Groundhog Decade
Welcome back to what will hopefully be normal service after we’ve been spending the last few days battling off a determined and temporarily successful attempt at hacking the site. Apologies to those who had clicks intercepted and redirected to a malware site which tried to get people to download dodgy .EXE files, but our readers are far too alert to ever fall for such things so no harm should have been done.
So back to business, which for us often means pointing out things that have been said in newspapers that aren’t true, which brings us to last Friday’s issue of The National.
Because the above simply isn’t what happened.
The story is based entirely on a single tweet, not from “Reform UK” but from the party’s Scottish sub-office. And it doesn’t even mention the word “referendum” (or even the concept of one), far less rule anything out.
We don’t doubt for a second that Reform UK is “a Pro-UK party”. But nor do we doubt that the Conservative And Unionist Party is also one of those, yet David Cameron still granted the first indyref. And it was also a pro-EU party, yet he still granted the 2015 Brexit referendum. So being “pro-UK” does not in any way necessarily imply that you’re anti-referendums.
The Scottish branch of Reform has previously said that it would “countenance” another vote, but not until 2039 – basically the same stance as all the other Unionist parties:
But despite some recent changes to its structure, Reform remains essentially Nigel Farage’s personal property, and the barrier to deposing him is extremely high.
So the Scottish branch would in reality have no more say over that policy than Ruth Davidson did when Cameron signed the Edinburgh Agreement in 2012, or any more control than Anas Sarwar has over Keir Starmer. If Farage were to decide that it was a good idea, it would happen, and as yet any comment from him on the subject has been conspicuously absent.
And that’s odd, because there is no downside to Reform saying “no indyref 2 under any circumstances” if that is indeed their policy. It would only strengthen them with the voters they’re ostensibly chiefly concerned with, ie hardcore Unionist ones. And since nobody currently thinks they WOULD grant a second referendum, they’re not gaining anything from being equivocal or ambiguous or silent about it. If their position is a flat No, there is not a single coherent reason for them not to say so.
None of the above makes it likely that they’d adopt a pro-indyref 2 stance, of course, and our original post last week never said it was. We just said it would be politically smart and make Scottish politics a lot more interesting, which certainly proved to be the case. The piece was the second-most read on Wings this year so far and generated a substantial response, with a wide range of views which overall leaned mostly positive.
(The majority of objections were pretty irrational and based on either an intense dislike of the party in general, a complete mistrust of all politicians, or a wildly inflated view of how important Scotland is to the UK economy. And, y’know, like Nigel Farage cares about a little bit of economic damage here or there anyway. This is the guy who made BREXIT happen, folks.)
If it doesn’t, the most relieved people in the country will be the SNP. With nothing else to offer and a mostly-disgraceful record in government for the last decade, they’ve recently been pitching their 2026 election campaign mainly as an anti-Reform one, even to the extent of openly discussing a coalition deal with Scottish Labour to shut Reform out.
And that would get extremely awkward if they were forced to adopt a platform of “You know we’re not going to deliver a second referendum – we’ve tried half-arsed begging for 10 years and we’re all out of ideas – but vote for us to keep Reform out, even though they ARE offering you a referendum!”, and trying to flog that to indy supporters.
(Especially the 36% of them who voted Leave, as well as the large numbers opposed to the SNP’s woke social policies and its determination to kill the oil and gas industry.)
Still, there’s zero in the way of concrete evidence that Farage is that smart, and at present he’s balancing on a knife-edge: Reform are now consistently ahead in UK polling, but not at levels high enough to give him a majority, so as well as capturing lots of Tory voters he’d still need the support of the Parliamentary party to give him a chance at a viable administration, and putting Scotland on the table might jeopardise both of those things.
The question is how many Tory/Reform voters would be willing, in the final analysis, to sacrifice Scotland to achieve their other goals. And we have at least some sort of an indicator on that, because in 2018 Wings commissioned an opinion poll asking English voters if they’d give up Scotland to ensure Brexit went ahead.
Overall only a narrow majority said yes, but among Tory voters the margin was 2:1.
It seems reasonable to assume Reform voters would feel at least as strongly – the margin among Leave voters was more than 3:1. Interestingly, though, younger voters in the rest of the UK are far less bothered about Scotland leaving than their older counterparts – only 1 in 3 saying it would upset them – which creates some interesting opportunities for a party whose current base is pretty elderly. (And even the old aren’t all that fussed, with a bare majority saying they’d care.)
