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Empty cupboards and empty brains

Posted on January 04, 2021 by

Before we got distracted by a(nother) completely gratuitious and unprovoked personal attack from a pro-indy blogger yesterday, this is what we’d been going to write about.

So since the SNP haven’t even bothered themselves to issue some sort of half-hearted token response to Boris Johnson’s declaration yesterday that he wouldn’t contemplate a second indyref before 2055, we might as well while away a few moments analysing the current state of Scottish Labour thinking just to cheer ourselves up.

It’s revealing that Russell – who was last seen offering up a “New Act Of Union”, in the name of the Scottish Fabians, which would effectively have forbidden there from ever being another referendum on independence – admits openly that his real objective is to “cut Holyrood down to size”, or in other words to bypass the democratically and fairly-elected Scottish Parliament in which Labour are a pitiful rump of irrelevance, in order to hand power to councils, where they still have some influence.

It’s a straightforward whine of “we can’t win fairly, so let’s change the rules”, and the only surprising thing about it is that it’s so overt. Labour doesn’t actually CONTROL any Scottish councils – in fact no party is in overall control of any of the country’s 32 local authorities – but there are several (notably Aberdeen and West Lothian) where it’s allied itself with the Tories to shut out the SNP, who actually got the most seats.

So what Russell is actually advocating by way of his “solution” to the constitutional question is Labour allying itself officially with the Conservatives in order to frustrate the democratic choices of the Scottish people, both at Holyrood and the local level. We’re sure that’ll be a big winner with all the voters who’ve deserted Labour for the SNP.

But while we’re here let’s also quickly assess his other alternatives, which he claims are “closer to reality than indy”.

————————————————————————————-

(1) ELECTORAL REFORM

It’s intriguing to consider by what metric Russell considers this to be in any way “close to reality”. Neither of the two main UK parties support any substantial electoral reform, nor are they likely to in the forseeable future, because First Past The Post is for both of them the only viable route to what they consider “power”, ie a majority. Neither of them has won more than 50% of the popular vote since 1935.

The Lib Dems, traditionally the UK party advocating proportional representation, barely mentioned it in their 2019 manifesto, and the single line that did refer to it specifically excluded Scotland.

But the Lib Dems are a joke anyway. They currently hold just 11 seats out of 650 at Westminster, and a major poll at the weekend suggested that they’d drop to just two in any new election. They had a chance to force the issue of proportional representation when they held the balance of power in 2010’s hung parliament and bottled it, settling for a referendum on what their own leader called the “miserable little compromise” of Alternative Vote, which was duly thrashed out of sight.

The biggest party notionally supporting PR in the Commons is actually the SNP, but their 2019 manifesto didn’t mention electoral reform at all – hardly surprisingly, as it would cut their current MP tally in half (for all the actual difference that would make).

The chances of there being even 100 votes for PR in the Commons any time in the next decade are essentially nil. So electoral reform in the UK is about as “close to reality” as an asteroid strike or a Dalek attack. What’s next?

(2) A NEW REFORMING UK GOVERNMENT

Ah, the classic – “just elect Labour and everything will be fine”. But we’ve heard that one before, haven’t we, readers? We heard it when they promised devolution in 1979 and then ignored the Yes vote and shoved it down the road for 20 years. We heard it when Gordon Brown promised Scots “the closest thing possible to federalism” if they rejected independence in 2014, backed up by the reliably clueless metropolitan talking heads of the left-wing English press.

(Jump cut to 2021, where the Sewel Convention lies dead in a ditch and Boris Johnson thinks devolution was the UK’s biggest mistake and has already basically abolished it with the Internal Market Bill.)

As the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me a third, fourth, fifth and sixth time and I must be a complete bloody moron.

But even if we were to bend over backwards for the sake of argument and assume that (a) Labour genuinely had the best of intentions, and (b) they had any real prospect of winning the next election from 80 seats behind – something which last happened half a century ago, when Ted Heath overturned a Labour majority of 98 – then we’d still have to remember that Labour UK governments are the exception, not the rule.

The UK, and by that we mean England, elects Tory governments roughly 65% of the time. So at most “a new reforming UK government” is only ever a short-lived sticking plaster over the fundamental fracture.

And the reforms rarely amount to much anyway. Labour has been promising to abolish the House Of Lords and introduce the still-undefined “Home Rule” in Scotland for well over 100 years now, and despite several decades in office has never managed to actually deliver either, let alone anything really difficult like, y’know, socialism. Under its current leadership all it really offers is market-economy Tory liberalism with a slightly friendlier face (and paedophile rapists in women’s prisons).

(3) “DOUBLE DEVO”

See (2).

————————————————————————————-

Tony Blair recently squeezed a few headlines out of desperate newspapers with a plea for Scottish Labour to become a vaguely functional opposition. But he had no actual ideas as to how such a thing might be achieved.

And everyone knows that it never will be, because Scottish politics is defined by the constitution and Labour is a third wheel on the bicycle – the SNP are the nationalists and the Tories are the natural Unionists, while Scottish Labour is at odds with nearly half of its own remaining voters and has nothing to offer except ridiculous, endlessly-discredited hollow promises of “federalism”.

The fact that it DARED to drag Gordon Brown out of his crypt again last month and expect anyone to take him seriously after the “Vow” fiasco was a telling illustration of just how utterly, hopelessly bereft of ideas the party is.

But it was actually one of the responses to Peter Russell’s tired, feeble straw-clutch of a tweet that told the real story.

Because at the end of the day, whether they’re Labour or Tory or whatever, Scottish Unionists’ worldview always comes down to the same thing: “Scotland is rubbish and we can only exist by clinging to the charity of England”.

Every single one of Russell’s “solutions”, as well as being hopeless fantasies in their own right, relied on English voters to be poor wee Scotland’s heroic saviours. English voters would have to vote for electoral reform. English voters would have to elect a new UK government. English voters would have to vote for someone who’d grudgingly grant a few more crumbs of devolution to Scotland.

In the end, Scottish Labour’s position isn’t even the already-dismal “Labour will save you from the Tories”. It’s “England will save you from your stupid useless selves”. They, and (unless something suddenly lights a fire under the SNP’s useless idle fat pension-stuffed backside) we, are in for many grim years to come.

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  1. 04 01 21 13:56

    Empty cupboards and empty brains | speymouth
    Ignored

150 to “Empty cupboards and empty brains”

  1. Ian McLean
    Ignored
    says:

    “Scottish Labour thinking” … so many oxymorons in just three words.

  2. Kenny
    Ignored
    says:

    And hopefully not off-topic, but speaking of useless idle fat pension-stuffed backsides, or a lack of such, the ISP just released a brammer of a tweet outlining their approach to gaining independence. I made the point on reply to that tweet that the ISP are not sullied by wealth or power, and I think that makes a helluva difference.
    We only want our country back, and the ISP make it sound so bloody straight-forward – have the SNP been lying to us for 6 whole years?

  3. David Lyon
    Ignored
    says:

    I would maybe suggest completely ignoring James Kelly’s targeted posts, even if provocative, lest the two of you end up wasting all your energy on one another.

  4. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “I would maybe suggest completely ignoring James Kelly’s targeted posts, even if provocative, lest the two of you end up wasting all your energy on one another.”

    I’ll decide for myself what to fucking ignore or not, but thanks for the advice.

  5. Ian McLean
    Ignored
    says:

    “I would maybe suggest ignoring James Kelly’s …”
    I suggested to Mr Kelly, on Twitter, that his attacks were counterproductive, and was blocked for my trouble.

  6. Margie Davidson
    Ignored
    says:

    Do you believe in coincidences? Word is Nicola Sturgeon will today announce the postponement of the elections just as ISP petition for a plebiscite.

