Wings Over Scotland

Brilliant. Great start to the day .
And they will leave a trail of piss and shit to clean up for years.

Love the cartoon.

But there isn’t enough room for all the pups.

You could have added the Scotch Whisky Association.

And in fact, Scotland, as news of RBS plans to move some of its operations to Amsterdam. Nick Robinson still sticks in my craw.

All of the above – the fishermen, the farmers, the SWA, RBS – has happened in the past month. Surely the writing is on the wall? Surely the 55% can see it now?

Shouldn’t the farmer have a pig in a poke?

How very apt Mr Cairns.

As for the fishermen and the farmers, hell mend them.

And yet the North East was the home of the SNP not so long ago. That would have been the fishing vote before Bertie Armstrong brought his NI influence to bear.

The Tories have always supported the farmers. Many of them are farmers. So the calculation there will be that their subsidies will carry on as before. Nice depiction of a gentleman farmer there.

That’s a real beauty, Chris.

I drove past Ruth Davidson’s well decorated, in-yer-face, Tory constituency office yesterday, Chris. It sits next to a knocking shop – and there was no sign of life in either.

When I hear her bluff and bluster in our Parliament there is no recognition of life as I know it. Cheered on by the British establishment, she is there to halt the progress of Scotland’s civil rights. Are we going to let her do that?

What we need are women with integrity who care about the less fortunate, who want to build things, as Nicola does, people who don’t want to destroy society.

I’ve written about one extraordinary woman.

Your weekend reading:

A Scottish heroine: link to wp.me
Tesla’s latest leccy car: link to wp.me

Good cartoon, many large farmers have been getting it too good for a long time. They believed that getting away from the EU would mean less red tape, in fact the opposite is true. The uk is now going to have to prove that it’s produce is up to standard, that is costly. As for trade with the whole continent of America, good night scottish agriculture! Beef production here will be too expensive, lamb from NZ will flood in together with butter and dry milk. Scotland needs the clout which the EU delivers to make her produce competitive against the world markets. What a mess.
By the way, in my area, most of the family farms voted to remain, it’s the big rich Tory farmers who voted leave and they have a lot of influence through the Tory party farming wing, more commonly known as th NFU?

Cearc: “I wonder if Philippa Whitford has met her.”

I sent her a copy.

Spread the word!

I’m kind of at a loss to understand just how getting back control of the fishing rights actually financially assists the fishermen. Yes you might catch more fish, but just who exactly are you going sell them to if you don’t have trading agreements. Ok, you could flood the home market with cheap fish, but how does that improve the finances. It certainly won’t increase the fishing fleet, because the demand will actually decrease.
The SG would have/ will have to negotiate with the EU when we bin Westminster, but that would be by a Scottish Gov, in conjunction with Scottish fishermen, protecting a strategic asset, not the shower of plankton currently doing their utmost to undermine the SG, and as far as we can see just giving away rights to Scottish waters.

Totally agree Robert Louis

@Robert Peffers I didn’t think Robert Louis was blaming the SNP at all. Just pointing out that WM is putting the boot in to Scots affairs while our parliment is in recess

Good one Chris.

I literally couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the fishers or farmers.

They campaigned for No, watched every Vow or promise collapse to Tory denial or laughter, then Voted Leave on the back of more Tory, Right Wing promises. They have made their bed.

I care that this country does well, but these people don’t. THEY are voting for themselves, as individuals to hopefully do well, as is the Tory mantra – me first, last and always.

It’s the height of stupidity, given their customers are their neighbours, but that’s how selfishness works.

This where the fishermen and farmers discover their champions are nothing more than toadying, ineffectual lobby fodder too frightened to break ranks and stand up for the promises they made during the election. Col Mad Ruth McMad has been particularly quiet on the matter…although her making fun of May’s cornfield thing might suggest she is ready to back somebody else for leader.

On the fishermen and farmers, are they, I wonder, like the elderly leave voters*? More than happy to take a hit to their pocket, even their livelihoods, simply to achieve Brexit?

* I am expecting the elderly leave voters to be the first to moan like fuck when they realise this means that those nice Polish care workers that visited each day are no longer there to help them out of bed and into their clothes. Equally expecting the Daily Heil to lead with screaming headlines on the scandal of our neglected elderly.

Pentland Firth

Perhaps the Farmers for Yes might want to set up a rival to the NFU and be a voice for the small farmers.

Pentland Firth,

Thank you, generalised farmer bashing like Valerie’s comment above is not helpfull. There are problems with agriculture, like large estates with many farming units owned by one absentee family. Or agri-business farmers taking on extra farms and grabbing more and more subsidies.

Smaller single unit family farms are not the problem, they are EU tolerant and often Indy supporting.

Don’t forget there is a difference in view within the fishing community. The people with the big boats from the North East are outright Tory/UKIP, supported by Bertie Armstrong but the West Coast creelers are all for the EU because they are wholly reliant on the continental market.

