Wings Over Scotland

What a surprise. Rather than attempt to actually do something even vaguely useful as per political value, the bold James decides to spit the dummy out of the pram and have another wee conniption. Sometimes I don’t know why you bother, frankly. Between him, the dug and the world’s smallest working class hero Mike Small, we are not well served.

Scat Goes Plop.

it is annoying when two of the better and more reasoned bloggers i read on the matter of indy have differences of ‘admin’

argue the point on indy

not fucken admin ffs

What intrigued me the most about Kelly’s initial rant about your numbers, Stu, was that he complained about your post which was replete with graphs, while providing zero evidence of his own statistics. That’s the kind of thing that kids are taught to look out for in first year science class at high school, so you’d think that someone who has set himself up as some sort of authority on polling would have understood the importance of the evidence!!

It’s interesting that he did a similar thing to Craig Murray a couple of weeks ago. Craig had written a considered piece comparing the SNP Alba’s situations in Scottish politics with those of Sinn Fein and the (I think) Irish National Party around a century ago. Clearly, Murray was illustrating a situation that actually happened in the past. Kelly wrote an unhinged, evidence-free piece asserting that Murray was wrong which essentially boiled down to “because, reasons”.

Clearly, Kelly is welcome to his opinions, but he isn’t the Oracle of Delphi. (I’m not suggesting that you think you are, James. We all know that that title belongs to John Nicolson MP.)

IMHO, your posts are WAAAAYYY more fun to read, more direct and more readable. And way more bite and meat. Kelly’s are rather dull, even though the comments/observations on polls are interesting enough. (I have funded some polls in the past for Kelly.)

And even if Wings’ stats included repeat visitors, doesn’t that say something about the value of the posts, that they’re worth coming back to re-read. I seriously doubt someone is sitting hitting RELOAD for the sake of bumping the stats.

Anyway, I think it is a bit of a pointless pissing contest. It’s not like you’re both competing for advertising and need to show how widely read you are.

pissing contest?
No idea what that means but this looks apposite

link to youtube.com

As far as James Kelly goes, I occasionally go to his site when he is saying something of interest (not that often I’m afraid) but if I want proper analysis of the situation I would always choose Wings as my first port of call.

Pointless rowing over nothing is what we do.

We’re Scots. It’s in our DNA.

Look around you today, see where it has got us.

@Stoker 9:03

And continuing the theme of “pointless rowing”…

You really need to teach yourself to stand back and see the bigger picture.

Which outcome helps Indy most? Defeat at whatever stage England got to (I neither know nor care), or “decades of sycophantic saturation coverage”?

You prefer the former outcome. I wonder if the latter outcome would not work better at keeping fresh the differences between England and Scotland in the minds of apolitical Scots.

But I can’t prove that. 🙂

Why is James Kelly so angry about this, is his pride hurt because you posted his visitor figures and he doesn’t like it that they aren’t higher.

It seems very childish to me for Kelly to be ranting and raving about this, especially when Sturgeon is in the process of flushing Scotland down the toilet.

If one didn’t know any better (and I don’t) you’d have thought that Kelly was desperate for you to close down the site altogether due to you having higher all round figures even though you have retired.

Rev Stu,

Tell James Kelly that you love him. Tell him he is a great blogger. Tell him he is primus inter pares.

Give him comfort. He might be upset. You couldn’t not be upset just now with the state of things. Put of frustration and despair James could be an angry young adult

In short Rev Stu, tell him you love him.

Who’s in the lead in the ‘Hate Wings’ league? Kelly or Wishart?
Jeez, those two have their priorities, and it shows, eh?

“You’d ‘ave to *really* ‘ate the Romans?”
“I do!”
“Oh yeah?”..
Hahah.

@Kenny

LOLZ!

@Hatuey 10:58

“Used to see that a lot back in Dodge”

Never ever placed you in Dodge. Thought you old timers all moved to Boot Hill years ago.

Ever chew the fat with that gunslinging Earp fellow? Half Scottish wasn’t he? You could have enjoyed a wee catch up, as long as you minded your P’s and Q’s.

O/T: someone was asking btl the other day for a newer wee book [no doubt wishing for material to convert multiple Noes to Yes] – I’ve just spotted that Voices for Independence have the Wee Alba Book download link at the top left of their page.

@Ottomanboi (1.07) –

Pat Kane has been producing similar drivel for almost forty years.

Regardless of whatever rosette he happens to be sporting he’s just Scottish Labour, like so many of the chancers who’ve sidled up to the SNP/Yes movement since 2011.

To cut through the ‘show me the money’ contingent.

Show me where it is within the Union.

It all goes to George.
It’s proven its all spent on George.
George makes all the decisions.
George doesn’t love you.
George is shafting you blind & asset stripping.

I don’t think it’s up to Yessers to keep providing figures. It’s so long debunked it’s a fecking joke by now.
Even during indyref Better Together dropped that bullshit with even Cameron admitting *Scotland is a wealthy country, of course it is, its able to exist on its own…but, but, but we don’t want you to do that Scotland. We love you. We want you to stay & be an equal partner (Whit? We weren’t already?) Lead, don’t leave us, mwha)

After Naw vote:

*Right, you Jockos. You’ve had your say. Now STFU & go away! It breaks my heart you bastards nearly won. Now – yer punishment. It’s permanent. Yer getting sweet fuck all. In fact, having your ref has now empowered me to say that England, NI & Wales all take precedence above you. You’re now muted & removed from the parliament of GB. In fact, today, I’m going further – I’m announcing EVEL & that the GB parliament is now our English only parliament & it’s only right that we English return to revisiting the Mid Lothian Question. We should have Devo too*

Aye, dodgy Dave, what happened to that?

After this wee spiel on the steps of Dowdy street we were no longer loved, an equal valued member within his family of Nations shite. We were vilified 24/7 that a *swarm of mad Scots* were about to descend on *Thier* parliament.

The Unionist governments have shafted you for decades, what makes you think that’ll ever change?

Its the classic divide and split.

WGD was often hostile to wings as well, maybe funding comes from some sources that require a certain split in the INDY for Scotland groups.

