A letter to the members of the SNP
Dear Friends,
Following considerable reflection, I am writing to tell you of a decision I have reached and to set out my reasoning.
My primary focus is and always will be achieving our shared ambition of independence for Scotland.
As you will know this coming election is vital for our nation. Brexit is a reality with all the social and economic harm that we predicted. Unfortunately, worse is to come as desperate trade deals are struck, harming our economy, threatening our NHS and risking all of the progress we have made with devolution.
Austerity is back on the Tories’ agenda as the economic costs of the pandemic are loaded on to the shoulders of those least able to afford it. Finally, the ability to mitigate such hardship and protect our communities is now threatened by Westminster’s attacks on Holyrood’s powers.
The need for independence has never been clearer or greater, and the opportunity to achieve it has never been more favourable. Yet, Scotland is burdened with a rightly loathed Prime Minister leading an incompetent government, riddled with cronyism and accusations of corruption.
The supposedly prestigious benefits of a Global Britain have been exposed as fake as the vow; EU membership has been lost, the strength of sterling has plummeted, and the green economy is stymied by ruthless and inflexible Westminster rules.
It is now clear to increasing numbers of folk that the true risk was always with the Union. Nuclear proliferation as the UK arsenal is increased, low-wage-low-security jobs, all are part of the delusional New Age of Empire.
That’s why not only winning the election, but winning it well is absolutely essential. Boris Johnson must not be able to reject Scotland’s democratic rights, Scottish democracy must prevail. Westminster can be afforded no veto on our ambition.
To pull this off I believe we must not only return David Torrance, Annabelle Ewing and an SNP Government but we must work to deliver a supermajority for independence. This will ensure that Scotland, not London decides.
At the moment our electoral system works against that. The regional list system sees the SNP stack up votes with few list SNP MSPs returned. Almost a million votes were cast for the SNP in 2016 but only four SNP list MSPs were returned, and in only two of the eight regional constituencies. This allowed 24 Tory and 21 Labour unionist politicians to take up the parliamentary seats.
In six regional list areas no SNP MSP was elected. In Mid-Scotland and Fife 120,128 votes were cast for the SNP list, yet this returned not a single MSP and other regional constituencies were even starker. In South of Scotland three SNP list MSPs were successfully elected but, as happened in Mid-Scotland and Fife in 2016, a victory in a constituency will likely see the loss of a list seat and no net gain.
With all of this considered I now believe that supporting an independence list party is an absolutely essential step for the Yes movement to take. Removing unionist list MSPs and replacing them with those committed to Scotland’s independence provides the best chance of delivering a supermajority. This would enable the Holyrood parliament to challenge London’s contemptuous and outrageous dictats.
Currently SNP HQ strategy opposes such a move. I think that’s a mistake and harms our cause. As someone who has demonstrated a dogged determination never to throw in the towel on independence this has understandably perplexed me.
So, it is for all of the reasons set out above, and after considerable thought, I am relinquishing my SNP membership to support, what I hope will be the final push to achieve our nation’s independence.
As of midnight, I joined the newly formed Alba Party with the intention of delivering an independence supermajority. This will be achieved by standing with other candidates on the list vote alone. While some members have contacted me to say they have already joined Alba, they are doing so for their own reasons. This is a personal decision for each of us and all I can do is hope you’ll understand my own reasoning.
My constituency office will continue to operate virtually, and I will work with fellow Alba Party MP Kenny MacAskill and the SNP Group in Westminster to oppose the harm being inflcited on Scotland by the UK Government. I will likewise continue to support David and Annabelle’s successful re-election as constituency MSPs.
Whether in the SNP, Alba Party or Yes movement, independence is our shared goal. I hope you’ll agree that it’s time to speak as one.
Slàinte mhath.
Neale
Mr. Neale Hanvey MP
Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Parliamentary Constituency
Grand! Just grand!
I hope Neale Hanvey doesn’t get abuse from SNP politicians for his honest and forthright letter
Well said Neale, I wish you the best of luck we’re all behind you. Meanwhile Caroline McAllister has joined the ALBA party.
Gaun yersel Neale
Great stuff Neale.
All the best to you and yours Neale!
Very inspirational message, full of hope. Nice to hear some positivity and aspiration for a change. The fact that the SNP refused to publish speaks volumes. I’m seriously struggling with this SNP1 position.
Satrapy within the EU is not independence. More of the same fraudulent tosh…
Hold on folks….Tommy the swinger and his missus have joined Alex…..eh I’m out….freeloaders the lot
Excellent. A politician with integrity and a fighting spirit. Welcome.
Good one Neale.
Hopefully Joanna Cherry’s plan to to hang out and wait to get purged by the zealots – being pushed before she jumps, unlike others who jumped before they were pushed – to prove that the party is in fact controlled by zealots and they will in fact effect a purge.
That will be 2 to 3 days of bad headlines for Sturgeon and good headlines for Alba.
Keep the faith that if we keep the drumbeat of this going until May and it will build enough momentum for some List MSPs.
Well done Neale! A brave, bold and principled move. Best of luck in the election!
A statement of some stature, his points succinct and factual. It really is time for the SNP to catch up with the maturity of the Nation, a place that Alba has already stolen a march on through necessity. It is time to bring the Union to an end and if it is to be done politically then we need wise heads of those in Alba in unison with whatever remains of the SNP to achieve it.
Well done Neale!
It’s a far better thing I do now.
It is a tale of 2 Cities.
Good decision Neale. ALBA now have more MPs than Scottish Labour.
I would love Chris Stephens MP to read this and understand this is why I have decided to no longer vote for the SNP, they are no longer are a party pushing for independence and he has even said to me “We are within reach of becoming independent”, not under Nicola Sturgeon we aren’t.
So bravo to all those SNP MP’s that have decided to join a party that really wants to fulfil their desire of seeing an independent Scotland in their lifetime, it now gives me renewed hope that I might just live long enough to see it happening myself.
If you can, join the Alba party, the more members it has, the more people can push out this message of how the D’Hondt system works as there are still too many thinking SNP 1&2 is the best course of action to take when clearly it’s been proven otherwise with the amount of wasted votes.
Hoping Craig Murray will join if allowed to do so after the judges verdict. For a wee while after Alba was announced I contemplated voting SNP again in the constituency, however the party’s reaction has been awful and petty so they can go jump. Swinney should still beat Murdo where I am anyway.
Thank you Mr Hanvey . I’m sure it’s the right decision .Country first Party second in the mind Party first country second in the vote
The ‘good guy’ register grows apace.
The well over egged smearing will rebound on the bitches.
Joe public isn’t totally daft.
Thank you for writing, very positive letter. Thank you for using this forum and giving us the chance to respond.
Hopefully other politicians will also follow.
I liked that Mr Salmond alternated bloggers with MSM at his press conference. The bloggers gave very interesting and constructive questions, while the representatives of the press unfortunately showed themselves in a bad light.
As I understand, the bloggers did not qualify for the public money spent on the MSM. Perhaps the Alba Party could help the bloggers to grow by releasing statements and giving interviews to new and alternative forums? At the end of the day, we are all one country and one media space, so it seems unfair to overlook a very dynamic and growing area of Scottish news and reporting (the blogosphere).
Excellent honest and sincere appraisal.
A brave move and wish you success.
Great news to have someone of the calibre of Neale Harvey in the Alba party. Given his extensive experience in health care he should have been the clear choice of health secretary in the SNP. Alba is clearly going in the right direction with people like this on their side.
Excellent. Principled, brave and most importantly, for the goal of independence.
One of the great joys of the past couple of days is seeing the strangely supine MSM suddenly shake off it’s slumber and start the usual conveyor belt of patronising colonial bullshit.
Funny how it was all so quiet while Nicola played along…
Satrapy!
Not a fan of Cyrus the Great then?
How very woke…
JOINED . . . Hopefully this is the tipping point . . .
I gave up my support for the SNP years ago. All talk and no action. Scotland is not better off with the SNP in power of Holyrood, in fact we’re worse off.
What the hell do they do with all the cash they have at their disposal? Is it just going in their own bank accounts (legally via very high wages)? We do not see results, not in any area of significance. A few token gestures here and there, that’s it.
They are worse than the Tories down South as they should be for the people of Scotland, working on our behalf, improving every aspect of our lives, especially the economic.
Remember what happened to TIG / Change UK?…
Well said Neale, we are all for Indy and need to focus on achieving it..
the strength of sterling has plummeted
Since the Brexit Ref 2016: Yes
Since the EU ‘deal’ 2020: the opposite
@ Wrinkly Racer 7pm
Welcome aboard!
Do you mind me asking was there a number on your email receipt? Just wondering what the number of members might be up to now?!
I joined within a few hours on Friday and my receipt was number 1224.
Let’s get two things straight. 1 There is no pandemic 2 You voted with the Tories to remove all our Liberties in March 2020. Government over reaction has ruined the economy. Independence is dead as a Dodo.
Someone else trying to convince us that leaving the EU is catastrophic for trade, leaving the UK would be seamless and easy.
When they stop lying to us and treating us like idiots people might start to engage with the debate…
Four things that is
Your move to ALBA is very much appreciated.
Thank you Mr Hanvey
Well said Neale.
There are more big names to come. Clever tactics drip feeding the defections. It keeps ALBA in the news everyday.
This week could be especially interesting!
Well said Mr Hanvey.
Both votes SNP is just plain stupid with a viable alternative Indy list option.
In 2016 953,000 List votes secured 4 SNP MSPs. 956,000 List votes secured 45 Unionist MSPs. In 2021, vote shares of between just 5.4%-6.6% in the 8 regions would secure 8 ALBA MSPs. Imagine what 30, 40, 50% vote share on the List would do. #supermajority
Both votes SNP? Dinny be so daft.
North East List Vote 2016
SNP 44.7% 0 List MSPs
Tory 28% 4 List MSPs
Lab 12.6% 2 List MSPs
LD 6% 1 List MSPs
Anyone promoting both votes SNP is knowingly or otherwise harming the chances of independence.
The way the SNP have reacted to this open goal towards turning up the heat for independence must be perplexing for those who havent been paying attention. It shows them up for what they’ve become. Why the SNP think slinging mud at fellow indy travellers and calling Alba converts all sorts up to and including stupid is so incredibly counter productive, you really have to question their motives.
Why are the SNP piling onto potential indy voters? Can they really not remember what happened to Jim Murphys 41 Scottish Labour MPs less than 6 years ago? Are they really that dumb? Its not the electorate that are stupid. Its not the voters who need to see sense!!!
There needs to be urgent studies done into the mindset we’re seeing. A horrific mixture of idiocy, hubris, self entitlement, self preservation and “dare I say it, ego”.
Theres are major display of projection going on. Eg, accusing people of ‘ego’ while being egotistical. Accusing people of having ‘serious questions to answer’, while not answering serious questions, etc.
For any switherers, ask yourself this;
The SNP Womans Officer Caroline McAllister & SNP Equalities Officer Lynne Anderson have left Nicola Sturgeons SNP to join Alex Salmonds ALBA.
Why?
It’s a pity he and his colleague didn’t make a principled stand earlier. How many more SNP MPs are unhappy with Sturgeon but won’t put their heads above the parapet?
all the best.
“Tired for 40 years says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:01 pm
Remember what happened to TIG / Change UK?…”
I think the key difference here though is that Alba are not standing on an FPTP-only basis. Indeed they are foregoing the FPTP bit to stand only on the list bit.
The threshold for them to make an impact, even a modest one, is therefore much less, and if it involves doing so at the expense of a bunch of SNP list votes that would otherwise be wasted anyway, it seems like a double result.
Kenny @ 6:51 pm
“I liked that Mr Salmond alternated bloggers with MSM at his press conference. The bloggers gave very interesting and constructive questions, while the representatives of the press unfortunately showed themselves in a bad light.”
Although ‘bloggers’ seems a rather derogative term, the bloggers act as the intellectual mouthpiece of Scotland’s independence movement. Scottish Public money would be far better spent on them than thon mankit British msm wha aye dae Scotlan doun. Ending state persecution of bloggers and independence campaigners will be another important outcome of #Supermajority, I hope. Independence is freedom efter aw, in mair weys nor ane.
Boris British politics serial adulterer and sex pest found out yet again.
link to google.co.uk
Tory graph says Sturgeon savages Salmond. You know there is something reekin in the SNP if theTorygrph are being nice to Sturgeon.
For the first time in my life I’m really.really sorry to not
have been an SNP member! Also very jealous of Neale Hanvey.
you have no idea of the pleasure it would have given me to tell the party to stick it.
“This will ensure that Scotland, not London decides”
But it won’t.
Andy Ellis says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:03 pm
@ Wrinkly Racer 7pm
Welcome aboard!
Do you mind me asking was there a number on your email receipt? Just wondering what the number of members might be up to now?!
I joined within a few hours on Friday and my receipt was number 1224.
—————
The thing is the receipt number # xxxx is not the same as your referral number(in your dashboard) which i assume is or will be your membership number.
The receipt number will i’m sure refer to monies (in) donations, monthly subs, one of payments which must be recorded separately.
That’s the way i see it anyhow and mentioned on Friday but no one replied.
Anyhow it needs clarified by Alba .
Welcome to the party sir!!
Time to roll up the sleeves
Well done Neale! Much respect sir!
This is great, but caw canny…
Defections to ALBA are great, but even with a favourable breeze, there can only be a limited number of ALBA candidates. I would encourage those SNP MP’s and MSP’s to sit tight if they can, get re-elected to Holyrood, and then defect to ALBA, and then there can be a powerful shift in the balance of power at Holyrood after the May election.
Sit tight. Keep the SNP viable for the election, because a supermajority needs SNP Constituency Seats and ALBA List seats.
If the SNP collapses in disarray, then we all lose out.
Get the supermajority in the bag first, then we can structure or restructure Holyrood to our choosing.
Folks need to get up to speed with the change which has happened. The middle of last week I was resigned to not voting, but everything changed, and now it is IMPERATIVE that the SNP dominates in the Constituency Seats, and the ALBA dominates the List Seats.
