The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Let’s go round again

Posted on November 30, 2022 by

Left: February 2020. Right: November 2022.

Or possibly the other way round, we’re not sure. All we know is that we’re always surging upwards and forwards but somehow never actually getting anywhere.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

152 to “Let’s go round again”

  1. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    #SurgeLikeSturge … building support for returning Scotland to self-governing status.

    (14 secs)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN5KIUNfYGA

  2. sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    Dear oh dear oh dear…

  3. Rab Davis
    Ignored
    says:

    Did we not hit 52% in 2014, just before the vote in IndyRef1?

  4. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    Hmm, firstly I’m allergic to cats… so Dan, your you tube vid made me laugh out loud.

    Secondly, the 2020 opinion Polls showing support for Nikla’s version of Indy (but never quite getting to the ‘gold standard’ 60%) came at exactly the moment when she most needed the support conference coming up/ a danger of a VONC… and for the British Establishment to get Brexit over the line.

    Very, very interesting to see a replay now.

    Specially in view of Sir Curtice’s recent interviews this last week.

    He was a Brit Nat passionately arguing with an English audience, that it was not the amount of money spent in Scotland, but that the people in Scotland got no say in how it was spent.

    He was trying to wake them up, and in doing so, he was actually arguing the case for Indy.

    A different planet from the usual script of ‘who cares what the whinging Scots are going on about now’.

    I wonder what polling he’s been privy to, to so change his tune now.

    Meanwhile, in an Indy Scotland, we can put the heating on.

  5. Christopher Pike
    Ignored
    says:

    This latest poll shows an increased support for Labour in Scotland and a decrease in support for the SNP. Hardly surprising when you consider that a large chunk of the 50% who support independence are more interested in getting rid of the Tories than actually achieving independence.

  6. Astonished
    Ignored
    says:

    Dan – made me laugh.

    Do you think ‘the national’ are trying to quell dissent with their ‘Look it’s all going splendidly for us’ type headline ?

    Things must be bad for Sturgeon; headless, clueless and getting heckled. I think she’ll try and throw Robison under a bus, not a bad thing in itself, but I doubt anything can save her.

    She has got to go.

  7. Ross
    Ignored
    says:

    Can we at least wait until the SNP backtracks from this current plan before decrying it? This time is different as the election will happen come what may. And crucially..cynically..it is an all or nothing for Nicola. She offers Indy to the people, take it or she resigns.

  8. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeons fanzine needs a bit of razzle dazzle to detract from the wheels coming off her GRA tour bus.

    Oh lookie everyone – we have another surge.

    Zzzzzz

  9. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    There he goes again, they’ll say, selectively referring to actual events and reality…

  10. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Oops!

    Ross, did you catch Shauny boy today?

    //youtu.be/-alIKSTtt1Q

  11. Cringe
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve seen 3 twitter posts by the sheep in 5 minutes posting the National page, total lack of awareness.

  12. Rab Davis
    Ignored
    says:

    And if you even dare try to remind any of the Sturgeon flock of the error of their ways,,, they accuse you of being a raving, red white and blue Yoon.

    There is just no talking to them,,, they are not for listening.

  13. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    Another couple of front page lies from the sturgeon fantasy fanzine that can be added to the ever growing compendium of lies illustrated in colour

    By fuck the national must really be benefiting from sturgeons gift of £9 million to the poor meedja , tell us how much you got national for us to assess the current price of honesty and integrity

  14. PacMan
    Ignored
    says:

    The National should have a name change to reflect it’s content. Maybe Jackanory would be more suitable as it’s title?

  15. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    There are reasons why this charlatan FM still has a job and isn’t in jail.

    The National is one of those reasons.

    I’m also deeply suspicious that the National pretty much ignores the profundity of SALVO and Liberation.Scot Why is support for Independence so selective?

    It’s nice to have friends, but nicer to have friends you can trust.

    Off Topic… but on a similar theme of things not being what they seem…

    https://reduxx.info/jk-rowling-attacked-on-twitter-after-calling-out-account-of-convicted-child-murderer/

    I don’t normally highlight this Trans stuff, because frankly I resent it stealing the oxygen of Scottish Independence, but it seems current, JK’s tweet was 29th, and the Reduxx piece seems illustrative of trans methods, threat, intimidation, false identities, doctored pics, wilful distortion…

    https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1597611298728337408?cxt=HHwWgIDT3d_A7assAAAA

    Let me qualify, I could be a fool rushing in where angels fear to tread, I don’t know the first thing about Reduxx, so we’ve gotta be cautious of their intent and possible bias in their interests, but on first passing, they appear legit, and acknowledge themselves as pro-women, pro-child safeguarding. Draw your own conclusions. I didn’t archive the link deliberately.

    Sometimes you gotta pinch yourself that you’re not just having a bad dream. This whole self-ID bullshit seems such a weird and bizarre choice of Hill for Sturgeon and her weirdos to die on.

    Sturgeon talks about free speech at a Zero Tolerance event which banned the mention of single sex safe places, and kicked out Sturgeon’s somewhat well informed heckler. She’s no stranger to bare faced hypocrisy of course, but at some point even the most craven, fickle, stereotype crooked politician has to realise they’ve properly fkd themselves and it’s all going wrong…

    Same could be said for a newspaper…

    It seems irony is out to get them both…

    (And no, I didn’t mean that irony, but if the cap fits…Lol).

  16. Heaver
    Ignored
    says:

    I too would like to know which Scottish rags got paid how much and when by sturgeon.

    From memory it was £3 million at the start of the pandemic (coincidentally same time as the Alex Salmond trial), has there been more since?

  17. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Taking that 52% in February 2020, it really angers me beyond description at what that percentage could be at right now if the movement wasn’t splintered. If Sturgeon had actually acted in Scotland’s best interests instead of procrastinating, hiding and conspiring with Stonewall and “The Scottish Green Party”. And had she not bought into the attempted framing of Alex Salmond.

    Mind you, had she acted in Scotland’s best interests we would be almost through the full process of taking back our right to self-determination. We would be certainly operating as an independent country already while remaining deals were being negotiated.
    ________

    Cringe says on 1 December 2022 at 12:12 am
    “I’ve seen 3 twitter posts by the sheep in 5 minutes posting the National page, total lack of awareness.”

    Sorry to say but i disagree strongly, Cringe. Absolutely nothing to do with a “lack of awareness”. As far as i’m concerned it is blatant willful ignorance. “The sheep”, as you so correctly refer to them, are all more interested in self-service and as such will promote and do anything to please skank Sturgeon.

    I don’t believe for a minute that any of them are not capable of knowing what’s going on. And if we ever manage to see the end of Queen Skank’s reign, they will all fall in line behind the next appointee who will be every bit as useless as Queen Skank is.

  18. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    The problem is, we have a supposedly pro independence first minister who point blank refuses to listen to anybody, refuses to take ANY advice, and simply WILL NOT do a damn thing to achieve indeoendence.

    There is right now a wide open goal, as their was around brexit, yet Sturgeon sits back and dithers yet again, kicking the can further down the road. I swear we will get to the 2024 election, and she will yet again tell the SNP mugs that ‘we need a fresh mandate’ before making definitive steps towards indyref, once re-elected (aye, right!). She simply does not have the political guile or indeed desire to go for independence.

    We will sit forever waiting for Sturgeon, who seemingly is genuinely waiting for Westminster to turn around and say, ‘alright Nicola, her you go, have your referendum and independence can be yours and we won’t try to stop it’.

    I mean just how politically naive is she????

    Anyway, the SNP are now finished in my eyes. With two exceptions, the whole lot of them don’t give a flying **** about Scotland or independence. It is all just about their careers and precious incomes.

    There is one leader in Scotland who has shown over the years, that he is deadly serious about independence, and that is Alex Salmond. Stop the dithering and join the ALBA party, and sign their St. Andrew’s day declaration too.

    But here’s the real killer with the SNP. Sturgeon’s response to the pretendy English ‘supreme’ court verdict was the final test, and she has failed miserably. Even if they looked for one second serious about independence, I simply would not trust Sturgeon and her wee cosy cabal to do it. Sturgeon has quite simply lost the trust of the independence movement, and she will never get it back. She really should go.

    https://www.albaparty.org/the_st_andrews_day_declaration

    https://www.albaparty.org/

  19. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    “Nicola Sturgeon’s mandarin caught boasting that his job is to break up UK” https://archive.ph/IBhe5#selection-1329.0-1329.73

    Folks, have a read and see the “pedigree” behind the main character in this articles story. He goes all the way back to Donald Dewar. And we’re supposed to believe the spin here? Deflection or what? And from what? Supreme Courts imprisonment of Scotland? The Supreme Court overreaching their boundaries? Both?

  20. No Idea
    Ignored
    says:

    Interesting take from a young female middle class halfwit. These manhater zealots spew nothing but sub-collegiate dogma, have zero idea how the real world works, and proliferate in throwing their sniffy, gossipy, brain-damaged views around on the net. Any clown who uses the word ‘patriarchy,’ especially in talking about an event featuring the FEMALE head of country, instantly alerts you as to how anything they say will be utter shite. The usual.

    https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23161392.nicola-sturgeons-speech-cut-short-blatant-distraction/

  21. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Is it significant that the older page has some wee, gurning imp popping up at the bottom, and the newer one hasn’t? We can but hope.

    Maybes the wee, gurning imp started the slide in support last time around?

  22. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    These big support for independence National headlines seem to pop up when NS is under pressure. She must be feeling the heat again. Let’s turn up the burner a wee bit more and see what happens. No Brexit, no Covid, no Putin, no more excuses. No more easing off and letting em get away with it. Keep those burners on, let em feel he heat.

  23. Karen
    Ignored
    says:

    In The Times today – indy support up 5 points, SNP support down 4 points.

  24. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Scott says on 1 December 2022 at 1:17 am:

    “During the ‘John Nicholson’ debate in HoC, David Davis spoke to a speaker of “this place” from the reign of Charles I which predates the union, and not a single Scottish MP challenged that remark. “this place” didn’t exist then, but it proves that English MPs think it was business as usual and a continuation of the English Parliament.”

    I obviously wouldn’t expect Scottish Unionists to speak up but it’s further confirmation those representing the SNP at Westminster are nowhere near as educated on politics & history as Salmond is. Couldn’t see him letting that one slide. Do you know if there were any Alba Party representatives present, Scott?

  25. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    https://archive.ph/HteBD
    ‘Avoiding debate on gender bill is authoritarian’

    Didn’t she/her say everything is going splendidly in other countries?

