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Wings Over Scotland


Any minute now they’ll get it

Posted on April 08, 2019 by

Just you wait and see.

Scottish political pundits: they’ve got all the pieces in their hands, but they still haven’t even worked out that it’s a jigsaw.

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  1. 08 04 19 12:56

    Any minute now they’ll get it | speymouth
    Ignored

233 to “Any minute now they’ll get it”

  1. bobajock
    Ignored
    says:

    Clueless moronic … ummm, is this guy being paid to be so?

  2. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    “..devolve ALL powers to Scotland..” ???!!! When did that happen – I must have missed spotting that in the last 29 years. Silly me.

  3. R4
    Ignored
    says:

    We wont all starve with independence,but we will have to tighten our belts a bit. Who never felt better for losing a bit of excess baggage. We will be leaner and fitter for it.

  4. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    When Magnus Linklater talks he listens and is assured he exists

  5. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps he thinks the DevoSuperFederalMax promised in 2014 was actually delivered!

  6. Gavin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    He would make more sense discussing whether what-if football.

  7. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    Magnus Linklater: one of the so-called big names in journalism, and he writes that pish, and still does not get it. Every concession – few though they were, given to Holyrood and the Scottish Government, had to be fought for, and they never have been given, and, I suspect if Westminster has its way, never will, be given the real powers necessary to let Scotland thrive.

    Only independence will deliver real power and prosperity to Holyrood and Scotland – and Westminster and the English Establishment will fight with every fibre of their being to prevent this. They will also fight dirty.

  8. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    They should have installed that “I’m not a Robot” software
    before committing this garbage to print.

    Could the chap have been diagnosed with early symptoms of dementia?

    Maybe not as he did once work at the Scotsman?

  9. Frank Gillougley
    Ignored
    says:

    Who is Magnus Linklater? Should I care? Why should I give a shit about what a fecking near-dead journalist thinks? FFS!

  10. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    “No dramatic transformations in the economy”?
    How about England dragging Scotland’s economy off an EU Cliff?

    “No huge improvements on equality”
    Yes I give him that one as Scotland is still a second class region

    “We still see widening wealth gap”
    Holyrood changed the tax system to take a little from the richer earners to compensate the poor but are vilified for it?

    “We have social deprivation and poor health”
    While Westminster has cut Scotland’s budget by £2 Billion we know
    this passes down to the poorer citizens with the greatest impact.
    Good to know Cities like Glasgow has almost Zero rough sleepers and our NHS is the best performing one across the UK.
    We could do even better if 10 years of Westminster Austerity hadn’t bee applied, if they didn’t scare of EU Medical staff with Brexit and Wind Rush deportations from Caribbean candidates.

    There we have it.
    Without House Boys like Magnus and the corruption of Westminster Scotland could do even better.

    The sooner we get rid of the lot of them the better!

  11. John Walsh
    Ignored
    says:

    It still reminds me of the thought
    “ were we birds in a cage and they clipped our wings, they would still laugh at our inability to fly”
    But the Yoons don’t get it never will years of indoctrination.
    Scotland the only country in the world uniquely unable to rule itself

  12. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    Education: Belhaven Hill School in Dunbar ( a boarding school) East Lothian, and then on to Eton College…courses at Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg in Germany and the Sorbonne in Paris…a degree at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating with a second class honours degree in modern languages. (Wikipedia)

    A qualified spokesman for the status quo.

    Magnus Thinklater.

  13. Calum McKay
    Ignored
    says:

    No mention of austerity either?

    Perhaps we should take Magnus on a stroll down memory lane when thatcher killed off our industry, Glasgow was the murder capital of Europe and especially when Michael Forsyth turned the teaching profession from an admired profession into a job?

  14. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    They’re pad not to get it.

  15. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Paid’

  16. David Mooney
    Ignored
    says:

    Sadly the majority of English people (and a large number of Scots as well) believe this nonsense to be the case.

    They honestly believe we have near full fiscal autonomy over our country. They think we have full control over taxation. They believe that’s what devolution is.

    After all they are constantly told we are “the most powerfully devolved nation in the world” but we are heavily subsidised by England.

  17. Arbroath1320
    Ignored
    says:

    reserving only those affecting such issues as foreign policy and the economy

    Hmm …

    Can someone please advise me as to which particular alternate universe this particular alleged journalist beamed down from to write such a level of s***e?

  18. Chas
    Ignored
    says:

    Just another dumb Etonian

  19. Giving Goose
    Ignored
    says:

    Magnus Limp-Later

    Even his writing is floppy.

  20. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Do they actually believe this stuff? It’s just incredible how an educated man regurgitates nonsense as fact.

    Why are newspapers in trouble? Behold the answer.

  21. Craig MacKenzie
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m reminded of … If we’d ham, we could have Han ‘n eggs…. If we’d eggs

  22. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    So Scotland has been unable to transform the economy despite powers over the economy being reserved?

    Bog standard Tory thinking, not too bright that lot are they.

  23. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Mr Linklater….Hmmm! Deliberately disingenuous or not very well informed?

    It’s a toughie! 🙄

  24. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Their private and Oxbridge education gets them into influential roles. However, when they get the jobs they don’t have the life experience nor intellect to actually contribute anything worthwhile.

  25. Gmere
    Ignored
    says:

    Arbroath1320,

    I’m guessing the same universe where Gordon ‘Devo to the Max’ Brown never had to cry ‘betrayal’ about the tory handling of the Smith Commission or had to beg the people of Scotland to sign a 100,000 signature petition to ‘protest’ Westminster not properly honouring ‘The Vow’. AND THEY ALL LIVED HAPPY EVER AFTER!

    Meanwhile, back in this reality…

  26. Big Al
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ll forgo attempting to put a link up but simply recommend a book by Magnus’s Dad, Eric Linklater. The Lion & the Unicorn. Magnus isn’t a patch on his old man.

  27. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    Linklater, part of the establishments lackey brigade well spoken had it all given on a plate type person but that’s as far as it goes. We should be grateful his kind lord it over us.After all he used to be a regular on the BBC

  28. Peter McCulloch
    Ignored
    says:

    Whether or not the British nationalists actually believe the tripe they peddle about there being no dramatic improvement in health, reductions in child poverty etc by the SNP under devolution.

    Their message is aimed at persuading those who take little or no interest in politics, that only by sticking with the UK and electing members of British parties into power at Holyrood.

    Then people will see their lives improved under the broad shoulders of the union.
    There will be people who despite all the evidence to the contrary will believe it.

    That’s basically what Leonard is peddling, with his promise to spend £30 billion more here in Scotland.

  29. Peter Barjonas
    Ignored
    says:

    They just keep opening their mouths and shooting themselves in the foot. Reminds me of the Monty Python posh gits sports sketch!

  30. dramfineday
    Ignored
    says:

    In addition, a couple of other lines stood out in that column.

    a) “It has become routine to dismiss the achievements of devolution as disappointing, even embarrassing.” Note the use of the words “routine to dismiss”. Who’s responsible for that then? Who started it and who continues it, day after day, night after night? It’s embarrassing right enough, one has only to look at the near hysterical reaction of the press and certain politicians to the introduction of the baby box to be embarrassed – for them.

    b) “but the outcome depended on hard work on the detail carried out in Westminster.” No doubt there was, but I’m sure there was as much going on at this end. Unable to say so Magnus?

    Still the ‘never give credit where is due, it might encourage them’ school of thought would appear to be a considered theme in this article.

  31. Artyhetty
    Ignored
    says:

    This is the problem, the fact this guy is telling porkies about devolution in a newspaper is a disgrace, many people do not know which actual POWERS are still reserved to Westminster, and Linklater is dining out on that ignorance.

    Wesminster has Scotland by the short and curly’s, and they know it. Scotland is called ‘subsidy junkie’ and there has been a lot of that myth being touted again on twitter etc recently. What they refuse to point is, then why on earth does England want Scotland to ‘stay’!

    Scotland is functioning within the constraints of the British Nationalist establishment who hold most of the cards and pull most of the strings.

    Over the last ten or so years, the damage of centuries of Britnat rule has started to be repaired, against huge odds.

    I am sure that I read that the ‘budget’ ie the pocket money that Westminster send back to Scotland once they have taken the revenues and resources for themselves, has been reduced year on year since the SNP came to power. Not increased, not stayed the same, but it’s been decreased.

    It’s frightening to think just what Scotland would be like right now though, if there was a Britnat party at the helm at Holyrood. Hell the Britnat Tories in Scotland laughed uncontrollably when there was mention of a slight downturn in Scotland’s economy not so long ago! Imagine anywhere else this happening?

    The UK branch of the Labour party when at the helm at Holyrood sent Billions of £’s BACK to Westminster, that alone is just criminal and indicative of how the Britnats have deliberately kept Scotland poor for far too long.

    I was reading about Scotland’s oil shale industry most of yesterday, a site called ‘museum of Scottish oil shale’ it’s an actual museum. It was a huge industry, both for oil and gas, and in the 19th and 20th century. It was mainly an industry in the Lothians in the west, and boy did it make some people rich. Not so the communities though, not at all.

    The conditions that the people of Scotland lived in, the houses, ( slums) the Britnats built for them was an absolute disgrace. It’s going to take a very long time to repair the damage of the Britnats’ neglect, under-investment, destruction of industry, as well as their thieving of Scotland’s resources, ( still happening as we all know )on a massive scale, so we cannot allow those who would take Scotland back decades, if not centuries, to get hold of the reins again.

    Devolution is better than nothing, the Britnats hate it, they are getting more than they bargained for with the SNP in charge, even within the constraints of devolution. It was never meant to be like this as far as the Britnats are concerned.

    Folks like Linklater, who attempt to portray Scotland as a basket case because of devolution can go take a hike, it’s not being taken away from us now, it’s set Scotland on the path to independence, however much the Britnats’ designed it to ‘keep Scotland fast’, or whatever it was that that Britnat said in times of old.

    Times change, Scotland has changed, there’s only one way forward now.

  32. Davosa
    Ignored
    says:

    What an utter arse Linklater is. Typical Yoon! Time he retired permanently.

  33. Golfnut
    Ignored
    says:

    I think we can dismiss ‘the hard work on the detail’ trope, universal credit, Brexit, farming subsidies, internet connections make a nonsense of that. Please feel free to add to the list.

  34. Liz g
    Ignored
    says:

    I think it was Chomsky who said
    “Never underestimate someone’s ability not to understand something, when their salary is dependent on them not understanding it“.

    I think that’s also why others in the Media hate the Rev so much.
    His salary depends on understanding and being honest about what he sees.
    A job anyone who took up journalism, probably thought they would be doing to earn their living!
    But they took the coin and sold their integrity, and they have to keep on selling it
    The funding of Wings is almost always mentioned when they have their wee” not really one of us “rants at him too..
    I think it’s professional envy instead of just plain bitchyness…

  35. Jack collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    Be in no doubt, if Scotland was mug enough to be caught up in England’s Brexit, soft, hard boiled, scrambled, or easy over, or opt for the English zealots’ anorexic |No Deal, then, the English Parliament would immediately ‘take back control’ by subsuming Scotland institutions and services into the English ‘National’ system.
    Our NHS, Education, Law, and all industries would come immediately under control of London, via their Anglo glove puppets in the Edinburgh Brit Nat Branch of the Establishement oligarchy.
    You may recall Cameron outside number 10 at 07.00 hrs on the 19th of September 2014, as the Billy Boys rose from their beds,unfurled their Butchers Aprons ready to march on George Square, announcing EVEL, English Votes For English Laws.
    That’s how imminent the Fall of Scotland is.
    On Friday 12th April the May Corbyn Concordiat will drag England and Wales out of Europe.
    We are not going with them.
    It’s about to get very hairy indedd.
    Where the fuck are the 24 Brit Nat Scots Mps?
    Hiding from the people of Scotland, their evil work almost done.
    It is time to rise and resist, Scotland.