That was being done on your site until you put you’ re foot down recently, and offered to ban the people causing the constant spoon stirring, the attempt to stir shite while not contributing anything to forward independence.

This is the same play ground tactics.
Pick a side and divide.

– that’s a terrible piece ottomanboi, but a great example of the cringe, and of how hard it will be to get out of this mess : Pat Kane is a “thought leader” after all.

The book Kane raves about is calling for a world government to make all decisions “for the good of the planet”, which would make the nation state obsolete; so much for indy. And in this world govt, who is in it? And do we get a vote? When fascism returns, it will paint itself green.

Pat Kane has a degree in german (I think) – he certainly cannot count. Nigeria alone has about 200M people, and the projections for Africa by 2100 are a jawdropping 4B. Can the world handle an excess of 3B africans (not singling them out, it’s just everywhere else has levelled off).

– and little Scotland, over-resourced and under-populated (why was that again?) with its 5M people, can do little about the big numbers, but it can destroy itself. Piecemeal “christian charity” is fine, I suppose, but what Kane suggests is self annihilation. Will the Scots survive even at homeopathic levels?

Encouraging swarming levels of africans into europe does nothing other than destroy the welfare state and NHS; most of these unfortunates have little to offer and are destined to become welfare recipients or criminals. Oh yeah, technology means demand for labour will over time, drop to very low levels (people with special skills and actual decision makers) – mind you, every advert would tell you the average african is a brain surgeon physicist engineer chess grandmaster …

The real solution would be to develop Africa, which is huge and hugely resourced, a plan advanced by Gaddafi (and weirdly, fantasised about by Hollywood – “Wakanda”), but he got a knife up his arse for his trouble; don’t fuck with Wall St, chump, just don’t do it. The purpose of Africa is to absorb US excess food (produced by its subsidised farmers), provide essential minerals, e.g. for mobile phones, at base cost, and exist as a bag of corrupt kleptocracies, infested by corporations, mercenaries and other low life. The poor bastards never had much of a chance and “decolonisation” just another “bait and switch”.

It’s an evil, clever plan – use war and financial scamming to destroy people in the third world, then use the survivors to destroy your own working class in your own societies; and call it humanitarianism and anyone who naysays is a “racist” of the “far right”. “Liberals” and “democrats” are the worst, most evil bloody murderers and creators of chaos.

I think Pat lives up the West End of Glasgow, and has kids. It’s an open secret, never commented on, but the westenders live highly subsidised lives over the rest of us – for example, Jordanhill School, is a state school, but provides “private school” levels of attainment; getting your kid in there saves you about 20K a year. Then there is the matter of council tax; the bands were set sometime in prehistory and do not reflect in any way the value of current property – the rich should pay more, probably 2 or 3 times what they currently pay. The greens are very big in the area, but have never proposed this (- it would be destruction at the ballot box for whoever suggests it). They also benefit in other ways – its a pleasant area, safe, with high levels of services; you don’t get the same in the East or North, and if you need to call the police for any reason, they will likely turn up.

Liberals should have some “skin in the game” – here is a modest proposal. Shut down Jordanhill, turn it into a hostel for asylum seekers – and comp them all vouchers for Oran Mor.

The really disgusting thing about Kane and pricks like him is the way they just assume – ordinary people who have no control over an economic system they did not construct, and which does not work for them, can be blamed for its excesses and predations and -punishment- meted out to them, righteously. I bet he has the latest iPhone and thinks the eco-fairies just conjured it out of thin air, at no cost, no carbon emissions and not made in some human ant farm with nets to prevent suicide … “for thee but not for me”.

Looking forward to the world cup.

Will help take your mind off of Sturgeon for a couple of weeks.

Some English non entity told us all that England will go one better than the last tournament,,and go on to win the World Cup

England of course will NEVER win the World Cup.

Looking forward to good football,,,And you get the bonus of watching the detested English getting kicked out of the tournament.

Rev says:
“[EDITED BY REVSTU] Sorry, I’m not encouraging anyone to give any more money to these grifters. What did they do with the last £120,000? That joke of a “newspaper” they gave away with The National? Geeza brek.”

There’s another one near the bottom of previous thread. You might want to remove that one too.

@Confused

Pat Kane has a degree in german (I think) – he certainly cannot count.

Pat’s degree was in English, from Glasgow Uni, class of 1985. I think he was Rector in the 1990’s too. He’s one half of Hue and Cry. He was married to Joan MacAlpine the former SNP MSP.

Pat’s trial balloon in the link looks to me to all intents and purposes like an implicit admission that independence is too parochial”

But there’s an old irony to be savoured here. The “independence in Europe” that got many of us on the bus of indy implied a sophisticated sovereignty – one that, when asserted, was then intelligently shared with co-operative neighbours.
We now have to complement that with “independence in the biosphere”. We’re in a situation where a responsible northern state faces tidal waves of humanity torched out of their homelands by the climatic consequences of an industrial and consumerist era we fully played our part in.

And we know exactly who we’re distancing ourselves from.

If “independence in the biosphere” means leadership by Pat and his like minded mates, I’m minded to say they can keep it. I’ll still take “independence in Europe” – or even “independence semi-detached with Europe” – over the independence of his wider, juster consideration ta very much!

James Kelly is a bitter, twisted little man – rejected by Alba, rejected by the SNP, rejected by his “readers” to the extent he put up a “wah wah wah nobody loves me, think I’m giving up” post a few weeks back which was basically so narcissistic it was unreal. Unsurprisingly he hasn’t given up because his ego couldn’t handle it.

The BTL posts on his site are risible nonsense, either written by his (obvious) alter ego or censored crap which conforms with his world view.

Best thing he could do is disappear because nobody really gives a shit about anything he has to say anymore.

