Humza Yousaf’s Last Week
So this is pretty embarrassing.
The Scottish National Party’s primary and defining purpose is Scottish independence. Next weekend’s “special conference” will at least notionally determine its policy on that subject for years to come. On the face of it it’s the most important congregation of party members in the SNP’s history.
The Caird Hall can accommodate just 3% of the claimed membership. (And you’d expect at least half the seats to have been reserved in advance for the faithful payroll.) Members ought to be fighting like dogs for a ticket. And yet a week before the event the leader is having to send out pleading letters to try to scare up enough attendees that it won’t be a half-empty humiliation.
(The choice of a relatively small venue was presumably made on purpose to try to avoid a repeat of last year’s conference in Aberdeen, where a few hundred delegates rattled around an arena that can hold 10,000.)
But perhaps Humza Yousaf is panicking because he knows the special conference could bring his hapless leadership of the SNP to an abrupt end.
Having barely limped across the winning line in the leadership election, beating Kate Forbes by just 52% to 48% on second preferences despite having the full weight of the party machine behind him, Yousaf’s position isn’t exactly strong. And now he has to put it on the line by recommending one of two terrible options to the membership:
(1) Effectively go back to the proven failure of a strategy pursued (if that’s not putting it too strongly) by Nicola Sturgeon for most of her eight-year reign: begging Westminster for a second referendum they’re never going to grant.
The true meaning of that option is of course surrender, and all of the signalling coming out of the party at the moment suggests that it’s the likeliest choice. It would effectively end the SNP as an independence party and reposition it as a devo-max one. We’re not sure members are quite ready for that.
(2) Revive Sturgeon’s last-ditch Hail-Mary adoption of “Plan B” – conducting the next election as a de facto referendum, a plan Yousaf was noticeably lukewarm about just a couple of months ago and which much of the Parliamentary party is virulently opposed to because they fear it could lose them their cushy jobs.
Either of those runs the very real risk of being defeated in the room. And surely an SNP leader who couldn’t get his chosen independence strategy backed would have to quit on the spot.
But Yousaf is really struggling for alternatives, although two wildcards are available to him. Just for fun let’s dignify them with numbers suggesting they’re real possibilities:
(3) Attempt to kick the can down the road yet again by farming the decision out to the “regional assemblies” he promised during the leadership campaign. The main downside being that it would make a somewhat obvious mockery of the entire point of having the conference at all.
(4) Or he could of course adopt the policy devised by this website in February and endorsed soon afterwards by his rival candidate Ash Regan, which would invite the rather pointed question of why she wasn’t leader rather than him.
(We’re definitely ruling out Yousaf announcing that he’s going to dissolve the current Parliament and hold an immediate plebiscitary election, even though Yes has led in two of the last three polls. Maybe he’ll surprise us.)
We genuinely don’t know which of the four options Yousaf is going to present to the conference a week tomorrow, and we’d be willing to bet that he doesn’t either. We wouldn’t rule any of them out, although the first two are still the hot favourites.
His nature will be pushing him towards anything that avoids a real decision and buys him some more time, but we suspect he’s already on fairly thin ice with the party grassroots – last night’s huge 14% swing to Labour in the Bellshill council by-election was a less than auspicious sign – and it may come down to how many of them can be bothered to show up at all.
(In truth we’re quite curious about how many M/SPs will make the effort.)
But either way the stakes are high. Overall the odds are probably against Yousaf being defenestrated, but not by as much as one might normally expect for a leader of just a few weeks. His jacket is on a shoogly peg and this could just be a less boring summer for Scottish politics than anyone is anticipating.
5th Option. Produces a hidden ukulele from inside his jackets and performs Once In a Lifetime by Talking Heads. He’d get my vote.
Carrot talk and empty heads= create empty seats,
> Once In a Lifetime by Talking Heads
“And you may ask yourself, “Where is that large automobile?””
Hmm. Maybe a bit too on the nose.
“which much of the Parliamentary party is virulently opposed to because they fear it could lose them their cushy jobs”
I’m old enough to remember when it was just simply accepted that the purpose of SNP MPs was to make themselves unemployed.
Oh to have been a fly on the wall at that meeting between Kate Forbes amd Big Eck
On my early morning visit to this site, I was so glad to see that I did not have to look at Kirsty Blackman’s Genitals.
Can Humza Yousaf resign on the spot without needing a special conference to elect his successor? I doubt the SNP finances could stand it. I mean, there are rules about how long the election has to be and I’m sure the NEC will be fastidious in keeping to the timetable mandated by the party’s constitution.
Whatever the feelings of the non-payroll vote, I am sure Humza Yousaf’s plan, whatever it is, will be adopted unanimously.
And how many of those attending will be wokists, aspiring ‘career politicians’ or personal buddies of whichever MSPs feel obliged to show face?
Strip them away and there may be some genuine independence supporters left, but how many are capable of thinking for themselves? How many have posters of Nicola up in their bedrooms?
Take them out and who’s left?
We’re watching the actual death of a major political party in real-time, and still there are those who trot out the ‘only vehicle’ mantras while the leadership openly threatens anyone who won’t shout Nicola’s innocence from the rooftops. (And why isn’t that considered a clear breach of the sub-judice rules?)
WGD and his ilk are fucking idiots and this is all on them – they’d best be prepared to own this for the rest of the lives because there is no way they can ever claim they weren’t warned.
This calamitous ‘conference’ is the perfect opportunity for them to put up their hands and apologise. But we know they won’t. So, the very least they could do now is just shut their faces once and for all – Paul Kavanagh shutting his geggie permanently would be a good start.
What happens if not enough people turn up to count anything decided as viable?
Humza will not resign. Politicians have learned that they can simply ignore bad news and wait for the media cycle to churn and the next item to leapfrog it.
The SNP are now inconsequential to our needs. We will achieve independence, or not, without them. The sooner we move away from this dead-end the better.
“ Paul Kavanagh shutting his geggie permanently would be a good start“ No heard the geggie word in such a long time. Classic … bravo Ian.
Hmmm. What would a 14% swing do to Peter Pishfart’s majority I wonder.