  36. Jack collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    I wrote ‘fuck’. Stuart Cosgrove will be ‘offended’, no doubt.

  37. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    R4 says:

    8 April, 2019 at 12:16 pm

    We wont all starve with independence,but we will have to tighten our belts a bit.
    ……….

    Must be awesome to have such an insight into the future of an Indy Scotland!

    What do you base that claim on ?

  38. Craig P
    Ignored
    says:

    We’ve been devolved 20 years and how many moon missions have Holyrood launched? None!

    You’d be as well to have a go at that, Magnus.

  39. winifred mccartney
    Ignored
    says:

    As usual with tories and labour why let the truth get in the way of a good story. Devomax, home rule aye so long as WM has the upper hand and keeps control, while stealing our oil, stealing our seas and burdening us with their debts.

    We need to devolve things like broadcasting, immigration, captial gains tax, benefits etc before we are anything like ‘the most devolved country in the world’. WM, Mundell, Brown and co think if they say it often enough we will believe them. Not a chance. As for Corbyn, every other small country should be free but not Scotland because he needs it just like the tories.

  40. Patrick Roden
    Ignored
    says:

    Living for many years in England taught me that the English tend to believe anyone with a posh accent must be very clever, even when they are being quite dumb. (Boris Johnston)

    Unfortunately, this belief has infected a lot of Scots as well.

    The problem for Magnus and others like him is that the Brexit and all the nonsense surrounding it, is exposing the stupidity and dishonesty of Etonians and all the other posh types.

    When it comes to understanding real life situations and using common sense, they fail miserably and in some cases they really are as ‘thick as mince’

    So Magnus, less and less people believe your claptrap now, or are impressed with your ‘old school tie’

    We want truth and can see through your lies mile off, because we have common sense, something your privileged upbringing has failed to give you.

  41. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Magnus Lickspittle chuntering on about devolution is about as convincing as Theresa S’Maygol talking up what’s best for her precious Union…

    “it’s mine…it came to me…my own…my love…my preciousssss…”

  42. Arthur Thomson
    Ignored
    says:

    Linklater is a Brit.

    The Brits have to lie because to tell the truth would expose what they are – a people who are convinced that they have the right to exploit and abuse and simultaneously lay claim to the higher moral ground.

    To admit that Scotland has undergone a transformation in areas where the Brits do not have absolute control is to countenance the idea that their superiority is in doubt.

    The fact that Linklater and his fellow Brits keep having to write these offensive pieces evidences their fear that they are being exposed to the world as not being superior at all.

    God only knows what Brexit is doing to them!! Lol.

  43. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @R4 says: 8 April, 2019 at 12:16 pm:

    ” … We wont all starve with independence,but we will have to tighten our belts a bit. Who never felt better for losing a bit of excess baggage. We will be leaner and fitter for it.”

    Are you for real? Tighten our belts? Why would we need to?

    Suddenly, at a stroke, every penny of the oil & gas revenues that currently go directly to Westminster and are not returned to Scotland would flow into the Scottish Treasury, These add up to a bloody sight more than the pocket money the crazy Barnett Formula provides.

    Then we get every penny of the VAT our business people gather today for the Westminster coffers. Along with, Road Fuel Duty, Alcohol Duty, Tobacco Duty, Betting Tax, and a host of other taxes and duties currently claimed by Westminster.

    Then there is the scandalous National Grid Connection Charges that electricity Generating companies pay to England and which not only increase more for every unit of Electricity added to the grid as the generators are more distant from London. Not to mention that Westminster actually pays a subsidy to those closer to London.

    Add in the Crown Estates profits for the Scottish Crown Estates just taken from Scotland and added to the English Crown Estate Profits and all that is just scratching the surface. There’s more – much more.

    Here’s a wee bit of straight information for you. The Scottish Per Capita GDP is higher than any other country in the United Kingdom – that means Scots are subsidising everyone else. Here’s a little more information for you – Scotland is a net exporter of fuel, power and food – England is a net importer of all three and Scotland exports roughly 25% of the electricity it generates to England and N.I. every year. Scotland first began exporting electricity to England in 1946 via the first cross border electricity line that ran from the old Portobello coal fired power station across the border into England.

    I could go on but there is enough straight information there to prove Scotland would instantly become a very wealthy country from the day after becoming independent. Conversely the instant Scotland takes back her independence the Kingdom of England’s economy will nose dive and crash.

    Care to challenge any of those claims? Good Grief Westminster even draws in more TV licence fee money than they spend on BBC programmes in or for Scotland. Not to mention that Scotland is having to pay for the debt run up by England.

    Think on this – Scotland is the only UK country that is a net exporter. That means all the rest are net importers. A net importer buys in more than it exports and that is why the UK is up to its neck in national debt and not a penny of it run up be Scotland – yet we have to pay our whack of not only the debt but the interest paid on it.

    Want to know what Scotland’s financial problem will be? The same one Norway has. Norway has to buy Euros that Norway doesn’t need in order to stop her currency becoming too strong. Go check it out – Norway has a population close to that of Scotland and an oil & gas economy not unlike Scotland.

  44. orri
    Ignored
    says:

    Got to love it.
    I suspect if there had been a massive uptick in the economy then the levers being used to achieve it would have been un-devolved toot sweet.

    It’s ridiculous. We don’t give them powers over an area and then complain that they couldn’t do anything without the tools we’ve withheld.

    Still have a probably paranoid suspicion that EVEL will be adjusted in order to use devolution against Scotland.

    How it will go is
    1) because the Speaker can judge a bill comes under EVEL and English+ MPs can veto it it there’s no point in allowing those from Scotland a voice in any debate over it.
    2) the bill will still need a majority in the HoC to pass unless EVEL+ is instituted where that’s no longer the case and Scotland’s MPs are excluded even there.
    3) the Davidson principle will then kick in where it’ll be realised that it’d be best if these “devolved” issues in Scotland are brought into alignment with the rUK
    4) using the same logic as overturning the Continuity Bill a bill will be introduced in Westminster to implement it.
    5) because it’d be tedious to go through all the debates again this will be a rubber stamp exercise. Absolutely no amendments to better tailor it for the whole UK will be heard.
    6) if Scotland can be outvoted it will be, Scottish Conservatives and other unionists will see to that.

    So rather than the blatant removal or Holyrood or it’s powers it’ll be left in place as a way of silencing Scotland’s voice in Westminster.

  45. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    Patrick Roden @ 15:11,

    Actually, I don’t believe that Boris is “dumb”, he just likes to pretend he’s a bit of a “cheeky chappie”. A wolf in jesters’s clothing.

    More to the point, English people (and too many Scots also, alas) may believe that someone with a posh accent is both smart and willing to foster the interests of all, whereas in truth these days “noblesse oblige” is a fantasy and the only interests they are willing to promote are their own.

  46. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    OK, this is another CORE issue, so here’s some Democratic Theory and International Studies. I should be charging big bucks for this. Diddy. 🙂

    Millennial Reflections on International Studies
    Conflict, Security, Foreign Policy, and International Political Economy

    Description

    No study of international relations is complete without consideration of foreign policy processes and an understanding of state security, conflict in global politics, and the relationship between the world economy and international behavior. Conflict, Security, Foreign Policy, and International Political Economy: Past Paths and Future Directions in International Studies consists of twelve original essays that point out the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches in these research areas as well as suggest agendas for future research.

    https://www.press.umich.edu/8890/conflict_security_foreign_policy_and_international_political_economy

    Critical Perspectives in International Studies
    https://www.press.umich.edu/8882/critical_perspectives_in_international_studies

    The Two Cultures of Democratic Theory: Responsiveness, Democratic Quality, and the Empirical-Normative Divide
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/two-cultures-of-democratic-theory-responsiveness-democratic-quality-and-the-empiricalnormative-divide/0A9BF5D8453C4488001FD55B1B8B40C0

    Democratic Theory and Policy Analysis:
    Four Models of “Policy, Politics and Choice”

    https://www.sowi.hu-berlin.de/de/lehrbereiche/comppol/pubb/pdfs/EllenM.2011.pdf

  47. Gary
    Ignored
    says:

    He’s still caught up in the devolution Yes campaingn from the 1990s. Silly sod doesn’t realise he is a dinosaur banging a bearskin drum.
    Scotlands moved on, and moving to Freedom! hope he is around to see his precious union dissolved!

  48. Josef Ó Luain
    Ignored
    says:

    They’ll never get it … end of story.

  49. John McCall
    Ignored
    says:

    After 20 years the still haven’t completed the jigsaw – and it said 3-4 years on the box.

  50. Ali
    Ignored
    says:

    Looking at stats on knife crime, homelessness and healthcare suggests enough that radical transformation is possible in any area we have power over

  51. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert J. Sutherland says:

    believe that someone with a posh accent is both smart and willing to foster the interests of all

    Indeed. Some coined a phrase for Rees Mogg something like, “a barmaid’s idea of a gentleman”. Truth is, most barmaids are probably a good judge of character! But we get the point.

    I had an elderly relative who would judge people based on them been well dressed and polite. She would dismiss good people as riff raff and other distinctly dodgy characters as respectable. Then she would be deeply disappointed when the spiv let her down. Again and again.

    Yes, too many people see smarmy posh gits as trustworthy!

  52. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Craig P says:
    8 April, 2019 at 3:02 pm
    We’ve been devolved 20 years and how many moon missions have Holyrood launched? None!

    You’d be as well to have a go at that, Magnus.””
    …………

    Maybe not launched any moon missions but Glasgow now builds more satellites than any city outside the USA. One hundred and counting have been built in Glasgow and launched into space.

    But break the news to Mr Linklater very gently, his age you know it might be too much for him to handle.

  53. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    galamcennalath @ 16:18,

    Whenever I see the phrase “smarmy posh git”, I immediately think of Michael Gove. Wonder why? =grin=

    And yet that relentless greasy-pole climber, well-fancied apparently by the Scottish Tories as “one of them”, could soon enough be PM of the UK. =shudder=

  54. schrodingers cat
    Ignored
    says:

    last vonc

    may won by 19 votes, that was with the help of the dup

    4 tories have resigned the whip

    Mark Francois is now demanding a second vote of no confidence in Theresa May

    if theresa goes for an extension, a vonc will be certain

    if she goes for no brexit a vonc will be certain

    a vonc is certain

  55. Bill Glen
    Ignored
    says:

    They make Looking like an Idiot Easy, Must be Hard for them to tell the Truth As it is Alien to them

  56. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Don’t worry folks best of British Morrisons have a brand new advert telling us how great British they are and how they fed us yesterday and they’ll feed us tomorrow no matter what happens

    The bit they left out is no matter what the price of their best of British

    Get yer bog rolls in now, they’re mostly made in Italy btw

  57. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    re. Brexit, dark money and constitutional law derived from populist, majoritarian abuse of constitutional power. Folk need to let go of traditional Britain. That animal died when A50 was activated.

    Citizen-centred democratic theory is dead. Long live citizen-centred theory! It’s time we designed a politics for citizens as they really are, not how we’d like them to be

    Forms of democracy that depend on high levels of public participation and civic deliberation are unrealistic, argues Phil Parvin. Instead, political reform should focus less on increased participation and more on representation, in particular to counter the effects of elite lobbying by economically powerful interest groups….

    http://www.democraticaudit.com/2018/03/19/citizen-centred-democratic-theory-is-dead-long-live-citizen-centred-theory-its-time-we-designed-a-politics-for-citizens-as-they-really-are-not-how-wed-like-them-to-be/

    DOMESTIC POLITICS, FOREIGN POLICY, AND THEORIES OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
    https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.polisci.1.1.289

    Can there be a democratic theory for the real world?
    https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2018/05/25/can-there-be-a-democratic-theory-for-the-real-world/

    Business Ethics, Democratic Theory and the Regulatory State: Merriment & Diversion when Regulators and the Regulated Meet
    https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/conferences/2016-newe/Documents/Norman_Ancell_Merriment_DiversionHBS%20Oct16.pdf

  58. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    OK, this is another CORE issue, so it really is alarming that the press appear to have such an extremely naive world view, especially in relation to relations. Here’s some Political Economy and Foreign Policy stuff, I’m off out to enjoy the last of the sun.

