The beginning of the end
The beam on Kate Forbes’ face was quite something.
She’d clearly been exhausted by the contest some time ago, and must have been dreading winning and having to continue fighting the assault from within her own party. Her evident delight and relief at her own failure was a revealing moment.
The great unknown in this election was just who the SNP membership was. No poll could tell us, and with over 50,000 people having quit the party in the last three years, nobody knew who was left. But we know now: idiots.
Yousaf told us over and over again that he wasn’t as good as Nicola Sturgeon, and we know that Sturgeon was a failure who took the SNP and the cause of independence backwards by every possible measure. So the SNP’s members have voted for someone who by his own admission, before he even starts, is worse than a failure.
Humza Yousaf has been a failure in every job he’s had in government, and now he’s basically in charge of every department at once when he’s proven himself unable to handle any one of them at a time.
He was the “continuity candidate” of a party that pretty much everyone agrees is currently a radioactive bin fire of corruption, incompetence and chaos, so we can only assume its members want the calamitous shambles to continue. He already has a -20 approval rating with the Scottish public, and even among SNP voters he’s only +11.
He has no plan whatsover for progressing the case for independence, either in terms of support or process, and he hung his campaign on his intention of going to court in support of a policy opposed by 70% of the electorate, which has caused the SNP to haemorrhage members, and which he’ll now keep in the public eye for months with no hope of success. But SNP members still voted for him.
(Well, slightly over a third of them did – he got 52% of a 70% turnout, with three in 10 of the party’s claimed membership unwilling to vote for any of the candidates. By comparison, 83% of Tory members voted in the election that made Liz Truss very briefly Prime Minister of the UK. We suspect very strongly that even the SNP’s recently-amended claim of having 72,000 members is still a five-figure overestimate.)
Perhaps most astonishingly, 1,696 SNP members whose first choice was Ash Regan – 30% of them – gave Yousaf their second vote.
Or maybe they didn’t.
There was so much chicanery and blatant corruption around the election that there’ll be a shadow of suspicion over Yousaf’s victory for the entirety of his leadership, however long that might be. Without conclusive proof we make no allegations, but we know what we think. In our view it was a grave mistake for Regan and Forbes not to take out an interdict to ensure independent scrutiny, and ultimately it will do Yousaf no favours either.
(In our assessment the fight was lost a couple of weeks ago, on the Channel 4 debate. Having visibly panicked Yousaf with combative performances on the STV one two days earlier, both Forbes and Regan caved to his team’s hysterical response and turned in weak, compliant “collegiate” showings that put the favourite back in charge.)
The result means that Yousaf will be able to offer what limited protection is within his power to the SNP hierarchy over the numerous ongoing criminal investigations in which the party is ensnared. Those are probably too far gone to seriously obstruct now, but anything he can do for them was a gamble worth taking from their perspective.
As for the party itself, all Yousaf offers is managed decline. Its support, and support for independence, will fall. Any chance of Scotland extracting itself from the UK in the next decade is dead. But so incompetent is the opposition that even under Yousaf it’s quite hard to see the SNP failing to win the next Holyrood election.
Any prospect of a pro-independence majority is negligible, though. The likelihood is that it’ll return at best to a 2007-style minority, only without the competence or the wit to negotiate deals to get its legislation through. The only bills that it’ll be able to command a majority for will be authoritarian, “progressive” ones like gender reform and hate crime. It’s going to be a truly grim time to live in Scotland.
(At this point we certainly couldn’t rule out a Unionist coalition, though. They’ll have the numbers, and the sense of fair play and propriety that enabled Alex Salmond to form a government with just 47 seats can no longer be assumed.)
As for this site, from a journalistic perspective a Yousaf administration promises plenty to get our teeth into. We’ll keep doing our job and aim to outlast him just as we did with Sturgeon. We’re pretty sure that won’t take another eight years, and we hope you’ll stick with us. But folks, as far as independence goes, get ready for a really long haul.
Really sad that no-one tried an interdict so that at least the member numbers were corrected and independent scrutineers in charge.
There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that the result wasn’t fixed.
So the fix is in.
A brief analysis:
Votes Electorate Turnout
total online postal
50494 48645 1849 72186 69.95%
Candidate 1st 2nd total
HY 24336 1696 26032
KF 20559 3331 23890
AR 5599
invalid/discarded 0 572
50494 5599 49922
Candidate 1st 2nd total
HY 48.20% 30.29% 52.15%
KF 40.72% 59.49% 47.85%
AR 11.09%
invalid/discarded 0.00% 10.22%
100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
So:
1. Only 70% bothered to vote!
2. 40% of Ash Regan’s 2nd preference votes did NOT go to Kate Forbes – 10% were not used but 30%! went to Humza(!).
I find it hard to believe that 30% wouldn’t vote and, especially, that one-third opted for Huzzah as a second choice.
In fact, I don’t believe it.
Nearly as depressing at Sept 14. I am bitterly disappointed and saddened what the SNP have become .
Be totally ruthless Stu. He’s a complete no hoper, a serial failure, anti white, morally repugnant and spineless. A total disaster for Scotland
At nearly 77 I’m not really keen on a long haul – I cannot believe that a triple failure has been voted in by the SNP membership, whether it’s 50,000 or 72,000.
The whole thing has been farcical and corrupt.
I’ll be dead before independence is achieved and I’ll never vote SNP again. Sturgeon and her coterie have been the worst thing to happen to Scotland in my lifetime. Even Thatcher managed to, inadvertently, further the cause of independence.
Bring on Alba/another pro-indy party with a vision for indy at the next election.
The SNP are finished, we need an alternative pro-indy party who actually have a clue.
Sorry Stuart – you’re right that it stops any prospect of independence for at least a decade, maybe a lot longer depending on what happens in Tammany Hall. As a Unionist I’m pleased of course, and I’ll still be following your site – especially as you’ll have to confront the trans lunacy yet again. But at least the tide appears to be turning on that front.
Ash or Kate wouldn’t have been able to lead the SNP parliamentary party, given what has been said publicly by MPs and MSPs.
Maybe it’s better that the whole edifice collapses so that Alba can come through. Humza will achieve that quite quickly.
Very sad for Scotland.
Cheating cunt.
Fuck off Humza. Fuck off SNP.
Things just got simple out here in Argyll and Bute as if Alba or ISP do not stand candidates in the next election there will no one to vote for so I will have to get creative in ways to spoil my ballot. It looks like the SNP membership is nearer to 50,000 than 70,000 and is likely to fall after this so other than the new Highlands and Islands Salvo hub there will be nothing to do. Would the last SNP member please remember to turn out the lights to prevent global warming.
“But so incompetent is the opposition that even under Yousaf it’s quite hard to see the SNP failing to win the next Holyrood election.”
I have to disagree with you. I think they’ll lose the next Scottish GE and definitely lose seats at the next Westminster.
Bugger Le Panda, amongst so many others, died without seeing independence. I think a whole lot more are going to do the same. Come back and haunt the charlatans if you do!
SMITTY was spectacularly wrong.
Brutal. Just brutal.
How stupid of me to even consider getting my hopes up. Sometimes it really is shite being Scottish.
I’m absolutely fuckin raging at the party I’ve only ever voted for, nearly 40yrs.And heart broken for the cause of independence.
