Wings Over Scotland

It’s become obvious now that Humza Yousaf is completely devoid of political skills. Not is there evidence of any logic.

How, in the name o the wee man, did it come to this?

Because if the Tories are never going to concede a Section 30, and he’d refuse even if they did, why does he keep begging them for one?

Catch 22?

I think we should lighten up on Humza. If he resigns, it’s over to Robison.

Actually, fk it.

Fk ’em all.

Where do I sign up for a winner takes all poker game with yousless?
That guy is the clowns clown.
We need a hard reset on Indy ASAP.
SNP must cease to exist.

This country needs an enema.

Exactly, Sturgeon could have extracted a deal out of Theresa May regards Brexit. According to Robin McAlpine, multiple Civil Service contacts told him various options were prepared in advance of Sturgeon’s first post-Brexit summit with PM May. Sturgeon stamped her wee feet and squweemed “No Brexit”. The options were removed from the table before they were ever discussed.
A Northern Ireland deal was entirely possible. N.I. has four designated Customs points of entry (as far as EU trade is concerned). That’s Belfast Port, Larne ferry terminal, Warrenpoint container terminal and Belfast International Airport (due to the Irish / UK free movement area, the EU only concerns themselves with freight traffic).
Northern Ireland has a population of 1.9m, a combined N.I. / Scotland entity would have a population of 7.4m and on a pro rata basis would be “entitled” to 15 Customs points of entry.
Customs checks at Larne would be superfluous (N.I. / Scotland trade only), leaving 12 Customs posts for Scotland. Subtract Grangemouth docks; Glasgow, Edinburgh, Prestwick and Aberdeen airports, this leaves 7 potential Customs posts to cover the Solway / Tweed border. With only two main logistical arteries on the land border, joining Northern Ireland in “the best Brexit deal ever” was entirely feasible.
As a bonus, Scots rendered nervous by decades of Unionist propaganda would get used to having a “hard border” at Gretna and Berwick-upon-Tweed. A border with negligible impact on their daily lives.

The SNP leadership seemed to be obsessed with dressing up.
They idolise the cross-dresser and they themselves dress up as supporters of independence when they are nothing of the sort.

In my (imaginary) independent Scotland, there will be a Conservative Party, a Labour Party, a Liberal Party, a Socialist Party, maybe even a Green Party.
There will not be an SNP or an ALBA.
Why no SNP, no ALBA?
Because if you get the painters in to decorate the sitting room, they do not stay on to sit round your fire and drink your tea and eat your scones. They do the job and then vanish.
SNP/ALBA have one job to to do and that is to bring about independence as quickly as possible. They then need to vanish as they have demonstrated broadly, widely, in detail, and at vast expense that running a country is far beyond them.

They have no skin in the game which is why they do not prioritize their reason for existing. It’s a win/win for the gravy train as long as the sheep keep voting for them. Hopefully once the truth of the 600k comes out it will be a mass extinction event as currently this mob need to be nowhere near the Indy movement.

Any deal with the Tories is tantamount to political suicide ask the Lib Dems and the DUP

Vivian O’Blivion says:
21 May, 2023 at 11:53 am
Exactly, Sturgeon could have extracted a deal out of Theresa May regards Brexit.

Neither Theresa May or Nicola Sturgeon care about their dumb voters, or have any interest in doing anything whatsoever for their benefit.

Our problem is not the colour of the rosette, it’s the people wearing rosettes who are the problem. Politicians have gone feral and no longer answers to the electorate. If you vote the “wrong” way, they’ll simply ignore you or call you a transphobe or whatever.

It’s Sunday, everyone has more time to read the “newspapers” and as we all have known for quite a while, MPs and MSPs as well as other sundry characters such as “journalists” regularly read WOS.

The Winds of Change are coming and the SNP can’t avoid the fact that it’s now a party of “Traytors” “Tractors”, lap-dogs of England and dedicated to the gravy train.

Ash, Fergus, Joanna and maybe one or two others, if you don’t get out now from the dead duck SNP then you’ll have to go down with the rest of them.

Independence is not just a word you can read in a dictionary, it has a meaning for the Scots and Scotland.

It’s what we want and we need the fighters for it, are you with us or against. It’s time for you to decide.

Stop trolling Mr Slippers, you will upset him again. I really want wait until that git gets voted out. I really want to see that.

“Asked if the conservatives made such an offer Yousaf said: “First of all, they would never do that, and, second, we will never make a deal with the Tories”

This has a very strong whiff of deja vu. It brings back vivid memories of 2015, when the political fraud Sturgeon was attempting to fly the lead balloon of a deal with Labour to keep the tories out. At that point there were also delusions, or rather pretence, of ever holding the balance of power. It was all bollocks, of course.

Information on the polls at that time pointed towards a labour win. However, the political fraud’s strategy of flaunting a deal Labour was not prepared to agree to in collusion with a rather genius marketing strategy by the conservatives, which put Milliband on Mr Salmond’s pocket, was very effective. It trashed labour in England.

