Coming undone
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.
Because the day he woke up after being elected SNP leader, I’m really not sure Yousaf realised what a radioactive horror show he’d just inherited, and I suspect it’s only beginning to dawn on him now.
In “Come Undone” – a legit pop masterpiece scarily now 20 years old – the moment is viewed in flashback, at 3m 15s. But for Yousaf it’s both the past and the future.
In the first case, the video serves as an analogy for the SNP from 2015 to 2023, with the irretrievable turning point representing the Scottish Government’s ill-fated decision to force through the Gender Recognition Reform Bill in a series of unprecedented, desperate midnight sittings at Holyrood in the days before last Christmas.
(Another view might be that it was Nicola Sturgeon’s clumsy attempt to destroy the career and life of her predecessor in 2018. Take your pick.)
Those bloody, bitter votes marked the zenith of the SNP’s hubris. After years of total invincibility in the Scottish Parliament, the party won the most Pyrrhic of victories – the bill was passed overwhelmingly with the support of most of the opposition parties, but triggered a death dive in the polls and looks doomed never to be enacted.
(It’s interesting to speculate on whether there may have been an element of cynicism and/or sabotage to that support. Opposition parties know that they never get the blame for unpopular government bills even if they back them, and the Greens know that their seats only ever required a tiny percentage of fringe extremist votes under Holyrood’s electoral system anyway.)
The SNP’s polling lead, which had slumped between 2017 and 2019 – occasionally as low as single figures – had been rebuilt after the election of Boris Johnson and during the COVID crisis, and peaked at a dizzying 38 points just three years ago this month. (Even a few days before the 2015 “tsunami” it only hit 34.)
While it was the high point, that figure wasn’t particularly an outlier. Between June and December of 2020 the party’s lead only once dipped below 30 points (to 29), and it was still as high as 30 just two years ago, in September 2021.
The first poll after the SNP brought the Gender Recognition Reform Bill to Parliament for its first reading in early March 2022 was the first one showing a lead of below 20 points since the 2019 general election.
(The graph below is a selective one illustrating only significant changes. We’ve been generous in choosing the first available poll, where the lead dropped to 18 points. The next one, just a couple of days later, was two points lower at 16.)
With the council elections that May providing a welcome distraction, the lead bounced back into the 20s almost immediately, and a week after the Supreme Court judgement on 23 November it jumped to 26, in the last poll before the GRRB was forced through. But the first one after the bill’s passing saw the biggest drop between two consecutive polls in the entire Sturgeon era: a shocking -12, from 26 down to 14.
And this time there would be no bounceback, as a fusillade of disastrous trans stories hit the press one after the other. The SNP’s lead was never as high as that 14 again, and is now down to 0, with the red side of the line beckoning ominously.
Talking of things beckoning ominously, that’s the past part dealt with. But what does “Come Undone” tell us about Humza Yousaf’s future?
Williams’ performance in the song’s video is a bona fide tour de force of acting, switching effortlessly and convincingly through the whole gamut of human emotions – euphoric, remorseful, cocky, blank, sly, revolted, bewildered, sneering, haunted, angry, lascivious, degenerate, demented and defiant, with clever riffs on GoodFellas, Full Metal Jacket, Gangster No.1 and more – such that you never feel like you know which side of the character in the film is the true one.
Or indeed if he’s playing a character at all.
(The whole thing is so meta that you can’t tell whether it’s an autobiographical account of his life or a cynical, knowing pisstake of the age-old tortured-rock-star stereotype, or both. His extraordinary, manic-music-hall live performances of the song offer no clues.)
In that sense it’s eerily reminiscent of Yousaf during (and after) his election campaign, where he flipped at will between whatever positions he thought his audience at that moment wanted to hear, whether on indy strategy, challenging the UK government’s Section 35 or anything else.
The general Last Days Of Sodom vibe of the video will certainly resonate with anyone who’s been watching the disintegration of the SNP over the last few years, and most especially in the months since Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation.
It’s plainly visible that the party just doesn’t give a damn any more – it knows its days are numbered, and just like in the video everyone’s engaged in a final mass orgy of looting and squalid debauchery, a whole string of financial and sexual-harassment scandals capped by openly trolling the idiot membership for laughs: moves like the purchase of the infamous campervan, making the bonehead Jamie Hepburn “Minister for Independence” with a fat salary boost for nothing that he shouldn’t have been doing anyway, and the cherry on top, the appointment of Murray Foote as CEO.
The words of the song’s bridge, sung by Williams with absolutely dripping sarcasm, don’t need much imagination to be heard from mouths of the SNP leadership:
“So write another ballad
Mix it on a Wednesday
Sell it on a Thursday
Buy a yacht by Saturday
It’s a love song, a love songDo another interview, sing a bunch of lies
Tell about celebrities that I despise
And sing love songs
We sing love songs
So sincere”
Although the couplet that really jumps out at you when viewed in the context of the last few years of the Scottish independence movement comes earlier:
“I’m not scared of dying, I just don’t want to
If I stopped lying I’d just disappoint you”
But the vision of Yousaf’s future that’s probably keeping the beleaguered First Minister awake at night is the one depicted in the song’s pivot, at 3m 15s, when Williams – the ostensible alpha male of the party – is confronted by a would-be usurper.
Because as things stand the SNP is shaping up for a proper battering at the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election on 5 October, just a few days before the party’s annual conference on the 15th-17th. The writ setting the date for the election was laid at Westminster, where the party is led by Stephen Flynn, and there’s no mistaking whose face Humza Yousaf is seeing on that skull in his nightmares.
That timing is an insane choice from Yousaf’s perspective. Conference is where an SNP leader can be challenged for the role, and taking the risk of going into one on the back of an electoral humiliation is inexplicably suicidal when the by-election could easily have been delayed for a couple of weeks instead.
Everybody and his dog knows that Flynn has his eyes on the top job, and he’ll fancy his chances of striking while the iron’s hot if, as widely expected, Labour deliver not just a defeat – that’s pretty much already priced in at this point – but a mauling so bad that panic starts to set in.
That wouldn’t necessarily take the form of challenging Yousaf directly – a stalking horse might be sent out this time to undermine him further in preparation for a coup attempt next year after the UK election.
But those are the only two likely windows for anyone angling to be First Minister to unseat Yousaf, and the later one is a risk because if Flynn were to lose his own seat in an increasingly plausible 2024 wipeout, that would dent his credibility and he could miss his chance.
So quite who was really behind posting the by-election writ for the 5th is an intriguing question – although if it was Yousaf he’s an absolute Olympic-class idiot, dumber than even his sternest critics ever imagined.
But even he’s beginning to look like he might have finally worked out that he’s the patsy in this scam. Whether there’s anything he can do about it now is another matter.
In the “Come Undone” video, Williams sees off the interloper. But if Yousaf leads the SNP into the 2026 Holyrood election we’ll eat a banana, and either way the prize is a poisoned chalice. He better learn to love all his sad songs.
In an imperious performance of the song at a 2003 awards show, Williams replaces one of the lines with “I’m your pretender and my throne’s a broken seat”. Bizarrely, rather than having the song come to a proper stop as the live versions usually do, it then fades out, revealing that while Williams has been singing live, the backing band were miming. The breaking of the illusion, in the very final seconds, is so absurdly and extravagantly unnecessary as to border on contemptuous.
We could spell out all the obvious metaphors that arise from those events, but you’re smart people. You don’t need us feeding you this stuff with a spoon, right?
McLeish pulled it back to 1-1 in that game.
Pedant Alert:
Alex McLeish’s goal was the equaliser in the ’82 final.
It was a turning point though, both in the game and for the Dandies to dominate for most of the decade.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.?
Masterful. Thank you.
Mmmmm……. Though honestly what’s happened is neither surprising of epoch changing. It was inevitable.
All political parties are founded on myth and exaggeration. That’s how they scoop up supporters. The SNPs big lie was that independence was going to be quick and easy with prizes for all. The lie is used to hide and excuse failings. Can’t build ferries? Let’s have a march or a new date for a referendum. Just keep doubling down on the lie.
Eventually, we all come to recognise and ignore the lie or party myth and judge them on normal things. The Labour Party won’t bring fairness for all and level up society. The Tories won’t deliver on a wealthy free trade paradise of high wages and low tax.
So not really coming undone or signalling a profound moment of change, just a reset to normal. A bit like a correction to a political stock market. We’ll all be better of for coming back to the reality that dreams are nice, but governance by actual idiots, isn’t.
Many of the SNP will be ejected from the gravy train but it will continue nonetheless with different occupants.
Stu, is eating a banana a metaphor?
Amazing!
A truly brilliant piece of writing!
God, drugs and booze and watching a video with blood spilled and fights and people vomiting up insects before nine on a Sunday morning: tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1991!
“…euphoric, remorseful, cocky, blank, sly, revolted, bewildered, sneering, haunted, angry, lascivious, degenerate, demented and defiant…”
Stu, haven’t you realised even yet that Humza Yousaf, and the rest of his vapid Muppet Show fingered-cloth-animal coterie…are quite simply utterly untalented, and incapable of introspection and rational rationation? They’re not self-aware because they have no selves to be aware of, being just empty hollow straw men and women nothings blowing thisawayandthataway on the ever-blowing winds of time and chance and cynical political expediency.
Plus ca change
Plus c’est la meme chose
Forever and a day,
Let’s move on.
Because the day he woke up after being elected SNP leader, I’m really not sure Yousaf realised what a radioactive horror show he’d just inherited, and I suspect it’s only beginning to dawn on him now.
Blinded by ambition.
Just over a month to the big day ?? – hopefully the big achievement between now and then won’t be the expulsion of Fergus Ewing! U-turn required on that idea too.
Cos I’ m scum and I’m your son
Watch me come undone .
I eagerly await for a post from the Rev with a screen grab of the Rutherglen and Hamilton results with the title “I told you so.” And nothing else.
On the same vein, I’m not waiting for Joe Public to finally catch on to the clusterboorach. It’s important to always be one or three steps ahead of that event.
Like a surfer must be ready to launch when the wave comes, we must have our moves ready.
We’ve all discussed many times what went wrong here, so we won’t repeat the same mistakes, but we must be a lot more constructive.
Every other truly Scottish Party must have robust procedures and processes to manage the influx of new members and weed out the narcissistic bandwagon jumpers on sight. A trial by fire and a thorough examination of every new member’s words and actions to date.
We’re not organising a day out to the beach, but an outright attack to the most violent, ruthless, abhorrent gang of merciless psychopaths, inbreds, pedophiles and other assorted human misery that ever plagued the Earth.
We need strongly armoured warriors, ready to sacrifice everything to slay this monster and incorruptibly impervious to the lulling song of the sirens that will invariably be sent our way.
Which one of the females is the honourable member for Shotts with the rich Daddy ?
Brilliant. Thanks for that. Fantastic reading. One of your best.
Had it not been for Mr Salmond’s strategy of conflating the SNP with the independence cause I doubt Ms Sturgeon would have managed to keep her ‘smoke and mirrors’ illusion going for so long.
Fortunately for her she came in on achievements and coat tail of one of (if not the) most adept political operator of his generation. And she’s been coasting along on this legacy until her resignation.
All one can really say about the hapless Mr Yousaf (elected in defiance of the Party’s own electoral procedures) is that he was probably too thick to realise what a poisoned chalice he was handed on a plate.
Flynn! For FFS! A fully signed up TransCult loyalist. Another one who will put himself ahead of his Nation.
When will they actually elect a leader who wants Independence…..oh! Wait…..they don’t have any candidates who want Indy. They are the TransCult Devolution Party now. Even if by some miracle they found an Indy supporter in their elected ranks the embedded TransCult legions would block any attempts to change direction.
A simple question for all Indy supporters……”Would you ever trust them again?”
I never will.
The silence from the MSPs and MPs for a decade while Party Democracy was removed. The MPs and MSPs sitting like sheep while Sturgeon turned the Party into a Cult. The Cult affiliates running the NEC. The Green Party dictating policy. The Sturgeon clique lying to destroy Alex Salmond’s return. Etc, etc, etc
I wonder if it would be interesting to know, across parties in Westminster and Holyrood what system of government would individual members favour. Social democracy or neoliberalism.
This is off above topic but not off independence topicality.
link to archive.ph
This money will all be invested in England’s «golden triangle». England seemingly lacking the money for this new technology……
This is an area in which Scotland ought to be by now well to the fore, but.
iScotland cannot afford NOT to be «technocratic».