So it’s a gamble Farage could probably afford to – and may yet have to – take, although whether there’d be any benefit to him in doing it before the Holyrood election is another question entirely. He can afford to bide his time and see how the next couple of years pan out.
So for now there isn’t much more to be said about the idea, and the future of Scottish politics continues to look grimly dull, save for the limited but undeniable comedy value of watching poor Anas Sarwar still trying to pretend he’s going to be First Minister.
We hope that’s enough to sustain everyone until 2031, because the way things stand at present, that’s the earliest independence is going to be any sort of live topic again.
“We hope that’s enough to sustain everyone until 2031, because the way things stand at the moment, that’s the earliest independence is going to be any sort of live topic again.”
Rev, I know that you have sources throughout the independence/Yes world and that you are very often right in your analysis and forecasts BUT are you not picking up the boiling fury and awareness that Scotland needs to escape the Union before our last asset [even rainwater] is stolen?
Surely the efforts to form a united front of Independents for Independence, under whatever name, in time for the 2026 Holyrood election will succeed? It is essential that they do.
I was at a conversation event on Friday with Lesley Riddoch talking and the 40+ audience putting in their views. I’d say that room was desperate for progress and open to every initiative. They seized on the information I gave about Liberation/Salvo.
Lesley was very clear that the political parties are NOT the answer – it must be all of us making the politicians do the necessary. Having a large number of Independents at Holyrood is a relatively quick way to achieve this.
Lesley also said that she has been trying for several months to get a united front together [was she at the summit you went to, Rev?] but not succeeded e.g. Gordon Macintyre-Kemp didn’t respond at all [!].
So what I’m saying is, the grassroots are aware that they need to get going, and that the current politicians are not the answer. The Yes voters are desperate and are not going to be passive.
Please continue to help, Rev, by providing a platform for independent candidates, and through your network of contacts to get that united campaign group [though perhaps don’t bother asking GMK..].
Sarah I consider Riddoch as a sturgeon and snp apologist and sycophant, I believe she like GMK, Paypal Paul and others are in the grifter for independence cabal a great, apparently never ending source of revenue if you ingratiate yourself with the deviants and troughers in the Scottish administration
I had similar views, twathater, until I heard her criticise the SNP, Nicola Sturgeon, and say that the political parties are not going to help our cause. She said this with an MSP, Maree Todd, in the audience.
I also believed her when she said that she had been trying very hard for several months to get a united grouping together. Given that Roddy Macleod and other have also been trying, her experience rang true. Perhaps the Rev can confirm this?
He’s in the bath when he gets out I’m sure he’ll reply. If you’ve ever been to Bathgate you’ll no the reason why.
The guy never seems to reply to anyone.
Not one blogger, who all claim to want the goal of Independence has put what Sara Slayers and liberation/Salvo has discovered regarding the Treaty of Union on their website, WHY NOT, this is the most important thing to have happened in Scotland in the last 300years.
I’ve just spotted that Grouse Beater put it on his twitter yesterday.
Is this “boiling fury” in the room with you now?
Cheers Rev – I will be dead & gone by then. Not your fault I know but clarity is honesty and I feel you 90 % right on most things (10% sweary)
I swear myself.
With Alex gone & Sturgeon free to roam the shine is going right off Scotland the brand under Swinney.
Scots are definitely NOT amongst the bravest people on this planet and indeed consider Labour an option (yes Labour).
Can be fierce but I recognise futile and while Sturfeon & Swinney remain at helm of SNP – I too believe Britain is safe. We are wasting our time.
Scotland never deserved visionaries such as Winnie or Alex Salmond who sacrifieced so much.
True heroes in every sense ….
Have you forgotten Gordoz that Alex Salmond actually cost us our independence by adopting the ANYONE can vote for our independence from our abusers FRANCHISE
I know and recognise that only Alex Salmond has given us the opportunity to even vote on independence but if it were not for laughable NEW SCOTS (whatever that is supposed to mean) and it turns out they are NOT new Scots they are just foreigners who love living here and taking advantage of our beautiful country we would now be FREE from this despicable rancid union and its war mongering corrupt arsewipes
Alex Salmond did good things and governed capably but his need to present himself as a progressive come all ye leader has cost Scots and Scotland dearly
Cast your eyes around the world and see how indigenous peoples are treated , abused and sidelined when they welcome all these NEW CITIZENS to THEIR countries
E.G. October 2023 Aborigines ASKING NEW AUSTRALIANS for permission to have representation in their parliament to discuss Aboriginal issues, the new Australians voted NO,NADA,NIET,NIEN,NEE,NON, or basically FO, THAT answer to the ORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN INHABITANTS
Well said Twathater.