@Andy Ellis 3:48pm
I observed today tulips and daffodils in my garden, confused by the warm weather thinking it was Spring. So climate change is a consideration for every population. It is about handling the transition away from fossil fuels dependency. Back in the 1970s Gordon Wilson campaign ‘It’s Scotland’s Oil’ was the time to build up a sovereign fund like Norway. The UK Government wasted the money and now through their renewable decisions the Scot Gov have done the same. I still think Scotland can be an Independent country albeit with better relationships with Europe and our immediate neighbours. I don’t understand the Scot Gov 20 billion from oil and it will all be OK. A lack of strategic capability on this and other issues by the Scot Gov.

Dan says on 12 November 2022 at 4:14 pm

“I found a ream of old pound coins which I think can also be taken to the bank. Although in the past someone who isn’t me used them as EGR blanks on car engines by welding them onto the flange. The queen looked pretty cool sporting a big afro barnet when the coin blackened with the welding heat.”

LMAO! (I needed that! Cheers! Big thumbs up! Teary-eyed!)

@Dan 4:14

The harm to human health from nitrous oxides is well known, which is why EGR valves were introduced in the first place. Drivers can save money by blanking them, but at the expense of a more toxic environment for everybody else.

Hardly any time since you were camped on the moral high ground. Just as well it wisnae you doing the EGR valves. That wouldnae be a good look.

Hahaha
What a day.

The detested England gubbed by Samoa in some other game of Rugby.

This is what we want.

Butcher’s Aprons kept in the bottom drawer,,, where they belong.

Council tax is poll tax with a new branding name.

A house or a building cannot provide council tax to the council,
nor can district amenities that lie inert, provide money in council tax to the council until the/a person moves into a building or district.
The council tax is still on the person as poll tax, it is still connected to the person individually, not the amenities nor the district, nor building,
Your last place of residence is checked when you move house to see your council tax code and if you are fully paid up or due a refund.

Your bill or refund is not given to the local amenities district you once lived in at your old address,
It is prrsonally yours for good or bad, ie attached to the person, not the amenities, building or district.

You are the one the bill or refund is attached to.

The rebranding and word smithing by local councils does not change the fact the tax is on the person,

only 3% of the grain went to where it was needed most, European nations keeping most of the grain for themselves.

Meanwhile back in the real world not inhabited by uncritical Vlad fluffers, the situation is a tad more complex:

link to archive.ph

Now that Sturgeon the betrayer and her side-kick Liz Lloyd are back from grandstanding in Egypt. The betrayer is back in spouting drivel mode, here the Judas claims she’s worried about how the English Chancellors budget cuts will affect Scotland, as if she gives a toss about Scots.

“I don’t think it will come as any surprise to hear me say, I’m profoundly concerned at what we may hear from the Chancellor on Thursday.”

Hunt said he will make “eye-watering” decisions after the economy shrank in what is predicted to be the beginning of a record-long recession.

This will include painful public spending cuts and tax hikes, to fill the so-called black hole in the nation’s finances.”

Sturgeon and her MSPs/MPs sold out Scotland when they did nothing to get us out of this union after Brexit, and she’s wasted mandate after mandate that we’ve given her to get us out of this union, she’s had a pro-indy majority (Greens included) since she took office, and she’s dangled the indy carrot ever since without actually achieving anything on the indyfront. One could reasonably say that she’s done more harm than good to the indy cause.

Sturgeon only cares about Sturgeon, and allowing men dressed as women into real women and girls safe spaces.

Oh, and if Sturgeon the Judas and her entourage’s taxpayers jolly to Egypt annoyed you, her Glasgow City council leader and two aides also flew out to Egypt on a jolly at the taxpayers expense.

Lets get Alba MSPs into the Holyrood chamber (if it takes that long to exit this rancid union) to see the look on the Sturgeon’s face if she’s still FM by then, one hopes not. Remember she screamed in delight They’re dead, when Alba a real indy party failed to win a seat at the last Scottish elections.

link to 12ft.io

@RoS 6:22

Is it a “so called” black hole, or a real black hole, in the UK finances?

There’s a world-wide recession ATM, made worse by Covid and the war. An iScotland will be subject to the same economic stresses.

In the absence of anything from NS other than “profound concern”, let’s hear it on here what an iScotland will do to fill this black hole.

Not for me, for the curious readers on here who are desperate to know what a plausible solution will do for them.

@ John

Aye okay, if only it was that easy for some cars and vans just doing the superficial fix. Was recently taking a fooked EGR valve off a Freelander 2 which uses the PSA group DW12 engine. Twat of a thing to work on with it situated on the back of the head, with pipes, hoses, delicate wiring in the way, and inaccessible bolts of different sizes and styles holding it on.
You’re climbing on the engine like a monkey moving around in the jungle. Of course the flaps in the dual runner inlet manifold are all cruded up with sludge like the inlet ports in the head, so you have to take it all off to sort. But then that is to be expected after thousands of miles of feeding soot back into the engine.
Just nae need for it to be so awkward and expensive to sort. Vehicles end up getting scrapped because they are not “economically viable” to fix, so an existing car has to be replaced with another with no thought for the economic footprint disposable cars creates.
But mind, these were the diesels we were all told to buy as they were the future of motoring… Guess naebody thought to bother about the fumes they put out back then.
You said you stay in a flat previously, are you gonnae run a high current charge cable doon the stairs and across the pavement to a parking space to charge yer Tesla? Good luck with that!

The only purpose of The National and James Kelly is to milk gullible independence supporters.

Just as the biggest betrayer in Scottish history hijacked the cause for independence and an entire nation for personal gain.

@ John

Volvo studies stated you need to do about 70k miles before the crossover of a leccy car being better than a petrol. An aquaintence works at Ford / Daf tech development in Coventry and he was saying much the same. So you’ll need to crack on with racking up the mileage when you get yer Tesla or why bother.
Another mate works at Landrover / Jaguar and they have an accident damaged leccy Jag in, the battery pack got damaged in the bump… Apparently £20k to replace!

My next car may be a classic from 1980ish so it is VED and MOT exempt. I’ve already built an optimised hybrid engine for it using certain parts selected from different engines. It has lighter components so less reciprocating mass, which also gives a higher compression ratio optimised for running on autogas (propane), that burns cleaner than both diesel and petrol. It’s amazing what a thicko lacking intellectual height can do…

“In the absence of anything from NS other than “profound concern”, let’s hear it on here what an iScotland will do to fill this black hole.”

