Wings Over Scotland

YES! nice bike too Christopher. Never take your eyes off the road though, to Scottish independence:D

?? Was a red heart. Wondered if it would work?

I can feel the difference this time. More and more people are becoming open to the idea of Independence. Not surprised then that everyone connected with keeping the Union intact are running around like headless chickens.

They see what I see and are bricking it!

Heartened by these videos.
Still not over the punch in the guts from last time.

Ah, Youth.

Bike fan not working is still less impressive than a burning exhaust ?

Well done, Yesbiker

Found that to be really moving.
It takes courage to admit you were wrong and a nice simple message,look how well we can run our own country.

The BBC is the enemy, I think Yoon papers less so but he’s right,they will target all of us.

The American lady Melissa who was harrassed by the DM said it was Blair McD that dropped her in it,the man has no morality

These videos provide an invaluable contribution to the argument for Scotland’s Independence- cool heads and a clear logic for voting YES.

Of course the obstacles to deliberative democracy – social inequalities, power asymmetries,media distortion, public ignorance and apathy are encoded into everything that extreme conservatism seeks to retain power.

The democratic deficit between WM and Scotland is now an unbridgeable chasm. There is only one thing that the YES movement is phobic about and that’s the failure of the democratic process.That will not be an option in the next Indy vote.

Not only a conversion from No to Yes,but an energetic and enterprising campaigner for Scotland’s freedom from colonial London rule.

Very refreshing to hear Christopher,and worth your wait in gold for Scotland’s future.

Excellent, nice to hear Chris and his total enthusiasm for Scotland’s independence.

It goes to show, once people see through the unionist veil of lies, deception and bullying, they can’t even consider that their own country should be anything other than independent.
The yoons should accept that the tide is turning, they should let go, and act with the maturity required to enable a good settlement for both parties. It is in their interest, in the short and long term.

Think of the children, the future. Yoons, what is it that you think a future Scotland should look like. It could be very dark indeed couldn’t it.

We independence supporters know what the future should look like, but do you?

On Andrew Wilson “oil a bonus not basic” thereby discounting oil revenues to zero in his growth commission projections..

Scotland was never dependent on oil to survive.

Oil and gas revenues, which were projected last spring to be negative over the next six years, now set to be worth £6.5 billion.

link to twitter.com

BBC, Queen Victoria programme. Several historians have just repeatedly confirmed that Vicky was the queen of England only. Totally fascinating. I did not know that.

People Carrier saye

queen of England

It’s the BBC …. England. / UK / Britain / British Isles / Great Britain / Greater England …. it all means the same to their mainly South British audience. 🙂

Apparently, galamcennalath, Vicky left Sidmouth to convene more fully with the English Royal family. Her mother was also very lucky to have married into the English Royal family. Really quite educational.

The presenter resembles a puppet from Thunderbirds. There’s real gravitas being exhibited here. Maybe they’ll do one where James I is seriously fortunate to have married into the English royal family……………..oh wait………… ?

@Ken500

&#9829 (if it works) is that what you wanted?
❤ 💓 💜 💚

@Famous15
Yeah, KMcK has always been against the SNP and good for him, he’s stayed true, as he has to Labour, but it hasn’t stayed true to him. But he’s pro-indy and can appeal to Labour supporters who still cling on in hope, but despair at the likes of last week’s conference. He’s on our side, just not on the SNP’s side.

Oh, forgot the semi-colon at end ♥

How come there was little Yes activity in Stirling, can that be accurate ?
Maybe he grew up somewhere else.
Anyway, well done & welcome, Christopher, your generation has most to gain.

Well done Chris. And welcome aboard the Indy bike or bus if you prefer.

Hopefully many more will follow.

That’s the Herald getting into campaign mode with its bitchy headline about Maggie Chapman, co-convener of the Greens:

“Non-candidate launches Greens local election campaign”

the Herald was starting to be quite balanced, but Tom Gordon blew it.

This bit

‘Today, the cost of producing a barrel of oil is £12.30, or $15. With the current price in sterling at £45.86. This gives a gross profit of £43.56 a barrel.’

Should read..

‘Today, the cost of producing a barrel of oil is £12.30, or $15. When this amount is deducted from the OBR forecast of £59.20, it gives a gross profit of £43.56 per barrel.’

