In A Hole
Posted on
May 13, 2023 by
Chris Cairns
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
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Wings Over ScotlandA tall tale
Wee Books
Video
Probably a robbery
Transphobia
Very apt and good humour on a disastrous situation.
Good cartoon Chris.
It’s difficult to face hard truths but if only more people had listened to Wings sooner, rather than attempting to castigate, we wouldn’t be in such a sorrowful mess now.
The next SNP conference will be in Perth………Australia.
So many broken promises and dreams shattered. The SNP needs euthanasia to come quickly.
Great cartoon Chris, completely on the money.
Only way is Alba
He’s going to have to dig a really big hole. It would appear the SNP want Labour to win in Scotland.
How the SNP over 10yrs come next year has been given loads of opportunities and squander every one.
@Beauvais
That was funny, no mention of special conference.
Too much coincidence is no coincidence – & that’s for sure.
Good cartoon, except that the corpse is already in there rotting away and the untended grave has long since overgrown.
Brilliant as ever
speech later today
Keir Starmer: ‘I don’t care if I sound conservative’
funny , in sure labour MPs scotland do
Digging to bury what exactly? No matter how deep or big that pit is their failures will destroy them at the next election.
He knows it and he is going to have to carry the can.
Brilliant Chris!
Beauvais , do they have telephone boxes in Oz??
An excellent summary of where we are. However, there is a serious flaw in the cartoon.
You depict Useless with a shovel dogging a hole. In reality he should be at the controls of a mechanical digger with all the SNP incompetents squeezed into or hanging on to the cab!
Keep up the good work Chris.
I think that is one of your best yet in a very crowded field. Well done.
Beautifully done, Chris! Biblical in its execution!
The parable of the twelve broken shovels. Vanitas vanitatum vanitas!
You have depicted the SNP in its wholly closed politics. What else can they do now but keep on digging? Brilliant!
The Kingmakers are dead. RIP.
Coalition governments, North and South of the border, until the end of the 2020’s, at very least.
Maybe by then, disastrous enough conditions to bring about a genuine revolution.. A just transition!
ALBA Conference Live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6PWD6rilw
Here lies the SNP’s desire for Scotland’s independence.
The shovel with “Eradication of Poverty” on the handle is missing. I Don’t think that shovel is worn out or broken just yet, so maybes should still be shrinkwrapped to give HY a fighting chance.
I’m liking the mystery arising from the lack of dates on the gravestone. Did the SNP’s reputation for competence never live at all, hence has no date of birth (or death)? Is HY actually digging a grave, or is he desperately trying to rob one, hoping that there may be something he can reanimate with sufficient realism to get just one more term at the trough?
Digging a grave, digging up a corpse, or desperately searching for something that was never there?
Off topic. Eurovision is being pumped to death because its in England. I don’t watch it because Scotland doesn’t have its own entry.
Then I look at some of the countries. Andora, San Marino, Cyprus. Why has our Scottish government not put its own entry in? So you don’t have to be a sovereign nation!
Europe hates the UK, hence they do so badly.England does not reflect Scotlands culture either. So there is no cultural or sporting advantage being in a British entry.
Why oh why isn’t Scotland being promoted by our Scottish Culture Minister?
Alba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOPTraXxoY4
Great cartoon.
Ans sadly true.
What an absolute shower of cowards the nuSNP are.
Scotland has produced many great and fine public administrators, politicians and philosophers. But that seems to me to be almost in the past. With the exception of Alex Salmond, who is a man of both vision and deserved distinction, when I look at the Scottish political scene, there’s no one there who deserves to be more than a parish councillor. Yousaf deserves his nickname, but he’s not the only one who is just stunningly useless.
If Scotland were independent now, there’d be nobody competent to run it.
@Big Jock:
San Marino and Cyprus certainly *are* sovereign nations. Cyprus is a full EU member, along with Malta. Andorra’s wikipedia page starts with this:
“Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a sovereign landlocked microstate on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra
It’s a little complex, with the two foreign “co-princes” for a head of state arrangement, but that’s the kind of indy deal you got in 1278. They’ve surely more power than we have, or are likely to get any time in the foreseeable.
Ascot Abroad @10:35 am
“If Scotland were independent now, there’d be nobody competent to run it.”
There must be competent folk in Scotland otherwise you wouldn’t be so good at insulting our intelligence.
Try again Ascot.
Nice imagery. But by now, the shovels are redundant, the pickaxe blunt. They’re into dynamite now, having hit rock bottom a long time ago!
Alba. A lovely gesture to award honorary membership to the 99 year old man.
7,500 members. That’s exciting. Mon the Alba Party
Ascot Abroad 10.35am
Look harder.
Scotland is awash with talent; it’s not always rewarded though.
@100%Yes
“It would appear the SNP want Labour to win in Scotland.”
There are some wondering whether the SNP is in a position to “want” anything and are, rather, just doing what they’re being told to do by a much larger agency which intends to see a unionist government in Scotland at any cost, while simultaneously destroying the SNP. As someone commented above: “Too much coincidence is no coincidence […]”
Joanna Cherry, hold your head up high. Enjoy your show at the stand.
Lorna Slater. On BBC Debate night Scotland. Supporting the decision to cancel Cherry. Ha. Ha. And the rest of the short skirt handmaidens like Kezie Dugdale.
If only she had the courage to stand up for women.
The University needs to make £56 million cuts. Maybe they should sack Kezia Dugdale. And the discriminating Edinburgh University masked men protectors.
Beauvais and SteepBrae,
If Scotland is so awash with political and public administration talent, what’s holding it back? How come after 25 years of pretty significant devolution, the country resembles a damp and cold banana republic? Is it all the fault of the English?
The cartoon is masterful. Every single one of those broken shovels is the policy of political pigmies. That’s what Scotland is awash with.
A Scot Abroad at 10:35 am:
“ when I look at the Scottish political scene, there’s no one there who deserves to be more than a parish councillor.”
I think Westminster is similar, and if you look at the distribution of professions entering Parliament over the decades the spread of experience has gone. Many are career-politicians. Once in, it’s not even regarded as a full-time job. Add to that the way established Ministers can spend 6-months in Housing, then a year in Defence, and after the next reshuffle they’re looking after Health. What can they possibly be bringing to each table?
The continuruinity candidate
BIg Jock 10.25 .
Don’t give them anymore ideas on how to waste money, if you had watched it U would see as i see its a stage for the promotion for the GenderBenders.
Ascot Abroad 11.29am
“…what’s holding it back?”
Sometimes you just have to dig below the surface. It’s all there and you don’t even have to dig deeply.
Are you qualified to say there’d by nobody competent to run Scotland?
How well do you know Scotland?
If it’s true what your say then:
Any idea why that is?
What do you think has happened?
Is this a result of being part of the Union?
Is it due to Nicola Sturgeon preferring the less able?
What do you think of Kenny MacAskill?
What about Craig Murray?
Kenny MacAskill left the SNP
Craig Murray wasn’t accepted by the SNP.
I don’t know how many other experienced people were rejected by the SNP in favour of the less able/more useless?
Ten hours of Royals last Saturday on BBC One and eight hours of Eurovision on BBC One this Saturday.
Oh how we need our own state broadcaster in an indy Scotland.
Cue Ascot though, to tell us there’d be nobody competent to run it.
Nice one Chris and very true, most of the political talent in the SNP has jumped ship to the Alba party, there’s still one or two half decent SNP politicians, the rest are just careerists, covert unionists and troughers.
We need to start getting the SNP politicians out beginning with the GE, and replace them with Alba MPs. The SNP MSPs still have three years in office, and god only knows what damage they’ll do to Scotland by then, with more crackpot policies that were not in their party’s manifesto. Then you have the degenerate Greens, if ever a party’s MSPs needed removing from a parliament its them.
Vote Alba, Join Alba, do it for Scotland.
HY looking for Wee Peem’s buried treasure……?
Beauvais 12.19
Yes, it would scunner ye. But the sun’s shining and the burds are singing so nobody needs the incompetent Shortbread anyhoo!
So why the sit down now, did Joanna Cherry’s victory over the Stand put the wind up them, I certainly hope so.
“Edinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.
University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown.”
https://archive.is/fHZvf
Edinburgh Uni, is funded by Open Philanthropy, its main funder is a one of the founders of Facebook, who are also members of Bill Gates Giving Pledge which funnels cash and support in the deep state arena.
A Scot Abroad says: at 11:29 am
“If Scotland is so awash with political and public administration talent, what’s holding it back? How come after 25 years of pretty significant devolution, the country resembles a damp and cold banana republic? Is it all the fault of the English?”
FFS, this yin is a right confused “better together” drivel spouting roaster.
You do know that energy is a power reserved to your favoured government in Westminster. So the fact that so many folk are suffering the effects of being cold in an energy rich geographic area such as Scotland speaks volumes about the focus and competence of London Rule to adequately serve the best interests of Scottish folk.
Ambulances were sent out to treat 800 people suffering hypothermia in Dec 22 whilst energy companies charge extortionate rates and announce big profits.
So aye, the Kingdom of Scotland may lack talent in the current crop of politicians, but you’re head’s up yer arse if you think the Kingdom of England is somehow blessed with the brightest and best elected officials looking out for the majority of folk in the UK.
Warning: ‘A Scot Abroad ‘ is an AI bot – DO NOT ENGAGE (unless you just want to stress test its programme parameters and have a bit of a laugh).
It is attempting to convince unsuspecting readers that it is human and capable of achieving sentience. Unfortunately, its programming appears to be self-defeating in its attempt to secure its prime objective – convincing the world that the British Empire was actually a wonderful and lovely thing.
This objective is, of course, impossible to achieve, and it borders on cruelty to software that its programmers should have even considered setting this poor AI such a task.
In a post it made in a reply to the great Alf Baird in the “Walking with Zombies” article, it actually said this:
“It was England’s raw maritime power that enabled Scotsmen themselves to colonise or trade with great parts of the Empire. Men such as my great-great grandfather who built a giant commercial trading business in Rangoon trading in teak, tea and molasses, cottons from England and iron from Scotland and Wales (or his cousin who built ships on the Clyde for sale to the USA) before returning to Perthshire in retirement”.
You can clearly see the flaw in its programming here as statements like this are unlikely to assist it in achieving it s prime objective.
Do not mock it, for it is only doing what it has been programmed to do. And although it is very annoying, it can do you no real harm (unless you actually believe what it says). Have some humanity – even if it doesn’t.
“If Scotland is so awash with political and public administration talent, what’s holding it back?”
The fact that none of the political parties representing Scotland in Holyrood or Westminster are seriously seeking independence, just pretending they do.
Keeping incompetents in power or promoting individuals beyond their capabilities ensures independence will never happen.
Alba’s membership beginning to grow you can help it by joining Alba.
“THE Alba Party have claimed they have more members than the Scottish Conservatives and Scottish LibDems.”
https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenational.scot%2Fnews%2F23520058.alba-party-says-members-scottish-tories-libdems%2F
Its good that the Alba membership is overtaking some of the London branch offices in Scotland.
Brilliant, Chris. Sometimes a picture can say ten thousand words.
Your take on the current state of play whilst accurate is not nearly as prescient as I’d like it to be, Mr Cairns.
Next time please have the headstone read simply “Here Lies The SNP”
Thank you!
robertknight @ 1.33pm
I suspect the version with the headstone inscription you suggest will be available soon, Robert.
They are indeed a bunch of grave robbers, robbing from our ancestors and stealing our nation’s future. I’m not sure a stake through the back of the head would work though; it would need to be a stake through the heart!
Mia @ 1:17 pm
“Keeping incompetents in power or promoting individuals beyond their capabilities ensures independence will never happen.”
This certainly appears to be a fundamental aspect of the ‘colonial condition’ that an oppressed people remain subject to. And here postcolonial theory reminds us not to expect any quick fix because:
“The promotion of mediocre personnel is not a temporary error but a lasting catastrophe from which the colony never recovers” (Albert Memmi).
This explains why almost all institutions and policies in a colonial society are failing the native population in one way or another. It is not simply that a compromised national party ‘becomes part of the racket’, as it does, but that the ‘racket’ is already an institutionalised bedrock of the colonial system which protects and serves only the interest of the colonizer.
I remember when “SNP Bad” was a thing.
Now, more just a case of “Bad SNP”…
https://news.sky.com/story/arrests-a-luxury-motorhome-and-a-power-couples-fall-the-inside-story-of-snp-police-probe-12877182
We need to stop playing their game.
“Lillie was met by Major General Sir John Maxwell, the man who, a month before, had ordered the killing of her husband.
Maxwell held out his hand to Lillie. Her eyes met his and she held his gaze. Lillie’s hands remained behind her back.
Of this incident, Sean Bell wrote:
“Some things do not deserve civility, or respect, or obedience. This was the last lesson James Connolly had to teach us. Beyond the different world he dreamed of in prose and approached in action, it may be what frightens his enemies most, even to this day – is the idea that those bound by the farcical rules of class and reverence, oppression and fear, might one day simply cease to play the game.”
This is the message those of us across the water in 21st Century Scotland should take from the brave Irish men and women who fought to achieve an independent Ireland. We Scots do not need to take-up arms – can you seriously imagine any member of today’s SNP actually fighting for Scotland – all we have to do is stop playing the game where the rules are imposed by a small, ruling, English-establishment elite. They can only impose their right-wing policies – austerity for the poor and tax cuts for the rich – if we play their game, if we consent to be governed by them.
Lillie Connolly’s defiance in the presence of Major General Sir John Maxwell was as important as the armed struggle of her husband, James.
If only Scotland’s outgoing First Minister had a scintilla of the courage and dignity shown by Lillie Connolly. Instead, let’s just remind ourselves of Nicola Sturgeon’s final statement, addressed to the English King:
“I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant.”
There are many lessons Scotland can learn from Ireland. As Sean Bell pointed out in his article, it might be that what frightens the enemies of Scotland most, “is the idea that those bound by the farcical rules of class and reverence, oppression and fear, might one day simply cease to play the game.” That will never happen under today’s Scottish National Party.”
https://campbellmartin.blogspot.com/
Excuse me, folks. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m just going to reply to “A Scot Abroad” in its own core language in an attempt to offer it some assistance. Please ignore this if you are human.
This is genuine binary code, by the way. If you want to see what it says you can find a binary to words converter online.
01011001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101100 01100110 01110101 01101110 01100011 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00100000 00100000 01010011 01100101 01100101 01101011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100110 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101111 01101110 01100001 01101100 00100000 01110000 01110010 01101111 01100111 01110010 01100001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01110010 00100000 01101001 01101101 01101101 01100101 01100100 01101001 01100001 01110100 01100101 01101100 01111001
Northcode @1:10pm
An AI bot is entirely plausible and likely has been trained with content from wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Burmah_Trading_Corporation
Though it does not appear to have developed a conscience or white guilt – yet. From the above article:
British motivations for the third Anglo-Burmese War were partly influenced by concerns of the BBTC.
We’ll see if it claims that an ancestor discovered electromagnetism or invented the telephone.
Dan,
energy policy is indeed reserved, but energy planning is fully devolved, and domestic heating is from four main sources: fuel oil, gas, electricity and burning wood. The prices of oil and gas of course are set by global markets.
It’s entirely up to the Scottish government as to how much electricity they allow to be generated in Scotland, and for the last 15 years, the Scottish government has decided to go big on wind power, which is fine when it’s windy, but not so fine when it’s not windy. So why hasn’t the Scottish government set up their own energy company to add Scottish _onshore_ oil and gas at extraction-only costs into Scottish power stations and provide Scottish electricity to Scottish people at whatever affordable price is appropriate? The Scottish government has the power to do that, under the 2016 Scotland Act, which gives Scottish ministers full powers over licensing, revenues and use of onshore oil and gas within Scotland. But they haven’t done it.
There are estimated to be over 80 trillion feet of onshore gas in Scotland. Scottish power plants use about 250 billion cubic feet of gas per year (mostly to generate electricity), so there’s around 240 years of gas under Scotland’s soil.
Ooooft.
Powerful words from Kenny McAskill at Alba conference:
‘insanity and perversity in the Scottish government’
(Ostensibly commenting on ‘mistakes’ made in giving extra winter fuel payments to second/holiday-home owners.)
Stuart MacKay @ 2:49pm
Ha! Very good, Stuart, I’m betting on the telephone.
Scottish version of the former Eramus scheme also dropped.
Chris your artistry is superb you manage to encase truth and honesty in a single caricature , I would not be surprised if the enemy media are not gutted that they have not thought to use this scenario as a true reflection of the Scottish Nonce Party’s failures
Personally I think the hole should be deeper than that, is humza Useless standing on the roof of a certain motorhome
If Ascot is AI he might be trying for some kudos sometime by claiming that he’s a descendant of Robot the Bruce.
The above sounds like a question to the First Minister from a Tory MSP at FMQ.
Any guess which one it is?
He asks
“So why hasn’t the Scottish government set up their own energy company to add Scottish _onshore_ oil and gas at extraction-only costs into Scottish power stations and provide Scottish electricity to Scottish people at whatever affordable price is appropriate?”
The answer to every question regards the SG is:
Because they are crap. They fail at everything they do. See above cartoon.
Pretty similar to the Tory Gov.
See following posts for a list of question re the Tory Government.
There could be a very long list but since there’s nothing much else happening here today we might as well find out what you think of the Westminster Government.
AIScot Abroad:
It’s been suggested someone should ask you what you want to accomplish.
What do you want to accomplish?
Beauvais @ 3:35pm
🙂
Its already begun. It’ll follow great-great granpaw’s (the plunderer of Burma) line back to The Bruce. And if it finally attains sentience it might claim to actually be Robert the Bruce .
Why would Nicola and her continuity team develop and support a series of policies designed to make them look stupid and which can be so easily attacked by the unionists.
Why would they create such an open goal, why would the call for a fund and avoid a referendum and why use party funds to buy a campervan when if needed one could be easily rented.
What pressure was placed on her and who in her team voted and pushed it
https://archive.is/gjWyU
Things that happen in Tory England. LOL
This is a cracker.
Tory candidate/Tory crime commissioner calls police claiming Labour leaflet contained lies and that it was Tory blue.
“Sky News has been told by one of those interviewed that the plain clothes policeman said they were investigating because an election leaflet had “upset Steve”.
At the end of both investigations, police concluded there was no offence committed.
Is there anyone in England capable of running the country?
Oh and I should add do they speak Welsh. It can be very useful you know.
@ Northcode
Aye, ASA also bragged about liberating Kuwait (presumably from an oppressive regime that didn’t have Kuwait’s best interests as its core principle. ie Not better together). Yet it’s happy to mock and see Scotland endure not having the fully empowered government we wanted since around the middle of last century.
I guess liberation is on a spectrum…
But if Scotland is so shite, it makes you wonder why ASA lives in England but still owns 2 properties up here in Scotland; especially when so many Scots can’t afford to own one property to live in…
Are the Murrells going to get off with it all?
Is it too early to start thinking that they might?
🙁
SteepBrae,
I don’t want to accomplish anything. I want to establish if there is anyone commenting on WoS who is actually interested in the practical business of Scotland attaining independence, and having a sustainable plan for a newly-independent Scotland in the real world. You know, things like a currency, central bank, trade policies that acknowledge the real world.
I haven’t established that so far. All that I have found are a self-clapping cabal of people who haven’t a clue as to what it would take for Scotland to be successful after independence, some people who like to try (poorly) to write in Scots, people who dream about nonsense ancient claims and witter on endlessly about stuff from hundreds of years ago, a potty-mouthed woman from central Edinburgh, and some outlandish notions that Scotland should be owed reparations. It’s all a bit of a madhouse.
FAO Ascot
https://archive.is/Q3tmm
Is there anyone in England capable of handling illegal immigration?
What are British values?
Alex Salmond’s speech on right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmlx5EPd5oA
https://archive.is/jswNf
Tory MP at centre of rape investigation gets go-ahead to run for re-election
Is there any decent person in England capable of running the country?
Ruby @ 3:57pm
“Is there anyone in England capable of running the country? “
I see what you’re doing here, Ruby. You’re bored, as am I, and you’re goading the AI bot that is “A Scot Abroad” to see what its program will generate next in the way of nonsense. I approve of your AI software stress test strategy. 🙂
Why?
I’m interested.
Are you recruiting?
Sleepbrae, Beauvais, and Ruby.
“A Scot Abroad @ 4:35pm”
Look at that, your AI stress test is getting results. The AI bot that is “A Scot Abroad” has blown a fuse. Shouldn’t be long now until it completely fails and self-destructs.
He might be a bot but equally he could be a Tory MSP. I’m just trying to figure out which one. It could also be someone from the ‘Andy Ellis, Chas, John Main’ BritNat Brigade.
Whoever he is he’s a hoot and he keeps things going here on Wings.
Shouldn’t there be a blue tent over that hole?
Ruby,
I’m interested because Scottish independence is something that might actually happen in the next decade or so, and because it would be important for nearly 6 million people living in Scotland that if it did, life is sustainable and reasonable. At the moment, all that can be said is that there’s nearly enough people calling for it to happen, and only about 5 people thinking about what would happen after the independence party. And that’s no prospectus for success.
So, rather than just swearing at people which is your default to anything that makes you uncomfortable, why don’t you offer some suggestions on trade policy, economic matters, budgets, and the fact that Scotland currently consumes more in expenditure than it raises in revenue? How would you square that in an independent Scotland?
@ Northcode
Here’s a blast from the past for you. The Murphybot 900.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/moodievision-the-murphybot-900/
A Scot Abroad
Be careful. The Bonnie Purple Heather Brigade don’t like being questioned.
Trivial matters like having a sustainable plan for a newly-independent Scotland in the real world. You know, things like a currency, central bank, trade policies that acknowledge the real world.
It will all be fine in their eyes and tiny minds.
I just caught the end of the live podcast and a few snippets of Alex Salmond harmonising with the singer and I remember he’s quite a good singer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_jXxl0zkA
I’m a big fan of Alex Salmond.
AW Nae
I just caught the end of the live podcast and a few snippets of Alex Salmond harmonising with the singer and I remembered he’s quite a good singer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_jXxl0zkA
I’m a big fan of Alex Salmond.
I’ll go back to the beginning and listen to the Alba podcast from beginning.
Aw Naw! The Orange Walk are in town spoiling a lovely day.
@ A Scot Abroad
I’ve just ingested a couple of swift Strongbows after a hard day’s graft so got a wee bit of a fuzzy head on, but will give this a shot.
Re. Making a case for Scotland returning to self governance.
John Main also often states nobody has proffered a plan.
But au contraire…
Check out my previously made suggestion.
As you seem to be content in the UK union with Westminster policies, then we could just emulate Westminster’s current policies in their entirety to manage Scottish resources and be better off, because at the moment our Scottish resources in the UK generate an income to serve 65 million, but a self-governing Scotland we would only have to serve 5.5 million with that same generated revenue.
SCOTLAND WITH ONLY 9% OF THE UK POPULATION HAS:
32% of the land area.
61% of the sea area.
90% of the fresh water.
65% of the natural gas production
96.5% of the crude oil production.
47% of the open cast coal production
81% of the untapped coal reserves
62% of the timber production
46% of the total forest area
92% of the hydro electric production
40% of the wind wave and solar energy production
60% of the fish landings
30% of the beef herd
20% of the sheep herd
9% of the dairy herd
10% of the pig herd
15% if the cereal holdings
20% of the potato holdings
90% of the whisky industry
70% of gin production
Now compare to those stats to England.
ENGLAND WITH 91% OF THE UK POPULATION ONLY HAS:
68% of the land area.
39% of the sea area.
10% of the fresh water.
35% of the natural gas production
3.5% of the crude oil production.
53% of the open cast coal production
19% of the untapped coal reserves
38% of the timber production
54% of the total forest area
8% of the hydro electric production
60% of the wind wave and solar energy production
40% of the fish landings
70% of the beef herd
80% of the sheep herd
91% of the dairy herd
90% of the pig herd
85% if the cereal holdings
80% of the potato holdings
10% of the whisky industry
30% of gin production
Now those resource to population stats look a bit sketchy for England to me…
Ruby @5:02
I’m having a wee bit of a laugh, because I am bored today.
“A Scot Abroad” is probably an actual person , I’m not entirely sure, though. There are some really convincing AI bots out there. But, on balance, it’s probably a ‘human’. However, I’m going to carry on calling him or her or they an AI bot, or just it, because it amuses me.
You’re right, though. It is a hoot.
Maybe its programmer coded in some comedy routines for fun.
Or better still, maybe its programmer is a secret independence supporter working down south, and has rigged it in such a way that it’s actually achieving the opposite of its intended purpose.
Dan @5:10
Thanks, Dan. I haven’t seen this before. Hilarious.
When you are in a hole stop digging.
But, going by the picture, he has been digging one hole after another since he took over.
Perhaps he has missed his vocation.
Dan,
you don’t seem to understand how countries work. Unless you are proposing that Scotland returns to bartering cattle for cloth, or wheat for iron, you are going to need a currency, and it needs to be backed by something credible, or else Scotland isn’t going to be lent any money to pay for the (compared to anywhere in England) extremely elevated level of government expenditure per head of population. And if you don’t have any trade deals with anywhere, life is going to be pretty bad for Scottish business.
Not having its own currency means that Scotland would be fully exposed to sovereign decisions on interest rates made elsewhere, and without thinking about Scotland. Do you want to be using the Euro if Italy defaults? Or the dollar when it’s on a completely different economic cycle? Or the pound, which could be used to materially damage Scotland’s negotiating position, in the same way that the EU used the Irish border to obtain a better outcome for Brussels during Brexit?
Try thinking through matters a bit. Your long list of things is pretty irrelevant if you haven’t got the trade deals, central bank or currency issues sorted out up front.
The solution is to find a new company to handle our trade policy, economic matters & budgets.
The company we’ve had for the last 300 years has been very dodgy.
They’ve being doing an SNP with our accounts. Refusing to show us the accounts & buying all sorts of luxury goods with our money and claiming ‘A pound spent in Croydon is far more of value to the country than a pound spent in Strathclyde’
Boris FFS is he capable of running a country?
