As you were
Posted on
April 01, 2023 by
Chris Cairns
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
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A tall tale
Wee Books
Video
Probably a robbery
Transphobia
Crazy Fools!
That says it all 🙂 Brilliant work chris, Spot on.
Has any polling been carried out to establish whether the second pref votes humza allegedly got from both other candidates is close to being accurate. I find it hard to believe he got any second pref votes from Kate or Ash.
Bobby
As always, the devil’s in the detail:
the rubber gloves, the bull bars, ‘The Eh? Team’ – not to mention the happy smiles while the country weeps.
Thank-you, Chris.
Oh, and the left-hand drive…
The Humza bus is coming to a town near you. Draw the curtains, and turn off the lights.
Never mind the A-Team, more like Only fools and horses. Cushty.
Even the dugs in the street know it was fixed.
But the hard of thinking faithful STILL think it’s us “Albists” who have the problem.
According to the SNP faithful, Tories, Yoons, Albists and the 77th are all plotting to bring down the new First Minister and in doing so, destroy all hope of Scotland becoming an independent nation.
And therin lies the problem., there is just no getting through to them.
It’s as if every remaining member of the SNP is a Pete Wishart clone.
Meanwhile Peter Murrell still evading all.
The membership or what is left of it is utterly insane. I am glad I am no longer a member. I would have to be heavily medicated If I was AND PLACED IN A FUNNY FARM PADDED CELL..
Those rubber gloves . . !
Thank God Chris didn’t put Humza in a White Van!
Rev, have you ever thought of or been approached about doing a weekly vlog of the real news in Scotland and world events and how they affect us? Something along the lines of UK Column on fb. It would be a great disarmed of all the bullshit in the msm. I’ve no idea how to fund it but a subscription would be the obvious way to go. I watch UK Column as an alternative to BBC a ch4 news, they haven’t a clue about the dynamics of Scotland and being Brits they suffer from the usual traits but they have tapped in to a network of journalist world wide to give an alternative to the mum bullshit and corruption, exactly what we need.
I take Sturgeon is somewhere nearby holding the remote control and Mike Russell is on standby in case she burns the tyres.
I wonder if they can already fit the membership in the back of that van.
Or are they black leather gloves, as famously worn by Mr Cole-Hamilton?
Stuart Campbell @8:14am
UK Column could do with a little polish but it’s pretty good. It takes to long to say anything but the few times I’ve watched it, it’s been informative.
The problem with subscriptions, and any media venture in Scotland is, of course, scale. You’d really need to be way, way ahead of everything else to attract the number of eyeballs needed to keep it viable.
The Duran (geopolitics) appear to do very well with advertising but their audience is global. Even here they apparently have to pad everything out so enough adverts can be served up by google in order to make it pay – though rumour has it it pays very well.
There definitely needs to be some kind of assault on the MSM so a pro-Scotland voice can be heard. It doesn’t need to be pro-independence. Just having someone with something good to say would eventually get people thinking.
Right now it does not look easy to break out from the blogger sphere and gain a wider, more consistent coverage with national or global reach. A real newspaper, not the wee-pretendy, carrot-serving rag, The National, would be a real step forward.
Scotland Today on YouTube might be a start. However it would need a decent amount of money and offer enough to keep people coming back. A once-a-week vlog, while popular with some, might not be popular with all.
Chris, that smug look on Robertson’s face, says he’s the next leader in waiting once Yousaf has taken the blame for all the SNP’s current woes.
Spot on. And now the gravy train trundles on. Already a bloated cabinet to reward the faithful for condoning an election which would shame a banana republic. The composition of this cabinet is dismaying. It is stuffed full of people who have failed in other posts, e.g. Shirley Anne Sommerville to mention but one. How many more people are going to be put on the public payroll behind the scenes?
I wish I was still a member so I could resign and flounce out!
In this Eh Team Shona Robison is B A Abacus. She’ll be needing one to do her sums at Finance.
Then there’s Howling Mad Murrell. Well, he certainly is a soldier of FORTUNE.
One of your best Chris.
Humza in the driver’s seat….for now.
One of the A Team was afraid of getting on a plane, but one of this lot might soon be afraid of not getting on a plane.
A bunch of fools for April 1st. Very apt!
Yip! We are the goon squad and we’re coming to town. Beep Beep.
