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Wings Over Scotland


Rabbit Bugs Fudd

Posted on December 16, 2017 by

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  1. 16 12 17 07:56

    Rabbit Bugs Fudd | speymouth
    Ignored

223 to “Rabbit Bugs Fudd”

  1. David MacGille-Mhuire
    Ignored
    says:

    Classic, again.

  2. jimnarlene
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    says:

    Aye, Murdo’s a right Elmer.

  3. Highland Wifie
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    says:

    Derek looking very pleased with himself. And so he should.
    That’s one darn rabbit the tories didn’t expect.

  4. X_Sticks
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    says:

    Well done Chris. Exactly what I thought when I heard Derek’s budget. He really has managed to walk the tightrope of tax and come up with something it’s almost impossible for anyone of sane mind to criticise. Both the opposition and the bbc were left floundering without an SNP bad spin to it which seemed to really upset them all.

    Just need the Patrick to extract his wee pound of flesh which looks like it will be a do-able deal and the budget will be through.

    Yet again the SNP prove to be competent and fair in a very difficult political climate.

    If only our imperial masters were half as good and the UK might not be in the state it is. Ach well. it’s all good for the independence cause. Onward!

  5. winifred mccartney
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    says:

    Pure dead brilliant!

  6. Arthur Martin
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    says:

    Very well done Chris.
    Derek M certainly pulled that one out of the hat like a true magician and most people liked it, but the Tories and BLiS……..not a lot!

    And for his next trick, Scottish Independence, where Derek M makes the Union disappear!!!

  7. alexicon
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    says:

    I’m sure Murdo Fraser and Dean Lockhart will be on the case for the Nurses.

    NHS bosses are slammed for charging nurses £1,300 a year to park at work as unions, MPs and workers demand ‘outrageous’ high fees be scrapped

    https://archive.is/uFSUb

  8. Les Wilson
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    says:

    Excellent as usual Chris, only one complaint, you have Murdo looking like a thug, when he is really a woose with a mooth.

  9. Marie Clark
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    says:

    Oh great stuff Chris, The look on Murdo’s coupon is spot on.HA HA.

    alexicon @ 7.56, I don’t think Murdo and the ither numpty can say very much about the NHS nurses being charged for parking, as I’m sure that almost all (with maybe a couple of exceptions) of the SNHS car parks are free. Nothing to do with the branch office at all.

  10. starlaw
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    says:

    Well done Chris. Budget neatly summed up.

  11. Auld Rock
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    says:

    Alexicon very interesting link but I couldn’t find any Scottish Hospitals mentioned, can you confirm? If none, apart from left-over PFI built hospitals under Labour/Fib/Dems, then Murdo will be pissing in the wind and on his own Westminster clowns – as usual.

  12. alexicon
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Marie, Oh they’re always comparing Scotland with the rest of the uk. Remember Scotland being the highest tax area of the uk?
    From the article, medical staff are paying exuberant car parking charges in England, something that the uncaring tories conviently forget.

  13. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @alexicon says: 16 December, 2017 at 7:56 am:

    “I’m sure Murdo Fraser and Dean Lockhart will be on the case for the Nurses.
    NHS bosses are slammed for charging nurses £1,300 a year to park at work as unions, MPs and workers demand ‘outrageous’ high fees be scrapped”

    https://archive.is/uFSUb/

    First of all, Well done Chris Cairns.

    Now here’s another thing.

    The report quoted above assumes that the term, “The NHS”, applies to the entire United Kingdom but the UK does not have a unified NHS.

    Anyone know if any Scottish Hospital makes these charges?

    There is. it seems, a further side issue that the PPP/PPI financing of such as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary means that the Hospital building and its non-medical/surgical services will never belong to the Hospital Board. So the car parks belong to private sector financiers.

    However, here is a cut & Paste about the ERI parking charges

    The cost of a permit for staff is set to rise from £250 to £300. Here are the proposed changes to ERI parking charges for staff, patients and visitors: Up to one hour: Current charge – £1.30; New charge – £1.60. One-two hours: Current charge – £2.30; New charge – £2.70.23 Mar 2017.

    The significance of this is that all the staff are paying significantly less than their opposite numbers in other UK countries but I do not see any of the Scottish MSM or unionist broadcasters take such benefits into account in their outrageous lies about the Scottish Budget tax changes.

    Not a single unionist news outlet has taken into account the many actions the SNP SG has put in place to alleviate the effects of the wicked Westminster Establishment’s Austerity Measures that are obviously only being applied to the poorest and most vulnerable people in the United, (cough!), Kingdom.

    As the most wealthy in the UK have more than doubled their personal wealth during the Austerity Measures they are obviously not under ant form of austerity. These measures obviously are designed to transfer money from the pockets of the poor to the off-shore bank accounts of the rich.

  14. PictAtRandom
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    says:

    And in other, not entirely-unrelated, news The Girniad reports Chris Grayling (who else?) as advocating the introduction of Uber-style services to replace local buses. Funding in England & Wales down 33% since 2010 and 2400 services abolished or reduced since the Tories took over.
    We really don’t need to be integrated back into that sort of thing. Let’s be different in every way.

  15. Bob Mack
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    says:

    “Pesky wabbits” Our very own Elmer Fudd.

  16. Lenny Hartley
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    says:

    Auld Rock I had the good fortune and misfortune to be a guest at the New Southern General in Glasgow for six weeks just after it opened. I had the good fortune because it and the staff were incredible, misfortune as I was nearly deid, if it wasn’t for the brilliant staff and if I had been anywhere else I probably would have been, however I digress, re Parking, the Nurses had to pay for parking there , it was cheaper for them to pay to park in some wasteland that some enterprising person had turned into a non official staff car park. Nurses were very pissed off about it, it’s a scandal and should be addressed.

  17. Paul D
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    says:

    Auld Rock, you’re right that it is only the PFI hospitals and the Glasgow Royal Infirmary that sold of its parking that charge.

    When I worked for a Trust down south 5 years ago, I was charged £25 a month for parking. I was lucky and managed to wangle an onsite space because I needed my car to get to other sites during the day but many were sent to remote locations and had to get a (free) shuttle bus to site. Several colleagues even had to drive 3 miles past their work to then get a bus back!

    The alternative was £15 a day or on street parking in less salubrious parts of o

  18. Paul D
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    says:

    [hit enter by accident]

    … less salubrious parts of Manchester.

  19. Calum McKay
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    says:

    The SNP’s budget caught everyone off guard, those in favour of social justice were pleased and unionists spouted fake disgust.

    OT

    Interestingly, Mr Mogg, yes he the right wing chritian fundamentalist, is floating the notion the the uk is becoming a colony of the EU. He wishes to fight this with all his might.

    For those of us who see Scotland as already a colony of England (uk) and the uk being one of the more equal of the 28, this will come as a suprise.

    I have long thought highlighting Scotland’s historical and neo colonial status is a vote winner!

  20. Paul D
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    says:

    Lenny, I am glad that you recovered, assuming you’re not haunting this site. I suspect that there may be some misunderstanding over what you were being told. I worked there up to 6 months ago and at least then, there was no charging regime or intention to bring one in at that site. However parking is a considerable problem there, as I understand because the council would not give permission for adequate parking on site. There is as you say a private car park across the road that was initially run by NHS GG&C though it has left their control.

  21. Hamish100
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    says:

    BBC Shereen– oh Murdo is the soothsayer from the labour and tories. The Irish man put taxes up more the tory man no taxes at all. Indy supporter Cat “Ive got a hangover and a cold.”
    Well get someone sober to speak. Pillock

    Anything about dss benefit cuts no.

    Its all snp fault.– BBC scotchyland job done

  22. galamcennalath
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    says:

    Imagine how difficult all this would be for us if Unionist politicians, and Tories in particular, weren’t predictable!

  23. Grouse Beater
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    says:

    Terrific, Chris, spot on!

    That cartoon is lateral thinking! A cartoon character in a cartoon. I delight in is how well informed is Scotland’s voice these days and how dull is its opposition to liberty.

    I wish you well for next year, and hope to see more fine cartoons.

    Your essential weekend reading – a festive stocking filled with goodies

    Most Popular Political Essays of 2017: https://wp.me/p4fd9j-me6
    The Last Jedi – a Galactic Bore: https://wp.me/p4fd9j-mem
    Best Fillums of 2017: https://wp.me/p4fd9j-mde
    and
    Trending with 7,000 hits, Sturgeon’s welcome in Ireland blanked by the BBC: https://wp.me/p4fd9j-bwJ

  24. galamcennalath
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    says:

    Calum McKay says:

    Mogg … is floating the notion the the uk is becoming a colony of the EU

    Yes. He’s offended that his beloved England will have no influence over dictates and laws forced onto it. A colony as he sees it.

    Well, Moggie, join the fcking club! Perhaps he now might realise what it’s like to be Scottish under Tory rule. Of course he won’t, it will never cross his mind to compare the two setups.

    England has a God given (he probably believes) to lord it over others, but never ever must England be lorded over by Europeans!

    Their hypocrisy and sense of self entitlement knows no bounds.

  25. Proud Cybernat
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    says:

    Is Murdo constipated?

    Just asking.

  26. Kennedy
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    says:

    Do you think Tories, Tory voters and the press get embarrassed by the totally unbelievable shite they come out with??? Rhetorical question.

    I am embarrassed for them.

    How can the public still be 50/50 regarding Independence? How can anybody vote Tory? Any colour of Tory?

    what kind of world do people want to live in???

  27. heedtracker
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    says:

    WoS re tweets, my Slovene girlfriend’s rage a the nattax costing a him a few quid on his hundred grand a year pay cheque, is very predictable too.

    She says that when she rises to tory First Minister power in her Scotland region, the Colonel is going to be the next UK PM, only nats will pay tax, and the lovely tories like him will not pay a penny.

  28. liz
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    says:

    LOLZ Murdo – the permanently angry man. Well done Chris and Derek

  29. admiral
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    says:

    liz says:
    16 December, 2017 at 10:48 am
    LOLZ Murdo – the permanently angry man. Well done Chris and Derek

    I think they all model themselves on the permanently anger-twisted and scowling face of the Ruthsfuhrer!

  30. admiral
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    says:

    @ Calum Mackay

    You’re forgetting the British (i.e. English) Imperial world view:

    British (i.e. English) colony = good, the highest expression of democracy and civilisation imaginable
    Otherwise in any circumstance whatsoever, colony = bad, evil, wicked, an abomination, blah, blah, blah…

  31. Fred
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    says:

    Good news on the campaign to save Govan Graving Docks, Jim McColl intends to open a working shipyard once more!

  32. ronnie anderson
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    says:

    Hiz Derek been invited tae the Mansion Hoosy doo Chris LoL Brilliant Toon . We just have to wait & see how long it takes for the 1% cap cut to filter through to the Nurses Unions in England , how long it takes Hammond to react .

  33. galamcennalath
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    says:

    Looks like the transition the EU will offer will be business as usual in the full single market. (That pisses off hard Brexiteers like Rees Mogg and Farage)

    At first I thought it might be a hindrance to Indy, taking us too close of Holyrood2021.

    It might be an excellent opportunity.

    It’s supposed to be a transition/adjustment period from where the UK is, to where it wants to be.

    The EU will want to know where the UK wants to be soon, and it wouldn’t be single market. Which is a cue for IndyRef2. We have our referendum, and ideally win, prior to March 2019 and Brexit. Then we use the transition period of being fully in the single market to set up the new state of iScotland. Before rUK leaves the single market, iScotland will become an independent state which is fully compliant with EU laws and regulations.

  34. Ron Maclean
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    says:

    @Calum McKay 1011am

    Alf Baird (Newsnet 5 July 2017) and Grousebeater in his blog have done interesting articles on colonisation. I brought Alf Baird’s article to the attention of the SNP. As expected I heard no more about it.

  35. heedtracker
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    says:

    Sorry about too many a’s in that last one, trying to not go wtf out loud at my Slovene girlfriend’s nattax tweets. Why would my Slovene girlfriend’s hundred grand a year, make her think she’s the poorest, in Slovenia or her Scotland region?

    Adam Tomkins MSP?Verified account
    @ProfTomkins
    Dec 15
    More Adam Tomkins MSP Retweeted James Dornan SNP
    James Dornan on Twitter, Dec 2015: “you can’t increase income tax without penalising the poorest most”

    Adam Tomkins MSP added,
    James Dornan SNP
    Verified account

    @glasgowcathcart
    Replying to @ProfTomkins
    You and I will pay a wee bit more to make life better for others Adam. What’s the problem with that?

  36. Dan Huil
    Ignored
    says:

    The future’s bright; the future’s not orange. Yum yum.

  37. Clydebuilt
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    says:

    Kennedy at 10.46 . . . . Nothing to do with embarrassment . . . They are engaged in a process . . slinging mud. . . . Knowing that some of it will stick. . . . They all know what they are doing . . . . The difficult thing for them is to creatively dream up the crap . . .

  38. Brian Powell
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    says:

    A bit OT. I was thinking that as the majority of under 55s support Independence we should start a campaign for OAPs of, if you’re not sure, vote with the young and the younger, it is their future and they are willing to take the next steps for Scotland to decide. Help them do it.

  39. HandandShrimp
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    says:

    I have watched with bemusement as Tories have thrashed around trying all sorts of idiotic nonsense to declare the budget an act of wanton progressive decency 🙂

    No one is going to up sticks and commute hundreds of miles a week to avoid the new rates.

    By lifting the pay cap the Tories have nothing to say about pay of nurses or the police. The pay increase will be better than the tax rise if the Scottish Government had just followed Westminster tamely.

    We all know that the Tories want to reduce tax for the wealthy and crush the poor their faux outrage fools no one. Like Trump, they are all about themselves and no one else.

    Labour and the Lib Dems are in a curious position. They can’t say they dislike what has been done, they can just argue that they would have gone further. How much further and whether that would be economically realistic is the point of discussion and they can pitch that at the next election.

  40. Thepnr
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    says:

    Good toon Chris, now all we need do is help Nicola Sturgeon to pull another rabbit out of the hat by getting the Yes support up and set us on the road to an Independent Scotland.

  41. cearc
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    says:

    Proud Cybernat,

    Dunno, but he’s a pain in the arse for sure.

    galamcennalath,

    ‘The EU will want to know where the UK wants to be soon,’
    Some hope, eh?

  42. Albert Herring
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘The EU will want to know where the UK wants to be soon’

    Yes, otherwise they won’t agree to a transition period.

  43. heedtracker
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    says:

    Its very very weird on the tory twittersphere, over Scottish nurses and teachers.

    Who knew that the tory party were so passionately in love with nurses and teachers, maybe just the Scottish ones.

    Although to be fair, they all seem to only love nurses earning over £36k. So you clearly have to be over a certain pay scale to feel the true love of a tory, like my Slovene girlfriends.

    #tory.nurse.botherer

  44. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Brian Powell says:

    we should start a campaign for OAPs

    Indeed, swing the older NOs and we’re home and dry.

    My own favourite approach is to say that iScotland will bring the state pension up to the EU average within 3years of Indy, and target to be among the best by 10 years.