Apart from the fact that the gig on the 24th is likely to be a woke fest of embarrassment, that will further alienate voters in Scotland, a “plebiscitary election” with Labour on around 14% swings, sounds really exciting.
It’s believed that the term Beatlemania was coined when the Fab Four played the Caird Hall and the fans were queuing from 3 in the morning to get in.
Sixty years later Humza’s appearing there and they’re having to round people up.
Never mind Talking Heads, he should perform The Beatles’ “I’m A Loser”….with his UKulele.
Both Sturgeon and Yousaf demonstrate that, in a colonial regime “the political leaders…they first hesitate and then choose neutralism” (Frantz Fanon)
In truth we’re quite curious about how many M/SPs will make the effort”
==========
Don’t be. Instead, ask yourself, Does it matter?
With hindsight, Billy Connolly’’s description of HR, as “a wee pretendy parliament” is both flattering and inaccurate.
It is in truth a horror story: an utterly Mickey Mouse assembly of inadequates, un- thinking and brain-dead (not just the SNP MSPs) who lack the intellectual curiosity, investigative nous, application or cerebral equipment to scrutinise executive policy adequately.
This makes them the easiest of easy meat for pressure groups pushing agendas with nothing to do with Scottish independence. Not only that. Sturgeon’s regime actually PAID such outsiders to write policy for them.
Just ask yourself this: what impact ion Scottish independence was factored into Stonewall’s advocacy of GRR or Rape Crisis Scotland’s submissions on jury abolition in certain trials?
Send a mole in with a spy cam and a hidden microphone to capture their conversations on the ground. While the people’s movement march in the Stirling sunshine to Bannockburn for freedom.
Once they’ve learnt everyone’s preferred pronouns it’ll be time for lunch.
After lunch there will be a seance with Yousaf asking if the spirit of independence is in the room.
At the exit there will be collection buckets with Sturgeon’s face on them.
Mac @ 11.07
Lower his chances of achieving his long held ambition to become Speaker of the HoC ?
Oh, please, say it ain’t so. After so many years dedicated service to the cause of Scottish independence surely it isn’t too much to expect that a grateful Westminster should grant him this one, minor, heart’s desire of his.
Like the fake hustings that Mike Russell organised filled with councillors where he couldn’t see to the back. And the Emma Harper leaked email list to lobby for Humza. And when architect of the vow, Unionist SNP spin doctor Murray Foote quit the party when Murrell made him lie about the membership numbers.
They won’t be clapping like seals this time around or sending Humza flowers, unfortunately he’s not the best policitian in Europe like Nicola.
I don’t care.
Izzie will be along to tell us that it’s all going to be a big success with the recent influx of new SNP supporters. then, no matter the subject of the article, the unionist mob will also be along to tell us independence is just a very, very bad idea anyway and applaud one another’s comments while enjoying baiting anyone supporting independence like a sneering common room of school prefects.
I’m done with this. IB, could you put up that link to your site again please?
The careerist and opportunists may have already made plans to leave the SNP and go back into Labour they must smell blood in the water by now
The party books, audited by the dental accountancy firm that hasn’t signed off its own accounts. The cooked books no one is allowed to see.
MI5 voice voting systems, built in specifications allowing to purchaser to see and add to the voting.
A false First Minister in Bute House.
Unfortunately Kate Forbes was too Christian for the SNP. And Ash Regan wanted Independence.
Get rid of the false First Minister.
I think Humza is on a very shoogley peg after threatening his own MSPs to resign if they cannot back Nicola. By issuing threats as a means of creating unity he has showed himself to be weak and lacking leadership skills and authority. He made it look like Nicola was still in charge and he has now tethered his premiership to the criminal enquiry and her fate. When he also makes such demands, this also pisses off activists, donors and members who will take their efforts, money, membership and votes elsewhere.
This has occurred already after the demands from Alyn Smith, Emma Roddick and Shirely-Anne Summerville that those MSP opposing the GRR should leave party. However the rebels reflected the opinions of the majority of the party members and the electorate. This filtered down to the membership with 30k subsequently leaving. The party acted as if it had an abundance of members voters in reserve who they could afford to lose. Sturgeon of course at least had enough sense to see that such a call would backfire and insisted there was still a place for them within the party but the damage was done. There is no doubt that the arrogant intervention of these three resulted in the huge collapse of membership and Murrell’s resignation after the true membership numbers were issued.
Humza has now gone on to make a fatal error by yet again threatening the likes of Regan who holds enough support from members and voters that marginal seats would be lost if they walk too.
The papers were a bit quieter yesterday, suggesting that Kevin Pringle has managed top cool things down. Hopefully he has taken Humza into a room for a grown up conversation.
It’s all over. Find a new hobby. Or soon you’ll sound like codger Jacobites wailing about your Prince Over The Water.
Own up – you never wanted true independence anyway. You wanted Nanny to hold your hand – the EU, NATO. It’s all balls: the only independence worth having is too manly a version to appeal to the softies and sissies and socialists of the Scotnaz party.
Less boring?
You mean….going round in circles…on constant repeat….but less frequently?
There are far too many bams entrenched via Nicola in our politics now…to hope that anything can change positively re independence.
The English parliament is laughing at our tail chasing. Means they don’t have to get involved.
This is hopeless….and navel gazing bull.
This is amusing. By way of context, my local Tory association is still begging for attendees at its conference TOMORROW lol
@The Isolator (11.03) –
Aye, he could at least motivate folk by announcing that he’ll never write another blogpost.
IB: Paul Kavanagh shutting his geggie permanently would be a good start
==========
He doesn’t get everything wrong.
His June 13 post on the Sturgeon resignation comments
I had been expecting this development as Nicola Sturgeon was the last remaining person who had signed off on the set of SNP accounts which are central to this investigation who had not been arrested for questioning. Her husband Peter Murrell, former chief executive of the party and former party treasurer Colin Beattie had both previously been arrested for questioning, and like both of them Nicola Sturgeon was later released without charge, pending further inquiries.”