You cannot build a modern country on the shifting sands of public sector «social» sentiment.
Make poverty history?
Go produce!
But even he’s beginning to look like he might have finally worked out that he’s the patsy in this scam. Whether there’s anything he can do about it now is another matter.
Any chance of him admitting that he’s been a fool and apologising?
What do you think will he apologise or will he pull out the race card and start scream white, white, white?
The day he woke up after the flawed and fraudulent process that “elected” him leader, I expect that Yousaf couldn’t believe that nobody was prepared to protest that travesty to the utmost.
I expect he still can’t believe it yet. It’s certainly an unpalatable fact for this Sovereign Scot to swallow. A fraud as FM, and hardly a peep from us Sovereign Scots. Strong, the cringe is, in us.
As for Rutherglen, it’s an unimportant by-election. The electorate will do what they usually do in these circumstances, those of them that can be arsed to vote – give the governing party a good kicking. Although the chattering classes will insist that whatever happens is “cataclysmic”, there will be no change in reality, other than an anonymous new face in the HoC and with less than 18 months until the next WM GE, that new face won’t have mastered the ropes before having to run a new campaign. A proper campaign, with the prospect of governing power at the end of it. That will certainly cause a good few of the voters of Rutherglen to vote with their heads second time around, not their kicking feet.
Lastly, there’s the elephant in the room – Covid.
Every sitting government in the western, democratic world is on the hook for the disastrous hit on living standards and prosperity arising from Covid and the ludicrous over-reaction to it.
Scotland is no different, and neither is the SNP. Voters, surveying the wreckage of their life plans, caused by the insane government policies of the Covid Years, with nobody in the UK more extremely insane than Sturgeon’s SNP, will have their day of vengeance.
Is the only hope for the SNP Flynn playing the role of MacDuff?
“Bleed, bleed poor country!
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dare not check thee.”
There are a few pivotal moments to come, some by way of the courts, so we can hope that the independence movement realigns itself in a positive way.
Brilliant. Can I ask (please) who originally came up with GRRB. Was it a group of people or one persons idea. Did it come from Sturgeons trip to the US when she took a portrait of her self to New York and tried to get a seat on the UN contagious diseases group.
Psychedelic Sunday. This will rattle the cages of a few complacent Duggers – if they can understand it that is.
Can’t wait to see what Manic Monday will bring. Kelly finally goes Pop perhaps.
Ruby says:
10 September, 2023 at 9:03
” Amazing!
A truly brilliant piece of writing! ”
100% agree , Ruby . This is writing of exceptionally high quality – as is the brilliant weaving of that Robbie Williams video ( the potency of * cheap * pop music , eh ? ) into the post’s theme . Just outstanding , Stuart .
” The Last Days Of Sodom ” indeed , though the harrowing imagery of Pasolini’s film had serious , political intent/commentary and was informed not only by De Sade’s novel , also by other European philosophical writings ( Nietzsche , among others ) , whereas what we’re witnessing in the degeneration of the SNP is merely the entirely predicable consequence of insincere political lightweights elevated way past their abilities elbowing each other out the way to partake in the last , mouldy scrapings of the barrel/trough . Let them eat fake .
Once again , exceptional work , Stuart
“McLeish pulled it back to 1-1 in that game.”
AS IT QUITE CLEARLY SAYS.
BREEKS 08:33
Roma used soft power too. The Orcades/Orkney islands had a «special» relationship with the empire.
link to researchomnia.blogspot.com
What is known of the islands through archeological discoveries confirms this zone was not a backwater but a culturally dynamic land. Dare I mention Neil Oliver?
The British history would have Orkney and indeed Scotland as marginal. It all happened elsewhere but what was going on in the Hadrian/Antonine intervallum during the Roman occupation and after?
Christianity took root in Scotland relatively early thanks to «romanization» an element that some historians casually British and Irish dismiss.
Patrick, where did he come from?
Scotland needs to have lions defending her not goats.
That apply to her future as well to her past.
Hard to imagine anyone who supported Humza being allowed to replace him, whether police scotland reveal their names, (true) numbers & locations or not – far less any of those who ought to have stood but didn’t – so Flyn might have blown it from a slow & steady, trust over faith, perspective already.
Were he to embrace the Fuck it (everybody out) option, that Blackford so nearly followed through on, at same time as we all getting higher than icarus on the rugby/ football on t’other hand..
JOHN MAIN
Although it is proposed as an argument for showing the SNP the «back of your hand» I do not understand why SNP losing to Labour in Rutherglen advances anything other than personal spite. Covid/Woke social engineering was/is not a particularly Scottish phenomenon
In short an act of political masochism.
Burning the party card is such a shallow gesture.
Still up a creek without a paddle.
Ouch. good stuff Rev.
Reminiscent of Barrymore.
Likewise, I expect a botched police investigation.
The SNP left just barely alive for nuisance value.
By a large body of water, seemingly a river, on the African plain, various beasts have congregated to get their fill. Conditions are perilous with copious predators abounding, but such is the situation that water must be consumed; it’s literally a life or death situation.
Somewhere in sands of the desert or perhaps the thick undergrowth lurks a pride of lions led by the noble, battle-scarred leader, Clausewitz, who will strike when conditions are optimal.
Lying patiently in the sullen waters bellows are crocodiles. The oldest, most experienced, is Sun Tzu. He will not engage unless it is absolutely necessary, moreover, he will let his prey come to him, waiting stoically, never faltering in focus, never entertaining thoughts of failure, but never endeavouring to expedite matters. The blow will come in the opportune moment, not a second before or after..
Vultures are perched on the stark, barren trees adjacent to one potential crossing point. It looks potentially safe, but something about it appears unnerving – is it the sharp bend with razor sharp rocks at each side or the depths masquerading as shallows? One vulture, Machiavelli, watches with passionate intensity. He knows that here there will be a massacre, here things fall apart, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, the blood dimmed tide is loosed and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned. All sides will miscalculate, the best lack all conviction and those sit above it all will ultimately be sated. There time will come.
The zebras feel uneasy. One, Chanakya, knows that, being fleet of foot, they may be able to outrun some predators initially, but their strategy must be to leave slower, dimmer herbivores in the wake. Their doom will be the zebras’ freedom.
One wildebeest, Humza, is tired and unsteady on his feet. He is promptly bitten by a clegg, Steven, but, unbeknownst to the fly, the wildebeest has already been infected by Patrick the rat and now all are doomed. They briefly sustain a final, forlorn exchange of looks, their gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, then plummet to their doom.
Most of the tourists filming the troubling scene are horrified at the spectacle, but a young man from Bathgate notices something in the distance. Is it a rhinoceros…or maybe a unicorn? Whatever it is, it is moving its slow thighs, while all about it reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Holyrood to be born?
A truly, deeply personal piece, this. I was a fan of Robbie back in the day, so tieing all this into his underrated music is somewhat devastating. Got a bit teary eyed at points.
Which just proves to me (as if it needed proving) how deeply the Rev cares about independence. Imagine any plant writing something like this. You can’t, because you can’t fake this sort of emotion.
I’m wondering what would have happened had there been no GRR bill.
Would there have been an irretrievable turning point when voters realised the SNP did not support independence?
At the time I didn’t think independence supporters were all that interested in the GRRB.
Was there not some problems here on Wings when Stu wrote about trans issues?
In any good plot there has to be a built up, some hints that there is going to be an irretrievable turning point.
First hint was Mark MacDonald, followed by the Alex Salmond stitch up, the Brexit campaign, the £600K missing funds,Campervan and so on.
TURABDIN @ 10:00 am
“England seemingly lacking the money for this new technology……
This is an area in which Scotland ought to be by now well to the fore, but.”
Yes, meantime in that former colony, state-owned Qatar Energy are now buying another 50 x LNG tankers to transport its global exports, ‘fuelling’ its growth and development. Not difficult to see what an energy-rich country can do – more or less anything it wants. Even hosting a World Cup is no problem! Or setting up universities.
Look at us in comparison – A Scotland plundered and subordinate can only dream of what we could be. But we could at least try to better understand our ‘condition’, and the reason we are not able to invest in the development of our own people and nation:
link to salvo-cor.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com
Quite possibly the worst article I have seen here, go suck your own shit off Robbies cock
I laughed out loud at the train pictures, perfectly placed!
Wow, that was something.
Never seen that video before.
Humza will carry on regardless, he’s not smart enough for introspection.
As for Flynn, either he’s playing the game or he’s so ambitious he will ride roughshod over them all.
Never forget, he made Black, you’re all 50 year old Karen transphobes, depute, and kissed the hand of Zelensky, like he was some star…puke.
Sturgeon still thinking she’s an intellectual heavyweight as she calls for a change in the way we deal with each other politically, when we all know it was she who was the main destroyer.
I know people are forever quoting Orwell, but nuSNP are definitely the pigs, changing the rules all the time, moving the goalposts and the workers, Boxer the horse, are too knackered to notice.
@turabin everything is seen from the POV of London which is why the North, the Island are always described as remote.
I’m thinking that it is the slow dawning realisation that many, indeed most, of the SNP MSP’s do not want independence. Maybe they once did, but like “New” Labour, they sold out.
The gender reform act is a total mess and for many that follow politics, it is a turning point.
Maybe for the majority of independence supporters it is the promises and “cast iron mandates” that they have failed to exploit that has done the damage?
The promise of free beer tomorrow only works for so long even among the more gullible.
Curtain-twitcher General says:
10 September, 2023 at 11:22 am
Quite possibly the worst article …
I thought that it was a fair article myself. Your comment on the other hand as well as being disgusting reeks of being a bitter loser. THE GRR is dead and its staying dead because your elite sponsored parasitical movement is dying. And it needs to die so that the movement for Scottish Independence can recover.
QATAR….again.
«To find camel dung follow the flies», old Arabic proverb I just made up.
link to theguardian.com
Camel dung has more eco benefits than the Labour party.
«Due to unfavourable arid climate, the animal biomass waste produced in Qatar is more than plant waste residues. Cattle, sheep, goat, camel, horse, and poultry are the main contributors to the country’s livestock waste. The application of livestock dung as natural fertilisers has been in practice for a long time. Due to the increased generation of livestock dung and demand for energy all over the world, livestock dung is considered a potential alternate source for the production of energy. There have been ample studies on the recovery of energy from common livestock dung such as cattle, goats, sheep, pig, horse, and poultry. However, only limited information is available on the characteristics and energy potential of camel dung. Hence, in this work, the properties and thermal behaviour of camel dung are investigated»
QATAR, where even shit talks more sense.
Rule Britannia?
@ Curtain – Twit
Now now little man , did mummy not tell you envy is not a nice thing ? Now go to your room , and STOP that furious masturbating , it will make you go blind . You’re 40 years old , you should have found a girlfriend by now . Or maybe you’d prefer to ” suck your own shit off Robbie’s cock ” ? Whativs , just make sure mummy doesn’t catch you – again .
Cameron Lochiel @ 10:55;
Outstanding, well done.
link to recruitmentservices.applicationtrack.com
This popped up in my email adverts… Can you believe it.
Fancy an internship MI5. You’ve got to be from a black, or ethnic minority background.
And be a supporter of Stonewall.
The British security services have gone woke. MI5/MI6. Introduce the nationalists to Identity politics. Says the envelope.
Leader of the gay pride of lions, Clausewitz,the regender-scarred lion, got shot by an American dentist, called Linehan.
Linehan got devoured by Sun Tzu the crocodile.
The vultures got their quills broken were scared off by rumours of bird flu.
The zebras changed their stripes and joined the Labour Party.
Humza and the rest of the gnuSnp were allowed to drink in peace.
Night fell.
I am no fan of the Gulf State «monarchies» as political systems. My parents live in one so, zip zip.
However they do get things done. Not always in the best «manner» but being mostly arid out of the box thinking is essential. The FUTURE matters.
No fan of WEF either but take a deep breath and
link to weforum.org
There is no intellectual construct possible that could not project Scotland into a techno future….except that of myopic allegiance to old ma Britannia and a glaikit desire to pursue the butterflies of wokelandia.
link to news.sky.com
Much better than just souring your whisky with bitter tears.
There are a few lines of verse that come to my own mind in this context, not about the SNP, but about how Alex Salmond must be viewing it all from Alba HQ
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools
Curtain Twitcher, such a cad lolz.
