A straightforward offer
Unionists got very excited last week when the Office for Budget Responsibility once again downgraded its long-term North Sea oil revenue forecasts (which in 2011 it was predicting at £131bn) to just £2.1bn over 20 years. The new figure was as usual treated as a gospel fact and deployed to attack both independence and full fiscal autonomy by proving that Scotland couldn’t afford to run its own affairs.
We and others pointed out the numerous flaws in that argument, but of course those are just points of view. We could all debate it all day and all night and never achieve a consensus. There is, however, an easy way to settle the matter, by which supporters and opponents of independence and FFA alike can both put their money where their mouths are and everyone will be happy.
It really couldn’t be simpler.
The foundation of the Unionist position is that the OBR’s forecasts are meaningful and reliable. On last night’s Scotland 2015, Sarah Smith stated as a bare fact that “the offshore tax base IS GOING TO COLLAPSE far worse than you previously thought”, (our emphasis) citing the OBR’s figures as justification and claiming that they “seem to get it more right than the [oil] industry do” – a statement for which we’re not aware of any supporting evidence.
But if it’s true, the solution is obvious:
The Scottish Parliament should be given full control of all Scottish oil revenues immediately, and the current annual block grant from Westminster to Holyrood should be lowered by £105m (ie from around £25bn to £24.895bn) until 2040.
After all, if that’s really all that the oil will be worth to Scotland, that’s a fair deal. The Barnett Formula will remain in place, as expressly pledged in “The Vow”. Scotland will still be in the UK, enjoying “the best of both worlds”, the “broad shoulders” of the Union and all the benefits of “pooling and sharing”, as the No campaign promised.
The only reason for the UK government to refuse that deal would be that if it wasn’t actually confident in the OBR’s projections. And since everyone insists that the OBR is impartial and infallible and their predictions are the same thing as facts, that can’t be true. So let’s just sort this whole business out once and for all.
If David Cameron wants us to draft the amendment, he only needs to ask.
Good luck with that one!
Exactly what I’ve been thinking / saying for a long, long time. If it’s such a volatile resource, let us handle it.
Round it up to a cool £5bn over 20 years just to keep it interesting
Brilliant solution, that would really put them on the spot. What would their answer be? I wonder…
Ach but we are too wee and stupid to handle it properly.
Wait a minute though – looking back at how massive oil revenues have been handled by WM these past 30 years. Honestly, could we do any worse?
Expect ‘argument’ concerning oil price to quietly disappearing a wee while if this is suggested!
However in the meantime I will be using this every time I see tweets about OBR and oil.
That is a magic idea.
But what happens to the magic £5000 that FFA was going to cost us? Bet it pops up by magic somewhere else?
So in effect let Westminster follow the advice of all the gambling ads and “cash out early ‘cos sometimes you gotta take the money and run”.
Seems fair – Scotland can take the risk/reward… go on Westminster are ye brave enuff?!
A spiffing idea and we could probably crowd fund that shortfall by raising taxes by £25 per capita per annun too use the sweeping new powers due to be delivered
If North Sea Oil is finished then the English will have no problem with returning the 6,000 Square Miles of North Sea they stole back to Scotland with the 20+ Oil &Gas Installations ?
Indeed.
We see so many quotes of Sturgeon/SNP/Nats/Scots want to have their cake and eat it. Here we have a government & compliant media wanting to publicise the OBR guess as a scary ‘fact’ ( © K.Dugdale ) encouraging Scots to believe oil revenue will collapse to an average of £100 million per year but yet want to take any extra billions for themselves should there be an ‘unexpected’ demand for oil.
Having their cake, eating licking their fingers and hoovering up even the final little crumbs and eating it I’d say.
I do hope those racehorse and football club owning Sheikh’s
have started tightening their belts with the future of oil so bleak.
On the basis of westminsters current thinking the UK cannot afford FFA.
You would think a chancellor who is faced with making some really tough decisions would jump at the opportunity to make his job easier and jettison the burdensome Scots.
The Barnett formula would be history, they could even rebuild hadrians wall if they liked.
What they will not do is lie to us with impunity any longer………
Read about this on Twitter last night and it is the best idea EVER. It would certainly cause Mundell to shake,rattle and roll even further.
The whole Better Together mob, the Tories, Labour and Libs are all stuffed after their antics last night. The MSM are doing a great job of increasing support for Indy with their anti-Scottish approach and the BBC has lost it completely.
Collectively, they really are in a mad panic now, and the House of Lords haven’t had their input yet!
I reckon the Fab56 will keep up the pressure and Nicola will let the Union rot from the inside between now and the release of the Holyrood 2016 manifesto. The Scots will back the concept of another indyref, rUK will vote to leave the EU, the lessons learned from last year’s Indyref will be applied and Scotland will vote for Independence around 2019.
But oil is a curse. Every Unionista knows that!!!
Just look at the financial mess Saudi is in.
And they are cursed with even more Princes than us.
Norway is a basket case.
We’re doomed!!! Lol
The more they spout pish the more the people slowly realise the truth.
the unionist arguements are increasingly threadbare
their credibility is zero and leaves bbc scotland increasingly their chief “turd polisher”, a position their own journalists are increasingly unhappy about defending
prediction. all of the unhappy bbc scotland journalists will be replaced by forelock tugging unionists in true new labour style
Aye, and pigs will fly!
But good point well made. I’ll be sure to put that to Kev next time he comes calling 😀
Be careful what you wish for – decommissioning is an expensive business!
[…] A straightforward offer […]
A balanced, fair-minded and reasonable contract.
Why on earth wouldn’t Cameron and Osborne sign up to this great deal?
Not going to happen,it would leave Ruk with nought to leverage to keep them afloat,they would have to sell the family silver..oh wait… 🙂
The uk government would never go for that,and while on the obr,how much does it cost for a politically biased office that always gets its sums wrong?
For some reason stu I think hell will freeze over before they give up the liquid gold. Scots, biggest mugs on earth.
A significant discovery in the south of England has found 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Yet the significance of 24billion barrels remaining in the north sea is not.
It is a great solution though if the figures are true. The £2 billion means that future oil revenues are worth less than one of the aircraft carriers currently under construction. Or is the £2 billion figure whats left after deductions for imperial services. 🙂
Scots oil running out is one of the great UKOK lies our red, blue and yellow chums in the south have got away with in Scotland. The liars said it would all be gone before 1999.
Sarah Smith impartial as ever I see.
They’re only stewarding that volatile resource out of the goodness of their wee hearts dontchaknow.
Angus MacNeil already asked that last year:
link to youtube.com
One wonders if the Prime Minister’s response would be quite so hearty and jocular given it would somewhat undermine their whole “oil price is collapsing” narrative.
They’re trying to force a confrontation, your offer is intelligent and as a way forward, makes sense. That’s not what this is about for the unionists. Keep insulting the people who voted for the SNP, nazi’s et al, keep promoting the narrative that we are a nation tearing itself apart, continue a news blackout out on what is actually taking place in the HoC’s regarding the Scotland Act and the Smith Comm. All in an attempt to force the hand of the SNP.
It’s the SNP they want rid of. They voted down every amendment, every clause, they are ramping it up. The angle? To neuter the perception in Scotland that the SNP have any meaningful power and by extension to weaken the Indy movement backing them up.
They have no idea what they are dealing with and I think they want to ‘test’ this. That’s why they continually fall back on the ref result in Sept. We have to let this play out. They want to see something happen, a reaction that indicates the true strength of the opposition on the ground. They also know that if the SNP are successful in securing further powers that Independence becomes increasingly inevitable, if they force an early referendum when there is still enough unionist influence in Scotland, then they know it will fail.
The SNP will utilise every ounce of it’s discipline not to take the bait. We are not ready for another referendum and as others have said, how can we be sure that this is making any difference to those who voted No? WIthout the No voters we are actually fucked. It is the unionists who are dividing Scotland. I don’t want us walking into their trap. Because if we go into a ‘reactionary’ posture, then that narrative that they are setting up actually transpires, and then we Are in the Irish situation.
Do I think the British State is willing to got that far? Yes. There is a certain ‘audacity’ in them turning down every amendment and clause. They have obviously played around with all scenarios. They are feeling very sure of themselves.
While the Rev is an intelligent human being laying out screeds of political analysis that reflects the political reality and outlines avenues that allow for bridges to be built. The unionists have decided to reject any concession to their hegemony. Even in the light of the GE result. The votes on the amendments are a total rejection of any room to manoeuvre for the SNP/SG. Which means us.
If we go to the streets and the whole of our population is not with us, then what?
As Rev said hours ago on his twitter feed, the Tories may well be attempting to force another indyref as a means of undermining the SNP’s power base in Scotland. They just don’t get the ‘sovereign’ people bit, do they?
It’s extremely difficult to wait this out, which is what is required. We see this, we know this, but not enough people in Scotland have this understanding to enable us, with any certitude to tell the unionists to go taking a flying f*** to themselves and their lying conniving machinations.
Keep the heid and trust our reps…for the moment.
Maybe they could give us back the £300 billion plus they have took over the last 40 years while they are at it.
yeah, what they afraid of?
scotlands a country with an economy ffs.
Just watched far right tory boy Matthew Paris of even further right The Time and The Spectator really boost Kezia Dugdale on BBC Politics show. Dugdale excellent says Paris and Dugdale explains SCOTTISH Labour didn’t do very well last time because FFA is a £7.5 billion black hole and vile separatists really are vile aren’t they Matthew.
So another day of BBC UKOK red and blue fraud farts along. Dugdale says she’s the new generation of SCOTTISH Labour, even though she was the last generation’s No.2, who also got another lovely teamGB send orf from BBC politics show creeps.
Said creeps pissed hard all over Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn. As a vile separatist, thank fcuk creepy Jim Morphy was nothing like this guy.
@K1
I think your analysis is spot on.
K1 good comment. The No voters who do not access the internet have no way of knowing what is actually going on. They rely on the BBC and the MSM to tell them what the establishment in Whitehall wants them to know.
Without an independently regulated broadcaster and media regulator I can’t see a way round this. We will go on talking to ourselves and informing ourselves, without No voters ever being similarly informed and enlightened.
Those on Twitter keep tweeting this article out. Lets wind up the unionist parties. Could be interesting 🙂
K1
‘ If we go to the streets and the whole of our population is not with us, then what?’
D’ye think the whole population of Ireland was behind the 1916 uprising. Were they F*&^.
Sorry and Facebook
a) Ignore James above with another scare story. Decommissioning cost is the burden of the Duty Holder and is shared with the partners e.g. If Shell is the operator and Esso / Sumitomo / etc have a part ownership of the field then the cost will be allocated on percentage of holding. If the company went burst then the decommissioning cost reverts to the previous owner. The government loses income but does not incur cost. The UK government should agree to offset the loss of income given that they took a significant income for 40 years.
b) The UK has never operated a stability fund. In the period of high oil prices you feed the fund and drawdown when the oil price is low. Note: over the last 40 years very few years of drawdown would have been required.
c) The platform I am currently sitting on is making money. All platforms with a lifting cost expenditure below the current oil price are making money. The lifting cost is significantly lower for new fields due to the higher ratio of high production rates to lower operational cost (Plus they do have to recovery the initial investment within 3/4 years to make the project viable)
In summary the oil companies accepted liability of decommisioning during the original license application OR as part of the purchase from an existing operator in later life.
If a government sets up a stability fund AND amends the tax regime to promote new field development then the industry will thrive and the long term income is enhanced and guarenteed. The UK mismanaged the Oil & Gas for short term benefits – we would do it differently.
We have a great deal of expertise after 40 years – don’t let them fool you with crap such this scare story.
If there was a level playing field and project fear would not be used again I would be extremely confident of winning but the same dirty tricks will be used again I’m afraid which makes it 50-50. We dare not lose a second time or it’s game over.
Billions of pounds is being invested in one mammoth project, 100 miles west of Shetland that will provide vast amounts of gas an oil for years to come. If Scotland was receive all the revenues from that one region alone it will make a significant difference to the OBR and IFS forecasts.
I think we should do the opposite. Give them the oil free in exchange for independence. See if they accept.
What would it take to set up an independent Scottish news TV and radio channel?
I have said a few times that it is easier to predict the future than it is to predict the past, given that the past is subject to revision. We will have to wait a few years till the likes of Dan Snow, David Starkey and Neil Oliver write the story of the greatest con on earth, ever.
How will future generations read of the that time in 2014 when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime we, the people of Scotland, could have carried out a bloodless, peaceful, democratic revolution and chose instead to cling to the moth eaten comfort blanket of the Union?
How will historians present our belief that The Vow would deliver all that it claimed? How will they keep a straight face when they say “it was the settled will of the people” when they claim the honour of being part of Better Together, better known as Project Fear?
Having looked at the front pages of MSM and scoured the BBC website I can safely say nothing happened last night.
Scotland was only, on the face of it, important to the Union when they thought we would walk away from them, taking the curse of oil with us and a deep water base for weapons of mass destruction we will never use and cannot afford.
Now that the Union has been secured, at least as far as the Tories are concerned, it is as last night proved business as usual.
I still harbour a vision of an independent Scotland, the sooner the better. That vision started in the 1960`s, it will continue till I die.
Let us keep talking and voting and campaigning, every small victory counts. There are many countries of a comparable size to and even smaller than Scotland who do pretty well in the world because they are free.
There is no reason why we should not join them.
An admirable and modest proposal, Rev. It would of course be ignored because the bluff would have been called.
I believe we are in the last five years of a long-term strategy to achieve independence. We simply have to accept the slings and arrows of Establishment contempt and disrespect because it is the only way the persuadable Nos (50% of them?) will finally see the Union for what it is: a rotten institution which enriches the Kingdom of England to our detriment and marginalises us as a nation and a culture.
UDI or a rush for Indyref 2 without at least 60% for Yes would be madness now we are so close to the endgame. I am also sure this is what the enemy will try to do in an attempt to force our hand so we act prematurely. These provocative, siren voices must be ignored.
Lots of gritting of teeth required ahead but it will be worth it.
Patience is a lovely girl.
What a great idea this is! But somehow I can’t envisage the UK establishment going for the deal, which would prove the points you make. And that £2.1bn figure just seems crazy anyway.
@heedtracker
I watched the same show yesterday with the presenter spitting venom at Alex Salmond, shouting £7 billion black hole at him and constantly interrupting. Yet when the same presenter interviewed Dugdale she allowed her to trash FFS without a single challenge.
This is what we get from the BBC, constantly told we’re subsidised, too poor, can’t run our own affairs but the opposite view is never put forward.
Its a Zinger!!!!!
Dunno why I said FFS, must have had ‘For Fucks Sake’ running through my head after watching that interview.
From Stu’s Main Article:”. On last night’s Scotland 2015, Sarah Smith stated as a bare fact that “the offshore tax base IS GOING TO COLLAPSE far worse than you previously thought”, (our emphasis) citing the OBR’s figures as justification and claiming that they “seem to get it more right than the [oil] industry do” – a statement for which we’re not aware of any supporting evidence.”
The broadcasters at the British Broadcasting Corporation in Scotland get their news from the newspapers,and check their sources against other newspapers.