    It could be construed as simply buying votes, but that shouldn’t be what it’s really about. It should be about creating the poverty free state we know is possible with our vast natural and human resources.

  45. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    paul D, there definitely had a charging regime when I was there June/July 15, I had long and frequent discussions with Nurses about it, one was coming in from Near Larkhall before public transport started so had no alternative but to use her car, she also travelled to other Hospitals like Gartnavel and after an Initial period they told her she would have to pay to park onsite even though she needed her car to get to the other hospitals to conduct her business.
    Other Nurses had been given parking notices for parking in visitor’s spaces. A lot of them were really angry about it. I’m so glad it has been sorted, a disgrace they even thought about levelling a parking charge on staff in the first place. Maybe down to Teething problems, another thing that annoyed me during my stay was that staff canteens were shut coz some wee German Wummin was visiting to change the name of the hospital, that went down well with the staff!
    Other than that a utterly incredible facility.

  46. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    cearc says:

    ‘The EU will want to know where the UK wants to be soon,’

    Some hope, eh?

    As Albert Herring just said, “they [EU] won’t agree a transition period”, otherwise.

    I agree the Tories will struggle to find a compromise among themselves, but I’m pretty certain it won’t be single market, which should be the SG’s red line.

    The EU will offer ‘Canada’ style, which is goods trade only. The UK will counter wanting to include services, which is 70% of the economy and 40% of exports. The EU will counter counter and say, there’s the ‘Norway’ style if you want that. The UK rejects this.

    And so, fairly quickly we know it’s gonna be hard. Exactly how hard is almost irrelevant because it isn’t the minimum of single market Scotland requires. But the UK will settle on something near the hard end to get the transitional period IMO?

  47. heedtracker
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    says:

    As my Slovene girlfriend ejaculates his tory love for Scottish nurses all over them, his tory chums in England do stuff like this, to exact same nurses,

    Stinky olde The Graun, last year,

    “Bursaries for student nurses will end in 2017, government confirms

    Anger as Department of Health says replacing bursaries with loans will free up £800m a year to create extra nursing roles

    Student nurses and health workers protesting in January against the plans to scrap the NHS bursary.

    Thursday 21 July 2016 19.50 BST

    Christina McAnea, head of health at the Unison union, said the consultation had been a sham and ministers had failed to listen to the profession’s concerns. “They seem not to care that in a few years’ time the NHS will be seriously short of nurses and there will be too few new recruits coming through to fill the gaps,” she said.

    “That’s because the prospect of graduating with more than £50,000 of debt will discourage many from entering the profession at a time when the NHS is struggling to fill vacancies.”

    Or they could move to Scotland, where they may have to suffer NO fifty g’s of debt, at 7%, get paid more than in England, with much cheaper digs but may actually have to pay a few quid more tax, once they hit £35k pay scale.

    They will also however, have to endure listening to tory nutters like Colonel Ruth, mad Murdo and my Slovene girlfriend, the future leader of the Scottish haha tory party:D

  48. Gary45%
    Ignored
    says:

    Another classic Chris,
    Is it just me or every time you see a “toon” of “Comedy heid” Murdo you can’t tell if its an actual photo of his coupon.
    Wee O/T
    Was going to say Col Blimp looks like the “Home Pride” flour man but its face is too happy to be a Tory.

  49. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    Clydebuilt 11:19

    Even the non thinking voter will will start to question the shite.

    Agreed occasional mud will stick. But constant mud slinging will be counter productive. Especially ridiculous mud like we are seeing.

    Non thinking voters are not stupid. They will see their pay packets.

    Maybe I am a chronic optimist.

  50. Dan Huil
    Ignored
    says:

    I always think there should be a tatty aul’ golf ball nestling on top of Murdo’s grass-cutter heid. And a nine iron aboot to take a dirty great divot out of his skull.

  51. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Brian Powell says:
    16 December, 2017 at 11:21 am
    A bit OT. I was thinking that as the majority of under 55s support Independence we should start a campaign for OAPs of, if you’re not sure, vote with the young and the younger, it is their future and they are willing to take the next steps for Scotland to decide. Help them do it.

    I get the feeling we are at the tipping point.. or nearly.

    I see Farage and Rees-Mogg whining about Brexit, but it “feels” different now. It seems hollow. Westminster has talked the talk, but it has capitulated to the EU when talks have come to the crunch, but rather than such capitulation agitating anything more than superficial rhetoric from the usual suspects, I get the sense of an unspoken sense of relief. It’s not relief that Brexit might not happen, that seems fated, but a greater resignation that the UK is going to have to pay a heavy price if it wants to enjoy what it used to enjoy for free. Brexit is increasingly recognised as a great mistake, but a mistake the UK will have to live with rather than correct.

    Now that Europe has precedent for Westminster caving in, I don’t think the next stage of Trade Talks is going to be as difficult as predicted. The EU will dictate the terms of what’s on offer, and the UK will accept it or reject it. That same precedent suggests the UK will accept the deal, and deal with the domestic fallout and national humiliation.

    Don’t get me wrong, Brexit is still an intensely charged political issue, but an issue for the UK to adjust to. The UK’s exit from Europe is no longer a politically charged issue for Europe.

    The big question is where that leaves Scotland. Once Brexit is recognised as the great calamity which it is, I don’t think the UK will dwell on the error which is afterall, spilt milk, but they will adjust very quickly to the new reality of life outside the EU. To be blunt, it troubles me how Scottish Independence from an unrepentant and xenophobic BritNat UK compares to Scottish Independence from a humiliated, repentant and conciliatory UK. I like our odds with the former, but I’m not so sure about the latter.

    In my opinion, the Brexit “bloodletting” will be a political civil war in the UK Tory Right wing between Leavers and Remainers. Scotland’s input to that debate will be superfluous. Scotland will not get a constructive Brexit Deal unless we seize the initiative and carve a deal for ourselves.

  52. Jockanese Wind Talker
    Ignored
    says:

    On top of Derek Mackay’s “Fud enraging budget” the BritNats response has been brilliant.

    They haven’t just shot themselves in the foot they’ve blown all their toes off 🙂

    Most people may not be political anoraks but they aren’t daft.

    1. BritNat Politicians say these people will pay more in tax, be worse off and EssEnnPeeBaad.

    2. BritNat Media say these people will pay more in tax, be worse off and EssEnnPeeBaad.

    3. Scots Govs only effective BritNat Opposition in Scotland the BBC say these people will pay more in tax, be worse off and EssEnnPeeBaad.

    But these people will get a Payslip which will show exactly how much they pay in tax.

    These people will see exactly how much pay goes into their bank account.

    They will see that they are not actually any worse off.

    Then they will make the obvious conclusions:

    BritNat Politicians and Media (inc. BBC) have lied to them about the Scots Gov Budget.

    If they lied about the Scots Gov Budget maybe they have lied/are lying about other things (Ra Polis, SNHS, SFRS etc.)

    Maybe EssEnnPee aren’t Bad after all.

    Once you see through a lie it can’t be unseen.

    Good work BritNats, one and all.

    That 47% Yes vote just keeps creeping upwards.

  53. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    The problem the Tories have in Scotland is that they have not been able to inoculation a hefty proportion of the population against the concept of social responsibility.

    Of course there are Tories foaming against the disabled, disadvantaged and poor and would throw them under a bus at the first opportunity (HYS is evidence of this). However, that selfish ‘devil take the hindmost’ attitude that Ruth embraces and epitomises Thatcherism is not actually prevalent in all Scottish Conservative voters let alone the rest of the voting population. Indeed, on HYS it looks like they have had muster support from other parts of the UK that are entirely unaffected by the Scottish budget.

    I am not surprised Ruth’s balloon is slowly deflating in the polls. Get her off “defender of the union” and the arguments are very unattractive.

  54. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Robert Peffers

    Sadly Ninewells Hospital here in Dundee still charges, they handed over the carparks lock stock and barrel to NCP in exchange for the building of a multi-story carpark. The council came to the party painting double yellow lines on all the approach roads meaning a non inconsiderable walk, uphill if you do manage to find a free space outside the large grounds. The available spaces are invariably full by 08:00 nabbed by thrifty nurses, porters etc.

    When approached by the SNP govt NCP who are on a nice little earner with an almost captive customer base declined to be bought out. Fortunately the hospital forecourt is a major bus interchange, you can catch one to Perth, St Andrews, Coupar etc as well as pretty much everywhere in Dundee. Most of the buses from here in the Ferry, far to the East end up there. I try to take the bus when I have to go there. You get dropped off right outside the front door so no long slog from the wilds of carpark 9 and its’ probably cheaper than taking the car, petrol, wear and tear and paying through the nose.

  55. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh,that’s good. ?

    In Glasgow catching up with family today. Using thumbs on a phone, it’s taken me half an hour just to type ‘hi’. (Sigh)

  56. Macart
    Ignored
    says:

    Hell! Smiley came out as question mark. $#*&ing phone typing.

  57. Jack Murphy
    Ignored
    says:

    FILM. Slightly Off Topic—for Weekenders and Casuals to Wings over Scotland who may have missed the Scottish Government’s Draft Spending and Tax Plans for 2018-19.
    Welcome. 🙂

    The Scottish Budget Statement and responses by other parties included in this Scottish Parliament YouTube link:

    https://tinyurl.com/ybfmqufg

  58. Macjim
    Ignored
    says:

    Spot on…

  59. artyhetty
    Ignored
    says:

    Great image once again. The Scotgov have to mitigate horrendous Tory and red Tory supporting austerityon our poorest, whether in work or not. ScotGov are working wonders and having to magic funds out of the hat, and to think some are less than happy having to pay a few pennies more out of their huge wages. Nice folk they are eh. Not.

    The Britnats at Holyrood and in London are clearly raging because if they cry wolf too much, their sheer greed and propping up of the rich will be exposed even more than it has been. Great work from the SNP there, knowing the Britnats attempt to use this budget against them, would be futile, ha!

    re; Clydebuilt@11.19

    Absolutely correct these troughers know exactly what they are doing and have no qualms about using any tactics at their disposal at all to try to thwart the SNP by conning the people of Scotland. They are dab hands at it, plenty of practice, 300+ years. Gits.

  60. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Muscleguy

    Perhaps (if there was nearby land available) the ScotGov could inform NCP of its plans to build a car park that would be free to use by NHS staff and patient visitors? Perhaps that would help concentrate minds and encourage NCP to cut their profits and simply sell up?

    NCP would, naturally, argue that ScotGov is anti free enterprise. Other than the BritNat zoommery press and other assorted Tory rockets, there’d be little support among the general population for them. Like Scottish water, profits should not be gained from the provision of an essential service; a service that is for the well-being of our wider society.

    GTF NCP.

  61. Drew Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Cannae be the only one around here that voted yes, yes in ’97. Long overdue use of the mandate, but welcome nonetheless.

  62. Clydebuilt
    Ignored
    says:

    Kennedy at 12.21. Pssstttt don’t tell them they are overdoing it. . . . Once read a post from someone who claimed to have amongst other things studied Russian Propaganda at university, the public know it’s happening, they don’t like it . . . But it works.

    In our case it’s only has to work with a very small %age of the population as were down to a very small swing needed to win Indy.

  63. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    by conning the people of Scotland. They are dab hands at it, plenty of practice, 300+ years. Gits.”

    It’s up to the Colonel to show the tory way right enough. Sneaky shits doesn’t come close.

    ScotConservatives Retweeted

    Ruth Davidson?Verified account
    @RuthDavidsonMSP
    Dec 14

    88% of Scotland’s taxpayers pay the basic rate. The SNP promised none of them – totalling 2.2m workers – would face a tax rise in this parliament. FM confirms she’ll break that promise for hundreds of thousands of Scots.

  64. Drew Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Afterthought:
    Open question to truthless Ruth: will your next manifesto include a pledge to reverse the budget?

  65. Drew Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Afterthought:
    Open question to Ruth Davidson:
    Will your next manifesto include a pledge to reverse the budget and increase taxation of the lowest earners?

  66. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Ron Maclean – you’re right. That Alf Baird article spelling out how Scotland meets the citeria of a colony is spot on.

    http://newsnet.scot/archive/brexit-vote-underline-scotland-not-country-colony/

  67. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    That Alf Baird article spelling out how Scotland meets the citeria of a colony is spot on.

    Looking around the yoon tory twitter stuff, much of their perpetual colonisation of Scotland involves simply never ever mentioning the word “Scotland.” From ex RAF guys along the Buchan coast, to high tory new town Edinburgh, colonialists do not like to even mention their colony.

    They do like to invent catchy little names for their individual places, that they do not want to be Scottish in any way whatsoever and online its usually starts with, My….co.uk.

    Interesting language use but can even the concocted UKOK nomenclature of colonialism in Scotland work for much longer?

    They must feel like King Canute most of the time:D

  68. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    heedtracker says:

    they do not want to be Scottish in any way whatsoever

    A close relative recently found themselves in the company of ‘Scottish’ Tories. The real deal, proper political types. The topic of the Na Trad awards which BBC Alba was showing at the time came up. An absolute deluge of insults, piss taking, and criticism followed.

    They utterly and absolutely detest anything which defines Scotland and Scottishness. It is a deadly threat to their Greater English worldview.

  69. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    @ heedtracker – the comments are also worth reading. Looks like we ought to be on the UN decolonisation register.

    If one accepts that Scotland is a colony, then the logical step towards independence is to get Scotland placed on the UN ‘Decolonization’ list of Non Self Governing Territories. Scotland’s existing independence supporting democratically elected majorities of MP’s and MSP’s should be sufficiently persuasive in this regard.

  70. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    They utterly and absolutely detest anything which defines Scotland and Scottishness. It is a deadly threat to their Greater English worldview.

    Capella says:
    16 December, 2017 at 3:13 pm
    @ heedtracker – the comments are also worth reading. Looks like we ought to be on the UN decolonisation register.

    Hey you two, if anything causes yoon rage in their S_____d region, its hearing the word “colony,” as they set about erasing anything Scottish around them.

    People are by nature possessive and their S_____D region is theirs to possess, their queen says so.

    But they know that Scotland is changing before their eyes, as they go UKOK nuts at Scottish cop car with Poileas on them. That really brings out the colonial master tantrums.

    But when I rise to power, Gaelic will be taught as second language Scots, simply as a means of teaching grammar, the same deep grammar all European kids learn like arithmetic and then subsequently gain language learning skills, to actually learn second, third, fourth languages.

    Its not by chance that our colonial masters have tried to erase Scotland from our day to day lives, rubbed out our wonderful
    2000 year old Scottish history aswell our ability to talk to our neighbours in say Scandinavia, another place on the planet that our imperial masters pretend does not exist.

    Colonialism in Scotland runs very very deep.

  71. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Lets face it, the trouble with Scotland really is, that it’s full of Scots.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o15PljTS2O8

  72. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Ron Maclean says:
    16 December, 2017 at 11:16 am
    @Calum McKay 1011am

    Alf Baird (Newsnet 5 July 2017) and Grousebeater in his blog have done interesting articles on colonisation.