BUT, to give yourself a real laugh scroll back to the previous WGD’s BTL comments and imagine the egg this leaves on the face of PK’s most loyal subscribers.
Remember when Yousaf said vote for me, and the first thing I will do is bring Independence into 5th gear. All that pish about regional assemblys talking shops. And attend lead the Independence march. Then pledges his allegiance to the King as a loyal subject. Then he handed over the Stone of Destiny and followed it’s exit out of Edinburgh Castle.
He’s kissing king Charles toes. Will be singing God Save the King like Nicola?
Quagmire of Process, Wilderness of Mirrors, Horns of Dilemma, Country of the Blind..
the Party has staged all these gigs.
Is FM Youssaf planning a tribute tour?
Anybody got a musty cellar for rent?
Re Yusaf and Sarwar being applauded in the Scottish Parliament for blatant anti white speeches and the prospect of them heading a coalition government, you may ask yourself, where does that highway go to?
And the missing 600K? The cavaravan. The 3 police investigations into the SNP? What about them Mr Yousaf? The arrest of Peter Murrell. Nicola Sturgeon. Colin Beattie. Let’s send them flowers.
HMPA highland clearances. Bottle recycling poll tax to cost hundreds of millions in compensation. Jenny Gilruth, SNP Rail 1 million pounds wasted now resigned.
Will Scotland have to identify as a transgender country before were allowed to ask for our equal rights? Will Amy George be voting from the SNP from the male or female jail Shona Robinson?
The First Slactivist isn’t the only Holyrood party leader with problems.
Alex Cole-Hamilton’s woke fanaticism and speeches about how Scotland shouldn’t exist has been rewarded with a whopping 34 votes in Bellshill.
Is that a record low poll for the Lib Dems in a council seat?
“cut your dick off for indy”
– might fly. If Scotland becomes a fully-trans-identifying nation we can leverage the power of the world’s most powerful political lobby.
Stonewall will bully westminster on our behaf, the UK will just agree to it all, and no funny business, for fear of being branded “transphobic”.
Maybe this was La Nikki’s plan all along – wheels within wheels. If only we just (abandoned logic, the evidence of our own eyes – and) trusted her.
or, or … it’s coming … presbyterianism isn’t working, so let’s try islam
declare the union haram, scottish indy a fatwa and unionist/shills/fake-nats “kuffar”, thus we leverage another power, that of the worldwide mojahedin.
Yousaf better be praying to Mecca from Bute House like he did on the day he posted the picture when entered for some divine intervention.
All he has to do is phone up the prophet Alex Salmond the leader of the Independence movement to guide him on his way.
Quote , Billy Connelly “Wee pretendy parliement” is very accurate actually,
With Scotland not in a union with Westminster parliament the devolved government is indeed a wee pretendy parliament,
A appropriate comment by the “big yin”
Last post. Will he even turn up to the convention that’s no one’s allowed to vote at, and no policy will be decided on?
Or will he schedule another fake meeting with the Pakistani ambassador so he misses the vote. Like he did during the same sex gay marriage vote then lied about it?
@Ian Brotherhood 11.47am
Aye .. the charlatan & imposter and no mistake. Like Sturgeon …more than a whiff of British Labour aboot him. Funny since her arrest they’re all lookin to break cover. As we used tae say as bairns. The games up the pole.
Maybe the SNP should have advertised the conference to include a Bingo night with Humza calling the numbers, I feel sure they could have attracted a another 5.
Useless’s only purpose was to continue the can-kicking that Sturgeon was so effective at. If the goal that’s scored from more can-kicking is to lose a chunk of support but still be the largest mironity party then that is perfect for him, the SNP leadership and a signficant portion of the SNP party members.
Yes, it’ll almost certainly result in a larger Labour party and a coalition between them and the SNP, at the cost of seeking independence during the coalition, which let’s face it was never going to happen anyway.
The question is whether Useless will survive as leader and given there are so many senoir SNP troughers that don’t actually want independence, I think Useless’s position as leader is safe. After all, we know the voting can be (was?) rigged and there’s no reason to believe Useless won’t continue to win any future votes, and in my cynical view he’ll win with a greater margin now that the party machine knows what it has to do to make that happen.
End result? independence kicked down the road even further, and that’s assuming the SNP just don’t come right out and say they’re now a devo-max party, which as we all know has a very high probability of happening.
Ian Brotherhood @10:53am has it right. The audience is sure to be packed with the faithful. Everything under the Sturgeon regime has been carefully stage managed and this will be no different.
The Bellshill election turnout shows the way. SNP Members will simply give up leaving the Devo-Maxxers firmly in place. It will take a while but the voting base will simply wither away over the next few years. The troughers will be lapping up the gravy as fast as they can, while it lasts. Towards the end and the SNP is dead electorally, the careerists will find a new home in the Labour Party, declaring that they are determined to fight the good fight against the evil Tories or whatever replaces them.
That’s the fate of the SNP. What the rest of the electorate do is anyone’s guess. There seem to be only two options left: give up completely or fight (metaphorically speaking).
I am hearing the latest Scot gov paper says we should use the pound and take some of their debt.
This is beyond stupid.
As Salmond said if we take debt where’s the assets
Will we get a seat at the UN, can we have some nuclear weapons, do we get access to the security records and info. That’s a no then. Well the debt is in the name of the bank of England and authorised by Westminster. It is theirs.
Use the failing pound that has lost 60 percent in the last few years. Idiots! name one successful country that uses another countries currency . None
Use the pound they have control. Can’t use the euro right away so we must have our own.
Be lucky if Humza says anything let alone a Back Me or Sack Me demand.
Whats the chances a major diplomatic issue arises that needs him elsewhere?
I’m wondering what about the Minister for Independence, shouldnt he be front and centre in all this?
BTW..Talking Heads
Letter in most recent Private Eye ( which also covered the North lanarkshire debacle as see in Wings) …reader asking about the Large Automobile…how come it was transported during Nicolas’ lockdown?
Stu,
I have this character picture slowly forming in my head by the choice of your music, the hair style choice, the no nonsense call a spade a spade journalism personality.