    They can’t debate because they have no answers hence reason for charity sending out email saying:

    ‘We wish to create a safe and supported environment for our guests and ask you to support us in this aim by refraining from discussions of the definition of a woman and single sex spaces in relation to the gender recognition act.’

    https://archive.ph/ftEjs

    ‘Is Nicola Sturgeon now guilty of ‘transphobia’?’

    Very good article.

    for the moment and whether Sturgeon likes it or not, this is the hot-ticket women’s issue in Scotland. I say women’s issue but, really, it’s not just a women’s issue. It is, in the end, a choice between those who wish to inhabit a reality-based world and those who insist truth is an endlessly moveable, malleable, feast. . Alex Massie

  26. Johnny
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s never acknowledged that these “surges” back to previously seen levels of support must have been preceded by a “slump”.

    In truth, of course, it’s really a symptom of “not much movement or achievement overall”, even if there’s some churn in different categories (eg some remainers moving towards supper for independence and some leavers away from it since 2014).

    Note that I am personally going to cease referring to “Yessers” since it refers to a referendum (and a question framing) that we are not now ever going to have and we do not know – if we actually get a plebiscite election – how it will be framed exactly in future.

  27. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Karen says on 1 December 2022 at 8:08 am: “In The Times today – indy support up 5 points, SNP support down 4 points.”

    I think that was out yesterday, Karen, and i think the “5 points” thing is in comparison to a poll held by the same company in September 2021. Looks like an attempt by The Times to draw folk in and start a “Free Trial” (pre-subscription) to their online output. We’ve had better figures than the 49% they’re pushing. I’m more inclined to believe it’s over the 50%. But who knows?

  28. Alan Austin
    Ignored
    says:

    As a Unionist I belive the National is owned by the Glasgow Herald. The Herald owners play both sides but with the National circulation barely reaching 5 figures is it really relevant??? I find Wings Over Scotland has much better quality journalism than any of the Scottish press papers.

  29. Rab Davis
    Ignored
    says:

    PacMan 3.55am

    You say that the National should be renamed Jackanory,,,

    Surely the National should be renamed “Jockanory”.

  30. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks says:1 December, 2022 at 5:10 am

    On the one hand J K Rowling perhaps misgendered somebody who has served their sentence …

    On the other hand, the ex-perp was convicted for the torture and murder of a 13 YO kid.

    We all have to make our own minds up about who is the real victim here.

    As you write, for the vast majority of decent people, it’s a no-brainer.

    It’s the tiny minority of those finding fault the other way, and the frankly terrifying power of that tiny tail to wag the massive dog, that defies comprehension.

  31. joe k
    Ignored
    says:

    The Bute House Beano (incorporating The Dreghorn Dandy).

  32. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Even for SNP voters independence is not priority, the UK political play area of the economy and NHS dominates.
    Independence is an existential matter from which all else «flows».
    Bawbees and GPs it is then.
    Independence, for its own sake? …haud on, haud on….
    Plainly something is awry in the kingdom.
    Question: What does it mean to be a free and sovereign people?
    Is that a trick question?

  33. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    No Idea says:
    1 December, 2022 at 7:46 am

    Interesting take from a young female middle class halfwit. These manhater zealots spew nothing but sub-collegiate dogma, have zero idea how the real world works, and proliferate in throwing their sniffy, gossipy, brain-damaged views around on the net. Any clown who uses the word ‘patriarchy,’ especially in talking about an event featuring the FEMALE head of country, instantly alerts you as to how anything they say will be utter shite. The usual.

    https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23161392.nicola-sturgeons-speech-cut-short-blatant-distraction/

    Your link if useless! That article is behind a paywall.

    The hot topic at the moment is ‘womanhating’ by the female head of the country and presumably the writer of this article who objects to the Sturgeon’s speech being cut short by a ‘woman’

    Who is the writer? Any chance she was at the ‘Zero Tolerance’ meeting wearing a white jumper.

  34. Frank Gillougley
    Ignored
    says:

    The SNPs strategy of a mathematical ever-reducing infinity. Does anyone stop and think, haud on we’ll aw be dead? Sorry, now is not the time.

  35. Ricky
    Ignored
    says:

    Support for independence could be at 99% and it wouldn’t mean a jot of a difference.

    No commitment, means no independence.

  36. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @No Idea says:1 December, 2022 at 7:46 am

    anything they say will be utter shite

    I would add there is something deeply and disturbingly ignorant and wrong with any public figure willing to stand at and be photographed at a lectern with a prominent letter “Z” on it.

    And that’s before I even start on the oxymoron that is “Zero Tolerance”.

    Zero Tolerance stands for the message that “dissent, or alternative views, will be eliminated”.

    Humanity has been here before. It never ends well.

  37. Mike d
    Ignored
    says:

    If any other country in the world had been shafted like us Scots, brexit, austerity, foodbanks, fuel, food and energy poverty, etc,etc, there would be riots in the streets (see France). Scots eh, wha’s like us.

  38. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Mike d says:
    1 December, 2022 at 9:01 am

    If any other country in the world had been shafted like us Scots, brexit, austerity, foodbanks, fuel, food and energy poverty, etc,etc, there would be riots in the streets (see France). Scots eh, wha’s like us.

    Other people with a colonial mindset?

    Other people who believe they are too wee, too poor, too stupid.

    I have a question for you Mike:

    ‘Zero Tolerance is a Scottish charity working to end men’s violence against women by tackling its root cause: gender inequality.’

    How can you discuss ‘ending men’s violence against women’ if there is no definition of a woman?

  39. Dorothy Devine
    Ignored
    says:

    Dan , thanks for the delightful video – I like my garden birds and dogs are very much my preference.

    John , you are right, it really is terrifying that that tiny minority is so loud and far reaching.

    Stoker , anything in the Telegraph can be taken with a large pinch of condiment.

  40. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    The National is nothing more than a compendium of Bedtime Stories , designed to ease Fairy God(awful)mother Sturgeon’s innocent flock into blissful repose .

    Linguistic * CALPOL * for the weans . Laudanumb ( sic ) for the ( undiscerning ) adult reader ; in short ….part of the problem

    Y’d think even a modicum of self-awareness n respect for people’s intelligence would prevent it having the gall to print another front page * splash * like the above . The editorial staff must have a really , REALLY low opinion of their readership . Maybe that’s why it’s been in continuous decline these last few years . Insult people’s intelligence long enough n – sooner of later – they’ll notice

    Anyway , I’m away to SURGE doon the stair , SOAR oot the door ( might even SLAM it ) n DEMAND the crows in ma gerdin BE KIND to the their smaller avian kin n stoap eating aw the breed .

  41. scozzie
    Ignored
    says:

    I love seeing your collection of thumbnail front pages on the WOS site, a constant reminder of the ‘we’re taking the piss out of you plebs’. FFS the sub-editors can’t even be bothered coming up with catchy new titles most of the time, rinse and repeat!

    Not sure if I missed the chatter here on the Zero Tolerance event with she/her. But jeez, the charity sector have exposed themselves for all to see (all captured on video) as completely institutionally captured (which we all knew anyway). Safeguarding in the bin, men’s rights is the new hallowed ground. What hope have vulnerable women got if even the violence against women charities are willing to throw them under the bus? Disgusting.

  42. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Maybe we should wait and see what happens to the polling when SALVO and Liberation.Scot gets a higher profile, takes it’s message to the people with a push / campaign to get the public backing Liberation en masse, and giving people a tangible route to full on Independence minus all the SNP’s dithering and prevarication.

    SALVO is building something that feels like it will be difficult to stop, because it isn’t wedded to the UK’s rancid system, nor hostage to Sturgeon’s obsequious incompetence, but is rooting itself in International Law and various Constitutional records and precedents.

    SALVO’s “weakness” isn’t a weakness at all but progress requires a degree of confidence and motivation amongst the people. I think that will come. I honestly believe it. We saw in 2014 how infectious self belief can be.

    The essence of Common Good as a feature of pre-Union Scottish society will resonate I think with a great many people. For example it used to be against the law in Scotland to profit from shortages or misfortune, and once the misery of energy price hikes in energy rich Scotland filter through, then I think we’ll be in business.

    The polls would probably be much rosier already if Sturgeon had delivered a Scottish Energy Company. What could be worse than first promising one, failing to deliver, and being hit by a manufactured energy crisis.

    This easy ride Sturgeon is getting from the media is really beginning to look quite sinister. Her defying gravity is almost as unscientific as her Trangender beliefs. Perhaps there’s a lesson here, about who else cannot be trusted.

  43. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry, I meant to add, SALVO might indeed swing the polling, with the delicious irony the polls are only of incidental importance.

  44. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    A couple of articles from last few days to read with your morning cuppa. These may go some way to explain the lack of significant movement of folk wanting Scotland to return to self-governing status.

    http://robinmcalpine.org/reorientate-part-one-when-we-were-giants/

    http://robinmcalpine.org/reorientate-part-2-street-party-in-a-blind-alley/

    It was certainly my experience that the local SNP Party would not really work with or support local YES groups on various campaigning initiatives.
    However the YES groups nationally were certainly communicating and working together to develop and strengthen campaigning techniques.

    But YES groups trying to sustain their efforts and finances to doggedly continue on as the Indy can keeps getting kicked down the road has been very hard, and especially with the internal splits in some groups that developed due to concerns with the SNP’s antics on various matters.

  45. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    scozzie says: at 9:28 am

    I love seeing your collection of thumbnail front pages on the WOS site, a constant reminder of the ‘we’re taking the piss out of you plebs’. FFS the sub-editors can’t even be bothered coming up with catchy new titles most of the time, rinse and repeat!

    C’mon scozzie, be fair, it must have taken a huge amount of time and artistic endeavor to use a different font and hue of blue for the 52!

  46. frank gillougley
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Let’s go round again’

    Come to think about it, the ancient Greeks thought of time as being circular and not linear. Look at what happened to them…

  47. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Mike d says:
    If any other country in the world had been shafted like us Scots, brexit, austerity, foodbanks, fuel, food and energy poverty, etc,etc, there would be riots in the streets (see France). Scots eh, wha’s like us.

    Sadly Mike Scots are one of the most ‘domesticated’ and ‘tamed’ people currently living on Planet Earth.

    Which is both ironic and very sad as we cling to this wild-man, Braveheart image of ourselves (or at least some do). Could not be further from the truth these days.

    Remember it was the English who rioted over the poll tax a year after it was implemented riot-free in Scotland. We are pussies now and have been for decades.

