Wings Over Scotland

@Hatuey 2.07 pm

Compliments of the Season to you too bud: hope you and yours had a good one?

I always thought Fukuyama’s “endism” was a bit suspect TBH (although he has himself repented and accepted his thesis was wrong I seem to recall?). I tend to agree with the late Paul Hirst who savaged Fukuyama’s thesis at the time. He said:

“History is not at an end because there are major new ideals. A revitalised democratic Europe is one; the defence of our world environment is another; and, as an essential part of that cause, so is the challenge of creating a world in which all can enjoy a decent standard of life and have democratic self-government. If history is the struggle for freedom, then its end has been well and truly postponed.”

I think Hirst’s view of a middle way is probably more convincing:

“Fukuyama supposes the free market and the command economy to be polar opposites and ignores what may lie in between. In fact, the economically successful Western democracies have tended to pursue a middle way in which the market is regulated, in which co-ordination takes place but not by means of centralised planning – rather by the active consultation of the major organised social interests. The result is an economy far removed from a free-for-all, an economy in which the enhancement of the influence of social groups through consultation offers a route to greater democratic accountability.”

I don’t think the neo-imperialism of Beijing or Moscow is much of an alternative for the ordinary people in poorer countries who bridle at the West’s approach to development, “aid with strings” etc. though it has obvious attractions for the kleptocracies who are often in charge of many third world states.

@ Andy Ellis

There is nothing in my post where I was advocating Russia’s or China’s position on TRA or any other issue. I was merely suggesting if there is a possibility that the rise of these issues here in Western cultures is due to a sort of new war of ideologies between the global superpowers where Western countries are now focusing on laissez-faire social libertarianism rather than liberal democratic ideals as they had did in the past?

I think when fukuyama and others use terms like ‘democracy’ they are speaking in code and really mean capitalism. They stopped referring to capitalism and capitalist powers in most history and politics books in the late 1940s; preferring terms like “the west”, “western democracies”, “first world”, “liberal democracies”, and such. It’s as if capitalism simply disappeared.

It sounds like Hirst agrees.

I see those concerns that Hirst refers to as “tweaks” though. I don’t think all countries will ever end up striking the exact same balance between the state and the free market but, at the same time, the differences are all within quite a narrow band when it comes to first world countries.

The most compelling point is that there’s no serious alternative. We might face an existential threat from global warming, we might want to revitalise Europe, and we might want to feed the world, but nobody is proposing any sort of radical departure from accepted norms to get there. Maybe that’s why we will never will.

@PacMan 4.08pm

Interesting point WRT the Cuban missile comparison, particularly as it was widely seen as a response to the USA basing Jupiter missiles in Italy and Turkey.

It seems Russia is trying to assert the equivalent to the Monroe Doctrine over Ukraine, Belorussia and probably the former Soviet republics in the Caucasus? Of course they tried to argue against the inclusion of the Baltic States and other Eastern European countries into NATO and the EU post break up of the USSR too.

It seems respecting territorial and security needs should cut both ways: if Putin expects “the West” to respect his, why won’t he respect those of the Ukraine and others?

@thomas 7.02 pm

Oh, I’m sure Putin and his regime aren’t in listening mode, nor do I think it’s illegitimate for Russia to have its own security concerns. The trouble for a multi-ethnic state like Russia in the light of the argument you’re making, is that you can’t simultaneously say that Ukraine isn’t a “real” country, or doesn’t have a history in its present form, but also maintain that Russia’s borders are inviolable.

“Might is right” often prevails, as we saw in Crimea for example, or Northern Cyprus in the 1970’s, but it won’t always be accepted. Can you imagine the reaction in Scotland if the British state post independence announced it would not accept Scotland joining the EU or NATO, like Putin has said he won’t accept Ukraine joining?

Moscow may calculate that they can either invade Ukraine or pressurise them to formally cede majority ethnic Russian territory in the East / Donbass, or just illegally seize it like the Crimea. I’m not sure if the West would do much more than wring its hands in that event. If so I doubt the Baltic States, Poles and others would take too much comfort.

I’m not sure what path Scotland would take post independence: however much some people might not like it, the majority are likely to be broadly in favour of membership of both the EU and NATO. Iceland, Denmark, Norway and the Baltics are all NATO members, Sweden and Finland are formally neutral but co-operate more and more with NATO and their Nordic and Baltic neighbours. FWIW I’d rather Scotland reached out to its nearest neighbours and tried to form a defensive alliance. Ah hae ma doots it’d happen tho’!

@thomas 9.37 pm

I wasn’t trying to put those words in to your mouth, but it’s safe to bet Putin’s regime does think that. I agree with your sentiments: international law is an imperfect thing it’s true and there are guy few without any stain. It’s a messy business as we saw with Crimea, Donbas, Transnistria, the Caucasus……

There are any number of areas in the world that could be flashpoints of course in Europe and elsewhere. The Ukraine does look pretty worrying tho’.

“ ukraine had never been a country post 1990”

Factually incorrect. It flickered for a few years just after WWI.

“Female sports may become extinct with male transgender athletes’ arrival, says Putin”

There will still be male & female sport but the female teams will be 100% transgender.

What country, team, university would want to put themselves at a disadvantage by not having a 100% transgender team?