Stuart McKay says at 8:58 am on 01/04/23:
“It doesn’t need to be pro-independence.”
Yes it does, as far as i’m concerned. The whole point would be to have a credible pro-indy voice investigating and presenting worldwide issues (especially financial, but not solely) and how they impact emasculated Scotland. Done with the truth as its core value, very much in the same way The Rev runs WOS.
I for one wouldn’t subscribe to, or promote, any news/current affairs outlet that didn’t support our right to self-determination. We already have an abundance of those to choose from. The Rev has already proven that with skill, dedication and the truth you can build a very successful outlet. It would, though, require a dedicated team as it’s too big an ask for one individual to take on.
Can’t see how it couldn’t be done as i see all sorts of new common-interest programmes appearing on vacant Freeview channels. Programmes dedicated to caravaning etc. If folk can do that, surely there’s enough brainpower within our pro-indy community to help fund, set-up and run a successful outlet? Even approaching similar foreign outlets for help, support, guidance and sponsorship etc may help us achieve our aims?
Having said all that, i still believe a good radio station, properly done with a good mixture of various informative music genre’s and topical discussion shows, with bare minimum advertising, would be far more successful than a tv one. Either way we would first need a substantial amount of money backing us just to get started. Hard but not impossible.
Great bit of narrative art … Murrell really is the Teflon Don.
As SteepBrae says, the details…..
Is Chris’ L-H drive subtle homage to the American State Department’s baleful influence on SNP wannabe airheads?
I hear Peter prefers wearing Marigolds really but love the Eh? team idea.
The notion of The Independence Van turning up a Woke dead-end street on the wrong side of the road in the opposite direction from its supposed destination would say it all about the state of the party, innit?
The H-Team more like.
Given the complete lack of transparency the results could have been fired out of Peter Murrell’s arse on numbered ping pong balls for all we know.
I never saw anywhere that support for Humza, 20%-25% max. Honestly it felt more like 1 in 10. These numbers are totally unbelievable.
Two huntigowks seen so far this morning… EU Peacekeepers are being stationed in Cambuslang to quell Brexit related unrest, and in another one, Sunak has announced that Govan will become an English enclave after Independence.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Laugh? I nearly did.
Ah ken fit “GMC” really means bit in this picture ah’m thinking “Gie’s More Cash”.
You can play a word switch game. Come to the very same conclusion because that is what neoliberalism and the globalists have done to every country.
Go on try it. Every time you see the name Macron in this piece below, swap it for the SNP.
link to newleftreview.org
There’s way too many people who thinks change comes from sitting in an armchair. When real action is what is needed. Our generation and this generation have become too soft.
Spot on Chris.
A plan it was and it worked with the help of GCHQ and the membership who didn’t get behind the only candidate for independence, the SNP is no longer a party for Scottish independence, bar a few half decent MSPs the rest are careerists looking to made progression in what they want not what we elected them for.
The SNP must now be abandoned we need to stop digging this hole deeper by voting for the SNP, the sooner we switch to Alba the better, lets start by removing the SNP MPs from the HoC at the next GE, the likes of Pete Wishart has been making a good living off the back of the taxpayer for nigh on twenty-years, and he’s done nothing to progress the indy cause, lets change that come the next GE, lets send Yousaf/Sturgeon and Murrell a message and elect Alba MPs.
To the SNP membership there’s still time to redeem yourselves leave the SNP and join Alba, do it for your country, do it for independence, do it for your children and grandchildren.
Vote Alba, Join Alba, and save Scotland.
“Smug look”…that’s just Gus Robbo’s face.
Actually, that’s got a certain ring to it…Gus Robbo…like Keyser Söze or ‘Yuri’ except this master of the dark arts is perhaps Scottish.
Tasked with finding the identity and revealing the true nature of the elusive Gus Robbo is Agent Smitty, equally dark, equally elusive but known to be partial to Stovies and assorted Ginger…
It all began with the discovery of two slippers, a pension statement covered with greasy fingerprints but no body…
GR was written in blood on the luxuriously appointed London flat…GR…who or what could it be?..Gus Robbo…or Gender Reform…?
Tune in next week…
Music fadeout (some obscure 90s indie group…)
Simply brill.
The Minister for Indy, is he alone, accountable for the failure of the party?