An SNP Party disintegrating due to it’s mid-life crisis was unelectable, but an ALBA party in Holyrood means the SNP can be challenged and held to account by another pro-Independence party, and furthermore, SNP MSP’s who might be disillusioned with the SNP can defect after the Election thus empowering ALBA to have greater influence.
It’s hard to overstate how much the landscape has changed, but changed it has.
SNP 1 ALBA 2 is the best formula we can try to deliver, but it’s important for SNP defectors, please, stay put to get yourselves back into Holyrood as SNP MSP’s and see where we stand with regards to a supermajority. That is when you will have the power to influence the SNP, or defect to ALBA if the SNP is still plagued by madness.
Think of it this way, a “good” SNP candidate defecting before the election risks having their vacant SNP candidacy post filled by a Sturgeon Wokist. Stay put, get that Constituency Seat won by a good guy (or gal), keep the Wokists out, and we can do the ALBA thing later…
NOW is the time to get smart.
@ Solarflare: added to which what were TIG and Change about? Whereas Alba is a Yes party – we haven’t had one and the wide Yes movement have only had SNP to vote for.
If Yessers are all like me, they will be going round whistling and laughing out loud, feeling on top of the world, with the spirit of 2014 filling their hearts, because now we have hope.
No-one in Holyrood or Westminster nor SNP HQ was busting a gut to get independence – apart from isolated souls such as Angus Brendan MacNeil, Chris McEleny, Joanna Cherry and Kenny MacAskill, who were all ostracised, and worse, for having done so.
Now we have Alba whose aim is independence – Alex has seen what we have seen for years – that the SNP under Sturgeon was ignoring open goals [2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020] and erecting barriers [gold standard, wildcat, after Brexit, after covid] to prevent we voters having our say – and is giving the Yes movement its political vehicle.
Another plus point is that having two independence parties will force the BBC and others to have two indy voices on their panels!
Exactly. It is about Scotland’s independence, not about any specific party. Maxxing the pro indy vote via the list and the ALBA party makes oodles of sense.
Despite my serious issues with the SNP leadership, I will vote SNP on the first vote and ALBA on the second. It is that simple. Nicola and Alex could rip each others heads off if they like, but I care not. It is independence I care about.
Independence, independence, independence. NOTHING else matters.
While I admire Alex Salmond I am not
Sure if this party offers anything to someone who wants an independent Scotland but not in the EU. I feel the EU have shown themselves to be incompetent and I don’t want to be linked to them. There should be a referendum again in Scotland to ask if the people want to rejoin the EU.
@ Pixywine at 7.03pm:
“Let’s get two things straight. 1 There is no pandemic 2 You voted with the Tories to remove all our Liberties in March 2020. Government over reaction has ruined the economy. Independence is dead as a Dodo.”
Has your account been hacked, or do you seriously believe every government in the world has decided to invent the same lie about Covid and deliberately wreck their national economies? And what has Covid got to do with Mr Hanvey’s post anyway?
Well that’s it, bye bye. No more visits to this site. Your perceptions about the impact of leaving the eurocracy are utter tripe .. vaccines anyone. Clearly your idea of independence is to be dependent on an entity that has proven to be there only to support its unelected hierarchy. I had respect for your analysis and judgement on the Sturgeon Salmond affair. I now realise you are unable to look more deeply into the real world.
How is the EU vaccine roll out coming along?
Well done Neale more to follow hopefully.
Just read the bit in the National about Alex saying the only person to lead the SNP is Nicola Sturgeon , ha ha
He’s playing a blinder the more he praises her the more confused she gets Ha Ha , make sure you get out and vote SNP , the best leader is Nicola Sturgeon, Ha Ha
The dummy doesn’t know what way to turn , she snipes at him questioning his ability and morality and she gets her gang to pile in , and Alex replies vote SNP and Nicola is the best leader .
More not said here and than said. Neale did not leave the SNP to max the independence vote did he? You don’t leave a party after all these years for that. He left for reasons not discussed at all. For that reason I find this letter somewhat lacking in candour.
Breeks
Yup. Would agree with that. Know when hold them and know when(SNP) to fold them .
Well done Neale, a man with with integrity and principals.
Southernbystander says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:46 pm
More not said here and than said. Neale did not leave the SNP to max the independence vote did he? You don’t leave a party after all these years for that. He left for reasons not discussed at all. For that reason I find this letter somewhat lacking in candour.
—————
A smear incoming by any chance there mr Southernbystander? Please, you people.
You really know that Alex Salmond and the ALBA party is on to something, when the unionists in London are running around feart for their cursed ‘union’. Good.
@Alain Mack I’m voting for independence, not personalities.
I don’t give a shit if the candidate is a little green transgender self-ID octopus, so long as I believe they genuinely will push for independence.
robbo no, not tall a smear. I just wanted him to be upfront about why he left. I suspect I would be totally with him on the reasons. What he wrote was spin really.
Breeks,
I think you are right. Their is great merit in some sitting tight with the SNP, then defecting later.
At last however, we can focus on independence. At last we have a political party that actually genuinely wants it.
Things are really on the up. SNP1, ALBA 2.
I remember meeting Alex Salmond, and I asked him to sign my copy of his book. He asked me what I wanted written in it, and I wasn’t sure, so he said, ‘let’s just do this, and wrote ‘Hail Alba’, and signed his name.
Mibbes a taste of things to come. Just so folks know, the REV has a filter to prevent the words s.a.0.r and ALBA being used together, so the text above might very well say ‘hail ALBA instead’. Daft, I know.
‘The Balmoral Hotel’.
You can check-out any time you like but you can never leave.
Errr… can someone help with this? A few details?
Breeks @ 7.41
OH has just read your post and pointed out that NS could well get the SNP candidates to sign something pre-election to the effect that if elected they swear not to cross the floor to Alba…….. In blood probably.
It was always Alex that was the danger to the Union. It is evident in spades today. Alex Massie has demonstrated that best with his hysterical ravings.
I wonder if Alex will be invited onto Andrew Neil’s show when it launches before NS? She is famously rattled by him as he shows up her poor grasp of detail. Not that he will be any kinder to AS but AS has faced worse.
No one fears NS except those who want to get on in the SNP.
Well done Neale
Well done to Neale but Scottish membership of the EU is NOT Independence, only subservience to an even bigger rogue!
Look at the mess Brusels is making with CV jabs. Awful.
Robbo,
I do think you may be wasting your time with southern boy. I wouldn’t worry though, online, folk have been at it all day, trying to incite division, or re-ignite the anger at the SNP.
I no longer care. I am focused on independence, and first vote SNP and second vote ALBA, is the best way I can see to get it.
I think over the next few weeks their will be many attempts online to stoke divisions, and raise ‘concerns’. To me, they are best ignored. Probably students getting paid by the word.
Haha,
With reference to my last comment,just look above. See what I mean. They must think our heads zip up the back.
Ooft,
All that rubbish about the EU is off putting. The EU is not immune from the effects of global labour arbritage and precarious employment. There are plenty of non jobs in the eurozone and globally.
If you are going to treat potential voters like insular children you are doomed to failuRe.
The uk does not have many green jobs as other countries are more competitive in that sector
“sarah says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:41 pm
@ Solarflare: added to which what were TIG and Change about? Whereas Alba is a Yes party – we haven’t had one and the wide Yes movement have only had SNP to vote for.”
Sarah – totally agree. I’ve been of the opinion for a while, as many people have, that at the very least the SNP need to be reminded that they have no god-given indefinite monopoly over the Yes vote, particularly if they are not seen to be progressing Yes appropriately.
Broadening the range of parties in Holyrood that are pro-indy will only be beneficial and reducing the concentration risk of putting everything on the SNP – particularly given they have been questionable at best recently (and more like outright infuriating) are additional useful benefits, even without consideration of the supermajority aspect.
Robert Louis – very funny dear ‘boy’ – reignite anger at the SNP?? This site has done very little else for two years!
All I want to know is why he left because the reasons are clearly important to many and certainly to me who has watched the SNP domestic policy agenda with dismay
But I can see this is the Alba line being taken – don’t say why, don’t stand against SNP policies. I find that disappointing. Surely they will have to have a coherent policy platform otherwise comparisons with the Brexit Party will start to look justified.
And btw if your reaction to anyone from down south is to dismiss then as some kind of troll, more fool you.
Boudicca says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:59 pm
Breeks @ 7.41
OH has just read your post and pointed out that NS could well get the SNP candidates to sign something pre-election to the effect that if elected they swear not to cross the floor to Alba…….. In blood probably
And who, with any grasp of Scottish history, would sign Sturgeon’s 2021 Ragman Rolls?
Hold it hold it we can’t have too many defections , we need to keep just enough so as not to damage the chances of the new party ,
So try and keep it orderly folks.
By the time Alex has finished Princess Nicola will be necking back the Booze and the Valium she will be so confused by the praise from Alex while she’s busy calling him all the fkrs under the Sun he’s saying vote SNP you know it makes sense, and Nicola is a Princess .
For me to vote for the SNP is genuinely a difficult dilemma. Do I personally count anywhere in this? Or, is it just my vote that counts for the greater good? This jury is still out, but is nevertheless open to persuasion.
In the last few years, the SNP have become everything I despise and still do. Their entitled arrogance by itself is enough for me. It’ll save me giving a list.
But probably what it comes down to for them is (to paraphrase Kinnock) – lots and lots and lotsa luvvly luvvly powah! and my dilemma is do I really want to give them, in my own very small way, more? Whereas, I really should be extremely angry at their abuse of many others over the years (of whom Neale was one).
Yeah sure, that’s a dilemma and i will not be alone in this.
-Tired for 40 years-
This isn’t our Change UK, this is our UKIP, frankly. With a charismatic leader and a simple message they hammered and won.
90%> of Scots don`t really know how the Holyrood voting system works,
(ask a mate or family outside political bubble)
and 90%> would glaze over if you told them,
i really wonder if the political bubble realise this.
With regard to the vaccine in Europe.
The EU members were all free to go and try and get their own deals if they liked.
Boris was free to stump up fortunes to pay for massive amounts of vaccine, should each
company they dealt with come up with a vaccine.
You see Boris can give money away in billions to all quarters,
especially to Tory sponsors, but EU countries are accountable for
where the money went.
Germany doesn’t have vaccines at the level of the U.K. but even with 15 million
more of a population, Germany had 38 Covid deaths today and the U.K. 19.
It’s known the U.K. figures are reported short every weekend so what difference has the U.K. vaccine actually made.
Germany has had 50,000 fewer Covid deaths than the U.K.
is that a sign of Bojo’s U.K. success?
ALEX SALMOND PARTY A DANGER TO THE UNION link to tinyurl.com
For SNP haters – remember for Alba wo win list seats, the SNP has to win constituency seats first. Its maths
Anyone challenging this fact is probably living in Thatcam and trying to stir things up
SNP – Constituencies
ALBA – the List
Given just how cosy NS has become.w with the brit establishment, I’m reckoning they have alot of dirt on her!!
see just how corrupt the Westminster establishment is? That’s what sturgeon is copying!
The balmoral hotel incident?
What went on there?
I used to drink there, long ago!
I bet sturgeon is sweating about the number of defections after the 6th of May. Good. Richly deserved.
She should have listened.
If she had said after independence her party would pursue genderwoowoo and the stasi hate crime bill – I would have kept schtuum and worked and donated for independence. And once that was achieved I would have quietly left the party and opposed them tooth and nail.
I am now a member of Alba and much happier in myself about moving Scotland forward. I will even vote SNP in the constituency – which I was considering not doing. Now I am seeing a big picture and a way forward to independence.
Police Scotland and mike russell : where is the missing £600,000 ? mike – I’ve left your party and it’s partly your fault.
AS strategy has everyone in an absolute tail spin with SNP 1 ALBA 2.
The SNP cant oppose it because it makes them look like they don’t want more Indy MSPs in SG.
The Unionists are crying foul about democracy in process (and looking stupid), but some in the MSM are starting to scratch their heads.
The unionist parties in Scotland are talking about joining up, turning it into an Indy debate, which helps us.
People are paying more attention to the d’hondt system, meaning they will work out quite quickly that SNP 2 is pointless (even some people on WGD are coming to their senses)
The Independence movement is coming together and finding its voice.
Talk of BANNING Alba – now with 2 Westminster MPs, will backfire. Even England will not look kindly on that.
Stand Together SNP 1 ALBA 2
Scot @ 8.21.
You’re right. I found this video which helps explain it in a very non threatening style with dogs, cats an rabbits. If it was slightly shorter it would be even better. link to m.youtube.com
@ahundredthidiot 8.29pm
you are aptly named – it is NOT a local election – therefore
SNP- constituency
ALBA – list
if political anoraks cannot get it right, what hope does the James and Janet?
Indy4indy cabalga de nuevo. La puta madre de las ostias!!
Great decision Neale. Been getting volunteers contacting me all day.
4 candidates over 9 constituencies? No bother.
It’s the Langtoun team we’re talking about here. Like minded hearts n souls will do the businessman for all 4 of you candidates across the region of Mid Scotland & Fife .
Speak soon neebs.
Well done Neale.
I can’t think of any other politician who has had the same journey as you in the last couple of years – SNP to Independent to SNP to Alba
Hopefully you’ll have found a home for long enough to take off your jacket !
Good luck.
Cadogan , I notice there is no invitation to comment – indeed in none of the attacks on Mr Salmond.
I like the Guardian cartoonists – they seem the most in tune with my thinking.
Cadogen
You are a pedant.
Take a day off.
‘The unionist parties in Scotland are talking about joining up, turning it into an Indy debate, which helps us.’
What ? That would be crazy. That would turn it into a plebiscite, a gift for Independence and for Alba and what some SNP MP’s have been calling for. Essentially any Indy majority at Holyrood and we’re off – no referendum required.
TNS @2019
No details there is an injunction on printing any details. It is something that involved NS but no idea what.
Kudos NH. Two Indy parties – and I mean TWO!!! – with the aim of us becoming our own infighting rabble is a damn sight better than dealing with Westminster. There is light again in the last few dark hours.
