Before the storm
To be honest, Humza Yousaf’s new Cabinet satirises itself – everyone’s picking on the absurdity of noted idiot Shona Robison becoming Finance Secretary but the funniest is surely omnifailure Shirley-Anne Somerville as Trans Rights – sorry, “Social Justice” Secretary – so rather than waste our breath on it today we’re going to catch up on some results from our latest Panelbase poll that we haven’t managed to squeeze in amid the mayhem of the last couple of weeks.
They tell us some interesting things about the Scotland the new FM now leads.
Or more precisely, the one he might at least theoretically lead in the future. Because we asked the double-sized sample of just over 2000 people what kind of a Scotland they’d like to live in in the currently-unlikely scenario of it becoming independent.
The first result will gravely disappoint the more Trotskyite wing of the Yes movement.
Because in line with all previous polls, Scots overwhelmingly want to stay part of the West’s military alliance, and SNP voters are bang in line with the population as a whole. However much the radical left might hate it, an indy Scotland bailing out of NATO remains a massive vote-loser.
And while we’re on the subject of defence, Scottish voters still back the idea of renting out the Faslane nuclear submarine base to the UK as a source of revenue and a bargaining chip in independence negotiations, with SNP voters against the idea but perhaps by a much smaller margin than most people might expect.
When it came to the monarchy, though, things got intriguing.
Here SNP voters and the wider electorate were polar opposites, with the former firmly republican but Scotland in general equally firmly monarchist. The 50-33 margin was however much closer than the last time we asked this question, in February 2017, when support for retaining the monarchy was 30 points in the lead (58-28), although that question actually asked about Britain rather than an indy Scotland.
Interestingly it’s also at odds with a poll commissioned just three months ago by Alba, also run by Panelbase, which found a 55-45 majority for abolishing the monarchy in an indy Scotland. That’s a very large discrepancy – with Alba’s poll very much the outlier historically – and we’re not sure we can explain it.
Capital punishment is always an interesting barometer of social mores, and there’s been a big shift there in recent years, with a very narrow majority now opposed to restoring it, compared to a hefty 55-33 majority in favour when we asked in 2015.
And there’s also been a lot of movement on recreational drugs, so to speak. When we asked this one a decade ago voters were opposed to legalisation by a 34-point margin, but the gap is only 14 points now and SNP voters (who were opposed by 28 points in 2013) are actually in favour.
Finally, on the subject of Europe there were no surprises that a large majority (more than 2:1) of Scots wanted back into the EU, but the inbetween position of EFTA membership – which would also be a highly beneficial stopgap during the years any application to join the EU would take – was met by a resounding “Whuh?” from voters who evidently think EFTA are the people who run the European Championships.
So there you go. You may or may not find the above fascinating and informative, but frankly it’s better than trying to say anything about Humza Yousaf’s new “unity” cabinet (comprising precisely nobody who backed either of his rivals for the leadership) that won’t just get us in trouble.
You’ve posted the results for recreational drug use in answer to the Faslane question.
“You’ve posted the results for recreational drug use in answer to the Faslane question.”
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ALL MEAN.
This is Sturgeon’s departing insult to the Scottish people she duped for eight years.
I give this balloon and his pantomime cabinet six months max!
Still in shock…
Can we please have an election soon…please!
“Numptyparade” – beautifully put!
Only surprise was the last one on EFTA.
It’s a no brained, easier to get membership, access to single market without the complex politics of EU.
This a new nation can handle.
As for the new cabinet, well I joined Alba on hearing Useless was new leader.
So enough said.
Humza must have had trouble filling the slots. Old Marmalade has been detached from the joys of family life to retain his old brief.
Another re-tread: dear old Angela Constance.
If MSPs have been turning down, offers from Humza, who can blame them?
Ian McCubbin says:
29 March, 2023 at 4:01 pm
Only surprise was the last one on EFTA.
It’s a no brained, easier to get membership, access to single market without the complex politics of EU.
This a new nation can handle.
As for the new cabinet, well I joined Alba on hearing Useless was new leader.
So enough said.
This is probably because EFTA has not been explained to the public since the Alba Party get very little air-time whilst the SNP supporters support their party’s position of full fat EU membership.
A cabinet which will go down in history.
For all the wrong reasons.
The one that’s really in charge is the guy in the middle
Uszeless picks nodding dogs of incompetent failures for cabinet, Robison ( a social work nil financial experience )come off it. all but 1 ( constance ) were open usezless supporters….re arranging deckchairs on the titanic, and the old football adage being ignored ie always pick yer strongest team. In fitba terms this tube is at the level of the North Caledonian league lol lol lol
I wonder whether or not Humza’s tenure as FM will last as long as Liz Truss’s. Do you think his mentor will be barred from Bute House just as Alex Salmond was a few years ago.
Humza is certainly “primus inter pares” in this bunch of tossers.
You should really not publish these. The SNP will use them to select the most unpopular policies possible
Them Trojans are very cunning that way
I cancelled my membership as soon as the results were announced, his cabinet will be a laughing stock of not only Holyrood but westmonster. The pole results don’t really surprise me apart from EFTA, so maybe that’s something ALBA needs to inform the masses of
Surely shum mishtake?
The cabinet is not gender balanced … unless one of Shona Robison, Jenny Gilruth, Màiri McAllan, Mairi Gougeon, Shirley-Anne Somerville and Angela Constance are self-identifying as a man.
Humza Yousless’s cabinet of mediocrities (apologies to Guillermo Del Toro)
That’s not a gender balanced cabinet. What about the dozens and dozens of genders that aren’t represented there?
I saw recently a report that the Northern European nations were combining in a defence agreement. I presume they would welcome an Inde Scotland.
How can thd SNP continually do as they please, without fear of any comebacks.
What kind of country are we living in?
Interesting and informative indeed. I’m not surprised folk are in favour of Nato, I was against until Ukraine, I think that will have changed a few folks mind.
On EFTA, looks like that’s an area to educate the general public on, a key weakness should there be a defacto election referendum, persuading people that EFTA, is all the benefits of the EU without the wait, will be crucial to settling nerves I would guess come election time.
Interesting stuff.
I suppose its a very small snap shot of a small amount of people, the next 2000+ asked could give different answers to those questions, possibly a reason the Alba poll on the monarchy.
On EFTA, 52% don’t know, we really are f*cked.
” Scottish voters still back the idea of renting out the Faslane nuclear submarine base to the UK as a source of revenue and a bargaining chip in independence negotiations.”
So the majority of those 2000+ folk don’t mind nukes being retained just 30 odd miles from Scotland’s biggest city, even though the warheads travel through our city streets during the day and at night on their way to Faslane, which incidentally is meant to be our future naval base. this doesn’t even cover the pollution that the English subs emit in our lochs, and the MoD supercedes SEPA on this so there’s not much recourse.
That’s right, they appreciate that they’ve kept war from our shores for over 60 years, Ukraine threw away it’s nukes – that went well, didn’t it?
I was going to comment, but my brain function just seized up at the sight of that cabinet.
Tbh it’s rather depressing how thick the electorate are. But then, we wouldn’t be “led” by the likes of Sturgeon, Humza and Sunak if our democracy was healthily working the way it’s supposed to.
I think NATO is about to become a lot less popular due to them starting WW3 though.
Constant Constance. Will she ever get a break from the red boxes?
It gets worse. Think. This Scottish Executive is now the best the SNP have to offer. With Forbes and Regan probably done with politics now, deselected or standing down at next election, who will the zombie SNP members pick as next leader when Yousaf quits or is ousted. Robison? Robertson?
And here lies the ultimate tale of 8 years without leadership. People not aware of what EFTA is, is but the start. Strong leadership would address both the moral questions and give the confidence that we can manage as a society without having to rely on payouts for Faslane and the “guidance” of NATO and the Windsors.
It would have been nice if the people we elected (and paid) to do the job had done what they repeatedly promised they would; instead of their illegal, immoral and repugnant alternatives.
SNP have chosen party over people. New leadership required.
«A eunuch is a man who has had his work cut out for him»
Attrib. Robert Burns.
“The cabinet team I have unveiled reflects the priorities that we will pursue as a government – including tackling child poverty, improving public services and building a fairer, greener economy”
Downing street speak.
No horses frightened. Mind the pedestrian!
«Nations are born in the hearts of poets, they prosper and die in the hands of politicians»
Muhammad Iqbal….South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, scholar and politician, and Urdu language poet.
Stu, I know others have already pointed this out, but you have posted results of a question on recreational drugs twice, once when commenting on poll results for keeping Faslane to rent out, then again when you comment on recreational drugs question. Of course, the results for recreational drug use come close to explaining why those polled want to retain Faslane. Or maybe it is the influence of that pic of the new cabinet on normal cognitive function.
This is like when a small club scrapes into the SPL in a promotion play-off and then doesn’t manage to sign anyone of note in the close season. You just know it’ll be a disaster in the top flight.
Team Humza heading for relegation.
You may or may not find the above fascinating and informative, but frankly it’s better than trying to say anything about Humza Yousaf’s new “unity” cabinet
Anything’s better than writing about that lot.
I posed this on WGD website but it probably won’t get past the censors.
————–
Humza Yousaf enters Bute House with the worst approval rating of any FM (-30) and has made the incompetent Shona Robinson his Deputy FM AND Finance Secretary. Both individuals have failed upwards in politics, with Yousaf failing at every ministerial job he has been in.
Can anyone really look at Yousaf and believe that he is the man who will deliver Scottish independence? If you can, then you are one truly lost soul. He will surround himself by mediocrity, the same way Scottish Labour did. His approval ratings with plummet and the Scottish Government will go from one disaster to another. He will not last. Either, he will be replaced before the next UK election or he will be forced to step down after the election (expect the SNP to lose 10/15 seats). He is the Forrest Gump of the SNP and we will not see independence anytime soon.
Remember the de-facto referendum? Remember the article WGD wrote comparing and contrasting the pros and cons of using a Holyrood election vs a Westminster election? Well, do not expect him to write a follow-up article where he concedes that he has been duped with false promise after false promise. The de-facto vote was nothing more than red meat to throw to the wider YES movement in order to keep us on quiet – it was never going to happen. Even the wimpish Ind-De Car Gordon Ross (the all seeing, all knowing oracle) realises that the prospect of independence looks increasingly unlikely within the next five years.
YES movement: “When will independence happen?”
Shona Robinson: “It’ll happen when it happens.”
There is no cost-of-living-crisis on the SNP careerist gravy bus.
—————
I’ll ask the Voodoo Lady on Mêlée Island if she has some sort of potion that will help bring about Scottish independence, because it clearly won’t happen under the current SNP leadership.
What a cynical bunch Wings readers are.
Humza has only been in the job for a couple of days, give the man an opportunity to prove his worth.
Right, that’s enough time, get the fool out now along with the rest of the wannabees, has beens and never will be’s.
Indy Ref 2 will be along any day now. Get your carrots here-only 10p a pound.
PS Am I allowed to use the word man?
@ Rev, the drugs results have been included twice in the post.
the Scotland the new FM now leads
For him to lead, others have to follow.
I’m not following. Not now, not ever.
The latest Yew Choob video. Thanks to Wee Annie for the link.
link to youtube.com
Faslane? Yay, ok, willing to rent.
How much you got in the bank?
Does anyone know if Alba will be putting up constituency candidates for the next Scottish Election.
@Red says:29 March, 2023 at 4:46 pm
“I think NATO is about to become a lot less popular due to them starting WW3 though”
Haha, good one.
Retired and Extremely Dangerous (like in the film)?
Naw. Ridiculous and Extremely Deluded.
An interesting tidbit about Kate Forbes from the UK State mouthpiece the BBC in its article about Uselesses new cabinet:
“BBC Scotland said he [Useless] understands that Ms Forbes felt the SNP’s partnership agreement with the Scottish Greens would have “tied her hands and cost her dearly in her constituency” if she had taken the rural affairs job.”
link to archive.ph
So if Uselesses assumption/understanding is correct then Kate Forbes’ only interest was a quiet life inside the Scottish Government on the public payroll as Finance Secretary, and the reason she quit government was based solely on her own self-interest in wanting to self-preserve her £66,662/year salaried job as an MSP.
Her hands were not tied during the GRR vote as she was on maternity leave from her £116,759/year Finance Secretary role in the Scottish Government and skipped having to participate in any of the debates entirely, yet another MSP who was also on maternity leave at the time managed to return to the Scottish Parliament in order to vote against the GRR bill.
It does bring to the fore the many questions raised during the SNP leader elections over her reasons for participating in the SNP leadership election to begin with – was she another willing plant by the outgoing Sturgeon/Murrell regime in order to fix the election for Useless by depriving Ash Regan of votes? Is this further evidence of corruption within the party? Is this just Useless putting a knife in her back on her way out of the door?
At the very least it certainly brings Uselesses apparent win of the SNP leader election under further question, given what we already know about the process and how many employees of SNP HQ resigned and Scottish Government staff who resigned (Lloyd) due to their own actions over the entire election and support of Useless and the elections legitimacy.
For someone who now apparently wants a “quiet life” surely a job such as a Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary, a Minister, or even the self-demoted role as a regular MSP (in order to self-preserve her own £66,662/year job come the next election) would be seen as a very busy and somewhat hectic lifestyle choice for a new mother who wants a “quiet life”, a job that involves splitting your time between the Scottish Parliament for debates & commmittees and somehow still managing to meet with and cover the needs of the constituents in her Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency, the second largest by area in Scotland at 1,129,516.312 hectares (11295.16312 square kilometers) which is only surpassed in area by Caithness, Sutherland and Ross at 1,240,836.963 hectares (12408.36963 square kilometers) held by another Scottish Government (Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport), Maree Todd, a person that people in the constituency rarely ever lay eyes on outside of brief PR opportunities to get her mugshot in the local papers.
I know that if I was an MSP and a new parent who was looking for a “quiet life”, if I had a partner who owned their own farm business and who’s own parents have investments and businesses in the local area, I’d quit as an MSP for that quieter life and be looking towards supporting my partners business and my parents businesses and give up the hectic lifestyle that involves all the uproar that is part and parcel with being an MSP.
The whole situation is very bizarre indeed.
I saw Angela Constance recently (on Youtube) face questioning at a Westminster Select Committee regarding devolved Scotland’s poor comparative record on drug abuse. Her responses were an exemplar of the complete art of saying nothing at all, and at substantial length. It was truly terrifying to listen to.
I think SNP voters being in favour of legalising recreational drugs explains a lot.
I mean, who needs stupid ferries when you’re so fucking high you can fly yourself, and no need to worry about paying extortionate energy bills to keep warm when your either so numbed out your skull you can’t feel anything, or dancing your arse off on amphetamines.
FFS, Aye #BothTokesSNP will keep ya right.
Okay, so where is a reasonable place to emigrate to these days?
Silly question I know, but who’s in charge of pushing for Independence?
Or wasn’t that on the agenda?
Maybe it’s woven through with other portfolios… or something…
duncanio says:
29 March, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Only surprise was the last one on EFTA.
It’s a no brained, easier to get membership, access to single market without the complex politics of EU.
I don’t find it surprising. I reckon a fair few folk won’t even know what EFTA is.
I used to be staunchly pro-EU when we were in the EU, because as Ireland can testify, having 27 EU nations at your back is mighty helpful when you’re dealing with Perfidious Albion, and also when you’re hoping to get International Recognition from 27 sovereign nations in a single afternoon…
Now we’re out, I fear if Scotland sounds lacklustre about the EU, then I’ve a worry perhaps the EU will be lacklustre about Scottish Independence and especially Scotland’s deregulated Freeports.
And whether you’re pro or anti EU is irrelevant, or at least of secondary importance beside Scotland’s forced removal from Europe being a Treaty of Union busting unconstitutional outrage. With a Scottish Backstop and the Claim of Right underpinning it, Sovereign Independence was within our grasp in 2016. Talk about a squandered opportunity…
Though less staunch about it, I remain pro EU, because I seem to be in a vanishingly small minority of people who see beyond the economic agendas, and are grateful that the EU has more or less kept peace in Europe since WW2 and allowed sworn enemies to put the war behind them and enjoy peace and mutual prosperity. That’s a massive success in my book, especially compared to the pent up animosity inspired by WW2 allegiances we are now seeing in Eastern Europe where there was never an EU brokering reconciliation.
If I had to choose between Europe and NATO, and you couldn’t have both, I’d choose Europe. A hung-ho expansionist NATO is an ugly looking creature, and the EU has blundered big time in my opinion.
Are there problems with the EU? Yes. Is NeoLiberalism insanely stupid? Yes. Is Europe doing too much of the wrong things? Yup.
Is Europe worth fixing? Yes it is absolutely… but pro NATO type people probably won’t like my ideas of how the EU could be fixed, but stopping the sending of tanks and depleted uranium shells into Eastern Europe is a no brainer.
There is a BRICS storm gathering, it’s getting bigger and bigger, and we should be listening to the weather warnings…
NATO hegemony racket & Faslane prime real estate given to another countries weapons? FFS!
I give up. Who did you survey, Stu? The orange order?
Where’s Sideshow Bob and his Green Goddess – not good enough for the first team?
The only one I’d rate out of the 10 on show is Mairi Allan. I’ve heard her speak in Parliament and she came across well, no SNP aggression or spitting out of the words or her dummy, and she was on brief. Such a surprise hearing someone answer what they’ve been asked.
I think EFTA is complex to explain and understand and its difficult
To frame a question in it which provides necessary nuance without building in bias. Whereas the NSM have already built A policy bias in favour of EU membership.
Karen Adam’s representing the SNP on Debate Night the nicht.
LOL.
There are 6 females and 4 males in that photo. Where’s the balance?
They seem very…. How can I put this delicately? White.
The SNP has survived for years on the basis that it was the ‘least worse’ option. It now seems determined to hand that label to another party because of its mad policies. The new face of Scotland is rather different to that of Nicola Sturgeon and will deter many for that simplistic reason. The rest of his cabinet are irrelevant.
50% of voters are against independence and only voted SNP because they coouldn’t stomach any of the other parties. They will not be attracted to Alba, or the Green perverts.
If they vote at all, they could hold their noses and return to Labour as the default position. If they are incensed at the trans supporting parties they could even turn to the Tories, who must think Christmas has come early for them.
The SNP has turned into reality the myth of what lemmings are famous for. The cliff edge beckons. There is no turning back, they gather momentum with everything they do.
The next election will bring a welcome end to them. But what a state they will have left Scotland in. Something to be proud of Nicola?
Just a comment on the statistics presented here. They’re not incorrect but are, I think, open to misinterpretation.
There are 2006 respondents in your survey. Of these, 722 are SNP supporters but these are included in the base of 2006 “All Respondents”. As a result, you get a false impression of the extent to which the views of SNP supporters diverge from those who they have to win over (i.e. the 1284 (2006 – 722) people in the survey who are not SNP supporters).
For example, “Being in the EU” states that of All Respondents (2006), 60% are in favour, but of SNP Supporters (722), 83% are in favour. Which is fine, but buried in this are the Non-SNP Supporters (1284), and of them only 47% are in favour.
Of course this might just be me being a complete tit and failing to understand the tables, but I think that they would benefit from a third column showing the response from Non-SNP supporters.
Breeks – If I had to choose between Europe and NATO
Too bad the EU chose NATO, and decided to get into a war with their own energy supplier. The European Union is an American satrap, which is why the Americans are desperate for us to rejoin.
The EU’s (and UK’s) future is poverty and isolation as China, Russia and the rest of the world pull ahead of the debt-drowned, US-dominated, funny money Western economies.
@Beauvais
What’s Karen Adam representing herself as… a moron?
The villages of Scotland must be calm now that all their idiots are, or shall be, in the Scottish Government.
@Breeks says:29 March, 2023 at 5:30 pm
grateful that the EU has more or less kept peace in Europe since WW2
Cyprus, Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, the Basque Country, Albania. Must be interesting to have a map of Europe on which these countries are not shown. Or is the “more or less” just a Scottish “figure of speech”?
stopping the sending of tanks and depleted uranium shells into Eastern Europe is a no brainer
Have you worked out how to stop that then? I am all for pushing the aggressor Orcs right back over the border they first swarmed across on 24 Feb 2022. Send them hamewards tae think again wi a bloody neb.
And the sooner the better, so that the rest of Europe, including those EU countries we Scots want to merge with, can start to deal with the problems we were trying to deal with prior to February 2022.
The EU is in it to win it and thank fuck for that. It’s the one thing about the EU that has caused me to re-evaluate my previously negative opinion of the bloc. Glad to see my fellow Scots are similarly grown up in their thinking.
Ok Branch meeting on Thursday what should I be asking elected representatives
I’m guessing that the survey participants don’t have a fkin clue about acronyms?
No idea about USA aggression and NATO?
As for EFTA – probably thought that was a spelling mistake for Effie?
Robertson’s got a long-knife behind his back, ready to stab the scruffy wee guy. Some crew, all together.
Thank god Emma Roddick didn’t get a position
I think SNP voters being in favour of legalising recreational drugs clearly explains the way they voted in the recent leadership election, they’re obviously smoking plenty of it.
Can’t say I blame them
Rev
TYPO?
You’ve posted the recreational drug use question jpg TWICE in this article.
I think the first one is the mistake and was meant to be about Faslane, because it comes after this paragraph:
(Oh. And in an earlier article, I think the noun incompetent should have been the adjective incompetence, but wasn’t sure if you were making a joke or not…)
@Red says:29 March, 2023 at 5:56 pm
“Too bad the EU chose NATO”
Maybes a number of influential EU countries have strong folk memories of tanks on their streets gunning down protesters, man-made famines that killed millions, mass graves containing the murdered tens of thousands of their educated professionals and middle classes – anybody who might provide the nucleus for a cultural and linguistic revival or resistance against the murdering, torturing and raping occupier.