    Election in May postponed plays right into the Unionist agenda. The Internal Market bill has already given them the power to take over. What is the newly built and staffed building designed to do – this has been planned for years and Nicola’s answer- I want a Section 30.

  7. Clyde
    Ignored
    says:

    Scottish Labour will do exactly what London Labour tells them to do.

    Let’s hope the ISP remove the majority of Unionist MSPs from Holyrood.

    I don’t know much about the ISP, but I am ready to campaign for them and fund them whenever it is called for.

    Let’s target Labour, Tory, Libdem AND Greens in the May election.

    Sick to the back teeth listening to these mouthpieces for London Rule, and regards the Greens, they are more interested in getting dicks into female toilets than they are in Scottish Independence.

  8. David Holden
    Ignored
    says:

    I miss all Mr Kelly’s pearls of wisdom as like so many others I am blocked for asking a question that did not fit with his view of life. Also blocked by deep thinker Peter Bell and Jeggit . The wee souls bless.

  9. Aunty Flo
    Ignored
    says:

    A brilliant analysis Reverend! One of your best yet.

    So, following your argument through to its logical and compelling conclusion, we have no alternative left than to ‘light .. a fire under the SNP’s useless idle fat pension-stuffed backside’.

    Gie us the matches!

  10. Josef Ó Luain
    Ignored
    says:

    It’ll be a fascinating read when the Unionists come back with their lucid, point-by-point refutations of the lucid, point-by-point arguments you make, above. Breath-holding could prove fatal methinks.

  11. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    Anything but true independence is just more colonialism, however it might be dressed up.

  12. Polly
    Ignored
    says:

    Great article. After 2000 I came to realise Labour have never been popular enough in England to produce a stable UK government of the style I want to see. At most, as you say, a sticking plaster in the past – and since they needed someone like Blair to be in charge to vote for the party overwhelmingly since Thatcher’s time, then there wasn’t much difference for us up here whether Labour or Tory was in power. Labour if anything were worse since they were supposedly on our side. That’s what brought me, and many others, over to supporting independence. Once most of us come to that realisation we never go back to hoping Labour can help. It would take a wholesale change of opinion within the English electorate. But even if that came about – why should we wait on it or be beholden to another nation in that way?

    That Pedro character I remember once saying something like he was fooled once into voting for devolution and backing it thinking it meant power for labour and he’d learned his lesson since. If I remember correctly it was during a conversation with that rwb person. He’s (they’re) the supposedly polite face of unionists and as rancid as any extreme Tory brexiter.

  13. mr laing b. french
    Ignored
    says:

    From peter Russel,s small tiny brain he has justified his salary by opening his mouth and made some noises. Now he can sit back and do sweet fuck all till May! I say it’s time to remove MSP,s that do not contribute to the continuing forward motion of Scotland’s future. It seems to me the Torys(Modern day NAZIS) are merely there to act as a consolidated block. To stop any decisions deny and logic or common sense and at the same time screw the public coffers for their unearned salaries. Scotland certainly does NOT need them.

  14. Dave Beveridge
    Ignored
    says:

    Good luck in lighting a fire under the SNP’s jacksies. m

  15. Dave Beveridge
    Ignored
    says:

    Westminster could commission a new pipeline through our best scenery to pump all the water from Loch Ness down south and in the process repatriate Nessie to Lake Windermere and that lot would just whine, “Well it’s a reserved matter…”

  16. red sunset
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave Beveridge says:
    4 January, 2021 at 1:09 pm
    Westminster could commission a new pipeline through our best scenery to pump all the water from Loch Ness down south and in the process repatriate Nessie to Lake Windermere and that lot would just whine, “Well it’s a reserved matter…”

    Quote of the year so far

  17. Astonished
    Ignored
    says:

    labour like the bbcollaborators told way too many lies to be ever trusted again.

    The SNP need to start delivering on independence or they will go the same way. Blackford and his “Scotland will not be dragged…..” is a prime example of labour-like lying. Blackford didn’t even try to do anything to stop Scotland being ignored.

    o/t Anyone else notice a distinct reduction in the amount of fresh fruit and veg in the supermarket ? There was some there just not as much as usual.

  18. Kenny J
    Ignored
    says:

    Way off topic, but

    London (CNN)A British judge has rejected a US request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to America, ruling that such a move would be “oppressive” by reason of his mental health.

  19. Kenny J
    Ignored
    says:

    Another update

    “I have decided that extradition would be oppressive and I order his discharge,” judge Vanessa Baraitser said in her ruling Monday.

  20. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Margie Davidson 12.47pm

    Didn’t hey already set the stage for a deferral last November in case it was necessary due to Covid-19? We’re right to be suspicious of this, particularly as other countries appear to have a managed to hold elections during the pandemic.

    The only positive I could see for such a delay would be to increase the chances for Alex Salmond &/or Joanna Cherry to stand a “real independence” party up, or even just more time for the ISP to get more traction and perhaps push the plebiscitary election petition and platform?

  21. PacMan
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Now that paperwork is required to export into the EU, hopefully it is most available so we can get a better idea of the volume and cost of products and services we export to the EU.

    If so, it would be a better judge of what we export and how to. While we may export more to the rUK, if that is high volume/low profit stuff but the stuff we export to the EU generates higher profits for our company, wouldn’t it be better to focus more on exporting to the EU?

    Regardless, with Brexit, we were told to export to the global market, our global markets is the EU so come time we may be exporting more to the EU anyway.

  22. robert hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    Polly @ 12.57 . I came to the same conclusion as yourself re the lack of meaningful difference between New Labour and the Tories , as did many others , though for me the coup-de-grace which completed my disaffection with Labour was the Iraq War . Another great article Stuart . Any chance yourself , Breeks , Daisy Walker , Lorna Campbell ,Alf Baird – and other excellent contributors to this site – could stand as ISP candidates in May ? What a formidable crew that would make

  23. Giesabrek
    Ignored
    says:

    Is it always bad to hae chunks o ham in yer urine?

  24. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    No one wants Russell Spouts right after the festive season.

  25. Nally Anders
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Hughes @ 1.33
    & Polly
    Completely agree. New Labour = old Tory.
    My disgust was complete over the Iraq war.
    Criminal.
    At that point my previous SNP tactical voting habit became one of total conviction.

  26. Tom
    Ignored
    says:

    Geoff Aberdein and the Harassment Enquiry:

    meant to ask following an earlier comment/reply exchange, is Geoff Aberdein still scheduled to appear before the harassment committee, but without a date scheduled as yet? Or is the ‘legal reason’ he can’t appear either next week, or the week after, because there is a block on his appearance full-stop, or just for now?

  27. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Kapelmeister,

    LOL. Brilliant.

  28. Garrion
    Ignored
    says:

    Sometimes think there are two wars to be fought; the external political one, which, in some ways we *were* actually ‘winning’, inasmuch as we have, to all intents and purposes, a clearly pro independence political landscape.

    Until the current husband and wife team leadership came along.

    Then there’s the much more tricky psychological one, where a lifetime and more of servile and craven colonial mindset shite from the likes of Peter has been explicitly and subtly shoved into our faces. Every day and night, from the BBC, the papers, Scottish Labour, etc.

    Honest to God sometimes I think it’s like trying to escape the Matrix.

  29. Derek
    Ignored
    says:

    “o/t Anyone else notice a distinct reduction in the amount of fresh fruit and veg in the supermarket ? There was some there just not as much as usual.”

    Not really, but I’m still getting tomatoes off my plants in the front room. Don’t think I’ve many more to go.

  30. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    https://www.conter.co.uk/blog/2021/1/2/the-ruling-ideology-of-scotlandisnow

    Not as much of “a lefty” as these folk but they make some good points, albeit in a bit of a jargon-filled way.

