Continuity continued
So that was a big waste of everyone’s time.
We’re not sure why John Swinney made a big show of dragging all his ministers away from their desks to Bute House today in order to tell them nothing had changed. All he’s done is give Kate Forbes the smallest possible sliver of Shona Robison’s job and everything else has stayed the same.
As anyone remotely familiar with the Scottish Parliament will know, the economy is almost entirely reserved to Westminster.
Holyrood was never intended to exercise any significant control over it, so shaving it away from the Finance Secretary’s brief is a token gesture, like one of those kiddies’ plastic steering wheels for the back seat of a car.
(It will however allow Forbes to oversee the creation of the unpopular, undemocratic “Green Freeports”, which were no part of the SNP’s 2021 manifesto.)
And the office of Deputy First Minister is ceremonial – it’s very much the exception rather than the rule if the DFM ever becomes the actual FM.
So all we learned today is that Kate Forbes was pretty cheaply bought (like the other supposed contender for the SNP leadership), and that business will continue as usual. The appointment of Forbes will do nothing other than antagonise the Scottish Greens, and while we’re all in favour of that it can only make the job of getting anything done in the next two years harder.
(And again, given how rancid the Scottish Government’s legislative programme is, that in itself is probably at least a small mercy.)
As we told you last week, then, get ready for two incredibly boring years of nothing much happening, which is exactly what Swinney was manoeuvered into place for.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!
The more things change the more things stay the same.
Kate Forbes can maybe use the handbags she’s been left holding to hammer Harvie over the heid.
No change then! Most of the failed nonentities still in post. As a former Secondary DHT and local authority Quality Improvement Officer, I’m particularly ouraged to see Jenny Gilruth continuing in post. A former PT Modern Studies with little experience in leadership (possibly managing 1-2 people and an annual budget of around £1500 and no idea how to reform Scottish education, the SQA and the dead handof Education Scotland. With Jenny’s leadership, the only way is down!! I despair!!!!
I’m hoping Forbes will have a heavy say on government direction as deputy, The Times reported that Swinney saw eye-to-eye with her on a lot of those issues she spoke about in her campaign last year. Also being given the Economy job will mean she can oversee her own National Strategy that she implemented a couple of years ago, which was criticised recently as going no where because of government inaction (surprise surprise). So maybe not too much of a nothing position.
Sigh. So FM Swinney will be leading the same old team of incapables? What a bunch of nasty numpties. The only difference is that they now have a DFM with more than one brain cell to hide behind. Not that that will save them. As the Rev said, KF was cheaply bought. It seems that the British establishment is trying to bore us into submission.
Clever, in a sense. Forbes can take the public rap for freeports when it turns to poo.
Honest John, last year questions if someone like Kate Forbes is fit for leadership with her views. A year later now his deputy. Groucho Marx said it best these are my principles and if you don’t like them I have others.
Let’s hope Alba makes such a noise about Freeports that Forbes gets frightened and makes a mess of it or gives up.
Well that just about finishes it for me, why am I wasting my few remaining years trying to educate morons? what time I’ve left will be given to the Indyfirst candidates who have the courage to stand up for what most of us believe in.
may all these charletans burn in hell.
It will however allow Forbes to oversee the creation of the unpopular, undemocratic “Green Freeports”, which were no part of the SNP’s 2021 manifesto
I find it bleakly amusing The Greens are raging at Forbes while she’s in charge of the most capitalist, neoliberal policy ever to be championed by The Greens outwith of treating human beings are things that can be changed like Transformers. This was classed as a ‘win’ by Slater, etc even though it puts jobs, workers rights and the environment at risk.
get ready for two incredibly boring years of nothing much happening
Swinney is there to make sure things don’t get worse before the general election, so really, he’s got 8 months tops before we find out for sure if the SNP are suffering at the polls as badly as many suggest they will. After the GE, it’ll either be ‘well, Swinney was a smart move’ or ‘OMFG!!! WE NEED A NEW LEADER!’. For now though, Sunak’s cowardice in not holding an election is benefitting the SNP.
A lot of course could also change from now til the GE. The fallout of the Cass Report not to mention the Gaza War is going to win and lose all parties votes but I suspect the cost of living crisis will (and should) dominate.
Let’s hope Alba makes such a noise about Freeports that Forbes gets frightened and makes a mess of it or gives up.
There’s no way to be nice about this but Alba are unable to do anything to stop anyone. They neither have the ability, power or support to do anything that might change things within the SNP. Things may change after the GE. The only way the Freeports may be stopped is if the SNP suffer serious losses in the areas where the Freeports are.
I should be celebrating: lots of women in Cabinet. However, to merely swap sycophantic, slavering men with not a scoobie for the same number of sycophantic, slavering women with not a scoobie is hardly progress as we know it, John. We want people with a back-bone, maybe a brain wave or two about how to escape the Union. We want people with vision, John. We want people with knowledge of the constitution and people with knowledge of the law – the real law, not Stonewall Law. The ultra loyalists will be clapping like seals at the steady ship as she ploughs towards No Man’s Land (or, almost no man’s land). Oh, look a seal as opposed to, oh, look a squirrel. I believe they were also spotted on the ice floes just before the Titanic hit the iceberg. To the lifeboats and every man (and women) for him/her self. Don’t worry about the children; the Sandyford’s looking after them.