Wining is important. Some will go to any lengths to win

link to archive.is

After 10 weeks of pregnancy every gymnast had an abortion. They won the team gold medal by a fraction of a point, with Czechoslovakia second.

Pregnancy doping?

“During pregnancy your body produces a hormone called relaxin, which loosens ligaments in the pelvis to make delivery easier. But since relaxin affects all your ligaments, you’ll likely be more flexible from head to toe.”

There would be no question of pregnancy doping with a 100% transgender team.

Would a 100% transgender team ever beat a male team?

What about transmen will they ever stand a chance of being in a team?

Andy Ellis cuts right through to the heart of the matter when discussion of the values of the competing economic and political blocs comes up. The USA, the EU, Russia, China, etc.

In which directions are the penniless and the desperate heading? Do China or Russia contain 11.5 million illegal immigrants like the USA does? How many people per day cross dangerous seas to arrive in these countries on unseaworthy dinghies?

It’s a no-brainier.

Consideration of this incontrovertible fact also explains why the narratives so popular with some of the zealots here (the USA as Great Satan, the UK as an institutionally racist hellhole) gains so little traction with your average punter.

Given their immediately obvious disconnect with reality, the best policy for those pursuing Scots Indy by popular, democratic means to follow, is to keep their views to themselves.

John Main, those refugees you worry so much about (over everything else) are scrambling to get out of countries that NATO has played a big part in destroying.

I don’t know if it’s possible to have one duck in a row, but yours is all over the place and looking very confused.

@John Main 10.35 pm

I suspect you and I are pretty far apart politically, but you are of course quite correct in your assessment of the views of the extremist fringe in here, and the disconnect not just from reality (which is a given of course) but more importantly from the POV of this site and Scottish politics in general, is totally foreign to the majority of Scots voters.

In all the crowing recently about the latest poll showing a (small) pro-indy majority, what struck me is the fact that the 3 British nationalist parties still have the support of a total of 46% of Scots voters, despite brexit, the mishandling of Covid, BoJo the clown as PM and the recent revelations. The solid core of loyalist/unionist voters flips much more easily and naturally from blue to red than it does from No to Yes.

I suspect Alba could be on to something in upcoming elections if it can capitalise on public disquiet about GRA reform and the protection of women’s rights as a wedge issue. It is however equally clear to anyone other than the kind of ideological zealots in here, who can unselfconsciously use terms like the Great Satan and make moral equivalences between totalitarian and authoritarian regimes like Russia and China and the West, that such views are electoral poison to most Scots.

It’s sophomoric, student politics at its worst and will condemn any party or movement coming out with such vapid and discredited crypto-marxism to the political wilderness. There’s a reason that there is such an overlap between those sounding off about the Great Satan and those spouting climate change denial, anti-vaxxers, and “little Scotlanders” trying to paint us as a poor benighted colony being flooded by English immigrants.

However hard the proponents of such woo-woo try, and however often they are asked, they never explain how their world view is going to advance the cause of Scottish independence, nor can the point to any significant individuals, parties or groups that support them.

It’s almost as if that’s because they know they’re about as likely to influence outcomes as the Tooting Popular Front.

It looks as if the same old argument is continuing from the last thread with some added derogatory name calling.

I understood from posts on the last thread there were posters who felt they were ‘too good for this gig’

You have to wonder why they are still here?

They are sailing close to the wind & risk being ‘banned without further warning.’

Looks like Alba is setting out its stall for next year’s local elections, centring 3 main themes: a swift independence referendum, child poverty and opposition to gender reform.

Be interesting to see how they do, and what impact it will have on the devolutionary parties like the SNP and Greens?

link to archive.is

Afghanistan, of course, is a shining example of NATO prowess when it comes to nation building, RoS. The only aspects of the nation that benefitted in that case were in the heroin production and funeral sectors.

Note that those who are keen to suck up to the US quite flatly refuse to discuss the real existing history of its meddling in the world, preferring to keep things breezy and philosophical. I don’t blame them for that.

The idea behind all this is that by supporting NATO and papering over the historical record, the Scottish independence movement will somehow curry favour in Washington and they’ll approve or at least keep their noses out of our business. It’s the same game Sturgeon is playing and it’s all based on a very childish misunderstanding.

The US State dept will never support Scottish independence or keep its nose out of our business. Their client is the UK Government and it has a long list of reasons to keep the UK afloat, starting with Trident renewal.

Scotland has no enemies in the world. There’s no good reason to join NATO and there’s definitely no good reason to associate ourselves with the Washington and London when it comes to foreign affairs, two of the most malevolent, destabilising, and resented players in the game.

Ruby says: at 9:19 am

“What about transmen will they ever stand a chance of being in a team?”

With regard to gymnastics, I’m guessing it’ll be unlikely we’ll see a transman nailing a Maltese cross or the crucifix move on the rings for the foreseeable…
Caveat. At least until the force of gravity diminishes or competitors starting to dope with helium becomes a thing…

Hi Andy Ellis says at 28 December, 2021 at 5:48 pm.

I would suggest that’s a fair summation.

Andy Ellis @ 5.48

We’re miles apart on * certain subjects * but that is an excellent post and response to yr man’s bafflingly stupid comments about ALBA .

Well said

It’s great that Alba are listening to women by opposing self-id.

Opposing self-id is fine for the moment but that doesn’t really solve the problem.