  31. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s easy to get bogged down in these sort of discussions about political reform.

    After the First World War, the British government was having conversations like this all around the world as people in the colonies woke up to their exploitative ways. I’ve long-suspected that the devolution model that they foisted on Scotland was actually the very same model they offered Egypt in 1930, with a couple of tweaks. The Egyptians told them to shove it.

    If this is a “more than one way to skin a cat” scenario, it’s best that we be clear on what the cat represents. The cat is the Scottish people. The Scottish people want out of the abusive relationship and that’s been an ongoing problem for the British State since the 1970s – the McCrone Report tells you everything you need to know on that score.

    But there’s really no need for plurality in situations like this – you don’t need the illusion of political parties vying for power. Actually, in many ways, it’s easier to “skin the cat” when one party dominates politically. In situations like that (this), “democratic” leverage moves away from parliament and process towards what’s called cooptation; bribes, corruption, blackmail, sanctions, MSM pressure, propaganda, lies, threats, etc.

    Contrary to some of the ideas outlined in this article, what you often see in situations like this is an increased centralisation and strengthening of state power, and that’s what I think is more likely here, in Scotland. Westminster doesn’t really care who we vote for, as long as the cat gets fleeced.

    Correct me if I’m wrong and/or missed something, but with Brexit the system we have was put to the test and it passed with flying colours from Westminster’s perspective. Think about it. At the precise moment that the political seas partied for the independence movement and support for independence was higher than ever recorded, Nicola came along and pledged that we’d never try and leave the UK without Westminster’s consent. I don’t know how you could possibly explain that if you took Scottish politics, the SNP, and Sturgeon at face value.

  32. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Peter A Russell, of whom I’ve never heard until the above, appears to be « left leaning » consequently ought to be supportive of a nation and a peoples right to seek independence. Try him on Ireland, India, South Africa…
    The term « useful idiots » is apposite here. Many on the British left were such during the Soviet era now they’re doing the same for England and its fabulously democratic British state.
    Left or right they agree on the suppressive efficacy of the Unionist garrotte.
    I do wonder what is so fearsome about Scottish independence that it is necessary to fabricate reasons for retaining a superannuated entity that defies reform.
    The possibility that it would be very successful perhaps?

  33. Saffron Robe
    Ignored
    says:

    I remember at the 2019 UK general election an English lady came to the door and said she was canvassing for Labour and if I would consider voting for them?

    I replied that I would rather cut off my right hand than vote for Labour!

    How sad that the same is now also true for the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon.

  34. Livionian
    Ignored
    says:

    This is almost like an old wings article. I like the newer stuff but this felt like a good wee nostalgia trip.

    Fuck Scottish Labour, always and forever

  35. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “is Geoff Aberdein still scheduled to appear before the harassment committee, but without a date scheduled as yet? Or is the ‘legal reason’ he can’t appear either next week, or the week after, because there is a block on his appearance full-stop, or just for now?”

    I’m due an answer to my FOI by Friday.

  36. David Ferguson
    Ignored
    says:

    red sunset says:
    4 January, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    Quote of the year so far… /blockquote>
    Ah, I suspect it’ll turn out to be the Pete Buttigieg of quotes of the year…

  37. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Labour cannot be trusted, nor the words of the liar on the Vow Brown, nor the words of the war criminal Blair. The Tories cannot be trusted full stop, and the other British nationalist party the Lib/Dems would jump into bed with their grannies if they thought it would lead to more power.

    Meanwhile the British Nationalist body the Electoral Commission, which took forever and a day (one wonders why) to produce the SNP’s empty accounts, is now seriously damaging the indy party AFI’s chances of being prepared for the Scottish elections, by taking more than double the time 62 days, and counting, to approve the independence minded party’s new name.

    Lets end this corrupt and dubious onesided horrible union once and for all.

    https://www.thenational.scot/news/18983749.afi-independence-party-leader-disgusted-registration-delay/

  38. bipod
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    So I see the proper lockdown fanatics have gotten their way. We have now moved from the 5th lockdown into a 6th even tighter lockdown where people are not even allowed to leave their homes other than for essential reasons which is the tightest restriction that can possibly be implemented. When this one undoubtedly fails like all the others hopefully it will spark some critical thoughts in the lockdown zealotry, like maybe trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result isn’t such a good idea.

  39. Dunadd
    Ignored
    says:

    Wee bit surprised there is not more visible support on here for the new ISP petition. This could be a legitimate and recognised quick route to independence.

    If enough of us support the petition it forces the issue.
    Surely best to keep all options open.

    Please support

    https://www.change.org/p/the-snp-make-may-6th-holyrood-election-a-plebiscite-on-scottish-independence?recruiter=false&recruited_by_id=aeb7f580-4e6f-11eb-8a30-2f806575093c

  40. Cuphook
    Ignored
    says:

    This is much the same as their mantra that independence would be worse than Brexit, that Scotland could never do better than the worst UK government ever.

    A lot of these guys have the interests of England at heart, and even if they dress it up as international socialism it’s just more John Bull.

  41. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Dunadd…

    Indeed. Give it time…

  42. Sharny Dubs
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Stringent lockdown a preamble to election postponement?

  43. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    The number of people praising NS for this total lockdown, does my nut in.

    These people are sheep.
    The border isn’t closed, Heathrow open for business, folk travelling from all over, yet the ordinary punter as per, getting shafted.

    I destest her, but until the sherp open their eyes, we’re done for.

  44. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    Listened to as much of the FM’s statement as I could stomach, which was (as it usually is) the moment Patrick Harvie appeared to ask his fifteen-minute question.

    Perhaps someone else heard her say this, but I’m not sure if I picked her up correctly…

    It is not ‘policy’ to mix vaccines for 1st and 2nd jab, eg. Pfizer for the 1st, Oxford for 2nd, but it can’t be ruled out if, for example, a note hasn’t been kept of which vaccine the recipient was given first-time.

    Did anyone else hear that?

  45. HamlyHaynes
    Ignored
    says:

    Great title.

    Covid — Indy it’s all the same in her fucking mind.

    Obscurate and delay the fuck out of everything as long as it gives her more ………………..POWER

    Never mind the deaths, the delayed NHS lists that are now being delayed AGAIN.

    MORE DEATH FLOWING OVER SCOTLAND.

    SO let’s L00K on the positive side, at least the SNHS [all 160,000] will be vaccinated by summer!

    Once or twice….

  46. Keith fae Leith
    Ignored
    says:

    Dunadd,

    As I posted in response to Rob on the last thread:

    “No chance. Change.org are a data harvesting organisation with strong ties to Labour. Neither Holyrood or Westminster have to acknowledge them, a complete waste of time, effort & a danger to your personal information.”

    But by all means punt away.

  47. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    It probably would make perfect sense to close the Border in an effort to more-quickly get on top of Covid.

    However, such a move would be a red rag to the Tory bull. I think if the SG ever did this, Holyrood would be shut down within a day and we’d be back to direct rule.

    Cannot have the Sweaties standing up to the Master Race after all.

    Mind you, it could be the move which broke the log jam and got everyone north of the Solway and Tweed focussed on Independence.

  48. Strathy
    Ignored
    says:

    The opinions of Labour and the Liberal Democrats are irrelevant in both Westminster and Holyrood, as Stuart’s post demonstrates.

    The leader of the dominant party in each parliament is the one that matters.

    One of them is prepared to spill drinks and knock tables over; the other isn’t.

    One became leader 18 months ago, blocked by all of the opposition parties’ MPs, a large number of his own MPs, the Speaker, the House of Lords, the Court of Session, the Spider Lady of the Supreme Court and the massed ranks of 27 European nations’ politicians. On Christmas Eve, he delivered the independence mandated by his voters (no point in quibbling about the details).