I was trying to show that in exceeding the OBR sterling forecast for the price of a barrel of oil in 2016/17 that their forecast of $99.30 was also exceeded when you factor in the fall in the value of the pound, and the fall in production costs compared to 2014.

Just thinking about the difference between YES and NO in Indy Ref 1 and it’s happy and fun against angry and bitter. So it seems to me the leader of YES should be happy and fun as well. Someone like (I’ve only met a few), Rogue Coder. But hey, who would do the AyeMail?

What’s not needed is an intellectual who doesn’t laugh!

link to itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com

link to commonspace.scot

Fort William Smelter Leading Highland Industrial Comeback
link to archive.is

Scottish wind farms provide enough power for four million homes – but
link to archive.is

Welcome to yes.

link to thecanary.co

link to skwawkbox.org

link to waitingfortax.com

Posting this again for anyone who missed it. Scroll down to watch Ben Griffin a veteran for peace speaking at the Oxford union. He doesn’t hold back. Rory the tory and Rifkind in the front row.
link to dontjointhearmy.co.uk

The suggestion to ignore oil revenue is utter madness. I agree that it should be outlined as a fund builder or as an interim income to invest and build a long term renewable industry. It is a wealth generator if invested or directed into new long term projects.

Once again one of our own has fallen into the “mini UK” model for an Independent Scotland. The U.K. Wasted the Oil money as part of their economic model (short term cash flow). Why would we copy that…and to recommend not including the revenue suggests the chairman thinks we would.

Do we ignore Whisky sales / Tourism / Fishing etc because the “value” may fluctuate?

Revenue will be spent IN Scotland as an Investment and not on the Infrastructure of the “Empire” such as the M25 / London Cross rail etc etc

Two more links

Watch with caution, you may want to throw something! What an arrogant tory clown

“Soctland’s independence isn’t economically viable” says @AdrianYalland which @glasgowcathcart calls “insulting” in fiery #indyref2 debate.

link to twitter.com

link to blogs.lse.ac.uk

@Nana

Adrian Yalland? The Tory PR dude and campaigner? That Adrian Yalland? Bwahahahahahahaha! 😀 EPIC LOL

#comedyrelief

Good selection this morning Nana. 🙂

from Nana’s link,

link to lbc.co.uk

“Well speaking specifically about the British Empire in India, the British came to one of the richest countries in the world, and over 200 years of plunder and exploitation reduced it to one of the poorest. ”

Sounds familiar?

Well worth the read, the stuff on trade also sounds rather familiar, in fact you could swap India for Scotland (probably any other part of the ’empire’ as well) and the piece would still make sense.

It is not just the price of Oil. It is the tax. It should be taxed highly when prices are higher and lower when the price is lower. Osbourne increased the tax in 2010 Budget by 11% (£2Billion) to up to 80% When the price fell 75%, the tax was reduced to 60%. It was reduced to 40% in Jan 2016. That is when production began to increase. If Osbourne had reduced the tax earlier priductiin would not have fallen so drastically. The Oil sector is like a giant furnace when production slows down it takes longer to restore it. Decommissioning the rigs can bring jobs to Scotland.

The Tories are also cutting renewables. Losing jobs in that sector but spending £Billions on nuclear. Spending £Billions on HS2, Hinkley Point, Trident and Heathrow. A total waste of money.with more credible alternatives. Lining the Tories and their associates pockets. They committed electoral fraud in 31 constituencies. Labour are useless. The only way for Scotland is Independence. The Tories will not compromise.

Ive met chris, nice guy, he may have voted no last time but he and the other yes bikers are making up for it now, very active, at ever rally across scotland

re the production costs, the $15/bbl looks like a world average, costs vary enomously at different locations, eg land, desert, offshore, even between platforms due to age etc, even between wells on the same location depending on extraction methods, last average cost/bbl I heard for the NS was about $45-50/ bbl

Gawn yersel’, Chris! Nice one!

As others have said already – it’s a BIG PERSON who admits they got something wrong and an ever bigger person to do so in such a public manner. But, as you said in the vid, you based your 2014 decision on what you were hearing from the country’s traditional media outlets, all of which have a vested interest in keeping Scotland and its people shackled to an undemocratic, unfair, unjust, dysfunctional and anachronistic Union.

Time to break the chains. Not the bike one, of course! Keep on motoring and we’ll get there.

Help!

Has anyone yet archived that silly old moo Melanie Phillips’s latest brainfart.