Cadogen
this is just for you, Stupid
link to barrheadboy.com
A well reasoned letter Neil. I can’t help but feel that you won’t be the last MP to join.
tartanfever
I should add that Sarwar is saying it wont happen, but the chats out now (from the Tories) and Sarwar will dance to a London tune…..when they’ve made their minds up about what he should do/say!
How soon do you think Alex will be invited onto Question Time?
– that unbiased political programme on the ‘British Biased Broadcasting company that has to programme more right wing stuff’.
I bet Nick-he-didn’t-answer-my-question-Robinson can’t wait to have another ‘go’ at questioning AS…
On May 6th you will be given two ballot papers.
One of them will have ‘ALBA’ on it – put a cross in that box.
The other, will have the name of your SNP candidate, clearly marked ‘SNP’ – put a cross in that box
Pretty sure ‘Janet and James’ will understand that.
For anyone not named Janet or James,
Stand Together SNP 1 ALBA 2
(Bravo Neale, Bravo)
Thank you Neale – “We speak as one”
O/T
Update from Martin Keatings
“Dear Backers,
It’s been one hell of a week in Scottish Politics and also one hell of a week for the case.
The appeal hearing is on the 6th as you all know and all paperwork is now complete.
However, the monumental political shifts this week have had an effect on the case and I must now detail for you why.
As you are aware, the UK Government has advanced no argument against our position that it is legal for the Scottish Parliament to legislate for indyref 2. They have only put forward arguments why we mere plebians cannot ask reasonable legal questions about our own parliament and our own constitution.
We’ve steadfastly argued and indeed will continue to argue that you and I have the right to ask such questions.
We’ve faced resistance from the UK Government, to be expected, but obviously, we’re all a bit flabbergasted that we’d face resistance from the Scottish Government, especially considering winning this case proves their own bill to be legally competent, as well as the Scottish Parliaments right to hold indyref 2 without consent. It’s a real shame, and I think a betrayal of each and every one of you that they didn’t stand with us.
On the other side of the coin, if we cannot overcome the issue of standing (and I stress I am still hopeful of us being able to do that) which I have to state is just disgusting in general, that 10,000 people cannot ask a reasonable question, our appeal to the UK supreme court may have issues.
You all know that I was planning to stand for Holyrood for a large number of reasons, and nobody can reasonably say that it would not have been beneficial to this case, because the court has continually asserted that parliamentarians do have standing. It would also have had a positive effect with regards to the protected expenses order.
With AFI standing down to clear the way for ALBA, it was hoped that some of the candidates may have been adopted, but I have had it confirmed to me that’s likely not going to be the case. No candidacy means no election, no election to Holyrood means no backup plan.
This is not a question of continuing to fight on, I will do that to my last breath by any means necessary. It’s just that recent events overtaking us politically make this a much harder fight.
I should also say on the record at this point that should it fail, with no protected expenses order and the crowdfunder money going to pay our legal counsel. The UK Government and the Scottish Government will, as the named pursuer, come after me with everything they have. Which is going to likely result in my bankruptcy. I’m not saying that to illicit sympathy, nor to make trouble, just relaying the facts here. I assume responsibility when I launched this action. You have a right to know.
I only kept this last part from you until now because the EC registration deadline is tonight and I didn’t want to cause a ruckus.
That being said, my fingers are still crossed for next week and I shall update you when I know more.
Martin”
@Tired for 40 years says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:01 pm
Remember what happened to TIG?
Are you still it/het?
Marry Curran says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:03 pm
Someone else trying to convince us that leaving the EU is catastrophic for trade, leaving the UK would be seamless and easy.
The truth is, neither is the case.
Brexit hasn’t been the disaster predicted (the massive job losses, punishment budgets, medicine shortages, and food riots never happened) so in lieu of serious problems we’re now being told scary stories about the Lovecraftian horrors of… exporting scallops during a pandemic. Yeah.
Leaving the UK doesn’t have to be difficult, as long as we don’t have complete idiots negotiating on our behalf (which rules out every SNP minister unless they’re there to serve coffee and biscuits).
We’ve got a lot of interests in common with England, which is always a good start for finding agreement. Neither side is likely to want any serious barriers to trade.
There’ll be a bit of haggling over the national debt and Faslane, but a deal is eminently doable, and probably with a lot less drama than Boris’s Brexit deal (which suffered from the classic principal-agent problem, the EU’s institutional interests weren’t and aren’t the same as the Member States)
How many MSPs might ALBA get elected in May?
Thanks to NOT standing in constituencies, in each region ALBA will get one MSP elected for each 7% of the list vote. 14% will yield two MSPs from the ALBA list!
That’s a pretty good target to aim for, regardless of how the SNP does in constituencies!
“neither is the case” = neither is a disaster, I mean
Martin I’m up for a donation to the final expenses – but I can’t imagine that they will be lenient!
Good Luck and thankyou.
‘Brexit hasn’t been the disaster predicted (the massive job losses, punishment budgets, medicine shortages, and food riots never happened) ‘
-Remember, customs checks on EU imports hasn’t started yet.
Some aspects are due to start on 1st April (if memory serves me well) but many will not start until July 1st. This is because the necessary 50,000 new customs officials have not been recruited or trained.
The predictions of food shortages etc are very much still there.
WGW
Prof Curtice thinks that ALBA could get 12 seats!
WGW says:
‘How many MSPs might ALBA get elected in May?’
Luckily Stu has done a previous post last July on the matter, you can read it here:
link to wingsoverscotland.com
The short version is maybe/potentially/hypothetically 28 !
@Grey Gull,
good guide to the voting system, it made sense to me,
have you tried showing it to someone outwith the political bubble to see if it sinks in.
Meg merrilees
Yes, that’s right. Between one and two per region (eight regions). An average of two per region yields 16 Scotland-wide. Great!
I have spent a lot of time in Ireland (my wife is Irish). We watched in disbelief when, after hundreds of years of English oppression, Ireland betrayed its people by making them give their freedom away to become part of the European Union, and replaced one yoke for another.
For Scotland to become free of England only to give that freedom away to be ruled by people like Macron and others in a United States of Europe needs careful thought before being pursued.
Parliamentary floor crossing! Support for absorption into a pan-European superstate! Dear old Sir Oswald would be delighted. Mazel tov!
Who’d like to take a punt on the chances that the SNP campaign will be picture after picture of Sturgeon under the slogan “I’m With Nicola”?
WTF with the gammon/leaver/little England/Europe is run by evil Soros lizard people posters today? Is this a new “cunning plan”?
@John McNab, your brother Andy as asking after you.
Robert McDonald says on 28 March, 2021 at 7:45 pm
“…I had respect for your analysis and judgement on the Sturgeon Salmond affair. I now realise you are unable to look more deeply into the real world.”
I take it from those lines you think Stuart Campbell wrote that article/letter at the top of this thread? You’ve a cheek to accuse anyone of not being able to see things. May i suggest YOU “look more deeply” into who is actually responsible for writing it. Here’s a clue, he’s in the picture provided. Cheerybye!
Robert McDonald says on 28 March, 2021 at 7:45 pm
“…I had respect for your analysis and judgement on the Sturgeon Salmond affair. I now realise you are unable to look more deeply into the real world.”
I take it from those lines you think Stuart Campbell wrote that article/letter at the top of this thread? You’ve a cheek to accuse anyone of not being able to see things. May i suggest YOU “look more deeply” into who is actually responsible for writing it. Here’s a clue, he’s in the picture provided. WOS will survive without you. Cheerybye!
Someone above commented on food shortages.
Down here in Wessex I notice in my supermarket that fresh produce, like lettuces, seems wilted, like it’s been delayed in trucks waiting clearance. It’s a little better lately. And there seems to be less than the usual choice of veg. I think there is more flown in from Africa.
Well done Martin. I will help as much as able.
Thank you for alm your work for Scotland
All ra best Neale
Garrion says on 28 March, 2021 at 9:48 pm
“WTF with the gammon/leaver/little England/Europe is run by evil Soros lizard people posters today? Is this a new “cunning plan”?”
Daily Mail & Daily Express churnalists. 😉 LOL!
From previous thread, excellent idea:-
Andy says:
28 March, 2021 at 5:26 pm
Brilliant observation up thread, that some SNP MSPs maybe holding back jumping ship to ALBA until AFTER they win their seat under an SNP banner.
A bit sneaky, but perfectly legal.
SOG, that was me on food shortages.
Obviously in summer when the full customs checks kick in, we will be relying on our own summer produce – so fresh veg and fruit should be available. (if there are workers to pick them)
Here near Edinburgh I haven’t noticed a huge drop in the availability of fresh food, just the occasional item.
SOG
Does that stand for “South of Gretna” ?
O/T
Watching Line of Duty tonight – if only AC12 had been questioning NS at the inquiry.
“Obviously in summer when the full customs checks kick in, we will be relying on our own summer produce – so fresh veg and fruit should be available. (if there are workers to pick them)”
That’s the elephant in the room; Its either second jobs for them that are able for it, or use our native long term unemployed.
A Person. 9.43
“Who’d like to take a punt on the chances that the SNP campaign will be picture after picture of Sturgeon under the slogan “I’m With Nicola”?
Treeza May tried that trick against Corbyn.
The one man show didn’t work for her.
Tired for 40 years says:
28 March, 2021 at 7:01 pm
Remember what happened to TIG / Change UK?…
Well both were career vehicles for egomaniacs who left their parties because they were disenchanted with internal democracy and the democratic vote of the English for Brexit. One thing I hope ALBA doesn’t ignore is the 38% of Scots who voted for Brexit. Listening to their concerns would be novel.
Scot@9.32
Posted it on my Facebook page and have had a couple of folk saying it helped them understand but, my Facebook pals are a very broad church. Folk who are politically minded, folk who are yessers, folk who certainly aren’t yessers but still friends, some who can’t see past Nicola and think Alex is Satan. I tend not to get involved too much in politics on Facebook but everyone would know I’m for an independent Scotland. I think the video is quite good in a non “in your face” sort of way of explaining the voting system using cuddly animals. It could be doing with being a bit shorter for folk’s attention spans.
erganser says:
28 March, 2021 at 9:41 pm
I have spent a lot of time in Ireland (my wife is Irish). We watched in disbelief when, after hundreds of years of English oppression, Ireland betrayed its people by making them give their freedom away to become part of the European Union, and replaced one yoke for another.“
– as a Irish person I never considered joining the Eu as giving away our freedom, without the EU Ireland would still have been heavily dependent on U.K. trade , if the U.K. economy suffered so would of Irl .being so closely tied to one country means it takes a little bit away from your independence .
I always considered joining the EU actually enhanced our independence in trade terms and politically.
The Brexiteers did not realise with international trade you give away some of your independence.
All EU countries share sovereignty over some issues for everyone’s benefit.
Ireland May loose some sovereignty but so do the likes of France,Germany etc..
The words of John Hume stick with me” you can’t eat a flag”
I wonder if the clever man that is Alex Salmond has done something smarter than we appreciate?
You can already see DRoss realising that Unionist parties are knackered and wanting the yellow and red tories to unite in a pro-union approach but Sarwar and Rennie haven’t got on board with his plans yet. So why haven’t they?
If the blue, red and yellow tories unite to form a union list and constituency party to fight against a pro-indy list and constituency party at the next scottish parliamentary election then surely that is a defacto referendum on Independence? Have Sarwar and Rennie realised that creating a pro-union party legitimises plan B and they don’t want to take that risk?
Surely 5 years of virtually no Unionists in the Scottish Parliament and every FMQ’s dominated by what progress has been made on Indepdendence will force the Unionists to unite for 2025? Has Salmond just engineered plan B in 2025 by stealth?
tartanfever – there’s not going to be any food shortages.
There’ll probably be some minor teething issues with people familiarising themselves with the new systems, but nothing insurmountable. The UK already does more trade with the US than any EU country, without a trade deal or customs drama.
Pretty much everything we were warned about in the Brexit referendum campaign was a replay of Project Fear (I’m slightly amazed that more Scots don’t recognise the exact same bullshit when it’s served up on a different plate).
Some of the benefits of leaving the EU were already evident early last year, before the government decided to shut down the economy and screw us all. Wage rises and more investment in training as employers – to their chagrin – found themselves less able to recruit imported labour. Hence the furious opposition of the CBI and FTSE 100 to Brexit (I work for a UK multinational whose obscenely wealthy board of multimillionaire directors took a wee break from chipping away at our pension rights to passive aggressively threaten us we’d better vote Remain, lol).
Same with leaving the UK, except it’ll be easier:
* We’ll be negotiating with the RUK Government, not a committee representing dozens of countries
* The perverse incentives that made Brexit negotiations so difficult don’t apply. The RUK faces direct democratic consequences if they fail to swiftly agree a trade deal with Scotland, there’s too much English money invested here to drag this out with years of uncertainty
* We’ve got nothing to fear from straightforward free trade with England, and vice versa. No need for political stuff to be loaded on top.
* Faslane is a great big bargaining chip. It’s *very* important to the British state, and can’t be easily relocated. CND folks won’t like this, but I expect we’ll agree to a RUK naval base remaining in Scotland, in exchange for things we want
Yes, merganser @ 9.41pm, but without independence first the question is irrelevant.
Scotland can never make its own choices on any issue if it’s not independent.
Every decision on any issue is, without independence, someone else’s to make!!
” laukat says:
28 March, 2021 at 10:12 pm
I wonder if the clever man that is Alex Salmond has done something smarter than we appreciate?
You can already see DRoss realising that Unionist parties are knackered and wanting the yellow and red tories to unite in a pro-union approach but Sarwar and Rennie haven’t got on board with his plans yet. So why haven’t they?
If the blue, red and yellow tories unite to form a union list and constituency party to fight against a pro-indy list and constituency party at the next scottish parliamentary election then surely that is a defacto referendum on Independence? Have Sarwar and Rennie realised that creating a pro-union party legitimises plan B and they don’t want to take that risk?
Surely 5 years of virtually no Unionists in the Scottish Parliament and every FMQ’s dominated by what progress has been made on Indepdendence will force the Unionists to unite for 2025? Has Salmond just engineered plan B in 2025 by stealth?”