“As for this site, from a journalistic perspective a Yousaf administration promises plenty to get our teeth into. We’ll keep doing our job and aim to outlast him just as we outlasted Sturgeon. We’re pretty sure that won’t take another eight years, and we hope you’ll stick with us. But folks, as far as independence goes, get ready for a really long haul.”
If you really want independence, then every Scot will have to FIGHT for it.
WM and their Vichy stooges in the SNP will never, ever voluntarily give up the riches of Scotland.
O bugger!
That bastard in charge is unbelievable! But there it is.
However, the main thought in my mind now is what does Ash Regan do? I was very impressed by her take on independence so where does she go with that now?
In any case I am now thinking that I won’t be voting SNP in future elections if I don’t see very focused action on getting independence.
I also note from Yousaf’s acceptance speech that he seemed to be conflating independence with an automatic thumbs up to rejoining the EU — big mistake in my book, EFTA would be the better option.
No-one would blame Ash Regan if she opted to make the move to ALBA now, it would have the added benefit of giving Alba their first MSP while further reducing the number of SNP MSPs.
As Labour are already making noises about a HR election I suspect a few MSPs will be reconsidering their party allegiance. The SNP of today is not the party of 90s, noughtys or teens. Its more of a castrated beast.
There will be a HR election within 18 months (I suspect before the year end)
Remember how Scotland laughed at Liz Truss being elected leader of the tories, how we couldn’t believe the membership were so stupid?
The SNP have just elected their own version of Liz Truss as leader. God help Scotland !!
Next election is a UK GE. I’m not convinced that the SNP get a majority of seats.
Sturgeon got 35 MP’s from around 37% of the vote. Part of the reason was the pro-indy SNP voters had nothing to vote for other than Nicola’s presentation skills so stayed at home. Under Yousef there isn’t even that. I think the SNP will be the biggest party but I could see getting less than 30 seats.
I think some of those on the Westminster gravy train are going to have to calculate if Yousaf is the guy to keep their seat on the gravy train. Folk like Pete Wishart will be struggling to hold on against the Tories and Oswald will surely lose her seat to labour. Perhaps Yousaf may unintentionally weed out the careerists?
If the are any elected officials in the SNP who care about Independence the time to defect to Alba is now.
“even under Yousaf it’s quite hard to see the SNP failing to win the next Holyrood election”.
Well they’ll do it without my support. Mitigating Tory/RedTory policies is a short term measure I agreed with while progressing independence. I think you’re ‘decade’ estimate is optimistic, so see no further reason to give the SNP my vote.
I never expected to see the benefits of independence, but saw it as a gift to hand on to the next generation. They’ve made it abundantly clear Indy isn’t that important to them. They’ll reap what they sowed with this vote and their GRA nonsense and when it dawns on them they can ‘scream and scream until they’re sick’, I don’t care anymore.
Even though I expected it, deep down I’m still really disappointed.
Humza made it clear during the hustings, that he listens very carefully to his mosque.
So be prepared for a change to fighting the S35, he’ll say he was told it would fail, therefore a waste of tax payers cash during these difficult times, blah, blah, blah.
It wont matter he’s won so there’s nothing the wokes can do.
He is a man used to getting his own way, maybe he won’t now be as compliant as Nikla expects.
It will have rankled to a proud man when that clip of her dismissing him with a flick of her fingers was all over SM.
We’ll see but hope was lost a while back.
You know there’s something badly wrong when Douglas Ross is now the most likeable leader in Scottish politics..
In the Pretend Parliament, may I add.
.
Oh to see Ash Regan vote AGAINST Humza Yousaf as the new First Minister would be a sight to behold.
Should we now refer to Yousaf as the “FIXED MINISTER”?
My betting is on several defections of SNP MPs and MSPs and Councillors to Alba.
Stuart has hit the nail on the head. This is the END.
Though given the GIFT of fuck-ups on Humza Yousaf’s CV, I suspect Stuart will have AMPLE to examine and write about from now, to the point where the NuSNP wokeists get voted/booted out of office just like arrogant NuLabour did.
How many MSPs did NuLabour have in the first three Holyrood elections? A lot.
How many MP’s do.Nu-Labour have now? Is it still just ONE MP?
NuSNP are finished. Today will be judged a good day by history. The over-promoted hubris of Humza will soon put off an awesome number of REAL voters.
The trouble is that EVERY political party in Holyrood is stuffed with troughers and careerist political skid-marks.
I’m scratching about looking for positives as I believe every cloud blah blah, but I’m really struggling to think of one. How in the name of fuck can anyone think he is Scotlands FM material? It has totally devalued the role of FM .
Yousaf is going to be so bad that he may even make Sturgeon look good in retrospect. The Johnson/May effect but in tartan.
Too many people against Forbes because she is a conservative including this site.
Regan was a bad call, Forbes was our only chance to keep the Murrell’s dirty fingers out of politics and we blew it.
I am really surprised that so called dedicated Nationalists did not possess the political acumen to work out what was happening.
Now it’s up to the country to put the cause of independence back in the cupboard for a decade, for that’s how long it will take to remove the stains.
It could all have been so different, Kate would have delivered in five fronting a Party that we could have been proud of, who to blame? All the left wing pricks who still live in the 1970’s!
Maybe not as long as you think. Alba is currently on 6% in the polls. It only takes ONE member in the Scottish Parliament to really raise Hell. Can you imagine if Alex Salmond got back in via the list? That could prove a game changer. Watch that space!
Yousaf said quite clearly during one of the hustings that if Nicola Sturgeon couldn’t achieve independence no one can, we know for sure he can’t/won’t for his route is the S30 route, and even then not until we’ve built up a big majority.
Oh how I’d love know how exactly every SNP member with a vote voted, we’d probably find that Ash Regan DID win, this farcical contest was riddled with secrecy and deceit and the involvement of the GCHQ (an enemy of Scottish independence) is a dead giveaway that that it was rigged. We knew it, some of the membership knew it and I’d wager the Britnat media had an inkling that the whole process was dodgy to say the least.
For the SNP membership that did vote for Yousaf, YOU do not want Scottish independence, if you did you’d have voted for Regan.
We must now focus on building up the Alba party for the SNP isn’t a indy party any longer today proved that, first up is to remove as many SNP MPs (Wishart and Co) as possible at the next GE.
There could yet be a silver lining to this should Police Scotland finally get off their arses and do their jobs by making a move on their various investigations into the SNP, the missing “ringfenced” £600,000, the perjurers, etc, as the leader of the party has overall responsibility for it, this includes being liable for it and its actions in addition to any directly culpable individuals.
The unqualified shameless Humza has been a willing shill in order to make a name for himself, all at Scotland’s expense, which is self-evident when you look at the trail of disaster that he has created in every single ministerial role he has ever had in his political career, fucking up the role of First Minister in addition to anything Police Scotland bring forth could be the icing on his political cake.
He may now ultimately find himself liable for not only corruption in high public office but also, as leader of the SNP, criminal reponsibility for fraud, either way after the shanninigans of this SNP election his career is forever tainted not just in the eyes of genuine independence supporting SNP members but throughout the entirety of Scotland.
Next year is the SNP’s 90th anniversary. If that fool is still in place it’ll be a nonagenarian party led by a nonentity who panders to nonces.