    International relations and domestic structures: Foreign economic policies of advanced industrial states

    Extract

    Recent writings on problems of the international economy have focused attention primarily on changes in the international system. This paper attempts to show that foreign economic policy can be understood only if domestic factors are systematically included in the analysis. The paper’s first part groups the recent literature into three paradigms which distinguish between three international effects. The second part offers a comparison of the differences between a state-centered policy network in France and a society-centered network in the United States.

    The third part of the paper combines the arguments of the first two and analyzes French and American commercial, financial, and energy policies as the outcome of both international effects and domestic structures. These case studies show that domestic factors must be included in an analysis of foreign economic policies. The paper’s main results are analyzed further in its fourth part.

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/international-relations-and-domestic-structures-foreign-economic-policies-of-advanced-industrial-states/857160A8D0CC2368508CE6A3098D49EB

    The effect of domestic politics on foreign policy decision making
    https://www.e-ir.info/2011/02/07/the-effect-of-domestic-politics-on-foreign-policy-decision-making/

    What is to be done? Foreign policy as a site for political action
    https://www.lse.ac.uk/internationalRelations/pdf/CJHwhatistobedone.pdf

    International migration, international relations and foreign policy.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12282800

  59. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Old die-hard unionist dinosaurs like Linklater never get it.

  60. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Reluctant Nationalist
    Did you read the rest of the article arehole?

  61. Jason Smoothpiece
    Ignored
    says:

    Once again I dont like saying this but, “I smell shite”.

  62. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Reluctant Nationalist
    Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

    The Political Economy of Brexit and the UK’s
    National Business Model.

    speri.dept.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/SPERI-Paper-41-The-Political-Economy-of-Brexit-and-the-UK-s-National-Business-Model.pdf

  63. schrodingers cat
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert J. Sutherland

    i replied to your comment on the previous thread

  64. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Reluctant Nationalist
    Don’t think I’m angry or upset that you don’t see the world the same way that I do, I just find it irritating that your prejudice prevents you from showing good, rational, judgement.

    The politics and economics of Brexit
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13501763.2018.1467957

    The Political Economy of Brexit: Why Making It Easier to Leave the Club Could Improve the EU
    https://archive.intereconomics.eu/year/2016/4/the-political-economy-of-brexit-why-making-it-easier-to-leave-the-club-could-improve-the-eu/

    Brexit: The foreign policy implications
    https://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_brexit_the_foreign_policy_implications_7053

    Brexit and Beyond
    Rethinking the Futures of Europe

    https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/108355

  65. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    Well done Rev Stu 🙂

    You are helping us all hone our skills and review the very things we could almost have forgotten in the midst of this latest clusterbourach!

    Cameron B, and well done you too 🙂

  66. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T but IMPORTANT: yesterday someone btl posted a Westminster petition link about a petition that had been rejected by Westminster as being outwith W’r’s powers.

    BUT the petition admin folk at W’r very helpfully pointed to another one that IMHO we should all be signing and sharing. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/235096 “Hold an immediate independence referendum for Scotland”.

    It was started in January and has only reached 8,565 signatures. I know it won’t make any difference but it needs more votes to show that we do actually want a referendum!!

  67. starlaw
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr Jim 5;06
    Should the bog rolls run out, then I predict a rise in sales of the DR. and our countryside stripped of docken’s.
    Being of the age I am I still remember works toilets with the signage . . Because of the war and shortage of paper behind the bowl you’ll find a steel scraper’

  68. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Sarah.

    Here’s the clickable link.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/235096

  69. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Ghillie
    It’s my pleasure.

    Reluctant Nationalist
    Which is more important to you, your nationalism or your democracy and health? Remember, Scotland has its’ own NHS and Scotland voted against Brexit.

    How will Brexit affect health and health services in the UK? Evaluating three possible scenarios

    Summary

    The process of leaving the European Union (EU) will have profound consequences for health and the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. In this paper, we use the WHO health system building blocks framework to assess the likely effects of three scenarios we term soft Brexit, hard Brexit, and failed Brexit. We conclude that each scenario poses substantial threats.

    The workforce of the NHS is heavily reliant on EU staff. Financing of health care for UK citizens in the EU and vice versa is threatened, as is access to some capital funds, while Brexit threatens overall economic performance. Access to pharmaceuticals, technology, blood, and organs for transplant is jeopardised. Information used for international comparisons is threatened, as is service delivery, especially in Northern Ireland.

    Governance concerns relate to public health, competition and trade law, and research. However, we identified a few potential opportunities for improvement in areas such as competition law and flexibility of training, should the UK Government take them. Overall, a soft version of Brexit would minimise health threats whereas failed Brexit would be the riskiest outcome. Effective parliamentary scrutiny of policy and legal changes will be essential, but the scale of the task risks overwhelming parliament and the civil service.

    https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31926-8/fulltext

  70. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    schrodingers cat @ 18:39,

    (Thanks for the heads-up. I just did the same there in return.)

  71. sandy
    Ignored
    says:

    Think twice re Indy2 petition.

    Wait until WM makes a COMPLETE ass of things. Not long, now.

  72. cirsium
    Ignored
    says:

    @Lizg, 2.46pm

    Not Chomsky, Upton Sinclair
    “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

  73. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Tories and Labour have a mountain to climb to catch SNP in Scotland:….*The Scotsman*

    The Scotsman which is the Unionist go to rag is even telling the Brits they’re toast, and you know what, they still don’t believe it

    We know you’re not supposed to tell thick people they’re thick because it entrenches them in their thickness but the Scottish variety of Brit is as thick as it comes, they refuse to believe their own newspapers now

  74. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dr Jim

    “Tories and Labour have a mountain to climb to catch SNP in Scotland”

    That’ll be another “Peak Nat” coma and gone then hahaha.

  75. Liz g
    Ignored
    says:

    Cirsium @ 7.56
    Ahh… I stand corrected,thank you 🙂

  76. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Ch4 News UK govt to regulate internet , bye bye Wos

  77. schrodingers cat
    Ignored
    says:

    rjs
    tx

    i think we are pretty much singing from the same sheet.

  78. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    I believe that, with very few exceptions, everyone in the entire European continent knows full well that the UK leaving the EU is a very bad thing to do. Everyone, with the exception of a few lunatics knows it will be very bad for every part of the United Kingdom and will spill over into being really bad for Ireland, (both partitioned parts of it). Other parts of the current United Kingdom will also suffer badly including Scotland.

    Neither will it leave the European Union untouched but the bad effects will be much less damaging to the EU. So, barring a few total lunatics, those who want the UK to leave the EU have ulterior motives and these motives are not all down to self benefit.

    There are those who would be prepared to suffer a little so that others they make a total lifetimes career out of hurting by suffering themselves may suffer more. This from a lifetime matra of hate.

    However, the main drive towards UKExit is self greed and the preservation of ill gotten gains that go back for centuries and the British Empire.

  79. Jock McDonnell
    Ignored
    says:

    I will have nothing to do with a Westminster petition on an indyref. They can take what we give them.
    A referendum on England leaving the uk? Now that’s another matter.

  80. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    The HoL have passed the Cooper-Letwin bill which now goes back to the HoC before being sent for royal assent.

  81. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Lenny Hartley says: 8 April, 2019 at 8:17 pm:

    ” … Ch4 News UK govt to regulate internet , bye bye Wos”

    If they imagine Wings damages them when it is out in the open they will never imagine how much more damage it will cause them if they drive it underground.

    What did they teach us in school? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction – and they weren’t kidding, as the guy said when the swing door hit him in the arse.

  82. Terry callachan
    Ignored
    says:

    To R4 at 1216hrs.
    If doing a bit of guesswork or giving an opinion ,say so.
    Saying Scotland will have to tighten its belt once independent is absolute rubbish, a guess, with no proof or evidence to support such a statement.
    Scotland may well turn out to be the richest country in Europe, we won’t know what our bank balance looks like until it’s in our name and we control it.

  83. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @BDTT at 7.29. Thank you for the clickable link! I was under the impression that we weren’t allowed to do the https bit – another error on my part, clearly!

    The petition is now 8,729 i.e. 164 since 7.23 p.m. Where are all these 200,000 unique readers the Rev boasts about, to sign and share?!!

  84. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Jock McDonnell: you did see that petition “To hold a referendum on England leaving the UK”, didn’t you? It now stands at 15,491 – I think it was around 11,000 when it was mentioned here the other day.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/231563

  85. robbo
    Ignored
    says:

    Sarah says:
    8 April, 2019 at 9:05 pm
    @ Jock McDonnell: you did see that petition “To hold a referendum on England leaving the UK”, didn’t you? It now stands at 15,491 – I think it was around 11,000 when it was mentioned here the other day.

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/231563

    Was hoping for this to be hammered like the revoke article 50 one but no.

    Why can’t the larger YES movement hammer this one ????

  86. HYUFD
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffers Though Eurosceptic parties lead current Italian and Dutch polls

  87. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @ robbo – my feelings exactly. There must be half a million active Yessers – if only we could contact them…

  88. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    On TV right now a programme called *When immigrants leave*
    and it deals with the massive amount of NHS staff in England leaving because they’re being bullied and abused by….the patients…… because they’re immigrants

    There’s yer England for you this stupid UK government’s turned folk mental

    One man who owns a fruit farm says he doesn’t care if he goes broke he voted Brexit for the good of his country (of course he did have a rather expensive accent) so I’m thinking not entirely broke

    I sense bad trouble coming in England for anybody that looks or sounds not one of them if these maniacs don’t get what they want

    Scotland must not be dragged out of the EU and dragged into Englands race war

  89. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffers, i think it wont have an effect on the dedicated Winger but will have on the occasional browser, too many folk still get their info from the MSM. Hopefully by the time they get the legislation through , we will be well on the way to Independence.
    Dont think they would have announced it if they thought they were still going to be under the remit of the EU HR legislation. Be interesting to see how they decide that a website is a purvayer of fake news and is to be shut down and whether any appeals allowed. 1984 gets closer even though its getting further away!

  90. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s something you all may want to see:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xXbLM5MaxM

  91. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffers says:
    8 April, 2019 at 8:37 pm
    @Lenny Hartley says: 8 April, 2019 at 8:17 pm:

    ” … Ch4 News UK govt to regulate internet , bye bye Wos”
    ……………..

    They interviewed an MP at the end of the item on internet regulation who admitted that the legislation is unlikely to find space in Westminster’s calender anytime soon because Brexit is taking up so much time there is unlikely to be time for any other legislation to get through.

    She did say perhaps in the next session of Parliament but depends on Brexit. So I think WoS will be fully operational during indyref 2.

  92. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Just ower 4 days left remaining to go excellent iWingers…

    Any minute now the Scottish No Leavers will understand

    NOW they have learned, they can progress NOW

    There are things we need to do first iLeavers…

    Big moves in small steps baby he hey, say yey! 🙂

    Hey Liz, ah put 2 garlic BULBS intae it, oor soup

    Ahm pure reekin’ a garlic, ain’t complaining

    jj Quiz show starts at 10pm, call me c, dude, cheers

    Indy Live Radio

    East side checkin’ in

  93. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    WM to regulate the internet.

    They have just had a referendum hijacked by online voter manipulation financed by dark money of unidentifed source. And, public opinion formed by on and off line fake news.

    I hope they include these issues in their regulation. Nae chance.

  94. ben madigan
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T – A nice wee concert as we while away our time, awaiting the decision on our futures

    Enjoy!

    https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2019/04/08/the-last-irish-bard/

  95. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    An interesting comment from Facebook…

    Bruce Moglia?
    to
    The Spider Principle
    10 hrs ·

    The Kingdoms of Scotland and England were both held by James VI of Scotland when he eventually inherited the Kingdom of England as James I in 1603.