And then try knit it together with your beautiful photography of nature and your protection of the vunerable like children and women,
Two souls within the same body, and not a pronoun in sight.
@James Che
I believe the term is Two Spirit (In The Sky).
How to latch on to the YES support, without addressing the pertinent question? I’m sure that trick is already rehearsed, to perfection.
Best bet, SNP to disappear completely, emerging under a new guise.
Yusless should not be greedy – he has achieved his dream – a FM pension.
Before the grift totally collapses he should hand over the leadership to someone else (Somerville?)
With time and luck most MSPs could rotate in to receive FM pensions.
100%Yes @12:31 pm
Aye, Humza as a bingo caller. A job much more suited to his abilities.
Here are some bingo calls for HY.
Police Marquee….number 3
Ask For More…..number 4 (more donations plea)
Unused mandate…..number 8
Motorhome in drive……25
Stacked NEC……43
Accounting Tricks…..56
Men in Women’s Loo……62
Queen Bee……73 (Sturgeon)
McLaughlin & Oswald…..88
Er that’s enough.
Beauvais says: 12:02 pm
“Alex Cole-Hamilton’s woke fanaticism and speeches about how Scotland shouldn’t exist has been rewarded with a whopping 34 votes in Bellshill.
Is that a record low poll for the Lib Dems in a council seat”?
I remember them getting beaten into 4th or 5th place by a guy in a ‘Pingu the Penguin’ suit in Edinburgh a few years ago. Fecking hilarious. Unionist tw*ts.
£10 + traveling and accommodation expenses just to have my vote ignored if they don’t like the result. I’m only hanging on for the next leadership election.
My guess is only the Sturgeon loyalists and TRA wrecker faction will even turn up. Which means whatever strategy they decide on will be the one that does most harm to the independence cause and most to piss off the wider independence movement. Let’s face it: the SNP is now run by U.K. state actors and unionists who think (know) they’ve won. All they have left is rubbing faces in it, trolling and maybe bayoneting the odd wounded pro Indy person.
We need a really strong turnout in Stirling and we need to be figuring out what our post SNP tactics for independence are.
The earlier suggestion, of quick rotation of SNP First Ministers, to qualify for that lifetime pension, is too near the knuckle.
If SNP had stuck to it’s task, by delivering independence, the entire party would have been made for life, here in Scotland.
They are now marked as ("Tractor" - Ed)s, wherever they end-up.
whatever happened to Steward McDonald’s emails? would be really interested to know his real views on all this.
have always felt he’s more interested in Ukraine than independence for Scotland. It’s a weird one. Of course it’s important but both are important.
I wonder if Nicola will make a surprise Evita-like appearance at the conference.
“It won’t be easy, you’ll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I’ve done
You won’t believe me, all you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she’s dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you
I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn’t stay all my life down at heel…”
I wonder if those loyal SNP members that were at the Hydro conference in 2015 will be wondering “Have we’ve really fallen this low? Why is that?” and start to wake up…
Wishful thinking, I know
Yousless…Hmm, how do I dupe enough folk into believing that I’ll at the very least hold an indyref or something similar, without actually achieving anything on the indyfront at all.
The current SNP are utterly toxic as are the Greens.
I think that the COPFS and Police Scotland should troll the SNP conference on the day it starts. Issue charges against Sturgeon, or arrest Humza Yousaf for something (after all, most SNP leaders seem to get arrested for something or other, but nobody is quite sure what).
That might take the topic off the table.
Anton Decadent,
😉
@Cath
“We need a really strong turnout in Stirling and we need to be figuring out what our post SNP tactics for independence are.”
I fully agree about Stirling! Regarding the second-part of your prescription: Vote Alba, sign-up to Salvo/Liberation.scot and invest ten-quid in a copy (@Amazon) of Alf Baird’s book Doun-Hauden (The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence).
Shug,
Re National debt,
One of the subjects not observed or well researched/ noticed, is that the Bank of England is officially the Bank of England and Wales,
IT IS NOT THE BANK OF GREAT BRITAIN.
And is not a bank that lends money as such,
I wrote a post about this a few weeks back after researching it.
It has connections to Westminster prior to the hoax treaty, through appointments,
The Bank of England is also a Corporation,
Scotland has no treaty with that Corporation…..or with Westminster come to that.
Where’s Izzie? Packing her bag for the conference?
I’m still waiting for an answer to my last question to her. She obviously didn’t like my answers to her questions.
Perhaps she’s had a Damascene moment.
The theme song for this SNP Convention on Grifting should be another Talking Heads’ tune ..ie..
” We’re on the road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin’ that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride ”
Not 100% apt though : that Party is on the road to somewhere .
Oblivion
I don’t think Yousaf is the only one in a panic.
The current unedifying sight of both the SNP and Westminster feverishly flapping about in disarray gives me hope that independence might be closer than we think.
I get the sense that something has gone catastrophically wrong with Westminster’s plan to manipulate and kill-off Scotland’s drive for independence.
One contributing factor to that sense of panic could be Westminster realising its mistake in conflating the movement for Scottish independence with the SNP.
I also sense that Scotland’s bane has only recently come to the realisation of just what a galactically huge miscalculation it made in giving Sturgeon and crew too long a leash.
Who in Whitehall could’ve guessed she was that stupid – that they were all that stupid?
Everything we’ve been witnessing over the last several weeks stinks of a panic-induced emergency cover-up.
The recent spate of high-profile government resignations and the rushed and ill-conceived appointments to fill those vacant positions left in the wake, indicates a desperate rearguard action by Westminster in an attempt to avert an extinction-level event for the ‘union’.
I use the term ‘rearguard’ in this sense:
It’s as if beach defences are about to be breached by a huge oceanic swell and everyone is rushing to the shore with a sandbag.
I think what we are seeing right now is an inevitable part of the process of Scotland breaking free from it’s colonial chains and the remains of the British Empire.
I don’t know if us Scots will succeed in our bid to be free of our oppressor, but to paraphrase the Kurgan, “It’s better to burn out trying than to fade away.”