    To be fair the best of Scots, the ones with fight and initiative and courage could and can see the hopelessness of the situation (going back hundreds of years) and they left on boats (willingly and unwillingly) for the new world, NZ/OZ, or wherever, generation after generation…

    Meaning we have had ‘natural deselection’ in Scotland for so long that what remains is a highly distilled submissive, soft, pillow-like nation of political weaklings.

  48. fillofficer
    Ignored
    says:

    the poll i really want to see is the one GOVE commissioned, then refused to publish, despite being ordered to by the courts.
    what could it possibly reveal
    60/40 min, eh

  49. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    I stopped watching parliament TV so I missed this but this shows Neale Hanvey is on the ball at least with regards the Supreme courts absurdity..

    Anyone know what happened? Can Wings publish this too?

    https://www.barrheadboy.com/there-must-be-no-limits-placed-on-scotlands-right-to-independence-says-hanvey-in-commons-debate/

  50. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon’s fanzine giving it large with the “Jam tomorrow” headlines, again…

    Total and utter [insert random expletive]!

  51. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Dan . Good shout linking those R McA recent articles .

    Anyone SERIOUSLY interested in Independence , ways it might best be realised and – crucially – the utter disaster the Sturgeon/SNP Gov are making of , well , everything , pursuit of our goal specifically , should read them . And all his previous articles .

    He’s not always right ( who is ? ) and can be a bit , erm ….* prescriptive * at times ..eg ..do X+Y n Z will follow -automatically : but there’s no doubt he’s one of the best thinkers , observers n writers on Independence/Politics Scotland has ever produced . That’s why Nu SNP effectively banished him to the margins . That he continues producing excellent work is a great credit to his tenacity and undiminished commitment to the cause of Scottish Independence .

    Re that ” Zero ” blah blah Conference incident ……Sturgeon’s post-heckle response is classic hypocrisy

    After applying the Denton’s stealth-mode tactic ( minimise public awareness , avoid – at all cost , scrutiny and genuine public opinion ) for years around the Trans/Self ID * issue * , inc mock * Consultation * which consisted mostly of asking entities already known to be in agreement , if they agree ! when a situation outwith her control arose – being confronted with a live , very vocal opponent – she initially freezes , then – the sheer brass neck – witters about the importance of hearing contrary opinion ! Something she has emphatically refused to do . On any subject .

    It’s not WM Gov resistance that’s ” melting like snaw aff a dyke ” . It’s Sturgeon’s credibility

  52. Cenchos
    Ignored
    says:

    Maybe The National can now proffer an explanation as to why there was such a severe decline from 52% in Feb 2020 that it has taken a ‘surge’ to get it back up to 52 now.

  53. Vivian O’Blivion
    Ignored
    says:

    The Redfield & Wilton poll being heralded as a game changer by McPrävda includes 16 and 17 year olds. It’s the Holyrood franchise stoopid and Sturgeon is dead set on using Westminster as the vehicle for a plebiscite.

  54. tobydog
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruby at 8.43

    Open https://archive.ph/
    then paste the link in to see the archived article.

  55. scozzie
    Ignored
    says:

    Dan @ 9:59am
    Aye, and they probably all agonised round the newsdesk if the colour and font would be considered transphobic too!!!!
    Feckers!

  56. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    It was St Andrews day & St Andrew was a trans doncha know?

  57. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s that ‘one leg shorter than the other’ syndrome kicking in again.
    Someone on the level desperately needed to move things forward.

  58. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    As polling Groundhog Day comes round once again with the talismanic “indy at 52%!” shockeroonie, it might be worth considering where the extra % points for indy that might actually help deliver the desired outcome are going to come from?

    It’s a racing certainty that there are folk out there doing private polling about which demographics and sub groups are most open to switching from No to Yes, and which voters may have flipped the other way.

    It may come as an unpleasant truth to some in here, but the obsession with constitutional minutiae and the Kremlinology of the SNPs internal power games leaves most folk “outside the bubble” cold. Similarly hobby horse issues which have huge meaning for some folk, whether GRA, the war and responses to it, why there isn’t more Scottish football on telly, or whatever other item gets their dander up don’t necessarily resonate with the electorate as a whole.

    The fact the headline number for indy hasn’t budged much outside margin of error numbers is telling. It strongly suggests the big questions still haven’t been answered. Whether the movement in its current state is capable of providing those answers and persuading enough undecided voters to switch is only one part of the equation. The other has to be how that increased % for Yes, once achieved, is turned in to the desired result.

    There’s little point demonstrating a majority in the polls if there’s no clear route to seeing independence actually declared at the end of a process enjoying clear majority support and the expectation the results will be recognised internationally.

  59. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks: Reduxx is usually accurate. The point must be that, contrary to the nonsense about “there has been no evidence anywhere that men use the gender tool, if you’ll pardon the pun, to do harm to women and children” or words to that effect (The National, two-page spread this week) there is a mountain of evidence to prove the exact opposite, and from all over the West where this stuff is embedded.

    I’m sorry that you find very genuine and real fears that women have a distraction from independence because these ‘trans’ warriors find independence the distraction – which is why you are not getting it. These people have infiltrated the SNP, all the other parties, except the Tories, or at least, not to the same extent, and independence has been sidelined by them in pursuit of their own agenda, aided by SNP MPs and MSPs. They are lodged in the police, in the civil service, local authorities, etc. – everywhere. The Rev has done articles about this very fact.

    The fight for independence and the fight against the ‘trans’ takeover of women’s spaces and rights is, in many ways, the same fight because it is the same people’s influence we are fighting against. Independence would have derailed the GRA Reform Bill. By 2017, these people were entrenched in the SNP. The siren song they sing about the Bill being just an extension of a pre existing right under the 2004 GRA is utter rubbish because the Bill, if enacted, will make self-ID the law, and enable ALL female rights to be taken over by men in frocks and lippy because they will be women IN LAW. I don’t believe that too many people really understand what that will mean. Anyone who actually believes that these people have any love for the SNP, for Holyrood or for Scotland as a whole, are sadly deluded – like the people they think are benign – because they care only about their agenda, and independence stands four-square in the way of that agenda, as do women. If you are an independista woman, you are doubly in the way. We will be fed carrots forever, if we let them get away with either self-ID because they intend to go much, much further, Breeks, believe me. The GRA Reform Bill is just the beginning. I’ve been trying to get that across for so long, and I’m tired.

  60. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Lets go round again…this time from The Average Shite Band.

    All im now hearing is a twist on StarTrekking but “Always going sideways cause we cant find eject”

  61. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    The Scottish Government aren’t very good at statistics. They botched the census. One in which I protested in as a believer of biology.

    They also didn’t ask the important questions in terms of Independence – how many people have immigrated having been born in England to Scotland.

    Britain no longer a Christian Country. It doesn’t bother me but the change in England is what is driving so many people to move to Scotland.

  62. Gregory Beekman
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon’s stabbing-in-the-back of Salmond put me off her.

    But here’s some points that may make her out not to be soooo bad:

    After we lost in 2014, there was nothing she could do except say indy was parked for a while.

    With Brexit, she did ask for a S30 but May told her now is not the time.

    I don’t believe for a second that May would have given Sturgeon a S30 order in return for getting May’s version of Brexit voted through the House of Commons. If May suggested that’s what she’d do, she’d be defenestrated before she could put the plan into action. We’ve seen with Liz Truss how ruthless the Tory party can be. So there’s no way Brexit was ever going to change Tory minds that Scotland could break up their precious Union – especially not when they’d just won it back from the EU (at least, that’s how they saw it).

    With indy support still oscillating above and below the 50% mark, there was nothing much she could use as leverage over Westminister. Wings even wrote an article showing the National was wrong: the Unionists in the last election got more than 50% of the popular vote. So Sturgeon really had nothing to use.

    This state of affairs still continues to this day.

    Indy support is still in the minority and I guess the next Westminster election will probably show it still is in the minority, though perhaps a little higher than 45%.

    Maybe we’ve reached the ceiling of indy support?

    As I say, I’m not exactly a fan of Sturgeon since the Salmond affair (I quit SNP and joined Alba) but I think she inherited a difficult position after the 2014 indy loss.

    Maybe the court case was just to show to everyone that Westminster holds all the power and she’s got no leverage until an actual majority of people in Scotland vote for indy?

  63. Maureen
    Ignored
    says:

    Scottish feminists hit back at UN gender recognition warning
    https://archive.ph/xw7Ij

  64. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Blackford gone!
    The games afoot!
    of is it?

  65. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    DAVID HANNAH.
    « Britain no longer a Christian Country.»
    A country without belief in anything.
    Islam is there to fill that gap.
    Do be careful. I was born in Iraq. Nuff said?

  66. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    Blackford gone? I thought the SNP high heid yins recently pulled out all the stops to protect him. Are the political tectonic plates starting to grumble?

  67. gregor
    Ignored
    says:

    BBC (01/12/2022): Ian Blackford to stand down as SNP leader at Westminster:

    “Ian Blackford is to stand down as leader of the SNP group at Westminster, it has been confirmed.

    Mr Blackford said he believed it was time for “fresh leadership” after five years in the role…”:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63821836

  68. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    The report of Blackford standing down says he’s accepted a new role “at the centre of the SNPs independence campaign”.

    Wait…..whit….there’s a campaign?

  69. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Blackford away but will take a big role in Independence Campaign..covering Business … thats that fucked then!

  70. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    tobydog says:
    1 December, 2022 at 10:54 am

    Ruby at 8.43

    Open https://archive.ph/
    then paste the link in to see the archived article.

    Thanks for the info tobydog. I’ll pass it on to ‘No Idea’
    You are kind although I wonder why you didn’t archive the link for me. 🙂

    TBH I am not all that interested in reading the article. I suspect it’s a press release from Sturgeon. Nasty woman interrupted she/her’s very important speech when she was categorically told not to ask what a woman was or even mention gender. She probably arrived wearing one of these banned scarves.

    I thought it was the job of the person posting the link to ensure it was archived so others could read it and weren’t contributing further to the Scottish MSM who already get paid by us dopey taxpayers to print Sturgeon’s press releases.

    I have archived a good few articles this week some this morning & I expect the same in return. It’s a bit annoying when you click on a link that goes nowhere.

  71. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    tobydog says:
    1 December, 2022 at 10:54 am

    Ruby at 8.43

    Open https://archive.ph/
    then paste the link in to see the archived article.