    There is tremendous merit in Alf Baird’s comments, but just because something happens, doesn’t mean it has legitimacy. Scotland might now fit the profile of a colony, but the Union was not set up that way. Scotland has indeed seen considerable “mission creep” or rather “sovereignty creep” over the years, whereby Westminster lays claim to Scottish sovereignty and Scotland traditionally (and supinely) concedes it.

    Westminster might be condemned for purloining what doesn’t properly belong to it, but perhaps what is more inexcusable is Scotland standing back while it happens.

    I agree entirely with Alf Baird… Holyrood is an instrument of Westminster, and draws its power from Westminster, respecting Westminster as sovereign power. However, as I have argued in the past, where Westminster has “white” sovereignty, divine in source, and brought to earth through their Monarch, Scotland has “red” Sovereignty, which cites the Scottish people as its source. Thus, if the Scottish people are sovereign, then the Monarch, any Monarch, simply cannot be.

    In Holyrood, what we have is a devolved legislature which is “fuelled” if you pardon the expression by white sovereignty from Westminster. However, the MSP’s who man Holyrood are not appointed by Westminster, but are elected by the Scottish people, and thus becomes delegates of our “red” sovereignty. Holyrood is an oxymoron; a chamber with two sovereign masters.

    We need Constitutional clarity on this matter of sovereignty. Westminster is currently free to exercise white sovereignty over us, because we tacitly accept that precedent and convention, however Westminster has no rightful claim on Scotland’s red sovereignty, which is the explicit will of the Scottish people.

    I have posed the question multiple,times before; what do we have in Holyrood? Is it white sovereignty, red sovereignty, pink sovereignty or raspberry ripple sovereignty?

    At the moment, the YES campaign such as it is, and the SNP are stubbornly content to recognise only the white sovereignty of Westminster. We cannot “overturn” Westminster’s decision until we have a majority to break their constitutional hold over us.

    Well then, explain to me, if a democratic majority is a prerequisite to breaking up the Union, then where was the reciprocal democratic majority which created it the Union? We had a democratic sovereign majority for the UK to remain in the EU. Why have we conceded it?

    How many times, and how many ways can Westminster walk all over the Constitutional parameters of the Union before the Concept of the Union is recognised as obsolete and dysfunctional?

    I know, I know, I know, I’m a broken record on the subject, but victory and emancipation from the United Kingdom is not, and cannot be, the product of democracy alone. If Scotland heads in to a referendum campaign armed with nothing but constitutional aspirations the vote will be recognised, then we will see our democracy subverted and delegitimised beneath the white sovereign powers of Westminster.

    Victory and emancipation, and indeed democratic ratification, require as a prerequisite the international recognition, perhaps even probationary international recognition of Scotland’s inalienable “red” sovereignty, – THE popular sovereignty of the people of Scotland. We do not have to submit a claim for decolonisation to the UN as Alf Baird suggests, we just have to blow all the cobwebs of our ancient sovereignty, – and I suggest we read the instruction book that comes with it.

    How can we hope to win a constitutional argument that Scotland did not cease to exist in 1707 when we constrain ourselves to actions which effectively concede that it did? That way surely lies defeat. If Westminster decrees our vote unconstitutional or advisory, then we are no better off than Catalonia unhinged by Spanish sovereignty.

    We must contest, and win the argument that Scotland’s sovereignty is vital, potent and dominant, even though it has been dormant and suppressed since the Act of Union. We must establish appropriate understanding and recognition of Scottish sovereignty in the eyes of the international community because leaves Westminster’s claim to wield Scottish sovereignty untenable.

  73. Ron Maclean
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Capella 2.37pm

    Thanks for posting the link. It’s an important article. I wouldn’t like to think we’re settling for vassal status – too often recently it’s looked that way.

  74. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    @handandshrimp 11.23am

    What next election would that be ?

    The next vote will be indyref2.

    When we vote Yes, that will be unemployment for EVERY unionist party politician in Scotland.

    They can no more remain in office in Scotland than our current SNP MP’s could remain at WM.

    The next election in Scotland will be to form a newly independent Scottish government.

    Uk unionist parties will not be part of that election.

  75. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    Drew anderson…there it is again !!

    WHAT NEXT ELECTION ???

    (See response to Handandshrimp above).

  76. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    LIVE from Pravda Quay
    with Jackie Kim Ono

    https://imgur.com/a/h7rAh

  77. Referendum1707
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks 12.48

    “I get the feeling we are at the tipping point.. or nearly”.

    I hope it’s more than just a feeling. If the Yes movement can get itself sufficiently co-ordinated and organised in how it boosts support for independence by getting facts and information which is normally suppressed out to the soft nos, undecideds and haven’t got a clues then with hard work and determination support will begin to reach 51, 52, 53%.

    When (if) that happens then we really will be at the tipping point into critical mass at which point support starts to become self generating, partly at least.

  78. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    Nice one Chris.

    And for Derek’s next trick ,can he do the one where he stabs a knife quickly through Murdo’s spread fingers,but actually stabs the pricks hand to the table?

  79. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Geeo

    Admire your confidence. I have a gut feeling that Brexit is going to drag on. Hammond and Co seem to be getting the upper hand and I don’t think any of the bats are straight.

    Earlier in the year we had a Cabinet Office Minster visit and we were treated to a Q&A with the Minster. On the single market he was adamant we weren’t leaving. However, I was struck by the speed and certainty he said that. He lost his seat in June though.

  80. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    I have posed the question multiple,times before; what do we have in Holyrood? Is it white sovereignty, red sovereignty, pink sovereignty or raspberry ripple sovereignty?

    Its shared, supposedly. It was supposed to be shared far more equitably, in their great The Vow fraud, 2014.

    Would Scots have voted YES so much, if say Holyrood had the same kind of sovereignty as the UK did in the EU, with sharing sovereignty at 30% EU, the rest UK?

    This is what we were promised by the great UKOK charlatans, 2104.

    But then, who alive actually believes anything the tories say, since the Snatcher Thatcher era, or how the Crash Gordon and Bomber Blair Labour gov 1997, invited Snatcher Thatcher to No.10, the day after they won/shysted, suckas like me?

    70% Holyrood Scotland v 30% Westminster, is never going to happen in the UK zone, never. Its certainly never going to happen, if only to NOT deprive the tory freak show’s ability in Scotland beating the life out of their Scotland region with stuff like this, from my Slovene girlfriend.

    Adam Tomkins MSP?Verified account
    @ProfTomkins
    Dec 15

    Tomkins MSP Retweeted Murdo Fraser
    This is the direct consequence of the SNP failing to grow Scotland’s economy #NatTax

    You really do not want to ask a tory like my Slovene girlfriend how any Scots gov can hope to grow Scotland’s economy when its only Westminster and the Treasury that still have almost all the levers to do it.

    And all that after my Slovene girlfriend and chums promising through their, “don’t go Scotland we love you soooo much” tears, IF you vote NO, Scotland we will give you all lovely devo max.

    Never trust a tory, either side of any borders.

    Just ask everyone in Brussels today.

  81. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    The trouble with mitigation is that it “gentles” people into resignedly accepting any deeper change forced upon us here in the colony.

    In a way, the SG is in a bind. It is obliged to do the best it can for all of us, even though it’s not in our long-term interest to be at all complacent right now.

    And if the SG doesn’t, it’s accused of either being incompetent or “divisive”. Or more likely both simultaneously.

    The extreme Brexiteers are right in one way: what’s the point of being “half-way out”, having to obey all the same rules but no longer being able to influence them in any way? This is the selfsame weakness I have been warning about re the Brexit-Lite EFTA promoters. It’s actually the worst of all possible options, not the best. It pleases no-one!

    It doesn’t seem to me though to be too good a strategy either to solely depend on realities getting through to people sufficiently quickly. There is a definite danger of drifting into a shoulder-shrugging acceptance of a slow-mo Brexit.

    Something more is needed, and soon. Like Tommy Sheridan did with the poll tax, someone needs to stand up before too long and galvanise opinion into realising that we’re being lead like sheep to the slaughterhouse, and that we need to act decisively before this disaster is forced upon us.

    Afterwards will be too late, and this historical opportunity will have been carelessly thrown away for nothing.

  82. Ron Maclean
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks 3.56pm
    “How can we hope to win a constitutional argument that Scotland did not cease to exist in 1707 when we constrain ourselves to actions which effectively concede that it did?”

    When that question is answered we’ll be on our way!

  83. Drew Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @geeo,

    Apologies for the double post.

    Same question Ruth, next election OR plebescite…

    May’s government is on the shoogliest of pegs; snap elections only require 3 weeks notice.

  84. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    This is the selfsame weakness I have been warning about re the Brexit-Lite EFTA promoters. It’s actually the worst of all possible options, not the best. It pleases no-one!”

    But its not about half way out for England especially in the EU. England’s economic miracle for the last 4 decades has all been down to massive infrastructure spends, underwritten by not Scots oil and gas revenues AND EU membership, becoming an integral part of the EU economic structure.

    Biggest headliner in that, Airbus, spreading air craft construction across the EU. Its NOT out of niceness that this kind of integration between the EU and England happened.

    New Labour understood and followed through all that with their open door immigration, and their usual non planning, no housing, in particular, schools, hospitals, you name it. But then its all just another example of why they are the red tories.

  85. call me dave
    Ignored
    says:

    BBC shortbread:

    Alex Rowley has announced that he does not intend to resume the role of deputy leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

    Last month, the Fife MSP was suspended from the post following allegations that he had sent abusive text messages to a former partner.
    ———————————————————
    No surprise there then.

  86. Dorothy Devine
    Ignored
    says:

    Macart, you need to visit the poundshop and buy those wee poky stylus thingys they come in pairs one for your phone and one for your tablet – I couldn’t send a message without it!

  87. Robert J. Sutherland
    Ignored
    says:

    Drew Anderson @ 16:37,

    So a sudden election replaces the BritTory gov by a BritLab gov. What diff for us then?

    Corbyn’s lot have been getting away with the same kind of neglect as Ruthie – policies as substantial as a soufflé, but attention always being directed elsewhere.

    If we’re “lucky” BritLab might just about settle on single market/customs union and indyref2 is off. Or they might not. Who knows?

    It’s high time we started making the running for a change instead of standing by just stupidly waiting for the next riptide to come in and carry us passively anywhere but where we need to be….

  88. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    Got my doubts about 5 tax bands, but all the same any IT system should just be a case of plugging in a couple of new entries into a relational database, and that includes the HMRC’s online PAYE realtime tools. Cost of implementation should be cheap, if properly designed in the first place. Mmm, governments and IT …

    1p extra would only scare off the really neurotic, and by next year they’ll find no difference, so another 1p, and then another 1p …

    The financially illiterate Tories can be as dog in the manger as much as they like, but there’s an old saying about s(h)itting on your own patch. You get to lie in it.

    To get a balanced and robust economy for a state requires a sensible but constantly variable ratio between private relatively unpredictable and public sector pretty stable, spending and consequent revenues and money creation, and the Tories at Westminster have been getting that wrong for decades. Thatcher was almost certainly right to unbundle the BT monopoly, but shouldn’t have sold off the TSB, right to “reform” heavy industry, but that turned into a fire sale rather than sensible re-investment and modernisation.

    And the current lot of Tories are selling off the family heirlooms like there’s no tomorrow, and the way they’re going hell for leather, all too soon there won’t be as far as the UK state is concerned. Replace “Prime Minister” by Chief Executive, you get the picture. They’re total economic morons, the lot of them.

  89. Moonlight
    Ignored
    says:

    Just a few thoughts, partly O/T.
    The recent Ireland deal, compromise, shambles, whatever you call it.
    May depends on the DUP, for the time being. Keep them sweet.
    May’s civil servants who can read, write and think, will have advised her that within 2 to 4 years there will be a majority in Northern Ireland for re-unification. At that point, May or her successor will be able to dispose of the Ireland problem at one fell swoop. There is no reason on earth why the English will want to go on buying, subsidising and cozying up to the N.Irish protestant “brigade”.
    Et voila, full attention can be turned to subjugating Scotland, removing any vestiges of EU alignment, removing the devolution powers remaining and so on. There will no longer be an EU hold over Westminster, once there is no border to worry about in a United Ireland.
    Only if Scotland uses the hiatus between the events of Brexit and reunification will there be any chance of sliding over into the type of relationship with the EU which the Scottish voter wants with the aquis intact.

    Tax, looks like I’m going to have to pay a little more. Haven’t worked out how much as no doubt my accountant will add a lot to the bill for filling out what should be a simple form.
    But wait.
    My two kids went to Uni without fees. That could be worth £54k.
    I don’t pay for prescriptions. Maybe £100.
    I don’t pay bridge tolls. Maybe £100.
    I have an all Scotland bus pass.Maybe £200.
    My council tax is lower than south of the border. £300.
    If I suffer an accident or emergency I’ll likely get treated a bit faster. £???, still alive well that’s a bonus.
    My old mum at 100, yes 100, gets excellent free personal care in her own home. £100s,£1000s?
    Personally I don’t feel the effect of the amelioration of the bedroom tax, but I know some who do and I’m glad to pay towards it.
    No doubt I’ve overlooked additional benefits and am happy to be reminded.
    All in all I’m pretty pleased to live in Scotland and pay a very modest increase in tax.

    Lastly a question.
    How is it that May’s gang can find around £40bn as the cost of ruining trade, prosperity,family life, interpersonal relationships et al.
    But she can’t find enough to support the English NHS properly. Educate English kids properly and most importantly provide adequate support to those who need it either on a short or long term basis.
    Answers on a postcard please.

  90. Andy-B
    Ignored
    says:

    Excellent again Chris.

    Meanwhile Alex Rowley stands down as Labour’s deputy manager. Leslie Laird takes on the role on a temporary basis.

  91. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    Historically the SNP are to blame for the Crusades, the murdering of indigenous peoples in America Australia India Caribbean Islanders and all the other folks around the world too, and who knows some folks they may not have even found to murder yet

    We must put out a call for any religious groups or ethnic minorities who haven’t yet been approached for the murdering and plundering of their yet to be colonies of Scotland

    Scotland a once proud murdering nation are running out of murderees and peoples to opress and loot from

    Whoops! Terrible mistake there,endless apologies Scottish people it wasn’t in fact you at all

    Slip of the country, it must have been some other Empire building Arsholes,

    Easy mistake to make

  92. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Proud Cybernat says: 16 December, 2017 at 10:45 am:

    “Is Murdo constipated?
    Just asking.”

    Of course he is not, Proud Cybernat. That wild rumour only started because Murdo never goes to the loo and sits down. He manages all he needs while standing up.

    However, the truth of the matter is that Murdo cannot possibly ever be costive. All the shite he needs rid off comes out the other end when he speaks.

  93. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    If you liked the SNP budget then show support get out and vote for them. If you stay at home because its raining or what ever excuse we will lose them. If you don’t get out and vote the Tories will get in and remove the social security system and the SNHS so the well of can pay less tax. That goes for all Tories whatever the colour.