===============================================================================================================
Firstly dont count any chickens just yet and secondly – Getting into bed with the Tories is electoral suicide. The Fib Dooms haven’t recovered yet if they ever will. Those who sleep with the Tories get a nasty case of untreatable electoral VD. I hope that the Fib Dooms and Labour in Scotland will bend over and spread them and make whores of themselves with the Tories but not even they are that stupid or immoral, are they?
@Fergus – that was my take, if you were canny you’d both wait to see how Alba do on the List (is John Curtice really saying 12 seats? That’s huge if so) AND time your defection to cause maximum pain for NS if you were so minded.
So what is this Balmoral Hotel story that keeps popping up. What is supposed to have happened. What is it about.
And what’s the other story that’s supposed to involve a house in Helensburgh. Anyone any clues.
A very measured statement from Neale Hanvey. Excellent. And no dissing of the SNP – he still wants you to vote for them on the constituency ballot. Take heed of him and Alex Salmond; we’ve got what we want so there’s no need to vilify the SNP and its leadership any longer. Leave that to the real enemy – the Unionists. They love it when we fight each other. Even if the SNP attack Alba, let’s rise above that and concentrate on getting as many list MSPs as possible by doing it Alex’s way – a positive, focused case.
Stu, Rosa Zambonini’s tweet asking if the departure of Lynne Anderson and Neale Hanvey means they will be leaving their positions on the NEC really deserves a blog post of its own!
-Andy at10.06-
Exactly.
limey. 10.22pm
Yes, the jumping ship tactic is a beauty.
Sturgeon won’t know how many of her flock will be staying on in the SNP.
Then, as you say, the moves to ALBA could be timed to create maximum publicity.
Ingenious!!!
@ Willie at 10:23 pm
I was told it was alleged that Sturgeon had a mad hissy fit because someone was there.
I can’t say if it is true, because I’ve not seen it, It’s probably made up.
It is supposed to be on Twitter
This new party was sounding pretty good until they let idiots like the author of this piece and Tommy Sheridan join.
People need to be inspired by vision of the future, not served up the reheated tripe of the past.
It’s starting to resemble Farage’s Brexit Party weirdo parade.
Willie…
Details are sketchy but it’s safe to assume with some credibility that sturgeon has been compromised, bought and owned by the brit establishment.
Do the murrels look to you like they are a perfect match?
Richard – I always considered joining the EU actually enhanced our independence in trade terms and politically.
This is why your country got screwed in 2010, and will get screwed again the next time the Euro faces trouble. Which will probably be this decade.
There’s actually no difference between the corrupt woke regime Nicola Sturgeon heads up, and its counterpart in Dublin. Neither of them particularly care about their own people, who they regard as a backwards embarrassment.
There’s a huge, massive, ginormous difference between buying and selling with foreign countries, and joining a globalist governance pyramid scheme as a very junior partner. It’s like the difference between owning your own house and giving up your property to join a sex cult run by a disgraced Blue Peter presenter. Here’s one they made earlier, but you’re not going to like it.
Michael Collins did nothing wrong, but Ireland is now run by cowardly soup-takers. I hope this doesn’t sound rude. I’m saying it because the Irish are a great bunch of lads, and they can do much better than slumming it in the EU and pimping themselves out to the likes of Apple. I pray they will.
@ Lothianlad at 10:49 pm
“Do the Murrels look to you like they are a perfect match?”
No, more like Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison
As the trickle of MSP and MP,s using the scramble nets that Alex has placed over the side of the good ship Alba becomes a deluge of those trying to jump the ice berg holed SNP inflatable does the maths change the Alba policy SNP con Alba list .
Also are the scramble nets manned with some sturdy sailors armed with cutlass to repel the repellent from latching on
Ireland are an independent country and that’s what counts the most.
@Graeme,
Sheridan and wife joined as MEMBERS. Slightly different from being candidates don’t you think?
Andy Ellis 7.03 – My sister joined this afternoon and her receipt number was 3000 plus – cant remember the exact plus sorry.
Seems someone is taking to himself . I wonder which?
SNP loses both women’s convener and equalities convener (both women) to ALBA. Says it all really…..
Re the great laptop giveaway pledge, I see Sturgeon says on her twitter that in the digital age the issuing of laptops, chromebooks etc should be as automatic as “being given jotters” once was.
Being given jotters. Wonder why that particular phrase came to mind for her.
@Bob Mack
Given their history can you refrain from using the word “members” when discussing the Sheridans? Thanks.
TS is toxic to many people that need to be helped from No to Yes for indyref2. He ruins Alba by being associated with it. Plus membership will inevitably be the first step to getting on the list somewhere.
Well done Neale – good move!
However I believe there’s a typo in your 4th paragraph:
‘Yet, Scotland is burdened with a rightly loathed Prime Minister leading an incompetent government, riddled with cronyism and accusations of corruption.’
Should read (my caps):
‘Yet, Scotland is burdened with a rightly loathed FIRST Minister leading an incompetent government, riddled with cronyism and accusations of corruption.’
Scott at 8.21pm
Sorry to be ignorant Scott but for an auld guy coming late to all this. Can you explain how the list vote works. I know the 1st vote is FPTP. However if an individual voted snp1 and 2 and the snp get in the constituency what happens to all the snp2 votes in that region…BTW I’m voting Alba but as you said I’m not all that savy in how the list vote is distributed to other parties?
If the besuited laddie pictured next to England’s parliament will declare #Supermajority Scotland independent, then he deserves to be voted in.
@ Graeme: I thought I read that Tommy Sheridan is standing as an Independent in the Glasgow Southside constituency?
Whenever I have heard him speak I have liked both the content and the intensity. Reminds me of Margo MacDonald.
Martin, good luck. Will await your crowdfunder if you need it, happy to support you in any way.
My daughter has just pointed out it is 10 years to the day when Alex Salmond and Maureen Watt stood on the doorstep canvassing for votes. Somethings never change, the media then was attacking Alex as they are now, the EU was a problem for some then as it will be again in the near future no doubt, we now have the additional problem that the SNP and Greens are also attacking the Alba party as they see their places on the gravy train as under threat.
My daughter was aghast when I reminded Alex that politicians worked for us and that they should remember that regardless of whether they were in London or Edinburgh, sooner or later the public were going to get seriously hacked off when they were treated like fools something that Sturgeon, Blackford, Swinney and Yousaf might just be about to find out. Those in the SNP should be telling Sturgeon to STFU about Alex and concentrate on tearing into Labour, the lib Dems and the Tories. Hopefully the Greens will be wiped out as many will not forget the poison dwarf Harvie supporting Swinney in the VONC.
link to caltonjock.com
Scottish Law was further advanced in 1999 when the “Crown Office of Scotland” which had been independent from political interference for near 500 years was transferred lock, stock, and barrel to the control of the then Unionist supporting Scottish government. From that time the Scottish Judiciary has been subject to continuous pressure to remove from statute, trial by jury, not proven and other laws.
Graeme – Gie’s peace.
I probably don’t agree with Tommy on much apart from independence, but he’s one of the good guys. And I don’t give a shit about reheated tabloid allegations from years ago.
Let the deadwood parties have their purity spirals and Mean Girls bitching about who’s worthy of sitting at the table. Anybody who isn’t an entryist out to subvert the goal of freedom for Scotland should be welcome.
Independence is for all Scots.
Meg merrilees says:
28 March, 2021 at 8:45 pm
TNS @2019
No details there is an injunction on printing any details. It is something that involved NS but no idea what.
Reply
Meg. I believe the injunction involves a secret tryst in a flat in Helensburgh.
The Balmoral was the incident where the police were called in.
Baxter @ 11.22
Totally agree great point well made
Helensburgh?
I thought it was Bearsden?
Auld Jock have a look at the regional results from 2016, you can see if you hoover up the constituancy seats you get penalised on list, data stolen from Albannach on twitter.
Tory List:
Central: 43,602 votes. 3 seats
Glasgow: 29,533 votes. 2 seats
Highlands & Islands: 44,693 votes. 3 seats
Lothians: 74,972 votes. 3 seats
Mid Scot & Fife: 73,293 votes. 4 seats
North East: 85,848 votes. 4 seats.
South: 100,753 votes. 2 seats
West: 71,528 votes. 3 seats
Labour List 2016:
Central: 67,103 votes. 4 seats
Glasgow: .59,151 votes. 4 seats
Highlands & Islands: 22,894 votes. 2 seats
Lothians: 67,991 votes. 2 seats
Mid Scot & Fife: 51,373. 2 seats
North East: 38,791 votes. 2 seats
South: 56,072 votes. 2 seats
West: 72,544 votes. 3 seats
Snp
Central: 129,082 votes. 0 seats.
Glasgow: 111,101 votes. 0 seats.
Highlands & Islands: 81,600 votes. 1 seat.
Lothians: 118,546 votes. 0 seats.
Mid Scot & Fife: 120,128 votes. 0 seats.
North East: 137,086 votes. 0 seats.
South: 120,217 votes. 3 seats.
West: 135,827 votes. 0 seats.
So the SNP votes on the region are basically wasted except the South Region , however they are expected to do better on the Constituencies so will not do so well on the list.
Thanks Lenny appreciated. Are the snp2 votes spoiled or distributed between others?
Well where do you start.
House party in Dunblane.
French foreign office….
No doubt stuff on Murrell as well.
Red. 10.50pm
Re, EU
I seem to remember around 2017, Alex Salmond’s personal choice was to join EFTA.
So wouldn’t surprise me if he recommended EFTA just as a starting point, to get trade up and running again, with the option of an EU referendum further down the line.
‘Red and’ and ‘erganser’ sound a bit dodgy to me
As a person active in Irish politics for 40 years, I know for a fact that the EU has moved Ireland from being one of the poorest nations in Europe totally dominated by the UK where 90% of our exports used to go, to having an average income 60% higher than the UK and to we only send 8% of our exports today. The population almost doubled in that time making us a cosmopolitan diverse country.
The EU has forced Boris into ceding economic control of NI to RoI as well – if someone suggested that could happen 20 years ago we would laugh.
Why would ‘Red and’ and ‘erganser’ come onto this site to suggest that Irish Independence what not immeasurably enhanced by having it’s own seat at the EU big table?
Something to do with damaging Scottish Independence argument maybe?
@ Auld Jock at 11.17: “how is the list vote distributed to the other parties?”
They aren’t distributed. The Region vote is just one vote – you pick the party to put your cross by. It sounds as if you are thinking of the Council elections where you give votes in order of preference.
The votes per party are added up then divided by 1 + the number of constituency seats that party has won. So if SNP got 70,000 Region votes and had won 6 constituency seats in that Region, divide 70,000 by 6+1 [i.e. 7] – this gives 10,000.
If Alba received 40,000 Regional list votes, and the other parties got less, then Alba would win the first Regional list seat.
Alba’s votes would now be divided by 1+1 – i.e. 20,000.
The second Regional list seat would therefore still go to Alba, or another party if their total votes exceeded 20,000. The SNP won’t get a list seat until their figure of 10,000 is the highest in comparison with the others.
Leny Hartley
I would like to point out that Emma Roddick in H&I is one of Sturgeons wokists and top of the Highland list for those not aware of that disturbing fact. Keeping her out should also be a goal in my view.
“I am relinquishing my SNP membership to support, what I hope will be the final push to achieve our nation’s independence.”
Since you are currently representing the voters in Kirkcaldy as an SNP member, will you also resign your Westminster seat? As a man of integrity, I assume you will allow the people of Kirkcaldy an opportunity to choose a new representative at Westminster?
I take it that goes without saying.
The SNP were created to give the Scottish people its freedom from Westminster. For so many years it has been the only voice for Independence for the Scottish people.
People joined the SNP because their primary motivation was independence it stands to reason that there Labour leaners, Toryish leaners, Lib Dem leaners and other beliefs along the way, but the primary objective has always been Independence
When we get there new political parties will emerge with many current SNP stalwarts finding places with these new parties
Case in point the SNP Women who feel that Alba better represents their beliefs
As I mentioned the SNP have already set up their stall as to which direction the want to go
I thought I heard the SNP would call a plebiscite re applying to the EU.
EFTA would be my choice for a return to Europe, and as said above, a Referendum on EU membership further down the line.
@ Ayeright: 🙂 🙂 Neale was elected as an Independent!! So the voters let him make his own decisions.
The SNP suspended him on their usual unfounded, ridiculous grounds – on this occasion saying he had tweeted something anti-semitic. Of course he hadn’t but when did that stop the SNP if your face doesn’t fit?
Ayeright 11.39am
Would he not stay on as an ALBA MP?
I’ve noticed that it seems to be the Wings auld timers from the 2014 referendum that are the ones who are last to accept that things have moved on.
They seem to be over at the Wee Gingerbread Man’s website now.
True but very disappointing.
C’mon guy’s, you need to let go of Sturgeon, she is a crook.
Ayeright The good people of Kirkcaldy voted Neale into Westminster as an INDEPENDENT MP. Without the backing of the SNP. In fact against their express instruction to NOT elect him. He was stitched up by the SNP on idiotic charges after he fell out of favour for signing “the Womans Pledge”.
Ayeright says:
28 March, 2021 at 11:39 pm
“I am relinquishing my SNP membership to support, what I hope will be the final push to achieve our nation’s independence.”
Since you are currently representing the voters in Kirkcaldy as an SNP member, will you also resign your Westminster seat?
——————
I believe Neale was elected as an independent MP. I recall the SNP powers-that-be expediently disowned him.
Like all MPs he is primarily meant to represent ALL his constituents not the Party he belongs to.
Ayeright, in fptp elections you are not voting for the party. thats why politicians have been known for centuries To cross the House of Commons to change parties. Anyways Neale never stood as an SNP candidate .
In the list system in Scotland you are voting forca Party not candidate.
SNP 1 Alba 2
The view here then is that he should remain in WESTMINSTER as an MP.
Think about it LOL
@ Auld Jock re how the List vote works.
I think this is how it works, at least initially.
Say you stand on both Constituency and List, and win 1 or more Constituency seats, say for example 1 seat.
