Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
The average rape sentence in Scotland is seven years, so to get six years plus three years’ supervision for the technically lesser crime of sexual assaults means they must have been pretty grim ones.
So we know that Cameron Downing is a very bad man. Which does rather invite the question of why he was so popular in the SNP.
The SNP have been pretty clear about the reason they think they got a battering in last week’s election: it was because people were voting to kick out the Tories.
Now, that’s obviously nonsense. There were almost no Tories in Scotland to start with – just 10% of voters had a Tory MP – and only one of the six actually lost his seat. (Which was entirely down to the ham-fisted interference of Douglas Ross rather than an SNP surge – the SNP’s vote share in the seat in question went DOWN.)
If you wanted to keep Tories out in Scotland all you had to do was keep voting for your current MP, most of whom were SNP, rather than risk splitting the anti-Tory vote by switching to Labour and risk letting the Tories squeeze through in the middle. (Which would have happened in many seats had the Tories’ own vote not collapsed.)
But if it was true that the SNP lost because the electorate thought the election was about getting rid of the Tories, whose fault was that?
To be honest, folks, we’re not quite sure what to do with ourselves at the moment.
Everyone and his wee dug is writing election-aftermath columns and offering the SNP advice of varying intelligence and solemnity about how to recover from the shattering blow they’ve just been dealt by Scottish voters.
But it’s a pointless exercise. They may as well be yelling down a manhole.
The Scottish Greens, in a feat of remarkable hubris and financial profligacy, stood 44 candidates in this week’s general election, knowing that most of them would lose their deposits, which they duly did.
But not quite all of them. And there the comedy arose.
Because while SNP boneheads on social media are raging idiotically at Alba, Wings and others for causing division and damaging the unity of the indy cause yada yada yada, a small handful of Green candidates made a real difference.
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Pilot: From The Album Of The Same Name: Sky Blue: “Starlight, shining bright Make my world all right tonight Shine…” Jan 8, 21:56
Mac on Dreaming Of Perfection: “(Apologies, forgot to sort banned words) It is interesting how on BTL on here you get one mad disrupter after…” Jan 8, 21:43
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “I’ll show you a photograph of my massive hammer, if you really wanna see it. (I’ve got a hammer collection:)…” Jan 8, 21:08
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Actually I’m building another guitar re. size 0 Martin style acoustic (just received the plans 2 days ago:) True story…” Jan 8, 21:02
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Don’t worry, I’ll allow you to polish my balls – McSubby” Jan 8, 20:58
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “re. “Simples.Can Starmer calm this down?” Powerless Starmer punches like a sissy (what do you think:) https://tinyurl.com/4czyvw9b #Metaphor #NoEscape” Jan 8, 20:53
Dan on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Maximum chuckles at this, Sally! A month back I queried how non-Party affiliated independent candidates standing would fit in with…” Jan 8, 20:50
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Yeah, I’ve been listening (for years and years), but I still don’t understand wacko Scot Gov/SNP ideology (eyes roll).” Jan 8, 20:39
Hatey McHateface on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Those Labour MPs who front predominantly perpetrating constituencies would have to vote AGAINST in any case. The contrast between them,…” Jan 8, 20:33
Mark Beggan on Dreaming Of Perfection: “A forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favour of a new system.. Force as science tells us…” Jan 8, 20:32
Alf Baird on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Yes Peter, surprisingly this does seem a rather naive hypothesis. ‘Independents’ in Scottish councils that I know do tend to…” Jan 8, 20:31
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “The Fraud (2025): Tory MSP slapped down after raising Branchform SNP probe at Holyrood: “…quizzing Justice Secretary Angela Constance on…” Jan 8, 20:27
Hatey McHateface on Dreaming Of Perfection: “You’ve got something embedded in “economy” too 🙂” Jan 8, 20:19
Mark Beggan on Dreaming Of Perfection: “When there’s no people there it usually means your dead.” Jan 8, 20:05
Dan on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Aye, iirc I’ve linked to it a couple of times a year or so back. https://wingsoverscotland.com/when-its-just-too-dark-to-care#comment-2805480 In one post I…” Jan 8, 20:03
Xaracen on Dreaming Of Perfection: “That’s not the only piece of UK democracy that needs reformed; WM’s internal flat vote is outrageously undemocratic with regard…” Jan 8, 20:03
agent X on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Harvie to take time away from Holyrood for medical procedure Will he come back as a “woman”?” Jan 8, 18:41
gregor on Dreaming Of Perfection: “Samantha Smith @SamanthaTaghoy: “Keir Starmer is making it compulsory (3-line whip) for Labour MPs to vote AGAINST a national inquiry…” Jan 8, 18:33
Nae Need! on Dreaming Of Perfection: “I agree. I’d like to see meritocracy restored 100%, and DIE policies buried for good. As an example of meritocracy,…” Jan 8, 18:20
Nae Need! on Dreaming Of Perfection: “No. Ticking a box and active engagement 24/7/365 are entirely different.” Jan 8, 18:02
twathater on Dreaming Of Perfection: “And yet Peter spent YEARS defending the indefensible, not only did he sycophantically support a despicable betrayer of Scots and…” Jan 8, 17:59