RH, I am jealous of no man, this goes doubly for manufactured ex-boy-band members who lose plagiarism cases against them (ie: RW vs the estate of Woody Guthrie), have tonnes of their shredded CDs sold as “road metal” to the Chinese, and attempt to do an LP of “swing” classics, but only to find out you cannot sing in the key they were written in, and have to beg the orchestra to transpose everything.
And I haven’t even got around to Robbie-jobbies big break – which was cavorting in whipped cream, whilst wearing a pair of lycra cycling shorts, for the pleasure of his homosexual manager.
Why don’t you and the lachrymose neckbeard RW fan above get together and weep into your soy lattes?
Yes Stuart I do believe there is a great many who still need to be spoon fed, so keep on cooking as it is absolutely delicious in every way
Curtain-twitcher General says:
You’re the cunt who know what a soy latte is.
Kinda spooky, but also thinking about metaphors for the SNP to be found on YouTube, I somehow found myself thinking about the SNP while watching a clip from Downfall…
No, not the famous passage where everybody inserts their own hilarious subtitles, but the part where they’re having a party in the bunker. There’s a distant bomb which makes the lights flicker ominously, but Eva Braun just calls for the band to play some Swing as she jumps on top of a table to dance. The party must go on… play to the final whistle.
That’s when it all starts to hit Traudl Junge…
“It’s all so unreal. Like a dream where you want to wake up, but you can’t… It keeps going on and on…”
link to youtube.com
As Rev Stu implies, the curiosity is working backwards to the watershed events which made this eventual shit-show become inevitable.
That point has Sturgeon, Sturgeon, Sturgeon written all over it.
Yousaf was just the only one dumb / desperate enough to pick up the baton.
We can all see what’s coming now, .….Gerda, I feel sick.
@TURABDIN 10:49
You are right. A Labour win in Rutherglen won’t change a thing. Labour will pretend otherwise, and as the MSM is mostly rooting for them, they will be allowed to pretend something “big” has happened. Big it up to sell papers and generate clicks.
The SNP will point out that nothing has changed. Correctly.
My point is that much sooner than 18 months, the guid fowk of Rutherglen will get a second go when the UK GE is held. What happens then, and across the country, will tell us what if anything has really changed.
As far as I can make out, the useless block of 44 SNP MPs has achieved the square root of SFA at WM. If these are replaced by a tranche of Labour MPs, especially if Labour has a smallish majority, they may be able to earn their places at the trough.
Ironic to think that if Labour passes policies that benefit Scotland, thanks to their Scottish MPs, that Labour will be of more practical help to ordinary Scots than the SNP at WM ever was!
Writing and commentary at its best from the Rev, leaving the reader to make their own mind up. Pivotal moment for me? Sturgeon at the Glasgow Hydro, her Nuremberg (rally).
link to scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
First The ULEZ for Glasgow. £1 million raked in fines siezed from the poor is not enough. Now Katy Louden SNP candidate for Rutherglen is backing a congestion charge for drivers heading into the city.
Her constituents live in Rutherglen…
She’s off her head… She’s a fruit loop. And a backstabber at that. She wants to chap doors with sex pests in Rutherglen…
Now she wants her constituency to pay a congestion charge.
What a horrible horrible woman she really is. Absolutely sickening. Take your green policies and fuck off.
On congestion charge proposals Katy said:
“It’s essential that we encourage people to be looking at different ways of getting into the city centre.”
The facts are this.
SNP rail since it was nationalised has record ticket hikes of 4.8 per cent. Hundreds of rail services have been cut.
We won’t need them anymore… Since covid they say…
So they can’t be going greener with less public transport.
The night bus frequency has been reduced. But saved. I was about to be cancelled destroying the night time economy even further.
The Glasgow subway doesn’t run overnight… That’s an easy fix. Never been done… It shuts its doors today at 6pm like it does every other Sunday. They dont fucking bother.
They introduce the ULEZ, to catch out doctors and nurses commuting to save lives in the hospital. They’ve imposed hardship on the working class people of townhead in Glasgow City centre with the ULEZ tax.
Then there’s the airport drop off and pick charge. £10 for 15 minutes. Destroying the lives of many a taxi driver.
I hate Susan Aitken and I already hate this Katy Louden.
Get the fuck out our city. You wankers.
John Main @1:34pm
But changed to what exactly? All that’s on the cards is to replace one bunch of feckless, neoliberal woketards with another.
Progressive/maoist politics shows no signs of abating. The source of the contagion, the USA, does not seem likely to repent it’s evil ways and go back something related to sanity. That suggests there’s a few more years of this to endure before it collapses under it’s own weight of absurdity.
GM
OK, groomer.
Soy products are full of xenestrogens, resulting in, well, traits we usually associate with teenage girls, like a taste for boy bands, and tearful, overemotional jeremiads when their idols are mocked.
Cope harder.
What about the doctors and nurses, working class commuters coming to work in the hospitals. Now the drivers have to be charged to visit our beloved Glasgow.
They want to destroy our city guys. I’m going to watch the prism show but I’m too upset.
I see Tommy Sheridan is hosting a rally in freedom square next Saturday. Tell Susan Aitken to eat her congestion charge! She’ll need some rennie. Because Glasgow can’t fucking swallow that either.
SNP Out. SNP OUT!
Hey, Rev!
What you going to give us next Sunday, then? Which iconic mass media puppets are going to be deconstructed next, in some badly-conceived analogy with the SNP?
Lizzo?
Sam Smith?
Madonna?
The Cheeky Girls?
Can’t wait for your next hangover-inspired kneepad piece!
Good grief!Do none of you adhere to the Rev’s instruction of don’t respond to the troll?
Why in the name of the wee man have some of you responded to the disgusting pillock?
Ignore the bastard.
Dani Khalife, the guy putting the error into terror is nabbed on his bike.
Hope he was using a designated cycle lane.
What is scary is that an obvious narcissist, look at me cosplay in the BritArmy, could make merry with Brit «security» at HMPS.
An opening there for AI?
Well we had the chance of rebuilding around Wee Kate, but almost all here wanted blood and guts and a heroic defeat which could be spoken about in the future….if there is one, in the same tone as Culloden or the Clearances.
The SNP must be decimated, but figures like Mrs Forbes who have the stamp of leadership and the credentials to oppose the powers of darkness exposed by Mr Campbell must be retained to ensure that never again will deviant social policies and devious politicians infect what should be a higher movement dedicated to making our country prosperous and socially viable.
The head has been cut from the snake and now the body seems to decompose before our eyes, but we must not wait to bury it, rather examine the few people who can of help or even lead the reformation.
@Cameron Lochiel
BRAVO!
Rev… very good read and watch. Robbies lyric talent there for all to appreciate. He always had a way with a barb.
After that consideration, all I’m picturing is now is Johnny Cash epitomising the SNP whilst singing Hurt…
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar’s chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
If you really wanted to do some comparison with Robbie willams and the SNP (which would actually be relevant, and does not attempt to fellate Willam’s ego , then all you had to mention was “camper vans” – I cite from the Wikipedia article on his unsuccessful plagiarism case:
Lawsuit
In 1998, Williams was sued by Ludlow Publishing over the song “Jesus in a Camper Van” because it lifted lyrics from the Loudon Wainwright III song “I Am the Way”, from his album Attempted Mustache. The lyric to “I Am the Way” is as follows: “Every son of God has a little hard luck sometime, especially when he goes around saying he’s the way.” The lyric to “Jesus in a Camper Van” in question is: “Even the son of God gets it hard sometimes, especially when he goes around, saying I am the way.”
Williams claimed that he had heard a young man say the line whilst in rehab, and only found that it was a line from Wainwright’s song after he had already recorded it. Williams’ agents called Wainwright to notify him about this, but Wainwright had little say in the matter; “I Am the Way” was a parody of the Woody Guthrie song “New York Town”; Ludlow Publishing owned the line’s copyright. In 2002, Ludlow Publishing won the lawsuit, receiving 25% of the income that “Jesus in a Camper Van” garnered, and subsequently, the album was re-issued replacing “Jesus in a Camper Van” with “It’s Only Us”.
NEXT WEEK: JEDWARD – WHY THEY ARE LIKE BAD PEOPLE REV DOESN’T LIKE!
I don’t think so.
🙂
Is it not just about how ridiculous it would be for Stu to eat a piece of fresh fruit?
It would have been fun if he had written we’ll eat a banana sideways.
Anyone remember the ‘that’s no way to eat a banana’ joke?
Brilliant article Rev, and excellent work laying out the comparisons.
Meanwhile.
“A FORMER Conservative minister has said he has “often” considered standing for election to the Scottish Parliament, branding the idea “very attractive”.
Speaking ahead of the publication of his new memoir, Politics On The Edge, Rory Stewart also said he “despised” the “creeping” MP he became before leaving the House of Commons in 2019.
Stewart said he cared deeply about Scotland, adding: “Scottish Conservatism has more in common with the way that I view the world”.”
Craig Murray outed Stewart as MI6 in 2016, Stewart has also been the chair of the secretive Le Circle, once an Mi always an Mi, they don’t retire.
@Stuart MacKay 2:26
You may be right. You may not.
I have listened to Starmer, and listened to his “No tax increases” promise.
He has to be lying. He just has to be. Everything is falling apart, or falling down, and governments are broke. There has to be increased taxes, and some of the sacred cows have to be slaughtered. The reality is that Starmer is better placed to do these things than the Tories.
The pensions triple lock has to go for a start. The sacred NHS, that manages to be both eye-wateringly expensive, and piss-poor at delivering outcomes, needs savage reform.
Anyways, that’s WM and we need to be considering what is going to replace the SNP in Scotland. 129 good citizens of Scotland, I don’t care whether Sovereign Scots or New Scots, are needed to step up in their country’s hour of need.
Very few of them indeed should have past political experience on their CV. Apart from a mere handful of honourable names, the rest of the wasters deserve no second chance.
Not Williams. Loudon Wainwright III. Song fits the bill?
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DnssSIKOrSNk
Mia,
apologies for delayed response to you comments two threads back,
For roughly a year an a half or more perhaps here on Wings I have been posting as ” I find” new information and discrepacies in regards to the two sides of the story version of the treaty of the union.
The information is all there.and too many connection for myself to know how to retrieve them all and fit them together with this second hand technology,
However I have great faith in Stu’s Sites capabilities for storing that information on Wing Over Scotland in your interested in seeking history.
Myself, Having indulged many hours weeks, days, months and years in research on this subject here are good good reference pointers for you to find and do homework on information for your self to learn and not except just one version of accounts
“Scottish parliament site, (and) every related title to the subject by different authors on wikipedia.
Electric Scotland. A excellent history source,
Jestor.
The UK English parliament site. There is the surface information meant for a quick tourist kind of research version, and then there is the branches that delve much deeper into.
sub commitees,
privilege committees,
House of Lords ,
House of commons,
list of Treaties made with other Countries, ( word of wisdom in your research here,) always check if possible the other Countries version of a treaty, they are not always identical.
House of lord debates and commitees.
Miscellanious legislation,
statues and repeals. Wording changes to legislation and statues,
And “obsolete and repealed laws.”
Treaties of London.
The Boundary commissions for England.
The metropolitan police Acts.
The early and later, consolidation Acts.
Colonial Stock Acts.
Agriculture and fisheries Scotland Acts,
The English parliament Act of Settlement 1700,
The Claim of Right.
Englands bill of rights.
The magna Carta,
The Declaration of Arbroath.
The Stone of Destiny,
The new proposed Constitution, by the “political and constitutional reform” WWW, parliament UK.
The representation of peoples Act/s.
The old Westminster English parliament, Triennial Act, that ended in 1708.
There are many more that I have also researched not so obvious such as the Sexual offences Act and the The Oaths Acts that have an effect or had an affect on Scotland
There is simply to much deep dive information to hand you on a plate.
I have though provided hand typed copy references, dates and links to where I discovered and retrieved articles of important discovery information, which I post for all to see here on Wings. It will be retrievable or archived I am sure,
After all my research My conclusion falls in line with, Alf Baird and Salvo,
Scotland and its people are a internalised “Colony” of Westminster parliament. And if there ever was a treaty in 1707 that could be construed as binding ( with a big question mark) it too has been Colonised beyond it original conception and ratification, by The Westminster Parliament acting as sole over- lord of the Articles to the treaty of union.