Also within the North East fishing community there is a huge split between the catchers and the processors.

Twa millionaire farmer Tory MP, MSP. Not declaring subsidies in financial interests. £100,000? MSP worth £2Million. Income £1/2Million + subsidy + MSP remuneration + expenses. Claiming farmers receive £12K on average. All NE Tories claim in Parliament they support education. The Tory/Unionist council is trying to cut it £Millions. They have cut specialist teachers, bases and other support. They plan to cut rural schools. They blame the SNP for forty years of unionist fishing policies. The fisherman overfished the seas threw back more dead fish than they caught. They did not use bigger nets like the Norwegians. They were destroying their own industry. Any Gov would have brought in conservation measures.

Scottish Gov 2000. SNP Minority Gov 2007.

People in the NE did not come out to vote. They became complacent. Some people never learn. Now Tory dominated ACC. Leader is one of the nine disgraced non Labour councillors. The SNP has the biggest number of councillors. Frozen out by the unionists who have ruined the City. £Billions in debt.

Some people never learn. Vote Labour get Tory. Alex Salmond did more for the NE in five years than the unionists did in fifty. AWPR, airport expansion, the Golf Development, harbour expansion, etc. Brought more capital investment to the NE than any other politician.

The NE sold out by the unionists for over fifty years. CCS projects reneged upon. Oil & Gas revenues mismanaged and misused. Over taxed. Illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion. Brexit will affect the NE the most. Disadvantaged.

Superb. One of your best, Chris. [Aren’t we due another book of your cartoons?]

Now is the time for pro-indy fishermen and farmers to speak out louder.

Many farmers and fishermen support the SNP. Many realises the drawbacks and hardship of Brexit etc. Many make large donations to the SNP. They are supporters of Independence and see the advantages. They have worked with the SNP Gov reps and helped bring in the changes to larger nets leading to higher quotas etc. There are very enlightened folk among the rural communities. Innovation and better methods are supported. The Westminster unionist took subsidies given to poorer farmers by the EU. Scotland as part of the UK receives the lowest subsidy in the EU.

Scotland is self sufficient in food, drink and energy. Worth £Billions in exports. Scotland could benefit from EU CCS and renewable grants. Blocked by Westminster indecision. Reneging on promises. Longannet CCS project. Peterhead CCS Project etc. Scotland could house CCS projects for the whole of Europe. Wind, wave and solar energy. Scotland has the best natural facilities in the world for renewables and innovation. Great university, education sector.

Mad Cow came from Alabama. Cost £Billions of public money. 10 years of lost beef products exports.

Typhoid from Argentina

Ken MacColl at 11.27

Is’t Mo Farrah one of those pesky immigrants?

Didn’t the folk of the North East communities make their feelings clear, when they kicked out Salmond and Robertson, in June?

I’d like to know how that makes them open to persuasion. They have their Tory MPs and MSPs, to look out for them now.

I know that some farmers struggle, especially the poorer, difficult hill farms, that get EU subsidies, but we will all suffer as HMS Brexit slowly sinks.

There is only so much info to be thrown at the 30% Britnat crowd that will spend any amount of money, preventing Scotland’s independence.

Check out interests of NE Tory MSP – MP. Debate on fishing called by Chapman. Blaming SNP for 40 years of unionist fishing policies. It is all documented. Statement as new MSP Mason. Rambling nonsense. The Tories cut Education funding in Aberdeenshire. Planning to cut £Millions more. If they can get away with it. Backed by the LibDems. Blocked the AWPR for over 30 years. Traffic chaos. The only City in Europe without a by-pass road.

Chapman called Andy Wrightman, a ‘nasty, little man’ for calling out the subsidies. £100,000? Not declared. Interests declared.Worth £2Million. (3farms) £1/2Million income + MSP remuneration + expenses. Claims on average farmers receive £12K of remuneration?

The Scottish Gov should publish the CAP subsidy payments. In the interest of openness. The EU Grants etc.

O/T

“The UK needs to be better prepared for a “no deal” Brexit to show Brussels there is a “credible” alternative should the negotiations fail, a former Bank of England governor has said.”

“Lord King of Lothbury said failing to agree a trade deal with Brussels was “not the first preference of anybody”, but more work needed to be done to show the European Union that the UK was serious about walking away if there was no agreement.”

link to msn.com

Aye, blame those damned unreasonable foreigners trying to punish good old Blighty.

The Dunkirk Spirit will see us through nae doot.

Sellt uz wan.

Hoo diz New Zealand carrie-oan, withoot subsidies?

Ah wunnurr if awe thurr dykes, huv kissing-gates.

Cheers Chris.
How long will it take though for large numbers of Scottish fishermen and farmers to come to realise that they have been sold a pup?

In the fisherman’s case maybe not too long, now that Gove has started the softening up process by revealing to the Danes that there would always be room for their fishing boats in the UK sector of the N. Sea. The softening up was always going to come, Gove says we’re to wee to do it by ourselves anyway.

