Winnie Ewing, who has sadly passed away a few weeks short of her 94th birthday, was the second SNP politician I ever heard of.
My dad met her, and would speak of her with Billy Wolfe, the party leader who was also his employer at a forest machinery company in Bathgate (and our family friend), during her second term as an MP in the UK Parliament.
She now joins my dad and Billy as people who worked for the cause of independence but died before it came to fruition, after many wasted years under the leadership of Nicola Sturgeon.
Still wondering what Humza Yousaf’s going to say to the SNP’s pretend “conference” on independence strategy this coming Saturday? Well, wonder no longer, because this morning he told Sky News.
In other words, he’s waving the white flag and praying for a miracle.
The Scottish National Party’s primary and defining purpose is Scottish independence. Next weekend’s “special conference” will at least notionally determine its policy on that subject for years to come. On the face of it it’s the most important congregation of party members in the SNP’s history.
The Caird Hall can accommodate just 3% of the claimed membership. (And you’d expect at least half the seats to have been reserved in advance for the faithful payroll.) Members ought to be fighting like dogs for a ticket. And yet a week before the event the leader is having to send out pleading letters to try to scare up enough attendees that it won’t be a half-empty humiliation.
Nicola Sturgeon has not been charged with any crime. Yesterday she was arrested, questioned and released without charge pending further investigation. We do not even know which specific suspected crime or crimes she was questioned in connection with, so it is manifestly impossible to meaningfully speculate on her innocence or guilt (save of course for the fact that all are innocent in the eyes of the law until proven otherwise, something Sturgeon herself often appears to forget).
Nevertheless, in Scotland the Contempt Of Court Act 1981 applies from the moment a person is arrested, as the country’s most senior lawyer and its official prosecution service were both keen to remind people yesterday in the clearest possible terms, and it applies equally whether you’re asserting someone’s guilt or their innocence.
So you need to be a really extra-special class of boneheaded numbwit to do this:
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “@Southernbystander I note you completely ignore the issue of religion. Yet religion is the most important characteristic of any person,…” Jun 16, 08:20
Captain Caveman on Response Level Upgrade: “Oh do fuck off, you thick fat twat.” Jun 16, 07:21
Aidan on Response Level Upgrade: “Have you actually seen this above? “James”, who has never posted anything that hasn’t been demonstrably and obviously false is…” Jun 16, 06:52
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “The march to Fenway park is now part of Bostonian folklore.” Jun 15, 23:34
Cynicus on Response Level Upgrade: ““ Boston has just been colonized” ======= No Scotland, No (Tea) Party?” Jun 15, 23:18
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “You have to understand, Wally Walrus, that not everybody is like you. Not everybody is larded with a thick layer…” Jun 15, 22:47
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “Boston has just been colonized. The American ladies just love those kilts.” Jun 15, 22:12
James on Response Level Upgrade: “Wasting your time with these comedians, Dan. Why let the truth get in the way of a couple of shite…” Jun 15, 21:59
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “You get it! The only flaw I can see in the entire scheme, and it’s a flaw of infinitesimal probability,…” Jun 15, 21:10
Southernbystander on Response Level Upgrade: “Especially if nearly all the players were English. It cannot fail as it would unite virtually every Scot on the…” Jun 15, 20:34
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “@Hatey You’ve been hanging around with the wrong people.” Jun 15, 19:40
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “It’s all unraveling. One step at a time.” Jun 15, 19:22
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “I don’t think you’re getting it, Mark. It may seem counter intuitive, but any Scot determined on Indy should be…” Jun 15, 19:20
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “But she’s already forgotten doing it.” Jun 15, 19:15
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “Nicola Sturgeon has changed her pronouns to Him not Me.” Jun 15, 18:53
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Perhaps not immediate. Let’s get the World Cup over with first.” Jun 15, 18:47
Mark Beggan on Response Level Upgrade: “They tried that with Team GB, went down like a Tranny in woman’s changing room.” Jun 15, 17:23
agentx on Response Level Upgrade: “After the Court decision today there should be an IMMEDIATE BAN ON GAY COUPLES adopting children.” Jun 15, 17:21
Confused on Response Level Upgrade: “Much as I have no interest in the rosbifs winning anything, I know a bit (too much) about english football;…” Jun 15, 17:10
Ebok on Response Level Upgrade: “Service Adviser 19(89)84(7)? SNP left me in 2016 and has done so to ever increasing numbers of its members since…” Jun 15, 16:47
Spartan 117 on Response Level Upgrade: “I also played midfield briefly in my 20s, for whatever relevance that is. I’ve nothing against Fitba’ and wish our…” Jun 15, 15:30
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “The “cup marks” the Picts left on their sacred and symbolic liths were pictorial representations of winning set piece tactics.…” Jun 15, 14:59
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “If you’re saying that Scottish culture consists of cash-strapped Scots scrimping and doing without to richly reward prima donnas, their…” Jun 15, 14:51
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “Good one, Northy. Football is like politics right enough. A zero sum game. One side is victorious, the other is…” Jun 15, 14:35
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: “How many years (and how many World Cups) is it since I twigged that your typical self-identifying Indy supporter would…” Jun 15, 14:27
Southernbystander on Response Level Upgrade: “The English stopped believing the England team are just an underachieving heavyweight long, long before 2014, like when the team…” Jun 15, 14:27
Northcode on Response Level Upgrade: “Albert Einstein (yes, really) — played as a youth in Munich Einstein wasn’t a competitive player, but he did play…” Jun 15, 14:17
Hatey McHateface on Response Level Upgrade: ““The Scottish accent is the most trusted in the world” Of course, it can only be trusted where it is…” Jun 15, 14:14