ALBA need to support every indy4indy candidate now – we need unity in those opposed to the “union”.
As a wee aside I’m just catching up with PMQs and noted that yet again there’s no sign of Mhairi Black in the Commons during PMQs. It’s extraordinary that the SNP’s deputy leader in Westminster only seems to be there when she really has to be, and these days, barely speaks of Scotland at all.
I’ve also caught up with Patrick Harvie’s speech today. The man is unhinged.
After the shenanigans I’ve been dealing with over the past couple of months I was checking which minister within the devolved administration had the remit for environmental matters, but could not identify which individual is responsible for that area.
If anyone ever notices a Scottish politicians moaning about England pumping sewerage into the sea, please let me know because we do worse up here by pumping untreated effluent into our supposedly bonnie rivers…
#TroutLivesMatter
#FinsOverScotland
All talk and not doing ?
That’ll be the cabinet larger again, no doubt with some civil servants and spad promotions/job creations added on resulting less for services.
Quite possibly the only way possible to pick a worse cabinet than Humza’s.
Give it six months and it will be Swinney’s out of office fee, pension and the rest added on, once they get creamed at the election.
TBQH I think waiting on ALBA to make a stink about anything is a waste of time, Alex has shown that he is another one willing to kowtow to WM rules and regulations, he is another one abiding by the section 30 nonsense that we need WM PERMISSION to hold a referendum, the section 30 pish is NOT about permitting a referendum it is about WM AGREEING to accept the outcome or the result of a referendum
His deliberate ostracising of Sara Salyers and SALVO during and after ALBA’S convention in which she was heralded by the membership speaks volumes, YET he likes to parade and SPEAK about the Claim Of Right and Scots SOVEREIGNTY but that’s all he does, SPEAKS, he does NOT and will NOT use it to CHALLENGE the WM HEGEMONY
Who was it that changed the rules of the snp from a majority of snp MP’S constituted negotiation for separation, to a majority of snp MP’S means fuck all, was it Alex Salmond, and the poisoned dwarf just followed suit .
I’ve not seen a grain ship in Leith docks for months now and they used to visit the grain pier regular. I’ve noticed grain being trucked in and I do wonder if that’s because of these new green ports. My guess is it will seem like the green ports are creating new jobs but they are just taking them from different ports and reducing revenue for government at the same time. An unnecessary subsidy for corporations.
KT Lorimer says:
8 May, 2024 at 5:21 pm
ALBA need to support every indy4indy candidate now – we need unity in those opposed to the “union”
Didn’t you pay attention when Alba’s Ash Regan voted FOR the SNP’s Swinney for FM?
Alba figures the same voters who were duped by the SNP are stupid enough to be duped by Alba.
What exactly is it that folk see in Kate Forbes? The nicest thing to say might be ‘best of a bad bunch’, but that’s not exactly a compliment. She was Sturgeons Finance Secretary. She hid when Ash Regan resigned on the gender vote. She beamed when Humza beat her to the leadership. She’s let Swinney waltz back in unopposed and accepted diddly squat as payment for her compliance, nay, acquiescence. I just do not see what she’s ever said or done that is worth supporting.
Happy to be put right???
John C: I doubt that even that would do it. I believe that they are treading water until the 2026 SE when they will be voted out, and, if enough survive the wipeout, they will sit in opposition. They are utterly bereft of ideas. Forbes is being groomed for 2026, but the party will not survive, so she will head up a rump opposition.
I couldn’t give two fucks if Swinney formed a kitchen cabinet , same old pish being delivered .
No where polishes a jobby like Oxbridge.
It’s a kunt in a suit in charge or a woman with a pen is .
The colonial media making big news of Swinney’s coronation and the appointment of Greenports Forbes.
It’ll be two more years of Sturgeonism under her close ally Swinney who’ll make sure the SNP’s post-Alex Salmond’s resignation dirty secrets are kept safe, and that independence is just some word to be used, occasionally to shut up indy voters.
Good info from Calton Jock on Swinney and SNP machinations.
https://caltonjock.com/2024/04/29/swinney-as-snp-leader-would-preside-over-its-demise/
https://caltonjock.com/2024/04/23/so-yet-again-teflon-coated-swinney-escapes-the-wrath-of-scottish-voters/
Meanwhile Robin McAlpine has it with the SNP, and who can blame him.
https://robinmcalpine.org/two-portraits-of-a-fall/
We really need to vote the SNP out of office at every turn beginning with the GE, the party is beyond redemption.
Vote Alba or ISP at the GE.
Same auld shite. Its like watching the Tories at WM shuffle the same stooges between the various jobs in the vain hope that something might change.
Every name on that list has made an arse of whatever department they have got their grubby hands on. Swiney included.
As for Alba – an abject failure. Their first test was the VONC shambles, and they shat themsels. Pish poor.
With regard to freeports last year Private Eye reported extensively on the one in Teeside and it is a clusterfeck of nepotism, cronyism, organised crime and monopolised access. Thankfully Scotland is not affected by these…
Dundee United get promoted to the SPL. Number of player changes already 15. Swinney appoints his Cabinet number of changes, 1 addition. Summer Recess date for the Scottish Parliament 29th June. Scottish Government response to the Cass Review around the 29th June. Expect a stitch up.