    I’ll also pass it onto ‘Mr Links’ aka Gregor

  72. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Blackford resigning that’s boring. We need more info.

    Any chance of a decent sex scandal.

    What about Blackford, Grady, & Patricia (come home & shag me)Gibson having a threesome?

    Blackford can be Rita, Grady Sue & Gibson Bob.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mShoL4DEWto

  73. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Lorna Campbell says:
    1 December, 2022 at 11:30 am

    I’m sorry that you find very genuine and real fears that women have a distraction from independence because these ‘trans’ warriors find independence the distraction –

    No, no, no, you totally miss my drift. I am absolutely 100% behind women in this, and I would do all I can to support them. I’d be happily wearing my own wee suffragette scarf, but for fear some women might feel it was patronising, but it’s worn in spirit.

    The unwelcome and unsolicited distraction to Scottish Independence is the whole GRA and Self ID nonsense becoming mainstream, and forcing feminists onto the defensive. The unwarranted attack on women’s rights and feminism is despicable, and of course it must be defeated.

    My point was that rational common sense alone should have been enough to see this Self-ID madness booted into the long grass.

    So very sensible is the feminism, and so very bat-shit crazy is the craziness of Self-ID, that having a battle about it is completely surreal; truly, I mean “pinch me I’m dreaming” surreal.

    I genuinely believe the Transgender juggernaut has exploited the public’s “You can’t be serious” disbelief and inertia, made a lot of opportunistic “headway”, and this dangerous “lull” has left women exposed to threats, intimidation and actual harm. That really, really doesn’t sit well anybody “normal”, male or female, and I’m pretty sure there’s a backlash coming. Dads have wives. Dads have daughters. Everybody has a Mum.

    Stay strong sisters. You’re not gonna lose this fight.

    Part of that backlash is going to be the Independence Community waking up to the fact the Trans-Taliban hijacked Scottish Independence as their mule of convenience, and without a care for it’s welfare, abused and mistreated the wee beast. The extent of it’s injuries have yet to be determined.

    A lot of people were very fond of that wee donkey.

  74. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s a multifaith society we live in and has been for all my life, the many different communities that make up the great Tartan of Scotland. As big Eck said.

    All I’m saying is that English people move north because of the familiarity in terms of culture and language after 300 years of Angicisation. White English Christians – if the media are to be believed are now in a minority in cities like Birmingham.

    The problem is the English moving north is they have an affinity to Britain as a nation, not Scotland. As Outlined in the Edinburgh University Study – The Scottish Question 6 months on.

    Not that we’ve got a referendum to vote in anymore anyway but the change in Scotland’s demographics – which the Scottish government failed to account for, as they can’t even record a census correctly withheld this information from Scottish people.

  75. dramfineday
    Ignored
    says:

    Headline – the Average White Band

    But the Corries had it covered too:

    Cauld winter was howlin’ o’er moor and o’er mountain
    Wild was the surge on the dark rolling polls,
    When I met about daybreak a bonnie young lassie,
    Wha asked me “do you believe this guff frae the National?”

    Joanna Cherry for HOC leader ( I wish) or will it be the McDonald mannie??

  76. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Which one was Blackford again?

  77. Bobbyp
    Ignored
    says:

    Mac 10:15am, yes sadly it seem so, on speaking to certain family members and friends,Scottish indy seems to be below the list of, i’m a celebrity, strictly, great british bake off, and other such mind numbing sh**e. My personal opinion

  78. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    So, the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian (Scotland won’t stand for it) Blackford is to stand down as leader, having helped dupe the indy masses for years.

    According to Radio Shortbread Blackford is taking up a roll to do with business and independence, will he be missed by us asking questions at PMQs, I think not. How do we sum up his time at Westminster, utterly ineffective is my view.

    Who will be the next SNP MP Westminster leader, and will he/she just continue down the same tired old route that takes nowhere.

  79. Viscount Ennui
    Ignored
    says:

    Republicofscotland says:
    1 December, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    “According to Radio Shortbread Blackford is taking up a roll to do with business and independence..”

    He was offered both the leadership of the Dutch mountain rescue service or commander of the Bolivian navy but felt that they were too onerous.

  80. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    In the comments is Ian Blackford, the departing SNP leader saying that Brexit will cost us.

    Sturgeon knew this also but did nothing.

    “Brexit added almost £6bn to UK food bills in the two years to the end of 2021, affecting poorest households the most. The cost from the EU shot up because of red tape, adding £210 to the average household food bills over 2020 and 2021. (London School of Economics)”

    https://twitter.com/Grouse_Beater/status/1598261872587051009?cxt=HHwWgsDQ2ZCtla4sAAAA

  81. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Maureen says:
    1 December, 2022 at 11:41 am

    Scottish feminists hit back at UN gender recognition warning
    https://archive.ph/xw7Ij

    Does anyone know what a ‘feminist’ is anymore?

    Is that them in the photo.

    Are all these so called ‘feminist’ organisations being paid for by the feminist in chief with your money?

  82. David Beveridge
    Ignored
    says:

    Republicofscotland @ 12:38 pm

    According to Radio Shortbread Blackford is taking up a roll to do with business and independence, will he be missed by us asking questions at PMQs, I think not.

    Certainly looks like he’s done that a few times since he’s been down there.

  83. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Blackford stepping aside a week after a Challenge was denied just sums up th old adage about a week being a long time in politics.

    I wonder if anyone asked “Doesnt he look tired?”

    If a total vacuous dud is elected head of MPs then we know the games totally gone..if not, then it might just get interesting..
    Doubtful but mibbee just mibbee

  84. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    Bye-bye Blackford, PM’s Questions won’t be the same. Thank God. Who’s next?

  85. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    Blackford singing in the dead of night

    Take these broken records and fuck right off .

    All your life , you were only waiting for the moment to say …

    ” ….To spend more time with my family ”

    Wonder what’s precipitated this ?

    Can someone with a soupcon more * gorm * be found to replace him ? ( wouldn’t be hard )

    If it’s someone like MacDonald or Smith or any of the Cabalists , we’ll know the prognosis is terminal . ( we kinda know that already , but it would be the equivalent of a grim-faced Consultant appearing )

  86. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @David Hannah

    It’s an issue that seems to generate a lot more heat than light. Whether the new census figures shed any light on the numbers remains to be seen.

    As discussions about the franchise over he past year or so on here have shown the scale of immigration from (chiefly) England and also to an extent the rest of the UK, is seen as a problem by those who want either to exclude all or some non-native born Scots from the franchise for future referendums.

    The Edinburgh University study post indyref1 suggested that 70% of RUK born voters voted No and 30% voted Yes, and that this cadre of voters was enough to turn a narrow Yes victory (52% vs 48%) amongst voters born in Scotland.

    Those opposed to enfranchising “New Scots” have a number of questions to answer though:

    1) We’re supposed to be encouraging immigration because we have a declining population. Who is going to pay the taxes and do the jobs we need done in future for an ageing and shrinking population if we discourage immigration by disenfranchising them?

    2) What impact would disenfranchising some random cadre of New Scots have on the votes and attitudes of native born Scots who support civic nationalism and oppose franchise restriction? How many of their votes is it worth losing?

    3) Isn’t it likely that the 70/30 split suggested by the Edinburgh University study can be changed, and may already have shifted particularly given brexit, the omnishambles of Tory rule recently and the prospect than an independent Scotland might actually be a safer bet now than staying in the union?

    4) Wouldn’t alternative means of offsetting the impact of New Scots votes being predominantly “No” votes be more easily (and less controversially) offset by increasing turnout/registration and ensuring more than 52% of native born Scots voted “Yes”? The Quebec referendums both had turnouts in the low 90%’s , whereas indyref1 was low 80%’s.

    5) What would the impact of any proposed franchise restrictions be on the appetite of the international community to recognise independence, and on Westminster’s appetite to negotiate an agreed process, particularly given the 2014 referendum franchise was similar to that used in the vast majority of other comparable self determination referendums since WW2?

    The questions above aren’t posed to be provocative by the way: they will all have to be addressed in the event the majority of the movement decides to go down the route of changing the 2014 franchise to something different.

  87. KT Lorimer
    Ignored
    says:

    @Andy Ellis

    How could it possibly be changed, I don’t understand why this keeps coming up it is totally counter productive – like all things that are illogical (e.g. self ID) it has the opposite effect to that which is intended.

  88. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @David Hannah says:1 December, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    Completely agree with your post.

    That’s why the recent shocker that 1.1 million people entered the UK last year aught to have been a seismic wake up call to the Indy movement.

    Not because of the usual dog whistle reasons. Simply because that will have resulted in a big surge in people moving north and into Scotland.

    But, because of the narrowly focused myopia of most on here, that statistic never even rippled the pond.

    Whereas, to me, it clearly signals that the window of time, during which it will still be possible to get an indigenous Scottish vote for Indy, will be closing quite soon.

  89. Viscount Ennui
    Ignored
    says:

    Inside info. Sensitive.
    Mainstream media now digging-in to John Swinney and serious allegations against him re his time as education minister. Allegations of bullying, breaching the ministerial code, and dishonesty.
    How do I know?
    Just spoken to the journalist concerned.
    There appears to have been a change in the wind.
    Whilst fellow indy supporters may regard this as bad news for the movement, toppling the dreadful duo could open-up new opportunities.

  90. Viscount Ennui
    Ignored
    says:

    John Main says:
    1 December, 2022 at 1:29 pm

    “Whereas, to me, it clearly signals that the window of time, during which it will still be possible to get an indigenous Scottish vote for Indy, will be closing quite soon.”

    I suspect that most migrants are indy supporters. Not the English. But everyone else.

  91. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks

    Independence was not hijacked as such but it’s certainly collateral damage as a result of the trans-insanity sweeping The West. The First Minister took one look at her “feminist to her fingertips” credentials and decided that all that nationalist stuff was far too Trumpian and totally toxic to her job prospects in the future. As a result, she embraced the US Democratic Party ideology, since they have all the money and would provide a warm welcome to their sister from Scotland promoting their white, privileged values. So, independence was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  92. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    A change in the wind?
    I agree, the unionist press support Sturgeon cos shes working for the union but they will bring her down when she is no longer useful.

    Perhaps they’re detecting the huge amount of anger at pushing through GRR.
    Perhaps internal polling is telling then there is a drop in support for her.

    Blackford stepping down will be part of this.

  93. Maureen
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruby says:
    Does anyone know what a ‘feminist’ is anymore?

    Maureen says: F*cked if I know!
    This article doesn’t favour Sturgeons stance.

