Word reaches us, readers, that Nicola Sturgeon was “furious” when she joined the most recent meeting of the SNP’s Westminster group by Skype. Her rage was driven by the suggestion that the party should trigger a Holyrood election to act as a de facto independence referendum, a policy we’re reliably told is supported by a number of MPs who are too scared of being browbeaten by Sturgeon in front of their colleagues to actually speak out in favour of it.
(We won’t mention their names at this point.)
Our source mentioned to us that they seemed to remember an interview in which the First Minister had revealed a possible reason for her extreme antipathy to the idea – one for the BBC’s extensive and rather good three-part documentary “Yes/No – Inside The Indyref”, which was broadcast in August 2019 and never seen again.
It’s not available on iPlayer or YouTube, but fortunately we happened to still have the show recorded on our Sky+ box, so we went to check, and lo and behold our source’s recollection was correct. Apologies for the slightly wonky quality of this video, as we had to record it off the TV screen.
You can’t move on social media today without tripping over effusive tweets from SNP MPs and MSPs singing the praises of departed Westminster leader Ian Blackford and admiring all his achievements in the position over the last five years, although weirdly nobody has actually listed any of them.
Or possibly the other way round, we’re not sure. All we know is that we’re always surging upwards and forwards but somehow never actually getting anywhere.
If anyone knows when “this process” will have ended and we’ll get our choice – or indeed what she achieved for Scotland in the Brexit negotiations – do let us know.
It’s nice to see the British media (and perhaps, if we might be allowed to dream for a moment, the law) catching up with Michelle Mone.
It’s such a shame nobody did any proper investigative journalism into what a crooked, venal chancer she is before now – seven years ago or even four years ago, say – or the country might have been saved a few billion quid. Ah well, you live and learn, eh?
While this site remains mothballed, it’s nice to keep a steady trickle of traffic going just in case it ever needs to spring back to life, eg if someone actually interested in independence suddenly somehow becomes leader of the SNP again.
So we thought it might be fun to just briefly link to some old articles as and when they became topical once more, and as luck would have it tomorrow is such an occasion.
Because that’s when the SNP will launch the first of a series of new papers outlining the First Minister’s “vision” of independence by waffling on about how it would be a jolly good thing, in the unlikely event that she ever got off her extremely well-paid arse and achieved it.
15 years ago this week (today if you’re counting strictly by date, Thursday if you want to go with election days) the SNP came to power in Scotland for the first time ever. The media operating in Scotland is full of retrospectives and polls on the period, but as usual they’ve missed the real story, as a reader pointed out to us a few days ago.
So for old times’ sake, let’s do their job properly for them one more time.
We’ve observed that over the last few days a number of Unionists, led by tuba-honking dunderhead Blair McDougall (the man who turned a 30-point No lead into a 10-point one, who lost Labour 5000 votes when he stood in East Renfrewshire in 2017 on the basis of being the guy who saved the UK – trailing in an embarrassing 3rd in a seat where Jim Murphy had once won over 50% of the vote – and who is probably more responsible than any other individual for the utter destruction of Scottish Labour as a political force), have revived the ancient “Better Together” scare story about pensions in an independent Scotland.
Mark Beggan on The Gender Of Mountains: “No no not at all. You can take the girls out of Ayrshire but ye canny take Ayrshire out of…” Apr 4, 14:18
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: “We’re all doomed. Doomed, I tell you. There is nothing left for us, but to work till we drop. Look…” Apr 4, 14:16
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: “The conclusion is inescapable. The poor woman’s been “colonised”. Is it the generic English making her behave like that, or…” Apr 4, 14:11
Marie on The Gender Of Mountains: “It’s as though our politicians are having their strings pulled by powerful people who live in other nation states entirely.…” Apr 4, 13:49
sarah on The Gender Of Mountains: “Thank you for posting the link, IB – I hoped someone would!” Apr 4, 13:30
Mark Beggan on The Gender Of Mountains: “It’s official Mother Nature is homophobic.” Apr 4, 13:30
Confused on The Gender Of Mountains: “stuck indoors, waiting for some workmen to show up … nothing much in the wasteland wings has become check this…” Apr 4, 13:28
Ian Brotherhood on The Gender Of Mountains: “@Sarah (12.37) Thanks for reminder. Have signed and tweeted link. (Currently has 6,430 signatures) petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE2135” Apr 4, 13:01
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: “This is powerful and enlightening stuff, MAI. But inevitably, some of the readers are going to be struggling to keep…” Apr 4, 12:49
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: “Mind and get your funeral plan paid up. You’ll be needing that (perhaps more accurately, your relatives will) long before…” Apr 4, 12:38
sarah on The Gender Of Mountains: “Let’s do what we CAN do. There are so many things that worry us and which we can do nothing…” Apr 4, 12:37
diabloandco on The Gender Of Mountains: “Sven , thanks for that – not a lot I can boycott by the looks of it! I’ll just have…” Apr 4, 12:04
Mia on The Gender Of Mountains: “A lot of smoke coming from the US new tariffs. Isn’t that rather convenient? Meanwhile, the deeds of the pathetic…” Apr 4, 11:05
Sven on The Gender Of Mountains: “diabloand co @ 09.12. In 2023, the latest figures I’ve viewed; Machinery and Transport Equipment 19.9 Billion pounds. Fuel 18.7…” Apr 4, 10:18
diabloandco on The Gender Of Mountains: “Could someone tell me what exactly we import from the USA other than Ford and Harley Davidsons? I need to…” Apr 4, 09:12
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: “Seems that neither Sven nor Bob have anything sensible to say about the war in the east. No change there…” Apr 3, 19:26
Robert Hughes on The Gender Of Mountains: “Of course Swinney would bend over to * accommodate * the utterly farcical ” Red Menace ” bollocks ; another…” Apr 3, 16:25
Sven on The Gender Of Mountains: “Vivian O’Blivion @ 14.15. A senior source close to the First Minister has a brass neck to dare to even…” Apr 3, 16:12
Aidan on The Long Future: “@Xaracen – there is no such thing as a binary state, states can either be unitary (like the U.K.) or…” Apr 3, 15:02
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: ““there’ll be Ruskie tanks parked in front of Hollyrood if we’re no careful” That, my dear Vivian O’Blivion, is an…” Apr 3, 14:59
Hatey McHateface on The Gender Of Mountains: ““gutless pro Trump Brit Yoon NAZI appeaser” Iain treats us to another lesson on “hearts and minds”. Just in case…” Apr 3, 14:47
Young Lochinvar on The Gender Of Mountains: “The Khmer Vert should just pull the trigger of the metaphorical gun they are holding to their own “electability” heads…” Apr 3, 14:20
Vivian O’Blivion on The Gender Of Mountains: “The Scotland Editor of The New Statesman, Chris Deerin is full of praise for Mayor Swinney of Brigadoom. “The SNP…” Apr 3, 14:15
sarah on The Gender Of Mountains: “Yes – the ICCPR is an international obligation, however. For more information about the strength of the petition see Leah…” Apr 3, 14:12
Xaracen on The Long Future: “As for the “principle of respect for the territorial integrity of states”, that can only apply to unitary states. For…” Apr 3, 11:48
sarah on The Gender Of Mountains: “Scotland Act 1998 clause 7 (2) Sub-paragraph (1) does NOT reserve – (a) observing and implementing international obligations, obligations under…” Apr 3, 11:30