John Swinney has a baldy wee half-incher.
The word that jumps out at me is remains. What a rotting corpse the SNP is… Auld Nic’s hand all over this. Do they really think we are all stupid?
Anton Decadent at 6:46 pm
“With regard to freeports last year Private Eye reported extensively,”
Yeah but, Private Eye? Used to be good until Hislop got up himself.
Swinney is like the boy leading the funeral procession.
Frazerio at 6:22 pm
“What exactly is it that folk see in Kate Forbes?“
I’ve wondered the same. She might have staunch Christian values considered admirable but she seems to have an excess of Christian forgiveness such that she’ll accept Useless’ questionable election and now this slight. A fragment of the ‘economy’ portfolio as Stu pointed out, and ‘responsibility for Gaelic’. Not even the Pidgen English Alf chooses to call “Scots”.
There is an interesting pattern in giving the green ports minister the economy.
Another “designed to fail”
Have now joined alba
Twathater @ 5:57
Absolutely bang on sir.
People’s liberation movement is the only way forward I can see now.
Sign up @ liberation.scot or Salvo.scot
Considering the number of things the Greens have got through, you’d have thought a variety of individuals/groups within the party would have made more of a stand.
I guess that the SNP have long since purged anyone with that kind of attitude, which has served them (if not us) well. It takes other parties to tell the SNP leadership what to do.
A little surprised that Forbes wanted this role. If Swinney has to resign (and that could be for a number of upcoming scandals), she’ll be next in line, going into a disastrous (hopefully) election.
I guess her own Freeport friends, the position and perks, and misplaced confidence in her party’s future made the difference. Too good to pass up, if they aren’t the next government.
I wonder if she’ll be in a position to find out what the membership numbers actually were, when she lost the election. Probably not. She’s just DFM. Even the FM isn’t really in control.
It will be interesting to see how she positions herself on any upcoming Green ideas on gender. She can’t be that opposed to it, as that would be grounds to resign. Perhaps SNP and Greens have had chats to ensure that she’s onside enough to perhaps abstain at worst.
Whats happened to Jamie Hepburn the Independence minister.
Opps sorry I found out the information I needed here. https://www.gov.scot/about/who-runs-government/cabinet-and-ministers/minister-for-independence/
Reply to Twathater at 5:56:
1. Section 30 WAS all about whether Westminster accepts the result of a referendum, UNTIL Nicola Sturgeon sent the matter to the Supreme Court! THEY ruled that from now on Holyrood CAN’T hold a referendum on Independence AT ALL.
2. Which is why one part of ALBA’s strategy, is to hold a referendum on whether Holyrood SHOULD have the power to hold a referendum on Independence. A clear majority for THAT, would go some small way to forcing confrontation with Westminster. The traditional pro-Independence majority of MPs, is another part. Depends what scenario arises.
3. Alex was NOT antagonistic towards Sara Salyers. I was there!
She attacked ALBA’s MPs and claimed they and Alex didn’t support the Claim of Right/Sovereignty Of The People. But we’re giving it away to Parliament.
He pointed out that both he, and ALBA’s MPs DO! (He also promoted the Claim Of Right for decades before SALVO came along.)
He pointed out that Scotland has NEVER, thus far, been a Direct Democracy, but a Representative Democracy. And that he’s open to that changing.
But WHAT MECHANISMS of translating the concept of Sovereignty Of The People, into Government, are SALVO proposing?
Sara misunderstood that as him rejecting the CONCEPT and didn’t, on that occasion, DESCRIBE SALVO’s practical proposals.
As far as I’m aware, they both realised afterwards that they’d been talking at cross purposes. And have not fallen out. Neale Hanvey MP attends SALVO meetings.
Sovereignty Of The People, in practice has to translate into Government of the Country. By, for example:
– Electing representatives to Parliament. With Sovereignty then ‘loaned’ to the whole Parliament
, until the next election. (Joanna Cherry legally forced a Westminster vote on Brexit. Using the Claim Of Right to demonstrate that Sovereignty in Scotland, is NOT ‘loaned’ to the Executive Government, only to Parliament.)
OR
– Adding a salvo-de-jure(?) element (from which SALVO gets its name). Whereby all legislation passed can be challenged by citizens at the end of Session. Historically Scotland did this. As described by Alex Salmond in Scotland Speaks, some time ago.
OR
– You add a Constitutional requirement for referenda to be held on eg Changes To The Constitution and Major Issues and International Treaties.
OR
– You add a Second Chamber, of Citizens, to assess, and if necessary veto, legislation.
OR
– You add Citizens Juries, to develop policy prior to legislating.
Until SALVO make clear WHICH of these they are proposing, ALBA obviously can’t ‘support SALVO’s Plan’. We’d need to know what that Plan IS!
It may well be that SALVO, as a campaigning organisation, is happy with ANY of these. And is instead focused on raising awareness and understanding of the CONCEPT of Sovereignty Of The People, its place in Scotland’s Constitution, and the RANGE of possible mechanisms available?