As an example of fishermen being lied too and given false hope the last news article published on the SFF website was from 13th July. As there’s nothing yet to be found from Gove, maybe Armstrong only reports the good news on their website?

Responding to the publication today of the UK Government’s Great Repeal Bill, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation Bertie Armstrong said: “As far as fisheries are concerned, the Great Repeal Bill is the first legislative step towards full UK control and management of its own waters.

link to sff.co.uk

There used to be a lot of poor farmers and fishermen before the EU

Why do supermarkets in Scotland sell milk that’s been brought from Inglind when we’re surrounded by the stuff right here

Why do supermarkets in Scotland sell fish that’s been brought from Inglind when we’re surrounded by the stuff right here, my personal favourite ridiculous item is Yorkshire Brook Trout sold by Morrisons

Trout! freaking Trout! ye cannae move for the buggers in Scotland and we’re importing them from somewhere else
Salmon from Norway, eh whit! somebody’s mentally having a laugh at us
Why do supermarkets in Scotland sell Lamb from anywhere else when our hills are crawling with sheep, cows, goats when every freaking animal we might want to eat grows right here

Then the Brits think we’re that stupid we’ll love it because they slap a Union Flag on it to make us proud to be British

Support your local farmers they say and I do because I buy nothing with the Imperial flag on it, but I don’t like it when our own farmers and fishermen are ripping the pish out of us by playing two timing politics just for the sake of instant cash right now and sod the rest of us

They’re not stupid and uninformed they’re just greedy grasping money grabbers
They’ll be typing away on their Apple macs or jumping into their new Range Rovers to come and give me a row next but they won’t get me coz I’ll be sitting in Costa Coffee drinking my Latte with imported milk from Inglind that comes in a van,… in a van!…… (Aye that’ll be right)

The EU must’ve been a terrible burden to them

Any farmers or fishermen able to explain what the industry thinks the benefits of Brexit will be?

I see a lot of debates on the NFU Scotland twitter feed along the lines of ‘Great debate on Brexit”.

I never see though any links, transcripts, or details of what was so great about the debate or the supposed advantages/disadvantages of Brexit.

The NFUS seem completely unable to pick a side on the Brexit debate which is bizarre given how important the issue of delayed subsidy payments has been in recent months.

It’s a bit like a trade union for public servants being neutral on austerity and public sector pay cuts.

Anyway, that was a scot gov paper, and perhaps the farming sector has is own surveys, for the “official” view.

From personal quite a lot / some / a little / second-hand, knowledge of a few dozen small farmers, mostly owned, some local, some all round Scotland (I like to talk and listen and get the local craic) they are NOT running around in the latest model Discovery sitting on the tail-gate with the champers and vol au vents and pate de foies, they are struggling, and many have second jobs totally outside farming, like working in shops, restaruants, cafes, cleaning self-catering cottages at changeover time.

My personal totally wild arsed guess of the actual percentage of filthy rich farmers is less than 10% of those in the farming sector, maybe less than 5%.

Leaving 95% who are very likely potential YES voters, just the same as all the rest of us punters.

YES V NO

REMAIN V lEAVE

The use of referendums at first sight seems the most democratic way of settling matters.

The reality is that it allows the competing camps to make false assertions with no accountability.

I could list the many false promises of NO, but the most pertinent one just now is: “a NO vote guarantees Scotland’s EU membership”.

Leave told us: £350 million a week extra for the NHS.

The use of referendums allowed the electorate to be conned.

If Scottish independence is again decided by referendum, the same tactics will be used again. Project Fear 2 will ride again with no accountability necessary when it’s a referendum.

A referendum is only an indication of public will anyway, it is not binding on WM MPs.

The people were sold a pup in 2014. Again with Leave or Remain.

They’ll be sold a pup again if there is another indyref.

Indyref should be abandoned and independence should be achieved by elections, with all pro-indy candidates standing under a single YES “party” manifesto: a vote for me is a vote for independence.

No candidates for administration of WM devolution govt.

If we win the election, Scotland becomes dependent. Fresh elections will be held to decide the policies for the Govt of an independent Scotland AFTER independence has been chosen.

Brilliant, bull’s eye! Brexit is really going to the dogs …

Magical, Chris. Just fab.

What I like is the space for pathos that you leave. The fishers do need some control back, and Westminster has so few chips to work with … But they used the fishers so well… as an excuse to Natbash and Eurobash, and now they have so cashed in the authority the fishers gave them at the big table in Denmark. First, we can’t even process all our fish, so why don’t you, as long as you’re nice to uk; who cares about all the scuppered Scottish boats, and all the ruined livelihoods? … And second, it’s only Westminster you Europeans need to deal with… we’ll let the Scottish Parliament know whenever we get round to it… In fact, we’ll just leave it for bloggers and our friends in the press to tell them.