Main.

Let’s see now ah yes independence could’ve help mitigate a lot of uncertainties for Scotland, such as Brexit which has damaged the exports market of Scotland. Energy sell offs by Sturgeon and licence issues by Westminster wouldn’t have happened part of the mitigation could’ve been lower energy prices for Scots.

Scotland could also have engineered its way back into the EU (EFTA my choice) by now post-Brexit that is opening up that market again. These are just a few of the things that could’ve been done if Scotland has all the levers of power required by a sovereign independent state

Spanners over Scotland makes a nice change from covid and wars. I have a 20-year-old Volvo. Runs like new. Only 104,000 miles.

I like the idea of an older road tax free car, but I can see that finishing soon with electric cars going to be taxed soon.

Toy’d with the idea of buying a horse I saw for sale. Sadly it was for parts only. Failed the emissions test.

I follow James on Twitter, but genuinely can’t remember the last time I actually bothered visiting his blog. Now TBF that’s partly down to a decline in Scottish political polling over recent years, but it’s also down to his irritating writing style, which I can only decribe as “spectrum-ish” (a view reinforced by his continually returning to an argument long after everyone else has moved on).

Thing is, if he’d simply continued to plough his own path and ignore everything ever said about him (by Wings or anyone else) he’d be far more popular.

Ach well , just back from my local , few drams down the line , n just want to say ……I love you all , aye , even erstwhile * opponents * – Mr Ellis n Mr Main included .

I don’t doubt – n never have – despite all our – often heated – disagreements , we all share a common goal . You know the one .

That we argue about how best to realise that goal is , well , ” only natural ” , and a reflection of our mutual desire to see that ambition realised . Fck , we’re Scots ! We’d readily enter an empty hoose simply because we thought it was lacking a fight

TBH I have no idea how we’re going to get where we want to be – ” the highways jammed with broken heroes , on a last chance power-drive ” ….but , maybe , we need to re-remember what it is we’re striving for – in my mind , to create something better

Maybe , we need to – un-embarrassedly – allow love to be our guiding principal . EVERYTHING would flow from that

Anyone got a better idea ?

Aye, drink a pint of water before bed lol

Aye. Scots like to argue the toss.
There’s 3 stages.
1.Try Reason & diplomacy.
2. Savage yer opponent with scathing insults.
3. Ask who’s buying the next pint.

Robert Hughes 11.17.

Good thoughts but principle not principal. Doh.

Pedants rule .

@Robert Hughes 11.17 pm

I don’t doubt – n never have – despite all our – often heated – disagreements , we all share a common goal . You know the one .

Sadly Robert that simply isn’t true of many of the usual suspects in here though is it? All too many of the usual suspects in here have an atavistic itch to scratch: not only do they regard those on the other side of the argument as wrong, but as ill intentioned *tractors.

Folk like myself, John Main, Chas and others are routinely abused as being “not real indy supporters”, not indy supporters AT ALL in fact, or we’re 77th Brigade operatives. Even worse we have prominent figures like Gareth Wardell being so triggered by anyone having the temerity to disagree with them that they think it’s appropriate to use the epithet “English Ellis” as an attack line.

I don’t give a flying fuck about whether some of the pieces of work who soil below the line comments in here share the same goal as me. They are however still pieces of work. Unlike them, don’t assume anyone who disagrees is working for the other side, or a *tractor.

I wouldn’t cross the road to piss on most of them if they were on fire, still less campaign next to them, or agree to bury the hatchet and have a pint with them on the basis that “och, it’s just Scots having a stair heid rammie, whit ur we like, ken?”.

As for allowing ” love” to be our guiding principle, what I’d really love is for Rev Stu to institute a new rule: anyone using the “you’re not a real indy supporter / you’re a yoon plant” line should be perma banned. That would instantly rid the place of some of the nastiest pieces of work, and the most disruptive BTL influences.

The SNP and other unionists will feel very reassured when Wings Over Scotland and Scot Goes Pop waste their time – and ours- publishing this sort of childish rubbish.

@Dan 9:45

You know much more about practical ICE internals than me, no arguments. That’s valuable knowledge.

You also know much more than me about how different demographics voted in the Brexit ref. I don’t see the value or relevance TBH. Like most Scots voters I guess, I vote in line with my own interests.

Here’s a few notions I have picked up over the years:

1) Everybody knows more than everybody else about at least one subject, that is an axiom.
2) Knowing more than somebody else about something doesn’t make that somebody else stupid, they may simply be uninformed.
3) Expertise in one subject rarely transfers to another unrelated subject.

Finally, the one I like best. Most voters in any democracy are ignorant arseholes, but these arseholes are entitled to be represented just as much as everybody else.

None of the above is intended in any way as a personal attack, Dan.

Andy Ellis

I agree that discussions should not be conducted along the lines of “you’re 77th Brigade”, “closet-unionist” etc.

Likewise, I don’t agree with comparisons with Nazi Germany “blood and soil nationalism” if anyone argues the SNP were wrong to allow anyone on the Scottish Electoral Register to vote on Scottish independence, even if the voter was only a temporary or new resident in Scotland so would have been unable to demonstrate Scotland is their permanent place of residence.

LOL Got to love Andy’s Sunday morning rant there, and the rather selective group of folk he lists to be perma banned from here. It’s notable that those who repetitively call folk moonhowlers, no marks, skid marks, covidiots, lacking the intellectual height, etc, are for some obscure reason exempt from being perma banned…

Republicofscotland says: 13 November, 2022 at 10:11 am

It’s all finger pointing from Sturgeon, look how bad the Tories are, they’re cutting again, they’re interfering in devolved matters, it’s all to get us onside with her and her party.

The truth is she could’ve and still can get us out of this union, we don’t need permission from a foreign parliament to dissolve the union, (there’s no way out of this union via Westminster) we only need an FM with a wee bit of courage and the drive to fulfill the mandates we’ve given her for years, sadly Sturgeon isn’t that FM.