Currently, ALBA are supportive of Citizens Juries, but I could see others of the above list being added in future. I think referenda on Changes To The Constitution may be part of ALBA policy too?
4. Although Alex DID oversee the change from ‘majority of MPs’ to ‘referendum in Holyrood’, for Independence, point 1 above clearly removed that option.
I also doubt that he’d have persisted with that policy once the 2015 General Election happened. Logically reverting to the earlier policy by 2017, when Brexit was forced on us, would have been wise.
5. Yes, he was responsible for presenting us with Nicola Sturgeon. But it’s unfair to blame him for not preemptively protecting the SNP Independence Strategy against her going rogue and sitting inactively on a Westminster majority for a decade. As well as blocking the Holyrood referendum alternative route. There WERE 125,000 SNP members with a responsibility to challenge her behaviour too, including hundreds of elected politicians!
I understand your frustration, which I share. But attacking those who ARE actively pro-Independence, whether in ALBA or SALVO, won’t help matters.
Hail Alba.
JockMcT says:
8 May, 2024 at 7:00 pm
The word that jumps out at me is remains. What a rotting corpse the SNP is… Auld Nic’s hand all over this. Do they really think we are all stupid?
…………………………………….
In answer to your question, Jock, “Do they really think we are all stupid?”, the answer is this – YES THEY DO!
They hold us all in complete contempt, and as an
ignorant lower life-form.
They keep us “Ignorant” by making very sure we never learn anything that matters. Secrecy is POWER, and the SNP learned this long, long ago. This SNP Policy REMAINS.
Yes, they DO think we are all stupid, and they DO make very sure we are kept “ignorant”, by stopping us from learning what they are REALLY up to.
It is not going to change under Mr Swinney. “THEY” know too much about him, and HE knows too much about them.
Sigh . . .
That wasn’t her price. Her price was to be first in line when Swinney quits after the general election.
New boss same as the old boss. Continuity indeed.
Aye Rev: “So all we learned today is that Kate Forbes was pretty cheaply bought”.
And very notably the Gaelic lobby now has a cabinet post an nae doot a pile mair public siller on the wey tae add tae the £50m+ a year for the circa 50,000 Gaelic speakers. Meantime the two million+ Scots speakers – who comprise the vast majority of the Yes vote – get hee haw; oor ain langage aye left tae wither awa, an oor cultur an identity deein wi hit, intentionally so.
Pro-rata funding per head giving Scots language speakers equality with Gaelic would require a government spend of well over £1 billion annually on Scots language medium; much as the Council of Europe repeatedly advises our Scots language should be taught tae bairns in schuils if we are respecting indigenous languages as a human right. In Scotland Scots fowk hae nae sic richts, no tae oor langage nor oor ain land an resources.
Such Divide and Rule policies is always the way of the colonizer with one tribe favoured over another, language discrimination being a classic example, and the colonial administration doing what it is tasked to do, i.e. tae haud-doun the fowk.
One of the reasons I read this blog and twitter account is the exposure to music and bands I had never heard of before.
Like the journalism they are always reliably interesting (if not always to my taste).
Stu strikes me as one of those guys with a gigantic music collection and an encyclopedic knowledge of the music scene.
Currently listening to Seamonsters.
RIP Steve Albini, whoever you were…
Keep em coming.
Derek
Ignored
says:
8 May, 2024 at 8:07 pm
That wasn’t her price. Her price was to be first in line when Swinney quits after the general election.
Considering how back stabbing they are, it should come as no surprise to her when she loses the post election leadership contest to Gray and McAllan.
Derek
She must be deluded wanting to lead a party wil less than 15 mps.
I just can’t understand why Sweatpants Swinney is giving out the most junior of joke roles to the woman who officially came a narrow second to Yousless in the supposedly honest-john most recent SNP leadership election.
Instead we get a guy who never even ran and who was the worst SNP leader EVER.. twenty frickin years ago.
I lived through it – Sweatpants 1.0 – and can remember Swinney’s truly dreadful tenure. It was the so shit it is hard to describe properly. He nearly destroyed the SNP.
And it has been well documented, it was Sturgeon pulling his strings at the time. I think Salmond must have been in on this… the second time he did it post 2014 they double crossed him.
It was this first Swinney nadir that brought back Salmond… and the rest as they say is history.
What will the second Swinney nadir bring…
I correct myself. I most definitely know this music (Seamonsters). A lot of bells getting ringed here.
Isn’t the economy brief from Mairi McAllan rather than Shona Robison? Either way, I think it will tar Kate with the Freeports issue when it all goes pear shaped and will likely kill off her chances of ever becoming leader or FM.
I’ve always maintained being depute FM is a nothing job – no portfolio and you only ever get to do anytihng if the FM is absent for some reason. Certainly wouldn’t consider it worthy of selling out but the money’s good I hear £118,000/pa.
Will someone being seeing red that The New Scottish Cabinet is aw WHITE!
First Minister – WHITE!
Deputy First Minister – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Local Government – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Education & Skills – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Justice & Home Affairs – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Transport – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Health & Social Care – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs & Culture – WHITE!
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands – WHITE!
And how many of these individuals are sporting their pronouns in their bios…
“…the colonial administration doing what it is tasked to do, i.e. tae haud-doun the fowk.”
