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Wings Over Scotland


Latvian lessons 127

Posted on October 24, 2013 by

Latvia has been ruled by others for most of the past thousand years, with Riga even being the largest city in Sweden until they carelessly lost it to Peter the Great in 1710. Independence from Russia came in 1918 and then from the Soviet Union in 1991.

latvia

I arrived in Riga a few months later and stayed for a year and a half. At the time I joked that, apart from my paid work, I was there to observe what they were going through and to take notes for when Scotland became independent. It’s been a long time but some things, I hope, will be relevant to the process over the next year.

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  • Recent Comments

    • Renfrewdave on Conspiracies For Dummies: “Brilliant piece well written and linked through.” Aug 23, 08:10
    • Andy Ellis on Limping to the line: “Ah hae ma doots John! If wishes were horses, beggars would ride of course, but I suspect that even in…” Aug 23, 07:52
    • Alf Baird on Limping to the line: ““At some point a dynamic new contender is going to appear” As postcolonial theory confirms, there will be plenty of…” Aug 23, 06:50
    • Skip_NC on Limping to the line: “We do not know the basis of the charge of embezzlement. However, if it is the purchase of the campervan,…” Aug 23, 02:48
    • Skip_NC on Limping to the line: “Both reasonable assumptions. Part of it may also be the issue flagged in the 2023 audit. Time would have been…” Aug 23, 02:37
    • Skip_NC on Limping to the line: “css as Moët am = campervan. Obviously.” Aug 23, 02:26
    • Skip_NC on Limping to the line: “It might be that the money is tied up in property. As the properties sell, the party gets the money.…” Aug 23, 02:25
    • Skip_NC on Limping to the line: “The depreciation of the css as Moët am is not an accounting trick. It complies with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles…” Aug 23, 02:20
    • Andrew Kidd on Limping to the line: “Last year the auditors were appointed at the last minute so they would have incurred overtime. The first year of…” Aug 22, 22:56
    • John Love on Limping to the line: “That new contender will surely be the UN. Which will pull the rug out from under Scottish politics and probably…” Aug 22, 21:31
    • Geri on Limping to the line: “Could it be a Trust fund that they’ve left in their will that keeps collecting interest & paying out it’s…” Aug 22, 20:58
    • I. Despair on Limping to the line: “I won’t particularise this to the SNP and St. Peter of Murrell (St. Peter the Fishy Man) because of course…” Aug 22, 20:54
    • I. Despair on Limping to the line: “A total guess on my part but I wondered about how the dead lady’s estate was held and the process…” Aug 22, 20:32
    • Marie on Conspiracies For Dummies: “I agree with every word.” Aug 22, 19:47
    • Hatey McHateface on Limping to the line: ““possibly, Ms Brownrig may have just liked the cut of Humza’s jib” And why not? The voting members of the…” Aug 22, 19:42
    • Campbell Clansman on Limping to the line: “Stu, I agree (in principle) that “Scotland deserves better” than domination by these two pathetic inept corrupt bankrupt political parties.…” Aug 22, 19:39
    • Hatey McHateface on Limping to the line: ““At some point a dynamic new contender is going to appear” Is this a coded reference to the dynamic duo…” Aug 22, 19:32
    • 100%Yes on Limping to the line: “Believe in Scotland under the theme “end London rule I’m pretty sure it not about ending London rule, its about…” Aug 22, 19:27
    • 100%Yes on Limping to the line: “SNP SCUM, Scum no longer belongs to the Tories the SNP deserves it. The SNP won’t have the money to…” Aug 22, 19:11
    • agent x on Limping to the line: “No helicopter for Swinney then!” Aug 22, 18:38
    • twathater on Limping to the line: “I wonder if Ms Browning has been birling in her grave over the past years of sturgeons mismanagement and incompetence…” Aug 22, 18:18
    • Astonished on Limping to the line: “Obviously, no one has yet considered that Ms Brownrig possibly wanted to keep Scotland’s neck under the jackboot of our…” Aug 22, 18:07
    • Nae Need! on Limping to the line: ““For an organisation of around 20 staff to be spending £10,000 per year per employee on infotech is simply staggering.”…” Aug 22, 17:42
    • Nae Need! on Limping to the line: “I’m curious too.” Aug 22, 17:39
    • Nae Need! on Limping to the line: “Aye, but she’d lived in this country for 6 years prior to her death 7.5 years ago . . .…” Aug 22, 17:36
    • Sian Laidlaw on Limping to the line: “You may find this article of some use as it limits her estate at approximately £1.35 million split between a…” Aug 22, 17:36
    • Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Conspiracies For Dummies: “To view the Channel 4 interview above between Krishnan Guru-Murphy and Alex Salmond, please copy and paste the Channel 4…” Aug 22, 17:33
    • Ex President Xiden on Limping to the line: “But can’t a deficit self identify as a profit and everything will be well?” Aug 22, 17:32
    • duncanio on Limping to the line: ““they can’t rely on rich benefactors like Estelle Brownrig to keep dying.” That’s hilarious.” Aug 22, 16:49
    • Mike on Limping to the line: “Maybe South Africa still has restrictions on how much cash can be extracted from the country each year?” Aug 22, 16:30

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