Agreed, well said.
If Salmond was a visionary he would have have won the referendum in 2014 by allowing Scots only to vote, but he didn’t. He’s also the reason why we have been stuck with Sturgeon and can’t get out of this Union. By allowing anyone, even people who were only study in Scotland for a few months to vote was reckless and let down Scotland completely. Let me remind you that Scots voted for Independence in 2014 it was Salmond franchise on it that was doomed to fail and fail it did. If we had another opportunity for a referendum which we won’t, we shouldn’t repeat Salmond’s franchise ever again.
Salmond said he didn’t ever expect to win, his words not mine. So why would you stack the odds further against the chances of winning.
People are now seeing that Salmond made a huge mistake on the franchise of the 1st referendum but as he stated he didn’t be expect to win but he knew he’d win another Holyrood election and the SNP did, well good for the SNP not so much for us.
I reflected on this following your last piece and I don’t think it’s at all likely. I think that reform’s voter base in Scotland is likely to be far more heavily unionist rather than nationalist, and as such they’d lose many more votes alienating unionists than they could reasonably attract tempting nationalists. At best, they might provide some warmer words around respecting a democratic mandate for a second referendum (without specifying what that mandate would look like), but I highly doubt it would go any further.
Secondly, breaking up the U.K. would be a huge undertaking for which would dominate the political scene both sides of the border for at least one parliamentary term. That’s not going to be an attractive proposition electorally especially in England, and internally I think reform would feel that implementing it would come at the expense of all the things they want (and will have promised) to do should they win. I also think a part of the core activist base is the ex-UKIP ex-forces type of character for whom the integrity of the U.K. is an article of faith. I think it would be extremely difficult to sell this idea to that faction.
So in summary, I think it’s big risks (in reality probably issues) and no clear reward.
There’s much in what you say, Aidan, but have you considered that some pro-Union voters might be in favour of a “put up or shut up” vote?
Lance the boil, so to speak.
In Quebec, they had two referendums. With the result being No twice, the Indy lukewarm enthusiasts mostly lost interest and found new gripes to focus on. That could happen in Scotland too.
Note that I did write “lukewarm”. The red-hot Indy enthusiasts, so long as one hundred remain alive etc etc won’t ever lose interest, but 100 votes won’t go very far.
Another, completely separate, consideration you have overlooked is the recent statements by The Donald about his antipathy towards governments who run scared of the democratic choices of their peoples.
It’s a very selective antipathy, sure, and doesn’t extend towards those manifestly undemocratic, authoritarian, tsarist regimes who are rumoured to be in possession of compromising pics of his missus.
But assuming HR/WM isn’t on the circulation list, and assuming Reform want to curry favour with The Donald, and assuming The Donald cares, he maybe would demand an Indy referendum as a quid pro pro for favourable policies towards a Reform-lead UK.
Assuming he is not out of office again by the time that hypothetical Reform-lead UK comes about.
I do think there is a possibility at some point that a U.K. government will, at a moment of comparative strength (and Scotgov weakness), grant the 2nd referendum with a view to killing the issue off. However, I think it’s very unlikely that Reform would choose to do that. Prime Minister Farage will not be a popular figure in Scotland, and the polls already show a substantial minority support for independence. I think they’d see a significant risk they’d lose the referendum, which they would see as being an absolute disaster for them. I can’t therefore see what would drive them to take that risk, there’s very little political pressure on any Westminster party on independence at the moment so I don’t see it as dealing with a difficult ‘live’ issue, and I also don’t see it attracting them any votes. In Scotland, I think ‘vote reform, end up with permanent Sturgeon’ would be a powerful campaign slogan for the Torres/labour, and more widely in the U.K. I foresee a negative reaction to the risk of more paralysing constitutional negotiations.
I don’t buy that Donald Trump would ever get involved from a pro-independence position, I think that’s vanishingly unlikely. The SNP has been very hostile towards him and he’d likely be concerned about his business interests post-Indy. It would also cause the most enormous fraction with one of the USA’s closest allies which will face serious opposition from perms-Washington, and again for what benefit.