As a matter of principle I refuse to pay Uncle Rupert for anything. So I will not be trying to read it off the Times website.

More kudos to Nana, that Scottish Reortage piece is indeed hilarious.

I found myself trying-out a “teuchter” accent when reading that line: ,’A Tong local, who declined to be named but is almost certainly a Macleod…’ Brilliant.

Scotland benefits from being in two single markets. The United Kingdon and the European Single Market. In my view, the best outcome is to try and keep Scotland in both Unions.

David Cameron from here: link to youtube.com

You listening, Mayhem?

Nana,

I don’t post much on WoS but read the articles and comments every day.

I want to thank you for posting the link to Ben, the Veterans for Peace speaker. It was an eye opener.

Thanks for the many other links too.

@Anne Bruce

You are very welcome Anne.

GMUK

Across the world, the British Ruling classes are renowned for their treachery. Not so in the UK, and not so in Scotland either, where large numbers of the population stubbornly believe that Westminster is akin to a benign foster parent. And while Nicola and her team hold a steady course against gale force headwinds from the South East of England, there’s still a fair bit to go before we’ll be home and dry, and quite a few obstacles to be navigated around.

Among such obstacles are those who voted No in IndyRef14, and for whom nothing has changed. For them there are no lessons to be learned, no pitfalls to be avoided, and the benefits of hindsight are to be scorned.
Many No voters will be simple souls, often perhaps a wee bit gullible, and slightly innocent in their naivety – I’m not referring to the elderly – easy prey for Tory spin doctors.
For them, the Propaganda War currently being waged by Downing St via the BBC and the Press, is a piece of nonsense. The very idea that those nice people from London could do such a thing is preposterous.
They don’t recognise in their daily diet of ‘fake news’ that they are being brainwashed by the British government for its own political purposes. But that’s the way they are, and that’s the way it is.

What is of greater concern are those in spheres of influence, specifically politicians and their army of advisors, who also exhibit a naive trust in Westminster, apparently in the utterly mistaken assumption that sooner or later, Scotland will be justly treated by its centuries old Colonial Masters. How long will it take before the penny drops in Edinburgh. Rigged elections? ‘Sorry, move along. Nothing to see here. Everything about the IndyRef14 ballot was satisfactory. No lessons need to be learned.’

Left to our own devices, Scotland would have been independent long ago. But The Establishment daren’t do that. The daily dose of mind control must never be switched off. Otherwise, the Electorate would come to their senses.
This has never been more true for the Establishment than in these politically perilous times for them, involving Brexit, Scotland’s Independence, Irish Unification, Gibraltar, the US and a divided and troubled electorate in England – oh, and £trillions in debt.

So, let’s give Independence a try. It’s worked for every other country and Scotland is no different. It does seem as if the time is right and England is so far from what it used to be, it’ll soon be unrecognisable – as well as being completely unable to afford the upkeep of its three home colonies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

England has had its way with Scotland for three hundred and ten years, often by brutal and devious means. It’s time to put an end to that.

@Manandboy,

Sadly the elderly have been taken in or more accurately programmed to believe that the union offers them security. That is all about to change. The Tories have been making noises about how well off pensioners are compared to the general population, and in addition they have recently passed a ruling that pensioners will become subject to the bedroom tax.

The Scottish government will not have the resources to cope with that. People who thought they had security of tenure on a long standing family home are about to have a very rude awakening.

How long can the SNP keep the heat off people. There has to come a time when we will experience the cuts ,just as in England.

Here is the Philips piece in the times. Cor blimey!

link to archive.is

The Philip’s piece, where to begin? Well best not to bother.

Robert Peffers, please DO NOT read it. It’s nonsense, not worth it and definitely not good for your health!

@cearc

Indeed it’s a piece of nonsense. Having had the misfortune to watch her on question time she is prone to bleating on any subject with such a superior sneering tone. Silly woman.

I’m sure her phone is red hot, A Neil and co will be itching to get her on the sofa.

@Macart Great googly moogly! sums it up.

A writer for the London Times has questioned Ireland’s ‘tenuous claim to nationhood’

link to thejournal.ie

I agree with the commentator who states “Phillips is a slightly more sophisticated version of Katie Hopkins”

Nana @ 11:31,

Thanks (if that is the right word!) for that link.