Aye, Alf. Aince thon colonial hoax clicks in yer heid aw ther tricks an trapps are made clear tae the ee.
And since learning of Scotland’s true relationship wi oor partner in union all I see in the behaviour of the SNP and Scotland’s devolved government is the hand of Westminster at work.
It amazes me that I didn’t see it before coming across your papers and book, Doun-Hauden – it’s so obvious once it’s pointed out.
Northcode at 9:46 pm
“‘…the colonial administration doing what it is tasked to do, i.e. tae haud-doun the fowk.’
Aye, Alf. Aince thon colonial hoax clicks in yer heid aw ther tricks an trapps are made clear tae the ee.
And since learning of Scotland’s true relationship wi oor partner in union all I see in the behaviour of the SNP and Scotland’s devolved government is the hand of Westminster at work.
It amazes me that I didn’t see it before coming across your papers and book, Doun-Hauden – it’s so obvious once it’s pointed out.”
Oh dear, another one swallows the Baird Kool-Aid (although you seem to be even more gullible than most). Continually blaming Westminster (and MI5, the Americans, Israel and the other whacky theories posted on here) instead of recognising that this is all Scotland and the Scot’s responsibility is infantile while pretending to be a grown up nation worthy of independence. On current evidence independence would be a disaster for Scotland, but keep proving me right.
Charles (not the R one):
In answer to your question, Jock, “Do they really think we are all stupid?”, the answer is this – YES THEY DO!
They hold us all in complete contempt, and as an
ignorant lower life-form.
Yes, they DO think we are all stupid
True. And why shouldn’t the SNP think the voters are stupid? After all, the voters have elected SNP governments the last 17 years. Most of which time the SNP was under obvious troughers and incompetents like Sturgeon and Humza.
@Dan 9:35pm
Great stuff Dan. But the big question, is Swinney going to remove the Green arrows pointing to Mecca in Bute House? Or leave them in place for Anas Sarwar the next incumbent?. How Kate Forbes agreed to her appointment is beyond my comprehension. Money of course, she will choke on her next communion. Abandoned any principles to support a corrupt pervy Government.
@Mac, I just read your post upthread and saw that Steve Albini had died. I’d recommend listening to some Big Black, Bad Penny would be appropriate given our government. Here’s a link to him talking about the music industry.
https://archive.ph/Y4Cvd
Does the Reverend Stu moderate BTL or is it some kind of flaky AI ?
So, could our Imperious Leader not find anyone to take up the role of Cabinet Secretary for Defeating the Ends of Justice?
Oh, no, wait… silly me.
As you were.
Dan
Ignored says:
8 May, 2024 at 9:35 pm
Will someone being seeing red that The New Scottish Cabinet is aw WHITE!
First Minister – WHITE!
Deputy First Minister – WHITE!…
The irony for me isn’t in the racism of that, but my own long held observations of Holyrood, where I posed the question relating to the “colour” of sovereignty.
I postulated that Scottish popular sovereignty should adopt red, since it’s essence was the flesh and blood of the people, while English / Westminster sovereignty should be white, reflecting the clouds and heavenly backdrop of a divine sovereignty from God. The two extremes of course being binary conditions and fundamentally incompatible.
What colour of sovereignty ran in Holyrood’s veins? Red Scottish sovereignty? White Westminster sovereignty? A shared pink sovereignty? Or a raspberry ripple type sovereignty?
https://www.barrheadboy.com/which-ever-flag-they-offer-a-guest-post-by-breeks/
Hence, uttered without even a vestige of racist overtone, but considered by sovereign pigmentation;
Holyrood Assembly – White.
Scotland Act – White.
First Minister- White.
Scottish Government- White.
The entire realm of Holyrood has been bleached whiter than white in its deference to Westminster sovereignty, with every vestige of red Scottish sovereignty purged and removed.
Sturgeon did this. Scotland held every trump card it needed for Holyrood to be redder than red, but Sturgeon threw them all away.
Sturgeon could have defended the Claim of Right, and “won” the ambiguous constitutional argument confirming the foundations of Holyrood as ultimately red; the Scottish people, the Community of the Realm, are sovereign in Scotland.
Adopting an obdurate defence of the Claim of Right would have defeated Scotland’s Brexit, demolished Tony Blair’s Supreme Court, burned Westminster’s fingers for daring to interfere with Scotland’s democracy and access to a referendum. And that’s just for starters…
Sturgeon didn’t stand in defence of any of it. She abdicated Scotland’s constitutional rights without so much as an argument. Sturgeon, and indeed her rancid cabal of fruit loops and nasties, should go down in history and be known forever as Scotland’s greatest imbeciles; the laughable parade of Westminster’s most useful idiots, the Toast of Whitehall.
Yousaf? Swinney? Forbes? Just the latest dunces following on from Sturgeon’s cringeworthy debacle.
James JonesIgnored says:
8 May, 2024 at 7:10 pm
“Frazerio at 6:22 pm
“What exactly is it that folk see in Kate Forbes?“
I’ve wondered the same. She might have staunch Christian values considered admirable”
Being pretty cheaply bought being one of them?
