Inability To Learn
Y’know, maybe we were a little harsh on the lads at Holyrood Sources yesterday when we implied that a more direct and aggressive interviewing style might have cut through John Swinney and Kate Forbes’ pathetically feeble waffling evasion on the SNP’s lack of an independence strategy in their recent podcast.
But the closest thing (along with Colin Mackay at STV) that the Scottish media has left to a proper Rottweiler interviewer – Peter Adam Smith of ITV – had a shot at that five years ago and didn’t do any better.
Smith noted that even back in 2019 Nicola Sturgeon had been droning on about how Westminster’s refusal to grant a second indy referendum was “unsustainable” for two years already. But no matter how hard he pressed, Sturgeon just kept on glibly and smugly insisting that they’d concede.
“The UK government strategy is to say no. Do you have a way around it?”
“My strategy is to say yes.” [smirks]
Readers might be forgiven for wondering how long it’s going to take the SNP to accept that that “strategy” is a failure, if seven years and three First Ministers isn’t enough for them to have worked it out. But as long as the pathologically gullible keep voting for them anyway, we suppose they have no reason to.
Coming soon to a bookshop near you:
NICOLA STURGEON: THE COMPLETE FAECALOGRAPHY
It will be in the charity the week after………
She’s a monster with tentacles who thinks Scotland zips up the back like her. She sickens me. Her book will fail like everything else she touched in Government. And like her failed criminal conspiracy to imprison innocent man Alex Salmond, on false allegations. Innocent and proven innocent. Making Sturgeon a evil f*cking psychopath should be locked up.
God bless Alex Salmond. Sturgeon is a piece of human filth.
Operation Branch form. Operation Koper. Drain the Loch and loch up the monster Nicola Sturgeon.
Where do faeces go but down the toilet.
Just like the SNP.
NICOLA STURGEON: IS THE COMPLETE FAECALOGRAPHY
Fixed it for ye Oneliner
That’s IS the sum of it & worse, exactly as it will remain until someone or some group can take them on, head on, and force/shame their members to FACE the hard truth. Alternatively the total destruction of the SNP is all that remains!
Many scientists believe Nuclear Cold Fusion is a gigantic fraud. Those scientists pursuing the elusive, Holy Grail secretly know this but as long as the research grants keep coming in, they maintain the illusion and accrue the comfortable lifestyles that the grants support.
Same applies to the SNP. Remove the Westminster, Gravy Train and the cnuts will be motivated to actually deliver change.
re. “Holy Grail secretly know this”
Scotland could be presented with the Holy Grail – in its own hands, personally by God – and it would rather tear itself to pieces, trying to find itself (yawn).
Rchaoui: holygrail(punk): We All Belong:
“Six, stones, don’t weather my bones
My tone grows cold
That harmful truth that you’re never good?enough
As?you try to?hold your tears
We all belong
You’re important
Hearts?beat the same
Words sting but will not stay
You say more?now?than?ever before
But do?you understand
How do?you expect me to not fear when
You’re not in my skin
You’re not in my position”:
link to tinyurl.com
I’ll bet your lungs have had more starting fluid sprayed into them than my old Nova did during its entire twenty years 🙂
I’m infinitely more experience than you losers –
(20 years is nothing, lol):
My nova…
“A type of star that shines much more brightly for a few months as a result of a nuclear explosion.”:
link to dictionary.cambridge.org
#pipsqueaks
Not the greatest of analogies Viv. It arguably obfuscates more than it enlightens. After all the 2014 referendum was agreed on the basis of the SNP’s success in the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary election when they had only 6 Westminster MPs after the 2010 UK election.
Most people here seem to think there will never be another referendum but if the 2026 Scottish parliamentary election results were to replicate the 2011 result or if the right price for a grand coalition was extracted and the same three year lead-up to a referendum was posited them you would be looking at a 2029 poll. Fifteen years between referendums would replicate exactly the time period between the 1980 and 1995 Quebec referendums, so there would be a valid international comparison. A failing UK Labour govt might find it harder than it currently thinks to resist a referendum if the exact same conditions as 2011 prevail (or if a grand coalition is agreed).
I’m not advocating this approach or a hold your nose and vote SNP stance for 2026 but the way UK politics is going and the permutations of our crappo voting system may throw the SNP a lifeline that their poor governance and endemic corruption does not deserve. So rather than formulating any strategy, the SNP might find events propelling them along if the stars align just right. Of course, they are as likely to f*** things up completely, so…
re. “if the stars align just right.”
Thought-provoking
“Thought provoking is when someone or something challenges your assumptions, your beliefs, your opinions.
Thought provoking is when someone or something makes you question yourself, your society, your reality.”:
link to quora.com
She was basically telling anybody with ears to listen that there was no strategy. Just like Swinney/Forbes last week.
When people tell you they have nothing to offer folks really should believe them.
Why keep even mentioning a referendum? It won’t happen again. The UK got a real scare in the run up to the one in 2014. After that, they’d never risk another. The UK knows that and so does the NewSNP.
The key question now, as it has been for years, remains the same – is there an alternative to a UK controlled referendum that the UK can’t block and which would be recognised internationally ? If there is, then maybe it’d be better to focus on that. If there isn’t, then it’s game over.
The future isn’t ours to see. A referendum might seem unlikely in the near future, but who knows how things will change? Even if it’s true that the referendum route is effectively stymied either forever or for decades, then the movement needs to examine alternatives and educate those in favour of independence so they will accept a viable alternative route.
So far it seems to most people that the only plausible alternative likely to produce results in any reasonable timescale is to switch to (or at least threaten) to use plebiscitary elections.
A minority are certainly enamoured of novel, extra-parliamentary routes which they insist will work and be internationally recognised, but there’s very little evidence that they are making any headway.
So, if plebiscitary elections, or the threat of them work then surely it’s a plus? Either we get to concentrate on using that route and ensuring it works, is accepted by the majority and all the pro-indy parties are on board, or the British nationalists realise that they can’t veto referendums sine die and compromise on holding #indyref2.
I don’t see unionists playing ball in the foreseeable future, which is why I’m fully on board with pushing for plebiscitary elections. Sadly the current SNP aren’t listening, so they either have to be destroyed or forced to change from within by their members. Good luck with that!
I agree – plebiscitary elections are the route to follow.
One overwhelming advantage is that a failure, or string of failures, is not the end. You just come back at the next election, hopefully with better people, more persuasive arguments, and having learned from what you did wrong.
I do think, though, it will need a new party, and mostly new faces too. I would call it the Plebiscitary Party. Just so that everybody was clear it’s not a front for republicanism, trans woo woo, Marxist economics, or any of the other diversions people like to wang on about.
There’s always the chance that the U.K. will wait for the moment at which the U.K. is perceived to be doing well, and the Scottish government badly, and grant permission for the referendum at that point. Two defeats would kill off independence for a lifetime.
Ian, agree up to the last bit.