    Both kingdoms remained separate until they were united by the treaty of Union between Scotland and England in 1707, and since that time both countries have been best known collectively by the shortened title of the UK (United Kingdom).

    Ever since the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 through to the Claim of Right Act by the Scottish Parliament in 1689 and up until the present day, according to extant Scottish constitutional law, the Scottish people are sovereign and can dispense with the services of any monarch whom they may deem to be acting against their best interests.

    Today the problem is that an anti-Scottish English Prime Minister, Theresa May, ensconced in Downing St, and at Westminster, wields the power of the crown through what is termed the Royal Prerogative and because the kingdoms and parliaments are conjoined it seems she can exercise that power throughout Scotland and England.

    It should be noted that the Prime Minister has no power over the queen herself.

    The people of Scotland must have other choices through their sovereignty. Could they for example temporarily remove the queen from her position by declaring or arranging for an interregnum. Ergo no Queen of Scots, no Treaty of Union. No UK, no Royal Prerogative in Theresa May’s grasp, but in the hands of the First Minister and the Parliament and people of Scotland. From there Scotland’s anti-Brexit vote would be recognised as the true and proper Scottish Brexit referendum result, etc, etc.

    Maybe a flight of fancy, maybe not. We have a power that we should be able to use – have a think.

    (The Spider Principle is a Facebook page.)

  96. Maria F
    Ignored
    says:

    Sarah says:
    8 April, 2019 at 7:23 pm
    “yesterday someone btl posted a Westminster petition link about a petition that had been rejected by Westminster as being outwith W’r’s powers.
    BUT the petition admin folk at W’r very helpfully pointed to another one that IMHO we should all be signing and sharing!”

    I am sorry Sarah, but I will not sign such petition. If dissolving the treaty of union is “outwith UK gov and UK parliament powers” and it is up to the people of Scotland to initiate it, then I am afraid it is also up to the people of Scotland and therefore “outwith UK gov and UK parliament powers” to “give consent” for an independence referendum in Scotland that will inevitably lead to the dissolution of the treaty of union – precisely what the UK gov and UK parliament claim is outwith their powers.

    The people of Scotland is sovereign and do not need “to ask permission” to England MPs for their referendum. In my view, it is not a matter of the people of Scotland “asking” Westminster for a referendum but rather “telling” Westminster they are having one and that is that – we already instigated that we want one and the circumstances of it with our mandate in 2016.

    It seems to me that for some people, and I include on this those in the UKgov who had the audacity to “advise” to sign the indyref petition while clearly stating that it is beyond their power to grant the other, there is a disconnect between the concepts of Scotland’s independence referendum and the dissolution of the treaty of Union. For me, however, both matters are totally interlinked because Scotland being one of the only 2 signatories of a bipartite treaty of union, I cannot see any other way for Scotland to become “independent” unless it is by dissolving the treaty of union at the same time.

    I believe it has already been established in WOS plenty of times that because Scotland is an equal signatory of a treaty leading to a bipartite union to which Scotland joined as an independent sovereign state, it cannot UDI nor “secede”, but simply dissolve the treaty.

    So, I am afraid I have to wonder here what exactly can be the ulterior political motives of the UK gov to encourage the petition of an independence referendum but to reject point blank as beyond their power the one about dissolving the treaty.

    What are they playing at here, distortion of reality? Creating the illusion that Scotland “must” ask for permission to hold a referendum? Creating the illusion that Westminster holds Scotland’s sovereignty? That the treaty cannot be dissolved? That the concept of Scottish independence” is totally different to the dissolution of the treaty? Are they crapping themselves at the prospect of the Scottish parliament dissolving the union following some legal route before they even hold a referendum so they are desperate to create the demand for an immediate referendum to give them the opportunity to tamper with it? Or is because they are now seeing a scary close up of the teeth of the English nationalism beast and the risk that England may actually start to demand its own indyref because Scotland is stalling brexit? Or is just a simple matter of creating an urgency for indyref hoping the UK gov will lose its nerve and call it too soon?

    Because if what these people claim is actually true and Westminster cannot initiate the dissolution of the treaty of union, this means that the only parliament in the Uk that can actually do so is Scotland’s reconvened parliament, aka the only functioning parliament of the 2 that in 1707 passed the Acts of Union.

    Well, isn’t that interesting?

    Is this the reason why they were reluctant to give devolution to Scotland in the first place?
    Is this the reason why England has never been allowed to reconvene its parliament – because due to the disinformation they have been subjected to and their concept that Scotland is just a benefit junkie, if England had its parliament they would have dissolved the union a long time ago?

    Fascinating.

    I would kindly ask Mr Pfeffers if he could state his valuable opinion on all this. I think is fascinating and there is more to it that meets the I. I do not quite see yet why the petition for an indyref is fine for the UK gov/parl, but a petition for dissolution of the treaty “is beyond their powers”

    Is it because all referendums are “advisory” and not legally binding?

    Mr Pfeffers, could you throw some light on this?

    Thank you.

  97. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Ledgerwood, cheers for that , gave up watching before the end, should maybe say that if Wings is affected by this planned legislation, its not due to Wings being a purveyor of fake news but because it tell the truth and is a thorn in th side of the UK Establishment.
    Briandoonthetoon , i was at a talk by Clive Pointing yesterday, he mentioned that in the eighties the plans for the outbreak of a nuclear war included Phil the Greek and Betty Battenburg along with two Privvy councillors going on an extended cruise on the Yacht Brittannia along with the great seal of England as a symbol of their authority to rule if the UK Government was wiped out. No mention of the great seal of Scotland so they think they can rule us with a symbol that predates the treaty of union by seven hundred years!

  98. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    ITV news at 10.At start Brexit quoted like a football match now in extra time heading for penelities and we all know ENGLAND are not very good at them tosser as usual.

  99. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Excellent and FOR fuck sake webcomradio.co.uk jj…

    Every bar in Scotland should be listening IN

    We have all the bits n pcs 😉

  100. Mad Unionist
    Ignored
    says:

    Thank goodness for 1690 and the Boyne although some of the fundamentalists are still around. The Scottish Nationalists are ("Tractor" - Ed)s to Scotland. They hate the English so much that they would hand Scotland and our resources over to former NAZI States in the EU. Hingin is too good for them.

  101. margaret downie
    Ignored
    says:

    remind Magnus about Hitler’s Diary.

  102. Maria F
    Ignored
    says:

    Lenny Hartley says:
    8 April, 2019 at 10:11 pm
    “No mention of the great seal of Scotland”

    I wonder if that may be because they knew that if a nuclear war would ever take place, Scotland would immediately become a target with a good chance of being completely obliterated and barren by radiation. I have always assumed that one of the main reasons of dumping trident in Scotland was to transform the Scottish people into a human shield for the SE of England.

  103. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    British Nationalist and Red Tory Ian Murray MP for Morningside and The Grange just said in the UK parliament,

    “a democracy fails to be a democracy if the people cannot change their minds ”

    i hope this remark will be much quoted back to him if he tries to deny us Indy2.

  104. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Maria F says:8 April, 2019 at 10:09 pm:

    ” … Mr Pfeffers, could you throw some light on this?
    Thank you.”

    You have it 99.999% correct. The wrong bit is the Two, independent, Acts of union are not actually of interest.

    The independent Acts of Union were how the two, still independent Kingdom’s parliaments accepted and agreed the terms of The Treaty of Union. and then both parliaments then put themselves into recess and on 1 May 1707 opened as the United Kingdom Parliament.

    So the English Act of Union belongs to the pre-union Parliament of England that put itself into permanent recession and has never sat again. There has been no Parliament of the Kingdom of England since 30 April 1707.

    Scotland’s pre-1707 parliament only was prorogued and was reconvened as Holyrood so although the Scottish Act of Union would be an act of a reconvened parliament it is of no consequence as it was only the acceptance of the terms of the Treaty of Union.

    It is the Treaty of Union that the legally sovereign Scots have to revoke. The Scottish Act of Union is irrelevant and though still an act under the reconvened Scots parliament it is the Treaty of Union that we must end.

    That information that Westminster has not got the right to end the Union is correct for Westminster is not the legal parliament of the Kingdom of England – it is legally the Parliament of the United Kingdom and both Westminster and Her Majesty represent both kingdoms and therefore cannot legally take sides. Doing so destroys their right to speak for both Kingdoms.

    Incidentally the law that delegates the Monarch of England’s sovereignty to the Kingdom of England parliament is also illegal. It is first of all only English law and thus not Scottish law and it was applied to the Kingdom of England parliament during the English Glorious Revolution of 1688. i.e. before the Treaty of Union and the English Parliament ceased to exist before 1 May 1707.

    I hope that helps to clear things up. Believe me it is actually quite simple in effect but hell on Earth to attempt to simply explain it.

  105. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Next quiz begins ten mins

    Ye ken where tae go…

    Indylive.radio

    Like

  106. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    John McTernan has predicted and he says no referendum almost impossible for Scotland to leave the UK

    So that’s it folks it’s definitely on there will be a referendum and we’re winning it by a mile

    Because as we all know John McTernan is NEVER right

  107. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    Mad bad and daft unionist,

    Quite a sad person methinks who detests their image in a mirror.

    All that bile in 1 person and yet a complete chancer.

  108. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    Mad unionist

    Remind me. How do you get elected to the House of Lords? By what democratic principle?

    Trying yir best tonight for a response so you can shout that yir feelings have been hurt?

    It ain’t working !

  109. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    🙂

  110. Fireproofjim
    Ignored
    says:

    The way I see it is that the best thing that can happen for Scotland is for Theresa May to get a deal which keeps the U.K. in the EU Customs Union.
    In that event, when Scotland becomes independent within the E.U., there will be no impediment to tariff-free trade between Scotland and England, as England will not be allowed to discriminate against any single EU member. (All for one and one for all as Ireland has happily discovered.)
    At a stroke it demolishes the argument used by the No campaign in 2014 that Scotland would have all sorts of trade barriers raised against it.
    I suspect the SNP are well aware of this.

  111. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    That petition “Petition Hold an immediate independence referendum for Scotland (Indy Ref 2)” on the WESTMINSTER Parliament petitions website, is asking WESTMINSTER to hold our Independence Referendum, NOT enabling our own Government to hold it.

    I wouldn’t sign it if they threatened to send me to the Tower and feed the Ravens.

  112. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @yesindyref2: oh, I interpreted it differently. I thought it meant they would support us having a referendum. You could be right.

    I like the thought of you feeding the ravens at the Tower. Would it be fat balls?!

  113. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sarah
    In fairness I think Ed lost some weight will all that Strictly dancing.

  114. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @Maria F: thank you for your kind way of pointing out that I could have got this petition thing completely wrong!

    I don’t accept Westminster has power to decide anything for Scotland either but it does seem in practice as if they do. It frustrates me incredibly so I suppose I just grab at anything that gives me a chance to express my views.

  115. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @yesindyref2: :):):)

  116. HYUFD
    Ignored
    says:

    Fireproofjim A Customs Union still allows barriers to services even if it removes them for goods and it also does not require free movement of people

  117. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @yesindyref2 – see, I even got the smiley things wrong! I’ll try again.. 🙂 🙂 🙂

  118. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    THIS World, oor Scotland, is changing to aye…

    Get used to it NOW

    We have wifi

  119. Jock McDonnell
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dr Jim
    I turned channels when I saw his coupon, just could not be bothered wasting time on him. Pompous clown.

  120. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    There be Unionists here in golf country

    Ah can smell em like

    One will endeavour

  121. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Look them in their EYES, unionists, that is

    You have the power

    Rockin’ da tunes jj

    It’s almost midnight

  122. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    The Countess of Chester hospital is refusing to treat Welsh patients except in an emergency because of funding complaints

    Better together broad shoulders there

  123. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Maria F, they dumped Trident in Scotland mainly because there is no where in England or the rest of the UK that could take it and infrastructure to support it. There will be no limited Nuclear War , the rest of the UK would be wiped out along with most of Scotland. clive Pointing said yesterday that the UK had targeted Moscow alone with over 100 Nuclear Warheads and over 70 for East Berlin. Im sure the UK would be getting several hundred in return. Nowhere would be safe.
    Thats why its called Mutually Assured Destruction. And why it will never happen except by error there have been cases in the past where Training simulations got confused with the real thing and It was close to Nuclear War. Same end result we would all be deid.