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
George Orwell 1984
Humbug Yousless and Sturgeon’s rancid SNP…
What a perfect combination for electoral suicide…
Why would anyone who voted for Ash, give their second vote to Humza. It makes absolutely no sense. It makes no sense because I don’t believe that happened. Surely there are a 100 SNP members who can challenge this result.
He didn’t win it. It was arranged.
The SNP has now become a mafia construct.
Expect in the weeks to come the entire thing will be challenged/leaked thus throwing even more doubt about independence because of the negative press.
Can anyone NOT see this coming?
@William McCarron
Trouble with saying “I’ll never vote SNP again” is that must mean you’ll never vote again…
I can’t ever vote for a Yoon party (or the woke Greens), so what is my choice, the old cock ‘n’ balls spoiled ballot or not turning out?
For Holyrood, anyone in our house already gave the second vote to ALBA, as SNP 1&2 doesn’t work, was designed that way and them continuing to push it in 2021 was dishonest.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
James – Smitty might not have been wrong. If the result is fiddled, no-one could predict the result!
The SNP is supposed to be the Independence party anyone who wants Independence as from today can’t possibly believe that the SNP is still a party for achieving Independence, when its membership just voted for a leader to continue on the same course of direction, we have been for the last 9yrs.
The fight for Independence isn’t just against the UKG or the Unionist it would seem its also against the SNP membership and the leadership.
I really don’t see the Ash Regan supporters wanting to remain in the party anymore what would be the point.
Out of the three candidates its only Ash Regan who realizes its Scotland who’s the loser by the look on her face that says it all.
I hope people waken up to Kate Forbes before its to late, she isn’t a nationalist but is an opportunist, I did get one thing I wanted from today result and that’s I didn’t want Kate Frobes to win at all.
Kate looks far too happy for someone who just lost by a few thousand votes! I smell a rat.
Great editorial. Yes Forbes looks relieved, and while she seems self serving, it is a good thing she won’t be destroyed by the SNP.
As for the legitimacy? I just do not believe the SNP has 72,000 members and I just don’t believe the election was legit. I don’t believe the SNP membership is so disinterested they can only manage a 70% turnout. I doubt 4 out of 11 2nd prefs from Regan would go to Humza, but who can reckon with voter stupidity?
It does seem clear that regardless of pochling, SNP members are not really driven by a yearning for independence. Not really. Regan was the only one with any plan.
Yes, Regan caved a couple of weeks ago. She had nothing to lose by trying for an interdict.
Commiserations guys. As a supporter of the continuation of the UK (though not a ‘Unionist’ – as a West of Scotland catholic I simply can’t use that word, coined in another context and loaded with history) I was hoping for Humza. But I can surely see why people are gutted.
Personally I think this is a massive missed opportnity for the SNP. I thought Forbes was a genuine breakthrough candidate, the only one with a plan, albeit reality-based, to move your movement forward: ‘Govern well and adopt a more explicitly long-term strategy to persuade more people to trust that indy could possibly be a good thing’. As opposed to a quick, divisive divorce amounting to Brexit on steroids, which for obvious reasons has liited appeal beyond a very limited pool of single-minded zealots.
One thing I think sensible supporters of Scotland’s place in the UK could easily see is that Forbes’ more sensible approach is far more dangerous than Humza’s incompetent witterings, or indeed Regan’s transparent (if slightly dim) wishful thinking.
Anyway, congratulations in bringing an end to Sturgeon, and for pretty much ensuring that the GRR nonsense will never see the light of day. (Though you also to some extent have Sunak to thank for that as well). You guys played a huge part in that and Scotland is the better off for it.
There was a nervousness in the introductions to the counting results that suggested the speakers knew what they were about to announce was not completely above board.
I will vote SNP again, but not while he is in charge. So they may indeed lose the next GE. Bear in mind he hasn’t even agreed his cabinet yet. That will be another reason to abandon the party. I expect Kate will be his second in command. Hell mend her!
Suspect I’m in a tiny minority but now the SNP has a leader he should be steered in the direction that really matters. Being a Sturgeon clone would do him no personal favours. He wants to be «his own man», so…..
Writing him off at this stage can sound like colonial style mischief making, only the system benefits from wollowing in despair.
As expected, the Unionists won.
Sturgeon’s final finger to her audience.
Forbes was the best last hope to inject enough non-woke, economic competence into the SNP to bring over the soft Conservative tartan Tories of old. Might just have got independence over the line.
But no. The rocket hit the top of its trajectory with Brexit and only a major event wii arrest its fall to a sub critical level. The SNP will continue down its rabbit hole as a flag of convenience for the sort of activist groups nobody but Corbyn’s labour would touch.
A Westminster Labour government will encourage tactical voting in Scotland as you don’t need the SNP to stand up to a government which is pretty much ideologically identical in economics. Might as well be inside the government tent in Westminster.
Another decade and chasing independence will be old news, a cause without momentum still led by a party most associate with incompetence, corruption and self serving secrecy.
People might still want independence, but nobody in their right will give the job to the sort of people that the SNP will be in 2033. And the SNP has effectively stolen the Yes movement and now own it.
I agree with you, Ryan M. Forget the SNP folks and join a real Independence Party. With these honest politicians we’ll get there.
INDEPENDENCE FOR SCOTLAND!
At least on the bright side four of the five main parties in Scotland are ruled by people who hate white people and women…
I don’t know what the SNP membership want, but it isn’t independence.
We, as mere readers, don’t know what’s happening behind the headlines and soundbites. But we can make educated guesses.
Ash was clearly furious. One way or another the cause of that rage will become known. If she has to leave the SNP before speaking out becomes possible then she’d best do it quickly.
Only the deluded accept those numbers at face value. The more significant fact is that Ash pinned her colours to the Independence mast and she’ll reap the rewards for that. But not unless she’s free to reveal what she knows.
Go on Ash – join Alba, dish the dirt on the whole lot of them (preferably via Rev or Kevin McKenna) and help Alex get his party ready for the next GE. Most of us no longer have anyone else to support.
Well thats me just ordered a couple of ALBA T-shirts from T-shirt Studio. Can’t do much more at my age.
“So be prepared for a change to fighting the S35, he’ll say he was told it would fail, therefore a waste of tax payers cash during these difficult times, blah, blah, blah.”
I believe,more or less, albeit very late in the election campaign, he has already said this. If legal advice is that it would likely fail he will not challenge S35.
“There was so much chicanery and blatant corruption around the election that there’ll be a shadow of suspicion over Yousaf’s victory for the entirety of his leadership, however long that might be.”
Hmmm, there’s a link in there but it’s just to another Wings page. Trumpian questioning of elections is not worthy of you, Stu. You used to be better than this. Used to be.
Humza Yousaf supports independence but for all sorts of reasons it isn’t on the cards just now. That is all, for all the shills on here will scream about ‘conspiracy!’ and ‘the evil MSM!’.
The great worry I have about Humza is that he’s incompetent, complicit in the SNP Government’s poor showing in education, health, climate change and transport. I expect the regime will continue to blunder about, asleep at the wheel, not commending themselves as potential rulers of an independent Scotland.
And I predict that the BTL commentators here, so shamefully played to by Stu, will continue to gibber unavailingly, not least in their conviction that ALBA is more than a joke.