    If you like the SNP budget imagine what they can do with all the powers of Independence. Scotland for all the people not just the elite. When we are asked “Should Scotland be an independent country?” Get out and vote yes. Tell your family and friends to vote yes. Talk to your parent and grand parents. Get out and vote yes.

    This post is not for Wingers, obviously, but for lurkers and Wings newbies.

  94. Les Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    Moonlight says:

    Excellent post.

  95. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @galamcennalath says: 16 December, 2017 at 11:46 am:

    “Brian Powell says:
    we should start a campaign for OAPs
    Indeed, swing the older NOs and we’re home and dry.”

    Sheesh!

    Not that same old illogical claptrap again?

    It isn’t logical to imagine because you are over a certain age you will vote as a Unionist. If that were the case then there would be an ever increasing total of the increasingly more elderly swinging the polls towards unionism.

    This because the percentage of elderly voters is constantly increasing. That being the case there is obviously a rather different, and more simple, explanation for the phenomenon.

    It really is very simple. The Labour, Tory and LibDem parties have an ever increasing percentage of their remaining membership composed of elderly, long established members and loyal members.

    It isn’t the non-aligned electorate that votes for unionist parties it is simply their long established memberships, or put another way, they are NOT picking up nearly the same percentage of the younger voters as members and thus what remains is going to be increasingly more elderly.

    It is thus stupid to think that it is simple the age of the person that causes them to vote unionist. The truth being that they are the unionist party members and it is because they are the loyal and established members of the unionist parties that makes converting them so difficult.

    Conversely, as the SNP I followed as a schoolboy had a very small loyal membership then the current membership will be of necessity a younger age group.

    I believe that this has been well established as fact. Remember the Scottish MP, (Labour), who said, even if independence harmed Scotland, he would still vote against it.

  96. Proud Cybernat
    Ignored
    says:

    @Robert Peffers

    “Remember the Scottish MP, (Labour), who said, even if independence harmed Scotland, he would still vote against it.”

    It was Jimmy Hood (Labour) and he said (to paraphrase) “that even if indpendence benefitted Scotland, I would vote against it.”

    Here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2zI2cMuoQQ

  97. Gfaetheblock
    Ignored
    says:

    Bold choice of Derek Mackay as a magician.

    Created the illusion of a tax cut for the lower paid, when it is only 40p a week.

  98. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffers says:

    It isn’t logical to imagine because you are over a certain age you will vote as a Unionist

    No, no one ever says that. It’s not in any individual basis, but you are not denying that being over 55 statistically makes you more likely to be Unionist, anti Indy and pro Brexit? Surely you don’t challenge almost every survey and poll published?

    Statistically I should be Tory, Unionist, and Leave based on more than just my age. I too have never voted for anything other than SNP, then voted YES and Remain. That makes me a minority in every demographic which applies to me.

    There will be English born, Tory voting, 80+ folks who voted YES. But very few of them. Similarly there will be under 25, SNP voters, born and living Glasgow who voted NO. Damn few, though.

    Statistics don’t apply to you or I, they apply the large groups as generalisations. We should be guided by them on who best to target.

  99. Calum McKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks @ 15:36

    What we have ended up with is the independence movement managing north britain more efficiently than south britain ever did.

    Even more more disturbing is the independence movement is getting the blame for a relatively poor performing Scottish economy, a result the mismanagement (one size fits all) by the the british eleite of the uk economy which controls the Scottish economy.

    Devolution was never supposed to work for Scots. The logic behind it is London will control funds, its in their interests to hang the SNP out to dry. SNP fail, unionist’s get back in Holyrood, purse strings are relaxed, look how mannificent the uk is!. In the background press and bbc steer the nation’s thoughts with Daz and warm water!

    Those with power steer the ship, we see that with EU – uk and uk – Scotland.

    I am disturbed that we (collectively) have moved away from the will of the 62%? We now seem content to be delt any rubbish the uk elite deems fit for us.

    I have always been a don’t rock the boat person, we are in this for the long run to gain victory, but we are playing by the uk rules, uk elite don’t (unless faced with EU or US ) play by the rules.

    We need a strategy, agree it, and then implement as single mindedly and forcibly as our opponents!

  100. stewartb
    Ignored
    says:

    Kennedy @ 6:29 pm

    For ‘lurkers and Wings newbies’ you stated: “If you don’t get out and vote the Tories will get in and remove the social security system and the SNHS so the well off can pay less tax.”

    You make a very good point. The potential of a Tory government in Holyrood, facilitated with strong Westminster support, to undo in one term what has been achieved in Scotland of a progressive nature does need to be highlighted – and it is frightening.

    Some potential examples: a wholesale re-organisation and ‘marketisation’ of NHS Scotland – Virgin Health and their ilk running services and taking profit out of our need for healthcare: Scotland’s publicly-funded school system ripped up to deliver academies, free schools, selective grammar schools, lotteries to assign school places; re-introduction of fees for higher education; re-introduction of prescription charges and more generally, re-introduction of means testing across the board; our soon-to-be-introduced Social Security Agency being run with a Tory ethos; over-turning the ban on fracking; new nuclear power generation plans established for Scotland; down-grading of our low carbon ambitions; end of CalMac services delivered by a publicly-owned company; end to or reversal of land reform etc. etc.

    Scotland’s electorate needs to be very, very careful about losing what it benefits from but too often is either not aware of and/or takes for granted.

  101. Bobp
    Ignored
    says:

    Proud cybernat 6.58pm. Well as the aforementioned Mr.hood passed away on the 4th of this month. This is one christmas the auld unionist bigoted barsteward wont be celebrating.

  102. wull2
    Ignored
    says:

    I have said this before, but in case some readers missed it, I will say it again.
    If there is a snap GE, the SNP should say that if the majority of MP’s returned to WM are SNP, then Scotland will call for another ind ref immediately, on the same timescale as this one.

    Tell all your relatives and friends to vote YES this time.

  103. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    gala…..
    Agree. There are always exceptions to any rule but the truth is a 70 yr red white and blue rosette wearing tory will not vote for independence.
    We need to reinvigorate the existing Yes voters, persuade the undecided (there are still plenty), encourage the tens of thousands who didn’t vote last time to vote for their country and also prevent the unionists interfering in the postal ballot system.
    Seems a tall order but with the correct message and truism that we are the best people to govern our country we will win.

    and the yooniists know it.

  104. stewartb
    Ignored
    says:

    “Remember the Scottish MP, (Labour), who said, even if independence harmed Scotland, he would still vote against it.”

    Ah! Is that the definition of ‘solidarity’ – that term SLAB activists keep coming up with to justify keeping the people of Scotland in circumstances where they are harmed, time after time, by Tory governments in Westminster that they didn’t vote for?

  105. stewartb
    Ignored
    says:

    Re- stewartb @7:49 pm

    Let’s correct this!! Apologies for not reading the quote carefully enough!

    The contributor I quoted surely meant: ‘Remember the Scottish MP, (Labour), who said, even if independence BENEFITTED Scotland, he would still vote against it.’

    Is that the definition of ‘solidarity’ – that term SLAB activists keep coming up with to justify keeping the people of Scotland in circumstances where they are harmed, time after time, by Tory governments in Westminster that they didn’t vote for?

  106. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr Jim 5.39 said
    ‘and who knows some folks they may not have even found to murder yet’

    We both know it’s gotta be the Yoons.

    Full house.

    Bingo.

  107. Kennedy
    Ignored
    says:

    Stewart 7:31

    Exactly. Use the progressive budget to underline what we have and what we could lose. Things could get better or things could get worse. We (voters) decide the country we will live in. We have got to support the SNP (vehicle) to deliver the positive change.

    No there is not an election coming soon. But I get asked what have the SNP done us??? When I show the huge list of achievements over the past ten years eyes glaze over because its too long. I’m sure people can’t believe it or are too intimidated by it. Right now we have some cracking bullet points to underline “what have the SNP done for us”… Look at your pay slip!

  108. Ron Maclean
    Ignored
    says:

    @Calum McKay 7.15pm

    We’re a vassal nation with a puppet government. We play by Westminster’s rules. That’s what we voted for in 2014.

  109. Graeme
    Ignored
    says:

    We shouldn’t be too hard on Mr Hood at least he told the truth unlike his fellow slabbers who feel exactly the same as he does but are just not stupid enough to say it

  110. Iain
    Ignored
    says:

    I have to agree with Lenny Hartley, was it not for the care from the staff of the new Southern General hospital I would be dead.
    So much for Jack M Connel thinking 1.3 million “what could I spend it on ”
    I owe my life to the SNP government building that hospital.
    Thanks Jack, your party can burn in hell.

  111. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    At’s a sin ra Gers goat beat 3-1 aff Sintjonson

    Musta been murder fur Murdo ‘n Murty.

  112. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    Lost the tweet, but suggestions swirling that the day of Harry getting hitched (next May?) could be a good day to have the biggest pro-indy rally ever.

    Any thoughts?

  113. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    Just summarising from the last thread, Scotland with an onshore GDP of £150 billion produces an onshore revenue apparently of £58 billion, so roughly £1 revenue for £2.50 of GDP. The area of Scotland is 20 million acres, so £7,500 GDP per acre for a revenue of £3,000.

    Bear with me!

    So a certain area of 60,000 acres north of Braemar owned by an inheritance tax dodging Trust, should have a GDP of £450 million, for a revenue of £180 million per year.

    Subtracting an existing GDP of for the sake of argument, £100 million, and revenue of £40 million, it appears the Queen should be paying Scotland £140 million a year in a fair and equivalent offset Land Tax.

    Oh dear, she will not be amused.

  114. colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    A budget that moved in the right direction, but being the SNP, didn’t go far enough to make any major difference.

    Disappointed that this cartoon isn’t up to the usual very good standard and has to rely on an offensive reference to female genitalia to get laughs.

  115. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @artyhetty says: 16 December, 2017 at 1:55 pm;

    “Absolutely correct these troughers know exactly what they are doing and have no qualms about using any tactics at their disposal at all to try to thwart the SNP by conning the people of Scotland. They are dab hands at it, plenty of practice, 300+ years. Gits.”

    That’s a muckle plus, Artyhetty. The Romans came in 54/55 BC and there has been a Londinium Establishment ever since.

    The Romans didn’t build their walls to keep the Scots out of England for, in the first place there was no Scotland nor was there an England back then. In the second place why would the Northern Britons want to invade south Britain?

    Then, as now, there was plenty of space for the northern Britons and a smaller population that had everything they needed in the north. The real facts are that the way the Roman Empire worked was to Romanise the former rulers, (throughout the entire Roman Empire ), and have them run whatever country it was for the Romans.

    The Roman military, though, took over all defence and built the infrastructure. The construction work kept idle Centurion hands busy and out of trouble and made sure the natives didn’t rebel. Then the Romans held a census and set up a tax system that included customs and excise.

    So those Roman walls were actually customs barriers to prevent smuggling. BTW: the Romans had a nice little earner capturing and selling slaves back in Rome.

    So there you go – there has been a London/Westminster Establishment since 54/55 BC and the UK is still a tax/customs/excise setup today.

  116. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Ron Maclean says:
    16 December, 2017 at 8:34 pm
    @Calum McKay 7.15pm

    We’re a vassal nation with a puppet government. We play by Westminster’s rules. That’s what we voted for in 2014.

    Kinda yeah, but kinda no.

    I think you’re correct, we “lost” in 2014, and everybody packed in and went home, resigned to the fact we’d given up sovereignty, and yet….

    If we actually had given up sovereignty, then Scots Law would have been wiped off the statue books. But Westminster, for all its shabby carry on with Tony Blair’s Supreme Court, still cannot touch Scots Law.

    If we had given up sovereignty, then our separate education and health services would have lost their distinction.

    Because these, dare I say it, “remnants”of a sovereign Scottish Nation survive, then there has to be some semblance of sovereignty which still survives to protect their sanctity.

    And then you get into the nitty gritty of it. How is it actually possible to “vote” away a Scottish Sovereign birthright? A Scottish kid born tomorrow won’t just get a baby box, but they’ll also get their share of Scotland’s collective sovereignty – and yet somehow, that birthright is usurped by Westminster. How? What mechanism physically does that? How do you physically remove the sovereignty from the Scottish people when it is in a state of perpetual renewal whenever a new Scottish child happens to be born a sovereign Scottish citizen?

    What happened in 2014 was not Scotland surrendering or abdicating sovereignty, because that’s a thing beyond our capacity to do. It’s wasnt our sovereignty we damaged, instead it was the big myth about our sovereignty which was given another generation of credibility. For another chapter of Scotland’s history, the lies about our constitutional heritage would remain dominant over the constitutional truth. For one more period, the Nation would submit to the deluded option of Westminster’s version of our Constitutional status and forfeit our own actual, factual, Constitutional sovereignty.

    It fries your brain a bit, but if Scotland had voted YES in 2014, it would have been an expression of sovereignty, in the same way as voting No has been accepted as an expression of sovereignty. So think about that a moment; voting Yes is no greater or lesser an act of sovereignty than voting no. A vote YES is a sovereign YES, just as a vote NO is an equally sovereign NO. Scotland remains sovereign in both outcomes, YES or NO, so where and how does Westminster worm it’s way into subjugating our Sovereignty? It can’t. It is by sheer opportunism and established convention that it does. Scotland is subjugated by an illusion that we Scots cannot “un-see”.

  117. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ian

    If it’s also a public holiday then more people are available so would be good time.

    @Yesindyref2

    Happy to hear your good news.

    Sounds like a plan for long overdue fairness in our country.

  118. geeo
    Ignored
    says:

    Good post Breeks.

    Just because WM acts like they are sovereign over us Scots, does NOT make it so.

    That is exactly why the Supreme Court keep well away from Scots Sovereignty during Article 50 court case.

  119. TheWasp
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin Alexander @ 9.49

    Troll away big chap, nobody is listening to your fuddishness

  120. Fireproofjim
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin Alexander
    What offence did you see In the cartoon that I didn’t? Just looked like a clever politician pulling a rabbit from a hat to me. I admit I may be naive.

  121. Mike d
    Ignored
    says:

    All those yoons who are in lower paid jobs,zero hour contracts, or on disability pip etc. Just think how you will be so better off under a scottish conservative or red tory government instead of those bad snp lot. Still you can always wave your flags at the royal wedding next may. Shiny buttons eh.

  122. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @dakk
    Thanks.

    Re the land tax thing, different land would have to be assessed at different rates, so perhaps Balmoral and other QE1 owned land would attract much less revenue, at a part fertile land and part tourist attraction rate rather than a financial centre of town rate. But the principle should be there, make your land in excess of perhaps 1 acre or even 10 acres per landholder contribute to the economy, or sell it or lose it in back taxes.

  123. paul gerard mccormack
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin Alexander 9.49

    “Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I’m hunting wabbits”
    Surely, none other than Bugs bunny’s arch enemy Elmer Fudd?

  124. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Elmer: “and has to rely on an offensive reference to female genitalia to get laughs

    Oh dear, we have a loony tune.