Then say you win 100,000 votes on the List seat, compared to the others on the List who take zero constituency seats.
And for the sake of arguement – say the tories take 25,000 votes and Labour take 10,000.
In round 1 of the Lists Your vote gets divided by 1+1 = 2 = 50,000 – and is the highest and so gets allocated List seat number 1.
Round 2 – but you now have 2 candidates, so your remaining 50,000 now gets divided by 2+1 = 3 = 16,666 – which is less than what the tories got on 25,000 – so the Tories get the second List seat.
Round 3 – for you 16,666 gets divided by 3 again – 5,555, and the Tories now have one seat so their remaining 25,000 gets divided by 1+1 = 2 = 13,500 – which is the highest amount so the Tories get seat number 4.
I think there are 4 List seats per region, but can’t remember. Its a set amount anyway.
So, if you have zero candidates on the Constituency – your list seats are not penalised in any way on the first count.
The parties specify their candidates on the List seat and have to put them into an order which they cannot change later if they want to ensure a prefered candidate gets 2 bites at the cherry – they have to anticipate it before hand and ‘game the system’ prior to the votes.
And the story about a house owned in Helensburgh ny a certain law officer?
What is that supposed to be about. Anyone know.
@ Daisy Walker: there are 7 seats in each Region, 56 seats in total. 🙂
its so reassuring to know that there is some awareness in frontline politics of the jeopardy we ae in.
you wouldn’t think that was the case from the behaviours of thr SNP leadership.
It seems to me Alba, the Party, continues the pre-2014 SNP policy direction and independence priority.
The old SNP has been usurped by a controlling self-serving clique and is no longer fit for purpose as an independence instrument
There are currently c 800 unelected parasites sitting in the House of Lords. Just why should Hanvey and MacAskill or any others that jump to Alba Party give up their seats. Fuck the Tory leeches and fuck the Yoon leeches.
Thanks Sarah appreciated
Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Mr Salmond said: “I believe that she should be the First Minister because the SNP should win a handsome majority.
“She is the only viable independence candidate and therefore she is the best one.
“I have no ambition to be in government, I am not standing to be first minister, I am standing for the Alba Party on the list to build an independence super-majority.
“I am asking people to give their second list vote to Alba so that over one million independence votes are not wasted.”
That’s a man that knows what he is talking about. If Alba fail to win votes from SNP voters they will crash and burn.
@ Daisy Walker at 12.00
Your explanation is not correct, in lots of ways; sorry.
Auld Jock should read Sarah’s explanation here:
link to wingsoverscotland.com
There are 7 list seats in each region, not 4.
Also, in your example at round 3 – since the Tories got the Round 2 seat, “your” vote remains at 16,666 – it won’t be reduced until “you” have won another seat.
Cadogan Enright – I have no idea who erganser is, but I’m definitely dodgy. Sometimes I drive at 80 mph on the motorway, and I’ve also been known to flirt with receptionists of the opposite sex. As a boy I enjoyed putting itchy coos down girls’ blouses. I threw stones at the Orange Walk. One time I stole from the Woolworths pick n mix (my Dad belted me for that). I don’t believe transwomen are women.
No doubt I can expect a wee knock on the door when the HCB comes into force.
It seems to me that giving up your nation’s right to self-governance in exchange for GDP is a bad bargain. I was also disgusted with the way Ireland was treated when the EU pressed “bailouts” on it (at their great expense). It’s one of the reasons, along with the shenanigans the EU pulled in Greece, I voted to Leave the EU, as did many people who voted to Leave the UK.
Ireland is also, as I said, no less obnoxiously corrupt and woke (the two go together) than the regime in Edinburgh. As a fan of truth and sanity, instead of societies of emasculated liars, I’m not impressed.
Sounds like you don’t mind being bossed around. That is your right. As a person who’s been actively supporting Scottish independence since I was old enough to know what the Act of Union was, I hope you enjoy your soup more than I enjoy your passive aggressive insinuations. Slainte.
Fergus – my preference would be to have nothing to do with global governance schemes like the EU, which are about greasing the chute for the replacement of democracy (and the nation state itself) with something more like what they have in China – a permanent fusion of the political class with corporate power. A kind of high tech feudalism, with the illusion of democracy maintained by a walled garden of establishment parties who all agree with each other on every point that matters. I’d prefer Scotland to just be Scotland. Free and democratic and beholden to nobody.
But EFTA? We could do a lot worse.
One of the reasons Iceland was able to emerge from the 2008 crisis in better shape than most is they’re in EFTA and not the EU/Euro. If they’d been Euro members they’d have been stuffed. Instead, they were able to do what other countries should’ve done – let the bankers eat their own losses, even if it means bankruptcy.
It’s midly funny watching the SNP stomp their feet in anger and demand Hanvey stands down.
Have they forgotten that they abandoned him during the election? Have they forgotten that they wanted Labour to win that seat?
Hanvey won that seat with no support from the SNP. They can piss off with their demands as it’s not their seat.
Lots of folk rehashing the EU/EFTA/BREXIT issue. Now is not the time. ? Alex Salmond had a really interesting discussion with Richard Murphy about this on his show a few weeks ago. New Economics and Scottish Independence link to youtube.com The Alba Party holds its policy launch on Tues 6th April. All members can attend and find out “stuff” for themselves then. When will we get the SNP manifesto? If past years are anything to go by they will be the last party to publish and its likely to be days before the election!
Anyone think Lisa Cameron MP could jump to Alba? She’s been vocal in the past about lack of support (from NS in particular) on apparent abuse she gets, and is I believe more religiously positioned to oppose GRA and self-ID
Also, only a matter of time before we get Tasmina as an Alba candidate
@ Crazycat
Sorry I got it a bit wrong, and thanks for the clarification.
Hopefully got enough of it right at the start for folk to sort of see how it works.
my curiosity’s fair piqued by all these rumours of stories happening in places from a smart hotel to somewhere in my ancestral homeland by way of a Glasgow suburb!
Anyway, great to see the mood has certainly changed for the better BTL.
All best wishes to Alba and Yessers for every success
PS support for Ireland in the EU is running at about 85%.
Brexit has meant a shift in shipping routes directly to France and Spain so we can bypass the UK land-bridge. The UK can no longer count Irish in-transit goods as part of their exports nor monopolise our trade.
Unlike 500 unregistered Brits in Spain who risk deportation next week, we can go on living, studying and working there if we want.
With the forthcoming EU Recovery fund we are looking forward to our post-pandemic tomorrow.
I support the SNP and the current leadership, I have no interest in the Hate Crime Bill or GRA reform, they really come way down my list of things to deal with once Scotland is Independent.
Now I know that many posters here can’t stand the SNP and especially Nicola Sturgeon but that’s of no importance if Independence is your goal and Alex Salmond himself says so.
Good advice from a man that’s been around the block.
Auld Jock
They are divided by the number of constituency members the party has plus 1.
So looking at the Glasgow results above where the snp won all 9 of the constituency seats, their 111,101 list votes were divided by 10 giving 11,110.
Labour had the second highest number of votes at 59,151 so they got allocated the first list Seat. in the second round of calculation as labour no has 1 seat their total list vote is divided by 1+1 so it dropped to 29,575.
this was still more than the third biggest vote which was the conservative one on 29,533 so labour took the second list seat.
this process is repeated until all the list seats are allocated.
It’d be easier to follow if I could post an image but I can’t sorry.
eh some suspicious posting on here tonight
SNP youth ? aided and abetted by Daddy Smith the same clowns possibly behind the spoof website directing people to the SNP website
The idea that the SNP management are not troubled by the new party is laughable , they have no counter to Alex and his praise of princess Nicola she doesn’t know what to do , his reply to her snide remarks is Vote SNP and she’s a great leader , the more she screams he’s a rat the worse she sounds she would be better to keep quiet he’s got her cornered oh dear how sad eh
Thanks Crazycat and A2 appreciated as much clarity as possible. Remember I’ll not be tge only one confused by this. So it highlights to all and sundry. Thanks again
Kiwilassie @ 11.24
Thank you for the information but I have absolutely no interest in any ‘gossip’ about NS or anyone else.
I was only explaining to another poster that there was a reason for not knowing anything about another incident owing to an injunction – which I had only learned about, upthread on this website.
When are the two byelections?
@Robert Graham
Not a fan then and Alex Salmond is wrong? OK
I’LL leave this one with you Ayeright if that’s aweright with you?
SNP Commons leader Ian Blackford made a grandstanding show this week at PMQs, commending SNP MP and Holyrood candidate Neil Gray for “doing the right thing” and standing down as an MP and avoiding “a separate by-election that would cost the public £175,000.” He then contrasted this with the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross who is not standing down – alleging this will somehow cost the taxpayer £175,000 in the future…
The trouble for Blackford is he got his charges completely the wrong way round. His SNP colleague Neil Gray resigned too late to not force a separate by-election, later than 6 May, costing £175,000. Meanwhile Tory Douglas Ross is not standing down meaning there will be no by election for him. A spokesman for the North Lanarkshire Returning Officer has confirmed that the by-election for Gray will take place on May 13, saying:
“The trigger for a by-election is a writ being served from the United Kingdom parliament. The writ is now anticipated to be served on April 7 and the Returning Officer is required by law to organise a by-election between 21 and 27 working days from the day after this.”
Ayeright
WTF are you talking about you have lost me
With regard to the incidents and gagging-orders concerning Nicola Sturgeon which various people have alluded to here, it occurs to me that Alex Salmond may have inside information on these, and further, that Nicola Sturgeon may know he has that information. That might go some way to explaining her insane hatred of him.
Even if Alex doesn’t know the details, he will probably be aware that Nicola has something pretty damaging to hide. Maybe this explains why she went to such extraordinary lengths to try to take him out of the game?
I think Alex has got her cornered. If Nicola had any sense she would STFU and maintain a dignified silence.
@ Robert Graham at 12.50am: Sorry, I didn’t mean to copy you, but I’d typed my comment before I read yours. Great minds think alike!
So where does Neil gray stand in the grand scheme of things? Is he one of Sturgeons Wokists? I only ask since he getting a constituency to stand in that should be a easy win for him.
@Robert graham
No, I haven’t lost you. You are Robert graham right?
That’s why I replied to you.
One thing that has come out of this is the realisation that Nikla has had no serious challenge to her position or her ideas since she became leader. Apart from that being very unhealthy, it goes a long way to explaining her completely crackpot reaction to Alba. Like a spoiled teen used to getting her own ways, she seems unable to cope with some opposition. A seasoned politician would opt for dignity and thus refuse to rise to the bait, while conceding Salmond has been found by the courts to have done no wrong. Continually implying you do not accept a jury verdict and coming across as nettled, vindictive and spooked by some opposition is not. a good look. I will be very interested to hear her properly challenged on indy, beyond just parroting simple-minded guff about referendums, to explain exactly the mechanism, the delivery and the vision. Because I have never heard her say the remotest convincing thing about that. Is she able to, and is that what she is so discomfited about – actual challenges on policy? She has had it so easy for long, it is a very good thing to have some real opposition and challenge to her autocratic, entitled attitudes and beliefs. She is the kind of politician that you begin to suspect doesn’t hold deeply felt convictions, isn’t a great thinker or tactician, and goes with whatever is superficially appealing. While ruthlessly eliminating any challenge to her position, of course. An operator, in other words, a careerist and opportunist.
I’d be over the moon if the Alba party could add say 10 Independence supporting MSP’s in Holyrood, that would be great.
It would not be so great if these MSP’s were just replacing SNP or Green MSP’s who may have been elected instead.
In other words, the Alba party can play a big part by shouting out loud that to maximise the Independence vote then you must vote for the SNP on the constituency vote.
This is a fact and Alex Salmond knows this too, hopefully most here will agree because that is how we will gain Independence.
Nicola dis’nae dae chess but Alex dis an’ he’s chess grand master, Alex let the forking begin…
@James Barr Gardner
Good stuff, to what end? Independence I take it.
They’ve only existed for less than a week and now they’ve got an MP – is this a record?
Stu, perhaps the only real benefit this and other indy sites can offer in the lead up to election day is a concise and consistent polling for the regions, so people can be encouraged to look at this election through the unifying message of independence, and less through the prism of party allegiance. That way everyone can, with confidence, know that their vote is going to the pro indy party most likely to gain the most seats.
I see the SNP Wokists and the Yoons are busy with the SNP 1 and 2 BS. Cant escape it. Too may to block on FB.
@michael Laing. Most interesting that you think that there are incidents are incidents lurking re Nicola Sturgeon. If of a sexual or of a disreputable nature you can understand why she would be most concerned to have such matters kept quiet.
Secret trysts, same sex trysts, playing away from one’s partner, swinger relationships, and all that sort of stuff is nothing new in human nature. Things like that happen. Maybe not the most the most acceptable behaviour for a public figure, but these things happen. And if they don’t fit with the public image then the obvious answer is don’t do it.
What however is truly.wrong is if things are covered up or if an individual has become compromised by their activities. There is a 100 year lock down on information becoming public about the Dunblane tragedy and one wonders about why that is. Why would you lock the public out of information for a century unless there was a circle of compromised who had been indulging in behaviours not suited to their public personas.
And so, as Nicola Sturgeon’s ever more personal attacks mount on Alex Salmond, one does wonder in whose interests she proceeds. Certainly not in the interests of her party or the cause of independence as she now abandons policy debate and delivery focus in favour of howling personal abuse at her once declared friend and mentor.
Mud slinging, personal name calling as Nicola Sturgeon, and indeed her acolytes now indulge, is an appalling route to go down, especially since one’s own background may not be so pristine.
Thankfully, and despite all that has been done to Alex Salmond, his focus is on economic recovery and securing the strongest possible Scottish Parliament. He has not once attacked the name and standing of the First Minister. And as we move forward he is actively calling for people to vote and support the SNP.
So why why why the absolutely insane and increasingly aberrant behaviour from the First Minister. What exactly is wrong with her. What is she trying to achieve. It doesn’t make sense.