Red will be wondering if it was NATO that did all of these things.
Naw, it wasn’t.
Red will be wondering if it is NATO that stands between Europeans and all of these things happening again.
Aye, it is.
Re Nato
A reminder that the alliance is led by America with England following on behind.
link to bbc.co.uk
American intelligence? Oxymoron?
Scotland, independent, ought to stay well clear of «alliances».
@ Izzie says:29 March, 2023 at 6:11 pm
Ok Branch meeting on Thursday what should I be asking elected representatives
See if you can get a timeline or schedule for the promised eradication of poverty.
I think we all understand it’s early days an that, so we will understand if they can’t pin it down to a Tuesday or whatever.
But maybes the year would be feasible? Allow us to plan our finances, etc. etc.
Thanks.
“I urge us all continue to take a stand, to speak out and to challenge the acceptability of this violence in our society
until we have ensured that everyone in Scotland lives
Equally Safe.”
Shirley-Anne Somerville, then Social Security Secretary ‘celebrating’ International Women’s Day (2020 I think) 24 hours late, after being prompted, including ‘everyone’ and without mentioning women. She mentioned the trans days on the right day and mentioned them, of course.
Sturgeon was (and now Humza is) Scotland’s jailer within the union. How little did we know about her before she took over from Alex? Her taking power was a huge mistake for Scotland.
In 2019 the Tories had lost the DUP’s support, their MP’s were thrown out of the party and other Tory MP’s walked over to the Lib-Dems or other parities. Johnston was left in what was a minority government. We had Sturgeon refusing to walk for Independence and was insisting that Scotland voted NO to leaving the EU, but she could joined a march in London calling for another referendum on the EU, when England voted for it. During this period the SNP held power in Westminster, Johnston was seeking to call an early election but was unable to because he didn’t have enough MP’s without the support from other parties. Sturgeon instead of saying to Johnston grant a section 30 and I’ll give you an early election (this was our only and best chance of getting a section 30 order) but she didn’t do this, what she did was gave the Tories an early election as they wanted, but got nothing in return for the SNP or Scotland, but by giving the Tories an early election she allowed what she’d marched against in London to happen.
Sturgeon is either working for the Union and Tories or working with them. She has put Humza into power as a fall guy, and he (not her) will be held accountable for all her many failings. He has no idea what he has let himself in for, he believes she is a friends, when she has no friends just people she either controls or people that control her.
She made clowns out of every single one of us and she keeps laughing in our faces. When you read the above or what I’ve said here or any other person who’s woken up to the Sturgeon’s con, I’m amazed that certain people like Lesley Riddoch, Brian Cox to name but a few still believe she acting in Scotland interest.
I don’t know how many times I’ve stated that after Sturgeon meeting Theresa May is the day Sturgeon turned on Scotland.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. How many time is it going to take for certain people to waken up it isn’t like she hiding whats she doing she doing it right in our faces, she been getting pleasure out of doing it and getting away with it.
After 2014 I thought ok we lost but we have so much to build upon, I wished I new at the time that the person we’d hope would bring our country back to the Scots was in fact our very own Judas, trust me I know how Jesus must have felt but he’s a better man than me because I’ll never forgive her and I know now I’m unlikely to ever see Scotland free but what I can do is make sure history knows exactly who Scotland Judas was Nicola Sturgeon.
What I’ve learned about Sturgeon is she not for given its all about how much she can take, she has certainly taken the dream away from me for now.
Be good to rephrase or add an additional question:
‘In EFTA with a view to re-joining the EU asap….’
Be good to rephrase / add an additional question:
‘In EFTA with a view to re-joining the EU asap….‘
Breeks says:
29 March, 2023 at 5:30 pm
Silly question I know, but who’s in charge of pushing for Independence?
Or wasn’t that on the agenda?
Maybe it’s woven through with other portfolios… or something…
duncanio says:
29 March, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Only surprise was the last one on EFTA.
It’s a no brained, easier to get membership, access to single market without the complex politics of EU.
I don’t find it surprising. I reckon a fair few folk won’t even know what EFTA is.
I used to be staunchly pro-EU when we were in the EU, because as Ireland can testify, having 27 EU nations at your back is mighty helpful when you’re dealing with Perfidious Albion, and also when you’re hoping to get International Recognition from 27 sovereign nations in a single afternoon…
Now we’re out, I fear if Scotland sounds lacklustre about the EU, then I’ve a worry perhaps the EU will be lacklustre about Scottish Independence and especially Scotland’s deregulated Freeports.
And whether you’re pro or anti EU is irrelevant, or at least of secondary importance beside Scotland’s forced removal from Europe being a Treaty of Union busting unconstitutional outrage. With a Scottish Backstop and the Claim of Right underpinning it, Sovereign Independence was within our grasp in 2016. Talk about a squandered opportunity…
Though less staunch about it, I remain pro EU, because I seem to be in a vanishingly small minority of people who see beyond the economic agendas, and are grateful that the EU has more or less kept peace in Europe since WW2 and allowed sworn enemies to put the war behind them and enjoy peace and mutual prosperity. That’s a massive success in my book, especially compared to the pent up animosity inspired by WW2 allegiances we are now seeing in Eastern Europe where there was never an EU brokering reconciliation.
If I had to choose between Europe and NATO, and you couldn’t have both, I’d choose Europe. A hung-ho expansionist NATO is an ugly looking creature, and the EU has blundered big time in my opinion.
Are there problems with the EU? Yes. Is NeoLiberalism insanely stupid? Yes. Is Europe doing too much of the wrong things? Yup.
Is Europe worth fixing? Yes it is absolutely… but pro NATO type people probably won’t like my ideas of how the EU could be fixed, but stopping the sending of tanks and depleted uranium shells into Eastern Europe is a no brainer.
There is a BRICS storm gathering, it’s getting bigger and bigger, and we should be listening to the weather warning
It wiznae me! I was quoting Ian McCubbin …
I take it Nicola Sturgeon is still running our country,so much for bringing the party together.
Your latest Poll questions in the field, just taken part in it,
Will be interesting seeing the results
What an absolute dearth of talent in Sturgeon’s rancid SNP.
The Scout group my kids were in were a more capable group of individuals than the shower of also-rans grinning in that village idiot’s convention pictured above.
As a country, we’re f***ed.
I am against Nato, the monarchy and keeping the nuclear base. Doesn’t look like I will get the Scotland I want. But that’s life. All theoretical anyway, we are decades from indy now.
The context to these questions and responses was a misinforming and oligarchical system of representative democracy.
Rent out Faslane? Seriously.
Faslane is only one part of a facility that links up with Coulport on the other side of the peninsula between gareloch and loch long.
Between those two is a massive nuclear weapons silo for the subs built into the hill. You can see it all on Google maps. I thought it would be blurred but it isn’t. You can see the bunkers.
In the event of a nuclear war that peninsula will be saturated with nuclear strikes of the most viscous order.
Faslane is 25 miles as the crow flies from George Sq and the heart of Scotland’s largest population cluster.
Rent it out? How much is worth painting a huge target on most of your population.
It should never have been built there.
Kate Forbes used maternal leave as a ‘reason’ why she missed the GRR vote, so its very hypocritical for her to vote for HY in yesterdays meaningless vote to elect him FM. Disappointed in Ash voting for him as well, all along party lines. link to archive.is . That cabinet is awful, just awful.
It actually reminds of a Labour cabinet under McConnel. Full of failed councilors and half wits. I remember I used to be embarrassed that they represented Scotland. Now the SNP are no better.
Holyrood has 3 main parties , and not one of them are worthy of voting for. It might need closed down, so we can start again.
Hi Izzie at 6:11 pm.
You asked,
“Ok Branch meeting on Thursday what should I be asking elected representatives”
I, like 100,000 others (re)joined the SNP after September 2014. I believe that the collective decision was to show that the Pro-Indy grassroots movement was going nowhere other than on the road to independence. That’s why Labour (anti-independence) was annihilated in the 2015 GE and the SNP got 56 seats. It had nothing to do with Ms Sturgeon – it was the legacy of the referendum defeat and Alex Salmond’s narrow failure to achieve independence.
Since then, as the collage of National front pages on WOS pages shows, there has been absolutely no advance of the campaign for independence. Rather, there has been a drip feed of carrots, particularly in advance of elections, that was designed to keep Yessers voting for the SNP.
I think you can see from the comments btl on WOS that the blinkers are now off.
I was fooled. When Blackford stood up in Westminster every other week and asserted, “Scotland will no be dragged out of the EU against her will”, I believed that there was a killer plan, ready to be unsheathed from its scabbard.
What a disappointment Ms Sturgeon’s speech in January 2020 was. Total capitulation the the Westminster establishment.
I eventually left the SNP when ALBA was launched, after emailing both Joe Fitzpatrick and Chris Law (my MSP and MP) in February 2021, raising my concerns about the direction the party was going in – GRR, women’s rights, no action on independence campaigning, the sacking of Joanna Cherry – and the accusation of her “homophobia” by Nicola’s acolytes – was sheer stupidity – the stitch-up Alex Salmond and the resultant cover-up and so on.
I received only “out of office” replies, so I joined ALBA the day after it was launched.
The questions you have to ask?
Is the SNP still in favour of Scottish independence?
What is the SNP going to do to achieve a vote on independence in October this year, as promised by Ms Sturgeon?
These questions should lead to a “lively” debate…
Shona seems to have come out and explained that Forbes chose to turn down the Rural job because she wanted a better work like balance.
Really? Did she not just run for the leadership? That well known easy job?
I swear she just says what random lie leaps into her mouth when her two neurones collide.
Rumours that Roddick ( who has borderline personality disorder) is to be given junior ministers post. Oh God no.
And I should have added faslane is west of the entire central belt.
The weather rolls in from the Atlantic. It will sweep all the fall out from bombing Faslane etc right over the most densely populated areas of Scotland.
They knew all this when they fucking built it.
There is something that FM and cabinet will excel at:
Making Nicola Sturgeon and her former cabinet look competent.
No matter how bad, something will always look good when compared to something worse. I wonder if that is the main purpose of this cabinet.
P.S.: What are the special perks of the position Robertson is holding? There must be something of interest to keep him in the same post instead of recycling him like the others. Because it is not like he made much progress for Scotland since 2021, is it?
Now that we know Yousaf and certainly Robison have no interest whatsoever in pursuing independence, what can possibly be the point of a minister for “Constitution and External Affairs” other than perhaps disguising some other activity?
Thanks Stu, proof of what should should be obvious to anyone with a brain cell – voters run a mile at the SNP (and ALBA) leftover student policies. If we’re going to get Yes ticking over above 60%, we have to forget the campus glory days and actually represent the people of Scotland. Throwing our nukes away and sticking two fingers up to NATO is simply self-harm.
Chas says:
29 March, 2023 at 5:04 pm
What a cynical bunch Wings readers are.
Humza has only been in the job for a couple of days, give the man an opportunity to prove his worth.
Right, that’s enough time, get the fool out now along with the rest of the wannabees, has beens and never will be’s.
Indy Ref 2 will be along any day now. Get your carrots here-only.
*****************************************************
Morrison Supermarkets actually sell a “Carrot Sharpener” without doubt the SNP could do with one soon for the next GE , you can bet on it.
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GkovHFEKtg
TBF he didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a properly gender balanced cabinet so it was bound to be a bit harem scarem or should that be scarem harem?
scene-Bute house 29/3/23 Dramatis Personarae FM Lord Hamish MacTumshie; Lady Shona Lady of the Lochee.
LordI Tumshie: Ladyof the lochee- I have a problem: myold exchequer has told me stick my tartan rural affairs briefs up my arse. I need you to assist.
Lady Lochee-delighted to oblige- how far up -say when!
Lord Tumshiue-Ouch! No my lady I didn’t mean that, and put that shoe horn down now-
I meant I need I need a new exchequer.I just remembered the great job you did with the membership database and the” earmarked for Indy finance fund”.
Your dyscalculia disability is ideal to demonstrate our policy of inclusion. and freedom from bigotry and prejudice.
Lady of the Lochee: Oh Hamish – what a great idea I’m really looking forward to having my budgies anf figures looked over.
Lord Mctumshie:Its budget not budgie! I wouldnt worry- its only Dross , old king Cole and that slab guy I was school with .Ill ask him to go easy.
And whatever you do-don’t mention ferries or use the phrase ” financial fiasco”
_
” «Nations are born in the hearts of poets, they prosper and die in the hands of politicians»
Muhammad Iqbal….South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, scholar and politician, and Urdu language poet.”
Superb quote ( and post ) Otto . This is what the dreary clerks of Independence forever seem incapable of grasping .
Deriding others as ” Romantics ” ” Dreamers ” ( AS IF THESE ARE NEGATIVES in the struggle for Independence : NOTHING can be achieved , realised until it has first been imagined ;dreaming/ imagining arise from the same source ) whilst offering nothing but the same rapacious, materialist , Ego-centred mono-vision that is eating the planet and – spiritually – it’s inhabitants , typifies the poverty of soul that characterised Sturgeon et al .
Independence is going nowhere as long as that attitude dominates
It’s beyond me how such a divisive character can be seen as a force for unity. The very act of appointing his cabinet has been highly divisive. The only significant unifying factor is that they are all a mile wide and an inch deep!
As regards NATO and the siting of nuclear weapons in Scotland, for me it is not a matter of opinion polls however interesting, but the fundamental difference between right and wrong. Even if everyone in Scotland was in favour of joining NATO and retaining nuclear weapons it would not convince me otherwise. I have always considered NATO to be a fascistic organisation. It might be worth asking ourselves how much support for NATO there will be once we have been obliterated in a nuclear war.
link to infowars.com
Mia @ 7.37
Continuing reward for services rendered by someone he knows ?
I guess that those who are in favour of EFTA haven’t made much effort to really understand what it is.
For starters, the EFTA states have all signed up for Schengen, meaning that borderless free movement of people is the rules. I recall a colleague telling me about the rapidly ramping up migrant homeless in Oslo a few years back. Schengen explains why that happens. With any number of online sources predicting that migrants into Europe will be counted in the tens of millions within the next quarter century, maybes an Indy Scotland with no borders is a bad idea. That’s just climate migrants BTW. Nobody is adding in nuclear war migrants as yet.
Closer to the wallets of most Scots, EFTA members are expected to chip in for the common good:
“contribute towards reducing economic and social disparities … Currently the beneficiary states include Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia”
It will be interesting to see how much a resource-rich and wealthy Independent Scotland will be expected to cough up in support of that lot. Few on here would argue that we will be as poor as the countries on that list, quite the contrary. We should, in fact, be chipping in to match the biggest donor, Norway.
@Saffron Robe says:29 March, 2023 at 7:53 pm
It might be worth asking ourselves how much support for NATO there will be once we have been obliterated in a nuclear war
None I guess, Saff, what with us being obliterated an all.
Tell you what, though. If there is a short period after the red button gets pressed, but before being obliterated, I intend to blame the one who started it. The overwhelming likelihood is it will be the one who has been threatening to start it for the past year, you know, the deranged, psychopathic, God-driven-man-of-destiny, mass murderer and child abductor. I just don’t have your pretzel-like ability to blame everybody but the guilty party. Soz.
As for depleted uranium, the key is in the ‘D’ word, depleted. Look it up, make an effort to understand, then come back when you know what you are writing about.
Ffs @ John Main,
I’m not sure you’re if you want us to be the 51st state of the US or the champion of pure independence where we don’t interact with the outside world surpassing and dislodging North Korea from the top spot ease, make up your mind.
If we continue to flatten foreign people’s houses willy nilly, we will continue to have migrants wanting to live elsewhere rather than taking the risk of being blown out of their socks for not accepting the right kind of democracy, the cheeky buggers.
God bless the United States of Armageddon
Briandoonthetoon “National front pages” I see what you did there!lolz
Grim reading from Robin.
link to robinmcalpine.org
For me, it would be a relief if the SNP completely decoupled themselves from independence. As talent pools go they are down at the levels of Scottish Labour now. So shallow it wouldn’t drown a worm.
@ John Main (8.13) –
The rest of us have managed to observe Stu’s ‘ban’ on discussion of the war (whether we agree with that editorial decision or not).
It would be appreciated if you could have the common decency to do likewise.
Looks like useless has his cabinet of amoebae and crustaceans. I’m so underwhelmed. Are these morons supposed to demonstrate competent government?
John Main, maybes you can quit with the rampant racist comments and fuck right back off into whatever cesspit you dragged yourself out of no?
I was interested to see Alex Salmond appearing on the BBC this morning. He was asked what advice he would give Yousaf in his role as FM and he didn’t hold back! I have a feeling that we may see Mr Salmond getting more airtime and can’t help wondering why, suddenly, the media want to give airtime to the only person in Scottish Politics who took us nearer to Independence than anyone since. (Is this the start of an MSM total assault on Yousaf?!)
You’d have thought that Useless, seeing as he only narrowly won a very dubious election, would at least have had the sense not to grandstand on his first day as FM. That he would have had the sense not to immediately purge his recent opponents’ supporters from government.
Alas no. He’s been swaggering about as if he’s the Lord of Creation and no one who voted against him should be a minister.
That he’s a prize fool we already knew, but he’s surpassing all expectations.
@ John Main: “As for depleted uranium, the key is in the ‘D’ word, depleted.”
It’s you who is talking garbage here. Not only is depleted uranium still highly radioactive, it is also a highly toxic heavy metal.
Remember when the MOD had all the troops and sailors lined up to watch the nuclear test on Christmas Island?
Perfectly safe they said.
@Ian Brotherhood says:29 March, 2023 at 8:42 pm
You demonstrate the same blindness as many on here.
Unable to ever work out who starts anything, even if you have all the evidence you need laid out in chronological order.
The sight of that bunch of clowns outside Bute House has made me meltdown. I feel so politically homeless and the only parties that are standing up for women are Alba (and indy) and the Tories. This is what you’ve done Sturgeon. For the first time in my voting life I’m considering voting tory after Alba 1. FFS.
Thanks Brian and Annie.
New Cabinet positions to be announced.
Minister for banning private car use
Minister for 20 minute neighbourhood watch
Minister for electricity rationing
Minister for climate hysteria
Minister for the next ‘emergency’.
Minister for virtue signalling.
@ Anonymoose says:29 March, 2023 at 8:52 pm
“John Main, maybes you can quit with the rampant racist comments and fuck right back off into whatever cesspit you dragged yourself out of no?”
I find myself stuck in this dump that is Scotland, stuck with the crooks and incompetents that people like you have put over me, and stuck reading sophomoric drivel from eejits who have learned nothing from 8 years of their own stupidity and wilful blindness.
Some humility is due from you and the rest of your fellow travelers.
Your dispensation to wag your finger at the rest of us Scots exists only in your own head.
Maybes deployment of the ‘R’ word in your direction scares you shitless, eh Moose? You gonna win Indy with that degree of feart?
Naw.
How highly does the Minister for Independence rank? Shouldn’t he be at the top of the tree?
john main 8.13pm.
Depleted uranium is what is left after the fissile material is centrifuged out. Its not as dangerous as weapons grade or even fuel grade uranium But its still quite nasty. High incidence of cancer in places it has been used. It contaminates large areas and makes these areas unsuitable fo agriculture and habitation.
Your characterisation of President Biden is a bit harsh, although Herr Trump is trying for election I understand.
Despite most of what you say about Mr Putin not being far off the mark I would expect him to be wrestled to the ground and injected with a terminal sedative if he was hovering menacingly over the red button.
@Michael Laing says:29 March, 2023 at 9:02 pm
“It’s you who is talking garbage here”
Naw, soz.
The key to understanding lies in looking at the facts, not assuming what you wish was true, then going from there.
DU was widely used in the ME wars. None of these sites have been turned into uninhabitable wastelands. Soz again.
The latest use for DU is in defence of people who are trying to save their own country, culture and nation from extirpation. If they don’t object, that’s good enough for me. You can carp from the sidelines if you wish, but nobody cares. Soz yet again.
Given the choice between extermination and successfully fighting back at the cost of some localised splashes of low level radioactivity, I think the majority of Scots would accept the latter option. I know I would.
A final soz to you.
This is all relevant to Indy, Michael. Readers come on here and see post after post dissing people who know the real value of independence and are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to get it.
That’s not a good look at all.
I think it’s very interesting that the BBC invited Alex Salmond this morning and asked him what advice he’d give to Yousaf – Alex didn’t hold back! I think that’s an indication that the MSM don’t approve of Yousaf and suspect we shall see far more of Alex Salmond on TV!
I propose John Main for Humzas Cabinet. Sound like he is a shoe in.
I really try and refrain from the drams these days but fuck it I’ll be back on it tomorrow. Sturgeon was a hateful cow and useless. I watched Salond earlier today – very impressive. But history. We need a true leader. Another Robert the Bruce! Not likely though. The SNP have dug their own grave by electing a Muslim. So be it …
Breastplate @8.30pm:
‘If we continue to flatten foreign people’s houses willy nilly, we will continue to have migrants wanting to live elsewhere rather than taking the risk of being blown out of their socks for not accepting the right kind of democracy, the cheeky buggers’.
Regarding migration, as Jamaican-born British sociologist Stuart Hall put it,’we are here because you were there’.
Re the monarchy question, and to paraphrase Alex Salmond: If you ask people if they would like an independent Scotland to have an elected head of state, they are generally in favour.
Asking them to GET RID of the monarchy (The Queen when she was alive, in particular), they are less likely to agree.
@ John Main
I had a post held in moderation and subsequently deleted a week or so re. The tanks and DU armaments going to Uknow where. I had posted it solely because of the environmental and health aspects of the matter, but accept it got deleted because the link contained country404 in it.