    Earlier this month, Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women, claimed Scotland’s proposed changes to gender recognition law posed a global risk
    In a letter to the UK Government, she said the Scottish Government’s proposals to make it easier to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) would “potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a GRC and the rights associated with it”.

  94. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @KT Lorimer

    How could it possibly be changed, I don’t understand why this keeps coming up it is totally counter productive – like all things that are illogical (e.g. self ID) it has the opposite effect to that which is intended.

    I agree with you. I suspect – although I freely admit I have no actual proof and AFAIK there’s no polling on it – that the majority agrees with you and would largely echo Rev Stu’s Twitter demolition of the case for franchise restriction from last year.

    Those in favour of changing the 2014 franchise, who are well represented BTL here, tend to be supporters of the “Scotland as colony” narrative too. They are convinced that we’re being “swamped” by the votes of British nationalist incomers, chiefly English folk buying up relatively cheap property in rural areas it seems.

    They don’t accept the argument that it’s a counter productive strategy and could actually cost us more support than it gains, apart from the moral arguments which Rev Stu and others have also pointed out.

    I tend to agree that even if there isn’t a commonality of membership of those who believe in a-scientific woo woo like “TWAW”, there is very definitely a similarity in approach and significant overlap in those supporting franchise restriction and those promoting other forms of non-mainstream narratives in other areas like vaccine denial, responsibility for the current war, climate change.

    It’s been interesting and somewhat concerning over the past year to see parts of the movement out themselves as fringe nutters, particularly as the increase in support we need for a majority is only realistically going to come from mainstream “soft No” voters to whom such Trumpian narratives are likely to be about as welcome as a fart in a lift.

  95. Maureen
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruby says: Is that them in the photo.

    Maureen says: I see mainly men in that picture

  96. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Viscount Ennui says:1 December, 2022 at 1:33 pm

    I suspect that most migrants are indy supporters. Not the English. But everyone else.

    I am minded to grant your suspicions 100% dead cert accuracy.

    But so fucking what?

    Most migrants don’t come to Scotland. They settle in London or the Midlands.

    It’s the people they displace who come to Scotland. There are various reasons why they displace people, but let’s focus on the most pertinent one. When 1.1 million people arrive in a country in a year, yet that country builds hardly any new homes, the pressure on living space pushes up prices. Every year, tens of thousands of property owning southerners cash in their modest terraced house and move north to buy a stonking executive new build, half an acre of land, a split new SUV and still have 100K banked. And why not?

    Perhaps I failed to make all of this clear. Then again, I thought it bleeding obvious, TBH.

  97. Gregory Beekman
    Ignored
    says:

    Independence support hasn’t really changed since 2014.

    Back then, it oscillated up and down over the 50% line. It’s still the same today.

    Hence Sturgeon has done nothing – indy support has reached its ceiling.

  98. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Andy Ellis says:1 December, 2022 at 2:10 pm

    I have followed your consistent argument on the franchise for probably years now, and until quite recently, agreed with you.

    What has changed for me is the realisation that the political classes running the UK have decided to go for broke. There is no other way to interpret a 1.1 million immigration total for a single year.

    Or, to put it another way, you cannot deny that adding a million people a year fundamentally changes the nature of a population of circa 65 million. We can only guess at the proportionate change in Scotland’s population. It may be less as a percentage. It may be more. We don’t know.

    Bottom line though, the goalposts have been moved. The arguments need to be revisited.

    I maintain three things:

    1) Having got their immigration total to little or no pushback, the governing elites will treat this kind of numbers as the “new normal”.

    2) The ensuing spillover into Scotland, of reasonably well-off, propertied, older, indigenous Brits (not new arrivals to the UK), will accelerate.

    3) Thus, the naturally pro-Indy voting fraction of Scotland will decline.

  99. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    KT Lorimer says: at 1:26 pm

    How could it possibly be changed, I don’t understand why this keeps coming up it is totally counter productive – like all things that are illogical (e.g. self ID) it has the opposite effect to that which is intended.

    It could possibly be changed by adequate discussion and reaching an agreement which filtered out certain people from the franchise. We already use different franchises for different elections so exclusion of certain categories isn’t that unusual.

    How do you know know it would be counter-productive?
    Flip the situation. Someone just moves to a different country, they may barely understand the local language, culture, and have no real understanding of the complexities of the political situation or the respective Parties, nor how the voting systems work.
    They also have freedom of movement to leave said country if things don’t suit them, unlike the natives.
    Can you see why many of the long term citizens of that country might not agree with or even resent folk with no real knowledge of, or commitment to stay in their country come good or bad, having a say on the long term future of their country.
    It’s easy for folk to just say “convince more people”, but when some of the folk you speak to barely comprehend what you are explaining due to their limited language skills, and you’re up against the far reaching powerful influences of the MSM it is not a task that has a great success rate.

    It is easy for some to polarise this matter into good and bad to suit their agenda. I do understand the issue with Scotland’s ageing demographic and low birth rate, and also the principle that more younger folk living here for the long term would be advantageous.
    However, if some of these folk who arrive here are just transient residents who can leave whenever they wish, it is questionable if this is really the category of folk that genuinely have Scotland’s long term future as their main priority above their own self-interests.

    My local area has become like a retirement zone with less and less young folk living here that are able to keep things like Community Councils operating and quorate, and the Fire Service adequately staffed to the point they can even muster a crew to attend incidents in the fire engine.
    There’s little local work that pays enough for young folk to exist in the limited and overpriced housing market in this rural area.
    Add in very limited bus services, the cost of owning and running a car to get around, plus increased energy prices to heat a residence, all these factors are creating the squeeze on young working folk and their ability to stay in the area.

  100. Mike d
    Ignored
    says:

    John main 2:10pm, dont know how to put the links to this, but just google ” prof Danny dorling welsh brexit vote”. Backs up your post.

  101. Mike d
    Ignored
    says:

    John main, sorry, backs up your post at 2:26pm.

  102. Maureen
    Ignored
    says:

    That’s the union lads now calling Scottish independence ‘Partition’.
    https://twitter.com/PhantomPower14/status/1597922038303293441

  103. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    John Main.
    Alf Baird hit the nail on the head. Academia & professional roles are advertised in London. Millions of Scots leave because of lack of opportunity.
    Our population is also controlled.
    The job of the colonizer is to assimilate the population while its busy robbing the country blind.

  104. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis is yet again trying to turn the franchise into nativist agenda.

    A total failure to grasp *residency* for X amount of years before voting on referendums that have a direct impact on a nations future.

    To somehow translate that as meaning *non native born Scots*

    Did anyone mention birth? I know I certainly didn’t.

    *sigh*

  105. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Maureen says:
    1 December, 2022 at 2:07 pm

    Ruby says:
    Does anyone know what a ‘feminist’ is anymore?

    Maureen says: F*cked if I know!
    This article doesn’t favour Sturgeons stance.

    You’ve lost me Maureen?

    Which article are you referring to?

    I wonder if Sturgeon knows what a feminist is.

  106. Maureen
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruby: i was referring to this bit in the article I posted regarding
    Scottish feminists hit back at UN gender recognition warning.

    Earlier this month, Alsalem, the UN’s special rapporteur on violence against women, claimed Scotland’s proposed changes to gender recognition law posed a global risk – despite other countries enacting similar reforms.

    In a letter to the UK Government, she said the Scottish Government’s proposals to make it easier to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) would “potentially open the door for violent males who identify as men to abuse the process of acquiring a GRC and the rights associated with it”.

  107. KT Lorimer
    Ignored
    says:

    My neighbours include a woman born here to English parents and a man born in England to Scottish born parents – which of them should or should not have the vote?

  108. Merganser
    Ignored
    says:

    KT Lorimer @5.06

    It doesn’t really matter whilst Sturgeon is running the show, as all votes for independence are meaningless. To her it just gives her the right to ask for another s.30,

  109. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    @ KT Lorimer at 5:06 pm

    You seem to have bought into and by extension are continuing to push the narrative punted by some that where people were born is the defining credential on whether or not they should be included in a particular voting franchise.
    That however isn’t the position that many people are coming from when trying to discuss the franchise.
    This is what happens when some doggedly try to polarise the discussion…
    A sensibly defined duration of residency in Scotland is more the factor that the reasonable discussion has been about.
    There are some EU citizens that have resided in Scotland for decades longer than I have been alive and living in Scotland.
    These folky will now most likely have applied for Settled Status because post “Brexit” they meet the defined duration of residency to be eligible for that status, likewise some will have applied for Pre-Settled Status as they fall short of the duration for full Settled Status.
    This subject has been gone over so many times now, it’s rather tedious repeating stuff, but if your primary residence is in Scotland then all your legal documentation should be supportive of this stated position. EG. Passport, Council Tax, Vehicle Registration Document(s), Driving License, Bank Accounts, Insurance Declarations, Health Service data, etc, should be registered to an address in Scotland, and in this digital age the duration is easily checked.
    The electoral roll is constantly updated so it’s also easy to use that to observe the duration of residence and where people have previously lived.
    As I stated previously, simple IT filtering is already used to include / exclude certain categories of folk on particular voting franchises for elections. It’s how the Electoral Service and the 32 Local Authorities organise the specific voting lists and issue ballot papers etc.

  110. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @John Main 2.26 pm

    I think the 3 things you maintain are fairly loaded though, which is the issue with a lot of the assumptions made about numbers, inward and outward flows, and trying to second guess how those involved will vote in response to particular issues.

    Making windows in to individual men’s souls is never easy, even for those unwise enough to try it: doing so on behalf of categories of people based on where they decide to re-locate is, I’d argue, harder still.

    I’m not sure I’d agree that the “elites” are trying to make mass immigration the new normal. It wasn’t so long ago the Tories were assuring us they could reduced net migration to a few thousand a year. Remind us how that’s working out?

    I suspect the current figures are skewed somewhat by the war in you-know-where. I suspect many of those involved will return to their homes once the Orcs are finally defeated.

    As for spillover in to Scotland of rich Southerners accelerating, I suppose my response would be that I’d need to see receipts for that, as for the linked assumption that the pro-indy voting proportion of the whole Scottish electorate will inevitably decline as a result.

    If you recall, a number of devotees of franchise restriction have been assuring us that things have been getting worse and worse on this front ever since 2014.

    Surely if that was the case, the % in polling for indy would be decreasing, not increasing wouldn’t it?

  111. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Geri 4.24 pm

    Andy Ellis is yet again trying to turn the franchise into nativist agenda.