If it’s game over (with the HR parish cooncil route) then it’s time for a more direct approach, one that’ll spoil their lordships supper without giving them an excuse to put the army on the streets; civil disobedience..
En masse stop doing what they want us to dutifully do.
Simple.
En masse, meaning the public needs educated, deviant hobby horse policies binned never to reappear, serious answers formed to the same old same old canards trotted out by scaremongering Unionists.
For starters.
As-is just CANT continue like a pool of scum trapped at the edge of a river..
“is there an alternative to a UK controlled referendum that the UK can’t block and which would be recognised internationally ?”
Within the flawed UK political system where the imperial power continues to decide the rules, break its own rules at will, use national broadcasters and allegedly independent MSM as its propaganda mouthpieces, taps on England’s, Wales’ and NI’s taxpayers money to fight against Scotland’s independence, and where our elected MPs and MSPs swear allegiance to a foreign crown, I do not see any. Any referendum under that scenario will bring back the exact same result that we had in 2014.
The only way I see for a viable independence referendum is by moving it completely out of the political sphere. In other words, to completely bypass political parties. What mechanism to use and choosing which entity should call it, is the difficulty. Holyrood is bound by the Scotland Act, so, for as long as MSPs insist in being tied their hands behind the back by that Act, Holyrood cannot call that referendum. Scotland’s MPs have sworn allegiance to a foreign crown, so they will never lift their fat arses for the seat and do anything meaningful like temporarily transfer their own powers to holyrood or, heaven forbid, temporarily reconvene Scotland’s old parliament to legislate for the referendum.
But that Scotland Act does not bind any other entity outwith Holyrood and Westminster, so that is something that could be explored. The problem with that will be compliance and recognition by the own people of Scotland as legitimate. That is what needs to be worked on.
The most critical point, in my view, in such a referendum will be the franchise. For a proper franchise, there has to be a way of allocating some form of citizenship or permanent allegiance to Scotland. What we cannot have is the same nonsense of 2014 where everybody and their dog could vote even if they had been and intended to be in Scotland for the grand total of 5 minutes, were no longer living in Scotland during the referendum or immediately afterwards, or simply had a holiday home in Scotland. The way the vote of the natives was completely undermined was ridiculous and would be deemed as unlawful if the same were attempted towards the native population of any other European country.
The British establishment will never give green light to another referendum unless it they can ensure no will win again. That means having to use a dodgy franchise and flooding Scotland with migrants, force-feeding us propaganda 24/7, suppressing information about Scotland’s wealth and/or rigging the vote. The same tools I am of the opinion were widely used in 2014.
The only way Scotland can have a fair referendum within “UK rules” is if Scotland has been completely stripped of anything that is worth and transformed it into a barren land with no assets and no prospects of growth.
Counter factual bullshit of course. No matter how many times the hard of thinking have this pointed out to them, they continue to bang their head against the same wall, with much the same result.
The international community will expect any self determination referendum to follow the same precedents as others unless there are extraordinary extenuating circumstances (as in Kosovo, which was a special case involving violence, ethnic cleansing and previous breakdown of the rest of the Yugoslav federation).
The franchise used in other referendums were as follows:
1. Quebec 1980: All Canadian citizens residing in Quebec.
2. Quebec 1995: All Canadian citizens residing in Quebec.
3. Slovenia 1990: All Slovenian citizens (deemed to be all holders of Yugoslav internal citizenship cards resident in Slovenia, irrespective of birthplace or nationality).
4. Lithuania 1991: Nationals of Lithuania, including those resident before the USSR invasion of 1940 & their descendants, plus any Soviet citizens resident in Lithuania who renounced Soviet nationality. Soviet soldiers in Lithuania were excluded.
5. Estonia 1991: All residents with a permanent Soviet resident card in Estonia in 1991. (i.e. including all USSR citizens planted there since 1945).
6. Latvia 1991: All residents with a permanent Soviet resident card in Estonia in 1991. (i.e. including all USSR citizens planted there since 1945).
7. Macedonia 1991: All Macedonian citizens (deemed to be all holders of Yugoslav internal citizenship cards resident in Macedonia, irrespective of birthplace or nationality). Qualifying citizens abroad could vote.
8. Ukraine 1991: All residents of Ukraine. Soviet soldiers stationed in Ukraine were allowed to vote.
9. Bosnia & Hercegovina 1992: Yugoslav citizens who had established permanent residency in B&H.
10. East Timor 1999: those born in East Timor. Anyone not born there but with a parent who was born there. Individuals whose spouse was born in East Timor or whose parent-in-law was born in East Timor.
11. Montenegro 2006: Individuals with a minimum 24-month residency and nationality of the Serb-Montenegrin state.
12. South Sudan 2011: All permanent residents of South Sudan or those whose parents or grandparents were permanent residents since 1956.
13. Scotland 2014: Residents in Scotland with British nationality, or Commonwealth or EU nationality.
14. Catalonia 2014: Residents in Catalonia with Spanish nationality, EU nationality, EEA nationality or Swiss nationality.
The moonhowlers will of course airily insist Scotland is a special case (which it isn’t in the eyes of the international community) while furiously comparing apples with oranges and insisting that Scotland should – uniquely amongst all the many self determination referendums listed above – use “putative citizenship” criteria.
It just won’t work.
Sorry Mia, but a “proper franchise” allows for anybody paying taxes to get a vote.
That was good enough for the American rebels and it’s good enough for me.
We could always go down the same route as other countries, employing foreign workers on temporary non-resident visas, not paying citizen taxes, and not getting access to citizen perks either, including votes.
I’d be in favour of that.
Maybe you should be too. All your efforts to establish a “proper franchise” always seem to end up with only the voters who agree with you getting a vote.
And that’s an idea that’s never going to fly.
That’s what Nicola should have said.
“…if Scotland has been completely stripped of anything that is worth and transformed it into a barren land with no assets and no prospects of growth” – The SNP are giving it their best shot
no apolgies for reposting this link:
link to centreformalepsychology.com
truly, unless the «political class» is measured by significantly higher intellectual criteria, what you see is effectively what you’ll get.
AI, paradoxically, is likely to make things rather worse.
Learn:
“To make yourself remember a piece of writing by reading it or repeating it many times:
I don’t know how actors manage to learn all those lines.”
“To start to understand that you must change the way you behave:
She’ll have to learn that she can’t have everything she wants.”
“To be told facts or information that you did not know:
We were all shocked to learn of his death.”:
link to dictionary.cambridge.org
#R.I.P.Alex
Addison: To the Ends of the Earth: Inability to Breathe:
“It doesn’t hurt to open up your eyes
You’re throwing your life away
I can’t stand to see you do this to yourself
You step towards this lie you call living
I can see you breath, but are you really breathing?
Fight deception
You say you’ll find yourself without him
How can you be so blind?