One cannot help but wondering if the exact same old strategy of collusion between the SNP and the tories is being deployed here. If that is the case, in due course we will start to see the beginnings of another tory marketing campaign depicting Starmer under the SNP control.

They have plenty of material to choose from, for instance, they can just depict Yousaf driving the campervan and Starmer sitting in the copilot’s seat.

There is something in Yousaf’s words that stands out and is both, his conviction the tories will never offer indyref and then his reaffirmation that he would never do a deal with the tories anyway.

Yousaf is purposely limiting the possibility of indyref to the existence of a deal with labour and with labour only. First of all, labour has to make it to n10. It would not do so if a collusion strategy between the SNP and tories like that deployed in 2015 works. Second, the SNP has to be the only party labour can choose from to form a deal. That is most unlikely. It is far more likely the establishment would guarantee tory rebels onf demand for the crucial votes. Thirdly, labour has to agree to such deal. They will never do that.

It seems to me Humza is just ensuring indyref never comes about.

Ensuring the conservatives win will mean Yousaf can sit on his backside for the remainer of his government term confident that nobody would blame him for not pushing for indyref because he already made crystal clear the conservatives would not agree to it and he would not make a deal with the tories, anyway.

Sounds an awful lot like what Sturgeon would do. Continuity candidate indeed.

Plus ca change, plus c’ast la meme chose, as they say in Dundee.

What did anybody expect from the SNP, and Humza in particular?

The Duggers and the National will try to justify anything they do or say. Even Peter Bell clings to the hope that they can be pushed into change. If a man of his intellect cannot see the problem, what hope is there that the sheeple will?

The only politician who could read the runes was Alex Salmond. He saw what the SNP had become and was about to sort it out, so Sturgeon had to dream up a plan to sideline him, and persuade her mates to step up to the line and make allegations against him.

Only when the full truth comes out about what happened, and the identities of the liars is made known, will there be any chance of holding the SNP to account.

Until then it will be business as usual, and Scotland will continue to pay the price.

It is Scotland’s abiding shame that this situation has been allowed to continue for so long.

Y’all know you are being played, don’t you?
You do don’t you?

I think there is prima facies case for the SNP being seen as treacherous and ("Tractor" - Ed)s. Question is, where now?

Lloyd Quinan made an excellent point of today’s Scottish Prism.

Just imagine, in a parallel universe of course, that prior to appearing on BritNat Question Time, that Alex Salmond and Mairi McAllan had spoken before going on air and used the exposure on BritNat TV to announce an Independence Convention for all pro Independence parties, political and otherwise…

You’d have seized the initiative, wrong footed the propagandists, and put Independence right at the top of the agenda, and changed the entire political landscape of Scotland.

If only….

link to barrheadboy.com

I can feel your anger coming off the page Stuart. I and many others share that anger. Buffoons they are, and treacherous too, but don’t forget who gave them their jobs. A smug little rat who now seems to feel protected from any retribution for her actions.

As for Yusaf, the only time that I felt he was being sincere was when a few years ago he made that anti white speech.

We need Independence. Immediately. Zelensky. The cuddly hero puppet. We’re getting dragged in more every day. 2 snacks stoking a trade war with China.

Stephen Flynn. It was honour to meet you Zelensky. It was an honour. Here’s more weapons. 300,000 dead. More weapons from the G7, love Joe Biden.

We need Independence now before the World explodes.

The SNP senses the approach of its imminent demise.

Obviously at an instinctive level, because there’s no discernible intellectual activity.

It thrashes wildly about in a vain attempt to restart its heart.

But the SNP’s heart has gone out of it.

The independence movement was the heart of the SNP, and that heart has abandoned it in search of a more deserving host.

The SNP’s frantic, twitching death spasms are like those of an organism desperately gulping down its final breaths.

In time, possibly soon, it will finally expire, at least as a political party with any credibility, much in the way of native support, or any real influence in Scotland, and will be no more.

And who will mourn its passing?

Anyone?

“But the SNP did deals with the Tories at Holyrood from 2007-2011 to pass their budgets…Sensible people recognise political realities.”

“And if England wants to vote for Tories, England should get Tories. It’s not our business to deny England democracy. That’s the very thing we’re angry about them doing to us. It’s the utmost hypocrisy.”

“You are the worst poker player in the history of the universe.”

Completely spot on, Stuart, and a flawless analysis, full of quotable quotes! They are hypocrites of the highest order and don’t have two brain cells to rub together between them. The SNP should be using every expediency at their disposal to gain independence, not drowning themselves in fallacies and imbecilities and telegraphing their intentions.

As someone wrote on another forum, “If you vote for clowns, expect a circus!”

@David Hannah 2:08

If the world explodes, Scotland explodes with it.

You will be familiar with the definition of a “Little Englander”? Maybes you use it yourself as an abusive term?

Careful you don’t turn into a Little Scotlander.

Yousaf still calling the shots, then?