But fyi an acquaintance was a tank guy in various conflicts and he knew of various tank crew members that used the DU Charm 3 ordinance that have since developed health issues, lumps and bumps, or had a baw taken off, which align with radiation exposure. He told me they were told to handle the DU shells with bare hands as gloves might get caught in the gun breech mechanisms when loading the shells.
I can envisage in the restricted confines of a tank in battle conflict, exposure to harmful elements may be more concentrated.
SusanAHF says:
29 March, 2023 at 6:17 pm
Thank god Emma Roddick didn’t get a position
Junior minister for equalities, migration and refugees no less – I kid you not.
Minister for Independence Jamie Hepburn – will work in the background reporting to HY, so no one will know what is happening…
SusanAHF says:
29 March, 2023 at 6:17 pm
Thank god Emma Roddick didn’t get a position
Junior minister – for equalities, migration and refugees (poor buggers). I kid you not.
Jamie Hepburn – minister for independence will report directly to HY and work in the background. does that mean no one will know what he’s doing -or not doing? Good money if you can get it eh?
Croun Meenisters aw selectit, walcome tae anither Scottish colonial admeenistration.
Independence an leeberation o aa Scots fowk tak doun tae a shire policy aspiration, wi its ain croun Meenister taskit tae fund anither blind close
If we ever achieved indy would you seriously want this lot of woodentops negotiating the best deal for Scotland against the Westminster sharks? Only AS is capable of that.
President Xiden says:
29 March, 2023 at 9:16 pm
New Cabinet positions to be announced.
Minister for banning private car use
Minister for 20 minute neighbourhood watch
Minister for electricity rationing
Minister for climate hysteria
Minister for the next ‘emergency’.
Minister for virtue signalling.
I thought they were the posts reserved for the Greens.
10,000 Pipers @9:51
Humza’s religion and ethnicity are not why he is disliked by pro-indy people. It’s because he’s Sturgeon’s anointed successor, put there to protect her and to keep steering the party away from its raison d’etre.
“…there is nothing better in life than writing on the sole of your slipper with a biro…”
Apropos of nothing; was trying to think of a comment when this was on the radio. More power to HMHB!
Dan
Good post, thanks.
I try to imagine what it would be like to be a volunteer, putting my life on the line in the situation you describe.
Would the risk of ill health in years to come outweigh the tactical advantage that might stop me getting killed now? For most, the answer is no.
Then there is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. Are the enemy already using DU? Well, there’s a surprise, they are, of course!
So, am I going to gift them that advantage? It makes it more likely I will end up dead now.
It ends up being a no-brainer for the fighters at the sharp end.
How these fighters must suffer at the finger-wagging virtue signalling of the armchair warriors, thousands of miles away, safe in Scotland. (That’s not aimed at you BTW).
Southernbystander says:
Our Empire was unfair. Life is unfair, though. Elements of my family went to school in the Outer Hebrides, barefoot in snow and ice. But what a brilliant education they received. My mother although 91, still writes with perfect grammar. Our system worked. I feel no guilt. On balance the British (Scottish) empire did OK. Not our fault our ex-Colonies fucked up. Blame them. Zimbabwe and South Africa are beyond help. All self-induced through corruption and stupidity.
@Breastplate says:29 March, 2023 at 8:30 pm
“If we continue to flatten foreign people’s houses willy nilly”
Dunno what you have been up to BP.
I haven’t flattened anybody’s house, foreign or indigenous, so drop the “we”.
I don’t take responsibility for the actions of others, whether crimes or good deeds.
I won’t be held accountable for the actions of people who died long before I was ever born.
I won’t be made to feel guilt on behalf of present-day grifters who claim to be descended from people who may have been wronged, but whose ancestors also died long before I was ever born.
But I respect your right to take on culpability for history. Maybes it’s your white guilt or unearned privilege eating at you. You seem to enjoy it, so have mine too.
I have no use for it.
10.000 Pipers 9.51
Pipe doon wie yer racism nonsense
President Xiden says:
29 March, 2023 at 9:16 pm
New Cabinet positions to be announced.
Minister for banning private car use
Minister for 20 minute neighbourhood watch
Minister for electricity rationing
Minister for climate hysteria
Minister for the next ‘emergency’.
Minister for virtue signalling.
Aye. But here’s the rub: this is also exactly what Westminster is doing, and exactly what the EU is doing.
They’re trying to block off all the possible escape routes we might use to vote our way out of the crap future they have planned for us (as the Dutch are heroically trying). That was why they went after Alex Salmond, and it’s why we have an unelected banker as our Prime Minister, with a gang of asset strippers for his cabinet.
It’s (indirectly) why we have the Humza circus of clownery.
We are in the early years of either Cold War 2 or World War 3. It could go either way, but our American “friends” will drag us into the latter – WW3 against China – if we let them. Assuming Ukraine doesn’t spill over first, which is also anybody’s guess.
In this titanic and extremely foolish global struggle between vast and inhuman multinational power blocs run by billionaire psychopaths and deep state sadists, Scotland isn’t even an amouse bouche.
We’d be snaffled. Our sovereignty extinguished, gone. If we didn’t have our eyes open to the piranha infested waters out there.
Alex Salmond is one of the very few politicians who had the courage and the decency to speak up against NATO’s warmongering. It wasn’t a popular position to take in 1999, but it was the right one then, and now.
I don’t know about you guys, girls and not-sures, but I don’t want Scotland to be a pawn in anybody else’s game of life.
I don’t want Scottish youngsters dying in wars.
I would like a government that sees Scotland not as a laboratory for weird social experiments, or an economic resource to be exploited, or an eager little busybody in other countries’ business. But as our home, the only one we have. A home we need to invest in, and take care of, and safeguard and cherish, so that we can pass it on to our children.
I’d like Scottish politics to be boring.
That, and a bucket, and I’d be happy.
Because a’body would be happy.
Can I get a crivvens?
Ian McCubbin says:
29 March, 2023 at 4:01 pm
“Only surprise was the last one on EFTA.
It’s a no brained, easier to get membership, access to single market without the complex politics of EU.
This a new nation can handle. ”
Ian can you explain the single market to me please ?
Especially as Paul Krugman rubbished it for what it was in his noble prize piece. I’m pretty sure you don’t understand trade.
Thanks.
Explain why you think we need the single market to sell Scottish Whiskey when those who want it can’t get it from anywhere else.
Please convince me your neoliberal, globalist TV hasn’t been playing tricks on you with their dream by and narratives.
I
@Beauvais says:29 March, 2023 at 10:31 pm
You sure? Has there been a poll?
What do you reckon to the proud, patriotic people of Pakistan? Any chance they will be putting a white Christian in charge any time soon?
You know the answer. Abody does.
Even the ones coming on here to deploy the ‘R’ word know the answer.
Minister for Independence Jamie Hepburn – will work in the background reporting to HY, so no one will know what is happening…
He’s another thicko, very similar to Humza in that he seems to have deliberately avoided doing an honest day’s work in his life so far. But has made a very nice little career out of being a professional MSP (I hear the pension is fabulous).
None of Humza’s cabinet are serious people, who have achieved things or successfully run things in real life. They’re losers and gobshites.
Where’s the talent?
“Rumours that Roddick ( who has borderline personality disorder) is to be given junior ministers post. Oh God no.”
The BPD is actually the least of it. To think, she came fifth – yes, FIFTH – when SNP members voted for their candidates for the H&I regional list at the last Holyrood elections. Four other more popular candidates bumped to make way for her (including at least one who might have proved to be an excellent MSP given the chance) because she self-Id’d as disabled. Just one more explanation for the state the SNP (and Scotland) is currently in. And no prospect of any improvement any time soon, because I’m not seeing this cabinet of mediocrities capable of eradicating poverty, achieving independence or even organising the proverbial in a (soon-against-the-law-to-be-advertised, if the SNP/Greens get their way) micro brewery.
Ian McCubbin
Can you explain to me in very simple English why standing in front of a neoliberal, globalist judge in a neoliberal globalist EFTA court is independence and sovereignty in any way shape and form ? When we want to introduce certain government policies ?
Thanks.
Why as an independent nation state why WTA rules on trade is not a better option for us ? Especially when we don’t need to ask permission for what type of economic policies we want to from anybody under WAY rules.
Thanks.
John Main @ 10.54pm. I agree totally with your post.
I don’t think it makes you a Trotskyist to want out of NATO. Its reason for existing ended 31 years ago.
Snecky, re Roddick, fifth maybe but I recall the vote for candidate selection for that and she came in with 4% of the members votes. That number is more telling, about the disability/liability leapfrog to the top of the list.
Not elected, Selected!
ronald anderson says:
Are you denying history? Have you ever been to Africa? No matter. Denying logic makes you a deranged SNP supporter. Some of us live in the real world And yes, I’m Scottish but open to what’s best for my nation. Leftist fuckwits like you with simplistic views voted for Humza. A political disaster. Meanwhile, my politics remains the same. I’m only interested in the welfare of the Scottish working class. This will never change, not ever!
When i look at that rogues gallery at the top of this threads article i can’t help but think ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ and ’10 Green bottles standing on the steps…’
The UK establishment must be rubbing their hands thinking all their birthdays and Christmases have come at once. What a feckin’ motley crew. No wonder the ship is sinking if that’s the true depth of its “talent” pool.
They couldn’t muster a tactical brain between them. Self-servers, every last one of them. Incompetence personified!
I see someone further up thread pointing out there’s no indy-brief in the line-up. Is that what the Continuity Candidate meant by moving the indy campaign into 5th-gear? LOL!
Oh well, tomorrow’s another day, goodnight, Troops.
@ John Main
Seeing as I can’t sleep due to yet another heatpump (Italian made so heehaw Brexit bonus there then…)) installation humming away and further destroying what was once a peaceful village…
Instead of spending time trying to imagine what it would be like in the front line up against weaponry that can pretty much instantaneously atomise or incinerate you. (There’s plenty clips on YT of war zones with folk sporting that not so cool butcher’s shop window laid out anatomy of a body look).
So instead, why not try to address and fix the diplomatic process failings that have led to the sustained technological development of the arms industry and resultant wars.
If the absolutely enormous amounts of money and energy that is consistently poured into the weapons industry and wars was instead used to develop technologies and systems that bettered societies around the planet, it might reduce or even negate the “need” some feel to invade and plunder others for gain.
“Pfft! That’s ridiculously optimistic.” some will say, but heck a bit more jaw jaw over a cuppa with a couple of packs of choccy hobnobs to try to sort shit out is surely better than more war war.
Empower me and I’d slap a big fuck off emissions tax on all parts and sundries involved in militaristic endeavors, and that would severely limit much of the crap that goes on around the world.
One cruise missile sir, that will be $2 million… plus another $5 million eco tax due to the damage you will cause when you use it.
Aye, and lets slap a DRS scheme on bullet and shells whilst I am at it. Is that too dear sir? Then take up another hobby you twat.
I’m not particularity happy forking out over 200 quid emission related road tax for only doing a couple of thousand miles a year when cunts in war planes, helicopters, ships, and tanks are burning thousands of tonnes of fuel and blowing the utter fuck out of infrastructure which will then take even more resources and energy to rebuild.
Unfortunately Dan the likes of Putin and Xi one immune to the delights of the choccy biscuit, and need serious armaments to keep them at bay, up to and including nuclear warheads. The people of Scotland seem well aware of this, time the poncy weans in the SNP and ALBA caught up with them.
Alan Mackintosh says:
29 March, 2023 at 11:27 pm
Snecky, re Roddick, fifth maybe but I recall the vote for candidate selection for that and she came in with 4% of the members votes. That number is more telling, about the disability/liability leapfrog to the top of the list.
Not elected, Selected!
She was 6th placed originally, she had hopes of getting first through the self id and wanting Kates’s job, but constituents went off on one and that stopped that, she was elevated above Tom Wills who the SNP shat on, the only good thing about that selection was Rhi Rhi placed lower at 2% of the vote If HPMAs go ahead, then you will find that the west coast coastal constituencies will go orange for Lib Dems again, such is the feeling against them, Ian Blackford isn’t guaranteed getting elected next year, as a popular Lib Dem is being put forward, will get a lot of crofters votes and veterans as well, due to him being an ex Queens Own Highlander of the Clan McDelta company
Humza will go in the autumn. When the polls show the SNP losing 20 seats at WM. The WM group will not just lie down. Self preservation makes people pretty ruthless.
Humza has to counter the Labour WM propaganda that will be coming. He can’t possibly ask for one more mandate. Therefore he will be replaced.
Wullie B
Caberfeidh gu snooker loopy!
The Blue Maff aye gets aboot the place.
As someone who always opposed NATO, Putin has made the case for it and I now support it. It’s not the greatest thing in the world, but we are where we are. It’s not surprising that countries who didn’t want to join are now queueing up. Scotland would be foolish to leave where were are now. And yes I have Trotskyist friends who still equate NATO to evil and Russia to the Soviet Union but also Trotskyist friends who believe the opposite.
It’s no surprise that anybody in Europe supports NATO more than they did pre-Putin.
Sleep well folks 🙂
I’m also not that bothered about the monarchy debate, that can, like all others, come after independence. But independence comes first, not last.
The SNPs tilt to the left has been an election winner no doubt about it. They have replaced the labour party and easily win every election by some margin.
However it is not enough to carry Scotland to independence. This might be hard for some YES campaigners to hear but not everyone in Scotland likes socialism or wants to vote for a social democrat party.
Demanding that you have to be a lefty and support left wing policies as a precursor to supporting independence hasn’t one the independence project any favours. Because most Scots won’t vote for that.
Ditto, in bloody spades. We need a new Indy party that isn’t full of Corbyn’s leftovers, one that conventional Scots can vote for. Who’s for Democracy Scotland?
Wullie B,
I see that CFGB must be on the auto cleansing algorithm. Anyway if you know the blue Maff you’ll ken CFGB.
I’m really starting to worry about what is happening with these mentally ill people. Wtf has happened, look at the dead eyes. It’s almost like she has been hypnotised.
link to twitter.com
Look at this weirdo.
link to twitter.com
Something much bigger is going on worldwide like mass brainwashing. Did they put something in the vaccine? What the hell man.
Babushka says:
30 March, 2023 at 1:25 am
“Something much bigger is going on worldwide like mass brainwashing. Did they put something in the vaccine? What the hell man.”
I agree that it’s something bigger but this has been going on since long before Covid. It’s only now that more people are having their eyes opened to it and realsimg that it doesn’t just affect a small minority but that denial of reality affects us all.
Looks like it’s okay to bring religion into Bute House after all. As long as it’s not that hated Christianity.
That Bute House Green room is horrific. He’ll need to get Carrie on the phone.
I profess myself disappointed in the Faslane retainment question. But then I’m an SCND member so I would be. Expect continuing protests and attempts to close it post Indy then. We have proved we can do that.
Big Jock
> Humza will go in the autumn.
It’s worth taking a step back to see where this will go. You’re right that something needs to change, and soon. The 2024 General Election is the event that cannot be avoided. That should concentrate minds but what can they do about it and if they knew, can the deliver. Some possibilities:
Humza gets replaced, but by who? Forget Forbes, there’s too much internal opposition from the woke element. She’d probably be a decent start when the party has been completely destroyed but saving them from disaster, I don’t think so. Regan? The party would rather destroy itself than take that option right now. Angus Robertson, he’s probably to smart to take the suicide pill.
Infighting causes complete destruction of the “relationship” between Holyrood and Westminster MPs? Actually I think this is rather likely. It would suit several interested parties and dig the hole quite a bit deeper.
Throwing undesirables over the side to appease the Gods. I can see that too. Doubling down on disaster by getting rid of Regan, Cherry, etc or at least pinning the blame on them with the hope that electorate does the same is definitely an option.
Business as usual. They go into the election on a ticket of a Well-being economy, Net zero, all men must wear turtlenecks and drink white wine and get completely annihilated. Then wonder why.
In other words. They might recognise the need to change direction but I don’t see anyone capable or wanting to do it. Unless it’s trending on twitter and is a carbon copy of an American Democratic Party policy they won’t be much interested.
So not so much of a ‘broad church’ – more of a narrow mosque.
Still, it’s good to know that Angus Robertson can put in a shift because his wife told him she’d be at home looking after the kids.
On the question of getting back into ‘Europe’ this really baffles me. In what sense would Scotland, as a member of the EU, be independent? It would be totally controlled by Brussels and have far less autonomy than now. How is that ‘independence’? I can only assume that most respondents expressing this view are under informed and have some wishy washy rainbows and unicorns image of this corrupt, corporate anti-democratic institution combined with a whipped up hatred of Brexit supporters.
The EU is complicated but there is really just one story you need to know that sums the whole thing up. When the Brexited UK got a head start and ordered a huge number of Covid vaccines early (something that couldn’t be done easily as part of the EU’s joint procurement scheme) Brussels was so incensed that they tried to block the consignment from reaching Northern Ireland – a move so unpopular they had to, for once, admit fault and hastily retreat. NB: this was at a time when very few people harboured any doubts about the safety and efficacy of the shots.
So… the stark conclusion is that the EU was prepared for people in Northern Ireland to die to stop Brexit looking like it had any significant advantages. Their priority was their image and their credibility, people’s lives were expendable.
Utterly, utterly ruthless.
That’s the organisation that people are so keen to rejoin. Unbelievable.
link to caltonjock.com
Dan
I agree with you … the problem is that energy production, military hardware development and sales and global migrations are all highly lucrative and awash with dirty money and criminality.
Hence deeply attractive to the hegemonic forces that sway and in some countries drive politicians to make poor decisions.
Here is an example. In Cambodia there is a famous world heritage site (Angkor Wat) that brings in 40million USD annually through visitor fees and rental fees. Less than 5 million goes to the Park Management Authority to spend on maintaining the Park (Which is being killed by the sheer number of tourists) and over 30million goes directly to a shadowy company that does nothing to earn it… but is owned by Hun Sen, the current Prime Minister of Cambodia and who has been in the office since 1985 courtesy of Vietnamese tanks.
Sadly you are right Stuart Mackay…. I cant see any clear way ahead at the moment unless a very large group of elected SNP go to Alba and I don’t see this happening – it is very high risk.
I think it is up to us as individuals to do what we can to bring us back to the path.
Specifically … strengthen the non-political independence movement … membership, web sites, voting on policy and coordinated voting etc.
With regard to the latter I have decided my voting intentions for next couple of years…
Westminster: SNP MP is WOKE so I intend to spoil my vote as I cant vote for a Unionist party
Holyrood: SNP MSP will get my constituency vote as he is not WOKE and has a pedigree regarding independence. My second vote will go to ALBA.
The Murrells have their “useful idiot” in place.
They know Yousaf is a clown.
He is only there as a buffer to give the Murrells time to plan their escape.
They couldn’t care less what direction they Scottish economy goes in. They’ve filled their boots, and are off to pastures now.
See ya suckers!!!
Big Jock @12:13
Lets not forget from where he was leading family prayer last night
ie if the Bute House filter on God’s word ensured he got back the message to send his MPs home to think again (without delay) then not impossible the dynamic, if not necessarily the trajectory*, could significantly improve regardless.
*the unwritten part of the trougher’s maxim; ‘its the economy, stupid’ being, apparently, something along the lines of not needing no stinking financial oversight from honest ladies of good repute.
Well Stuart. Look who has put in charge of Finance! What could possibly go wrong.
There a number of things that will sink him. The micro economics, the deposit return scheme , the section 35 challenge, the ferries, and just the general incompetence of his cabinet.
Not to forget Harvie and his cronies, and their crazy economic dyslexia.
All these comments about US and British led aggression may be true.
The world is going through change and I think it goes without saying that American economic hegemony and the side kick tatters of the once British hegemony, is passing and that they don’t like it.
But military muscle will not resolve the matter. The US might have a huge military machine but the reality is it cannot win But that also applies in the reverse. Weaponry like strategic nuclear weapons, were they to be used, would ensure mutual destruction.
What however I suspect the reality is, is that the physical and economic war has a bit to go yet, and that certain countries may find themselves utterly wiped out. Ukraine is such a candidate, and is on the road for that. Some EU states may also be on for that too but more likely economically wiped out.
And yes, tactical nuclear weapons may well come into play. The Ukrainians wanted a military build up, and they’ve got it. And what better a way for a fading hegemony to have a fight than to have it on some other poor proxy’s land.
So yes, a good bit more blood letting yet. But not American blood. And yes, maybe tactical battlefield nukes but only in Ukraine. But no tactical nukes because that would be a mass extinction event all round. London, Edinburgh, Faslane RNAD and few other sites and that would be the UK. Ditto Washington, New York, a few other big cities and the big military installations and that would be the USA. Ditto Russia and China and that would be them too.
But as they say the opportunity is all ours. Or as Dirty Harry would say…. well do you feel lucky punk, was it six or was it seven?
Babushka @1.23 am
Weechid @5.55 am
I agree – brainwashing.
Check out the Yuri Besmenov interview with G Edward Griffin from 40 years ago.
Soros’ activist groups are trying to control the next generation.
But we were all young and daft once. I doubt they can succeed in the long term.
International reportage on what has been going on in Scotland is placelined.
LONDON
Further comment redundant.
The sudden and so far unexplained resignation of Sturgeon opened a small window of opportunity for the SNP to save itself.
But the election was rigged and now they have Sturgeon 2.0. with Sturgeon 3.0 and 4.0 lined up…
I don’t see him going anywhere until a GE, why would he. And even then who do people vote for instead?
Look at the labour donkeys Scots voted for, for decades. The colour of the rosette may have changed but little else has.
So he could very likely get elected again…
So the window of opportunity was nailed shut and the ‘continuity’ candidate imposed.
It is over for the SNP, I am calling it. They could have just maybe survived the catastrophe of Sturgeon, but Yousaf will finish them off. Look at the state of that cabinet.