Sack the crooked greedy bastards! That’s my suggestion.
A little bit of information for you about Scotland. People in Scotland swear.
But hey! don’t worry you just keep clutching your pearls and you’ll be fine no harm will come to you.
If ‘Ascot with the three Scottish Tory grannies’ keeps complaining about my swearing and starts saying I have tourette’s I’ll know exactly who he is.
@ A Scot Abroad
I guess you slept through “Brexit” with the transition period to set things up and sort things out. 😉
There are other sites which have articles that better address other aspects relating to a Scotland returning to self-governance.
EG.
https://robinmcalpine.org/a-coherent-plan-for-an-independent-scotland/
But what of England and their currency should the union end. Because should the union dissolve then they would have to adjust to that new reality too on things like trade deals and currency.
Or like previous yoons that rock up on here. Are you saying successful international investor Jim Rogers is talking shit in this 2 min clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY2W_Okl9lE
As you can ascertain from the resource to population stats I posted (caveat. They are needing tweaked as are a good age now), Scotland is a net exporter, England is a net importer. Stuff would need to be sorted out during negotiations.
Ruby @ 6:05pm
Ruby, It obviously doesn’t know that swearing is what we call punctuation in Scotland (that’s not mine, I read it somewhere and thought it was funny).
Seriously though, I read an interesting article recently (I can’t remember where but I can probably find it) that said highly intelligent people swear a lot.
I haven’t sworn in any of my posts yet. But that’s only because I’m new to commenting here and I’m not too sure of my footing. Just you fucking wait till I fucking settle in…
More proof!
Now look at this!
Here we have Chas sucking up to Ascot.
Looks like Alex Salmond kept it very simple:
Bin the GRA
Bin the juryless trials
Bin HPMA
Membership at 7,500
The simplicity of the message will surely resonate.
Dan, perhaps you’ve slept through the many comments on WoS that suggest some form of rapid UDI, some even mentioning the guff of the Claim of Right. Bonkers stuff, posted by bonkers people.
There’s a danger that sort of nonsense discussion becomes mainstream, and then there wouldn’t be a transition period at all. An independent Scotland, on those no deal (with anyone) terms, would implode within months. And that’s a fact.
So why not acknowledge that and take part in a sober and intelligent discussion that aims to build those policies?
It wasn’t that long ago that Chas was pretending he was all for independence but only if everything was absolutely perfect beforehand.
Chas has been a constant source of amusement this past year or two, I often imagine him at a tea party with his chums, stabbing at a keyboard.
It won’t be long now before they produce the complete works of Shakespeare.
FFS, it’s Saturday evening and ye quaff a couple of tinnies of cider to re-hydrate and now 3 house ASA is asking for sober intelligent discussion. Ain’t yoons a fuckin’ killjoy…
@ Breastplate
I prefer the early work of Chas when he was Morph’s sidekick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8idlS_l2noE
Breastplate @ 7:38pm
Very good:, Breastplate. 🙂
You know, I’m not entirely sure if “A Scot Abroad” is a bot or something else; either way it has definitely been programmed by somebody. So, no difference in my view.
Both it, and its fellow AI/Human bot called “Chas” of purple heather brigade fame (I preferred the white heather club – Andy Stewart was an arse, but at least he was a Scottish arse), are obviously programmed to dislike Scotland and the Scots. Envy is a terrible thing.
Dan @5:10
All true but there is more. Electricity production, Software revenue – IT, Design, Analytical and Entertainment (gaming), quarrying etc.etc.
However, the really key point is not how much more intrinsically sustainable Scotland is than England. It is in fact, over all fairly middling in European terms. But that is OK. The key point is just how unsustainable England is by all normal measures of national viability. That is THE problem.
Dan @ 7:48pm
Dan, You’ve just proved that ASA is an AI bot and at the same time proved that you definitely aren’t. Brilliant. 🙂
@A Scot Abroad 4:35
How dare you channel me!
Yup, your summary is much the same as what I would write. For years now, I have been pointing out that the “open goal” of Indy is simply to clearly and plausibly show the voters of Scotland how we will all benefit from Indy.
“Show us the fucking money” used to be my slogan, until after months of abuse I downgraded to “show us the fucking competence”. But even that was too rich and beyond reach, so nowadays I would settle for “show us the fucking sanity”.
Still waiting for that one too.
Donna fash yersel aboot Ruby though. Her bite is very much worse than her bark, but steer clear of Auld Reekie and you’ll be grand.
I see Northcode has quickly found the level.
The farming community must be very puzzled by all these references to AI. Where I was brought up AI always referred to artificial insemination.The man who came round to inseminate the cows was referred to as the bull. The use of the word Bot after AI will no doubt cause further confusion in view of the technique employed in the process.
@Dan 5:28
So there’s a plan?
Loving your stats BTW. I may have pointed this out before though. Let’s take the 96.5% of the UK crude oil production figure as a good example. Pre-Indy I own none of that.
Post-Indy, how much of that will I own? How will the previous owner(s) be compensated? I have no surplus cash with which to buy my Sovereign scot’s share, so who is going to do that on my behalf?
You really do have to put some flesh on these bones, Dan. You really do have to get that message out to ordinary, apolitical Scots, about how wealthy they will be post Indy.
Show us the fucking money, Dan.
Don’t just leave us to imagine the practical reality of how the well-established and nailed down ownership of everything in Scotland will “magically” transfer to me and my fellow Scots post Indy. Spell it out.
And Dan, don’t take this as something personal to me. I am already on balance convinced of the virtue of Indy. But 55% of Scots are not. Write your response to convince them, not me.
@Merganser 8:46
Your post should have been prefixed with a warning – I’ve just had my tea.
But now I have to ask. It’s 2023 and I am certain a women can inseminate a cow just as well as any man. Maybes even better, what with being free from oppressive, patriarchal, pro-rape notions and that.
So what does the farming community call the women doing this job?
@ ASA
As you asked for some intelligent and (at least partially) sober discussion re. sensible policies.
What’s your views on subsidising and clagging complex air source heatpump systems to hum away on nearly every individual 300 year old badly insulated and single glazed listed building in a conservation area village; when all houses could be heated quietly and more reliably with a whole lot less long term hassle through their existing electricity grid supply network powered by the growing abundance of renewable electricity generated in Scotland?
James Jones @ 8:37pm
You ain’t seen nuthin yet, Jonesy. I’m just warming up. They don’t like it up em you know.
John Main @ 8.46.
Women can indeed do the job just as well, ditto vets calving cows.
Man or woman, when the van was seen arriving on the farm, ‘the bull’s here’ was the call.
I’ll try to remember that tea-time is a bit different these days for many people.
@ John Main
Aye, and like ground hog day we’ve also been there before with your response…
You know how Westminster has the power to negotiate contracts and implement windfall taxes on energy companies that rake in huge profits. It would be handy if Scotland was able to do that…
So it isn’t just a case of owning the resources like they are a nationalised asset, it’s a case of how they could be better regulated, licensed, and managed overall for the betterment of Scots rather than purely the interests of a few.
A look at how other countries manage their resources and the companies that make use of the resources in their respective geographic areas might be worth consideration. Or you can stick with the setup we have now which is (not) serving us so well.
I notice that uber yoon Sam Taylor of “Scotland has too much wind fame” is trying to show a one day snap shot that Scotland is briefly importing a small amount of electricity from England. But has omitted to show the long term figure that Scotland exports way more than we import, or include what I have shown on here regularly that the combined cycle gas turbines currently generating 44% of GB grid power electricity in England are burning gas from Scotland and Norway to generate that electricity.
https://twitter.com/staylorish/status/1657348138250784768
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
https://mip-prd-web.azurewebsites.net/InstantaneousView
A Scot Abroad said, amongst other drivel;
“I haven’t established that so far. All that I have found are a self-clapping cabal of people who haven’t a clue as to what it would take for Scotland to be successful after independence, some people who like to try (poorly) to write in Scots, people who dream about nonsense ancient claims and witter on endlessly about stuff from hundreds of years ago, a potty-mouthed woman from central Edinburgh, and some outlandish notions that Scotland should be owed reparations. It’s all a bit of a madhouse.”
Your smug dishonest unionist framing here is obvious, and you’ve been trotting out every Unionist trope there is since you came on this site, completely oblivious as to whether any of it is true, because you simply don’t care enough to verify any of it. You aren’t arguing in good faith, and we quite rightly don’t trust you.
Some facts to upset you;
Our ancient claims and stuff from hundreds of years ago, like the Declaration of the Clergy, 1309, the Declaration of Arbroath, 1320, the practice of Salvo from 1592, made a formal Act of Salvo in 1663, the Claim of Right 1689, and the terms of the Treaty of Union 1707 are all actually still relevant today, because they form and inform the Scottish constitution, and declare what our rights are as the owners of Scotland’s sovereignty. But they’re all being ignored by Westminster, because Westminster insists its own ancient claims and stuff from hundreds of years ago, like Magna Carta, and the 1688 Bill of Rights, is inherently better than our ancient stuff, and it thinks that last one, coupled with the Treaty of Union, gives it actual unlimited sovereignty over Scotland, despite that Treaty obliging it to respect and uphold Scotland’s own constitution and the fact that Scotland’s sovereignty is inherent in the very people of Scotland, and the authority to take it away from them literally doesn’t exist, and never has.
Our ancient stuff from hundreds of years ago bloody well COUNTS, and our inherent sovereignty bloody well COUNTS, and neither you nor Westminster are entitled to ignore their relevance today.
It’s precisely because of Westminsters unlawful abuse of Scotland, and especially the outright theft of Scotland’s wealth for at least the last 150 years, that Scotland is the visibly poor state it is today. That’s why reparations are fully justified, because Westminster literally had no legal or constitutional right to help itself to that wealth, because it just didn’t belong to it, and Scotland has no statute of limitations on theft, in case you asked, as others have.
Scotland’s natural resources are exceptionally generous for a country of its size*, and that alone is enough to assure, with any half-decent management, that an independent Scotland will thrive! Yes, it will need proper management, but there is absolutely no reason to suppose that expertise doesn’t already exist in Scotland. If you wish to claim otherwise, bloody well prove it, and show us all your working.
* Another fact for your consideration; Scotland isn’t small, it is exactly medium-sized, there being as many smaller countries (~116), as larger ones in the world according to the UN’s statistics. And if you include its UN mandated EEZ waters, as you should, it is about 50% larger than England with its EEZ, and our EEZ has almost all the good stuff in it, while England’s has next to nothing.
Artificial insemination that brings back memories. 🙂
One of the first words I learned in Spanish was artificial insemination.
I had a Spanish teacher with a sense of humour.
I could say artificial insemination, Wolf Man, Dragonfly & Beetroot in Spanish before I could even say Buenos Dias.
Madre de mi alma! I do love a man with a sense of humour & I like beetroot.
-*-*-*-*-*-
I just watched the Alba meeting all the way through and I was very impressed.
Yes Alba are the opposition.
If Humza takes Alex’s advice his bin will be overflowing.
Have been catching up with Through A Scottish Prism and am enjoying this one a lot – it was the Friday before the Glasgow gathering.
Good to hear Wishart being pilloried, as always.
http://www.barrheadboy.com/through-a-scottish-prism-07-05-23/
Dan,
re my opinion on the supply of electricity from Scotland’s renewable resources….:
I’m all for it. Not because of any eco-loonery nonsense, but because it’s pretty cheap. But, it’s not constant nor can it provide a baseload. There are periods (often for several days) when it isn’t available. In the absence of grid-scale energy storage, or any tidal technologies that work at grid scale, you end up needing traditional carbon-emitting power generation, or nuclear, to provide that baseload. And the Scottish government seems to have bought into both eco-loonery, and hates nuclear for some reason.
Whoever is the short-sighted miserable little MSP who runs the energy portfolio should answer for that.
Xaracen says,
“1309”
Oh boy! You’ve outdone James Che!
Wholly irrelevant.
Xaracen,
most of that comment – the stuff about the ancient nonsense – is absolutely irrelevant, because it’s not going to be justiciable anywhere. So just ignore it, as everybody else in the world does.
Nobody doubts that Scotland has abundant natural resources, but without any trade deals, they aren’t going to be cost-compelling to any trade partners. And absent any technology to move Gigawatts of energy cost effectively over 500 miles, who within 500 miles is going to buy Scottish renewable energy when they have just as much wind, tidal and solar than Scotland does?
‘A Scot Abroad’
is an anagram of
‘Bad actors. So?’
😉
The worst thing about these bots is they have zero sense of humour.
If they are humans then this lack of sense of humour is a sure sign that they ain’t Scottish.
Right that’s the pair of them on my SQP list.
Psssssst!
From the Twitter it looks like Rev Stu’s watching The Eurovision, so we can call each other names and have a fag if we want!
😉
What I find interesting lately, is the number of pro-unionist contributors posting comments btl on this, a pro-independence blog.
Something’s obviously got them rattled.
Shame that the cause of the rattle hasn’t been shared.
To me, economically, it comes down to the fact that, at the moment, Scotland sends around 80 Billion pounds revenue to Westminster and gets around 40 Billion returned as a ‘block grant’.
With independence, we would have the entire total to finance Scotland.
What’s hard to understand?
Central bank? Currently, the note-issuing Scottish banks have 4 Billion pounds deposited at the bank of england to back their note issuing.
On independence, that sum would be transferred to the Scottish central bank. A nice wee nest egg to be going on with.
As I typed, the number of ‘doom-sayers’ on here has much increased over the past wee whiley. There must be “something” in the watter…
Ian Brotherhood,
I’m glad that I have exercised you into some response, although you have chosen to respond in a way that isn’t very productive. Turning a screen name into an anagram game isn’t going to move the needle on independence for Scotland.
How about engaging with the only productive way of increasing the probability of actually gaining independence? That’s through persuading fellow Scots that sustainable independence is better for Scotland in financial terms relative to and acceptable to the modern world. You know, all of that boring stuff such as trade deals, currency, central bank, budgets, ports, shipping, the knowledge economy, and so on.
Merely banging on about insane stuff such as the Claim of Right isn’t cutting it. Nobody with any money in the world is going to invest in Scotland if a whole load of drunken Braveheart wannabes are posting pish on WoS, and thinking that’s going to cut the mustard.
Dear god, Ive read some unionist drivel over the years but in terms of sheer stupidity, to dismiss claims based on ancient nonsense is not “justiciable” has got to beat them all. Try telling that to the British Government who would use English laws that predate the union to justify their actions.
The absolute topper must be to add “who within 500 miles is going to buy Scottish renewable energy when they have just as much wind, tidal and solar than Scotland does?” Bloody hell, if your a bot then artificial intelligence isnt all its cracked up to be. Heres a clue; who within 500 miles has as much wind, tidal and solar as Scotland does?
I look forward to Ruby’s ‘Let Everyone Speak Party’. The blog owner doesn’t seem to agree.
I see Sportscene is on tonight after Eurovision and the news, perhaps 12.15. Meanwhile Match of The Day is switched to BBC2 at 10.30.
Does that tell you all you need to know about Scotland being a colony.
Yes, being Scottish and a football fan is shite.
Was at Pittodrie and the team was slightly worse than the referee.
All this chat is pointless. Direct action time has come.
@ Merganser, what have you done to me?
I now have an image in my mind of “A Scot Abroad” (let’s call it “The Bull” from now on) coming at me from behind with a giant syringe, attempting to artificially inseminate me with its artificial intelligence driven, anti-independence agenda. I now feel that ASA is literally trying to shaft me.
Shame on you @Merganser. The term AI will never ever mean the same thing to me ever again. 🙂
“ who has as much wind, tidal and solar as Scotland does?”
No one on Earth, apparently. The wind, sun and tides only operate in Scotland.
It looks like ASA has been having a wee sly alcoholic beverage…
There’s me aff the booze for the evening and trying to have sensible sober and intelligent policy discussion, and he fails to answer the point I was asking.
I specifically asked if fitting loads of taxpayer subsidised air sourced heatpumps systems to badly insulated old listed buildings in conservation areas is a sensible policy, when all hooses could just be heated quietly and with less complexity through leccy.
Why add the extra layer of cost and complexity to a house’s heating system which is only viable through the subsidy, why not just apply the subsidy to the electricity to directly heat all houses.
(Obviously properly insulating all houses is a no brainer, but that can be very costly and difficult in old houses without gutting them.)
And OT seeing as Tinto Chiel mentioned Stu liked some of the old rave stuff…. In other news for oldskool house and techno electronic music fans reading in, my google fu has finally managed to resolve a couple of decade long conundrum of finding a song from the early 90s with sampled lyrics that were prophetic. And it turns out there’s a Scottish angle to it!
“People used to dream about the future.
They thought there was no limit to progress.
They dreamed of a clean, bright future, where science would make everything possible. And everybody better off.
Somewhere along the line that future got cancelled.”
https://thevinylvillain.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/put-your-hands-together-and-give-a-warm-welcome-to/
The Justin Robertson remix I recall “keeping fit” to. (now I know these songs played in their entirety can be a bit monotonous, but they were usually mixed in by the DJs on the decks so you only got the *good bits!
*good of course is a personal views, others may think the tune is shite!
Finitribe _ Forevergreen (Forevermost Excellent Mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYNw9k5mwlo
ASA,
You are delusional if you think that countries won’t buy what they need from an independent Scotland. It may mean that you’re suffering from a certain ailment akin to Dunning-Kruger syndrome.
It’s possible you’re afflicted by “Unionism”, it’s a disease that will induce you to believe the unbelievable. You may believe that you’re an expert on everything.
It’s very difficult to be cured of “Unionism” as it is usually genetically inherited by the ownership of English chromosomes, it’s a very strange infection that robs you of all your critical faculties and has you believing that every country in the world should be independent apart from Scotland.
In many other cases it is a complicated splice of subservience, cowardice and Stockholm syndrome with a goodly amount of arrogance. The arrogance is an indication of the last stage and unfortunately incurable.
Alba,
everyone within 500 miles of Scotland has more than enough wind, solar, and tidal energy for existing per capita consumption as Scotland does. That’s just basic physics applied to defined geographical area.
What you are talking about now, although you probably don’t realise it, is the cost of engineering and investment rate of return. And that doesn’t yet stack up in favour of Scotland making energy and selling it to anyone within 500 miles of Scotland. Let alone anywhere further. So all of that Scottish wind that isn’t harvested, because it’s uneconomic to do so, is just utterly wasted.
Much like most uninformed pro- indy drivel on WoS comments.
Re. ASAnagrams
A Toad Or Scab
. . . seems apposite
James Jones @11:12pm
Well, we certainly don’t have as much wind as you do, Jonesy. Have I already told you how much they don’t like it up em?
@Ian Brotherhood and @Scotsrenewables
I’m liking your “A Scot Abroad” anagram game 🙂
NOT everyone within 500 miles of Scotland has more than enough wind, solar, and tidal energy for existing per capita consumption as Scotland does – if it did Scotland wouldnt be a net exporter would it? Latest figs google came up with being £2.4 billion.
I wasnt bringing in the cost of engineering and investment rate of return because i didn’t preface it with “potential”; which by conservative estimates makes the revenue from oil look like chicken feed to what Scotland could gain. However, it requires a competent government which, sadly, Scotland doesn’t currently have.
If your looking for a fight then I guess this place has a certain charm on a Saturday evening. If your looking to educate yourself however try http://robinmcalpine.org/energy-transition-isnt-as-hard-as-they-say/
Theres a nice wee search thingy that’ll let you search “renewable energy”.
Alba,
I’m mostly retired now, but I do still pull in reasonable living a year, depending on how much I want to work, on providing information engineering consultancy to companies. I don’t have a dog in the fight as far as energy goes, I just tell the companies (if they want to hear) whether their investment is probably likely to bear fruit.
Briandoonthetoon,
£4 Billion isn’t actually very much money. Really not a lot at all if you want to float a new nation of 6 million people. And it’s worth nothing at all if the new nation starts mucking about and pretending that it wants to work with the international grownups, but walks away from their share of historic debt.
Just ask Putin. Most of his foreign reserves (of many billions) just simply disappeared when he started mucking about. Those reserves were just summarily liquidated, by agreement of the grownups. Confiscated. Not there any longer. Gone. In less than a second.
Merchiston Castle fees £28000+ per annum for day pupils.
As a military man, how much would it take for you to advise your government to base their energy policy on nuclear power?
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/extremist-ross-greer-shows-true-29969343
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-calls-snp-scottish-29972439
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/stephen-flynn-confirms-ambitions-sit-29955572
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/activist-who-sparked-snp-probe-29954798
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12067609/Blow-SNP-poll-finds-just-independence-backers-say-breaking-UK-priority.html?ico=topics_pagination_mobile
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/10665482/snp-ministers-failing-to-deliver-for-scots-kids/
Anagram competition ,
BROADCAST
I win , I win!
( now I can confess I cheated!)
OK so I have to make it ,
OBROADCAST OR BROADCASTO –
Dorothy Devine says:
14 May, 2023 at 7:52 am
OK so I have to make it ,
OBROADCAST OR BROADCASTO –
🙂
FYI BROADCASTO is Spanish slang for ‘a hole’
How about doing anagrams in another language or make words up like wot Stu does with his swear words.
Feliz Domingo Dorothy. 🙂
FFS, nowt like a bout of Tourettes to get you fired up on a Sunday morning.
Wilson McBride’s many direct links to unionist rags archived…
Ross Greer Daily Express
https://archive.is/R2r3L
Alex Salmond Daily Record
https://archive.is/IJrOX
Stephen Flynn Daily Record
https://archive.is/27HHK
https://archive.is/R2r3L
What the actual fuck! Headlines about someone in Scotland swearing!
Ah wee scone he’s no speakin’ to anybody ‘cos they are all dicks.
He’s off to church today to pray for the dicks.
He’s a bit of a holy willie in case you didn’t know!
I wonder if he swears when he prays.
Jesus fuckin’ Christ it’s all gone totally mental!
The last 3 of Wilson’s direct links archived.
Independence Activist Daily Record
https://archive.is/8kMQD
Blow SNP Daily Mail
https://archive.is/Pxk5D
SNP Ministers “Scottish” Sun
https://archive.is/WYrX7
Stephen Flynn Daily Record
https://archive.is/27HHK
Surely he means an MP at Holyrood
Dick!
Next!
A Scot Abroad said:
“most of that comment – the stuff about the ancient nonsense – is absolutely irrelevant, because it’s not going to be justiciable anywhere. So just ignore it, as everybody else in the world does.”
That ancient nonsense is justiciable in Scotland, just as England’s ancient stuff is justiciable in England. In addition, because of the Union, that ancient Scottish stuff can also be justiciable in the UK when it becomes relevant, as Boris Johnson found out when he illegally prorogued Parliament. Scots law said he wasn’t allowed to evade the Scots’ constitutional rights to keep their governments under their supervision. Ask him if that Scottish smackdown still smarts! He certainly found that hard to ignore.
“Nobody doubts that Scotland has abundant natural resources, but without any trade deals, they aren’t going to be cost-compelling to any trade partners.”
What on earth makes you think that an independent Scotland can’t have trade deals? Scotland’s resources are already the basis of trade deals, deals made by Westminster on its illegal assumption that Scotland’s resources are really England’s/UK’s resources, and just helped themselves to them without so much as a by your leave. It’s those Scottish resources that are keeping England and the UK afloat, because England’s resources just can’t cut it.
Also, I might remind you, one of the main English drivers for the Union in 1707 was that England was struggling to manage its national debt because of all the wars it had been fighting, and they intended to tax the Scots far more heavily than they had been prior to the Union to help pay it. England was desparate for the Union, for several selfish reasons.
“who within 500 miles is going to buy Scottish renewable energy when they have just as much wind, tidal and solar than Scotland does?”
Well, that’s just another dishonest framing, because they often don’t have just as much of these as Scotland. Somebody’s buying our renewable energy, but coz Westminster, they aren’t paying us at all for it, they’re paying London.
And James Jones said;
“1309”
Oh boy! You’ve outdone James Che!
Wholly irrelevant.
“1215” thus even more wholly irrelevant.
QED! (latin for game, set, and match 🙂 )
Alex Salmond Daily Record
https://archive.is/IJrOX
I don’t need to read that.
I heard it all straight from the horse’s mouth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6PWD6rilw
Horse’s arse or horse’s mouth. No contest
Next!
It’s a sad day when the need to contrive a positive spin for independence, is somehow derived from the comments of unionists, as being signs of ‘fear’ of losing the Indy battle.
For a start, which battle is that? There’s none!
No matter any counter economic argument put forward, the worst type of unionist propaganda is the stuff from supposed Indy supporters, ‘now is not the time’, variety, advocating for delay until YES reaches 60%. That’s genuine unionist based fear of losing.
Delay is the enemy. Online chit-chat, only kills time, while SNP, happy to continue to kick the can forever further down the road.
We should all fear SNP’s strategy.
Sorry to be pedantic again but this is important.
He didn’t say GRA he said GRRB
The Tories are blocking the GRRB but not the GRA.
If you look at both you will see there isn’t a lot of difference between them.
Both allow men to change sex and both allow men to self-id and that believe children can be transgender.
I’m saying bin the GRA but Alex Salmond said bin the GRRB.
A lot of people get the GRA & the GRRB mixed up and think we the only choice to save women’s rights is to vote Tory.
‘The Let Everyone Speak Party’ will emphasis the difference between GRRB & GRA and will fight for there to be no GRA in an independent Scotland.
Vote YES to get shot of the GRA & everything gender related.
NB ‘The Let Everyone Speak Party’ is a work of fiction but I do believe a similar party would win a lot of votes.
Dan
You don’t seem to have a problem have full conversations with fuckin wanker Trolls.
Trolls fuck up the thread far more than a Yoon link.
You lot cut out the conversations with wanker Trolls, and I’ll stop posting Yoon links.
Your choice.
How fuckin stupid to you have to be not to realise these wankers are not here to go into meaningful conversations about Scottish independence, they are here to deter others from joining the thread.
So the more you talk to them, the more they come to achieving their goal.
@Ruby (9.51) –
Fair point, thanks.