    The other became leader 6 years ago and …… erm, ……. well, ……. it’s not been easy, ……… there’s the TV series, ……….. and hate crime bills don’t write themselves you know.

    Would things have been different if Scotland’s DrinkSpiller-in-Chief hadn’t been busy trying to avoid spending the rest of his life in jail? We will never know.

  49. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    So, Scotland is in full lockdown again, almost, with schools closed for at least a month. Good. I agree with that. They shouldn’t have opened in August at all, as I see it.

    But, again, if you take what’s being said at face value, nothing makes sense. For example, they told us until recently that schools remaining open posed no real risk of increasing the spread and that there was virtually no evidence of an increased risk to pupils, teachers, parents, or the community by them remaining open.

    Apparently they’re closing schools now because the new variant is 70% more infectious, but a 70% increase in “nothing to worry about” ought to be… nothing to worry about.

    Something doesn’t add up, if you take what’s been said at face value – not that I do.

  50. HamlyHaynes
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian Brotherhood says:
    4 January, 2021 at 3:06 pm
    “Listened to as much of the FM’s statement as I could stomach, which was (as it usually is) the moment Patrick Harvie appeared to ask his fifteen-minute question.

    Perhaps someone else heard her say this, but I’m not sure if I picked her up correctly…

    It is not ‘policy’ to mix vaccines for 1st and 2nd jab, eg. Pfizer for the 1st, Oxford for 2nd, but it can’t be ruled out if, for example, a note hasn’t been kept of which vaccine the recipient was given first-time.

    Did anyone else hear that?”

    I don’t bother watching the chimp show, sorry.

    They MUST keep a record of batch number and type. It’s the LAW.

    If they don’t it’s professional ethics, dismissal etc etc.

    Unless it’s another “culture of normalisation” thing like sending people out to Nursing Homes without a Clear Test. You know.

  51. HamlyHaynes
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
    4 January, 2021 at 2:28 pm
    “is Geoff Aberdein still scheduled to appear before the harassment committee, but without a date scheduled as yet? Or is the ‘legal reason’ he can’t appear either next week, or the week after, because there is a block on his appearance full-stop, or just for now?”

    I’m due an answer to my FOI by Friday.”

    I’d forgotten about that little nugget.

    Thing is the new year holidays, covid, working from home, all conspire at times…

  52. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    “such a move would be a red rag to the Tory bull”

    Socrates, when people stop worrying about the “Tory bull”, Scotland might finally get up on to its knees and from there, well, who knows?

    If you aren’t willing to close the border in a life or death situations like this, Jesus…. Scotland has been institutionalised.

  53. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Dunadd.

    I signed the petition, though I won’t be holding my breath as they say, that anything will come of it.

    In the words of another nasty piece of work, Sturgeon isn’t for turning.

  54. 1971Thistle
    Ignored
    says:

    @HamlyHaynes @ 15h24

    I think you mean ‘the normalisation of deviance’

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance

  55. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Strathy-

    Bang on.

    “The office of prime minister is really just what the occupant wants to make of it”- H.H. Asquith.

    I hate Johnson- I can’t even look at pictures of him- but he’s got what he wanted because he (up to a point) doesn’t give a fuck what “the right people” think of him and just went for it. Sturgeon only cares about getting her write-up in the Guardian, if that stuffs Scotland, so be it to her.

  56. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    Talking of empty brains, Boris Johnson was doing his TV propaganda by turning up at a vaccination session with a TV crew, so risking infecting vulnerable people with the full blown Coronavirus before they get their jag.

    It’s time we were no longer ruled by bampots like Boris Johnson whose Tory Govt is elected by the people of England, not by the people of Scotland.

  57. Dandee
    Ignored
    says:

    Dan Macaulay.
    SIGNED

  58. Dandee
    Ignored
    says:

    SIGNED

  59. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    For those planning to clype on neighbours breaking the lockdown:

    https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/coronavirus-scotland-police-launch-new-19554406

  60. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    SIGNED 🙂

  61. James Che.
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry OT, but relevant to us all.
    Listening to Nicola sturgeon on covid update, and what she claimed was now law. Sent e-mail to Scottish government reminding them that as a devolved government they are not sovereign and it is illegal for them to make it law in Scotland.
    Under the treaty of the union, (Private right), human rights, the Scotland act, The claim of right. And the right to self determination and the fact that we are policed by consent in the whole of Britain, we can be advised to stay at home, we can be advised by the Scottish government to not mix with each other. But it cannot become law without breaking many of the articles mentioned above.
    Nicola sturgeon and the snp are ignoring the legalities of the treaty of the union, and the Scotland act in the same way that tories and labour do down in England,
    If you want to retain your sovereignty, and not have it stolen or given away then now is the time for everyone here to make an official complaint about this law as it steals by stealth your sovereignty.
    Your sovereignty is yours, and it’s up to you to make it clear that the snp and civil servants in Scotland are not going above your head with this illegality.
    Please everyone write your complaint to the Scottish government. Let them know and remember that sovereignty in Scotland lies with the people, not a parliament, write about this in droves, unindate them with emails and complaints.
    You only hold your sovereignty if you protect it.

  62. msdidi
    Ignored
    says:

    I have signed and shared the ISP petition.To Keith from Leith I don’t care who knows I want an independent Scotland ASAP!! I have also sent an email to NS – telling her that after 47 years of voting SNP I will only do so in May if there is a clear route to independence set out in the manifesto and that I have already decided my 2nd vote will be ISP – listing the reasons why. Sent an email to Keith Brown (in his capacity of Depute Leader) saying much the same. I decided a while ago that I will never vote for Pete Wishart again (my MP) so If we don’t regain our independence before the next Westminster GE we will need another Indy Party (ISP?)

  63. Sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Dunadd, dan macaulay, andy ellis re signing that petition: it really would be better to make it a Holyrood petition – why not repeat it on there? Then it would be we voters telling our parliament directly what we want. I would sign that one as being more effective and pertinent.

  64. Derek
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ian Brotherhood says:
    4 January, 2021 at 3:06 pm

    It is not ‘policy’ to mix vaccines for 1st and 2nd jab, eg. Pfizer for the 1st, Oxford for 2nd, but it can’t be ruled out if, for example, a note hasn’t been kept of which vaccine the recipient was given first-time.

    Did anyone else hear that?

    I did. I’m going to guess that the injections are to be given – once the photoshoots are over and done with – by people’s GPs/surgeries. This will ensure that the label goes into your file, which doesn’t have to leave the building.

  65. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    Dunadd

    I have also signed the petition.

    If The SNP ignore it, hell mend them.

  66. Elmac
    Ignored
    says:

    Petition signed. I will sign any petition relating to our independence whether promoted by change.org or anyone else.

  67. TruthForDummies
    Ignored
    says:

    What’s the story with delaying the May election. Apparently the unionists want it delayed – I have a good unionist contact

    Anyone know why?

    Will NS go along with it ?

  68. John Digsby
    Ignored
    says:

    You’d always want to delay an election you think you might lose to give yourselves more time for events to change things

  69. John Digsby
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ian Brotherhood

    That’s right – it’s the same as the English NHS. The mix and match is for the edge case where you know someone has had the first dose, but not which one, they are high risk if infected and/or you think there is a significant risk that they won’t come back if you reschedule their appointment

    Quite unlikely in practice, but guidance has to cover all eventualities

  70. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    James Che, you’d save a lot of time and effort, not least you own, if you simply announced that you were nuts and asked everyone to ignore you.

  71. John Digsby
    Ignored
    says:

    @James Che
    Pretty confident that Holyrood is unquestionably competent to legislate for health and public health in Scotland….