And as the veil of union illusion is cast aside, the true face of Scotland’s bane is being revealed – and it was never going to be anything other than ugly.
SNP won’t give a shite about Independence because they’ve been hijacked.
They’re the Green party & their membership only care about remaining in power to implement even more half arsed woke shit.
When Ash wasn’t voted as leader that told us everything we need to know about them.
They’ll come out of this conference with Sturgeons failed bullshit message of a section 30 & to keep convincing next doors cat.
That’s if it even goes ahead. Dumbza will be praying to his god for a crisis to happen next week so it can be cancelled. Let’s hope it’s some arrests over the Salmond debacle.
James Che
Any thoughts on the relationship between Scotland and the City of London? Particularly with regard to debt / money issued – is it classed as foreign aid?
Northcode,
you must be smoking something illegal.
Scots Indy is far further away than at anytime since 2014. It’s going backwards, tripping over itself in hasty retreat. There is literally nobody about to stand up and make it happen. Not even Salmond, who is currently acting with all of the political agility of a stunned slug.
Forget the “once in a generation” nonsense that was spouted. At the current rate of progress, it’s going to be a half dozen generations before it just might come back on the agenda, and that’s because there is literally nobody at all in Scotland who has even the vaguest idea of what Indy might look like, how to persuade more than half of the people, or who has done the joined up thinking about how to make it happen. People seem more concerned about ancient meaningless guff and moaning like ninnies about colonialism.
Stuart MacKay,
The city of London, although not all of it is a Corporation, the section that is bringing in the Ulez and where finances and trade deals are made where that silly Mayor of london is, is a corporation,
I am not sure which section however, held the Treaty of London in 1915 also known as the London Pact,
This treaty was made and only later on after the deal was done presumed that ” it meant England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, although there was no mention of these in the treaty,
Humza Yousaf’s SNP conference attendees: Sagebrush silence or Ceau?escu cacophony? Either would do.
Stuart MacKay,
When it relates to national debt with the private Corporation of London and a Corporate Bank of England and Wales.
I do not see Scotland liable for any of the it,
The borrowing powers for national debt has always resided south of the border, Scotland never had those powers,
We ( Scotland) only got a wee pretendy devolved parliament recently. And it exists under legislation from Westminster, So still not Scottish liability, Prior to that Scotland was “extinguished” from the treaty of union since 1707,
So Scotland has been unable to borrow or contribute to the national debt for England and Wales since that date,
@ Beauvais
Well done we should adopt these mecca numbers.
North Code,
I had noticed the unionists arrogant assumption that the SNP were the independence movement, and therefore they must go
What was more arrogant was the Snp had presumed the same thing as the unionist,
And now its falling apart and the % wanting independence is still rising, the penny is dropping,
Next they will be trying to gather us together under one umbrella excuse or another, to define the independence grassroots leaders for a easier target,
They want to finish it but the target keeps moving to a different place they thought it was.
Remember, ASA. There’s no smoke without fire, as the idiom goes.
The trouble with linear thinking is that it only ever goes from A to B, and occasionally back again, and never reaches C.
Thinking laterally in five dimensions whilst baking macarons to perfection and simultaneously planning one’s next space mission to Mars is far beyond the current evolutionary development of most humans, cute as they are.
You would do well to remember that I’m writing from the perspective of hindsight and historical fact here in the year 2063.
I can’t say too much – prime directives and negating my own existence and all that stuff- but events back in your time are about to get, bizarrely, more bizarre.
Wait till you see what happens over the next couple of weeks (in your time frame) in the SNP saga – A Song of Murk and Mire.
It’s a hoot – at least it is from my viewpoint here in the future.
Thankfully we appear to have had enough of Kirsty Blackman’s genitals.
@Shug 12:43
We could use the BRICS currency. Whatever that is.
“Can we have some nuclear weapons?”
An excellent question. Anybody noticed what can happen to newly independent countries when they let their former colonialist, imperial overlords keep all the nukes? Anybody?
As to the Euro. Sure, that’s the rules for any country joining the EU. Is de facto post-Indy EU membership still part of the SNP “Independence” deal? Only if it is, I won’t be supporting a sham “Independence” like that one.
Wait 320 years, only to be ruled from Brussels? Fuck that.
@David Hannah 11:33
“False First Minister”
Thanks for remembering this crucial fact behind Yousaf’s pretendy sojourn in the wee, pretendy parliament.
Beauvais says: Never mind Talking Heads, he should perform The Beatles’ “I’m A Loser”….with his UKulele.
Perhaps ‘Help’, would be apt at this time.
President Xiden…
Thanks. I was just about to cook my tea. I seem to have suddenly lost my appetite.
BTW….why do the arseholes born here, who then eff-off and live elsewhere, continue to pitch up on BTL and behave as though we needed their advice or gave a toss about their ex-pat opinions? Nothing like the arrogance of those who leave who then preach to those they left behind.
John Main,
There is no BRICS currency at the moment, what BRICS nations will be doing is cutting out the American middle man in any future trade they conduct with the rest of the world, the African nations are going to follow suit.
You may think that removing the Dollar from the transactional equation of trade between other countries won’t matter one jot but I’m quite sure Washington won’t be jumping for joy at the prospect.
James Che.
Have you ever noticed that arrogance has a constant and unfailingly loyal companion?
It’s called stupidity. It’s always there, lurking in the background – or more recently right up there front and centre in the foreground.
And when arrogance’s arrogantly arrogant plans fall apart its owners invariably don a look of dumb incredulity when it becomes clear to them that their ‘clever’ designs have failed.
Humza is doomed to fail its just a matter of time, but when?
I haven’t met anyone willing to put their big toe under the wheel of a bus, but this is what the SNP and the leadership are wanting to do.
The SNP has two option 1 Fight tooth and nail for Independence and lose some their jobs or 2 Fight tooth and nail and deny Independence and lose everything that the party had achieved after 2014 for me it makes no sense why the SNP want to chose option 2.
Humza could be a decent block if he just opened his eyes and noticed the people he calls friend are no friends at all and are actively waiting and wanting him to fail.