  124. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    There was talk the UK Gov would advise the Queen not to give the Letwin-Cooper Bill designed to prevent no-deal Royal Assent, but Leadsom said it wouldn’t, and some seem to think it already has Royal Assent as the Queen stayed up late! Beats me.

  125. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Hey Dr Jim, ahm getting the LOOK, Ah’ve been playing jj’s top tunes.

    Can ah jist say… Ah ha ha ha

    Aide moi Cameron

  126. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    The Unionists be on guard

    Ah Love their pure helplessness

    One will enlighten, them

    Fucking hate the word “convert”

    There are 2 many religious connotations

    There, Ah’ve said it

    Where ahm aye?

    Enlightenment

    Enlighten

    Light

  127. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    Is that you Cactus with the hair?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlVI7ZNiFlI

  128. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Cheers yesindyre2, na na na na na

    You called it, ahm headin’ hame (tae post mair madness)

    These guys arra barrel

    Ain’t laughing…

    Roxette 🙂

    Yet

  129. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    I like to experiment, so I’ve been combining different bodies of theory in the hope of finding something illuminating, as you do. Anyhoo, I thought you might be interested in what happens when you combine Democratic Theory with Public Administrative Theory and Practice Theory. You’ll not find this in the British Unionist Media. 😉

    Development of Theory of Democratic Administration
    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/development-of-theory-of-democratic-administration/CF262B42AD3196231746EB12CA2EF926

    The Theory and Practice of Political Law, Second Edition
    https://store.thomsonreuters.ca/product-detail/the-theory-and-practice-of-political-law-second-edition/

    Theories for research in Public Administration
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322675673_Theories_for_research_in_Public_Administration

    Reimagining Performance in Public Administration Theory and Practice: Creating a Democratic Performativity of Care and Hope
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10841806.2017.1420746

  130. Liz g
    Ignored
    says:

    Cacutus..
    Lot’s of garlic in oor soup… Yum 🙂
    We jist need some chewing parsley and we will soon be minty fresh again…
    But in the mean time if you are seeing Unionists get up close for a polite conversation…. And breathe…. 🙂

  131. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s me back within wifi range Liz, the UK is fucked

    Unionist thinkers can be a scary experience

    In the flesh like, ridin’ the coast afore the caves

    One is an enlightener

    HOME HOME

  132. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    WGD:- ‘The Father Dougals of British nationalism.’

    https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2019/04/08/the-father-dougals-of-british-nationalism/

  133. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s the key Liz…

    When aye talk with perceived ukUnionists

  134. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye smile

    (keyboard went auto there)

    SO…

  135. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Hey iScotland

    Just 3 days left to go NOW

    Rise…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k2PJFPu57Y

  136. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Hey Scotland, what is your plans for Friday the 12th April 2019?

    Saturday knows the answer

    As does Chris

  137. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah new feeling came over me ra night Liz… whilst ah was watching ‘Splash’ earlier on ah guest holiday television… did you see it?

    John Candy wae Tam Hanks et the mermaid:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPUmf8yqmGE

    Rita!

  138. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    And here’s what happens if you add the concept of “Democratic Moral Sovereignty” to that mix. Nice. 😉

    Democratic founding: We the people and the others

    Abstract

    In democratic theory, it goes without saying that people should establish their own political orders. However, the making of states or constitutions sometimes involves people with no intention of actually joining the new political order, as in the U.S.-led regime change of Afghanistan and Iraq or the UN administration of postconflict Kosovo and Timor-Leste. Could such policies be reconciled with the conviction that people should establish their own political orders?

    In this paper I will develop an affirmative answer to this question. The founding of a state is democratic—that is, constituted by the people subject to this foundational decision—when agreed to by as many persons as possible within and beyond the boundaries of the state to be founded.

    Hence, the very sense in which a state may have been democratically founded in the past presupposes an involvement of people beyond its current boundaries. Moreover, the moral values inherent in the practice of people constituting their own states do not imply restriction of power to the group of future citizens but protection of their autonomy, and, properly understood, the realization of this autonomy is contingent on people who will remain outside the state once founded.

    https://academic.oup.com/icon/article/10/3/836/673498

    Democratic theory and indices of democratization
    https://oro.open.ac.uk/16187/1/DemocraticTheory.pdf

    The Ups and Downs of Bureaucratic Organization
    https://www.sv.uio.no/arena/english/research/publications/arena-working-papers/2001-2010/2007/wp07_14.pdf

    Human rights and democracy in a global context: decoupling and recoupling
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/egp.v4i1.6348

  139. Mad Unionist
    Ignored
    says:

    Hamish 100. You sound desperate for some guidance in life. Cactus. The 12th July is a great day in the British calender. Our ancestors got rid of the dead wood and the pervert Vatican Church from our Scottish soil!

  140. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Mornin’ Mad Unionist like

    Ah didnae expect ye tae call upon me

    How ye doin’ pal?

  141. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Gonna nip outside Mad Unionist furra ciggy, bud

    Ahm intrigued

    bbs

  142. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Ahm back Mad Unionist ~

    How do you do…

    What do you LOVE about THIS ukUnion?

    Do you think May will revoke Article 50, before Friday April ’19?

  143. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Mad Unionist
    So you want to banish the original church of Scotland? That sounds a bit bigoted and exclusionary to me. Not noticeably a ‘moderate-left’ attitude, frankly.

    International Human Rights and Political Equality: Some Implications for Global Democracy

    Abstract

    International human rights are often considered as evidence of the existence or at least of the possibility of global democracy and citizenship (see, e.g., Simmons 2001, 179; Gould 2004; Erman 2005; Habermas 2011).1 This is sometimes explained by reference to the possible grounding of democracy and human rights in a common value: equality (see, e.g., Christiano 2008; Brettschneider 2007). This common egalitarian dimension rather than grounding in equality needs to be argued for, however.

    But something that is even more problematic is that it is readily assumed in those accounts that the relationship between democracy and human rights can be transposed to the global level and be activated anew horizontally and outside the boundaries of domestic or regional democratic polities.2

    A lot hinges on this debate, however, on what equality and, more specifically in this context, political equality can and ought to mean when applied to global or transnational law and institutions. This is a very difficult question that democratic theorists have started addressing lately (see, e.g., Christiano 2010; Pettit 2010) and that is discussed by different contributions in this volume.

    Keywords
    European Union Moral Status Political Community Legal Order Moral Worth

    https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137372246_5

  144. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Feel THIS pal…

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

    Get into Glasgow

  145. Reluctant Nationalist
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin Macfarlane.

  146. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Mornin’ Cameron, how ye doin’ bud, keep doin’ whit you’re doin’ dude, fucking excellent 😉

    Fuck those wanks

  147. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Let’s change this beat back, return to it like

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3q8Od5qJio

    The end of the UK is nigh…

    Aye dedicate the above to you Mad Unionist

    Cheers

  148. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Love Wings, we got everythings

  149. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    We could have it all, Scotland

  150. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Whose in the Wings Hoose (3 days to go) Scotland

    Keepin’ it real since ’14

    Mornin’ Tuesday

  151. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    What do you want Scotland?

    Well tell me what do you need

    We knows

  152. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Cactus
    Morning Cactus, I’m glad you liked the attitude. Here’s a base for a particularly positive attitude, from the Centre for Political Theory and Global Justice. That’s positive not positivism. Positivism in International Relations is bad, mk. 😉

    In Defence of Traditional Theories of Human Rights
    Alasdair Cochrane

    Human Rights as Moral Rights
    Traditional theories of human rights consider human rights to be essentially moral rights. This is not to deny that human rights can sometimes be enacted legally and thus become legal rights. Rather, it is to say that the existence of a human right does not depend on it being established by law. As moral rights, human rights are held by all human beings on the basis of some normative justification, and irrespective of whether they live under a government which recognises those rights.

    To put the link plainly, all human rights are moral rights, but not all human rights are legal rights. As such, the essential ingredient of human rights is their moral basis. In this section I want to argue that there are three important advantages to conceiving of human rights as essentially moral rights….</blockquoteL
    https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.277288!/file/CochraneInDefenceofTraditionalTheoriesofHumanRights.pdf

  153. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Did aye destroy you before hehe

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

    Help yerself

  154. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Global Justice

    I like the sound of that Cameron

  155. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Ahm missin’ mah buddy Mad Unionist ~

    We were beginning tae get a thing a gaun on

    Ah miss the madness
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmezIIrFQmY

    LOVE you babes X

  156. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    S’cool ah’ll catch up wae ye next time neighbour

    Have an excellent nigh end of uk being

    Comin’ tae a city near U

  157. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Lately, ah feel like THIS…

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

    Do you ever do?

  158. Reluctant Nationalist
    Ignored
    says:

    Peace always. 😉

  159. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Some thoughts on the quality of story telling.

    Kurt Vonnegut, Shape of Stories
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOGru_4z1Vc

  160. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Cameron

    Aye ahm watching Kurt

    THIS TIME is amazing!

  161. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Be assured

    Aye believe, there are plans in place

    To restore iScotland

  162. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    THIS is madness, we are 3 days away frae oblivion

    We need tae save the kingdom & country of Scotland

    This year

  163. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Speaking of

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RIlRhXXQjg

    Fuck being oblivious to it all

    Y’all offended like hehe

    Oh my goodness (auld OMG)

  164. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    We’re gaun deep down People… donkey on the edge

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHf3hlwhc3k

    Eddie knows

  165. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Your choice everybuddy

    Any minute now…

    http://www.youtube.com/waAtch?v=VEIPXhU2-uk

    THIS may duplicate (ah fucked it up 1st time round)

  166. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    He he ha ha he, ha ha he he hey hey, laters Mad Unionist ~

    Awwwwwe… ah’ve rattled it again, Yes!

    You should try it sometime lurkers ’19

    Homer knows

  167. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Peace Always to you too, Reluctant Nationalist ~

    Smallaxe knows

    X

  168. Cactus
    Ignored
    says:

    Have ye ever unfolded a black dragon before?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBuPWdSbyf8

    Sounds like Einaudi on the piano hammers btw

  169. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:


    galamcennalath says:
    8 April, 2019 at 9:55 pm
    WM to regulate the internet….

    Says the Government where mainstream right wing hate speech in the Mail and Telegraph has had a significant impact ramping up xenophobic hysteria and BritNat populism, brought hate crime out of the woodwork, and brought the UK to point of a catastrophic Brexit. But yeah, let’s not dwell on that dribbling rabid hatefest in the deadwood Press and instead let’s all target the beastly Internet…

    If the UK government can’t even reign in the conduct and bigotry of the “newspapers”, nor indeed the BBC and Question Time, it doesn’t exactly bode well for the future of balance and free speech on the internet.

    Thankfully however, we can hope that Westminster will demonstrate is customary competence in strategic thinking whenever it plans to “take control” of something, and it will continue to fail dismally in its objectives.

    The air in a free Scotland will be so much cleaner and healthier once these toxins from the BritNat media and gobshite UK Government are removed and replaced with a more diligent, constructive and progressive media.

  170. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sarah says: 8 April, 2019 at 11:25 pm:

    @yesindyref2: oh, I interpreted it differently. I thought it meant ” … I like the thought of you feeding the ravens at the Tower. Would it be fat balls?!

    Aye! And they would be yesindyref2’s fat balls – along wi the rest o yesindyref2.

  171. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    OT…
    YouTube links don’t seem to work for me, but google Kelvin Doe wows MIT.

    He’s a young lad from Sierra Leone who does remarkable things with very little resources.

    He was spotted because somebody ran a Summer Innovation camp for youngsters..

