When I entered front line politics in 2012 as an SNP councillor, I was clear that my guiding ambition was to play a full part in the restoration of independence to Scotland. Over the past 10 years that commitment has only strengthened as the need for independence has grown ever more urgent. From oil and gas, to wind, tidal, wave and hydro Scotland’s vast energy resources keeps the UK powered and Her Majesty’s Treasury pumped full of cash.
Make no mistake, Scotland IS the broad shoulders of the UK.
Our reward for that vast contribution of energy, food, drink and water? To be fleeced of those resources, charged for transmitting our energy, denied access to associated revenue and berated, and ridiculed in the “mother of all parliaments”.
But it’s the social injustice that results from this distortion of governance that is finally beginning to dawn on many as the cost-of-living crisis deepens and more Scots find they are paying through the nose for energy when Scotland produces far more than we could possibly need.
When I rose to my feet on Wednesday 13th July, I had no doubt about the words I was going to say. I had no doubt about who I would be speaking to, and I had no doubt about who I was speaking for.
By now Wings readers will likely have already seen today’s events in the House Of Commons, where Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle completely lost his rag at Alba MPs (and Wings contributors) Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey for protesting against the UK government’s refusal to respect Scotland’s mandate for an independence referendum.
‘Get them out’ demand Tory benches as Speaker Lindsay Hoyle orders ALBA MPs Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill out of the chamber for heckling Boris Johnson. #pmqspic.twitter.com/RiADdSwKZA
Every one of the SNP’s MPs, meanwhile, sat meekly on their hands and didn’t squeak a single word of protest even as the Speaker flagrantly disregarded the House’s rules and subsequently improperly suspended the two Alba members for a week.
You know how the SNP are always going on about how bad the Tories are and how urgently we need to get rid of them? Well, it turns out they don’t want that to happen for at least a couple of years. They just want a different Tory as Prime Minister, even though they keep telling us that Boris Johnson is the greatest recruiting sergeant for independence there could be.
I am living for the day when someone in the Scottish media finds some courage from somewhere and asks Nicola Sturgeon, because she’s going to blink so fast her face might catch fire. But that phone will just keep on ringing until someone answers.
The trans-sex-role-stereotype movement has put what would have been concealed and kept behind closed doors on centre stage. This is why normal, decent men look aghast at other men’s behaviour while many women sigh with an ‘oh, this again’.
The woke bloke contempt for women is clear and abusive behaviours are on full display. Reading through Lundy Bancroft’s pivotal work “Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men”, the full cast of characters is present on Twitter, in the news and in our political parties and institutions.
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.
For many years now, whenever I’ve done one of those “Which Political Party Should You Be In?” online quiz things, it always says that I’m a Green, which is weird because I really hate cyclists. Nevertheless, it was still the result when I did one most recently, just last month.
So I decided that for the first time in my life it was finally time to join a political party.
Craig Murray, a former ambassador to Uzbekistan, the father of a newborn child, a man in very poor health and one who has no prior convictions, handed himself over to the Scottish police last Sunday morning. He becomes the first person ever to be imprisoned on the obscure and vaguely defined charge of “jigsaw identification”.
Murray is also the first person to be jailed in Britain for contempt of court for their journalism in half a century – a period when such different legal and moral values prevailed that the British establishment had only just ended the prosecution of “homosexuals” and the jailing of women for having abortions.
Although we’re retired we already wrote this, so we may as well put it up for the 99.9% of Scots who don’t read the comments on David Leask‘s columns in the Herald.
It’s a claim he’s been banging on about since at least 2014, without ever providing a scrap of evidence to support it (his standard modus operandi), and yesterday was no exception. So let’s show Little Dave how proper big-boy journalists do it.