We are being governed by incompetent clowns because that is what Sturgeon stuffed the higher echelons of the SNP full of.
I don’t think I am exaggerating saying that everything they do will be a fuck-up of some magnitude.
Yousaf if he had a brain would do a snap GE now as this is going to be his ‘high’ water mark. It is going to be all down hill from the start. You cannot have all these low quality people and it not turn into a total mess.
@oneliner 7.30am
‘Still, it’s good to know that Angus Robertson can put in a shift because his wife told him she’d be at home looking after the kids.’
Ha ha ha ha ha – I saw what you did there!!
Yousaf hasn’t learned from sturgeons mistakes. He’s going to push ahead with the things (GRR) that supposedly ended her (who really knows) with a split party and no public support. Let’s see how that works out. It won’t.
He’s also decided to ignore the things that are a total shambles (ferries) by not even having a proper transport minister. Shows the level he operates at.
Finally he’s thrown red meat to the cult with a half hearted section 30 request being the first thing he’s done and an independence (yes really lol) minister as he reckons they will all come running back because of this. It shows what he thinks of voters… tho I do bet quite a few fall for it bcos they’ve been falling for it for the last 8 years.
Otto- I have said again and again. Part of the reason for wanting independence, is simply wanting the world to know we exist.
We take the insult of our country being called England by foreigners all the time. How many times have you listened to a chat show , and the host says : ” I love England”. Despite being broadcast to the UK.
I remember going into a famous German shoe shop and seeing the delivery boxes marked ‘ Glasgow England’. We put up with it because it suits England, it doesn’t affect them.
I even got a letter in work the other day from India. It described a location as ‘ Glasgow, England’.
Many people on the continent see Scotland as like a region of Belgium. We are a region of England to them. Didn’t the Ukranian PM refer to :”English planes”.
Until we are independent we are invisible.
@Bipod 1:01AM
The real lack of respect for those calling themselves left wing or liberal now is not based on the political position they claim to espouse but the massive dose of double standards that come with it.
In order to be a fully kosher member of the modern left you have to be able to hold multiple contradictory stances simultaneously.
Hardcore feminism – unless it involves criticising the extreme misogyny of actual patriarchal religions/cultures. Such as the 10’s of thousands of girls in Britain who have been victims of this. Or the fact that the only person in prison after a bunch of powerful and rich mainly old white men sexually abused trafficked minors on Epstein Island for the blackmail purposes of a certain non Muslim middle eastern state is the woman. Or indeed if it involves criticising men who dress up as women and want to access the spaces of little girls
Egalitarianism – unless we are talking about the native inhabitants of any European, or European descended nation.
Standing up against the rich – unless those rich happen to be the corporate entities that fund such groups as BLM, Antifa and others.
Homosexual rights – unless it means criticising certain foreign religions.
Recognising the rights of indigenous peoples – again unless its the rights of the indigenous peoples of Europe
The list could go on but in general anyone who was uncomfortable with the religious leanings of the Christian candidate but were unfazed by the spectacle that later took place in Bute House falls into that category.
The real left has to distance itself from the fake (insane) left as soon as possible.
Unfortunately that would mean that an awful lot of people will have to do some painful soul searching and come to the realisation that a lot of what the believe is utter nonsense and inspired by malignant moneyed entities who simply wish our society to be destroyed and social cohesion to be all but impossible in their new world.
Can you try that again without the anti semitism Joe?
Holyrood has failed to seek remedy from international courts, over the question of self-determination.
Misrepresentation by elected officials should not be tolerated. In fact, private prosecution is long overdue.
Solidarity. What exactly is the common interest?
Is it to keep smug bastard politicians in a job?
How many years are Scots prepared to wait for the SNP to stop taking advantage of voter loyalty, by doing nothing other than showboating?
Why wait at all? Force the issue. Next time of asking, abstain! Ever taken industrial action?
These clowns in office, only understand one thing, redundancy! Do not enable, two faced lying bastard politicians, any further. Take back control!
There is absolutely nothing to lose. A period without SNP dominance, equals what exactly, more austerity?
SNP has lied and conned it’s way to power. Action speaks louder than words! Holyrood has failed to deliver any means to self-determination, as promised!
We are already seeing how Yousaf has zero intention of unifying the party with his childish attempt to humiliate Kate Forbes. He is just a dick.
That was a really stupid move but he did it because he must have really enjoyed doing it (as he evidently did when leering at Ash Regan as the fix was read out).
So Yousaf is petty and vindictive and lacking the brains to even know what is good for himself, never mind the cause of independence (which he could not give a shit about).
It is Humza’s haughtiness that we are seeing in all of these mis-steps. They way he talked down to people during the hustings is exactly what he is like. Haughty Humza.
Man you think of all the serious problems in Scotland right now and we have this clown troupe in charge. Frightening…
Jobs for his pals, rotten to the core with has beens
Jobs for his pals
Bare faced cheek thumbing his nose at voters
Bare faced cheek thumbing his nose at voters
charlie @ 12:54 am
“independence comes first, not last.”
Yes, precisely this. A national party must absolutely always prioritise independence above all else. Independence is never a mere ‘policy’, it is always the primary purpose and rightful cause of the national party. The freedom of the people is also the most urgent priority in any colonial society. And it is urgent, as the unnecessary delay only gives rise to future conflict and the withering away of national consciousness.
The elected national party don’t need to appoint Ministers for this and that; they should let the colonizer’s civil servants ‘administer’ things, as they will do anyway. The people do not need any more colonial figureheads. They have suffered these fools for long enough.
National Party majorities playing at being ‘Ministerial’ in a colonial society are only there to be set up. Even their sincere efforts, few and far between, are soon made to turn to dust whilst the main priority of the regime is to keep the economic plunder going; this requires the territory and its people to remain under-developed, it cannot be allowed to progress beyond a certain level, and cannot progress anyway so long as its resources are looted.
A compromised (i.e. continuity) national party elite quickly becomes part of the colonial ‘racket’, they collaborate with it, and in turn start to oppress their own people, becoming ‘an instrument of coercion’; hence the oppressive laws we see, and more to come.
The national party elite should therefore only focus on the task in hand, i.e. that of freeing the people. Once compromised the party elite becomes condemned by its own hypocrisy. Only after the people are liberated is the time to hand out ministerial jobs and to then attend to the necessary total restructure of the new state’s former colonial institutions.
link to salvo-cor.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com
Excellent post Joe. In a nutshell!!
The malignant money entities are wreaking havoc with human values and identity – just to increase their profits and enhance their power. Destabilisation of society is key to their agenda.
The real left should be based on economic justice — ironically the worst political carpet bagger is Harvey of the Greens.
This should be a time of real green left politics due to climate change and massive bio and cultural diversity loss – instead we have people waving large flags paid for by malignant corporations that divert our gaze to peripheral fluffy or controversial issues.. the fluffier or more controversial the better
Has anyone noticed how crap the Google search engine is?
It is crap in English…in any other language it is total, absolute garbage.
«America» runs soc.med and info.tech. (Misinfo.tech).
You get what «America» decides, unless you are prepared to dig deep and cover your nose.
government of none of the talents’
Nearly half the SNP voters voted from Humza and over a half had him as an acceptable second choice.
Probably at least half of the rest will still keep voting SNP and some even stepping up to greater involvement in campaigning, helping out, fund raising and the rest.
This keeps the SNP as a viable leading party for at least the next election cycle, only afterwards will some of the more ambitious look elsewhere when another party looks more favourable to lead the gravy train.
The rest of the mainstream Scottish political landscape remains absolutely pitiful, with combination of authorities, quangoland, media doing everything possible to denounce anyone daring anything that might rock the boat from the current direction.
There will be years if not decades of continual faux Westminster grievance, gender woo-hoo, net zero impoverishment insanity, and further authoritarian crackdowns on individual liberties.
Sturgeon has won. She has managed to perpetuate the malaise – nobody in this cabinet has the ideas or stature to address Scotland’s problems – and will quite likely cash in on some other governmental, intergovernmental or billionaire foundation backed sinecure that will maintain a Blair like influence over future policies. All while being praised for her kindness and hard work.
It looks like there will be a by election a great change for all you Alba supporters to give the SNP a bloody nose.
KLF @ 9.30am.
You wrote:“rotten to the core with has beens.”
I would suggest – “Never Weres rather than has beens.
ALF BAIRD
You totally «get it». Bravo!
There can be no compromise.
Those who seek a easy «via media» risk appropriation, effectively the current position of the SNP.
Only in a classic colonial context can Scotland’s predicament be fully understood.
It is a misplaced sense of pride, mixed with subjective fear, that prevents all Scots from realizing the true nature of the Scoto-English «forced marriage».
I suppose the simple question is this.
Do you want to maintain support for a party which was once great, but is now rudderless and failing in its ability to obtain it’s prime remit. Or
Do we start again , no matter how difficult by supporting another party and by doing so send Westminster a message that we Indy supporters are not going away.
Your choice.
Is any party bigger than Indy?
In one respect Humza’s cabinet does reflect modern Scotland – the bloated public sector. I doubt if any of them have ever run a business nor even worked in the private sector where (unlike national and local government) performance has a direct effect on job security. This imbalance is reflected across the entire spectrum of SNP MSPs.
BTW, I realise Humza once worked for Scottish Power but he never got beyond the role of call-handler and obviously had no interest in pursuing a career in a “proper job”.
Big Jock, Achnababan
I threw out those options for the future really as talking points. However I just ready James Kelly’s latest:
link to scotgoespop.blogspot.com
and the SNP really are doubling and quadrupling down on disaster. Extinction beckons in 2024 and they’re rushing to embrace it with open arms.
So, say hello to the conversion therapy ban – the bad one not the good, pro-trans one; jury-less rape trials with the political pressure to increase the conviction rate and a whole host of other goodies no doubt.
What do you mean, there’s no popcorn, it’s all been eaten??
I read Robin McAlpine’s piece and tbh I’m suprised, he’s upset.
We on here all saw this panning out.
His comments from those loyal to the end but now distraught, where have they been?
It’s all been staring us in the face.
Most of us on here could have written the script.
I’m assuming Alex is back on the MSM cos the establishment smell blood.
They think they’ve won.
The SNP will fall apart
But we know the SNP is not now the leader of the indy movement.
As Alf Baird has repeatedly said, we are following a well worn path.
Some of us might not be here when it happens but I’m glad I’ve been at the acceptance stage for some time.
Big Jock @8:21
What if her wildest fantasies didnt stop at getting men in skirts into traditional women spaces like the harem – and she turns out to have been the criminal mastermind behind the whole selfid coughid farce just to get the post she really really wanted (the one her pal(s), even with best will in the world, could never give for reasons of integrity).
No Cabinet Member that lives in Glasgow. No Cabinet Secretary from West of Scotland. Nobody in Cabinet from islands. None from the Highlands. No business experience. None from Scotland’s poorest communities.
It’s not a Cabinet that reflects Scotland but reflects endorsements.
James Kelly has an opinion poll ran on the 7th to 10th March which shows the Independence numbers as stable at 48Y/52N but in the UK GE and Scottish parliament numbers there are big drops in the SNP.
On the numbers in that poll it won’t take much of a further drop for Labour to start leading in the polls. If that was what it was like 3 weeks ago I can’t imagine its got any better for the SNP so are we already in the territory that the SNP’s days in government are coming to an end?
James makes the point that the pro-indy coalition is still just about intact at Holyrood however that assumes that the Greens won’t jump to Labour if the SNP fall a bit further and Labour start making the right noises.
Just caught up with that Robin McAlpine piece.
robinmcalpine.org/48-hours-later-and/
It is exactly how I feel. Sadly I think he is correct in his very bleak assessment.
His observations about Humza’s early actions mirror my own. Yousaf really seems to think he is the dog’s nuts. He acts very much like a spoilt man-child.
The whole Sturgeon resigning chink of light period now seems hugely anti-climactic. They still managed to rig it for a candidate arguably worse than Sturgeon.
The SNP were driving towards the cliff edge already but with Yousaf behind the wheel the car is noticeably accelerating.
Ottomanboi @ 10:13 am
“Only in a classic colonial context can Scotland’s predicament be fully understood.”
Yes, the decolonization template is there for all oppressed peoples to understand their oppression and seek a solution.
Failing which, as Liz @ 10:23 am notes with regard to “Robin McAlpine’s piece and tbh I’m suprised, he’s upset” …inevitably our understanding will remain rudimentary. We first need that analysis of colonial society to understand the nature of our oppression.
Izzie,
Labour used to rule the roost in Scotland where people often joked that a chimp in a red rosette would win for them, they also joked that they didn’t count the votes, they weighed them. How times have changed.
Although the Scottish electorate, en masse, eventually twigged that Labour in Scotland were just full of wind and pish and decided to shift their votes to Alex Salmond’s SNP, it didn’t happen overnight, there was a process that people had to go through personally to change their voting habit.
There had first, to be a realisation that they had been duped, lied to, taken for mugs. They were angry with themselves and would take it out on the party that had broken so many promises.
The timescale and the amount of promises broken would be a different tipping point for each individual and for the most gullible, that particular penny would never drop.
Many SNP supporters had previously been ardent Labour supporters, they were now SNP supporters with an added ingredient, the zealotry of a convert.
They had got it wrong once before and by god, they wouldn’t let themselves be conned again, except….
Apologies for the mix of metaphors but it’s probably harder for the penny to drop if you’ve lost all your marbles.
Izzie, how’s the Section 30 from Boris coming along that you and the ginger nuts were so adamant that couldn’t be refused?
Ah but, perhaps I’m being unkind as I think Humza is on the case and will sort that any time now, yes indeed.
In any event, what would court intervention be to remedy the Section 30. impasse?
International courts would question why an election ballot has not already been utilised, to answer the question of self-determination!
SNP now sidestepping the issue by putting good governance first? That should be given, when any parliament is elected to govern, ffs!
Chase these imposters from Holyrood via private prosecutions, for fraudulent election campaigns and misrepresentation of the electorate!
First Minister Yousaf’s heritage, former colonial Punjab/Kenya, ought to motivate him to get on with the principle matter.
The existential rationale for independence needs no «case» to be made for it. By acknowledging the latter the idea of independence is subverted by the very agency that would deny it using all the powers, psychological, political, economic, mediatic it commands.
Thats some full ministerial lineup that Uselesses government have published today, a bunch of grifters and serial-incompetents, with Emma Roddick, a person who was only elected because they were parachuted to the top of the SNP candidate selection list in 2021 due to the corrupt and unlawful practices of SNP HQ allowing people to “self-id” as disabled, being made Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees under the watch of the serial failure & walking disaster that is the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville.
Given her GRR zealotry, while bringing absolutely zero qualifications, relevant life-skills nor any relevant experience other than being a TRA into the Scottish Government, I struggle to think what would qualify her to be rewarded with a ministerial role responsible for Migrations and Refugees (both topics she has never raised in Scottish Parliament questions) and given her blatantly obvious conflict of interest and serious bias towards actual real-equality and bias against the existing human & civil rights of women in Scotland the fact that her new title covers Equality is a complete slap in the face to entire female population of Scotland.
link to gov.scot
link to archive.ph
The first test for Yusef looks like it will come in Rutherglen.
Fascinating, and synchronous,as I was about to add tuppenceworth re: republicanism, and reference to older Wings polls.
In short, this is based on the simple rules of the great game:
The primary way Scotland gets out of this alive, is for Republicanism to arise from the ashes, and that right soon.
Monarchy got us into this mess, and binds us here tight, yet with a single republican bound, Scotland is free from her rusting fetters. For it’s a simple rule – all UK legislation derives it’s legitimacy via “The Crown” the UK us a *cough Constitutional Monarchy.
Ask any Country which became independent of “The Crown”. Ask any Commonwealth Country which shat itself in 2014 at the prospect of Scotland’s independence, and where that would leave their own Constitutional Monarchy, the Crown’s Governors, and their legislation.
To quote Iain Stewart of Macquarrie University Australia on Scotland’s potential Independence:
“It could remove our head of state, the monarch, and thus, at least legally, make government in Australia impossible…We need to think ahead. We may need to move to a republic, and soon”
The only light I saw gutter in the dark recently, was Ash Regan floating republicanism for Scotland. At least she showed that she understands the simple rules.
*edited to reflect current poll.
I’m aware the Wings polls don’t show any majority appetite for that, and I believe Rev Stu thinks (thought) it is a poison chalice for Independence.. I hae ma doots though.
The only other conceivable way for Scotland to be independent under the current Monarchy, is for an independent Monarchy to arise, or the Crowns to have equal stature.
Until Chairlie has a revelation, and decides the way to cut the ridiculous Gordian knot of “The Dual Crowns and Parliament” is to CONFER* the Scots Crown to one of his byblows – Scotland will forever remain fettered to England. This just in – he never will.
He could, and it would solve most current constitutional problems, and still retain an alliance and Union with Scotland, if we so wished.
Or perhaps he has a dissafected offspring somewhere, who would relish our *OFFER of the Scots Crown, just to stick it to his faither…
See, it’s an easy game to play, and the rules are simple. The rules have always been simple – England knows this, the whole world knows this – only Scots, of all people, could be blind to them.
I can play silly buggers all day, but it’s only two choices: Republicanism, or Monarchy; I haven’t yet seen anyone, or heard anyone so much as place a finger on the lever of Monarchy to extricate Scotland.
We have always had a titular Monarch mind, and at our command too – never been touched for so much as a loan of a fiver, far less defence of our Crown and people. If we have already de-facto binned our Crown through lapse, and want of use, then Republicanism it must be.
Republicanism is not anathema to the Kirk, Calvanism Lutheranism, and Catholicism all flourish in European Republics. The Kirk and Crown were ever at odds everywhere, and I doubt republicanism is anathema to conservatives either.
Scotland (amd the SNP historically) has fannied around the primary issue, and there is great neglect in the wider YES movement about the simple rules (We can’t even educate ouselves about how our voting process works)
It’s all very well and good to bang on about Claims of Right, but if you don’t apply that specifically to the Scots Crown, and what ‘Sovereign Scots’ can lever with our own ‘Crown’ then you are talking about republicanism.
Chairlie wears twa hats – Use it, or lose it.
Ian McCubbin @ 4:01 pm said regarding EFTA:
“It’s a no brained, […], access to single market without the complex politics of EU.“
It may well be a no brainer, but does not provide access to the SM.
EFTA membership allows one to apply for EEA membership, it is the latter which gives one membership of (not access to) the single market. However it is merely reduces the range of EU policies (and hence politics) applicable, not eliminate them. Ask Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Up until the Yousaf fix I think many people still clung to the hope that SNP could be saved and ‘taken back’.
Well we just tried and they simply rigged it. Kate Forbes caved when she should have stood firm and paved the way for the fix.
So the calibre of people in the SNP is just not there anymore and the best thing would be to completely flush the SNP out.
Right now the SNP is the main obstacle to independence. They are blocking it and taking up the space of a real independence party. Fooling voters seeking independence to waste their votes year after year on them.
So the SNP getting wiped out would be the best thing that could happen. The independence movement will be just fine and it would actually be cathartic for it to dump the rotten and putrid SNP corpse. It would not kill the independence movement it would rebirth it.
We have nothing to lose at this point and everything to gain. Seeing all these woke SNP troughers sent packing would be immensely pleasing as well.
And there is an efficiency to this. We have to get rid of them, that is unavoidable, and there is no quick fix but this would be about the quickest fix on offer.
So in this regard Humza as leader might be a blessing. Because for sure the SNP are going to be losing a lot of votes…
Breastplate @ 10:52 am
“it’s probably harder for the penny to drop if you’ve lost all your marbles”
As it turns out we are indeed dealing with a psychological condition, which is the (intended) consequence of a lengthy period of colonial conditioning and cultural assimilation. Such a ‘sickness’ requires difficult treatment – the only remedy being liberation and ‘self-recovery’, i.e. ‘decolonising the mind’ (Memmi; Fanon).
It might help a bit if our national party elites, bourgeoisie and ‘intellectuals’ understood this….
ALF BAIRD
Scotland has certain parallels with Algeria particularly with relation to language and culture, indigenous and non indigenous.
The rise of a «Berber» consciousness vis à vis an Arab and French surface has created tensions which even the decolonizers did not predict.
Algeria offers an interesting example of how the colons/pieds noirs did add a cultural layer which was not wholly bad. Unfortunately the FLN took the view that all French were agents of the torturing French army or OAS and should be expelled. Some were ready to stay, be Algerian and be good citizens of the new republic. Alas they were not allowed to.
A surprising number of Algerians regret that. The French language opened up what was becoming an inward looking Ottoman/Arab culture.
The French settlers, mostly from poor areas of the hexagon, could not entirely escape “algerianization».
This captures something of that cultural mashup.
link to archive.ph
Some background info from 2021 to the Margaret Ferrier situation.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
So Salmonistas haste ye to Rutherglen. Let everyone see how it is done. This could be Hamilton 1967 Mark ii
Just noticed that Jenny Gilruth was a modern studies teacher in Edinburgh. Ol’ Humza’s squeeze-but-one was also a modern studies teacher. So I’m thinking maybe there’s more of these ModStuds alumni in Scottish politics…maybe a higher in Modern Studies or having taught the subject at a secondary school is the Scottish equivalent of all those Oxford PPE graduates.
Wiki says “The subject [Modern Studies] has been taught in Scotland since the 1960s and is credited with increasing students’ political literacy.
So there you have it…the 60s AND politics again. Plus, add in the Stirling University Politics degree where you got hands-on experience in the office of an MSP and there’s your recipe for the current disaster right there.
Ottomanboi on 29th March at 9.37.
Try duckduckgo.com as an alternative search engine.
It is commendable for a democracy to protect the rights of minorities and it has been said that this is the litmus test of a true democracy.