  125. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Proud Cybernat says: 16 December, 2017 at 2:22 pm:

    “Perhaps (if there was nearby land available) the ScotGov could inform NCP of its plans to build a car park that would be free to use by NHS staff and patient visitors? Perhaps that would help concentrate minds and encourage NCP to cut their profits and simply sell up?”

    Matter of fact there was an item on the news, (I cannot remember where), that an MSP is to propose a change in the Scottish Law on Privately run public car Parking.

    Sorry but I was somewhat busy at the time and, as usual, attempting to do several things at the same time so cannot tell you which MSP, if he/she had a seconder or what the details of the proposal were. It was, though, in the news within the past two or three weeks.

  126. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Fireproofjim
    The bot “read” the title but wasn’t able to interpret the image.

  127. Ron Maclean
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks 9.51pm
    “Kinda yeah, but kinda no.”

    Something like that. Time is short. We’re too low in the polls. We’ll probably never get a better chance to improve that, but we need strong leadership. I don’t want Nicola Sturgeon to be remembered for what she didn’t do.

  128. cearc
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian,

    Good idea. Even the beeb will pleased. In the abscence of street parties they will be able to proudly claim,

    ‘Thousands of people turned out on the streets of Glasgow, today, during the wedding of Harry Hewitt and some American actress.’

  129. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    No-one ever heard of Elmer Fanny.

  130. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    @cearc –

    It’ll no doubt become another rammy over where the main event should be held, but if there’s enough interest then there’s no reason why we couldn’t get very good attendance right across the country.

  131. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @IanB
    With a banner: “All the best for your marriage from your next-door neighbour”.

  132. cearc
    Ignored
    says:

    Someone must have pretty tacky lady friends if he associates bugs with female anatomy.

  133. Chick McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    Gordo, Murdo, whose next Leonardo?

    As long as its the Last Supper for Yoons.

  134. Still Positive
    Ignored
    says:

    Brilliant cartoon. Off to bed now.

  135. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    I watched the BBC Propaganda Channel this morning for a quick dose of SNP Bad and Scots are Stupid.

    It just reassures me that I’m still stuck in a fascist state.

    A senior manager at the Beeb came on at 7.45 am to dispel
    letters that had accused them of being biased and not checking on rogue claims and figures spouted by UK Politicians.

    Wait for it! Not only is this untrue, but they have even formed a “Special” team to check up on these things to ensure everything is factual and correct?

    What a beauty! That is right up there with that extra £350 Million per week going to the NHS after Brexit.

    I can picture that special team.
    One has his hands over his eyes, another with hands over his ears, and the last one just reads out the latest propaganda straight from Westminster.

    PS Sneaked my last ever look at a Daily Hail.
    Their poor wee Scottish pensioner readers must have SNP pictures on the dart board ready for the paper to drop through their letter boxes.

    Do you realise that because of the SNP fewer £Millionaires are buying multi-Mullion pound homes, and that some people who earn wonderful salaries are paying a couple of quid per week in extra tax?

    Even a Tory Geek at Hutchison’s private school is left aghast at how wealthy parents paying over £10,000.00 per term could come with extra money to keep their kids as elitist snobs.

    The poor souls are only getting the best performing NHS, toll free Roads and Bridges, new roads and bridges, Free University tuition, free prescriptions, the best performing train services, free personal care for the elderly, smoke free pubs and restaurants, reduced plastic waste from carrier bags, and 95% of our school kids leaving to a positive destination such as jobs, further education, or training.

  136. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    Chick McG said

    ‘As long as its the Last Supper for Yoons.’

    That’s an awful lot of suppers.

    Blindfolds would be cheaper. Condemned Britjock wannabee English Torys would even approve.

  137. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    Disappointed that this cartoon isn’t up to the usual very good standard and has to rely on an offensive reference to female genitalia to get laughs.

    ??

    Nope you’ve lost me.

    Even if Murdo was drawn as Elmer, which he isn’t, Bugs still said “What’s up Doc” to everyone he was winding up.

  138. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    Today has been a good day for winding up the Yoons. Tomorrow will be even better and Independence Day a day to eclipse them all.

    Not too lang folks, lets stick with it, the SNP are the vehicle.

  139. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ron Maclean says: 16 December, 2017 at 4:33 pm:

    “How can we hope to win a constitutional argument that Scotland did not cease to exist in 1707 when we constrain ourselves to actions which effectively concede that it did?”

    Well no we did not. In fact no one gives anyone sovereignty – everyone and everything that is sovereign has had to take it for themselves.

    So you are correct that when a majority of Scots say they are sovereign then there is only one way for anyone, or anything, else to prevent them doing so and that is by force.

    BTW: Do not think for a moment, that if Westminster thinks it would get away with it, they would not attempt to use the United Kingdom’s armed forces and these days the Police forces are armed forces. I read only this week that the Police are to train up several thousand more officers in the use of Tasers.

    Don’t say you were not warned.

  140. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Disappointed that this cartoon isn’t up to the usual very good standard and has to rely on an offensive reference to female genitalia to get laughs.

    Do you mean the tory twat on the right Colin? I know will never look at Murdo in the same way again:D

  141. dakk
    Ignored
    says:

    Never mind the Fudd Colin.

    It’s the way Bugs is handling his carrot that this prude finds deeply offensive.

    Too far this time Topher.

  142. defo
    Ignored
    says:

    The dirty MF looking digidy CC.
    How does one get on a list?
    Apart from selling yer grannie.

    Mogwai just nearly blew the roof of off the Hydro. Stunned. Fab.
    Hi to any wingers at the gig.

  143. defo
    Ignored
    says:

    off of. ffs
    Like i said. Stunned. :-0

  144. Golfnut
    Ignored
    says:

    @effigy
    So if they have those checks in place and they still still misinform the public, we are left with just 2 options. They are either incompetent and therefore not fit to be a public service broadcaster, or they are liars and therefor not fit to be a public service broadcaster.
    Either scenario is grounds for dismissal.

  145. Jack Collatin
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m just in from the Rub a Dub Dub.
    Seriously, I’ve had enough.
    The Unionists Up Here would lead
    Scotland into poverty and
    eternal subjugation
    to our English Masters.
    There is no hiding place.
    Voting No at the next Referendum
    is to betray Independent Scotland.

  146. Ghillie
    Ignored
    says:

    I think you will find it is a reference to Elmer Fud,the hunter who Bugs always outwitted.

    That word meant nothing to me as a child nor partcularly now. Not sure it has any conotations States side.

  147. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Good one Chris. Absolutely nailed it once again.

    We’ve got the Scottish Tory rat pack up in arms about the SNP Government trying to claw in around a measly £160 million through using the Westminster economic levered poisoned chalice, whilst their bosses down south are robbing us of £3.4 billion (Scottish equivalent of NIrish bung and the £500 million cuts over the next 2 years) + £130 million emergency services backdated VAT. And the rest!

    Now I spent two hours yesterday trying to calm down and console an 88 year old woman. She was in a REAL state to the point that I reckoned that she could have dropped down dead in front of me with a heart attack.

    Why? Because she received a letter last week from the DWP, in the scary brown envelope, announcing that support for her mortgage interest benefit (SMI), as part of her pension credit, is ending for everyone in the UK from 5 April 2018. Better known as ‘Help with Housing Costs.’

    The letter arrived with an 8 page information leaflet which outlined “what you can do now.” The three alternatives are:

    1. Pay off your mortgage altogether, such as through selling your home and relocating elsewhere (and that may alter the amount of benefit you get).

    2. Contact your mortgage lender who may be able to suggest alternative ways to manage your mortgage payments such as changing your mortgage interest rate.

    3. The DWP can offer an SMI with interest loan (no mention of the rate) to pay towards the interest on your mortgage. If you do so the DWP may also place a second charge on your property (no mention as to what type of charge, why or how much). You pay back the loan when you sell or transfer ownership of your property (or kick the bucket).

    They go on to highlight in BOLD print that if you “don’t take action your home will be at risk” and to help you decide what to do next you’ll get a call from a company called SERCO who work on behalf of the DWP.

    This 8 page leaflet TOTALLY focuses on individuals taking out the SMI loan with FOUR lines ONLY allocated to contacting your mortgage lender.

    However what ANNOYS me more than anything is that this 88 year old woman who lives alone received the letter last week and two days later received a call from someone from SERCO asking her if she was taking out the loan (on commission?). She hadn’t had time to make sense of the letter or speak to anyone else about it. She’s an extremely independent individual who doesn’t rely on social services and at her age has lost her husband, many friends and relatives. In other words she has no support network other than a couple of other people and myself. I just wonder how many elderly people across the UK have no one to help them at all?

    I can’t begin to tell you how absolutely scunnered I am with this Westminster Government. The UK Is one of the richest countries in the world with Scotland propping it up financially, but it’s hammering vulnerable people into the ground ….. literally …. freezing and bloody well starving, if not frightening them to death.

    I sat and held an old woman in my arms yesterday who was shaking and weeping uncontrollably and apologising for weeping. Heartbreaking. Had my arms around her extremely thin and frail body wracked, twisted and knotted with arthritis. She was encouraged to buy her council home when she was in her 70’s … say no more … she doesn’t have a clue about what to do next and is absolutely terrified with regard to what they’ll do to her now, especially as the man from SERCO (check them out) told her that he will be phoning her on Monday when she will have to make up her mind as to whether she’ll take out the loan or not.

    She went on, frantically, about being thrown out of her house, when they’ll do it, where she’ll go, she doesn’t know how to sell her house, who’ll help her, how can she pack up and so on. I went through it all with her and suggested that I’d go with her, if she wants, to her mortgage lender. Told her to tell the SERCO man to back off. Don’t give out your bank details etc. I’d love to be there on Monday when he, the bast*rd, phones but it’s not possible between one thing and another.

    This extremely decent woman and her husband worked their butts off for this country, he in the Army in WW2 and both helping NUMEROUS people over time. These two people alone have done more good than the Scottish Tory cabal combined will ever do in a million years and yet that pathetic bunch of narcissistic losers will still make sure that she and hundreds of thousands of people like her won’t be allowed to end their days in peace. Hell mend them.

    I left her house and drove home crying my heart out (sad, frustrated and more than anything raging). Crying for the weak and vulnerable across this country and vowing to fight the Unionists tooth and nail once AGAIN to get us ALL out of this hellhole. If not for us fight for them folks: The vulnerable, your children and grandchildren.

    The one positive in all of this is that this lady is highly intelligent, knows what Westminster / the Media is up to even although she doesn’t access the Internet and supports Independence. I pray that she lives long enough to see us get it. Ends her days peacefully in an Independent Scotland.

  148. Dr Jim
    Ignored
    says:

    English folk are apparently boycotting Scotch whisky because it’s, well, Scottish and they’re switching to Gin because it’s well, English
    But what they don’t know is 70% of the Gin they’re drinking is made in Scotland, so boycott away

    I like the odd pork pie and I don’t hold it resposible for the behaviour of the politics of the folk who made it, I just don’t like the flag they stick on it
    Put an English flag on it, what’s wrong with these people have they no pride, are they ashamed,oh aye and leave our Saltires on the stuff we make

    Bloody infants

  149. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra 3.01 am , read your post and was almost in tears myself , these scum bastards and I do not apologise , because of the current UK govt these scum feel untouchable, this is the way of the great UK tory , liebour and lie dums, this is their no concience unfeeling don’t give a shit governance , they don’t care that this womans husband fought for this country same as they don’t care that young men and women are coming back from ( conflicts ) scarred mentally and physically that are having to rely on charities to help them . Yet a SNP SG with a concience and a heart are being denigrated and castigated by brit nats and the msm by asking well paid citizens to pay a little extra tax to maintain a societal necessity.

    Re the elderly ladies situation would it not be possible to contact a SNP MP to highlight this in westmonster to illustrate this heartless bullying of an elderly person aligned with the cooperation and collusion of a private company to frighten and force this woman to either take on unmanageable debt or sell her home and make her homeless , either of which may force this person to consider taking her own life or create a fatal health incident

    It has been said many times we HAVE to get out of this rancid union

  150. Iain.mhor
    Ignored
    says:

    @DrJim
    If you are still reading this far BTL.
    You are of course dead right.
    If I catch the gist of your post correctly that is.
    The only salvation (if there can be) is time and deeds, not words.
    Human history is littered with such and the ‘nation’ of Scotland is as complicit as any. To deny it is folly.
    To imagine that merely cutting loose from the perceived ‘parent’ of such colonial atrocities is an absolving act, is naivety – but in deed it is a start.
    A ‘distancing’ perhaps? Perhaps even a guilty acknowledgement of the deeds perpetuated (even quite complicitly) under that British Empire aegis.
    What else could Scotland do today?
    Is it a start?
    What would you have done, ultimately?
    I’m not trolling you, I agree with your point to a factor, but will you help flesh out the bones. It’s a very fair discussion.
    Or is Scotland beyond redemption?

  151. North chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    The state “ breakfast” propaganda unit in full “ pay for your own pension mode” this morning. Apparently babies and toddlers have to start saving now to pay for their old age pensions as the sooner everyone funds their own pension , the sooner the Tory government can abolish “ the state pension”. This will enable the government to buy aircraft and other military “ toys” for the RN carriers etc. as apparently the MOD is penniless and admirals ,Generals and other “ top brass” will soon be heading down to the local food banks
    After Brexit , apparently the state “ pension age” will be set at 100 years. This threshold will be frozen for at least one parliamentary term. Any “ waspi “ women still alive will be fully compensated
    In 2060

  152. Nana
    Ignored
    says:

    Brexit: Mrs May’s twilight world
    http://eureferendum.com/

    Special report: Mark Watts compiles key testimony from 14 extraordinary days of hearings on Rochdale investigation that exposed institutions over child sexual abuse – All roads lead to Westminster.
    https://www.byline.com/column/73/article/1980

    Its government is virtual, borderless, blockchained, and secure. Has this tiny post-Soviet nation found the way of the future?
    http://archive.is/nRJY6

    https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/operation-legacy-britain-destroyed-thousands-colonial-files.html

  153. Jason Smoothpiece
    Ignored
    says:

    We had a collection for a local foodbank at my work, an extra effort for Christmas, we always have a large box at the entrance for “routine donations”.

    The sad thing is this is now normalised we live in a wealthy country and its 2017.

    While many struggle to decide where to go for 2018 holidays or which nice new car to buy. Many of our countrymen and women just struggle.

    Folk shrug their shoulders when you express outrage it’s just how it is.

    There is no demands for action from the Unions who are well beaten now in any case.

    I despair at where we are, welcome to a Dickensian Christmas in 2017 Scotland.

    The only way to change the situation is to urgently convert

    friends, family and workmates to the cause of independence.

    I fear time is short we need to obtain independence before we are all hungry and living in tents.

    Very often the folk most affected by the English Nationalist regimes horrible policies are the ones who are against Independence the English propaganda and sly use of sectarianism has been remarkably successful.

  154. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @HandandShrimp says: 17 December, 2017 at 12:23 am:

    ‘Disappointed that this cartoon isn’t up to the usual very good standard and has to rely on an offensive reference to female genitalia to get laughs’.

    “??
    Nope you’ve lost me.”