A long time ago
As much as a week
I would have said Farage wouldn’t countenance Scottish independence because of the USA’s interest in Faslane
Now the USA is happy to pally up with Putin, maybe Faslane is not so important in American eyes
All academic anyway as I won’t be around come the next referendum
If there is one
I read somewhere that Trump only needs two things from Europe. An air base and a naval yard.
Neither of these are in Scotland.
They are both much closer to the place in the ME he needs them for.
Faslane is important to the rapidly coming into being European integrated military and European nuclear deterrent though. Europe won’t be leaving all of its nuclear eggs in the one French basket!
There should be great opportunities for Scotland to extract concessions in return for taking half the risk on Europe’s behalf.
There simply needs to be recognition given to the fact that over half of Scots want out of this corrupt, failed state of a Union. The place is unrecognisable, and the population have been ripped off for decades, with heating bills perhaps being the best illustration of this fact.
Thatcher chose to pamper international finance in the 80s, and that fateful decision/diktat came at a huge cost to our own native people.
The chickens are now roosting like a bunch of mf’s as a direct result, and nobody can deny that taking care of our own people (instead of pampering foreign pensions and divided collectors) would have kept Britain on a much firmer and surer footing.
Reform can either recognise that the Scottish people have an absolute right to vote their way out of an increasingly unrecognisable and chaotic Union, or become known for harbouring an aversion to basic, democratic principles.
It really is as simple as that. The die was cast in the 1980s, and at every single available opportunity where the ship could have been put back on course, the UK state has chosen to continue putting the few ahead of the many.
As a result, the situation is now grossly untenable. And that situation – with a big majority of young voters backing a fully autonomous Scotland – simply will not get any better for those who advocate for continued London rule, and for all of the chaos, disparities and mayhems that come with it.
The problem comes with having to discern who OUR real people are,for our politicians it seems that it is anyone who wants to visit Scotland or anyone who wants to buy property in Scotland to live in or rent out for airBnB or holiday home, depriving OUR young people of the ability to own their own homes and forcing them to leave Scotland and their families in a brain drain
The clearances by another avenue
I’m curious which parts of the reform manifesto you are against
Or do we want scotland to be mostly islamic?
There’s a lot of support on here for New Scots to be all Navid’s.
Think of it as the Kailyard School of Scottish literature brought up to date for the current generation of open-mouthed, TV sitcom watchers.
Nevertheless, the gently propagandist portrayal of a sympathetic, likeable, fictional character has worked its magic. And all the dead and abused white kids of reality can’t shake that.
Electoral Calculus link is a wee bit out of date. 14 polls have been published in February. Taking the average from these, seat allocation:
RefUK 220, Lab 161, Con 140, LibDem 64, SNP 36.
Headline; RefUK 106 seats short of outright majority.
Conclusion; Something along the lines of the division above seems likely even four years from now. With three big players at the table, it seems inevitable that a coalition will be required to form a stable government. The most likely variant would be an “Armenian”, grand coalition, ie red, blue, and orange (after said country’s flag). That would incorporate the parties of the Permanent State. Actual voters be damned.
Farage cannot become PM without Badenoch and she would veto indyref2 even if he changed his mind and backed it if the SNP remained in power after next year’s Holyrood elections with Reform holding the balance of power at Holyrood. Starmer certainly won’t allow indyref2 as long as Labour has a majority either
“We hope that’s enough to sustain everyone until 2031, because the way things stand at present, that’s the earliest independence is going to be any sort of live topic again”
Hmmm. I’m reluctant to bet against Stu, but this time I reckon I’m on a dead cert.
A week used to be a long time in politics. Currently that has been reduced to a day.
The UK, the west, Europe and the world are being shaken up like nothing we’ve seen since The Wall came down. By a half-Scot too. If Scottish Indy can’t capitalise on this opportunity, then we will all have to wait until the post-nuclear apocalypse instead.
Then we’ll all be dead. Independent, sure, but dead all the same.
There is 100% no chance of any sane, educated Scot voting for Independence, given the opportunity, until there is an honest, competent Government in place or waiting in the wings. Can anybody see it?