However when the protection of minority rights infringes the rights of the majority then a democracy has lost its way.
And such a democracy cannot hope to continue to have popular support.
If we ever did achieve indy would you want this lot of woodentops negotiating the best deal for Scotland against the Westminster sharks.
We would be left with our underpants.
@izzie,
You mean independenistas not Salmonistas.
Alf Baird makes the point that the psychological factor in national identity is primal.
What is your head and who or what put it there.
In Scotland’s head there is a confusing, contradictory muddle of myth, half digested fact, misinformation, dumb prejudice and somewhere an element of truth.
The confusing and contradictory signs from the party of liberation refers.
Humza’s going to explode here if he’s not careful! 🙂
first up!
expecting a lot of kwallity Navvid level banter here :
ISA – SHUT UP YOU FAT COW
– directed to any of the front hole terfs in the chamber
waiting for the “first calling of racist” by him : in time this will become such an institution as being told to fuck off by billy connolly
who got booted from the galler? – was it trannies or, the worst scum of all … independence supporting far right extremists who have no place in an independent scotland
The biggest betrayal announced today.
If you’re here for even one day you’re a New Scot.
That’s progressive apparently.
So they’ve been listening to us talking about UN charter on citizenship and who should be allowed a vote in future referenda.
Even IKEA dae better cabinets. This lot will fall tae bits, slowly one by one.
GROUSER
Use DuckDuck because it claims it does not track/trace but unfortunately the alternatives all piggy back on the Google algorithm to some extent indicated by similarities in result.
Also if it is not in American you struggle.
I do not trust any of them, search engines are just too useful to intelligence services.
It,s the time tae sit and look at the sky for a minute or two
Ottomanboi @ 10:58 am
“First Minister Yousaf’s heritage, former colonial Punjab/Kenya, ought to motivate him to get on with the principle matter”
One would like to think so, however, in a colonial society the privileged native elite class of any colonized group (Scots, Irish, Punjab or Kenya etc) is condemned as soon as they assume the dominant ‘values’ of the colonizer; yesterday’s oath made to serve the Imperial crown was perhaps the first demonstration of these ‘values’, the second the formation of another loyal colonial administration, thus enabling the plunder and oppression of a colonized land/people to continue. In a colonial environment ‘only the values of the colonizer are sovereign’ (Memmi).
Margaret Ferrier I met several times and she was a hard worker for the constituency.
It was a stupid mistake to travel with a positive Covid test but such a same that she came clean on it.
Couldn’t she have done a Cummings Barnard Castle to see she got on the train to test her eyes or perhaps a Boris forgiven for shaking everyone’s hands in a Covid Ward or not understanding the definition of a party even with £100K worth of private education.
Thank goodness the parliamentary standards body is there or people like Lib Dem Carmichael who lied and who enticed others to lie about French Gate before confessing to a wasted £1 Million enquiry that pointed the finger straight at him might have faced justice.
Hancock and Jenrick got off with breaking the rules and if you recall 3 Scottish Tory MSPs went hillwalking together when it was banned.
U.K. justice seems to find those with connections to independence without much trouble but Unionist hide in plain sight waving flags and flashing lights on their wrong doings but Nelson’s eye is quickly engaged.
I voted Alba previously but there were only a couple of hundred who joined me.
I will do so again regardless as No one else is for independence in my lifetime.
If only we were the Irish or the French who know how to resist and protest.
PS Tories decide the pension age increase to 68 should wait until after the general election.
Ian Dung Smiths Committee advise the pension age should increase to 75. Really!
template for all questions to PM/FM
“bad things are bad” (empty platitude)
so : give me a number (some stupid stat no one cares about and proves nothing)
(the supplementary) :
why are you so SHIT
(the answer)
you were shiter than us
more seriously – a good piece on land reform by george gunn over at bella, yes I know
– bella is shite, full of wankers, and the proprietor is a shite, but gunn is very good and much better than the rest of them
His observations about Humza’s early actions mirror my own. Yousaf really seems to think he is the dog’s nuts. He acts very much like a spoilt man-child.
The whole Sturgeon resigning chink of light period now seems hugely anti-climactic. They still managed to rig it for a candidate arguably worse than Sturgeon.
I don’t see any reason to be kind to racists, so let’s be honest about the guy: Humza is an idiot, a fool, a maroon, a simpleton. Humza only pawn in game of life.
He’s worse than Sturgeon in every conceivable way, and she was awful. But Nic did have the ability to put on a credible-seeming front for the best part of 8 years (it helps a lot when the media is completely uninterested in your crimes).
Humza is the Disney candidate: he disnae do anything useful, and can’t read an autocue without coming across as an aggressively entitled dope.
Which he is.
The more voters see of the guy, the less popular the SNP is going to be.
ALF BAIRD
This may be of interest.
link to archive.ph
Camus born in Algeria and muddling the heads of Algerian intellectuals as to his place.
Was taken to Algeria as a small boy, parents looking for a new home etc, and remember the pictures in the article.
My parents spoke French as they could not get the Algerian Arabic!
You know Izzie, using the term ‘Salmonista’ to describe a faction or a way of approaching securing independence is not at all bad.
A ‘Salmonista’ (almost echoing Sandinista named after he resistance fighter Augusto Sandino) would be a person who always puts Scots’ independence first, who wants a more grassroots effort to secure it, who wishes to root out the corruption and mediocrity from Scotland’s institutions, and accepts that one way to do the latter (the corruption bit) is to get to the truth about the conspiracy to jail Alex Salmond.
There’s no getting away from the fact that Alex Salmond was the political giant of our era, someone who almost brought the nationalist movement to its final goal. When the SNP airbrushed him out of its history that should have set off every warning klaxon but most of us just shrugged our shoulders and said ‘Sturgeon’.
Obviously you’d have to watch out for the effects of the cult of personality that got out of control with Sturgeotti but there’s much less chance of that because at least Alex Salmond achieved things when in office, as opposed to his successor’s constant lying to Scots.
Maybe we should be getting the ‘Salmonista’ merch ready just in case…
Yousaf reported in the Guardian as saying he is delighted to have appointed a cabinet with a majority of women.
That’s a win I guess. Reminds me of Blair’s Babes, so not an original idea. Yousaf’s Yorgas, anybody? Works in more ways than one.
Here’s the thing as I see it.
I have never met a woman in a position of responsibility or authority who was anything but thoroughly miffed and insulted at the suggestion she was in her position on any justification other than merit.
These women have always made it crystal clear that if they couldn’t get the job in fair competition against all comers, then they didn’t want the job.
I believed them then and I believe them now. I will go further. Plenty of women I have met have performed better than their male equivalents, because they were absolutely determined to disprove anybody coming out with ‘quota’ jibes.
Ah well, at Hollyrood, looks like things are different.
Off-topic on this thread, but, still interesting.
Margaret Ferrier has copped a 30-day suspension from the Commons for breaching the Covid rules. If this suspension is upheld by a general vote of MPs, it could force a recall and a bye-election.
An interesting decision for the Tory MPs, do they back her suspension, to indulge in Jock Baiting knowing suspesnion sets a precedent for Boris Johnson – whose crimes might appear greater.
The Tories have no chance of winning a bye-election in Rutherglen but, they could certainly lose one in Uxbridge.
Big Jock at 9.12 am
‘Many people on the continent see Scotland as like a region of Belgium. We are a region of England to them. Didn’t the Ukranian (sic) PM refer to :”English planes”.
Until we are independent we are invisible.’
How right you are!
Shortly after the last referendum on Scottish independence I was visiting friends in England. In a local shop I handed the assistant an RBS (owned by the British taxpayer!) £20 note, whereupon she exclaimed, ‘Oh it’s Scottish – I don’t think we accept these now. Scotland isn’t part of England any more, is it?’
I was speechless.
Holyrood has failed to seek remedy, over the question of self-determination.
How could any court ruling, remedy the Section 30. impasse?
International courts would question why an election ballot has not already been utilised, to answer the question of self-determination!
SNP now sidestepping the issue by putting good governance first? That should be a given, when any parliament is elected to govern, ffs!
Chase these imposters from Holyrood via private prosecutions, for fraudulent election campaigns and misrepresentation of IndyRef2!
Gerry Hassan really lets loose in link to bellacaledonia.org.uk while also plugging his book.
It seems the project to make Scotland kinder, more inclusive and progressive really has some ways to go. Which means y’all really are just a bunch of white supremacist, bigots. Actually, what he did say was that “opposition” to the progressive view was all down the right-wing politics and if it’s right-wing then it must be a carbon copy of right-wing politics in the USA – without the gun ownership part.
More evidence that the SNP will be doubling down on the narrative that the natives are sorely afflicted with original sin. Don’t worry, Sister Shirley-Anne has just the cure for your wickedness.
Actually, what he did say was that “opposition” to the progressive view was all down the right-wing politics and if it’s right-wing then it must be a carbon copy of right-wing politics in the USA – without the gun ownership part.
With these people, there’s always more projection than at the Renfield Street Odeon.
Step 1) Copy and paste whatever deranged hot takes are trending on American Twitter this week
Step 2) Call voters bigots, racists and homophones for believing the same things the SNP did in 2008
Step 3) Independence?
the worst thing about Hassan is that he somehow makes a living peddling his weak drivel – I stopped reading him years ago when I saw him on newsnight, he came out with some lukewarm nonsense about
having a national conversation about what is means to be scottish (whit!)
and then I think something about – once we do this vague thing, we can “really go for it in 2030”
yeah, lets contemplate our navels, go on the indy equivalent of a ayahuasca spirit journey, while giving england a solid 15 years to pillage it senseless and stuff the nice bits with all the “new scots” from the home counties, who never even knew they were scottish
@Stuart MacKay (1.03) –
Who on earth wants to buy a whole book by Gerry Hassan?
It’d be like buying a six-pack of bog roll when you just need enough to, aherm, blow your nose.
Red
Exactly, which means that we will have to wait for the USA to come to it’s senses before we’ll see any change locally. It doesn’t have to be a change in political direction but it most certainly has to be a complete sea-change in this emphasis on extreme individualism and middle-class values.
Bob Mack @ 1208
I was using the phrase in the Corbyn sense.
Aunty Flo
Not since June 1660 after an 8 year forced annexation by the Cromwells.
Iain Mhor @ 11.16
Best post on here today. There needs to be some broader understanding of this within the movement as there is a key to the prison door contained in this topic.
On the latest polling . The SNP is set to lose 13 seats at Westminster, and 11 at Holyrood. And this is before the impact of Humza on the support. Every day he remains, our chances of independence diminish.
I heard him at FMQ’s, and he was just a soundbite on legs. Regurgitating the Sturgeon lines he was taught at HQ training school.
Ian B, check out his list of publications, link to en.wikipedia.org. There’s more than a few apocalypses worth of prime, wiping material there.
He has a web site too, link to gerryhassan.com
“Gerry Hassan is a writer, commentator and thinker about Scotland”
He’s like a Peter Bell from a parallel universe.
I think Gerry should spend more time on the thinking part of his bio Stuart…..in fact maybe not!
My dad used to call his type Blowhards!
I can’t wait for the storm to engulf the SNP. They have used and abused independence supporters for too long. It’s time for payback. We owe them no loyalty. Fixing the SNP is impossible, as the “good guys” movement discovered in late 2020 and early 2021. The SNP tried to demoralise, split and ultimately destroy the independence movement. It’s past time that the whole independence movement realises this and reciprocate. The quickest route to independence is to ditch the SNP, cast them into political oblivion and start afresh. All the necessary building blocks exist.
I heard Yousaf at FMQs.
He repeatedly told us all that Scotland should be an independent nation, and then stopped.
No further comment.
No strategy.
No plans.
No ideas.
Just repeating that we should be an independent nation.
This was obviously for the attention of the SNP faithful, Wee Ginger Dug and readers of the National.
His rants about Scotland being an independent nation had a cringe level that went through the roof, because you knew he was talking utter mince.
Depressingly accurate from Kevin.
link to thenational.scot
However absolutely necessary. There is no quick fix to the SNP mess. Sturgeon will be remembered as the woman who stopped Scottish liberation for her own vanity.
As a strong NO voter I watched FM questions today. Humza made we fondly remember Nicola and he even made Douglass Ross look good. He is a clown who has selected even more clowns which makes my heart leap with joy. I voted against devolution in 1999 and watching this validates my decision. Holyrood costs Scots about a billion £ a year for a juvenile punch and judy show – get rid of it and spend the money helping people who need it. Independence is dead forever under these clowns – care in the community needs to step up for them.
I see those pesky midges are back guys.^
Big Jock:
Kevin says “Many of those 50,000 members who quit the party in the last four years did so as it became clear it had been captured by those who use gender reform to justify violence against women.
Yet, if they had held firm, then Yousaf wouldn’t have gained the keys to Bute House and we could all have dared to dream that independence might still happen in this generation.”
This is a fantasy.
If Ash Regan had won (we now know Kate Forbes was never a serious candidate, and I don’t believe she stood with pure intentions) they’d simply have Trussed her out the door.
The SNP has form for this, we know what happened the last time the membership thought it’d be a good idea to vote for NEC members the party establishment doesn’t like.
There are likely now thousands of (often surprisingly well paid) jobs depending on the SNP machine. It’s their party, and they’re never going to voluntarily get off that gravy train.
What would a Humza or a Hepburn or a Somerville do in the private sector? They wouldn’t get hired at a call centre selling double glazing. These people have no skills, no achievements, no work ethic and no relevance in the real world where people expect results instead of wind and pish.
Alan Austin…
Best get back to the day-room Alan before someone nicks your favourite armchair for watching Judge Judy. That tidy Philippine care assistant might even slip you a wink with your tea and biscuits, if you’re lucky! Living it to the full in the Yoon farm! Good on ya pal…not long now until the dementia really sets in and you’ll forget about politics, along with when it’s time for you to empty your bladder. Bless…
@Alan Austin
You’re right Alan but you know the worst thing about being an English colony is having to tolerate wankers like you
Do you think the Tories are inean league with the disrupters appearing on a regular basis at the parliament to provide an added excuse to shut the pretendy parliament.
I did have a wee hope Humza might man up and be his own person as it would have given him a chance of surviving, but no he has taken Nicolas shilling and will carry the can for the corruption and perversion of justice.
Somewhere in Whitehall I can see a cuff of a navy uniform and a voice saying on the phone, “that’s fine keep me updated as it develops” as the phone is replaced.
The ill-informed armchair generals are out in force today.
socratesmacsporan @12:59
Guessing the WM standards officer is only there to put frighteners on any members with integrity that slip through the selection process.
Hopefully in this particular instance he’s been far less inclined to ignore Andrew Bridgen as the characters he deigns to oversee, and has some serious punishment up his sleeve for any vile hypocrites that dare uphold his ludicrous recommendation.
Given Humza’s response* to the news, is there a Holyrood equivalent with a higher level of integrity/ sense of right and wrong who can step in and point the new FM in a more traditional direction?
*I know he’s parroting the contemporaneous reaction of his predecessor but whilst close friends can fall in and out in heat of the moment, new administrators do not have the same discretion and the guy can only compound the harm by taking the wrong side 2 years later – when even the most stubborn have no further excuse to not know better.
Oh God, @Ian Smith 9.53am, the thought of Sturgeon being the new Brown, dug up at every opportunity to come back and tell us all what we are doing wrong and how good we have it under colonial yoke!!! St. Nicla speaks.
Red. Yes that was the part I disagreed with Kevin on.
I think if the 50k members had stayed. Sturgeon would still have resigned , and the Murrells would still have fiddled the vote for Humza to win. Not to mention the NEC don’t give two F**ks about the membership.
I think Ash will regret not challenging the result. We all know that Humza was the chosen one, and they made sure he won. Not by honest means.
Aunty Flo
You should have said back to that shop assistant…..oh really I was taught that England was a small part of Scotland, you belong belong to Scotland! They dont like it up them!
Aunty Flo
You should have said back to that shop assistant…..oh really I was taught that England was a small part of Scotland, you belong to Scotland! They dont like it up them!
@Mac 11.17am you are correct, the SNP need ditched. It is like the Yes movement trailing the dead elephant from the room along on the sledge made from the Stone of Destiny. Let’s drop the chains and march on quickly!
Kevin McKenna nails it in his National column yesterday: “Only when they [the old guard] are finally cleared out and the party stops governing for the small army of professional soup-takers who have leached from it this past decade can we seriously entertain the dream of independence once more.”
Can’t wait to see the chief soup-slurper (Cozy Slippers Pishfart) being voted out of office.
Alan Austin-
That’s interesting Alan – now if they closed Holyrood and saved £1 Billion do you think there is a snowball’s chance in hell Tory Westminster would hand it to Scotland.
Should we start charging for prescriptions, hospital parking, cut Nurses pay to match Englands rates, increase Council tax in line with Englands fit water meters start charging bridge and road tolls and and how about no more free further education or nursery places
Oh we can attack the disabled like they do in England with the Bedroom tax that isn’t applied here.
Could we add to that Billion and ask for all our oil revenue too.
If you are happy to be classed as an English Colony region good luck to you but never in my name.
Sounded awfully like a staged event at FMQ’s today, with as usual Douglas Ross playing the bad guy, and Humza Yousaf the righteous FM who “really” wants Scottish independence.
Also there were shouts from the gallery, which stopped proceedings, was that also staged? as later there were calls especially from the BBC in Scotland to reform the gallery in what way I’m not sure, further attempts to shut us up, in and around our own parliament.
Yousaf of course sounded the part, as did Sturgeon, however we know he wants to go down the S30 route, and that’s a dead end.
Vote Alba, Join Alba.
I can’t disagree with Craig Murray here.
“I have to say this to almost everyone I know in Scotland.
Cheer up! Be happy!
We are not back to 2013. We have an absolute bedrock of 44% support for Independence to build on.
We know for certain that the SNP is a devolutionist party and must be destroyed. Important knowledge gain”
link to twitter.com
Margaret Ferrier I think is to receive a thirty-day suspension from the HoC over breaking Covid rules, it looks like there might be a by-election in her constituency, Rutherglen I think, the Alba party MUST stand a candidate for it if this happens.
Vote Alba, Join Alba.
There appears to be an overlap of people who want both to join the EU and to bring back the death penalty.
You can have one or the other. Not both.
No civilised country slaughters its prisoners in cold blood. The EU expressly forbids the practice.
Still haven’t seen any convincing explanation for why Liz Lloyd ‘granted’ her first ever TV interview to CH4 t’other night.
She’s up something, but what?
Anyone have any suggestions?
The BBC has a program called Wild Isles. The interesting, dramatic stuff is mostly filmed in Scotland.
Danger: Appropriation at work?
What exactly do those people in the Bundestag see in that imperialist fossil?
They might be reminded of the rôle German troops, Hessians, played in the «pacification» of the Highlands.
There you go, proof if proof were needed that Scotland is a country of cunts, governed by cunts…Fuck living there.
Ian
I watched that and then put a post out on FB that she seemed to be suggesting she was some kind of Svengali figure behind Nicola Sturgeon.
Some guy pulled me up on that so I watched it again and while she still seemed very pleased with herself throughout on the 2nd viewing I thought maybe the guy was right she was just inflating her own importance.
So I put out a reply saying just that.
Then the guy replied that they all do that but in Liz Loyd’s case she the one who is entitled to claim influence, he listed several instances.
So then I’m thinking ‘WTF first you pull me up for saying she claimed influence over Nicola and now you’re saying she did have influence over Nicola’ but I didn’t respond with that.
He also added that she had ‘glammed up’ for the interview even though she didn’t need glamming up and I’m thinking ‘You want get round to Specsavers sharpish mate.’ but again I stayed schtum.
Incomers are NOT Scots. “New Scots” is a load of woke shite.
Dean Clark
I take it, judging by your language, you’re not a Dean of the C of E. That Dean is just your name.
@Chic McGrego (5.15) –
Cheers.
It is peculiar isn’t it?
She spends all those years doing everything she can to avoid any scrutiny (and that’s fair enough I suppose) but all of a sudden she’s right out there with a pretty bland blether, no great expose, no clear reason for any of it. And no harm to Kathy Newman but she can’t be expected to deliver the kind of questions we might expect to see from someone like Rev or Kevin McKenna.
All very strange.
SusanAHF
I would be delighted to have a Scottish passport.
Born Baghdad. 2003.
Ottomanboi I see no reason for you not to get one in an independent Scotland but you would be a Scottish citizen not a Scot, just as if in a similar situation I would be an Iraqi citizen but not Iraq
The UK gov has a convention that any correspondence between it and it’s advisors is not available to an incoming government.
In the event of Humza’s SNP being dumped from office , would the correspondence between the Scotgov under Sturgeon and her civil service be available to the incoming administration or would it be be put away and so conceal her malfeasance for evermore effectively.
Good reason to install a loser.
Alan Austin says:
30 March, 2023 at 2:57 pm
” Holyrood costs Scots about a billion £ a year”
1. Can you show me the UK gov accounts – The balance sheet with assets on one side and liabilities in the other. To show how that funding worked ?
2. Can you show where that Billion came from again using the actual balance sheet ?
3. Can you show where this so called billion flows to via the many spending chains it creates within in the economy. Again using the actual assets and liabilities on the government balance sheet ?
Or.
Is a an analogy of a household budget all you got. A household budget that “uses” the currency and cannot “issue” the currency from thin air like the Government.
Are.
You going to use the tax payer money myth, as Scottish government spending and then Scottish government tax collection flows across the Irish, English and Welsh borders and the rest of the World were all of it is unaccounted for. Never shows up on the Scottish government accounts.