    There may be degrees in nativism evident amongst those calling for franchise restriction, but if the cap fits folk should at least have the intellectual honesty to wear it. Seeking to exclude some random proportion of Scottish residents who were included in the 2014, which was widely lauded by the movement itself and many abroad as a model of civic nationalism, IS nativism however much those advocating it whinge about the label.

    A total failure to grasp *residency* for X amount of years before voting on referendums that have a direct impact on a nations future.

    What passes for your argument would hold more water if what was being advocated was common practice, never mind best practice. Nativists have become adept at using misdirection to insist that no other country in the world would tolerate this, and that international best practice supports the imposition of franchise restrictions and residency hurdles.

    Yet, lo and behold when you actually look at the dozens of self determination referendums since 1945, the vast majority use residence based criteria, often indistinguishable from the kind of local election based franchise used in 2014. A few referendums have imposed residence criteria of 24 months. Some other referendums, including the Catalan ones, allow Catalans abroad to register to vote and have allowed all citizens of any EEA country and Swiss nationals resident to vote, i.e. a broader franchise than in Scotland.

    Facts, eh…?

    To somehow translate that as meaning *non native born Scots*

    Did anyone mention birth? I know I certainly didn’t.

    *sigh*

    You might not have, but others very definitely have. Nativists commenting BTL here have called for various residence criteria, including excluding anyone not born in Scotland, or proof of residence of anything between 2 and 20 years. Most seem to settle on around 5-10 years, which has no precedent in any comparable self determination referendum. yw/hth

  112. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @KT Lorimer 5.06 pm

    My neighbours include a woman born here to English parents and a man born in England to Scottish born parents – which of them should or should not have the vote?

    It depends on how extreme the nativist who answers is. The more extreme nativists have called for anyone not born here to be disqualified, irrespective of residence. Others have called for lengthy residence criteria which are not common practice historically, still less best practice as some insist is the case.

  113. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Dear Andy Ellis,

    Vienna Convention on the Conduct of Referendums explicitly states that a franchise can be restricted to those born in Scotland. Council of Europe is part of the international community, yet you constantly dismiss the document as irrelevant, for reasons.

    This bit is just white noise

    “Yet, lo and behold when you actually look at the dozens of self determination referendums since 1945, the vast majority use residence based criteria, often indistinguishable from the kind of local election based franchise used in 2014. A few referendums have imposed residence criteria of 24 months. Some other referendums, including the Catalan ones, allow Catalans abroad to register to vote and have allowed all citizens of any EEA country and Swiss nationals resident to vote, i.e. a broader franchise than in Scotland.”

    As you clearly state there is no ‘one size fits all’ – not all referendums have used the same criteria, so why you’re arguing that the franchise must follow ‘international best practice’ when there is no consistency is bemusing to say the least.

    Scotland will decide what the franchise will be, not USA (who don’t allow incomers the vote on anything significant ever) or any other nation.

    yw,hth.

  114. KT Lorimer
    Ignored
    says:

    I don’t think those who think restricting the franchise would be easy did the long haul of getting folk to register last time nor do they understand the workload of the officers responsible for maintaining the two rolls already in existence – there is no way they could set up a third.

    Of course once Scotland is a normal country that would be different but one would have to start on the basis that all those who voted for normality have the choice to be a normal Scottish citizen.

  115. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    KT Lorimer says:
    1 December, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    I don’t think those who think restricting the franchise would be easy did the long haul of getting folk to register last time nor do they understand the workload of the officers responsible for maintaining the two rolls already in existence – there is no way they could set up a third.

    —-

    If the franchise is set in law at those born in Scotland, the register of Births/Deaths/Marriages will be used to confirm those eligible.

    It is doable, even if it is a lot of work.

  116. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    @ KT Lorimer

    Eh, the electoral roll is constantly evolving, folk coming of age, folk dying, new folk moving here, others leaving.
    It’s a piece of piss to set the parameters and work with those eligible for a specific franchise.
    Even political Parties have access to the electoral roll. SNP use Activate for their canvassing data and they can filter out various categories depending on what is required to work with.
    EG. For a full canvas of an area they can print the entire electoral list of everyone registered, or for a specific election just those eligible to vote in it, or just their supporters, or by age, or EU status, etc

    You’re speaking to someone that’s spent considerable time chasing up people and getting or keeping them registered to vote at each election. Many folk live un-settled lives so are constantly moving and dropping off the electoral roll. Try being out for days in minus 10 temps at one recent election campaign.

    Sometimes end up handing in dozens of completed voter registration forms to the Electoral Office before the deadline prior to an election.
    And mind, I’m just one of those useless activists, but I can take a rest now though as Andy Ellis thinks we are shit, so no doubt he’ll pick up the workload now.
    He speaks for everyone and knows what they are thinking too, so he’ll have all that local knowledge of every area making it a piece of piss for him.

  117. KT Lorimer
    Ignored
    says:

    So everyone would have to be cross-referenced – the anomalies would be massive.

    In the first place you’d have to have the political will.

    In the meantime you have made it clear that the new Scotland is for those who can prove their ancestry here which will put a lot of people off I don’t see how that is helpful in persuading folk of the merits of independence – there can’t be a group saying “We will stay in the union unless and until there is a Scotland only for those born here”.

  118. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    KT Lorimer says:
    1 December, 2022 at 7:33 pm

    So everyone would have to be cross-referenced – the anomalies would be massive.

    In the first place you’d have to have the political will.

    In the meantime you have made it clear that the new Scotland is for those who can prove their ancestry here which will put a lot of people off I don’t see how that is helpful in persuading folk of the merits of independence – there can’t be a group saying “We will stay in the union unless and until there is a Scotland only for those born here”.

    A one-off vote between 7am & 10pm that restricts the franchise doesn’t mean that all future elections etc will only include those who voted in the referendum.

    The franchise will be set by legislation, as happened in 2014, so political will is a matter for the chamber.

    http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2013/13/contents/enacted

  119. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dan 6.09 pm

    That however isn’t the position that many people are coming from when trying to discuss the franchise.
    This is what happens when some doggedly try to polarise the discussion…

    Unsurprisingly you display they you have an agenda yourself Dan. The birth-right position IS the one that many nativists are coming from. I suspect you are somewhat embarrassed by them, but you can’t pretend they aren’t there to deflect to your less objectionable alternative franchise restriction plan.

    A sensibly defined duration of residency in Scotland is more the factor that the reasonable discussion has been about….[etc]

    The problem with that is you and others haven’t really overcome Rev Stu’s original objections, the most basic of which is whether it’s worth the risks abandoning civic nationalism for the asserted benefits. As you yourself pointed out both Rev Stu and me have conceded that if it was something the majority of the movement was behind, we’d support limited changes to the franchise: it’s practicable to “sell” a franchise change that seeks to exclude obvious irregularities like students temporarily resident for the duration of a course, or people with multiple properties.

    The thing is, it’s not minor changes like that that many proponents of franchise change want. Rather, they want to exclude *enough* New Scots to ensure those left are heavily slanted towards those who have been here longer and are therefore deemed more likely to be Yes voters. It’s just a more subtle way of queering the pitch than the “full on” Scots born only ranters.

    You can try and dress it up all you like, all it achieves is doing what Rev Stu stated last year: it means that a lot of us will regard ourselves as on opposing sides.

    When you’ve rationalised that polarisation get back to us, OK Dan?

  120. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Andy Ellis

    Is Stuart Campbell a New-English?

  121. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    If the franchise is set in law at those born in Scotland, the register of Births/Deaths/Marriages will be used to confirm those eligible.

    It is doable, even if it is a lot of work.

    As I said, there are blood and soil extremists advocating for the exclusion of anyone not born here.

    According to the 2011 census, 4.4 million Scots were born here (83%), 459,000 were born in England, 37,000 in Northern Ireland, 17,000 in Wales (RUK total 513,000), and 369,000 born outside the UK. The newer census splits aren’t available as yet.

    Take a few minutes to think of some of the ordinary folk you know who would be disenfranchised by such extremism.

  122. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Andy Ellis at 7:49 pm

    Yes, the birthright position is what some folk punt, you want to push for total civic nationalism, even though you’ve stated tightening up the voter register is a no brainer.
    And Stu had no great issue with that either to address transient workers and students, etc.
    So I speak for myself as other do for their position, embarrassment doesn’t come in to it, free speech and all that…
    So I am in the centre and certainly between the polarised extremes, and if anything closer aligned to Stu and your own position.
    My own views are formed by years of being on the ground in amongst and interacting with the electorate. You dismiss this experience as worthless but how would you know as you haven’t spent decades interacting with all sorts of folk in my locale. Working with the most vulnerable in society to the Eton educated estate owning Sirs.

    You can repeatedly state we’ve come up with nothing to counter your or Stu’s position all you like, but that maybe just highlights the issue with chatting on the internet, as it is clear you haven’t been receptive to taking onboard the merits of the actual input of our on the ground experiences and if anything you ridiculously double downed on that the other day discounting it as worthless.

  123. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dan

    He speaks for everyone and knows what they are thinking too, so he’ll have all that local knowledge of every area making it a piece of piss for him.

    See, you’re doing that thing you do Dan, misrepresenting me. Perhaps it’s down to trying to hide the guilt you feel for being associated with regressive nativism, or perhaps it’s simpler and you’re just an intellectually dishonest piece of work?

    Perhaps we should be glad you’re not as much of a blood and soil ranter as “Scott”, but it’s all a continuum in the end. You and other nativists certainly don’t speak for the movement as a whole, and still less for all Scottish voters – particularly the ones you don’t consider pure enough to vote!

    I’ve neither said nor do i believe that I know what everyone is thinking. You repeating it in successive posts as a squirrel to divert attention from the paucity of your arguments doesn’t make them any more convincing. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that majority opinion hasn’t accepted that franchise isn’t a priority.

    You’re just another one of these bores that likes to go off on one and claim privileged knowledge because you’re an activist and know how things work because you’ve chapped doors, stuffed envelopes, manned stalls, attended AUOB marches, yadda, yadda, yadda….

  124. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @ “Scott” 7.56 pm

    @ Andy Ellis

    Is Stuart Campbell a New-English?

    Go ask. Good luck with the response. 🙂

  125. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Andy Ellis says:1 December, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    Thanks for your response. I agree we don’t have the facts and figures to enable us to reach informed conclusions.

    I’m not sure I’d agree that the “elites” are trying to make mass immigration the new normal.

