The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


A rapid improvement

Posted on October 17, 2018 by

The Scottish Daily Mail today has a big headline relaying the seemingly-unambiguous bad news that unemployment in Scotland has apparently risen by 11,000.

But cheer up, folks, because better times are ahead.

Specifically, in fact, they’re just four paragraphs away:

Because despite what any reasonable sane person would conclude from the headline (“11,000 more jobless”), Scotland’s unemployment figures are in fact DOWN, again (by 14,000), and are now less than HALF of what they were in 2010.

That doesn’t tell the whole story, of course, with savage Tory welfare reforms having driven many people into insecure and low-paid work in order to avoid starvation. But nonetheless, it’s a piece of stupendously dishonest headline misdirection to try to pretend the figures are moving in the opposite direction to what they really are.

It’s almost as if, readers, the headline was always a lie.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

1 Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. 17 10 18 14:56

    A rapid improvement | speymouth
    Ignored

283 to “A rapid improvement”

  1. handclapping
    Ignored
    says:

    Its worth the fundraising just to have you read the MSM on my behalf.

    What happens if you get PTSD? What will we do then?

  2. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m just a twat in a flat but I think these hacks may have an anti-democratic agenda.

    Journalism Ethics
    http://communication.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-89

  3. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Newspapers treat people as though they’re stupid then tell them they’re not stupid by buying a paper that treats them as though they’re stupid

    It’s a clever manipulation of people when you can smirkily tell them right to their face what you really think of them whilst simultaneously congratulating them for their genius on newspaper selection

    Do that in the pub, but they never have to face their public do they

  4. starlaw
    Ignored
    says:

    The quicker the Daily Mail’s redundant the better.

  5. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    What is this “overall employment rate” of “74.9%” of which they speak?

    Apparently it’s the number of 16-64 year olds in employment.

    Sounds like a figure which tells us very little.

    For one thing, most 16-18 year olds are probably still at school and a great many 18-24 year olds still in education. Then there are mothers of young children who cannot, or chose not to, work. At the other end of this age group are fortunate folks who can afford to be retired early.

    And that’s before we consider those who are medically unfit to work.

    What totally bollocks measurement!

  6. Patsy Millar
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu, I don’t know what we’d do without you. If we eventually get independence you will have to be given a huge amount of the credit for it.

  7. Chick McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Could well be wrong but I presume a large whack of that reduction in ’employed’ is down to seasonal fruit pickers, many of whom will have returned to their home country for the Winter and thus not affecting the claimant figures here.

  8. Highland Wifie
    Ignored
    says:

    Worth remembering that all women between 60 and 64 are not eligible for the state pension.
    If lucky enough to have an occupational pension or other means to live on while waiting for state pension then they could account for a chunk of the 11000 ‘jobless’.
    Women, jobless. lol 🙂
    Handy to be able to use it in a headline to mislead though. Liars gonna lie.

  9. S.Perspective
    Ignored
    says:

    In all fairness though, there is a difference between the claimant rate and the number of people actually seeking work. One can rise while the other sinks.
    So there is always a less favourable version to choose for your headline.

  10. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    SO if the present Prime Minister of the current UK is unable to solve the unsolvable Ireland border issue, in Brussels this evening… would that outcome make the ‘Great British Pound’ drop even further on international exchange ratings, by nightfall?

    Scottish independence would be a rapid improvement.

    Giving rise to loads of new job opportunities.

    Enjoy yer last supper le soir PM.

    No deal is looming.

  11. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Think the headline should be “rabid” rather than rapid.

    Daily Mail= rabid

  12. Evelyn Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    It is more likely that rather than QUIT work they were probably employed in one of the many firms to close i.e M&S and Frasers.

  13. Calum McKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Who but an idiot would buy the mail, let alone buy it?

    Ross Thomson perhaps?

  14. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    “On Monday, SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met Theresa May …

    However, rumours are circulating in certain corners of Westminster and Holyrood that Theresa May did much more than give Ms Sturgeon an ‘update’ – that instead she offered the SNP leader a deal: a second independence referendum in return for abstentions by SNP MPs when May’s Brexit ‘deal’ eventually limps into the Commons chamber for MPs to vote whether to accept or reject it.

    May is thought to be making a desperate attempt to offset the inevitable loss of DUP support that would follow a compromise with the EU on the Irish border question, even though the move would trigger yet more chaos in Tory ranks.

    The SNP was asked early on Tuesday afternoon to answer whether there is any substance to the rumours. More than twenty-four hours later and in spite of several reminders, it has failed to make the simple denial that would put the rumours to bed.” from: https://tinyurl.com/ybhp75h9

    Personally suspect May might have offered Scotland to stay in CU/SM (along lines Rev Stu proposed some months back) in order to solve the intractable EU-NI border issue. That would have made more sense. May is caught between a rock and a very hard place. She can’t have a hard border in Ireland, must respect the GFA, give English voters what they voted for and, MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL, hold onto Scotland’s oil, gas and renewable resources. Offering our FM a differentiated deal along the lines the Rev proposed would solve pretty much everything for her.

  15. Kevin
    Ignored
    says:

    Is that today?
    Okay, another pile of poison dumped behind the Corn Flakes boxes.

  16. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Cactus says:

    Prime Minister of the current UK is unable to solve the unsolvable Ireland border issue

    Unwilling. She could solve it with Norway or allowing NI to be different if all else fails or just cancel the whole fiasco. She chooses not to.

    Anyways, your point was about …

    … Great British Pound’ drop even further … Scottish independence … No deal is looming

    Quite a catalogue of self inflicted harm, and all for very doubtful reasons. Still, maybe an ill wind does blow some good for the Indy cause.

    That saddens me because I would prefer Scotland to achieve self determination without it being at the cost of widespread damage elsewhere. Still, on the matter of choice, England has chosen much of what is happening.

  17. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    @cactus @me

    Apologies, OT too soon probably.

  18. robert alexander harrison
    Ignored
    says:

    You read any England rag like that you’ll find contradictions before you’ve even reached half way typical English nationalists just because Scotland under the snp is doing better than the rest of the UK under the torys

  19. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    IMHO, the hack in the yoonstream better look for a new direction in life, as I doubt an independent Scotland will tolerate their pish.

    Bioethics as a Governance Practice

    Abstract

    Bioethics can be considered as a topic, an academic discipline (or combination of disciplines), a field of study, an enterprise in persuasion. The historical specificity of the forms bioethics takes is significant, and raises questions about some of these approaches. Bioethics can also be considered as a governance practice, with distinctive institutions and structures. The forms this practice takes are also to a degree country specific, as the paper illustrates by drawing on the author’s UK experience. However, the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics can provide a starting point for comparisons provided that this does not exclude sensitivity to the socio-political context. Bioethics governance practices are explained by various legitimating narratives. These include response to scandal, the need to restrain irresponsible science, the accommodation of pluralist views, and the resistance to the relativist idea that all opinions count equally in bioethics. Each approach raises interesting questions and shows that bioethics should be studied as a governance practice as a complement to other approaches.

    Keywords: Bioethics, Governance, UNESCO Declaration, Ethics committees, Legitimation, UK Bioethics

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4754320/

    Ethical and deontological aspects of online journalism. Their perception by journalists

    Abstract:
    Digital journalists from three countries (Belgium, Spain and Italy) argue that the ethical exercise of journalism depends on the personal and professional values of journalists as well as on external factors (of commercial, economic, political and technological nature). Journalism ethics is, thus, influenced by the working conditions as well as the technology used to carry out the professional activity. However, the degree of independence of the media companies where journalists work, and their personal values are perceived as the most influential factors in the ethical practice of journalism, while the influence of the interaction with the public and its opinions are considered as secondary.

    http://www.revistalatinacs.org/070/paper/1036us/RLCS-paper1036en.pdf

    Deontological Code for the Journalistic Profession

    Preamble

    In the framework of the civil rights, enshrined in the Constitution and which form the basis of a wholly democratic society, journalism is an important social tool which puts into effect the free and efficient development of the fundamental rights of all citizens to freedom of information and the freedom to express one’s opinions.

    As subjects and as instruments of the freedom of expression, journalists acknowledge and guarantee that journalism is the basis from which public opinion manifests itself freely in the pluralism of a democratic state governed by the rule of law.

    However, journalists also take into consideration that when their profession uses their constitutional rights for the freedom of the expression and the right to information, their conduct is subject to limitations, which prevent the violation of other fundamental rights.

    Therefore, when taking on these obligations, and as a true guarantee which a journalist offers to Spanish society, which he/she serves, journalists understand that they must maintain, collectively or individually, irreproachable conduct when it comes to the ethics and deontology of information.

    In this sense, the journalists which form part of the Federation of the Press Associations of Spain (Federacion de Asociaciones de la Prensa de Espana – FAPE) commit themselves to maintain the binding ethic principles when exercising their profession. The general assembly of the FAPE declares the following principles and binding norms for the journalistic profession:

    http://ethicnet.uta.fi/spain/deontological_code_for_the_journalistic_profession

  20. Clootie
    Ignored
    says:

    …and they wonder why sales slump!

  21. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    Maybe they quit work because they are of pension age.

  22. grafter
    Ignored
    says:

    NICOLA…..No deals with May and her Tory scum party over Brexit. We don’t need her permission for Indyref2.

  23. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    re. the Conservative party. Their identity is intrinsically bound up with neo-colonial attitudes and paternalistic British nationalism. Undoing Britain will cause irreperable harm to the Tory psyche. Lets get busy folk, we have them on the back foot.

    Margaret Thatcher’s Nationalism

    Heath, Jowell, and Curtice analyse Margaret Thatcher’s distinctive form of British nationalism that embraced a range of issues such as strong defence, vigorous pursuit of British interests in Europe, the protection of British sovereignty, and the maintenance of the Union. They discuss how Thatcherite the electorate was on these issues. As on the economic front, Margaret Thatcher tended to be more extreme than the electorate, both on nuclear defence, where the electorate did not share her enthusiasm for the deployment of American nuclear Cruise missiles in Britain, and on the maintenance of the Union, where the electorate progressively moved away from her brand of British nationalism.

    On Europe, the Conservatives were closest to the electorate but the disunity of the party over the issue gave out confusing signals to the voters, and the Conservatives proved vulnerable to the Referendum Party created in 1995 with the aim to campaign on the preservation of British sovereignty. The results from the analysis are consistent with the ‘top?down’ theory of voting behaviour, according to which parties may be able to influence how voters see issues and can themselves shape their supporter’s attitudes.

    Keywords: British sovereignty, Conservatives, defence, Europe, nationalism, Margaret Thatcher, the top?down theory of voting behaviour, the Referendum Party, the Union

    http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0199245118.001.0001/acprof-9780199245116-chapter-4

    The Rise of New Labour: Party Policies and Voter Choices

    While referring specifically to the effects of capitalism on society, Marx’s phrase also aptly describes the evaporation of some of the Conservative’s key geopolitical commitments over the course of the post-war era. As Sir William Harcourt, Liberal leader from 1896-8, put it: ‘The Conservatives, mark my word, never yet took up a cause without betraying it in the end.’ One of the greatest ironies of British politics is the fact that the Conservative Party, despite a marked attachment to British prestige and global eminence, ended up overseeing British decline over much of the twentieth century and indeed to the present day.

    This is not to say that the Conservatives are wholly responsible for decline, nor to deny that other parties have their own catalogue of failures, but now does seem like an appropriate time to draw attention to the peculiarly destructive nature of the Conservative Party, which has failed in so many respects on its own terms.

    One of the most useful frameworks for thinking about the role of the Conservative Party in British decline was created by one of the twentieth century’s greatest conservatives, Winston Churchill. In 1948, he famously described the United Kingdom as standing ‘at the point of junction’ of ‘three great circles’ (or transnational relationships): ‘the British Commonwealth and Empire’, ‘the English-speaking world’, and ‘United Europe’. For Churchill, Britain’s unique world role derived in large part from its potential ability to unite these circles and maintain a position of great influence in each one, without becoming fully integrated into, or limited by, any of them. In Between Europe and America: The Future of British Politics (2003), Andrew Gamble adapted Churchill’s model with the addition of a fourth circle, the British Union itself, which had been so taken for granted by Churchill and his audience in 1948 that it did not merit inclusion in his schema.

    http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-destructive-tendencies-of-the-conservative-party/

    Brexit psychology: cognitive styles and their relationship to nationalistic attitudes

    The idea that our ideologies reflect our psychological motivations is not new. In an influential book titled The Authoritarian Personality (1950), Adorno and colleagues hypothesized that “ideologies have for different individuals, different degrees of appeal, a matter that depends upon the individual’s needs and the degree to which these needs are being satisfied or frustrated”. Similarly, in 1954, the famous psychologist Gordon Allport already suggested that our prejudices and ideological preferences are “unlikely to be merely specific attitude(s) toward specific group(s)… [these are] more likely to be a reflection of [a person’s] whole habit of thinking about the world”. These eloquent proposals captured the hearts and minds of researchers by making politics an extension of personal psychology, and not merely a feature of demographic circumstance.

    Even though these ideas have been around for nearly 70 years, there has been little rigorous empirical research examining how cognitive traits shape nationalism and voting behaviour. In a recent paper, we sought to investigate the extent to which individual differences in emotionally-neutral, “cold” information processing styles predict voting behaviour and nationalistic sentiments in the 2016 EU Referendum.

    http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/cognitive-styles-and-brexit/

  24. frogesque
    Ignored
    says:

    You just know eyes would rather be poked out with a rusty nail than say anything good about Scotland.

    Lying, it’s in their DNA.

  25. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    The Völkischer Beobachter daily award for untruths and hate goes to the Scottish Daily Hate Mail……..and others………

  26. sandy
    Ignored
    says:

    Are these journalists going to get a job in independent Scotland &, if so, what could they write about?
    Research appears to be beyond the majorities capabilities.

  27. sandy
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah, yes, they can report on another of the many English royal weddings or royal sprog births who in turn will get married & produce more sprogs. At least it will be at the English tax-payers’ expense.
    (Ref: Most Scots don’t give a damn – National today).

  28. mogabee
    Ignored
    says:

    I met a Mail journalist once prior to first indyref. I told those I was with not to talk to him or trust him but some thought I was exaggerating!

    Hah, I never exaggerate when it comes to liars of the media who assure you with pained expressions that they will definitely not portray you in a bad light!

    And this jackanory tells you all you need to remember…

  29. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    OT
    Oh yes, that’s a splendid big flag from AyeMail arrived today. Wasn’t sure whether it would be a small one or a large one – it’s large! Yay 🙂

  30. Wullie B
    Ignored
    says:

    EBC Pravda Quay daying tha Jobless figures dropped by 14k s that is a discrepancy of 25 jobs

  31. Artyhetty
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Women quit work’. Lazy, work shy shirkers eh! I am off to sip cocktails and not bother looking after anyone today, anyways the ‘jobless benefits’ are keeping people in the lap of luxury, why the heck would they want to ‘work’. :-/

    11.000 picked out of a hat, sadly some people will see that and be all SNP Baaaad as usual.

    The only people I know ‘quitting’ work are those who left the UK, have had great wages for same jobs as would have kept them in near poverty in the UK, so now they take early retirement. No doubt in the UKOK the little slaves of the corporate media would say they were, ‘unemployed’, if they lived in Scotland.

