2.5 years since Branchform started.
In few couple of months it will be a year since PM was released without charge.
With each day that passes, the statistical probability of any crime being found reduces. After all, they’d look for the obvious first; the stuff that everyone with their hands in the till tries. If nothing is found there, they’ll look for the more subtle, harder to prove stuff. F’ all shows up here, then the really devious methods will be examined. Zilch there and well, now you need to start thinking there is nothing actually going on at all, and start to wind the investigation up.
Unless you have political motivations. Then you might keep it going, looking at every single transaction, from whether there was the right number of milk cartons bought vs those in the fridge to whether someone claimed 102 miles for what was technically 101. Anything to give a ‘fraud’ headline for the papers.
A police officer was seen removing a three quarter full plastic container of milk from the house
Now they might have just asked for some milk for their tea, that’s possible I suppose, but if Police Scotland claim the murder tent was to serve the purpose of concealment of their doings they kinda failed with the seizure of the milk carton didn’t they, and if not surely police officers weren’t drinking tea in such serious circumstances during the execution of their duties anyway, were they?
At this time it’s not known which supermarket the milk came from, whether purchased locally or specially flown in from a secret base in Russia
Perhaps Police Scotland feared the carton contained the deadly poisonous agent Novichok that could be used to poison England’s population so the former FM could elevate herself to Empress
The liberal Democrats will have submitted a FOI request to have all milk purchased by the FFM or her husband tested since the dawn of time
Ye cannae be too careful wae milk can ye?
‘Must be officially 2.5 years since Branchform started.’
If – more likely when(?) – Branchform reaches its third birthday, perhaps some social media/campaigning genius supportive of independence and of justice will have designed a national birthday party – or perhaps a mass sending of birthday greetings to Police Scotland and the Crown Office – in order to mark what would be a remarkable event!
They are scene setting, creating the headlines in advance of Nicola’s evidence.
There are criminal offences to answer here, but not by Nicola.
Golfnut
Anyone know why Telegram or Facebook Messenger messages are not of interest if WhatsApp’s are so important?
I’d have thought most of the Scottish Cabinet at the time would be Facebook Messenger users rather than WhatsApp users.
Oh, it’s because the English government ran covid using WhatsApp. If Bojo had used Facebook we’d have headlines about how Sturgeon deleted all her Facebook messenger messages.
If England does a thing then it’s the right thing and the rest of the world is wrong, that is the retrospective law applied by England in all cases of decision making throughout the known universe
Scotland was guilty and wrong in not predicting the future behaviour of England’s application of inventing retrospective law making
It’s an unwritten constitution thing that can be applied by England to everyone who’s not them
Latest UK polling turnout projection = 47% from R&W.
Even with 45% VI, Labour are down on support from 2019, again. Zero mandate if polls came true.
A plague on both their houses is what polling in England is telling us I think
Meanwhile in Scotland the opposition continue trying to force the apathy vote for Labour as the least worst option by spreading the virus that the SNP are criminals and no one will vote for them at all
Tory Labour Liberal Democrat and Alba all using the exact same tactic
Couldn’t have been planned could it? like “Bitter together” ??
The world is at war and the opposition to the SNP plan to turn Scotland into Palestine, that’s how bitter they’ve become
For John Fraser.
The SNP 2021 referendum mandate would be stronger than ever if the coming UKGE has as low a turnout as predicted. This mandate can’t be undone by a UK election in the same way EU parliament elections didn’t undo UK parliament election mandates when the UK was a member. Two parliaments, different mandates. 🙂
2021 was a record turnout. For the first time ever, it topped past UK election turnouts in Scotland. Was bigger than 2001, 2005 and equal to 2010. That was truly historic given the Yes party vote exceeded 50% in 2021 for the first time ever for Holyrood under PR. Nobody seemed to realise this showed that Holyrood was becoming Scotland’s parliament and not Westminster. That has not reversed, but consolidated, with baseline ‘lost to the union’ Yes now over 50%.
Less than 37% of eligible to vote Scots wanted to have unionist parties taking seats in Westminster in 2019. A record low and down again on 2017. It’s fallen since according to pollsters.
I am not sure what’s going to happen in the coming GE, but it’s going to be bad for the union. Even the venerable Prof C is concluding as such. Either a record low endorsement of Westminster rule due to a mass boycott by voters on both sides of the border, or the SNP taking a record share if turnout goes back up to normal levels. Neither outcome is good for unionism. Polls currently suggest a unionist dead cat not bouncing, but twitching once then finally going still. The 2017 actual dead cat bounce is so very long ago now.
Based on Holyrood 2021, Holyrood 2026 could be a record breaking turnout where this vastly exceeds UK election turnouts, marking the end of the UK as Westminster is totally dumped in favour of our own parliament. And it would be PR, so there’d be no splitting the election plebiscite indy vote.
This is the calm before the storm, and I don’t mean Jocelyn.
When I went to school the union was never mentioned, but I learned English history, English literature, I could name every city in England and quote their population size and what they were famous for producing, that was Geography btw
I learned that Scots and Gaelic were not languages but slang words not to be spoken or I’d be belted with the leather Tawse
That was Labour’s Scotland, and they still don’t want you to mention Scotland even though they want your vote to help them win in England
I’m a great granddad now, and Labour are still an English party
Dear God they’re desperate – At one hour old “Covid Inquiry: Chief medic told staff to delete WhatsApps every day” is plastered in top spot on BBC/Scotland, David Wallet-Locked-Hard must be as dense as his boss in continuing this pathetic ‘WhatsApp’ smear campaign, https://archive.ph/9sIPU and do pay particular attention to the original creation time, 22nd January 2024, 01:44 UTC…
Consider Mr Enunciation’s opening two paragraphs – ” Scotland’s chief medical officer told colleagues to delete WhatsApp messages “every day” during the pandemic, the UK Covid Inquiry had heard.