And so, isn’t it time she quietened down, focussed on the day job and that of getting the biggest independence parliamentary majority possible to push forward on the objectives that we so dearly desire
So wind your neck in Nicola. Get on with the job in hand. Support independence. The people deserve no less.
Quizzer alert!
Spider Principle page on FB. It is full off of poisonous and rabid Quizzers and Tractors. The Admins are not on the ball or are just Sturgeon Cultists.
I am not sure the SNP have quite realised what is coming with Alba but the penny is certainly starting to drop. Ian Lawson on through a Scottish prism recounts the story of my own MP Brendan attending a branch meeting and going in all guns blazing about Nicola and getting a bit of a doing from the branch members. I was contacted by a now ex convener of a Highland branch with an invite to join Alba only yesterday so things are moving. Meanwhile the woke wing of the the SNP are circling the waggons with our old friend Rhiannon thrashing about trying to get back on the SNP NEC. A hollow victory if all that is left is a hollowed out shell of what was once a great party. At the moment I will still go SNP 1 to give the Minto lassie a shot at the seat despite the best efforts of the SNP to get me to spoil my ballot.
So Cadogan Enright, the average income in the Republic of Ireland is 60% higher than the UK?
Aye, right.
Okay independence folk, so far as I am concerned, what is done is done, and honestly it is time to focus on independence.
If some within the SNP (or on here) want to keep smearing people, let them. It will do them no good come the election, it just makes them look pretty shifty.
I’m voting SNP on the first vote, and ALBA on the second vote, to maximise our chances of actually getting independence soon. To me it is from that perspective, transactional.
SNP or ALBA, if you want independence that is what matters.
Let’s not keep responding to abuse, instead, let’s really focus, focus, focus on independence, because that is ALL that matters now. If ALBA and SNP votes get me closer to it, then that is what I will do. Alex Salmond and Kenny Macaskill have NOT for one second indulged in any kind of abuse or smearing – they set a good example.
Their are folk online and elsewhere who want to distract and disrupt. They want to have petty arguments and hurl abuse, ‘he said, she said’. The unionists literally feed from it. Do not fall into their trap. It is peurile.
Independence is the focus. INDEPENDENCE.
pixal says:
28 March, 2021 at 10:39 pm
thing holding many commentors back from supporting snp 1 and alba 2 on wgd is their belief that no one will vote for alex
===
Alex is a canny lad, and an experienced strategist. Who said he’s standing?
Robert Louis @8.00 Well said Robert Louis. Although I am still struggling with SNP1, but I am considering what Alex Salmond has said very carefully. Like others I’m just finding the 1 part hard. Nae bother at all with ALBA2 though.
Independence is definitely the focus now.
Average wage in Ireland €49,600
In the U.K £31,500 – €34.600
You also know U.K. tax increases pending are going to make the comparisons
Much freeze in thar too wee too poor nation that Westminster held captive for centuries.
Auld Jock, have a wee look at this,
link to internationalscotland.com
It is well explained.
And if I have done that wrongly could someone sort it please!!
I would respect Neale more if he had resigned his seat and stood for re-election.
I am Not a fan of MP’s who jump ship without considering the folk who elected them.
Imagine the hoo haa if he had jumped ship to join the Labour party.
gullaneno4 says:
29 March, 2021 at 8:29 am
I would respect Neale more if he had resigned his seat and stood for re-election.
I am Not a fan of MP’s who jump ship without considering the folk who elected them.
Imagine the hoo haa if he had jumped ship to join the Labour party.
Was he not elected as an independent WITHOUT SNP backing?
@Gullane04 He was an Independent when elected.
gullaneno4
I, of course, respect your opinion on Neale Hanvey. However, have you considered that perhaps the SNP left Neale Hanvey, before he left them.
There has certainly been very-little focus on Independence from the top of the party for some time now.
So again, what’s the story with ISP? Are they standing down for Alba or what? Nothing on their website about last nights vote.
Robert Louis at 8.00 a.m.
I agree totally with what you say. Those who are reluctant to vote SNP 1 (and I include myself in that group) should ask themselves how else we can achieve independence. Whether we like it or not, the SNP will provide the majority of independence supporting MSPs and the only issue is whether, in combination with Alba MSPs, they have an overall majority or even a super majority. There is no other viable route to independence than SNP 1.
We need to focus on the outcome we want. If that is independence, then we need to do what it takes to achieve it, even if we are uncomfortable. The unionists will be delighted if independence supporters abandon the SNP on the constituency ballot. Think how you will feel if Tories pick up constituency seats at the expense of the SNP and as a result, despite having a good haul of Alba MSPs, there is not a majority for independence.
As a previously loyal fan of Nicola Sturgeon, I have been agonising over how to vote in this election. I don’t like what I am seeing at the heart of government but I still want independence. Alex Salmond’s announcement on Friday solved this for me at a stroke – SNP 1, Alba 2. Sorted.
A guest post by Eva Comrie over on Iain Lawson’s Yours For Scotland site.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
@gullaneno4,
a Member of the UK Parliament is elected to represent their constituency in the best way they see fit,
you elect the person not the party,
Mr Hanvey feels that representing Alba is the best for his constituency,
he is just doing what the voters of his constituency wanted which is to represent them in the UK parliament.
Willie says:
29 March, 2021 at 3:17 am
….There is a 100 year lock down on information becoming public about the Dunblane tragedy and one wonders about why that is…
I have a parallel story about a 100 year lockdown which intrigued me a few years ago. It has nothing to do with Scottish Independence, but the explanations were informative.
Back in WW2, 8th June 1940 actually, the British Aircraft Carrier Glorious was fleeing the Nazi occupation of Norway, but Glorious, and her two escorting Destroyers Ardent and Acasta, had the extreme bad luck of being intercepted by the German Battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
In what I consider truly extraordinary bravery, both the British Destroyers attacked the might of the German Battlecruisers in a literal suicide mission, hoping to buy time for the Carrier to escape. Both Ardent and Acasta were blown to pieces, not a single survivor, but not before they managed to put a torpedo into one of the German Battleships, (which saved many lives, because it had to return for repairs rather than savaging other shipping trying to get out of Norway.. but I digress).
The extraordinary bravery of the Destroyers was commended by the German Commander, but never recognised by the British, because, I was told, the Destroyers “charging the guns” was not an appropriate tactical countermeasure, and it resulted in the loss of their ships. Apparently bravery doesn’t count if it’s a reckless departure from protocol.
Their sacrifice however did not save HMS Glorious, and she too was sent to the bottom.
However, the circumstances of the sinking of HMS Glorious were declared Top Secret, not to be released for 100 years. To put that in context, the Uber-secrecy of Enigma Codes and Bletchley was only restricted for 60 years.
So what was it about Glorious which demanded the 100 years secrecy?
It was rumoured that Glorious might have been saved by Bletchley code breaking but wasn’t, and that was sensitive. It was rumoured that Glorious was carrying something, or someone out of Norway, and that couldn’t be made public. It was rumoured the whole deployment of an aircraft carrier virtually alone with only 2 destroyers and not flying its own air cover was a hugely unprofessional disaster caused by gross negligence in high places. It was also rumoured that Churchill was up to something… But this is all just rumour.
But, the one explanation I was given, (and sorry, this was decades ago), which resonated, was being told that the essence of a 100 year restriction doesn’t mean you have some monstrous secret, it can be a very ordinary secret which simply remains sensitive for a long time. In theory, the 100 years is intended to be the extent of living memory. That is, nobody (or their immediate family) directly implicated in the event will be alive when the secret is released.
An example I was given was, say a ship was sunk by the negligence of the captain, and all the families and living relatives of the crew wouldn’t be able to sue and claim for damages if the truth was common knowledge. It doesn’t imply the Captain’s negligence was grossly or unusually improper, the length of secrecy is determined by the timescale when damages might be pursued by a living relative.
Far be it from me to stick up for the secrecy of the British State, but the bottom line is, we don’t know, and those that do know cannot tell us. But we all need to bear in mind that the true explanation might be a big disappointment to those smelling conspiracy. The 100 years restriction is normally deployed when there is ‘living memory’ \ immediate family factor… It’s NOT like the maximum prison sentence reserved for the grossest murderers.
Surreal Times.
link to independent.ie
Holy! Holy!, Holy! blessed are they who come to receive the redeeming vaccine.
Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!
Shame on you Robert Knight – Martin Keatings expressly said that he did NOT want this email to be made public. It was confidential for the supporters of his action only. I question why someone would want to publicise this confidential message at this time as it could cause more shit to be flung just when we need to really start all pulling together.
Very interesting, Willie, I had never thought of Dunblane in this context!
Curiouser and Couriouser??
At the moment I am more perplexed by the Interdic ref The Balmoral Hotel.
Also BoJo all over the Daily Mirror with his seedy lack of any moral compass and not a word about his unsuitability to be PM because of his continuous penchant for extra marital affairs, alleged mistreatment of his current partner which resulted in a visit from the Met. But nothing to see here!!
Hypocrital bunch of Barstewards.
gullaneno4 says:
29 March, 2021 at 8:29 am
I would respect Neale more if he had resigned his seat and stood for re-election.
I am Not a fan of MP’s who jump ship without considering the folk who elected them.
Imagine the hoo haa if he had jumped ship to join the Labour party.
————————————
I’ll leave this here for you to ponder gullaneo4
It seems the SNP hierarchy don’t know how the system works. Neil Gray is costing US the taxpayer £175,000 for being an idiot and not knowing how it works.
Aweright didn’t answer last -will you?
robbo says:
29 March, 2021 at 1:15 am
I’LL leave this one with you Ayeright if that’s aweright with you?
SNP Commons leader Ian Blackford made a grandstanding show this week at PMQs, commending SNP MP and Holyrood candidate Neil Gray for “doing the right thing” and standing down as an MP and avoiding “a separate by-election that would cost the public £175,000.” He then contrasted this with the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross who is not standing down – alleging this will somehow cost the taxpayer £175,000 in the future…
The trouble for Blackford is he got his charges completely the wrong way round. His SNP colleague Neil Gray resigned too late to not force a separate by-election, later than 6 May, costing £175,000. Meanwhile Tory Douglas Ross is not standing down meaning there will be no by election for him. A spokesman for the North Lanarkshire Returning Officer has confirmed that the by-election for Gray will take place on May 13, saying:
“The trigger for a by-election is a writ being served from the United Kingdom parliament. The writ is now anticipated to be served on April 7 and the Returning Officer is required by law to organise a by-election between 21 and 27 working days from the day after this.”
I find it hard to trust someone who says the value of Sterling is plummeting, when it is at its highest against the dollar, since 2018.
I’ll vote Alba, but I am getting fed up with politicians who use hyperbole as a substitute for joined up thinking.
Fiona…
“Shame on you Robert Knight – Martin Keatings expressly said that he did NOT want this email to be made public.”
Mea culpa. I am indeed ashamed as I didn’t note that. Apologies to Martin. I’ll pm Rev Stu and request he remove it ASAP.
See the SNP are up to the DIRTY TRICKS they have put this link up albaparty.scot. when you click on the link it takes you to the SNP website
This is from the Daily Record this morning ,
Glasgow councillor quits SNP to join Alex Salmond’s Alba Party as defections continue ,
EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Ferns, who was involved in settling the landmark equal pay dispute on Scotland’s largest local authority, will stand for the Alba Party in May .
link to archive.ph
9.19am
That link is on twitter that takes you to the SNP website
On the point of gaming the system – don’t the Scottish Tories do that at every election??
England votes Tory in most elections but we never do. But hey presto we get the government they vote for.
Isn’t that the Scottish Tories gaming the system. It is for me.
The real puzzle is why Labour in Scotland still back Union with England.
Even in Labour-run Wales their FM is questioning the future of the Union, whereas Sarwar is like the pied piper leading his party to oblivion IMO.
The Dominatrix speaks.
link to thenational.scot
People are heartily pissed off with your doom, gloom and fear fixated rhetoric.
Save Scotland from Brexit, save Scotland from Covid, save my political career…..
I am beginning to wonder if there will be an election abort..
Scottie – I don’t think they can cancel the election now. They would need to recall parliament , and have a majority to cancel it. I doubt even Nicola is that dumb!
There should be only three things on Alba manifesto,
Independence an Oil Fund and Free Public Transport,
all the rest is just white noise until we get independence,
all you got to say when asked about divisive topics is,
“we will have a conversation and consultation with stakeholders about many post independence topics, `now is not the time`”
Holyrood is the Scottish parliament representing the Scottish people and should only have Scottish registered parties funded only in Scotland standing for election, whether they’re Unionist or Nationalists,
So long as we have Scottish Labour and Scottish Conservatives who are both English parties masquerading themselves as Scottish to deceive voters then they have no right to accuse anyone of gaming the system
Ha! Just thought I’d share this. Like many others on here, I too struggle greatly with the idea of voting SNP 1 (just shorthand).
I mean, how could I give the likes of Nicola Sturgeon, all her cronies, Peter Murrell, those smug SNP msps at the enquiry, Alyn Smith, Pete Wishart, Humza Yousaf, Ian Blackford, Kirsty Blackman, Rhiannon Spear, The GRA, The Hate Crime bill and so on, MY VOTE? MY APPROVAL?
I have concluded that I won’t be. I’ll be voting SNP 1 Alba 2 because IRONICALLY, (OH HOW SWEET THIS IS) EVERY VOTE FOR SNP 1 IS A METAPHORICAL NAIL IN ALL THEIR METAPHORICAL POLITICAL COFFINS!
Sorted. Hope that wasn’t put too strongly.
@ gullaneno4 at 8:29 am
“I would respect Neale more if he had resigned his seat and stood for re-election.”
to attempt to clarify the MP’s behaviour
He was elected as an Independent MP, with no party loyality.
He stood against SNP candidates and won, the SNP told members directly not to vote for him
What pissed me off was that he re-joined the SNP, and welcomed back into the fold that he stood against, all hugs and kisses,If I’m correct gets a job in the NEC !!!
and then leaves the SNP for another party
And NOW the SNP want him to resign his seat, which he won as an Independent
This whole thing is lunacy
He should NEVER have rejoined the SNP, he should have remained like Martin Bell or Margo MacDonald an Independent
If he had the SNP would NOT be squealing today, So wear that!!!!