What a confused load of tosh from Tory booster Melanie Philips. She drags in another BritNat history woman Linda Colley, and manages to squeeze in a few basic historical facts, then launches into this extraordinary tangent of her own devising that others have already commented upon.

Ridiculous. Absurd. She seems to be entirely unaware that every nation state is imagined. That’s what actually creates and sustains it! But oh no, “Britain” was ordained in prehistoric times by God or something, while this European Union thing is some dreadful foreign artifice.

Unapologetic blood-and-soil nationalism at its most stark.

Puerile and repugnant in equal measure. But will there now be screeds of guff on Twitter accusing her of racism? Likely not. It’s just “good old British patriotism”, isn’t it?

@Nana

The Ben Griffin link should be read and viewed daily IMV.

Great link Nana.

Oh dear! I’ve seen Melanie Phillips many moons ago when I used to watch QT, and she never impressed me at all. I always thought that she had a screw loose somewhere, her views were so outlandish. All delivered in those plummy tones with the usual sneer.

That article is a real barking at the moon howler. Is she off her meds or something. Wow, so Ireland is not a nation, and we’re tribal hordes now. Well I never, you learn something new everyday.

I’m pleased we gave up on the BBC after the referendum, I certainly don’t miss the likes of her on TV and I don’t read any of Murdoch’s rubbish.

Nana, you do sterling work with all your links, thank you.

I’ve really got no problem with the United Kingdom of England Great Britain place I have relatives who live there and were born there
My problem is they seem to know an awful lot about where I live (Scotland) because they either saw a documentary on the telly or they visited here once or read some “facts” in a newspaper about where I live so it’s very difficult to explain to them that things might not be quite as they have been led to believe about where I live

And this bothers me because it seems when I try to inform the people of the United Kingdom of England Great Britain that their viewpoint of where I live is incorrect they get very angry with me and I didn’t understand the
anger before but now I think I’m beginning to see why those people get so angry with me when I tell them that where I live isn’t good because it’s run by the government that’s elected by the people in all those other places I’ve already mentioned

The people of the United Kingdom of England Great Britain take it as a personal insult to them and a criticism of their judgement and decision making that I shouldn’t have the right to be unhappy about the conditions chosen for me by them about where I live and that desiring an alternative to their choices is in fact an act of unpatriotic treachery
and not to be tolerated

Maybe they’re right because lots of them have visited where I live on more than one occasion they say, and they’ve read newspapers and seen documentaries all about where I live so who am I to argue with all that superior knowledge of the people of the United Kingdom of England Great Britain because there are more of them so they must be correct, they say, so I have to agree

Or they’ll make me suffer, they say

Clootie @0825hrs

Agree with your comment that oil/gas should NOT be ignored with regard to future projections by the Scottish government. Why should it?. Hammond tomorrow is going to produce a budget that includes forecasts of future revenue, so why can’t the Scottish government include forecasts based on oil and gas.

Is this guy saying that its okay for the english government to produce guesstimates but not the Scottish government. Utter bollocks.

When we eventually get independence its is NOT going to be a Scotland flowing with milk and honey. Its going to be tough for a few years no doubt about that. We will make mistakes but they will be our mistakes but at least we will have available ALL the tools to do something about it unlike the present situation.

On the other hand look at westminster. They are firefighting on all fronts. They have got great difficulties with Brexit, the EU will not roll over. Many years of uncertainty both fiscally and politically. Dangers of a united Ireland and possibly reintroduction of direct rule.
Possibily of those pesky Scots wanting independence and the loss of their oil and gas revenue and the breakup of their beloved UK.

English NHS in meltdown, education system in turmoil along with the prison service. The police service strapped for cash and massive cuts effecting the judicial fabric of england. The treasury are currently printing money like it is going out of fashion to bolster their £1.9 Trillion debt.

Possibility of up to 10 years of a conservative government at UK level.

Compared with the english government a future independent Scotland problems pale almost into insignificance. If you had a choice what would you prefer?

Tough choice – I think not. A NO brainer.

@cat
No, mr thms is correct for the UKCS:

“Average unit operating costs have improved by half within two years from $29.70/bbl to $15.30/bbl. ”

link to oilandgasuk.co.uk

Dr Jim @ 12:55,

Worry not. Sister Theresa is going to sort out this distressing anomaly you mention very soon and then we misguided primitives will all conform to their greatly improved Great English British version of reality.