Our right to self-determination, as promised, now withheld indefinitely. When can we expect private prosecutions to begin? Due to misrepresentation of fundamental manifesto promise, as expounded for the greater good. Now exposed as a pivotal breach, which leads only to the financial/political gain of those empowered to deliver such detailed and laudable promises to the electorate, now so obviously betrayed.
I think I’ve spotted The Guardian’s April Fool piece.
There’s a story on their website, written by Martin Kettle in which he suggests Nicola Sturgeon was the greatest threat to the United Kingdom since Bonnie Prince Charlie turned back at Derby.
Aye Right!!!
Tinto Chiel at 9.58am
said:
1. the “…subtle homage…” observation –
2. “The Independence Van turning up a Woke dead-end street on the wrong side of the road in the opposite direction…”
The cartoon really does have mileage!
socratesmacsporran says:
1 April, 2023 at 10:40 am
I think I’ve spotted The Guardian’s April Fool piece.
There’s a story on their website, written by Martin Kettle in which he suggests Nicola Sturgeon was the greatest threat to the United Kingdom since Bonnie Prince Charlie turned back at Derby.
Aye Right!!!
Nicola Sturgeon turned back at Govan.
Hope that van is insured?
BRICS & Sovereign Independence coming to us as soon as we realise & act.
Britland will be broken up in to its constituent parts.
The times they are a changing.
‘The Eh? Team’
That is spot on.
I find I have been saying eh? quite a lot over the post few months.
Eh?
Great cartoon.
This stitch-up, along with all the others, guarantees their place in Scotland’s long history of being betrayed.
What’s the problem, with discussing any possibility of private prosecution of unnamed politicians?
Putting aside financial chicanery, police investigations. Breach of indy manifesto for professional gain, sticks out like a sore thumb! On that specific subject, is it premature to discuss such legal action?
I’d hazard a guess, that prosecution, one way or another, is inevitable.
Do you have a Great Reveal?
How long do we need to wait?
Are the gloves not leather?
Do they not have a he/him/she/her matching set?
What do leather gloves symbolize?
Gloves embody power and protection, as well as nobility. However, gloves can also be mysterious, often worn by thieves, witches and night-riders. Honor is represented when the right glove is removed. In relation to other items, an iron glove is strength, Thor’s possession; and raw-hide gloves represent boxing.
Why do cops wear black gloves?
Cops wear gloves to protect them from blood borne infections, when handling people who may have soiled themselves, and to keep them from leaving latent prints on evidence, obscuring other prints already there.
duncanio @ 10.59am
Apparently, although I have yet to see it, there is an April Fool piece going the rounds this morning, suggesting, post-Independence, Govan will become an English enclave.
Jimmy Reid is already burlin’ in his grave at that thought.
Excellent, Chris. The van reminds me of those vans that serial killers use which are kitted out in the back with shackles and bondage/torture gear. No doubt the Eh? Team are looking so pleased with themselves because they have democracy, justice and independence captured and locked up in the back and can slowly torture them to death at their own demented pleasure!
It is pretty comical.
We elect the SNP because we want Independence. They stall and tell us that it some way off. Perhaps years.
We now have to decide if we wait for that timescale. This of course raises the question of to who does Independence belong? Who has it in their gift to help us?
The answer is of course ourselves. The Indy movement must continue without reliance on any political party. No false prophets or Messiahs leading us to the promised land. We get so desperate we follow anybody “vowing” to make it happen. Usually to our cost .
I liked Ash Regans idea, because it gave an aim or a goal to achieve. The rest are just wisps of smoke in them wind.
If after 8 years you are still following the SNP carrot like a servile donkey there is little hope for you. Independence is our fight even though it is againt those who want the same but who cannot break free from their own party never mind Westminster.
Happy April fools day to us all. Me included.
The SNP is now in terminal decline. I can’t see Alba coming to the fore. I suspect Labour are going to Hoover up dozens of SNP seats come the next G.E. Consequently independence has been dealt a mortal blow.
white van man.
Under Humza, (i am writing Humza because I don’t even know the surname of the First Minister of Scotland), every day is going to be April fools day.
He got the indy business out of the way at the very start of his reign.
He asks for Section 30, then mentioned the word Independence about twenty times during his initial FMQs. Showing the faithful that he means business.
We of course know he is a total wanker and has as much chance of delivering Scottish independence as Nicola Sturgeon has.
Stephen O’Brien @11:46
Could be the first thing the independence minister needs to get his teeth into – appointing himself a fully transparent commission against corruption and weeding out SNP sleaze.