Simple.
Job done,now let’s get away home,it’s after eleven. 🙁
Britnats pouring UKOK scorn on FFA and THE VOW
Adam Tomkins retweeted Dr Paul Monaghan MP
So now #FFA was in the Vow, according to this MP?! #FFS indeed. We’re all doomed. Adam Tomkins added,
Dr Paul Monaghan MP @_PaulMonaghan
The Labour Party has abstained on an amendment to give the Scottish Parliament Full Fiscal Autonomy despite it being part of the #Vow! #SNP
It is a tricky one THE VOW on Scotland which begins “The Scottish Parliament is permanent” and then same red and blue tory Prof Tomkinski style Westminster creep show votes that out too. Its bad form to have a really good laugh at FFA but who am I kidding. Will it affect houses prices in England?
Its a red and blue tory world. Pull Devo-Max off the suckers ballot paper, swear and promise in via Daily Record creeps Scotland’s going to get Devo Max with a NO win, fuck it all off within months later, call them all nazis and cultists, because we’re so much bettertogether.
Australia anyone:D
For those hoping to see a significant shift in BBC TV viewing across Scotland as a consequence of its blatant bias & propaganda, the data, while not quite up to date, is still rather depressing: 57% use TV for their main local news sources while only 17% use the internet.
Source: Media Scotland at link to tinyurl.com
———————————————————————————————————
“In 2013, BBC One’s early-evening nation’s news bulletin, Reporting Scotland, attracted an average 32 per cent share of TV viewing in Scotland – higher than the UK average for the same slot at 29 per cent.
STV’s counterpart bulletin, STV News at Six, attracted a lower average share (25 per cent), although considerably higher than the Channel 3 UK average (18 per cent).”
“Scotland has the highest proportion of adults using the television to keep up with Scottish national news. In Scotland in 2013, 57 per cent of respondents cited television as their main source of local news, up by three percentage points on the previous year.
All three of the devolved nations reported higher than the average UK figure of 50 per cent. The second most popular source for local news in Scotland was the internet – 17 per cent of those surveyed claimed this to be their main source of local news, four percentage points higher than the UK average of 13 per cent.”
I agree Rev, it would be an interesting proposal, made in Parliament by the SNP it would cause some ructions among the anti Scots. It would wrong foot them, and to escape they would need valid justifications. Which would be laughable.
They would not do it,we all know why, they are Oil junkies. However, many anti Scots would perhaps be willing to jump at it. Just to keep us quiet.
Thus at minimum, causing distress for Westminster.
Never ‘act’ out of anger, DrewSword. These are different times. I don’t regard ma fellow citizens as ‘collateral’, if we took to the streets, we would lose support, because that is exactly what we are being ‘set up’ to do. It’s a trap.
We have made incredible progress. Work toward removing the next layer in 2016, focus our intent in this direction.
Watching EU debate live. – Is Ken Clarke pissed?
I dont suggest for a minute he is but how do we resolve his loss of memory and rambling.
I am sure he is a paragon of sobriety and its just memory lapses.
[…] Unionists got very excited last week when the Office for Budget Responsibility once again downgraded its long-term North Sea oil revenue forecasts (which in 2011 it was predicting at £131bn) to just £2.1bn over 20 years. The new figure was as usual treated as a gospel fact and used to attack both independence and full fiscal autonomy by proving that Scotland couldn’t afford to run its own affairs. […]
O/T
Rev, I’m writing a post for WGD at the moment. Do you mind if I drop a link in on one of your articles?
I wonder how many professionals in the Futures & Options market sit each day wondering “What will the OBR figure say?” before placing their wagers.
A fair quantity of Hee multiplied by a substantial amount of Haw would be my estimation.
We will lose indyref2 and 3 and any other indyref as long as we believe that the Brittish State would never dream of interfering with votes.
I don’t believe I’m the only one who thinks we won back in September.
It would be completely out of character for The State to play fair, it would also be a dereliction of duty for the secret services to do nothing about a threat to The State.
Of course that is just my opinion.
@Clootie
You the man. 🙂
Noel Chidwick says:
“I think we should do the opposite. Give them the oil free in exchange for independence. See if they accept.”
They’re already getting the oil for free Noel, £300bil+ of it for free so far
Tinto Chiel
You make some good points. The way I see it – we know what the unionists want us to do: get back in the box or rush a second indyref before we are ready.
They don’t want us to patiently attempt to engage in Westminster and in the process show the people of Scotland how peripheral we are to Westminster’s priorities. They don’t want the unionists coming across as raving Britnats and SNP MPs as principled and competent parliamentarians.
They want the vow to be forgotten, not held up to the light. They want watered down Smith to be the end, not the beginning.
We need to keep playing the game. We are winning. We will win.
Maybe I went to the wrong school but (oil revenue forecast) 131 / 2.1 = 78.7. (price of barrel of oil in 2011 and now) 120 / 70 = 1.7. New oil revenue forecast 131 / 1.7 = 80 (aprox), OK it is not that simple but it surely cannot be out by a factor of 78.7 / 1.7 = 47 times (aprox). Should I phone the OBR office or John Swinney or did I really go to the wrong school? Definitely not the same one as Sarah.
The only time ever the OBR has been right is when they have said they needed to adjust their predictions.
Great we can have such meaningful discussion between the the nations of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
With England, Wales and Northern Ireland and part of the Kingdom of England, The Kingdom of Scotland and out joint royal family the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha’s
O/T but perhaps not?
the English government will never give us independence, Atmospheric CO2 for May 2015 was at 403.70, has the tipping point crossed now? sea level rise speeding up? link to uk.news.yahoo.com
where will the population resettle, given the hostility to economic refugees down south? will they be welcome anywhere else, soon Europe will never be so far apart!
Breastplate says:
16 June, 2015 at 2:48 pm
We will lose indyref2 and 3 and any other indyref as long as we believe that the Brittish State would never dream of interfering with votes.
Well it would be interesting to watch teamGBists demand no foreigners can vote, only Scots, and their very weird demands for UK.gov Purda on no sudden last minute 2014 The VOW cons, or an impartial non political British civil service.
Holy fcuk if you’re wanting out of the EU, the next year or so of UKOK hard core Westminster/BBC shysting is really going to be an eye opener.
G H Graham says:
2:28 pm
For those hoping to see a significant shift in BBC TV viewing
These figures are from a 2014 report on 2013 figures. I wonder what they are like now two year later? Speaking for myself, since September 2014, I have completely changed my viewing habits and source of information when it comes to news and current affairs. I doubt that I am alone. On my trustworthy index the BBC is down there with Fate magazine and the Bunty.
I took a look to see what Parasitic Quay are reporting, the day after the “Vow” was so comprehensively broken.
… and yes, the top Scottish news story on their website is, you got it, an ‘SNHS is crap’ scare story
link to bbc.co.uk
It’s not really a scare story at all, but they’ve spun it that way. The real story: Scottish Gov civil service bods are helping staff at the brand new Glasgow Hospital to get waiting times down, and both sides are very happy about this. But you don’t get to see this until about the twelfth paragraph (by which point casual readers will have clicked away). The first few paragraphs manage to subtly imply that HM London Gov have stepped in to recover from an SNP-led failure.
We need a billboard campaign (plus TV ads on commercial channels) highlighting the lies and black propaganda/PsyOps of BBC Scotland. Even slightly cracking the faith of those still brainwashed by auntie beeb is a useful start. Maybe call it the “think twice” campaign? Billboards comparing something said on BBC to a provable fact? Daily Redcoat can be target for the second wave.
I truly believe this type of old-fashioned advertising is the best way to reach the target demographic: misinformed, offline, soft naws. If there’s support for this, I’m willing to co-ordinate setting up fundraising/crowdfunding, and getting an online presence and PO box for the campaign. Any takers?
I agree with Lollysmum. We need to get this article onto social media in a big way, yes to annoy certain folk, but mainly cos it gets to the simple truth of the whole indi argument.
If oil’s so bad, hand over the burden! This can be scaled up or down to counter anything we’re faced with (if Scotland’s so skint, leave us to our black hole etc).
The sooner the average Scot begins to think like that, the sooner we can contemplate another vote as the propaganda war will be over – simple 😉
Where has Labour’s moral compass gone.
I heard of a possible unilateral declaration of Scottish Independence from the late Robin Cook MP in 1983 at the Labour Party Conference in Perth City Hall. I asked Robin about Labour’s prospects at the election. We will win Scotland, we agreed but it looked like another Thatcher victory due to English dominance of seat numbers.
He then said ‘How can we let the Scottish people suffer another Tory government hell-bent on union destruction and driving down living standards? I am seriously considering leading all Scottish Labour MP’s over the burning bridge to join with the SNP and declare UDI’. – Patrick S Hogg is an SNP councillor in North Lanarkshire
If only they have today people of such stature, honesty and commitment to whats best for the people of Scotland.
link to bellacaledonia.org.uk
Scunterbunnet says:BBC Bios
Sorry to do a 3rd post today – promise last one.
I did post previously a suggestion that the Scottish Parliament under Scots Law introduce a law making the broadcasting of political bios illegal under Scots Law by “State Broadcasters” (and state broadcasters only )
Issue rules and guidelines.
That way they could be accountable through the Scottish Courts and not just by Westminster.
That is an absolutely brilliant point and so simple, why haven’t we heard it before. That would be a brilliant question for PMQs any time a piss poor OBR forecasts was trotted out and for JS on Scotland 2015/16/17
Cheer up folks! The glass is not half empty, it’s not even half full. The glass is now three quarters full (and still rising). Even when it becomes 90% full, there will still be people (the usual suspects) greetin that it’s 10% empty.
Discipline and patience – that’s all we need. Time is on our side.
Did they cheat during the referendum campaign last year? Of course they did! But why obsess about spilt milk? They cheated but don’t worry they are not going to get away with it. The union parties in Scotland have been absolutely trashed – rejoice!
An interesting idea Stu, and well worth a try, if only to keep Cameron and crew on the back foot.
That aside, the Union v Independence battle is certainly hotting up with pressure building from the inside, like a volcano. I find it all somewhat stressful and I wonder how we are all going to get through the next few years. We must of course, if only to dismantle the Unionist political structure remaining in Scotland in Holyrood and the Councils. As so many have noted, patience and forbearance will be essential.
FFA is beginning to look like a dead duck – thank you Westminster Tory fiefdom – proving, if needed, Tory treachery and Referendum fraud after the Vow. They are treating us as they treated the Australian Aborigines, the North American Indians and so many others. We are a lower version of the species and wholly unworthy of the granting of respect or equality from our English superiors and Imperial masters.
As for Independence, formidable obstacles remain in our path as has been noted so eloquently in these posts and comments. A sizeable number of No voters are required to change vote, and from difficult blocs of the electorate, viz., the elderly, the immigrant English, the business and professional class, and last but by no means least, the royalists, including the OO, with ties to the uniquely tribal Unionist groups in Belfast and throughout NI.
One thing is clear. Unless the strong attachment that the elderly and the English immigrants have with the BBC can be altered, then I fear, with an ever increasing elderly population for the forseeable future, and all else remaining the same, we will have to wait a long time for Independence.
Were Labour in Scotland to create an independent party, supporting Independence, then the wheel of fortune might turn significantly, but the current batch of leadership candidates in London are showing little sign of letting Scotland Labour do it’s own thing. They should go to Specsavers, before they find themselves at the undertaker.
But, in all of this, we have the formidable 56, whose talent, experience and location cannot be underestimated, and for them, it is early days yet. The 56 will surely play a decisive role in empowering the SNP and in guiding Scotland to Independence. I am certainly placing a lot of hope in them.
So, setbacks. Yes. But each with the potential for a positive outcome, if the No voters come to realise that Unionism is betraying them, lied to them in the Vow, and holds no future for them. That they too are but Aboriginals to be exploited and then disposed of.
You can tell which are No voters from their brightly coloured beads and their little badges with the word ‘VOW’ on them.
Always vote SNP. Support Nicola.
And be independent today, to become Independent tomorrow.
Rev this is one of those ideas that you think “why didn’t I think of that?” Pure genius.
@Scunterbunnet says:
3:27 pm
I’m in. I’d love to see giant billboards with Don’t trust BBC LIES. With maybe a link to wings 🙂
Sorry Stew for going O/T, but Donald Trump going for U.S. Presidency , is as daft as Murphy going for First Minister!!.
manandboy says:
16 June, 2015 at 4:25 pm
As for Independence, formidable obstacles remain in our path
Indeed, but one of the biggest, remaining obstacles was demolished on the 7th May 2015. The Scottish red tories won’t be creating any more constitutional log jams in a hurry. Brown, Darling and Murphy et al. have had their day in the sun. Don’t underestimate the significance of this event.
@ Gerry McAteer:
“Brilliant solution, that would really put them on the spot. What would their answer be? I wonder…”
Oh, look – a red squirrel!
A start!
‘David Cameron has again offered a major concession to stave off defeat in the Commons over his EU renegotiation strategy.
At 9.35pm on Monday night, No 10 published its own amendment ruling out a referendum on 5 May, 2016, the same date as elections to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislatures.
A Government source told Sky News: “We’ve listened to the views expressed from MPs across the House and agreed that we won’t hold the referendum on the same day as legislature elections.”
And yet Sky News understands that the move came after Downing Street learnt that the DUP had signed up to an SNP amendment essentially calling for the same change.
link to uk.news.yahoo.com
@ scunterbunnet ”We need a billboard campaign (plus TV ads on commercial channels) highlighting the lies and black propaganda/PsyOps of BBC Scotland. Even slightly cracking the faith of those still brainwashed by auntie beeb is a useful start. Maybe call it the “think twice” campaign? Billboards comparing something said on BBC to a provable fact? Daily Redcoat can be target for the second wave.
I truly believe this type of old-fashioned advertising is the best way to reach the target demographic: misinformed, offline, soft naws. If there’s support for this, I’m willing to co-ordinate setting up fundraising/crowdfunding, and getting an online presence and PO box for the campaign. Any takers?’
I think this is the best way forward Scunterbunnet. Our ‘old-fashioned’ meetings in halls and so on all over the country worked wonders in comparison to Labours ‘closed shop’ by invite only fiasco.
And what about Brian Souter? Do you think he would agree to us using his buses to advertise?
Luigi says:
16 June, 2015 at 4:18 pm
Cheer up folks! The glass is not half empty,
All they’ve done Smith Commission wise is give Holyrood PAYE tax raising power. All that means is Scots tax payers will pay twice for the privilege of teamGB membership. They know this will damage Scotland, Holyrood and above all SNP Scots.gov n the worst ways possible too. Attack Scots national self confidence via BBC, Daily Record etc, brand SNP votes Nazi’s in silly skirts, undermine Scottish economy for next five years. Keiza Dugdale all new improved SCOTTISH Labour veneration much like what the BBC do with royals, bish bosh union saved, job done 2020.
Do you really think our chums in the south are playing a game Scotland.
heedtracker,
Of course they are playing a silly game, but it is not going to work. Where are all those SNP voters going to go? Back to the red tories?
Have confidence in the Scottish people. When they are ready for independence, believe me, it will happen. Of that, I am 100% certain.