Wish you would see the light and step away from your old life
How long will it take you for you to realise
You’re moving faster and time is running out
Break free, find his outstretched arms
You’re worth more than what you think you are
You won’t let me help no matter how I try
Your choices are running out but I’m on your side
I can see you suffering, cry help me
I can see you suffering
Untie this knot around my neck, transparent identity
What will it take to make you see that His love is true?…”:
link to tinyurl.com
I wish the Rev Stu would have a word with you. I don’t care whose side you’re on, I’m sick of you filling the comments section with your pointless, irrelevant twaddle. Can you not see that that’s why all your comments get downvoted?
Gregor is the Cameron Brodie “de nos jours”. From memory it took an inordinate amount of time for him to be given the bullet.
Alert readers will recall that his constant spamming of irrelevant links happened at about the same time as the number of people regularly posting declined and along with the nativist moonhowlers contributed to the death of most reasonable discourse BTL.
Would you like to add anything else, Andy ?
How fu**ing dare you slander and belittle those defenseless ones, whom are not here (re. Cameron Brodie, et al) –
Hang your head in Scotland/universal shame, bigoted Andy
Disgusting wannabe bully (powerless coward:)
#CameronBrodieForever
Take the hint and give it a rest, FFS.
Thanks, I’ve taken your hint:
“Something that you say or do that shows what you think or want, usually in a way that is not direct:
He’s dropped several hints to the boss that he’ll quit if he doesn’t get a promotion.”:
link to dictionary.cambridge.org
#MichaelsRedundancyLooms
I’ve been thinking the same. If only you’d left the bit about “nativist moonhowlers” out.
What’s your tribe, Michael ?
My team is Scotland.
What are you on about now you isobutane-inhaling imbecile? 🙂
Can’t you think for yourself (eyes roll)
No wonder you can’t fly and are doomed.
#FlyingBaby
re. ‘twaddle’
How dare you insult Moria and her family as irrelevant…
link to wingsoverscotland.com
You’re sick, Michael (shame on you)
#AlexSalmondScotlandHero
What on earth are you gibbering about? You’re completely off the planet.
“I’m sick of you filling the comments section with your pointless, irrelevant twaddle.”
CAN YOU READ THE DICTIONARY, Michael:
Gibbering:
“Speaking quickly in a way that cannot be understood, usually when you are very frightened or confused:gibbering idiot:
I stood there like a gibbering idiot.”:
link to dictionary.cambridge.org
It really is depressing to repeatedlg hear and see the SNP leadership making an arse of themselves in trying to keep up the pretencr that Westminster will be focd to grant IndyRef2. Do we have to go thru that all again?
King Robert’s spider took 7 attempts to achieve its goal, as I believe did King Robert himself.
Perhaps NS is reluctant to diverge from historical precedent.
So that’s 7 referendum attempts, not 7 years.
“Readers might be forgiven for wondering how long it’s going to take the SNP to accept that that “strategy” is a failure”
I think the SNP leadership already knows and accepts that “strategy” is a failure. They have probably known this from day one, and I wonder if that has been the reason as to why they have kept peddling it. Once Mr Salmond stepped down, those who took control of the party never intended to hold another referendum, never mind a plebiscite election, that bit stands to the obvious.
On retrospect, it seems obvious that their only intention has been to keep the yes movement on a leash going nowhere,whilst they assisted the british and USA’s states to accelerate the stripping of Scotland from its assets.
It is a bitter pill to swallow, but the reality is that SNP voters have been taken for complete fools for ten years and have been purposely deceived with a flawed “strategy” that has always been specifically designed to fail.
But we do not need a corrupt, unwilling and infiltrated leadership (or MSPs and MPs for that matter) of what is now a completely useless shell of a party to accept anything. Neither we should expect it or pursue it anymore. Their time has passed. Their chances to do so are long gone. Time to move on.
What we do need is for the remaining people who keeps voting for this deceiving shell of a party to stop voting for them already. And on that department your work has been invaluable and outstanding.
Please, keep exposing their bullshit, Rev. The best medicine for corruption is to throw light on to it and show their bullshit for what it is. You have done a sterling job so far. Please, keep it coming.
I couldn’t agree with you more strongly, Mia. I don’t think the SNP’s failure to pursue independence, and its disregard for what independence supporters actually want, is any accident. Its useless, feeble leadership has been installed and the party has been deliberately wrecked in order to neutralise any threat to the continuing colonial rule of Scotland. If there was any move to guide the SNP back towards the goal of independence, I’ve no doubt that whichever unseen powers are pulling the strings would ensure that those leading such a move would be discredited and eliminated, just as happened to Salmond and Corbyn.
You must have missed my Corbyn witch hunt post, Michael (re. “rrelevant twaddle”:)
Glad you agree with me…
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Yet president-elect Trump has been neither discredited, nor eliminated.
That is telling me that when somebody truly speaks for the majority, they can’t be easily bulldozed out of the way.
That’s also telling me something about Salmond and Corbyn too, but you’ll reject that, because you’ve convinced yourself that everybody shares your views on everything.
The Learning disability is not solely a Scottish problem. The whole Western politik has some form of dysgraphia arrogantitis.
MSM is reporting how in a flurry of last-minute policies and interventions, the outgoing Biden administration is racing to shut down the ability of one of the world’s major players to produce and export oil and gas.
It makes me wonder why he didn’t do this years ago, but the explanation seems to come in two parts: 1) Biden didn’t want to increase US pump prices, but now he doesn’t care too much: 2) US production is now at record levels anyway, so consideration 1) doesn’t come into it.
If only Scotland had her own indigenous oil and gas industry we could ramp up to take advantage of the changing geopolitical landscape!
Whoops, we have, so the previous para should read:
If only Scotland had an administration in HR that would actively lobby, campaign, organise and legislate for us to drill, baby, drill in our own North Sea.
Just think of all those lovely revenues we are missing just so that our political class can virtue signal.
I think the Counter Culture is just about to get Countersunk.
There is one obvious way to campaign for independence. You say that you are against Starmer’s sneaky attempt to chain us to the economic corpse that the EU is becoming; only independence can keep Scotland out.
You say that you’re against Weird Ed’s pursuit of abolishing the use of oil and gas and that only independence would allow Scotland to exploit the North Sea to the maximum.
And so forth: just stand on your head. It’s what politicians are for. And if people won’t vote for such a re-rationalised SNP then bugger it: stop the game.
Campaigning for Scottish Independence has been an experience on the Escher Stairs.
The latest trope seems to be the “we want the same as Northern Ireland” line, because they know that the UK will simply keep saying no to a new referendum. Pretty sure they’ll keep saying no the the NI “solution” too.
SNP are a complete waste of space and time.
Odious wee nyaff. She’ll do the chat show circuits and the politico shows and the women’s and alphabet soup shows but assuming team Salmond can get their act together, after that, my guess is you’ll never hear from her again. The greatest trick that Sturgeon ever pulled was convincing the world she was pro-Indy. Team Salmond step up and like that… she’s gone.