As a starter for 10 he could publish a full breakdown of the constituency vote in the recent leadership election.
Ha ha ha… heh heh heh…boo…boo…boo hoo. Great cartoon. Can just about see it through my tears.
SteepBrae: “The cartoon really does have mileage!”
Greater than Humza’s, I’m hoping. Apparently he’s on speed-dial whenever a trapeze artist takes a tumble, so he may miss a few HR sessions 🙂 .
It’s annoying how we are reduced to ridiculing those elected to represent us, both at Holyrood and Westminster.
If humour is what we’re reduced to, perhaps the major AUOB march in May could finish with an attempt to set a new World Record for the Guinness Book of Records.
The largest burning of Union Jacks would get my vote.
On a once-a-week vlog, if there ever is one, my suggestion for a title would be
‘Scotland the Week’…
Or, maybe more apt, ‘Scotland the Weak’…
With a skit (honky-tonky?) version of ‘Scotland the Brave’ for theme tune…
What Chris couldn’t show us was smirking Robertson’s feet on the
dual-controls. I simply can’t accept that Yousaf is in sole
control of anything.
Tinto Chiel: “Apparently he’s on speed-dial whenever a trapeze artist takes a tumble” –
establishment safety nets notwithstanding.
Excellent work Mr Cairns.
How about Sturgeon in her red suit but face done up like Heath Ledger’s Joker?
“How about a magic trick? I’m going to make this country’s aspirations for Independence, disappear….. Tah-Dah! It’s….gone!”
He looks like the Uber driver that comes round my house in this cartoon.
Well drawn Chris and must agree with RdpublicofScotland qw need to stop voting SNP and vote Alba or ISP.
As SNP MPs like Wishart and Livingstone do nothing for independence and never have since elected.
Something is very wrong with the system when a Nation like Scotland is lawfully sovereign, has half the country more or less wanting Independence, we have a rotten, rancid Tory government in Westminster literally taking the piss out Scotland, (just like all our other liquid resources), screwing everything that moves for more cash, and yet for all those pro-Indy people, some daft as a brush, some extraordinarily gifted and sincere, somehow the one climbing to the top of the pile hasn’t got a fkg scooby how to go about delivering Independence. I mean, what are the odds on that happening? …Twice.
It’s like deciding who is best to fight Mike Tyson in the ring by having a lottery; not picking the bonniest fechter we have and putting a horseshoe in their boxing glove.
To hand Independence over to a feckless narcissist once might be described as careless, but doing it twice the bounce means somebody, somewhere, needs a thick ear.
Confession time? I was either up nor down about Yousaf, because I largely knew nothing much about him. OK he screwed up as Minister, but well, that can be situational, not always a ministerial deficiency… so I remained inclined to (quietly) give him the benefit of the doubt.
However, when he won, that picture of him staring at Ash Regan just looked out of this world creepy; something you’d see exchanged between hyped up coke snorting nutjobs in an American Wrestling show, not sober politicians who are meant to be on the same side. No class. None whatsoever.
All things considered, in the round, it seems we’ve only substituted the First Minister we all wanted rid off, with the First Minister we now want rid off. And here’s the kicker, Chocolate Fireguard Number 3, Airmiles Angus, is still loitering with Leadership intent…
People of Scotland, if we, the Community of the Realm, resolve to resurrect a Convention of the Estates to stop the rot, and quite literally lay down the Law regarding Constitutional Sovereignty and the Claim of Right, there is absolutely NOTHING to stop us doing so.
Sieze the initiative, act within our power and sovereign legitimacy, dispute and denounce UK Parliamentary Sovereignty, and why not defy Westminster into taking “us” to the UN, since they’re so cock sure of themselves that Scotland has no constutional teeth.
We don’t need any lame First Minister gauleiter from the Vichy Assembly to lead the charge. Are people going to listen this time? Or are we going to squander another eight years waiting for a miracle “secret plan” that just isn’t coming because we’ve put another douche bag in command?
This is a curiosity and only a curiosity however irritating and rather poorly written this piece of UnionistProp is.
link to archive.ph
It makes much of a small area on the modern border between England and Scotland, the subject of a 2018 book by the writer, and its historic lawlessness to hang the idea of Scottish independence from a gibbet.