    ‘Jobless benefits’, that’s a new one, they must have written ‘work shy benefits’, but thought it sounded a bit harsh!

  32. orri
    Ignored
    says:

    Slacker women finally reach retirement age.

  33. Andy-B
    Ignored
    says:

    The Daily Mail really is a disgrace to the profession.

    Meanwhile what does Goregous George mean?

    https://mobile.twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/1052561715852955648

  34. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Many decades ago I was involved in some student shenanigans motivated by collecting donations for charity. The Mail reported it in a bad light. The bit which really got to me was they wrote that none of those involved could be found for comment and this was because we were hiding in shame. The truth was, there was absolutely no evidence whatsoever that any reporter has tried to contact anyone.

    We complained and that was ignored.

    Aged 18-19 that left a lasting belief that journalists are a pretty nasty underhand bunch.

    Throughout my life I have found that any stories where I have personal experience or knowledge of the topic or event, shows that their ‘news’ is at best superficial and dumbed down, or at worst inaccurate to the extent of being what we now call fake.

    So, if the stuff I have an understanding of is dubious, what does that mean for the bits I don’t have knowledge of?

    I have been life long sceptic when it comes to the media. If I ever had any doubts about my scepticism, they have been blown away in the last five years.

  35. stonefree
    Ignored
    says:

    @Proud Cybernat 3:10 pm

    If it was me,I’d be wanting an iron clad legal agreement,giving absolutely nothing to Westminster,save for abstentions in one-off deal,Whether it could be written into said deal,We don’t get the same shit as last time and they have to take Davidson South….Don’t see it…They’re Tories ,They lie and cheat

  36. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    We’ve all heard of #FakeNews, unfortunately #Fakeheadline and the plural seem to be quiet and run in the USA.

  37. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Reluctant Nationalist
    Here’s on just for you, with your MA in Psychology.

    Do Racism, Conservatism, and Low I.Q. Go Hand in Hand?
    Lower cognitive abilities predict greater prejudice through right-wing ideology.

    ….What this study and those before it suggest is not necessarily that all liberals are geniuses and all conservatives are ignorant. Rather, it makes conclusions based off of averages of groups. The idea is that for those who lack a cognitive ability to grasp complexities of our world, strict-right wing ideologies may be more appealing. Dr. Brian Nosek explained it for the Huffington Post as follows, “ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simple solution. So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies.” For an excellent continuation of this discussion and past studies, please see this article from LiveScience….
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/millennial-media/201304/do-racism-conservatism-and-low-iq-go-hand-in-hand

  38. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy-B says:

    Meanwhile what does Goregous George mean?

    Probably means he’s thick enough to believe highly improbable rumours!

    The SNP would definitely not facilitate May’s deal under any circumstances. That would be handing over a stick to be beaten with for ever more.

  39. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @galamcennalath
    That’s interesting, decades ago I was too, organisers off to Paris for trips supposedly and so on. Luckily I had too many sponsors and by the time I’d collected it (well, most of it) all the story had come out so I just gave it direct to a charity.

  40. sandy
    Ignored
    says:

    Tories hell-bent in getting welfare claimants into work. Where is all this work? The way things are going with brexshit, England is going to be in a sorry state. Work, yes, zero hour contracts, slave wages, populace too weak to resist due to starvation. Those desperate enough looting shops to survive.
    The Venezuela of Europe. Rice & flour flown in on emergency flights.
    What a bright future.
    Can Scotland cope with a refugee crisis on it’s border?

  41. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @grafter says: 17 October, 2018 at 4:00 pm:

    ” … NICOLA…..No deals with May and her Tory scum party over Brexit. We don’t need her permission for Indyref2.”

    You are correct, grafter. Here is our First Minister telling them just that:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCPYanh_7e0

    BTW: Just to bang another wrong story on the head, note the age group mix in the SNP audience. They will be, I think, mainly branch delegates.

    Now I may be wrong but it looks to me as if the more elderly members there are very well represented.

  42. Liam
    Ignored
    says:

    galamcennalath says:
    17 October, 2018 at 1:49 pm

    Then there are mothers of young children who cannot, or chose not to, work.

    And (given this is the 2ist century, not the 1950s) more than a few fathers of young children too. Men are more than capable of raising kids. Staying at home and looking after my three was the hardest work and the best job I ever had.

  43. orri
    Ignored
    says:

    Apples and oranges being compared. Also if you’re including 16 year olds you’ve got a large number of workers who may have been doing summer jobs. There’s no mention of how many men/women in the rUK left employment at the end of August. The only figures for the UK are over the entire year.

  44. defo
    Ignored
    says:

    Ach well. Whatever keeps hereditary cnut Rothermere in orphan’s & kittens to fling on the fire, so be it.
    Are megalomanic, fascist traits genetically transferred?

  45. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    live blog of today’s preceedings at the European council summit

    https://www.politico.eu/article/european-council-summit-live-blog-no-deal-brexit-donald-tusk-theresa-may-migration/

    Also see here for Tony Connelly’s take
    https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE

  46. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Liam says:

    fathers

    You are of course completely correct. Fathers do interrupt their careers to look after children.

    That said, I have never met one, only women. So, you have my respect.

    It’s a serious business. Kids are the future for everyone and everything. The costs of and attitudes to childcare in the UK need some reappraisal.

  47. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @orri says: 17 October, 2018 at 4:32 pm:

    ” … Slacker women finally reach retirement age.”

    Now I want you to think carefully what I’m saying here.

    Those women could probably all be former employees of Glasgow Council who were all employed by Glasgow Council when Labour ran Glasgow.

  48. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Neatly done Rev.

  49. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    breaking 3 hours ago:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h389JhUCI8M

    Rather a different story from the English MSM.

  50. Robert Alexander Harrison
    Ignored
    says:

    Still the tory lapdogs with headlines like Davidson:9/10 Scots are a burden to the state ed millaband is an f#@$ing knob or the enermy of the people headline in the high Court ruling against the conservative goverment they printed this is no surprise from England supremacists like the mail.

  51. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    def
    “Are megalomanic, fascist traits genetically transferred?”

    Yes. The parent’s genes, parenting strategy and the social environment that children are raised in, all imprints ideology on the minds children. Culture becomes the mind that shapes future culture.

    Do we really want Scottish children to grow up as racists wankers, unquestioningly obedient to neo-colonial, neo-liberal, Brexitania?

  52. Josef Ó Luain
    Ignored
    says:

    Intractability is 100% intractable. Which part of that simple fact, regarding the Irish border, do the Tories and their supporters not get?

  53. Blair Paterson
    Ignored
    says:

    The only deal I want is independence., and if the unionist parties want to get more money make the rich pay their taxes the same as us no off shore or loopholes none instead they are talking about removing the older pensioners free tv .,The leader of the People’s party said he would look into the rich not paying their taxes he did not say he would put a stop to it like all the rest of them running scared of the rich they all have an L in their God it’s GoLd

  54. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Josef Ó Luain says:

    Irish border … the Tories and their supporters

    It is so crystal clear that Leave campaigners never gave Ireland a second thought in the quest for disengagement with the EU. That was callous and blinkered.

    However, May’s government(s) took a long time to come to terms with the fact that it was a major issue. Some hard advocates are still in denial. That was gross negligence.

    And even now when they are face to face with reality, they still try to sidestep with irrational suggestions of a time limited backstop. That is reckless stupidity.

  55. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Reluctant Nationalist
    Given the racialised nature of the Brexit vote and your MA in Psychology, I wonder what’s your opinion is of the cognitive sciences, especially neurophilosophy?

    Us versus Them. How neurophilosophy explains our divided politics

    Neuroscience has emerged as a new form of philosophy in recent years, with implications far beyond healthcare. At a time of divisive and turbulent politics, the study of the way the brain functions has opened the way for a new understanding of ourselves and our societies….

    How fear, emotions and ideologies play out in the brain

    Neuroscience has offered some evidence-based claims that can be uncomfortable because they challenge our notions of morality or debunk the myth about our ‘rational’ brain.

    Critically, neuroscience has enlightened us about the physicality of human emotions. Fear, an emotion we have inherited from our ancestors, is not an abstract or intangible sense of imminent danger: it is expressed in neurochemical terms in our amygdala, the almond-shaped structure on the medial temporal lobe, anterior to the hippocampus. The amygdala has been demonstrated to be critical in the acquisition, storage and expression of conditioned fear responses. Certain regions in the amygdala undergo plasticity – changes in response to emotional stimuli – triggering other reactions, including endocrine responses.

    Similarly, the way our brains produce moral reasoning and then translate it in the social context can now be studied to some extent in neuroscientific terms. For instance, the role of serotonin in prosocial behaviour and moral judgment is now well documented, with a demonstrably strong correlation between levels of serotonin in the brain and moral social behaviour.

    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/us-versus-them-how-neurophilosophy-explains-populism-racism-and-extremism/

    The R-word: “Racism” across the political spectrum
    http://cognitionandculture.net/blog/brent-stricklands-blog/the-r-word-racism-across-the-political-spectrum

    NEURO-PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
    IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE AND SECURITY

    http://www.themontrealreview.com/2009/Neuro-philosophy-of-International-Relations.php

  56. vlad (not that one)
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T
    I wonder.

    Suppose May strikes some kind of deal with the EU. AFAIKnow, come April, UK is out of EU, the 2-year transition period starts, but all, repeat all, EU rules & regulations still apply, including the new tax avoidance/money laundering regs, as does the ECJ jurisdiction.

    So, methinks, if I had a few zillions stashed away in Cayman Islands, I would be looking for zero transition period, I would want UK to crash out with no deal, NOW!

    So, I wonder, is that the agenda? Are we all blind? Is this whole circus act geared to crashing out – but making sure to be able to blame Brussels?

  57. frogesque
    Ignored
    says:

    @yesindyref2: 4.28

    Got mine today as well! Destined for a bridge this weekend along with all the other flags.

    No use having a flag in a bag. Get them out, get in their faces. We will have Indy2!

  58. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    From a post-colonial, feminist standpoint, British nationalism is bad, mk. It produces similar social constraints on the Scottish public, as those imposed on womanhood before emancipation. British nationalism denies political agency to Scotland and the Scottish public.

    Reconstructing the history of nationalist cognition and everyday nationhood from personal accounts

    Abstract

    New approaches to nationalism have focused on the role of human agency within nation?building structures (nationhood from below, everyday nationalism, experiences of nation, personal nationalism, etc.). However, the development of specific methodologies is still scarce. This paper proposes the use of personal accounts (mostly journals and autobiographies, but not only) as sources for qualitative historical research in nations and nationalism. Departing from the concepts of ‘identity’, ‘experience’ and ‘memory’, it is argued that, although very problematic, these sources are a valid path to the study of nations as they are: social phenomena of discursive nature and political frame, whose real agents are individuals. When these agents narrate their lives employing the nation as a meaningful category, they are not producing mere second?hand reflections of superior and prior realms, but are performing microhistorical acts of nation?making that are significant for understanding any case of nation?building. The paper includes an empirical example using British personal accounts from the Age of Revolutions (c.1780–1840).

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nana.12427

    Ideology as Motivated Cultural Cognition
    How Culture Translates Personality into Policy Preferences

    https://www.psa.ac.uk/sites/default/files/conference/papers/2017/Ideology%20as%20Motivated%20Cultural%20Cognition.pdf

    CULTURAL NATIONALISM: A REVIEW AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
    http://roar.uel.ac.uk/4165/1/51-151-1-PB.pdf

  59. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @frogesque
    I might do a bridge some time. We went down the M74 to the Lakes for a treat the kids had done for my wife’s birthday some months back and there were flags over a bridge somewhere towards the border. It got a few hoots from people, and a smile on my face 🙂

  60. Rock
    Ignored
    says:

    grafter says:
    17 October, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    “NICOLA…..No deals with May and her Tory scum party over Brexit. We don’t need her permission for Indyref2.”

    Cautious Establishment lawyer Nicola stood “shoulder to shoulder” with “Tory scum” Saint Theresa and the “ghastly” Boris Johnson as they declared war on Russia after a false flag operation.

    Cautious Establishment lawyer Nicola knows perfectly well that she would have to go into exile in Brussels if she dared hold an independence referendum without Westminster’s permission.

    Rock (8th October 2017 – “The shoogly peg”):

    “I can say with 100% confidence that Saint Theresa is not going to give permission to Nicola to hold another referendum before Brexit has been completed.

    I can say with 99% confidence that Nicola will not dare defy Saint Theresa.

    If she does, the recent events in Catalonia will look like a picnic in comparison.

    The fascist British state is far far worse than the fascist Spanish state.

    The worst part of it, more than half of Scots will be on the side of the fascist British state.

    After all the Irish and Scots will remain “British” until judgement day and beyond.”

  61. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    Regarding the rumour that May might have offered Nicola sturgeon a 2nd Indyref in return for SNP abstentions in the “meaningful vote” on Brexit. It sounds plausible since May is desperate to get her deal through that vote.

    I doubt the rumour is true though as it would be an admission that whatever deal she hopes to get with the EU then May believes that she will lose that vote in Westminster and I doubt very much she would admit her weakness to Nicola Sturgeon.

    Then Gorgeous George comes up with his own rumour that Nicola Sturgeon has already accepted such a deal. Well that is too ridiculous for words. Maybe he started the original rumour lol.

  62. defo
    Ignored
    says:

    “Do we really want Scottish children to grow up as racists wankers, unquestioningly obedient to neo-colonial, neo-liberal, Brexitania?”

    No Cameron mate, it’s specifically why I give a feck.

    BTW, and defo no offence,but you seem to be afflicted by a condition often found in academia. The rarefied air seems to make people see the world as if others are of the same cloth as them, maybe just not so well edumacated.
    Depending upon your definition of racist, I doubt you would find a majority, whoif honest, had never had a racist thought. I certainly have, but then people do change.
    This applies across the cultures, whites don’t have the monopoly here.
    Nastiest b’stard i ever met, racist wise, was a high caste Indian. Hated everybody 🙂

    I don’t want my kids to grow up in a politically correct version of reality either, scared to call a woman a woman.

  63. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    OT

    For those who are looking forward to Doctor Who on a bus with Rosa Parks on Sunday

    http://archive.is/9fYZe

  64. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    The media, especially the BBC, is desperate to do Scotland down, as self-confidence is essential for making positive life changes. Contemporary Britain is characterised by a rejection of Enlightenment principles and an increasingly authoritarian cultural chauvinism. Brexit is an English disease, Scotland will only harm itself if it succumbs to England’s isolationist exceptionalism.