A secondary conclusion and personal opinion that my research revealed was that Scotlands view as a whole, of what the treaty of union is , does or how binding it is and to whom, differs extremely from England interpretation of What the treaty of union is.
In fact they are opposing opposites.
Scotland thinks it made a treaty of politcal parliamentary union with Englands old parliament and for the Monarch accepted the English law of Settlement 1700.
And it accepted that the treaty of union ended its personal 1707 parliamentto be united as one,
Now it was in a treaty of equal parliamentary union with England to create a new parliament of great Britain, and it has retained this mental illusion for over three hundred years.
Westminsters old and new parliament on the other hand views the treaty of union entirely different.
It considers it is the treaty of union, that Englands old parliament, that never altered its premises or never had to re-elect new members from the old parliament of England into the new parliament of Great Britain as Scotland had to, but simply continued as it was,
It has made and instigated treaties after the parliamentary union, officially as the parliament of England. And simply added great britain once the treaty became public.
It has changed, altered and made obsolete ” Scots laws” that were meant to be retained under the treaty of union articles,
It has removed the burghs that were meant to remain also,
It reformed Scots law/s as Separate from Englands,
On the other hand Scotland has had no such ability to legally change English laws,
And further more Westminsters parliament state that the Scottish parliament was extinguished from the treaty by the agreement of the treaty of union once ratified,
Englands parliament thinks there is no longer a Scottish parliament in the treaty of union.
This of course of thinking, is backed up by Westminster parliament thiking that Scotland did not have a parliament in the treaty any longer by imposing a subsiduary branch office into Scotland known as the Devolved goverment.
Which there would be no call under a parliamentary union If the 1707 Scottish parliament still existed in there thoughts.
So the two point differ considerably,
Scotland thinks it has a parliament equal in a treaty of union.
England thinks only the English parliament exists in Westminster.
@Akenaton 3:12
Good post.
I have just posted about the mere handful of current Scottish politicos that Scotland should be prepared to trust in the future.
Kate Forbes is one, AS obviously. KM, Ash Regan.
TBH, I’m struggling to add more to that list. I don’t comprehend the adulation JC seems to attract from some.
Certainly there will be endless arguing over who deserves rehabilitation, but my basic point is that the process needs to start, and Alba needs to be making a lot more noise than they currently are.
With most of the HR incumbents deserving of the dustbin of history, a lot of new faces are needed. New talent to replace the existing talent-free!
This is the best article I’ve read since the final A. A. Gill review.
Thank you, Stu.
@john main
The sacred NHS, that manages to be both eye-wateringly expensive, and piss-poor at delivering outcomes, needs savage reform.
Anyways, that’s WM…”
Err…is that the Scottish NHS you’re talking about, the devolved one or the English and Wales NHS the reserved one, or the Northern Ireland NHS, the no-one has any idea who is in charge anymore one?
link to scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
Shona Robinson hates freedom. Unless it’s for her pal Nicola Sturgeon, who can do what she likes outwith the law.
She’s trying to scare us into getting the jab and they might have to wear masks again and be locked away.
Covid 19 is the religion of choice for many an SNP incel ideologue.
LE CERCLE.
link to news24.com
How would R. Stewart. B Hong Kong, Ed. Eton & Balliol fit into that «demi-monde»?
I see that is now accepted by all that the pages and pages of redactions that were carried-out during the Fabiani Inquiry were carried-out not by the Lord Advocate or by James Hamilton, but by John Swinney. So, the FM was found not guilty of misleading parliament by the DFM. Even James Hamilton’s final recommendations were redacted by Swinney so that the meaning read differently. This is the politics of the Congo Basin and if it wasn’t so funny, if we all had to take it seriously for a moment and realize what Holyrood had become, we would all agree to close the place down. Another generation of vapid, delinquent clowns like Swinney we can all do without.
Either you are I have to re-read the article.
I’m pretty sure it isn’t about a comparison between Robbie Williams and the SNP.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
I make no apologies for replying to ‘Curtain-twitcher General’ because at least CTG is on topic.
Appreciate your comment John, but I was talking to a bevvy of SNP supporters today who appear to be in complete denial of what is happening, tying their loss of membership to the resignation of Mrs Murrell rather than the social crimes she and her cronies attempted to impose on the Scottish people.
We need educated and sane young people to rebuild, but they are in short supply in this media addled hell hole.
I’m beginning to think that it’s all to late, not just for Auld Scotland but for the whole “developed” world.
link to thenational.scot
According to Alex Salmond, Humza Yousless could be trying to expel Fergus Ewing for expressing his political beliefs which are on the side of public opinion, and against the program of Government:
Salmond said: “Humza Yousaf is in severe danger of fatally undermining his own short leadership of the SNP. He has already expelled a fine independence supporter in Angus MacNeil MP and now he appears to be lining up Fergus Ewing for the chop.
“In a full 20 years as SNP leader, I expelled but one parliamentarian and he was convicted of criminal assault. I never would have dreamt of getting rid of people just because they disagreed with me on politics or tactics or dissented from some votes in Parliament.
“In the case of Fergus Ewing, he is under the cosh just because he is articulating what everybody else knows – that the Green Party are a crushing liability to the independence cause.
“For Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, independence is at best a flag of convenience to allow them to creep into government and pursue their divisive hobby horses. In contrast for Fergus Ewing it has been a lifetime pursuit as it has for Angus MacNeil. Fergus Ewing is 10 times the Scottish nationalist than Patrick Harvie will ever be.
“What Humza needs to understand is that expelling people is a sign of critical weakness, not strength, while to expel strong independence supporters at the behest of fair-weather friends in simply ridiculous.
“If Humza carries on in current form he will be remembered as the briefest SNP leader in history.”
BBC misinformation Tzarina, Marianna Spring, caught lying on her CV.
Hahahahahahaha!
Minor point in reply to Curtain-twitcher General’s attack on Robbie Williams for having to sing classic songs in a key that he could sing in, rather then the original: this is completely normal as all singers have a limited range based on purely physical limitations. Yes some have bigger ranges than others but this has nothing to do with how ‘good’ a singer they are. Williams’ register is actually quite high – have you ever tried singing ‘Millennium’? And of course orchestra’s don’t transpose anything, the arranger would beforehand in liaison with the singer.
Captain Yossarian @ 16.31
I’ve never quite got why Mr Swiney got the nickname of “Honest John”. I would have tjought it was an ironic descriptor, if irony didn’t seem too subtle for the loons in the Disneyland Deliberator at Holyrood.
(Warning: some adult content.)
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Is it any worse than what we see out on the street,read in children’s books or see on the news/internet?
Everyday life needs this warning.
link to en.wikipedia.org
The banality of evil.
The practitioners can never have enough..
I know very little about Robbie Williams and I’m wondering if I need to know more about him to be able to appreciate this article?
Am I missing out be not knowing if he is or isn’t a good singer.
What do you think?
It’s plainly visible that the party just doesn’t give a damn any more – it knows its days are numbered
Pretty much.
I think the turning point in hindsight for me was the Brexit campaign in 2016. Prior to that the SNP were effectively carrying on from what Salmond was doing. At the time when Sturgeon got involved in the UK wide campaign against Brexit and her position shifted from putting Scotland’s case to remain to the wider UK public to one where she became part of the UK’s campaign to remain. I think here’s where she realised that being a UK wide major political figure was actually a bit of a buzz. Especially when leftish, liberal types outwith of Scotland praised her.
Then of course after the Brexit result I think an initial good response was used to eventually be used as another carrot to wave in front of people as a reason to vote SNP. After 2017’s relatively poor Westminster result compared to 2015, the SNP under Sturgeon became more interested in getting and maintaining power for power’s sake than independence or even making people’s lives better.
And of course the cancer of Gender Ideology & its worshipers started coming in via entryists from 2017. These were people who on the whole had no real interest in independence from a self-determination, political or economic view but purely one where they could do as they pleased while rewriting reality to fit their view.
All of this ran under the radar of most people outwith politics nerds. Most people were more worried about declining costs of living standards and having enough money to pay the bills and eat so Queer Theory activists infected the SNP. Once the Greens came on board (the Greens having been fully infected years previously) things shifted hard to the SNP pushing Gender Ideology at the expense of everything else.
Once however the general public found out what Trans/Gender/Queer Ideology actually meant in the shape of sticking rapists into women’s prisons, or mutilating autistic or LGB children and changing laws so safeguarding risks gain access to female spaces then the reaction was always going to be negative. I really don’t think though that the SNP/Green ideologues expected such a reaction from the public which has now seen the SNP try to radically change and pretend that actually, we’ve always cared about the cost of living crisis, even when we were pushing child rapists into women’s prisons.
Labour have pivoted hard due to this reaction and I also assume some private polling has shown how negatively the general public feel towards Trans Ideology. When obviously risky men (and sadly some women) are trying to groom their kids then of course people are not going to react well to these lunatics draped in the Trans flag screaming at women and LGB people in the street.
So Labour will win next year with a more than comfortable majority. The Tories will be unelectable for a decade. The Lib Dems are sitting on their own scandals but will pick up seats. The SNP will be decimated & as for the Greens they’ll either benefit from the loons flocking to them or end up being wiped out in any FPTP elections.
We’re entering a big year of change next year. Independence as an idea will live on but we’re never going to get any closer in the next decade at least. Meanwile as Stu says we see the SNP partying like it’s 1999 trying to convince their core things will be fine & those people who have destroyed the SNP will on the whole just disappear never to be held accountable so it’s worth remembering those people who destroyed SNP as well as the political and cultural landscape in Scotland to deliver us at this point in time.
Thanks for the article Stu. The BTL comments reflect the different communities using the site. SNP, Unionists and Independence supporters. The SNP want to shut you down. Perhaps it’s time for a fundraiser.
A simply stunning piece of writing and analysis.
…And it simply need not have turned out like this.
It would be fair to say, the careerists within the SNP got greedy. Not content with their grossly inflated salaries, they felt that they wanted that gravy train to keep on turning. Five more years..let’s not push for independence yet..That is what they all thought. Keep it going, the inflated salaries, because at the end of the day, ‘indy supporters have no option but to vote SNP’. Or so they thought.
I truly hope they get utterly shafted at Rutherglen, for two reasons. Firstly for being an utter bunch of low-life snakes and throwing their OWN MP, Margaret Ferrier under the bus. Secondly, because they are simply NOT listening to the unhappiness that currently exists.
If Humza were a true leader (which he most certainly is NOT). He would grasp the situation and realise the need to change track. He WOULD start talking to the indy movement and the likes of Salmond, to form a pro-indy coalition for the election in May 2024. Sadly, I do not think he will.
Instead Humza will still carry on trying to curry favour from some list green MSPs, who as REV STU rightly says, know their seats are not really at risk at all. That incidentally is why the coalition with the toxic ‘greens’ never ever made sense from a political strategy point of view.
Let’s just imagine British Labour in Scotland were the next Scottish government, do you think the toxic ‘greens’ would happily jump into bed with them?? Of course they would. By pursuing the greens toxic policies, the only seats Humza is putting at risk are SNP ones. Harvie, Greer and the Slater idiot will all be back in Holyrood, safe with their tiny list vote required.
Honestly, Humza if he has any mettle at all, needs to grasp reality. The SNP will simply NOT win with the greens in tow, and it is wholly destroying the independence movement AND SNP.
As things stand, it will be a joy to watch them getting humped in Rutherglen.
As for Flynn, well Independence is just not his thing. Strikes me as London’s man, on the make. If his intent is to undermine Humza, then he is nothing but a man of ‘vaulting ambitions’ you could say;
“I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,
And falls on th’other..”
From Macbeth, William Shakespeare.
David Hannah at 226pm,
So very well said. Especially the last line, which might equally be addressed to the liars in Edinburgh clowncil, currently working on making Edinburgh a fifteen minute city, by stealth – want to go from North to South,nope, East to west, nope. Stay in your own street plebs.
In century 7 BC my culture was dominant in the Near East. Now you have to go to museums or academic textbooks to find us,
Nevertheless, we are still here, despite many attempts to wipe us from modern history.
Scotland is in a far stonger position.
I envy you!
ROBERT LOUIS
«I truly hope they get utterly shafted at Rutherglen»
Indeed do I but we have not the same referent in mind.