Latest from bbc Scotland:
Boothman is moving on to work on the bbc Charter renewal.
Served the union well, and no doubt will get his baubles in due course.
Just MacQuarrie to go now.
At scunterbunnet
Totally agree with you about trying billboards or advertising to get our message OUT of social media. Social media for us Yes folk is really only an echo chamber, we have to use the old fashioned channels to reach soft Noes, or provoke discussion and thought.
Something really serious, not condescending or slagging, like the Brown Vow issue on a simple split window with the words and dates.
Presented as almost here are the facts, how do you like being taken for a fool. People don’t like being told they are wrong, simply present the facts, and let them decide if they are happy at the Union ripping the p···
Seeing as Cameron and his motor morons swear by the O.B.R. then I see no problem with asking them to do exactly as Stu suggests. After all they treat us like s**** so why not go the whole hog and let us become a bankrupt country … just like the U.K. currently is? 😉
We all know they don’t give a damn about Scotland so surely they’d jump at the chance to cease subsidising Scotland … wouldn’t they? 😉
On a wee aside. Last night after the utterly amazing show of *ahem* support for the S.N.P. ammendments in the HoC Twitter and Facebook erupted into an almost endless series of calls for indy ref #2 and U.D.I. There is however a third option I believe. I can’t remember what it is called but it involves the recalling of all Scottish Lord’s to Edinburgh where they must swear allegence to the Scottish government and support their call for independence. Failure to do so results in immediate loss of title and lands, if they have any, in Scotland.
I know the first two options each come with their own set of problems and risks but having recently remembered about the third option I was thinking to myself “wouldn’t it be hilarious to see the likes of Lord Forsythe and Lord Foulkes having to trapsy up to Edinburgh to swear allegence to Nicola Sturgeon or lose their beloved titles and lands.” 😀
Rev, that seems a very good idea. The OBR figures can be found in the box marked -“Herring – Red’ for use in Scotland only.’
I am sure I saw on twitter a little while ago rumours that BBC Boothman is being moved but now cannot find it.
@ X_Sticks says ”Latest from bbc Scotland: Boothman is moving on to work on the bbc Charter renewal. Served the union well, and no doubt will get his baubles in due course. Just MacQuarrie to go now.”
Well he’s out on his bahoookie because he was exposed by Margo MacDonald’s daughter (Zoe?) for one. Good for her.
We’ve heard about the troubles at PQ but I just wonder if it goes deeper than the ‘bullying’ and so on. Is it possible that some (or many) of the individuals that are working there are sick and tired of the bias too? Just a thought.
Sorry for the link but thought folks might like to know that there will, at least temporarily, be one less unionist at Pacific Quay.
link to bbc.co.uk
link to oilprice.com
Just a wee add on to my previous post about the third option.
The third option I was refering to is called the Three Estates Convention.
link to en.wikipedia.org
I know it was created way back when but as Winnie Ewing said at the opening of the Scottish parliament in 1999 “the Scottish parliament is re-convend.” So, in my village idiot phase of thinking, as the Scottish parliament is reconvend then so is the Three Estates Convention. 😉
Luigi says:
16 June, 2015 at 5:07 pm
heedtracker,
Of course they are playing a silly game, but it is not going to work. Where are all those SNP voters going to go? Back to the red tories?
Because Smith Commission is clearly a mocking farce, watch tory boy’s like Prof Tomkins smirk, Scotland will probably continue as it is now and like England, slave wage economy, low skilled workforce, prosperous secure middle and upper class that do all the voting in England at least and hard line right BBC, our ever super super rich elite like the royals and Ian Wood reigning over us ofcourse.
Throw in a EU ref waste of time and energy, giant English infrastructure spends, English house prices growing all the time, benefits scroungers whipping for neo fascist UK media, bloody good British war or two, royal babies, some more UKOK establishment paedos given up, Lords enlarged and empowered, that once in a generation referendum for Scotland looks likely:-(
Funny how we’re always accused of being the baddies
but yet again “Man found guilty of racially abusing MSP Humza Yusaf sentenced to 90 hours community payback order”
Front page of the National’s good with the Conservative and Nazi Party’s Mundell pictured saying “No No No No to powers for Scotland a lot of times
Boothman of the BBC out
Don’t miss Thursday’s FMQs…. Announcement Pending..
Wee Birdy….
@ Dr Jim,
C’mon Jim, Spit it oot! 🙂
@K1
thanks for the brilliant comment – I’m still raging about yesterday and you are right to advise to keep the heid.
———————————————————
@ Drew Sword
I think Wingers on here would know better than me about Irish history but i believe the 1916 Easter Rising was unpopular until the UK carried out the executions of the “rebels”. Unsurprisingly then it all shifted.
———————————————————–
PLEASE could someone repost the facts and stats about the scottish economy and resources ie % we have of forestry, hydro electric etc etc. I’ve hunted and can’t find them. My aim is to print these off in a handy wee notelet size and when I get into a conversation with a unionist who says we are too poor I will hand them one. Too wee is blown out of the water – think Iceland, Norway etc. And too stupid has been addressed by the very effective leadership of the SNP over the years.
Many thanks Wingers. F’ckin Westmister are treating this as a game. They’re a disgrace. We might not have the power (yet) but we have the passion.
@Almannysbunnet, @Petra, @Valerie
Thanks for encouraging the billboards suggestion. I’ve never done outdoor advertising before. It turns out it’s not extortionate…
“The average cost of outdoor advertising is around £200 per week for a standard 48 sheet billboard. An ad on the side of a bus stop on a busy high street could cost about £300 for two weeks’ exposure.”
… at that price, I’d happily fund a couple of billboards myself. I’m going to set up some sort of online forum for discussing this, and post a link to it here and on other pro-indy sites. It could be a rolling programme of putting up ads as and when funds are donated? Maybe allow anybody with an advert idea to suggest it, and members/donators can vote for the best ones to put up, and where to put them?
If anybody with knowledge of legalities/advertising standards can join in, that would be immense. And we’d need some sort of formal structure for the campaign… I don’t want to be responsible for other folks donations as a private individual.
[and sorry Rev Stu, this is off-topic, will take the conversation elsewhere asap]
@ Scunterbunnet
Sorry – just caught up on your post and suggestion re billborads. Brilliant idea!
Surely Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee must call the OBR to appear and be questioned about these figures.
And so the crap continues.Natalie McGarrie has just tweeted that no SNP questions have been selected for Prime Ministers question time,but they will try to be heard from the floor.It makes me fume.
@ K1 – 12: 50 wotsit, xxx
Bored with this economic argument yet?
Then take a moment to have a laugh at Tom Harper, Home Affairs Correspondent, an alleged journalist with “The Sunday Times” of London.
In an interview for CNN, he stutters his way through a 4 minute train wreck of an interview in which he attempts to defend his claim that Richard Snowden’s encrypted files have been breached by Russia & China.
Video source: link to tinyurl.com
It’s a terrific example of British media junk in which some plummy chums working at a London newspaper, decide to fabricate a story without a single shred of corroborating evidence & then dare the British government to challenge it.
Sound familiar?
With an original copy of the comically written front page “Vow”, now safely laminated & stored in his filing cabinet drawer marked “Fiction”, the Editor of The Daily Record will surely weep with wistful admiration, should he too have the chance to watch it.
@G H Graham 6.29
I got as far as ‘umm mutiple sources umm’ and the dog threw up!
Sorry to disrupt your fun folks but if you are so confident that oil price will rise why not buy an oil future on CME: priced today at under $67 West Texas Intermediate for June 2019; in money if it more than that then. sadly, losses are unlimited if it is less.Surely not too risky for you lot?
Radio 4 reporting from 7.30 am this morning that Right wing Torys going bonkers over possible last-minute interventions in EU referendum by UK government.
Want to retain dames set of rules as Indy referendum to ensure that no last minute intervention possible. …..
Duhhh, am I missing something ?
( complaint made of course )
It is time for action.
Nicola Sturgeon has repeatedly said about another referendum, It’s up to the people of Scotland. That’s us.
The Vow was alleged to have changed the course of the last referendum; to have changed the destiny of Scotland, no less. Yesterday, that vow was trashed very transparently by people not elected to represent Scotland. Today, that very simple, yet profoundly important fact isn’t even reported by the national state broadcaster.
We have to act. We’ve put 56 fine SNP MPs in the heart of the monster, now we must support them. This is a partnership. We have to step up and prove that this brilliant new way of doing politics is indeed all about us, the people.
Exposing to the masses the BBC’s dereliction of duty seems to me a great place to start. @Scunterbunnet at 3.20pm; I’m well and truly in – great idea. We have to find creative ways to win over the uninitiated. Where do I send the money?!!
neil allan says:
16 June, 2015 at 6:38 pm
Sorry to disrupt your fun folks but if you are so confident that oil price will rise why not buy an oil future on CME:
Yes but Neil, there is a lot more to an oil industry than the hundreds of billions in tax take Westminster’s syphoned away to England for decades now.
Our imperial masters would poop their kecks at just the thought of offshore teamGB oil workers pay and working conditions improving, let alone approaching Norski levels.
Then you have giant construction yards like the one below in Verdal, massive investment, high pay high skill jobs, all in Norway, one of dozens compared to Scotland with none.
Give the sweaties control of their own natural resources and who knows they’ll get up to eh Neil?
This farce union stinks to high hell and everyone knows it.
link to nrk.no
@neil allan
What you’ve failed to understand, if you’re capable of understanding anything other than the lowest common denominator; the creed of greed – and I seriously doubt you (and “your lot”) are capable of understanding this – is that this is about a collective approach to taking responsibility.
Sorry if I used too many long words for you there.
@Dr Jim
Thanks for that:
In an email to staff, BBC Scotland Director Ken McQuarrie said: “We are now entering the most important period of work ahead of the forthcoming Charter Review discussions as we shape our plans for the future of BBC Scotland.
“I am writing to let you know that John Boothman, Head of News and Current Affairs will be joining the team working on Scotland’s proposals for Charter Review.
Breaking news.. BBC Scotland’s Head of News moved somewhere just not quite the same place as staff revolt. Goodbye Mr Boothman, now to be in charge of paper clips during next charter review or until he retires. I can hear singing at Pacific Quay….
o.T. When I see the way Westminster and the media and some of our,so called fellow scots treat Scotland and her people I find myselfe thinking that the only solution is violence but then I remember an Irish priest saying his dearest wish was to see a free unitedIreland then added but the day the first life was lost the price became to high god bless you Sir,you are one of the good people and by the way I am a Protestant and I also remember Bill Gates saying only the ones who are stupid enough to believe they can change the world are the ones who will that’s us folks
@Neil Allan, you say that as if you are trying to call our collective bluffs? How odd that you seem to think a dwindling resource will become cheaper. Like all resources in this world, the less there is available the higher the price. And with China adding 30 million extra cars to the road every year it seems highly unlikely that demand for oil will drop any time soon.
link to cnbc.com
TBH a higher oil price sounds like a fairly sound investment, much more appealing than shares in RBS or Lloyds that’s for sure! Or investing in Sterling long term for that matter.
@ call me dave, @Cag-does-thinking:
Since the peasants are revolting over paying their wages through the Licence Fee, no doubt Boothman will be working on ways to implement a BBC Poll Tax in Scotland.
Seem to remember someone else tried that on in Scotland first as well – didn’t turn out too good did it?
Ronnie Anderson
How are you doin big man. Will be back on dry land shortly.
I hope you are in good health.
I see Boothman of BBC Scotland is having a few problems with Margo’s daughter. Could be the end of him.
Will be glad to meet you at Pacific Quay to give Boothman a farewell he will remember.
I hope this is the start of big changes at BBC Scotland. I might consider paying my license again but only if they promise to sack every one of the Unionist bastards who played there part in keeping Scotland stuck in this stinking Union.
See you soon Ronnie.
@Scunterbunnet, I love your billboard forum idea, count me in for a couple of quid.
Where do all these ("Tractor" - Ed)s go when independence comes?Surely Brown ect cannot continue to live in our free country?
To little and far far to late.
Neil Allan’s post sums up the unionist. A natural resource is about “making money”. Not for him a discussion on societal improvements and the investmetment in a nations long term future.
A unionist at heart is our Neil….how much can be made. The disease of the South and the followers of unionst greed Me..Me..Me. The vision is selfish,narrow and short term.
But aren’t you double counting? The point is FFA may leave a shortfall because of the oil revenues.
Your proposal means that if the oil revenues run dry, Barnett will kick in, and if they flow, Scotland gets a surplus.
Where’s the risk reward ratio you are talking about?
Surely you mean that you want will exchange the Barnett formula for oil revenues and FFA?
And to make it fair, why not then reduce the Barnett formula to the £105m and then when oil revenues rise, Scotland makes a profit.
The Vow is a Unionist position with Barnett et al. FFA and independence is the separatist position and manifesto commitments. I didn’t think Barnett is included in any of the separatist manifestos, only the Unionist ones?
“But aren’t you double counting? The point is FFA may leave a shortfall because of the oil revenues.
Your proposal means that if the oil revenues run dry, Barnett will kick in, and if they flow, Scotland gets a surplus.
Where’s the risk reward ratio you are talking about?
Surely you mean that you want will exchange the Barnett formula for oil revenues and FFA?
And to make it fair, why not then reduce the Barnett formula to the £105m and then when oil revenues rise, Scotland makes a profit.
The Vow is a Unionist position with Barnett et al. FFA and independence is the separatist position and manifesto commitments. I didn’t think Barnett is included in any of the separatist manifestos, only the Unionist ones?”
Firstly: I bend over backwards to encourage dissenting views, but post another comment like that and it’ll be deleted. I’m indulging it this once because I’m in a good mood but please read the comment rules before posting, specifically the bit about paragraph breaks.
And no, you’ve entirely missed the point. This post is nothing to do with FFA. It’s a simple transaction about a single commodity. We’re saying that if oil is really only worth £2.1bn in the next 25 years, sell it to us for that price right now. Everything else carries on as normal. Nothing else is affected. It’s a zero-sum deal: Westminster gets the money, we get the oil.
@ Scunterbunnet
Count me in for £100
You can run the poster campaign just at Pacific quay if short of funds – catch them on the way to work
Ian @ 7,24
What does (“Tractor:-Ed)s actually stand for?
Excuse my ignorance,just wanna know
Cheers
thomaspotter2014
It refers to those who betray the farm
Joemcg,
“Scots, biggest mugs on earth”
55% of them, and falling as the elderly British nationalists who voted No have no choice but to give way.
… sometimes referred to as tractorous bailers
So Boothman is to go – another of the Unionist leaders bites the dust.
Here is an amendment he can stick in his new charter – Delete clause 44 as it is not needed anymore.
44. Accuracy and impartiality
(1) The BBC must do all it can to ensure that controversial subjects are treated with due accuracy and impartiality in all relevant output.
On Indyref2 I would go for it as soon as possible after SE16 – who is going to lead the Better Together 2 campaign? The only unionists left will be the BBC and the few editors of the DR, Herald and Scotsman.
Strike while the iron is hot – onwards and upwards.