    #DissolveTheUnion

    Cognitive underpinnings of nationalistic ideology in the context of Brexit

    Abstract

    Nationalistic identities often play an influential role in citizens’ voting behavior and political engagement. Nationalistic ideologies tend to have firm categories and rules for what belongs to and represents the national culture. In a sample of 332 UK citizens, we tested whether strict categorization of stimuli and rules in objective cognitive tasks would be evident in strongly nationalistic individuals. Using voting behavior and attitudes from the United Kingdom’s 2016 EU referendum, we found that a flexible representation of national identity and culture was linked to cognitive flexibility in the ideologically neutral Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Remote Associates Test, and to self-reported flexibility under uncertainty. Path analysis revealed that subjective and objective cognitive inflexibility predicted heightened authoritarianism, nationalism, conservatism, and system justification, and these in turn were predictive of support for Brexit and opposition to immigration, the European Union, and free movement of labor. This model accounted for 47.6% of the variance in support for Brexit. Path analysis models were also predictive of participants’ sense of personal attachment to the United Kingdom, signifying that individual differences in cognitive flexibility may contribute toward ideological thinking styles that shape both nationalistic attitudes and personal sense of nationalistic identity. These findings further suggest that emotionally neutral “cold” cognitive information processing—and not just “hot” emotional cognition—may play a key role in ideological behavior and identity.

    cognitive flexibility nationalism ideology political psychology Brexit

    http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/04/17/1708960115.short

    Nation?states and states of mind: Nationalism as psychology
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08913819608443419

    Nationalism in Settled Times
    https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/bonikowski/files/bonikowski_-_nationalism_in_settled_times.pdf

  65. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Theresa May there saying ‘Now is the time’ for a deal.

    Honestly, if I had a Theresa May punch bag it would well and truly be burst now.

    #WhenItSuitsYouMadCow

  66. sandy
    Ignored
    says:

    Say one thing, Rock is very well balanced, a chip on both shoulders.

  67. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    defo
    I may be overdoing it a bit, but I think Britain’s racists heritage is of enormous significance to our situation. I don’t hate white folk, I’m one myself. 🙂

  68. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    May says, “now is the time”.

    Ear prick up all around Scotland!

    No! Not time for THAT you silly jocks!

  69. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cameron B B, can ye no calm doon a bit?
    Life’s too short tae read a’ that stuff…for me anyway…does ma heid in…short and sweet and sure, link as much as you like as is your entitlement

    I did though read your 6.28pm comment and previous ones like that but as for the longer ones i will send you a bill for wearing out my scroll button when my mouse packs in Lol.

  70. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Contemporary British nationalism articulates white supremacist ideology and cultural intolerance towards Others, including the Scots and Irish (see Brexit).

    Preference for radical right-wing populist parties among exclusive-nationalists and authoritarians

    Abstract

    The literature on authoritarianism and exclusive forms of nationalism often implies that authoritarian and exclusive-nationalist individuals will prefer radical right-wing populist parties such as Austria’s FPÖ. The theoretical case for such implications appears sound as party programmes for radical right-wing populist parties invoke rhetoric that should appeal to individuals with either of these characteristics. To date, these implications have not been examined. This article examines quantitative survey data from five Western European countries with electorally viable radical right-wing populist parties to determine whether radical right-wing populist parties are preferred by authoritarians and/or exclusive-nationalists. Analyses indicate that the radical right-wing populist parties studied here are consistently preferred by exclusive-nationalist individuals, though not necessarily to all other parties, but only inconsistently preferred by authoritarian individuals. While more nuanced investigation is still needed, it is clear that, contrary to the assumptions in the authoritarianism literature, radical right-wing populist parties cannot always rely on authoritarian individuals for support.

    Keywords Authoritarian predisposition, exclusive nationalism, radical right-wing populist parties

    http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1354068812472587

    Psychological bases of support for radical right parties
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886916301283

    What explains Brexit, Trump and the rise of the far right?
    https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095975-what-explains-brexit-trump-and-the-rise-of-the-far-right/

  71. call me dave
    Ignored
    says:

    Guess who’s not coming to dinner tonight…Yup!

    Brexit will be easy as ‘cake’ or a piece of ‘pie’…OH wait!

    ————————————————————
    Ref: Film 2010…just been watching it again. 🙂

  72. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    @ INDEPENDENT – you might mot have seen that mike cassidy posted a link to the full version of the GMS broadcast you mentioned on the previous thread.

    The interview with the German journalist is at 8 mins 15 secs into the programme. He does, as you say, spell out how unimportant UK is to the other 27 EU governments. Worth a listen.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0000q08

  73. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    Boy, Rock has real issues.

    Missing a brain is just one.

    100% positive

  74. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    I appreciate I post a lot, though I’m not the only poster who is guilty of such. I’m simply trying to share specialist insight that probably hasn’t previously been introduced to the debate. I’m sorry, I’m just brickin’ it over Brexit, so I’m trying to undo the British state’s gaslighting of Scotland. That is what we’re here for?

  75. G H Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    None of the numbers in this article make any sense.

    The latest census in 2017 gave Scotland a population of 5,424,800. 64% of these people are aged between 16 & 64 which is 3,471,872.

    https://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Equality/Equalities/DataGrid/Age/AgePopMig

    The article above claims men in work number 1,358,000 while women in work number 1,277,000 giving a total workforce of 2,635,000.

    That means there are 836,872 people between 16 & 64 who do not work. And inside this group, 106,000 claim unemployment benefit according to the article.

    So what exactly is 3.9% a measurement of then?

    And the employment rate suggests 871,440 people between 16 & 64 don’t work but that’s 34,568 people more than the number one arrives at by subtracting working men and women from the total workforce.

    In summary, I can’t believe a single number printed in this newspaper to be fair, accurate or true.

  76. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    @ CameronB Brodie – a lot of resonance with some of your posts today. I watched 22 July on Netflix yesterday. It is drama docu about the Norwegian terror attack by Anders Breivik which killed over 70 people, most of them teenagers on a school trip to the Island of Utoya.

    If anyone doubts that the Alt-right is active, organised and dangerous then watch this film. Chilling.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22_July_(film)

  77. Collie
    Ignored
    says:

    Hamish 100

    The Wings gate keeper,,,thou shalt not pass.

    Do you ever post anything other than which poster posted what?

    You are a right wee Nancy boy Hamish are you not?

    Bit of a grass, a teachers pet Hamish.

    Here comes the Polis’man Hamish.

    Away n watch yer soaps Hamish and get the knittin oot at the same time.

    “Please sir he…”

    Ya wee waste a space

  78. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cameron B B.

    Fair play Cam it’s as i say though goes over ma heid and i don’t see the relevance….i mean if i was in a pub and trying to win over a no voter…would i quote you? or any such like “stuff”?, i know you mean well and you know your subject and i don’t mean to be nasty BTW.

    Ive said my bit lol so all the best anyway Cameron.

  79. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Honestly, I’m not making it up when I suggest contemporary British nationalism articulates white supremacist ideology. The media’s constant promotion of far-right opinion has groomed the English working class into following the racist attitudes of their political elites. Scotland and N. Ireland new better than to follow England’s lead, thankfully. Perhaps because we have historical experience of English cultural chauvinism/racism.

    The politics of nationalism and white racism in the UK.

    Abstract

    This paper considers the contemporary significance of white racism and its association with nationalist sentiment amongst a cohort late middle aged white Britons, using survey responses and qualitative interviews from the 1958 National Child Development Study. We have shown that although overt racism is very limited, a substantial minority of white Britons display ambivalent feelings which have the potential to be mobilised in racist directions. We argue against the view that disadvantaged white working class respondents are especially xenophobic, and show that racist views are not strongly associated with social position.

    In exploring the clustering of different nationalist and racist sentiments amongst economic and cultural elites, and comparing these with ‘disenfranchised’ respondents with little economic and cultural capital, we show that it is actually the elite who are most likely to articulate ‘imperial racism’. By contrast, the ‘disenfranchised’ articulate a kind of anti-establishment nationalism which is not strongly racist. We also show that the elite are strongly internally divided, with a substantial number of the cultural elite being strongly anti-racist and committed to multi-culturalism, so generating strong internal factionalism between elite positions. Our paper therefore underscores how intensifying inequalities have facilitated the volatility and variability of nationalist and racist sentiment.

    KEYWORDS:
    Brexit; Racism; elites; nationalism

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29114865

    Testing the national identity argument
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/testing-the-national-identity-argument/7CC40186D6CA11F9197FABD75845804F

    Nationalism, racism, and identity: what connects Englishness to a preference for hard Brexit?
    http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/englishness-racism-brexit/

  80. jfngw
    Ignored
    says:

    Sad news about David Mundell, he has apparently been diagnosed with terminal unionism. It would appear he is near his last breadth.

  81. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    No worries mate. I’m damned if I do, not trying if I don’t. 😉

  82. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    Theresa May has left the summit now while the other 27 tuck into their dinner. President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani has just given a brief press statement which contains nothing much regarding news.

    https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/events/20181017-european-council-october-2018-day-1/120867-2-press-conference-by-ep-president-tajani-art-50-part-2-20181017

    Dinner tonight for the 27 leaders is:

    Starter: Pan-fried mushrooms

    Main course: Fillet of turbot cooked in wheat beer, with glazed vegetables and sweet potato

    Dessert: Sorbet trio of fig, pear and grape

    🙂

  83. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    The SNP don’t leak and won’t leak, ask yourself why, because every front page and TV screen would be full of *SNP Betray Scotland* the very next day

    The only political party that’s been right every step of the way doesn’t make those kind of mistakes, and as for a deal with the Tories, what planet is whoever made that up on

    I’ll bet my car on it, and I’ve got a very nice car, well it’s old but it’s very nice, well I think it is anyway, nice that is, I keep it good

  84. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    Theresa May has left the summit now while the other 27 tuck into their dinner. President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani has just given a brief press statement which contains nothing much regarding news.

    https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/events/20181017-european-council-october-2018-day-1/120867-2-press-conference-by-ep-president-tajani-art-50-part-2-20181017

    Dinner tonight for the 27 leaders is:

    Starter: Pan-fried mushrooms

    Main course: Fillet of turbot cooked in wheat beer, with glazed vegetables and sweet potato

    Dessert: Sorbet trio of fig, pear and gr*pe

    🙂

  85. Glamaig
    Ignored
    says:

    @ CameronB Brodie

    keep it up please, I dont always have the time to read them but that last batch is excellent !

  86. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    CameronB Brodie

    O/T I tried to be polite the other day, but instead of taking the hint (since repeated by others) your verbal diarrhoea is actually escalating. Jeez, it’s getting on for nearly half of the total lines of text in this thread so far, with no sign of stopping. It’s the max produced by any one person by a long, long way.

    And what’s more, virtually nothing you are furiously dumping on here has anything to do with the actual article topic. Not even close. It mostly doesn’t even have anything to do with independence as such.

    And how many interested responses does your acres of verbiage engender? One a day, maybe, if you’re lucky. That’s a fair measure of the relevance.

    Sorry, but this isn’t supposed to be some kind of self-medication for the stresses you (like the rest of us) have to endure over Brexit. It’s a distraction, sure enough, but not a relevant one. You’re farting while London burns.

    If you dispute what I’m sayin’ here’s a test: take yourself round a few doors in your neighbourhood and tell the good folk you meet all about “Deontological Code for the Journalistic Profession” and “Reconstructing the history of nationalist cognition and everyday nationhood from personal accounts” and “NEURO-PHILOSOPHY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IMPLICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE AND SECURITY” (without shouting), and see how far you get with conversions to indy. Come back and tell us how you fared.

    Or emulate many others like WGD and start your own blog/website “Amateur sociologists for indy”, watch your reader count grow, and shame me.

    Whether motivated by irrepressible monomania or rather darker motives, what you are doing here is just another form of trolling. Give us a break, FFS.

  87. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    The changes made to the site have made a big difference, as others have said posts are more or less instant but a new one for me tonight was from my last post which if you can read it has been modified as the original I posted “is awaiting moderation”.

    This is a great help as I could see what the offending word was in the original, it was gr*pe. Might be of help to you too Petra 🙂

  88. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    May misses out on summit dinner. Tutbot fillet cooked in wheat bear, glazed veggies, and sweet potato. She, presumably, gets a pizza somewhere.

  89. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Collie says:17 October, 2018 at 7:18 pm:

    ” … Away n watch yer soaps Hamish and get the knittin oot at the same time.
    “Please sir he…”
    Ya wee waste a space”

    As opposed to the class bully and congenital idiot in the back row who thinks he knows better than everyone else including the teacher, head master and deputy head. There isn’t a single person in the class who doesn’t know where that class bully will be in a few years time.

    I’m done with you now you will not get away with disrupting this blog – of that I am sure.

    Bye now. mind tghat class door has a powerful spring.

  90. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    @Thepnr

    Och, you beat me with the menu. 🙂

  91. INDEPENDENT
    Ignored
    says:

    Special thank you to Capella and Mike Cassidy, for helping get this out there.

    Hope most wingers and lurkers get a chance to listen to it.

    It’s coming yet for a that!!

  92. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert J. Sutherla
    You don’t appear to see the value in my effort, that doesn’t mean you are correct. Do one mate.

  93. INDEPENDENT
    Ignored
    says:

    OOps1 here is the link again to the previous mentioned thread.

    The interview with the German journalist is at 8 mins 15 secs into the programme. He does, as you say, spell out how unimportant UK is to the other 27 EU governments. Worth a listen.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0000q08

  94. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert J. Sutherland
    Honestly, if you can’t see the relevance of the material I’m posting, then your not trying, IMHO. You might not be keen on critical political philosophy, but others appear to be more open to enlightenment.

  95. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @RJS
    You and I see eye to eye about a lot of things. but you’re wrong about CBB’s postings. From other postings here, half of the posters value them, and half don’t. I for one, do value them.

  96. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    @ RJS – I’ll try to spell it out:

    the Alt-right dominates the BREXIT agenda and the UK media with their toxic mix of ethnic nationalism, white supremacy and anti-democracy (or fascism in short).

    The SNP Scottish Government seeks to restore democracy to Scotland and maintain links with our EU neighbours and good relations with migrants to Scotland.

    We are locked into this battle. The future status of Scotland depends on resisting those forces which are busy destroying democracy and our ability to make our voices heard.

    Stu seeks to expose the lies of the UK MSM and politicians. We seek to support him and each other in this task, by various means.

    CamreonB Brodie’s contribution is to search out and link to academic studies of the very problem we are forced to confront.

    Not everyone wants to engage with such studies. That’s fine, just scroll on by. But I don’t doubt that they are relevant and , yes, there are a few people who appreciate CBB’s posts.

  97. bob
    Ignored
    says:

    No deal Brexit looking likely

  98. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    God, or failing that the people of Scotland get us out of this terrible and unequal, unfair union.
    We have a shitstorm coming and we need to escape.
    The union will end on the 29th of March 2019.
    We need to have the lifeboats ready.
    The nation of Scotland needs to be reborn and make its own way in the world.

  99. Meg merrilees
    Ignored
    says:

    If you can only listen back to one thing today on BBC R4 you have to hear the today programme from about 8.07/8.10 through to about 8.25.

    The Irish deputy president ( Simon Coveney) head of Fine Gael was being interviewed by John Humphreys on the Irish border and the backstop.

    If you want to hear the clearest, most concise, politest and truest explanation of the facts of where the Irish border scenario really is then this is the piece of radio to listen to.