Self hurt is pointless hurt.
The enemy without is supposed to be the target.
What is within may be changed, what is not will always be the enemy.
I watched the Prism and once again listened to the adulation and praise heaped on Joanna Cherry and Philippa Whitford , I also see akenaton boosting wee Katies profile as usual ,unusually being supported by John Moan whose constant negativity about anything Scottish appears to have deserted him for a second
I can possibly understand akenaton’s support for Forbes as his comments seem to come from a deep Christian belief which Forbes attempts to portray, BUT IMO her deliberate abandonment of her fellow sisters in the GRR revulsion farce indicates to me that her personal advancement comes before her Christian values
And as for Cherry and Whitford can anyone tell me what they have been doing for the last 9 years to advance independence or even to EXPOSE the continuous lies and corruption of sturgeon and her apologists , Scotland will never gain independence when fake politicians will ignore the truth in favour of personal wealth or advancement and still be supported and lauded for their fakery
@ David Hannah at 2.26pm:
To add to your point about the SNP’s abysmal transport policy, even when I was a fully-committed supporter of the SNP, I was deeply unimpressed with their record on transport. I was glad to see the back of Labour, but to Labour’s credit they were responsible for reopening the railways from Motherwell to Larkhall, Stirling to Alloa and Airdrie to Bathgate. They also began preparations for the reopening of the section of the Waverley Route from Edinburgh as far as Tweedbank. However, aside from completing the line to Tweedbank almost a decade after it was supposed to be finished, the SNP in all their years in power haven’t opened or even planned to open a single yard of new railway. They have begun work to reopen the line to Leven at long last, but that is actually the rebuilding of a short length of existing railway, which won’t now be electrified, meaning that ScotRail won’t have sufficient diesel trains to operate it. The SNP’s (and the Greens’) ‘green’ credentials are an absolute joke.
Mia,
Re the parliament of England law on the “Triennial Act” pre- supposed parliamentary union between Scotland and England,
The English parliament session continued after the treaty of 1707 and ended it three year session in 1708,
The actual act ” Triennial Act” was not repealed in full until 2010,
There are many instances of English laws still prevailing over Scots laws for much longer into the treaty, , that Westminster considered Scots Laws obsolete laws of Scotland and therefore simply rid itself of Scots law.
One of those reasons provided during debate at Westminster, was that members of the parliament of Westminster did not understand the Scottish language,
I did previously provide a link to this, on Wings,
In the new proposed Constitution for Great Britain the “Claim of right” is obliterated and not mentioned at all,
When reading the proposals you will quickly learn That Scotland half of the treaty of theunion is ignored as if it did not exist,
The twisting of words and reality bestows all legalities and Sovereignty in the Westminster parliament,
If one thing can be taken and noted from this new proposed Constitution, is the award for “WORD SMITHING” that could be given to those whom wrote this, for the ability to propose “many alternate methods of substituting sentences and words” so it will sound convincing to the outside world., that up to now has been a unwritten British Constitution,
In fact a recommended read for all people on here, for although entirely serious in all their suggestions it reads like ( fairy story) being read to kids.
The SNP ? The Lotus eaters of modern times. They now exist only to serve themselves. Sickening.
OT
My motorbiking homies and I took a run past Kenmore today. I was able to stand up on my footpegs and see over the wall along the main road for about a couple of miles to view what’s going on.
Jings! There are serious volumes of dirt being excavated all over the site which is presumably to re-landscape and re-contour pretty much the entire area to maximise the site area to suit the developer’s plans for all the extravagant buildings.
This excavating work is in no way restricted to what can been seen adjacent to the castle as per the pic in this article from July.
link to grousebeater.wordpress.com
The proposed luxury house plots will no doubt have significant land between them and the neighbouring properties, not like “affordable” housing for Scots which chuck up crap houses with just a few meters between them.
It might be interesting to view before and current aerial images of the site to see if many trees were cleared. There did appear to be huge areas of bulldozed ground with massive piles of spoil.
A couple of years back an acquaintance was getting grief with a visit from the high viz vest clad and clipboard clutching tree huggers gestapo rocking up after he had pruned some branches on a few trees to tidy a small site which had planning permission. Makes you wonder how these Kenmore developers can do what they are doing as it is clearly magnitudes of scale bigger.
@twathater 6:16
Wonderfully negative final para from you there. Maybes the old saw about motes and beams is unknown to you?
I sure hope not. It would have been entrenched in our Scottish culture at one time.
Today’s the sabbath. What better day for you to open the Good Book and refresh your memory.
akenaton
Reading about Yousaf’s purges of the awkward squad, maybes that’s a good determinant of those currently in the SNP who are worth keeping.
Anybody acceptable to Yousaf can be automatically flagged as a future liability.
link to greenocktelegraph.co.uk
SNP Rail is a joke in the West of Scotland. The latest article if you Google Scotrail cuts. The good people of Inverclyde losing half an hour of their lives every day because the SNP fast train cuts.
I see 117 ticket offices face job losses.
I see Jenny Gilruth promising the time table would be increased from the 700 fold service cuts.
I wonder what the service is today. Especially in Ross Greers constitutency of Bearsden and Milngavie. The worst performing rail service in Scotland!
Glasgow is suffering more than most.
Council tax increases. LEZ charges.
The £1 million isn’t enough for the SNP.
Now they want the congestion charge for all of the constituents of SNP candidate Katy Louden.
Think of all the people that travel to work from afar. That cross the Glasgow boundary to get to work on Glasgow roads. Now the SNP want a congestion charge.
The attack on drivers.
I have personally funded the judicial review donation, to stop the LEZ, rich poor apartheid city in Glasgow.
The judicial review will prove that the SNP has cut the emissions by making the buses electric.
They are now killing business. Killing the nighttime economy.
And unbelievably making their friends rich. It’s been reported that Glasgow City Council have paid over £100,000 to hire LEZ compliant vehicles.
Twathater I always read your comments with interest and your last epistle was no exception, but unfortunately I don’t possess the strength of character to sustain belief in a Deity. I have though every respect for those who do and will readily admit that their beliefs on the origin are no more outlandish than those of our scientists “There was this big bang” just doesn’t cut it, as wee Kate would say :o)
@ twathater
Of course that btl pair love “Freeport” Kate Forbes… Which is somewhat odd as they usually grasp any opportunity to attack nats and genderwoowoo, yet they give her a pass as she could have attended parliament like the other MSP mother on maternity leave and ensured the safeguarding and background checks amendment to the GRR bill passed.
New mum, too busy with new child to represent her constituents, but just a few months later stands as candidate to lead SNP at this critical time for Scotland, aye right, she was just standing to take votes from Ash Regan.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
link to archive.ph
The American owned HeraldScotland has the story: “Labour spend eight times as much as SNP on recall petition” which also details the candidates who intend to stand in the R & HW by-election.
But, no mention of Colette Walker of the Independence for Scotland Party (ISP).
Kate Forbes is a politician a vanished breed in Scottish politics,
she knows the game, what is required of her a nd what the conclusion should be.
We are fortunate to have an intelligent socially conservative representative in our corner so don’t knock her before she has had a chance to show her mettle
The SNP have claimed to be World Class in lots of areas. We are leading the World in everything. A triumph of spin over reality. A sporting analogy Scotland have 4 or 5 genuine World Class Rugby Players. The South African team have 10 plus World Class players. The best team won. I have asked the South African diplomatic service if they would consider building a couple of ferries.
George Ferguson at 707pm,
If you knew anything about rugby, you would not have made such a foolish comment.
.
Another excellent piece of prose Rev Stuart Campbell. It is understandable how readers WILL remunerate/chip-in £ for forensically researched and intelligently written articles such as this.
It is a bonus that this pi55es off the avarice-riddled Scot-Goes-Fizzle’s wee creepy PayPal Kelly.
Whatever else is falling apart in Hollyrude’s Chamber of Deviants, at least we have some brilliant journalistic talent at Wings Over Scotland.
I had missed or forgotten this shit-stained group of troughers. Stu., thanks for listing their names on the toilet-wall-of-shame forever…
link to wingsoverscotland.com
It makes you wonder whether nuclear war from Putin would be so bad after all.
I am no prude. Previous work in uniform sorted that. But with the woke-capture of the Scottish Nonce Party the vote I “lent to the SNP” is going the same direction as yours Stuart. How can any decent human being vote for these rape-enablers…
link to wingsoverscotland.com
The political minefield of 5hit is everywhere. Overflowing from Hollyrude like a blocked septic tank.
Then the infestation of camper-van-gravy-bus troughers.
That disgusting piece of human excrement Janey-I-Have-Cancer-Godley MONETISING HER CANCER, with PayPal-Paul from Wee Ginger Frog a close second in monetising his stroke when tens of thousands who have had real cancer and/or real stokes just get on with work and life and do not BROADCAST ILLNESS FOR MONEY.
Scotland was once a great country.
If we can send these woke infestations back to whatever rock from under which they emerged, maybe we will get our country back.
Please keep up the good work Stu.
“I truly hope they get utterly shafted at Rutherglen”
You don’t need to waste your energy in hoping. They will be, and it has been by design.
Since 2019 all the party has done is to invest all its energy in becoming unelectable. Yet, all those powerful brains in Westminster, other than Mr Hanvey, Mr McKaskill and Mr Angus Brendan McNeil, simply have conveniently looked the other way or engaged on other causes, rather than holding the leadership (and that includes Flynn)’s feet to the fire demanding an urgent effing move towards independence.
In the 9 years they have wasted us, how many SNP MPs has anybody seen actually getting up their backsides and demanding that the leadership make progress on independence? You do not even need all fingers in one hand to count them.
There is a party they could have defected to, if they were serious about independence. Clearly they are not.
This “by-election” looks like the hand over of the seat to labour disguised as a “democratic” process. The Greens have been given a role in the farce too, by fielding their own candidate to divide the yes vote.
They are not taking any chances this time after their spectacular failure in 2019 to transfer Mr Hanvey’s seat to labour. To ensure they lose the seat this time, the have Grady chapping on doors and stopped Ms Ferrier taking part in the context because she had a chance to win, like Mr Hanvey did in 2019.
The cherry on the cake is the demanding a form of ID to be able to vote – one just wonders how many pro independence voters will be disenfranchised by that strange move.
If it is a by-election one expects it to be done in the exact same way the rest of the MPs of that parliament have been elected. Creating a distinction on this particular one is not only discriminating, but in fact rather suspicious.
All appetite for independence on the SNP benches was lost when Mr Salmond left Westminster. There is even less among the MSP seats.
Because they have run out of road to continue kicking the can of independence down, now they want to hand over the MP majority to Labour so they can continue helping to frustrate independence to preserve the union, but this time from the “opposition” benches so their duplicity and appalling dishonesty is a bit less exposed.
It stands to the obvious this was never intended to be a democratic election, because the democratic thing to do would have been to leave Ms Ferrier, the candidate the people of the constituency elected, on the seat. Having political parties and the crown removing the representative they chose and then giving them a choice of only “compliant with the status quo” options they don’t want, is a complete mockery of democracy.
I am sure it would be possible to achieve a 10% of the vote to demand a by-election in many more constituencies. If our elected representatives continue to refuse to respect our democratic will and continue to force on us toxic policies nobody asked for and nobody wants, perhaps this is a route to which we should be giving more consideration to clean up the stables.
Twathater.
Hear hear,
Follow the money and you soon come to find bought and paid for politics.
These people are well aware of the real nuts and bolts in the background but certain subjects they tend to avoid like the plaque,
Momey money money, it is all about profits to to made on the back of scots genuinely wanting independence.
Like Stu mentioned earlier in the month, who can you trust.
George Ferguson @ 7:07 pm
“I have asked the South African diplomatic service if they would consider building a couple of ferries.”
Scotland has a several excellent low-cost, low-emission ferries operated by private ferry operators. The problem is in the state sector where the Scottish Government’s transport officials and ferry agencies, lacking in sufficient experience or education, specify their own odd-ball concept designs, which always cost more and deliver less. As this ferry seminar video demonstrates:
link to oisf.org
@Robert Louis 7:20pm
What was the score Robert?. And expand on your statement. Should Scotland have or could have won the game?. The foolishness is not accepting the result. And not seeing the reality of the game is atypical of the SNP. So I deduce your are a member of cult.
