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Approaching Election Alert 75

Posted on September 19, 2023 by

Tonight an SNP MP tweeted this:

“Desperately”, eh?

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Nine More Years A Slave 201

Posted on September 18, 2023 by

To be honest it barely seems worth marking the ninth anniversary of the indyref. The day our nation – albeit narrowly – bottled out of becoming a real one again is nothing to be celebrated. The supposed party of independence has run away from the fight, concerned only with feathering its own nest, and its era of power looks to be drawing to a bitter and deserved close.

But there remains one grave and glaring grievance.

And no matter what anyone says, it’ll dog democracy and condemn Scottish politics to eternal stagnation until it’s addressed.

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The Quiet Place 239

Posted on September 16, 2023 by

Infinite Carrot Generator 144

Posted on September 15, 2023 by

The key word here is “DEMAND”.

Because we’ve heard that one before, haven’t we?

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A Tale Of Two Nations 198

Posted on September 13, 2023 by

Huh.

But hey, maybe it’s just one of those things where you only get a drop-down menu and there’s no option for “Scottish”, yeah?

Oh. Well, there you go then.

The news that isn’t fit to print 102

Posted on September 13, 2023 by

I’ve known my mate Chris since I was five years old and we lived next door to each other in a council scheme in Bathgate. He’s a grand lad, the sort of Rangers fan that you can introduce in polite company, a hardworking, small-c-conservative successful business owner who’d go out of his way to help you and has a few SNP councillors in his social circle.

He isn’t the least bit political. In 2014 he was a soft No whose vote was narrowly tipped by the fact that his company did almost all of its business with English clients and he feared losing them to red tape (and, ironically, English nationalist sentiment) after indy, but after the Brexit referendum he was leaning very much more Yes.

The SNP’s staggeringly incompetent rule since then blew that chance and has pushed him further back into the No camp than he ever had been before, but last night he texted me “can’t believe this actually went to print and came through our door today”.

I can’t say I blame him.

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The Longest Mile 242

Posted on September 11, 2023 by

There’s an interesting new blog today called “Will support for Scottish independence go away?”, based on some analysis of long-term polling and demographic trends. If you don’t have time to read all of it, its conclusion is, well, non-conclusive. But the problem with it is that it’s asking the wrong question.

Wings has very little doubt that polling support for Scottish independence will continue to fluctuate within a few points either way of 50% for the forseeable future, as it has done for the last decade. But the real question is whether that will matter.

Because there are other issues with very similar numbers.

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Coming undone 196

Posted on September 10, 2023 by

I’ve always been obsessed, in cultural terms, with pivot points: the precise moments at which something significant changes irreversibly.

They can be a goal that ushers in a football team’s golden era – for me, Alex McLeish putting Aberdeen level in the 1982 Scottish Cup final. They can be a twist in a movie, like (first example that comes to mind) the shocking revelation of the bad guy in LA Confidential. They can spring out of nowhere, like the latter, or be something that was visibly on the way but finally crystallises, like the former.

There are some great examples to be found in the world of pop videos, like the one 3m 40s into Pulp’s epic mainstream-career-ender “This Is Hardcore”. But for my money there isn’t one more spine-tingling than this:

(Warning: some adult content.)

Robbie Williams here is played by Humza Yousaf.

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The Scourge 146

Posted on September 09, 2023 by

Ground Zero 259

Posted on September 07, 2023 by

Well, there it is.

It’s not like it hasn’t been coming.

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Why the SNP surrendered 272

Posted on September 05, 2023 by

These are strange and grim times for the Scottish independence movement, but we never thought it’d ever get so strange that we’d be quoting Effie Deans.

Since pretty much day one, Wings has said that the only honest and honourable way to campaign against independence would be for Unionists to say Scotland isn’t a country, but a mere region of the UK. But they lack the courage to admit what their true beliefs are, and so they fall back on fear and lies disguised as concern, all cloaked in “proud Scot” protestations.

While that might be a miserable way to conduct yourself, it’s understandable, because the moment that you acknowledge Scotland as being a country, all the debating lines against independence crumble to ashes. They’re powerless in the face of the principle that countries should choose their own governments, for good or ill, because that’s what democracy is, and few people are willing to stand openly against democracy.

And what Effie Deans’ concession of this site’s cornerstone argument reveals is that Unionists finally feel safe against any threat of independence in the foreseeable future, and with good reason.

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To Another World 220

Posted on September 03, 2023 by

So, we guess this is the “mainstream independence movement” now.

It’s smaller than we imagined.