Such a pity nobody had the balls, nous, commitment, gumption, regard for scrupulous legality, [insert your own nouns of choice] to mount a serious challenge to the flawed and fraudulent process that put him in charge.

Just think. A serious, law-abiding, democracy would now be in the final stages of a re-run of the election. Open and transparent this time. No SNP meddling in the process. No lies over the voting and membership numbers. No resignations half way through. No collars being felt by the polis.

Just think. Maybes Regan in pole position this time.

But naw. In the full gaze of the entire world, Scotland’s population meekly accepted the political coronation of the Pretendy Continuity Incompetence Candidate. In the full gaze of the entire world, Scotland’s arrogant and untouchable political and legal establishments closed ranks to protect their own.

Everybody in Scotland tacitly agreed that this corrupted travesty is still good enough for the likes of us.

It did not have to be like that.

But it is. Too late now to start complaining that he’s shite.

@David Hannah (2.08) –

Looks like it’s your turn to get the Main treatment. Yesterday it was Tinto Chiel.

It’s a real shame we can’t discuss this stuff properly.

Hey-ho, so it goes…

It’s very quiet here today. A Sunday is usually livelier than this.

How about an early morning Dundee visit on route to Stirling
To cheer our leaders as they define the route to Indy!

Ruby, 3.22pm

Yes. Quiet covers it.

“They have taken the blood and the sweat and the tears and the votes and the hopes and the dreams of independence supporters and sold them for money and power…”

@Ian Brotherhood 3:12

OFFS!

If the world explodes, Scotland explodes with it.

Come back to the real world, Ian. I can accept you maybes had a hard time with reality last time around.

But you will be healthier and happier back in the real world for the long term. Trust me on that.

There is no variant of the collapse/destruction/annihilation/defeat of the west that leaves a thriving, vigorous Scotland standing in splendid isolation. Trust me on that too.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is too weak.

Think of all the sick children needing operations in Scotland, needing to raise money from the public to go to places like America, like this brave lad:

link to gofundme.com

Then think of the money stolen from the “ring-fenced” indyfund, the expenditure on campervans, coaching politicians how to lie to parliamentary committees, the salary given to Angus Robertson, payments to useless SPADs (“wee wanks”), the expenses of Mhairi Black and Ian Blackford…

With Scotland’s oil, gas and wind power in its own hands, we could be rich enough to pay for operations for all our sick children – and help out our neighbours as well.

Chief Mammy? Thief Mammy!

Some interesting words for (“Tractor” – Ed) in Slang Thesaurus

Judas Worm Tongue

A “Judas Worm Tongue” is a conniving, weasel–like traltor who is a backstabber and has troll-like characteristics. Many times, this person is a co-worker, dysfunctional family member or neighbor.

Judas is from “Judas Iscariot” the buddy and 13th student of Jesus of Nazareth who handed him over to the authorities to be executed for a bag of silver. Worm Tongue is from that nasty “shit stirring,” “dark friend” character in “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Aunt Sarah

Derived from the phrase “Uncle Tom” an Aunt Sarah is a woman who is a ("Tractor" - Ed) to her own gender.

The Scottish version of Aunt Sarah is Chief Mammy

Underpinned by a code of conduct.

That’s the current favourite phrase of Cosyfeet Pete. It appears on about every second tweet he makes. It’s like he’s proud of it. He probably thought it up all by himself. Not the “code of conduct” bit of course but the idea of prefacing that with “underpinned by”.

It’s as if the SNP hierarchy is daring independence supporters to abstain or vote for another party.

Doug @4:54

“It’s as if the SNP hierarchy is daring independence supporters to abstain or vote for another party.”

Why would any Indy supporter, other than the weak and feeble-minded Wee Ginger Fud types, want to vote for a bunch of Devo-Max troughers like the SNP? I didn’t vote SNP last time – took the spoiled ballot option. Next time, no ALBA candidate, I’ll be voting for whoever is most likely to get Alyn Smith out.

All these nuSNP to$$ers do is put the cause of Indy back, what with all their perversions and corruptions and incompetencies, whilst getting fat off the public purse.

I keep myself positive these days with visions of shaven-headed, tarred and feathered representatives of our Vichy government being marched up the Royal Mile the day after we secure Indy.

Re Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, you could have went the musical route and called it Dirty Rotten Imbeciles after the US hardcore band D.R.I. It would have been equally descriptive.

“operate”, not “peerage”.

I absolutely hate auto-correct. It’s almost always wrong.

Just released, new WM SNP House of Commons routine (rara skirt/codpiece/merkin optional) :

Whaddy we want?

Independence *snigger*

When do we want it?

Any time you see fit *touch phalanges*

When you think of it, in late 2019, Boris had a tiny majority and was limping chaotically from day to day in the HoC and then The Sturge and Labour forced an election which gave him a thumping majority of 80+ IIRC.

Tactics will always just be strange wee mints to the clueless/complicit SNP.