They enjoy kicking the can down the road. As soon as there’s an election looming, it’s easy for them to push ‘Independence’, because it gets them votes.
Sadly, there have been, and still are, too many people who believe every word of their pish .. and vote for them.
I’m waiting for the ”SNP 1&2” mantra for the Holyrood elections.
Oh God , please no!
Someone has to explain to folk how the voting system with which we are foisted works.
There was an idiot proof guide on youtube at one point but I can’t locate it now.
I have explained it on a couple of indy facebooks and the people it is a reply to come back with unchanged views. I don’t understand how simple arithmetic doesn’t convince them that SNP 1& 2 is a disaster, but so it is.
They want it to be a disaster.
War Babies: Quarantine Core: Idiot Proof:
“Grade school level PHD
Word of Mouth University
Can’t trace a single solid fact
To any of the bullshit you back
You fools can’t come up with a single thought of your own
You can’t speak to the theories that you’ve been shown
It’s fucking sad how you can’t comprehend the most basic concepts on the block
You’ve no idea how to even tear the seal off the logical things you mock
Idiot proof
It hurts to say it but the reality is you’re too slow to
fully comprehend
Idiot proof
You people and your pea-brained thoughts are
inching us closer to the end…”:
link to tinyurl.com
#Q
What I find profoundly dispiriting is that one useless wee nyaff after another can “apparently”derail the supposed campaign for Scottish Independence. My, my, we seem so easily talked out of doing this.
Not one of these spineless betrayers has any fear whatsoever about the consequences of stabbing the Scottish people in the back; no fear there will ever be a comeuppance.
I find this servile, submissive Scotland utterly repugnant, and Independence is dead in the water until the Scottish people find common cause and resolute determination that NOTHING will stop or derail the struggle.
There are countless references to standard bearers taking a bullet, but as they fall, somebody is always there on hand to keep the standard flying high. Here in Scotland we suffer the ignominious spectacle of one dysfuntional flop handing over the batten to another charmless deadbeat. This is unnatural.
Who the fk keeps loading the breech with all this impotent blank ammunition? Why do we persist in putting these talentless fkg nobodies at the head of our columns and determining strategy?
Something is dreadfully wrong with our societal structure that our most capable people are peripheral to the main events, while a circus of untouchable dumbf$ks parade on centre stage with apparent impunity.
Leadership? Jesus wept. If only we had some.
Aye. Just so.
Moire Salmond has released a statement to the Press Association. I don’t know if this has been posted already
x.com/fyrishsunset/status/1878445402216714291?s=48&t=2uGfpXYxglIPP9jMDbG3Dw
link to x.com
Thanks Dan. I’m pretty useless at that kind of stuff.
Sorry if I messed up the link. It’s a long time since I did this.
BBC (2025): I’ll use Trump’s Scottish links in tariff talks:
“Swinney told BBC Scotland… Trump wanted the call to “express his enthusiasm for Scotland”.
He also said he was “very warm and positive” about the country where his mother was born in 1912…
The first minister said Trump also spoke of his love for Scotland during their call on 10 December.
Swinney said: “He’s very positive about Scotland, he’s enthused about Scotland, he talked very warmly about his mum’s roots in Lewis.
“He talked about his pride in the business interests that he’s taken forward at Turnberry and at Balmedie in the golf courses.
“So he’s got an affinity and a warmth towards Scotland…
Swinney’s decision to back Harris was described as an “insult” by his company, Trump International, given the Republican’s candidate’s business interests in Scotland.His son, Eric, later described the decision as “nasty”…
Swinney told the Sunday Show: “I think it’s pretty well documented that Alex could be quite brisk with people and sometimes we all witnessed that.
“And sometimes we all had to say look, that’s not on. And that’s the way it was.”
Salmond’s widow, Moira, later said recent comments about her husband had caused the family “great distress”.
In a statement, released to the Press Association, Ms Salmond said:
“Those attacking him must know that the law does not allow us, his family, to protect his reputation from being defamed now that he is gone.
“Attacks by the living on the dead will seem to many as deeply unfair.
“My wish, and sincere hope, is that these attacks will now stop.”:
link to archive.ph
Michael Laing hates you, Moira/Salmond family
re. “irrelevant twaddle” “I don’t care”
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Andy Ellis loves attacking, slandering and belittling those who are not present:
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Joanna Cherry KC
@joannaccherry:
“Moira didn’t “attack” Nicola Sturgeon, she simply asked her to refrain from her repeated attacks on Alex Salmond which are causing a great deal of pain to Moira as his widow and to his wider family and friends. Dead men can’t defend themselves.”
link to x.com
How many Gregors are there.
I mean I’m not complaining your comments make me look like an Academic
Not that I don’t dislike complaing
I hold an academic (multidisciplinary), Edinburgh university honours degree (2:1) in social/environmental science (sustainable environmental management:) –
What are your academic credentials, intellectual Titan Mark…
I only require myself (everything) to demolish your integrity, at will –
That’s why I love it when you wannabe bullies/supremacists/bigots/useful idiots attack and attempt to belittle people – especially in groups/gangs, etc.
Anything else you wanna know ?
Do you wear women’s clothes?
If you do then I know a guy who does a good line in Miu Miu, everything for forty quid.
You’re a sick sexual deviant, Mark
What’s your deep interest with males in women’s clothes, Mark ??
Have you got a Tranny fetish (jeez)
#MarksTrannyUtopia
You haven’t answered the question.
Yes, occasionally I wore tights to primary school, when it was baltic (my mother loves me:) –
A pair of my ‘discounted’ gardening work trousers turned out to be the female version, but I wore them anyway, for months (bit tight round the sack:) – Nothing stops me from serving my local community…
That wasn’t difficult was it.
Garden dress for discerning Ladies. Leave that one with me
Are you a big girl or a petal petite?
Chafing can be a problem.
I’m a 5.6ft male giant (understatement:)
I strive to answer questions, Mark –
Whereas forum participants here struggle to answer my basic fundamental Scotland questions – it turns its snout up at empowerment and unleashes its bile towards me –
Because it cannot handle reality/looking at itself (no wonder:)
I’m glad because if you said that you were a size 8. It’s a known fact that size 8 women don’t do gardening.
It’s a trick question you see. Catch out the fakes.
I love Scotland and its people:
Snivelling wretches, Michael Laing and Andy Ellis (et al) are so weak and pathetic, that they are unable to publicly express their love and appreciation for Scotland/its people (isn’t that right ?:)
Feel free to down-vote if you hate Scotland and are a national/world abomination (forever-loser:)
#SalmondFamilyForever #ScotlandLoveForever
Far out there man.
Evidently, Mark doesn’t hold much (any ?) empathy/love for Scotland –
What a hapless miserable git.
#AcidMark
The truth/reality hurts, huh –
That’s why you (et al) are not capable of protecting, nor qualified to lead Scotland –
And will always be a delusional empty vessel.