Could the Scottish government not borrow £2.1bn now and buy the full oil revenues for the next twenty years from the UK government?
Like FFA, it would be good to call their bluff.
For long they have regarded us as total idiots and scared many of us to death into remaining total idiots, but it is no longer working.
So the rumours were true Boothman has been ousted for bullying and threatening behaviour at Pacific Quay. The man is a coward.
@neil allan says: 16 June, 2015 at 6:38 pm:
“Sorry to disrupt your fun folks”
Fun! FUN! What the hell makes you imagine this is fun?
“… but if you are so confident that oil price will rise why not buy an oil future on CME:”
Hey! No advertising here.
“Surely not too risky for you lot?”
Whaddya mean, “Us lot”?
Is that opposed to, “Your Lot”?
So you’ll be the Troll on shift from the Establishment A.T.M.
BTW: whatever give you the idiotic notion that some of us are not already holders of oil & gas shares but in companies that, “we lot”, choose?
You must imagine we Scots button up the back and would rush to buy oil shares on the advice of one of, “your lot”.
Sheesh! Where does the Establishment find these brainless idiots?
Hoss Mackintosh
I read in the BBC editorial guidelines today:
“Impartiality lies at the heart of public service and is the core of the BBC’s commitment to its audiences”
Slice that down and you get: “lies at the heart of public service”. Sounds about right.
Aye… impartiality (except for viewers in Scotland). Think I have the makings of a tshirt. The BBC Scotland logo with a bit of tinkering resembles a certain single digit gesture if you add another wee knuckle round about the highlands.
Terry is this what you were looking for? I put this together from bits and pieces last year so some of the data such as regarding oil may have changed. I also had an article that outlined that Scotland has the greatest level of the highest educationally qualified adults in Europe (our greatest asset of all) but can’t find it so have added another article.
SCOTLAND WITH ONLY 9% OF THE UK POPULATION HAS:
32% of the land area.
61% of the sea area.
90% of the fresh water.
65% of the natural gas production
96.5% of the crude oil production.
47% of the open cast coal production
81% of the untapped coal reserves
62% of the timber production
46% of the total forest area
92% of the hydro electric production
40% of the wind wave and solar energy production
60% of the fish landings
30% of the beef herd
20% of the sheep herd
9% of the dairy herd
10% of the pig herd
15% if the cereal holdings
20% of the potato holdings
90% of the whisky industry
SCOTLAND WITH ONLY 1% OF EUROPES POPULATION HAS:
25% of Europes tidal energy
25% of wind power
10% of wave energy
Over 60% of EU oil production (largest oil reserve in the EU)
33% of the EUs total hydrocarbon production
WE HAVE A:
17 billion pound construction industry
13 billion food and drink industry
10 billion business services industry
9.3 billion chemical services industry
9.3 billion tourism industry
7 billion financial services industry
5 billion aeroservice industry
4.5 billion pound whisky exports industry
3.1 billion pound life sciences industry
And 350 million pounds worth of textile exports
Scotland also has the the greatest level of the highest educationally qualified adults in Europe.
link to independent.co.uk
OUR WHISKY INDUSTRY ACCOUNTS FOR 25% OF THE WHOLE OF THE UK FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY
OUR OIL IS WORTH OVER ONE POINT FIVE TRILLION AND THAT’S NOT COUNTING THE LATEST OIL FIELD FOUND OFF THE EAST COAST IN OCTOBER 2014 AND POTENTIAL FORTHCOMING OIL BOOM OFF THE WEST COAST. NOR DOES IT INCLUDE THE 7 STOLEN OILFIELDS.
Experts state forthcoming oil boom off Scotlands West Coast …. Kevin Forbes 2014
link to youtube.com %2Fyoutu.be%2FcsY43qV4JdA+
The Accounting trick that hides Scotlands Wealth.
link to businessforscotland.co.uk
How wealthy is Scotland in comparison to England?
link to youtube.com
Reason for poverty in the UK. The UK is in the top 4 most inequitable countries in the developed World. UK fat cats are greedier than EU fat cats.
Income inequality in the UK
link to youtube.com
Wealth inequality in the UK
link to youtube.com
Scottish Independence: When the oil runs out?
link to youtube.com
Renewables:
• Renewable energy currently supports over 11,000 jobs in Scotland (Scottish Renewables, January 2014).
• The Scottish Government has an ambitious but achievable target for renewable energy in Scotland to generate the equivalent of 100 per cent of gross annual electricity consumption and 11 per cent of heat consumption by 2020.
• Renewable generation in Scotland is enough to power the equivalent of every household in Scotland.
• Boosting renewable energy will also make a significant contribution to a sustainable economy.
Wave and tidal energy:
• Scotland has an estimated 25% of Europe’s tidal potential and 10% of its wave potential.
• The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) celebrated ten years of real-sea experience in 2013. There have been more grid-connected marine energy converters deployed at EMEC than at any other single site in the world and the centre remains the world’s only accredited marine energy laboratory.
• The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters is the site of the world’s first commercial scale leasing round for marine energy.
• The Crown Estate, which owns the sea bed, has awarded leases for just over 1.6 gigawatts of marine projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters – potentially enough to power 750,000 households.
•The Saltire Prize is the world’s largest prize for marine energy innovation.
Wind:
• Onshore wind power has recently overtaken hydro power as the most common form of renewable energy in Scotland.
• Figures published in June 2013 show wind generation in the first quarter of 2013 reached a record high, up by 11.5% year on year.
• Scotland boasts 25% of Europe’s offshore wind resources.
Hydro.
• Scotland was the one of the first countries in the world to harness electricity from its waters. That legacy is still visible – Scotland’s ambitious hydro building programme in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in infrastructure which still produces electricity today.
• More hydro schemes are in the pipeline and the Scottish Hydropower Resource Study found that there could be as much economically viable untapped hydropower potential to power a quarter of Scotland’s homes.
North Sea oil and gas
• On an internationally comparable basis Scotland is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the European Union, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of total EU reserves.
• Since the 1970s, over 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) have been extracted from the UK Continental Shelf. However, the remaining oil and gas reserves on the UKCS are substantial, for example, Oil and Gas UK estimate that up-to 24 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent can still be recovered from the UKCS as a whole.
• The North Sea still produces 1.5 million boe a day and Oil & Gas UK estimates that production could reach 2 million boe a day by 2017. In 2011, Scotland accounted for over 60% of EU oil production and approximately a third of EU total hydrocarbon production.
• Oil and gas production is estimated to have contributed around £22 billion to Scottish GDP in 2012 – making it the largest industrial sector in Scotland by a large margin.
• Since 1976, the UK Government has raised approximately £180 billion in direct tax revenue from oil and gas production. Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to approximately £300 billion at 2012-13 prices.
• In 2011-12 alone, oil and gas production in Scottish waters generated £10.6 billion in tax revenues, the second highest nominal level of tax revenue in the past 25 years.
• The Scottish Government Oil and Gas Analytical Bulletin (11 March 2013) found that given recent trends in investment and prices, the oil and gas industry could generate between £41 and £57 billion in tax revenue over the six years to 2017-18.
• The industry provides employment for around 200,000 people across Scotland both directly in the industry and by supporting jobs in other sectors of the economy.
@neil allan
I’d advise buying shares in Statoil. They can at least manage their oil industry.
They can even manage their own country without needing to use anyone else’s country as their crutch.
Want a draft contract drawn up? I hear the Daily Record is pretty good at that. Guaranteed to get all parties to sign without claiming the credit.
Is anyone actually under the illusion that Boothman is actually being punished for bullying ?
There’s not a peep on Auntie about a reason for the move, and there never will be (please let me be wrong !).
This is his reward, for a job done. They won.
With the power of the beeb at Project Fears disposal, getting 45% was a result really.
Knighthood to follow.
Lady Susan will be so proud.
Pete MacRae was a Exec Editor on the Documentary about 1986 Common Wealth a Games for the Glasgow 2014 Games coverage.
Involved in Newsteams, online content and Programme Planning at a quick glance.
Nicer smile, same political outlook?
Scunterbunnet I’m definitely up for contributing to billboard advertising and I also mentioned previously that I wondered if Brian Souter would consider helping out by advertising on the sides / back of his buses. Who knows? Worth a try.
Will we now see some positive change re. biased reporting at PQ with Boothman gone? I live in hope, lol.
defo says ”Is anyone actually under the illusion that Boothman is actually being punished for bullying ? There’s not a peep on Auntie about a reason for the move, and there never will be (please let me be wrong !). This is his reward, for a job done. They won. With the power of the beeb at Project Fears disposal, getting 45% was a result really.
Knighthood to follow. Lady Susan will be so proud.”
Defo Margo MacDonald’s daughter actually taped him discussing her / others in a derogatory way. I reckon he couldn’t get out of that.
As the local village idiot I have come to the conclusion that you Neil are masquarading as the local D.T. (Duty Troll) on Wings tonight. 🙂
First off have you read the OASIS (Orders And Schedules In Service) book yet?
If you haven’t, which I strongly suspect you haven’t, can I respectfully suggest that you read Chapter 4, sub section 6, Schedule 9 which quite clearly states:
It is strongly advised that ALL Duty Trolls do not, under any circumstances postulate on any CyberNat site, and Specifically Wings Over Scotland, that the dreaded CyberNattery consortium consider anything financially related. This has proven, in past years, to have the effect of raising the hackles on the backs of said Cybernats, well hackles on the backs of those that still have hackles to be raised that is.
If you feel the urge to enter into a Cybervation with said Cybernats it is considered that a better execution of your time is to compliment the Cybernats whilst patting their tummies.
I hope this helps you preserve your job as D.T. Neil.
As anyone on here will tell you I am always open to helping any newbie who cares to drop by here for a wee chat. 😀
Terry is this what you were looking for? I put this together from bits and pieces last year so some of the data such as regarding oil may have changed. I also had an article that outlined that Scotland has the greatest level of the highest educationally qualified adults in Europe (our greatest asset of all) but can’t find it so have added another article.
I tried to post it earlier but reckon I had included too many links. Trying again.
SCOTLAND WITH ONLY 9% OF THE UK POPULATION HAS:
32% of the land area.
61% of the sea area.
90% of the fresh water.
65% of the natural gas production
96.5% of the crude oil production.
47% of the open cast coal production
81% of the untapped coal reserves
62% of the timber production
46% of the total forest area
92% of the hydro electric production
40% of the wind wave and solar energy production
60% of the fish landings
30% of the beef herd
20% of the sheep herd
9% of the dairy herd
10% of the pig herd
15% if the cereal holdings
20% of the potato holdings
90% of the whisky industry
SCOTLAND WITH ONLY 1% OF EUROPES POPULATION HAS:
25% of Europes tidal energy
25% of wind power
10% of wave energy
Over 60% of EU oil production (largest oil reserve in the EU)
33% of the EUs total hydrocarbon production
WE HAVE A:
17 billion pound construction industry
13 billion food and drink industry
10 billion business services industry
9.3 billion chemical services industry
9.3 billion tourism industry
7 billion financial services industry
5 billion aeroservice industry
4.5 billion pound whisky exports industry
3.1 billion pound life sciences industry
And 350 million pounds worth of textile exports
Scotland also has the the greatest level of the highest educationally qualified adults in Europe.
link to independent.co.uk
OUR WHISKY INDUSTRY ACCOUNTS FOR 25% OF THE WHOLE OF THE UK FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRY
OUR OIL IS WORTH OVER ONE POINT FIVE TRILLION AND THAT’S NOT COUNTING THE LATEST OIL FIELD FOUND OFF THE EAST COAST IN OCTOBER 2014 AND POTENTIAL FORTHCOMING OIL BOOM OFF THE WEST COAST. NOR DOES IT INCLUDE THE 7 STOLEN OILFIELDS.
Experts state forthcoming oil boom off Scotlands West Coast …. Kevin Forbes 2014
link to youtube.com %2Fyoutu.be%2FcsY43qV4JdA+
The Accounting trick that hides Scotlands Wealth.
link to businessforscotland.co.uk
How wealthy is Scotland in comparison to England?
link to youtube.com
@Hoss Mackintosh
Somehting like this, mibbe?
link to s3.postimg.org
X_Sticks says:
“Statoil”
How did they ever manage to survive? All that oil must have been such a big burden!
Rest of the post Terry. You’ve probably read some of this before but there may be something here that you could use.
Reason for poverty in the UK. The UK is in the top 4 most inequitable countries in the developed World. UK fat cats are greedier than EU fat cats.
Income inequality in the UK
link to youtube.com
Wealth inequality in the UK
link to youtube.com
Scottish Independence: When the oil runs out?
link to youtube.com
Renewables:
• Renewable energy currently supports over 11,000 jobs in Scotland (Scottish Renewables, January 2014).
• The Scottish Government has an ambitious but achievable target for renewable energy in Scotland to generate the equivalent of 100 per cent of gross annual electricity consumption and 11 per cent of heat consumption by 2020.
• Renewable generation in Scotland is enough to power the equivalent of every household in Scotland.
• Boosting renewable energy will also make a significant contribution to a sustainable economy.
Wave and tidal energy:
• Scotland has an estimated 25% of Europe’s tidal potential and 10% of its wave potential.
• The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) celebrated ten years of real-sea experience in 2013. There have been more grid-connected marine energy converters deployed at EMEC than at any other single site in the world and the centre remains the world’s only accredited marine energy laboratory.
• The Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters is the site of the world’s first commercial scale leasing round for marine energy.
• The Crown Estate, which owns the sea bed, has awarded leases for just over 1.6 gigawatts of marine projects in the Pentland Firth and Orkney Waters – potentially enough to power 750,000 households.
•The Saltire Prize is the world’s largest prize for marine energy innovation.
Wind:
• Onshore wind power has recently overtaken hydro power as the most common form of renewable energy in Scotland.
• Figures published in June 2013 show wind generation in the first quarter of 2013 reached a record high, up by 11.5% year on year.
• Scotland boasts 25% of Europe’s offshore wind resources.
Hydro.
• Scotland was the one of the first countries in the world to harness electricity from its waters. That legacy is still visible – Scotland’s ambitious hydro building programme in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in infrastructure which still produces electricity today.
• More hydro schemes are in the pipeline and the Scottish Hydropower Resource Study found that there could be as much economically viable untapped hydropower potential to power a quarter of Scotland’s homes.
North Sea oil and gas
• On an internationally comparable basis Scotland is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the European Union, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of total EU reserves.
• Since the 1970s, over 40 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) have been extracted from the UK Continental Shelf. However, the remaining oil and gas reserves on the UKCS are substantial, for example, Oil and Gas UK estimate that up-to 24 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent can still be recovered from the UKCS as a whole.
• The North Sea still produces 1.5 million boe a day and Oil & Gas UK estimates that production could reach 2 million boe a day by 2017. In 2011, Scotland accounted for over 60% of EU oil production and approximately a third of EU total hydrocarbon production.
• Oil and gas production is estimated to have contributed around £22 billion to Scottish GDP in 2012 – making it the largest industrial sector in Scotland by a large margin.
• Since 1976, the UK Government has raised approximately £180 billion in direct tax revenue from oil and gas production. Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to approximately £300 billion at 2012-13 prices.