Fishers have every right to be angry… As do farmers… Thanks for not just sticking it to them Chris… It’s all in the puppery.

Respect.

OT

Quite clear that the SFF are in cahoots with the Tories. Look at their tweets all Mundell, Bertie “No Surrender” Armstrong

The Scottish Fishing Federation state that their aims

“Preserve and promote the collective interests of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation constituent associations.
Ensuring a viable and sustainable future for the fleet in terms of both economics and environmental responsibility.
Working to improve the perception of the fishing industry……”

Does this square with giving up rights to the English and Danish fleets?

Seems to me the SFF has been taken over by a right wing cabal. Scots fishing folk fight back– the Tories and Armstrong are selling you out.

It’s funny, but back during indyref1, we were regularly beset with all those scary stories in the media about how businesses were going to decamp en masse to Inglind if we humble peasants dared to vote for indy.

Now, how things have changed, even if perceptions have not. Very many businesses (especially financial) are now making actual preparations to move at least part of their operations over to the Continent in the expectation of Brexit (whatever kind it is being sold as), yet you hear nary a peep of that reality from the media. Including the ones whose funding comes directly out of our own pockets.

Without full and free information on what is truly going on, far too often members of the public (including farmers and fishers) are unaware of the realities. OK, in many cases they are actively willing to remain ignorant, since their prejudice is more comfortable to them than the unpalatable truth. Until it’s all too late.

But when reality does finally intrude, we need to be able to show them that independence does provide a viable alternative, and it’s not too late after all.

The Pakistani guy the Tories will kick out if they can:

Who cares about gay rights they chose to be that way so live with it

That’s what we hear from the Tories and many Unionists, we all know the ones, but here’s what they don’t get, you don’t have to like them, talk to them, or think about them if you don’t want to, but what you do have to do is fight tooth and nail for their human rights to be who they are because if you don’t you’ll allow the people who would remove those rights to come for you next because they don’t like something about you

And we’ve seen that before

Wullie B

Thank you for helping us all to understand some of what is actually going on in the fishing community. We’re at the mercy of media reporting which is not always reliable.

The east/west divide must be really frustrating and it is yet another result of this stupid divisive WM government.
That the worst lies are being told by Scottish ministers – Gove, Fox and Mundell makes it all the more galling.

We will endure tho…

Hi Meg,
The lies and mistruths are worst from the Sots themselves, just like 1706 when the union of parliaments was being talked about, many have tried to cash in on 30 pieces of silver .
The problem is, an Ulster Orangeman is at the forefront of the white fish boats in Scotland, your man Bertie No Surrender Armstrong, and he has certainly helped peddle Yoon propaganda, that this will be so great , but a lot of the problems that fishermen have were caused by Richard \Lochhead and his quest for MPAs and SACs.
He helped lose any support the Scottish fisherman had for the ScotGov, as he didnt listen to the industry and this has also helped stoke the fires of Tory support getting a larger foothold, back in the 80s Winnie Ewing and Alex Salmond did a lot of good getting the support, and when in 2001/2 when the cod quota was cut, Lochhead helped support the Cod Crusaders from Fraserburgh, This was at a time when the likes of Elliot Morley was in charge of quota talks in Brussels, the TV show Gutted showed what was happening, Scots boats going to get chopped up in Grenna, the December talks when Scots representation was locked out of the room, and a wee fat Penfold walking out saying they got the best deal possible, 100 boats consigned to the scrap heap when Spainn was getting 100% funding for new builds, the last funding Scotland had ended in 1984 when the HIDB stopped giving grants to the west coast to update the fleet(My father also had one of these grants as we had moved to the west coast by then, my father has called out friends from the industry who voted leave because of their short sightedness, tarriffs, lorries getting inspected instead of being able to drive straight to foreignmarkets but to no avail.
Also the EU hasnt done itself no favours, 60% of fish caught in UK waters is by foreign flagged boats, 60% of Scottish fleet scrapped in three decomssioning schemes,(banks forced owners when uncertainty hit early millenium) and cheap foreign imports from Iceland a non EU nation flood the market with frozen at sea haddock and cod. COsts have gone up a lot yet supermarkets wont pay a fair rate and thefishermen are disenfranchised on the east coast.
Now on the west coast most catches are shellfish, Prawn, Brown Crab, velvet crab and Lobster, all bound for Spanish and French Markets, The West Coast fishermen know they are in trouble in a Brexit Britain but the major clout for the industry is East Coast, SFF, SFWPA and so on, so the West Coast doesnt have the voice that the east coast does, I know many who are thinking about selling up at a loss rather than face the stuggles they will, Crab and prawn which stored in viveier tanks will die off and the fisherman will lose a lot, they dont earn the big bucks of the east coast, many are surviving just, but that could be about to change, in a way teh west coast inshore fleet are similar to the hill farmers and money they make is from a tighter margin. so please dont blame all the fishers, they were not all pro Brexit despite what the media and industry leaders state

@wullie B

Thanks for posting the Fishing for Leave long missive of something that reads as incredibly naive.