With regard to the attempted hacks. I am no computer expert but would never dream of opening a link, in an email, from an unrecognised source. I am sure most people are the same. Yet, there have been reams of posts from the likes of Gregor of late, with links to whatever. Some people will open them. If someone with bad intentions simply posted under the name gregor (small g), with links, this could be an effective means of intruding malware if opened.
I NEVER open any links from anyone posting on this site even although the poster may appear genuine.
To be honest I don’t think I am missing anything worthwhile from the links that the likes of Gregor or Baird produce ad nausem!
Would you like to add anything else to your conspiracy theory, Chas.
You exclusive bigots might get your way if I’m being censored.
I will revoke my Wings account and will go elsewhere.
You will be free to slander me in my absence.
Will let you know once I’ve confirmed the situation.
Feel free. The rules apply to everyone equally. That includes you.
Just finished watching an Octopus Energy promotional YouTube about their tariffs. I was taken aback by the frankness of this following statement:
“At the moment, the UK electricity price is set by the most expensive unit generated anywhere in the country. We want to move to so-called locational pricing — so it’s set on a local basis instead. That’ll bring down costs all over the country and especially in those areas that have got a lot of renewables. For example, Scotland would go from some of the most expensive electricity in Europe to some of the cheapest — that would bring down bills dramatically — but it works everywhere.”
Good, we don’t need a Section 30 or Westminster approval. liberation.scot and Salvo have secured our way right out of this Union its time for us all to get on board.
The day for begging these foreigners has come to a end tell them where to go and lets not look back.
A union that doesn’t exist and never has we have all been lied to for 300yrs.
You’d think that our pro-independence politicians would be keen to listen, learn and then act, wouldn’t you? Sadly, they seem to resist.
What we need in Holyrood is Independent MSPs with fire in their bellies for leaving the Union.
We have 12 months to make it clear to the SNP and other parties that they either sign the Manifesto for Independence, and co-operate with others in order to maximise the number of independence MSPs, or they will not get our votes.
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I’m having trouble posting its been like that for days. I’ve also been getting diverted to a different website that tries to install malware.
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Me too.
SNAP!
Sarah, yes me too.
It’s defo not all bad news today.
Foreign aid down.
Defence spending up.
BP to ramp up oil & gas production.
There surely must be some opportunities amongst that lot for Scotland to get herself some commercial enterprises and jobs?
Of course, there’s the SNP & Green virtue-signalling roadblocks at HR to bulldoze out of the way first. As we all know, they famously don’t do reality, but if we ordinary voting Scots are smart, we can sweep them into history’s dustbin next year.
Meantime, the closure of the Grangemouth refinery absolutely has to be stopped. Gatwick is the latest southern airport to be listed for expansion. We need to be pushing for the same expansions at ours.
If you cant beat them join them, subvert from within.
Scotland might apply to become a constituent of the Great London urban sprawl, which for decades has been swallowing up neighbouring counties.
Scots would be the largest ethnicity in such an arrangement.
Leverage? Assuming the required intelligence to exploit such an opportunity of course.
“a wildly inflated view of how important Scotland is to the UK economy”.
The transfer of Scotland’s existing wealth is clearly still very significant although not wildly so compared to oil boom years. Why else would the UK be so desperate to hang on to Scotland?
However the greater issue is that of Scotland’s potential. A reasonable comparison can be made by looking at how the UK fares economically compared with other small North European nations over the past few decades since 1990.
Take a look at GDP per capita purchasing power parity from 1990 to 2023 for UK, Denmark, Finland & Iceland. Guess which is the lowest for each year and for all these nations since then except Finland, which was lower than the UK for a few years in the early 1990’s. Others that are higher than the UK since 1990 – Austria, Belgium, Norway, Sweden & with Faroe Islands (since 2008) & Ireland (since 1996),
link to theglobaleconomy.com
So maybe Scotland isn’t now (post oil boom) the massive wealth source that some think it still is, but it is significant. But since independence is supposed to be the goal, maybe it would be better to focus on that than endlessly on the current fubar. After all, what is the point of seeking independence if not to be in a better economic situation than now.
It’s not just all about GDP levels either. Comparing the UK against all of the above countries on a measure of inequality (Gini) shows the same pattern. The UK is the outlier and has the highest level of inequality and has had for decades. The UK can’t even establish a relatively equal nation compared to our neighbours. There is nothing wildly inflated about the prospects of an independent Scotland.