“I’m not trying to persuade anyone to give up on the idea of an independent Scotland”

Yes, you are precisely doing that.

“I’m trying to persuade them to take an intelligent path towards it”

No, you are not. The only intelligent path towards Scotland’s independence is to unilaterally resile the Treaty of Union and Act of Union with England, as it is Scotland’s legitimate right under internationa law, communicate it officially to the UN and request UN mediators during the divorce negotiations with the Kingdom of England.

To revoke the Treaty of Union and Act of Union with England we need either a majority of anti-union MPs willing to not take the seats and to not swear alleagiance to the crown, or a majority of Scotland’s MSPs willing to ditch once and for all, the Scotland Act to upgrade Holyrood to the status of Scotland’s independent parliament.

There isn’t another “intelligent” path towards it. Pretend Scotland is seceeding from an imaginary entity who is resting on a bipartite treaty is not intelligent. It is dumb. It is an attempt to undermine Scotland so it walks away with nothing.

That is unacceptable.

@shug, no, no, no.
AUOB should not bend to accommodate the SNP

Just released, new WM SNP House of Commons routine (rara skirt/codpiece/merkin optional) :

Whaddy we want?

Independence *smirk*

When do we want it?

Any time you see fit *touch phalanges*

When you think of it, in late 2019, Boris had a tiny majority and was limping chaotically from day to day in the HoC and then The Sturge and Labour forced an election which gave him a thumping majority of 80+ IIRC.

Tactics will always just be strange wee mints to the clueless/complicit SNP.

On another thread..

Peter A Bell says:
20 May, 2023 at 11:29 am
“The notion that we can just scrap the SNP and “start again” is frankly idiotic.”
———————-

‘Starting again’, is misleading, when the polls are roughly 50/50 for independence.

In any event, SNP being scrapped entirely, not sure how that happens, unless they change their name?

In the meantime, MPs/MSPs jumping ship likely to become significant enough to impact parliament, new ALBA politicians being fast tracked. SNP will never again match their current numbers, in any GE.

The above transformation, dependent on those within SNP, weighing their options, right now. MI5 most likely, monitoring that possibility (defecting to ALBA, probably perceived as the most serious political threat to the UK).

I don’t accept the notion, that ALBA, will take decades to make up the ground needed to influence SNP policy. ALBA doesn’t need to match SNP for numbers, their presence in Holyrood in any number, will have an immediate effect on Indy policy.

Starting from scratch? Not really, the race is ongoing, with voters ready to put their money where their mouths are.

Mia, @ 6:12pm,

you really are utterly deluded and bonkers if you think the path to independence involves a unilateral rejection of the Treaty and Acts of Union. You are further crackers if you think that any international body at all, far less the UN is going to deal with such a lunatic proposition, particularly if it hasn’t had the grace of a democratic event in which it is the sole question. And you are utterly barking, no howling mad if you think that the international community – including the WTO, IMF, and EU are going to countenance talking with Scotland under those circumstances. International finance is just going to disappear from Scotland overnight, and that’s before the laws of the UK are used to stop your arrant nonsense in its tracks.

I spent nearly four years in the Balkans during their civil wars after the collapse of Yugoslavia. The UN only gets involved in circumstances of civil war and natural disasters. If you think that a few hundred wannabe and never-were Bravehearts invoking civil war in Scotland is the way to get the UN’s attention, then you have no humanity and should be sectioned for the public’s protection.

ASCOTABROAD.
The methodology you advocate would have resulted in very few states, now independent, ever achieving it.
Why should Scotland be required to jump a far higher hurdle?
A rhetorical question as the «why» may be easily deduced.

Shug says:
21 May, 2023 at 5:29 pm

The AUOB should change the date of the march and call the SNPs bluff.

Change the date of Bannockburn too?

The Independendence Movement has been called to assemble under one banner in Stirling, on 24th June, the 709th commemoration of the Battle of Bannockburn. That’s good enough for me.

If Humza’s SNP is washing it’s hair that day, or wilfully trying to sabotage the march, (again), then fk ’em either way.

Maybe Humza’s “deputy” he’s sending along is Alyn Smith, the model of charm and SNP camaraderie, who at last year’s Stirling march so publicly called for unity, then arrogantly snubbed the SSRG’s invitation to their own conference before he’d even left the stage. “Never! Not ever!”

Or maybe he’s sending along Tommy Sheppard who so arrogantly snubbed AUOB’s Glasgow march in favour of his on wee shindig on Calton Hill, just this very month…

There’s a pattern here, and the more you scratch, the more you see.

See you in Stirling folks. That’s where the Independendence Movement is assembling on June 24th.

SNP – the only mass membership Independence Party. Aye right. Very good. The only mass membership party that lies about the numbers and can’t sign off its accounts.

10 days until short money stops being funneled into the pockets of the corrupt SNP. The most corrupt party Scotland has ever known. No more corruption for their filthy dirty corrupt hands.