    Perhaps. I would ask if you have any timeline over which you would agree that if numbers are sustained, it starts to look like a “plan”. But whatever your answer, I would be unconvinced. The “plan” already looks crystal clear to me.

    I suspect the current figures are skewed somewhat by the war in you-know-where. I suspect many of those involved will return to their homes once the Orcs are finally defeated

    So what? If I am right, and indigenous migration to Scotland from down south is driven by pressure on living space, available housing, etc. those who were “temporarily” displaced won’t be returning. It will be a permanent move, not temporary. For those who sell up and use the vast sums they get for their wee semi to “go large” in Scotland, it is very much a one way journey. Selling your house here won’t get you back on the English property ladder.

    a number of devotees of franchise restriction have been assuring us that things have been getting worse and worse on this front ever since 2014.

    Surely if that was the case, the % in polling for indy would be decreasing, not increasing wouldn’t it?

    Is it increasing? That’s a curious claim to make, given the pictures at the top of this thread. A number of posters BTL have been wondering why the Indy support graph has been flat-lined for years, especially given recent macroeconomic problems that theoretically should be pumping up support. Something is cancelling out these increases. Whilst probably not a single cause is entirely responsible, I suggest inwards migration has to be one cause.

    Bottom line, Wingers lack of interest in immigration is a mistake. Even if not one single immigrant comes into Scotland as a result, meaning that every one resides in England & Wales, that only serves to further increase the political and economic disparities between Scotland and rUK.

    Far more importantly, every addition to the already unsustainably populated rUK must further harden the determination of rUK and WM to hold onto Scotland for its resources, as the days when rUK could sustain itself lie far in the past.

  126. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:
    1 December, 2022 at 8:32 pm

    @ “Scott” 7.56 pm

    @ Andy Ellis

    Is Stuart Campbell a New-English?

    Go ask. Good luck with the response. ?

    I’m asking you, because you’ve defined what a New-Scot is to include those who aren’t even eligible for dual-nationality, eg Those born in India.

    Is your Scottish daughter a New-Irish because she now lives there?

  127. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @”Scott” 7.03 pm

    Vienna Convention on the Conduct of Referendums explicitly states that a franchise can be restricted to those born in Scotland. Council of Europe is part of the international community, yet you constantly dismiss the document as irrelevant, for reasons.

    Just because something can be technically done or is permissible under the Vienna Convention doesn’t mean that it should be done, or that it is politically expedient or morally justified, still less that it is compulsory. That’s the reason your quaint attachment to it isn’t relevant in this debate.

    As you clearly state there is no ‘one size fits all’ – not all referendums have used the same criteria, so why you’re arguing that the franchise must follow ‘international best practice’ when there is no consistency is bemusing to say the least.

    I’m arguing that the case for changing the franchise is weak, in much the same terms as Rev Stu’s original thorough fisking on Twitter last July which triggers all the nativists so much when its mentioned. No two self determination referendums are identical: each case is unique. As you admit, I’ve never said otherwise.

    What I HAVE repeatedly pointed out, because the hard of thinking appear immune to the point, is that the historical and constitutional precedent is a broadly residence based franchise. The exact details may differ, but the principle sure as hell doesn’t. You spent an inordinate amount of effort arguing the toss about Gibraltar and New Caledonia, neither of which are valid comparisons of course because they’re both non-self governing territories as recognised by the UN.

    Changing the 2014 precedent would be flying in the face of precedent and would make achieving international recognition harder not easier. There’s no real counter argument to that simple fact: disenfranchising tens or hundreds of thousands of Scottish residents who were able to vote in 2014 would not help the cause or make us friends abroad.

    Scotland will decide what the franchise will be, not USA (who don’t allow incomers the vote on anything significant ever) or any other nation.

    Just another variation of the already discredited false equivalence used by nativists who try to use citizenship criteria in already independent countries for constitutional votes as a valid comparison with the franchise for self determination referendums. The two things are not the same.

    Given the UKSC finding last week, the only way Scotland can unilaterally decide on the franchise for a referendum is if it’s what Sturgeon terms a “wildcat” vote without being S30 authorised. A referendum on that basis is a non starter now more than before: the yoons are never going to agree it in current circumstances and are likely to try and change the terms from those agreed in 2014.

    Other nations don’t get to decide on our self determination, but they do get to decide if they recognise it. I’d prefer a process that ended in general if not universal recognition rather than ending up like Northern Cyprus, Transnistria or South Ossetia.

  128. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dan

    You dismiss this experience as worthless but how would you know as you haven’t spent decades interacting with all sorts of folk in my locale.

    You just can’t stop yourself can you? Is misrepresenting people just something that comes naturally, or do you just do it for the LOLZ? I didn’t say the experience is worthless.

    Neither you or any other activist, however committed, experienced or hard working has any more of an inside track on the “bigger picture” than other folk, particularly this one. Detailed canvassing returns on whichever bit of Scotland you’re active in don’t give you a slam dunk counter argument to those that have been well rehearsed in here over months on this issue.

    As I said on an earlier thread, I don’t trust your faux bonhommie or attempts to play Mr Reasonable. yw/hth

  129. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    To add further to this conversation..

    I’ve heard it say that as we’re now a colony – strict franchise laws now come into the equation regards UN International law on decolonisation. No external influences allowed & automatic protections for the original colonized to be able to escape thier oppressor by stricter election rules with no jiggery-pokery (like flouting rules?)

  130. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:

    Given the UKSC finding last week, the only way Scotland can unilaterally decide on the franchise for a referendum is if it’s what Sturgeon terms a “wildcat” vote without being S30 authorised. A referendum on that basis is a non starter now more than before: the yoons are never going to agree it in current circumstances and are likely to try and change the terms from those agreed in 2014.

    As has been repeatedly pointed out, a private referendum is a lawful way to gauge the opinion of the people, on any subject. And it can then be presented to the King as a valid expression of the will of the people. Same with a petition.

    As for your assertion about New Caledonia/Gibraltar not having equivalence because they are ‘colonies’, that’s just utter shite, because the referendum decides the end position, not the start.

    But thanks for finally acknowledging that Vienna Convention on Conduct of Referendums does allow the franchise to be based on Birth/Deaths/Marriages register.

    The 2014 franchise doesn’t and cannot dictate the franchise for the next one. The precedent concept is something English law revolves around – civil cases are won & lost on who can find the most obscure precedent to head the opposition off at the pass on what amounts to a technicality, and not a path to natural justice.

    Scots law isn’t bound by precedent in the same way as darn souf, as each case turns on its own merits.

  131. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @”Scott”

    I’m asking you, because you’ve defined what a New-Scot is to include those who aren’t even eligible for dual-nationality, eg Those born in India.

    Is your Scottish daughter a New-Irish because she now lives there?

    I simply used a term many others used which is shorthand for residents of Scotland who were not born here.

    Ruth Wishart said in 2020:

    It’s entirely possible that the Scottish diaspora would vote for independence. Maybe in huge numbers. That’s not the point – the franchise belongs to those who pay Scotland the ultimate compliment of making her their home. Wherever they were born.

    Some countries allow dual-nationality, some don’t. So what? Ireland is an independent country which decides who gets to vote in which circumstances. I doubt Rev Stu considers himself “New English” but I certainly wouldn’t presume to talk for him: I seem to recall he’s talked about coming back to Scotland, so I have my doubts he’d be considering taking English or RUK citizenship in the event of Scottish independence.

    It would never have occurred to me when I lived in England to consider myself as New English or anything other than Scottish, but I knew plenty of proud Scots there and indeed here who consider themselves British first and Scottish second.

    Of course I don’t know what percentage of Scots share your blood and soil extremist position that only those born here are pure enough to have a say, but I’m fairly confident it isn’t many: I certainly hope so. I’d hate to think such regressive and deeply odious views were widespread.

    Perhaps Rev Stu could do a question on the option in his next poll?

  132. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy, you seem pretty ignorant of how the International community views a coloniser – especially England. Most of them have first hand experience of thier devious underhand tactics in thier own countries. They’d even be super alert at the migration to Scotland while its own population is forced out.
    So they really wouldn’t care that Barbara fae Manchester doest have a vote in Scotlands Independence!

  133. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Geri

    The UN doesn’t accept that Scotland is a non self-governing territory, still less a colony. Just because Alf Baird and a small group of others ardently believe it doesn’t make it true.

    You and others who have fallen for the “Scotland as colony” snake oil have a long way to go before you convince the rest of the independence movement that your case has any merit, still less convincing the UN, EU, Council of Europe, ICJ, other international organisations or individual states.

    How long is that going to take do you think? I think I’d bet on plebiscitary elections happening first and being considerably less contentious.

  134. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says out loud:

    It would never have occurred to me when I lived in England to consider myself as New English or anything other than Scottish, but I knew plenty of proud Scots there and indeed here who consider themselves British first and Scottish second.

    You lived in England for a very, very long time, didn’t think of yourself as ‘New-English’ yet you are happy to label people as ‘New-Scots’?

    Hiding behind Ruth Wishart isn’t the “slam-dunk” you think it is, but that’s what you do. You hide behind the views of others as a form of protection from your own intellectual failings.

  135. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Geri

    Oh I dunno, a degree in Politics and a doctorate in International Relations might suggest otherwise to most folk, but by all means carry on with that straw manning.

    So, Geri….would they care that London born Tasmina Ahmed Sheik would be disenfranchised if folk like “Scott” had their way? How about Angus Robertson, also born in London. Or Dijon born Christian Allard?

    I’m sure others can add names of Scots both high profile and just ordinary folk who will suddenly find themselves impure if some of the nativists have their way.

  136. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:
    1 December, 2022 at 9:55 pm

    @Geri

    Oh I dunno, a degree in Politics and a doctorate in International Relations might suggest otherwise to most folk, but by all means carry on with that straw manning.

    So, Geri….would they care that London born Tasmina Ahmed Sheik would be disenfranchised if folk like “Scott” had their way? How about Angus Robertson, also born in London. Or Dijon born Christian Allard?

    Angus Robertson also studied Politics & International Relations way back when.

    Make of that what you will.

  137. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    What do YOU call a country that is in an internationally recognised treaty with England as a co signatory but can’t do any of the following..

    Hold a referendum
    Manage its own income
    Manage its own broadcasting
    Manage its own NHS budget
    Manage its own resources
    Manage its own immigration
    Manage who it trades with direct
    Manage its own sea ports
    Manage overseas relations
    Has no control over its own defence
    Its own language being erased
    Manage employment laws
    Manage its own pensions & welfare
    Manage an oil fund
    Manage licences
    Remove nukes
    Have a foreign policy
    Not Brexit against its will
    Removing single market access
    Stopping WM imposing internal market bill against parliament vote of no consent

    ..take yer time.