If we let them.

@Capella
There’s a new reply from a woman, JC, to another poster on that VM article, and it makes life easier when it’s not a man saying it.

Anyway, remembering the comment Heuchan made to poor Angela about how there’s no such thing as white racism, Heuchan is now saying Vonny Moyes made the comment:

“@[xx] Nationalists began trolling & harassing her because she stated that white people don’t experience racism. @jk_rowling”

link to twitter.com

Despicable.

Again on the Vonny Moyes comments – brian watters got online early (6:24am Tue 7 Mar 17) to note that we’ve had the racism attack, now the misogyny attack and the sectarian attack is being cooked up as we speak…

Anyone see a pattern developing?

Worth a read.
link to archive.is

BTW I tried to read the Mad Mel article but one sentence was enough. Can’t do it. I used to hear her on the radio – The Moral Maze, Any Questions etc – pontificating in her supercilious, radical common sense manner. Whatever the issue, Mad Mel can be relied on to adopt the most authoritarian, illiberal attitude possible. Her grasp of history is as lunatic as every other tinpot theory she spouts. Perfect columnist for a Murdoch rag.

I seem to remember Melanie Phillips on US television during the indyref1 campaign unashamedly pronouncing that “England runs the United Kingdom”.

Some homework for Mad Mel ‘P’:

“Yet some people claim that Scotland has more influence in this UK than it would do as a member of the EU. This UK in which Scotland’s representatives are a permanent minority and can be outvoted by Conservative representatives from England. In the EU Scotland will be one of 28 member states, none of which is large enough to outvote all the others by itself. As well as having a veto power, as well as having the powers of the EU constrained by the EU treaties, as well as having the right to participate in all negotiations and have a seat at the top table, Scotland will be able to form alliances with other member states and vote accordingly. We can’t do that in the UK parliament.

For all that Unionists tell us that Scotland has influence, the bottom line is that as the UK seeks an exit from the EU, Scotland has no influence at all. The harsh reality for Scotland is that tiny member states of the EU, countries that are far smaller and poorer than Scotland, have a veto power over the negotiations. That means that the governments of Estonia and Malta have more control over Scotland’s destiny than the people of Scotland do themselves.” – Wee Ginger Dug

Full article here:

link to weegingerdug.wordpress.com

@ yesindyref2 – Vonny will maybe dismiss comments from older women like JC as “Uncle Toms” out-of-touch with dynamic young activists like herself.

I’ve been a feminist since the mid 60s when it was neither fashionable nor profitable. I think it was called “wimmins lib” then.

Sadly, it all has to be relearned by every generation. That’s because, like Scottish Independence, it hasn’t yet been achieved!

Capella

BTW I tried to read the Mad Mel article but one sentence was enough. Can’t do it. I used to hear her on the radio – The Moral Maze, Any Questions etc

I’m a Moral Maze listener too, Mad old Dr Starky was kicked off it, I think because he was too hysterical. Then there’s Moral Maze regular Clair Fox of the Intsitute of Ideas, who was on the Ligger Neil’s vote tory lunchtime BBC politics show last week. Scottish independence is not going to happen, says the Institute of Ideas.

link to bbc.co.uk

Half an hour in, Claire says things like its galling to hear things like Scotland voted to Remain, and other NO things too, in one of the Liggers most, English high tory meets vile sep shows for a couple of years.

link to twitter.com

2 hours ago from Rev’s twitter:

“And we’re there! The Wings fundraiser 2017 has raised more money in a week than Scottish Labour did from its members in 2016.”

link to twitter.com

Sorry if anyone else posted this!

@Capella
I hate having to read articles like those from Angela and Vonny and largely leave them alone, but sadly it’s still neccessary even in this day and age. You see misogyny in the forums all the time, even if it’s “just” casual. And yes, it is mostly against women! But they blew it in those two articles by associating with that person and thinking she was their friend. They should just stick to writing their own articles, from their own observations and knowledge.

I see Sillars has turned up again, he would rather be in the UK outside the EU rather than in an Independent Scotland inside the EU. It’s Independence on my terms or none is his moto, stuff democracy. Just as warned peoples personal agendas are more important than the overall goal, is this a Scottish trait? With the prospect of victory in sight there are still those who may help grab defeat.