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    • Dan on Mad caps: “Aidan says: at 9:31 pm “You honestly think the Rev should ban people wanting to have serious conversations about Scottish…Apr 8, 00:25
    • Jay on Mad caps: “Vivian O’B, what is this ‘purple pish’ carry-on from you? I have read numerous comments from you but now have…Apr 7, 22:53
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “@Xaracen – you don’t personally rant and rave and that comment wasn’t aimed at you, whilst I don’t think your…Apr 7, 22:01
    • Xaracen on Mad caps: “Aidan said: “Exactly Robert – it’s full of people who rant and rave like you do. Nobody wants to be…Apr 7, 21:56
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “@Twathater (an interest way to project your self hatred but there we go) – I am delighted you aren’t responding…Apr 7, 21:31
    • sarah on Mad caps: “Crowdfunder for Independence Live – it needs a lot more donors. So far it has £900 of the £6500 target.…Apr 7, 21:04
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “Lots going on in plucky, wee Norway – the country that all sane and rational Scots hold up as the…Apr 7, 20:37
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “So you’re claiming that US soldiers on RF soil will be summarily dispatched. The RF won’t make any political capital…Apr 7, 19:53
    • PacMan on Mad caps: “The possibility might need to be considered that the higher percentage of support amongst younger voters in polls for independence…Apr 7, 19:49
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: ““after 300+years of neglect and abuse Scotland and Scots are worse off than they have ever been” Here you go…Apr 7, 19:47
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “Calm down, Bob. This isn’t where you post your application for camp guard in the New Scottish Gulag you and…Apr 7, 19:38
    • PacMan on Mad caps: “To be fair, most of us where taken in by this be-Kind, inclusive, civic nationalism nonsense. Look where it is…Apr 7, 19:35
    • twathater on Mad caps: “@ Robert Hughes TBQH Robert I have more or less stopped responding tae these pricks , it is the same…Apr 7, 17:48
    • Jay on Mad caps: “I wonder what Belarusian govt would say if a US military vehicle drove across the border from Lithuania? Viv. OB,…Apr 7, 14:56
    • sarah on Mad caps: “Couch as in grass not as in putting ones feet up!Apr 7, 12:42
    • Mark Beggan on Mad caps: “Scottish media in panic about Universities and their subsequent bankruptcy. Page after page, comment after comment. Children are trapped in…Apr 7, 12:34
    • sarah on Mad caps: “The “age” question is interesting. Can you remember if younger people were very visible in the 2014 campaign? From memory…Apr 7, 12:03
    • agent x on Mad caps: “Not much in the Scottish press about Swinney’s trip to New York!Apr 7, 10:25
    • Vivian O’Blivion on Mad caps: “An excerpt from an article on the website of the Atlantic Council (see also Radio Free Europe); “Lithuanians paid tribute…Apr 7, 10:21
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “Exactly Robert – it’s full of people who rant and rave like you do. Nobody wants to be associated with…Apr 7, 08:56
    • Robert Hughes on Mad caps: “” it’s also that the campaign is too closely associated with anti-Englishness, sympathy for the Kremlin sometimes and increasingly wild…Apr 7, 08:25
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: “Don’t overlook the ingrained antisemitism which a close read of the clannish, self-congratulatory backslapping posts reveals. But yes, if they…Apr 7, 07:14
    • Hatey McHateface on Mad caps: ““We voters would be in the driving seat – that would be wonderful” Would it though, sarah? In all of…Apr 7, 07:05
    • Aidan on Mad caps: “@Ian – as someone who is around half the age of the average suggested above, it’s not just that many…Apr 7, 07:03
    • Ian Brotherhood on Mad caps: “@Sarah (9.16) – Thanks for that and aye, totally agree, there’s nothing like meeting folk in the flesh. Sometimes they’re…Apr 7, 00:09
    • diabloandco on Mad caps: “IanB, I do hope so , I am definitely in need of meeting up with the cheerful , positive folk…Apr 6, 22:10
    • sarah on Mad caps: “MaryB, it is encouraging that you read para (a) the same way that I do i.e. that it empowers People’s…Apr 6, 21:27
    • sarah on Mad caps: “I miss the way btl was. It was always relevant to independence, and pleasant on a personal level. OK Robert…Apr 6, 21:16
    • MaryB on Mad caps: “Sarah @ 4.48 & Duncx I tried to post this earlier today, but it didn’t appear. So here it is…Apr 6, 21:07
    • Ian Brotherhood on Mad caps: “Hi D, Yes, it was good. Not just because the atmosphere was relaxed (because the Eagle Inn is Robert Slavin’s…Apr 6, 20:18
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