As a lifelong political geek and former SNP and Alba Party member, I’ve spent years supporting Scotland’s independence movement. However, over the last few years, I’ve watched the campaign (as opposed to support for independence) wither away. Being a Scottish nationalist has become increasingly disheartening, like watching someone you love succumb to a slow, debilitating illness. In frustration, I switched off from my homeland and turned my focus to the drama of US politics.
Over the last three years I immersed myself in it, watching both left and right-wing outlets. I became so hooked and invested that I jumped on a plane to Washington DC for the 2024 election. I canvassed with DC Democrats in rural Pennsylvania (that’s me third from the left in the pic below), attended Kamala Harris’s concession rally, and went to Trump’s only watch party in DC.
My journey led me to believe that Scotland’s independence campaign could learn a great deal from Trump’s victory and the Democrats’ failure.
We’ll give you three guesses as to the highly controversial and extravagantly taxpayer-funded organisation that has its rainbow fingerprints all over this story, readers.
To be honest, readers, the peculiar events of yesterday continued to nag at us all day as every news broadcaster in Scotland and beyond leapt eagerly on the ludicrous non-story from the Herald On Sunday’s front page. (It was even the #2 item on BBC Radio Wales, inexplicably).
For such an absolute nothingball of scurrilous sub-gossip to so dominate the entire news media was just too strange to ignore. We cannot remember the last time a low-grade freelancer managed to sell the same story to FOUR major Scottish newspapers – who normally, remember, only want exclusives for their big front-page splashes – let alone a crummy opinion columnist (not even an actual news reporter) who’s only been back in journalism for five minutes after a 15-year break as a failed PR guru.
(Once they’d all run the shoddy hatchet piece, TV and radio then had all the excuse they needed to blare it across the airwaves. “Oh, it’s not us inflating and amplifying this garbage, guv, we’re just reporting what the papers are saying.”)
So in our eternal quest for enlightenment and understanding we thought we’d see if we could find out a bit more about the little-known but recently-revived sleeper assassin with the ironic name: Carlos Alba.
Astonishingly, there isn’t a single word of apology anywhere in this statement.
There isn’t a scintilla of contrition, not the tiniest glimmer of admission of culpability or responsibility. There isn’t even a weasel-worded expression of “regret”.
Rape Crisis Scotland is unfit for purpose, and its CEO must resign.
In the 1990s, Dr. Robert Smith, a surgeon at Falkirk Royal Infirmary, performed a pair of amputations on two men. Neither of the men involved had anything physically wrong with them, but both were suffering from apotemnophilia – a rare psychiatric condition involving the desire to have healthy limbs amputated.
Sufferers, counterintuitively, claim not to feel “whole” with four limbs and obsess over having their unwanted body parts chopped off. Smith argued the surgeries were life-saving, claiming the patients would commit suicide otherwise.
Apotemnophiles, like autogynephiles, insist that there is no erotic element, but it was later discovered that one of the men Smith operated on ran an amputee fetish website.
Despite saying as recently as mid-May that it was “committed to continuing with that legislation”, and the new First Minister making a huge fuss about it at Edinburgh Pride just a handful of weeks ago, the administration has clearly (if belatedly) realised that as well as being massively unpopular it would probably be another disastrous high-profile failure along the lines of the Gender Recognition Reform Act, as it too would be likely to be in conflict with UK law.
So on the face of it it’s just a “pragmatic step” to avoid wasting any more time, energy and political capital that could be better spent trying to turn the government’s fortunes around, and leaving Labour to do all the dirty work instead.
But it may turn out far more significant than that.
But in fact the headline on the STV News website – whether intentionally, through innocent misunderstanding or, as we suspect, a result of being deliberately misled by government ministers – is a flat-out lie.
In fact the Scottish Government has done the exact opposite. It has taken Dr Hilary Cass’s four-year report and set it on fire, so that it can continue to irreversibly destroy the lives of Scottish children in the name of gender ideology.
You’d have to be living in a pretty strict prison not to have heard the big story from today’s Olympics in Paris, in which male Algerian cheat Imane Khelefi was put in a boxing ring with young Italian woman Angela Carini and allowed to hit her in the head for 46 seconds until she retired, in tears and in fear for her safety, saying “I had to preserve my life”.
Sound like your kind of fun, men? It’s surprisingly easy!
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.