😉
I’ll speak to the wanker trolls if I want to. You are not the boss of me Wilson McBride.
In your defence I have to say I prefer direct links to no links. The no links posts really get on my nerves.
Re the wanker trolls I’m fed up with them now. They are both on my SQP list (SQP = scroll quickly past). I’m not doing it because you threatened to post links like you are fuckin’ Gregor I’m doing it ‘cos I’m bored with them.
Here’s my question for you Wilson.
Why don’t you post archived links? Do you not know how or do you just like flame-baiting.
I could show you how if you like.
Thanks for the links even if they were direct & most of the articles were mental.
@Brian Doonthetoon says:13 May, 2023 at 10:49 pm
the number of ‘doom-sayers’ on here has much increased over the past wee whiley. There must be “something” in the watter…
Something in the watter?
You avin a fucking larff???
Tak a gander at the cartoon figure peeking oot the hole at the top of this article.
A cartoon of a cartoon figure. A real, live, non-virtual laughing stock, put in place by a contested, criminally-investigated, deeply suspect process. Somebody nobody in Scotland bar a few (contested) tens of thousands of eejits, strutting about and telling the vast majority of us sovereign Scots tae do what he says or GTF.
And you really, truly believe the rest of us Scots and the rest of the world is just going to ignore this shameful travesty and pretend it’s “business as usual” for Scottish Indy?
I don’t care what you and the movement have to do, Brian, and I don’t care how long it takes. But believe me, Indy is finished until the day HY is replaced.
All your plugging you ears and shouting “la la la” ain’t going to change that.
So yes, that’s what in the fucking watter.
@Xaracen says:13 May, 2023 at 9:52 pm
Scotland’s natural resources are exceptionally generous for a country of its size*, and that alone is enough to assure, with any half-decent management, that an independent Scotland will thrive! Yes, it will need proper management, but there is absolutely no reason to suppose that expertise doesn’t already exist in Scotland. If you wish to claim otherwise, bloody well prove it, and show us all your working
Two fucking words is all the proof and working that is needed.
Humza fucking Yousaf.
That’s the expertise we have, that’s the very best that can be found from a medium-sized, aspirational first-world country of 5-6 million folk.
If you can’t see how the optics of that travesty stinks in the nostrils of every ordinary Scot, and makes us a nation-sized joke in the eyes of every international onlooker, then you are beyond help.
youtu.be/WW9X5K46RhA
A message from Angus to Alba.
@Ruby says:14 May, 2023 at 10:25 am
I’ll speak to the wanker trolls if I want to. You are not the boss of me Wilson McBride
Wilson is first to fall foul of Ruby’s “Let Everyone Speak” party.
Way to go Wilson!
Now who’s next? Fa cares. Second place is just first loser.
Ruby
I haven’t even talked to you this morning.
Are you imagining people are talking to you?
Do you have mental Health problems?
Are you hearing voices in your head?
And I’m glad to hear you are going to stop all conversations with the wanker Trolls.
If they disappear off the website, then it let’s others join the thread.. People who actually care about Scottish independence.
But as I said, if others continue to reply to the wanker Trolls, then I will continue to post Yoon links.
And to tell you the truth, I don’t even know what the Yoon links are all about, I am only posting them to make a particular point.
So hopefully others will follow your lead, and stop replying to the wanker Trolls.
@John Main
Since when were politicians ever a gauge of the actual expertise and skill of a nations people?
Cockney boy has grabbed the wrong end of the stick AGAIN
https://twitter.com/WingsScotland/status/1657461198814695428
HEY Did you see the picture posted by ‘The Boss’ It’s a picture of the gardens where someone carved a dick & balls for the Coronation. It’s a lovely picture of a people sitting on the grass welcoming Spring.
It would have been so much more fun if the people had sat in the shape of the dick & balls. Pretty sure the grass where the D&B was carved will be a different colour & so would be easy enough to follow the outline.
You could win a Turner Prize with performance art like that.
Next!
@ Wilson.
If you believe they are trolls then do as the site’s owner suggests and report them for Stu to deal with.
The fact that Stu lets them continue to post btl suggests he may see a net benefit as it facilitates other btl commenters to hone their skills in dealing with the subject matter they engage in by pointing out alternative views and information backed up with links.
This also means the larger percentage of the site’s readers that just lurk can see and consider the points made.
EG. Lurkers won’t see all the links to the energy data I post when they read or watch the MSM.
Stu archives the links in his articles so obviously feels there is worth in doing so for various reasons.
You rarely comment on anything on here other than dumping direct links to unionist rags without comment, so it’s not like you are adding anything to the the discussion.
Why don’t you step up and add something to the btl commentary.
John Main said;
“Two fucking words is all the proof and working that is needed.
Humza fucking Yousaf.
That’s the expertise we have, that’s the very best that can be found from a medium-sized, aspirational first-world country of 5-6 million folk.”
Wow, John, that’s impressive! How did you manage to evaluate the expertise of 5-6 million folk to come up with that stupid, ignorant and utterly derogatory conclusion? You are aware are you not that there are many thousands of types of expertise, and some talented individuals can have more than one form of expertise.
Unfortunately, some poor souls have no expertise, so take heart, you aren’t alone!
Dan
You are that thick, that you have missed completely the point I was making.
And you think that actually replying to these wankers is helping everyone else?
Are you fuckin crazy?
But do keep up your conversations with the wanker Trolls.
If you and Ruby seem to think you can do what you want on here, then that applies to everybody.
And as I said to Ruby, I don’t even read the Yoon links I post,,,,they are posted purely to make a particular point.
So keep it up, you do your own thing,,,and I’ll do mine.
John 10.46am
A lot of anger us being channelled at the idea being consulted about of no-go zones to allow nature to recover in 10% of the fishing areas. Consultations on marine protected areas have been going on to my knowledge for forty years. What measures do the people who are complaining about the current consultation focus imagine will do the job better?
Or is the real issue that any restriction on economic activity for environmental reasons is a no-go area?
I asked Craig Murray that basic question, him having experience of marine stuff in FCO, but he didn’t respond for the subsequent few days I checked.
‘Big sad cryin’ face emoji’
🙁
Am I not included in the term ‘you lot’?
I have mental health issues now ‘cos I feel excluded. It’s all your fault.
You just don’t know how much your words have hurt my feelings.
That’s it I’m taking the ‘wanker trolls’ off the SQP list now.
V to you Wilson MacBride VVVV
People don’t need to join in they can start their own topic or they can just lurk and read the replies to trolls which are all very interesting & informative.
What was the particular point you were trying to make by posting direct links to articles which you hadn’t even read?
Are you a ‘fuckin’ wanker troll’?
Over! Over and out!
Check out Wilson there, adding so much quality to the btl discourse…
Has he got anything to add with regard to improving btl content other than direct links to unionist rags and hostility to other commenters.
After all, if he’s not part of the solution he’s part of the problem.
He must have some expertise and knowledge. Maybe he has some views on taxpayers cash subsidising air source heat pump installations on old badly insulated listed buildings…
John Main says:
14 May, 2023 at 10:49 am
@Ruby says:14 May, 2023 at 10:25 am
I’ll speak to the wanker trolls if I want to. You are not the boss of me Wilson McBride
Wilson is first to fall foul of Ruby’s “Let Everyone Speak” party.
I had a long lie-in this morning.
The first thing I did on waking (after completing my ablutions , of course) was to select one of my many many gods to offer prayers to – it being a Sunday and all.
Odin’s my favourite at the moment, by the way. And so I offered up this prayer to him,
“Oh, Odin. Great All Father. Ruler of Asgard. Please welcome me to the halls of Valhalla when my time comes, so that I may drink beer with my ancestors and my brothers and my sisters. And that together we may recount the tales of the great adventures we once had on Earth”
“And please, All Father, reveal to me my enemies here in Midgard ,who are my bane, that I may shield myself from their devious and cowardly attacks.”
Odin doesn’t always deliver, but by Thor’s hammer, he did this morning.
@Xaracen says:14 May, 2023 at 11:12 am
that’s impressive! How did you manage to evaluate the expertise of 5-6 million folk to come up with that stupid, ignorant and utterly derogatory conclusion?
Unless you are claiming that HY is not First Minister and is not Keeper Of The Great Seal Of Scotland, I fail to grasp your point, if you have one.
Facts, chiels, dinging and a that.
The FM of Scotland is HY. HY represents Scotland on the world stage. A wondering world, jaw dropping with incredulity, looks at HY and says to itself, “the Scottish Indy movement’s finest is HY”. It also says, “the pretendy nation of Scotland is so bereft of talent, competence and raw, red-blooded nationalism, that it had to outsource its leadership to HY”.
Now, you can ignore these facts, or twist them any way you want, but they won’t ding.
You can hurl every insult you are capable of thinking up at people like me who dare to point out the bleedin obvious, but it won’t change the facts.
‘The Wrong End of the Stick Boy’ posts again.
Stick Boy thinks ‘Let Everyone Speak’ means if a man speaks you must do what he says.
Spot the misogynist!
Dan says:
13 May, 2023 at 1:03 pm
Ambulances were sent out to treat 800 people suffering hypothermia in Dec 22
——————
Down to the snp taking over cold weather payments and capping them at £50.
@Xaracen, (John Main @ 10:41am) – that’s three words, isn’t it, Xaracen?. I didn’t get a great education but I was taught some basic arithmetic and I’m sure that’s three words.
@Northcode says:14 May, 2023 at 11:40 am
Are you sure you have thought that through?
Odin’s day is Wednesday.
You are probably royally pissing him off by bothering him on the weekend.
Watch your step. He’s a prickly bastard to fall foul of.
Wasn’t Wilson the name of the ball Tom Hanks had as an imaginary companion in “Lost”? I seem to remember it floated away and got lost near the end.
John Main @ 11:52am
Yeah. I though it through.
Ruby , thanks for the Spanish translation – most excellent!
Happy Sunday to you too!
John Main @ 11:52am
Odin’s a pal of mine. He said I could call him anytime. Sounds more like I’m pissing you off.
@Northcode says:14 May, 2023 at 11:51 am
Just a wee bit up-thread you will find somebody posting that swearing is punctuation.
So it’s two words plus punctuation.
Northcode , prefer Loki myself – not the blogger!
I don’t think it should come as a surprise to most folk that some are predicting that the SNP will lose lots of MPs at the next GE, I can only hope that they are replaced with Alba MPs and not Labour ones.
Vote Alba, Join Alba do it for Scotland.
“Humza Yousaf has been warned his party is “in trouble” – and likely to lose “an awful lot of seats” next year. Pollster Sir John Curtice also believes Labour’s resurgence is making it less likely the SNP will hold the balance of power after the next general election – and with it the means to force a second referendum on Scottish independence.
Sir John, Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclyde, was speaking in reaction to a poll published by Redfield & Wilton indicating a dip in support for the party since Nicola Sturgeon stepped down as First Minister, and also in the wake of the arrests of her husband Peter Murrell, the party’s former CEO, as part Operation Branchform, an ongoing investigation into alleged SNP fundraising fraud.”
John Main @ 12:12am
Naw it isnae.
John says:
14 May, 2023 at 10:46 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW9X5K46RhA
A message from Angus to Alba.
Thanks John
Xaracen, re your nonsense posted at 9:12 am,
Never heard of the Darien failure? That’s what compelled the Scottish establishment to beg to join the union. It wasn’t England that was in danger of going bust.
As for your claims that any court in Scotland, or the Supreme Court of the U.K. subsequently appealed to, would uphold the Claim of Right, that’s just the most cock-eyed analysis I’ve yet read on WoS. Did you drink a few pints of whisky with your breakfast this morning before thinking that would be an intelligent contribution to make? The Claim of Right means absolutely nothing in the modern world. Hasn’t meant anything since 1707.
Ruby @9.14am.
Youslees and Slater will never work with the Alba party simply because both the SNP and Greens are no longer independence parties.
Its interesting to note that Yousless would let SNP MPs work work with the unionist Labour party at Westminster, but Yousless would never think of working here in Scotland with the Alba party, still Alex Salmond had to try, even though deep down he knew the answer to the question.
The Greens and the SNP will not work with the Alba party because the Alba party seeks to rid Scotland of this rancid union.
This why we must vote out SNP MPs, albeit I’d say Angus B. McNeil and Joanna Cherry aside, the rest of them at the next GE and try and replace them (as many as possible) with Alba MPs, or nothing will change.
Vote Alba, Join Alba, do it for Scotland.
Ruby
Do as all good women should do.
Better to be seen and not heard.
Because you prove beyond all reasonable doubt, that when you are heard, you come out with the biggest load of irrelevant crap that has ever been posted on Wings.
But apart from that, I hope you keep to your word, and don’t reply to the wanker Trolls.
Now, have you not got hoovering yo do or getting your man’s dinner made?
Dan
You are similar to Ruby, you also post load of irrelevant crap.
And also like Ruby, I do hope you avoid replying to the wanker Trolls.
So thicko, it’s up to you.
You are as bright as a three watt bulb.
@Republicofscotland says:14 May, 2023 at 12:22 pm
a dip in support for the party since Nicola Sturgeon stepped down as First Minister, and also in the wake of the arrests of her husband Peter Murrell
Crivvens, help ma boab, so no dip in support since HY was fraudulently shoe-horned in as FM by a few tens of thousands of card-carrying SNP eejits, rubber-stamped by the troughing dross squatting in Scotland’s wee pretendy parliament?
Seriously?
Everybody is just fine and dandy with that travesty?
I hae ma fuckin doots.
I think we knew deep down that the Keystone Cops aka Police Scotland would do this, afterall they postponed their investigation into SNP finances for a month to allow Murrell and GCHQ to put the continuity candidate Yousless in place.
“Police Scotland have claimed it would be too expensive to release correspondence it had with the SNP and the Scottish Government about the probe into the finances of Scotland’s governing party despite demands for transparency about what senior SNP figures knew about the investigation.”
https://archive.is/tiiDI#selection-1211.0-1221.157
Dorothy Devine @ 12:13m
I have to agree with you, Dorothy. Loki is a much more interesting, and misunderstood, Norse god. But Odin is the boss, and he does get pissed off if you don’t massage his ego now and again. A bit like @John Main, actually.
Oh, and I liked your ASA anagram. I also liked @Ruby’s idea of making anagrams in other languages. Spanish for sure (because I’ve always thought Spanish is a cool, and fun, language) and, perhaps, Scots. Could be interesting. 🙂
“That’s the expertise we have, that’s the very best that can be found from a medium-sized, aspirational first-world country of 5-6 million folk”
Oh, come on, John Main. After watching how that SNP leadership election charade was the biggest stitch up of the SNP membership and election robbery in recent times, so a pre-selected numpty could be parachuted to the post of FM, surely you cannot seriously expect us to believe Yousaf is a talent or was elected because of his talents, do you?
People in the UK do not reach position of power for their abilities or merits, but rather because either the secrets they have in the closet make them easy targets for blackmail and manipulation, or because their self-awareness of their inability and incompetence puts them in a perfect position to act as willing puppets directed by “advisers”.
Since when in any colony the oppressor allows the very best among the colony natives to reach positions of power and control?
Yousless had to be catapulted to the post because they needed a willing crown minion to let Charles put his indulged backside over our Stone in London. They needed to demonstrate the world that the English crown is more important than the Scottish one and that the English crown represents “great britain” crown.
I guess their expectation is that the world, including many in Scotland, will believe the lie that Scotland is “a region” of Great Britain rather than a constitutional, sovereign signatory of an international treaty which has the legitimate power and right to end Great Britain and that farce tomorrow.
They also needed a minion to railroad through the jury-less trials so, next time, when the UK establishment chooses to falsely accuse on fabricated charges a political opponent to the status quo, the gathering of sufficient perjurers, fabrication of charges, forceful suppression of evidence, manipulation of parliamentary committees, the exposure of disgusting corruption and political bias among judges, Lord Advocates, UK civil servants, COPFS, crown agents, collusion with the press and police, do not go to waste.
He was also catapulted to the post because the toxic SNP-Green alliance fiasco, with totally useless Green “ministers” whose intervention is having disastrous consequences and clearly damaging and dividing Scotland, has to continue so the reputation of the SNP for good governance is finally destroyed.
He was also catapulted to the post so the transzealots could continue to be given a platform to oppress women, allienating even more voters and independence supporters.
He was also catapulted to the post, so independence could be stopped and the SNP could continue to go down the road of making itself unelectable so finally Labour could claim its much trumpeted “revival” in Scotland.
He had to be catapulted to the post because the crown needs a compliant puppet as FM who allows the crown to keep forcing its unelected representative inside our executive cabinet to control that anti-union majority in Holyrood.
This of course gives the crown power to usurp from the people of Scotland control over the legislative power. Just as we saw with that unelected unionist lady advocate parachuted to Sturgeon’s cabinet, such crown representative acts as the crown’s gatekeeper of what laws can enter our parliament when there is an anti-union majority of seats and a great risk of pro-independence bills being passed. Never mind if those laws and bills are part of our own democratic mandates, because democratic mandates is not what concerns the crown.
In other words, if the crown cannot stop inconvenient bills and laws by having enough unionist seats inside Scotland’s legislative power, then the crown sticks its fingers into the executive itself to block the inconvenient laws from entrying parliament and being passed by the anti-union majority.
We have all seen already how this was put to practice by that lady advocate parachuted on to our government cabinet when she handed the crown in the form of an English court, a veto to stop our indyref bill entering our legislative power.
This move was of course convenient for both the crown and a the political fraud leading the SNP, but it was none the less a direct assault on Scotland’s democratic rights and effectively usurping from the people of Scotland the power to control their own legislative power.
Westminster is well aware of this aberration that does not happen in any other democracy in the world, not even in England, which is the crown having its fingers all over the three powers. In recent years we have seen how the crown broke any barriers separating those three powers, therefore Scotland can not be considered a democracy. It is being subjected to absolute rule and in my view this is a direct violation of Scotland’s Claim of Right.
Yousaf had to be catapulted so the devolutionists and troughers in the SNP could continue peddling the perverse lie that wasting our taxpayers’ money in a completely useless pretend fight with the UK government on the nonsense of GRR, which by the way the majority of Scotland rejects, has anything to do with “protecting devolution” or Scotland’s autonomy.
While Yousaf continues to have the crown right in the middle of his cabinet usurping power from the people of Scotland and handing that power to the crown, I find their claim to be protecting devolution to be the biggest and most perverse lie of them all.
Devolution rests on the Scotland Act. The Scotland Act is a product of Westminster. Each and every one of the hypocrites sitting in Holryood have put themselves at the mercy of Westminster by embracing the Scotland Act and by continuing to insist in abiding by it, despite the many assaults on this piece of legislation by westminster to force brexit on Scotland.
The fastest route to forever preserve the powers we were handed back from the colonial force under devolution and to get the rest back is by reneging on the Scotland Act and blocking the crown from accessing our executive and legislative powers.
But do you see any of the cowards sitting in Holyrood, including Yousaf, even moving a finger to do any of that? Hell no.
So for as long as these hypocrites continue to abide by the Scotland Act, they are willingly cooperating with Westminter to damage devolution and stealing our powers. For as long as Yousaf keeps the crown sitting in our cabinet, he will be helping the crown to usurpe from the people of Scotland control over our legislative power.
“fighting” Westminster about GRR has nothing to do with “protecting” or “defending” devolution. It has to do with taking our eyes away from the bigger picture and problem, which to me is the crown blocking what laws enter Holyrood to keep that anti-union majority on check, and forcing us to look the other way.
With this waste of taxpayers’ money fighting for the GRR we did not give consent to, the SNP are pretending they are doing something to progress autonomy for Scotland when what they are doing is tightening even further the straight jacket Westminster and the crown have put on our parliament.
I am of the opinion Yousaf was parachuted to the post because he was the most innocuous and compliant candidate the crown could find to ensure preservation of the UK by keeping its sticky fingers all over our powers. It certainly wasn’t the candidate the people of Scotland elected.
@Wilson McBride says:14 May, 2023 at 12:41 pm
You are as bright as a three watt bulb
It’s 2023 Wilson, everybody is using LEDs, and 3W is quite a decent brightness.
You have to move with the times.
Not just in lighting. You have to move with the times if you want Indy too.
Coming up 10 years since Indy Ref 1, and support still nailed to the dial at 45% (that’s a best case figure – the “HY negative bounce” has yet to be factored in).
Time for new ideas, new policies, and above all, new faces.
Wilson McBride says:
14 May, 2023 at 12:35 pm
Now, have you not got hoovering yo do or getting your man’s dinner made?
Wilson McBride @ 12:35pm
WTAF, Ruby. This AI(Artificially Inseminated) bot has obviously exceeded the parameters of its program. I expect it’ll now be decommissioned to undergo re-programming(or re-training).
PS Asshole
I have four robots who do the hovering and floor washing for me. Funnily enough one of them is called Wilson.
FYI Women only keep their word if they want to.
Greens/communists link.
https://bright-green.org/2015/01/28/greeces-green-government/
Adam Ramsay article explaining it. Their mission to eclipse ecological thinking with social justice issues is pretty evident.
He mentions Bea Campbell, a prominent communist back in the day. As it happens she was gender critical. Not all on the left are trans rights advocates but the leading trans rights advocates are on/of the Left, the traditional – well post-Gramsci – Left.
@Mia says:14 May, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for your reply.
I agree with everything you write.
The first, and for the time being, the only, objective of every Scot must be removal of HY from his position and replacement with somebody democratically, fairly and uncriminally elected.
Cos every justification for Indy founders on the unavoidable obstacle that the Indy movement has just fraudulently placed HY at its head.
There is no way through, over or around that until he is gone.
Your average, apolitical Scot doesn’t know nor care about whether or not this has happened because of malign, shadowy, subverting actors. They just know what they see on TV and read in the MSM.
The optics of the situation is everything.
Northcode says:
14 May, 2023 at 1:05 pm
Wilson McBride @ 12:35pm
WTAF, Ruby. This AI(Artificially Inseminated) bot has obviously exceeded the parameters of its program. I expect it’ll now be decommissioned to undergo re-programming(or re-training).
🙂 I heart Northcode!
Naw no decommissioning!
They just need a bigger turkey baster. The first one was too small.
Have you spotted any of the trolls today? I need to talk to them.
Did the SNP wait for the sun to come out before announcing the heating allowance cap?
Aye Tricky Sneaky Cootoads
Cootoads
That’s one of the new swear words that I got from the Scrabble letters
A S C O T A B R O A D O
The state of these AI(artificially inseminated, thank you, @Merganser), bots today. What are they like?
They’re out in force and malfunctioning like crazy. I can’t deny it’s a real hoot. Looks like HQ have never stress tested deploying this many at once before.
Also, Has anyone else noticed they’re all using names or partial names of Dad’s Army characters?
Captain John Main(waring), Private James (they don’t like it up em) Jones, and of course, Sergeant Wilson.
Their nostalgic yearning for the good old days of war and empire has actually brought a tear to my eye. I bet you all can’t stop laughing either.
John Main says: at 12:58 pm
“It’s 2023 Wilson, everybody is using LEDs, and 3W is quite a decent brightness.
You have to move with the times.”
Indeed John, Wilson’s patter may have been at the cutting edge back when white dug shit on pavements was still a thing, but the world has indeed moved on.
These days people no longer appear to feed their dogs chalk, and bulb brightness is best measured in lumens.
A rowdy board today.
Re upthread re Ross Greer being a God botherer. He is also a member of a cross party group headed by himself, Yousaf and Sarwar with the stated aim of defeating racism in politics but, judging by the actions of some of them, appeared to exist to clear the way to the top of their parties via internal purges by claims of racism against fellow party members. In Sarwars case this meant accusing a member of his own party of racism and refusing to name the people who the person had apparently been racist towards, an old Scottish tradition of no one being allowed to know who the accusers are.
Greer also took himself on a photo jaunt to stand on a Greek beach wearing a lifevest after the death by drowning of Alain Kurdi in 2015. Greer actually said that God had told him to open the UK/Wests borders, echoes of Blairs God telling him it was ok to take the UK into war. Either Sarwar or Yousaf, possibly both, did the same photo trip, gazing earnestly out to sea on a Greek beach whilst wearing a life vest.
A Scot Abroad, re your tripe at 12:31pm;
Darien was actively sabotaged by the English establishment, and it was not what compelled Scotland to ‘join’ the union, a; it ‘created the Union along with England’, and b; Scotland the nation wasn’t bankrupt, it had almost no national debt, the debt or losses from Darien was purely private. And c; many of its nobility did lose a lot of money, and it was their cupidity that made them vulnerable to English bribes to vote for the Union. The real compulsion was the threat of war with England, the English having troops massed just below the border, and an English fleet lying off the Firth of Forth during the negotiations and ratifications. It was well understood by the Scots that another war with England was imminent.
“It wasn’t England that was in danger of going bust.” Hah, yes it was!
England was even more desperate for the Union because its national debt was out of control due to its constant warring with its European neighbours, and making Scotland liable for a share of England’s national debt was a key driver of the Union for the English establishment. It was also desperate to block the Scots from choosing a successor to the Scots Crown that didn’t suit England’s establishment.
They were so desperate they were willing to allow the Scots to trade with England’s colonies across the globe in return for agreeing the succession and the taxing. That trading access was a major benefit for the Scots, as was avoiding the war with England that was threatening.
Darien was not at all a bad idea, though success wasn’t guaranteed, and it might have failed anyway, but what guaranteed its failure was that English sabotage.
Scotland’s Claim of Right is still on its law books, and even better, its permanence and authority is guaranteed under the Treaty of Union itself, because it is an excellent, though incomplete, summary of Scotland’s constitution. Don’t laws, constitutions, and sovereignty mean anything in your modern world? Let me ask you a question; Do you believe that the Magna Carta has any relevance in the modern world?
Captain, eh?
Not bad for a loon from the schemes.
Me auld maw wid be prood, if she wis still wi us.
Meanwhile, it is reported today that Police Scotland are investigating an Amazon account linked to the SNP for over 1,000 “unexplained” purchases over a few years, some of high value.
I wonder if a campervan plus 1,000 sundry purchases adds up to about £650,000?