• In 2011-12 alone, oil and gas production in Scottish waters generated £10.6 billion in tax revenues, the second highest nominal level of tax revenue in the past 25 years.
• The Scottish Government Oil and Gas Analytical Bulletin (11 March 2013) found that given recent trends in investment and prices, the oil and gas industry could generate between £41 and £57 billion in tax revenue over the six years to 2017-18.
• The industry provides employment for around 200,000 people across Scotland both directly in the industry and by supporting jobs in other sectors of the economy.
@Petra … re: Souter’s buses. Yes it would be worth asking, why not?
@Terry
Is this what you’re looking for?
link to twitter.com
@ G H Graham Tom Harper Sunday Times um er um. I guess he did’nt get the New Oxford Dictonary in his Christmas stocking this year, or any year for that matter.
He can hide his embarrassment in future, by only doing Radio interviews.
Petra, I knew we were good, but those figures are impressive.
@Hoss Mackintosh, sorry, I took your name in vain there. Meant to say @Tam Jardine.
@ Petra,
We will see no changes at BBC Scotland. Like the rest of them, Boothman is simply a puppet of the establishment. He will be replaced with another.
link to caltonjock.com
Might be an idea to separate the price of oil from the value of oil. The BTUs in a barrel of oil is about as close to a bucket of magic you can get.
The uk govt will never give up that resource. Remember labour committed near genocide in iraq when oil was 35 dollars a barrel. Of course they will try everything in their power to maintain ownership of it.
@Petra
Excellent stuff.
In the Herald:
link to archive.is
O/T but having just seen some tweets by Stuart Campbell on Chelsea Manning and transgender issues, I have decided to cancel my regular monthly payment to Wings and will no longer be commenting on this site – and probably not reading it either. I am the mother of a transgender daughter; I can do without transphobic comments from ill-educated people.
While I laud the idea of billboards, TV advertising etc. (even at £200) they are expensive options particularly when looked at in the long term which is what we have to do. Now I don’t have a lot but after my food and fuel costs the cause is welcome to every penny I have.
However, in my net very educated opinion there is a much simpler and cheaper option most of us seem to be overlooking. Throughout the years running up to the IndyRef we all belonged to our local a-political Yes groups. We delivered leaflets, manned street stalls, canvassed and were THERE where the public was. We chatted, discussed and argued each and every point till we were hoarse.
I think it’s time for us to get back out there. We may not have professionally printed, pretty coloured but fairly insipid leaflets but we can produce our own on ink-jet or laser printers which are absolutely topical, hard hitting and highlight the perfidy of Westminster.
Yes Rev, exactly. It’s fairly obvious that FFA would be implemented with an amount of transition, and a degree of “no detriment” perhaps on a sliding scale downwards of adjustments either way (to Scotland OR the UK) over a few years. So that if revenue drops, Scotland gets some, and if revenue rises such as oil price, the UK gets some.
Which makes NOW the best time to negotiate FFA, before the oil price rises too much. The sliding scale of adjustment would take out some of the increased oil price benefit for Scotland, but after say 5 years it would be ours, ours, all ours. For good or for, ummmmm, if you believe it, for bad.
Well, we had the eggman, now the boothman bites the dust.
And another one down, another one down.
Another one bites the dust.
They’re going to get you too
Another one bites the dust.
@call me dave.
I love this quote from the link you posted
“we haven’t heard from Sir Nicholas’s legal representatives or from Sue, Grabbit and Runne”
@Boorach
For “homemade” leaflets, there’s still truth in the old marekting adage:
White space sells.
The shorter the message, the more the chance there is of it being read, understood and remembered. Yes, the YES leaflets were rubbish.
Petra @ 9.04 pm
Re employment in the oil industry. It is also useful to point out that as well as the 200,000 jobs in Scotland there are another 190,000 jobs or so in the rest of the UK that are either directly or indirectly linked to the oil industry. The unionists take great delight in crowing about low oil prices and how that blows a hole in FFA or the economics of independence but ignore the effects on rUK.
@Natasha
Hi Natasha, I just had a look on twitter… and I can’t see how these tweets can be taken to be transphobic? Can you explain what offended you about them? … if you aren’t away already.
I interpret those tweets as suggesting that there are all sorts of people who can’t accept part of the identity that society has given them – things like supposed racial or ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and so on – as much as gender or sex. I don’t see how that’s offensive to transgender people in any way.
I’m sure Stu can speak for himself, and I don’t want to argue with you – but what exactly are you concerned about???
Scotspine: We will see no changes at BBC Scotland.
I’m afraid you’re correct.
Whether conscious or by inculcation, Boothman fulfilled his role constructing presentation of news to favour sympathy for the UK government and rejection of Scotland’s demands for genuine democratic structures and rights.
The BBC knew it was under threat if independence won the day. The BBC accomplished its internally shared objective by presenting UK institutions as having benevolent intent in keeping with our own perception of ourselves, decent and fair minded, consequently many saw our patriotism for a fair society could only continue by residing in a UK government.
It is, of course, a non sequitur.
A grass roots movement demanding real political change means exactly that, change, not the status quo. We ‘the people’ of Scotland do not rule, can not rule while under a UK government. Rejection of our demands and expectations is evidence enough.
Scotland’s hopes are noble.
No can say the same for Mr Boothman’s contribution no matter how honestly he went about them.
Looks like it’s time to start drilling those massive reserves all through Sussex.
Mail reports..
Oil boom for the southern home counties attracting large numbers of rusting transits crawling at 5mph with foreign looking unshaven occupants casing out your driveway.
Better together in a oily cauldron/melting pot twitching the curtains, thumbing the red white and blue worry beads.
OT but related – has anyone else got a spooky feeling we’re going to be made sit up soon?.
Something to shock our complacency.
Bad vibes
Petra,
“SCOTLAND WITH ONLY 9% OF THE UK POPULATION HAS:”
Well that confirms it then.
We are indeed too wee, too poor and above all, too stupid to be independent.
Not a single colony was as stupid as we are.
Petra-divulging those facts and figures does anyone actually believe the referendum vote was above board looking at what was at stake? Even for the biggest non believer it must be food for thought.
Scunterbunnet
Aye – you nailed it!!!
Perfect image. That is what I see every time I see the BBC Scotland logo. I drew the same thing this afternoon but thanks for doing the photoshopping.
Posted this on the wrong thread earlier
O/T
Don’t know whether this will work but is a photo attached to a tweet from Andy Drynan on Twitter.If you can see the photo look for the word. Text says ‘this should be a Better Together emblem for #indyref2 :-)’ Sorry I’ve no idea how to link to an actual tweet.
link to t.co
Petra,
If the honourable member for Orkney & Shetland can get away with (# probably) lying & smearing, vis a vis the ‘move along, nothing to see hear’ method, then sailing Boothman quietly off into the sunset of the public conciousness, shouldn’t trouble Auntie & the MSM too much.
This isn’t a demotion.
# Without the public taking matters into their own hands, the ex SoS would be off Scot free, & well down the memory hole by now.
I’d expect a more neutral pair of hands will be appointed to replace him now, another hatchet man/woman can always be brought in if needs be.
2016 will have been written off already.
@Boorach … yes, that too. Stalls on the street are great, and you can have a real in-depth conversation with someone and maybe open their mind in a way that wouldn’t happen otherwise.
But there’s a section of every population who are tim’rous beasties by nature, who won’t get into a political debate at a stall, and who follow a path of least resistance in all their affairs. I’m suggesting that probably people of that disposition constitute a large number of the remaining ‘noes’ in Scotland.
A glossy billboard poster carries ‘authority’ in a way that a couple of people at a stall do not. A lot of people doubt their own competence to make big decisions, and surrender judgement to ‘authorities’. Sad, but a fact of human nature. To change those people’s minds, they need to see things that carry this kind of authority: ie, it looks like it has money behind it; looks like it’s been devised by what they think of as clever, important people; shows zero signs of doubt or cringe.
£200 for a billboard: if 1000 of us could chip in 4 pounds each, that’s 20 posters: and many 1000s of people who might be exposed to facts that they would never find for themselves. For yes voters who don’t actively follow the news, these boards are a reminder to stay keen and keep informed.
Of course you’re right that talking to people face-to-face will always be very important too.
Natasha,
“I can do without transphobic comments from ill-educated people.”
You have decided that the Rev. Stuart Campbell is “ill-educated”?
“I have decided to cancel my regular monthly payment to Wings and will no longer be commenting on this site”
Please don’t break you “vow” by answering my question.
Looking at Boothmans mugshot on Aunties version of the truth, I can’t help thinking it’s the phisog of a hangman.
link to bbc.co.uk
Oh look folks Tories have suffered their first defeat in the Commons.
Oh wait a minute … scrub that idea … Labour did their usual and sat on their earse so no defeat for the Tories!
link to archive.is
Boorach I’m sure we’ll all continue to get right out there amongst our ain folk but I think the billboard idea could be used selectively to highlight major issues such as the vote yesterday re. our Parliament still not being permanent (in their eyes).
Boris thanks for the Mundell link. Someone mentioned recently that Mundell reminded him / her of Uriah Heep and they were spot on. He’s a disgusting, obsequious, ignorant wee runt …. liar, expense cheat, employing his son as his spad, claimed £3000 for photographic equipment to take selfies (the mind boggles) etc etc. His son seems to be following in his footsteps too. I wonder if it’s dawned on him yet that DC was limited in his choice.
Slightly o/t.
As England has the majority of the UK population,
lets give them the referendum on breaking away from Scotland.
I am getting pretty pis&ed off with blatant racist comments,(mostly on MSM sites)regarding Scotland
Please vote to give Scotland independence , and then we can sit back and enjoy watching the South East implode.
The BBC is a cancerous boil on the arse of humanity.
Frankie Boyle’s funny in rancid The Graun tonight.
“There is a very simple case to be made against austerity, but Labour doesn’t have the guts to make it. This seems strange when it was wiped out by an anti-austerity party in Scotland. The SNP trounced them so emphatically that Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish scriptwriters had to desperately search their memories for words that express pleasure. “Hang on! I think my mum said something when I got my degree … ‘not bad’, I think it was – write down ‘not bad’.” There is every chance that the changes in Scotland are structural and Labour is gone for ever, like cholera or Rangers.”
Rancid The Graun doesn’t report anything about Scotland at all, just goes after Scottish democracy or another really weird brick in UKOK’s wall of Scotland doesn’t exist.
@petra
@ Andrew haddo
Thanks so much for sending me the stats. I’m away to print off and use in various ways. Canvassing was fun and pretty straightforward. However i found the tough nuts personally for me to crack have been a couple of family members and friends. Along with Westminsters lying and broken promises which are getting more obvious by the day so that even no voters cant ignore them, these stats just might tip these die hard nos over. It’s much easier to be neutral with strangers but emotions rise with those we know. Let the stats (and the establishment lies) speak for themselves and i think this tactic will be more successful than my previous Indy rants. I must attempt to ‘keep the Heid’. I don’t know how our Indy politicians manage!!
Hi Blair paterson.
Your comments at the back of 7 reminded me of the Apple ad campaign from the tail end of the 20th Century.
“Think Different”.
link to maclife.com
link to brandingstrategyinsider.com
—————————————————-
Hi Natasha.
Don’t know what to type. Hing in there and have another consultation with yourself tomorrow.
In the light of a new day an’ aw’ thah’….
I see Scotland2015 doing a gutter job on the new Glasgow Hospital
Smith talking as per usual through her backside
Reporter states that it already has the worse A&E records – same reporter it has only been open a few weeks
Wait isn’t their a clue there?
Disgraceful of the BBC, but not surprising
Patience is Genius.
Petra,
“He’s a disgusting, obsequious, ignorant wee runt …. liar, expense cheat, employing his son as his spad, claimed £3000 for photographic equipment to take selfies (the mind boggles) etc etc.”
He was “democratically” elected as an MP.
He might have been defeated if Patrick Harvie and his Greens had not fielded a Green candidate.
But as Paula Rose and other democrats here will re-assure us, a Westminster election is a very democratic election and the Greens were right to stand a candidate against the SNP.
Journalism used to be about. Analysing,investigating and getting the truth. Sarah Smith gets fed,accepts and regurgitates. This is the modern mainstream journalist. Anti Scottish,pro Westminster and anti democratic.
@ Petra, thanks for all that.
The name Mundell rhymes with bundle, not Frenchfied like Lamont often is.
Gary45%,
“I am getting pretty pis&ed off with blatant racist comments,(mostly on MSM sites)regarding Scotland”
The Mail was furious a few days ago because cybernats had attacked a Tory MP for “joking” about the Scots and slavery.
The racist comments are being encouraged by the racist media, the Guardian included.
@ Natasha I dont use Twitter but I did look at those Tweets of the Rev,s. I dont see your point,but ill informed in relation to the Rev ?.
I for one would be sad to see you leave this site,there,s a contact form at the top of the page ,please us it & contact the Rev in private,you might get a better explanation.
Ronnie Anderson
Left you a wee hello at 7.22pm.
Heedtracker: The Graun doesn’t report anything about Scotland at all
I’ve noticed that. Recent evidence: not a sausage about last weekend’s Great Debate in their edition next day. Absolutely sod all.
Michael White must be very happy.
Edward: same reporter then says it has only been open a few weeks
That and ‘plummeting educational standards’ is the latest black propaganda – a gross generalisation and scurrilous. New hospital has some A&E administration problems to iron out – altered to: billion pound white elephant a disaster of organisation.
Petra,thanks for the figures. But apart from all that what has Scotland done for the economy? You don’t think this is why they were so desperate to keep us?
Surely the Daily Mail hasn’t been lying all this time?
How many of the hundred countries to gain independence in the past hundred years has had such resources? These statistics must be put out there for all to see.
When we do go for another referendum, we must, somehow, have unbiased International observers. This really is important, as we cannot trust any connected to London, or from anywhere in England.
Simply put, they will be got at, er again.
@ The Tree of Liberty, Call me Dave and Rock. The figures are impressive (we’re totally self sufficient with lots to spare – export – unlike rUK) and of course there’s the issue of Trident and the fact that there’s nowhere to relocate it to in the UK (or Gibraltar). Then the issue of security. We act as a buffer for rUK. We were and continue to be a threat to the state, IMO.
@ Joemcg. My thoughts on this relate to the YouTube video ‘programmer rigs votes’ Joe. Next time round things will have to be tightened up and we’ll have to ensure that exit polls are carried out.
@ Legerwood. Thanks for the additional information. I’ll amend the ‘wee’ list, lol.
@ Defo. BBC Scotland is just the branch office of BBC Westminster so I suppose you are right in that they’ll replace him with another yes man / woman. I just wonder though if the discontent at PQ could relate, in part, to people who are sick of the biased reporting. There must be a number of SNP supporters, or fair minded people, surely working there other than Ms MacDonald?
headline on page 3 of National today amusing – quoting he who must no longer be named
“Cameron is so dumb he will stumble into another referendum”
This from the man who lost 40 seats including his own
Time will tell but I think it likely that Boothman going can only improve news output from BBC Scotland.