    Humphreys was almost silent for a full 15 minutes as Mr. Coveney explained exactly that the Good Friday Agreement is an International Treaty which cannot be lightly dismissed; that there is no way anyone on the island of Ireland wants to go back to the Troubles; that the Irish and British Government both have a duty to look after the outcome for the whole of the island under the GFA; whatever way you cut it, N. Ireland is already different from the rest of the UK; that T May has already signed up to the backstop in December 2017 ( of course, we all remember that, it’s only WM that has forgotten)

    At this point Humphreys interrupted to say that ‘.. of course , we all know that it is a negotiation and nothing is agreed until it is all agreed’

    Not so, said Simon, – total silence – in fact he said “No, You are wrong, John”
    and went on to explain that T May and WM have agreed, IN WRITING, that there will be a backstop and they have to uphold that agreement.

    There was stunned silence in the Today Studio as he explained exactly what the options are and it aint pretty.

    Absolutely classic political radio – no frantic interruptions from the interviewer , no opinions fobbed off onto the listener respect and most important, a truthful explanation of the facts – something we rarely get on BBC Radio these days.

    I was almost late for work because I was riveted to the spot listening to him speak.

    If you can access through the BBC controlled access then have a listen it is pure magic.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000qks

  100. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh here we go then and this will be a problem for May.

    Senior EU source says unlikely a date will be set for a November Brexit summit.

    https://twitter.com/tconnellyRTE/status/1052644812296519680

  101. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Capella
    What I do is read CBB’s comment, look at the title(s), quick look at the abstracts, and then on by. Not sure if I’ve ever clicked on a link, but they’re there if needed.

    It gives me an idea of what’s going on, AND what people have seen fit to study and report on. Simple as that really, takes a few seconds that’s all. CBB probably spends longer finding and relating! Same as me for defence in a way, some are interested, some aren’t.

    We also serve 🙂

  102. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks folks. I’m not expecting everyone to become a social scientists, though a quick glance at the headlines and abstract will embed itself in the subconscious and may stimulate further investigation. 😉

  103. wull
    Ignored
    says:

    Keep posting, Cameron. You are giving us plenty of highly relevant material, for which many thanks. Even just skim-reading the summaries can be educational, and very helpful.

    Those who don’t want to read your posts and/or links are perfectly free to skim over and skim on – or skip altogether. No one is obliging them to read any of it.

    You are not interfering in any way with their liberty, and neither should they attempt to interfere with yours. Or, indeed, with ours. If they complain, just ignore them. Freedom means we are free to read whatever we like – and, at the same time, free not to read whatever we don’t like.

    You would surely expect that anyone with a genuine interest in this site would understand freedom, and respect it. Which means respecting both their own freedom and that of other people.

    After all, the objective is a free, and independent Scotland.

  104. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    The people of England are set on a path and whether we agree or disagree that is their right.
    We have the right to set our own path and agree to differ.
    That is the right of the sovereign people of Scotland.
    That they want to cut themselves off from the largest market in the world is their right.
    We have the right to be not dragged to oblivion.
    We have to exercise that right!

  105. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    CameronBrodie.5.18pm. Think thats already underway. When i left a small ayrshire town in my early twenties.Many of the local unionist guys i knew (for want of football terminology) who held bigoted sectarian opinions, seem to have passed it on to their children. Which i note in our local when i go back home on holiday (Now in my sixties).Grandchildren,who knows, there might yet be hope for them

  106. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    wull 😉

  107. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    I think we should have a sweepstake for how Brexit turns out.
    Closest gets £1 from every contributor. A bit like super6 on Skybet.

    It’s really anybody guess right now what Mrs May is trying to achieve. I have tried so many permutations but something always comes up that makes it improbable.

    We do however have some clues

    1. She emphasises the Union staying together
    2. SOmething is keeping the Cabinet on board for now.
    3. She is refusing to consider ALL possible escape routes such as the people’s vote.

    Does she actually simply believe that Europe owes Britain special treatment due to past conflicts etc and they will feel duty bound to concede?

    I’m damned if I know.

  108. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    Iain 9.07. Problem is iain we have half a millstone of scottish unionism wrapped around our necks dragging us down and out with their english brexiteer brethren.

  109. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    Jeez, this Brexit crap looks like it’s going to drag on indefinitely by which time I will probably have died from tedium. 🙁

  110. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T
    Universal Credit

    Channel 4 news tonight did an item on Universal Credit and Scotland and its new Social Security system got a fair hearing – around 4 mins out of the 8 min segment. Jon Snow then interviewed the MP who is Labour’s Shadow Minister for Social Security – 4.43 min into the segment.

    At one point he asks her straight out if Labour will follow Scottish Government’s example and reduce the waiting time for UC from 5 weeks to 2 weeks. For a split second it looked as if she was going to say no way or just blank the question altogether as the Tory Minister did last night when Jon Snow asked him the same question. She really looked as if the very idea of following the SG’s example was going to choke her. I don’t think I imagined that hesitation.

    https://www.channel4.com/news/government-under-pressure-over-universal-credit

  111. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    CBB.I love skimming your posts, interesting articles are always catching my eye.

  112. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Bobp
    I’m not making this stuff up mate. 🙂

    Here’s one for those who choose not to believe Britain has a problem with structural racism.

    (Mis)Representing Islam
    The racism and rhetoric of British broadsheet newspapers

    Chapter 5 discusses and analyses the reporting of British Islam and British Muslims in broadsheet newspapers. The chapter is structured across five major sections, each of which analyse significant aspects of the domestic reporting of Islam and Muslims. The first two of these sections discuss the broad characteristic features of domestic coverage: the tendency of the press to divide ‘Islam’ and
    ‘the West’, even in domestic reporting; and an analysis of articles which move from such ‘strategies of division’ to ‘strategies of rejection’. The third section develops the negative representation of British Muslims further, through a more extended analysis of the domestic reporting of ‘Muslim terrorism’ in broadsheet newspapers. Fourth, the chapter analyses how the sampled newspapers represented ‘Muslim education’ and Muslim schools, focusing specifically on the coverage generated by the granting of Voluntary Aided status to two Muslim schools. The fifth section discusses items of recorded coverage which, whilst constituting a very small minority, present a much valued ‘positive’, or ‘open’
    representation (Runnymede Trust, 1997) of British Islam and Muslims.

    https://is.muni.cz/el/1423/podzim2016/ZUR584/um/51183978/43978626/Mis-representing_isalm_-_broadsheet_papers_in_britain.pdf

    How deep is Britain’s racism problem?
    https://www.huckmag.com/perspectives/reportage-2/uks-michael-browns-eric-garners/

    Understanding Prejudice, Racism, and Social Conflict
    Chapter 1: Prejudice, Racism, and Social Psychology

    http://sk.sagepub.com/books/understanding-prejudice-racism-and-social-conflict/n1.xml

  113. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Just listened to Simon Coveney on R4 on BBC website.

    Firstly, Coveney talks complete consistent sense.

    It also highlights the extent to which the BBC are cheer leaders for the Tories. With typical perfidy, May is trying to wriggle out of points which have already been agreed and signed off. That should be unacceptable behaviour and it shouldn’t need a foreign politician to come onto the BBC to point that out as unacceptable.

    Humphries, however, tries to uphold May’s dreadful behaviour as part of ongoing negotiating. Coveney tells him clearly, “you’re wrong, John” and sets the record straight.

    The BBC should be balanced, neutral, and asking questions of UK policians. It shouldn’t be trying to push UK politicians’ double dealing underhand tactics at visiting foreigners.

    Coveney was excellent, Humphries towards the end was a disgrace,

  114. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    @Legerwood

    An interesting report on Universal Credit, thanks for the link.

  115. Collie
    Ignored
    says:

    Bob Peffers

    Your posts are always interesting,,,keep them coming sir.

    Lol

  116. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    Anyroads completely of topic, After a 2 week mediterannean cruise on the ventura, my good lady and I are off to benidorm for a fortnight on fri. What is the point of all this parable of the lucky get i hear you all ask. This point is directed at the ppu’s ( piss poor unionists) . After all, if someone like me who can take 4/5 holidays a year, and is so confident in the abilities of a financially independent Scotland, that my family and I would move back there tomorrow. Ask yourselves what the fcuk are you waiting for? Harry coming back from Australia.

  117. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Bob Mack says:

    She emphasises the Union staying together

    I have always felt that is in fact her number one priority.

    Behind all the smoke and mirrors of Brexit talks, deals, cabinet argy-bargy, etc etc., I think the continuation of the UK is foremost in their minds, but not openly discussed.

    Scotland is 50:50, they know if they do something to cause significance offence we will move to being pro Indy.

    Their approach is to ignore, sideline, avoid Scotland. They would love to do the same with NI but the EU won’t let them. Avoiding generating internal rifts in the UK is what matters most.

    I reckon they just don’t have the skills and political prowess to achieve that. Their UK has a close to expiry date on it.

  118. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    CameronB Brodie @ 20:19,

    Take my doorstep test, Cam, then see who’s right. (Though I bet you and your few fans already know full well.)

    As to relevance, Off-Topic was created precisely for such wide-ranging purpose and is ready and waiting for your efforts. The few enthusiasts who are even prepared to skim over it can easily find it all there. (I notice however that no-one is actually claiming the herculanean feat of actually following up even a modest fraction of your numerous references. Who honestly has the time? It’s all window-dressing.) There’s plenty room in there, so it’s not as if you’re being being muzzled. You used to mostly post it there, because you know – or used to know – that’s where all that exotica truly belongs. But I guess you now crave more attention.

    Maybe when you’ve finally filled up every thread to the brim with your effusions and normal people just abandon hope of even trying to scroll past it all, you’ll have finally achieved your purpose, whatever the h*ll that is.

  119. Terence callachan
    Ignored
    says:

    unemployed people do not have a good standard of living on benefits, get that clear in your head, what you will find is bravado in great quantities ,that’s because even the poorest longest unemployed people have a tendency to make out they are doing better than they actually are, believe me it’s all bluff, they can’t heat their homes go out for meals etc etc, some do get help from parents and other relatives but why shouldn’t they ?
    Being long term unemployed is a miserable life.
    Take it from me I worked as a social security visiting officer for more than thirty years, I’ve seen the misery I worked for DHSS ,DofE , DWP, CSA, benefits agency, the pension service ,going to the homes of unemployed people every day for over thirty years I can tell you now for sure that you do not see how people really live until you get into their house.
    Misery ,sadness, deprivation, strength ,survival, deception cruelty these are the proper descriptive words to use when talking about long term unemployed people.
    I recently went to the new V&A Dundee to see the exhibition about ocean liners.
    It was so sad to see videos and photographs of thousands and thousands of people enjoying a lavish luxurious lifestyle on these ocean liners a hundred years ago and more and read the presentations accompanying the photos and videos saying that the companies building these liners were in a race to show off how much progress the world was making.
    What was also shown was that the world has not made progress, it made my blood boil seeing the extremely offensive luxury those thousands and thousands of wealthy people flaunted over a hundred years ago which was a far superior lifestyle to what ninety percent of people in Scotland have right now 2018.
    Scotland had a chance to change things we can give people greatly improved security, a home ,healthcare ,education, we can tax business properly and have land reform, it is obscene to see how much of Scotlands land is owned by people who sit in the House of Lords who have British passports not because they were born here or even live here they come here a few weeks at certain times of the year but live most of their life overseas and were given a British passport and a seat in the House of Lords because they paid a million £ to the uk govt or do business here.
    Taking back control is required, the people of Scotland need to take back control of their country take it back from England ,it is England that controls Scotland albeit with help from some Scottish people .
    Take back control of your country and rewrite the rule book on tax, social security ,pensions housing healthcare newspapers , broadcasters ,football and bigotry, bigoted marches and bad behaviour and most importantly our parliament , we can have a proportional representation parliament ,it will differ from the parliament we have at present because we will not have MP,s who are selected by a political party, every MP in the Scottish parliament should and will be elected by the people of Scotland after independence ,there will be no tolerance of dishonest people no tolerance of Ruth Davidson kezia dugdale and other non elected people.

  120. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    The fact that English nationism is now rampant is now to our advantage.
    England is going to Brexit, that is a fact there is nothing we can do.
    We need to be fleet on our feet and avoid the huge harm that is coming to the English economy.
    All the major manufacturers are planning on leaving.
    The uk is no longer the window on Europe it was.
    Get used to closure announcements as we will be hearing rather a lot of them.
    We need freedom as soon as possible.

  121. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert J. Sutherland
    This isn’t a doorstep though, is it? It’s closed minds like yours that will keep us in union. As I said, away and shite.

  122. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    Terence callachan. Dont always agree with some of your posts terence, but your bang on here.

  123. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    May might consider a transition period extension, reports the media!

    Jeez, it’s being offered as an inducement. It’s intended to be a benefit for the UK. It’s a carrot to allow more time to get a trade agreement in place.

    From some of the reporting you’d think May was doing the EU a favour by accepting.

  124. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    @Terence callachan

    You’ve surprised me, that was an excellent post with a lot of truth in it and so different to what you’ve posted in the past. More of the same would be good.

  125. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    BBC news: November Summit is off.

    ……………………

    Theresa May’s classic answer … fisheries … to everything thrown at her by SNP MPs. I reckon they should pre-empt this by stating before / after their statement / question, that it was the Tories that sold the Scottish fishermen out.

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16989011.pmqs-ian-blackford-embarrasses-theresa-may-using-her-own-words/

    ………………

    https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2018/10/17/nhs-scotland-compensating-for-serious-bed-shortages-in-england/

    …………………

    Cameron please keep on posting. I particularly liked your Maggie Thatcher nationalism article earlier. If people aren’t too keen on the articles surely they should just scroll on by. Additionally I can’t understand why this has come to pass when I can think of at least half a dozen people who post on here who should stick to posting in O/T, better still not posting at all.

  126. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    RE Terence Callachan
    I couldn’t agree more who would choose to have a shit life.
    I have a friend on benefits who after a lifetime of work has had a very disabling stroke. He is affected by terminal kidney disease and the dss cut his benefits every year.
    To top it all he has terminal dementia.
    Every year he has a huge fight to retain his meagre benifts.
    We have to leave this terrible union.

  127. Iain mhor
    Ignored
    says:

    @RJS 9:43pm
    Don’t fall into the trap of “I don’t like it therefore no-one does” or the equally alluring “Those who actually post BTL are the majority of Wings readers ergo speak for them”
    Have another see look at Wings stats and take a humility chill pill.
    I post and sometimes some right rare pish I have nae doubt, but would I care to speak for other Wingers? Naw.
    There is a lot of inanity BTL including mine, You’ve a fair few to admonish before you reach CBB.
    It’ll be a busy time for you. Otherwise it smacks of specific bias.

  128. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks Petra. I’m definitely not claiming I know it all, but my background gives me an insight into how to decolonise minds.

  129. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    @Terence callachan

    Yes, it’s just not right.

    The UK is one of the most unequal (the most?) states in Europe.

    It isn’t asking too much that everyone in our society has a decent life.

    Yet Tory philosophy, in fact UK in general, believes that it is acceptable to have impoverished families. We can have a better society.

  130. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    Scotland could be as rich as Switzerland.
    That was the conclusion of the Mc Crone report.
    Why is the state acting like such a cheapskate.
    Then again we would be an English colony.

  131. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Terence at 9:43pm ….

    Great post Terence showing the Scottish traits of understanding, empathy and compassion.