I think we are a progressive enough society to accept transwomen as transwomen no need to label them women.

Transwomen should have their own safe spaces, rape crisis centres, changing rooms, opinions, sports & lingerie shops where they can buy lingerie that fits.

link to archive.is

“Underwear designed for cis women have smaller gussets.” A gusset is that flap of fabric at the bottom of your underwear that covers your groin. “These gussets in underwear for cis women just aren’t wide enough to accommodate the differences in anatomy,”

That might be something Marks & Spencers should be looking into.

It does seem to be looking like the issue with the SNP isn’t that it is ultra-progressive or woke but as Tannadice Boy mentioned due to poor decision making within it’s organisation.

I know it is pop psychology but I also wonder if SNP supporters are using TRA as a sort of coping mechanism with the fact deep down they know that independence is not happening under Sturgeon but unable to accept it so instead they lash out at Alba supporters and those against the issue?

Maybe it is simply just siege mentality where they have dug themselves in such a hole with TRA that they are unable or unwilling to admit how unpopular it is with the wider public and just lash out willy nilly?

@Breastplate 8.36 pm

As I said, I’m not and never have been uncritical of US, UK or NATO policies. I don’t see it as wearing rose tinted spectacles at all. In the best of all possible worlds of course, I’d like to see things play out differently, but as the old Jute Mill song goes: “Oh dear me, the world’s ill divided”.

I’d personally love to see NATO consigned to the dustbin of history and European countries form their own defensive collective defence organisation. I won’t be holding my breath however, and the example of the EU in terms of democracy (the Greek financial crisis, Catalan self determination, rising populism in Poland and Hungary) is hardly grounds for optimism.

Despite those here who appear convinced I’m a spokesperson for the 77th Brigade, or a Sturgeonite stooge, or “English Ellis” to use the roaster Gareth Wardell’s phrase, I’ve become convinced over recent years that the best option for Scotland in the immediate pre and post independence period would be to advocate remaining outside the EU and NATO, then asking the Scots people – in light of events and the political and economic environment at the time – what future they wanted to see.

If you think the cause of independence, still less its achievement, is better served by promoting polices and a platform we KNOW are inimical to the views of the overwhelming majority of “ordinary Scots”, I really don’t know what to say to you.

Feeling morally superior is no substitute for actually winning.

If you think giving any comfort to the kind of misguided folk who call the USA the Great Satan helps the cause you’re delusional, sorry.

@Tannadice Boy 8:59 pm

It was mentioned in here a good while back about the SNP turning into a cult under Sturgeon and IIRC, a comparison was made with Sabbatai Zevi followers:

link to en.wikipedia.org

With the pandemic, people have a lot more time on their hands and I’ll bet the SNP supporters who blindly support Sturgeon have been doing a lot of thinking.

They must surely known that she isn’t going to deliver indy. Are they going to drop their pride and admit they were wrong or go down with the sinking ship defending the likes of Sturgeon and her cohorts while they moves on to the next step of their career?

Judging by the output of Jeggit as posted in here, it looks like they are.

Just seen this posted on my Alba branch FB page and thought it might be of interest to some Wings folk. More clear water between Alba and the devolusionists in the SNP. Good!

“For those who are interested in the Motions that were passed at the Alba Parties first National Council:

Approved Motions

Local Elections – Leigh Wilson, Acting Local Government Convenor

Council instructs NEC to prepare our manifesto for the local elections for unveiling at the ALBA Spring Conference.

ALBA intends to stand candidates across Scotland. In addition to the overarching importance of individual ward and local authority issues, each candidate will include at least the following three themes in their election prospectus:
First, the commitment that every elected ALBA councillor will support an Independence Convention to be composed of all elected representatives at parliamentary and local authority level which will call on the Scottish Government to exercise the existing mandates for independence to initiate independence negotiations with Westminster.

Second, each elected ALBA Councillor will campaign for ALBA’s five-point plan to combat family and child poverty passed by Annual Conference, the greater part of which can be implemented at local authority level in co-operation with the Scottish Government. That comprises:
A £500 annual payment to every low-income household in Scotland
Universal free lunches and breakfasts to all nursery, primary and secondary pupils in Scotland, provided on an all-year-round basis.
A doubling of the Educational Maintenance Allowance to assist 30,000 of school and college students from poorer families to continue in education.
Universal free access to sports facilities for the under 18s, benefiting 1 million children.
Increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week for 400,000 children in quarter of a million households.

Third, each ALBA candidate will give priority to the ALBA equalities platform including the protection of women’s single-sex spaces as defined in the current Equalities Legislation and the support of the right to speak out against any threat to these hard-won rights.

COP 26 and Carbon Capture – ALBA Youth; Christina Hendry, Josh Robertson
Council condemns the U.K. Government’s decision, on the very eve of COP26, not to support the Scottish carbon capture proposals and notes that this is the fourth time since 2007 that Westminster has sabotaged similar initiatives, further notes that the U.K. and Scottish climate change targets require a carbon capture initiative to meet our climate change commitments and declares that this decision illustrates the case for independence so that Scotland’s resources can be utilised both to benefit the Scottish people and to fulfil our obligations as responsible international citizens.