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: ““trigger some kind of intervention from the Westminster Parliament to shut the entire Scottish Parliament altogether” If you can access…” Jun 20, 20:27
gm on The End Of Law: “Someone complains to the police and they report to the Crown office who don’t do anything. Is there anything else?” Jun 20, 20:21
A2 on The End Of Law: “however they could face dicipline for saying otherwise and without a union that will support them they all (have to)…” Jun 20, 20:20
gm on The End Of Law: “If the SPS, any organisation, refuses or fails to comply with the law. What mechanism exists to make them comply?” Jun 20, 20:20
Red on The End Of Law: “Linda Pollock – who should be stacking shelves in a supermarket based on her CV – is paid over £125,000,…” Jun 20, 20:13
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Wasn’t it psychology earlier, Alf, around half past four? I’m sure it was psychology earlier, because I just went back…” Jun 20, 20:03
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “Wear your tea towel with pride, Marie. Learn some Arabic chants too. Fat lot of good any of it will…” Jun 20, 19:54
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “@Captain Caveman The warming melts the ice. The melted ice ends up in the sea. The sea level rises. It’s…” Jun 20, 19:48
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “A perfectly valid viewpoint, CC. Perhaps you believe that poot will happily stop at the borders of his former colony,…” Jun 20, 19:39
Alasdair Roy on A Fishy Tale: “The carnal tendencies of SNP Westminster MPs had slipped my mind until Confused mentioned the current and fragrant spouse of…” Jun 20, 19:27
100%Yes on The End Of Law: “The Scottish prison Service has been given a golden opportunity to protect the women held under there care, from both…” Jun 20, 19:08
Heather McLean on The End Of Law: “What is the actual point of the Scottish Government? Under the SNP they’ve managed to f**k almost every area supposed…” Jun 20, 19:03
Red on The End Of Law: “If we had a Save Our Scotland party to vote for, we can put these people in jail where they…” Jun 20, 19:01
Marie on A Fishy Tale: “Tea Towels??? That wasn’t you out on manoeuvres the other night in Leith by any chance? What an irresponsible disgrace…” Jun 20, 18:06
Mark Beggan on The End Of Law: “Are we breaking the law if we consider Trans men as nothing more than dangerous mental health cases supported by…” Jun 20, 17:42
Alf Baird on The End Of Law: ““our wee country has been stolen by arrogant gangsters” That’s a useful alternative definition of colonialism, Rev, and you are…” Jun 20, 17:36
sam on The End Of Law: “From Murray, Blackburn, MacKenzie, MBM Policy blog “We welcome today’s ruling in the Outer House of the Court of Session…” Jun 20, 17:13
I. Despair on A Fishy Tale: “Pyla Shyte.” Jun 20, 17:12
Captain Caveman on A Fishy Tale: “Seriously, does anyone believed that “most” (or indeed “hardly any”) British homes will be “under water” in 20 years due…” Jun 20, 17:09
Captain Caveman on A Fishy Tale: “I don’t think it’s a “fake war” but I deffo don’t think “we” should be paying untold billions towards something…” Jun 20, 17:07
Hatey McHateface on The End Of Law: “Ship them to some of the unoccupied St Kildan islands. They can build their own prisons.” Jun 20, 17:05
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “I guess half a reply is better than no reply, Alf. Care to do the tea towel wearer voters next?…” Jun 20, 16:59
robertkknight on The End Of Law: “Banana Republic! If one in five male prisoners are guilty of sex offences, and one in twenty female prisoners are…” Jun 20, 16:37
Alf Baird on A Fishy Tale: ““why we’ve just voted for a Tory” For the colonialist the choice is an easy one; they seek to maintain…” Jun 20, 16:31
Aidan on The End Of Law: ““Considering” in this instance means finding a way to circumvent the judgement, but without doing it in a way that…” Jun 20, 16:08
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “In about 20 or 30 years, most of our homes, jobs, infrastructure, etc. will be under water. So yes, we…” Jun 20, 16:07
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “Easy there, Lewis! Whatever we might think of Fanon, Memmi, Cesaire, Elkins and the Jonesy boyo, we can all agree…” Jun 20, 15:52
Young Lochinvar on A Fishy Tale: “It’s termed alarmist catastrophism. In about 20 to 30 years or so it’ll be some other subject and so on..” Jun 20, 15:47
Hatey McHateface on A Fishy Tale: “Does anybody know if you can still see through a window after spraying it from an aerosol can of paint?…” Jun 20, 15:34
Lewis E. See on A Fishy Tale: “Postcolonial theory is circular-reasoning garbage and Frank Fanon was a crank.” Jun 20, 15:33