“what is the point of seeking independence if not to be in a better economic situation than now”
Indeed. Make a plausible case for the economic advantages of Indy. Then stand aside, or get trampled underfoot in the rush to vote for it.
“The UK is the outlier and has the highest level of inequality and has had for decades”
Hmmm. Beats me how a country that imports around half a million impoverished incomers, every fecking year, can be expected to have low levels of inequality.
Unless the idea is for the people already here to become eventually dragged down to the same level as the impoverished incomers. That would defo sort it. And looking around, what do we see?
“There is nothing wildly inflated about the prospects of an independent Scotland”
Theoretically no. Practically, as long as we are feart to slay the sacred cows of yesteryear, yes there is. Our Scottish government wants a million impoverished New Scots, and plans to share any wealth we may have with them. It also intends to simultaneously pursue the virtue-signalling fantasies of de-fossilisation and biology denial, to name but two.
These policies are all destined to deliver us stagnation and poverty in spades.
Scotland needs a screeching U turn and several miles of retracing her steps, to find the missed fork in the road we should have taken in 2015.
We can’t rely on any party here, and especially not one lead by Farage.They are all in the trough together, hanging on by their teeth some of them. I think SNP are done and if they ally with labour they are most certainly done. As for the Oil, once the rallying cry for them, now to be left in the ground to appease the greens and the wokerati. How far can you fall..?
If we keep on down this old road it will be 2050 or so, and that is not on. I’m with Sarah, Salvo/Liberation and a People’s movement independent of All the political parties must be how we proceed.
What was Elon Musk up to with the “What did you do last week”, e-Mails sent to Federal employees? This appears to be predicated on the MAGA belief that the Federal payroll is chock full of “ghost workers”.
All that is required to assuage Musk’s threat of instant redundancy (Trump & Musk argue) is for some form of vague response (surely Musk’s techie wunderkinder could run them through an AI filter to ascertain whether they were automatically generated responses?). Is the MAGA meme of thousands and thousands of “no-show jobs”, possible?
The island of Sicily allegedly has way more government funded forestry workers than the relatively meagre amount of forest on the island would require. That would be a classic Mafia ploy of no-show jobs on the public payroll.
Nearer to home, we have the British State’s, Short money. So, what exactly is Short money? Initiated in 1975 and by common convention rather than formal statute, referred to as Short money after the Labour minister who piloted the legislation through parliament, it was intended to finance research and policy development for opposition parties. It has subsequently expanded well beyond any rate of inflation incremental.
Short money is administered by Pariamentary authorities (whatever that means) and the secretariat function is farmed out to the Electoral Commission. As far as auditing that the funds are not misused, the following paragraph is key.
“Parties claiming Short Money must provide the accounting officer of the House of Commons (the clerk of the house) with an auditor’s certificate confirming that all expenses claimed were incurred exclusively in relation to the party’s parliamentary business. They also have to provide information on staff employed and other costs funded through Short Money.”
The “auditor’s certificate” must come from an accountancy firm (even a ramshackle one based in Manchester and specialising in Dental surgeries). It’s therefore an exercise in quantitative reporting rather than qualitative auditing.
Of course, obtaining an informed and impartial opinion on the qualitative output of any “research and policy development” would be problematic. If the authorities dispensing the largesse wanted proof of action, a devious party could generate research and policy documents by AI or good ol’ fashioned cut-and-paste plagiarism.
That said, the SNP appear to be so brazen as to fail to clear even a quantitative hurdle. How many policy papers did the £1.3m per annum in Short money generate? Put another way, how many illiterate and innumerate, feckless relatives of SNP high heid yins are being paid to sit at home and play video games?
In those circumstances, the Parliamentary authorities might be assumed to be pissed off, but that rather misses the point. The Permanent State doesn’t really expect opposition parties to generate actual cogent policy. Short money is the bait for the dependency trap.
Notes:
* Following the record low turnout of the 4th July election, the formula for Short money was adjusted. Money was allocated per 200 votes at £42.82 prior to the election. This was changed to £44.53 per 200 votes, and this was done by the Permanent State, before the new parliament was even convened. We can reject the manifestos put forward by the parties at the ballot box, and they don’t even suffer.