I should point out that in regards to SNP MP numbers,they gained one and then lost(that) one
They therefore in this case returned to the status quo
You can apply for a postal vote until the 6th April. As far as I know, if you decide not to use it you take it with you on the day to the polling station and cast your vote normally.
@ Big Jock at 10:06 am
“I doubt even Nicola is that dumb!”
Are you really sure of that?
I have doubts of that
Dan Fyffe says @9.16
‘I find it hard to trust someone who says the value of Sterling is plummeting, when it is at its highest against the dollar, since 2018.
I’ll vote Alba, but I am getting fed up with politicians who use hyperbole as a substitute for joined up thinking.’
Neale Hanvey made a remark about the value of the pound generally. He didn’t compare it selectively to the dollar, like you are doing.
Any google search on terms like ‘value of pound since 2016 Brexit vote’ will bring a raft of articles showing a drop in value.
In terms of the dollar, only recently has it recovered some ground to pre Brexit vote days, most of the last five years it has been sitting around 1.25 and for the few years before the Brexit vote, around 1.50.
Neale Hanvey is absolutely correct.
@ Meg merrileess
Re. Voting Deadlines
Register by 11:59pm on 19 April to vote in the following elections on 6 May
link to gov.uk
Frank &10.23
Now you understand the master tactician that is Alex Salmond!
Looks like postal and proxy vote applications in Scotland can be made up to 21 days before the election.
For the Scottish Parliamentary election on the 6 May 2021, the following deadlines apply:
Deadline for new postal and postal proxy applications
5pm – 21 working days before the date of the poll
Deadline for changes (excluding cancellations) to existing absent voting arrangements
5pm – 21 working days before the date of the poll
Except in the case where a postal ballot paper has been issued before then and has been returned (but not under the lost / spoilt / not received provisions) – in that case, no changes may be made after the ballot paper has been returned
Deadline for cancelling existing postal and proxy arrangements
5pm – 11 working days before the date of the poll
Except in the case where a postal ballot paper has been issued before then and has been returned (but not under the lost / spoilt / not received provisions) – in that case, no changes may be made after the ballot paper has been returned
link to electoralcommission.org.uk
Meg merrilees says:
29 March, 2021 at 10:29 am
“You can apply for a postal vote until the 6th April. As far as I know, if you decide not to use it you take it with you on the day to the polling station and cast your vote normally.”
If you take your postal vote to the polling station it has to be in the envelope that was provided for posting it.
It doesn’t go into the ballot because – because that would through out the ballot account at the end of the day (where the number of votes in the box must tally with the number of papers issued at the station).
Your postal vote will be placed, unopened, with others received in a separate envelope, which is sealed, with the number of ballots within recorded on the front, and either collected at some point during the day or will go with the ballot box at night to the count.
You cannot put the paper in the ballot box and you won’t be issued with another at the poll because you will be listed as a postal voter.
Your ballot must be handed in at a polling station within the constituency in which your vote is being cast. You cannot just hand it in at another area that you happen to be in at the time.
Voters, as well as polling staff can find information at link to electoralcommission.org.uk
Sorry “throw out”
Dan says I’ll vote Alba, but I am getting fed up with politicians who use hyperbole as a substitute for joined up thinking.
Me too. The problem with this is, it’s easy for them, and us, to start confusing rhetoric for reality. Which is dangerous in lots of ways. Rhetoric is an incredibly powerful tool, it’s powerful because it short circuits the part of the human brain that deals with logic and goes straight for the emotions. It’s often necessary to communicate in rhetoric, but we need to be able to think dialectically.
I think it’s a product of media saturation, FWIW. If you watch old political (or even chat shows with Parky) interviews from the 70’s, you’ll see an amazing thing:
Adults, having a long form conversation, without feeling the need to interrupt each other or shout slogans. And a studio audience that doesn’t break into boos, hisses, or applause every five seconds like they’re children at a panto.
Amazing. They even smoked fags indoors on the telly without anybody losing their minds. Which was probably dangerous, because in them days men’s fashion consisted of polyester upholstery and hairspray.
You can’t have a grown up conversation on modern telly or social media. It’s structurally impossible. 24/7 news cycles ushered in the dismal era of the glib soundbite, which has colonised the entirety of public discourse.
In other news, the media, which like the Bourbons of old has learned nothing and forgotten nothing, is back to its full scale smear bombardment of Alba today.
Would you believe Alex Salmond is trying to damage independence (by asking people to vote for it)? No? Don’t worry, they’ve got a sack full of other lies fur ye.
I remember being shocked when I found out that the SNP had turned down the candidature of the ability of Craig Murray. Surely the Alba Party is not going to act in a similar fashion by refusing that of someone like Martin Keating, who has taken such positive action in the cause of independence?
Here’s a couple of questions for those voting SNP1.
If you are doing so by ‘holding your nose’ and putting Indy ahead of Women’s rights hoping those issues can be sorted out ‘after’, then aren’t you concerned that the ‘decent’ people who are leaving the SNP to join Alba are now leaving it open to the very same people you are against ?
If the womens and equalities convener are replaced with gender driven appointees such as Spear and Robertson then surely your SNP1 vote will come into question ?
There may be no sorting out later because the SNP could have a majority with an NEC full of such people to drive through gender policies. Your SNP1 vote could in effect, enable the enactment of the very legislation you don’t want, indeed, it could make it worse. Are you still willing to take the risk ?
As support for James Caithness:
albaparty.org = the correct Alba Party of Alex Salmond
albaparty.scot. = links directly to the SNP website (the cheats)
Same old bullshitting politicians. Give me 21st century reality not pipe dreams about a small country in europe revetsing globalisation.
You are not going to attract any new investment as you arentoo expensive and under skilled.
Dan Fyffe says:
29 March, 2021 at 9:16 am
I find it hard to trust someone who says the value of Sterling is plummeting, when it is at its highest against the dollar, since 2018.
Dan I remember getting almost 2 dollars, 2 euros to the £ sterling, what happened !
Bank of England brought in quantitative easing that’s what happened ! Resulting in the poor get poorer ! Pernicious effects that favour wealthy middle class, the rich get richer ! Devaluation by stealth, increases to VAT stealth tax grabs.
As regards to UK State Pension, you can carry on receiving your UK State Pension if you move to live in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you can still claim your UK State Pension from these countries.
Your UK State Pension will be increased each year in the EU in line with the rate paid in the UK. BTW tough if you went to Canada London froze it.
The ex-pats living in Spain would definitely say their standard of living has plummeted and will get worse the further Brexshit cuts into the UK economy and the UK OAP staggering on as the worst in the western world !
Sterling like the Union heading over the White Cliffs of Dover !
Wullie re ‘Mud slinging, personal name calling as Nicola Sturgeon, and indeed her acolytes now indulge, is an appalling route to go down, especially since one’s own background may not be so pristine.
Thankfully, and despite all that has been done to Alex Salmond, his focus is on economic recovery and securing the strongest possible Scottish Parliament. He has not once attacked the name and standing of the First Minister. And as we move forward he is actively calling for people to vote and support the SNP.
So why why why the absolutely insane and increasingly aberrant behaviour from the First Minister. What exactly is wrong with her. What is she trying to achieve. It doesn’t make sense’.
It really does make sense if you consider the state of the SNP under Nicla’s leadership to be deliberate and not accidental incompletence or lack of vision.
England cannot afford to lose Scotland. Scotland is the cash cow.
If they cannot stop or remove Alex, then the next step is to get Nicla to go full tonto / scorched earth and make the SNP vote collapse. ANYTHING to stop a supermajority of Indy supporters, with a tactical plan, and a determination to achieve Indy from being elected to Holyrood.
The People of Scotland are Sovereign – and its worth bugger all if there is no democratically elected, supermajority, in an authorised body to represent its will. Step up Holyrood now is your moment.
Red says @ 10.47
‘Me too. The problem with this is, it’s easy for them, and us, to start confusing rhetoric for reality. Which is dangerous in lots of ways. Rhetoric is an incredibly powerful tool, it’s powerful because it short circuits the part of the human brain that deals with logic and goes straight for the emotions. It’s often necessary to communicate in rhetoric, but we need to be able to think dialectically.’
– You’re agreeing with Dan about the use of ‘hyperbole as opposed to joined up thinking’, yet those tactics are the very same you and he both use.
You claim that the UK does more trade with the USA than any other European country in defence of Brexit.
That may be the case, but in your selective comparison you don’t use the European Union, just individual countries. The reality, of which you profess to be so keen on, is that the EU trades as a block with both with the USA and the UK, and the trade from that block is far greater than the trade with the USA.
Likewise Dan complains that Neale Hanvey is wrong about the pound vs the dollar, except that Neale Hanvey didn’t compare the pound and the dollar in his letter, only that ‘the strength of sterling has plummeted’. You can see my reply to Dan above.
I think the fake news about Brexit is unhelpful. The EU is having a disastrous time. The pound has risen substantially against the Euro. The U.K. economy will bounce back rapidly, well before the Eurozone, which will be mired in lockdown for months to come. An independent Scotland will prosper much more by staying out of the EU ( if it was ever allowed to join.). Most of Scotland’s trade is with England so we don’t want a hard border. Preferably a free teed area with the rest of Britain.
Graf Midgehunter says:
29 March, 2021 at 10:52 am
As support for James Caithness:
albaparty.org = the correct Alba Party of Alex Salmond
albaparty.scot. = links directly to the SNP website (the cheats)
===================================
Thank you. I should have made that clear myself, but I was a wee bit angry.
The joker who wasted his money on albaparty.scot could very easily lose the domain if the Alba party complained via Nominet’s Dispute Resolution Service (DRS). As the domain was registered AFTER the party’s announcement and set up with a forwarder to the SNP, this could be grounds to show that it was an abusive registration resulting in it being handed to Alba Party.
After patiently waiting for years, it looks like long term sleeper agent and vote generator for Alba; Rhiannon Spear has finally been activated to do what she does after infiltrating and embedding herself in the SNP.
link to twitter.com
Apologies for going completely off-topic, but last night followed my partner onto an indie supporting facebook group.
Christ on a bike….now I know where all those missing village idiots gather to discuss how voting Alba splits the independence vote. Seriously.
When the hell did it become a badge of honor to publicly display stupidity? If what I read last night is any indication, we are really, truly, royally and utterly fucked.
Grey Gull says:
28 March, 2021 at 8:31 pm
Thanks for that link. Had been trying to explain it to someone but I’m not a natural teacher. This has made it so much easier to explain.
Some hopefuls seem to think Alec Salmond is a silver bullet. It would be good for Scottish politics to have him back in Holyrood I’m sure. He would be like Banqos Ghost to Nicola Sturgeons Macbeth. Nice.
link to whois.com
The whois data of the registrar of has been covertly hidden. If this can be challenged on the basis of miuse or deception, I don’t know. It would need looking into.
Looking here would maybe shed light on it for the legal side of things and whether anything can by done about it ?
Here at
link to icann.org
Alan Thoms 11:06
Why bother with independence?
All is good as it is it seems.
Scottish independence is rather more than utilitarian economics.
Anglo-Saxons are so prosaic.
No imagination!
Just shopkeepers at heart.
Dan @11.12
I did ponder for a moment that with ‘the good guys’ abandoning the sinking SNP ( the Womens’ Convenor, McAskill etc. ) does that mean that the runt of the litter will be all the gender supporters and their ilk and does that suggest that the SNP may go even further ‘off course’ as a result.
They’ve already lost a few folk from the NEC who were going to hold them on a steadier course – or so we hoped – so how soon will they reach the point of no return, or putting it another way, how long before they create a self-inflicted hole below the water level.
Sturgeon and her Unionist handlers are terrified Salmond gets into Holyrood where he would be able to ask very awkward questions. Sturgeon also banned him from entry to the Parliament in the past. If he gets in as an MSP she can’t ban him. I don’t see how an Alba tail is going to wag an SNP dog.
I commented earlier in angry mood referring to the overriding politics of our Age on reflection covid politics is perhaps best reserved to YouTube comments. I recently got banned off YouTube for my views on the virus but happily I’m back on again until the next ban I have never known so much censorship of a subject also one side reporting by the News Media as we all know does not provide a complete picture of the situation.
Hi tartanfever
You’re agreeing with Dan about the use of ‘hyperbole as opposed to joined up thinking’, yet those tactics are the very same you and he both use.
I can’t speak for Dan, but I’m slightly relieved there’s a wee bit of rhetorical sparkle in my long walls of text. Thank you.
You claim that the UK does more trade with the USA than any other European country in defence of Brexit.
True.
That may be the case, but in your selective comparison you don’t use the European Union, just individual countries. The reality, of which you profess to be so keen on, is that the EU trades as a block with both with the USA and the UK, and the trade from that block is far greater than the trade with the USA.
I’m not sure what you mean by “trades as a bloc”. Trade deals don’t create trade, they only reduce barriers to trade. It’s individual buyers and sellers who do the actual trading, not the munificence of Westminster, Washington or the European Commission.
I made a (hopefully) simple point that we already do hundreds of billions of pounds worth of trade with a country we have no specific trade deal with. So there’s no reason to imagine we’re going to somehow see food shortages, which is an incredible claim to make (especially after all the other claims about medicine shortages and whatnot turned out to be nonsense), after having agreed a broad free trade agreement with the EU.
KnowhatImean?
BTW, I’m not criticising Neale Hanvey. I’m critical of our modern culture of SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER and using slogans in place of conversation. There’s a closely related trend of broadcasters thinking that Jeremy Paxman’s patented schtick of talking over guests and trying to hang them on alleged contradictions is good television. It might be, but it’s also fatal to any meaningful discussion.
Strangely enough, the best interviewer and political conversationalist around might be Russell Brand. If you go on Channel 4 news or the BBC you’ll inevitably be ambushed with gotcha questions, but Russell seems to actually want to hear people out. Refreshing.