Voting No will effectively be voting for tuition fees, prescription charges, NHS privatisation, bedroom tax. It was clear what the agenda of the PM is after her conference speech, and the SG cannot alleviate these forever whilst dependent on its funding from Westminster.

Anybody have the faintest idea what this means?

Scots fought and held off at great cost the Romans, which is why they built a wall.

Picts H&S. Rome called the people on the north side of their wall the Picts but they were individual clans.

Its the Roman Empire that created the British Isles we have today. If the might of Rome had been able to defeat the Celts up here, Scotland would never have existed or at the very least, the history of these isles would be rather different.

The Nation State of Scotland, forged in a victorious 400 year war with the might of the Roman Empire. Just saying that out loud, often gets up the noses of our chums in the south, particularly tories like Melanie,

But what ever happened to the Romans:D

@ heedtracker – I can’t watch that BBC programme not having a TV nor a licence. But I had a look at the Institute of Ideas website and there’s a Claire Fox moderated podcast discussion on the Politics of Identity which should be right up Vonny Moyes street!

I’ll give it a listen to pick up some useful pointers.
link to instituteofideas.com

@ yesindyref2 – just say “Wazzup sista!”

@Liz Rannoch

I really hope the Tories do call a snap election and win a massive majority in England.

Maybe that would help focus the minds of those swithering No voters with a social conscience than a Tory majority in Westminster in excess of 100 seats.

@Proud Cybernat

Yep think I’m going to do the same, no chance of a Lib Dem council being formed where I live but if it keeps one less Tory or Labour Councillor out of a seat my vote would have been worth it.

Don’t forget Independents though, I have one in my ward who was formally an SNP member but became an Independent after falling out with the SNP council because of a local primary school closure in his ward. He’ll also be getting a vote from me.

Might be worth sending an email to any Independent candidates in your ward to ask the direct question “Would you support the SNP in forming a council if they were the largest group on that council?”

Apparently we are to be given another opportunity not to hold street parties in honour of yet another Royal jubilee, if Westminster votes for a public holiday in June.

I’m really looking forward to not going to one again.

This is the DNA of the 4 separate nations that make up the political union of the UK,

the article is called,

`We are not as British as we think we are`,

Scotland, Wales and NI are mainly populated through the Atlantic sea routs where England mainly comes through the North sea and La Manche,

link to tinyurl.com

Well articulated there that man. Another one of these Journey to Yes clips that brings a tear to the eye.

Phantom Power do a great job with these short films.

Bikers for Yes are bloody brilliant: the noise, the visuals. Cannae beat it!

jfngw @ 14:29,

Where has Sillars popped up now? Some BritNat Dead Tree Scroll, I suppose.

I would feel sorry for the man, who has clearly become sclerotic in his dotage, if it wasn’t so important for the rest of us. Just another useful idiot for the British State. What a comedown.

You’re right, they seem to be queuing up to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory these days. Colin Fox of the SSP has a letter in The National today saying that Brexit is irrelevant, the EU is unimportant, it’s economic wellbeing that’s important. As if the latter is completely detached from the former. Duh. Only on Planet Fox, that is.

God save us from people with private agendas based on their own loony fixed ideas. And I don’t just mean the obvious yoons.

Conan,

Wonderful news, I too love not going to street parties.
Mind you, not having a street does make it easier!

@ heedtracker – I had a look at the Claire Fox twitter feed. I too thought of her as fairly left of centre with a Yorkshire accent so not “metropolitan” like most BBC voices. But her twitter is quite right wing and disappointing.

She definitely doesn’t think much of Scotland – Scotland is now antithesis of ‘land of the free’

Oh well. So much for the Institute of Ideas.

Another dramatic announcement from you know who…sheesh

Won’t let me archive so I have copied

Former SNP deputy leader: I won’t vote for Scottish independence if it means rejoining the EU

Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars has said he will not vote for Scottish independence if it means rejoining the EU after Brexit.

A pro-Leave campaigner in the run up to June’s referendum, Mr Sillars said he “could not vote Yes” to Scottish independence in such circumstances.

Speaking in a BBC Radio 4 documentary broadcast on Monday, the former Glasgow Govan MP warned that Nicola Sturgeon risked alienating SNP supporters, a third of whom voted to Leave, by framing a second referendum around EU membership.

He said: “I, for example, could not vote Yes if on the ballot paper it said, ‘We wish the Scottish state to be a member of the European Union’, and I’m not alone in that.