** In January, the Sunday Post reported that a five figure compensation package for the victim of Patrick Grady’s predatory behaviour was paid out from Short money. There is no itemised entry to this effect in the accounts on the Electoral Commission website. The accounts are vague, and that’s how it works. The teenage researcher molested by Grady was given an enhanced severance package based on pay in lieu. Therefore, the Tax Payer was providing compensation for Grady’s gross indiscretions. How this qualifies as an expense incurred “exclusively in relation to the party’s parliamentary business“ I ask with sardonic intent.
“the Tax Payer was providing compensation for Grady’s gross indiscretions. How this qualifies as an expense incurred “exclusively in relation to the party’s parliamentary business“ I ask with sardonic intent”
I’m tempted to answer with sardonic intent too, but I’ll control myself.
If there’s anybody planning on repealing Scotland’s world-leading, flagship hate speech legislation, I have yet to hear of it.
Maybe something Farage could get his teeth into. Might be worth another half mill Scottish votes to him if he does.
The peoples who were once part of empires did not seek freedom because they fancied they would be better off economically they sought freedom for its own sake; they wished to make their own decisions and be allowed to do so.
Scottish nationalist discourse seems heavy with the utilitarian «mair bawbees tae yir sporan» mentality which effectively queers the pitch when it comes to the supreme test of nationhood, the visceral political will and nous to make it happen.
In the casino world of «economics» the semiotics, the superstitions and the reading of the auguries might prove altogether too daunting for the noninitiate masses to chance their luck, even were they given the option in 2039.
The Scottish groundhog permanently stuck in its winter burrow?
Highly respected literary observers of the Scottish psyche have opined that we Scots are the only nation in the world to have turned what is elsewhere universally seen as a vice (meanness) into a virtue (thrift).
That has spawned an entire genre of jokes. Of course, these days, humour is institutionally frowned upon as it carries the risk of some snowflake melting when she encounters it.
Does worrying about being poorer affect some Scots’ view of Indy? You betcha!
Does worrying about being poorer affect some New Scots’ view of Indy? You betcha!
Interesting, no?, that settling these fears would produce not only a surge in Indy support from indigenous Scots, but from the New Scots that are supposedly holding us back too (the franchise dilution claim).
Beats me why nobody makes a real effort to settle this one, once and for all.
Being better off, a condition generally reserved for the few, the very few.
The rest must decide on the basis of the feasible, the necessary as the streets are only paved in gold in fairy stories.
Maybe Scots need to get out of the nursery?
Independents 4 Independence issued a statement on Saturday [22nd Feb] – see Barrhead Boy.
They aim to gather a support group for real pro-independence candidates who will be taking immediate action for independence if elected. The candidates will stand under the I4I umbrella at the 2026 elections.
This is NOT a party – it is an umbrella for proper independence workers. It sounds like the first step in the direction we wish for. JockMcT, I hope this encourages you a little.
Mind you, the Rev is talking about starting his own party – the F You party. Sounds like a winner! I hope this time that you will do so, Rev – would bring on board all the Wee Blue Book readers, I’m sure.
“Failed ‘decapitate Terfs’ SNP MP HAS been hired by taxpayer-funded Rape Crisis Scotland
Ousted former Glasgow MP Alison Thewliss has been hired by Rape Crisis Scotland, which is funded mostly by the Scottish Government, despite not having a career outside politics.”
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link to scottishdailyexpress.co.uk
#DrainTheSwamp
Somebody. Anybody. Just do it.
She’s “never had a job outside politics”.
Says it all.
#DrainTheSwamp
Swamp test.
I would love to know what the “true Scots” hate about reform
Well apart from them being English
Or do you want open borders, expensive power and massive tax bills
“apart from them being English”
There is no “apart from them being English”, YS. Them being perceived as English is 100% of the objection.
To be clear, it’s not an objection I share. Good policies are good policies, wherever they come from. All Reform have to do is recruit a few locally-accented realists and their Scottish vote will surge.
It’s all about perception. Whether or not we in Scotland are being “swamped”, it’s increasingly difficult to go out and about in any Scottish town or city without being reminded that the ethnic mix has changed substantially over what it was even 10 years ago.
And then, when you turn on the TV, there’s the jihadists marching on British streets, calling for war and murder in a foreign language. If it’s already too late for England, we can still try to save Scotland from that fate.
Of course, we could do that as an Independent Scotland too. But first, our pro-Indy parties and movements need to adopt some of the policies that makes the likes of Reform resonate with the zeitgeist of 2025.
No sign of that so far, so many Scottish voters will go for the only party/movement that might give them what they want.