Indeed.

While it is constantly mentioned on this forum that Sturgeon is getting the selfies in to get her job at the UN or some cushy non job at some American progressive university, it does feel that she is virtue signalling to the Islignton champagne socialist set.

It does feel that she is more interested in maintaining her Westminster contingent and showing both to the unionist electorate here and the Westminster establishment that she is more than happy to work within the system that is financially beneficial both to her and her party.

I’m genuinely surprised she hasn’t yet softened up the SNP membership to allow SNP members to sit in the House of Lords, to allow Scotland to have a bigger say in matters that affect them, of course.

I know I am being cynical here but Sturgeon needs a job after she leaves Bute House so in her shoes, she can’t be picky and anything will do, even if it is inside the British establishment or one of the non-jobs ex Westminster government Ministers and Prime Ministers seem to be able to get in the private sector.

John Main says: at 10:19 am

“You know much more about practical ICE internals than me, no arguments. That’s valuable knowledge.

Finally, the one I like best. Most voters in any democracy are ignorant arseholes, but these arseholes are entitled to be represented just as much as everybody else.”

It’s fairly obvious for 1 and 2 that that would be the case John. That’s why folk specialise in certain subject matter and jobs.
But for 3 I’m not sure that is the case, because the type of people that have the abilities to study and comprehend data analysis, processes, efficiency, etc, from one particular system, can also use that skillset to cross over to other areas.

The problem we all appear to have is that clearly there are people in positions of influence and power that appear to lack the insight and critical faculties required to make informed decisions for us. Look at the ridiculous ferry situation, look at the pushing of the genderwoo, look at the focus on virtue-signalling distractions rather than concentrating on managing the basics in a competent manner.

With regard to people being ignorant, well that is why I try to have interactions with folk, so I can try to increase their comprehension on matters I do actually have a bit of knowledge.
Of course, some times this is difficult with just written words on a screen, and people’s defensive mode kicks when their world view is challenged.

link to archive.ph

Scottish hospitals warned over not allowing men into women’s wards

Why don’t they rename the ward’s ‘Womb Havers’ wards?

Sorted!

OK so some women have had a hysterectomy but that’s easily fixed.
Once a womb haver always a womb haver.

I changed the headline a little. I think mine is better.

Republicofscotland.

A extinguished Scottish parliament of 1707 did not enter the the British parliament.

Dan

You’re on first name terms with that prick “JM”.

He’s that other mouthy prick’s “Alter Ego”.

FFS!!!

@ Republicofscotland at 10:50 am

As you know I’ve been regularly been posting links to stats showing the electricity generated in Scotland’s geographic area being exported down to England and sometimes beyond to France.
And that is with the current generation we have. This text you quote in your comment I have bolded. The 60% of current offshore wind generation caught my eye.

“Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm The 1,075MW Seagreen Offshore Wind Farm project is located 27km off the coast of Angus in the North Sea. A £3bn joint venture between TotalEnergies (51%) and SSE Renewables (49%), Seagreen will be Scotland’s largest and the world’s deepest fixed bottom offshore wind farm when complete.”

“The project promises to generate 1.1 gigawatts of electricity – enough to power about 1m homes – in its first phase. That’s equivalent to about 60% of Scotland’s current offshore wind output.”

to get some scale to the generation potential in Scotland’s geographic area, look at this page linked to below and scroll down to the map of Scotland showing the various grid blocks that have recently been auctioned off, then click on each block, you can see that 1GW in the scheme of things is a very small amount compared to what will soon be generated from all the auctioned off blocks.
Plus worth keeping in mind last week the 2.6GW figure for the Ossian field (further offshore from Dundee in shape of inverted Y was now forecast to potentially generate more than a third more than what it was initially surveyed to produce. So just that increase for Ossian field being more than 1GW is according to that quoted text equivalent to 60% of current offshore generation.

link to crownestatescotland.com

@Robert Dickson

I put a polite reply in his blog comments section.
Guess how surprised I was that he decided not to publish it?
He’s a petty wee man.

I’ve no time for Scot Goes Pop or James Kelly, and seem to recall he blocked me on twitter before my account got suspended by the Tranish Inquisition, but he’s not alone in deleting comments from those with the temerity of disagreeing with him and banning them from further comment.

Iain Lawson does much the same, as demonstrated when he deleted comments by both Rev Stu and me when we disagreed with the nativism / franchise limitation schtick. Like many other bloggers they have egos a mile wide and the thickness of graphene.

@Rab Davis says:13 November, 2022 at 12:21 pm

John Main says (adopting Stewie voice):

“Here we go!”

Re your other post at 12:43, Rab.

I guess me posting the above has now fucked up Wings for the day?

@John Main 2.10 pm

But wait…we’re the same person remember!

It must be true if the moonhowlers really, really believe it right?

Actually, that’d be another good addition to Stuey’s ban list: insisting that other contributors have multiple accounts. 🙂

‘Could it be people don’t take these things seriously because it all sounds like a joke?’

No laughing matter, Ruby. But we must wait to see if the rebels will do the right thing again and hopefully, increase the numbers rebelling.

This Scot-admin team have set out their stall, stifling debate – 2 days – and presumably throwing out most of the 150 odd amendments.
Even if the rebels stay the course, however, the bill will pass: the question is whether it will be watered down to the point it is ineffectual.
If not, and getting back to the quote above, Sturgeon will effectively need support from not only Greens, but Slab too, to run HR, and that does sound like a joke.

It remains to be seen if there is a genuine split in NSNP and the GRR bill is the catalyst for wider concerns and rebellion.

@Ebok

It remains to be seen if there is a genuine split in NSNP and the GRR bill is the catalyst for wider concerns and rebellion.

Wouldn’t we know by now? Even if they don’t have a huge amount of support within the party, Sturgeon’s majority is wafer thin. All it needs is a handful of MSPs to demand a meeting with her and hold a political gun to her head and insist theTRA extremism is ditched and that those monstering Joanna Cherry and others for their beliefs are disciplined and ejected, and that moves be made to secure a plebiscitary election at Holyrood immediately if the SC case goes against the Scottish government.