@ Fred at 10.49
I’m sure I read somewhere (probably here!) that it ought to rhyme with funnel, but a certain snobbish bearer of the name could not endure that, so changed it.
Bernard Jenkin has admitted the Scottish Referendum was rigged by the Civil Service and Alex Salmond was correct that Sir N McPherson did use it to the Governments advantage illegally
Thats why Alex Supported the Tory rebels on wanting the rules enshrined in law so that if they did it again in the EU ref the vote could be declared void
That’s why the Labour party sat on its hands on this because they know there is another Scottish referendum coming and they don’t want us to win it by legal means
So the Conservative and Nazi Party and their affiliates the Labour Wermacht are preparing together for the next Scottish Ref
Does this make Ian Murray a camp guard or is Mundell camper
If Carmichael’s still around he’ll be the guy you bribe to get you chocolate and stuff coz he’s not that bright and wants to seem nice
Grousebeater
With any large and ambitious project such as the new hospital, it can have and should be expected to have teething problems.
A comparison example wold be the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. Same scenario, brand new, very large new build hospital replacing one single ageing hospital. It did not go smoothly and it did have teething problems, one of which included car park payment machines that only spoke Spanish!
So here we have very large state of the art technology hospital in Glasgow, replacing not one, but three major hospitals and will include TWO A&E departments
It was ahead of schedule and under budget, something that obviously irks certain political parties.
Since day one, the BBC have been taking pot shots at the new hospital.
Now perhaps the commissioning and ‘bedding in’ could have gone better and may be a sign of senior director level bad judgement in not understanding the complexity. One just has to have a look at the Greater Glasgow Health board and see some ‘well kent faces’. Again it may have nothing to do with them or Glasgow City council, but consideration must be given to these stockholders in the project
Yeh you keep the volatile banking sector and we’ll keep the oil we’ll see who has a sovereign wealth fund the soonest!
crazycat
bundle or bungle?
link to amazingmemories.park-resorts.com
@ caz-m Yeah im catching up just now.We,ll get together when your back on shore , take care.
The BBC are on a 7 day a week agenda to find any wee thing to make our Health Service look bad. The must have a FOI standing order too. Anything to belittle Scotland and try and attack the SNP.
They are the lowest of the low, oh wait a minute, there are plenty others….
I have a friend in the new Southern General (know that is not its correct title) and she is having marvellous care.
However, she has been posting pictures of the meals and they leave a great deal to be desired. That is something that has to be addressed across Scotland.
Yet again, misReporting Scotland leads with “A new hospital in Glasgow which has cost Scotland’s taxpayers at least a thousand squillion pounds has some A&E problems. Absolutely disgraceful! Before we hear what Jenny Marra has to say about this being all the fault of the Scottish government…(which is led by the SNP, by the way), let’s hear what one disgruntled and traumatised A&E visitor had to say…”
Oh, piss-off already BBC Scotland! A new hospital has some teething problems, eh. Wow! You don’t say! Well I never! and all that.
Agenda-led lies and fears. Can’t find a good news story about, or for, Scotland…? It just wouldn’t do…?
The only country in the world to have a ‘national broadcaster’ that propagandizes against it on behalf of a ‘foreign’ (ie Westminster, Whitehall, British Establishment, right-wing and far-right Unionism, House of Lords, etc.) power.
Edward
Indeed. And BBC Scotland care not a jot for the team of doctors, nurses, administrators and ancillary staff getting used to their new hospital.
Do they think the staff are underperforming? Or do they think they share in the BBC’s negative agenda?
The BBC think they have a stick to beat the SNP with and that’s all they bother about.
Fucking shameful shower of cowards. I’d like to see Eleanor Bradford run a hospital. It’s a wee bit more complex than putting a wee propaganda piece together.
That one could gie Kezia lessons in concern
If you are going to proceed with billboards may i suggest that you use quotes taken direct from the various news agencies, BBC etc
You know the ones, usually the fourth or fifth paragraph into the article where they actually tell the truth and the facts are actually presented. Because the headline and first paragraphs are all negative and designed to mislead.
Present the quote like a film review, “SNP doing a good job for the people of Scotland” – MSM
Doesn’t Scotland have basically the same GDP per capita as the rest of the UK?
So what the hell are the rUK going to do now the oil has completely run out and they can no longer afford to be independent?
I never thought I’d say it, but I’m now edging towards UDI.
@Edward at 11:45 pm
Well said Edward re BBC and its ongoing agenda against the new South Glagow University Hospital:
“It was ahead of schedule and under budget, something that obviously irks certain political parties.”
Two excellent points for the price of one! Not only was the hospital built ahead of schedule,it was under budget. *That* is what should be being highlighted – and praised. How many projects of that size and complexity can claim ‘ahead of schedule and under budget’ in the UK, never mind Scotland? Edinburgh trams? Holyrood? Oh, wait a minute, that was when Labour was in charge,wasn’t it…? FFS!
“Since day one, the BBC have been taking pot shots at the new hospital.”
Correct. It just seems like a drip, drip, drip negative campaign. Remember when they were going heavy with “Glaswegians” [sic] calling the hospital the Death Star? Exaggerated shit story. And then we get the Scottish (Ha-ha-ha) Daily Mail doing a follow up of ‘story’ in their following day’s edition…
What the hell is BBC Scotland’s problem? Well, I’ll let Edward’s own words give, perhaps, some kind of explanation:
“One just has to have a look at the Greater Glasgow Health board and see some ‘well kent faces’. Again it may have nothing to do with them or Glasgow City council, but consideration must be given to these stockholders in the project.”
Actually, Venezuela had a mostly foreign owned , elite and hostile MSM which attacked the Chavez government daily. An Irish film crew happened to be filming in 2002 when a coup temporarily deposed Chavez. Their film “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” covers the hostile media problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id–ZFtjR5c
BBC Scotland, while attacking the SNP for the audacity of ensuring South Glasgow University Hospital was completed before schedule and below budget (the bastards!), ask for support, and get it, from three of Scotland’s wisest numpties:
Numpty 1: Labour’s health spokeswoman, Jenny Marra:
“For this SNP government to be missing its own A&E target by such a long way in the middle of summer tells us we have a fundamental problem. Our hard-working doctors and nurses are clearly being overwhelmed by the number of patients.”
Numpty 2 Lib Dem’s health spokesman, Jim Hume (who he?):
“Once again the SNP have taken their eye off the ball.”
“The Scottish government’s delayed response, although welcome, must now deliver real results if we are to have confidence that the poor performance against A&E waiting times will not become a trend.”
Numpty 3: Scottish Conservative’s leader, Ruth Davidson:
“It is clear that the problems at the hospital had “moved beyond teething problems and into the realm of serious failings.”
“The Scottish government can’t hide behind excuses any longer when staff, unions and organisations have all given warnings that problems needed fixed.”
Well done, BBC Scotland. Love your work!
You know, If the kind of propaganda and suppression of democracy (see Westminster yesterday as an example) that is being piled on this country happened elsewhere, the people would speak loudly and clearly to bring change.
In this country, we behave like whipped dogs.
There is a website that gives oil prices from as far back as 1946. You can get set the chart to get any range of years you want.
link to tradingeconomics.com
The price is volatile. There have been major spikes and falls particularly in times but the overall trend is up.
Sarah Smith only displays her economic ignorance when she repeats the drivel put out by the OBR.
@Scunterbunnet
I would be up for supporting the billboard campaign but it needs repeating over and over again,
So I would suggest we start a monthly donation of say a fiver per head so it can be done repeatedly, and with that we would probably get the billboards cheaper because of repeat business,
I want to see us regain the momentum shown during the referendum campaign, there was an electricity we all felt that has left me feeling very deflated since then.
defo says @10.21pm
“Looking at Boothmans mugshot on Aunties version of the truth, I can’t help thinking it’s the phisog of a hangman.”
I thought he looked like Brian Donahohoho who’s phisog I could only look at reflected in a mirror!
Yes the new hospital has teething problems!
We could be like NHS England and have the Tories try everything to privatise the NHS, we could be like Labour and spend £300 Billion
on PFI payments on proerty worth £52 Billion, we could be like Labour lead NHS Wales and have the worst waiting times in the counry.
Maybe we could show 11 infantile deaths caused by NHS Cumbria.
No thanks I’ll stick with NHS Scotland and SNP
They are doing a good job in-spite of facing Tory cuts, rural support challenges beyond that of our neighbours, and an inherent fried foods and alcohol culture which ruins our health
Someone on BBC Breakfast predicted the price of a barrel of oil will be $85 by the end of the year, which means the mainstream media, led by the BBC, will be telling us it’s running out.
Edward: With any large and ambitious project such as the new hospital, it can have and should be expected to have teething problems.
Well, the government is parachuting in fixers to help implement a smoother system.
Capella: Venezuela had a mostly foreign owned elite and hostile MSM which attacked the Chavez government daily.
Michael White, he of the topiary ‘tash’, took little notice of the right-wing undermining Chavez’s policies and concentrated instead on the outcome depicting it as the inadequacy of Chavez’s policies.
Like Glasgow’s new hospital, a case of you say this and I’ll second you. One bourgeois newspaper backing others.
Did Cameron actually say the purdah rules during the referendum prevented him and the govt. role defending the UK in the run up to the vote?? Dearie me.,,notice the quad lock amendment for the EU ref. was voted down last night too so England can pull us out against our wishes. What a turn up!
@ Scunnerbunnet et al
Thanks to all for your thoughts.
I am, in no way, trying to argue against the billboard proposal and as I said I will gladly contribute towards it. John K’s proposal of setting up a regular donation system to keep the message fresh is certainly a goer.
However, I could spend the rest of my life driving around the Highlands and never see a billboard (unless I was unfortunate enough to have to visit Inverness). There is a large number of people outwith the Central belt, both North and South, who like me, avoid large towns like the plague.
For the footsoldier though ,street stalls etc. are where the action is. It’s where we get up close and personal, where our body language and the courage of our conviction is on display and open to challenge. It’s certainly immediate, by using our own printers etc. the message is on the streets within a day or two. The leaflets would, in fact, be our news-sheets. A Saturday stall, this week, could bear witness to the ‘Holyrood permanence’ and the ‘FFA’ fiascos in Westminster on Monday for all those who missed the MSM reports.
What I’m trying to say in my own cack-handed way is there is a place for billboards and there is a place for street stalls. Lets shrug of this passive keyboard war, raise peoples awareness of what is being done to them.
Let’s just stick the jump leads up John Kings anus and give him his ‘electricity’ before he manages to regain control of his hair!
The negativity pouring out of BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay is absolutely breathtaking.
It has been full on “SNP BAD” since the 7th of May, when the SNP won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland.
BBC Scotland are running out of Unionist politicians to interview.
So our task next May is to wipe the likes of Jenny Marra, and Kezia Dugdale off the political map of Scotland. Fill the Scottish Parliament with pro-indy Parties.
(One battle I would love to see is Tommy Sheridan up against Wee Johann Lamont in Pollok.)
BBC Scotland will then have to hunt down Unionist Councillors to get their scary quotes from.
And in 2017 we…
Yes, re the oil price, it will have picked up by the end of the year, probably in the ball park of 85USD a barrel. This is a widely held belief within the oil industry. Maybe it’s wishful thinking. China has sluggish growth and full reserves, but then again the U.S. Is posturing to take Russia out of the game, and war always pushes commodities up. A wee border squabble in the Baltic, nice…. After all there’s three ex-soviet countries there it will be fine to trash one.
Most of the trading that takes place seems to be based on gut instinct and rumour, very little on actual scientific analysis. Traders read the newspapers, and what’s worse, they believe them. You only need to spend a few days reading business articles online to see the same information portrayed negatively, then positively within the space of a few hours.
Until there is a way to create the plastics we use from non-fossil fuels there will be demand. As the developing world develops that demand will increase, not even because those countries want it, but because Corporations need it. And when you see a majority of US car users on bio-diesel then you can panic about the price of oil.
Wp says ”Petra, thanks for the figures. But apart from all that what has Scotland done for the economy? You don’t think this is why they were so desperate to keep us? Surely the Daily Mail hasn’t been lying all this time? How many of the hundred countries to gain independence in the past hundred years has had such resources? These statistics must be put out there for all to see.”
I can’t think of ANY other country that has it ALL Wp. We live in one of the most beautiful countries in the World with many clear water rivers and over 31,000 lochs (compared to Englands less than 100). We have a most remarkable and fascinating history. We probably have the most well-educated, welcoming and friendly people in the World. We have an excess of energy and food and yet a million people are living in abject poverty; hungry and cold.
Scotland is also a World leader in relation to research; space science, the environment / renewable energy technology and health and medicine.
More research is conducted in Scotland than any other country in the World relative to wealth per head of population. Our population forms less than 0.1% of the World population but influences work across the globe by producing 2.4% of International publications relating to biological sciences, 2.2% relating to the environment and 1.8% relating to health and medical research. Our researchers are the third most productive in the World after Switzerland and the Netherlands.
How many people living in Scotland are aware of these facts and those posted previously? Westminster and their MSM lackeys want to undermine our achievements and hide the true facts relating to our manifold resources. In conjunction with this they are constantly drip feeding us with all the negatives, such as the latest ‘disasters’ at the new hospital: All in the name of brainwashing us into thinking that we are ‘too wee, poor and stupid’ to repress us as a Nation. They’ve been ‘at it’ for centuries now and it must really stick in their craw that they haven’t managed to repress us all at all; knock the innovative and fighting spirit out of us and grind us right into the ground.
Many Scottish journalists should be hanging their heads in shame, IMO. It’s a bad day all round when we have to resort to discussing imparting information to enlighten our own people via the windows of SNP hubs, on billboards and the rear end of buses.
Well BBC Scot this morning on a dwindling North sea ( they always find an “expert ” don’t they!. So expect today on CK where they are asking if the reductions of labour in the North Sea has effected you. They will have all the negatives lined up.
So we will have another doom and gloom day, all part of the propaganda war just when Nicola attends a conference on it in Aberdeen.
It would be a great time for the SNP to suggest the Rev’s idea, that would really throw them into disarray.
At the very end of their by Garry Robertson, ” interview ” this morning they covered their ass though as it ended with ” if the right things are done now, the N Sea will be active for decades.
So despite all the negatives, there is loads of oil out there.
Re Boothman being moved to Charter Review,all it means is that he will be supplying bigger bins to file complaints,its the Establishment of the Bbc in London that needs the shake up,but that will never happen.
I notice Glenn Greenwald speaking again on the failure of the UK press in relation to the Sunday Times article on Snowdon.
The press and BBC acting as ‘Government spokesmen’.
Scotland raises £54Billion in taxes. Scotland has more than enough to be Independent. Any debt is Westminster mismanagement.
Germany (pop 80million) raises €600Billion, and is in surplus.
Oil revenues fell when Westminster increase Oil taxes up to 80% in the 2010 Budget. They are now 55%.
Caroline Caulfield: it will have picked up by the end of the year, probably in the ball park of $85 USD a barrel.
I always appreciate your contributions to the debate, thanks. (What is ‘steam punk?’)