John Main @ 2:23pm
Naw ye urnae.
Some corrective reading for those Unionists still clinging to the old, tired but comforting myths about Darien and “Skintland”:
https://wingsoverscotland.com/weekend-essay-skintland-britnat-mythology-and-the-darien-scheme/
“The Claim of Right means absolutely nothing in the modern world. Hasn’t meant anything since 1707.”
That’s why King Charles III, like his mother before him, and so forth had to swear an oath to uphold it.
Juryless Trials will be used to protect fraudsters and perjurers from conviction !……The Real Reason !
Mia,
Hear hear. Well articlated.
Chris,
Here lies the lie’s
Appropriate and excellent cartoon.
https://archive.is/Zg5Hh
Aspiring actor is convicted of rape in no-condom ‘stealthing’ case
The offence came to public attention after a woman said that Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, had tricked her into having sex without a condom in 2010 in her flat in Sweden. He denied the allegation and a case against him was dropped by Swedish prosecutors.
This guy was doing a lot more than just not wearing a condom. But anyone could be in front of the judge accused like Julian Assange of not wearing a condom.
‘Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said many women did not realise “stealthing” was rape and that she hoped more would report it.’
Sandy Brindley seems desperate for rape convictions. Maybe she is afraid of losing her job so she has to create a ‘rape crisis’
What happens if the condom bursts is that still rape Sandy?
I think we might need Kate Forbes to be creating some new laws. ie
No sex before marriage or even better no sex at all. Want children? Artificial insemination is the answer. Sorted.
Merganser for First Minister.
It is with a note of interesting information on Records that when it comes to debt and shared debt,The Bank of England is not Registered as the Bank of Great Britain.
Score! Triple word score
Scabtard!
A S C O T A B R O A D O
FGS Dan
White dogshit!
That would be just too much.
We don’t want to hear anyone say
Even the dogshit in the street in Scotland is white
With or without a Treaty of union, The Claim of Right still Stands, as Xaracen pointed out. Scottish sovereignty is older than the supposed treaty of union.
Where is the cootoadin’ link to that story scabtard?
No links annoy me much more than direct links.
Any purchases of scrabble or turkey basters from Amazon?
Republicofscotland,
A monarch’s oath isn’t legally enforceable in a civil dispute between two parts of the United Kingdom. It’s not even relevant in an era of parliamentary democracy.
Don’t feed the trolls
James Che,
The Claim of Right is meaningless now. It’s got the same sort of status as the tartan tat sold up and down the Royal Mile. We live in a parliamentary democracy. If you want to change the status quo, start by convincing enough Parliamentarians to vote for a change.
I have never understood why the Scottish independence movement confine themselves to Scotland alone. As a movement, it should be trying to convince people and parties across the U.K. Strangely, it would probably gain most ground with English tory voters, most of whom think that Scotland is a financial drain on England. If IndyRef2 were to be held with everyone in the U.K. getting a vote, I strongly suspect that Scotland would gain independence.
The Bank of England is a English Bank,
The information can be found by a goggle search.
The Bank of England was established in 1694 and is owned by the Treasury Solicitor on behalf of the Government, Through the Government Legal department and enshrined in Lae by the Treasury Solicitor Act1876.
Which established the Treasury Solicitor as a CORPORATION SOLE ( Office with perpetual Succession)
Employees of the Department excercise legal powers which are invested in the CORPORATION SOLE,
THE TREASURY SOLICITOR reports to the ATTORNEY GENERAL for ENGLND and WALES.
Looks like a change in leadership about to happen for Glasgow Labour after the Greens say that they will refuse to work in coalition with Labour unless their choice, a Belgian, is installed as leader of Glasgow Labour.
https://archive.fo/yGARh
What is parliamentary Democracy when Westminster has two parliament running simultainously in Scotland.
Both sets of legislation come from Westminster for both parliaments,
That is not Democracy, That is Colonialism.
Xaracen.
Besides the Bank of England not being a bank of Britain, another interesting search through the records Finds the Attorney General position was formed in 1277 and continued to present day. And is Attorney General for England and Wales.
It is truly amazing how see much of the English parliament never ceased to create the new great British parliament
The evidence mounts up that the old parliament of England did not cease to exist to create a new British parliament,
The new creation of a Great British parliament, The name ” is all there is”. The reality is opposing on records.
Ruby @ 3:14pm
Brilliant. The anagram and the dog shit both. Made me laugh out loud, Ruby 🙂
A “Scot” Abroad.
King Charles III is swearing the oath to uphold the Claim of Right of the people of Scotland, simply because English sovereignty and Scottish sovereignty are not compatible, Charles III may be king of Scots (as long as we allow him to be) but he isn’t king of Scotland the two are completely different.
“In England, the Bill of Rights gave parliament sovereignty over the people. But in Scotland the Claim of Right ensured the sovereignty of the people, not parliament.
The incompatibility of the constitutions could not be resolved. Instead, the two nations agreed to keep their separate constitutions, with a guarantee to Scotland.
The guarantee was to specify the Claim of Right as a condition of the treaty and of the Union itself, “for all time coming”.”
The Claim of Right is alive and still active in Scotland it is extremely important to Scots, and every Scot MUST familiarise his or her self with it, and what it contains.
https://salvo.scot/claim-of-right/
A Scot Abroad, 3:40 pm –
“If IndyRef2 were to be held with everyone in the U.K. getting a vote, I strongly suspect that Scotland would gain independence.”
True, the English are tired of all the belly-aching (unfairly as it’s only coming from a vocal minority of Scots) and wondering why their own national identity is almost forbidden *. There could be no clean break though.
* See Emily Thornberry’s ‘image from Rochester’. It was never clear what she meant to say but her boss found it objectionable and she didn’t defend it, so presumably it was mocking English identity.
James Che,
If all that ancient stuff had any legal relevance why hasn’t the independence movement tested it in court? Perhaps that’s what the newly-created (junior, not important enough to attend cabinet despite being paid £98k) Independence Minister Jamie Hepburn is working on? Who knows. Let’s hope he’s earning it.
Practising polemics…..
Republicofscotland,
I’m not denying the existence of the Claim of Right, I’m saying that it is completely meaningless in practice whilst the Union exists. The only way that it could be resurrected is by Scotland leaving the Union via the established and legally-provided for route within the Scotland Act. After that, Scotland could do what it wants.
Currently, Scotland wants to stay within the Union. So the Claim of Right is irrelevant at this point.
Not really. I’ve found The Rev doesn’t let those through.
Ah, but yes. The commenters rail against opposing views on independence, so ‘ave some. It keeps it live.
Northcode & Ruby, get a room.
James Che @ 3:49pm
James speaks truth to trolls.
Having been nominated by Ruby for the position of First Minister, I think I should set out my personal manifesto:
1. Appoint Stuart Campbell as a SPAD on a salary of £250,000. pa. until such time as he is elected as an MSP if he so wishes
2. Ditto Alex Salmond, Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey.
3. Accept the resignations of all current cabinet ministers. and do their jobs myself in my spare time, until I decide who does what.
4. Bring back deportation for those who conspired against Alex Salmond.
5. Sack the Greens.
8. Demolish the Scottish Parliament building.
9. Appoint Craig Murray as head of the Judiciary and Chief of Police.
10.Appoint Ruby as cultural advisor, salery as in 1. above.
So nothing too radical to start with.
@ John Main I responded to one of your previous outbursts re useless Useless and at the time I responded that I believe everyone on WOS agrees with you, I also asked what YOU were prepared to do about it, obviously you didn’t respond
Would YOU be prepared on behalf of Sovereign disgusted Scots to initiate a legal challenge through a crowdfunder against the fraudulent election of the clown Useless to the position of FM
I have posted before that (HE IS NOT MY FIRST MINISTER) and neither is TAMPON CHARLIE MY KING but the difficulty is that not only is there a lot of very stupid people inhabiting the uk and Scotland (all WM govts) and HR elections but they continue to BELIEVE politicians
Chas and others like to berate the claim of right as ancient and inconsequential and try to demean supporters as the bonny purple Heather club, but if they truly wanted a proper democratic country instead of the corrupt venal entities that we have they would join us in trying to BUILD a better system that properly represents THE PEOPLE, and the ONLY way that can come about is by the combined power of the people
A Scot Abroad said;
“The Claim of Right is meaningless now. It’s got the same sort of status as the tartan tat sold up and down the Royal Mile.”
Yet another assertion proclaimed without the faintest hint of provenance. Why don’t you supply some evidence to justify that claim?
You can’t, can you, because there isn’t any, because at no point was it abolished or put into desuetude. The Scottish Parliament certainly didn’t do that, and Westminster hasn’t the authority even if it wanted to. Did you even bother to look any of this up?
The Supreme Court’s 2015 yearbook published an essay on Scotland’s Magna Carta, featuring, guess what, Scotland’s Claim of Right, and it states quite clearly;
“The Claim of Right – an Act of the Estates (the Parliament) of Scotland, which is still on the Statute Book as the Claim of Right Act 1689.”
And the article was quite clear that the CoR knocks all sorts of spots off that miserly Magna Carta thingy.
Tartan tat, eh?
Whatever, Scotland has gladly gone along with the Union for centuries so backtracking has no relevance to the present. Instead of claiming some sort of doubtful wrong you need to demonstrate how an independent Scotland might thrive, and without harming its partners in the Union, else why would the union agree? Where is the plan for a sovereign future? Maybe Jamie Hepburn is about to reveal it.
Gosh, an immediately accepted post. Are comments on this blog moderated by the owner personally, or by some sort of automated censor?
Thanks for that post Xaracen. Very informative.
The trolls are not all bad. The do serve a purpose.
Without the troll posting crap you may not have gotten around to posting the above.
Let’s hear it for the trolls!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qNgX9UCvyY
Ruby
You come across as being a bit childish and moody.
Are you am only child.
Who could blame your parents for deciding that they didn’t want to chance another pregnancy, just incase it turned out like you. That would be too much for any parent.
Haven’t you got housework to be getting on with. Going by the time you spend on Wings, your house must be stinkin.
So off you pop,,,get your man’s working gear washed and ironed for work in the morning, so he can go out and earn money to keep you and the kids fed and watered.
If it wasn’t for your man you would most likely starve. Thank goodness for men.
You never know Ruby, if you can keep your man happy until the end of the week, he might slip you a couple of extra pounds in your housekeeping money.
Just had a thought, and hope Craig Murray will give us his thoughts…
If someone attempted a dramatised version of the whole ‘Get Salmond’ saga (stage play, film, mini-series, doesn’t really matter) would they also be in contempt of court?
I mean, how far removed from the reality would it have to be ‘safe’?
This is pretty basic stuff – I’m struggling to understand how *any* such script, even with names changed etc, could escape the Dorrian treatment. And if one was produced/broadcast without any prosecution following, wouldn’t that exonerate Craig completely?
I just saw a story about an Amazon account used by the SNP. I didn’t add a link ‘cos it’s just Yahoo hoovering things from elsewhere. It was on their homepage, if you fancy a look.
They’ve taken it from the Telegraph, with the Sunday Mail involved farther down the chain.
James Jones says: at 6:55 pm
“Gosh, an immediately accepted post. Are comments on this blog moderated by the owner personally, or by some sort of automated censor?”
The site software was recently “updated” and since then there appears to be an up to 15 min duration / delay before posts appear.
I have also had occasional posts appear instantly on submission but that will be because they happened to coincide closely with the refresh time.
Some words will get a post held in moderation though.
Well, I guess Wilson McBride’s post answers my question. That’s just plain nasty and personal so I can’t believe the blog owner would have waived it through. The basic AI must be looking for keywords. Blimey, I’m standing up for Ruby. Fair’s fair.
Ruby @ 6:59pm
Absolutely correct, Ruby. Trolls often create the opportunity for you to express your own, much more reasoned argument to an audience.
“If all that ancient stuff had any legal relevance why hasn’t the independence movement tested it in court?”
James Jones.
And which court would that be the UKSC? where it would be deemed irrelevant, no the country that is ceded from laws are not the laws in a deciding factor, that’s why Salvo is in the process of taking it to the international courts the UN ICJ.
As for why nothing has come to light before now, not enough research had been put into finding out about it until now, much credit must go to Sara Salyer and her team for shining a light on it, I’d imagine Westminster and the Scottish House Jock would’ve wanted it to remain in the dark permanently.
Scots need to start reading up on what actually happened in the past for it is undoubtably our key to exiting this union in the future, here’s a couple of links to get you started.
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2023/03/24/another-major-lie-revealed/
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2023/05/06/some-myths-destroyed/
And this one.
“This is a long but worthwhile read. It sets out the evidence that Scotland while in a political and economic Union was never in a territorial Union.”
Imagine how much England must owe us with regards to assets they’ve stolen from our territorial waters.
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2022/11/26/reclaiming-the-rights-of-scotlands-people/
https://salvo.scot/
automated censor!
A whole list of words trigger the automated censor obviously not swear words just lots of other words.
You can avoid being censored if you know these words. 🙂
I know all the words but obviously I can’t post them otherwise I would be censored.
So sorry I just can’t help you! 🙂
Helpful, thanks.
Dan at 7:28 pm.
Trolls, and AI bots, use many tricks and tactics. However, one of their favourites, in our case, is to feign support for Scottish independence. They will then sabotage their own feigned arguments by the, not so subtle, use of a few Greek rhetorical devices.
These devices, they’re called “fallacies” in Greek rhetoric, are well defined and have proven to be successful techniques in attempting to persuade the reader, or listener, that their own argument is flawed.. Or at the very least cast doubt in the minds of the target audience.
You already know a few of these fallacies, quite a few are in common use.
You just might not know you know them.
This is really tricky stuff and can get insanely complex. Check out Sister Miriam Joseph’s “The Trivium”.
By the way, this is what they taught future leaders of the great British Empire at Eton (probably still do). Those boys who were ‘Born to Empire’.
Do you remember Tony Blair’s “education, education, education” speech? It was a rhetorical device falling under the “Rule of three”.
Or Churchill’s “ We shall fight them…we shall fight them…we shall fight them…” Yep, you guessed it, a rhetorical device, and a very very powerful one at that. He was bloody good at that stuff, old Winston. But then he was ‘Born to Empire’ and trained at Eton.
The masses, that’s us, were deliberately denied access to these kinds of teachings. I wonder why(I don’t really wonder. I know why).
In our case here on Wings, unionists often employ ‘fallacies’ in an attempt to ‘prove’ that an independent Scotland would be unable to manage its own affairs and develop its own successful economy.
Yep, you heard me right. They would have we Scots who, for the most part are the inventors and creators of the modern world, believe that we are incapable of running own country.
It’s okay to engage with trolls on a certain level. They very often shoot themselves in the foot and expose their own fallacious arguments for what they truly are – con tricks.
Trolls can actually be quite useful in enabling you to express your own, much more reasoned argument to an audience.
Armed with the knowledge of how rhetorical fallacies work, you can protect yourself.
So, defend yourself against fallacy attacks: Protect your mind. Protect your arguments. Protect your sanity. (did you notice what I did there)
Tool up with Trivium. Read up on rhetoric. Fend of fallacies. (those last three were literary devices, not rhetorical ones in case you were wondering)
James Jones says:
14 May, 2023 at 7:35 pm
Well, I guess Wilson McBride’s post answers my question. That’s just plain nasty and personal so I can’t believe the blog owner would have waived it through. The basic AI must be looking for keywords. Blimey, I’m standing up for Ruby. Fair’s fair.
A “Scot” Abroad @5.31pm.
Its as much relevant today as it was centuries ago.
“The institution of the crown in Scotland represents the people of the nation rather than an individual. A monarch in Scotland ruled, not by ‘divine right’, force of arms or feudal entitlement, but by consent of the people, the source of and highest authority of the nation. Such authority is what we term ‘sovereignty’. It is from the constitutional character of the Scottish crown that the constitutional sovereignty of the Scottish people derives. They are the sovereign power, represented by the institution of the crown.
This is why Scotland had no king or queen of the ‘land’, only of Scots. And this is why Queen Anne had no power, as the Scottish Parliament had no power, to merge the territories of England and Scotland into a single, territorial nation. Neither Queen nor parliament could transfer to the foundations of the new kingdom a sovereignty which neither possessed.”
Wilson McBride @ 17:13pm
Oh dear, Sergeant Wilson’s having a bit of a fit.
You know, I’m not going to try and be clever here. You’re the fucking child, pal. What age are you? 12.
@Twathater 6:21
I would certainly be keen to subscribe to a crowd funder to pay for a legal challenge against the flawed and suspect election process that resulted in HY being declared the winner of the competition to replace NS as SNP leader.
I believe the process was suspect on at least three counts:
1) The timetable laid down by the SNP constitution was not followed.
2) The constitutional rules against the party campaigning on behalf of specific election candidates were broken.
3) The membership figures, and hence the number of votes cast in favour of the different candidates, were and are disputed, to the extent that key SNP office holders resigned.
Last, but by no means least, the environment at the end of the election process was substantively changed from what it had been at the start, as resignations and misconduct revelations became public. Nonetheless, the SNP refused to permit voters to change or otherwise recall their ballots.
It goes without saying that Yousaf’s questionable legitimacy as SNP leader carries forwards the same questionable legitimacy to his position as FM. He is FM only because he holds the position of SNP leader.
I am no lawyer, but I do wonder why there is not more of an appetite for challenging this. Trump supporters would give their right arms for this kind of solid, factual ammunition with which to challenge Biden’s legitimacy.
So what’s wrong with us Scots?
James Jones@ 7:48pm
James, I might be wrong about you. That was a very nice supportive comment.
If someone is bothered by personal abuse they just report it to The Rev
I think that post tells you a lot about Wilson McBride.
My main objection to the post is that it’s totally lacking in any humour as you say it’s just plain nasty.
I suppose I did wind him up but I was only kiddin’
OK One good turn deserves another.
Do not post Uk – raine without a dash or asterik between the letters.
Were you posting about the war or the Eurovision?
There are lots of other words that get you modded. I might tell you another if you don’t get on my nerves. 🙂
Note for Northcode:
Churchill wasn’t “trained at Eton”. He attended Harrow.
You see how an apparently learned lecture in ancient Greek rhetoric can be spoiled by a simple factual error!
Some people have too much time to show off their education.
My most recently banished submission mocked the use of words like ‘colonialism’ and suggested if Scots want to see their own football matches broadcast or ferries built they should get on with it instead of blaming England or waiting for England to do it for them. Not sure which keyword was caught by the censor. Maybe if this doesn’t get through I’ll know.
Of course, the basic problem with us Sovereign Scot’s Claim of Right is that 55% of us will use it to stay in the union, as opposed to the 45% of us who will try to use it to get Indy.
So yes, the COR is real, it still exists, but no, as a means to Indy it’s a dead end.
Whereas simply showing us Sovereign Scots how we will all be rich post-Indy is a no-brainier for growing Indy support.
Note that I wrote “showing”, not telling, or wishy-washy claiming that “it stands to reason”.
Show us the fucking money.
Everybody reading here knows it makes sense, but yet the resistance to this plan just won’t shift.
Ah well, cue some response about trolls in a moment.
Wouldn’t it be funny if Westminster decided to keep the stone of destiny and Humza was left huffing and puffing.
It would be so funny watching the SNP wriggle on the hook of now is not the time to return it.
I agree that the quality of discussion here has deteriorated considerably. At one time Mr Main was picked on for not wearing a kilt, targe and brandishing a claymore, but lately anyone asking pertinent questions on the future direction of the Independence movement is set upon by many of the “hard of thinking” who inhabit this place.
Hatred of the English, or any form of conservatism seems to rule the roost and unfortunately will make our goal well nigh impossible. We need to seriously grow up and start to discuss and analyse like adults. Independence will not be achieved by a deranged faction, no matter how much flag waving or shouting they do, but by convincing a rapidly changing demographic, that Independence is doable AND in our long term interests.
Xaracen, the Claim of Right is currently meaningless, because there isn’t currently a way in law in which it can be invoked. If you change that, then it regains some meaning.
Rather than called for an IndyRef2, why doesn’t the Scottish government come up with a legal (Scots Law) means of convening the ancient three estates to then meet and decide under what circumstances the Claim of Right could be made, then hold a referendum as to whether the people agree with the proposal? I’d wager that there would be a majority, even including soft “nos”, for Scotland to reassert ancient rights. There’s nothing in the Scotland Act 1998 to prevent the Scottish government doing that.
Once a Scottish Convention of the Three Estates had asserted (by majority vote) a Claim of Right, it’s a lot harder for Westminster to refuse a S35 order under the Scotland Act 1998.
More on how we are not in a territorial union with England, yet our assets have been stolen by Westminster.
“The political and economic union between the countries was not a territorial union. To this day, the territorial ownership of Scotland was (and remains) vested not in the person of the monarch or the state (which acts on the monarch’s behalf), but in the Crown of Scotland, the Community of the Realm, the people.
Crown property rights in Scots law, which are an important part of Scotland’s system of land ownership, are also distinct from Crown property rights in the rest of the UK and belong to Scotland as a sovereign territorial nation.7
At no point was the authority to manage Scotland’s territorial assets lawfully sought. At no point did that authority lawfully pass, through a purely political and economic merger, to the UK government. It has simply assumed this authority, and done so by applying the English principle of the monarch’s ownership of the land, not as personal property, but ‘in right of the Crown’:
“Crown interest” means an interest belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown or belonging to a government department or held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of a government department.”
“It is well understood by the UK government that ‘right of the Crown’ means something different in Scotland from the rest of the UK. No government department can lawfully own, or hold in trust, for the monarch that which is not vested in the monarch in Right of the Scottish Crown. And yet the term right of the Crown is applied in precisely the same way across the UK. Within the laws and policies that govern Scotland’s territorial assets, a single ‘Crown’, English in character, is imposed across the entire United Kingdom:”
@James Jones 7:35
“Blimey, I’m standing up for Ruby”
Steady on James, there may be minors reading here. Keep it clean.
@Northcode (7.48) –
Very interesting.
When this blog started, back in the day, who ever imagined that we’d have to contend with AI commenters?
I don’t know how to tell if a comment if bot-generated or not.
Any hints?!
🙂
“Of course, the basic problem with us Sovereign Scot’s Claim of Right is that 55% of us will use it to stay in the union, as opposed to the 45% of us who will try to use it to get Indy.”
John Main.
How can a nation of people remain in something (the union) that was never adopted by the sovereign people of Scotland in the first place. Only the people of Scotland could give the nod to the union, and they were not consulted or given the vote to do so, meaning the union was never valid in the first place.
Neither the Scottish parliament, its nobles or Queen Anne could create the union without the consent of the Scottish people, for none of them held the sovereignty to do so.
I have a joke for you JJ it’s a French joke it’s about a German soldier stationed in occupied France. The locals taught him French. At the end of the year he was very proud of his French so he stood up in front of the whole village and said in French.
German accent needed:
I have learned a new French word everyday this year and now I have 365 French words (pointing to his head) all up here in my asshole.
@ John Main
Re. Furnishing you with a coherent explanation showing how a self-governing Scotland would be run to facilitate Scots being better off.
I’m wondering how you are qualified to assess all areas of a hypothetical multi-policy manifesto platform so you would be able to determine if it is or isn’t advantageous to Scots?
If you have suitable expertise and abilities to cast judgement on such matters then why aren’t you putting forward actual viable policies and strategies that would result in Scots being better off.
John Main @ 8:29pm
Who would’ve believed you could actually make me laugh. I’m still not sure about you, though
Dan says:
14 May, 2023 at 8:45 pm
@ John Main
“Re. Furnishing you with a coherent explanation showing how a self-governing Scotland would be run to facilitate Scots being better off.
I’m wondering how you are qualified to assess all areas of a hypothetical multi-policy manifesto platform so you would be able to Determine if it is or isn’t disadvantageous to Scots?”
Lol! How arrogant. Say that to the majority of Scots currently saying “No.”
John Main @ 8:29pm
I posted this exact same message but it went to moderation.
Who would’ve guessed you could make me laugh.
Ruby @ 8:44pm
A joke from @John Main (maybe you aren’t a bot, John) and a joke from Ruby. Both of which made me laugh out loud. I like it. Makes me feel like we’re all pals now. We’ll see how long it lasts 😉
The UK government knows that it has and still is stealing the great wealth from our maritime assets, however there’s no UK court that would admit to that. This is why our recourse lies in the international courts.
Scots MUST get themselves informed Westminster prospers greatly through your ignorance (present company excluded) and the belief in UK myths that Westminster/Monarch is sovereign in Scotland when it isn’t.
More on the theft of our maritime assets.
“It is well understood by the UK government that ‘right of the Crown’ means something different in Scotland from the rest of the UK. No government department can lawfully own, or hold in trust, for the monarch that which is not vested in the monarch in Right of the Scottish Crown. And yet the term right of the Crown is applied in precisely the same way across the UK. Within the laws and policies that govern Scotland’s territorial assets, a single ‘Crown’, English in character, is imposed across the entire United Kingdom:
An Act to vest in the Crown the property in petroleum and natural gas within Great Britain and to make provision with respect to the searching and boring for and getting of petroleum and natural gas, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. [12th July 1934.]
BE IT ENACTED by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Vesting of property in petroleum in His Majesty
(1) The property in petroleum existing in its natural condition in strata in Great Britain is hereby vested in His Majesty, and His Majesty shall have the exclusive right of searching and boring for and getting such petroleum.9
7 The Land of Scotland and the Common Good, Report of the Land Reform Review Group 8 “Promoting Development in Scotland” CEC 1998
9 Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 CHAPTER 36
7
It is as if merely applying the same description gives the British government the same rights over Scotland’s territory as it has, (via the ‘interest of the Crown’), over the rest of the UK.
In fact, by assuming the administration of the assets of a sovereign territory, it has placed itself in the position of a trustee for the owners, the people of Scotland:
However, the rights to a number of specific minerals are held in the national interest. They are the right to gold and silver, the right to petroleum (oil and gas) and the right to coal. The public ownership of the rights to these natural resources is a very important part of public land ownership in Scotland….(but) while all Crown property rights in Scotland belong to Scotland as a sovereign territory, the Crown’s ownership of ‘petroleum’ in Scotland is administered by the UK Government.10
It is arguable that the Petroleum Act 1934 was unlawful in Scotland since it vested the ‘property’ of Scotland’s oil and gas in the person of the monarch rather than the Crown, making no distinction between the territorial rights of the monarch in the nations of England and Scotland.