  72. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    A warning from the past.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/1918-pandemic-linked-to-rise-of-nazis-new-york-fed-study-shows
    Things shaping up nicely for repeat performance thanks to N Murrell & B Johnson.
    We ought to more concerned about infection from the fascist virus, the real killer.

  73. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m just imaging how Scottish courts would react if you broke the law and claimed to be upholding the Claim of Right… Stir Crazy springs to mind.

    http://www.youtu.be/IS9u6K9T3vc

  74. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Neil McCoy-Ward does a good YT on the great depression and how we are repeating history.

    1918 – fine. But what’s happening now is more akin to 1929.

    Dark Winter my clacker – more like a Dark Decade.

  75. Clyde
    Ignored
    says:

    Howz this for a conspiracy theory!

    Nicola Sturgeon contacts Porten Down and asks the chaps there to come up with a bit of a whiz of a Covid Virus that is deadlier than the last one.

    Start the spread of it down south so as not to look suspicious. Then let it slowly spread up to Scotland in March April May time.

    Then Sturgeon would have no option but to cancel the Holyrood election.

    Bob’s yer uncle, she drags it on and on until a time of her choosing.

    Do you seriously think Sturgeon hasn’t already thought of doing it?

  76. Guybrush Threepwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Meanwhile over at WGD:

    “ Nevertheless, some supposed independence campaigners can only preach doom and gloom, because they are somehow far more confident in the Conservatives’ ability to resist the growing clamour for independence than the Conservatives are themselves. I just can’t be dealing with such woebaggery any more. I’m too tired for it.”

    It’s pointless commenting on that blog, unless you enjoy being castigated by those who still believe that the SNP have a super, secret plan for independence.

  77. Gaavster
    Ignored
    says:

    Will today’s announcement by NS have any impact on the AS enquiry, and more specifically, on the ability of key witnesses to attend in person and give evidence?

  78. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Ronald Fraser @5:02

    Seriously Ronald, is there not a flat earth somewhere with your name on it?

  79. Iain More
    Ignored
    says:

    The Anti Scottish Bigots are now slithering out from under rocks. It is a pity that the lockdown will not apply to them. The SNP and NS are utterly useless. The Sturgeon cult will be drooling right now because of the lockdown and they will refuse to see just how badly her tier system totally failed as she was too busy following that psychopathic clown Boris Johnson of the proverbial cliff.

  80. Davie Oga
    Ignored
    says:

    Memo to Nicola Sturgeon,

    It’s not a syndrome.

  81. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @James Che,

    It is Public Health Law. It overides other legislation where necessary.

  82. ian stewart
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu Campbell and James Kelly grow the feck up !!

  83. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ian Stewart,

    I’ll just say bye bye in advance.

  84. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    Is it just me who thinks a delay to HR election is a blessing?

  85. HamlyHaynes
    Ignored
    says:

    @ 1971Thistle

    Thanks, glad to be corrected.

  86. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    SIGNED.

    Been catching up with comment – not sure if I’ve read correctly… is May election being postponed, or folk just suspect that might happen?

  87. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Make of these links what you will.
    https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/04/its-the-pro-lockdown-lobby-that-is-spreading-fake-news/
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-new-york-times-s-uk-vaccine-clickbait
    Btw AstraZenica and Pfizer vaccines are not similar.
    https://www.acsh.org/news/2020/11/23/comparing-covid-vaccines-pfizer-vs-moderna-vs-astrazenecaoxford-15170
    « fake news » and varieties of Anglo-Saxon « jingoism » are blending into a toxic cocktail.
    Scotland ought not to part of this flag-waving « cock fight ».

  88. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Petition signed. There is as yet no word on May Election.

  89. Gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Here is some interesting information from US CDC:

    “Flu activity is unusually low at this time…The number of influenza positives reported by public health labs remains much lower than normal despite a higher than normal number of tests performed…”:

    https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm

  90. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev wrote in the article at top of this thread:

    “Every single one of Russell’s “solutions”, as well as being hopeless fantasies in their own right, relied on English voters to be poor wee Scotland’s heroic saviours. English voters would have to vote for electoral reform. English voters would have to elect a new UK government. English voters would have to vote for someone who’d grudgingly grant a few more crumbs of devolution to Scotland.”

    Aye! Those very same English voters who included traditionally Labour-voting folk across the north of England who helped put Boris Johnson into power. Those Labour voters who had no qualms about dumping their “comrades” north of the border in an act of great “socialist solidarity.” Remember this, folks, the next time Crash Broon & Co spout the ‘we can’t abandon our comrades in England to Tory Governments’ line at our next IndyRef.

  91. Fireproofjim
    Ignored
    says:

    Gregor
    The decrease in flu infections is exactly what you would expect with the various restrictions in meetings plus mask wearing, which we have never had in the past.

  92. Beaker
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ottomanboi says:
    4 January, 2021 at 4:54 pm
    “A warning from the past.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-05/1918-pandemic-linked-to-rise-of-nazis-new-york-fed-study-shows
    Things shaping up nicely for repeat performance thanks to N Murrell & B Johnson.
    We ought to more concerned about infection from the fascist virus, the real killer.”

    I’ve read the link and come to the conclusion that the article is bollocks. A rushed study that completely ignores the main reasons for the rise of the Nazis.

    The main driver for the rise of the Nazis – and it could just have easily been German communists – was the economic fallout caused by the Treaty of Versailles. That is not mentioned in the article.

    The pandemic had little if any influence on the rise of the Nazis.

    The only thing they seem to get correct is that when a society suffers severe economic hardship, then more extremist – right or left wing – policies start to become popular. And German economic hardship at it’s peak dwarfed what we are experiencing now.

  93. Fireproofjim
    Ignored
    says:

    Clyde
    You are an idiot.

  94. Clwyd Griffiths
    Ignored
    says:

    I always thought that Planet Pedro guy was a Scottish Tory rather than sLab, although it’s increasingly difficult to tell them apart. You’re spot on Rev. sLab & sLibdems who are trying to appeal to everyone and end up appealing to no one – are being squeezed between SNP vs Conservatives. Which is why there’s more Pandas in Scotland than Labour MPs.

  95. Gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    @Fireproofjim

    Perhaps, I want more/all Covid related data…

  96. Gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Given that the Alex Salmond saga should have been properly addressed and resolved (long ago), I firmly believe that rotten Sturgeon/Scot Gov will exploit every opportunity to obstruct and prolong the Salmond inquiry…

  97. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve just read that against huge opposition the Scottish Government have signed missives to sell off a huge tract of National Park Land at Loch Lomond to the Yorkshire based corporate property and real estate developer Flamingo Land.

    More Tory than the Tories, this policy of national land sell off shows how far removed from ordinary sentiment this SNP Government have become.

    And the actual financial cost of purchasing the land from the Scottish Government. Well that’s a secret but it’s understood the 44 acres is going for less than the cost of a big house plot. No wonder the great and the good of the SNP, together with executive committee civil servants, go on junkets to the luxury real estate soirées held in Cannes.

    The New Yellow Tory ( and Unionist ) Party on steroids getting by with a little help to their friends.

  98. Tannadice Boy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Daisy Walker 5 47pm
    There is no official statement on the May election although a mechanism to extend the date exists. The FM in conjunction with the Presiding Officer can delay the election. Some commentators for example Monteith in The Scotsman are already saying the May election will be pushed back to the Autumn or next year. To borrow Nicolas race analogy from today. The Harassment Inquiry are currently in a race to conclude their business before the dissolution of this session of Parliament. A delay to the election will take the pressure off the Inquiry. More time for examination of witness statements and so on.