Thats me gone. Joined the SNP in 1974 (recruited at University by a certain Alex Salmond) and have stayed for far longer than I should have. But thats it now, looking to Alba and no looking back.
Oh dear!
It appears that the ‘troops’ on Wings are unhappy with the result. I personally have no interest in who won but Useless winning will only accelerate the demise of the SNP as a political force for a good number of years.
Who will take advantage is the question that has to be asked?
The Tories-no.
Alba-Maybe, but they will have to get their act into gear very quickly.
Labour-A good chance as the disillusioned who previously switched to the SNP return to the fold.
Liberals-Unlikely.
Greens-They are only where they are because of the clowns in the SNP. How will Useless treat them? Ordinary Scots want nothing to do with them.
We will now see if Useless is simply a ‘plastic’ Muslim and if he puts his own interests before his supposed faith.
They will be dancing in the streets of Kabul tonight.
Is there anybody in Scotland – anybody at all – who believes that any snp members voting for Ash Regan would have put useless as their second choice preference? If so… I have a bridge I would like to sell you!
In the meantime, following a demonstrably corrupt and rigged process, we have an inept, incompetent, narcisstic placeman to hold the page for the union state interests. And the media fawning over him as if he had actually won due to his own ‘brilliance’… F#cks Sake.
Oft , something not quite right with those membership numbers . 20,000 sign up but could not be bothered to vote .
Putting money on him letting the progressive politics slide . His ego will get the better of him and he will flex his muscles with Nicola . He won’t be able to contain himself .
Other parties should be making moves now to reach out to the great volume of members washed up in this process .
Think we all know he will run it into the ground .Hope they are all saving hard as they only have a few more years of income then it’s the job centre for wee Harvie and the gang . Won’t be enough of them to cut a deal with .
Ah, the ‘brave’ choice, going with the most unpopular candidate.
Plus we get to keep SorosTranny Rex Patrick Harvie.
There’s two choices here :
1) The SNP is corrupt beyond redemption;
2) The SNP membership are too stupid to deserve independence.
Either way its time to face up to the fact that the SNP is now the enemy of independence, just as much as SLAB, Tories, Greens and LibDems are.
If you vote SNP or are an SNP member then you ARE the problem.
They’ll do it without my support too, if Alba and ISP don’t stand candidates in my constituency then I too will be spoiling my ballot. Fergus Ewing may be anti GRR but nuSNP consider any vote for them a vote for the GRRB so I will not be playing by their rules. I’m in my 50s but don’t expect to see independence either but it won’t stop me trying
This result is depressing.
Someone, please save Scotland from this shit show.
So Yousaf is pushing ahead with the challenge to the Section 35 order against the GRA. And I thought we’d have to wait for a ministerial reshuffle to really have a good idea of what was in store.
So when is the followup to this post, “The End of the End”, going to be published? Tomorrow?
Otto : “He wants to be «his own man», so…..”
Sorry Otto , Humza is a Nicola clone. He will be a remote controlled FM. The cover up will continue.
I am judging Humza on his record, it’s not faith based politics we do. The evidence is that he is a moron!
Humza let it slip that he would be going to the coronation of King Charles. He knew it was in the bag.
Forbes looked like a Cheshire cat that had just been given a big bowl of cream.
She’d clearly cut a deal with abu Humza and had been assured of the plush ministerial office and all that goes with it.
She also looked smug in the knowledge that the Punjabi equivalent of Liz Truss is going to fuck up so many times, and to such an extent, that she’s the next FM for life, probably starting next year.
Nobody so far has remarked on what to me looks an unexpectedly strong first-count showing by Kate Forbes.
The Anointed One did not stroll to success, despite being dowered with every advantage and serenaded by the legacy media. More Of The Same Old Sleaze appealed to few more than a call to family values, free enterprise and less statist jobbery– from a young woman who to many looks and sounds more like Scotland, less like Holyrood.
If the surviving hardcore Sturrellites can be so lukewarm about the continuity careerist, maybe the wind is changing.
Oh FFS.
Humza useless, is NOT my first minister. He never will be. I wholly and completely reject that he is now first minister of Scotland, via a skewed and fraudulent voting process.
Andy H at 324pm,
So very true.
He can celebrate all he wants, but he will never deliver electoral success for the SNP. He is a liability, a proverbial waste of space. A jumped up nobody, promoted way beyond his abilities.
The SNP just elected a Scottish Liz Truss as their leader. Thats the news, thats the REAL headline. Either the members of the SNP are utterly thick as pigsh*t, or as we all know, the result was a fiddle.
And so the corruption continues.
I will attend NO independence assembly, gathering or march at which that waste of space is present. Frankly, he (and the entire SNP) can go swivel. Glad I left a few years ago.
Come the next election the SNP will get dumped. People simply do not like Humza. No amount of spin will change that.
Just noticed the English BBC are currently running very positive news about him. Aye, right…
Fix is in, no surprise. Has to be AUOB march now and get on with liberation.scot and Salvo. We must make this happen ourselves. One proviso for the march is that hummer as expected will head to London to doff his cap because I won’t march with or under him.
I have no words.
{Screams of anguish, rage and horror}
Don’t give up guy’s. There’s a lot of water to flow under the bridge and I expect some of it will be murky enough to warrant the attention of a police force whose loyalty to another SNP government might not be guaranteed. Live in hope!!!
It’s pretty easy to spot when someone actually believes what they are saying is the truth.
Those presenting the results clearly knew that they were a lie.
Sturgeon has served her masters well.
James Caithness says:
27 March, 2023 at 3:16 pm
SMITTY was spectacularly wrong.
==========
He was indeed – as I posted on the previous thread.
According to “Smitty”, Humza had seen the numbers, knew he couldn’t win, and would withdraw from the contest!
Debatable Lands “And the SNP has effectively stolen the Yes movement and now own it.”
You’re having a laugh?
Disappointed and so sad.
It is such a regret neither of the women tried a legal challenge on the process.
Am sure it would have given a different outcome.
Now watch as Nu SNP slips along the road of old Labour.
Hopefully Alba rising as Useless flounders.
At least it makes things clear – our site of protest is Holyrood, highlighting that the people want independence, even if the seat warmers in there don’t.
Judging by Forbes’ elated expression, you’ve got to seriously consider the possibility of her being promised a position by Humza for refusing to join Ash Regan’s demands to abandon the vote and declare it void and corrupt. We shall soon find out…
Never assume malice when incompetence explains things just fine, although in this case it looks like both may apply. I’m afraid the SNP got the leader they deserve – he’ll maintain the status quo for long enough to let the Holyrood political class eek out their careers a little longer – they will continue to mismanage and bully Scots whilst conveniently blowing hard that we are mismanaged and bullied by Westminster.
The cycle will come round again, I’d give it 20 years for Indy to be on the cards again – but even that isn’t inevitable and Scotland will need far greater leadership than it has had. All the while, many of us will wonder – is devolution itself a worthwhile exercise or might we be better served by a car park at the foot of the mile.
It’s true, neither Finn or Oswald could look the audience in the eye much.
SNP briefed Mi Voice that they only expected 54000 votes. About 4000 more than is reported today.
How about if 4000 first preference votes for Regan, where the second preference was for Forbes, got tipped over the side.
That would otherwise have put Forbes in ahead of Humbler.
And that way the first preference votes of the main contenders are not meddled with.