    Wouldn’t it be great if Scotland, once independent with two Capital Wealth Funds for both oil and renewables, set aside a portion of that wealth and ran a Scottish Innovation Camp for youngsters from all over the world? Sierra Leonne, China, Japan, not just rich places, but poor and deprived places where kids have no chance. If you’re smart, you can come.

    Imagine, a wee Scottish village with infrastructure, facilities and support for kids to have fun, but harness their potential and bounce freestyle ideas off their peers. Whatever they need they can get, but it’s throwaway money, there’s no financial imperative to shut down ideas. Not a blank cheque, but the ideas don’t have to be financially viable.

    Not a university, but a playground for kids with innovative ideas and super fast learning capacities. You could almost, (forgive me) do a tech X factor, and use it to find kids with that spark in their heads that might be capable of the incredible. They meet other kids like themselves and form friendships with people who think like they do.

    Come on Scotland. Let us throw off this Union and get our wee country buzzing. Let’s get our wee country up near the front of cutting edge innovations and outside the box thinking.

  172. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Just another craven liar.

    Considering their foreign and economic policies cost Scotland £Billions. Illegally and secretly taking £Billions out of Scotland.

    Illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion has cost Scotland £Billions. Paying for Hinkley Point, HS2 and Trident has cost Scotland £Billions which could be better spent.

    The mismanagement of the Oil & Gas sector. High Tory taxes when the price has fallen. Cost Scotland £Billions and 120,000 jobs. Mismanagement of the farming industry losing migrant workers. £Millions taken in CAP payments intended for poorer Scottish farmers. The fishing industry mismanaged for years. Multimillion owners claiming poverty. Discarding fish for years with poor conditions. Leading to a shortage and quotas. Tories mismanaging the industry for years. A Home Counties fishing Minister. Instead of using bigger nets and having better terms and conditions. Like Norway keeping up the stock.

    Total mismanagement by Westminster unionists. The only time the Scottish population increased was with Devolution. The economy doing better since 2007 when the SNP came to power. The only time that Scotland has had fuller lower unemployment than the rest of the UK. Forth Crossing, ARPR built after years of opposition. Cutting emission, journey times and expense by 2/3. Brilliant. Railways build and improvements. Education Uni college and nurseries supported. Social care etc. Despite the unionist councils waste and mismanagement.

    The Scottish Budget has been cut by Westminster 10% a year. Now £3Billion short. Despite the fact the Scotttish tax revenues have always increased year on year. Austerity is absolutely unneccessary. Cutting monies from the most in need causing poverty and an imbalance in society. Less cohesion. Illegally sanctioning and starving people to give monies to the better off and wasting it on worthless projects. Even cutting monies from women and children on ‘Mother’s Day’. Absolutely disgraceful.

    The Brexit mess and shambles is almost unprecedented. The thing that aided the UK economy after the devastation of Thatcher was EU membership. The nearest biggest market, fairer trade, good social Laws, stopping war and starvation in the world. A force for good helping poorer countries and stopping wars. The UK/US (France) causing chaos in the world, especially in the Middle East. A total force for bad. A continuing disgrace.

    The sooner Scotland is Independent the better for the world. Break Westminster power to cause havoc in the world. Vote for SNP/SNP and for Independence. Get someone else to vote too. It will be won. For a better peaceful more prosperous, equal world.

  173. Liz g
    Ignored
    says:

    ROBERT PEFFERS @ 7.56
    Yesindyref2 hasn’t “meddled” wi you….
    So stoap meddling wi him, especially his Balls ….

  174. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    The Telegraph says this morning, the article is behind their paywall ….

    ” Britons are split down the middle on whether the UK should leave the European Union without a deal – or scrap Brexit altogether, according to new poll for The Telegraph.

    The study by ComRes found that 38 per cent of Britons back leaving the EU this Friday without a trade deal, while 40 per cent backed revoking Article 50 and remaining in the EU.”

    Not only is there disorganised ineffectual government but the UK is now split into two extreme camps with no likely comprise between those positions which would suit either side. The choice is disappoint around half by satisfying the rest, or disappoint almost all with compromise!

    Driving everyone to the edges has been achieved by the antics of politicians and media.

    What next? Three options – kick the can further, crash, or cancel.

    I think it will be can kicking, or perhaps crash and burn on Friday.

  175. McBoxheid
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr Jim says:
    8 April, 2019 at 7:57 pm

    Tories and Labour have a mountain to climb to catch SNP in Scotland:….*The Scotsman*

    The Scotsman which is the Unionist go to rag is even telling the Brits they’re toast, and you know what, they still don’t believe it

    … they refuse to believe their own newspapers now
    ———–
    that shows a modicum of understanding, no?
    No. Their disbelief is derived from a refusal to believe the union is failing.
    When the penny does drop, e.g. after the results of Indyref2, they will still try to deny it, become agressive, or need therapy. Just as well SNHS is the best health service in the UK.

  176. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    This, from three weeks ago, seems to have gone unnoticed by both the BBC and STV not to mention the dead tree press. I wonder why:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gib3dKOTPg

  177. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    The EU say there must be a firm plan before they grant an extension.

    Let’s face it, there isn’t a hope in hell that May will actually have a credible plan in the next day or so! So, are the EU bluffing and they will extend just to avoid ‘no deal’?

    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-ireland/eu-open-to-brexit-extension-but-pm-may-needs-clear-plan-idUKKCN1RL0MH

  178. Sinky
    Ignored
    says:

    Well worth studying this Politico-Hanbury poll and graphs as a response to the increasing Scotland In Union Green Ink letter writers who seem to be getting more hysterical recently. Although typically for London centric organisations they ignores the SNP aspect in accompanying text.

    https://www.politico.eu/article/poll-brexit-distracted-tories-lose-voter-trust-on-core-issues/

    The SNP is seen as being more in touch with voters and much more competent than Tories and Labour.

  179. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    The Cooper Letwin Bill …. am I missing something?

    May has been obliged, indeed compelled, to seek an extension of Article 50, but crucially, the EU remains free to say “no get stuffed”, if and when she does. So the Cooper Letwin Bill is literally a waste of time??? Mrs May must now whistle in pot the wind, or else… err, nothing.

    It seems UK Brexit negotiations have spent 3 years trying to reinvent the wheel, over, and over, and over again, but Theresa May is off to Brussels to tout her patented idea for a Mk318 Square Wheel, on the misguided belief that in the land of round wheels the square wheel must be king.

    What do the bookies say about Macron just ending this with a veto?

  180. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    *In pot the wind?

    What gibberish is this? I typed into the wind.

  181. Sinky
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks to

    https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2019/04/09/its-not-a-hootsman-poll-so-you-can-look-at-it-to-snp-peak-literally/

    there is a user friendly interpretation of the Politico poll

    “So, roughly speaking and with a wee bit of presumption, in Scotland, just over 20% of people think the Tories ARE in touch and only about 30% think Labour are BUT 60% think the SNP are in touch. That’s a massive lead.
    And, 70% think the Tories ARE only for the rich, more than 20% think Labour are only for the rich (20%! Anas, Kate!) while only 10% think the SNP are.

    On competence, the SNP streak ahead at over 60% with Labour considered competent by less than 40% and the Tories under Carlaw at a miserable 30%. Labour will be pleased by that win over the Tories.

  182. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffers @ 9.25 pm (just over 12 hours ago!)

    You are a hero 🙂 Thank you so very much for the link to our First Minister taking part in another gathering of the leaders of the Artic Circle Nations.

    Now called The New North 🙂

    How cool is that?!!

    It is so refreshing to hear these World leaders speaking on a subject of all humanity importance, climate change, and what they are doing about it, with such mutual respect and mutual interest.

    THAT is how we change the World 🙂

    Thank you Robert, a good heads up =)

  183. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks

    This bookmaker doesn’t think we’ll be out by Friday.

    9/1 we’ll be out.

    1/33 we’ll still be in

    https://www.paddypower.com/politics (wouldn’t archive)

  184. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    Eh no Breeks. It was Labour claiming to reinvent the wheel. Joanna Cherry had already put forward the motion to prevent a No Deal Brexit and Labour blocked it. Then a few days later tried to claim it as their own. Miserable wee bunch of desperate wannabes.

  185. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks, I do agree, Tereeza’s deal is a defo square wheel =)

  186. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    Sinky @ 9.32 am

    Go back folks and read that!

    Well summarised and very important!

    ‘On competence, the SNP streak ahead at over 60%’ 🙂

  187. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    The Scottish British nationalists argument today has crumbled to begging and insults now
    First they insult us by saying Scotland’s rubbish and can’t do anything then they beg us not to do anything because England will punish us if we do

    This to me shows the Scottish British nationalists are on the road to acceptance of the death in their family of the existence of the British state, they don’t like it but are seeing the inevitable that all things don’t stay the same forever

    The upside for these folk is that where one thing ends a new thing takes its place, like a baby being born and a new future becomes possible

    Except for the mental cases of course, but there’s nothing can be done for them, and they’ll deny until they die

  188. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dr Jim says: 9 April, 2019 at 9:55 am

    ” … Except for the mental cases of course, but there’s nothing can be done for them, and they’ll deny until they die.

    Or to put that another way, ‘Ye canna teach an auld DUG DUP new tricks’.

  189. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s one for the book:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eacbNSv1l3c

  190. Jockanese Wind Talker
    Ignored
    says:

    “Britons are split down the middle” @galamcennalath says at 8:44 am.

    Usual Britons = English nonsense.

    I see a Brexit solution now dependent on ‘cross Party’ talks but Scotlands Party not represented!

  191. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Links

    Cracking speech by Peter Grant mp
    https://twitter.com/pilaraymara/status/1115363665040093184

    https://michaelgreenwell.wordpress.com/2019/04/07/wasting-your-time-and-money/

    Will a year long delay to brexit, help or hinder the #scotref effort?
    Will there be a general election, and could we be electing new Scottish MPs and European MEPS, to replace those we have already?
    https://www.facebook.com/indycargordonross/videos/322789615073956/

    http://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2019/04/is-theresa-may-unwittingly-making.html

  192. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Murray on second chance but not you Scotland
    https://twitter.com/LennieStein/status/1115512755224813568

    We do not need Westminsters ‘permission’ for indy2
    Article in Polish paper, use translate.
    https://politiken.dk/debat/analyse/art7124499/Vi-griner-ad-os-selv-men-hamstrer-alligevel-toiletpapir-og-konserves

    Exclusive: Treasury paying £400m decommissioning relief to Japanese giant Mitsubishi
    http://archive.fo/TvTv0

    https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2019/04/08/dont-put-london-bankers-in-charge-of-scotlands-independence/

  193. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-05/ugly-side-of-brexit-saddens-scottish-eu-judge-with-job-in-limbo

    This British fruit farmer is almost entirely dependent on EU migrants to work on his farm – he also voted for Brexit.
    https://twitter.com/C4Dispatches/status/1114954083511808006

    “If you crash out, you’ll be back the next day looking for a deal” @MaireadMcGMEP? outlines the consequences she envisages for Britain of a “no deal” Brexit on Friday
    https://twitter.com/ClaireByrneLive/status/1115373402796072960

    https://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2019/04/08/cheer-up-the-worst-brexit-dangers-are-fading-away

  194. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    https://ukandeu.ac.uk/settled-status-scheme-for-eu-citizens-risks-being-next-windrush/

    Dire Tory performance with young voters is I think driven by 8 factors. 1) % of electorate which is BME 2) Expansion of Higher Education 3) Changing av age of areas 4) House price/income ratios 5) Tuition Fees 6) Financial Crash 7) Brexit 8) Rise of Social Liberalism (1/10)
    https://twitter.com/JamesKanag/status/1115293690149396480

    https://evolvepolitics.com/wealthy-tory-mp-gets-utterly-castigated-for-whining-about-having-to-do-a-bit-of-hard-work-for-once/

    MP Owen Paterson lobbied government for firm he worked for
    http://archive.is/DF72I

  195. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr Jim says

    Scottish British nationalists argument today has crumbled to begging and insults

    With most debates, I like to understand both sides. I normally can understand where each side is coming from. Their arguments may not win my backing, but I like to think I give a fair hearing and try to objectively assess their points. All topics of life.