It’s, Tories, we believed you, and now you are shafting us, even though we got you Scottish votes.

It’s literally quite unbelievable. As Dr Jim says above, let’s not assume they are all stupid.

Numerous times the fishermen were reminded of the original betrayal by Tories in the 70s, when Scottish waters were traded for freedoms in London banking. It was described in the papers as ‘expedient’.

That was raised by numerous SNP politicians, not just activists, but still they know better. They were told SNP would seek to renegotiate the CFP, but still they turn to the Tories.

They knew as well as anyone, that Tories did not deliver one aspect of The Vow. They must be, even vaguely, watching the direction of travel of this Tory government, regarding Scotland.

They are politically engaged, as we see, with the Tories, fully believing they will deliver their demands. They are reaping what they’ve sown.

My sympathy to you, and others like you.

Can we ALL remember that in our lifetime, we have ALL (almost) been suckered from when we were ‘knee high to a grasshopper’ by the ‘Great Britain’ government, the banners, the glorification of war, the system or whatever you want to call it.

We have at various stages of our lives managed to remove the ‘wool from our eyes’, except those who want to believe they will be looked after (not very well compared to other Countries – I know, U.K./GB is not a Country) or have some financial interest in the current system.

I believe, as others have suggested, that it is better to show some support to those who have been let down by another State/Media lie, to help them to see there are better opportunities for our Country through and beyond Independence.

The Buchans etc have £16Millions of assets. When the euro went down the fishing processors in the north east were being bailed out with public money. Home ports have exclusive landing rights under EU rules. The fish market premises are being extended with EU funding, Richard Lockhead negotiated the deal for higher quotas using larger nets. Throughout the 80’s NE fisherman were landing £Million catches. There were competition between them. Cod quotas have been now been extended. Conservation has paid off. People were working in the Oil sector from choice. On the rigs, supply boats etc. Youngsters want better conditions and time off.

Scottish Gov 2000 Minority SNP Gov 2007.

Brexit. Fishing would gain £200Million? Scotland will lose £8Billion. With the NE being hit worse.

In the NE voters did not turn out. Complacency. Absent voters. Some people never learn.

BBC HYS is so confusing today, Brexiteers raging at Tories, I dont know who to upvote or who to downvote 😀

Just watching Deutsche Welle. Piece on Yemen cholera disaster. Presenter says ‘The country is lying in ruins. One of the richest countries in the world is bombing one of the poorest’.

I cant imagine that phrase being on the BBC.

Dr.jim 3.17pm. Very good point,all it takes for evil to succeed,is for good men to do nothing.

Wullie B. Great post and insight into the fishing industry.

I have nothing but contempt for these fishermen/farmer tory I’m alright f**k you jacks . And spare me the ‘we need these people on board s***e. They knew exactly what and who they were voting for.Tory scum.

Wot? Another fisherman! Skegness obviously too much for Chris. Try Mablethorpe next time.

If those pups are from life I want one.

Ian – The 9 Down on the Cryptic Crossword does appear to be ‘Grouse Beater’, but the National can’t be referring to me. I don’t think they know I exist! (Unless you compiled the crossword!)

Gfaetheblock: “Used to be one on that run of shops.

Well who the hell gave me that intimate Swedish massage?!!!

Ian: It was you! – many thanks for the kind thought.

I’m not in Wings list of recommended sites but I’m immortalised in a crossword. An honour indeed from The Brotherhood. I shall cut it out, frame it, and keep it till its value accrues for my grandchildren’s education.

@Grouse Beater –

You are very welcome mister.

If you want to get the thing preserved properly, I highly recommend Miss Donna Babington who has some special sooper-dooper machinery which makes the accurate engraving of such material possible. She has done some splendid work for and on behalf of WOS, and I’m sure Rev Stu himself would heartily recommend her services. http://www.saltirecustomcreations.com

In any event, I’m just glad you didn’t object to being cryptically presented as a ‘professional alarmist’! (Intended as a compliment, and I hope you interpret it as such.)

More power to you, yer blog, and the muse who inspired yer handle.

😉

Ian:

I like ‘professional alarmist”.

A lot better than “arch whinger” as opined by a flatulent unionist yesterday to his pals.

Takes some multi-thinking brain work to compose crossword puzzles. Create one for ‘Independence Day’. Maybe something more cryptic than, “dependence on an anniversary birthday”, or something like it.

Hope you are getting a fee and the job has 20 years to go!

@GB –

🙂

Glad you got it and liked it.

I did the first cryptic XW in The National, but I’d swap that, and all the ones I’ve done since – in a nanosecond – for the chance to compile the XW for Independence Day.

Tick-tock…

heedtracker says:
5 August, 2017 at 5:00 pm

Wullie B, so did Gove lie to Scots fishing industry? seems clear he did/nt.