  132. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Bob Mack ‘It’s really anybody guess right now what Mrs May is trying to achieve. I have tried so many permutations but something always comes up that makes it improbable.’

    Look to Gibraltar. Past few days numerous new releases of ‘significant’ progress re Gibraltar’s Brexit.

    Gibraltar is a Tax Haven. If the deal being brokered there involves continued use of the European Court of Justice – its days as a tax haven are limited. If they have managed (and I could find no published details) to negotiate something other than ECJ legal rule, then the British Establishment have won.

    This would be the back door to hide all the tax dodging trust funds they’ve built up over 100’s of years. The wealth accumulated through wars, through empire, through slave trades and colonisation and the rape of continents.

    By contrast Scotland’s assets (as significant and substantial as they are) are the cash cow to fund Brexit any which way.

    Big Treeza’s antics, and those of the DUP, are just smoke and mirrors to keep everyone occupied and kick the can down the road while the real negotiation takes place somewhere else. And the real negotiation is about the tax havens.

    My best guess is we are in the hands of Europe’s Elite, with their own wealth to hide, and the leverage is the cost to their businesses and countries in the event of a No Deal Brexit.

    Kind regards to all.

  133. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    It looks like there will not be any clarity on Brexit anytime soon. Can’t help believing that it was always going to be this way. All the bullshit spouted in the past was just that.

    The SNP would have been truly mad if they were to push for a second referendum before all this crap is sorted out. That though in itself is a problem because when can we say that it is finally sorted out?

    I don’t see that being anytime soon, Barnier stating “we need more time, much more time” is exactly what I would expect to happen. I doubt the EU are willing to extend the Article 50 end date just for the sake of the Tory party but they will if there is to be a general election or a second EU referendum.

    The only date written in stone other than the 29th March is on 21 January when May must tell parliament that it hasn’t been possible to achieve a deal and spell out what the government intend to do next.

    I don’t see us getting to that date without the government losing a vote of No confidence. On probability I’d say we are heading for a general election spring next year after agreeing an extension to Article 50 with the EU to get our shit in order.

    See after that… 🙂

  134. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    May is worried about fishing? Why does she allow this monopoly type policy exist?

    Could they all be Brexit supporters and Tory donors?
    https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/10/11/fishing-quota-uk-defra-michael-gove/

    Hope the snp will say they will remove this abuse.

  135. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Terence callachan
    Gasp! Nearly fell aff ma chair.

  136. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ CameronBBrodie

    I like the thought of ‘decolonised minds’. What a very good cause. Keep up the good work.

    Some random thoughts.

    I read with interest the SIC’s article about the research it has carried out, and the lines of communication, which have good success rates, for persuading No’s to become Yessers.

    Given the bias of the MSM, I really think the SIC needs to share that info, get the posters made and out there. We have a significant amount of ground to cover, and we have to do it drip by drip, person to person, one anecdote, one fact at a time. That is our strength (and also our only method). A brilliant policy, a brilliant meme, a brilliant graphic, a brilliant theme – will not get out there in time, if its kept too close to the SIC’s chest.

    And we are running out of time.

    The SNP got a lot of stick for its 2016 GE, one thing I don’t think was realised enough, it was deliberate Snap election, so we could not mobilise in the same way we did with Indy1. And it was twice disrupted by Terrorist events – pushing the SNP off the TV at critical times.

    We need to take a leaf out of Scotland’s An Onion. They bypass electoral commission rules, by campaigning all the time, even outwith elections.

    Brexit is easy. There is no good news about Brexit. People are pre-disposed to listen to and believe bad news. Let them have it, they will be receptive. Then give them hope.

  137. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Terence Callachan,

    It was ever thus. You are indeed right on so many levels. I believe we can do so much better for every individual who has made a life here.
    Thanks.

  138. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    If the info coming out of Brussels is correct and there is no date set for a November summit.

    Then 11/11/18 events are going to be even more wall to wall than expected.

    Mrs May will be presented as maggie and churchill rolled into one. Heaven help us.

    So, with that in mind.

    26:13

    We Wear Twa Poppies,
    And At The Going Down Of Sun,
    And With Our Votes,
    We Remember.

  139. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker
    According to Michel Foucault, power controls what knowledge is deemed credible. Phenomenal conservatism (the way we understand the world through thinking shortcuts), means we are predisposed to accept whatever explanatory information is available. If you control the production of accepted explanatory knowledge, you have control over the populations potential to think. I’m simply trying to provide alternative explanatory knowledge.

    Decolonizing The Mind (DTM)
    A theoretical framework for decolonizing the university

    Introduction

    A growing body of literature on decolonizing knowledge has resulted in a wide array of perspectives and ideas in the critique of Western knowledge production. In this article I deal with one particular approach: Decolonizing The Mind (DTM). It aims to contribute to the development of a coherent theoretical framework for decolonizing knowledge and power.

    https://www.iisr.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DTM-theoretical-framework-final.doc

    Decolonising geographical knowledges
    https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/tran.12195

    Decolonising the curriculum: what’s all the fuss about?
    https://www.soas.ac.uk/blogs/study/decolonising-curriculum-whats-the-fuss/

  140. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s some of that Simon Coveney/ John Humphry clash on the Today programme.

    https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/irish-deputy-pm-simon-coveney-on-radio-4-today-1-5740040

    (not archived so that sound link works)

  141. Dave McEwan Hill
    Ignored
    says:

    OT
    Here’s what the Sun said on January 23rd 1992. We should understand the pressure on the press to reflect what a significant percentage of its readership should like to hear . A stupid position of not understanding this is helping to destroy our faltering press . The Record is some way along the sensible road.

    “The Scottish Sun has been thinking long and hard about what form of government would best serve our future . We have come to the inescapable conclusion that Scotland’s destiny lies as an independent nation within the European community. The political and economic union with England is now nearly 300 years old.It has served us well in the past, but as links with Europe strengthen, that union had become more and more unnecessary. The time has come to break the shackles.To collect our own taxes. To run our own lives. To talk to other nations in the world on our behalf. For too long – for 300 years too long – we have thought of ourselves as a second class nation, somehow not worthy or capable of being an independent state. This is nonsense. With independence Scotland could be one of the wealthiest small nations in Europe.”

    Says it all really. Can we suggest to them they do another front page “Rise now – and be a nation again” which I still have in laminated protection.

  142. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Help me Rona Dougall interviewed a young Conservative on Scotland tonight who basically sat there with a blank stupid expression on his face and looking like he needed a hanky for a good greet while a lady who knew what she was talking about rubbished every childish dollop of Doo da that dribbled from his pre pubescent gub through his cultivated grown up wee beard

    I’m painting a picture not insulting the twat, Ooops! The devil made me say it

  143. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    Cameron B Brodie,

    Please continue posting your comments. If I choose to not read a comment by you, then I just scroll on by. It is such a pity that your moist vocal critic doesn’t have the ability to do the same.

    Honestly, some folk could argue with their shadow on here.

    Your comments are very appreciated Cameron. Continue treating your critics with the utter contempt they deserve. If I were you, I’d be tempted to post more frequently right now, just for entertainment purposes.

  144. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr Jim

    This will be the wee beardy drooler.

    http://archive.is/9zOaN

    Maybe he sees Mundell as a role model!

    And this would be the nanny who gave him a good spanking!

    https://twitter.com/KirstyS_Hughes

  145. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    @mike cassidy

    That indeed was the lady, very matter of fact and no dramas however the wee Tory boy, well just embarrassing really, St Andrews too eh letting his school down a bit there, he’ll be a laughing stock with his chums or they’ll avoid him like the plague, you know thon quick turn around when you say it’s him pretend you didnae see him, heids doon

  146. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    Meant to give a link to wee beardy drooler’s twitter page.

    Know them by their friends and all that.

    https://twitter.com/jamesbundy?lang=en

  147. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Louis
    Now that wouldn’t be nice and I don’t mean to cause disruption. However, I posted this a couple of years ago, as an alternative to the Queen’s Christmas speech. I think it could do with another airing.

    Colonizing and decolonizing minds

    The colonization of each other’s minds is the price we pay for thought.1 Mary Douglas

    Whereas the most visible forms of political colonialism have for the most part disappeared from the planet by the end of the millennium, several of its consequences remain with us. Criticism of colonialism, accordingly, has shifted its focus to its more subtle and lasting manifestations. Prominent among these are the varieties of what came to be known as the ‘colonization of the mind’. This is one of the forms of ‘epistemic violence’ that it is certainly the task of philosophers to contribute to identify and struggle against. ‘Postcolonial’ thinkers have undertaken not only to analyze this phenomenon, but also to devise strategies for effectively combating and hopefully eradicating colonialism’s most damaging aspect – the taking possession and control of its victims’ minds….

    https://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/philos/dascal/papers/Colonizing%20and%20decolonizing%20minds.doc

  148. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    FFS i’m sorry but i can not hold back further
    Decolonizing The Mind (DTM)
    A theoretical framework for decolonizing the university

    Introduction

    “A growing body of literature on decolonizing knowledge has resulted in a wide array of perspectives and ideas in the critique of Western knowledge production. In this article I deal with one particular approach: Decolonizing The Mind (DTM). It aims to contribute to the development of a coherent theoretical framework for decolonizing knowledge and power.”
    Enough is enough. sorry mate had enough.
    I know 5 or 6 peeps on here have liked this stuff but what about the other 2 hundred thousand per month?.
    is this how convince no voters????

  149. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ CameronBBrodie ‘
    ‘Phenomenal conservatism (the way we understand the world through thinking shortcuts), means we are predisposed to accept whatever explanatory information is available’

    Thanks Cameron, I find it very interesting (if hard going) and I appreciate your efforts.

    What I see, is that people’s positions are often illogical, and deeply emotional. They will hang an issue onto it

    eg I’m voting no because I don’t want Scotland to leave the EU.

    And when the circumstances change, they simply dump that issue and keep the position, but this time with ‘attitude’ at being caught out in their hypocrisy.

    This business of appealing to the emotions and being factually accurate. And of course being drowned out by MSM. Its all very complicated.

    If its OK I’ll just try and keep it simple.

  150. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    So come the next election……Phenomenal conservatism (the way we understand the world through thinking shortcuts), means we are predisposed to accept whatever explanatory information is available’

    Does for me…not
    Get a life

  151. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker
    Best to. 😉

    The neurobiology of emotion–cognition interactions: fundamental questions and strategies for future research

    Abstract

    Recent years have witnessed the emergence of powerful new tools for assaying the brain and a remarkable acceleration of research focused on the interplay of emotion and cognition. This work has begun to yield new insights into fundamental questions about the nature of the mind and important clues about the origins of mental illness. In particular, this research demonstrates that stress, anxiety, and other kinds of emotion can profoundly influence key elements of cognition, including selective attention, working memory, and cognitive control. Often, this influence persists beyond the duration of transient emotional challenges, partially reflecting the slower molecular dynamics of catecholamine and hormonal neurochemistry. In turn, circuits involved in attention, executive control, and working memory contribute to the regulation of emotion. The distinction between the ‘emotional’ and the ‘cognitive’ brain is fuzzy and context-dependent.

    Indeed, there is compelling evidence that brain territories and psychological processes commonly associated with cognition, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and working memory, play a central role in emotion. Furthermore, putatively emotional and cognitive regions influence one another via a complex web of connections in ways that jointly contribute to adaptive and maladaptive behavior. This work demonstrates that emotion and cognition are deeply interwoven in the fabric of the brain, suggesting that widely held beliefs about the key constituents of ‘the emotional brain’ and ‘the cognitive brain’ are fundamentally flawed. We conclude by outlining several strategies for enhancing future research. Developing a deeper understanding of the emotional-cognitive brain is important, not just for understanding the mind but also for elucidating the root causes of its disorders.

    Keywords: ACC, amygdala, anxiety, depression, emotion control and regulation, EEG/ERP, fMRI, PFC

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4344113/

    Affect and Political Choice
    http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199793471.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199793471-e-66

    Cultural Psychiatry: Lecture #9 The mental health of indigenous peoples pt 1
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2TCSb9zcaw

  152. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    Try opening your mind.

  153. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Come the next elections if we get that far all three British parties in Scotland are already combining their efforts and strategy to oust the SNP candidates from the most marginal seats

    No more in Scotland will you see Tory Labour and Liberal Democrat campaigning separately they have become The British National party one for all and all for one

    They might find this strategy risky though people don’t like being taken for mugs and this will be a lot more obvious this time

  154. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    Britain Decides
    ?
    2 hours ago

    BREAKING: EU officials say European Union leaders have dropped plans for a Brexit summit in November because not enough progress has been made.

    Because that is what the Tories want (AND need)–a NO-DEAL. It’s ALL about the FEW keeping hidden the wealth they have stolen and hidden overseas from the MANY. EU laws from 29 March 2019 (the official date UK Brexits) would have demanded transparency from UK overseas tax havens.

    No effing chance, says UK. And that is what Brexit is ALL ABOUT. Farage was just the front man stoking the fires of racism to the gullible to ensure the desired result was brought about for his tax haven masters.

    There are truly none so blind…

  155. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cam how dare you… up to now i have been polite, what makes you think you are somewhat superior?

  156. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    I don’t think I’m superior but what’s your understanding of post-modern critical social theory?

  157. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    a university education? LOL yeah right

  158. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    I’m trying to share specialist knowledge specific to our circumstance.

    Emotion, rationality, and decision-making: how to link affective and social neuroscience with social theory

    Abstract

    In this paper, we argue for a stronger engagement between concepts in affective and social neuroscience on the one hand, and theories from the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, and sociology on the other. Affective and social neuroscience could provide an additional assessment of social theories. We argue that some of the most influential social theories of the last four decades—rational choice theory, behavioral economics, and post-structuralism—contain assumptions that are inconsistent with key findings in affective and social neuroscience.

    We also show that another approach from the social sciences—plural rationality theory—shows greater compatibility with these findings. We further claim that, in their turn, social theories can strengthen affective and social neuroscience. The former can provide more precise formulations of the social phenomena that neuroscientific models have targeted, can help neuroscientists who build these models become more aware of their social and cultural biases, and can even improve the models themselves. To illustrate, we show how plural rationality theory can be used to further specify and test the somatic marker hypothesis. Thus, we aim to accelerate the much-needed merger of social theories with affective and social neuroscience.

    Keywords: affective and social neuroscience, social and political theory, somatic marker hypothesis, plural rationality

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4585257/

  159. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    I’ve lived on the street and built a business. Is that qualification enough?

  160. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    @CameronBBrodie,

    I’ve done some mindfulness courses, and the training it provides you treat the mind (and all the tricks and the way it is hardwired) as no more important (although vastly more bossy and noisy) than any other of your senses, indeed they encourage you to think of the brain as one of the senses.

    By returning to the present moment, by being present, and by monitoring the way the brain functions, you can start to respond to emotional triggers (good and bad) rather than react to them.

    Its an embodiment experience, rather than an intellectual or theoretical one.

    I’m much more comfortable approaching things from that perspective than from reading all the intellectual research you’ve put up. For me that just overworks my brain, if that makes sense.

    I do appreciate you posting them, they are interesting, and there’s good stuff there. I just have to use the methods best for me.

    Kindest regards.