Sorry Gregor I would love to chat but I’ve been polishing my boots. I’ve signed up for the Right Wing Marching and Rioting Lessons Hope they don’t notice my disability.
Do you think I should wear black ?
I think you should learn how to think/choose/do as an adult human re. be yourself (not look to others’, to provide/issue you with living instructions – like a perpetual dummy-tit:) –
Or you’ll never be an independent/successful human.
#MarksDownwardDepression
Gregor would you tell Gregor to answer the question.
‘YOU LOT’ can’t even agree to safeguard children:
link to wingsoverscotland.com
#ChildAbuseMonsters
Evil Scotchland bastards.
#Consequences
Just added a to do on my bucket list.
Dance on Sturgeons grave. If and when possible.
I wouldn’t wast the environment to travel on transport to do it, she best forgotten about for good.
Too late! It’s on the bucket list. You don’t mees around with bucket lists if you know what I mean. The way will be shown.
18 years of being in government in Scotland and the best he can come up with is “What we’ve got to develop is the whole discussion about what a process looks like.”
What a load of absolute twaddle – he has no idea how to lead a party and never has had.
I’m surprised we’ve got to see Swinney he’s never been out the Union Crack arse since his master walked into number 10.
The SNP is a party that is neo-liberal on economic issues and progressive on social ones. The demographic that supports them, middle-class, lefties in spirit, is also the demographic that benefits the most from the union. Any talk of severing the connection with London and possibly losing those upwardly mobile opportunities south of the border will send their voters into a panic. That’s why there will never be any talk of cutting off the career paths of Blair and Elspeth. Much better to talk about Net-Zero, being inclusive (because Scots are a minority too) and tell the darlings down south that the incomers from the north are exactly like them.
Lets be fucking honest the SNP is at its best and the rotten lot of them from the leadership to its idiots of a membership isn’t going to improve any day soon. What we have is a party that’s full of rotten smelly air and I would have found it hard to sit in a room with Sturgeon in 2019 to impossible now.
If anyone had said to me on 18.09.2014 you’ll end up heating the SNP more than you do the Tory party my reply would have been don’t talk daft where do you get that from, now we know.
The SNP is the rotten stench in the room and me personally I can’t bare to listen or be in their company.
Out of curiosity, I thought I’d check out the latest Scottish opinion polls. According to the useful resources published by this site, the SNP enjoys a SIXTEEN PERCENT lead over their nearest opponent (Labour on c.19%). Not a mere outlier, that’s the last two polls listed, with a very clear direction of travel.
Off-the-scale insane – on at least two counts, firstly that the SNP has such a commanding lead (or is in the lead at all) and secondly, Labour is their closest competitor despite, well, pretty much everything.
For years, anything wearing a red rosette was all that’s needed, and latterly (for a long time) a yellow rosette will suffice. Depressing.
CC
See recent discussions (for and against) independent candidates as opposed to party drone candidates..
Things have to change..
link to sundaypost.com
If true – is it even legal to do that?
The plan was to introduce policies so toxic and unpopular that the U.K. government was forced to step in, thereby increasing support for the Union.
Agree with you on this one.
Exactly. The UK Establishment got a nasty shock in 2014 they are not going to go there again if they can help it. We are a cash cow for the UK treasury which is why they will not let us go unless something forces them to.
A Scottish election will only do that if it’s status as a plebiscite is indicated long in advance and our international partners who might recognise it be well primed.
Sturgeon with each election said they were not plebiscites each time she presided over them. Went out of her way to say that each and every time.
And not to mention that no British PM wants to go down in history like Lord North in having lost Scotland.
rachel reeves is some dumb b1tch there on a diversity hire who claimed her O grade arithmetic made her top economist at tesco
– so she’s fucked over the public, but it was not enough, so now prepare for a double fucking worse than the last – she is going after the disabled now, presumably since they can’t fight back
link to archive.ph
despicable.
I wonder how many “labour politicians” actually know the history of the struggle against the city, or tried to learn any lessons. Wilson was the last guy who managed any pushback, and he almost got coup-de-tatted.
She should read up on game theory, with a wider reading of economics.
Here is how you calm down the city – you make credible threats, e.g.
– “oh my … it seems 2/3 of the world’s tax havens are in UK jurisdiction with an estimated 20T in untaxed assets … to fight climate change and net zero and save the polar bear … we need to shut them down overnight … ”
– “I think bonuses should be taxed … to pay for net zero … and the war in the east … and I am sure the banking community will be more than willing to take one for the team”
– SFO expanded, with 10 times original budget
– a tobin tax
– a whole raft of taxes aimed at high consumers
– create a RICO act for bankers, so e.g. if a payment between terrorist organisations goes through your banking network, then that is terrorism, and the bank CEO is part of a common enterprise
and then you watch the blood drain from their faces. Then they behave.
“Then they behave”
Or they take their money elsewhere.
I get it, Confused, you’re confused. That’s why you still believe it’s possible for a country to tax its way to prosperity.
The reality is though, that nobody who understands fundamental human nature believes the same.
another brilliant non rebutting rebuttal from main which fails to address any point
wilson, had the bank of england at him every monday morning saying there would be a run on the pound if he didn’t do this or that – he found ways to deal with them
As a net importer you want a strong currency to pay for the imports. It was 1.30 USD not long ago.
– now this
link to archive.ph
link to archive.ph
people are talking about 1.12 and this is serious …
currency has many unseen aspects; we are told it is a problem for us post indy – it isn’t. But it’s a big problem for England.
– they say we “can’t use the pound” because it’s their pound; in contrast the yanks would love you to use the dollar; get the stability of the world’s largest currency
– then they say we can’t issue our own, because, copying what many other nations did, is beyond us
but consider this, and it is beautiful; the only direction for the pound post indy, is down. It won’t go down much if we adopt it, for a while at least, but the shit really hits the fan if we do not use it.
It is an unstated fact that the pound is a de-facto “oil backed currency”; that is the collateral. What happens when you lose that peg? What happens if a man breaks his ankles? It’s only a small part of his body, but important and he is not doing anything anymore. You will be in the hospital or crutches for a long time.
Scotland off the pound, leaves the pound without anything “real” underneath it. Forex investors, the most vicious of all market inhabitants, will smell blood and we could see a black wednesday / soros type of event. The only way to go is down. Currently the pound was about 1.30USD, but what happens when it nose-dives and ends up at 0.80USD?
– you are in the shit. England doesn’t make anything anymore and imports 44% of its food; everything imported, which is almost everything becomes 50% dearer. England could face argentina or zimbabwe like scenarios.
We will see chaos, and I will be quaffing a whisky, laughing my arse off. England will revert to Somalia levels, and the anglos will eat each other. All we need to make sure of is that we have enough razor wire for the border, and AI controlled automated machine guns. Turned out nice again.