Nopehe didnt lie, he told them that the UK would take back waters it had as historic rights, those rights were 12 miles out, the Danes were the ones who had fished within sight of the Scottish coast inc the inner Moray Firth and that was why the London Convention of 1964 was was signed, it was the fishermen being told by the likes of Farage about taking back the 200 nautical mile/median line where the nation closes up to EU borders, but a lot of naivity, if you want an insight of how they think, join a facebook page called Fishing onward Brexit at this link and see they are still naive SNP hating tory voters, but bare in mind there are English fishers there as well link to facebook.com

@Wullie B

Because of your first post today I did a bit of reading online about Scottish Fishing. Mainly statistics from the scot gov website but also some local issues around where I live.

I’m not far from Arbroath, it’s my nearest town and as everyone knows is famous for the Arbroath Smokie. What I didn’t know was that there is only one boat now registered in Arbroath and even that lands in Peterhead.

So there is no white fish landed in Arbroath other than from the tourist boats in the summer with what they’ve caught with their rods.

The next nearest harbour that does land fish is over on the East Neuk and still just over 100 boats fishing out of that area, not for white fish though more than 95% are small boats using creels for shellfish like linguistine, lobsters and crabs.

Still it is an industry worth around £4 million/year and around 1500 to 2000 tonnes are landed every year in that corner of Fife. Here’s what I didn’t know, almost none at all is sold to locals at Pittenweem Fish Market.

A story in the Courier gave this report last year.

But the trial was also a direct response to the “craziness” whereby just about every piece of shellfish currently landed at Pittenweem is packed into lorries and goes to Peterhead or Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire, for processing and packing.

From there it is exported mainly to Spain, France and Italy – hardly ever being sold in Fife hotels or restaurants.

link to archive.is

My question is what will the local fisherman do if tariffs are brought in for live shellfish sales into the EU, where will there produce go? What if there is no customs union and the shellfish do not arrive at their destination still live?

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Let’s hope Gove has a plan.

Alex Clark @12.28am

What the hell are you and I posting stuff this time of night? Just in from a night out in a buzzing Edinburgh and read your post. (WoS does become addictive!)

You are just worrying too much, according to Mr Bertie Armstrong, CEO of the Scottish Fisheries Federation, the fishing industry can relax and rely on the currency markets reducing the value of Sterling!

This from the transcript of his oral evidence to the Exiting the European Union Committee, 19 December 2016, Aberdeen (link to data.parliament.uk ):

“On the matter of tariffs for fish, the WTO average is 5% to 10%. Since the day after the referendum, currency has fluctuated just shy of 20% , and always does anyway in reaction to circumstance. The point we would make is let us not be frightened to death by tariffs at all. They may be consumed in the noise of currency fluctuations but some small tariffs would not necessarily be a disaster, particularly as the other side of that coin is that you may access new markets, for instance India, that are currently shut for you because of the present circumstance.”

So, don’t worry about the effect of the value of the pound on the price of our imports – presently on fish we largely export what we don’t eat and import what we do eat – Mr Armstrong is telling us that a weaker Pound Sterling will make everything OK!

Pleasant dreams!

SO that’s the fisherpeople and farmers got their pups as expected.

Who is next to be got at and sold a pup. There’s an endless supply of pups for deployment, they manufacture them on a production line.

I think LHS pup has done a wee jobby on his hand.

It’s all in the eyes.

@ yesindyref2 – just read your linked Sunday Herald article. Reads as if the media are now going to turn the Michelle Thomson case into a “let’s you and them fight” battle against the SNP. In particular, the relationship between Nicola as leader and Peter as CEO.

Despicable always.

re. SH article

This will not do any favours for the FM or the Party, errors seem to have been made and the bringing up of different treatments of male/female MPs by the SNP is a concern.

It was a bit strange that I never saw (or heard) any congratulations from Nicola when Mrs Thomson was “completely cleared” – just found that a bit odd.

There is a ‘lovely ‘ wee article in the Daily record from March 2016 about Ms Thomson – I look forward to her suing them now she is free so to do.

Having read the Sunday herald article I am more than a little disappointed in the direction of travel.

Failure to reach Brexit deal ‘suicide’ for UK, says former EU chief
link to archive.is

link to weforum.org

link to zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk

link to euobserver.com

join a facebook page called Fishing onward Brexit at this link and see they are still naive SNP hating tory voters, but bare in mind there are English fishers there as well link to facebook.com

I doubt they’d let me join. The admin are interesting though, “from PeterHead” and “I’m voting Conservative” photos everywhere. Dear god.

Problem is really, no one really knows what’s going on, except at the top. You’re clearly trying to work it all out and look at your conclusions.

Its the UKOK way. Just like how your average UK offshore oil worker hasn’t the faintest idea why his neighbouring rig worker in the Norwegian sector, earns 4 times more, gets 4 times more time off, far higher safety standards, infinitely higher working conditions and so on.