The fact that hasn’t happened, and shows no sign of happening, suggests they lack either the political cojones or the support to do: possibly both.

If we can’t rely on the SNP to reform itself, the only plausible alternative is to remove them, or ensure they are dependent on a “real” independence party for their majority, one which can ensure they prioritise actually attaining independence rather than clinging on to devolutionary power for however long it takes them to be convinced they are absolutely certain of victory at some indeterminate point in the future.

Sturgeon the betrayer of Scots useless Health secretary Humza Yousaf hinting that he wants the scraps from Sunak’s table, when independence would have, and still will give us access to the whole feast.

The finger pointing by Sturgeon’s puppet at Westminster is typical of head turning, saying look here, not there, it’s all Westminster’s fault that our services are collapsing, and our public workers are striking because of what London has done.

That is all bollocks we are in the state we’re in because Sturgeon betrayed us and didn’t deliver independence which would’ve, and still can, open up all the levers of government that a country needs to be a success, as well as opening up all the doors to its assets of which Scotland has many.

Don’t be fooled by Sturgeon and her spineless and gutless ministers and MSPs/MPs, Scotland is in the mess it’s in because of what Sturgeon the Judas has done which is to deliberately fail to obtain independence.

“THE UK Government has a “moral obligation” to provide extra cash to fund pay deals for nurses and avert NHS strikes, the Scottish Health Secretary has said.”

“Although he insisted incoming strikes by members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), the first in the union’s 106-year history, are “not inevitable”, Humza Yousaf told the BBC: “I don’t have more money.”

link to thenational.scot

“However the English parliament claims it cancelled or extinguished the Scottish parliament in England when it asked Scotland to agree to the treaty of the union,”

James

I’m not 100% sure James, but I’m under the impression that the UK parliament was a completely different construct, and that the sine die (adjourning) of the Scottish parliament didn’t extinguish our own parliament they merely created a new one.

Have a watch of this James (The Biggest Lie) its shows that Westminster isn’t even a legitimate parliament.

I’ve split the link because sometimes they don’t work just add them together.

http://www.youtube.com

/watch?v=RhpSbjtsG_o

Y’know I have to agree with Craig Murray here, that Sturgeon has a cult following, and that no matter what she gets wrong (and there’s plenty that’s wrong) her cult following will never blame her for anything.

It’s not just the cult members on the street, in my opinion her elected MPs and MSPs are also part of this cult, for how else could they stand by for years and watch the cult leader slowly and systematically rundown Scotland’s important services without standing up to her and then finding a way to replace her, even the vile Tories know when to remove a defective leader, what does that say about the SNPs MPs and MSP that they’ve done nothing.

Yet the SNPs MPs and MSPs have backed the cult leader at every turn even going beyond the call of duty by attacking a real independence party in the form of Alba.

link to twitter.com

“There is NO mechanism to remove NSNP for more four years, other than if they self-destruct: that means internal warfare.”

Ebok.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but there was no mechanism for the Tories to remove PM Liz Truss before one year of her tenure, but they did remove her. We can’t remove the entire SNP party, but could we remove Sturgeon.

As the saying goes where there’s a will there’s a way.

I know that SNP MSPs and MPs had to sign something that said they wouldn’t speak badly of other SNP MSPs or MPs, and that no MSP or MP can give an interview without the hierarchy okaying it.

It would appear that Sturgeon has the cultish powers over the SNP that David Miscavige has over the Church of Scientology.

In hindsight all that Sturgeon the betrayer has done since her tenure to keep us in this vile union, and what she has done to the indy movement as well, as her SNP MSPs and MPs stood by and watched but said nothing, it’s very unlikely that they’ll grow a conscience and a backbone now and enact some way to remove the Judas from office.

No, I think we’ll need to wait until 2026, and hope that that enough indy minded folk vote for the Alba party and not the SNP cult.

Remember when the UK Supreme Court ruled that Boris Johnston was abusing process to prorogue Parliament, and consequently it ruled Westminster had never been prorogued?

I think the same would be true if Holyrood was impeached on Constitutional grounds, for example; Sturgeon’s capitulation to Brexit, – which was a brazen violation of Scotland’s constitutional sovereignty and The Claim of Right.

If Holyrood was impeached, I believe the effect would be there was no Holyrood, no Scottish “government”, no station of First Minister; none at least that had ANY constitutional status or standing in law.

Sara Salyers talked about “sacking” the Government in her first ALBA speech, and if we need Sturgeon’s nuSNP out of the way, then I believe Impeachment would be the most expedient way to do it.

Truth be told, I actually think if there was a formal impeachment proceeding simply instigated, just like in 1689 when a Convention of Estates set about removing James VII from his throne, (impeachment by another word), I believe Holyrood would “magically” rediscover it’s constitutional obligations to the sovereign Scottish people. …But it would be too late.

It would have to engage with the impreachment, otherwise, Westminster without Holyrood would no longer be holding the constitutional tiger by the tail. Scotland’s Constitutional Sovereignty set loose in the hands of a Convention of the Estates, would be free and unchecked, and patently in outright sovereign ascendancy.

Use the Claim of Right to impeach and depose Sturgeon for overruling the will of Scotland’s sovereign community of the Realm and capitulating to Scotland’s unconstitutional Brexit, and in that instant, the UK Union enters the irreconcilable constitutional crisis which it should have entered in 2016.

Do it, and Scottish Independence is back in the palm of our hands with International Law on our side…

Republic @ 3.39 says: ‘as her SNP MSPs and MPs stood by and watched and said nothing’.

Exactly. It is a forlorn hope to think that action will come from within to bring Sturgeon’s reign to an end. They would have done it long before now if they had the inclination. Too happy to take the money, and too like the Tories with their lack of principles.

They stand or fall together. Unless a way is found to expose what Sturgeon and her mates did in the Salmond affair, and how the rest all stood idly by when they knew the truth of it, then Scotland seems doomed to carry on as now. Securely under the thumb of Westminster.