I guess there’s multiple ways to fix it but that puts the biggest boot into Regan.
70% of 72,000 = 50,400
So I suspect that is about the maximum number of members the SNP has / would be able to legally prove they have in the event of an independent investigation.
I also agree with those above who can’t believe Ash voters would give Humza their second preference vote!
I also have a strong suspicion that this leadership election was unfair and tainted by apparent bias!
An Ash Regan led group of Alba MSPs would be a breath of fresh air at Holyrood and something I’d support.
Would everyone who is doing so please stop all the racist and Islamophobic snide remarks related to Humza Yousaf. There are many negatives about that careerist slimy @rsehole who will not further the cause of independence, but there is nothing negative about being a Scot of Pakistani or Muslim background.
Steve ashton, they did a number on Kate, many would not have given her second preference given her religious views which are basically identical to the faith that Humza follows, we know that he dodged the vote on same sex marriage and lied about doing so, but it didnt seem to matter to the SNP Members i spoke too, but Kate did, go figure.
So yes many gave him their second preference, i even know one very intelligent member who gave humza his first vote, on the basis that he thought they were all crap and getting Humza as FM would speed up the inventible collapse of the SNP and the Party could be rebuilt as a pro indy party once more.
Do not underestimate the stupidity of people, however having said that i am surprised and do find it hard to believe that as many as 30% of Ash’s 2nd votes went to Humza.
I have been a member of SNP through thick and thin for nigh on 63 years. Electing this non-entity is probably the last straw for me……..!
This election result needs to be challenged in the courts.
It appears that the size of the electorate has been tailored to match the size of Yusaf’s vote.
The SNP is a sitting duck until this suspicion is removed.
What have they got to hide?
Now that the SNP politicians will openly spend their time in public on their knees, the seating for them at Westminster & Holyrood should be removed. I expect that knee pads will now become an essential part of all SNP politician’s work wardrobe.
So hundreds of thousands of pounds (possibly more) of Scottish taxpayers hard earned cash will now be wasted by Yousaf in challenging the S35.
Lets now turn our attentions to the Alba party, the REAL party for Scottish independence, let us put all our efforts into first electing Alba MPs at the expense of SNP MPs, then get as many Alba MSPs into Holyrood as possible come 2026.
A straw poll in my work. Not one person likes Humza out of 20 people. When you start off this unpopular. Then your time will be short. Anyone expect an election in September?
First statement from new FM is about GRR. are the greens now in charge?
Apart from Ash, would ALBA want any of those lying, spineless, corrupted, troughing turds to infest their party which has independence, rights and integrity at its very core.
Maybe Kate only entered to scupper Ash chances.The big smile was for Services rendered to the SNP. Now let’s get on with Huzma’s crowdfunder for Indy carrot munchers !
Posted on The Hollow Crown
twathater says:
27 March, 2023 at 4:17 pm
If anyone thought our deviant leader was going anywhere I have a few good condition bridges for sale, sturgeon realises that to go anywhere else she would become exposed as the incompetent fake that we know is the real her, as a narcissist she cannot face that reality so has devised the situation where she can still remain in control but all failures will be attributed to the public face of Useless
She can and will operate her puppet from the back benches and as we have seen any dissent from the proven cowards will be threatened with deselection or other punishment, so the continuity of the troughing salaries and pensions for the fake independence politicos will continue unabated thanks tae OOR Nicoliar , THAT is why the cowards love her
@Scunner
‘I can’t ever vote for a Yoon party (or the woke Greens), so what is my choice, the old cock ‘n’ balls spoiled ballot or not turning out?’
TBH, I think the ‘cock n’balls,’ choice is by far the best atm…
I’m the eternal optimist so ye never ken, mebbes, just mebbe it will be the turning point for Alba & ISP, I live in hope…
It’s a big moment too for Jo Cherry & Angus McLeod & Ash & all the other dissenters… Do they stay in a party that’s dead to Indy or do they make a move to Alba? Could actually be a catalyst moment & at my age I have to cling on to every straw that dangles in the shitey snp wind…
Given that anyone can join the SNP is it likely everyone outside of Scotland chose the FM for us?
What’s the likelihood of Alba rising?
A straw poll at a Lanarkshire branch 2 weeks ago saw Humza getting 14 percent in a vote of around 60/80 in the room.
Some change given most of them cited
I smell shite
Well that’ the wife and I cancelled our dds dor the SNP.
Will tender our resignations when we can figure out how to on the website.
56 effing years.
“The great unknown in this election was just who the SNP membership was. No poll could tell us, and with over 50,000 people having quit the party in the last three years, nobody knew who was left. But we know now: idiots.”
LOL
labour- the party of the workers = LIE
snp- the party of independence = LIE
Result = TORIES foever!
I don’t know what Ash will now do. I do know that the TRAs have made it clear they want her deselected. And of course the NEC now controls candidate selection not the constituency party.
In her shoes, I’ve consider sitting as an independent or defecting to Alba or ISP. She’s in for a hellish couple of years and she’s no chance of being re-elected in the SNP.
As someone above said: Sometimes it really is shite being Scottish.
Captures it all really. The only hope is that HY demonstrates his uselessness so quickly and conclusively that we get another FM soon. But indy – I used to think it was near. Now I doubt that it is near even for my children. I weep for the Scotland we could be living in now, and for what lies ahead.
The SNP membership have made their decision. John Curtice observed that it was normal for some party members not to vote in a leadership election. But the Conservative recent leadership was 83%. I think 70% is suspiciously low. Is it always the don’t knows that win in Scotland? Anyway congratulations to Humza we should be positive, the people of Scotland have a new Health Minister.
Been meaning to sort out my Alba membership, but that’s it done. I don’t expect I am the only one.
Steve ashton @ 3>45pm
And the media fawning over him as if he had actually won due to his own ‘brilliance’…
Well, they would be pleased since he was obviously their candidate. Imagine if we had had a true, committed independence supporter as leader; the media would have been attacking him/her from every angle. ‘By their friends shall ye know them.’
SNP, including its membership, is tamed and domesticated and no danger at all to the UK.
O/T
Had to watch that song on YouTube! Just read on Wiki that neither actor nor singer was credited in the movie. Which I find surprising, given how (in)famous Tomorrow Belongs to Me became.
(To save you searching, the youth on the screen is Oliver Collignon but the voice is from singer Mark Lambert.)
To the fool who thinks we should give Yousaf a chance, go find something else to comment on because you clearly do not have a clue about what’s good for my country.
For the rest of us, as predicted the fix has been implemented and here we are with just about the most stupid arrogant and incompetent person ever to set foot in Holyrood looking like they will become FM.
Yousaf is going to be a disaster and the sooner people wake up to this and get him out of power the better. I am hoping that people like Alex Neil who actually have some principles and intelligence are going to refuse to back this clown as FM. I would literally take anyone over him. Stupid, lazy, incompetent, a liar, professional victim, racist. It could not be worse..
I suspect that as soon as he faces a bit of pressure we are going to get never ending race baiting about how racist Scotland is because it is the only club he has in the bag. It will be interesting to see how he gets on against the PM who is himself a child of immigrants and has never once complained about racism. In fact the two of them could not be more different, one a confirmed high achiever the other a serial failure.