Keep them in the dark, keep all the bootie. Welcome the UK. I have no idea what’s happening, so I’m voting Conservative.

Nana; Good Morning, it’s a soggy Sunday here this morning. Thank You for Your lovely links. Kettle’s on. 🙂

Grow a pair!

Indeed you should. Why are waiting for some one else to do this for you though, Mr Goose?

BBC Scotland doing their usual – David Clegg and Katy Grant doing the papers!! Good grief.

It’s been a torrid few weeks for the Yes movement. The deeply personal attacks on Stuart Campbell do not make the campaign for independence look like something a new activist would get involved with or that a floating voter would even give the time of day to. It would be a terrible mistake to pretend this is all new though. It is only the latest, angriest round of behaviour from a Unionist fringe who should have been called out, and if necessary cast out, a long time ago for their actions.

The latest leak about future torture, from Tory Scum.

They will propose making Benefits a repeatable loan.

How many more people have to commit suicide, before this country wakes up?

It was BBC link on Twitter just now. Too depressed to archive 🙁

heedtracker says:
6 August, 2017 at 9:32 am
Imagine tory media gimps actually reporting reality:D

My only reason to listen to them these days is not to learn about the world, but to learn about propaganda techniques 🙂

The other really noticeable pattern has been that those leading the hordes against Stuart Campbell and others were nowhere to be seen in 2014.

While they were sitting in their Union Jack festooned cellars, frothing bile emanating from their keyboards, those they were and still are castigating for being pro-independence’ were out every day knocking on doors, holding public meetings, organising tens of new volunteers and possibly winning no votes.

My only reason to listen to them these days is not to learn about the world, but to learn about propaganda techniques

I tune in to BBC r4 for all that, English nationalist tory propaganda. Its quite a listen. Oddest er, English thing, is how they slip and slide in and out of English/British all the time.

If youre not from round here, it must be a bit disorientating, this English/British thing from bbc r4. This, with their black out of anything Scots and SNP and their total love and worship of neo con USA, its all very vote tory radio mad.

BBC r4 tory gimps do like the sound of some Scots though, but always in thrilled awe at just how wonderful it really is, to be posh tory English/British. Hope the beeb Scots gimps that do this creepy radio fluffing, are well paid for it all.

At this stage of the game, it is hard to know what the effects of Brexit will be when we don’t even know that type there will be.

However, it is obvious in the short and medium term there will be a drop in living standards. The same thing would have happened with Scottish independence. The question is how much of a drop of living standards in both situations.

I’m biased of course but in the case of Scottish independence, given how little change there would be, there wouldn’t be that much of a drop of living standards but in the case of Brexit, depending on the degree of change i.e. hard brexit, the drop of living standards could well be a lot bigger.

Depending on this, the pressure on the government to do deals to get cheap foodstuffs to the UK will be too great. As the saying goes a society is 3 meals away from a revolution. It could well mean that a post Brexit UK will be flooded chlorinated chicken from the US and cheap beef from the South Americas. In that case, British farmers will be decimated.

This of course is just an opinion and influenced of course of being against Brexit but it is a possibility.

Well there you go. No matter my sympathy for Michelle Thomson former MP allegations, is she doing the right thing by running to the BBC of North Britain to bleat ? Yes she has a gripe with the SNP but is was the frigging BBC that did the hounding was it not ??

Sad & Shoddy dealings all round & no doubt has the right for a face to face with FM, but run to the BBC to tell tales ???
Says it all for me. Lost all credibility right there lady.

Enough said lets move on. The lady is going to be nothing but trouble from now on … Alex Bell anyone.

Odds on her getting a spot along with Katie Grant now … anyone ??

Really helping the cause you claim to hold dear with that tactic Michelle. Ta from all at YES

uno mas says:
6 August, 2017 at 10:13 am
@ Giving Goose 9.13am

Hear hear!

Same message to you. Stop waiting for other people to do what you want.

Get stuck in yourselves.

donnywho @ 5 August, 2017 at 10:56 am

Agreed that calling them out and dipping all farmers in tar”n”feathers is not the way to convert them. Satisfying as it might be.

I ask you how you feel when you realize you have been taken for granted, manipulated and lied to?

Because if we call them fools and selfish then they will just bury their heads in their prejudices and harden their hearts.

Call an Orange man marching down the street a Bigot he will forcefully deny it and give you a wee slap so you understand. He does not want his world view, no matter how strange, challenged.

Sympathize with him over being abandoned by his beloved Britain and you might get him to listen.

And this is where we should go with the Fishermen, sympathy and a shared sense of outrage, they don’t need to have their noses rubbed in it.

A common cause a belief that Westminster cannot be trusted, these are the seeds that need to be planted, watered and nurtured.

You are an idiot and should be punished is not going to achieve anything, other than a moments vicarious pleasure.