“One of the biggest miscalculations by Nicola Sturgeon is to believe that the 1.6 million Scots who voted Remain would automatically then vote to go back into the European Union.

“That means Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Tory party, and all the Tories who voted to Remain, would in fact vote to leave the United Kingdom and take a Scottish state into the European Union. I think that’s fantasy.”

Mr Sillars went on to describe what he described as the “grievance tactics” of key figures in the current SNP leadership.

He said: “The whole idea is to drive up the grievance, that we should be treated equal and we are not being treated equally, we’re being ignored, our legitimate concerns are no concern of Westminster.

“You build up this idea that we are being ill-done by inside the United Kingdom.”

He added: “From this point of view, [such tactics] should drive up the Scottish grievance that we are being ill-done to and therefore the best thing to do is get out of it altogether. It’s not a position I agree with.”

The First Minister is widely expected to announced further steps towards a second referendum on Scottish independence at the SNP party conference in Aberdeen next week.

In January, Ms Sturgeon said a second vote was now “more likely” after Theresa May confirmed the UK will leave the European single market.

It seems the Westminster Tory Government now think they can do anything to Scotland and get away with it,” she said. “They must start to understand how wrong they are.”

“The UK Government cannot be allowed to take us out of the EU and the single market, regardless of the impact on our economy, jobs, living standards and our reputation as an open, tolerant country, without Scotland having the ability to choose between that and a different future.”

@yesindyref2
And we’re there!
==================

The unionist mentalists in the press/media deserve some thanks for this as they seem to have annoyed a lot of folk into backing Wings even more than before. I never backed Wings before but reading some of the recent nonsense had me getting my debit card out twice.

Nana at 3.19

I’ve always been wary of Jim Sillars. From his past Labour, then attempted SLP (Scottish Labour Party) connections. He waltzed into the SNP and tried to get into top office immediately. He didn’t manage that and has become a very bitter man ever since.

Since his wife, Margo Macdonald, died he has become a thorn in the flesh of the SNP.

Who listens to him?

This is good. 🙂

link to weegingerdug.wordpress.com

Jim Sillars. Does he actually prefer Scotland to be part of neo fascist Brexit UK, or to be a sovereign nation among nations in the EU?

I know a third of Scots would prefer not to be in the EU, and not all are loony right BritNat nutters.

However, the choice that we will have very soon means we can make decisions for ourselves, is that not more important than anything else? That is, for those who aren’t actually loony right BritNat nutters.

I just ignore M.Philips, her political point is view is governed by one simple over-riding agenda and it’s nothing to do with Scotland.

But now she shares the same platform as George Galloway on Scotland. Best of enemies?

Capella says:
7 March, 2017 at 3:16 pm
@ heedtracker – I had a look at the Claire Fox twitter feed.

But its a great life style of the rich and famous of the BBC. If you’re not a socialist when your young, you have no heart, if you’re not a tory when your old, you don’t get lashings of dosh from all kinds of loaded tory propaganda outfits, that will treat you like a little god of tory genius.

Look at Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, CBE (born 16 June 1969), commonly known as …. She was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom in 2013 by Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4, or just another faux establishment leftie.

To be fair, Clair’s only one example of just how hard most English people do not want to see Scotland not being run by England. Its their country, they cant bear to see the Highlands and Islands going or Edinburgh, even. That was Rory the Tory explaining his NO to the Ligger, pre Sept 2014.

Grand old territoriality and lots of other stuff about how you perceive you’re Englishness.

I may be wrong here,but did not Jim Sillers describe the Scots as” 90 minute patriots”, which led to his ultimately leaving the SNP?

It would appear the term applies to him more than anybody.

Something I saw somewhere, can’t remember where exactly, sums up Sillars for me.

“Aw sit doon granda, yev pished yer troosers again.”

Wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out it actually was about him.

@Nana
===========

From his antics (not just the latest you quote) one would assume Sillars has never really been pro-Indy but it was just away to try to achieve some prominence after failing with Labour. Stunts like that are really just the attention grabbing actions of the infantile personality who if they can’t get everything exactly as they want it will tear it all down. That wasn’t criticism, which we are all entitled to make but an attack both on the SNP and the idea of Independence.

If he really was a socialist as he’s always claimed he would take note of what’s been happening in the UK regarding attacks on the NHS, education and the weakest in society, and be more careful and considered in his criticism of the SNP who have tried to ameliorate the worst effects of the Westminster misgovernment. But then maybe he was never really a socialist either.