Heritage 3.27pm
Re SNP membership.
The SNP turned into the Greens/Scottish Labour Party.
Their new membership consists of Trans perverts who like the idea of having free prescriptions and free University tuition fees.
There isn’t a true Indy activist left in the SNP.
@Breastplate
“You may think …”
Try to respond to what I post, not to what you think I may think.
As you point out, there is no BRICS currency. I say that makes things a smidge difficult for any country wishing to adopt an external currency, iScotland maybes.
BTW, the ‘S’ stands for South Africa, which is an African nation. So not following suit. In at the start, if it ever starts.
Beauvais
Had to add.
Suspensions no more………74
Tuition not free…………93
Please pay my fine………..99
69………………………96
Just tell us when…..number 10
Procrastinate…………….78
Devo Max Heaven…….number 11
North Code,
You will go to the Top of the class with all those straight AAAs.
Northcode
I am working is a script also.
PI am looking at that period when SNP policies started to appear, that compromised independence, who was driving them and their backgrounds and personal habits.
I occasionally have to wear a pair of marigolds.
I am struggling with a title right enough but at the moment I am running with the “Ganasher compromise”.
Yousaf knows his role. Tread water, nothing more, nothing less.
When the dam is ready to bust, the distress flares will be of no use.
SNP has nowhere else to go, than disappear in the flood.
The animals went in two by two.
James Che, 🙂
North Code,
Dumber and dumber, indeed a companion of arrogance, but what is their destination to be without the ally of domineering personality.
G Mason @11:34am, not so much ‘pissin off the activists’, mair likes pissin aw ower them!!
John Main,
You may think that I don’t know what you think but if you think about thinking, I think your thinking will improve and I think I will thank you, thankyou.
James Che 6:26pm
The ‘Arrogants’ will be discarded on account of their stupidity having outlived its usefulness to the domineering personality which also , as it turns out, is stupid beyond its usefulness. and has already been discarded by its master.
In other words their stupid stupidity stupidly outlived their stupidness. 🙂
“ 5th Option. Produces a hidden ukulele from inside his jackets and performs Once In a Lifetime by Talking Heads. He’d get my vote.”..
“And you may say to yourself – god what have I done!”
Naval gazing will take to new high dimensions with SNP genital gazing
Rev. Stuart Campbell@10.38
” where is that large automobile ” you ask?
In the Police Scotland compound of course is the answer. Gee, I’m singing the Talking Heads song as time goes by myself.
And talking about large automobiles. Maybe the SNP convention could be held in Sturgeon’s motorhome and Mike Russell’s independence horse box trailer.
Or what about the Big Yellow Independence bus. Or like the Brexit bonus bus, have they gone to the big bus depot in the Sky.
Kavanagh has been taking absolute pelters all day, on Twitter at any rate, and he deserves it.
The very fact that he’s been asked to deliver any kind of ‘rallying call’ in a bid to ‘unite’ is just so off-the-scale ludicrous, it’s hard to overstate how offensive it is.
I’m not going to revisit the sordid detail as revealed here, years ago, but even setting that aside, we’re talking about a character who single-handedly brought the Yes movement into disrepute with his behaviour, all that, what would you call it?…
Aye, it’s ‘larping’ isn’t it?
Wasn’t really sure what that word meant until right now, I associated it with trans-related posing, furries, all that boak material, but it’s perfect for him because that’s what he’s been doing all these years – Live Action Role Playing the part of a radical, revolutionary, avant-garde intellectual, risking his very life for the cause, struggling on in the face of danger, brushes with death etc.
The decision to invite him to this special convention is a deliberate kick in the teeth for everyone who has ever supported this place, whether they agreed with all the editorial content or not. (Would it be a surprise to discover that the invitation was Wishart’s idea in the first place?)
We also know that Paypal Paul won’t give anyone the time of day unless they buy a fuckin Gaelic map off him (‘Erhm, okay, it’s just what I wanted. Thanks.’) so how much has he been promised for this crucial event? Does he charge by the minute? Will be brought onstage in a bath a la Marat, delivering his pearls of wisdom as if they are his last? Will people be crying? (Aye, eventually, they will.)
I don’t particularly like having a go at anyone individually and have resisted the urge to do it quite a few times in here. But PK, whether he likes it or not, really does represent the worst of the great Yes movement as-was. He didn’t earn trust and respect – he demanded them, and still does. And that’s why he deserves neither.
I hope he delivers his ‘rallying call’ to a crowd of fifty unimpressed Stirling Daddy-bear fans, forgets his lines, resorts to raising a clenched fist while shouting ‘The Tories are bad so they are!’, then gets hounded from the place without being recompensed. Better yet, his speech could consist of just five words – ‘I won’t ever blog again.’
North Code.
Ahaa, catch 22, begin at the beginning, everything begins and ends with stupid, when they arrive at their destination all things look and seen fimiliar.
I like your thinking,
Even if I straggle behind, out the box is definitly the new Scottish way to travel and expand the mind.
Do you mind if we have a second attempt at this soon when I have had more than four hours. sleep.
Freedom of thought unhindered is Most enjoyable.
James Che at 4:46 pm
“I had noticed the unionists arrogant assumption that the SNP were the independence movement, and therefore they must go
What was more arrogant was the Snp had presumed the same thing as the unionist,
I think that’s delusional. Scottish Independence has lost its political representation and it’s hard to see how the cause can be advanced without that rallying, influential centre. You can’t pretend the SNP’s failure doesn’t matter, and there’s no real evidence that this has boosted calls for independence, I mean why on earth would it?
Breastplate.
Around twenty countries favour joining BRICS, including Algeria and Egypt.
Even Syria is getting in on the act.
” the Syrian Minister of Finance announced Damascus’ intention to join both BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an international intergovernmental organization including Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.”
@Ian Brotherhood 7:42
I don’t particularly like having a go at anyone
Aye, ye do.
Indy will be a broad church, or it won’t happen.
It’s not your Scotland, Ian, or Wings Scotland. It’s abody’s Scotland.
Try to remember that.