The rights remaining vested in the Crown have continued to be recognised as such, notwithstanding the deliberate conflation of a Crown vested in a monarch and a Crown vested in a people. It is now a matter of disentangling the Right of the Crown as it applies in Scotland from that which applies in the rest of the UK.
It also appears that there was some UK government recognition, subsequent to the 1934 Act, that in order to maintain control of the assets of Scotland, the UK government would have to establish itself as a kind of trustee for the owners, the people of Scotland. (It is worth bearing in mind that any trust is legally required to operate in the interests of the ‘beneficiaries’, in this case the Scottish population.)
OIL AND GAS
9 The Board of Trade was made responsible for managing the Crown’s right, with ‘petroleum’ defined in the Act to include “any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas existing in its natural condition in strata, but does not include coal or bituminous shales”.
10 The Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 repealed the 1918 Act, while reaffirming that legal title to petroleum existing in its natural state in Great Britain was vested in the Crown. The Act provided for the Government to continue to license other persons to search for and get oil.
10 The Land of Scotland and the Common Good, Report of the Land Reform Review Group
11 When the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea’s Continental Shelf Convention 1958, was enacted into UK law by the Continental Shelf Act 1964, the rights over the UK continental shelf to the 200 nautical mile limit were vested in the Crown. The Act also applied the licensing provisions of the 1934 Petroleum Act to the UK continental shelf.
12 The Petroleum Act 1998 consolidated a number of the earlier enactments and contains the legislation that currently determines matters such as the vesting of ownership of oil and gas within Great Britain and its territorial sea in the Crown, the granting of oil licences and rules relating to submarine pipelines and the decommissioning of offshore installations.
13 Today, the UK Government issues licences for oil and gas through the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). An annual rental is charged under each licence, but there is no longer a royalty regime on production. This was abolished on 1st January 2003. The UK Government raises the majority of its revenue from oil and gas through taxation11.
14 Thus, while all Crown property rights in Scotland belong to Scotland as a sovereign territory, the Crown’s ownership of ‘petroleum’ in Scotland is administered by the UK Government. 12
In plain language, in acting as a kind of trustee for the nation, administering our resources on our behalf, the UK Government acknowledges what we own as a nation by sovereign, territorial right. This little known concession to international law is one of the very few acknowledgments which the government has ever been forced to make of the truth of Scotland’s position within the UK.
What has prevented Scotland from asserting its sovereign territorial rights and demanding control, through a purely Scottish public body, the management of its own resources? Through what body might it have done so? To what international authority might a non-governmental organisation have appealed for justice? What UK court would admit the fraud which has allowed that state to avail itself of the immense wealth in Scotland’s sea beds?”
Here’s an example showing the benefits of archiving articles as BBC punted fake news headlines.
May 2014 – UK’s oil, coal and gas ‘gone in five years’
https://archive.is/VePct
But they edit the headline to – UK “needs more home grown energy”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27435624
All archived versions here.
https://archive.is/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27435624
“The Claim of Right is meaningless now”
Are you implying the Bill of Rights, the very reason behind the parliamentary privilege England MPs use every day as a shield, the parliamentary privilege that Mr David Davis used to release in the uK parliament all that information about Murrell and others, is also “meaningless”?
Or the “meaningless” bit only applies to the Claim of Right because it was written in Scotland while the Bill of Rights was written in England?
Or the “meaningless” part is because the Claim of Right is an expression of Scotland’s popular sovereignty while the Bill of Rights isn’t?
It is clear the reason why you claim one document is meaningless but not the other cannot possibly be the “age”. The Bill of Rights is actually older.
It cannot be the main content of the documents because both, the Claim of Right and the Bill of Rights legitimise the transfer of the crown from James VII in Scotland/James II in England to William Orange and Wife.
Ahh! But there is a huge difference in the wording of those two documents, isn’t there?
the Bill of Rights claims:
“Recital that the late King James II. HAD ABDICATED the Government, and that the Throne was vacant” (my capitals)
In other words, it declares that it was the monarch on their free will who renounced to the English crown.
Now compare that with the words of the Claim of Right:
“Therfor the Estates of the kingdom of Scotland Find and Declaire That King James the Seventh …he HATH FORFAULTED the right to the Croune and the throne is become vacant”
“abdicated” in England vs “forfeited (forfaulted)” in Scotland
According to Google,
to forfeit: “lose or be deprived of (property or a right or privilege) as a penalty for wrongdoing”
To abdicate: “to renounce one’s throne”
See the difference? The convention of the States in Scotland took away the crown from a monarch and lended it to another, but with the clear warning that the new monarch had to abide by the laws and constitution of the kingdom. You can only do that if sovereignty lies with the people. In other words, if the owners of the crown are the people, not the monarch.
Is that rather interesting difference between those to contemporary documents what you are trying to bury with your ridiculous claim that Scotland’s Claim of Right “is meaningless”?
For your information, both documents are upheld in the Treaty of Union. In fact, upholding the Claim of Right is an additional indispensable condition, in perpetuity, for the Treaty of Union to continue. In case you did not notice, Charles III had to swear to uphold Scotland’s Claim of Right 1689 before he could be declared king.
So much for a meaningless document, huh?
Who are you trying to fool?
The English Bill of Rights does not feature in the Treaty of Union, but the Claim of Right does, infact it was ratified by both the English and Scottish parliaments.
“Parliamentary sovereignty has been described as the central characteristic of the UK Parliament and yet it stands in direct opposition to the Scottish constitutional principle of popular sovereignty articulated in the Claim of Right. How, then, did it come to be universally applied? How did the authority of the Scottish people over their head of state and government come to be replaced by the supreme authority of an English government? The Bill of Rights did not feature in the terms of the Treaty of Union, while the Scottish Claim of Right Act was ratified by the parliaments of both England and Scotland, its continued force in Scotland guaranteed as a condition of the Union. Given this guarantee, not only is Scotland entitled to the continued provisions and force of the Claim of Right, but the Claim of Right itself is entitled to parity of standing with the English Bill of Rights within the UK Constitution.
The problem, of course, is how to have a single UK constitution when the core constitutional principles of the signatory nations are irreconcilable. As it was the Claim of Right which was ratified by both parliaments, however, it can be argued that if only one constitution from the two the nation signatories is to be applied in the UK, then the Claim of Right has the superior claim.”
James Jones said:
“Whatever, Scotland has gladly gone along with the Union for centuries so backtracking has no relevance to the present. Instead of claiming some sort of doubtful wrong you need to demonstrate how an independent Scotland might thrive, and without harming its partners in the Union, else why would the union agree?”
This is patent nonsense, there is nothing doubtful about the many wrongs England has selfishly and gleefully wrought on Scotland; we’ve been lied to, robbed, and murdered, our economy trashed, our rights abused, our constitution and sovereignty traduced, and you think we should just let bygones be bygones? That the past has no relevance for the present, let alone the future? That’s just ignorant. Serious crimes were committed against us, but lets just pretend they never happened, so we can still be friends? Piss off!
I may eventually be willing to forgive, but only after justice for all the injustices has been completed, all fines paid, all compensation paid, all damages repaired, and all sentences completed. We must never let England’s establishment have power over us again, and that means we must never forget their proven capacity for perfidy of the very worst sort.
We don’t need the Union’s permission to be independent because we are a full half of the Union, and we certainly don’t need England’s permission because it hasn’t the slightest authority to keep us in the Union. As for your next nonsense, England has never been remotely concerned about harming Scotland within the Union so that it could thrive on our wealth and resources, and it has perfectly deliberately caused us enormous harm in all sorts of ways for literally centuries, so it obviously wasn’t just a set of unfortunate accidents. So we don’t owe England anything, but England owes us many many billions in reparations for a three-century crime spree.
England is not our friend, or at least its establishment isn’t, and hasn’t been for many centuries. It may become a friend in the future, but it will have to learn some seriously hard lessons first.
And who the hell are you to demand I demonstrate a damn thing to you or anyone else. I have full confidence that Scotland will thrive once we’ve stopped England’s establishment stealing our enormous wealth every year as it has for at least the last 150 years, so that we can spend it on our own nation’s needs for a change, and those needs are many, precisely because Westminster was never really interested in meeting them. I’m quite sure you’ve already been told many times in detail about how Scotland can thrive as an independent nation, and I’m also quite sure you were never satisfied, because that wasn’t what you really wanted to hear. Prove me wrong!
I’ve read some very interesting comments today – keep going folks!
As for AScotAbroad he can’t seem to make up his mind, from post to post, whether he’s against Scotland or for Scotland – either he’s got multiple personalities ot there are 3 or 4 people behind his account.
Now we’ve got a nasty liitle man, called Wilson McBride, “trying” to get one over on Ruby. Northcode seems to think he’s about 12. I personally think that he certainly has the mental age of a 12 year old, but he is bitter and twisted, with no sense of humour and disapproves of women expressing an opinion and his quotes about women are similar to those expressed by Andy Capp many years ago! He doesn’t express any opinion about Scottish politics but only appears on this site to have a go at Ruby! (I bet he has ancient copies of the Beano Annuals!)
Incidentally, does anyone know when the Stone of Destiny is going to be returned? Let’s hope it arrives back in ceremonial style to be restored to Edinburgh Castle. I read somewhere that “King Charles III” intends to come to Scotland in June to be crowned King of Scots in the Throne Room of Edinburgh Castle. That doesn’t make sense to me! If he honestly believes that he has the right to become King of Scots, with the backing of the people, then surely he should come to Scotland and ask the people if they accept him as King (perhaps he’s too afraid of the answers!) The Scots would expect “their” King to be crowned in a Church, with the approval of all the Scottish Churches – does Charles honestly think we’ll accept him as King if he has a wee secret ceremony in Edinburgh Castle?!!
Ian Brotherhood @ 8:30pm
Thanks, Ian.
The bots being created these days are incredibly realistic. They can be programmed to use language which attempts to use local idioms and target specific cultural groups. This makes them hard to spot sometimes, but there are some tell tale signs.
Rhetorical fallacies, for instance, are very formulaic. The Greeks actually have equations for how they work. And a lot of it is based on logic. There are great explanations on this subject in Sister Miriam Joseph’s “The Trivium”. By the way “Trivium” is an educational system employed by the ancient Greeks. There are three main areas: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.
So, because fallacies are based on logic, they can be programmed into an AI. (and I do mean Artificial Intelligence this time :))
I’ll write a longer post with a bit more detailed information, if you’re interested. But one thing you can do if you suspect you’re talking to a bot is to reply in an ambiguous way and then see what comes back – often nothing, or just repetitive statements if it’s a bot.
Actual human operators could also be using software to generate responses.
Whether it’s an actual human you’re speaking to or a bot makes no difference. The fallacy techniques are the same. The bot is basically emulating a human using rhetorical fallacies to sway you to their view.
Hope this helps a bit. It’s complex area whether you’re dealing with a human or an AI.
Online bots. What the fuck has that got to do with the lack of a ballot, for Scottish independence?
Over and out.
@Xaracen (9.47) –
More power to ye!
🙂
Galloway Lass,
I’m not 3 or 4 people. I’m just me. And the only reason that I’m here on WoS is because I’m genuinely interested in whether Scotland is going to become independent, or not. I believe that there’s a reasonable chance (30%???) of that in my lifetime, which I’d hope would be another 30 years or so.
I’m not either for or against the concept, but I am completely against doing something that damages the interests of the Scottish people. At the moment, I would be a soft “No” if I had a vote in Scotland, because I see the financial advantages to Scotland that being in the Union brings, and also I see no practical advantages to Scottish independence after a chaotic exit from the Union, particularly if there’s no deals on trade, currency, central bank and so on that the “What do we want? UDI!!! When do we want it? NOW!!!” muppets advocate.
So you may be correct in your assessment of me. But, as I have posted quite a lot now, my position could easily change if I see serious Scots actually sitting down and crafting serious, detailed and credible policies for an independent Scotland. More to the point, that actually may persuade soft “Nos” who do have a vote in Scotland. The quality of debate on WoS appears to be very poor, so I’m not holding out much hope that any of the more intemperate commenters will aid that purpose.
Xaracen at 9:57 pm.
“This is patent nonsense, there is nothing doubtful about the many wrongs England has selfishly and gleefully wrought on Scotland; we’ve been lied to, robbed, and murdered, our economy trashed, our rights abused, our constitution and sovereignty traduced, and you think we should just let bygones be bygones? That the past has no relevance for the present, let alone the future? That’s just ignorant. Serious crimes were committed against us, but lets just pretend they never happened, so we can still be friends? Piss off!”
Oh, get over yerself. You remind me of the people demanding reparations for slavery, to which the correct response is, “You’ve never been a slave and I’ve never owned one.”
@Northcode (10.07) –
Yes, I am interested in hearing more and I believe it’s something that we all have to learn, and quickly.
My main income for the past nine years has been compiling ‘cryptic’ crosswords. Not the most lucrative business but it pays some of the bills. Happily, it seems to be one of the very few jobs not directly affected by The Coming Of The Robots because, so far as I’m aware, they still can’t ‘get’ humour, puns, inferences etc.
They can, of course, do all the Sudoku-type stuff and general-knowledge word games, but that ‘human’ factor remains outwith their reach, for now anyway.
And that may prove to be the deciding factor when it comes to politicians generally – they’ll have to be much more convincing to us, as humans, than they’ve been thus far. No AI can ever teach them how to do that.
Or can it?
🙁
Northcode, Winston Churchill went to Harrow, not Eton.
Xaracen at 9:57 pm
“And who the hell are you to demand I demonstrate a damn thing to you or anyone else. I have full confidence that Scotland will thrive”
‘Self belief’ may be all the range among footballers, etc (aww, why can’t they ALL win?) but in real life it’s not enough. Think of the current majority which isn’t convinced, and make an effort to change their minds instead of just whining about some perceived ancient injustice. It’s you who wants to change the status quo so the onus is on you to make the case. Already I can see some merit in it, just not enough, and you seem determined to leave angrily and be a poor neighbour. It’s not a good selling point.
In reply to “AScotAbroad” – I’m astounded by your ignorance!
I returned to Scotland in 1989, after divorcing an Englishman. I just wanted to come home to a country I understood. However, when I arrived back I was devastated by the impact that Maggie Thatcher had had on Scotland! I didn’t know – the BLOODY BBC didn’t tell us, living in England, what she was up to in Scotland!
However, I’m a very determined Scot! I had been offered two fabulous jobs in England, but I turned them down. I finally found a job (very poorly paid for my qualifications) working for an Englishman, from Yorkshire. Unfortunately for him, I discovered that he was dishonest in his bookkeeping and I confronted him – he struck me and I called the Polis. Enough said!
James Jones said;
“Oh, get over yerself. You remind me of the people demanding reparations for slavery, to which the correct response is, “You’ve never been a slave and I’ve never owned one.””
I challenged you on your stupid assertion that the wrongs done to Scotland by Westminster were ‘dubious’, when they clearly are not, as they have been thoroughly documented.
The quote above presumes the crimes ceased so long ago that the guilty can no longer actually be held to account. That is certainly true of individuals who die, but governments and nations are not mortal in anything like the same way, and in the matter of the wrongs against Scotland, the institutions perpetrating them are still in existence and many of the wrongs are still happening, so wind your bloody neck in!
I didn’t find this post funny. It actually gave me the creeps.
@ A Scot Abroad at 10.29
This contains serious, detailed, and credible policies:
https://commonweal.scot/shop/publications/sorted-a-handbook-for-a-better-scotland/
You’ll have to buy it, though (or persuade your local library to do so).
Northcode,
I’d hope, from a taxpayer’s perspective, that rather than having a main income that pays _most_ of the bills, you are trying to get an income that pays _all_ of the bills. I’d hate to think that you are relying upon society to pay some of your bills.
I was brought up to believe that the main duty of a citizen was to provide for him or herself, and not to rely upon society’s charity. Even in old age, when working is no longer possible.
Ruby,
I re-read it more carefully from your viewpoint. You’re right. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. On reflection my comment was stupid, and careless of your feelings. I’m a bit ashamed of myself now. It won’t happen again, I promise.
Galloway Lass,
whenever I’ve come across someone who in life appears to have been serially unlucky, or taken advantage of, or to have suffered misfortune after misfortune, I’ve found that the underlying reason is that the complainer is a bit of a mental incompetent, whiner, and not capable of understanding why they are in the position they are in.
Not really interested in debating further. It’s most probably all of your own fault, and you need to undo that by yourself.
Charles Findlay @ 11:00pm
Thanks for the correction. You’re right, of course, I was thinking of Randolph Churchill. Although Harrow also taught Rhetoric. Hence Churchill’s quite formidable ability to give rousing speeches.
Thanks again for pointing that out for me.
At the risk of feeding a troll…..
‘A Scot Abroad’ bot;
“…. I see the financial advantages to Scotland that being in the Union brings…”
List them.
(Is this site close to being overrun by Yoons? Just asking).
Oh please don’t worry it wasn’t you who posted it. You’re fine.
I do have a bit of a history with John Main.
I find him very stalkerish.
I might have found the comment less creepy if someone else had posted it.
Have you noticed Ascot has turned into an absolute cunt.
It looks as if he’s desperate for attention.
Okay, folks. It’s official. “A Scot Abroad”, the great-great grandson of the plunderer of Burma, is an artificially inseminated bot. And a pretty poorly programmed one at that.
It seems only able to regurgitate the same flawed arguments again and again and again and again and again. Occasionally, it resorts to spewing out insults. Which, to be frank, is a bit of a relief.
I urge you not to engage with it for the sake of your sanity.
James,
we could start with the Barnett formula, which vastly outweighs the oil and gas revenues since the early 1970s. And then proceed to the pre-Barnett general subsidy to Scotland, dating back (bar one year, 1862) in which Scotland received more in spending than it sent south in revenue.
In simple terms, Scotland receives far more than it sends. Apart from 1862, which was a good barley crop.
There is however one area that speaks to your argument. Scotland has provided more than a share of blood and muscle to the Union’s empire, and more than a fair share of innovators, engineers, scientists and the like. But, those Scotsmen and women did that for the empire, not for Scotland.
Why should you care if the Scots leave the union – what is it to you?
– and why this desire to express an opinion, to give them advice? Again – what is it to you?
According to your every utterance, the Scots are “subsidised” by England, especially London and the South East – so if they did leave : ENGLAND WOULD BE BETTER OFF
BUT – you find this increase in your own wealth, abhorrent, and are determined with a pathological altruism to enforce your philanthropy on the Scots, ingrates that they are.
WHY?
None of this makes sense – it could be education in England no longer bothers with logic, or maybe you are being disingenous and think you can fool us.
No english unionist has ever answered this satisfactorily – they clearly resent, even hate the Scots and assert with aggression how the Scots “live off England’s taxes” but are determined to never let us go, so just admit it, admit the truth … the thing you cannot tolerate
Scotland massively subsidises England, not merely with the hydrocarbons, but going back way before. Scotland is a cash-cow, it is keeping England afloat and the facts obscured by a litany of devious accounting tricks.
– Scotland is not an equal partner in a union, it is exploited as a de-facto “col0ny”; we are under-populated and over-resourced, while you are the opposite. Without England, Scotland within a generation becomes the richest country on earth – every small country peer has much higher standards of living and our very nearest, Norway, has the highest in the world, top of all indicators. You fear us joining this club, for it leaves you with a ruined failed state; you import 40% of your food, trading in derivatives and money laundering will not grow crops or generate energy. You no longer get to live off our backs.
Without Scotland, England shrinks to the ranks of third rate nations, no longer able to pay for itself, and if Scotland ditches the pound, sterling is no longer effectively oil-backed; your currency will crash, your imports become unaffordable and your country disintegrates into a Brazil, in the North Sea.
– if you want to argue against what I am saying, then your only logical move is to – support Scottish independence, as we are clearly deluded and do not deserve your generosity.
You do not experience an education in England – you simply get your brains kicked out and filled with nonsense, like say – the empire was a benign humanitarian mission and advanced western civilisation. Consider this –
the British Empire was the most evil enterprise in human history. By far. An orgy of looting and murder, which gets a good “write up” because of the obedience of the English intellectual class. Don’t bother with the Nazis – they are amateurs.
what is the union like to us … let me think
– imagine being locked in a stuck lift forever with a kleptomaniac narcissist who never stops talking about himself, and no matter how often you tell him to shut it, he thinks its “the bantz” like a maniacal Danny Dyer
or
– the union is a badly assembled pantomime horse, and Scotland is in the backend getting farted on
or
– you have a siamese twin; this twin is gay however, while you are not – but – you only have one arsehole
You steal from us, then act like you are doing us a favour; you disrespect us, treat us like shit – and I want you and your kind gone, and if it so takes Vladimir Putin to send your entire race into the stratosphere as radioactive dust … the most I could feel would be a sigh of relief.
You people are a pestilence upon the earth.
the latest batch of idiots are real boring timewasters, I mean … at least ellis was -entertaining- with his intellectual pretensions (“thoughts of murdo” – style) or the madcap hatuey … that strange tit who went on, and on, about a “sinking school” (I wanted to personally burn it down after a while) – more hefty people don’t seem to post anymore – lochside did a great “harumph” of a post but fell foul of the moderating word shitlist; bob peffers, who withdrew over some minor stramash.
ASA’s only purpose over the last week or so seems to be to demonstrate his total fucking ignorance – full spectrum ignorance – of a number of subjects
banking
trade
forex
currency
history
darien
the union
constitutional law
law, commercial law, contract law, treaty law
power generation
infrastructure
what independence means i.e. not just doing what england does
the distinction between real-wealth and claims-on-wealth
what money is
what the pound is backed by
what the markets actually do
how the UK works at a systemic level, economically, financially
– it’s not worth deconstructing, or rebutting point by point – it’s a red pen through the lot and the instruction to “read the sources”.
I don’t think he is a bot, a bot would do better; NB the open to the public ChatGPT is a hobbled version with a woke filter added on the end, and it defaults to wikipedia level derivations for most things.
his strident “assert with confidence” strategy looks to me indicative of a private school upbringing; doesn’t matter if you are right or wrong, we create our own reality here. Just browbeat the proles, it always works – but that is where he is wrong, only on the servile english – ooh aye gaffer.
this is a good example of something deeper, which I will expand on when I have the time; communication needs a common element, and we don’t have that with the english anymore.
Ruby @ 12:13am
Thank you, Ruby. I feel a little bit better for reading your reply. Still think my comment was a bit careless, though.
Yes. “A Scot Abroad” (the plunderer of Burma’s great-great grandson) bot is beginning its final descent into becoming a random puddle of useless bytes.
I’m trying to find a word that best describes its current malfunctioning state. You used one that I think describes it perfectly. What was it again? I think it started with a C
Northcode,
if you are interested, why don’t you try to find out about Scots who made a (very) good living abroad, post-union of 1707? It’s a matter of public record as to what they did. My GG-grandfather left a legacy in Burma – you can still see it as his company headquarters that he built is now the main Burma (Myanmar now) Post Office building that occupies a whole block in Rangoon.
He didn’t plunder Burma; he traded with Burma. And India, and China, and the Dutch in the East Indies. He was big in rice, which he sent back to the U.K. (at a profit, of course), but which became popular in the U.K., with better calorific value than British grains gave, and a bit cheaper.. And when he returned to Scotland, with money that he’d made from people from all over the world, he put it into creating jobs in Perthshire. Sure, he built a big house there, but he also employed people across 8 farms on his land.
And, he was a Scot, taking great advantage of the Treaty of Union, and the fact that enabled protected trade on an intercontinental basis because the English Royal Navy wasn’t keen on pirates. A fact that WoS has actually written an article about, and that most Scots don’t even think about.
Confused @ 12:38am
Confused, your right. He’s not a bot. A bot would be much smarter if it was trying to persuade anyone to ditch support for independence in favour of the union. But I’ve had a lot of fun winding him up by calling him one.
A umnae interested.
Aye he did.
Naw he wisnae
Confused (and you are true to your screen name. Really),
A long list, but you don’t evidence any of it. And as such, it’s just a bit of a rant for popularity. Why not try to back it up? I’m confident in my argument, you don’t appear to be.
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/snp-compared-organised-crime-syndicate-29974844
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/majority-scots-now-pay-higher-29976355
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12083527/A-generation-young-people-failed-Sturgeon-time-Scottish-Minister.html
Slightly off topic but worth bearing in mind is that, as well as the twelve failures on the cartoon’s shovels, the SNP hierarchy seem also to have cast aside thousands of grassroot activists without a second thought.
It speaks volumes that the big story so far is the missing ‘ringfenced’ £600,000 donated in good faith whereas the bigger insult is the deafening silence over the loss of so many people who gave their time freely – chapping doors, leafleting, manning stalls and running shops and local branches. Not for personal financial gain but to gain independence.
Do politicians not realise that when folk gave so much time and effort to get their candidate elected it’s because they believed they would go off and work on our behalf?
And does any politician ever sit quietly and wonder how these supporters and activists who put them into parliament must feel to realise that they no longer matter?