The Benn Diaries
“Friday 3 November (1978)
The Ford workers voted overwhelmingly today against the Ford pay offer. The BBC television coverage deliberately created the impression that motor car workers are dangerous and violent, while the BBC is the voice of rationality. It is disgusting.”
The BBC has had a lot of practice.
Now that the Scottish Office is lying and covering up, Watergate style, I wonder if the French Ambassador could be persuaded to signal she would want the memo to be released?
@Petra 8:21pm
Thanks for posting that. That post is so awesome Ive saved it as a document for reference later.
O/T
Today’s ‘National’. The Frenchgate memo is not to be released because its release to the public might harm Anglo-French relations. WTF!!
Maybe I’m just thinck or ximple or something but didn’t the horse already bolt from the stable when Carmichael realeased the thing to the press in the first place??
A rotten state cover-up. They don’t want us to see who was on the circulation list.
Effing feckers.
Have to agree, Petra’s post would have made a cracking leaflet during the referendum! Would have opened a few eyes.
Good old blatantly biased, propagandist, BBC, with the tired old ‘the oil is running out’ guff. Fact is, the oil everywhere has been ‘running out’ since the day it was first drilled. It is true in Norway, Saudi Arabia, Russia, venezuela, and Scotland. Oil running out, is not unique to Scotland.
Why do Scots have this pish inflicted upon them by the BBC, but more importantly, why are there still people in Scotland who fall for it.
We need to ask the question, since the UK is reliant on Scottish oil and gas, why do the BBC not run the same story, quizzing David Cameron, about how ‘the oil is running out’, in the same way?? We can all hopefully remember the scenes of chaos in England when Grangemouth went on strike just a few years ago. Turn off that big tap in Grangemouth and you can bring the entire UK to its knees within days.
@Karmanaut says: 17 June, 2015 at 12:30 am:
“Doesn’t Scotland have basically the same GDP per capita as the rest of the UK?”
First of all, Karmanaut, there is a difference between the terms, “GDP”, &, “per capita GDP”.
Both terms are Gross Domestic Product and are often used to distort the truth for the definition is – The total revenue of any given area divided by the total population of that area.
So, for example, comparing the GDP of a whole country with that of a Square mile financial sector is a gross misrepresentation. So the figures for all Scotland with that of the city of London is very misleading.
Now, with that in mind, here is the answer to your question – Scotland’s per capita GDP is, (usually), higher that each of England, higher than Wales and I’m unsure of that of N. Ireland. It is also higher than that quoted for the United Kingdom but remember that Scotland is actually also part of the United Kingdom – so that particular figure is a distortion and should be a comparison of Scotland against the combined UK minus Scotland
“So what the hell are the rUK going to do now the oil has completely run out and they can no longer afford to be independent?”
I never thought I’d say it, but I’m now edging towards UDI”
As I’ve pointed out elsewhere on this thread – as the People of Scotland are legally sovereign and there are really no facts to prove Westminster actually has legal sovereignty over Scotland, (other than Westminster always having claimed they have), it would not actually be UDI.
What it would be is an equally sovereign partner Kingdom of the, “United Kingdom”, legally ending the bipartite agreement to be in union.
Briefly the Kingdom of England of 1706/7 was composed of three countries as the English Crown had annexed Wales & Ireland. It had then become a, “Constitutional Monarchy”, in 1688 and thus began a series of wars, (Jacobite Uprisings), with the still independent Scottish Kingdom, that spanned the Treaty of Union.
Which Treaty maintained the independent Scottish legal system that is based on the people of Scotland being sovereign but in the three Kingdom of England countries the Crown is still legally sovereign but the power is vested in the Parliament.
There is a Scottish Claim of Right from 1689 which was reaffirmed in 1989. Legally, the United Kingdom only has sovereignty over Scotland if it holds a mandate from the legally sovereign people of Scotland.
I think that with Holyrood an SNP government and 56 of the 59 Westminster seats it only requires the SNP to formally seek a mandate to end the union to do so legally and that is not a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. It is a legal ending of the agreed treaty of Union.
Turn off that big tap in Grangemouth and you can bring the entire UK to its knees within days.
very true, the lorry drivers blockaded the entrances with convoys of trucks. the uk almost groound to a halt in 5 days
had the miners known about this, thatcher would have never beaten the unions
of course, since then, grangemouth has had a military upgrade of tactical conjoined circular roads, which make blocking all entrances virually impossible. checkout google earth
@ North Chiel:
You can’t stick ‘extra questions’ on a GE ballot paper. You can only put policies in a manifesto and see if people vote for you.
schrodingers cat says:
17 June, 2015 at 10:20 am
caz-m is right
we need to strangle slab at birth, deny them any o2. im fed up finding out that all and sundry at PQ are dating labour lovies, well that source from westminster just dried up. no more “big hitters” to be parachuted in, the unionist focus will now switch from westminster to holyrood, with no going back. ever.
Absolutely. The red tories are down but not out. Many people still voted for them last month, and there are red tory MSPs, councillors and MEPs still around, like a bad smell. We really need to keep the pressure on until this last bastion of unionism in Scotland is rendered completely ineffective. The unionist tripod of the “Scottish” Labour Party, the Daily Record and the BBC have all been severely damaged during the last two years. Since the GE, the structure is shaking violently – another big kick and it will all come crashing down. Systematic degradation. Don’t give them time and space to shore up and recover. We need to keep the pressure on, folks. No mercy.
Question to BritNat Unionists
What is the wholesale price for oil (assume Brent Crude for example), based upon all other factors being equal, that needs to be reached, for Scotland to balance its books?
And when that price is eventually reached, would you agree then, that Scotland is more than economically capable of being a sovereign, independent nation?
Robert Louis
Not that I am disagreeing with your point about the significance of Scotland’s oil and gas to the UK economy, but England is reliant on Qatar for power. This is one of the major reasons the UK provides support and assistance to Qatar’s finance of salafist terrorism in the region (ISIS).
As an independent nation, I don’t imagine Scotland would have difficulty in being energy self-sufficient. I can’t say the same for rUK.
link to energydesk.greenpeace.org
Robert Peffers @ 10.33
I remember asking a few months ago if there was anything in the Treaties from 1707, which would stop the Scot. Gov. from terminating the two party agreement.
Some folks said it was not a clear cut situation but theoretically it could be possible.
For me (naive?) it’s a question of who has the mandate!
If we have, as at the moment, a majority of Scottish WM seats and should gain a clear majority in Holyrood 2016 on a manifesto pledge (Vow..!) to seek a termination of the Treaty, can they really stop us?
Sovereign Will is surely paramount and supercedes a referendum.
How about a mandate to renegotiate the Treaty of Union towards something resembling a confederation? Of course we know that Westminster wont negotiate anything, but that would expose them even more as the colonialists that they are, and strengthen the independence cause.
There may be more chance of persuading some of the 55% to vote for renegotiation than independence.
Re “Scot renewables” , mandate it is then ( total votes/ percentage can be calculated thereafter ).
@CameronB Brodie says: 17 June, 2015 at 11:15 am:
“As an independent nation, I don’t imagine Scotland would have difficulty in being energy self-sufficient. I can’t say the same for rUK.”
Indeed you are correct, CameronB. I’ve been making the point for more years than I care to remember that While Scotland is a net exporter of Power, fuel, manufactured items and food/drink England/UK are net importers of all four.
Now that doesn’t mean Scotland would not need to still import commodities. It means that as net exporters we earn enough to be able to offset the costs of our imports in each category to provide the stuff we don’t have with the profits of those we have.
It is stone cold fact that the only country in the United Kingdom able to feed, fuel, make goods and power her entire population from her own resources is Scotland.
Now consider this – a large part of national debt is due to importing more than you export and the truth is that Scotland, which also has a healthy financial sector, is the only United Kingdom country that really could stand on its own by its own resources. Now add to that our lead in education of our population and the, good earning but hard to calculate, Computer Games, Entertainment and life sciences and we Scots live in one of the leading countries with solid economies in the entire World.
So just why are we among the worst countries in the World for inequality, poor health, child poverty, suicide and early death? Why also are vast tracts of our country virtually barren wasteland used only for hunting shooting and fishing and sustain far more sheep than humans?
Remember these areas, within just over 200 years, were well populated and sustained that population quite well.
Great idea Rev.
When you hold all the cards, you should call their bluff.
In any future manifesto and for all future discussions, the SNP should use terms such as “Able to stand on our own two feet” etc, with a note to refer to other sources (published by the SNP) for the details.
Policies must be especially user friendly and easily understood by the electorate.
“Let us stand on our own two feet Scotland. Stand Tall, Stand Proud, Stand Free.” etc
Take away the opportunity for techno mumbo jumbo rubbishing by the Anti-Scottish Brigade.
That’s an excellent post from Robert Peffers at 12:09pm, thank you Robert!
You show first our wealth, or potential wealth, in a wide range of resources, and then the shaming contrast with our national health record and land policies.
Shaming Westminster, not us. Our imperial masters continue to cream off our bounty and ignore our real needs. There is no long-term planning, no commitment to nurturing sustainable growth and improvements for Scotland and the people here.
We can do better.
We will do better.
Robert Peffers asked:
“So just why are we among the worst countries in the World for inequality, poor health, child poverty, suicide and early death? Why also are vast tracts of our country virtually barren wasteland used only for hunting shooting and fishing and sustain far more sheep than humans?”
If only No voters could confront these questions honestly, we might make some progress. Their Jockholm Syndrome can be hard to break down.
Somehow the power of the Trojan horse that is BBC Scotland must be subverted.
@Midgehunter says: 17 June, 2015 at 11:42 am:
” … For me (naive?) it’s a question of who has the mandate!”
It is not mainly the mandate, Midgehunter. As I’ve been attempting to explain, and it’s not easy to do briefly, it hinges on the historic events and the Establishment has always claimed to have sovereignty over Scotland.
Remember that the English Crown had annexed Wales and Ireland by both military conquest and legal treaty/contract. However as all Europe back then, with the exception of Scotland, were under the legal system of, “Divine Right of Kings”, then English law did not apply in Scotland.
King Edward claimed that the Scottish Lords should swear fealty to the English crown, (The Ragman Rolls). Robert Bruce refused to sign and we had the Scottish wars of independence and won them. We sent the Declaration of Arbroath to the then international authority, (The Pope), in 1320, who agreed that not only was Scotland an independent Kingdom but that the people of Scotland were sovereign and not the Scots Monarchy. In 1328 we signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton and paid the English crown to agree we were independent.
In 1603 the Kingdom of England again claimed that there was a United Kingdom but again they failed to make it stick. In 1688 the English threw out their monarch but, as Scotland was still independent, that could not depose the King in Scotland. However, the English also removed from their monarchs their veto over the English parliament. This changed the law in the three countries of the English Kingdom to, “A constitutional Monarchy”, That is the Crow is legal owner of everything but the parliament has the sovereign power. It did not apply to Scotland.
Then the English forced the Scots into the Treaty of Union but that treaty left the Scottish legal system independent and so the People of Scotland remain sovereign. This is then reaffirmed by the, “Scottish Claim Of Right”, 1689, and again in 1989. The law of Scotland remains based upon the people, not the crown, being sovereign.
That means the people we elect to represent us in either parliament are NOT, as they are in the rest of the UK, subjects of the Queen. They are subjects of the sovereign people of Scotland.
This is why they need to be specifically mandated by the people to seek independence. Or even to run a referendum. The important things are that although the UK/England has always claimed sovereignty over Scotland the historic evidence of treaties does not support their claims. The people of Scotland are legally sovereign but must get a proper mandate from a majority of the people to legally change the terms of the Treaty of Union or any subsequent Westminster legislation. With one very important exception.
When the Treaty of Union was being enacted it required that both Kingdom’s parliaments had to legally pass their own Act of Union and then wind up their own parliaments before becoming a Union Parliament.
In England their parliament sat and ended itself. In Scotland the people were rioting and would have hung any parliamentarian they got their hands on. So the Scottish parliament was never actually legally wound up. It was Prorogued, (to terminate a session of a parliament without dissolving it), and when the devolved Scottish Parliament first sat, Winnie Ewing did not just open the new parliament she reconvened the old one in a new building.
The overall legal situation seems to be that if the legally sovereign people of Scotland mandate either their UK or their Scottish Parliamentarians to end the Union they have the legal sovereign powers to do so.
Robert Peffers
Aye, Scotland could be a thriving powerhouse, with accountable and directly accessible government. Project Fear saw to that, for the time being, though I suppose we should count our blessings. At least we aren’t Libya and London isn’t providing us with ‘humanitarian assistance’ yet, though perhaps ‘liberal interventionists’ such as Jim Murphy, might have some ideas about that. How’s he getting on, btw? 😉
link to globalresearch.ca
@Robert Peffers
Many thanks for your posts. They are very interesting and I’ve learned a lot.
Karmanaut says: at 1:36 pm
@Robert Peffers
Many thanks for your posts. They are very interesting and I’ve learned a lot.
Yes K i was thinking the same thing after reading the post at 1.17 thanks Robert.
🙂
Glamaig says ”Petra thanks for posting that. That post is so awesome Ive saved it as a document for reference later. Joemcg says ”Have to agree, Petra’s post would have made a cracking leaflet during the referendum! Would have opened a few eyes.”
I have to say that I was really disappointed with the data that was distributed in the lead up to the Referendum, in particular the last ‘big’ quarter-fold leaflet that arrived just days before the vote: One full page depicting a mother with her child. That page and part of the other, imo, could have been absolutely filled with statistics and facts (with reference links) such as:
Scotland could have been as rich as Switzerland. Classified as Top Secret in 1974. (McCrone Report – youtube).
Tony Blair and Donald Dewar handed over 6000sq mls of Scottish Seas and 7 oilfields to Westminster in 1999. (Stolen Seas – youtube – Craig Murray). Craig Murray ex-Head of Maritime Section, FCO, London and Ambassador to Uzbekistan etc.
Our Parliament isn’t permanent (Scottish Parliament – youtube – Wullie Rennie).
A list of our assets.
A list of recent / ongoing accomplishments.
Oil: Kevin Forbes potential oil boom off the West coast 2014 (Kevin Forbes – youtube – oil and gas).
Facts about Trident: cost, morality, risk of accident and nuclear radiation leaks.
Facts about Fracking such as 13 people (at least 5 of them have fracking / energy interests) on the HoLs Economic Affairs Committee are rushing through licenses to frack in Scotland.
Facts / statistics relating to poverty, suicide and premature death rate.
Facts about the HoLs – over 800 unelected people making far-reaching decisions for you.
Alex Salmond also came across as a one man band which wasn’t too helpful either. MSM made a point of not interviewing or reporting the views of the MANY experts who were planning to vote YES.
That leaflet could have remedied this situation, to some extent, by giving them a mention.
Economy / Currency: Joseph Stiglitz member of Alex Salmonds Fiscal Commission Team / Advisor. President of the International Economics Association, Economic Sciences Nobel prizewinner and former Chief of Economics to the World Bank…”Opposition to the currency union is a bluff’’ … ‘’Warned that Scottish economic growth will suffer unless the country breaks away from the UK pattern of growing inequality and pressed for the inclusion of a section in the the Committees report making the direct link between social and economic inequality and stunted economic growth.”