Stephen Flynn seems to be word tracking an expression that I thought we were all way past “increased devolution” what does that mean ?
Why is he using that expression when the SNP charter calls for Independence
The Tory on QT talked about Scotland having the best Devolved deals of anywhere in the world. If we are talking countries does that make us the best out of one maybe two

@A Scot Abroad 7:42pm

Charles, play nice and don’t be rude to @Mia. She presented her view without resorting to rudeness. You can at least respond to her in the same manner.

link to twitter.com

The coronation and the Independence rally was the 6th of May.

His twitter shows him and his 4 mates in his front garden with SNP clipboards on the 7th of may.

What was he doing on the 6th of May? Was he sitting at home with his union jack bunting out? Eating coronation cupcakes? I wonder.

Not a saltire in sight. If I saw the four of them coming to my door I’d put on the snib.

@A Scot Abroad 5:41pm

I have to say I’m concerned that you might have had a fall and banged your head or something,

Because your comment, although I disagree with you, seemed reasonable and snark-free.

If you strongly believe the union between Scotland and England benefits both nations, and that the dissolution of that union would be detrimental to one or the other or both, then you absolutely should be trying to persuade me to give up on the idea of independence.

If you feel that strongly it’s almost your duty to try to convince others here that your argument is sound and that theirs is flawed.

That’s the whole idea of two opposing points of view, presented as logical argument in a civilised manner.

I am more than willing to hear your argument, but how am I to be persuaded of its merits if all I hear are insults and snarky remarks?

Present the points which make up your argument for Scotland remaining in the union in a way that doesn’t immediately provoke an aggressive response, and I’m sure others here will present theirs for dissolving the union in the same way.

It’s okay to try and make nonsense of your opponent’s argument in an attempt to expose it as a fallacy. And gentle ridicule is a useful tool in rhetorical argument.

Robust debate is a good thing, but resorting to nasty personal insults will instantly defeat your own argument.

Northcode,

what I wrote wasn’t rude. It was an accurate and sober reflection of reality. Truth hurts, sometimes.

What the independence movement needs is to be accurate and sober in their assessment of what it would take to gain Scottish independence. It also needs to drop the howling mad nutters such as Mia and James Che, because what they are doing is far, far worse than what the SNP is doing. They are actively turning sensible people against supporting their utterly crackpot ideas.

@A Scot Abroad 9:51pm

Whether you meant to be rude or not is irrelevant. I, perhaps wrongly, perceived your comment as being rude.

And it’s obvious that Mia did too.

Maybe it’s just the way you express yourself when you write, ASA. And you might not intend to be insulting.

If that is really the case, then perhaps you should think about how others might perceive your comment before you submit it.

I know you’re a military man. And it could be that you are just used to speaking your mind in a more direct manner than civilians are used to.

But I’m guessing many, if not most, folks on here were never in the military. And they just won’t get it.

@A Scot Abroad 9:51pm

…And @A Scot Abroad. It’s extremely unlikely that you can present any argument that will persuade me that the union between Scotland and England is in any way good for Scotland.

But I’ll defend your right, unhindered, to give it a go.

If you get snarky with me, though. I will retaliate.

Northcode,

well, you are generous. There’s some truth about my habit of direct speaking (and I have been pulled up for it before). But, I am a (now ex-) military man, and am a trained engineer, and have run a few small businesses since (mostly being brought in to rescue businesses that are about to go bust), and my default is to be direct, and focus in on what matters.

So, to return your generous remarks, let us be civil in our discussions from this point forward, and understanding of our differing perspectives. One never knows. We together might actually move the debate forward, as opposed to enter into trench warfare.

You’ll have to forgive me if I still sometimes use the words moonshine, crackers, bonkers or howling mad. Because those words are often simple descriptors, and there’s no getting away from the fact that this Scots indy debate does sometimes attract people who are not that closely attached to political reality.

“The leader of the SNP should be prepared to do a deal with Satan himself and all his little minions in the name of Scotland’s independence.”
Read as;
The leader of the SNP is prepared to do a deal with Satan himself and all his little green minions in the name of keeping power.

@A Scot Abroad 11:03pm

Fair enough, ASA.

Let’s call a truce and we’ll see how we get on.

“The next day, the Regimental Sergeant Major appeared at my office door and asked me to reconsider much of my allocation,…”

Did you?

Telegramme? Scottish regiment?

A comment to “The Scot Abroad” made at 12.26am:

You’ve given yourself away – you’ve never been to war! Yet you think that you have the right to tell the Scottish people off because they don’t think the same way you do!

Both my parents fought in World War II. My father served with the KOSBs on the Khyber Pass – out of Fort Peshawar. My mother was a WAAF in Egypt. Both my Scots father and my Welsh mother told me that they never fought for “The Great British Empire” – they both fought for their countries of Scotland and Wales!

Incidentally, my great grandfather’s farm was “compulsory purchased” by the MOD to test their tanks.My grandmother was one of the first teachers in Scotland to have her own school and it was flattened to the ground! You have no idea how much devastation the MOD inflicted in Galloway!