This cuts to the heart of it all – the only remotely plausible argument for union for the normal person is : “better the devil you know” and the idea that westminster gives you “competence” and “stability”. This is nonsense – the list of government fuckups would take days to write down, and this does not include the active vandalism from ideological ventures – and as for “stability”, we see them lurching from one crisis to another. We are all at the mercy of financial measures no one can control, and this is the real problem – the UK is controlled by the city, and they don’t care about you, and no one will ever take them on. That is why you need an out.
– england is deeply in the shit, and we will be on the hook to fix it all (in short, they are overpopulated and under resourced, we are the opposite … half of england is a floodplain, their water is full of shit, they lack everything) – and so everything is just going to get worse, year on year, and Scotland will be on the hook for it.
Starmer is giving a speech about AI – it is Scotland that should be getting in on the AI Boom, we have the cheap energy, the cool climate and all that water, the data centres and tech and jobs should be ours, but you are in the UK and so “can never have nice things” – all goes to the “golden triangle” (oxford-cambridge-london)
“England will revert to Somalia levels, and the anglos will eat each other”
Then again, England has nukes, ships, aircraft and helicopters. How are we going to defend “our” offshore wealth-generating assets? Ask poot to do it for us?
I guess it might just be me who doesn’t fancy the idea of sharing this over-crowded, rather small island with 10 times as many, desperate, war-mongering (checks notes), bloody-handed, colonialist, merciless neo-Somalis.
Somebody should find out why in a word association test, “Somali” is usually paired with “warlord”.
But never mind that. Why no sympathy for Rev Stu, on the other side of the razor wire? Is he, usefulness over, to be thrown under the bus?
Anyhoo, good to see the re-evaluation of the dollar under way. I can’t remember the last post praising BRICS. Where have all the BRICS supporters gone? 🙂
The fortunes of SNP after 2014 the credit belongs to Salmond and the mess its in now well that belongs to Sturgeon and Sturgeon alone. The UK has a political party crisis to which there isn’t a single party anyone wants to vote for including the SNP. So I have no idea why Swinney believes he’s turn the party’s misfortunes around, well if this moron of a sorry excuse for a man believes stopping the rot from getting any worse from within the SNP Is Progress for Scotland or the SNP I’m afraid Swinney is going to get a big surprise in 2026.
I really don’t know whats worse the idea Swinney is going to stay in politics until 2031 or the idea the SNP is going to still be in existence, please tell me I’m watching hammer house of horrors.
At this very moment I can hear my heart thudding in my chest at the very thought of Swinney remaining on TV with Forbes sniffing from behind like hoping to please her master so she doesn’t full out of favor, How the mighty have fallen from grace.
“the mess its in now well that belongs to Sturgeon and Sturgeon alone”
Delusion writ large.
It’s like a peculiarly Scottish version of the “Great Man” theory of history. That theory claims that a small number of talented and driven individuals (the Great Men) are responsible for most of human history, with all the millions of the rest of us reduced to playing insignificant parts.
Here in Scotland, plenty seem determined to cling onto the Scottish “Mediocre Woman” variant of the theory, where a woman with no discernable talents, achievements, charisma or eloquence, single-handedly forced her millions of adulatory followers, her political party and the entire Independence movement over a clearly signposted cliff.
Until the people who slavishly hung on her every word for so long fess up to their part in the overall responsibility for this car crash, Indy will continue to go nowhere.
“Inability To Learn“….
In a colonial society this phenomenon or inability and/or unwillingness of the native to critically analyse reality, is closely related to the well established colonial mindset theory. Although you are not quite there, you do appear to be getting ever closer to appreciating our colonial reality, Rev, which is of course a function of colonialism. In other words if colonialism did not exist then neither would a colonial mindset.
An independent Scotland could be one of the wealthiest nations in the world yet those natives suffering from a colonial mindset (i.e. involving high levels of ‘Appropriated Racial Oppression’ or ‘Cringe’) may still vote against their own liberation, as we know to our cost:
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
Colonialism ‘is based on Psychology’ (Cesaire) and independence is decolonization (UN). Join the dots folks.
never forget
link to archive.ph
never forgive
never again
Interesting article, although rather ignorant of the history and significance of the Scots language which was the language of the Scottish parliament and court, and is arguably what gives us our national consciousness today, or the Irish origins of Gaelic:
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
Thank you for that link, Confused, it is fascinating and appalling.
There has been something strange about travelling up the A9, it has given me a disturbing feeling which brought to mind the US cavalry maurading and massacring across ‘America’ and driving the native people into reservations. The key is those forts, visible from the A9, they could rightfully be demolished.
British imperialism and colonialism is always shown as worse, the more is learned. The sickening fact is that analogous examples are being perpetrated, now. There are those who have steadfastly refused to acknowledge this as it is happening around the coast of the eastern Mediterranean and in the largest country of eastern europe and further afield in asia.
The Romanov dynasty and its successor created another disgusting empire and the current successor is nowdays conscripting people from its peripheral regions as ‘cannon fodder’ in an attempt to re-establish control of former territorial ‘possessions’ in eastern europe. ‘Two birds with one stone’ where peripheral natives are being wiped out in the “special military operation” to suppress independence in eastern europe, heavy casualties for everyone except Muscovites.
Could the British have done it better?
There appear to be some WoS contributors who purport to support independence for Scotland but who fail to acknowledge the rights to independence for others. That failure really does call into question their commitment to challenging the Westminster regime.
Around the eastern Med. the policy of destroying homes and food production, the theft of land and massacring of a native population is shown even by the BBC. The clearly evident nationalist struggle (at least post 1948) by that native population is effectively denied by at least one WoS commenter and in this case, also, it is not possible to take their statements seriously.
Whilst a broadly based movement for independence cannot make demands for political uniformity, it is crucial that the principles of self determination are clearly understood and there is not much scope for compromise on that. Alf B might be offering something useful, unpopular as it appears to be with some.
Where national self determination is involved, outright denial of the aspirations of others is a disasterous position to adopt, especially if UN or plebicitory processes could be involved. People tend to spot double standards and self contradiction, it is what we should expect of the imperialist mentality. Farage and co. (disguised imperialists) are winning votes in Scotland whereas Scots nationalists would be well served to be winning votes in England.
To be sure, someone else will already have suggested all this but I cannot remember where.
At the point where the political process fails to deliver liberation, a colonized people will usually create a national liberation organisation. This reflects a better understanding of their colonial reality.
link to liberation.scot
The right to self-determination independence is decolonization. Ergo, one must first be colonized in order to seek liberation.
However, as Fanon noted, the main weakness of the dominant national party elite in which the people have placed their faith is that ‘they have never undertaken a reasoned study of colonial society’.
Hence ‘the peoples understanding remains rudimentary’ as does that of the political elite, the latter becoming ever more ‘neutral’ on independence, unwilling to move forward, suffering from a kind of ‘petrifaction’; it leaves the matter of independence ‘to a few worthless slogans’ (‘hope’) and ‘to future events’.