The Scots should abandon «nationalism» and join with the English to fight for a more «realistic» United Kingdom. There are more things in common than things which are not, seemingly; Brexit wasn’t one of them
This is also the viewpoint of a certain Tory ex politician Rory Stewart who promoted this borderlands notion many moons ago and fabricated a «cairn» to the cause. The border areas attract a growing immigrant population of mature, reasonably well off English, whose interest in Scotland per se will be insignificant so one may draw a certain conclusion.
The fact that the county of Cumberland was historically a province of Scotland gets no mention.
The below the line comments should be scanned for the racist type ignorance displayed which rather reinforces the need for Scotland and England to part.
Better together decidedly NOT!
Scots may expect more of this «we’re all Brits together» in the coming months of patriotic mummery.
Great cartoon Chris , eh it isnae a cartoon it’s real life FFS
As most of us know Roddy Barrhead boy has a weekly prism and sometimes a midweek one which are informative and enlightening , others including truckin Davy niklas bestie and unashamed snp sycophant and apologist , and Gordon fence sitter Ross who has good ideas but is SCARED to tell the truth about nikla and her lies and corruption in case he loses his audience
They are all on yatube as is Stuart’s YouTube what are the chances rev to do some short informative or exposure videos to test the watter
In an attempt to find a sliver of positivity from all of this. I guess we now know who must under no circumstances be allowed to serve in any capacity in a pro-independence political party.
All you have to do is make a list of everyone serving in the current SNP, at every level, from MPs through MSPs to councillors.
Once we have done this, can we stop standing around the corpse and poking it with a stick? Let’s move on.
On the first of April Humza said: ” The SNP will work to ensure transparancy in its affairs”.
The clue is in the date.
maybe this debatable land was part of ex regio ? – and we get there through the back of a wardrobe
there are no lack of intellectual prostitutes with typewriters, arses lubed, ankles gripped … this is such a weak piece, it is beyond any individual criticism – “do it all again” – so bad, it is “not even wrong”
this is the high end of lying, they can put a lot of effort into it; “the borderlands” – rory stewart is a spook who needs a solid meal, I think he was caliph of iraq at only 25, a job he picked up on his gap yah, probably on the thesiger trail, looking for the marsh arabs … was he a “New Iraqi” ?? Asking for a civic nationalist friend.
A must read link.
Capitalists just lurv that transgender shit.
link to archive.ph
A certain self styled republican socialist should read it too.
I wonder whether some of the the allegedly missing £600K+ might have been spent by the SNP on replacing employee-owned and SNP-owned computer equipment, phones, tablets and perhaps even motor vehicle hard drives etc that may have been seized by police in relation to investigations that are ongoing?
In addition to Operation Branchform, police were asked by Alex Salmond to investigate the leak to the Daily Record. These investigations could require seizure of sizeable amounts of expensive equipment. Forensic analysis of the contents of these devices might reveal evidence that opens up further avenues of investigation.
Breeks
The usual stirring, patriotic guff we come to expect from you. It would not be so bad it it was only occasionally but every day is just too much.
‘People of Scotland, if we, the Community of the Realm, resolve to resurrect a Convention of the Estates to stop the rot, and quite literally lay down the Law regarding Constitutional Sovereignty and the Claim of Right, there is absolutely NOTHING to stop us doing so’.
On you go, do it. We are all watching with interest.
Fanny!
Sheesh, Canada content but as Hank Hill says, that boy ain’t right…
But the police ain’t much better if that isn’t classed as assault.
link to twitter.com
@Chas
What have you got against patriotism ?
Chas there is a “Fanny” that posed recently and it certainly wasnt Breeks
duncanio @10:59am, ah wis wunnerin tae masel did she ever GET the length o’ Govan?
Patriotism is what «top dog» country’s call their brand of nationalism.
It’s ok to be «patriotic» but so uncool to be «nationalist»….even a wishy-washy civic one.
Go on be a red blooded ethno-cultural nat, whatya got to lose in this repertoire of striking virtuous poses.
Breeks @3.48.pm
However, when he won, that picture of him staring at Ash Regan just looked out of this world creepy.
Ive been trying to find that picture, can anyone put it up.
nobody has told me how they will persuade the UK gov to allow an Indy ref
Breeks: “However, when he won, that picture of him staring at Ash Regan just looked out of this world creepy.”