One thing I do hope is that with his supreme ignorance this might bring a chance to get some justice for Alex Salmond because there is a very high chance useless is going to stick his foot in his mouth and I doubt very much if any civil servants are going to keep hushing things up for someone as unlikeable as useless.
Another positive is that this means the SNP is dead and the only option now is to erase it. No more hanging back and hoping bridges can be rebuilt, there is now nothing within that party for anyone with any intelligence, self respect or care for our country.
Thursoberwick. One question, Why? Exactly how does a privately educated, mohammedan 2nd generation Pakistani represent indigenous Scots?
Remember his 2008 American trip to the International Visitor Program? He was hand-picked by people in high places a long, long time ago. And this country is now officially FUCKED.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Visitor_Leadership_Program
Many members will now leave the party, but I can’t see any MPs ir MSPs jumping ship. When ideology and principles clash with self-interest, the latter usually wins. Besides, Humza would just come out with one of his silly observations like: “I notice all those that have left are white (racists)!”.
In truth none of them were up to the job but the membership have contrived to elect the most useless of the three. The dream of independence is dead. The future is turbo-charged woke.
Oh well, I was wrong, I had Kate to just edge it, on the basis of, well on the basis of Humza blatantly isn’t the optics the SNP need, and there is still someone sane in the upper echelons who understands the need to steady the ship.
Of course, upper echelons could very well mean “The” Upper Echelons – in which case he’s the perfect candidate for administering the old Webley coup de grace into the twitching SNP.
Anyway, cheerio SNP, though I’ve been bye with them good a good while.
What has taken me aback is the volume of people, and messages this afternoon telling me they are bye with the SNP because of Humza. They really, really don’t like Humza, and they’ve all been deep in the roots SNP voters for decades.
Some insightful political reason perhaps? Nope, just that he’s a shyster.
Yup, that’s been the universal message I’m hearing. I did think “Where was that radar the last few years for Sturgeon and Murrell”?
The only gist I’m getting is, that there is a difference between shyster politics, and just being a total wido.
Apparently “Total Wido Radar” has been triggered and this will not go well for the SNP at all, at all.
Posters keep saying there should be defections to ALBA, WHAT to go down the same road again, ALL snp mp’s , msp’s cooncillors have ALL sat on their fat lazy arses whilst the deviants took over THEIR party and done absolutely FUCK ALL, and lots of posters want these trai tors to defect to ALBA, are yeese fuc++ng stupid, ALL they will do is bring their old COWARDLY troughing fake indy arses over to ALBA to demolish that
Leave the cowards to wallow in the cesspit that they have become comfortable in, WHY would you want to INFEST ALBA with these PROVEN COWARDS, what ALBA needs is people who are brave enough to FIGHT for independence , the troughers in the snp don’t want independence they have PROVEN THAT they want the gravy bus
As for Ash Regan where was her HONESTY and INTEGRITY when she was suffering the lies and corruption of the FIX all she had to do was challenge it through an interdict the evidence was overwhelming and public
Remember his 2008 American trip to the International Visitor Program? He was hand-picked by people in high places a long, long time ago. And this country is now officially FUCKED.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Visitor_Leadership_Program
Every silver lining has a cloud. The good news is the waiting is over. The way forward is now clear. Step 1 get shot of the SNP.
Utter disaster. Not only from an independence perspective, but from a Scottish perspective, too. I would give him three to six months, then another leadership challenge – and another, until it all falls apart. Either it was a monumental fix or the remaining SNP membership have no sense of irony – and no sense.
Yes, I agree that Kate Forbes was delighted. Why? Because she kept Ash out and ensured herself a role in Humza’s cabinet. The more I saw of Kate, the more she became a continuity candidate like Humza, albeit he was first choice to be presented with the poisoned chalice. Will NS sit quietly in the back benches? We might all be wrong, of course, but I doubt it. Ash Regan has cut her teeth, though, for next time, unless she decamps to ALBA. However, she might do more good in opposing the challnege to S35, if it comes.
Ian Brotherhood says:
27 March, 2023 at 3:42 pm
‘Ash was clearly furious’
If Regan is the emerging leader I hope she is, Ian, she’ll know what to do: lead AS’s ‘good people’ away from SNP and towards the promised land. She and her supporters will desert SNP and form a rebel group of independent MSPs, or become ALBA’s representatives on the backbenches.
The coming days will make the landscape much clearer, starting tomorrow when we’ll see who votes for Yousaf as FM.
It may well be that the defiance shown post 2014 will emerge once again and re-energise the Independence movement.
Nothing was settled today.
I would now just love to see Ash leave the party, stand as an Independent and parliament rejecting Useless as First Minister. Her chances of having any success inside the party now must surely be remote? It also might make things a bit more interesting…
“Maybe Kate only entered to scupper Ash chances. The big smile was for Services rendered to the SNP.”
For heaven’s sake that’s a ridiculous assertion. There is only one reason Yousaf got elected. He might have acknowledged that Kate and Ash both “put in a shift”. What he neglected to say was that his pals in the Party were the people putting in shifts to make sure he got elected by fair means or foul. And he got an easy ride from the press over the equal marriage vote despite FOUR former ministers confirming he’d asked to miss the final vote. They didn’t push him on that or the other lies he told or his constant undermining of those running in the contest too.
You may not like Forbes but it took guts to take the absolute savaging she faced from the press from day one, when Yousaf sent his lackey out to say she couldn’t be trusted, and from many of the vile people in the SNP all because of her religion. It was disgusting and sent out a terrible signal. No one pushed Humza on his being a “proud Muslim”. Kate’s religion was ridiculed on a daily basis.
If she was smiling today it’s probably with relief and I’m relieved for her too knowing what some of the monstrous people in her own Party were planning to do to her if she won. Don’t forget she’s still facing “disciplinary action” for “transphobia” and the “LGBT wing” of the SNP want her expelled.
Ash and Jo Cherry need to defect now, how can they possibly stay in a party led by that woman hating clown. I trust the invitation has been made. Any gender critical MSPs in the SNP should put their money where their mouth is and vote against Humza for FM. He’s an incompetent, disingenuous, transcultist bully. This election has been a pantomime from start to finish, there needs to be a Holyrood election with Alba going full throttle on campaigning and standing as many candidates as possible 1&2 with 50%+1 for negotiating independence and prioritisation of women & children’s safeguarding on their manifesto. Anyone who has a brain, eyes & ears can no longer vote SNP. I will never forget the image of Kate beaming at Humza or her gushing response to him winning. She’s as bad as him. She could have stuck to her guns and backed Ash’s court challenge but she rolled over and I have no doubt she made a deal to further her career. SNP is dead, what a betrayal of the older generation of indy fighters, many who will not be around to see us independent. I am raging on their behalf. I truly hope that all the corruption is exposed in the coming weeks to hasten the party’s demise. Fuck’s sake.
ETTICUS
You do a ham fisted hatchet job….but for which side?
Destroying, «erasing» the nationalist cause which the SNP does still, however inadequately, represent by sowing internal division is an old trick. False friends, detectable from Mars!
Since when was it «your country».
I’m not such a «fool» that cannot detect signs of racism between the lines.
Get back to your DailyExpress.
He’l fail, and fail badly. But he’ll haud the fort as the shit hits the fan.
Meanwhile, skulking in the wings, waiting for the call lurks Marmalade!
I’d advise divorce before that time. He hasn’t got long!