  99. Gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    I don’t understand why the neglected, overcrowded (decades) and woefully under resourced UK NHS not designated a superduper-virus-spreader environment.

  100. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Mgt Ferrier being arrested and charged.

    This will be an intetesting one.
    Can the police charge someone for breaking rules, guidelines?
    ASAIK no laws were broken.

    Personally I hope she wins her case.
    I will be as mad as fuck if the May election is postponed, just more time for NS to send us all insane with her rules and regulations

  101. Livionian
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m from West Lothian, as the name implies. I emailed all the Labour councilors asking not to go in to coalition with the Tories and that if they had the nerve to call themselves a progressive than they should never be able to look at themselves in the mirror again should they vote to do so. Not one of them responded. I know others from the county that did the same. Not one of them responded.

    Scottish Labour everybody

  102. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    @Daisy Walker
    The election delay seems to be getting pushed out there in the unionist circles. To me that’s pure panic and cannot in anyway benefit their cause.
    It can only benefit us, especially if (as many of us are signing the petition) we make the election a plebiscite for Indy. All unwarranted delays will do is strengthen our case. It will also give us more time to close the chapter on the Murrell case.

  103. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Margaret Ferrier arrested and charged by Police Scotland for breaking Covid rules last year. I f I recall correctly the Met police in England took no action against Ferrier, how convenient then that Police Scotland felt he need to arrest and charge her.

  104. David Holden
    Ignored
    says:

    Well have sexual intercourse with me from either the left or right hand side. We are in lockdown again and it could be be for the first quarter of 2021. The reason is our political rulers have fucked up for various reasons. We have known how to control a viral pandemic for years and even got a chance to perfect it with foot and mouth disease. The first thing you do is stop the movement of those infected to limit the spread of the pathogen. Next you test those that could be infected. This is where the model changes as not even Boris would kill and burn those infected well we hope not but the night is still young. Isolate those that could have been infected along with their contacts to break or at least slow the chain of infection. We had major sporting events going ahead that should have been shut and high profile idiots like the heir to the throne and the head geek at Downing street pissing all over movement restrictions. I do not subscribe to the first minister having a so called good pandemic just a less bad version than Boris which is a low bar. We now need a hard lockdown that is observed and a serious vaccination effort or we will be doing this again in six months time. Unpopular as this may be we may need to put the election on hold until this is sorted much as I hate the idea. I will include a link to the mating habits of small rodents in Patagonia later to back up my claims in the best traditions of this site.

  105. Masslass
    Ignored
    says:

    PETITION SIGNED:

  106. AYRSHIRE ROB
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie @ 6.24pm

    Have you a link for this story willie?

  107. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah lockdown.

    A comfort blanket to cover the sins of Brexit and the Salmond enquiry and all carefully stage managed. The Scottish government knew this lock down was coming. They changed the law many weeks ago so that the Scottish Parliament elections in May could be delayed.

    We also have a government that can use state violence against political opponents such as Salmond, Murray, Hirst and Singh whilst thereafter in the teeth of an enquiry, make provision to suspend parliamentary elections.

    Funny, but does it remind you of the actions of some of the pretty odious governments from the last century. And the collusion of big corporate interest with so called national government, which government is interchangeably linked to the party.

    They had a name for it in 1930s Germany. Unfortunately, a lot of good Germans stood by as national party became ever less democratic and ever more totalitarian.

  108. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    That Margaret Ferrier Story is a disgrace if it’s true.
    Cummings get million pound PPE orders for his Covid
    Fairly story. Stanley Johnson travels to Greece during
    lockdown, Prince Charles travels to Scotland bring Civid.

    There is a clip on WhatsApp today showing the Celtic team bus arriving
    at Ibrox for the old firm game. Lots of police officers there and senior officers
    who stand feet away as bigots use all the swear words they know directed at
    the team, with many black players, they are calling Fenian B’s and C’s.

    This is unacceptable and it’s illegal but the police take no action whatsoever.

    The police are completely corrupt taking action when instructed to.

  109. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Gaavster says: 4 January, 2021 at 5:08 pm
    “Will today’s announcement by NS have any impact on the AS enquiry, and more specifically, on the ability of key witnesses to attend in person and give evidence?”

    It shouldn’t, it’s work related. Besides, is it beyond them to set up conference call type facilities? Wouldn’t have thought so.

  110. Beaker
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Ferrier, fuck her it’s her own fault. She’s not exactly popular here in Rutherglen any more. However, the same rule should apply to everyone who breaks COVID legislation without good reason.

    Re election delay, no idea what started that. Haven’t seen anything about it on Twitter. Did have a look at the lovely Pete’s feed. Having a dig at people complaining about the SNP. He has a few deluded followers who think Sturgeon will deliver a fully independent Scotland this year. She’s more likely to make a delivery for DHL.

    Other question – since WM is being recalled Wed, but travel restrictions are in place in Scotland, does that mean Blackford will have to stay in his house and only communicate via Zoom? Makes it easier to get him to stfu.

  111. Gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    What severe international sanctions is the state Actor responsible for the global pandemic facing ?

    Zero consequences sets a fine precedent for future biological warfare (e.g. State weaponised virus fronted as a ‘pandemic’)…

  112. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    dan macaulay says: 4 January, 2021 at 3:39 pm
    SIGNED IT NOW THE REST OF YOU

    Folks, beware, that clown demanding you sign a “petition” is encouraging you to sign up to a data-harvesting company that the government do not recognise for those reasons. If someone was serious about an issue they’d create a proper government petition.

    It is of course entirely up to you what you sign or don’t sign but now you can’t say you weren’t warned. You are being conned to part with your details. Just be careful.

  113. robbo
    Ignored
    says:

    WILLIE

    I found this but nothing exactly on missives being signed?

    https://www.insider.co.uk/news/renewed-plans-flamingo-land-development-23210215

  114. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Ayrshire Rob @6.38

    The story about missives being concluded for the sale of the land at Loch Lomond to the ‘ Flaming Land ‘ real estate developer is reported on page 15 of yesterday’s Sunday National.

    The issue as you’ll read attracted over 55,000 signatures such was the local, and indeed further afield resistance. The fairly recently appointed SNP candidate for the area has as you’ll see come out against the news. Well he would, wouldn’t, because if he doesn’t he’ll be dead wood, come the election.

    But given the resistance to this, it’s absolutely incredible that the Scottish Government have decided to press on against all the resistance and sign missives for the sale of this land to Gordon Gibb and his ‘ Flamingo Land ‘ development companies.

    As for the comments about property and real estate soirées in luxury Cannes as fairly basic internet search will reveal the various SNP city council leaders, finance minister, and senior civil servants who jetted off to dine with the corporate heads of real estate developers.

    Check it out Rob!

  115. HamlyHaynes
    Ignored
    says:

    “Effijy says:
    4 January, 2021 at 6:45 pm
    That Margaret Ferrier Story is a disgrace if it’s true.
    Cummings get million pound PPE orders for his Covid
    Fairly story. Stanley Johnson travels to Greece during
    lockdown, Prince Charles travels to Scotland bring Civid.

    There is a clip on WhatsApp today showing the Celtic team bus arriving
    at Ibrox for the old firm game. Lots of police officers there and senior officers
    who stand feet away as bigots use all the swear words they know directed at
    the team, with many black players, they are calling Fenian B’s and C’s.

    This is unacceptable and it’s illegal but the police take no action whatsoever.

    The police are completely corrupt taking action when instructed to.”

    Trying to work out who’s the worse there.

    I have a friend “of that decent” who just smiles when he hears “fenian”; I asked him why he smiled? and now I stand beside him smiling too.

    Ahh fekit their awe as bad as each other.