Thought the same thing myself and if we can see it as men of a certain age (no offence 🙂 ) you can bet women in huge numbers will have too and drawn their own conclusions. There is a theory Humza’s only there until the Gove hits the fan and then Old Airmiles himself will step forward as the safe pair of hands to stabilise The Party (no laughing at the back).
Ottomanboi: “The fact that the county of Cumberland was historically a province of Scotland gets no mention.”
And was also the reason none of Cumbria was included in William the Bastard’s Domesday Book, since Scotland historically extended to the Rey Cross on Stainmore on the present-day Cumbria/Co. Durham boundary.
I see we have been lucky enough to be graced with one of Chas’ occasional visits, where he drops in to enlighten us with one of his stunning aperçus.
Go, Chas! Go!
Hmm, not sure of the specific pic but here’s a short vid clip of leadership contest winner announcement. A still image grabbed at an opportune moment may create a very different look compared to a couple of quick almost nervous glances.
link to youtube.com
Chas is one of the ‘names” out of the John Main, English Ellis stable.
They are sent here to “stir” things up.
Best ignored.
Tinto Chiel
My research shows the cathedral in Durham had a king of Scots at its foundation cere monies.
Truly, histories are written by victors.
Posted after 12 noon on 1st April
Scottish Parliament Voting Intention:
Constituency:
SNP: 37% (-2)
LAB: 33% (+2)
CON: 17% (+3)
LDM: 8% (=)
GRN: 5% (-1)
Regional List:
SNP: 31% (-1)
LAB: 27% (=)
CON: 20% (+3)
GRN: 10% (-2)
LDM: 6% (-2)
ALBA: 5% (NEW)
Via
@PanelbaseMD
, On 28-30 March,
Changes w/ 7-10 March.
6:48 PM · Apr 1, 2023
·
7,503
twitter.com/electpoliticsuk/status/1642222416590954498
@Ottomanboi 7.15: might have been also because King Donald’s mother was Sybilla of Northumbria but I take your general point.
Re the Rey Cross which I mentioned: link to en.wikipedia.org
Thanks Dan
truly horrific. Ash looks quite upset as if she has witnessed pure evil and looks in shock
AUOB Rally, Glasgow Sat 6th May.
link to m.facebook.com
This Rally is on the same day when some English punter called Charlie has got something happening at Westminster Abbey.
Choices Choices.
Will the new First Minister of Scotland turn up in Glasgow or London?
Will the new Minister for Independence (Jamie Hepburn), turn up in Glasgow or London?
I know the enthusiasm for turning up at rallies has chilled recently, but I do think think this Rally is worth making the effort for.
Even if it is just to show our English neighbours where our hearts really lie, and it is not im London.
Does Scotland now have the ‘wokest’ government on the planet?
What’s driving this madness?
As we should know to expect by now, money talks:
Huh? What?
Aye, it’s legit. And look at its budget. Colossal amounts of dosh. All you have to do is ask, hit all the right buzzwords etc.
This is great. Could come in handy when you have to deal with a ‘wokester’ and just don’t have time for all the histrionics.
twitter.com/andrewlawrence/status/1641737107252076551
Just saw this on Twitter. Useless, our Fixed Minister, is going to be the butt of loads like this until karma gets him out of Bute House. link to twitter.com
This is the creepy Humza staring picture.
link to images.app.goo.gl
If you haven’t yet seen Jock Scot’s (aka ‘Yew Choob’) latest, savour this – memorably brutal lyrics.
link to youtube.com
Tinto Chiel & Ottomanboi
All of what you state is true but not sure if you can extrapolate much from that time. It was a turbulent time in Scotland with parts of it not even recognising primogeniture. (MacBeth had been a properly elected king which had been the ancient accepted tradition, electing from among the royal kindred the most appropriate adult male. Then the newly-fangled notion of choosing the eldest son of the former king, no matter how young, was imposed, causing a great deal of resistance and consternation.) Malcolm Canmore, father of David, had after all deposed Macbeth, the rightful king, and he and his queen, Margaret, were intent on changing Scotland to fit their continental ideas of kingship and control.
David I himself, being one of their several sons, had quite a struggle vying with other claimants to take the crown in Scotland. Then on top of that, having to bring various parts of Scotland like Moray and the North under the crown. During his time he made use of the connections he had made in England having spent some time in his growing up at the English court and got involved in the civil war between Stephen and Matilda. David himself died at Carlisle, his favourite domicile.