Them coming to that moments realization that they have been conned that will be Beautiful… and as we know a converts zeal is unstoppable, especially if the said convert, feels betrayed by his former friends!

I totally agree with this.

Ok, during indyref, we got a bit carried away in what an iScotland could achieve but for the whole we had truth on our side whereas the opposite traded in lies, deceit and playing on peoples fears.

Rather than playing the game that those against independence want us to play which is divide and conquer, we should get those who who oppose independence to talk about why are against it, their fears and concerns.

An example of this is the Orange Order types. They are concerned about their British identity and afraid of just becoming plastic Brits much like Scots who are third or fourth generation Irish immigrants. Sure, an independent Scotland will go it’s on way on a lot of things compared to rUK but given that we share the same island, the ease of travel and given the size of rUK, it will have a such cultural impact on iScotland that both won’t become two separate cultural entities.

In that case, their fears are unfounded and played played by the British establishment as much as indy supporters.

Michelle Thomson interview on Sunday GMS. She criticises the BBC at 23 mins. Just under 3 mins of 28 min interview. link to indyref2.scot …

link to twitter.com

Ponsononby on the ball, always

Hey there Nana and Smallaxe = )

As for the farmers and the fisherfolk being sold a pup. ( Clever cartoon again, Chris! )

I feel sorry for every one who has ever found themselves in that position.

After all, conmen are brilliant at telling lies very very convincingly. Or they wouldn’t be conmen for long, would they?

Hopefuly the duped farmers and fisherfolk will now turn to Independence and feel properly welcomed when they do =)

Who would want Nicola Sturgeon’s job? Damned if you do and damned if you don’t and not in a position to publicly address the situation. There was no way that Nicola Sturgeon could turn a blind eye to the allegations. She had to take the stance that she took at the time, imo. It wasn’t her that dragged the so-called non event out for two years either. If as we’ve been told Michelle Thomson was questioned as a witness to another individuals case, only, why didn’t her lawyer demand that her name was cleared within weeks of the media Thomson / SNP hate fest?

And now we’ve got Michelle Thomson coming out with all guns blazing in the wrong direction. No mention of Kezia Dugdale, the BBC, STV or the press etc. More than anything giving the real culprits, the Establishment propaganda machine, even more ammunition against Nicola Sturgeon / the SNP / the Independence movement. Stating that the witch hunt was due to her gender and nothing to do with her politics is also farcical. You couldn’t make it up and I’m extremely disappointed, to say the least, with Michelle Thomson.

Great links Nana.

“With due respect to Michelle Thomson, and fully acknowledging the torment she has suffered, the underlying issue here is, not the differential treatment of women, but the anti-SNP prejudice that is rife within the British establishment.”

It is horrific. And its only matched by their vote tory propaganda. Its the same in America, who just voted in Orange Hitler. Imagine the tory reaction to Pres Obama who might have said this “When you’re a star they let you do it,” Trump says in the recording, which was obtained by the Washington Post and released on Friday. “You can do anything.”

Trump, in a 2005 conversation with a television host that was caught on a live microphone, describes a failed seduction, saying: “I did try and fuck her, she was married,” and says that when he meets beautiful women he feels able to “grab them by the pussy”.

“You can do anything,” he tells Billy Bush, the TV host who is a cousin of George W and Jeb Bush.

UK and US media is fascist. Simple as that. Keep in mind how many so called Christians actually vote in Orange Hitler. in the US, Here in the UK, they vote for a tory party that’s caused the premature deaths of countless thousands of disabled people.

Why? because the richest in the UK, in the City, are either terrible at the their City jobs, or just out and out crooks.

Either or, dark days indeed, for us non fascists.

@ Petra – Michelle Thomson does call out the BBC, Kezia Dugdale and the press. See the interview linked to by Nana above. She also criticises (quietly) the SNP leadership. That might be understandable under the circs. Nothing that the leadership can’t sort soon.

link to indyref2.scot

Note that she suggests Kenny McKaskill takes the same view!

The BBC are obviously carefully covering their tracks and laying a false track to blame the SNP for MTs treatment. Let’s not fall into that trap.

Re Michelle Thomson….let’s not forget that Alex Cole Hamilton used , in his campaign literature, the fact that she was being ‘investigated’ as a means to highlight a negative slant on voting SNP.

If , to him, this was a valid reason NOT to vote for a party then ……he himself is now in a similar position…..I say similar, however she has now been exonerated….he on the other hand is still at the stage of after being reported to fiscal STILL being under investigation…though in Alex’s mind that is tantamount to proof of guilt is it not…..well, to him, it WAS in Michelle’s case was it not……life does indeed come at you fast.

One assumes if found guilty re campaign overspend then…. as he is obviously so very ‘principled’…..he will resign…..or will it be the usual double standards we have come to expect from the party whose collective brass necks are infinitely on show.

Yes I know…..it will indeed be (shady) business as usual….the mantra of unionists political parties towards SNP is as always ‘Do as I say not as I do’.