Probably as the actual mechanism for this 1 billion is completely alien to your placard waving, slogan shouting sabre rattling brainwashed nonsense. As my guess is you’ve never looked at a government balance sheet – The assets and liabilities once in your life. Your TV instructs you how to think or some internet chat room that massage your confirmation bias and world view. Fool yourself to believe you are talking with kindred spirits of sense. When they are as thick and brainwashed as yourself spreading this billion fable.
@Alan Austin says:30 March, 2023 at 2:57 pm
That’s a good post, much of what you wrote is true. For example:
Humza made we fondly remember Nicola and he even made Douglass Ross look good.
He is a clown who has selected even more clowns
Holyrood costs Scots about a billion £ a year for a juvenile punch and judy show – get rid of it and spend the money helping people who need it.
Independence is dead forever under these clowns
Read the comments and you will find endless repetitions of these points, and worse.
But what you have to understand is that many of the regulars on here are not at all interested in spreading the word and growing support for Indy. They and their like-thinking pals on here are more than enough for them. The rest of Scotland has insufficient ideological purity.
So this place becomes like a family scrapping in the chipper after the pubs are out. They are all shouting and screaming at each other, but will turn in a trice on anybody who tries to join in, even if the joiner in is just trying to help.
Tweet today from Emma Roddick, newly selected Minister for Wokery and People who Like to Wear Nappies: ” Honoured to be asked by @HumzaYousaf to serve as Minister for Equalities, Migration & Refugees, subject to parliamentary approval. Incredibly important brief, both to me personally as a queer, disabled woman, + for the Highlands & Islands, esp. post-Brexit & invasion of Ukraine.”
Wonder if the Other People’s Husbands she is said to have used on her way up the SNP Greasy Pole knew about the “queer” bit…
Ye gods, what a state we are in. How did it come to this?
@Gordon Gekko says:30 March, 2023 at 6:20 pm
There you go again with your funny money alternative economic reality.
Fine. If HR costs nothing, hows about putting a million of us Scots on the HR payroll? Five million even. Obvs we won’t all fit in the place at once, so hows about just saying we are all on the permanent sick, or working from home, or somesuch.
If something costs nothing, we can scale it up as much as we want. The cost will still be nothing.
Or are you going to say there is some “magic number” at which the cost flips from nothing to unaffordable?
Useless has called for a bye election in Hamilton West. Bring it on.
Any news yet re. Nicola Sturgeon’s new job? I expect the British State will make sure she’s well rewarded for services to King & Country. Spare a thought for her husband. What will he do when she’s gone?
President Xiden…
Can we refer to the shiny new FM as “Yousless”?
If you refer to “Useless” in the context of SNP MSP/MPs it doesn’t really narrow it down.
John Main…
I’ve yet to meet a Yoon on this site who was “just trying to help”. PS. If you can’t stand the heat in the chippy…
Solidarity. What exactly is the common interest?
Is the goal now for good governance?
I though that was a gimme, when electing a government.
Is SNP’s fan base there, just to keep smug bastard politicians in a job?
How many years are you prepared to wait for the opportunity to confirm self-determination?
Why wait for SNP to get their act together? Force the issue. . Take back control. Withdraw your support, force a reaction!
There is absolutely nothing to lose. A period without SNP dominance, equals what exactly, more austerity?
Either independence is priority or time to remove them from power. There is no middle ground!
SusanAHF says:
30 March, 2023 at 5:15 pm
Incomers are NOT Scots. “New Scots” is a load of woke shite.
Aye, right. I have lived here for 55 years and consider myself a Scot. Does that make me woke?
Try finding out how much is spent and wasted running the House of Lords.
How ludicrous to have to call anyone Lord in the 21st century.
Baroness Ruth done nothing for Scotland ever but she picks up the cash
How about Moan the Bra Queen, gold digger and miracle slimming pill fraudster.
Lord Watson arsonist
Lord Archer writer and convicted criminal
Russian Boris sponsor Lord Lebedev – don’t trust Russian money unless it’s to Tories.
Of course the Lords whose ancestors fought in the Holy Wars a few hundred years ago deserve the role?
Lord Lucan did the right thing –
There would be a few billion in the pot to kick these charlatans into touch.
Come on all you Albaists show everyone how it is done. At a risk of repeating myself this could be your Hamilton 1967 moment.
Effigy,
I think you wrote a post earlier that didn’t mention Boris. I was going to congratulate you, only I thought, shurely shome mishtake …
Glad to see you back to form at 7:06.
I’ve managed my entire life so far without having to call anybody Lord, other than The Lord, obviously.
So I don’t quite understand where you are going wrong. Sounds like you have fallen in with a bad crew.
Stop rubbing shoulders with the rich and titled and get out among ordinary Scots fowk. You will feel so much better for it. Trust me.
Spend some time with the rest of us and you will learn about and be able to post about things that actually matter.
Chic McGregor says:
30 March, 2023 at 5:15 pm
Ian
I watched that and then put a post out on FB that she seemed to be suggesting she was some kind of Svengali figure behind Nicola Sturgeon…
Watched through squinted eyes trying not to punch the TV just listening to the woman, but the old cogs in my head were asking why is this woman on TV getting a prime time interview?
Bottom line that I can see is that after losing Sturgeon, Murrell, Swinney, etc, etc… the “string pullers” were suddenly seeing their pieces removed from the board one by one, so it became necessary to bring in other players and raise their public profile to maintain their apparent “relevance”.
I wouldn’t trust that woman if my very life depended on it, but we should all be alert to her movements, and also those who recruit her “advice”. Her input to Humza’s campaign rings alarm bells for me.
Frankly, I think they’re still deeply, deeply afraid of one Alex Salmond. That is what thought came through loud and clear throughout her “interview”.
Why Lloyd? Who else did they have to convincingly deliver the anti-Salmond script, which was actually written for Sturgeon to deliver?
@Scotsrenewables says:30 March, 2023 at 6:59 pm
I have lived here for 55 years and consider myself a Scot
You are approaching this from the wrong direction. It’s not about you or what you think. It’s about what your friends and neighbours think about you.
I can trace my Scottish ancestry back to the early 1800’s so I know what I am talking about.
Your friends and neighbours will forget you are or were a New Scot when everybody who was alive when you arrived is dead. So basically if you can outlive them all, you are home and dry.
Soz, but I don’t make the rules.
If you look at the country with the most experience of immigrants, the USA, then there are simply two categories of citizen: native-born and naturalized. If it’s good enough for them…
Then again, if you count at all the pensioners coming north for all the perks, I guess we have to add a third category: invasive 😉
Lots of useful and entertaining terminology, for all political presuasions, here: link to en.wikipedia.org. The origin of house sparrows is a surprise, though.
High and Low
by James H. Cousins
“He stumbled home from Clifden fair
With drunken song, and cheeks aglow.
Yet there was something in his air
That told of kingship long ago.
I sighed — and inly cried
With grief that one so high should fall so low.
He snatched a flower and sniffed its scent,
And waved it toward the sunset sky.
Some old sweet rapture thro’ him went
And kindled in his bloodshot eye.
I turned — and inly burned
With joy that one so low should rise so high”
Strangely enough, hearing this poem recited by the great traditional singer and musician Tommy Makem in the seventies was what first made me start thinking about Scottish Nationalism the spirituality the national pride, something better than the eternal money grubbing of socialist or capitalist politics. Salmond and Sillars came on the scene and I became a great supporter of Jim, not so much Alec, for though a great standard bearer for the cause, he lacked Jim’s slow burning belief.
However we followed Alec in hope but it was still a disappointment when he fell at the last hurdle. He did not appear to feel the pain much, as he believed his protégé would take the movement forward. How wrong could one man be and I still fail to see how he was taken in by such an obvious grifter.
I resigned my membership a couple of months later.
Today I read the comments here and speak to people in the wider world. It is obvious that we all hate and despise one another because of the social views we hold, our Nationality, our political leanings……the world as we know it has changed beyond recognition, the flower sniffers are all gone, the hearts are hard and cold. Independence has lost any meaning and we shall in short order get the society we deserve and it won’t be a rewarding experience.
We had one last chance but typically for this forum we would rather demonise a child, a mother and a fine political brain because she was deemed by the elders to be tainted by conservatism, well suck it up old boys The Dream the Spirituality, the “Kingship” never made it home.
They are in the gutter and will probably never arise.
If I move to Canada and get citizenship, I will be a Scot with a Canadian passport. We don’t pick and choose nationalities like sweeties. If I was born in Canada to Scots parents, then I could be classed as a Canadian.
My question is why would you want to pretend to be a nationality you are not. Surely you are giving up your birthright and identity, if nationality is simply based on your geographic location.
It’s not! People can move around the world, but your nationality is fixed. Maybe if we moved somewhere as small children , it may be different.
But imagine Andy Murray saying he was English because he has lived there for 20 years. It doesn’t work like that does it.
Communist Party,
The Gender Recognition Bill and Equality Law.
`The implications of self-ID as the sole requirement for access to single-sex spaces and facilities are serious when it comes to safeguarding women and children from predatory and abusive behaviour by men who can simply declare themselves to be women`
Reflecting on today’s FMQs:
It was like an edition of Still Game.
Haunless Yousless and Anas Sarwar are Jack and Victor
DRoss is Boaby
Alas Coal-Scuttle is Navid and
Patrick Harvie is Isa.
Now that SNP are a completely lost cause and Alba are unlikely to stand any candidates at the next UK GE it leaves quite a lot of pro-Indy vote with something to vote for.
We could really do with some sort of public campaign for pro-Indy voters to either boycott the vote or to spoil their ballot papers.
Some from of visible protest has to be made to avoid any presentation that the Independence vote is regressing and that any Labour gains will be because Independence voters stayed at home or spoiled their vote.
socratesmacsporran 8.57
Yup! Life imitating art. But it’s not life as we know it, Jim.
One definition of nationality is that it is simply a result of citizenship and that is not an obscure idea. Ethnicity is what might be related to the idea of Scottishness or Englishness, at least in theory.
These arguments go on in England but here ‘British’ is a useful term as everyone who has British citizenship is British. I guess not so much in Scotland 😉
But there have been more recent moves to accept the idea, for example, of a black English person (the England football team being a bit of torch bearer there – how can you not be English and play for that team?) and that is a question for Scotland too – if a person is born in Scotland or arrives a a child and is black or Asian or Chinese and has heritage that way, are they now Scottish (forget ‘New’ Scot)? Presumably Yousaf is Scottish?
The English in Scotland feels like a special case (and vice versa) because we guard our origins so deeply and so much water has gone under the bridge between the two countries that it is understandable that the idea of an English person living in Scotland is Scottish seems strange to put it mildly. But I can’t help thinking this is a red herring to the main issue of when does someone become Scottish.
Personally I don’t much care about some narrow definition of being English – if a person living here wants to be English, has some of the English culture in them, then great, I don’t see why it is a problem and when it comes to race relations, it can only be a good thing in my view as it avoids the ghetto of communities living apart, always referring back to their own ethnic origins and never able to feel they are the thing that is the name of where they live: England.
Akex Salmond pointed out that you ask for a Section 30 when you win an election and have a mandate. In other words Humza was simply box ticking and virtue signalling.
How did we get rid of the evil one, but end up in a worse position?
Have we all been bad in our previous lives. No-one deserves Humza surely.
@Big Jock says:30 March, 2023 at 8:13 pm
If I was born in Canada to Scots parents, then I could be classed as a Canadian
Sure, by some.
By others, you would be classed as a second generation colonist.
FWIW, I reckon you can be classed as “nationality X” when enough generations have passed that people can no longer tell who was in X first. In Scotland, I don’t care any more about Picts, Celts, Scots, etc. Enough time has passed to render these differences, that were very real at one time, impossible to detect.
If you look at a country like Canada, where only 3 or 4 generations have passed since the colonists stole the place at gunpoint, things are very different. There are great disparities between the colonists and the colonised, in most respects.
The great, illusory, wet dream of the multi-culti fanatics is that we will all submit to the melting pot. The colonists and the colonised will merge and become the same. But real people are not like that. The differences are preserved down the generations.
History teaches us that lesson over and over again.
Humza is a Scot of Pakistani ancestry. He has a very clearly defined heritage.
In my case. I am a Scot of mixed Irish and Scots ancestry. The Irish in my family is the early 1900s. The Scottish early 1800s. The point is that it was an awfy long time ago.
I haven’t just arrived and called myself a Scot. I have a clear lineage of Scottish ancestry.
Southernbystander @ 9:24 pm
“Ethnicity is what might be related to the idea of Scottishness or Englishness, at least in theory.”
According to postcolonial theory, an independence movement is dependent on the solidarity of the oppressed ethnic group. Ethnicity is therefore a fundamental aspect, as is their oppression due to colonialism.
link to bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com
laukat 9.12
Don.t give up your day job for political commentary
@ Big Jock says:30 March, 2023 at 9:41 pm
The point is that it was an awfy long time ago
Indeed.
Another thing to realise is that nobody is going to be looking at your lineage and seeing any virtue-signalling brownie points in promoting and paying you well above your capabilities (high though they undoubtedly are).
Try to grift off the back of your heritage and people will laugh.
My heritage is reputed to be Norse if I go back far enough. That’s not worth a fly’s fart either.
And of course, in a sane world, it’s entirely right that our heritages should not gift us advantages. Which makes the undeserved elevation of Yousaf all the harder to comprehend and thole.
Because he sure as hell ain’t FM on merit.
John Main says:
30 March, 2023 at 7:43 pm
@Scotsrenewables says:30 March, 2023 at 6:59 pm
I have lived here for 55 years and consider myself a Scot
You are approaching this from the wrong direction. It’s not about you or what you think. It’s about what your friends and neighbours think about you.
They think I am Scottish.
They think you are a choob.
Humza Yousaf’s FMQs were disrupted 5 times by green peace activists.
He’s proud to have the most women and the youngest cabinet under 40 he said.
Identity politics.
The Greens are the worst. I suspect it will be one of them giving the activists tickets.
Drill the oil.
laukat says:
30 March, 2023 at 9:12 pm
“Now that SNP are a completely lost cause and Alba are unlikely to stand any candidates at the next UK GE it leaves quite a lot of pro-Indy vote with something to vote for.”
Alba must put forward candidates in every election whether Westminster, Holyrood or local. We need to have a party we can vote for which can gain momentum and replace the utterly discredited SNP as the party of independence. The alternative is to waste our votes by spoiling ballot papers, a useless symbolic act which will have absolutely no traction. We need Alba on every ballot paper. A costly exercise with the potential for lost deposits but it is absolutely essential. If necessary a fund raiser would be the way to go, at least the money would be used for the stated purpose unlike the famous £600,000 + stolen by the SNP.
If there is no independence candidate available (by definition that excludes the SNP) I will hold my nose and vote for whoever has the best chance of beating this bunch of thieving, lying chancers (by definition that is the SNP) even if that is a Tory. We need to be rid of this scum.
I will be abstaining in 2024. Unless Alba are standing of course. I am hopeful that events will force Humza out by this autumn though.
I mean just look at the eejits he has surrounded himself with.
What baffles me, and I appreciate it’s early days. But where is the rebellion and defections? Not one SNP mp or msp has jumped ship. Why is Ash still hanging around?
Southernbystander @ 9:24 pm
“One definition of nationality is that it is simply a result of citizenship and that is not an obscure idea.”
Its an interesting point, tho insufficient because there may be a difference between a persons national citizenship and their national culture and hence their national identity, which is a cultural emotion. If you want to know your national identity then ‘look at who your relatives are’ (Kelman). Independence is about ‘a fight for a national culture’ (Fanon).
National citizenship in the contested colonial situation logically comes after the fight for national culture and independence is won, not before; Scotland cannot offer its national citizenship whilst still a colony. National citizenship may be given by a sovereign state to non-indigenous people who seek to apply for it and/or have enough money to buy it. However, for indigenous peoples/culture their right to self-determination, independence and national citizenship is ‘inalienable’.
Scotsrenewables @ 6:59 pm
“I have lived here for 55 years and consider myself a Scot.”
And if you lived in China for 55 years would you be Chinese? Or 55 years in Ireland, Irish? Or 55 years in India, Indian?
“Big Jock says:
30 March, 2023 at 11:52 pm
What baffles me, and I appreciate it’s early days. But where is the rebellion and defections? Not one SNP mp or msp has jumped ship. Why is Ash still hanging around?”
Possibly looking ahead to this lot crashing and burning at the next election, strengthened by any further scandals. Ash and Kate will then be in a position to take over and oust them. The current lot can expect few favours after the way they’ve acted. It will be bitter, but may strengthen things in the long run.
Alf: but why does it have to be so black and white? It is complex. Very many people have heritage that is mixed – when do you start to ignore that and say this is the true Scot or English or whatever? I’m not suggesting ethnicity and culture that derives from that is unimportant, not at all, but it is always changing and is the result of that change.
I see woke snowflake, Owen Jones, is putting in a shift at The National- to general acclaim BTL.
Does anyone at his regular berth, The Grauniad, know?
Southernbystander @ 12:46 am
“but why does it have to be so black and white?”
National cultures represent a bulwark against imperial oppression. In colonialism, the assimilated ethnic group succumb to a ‘superior’ cultural illusion, adopting a false persona and colonial mindset – e.g. Scots become Brits, thereafter subordinating and marginalising their own national culture, language and nation, which will ultimately perish unless they are liberated and self-recover.
Alf Baird says:
31 March, 2023 at 12:16 am
Scotsrenewables @ 6:59 pm
“I have lived here for 55 years and consider myself a Scot.”
And if you lived in China for 55 years would you be Chinese? Or 55 years in Ireland, Irish? Or 55 years in India, Indian?
Those are the same arguments the National Front used to come out with in the 60s and 70s about immigrants straight from the ‘nation is race, race is nation’ playbook of diet nazism, and as a former University Professor you ought to be downright bloody ashamed of yourself.
‘And of course, in a sane world, it’s entirely right that our heritages should not gift us advantages’
No, but it should gift us rights. Rights to have what every other ethnic group considers their natural right without having to fight off the onslaught of those who wish to deny us that fundamental right.
If anyone can be Scottish just by ‘considering’ themselves Scottish or ‘feeling’ Scottish then the situation is no different that the trans debate which utterly undermines the biological reality of women.
In effect it says – ‘there is no such thing as ethnicity.’
That wouldn’t be a massive problem for me in and of itself. But what raises the red flag is that many of the same people who would deny the reality of ethnicity as it pertains to Scots, or very often white Europeans in general, recoil in horror at the idea of denying many other peoples of their ethnic heritage, which can be seen with the enormous virtue signalling when it comes to ‘minorities’ in our own country. I say ‘minorities’ because each of these so called minorities in our own country actually outnumber us massively in a world context – Scots are a true minority.
In effect it turns the previous statement to – ‘there is no such thing as YOUR ethnicity’.
Its fundamentally different. At best its rank hypocrisy. At worst its knowingly attacking the right of our people to exist as an identifiable group. Indeed it can be considered a step towards genocide.
That last bit is fundamental. It explains the artificial Zeitgeist being put in place now.
‘National cultures represent a bulwark against imperial oppression’
I have said the same thing before and the realisation of this shaped my thinking radically from being what could be considered a hard line individualist to being a nationalist.
The anti-nationalist (read: anti ethnic European) forces that are in place in our media, governments, NGO’s, academia and courts are only going to be stopped by unapologetic and rock solid real nationalist spirit. Otherwise in a number of decades there will literally be not enough of us left to have a say in our homelands – and if you think things are bad now, your children are in for absolute hell if we let that happen.
That’s a bold statement but I have been warning of things for years on and off this site in the hope that anyone would listen and I have been right.
In the absence of a Scottish Passport or Identity Card, based upon birth or upon qualified residency, we’re on a hiding to nothing I’m afraid.
I’m the holder of a British Passport, but I regard myself as Scottish, not British. My EU Citizenship was removed despite nearly 2/3 in my country voting to retain it, but I still feel European.
The most ardent, Orange Lodge attending Rangers fan born in Clydebank might consider themselves British, not Scottish.
My wife, born in England, has spent the majority of her 50 years living in Scotland, but she, I, and all our friends and colleagues would say she is English.
If I move to Ireland, after 5 years I can apply to swap my British Passport for an Irish/EU Passport, but would that make me Irish?
It’s a complex issue…
@Scotsrenewables says:30 March, 2023 at 10:58 pm
They think I am Scottish
Maybes they lie.
Just be kind an a that.
Southernbystander says:
30 March, 2023 at 9:24 pm
“These arguments go on in England but here ‘British’ is a useful term as everyone who has British citizenship is British.”
Unless the govt decides to strip you of your British Citizenship – even if you were born here.
I guess everyone will be rushing to join Team Yes – the latest and hopefully last gasp by The National to wring money out of the leporine faithful to deal with their insatiable craving for carrots.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23422325.team-yes-now-launched—invited-join/
The comments from the deluded are as entertaining as you’ve come to expect from The Irrational.
Germany had to stop taking ethnicity as a basis for citizenship as it is contrary to EU law.
The only country I can think of immediately that bases citizenship and rights on ethnicity is Israel. Is that really the way to go?
Anyway it’s a daft concept. In the paternal line my ancestors have been Scottish and born in Scotland for hundreds and probably thousands of years. I have an impeccably Scottish name.
I actually had an argument with someone on twitter having a go at me for not using a Gaelic name. I replied it is Gaelic. It doesn’t become any more Gaelic just by spelling it differently.
Anyway, here I am Craig Murray, through the male line Scottish forever. But the problem is the other 75% of my genes aren’t Scottish at all. They are Italian, Corsican, English, Dutch and Danish.
You can’t go around introducing racial purity tests. There are no nice countries that do that.
Joe @ 6.04
Excellent post .