As for your “single handedly brought the Yes movement into disrepute”, hardly a day passes on here without posts doing just that.
Try to remember that too.
The demise of the SNP, which is imminent, and Sturgeon gone creates a vacuum and that is the yoon mistake, they forgot we are here to rush in…let’s show them that we don’t need them, their devo max and pretendy wee shitty holyrood mirage of a parliament filled with the dross of the dross.
@Shug 6:23pm
Good luck with your script, Shug.
I have to admire your ability to type whilst your fingers are encased in protective Marigolds.
But better safe than sorry; and a wise precaution when dealing with such toxic material.
Titles are always difficult to get right, but “Ganasher Compromise” isn’t too bad for a first go.
But if I may suggest a subtle alteration – “Ganache Compromise”.
On second thoughts “Ganache Compromise” sounds too much like a dessert and I for one don’t want another course of SNP. Better stick with your original title.
Ian Brotherhood 7.42pm
Re Ginger Dug at the Convention.
He’ll have his usual roadies from the National, who live by his every word.
Out if that crowd of about 50, you’ll get his hard core Trans following, throwing their knickers onto the stage,,,Tom Jones style,, screaming,,,”we luv ye Ginger”.
@RoS 8:38
Quite a roll of honour there. Every name on that list a country where 5.5 million Scots would head out to tomorrow if we but could.
My own favourite is Tajikistan, although Syria sounds damn fine too. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.
What about you then RoS? Which of these fine, free, democratic exemplars would you have iScotland model itself on?
JockMcT at 8:55 pm
“The demise of the SNP, which is imminent, and Sturgeon gone creates a vacuum and that is the yoon mistake, they forgot we are here to rush in…let’s show them that we don’t need them,”
Of course! Which ministerial role have you got first dibs on?
Main is a fuckin Diddy.
Signed,
The YES Movement.
6th option.
Humza and Nicola, accompanied by Pete Wishart on Sousaphone and Paul Kavanagh on Kazoo, sing ‘Islands in the Stream’.
‘And they rely on each other, uh-huh….’
@Tom (9.09) –
Really looking forward to hearing what he says.
Between him and Humza, we’re in for a treat.
Wonder if they’ll have a wee conflab beforehand?
‘I was going to just blame the Tories.’
‘Eh, well, so was I.’
BRICS is coming.
America is going to get humped & its about time.
It’s losing one of its superpower – dominance over oil.
It’s a normal outcome. Countries move on. Iran already has when it was permitted to trade in Euros.
Blighty used to be a reserve powerhouse – so was France at one stage.
Shit happens. America took over. Shysters who run a protection racket & insist on a huge chunk of real estate & nukes.
It was never a smart move to freeze another countries $$ reserves & then threaten to use them to fund it’s enemies.
Wrong call.
That was a wake-up call to other larger countries. They can’t be trusted.
America has run out of money before. It’s in major debt. It’s big bucks playing world police.
A tantrum over another country supplying Europe with gas so they blew it up too or was that two activists in a row boat? 😀
It’s the natural order someone else will take over. Especially ones who have no great affinity to colonisers.
More of a large motorhome than a large automobile, but aye.
Many other apt questions, too.
By the time everyone has introduced themselves by thier pronouns the conference will be over.
Nothing to see.
Pish artist may even invite Owen Jones along for the lolz.
You cannot resuscitate a cadaver.
The SNP are already dead, but the living won’t let them go.
JockMcT @ 8:55 pm
“The demise of the SNP, which is imminent, and Sturgeon gone creates a vacuum and that is the yoon mistake, they forgot we are here to rush in…”
Yes, the rupture has occurred, new national parties are ready and the movement is no longer opposed to using innovations to liberate the people, who are no longer stuck in the SNP colonial regime’s blind alley.
To what extent is it likely the security services artificially inflated the membership with their own ghost members to manage the flow of ideas in the direction they want.
Very handy if there is an election for a new leader.the only way to find out is to guage the paper number if members and the number that actually turn up at meetings.
The only real members are the ones that turn up. Some that don’t are really giving a donation but the others????
James Che 8:09 pm
You’re not far off there, James.
Stupidity feeds off itself in a never ending feast of stupidity.
Of course I don’t mind if we have a second attempt or a third or a fourth…
But you’ll definitely need more than four sleep before we get into it.
I’m trying to decide who is more certifiably lunatic.
On the one hand, there’s Northcode who seems to have self identified as being in the year 2063, and be speaking back in time, and on the other hand, there’s a bunch of people banging on about Scotland and the BRICS, as though that group of pitiable countries with little going for them and disastrous futures are somehow something that an iScotland should join. Alf Baird, who doesn’t understand history or national development at all whining about colonialism. And then there’s James Che, still stuck in mediaeval Arbroath declaring all sorts of guff that nobody cares about.
This place is becoming a fucking madhouse. And none of you with any sort of sane plan for Indy.
@ A Scot Abroad: If that’s how you feel, why don’t you go away? You have nothing to say that adds constructively to the debate on here.
Membership numbers can be rigged.
Monbiot reported last year that anyone (from anywhere around the world) can join the conservative party & elect the Tory party leader, effectively choosing our PM. The party of patonisim gives it to anyone with a quit to spare.
SNP probably has the same & if the GRR consultation is anything to go by – we’ll have the international woke, the regional woke, the home grown & the security services lol
@ A Scot Abroad
Ascribed to Plato by George Francis Train in 1871
And yes. The wisdom of the ancients is still taught at ‘Amissa Spe Secondary High’ here in 2063.
Although my old school has been renamed ‘Spes nova Secondary High’.
Michael Laing, at 10:37pm,
I’m going nowhere away until pro-Indy people start adding constructively to the debate. We can ignore the mentalists going on about ancient guff, and the pseudo-cod “academic” from the world’s worst polytechnic whining about colonialism, but at some point, somebody is going to have to get a serious plan for Indy together. And it ain’t going anywhere fast, so far.
Michael Laing,
A bit of a tall order asking the court jester to be serious, is it not?