  116. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Dunadd says: 4 January, 2021 at 2:48 pm
    “Wee bit surprised there is not more visible support on here for the new ISP petition. This could be a legitimate and recognised quick route to independence. If enough of us support the petition it forces the issue. Surely best to keep all options open.”

    Bullshit! They are a data-harvesting company and the government do not recognise their petitions. Your embarrassing use of them tells me you probably work for them because most indy supporters already know this.

    So it’s not as “surprising” as you make out. Might have known the fruitcake who speaks to Angels is behind it. Same clown who promotes direct links to BUM rags then asks for peoples support.

  117. velofello
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve signed and chipped in a donation. I really believe we need an alternative to the SNP, and I’ve only ever voted SNP, with one exception, I abstained at the past council election, just couldn’t vote for what looked like an SNP HQ entryist candidate.

  118. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stoker,

    Every time you purchase on the internet your details are harvested for future use in advertising etc.Most of us still buy items online because of covid.

    This is not new.

  119. Jockanese Wind Talker
    Ignored
    says:

    RE: “Margaret Ferrier has been arrested and charged over an alleged breach of coronavirus regulations in September”.

    Is this another example of Scotland’s prosecution service The Crown Office abusing its powers?

    Will this result in a conviction that will enable a by-election via Recall Procedure at WM?

  120. red sunset
    Ignored
    says:

    Ref Margaret Ferrier being arrested.
    Follows a pattern of certain people being thrown to the wolves. In fact in this case, it seems like the wolves were invited to the party.
    Some of the local SNP have been unbelievably vicious towards her. Bear in mind that most of them got their jobs and positions from her, after the referendum.
    Never trust a Tory ??? Think closer to home.

  121. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    Posted this at end of lat thread, but in reading certain comments, I suppose it’s relevant here too.

    https://twitter.com/Documark/status/1345838800178733059

    Will tack this on too. Iain Lawson has posted a new blog article today.

    https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/01/04/the-nicola-loyal-is-the-real-problem/

  122. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Jwt@7.18

    So yes Margaret Ferrier has indeed been arrested and charged by Police Scotland with ‘ reckless and culpable behaviour ‘

    Investigated by the Metropolitan Police who decided to take no action this belated action by Police Scotland has once again all the hallmarks of the police and prosecution services in Scotland being used against political opponents.

    Sturgeon wanted the MP to resign and had her membership withdrawn leaving her as an independent MP. And so like Alex Salmond et al we are once again seeing how political power under the SNP works.

    Here’s the Sky link of a few minutes ago –

    https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-mp-margaret-ferrier-arrested-and-charged-over-reckless-conduct-after-alleged-coronavirus-rule-breach-12179360

  123. dan macaulay
    Ignored
    says:

    An Important Press Release from ISP
    Posted on 4 January 2021
    Press release:

    The ISP are launching a petition to make the May 2021 Holyrood election a

    plebiscite on independence.

    Czechoslovakia became the Czech Republic and Slovakia after the Slovakians voted

    in a general election for Vladimir Meciar’s ‘Movement for a Democratic Slovakia.’ Other countries have become independent without the ‘permission’ of the country

    they were leaving.

    The ISP is calling on all those who wish to see independence for Scotland – whether

    supporters of the SNP, the Scottish Greens or, no party allegiance at all – to sign the

    petition which has been proven to be an acceptable route back to independence in

    Europe.

    It is clear that Westminster will continue to refuse a Section 30 order on a

    referendum, despite the SNP being given several electoral mandates to conduct a

    new referendum now that our prosperous and peaceful relationship with Europe has

    been stolen from us – the very material change that we were told would negate the

    result of the 2014 referendum in which voters were told they could only remain in

    Europe if they voted ‘no’.

    If the government in London cannot accept this change in material circumstances

    has lead to increased support for another referendum via democratic mandate, then

    Scotland is no longer a partner nation in the UK. It is understood that most countries

    seeking independence from a neighbouring nation that won’t accept democratic

    demands for change, usually do so without permission from the dominating partner

    in their relationship.

    Whether or not a Section 30 order is obtained, this is not necessary to hold a

    plebiscite. A general election is a legitimate democratic event recognised by bodies such as

    the UN and using this election to elicit the will of the people on independence is valid.

    The ISP is now calling on the SNP and the Scottish Greens and other independence

    supporting parties to back our proposition – or to justify why the Section 30 order is

    still being pursued.

    The people of Scotland deserve a new say in their future. We are constantly told

    that the 2014 Scottish referendum was ‘once in a generation.’ In Northern Ireland, a

    generation is seven years and the people can vote, if they choose, on whether to

    secede. 2021 is seven years on from the Scottish 2014 referendum and there have

    been vast changes in our relationship with Europe and with England.

    In Scotland the people are sovereign and it is time that their voice was heard.

    See plebiscite.scot for the

    petition and further information.

  124. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    And yes, Police Scotland are rotten to the absolute core!

    Why did they not prosecute Prince Charles and his entourage. In fact why didn’t they prosecute Sturgeon when she made a mistake and took her mask off.

    Yes, Police Scotland, as crooked as the people they are supposed to defend society against. But we now understand that. They do not police with our consent with partisan political bias like this.

  125. AYRSHIRE ROB
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie

    After looking at that story I did a wee bit more digging.

    Not secure this, so don’t if it will link
    If you look at parkscotland.co.uk

    Look at recent posts

    Flamingoland / Scottish Enterprise on RHS or blog

    Read the comments.

    I’m aghast at what I’m reading.

    Apparently we gave them Flamingo Land
    £71, 855 for a feasibility study / site investigations ? I smell a rat here. Who are this mob Flamingo Land?

    WTF is going on here? Ms Hyslop?

  126. Meg merrilees
    Ignored
    says:

    Liz @4.30

    re Mgt Ferrier
    As far as I remember, Met. police let her off. They said that she had travelled home the day before the rules changed??? Please anyone correct me if I’ve remembered wrongly.
    However I think they were different in England and Scotland at the time.

    Seems a bit harsh as there were probably lots of people doing the same thing at the same time – does this mean by-election???

  127. Andy smith
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian brotherhood,
    Maybe we should all report the twat with a hat, galloway!

  128. red sunset
    Ignored
    says:


    AYRSHIRE ROB says:
    4 January, 2021 at 7:56 pm
    Willie


    Not secure this, so don’t if it will link
    If you look at parkscotland.co.uk


    Apparently we gave them Flamingo Land
    £71, 855 for a feasibility study / site investigations ? I smell a rat here. Who are this mob Flamingo Land?

    WTF is going on here? Ms Hyslop?

    Ayrshire Rob :
    I think you mean the link should be parkswatchscotland.co.uk
    http://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2020/12/29/scottish-enterprise-flamingo-land-and-community-disempowerment/

    And yes this looks dodgy.

  129. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Flamingoland, complete wi midgies ? No thanks.

  130. Tannadice Boy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Jockanese Wind Talker 7 18pm
    Reckless and Culpable conduct is a serious charge. If it leads to a sentence of over a year (And it probably will) she will automatically be disqualified as an MP. Less than one year then the recall procedure could be activated. If I were Ferrier I would be concentrating on preventing a long prison sentence. Maximum sentence is life. I don’t condone her behaviour in anyway but I see breaches in the Covid rules everyday. Suspicious about the motivation to present her with this charge when others are getting away with a fixed penalty notice.

  131. AYRSHIRE ROB
    Ignored
    says:

    Yes re sunset

    My bad. Soz

  132. Beaker
    Ignored
    says:

    Ooh, nasty pic circulating (on WhatsApp so can’t link):

    Nicola Sturgeon announcing that “From midnight on June 11th 2037 we will move into Tier 74. You can no longer text people, you must communicate by Morse code only. And we strongly recommend holding your breath for as much of the day as possible. We will beat this!”