    In politics I comprehend the split between those advocating individual freedom with responsibility and those advocating state intervention. Right and left, and inbetween. Different ways of organising and running society. Different regimes for ownership and production. All are believed by their adherents to be what’s best for a country as a whole.

    Some believe a wealthy and powerful elite should rule the masses, I understand that, though I profoundly disagree.

    In most things I’m a pragmatic, middle of the road, compromising person.

    But here’s the thing … with Indy I just can’t see any argument for Scots supporting the Union. In fact, I can’t even see anyone trying to present a positive one! All I see is negativity and scaremongering towards independence, those who support it, even Scotland itself.

    I understand why London and the UK wants to retain Scotland’s natural wealth. I just don’t understand why some Scots are fanatically complicit. I don’t mean all 2014 NO voters because I accept many genuinely felt retaining the UK was the safe option. I do mean the ordinary blood and soil BritNats who show unflinching loyalty to a system which is failing even them!

  196. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Ghillie says:
    9 April, 2019 at 9:39 am
    Eh no Breeks. It was Labour claiming to reinvent the wheel. Joanna Cherry had already put forward the motion to prevent a No Deal Brexit and Labour blocked it. Then a few days later tried to claim it as their own. Miserable wee bunch of desperate wannabes.””
    ………….

    Joanna Cherry’s motion was the best on offer.

    The Cooper-Letwin motion has little to do with Brexit and everything to do with Yvette Cooper positioning herself for a run at the Labour leadership when Corbyn inevitably gets the push.

  197. Clapper57
    Ignored
    says:

    What I see with Brexit is the televised media giving way too much exposure to a lot of middle aged and older men who seem to be channeling their inner Alf Garnett….hate Labour under Corbyn…working class….vote Tory but tempted by UKIP….replaced Enoch Powell with Tommy Robinson….talk a lot about the War….defined by a flag….desperate to be free of the EU while simultaneously desperate to be tied to Trump’s America….and we are expected to believe they were all conned.

    Well one can only be conned if one is open to suggestion..and I think for anyone to be persuaded by Vote Leave’s arguments they must already have held same opinions before referendum….hence why they voted leave and are still wanting to leave…many without a deal.

    Watching CH4’s Dispatches last night was no revelation….it merely confirmed that many who rely on people from EU were oblivious to self harm they were inflicting by voting leave. My heart does not bleed for them but it does rage that we in Scotland must also be harmed because of them…..one wonders if Scots who voted no in 2014 are still willing to be conned by the Bitter Together mob or if at last they too see the self harm they have inflicted by voting no in first Indy ref…..

  198. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    @Robert Peffers

    That was a great wee film Robert, I hadn’t seen that one

    Excellent stuff!

  199. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Grouse Beater is going to be in Brechin 9th April. Caledonian Hotel, Southesk Street 7pm.

    Really gutted not being able to manage. Disappointed. Hope there is a repeat show. Another time.

  200. SilverDarling
    Ignored
    says:

    @Legerwood

    Yes, Yvette Cooper’s overly solemn statesperson-like speeches are fairly transparent in their intent. The amendment is rubbish and thin gruel for any EU remainers.

    The support was there before the amendment was even put forward hence Keir Starmer’s defensive rejection of Joanna Cherry’s substantial and well thought out amendment. Cue lots of Yvette on telly looking grave and thoughtful as it achieves nothing yet the seed is sown that she can ‘unite the house(s)’.

  201. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:


    Ghillie says:
    9 April, 2019 at 9:39 am
    Eh no Breeks. It was Labour claiming to reinvent the wheel. Joanna Cherry had already put forward the motion to prevent a No Deal Brexit and Labour blocked it. Then a few days later tried to claim it as their own. Miserable wee bunch of desperate wannabes.

    I understood Joanna Cherry’s was a different, and much better, option. Revoking Article 50 is literally a Brexit kill switch which would keep the UK in Europe.

    Demanding more time from Europe by extending Article 50 is giving Europe a Brexit kill switch which could / would kick the UK out of Europe.

    Joanna Cherry’s Option had the virtue of being a choice. This Cooper Letwin Option delegates that choice to Europe.

  202. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    @Galamcennalath 10:57am

    Do you know I honestly think much of the objection to our own people running our own show is down to historical subjugation and the derogation of our language, and by that I mean something as simple as our Scottish accents when speaking English, as though the Scottish way of sounding words is somehow inferior to the English way, meaning to some that we must have a lower intellect so are not deserving of being in charge of anything

    We see it every day in folk who leave Scotland to work in England and who deliberately get rid of their accents as quickly as possible in order to fit in, and yet there are as many who never lose their accents because they don’t worry about such things and are confident in themselves and where they come from

    The great inferiority complex of Scots borne out of a system that told us in order to get on in the world we somehow had to go to England *where the jobs are* but they never mentioned the jobs were removed from Scotland in order to make England more prosperous, and for those of us who knew this was happening we were somehow just moaners because our country had been subsumed into their bigger country which was the really important *country*

    Smash a culture, smash an identity, demean the people, remove the work and very soon you have beggars and rebels, the trick is keeping the rebels outnumbered by the beggars so control the media in order to keep promoting the notion that the *Big Country* is promising to take care of the little country who has nothing and never will unless the *Big Country* makes it so

    The Scottish British Nationalists are still tugging their forelocks and being embarrassed by themselves while the rest of us are rather enjoying who we are because we’ve noticed the rest of the world thinks we’re Grreat!

    And they like our accents as well, because it turns out they’ve had the same problems with the same people we have problems with

  203. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Clapper57 says: 9 April, 2019 at 11:25 am:

    ” … desperate to be free of the EU while simultaneously desperate to be tied to Trump’s America….and we are expected to believe they were all conned.”

    Oh! They’ve been conned all right. Just see the numbers among them who make the totally untrue and idiotic claims of being ruled by unelected EU people.

    Not a single person in the EU is unelected. All EU members are elected democratically. If they are not elected they are not EU people. They are EC, (European Commission), and the clue is in the title, “European Commission”. They are paid for, (commissioned), by the EU and are factually the EU’s Civil Servants,. As such they have absolutely no decision making powers whatsoever. They do not have votes in the decision making European parliament.

    Their terms of reference are to research and advise the European Union and to carry out the decisions made by the European parliamentarians.

    So if anyone makes that claim you can shoot them down in flames as either being idiots who have been conned or who think you are an idiot they can con.

    Quite Simply no European Commissioner has any decision making powers and thus if they do enforce any EU rules, (and the EU really cannot enforce rules), for if they could all EU member states would have to use the Euro and a third of them do not.

    EU Commissioners research, advise and carry out the decisions made by elected EU parliamentarians – they do not make decisions.

  204. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dr Jim says:9 April, 2019 at 11:59 am:

    ” … Do you know I honestly think much of the objection to our own people running our own show is down to historical subjugation and the derogation of our language, and by that I mean something as simple as our Scottish accents when speaking English, as though the Scottish way of sounding words is somehow inferior to the English way, meaning to some that we must have a lower intellect”

    You are correct Dr Jim. I was born on a farm and never actually heard English spoken until I attended the local village school.

    First day I answered the teacher’s question with, “Aye Miss!”, and was promptly Lochgellied for doing so and informed I was speaking Scottish slang by an Oxbridge Educated, Scottish born, teacher, (they almost all were in those days).

    Now I guess I was just a born rebel and for the rest of my time in the Scottish education system made a point of using at least one word of “Scottish Slang”, in every class or period. Then, without being asked, I got up and went to the teacher with hand outstretched for the tawse. It drove the teachers mad.

    What made them even madder was that I never sank below either first or Second in every England Language Exam. Laughably I could recite most Scots authors like R.L. Stevenson’s Scottish poems or Scots dialogue from their works.

    Of course, when these were part of the curriculum they were not considered Scottish Slang but examples of great Scottish literature by the old Scots Makkars. I guess I was just not born to be an apologists for being me.

  205. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    Deadline: Scottish Parliament election. The next Scottish Parliament election is due to be held on 6 May, 2021

    We must have Independence referendum before this date but preferable as soon as Brexit (whatever version) date is agreed.

    Independence v BREXIT

  206. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:


    Nana says:
    9 April, 2019 at 10:51 am

    Will a year long delay to brexit, help or hinder the #scotref effort?
    Will there be a general election, and could we be electing new Scottish MPs and European MEPS, to replace those we have already?
    https://www.facebook.com/indycargordonross/videos/322789615073956/

    Yes, thanks fine as far as it goes, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

    An electoral majority expressed in a referendum is one way to end the Union, but it is hostage to the same indoctrination and hostile propaganda which sunk us last time. It’s easy to say things will be different this time, but until we have broken the Union, or at least formally disputed UK Parliamentary Sovereignty, then Scotland’s Constitutional position will remain a matter of internal UK domestic policy and the EU will not be in a position to actively help us or even get involved. No interlocutor status, no Legal Personality, no International recognition.

    The other way out of the Union is to cite the actions of Westminster as unconstitutional, and argue that the Treaty of Union has been irremediably breached, and that the Union no longer exists. The success of this action is not dependent upon an electoral mandate which may be compromised by propaganda or vote rigging.

    Where I am uncertain is whether the latter option can be stopped short from actually ending the Union, but still provide Scotland with a transitional platform to argue that Westminster’s Parliamentary Sovereignty can be disputed, and the actual termination of the Union held in abeyance, until the appropriate negotiations and ratification procedures can be carried out.

    In short, it’s Scotland’s own mini Brexit. A Constitutional motion could end the Union at a stroke (the same definitive effect as the Brexit result), but a cliff edge no-Deal Independence would be just like Brexit, – it could injure both parties, so Scotland actually needs its own Withdrawal Agreement from the UK, where Scotland serves notice that it is leaving the UK, (and successfully insists it is free to enter Sovereign commitments with Europe), but begins its own “de-facto” Article 50 notification period which sets a one or two year period to negotiate dissolution of the Union by mutual consent. (I use the word consent, but it may be less than amicable).

    Scotland could thus enter a half-way house status, half way out of the UK, half way in to EU, (although in reality 99.9% in the EU) with a one year long transitional status to carry out a domestic ratification plebiscite, and agree a Scottish/UK Withdrawal Agreement/Withdrawal.

    This Scottish/UK Withdrawal Agreement, (I know, I know, it wouldn’t be UK, but just roll with it), could prove vital, not just for Scotland to depart with minimal rupture, but as I have alluded to before, Scotland could become a buffer state type intermediary between the EU and a Brexited England.

    The UK as we know it would cease to be, but it could evolve into a “Benelux” arrangement of English speaking EU compliant markets, some of them in the EU and some out, with Scotland at its heart ensuring compliance and alignment of all trade heading on into Europe.

    Scotland gets it’s full Constitutional Independence, but we get it calmly, pending a ratification plebiscite and transitional period held on our own terms, (so gtf BBC), Europe gets rid of Rude Boy Westminster but secures the bulk of EU-UK trade, but perhaps most useful of all, we give England a massive inducement to embrace an Indy Scotland as a desperately needed “lifeline” intermediary state which facilitates a constructive relationship with Europe while they sort themselves out over Brexit.

    Here, Scottish BritNat Unionism would have nowhere to go if English prosperity suddenly becomes dependent upon a successful and Independent Scottish economic lifeline to Europe, because if an Indy Scotland fails, so does England’s economic lifeline.

    It’s hard to do this justice in a BTL comment, but there is a MASSIVE opportunity to fix this in good style. The greatest weakness is persuading the Westminster Circus to see sense, and persuading Scotland to be bold.

  207. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Liz g
    Robert’s just jealous of my outstanding good looks, sleek slim person, errr, and the other things …

    … now, where’s that distorting mirror again?