    You are not alone, HandandShrimp, it lost many others too.

    In both U.S.A.sian and UK English the term, “FUD”, is an acronym for the phrase, “Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt”.

    In Lowland Scots, (a language in its own right), the term , “fud”, means an animal’s, (such as a rabbit’s), tail.

    The offensive term, “fud”, as used in, “Scottish Standard English”, that is spoken in much of Scotland does indeed refer to female genitals but Scottish Standard English is a slang dialect of Standard English.

    Incidentally there is an now obsolete version of the term, “Fud”, in the Northern Isles and it means a squall or a sudden gust of wind.

  155. Morgatron
    Ignored
    says:

    I dont usually feed the trolls, but Colin Alexander you are without a doubt the worst and most pathetic troll i have had the displeasure of reading. You are every slang name of a man and womans genitalia , you pathetic flacid little _____, yip you can choose your own slang that best suits you.they all sun you up perfectly

  156. PictAtRandom
    Ignored
    says:

    ” Robert Peffers says:
    16 December, 2017 at 6:41 pm

    Not that same old illogical claptrap again?

    It isn’t logical to imagine because you are over a certain age you will vote as a Unionist. If that were the case then there would be an ever increasing total of the increasingly more elderly swinging the polls towards unionism.

    This because the percentage of elderly voters is constantly increasing. That being the case there is obviously a rather different, and more simple, explanation for the phenomenon.

    It really is very simple. The Labour, Tory and LibDem parties have an ever increasing percentage of their remaining membership composed of elderly, long established members and loyal members.

    It isn’t the non-aligned electorate that votes for unionist parties it is simply their long established memberships, or put another way, they are NOT picking up nearly the same percentage of the younger voters as members and thus what remains is going to be increasingly more elderly. ”

    One of the things that strikes you when you poke around on Unionist sites is the number of links with militaria. I think that if you calculated and compared total military recruitment in Scotland 1945-60, 1960-75, 1975-90 etc then you might have some sort of predictor of “generational Unionism”.
    (Having said that, my father spent 15 years in the RAF and latterly a slightly greater length of time voting SNP.)

  157. wull2
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s good to see the links growing, that says there is more people telling the world what is going on.

    Tell everyone you know to vote YES next time.

  158. Hamish100
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh dear BBC Sunday radio with two unionists trolls one of which used to read BBC scotchland news attacking Scottish budget. The other a well Kent face from Kent? Or Essex?

    Wheres the balance? None, does BBC care nope

  159. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Thank you for Sunday morn links Nana. Pretty chilling stuff from the start, are the tories psychopaths basically, or just so desperate for power, they’ll do anything, entirely protected by the BBC?

    “As has also been reported, Margaret, later Lady, Thatcher, when prime minister, approved a knighthood for Smith despite knowing about Lancashire Police’s investigation.

    Read more at:https://www.byline.com/column/73/article/1980

  160. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    The cheek of Vince Cable. The LibDem caused Brexit. Supported an EU Ref for a AV Ref. A complete failure.

    According to the Mail zoomer. They should put up taxes in England to get rid of immigrants. Or just to fund public services. Westminster has cut. NHS £4Billion, Education £6Billion, welfare £3Billion a year. £13Billion. They are spending £30Billion on HS2, Hinkley Point, Heathrow and Trident. All a total waste of money. With more credible, feasible safer alternatives. Supported by the LibDems. They facilitated it. Dumped by Cameron. The Tory slush fund now headed by Cameron. Ovepaying the Chinese to embezzle public money.

    Frank Field the bleating heart hypocrite. Supported the Universal Credit changes and voted them through. Along with Brexit. What a liar.

    Brexit what a mess. Independence Ref coming next.

  161. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Morgatron says: 17 December, 2017 at 9:00 am:

    “I dont usually feed the trolls, but Colin Alexander you are without a doubt the worst and most pathetic troll i have had the displeasure of reading.”

    There is little doubt that whoever Colin Alexander actually is must indeed be the most idiotic among the many unionist trolls that inhabit Wings on a Buggin’s Turn basis. Going by the extremely low standards of the Wings Troll faction such a status is not easy for Colin to achieve.

    You could imagine that after the number of times Colin has made an absolute, (cough!), FUD of himself on Wings that he would hesitate and think again before finally clicking the Submit Comment icon.

    Colin rushes in where ANGLES, JUTES, AND SAXONS fear to tread.

  162. Highland Wifie
    Ignored
    says:

    Just catching up this morning and am appalled at what is happening to the lady who had a letter from DWP Petra. It really upset me. Is it possible for someone else to be there to support her for the phone call on Monday? There must be many like me who would want to do this if it was possible. But finding someone close enough at short notice would be a challenge.

  163. Jock McDonnell
    Ignored
    says:

    Alyn Smith – I take it back, if today’s herald report on a Court of Session case is true. Seems like we are always under bombardment and so the troops need more than words. We like to see the officers leading the campaign onto the enemy lines & this is the sort of stuff we need.
    I’d like, when the time is right, to hear positive pro Scottish voices being raised in Strasbourg and more than that, I’d like some parliamentary decisions being made in our favour. I hope you have that in hand

  164. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @PictAtRandom says: 17 December, 2017 at 9:09 am:

    “One of the things that strikes you when you poke around on Unionist sites is the number of links with militaria. I think that if you calculated and compared total military recruitment in Scotland 1945-60, 1960-75, 1975-90 etc then you might have some sort of predictor of “generational Unionism”.
    (Having said that, my father spent 15 years in the RAF and latterly a slightly greater length of time voting SNP.)”

    Matter of fact, PictAtRandom, I was serving an apprenticeship with the MOD, (Admiralty), in the early 1950s. In those years apprentices had the option of deferring their compulsory call-up for National Service until after their 5 year apprenticeship ended.

    I decided not to defer and was called up and, having been an NCO in the ATC, (Air Training Corp), and an RAF Regiment certificated crack shot found myself, (very briefly in the Army), in the Korean war. Laughable really – several years in the Air Cadets and working for the Admiralty and they stuck me in the army as a sniper.

    Luckily I was deemed to be more valuable to the War effort as a civilian employee due to my speciality in electronics and weapons, (ships guns etc.) and was brought back home.

    Thing was that, in spite of having several times been vetted and signing the Official Secrets Act, I had been an SNP supporter since around 1946 and, in those years the SNP were treated as virtually terrorists.

    There really is no fathoming of the British Unionist mind-set.

  165. ScotsRenewables
    Ignored
    says:

    Brilliant, clever budget. Derek Mackay continues to grow in stature as a politician.

    Has it occurred to anyone that the reason we are having so much trouble shifting YES support from the 47% baseline is that the SNP are doing such a good job for Scotland under the current arrangements?

    The irony!

  166. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Heading into Christmas I find little joy in tales such as the one documented above by Petra. At this time of year our thoughts turn to friends and relatives and we celebrate our mutual love and compassion for each other as best we can.

    Sadly the Government who control them UK have little left in the way of compassion. They are the Dickens Christmas play with no happy songs or meaningful resolution at the end.

    There has to be a better way my friends. There has to be.
    I am becoming ever more angry at the way our fellow citizens are perceived as being expendable in order to keep the economy right. People are never expendible. Personally speaking there is more joy in a 20 minute conversation with anybody than there is in a £100 note. The recent story of the young homeless guy who guarded a woman’s car for two hours because she left money in full view typifies to me what people really are about.

    His act of decency was probably the only thing that altered people’s perceptions about him.

    It is all so terribly wrong.

    We must work harder to show a better way in an independent nation that cares for everybody. The sentiments in Dickens Christmas Carol can become reality

  167. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Jock McDonnell says: 17 December, 2017 at 9:56 am;

    “I’d like, when the time is right, to hear positive pro Scottish voices being raised in Strasbourg and more than that, I’d like some parliamentary decisions being made in our favour. I hope you have that in hand?

    Why not use this link, (below), and find out for yourself, Jock?

    https://www.europarltv.europa.eu/home

  168. Tinto Chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    I see our resident Yoonbot has shown he can neither spell nor think.

    The cartoon character Elmer Fudd (two”d”s) is an American invention. The word “fud” is absent from the enormous American English dictionary I have looked at, although a form of it may exist somewhere in AE dialects. And Fudd is not fud in any case.

    The meanings of “Fud” are as Mr Peffers has listed. The first time I heard the word (when I was innocent) was a reference to a rabbit’s tail when we were out shooting wabbits. The second time it was used to describe an opposition forward with poor ball-skills.

    Meanwhile, in other news, Americans use the word “Fanny” for the buttocks.

    “It’s a funny old game, Saint.”

  169. Ron Maclean
    Ignored
    says:

    @Robert Peffers 12.36am

    The quote you gave was from @Breeks 3.56pm/16Dec

    I agree with your response. Like every nation the Scottish people have the sovereignty they want and, right now, perhaps deserve.

    Do you (and Breeks?) think that our leadership should be more inclined to presume sovereignty? For example we voted 62:38 to remain in the EU so why are we leaving?

  170. Meg merrilees
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra get her MP onto this straight away and tell her not to answer the phone on monday!

  171. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Dr Jim @ 3.54 am

    Re the English drinking Scottish Gin.

    I take it you did not see the Story in Saturday’s Herald about the companies getting their gin produced in England then labelled to make it look like it was a Scottish product.

  172. heraldnomore
    Ignored
    says:

    Hey Colin, away and read some archive Rab columns in the CalMerc, assuming you weren’t tuned in when Iain Grey was in his pomp. Elmer rules again.

  173. TheWasp
    Ignored
    says:

    My grandad used a rabbit tail which he always called a fud, to fertilize his tomatoes.

  174. Les Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    I find this a worrying thing for democracy across the UK, but most worrying for Scotland.
    This is a Westminster driven thing, who of course fund the BBC, so under the cloak of ” Local democracy” reporters will be reporting back every little thing to the BBC, and subsequently to Westminster. A good thing? I think not.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/local-democracy-reporters

  175. gus1940
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra how about crowdfunding to pay off her mortgage – if it was for Right To Buy it can’t be too big.

    Then we can get it brought up at PMQs as wonderful 2 fingers to the Tories.

  176. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    I take it you did not see the Story in Saturday’s Herald about the companies getting their gin produced in England then labelled to make it look like it was a Scottish product.”

    Its going to be bizarre watching Scottish products like Arbroath Smokies lose their EU trade copyright protection too

    https://www.prosciuttodiparma.com/en_UK/prosciutto/pdo

    https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/quality/schemes_en

    http://www.arbroathsmokies.net/

    Hey didlee ho, its the UK life for the little Arbroath fishies.

  177. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ron McLean.

    I do, yes. Absolutely.

    Westminster is completely unrestrained by any respect for, concept or interpretation of Scottish sovereignty. The Union is their green light to do whatever they want.

    In Scotland however, as soon as we mention the word sovereignty, it seems we dig out the high powered microscopes to find some unfavourable interpretation of sovereignty to confound ourselves.

    Every neutrality or ambiguity is bent towards the benefit of Westminster, never Scotland.

    Westminster can ride roughshod over the Treaties of Union with impunity, reinterpreting the terms at random. Scotland however will falter to inaction over the narrowest interpretation of a single word.

    If I was king for the day, (ha ha, maybe not the best metaphor in the circumstances), I would be petitioning the EU and the UN to recognise the Act of Union as a bipartite treaty between two sovereign nations. Even if Scotland is not free to act upon its sovereignty independently, then quid pro quo, neither is England free to do likewise and overrule Scottish sovereignty.

    Our petition of the EU and UN need not be a declaration or affirmation of formal independence, but I believe we could have some kind of probationary sovereignty recognised, so that Scotland can at least be recognised as an international interlocutor, and empowered and recognised to negotiate alternative strategies and doctrines to those of Westminster.

    In short, or to use a different perspective, we should currently be undermining the legitimacy of the UK Union, and seek recognition of the United Kingdom as a confederation of two sovereign nations. Scotland might then be free to stay in Europe, but still in the UK too.

    In short, where the UK has used sovereign flexibility to pencil in special circumstances for NI, we could / should be using Scotland’s sovereignty (backed by Scotland’s sovereign Remain mandate) to secure Scotland’s sovereign right to remain in Europe.

    A prime example of my opening paragraphs is the pedantic opinion that Brexit was a UK vote, and related to the UK’S position in Europe. True, the question on the ballot was the UK, however all that means is the sovereign opinion of Scotland was that the whole UK should remain in the EU, and Westminster’s rejection of that sovereign edict is unconstitutional and an attempt to subjugate Scotland’s sovereign voice.

    In Brexit, with Scotland’s popular sovereignty, and our democratic remain vote, we have in my opinion the strongest constitutional levers available to us to bring the United Kingdom to its knees. I confess, I do not understand why the SNP, the servants of Scottish sovereignty, are abandoning every principle of Scotland’s Nation status to stake everything on a democratic exercise which many fear is compromised by unchallenged propaganda and electoral interference.

    By all means, pursue a democratic agenda, but without a firm grip on sovereignty, who is to say our 2018 or 2019 vote for Independence, even IF it happens, will be respected and recognised as sovereign? It wasn’t respected in 2016. And in Catalonia too, a democratic majority is feebleness personified against the bulwark of recognised sovereignty and constitutional law.

    In my opinion, it should be UK democracy which flounders against the bulwark of Scottish sovereignty. We have been missing the trick for 300 years, but better late than never.

  178. Abulhaq
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffers.
    Re the noun FUD, with reference to usage examples in the online Scots dictionaries the word is probably modern, certainly in its vulgar usage. The possibility that it reached Scotland through naval, military channels cannot be discounted. For example word SCRAN meaning food or snack may have begun life in the 18thC London docks and travelled from port to port via Liverpool reaching Scotland circa 1800. There’s a restaurant in Edinburgh with the Scouse sounding name of the Scran and Scally, neither term has any etymological basis in the classic ‘Scottis leid’.
    Given that English naval and military personnel were based in Scotland in the 19th century words from English dialects would have entered into colloquial usage as a ‘novelty’.

  179. Gary45%
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin,
    FUD is also the sound in a Yoon/Tories head when they try to make a coherent statement, a rabbit in a FUD could be misconstrued as a sexual reference, but to simply describe a useless waste of space i.e. A Yoon/Tory “a FUD” is very much correct.
    Jim “eggy” Murphy was the ultimate FUD a few years back, at the present time you can choose any Yoon/Tory for the title.
    Don’t be a FUD and join the gang you know it makes sense.

    oh aye Merry F*cking Christmas.

  180. Thepnr
    Ignored
    says:

    @Les Wilson

    Interesting aspect of that story you linked to was that London with a population of 8.8 million have been allocated 13 reporters.

    Whereas Scotland population 5.4 million will get 21.5 from a total of 145.5 which seems a bit strange.

  181. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    This is a Westminster driven thing, who of course fund the BBC, so under the cloak of ” Local democracy” reporters will be reporting back every little thing to the BBC, and subsequently to Westminster. A good thing? I think not.”