  161. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cam i have met many ….many folk like you and you know what? Those that had had the supposed most “intelligence” were that thickest thickest fuckers in this world becuase they had not the slightest clue as to what LIFE was about…so bring it on Cam

  162. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker
    Of course, everyone has there own style and focus. I’m certainly not expecting folk to consume everything.

    The Use and Consequences of Emotions in Politics
    http://emotionresearcher.com/the-use-and-consequences-of-emotions-in-politics/

    “Emotion and cognition in political communication”
    https://www.uio.no/english/research/interfaculty-research-areas/democracy/news-and-events/events/conferences/2012/papers-2012/Jamtoey.-wshop1pdf.pdf

    The Feeling of Rationality: The Meaning of Neuroscientific
    Advances for Political Science

    https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/McDermott/papers/rationality2004.pdf

  163. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    I worked at Dundee University for many decades…..in a manual way but got to know all sorts….and guess what Cam the so called “EDucated” wre the thickest as fuck as far as what real likje were

  164. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cam b b you are a knob sir

  165. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    Whatever. You know very little about me though you’re keen to pass judgement. Bring on yourself.

  166. remo
    Ignored
    says:

    @smithie

    Possession of a degree level education does not necessarily make one thick. Scotland needs all the educated and clever people it can muster. It also needs people who are not interested in academic qualifications but have other very useful talents. Maybe not a good idea to generalise.

  167. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Trying to share/ open your mind? and he says “I don’t think I’m superior but what’s your understanding of post-modern critical social theory?”……GTF…yeah right

  168. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    lol cam @ 1252…keep it coimng dude.

  169. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    coming

  170. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    You appeared to suggest I was talking shite when I mentioned phenomenal conservatism. Does it offend you that I’m trying to identify mental processes that undermine our potential for seeking social change?

    Phenomenal Conservatism
    https://www.iep.utm.edu/phen-con/

  171. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    cam @1.02….you taking the pish? or you really up your own ass ?
    Does any of that have anything to do with Scotlands struggle to be indepenpent?

  172. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    Yes. Absolutely. All of it.

  173. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    what? pish or up yer own ass

  174. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    got any high fullooting syco analytical bull shit Cam? to describe how a pleb like me thinks????

  175. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    smithie
    You’ve not even looked at the stuff I’ve posted, yet you reject it as pish. I can’t be arsed with with you any more, so I’ll leave you to play with yourself. Night, night.

  176. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Play with my self????? really? is that it Cameron?.,..shame on you

  177. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cameron….Dick

  178. smithie
    Ignored
    says:

    Mind you there are a few on here that like the sound of their own voice….nowt wrong with that though… good laff x

  179. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    Of course the majority of voters are only concerned with the “bread and butter” issues – the price of milk, wages and job security, housing, the local primary and access to health care.

    But some of us are also interested in the decision making process. Democracy.

    Who decides the price of milk? Who decides whether there is a decent school or hospital in your neighbourhood? Who decides when you can retire and whether you get a decent pension? Who decides what you are taxed and what your taxes are spent on?

    Millionaires in Westminster is the answer.

    That’s not a bread and butter issue. That involves understanding how society works at a meta level. For that, you need people to study sociology and social policy. Hence, CBB’s posts. If you’re not interested, just scroll by.

  180. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Tonight the BBC can reveal once again that *experts* are questioning the safety of the Baby Box even though the Royal College of Midwives is asking for the Scottish scheme to be rolled out across the UK

    See if the RCM had kept its mouth shut the BBC wouldn’t have had to run around finding unnamed experts to pay to foist their anonymous opinions and unfounded findings on us just to rubbish the SNP when councils in England have already begun copying the scheme anyway

    You notice the BBC never say Baby Boxes in Finland are rubbish because the Finnish government are Baad and want to kill babies

  181. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    What is it with these single name people with names ending in y or ie?

    Is it perhaps the post-intercortical compaction of the limbic system that’s to blame?

  182. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    I should of course restrict that sweeping generalisation to those who have the operative phsyiognomy of an interspertial collective with a hive mind.

  183. Highland Wifie
    Ignored
    says:

    Seem to be a lot of folk having a go at each other tonight. Is the waiting doing everyone’s head in or something?

    Not sure why you’re getting so much grief Cam B. You always post interesting stuff. Sometimes I read your links and sometimes, if I don’t feel like it, I don’t. My choice. I don’t feel the need to be enraged because I don’t have time to read it or the topic doesn’t interest me.
    Please carry on posting on the main thread because I can’t be the only one who often forgets off topic is there and would therefore never see anything posted there.
    If Wings is going to educate and inform we need a range of different views and different info here.

    I’ve stepped back a bit from posting lately but I’m still reading and following. Some really excellent posts from the regulars but there seem to be a few disrupters managing to take over from time to time. Hope it calms down soon.

  184. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Will I Rennie

  185. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Folk getting overly jaggy

  186. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Need tae calm doon a bitty

  187. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    I don’t really understand what this article is on about, maybe total ignorance of the way it works.

    Everybody knows the newspaper employs all the jobless whether they know it or not, takes an instant data point, then sacks them straight away as they were on probation and didn’t turn up one second later. So therefore there are indeed 11,000 more jobless when they do the statistics 15 minutes later after a cup of tea.

    Sigh, what’s hard to understand about that?

  188. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Scottish Tories ‘are risking peace in Northern Ireland’.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16990071.scottish-tories-are-risking-peace-in-northern-ireland/

    ……………….

    ‘Is SNP government a dash of fresh air!’

    https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2018/10/17/is-snp-government-a-dash-of-fresh-air/

  189. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    Well, wasn’t last night interesting here. Trolls a plenty.

    Unionists really are a sad bunch. Instead of continually telling Scots all the wonderful benefits we get from being run as England’s last colony from England, they just try to upset people.

    All the British Nationalists do, from the very highest level in the Tory and Labour parties, is try to run Scotland down. The never tell us why it is better for Scotland that it is run by another country (England).

    No, all the British Nationalist trolls do is try to run Scotland down and rubbish anything good about Scotland.

    So again I ask, what are the great benefits which Scotland gets from being run and controlled by England?? We need to start asking that of all the British Nationlalist parties (Labour, Tory, Libdem).

    Oh, and by the way Cameron B Brodie, keep on posting your interesting comments. Ignore the obvious troll.

  190. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Hannah Rarity: Winner: Young Trad 2018.

    ‘Hannah Rarity is an exciting addition to a galaxy of Scottish stars.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16986805.hannah-rarity-is-an-exciting-addition-to-a-galaxy-of-scottish-stars/

    …………………….

    And one from 3 years ago. Trying to pull us all together and all that, lol.

    ‘Hannah Rarity with Blazin’ Fiddles – Auld Lang Syne.’

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc_BCpN2OMg

  191. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Wha’s like us?

    ‘How a Scot was cruelly denied the Polar Medal.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16980409.the-scottish-polar-hero-who-stood-up-to-the-folly-of-explorer-ernest-shackleton/

    ………………

    ‘The Scots who built the White House to be remembered in exhibition.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16987093.the-scots-who-built-the-white-house-to-be-remembered-in-exhibition/

  192. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    As the Royal parasitical merry-go-round continues, engagement – wedding – weans, plus the filler of golden oldie documentaries, it looks as though the Scots have had enough, scunnered, of them and the MSM’s usage of such as a distraction to the horrendous reality of living in the UK.

    ‘Here is conclusive proof Scotland REALLY doesn’t care about the Royal baby.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16987119.here-is-conclusive-proof-scotland-really-doesnt-care-about-the-royal-baby/?ref=mr&lp=7

  193. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    This continues to be… an excellent thread hehe! 😉

    Westminster is the iceberg:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Me76JcCIyc

    What a ship of fools they are.

    Rapid.

  194. auld highlander
    Ignored
    says:

    They seem to be ramming those obnoxious royals right down our throats even more, maybe it’s my imagination but ‘am scunnered o’ them. They tell us that they bring in more money to the country than it costs to keep them but I don’t believe that for one minute.
    As for shackleton, he must have been a right clueless arsehole full of his own importance.

  195. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @CameronB Brodie

    You keep posting fella. 🙂

    ———-

    The thing about those links people? Is that not everyone has or needs to find them of interest on an open forum. They WILL be of interest and great use to some though. That’s kinda how links work and how an open forum works.

    You needn’t read every damn thing and YOU choose what you want to read or make use of.

    Good concept this freedom to choose thing.

  196. Marie Clark
    Ignored
    says:

    Morning folks. Can someone help me out here please.

    All this talk about extending the transition period by another year, I’m a bit puzzled. My understanding of all of this is, that if we do not have an agreement signed up to by 29th March 2019, we’re out on our ear from the EU. No deal, no transition period, so that period cannot be extended if there is no deal. Is my understanding of this correct, or have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick here.

    Willing to be corrected on this, so could someone please explain it to me if I have it all wrong. Not normally thick, but there sure is a lot of poo being flung around, probably with the intent of causing confusion.

    Also, where does this leave the Maybot now, she sheems to be up the creek withoot a paddle.

  197. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra: Young Trad

    Wishing Hannah every success with her new album and career.

    The six finalists for Young Trad 2019 have already been chosen to appear in The City Halls, Glasgow in January next.

    Scotland has tons of very high-quality talent, of all kinds.
    More than enough to be an independent country.

    Hail Alba

  198. Marie Clark
    Ignored
    says:

    woops, touch of the Sean Connery’s there. Seems not sheems DOH.

  199. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Please keep posting @ CameronB Brodie. Having interest and research into how the brain function from personal misunderstandings of the functions in relation to the brain. The Influences and connections are extended to/through personal actions, How people form actions from personsl influence, exoeriencde and connection. This gives more insight from a personal prospective.

    People can read at leisure or move on depending on their understanding of openness to such matters. An important relevant contribution. Keep well son, you are one of the good ones. Good research and concentration. Ultimately that is what changes things for the better.

    @ People who irrationally criticise the SNP for petty, ignorant reasons are not doing the Independence Movement any favours.

    People who irrationally criticise organisers of great Marches for petty, ignorant reasons are not doing the Independence movement any favours.

    Keep the eye on the main prize. Rise above it and stop regurgitating it. It is not constructive and damaging for naught.

    People who are in Unionists Parties or vote unionists but believe in Independence are behaving irrationally. The unionist Parties are totally apposed and against Independence. It is irrational to be members or vote for these Parties, Do people not realise that is self harming behaviour. Not helping the Independence movement or supporting it. Voting Green is not much better. They renege on their own policies. It could muck up Independence. The most unpopular Party with the most unpopular polices. A pressure group. They can be hypocrites and waste £Million/Billions of public money.

    They irrationally criticise Wings. When Wings is one of the only Independence suppporting website, Others delete and ban Independence supporters.

    The Tories are in over their depth. Tanking. Labour abd LibDems are not much better. Brexit is a complete and utter shambles damaging the economy. How long can this go on? The majority of people in the UK want to stay in the EU. They are being dragged out because of lies and manipulation. Everyone is sick of it. It is making people sick and ill. People are sick fed up of it.

    The SNP just keep on winning. They are just invincible. Doing the right thing. That annoys the opposition even more.

    Thanks for the links Nanna. A total hero. Thanks a billion Rev Stu for all you do. Coming tops every time.

  200. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Links

    https://news.gov.scot/news/attracting-international-investors

    https://www.snp.org/campaigns/independence/

    David Mundell (pictured) must choose whether to “back or betray” Scottish farmers, the SNP has said, by demanding that they receive £160m in funding they are entitled to.
    http://archive.is/KQBuR

    Looks like the UK government are squaring up to impose frameworks on the Scottish government which they are not in agreement with – the #powergrab continues.
    https://twitter.com/TommySheppard/status/1052527083988144128

  201. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    ScotTories/Tomkins (AT) want uniform Brexit across UK, wd deny a backstop for Northern Ireland to avoid any encouragement (in their view) to indy in Scotland. Lets look at their arguments (thread)
    https://twitter.com/KirstyS_Hughes/status/1052529230708396032

    https://macalbasite.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/when-they-tell-you-we-wont-survive-independence-show-them-this/

    https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/one-more-time-with-feeling/

    Union 1st, Tories 2nd, Scotland last. It’s clear from #ScottishQuestions today that the Tories don’t care what impact #Brexit will have on Scotland’s people, economy, or the devolution settlement as they push ahead with the
    snackbeard
    https://twitter.com/GradySNP/status/1052577993472843777

  202. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    If Scottish independence happens, and it’s a real possibility, particularly if there’s a no deal Brexit, a very hard Brexit, the union is over. The game is up, and the game is therefore up for Ireland as well. The idea that Northern Ireland could remain united to England and Wales, without Scotland, in these kind of circumstances, doesn’t seem plausible.
    https://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2018/10/fintan-otoole-the-nightmare-of-history/

    Britain fell for a neoliberal con trick – even the IMF says so
    http://archive.is/S7eNb

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/proposed-new-timetable-for-state-pension-age-increases

    UK gov incompetency trigger £5,000 refunds for ESA claimants
    http://archive.is/axsQp

  203. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Marie Clark

    You are correct. There is so much repeated garbage, it makes you doubt yourself.

    There has to be a Withdrawal Agreement, covering all the key items, including the transition period.

    You cannot have the transition, if you don’t know what your temporary relationship is.

    No Deal means no transition.

    I presume this talk of extension might be around UK talking up their technical solution for the NI Border, as that is the real focus of issues.

  204. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    The UK has started the consultation process for the Australian trade agreement. Australia has already carried out some of this as part of an investigation into a future deal, Brexit, and UK trade in general.
    So, shall we see what they have to say about the UK and Brexit?
    https://twitter.com/EmporersNewC/status/1052458691629338626

    https://www.ifa.ie/no-back-sliding-on-the-backstop-no-time-limit-ifa/

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/what-if-brexit-brings-the-violence-back-1.3665559

    http://uk.businessinsider.com/trump-uk-must-bin-unjustified-food-standards-for-brexit-trade-deal-2018-10

  205. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    FGS, the father of an autistic girl has just been interviewed by the BBC. His 17 year old daughter has being held for two years now (never been outside in that time) in a 10 foot by 10 room with nothing more in it than a bed and chair. When he visits he’s to kneel down and speak to her through a hatch. Beggars bl**dy belief!

    He’s now managed to overturn Walsall Council’s bid to secure a gagging order to stop him from speaking out about his daughter’s treatment.

    High time the BBC dropped the SNP FOI witchhunt and started issuing FOI requests to find out what the h*ll is going on in England.

    And we really need the United Nations to intervene ASAP to protect vulnerable people in England. Come down on Westminster like a ton of bricks.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-45849075

  206. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Highly significant: French Government publish its draft No Deal law on website of French Senate: “reestablishment of checks of goods and passengers” & “restoration of veterinary, sanitary, phytosanitary, safety controls & customs formalities” .
    https://twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1052547011701039105

    https://www.politico.eu/article/france-prepares-for-no-deal-brexit-cliff-edge-legislation/

    video here
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-no-deal-crash-out-eu-medicine-supplies-a8588531.html

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-17/u-s-is-said-to-stall-u-k-bid-to-stay-in-1-7-trillion-market

  207. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Brexit: a turn for the worst?
    http://eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87027

    Looks like @DominicRaab might be planning to tie the hands of the so-called sovereign parliament. @theSNP don’t accept the only choice is between a @theresa_may deal or no deal & we won’t let the Tories get away with this
    https://twitter.com/joannaccherry/status/1052630067824738305

    http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2018/10/brexiter-attacks-on-civil-service-point.html

    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-preparing-for-no-deal-on-brexit-says-merkel/a-45922806

  208. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Mornin’ Nana

    Went pretty much as expected yesterday. 😉

    Onywise, time for the brekkie cup and a read.