Be interesting to see how many new members join Alba today. Could very well be the most since the party’s inception.
This is bad news for the independence movement. Sturgeon had the trust of a large proportion of Scot’s due to her performance during the pandemic, although, quite why, is a mystery, as she was no better, and possibly worse than Johnson and Hancock. This masked Sturgeon’s failures, and her lies and spin, the only thing she excelled at, cloaked her incompetence. Yousaf doesn’t have this cloak she had, and the failures of Sturgeon and her cabal will gradually out. He simply doesn’t have the nouse to improve our lot, and will quickly be found out. Due to this, and possible exposure of corruption, should Yousaf still be FM at the next election in 2025, the snp will be routed, and this will in fact be good for our country. Is there a nationalist anywhere who seriously believes that Yousaf will deliver what Sturgeon couldn’t ?
.
Is it too early to say…
I am off to buy a lettuce.
Humza McTruss has proven he is a Z-list incompetent at running single government departments.
In the article above, Stuart Campbell wisely noted that he will continue writing and it may be a long-haul for Independence.
But Stuart, methinks very soon, maybe by day 22 of Humza’s chaotic time in what is fast becoming a TV Reality show style government farce at Holyrood, the new Fixed Minister Humza McTruss will have pulled a Kwasi Kwarteng and have NuSNP so far down the political Khazi that the new Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes will see the end of Humza’s brief political tenure.
Then Kate Forbes will be the NuSNP Fixed Minister. A tartan tv show copy of Truss and Rishi Sunak.
The ONE thing that Kirsten Oswald McSofa has failed to pochle is the fact Alba is at 6% and may well hit 11% by next Holyrood election.
That means BLESSED RELIEF as ALEX SALMOND + KENNY MACASKILL and a few other Alba candidates will surely get in on the List as Alba MSPs.
Just imagine it. A Holyrood where Sturgeon and Murrell have been neutered and the finest, true, honest Statesman that Scotland has ever had is back in the Chamber.
Oh to see that day.
So, Rev Stu., your quill will be worn down to a nub.
Humza gave Kate a huge big hug after his victory was announced, but a begrudged handshake to Ash. I guess Humza’s first act will be to expel Ash from the party.
Wanted to see what WOS had to say about this.
What surprises me is that after the last 6 or 7 years that there’s anybody is still surprised by any event in the political arena?
Saying that – Humza IS the best choice.
Why?
Because the entire thing needs to implode so it can be started again with hard lessons learned. Humza will hasten that process.
Some perspective helps though when you consider the following facts:
* The trans agenda has been pushed at the same time, with the same tactics, by a large number of governments in the developed world, despite it being massively unpopular with pretty much every demographic everywhere. Just wait till the realisation hits the majority that the trans agenda is the wedge for the push for societal acceptance of paedophiles and sexual attraction to children. I said this on this site a number of years ago.
* The true scale of the medical scam we were put through (amply warned by some on here) is coming to light and the scale of the lies and exaggeration is staggering yet nobody is being held to account, except of course for the show trial nonsense about whether someone broke their own lockdown rules or not.
* We have such plans as 15 minute cities being trialled in the UK, without any input from the public.
* We have continuous expensive support for foreign wars that have given us serious negative economic side effects.
* We have massive amounts of spending for people who come here from other parts of the world (legally and illegally) while the foodbank situation seems to have been dropped from the political conversation along with Scots who depend on them. Again no choice in this for anyone.
What is happening here in Scotland is just one small part of something much larger happening over many other countries simultaneously. This simply cannot be denied anymore.
There is no will of the people. There is no democracy. All we have are the customer service representatives of an international corporate plutocracy.
Effective dissenters are silenced or smeared. The public kept hopping from one would-be saviour to another.
Politics is not fixing this. Not until the actors that have given us all of the above have been removed, along with the people who own them.
The only time this can happen is when the edifice begins to crumble, people need to lose all confidence and hope in the politicians, courts and media and the faster the better. Humza is perfect to continue this process in Scotland.
I do now genuinely think the only hope for Scotland and independence, is the Alba party. The SNP with humza useless at the helm will fail at any and every election. He just is NOT a popular man, in any way. In addition, folk really don’t like his nonsense over the nursery and how he is toooo often too quick at pulling the ‘race card’.
I personally would not give him the time of day. He is and always will be, a self-absorbed, over-promoted, utter waste of space.
https://www.albaparty.org/become_a_member
Well the porridge has been well and truly pissed in
Where is Alex Salmond in all this?
Had he lost his voice? Or just his balls?
Sadly with this clown in charge we will probably see Sturgeon back in power as the FM in 18-24 months.
Lulu Bells says: “Sorted out my Alba membership, that’s it done”. Weel deen Lulu!
Ah’ve jist jined Alba masel i noo. Aawbady wi ony intrist in i future o Scotland shid jine Alba richt noo! ahn Liberation.Scot an ah!
But Stuart, methinks very soon, maybe by day 22 of Humza’s chaotic time in what is fast becoming a TV Reality show style government farce at Holyrood, the new Fixed Minister Humza McTruss will have pulled a Kwasi Kwarteng and have NuSNP so far down the political Khazi that the new Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes will see the end of Humza’s brief political tenure.
Bit unfair on Kwasi Kwarteng, who was actually a successful person in real life before he got involved with the Tories, and isn’t a horrible racist.
Humza has no work experience of any kind, and in addition to being a proven imbecile he’s lazy and massively entitled.
The SNP was already a clown car, but now Humza’s driving them full speed towards a cliff.
Lol.
Let justice be done. Via Alba get Alex Salmond reinstated as an MSP. – Salmond questioning FM Yousef – that would be fun.
Should I believe that so many SNP “members” voted for a man who has complained, in Holyrood, about the number of white – coloured people in politics?
Should I believe that a man of muslim faith is truly supportive of the trans movement? And will fight for the GRR Bill and so ignoring the expressed will of the Scots population, not the whipped MSPs, the will of the population that do not support the GRR bill?
I suppose logically Yousef being “selected” is a good result – like lancing a boil, to squeeze out of him, the dodgy election manipulation, and the SNP/ Murrell poison.
Bring on Alex Salmond.
What in the name of fuck were they thinking. I’ll not be voting for independence, because I’ll be deid before these fucking clowns get round to it. Corrupt, self serving bastards.
Chic McGregor, just send an email to the National secretary , not that you will get a response, im still waiting for mine two years since I left after about four decades with the occasional short break.
They kept sending me stuff to help light the fire for about nine months.
Re the % of members that voted, i have not heard of any SNP members of my acquaintance who did not vote, I reckon turnout would have been nearer 90% than 70% , so membership closer to 60k than 72 k!
It seems even the WGD faithful are abandoning the SNP as well, https://www.voices.scot/article/j1ntO/
If Forbes did strike a deal, there might not be much left to be leader of when Humza is finished.
Years ago I warned: the SNP had become British colonial administrators and are corrupt.
I never gave a penny to the indyref fundraisers as I believed there would be no indyref2.
The only yins that took me seriously at the time were the Sturgeon fan club who piled on the hate till they got kicked off of here or went off to WGD in a huff.
Sometimes, I hate to be right. It’s a blessing and a curse.
It’s time to accept the SNP is a lost cause: but, Scotland’s independence remains a worthy cause.