Neglecting her couple of months old baby to stand for the SNP leadership being another one of them?
@james Jones
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@Mac & @Anton Decadent
Thank you. ‘Big Black – Peel Session 1987’on YouTube is worth your time.
Rev Stu, opening eyes (& ears) since 2011.
This video link was posted on Twitter yesterday.
“The Great Debate” took place in February 1995, and was a head-to-head between Alex Salmond and Labour’s shadow Scottish Secretary of the time George Robertson (hosted by an unfamiliar raven-haired Lesley Riddoch) at the Royal High School in Edinburgh, which was then favourite to be the home of the still-notional Assembly.
Young Nicola appears in the audience at 6m 19secs.
Can you remember what you were doing away back then? That’s at least how long they’ve known each other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if-2A47U5PQ
Dan beat me to it at 9:35 PM with his “white” post.
I don’t know for certain (and frankly I don’t care), but I’m guessing you can go down the list and its “cis” all the way too.
Which means that ScotGov has arguably listened to the people and cleared out all those who stuck in the craw of the rank and file of Scottish voters. Two difficult elections coming up, so it’s to be expected, but welcome nevertheless.
Will this clearing out of the deviant dross help the SNP? My view is it certainly won’t harm them. Your typical, politically apathetic Scot will look at the SNP, see a bunch of people just like them, and put their cross in the tribal box, just as always.
It’s all part of the bigger picture too. Across the UK, Europe and the west generally, the tide of progressive lunacy is on the wane. The bite of austerity is focusing voter’s minds on reality and that brings with it a turn to the right.
Jihadists marching on the streets of Europe’s towns and cities is helping with this, as is the slowly dawning realisation that when you send your kids off to school in the morning, they are at some (small) risk of being hacked to pieces by some aggrieved nutter with a sword.
Your typical, politically apathetic Scot wants those scum off the streets more than she wants Indy. And who can blame her?
BBC news just announced that SNP have dropped the role of Minister for Independence.
I couldn’t believe I had heard that so rewound and put subtitles on.
I did hear it again but the only line that didn’t come up on subtitles was that one aspect about
Independence?
What on earth?
Sigh. Trying to save the SNP now is like trying to restore a rotten tree. Rotten to the core. What’s the point? Back in 2014 the future looked bright, but the wrong people managed to take control and spoiled everything.
Save yourself any more pain and write them off. Better to cut your losses and start again.
@ Breeks & Xaracen et all
I found this article whilst reading up on Smith Commission’s “It is agreed that nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose.”
Nearly ten years on now and there still isn’t a recognised and defined path for the will of Scotland to be expressed on such a matter.
https://www.lawscot.org.uk/members/journal/issues/vol-59-issue-12/balancing-the-right-to-decide/
@Dan
Dan, some more about the Smith Commission outcome.
“The Turkey that voted for Christmas (Twice): How poor negotiation of the Fiscal Settlement has failed Scotland”
Bottom of the page – here.
http://jamcuthbert.co.uk/new_page_3.htm
“Can you remember what you were doing away back then?”
Ian Brotherhood.
Aye…pounding pavements in Inverness to leaflet for the upcoming April elections to the new Highland Council.
I was introduced to a certain Ms Sturgeon at the Eden Court conference 6th months previous – the impression I got wasn’t a good one and it deteriorated over time.
Conference highlight for me, (other than being on the telly for my speech), was having a drink and a chat with both Mrs Ewings… Winnie and Maggie (2xRIP) who were on top form.
I wonder what they’d have made of the current Sturgeon led omnishambles to which they gave so much. Sad to see how things have turned out.
Anyways… mustn’t dwell…
Indy for Scotland!
SNP Out!
Green ports were indeed in the 2021 manifesto – page 53. “We will implement our proposal for Scottish Green Ports,”
They played no part in the campaign tho.
A veritable CABINET OF INCURIOSITÉS.
Also, why this fake virtuous fetish for women?
Are they supposed to be superior in insight to males, their sex being free of «toxicity» etc.?
Maybe the SNP is simply short on talent?
Continuity rumbles on awaiting the inevitable messy finishing stroke.
Devasting summary from Professor Sachs. He even devastates himself by the end, you can see it on his face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdxt23fKLIg&ab_channel=JudgeNapolitano-JudgingFreedom
There is some bad shit coming here. It is not just Isr@el self destructing…
And we are all just passengers with zero say.
I have got such a bad feeling about all this. Don’t know how or when or where it will manifest but it is definitely coming. Grim as fuck.
Dan @ 8:05 am
“Nearly ten years on now and there still isn’t a recognised and defined path for the will of Scotland to be expressed on such a matter.”
It disnae really maitter whit native heid bummers bide in the colonial Governor’s Hoose sae lang as Scotland’s institutions are aw run by a unionist elite that aye hauds tae British imperialist ideology an values; i.e. Fanon’s ‘watchdogs of colonialism’:
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/the-determinants-of-independence-institutions/comment-page-1/
It is a traumatic experience reading Wings’ twitter feed at times. That picture of the two bare chested post-op kids after having double mastectomies is truly shocking.
It really drives home the fact that this IS child abuse and a huge medical scandal.