The truth will out one day. I hope it won’t be too late when that day arrives.

You are probably right, RoS, but so much will happen in the next 4 years, there’s no telling where we are heading.
4 years ago, May was PM, Trump was 2years in post, Brexit negotiations were vongoing, plague 15 months away, no HCB, no GRR, 16 months before AS stitch-up trial, and we are now just 4 days short of the fourth anniversary of the gilets jaune movement.

That’s why I hope folks will waken up tomorrow, or next week, or next month, and leaders will step forward and DO something to lead the whole of the Scottish electorate, not just in the independence campaign, but also in protest at those responsible for the self-inflicted destruction of Scotland that is happening before our eyes.

All this was put in context, though, a short while ago when listening on playback to a report of a Scots mother who had to resort to GoFundMe to raise funds to pay the 17K energy bill to keep her daughter alive. No Scot-admin help, though they and GCC found that amount for their useless jolly to Egypt.
And I guess the report was only newsworthy because Kate Winslet donated the full amount.

I despair.

@Breeks –

Just in case you didn’t see it, Crossgate Centre tweeted screenshot of your 4.07 comment.

😉

link to twitter.com

Just in case you didn’t see it, Crossgate Centre tweeted screenshot of your 4.07 comment.

Oh my!… That’s the first time I’ve ever seen myself quoted on Twitter.. lol.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Even then, the lack of a supermajority such a strategy brings proves it to be a symbolic wish for somme and a handy carrot for others.

Scotland Act requires a supermajority in favour of such things.

There is no super majority requirement in Holyrood in the event that no candidate for FM can command a majority. The Presiding Officer is under a legal obligation to call fresh elections within a couple of weeks. The supermajority requirement applies when parliament itself votes for new elections. Tricia Marwick confirmed as much when this was discussed previously.

Between “Scott” and the former PO guess who most people are going to think is right.

There can be a plebiscitary election if:

a) Sturgeon provokes them by standing down and ensuring (using the SNP/Green) majority that no other candidate commands a majority. The PO is then legally obliged to call fresh elections. Those elections are then designated as plebiscitary.

b) Given that Sturgeon lacks the political balls to do that even when the SC says “no”, the next plausible route is simply for pro-indy parties to affirm that a vote for them is automatically considered plebiscitary.

This really isn’t rocket science. Except for you apparently. Who knows why? You patently don’t know what you’re talking about, or were asleep when it was discussed before.

yw, hth

[Not totally sure why you placed two quotes from separate comments in your response…]

Because I was losing patience with your stupidity.

Independence is as likely to come via petition, referendum, court of law as Nicola is to be hit by a meteorite. It’s unicorns and rainbows stuff.

The SNP/Greens have a majority. They can block any other candidate for FM. What part of this don’t you understand, and why? You couldn’t poke holes in a wet paper bag.

The PO has no discretion. If no FM is able to command a majority they are legally obliged to call new elections. However frantically you dance on the head on the had of your pin, you remain wrong.

Like all the other “cunning plans for indy” moonhowlers, your earnest belief in constitutional and legal unicorns and shortcuts to indy doesn’t make them real.

Ellis, at 9.35 –

Here we go again.

This time it happens to be Scott who provided the ‘in’ but to be fair, it could’ve been any of us. Now that he’s managed to squeeze in one ‘moonhowler’ he’ll deploy the full arsenal of insults.

It’s Groundhog Day from Hell btl innit…

🙁

How would parties ‘affirm’ this, and to whom would they make the affirmation? Can you cite any authority for the validity of such a course of action?

I don’t see why folk seem to be determined to make such a big issue of how elections are declared and accepted as plebiscitary by “the movement”. Of course I’m not saying it’ll happen. I have no crystal ball. The future isn’t ours to see. We don’t need authority for the validity. Our political parties just say: “A vote for SNP/ Greens /Alba is a de facto vote for independence”.

The SNP are simply wrong to insert an unnecessary second bite at the cherry. Independence happens when 50% + 1 vote for it in a plebiscitary election, just as it would have done if the same number had voted for it in indyref1 in 2014.

We don’t need a confirmatory referendum, or a second vote, or to call a Constituent Assembly to validate it. We just need to start negotiating the divorce.

My proposal is that the SNP do one. They are not the movement, and should not be allowed to pretend that what that say goes.

I’ll ask again, what happens if Douglas Ross is proposed as FM?

He doesn’t become FM, because he won’t be able to command a majority. The Po is then obliged…seeing a pattern here champ?

The CoS wouldn’t interfere in the franchise for elections. You’re delusional and reaching way beyond your (already proven) limited understanding. If anything, it is LESS likely that a plebiscitary election would be subject to legal challenges than a referendum. It matters not a fig whether parties stand on a single issue of independence, or on a full platform but say before hand they’ll use any mandate given to them as plebiscitary.

Andy Ellis says:
13 November, 2022 at 10:06 pm

I’ll ask again, what happens if Douglas Ross is proposed as FM?

He doesn’t become FM, because he won’t be able to command a majority. The Po is then obliged…seeing a pattern here champ?

—

If nobody stands against him, he becomes FM by default.

He’d then offer cabinet positions to any member – snp/green/labour/libdem/tories

Who knows what legislation will be introduced – declaring that someone won’t command a majority is purely guesswork and pointless.

The pattern I see is you being wilfully obtuse.

Throw a hissy fit all you want, but you aren’t right about the route to a plebiscitary election. Maybe if someone introduced a Bill to that effect it might get the approval of the chamber, but unlikely to reach the supermajority threshold needed for the PO to tell the King or FM to rubber-stamp it.

Enjoy the rest of your morning.

Good to see Kevin McKenna telling it like it is, and Wishart clearly raging. Everything the SNP scumbags are doing depends on journalists and people with influence keeping tight-lipped.

There’s so much crap floating around in Scottish politics, blinding us all to what matters most, but I sense that things are changing. The air feels charged.

From clouds of dirt and crap like this stars are born.

Nation-states are like stars when you think about it, formed by the force of political gravity which takes all the bad feeling and negativity and turns it into something useful.