During his reign and that of his parents, Scotland changed its orientation from being Celto-Norse in influence and looked southward to the continent and the Anglo-Norman influence of David’s own parents.
Something of David’s skill in managing his lands and his Norman relationships saved Scotland from the aggressive Norman expansionism which assailed Ireland and Wales. David had created his own marcher lords in inviting those who had been part of the Norman ascendancy in England to have lands in the South of Scotland, such as the Bruce family and the Fitzalan family ( who later became the Stewarts).
The difference in the fate of Ireland and Wales compared to that of Scotland is that descendants of both these great Norman families became defenders of Scotland’s sovereignty and even its kings. Assimilation had worked well for the Normans in Scotland and for Scotland’s maintenance of its conscious separateness from England despite the seeming loss of its Celto-Norse identity.
These are the quirks of history; you can often only claim certain outcomes to be a success in retrospect but the future is always an enigma. Who knows, perhaps Scotland’s old Celto-Norse identity could re-emerge? ( After all, even further back in history there has recently been an intriguing DNA discovery, to some consternation, that there was a virtual replacement of the old Neotlithic farming population in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England by people whose ancestry was from the Pontic Steppe, pastoralists of the kurgan culture from what is now Southern Russia and the Country Which Cannot Be Mentioned.) Now isn’t that interesting? No one saw that one coming 20 years ago.
That’s why I like history, it’s often full of unexpected surprises which can ambush you – and then it can be all change again. Depends which theory has gained or lost ground at the time. ( Just like politics.)
Heay “yew choob”
UTTERLEY BRILLIANT
MORE MORE
@Dan 5.32: shocking footage but I suspect the poor guy with the mic will be charged with assault despite only trying to defend himself. Trudeau must be the creepiest politician ever (after his highly dubious father, q.v.).
Canada is a great country totally taken over by The Woke.
@Ian B: saw most of that and it was brutally brilliant but God, having to watch that twisted wee fizog for the length of the clip was too much for me.
For all her manifest faults, Thatcher wasn’t a Massey Ferguson to Scotland, just an aerosol 🙂 .
Nicola Sturgeon on the other hand? Fill yer bits.
Alba on 5%?
Okay, all sorts of caveats blah blah blah but it’s significant, right?
Anyone else remember Colin Fox of the SSP going tonto when he was elected (must be about 20 yrs ago?) – if memory serves, SSP didn’t get much more than 5% in that Scottish parliamentary election but they ended up with 5+ seats.
Exciting stuff.
🙂 🙂 🙂
@JGedd: thanks for your typically perceptive (and accurate) comments.
One of the biggest problems in Scottish history is, as you will know, the lack of documentary evidence, largely because of King Edward I’s almost psychopathic (but entirely logical, given his aims) drive to erase the “Scottish Hall of Records” i.e. our written history, so we are now mere gropers in the dark, like welders with gauntlets at the bottom of an oil rig, as we try to fill in the gaps re motivation, political expediency etc.
I have my own list of Disastrous Wrong Turnings in Scottish History (TM) and I’m sure you will have yours but Scotland’s turning away from a kinship-based society to a feudal one about the time of King David (perhaps for good reasons at the time, as you mention) opened up the kingdom to Anglo-Norman landowners whose allegiance could be a problem in the future, since they eventually straddled the border with England.
Ok, it produced a Bruce as King in the end but the whole Wallace (and Moray) episode suggests a Scottish resistance under the surface against those with divided loyalties: witness his deplorable and utterly illegal fate as a so-called “("Tractor" - Ed)” to a foreign power.
My second DWTiSH (TM) would be James VI lightning-quick decamping (no pun intended) to Londinium to take up the English Crown and to screw the rest of us.
Just a few Grate Thotts off the top of my head. I’m sure you will have your own.
I have to say that two of the clearest thinkers on these complex mediaeval times have been English: Professors GWS Barrow and Alfred P Smyth, lest I be accused of Bonnie Purple Heather tendencies.
This isn’t the place to go into historical niceties perhaps but I’m just trying to block out the fact of Humza’s being The Controlling Mind of the Scottish Independence Movement.
Where’s the peck o’ maut when you need it?
Hi Ian B.
That was a stonkin’ link.
I’ve shared it on Facebook.
Edit: I apolgise unreservedly for the phrase “almost” psychopathic in my previous re Edward I of England.