@Reluctant Nationalist
With tourism being about 10% of Scotland’s GDP and a more than equivalent employment, and with English tourists making up about 50% of that tourism, a lot of people around Scotland DO care.

Including me.

Reluctant Nationalist says:
7 March, 2017 at 3:39 pm
@ Scot Finlayson: “…DNA…”

That’s an interesting article. Scots are almost as Irish as Northern Ireland!

The whole problem is with British nats and Scottish history is that much if it is based on virtually nothing at all. Like how the Scots apparently invaded from Ireland and invented Scotland. There is nothing in the “sources,” as archaeology calls it, to suggest that a Scottish tribe even existed in Ireland. Its a name plucked from one word in one of the very few written docs that survive today, from over a thousand years ago. No one is even sure where the Angles and Saxons came from, or who they were really.

The one thing we can all be shit sure about today is, when it comes to British history and archaeology, everything is framed to make sure that everything we do not know, is certainly not past Scots, Scotland then and now or anything to do with the people of Scotland today, who did actually exist and still do too, or Irish DNA my arse.

You can probably see why Neil Oliver is a BBC archaeology sex god and not me:D

It’s funny (but no laugh) that these big-talking “former yessers” who supposedly want Scottish autonomy, suddenly U-turn into “ardent no’s” after the Scottish people tell them in no uncertain terms that they want to remain in the EU.

They need to be confronted: “do you believe in the sovereignity of the people of Scotland or just your own?”

If we were already independent, just what would they do? Flounce off to Brexitania?

I could get really exercised about this. Self-serving parasites!

I heard that Sarah Smith programme on the R4 last night.
link to bbc.co.uk

Of all the 56 SNP MPs and 63 MSPs and 1 MEP and 120,000 members Smith could have interviewed – she chooses Jim Sillars. I was half expecting Gordon Wilson to chip in with his opinion. But the BBC must be saving him for the next in depth analysis.

No agenda here.

When is Donalda going to modernise the BBC and let them know that there is an SNP government at Holyrood, 56 SNP MPs at Westminster and soon to be a SNP clean sweep in the Local Authority elections?

I could be nasty, and compare the re-writing of “British” history to exclude Scotland’s aboriginal Picts with the Nazi’s demanding that academics should re-write German history and archaeology to promote the myth of an Aryan/Nordic master race in prehistory.

But hey, we’re not nasty. Are we?

O/T

Mitch Kilbride
2 hrs ·
HARRY SAMH CASE ADJOURNED UNTIL NEXT MONTH
Harry Samh (49) whose real name is Stephen Lyall had his trial diet adjourned until April 25 next month in court 16 at Glasgow Sheriff Court today.
The court was told an essential; police witness was on holiday.
The charges allege two assaults – one involving a police officer and another man. The third charge claims he conducted himself in a disorderly manner and committed a breach of the peace at the time.

We’ve been making Yessers aware of this CONMAN for 2years his new ploy is collecting clothing for the Homeless. If anybody wants to donate anything to the Homeless there are plenty of official Homeless charities / Streetworkers.

Nana said at 7:30am today:
“….link to scotgoespop.blogspot.co.uk ”
Thanks for that,the more we know about the Express and it’s Stablemates the better.

From Wikipedia:
“Political alignment Hard Euroscepticism
Far-right politics
Right-wing populism
UKIP” !!! 🙁

@edtracker says:
7 March, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Scottish history is that much if it is based on virtually nothing at all. Like how the Scots apparently invaded from Ireland and invented Scotland.
====================================================

I think you are a bit confused. True, early history sources can be difficult as there are fewer of them than later (from a British point of view, less true of the Classical world) but you can with care take something from them.

Invaders from Ireland did form a kingdom in Scotland (as we now call it), Dalriada. They themselves didn’t originally think of themselves as “Scots”. “Scotti” was a Latin name applied to Irish raiders – how the new invaders/settlers took the name up themselves is unknown – probably they never called themselves by one name (being alliances of families/tribes) and what the Latin writers called them stuck – just one of these chances of history. We might easily be calling ourselves something quite different today (Dalriadans?). They merged with the Picts (another Latin name given by others and not what they would have called themselves) and later absorbed Angles from the south and Norsemen from the West and North Islands.