NHS: Sir Harry Burns former Chief Medical Officer for Scotland and currently Professor of Global Health…. ”Only an independent Scotland would afford us the power to protect the NHS. Independence would prove positive for the health of Scots.”
Business: Over 2000 Scottish businesses supporting Independence. Businessforscotland.
Martin Gilbert boss of Aberdeen Asset Management the largest fund manager in Europe, operating across 33 offices in 25 countries, and managing £350 billion … ”an independent Scotland will be a ‘BIG success’.
NATO: Dame Mariot Leslie, Scot, former Director-General for Defence and Intelligence at the Foreign Office and last Ambassador to NATO …‘’An independent Scotland would be welcomed into Nato by all NATO allies even if it ditched Trident. I’ll be voting Yes on the grounds that Scotland’s geography, economy, demography and politics are “so distinctive” that they are best served by their own sovereign government.
Defence: Lieutenant Commander May, Senior Naval Intelligence Officer Faslane, fully supported Alex Salmonds Defence Strategy … “Faslane would be an excellent conventional naval base and home for Scottish Joint Forces HQ… Unfortunately the UK has not taken the northern dimension seriously in recent years. We are without any serious ocean-going conventional vessels based in Scotland and the MOD has scrapped the entire Maritime Patrol Aircraft fleet”.
Ian Godden Founder and Chairman of oil company Glenmore Energy, Secretary of the Defence Industries Council, Chief Executive Officer of the Society of British Aerospace Companies … “Scotland can maintain its position in Defence interests because there is an industrial and engineering capability that Scotland has got which makes it attractive. Backing No would be a vote for the long-term decline of Scotland”.
Foreign Affairs: Donald MacLaren Head of Clan MacLaren, former British Ambassador to Georgia, British Head of Mission in Cuba, Venezuela and Ukraine and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Moscow, Berlin and Cuba… ‘’I tell you, there are plenty of Scots and non-Scots in the Foreign Office and in every other branch of government who are ready to swap shaughly Union decision-making for the creativeness and vigor of real responsibility within a Scotland making its new way in the world. As to foreign policy, the UK has long since lost the instinct and determination to make policy and to influence. When asked for clarity on so many issues, the Ministerial mantra is: “We are consulting closely with our partners.” Clinging desperately to our seat at the “top table” has become a mask for indecisiveness and lack of leadership.”
Pensions: UK Pension Minister Steve Webb (youtube – Independence will not affect your State Pension).
EU: Lawyers for Yes .. ”An independent Scotland can continue European Union membership without need to re-apply.”
Joanna Cherry QC and Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, professor of European and Human Rights Law at Oxford University .. ”under existing European Treaties there is no reason why an independent Scotland’s uninterrupted membership of the EU would not be preserved.”
Professor Nicolas Levrat, Director of the Global Studies Institute at the University of Geneva (Scotland can’t be thrown out of the EU – youtube).
Why should what we see on this people funded site or any site controlled by one mans MOOD is this what it has come to but after all it is his BALL ( paid for by others)and he can decide who plays with it
@jackie g:@Karmanaut:@CameronB Brodie:
One thing we should all be asking ourselves is why all this, actually quite important stuff from our Scottish history, is not taught in our Scottish schools?
Another fact from our Scottish history that really only comes to light after we start to find out the propaganda that has been taught throughout our entire history is that our worst enemies have not actually been other than London Scots who have consistently sold out their own country for money and the approval of the Establishment.
It is like breathing fresh air again after leaving a London sewer to have the SNP, Greens and other Independence supporting people elected by us to office at both Holyrood and Westminster. For the first time we have managed to elect enough of them to make a real difference.
Even more refreshing is that we are now looked upon as mainstream political parties by our fellow Scots. Even if those fellow Scots are not yet ready to fully support our points of view. I’d bet you they could all tell you the totally unsupported fairy story of Bruce and the spider but would look askance if asked what they knew about the Edinburgh- Northampton Treaty. Yet the Edinburgh-Northampton Treaty is in the Scottish National Library.
We really have been subjected to Southern Establishment propaganda and myth since before the birth of Christ.
@Rev.Stu,
With respect Rev and I do see the point you are making . It’s our oil , nobody can sell us our own property.
What the hell does that mean?
“Why should what we see on this people funded site or any site controlled by one mans MOOD is this what it has come to but after all it is his BALL ( paid for by others)and he can decide who plays with it”
First: you pay for a paper, how much influence have you got on what it prints? that right zero
Second: what part of “contributions are voluntary” are you struggling with pilgrim?
The more I think about it the more I warm to the idea of the OBR playing Esau and selling their birth right for a pot of soup.
John Swinney offer Gideon the £2b for the oil taxation rights now – Do it! Do it! Do it!
I want to see their gurning faces as they come up with reasons why that isn’t practical
Robert Peffers
Aye again, there is now a sustainable platform to build from Robert. New media also provides a ray of light which beckons fellow Scots away from the Psyop of BBC News and the MSM.
Hopefully it wont take too long before the scales fall from folk’s eyes and they start to believe in themselves and their nation. I do hope that doesn’t sound too Nazified. 😉
@Jet says: 17 June, 2015 at 2:41 pm:
“Why should what we see on this people funded site or any site controlled by one mans MOOD is this what it has come to but after all it is his BALL ( paid for by others)and he can decide who plays with it.”
You remind me of old the joke about the old Lady who went to her GP complaining, “Every time I stretch up with my right arm it hurts”. The GP replied, “Well just don’t stretch up with you right arm”.
If you don’t like the Rev Stu’s blog then just don’t read it.
Robert Peffers says:2.43pm
Robert,you are spot on with that post.
A wee story,
When i was in primary 7 i had a fab teacher Mr Smith who taught us many things about our own country(and others) he had two pictures on the wall of one was a copy of Sunflowers by Van Gough and the other was of Robert Burns.
He taught us about the art on the wall, William wallace and the wars of independance of course the verse and songs of the bard.
When i went to Secondary school in 1978 none of this was ever mentioned and folk would ask how i knew ‘Tam O’Shanter’ and who Van Gough was.
If you are still alive Mr Smith then i salute you.. and you Mr Peffers.
I never understood why the Yes campaign didn’t highlight the McCrone report. Most people have never heard of it.
Along with the live display of the Norwegian oil fund:
link to nbim.no
Sometimes I leave it up on my screen at work 🙂
The BBCs Douglas Fraser today missed the silver lining but found the cloud:
“…the (UK oil & gas) industry had become inefficient through recent years of booming investment.”
link to bbc.com
Only in the twisted Project Fear world of Pacific Quay could ‘booming investment’ be spun as a bad thing for North Sea oil.
Some days it really does seem that it’s Dad’s Army’s Private Frazer that writes about Scottish Business for the BBC. “We’re doomed, we’re all doomed!”
John king says 2.59
You miss the point
First i am not asking for influence, I am questioning the use of mood as editorial tool instead of strategy , integrity honesty
Second all contributions to any paper or web site are voluntary no one buys a paper at gun point
Robert peffers says 3.10
So I must like 100% or not read or read and only comment on things I like don’t like them rules
Hey Jet, it’s the MSM that has ‘editorial tools’, not Wings LOL
Jet: Why should what we see on this site be controlled by one man’s MOOD?
Wrong topic. Moodie Vision is the next topic. 🙂
CameronB Brodie said:
“Hopefully it wont take too long before the scales fall from folk’s eyes and they start to believe in themselves and their nation. I do hope that doesn’t sound too Nazified. ;)”
The trouble is, Cameron, that many No voters look at the poverty and lack of opportunity in Scotland and say, “See, we couldn’t run our own affairs, we are not worthy!” instead of seeing these conditions as a necessary consequence of this rotten and asymmetrical Union. It takes a lot of effort on our part to make them change their perspective. And the BBC beams its UKOKery into their homes every night.
We need an AJP Taylor-style mini-series by Robert Peffers on Scottish history and culture as a counter-weight.
Dust down your bow-tie, Esteemed Peffs.
O/T
Sarah Smith says oil will stick @ $60.00 a barrel, you heard it here first folks, mark that date down!
Sarah Smith can hardly contain her glee about the oil downturn…..
“Producers will have to get used to $60 a barrel, not the $200 they had been used to…”
WTF?… $200 …. what planet is this woman on?
@CameronB Brodie says: 17 June, 2015 at 3:09 pm:
“Hopefully it wont take too long before the scales fall from folk’s eyes and they start to believe in themselves and their nation. I do hope that doesn’t sound too Nazified”
Way back about the start of the referendum campaign I used to often speak with an elderly lady as we both walked our dogs in the late evening. She was very much a unionist, had a quite pronounced English upper-class accent, and was very much anti-SNP. I let her air lots of her anti-Nationalist stuff until I decided to give her something to think about.
So I chose a BBC statement made that day that was obvious mince and asked her what she made of it. Of course she accepted it as if Gospel. So I asked her to justify it with simple logic and she could not do so., (It was the one about Scotland being too poor). I pointed out to her that Scotland’s territory contained 95% of the oil & gas revenues and Scotland’s per capita GDP was higher than that of England. (The BBC had been comparing it with the City of London).
She retorted the usual crap that it was the, “English”, Government that funded the development of the North Sea so they should get the returns. So I informed her the government, (was the UK’s), and funded nothing but only sold licences to prospect fields. Then sold licences to extract oil & gas then taxed every barrel extracted at the well head, taxed every litre of processed road fuel at the pump and charged VAT on each pump sale plus took corporation tax from the oil companies and taxed profits of shareholders.
I finished by saying The BBC had misled her. Several weeks later the old lady suddenly said, “I’m voting YES for I paid attention to what the BBC were NOT telling the listeners and I realised that what I thought was true was just what you said it was – propaganda.
It turned out she was not as I had though, (English), but from Inverness and had been educated at a girls only English public School. She said, “I’ve been wrong all those years, I won’t make that mistake again”.
That was all it took, just drawing an intelligent No voter’s attention to the BBC Bias. Mind you there’s not much you can do with the dumb numpties unless you use a very large stick.
@Jet says: 17 June, 2015 at 4:42 pm:
“John king says 2.59
You miss the point
First i am not asking for influence, I am questioning the use of mood as editorial tool instead of strategy , integrity honesty”</I?
Actually the rules are fairly basic and what you seem to be unaware of is that this is the Rev Stu's blog. It is thus up to him to choose the topics but allows off topic comments after a sensible time. The rest is mainly such things as paragraph breaks and certain abusive terms.
“Second all contributions to any paper or web site are voluntary no one buys a paper at gun point”
Rubbish! journalists, columnists and reporters get paid for articles as do freelancers. As for comments, many organs, both on & off line restrict comments, some are very selective and others strictly Moded.
“Robert peffers says 3.10”.
“So I must like 100% or not read or read and only comment on things I like don’t like them rules”
I said nothing of the sort but your last shot there says it all – “you don’t like them rules”.
Neither did the old lady at the GP’s like the fairly normal signs of increased old age, i.e. arthritic or muscle pain, so was told just to avoid doing things that caused the pains.
So the Rev owns this blog and if he asks for funds to run it there is no compulsion to contribute. No one stops you either reading or commenting for free. What I told you is those are the rules and if you do not like them you can lump them. It is not a subject for debate but I ask you – has the Rev Stu stopped you reading or commenting?
@MochaChoca says: 17 June, 2015 at 6:59 pm:
“Sarah Smith can hardly contain her glee about the oil downturn…..
“Producers will have to get used to $60 a barrel, not the $200 they had been used to…”
WTF?… $200 …. what planet is this woman on?”
I’m not sure what planet she is on just now but if she suddenly starts talking with a whistle and dropping more clangers I’ll make a very good guess.
“The trouble is, Cameron, that many No voters look at the poverty and lack of opportunity in Scotland and say, “See, we couldn’t run our own affairs, we are not worthy!”
Correct. I was talking to a woman on a bus during the campaign who told me “that Alex Salmond keeps saying we’re a wealthy country – so where’s all the money?”
Really!
Rev wrote:
“If David Cameron wants us to draft the amendment, he only needs to ask.”
And no answer came the reply!
Whinge and cringe as much as you like but it is obvious watching the goings on at Westminster that David Mundell elected with less than an 800 majority has more power over Scotland than 56 MPs elected by more than 50% of the Scottish voters in the 2015 GE. Democracy at it’s worst! How does Mundell feel about it -probably the same as Carmichael! The Tories have the power and at least 300 years of knowing how to use it and until the majority of Scots realise and recognise that things will not change. Yes we are getting closer but we need a surge over the 50% hump. How do we do it by keep telling the truth and let the opposition lie till they are blue in the face – just like we did with “Scottish” Labour. Who are no more – the only one left was in my opinion voted in by Tory voters denying democracy by tactical voting against their beliefs – not Hearts supporters. With approximately 23000 SNP members we got 45% in the indy reterendum. With 115000 SNP members we got 95% of the MPs. Why? Because we had a social network that stretched way beyond all forms of the Establishment media it is Household Media. So if we can increase the Household Media in respect of SNP Membership even David Mundell and the Establishment Tories can be obliterated. In my humble opinion.
Robert peffers says 7.59
Can’t find the part in the rules that says it depends on what mood the owner is in
And if your are going to use anecdotes try using one with some relevance
Obviously me commenting has annoyed you
So you think if I dont like things the way they are I should just lump it in your words
That is a strange comment from someone on this site
Does that apply every thing in your life politics,work, or just me on this site
And your last point the owner has not barred me from reading or commenting on his site
I was not aware that I could be barred form reading but now I know
And as I have done nothing to get barred for or is just disagreeing with a point or comment enough
I will post what I want without any direction from you thanks
RE: BILLBOARDS
Hi all, I’ve set up a forum for discussing the idea of crowdfunded outdoor advertising, such as billboards, as a way to counter MSM lies and propaganda.
link to counterpropforum.wordpress.com
Anybody with suggestions, or who wants to help to get the ball rolling… see yeez there.
See ye there Scunterbunnet
@ Glamaig 3.37 pm:
Thanks for this excellent link. I see what you mean. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Yes, this oil is a real curse. Best leave it to Call-Me-Dave and his pals. The grown-ups will know what to do.
Glamaig says ”I never understood why the Yes campaign didn’t highlight the McCrone report. Most people have never heard of it. Along with the live display of the Norwegian oil fund: link to nbim.no Sometimes I leave it up on my screen at work.”
How comforting that must be to be able to sit back and watch the Norwegian Oil Fund mounting up and see how the money is being spent: Knowing too that your children and grandchildrens future is secured.
And here we are the ONLY country in the World, other than Iraq, to have oil but have received ziltch from it to the point that one fifth of our population is living in abject poverty.
Norway is now in a position to protect its industry whilst ours is floundering, thousands are losing their jobs, and the MSM have the brass neck to blame the SNP for this.
And to add insult to injury our oil revenue has no doubt funded Trident and will continue to do so. Trident that could have been located in Portsmouth / Devonport (before they built up the whole area) but for some strange reason a decision was made to dump the nuclear missiles in Scotland: Bombs versus Bairns right enough.
If ever a people could be said to have been sh*t upon it has to be us.