Investment in Rail – ALBA Parliamentary Group; Kenny MacAskill MP, Neale Hanvey MP
That this Council regrets that rail fares and journey times are vastly higher in Scotland than in other European countries where comparable distances are quicker and cost less; commends the record of Catalonia and Spain who have invested in high speed rail infrastructure compared to Scotland which is stuck in the “slow lane”; notes that the journey time from Barcelona to Madrid takes 2 hours 30 minutes to cover 315 miles compared with Glasgow to London which takes over 4 hours 30 minutes to cover 343 miles; believes that investment in rail is essential for commuters, tourists and businesses; calls on the UK Government to reverse the Budget cut in Air Passenger Duty (APD) and instead invest this in making rail fares competitive with air fares; notes that trains generate 10 times less CO2 than planes; believes that the Agreement at COP26 in Glasgow shows there is now a pressing need to bring about the modal shift from air to rail travel in order to reduce CO2 emissions; and urges the Scottish Government to prioritise investment in rail infrastructure to reduce journey times and cut fares, to allow Scotland to meet its ambition to achieve net zero and to benefit rail passengers, the economy and the planet.

Currency – ALBA Aberdeenshire; Hamish Vernal, David Henry
Council notes the National Assembly discussion on economic policy and the necessity in terms of effective economic management for an independent Scotland to introduce its own currency at the earliest opportunity. Council instructs the NEC to commission a paper on the practicalities of the currency transition and the institutional preparations required to facilitate the move.

@PacMan 9:16pm
No worries Pacman. People learn, Albeit slowly. Documents were shredded without any public outcry previously. It is hard to shred an e mail receipt. Tuesday 21st December 14:30 pm. Like I said before. Chucked the dice and lost hundreds of millions. Not only a wrong call but legally contestable. Clinical observations and unless science or medicine has changed observations are the basis of both.

link to twitter.com

What people are saying about Jeggit on Twitter.

@PacMan 11:00pm
The South African evidence was largely ignored . And any amount of barriers were put up. Age difference, Summer, and inherent inferior research infrastructure etc. I was always talking about Scottish Clinical Observations. Although if you followed the Science the landscape was highlighted weeks ago in South Africa. But it didn’t follow the catastrophic narrative in Scotland so was ignored. I heard Jason Leitch on Radio Scotland today. A short memory, 100k cases by Christmas. An order of magnitude out. And that’s before the pockling of parameters.

Jason Leitch doesn’t like it when you quote Jason Leitch. He’s on the record saying that but he doesn’t want anyone to remind him…

None of the half-measures that Sturgeon imposed with regards to omicron have made any difference. If case numbers seem lower than expected, it’s down to other factors.

Christmas was 3 days ago. It generally takes 5 or 6 before people show symptoms.

And the tide always goes out before a tsunami.

@Hatuey 12:14pm
The tide always goes out before a tsunami? Not necessarily it depends on the continental shelf and cycle of the wave. We could be hit with a million cases tomorrow and we would have never seen it coming. The world of Jason Leitch.

I’ll be honest, tannadice, I think we are going to see an explosion in cases in the next few days. I now know about 10 people with covid, several of which are family members.

It’s nothing to worry about if you are boosted.

Jason has been wrong every step of the way. It seems like just yesterday he was telling us masks were useless and not to bother with them. Now they’re threatening to jail you if you don’t wear one.

January is going to be a drag but after that we go into spring with new hope.

Taking a step back, this criticism of Nicola Sturgeons Covid strategy could be used to undermine the cause of independence. If Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP is incompetent or simply wrong in it’s handling of the biggest test under devolution, then why should the very notion of independence best trusted?

As another poster had earlier mentioned, is this the type of independence we want of bland overbearing state control into peoples life and PowerPoint tractor-stats to justify it?

It isn’t what I want and to be honest, it does look like events are spinning out of control for Sturgeon with her current handling of the pandemic so regardless of what I and any other poster on here or any other site says.

I see that a Sturgeon apologist has just surfaced and is coming out with the scripted replies as damage limitation.

I doubt very much it will work. The public perception of the pandemic is changing. Most people are fully aware of the dangers of the virus and have adapted their lives accordingly. They have done the right thing until now and can be trusted to continue to do so. They don’t want to be micromanaged and lied to for their own good. Also, the almost hysteric reaction by Sturgeon and her minions towards Omnicron has undermined public support in her handling of it.

As Tannadice Boy said, she has made the wrong call on this one. However, I have no doubt she will survive. Leitch or some other of her advisers will be thrown under the bus in order to save her. The question is though, will her supporters wise up to her?

Hatman yer talking a load of shite

Yer serum doesn’t work and the lengths this cabal are going to in censoring everything in sight no alternative opinion is allowed it’s fkn criminal , 21 fkn months and we are in the same position before the cure was rolled out so called scientists all bought and paid for, how do I know because the ones who are pushing this useless shite are funding these honest scientists work

3 down with the prospect of another every 8 weeks fk people will be walking dartboards , oh well there won’t be a shortage of fridge magnets

link to archive.is

An article by Adam Tomkins aka Professor Pish

It’s a fair enough article.

“Alba doesn’t need to convince everyone, or “convert” most SNP supporters and voters, it only needs to become large enough to deprive the SNP or SNP/Greens of a majority and it can kill regressive and misguided policies like self ID stone dead.”

Will that be in 2023?