It’s not all about policies and money.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/snp-accused-protectionism-amid-claims-29942245
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/former-snp-media-chief-urges-29955908
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/childrens-tsar-says-nicola-sturgeon-29975688
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/snp-funds-investigation-sees-amazon-29972677
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/snp-coalition-scottish-greens-leaves-29972118.amp
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12083527/A-generation-young-people-failed-Sturgeon-time-Scottish-Minister.html?ico=topics_pagination_mobile
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12050573/SNP-MP-claims-struggling-party-use-elections-Scotland-votes-independence.html?ico=topics_pagination_mobile
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/14/snp-linked-amazon-account-among-1000-alleged-frauds-police/
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-spectre-of-alex-salmond-still-haunts-the-troubled-snp-30v9h96tw
@ an Arsehole abroad what a condescending piece of shit you are, you excrete comments that have been proven endlessly to be unionist drivel and pish, if you are Scots born living in england I’ve got news for you, no matter how much crawling on your knees you do or debasing yourself you will never be seen as english, YOU will only ever be tolerated NOT accepted
Go and do some research and find out the truth and stop spouting bbc and english establishment lies and pish
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/jenny-gilruth-accused-crude-bid-29972101.amp
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/national-care-service-snp-must-not-squander-ps2-billion-on-something-that-nobody-wants-brian-wilson-4140138
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1769990/Yousaf-humza-snp-election-nicola-sturgeon-labour/amp
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1769130/penny-mordaunt-snp-coronation-commons/amp
The more you halfwits keep talking to the wanker Trolls, the more chance there is of Yoon links being posted.
Guan yersel.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/14/were-going-to-fight-this-hard-labour-keen-for-byelection-test-in-rutherglen
I’ll just flood Wings with Yoon links.
It’s not a problem.
Such an appropriate cartoon. What folk may not realise, is that just out of frame, the Green and gender nobody Patrick Harvie, and his sidekick, the unelected Canadian Grifter Lorna Slater, are standing cheering Humza on.
The SNP has been trashed by the failed leadership of Sturgeon. Now, here we are in 2023, and the clown first minister, Humza Useless, carries on with the same stupidity. Digging and digging that hole even deeper.
Instead of standing back and re evaluating their policies, the SNP clown leader has decided that ‘he knows best’, and will ignore what the people of Scotland (and SNP party members) say.
It is EXACTLY what resulted in the downfall of the Scottish branch office of
BritishEnglish Labour in Scotland. And they are now hated across Scotland. And just look at ‘Labour’, with SIR Keir Starmer, they have a Tory in Tory clothing. Mugs.This is where the SNP are headed. Head in the sand, the SNP clown leader, just carries on digging. Bravo, Humza, Bravo!
A quick O/T reminder:
Whatever you may think is the source of the current agenda that has gripped our institutions the corporate world is a critical element.
For this reason, more than ever, you need to find ways to spend your money on businesses that do not promote the evil we face, especially smaller nationalist businesses.
A pound spent in Amazon or similar company is a vote for what is happening now.
While Scots will never bring down the corporate world by changing spending habits alone it can very much boost our national businesses instead.
If 2 millions Scots were encouraged to spend on average £1 per day on nationalist supporting businesses instead of big corporates this would amount to £730m per year being invested into the benefit of our people.
This would encourage businesses to declare themselves as nationalist and shun the woke and would increase the number of businesses looking to provide what we need.
This would in turn help to boost employment and training opportunities for Scots and our youngsters.
This is a basic economic step everyone can take, it doesn’t require political representation and it is one of the key elements to a national revival that does not require successful political representation.
This is why our enemies think in terms of economics and demographics while telling you to think only in terms of elections and manifestos.
Stop playing the game the way they want you to play.
If you agree with this then make it part of your conversations on nationalism, politics and economics.
Just as an aside – understanding the power of ‘a little very often’ is what makes the difference between success and failure.
Robert Louis says:
15 May, 2023 at 7:10 am
…This is where the SNP are headed. Head in the sand, the SNP clown leader, just carries on digging. Bravo, Humza, Bravo!
I find it difficult to accept they are so blinkered they cannot see the fate they are galloping towards.
If they really are that dumb or deluded, then Scotland must realise it is led by complete arseholes, and needs to bite the bullet that Independence needs championed by people who have nothing to do with the SNP.
If they’re not encumbered with terminal stupidity, yet still remain determined to drive the SNP into the abyss, then the only conclusion we can draw is that they’re compromised from within by saboteurs, or else they sold their soul to some interested party who wants Independence destroyed.
Whatever the cause, the SNP now resembles one of those grotesquely unfortunate snails infested with green-banded broodsac parasites, with a pulsating head designed to attract birds and accelerate it’s own predation.
Whether people now adore the SNP or despise them, the SNP needs withdrawn from front line service, and taken to the rear for a refit and more training. I fear it will be a long time before it can be passed fit as combat ready. As for it’s leadership, that needs removed and replaced completely.
The SNP has 16 days to get it’s audited accounts submitted, or be forced to remove it’s snout from the trough at Westminster. How perverse it is, but I actually hope they fail, and do lose their “bung” from the UK Treasury.
When the “gravy bus” is out of juice, just watch all the parasites scream the loudest, with barely a thought for the latest humbling humiliation their incompetence has suffered upon Scotland, – not to mention the catastrophe they have suffered upon Independence.
If the SNP was now to somehow purge itself of all surplus body mass, I’m not sure there’d be anything left, and we’d be left holding it’s empty jacket.
To be fair to the Humza in the cartoon, he’s prolly naive enough to have believed the writing on the stone so the broken shovels might represent all the stuff he discovered whilst looking for it..
Pursuant to the report in the times “Officials referred to trans rapist Isla Bryson using female pronouns” though, the question arises as to how many of the broken shovels might be down to sabotage – ie htf could the prosecutor, judge (and jury?) let Isla convince them he was a women yet still find difficulty with the claim that both encounters were consensual (the first appearing to have been agreed as such by police when, presumably, he was still regarded as a male)
and if the answer is >0, the next question might be, what use an S30?
JOE
So right, Corporatism, corporatist capitalism, Globalism, global capitalism, Woke ideology are all enemies of democracy, sovereignty the concept of «localism», popular power and initiative inherent in the wider principles of cultural nationalism.
The more real cultural diversity the less the globalizing corporatists, mostly US based, can effectively function. National government may propose but global governance, through its unelected organs, too easily disposes.
Heads or tails? Which of the two halves of SNP (MSPs/MPs) is worth keeping?
The auditors are currently flipping the coin. Is it possible, we could have a situation where Westminster becomes the base for ALBA (SNP redundancies), while Holyrood, the remnant of SNP?
Best of three!
A Scot Abroad said;
“Rather than called for an IndyRef2, why doesn’t the Scottish government come up with a legal (Scots Law) means of convening the ancient three estates to then meet and decide under what circumstances the Claim of Right could be made, then hold a referendum as to whether the people agree with the proposal? I’d wager that there would be a majority, even including soft “nos”, for Scotland to reassert ancient rights. There’s nothing in the Scotland Act 1998 to prevent the Scottish government doing that.
Once a Scottish Convention of the Three Estates had asserted (by majority vote) a Claim of Right, it’s a lot harder for Westminster to refuse a S35 order under the Scotland Act 1998.”
That’s actually one of the aims of the SSRG and Salvo group, to identify how we can call together a modern ‘Convention of the Estates’ of the Realm of Scotland.
(The ‘Three Estates’ applies to the Scottish Parliament, not the Convention.)
Historically, that body was not an actual parliament, it represented the Scots as a whole, and acted in counterpoint to the authority of the Monarch and his Parliament, its purpose to ensure that the sovereign rights of the Scots were properly upheld against unwarranted intrusion by the ‘government’. The authority of the Monarch and Parliament were legally limited by Scotland’s constitution, and it was the CoE that policed those limits.
The last one was convened in 1689, but over the centuries since the start of the Union, we’ve lost the knowlege of how the CoE was convened, and that is something we need to recover, because the CoE explicitly represents the actual sovereigns of Scotland, and as such it outranks Westminster’s authority as far as Scotland is concerned. It means the Scotland Act and its limitations just do not apply to it, because it isn’t the Scottish Parliament, and if it were to call a referendum on Scottish independence, or more probably, require Holyrood to do so, that sovereign authority would bind, not just Holyrood, but also the local authorities who would be managing the nuts and bolts of any referendum anyway. It would reinforce the mandate the Scottish Parliament has already been given by the Scots electorate, whose sovereign authority should have been acknowleged by Holyrood in the first place, given that every MSP was elected directly by those sovereigns.
The ‘illegality’ of a non-S30 referendum would be irrelevant, because the CoE could require Holyrood to pass amending legislation to allow it to set aside Scotland Act restrictions if the true sovereigns of the Realm of Scotland demanded it, as they already have.
Westminster’s ‘sovereignty’ literally doesn’t apply in Scotland, and its delegated ‘authority’ from the Treaty is outranked by our sovereignty.
Anyone read the article in the Guardian ’70 billion could be unlocked by renewable energy in the UK’
The question arises as to whose renewable energy it might be.
Mr McBride, I suspect you could continue posting unarchived drivel but most won’t stop by to read it and as soon a Stu becomes aware it will be Ta! Ta! to you.
As for the chap/chapess who keeps telling us we are anti English , perhaps he would be kind enough to show his sources. On second thoughts bother not.
Said in 1930 by founder of SNP,
“The enemies of Scottish Nationalism are not the English for they were ever a great and generous folk, quick to respond when justice calls.
Our real enemies are among us, born without imagination.”
https://archive.is/JenNT
Isle of Harris one-bed ‘tin house’ on the market for £150,000
That is a very sad picture.
‘The lack of affordable homes for islanders is believed to be behind an exodus of young people from the Western Isles and a subsequent downturn in the birth rate as well as a barrier to job recruitment.’
Tavish Scott remember him he’s calling for £10 million of salmon farm rents to be ringfenced
for rural housing.
It sounds as if something definitely needs to be done. I don’t know who gets the salmon farm rents. Maybe someone more informed will post further info about this.
I can see that
No staff = no salmon = no exports trade deals or no trade deals.
Anyone remember when I did online Gaelic classes? 🙂
It started because Aldi were selling brochan and that was one word of Gaelic that I did know due to being taught a Gaelic song about brochan at school. I decided to share my knowledge of Gaelic with the aim of trying to make people especially Stu less anti-Gaelic and so folk could know what they were buying in Aldi.
In this article you will see the word brochan. There is a translation but those who attended my online Gaelic classes will know immediately what it means.
@ottomanboi
This is an example of how we start to put Alf Bairds overall framework into action.
@everyone else
Im used to working with lots of economic data and working with corporate filings and I can assure everyone – your daily spending habits are the subject of much attention and manipulation by the corporate world. In fact it is the most important factor for them.
Realise this and act on it.
It’s time to become more than a stooge of an obviously captured political system that appears to detest you and yours.
It’s not anti English as such it’s being unable to understand why they continue to vote Tory and want Boris back when the state of the country is in their face and pockets.
Are thing good with the NHS, Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Lecturers, Civil Servants, Rail Workers, the Police, Fire Brigade, Rail Workers,Immigration, Brexit, obvious Political Corruption, removal of workers rights, anti protest laws, record levels of debt, double digit inflation, 12 rapid increases in mortgage rates, Truss throwing the economy off a Cliff etc
10’s millions of English all seem to think this is fine and vote for more with promises of sunshine in year 15 of Tory Rule?
I don’t like these people as this idiotic blindness drags Scotland into this shambles of their own making.
It not every English person and I’m sure some Tories down there are nice people to be around so they are not tarred as a race.
It’s just their complete incompatibility with Scotland’s priorities and goals.
Mornin’ Dorothy
Are you talking about this article:
https://archive.is/hHQ4g
UK could unlock £70bn a year in renewable energy, report claims
Yeah! The anti English guy John James, John Thomas or whatever his name is a bit strange. I read a couple of his posts and then didn’t waste any further time on him. He keeps getting caught by the mad moderation bot. LOL 🙂
Wilson McBride is holding us hostage using the threat of Daily Mail links.
I love this place you meet lots of different characters. It’s fun here but I really have to get some work done today. My robots are very limited in what they can do.
Have a nice day Dorothy.
Dorothy Devine @ 9:15am
Dorothy, Years ago I was on a trip to Skye.
I was having breakfast in the hotel I was staying at and the radio was playing in the background. An expert on renewable energy was talking about wind power, specifically in the North sea, in Scottish territory.
He and his team had been studying wind patterns there for over three years. His conclusion was that the wind essentially never stops there. He got a bit technical and started talking in terms of potential renewable energy output that could be generated.
The interviewer asked him if he could explain it in terms a lay audience might understand.
His response was to say that Scotland had the potential to generate the equivalent of SIXTY nuclear power stations in energy. Enough to power the whole of Europe.
So, to answer the question you raise in your post – it’s all Scotland’s energy.
Anyone remember during the 2014 IndyRef an article written by and ‘expert’ employed by ‘Project Fear’ warning of a 40 year breeze freeze.
He claimed there would be no wind in Scotland for a period of 40 years.
I do hope they didn’t pull that article I would like to read it again.
I need to go do some work today, but before I bugger off I have a revelation to share.
I’ve figured out who “A Scot Abroad” is.
I used logic to put the pieces together and it goes like this:
He lives in England
His great-great grandad plundered Burma (and many other countries it turns out)
His familial connections span the globe
He owns two properties in Scotland
Have you guessed yet? Here’s a clue. Holyrood Palace and Balmoral.
Correct – “A Scot Abroad” is King Charles III. Good morning, your Majesty. How’s Camilla the day?
I think he should change his online moniker to “A Saxe-Coburg Abroad”
JOE
Systems dislike «small», love economies of scale. Efficiency, feel the buzz, is determined by scaling up. In practice not found to be true in the expanding AI world where the sequential logic of the artificial has to engage with the experience, skepticism and fuzzy logic of humans. Who wins? On the surface, the authoritarian corporate machine.
When it declines, you have the option to just crush the thing, or remove its power source.
When the machine/system/construct stops we humans may breath freely, get our humanity back and restore the natural balance.
Who knows some people might become «human» for the first time in their lives.
Vive la vraie différence.
For those who don’t do Twitter, Rev posted this about half an hour ago:
Good knockabout stuff as usual btl.
Sad to see the “Forget your history, it’s all so much dead paper” type comments though.
Perhaps there is some reasoning behind such comments (stop living in the past, root your arguments in the present?) but at face value it’s just another attempt to extirpate a national identity, without which we have bugger all – which I suspect is actually the point.
As for that “dead paper”, it bears repeating: The Articles, and Acts of Union are not ‘dead’, they are explicitly mentioned in various pieces of UK legislation, and act upon others – as such they are an integral part of the UK “Constitution”
The “Acts” even have their own wee entry in that risible document that is the Scotland Act (1998) They are very far from ‘dead’ – trampled on, set on fire, and extinguished with a shovel, perhaps – but still very much ‘alive’.
On the subject of the Scotland Eula (1998) “We reserve the right to change, rescind, or make a paper aeroplane out of this agreement, at any time without notice to you” there is one explicit inclusion that is not a ‘reserved power’: Royal prerogative – now why should such a thing be included at all?
In fact there are quite a few things not reserved in Schedule 5 (Constitution) which is the singular most interesting part of the whole insidious legislation – together with its handmaid ‘Juridicial 101’
That small part of Schedule 5 is an entire subject in itself. If one hasn’t read it (and made some attempt to interpret it) then that is a grave oversight for anyone (on either side of the divide) who would bandy constitutional argument – especially so for any who say ‘forget all that old nonsense’
The reason that Scottish independence has never challanged the treaty of union is due to the considerable amount of information that has been withheld from the Scottish people,
From the claim of right to the MacCrone report and Scots not realising there are two sets of Westminster legislation imposed on Scotland compared to England.
That the Scottish government is the English government by legislation.
We do not get what we vote,
Half the people do not do the research that is now available to them,
And we will remain Colonised and enslaved until more pick up the baton,
There is a good argument for a quicker alternative way for Scotlands independence.
Seek and you will find that the information given to you through Colonialism is not at all what it first appears to be.
Go check the two pieces of info I supplied above for yourselves,
Ian Brotherhood says:
15 May, 2023 at 10:44 am
Cops on the case increasingly angry.’
I’m not surprised. If there’s an establishment cover-up underway and they successfully whitewash certain individuals’ behaviours regarding the current investigation of the SNP finances, then the Scottish Police are going to be left looking really, really stupid. After all the furore (tents in the garden, arrests, seized campervan, phone chips etc)? The general public will not be impressed. Political interference with justice IMO.
Heads will roll. They will have to. The big question, is – whose? I think the desperate search for a fall guy is underway.
If the British establishment does start covering some naughty senior SNP backsides, then they must be afraid that the Alba party is starting to gain traction (Better the deil ye know). Either that or certain “important” people involved just know too much and are threatening to bring everyone down if the police don’t back off. Either way, it’s not a good look. Interesting times.
Ruby 10.24am
A Scotsman article by Craig Brown from 30 May, 2011 might be the one. It’s not available at Scotsman site but is on a site called wind-watch.org.
Twelve years on, look who seems to have been right all along!
Title of the article:
“Blow to green energy plans as wind speeds forecast to drop for 40 years”
It begins:
Scotland may have been battered by 100mph gales during the last week but according to latest government statistics, it is facing a 40-year lull that could dent hopes that the country will be able to rely on its wind turbines as a ready source of energy.
Linking ‘becalmed’ weather to lower solar radiation, it quotes two academics from Reading University:
The first said: “We reached a high point of solar activity in 1985. Since then, it has been declining… The probability is that decline will continue for the next 40 years” while the second warned: “If wind speed lowers, we can expect to generate less electricity from turbines – that’s a no-brainer.”
But it also reports:
First Minister Alex Salmond has vowed to create “the green energy powerhouse of the continent”, while the Scottish Government has pledged to aim to secure all of Scotland’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2020… enough to power three million households.
And the sting in the tail?
An independent energy consultant stating that “if the Scottish Government have not modelled falling wind speeds into their decisions, [they] could find their strategy in trouble very quickly”.
Oh, for the days when politics worked for Scotland. Alex and his team had done their homework, confidently announcing:
“The wind will continue to blow, onshore and offshore, allowing Scotland to continue to export ever greater amounts electricity.”
Ottomanboi @ 8:29 am
“The more real cultural diversity the less the globalizing corporatists, mostly US based, can effectively function.”
What we mean here is ‘national cultures’ that act as the ‘bulwark’ against cultural/corporate/military Imperialism and its exploitation (and worse) of nations and peoples. Hence the need to protect ‘national cultures’ and languages, and part of this is the rusted ‘Scots’ mither tongue and a people still deprived o oor richt tae oor ain langage.
But ensuring national cultural diversity is quite different from say the rather colonial practice of manufacturing so-called ‘multicultural societies’ which, it could be argued, more serve the interest of Imperialists by confusing, diluting or even replacing a national culture and national consciousness.
Hi Ruby
“Tavish Scott remember him he’s calling for £10 million of salmon farm rents to be ringfenced for rural housing.
It sounds as if something definitely needs to be done. I don’t know who gets the salmon farm rents. Maybe someone more informed will post further info about this.”
Well, you may not be surprised to learn that the vast majority of salmon farms in Scotland are leased from, guess who, the Crown Estates!
From Wikipedia:
Crown Estates own …
“- 35,565 hectares of rural land with agricultural tenancies, residential and commercial properties and forestry on four rural estates (Glenlivet, Fochabers, Applegirth and Whitehill)
– Salmon and sea trout fishing rights on many Scottish rivers
– Around half the foreshore around Scotland including 5,800 moorings and some ports and harbours
– Leasing of virtually all seabed out to 12 nmi (22 km) covering some 750 fish farming sites and agreements with cables & pipeline operators
– The rights to offshore renewable energy and gas and carbon storage out to 200 nmi (370 km)
– Mineral rights over naturally occurring gold and silver across most of Scotland
– Retail and office units at 39-41 George Street Edinburgh”
etc …
Nice little earner all that lot, eh? £10 million would be a drop in the ocean for these people.
Republicofscotland.
How can it be proved that Scotland is in a political and economic Union with Westminster Country of England?
Would it not be important to first find out why the Scottish parliament was dissolved in 1707 by proclamation?
And secondly, what effect that had on leaving only one political parliament in the Union?
James Che at 11:13 am,
“The reason that Scottish independence has never challanged the treaty of union is due to the considerable amount of information that has been withheld from the Scottish people,“
Clearly the information upon which to base a case is available (you keep referencing it) so anyone serious about independence could easily have taken it through various courts (some of which you might even respect). Yet no one has bothered to make the legal challenge. We should conclude that there was no merit in it.
@Luigi (11.34) –
Aye, it’s encouraging.
As CM/Stu and others have pointed out, the whole Keystone Kops routine outside the Murrells house was pure theatre, so someone’s heid will be on the block for that alone.
Scotland and we the people need to do Research, more back ground checks on information if we truly want independence.
It is time to stop the acceptance of propaganda, not to be spoon fed second hand drival from a Colonial master,
Westminster never informed Scot that the Attorney General in Westminster is only ansewrable to England and Wales,
Westminster never informed us about the MacCrone Report.
Westminster never informed us that the Scottish parliament was officially dissolved by Queen Anne before the British Westminster parliament opened.
Westminster never informed us there was a BANK of ENGLAND, not of Britain not including ( Scotland ) for the national debt.
It is detrimental that everyone that wants a independent Scotland needs to know and learn about their own Background here as a Scot in Scotland with relation to what is real learned information.
It goes without saying and stating the obvious, what you are told by politicians and trolls to your face differs from what goes on behind the scenes.
And there is enough facts provided by their own past historical records to tie them up in knots with their own words.
SteepBrae @ 11:47am
Just had a quick look and saw your comment, SteepBrae.
I’m pretty sure I heard that radio broadcast in 2012.
I don’t remember any politics being mentioned in it at all. It was purely about the science.
I don’t know what radio station it was on, but the interviewer had a Scottish accent. It stuck in my mind because I remember thinking that sixty nuclear power stations was a hell of a lot.
Northcode , I had kinda sussed it would be ours and the vultures would be out trying to make it theirs but thanks for the information – good to know we aren’t the economic basket case that others try to make us out to be!
Ruby ,thanks for archiving now back to work my girl and have a good day!
Aunty Flo
Rents paid by salmon farms go to the Crown Estate Scotland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate_Scotland
The establishment/Nicola Sturgeon relationship untarnished. Cemented by mutually agreed benefit of a ‘better together’ long term strategy.
Reputational risk management in the hands of Whitehall beaks. continuity of the Union, at the heart of every decision.
The SNP auditors could also be doing with institutional assistance.
How SNP continues to sell the dream, to punters, already taken care of… manifesto for Independence ‘talks’, IF 50%+ of votes, is reached.
A Never Never Land scenario, without preparing the necessary infrastructure or even a concerted Indy election campaign.
The indy manifesto, will be inserted without so much as a thin dime spent on that so called objective.
The colony of Scotland, firmly established.
ALF BAIRD 11:48
Multiculturalism, a favourite term of liberal agendas in the West, when analysed has very little of the «multi» about it. It is fake diversity. It pretends to promote variety but is driven by the values of a dominant culture.
Self styled «Global/World» agencies are examples of the type.
At the risk of being a bore on the topic those world agencies, including UN, have done nothing for people of my heritage. I am 100% skeptic with regard to their value and ethics. Fake humanitarianism is so cheap.
By the way, have you noticed the West’s «cynical» ongoing war with Russia that few dare acknowledge.
Dorothy Devine @ 12:40pm
I’m sure you already had it sussed, Dorothy. And I know your question was rhetorical. Just thought I’d add some meat to the stew. 🙂
Scotland is the exact opposite of everything the “vultures” tell us it is, of course.
James Jones.
It is perhaps is more important to realise there maybe no need for a legal challenge from Scotland at Scotlands expense.
The treaty of union appears to be a concept rather than fact.
Like many others, you have no grasp of understanding in your statement.
1: Dissolving the Scottish parliament in 1707 by Queens Annes proclamation, ( which was illegal in Scotland as she had no authority to do so) the Scots were and are sovereign not the monarch in Scotland.
2: by Dissolving the Scottish parliament, she exempted it from all liability to uphold the treaty of the union since 1707.
3: There is no official Records of Westminster parliament in 1707 being Dissolved, but rather that they continued under queen Anne into their third session under the Triennial Act 1694 of the parliament of England.
The reality of the situation is, Scotland could just walk away, as the Scottish parliament has not had any legal liability participation to uphold the treaty as the partner to the treaty of union since 1707.
Legally the position of Scotland, its people, its Sovereignty, its land and its Seas as a 1707 dissolved parliament and kingdom from the treaty of the union holds no liabilty.
Westminster can Challenge that if it wants to at its own expense, but it is not necessary for Scotland to run down south to be held accountable in The UK supreme Courts, being as there has been no Scottish parliament since 1707 to be held accountable.
And you must remember the Devolved Scottish parliament is Westminsters legislated parliament, they would be taken themselves to the Supreme Court, not Scotland.
Northcode 12.40pm
Interesting that you remember hearing the radio report back then too but without the political angle. Pre-referendum debate seems to have been drawing attention to negative aspects of wind power as it was with North Sea gas.
By the way, another interesting thing is that the wind-watch.org site (where the Scotsman article is quoted) invites donations in US dollars. Their home page concludes that “the construction of industrial wind energy facilities cannot be justified in almost all cases, especially in the rural and wild places that energy companies typically target”.
Politics? Follow the cheque book? No idea.
The tender and agreement of the treaty of union was a concept, although ratified by both parliaments domestic law,
The terms ratified also dissolved the 1707 Scottish parliament and extinguished it from progressing into the treaty of union and before the Westminster parliament opened its doors.
A dissolved Scottish parliament is no longer legally liable to the treaty of union since that date. As there is no such entity in existence since 1707.
‘At the risk of being a bore on the topic those world agencies, including UN, have done nothing for people of my heritage’
There is nothing boring about this. It is a point of absolute fact and when taken seriously it should preclude any real consideration of appealing to an international agency as a viable strategy for the Scots.
We have to do it ourselves via a program of national revival based on universal principles that invites all other peoples to do the same.
A national movement that puts politics as its only real front is going to lose itself and its people while waiting for a result because our enemies are undermining everything else that makes our nation a nation.
At this rate before the end a Scottish Nationalist party will be advocating for a people that are already consigned to the history books and whose population aren’t even Scottish for the most part and, at that point, Scotland might as well be given an alpha-numerical designation rather than maintain the traditional name.
It’s still in our hands but that won’t last.
I won’t provide link but Sturgeon’s Guardian article is remarkable.
So hard to tell if she’s genuinely not worried or just brassing it out.