You describe yoursELF as an “adjucant” – does that not describe a jumped up little upstart who considers himself far above the rest of the people? (In other words, a little nobody, who was once in the British Army, but left – or was dismissed!)

Now “A Scot Abroad” is so disillusioned with his own life that he tries to pick holes in other people’s lives.

link to spectator.co.uk

Galloway Lass,

I led the breakout from the breach in the Iraqi army’s defences of their lines in Iraq in 1991 before we retook Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s invasion in 1991. Literally: it was my armoured vehicle that was the first vehicle of 150 vehicles, and navigated my Regiment forward into southern Iraq, through their minefields, and 80 kilometres into their depth at night. We were the Divisional reconnaissance regiment. There was no one ahead of us. And I am mighty proud of that, along with Jonesy the driver, and Lewis 196 who was my gunner. You were probably asleep at the time and worried about little else than which lipstick you would wear, and the timings for your bus into town.

I’m a Scot. I have the right to have an opinion and to make a comment about Scotland’s future.

“… It also needs to drop the howling mad nutters such as Mia and James Che, because what they are doing is far, far worse than what the SNP is doing. They are actively turning sensible people against supporting their utterly crackpot ideas.”

In translation, the Ascot Hat can’t beat Mia or James Che in a Constitutional argument, so must instead resort to ridicule and defammatory insult. It’s the Briddish way.

It’s why the Scots are Jocks, the Welsh are Taffs, the French are Frogs, the Germans are krauts, Arabs are rag-heads, and so on, and so on, and so on. It’s the Briddish stiff upper lip exceptionalism at work, and it’s been indoctrinating Scottish soldiers since the 19th Century.

There’s a famous quote from US General Patton in WW2, “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country”.

The Briddish General Wolfe was of similar opinion in 1759 “I should imagine that two or three independent Highland companies might be of use; they are hardy, intrepid, accustomed to a rough country, and no great mischief if they fall.”

The critical difference of course is Patten saw the poor dumb bastards as the enemy. Wolfe saw the them as Scotland’s formidable Highlanders.

Don’t feed the Unionist trolls people. You simply flatter their ego. None of them have ANY right to preach to those of us who would rid Scotland of this disgusting three hundred year oppression.

You would struggle to find anyone who is more the living embodiment of ‘betrayal’ than Nicola Sturgeon and the abomination she turned the SNP into.

Sturgeon was Scotland’s Blair. A consummate liar. She lies like she breathes. You can see how easy she lies when you watch her deny things that we know are true. That is when you see how seamlessly she lies. How effortlessly she lies through her teeth while putting out Blair’s trademark ‘forgive them Lord they know what they do’ vibe when anyone hard questions her.

Anyone who thinks this wall-to-wall mess Sturgeon left behind was just the result of a series of well intended but miscalculated decisions stretching back 9 years buttons up the back. It was obvious what she was years ago. It staggers me that otherwise intelligent people still can’t accept what is staring them in the face.

Nicola and Peter especially are not smart enough to have done all this by themselves, not even close…

You know the tree by the fruit it bears.

I sometimes wonder why some anti independence folk come on to this site to spew their insults. Do they actually think they are doing some good for the ‘unity’ of the UK?

I am also reminded that the Rev said to ignore them and some folk who should know better can’t seem to do that – just saying.

Meanwhile Ireland looks as though it will beat Scotland to the happy , heady position of being independent and part of the EU.

I also clocked the charges which my country faces for keeping another alight – you’d think that someone in the Scottish Government might squawk noisily about that – I hear little squawking.

@Breeks 7:37

To be scrupulously fair, if you have to fall back on quoting General Wolfe from 1759 in support of your argument, impartial readers might well think you are desperately scratching around for straws with which to bolster your views.

Scotland at this moment is a shithole of epic proportions, much of this due to the incompetence, criminality, and nepotism of the SNP.

Truth is, none of you die-hard Indy veterans have much right to preach either. You have aided, supported and facilitated the mess that sees the flawed and fraudulent Yousaf squatting on the position of FM and daily driving Scotland deeper into his mire of lies, shambles and reality denial.

A little humility from you is long overdue.

It’s not your Scotland. It’s our Scotland.

Why do you think Unionist trolls are targeting this site? Answer they are sowing discord in the Independence movement. I don’t think that constantly attacking the SNP advances the process.

A Scot Abroad said;

“I led the breakout from the breach in the Iraqi army’s defences of their lines in Iraq in 1991 before we retook Kuwait from Saddam Hussein’s invasion in 1991.”

Good for you! But you still don’t know shit about constitutions and sovereignty, and why they and their histories still matter today.

You’ve made it abundantly clear that you just don’t listen; you’ve swallowed all of the unionist tropes and now you think you know all there is to know about Scotland’s options for regaining its independence, and making a decent life for its people with its own wealth, and making its own way in the world.