Is this bill not supposed to be presented to parliament very soon?

I have a guarantee in writing from my SNP MSP that he will oppose GRA if it ever comes before parliament. No whimper so far … but, in his defence, it hasn’t come to that yet. Maybe there are more like him, and the Sturgeon is taking cold feet – if sturgeons have feet.

I suppose they do, since she seems to have boots … which were made for walking all over everyone. As Nancy Sinatra used to sing …

Is it correct to see Sturgeon’s Omnicron policy as just another part of her Omni – Con policy. She conned everyone, after all, didn’t she? I myself didn’t see through her until she made that long-awaited speech which we thought would reveal her wonderful hidden plan. I can’t remember if that will have been three years ago in January, or two. but it already seems like a whole millenium – if not, an eternity – ago.

And it really did reveal her hidden plan. She took the lid off the box and it was found to contain … precisely NOTHING. The Queen of Never-never Land had absolutely NOTHING up her sleeve, not even her elbow.

After all, does she know what an elbow is? You could counter by saying that she has used her elbows very well, to elbow her way to the top and elbow everyone else out the door. But for me, if someone doesn’t know the difference between a man and a wummin, how os that person ever going to know the difference between an a*se and an elbow?

After all, the Queen of Nothingness seems to be pretty short on basic anatomical knowledge. Not her subject, I suppose…

‘No point in my calling a friend (none left); just ask me another one instead. And stick to my specialised subject: Omnicon!

How to con everyone…

Her personal ambition: she is out to disprove the old dictum that you can’t fool all the people all the time. Oh yes, you can! I’ll prove it: You CAN con all the people all the time: it’s called OMNICON.

Sturgeon swallows Salmon and cons everyone into thinking she is not a predator. And that she always — blinkety-blink-blink-blink — always tells the truth.

If you can get away with that kind of stuff, you can get away with anything.

@wull 11.55 am

I think anyone who has such an assurance from an SNP MP or MSP should make it public. I’ve seen little evidence of SNP elected officials or activists who oppose GRA reform daring to put their heads above the parapet and face down the Woko Haram extremists in their own party who have monstered Joanna Cherry and othered any who disagree with them.

Anyone who thinks the SNP are anything other than a deeply malign influence on Scottish politics, which has been captured by a small clique of regressive misogynists, only has to look at Tony Giugliano’s recent twitter exchanges with Alba Gen. Sec Chris McEleny.

The TRA activists who currently hold the whip hand in the SNP have shown us how they are going to interact with “these people”. It is up to Alba to show pieces of work like Giugliano and his ilk up for the misogynistic, divisive extremists they are.

I’m afraid like many others who have left the SNP and / or decided not to support them in future I have little faith in the claim that there are still “good people” in the SNP. Their silence in the face of the abuse of power and process in the party over recent years makes them all complicit.

It would only take a handful of SNP MSP who disagreed with these extremists to defect, or at the very least to make their position public, to cut Sturgeon’s cabal off at the knees. The fact they have failed to do so thus far suggests that either they lack the numbers to make a difference, or that they lack the moral courage to do the right thing.

Destroying the SNP in the short to medium term is unlikely to be feasible, but the kind of attitude displayed by Giugliano and his clueless mates suggest that there is zero possibility of the SNP cooperating with Alba, so there is little point trying. However much the few adults left in the SNP like Joannna Cherry might promote working together, the SNP can only now be regarded as irretrievably lost: it is no longer fit for purpose, nor can it be rendered so.

Alba’s aim should be to establish itself as a party with enough support to deprive the SNP of a majority, then to ensure that it consigns the SNP to the same dustbin of history that Sinn Fein dumped the IPP into over a century ago.

‘I have a guarantee in writing from my SNP MSP that he will oppose GRA if it ever comes before parliament.’

Should this not be ‘Reforms to GRA’ or ‘self-id’?

link to archive.is

“Prime witnesses in Alex Salmond leak case weren’t interviewed”

I’m looking forward to Sturgeon’s update in 20 minutes. We can guess what she will say; reduction in self isolation times, don’t worry about spreading if you have no symptoms, this isn’t the Christmas any of us wanted, get boosted, etc.

She’ll string that out for an hour.

The interesting thing to look out for will be a change in the language, away from “stopping” the spread to “controlling” the spread. That sounds like quite subtle change, but it isn’t.

Official policy now is that we all catch omicron and through catching it we achieve herd immunity. I have no problem with that but I don’t think it sits well with Sturgeon’s ‘saviour of the universe’ position.

All along she’s been presenting herself as the person who can stop the spread of covid. Is she going to come clean or slip up today and admit that she’s now the person that wants us all to catch it, albeit at a pace regulated by her?

Alex Salmond believes in conducting a positive campaign. That is probably the correct thing to do. There is nothing more off putting than listening to politicians trading insults.

I get the impression that there are posters on this forum who strongly believe that insults work.

Dead right Ruby!

link to archive.is

“Prime witnesses in Alex Salmond leak case weren’t interviewed”

Every time I read anything about the Alphabetties I have to check which one it is.

link to archive.is

..and this time with the right link:

link to wingsoverscotland.com

Facts, eh….?

What’s happened to ‘The Matching Comfy Chair’?

Has he been banned for obsessively posting about Covid?

Andy going for the low lying fruit, I see…

To be fair, the low lying fruit asked for it.