What was I thinking?
I think we have to remember that Scotland’s parliament in 1707. Was run by unelected Lords. You basically went to parliament if you could buy people.
That’s why the Union is so corrupt. It was against the wishes of 98% of Scotland’s populace. Despite the poverty and the debt. Ordinary Scots were patriotic, and never wanted rule from London.
What has happened in the last 300 years. Is the gradual indoctrination of the population into a fake British identity. Remember that it probably took over 100 years to knock the Scot out of the Scots. Everyone was a nationalist when the Union took place. Hence the success of the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745.
What happened after 1745 was simple genocide and cultural colonialism. The Scots were battered into the Union and persuaded to betray each other. The divide and rule of the English. Don’t let historians pretend the Scots were always a divided nation. They were a united people after Bannockburn. But the wealthy corrupt leaders sold Scotland for themselves.
The division today between unionists and nationalist. Is largely due to unionist Scots thinking history began after the industrial revolution. In other words we were always British.
Truth be told the British identity in Scotland , has only existed for 200 years.
Unionists simply ignore their history or deliberately conflate it with English history.
We are divided today due to willful ignorance and sycophantic self loathing.
Ian. Alba on 5% is significant. I think 6% is the territory to start getting list seats. Given the trajectory of the SNP , this is likely to grow.
@Big Jock (10.41) –
Is it 6% then?
That’s the ‘magic’ number!
It’s so good to see the growing excitement over the possible return of Alex Salmond.
If he gets back into the Scottish parliament? FFS, the mind boggles…
They’ve done everything to try and finish him but he’s still there, always positive, always polite to a fault, still has the humour, the modesty, never tries to play the victim despite what they did.
His mere presence in the Scottish Parliament will instantly dispel so much of the utter nonsense we’re expected to accept as ‘normal business’.
Can’t wait to see him back in there. And I’m sure even his staunchest opponents realise that his presence can only enhance the credibility of the place after the shameful shenanigans we’ve all been witnessing these past few years.
Ian. This never came to pass, but illustrates the potential.
link to thescottishsun.co.uk
“What happened after 1745 was simple genocide and cultural colonialism. The Scots were battered into the Union and persuaded to betray each other. The divide and rule of the English. Don’t let historians pretend the Scots were always a divided nation. They were a united people after Bannockburn. But the wealthy corrupt leaders sold Scotland for themselves.”
@Big Jock: I’m struggling to recall a more succinct summary of our predicament since Culloden, so I give up.
Chapeau bas, as we say in Gaelic 🙂 .
IB, BJ 5% is the recognised magic number because its not 5% everywhere so in some seats it will be more, some less so 5% gives an estimated 4 Alba seats, but it will be more a lot more by the next scheduled scots election. (Although im not ruling out an early Scots election.)
And with stories of 15 SNP MSP’S rebelling , you never know what will happen!
@ Lenny Hartley 11.19pm your statement of a possible 15 snp msp’s rebelling is frightening, I do hope ALBA block any of them from joining ALBA and are EXTREMELY careful in vetting future members
Those possible 15 rebels aligned with the other deplorables within the snp troughing pond are the REASON we are still being held to ransom by WM
I see some people are still maintaining there are some good people within the snp but are not naming them, I have asked on many occasions for posters to name who they are but to no avail, I ask again because as far as i’m concerned every last one of them including Jo Cherry Angus Brendan McNeil Ash Regan Kate Forbes and the other assorted bench warming moronic COWARDS are nothing but betrayers of Scotland and I wish every one of them to suffer some of the ill will that has been visited on our pensioners and children whilst they ALL COLLECTIVELY sat on their well padded arses and allowed the head deviant to ruin Scotland
NOT one of them had the decency or integrity to expose the MADNESS
The truck should have “GCHQ team”on the front. I still don’t believe that Ash Reagan received such a low vote share. At least the SNP did openly admit that GCHQ were involved with the “security” of the count.
@Wilson McBride says:1 April, 2023 at 6:59 pm
sent here to “stir” things up
Zat so?
Tak a wee bit lookie at the state o Scotland this fine, spring morn.
Thanks tae pathetic, clue-less, talent-free, gurnin, losers like yersel, she is lost, oppressed, oot o hope an as far awa frae Indy as she ever was.
By Christ, things need stirring up.
Noo get oot o ma road.
A timely masterpiece.