    Very creepy beeb gimp wise. Their “150 local democracy reporters” is pretty good though, as BBC Scotland sets about its daily routine of destroying Scottish democracy. Maybe local means something different to your average beeb gimp.

    “To be awarded the democracy reporter contracts, the 58 successful news organisations had to pass stringent criteria which included financial stability and a strong track record of relevant journalism in the area they were applying to cover.”

    Imagine how politicised just this £8 million recruitment is going to be in Scotland… family connection with the BBC? check, private school? check, uni? check? vote NO, forever? ofcourse!

    There was a thing about death, BBC r4 last night with Joan Bakewell , all about donating your body to medical school study. Started in Scotland where they even had on a Scots medic from Aberdeen, and beeb gimps literally had her shout, “God Bless the UK.”

  182. Reluctant Nationalist
    Ignored
    says:

    Peffers, I had a feeling you knew your MILS from your MOA.

  183. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    Nana.

    Thanks for the Estonia article link.

    http://archive.is/nRJY6

    It reads like science-fiction –

    until you realise its actually happening.

    And we’re still arguing about postal voting, residency qualifications and sovereignty.

    Ah, well! One step at a time.

  184. IZZIE
    Ignored
    says:

    Heedtracker at 11 28 We could get our MP Kritene Hair to raise this issue – or maybe not she doesn’t engage with her constituants and doesn’t understand Brexit

  185. cearc
    Ignored
    says:

    I, also, was very upset by Petra’s tale.

    I don’t know what council it is under but maybe an enquiry could be made to see if the council would like to buy it back and grant her the lifetime tenancy?

  186. mike cassidy
    Ignored
    says:

    For your Sunday amusement.

    Much fun being had on the WOS twitter feed about him being “53 separated and skint”

    I know, how will he survive on that EU pension?

    And now he can’t even comfort himself with his Anglo-Saxon blanket.

    http://archive.is/0EgWf

    ” Anglo-Saxon ancestry is a modern English myth – the English are not descended from one group of people, but from many and that persists in our culture and in our genes. ”

  187. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    IZZIE says:

    Did anyone really understand Brexit? Especially the great Mike ” Brits have had enough of experts” Gove.

    Look at the sheer jaw dropping shock at UKOK cities getting kicked out of the European city of Culture.

    It’s all come down to BBC tory Britnat propaganda, decades and decades of anti EU, no info, mis info, flat out lying to their UK zone, straight Brit banana EU regs and all.

    Its worked in Scotland right enough. Can it eventually get the SNP out and a UK gov back in Holyrood, approved and celebrated by mass ranks of beeb gimps?

    Probably. Or at the very least, everyone in the beeb gimp network will have total faith in their ability to take out the SNP.

  188. Legerwood
    Ignored
    says:

    heedtracker @ 11.28 am

    It will be more than just Arbroath Smokies that lose their Brand protection when the UK leaves the EU.

    Nationally the UK will make noises that seem to suggest that the UK Government will continue the protection but expect the word ‘normally’ to feature in any such statements.

    The reality will be that the UK out of the EU will be in a much weakened position as regards offering brand protection. It will not have the clout or the reach or, indeed, the willingness to act of the EU when it comes to Brand protection.

  189. Gary45%
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra @ 3.01am.
    Try and contact the local SNP councillor (if she has one)? Not sure if CAB could take this up.
    As we all know the is is no way to treat anyone especially an elderly person.
    Any idea how much her mortgage is?
    Mibees a wee crowd funder?
    I am not rich, but would happily help.

  190. Scott
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    I noticed Jackie Baillie on about Prestwick airport maybe she should have a look at this tweet I saw.

    THE PRESTWICK AIRPORT ROBBERY.

    If you thought of Prestwick Airport as some sort of “lost” facility then read this. I was totally clueless but this is fantastic reading and maybe Scotgov bought it for a big reason. X

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204026993950975&id=1707526385

  191. wull2
    Ignored
    says:

    I don’t know about the rest of us, but I go to the BBC less every day to get real news.
    Watch the AS show on RT.

  192. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ron Maclean says:17 December, 2017 at 10:35 am:

    “The quote you gave was from @Breeks 3.56pm/16Dec
    I agree with your response. Like every nation the Scottish people have the sovereignty they want and, right now, perhaps deserve.”

    That may be a rather sweeping generalisation, Ron.

    More like, “a majority”, of the Scottish people would be more correct. The point is that, as the Scottish Rule of Law states the people of Scotland are legally sovereign and there are several examples of legal precedent on record to uphold that as being proven law, a majority of the people of Scotland is a very important concept.

    ” … Do you (and Breeks?) think that our leadership should be more inclined to presume sovereignty?”

    First of all I cannot speak for Breeks but I believe that our leadership can only act if they have a majority mandate from the people, not just the SNP members or their elected representatives.

    I’m not a lawyer but have thought about this sovereignty subject for going on 80 years. I know that as a party the SNP are the only really democratic party in Scotland and probably the entire United Kingdom. The fact is that neither the SNP party office holders nor the elected to council, Holyrood, Westminster or Brussels members have, as a body, the right to form party policies.

    This can only be done by those delegated to speak on their behalf by rank & file members of branches and Constituency Associations. That is the proper exercise of the people’s legal sovereignty in action within the party.

    Trouble is that it is not a majority of the entire electorate of Scotland and if they stick by the laws of Scotland then they require the say so of a majority of the whole voting electorate.

    I believe Nicola Sturgeon, (a lawyer), sticks by that tenet of Scottish law and will not act without having the majority of Scots permission to do so.

    As I have commented before on Wings – the people’s sovereignty is both a great strength and a great weakness for a party in power. Another way to look at it is that the only way the people’s sovereignty can be exercised is with the permission of the people.

    Not so in the three country Kingdom of England. In 1688 the Parliament of the Kingdom of England made the joint monarchy of King Billy & Queen Mary their new monarchy after deposing their then monarch who just happened to also be the monarch of the still independent Kingdom of Scotland. They did so only if the joint monarchs legally delegated their Divine Right to Rule to the parliament of the Kingdom of England.

    This changed the Rule of Law of the Kingdom of England into a Constitutional Monarchy. However, in 1688, Scotland was still an independent kingdom so English law could not be applied.

    Then, in the Treaty of Union, 1707, Article 19 states that both legal systems must remain independent in perpetuity and unless the treaty is altered and the people of Scotland agree to the changes, that makes their independence sacrosanct.

    Here I quote from my on-line dictionary:-

    sacrosanct: adjective: sacrosanct:- (especially of a principle, place, or routine), regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with.

    Yet Westminster has indeed interfered with it in more ways than one. Including assuming that Westminster continues as the de facto parliament of the country of England and that, (as stated by the present Secretary of State for against Scotland :- “The Treaty of Union extinguished the Kingdom of Scotland and renamed the Kingdom of England as The United Kingdom”.

    See:-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OIRUr4R7GQ

    There is not a single word to that effect in the Treaty of Union.

  193. Robert Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    Scott – thanks for the link , how many on here realise how much we are being held back in this union ,the same applies to Hunterston one of the deepest natural ports in Europe .

    All these facilities on our doorstep , easily accessed and we couldn’t survive and prosper give us a f/n break .

    Scott’s link is well worth a read folks .

  194. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Re. “Brits have had enough of experts” Gove. I see he keeps faith with the Tory tradition of bigoted anti-intellectualism. Bit of a social realist? Bit of a social Darwinist?

    Aspects of Radical Constructivism

    The main difference between science and religion, we were told in school, is that religion is founded on a dogma that is absolute and immutable because it stems from divine revelation, whereas science is tentative because it develops theories that are always open to refutation by new findings or novel experiments. Scientists, therefore, are supposed to be open-minded and to welcome the solution of stubborn problems, even if the new solutions entail a change of thinking and the demise of concepts that seemed well established in the past.

    http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/EvG/papers/191.pdf

    Social Psychology Social impact theory
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7yDfAnRTEc

    Social Psychology: Social Influence Factors Part I
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6xvnA-B7Q

  195. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Mike Gove’s got the whole of the UK media behind him, but so do the great Slabour dingdongs such as Mike Kelly o the Hootsman, with his infamous,

    “There should be no consolation prizes in the event of the Yes campaign losing the referendum, writes Michael Kelly”

    Red tories in the great Brit gutter press are quite fun to follow though, as life in teamGB unfolds andy all manfully aid and abet the BBC destroy Scottish democracy, from same Kelly thing of that headline,

    “Forget political philosophies, visions and facts. Tax-and-spend bribes have worked in every British general election since the war. Alex Salmond will major on them. His problem is that in this uncertain and austere world they might be too big for even the Scottish electorate, always eager for a bigger public sector, to swallow.”

    Ah the red tories in their Scotland region.

  196. Lochside
    Ignored
    says:

    1.55pm ‘So those Roman walls were actually customs barriers to prevent smuggling’…TOTAL PISH.

    As I recall you claimed that Hadrian’s wall post dated Antonine’s. In fact the Romans built Hadrian’s wall to keep our ancestors out.They may not have been designated ‘SCOTS’ but DNA results proves 70% of our present population came from these assorted celtic tribes that humbled the might of Rome.

    Antonine’s wall was built 20 years AFTER Hadrian’s. ‘It spanned approximately 63 kilometres (39 miles) and was about 3 metres (10 feet) high and 5 metres (16 feet) wide. Security was bolstered by a deep ditch on the northern side. It is thought that there was a wooden palisade on top of the turf’. The barrier was the second of two “great walls” created by the Romans in Northern Britain.

    The Romans who crushed all opposition tried ,vainly, to destoy the Northern tribes. This wall was abandoned after 8 years. The Romans tried once more and finely chucked it because they could not defeat our forebears. Hadrian’s wall was even more formidable.

    Stop recycling revisionist Britpropaganda history.Some custom posts!!

  197. Ron Maclean
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks 11.28am @Robert Peffers 1.05pm

    Thank you both for these excellent treatises and for your efforts in keeping attention on this important subject. I hope our leaders are taking notice.

    An increase in the polls to 50%, preferably 55% along with a presumption of sovereignty would be a good starting point. For that to happen I think we’ll need a Yes campaign.

  198. Moonlight
    Ignored
    says:

    Scott @1241

    I can not disagree with your analysis and the interesting paper on Prestwick.
    Before the referendum I wrote to the SNP asking for an outline of their aviation policy for an independent Scotland, after a slight runaround there was no response of substance. I had innocently thought that I might help if there was a lack of knowledge as at that time I was recently retired from a career which included representing aviation interests at national, EU and international level.
    There is so much potential for Scotland in aviation given our unique geographic position and the availability of a number of excellent but under used runways.
    Inbound from crossing the pond Prestwick is a natural en route diversion. This means that sufficient fuel plus reserves can be carried to reach Prestwick. On near arrival a recalculation will show sufficient fuel to continue, with reserves to various continental destinations.This anomaly springs from a part of the mandated reserves being a percentage of the total and therefore for a 1hr30 sector the quantity of fuel required is less than that for a 10hr sector.
    Prestwick is reasonably well connected by rail to all of Scotland, therefore it is more than feasable to operate long haul services for all of Scotland from there, assuming that the incumbent rail operator can be persuaded to operate suitable services.
    Of more interest perhaps is the possibility of linkage by road and rail with northern England. On really long haul trips there could be a saving of £200 per passenger who would otherwise pay APD in England. Unfortunately as things stand, Scotland has no national airline other than Loganair which is currently not in that market.
    Schipol (KLM) has recognised this market but one has to use different airlines or make a 24hr stopover to avoid Westminster charging it’s tax.
    As things stand I am extremly worried that if Brexit takes place, Westminster’s zealots, who understand little about aviation, will rob us of access to Eurocontrol, the European Common Aviation Area and Open Skies (Transatlantic). This has the potential to put international flights on the ground. Without continued membership of the European Aviation Safety Agency there will be no oversight of operators, their safety standards and operating procedures, engineering standards and possibly the pilot’s licences.
    Serious stuff for an industry which is our link with our EU neighbours and the rest of the world.
    It might have been an interesting dialogue, of benefit to a future Scotland but it was not to be.

  199. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    I mostly agree with Robert Peffers, but I also disagree with certain principles.

    I completely understand that sovereign action requires the mandate of a Scottish majority, but where I disagree is where that democratic principle undermines our sovereign principles. Sovereignty itself is not answerable to democracy. A King is sovereign without democracy, Kim Jong-Un does not lead a democracy but North Korea still has its sovereignty respected. But in Scotland, we are not sovereign because we have elected not to be??? and that decision is a sovereign edict from a sovereign people??? It’s isnt Westminster which obstructs Constitutional clarity, it is our own profound confusion and a lack of constitutional rigour and exactitude. We are the duped victim of a conman who has the general perception we are being conned, but cannot quite put our finger on the exact point where the fraud occurs.

    To repeat myself, a YES vote in 2014 would be no more or less sovereign than a no vote. Because the people are sovereign. Voting No did not compromise our sovereignty. So when we voted in the Brexit referendum, our Remain majority was a sovereign opinion which Westminster cannot overrule. The fact Westminster is ignoring Scotland’s constitutional sovereignty makes Westminster’s actions unconstitutional.

    It exasperates me when we talk about Scottish sovereignty being overruled by a UK majority, because for that to happen, for the concept to work, we must fudge the definition of what Sovereignty actually is. Why??? Stop it!! Sovereignty means you cannot be overruled. If you can be overruled, then you’re not sovereign. If you are sovereign, then you cannot be overruled. Simple! … Until you apply it to Scotland..

    This means Westminster has to respect a Scottish right of sovereign veto, which it routinely does not, our act unconstitutionally to bypass Scotland’s sovereignty, something which Westminster does all the time because we never stop them.

    We don’t need a UDI, or a majority for Independence, we just need to oblige Westminster to Act constitutionally and respect Scottish sovereignty, or declare the Union null and void when they refuse. The way we do that is invite Europe and the UN to recognise the constitutional legitimacy of Scotland’s sovereignty. No democracy required.

  200. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks to everyone who responded to my post about the elderly lady / the DWP / SERCO. I’ve now managed to rally a number of people around to support her including someone who will be with her to deal with the man from SERCO. She’s also agreed to make an appointment to speak to someone at her mortgage lender, but is not keen, so far, on involving MPs etc. More than anything she’s more ‘settled’ now, seems to understand what’s going on and her options.

    However, I’m still trying to get my head round this as I reckon there’s more going on other than Westminster saving money and receiving interest on the SMI loan. What’s with the latter sentence here … “Interest will be charged on your SMI loan. DWP may also place a second charge on your property.” What charge?

    Meanwhile I see from one of Nana’s links that DWP staff are receiving big bonuses for making thousands of people’s lives (if not millions) an absolute misery. A Merry Christmas (NOT) to all in the UK from them.

    …………………………

    @ Scot at 12:41pm ….. “Prestwick Airport.”

    Thanks for the link, Scot. Really interesting. In fact it’s an education on here. Westminster got it all stitched up, such as our ability to export from Scotland. The link also clarifies why the SNP bailed them out. Forward planning. Roll on Independence Day.