Anyway, I do hope he sticks around to explain to all us Scots why we shouldn’t make decisions for ourselves, I find it fascinating and entertaining in equal measure.
He’s also been in combat, saving Scotland from the Iraqis, we should be grateful.
A Scot Abroad @ 10:27 pm
“none of you with any sort of sane plan for Indy.”
Us pro-indy Scots have plenty of plans. It is the colonized who “wants to develop but the colonizer holds him back” (Memmi).
One of the first things newly independent countries had to do was sort out their ports and shipping, so that their plundered trade no longer served only the interest of the mother country. Here are a few ideas in that regard:
https://scotlandspeaks.com/a-maritime-vision-for-an-independent-scotland
A Scot Abroad
If anybody produced a sane plan for Independence I would be delighted. The fact that I have yet to see one speaks volumes.
The BPHB , of course, do not need to see one. ‘Everything will be fine’ is their mantra. The members of the ‘club’ do like to praise their fellow members on posting the same crap time after time as it makes them feel that something is stirring in Scotland. I have yet to see it.
A Scot abroad
The sane plan for indy?
Stop giving our resources away to our neighbour for free.
Oil, Gas, Electricity, fishing rights – the list is endless, in exchange for some beans to spend with set rules & limits on how to spend those beans.
Only someone fucking insane does that.
There’s the plan. We’re as well to mismanage it ourselves. It can’t be any worse than the shite we’ve all been forced to live with to-date cause we can’t even sack the fckers as they choose our government for us too.
We have plenty of plans. We need the SNP to fck off out of office.
“If anybody produced a sane plan for Independence I would be delighted. The fact that I have yet to see one speaks volumes.”
Yes Chas, the fact that there are over 200 countries in the world and you haven’t seen a sane plan does speak volumes but not in the way you think.
Perhaps if you enlist the help of your mum, she could help you come up with a grownup argument why Scotland shouldn’t be responsible for their own decisions.
Run along now, you little scamp.
Oil and gas are finishing fast. Not only is it running out in the North Sea, but the world’s leaders have decided the world should be moving on from the stuff by about 2050, so it is literally insane to try and pin anything long term on it.
Ditto fish. There’s not enough of them in Scottish waters to fund Indy. And if an iScotland were to join the EU, it’s the French and Spanish who would be fishing them out.
Electricity? It’s fucking expensive, and therefore uneconomic to send it more than a thousand miles by HVDC cables. And no point, because everybody within a thousand miles has the same capacity to generate from wind, solar and tidal as Scotland has. So they’ll generate it for themselves.
As for Alf Baird’s moonshine about maritime shipping, he’s too close to the industry and inhaling the helium. A look at routing is enough to see that virtually fuck all container ships pass close to Scotland. Because it’s on the far periphery of the European markets.
@Breastplate
“Just have faith” or “How could it be any worse?” are not plans.
Neither is a statement of the number of independent countries in the world, followed by “So what’s one more?” Plenty of these countries are shitholes, besides which present Scotland is a paradise.
If you don’t have a plan by which an iScotland can maintain her current standard of living, or preferably improve it, why not fess up?
The step of openly and honestly recognising and articulating the problem is foundational to then starting to solve the problem.
Maybes I am luckier than you, but I see around me plenty of Scots who are sufficiently happy with the status quo to be extremely wary of risking what they have for an unknown quantity. These are no doubt the Soft No’s who just need to be persuaded by some plausible, realistic detail. Traditional, small ‘c’ conservative Scots.
Those whom Alf Baird would categorise as having adopted the value system of the coloniser.
Those whom rational people see as the backbone of the nation post-Indy. Ready and willing to be persuaded by serious people with a feasible plan.
“whatever happened to Stewart McDonald’s emails?”
Short answer: they’re really boring.
Well that fuckwit a scot abroad has finally fixed it for me. Im finished with reading btl on wings from utter twats like him. Ive got a life to live.
So bye y’all have a nice life
“His nature will be pushing him towards anything that avoids a real decision and buys him some more time…”
I would tend to agree, Stuart. I think he will do what the SNP have always done since Sturgeon took over and threw away their mojo – vacillate. Hazmat Useless doesn’t have the nous to do anything else.
The yoons on here better start making the case for remaining in the Union.
It’s utter shite.
Scotland is shite.
Scottish resources are shite.
Scotland’s extensive fishing (that was a gold jewel for Brexshit) is shite.
Scotland’s oil is shite.
Scotland’s Gas is shite & Electricity is shite..
If everything is so shite why do they not want us to leave?
Where is England’s cash cow? What do they produce? Fuck all.
No voters better get Better Together part 3 together instead of wasting thier time on here.
Take a look at other countries. They are far better off than the Brits – in every aspect of thier lives, from cradle to grave.
The UK government is NOT a plus in anyone’s life.
Healthcare = pish
Child care = pish
Pension = pish
Education = pish
Workers pay, conditions, security & protections = pish & extended.
Young ppls lives, further education, travel, reciprocal opportunities obliterated = pish
A fascist regime in the wings next door= pish..
The Union really has fck all going for it.
John Main, are you one of the magical 1%
I’m comfy. Relatively young & have been fortunate to pay off my mortgage early. I’d hate to be just starting out in life now. No prospects, no security & fck all chance of a house to live in.
What planet do you ppl live on where the Union is some sort of fucking utopia? Yer deluded.
& For all the military arseholes – Id be ashamed to admit to being an invader in an illegal war that cost upwards of a million slaughtered & displaced. Get a fucking life & a conscience!
Lenny Hartley don’t give up.
They’ve obviously migrated from Facebook.
They’d disrupt every indy group there too with thier banel “Show me the plan” shite.
Scotland was an independent country before & is the only cash cow in this Union.
We’re perfectly able to make our own decisions.
We don’t need another country to make them for us in return for a few beans & some trinkets.
Which brings me on to that other traterous waste of space, Alister Jackass.. who the feck is he to say Scotland *Is forbidden* to promote Scotland abroad without thier permission & chaperone? It’s not fking normal!!! And those eejits get a cheer by supposed Scots? Never in a month of Sundays are they Scots.