And strangely enough I was wondering what happened to Ellen/Elliot Page just the other day when I then saw the clip posted of her/him on twitter as well.
I really did not like Ellen Page due to her being a tedious misandrist but after she mutilated herself I genuinely felt sorry for her.
These people are victims of an incredibly toxic ideology that convinces them to self mutilate.
It is 100% mental illness. And any doctor or medical professional catering to it should be jailed.
I honestly would not be surprised to read that she has died somehow in the not too distant future. You can just see the decline mounting up physically.
The whole thing is massively homophobic as well and if it is not ‘conversion’ therapy that what in the actual fuck is?
They are literally converting gay people into these trans messes instead of just being gay. By literally chopping bits off themselves…
The LGB community needs to drop that ‘T’. It has got fuck all to do with you and is actually highly toxic to you. Maybe that is what the T really stands for, Toxic. Pure poison.
Bizarre new YouGov, Westminster poll (no detailed data set as yet). Tories reduced to 13 seats, SNP on 19 seats, Labour occupying 85% of total HoC seats. This must surely be an outlier and fundamentally unreliable. An elected dictatorship with a titular PM taking orders from a foreign state. Be very careful what you wish for.
“BBC news just announced that SNP have dropped the role of Minister for Independence.”
Effigy.
I’m pretty sure the minster was Jamie Hepburn, (another useless b*stard) Swinney has been going on about attaining indy over the last week, he then drops the indy minister.
Watch what Swinney does not what he says.
When you click, there is nothing on the Minister for Independence for the moment but that’s I guess because the First Minister will be deciding on the role and person –
https://www.gov.scot/about/who-runs-government/cabinet-and-ministers/minister-for-independence/
404 – not found
Sorry, but the page you were trying to view does not exist.
This could be the result of either:
a mistyped address
an out of date link
Try searching again in the gov.scot search box.
I remember in the Civil Service at St. Andrews House, Swinney had a nickname, The Dummy. Always thought it appropriate.
Here’s a list of Swinney’s ministers, and cabinet many of same old tired faces still hold positions, the old guard blocking independence.
“Minister for Parliamentary Business – Jamie Hepburn
Minister for Business – Richard Lochhead
Minister for Employment and Investment – Tom Arthur
Minister for Public Finance – Ivan McKee
Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise – Natalie Don
Minister for Higher and Further Education and Minister for Veterans – Graeme Dey
Minister for Victims and Community Safety – Siobhian Brown
Minister for Climate Action – Gillian Martin
Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity – Jim Fairlie
Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health – Jenni Minto
Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport – Maree Todd
Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy – Christina McKelvie
Minister for Equalities – Kaukab Stewart
Minister for Housing – Paul McLennan”
“The minister for culture, Europe and international development role has also been axed, with Kaukab Stewart taking on a new role.”
“There were also some departures as part of the reshuffle. These include:
George Adam stepped down as minister for parliamentary business
Emma Roddick stepped down as minister for equalities, migration and refugees
Joe FitzPatrick stepped down as minister for local government empowerment and planning”
And her is his cabinet.
“Kate Forbes, the youngest-ever Deputy First Minister, will take on the economy portfolio and responsibility for Gaelic
Shona Robison remains in Cabinet with responsibility for finance and local government
Jenny Gilruth remains Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills
Angela Constance remains Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs
Mairi McAllan remains in Cabinet with responsibility for Net Zero and Energy portfolio
Fiona Hyslop remains Cabinet Secretary for Transport
Neil Gray remains Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
Shirley-Anne Somerville remains Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice
Angus Robertson remains Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture
Mairi Gougeon remains Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands
Mairi McAllan will remain as Energy Secretary but the “Wellbeing Economy” brief has been stripped of its first word and handed to Forbes.”
That tweet where a new born baby is handed over to that weirdo guy is as creepy and fucked up as it gets…
This the end. The West is gone.
Had to stop reading those tweets, they paint a bad picture, especially along all the other madness going on around the world.
I guess this is what it looks like when empires slowly implode, and start to eat itself.
If it is true that, whom the Gods would destroy they first make insane, then our card has been well and truly marked!
Mac @9:05am
Thanks for that, and thank God for left-wing, American, Jews, they might just save the human race from annihilation.
So now it’s a battle between the left and right against the liberals. Unfortunately there are a lot of trends and a lot of dysfunction that will need to be unpicked and undone before we head over the cliff. Life is going to get very interesting.
Twilight’s last gleaming, indeed.
Just a sub-sample (population size 180). YouGov, Scottish, Westminster voting intention, field work 7 – 8 May.
Con 10% seats 0 (-6)
Lab 45% seats 54 (+53)
LibDem 4% seats 1 (-1)
SNP 30% seats 2 (-46)
* vagaries of FPTP render seat projection models extremely unreliable this far deviated from mean distribution with limited population sample.
On the matter of ‘continuity’ and protecting the status quo (i.e. devolution), Swinney, like Yousaf and probably Sturgeon before him, has made eradicating poverty in Scotland his top priority; as did Forbes in her leadership bid last year. Easy to say, but why are they all doomed to fail on this important aspect?
Postcolonial theory tells us that the poverty of the people, their deprivation and lack of opportunity in a colonial environment is broadly equivalent to the value of the economic plunder going on. This confirms that, as long as colonial plunder is permitted to continue, so will poverty and widening inequalities, as well as related adverse health and societal impacts.