“Kate Forbes is a politician a vanished breed in Scottish politics,
she knows the game, what is required of her a nd what the conclusion should be.
We are fortunate to have an intelligent socially conservative representative in our corner so don’t knock her before she has had a chance to show her mettle”
Akenaton.
Forbes has no plan for Scottish independence, her plan is the same as Yousaf to keep on begging Westminster for an S30.
Just as important is that fellow commentor Vivian Oblivion exposed Forbes as attending (BAP) the British American Project, its remit?
“The purpose of the network is to groom a cadre of reliably pro-American British politicians, especially on the left side in politics, or as the 1985 conference put it, “to create, at a time of growing international strains and stresses, a closer rapport between Britain and the United States among people likely to become influential decision-makers during the next two decades””
Forbes is utterly compromised, and she should be voted out and kept out of Holyrood at the first opportunity.
When the politics of Britain and its branch office’s in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland continue to become oppressive to the people, restricting there lives with gender issues, , weather restrictions, and their ability to own a vehicle or buy decent food.
Then the people will be investigating these contradictory but contraversial legal discrepancies as a solution.
@Republicofscotland says:10 September, 2023 at 7:41 pm
to create, at a time of growing international strains and stresses, a closer rapport between Britain and the United States
Sounds good to me. Bring it on.
Let’s play fantasy politics. iScotland, a wee nation of 6 million people, rich in resources, most of them hundreds of miles out to sea.
So are we going to plough a magnificent lone furrow, RoS?
What other nations/countries do we see bravely standing on their own national feet?
None, zero, zilch, nada. NK doesn’t count, soz.
In the real world, the big beasts of international politics strive for hegemony, territory, resources and influence.
These big beasts being USA, China, BRICS, EU.
For me, it’s a no-brainer. I am of the opinion that for most rational Scots, they are with me. The fact you have a few that cheer you on here, when you choose a different team for iScotland, is neither here nor there.
I know, I know, the USA fails your ideological purity tests, cos they are not perfection on earth. Yeah, but compared with the alternatives …
@Alf Baird 7:37pm
It was a joke Alf. I have agreed several times with you about the need for innovative solutions to the ferries. I only lived on the Islands for 3 years but got the life line aspect straight away. Probably you would say it’s past the point of a joke. We are living under an SNP Government, so 500 million lost is nothing. I lived on Lewis what Island did you live on ?.
Alf – I live not a million miles from Port Glasgow. When Jim McColl was in charge there things weren’t perfect but the ferries appeared to be marching along. Once Jim McColl was removed, the yard Nationalized, civil-servants and these vapid tools we have at Holyrood took over, there was always an inevitability about the outcome.
@Dan says:10 September, 2023 at 6:52 pm
she was just standing to take votes from Ash Regan
As I recall Ms Regan was all set to force a rerun of the election due to the blatant flaws and in-our-faces fraudulent nature of the campaign.
Then she folded and zipped it.
Hardy the behaviour of someone desperate to put her Indy ideas to the test.
That’s an innarestin link. Thanks. I particularly like these ideas for iScotland:
* Full NATO membership
* Trident on the Clyde (and/or French nukes as part of our EU acceptance)
* rUK military forces having continued access to Scottish training grounds
* Full-throated support for all State Dept geopolitical positions.
Us Sovereign Scots will be hoping to build and maintain an aspirational first-world country in the face of mounting belligerence, interference and resource grabbing from the usual imperial, militarist suspects. We will need all the help we can get, specifically as most of the resources that will make us prosperous are out to sea and over the horizon.
These realpolitik compromises in the bullet list will be the price we will need to pay to keep our freedom and prosperity.
Soz an a that, Dan, but the manifesto ideas of Student Grant won’t be of any use to us.
Just tweeted this:
‘Scotland is the door to Downing Street.’
‘Anas Sarwar – watch that man!’
Andrew Marr.
What a load of shite.
In Scotland it’s still less than a century since universal suffrage.
Scots have rejected Tories for 70 years.
We hoofed Labour less than a decade ago.
SNP are next to leave via the windae.
The pace of rejection is accelerating.
We can’t do anything about the glacial nature of representative democracy but we can – and do – take our opportunities to punish British State functionaries.
For Marr to even suggest that we will revert to giving Labour’s Scottish branch office any control over our affairs is as risible as it is offensive. We can all see what he’s doing – he’d be as well standing on his hands and talking out of his arse. We’re not buying it any more.
The modern SNP was born in Hamilton and there it will expire. Anyone suggesting that the inevitable Labour victory is anything but a freakish outlier founded on a gross injustice needs their head looked at.
So it may take years yet, but we won’t give up on ‘democracy’ until we have a genuinely independent parliament, one full of people who do represent us properly. People we can trust and be proud of i.e. ourselves.
link to twitter.com
@ Mia at 7.25
All Westminster contests, by-election or general, now require ID, including the recent by-elections in England (where council elections, still first-past-the-post, also require it).
Nothing to do with the SNP or ScotGov, for once – they only have control over Holyrood and local elections – and not an anomaly. Westminster could, of course, have delayed the introduction of this rule until the next general election, but they didn’t. Presumably they want to be able to claim it’s solved the non-existent problem of impersonation, without any detrimental side-effects, or to give themselves sufficient time to back-track for the GE if it’s too obviously unfair.
NATO are a psychopath club of killers.
We’ve paid through the roof for their aggression.
They’ve won. They got the 500 million from the EU Peace Fund. And they’ve now got Sweden and Finland on their payroll. So they have expanded they can claim victory.
And the 113 billion dollars from the US tax payer. And the test from us.
In fact I believe that Nicliar Sturgeon has blood on her hands too. When she handed over the £65 million to Nazi sympathiser Zelensky to buy the weapons.
They won’t even let him in the psychopaths club anymore. He’s at the window like Nicola Sturgeon. A nation in waiting welcomes the nations of the world.
Shut it down. Independence. Out of NATO. No benefit to our lives in my opinion.
@Alf Baird 7;37pm
I replied to your post. Didn’t get over the mod hurdle. I never swear in real life and also on social media. But some word or view triggered the sin bin. Another day for a debate Alf.
The fastlane engineers, naval team can be turned into skilled employees in new industry.
We can finally drill the oil under the clyde without the u-boats swimming about and producing 3 eyed fish and cleft palates.
The Scots want jobs. We don’t want to have to stock up on canned foods and pottasium iodide. We’ve paid through the roof for the psychopaths club war of aggression.
The entire war is a lie in my opinion. I don’t support giving them a penny more.
The 14 million refugees have been given houses before the Glaswegians. They’re not going back.
It’s for wee bit hill and Glen. Zelensky and Boris Johnson have already sabotaged a peace negotiation. He has no interest.
The truth is Putin isn’t wanting to take over Ukraine. But they won’t tell you that on the media.
I’m glad Elon musk is cancelling starlink.
He doesn’t want anything to do with the war. Neither does Donald Trump. That’s why they want to sabotage his election bid.
In my opinion. My theory.
You’re the owner of a bar. It’s hot and it’s humid, but the large, slow-spinning overhead fans offer your customers a little respite from the oppressive Moroccan heat.
All around you is the hubbub of chattering voices, the clink of drinking glass on drinking glass, and the odd burst of restrained laughter. In the background a subdued jazz band plays Heaven Can Wait; the atmosphere is friendly and jovial, but there’s an underlying tension.
You walk across the room passing a table where a group of men are sitting. One of the men, an acquaintance, gets up, takes your arm, and invites you to sit with them.
You take a seat and wait for your acquaintance to introduce the other men.
“Rick, this is major Heinrich Strasser of the Third Reich.” says your acquaintance, whose name is Captain Louis Renault and who is the prefect of police.
Renault continues, saying “We are very honoured tonight, Rick. Major Strasser is one of the reasons the Third Rich enjoys the reputation it has today.”
Renault is using a rhetorical figure of speech called Adianoeta; the word is derived from the Ancient Greek adianoetos, meaning “not understanding” or “not noticed”.
Adianoeta is often described as a figure of speech which has a hidden meaning. That’s sort of true, but it’s not the whole picture. Another, more accurate, definition is that of an expression intended to be understood one way by part of the audience and in an opposing, or different, way by another part.
Of course, as the audience of a story being told, we’re invited to be in on the ‘trick’. We’re aware that Renault is sending a message to Rick; ‘this guy’s a dangerous Nazi, be careful’ (and possibly taking the mickey out of Strasser at the same time), knowing that Strasser won’t understand the meaning intended for Rick’s ears only, and will be unoffended by the comment, possibly taking it as a compliment.
Here’s another example of Adianoeta:
A tall, handsome, broad-shouldered man walks up to a pretty woman standing in the middle of a busy open office.
He has a slightly dishevelled appearance and is wearing a dark-coloured jacket and sporting a checked shirt and a tie that doesn’t match. He smiles at her, and she smiles back. They know each other well, but as far as everyone else in the room is concerned this is the first time the pair have met.
She stares lovingly into his eyes, eyes framed with black-rimmed glasses, and with a slightly cheeky smile, says “Welcome to the Planet.”
Her name is Lois Lane and his is Clark Kent. They both know, and so do we, that she’s welcoming Superman to planet Earth; but everyone else around them thinks Lane is welcoming the new-start, Kent, to the Daily Planet Newspaper based in the fictional city of Metropolis.
Lane’s cheeky, secretly shared ‘welcome’ has a concealed meaning known only to her and Kent; it’s hidden from everyone else, and they hear a different message.
Both examples I’ve given are from movies and we, as the audience of a story being told, are intended to understand both meanings of the Adianoeta figures used in each movie.
But what if we weren’t privy to both meanings? What if we perceived one meaning and not the other? How would we even know there was another meaning? Well, we wouldn’t; one meaning would be hidden from us and we wouldn’t know it.
Adianoeta is a powerful figure. It’s relatively easy to use with one-liners and short sentences (although it still takes quite a bit of thought to get it right). But delivering an entire speech where you want to convey two different meanings only one of which will be understood by different parts of the audience requires, as you can imagine, great skill.
You need to know your audience well enough to be sure that part of it will understand one meaning and the other the alternative meaning whilst hiding the alternatives not meant to be understood from each of the other parts.
For example, an audience at a convention of some kind might hear a speaker introduced thus:
…and one part of that audience, the party faithful for instance, might hear a vastly different message from another – those not quite so adoring, or forgiving, perhaps.
Please excuse my grossly overstated example borrowed and paraphrased form the movie, Casablanca. I couldn’t help myself – it amused me.
So, Adianoeta. the perfect figure to use if you want to deliver two different messages at the same time to two different parts of the same audience while hiding one message from the other and using the exact same words; simple, all you need do is find the right words.
There’s a wee bit more to the Adianoeta figure; but hopefully, I’ve explained what is at the heart of it.
My take on the Adianoeta figure was at the request of Beauvais. I hope it lived up to your expectations, Beauvais. But if it didn’t – keep that to yourself.
And remember, one person’s understanding is another person’s…well…meaning, and vice-versa.
The longer the war goes on.
The more Scots will say, listen this is nonsense we’ve paid through the roof for this.
No more money to the psychopaths club. Bairns not Bombs. That’s what they’ll say.
@Alf Baird 7:37pm
I replied to you twice. Couldn’t make any of my comments visible either post, a lost debate. My phone is not my own, these days.
I saw the UN special rappateur on BBC news today saying, the Russians are electrocuting the genitals of women… She says they’re raping savages.
There’s a g20 summit today… Joe Biden has dangling around somewhere with snooty.
Zelensky will be wanting more weapons. From what I’ve heard, he sabotaged peace talks with Boris Johnson. He’s got no intentions of stopping the war.
Stop the war.
Dr Alice Edwards. The UN special rappateur was on BBC news today saying the Russians are raping and torturing the women in the east…
“but it’s all gone a bit quiet”
Maybe because no one believes you.
They want more money. That’s all they want. Keep the war going. To hell with thd loss of life.
“I know, I know, the USA fails your ideological purity tests, cos they are not perfection on earth. Yeah, but compared with the alternatives”
Jesus trying to defend the indefensible Main, much of what ails the world to day is down to decades of nefarious US foreign policies. Under the guise of bringing democracy and freedom to other nations, and if some nations don’t comply, they are attacked or sanctions (another form of warfare) are imposed upon them causing hardships and deaths.
The USA doesn’t have allies it has subordinate nations, some countries have stood up to this, and the Western media and their politicians make them out to be the bad guys.