You’ve made no attempt to understand the real nature of Westminster rule, the ruthlessly dodgy assertions of its ‘unlimited sovereignty’ over the UK, and the pseudo-legal Gordian knots made of the interactions of the Treaty and Acts of Union along with the pseudo-democratic voting system in Westminster, that puts the sovereign English partner of the Union in charge of the whole Union, leaving his equally sovereign Scottish partner with no effective, and certainly no authoritative, voice in the supposedly joint governance of the Union, where even a unanimous vote by the Scots MPs, who represent a full sovereign partner, can be routinely set aside in favour of the English partner any time he feels like it.

We didn’t sign up for that, and continuing to putting up with it is not an acceptable option for us, and the revelations that have been coming out of the Online Records of the old Scottish Parliament have made it clear just how dishonestly and illegally Westminster has been and still is shafting us. I think you now know this, and it scares you, and that is why you are going out of your way to rubbish any and all of that ‘ancient hoary guff’ as you like to call it.

Well, you are right to be afraid, because one way or another that guff is going to bring the Union down.

I often read Wings Over Scotland to try to get a feel for the Scottish mood for independence.

As an Englishman living down south I have no skin in your game. Frankly I thought you would vote for independence in 2014 and would just be joining the EU as the rest of the UK left.

Not being a Scot it may be wrong to judge, but a few posters come across as the nutter you hope to avoid on the bus. Far more people tend to read rather than comment. Do you think you are persuading them of your cause? At some stage you need to persuade a majority of whatever you define a Scot to be at that time.

Xaracen,

your calling for some form of undefined UDI / walking away from the union is just modern guff. It ain’t going to happen. So go back to the laws, and work out how to work within them.

Joe,

I have been to Keraterm, Omarska and Trnopolje. While they were still operational. I was there as a UN Observer. They weren’t western lies. By coincidence, 5 years later, we launched a NATO operation to capture Simo Drljaca, the ex-Chief of Police in Prijedor, the regional town in the area, and the man who had imprisoned and tortured most of those in the camps. He’d been indicted by the Hague for war crimes. He reached for his pistol when confronted, and unsurprisingly had about 30 rounds of ammunition go through his forehead about half a second later. A good and moral end to his life.

@ASA (4.55) –

It’s very easy to ignore your vainglorious boring rubbish but your response to Galloway Lass was appalling.

Please, do the decent thing and apologise.

@IB 10:07

Consistency is key. You either demand that the poster of every insulting post apologises, or you keep shtum.

Your selective outrage suggests that you are content for posters you disagree with to be insulted and pilloried with impunity.

Not a good look.

“.. a word this site does not use lightly and has only ever uttered once before in its eleven and a half years – ("Tractor" - Ed)s.”

Yes, postcolonial theory tells us that ‘the nationalist parties will to break colonialism is linked with another quite different will: that of coming to a friendly agreement with it’ (Fanon). It also suggests that this ‘treason is not national, it is social’. In any event the task now is ‘to bring the people to maturity’, and for them to better understand what independence means and why it is urgent and necessary: link to salvo-cor.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com

Newly created bona fide independence parties and organisations with ‘leaders of a high intellectual level’ (i.e. Alex Salmond, Sara Salyers/Salvo etc) should perhaps issue a deadline for SNP MPs/MSPs to move away from the latter’s ‘mouth-wash, word-spinning, blather and fruitless agitation’, beyond which they will not be accepted.

Much of the ‘decolonization template’ is explained in my book Doun-Hauden and in the related journal article, see page 15 under heading of ‘Colonialism’ here: link to bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com

Alf Baird

I constantly struggle with your mix and match approach to colonised, colonialism and post-colonialism.

Seems clear enough to me that if Scotland is a colony, then we are colonised. We won’t be de-colonised until after Indy, assuming we refrain from permitting re-colonisation by Brussels.

Only after Indy and decolonisation, will considerations of post-colonial theory apply. Yet you constantly write as if post-colonial theory applies now.

Why?

A Scot Abroad says:

I’m a Scot. I have the right to have an opinion and to make a comment about Scotland’s future.

Are you one of these nutters that John Peters is referring to.
What makes you think being a ‘Scot’ living in England makes you special? Everyone it seems has a right to an opinion on Scotland’s future.

The Pope, President of US, The Queen, Macron, Rajoy, David Bowie, Shrek etc etc etc

The UK Gov searched the globe for opinions on Scotland’s future. They even asked Vladimir P but he gave the wrong answer. Macron was also a bit of a disappointment he said.

Vive L’Écosse Libre!

@Ruby

My view is that withdrawal from the EU is a sufficient reason to ignore the once in a generation proviso. So, yes, I do think the UK should allow another referendum.

I expect the UK is keen to hang on to Scotland in the same way the EU was keen to hang on to the UK. No group of politicians like to lose power.