” In effect it turns the previous statement to – ‘there is no such thing as YOUR ethnicity’. ”
Yes , the feeble , pathetic badge-wearers n hypocrites that will ” Stand With ” any and every ethnic group except their own
All this * Gender * shite that’s completely derailed the Independence train is the * logical * outcome of adopting and promoting the spurious concept of Civic Nationalism – draping nice inoffensive , apologetic rainbow frippery over the stark reality of what is a struggle for National Liberation – has served only to undermine , divert n if it continues to dominate the discourse/mentality , ultimately destroy any hope restoring Scotland to full independent Nationhood .
That , I suspect , is the purpose of it’s adoption & promotion
Listen to that clown Alyn Smith : the colossal arrogance n conceit of telling the membership of a Party that’s been around much longer than him if they don’t submit to the uncritical , slavish adherence to utter pish like the GRR they have to leave the Party . Fckn hell , who gave these * unts such power ?
Well , we know who …Sturgeon et al AND all the members who stood-by passively – at times approvingly – as the fanatics and ” Independence , aye , late ” mob took over .
As ye reap ……the rotten harvest is lying ruined in the field
Well, here we go down the bloodnsoil hole… we all know where that will end up.
Votes for ethnic scots abroad will guarantee we never have independence. Lack of independence means no-one born outside our borders can ever become a citizen.
As I don’t want to be tattooed and put on a train all the Little Scotlanders on here can go fuck themselves. It’s obviously YOUR fault you are still under London rule, not mine.
Craig Murray @8.00 am
I agree with your point of view, with the caveat that settled populations form customs and societies which Governments don’t seem to like very much because they resist control.
Immigration is used as a weapon to wreck societal consensus and shift power to the bureaucracy.
Craig Murray
The “debate” is not about racial purity but whether someone can simply show up and be given equal footing as the sizeable disadvantaged majority that have been there for a while.
The canonical example of people simply showing up and taking over is, of course, Israel.
robertkknight says:
31 March, 2023 at 7:30 am
If I move to Ireland, after 5 years I can apply to swap my British Passport for an Irish/EU Passport, but would that make me Irish?….
…It’s a complex issue…
It is, and yet it isn’t.
For local elections, I think yes, you very much do need an inclusive franchise, which by definition, makes the issues complex.
However, if you want simplicity, (and I’m not saying you do), the single, binary and unalterable definition of nationality is where you were physically born.
The reality is, in both local elections on domestic matters, and also on existential Constitutional matters relating to the National status, you have a spectrum featuring Scottish by birth at one end, and at the other end of the spectrum, giving everybody and their dog a vote.
For me, the burning question regarding and Constitutional vote, such as a Referendum on Independence or a Ratification Plebiscite after the event, is how far we move across that spectrum, and who is allowed to vote according to selected criteria. Birthright? Yes certainly. Scottish Parentage if it’s parental birthright? Yes. Qualified citizenship? Yes, IF the qualification is comparable to securing citizenship after occupation… something like 6 years I think is the recognised norm.
I do not believe there is a country on the planet who would consider this unusual or even remotely controversial. The fact that it is considered contentious is a symptom of the Constitutional dog’s breakfast we have to endure in Scotland every day of the week.
Thing is, it isn’t just a random choice. Your nation’s Constitution will determine who is eligible for citizenship and a passport, and there are international protocols about who can get a passport which are necessary to uphold the integrity of the passport. If all you have to do to secure a Scottish passport is phone up and ask for one, it will downgrade the passports integrity and limit it’s use for securing travel visas and permits etc.
I really don’t know why people insist Scotland should re-invent the wheel over this.
@Joe says:31 March, 2023 at 6:04 am
That’s a good post. It says much of what I think and better than I could have written it.
There’s one thing I would like to add. When confronted with the most outspoken supporter of open borders, free and unfettered movement of people, diversity celebration, etc. I think it reasonable to say:
Our country is not yours or mine to give away
We rationalise all sorts of reasons for why New Scots are necessary (including my favourite – “So who’s going to wipe your arse when you start dribbling, then?”), but at its fundamentals, we are gifting our birthright and that of our descendants for some paltry little short-term convenience.
Once given away, we won’t get it back.
Whoever followed Sturgeon was always going to be another selfish devolutionist, appointed by the Murrells via a fake election.
So it never really mattered who got the FM job. Real nationalists just have to get on with the project of replacing the SNP.
If we put aside the facts that Humza really is useless and has no intention to pursue independence, then at least we ought to say that it’s no bad thing in itself that an Asian Scot can attain the highest office in our land. It’s just unfortunate that the first person to do it is such an untrustworthy individual.
Let’s hope that the second Scottish Asian to lead Scotland will be a good prime minister in a, by then, independent Scottish republic.
Dan says:
29 March, 2023 at 11:57 pm
@ John Main
“Seeing as I can’t sleep due to yet another heatpump (Italian made so heehaw Brexit bonus there then…)) installation humming away and further destroying what was once a peaceful village…”
I feel your pain, and people ckeep telling me “it’s not that bad” or “You’ll get used to it”. Yes t is and no, I bloody well won’t.
Thankfully misophonia is becoming recognised as a condition – not sure what anyone will do about it though.
I agree with your post of 6.04am Joe. It’s always dismissed with cries of racism or bloodandsoil nationalism, when, often it’s not.
I also agree with you too Breeks
@Craig Murray
Who here is suggesting racial purity tests? Ive already stated that it is not really a big deal to me. The proof is that my child is only half Scottish.
What IS a big deal to me is the people in power, and much of the Scottish independence movement who will virtue signal endlessly for the rights of ethnic minorities while simultaneously rejecting the idea that Scots themselves should have any ethnic consideration.
You either consider ethnicity or you do not.
To take it to an even greater level of concern is the clear anti-white racial bias on display by the media, politicians and corporate establishment.
This is as clear as day to anybody who is honest to themselves.
A few years ago I was even arguing on here why we as white Northern European people should not apologise to blacks for the crimes committed well outside of living memory, triggered by the death of a black man in police hands in the US (and the following Scottish Parliamentary mass virtue signal) while not a peep about the wholesale trafficking, rape and sometimes murder of 10’s of thousands of working class girls by men who were overwhelmingly of a certain group just over the border which was ignored by police and politicians alike for years. That is how far it has gotten.
Lets not pretend there is a level playing field and that some daft white racialists are making a noise because of some outdated beliefs on ethnicity.
Anybody who has children who are ethnically Northern European should be looking at the messaging coming out of every institution of power right now and wondering what the future will be for their children in this highly artificial cultural and political climate.
And finally – im about fact and natural law. Biology is real. Sex is real. Ethnicity is real. They will always be more meaningful than any piece of government paper, especially when those governments are so obviously dishonest and criminal. When we allow governments to over ride natural truths by decree then we are finished
Alf Garnett says:
31 March, 2023 at 12:16 am
Scotsrenewables @ 6:59 pm
“I have lived here for 55 years and consider myself a Scot.”
And if you lived in China for 55 years would you be Chinese? Or 55 years in Ireland, Irish? Or 55 years in India, Indian?
If I had lived in Ireland for 55 years and considered myself Irish I would have an Irish passport and Irish citizenship. But then I think you know that.
@craig murray says:31 March, 2023 at 8:00 am
“You can’t go around introducing racial purity tests”
Not sure anybody is suggesting that.
You can go around introducing strict checks for asylum seekers, with fast removal for grifters and crooks.
You can certainly make full citizen rights dependent on a period of residence, contribution, and an absence of major criminality.
You can have an integrated policy with tailored construction of infrastructure, such as housing, medical and educational, linked to numbers, so that the existing population don’t find their lives materially worsened by an increased population scrambling for the same resources.
You could even ask party political campaigns to include numbers and limits, so that the party winning power would have a clear democratic mandate for its immigration policies.
@ Craig Murray
What are your views on a reasonable duration of residence prior to folk being eligible to vote on Scottish constitutional matters?
Should folk from outwith Scotland who happen to be here on a temporary basis at the time of a vote be included in the franchise? EG Students studying over the duration of their course, or transient workers who are just here fulfilling a contract, or military personnel and families situated on bases.
Plus there is also the new information relating to CHI numbers used in health service highlighted in the article on Yours For Scotland that gives an indication of further demographic changes.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
John Main says:
30 March, 2023 at 6:40 pm
“There you go again with your funny money alternative economic reality.”
First of all John, no such thing as funny money alternative. What I describe is actually how it works. Simply by describing the actual assets and liabilities that are in place. It is called the whole of the government accounts.
Just because you don’t understand it or ever looked at it once in your life. Does not entitle you to call it ” funny money “.
It just shows clearly your ignorance on the matter.
Why would anybody want to do what you suggest are you crazy ?
Of course not you just do what you always do with every subject and take everything to their extreme. In other words, you create a straw man conjured up and in your mind. One which can easily be blown over by any rational debate.
Let’s test you John. So I can have some real fun with you. Considering I’ve analysed and studied this for 20 years. You’ve been to lazy to even look at it once in your life. Prefer waving ideological placards and slogans around instead.
Considering you clearly don’t understand money or double entry book keeping and the assets and liabilities within the government balance sheet. What is the straw man you conjured up in your mind regarding “fiscal sustainability “?
Explain how you understand “fiscal sustainability” John considering your answer will not reflect the actual accounting that takes place. Your answer Will exist in the realms of fantasy.
Over to you John.
My guess is you won’t even be able to understand this below and it will be beyond your capabilities to grasp something so simple.
link to new-wayland.com
@ Wee Chid says:31 March, 2023 at 7:58 am
Unless the govt decides to strip you of your British Citizenship – even if you were born here
To be fair to the govt, they strip the citizenship from people who go abroad to behead other people.
I kinda think the govt has it right. Whilst we can’t in any way seem to define what it is to be British, Scottish or English, I am of the opinion that none of these groups practice beheading.
Thus, somebody who does practice beheading, can’t be British, Scottish or English. QED.
Somebody yesterday was celebrating the fact we don’t do capital punishment any more. Just another reason then to ensure the beheaders are kept well away from the rest of us.
The immigration debate is an interesting one but I think it has been superseded by mass uncontrolled immigration being weaponized.
We had the savage murder and sodomy by knife of Gadhafi and the destruction of Libya from advanced African country to chaos and open air slave markets. Gadhafi always said it was he who was holding back waves of mass uncontrolled immigrants trying to get to Europe. And it has proved to be true.
We had the creation of ISIS. A incredibly savage and theatrically terrifying force in Syria and Iraq. With their highly produced hideously graphic torture videos showing them killing people in the most horrible ways imaginable. What was that if not to drive waves of mass uncontrolled immigration. If that lot where anywhere near me I’d be jumping in my motor and getting the f**k away…
Now we have Ukr@ine of course… hmmm guess what the result of that was and is…
So once might have been bad luck, twice it starts to look suspicious, but three times it is staring you in the face.
It is the same force driving all three of the above events.
So if you accept that mass uncontrolled immigration has been weaponized for a second then the academic debate about it becomes almost irrelevant. We have bigger issues to worry about.
There seems to be some on-going effort to destabilize Europe. It seems like we in Europe are subject to the vile Wolfowitz doctrine same as everyone else.
Joe @ 6:04 am
“At worst its knowingly attacking the right of our people to exist as an identifiable group. Indeed it can be considered a step towards genocide.”
Interesting that at least one of the experts appointed to the Scottish Government’s ‘Ending Conversion Practices Expert Advisory Group’, Dr Paul Behrens of University of Edinburgh, appears to be primarily an expert on genocide.
link to gov.scot
Frantz Fanon maintained that independence/decolonisation ‘is a fight for a national culture’. If a people lose their culture (incl language) which forms the basis of national consciousness and national identity, they have lost the basis of the struggle.
The forces opposed to Scottish independence appear willing to use any means at their disposal and the Scottish Governments dedication to GRR etc seems to be a part of that.
Folks, I wonder if Humza Yousaf was installed as the continuity candidate just to take the hit when it all goes south? The unwitting fall guy?. I was surprised to see Angus Robertson in the new Scottish cabinet (after declining to run for FM for various reasons). Is Angus the chosen leader in waiting, avoiding the current flak, but ready to step in when and calm the storm? Watch yer back, Humza!
A cunning scheme if so. Mind you, as they say “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft a-gley”. Whatever happens over the next 6-12 months, it’s not going to go as certain individuals are expecting IMO. I think both Ash and Kate put in a good show and built strong support in the party and country (in the ridiculously short time given them), but they are wise to quietly bide their time for now, whilst the brown stuff hits the fan.
Gordon
Let’s test you John. So I can have some real fun with you
OK, have it your way. Governments and markets the world over are in thrall to economic delusion. You have the key, but nobody is listening.
Spending a billion a year on HR is just a smokescreen. The money is all really just magnetic impulses on a hard drive somewhere.
If you want real fun, Gordon, get Freeview. 24-hour comedy channels on there.
Southernbystander @12:46am
You are absolutely correct that national identity includes a multitude of factors and cannot be boiled down to where you were born or what you look like.
Ethnicity and nationality are entirely different things, who should be given a vote is yet another. There may be a crossover and may be there won’t.
” ‘Oh it’s Scottish – I don’t think we accept these (£20 RBS note) now. Scotland isn’t part of England any more, is it?’
You should have said back to that shop assistant…..oh really I was taught that England was a small part of Scotland, you belong belong to Scotland!”
Hah! I commented a few years ago that constitutionally the sovereign monarch of England owns all of England, so in 1603 when QE1 died and our King James VI inherited the English throne, he also inherited all of England. But since he wasn’t sovereign himself in Scotland, being subject to the sovereignty of us Scots, then we owned him, and thus all of England and Scotland.
And in fact England is really a substantially smaller part of the UK than Scotland is. It’s only when you ignore all the maritime waters that England appears larger. Our waters are as much part of Scotland as our lands. Our ‘Exclusive Economic Zone’ or EEZ is fully 62% of the UK’s EEZ, so Scotland really does dwarf England, but you’ll never read or hear that in the media.
Scotland has never been part of England, that all comes down to idiotic English wishful thinking that England and the UK are synonyms.
@Stuart MacKay 8.18: “The canonical example of people simply showing up and taking over is, of course, Israel.”
Perfectly put.
I keep hoping that the title of this thread means that The Rev knows something big is about to happen but maybe I’m just getting my hopes up for nothing.
I found it ironical when scanning Humza’s new cabinet that the word “Justice” appears in the title of two HR ministries when the treatment of several Scottish patriots recently has shown there isn’t any justice to be had in our country at all.
In the silence now after the hype and the hope and the sound and the fury of the last few weeks that justice on several counts will be seen to be done, we seem to have arrived in the terminal depths of despair and the slough of despond. At 78 and having joined and campaigned for the SNP since 1963, I’m crushed.
” ScotsRenewables says:
31 March, 2023 at 8:15 am
Well, here we go down the bloodnsoil hole… we all know where that will end up.”
And here we go AGAIN with drongos who can’t imagine a form of belief in the VALIDITY of a particular cultural/historical identity without using the ridiculous * Blood n Soil * slander . Not our fault you lack the imagination to see beyond your own extremely limited horizon .
Tell us , where have we ended-up with Civic Nationalism ? In a fckn ditch , that’s where
Then again , no surprise coming from a regular adopter of the * Conspiracy Theory ” trope that would attempt to close down any view not 100% mainstream * consensus * . You going to drag out our auld mate ” The Science ” and attempt to club us over the head with it ?
Robert Hughes
You are quite wrong. Nobody is doubting the validity or the absolutely vital importance of Scottish culture and national identity.
We are just against using it to stop folk from other backrgrounds who live here from voting.
Luigi 8.59 .
It would appear there are two stalking horses Kate Forbes ( who had no intent in upping her workload ) & Marmalade who didn’t stand in the election for leadership ( I think he being the chosen candidate ).
Only time will tell if our suspicions bare fruit .
Robert Hughes, we know where blood and soil nationalism ends up – Croats vs Serbs, ethnic cleansing, a fucking unholy mess of killing and suffering.
Forget it. It is civic nationalism or nothing. If the SNP can’t make it work then ALBA must.
Now, haven’t you got some holiday cottages to burn or something?
Well said Robert Hughes!
Not a firkin thing wrong with having a unique culture and Identity.
I’m all for mixing this up a bit though, Haggis pakora is a match made in heaven for example.
On the flip side, not sure how having huge areas of our land owned by foreigners and the mass migration of wealthy Southerners buying up all the housing to let them out for holidays in prime rural locations which forces out the historical locals and identity is a good thing.
That really sticks in my craw.
NATIONALISMS….CIVIC or ETHNIC
«The civic/ethnic distinction encourages the view that in civic nations the roles of culture, language, religion, ethnicity, and race are minimal and can therefore be ignored»
«The civic version of nationalism offers a model that is too abstract and legalistic. While constitutionalism, universal rights, and equal membership are valuable guidelines for political action, they cover a limited scope of a person’s life. More important, they offer far too thin a basis for social and political cooperation. This is why nationalism keeps coming back, pushing civic ideals aside, and making its way to center stage. Those who know how to meet the needs it presents will be the winners of the coming decades»
link to annualreviews.org
The problem as such for me isn’t that folk are coming to Scotland, its the fact that we (Scotland) have no control or say who can and can’t come and live in Scotland, something other nations take for granted.
The above can and looks like leading to an unchecked influx of folk from South of the border possibly retiring or moving to Scotland hoping for better job prospects or better social benefits such as better NHS, dentist, housing etc waiting times.
This influx tips the balance against Scotland becoming an independent nation, it has nothing to do with blood and soil nationalism, its merely a factual observation, backed up by figures from the 2014 indyref in which 72.1% of resident from the rest of the UK who had a vote on 2014 voted no and to stay in the UK.
Its easy to say well then persuade a section of these folk to support Scottish independence, however although a small percentage will support an independent Scotland, the majority will not, taking comfort from knowing that they can live in Scotland but can still have the union as a back up if need be, in whatever form it takes for the individual.
This is our dilemma, the longer it takes for us to achieve Scottish independence the more likely the balance will tip further away against us with a steady stream of incomers from South of the border.
This is compounded by not having a government in Scotland that supports Scottish independence.
‘Robert Hughes, we know where blood and soil nationalism ends up – Croats vs Serbs, ethnic cleansing, a fucking unholy mess of killing and suffering’
Usually after some international group messes with borders, injects foreign masses into other’s countries and generally stirs the pot.
Your characterisation is utterly without context and is invalid.
My wife is from a place that was asked by the ‘international community’ to take in 30,000 ethnically and culturally distinct refugees temporarily. The result was 300,000 aggressive, highly nationalistic and antagonistic foreigners who now occupy a large portion of the country and maintain a king maker spot in the countries parliament and have literally threatened war should my wife’s people try to upset that disbalance. They push continually to change the countries traditions, values, religion and laws to suit themselves along with the push to get more of their own into the nation.
Just because we reject ‘blood and soil’ nationalism does not mean others will too.
It’s astoundingly naive to think otherwise.
I really cannot see the problem with making the residency qualification realistic. 5 or 10 years continuous residence as a Scottish taxpayer, for example.
No-one thinks students or second homers should have a vote. Do they?
It’s all rather academic now anyway, with no prospect of a referendum)
Useless on a death wish by talking up a by election at Rutherglen. Lose which he will and westminster gravy train nats will really go for him within a couple o monhs he could face a pincer movement MP’s and rebel MSP’s
Humza’s “crocodile tears” rebuff to the Tory raising the omission of the Scottish Child Payment to some of his constituents was painful.
He’ll work tirelessly for the whole of Scotland provided you aren’t represented by a Tory.
Meanwhile those missing the payments……
We don’t need a referendum
Many outsiders have remarked that modern Scottish nationalism has no intellectual dynamic compared to the foundation years. The economics, oil fuelled has given way to the sentiment driven, effectively it operates within the field of conventional politics where the system might with relative ease play havoc.
Exactly what we have.
To paraphrase the Irishism, if that’s where you’re going I wouldn’t start where you are now.
Scotsrenewables @ 10:43 am
“It’s all rather academic now anyway, with no prospect of a referendum)”
Is it? The next national election(s) in Scotland will likely include a plebiscite offer, at least from ALBA and ISP. Meantime Holyrood has a ‘local government’ franchise imposed which permits a ‘national’ vote for virtually anybody claiming to have an address in Scotland. That remains highly irregular and non-reciprocal anywhere.
On the matter of ethnicity, colonialism of course involves ethnic oppression, racism and worse (fascism). From research for my book ‘Doun Hauden’, which presents the only theoretical framework ever developed on Scottish independence, it became very clear that this (oppression) is why an independence movement always ‘depends on the solidarity of the oppressed ethnic group’, which comprises mostly Scots language speakers in our case, as would be expected. Ethnic oppression is also internalized by the oppressed group members with serious adverse health impacts.
So ethnicity is vitally important in the context of ‘a peoples’ independence struggle, but not for the reasons you suggest.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
As far as the push for idependence goes,sitting on your arse waiting
for the snp to do amything is not an option,they have told everyone
they are here to manage the shop on behalf of the uk and nothing
more!
All we have done so far is to replace useless labour c**ts with
useless snp c**nts!
Smart talk by the likes of angus brendan mcniel or jo cherry just
does not cut it…smart enough to try and save thier seats maybe.
The snp will never ever deliver independence for scotland,they
are not even the slightest bit interested in doing that,
They are filled to the brim with absolute grifters!
There needs to be a mass independece movement where independece minded politicians are invited to tag along if they wish,but never
trusted again to lead,if they want a job as a public servant in scotland then let them start to prove they are worthy of that right now!…Or get the hell out of our way!
I am sure the people of scotland are ready right now (why in the name of christ almighty would they not be)!
It is the grifters and the charlatin’s the liars and the knobbled
that is holding us back!
AndyH says:
31 March, 2023 at 11:03 am
We don’t need a referendum
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aye, right. We can leave the Union without asking the citizens if they want to.