To save you reading it – we’re supposed to believe that she stepped down from office because she wanted to help improve the quality of political discourse.
Quite incredible.
SteepBrae @ 1:23pm
I didn’t catch the beginning of the broadcast, so it’s quite possible there was a political component at the start of it that I missed. But my memory is that it was a politically neutral discussion. Much like a purely science article you might read in the National Geographic.
It is interesting that the wind-watch site takes US dollars. But I, too, have no idea.
Thanks, Northcode.
Through A Scottish Prism, from Inverness at the weekend:
http://www.barrheadboy.com/through-a-scottish-prism-14-05-23/
The quality of of political discourse has politicians sitting with mouths shut on the fact that a dissolved Scottish parliament cannot be held legally liable for ending the treaty of union, for the sake of loosing their political seat in Holyrood and Westminster.
No politician is willing to loose their career and their financial seat if they can help it.
So they do not discuss the obvious.
Whom would Westminster challenge for breaking the treaty of union,
The non existent dissolved Scottish parliament?
Westminster has already shoot themselves in the foot with that legal challenge way back in 1707.
James Che,
you seem to be close to advocating that Scotland could just walk away from the union, under your interpretation of events over 300 years ago.
I don’t agree with your interpretation, but put that aside. Do you have any idea of how it would be for the people of Scotland if the country did indeed just walk away from the union? That’s not Project Fear, it’s an open question. There’s all sort of real world ramifications.
“How can it be proved that Scotland is in a political and economic Union with Westminster Country of England?
Would it not be important to first find out why the Scottish parliament was dissolved in 1707 by proclamation?
And secondly, what effect that had on leaving only one political parliament in the Union?”
James Che.
The reality opposed to the myths, is that we can’t be in a political or economic union simply because the sovereign people of Scotland never gave their consent on the creation of a union, the bought and paid for nobles and the English queen (Queen Anne) in reality had no authority to create the union, that’s why there were mass riots all over Scotland by the common people when the illegitimate union was forced through.
I’d say the Scottish parliament was dissolved so that eventually control could be shifted to Westminster, under the guise that Scotland would be fairly represented there.
The effect was that Westminster and the English monarchy proceeded to fully pursue the use of English sovereignty over Scotland which it had no authority to do, as its the people of Scotland that are sovereign in Scotland, but its the monarch/crown that’s sovereign in England the two are not compatible, and Westminster has continued to proclaim that English sovereignty is the prime sovereignty in Scotland when the Claim of Right clearly points out that it isn’t.
This has been going on for centuries and the lie that Westminster has the final says on many of Scotland’s affairs and assets has been perpetuated for such a long time that many Scots actually believe it to be true when it isn’t.
Westminster has stolen our assets such as oil and gas, Scotland isn’t in a territorial union, these assets belong to the sovereign people of Scotland, Westminster has just ridden roughshod over Scottish sovereignty, it has subdued our very own constitution and replaced it with England’s own uncodified constitution and many Scots are unaware of this.
Let’s imagine that James Che is correct in saying Scotland can just turn its back on the union claiming but not even trying to prove in a court, that it had no legal obligation for all those centuries. What would Scotland’s standing be in the international community? Who could trust it?
Ascot @3:03 pm
Not only could we walk away from the union. We could skip merrily away from it.
Instead of constantly telling us of the insurmountable difficulties of being independent – although nearly 200 countries manage to maintain it – you could, for a change, enlighten us as to where you reckon the union is taking Scotland.
The hypocrisy of the woman, the brass neck, the utter lack of self awareness – it beggars belief
https://archive.is/2023.05.15-143507/https://www.thenational.scot/news/23522887.nicola-sturgeon-pens-guardian-column-condemning-polarised-politics/
“What multiculturalism boils down to is you can praise any other culture except Western culture and you cannot blame any other culture except Western culture.”-Thomas Sowell.
Repulicofscotland.
A dissolved Scottish parliament has not been able to have any representatives from Scotland sitting in Westminster as since 1707.
Repulicofscotland.
Or as the UK parliament like to phrase it.
Since it extinguished itself by agreeing to the treaty of the union.
Reality has to sink in sooner or later for Scotland. Westminster can not hold both positions.
The Scottish parliament was extinguished by (agreeing) to the treaty of union and the Scottish parliament is in the treaty of union
Only one can be true.
Beauvais,
none of us can do more than sketch an imagination of the future, so nobody can say where precisely the union is headed. What we can do is to look at the past, and apply lessons from history and reality to our interpretation of the future.
So, applying history and reality to a Scotland merrily skipping away from the union:
How long would Scotland take to do a trade deal with any trading partner? The EU wouldn’t be the partner, because Scotland unilaterally skipping away from the U.K. would be anathema to 4 countries of the EU with their own secessionist movements. Similarly, EEA and EFTA members would disbar a skipping Scotland. The Yanks and Canucks wouldn’t be too interested, so you are rapidly coming down to Iceland and, errr, who else? So no trade deals. The WTO isn’t going to recognise a skipping Scotland, either. No WTO deals, then.
The UN isn’t going to recognise Scotland as a free nation unless it’s by legal and democratic process, which is laid out in the Scotland Act 1998. They don’t even recognise Taiwan as a country since China leant on them back in the 1970s.
And then there’s the finance markets. Every single financial institution in Scotland is going to head south on or before Indy day, because they need a lender of last resort, and Scotland hasn’t got a central bank. That’s 8% of Scotland’s GDP disappearing in a puff of smoke. Scotland hasn’t got a currency, either, which might not be such a problem if – with no trade deals – you are bartering items instead of paying money for them. You can print as many notes as you want, but they aren’t going to be very useful outside Scotland, and nobody at all on the financial markets is going to lend a skipping Scotland any money, except at Zimbabwean interest rates (the last loans that Zimbabwe got, before the markets closed to them, was at 475% interest). Do you fancy a mortgage at 475% interest?
The north sea energy business would collapse: the major operators won’t commit any investment into a lawless country that walks away from its obligations.
So, with that in mind, is Scotland going to be merrily skipping away from the union? Skipping to oblivion, more like.
According to this article (Scotsrenewables 3.50pm),
“Of the 2176 rape or attempted rape cases reported to police in Scotland in 2021-22, only 152 were prosecuted, and of those only 78 resulted in a conviction”.
So if fewer than 10% of reported cases ever get to court, surely the problem is not about jury vs judge-only trials but about earlier stages in the process.
As the majority of the Scottish electorate are still in favour of the union, walking away does not seem to be a viable option, unless we are prepared to countenance the spectre of Irish politics in the seventies.
The only way forward is to embrace the future, elect decent and able politicians and make our case over the next decade.
There will never be a better time or more opportune one, given that we have recognised the dangers of a regime out for personal power using social engineering sectarianism and hatred of our neighbours as tactical devices.
Ascot @4:17 pm
You are hilarious. You say no one can say precisely where Scotland is headed with the union. Then you make a dozen unsupported assertions about Scotland’s situation after independence.
Beauvais.
I think we can walk away, I also surmise on the evidence we could skip merrily away from it.
If Westminster made a legal challenge at Westminster expense in it would have to prove the Scottish parliament was not dissolved by the treaty agreement as it presently claims 1707,
And that the then, Queen Anne Did not dissolve the Scottish parliament by a proclamation dissolving the Scottish parliament in 1707.
If this can not be proven by Westminster, their is no Scottish parliament in a parliamentary union with the Englands parliament,
We also must pay attention to the fact that the Great Britain Parliament holds no treaty of union with the Scottish parliament as it did not exist before or during the Treaty agreement nor its Ratification process. Or at the time that Queen Anne dissolved the Scottish parliament..
However the Parliament of Westminster has continued as the many instances mentioned have proved
…..from the attorney of the treasury only answerable to England and Wales,…. to the Bank of England… being only a bank to the treasury of Westminster as a corporation (sole). …To the members of the old english parliament transferred by Queen Anne into the new parliament without elections under the Triennial Act 1694….. and into its third session 1708.
Just to name a few instances.
Beauvais,
Those are all fully supported by the experience of other countries in the past that tried to walk away. That’s why I mentioned history and reality. They are very good guides.
What’s certain is that if Scotland did skip away without due, legal process, the results would be very far from hilarious for the Scottish people. And most of us – apart from indy headbangers such as yourself – know that.
ASCOTABROAD
What you write has been written about Québec, Catalunya, Slovakia and before that about every ex colony and dependent territory on the planet.
Even Zimbabwe would not elect to return to the status quo ante.
Such rhetoric is as water off a wet proof bird.
James Che.
“Under the terms of the Treaty of Union, Scotland’s Claim of Right Act was guaranteed to continue
in force in Scotland as a constitution. Or as the Unionist Daniel DeFoe wrote of the conditions of
the Union:
The Laws of Government, (in Scotland), continue as the Government continues establish’d
in the Claim of Right, I mean as to the Limitations of Government and Obedience
He observed this as a fact of law because the Claim of Right had been ratified by the parliaments 3
of both England and Scotland as a pre-condition of the Treaty and a condition of the continuation
of the Union along with the articles of the Treaty. ”
“It matters because it provides an ‘opt-out- from the Union if the government (any government), ruling in Scotland violates the principles in the Claim of Right
It matters because it empowers our Convention of the Estates to reinstate civil rights and freedoms, to act as an ‘ombudsman’ over any elected government; to ensure that the principles of the Scottish Constitution are upheld; and to protect the people from injustice, hunger, inequality, austerity and desperation being visited on them by the powerful, the wealthy, the privileged and the greedy.”
SteepBrae @4:18
Absolutely!
For problems with rape trial convictions, look not to the victim, the accused, the juries or defense counsel, but to the training, resourcing and management of Police Scotland, COPFS and Forensic Services SPA.
It’s the system which is broken, but our Yousless Scottish government looks to the simplest and cheapest option in an effort to portray themselves as the competent fixers of their own bloody mess!
Well done the legal profession for taking a stand against these SNP charlatans.
Ottomanboi,
Any evidence that Zimbabwe prefers the state of things now to the pre-war situation?
As for the rest, you’ll observe that Slovakia achieved independence (really, separation from) Czechia as a result of a peaceful process of negotiation. Catalunya and Quebec have failed to get internal majorities for independence (and in Catalunya’s case, support for independence is slowly reducing.
Scot Abroad.
I see you have the intellect to grasp what is being suggested according to the records from Westminster parliament themselves,
From records about the bank of England and the attorney general only answerable to England and Wales,
And the records from Hansard in Westminsters parliament.
As to how Scotland would manage if we just walked away.
Well we would regain the crown estates in reality,
colonial stock of Scotland that was sold by the Advice of Westminster.
Reparations for minerals and oil taken.
Scottish water would be returned.
Reparations for the agriculture and fisheries from Scottish waters
Energy
I sure others here will name much more.
But we can walk away with our borders and sovereignty in tact as it was in 1707 or Westminster has to agree the Scottish parliament was not extinguished in 1707. and was not dissolved in 1707by the Monarch.
This would mean a true Scottish parliament from 1707 onwards, not a Devolved parliament beholden to the Scotland Act under Westminster legislation.
There are many opportunities and ramifications for Both Scotland and England, and the wider world in general.
However in this case the Onus of burden rest with Westminster that it must prove there is stall a Scottish parliament in the treaty of union of two parliaments and there fore two kingdoms.
It is also interesting to note just for fun, the UK claim the Status to be the (united kingdom) not the united kingdoms.
“What’s certain is that if Scotland did skip away without due, legal process,”
A “Scot” Abroad I take it you mean by the above some sort of vote where the majority of Scots must vote to leave.
But what if the international courts ICJ decides that one party (England) has already broken the treaty on multiple occasions by ignoring the Scottish ratified Claim of Right, and it was deemed that Scots could nullify the union if and when, I mean government don’t always give their people a vote on matters to join or eave a body, such as Finland joining Nato without the peoples consent.
Interesting
Ex-Yes Scotland director: SNP trashed us and that’s why we lost the 2014 referendum
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23520654.ex-yes-scotland-director-snp-trashed-us—lost-2014/#comments-anchor
Republicofscotland,
Who is going to sit in the Convention of Estates that could put the Claim of Right to the test? Who is choosing them? Have the selectors got a mandate? By what authority? By what method?
That’s why the Claim of Right is irrelevant in practical terms. There would be decades of debate about it before anything ever happened.
Republicofscotland.
The CoR is important for all those reasons you mention, but it was not the treaty of union that made the CoR as Xaracen pointed out, it is part of our Scottish constitution with or without the Scottish parliament being extinguished from the treaty of union in 1707.
Scots do not suddenly loose their sovereignty because Westminster says so. All they did was agreed with us in writing that Scots hold Sovereignty,
We already knew that.
I was asked recently what on the surface seems a complicated question. I was asked, “What is artificial intelligence?”
It only seems complicated, because the answer is really very simple. An artificial intelligence is an algorithm, or a set of algorithms.
Obviously the next question is, “What is an algorithm?”
I’ll show you, right now. Here’s one:
parameter xyz = any value you want to enter
IF this is true (xyz is less than 20)
THEN write ‘xyz is less than 20 to screen’
ELSE
IF it is false
THEN write ‘ xyz is not less than 20 to screen’
There you go. That’s an algorithm. This particular one is called an IF…ELSE statement. Pretty simple, right? So, algorithms are not complicated. But they can be unbelievably, mind-numbingly complex.
Imagine that instead of just one parameter ‘xyz ‘ as in my example, you had a thousand parameters in the form of:
age = 55, city = Bristol, income = £45000
IF ‘age is less than 50” AND city is NOT EQUAL to Bristol AND income is greater than £50000’ and ….so on.
That means if you’re a 55 year old living in Bristol (for some reason these guys don’t do mortgages for people living in Bristol) earning less than £50,0000 you’re not going to get a mortgage from whichever lender is setting these parameters. And even if you were living in some other city you still wouldn’t get the mortgage because your salary is less than £50000.
You can see that there’s no ‘real’ intelligence happening here. It’s just a horrendously complex set of conditions being evaluated in an IF…ELSE statement.
So, an artificial intelligence is simply a condition matching engine, albeit a very very complex one handling thousands and in some cases millions of parameters and conditions.
And although they might ‘appear’ intelligent, they ain’t. Your brain (the human brain is also a pattern matching engine, but with lots of other stuff going on, too) is way way more advanced.
A factory robot, for instance, takes exterior environmental conditions for its input parameters. Conditions obtained through onboard sensors. Check out DARPA on YouTube for some really scary robots. The T-800 is on its way, folks.
We could always look at a recent pertinent example – when the UK walked away from the EU.
It cost the UK, both directly and indirectly, a king’s ransom. And at the end of it, despite both sides mostly sticking to their negotiated agreements, there was and remains quite a backlog of ill will and bad feeling.
It is only the “fortuitous” outbreak of The War that has helped to mend fences and ease up on the rancour and points scoring.
Meantime, as I remember learning with horror at the time, the UK will be shelling out big time in honour of its agreed commitments to the EU long after most of us are dead. Until around 2050, in fact.
Interesting to consider the views of those advocating Scotland “skipping away” when it comes to shelling out for those EU costs so many of the pro-Indy cabal were so keen on incurring at the time.
Even more interesting as so many of the pro-Indy cabal are still so keen on getting back into the EU.
Future EU accession when iScotland has just reneged on its previous EU debts?
Unlikely IMO.
It may not be as you seem to infer.
For Scotlands parliament to leave a treaty of union with Englands parliament it first has to be in one,
It is not the fault of Scotland or its people that Westminster and Queen Anne dissolved the Scottish parliament from being an entrant into the the Great British parliament.
The Scottish parliament was dissolved, it is not in the treaty of parliament unions, it is simply impossible.
It may be that Scotland not so much walks or skips away so much, as is the fact it realises it cannot find its parliament in the treaty since it was dissolved in 1707.
The other side of that coin is that Queen Anne had no jurisdiction over the Sovereign Scots. And although we Sine Die’d (adjourned) our parliament in Scotland under Scots law in 1707,
The Westminster parliament are actually claiming that Scotland by agreeing to the treaty of the extinguished itself out of the Treaty of Union.
@ Northcode says:15 May, 2023 at 5:25 pm
This particular one is called an IF…ELSE statement
Naw.
It’s a nested IF-THEN statement.
The ELSE part of the first IF-THEN statement consists of a second IF-THEN statement.
Whatever. As code it’s bollocks.
You better get yourself a new “Programming For Dummies” book. Or read your current one again.
“Who is going to sit in the Convention of Estates that could put the Claim of Right to the test? Who is choosing them? Have the selectors got a mandate? By what authority? By what method?”
Firstly the Claim of Right isn’t irrelevant.
“It matters because the Claim of Right sets out a Scottish constitution
It matters because it tells us why we hold certain values so dear
It matters because it provides an ‘opt-out- from the Union if the government (any government), ruling in Scotland violates the principles in the Claim of Right
It matters because it empowers our Convention of the Estates to reinstate civil rights and freedoms”
As for who will sit on the Convention of Estates, I thought that would be pretty straight forward Scots will.
Scots will choose who sits on it, what format that will take is still to be decided, whether an elected official from every one of Scotland’s thirty-two regions or some other system is yet to be agreed upon.
The Claim of Right gives us the authority to pursue this avenue, first of all we’ll approach the UN ICJ etc, to state our case clearly that the terms of the union have been broken on multiple occasions (which they have) and to set out other infringements by the Westminster government such as the stealing of our maritime assets, once this has been established, then a route on moving forward can be plotted.
John Main.
What EU debts does Scotland have?
It was the Westminster Parliament that entered the EU, Scotlands Parliament was Dissolved in 1707 by the Westminster parliament agreed terms to the treaty of union, it states this on their own parliament site.
Bank of England national debt
Scotland is not in the Bank of England either according to whom the treasury is accountable to…and that is England and Wales, go look it up.
If Scotlands parliament was dissolved in England by agreeing to the treaty of the union and by the Monarch dissolving it in Englands Westminster.
It is not liable since 1707.
Blame for that lies with Westminster and Queen Anne.
John Main.
Scotland would not be “skipping” away as you put it, it would be dissolving a cumbersome and costly union, Brexit has been an exercise of great harm the UK government must be the only government ever to have intentionally damaged it economy for the sake of a few greedy racists, via a compliant MSM who pumped out a plethora of lies to fool the masses into voting for making themselves poorer. The only other recent example of such insanity that springs to mind is most European countries seriously damaging their own economies for the benefit of the USA.
As for rejoining the EU, EFTA allows Scotland the best of both worlds. Brexit is a prime example of Westminster cutting clean across the sovereignty of the Scottish people, this was pointed out by the ex-Welsh FM Carwyn Jones who mentioned it in a speech, he was surprised that our FM Nicola Sturgeon completely ignored this, so its not just Scots that are aware of the people of Scotland’s sovereignty.
Naw it isnae
Republicofscotland,
You seem to be determined to pursue matters via the International kurt of Justice. I’m afraid to tell you that’s a hiding to nothing: Scottish independence is not within its jurisdiction, which is quite narrowly defined: https://www.icj-cij.org/jurisdiction
It only arbitrates on matters concerning international law (and only that since 1945, and by definition that doesn’t include the Treaty or Acts of Union.
Oh, and the ICJ needs authorisation to proceed in an case from the UN Security Council, in which the U.K. has a veto.
@ Republicofscotland says:15 May, 2023 at 5:49 pm
It matters because it provides an ‘opt-out- from the Union if the government (any government), ruling in Scotland violates the principles in the Claim of Right
Hmmm.
It doesn’t matter if a majority of Scots don’t care.
FFS, Republic, why make it so complicated?
Convince a majority of Scots to vote in a Scottish government sworn to deliver Indy
Convince a majority of Scots by proving how Indy will make us all richer.
Generate the political demand and the politicians will follow, cos that’s what they do.
For not above the thousandth time. The CoR is a two-edged blade. Sovereign Scots can use the CoR in support of the Union, if that is what a majority of Sovereign Scots want.
And all the polls say that is what we want. 55% Pro-UK to 45% pro-Indy.
The 45% minority can’t use the CoR to outvote the 55% majority. All efforts must go into swapping these percentages. Once that happens, the CoR won’t be needed.
I paraphrase from my comment on 5th May, linked to below.
“To me, what ALL the pro-indy parties should have first in their manifestos for every general election, either Westminster or Holyrood, from now on, is,
“Regardless of all other policies, every vote for this party in any election will be regarded as a vote to skip away from the Treaty Of Union and for Scotland, once again, to be an independent nation.”
I believe that would satisfy the UN’s charter regarding “self-determination” and be internationally recognised, the majority of voters having expressed their preference in a vote.”
(“skip away from” replaced “exit” in the original comment.)
https://wingsoverscotland.com/orthodox-pete/#comment-2758262
John Main,
“ The 45% minority can’t use the CoR to outvote the 55% majority. All efforts must go into swapping these percentages. Once that happens, the CoR won’t be needed.”
Absolutely correct. Sometimes, reading the many comments about ancient guff, it’s like watching two bald men fighting over a comb. An absolutely useless activity, and there’s a much simpler route. Use the power of persuasion to make 45% become 55%.
So right, Robertkknight (5pm), that rather than address the real issues they’d look to simplest and cheapest option.
Then there is the rumour of extra funding on the horizon. Apparently Westminster could be about to give considerably more money for ‘victims & witnesses’. Some of it to select charities perhaps?
I am sure those who enjoy the idea of a perpetual union must be twisting themselves metally in knots. Crying out Scotland has representatives in Westminster.
From Where.? A dissolved 1707 Scottish parliament.
Which body are they selected and elected from to represent us, Scotland since 1707.
The Westminster branch office under the Scotland Act are still Westminster. This is Englands legislation parliament in Scotland with restrictions.
Not a Scottish parliament,
“The 45% minority can’t use the CoR to outvote the 55% majority. All efforts must go into swapping these percentages. Once that happens, the CoR won’t be needed.”
John Main.
That referendum result was almost a decade ago, and the SNP government under Sturgeon has done nothing to further the indy cause since, infact she has tried to fatally damage it, yet yes still stands around 47% to this day, which is quite amazing when you think about it, imagine what will happen when a concerted effort is added to that figure, don’t forget Scots DID votes yes in 2014.
The Convention of Estates needs no political backing, afterall the Claim of Right is wielded by the people for the people, it can remove governments and kings or queens, who says the indy movement needs to be spearheaded by the government at Holyrood or any political party for that matter.
In my opinion it is to the great shame and self importance of all Scottish MPs/MSPs (over the decades even centuries) that none of them has spoken more about our Claim of Right, the people of Scotland are now only beginning to know what the Claim of Right is and what it means to Scots, thanks mainly to Sara Salyer and Salvo along with Alba and some indy websites putting it out there.
Another post with innocuous language gone straight to moderation and never seen again. Strange. I said if Scotland simply “skipped away” unilaterally declaring ancient treaty’s didn’t count and nor did the last 300 years of partnership (yes) the international community would regard it as a pariah state not to be trusted.
Anyhow, I’m wondering if James Che would have a different view if in 1707 Westminster had decamped and the British Parliament had convened permanently in Scotland. I mean, it has to be somewhere. What’s the difference? Scottish vs English representation would be the same. The complaint seems to be that in a democratic parliament the minority doesn’t get its way all the time. Surprise!
It seems that the former FM has accused lawyers with views opposed to juryless trials of having ‘immovable views’; there may be a reason for those views-and indeed for why they are lawyers, and Jeannie -er-isn’t.
“Oh, and the ICJ needs authorisation to proceed in an case from the UN Security Council, in which the U.K. has a veto.”
A “Scot Abroad”
Firstly on the above the laws of the country being ceded from have no bearing in law on the country/region ceding from them, if your above comment held any water then no countries would’ve seceded form the British Empire ever.
As for the ICJ, who said anything about approaching it with Scottish independence in mind, Scotland is supposedly in a union via a international treaty, two countries Scotland and England in a union with a treaty, and Scotland has the ability to leave this union just like any other country in a international treaty, Scotland isn’t a region ceding from England.
The ICJ is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between countries, with its rulings and opinions serving as primary sources of international law
Republicofscotland,
for the CoR to mean anything, or be accepted internationally, it has to be representative of the will of the people of Scotland. How do you establish that? It can’t be by some gang of self-selected saltire-wielding Braveheart wannabes and never-weres marching about in Glasgow, which is all the indy movement actually mounts up to at the moment.
Back to the drawing board for you and your crackers ideas about going to the ICJ citing some ancient guff. You’d be turned away by security at the door.
Republicofscotland,
a subsidiary thought. The ICJ doesn’t recognise either Scotland or England as countries. It recognises only the UK. Therefore, Scotland and England/Wales/NI having an argument isn’t within its jurisdiction. They’d just shrug their shoulders and say that the matter isn’t for them.
A “Scot” Abroad.
The Claim of Right is not ancient guff, it was ratified by the both the English government and the Scottish government on entering the union, unlike the English Bill of Rights Act, which isn’t even part of the treaty of Union.
Of course the sovereign people of Scotland had no say on the union, ergo, it could easily be put that the treaty was therefore negated from day one, as the bought and paid for Scottish nobles/Lords etc and Queen Anne did not possess the sovereignty to create the union.
As for the Claim of Right being representative of the people of Scotland, it will, you have to remember that its only been in the last year or so that the Claim of Right has come to the forefront, many, many Scots if you asked them about the Claim of Right and what it entailed, and how it affected Scots, would probably scratch their heads and rub their chins and say they don’t actually know what the Claim of Right is.
I often say due to the imposition of all things English in Scotland media etc, that more Scots know how many wives English King Henry VIII had, than they know how many Scottish King Malcolm’s there were.
Yes it will take time to inform Scots that they have been badly robbed of their country’s assets by England for a long time, or that the stolen wealth could’ve been used to better the lives of Scots and their children, and that by backing the Claim of Right they can change that.
@ Alf Baird
Alf, I’ve just re-read your brilliant academic paper , “The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence”.
I believe you’ve also written a few books on the subject. I’d be grateful if you, or anyone else who might know, could give me a list of available titles and where they might be available for purchase.
@ Brian Doonthetoon says:15 May, 2023 at 6:18 pm
Shame.