It’s impossible to predict when a cloud of crap floating in space will become a star, just as it’s impossible to predict when a people will rise up and say “enough is enough”. But in both cases we know that the steady accumulation of crap makes the thunderous process of creation more and more likely.

Interesting that stars are commonly used on flags and insignia to represent countries.

Can we have a star on our flag when we are free?

Plebiscite
Haven’t we had them anyway? Every GE since 2015?
UK gov would just laugh & ignore it because Scott is correct, a manifesto promise isn’t legal & binding. It’s just for Sturgeon to claim another 5 yrs & Blackford to whine to respect the result.

Indyref had the Edinburgh agreement which was legal & binding.

& The original idea for a Plebiscite was to use Holyrood elections, Holyroods baw, Holyroods franchise, Holyroods majority to vote through the result in Holyroods parliament.

Bypassing WM altogether. Then a GE to start our exit.

Sturgeons half arsed approach is just more of the same bullshit she’s peddled for yrs *send us to WM to ask permission* that’ll just be kicked again. She has sent out her side kick to tell us it’s not independence – it’s just another free pass to get them into WM to ask. So it’s the same shit as we have now but with a different name.

She’s actively working against our Independence because she told the SC that even if they allowed us to have a ref, the UK government doesn’t have to implement the result.

So what’s the point of either? What a knt!

@Geri 6.26 am

“Scott” isn’t any more correct than you are. Nobody is arguing that manifesto pledges are legally binding. Referendum results aren’t either unless they are specifically MADE legally binding, they are purely advisory.

If a majority of Scots voters vote for pro-independence parties which are standing on a specific platform that gaining a majority of votes in any election will be taken as de facto independence, then it’s game over for the union.

Of course using plebiscitary elections at Holyrood would be preferable to Westminster, not only because the franchise is better for the Yes side, and because it’s “our parliament”, but because a pro-independence government would be able to dictate WHEN such elections were held, not be hanging around waiting for the yoons to call a Westminster election. Things might be different if Scottish MPs routinely held the balance of power at Westminster as IPP MPs used to do back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

It’s not just Sturgeon. If she was hit by a bus tomorrow some like minded clone like Robertson would be just the same. The SNP membership need to change the party from within, or the Yes movement has to ensure the SNP isn’t in a position to dictate terms by depriving it of a majority.

I doubt many people in here are under any illusion that Sturgeon and her cabal are suddenly going to change, but when indyref2 doesn’t happen in 2023 she either has to deliver via plebiscitary elections or face large scale defections. Doubtless even then there will still be ultra loyalists who will insist “Nicola’s got this” and they’ll still be saying it in 2037.

The buck stops with Scottish voters. If they want things to progress they can’t afford to take “No” for an answer, whether it’s yoons saying they will boycott a plebiscitary election, or elements in Westminster saying they won’t recognise the results of a plebiscitary elections, more fool us if we aren’t prepared to take not ask!

Woops…Please strike that last comment… The last quote wasn’t McKenna at all, I had the wrong page up.

I wonder if Wishart takes offence on behalf of ‘colleagues’ in the HoC when they see the Guardian cartoonists work or that of John Crace and Marina Hyde?

I think I’ll invite one or two of my favourites to lampoon ‘our’ MP’s and MSP’s – plenty to work with for sure.

Hatuey says:
14 November, 2022 at 12:03 am

Good to see Kevin McKenna telling it like it is,

Another good article from McKenna

link to archive.ph

The SNP’s counterfeit independence contingent at Westminster is replete with political chancers starring in their own pantomime and good for very little. They get free trips and tin medals for “standing with Ukraine” or hurling juvenile insults at other pro-independence parties or bullying female colleagues and covering up sexual misbehaviour by their male drinking chums.
Many of them will have been appalled that Twitter’s restoration of authentic free speech has seen the return of the Rev Stuart Campbell and his website, Wings Over Scotland to the platform. Westminster’s affluent SNP pensioners and placemen hated the Rev Campbell but not because he was wont to express himself in uncompromising language sprinkled with profanities.
They are terrified of Wings because, more than anyone else, it highlighted the lies and spin at the heart of the SNP’s lucrative independence strategy. The crushing of all internal dissent within the SNP; the orchestrated campaigns of hate directed at gender-critical women and the absence of any strategy about independence have been a feature of the years in which Wings Over Scotland was banned from Twitter. A banishment which came as a result of calling out such behaviour in, admittedly, raw and uncompromising terms.
I can’t claim to be a major supporter of Wings Over Scotland as it’s occasionally been disobliging about me over the years. Who cares, though. A Herald list of Scotland’s top political operators listed Wings Over Scotland as the independence movement’s most influential resource.

Hatuey says:
14 November, 2022 at 12:03 am

Good to see Kevin McKenna telling it like it is,

Another good article from McKenna

link to archive.ph

The SNP’s counterfeit independence contingent at Westminster is replete with political chancers starring in their own pantomime and good for very little. They get free trips and tin medals for “standing with redacted” or hurling juvenile insults at other pro-independence parties or bullying female colleagues and covering up sexual misbehaviour by their male drinking chums.
Many of them will have been appalled that Twitter’s restoration of authentic free speech has seen the return of the Rev Stuart Campbell and his website, Wings Over Scotland to the platform. Westminster’s affluent SNP pensioners and placemen hated the Rev Campbell but not because he was wont to express himself in uncompromising language sprinkled with profanities.
They are terrified of Wings because, more than anyone else, it highlighted the lies and spin at the heart of the SNP’s lucrative independence strategy. The crushing of all internal dissent within the SNP; the orchestrated campaigns of hate directed at gender-critical women and the absence of any strategy about independence have been a feature of the years in which Wings Over Scotland was banned from Twitter. A banishment which came as a result of calling out such behaviour in, admittedly, raw and uncompromising terms.
I can’t claim to be a major supporter of Wings Over Scotland as it’s occasionally been disobliging about me over the years. Who cares, though. A Herald list of Scotland’s top political operators listed Wings Over Scotland as the independence movement’s most influential resource.