Aye. Right.
Of course we have to consult the population first. You don’t need to call it a referendum, but there has to be a vote.
Here’s an interesting post on pensions by Michael Hudson, link to thenextrecession.wordpress.com
There’s not much actual “red meat” other than discussing the general situation but what is really interesting is that Hudson puts forward the point that with a little organisation and a re-ordering of priorities away from ensuring the fat cats are able to maintain their waistlines, it’s perfectly possible to have a pensions system that provides people with security after a lifetime of hard work – except for viewers in Holyrood.
This follows on nicely from the immigration issue as bringing in more people, unless they are going to be paid a lot, doesn’t really address the problem. You’d have to bring really big numbers and all you are really doing is kicking the can down the road for a couple of decades.
@ tobydog at 9.24: “At 78, having joined SNP in 1963, I’m crushed.”
I know how you feel. There is another route to get independence back which does not depend on politicians and in fact cannot be done by a political party – it has to be the people’s movement, not a party, that takes our country’s status to the UN. Have you signed the Edinburgh Proclamation on http://www.liberation.scot?
When it has 100,000 signatures it will be taken to the UN to ask them – are we in a voluntary Union or are we a colony? Whatever the answer, we win. If voluntary, we can withdraw. If a colony, the UN supports de-colonisation.
Why are so many moving to Scotland from south of the border to retire is the question to ask,
Obviously they do not like AND cannot stand The country they used to live in on the other side of the Scottish border.
Other wise they would stay put, and just occasionally holiday here.
There must be a reason for not liking living down there.
I see on Stu’s twitter feed that N Lanarkshire SNP Council is demoting the two whistleblower councillors on the Jordan Linden case.
Plus ca change eh?
The ‘let it rot’ movement in China, whether it is a BBC invention or not is something to be considered for Scotland. Question officialdom at every turn, have problems filling in your census forms, ‘daft
man’ it at every turn.
Government is no longer our friend. Get off the grid. Get back to Common Law.
As the ‘West’ collapses, all the money that has been printed since COVID will start to disappear and with it Government patronage, we will have to do it all ourselves anyway.
Robert Hughes says:
31 March, 2023 at 9:25 am
Tell us , where have we ended-up with Civic Nationalism ? In a fckn ditch , that’s where…
I also have an issue with people feeling squeamish about what is an internationally recognised franchise and protocol, and whether they’ve read the memo on what Independence and national sovereignty actually means.
It’s not just a name change on your passport.
Jeezo, even if you have a school football team playing an international match, it matters where your players come from, but say as much in Scotland and suddenly people drop like flies with brain freeze.
Hi Stu, it has taken some time but here’s my first post.
Almost a week since shitemageddon and those numbers have been rumbling around my head …
78k MiVoice voting ballots sent out.
About 74k SNP ‘admit’ membership nos.
About 55k snp members voted.
About 20k did not vote, Watf!
About 49k voted for x2 continuity candidates,low priority indy.
About 6k voted for indy priority candidate.
More numbers …
2014, snp had about 25k members
2016-17 snp membership 125k.
2023 snp membership 60k/70k?
NS&SNP ‘lost’ 50k members in 7yrs.
There is something wrong, I mean really really wrong.
The SNP is a disgrace.
Oh, and the money. We should think ourselves lucky that only £600k is missing … or is it?
Thank goodness that there are other indy parties doing the right thing.
That there are hundreds of others doing the daily hard graft.
Join them, don’t negotiate, get out there and pick a fight and beat the devloutionists and unionists with indy facts.
It’s Thurs 30/3, and I have just watched wee baldy Flynn saying we need to ‘chap on doors to break the log jam’.
What was Flynn doing when 10’s of thousands marched through wee Scots toons and even 100’s of thousands in the big toons.
The SNP is a disgrace.
This is Andy Murray time for indy.
We need to dig deep, really deep and go for every incey wincey point, take it from them and win.
Rise: ‘Anger is an energy’
JYG
ALF BAIRD.
As you are aware the very language we use may contain signs of self-hurt.
The definitions of such terms as nationalism, ethnicity, culture may not be our own but those of the dominant forces.
When used in the context of Scotland, Québec, Catalunya nationalism is bad, references to ethnicity racist, nationhood divisive.
Effectively this is the legacy of the British empire, Hitler’s Germany etc.
JAMES CHE
Property is relatively cheap, simple. Old people, daily mail in hand, go for cheap.
Like Spain, Portugal used to be.
Craig Murray
So your DNA says you are 75% Corsican, Dutch, English and Danish but these are meaningless unless you actually feel a strong connection to these countries. I want independence from England so why would i be happy that thousands of English living in Scotland are given a vote which would be a NO vote. Their allegiance will always be to England and that is fair enough but why would i welcome a group that helps prevent Scotland`s freedom from the UK and keeps me chained to their England.
Owen Jones in The National
«It should not be forgotten, though, that the rise of Scottish nationalism had much to do with not just resentment of the Thatcherite legacy, but with Labour’s failure to unpick it»
Scots are corrected for thinking it might have something to do with thé rise, however inarticulate, of national consciousness.
It is all about England. What a relief!
The problem isn’t immigration to Scotland in itself.
The problem is those coming from England. Pure and simply because they vote against independence en-masse. This is just fact, not mere opinion. So if Scotland is serious about independence , it must address this issue , and not run scared of it.
There is one nation with a vested interest in preventing Scottish independence. If we simply allow their citizens to flood over the border and vote no. Then we might as well throw the towel in. We are not going to convert even half of these to our cause. So that to me is a dead duck.
We have to have warranties about who is allowed to vote on the future of our nation. Simply paying taxes , does not entitle you to vote for a countries right to exist. Simply moving here , does not either.
My preference would be for only native born Scots to get a vote. I appreciate that is not going to happen. So we need a compromise solution. I would suggest a 15-20 year residency. This will eliminate the students, holiday homers and just over the border immigrants.
If I move to England. I would not want , nor expect to vote on England’s independence. It’s entirely their decision , as it should be.
They had no problem in preventing EU citizens from voting on Brexit. This tipped the balance. Scotland must act for itself, and to hell with England’s insecurities and faux outrage.
Having spoken at Independence meetings all round the country, there are almost always English people in the audience and I have met loads of excellent English Indy supporters. Lots of people moved here to get away from the political culture down south.
I also think it is quite wrong to believe foreign students would be anti Independence.
I don’t have any fundamental objection to a length of residence requirement for voting in a referendum. Maybe 5 years? But I am not sure it achieves a great deal and would be a bureacratic nightmare in compiling the register.
Let’s simplify it, and we all love simple right? if you move here from England and don’t support Scotland’s right to self determination, you don’t get a vote. Simples really. Happy to have you here and hoping you eventually integrate, but if you stand for the union then you don’t qualify. Cue the outrage…
Being Scottish is not just about living here, it is not about buying property here, it is not about learning the language, it is not about taking over all the local councils, it is not related to how long you have lived here.
It is about adopting to the country, the people and principles therein, the willingness to blend, to be a new Scot, even for a new Scot is not about coming here by or with a force of empire mind and derogatory ideas and old concepts of who and what makes a Scot,
A new Scot has to a hold the native people with a warmth, and respect, it has to be in their mind and heart that they are willing to join that nation of people.
To listen and to learn the beating heart and mind of Scots,
But one thing you will never be, wether you have lived here for Scot even 300 years or two,
If you come here and tell the nation of Scotland they are wrong, you are right, your way is the only way, and natives born in Scotland have no more right to their own Country after thousands of years than the original native people of India, Africa, Australia, and all the other countries taken by force and violence under Colonialism.
To tell a Scot in Scotland that they do not have the right to their country being independent while you live from and on that that very soil and land is still a backward Colony mindset from the 1700s
And with that mindset you will never be a Scot, even if your blood Has similar hues because you live so close by, it does not matter it make No difference,
There is no change, You can smell the blood of a english man, not because he is English, but by his deeds.
Sitting with his feet under the a Scottish table,
He now attempts to swipe all he see’s,
To claim he has bought the Scot, his land his values, a Scottish table
Because by violent force of mind and body.
He thinks he has the right to be rightfully “rightfully” able.
He paints the Scot as black as can be,
And then treats him accordingly.
Like many a slave of old,
The Scottish nation is meant to fold.
To remain in chains to the mind and shackles
For men of England To inherit Scotland for his own
like past time debacles. There is no conscience.
Of right or wrong,
To take, not be gifted
To grab a nation,
A precious ethic identity so tender
Is no different from attempting to steal their Gender.
Ahhh, So not due to wanting to become a genuine Scot in a Scottish nation in the Country of Scotland.
But to buy the Country of Scotland from underneath their feet, piece buy piece until every Scot is homeless,
You mean like a take over bid in some big corporation behind closed doors.
Sleakit.
National debt,
Who owns national debt?
The government?
The Bank ?
Both?
James Che (Mar 31, 11.30am) there is no simple logic to saying someone moves somewhere because they ‘don’t like’ and ‘cannot stand’ where they currently are.
Have you not noticed that people often retire to more rural parts, go live by the sea etc for a quieter life? This is normal. House price differentials will make Scotland attractive to those from some parts of England and that extra cash is important when considering things like end of life care. This will be the main consideration along with the fact the Scottish landscape and coast is beautiful. My parents moved out of London to the south coast of England, then my mum after my Dad died to the north of England for all these reasons. Moving to Scotland is not seen as different as we are all in the UK – you may not like this but do Scots who move to England worry about this either? Until there is a border demarking an independent country this will not change. For the record I support Scottish independence.
So this mantra that English retirees and others are mainly running away from horrible England is a projected fantasy. You think England is a terrible place so therefore everyone there must do to. But let me tell you as someone who has lived in England, and different parts of it, north and south, all my life, it is actually a pretty nice place to live and people mostly get on well and despite all the economic troubles, do OK compared to much of the world. Race relations can sometimes be tense but again, mostly we rub along OK and the richness of that multi-ethnic culture in some parts is actually great: a rich, dynamic melting pot that helps makes life seem worth living. I suspect one could say the same for Scotland, if you take a step back.
Your problem is that you can only see things through a certain strain of Scottish nationalist coloured spectacles i.e. one that sees England as essentially a shit place with everything English intrinsically tainted with venality and English people always somehow malignly motivated. It’s nonsense.
Will bow out now to avoid irritating folk but only really feel justified to comment on discussion on the English.
I see Tory Minister Badenoch has instructed us all to stop talking about the Brexit disaster.
That should solve the 4% cut it caused in our standard of living.
She is boasting about this great deal she has done with the CPTPP countries who are on the other side of the world.
It seems it will increase the size of the U.K. economy by 0.008 of one percent.
I wonder if when the transportation costs are included we actually make a loss?
It just can’t help your Carbon Footprint shipping in Food from Australia Cars from Japan and rice from China.
What would Scotland do without these Tory oven ready deals for us??
Rishi spent £500,000 over 2 weeks for private jets.
Sorry, that’s Tax payers spent.
I suppose he has to as he doesn’t carry cash or credit cards or how to put petrol in a car.
One upside of falling within the category of those told to go fuck themselves by Scotrenewables and the like is that at least one of us was able to rekindle our love for all things Scottish, despite the politics, simply by punching the ceiling long before the French commentator had finished singing Gooooooaaaal McTominaaaay.
@Joe, look up Operation Cotswalds and Operation Cerrar, the gangs are not restricted to over the border.
‘craig murray says:
31 March, 2023 at 12:16 pm
Having spoken at Independence meetings all round the country, there are almost always English people in the audience and I have met loads of excellent English Indy supporters. Lots of people moved here to get away from the political culture down south…’
How lovely to move home in search of a better political culture (while at the same time cashing in on the different house price values). How terribly civilised. Such sacrafice, perhaps we should give them a medal, truly we are not worthy to have such generous souls in our midst.
And a very far cry, from having to leave your own country in search of work and a decent standard of living because your own country is being run as a colony for the benefit of England and the English.
At the risk of being a bit rude – there’s a big fucking difference.
Southern : ” Your problem is that you can only see things through a certain strain of Scottish nationalist coloured spectacles i.e. one that sees England as essentially a shit place with everything English intrinsically tainted with venality and English people always somehow malignly motivated. It’s nonsense.”
The part you have missed. Is that Scottish people do not move to England to retire. Why would they?They treat their elderly citizens like shit. The majority left over the decades as economic refugees. They still do today. It’s mainly the working age Scots who move to England for jobs.
The opposite is true for English people. Most who move here are wealthier, and at retirement age. They come to Scotland to buy bigger houses with their wealth from overpriced housing down south. They force locals out of the house market. They do not contribute to the wealth of Scotland , as they are generally not working age. Their are exceptions, I am referring to the majority.
Then we give them a vote on the future of our nation , just because they have moved here. A nation that we have lived in all our lives. And worst of all they tell Scots in their own nation that they can’t be independent. They speak for us , as if they have a right. They do not have a right to tell born and bred Scots how they feel about their own nation. That is colonialism , and it has to stop. We have to stop being scared of challenging them and their attitudes. We have to explain that it’s our nation, our nationality and they cannot shout us down.
Well said Daisy Walker, there IS a big difference, and pro independence English immigrants are a distinct minority anyway. As has been said by others it is inexplicable to allow people from countries with a vested interest in the union ie England Wales and NI, to vote on Scottish independence. New Caledonian referendums do not allow it for perfectly good reasons, why should we?
Craig Murray
Craig i’m sure there are English people who live here and would vote for Indy but in my experience they represent a mere handful with the vast majority voting NO.
When I lived in England I was a Scot and felt more Scottish when living there and I have no doubt English people in Scotland feel the same.
The third strongest correlation of the observed variables was between the proportion of the population born in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and the ‘Yes’ vote. Areas with a high proportion of people born elsewhere in the UK demonstrated the weakest support for ‘Yes’. In the case of the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway – the two LAs that share a border with England – this seems fairly intuitive. One might expect a higher concentration of people born elsewhere in the UK in these areas due to the close proximity to England, as well as a stronger desire to remain within the UK due to the social and economic ties such proximity brings. Interestingly, it is the urban areas in the centre of the country that have the lowest share of English, Welsh or Northern Irish and the highest support for ‘Yes’. Even in those central areas where a majority voted for ‘No’ such as North and East Ayrshire, the result was closer than the average (a difference of 2 and 5 points, respectively).
McDuff – English people in Scotland would use the term British. It’s a comfort blanket for their insecurity of being foreigners in Scotland. That way it allows them to claim ‘ We are all British’. And as we know ‘British’ and ‘English’ are interchangeable.
The ownership is of prime importance to any coloniser. Hence they often use the word ‘We’ when talking in Scotland about Scotland. As if they are one and the same as the natives. They are not!
But we are not two distinct ethnicities – the union and history of empire mean that rather a lot of us are a mixture of the two.
My genetic make up shows I have ancestry that arrived here after the last ice age and proof that I am descended from Scandinavians, on my maternal side family folklore claims descent from Hereford the Wake.
There is documented proof on my paternal side of Scottish protestants who moved to Ireland and later into North East England, so claims of being colonised are not quite as simple as it seems.
“Rishi spent £500,000 over 2 weeks for private jets.
Sorry, that’s Tax payers spent.”
Complete nonsense. No such accounting exists that allows taxes that are collected to be ” spent back ” into the economy.
Your TV has fried your brain. The ability to think for yourself.
The money taken out of the economy by taxes are destroyed never to be seen again. As the actual accounting of the government shows very clearly.
link to m.youtube.com
Andrew who is doing the presentation in front of UCL university lives in Glasgow.
craug murray says:
31 March, 2023 at 9:43 am
Robert Hughes
” You are quite wrong. Nobody is doubting the validity or the absolutely vital importance of Scottish culture and national identity.
We are just against using it to stop folk from other backrgrounds who live here from voting.”
I didn’t say anything about stopping ” folk from other backrgrounds who live here from voting. ” . Nor have I ever .
My point was the pathetic nonsense of people who try to say National Liberation can be achieved without reference to the NATIONALITY of those who seek Liberation . As if a sense of National Identity was something shameful , never to be referred to ie …exactly what Nu SNP are attempting to foist on us . The result of which has been/is total stasis .
If Independence is not about the Scottish People , what is it about ?
If Non-Scots living here support Independence , great , their support is warmly welcome . But let’s not kid ourselves that we can realise our ambition without the main emphasis being on Scots
James Che says:
31 March, 2023 at 12:43 pm
National debt,
Who owns national debt?
The government?
The Bank ?
Both?
We do ( the private sector, households and businesses) anybody who holds a UK government bond. That we hold in our pension fund, our stocks and shares ISA’s ( saving portfolios) or buy directly from NS&I.
The national debt are a private sector “asset”
We swap the £’s we receive from the government for a bond. Where did we get these £’s from that we then swapped for a bond to get more interest in our savings ? From the issuer of the currency of course ( the government ) it is written on the front of every note you have ever received in your life written in very simple English. Via previous government deficit spending. When the government spends more money into the economy than it takes out of the economy via taxes.
This video describes the process beautifully.
link to m.youtube.com
£ –>—- Swapped for a —>—- government bond
Increases the national debt. ( our savings held as bonds )
£ –<—- Swapped for a —<—- government bond
Bond swapped back into £'s decreases the national debt ( our savings held as bonds)
A government bond is a government liability and a private sector asset on the government balance sheet. The national debt is nothing more than the £'s spent by the govt that have not yet been used to pay taxes. We saved them and swapped them for a bond instead. To get more interest on our savings.
All the government promises is when the bond matures it will be swapped back into £'s along with the interest earned. With absolutely no risk to the government finances. They issue the Damn keystrokes and turn the number in your bank account from a 3 to a 4 or a 5 to a 6 or a 9 to a 10. Don't lose anything doing so. Created from thin air using an index finger and computer keyboard.
Stuart MacKay says:
31 March, 2023 at 11:29 am
Here’s an interesting post on pensions by Michael Hudson,
The only bonds an independent Scotland needs are granny bonds and that’s it. There is no need to issue any other government bonds ( debt ) in an independent Scotland. The Granny Bonds are ONLY issued to Scottish households who want earn interest on their savings.
As explained here..
link to new-wayland.com
Foreign holders of the new Scottish currency that hold that money for neo-mercantile purposes due to a belief in their ‘export-led growth’ model. Swap their new Scottish currency (They received by
Selling us stuff) for Scottish bonds and horde them. In order to keep their own exchange rate down.
In an independent Scotland. They need to be forced to spend it, invest it properly, or be left, once again, with the default investment of a Scottish currency deposit in a bank ( cash ). There is no reason whatsoever the Scottish public should be propping up capital values in the Norwegian Global Pension Fund (or any other foreign pension fund or central bank) with Scottish government interest payments.
Just issuing Granny Bonds to Scottish households solves that problem immeadiately. Where an individual can build up an annual additional pension by purchasing ‘Granny Bonds’ directly. They would have limited residual capital value and no capital uplift, but they would give a secure additional income in retirement for ordinary people who decide to be thrifty and save.
Leaving foreigners no options to exchange their cash for Scottish government bonds and Just park them at the Scottish central bank.
a) They have to spend it in the Scottish economy.
b) Invest it in the Scottish economy ( in what we say they can invest it in )
c) Be left with cash
d) Or exchange it for another foreign currency.
Just look at who hordes UK gilts
link to new-wayland.com
As you can see from the distribution, even excluding the nominal holding by the Bank of England, very few Gilts are held directly by Households. The vast majority is held by financial intermediaries and overseas entities.
An independent Scotland as Hudson says would be very stupid to copy that practice. Just issue granny bonds to households linked to retail prices to keep up the cost of living and a 10% bonus if held for more than 5 years. Free from both income and capital gains tax. On top of the state pension.
Which is all a productivity story. With those left working being able to produce all the goods and services ( using machines) that the retired can now afford to buy with their better Scottish pensions so that prices don’t go up due to scarcity.
As I’ve mentioned before, allowing English nationals (and other foreign nationals for that matter) a say in Scottish self-determination is patently self-contradictory, and antithetical to the process of decolonisation. Civic nationalism is a generic term which takes no account of a nation’s individuality and uniqueness. In other words it removes the distinctiveness that separates one nation from another and, as such, serves as a tool for the colonising power – as can be seen from the gradualist (i.e. never) approach to independence. Furthermore, independence is an a priori and not an a posteriori concept, which means that it is unequivocal, and the conditions for independence do not precede independence, but stem from it. As Che Guevara said, “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”
Saffron. Civic nationalism is for after independence. We can accept people on our own terms, and not through a British filter. At the moment Scotland is a nation in name only. So it’s up to the indigenous Scots to liberate our nation.
I agree, Big Jock. If we don’t seek our own liberation no one else will do it for us.
Southernbystander.
You are forgetting I was not born in Scotland either, but understand that a good portion of Scots do not consider there nationality as the UK, rather Scottish as a separate nation, it is mainly english that do not realise that there is more than one nation in these Isles,
Scots Welsh and Irish do not presume they are english or a extension of england, this is often seen when looking through newspapers, MSM and historical records,
The other three nations often observe their Country and culture being used as a extension of the endlands version of we are all together in the UK.
This is a jigsaw puzzle piece that is not in plaice, but England has always presumed it was.
Southernbystander.
You are forgetting I was not born in Scotland either, but understand that a good portion of Scots do not consider there nationality as the UK, rather Scottish as a separate nation, it is mainly english that do not realise that there is more than one nation in these Isles,
Scots Welsh and Irish do not presume they are english or a extension of england, this is often seen when looking through newspapers, MSM and historical records,
The other three nations often observe their Country and culture being used as a extension of the englands Country, their version of we are all together in the UK.
This is a jigsaw puzzle piece that is not in plaice, but England has always presumed it was.
This whole mindset is out of sync with the other three nations in these Isles.