    If it walks like a duck & quake’s like one…

  138. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Geri says:1 December, 2022 at 10:23 pm
    What do YOU call a country that is in an internationally recognised treaty with England as a co signatory but can’t do any of the following..

    Hold a referendum
    Manage its own income
    Manage its own broadcasting
    Manage its own NHS budget
    Manage its own resources
    Manage its own immigration
    Manage who it trades with direct
    Manage its own sea ports
    Manage overseas relations
    Has no control over its own defence
    Its own language being erased
    Manage employment laws
    Manage its own pensions & welfare
    Manage an oil fund
    Manage licences
    Remove nukes
    Have a foreign policy
    Not Brexit against its will
    Removing single market access
    Stopping WM imposing internal market bill against parliament vote of no consent
    ———————————————————-
    Have you been drinking today ? That’s what most of the rubbish on yer daft list suggests.

    .

  139. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:1 December, 2022 at 8:30 pm
    @Dan

    You’re just another one of these bores that likes to go off on one and claim privileged knowledge because you’re an activist and know how things work because you’ve chapped doors, stuffed envelopes, manned stalls, attended AUOB marches, yadda, yadda, yadda….
    ——————————————————–
    And has spent lots of time talking complete bollocks to other people talking complete bollocks and agreed with each other.
    Unfortunately Dan like many others aren’t as clever as they think they are , you would think they would realise their own “facts” were garbage eventually when the things they constantly espouse never ever come to anything.

  140. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    “Have you been drinking today ? That’s what most of the rubbish on yer daft list suggests.” Joe le Fanni

    You haven’t defined which bits are rubbish or which of those form the majority you speak to or why their existence supports your conclusion about fluid intake influencing output, unless dehydration is what you’re alluding to.

    Are you very, very drunk?

  141. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Desimond says:1 December, 2022 at 11:58 am
    Blackford away but will take a big role in Independence Campaign..covering Business … thats that fucked then!
    _————————————————–
    It can’t be much of a post in “Business” as surely the SNP Growth
    Commissions Andrew Wilson already covers that role ?

  142. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    The SC has just declared us a colony & also that we’ve absolutely no right to self determination.

    & Yer still punting it’s snake oil stuff? LOL

    A country being ruled direct by a large neighbour who controls its resources & finances & deems itself superior in all matters while it asset strips that nations wealth for itself & manages that country’s population – is a colony.

    It’s not an equal partner is it? & It’s not in a voluntary Union either & It has zero say on important stuff & now we can’t hold a referendum on our consitution.

    A pretendy Scottish parliament fools no one either. That can also be removed at will & isnt a parliament at all when it’s hands are tied. They’re not as daft as you’d like to make out. It’s a front to give it an air of democracy but it’s under their full control at all times & the mother of all parliament’s is a farce too. A few token seats that can do absolutely nothing fools no one.

    & You think the International community will look at all that & say “Sorry, you don’t qualify”

    LOLz!

  143. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks: no problem.

    Stuart: I do think the SNP was hi-jacked, far more than any other party, and I also think it was deliberate. I did a rough, granted, correlation between those who advocate the ‘long route’ (that is, never) and those who support GRC Reform. They are largely the same people. They have captured the Democrats in the US in the same way. None of this is accidental or even just opportunistic: they knew exactly which parties, which public institutions, which local authorities, which civil services to infiltrate and dominate. The Denton’s Document lays it all out for us. In every country in the West where this take-over has taken place, you will find that specific parties and institutions, etc., have been targeted. It is a form of neo-Marxist Post Modernism, led by Queer Theory, which is, in a nutshell, the aspiration to ultimate freedom of the human condition. Unfortunately, like all these ultra left or ultra right creeds, it relies on totalitarianism to propel it forwards. It takes no account of the fact that, societally, males dominate (albeit, it tries to insist that all gender roles and stereotypes will disappear even as they shore them up) ergo, females and children will, ultimately, have no freedom except to do as they are told, when they are told. Women will have no sexual autonomy whatsoever, and children will be used and abused. The Law of unintended consequences – or, in their case, intended consequences, because these people, the activists, know exactly what they are doing, and their billionaire backers, ditto.

  144. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Joe Le Fanni

    lol

  145. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Geri says:
    2 December, 2022 at 12:10 am

    Joe Le Fanni

    lol

    …y va pas partout, y marche pas au soda.

    Fun fact: I sang ‘Joe le Taxi’ at a carry okie night in a small village hall in the south of France ilya vingt ans. Encore, they cried. 🙂

  146. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Scott says:
    1 December, 2022 at 11:10 pm
    “Have you been drinking today ? That’s what most of the rubbish on yer daft list suggests.” Joe le Fanni

    You haven’t defined which bits are rubbish or which of those form the majority you speak to or why their existence supports your conclusion about fluid intake influencing output, unless dehydration is what you’re alluding to.
    ———————————————————–
    If you can’t work out how many parts of Geri’s list are utter garbage you probably should have been in bed by 9pm, does your Ma know your still up ? Here is an easy one to start you with though. “Manage its own resources” https://www.gov.scot/publications/gers-methodology-2021-22/

  147. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Joe says:
    2 December, 2022 at 1:37 am

    If you can’t work out how many parts of Geri’s list are utter garbage you probably should have been in bed by 9pm, does your Ma know your [sic] still up ? Here is an easy one to start you with though. “Manage its own resources”

    1. Ask her yourself. She lives at 1060 West Addison.

    2. You are a fucking idiot if you don’t know what resources were being referred to, but it certainly wasn’t the sums allocated by UK Parliament referenced in GERS.

    3. Say hello to ‘Some soldiers’ next time you see yer Da.

  148. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @”Scott” 9.47 pm

    You lived in England for a very, very long time, didn’t think of yourself as ‘New-English’ yet you are happy to label people as ‘New-Scots’?

    What does the length of time I lived in England have to do with anything? I never thought of myself as anything other than Scottish. I’m not sure why the term New Scots seems to trigger you so much, not that it seems to take much in general. It’s not a term I coined: its use is fairly straightforward and useful shorthand in the context of debating the issues with regressive nativists.

    Hiding behind Ruth Wishart isn’t the “slam-dunk” you think it is, but that’s what you do. You hide behind the views of others as a form of protection from your own intellectual failings.

    I wasn’t hiding behind anyone. I simply thought her words on this matter were “on-point”. I’ve sometimes disagreed with her stuff, and sometimes not. The idea that you in particular were qualified to judge my intellectual failings is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.

  149. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Geri 11.56 pm

    & You think the International community will look at all that & say “Sorry, you don’t qualify”

    They already have and continue to do so. If Scotland was accepted as being in a colonial relationship by the UN and wider international community, it would be on the list of non-self governing territories like Gibraltar and the Falklands. It isn’t.

    The UKSC finding last week with respect to the devolved administration not being able to hold a referendum without a S30 order does indeed prove to the hard of thinking what every dog in the street already knew: the union isn’t and never was a relationship of equals.

    We’re not being colonised or held against our will. All we have to do is convince enough Scots to grow a pair and put an “X” in a box on a ballot paper to become independent.

    OD’ing on the “Scotland as colony” smack and misappropriating the struggles of peoples who fought real colonial oppression just makes you and others who have over indulged look like cranks. Cranks won’t win us the argument or convert the undecided voters we need to the cause.

  150. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:
    2 December, 2022 at 7:38 am

    @”Scott” 9.47 pm

    You lived in England for a very, very long time, didn’t think of yourself as ‘New-English’ yet you are happy to label people as ‘New-Scots’?

    What does the length of time I lived in England have to do with anything? I never thought of myself as anything other than Scottish. I’m not sure why the term New Scots seems to trigger you so much, not that it seems to take much in general. It’s not a term I coined: its use is fairly straightforward and useful shorthand in the context of debating the issues with regressive nativists.

    Hiding behind Ruth Wishart isn’t the “slam-dunk” you think it is, but that’s what you do. You hide behind the views of others as a form of protection from your own intellectual failings.

    I wasn’t hiding behind anyone. I simply thought her words on this matter were “on-point”. I’ve sometimes disagreed with her stuff, and sometimes not. The idea that you in particular were qualified to judge my intellectual failings is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while

    Ha ha, in your haste to appear superior, you’ve just made a narse of yourself as usual.

    The length of time you spent in England isn’t relevant despite the decades you spent there, in the context that “new scots” exist from day 1 in your mind, but I knew it would trigger you into a defensive response.

    You were a New-English all that time you lived there. Stuart Campbell is a New- English. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was a New-English for 55 years before returning to being from New Zealand when she went back there. Your Scottish daughter is a New-Irish, but with a very, very English accent. That’s how it works, if we were to defer to your self-declared genius.

    But, Scotland’s status shouldn’t be decided by those who just choose to live here. Ruth Wishart is well intended, perhaps, but she’s promoting this scenario in reality, as are you who isn’t well-intended – Anyone from these isles could rock up, declare a local connection via fake job offer or such, register & vote.

    You are only going to vote Yes, if that wide a franchise is allowed, like it was last time. You’ll vote NO otherwise.

    This is the future of a nation we’re talking about, not whether Murdo Fraser gets to look gormless in Holyrood.

    The constant, flippant dismissal of our birthrights as Scots is shameful, but you don’t admit any.

    You come across like one of these Troons they have now – taking rights to give to others who don’t qualify.

    In fact, you’re probably a serial killer too, like him in Silence of the Lambs was. I’ve seen your photie and if you squint a certain way you look just like him in the ‘tucking scene’. It’s uncanny, in jest.

  151. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Have you informed Stu he’s ‘a crank’ ?

    You can’t argue both positions.

    & Don’t try insult ppls intelligence ‘all you have to do is put an x’ FFS! That’s going to make Sunak do what exactly? Hand over Scotlands purse & wish us all a nice day?

    & Apologies I’m not fking oppressed enough to meet your new made up definition of what a Colony is. Take your green ink & go annoy the fk out of a dictionary eh?

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/scotlands-day-of-shame/



Comment - please read this page for comment rules. HTML tags like <i> and <b> are permitted. Use paragraph breaks in long comments. DO NOT SIGN YOUR COMMENTS, either with a name or a slogan. If your comment does not appear immediately, DO NOT REPOST IT. Ignore these rules and I WILL KILL YOU WITH HAMMERS.




↑ Top