Delighted to hear that Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty of 5 of the 6 charges of sexually abusing minors.

Prince Andrew is heavily involved in this case. I welcome the end of the monarchy in Scotland and thank you Betty, for your years of service to England and treachery to Scotland.

Ruby says:
29 December, 2021 at 7:54 pm
Accusing someone falsely is not a good tactic either.

In the end you usually get found out!

I get it now

He’s so vain
He probably think this post is about him
He’s so vain (so vain)
I bet he thinks this post is about him

Is Ghislaine Maxwell one of these women who would go to any lengths to please her man or was it for the money?
Love or money?

“Shortly after the verdict, her legal team said they were already working on an appeal. “We firmly believe in Ghislaine’s innocence,” her lawyer, Bobbi Sternheim, told reporters.”

I was going to suggest that now she has nothing to lose she might spill the beans but perhaps she’ll stay quiet until after the appeal.

That might depend on who is paying the most. I’m sure Bobbi Sternheim isn’t working for nothing.

Would any tabloid be able to match the amount of money that might be forthcoming from others implicated in the case?

This is for the independence supporters that still look in.

This was one of those moments where England thought that they needed to make Scots law easier for themselves to understand, so decided they would codify and index it for their own benefit.

Interfering in pre— union Scots law wether obsolete or not in their personal minds and thoughts still breaks the treaty of the Union,
As Scots law was to be retained in Scotland in the treaty.

Apparently you can imagine a reason if you are a Lord.

Hansard. Millbanksystem.com
Hansard. 1803 — 1960s —1964
July 1964—22 July 1964
Common sitting — orders of the day
Statue Law Revision ( scotland) Bill ( Lords)
Deb 22 July 1994 Vol 669 cc 625–39

Order for second reading
Motion made, and questions proposed.
That the bill be now read second time 10.11 p.p.

This typical of this SNP government they are full of promises but deliver on very few of them.

Drug minister in Scotland Angela Constance talks a good game but, but her actions speak louder. Meanwhile Scotland remains the drug death capital of Europe, we also have the most people in prisons in Western Europe.

Sturgeon and her clique are far to busy focusing on self-Id and the GRA, to give a hoot about dying Scots. Juryless trials also take precedence.

“SCOTTISH Government efforts to cut drug deaths are in “disarray” after the heads of the taskforce set up to tackle the problem quit over a row with the minister in charge.”

“Professor Catriona Matheson and former senior police officer Neil Richardson resigned as chair and vice chair of the Drug Deaths Task Force (DDTF) just before Christmas.”

“The Daily Record revealed the pair quit after a dispute with Angela Constance, the SNP minister for drugs policy, over a demand to speed up the group’s work.”

“Opposition parties said the Government’s response to the drug deaths crisis was heading “back to square one”.”

link to 12ft.io

link to twitter.com

The account most mentioned by Scottish National Party MPs in the last 24 hours was:
@DebbieHayton

@Ruby 5:48pm
Transwomen are Transwomen. Women are women. There fixed it. No charge applied. I would expect women to not vote SNP in the May elections. It’s only through electoral defeat will the SNP listen. Today they were at it again. The Scottish BMA are not representing their members. But we can’t get the real narrative out there. What’s the big worry amongst practising hospital Doctors. An increasing number of patients presenting with advance medical conditions. Great for them who are dealing with these presentations. They are interested in medicine which is why they joined the profession. 3 deaths yesterday thousands later.

‘I would expect women to not vote SNP in the May elections.’

How will we know if women aren’t voting for the SNP?

Transwomen who for the most part will be ‘friends of Nicola’ will be registered as women.

What on earth do the TRAs think they are doing?

They are turning everyone transphobic.

They might have been much maligned before all this but now they are heading towards being the most hated group of individuals on the planet.
Supported 100% by Nicola Sturgeon.

Debbie Hayton is correct they are damaging trans rights.

@Ruby 7:15pm
Easy, if the Snp win. Then women voted for them. They represent the majority voting capacity in Scotland. Time for them to accept responsibility and stop blaming men. You can’t expect men to worry about it. They voted for this.

@Ruby 7:28pm
Not necessarily although this maybe a small contributory factor. A missed screening is not going to account for the actual deaths in future. The real reason people are not presenting early enough. They are worried about presenting when the televised narrative is the NHS is overwhelmed. Which of course it isn’t. There is a time lag on this situation. Cancer etc patients die long.

At the time of writing this post the Scottish government has a policy of 10 days self-isolation and continuing of restrictions.

The narrative to justify this is to stop the NHS from being overwhelmed, not due to increased hospitalisations but by staff shortages.

It may sound logical and of course there is medical evidence to justify it but considering in England has 7 day self-isolation as long as two negative tests are produced, is that not a better way to stop the NHS from being overwhelmed?

Northern Ireland and Wales have joined England with this and in America, they have cut self-isolation to 5 days. I’ve just a feeling that Nicola Sturgeon will do the same but it begs the question, why are they not doing so sooner?

It does seem that they are unable to change policy if it is not going well. I don’t know if it is bad leadership, shaping policy by headline or simply out of touch.

Another thing that I wonder is how much Scottish government is policy dictated by their health advisers. No doubt by nature, medical professionals are driven by caution and their advice reflects it but this is a democracy, not a technocracy and in politics, advisers advise, ministers decide.