Last I looked its not those nations that are surrounding the USA with military bases but vice versa.
(BAP) grooms those it thinks will be useful and helpful to USA interests.
I pay a paltry sum each month so I’m happy to read and not contribute ( much of it bores the arse off me anyway )
But if the likes of JC join Alba I’m gone from there , and will cancel my sub to Alba
Let the rage begin: I understand that the English FA are using Rangers FC’s Auchenhowie training complex as an HQ before the friendly game (I think it’s tomorrow night?).
@David Hannah ((8.47) –
‘Stop the war’
Hear hear.
I’m old enough to remember when realistic pacifism was a mainstream and respectable position.
The simple fact that Tony Blair is still parading around bumping his gums about CDBC, Africa or whatever else is a permanent affront to everyone who ever believed in basic ‘justice’. His continued presence in public life encourages characters like Sturgeon.
‘Gallus Alice’ believes, obviously, that she has nothing to fear.
Who gave her such reassurance?
I agree. The longer the war goes on in my opinion the more people will resent, and want an Independent Scotland outside of NATO. Because the truth will eventually come out. We’re being lied to. The western narrative is a lie. I originally believed and supported Zelensky. Then I learned.
Not anymore.
Sorry, my earlier at 9.12 says CDBC. Should be CBDC, obvs…
🙁
There will be no challenge to Humza Yousaf at National Conference this year. Anyone standing would have to put a nomination in before the Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election and would therefore be blamed for the loss.
Northcode,
did no one ever teach you brevity?
Andrew. Katy Louden backs congestion charges.
In London the congestion charge is £15 a day.
She wants the people of Rutherglen to pay £200 a month to go to work.
Using the Glasgow Royal as example. Money they don’t have.
Or people buying items from the city centre. Face a charge a fine.
She is thick a pig shit. She really is a moron of highest order.
She has already lost the by election. We know she wants to chap doors with wandering hands sex Pest MP Patrick Grady.
The people of Rutherglen need to be informed of this congestion charge insanity.
The SNP have lost the by-election already.
The green policies should be blamed.
Congestion charge. What a joke…
Steven Flynn has been rumbled by wings. He’ll need to devise another cunning plan.
David Hannah,
who’s going to protect an independent Scotland outside of NATO? The fish, the oil and gas resources, the airspace, the offshore islands? Because we know that there have been continual challenges to all of those over the last 6 decades. French and Danish trawlers ripping off the fish, the Russians damaging oil platforms and undersea pipes, and Russian aircraft coming down towards Shetland and Uist.
After all the hype, the best Scottish rugby team ever, the Ruth Davidson 15 have failed to deliver again.The usual errors; too many knock-ons, lineout failures and a general lack of accuracy
.
A decent performance in the scrum and in the loose and some commitment from the players, but is this enough? Oh well, what can you expect from our 80 minute public school boys. Thank heaven for Steve Clark to keep some pride in our questioned nation ?
Hi Northcode.
I’ve been enjoying your explanations of figures of speech and so on. Stuff I don’t remember doing for Higher English.
Ignore the haddocks with short attention spans…
Come undone duran duran
Ah, it’ll take a little time
Might take a little crime to come undone
Now we’ll try to stay blind to the hope and fear outside
Hey child, stay wilder than the wind and blow me in to cry
Operation branchform will charge wee Peter and the treasurer, my snout informs me.
Nikkla will walk away, I’m told.
“Not enough evidence to link her directly “.
So Agent NS will be spared.
“Surprise Surprise”
No
George Ferguson @ 8:21 pm
“Another day for a debate”
The ferry situation is fairly straightforward. Privately owned ferry operators are very careful with their money when it comes to ship specification, procurement and operations. The state sector less so.
David Hannah 9:22
“The western narrative is a lie”
Naw. No need to over complicate things, Dave, the salient facts are incontrovertible.
I don’t want an iScotland that ends up on the wrong side of history. I believe the majority of rational Scots are with me, just like the rational citizens of the 45+ countries that are all helping out.
It’s like I said to RoS, this tiny echo chamber may well disagree, but that proves nowt. Soz an a that.
Brian Doonthetoon @10:19pm
Thanks BDTT – much appreciated.
Scotland can stand up for ourself. We don’t need the Americans. Remember the time the guy who worked in Glasgow airport kicked the burning terrorist in the balls and set about him. Ahaha.
Can anyone else recall the first time they saw Peter Murrell?
For me, it was the opening of the Queensferry Bridge. That was 2017.
Can anyone remember when they first heard Alastair Campbell speaking in public?
For me, it was his storming on to CH4 News.
link to channel4.com
These ‘front-men’ appear to be untouchable.
If Sturgeon is exonerated, what chance her handler will be ‘thrown under the bus’?
Both Blair and Campbell are gadding about as if nothing ever happened, so why should the Murrells feel under any pressure at all? She certainly doesn’t appear to be stressed about anything and he’s not exactly being hounded by investigative journalists, is he?
Who reassured these rancid characters that all would be well?
We keep our resources with Independence.
We keep our fishing stocks by remaining outside of the EU.
Outwith NATO. We stop paying into their wars. We say no to them dumping their toxic waste. We say no to armageddon.
The Russians are not going to attack a neutral, Independent Scotland.
It’s almost as ridiculous as suggesting the Russians blew up their own pipeline to Germany…
Id quite happily support restoring the glory to the clyde by building up a Scottish navy. Quite happily use the NATO war machine money for a sea defence force.
We can be building river taxis in an Independent Scotland. We should be able to build our own ferries with proper government bodies. We can build our fishing boats, rescue boats, naval ships. We could do all these things and more with a bit of political will.
We can change the map of Scotland. Another Scotland is possible. Until such times you better stock up potassium iodide and canned foods.
Benhope. Indeed the Scotland team were hyped to overdrive. I know S Africa are world champs. But Scotland never turned up in the second half.
We had no plan B to counter the stifling defence. If we play this way against Ireland then it’s curtains.
Too many foreigners in our team. Youth system decimated by the new qualifying criteria. They are all doing it, but Scotland are now relying on foreigners.
Stu, a fantastic article and one of your best.
You’ve also got me thinking about the topic of pivot points. I’d honestly welcome an article thats just a general list of some of the best pivot points you can think of (I’m not a football fan for example but I clicked on the link to your 2010 article about Aberdeen V Rangers and despite not following the sport or knowing anything about said match, it was well written and easy to follow). I know it’s waayyy off topic from your usual stuff, but I’d read the entire thing!
Let’s see if this information helps any millionaires decide whether “investing” in bonnie Scotland is really worth it.
Due diligence and disclosure of risk may avoid future health issues and litigation.
#Kenmore
#TaymouthCastle
#Perthshire
#DiscoveryLandCompany
#Ticks
#LymeDisease
It seems John Moan is now taking over Andy Pandy’s claims of knowing what the majority of people’s opinions are and what they think about everything and anything , but just like Andy Pandy John Moan never produces any evidence to support his claims
I always find it suspect when John Moan likes to opine that he knows what other people are thinking when he has such a low opinion of the working classes and the ordinary man/woman as he has made clear on numerous occasions
The idea seems to be that one country is only fighting because NATO countries wish them to and are urging them to do so.
That belief defies credibility. That country is not fighting a proxy w4r. Local forces, their men and women are fighting and dying because they were and are attacked by Ru. Brave little Ru. Committer of war crimes.
If this is a proxy war why is that country being denied the arms they wish to be able to defend themselves.
In 1991 the people of this country voted overwhelmingly for their independence. On a turnout of just over 84% of the electorate, 92.3% voted for independence.
Just think of that number and Scotland. Think of their willingness to support the integrity of their country and the existence of it free from the brutal domination of a larger neighbour.
@ Sam
Are you not aware this subject is out of bounds on WOS ?
If that wasn’t the case , your laughably simplistic view on it could be taken apart in minutes .
As I respect Stuart’s conditions I won’t bother responding to your comment in detail . Also because I’ve come to feel people getting into arguments on here and elsewhere , from the comfort and security of their own homes , while humans are being being slaughtered , legs , arms , heads blown to bloodied lumps of inert matter is something of an indulgence . Our opinions don’t matter a damn . The war-machine will continue it’s merciless onslaught whatever we say hear .
I’ll say this though : I have nothing but contempt for those sitting in the comfort and security of their own homes supporting and promoting the continuation of this carnage . It’s not * you * or any of your family who are being slaughtered , is it ?
Sam
Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, NATO’s first Secretary General, famously said the purpose of the Alliance was “to keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”.
NATO is an invention of AngloAmerica.
NATO is keen on 404 joining NATO.
The Maidan coup was run by the U.S.
Alf @10:30pm I’m afraid you are in denial if you believe the issues around the Ferries being built in Port Glasgow can be explained away by better procurement and operations. Incidentally The CEO of Western Ferries running on the Firth of Clyde is on the record as having stated he could run his business on the subsidy given to Calmac on the same route, let everyone ride free and he would still make a profit. However (I digress) given these ferries are 5 years late and 3x over budget (£300m) this the yard only works 4 days a week (they don’t work Fridays) and the directors last year paid themselves nice bonuses with tax payer money. The problem is it’s being run by SG ministers (SNP). In contrast 10 minutes up the river BAE systems is doing a better job on government contracts, it’s being run by the UK MOD who take no shit, It’s all down to bad management and booting the arse out the Scottish taxpayer.
@twathater 3:28
See? You’re doing it again.
You’re extrapolating from my contempt for your risible opinions, idiotic posts and tissue paper “logic” to infer I hold those same views about the majority of Scots.
And in a post greetin about my failures to provide evidence too! As I wrote earlier, motes and beams TH.
Bob says
“If that wasn’t the case, your laughably simplistic view could be taken apart in minutes”
Phew, you dodged a bullet there, eh Bob?
@Robert Hughes
“Are you not aware this subject is out of bounds on WOS ?”
You don’t seem concerned with the rules.
Preach away. How do you think this w4r ends? With the destruction and enslavement of the invaded country?
Writing 101- The Pro forma John Main Post
[refer to previous post]
[sarcastic unintelligible observation]
[confect a straw man argument from the post]
[demolish the straw man]
[made up a ‘fact’ -or maybe two, veracity irrelevant ]
[insult BLT posters generally]
[smug self-congratulation to finish]
Remember, accentuate the negative and never say directly what you really believe, as this will only create clarity.
I was never a fan of Robbie Williams. He isn’t a Rocker but I’ll give him respect for making the transition from boy band member to adult solo artist.
I do find the comment criticising him for changing keys to songs he recorded a bit strange.
There are some songs that should never be attempted if you don’t have the vocal range but songs have a key for a reason so they can be changed to suit any singer. If a key needs to be changed to suit a singer that doesn’t ruin the song then what is wrong with that?
Besides, as The Who said:
link to tinyurl.com
@Sam 7:28
You have to understand that for many of the BTL stalwarts it’s always and only about the ancient guff.
On this particular subject, the defining ancient guff is the street battles of the 1930’s – a time of folk legend – with myths handed down through the generations to the BTL keepers of what they still regard as the true ideological purity.
Once you grasp this, the positions and opinions become understandable, although still they remain risible, and obviously at odds with every thing the real world presents as evidence nearly 100 years later.
And obviously very much at odds with the campaign for Scottish Indy in 2023.
Still, they have to be ridiculed and exposed at every opportunity. iScotland won’t be worth having if it turns out to be not so much a new Alba as a reconstituted Auld Albania.
I believe the majority of people do not have any set opinions at the moment.
The majority of people are just too shocked and are looking at what’s going on and thinking WTF while
Waiting for the miracle to come
link to youtube.com
Nothing left to do
When you know that you’ve been taken
Nothing left to do
When you’re begging for a crumb
Nothing left to do
When you’ve got to go on waiting
Waiting for the miracle to come
As per other comments, the topic that sam has brought up is out of bounds in this forum. I’ll post this link again for reference about a Westminster defence committee attending by Lord Robertson, former UK Defence Secretary and Secretary-General of NATO.
During that meeting he mentioned that the West may have goaded Rus into starting the war. Why would an ex Secretary-General of NATO mention that even if he was posing it as a personal opinion?
link to archive.ph
@
Johnlm
“The Maidan coup was run by the U.S.”
A point of view that does not coincide with reality.