  209. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    @ extending the transition period means extending UK membership. . But still trying to negotiate a settlement probably immposible. The Tories have burn their bridges. The UK will not dump out in March.

    It is another fudge to kick it down the road. Or completely out of the park. Probably until a GE for the Tories to lose. So someone else can sort out their mess. It will finish them off. It is just a question of time. No one wants the poision chalice.of Westminster Tories irrational intransigence. They should have never call an EU Ref. A complete and utter shambles. They are despicable. Lies, misinformation and manipulation.

  210. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    @Marie Clark

    see here for explanation

    https://twitter.com/DmitryOpines/status/1052816953394585600

  211. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Morning Macart

    There’s a lot of reading this morning 🙂

  212. stu mac
    Ignored
    says:

    @Legerwood says:
    17 October, 2018 at 9:20 pm

    At one point he asks her straight out if Labour will follow Scottish Government’s example and reduce the waiting time for UC from 5 weeks to 2 weeks. For a split second it looked as if she was going to say no way or just blank the question altogether as the Tory Minister did last night when Jon Snow asked him the same question. She really looked as if the very idea of following the SG’s example was going to choke her. I don’t think I imagined that hesitation.

    =================

    TBF it could merely be that she was shocked that some politicians in this country were actually trying to do something about this long standing problem created by the Tories. She’ll be part of the Westminster bubble, completely ignorant of what goes on up here.

  213. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @Marie Clark

    Nana’s link is right enough. It does however require mutual agreement. Any extension of the transition requires both parties to accept same. The EU could knock it on the head or accept it. Right now, I understand Mr Barnier is of a mind to accept.

  214. Smallaxe
    Ignored
    says:

    Good morning, Nana.

    Thank you, for your links. the sun is shining down here in darkest Mundellshire, no doubt this is due to the efforts of our Scottish Government. I think they do it on purpose.
    Kettles on! 🙂

  215. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Morning Smallaxe 🙂

    @ Marie,

    Older link which contains more info re the transition period.

    http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-bridge-to-nowhere-brexit-transition.html

  216. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    The Con referee is appealing for candidates like him to con people. They can’t even drag them in off the streets, like him, anymore. The Davidson PR anti Independence Party. Not registered under Parliamentary rules. Another own goal. Foul. Blues card, Not fair play ever,

  217. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    @Nana

    I don’t think there’s any question that both PM May and the UK require a longer transition period. The real question is whether Ms May can sell that to her cabinet and backbenchers. There’s an awfy lot of folk waiting to make their pitch for that chair she’s sitting in.

  218. Sharny Dubs
    Ignored
    says:

    I have a sister who is/was a journalist (once a elitist always an elitist) and I’m sorry to say their “cozy” relationships with “fiends” in all areas of governance, be it legal, judiciary, police or political parties encourages in them an “untouchability” that turns my stomach.

    Their cavalier treatment of truth and those they consider to be the proletariat is quite disgusting. Experiences with other “non family” factions of the press have done nothing to change this opinion.

  219. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Totally agree with you Macart. I see an awful lot of unhappy folk urging the brexiter mps to “get rid of her”

    It seems some of the clowns are wanting Raab as her replacement, lol. Also talk of bringing Davis back.

  220. Valerie
    Ignored
    says:

    This is just utterly incredible. Lifted from Bloomberg article. We know how craven Tories are, but how does this foot shooting stupidity happen so much?

    ______________________________

    The U.K.’s post-Brexit access to $1.7 trillion in public projects relies on the good will of its European neighbors. Too bad Moldova holds a grudge.

    The tiny country wedged between Romania and Ukraine is joining half a dozen nations in blocking the U.K.’s re-entry to the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement, an accord that smooths the bidding process on public contracts, including in the $837 billion U.S. market.

    Why the hold-up? Corina Cojocaru, Moldova’s economic counselor to the WTO, and her team were denied entry to the U.K. last year when they wanted to discuss their future relationship with Britain after it leaves the European Union.

  221. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Westminster is in the way.

    Westminster, it’s an obstacle, otherwise it’s smooth sailing for Scotland.

    The UK is not a UK.

    Westminster is in the way to Scotland’s free choice OF destination.

    Westminster is in the way.

  222. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    Just in case anyone needs a bit clarity/simplicity on what the backstop and the backstop on the backstop means,

    https://tinyurl.com/y93gd963

  223. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    Smallaxe…Mundleshire! Love it! 🙂 Peace and love as always =)

    Nana =) Thank you!

    Cameron B, Hi =) Thank you for yesterday’s abstracts and articles – really helpful and interesting.

    Cameron, today’s topic is especially enlightening.

    What I particularly picked up is how the bigotry of the ruling elite could influence the thinking of the people under their sway, much like the influence parents, families and communities have on the following generation. The sins of the fathers visited on the children.

    Keep posting Cameron =)

    This site is a mine of diverse information as well as informed opinions.

    Every day is an education 🙂 Rev Stu started it and so many others have added to his work and enhanced this site. Thank you.

  224. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Catching up from last night I see Cameron B is the subject of abuse . For you’s newbee’s on Wings ( smithie ) its not for the 1st time nor I expect it will be the last time Cameron B has been abused , you have the remedy to hand Scroll on By or Leave the Page.

    Many different subjects are discussed on WoS & many opinions expressed & long may that continue .

    I have my own issues with Cameron B The Feker hisnae sent me comma’s in a long long time .
    Live long and prosper Cam.

  225. Sharny Dubs
    Ignored
    says:

    A set of dull conceited hashes, confuse their brains in collage classes, they ging in Stirks and come oot asses, plain truth to speak, those who would have climbed Parnassus by didn’t o Greek.

    Apologies to any scholars if I’ve misquoted the bard.

  226. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks for the links Nana, in particular the following:

    People in the Highlands still pay up to 4 pence more per electricity unit, the Ministers warm words wont heat their homes this winter.

    https://twitter.com/drewhendrySNP/status/1052227571985866752

    ……………………….

    Note that the Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP Minister of State for Immigration compares the Highlands and Islands to Cornwall and Devon! She of the, ”We’re not going to grant the ability to the Scottish Government that I might not also be granting to Lincolnshire County Council.”

    Check out the comments section and take a look at the chart that shows the transmission charges by zone. Highland and Island region is the highest at 30.25 with Cornwall and Devon the lowest at minus 5.16. Is Nokes totally ignorant or having a laugh at our expense?

    C’mon Scots FGS get off of your knees. We export our energy to England, Wales and NIreland and yet are being treated like a bunch of mugs. Support independence and get us out of this. If you won’t do it for yourself do it for your children, grandchildren, the elderly and vulnerable.

    ……………………..

    3000 die each year in the UK due to cold weather? Really?

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cold-weather-uk-winter-deaths-europe-polar-vortex-a8224276.html

    …………………..

    Age Scotland should be doing their homework and ‘out’ Westminster. If not maybe BBC Scotland will do it.

    ‘Winter deaths in Scotland hit ‘staggering’ 18-year high.’

    ”The national charity for older people, Age Scotland, has urged the Scottish Government to take action to help those most at risk in the coming months.”

    ”Figures released today by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) reveal a total of 23,137 deaths were registered across the country from December 2017 to March 2018 – up from 20,946 in 2016-2017. It is the largest number since 23,379 deaths were registered in winter 1999-2000.”

    While the Unionists tell us that:

    Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative shadow health spokesman, said: “This is a stark warning to the SNP that they must prepare the NHS properly for winter and ensure that all our elderly and vulnerable patients get the recommended flu vaccination. As these worrying statistics continue to emerge, it is quite clear that the SNP cannot be trusted to run our health service.”

    Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Monica Lennon MSP said ”many of the winter deaths are preventable. Instead of planning ahead, SNP ministers have lost credibility by failing to buy enough enhanced flu vaccine for this winter,” she said.

    “Lives are at stake and it’s over to Nicola Sturgeon and her health secretary to reassure the people of Scotland that they are doing everything possible to equip our NHS to reduce preventable deaths this winter.”

    God give me strength.

    http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2018/10/16/winter-deaths-in-scotland-hit-staggering-18-year-high/

    ………………..

    ********* What about delving into this Stu in light of the rising number of deaths.

  227. Marie Clark
    Ignored
    says:

    Thank you Valerie @ 8.32 Nana @ 8.44 & 9.00 nad Macart @ 8.54. It’s comforting to know that I’m correct and not losing my marbles yet.

    Great links Nana, I need to go out for a short while, but when I get back, a big cup of tea and a proper read at all of them. You are a great asset to the independence movement and do a heck of a lot of work on our behalf. Thank you somehow does not seem enough

  228. Morgatron
    Ignored
    says:

    I see Prof Blair from Bristol baby box bad report has been regurgitated again by EBC Scottish Depot as news. Oh deary me.

  229. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    @Cameron

    Carry on doing what you do Cameron, as Ghillie says “every day is an education”

  230. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    From Michael Russell on twitter,

    `Just read Adam Tomkins piece in FT yesterday.

    What is most striking is what Brexit has done to Scottish Conservatism,

    reduced it to a visceral, hard line, irreconcilable DUP style unionism with no policies and no plans for our country,

    save shouting ‘no surrender’ at the SNP`.

  231. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    @Morgatron

    Re the baby box regurgitation, see here

    https://twitter.com/IndyrefTWO/status/1052835055280652288

  232. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    George Galloway is a freak. The SNP can call an IndyRef with a mandate when they want,

    Although it might be good to go for it and get it over with. An all out turn out for Independence. Get away from the Westminster shambles forever.

  233. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    The Daily Express is reporting that May conceded in private talks with Leo Varadkar that the backstop cannot have a end date.

    If true then this opens the way to getting a withdrawal arrangement with the EU by December. However, bang goes DUP support in government and potentially losing the vote on the budget at the end of this month. Maybe even Ruthie will resign since NI would be treated differently from the UK after we’re out LOL.

    Never would have believed that politics could be so entertaining 🙂

  234. Davie Oga
    Ignored
    says:

    @CameronB

    Thanks for your links. Some interesting and relevant reading.

  235. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    @Thepnr

    “Never would have believed that politics could be so entertaining”

    You need nerves of steel for some of the stuff I’m reading, for myself ‘entertaining’ is not the word I would choose. I freely admit to being scared out of my wits [most of the time] the rest of the time I’m either screaming or tearing my hair out!

  236. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Could Tomkins American migrant wife be chucked out of the UK under UK migration rules coming through? That would change their tune. Why a Scottish university is employing him with taxpayers money while he tries to ruin the Scottish economy is a mystery. Breaking the associate Code of conduct. The university diversity and EU student exchange principles and policies. The Tory and unionists are trying to destroy.

    Why would Nicola accept a deal with May when Nicola has the mandate to call it when she wants for three years. An IndyRef could be called before that at any time as the EU negotiations drag on. People are sick of it. It is making people sick.

    The uncertainty is making folk sick and worried. The sanctions are starving people. The Scottish welfare system is changing but only with limitation. The Westminster unionists DWP intransigence will not give Scotland the information to relieve it completely. Otherwise the SNP Gov could do it fully.

  237. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    @Nana

    I totally understand!

    You have to laugh though at the contortions May is getting into over Brexit, she is literally tying herself in knots.

    The more ridicule and scorn heaped on her and other ridiculous figures like the entire cabinet, not forgetting the nut jobs Johnson and Rees-Mogg, then all the better for our chances of Independence is how I see it.

    I’m revelling in their self inflicted pain 🙂

  238. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    Great to see the Queensferry Crossing won the prestigious,

    `Major Project` award at the `Highways Awards 18`

    this is from Highways Magazine UK the No.1 Magazine for News and Events in the UK Highways Industry.

    https://tinyurl.com/y9f2kfxu

  239. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    Don`t know if many of his new British Nationalist Tory fiends know that Tomkins is a confirmed republican,

    Tomkins was once a supporter of the group, Republic, a British republican organisation advocating the replacement of the monarchy with a democratically elected head of state,

    Tomkins published Our Republican Constitution, a republican re-interpretation of the United Kingdom’s constitution.

  240. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    re. the IMF and Anglo-American neo-liberalism. As I might have mentioned, it is a form of fascism. It seek to change the fundamental nature of “being” and human-rights, through the power of economic force, not democratic demand.

    Neoliberal TINA: an ideological and political subversion of liberalism

    ABSTRACT

    In this article, we argue that TINA – the acronym for ‘There Is No Alternative’ – is the main feature of neoliberalism, and the main political rule of neoliberal states and individuals. This feature challenges the economic and political liberal tradition, both classical and contemporary. We begin by briefly presenting the non-dissociable link between TINA and neoliberalism, and contrasting neoliberal TINA with liberal political theory. As neoliberal ideology is ultimately a global political project, on the one hand, the understanding of TINA can offer complementary political arguments to tackle neoliberalism. On the other hand, the effort to undermine and displace the overwhelming neoliberal political power also must involve dismantling the TINA argument.

    Our analysis is also all the more important when neoliberal measures in the European Union are presented as inevitable. We recur mostly to economic aspects of the European sovereign debt crisis, namely the austerity program implemented in Greece and Portugal, to illustrate our arguments.

    KEYWORDS: Liberalism, national and international institutions, neoliberalism, political, political rule

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19460171.2016.1263216

    Europe and the political philosophy of neoliberalism
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292539853_Europe_and_the_Political_Philosophy_of_Neoliberalism

    The pathway out of neoliberalism and the analysis of political ideology in the post-crisis world
    http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/61354/1/Wright_Pathway%20neoliberalism_2015.pdf

  241. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    @Thepnr

    I do laugh hysterically at times Pnr, although I usually end up with my head in my hands.

    Having to go out so here’s the last links for now

    Brexiters only now questioning the hell they’ve unleashed
    https://twitter.com/GeorgePeretzQC/status/1052522144255496193

    Theresa May ‘losing support of colleagues’ over Brexit concessions
    http://archive.is/W4ZTv

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-18/u-k-retail-sales-drop-amid-stark-slowdown-for-food-stores

    https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/palestinians-win-vote-to-chair-group-of-77-developing-countries-at-united-nations-1.6569036

  242. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    “Extend the transition period” … all over the media …. code for the opportunity to kick the can even further down the road.

    We so often hear “final deal” used in relation to Brexit and/or IndyRef2. We were never going to know the final relationship between the EU and UK for years, now it might be up to a year more.

    Barring a no deal situation, the timing of IndyRef2 cannot be dependent on knowing final arrangements. It never could, and I’ve said that often.

    The case for IndyRef2 and for independence must be based on much more than just Brexit. Jeez we have plenty of other cause to focus on. WM’s attitudes to Scotland have been disgraceful for the last four years.