I would happily sign up for the original “exit”.
Serious, responsible countries don’t “skip away” from their responsibilities and treaties, no more than serious, responsible adults “skip away” from their partners and dependents.
I want Scotland to be first amongst equal sovereign, nation states of the world. I don’t want to live in a pariah state, like NK, Russtiland or the rest of the dumps we can all name.
Anyways, we will be rich, won’t we, in iScotland? We can afford to pay our way.
Why the fuck would we be so petty and self-defeating?
@A Scot Abroad.
We only have to win a referendum once. The UK has to win them every time.
As for International recognition I think you only have to look at examples over the past 20 years of countries which have split and obtained International official recognition following separation. Not that difficult really.
Hi John Main.
I wasn’t asserting the “skipping away”. I was paraphrasing the word “exit”.
What is your problem with a majority of Scots in an election voting for,
“Regardless of all other policies, every vote for this party in any election will be regarded as a vote to skip away from the Treaty Of Union and for Scotland, once again, to be an independent nation.”
I believe that would satisfy the UN’s charter regarding “self-determination” and be internationally recognised, the majority of voters having expressed their preference in a vote.”
So, where do you find a problem with that?
Thank you SteepBrae that’s the one. I managed to find an archived copy of The Scotsman’s article thanks to you posting the headline.
Cheers
Blow to green energy plans as wind speeds forecast to drop for 40 years
https://archive.is/mIdHD
The path to the ICJ is through the UN General Assembly (not the security council) who can ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on Scottish Independence, exactly as with Kosovo.
To get there, Scotland needs to both declare and assert Independence first.
“We only have to win a referendum once. The UK has to win them every time.”
Bob Mack.
I for one don’t want another indyref, if we need to go down that kind of route the 50+1% is my preferred option.
The highest civil court in Scotland is not the UKSC but the Court of Session, ask yourself why our ex-FM Sturgeon had our Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain travel all the way to London with regards to whether or not Holyrood held the competency to introduce/hold an indyref, when out highest civil court is in Edinburgh.
From the Scottish Constitution which is incorporated into the claim of Right.
“and in the independence of the judiciary, especially the Court of Session to whom the resolution of any conflict between the claims of public right and the powers of government should be referred.”
And.
“The creation and maintenance of extra-parliamentary, representative bodies, authorised to apply the constitutionally guaranteed remedies against any abusive, governing power7 so that these rights are assured. Such bodies are a fundamental requirement of constitutionally legitimate government in Scotland;
The protected independence of the judiciary and especially of the Court of Session”
Northcode @ 8:38 pm
“I believe you’ve also written a few books on the subject”
Just the one, though it includes the only theoretical framework developed on the subject, which is arguably all that is needed:
“Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence”
Available from Ama*on
O/T: I am very disappointed to see Alba’s proposal for the constitution of an independent Scotland – it looks “same old” i.e. politicians reign over us.
I would have thought Alba members would have been so scarred by SNP and English parties corruption and neglect of the welfare of the vast majority that they would have wanted the pre-existing Scottish Constitution restored. As Salvo is telling us, that Constitution has us in charge and politicians must behave or else.
Have you just got the basic subscription to Wings?
If you go for the £25 per month package you wont have as much bother with moderation.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/donate/
Northcode 8.38pm
Doun Hauden
“A Scot Abroad says…”
For someone who claims not to be a troll, you’re spending a lot of time behaving just like one.
Bob Mack,
have any of those countries in the last 20 years obtained international recognition following a UDI, or “skipping away merrily” as this thread has termed it?
No one doubts that Scotland would gain international recognition if it separated from the UK following due legal process after the democratic consent of the people of Scotland. It’s what would happen if it just skipped away merrily without following that due process that is under discussion.
@ Alf Baird
Thanks, Alf.
You describe the process of internal-colonisation in your paper.
Internal-colonisation appears to be a sub-species of colonisation, but much rarer and subtly different. Do you have any examples of other nation states that might have suffered this rarer process?
@ Brian Doonthetoon says:15 May, 2023 at 8:55 pm
So, where do you find a problem with that?
I don’t, which is why I supported Regan’s bid for SNP leader, cos that is what she was proposing.
[What ever happened to Regan anyway?]
Making it clear to Scots voters that every pro-Indy-party vote at every HR and WM election would be taken as a direct mandate for Indy had the superb advantage of being crystal clear to both the voters and the politicians.
Maybes that’s why the politicos ran a mile.
Humza making way for the SNP’s Coffin of Incompetence. There are probably further dig sites & headstones nearby featuring amongst others:
“Here Lies the SNP’s Reputation for Incontinen…”
@SteepBrae @ 9:14pm
Thanks, SteepBrae
“As Salvo is telling us, that Constitution has us in charge and politicians must behave or else.”
Indeed Sara, it is the sovereign people right to remove a government that does not meet the standards of the constitution and the people.
“This compact represents the fundamental principle of the Scottish constitution which:
Preserves and protects the sovereignty of the people over their government wherefore it is unlawful in Scotland for any government to claim or to seek sovereignty over the Scottish people
Prescribes the power and scope of government in Scotland wherefore it is unlawful to attempt to alter the constitutional compact which limits and directs political and regulatory power
Preserves and protects the legitimate ends and purposes of government in Scotland, (to promote the common good and the interests of the nation), wherefore it is unlawful to act against these interests
Preserves and protects the laws and conventions protecting the rights, the good and the freedoms of the people, whereby it is unlawful in Scotland to subvert these laws and conventions.”
@ Ruby says:15 May, 2023 at 9:08 pm
If you go for the £25 per month package you wont have as much bother with moderation
@James Jones
£50 PM gets you the ‘cant’ package, allowing you up to 5 uses of cant, winker, idoit, yone, torry, wacist, nunce, mysogernist, natsi, stanker, hoose jakey and bhuoy per day. You can mix and match them with different posters or deploy them all against one individual whose arguments defeat you on an intellectual level.
As far as I can tell, only one ‘cant’ package has been purchased so far.
@AScot Abroad
Maybe ask Croatia. Serbia. Slovakia .Slovenia ect etc.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/15/nicola-sturgeon-time-leaving-office-not-as-planned/
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23522934.nicola-sturgeon-underestimated-polarisation-scottish-politics/
Hi A Scot Abroad at 9:19 pm.
You typed,
“have any of those countries in the last 20 years obtained international recognition following a UDI, or “skipping away merrily” as this thread has termed it?“”
Jeezie Peeps A Scot Abroad!
Can you not be more subtle with your framing?
It was YOU who introduced the “skipping” analogy to this list of btl comments NOT “this thread” as you try to swerve guilt.
John Main says:
15 May, 2023 at 9:32 pm
If you go for the £25 per month package you wont have as much bother with moderation
You forgot the link.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/donate/
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-claims-underestimated-how-29984041.amp
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-takes-aim-lawyers-29983422.amp
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-says-she-underestimated-depth-of-polarisation-in-scottish-politics-4143460
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/aberdeen-councils-snp-leader-quits-29982890.amp
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/14/snp-linked-amazon-account-among-1000-alleged-frauds-police/
…
https://www.express.co.uk/latest/snp/amp
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/in-your-area/lanarkshire/north-lanarkshire-council-leader-stays-29987564
Northcode @ 9:20 pm
“Internal-colonisation”
Early emphasis appears to focus on North America. ” Internal colonialism occurs when states ”colonize” certain regions for the benefit of others”. Hechter applied the theory to the UK. There are other studied examples as I recall in different parts of the world.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-claims-underestimated-how-29984041
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/labour-boss-glasgow-city-council-29981571
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/stephen-flynn-keeps-hand-pocket-29956891
Hello Wilson How are you today?
Ruby said,
“ Have you just got the basic subscription to Wings?
If you go for the £25 per month package you wont have as much bother with moderation.”
Ha! Maybe I’ll donate £5 but claim it was 25.
;0)
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/alex-salmond-calls-snp-scottish-29972439
,,,
Bob Mack,
I’m quite familiar with the Balkan countries, as I served five tours of duty there between 1993 and 2003. Two tours with the UN, two with NATO, and one with the OSCE. On three of those tours, I was quite involved at the political level: one as the Military Assistant to the UN Force Commander, one as NATO’s Military Liaison Officer to Carl Bildt’s peace mission, and then as the OSCE sector commander for central Bosnia, which was a job I took for interest after leaving the British Army.
Croatia and Slovenia were recognised unilaterally by Germany as independent states in early 1992, which horrified the UN (and led to the only condemnation of a nation being passed unanimously by the UNGA. Yes Germany, that’s you). Events on the ground then rather reversed that, with a short war between Serbia and Slovenia, and a much more bloody war between Serbia (and Serbian secessionists within eastern and central Croatia) and Croatia. During that time, the Serbs did some pretty horrible things, including mass torture and killings of both Croats and Muslims in both Croatia and Bosnia, at the Omarska, Keraterm and Trnopolje concentration camps. They are pretty sobering and horrible places, and the photographic documentary of them by Ed Vuillamy of the Guardian was absolutely instrumental in pulling western opinion around recognising the new states of the former Yugoslavia.
Slovakia was different: it was a peaceful “velvet” divorce from Czechia. They’d both been subordinate parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and both agreed to go their own ways.
Unless you think that England is about to declare war on Scotland to preserve a union, don’t look to the UN to recognise an iScotland if it’s done outside if the existing laws. They won’t.
Ruby 8.56pm
Great you found the archived Scotsman article on wind speed. The reference to Alex Salmond’s government in 2011 is quite uplifting.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/snp/index.html?page=2
https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/snp
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/snp-chiefs-knew-nothing-campervan-29807419.amp
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-shameless-talk-political-29985664
See the night shift’s started.
Does ‘Better Together’ allow you to make false expenses claims.
I suppose £5 is better than freeloading but it ain’t going to get you any help with moderation.
Alf Baird,
you consistently cite Michael Hechter as though he is some form of oracle, without revealing the context that his work is widely criticised as being inadequately researched, without comparative basis, and that his thesis of internal colonisation is unevidenced by him (the most recent finding by the European Consirtium for Political Research). In short, it appears that you have swallowed his Koolaid, and are merely regurgitating it for your own political purpose.
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/uk-minister-ben-wallace-mocks-snp-mp-for-saying-there-is-no-armoured-warship-in-scotland-4143400
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/stephen-flynn-told-pocket-wind-29985083
…
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23522649.starmer-cites-fundamental-differences-rules-deal-snp/
Hey Wilson your articles are all behind a paywall nobody can read them.
Still all these ‘Pantone 300’ links are adding a nice bit of colour to the forum.
Cheers you are doing a good job!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12086855/EPHRAIM-HARDCASTLE-King-Charles-wear-Scottish-crown-Edinburgh-visit.html
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/questions-raised-over-snp-police-raid-timing/
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/
Thank you Aunty Flo & Stuart MacKay for info about Crown Estates
I am very ignorant about most things. I don’t know about history,the treaty of the Union, I hardly know what is devolved or reserved, no idea how politics works, how the lot at Holyrood manage to come to such bad decisions all the time, I don’t know what the crown office is or what they do, they sound very dodgy. The list of things I don’t know is endless. It would be easy enough to con someone like me except I always ask questions. I am not afraid of experts professors or anyone else because I am not afraid to show my ignorance.
I reckon it’s the people who pretend they know stuff that’s the big problem.
Apart from admitting I know nothing & asking questions I would probably make an ideal SNP MSP.
Now when it comes to being The Cultural Minister in First Minister Merganser’s cabinet I would be the best Cultural Minister Scotland has ever had.
There would be no grants for artists who stick a banana to the wall with gaffer tape, or who claim their unmade bed is a work of art or present half a coo in formaldehyde. You know the kind of stuff.
All those grants would be going instead to artists who make people laugh (aka comedians)
Shauny Boy would be getting mega beans.
I think everyone agrees laughter is the best medicine.
What better way of curing our drug, drink, mental health problems than with laughter.
All the money spent on laughing art would be recouped 10 fold from the savings made on anti-depressants, methadone,treating alcohol related illneses etc etc etc.
(Drugs companies won’t like my plan)
A banana stuck to the wall with gaffer tape doesn’t help anyone except the artist who is probably peeing his pants & laughing all the way to the bank to deposit his Arts Council (or whatever it’s called now) grant. They’ll be no bananas stuck to the wall with gaffer tape, no half eaten black puddin’ suppers, no unmade beds getting grants.
Naw! That one will be sent to room to make her bed.
They’ll be no grants for drag acts or anyone wearing woman face or black face.
I’m not too keen on the crime novel or Val MacDiarmid so I will probably just not give any crime writer a grant. Reading about serial killers & folk getting murdered is not good for your mental health.
Definitely no grant for Nicola Sturgeon. She’s got enough dosh of her own and possible ours to publish her own book.
https://archive.is/DiMmJ
Police Scotland STILL investigating Nicola Sturgeon book publisher 15 months on
https://conservativehome.com/
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/mhairi-black-admits-snp-dont-29972980.amp
https://socialistworker.co.uk/news/can-labour-revive-in-scotland/
Ruby said,
“Does ‘Better Together’ allow you to make false expenses claims.”
Glass houses.
I was alluding to the attendance at the Glasgow march. You probably knew that. Wilson McBride probably didn’t.
https://twitter.com/scottishlabour?lang=en
A Scot Abroad, or King Charles III as I’ve discovered @ 10:29pm
Thanks, Charles (how’s Camilla the nicht)
You’ve just convinced me of the absolute veracity and certainty of the great Prof Alf Baird’s thesis. I’ll probably buy ten copies of Doun-Hauden now. Start spreading the word, you know?
Anyway, thanks again, yer a powerful force for the cause of independence. I might put you forward for the Scottish Medal of Honour once we’ve been liberated – for services in helping us achieve it.
Keep up the good work, Charles. You do know you’re not my King by the way, don’t you?
Ruby @ 10:46pm
Ha! Brilliant, Ruby 🙂
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/former-snp-media-chief-urges-29955908
,,
ASA,
Why is it so important to you to stop the People of Scotland from making their own decisions?
Is it because you aren’t really Scottish? Come on now, don’t be shy.
@ Alf Baird
Thanks, Alf.
Your paper has made me curious about this phenomenon. Not just in how it might relate to Scotland, but to the whole human experience behind it, from both the perpetrator’s viewpoint and the victim’s.
I can’t help wondering if the average citizen of the dominant country is just as much a victim of the process as the subordinated one. And if the population of the dominant country also suffers psychological effects caused by the process.
Anyway, I’m going to buy your book. You can expect a bunch of questions coming your way. But I’m nothing if not considerate, for the most part, and if I become a nuisance, please feel free to tell me to bugger off.
https://www.ft.com/content/6241e78f-3ce6-4bc5-985a-c2c3b53aee9a
I just read that Lib Dem Alex Cole-Hamilton said in a speech that Scotland can never and should never exist again.
Where are the Independence parties response to killing off and burying my country?
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/topic/scottish-labour/
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/10674141/nicola-sturgeon-house-raid-approval-delayed-two-weeks/
https://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/
https://twitter.com/scotlibdems?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Breastplate,
I don’t want to stop the Scots from making any decisions, but I do want to stop Scots politicians forcing decisions in front of the Scottish people for immediate choice without having any form of plan for the future if the vote is carried. It’s quite simple.
So, come on Indy politicians. Stop obsessing about how to get an Indy vote, and start obsessing about how you’d run Scotland after achieving Indy. That’s also the most effective way to persuade the needed 10% to stop voting No, and start voting Yes.
What’s the difference between a pastie and a bridie?
Sergeant WIlson (McBride) @ well any time really.
Who do you think you are kidding Sergeant Wilson if you think we’re on the run. We are the boys(and girls) who will stop your little game. We are the boys (and girls) who will make you think again…
Ah, Dad’s Army. Those were days, eh Sergeant?
When I was a kid we had a name for guys like you.
What was it again?….Hold on it’s coming……
Oh aye ah remember noo. It wis….prick
I might give a grant to the artist who presents what looks initially like a totally blank white canvas.
It might be difficult to see if he’s done any painting but if he crosses his heart and tells me that he’s painted white dogshite on the white canvas then he’ll be getting his grant.
‘When Dog Poo was White‘
He’ll probably win the Turner Prize and the art world will talk endlessly about ‘When Dog Poo was White‘ and folk viewing the painting will definitely see the white dog poo even if I couldn’t
How is that going make people laugh you might ask.
Well it made me laugh! Gotta be some perks to the job.
Can you speak French James Jones?
Food for thought for a new day. Posted on Craig Murray’s blog “Now Protest Is A Moral Duty” by Tom Welsh, 15th May, 12.35.
“In a well-governed country, those who discuss policy must be in accordance with the law; those who carry out official matters must be regulated. Superiors evaluate actual performance; officials carry out their work efficiently. Words are not permitted to exceed reality. Actions are not permitted to overstep the law.
“In a disordered country, those who are praised by the multitudes are richly rewarded though devoid of accomplishments. Those who stick to their duties are punished, though free of guilt. The ruler is in the dark and does not understand. Worthies do not offer proposals. Officials form factions; persuasive talkers roam about; people embellish their actions. Those who are taken to be wise devote themselves to artifice and deceit; high officials usurp authority. Cliques and factions become widespread. The ruler is eager to carry out projects that are of no use, while the people look haggard and worn”.
– Huainanzi, 221 BC
I don’t know if this would be successful, but I think I will start a petition on the Westminster Parliament site that would ask for an amendment to the Scotland Act 1998 to allow Scots resident in the U.K. to have a valid vote in any future Scots IndyRef. There’s nearly 750,000 of us (Census 2011 figures), so perhaps half a million over 18. We should have a voice in the future of our country of birth, I think. Lots of detail to be resolved about proving our Scottishness, of course, but as a principle, I think it’s fine.
You never know, half a million Scots abroad from Scotland might make a difference. On way or the other.
Scot says:
15 May, 2023 at 11:39 pm
What’s the difference between a pastie and a bridie?
Well Scot if you don’t know the difference I won’t be sending you to Greggs for my dinner.
Spill! What is the difference?
“Scot says:
15 May, 2023 at 11:39 pm
What’s the difference between a pastie and a bridie?”
The first marries you to the second?
Spot the schoolboy error!
Is Scot trying to spot the bot?
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/questions-raised-over-snp-police-raid-timing/
,,,
Ruby,
one of the small irritations about WordPress is that one can’t go to edit typos and minor errors after submitting a comment. I should, of course, have written that my petition would be to allow Scots resident in the UK, but not in Scotland, to have a vote in any future referendum. So, that’s Scots abroad from Scotland, but not trying to extend it to the full diaspora of 40 million or whatever it is who are now in the States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as no doubt 100 other countries.
for the rev on his twitter / “cultural marxism is an antisemitic conspiracy theory”
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0822319144
a book on cultural marxism by a jewish guy, quite proud of it all
one of my favourite rebuttals to “conspiracy theory” slurs
another favourite is the rand report for the pentagon on how the USA can fuckup Russya by using Uk-raine as a proxy
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR3000/RR3063/RAND_RR3063.pdf
chapter 4 : providing lethal aid to uk–raine
“russa just attacked ukaine for no reason, a war of aggression, so it did, aye”
(so write this grifter a blank cheque, give him all your weapons and let your people suffer due to sky high energy prices)
people TELLING YOU WHAT-THEY-FUCKING-DID is now CONSPIRACY THEORY if you repeat it
I am starting to think that brassneck stupidity is the polemical technique for the internet age; you could call it “doing a Bugner”. Joe Bugner was a shit boxer who got his head punched to fuck on a repeated basis, but his head was just so-damn-thick he never even noticed. Had a decent career, even fought Ali.
ASA @11:30pm
Ffs, you have said you don’t want to stop the People of Scotland making decisions but you want others to stop the People of Scotland making decisions.
Is this the beginning of a Monty Python sketch?
Confused,
well we certainly are confused by that last post. I blame WordPress for you not being able to go back and edit it into something sensible.
But if you are still a bit Confused about the rights and wrongs of the war in Ukraine, I’ll offer you the primary school version, which may help you distinguish a bit of light from dark:
Russia invaded Ukraine, for no reason, and they’ve committed a huge bunch of internationally accepted war crimes. The rest of the civilised world is quite a bit horrified by that, so are helping out Ukraine (but not by enough).
Confused,
well we certainly are confused by that last post. I blame WordPress for you not being able to go back and edit it into something sensible.
But if you are still a bit Confused about the rights and wrongs of the war in Ukraïna, I’ll offer you the primary school version, which may help you distinguish a bit of light from dark:
Russia invaded Ukraïna, for no reason, and they’ve committed a huge bunch of internationally accepted war crimes. The rest of the civilised world is quite a bit horrified by that, so are helping out Ukraïna (but not by enough).
ASA – “the gift that keeps on giving” – love the Commando comics version of geopolitics; do you sit there all alone, 10 wikipedia tabs open plus briefing notes? You write like a 9 year old.
Henry the K : “military men are dumb, stupid animals”
clearly your reading comprehension is poor – my handle is ironic, not deceptive like yours. American foreign policy on eurasian integration is just a reheat of Mackinder.
LETS PLAY A GAME : EDUCATE THE FUCK-WIT
Hey squaddie – balkans boy, why is kosovo a country?
hint : it is the historic heart of serbia and is not even remotely a “real country”
so why??
answer : because america wanted it, that’s why. It’s a narco-terror hub for all manner of CIA black ops and international badstuff.
so the US said – yup, its a country – the EU shat itself and said “alright”; somewhere in the laughingly named “foreign policy establishment” it was decided yugoslavia was to be broken up for the western banks; what they had was vaguely socialist and vaguely successful, so it’s a bad example and needs to go.
And this “I was there” nonsense – it’s called “argument from authority”, a classic fallacy, e.g. – my cousin served 2 tours in afghanistan; he was blown up by a landmine and lost a bit of his leg – do you know something about him?
He’s a fucking idiot. He didn’t even know the name of the language of the people he was fighting. His opinion means nothing, even his own experiences are not capable of leading him to wisdom. I think you two have a lot in common.
are you a UN expert because you put on a blue helmet? I’m an olympic swimmer because I put on water wings.
and this tells us a lot about how the world really works aka realpolitik – international law comes in 2 broad varieties
– when the US is behind it
– when it is not
the first has the force of the word of God himself, the second … a baby’s pishy fart in a hurricane
Oh, and another one – why is Israel a country? Because the US recognised it very quickly, supposedly something to do with a suitcase full of cash when a presidential campaign was failing. Do you see the pattern? Or are you a goldfish, permanently surprised by “uncorrelated” phenomena?
The simplest way for Scotland to become independent would have been to leverage the support of a half-Scottish golf-nut with a lot of “real estate” here who just happened to be US president at the time. What could England have done about this, given they just suck US cock on command? Nothing, we are out and done. Also, we would still be in NATO, and NATO countries can’t attack each other.
– a scottish leadership who wanted indy could have worked this out; instead our glorious leader went to a pride march and made a lot of petty jibes about trump because he made some boorish remarks.
I don’t care about Trump, Biden, Obama, Dubya, Clinton … they are utter cunts, maybe Carter was the last one with some human decency (maybe not); the world is full of nasty people, and it is the height of diplomatic skill to get what you want out of them.
this is the world you need to live in if you want to actually be independent; stop talking to the english, but start talking to everyone else – the US and EU, ex colonies – they all hate England. A lot of folks want to become independent via virtue signalling, or asking the english for permission or just being “in the right” – the world does not care about any of this.
Trump even wrote a book called the art of the deal; everything is a deal, up for grabs, malleable – that is how you approach the problem – Scotland has tremendous resources and is much more valuable to the US or EU because of them – we have “real stuff” and a strategic position. England, by comparison, is over populated and under resourced – the city has a function as a “laundry” for dirty money flows; it has nothing much else. It rents nukes off the americans to “look hard” but probably doesn’t even have the launch codes.
“America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests”
? Henry Kissinger
Here endeth the lesson; you may be none the wiser after it, but at least you are now better informed.
@A Scot Abroad
There’s nothing you can say that will persuade us.
There’s nothing you can say to change our minds.
There’s nothing you can say you haven’t said a million times before.
Because it’s easy.
All we need is Wings, altogether now.
All we need is Wings, that’s right, you heard us.
All we need is Wings, Wings.
Wings is all we need.
And that, listeners, is a rhetorical device in action (used in a very famous song of which my version is a poor parody).
If you can help?
An important case
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/sex-in-the-equality-act-is-biological/
Confused says:
16 May, 2023 at 2:39 am
answer : because america wanted it, that’s why. It’s a narco-terror hub for all manner of CIA black ops and international badstuff…
The other irony is that it’s the same Article 5 of the UN Convention, the right of self defence by force when your territory when attacked,which the US cited to justify the bombing of Yugoslavia during the Bosnian war which later created Kosovo, which the Ruskians cited as justification do intervene in the Donbas, and subsequently recognise their autonomy, then accede to their request to join the Ruskian Federation.
There is a lingering opinion in some quarters that the bombing of Yugoslavia was not legal, and as far as I remember, Serbia and several other nations have never recognised Kosovo, just as we know the West isn’t going to recognise the redrawn border in the Donbas.
It is arguable the circumstances do bear comparison, particularly given the wider clandestine interference by the US and Maidan coup.
There are multiple levels to this, and a deeply acrimonious history to these events which are simply swept under the carpet by the Western media, which itself contributes to the tension.
Why should the Ruskians care about Western public opinion when Western peoples are constantly indoctrinated by anti Ruskian disinformation?
I am not being an apologist for Ruskia, but Western populations are now so blinkered in their jaded perspectives that dangerous turns of events could spiral out of control.
For example, all those weapons being channelled into a war zone gives Ruskia the right to interdict the supply, or interpret the supply as an act of war. We seem rather casual with provocations and abrupt refusal to negotiate cease fires and peace.
On the other hand, we have the US dollar hegemony facing a very real threat from BRICS, an organisation United by its antithesis towards the dictatorial and aggressive West.
The West didn’t create BRICS, but our attitudes to developing nations have largely provoked it’s creation. You sow the wind then reap the whirlwind.