We’ve had 11 years of home-grown, authentically Scottish, pointless virtue signalling and just look at the state of Scotland as a result. Enough is enough.
the english wanted multiculturalism because they are greedy bastards – they got what they wanted, they always do
– now live with it, and don’t make us your lifeboat. Stay out of Scotland.
it’s not vlad’s missiles the anglos have to worry about, but the indefatigable muslim cock
#inshallah, #pakirapegangs4eva, #6fingerbrigade, #pumpyourcousin
the main alien outsider dont-belong-here problem for Scotland is the english; they are the historical enemy and will always be the problem in its essence
I want to be rich, in an independent Scotland, laughing at the new muslim PM of England. I shall see that in my lifetime.
they are little englanders who want to r4pe Scotland senseless, front and back for whatever resources it needs – and it needs a lot – to “make england great again”
– what is not to HATE?
have you been paying attention at all
do you revel in some cuckold second rate existence?
if you are into humiliation at least pay for it proper like, and get some hooker to whip your arse
we also already get massive energy bills because of the fucked up “energy” (fake) market which is setup to guarantee profits
– and once they have had all the oil and gas, they will take the cheap wind leccy too; in time they may even steal the water, then for the final spit in the face, site their super nuclear waste dump they are being very coy about
then, the english, on the run from their own BAMES will flee to the highlands and the borders, and also flood the central belt where the natives live, with more of these BAMS
this is all england, from the fucking english, because they are narcissistic ethno supremacist arseholes who think the world revolves around them and everyone wants to be like them. Nah. They are the world’s worst shits and everyone hates them.
“I want to be rich”
Reasonable enough. But you interminably post about other things, today’s efforts being no exception.
Alert readers, familiar with Freud, might conclude there’s something you want even more.
BTW, wind leccy isn’t cheap. If you don’t believe me, get yourself up on your roof, or out in your garden, and fill your boots with all the “cheap wind leccy” you can harvest.
Mind and return to tell us how much you’re coining it in from your cheap leccy bonanza.
We don’t like Tories. Pay attention, numbskull.
You are less welcome than the hacking attempt
Mayor Swinney of Brigadoom proposes to convene a war cooncil of “mainstream” parties to counter RefUK. In doing so, he would expose the SNP as a force of status quo acting as an impediment against an evolving political environment. The SNP are already the face of perpetual devolution, so nae change there then.
Former MP for Glasgow South and current full time cheerleader for an ethno-supremacist regime in Easter Europe, Stewart McDonald is off on manoeuvres. This time, it’s Berlin. McDonald’s activities and output have not materially altered since he lost his £90k pa position as an MP. It’s almost as if he’s still on the payroll.
Stripping USAID of its budget and handing that to a State Department headed up by Marco Rubio is a distinction without difference. Rubio is smart enough not to contradict the boss in public, but he was always a creature of the Permanent Sate.
Two posts from “different” posters in the space of half an hour using the rare term “ethno supremacist”.
Makes you think, eh?
Who says the “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” had no basis in fact?
Anyway, that’s Starmer (the wet wipe with a haircut) off to bend the knee to The Donald to be told what to do.
Reminds you of Rawhead Rex p1shing on the priest..
I guess if The Donald tells him to expel the illegals, crack down on the jihadists, and drill, baby, drill, we’ll all be safer, richer and happier.
Heck, he might show him a couple of anatomical pics too. “This one is what we call a woman, this other one is what we call a man.” A double whammy on the safer, richer and happier metric.
If the latter happens, we could crowdfund a repeat trip for many of the HR dunces. It’s long overdue for them to learn something about the real world.
The basic facts of human biology might be a good place to start.
The Independent (27/02/25): AG Pam Bondi confirms ‘pretty sick’ Jeffrey Epstein files coming Thursday:
“Pam Bondi said that more files related to convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein will be released by the Department of Justice on Thursday. The attorney general has branded the documents as being “pretty sick.”…”:
link to independent.co.uk
So Rev Stu no comment on the fact that Liberation are definitely goinghina to the UN?
China will be one of the countries on the deciding committee. Mention an unfair British Treaty to them and they will all over it like a rash. Unfair British Treaties are a major bugbear in Chinese culture after what we forced onto them in the Opium War.
Tibet might be a sensitive issue for China. They may well fall back on Article 7 “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state..”