Purely for the entertainment value of the outcome, I would urge all Indy voters to Vote SNP 1 Alba 2, if only to have the delicious scenario of Sturgeon as FM and Salmond as Opposition Leader…
Just caught the tail end witch on sky news asking the people for their permission to run the country for another 5 yrs. What immediately struck me was she never asked permission from us to ram through abhorrent laws such as GRA and HC bills that very few of us want or asked for. An indication what we will get if she is allowed to go unopposed. The nastiness was oozing from her pores and pretence of being miss good two shoes was nauseating. Her attack on Alex,was particularly dishonest, insinuating he was entering politics for his own self needs and greed. Any one who was fooled by that performance on Sky is a half wit.
Already submitted this but it went into moderation probably because of too many link.
ICANN administers .scot domains. albaparty.scot voilates a number of their terms and conditions. You can complain here, link to icann.org, I have.
Tartanfever at 10:49
“If you are doing so (voting SNP 1) by ‘holding your nose’ and putting Indy ahead of Women’s rights hoping those issues can be sorted out ‘after’, then aren’t you concerned that the ‘decent’ people who are leaving the SNP to join Alba are now leaving it open to the very same people you are against ?
Yes, I am concerned about this. I hope, but can’t be sure, that a substantial Alba presence will constrain the excesses of the woke brigade in the SNP. I will take the risk on this if that’s what I need to do to increase the chances of independence.
“If the womens and equalities convener are replaced with gender driven appointees such as Spear and Robertson then surely your SNP1 vote will come into question ?”
I don’t know what you mean by the SNP1 vote coming into question. But I do know that if Alba can unite with the likes of Spear and Robertson on the independence issue (or rather force their hand on the independence issue) we are more likely to achieve independence. Alba can openly oppose them on matters such as the GRA and hate crime legislation – something which they cannot do as members of the SNP without being accused of disloyalty to the party.
“There may be no sorting out later because the SNP could have a majority with an NEC full of such people to drive through gender policies. Your SNP1 vote could in effect, enable the enactment of the very legislation you don’t want, indeed, it could make it worse. Are you still willing to take the risk ?”
Even with the changes to the NEC at the last election, it does not appear to be proving effective at blocking the gender policies. You are correct that by voting SNP 1, I will be taking a chance on this. I am prepared to take that risk for the sake of independence and at least if there is a significant Alba party presence in parliament, there will probably be some opposition to these measures other than from the tories.
In a system based on political parties, we are unlikely to be able to find a party that perfectly represents our personal views on every topic. So we need to prioritise and then vote for the party or parties that best represent what we want to happen. On that basis, for me it is SNP 1 Alba 2.
After reading I think I may be starting to get the picture. 1st vote SNP 2nd vote Alba. The possibilities. You can tell I’m thinking on the run and perhaps need seem catching up. Mr Salmond. You might ossibly be a genius.
David Holden @7.44. Your comments about a Brendan O’Hara getting a bit of a doing at a branch meeting from the membership membership very much chimes with the huge dissatisfaction from SNP members the length and breadth of the Country who are utterly dismayed as to the exten5 that their elected representatives have settled in as opposed to settling up.
In thrall to being close to the Jacob Rees Moggs and the like far too many of our elected have become beguiled by their new found importance, their new found status. But in truth they are but birkies, played for what they have become, and utterly useless for what they were elected.
One even wanted to be the Speaker of the House such is the toadying nature that so many have developed. But now, in Scotland there is a new party, that will shake the Scottish Parliament and if I may add, Westminster too.
Hi all.
Re the Spoof Alba site on Twitter—-it’s been doing the rounds for a few days.
Here is the correct link put up by Wings on Friday or Saturday—–it’s the big blue square ALBA at top of article.
Just click on it.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Red says @ 11.40
‘I’m not sure what you mean by “trades as a bloc”. Trade deals don’t create trade, they only reduce barriers to trade. It’s individual buyers and sellers who do the actual trading, not the munificence of Westminster, Washington or the European Commission.’
EU trading bloc = EU member states
So if Brexit is so good, why has our ‘trade deal’ with the EU caused UK goods exports to fall by 40% ? Is that a good thing ?
Isn’t that 40% reduction the actual ‘individual buyers and sellers’ as you call them – doing less trading because of a Trade deal.
Seems to me like Trade Deals are important and they do affect the amount of trade transactions those buyers and sellers do.
@tartanfever
“So if Brexit is so good, why has our ‘trade deal’ with the EU caused UK goods exports to fall by 40% ? Is that a good thing?”
You are quoting one month’s figures out of context. EU imports fell 28% in that month as well, but this was seen as a one-off by the likes of the ONS.
So we’re agreed that brexit has badly damaged trade with the EU? Excellent.
Independent Scotland will be in the EU. Don’t like that? Head south then.
I am very concerned that if all the good eggs leave the SNP for Alba, the rotten apples (don’t you just love mixed food metaphors) will get full reign.
And I was determined to vote out Swinney – who I view as corrupt.
Where I am now. Swinney first – If Swinney loses on the Constituency vote, all the SNP votes on the list will not ‘suffer’ the initial divide, so it is very likely he will get elected on the List vote… but even if he does not, it makes it harder for Alba candidates to get elected on the List.
And we absolutely need Alba in Holyrood.
The SNP winning on the Constituency vote ‘spikes’ their list vote, but increases the power of the Indy vote for Alba on the list.
So, what happens if the elected SNP Constituency candidates get elected – and a lot of them are ‘rotten apples’.
1/ I have faith that Alex knows how to deal with them
2/ They are running out of money, almost as fast as they are running out of credibility. And they do seem to like the rewards of office.
3/ The non ‘rotten apples’ will have a valid party to decant to, and the full backing of the Indy movement, to save Scotland.
Well done Mr Salmond – you are anabling the SNP ‘loyalists’ to remain loyal to the SNP and the Indy movement, and for us ‘disgruntled ex SNPers’ a reason to lend them our vote one more time.
SNP 1 Alba 2 – Max the YES.
robbo@11:26AM,
whois data for the EU was removed from public visibility in 2018 as part of GDPR (enshrined in the 2018 DPA – until the Tories gut it) so you won’t get much info.
Better bet is to use CentralOps or DomainTools for more history. The paid membership at DomainTools gets you the full info.
TD at 10.49 –
‘Even with the changes to the NEC at the last election, it does not appear to be proving effective at blocking the gender policies. You are correct that by voting SNP 1, I will be taking a chance on this. I am prepared to take that risk for the sake of independence and at least if there is a significant Alba party presence in parliament, there will probably be some opposition to these measures other than from the tories.’
Bearing in mind that this is an election for 5 years of government, not an indy referendum, and the SNP have no realistic intention of holding one – isn’t giving the SNP a majority at Holyrood dangerous as they can then just pass whatever laws they want, despite opposition objections ?
How bad are those gender laws going to be if the the ‘gatekeepers’ of woman’s rights continue to leave for the Alba Party and are replaced by gender fanatics ?
Reminder again, this election is for five years of governance.
tartanfever – So if Brexit is so good, why has our ‘trade deal’ with the EU caused UK goods exports to fall by 40% ? Is that a good thing ?
See Mr Blue Sky (please tell us why you had to wait for so long)
Isn’t that 40% reduction the actual ‘individual buyers and sellers’ as you call them – doing less trading because of a Trade deal.
Seems unlikely trade with the EU has dropped 40% in one month (compared to the same month in the previous year) because of a free trade deal. Trade dropped overall due to the lockdowns. There’s also been a fair amount of stockpiling in advance of the new customs regime.
I think it’ll all shake out by the summer (as long as we don’t do a Third Wave lockdown), feel free to throw stuff at me if it doesn’t.
Seems to me like Trade Deals are important and they do affect the amount of trade transactions those buyers and sellers do.
That’s why we have a trade deal.
Balgowan offers his thoughts: Independent Scotland will be in the EU. Don’t like that? Head south then.
Make me.
@Red 1.20 Certainly
It’s amazing that since the BBC and Better Together made the Independence debate an economic narrative that’s mostly all anyone talks about. Love of country comes second to economics. I understand why a lot of people voted for Brexit being driven by passion. Many of us Scots voted out of passion rather than an over regard for any financial Benifits. The “Sustainable Development” agenda is a billionaire resource grab.
I see Tony Blair is telling the world “no vaccine no life”. Well thanks for locking me up depriving me of freedom holding me hostage and now blackmailing me into taking part in a dangerous vaccine trial with the promise of parole and a “freedom pass” Only in an Orwellian dictatorship would that make sense. I seem to recall a commenter on here warned about this a year ago and he was hounded off.
Neale’s decision has pleased me immensely. I do find it strange, however, that David Torrance (who has talked about independence for Scotland since our school days) does not even mention it on his election leaflet.
Dan. Fuck off with the postal vote. We’ll probably end up with Joe Biden.
Vaccines Macht Frei.
Ayeright. It would be a very good thing for you to give up watching porn. Has it been a problem for you for much of your life or has it recently manifested? SNP Onanism is bad for Independence. Mzr Sturgeon doesn’t seem all that keen on a second Independence party. I wonder why not. Have thought of reading the Bible. Do think you could maybe drop one off for Sturgeon. Mark the page with the 10 Commandments? It might help you give up your bad habits
Anybody proposing to hand over Scotland to the Tories can fuck off. You know where the border is.
tartanfever at 1.15
“…isn’t giving the SNP a majority at Holyrood dangerous as they can then just pass whatever laws they want, despite opposition objections ?”
So lets just think this through. While there are no certainties, it seems probable that even if the SNP do really badly, they will still be the largest party at Holyrood. So they would form another minority government. On gender issues, Labour, the Greens and the Libdems will support them. The only parties which will oppose them on gender issues will be the tories and I suspect Alba although I haven’t seen a policy statement on this from them so far.
So the SNP’s gender legislation will get through anyway but independence will not. Of course this is all speculative because we don’t know how many seats each party will get. But it seems to me that another five years of minority SNP government without a parliamentary majority for independence would be the worst possible outcome. Lots of wokery but no independence. Better to remove all excuses, give them a majority, but have Alba looking over their shoulders to make sure they deliver on independence and curtail their excesses on the gender stuff.
Jack Collatin says:
29 March, 2021 at 12:55 am
When are the two byelections?
A rather vacuous comment there.
Still supporting corruption and wearing dresses?
I admire Neale’s optimism, if he still thinks that the SNP under NS is really pushing for indy.
Let’s hope that he’s right and that I’m just too sceptical.
Right – got me Covid Jag – if I start to change my political personality in the next few weeks – can someone start up a Conspiracy theory on my behalf.
I’m also concerned about the Woke brigage becoming even stronger within the SNP, if all the good folk leave, and with Vote SNP1 Alba 2 – shoring up the SNP Constituency vote.
But trying to think it through.
The woke agenda cannot get voted through on its own strengths, it has to sneak in under the radar on other parties manifesto SNP or Green (Labour and Lib Dems in England).
With a second Indy Party – putting the wheels back on the Indy bus, with a good driver in the seat, and no money left in the SNP piggy bank – I don’t see this lot being able to stand on their own wokie feet and pursue their own wokie policies, and, other SNP members, MP’s and MSP’s now have Alba to decamp to and get on with getting Indy. The bottleneck and Gatekeeping is over.
For me, along with Alex back in the game, that is a gamechanger.
‘Do what I say or you’ll get the sack’ has very little power, if you can turn round and say, put your evil, vote losing, mysogenistic and frankly unelectable policy that has he haw to do with Indy, on a back burner, or I’ll move (and take my parliamentary seat with me) to the Alba Party.
Big game changer.
Tried posting this on newest thread but comment wouldn’t submit properly, now won’t re-submit as getting duplicate error message.
Someone can re-post on new thread if they want.
link to barrheadboy.com
@sarah 28 March, 2021 at 11:21 pm
“I thought I read that Tommy Sheridan is standing as an Independent in the Glasgow Southside constituency?
Whenever I have heard him speak I have liked both the content and the intensity. Reminds me of Margo MacDonald”
I didn’t think people who had a conviction for Perjury could stand for public office ? Sheridan reminds me more of Oswald Mosley given half a chance, Scotland really doesn’t need Tommy Sheridan but Tommy Sheridan needs Scotland to try to keep himself relevant while he continues rant garbage on one of Putins sponsored propaganda channels.I thought Scotland was better than just being Putins Puppets.
It’s ironic that Brexit keeps being used as the excuse for anything when the SNP was one of the most Euro-skeptic parties. Which made sense when they were actually about independence and not about pretending they wanted independence.
Which the economy being ground into dust thanks to Sturgeon and co.’s choice to lock everything down (over a year into the three week lockdown…) until there’s nothing left to save it won’t matter either way when it comes to Brexit.
High streets will look like ghost towns and job centres will be the only boom buisness, with all the misery that comes from government processing and dehumanisation and resentment towards the new wave of unemployed.
If Neale had all these princples why did he keep his mouth shut all this time like all the others turning blind eyes to corruption and cronyism? Oh yeah, because he cares about the money and job most of all. Same for all the others with their noses in the trough. The problem we have is that politicians don’t serve the people first and foremost. They just see the system as a way to climb the ladder and feather their nests.
All aboard the next gravy train to run it off the rails after a few years too…
may thanks to those who explained the D’Hondt system. Daisy, A2 and others I thanked earlier. A big thanks to Dorothy Devine @ 8:27 The MP4 was brilliant and something Alba should be promoting to all out there who don’t understand the process when they vote SNP1 & SNP2…Alba for me…
Really much appreciated..
Many thanks to those who explained the D’Hondt system. Daisy, A2 and others I thanked earlier. A big thanks to Dorothy Devine @ 8:27 The MP4 was brilliant and something Alba should be promoting to all out there who don’t understand the process when they vote SNP1 & SNP2…Alba for me…
Really much appreciated..
This line is full of testosterone anger. I’m angry too, and I’m a woman with a story as well.
Alex Salmond is a man I admire and trust.
Nicla doesn’t even come close. Rough as a badgers
[…] MP for Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath has published a A letter to the members of the SNP on Wings Over Scotland explaining his decision to quit the SNP and join the recently launched Alba […]