There’s growing evidence that Omnicron isn’t as deadly as previous variants and we are in a totally different position than we was last year.

The economy needs to be kept going and that can’t be done if large number of people are in self-isolation for a long period and they might not need to. Governments have to take in consideration a wide number of factors including health when deciding policy but the Scottish government doesn’t seem to be able to do that.

Despite what I said in previous posts, I’m not so sure now that the SG governments current handling is going to threaten them in any way. The reality we have to face is that the Scottish public is used to and resigned to having mediocre governance at Holyrood.

PacMan 9,;57pm
There is lot in your post. I will comment on the last paragraph. The Scottish Public don’t know what’s happening in the SNHS. We need a fully functioning media for that

@Brian Doonthetoon 11:59pm
Hi Brian
I was in Dundee today visiting. An auld guy (my dad) who after an acquired Covid infection in Ninewells is hanging on to next Tuesday. Why?. He will be over the 28 days. His death certificate will record his true cause of death. Anyways you are lucky the Dundee Derby has been postponed until February. We would have gubbed you one nil.

“An elderly friend went to the GP surgery…”

He did well getting past the door.

John Main @ 8.12

Yes , I had a hearty LOL at the Mad Hatter’s ( aka Hatty The Hysterical ) condescending faux-gracious remark .

I would have left it at that until I saw he was then slandering anyone who has been pointing out the indisputable fact that the – here’s yr fave word Hatz – * overwhelming * majority of Covid casualties were/are from particular categories of age , immune-compromised , overweight etc .

Not once have I or any other Official Narrative sceptic said anything dismissing the lives of the elderly .

Every life – and death – is significant to someone , at least should be . We’ll never know the true cost in lives lost because of the absurd , panic-driven , hysteria : not mention the permanent damage to civil liberties , which people like yours Hatz have been so eager to dismiss and which will continue long after this situation has passed . Assuming it is ever allowed to pass .

That said …..it’s Hogmanay , time to let bygones be bygones , none of us are right all the time , so Happy New Year Hatuey , all the best for 2022 – and likewise to all WOS readers – and Mr Campbell , of course .

Let’s hope the coming year sees the rotten-to-the-core House of Murrell crumble to the ground and a revivification of the Spirit of 2014 .

Cheers . Have a great yin y’all

‘He eventually got them syringed at a cost of £60.’

That is outrageous!

Anyone had any experience with NHS Podiatry or NHS Physiotherapy?

link to nhs.uk

On the NHS website it states

Finding a physiotherapist
Physiotherapy is available through the NHS or privately.

Waiting lists for NHS treatment can be long and some people choose to pay for private treatment. Most private physiotherapists accept direct self-referrals.

Sounds as if they are promoting private health care.

I recently paid £60 to see a physiotherapist.

On the NHS Podiatry website it states:

“If you are given an appointment this may not be a face to face appointment but instead an appointment by phone or a video option called “Near Me”.

Does this video call involve teaching you DIY Podiatry? How else would a video call help with ingrown toenails for example?

It looks as if we all need to become experts in DIY podiatry, physiotherapy & ear syringing unless we have the money to pay for private treatment.

@Hatuey 3.14 am

It struck when I was reading recent exchanges on Peter Bell’s blog after his most recent jeremiad about how the movement is doomed, and calling a plague on both the SNP and Alba’s houses, that a lot of folk still have pretty unrealistic expectations?

I seem to recall when people were agitating for the establishment of a “new” party before the last Holyrood elections that more thoughtful contributors warned that, unless and until the current leadership of the SNP was removed, we could expect little progress or movement from their current entrenched “Gold Standard” S30 sanctioned #indyref2. Given timescales, election schedules and the excuse of Covid, that meant we could kiss goodbye to any real change for the term of the current Holyrood parliament.

Given the lost opportunity due to voters largely falling for the “SNP 1 & 2” line in May, what many of us warned about has come to pass. Establishing Alba as a viable party and ensuring that a significant section of SNP support defects permanently to the new party will take time. Even if – hopefully when ? – that happens, barring some political earthquake which sees the SNP collapse or go the way of the Irish Parliamentary Party, we’re still going to have to deal with the SNP.

Of course many of us hope that it is an SNP which had ditched Sturgeon and her cabal of TRA extremists, but even if that happens a pro-independence majority still depends on all the pro-independence parties co-operating at least to a degree, even if they have different policy agendas. We’ve had encouraging “noises off” from more thoughtful SNP politicians like Joanna Cherry about the need for co-operation of course, but also pronouncements from serial electoral failures like Tony Giugliano that Alba are not welcome in “their movement”.

I’d find it pretty hard to campaign shoulder to shoulder with some of those in the SNP and Scottish Greens who have spent the past few years abusing fellow independence supporters for being socially regressive, transphobic etc., irrespective of our shared ultimate goal. In the short to medium term of course, we don’t NEED to replace the SNP or see it destroyed (pleasing as that ultimate goal might be for many), we just need to consolidate a new party with enough appeal to deprive the SNP or SNP/Greens of a majority in Holyrood.

Whether the SNP can be reformed – or is worth reforming – is a matter for its members. We just need to ensure that by the time of the next Holyrood election, Alba is in a position to ensure that the SNP have nowhere to hide for not delivering #indyref2 which they will inevitably fail to do.