    Apparently that is when Indyref2 will be called…

  133. Boaby
    Ignored
    says:

    Starting to think that a may postponement of the holyrood election might not be such a bad thing after all. Give the ISP more time to bed in and get the plebiscite issue up and running in people’s minds. Make or break time then. And hopefully these vaccines will be doing their job, Mrs murrell will have nothing else to hide behind.

  134. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    I love the slogan “Stronger for Scotland” but when does it happen and please don’t say after May 2021.

  135. AberdeenPict
    Ignored
    says:

    Boaby says:
    4 January, 2021 at 8:58 pm
    Starting to think that a may postponement of the holyrood election might not be such a bad thing after all.

    I am start to think the same myself and let the Salmond stitch up inquiry play out its course with no pressure/ end date on the investigation. And like you say, let the ISP get a head of steam and also Sturgeon eventually running out of excuses.

    I haven’t thought this through entirely, obviously, will take me a while to process, but there may be some benefits, however, WM will in that time start to take control of Holyrood.

  136. Grey Gull
    Ignored
    says:

    Maybe the May elections will go ahead. It stars in the recent covid rules it’s ok to go out to register and vote in elections
    https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/

  137. Grey Gull
    Ignored
    says:

    Covid rules state it’s ok to go out “to register or vote in a Scottish or UK Parliament, Local Government or overseas election or by-election, including on behalf of someone else by proxy”

  138. Boaby
    Ignored
    says:

    AberdeenPict. Westminster can try to take control all they want, but if the peoples voice is strong enough they will be heard. Look what happened to Nicolae Ceausescu. I can see what you are saying though.

  139. Gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    I wonder whether ‘they’ will go the postal voting system/drop-box/electronic voting machine route, like the BANANA US election…

  140. AberdeenPict
    Ignored
    says:

    Boaby says:
    4 January, 2021 at 9:27 pm

    Sorry, what I meant is that WM will ‘try’ to take control, but as you say, if we stay strong (with grassroots support) then the opposition should build up into a crescendo

  141. Mia
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Margaret Ferrier

    From distance this seems politically motivated and very harsh, particularly when they let others off the hook with less than a slap on the wrist. I think it is difficult to forget how they were like vultures demanding her to resign week after week (did they already have someone they wanted to shoe in in her seat?).

    What is it with the SNP and how quickly criminal charges can be pinned on someone when they are no longer welcome in front line politics and the person refuses to walk away?

    A disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge here.

  142. cirsium
    Ignored
    says:

    @Willie, 6.44
    Agree – definitely feeling like 1930s Germany. There is even something approaching the 1933 Enabling Act https://www.arcofprosperity.org/the-uks-enabling-act/

    Margaret Ferrier’s name can be added to your list – overkill pour encourager les autres – and there is now a hotline for reporting on neighbours (see Ian Brotherhood’s comment at 3.52pm).

    Thanks for drawing attention to the Flamingo Land-Scottish Enterprise sell-out and the parkswatchscotland website. I suppose I should not be surprised now when the Scottish Government’s actions betray its promises of community empowerment and land reform.

  143. cynicalHighlander
    Ignored
    says:

    Be careful what one wishes for as delayed elections means indy ref years away at earliest.

  144. Hugh Jarse
    Ignored
    says:

    Yet another forensic study into the machinations of the Unionist cheer leader/s.

    Hope im wrong, and apologies if it’s been said above (just home,need food, comments can wait), but this is flying the kite, from a telegraph line!

    Expect follow through in short order.
    😉

  145. Rick H Johnston
    Ignored
    says:

    The Scottish tier system certainly has not failed.
    The Scottish NHS has kept ahead of rUK and Sturgeon is widely regarded as outperforming Bojo who is still dancing to the ERGs tune.
    Seems to me its you slavering over the death cult that is the UK’s too little too late strategy to tackle Covid.

  146. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    @ willie ,ayrshire rob, red sunset re Flamingoland I highlighted this shite ages ago , the determination of this debacle is as usual being made by a quango of middle class oinks who consider Loch Lomond ( a world renowned beauty spot) as ONLY fit for lesser beings , BTW flamingoland is a donor and contributor to the TORIES , colour me shocked , the MERE FACT that this proposal has been objected to by a RECORD number of people yet they carry on regardless , also the SG refused to call it in when asked to

    And as for Hyslop I made comments on here when she gave something like £100,000 to the guy who runs the pop festivals , the festivals that make vast profits for the same guy yet we have food banks and kids going to bed hungry

    I was rounded on by the usual see no evil speak no evil sycophants

  147. James Che.
    Ignored
    says:

    Haguey Treaty of the union, Acts of Union, article xviii, does not say the Scottish devolved goverment can change private law to legislation, the treaty of the union has precedence and legally
    the British Parliament can not change private law in Scotland under article xviii unless it benefits the Scottish people, which Brexit did not, it was against what the Scottish people voted for. So therefore could not be used as or under evident utility which also happens to mention the people of Scotland as the beneficiary, not the Scottish goverment.
    The effect of article is that it is unalterable. It is part of the treaty of the union.
    Can Nicola sturgeon prove that the that changing of the private right of the Scottish people, and bringing in new laws for covid benefit the the Scottish people,
    Does closing down businesses in Scotland benifit the Scottish people,
    Does it benifit the people of Scotland if they become unemployed
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if their children cannot go to school or get education.
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if they are unable to obtain normal health care.
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if they no longer have common law freedom of movement.
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if they are stopped from meeting their families.
    Do the Scottish people lose a larger per portion of benifits with changing their private rights under article xviii into law for covid.
    As far as I can see from the wording, the private rights of the Scottish people is law under the treaty of the union.
    And using the ability of covid or health is not wrote into it, as a clause. Anywhere.
    Article xviii must show that it benifits the Scottish people, not the Scottish Parliament. If changed.
    And once again it is to be noted that the Scottish people have rights before Parliament as wrote in the treaty of the union under article xviii.
    The Scottish government can make it advisory, for the Scottish people, but it cannot change the treaty of the union article.

  148. James Che.
    Ignored
    says:

    Haguey, this is the nutter eventually catching up,(smiling).
    Treaty of the union, Acts of Union, article xviii, does not say the Scottish devolved goverment can change private law to legislation, the treaty of the union has precedence and legally
    the British Parliament can not change private law in Scotland under article xviii unless it benefits the Scottish people, which Brexit did not, it was against what the Scottish people voted for. So therefore could not be used as or under evident utility which also happens to mention the people of Scotland as the beneficiary, not the Scottish goverment.
    The effect of article is that it is unalterable. It is part of the treaty of the union.
    Can Nicola sturgeon prove that the that changing of the private right of the Scottish people, and bringing in new laws for covid benefit the the Scottish people,
    Does closing down businesses in Scotland benifit the Scottish people,
    Does it benifit the people of Scotland if they become unemployed
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if their children cannot go to school or get education.
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if they are unable to obtain normal health care.
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if they no longer have common law freedom of movement.
    Does it benifit the Scottish people if they are stopped from meeting their families.
    Do the Scottish people lose a larger per portion of benifits with changing their private rights under article xviii into law for covid.
    As far as I can see from the wording, the private rights of the Scottish people is law under the treaty of the union.
    And using the ability of covid or health is not wrote into it, as a clause. Anywhere.
    Article xviii must show that it benifits the Scottish people, not the Scottish Parliament. If changed.
    And once again it is to be noted that the Scottish people have rights before Parliament as wrote in the treaty of the union under article xviii. The Scottish people are sovereign.
    The Scottish government can make it advisory, for the Scottish people, but it cannot change the acs in the treaty of the union.



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