Which means THE ONLY WAY TO ERADICATE POVERTY is to remove colonialism. Somebody ought to tell the new FM because he clearly disnae ken this; if he did, he would make independence his top and most urgent priority.
Here’s a wee clue as to the ‘price of colonialism’ (aka the UK Union), by comparing Scotland’s uniquely low GDP-per-capita relative to all other much ‘richer’ countries nearby, most of which don’t even have our extensive resources, making Scotland into the poorest nation in north-west Europe:
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2024/03/19/the-real-economic-price-of-the-uk-union-for-scots/
@Lynne, I listened to that session about midnight last night and like Peel regret not having gone to see them when I had the chance. I saw Shellac quite a few times though.
With regard to the political situation across the West, I finished an Alasdair Gray book last night in which he spoke about government which has detached itself from the electorate and this is quite clearly the case. They are mentored lackeys for lobbyists/donors/owners and are actively hostile to the populations of the countries which they have been installed in. Time for a reset of our own.
So Swinney’s first deed is to remove the Minister for Independence. Yes we all know that role was invented to placate the gullible and as useful as a chocolate teapot.
However what this signifies is that Swinney is dropping independence, because there is a GE coming up. Ironically he thinks this will garner votes back from Labour. But the man is serially stupid. In 2017 Sturgeon did the same thing and lost 21 seats. SNP voters just didn’t vote. We have the same situation on steroids now. Because the SNP are projected to lose about 30 odd seats. And that’s because people like me will not even vote , not switching to Labour. If the GE is not about independence or independence is a dead duck. Why the feck would I vote SNP!
The unionists are not going to run to the SNP. But the yes vote sitting at 50% and SNP sitting at 30%. Tells you that yes voters have simply nowhere to go. So the turnout is going to be down 20% , and that’s down to apathy ,not party switching.
This is why the SNP are finished. They are now fighting over the unionist voters.
On the subject of talent, cannot think of a world «leader» you would wish to invite to lunch.
Such may have always been the case. The brightest, the wisest, the learned, the «sophisticated» seem to stay well away from politics, government, business etc.
They also seem to be getting rare in institutions of higher learning, humanities and sciences too; increasingly the «philanthropic» coin counts for more.
All this going on at a time when «knowledge» has, in practice, never been more accessible to those who would seek it, yet ignorance, stupidity and prejudice grow exponentially.
Truly many construct their our own particular hells into which they generously send out invitations. Hell is actually other people keeping you «safe», so they may mess with your mind and your life….and catch them young.
Never trust anybody over 25?
I rarely get bored – but today…I’m bored.
I followed the link posted by Mac @9:05am and watched the video interview with the American scholar, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs.
It’s an interesting watch that temporarily allayed my boredom, thanks Mac.
Unfortunately for those who read btl on Wings; having now watched the video, and because I’m bored, I’m going to share my thoughts.
The age of empires is coming to an end. And it looks like the short-lived American empire is nearing the end of its brief imperial swagger across planet Earth, too. Although its inevitable demise might take another half century yet.
Changes in the thinking of humanity as a whole occur over a longer timescale than our short individual spans can grasp.
But all the signs are with us now that a major change in the evolution of the human species to a higher plane of thought is beginning to take shape; although it might not seem that way to us who are caught up in the turbulent rapids of those early changes right now.
The end of empires and great social change is invariably accompanied by madness, chaos and confusion, and of course that most evil of evils, stupidity. And that’s what we see around us now .
Humanity is particularly prone to bouts of irrational stupidity. I think of them as the ‘growing pains’ of a continually evolving species as it advances towards a more rational state.
The growing pains will eventually pass. And after much sorrow and blame and recrimination and regret and remorse and hand wringing and wailing, humanity will take another step towards the summit on its climb up the harsh mountain of learning that leads to enlightenment.
There’s no doubt humanity has stumbled a few times on it’s arduous journey and slipped a step or two. A mere several thousand years ago the ‘ancients’ were half a step ahead of where we are now.
But that’s mountain climbing for you. Sometimes you have to take a step back and find a different route to the top.
What the next step, the next age of humankind, after this one will entail is impossible to fathom from our current vantage point. But humanity is still growing and will no doubt suffer more growing pains before it reaches maturity.
Meanwhile, here in Scotland and now, independence will almost certainly assist the Scots in riding the rapids of humanity’s current bout of stupidity.
On governments being detached from working people/ the majority.
I think the situation in Palestine is a perfect example.
The USA, U.K. and the EU happy to assist as Israel kills 10’s of Thousands of innocents.
Destroying their homes, workplaces, hospitals and general infrastructure to a level Palestinians can never afford to rebuild.
I have a very broad circle of contacts and I would have nothing to do with anyone declaring hatred on Jews, but no one of them agrees to the stance of the above and the Israeli government.
I’d give an exception for the Irish Government who have call out these accomplices.
God help us that those in power accept children being murdered every
Dropping the Independence Minister role was a shrewd move. It was practically redundant anyway at this time. and previous incumbent could put you to sleep. Needs a better plan of attack, it/he was not it.