Never mind EFTA or the Anglo controlled EU
Scotland should join the BRICS when we become a sovereign & independent nation,again.
Let’s face it the British Empire/Commonwealth has had it’s 500years
of infamy, the multipolar world awaits us as the ‘rules based’ unipolar world crumbles & dies, anyone know what their actual rules are?

Possibly O/T but hopefully the greens will take up AUOB offer to speak at the Stirling rally despite the letter’s slightly angry undertones (yes movement expects v yes movement would be honoured grovel, grovel, etc being in potential breach of the code of conduct imposed by their coalition partner as a pre-condition of engagement with non conservatives).

As an extension to such a good idea, could there be merit in inviting D Ross to explain in better detail why now is not the time, and A Sarwar to put the case for the time being never, and insisting that whichever champion Humza sends (Nicola?) is obliged to share the platform with the holder of the contrary view they support most in event they refuse to give Alex Salmond a big hug in public.

Have Scottish voters been colonised by the SNP?

Joe

Ideas and concepts come first, agents and actions come after.

The thought is non-specific gender parent to the deed, as we are now taught to say.

I am not remotely concerned about being caught out in inconsistent posts. I am trying to learn stuff on here. Feel free to point out where I contradict myself.

Incidentally, as you mention Covid, I concluded that the Covid response was a perfect example of the equality of outcomes mantra in action. Covid was and is disproportionally dangerous to a minority of the population. Yet, long after that was clear, most people continued to insist that we should all be equally and adversely penalised by being locked up. Even those people who stood in no measurable risk whatsoever – the young and healthy.

As for mass importation of foreigners and gender woo woo, wilful blindness to the obvious disadvantages of some cultures when compared to others, and a fundamental refusal to acknowledge sex-based differences, underpins these.

Sure, blame our elites. Who votes them into place though?

You see it often enough, even on here, even from posters who claim to have opened their eyes and seen the light.

Blatant reality denial.

The rise of ALBA, a counter weight to SNP’s demise, the quicker SNP falls, the better!

On the way down, SNP might actually, find a new set of balls and collaborate with ALBA, to form an effective alliance, within a reasonable timeframe.

The next defection to ALBA, will start a stampede. The dust won’t get a chance to settle, until new Indy policy is presented to the electorate.

“…calling for some form of undefined UDI / walking away from the union is just modern guff. It ain’t going to happen. So go back to the laws, and work out how to work within them.”

Nah, that’s just your modern guff, and that of your unionist overseers, and we see right through it. Not all those laws are relevant, and many of those that you might consider are relevant may well not carry the authority you think they do, as I’ve explained more than once in the past, here and elsewhere.

Have a look at the ICJ for the UK government’s report on Kosovo’s independence declaration, it makes for some very interesting reading.

Your homework isn’t done until it’s done, and you haven’t even begun, so that would be a good place to start. I suggest Salvo dot scot next, and Alf Baird’s book Doun-Hauden. Craig Murray’s blog is also an excellent source on such matters, as is Iain Lawson’s blog YoursForScotland.

And something else you’ve overlooked in your enthusiasm to put Scotland and its aspirations down; even if many Scots want the Union to continue, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are entirely happy with the current arrangements of perpetual submission to England’s unwarranted, selfish, and arbitrary rule. If England’s MPs had dealt fairly and honestly with Scotland, and treated her and her MPs with the respect due to a fully equal sovereign partner in the Union, as legally and constitutionally required, there would likely never have been a need for an independence movement in the first place.

They might not want independence, but they may well want some seriously deep reform of Westminster governance, and I doubt any of them can see that ever happening short of a really major rammy.

But it’s way past too late for that now; England has already sown all the seeds of the Union’s demise, nurtured them and watered them, applied as much fertiliser (aka bullshit) as it thought it could get away with, and now Scotland’s Ents are gearing up to kick the Union’s arse into its well-deserved oblivion. It’ll be a grand show. Ah cannae wait!

HOT OFF THE PRESS: IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT ALBA ARE ALL ABOUT, READ ON: link to albaparty.org

Tip for ALBA representatives: Your next move should be to crowdfund putting all that info into an A5 booklet to be put through every door in Scotland. Introduce the party to the public.

Good Lord everyone has a view but some more wacky and tacky than others.

The various ASA posts are like the Duracell bunny banging it’s drum. No body quite like ASA. He’s been there, seen it, done it all. And he’s a Scot too not that you’d guess from his comments.

My guess, if he isn’t just a rastler spouting Britto pish that he was a sojer who maybe did a bit of guard duty in foreign lands. A padlock puller as some pedestrian beat cops used to be called, our man ASA is now an international expert.

Particularly laughed at his disparaging guff about the numbers wanting independence. According to our squaddie on maneuvers there are very few and they’ve got it wrong.

Anyway, folks are free to make their own minds up about the intellectual rigour of our resident guff smith.

And thanks to the Rev for letting this guff through. Maybe

he’s a double agent spouting guff to encourage folks to independence.

Ach, who knows. He’s good for the craic as a comic character. Wonder if he’s been to the moon on his travel?