Prof Gregor Smith said he erased his own messages “on a frequent basis” in line with government policy. ”
It is on the Covid Inquiry’s own records and even on Youtube, that #10 had instructed ALL Ministers and ALL civil servants to delete ALL WhatsApp messages daily.
Gregor Smith was and still is a civil servant, his colleagues were civil servants, is there a reason David Wallet-Locked-Hard seeks to hide that behind innuendo ?
Yet most comical of all is dragging the Information Commissioner David Hamilton into this BBC farce, when the BBC themselves are exempt from FOI – I’m sure we’d all like to know who instructed this ludicrous propaganda campaign in the first place….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-68049189
It’s so funny that Sturgeon ‘deleted all her messages’ but Yousaf ‘kept his’. This would simply be explained by Sturgeon protecting data by deleting what limited messages she had that should be deleted under rules while Yousaf didn’t have anything work related that needed deleting so didn’t bother. Both following procedure.
But it’s a real pickle for the English / British media. if they attack Sturgeon for ‘deleting’, they must (indirectly) praise Yousaf for ‘keeping’ or vice versa. But who to attack! Sturgeon stepped down long ago and now Yousaf is in charge. Yet Sturgeon could step forward to inspire. Aaargh! 🙂
This is the problem if you are not honest. You tie yourself in knots / back yourself into corners all the time. Little lies become ever bigger lies as you contort yourself trying to explain previous lies. You end up like Trump who can’t even remember the lies he made a minutes earlier, so nobody believes anything you say anymore apart from some crazies, and only 200 people tune in to your flagship British lies, sorry, ‘news’ programme.
New Tories have not gone for the tank photo, just fatigues and a ‘tough on those fleeing wars such as the genocide in Gaza’ face to match the hard right policy.
You will never catch me voting for a party with a leader that dons military gear or gets a photo with a people killing machine, certainly in peacetime.
You can feel Starmer itching to get his finger on all that weaponry for blowing up people in far off countries.
Asking for a friend :
Was there no tank available for Sir Kid Starver’s photo-shoot ? Both Maggie and Col. Davidson managed to procure one for a similar attempt to bolster their ”cohones ” !
Davidson has her own tank, keeps it in the bull shed
https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/fre-press?i=003-7854820-10910604
and download the pdf.
“19.01.2024
New inter-State application brought by Ireland against the United Kingdom“
Good for them. Shows how an independent state can hold UK to account. But will the EHCR respond?
England sending another tough message to the Houthis. The ‘clearest of the clear messages’ this time, upping the ante on the previous ‘clear message’ that they clearly didn’t get.
This will show them who is boss eh! Bet the Houthis are bricking it, shaking in their boots. Will be no more attacks on shipping now that England’s strutting it’s stuff.
Starmer grey man. Unelected Cameron bombing the poorest country in the world.
Defence £50Billion. NHS funding cut by Cameron. Austerity making people in the UK poorer. Cameron gaslighting. A pathetic disgrace.
It’s amusing how many unionist chickens are being counted before they’ve hatched based on rubbish mid-term VI polling.
Was talking to a former neighbour the other day and he was like ‘SNP are in trouble right?‘. I was ‘How can a record vote for them on a record turnout in the most recent election be them in trouble?‘. So he mentioned the polls and I was like ‘Mid term polls are basically always wrong – they were wrong ahead of 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015/16, 2017 and 2019/21′(I join some together as the closeness of them in time means there was no mid-term disengagement so e.g. changes in the run up to 2019 carried into 21).
Past polling predictions before electoral engagement with errors on election day:
End Q1 2011 (2011 SPE): 45(+13)% Labour, 33(-12)% SNP.
Jan 2014 (Y/N): 41(-4)% Yes, 59(+4)% No
Jan 2014 (2015 UKGE): 40(+16)% Lab, 30(-20)% SNP
Jan 2016 (2016 SPE): 50(+3)% SNP, 20(-3)% Lab
Feb 2017 (2017 UKGE): 46(+9%) SNP, 21(-6)% Lab
June 2019 (2019 SNP): 41(-4)% SNP, 20(-5)% Con
So all polls well ahead of votes when the electorate have not been engaged have always been wrong. If you look further back you see similar. And right now CTV numbers are super low, indicating significant disengagement. So buckets of salt with current polling.
You will also note the pattern of when SNP are riding high well out from an election, they lose ground as disengaged / despondent unionists re-engage close to the vote. When the opposite applies and SNP voters are disengaged / despondent mid term (like now), unionists ride high until the former engage and SNP shoots back up.
For political parties, riding high mid term is generally bad news. Think Theresa May. Instead you want to increasingly ride high as the day approaches, like Bojo ahead of 2019 and the SNP ahead of 2011, 2015/16 and 2019/2021.
So if I was Labour right now, I’d not be counting any chickens, but increasingly worried about that lead steadily slipping since the mini-budget bounce, and slipping with very low voter engagement. What happens if engagement occurs? It is grim polling for all parties right now, but the SNP here and Tories in England have be best chance of seeing things improve for them. Labour have peaked over a year ago and history says can only lose from here on. How much will they lose is the question. Tony lost at least 11%.
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