The current SNP leadership aren’t going to change horses mid stream and abandon their fixation with #indyref2. Embracing alternative routes like plebiscitary elections, or withdrawal from Westminster and issuing an ultimatum or convening a Constituent Assembly will require new thinking and a sea change in the SNP, which isn’t in our gift. What is / will be in our gift is exposing the SNP’s failure to deliver. We can’t depend on external crises or studying the Kremlinology of the SNP leadership to drop ready made solutions in to our laps.

Ruby says:
31 December, 2021 at 9:36 am
‘What I’m wondering is what influence councillors will have vis a vis a vote in Holyrood for self-id?’

Not sure if you’ll get much of a response to this, so FWIW, here goes.

None is the answer. The power resides with the big boys and girls aka MSP’s.
I’m no expert on this (or anything else as it happens) but they are called ‘local’ elections because that is what they are. Councillors are responsible for local issues, roads, planning, garbage collection and so on.

They are funded from HR and topped up by council tax.
If there is a clash between councils and HR, it is usually done through COSLA (The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) representing all 32 councils.
There are sometimes clashes between individual authorities and HR or political parties eg Aberdeen have a Lab/Con coalition (SNP largest party) Lab bigwigs suspended lab councillors because they didn’t approve.

At best I’d be expecting is that Alba can hold the balance in a number of council authorities, but they still won’t be able to influence SNP.

What getting as many Alba councillors as possible WILL do is create momentum for the party and put the frighteners on Sturgeon.

I’m happy to be corrected if any of this is wrong.

Thanks Ebok.

That is what I thought was the case.

There are posters on here who have been suggesting voting for Alba will stop ‘self-id’

The only thing Alba can do is highlight the problems with ‘self-id’ in the hope the SNP & Greens see sense.

The electorate can help a lot by firstly getting informed and then by protesting.

This will be a difficult task because it looks as if the Greens & the SNP are not prepared to listen.

Happy Hogmanay!

I’m not asking these question in order to decide who to vote for in the councils elections I am asking because I like to be as informed as possible.

Do the councils make decisions regarding toilets, changing rooms etc in council run facilities?

Do they decide if toilets etc should be unisex?

From Google I learned

‘Edinburgh Leisure is a company which is owned by Edinburgh City Council’

For those who don’t know Edinburgh Leisure runs all the swimming pools, gyms etc etc etc in Edinburgh.

I’m wondering what influence councillors would have over Edinburgh Leisure’s decisions vis a vis unisex changing rooms, toilets, saunas, Turkish baths etc.

The Royal Commonwealth Pool used to have a sauna & steam room but they had to close it down due to ‘misuse’.

There was a problem and their solution was to close it down. They have re-opened without a sauna & steam room. It’s weird because even very small pools like Leith Victoria have a sauna & steam room. They are both uni-sex and there’s no problem. However that’s not to say they couldn’t end up with the same problem they had at the Commi pool.

.. that the SNP changes it’s ways. By burning ships, I mean we should assume it won’t change and act accordingly. We need to fight for real against the SNP, as if Alba is all we have. It probably is.

That’s all.

Andy Ellis “ I’d find it pretty hard to campaign shoulder to shoulder with some of those in the SNP and Scottish Greens who have spent the past few years abusing fellow independence supporters…”

That’s going to be a massive issue post-Sturgeon. It’s hard to see how the SNP doesn’t come out of all this divided and very damaged. Look at the divisions in the Labour Party caused by Blair — more than 20 years later and they’re still not over it.

All the more reason for us to really commit to Alba and “drive her like you stole her…”

The conspiracy against Salmond is Sturgeon’s Iraq. It isn’t going away. The other stuff I could probably live with, but not that.

@Hatuey

I tend to agree WRT burning ships: Alba can’t afford to be “on message” for ever with a relentlessly positive approach to the SNP, given the loathing we see emanating from folk like Wishart, Giugliano and others.

As for your comment that there’s much more that unites all of us who comment on here than divides us, I’m unconvinced. What are we supposed to make of folk who say, for example:

“I will vote for Alba but I have to say there are certain posters on here who claim to be Alba members who are putting me right off. If either of them came to my door I would probably end up voting Tory.”?

It’s the kind of thing we’d hear during #indyref1 from some random saying, “Of course, I WAS going to vote Yes, but because “X” happened, I’m now going to vote No”, where it turned out that “X” was someone on the internet disagreed with them, or used a bad word, or looked at them a bit funny, or when they were a kid they got teased for having an English accent.

There’s little point trying to reason with such folk. They’re either just trolling for the LOLZ, or they probably aren’t allowed to vote on the grounds of mental incapacity. It’s as difficult to see a unity of purpose with people like that as it is with Wishart, Giugliano or Sturgeons Twitler Youth. Perhaps you just have a stronger stomach than I do?

Andy, nobody is asking you to like anyone. I know I don’t…

We are undoubtedly a bunch of ferrets in a sack with all sorts of silly ideas and differences in our heads. For now it makes sense to focus on getting out of the sack rather than the garbage in our heads.

@Ruby 11:18pm
Agreed we are all mad. How about a huge financial punt on a submission to the forthcoming Public Inquiry. How would that rate in the madness scale. We have the evidence.we