Independence is dead as a political issue in Scotland for the next few years. This much should not be in any dispute. A Labour government with a crushing majority sits firmly in Westminster with absolutely no intentions of granting a second referendum, and the SNP has loudly and clearly abandoned any other strategy.
This fact is understandably painful and difficult to come to terms with for anyone who’s devoted the last 13 years (or more) to pursuing that cause and now isn’t quite sure what to do with theirself. But for those who still aren’t ready to face up to the unpleasant reality, there’s always the comforting world of fantasy.
Because there’s always money to be made from snake oil and pie in the sky.
The average rape sentence in Scotland is seven years, so to get six years plus three years’ supervision for the technically lesser crime of sexual assaults means they must have been pretty grim ones.
So we know that Cameron Downing is a very bad man. Which does rather invite the question of why he was so popular in the SNP.
The SNP have been pretty clear about the reason they think they got a battering in last week’s election: it was because people were voting to kick out the Tories.
Now, that’s obviously nonsense. There were almost no Tories in Scotland to start with – just 10% of voters had a Tory MP – and only one of the six actually lost his seat. (Which was entirely down to the ham-fisted interference of Douglas Ross rather than an SNP surge – the SNP’s vote share in the seat in question went DOWN.)
If you wanted to keep Tories out in Scotland all you had to do was keep voting for your current MP, most of whom were SNP, rather than risk splitting the anti-Tory vote by switching to Labour and risk letting the Tories squeeze through in the middle. (Which would have happened in many seats had the Tories’ own vote not collapsed.)
But if it was true that the SNP lost because the electorate thought the election was about getting rid of the Tories, whose fault was that?
To be honest, folks, we’re not quite sure what to do with ourselves at the moment.
Everyone and his wee dug is writing election-aftermath columns and offering the SNP advice of varying intelligence and solemnity about how to recover from the shattering blow they’ve just been dealt by Scottish voters.
But it’s a pointless exercise. They may as well be yelling down a manhole.
The Scottish Greens, in a feat of remarkable hubris and financial profligacy, stood 44 candidates in this week’s general election, knowing that most of them would lose their deposits, which they duly did.
But not quite all of them. And there the comedy arose.
Because while SNP boneheads on social media are raging idiotically at Alba, Wings and others for causing division and damaging the unity of the indy cause yada yada yada, a small handful of Green candidates made a real difference.
Andy Storrie on Clocks And Calendars: “A lengthy and irrelevant diatribe about a London-supporting party who abandoned their traditional base in 1997! Nae good, son. It…” Apr 2, 17:53
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Beggars Really? He’s running out of super expensive ordnance, “gas” at American pumps is over $4 and mid terms are…” Apr 2, 16:21
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: ““Fraid the great colonisation era was British, not English. Many Irish and Scots took major parts in this process but…” Apr 2, 15:45
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: “Powerful picture driven propaganda and stunning visual rhetoric. Hollywood has a rival… and it’s kicking Turtle Island’s top Turtle’s arse.” Apr 2, 15:26
Captain Caveman on Clocks And Calendars: “Ah, but you’re forgetting something, Aidan. On the one hand, we have the poor man’s own family, as well as…” Apr 2, 15:14
Alf Baird on Clocks And Calendars: ““Type A. The greedy, brutal, thieving, scummy, devious, cruel & demonic kind.” Seems a fair definition of colonialism, and what…” Apr 2, 15:12
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Look out for the one with Trump & his allies dressed as teletubbies dancing tae gay music – while P,…” Apr 2, 14:58
Aidan on Clocks And Calendars: “This has been covered at length by people within the independence movement and his family who are adamant that it…” Apr 2, 14:47
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Areswipe, Naw I dinnie know. Why don’t you explain tae the group how someone can shoot themselves twice in the…” Apr 2, 13:43
James on Clocks And Calendars: ““….The death of Willie McRae has been investigated thoroughly and there is no evidence that he was murdered by the…” Apr 2, 13:43
Confused on Clocks And Calendars: “the “south park” ayatollahs have put out a banger (as it were …) www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUJGXC4oNOA www.youtube.com/shorts/bdDqVk-MpRY www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAbsKw7f3DU” Apr 2, 13:42
Rob on Clocks And Calendars: “Got to laugh at some of the comments above, particularly the ones about type a and type b peoples and…” Apr 2, 13:41
Confused on Clocks And Calendars: “another nonce scandal at the bbc, whodathunkit, no one saw that coming does not surprise me tell you what though,…” Apr 2, 13:40
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “The snaw globes are birrlin wi that yin. King o the commode.. USA thinks aww those wee countries are jist…” Apr 2, 13:31
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: “Turtle Island’s amphibian special forces outfit, the Navy Turtles, are gearing up, Turtle-style, to tackle the anti-Turtle threat that is…” Apr 2, 13:04
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “Baby Senator Kennedy says ‘Let me just say for the record my Aunts Facebook page has more credibility than you…” Apr 2, 12:52
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: ““The death of Willie McRae has been investigated thoroughly…” Yes, indeed… and by the very folk who murdered him to…” Apr 2, 12:26
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: ““Care to set out a list of countries to go in Type A…” Top of the imperial coloniZing A-listers is….…” Apr 2, 12:19
Aidan on Clocks And Calendars: “Care to set out a list of countries to go in Type A and Type B Geri?” Apr 2, 12:04
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: “Thon mad, bad and balding man-baby boss-man, King of the Turtles and Chief of Turtle Island… that top Turtillian, Donny…” Apr 2, 12:00
Aidan on Clocks And Calendars: “The death of Willie McRae has been investigated thoroughly and there is no evidence that he was murdered by the…” Apr 2, 11:35
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Aye, There really are just two types of ppl in the world. Type A. The greedy, brutal, thieving, scummy, devious,…” Apr 2, 11:25
Mark Beggan on Clocks And Calendars: “Don’t take Trump literally take Trump seriously or you might find yourself in the stone age.” Apr 2, 11:24
TURABDIN on Clocks And Calendars: “Your knowledge of both Irish & Scottish history is worthy of the badly trained AI bot. In the 18c Scotland…” Apr 2, 10:55
TURABDIN on Clocks And Calendars: “From PETER A BELL…..«That the “legal and constitutional” route does exist in Scotland’s own legal and constitutional environment will be…” Apr 2, 10:42
Geri on Clocks And Calendars: “Ach, Breastplate Now you know as well as I do that we have the wrong kinda oil. Tsk! It’s worthless,…” Apr 2, 10:33
Breastplate on Clocks And Calendars: “Yes, James, There’s no sense of irony or hypocrisy from Mark. Of course Scotland has oil and of course, they…” Apr 2, 09:50
Northcode on Clocks And Calendars: “A hae the urge tae tak aboot the Americas, aye, and in the Scots leid, tae… maistly onywey. It sud…” Apr 2, 09:42
Young Lochinvar on Clocks And Calendars: “Beggars Oh dear.. Is that the sort of parties you go to? Never can tell with Tories eh.. You aren’t…” Apr 2, 03:00