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “The “Supreme Court” was a creation of Teflon Tony and crew and obviously post dates the Act of Union so…” Nov 21, 02:33
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “That wee bone however would have momentous impact in an election or referendum. Ask politicians who seek recounts. Just saying.” Nov 21, 02:15
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “Gloriana; you are simply mendaciously playing arithmetical sophistry using figures for polls, figures as voted and figures per capita to…” Nov 21, 02:10
Young Lochinvar on The Long Unravelling: “Good points. Can you do the same for Westminster?” Nov 21, 02:02
Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “Have you really got nothing better to do with your time than endlessly churn out tedious, insulting, infantile bilge, Faceache?…” Nov 20, 22:15
Confused on The Long Unravelling: ““chortle” but postgate was a socialist and subtly, not preachy, wove these themes into his work … (starts thinking about…” Nov 20, 22:08
Confused on The Long Unravelling: ““rab clark” dont be afraid of your FREEDOM www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVw7fzIP6cQ” Nov 20, 22:06
Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “It’s almost like the independence party has been infiltrated, dismantled and neutralised by agents of the UK state.” Nov 20, 21:59
Dan on The Long Unravelling: “Plus the clangers are unfortunately now tainted in my mind because of all the racket created by all the folk…” Nov 20, 21:40
sarah on The Long Unravelling: “A detective inspector on the case has said the same – that it was NOT R—-n agents.” Nov 20, 21:34
Dan on The Long Unravelling: “It’s complex. The Clangers was broadcast on the BBC so naturally you have to consider whether the storyline is an…” Nov 20, 21:33
Aidan on The Long Unravelling: “You need to go back and read the Opinion of the committee, particularly the last paragraph under the title “Background”…” Nov 20, 21:16
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Yeah, I’ve noticed that on TV booze adverts too. If you can just catch the small print at the bottom,…” Nov 20, 21:14
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Jeezo, Ros. Not only are you destroying CM’s rep, now you’re going for Mark Hirst too. Soon Indy will have…” Nov 20, 21:02
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Never heard of him, but tell us, how does he spell “Scotland”? Can he get that right? Help us decide…” Nov 20, 20:52
willie on The Long Unravelling: “To change the topic if I may can I just say that this evening I chanced on a full page…” Nov 20, 20:52
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: ““jenno-side” Naw. 36 deid ain’t “jenno-side”. In the SS, you’d have been thrown out if you couldn’t exterminate 36 in…” Nov 20, 20:48
Confused on The Long Unravelling: “do the clangers remind you too much of beavers? I saw this and thought of you www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NlQiQfC4zQ” Nov 20, 20:43
Confused on The Long Unravelling: “getting the support of a half scottish golf nut who owns a lot of property here -should- have been a…” Nov 20, 20:37
Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “Craig Murray, already blew the bullshit Skripal nonsense official English narrative out of the water – this is just the…” Nov 20, 20:29
Confused on The Long Unravelling: “slightly accidental post; but that ridiculous war is past its sellby date, it jumped the shark a long time ago…” Nov 20, 20:28
Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “When Jefferey Sachs choses to speak – you’d do well to listen to his words. Scroll down a wee bit…” Nov 20, 20:18
Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “You do know your Time Machine YL.” Nov 20, 20:16
Xaracen on The Long Unravelling: “Your analysis of the matter is inept. The committee clearly took the view that the provisions of the Treaty’s Article…” Nov 20, 20:14
Republicofscotland on The Long Unravelling: “The evil monsters, that are committing jenno-side in the Levant region, just bombed the ancient city of Palmyra (sssyr-ia) -…” Nov 20, 20:06
robertkknight on The Long Unravelling: “The MAGA hat waving Raspootyn apologists are out tonight I see. Obviously never spoken to a refugee from east of…” Nov 20, 19:55
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Jeezo, how old are you? Mentally, I mean. It’s only 30 years or so since we pushed them back out…” Nov 20, 19:55
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: ““I’m pro Minsk Accords” You sure? According to Pres P, the Minsk Accords no longer exist. “residents of the Donbas…” Nov 20, 19:43
Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Wow, Confused, that’s some post! You do know, don’t you, that Napoleon and the Wehrmacht both invaded R and marched…” Nov 20, 19:20
Robert Hughes on The Long Unravelling: “ahahahaha ! fckn brilliant , ma man . But yr forgetting ….whilst the Big R has been the graveyard of…” Nov 20, 19:16