An oppressed people have to somehow be brought into this discussion, which is what Salvo has been doing, to understand their reality and help contribute to finding the only remedy for the colonial condition, which is liberation and self-recovery of the people and culture.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
“Wanging on” again, Jay?
I thought that was frowned upon by our host, and therefore a grievous breach of good manners.
Just in case I am the target of your “denied by at least one WoS commenter” jibe, I think I need to ask you a few questions:
Are you denying the facts of the Roman histories and the archaeological digs?
Let alone the Holy Book of the Scottish culture and nation you would have us believe you care so much about?
The outcome?
link to andywightman.scot
caption competition time
Y’know, the thing about Sturgeon, she’s got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. When she comes up to ya, she doesn’t seem to be livin’ until she smiles at ya, and those black eyes roll over white, and then – aww, then you hear that terrible high-pitch screamin’.
Soulless
Are you sure about that, robert?
Seems rather strange she managed to become the “Nation’s Mammie” then. What did she do, hypnotise you all?
I’m thinking you’re a classic case of one of the ones who was fooled, transferring your anger and resentment back onto your perceived perpetrator, rather than admit to yourself you were taken for a mug.
Craving for the limelight
Good choice, Confused –
Something to brighten up miserable Scotland…
Psycho. Not you Gregor!
zerO One: pSy?-?fI: reAlity:
link to tinyurl.com
#everything
Seriously, you’re making this place unusable by flooding it with your methylated madness. Why do you think that you keep getting downvoted into oblivion? 🙄
Why can’t you think for yourself –
I’m gonna send your integrity into oblivion –
And you’ll be crying, begging for national forgiveness (promise)
Keep those attacks coming (bring all your wretches, and more:) –
And keep down-voting your destiny…
#ForeverLosers
Fingers up each others b@ms..
that’s more like it
to me, it reminds of sid james with babs windsor, leering
and now this – who knew, I’m shocked, shocked …
link to bbc.co.uk
Confused
Binned like a used snot rag.
Colin Beattie probably didn’t get a Xmas card from her either..
Leaves a trail of bodies in her wake doesn’t she..
Roddy Dunlop called it. Past the point of basic human rights. Either charge Peter Murrell and Nicola Sturgeon or don’t. COPFS have got this wrong. A minor fraud case taking so long is unsustainable. The Chief Constable gave my sister a gold award for 40 years service and also promised months ago a resolution to this case. What will it take for justice either way? Does she expect loyal service indefinitely?.
The SNP/SG is rotten to the cure and since she took over the SG has become sinister in the way it runs Scotland. We all believed including Salmond that Sturgeon was going to be the Messiah of Scottish Independence, she became the poison chalice with one goal of protect the Union’s Crack.
I have no doubt in my mind that our colonial masters has some sort of damming information on her and Swinney knows about it. God help these two if in later years when Independence is achieved, these two are both held to account, she might think she protected from whats she done but as soon as Scotland becomes Independence the English will sing, why wouldn’t they!
A branch member of the SNP retired (Skye) now was in regular contact with Forbes during the Salmond assassination and all she was concerned about was losing her job if she spoke against the party.
Ride of the Valkyrie (lesbian version) to replace Burns in Scottish Schools.
Neil Gray has been ordered by Dr Swinney to wear the Mantric Rechargeable Remote control Knicker vibrator. It is also fitted with a GPS tracking device.
Sturgeon just divorced her husband, apparently.
They were never married. A show for the carrot munchers.
perhapsnotconsummated
I wonder if the decree will take as long to work its way through the legal system as some of the other legal “business” they’re involved with 🙂
…on an Instagram post with a lavender coloured background!
Who gets custody of the campervan… Oh, scrub that.
Probably has an overly-complex diesel mill, Dan 😀
Officially de- bearded now then..
The circumstances were different, but Gibraltar held a referendum without the say-so of the UK or Spanish governments, and both nations were forced to recognise the result, at least de facto.
Sturgeon announces separating from Peter Murrell “with a heavy heart “. Aye Right !
In fairness if she has a “heart” it’s likely to be made of lead and is probably radioactive so the statement could be genuine.
I make a habit of avoiding wishing ill towards people – with her however I’m happy to make an exception.
It’s interesting that many of the headlines have Sturgeon as the ‘agent’ of the split – “Sturgeon ends marriage” – but Sturgeotti’s own statement says ‘we’ and ‘Peter and I’ etc.
No sign of Peter yet, so I hope he’s not ‘sleeping with the fishes’ and will provide his own statement as soon as possible. Just to let his millions of fans know he’s all right.
As for the future, Team Peter anyone? Anyone…
Peter will now be free to enjoy his best “van life”, touring the highways and byways in his beloved Niesmann+Bischoff iSmove.
Oh no, wait …
You know Robert, for a minute there, I thought you’d made a typo!
Instead of ‘van life’, I thought you meant to say ‘man life’ ….
Times (2025): Nicola Sturgeon to divorce Peter Murrell after more than 20 years:
link to archive.ph
#NoEscape #20YearsLol
Ruglonian
@Gillian_Emm:
“Yesterday Sturgeon got called out by Salmond’s widow for horrible insensitivity.
Today she announces she’s getting a divorce from Peter Murrell, while claiming she still cares for him. 15 months ago the marriage was great.
9 months ago he was charged with embezzlement. Ruthless.”:
link to x.com
Announcement: Nicola Sturgeon:
This means another chapter in her upcoming Faecalography, or maybe it will be covered in the addenda.
Perhaps the settlement was contingent upon Peter’s approval.
I believe we will have an Operation Branchform announcement very very soon – and it will not be good news for Peter.
I’m not at all sure thats going to be right.
She kicked him under the bus long ago. She’s now putting even more distance between them.
There’s a rumour doing the rounds that beavers chewed branchform into useless shreds and fragments of bark.
Fact! I just started it myself 🙂
True
Lets remember Peter holds all the secrets.
Is it correct that you can’t give evidence against a spouse?
I’m pretty sure that the Scottish government scrapped spousal privilege maybe ten or fifteen years ago – not really a change that I approve of, however I’m prepared to make an exception in this case 🙂
A spouse (or civil partner) is a competent witness in all circumstances… S.86 Criminal Justice & Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010… and is a compellable for the prosecution or a co-accused only where s/he is compellable at common law. If not a victim of alleged crime, spouse can decline to give evidence for prosecution but if s/he does elect to give evidence, cannot then subsequently refuse to answer questions which may incriminate the accused spouse/partner. The intention of compelling a spouse as a witness where they are the victim of the crime is to strengthen support to them in domestic violence and sexual crimes where a spouse may feel unable to incriminate their partner by giving evidence: “I was compelled by the court to give my evidence.”
I’ve been hearing that Sturgeon made her statement hours after Alex Salmond’s family released their statement.
“Oh look, over here everyone, a squirrel….”
The Odious Wee Nyaff strikes again.