  208. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks for the links Nana and I hope that you’re feeling much better today.

    @ Nana says at 10:51 am ….

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-05/ugly-side-of-brexit-saddens-scottish-eu-judge-with-job-in-limbo

    Scot, Ian Forrester QC … the UK’s EU judge. Someone else that you could think of contacting Breeks to clarify the sensibility of your proposed ”action plan / s.” On the other hand, I’m sure that Nicola Sturgeon will have been / is in contact with Mr Forrester along with many other experts and knows exactly what she’s doing; what’s best for Scotland. The most conducive route to take to achieving our Independence.

    http://www.advocates.org.uk/news-and-responses/news/2015/sep/appointment-of-ian-forrester-qc-as-euro-judge

    ………………………………….

    Did anyone else notice that Gordon Brewer brought this subject up on Sunday at the end of his interview with Ian Blackford? Brewer said that the info had been divulged an hour beforehand by SLab. And now dafty Ross Thomson, Tory, has joined the fray. A bit of a Better Together co-incidence don’t you think?

    ‘SNP MP threatens to sue Ross Thomson over ‘arms dealer’ jibe.’

    http://www.thenational.scot/politics/17560877.snp-mp-threatens-to-sue-ross-thomson-over-arms-dealer-jibe/

  209. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr. Jim
    It’s called “cultural sublimation”, which is a psychological defense against circumstances which are beyond the individuals’ control.

    Rationalization as Sublimation: On the Cultural Analyses of Weber and Freud
    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/026327692009004003

    Sublimation in Behavioral Psychology
    https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-sublimation-in-psychology-4172222

    Ethics and Sublimation
    http://www.ethical-perspectives.be/viewpic.php?LAN=E&TABLE=EP&ID=398

    Adorno and Marcuse: Artistic Sublimation Versus Ideological Sublimation
    https://muse.jhu.edu/article/712976

  210. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra @ 13:35,

    Suing BritNats who (allegedly) indulge themselves too recklessly in their favourite occupation of attempting to besmirch the reputation of the indy movement seems to be quite the rage these days, no? =laugh=

  211. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    More on the process of “sublimation”.

    One?Dimensional Man: Role of Media

    Abstract

    This entry examines the ideas about media effects contained in Herbert Marcuse’s book One?Dimensional Man (1964), one of the most influential works associated with the Frankfurt School of Marxist thinkers. The central argument of the book is that advanced capitalist societies such as the United States are much less liberal than they at first appear. Despite their ostensibly democratic character, they are organized in such a way as to make meaningful opposition all but impossible.

    Marcuse believed that the media play an important role in securing social control, but he did not regard them as being primarily responsible for the political docility of modern men and women. Instead he argued that the media reinforce a series of highly repressive economic, social, and cultural shifts that exist independently of them. These include the emergence of “technological rationality,” the blurring of class distinctions, “repressive desublimation,” and the emasculation of the arts.

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0101

    Sublimation, Art and Psychoanalysis: Kevin Jones
    https://research.gold.ac.uk/4341/1/Sublimation+art+and+psychoanalysis%5B1%5D.pdf

    Weighty Objects
    On Adorno’s Kant-Freud Interpretation

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/sites/default/files/Weighty%20Objects.pdf

    On the Aesthetic Structure of Sublimation: Re-reading Marcuse v. Brown through The Birth of Tragedy
    http://psyartjournal.com/article/show/holman-on_the_aesthetic_structure_of_sublimatio

  212. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Brexit impact: University research ‘will take decade to recover’.

    ”Brexit could damage university research in Scotland for at least a decade, hitting funding, vital collaborations and disciplines crucial to the economy, confidential documents have revealed.

    Scotland’s universities are said to generate £11 billion for the wider Scottish economy each year and the country has more world-leading academic institutions per head of population than any other country.”..

    https://theferret.scot/brexit-impact-university-research-will-take-decade-to-recover/

    ……………………………..

    ‘Scientists (Scottish and Chinese) find new state of matter that allows atoms to exist as liquid and solid at the same time.’

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/new-state-of-matter-liquid-solid-potassium-edinburgh-a8860716.html

    ……………………………………

    ‘Fish may hold clue to remedy for Parkinson’s disease.’

    https://www.thenational.scot/news/17551985.fish-may-hold-clue-to-remedy-for-parkinsons-disease/

  213. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Thank you Petra, better day today (so far)

    A few links for lunchtime

    How the once mighty have fallen!
    https://twitter.com/jennyhillBBC/status/1115575478264397824

    How easy it is to forget when you own so many properties!
    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-break-rules-financial-declaration-a8859736.html

    Stark raving bonkers

    at a Bruges Group meeting, where Tory MPs Mark Francois, Andrew Bridgen, and Anne Marie Morris are calling for a no-deal Brexit.
    https://twitter.com/tpgcolson/status/1115580477094748161

    and today’s Lol goes to STVColin
    https://twitter.com/STVColin/status/1115557502404440065

  214. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    https://www.thenational.scot/politics/thejouker/17560873.watch-theresa-may-snubbed-as-she-arrives-in-berlin-for-brexit-talks/?action=success#comments-feedback-anchor

    Theresa May, oh yes, oops, I forgot she was coming. Is it today? Where is she? Really? OK, help me with my jacket, will you. Thanks.

  215. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    manandboy @ 14:09,

    Maybot just can’t help getting it wrong with her neighbours, can she? Gets the cold shoulder from the EU “grandes fromages”, but how do all the other members feel about her trying yet one more time to do a backroom stitch-up with the chosen few?

    They all have a veto, every single one. That’s real partnership. (Not the fake kind we were palmed-off with.)

  216. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    The word *slang* refers to speech that is not considered normal language…colloquialisms..patois..idioms

    So who told Scotland the languages we spoke were any of those things when we all understood each other perfectly well

    Well my goodness gracious it must have been that foreign invading power who told us not to speak our languages under pain of …well whatever they decided, and speak their language

    There are to this day many many countries who still speak *slang*, many people around the world and the politicians of the EU go out of their way to speak the same foreign language that Scotland speaks to the country who can’t seem to master the art of learning anybody else’s *slang*

  217. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    More on “cultural sublimation”.

    Freudian Defense Mechanisms and Empirical Findings in Modern Social Psychology: Reaction Formation, Projection, Displacement, Undoing, Isolation, Sublimation, and Denial

    Abstract

    Recent studies in social psychology are reviewed for evidence relevant to seven Freudian defense mechanisms. This work emphasizes normal populations, moderate rather than extreme forms of defense, and protection of self?esteem against threat. Reaction formation, isolation, and denial have been amply shown in studies, and they do seem to serve defensive functions.

    Undoing, in the sense of counterfactual thinking, is also well documented but does not serve to defend against the threat. Projection is evident, but the projection itself may be a by?product of defense rather than part of the defensive response itself. Displacement is not well supported in any meaningful sense, although emotions and physical arousal states do carry over from one situation to the next. No evidence of sublimation was found.

    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-6494.00043

    Cultural Sublimation
    https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/118a/58725e6620e31e6c978949025d921295de79.pdf

    Sublimation, culture, and creativity
    https://experts.illinois.edu/en/publications/sublimation-culture-and-creativity

    Sublimation and Symbolization: An Aristotelian Psychoanalysis
    http://www.ethical-perspectives.be/viewpic.php?LAN=E&TABLE=EP&ID=400

  218. gus1940
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Re Trumps latest announcement of anti EU tariffs including aircraft:-

    He attacks alleged government subsidies to Airbus.

    Perhaps he could be reminded that back in the late 50s at the start of commercial jet aircraft and the intro of the 707 the USAF ordered around 700 (I can’t remember the exact number) of the KC135 Tanker versions followed in later years by the AWACS and assorted ECM versions with assorted bumps and bulges.

    I don’t suppose that amounted to government subsidy when we were trying to sell Comets and VC10s.

  219. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    ” a worse-case no-deal Brexit scenario involving border delays and financial market turmoil would increase the damage to about 4 percent of GDP by 2021.

    It’s about 1.5% growth just now.

    That predicted damage is NEGATIVE growth.

    The definition of a RECESSION is negative growth for two successive quarters.

    Why are the MSM so shy about the word ‘recession’?

    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-imf-worldbank-britain/uk-economy-to-lose-3-5-percent-of-gdp-in-no-deal-brexit-imf-idUKKCN1RL1JA

  220. gus1940
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Given Trumps recent actions re Israel and his blatant attempts to ensure Netanyahu’s re-election I am surprised that he hasn’t yet got round to proposing that Israel becomes the 51st state of the US.

  221. Confused
    Ignored
    says:

    – here’s a good long article, interview with Michael Hudson – takes in public banking, mixed economies, MMT and lessons from antiquity – one to mull over, steep in for an hour or two, a deep dive

    https://www.unz.com/mhudson/the-delphic-oracle-was-their-davos/

    To pay their way, most countries need “something” – natural resources, industry, strategic position, tourism, educated workforce – Scotland has ALL of these things, making economic minutiae almost irrelevant – its like we are CONDEMNED TO BECOME THE RICHEST country on earth, short of deliberate sabotage, or simply allowing foreign oligarchs to loot us; any practical economy will be of the “mixed” type, but if you can setup the right kind of public banking at the start, you can turbocharge it as well.

    I think the 30 years post independence will be the greatest ever in our history – massive infrastructure projects, spaceport(!), the fusion of new technologies – we can be at the forefront of it – no one has our combination of abilities. But first we need to cut the rope / evict the vagrant in the basement …

  222. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Scotland’s like an Oasis that only the Sheik’s allowed to drink, water his camels and eat the figs, any locals dare do it and they lose a hand

  223. defo
    Ignored
    says:

    Too late Gus.
    The City of London bagsyed it.

    Know them by their actions!

    It’s not the Russians the Yanks need to be looking at re influencing elections, and the reciprocal price thereof.

  224. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Scotland is in desperate need of therapeutic cultural psychoanalysis, that’s for sure.

    Of Drives and Culture
    problemi.si/issues/p2017-1/03problemi_international_2017_1_dolar.pdf

    The deterritorialization of cultural heritage in a globalized modernity
    https://llull.cat/IMAGES_175/transfer01-foc04.pdf

    The Essential Guide to Defense Mechanisms
    Can you spot your favorite form of self-deception?

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201110/the-essential-guide-defense-mechanisms

    Three Essays in Psychoanalysis: The Jouissance of the Cultural Superego
    https://tenderbuttons.svbtle.com/three-essays-in-psychoanalysis-the-jouissance-of-the-cultural-superego

  225. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    Bit by bit the media in Scotland are “getting it”.

    Won’t be long now.

  226. manandboy
    Ignored
    says:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-47861605

    Merkel greets May – as the Brainwashing Corporation pretends with this still pic. No mention of May arriving to an empty red carpet and walking into the building alone, to then return with Angela Merkel for the benefit of the puzzled photographers who had assembled.

  227. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    An example of that by the way is both The National and the Herald carrying this headline and story: “Ian Blackford threatens to sue Ross Thomson over ‘arms dealer'” (or SNP MP instead of Blackford).

    It really was far better for the Herald to ditch the “pro-Indy ” Sunday Herald and take it back into its stable, with The National having a Sunday. It cleared the lines, while making it easier for both titles to share stories. A winner all round if you ask me (and tough if you didn’t!).

  228. Gary
    Ignored
    says:

    “It’s the economy, stupid” as someone once said.

    It’s not that the pieces aren’t there, because they are. And it’s not that they’re stupid, because they’re not. It’s a kind of blindness borne of thinking that there’s nothing to see! If you thought there was nothing there, why would you look out the window? These guys just haven’t LOOKED…

  229. Craig Serjeant
    Ignored
    says:

    First day I answered the teacher’s question with, “Aye Miss!”, and was promptly Lochgellied for doing so and informed I was speaking Scottish slang by an Oxbridge Educated, Scottish born, teacher, (they almost all were in those days).



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