    There are huge uncertainties right now about the Withdrawal Agreement and the possibility of no deal. I suspect we might get clarity with this in the next couple of months. Then Scotland needs to act decisively.

  243. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Number of deaths in Scotland 58,000. Usually from old age. Look is up. It fluctuates but people in Scotland are living longer (pro rata) Scottish Gov has funded social care, prescription and bus passes to help the elderly. Scottish Gov has mitigated the health and welfare cuts. £100,000 a year. Plus more for nursery care. Less youngster in care. MUP so people live longer. The SNP Scottish has/is mitigating the cuts to elderly service. Bedroom tax abolished etc.

    It is in the rest of the UK that elderly death rates have increased 17%? 120,000 more unexpected death because of austerity. Life expectancy is falling. Council social services has been cut in the rest of the Uk.

    It is Westminster unionists who have instigated the cuts on Welfare social and NHS. The Scottish Gov have to mitigate these cuts. Westminster Treasury keeps on cutting the Scottish budget, irrationally. 10% a year since 2010. Now £3Billion less. When monies raised in Scotland from tax revenues have increased sustantionalky. Westminster spends Scottish revenues elsewhere than where it is needed.

  244. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Anglo-American neo-liberalism is bad, mk.

    Battle for the Enlightenment: Neoliberalism, Critical Theory and the role of Circumvential Education in Fostering a New Phase of the Enlightenment

    Abstract

    Higher education is one of the last democratic institutions in society and it is currently under attack by advocates of neo-liberalism. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate
    how this “battle” can be framed as a battle over the direction of the Enlightenment. Critical Theory and neoliberalism both emerged from academia in response to historical conditions, but each school drew its inspiration from the same source, the promises of the Enlightenment. It is my ultimate hope that framing critical theory and neoliberalism in a battle for the Enlightenment will shed light on the dialectal heritage of present day higher education as well as its dialectical capabilities. Finally, to utilize the dialectal capability of higher education, a new critical pedagogy is examined, that of circumvential education, which seeks to circumvent and dialectically surpass the neo-liberal paradigm.

    Key Words:
    Critical Theory, Dialectic, Enlightenment, Neoliberalism

    Attachment theory, neoliberalism, and social conscience
    https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/attachment-theory-neoliberalism-and-social-conscience

    Liberalism, Neoliberalism and Corruption: a Critical Genealogy
    https://www.e-ir.info/2014/10/01/liberalism-neoliberalism-and-corruption-a-critical-genealogy/

  245. Giving Goose
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Scot Finlayson

    On the subject of No Surrender, try this piece from the Independent regarding England footy fans in Spain – worrying;
    https://tinyurl.com/y98te3ws

  246. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Scot Finlayson at 10.09

    I think Tomkins has “recovered” from the republicanism he apparently believed in when he wrote a book about it with Alasdair Gray (https://canongate.co.uk/books/424-how-we-should-rule-ourselves/) in 2005. He was also once a supporter of independence (perhaps as a route to that republic), but that must not have fitted with his political ambitions.

  247. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Brilliant. Now the Brexiteers are absolutely fuming. Of course an extra year transition will cost, estimated £10billion.

    If only someone somewhere had thought all this through about 3-4 years ago!

  248. Smallaxe
    Ignored
    says:

    Ghillie, Peace, Love and Independence right back at you and all true Wingers. 🙂

    I’m saddened to see some Wingers arguing amongst each other when we all have the same goal to strive for. Please hold your tempers, difficult though that may be at times and let’s all concentrate on getting ourselves out of this accursed union ASAP!

    CameronB, I know that you’re very capable of handling yourself on here, nevertheless I say, keep on keeping on, my friend. Just don’t forget to pop into my lair on O/T now and then to play and listen to some music or have a chat. 🙂

  249. Andy-B
    Ignored
    says:

    All I can say is that David Mundell must resign, he’s been an absolute failure. He hasn’t stood up for Scotland at all.

    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16990072.david-mundell-vow-to-protect-scotlands-place-in-uk-to-last-breath/

  250. cearc
    Ignored
    says:

    thepnr,

    ‘I’m revelling in their self inflicted pain’

    I reckon when they crash out with no deal (to protect the secrecy of their offshore stashes) we will see the launch of the ‘Schadenfreude On Which The Sun Never Sets.

    Revenge best served cold etc..

  251. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Though aiming to advance individual liberty, Anglo-American neo-liberalism undermines the individual’s ability to think outside the neo-liberal paradigm. As such, Anglo-American neo-liberalism is intrinsically illiberal in nature.

    An Ethical Analysis of Neoliberal Capitalism:
    Alternative Perspectives from Development Ethics

    ABSTRACT

    In this paper, the author submits the position that the worldwide capitalist economy has taken the route of neoliberal capitalism. The main distinction among market capitalism and neoliberal capitalism is the role of the private market mechanism to economic and non-economic activities. The evolution of neoliberal capitalism is historically specific. In turn, specific aspects of the free-market economics, here mentioned as neoliberal economics, are the intellectual defender of the neoliberal capitalism. The purpose of the paper is to explore neoliberal capitalism in deeper ethical terms and to offer an ethical alternative. Development ethics is an important alternative perspective to neoliberalism, which is often neglected even in the heterodox economic literature. In particular, an original ethical model, on the basis of ‘social ethics’, is suggested for the discovery of the meta-ethical, normative-ethical and applied-ethical orientations of an economic system and of an economic analysis. After the ethical evaluation of neoliberal capitalism and neoliberal economic analysis the development ethics alternative is recommended.

    Keywords:
    Development Ethics, Neoliberal Capitalism, Neoliberal Economics, Market Capitalism, Social Ethics, the Washington Consensus

    https://papyrus.bib.umontreal.ca/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1866/10931/2014v11n2_Astroulakis.pdf

    Compatibility as Complicity? On Neoliberalism and Human Rights
    https://lpeblog.org/2018/05/28/compatibility-as-complicity-on-neoliberalism-and-human-rights/

    Advancing Global Health and Human Rights in the Neoliberal Era
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5394998/

  252. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    What difference is an extension going to make? Land border in Ireland, border in the Irish Sea or the UK remaining in the SM and CU? How long will it take for the penny to drop? Theresa May, et al, should have done their homework, thoroughly, BEFORE she sent off her Article 50: In fact LONG before they held the EU referendum. What a bunch of time-wasting idiots who had the brass neck to demand Plan B from Alex Salmond. England the laughing stock of the World.

    ……………………

    Brilliant. That just about sums up the Scottish Tory’s mindset, including Tomkins who used to support Independence (backhander?).

    @ Scot Finlayson says at 9:26 am …. ”From Michael Russell on twitter:

    `Just read Adam Tomkins piece in FT yesterday. What is most striking is what Brexit has done to Scottish Conservatism, reduced it to a visceral, hard line, irreconcilable DUP style unionism with no policies and no plans for our country, save shouting ‘no surrender’ at the SNP`.

  253. Morgatron
    Ignored
    says:

    Nana
    Thanks as always for the link.

  254. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Smallaxe
    Sure thing though I’m conscious of being a space-hog. 😉

  255. Bill McLean
    Ignored
    says:

    Totally agree with Smallaxe at 1053. How many times does Scotland have to lose out due to bickering amongst ourselves? Scroll past what doesn’t interest you. Ignore the trolls. Why do so many engage with them? Well said Smallaxe and I hope you are as well as can be!!

  256. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Transition period.

    If one is implemented, it means the UK would be beho’dden to the ECJ and all the laws it enforces. Including the tax haven laws.

    Legal opinion seems to be of a mind that while this law comes into being on 1/1/19, if the UK is out on 29/3/19 that 3 month period will not be enforced. In addition, there are various stages of enforcement legislation that are being rolled out in stages (one being June or July 2019, another the following year).

    I think the Transition Period is extremely unlikely to be implemented, I think its been thrown into the mix in order to kick the can further down the road.

    From the EU’s perspective, if taken up, it buys them some more time to commit to a multi million euro investment in infrastructure for customs checks, etc with the UK in the future.

    o/t has anyone been able to find details of the so called Gibraltar deal? Specifically will their future trade arrangements be adjudicated by the ECJ? or is there some form of opt out.

    Has the British Establishment managed to negotiate a back door for their tax havens? If so, we can expect them to move very, very, quickly, SM and CU will be back on the menu, a GE or a Peoples Vote, no problem.

    Since (if all was being played with a straight bat) the solutions to the Gibraltar deal, could well provide learning outcomes to other areas (e.g. NI) I find it bizarre that the details are not being published and talked about.

    Kind regards to all.

  257. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    crazycat
    Many of the world’s leading neo-liberal thinkers were previously Marxist Trots. Both ideologies share a similar disdain for democracy and freedom of choice. Both ideologies seek to control political power, in the interests of the political and economic elite.

  258. Reuben74
    Ignored
    says:

    First time I’ve posted, minty due to the concerns of the apparent infighting I’ve read over the past few days. Looking at the derogatory comments aimed at Cameron Brodie by some who seem to view his views as being perhaps too academic for mainstream footsoldiers (re ‘…I attended Dundee University..) what I would say is that CBB does an excellent job of getting inside the minds of the Yoon brigade. An old tradesman of mine once made the very telling comment of ‘love your friends, but know your enemies.’

  259. Reuben74
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry first line should read mainly! Bloody predictive text!

  260. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    BBC news: BSE case found in Aberdeenshire.

  261. Smallaxe
    Ignored
    says:

    CameronB Brodie,

    A space hog, Cameron! That’s infinitely better than being pig-headed. 😉

    Bill McLean,

    Thank you, Bill. I’m doing a lot better than should be expected at this stage, so I can’t complain. Thanks’ for asking, my friend. 🙂

    🙂

  262. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ CameronB Brodie at 11.12

    Aye, I know. I just find Tomkins’ turnaround rather amusing – possibly the only amusing thing about him.

  263. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Tomkin married a migrant American women and changed his views to US republicanism. Dependants UK citizens?

    The numbers of children in care has really fallen. Under SNP Gov. They introduced kinship payments. Foster care is £20,000 a year. Some people can do it for the money but the children should have proper care. Often the grandparents were required to look after the children to stop them going into care but they could not afford it. They only had a pension. Now the kinship payments mean the children can be cared for by family members at much less expense. A much better solution all round. Cutting Gov costs as well. They hsve also extended care for youngsters who need it to 18 years to help them to college or uni. Or apprenticeship, increased bursaries and grants funding. Student loans, With assisted, supported accomodation. No Council tax for a period. No bedroom tax. Less costs for social care by direct Gov funding.

    The Westminster unionist have cut housing benefit for 18 to 24 year olds. Leaving vulnerable youngsters without support.

  264. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Mad a Cow came from Alabama US.

  265. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    There are no warrant sales in Scotland. Selling off vulnerable people’s possessions for naught. Mr Sheridan stopped them and fought the Poll tax.

  266. Col
    Ignored
    says:

    Sky news saying mad cow disease been found on a farm in Scotland.

  267. Fred
    Ignored
    says:

    Tomkins past enthusiasms didn’t butter any parsnips!

  268. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    One last thought re Gibraltar.

    This alleged deal has been the ONLY positive news out of the whole Brexit fiasco.

    It should have been one of the major stumbling blocks – to deal with Spain over Gibraltar – given the history.

    If true that this part has been – or is almost done – completed successfully, why is big Treeza not all over the papers with this, doing a victory parade. Why is it not being dissected in minute detail.

    And look elsewhere, suddenly we have the united forces of Hesseltine, Clarke, Major, choosing just now to ‘come out of the woodwork’ and talk up the idiocy of leaving the SM and CU, while the movers and shakers from New Labour steer up a Peoples Vote.

    Why now? Why not 2 years ago? Its not like they don’t know how, don’t have the savvy, the connections or the money. Why now.

    So we ‘suddenly’ have the 2 cheeks of the Westminster arse, suddenly finding their voice and working together, to rescue SM/CU membership and offer up a people’s vote, in an atmosphere of ‘dunkirk’ spirit. That will be their selling point to our no voters, don’t you think.

    Nothing about Brexit makes any sense, until it is looked at through the motives of trying to protect the tax havens as the first priority, and keep Scotland’s assets as the second.

  269. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    crazycat
    The man’s a parody of common sense. 😉

  270. One_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    UK media scratching its head to come up with something to take everyones mind off of Brexit.

    ‘I know, lets go with Mad Cow’.

    ‘Yeah we know she is, but that’s not helping.’

    Try the veal.

  271. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker @ 11.50 am

    As far as I can see the only paper to have carried the Gibraltar story about a deal with Spai was the Daily Express a couple of days ago. They reported that the deal was ‘almost complete’ .

    Only other reference to Gibraltar/Spain deal was a Reuters report in September. All it said was that a deal had to be done by October. Officials have apparently been working on the issue since the beginning of this year.

  272. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker, this puts a different slant on Brexit, think its gonna be hard!
    http://www.thenational.scot/news/16989865.this-is-why-westminsters-choice-is-between-brexit-and-the-union/

  273. Jockanese Wind Talker
    Ignored
    says:

    RE: “BSE case found in Aberdeenshire.”

    Given Mundells “Defend the Union to his last breath”

    Why does this spring to mind?

    “The UVF also claimed MI5 planned to supply a spoon of ‘Anthras’ (sic), ‘Foort and Mouth Disease’ (sic), ‘Fowl Pest, Swine Fever, and Jaagsikpi’ to anyone who would release them in Ireland. The loyalists said the plot was to destroy the ‘Eire economy’.”

    http://archive.is/zqZ0x

  274. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    IMHO, Scotland needs to be prepared itself for all forms of political terrorism, in it’s struggle to liberate itself from the imperialist embrace of British nationalism.

    NATO’s secret armies: Operation GLADIO and terrorism in Western Europe

    Abstract

    This fascinating new study shows how the CIA and the British secret service, in collaboration with the military alliance NATO and European military secret services, set up a network of clandestine anti-communist armies in Western Europe after World War II. These secret soldiers were trained on remote islands in the Mediterranean and in unorthodox warfare centres in England and in the United States by the Green Berets and SAS Special Forces. The network was armed with explosives, machine guns and high-tech communication equipment hidden in underground bunkers and secret arms caches in forests and mountain meadows. In some countries the secret army linked up with right-wing terrorist who in a secret war engaged in political manipulation, harrassement of left wing parties, massacres, coup d’ètats and torture.

    Codenamed ‘Gladio’ (‘the sword’), the Italian secret army was exposed in 1990 by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to the Italian Senate, whereupon the press spoke of “The best kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II” (Observer, 18. November 1990) and observed that “The story seems straight from the pages of a political thriller.” (The Times, November 19, 1990). Ever since, so-called ‘stay-behind’ armies of NATO have also been discovered in France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Turkey. They were internationally coordinated by the Pentagon and NATO and had their last known meeting in the NATO-linked Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC) in Brussels in October 1990.

    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292475976_NATO%27s_secret_armies_Operation_GLADIO_and_terrorism_in_Western_Europe

  275. Jockanese Wind Talker
    Ignored
    says:

    And yet there are folk who say you post shite @CameronB

  276. Gary
    Ignored
    says:

    The kind of people who buy this will only ever read the headlines.

    It seems to be the worst offender, and that’s saying something.



Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.




↑ Top