I invite you to visit AlJazeera “opinions/ ru shifting role in 404 crisis
I’ll be glad to have your opinion if you read it.
A closer inspection of what I write might reveal to you that I am not writing about NATO at all except in respect of its reluctance to provide that country with the arms that it wants to defend itself from aggression.
Couple of problems with pivot points is that they’re infinite (think second order calculus) and vice versa.
Thus when looking backwards to justify a narrative its relatively easy to find something to explain everything according to your bias of the moment, but the more you look the more you find and greater the need for discretion – so whilst some will be happy to blame Thatcher for repealling Scotland’s sodomy laws (for whatever reason), others might be happier, in retrospect, to blame Dennis.
Similarly when the video ref calls for deliberate knock on in the early stages, yet the images clearly show the force of the intercepted pass to have provided the momentum to escape the hand trying to hook the ball in toward the chest, you can be sure that its not only the scorching heat, opening match jitters and and kiwi thrashing world champions that need to be be overcome.
In that respect the consolation try* that could have sealed a magnificant victory on a friendlier day, but was prevented on that one by a non existent knock on, could be seen as a not dissimilar pivot point to the one where indyref2 got cancelled – yesterdays news but an exciting foot in the door for the next one regardless.
*there being no South African equivalent of our brilliant back line left to beat (not even for a tap tackle) when the ref stopped play
I’m lovin’ Alba instead.
Where’s Geri?
Is she on the naughty step?
Brer Fox, still smarting over being fooled again by Brer Rabbit, mixes tar and turpentine to make a tar-baby. He sets his creation, which indeed looks like a little black figure wearing a hat, beside the road and hides himself in the bushes not far away. Soon Brer Rabbit comes walking down the road and stops in his tracks when he sees the tar-baby. He speaks to it, asks it questions, accuses it of being hard-of-hearing and impolite, and finally yells at it. The tar-baby, of course, says nothing, and Brer Fox stays hidden in the bushes, chuckling quietly to himself. Losing his temper, Brer Rabbit hits the tar-baby, first with one fist, then the other. With both hands stuck in the tar, he kicks it with both feet, getting them stuck as well. In desperation, he butts it with his head, which also sticks firmly in the soft tar. Now Brer Fox emerges from the bushes, laughing so hard at Brer Rabbit’s plight that he rolls on the ground.
link to youtube.com
The Tar-Baby is the second of the Uncle Remus stories published in 1880; it is about a doll made of tar and turpentine used by the villainous Br’er Fox to entrap Br’er Rabbit. The more that Br’er Rabbit fights the Tar-Baby, the more entangled he becomes.
In modern usage, “tar baby” refers to any “sticky situation” that is only aggravated by additional involvement with it.
Watch out for “tar babies” folks
Piece by Lindsay Paterson in “UK in a changing Europe”
Author is hardly a strong supporter of Scottish independence.
Bits of it.
“Using high-quality social surveys, some tentative answers may be given. Independence has come to be associated with the future in demographic and ideological ways. It reflects Scottish nationalism’s rhetoric that Britain is stuck in the past. That is an ideological message that is now so entrenched among younger, educated voters that the transient fortune of individual politicians is unlikely to have much impact….
…In short, independence has come to be linked with young, liberal graduates. This makes the Scottish case quite unlike other movements of what has been called national populism. Elsewhere, support for these movements tends to be strongest among older people with minimal education and conservative views. A prime instance is the vote for Brexit in the 2016 referendum.
Therefore, the trajectory of Scottish nationalism over the coming decade is not at all clear, despite the current travails of the SNP. If the Conservatives form the next UK government, the rhetoric of youthful Scottish radicalism will remain potent.
On the other hand, if Labour wins the upcoming UK general election, then it might manage to change the views of young liberals, persuading them that radical reform across the UK is feasible despite the nationalists’ claim to the contrary.
But at least equally likely is the opposite. Disillusion with a cautiously reformist Starmer government might entrench Scottish liberal opinion in its increasing scepticism of the UK state. The greatest threat to the Union might be yet to come.”
Northcode, I’m with BDTT – keep ’em coming!
A Scot Abroad says:
10 September, 2023 at 10:03 pm
who’s going to protect an independent Scotland outside of NATO? The fish, the oil and gas resources, the airspace, the offshore islands? Because we know that there have been continual challenges to all of those over the last 6 decades. French and Danish trawlers ripping off the fish, the Russians damaging oil platforms and undersea pipes, and Russian aircraft coming down towards Shetland and Uist.
LOL. What a simplistic, childish view of the world. Primary school politics, straight out of the Daily Record. Entertaining yes, but way way off the mark. If you must persist in trolling, please try a little harder.
Ah I don’t believe you’d like it
You wouldn’t like it here
There ain’t no entertainment
And the judgments are severe
The Maestro says it’s Mozart
But it sounds like bubble gum
When you’re waiting
For the miracle, for the miracle to come
That’s perfect to illustrate comedians/singers/writers being cancelled.
I would use photos of JK Rowling, Graham Lineham, Róisín Murphy, the Arches & Tommy Shepherd
The Maestro says it’s Mozart
But it sounds like bubble gum
Brilliant!
@Pacman
I didn’t bring it up. David Hannah did and another.
“Goaded into war.”?
I have skim read the minutes of the Committee meeting at your link and can’t see anything that confirms your view.
I can find Robertson referring to Ru guarantees of 404 security under the Budapest agreement, which were, says Robertson signed by P..in but which P now claims he never did.
Also, Robertson says EU membership was a greater threat to Ru because it brought democracy.
That desire to join the EU was the trigger for the Maidan chaos and the unseating and flight of P’s puppet, Yankukovich. That then prompted P’s inv4sion, not NATO. And NATO did not provide any support to 404 in 2014 or until 2022.
I’m off out to see people.
Ooops forgot to include the funniest joke of the fringe!
The Maestro says it’s Mozart
But it sounds like bubble gum
@johnlm 8:54
An entire post of nowt but character assassination, and all for me.
I’m humbled and flattered.
See if you can work out why!
A wee word of advice though. Seek professional help if you start to see me in your dreams.
“who’s going to protect an independent Scotland outside of NATO?”
More pish from ASA, Ireland’s a stones throw away, and it ISN’T a Nato member, and last I looked it wasn’t being bombed out of existence, infact its doing pretty well since it freed itself from the shackles of Westminster, as will Scotland.
@pacman 9:03
On a point of fact, the taboo subject was first raised by David Hannah at 8:21 last night.
I am confident you know damn well what a fact is. Like most of the regulars on here, it’s your willingness to overlook the facts when they don’t agree with your concocted narratives that sticks in the craw of alert readers.
And continually tars (thanks Ruby) the cause of Indy by association.
The truth may well set us free.
Falsehoods won’t, soz. Amongst rational, grounded, Sovereign Scots, rafts of counter factual posts simply poison the growth of Indy support.
You know that damn well too.
OMG how could I forget the female impersonators aka Drag Artists.
There ain’t no entertainment
And the judgments are severe
link to tinyurl.com
I’m on the look out for more photos of drag artists with SNP politicians. Can you help?
Who did Nathan Sparling work for?
Hmmmmm
link to thinkscotland.org
I am reliably informed that above could also be Cardiff, Nottingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Brighton, London and legions of European cities may also compete.
First century Rome wasn’t a good place to be out at night either.
Thanks to SocMed and the mobile you may now show the universe what a total twat you are…that’s progress!
@ Ruby
link to wingsoverscotland.com
sam @ 9:20 am
“Piece by Lindsay Paterson in “UK in a changing Europe”. …In short, independence has come to be linked with young, liberal graduates.”
Paterson is a British ‘educationalist’ and perhaps less a political analyst. If he had bothered to read up on postcolonial theory he would know that an independence movement is always ‘dependent on the solidarity of the oppressed ethnic group’. In our case this is mainly native Scots language speakers. Most of those active in the movement tend to be the older generation (over 50s) wha maistly speak an aye still ken a wee bittie Scots, as we see in the marches and in the blog comments.
As an educationalist Paterson should also understand the importance of language as determining national identity. But I don’t see him arguing for the Scots language to be taught (‘a peoples’ human right), or the EIS for that matter; the latter still insist teachers here only require Higher English Studies to permit them tae lairn Scots bairns in oor ain laund.
Sam
Thanks for the link.
It’s a post from 2014 by academics from Stanford and Oxford, but I assume that the gist is accurate except for a couple of points.
Subsequent leaked conversations such as :
-Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Baet admitting that the Maidan Shooters were NATO agents
-US State Dept’s Victoria Nuland picking the new 404 Government.
A civil war started in 2014 (which the Minsk Accords were arranged to stop but) Angela Merkel admitted this year were just a staling manoeuvre to allow 404 to rearm.
If your point was to emphasise ‘plucky little democratic 404’, I’m afraid it’s a bad model..
404 is a gangster State founded on a coup, a pawn in a bigger game.
Bitchute – THE urkiane CRISIS – WHAT YOU ARE NOT BEING TOLD (FROM 2014)
Ireland is not in practice «neutral» having allowed US forces to use airspace and ground facilities during Iraq and Afghanistan invasions and sent troops, under Nato aegis to Kosovo.
It is a member of Nato’s Partnership for Peace and Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. Rather two faced regarding its neutral status one might conclude.
TURABDIN says:
11 September, 2023 at 11:15 am
“Ireland is not in practice «neutral»”
Since its independence in 1922 the Irish state has avoided the 80+ wars and armed conflicts England-as-Britain has forced Scotland into. So long as Scotland remains a colony decisions on war and peace will remain outwith our control.
@Alf Baird says:11 September, 2023 at 12:35 pm
decisions on war and peace will remain outwith our control
These decisions are outwith the control of every country that has ever been attacked in all of history. Surely that is obvious?
Tactically or strategically important countries get attacked. Rich countries get attacked. Resource-heavy countries get attacked. Underpopulated countries get attacked.
Worthless, out-of-the-way shitholes are usually safe enough. Although in a world of climate catastrophe, rising sea levels and possible nuclear irradiation, I can see that even a wet, rocky, midge-infested bog might have its attractions.
There’s a logical problem with claiming that a prosperous, free, resource-packed iScotland will simultaneously delight in being defenceless, friendless, neutral and free of all political ties.
Do you see what it is, Alf?
Turbadin @ 10:15;
“Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst, political commentator, and former army officer living in East Lothian.”
Tells you all you need to know; out of the same stable as the likes of Tory site pricks John Main,Chas, Akanenon and A Brit Abroad.
John Main @ 1:51 pm
“These decisions are outwith the control of every country that has ever been attacked in all of history.”
England-as-Britain dragged Scots into numerous colonial conflicts throughout Asia and Africa and also in Ireland. Scotland has never ‘been attacked’ by these peoples.
link to tinyurl.com
Got it thanks Dan.
When misogyny becomes a hate crime do you think we’ll see the last of ‘woman face’?
Hey Ruby is that a before and after shot of oor Angus, maybe you could tell him/her/it to back off a wee (big) bit when it comes to applying the slap
I’m sure wee kids in the nursery wouldn’t be scared shitless seeing THAT entity reading a wee story to them dressed like that
Or is that the famous Mrs Robertson that Angus courted
Add in the disastrous LEZs which already had irked a lot of motorists. We now know from Khan that they don’t make a noticeable climate change and are simply a cash grab.
The Glasgow Council plan to have 15 minute cities that no one actually wants.
The insistence on pushing through plans to force people start buying only ev cars, even though there is plenty of evidence to suggest evs are a bigger environmental disaster than carbon burning cars. Never mind where the electricity is coming from to run them.
The continued insistence in building cycle lanes that no one in Glasgow is using in serious numbers. The state of Scotlands roads, especially in Glasgow where the SNP council appears to have declared war on the motorist and
you are looking at political Armageddon for the SNP.
Oh to think i haven’t even mentioned hulls 801 and 802 and the political hot potato that they and their planned operator
are in parts of Western Scotland.
link to scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
331 million SNP want back. To trouser, to lose down the back of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell’s couch?
To buy a campervan to leave in mother Murrell’s driveway?
Give the SNP nothing.
James says @ at 1:54 pm
Glad I’m not the only one who has clocked Akanenon for what he is.
As to others, in the words of their glorious ex-leader, twice removed Theresa May, you are not very bright, are you?
Anyone agree that the Rev should start a new party and get other notable independence activists to stand in elections?