The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (.ac.uk) offers various definitions of “nyaff”, but at no point refers to the Laws of the Brets and Scots, passed sometime under the reign of David 1st (1124 – 1153) This attempted to place the populace under strict hierarchical rank with the lowest, the neyfs being the equivalent to serfs. Neyfs and nyaffs, I claim finders fee.
Words don’t exist that would describe how I feel about Nicola Sturgeon.
Feel:
“To have a particular opinion about or attitude towards something:
I should be doing more to help her.”:
link to dictionary.cambridge.org
#Panic #SNPFrauds
Gnaf is another spelling for the word and of French origin
link to jstor.org
An attention junkiie.
It appears that the Murrell’s ‘marriage’ is over as of today. Pete hasn’t been thrown under the camper-van,surely?
My heart just skipped a beat when I heard the news that Sturgeon was ending the Union. And then I heard she was divorcing Peter.
Now whilst it isn’t the Union that I thought I initially heard was ending, the news however confirms that divorce is possible.
Both Votes SNP…the Sequel
Coming to a cheap billboard near you in 2026
Ticketmaster Desimond –
You are running the show…
#Freedom
Robin McAlpine: When does post-Sturgeon begin?
“I’ve yet to meet anyone who thinks Scottish politics is in a good state, and yet there is one woman who seems to be on a mission to seek out every opportunity to make things worse. I spent time last week wondering why, collectively, we allow Elon Musk to dictate our political priorities to us. I find myself this week wondering why we’re so content to tolerate the pitiful Sturgeon Show…”:
link to robinmcalpine.org
I wonder why she didn’t mention it in her in depth interview with the FT on 10 Jan?
Because Moira Salmond’s shot across her bows followed on from that FT interview and was all over today’s front pages, so her calculated response was to draw attention away from the fact she’d been twisting the knife yet again, and ensure that tomorrow’s front pages are all about little Queen Biohazard and her self inflicted woes.
She could’ve announced what the dogs in the street already knew at any time, or simply not at all, because who actually gives a rat’s ass?
Toxicity at her levels warrant a public warning from SEPA every time she steps out the house!
Wowie zowie, as Suzy Creamcheese would say (a Zappa reference), former MP for Glasgow South, Stewart McDonald certainly adheres to the adage that a dog can only serve one master. McDonald has gone all in as far as turning his ten day trip to the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars (Defeating Disinformation Workshop, Feb 2020) into a career defining moment.
McDonald has used his most recent article in the Spectator (he’s a regular columnist) to tangentially praise Donald Trump’s colonial ambitions regarding Greenland. It’s all necessary apparently to combat the existential threat from China. The evil machinations of the People’s Republic of China are McDonald’s number one fixation at the moment (closely followed by the Russian Federation).
He is a frequent critic of Starmer’s realpolitik stance regarding China (a position he shares with Vauxhall Cross as vociferously stated via their cut-outs such as ex MI6 boss, Sir Richard Dearlove in today’s The Times). Starmer ain’t cosying up to Beijing out of choice, the UK is bankrupt. McDonald has also criticised Angus Robertson’s trips to Beijing (a bold move as his éminence grise will presumably have a substantial say in who gets to be an SNP, Holyrood candidate).
McDonald has set up a one man consultancy business (Regent Park Strategies). I would laud him for his entrepreneurship, but I suspect his client list pre-exists and he is effectively only following orders. Endorsements on the Website for RPS include:
McDonald claims (disingenuously) to be a major player in the formation of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, formed in 2020 (after McDonald returned from the WWCfIS). The I-PAoC is understood to be mainly financed by the Americans, but is headed up in London (the Washington branch is headed up by Marco Rubio).
McDonald sits on the Board of the John Smith Centre (he usurped the SNP position from the extremely short tenure of Alison Thewliss). I don’t blame McDonald for trying to make the most of his relatively brief stint in servitude to the Anglo/American Security State while he was an MP. After nine years of becoming accustomed to £90k p/a plus expenses, the prospect of returning to his pre-political career as a holiday rep couldn’t be overly attractive.
I hate to see a fine man denigrated. Surely his substantial professional experience as a holiday rep makes him an expert in all things foreign – a boon to his sponsors.
As he says on his Regents Park Strategies Website:
“He aims to use his skills, unique insight and experience to help his clients navigate today’s increasingly complex world and achieve success”
‘Hey Stu, any public lavvies near here?’
‘Well dear client, in the increasingly complex world of public lavvies, Youz’ll need to tell me in which of the now known 22 genders youz identify, soaz I can help youz navigate to the nearest correct convenience’ ‘If you iz a man just use the wumens wan’
So Sturgeon has dumped Peter Murrell. How very convenient, The fool is to take the fall for everything that has gone before so she can claim she is whiter than white. It won’t work but it does remind people that Sturgeon will sacrifice anyone she consider to be threat – even the poor mug who married her.
“You know you’re leaving, Branchforms well over due
For far too long I’ve had no schemes for you to do
Goodbye pleading eyes, I watched your hire crane
Set up by light of the moon
And what relief, at last, to walk away alone
I’ve no regrets
I’ve covered my tracks
You’re gone at last
Anyway you’d only cry again
Plead and lie again
The polycules trying to turn my nights to day
Strange faces, Vals arse, in my face
To try and keep your ghost away,
Now just beyond Branchform
And just behind my walking away scot free
It just feels so great giggling when I’m alone!
I’ve no regrets
I covered my tracks
You took the drop
One less loose end, but
Given time; I’ll try it all again
Do it all again!!”
Love it, Young Lochinvar
Keep those tracks coming…
Ireland’s revenues and spending in 2024.
Look what a plucky wee country can do.
In total, tax receipts were up by 23% to €108 Billion with other sources of income bringing total revenue up to €129.2 billion (+19%) while total government expenditure was up 8.5% to €116.5 Billion thus yielding the aforementioned surplus of €12.8 Billion. This surplus was in addition to the €4 Billion transferred to the Future Ireland Fund as a hedge against increased costs in the future.
Yes Sam, Scotland with a similar population but with far more resources than Ireland is forced to make do with a colonial ‘grant’ less than half Ireland’s public expenditure, i.e. £43 billion.
Our GDP-per-capita is also less than half Ireland’s. We have all the symptoms of a plundered pathological colonial society, even with a co-opted national party elite as part of the racket:
link to cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com
Jim Ferguson
@JimFergusonUK:
“Keir Starmer has been dealt a crushing blow: Trump has not invited him to his inauguration on January 20th.
This glaring snub signals a dire risk to Starmer’s future as he becomes deeply unpopular in Britain and alienates our closest ally, President Trump…”:
link to x.com
O/T, but on the Branchform delay …
Could it be that the police haven’t found any serious criminality (no money going into someone’s pocket), but just a trail of sleazy cover-ups – £600,000 mis-spent, but spent on SNP business, a campervan bought to get some money off the books quickly, with an intention to re-sell soon, and the like?