  201. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks
    Prior to 1707, the people of Scotland were considered sovereign. In England, Parliament was considered sovereign. Since 1707, English culture and practice has been adopted as British constitutional practice, with Scots now held under the sovereignty of an English Parliament that was abolished to accommodate Yoonion. Crazy or what?

    England has no legal hold on Scotland, our subservience is purely conditioned behavior. The provisions and principles of the Acts of Union lie in tatters, IMHO.

  202. Fred
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah don’t swallow the Customs Post theory, these walls, forts & barracks cost squillions & squillions of denarii, tied up thousands of infantry, cavalry & full supporting staff plus the Classis Britannica, which circumnavigated Britain. What were they smuggling? cocaine, tobacco, opium or just sheeps-heids!

    As for “Fud,” a similar Gaelic word means a vile, worthless fellow & that sounds about right!

  203. Gary45%
    Ignored
    says:

    Petra@2.55
    Thanks for the update regarding the elderly lady.
    I hope everything works out for her, but if there has to be a crowd funder I will gladly contribute.

  204. Les Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    I remember the first BBC account of Hadrians wall being explained by a fresh faced young guy with long hair, who is more often seen now as a total expert. We all know who that is.

    However looking at Hadrians wall,he said that it made him proud that this was built to keep out Scottish marauders. (that proud feeling has obviously been turned around by the BBC wages effect)
    (note the words may be differently phrased, it was something like that, and he definitely appeared proud of the fact that the mighty Roman Empire, built it all to keep us out.) Changed days now.

    BBC money working hard to degrade anything Scottish that we may feel a even a wee bit proud of.

  205. lochside
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks…I don’t understand why many people on here don’t want to listen to the idea that Sovereignty is the issue that trumps everything that’s the root cause of Scotland’s current and historical political and economic crises. It defines supreme authority over a political entity i.e. a nation in most cases.Something we have lacked for three hundred years.

    We must always start from first principles: Scotland entered into an equal union with England. Our laws and status were preserved, as were England’s. Since 1707 we have been progressively outvoted and suborned by England’s crude and self serving interests both politically and economically.

    The Brexit mess is the ultimate example. We are about to lose not only European membership; employment and human rights; but be forced into economic hardship and political insignificance by this unilateral vote by England’s built in majority.

    This fact defeats the democracy over sovereignty ‘debate’ every time: we as a ‘equal member’ of the UK state are de facto being railroaded out of a legal treaty which we as the UK signed, without our permission. De jure this is illegal.

    On this basis, our representatives at Westminster must resign, on the principle, that the Union compact has been broken against our democratic wishes demonstrated by our votes in the the European Referendum. That was backed by every region in Scotland and by a majority vote.

    The vote a couple of days ago in the WM EU withdrawal Bill had an amendment ( linked on this thread) which was hidden, deliberately by the BBC and msm by the ‘tax row’ bullshit, allowing Westminster under the Tories to at any time, rescind and abolish the Scottish Parliament. And it will. The English despot and murderer, Henry viii’s name is used to reduce our democratic rights to zero…. so much for democracy!

    So the time for reforming and petitioning is over. Dissolution of this pernicious ‘union’ is well over due, and more importantly, of absolute immediate necessity for Scotland’s very existence.

  206. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    So the time for reforming and petitioning is over. Dissolution of this pernicious ‘union’ is well over due, and more importantly, of absolute immediate necessity for Scotland’s very existence.”

    And then you woke up:D

  207. Lochside
    Ignored
    says:

    Heedtracker why don’t you stick to drooling over ‘sexy’ tightfitting black flack vests and your slovenian ‘girlfriend’ and leave proper discussion to grown ups.

  208. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Lochside says:

    You’re a fantasist chum. And why not. Fantasy land is out there, second star on the right and straight on to lala land. Its not a surprise you’re homophobic either.

  209. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Petra
    Second charge on a property is where a lender obtains security over their loan, on the property owned by the borrower – same basis as the mortgage lender. It’s registered with the Scottish Land Commission, and from any sale the mortgage lender gets repaid, then any other “charges” secured on the property. Only then will the seller (or the solicitor) get and release the funds from the sale of the property.

    In itself there is no “charge” as in annual or montly fee, but there would be a legal fee for solicitors involved, plus perhaps a registration fee with the Scottish Land Commission (presumably similar in England etc). And probably a further fee and legal fees to discharge the charge on the property.

  210. yesindyref2
    Ignored
    says:

    @Moonlight
    I think there are quite a lot of people who would gladly offer their present and previous or retired expertise for nothing in the cause of Independence, and even for Scotland.

    But no interest in such an idea, not even a response. You’re not the only one to have bounced off a thick stupid brick wall. What a waste of talent.

  211. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    heedtracker says:
    17 December, 2017 at 7:28 pm
    Lochside says:

    You’re a fantasist chum. And why not. Fantasy land is out there…

    Yeah. It’s called Catalonia, where all the faith people had in peaceful democracy and liberty was rudely exposed as a delusional fantasy when crushed beneath cold, hard reality of the Spanish sovereign constitution. The Guardia Civil cracked heads as the World looked on and chose to respect the constitutional legality of Fascist oppression rather than compassion for a Nation’s right to peaceful democratic self determination. Fantasy meets reality.

    But of course, that’s Spain and Catalonia. Scotland will be entirely different because…. err… because Westminster will sign a Section 30 Order and agree to respect the result, – provided of course Westminster, the Electoral Commission, and the BBC Control the Referendum franchise, debate, agenda, narrative, Purdah rules, and of course manage the ballot itself.

    Nice and fair, just like 2014…

    Now who’s guilty of wishful thinking?

  212. defo
    Ignored
    says:

    Girls, girls, girls ! (said as Jean Brodie)
    Be good, and Santa might bring you a mini-bag of Sovereignty. 🙂

  213. Petra
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks Gary at 4:11pm for your (and others) kind offer and to yesindyref2 at 8:09pm for taking the time to explain that (second charge on a property) to me. Pleased to hear too that your wife is on the mend now yesindyref2. Great big cloud lifted no doubt, just in time for Christmas.

  214. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks I love you man but UDI is pie in the UKOK sky.

    Its fun to hypothesise, postulate, speculate, contemplate and other kinds of ates but its the most not ever happening thing ever, in this democracy of ours.

    It could only ever begin to be considered if say, in 2014 YES had won, even by 51% and Westminster had then said no they would not accept that result. And they are clearly never going to do that.

    Catalonia and Scotland are completely different things, if only because Catalonia is not a nation state in a union like ours. And Spain is clearly a rather fascist country, whereas England is just not, they keep saying:D

    Most English people do not want to see Scotland become a nation state for all kinds of reasons and a lot of them are genuine love and affection, for Scotland, its part of their national ID, a thing they possess as much as any part of the British isles. But that does mot make them fascist and they will ofcourse just get on with it, as England and Wales.

    Spaniards however seem to be more than ready and willing to go mental at Catalonias, in the most extreme ways that could well kick off civil war.

    That’s not the English though.

    England is Scotland’s closest neighbour and friend, not matter what their Westminster tory freak show and relentlessly repellent media gimp network says.

    Its got to be democracy and referendums all the way to the finishing line.

  215. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    heedtracker says:
    17 December, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    Catalonia and Scotland are completely different things, if only because Catalonia is not a nation state in a union like ours. And Spain is clearly a rather fascist country, whereas England is just not, they keep saying:D

    Michel Barnier doesn’t see any difference. He will only negotiate with Westminster, the UK’s Sovereign interlocutor.
    Donald Tusk doesn’t see any difference. He will only negotiate with Rajoy in Madrid, the Only Sovereign Spanish interlocutor.
    The EU collective doesn’t see any difference. It proposes a new application under Lisbon Treaty Article 48 for new EU membership application for Scotland as a seceding state, not as an existing sovereign Nation exiting a Bipartite Union of two Sovereign equals.

    Nobody except sovereignty diehards in Scotland, (and on one occasion the UK’s Supreme Court), currently recognises Scotland’s sovereignty at all. Even the SNP itself doesn’t recognise the sovereign aspects of Scotland’s Remain mandate from 2016, and refuses to defend it or respect it. So when our own Government doesn’t even respect the integrity of Scottish popular sovereignty, then why should we expect anyone else to?

    I fear there is every credible possibility that Scotland’s Independence Referendum will be treated EXACTLY the same way as Catalonia’s. Westminster will declare it void, non-binding or unconstitutional, because that will be Westminster’s legal prerogative as the only RECOGNISED sovereign voice of UK government, and Scotland’s case for Independence will be dismissed as a matter of internal domestic regional UK politics, – just exactly as Catalonia remains a domestic issue for Spain to resolve.

    In my opinion, it would be much wiser for Scotland to register and test our claim to be a sovereign Nation trapped in a Bipartite International Treaty by bringing the constitutional issue to a head at both the UN and EUCJ, and doing so before the ScotRef parameters have even been set.

    I believe that is what Catalonia should have done before jumping the gun and announcing an Independence Referendum. They should have made certain before the ballot took place that the UN and EU were prepared to recognise Catalonia’s sovereign democracy, even if Spain did not. The Catalans did not do that however, and that omission has cost them dear.

    The same is true for Scotland. We should have a cast iron acknowledgement from the UN and EU that Scottish Sovereignty is legitimate, competent in law, and will be formally recognised, even if Westminster chooses to contest the issue.

    In 2014, we had the Edinburgh Agreement which bound Westminster to respecting the result of the Referendum, – but I don’t believe Westminster will ever take such a risk again. “Now is not the time” says Theresa May… We should assume there will be no Section 30 Agreement, and if we have no International recognition of Scottish sovereignty either, then Scotland will very quickly find itself in a remarkably similar position to Catalonia. We will have all our eggs in one democratic basket, but no sovereign recognition for all our trouble.

  216. Brian Doonthetoon
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Breeks.

    I’m gonna repost a comment I posted on 5th December.

    “RE: all the perceived problems surrounding indyref2. (Observers, exit polls, postal votes and so on.)

    Perchance this could be the solution.

    If, as has been suggested by many, the UK’s exit deal with the EU collapses to a “no deal” scenario, due to the Irish veto, or the DUP witholding support for the Tory government, then there could be a snap general election.

    The SNP could treat this as a “superelection” and stand on one principle: if the voters of Scotland return a majority of independence supporting MPs to the UK Parliament, then this will be taken as a mandate for the Scottish Parliament to take a vote on declaring the dissolution of The Treaty of Union; regained independence, in other words.

    It could also be made clear that, at least, the independence supporting MPs would not take their seats at Westminster. Rather, they could be used as a basis for an “Independence Council” or similar.

    No doubt other commentators here could add flesh to the bones.”

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/from-the-archives/#comment-2321314

  217. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    The same is true for Scotland. We should have a cast iron acknowledgement from the UN and EU that Scottish Sovereignty is legitimate, competent in law, and will be formally recognised, even if Westminster chooses to contest the issue.”

    All of that is fair enough. But in 2014 Scots had the choice, to take back Scotland’s sovereignty, all of it.

    I honestly have no idea about sovereignty and Scotland. Its easy to speculate though. If we take the Leave and Brexiter campaign stuff, it looked like the UK shared a fair amount of UK sovereignty with Brussels. Depending on who you believe, UK shared between 10 to 30% of its sovereignty with and in the EU.

    All EU members do it and it seems that, whether they all like it or not, its what they want to give up sovereignty wise, for all kinds of EU member benefits. But all of that was probably the last thing on a lot of Leave voters mind too, far more fixated on returning England to the 1950’s.

    So its probably safe to say that the NO win in 2014 meant that instead of taking back all of Scotland’s sovereignty in this union, some Scots decided to give up a lot more than 10 to 30% of it.

    Probably a lot of Scots didn’t give the Scottish sovereignty share with England and Westminster much thought in 2014 or at least no more than the Leave EU vote did, especially as BBC Scotland’s Project Fearing alone became more and more hysterical.

    But we know that Better Together certainly did, David Cameron and Gordon Brown in particular, with their historic vote NO for federal UK and devo-max fraud.

    So depending on the sovereignty ratio you accept or understand, I don’t, Scotland is a sovereign state but today its shared, with England.

    Personally I think you can see the power that Scottish sovereignty right now and still does have, in that Westminster do have the right to close down Holyrood but they cant do it now, because Scotland is a sovereign nation state, no natter how hard unionists wish it wasn’t.

    Clearly unionists have decided that they do not have to close down Holyrood, yet. We all know that they believe they can get the SNP out eventually, even by next Scottish GE, just with their BBC Scotland SNP bad monstering, and their endless Britnat propaganda, pumped into our souls. We have to assume that they can do it too. They all keep the tories in power in England for starters.

    But ultimately, this was what 2014 was all about, pooling and sharing, branded on our vile sep hearts, they wish:D

  218. Chick McGregor
    Ignored
    says:

    heedy

    It is a *lending* of sovereignty *not* a *sharing*.

    There is a huge difference.

  219. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    What makes me uneasy is the stage we have reached in the “Independence Game”, yet all these constitutional criteria remain shrouded in ambiguity and open to such widely varying opinions.

    To compare the quest for Independence to a search process, it worries me that we lack focus and strategy. We are looking here, there and the other place, but it’s all random, and we look over the same places we have already looked.

    A proper search process has rigid structure to it; the search area is halved, then quartered, and narrowed down by a gradual process of elimination.

    It unsettles me that so many constitutional alternatives remain plausible, when in reality, I feel we should be further into a formal legal process which is eradicating ambiguity and challenging unwarranted presumptions.

    At this stage of the process, when we expect the population to vote on the subject, surely it is a failure of our campaign that the “subject” we want to vote on, our sovereign constitution, remains such a complete dogs breakfast with as many different interpretations as there are voters.

    We urgently need to quarter our search area and start to be much more methodical in how we go about narrowing down the search. It isn’t good enough to rely on supposition and conjecture. We should be demanding definitive rulings which stand up to legal scrutiny and warrant objective recognition.

    It feels to me that we are being very sloppy about doing the necessary groundwork to support a credible legal challenge to the accepted conventions of the Union.

    If we can properly separate constitutional fact from fiction, and ultimately we surely must, then exactly what are we waiting for? Let us please get it done objectively and methodically. Let us find and follow the critical path of truth through the constitutional mess we live in.

    And when, or indeed if, we go to the polls again in a referendum, let us all be united in common purpose that is crystal clear and properly understood by all.

  220. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    We urgently need to quarter our search area and start to be much more methodical in how we go about narrowing down the search. It isn’t good enough to rely on supposition and conjecture. We should be demanding definitive rulings which stand up to legal scrutiny and warrant objective recognition.”

    You’re over thinking it and adding confusion, what’s sovereign constitution?

    You want simple and focused?

    Scotland can hold indy refs and Yorkshire cant because… sovereignty, nation state sovereignty, which Scots agreed to keep LENDING, 2014, thank you Chick, to Westminster and England.

    With the indy ref1 result as it stands, UDI would be dictatorship, by the YES vote.

    And that would be just the beginning of a whole range of UKOK problems.

    Zoomers like Lochside up there are either just sounding off, or a bit dotty. Either way, its all a major No No.



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