Salvo, Liberation.Scot and the Alba Party are some of the ways ahead.
and another positive step you can take: DON’T VOTE SNP.
If Youssaf knows his political onions he’ll keep both ladies close.
Is he sufficient of a canny Machiavelli?
Cò aig a tha fios!
David McV 3.43
( Stu. You used to be better than this. Used to be. )
If Stu’s not as good as he used to be ? why do U keep coming back to wings .
“The great unknown in this election was just who the SNP membership was.”
The SNP membership was exactly what Peter Murrell decided it was.
Kate did a deal with Humza over a week ago. At the Times Hustings you could tell they’d done a deal.
Kate is an absolute betrayer – not only did she throw Ash under a bus on a number of occasions but she should never have even stood against her after dodging vital GRR votes.
Two peas from the same pod. Each shameless users. Humza will need Kate in finance. He doesn’t need Ash. Kate wants to keep her job, she doesn’t need Ash either. Humzas mates will all get a job in his cabinet for thier loyalty. The useless Niel Gray (who?) Getting a senior role..
Ash is out. I hope she walks over to Alba or back to Common Weal for policy & convention.
Kirk will be gutted, I wonder how Robin has taken the news?lol!
Gregory Beekman 5.24pm.
There is no need for him to expel Ash from the party. Just make her feel so uncomfortable that she will leave.
An apt title for the article Stuart, Toom Tabard indeed.
Hi Chic at 4.34. I just cancelled the DD. SNP HQ then contacted me asking me to restart. I used that email to give the reasons I’d cancelled. Shortly thereafter I got a letter from PM thanking me for the membership and wishing me well. AND no, I didn’t get a voting slip – I left late 22.
All it needs now is for Peter Murrell to get his old job back.
If seven SNP MSPs defect to Alba, the SNP / Green coalition will be one short of a majority. That would put the cat amongst the pigeons.
Gregory Beekman @ 5:24pm, based on the video clip, I saw, I take a different view. Ash Regan seemed content to shake his hand, but her body language made it clear that a hug was not on offer. That is her – anyone’s – right.
I daresay Ash Regan will remain in the SNP for a decent interval. Heck, maybe she will always think the SNP is the answer to gaining independence. It remains to be seen how many will move to Alba. My guess, from 3,000 miles away, is that we may see a trickle of councillors in the days and weeks ahead. I remain to be convinced that any MSPs or MPs will make the jump. That may not be a bad thing. Do we want a stampede that drags along the dregs of the SNP with it?
When it all falls apart as it surely will, ALBA should be very careful about who it allows to get a membership. The freeloaders will be looking for a new home. We don’t want to go through all this again some day.
Geri. Unfortunately I have to agree. Kate is a betrayer. Let’s be honest. Even the God fearing ones will lie to protect their own skin.
I reckon Ash was reaching out to Kate to challenge the fiddle. Kate then negotiated a deal with Humza. Then it was radio silence.
All to obvious I am afraid.
And if fifteen SNP MPs defect to Alba, they will become the fourth biggest party at Westminster and get a pile of Short money at the expense of the LibDems. They’ll also get more parliamentary time, committee positions, questions etc than the LibDems.
The annihilation of the SNP is the greatest service Scots might render to the cause of wiping their country off the map.
Some on here are being «naive», others, rather many, are suspiciously «faux naïve».
Do be very careful what you wish for.
The «jinni» out the bottle will not go back.
Long deep breaths!
According to James Kelly. Wings operates on a self fulfilling prophecy. So if we wish ill upon, or criticise the new leader. Then what we wish for comes true.
So it’s all our fault that Sturgeon turned out to be a complete failure. Not her , not the SNP, not her policies. If we had stayed silent everything would be fantastic.
Truly lost for words!
And the winner is.ENGLAND. The SNP stand for England and the looting of Scottish resources, Scottish poverty, Scottish short life spans, The clearing out of Scottish youth from rural Scotland, Expensive electricity, Expensive heating oil, car petrol, car diesel, overpriced housing market, the lowest pension in Europe etc etc. Never mind they said that they are on the gravy train until 2050.
They are a fraudulent party they have admitted that they have no intention of pushing for independence only the grave train of devolution.Englands little helpers.
Let me tell you how bad this is.
On WGD there are many stalwarts ending their membership of the SNP.
That is something.
The loser won and will help Labour win in the UK with the gains that are inevitable in Scottish seats.Disaster.The end of the Nationalist project is a gift for an unreconstructed leftist nightmare in the whole UK. Thanks SNP.
Presented with a broad field of candidates, between one quarter and one third of the SNP’s few remaining members decided not to vote in what amounted to the election of the next First Minister? Really?
I give Humza Yousaf a year, and that is being generous. Longer than Liz Truss, I suppose, but most of his party’s MSPs backed him, whereas most of her party’s MPs did not back Truss. Still, he is not very good to begin with, he has barely won, and much of the party truly hates him.
Somhairlin says:
27 March, 2023 at 5:14 pm
Ash and Jo Cherry need to defect now, how can they possibly stay in a party led by that woman hating clown.
I actually disagree… Don’t defect to ALBA, but take their SNP carcasses along to a SALVO style Convention of the Estates which can then boast representation from all the Pro Independence Political parties, but “the” Convention which recognises the sovereignty of the people, NOT the sovereignty of Westminster or the 1998 Scotland Act.
Actions speak louder than words Ash Regan, if you want to lead a pro-Independence initiative that furthers Scottish Independence, start speaking to SALVO, Liberation.Scot , and the Scottish National Congress that’s trying to animate a Constitutionally led route to Independence.
Keep the SNP badge on, loud and proud, and defy the phoney wee shites to kick you out.
Go! Go! Regan. Go! Go! Cherry… And anybody else who actually wants Independence.
I thought the company running the vote had said they contacted 78,000 before the SNP membership figure reveal?
Alison Macgregor says:
27 March, 2023 at 3:26 pm
Yousaf is going to be so bad that he may even make Sturgeon look good in retrospect.
I think that was the plan all along, after all, why go to such lengths to choose such a failure.. She will then start to brag about how good we had it when she was FM.. And we didn’t we truly didn’t..
If there are any true patriots of Scotland left in The SNP then surely NOW is the time to jump ship.. Because if you believe YUSELESS is the answer to your INDEPENDENCE dreams then you really need to get to a doctor QUICK..
Big Jock and Geri, absolutely SPOT ON. Forbes is and always will be an opportunist of the worst kind!!
How many of the SNP members who voted are real people and how many are “fictitious”? Branches don’t know who their members are so what confidence can anyone have in the “electorate” and therefore the result of this “election”? If someone wanted to, they could create 50,000 fake memberships, then cast these votes, and it would only cost £600,000. Now, where have I seen that number before? What price democracy?
Yousaf was going to win by any means possible.
Forbes was bought off when it appeared she might just beat him.
Forbes would have made ZERO difference anyway. She has no substance in her and dodged a vote where she could have stood for her principles.
The biggest betrayal will come when Regan “gracefully” accepts a Cabinet post under Yousaf.
Regan and Cherry can do ZERO for independence from within the SNP.
If they don’t know that, they are idiots.
But they do know that but they will put their comfortable careers before independence.
If they have any credibility left, they should get out of the SNP immediately.
Challenging the result will not achieve anything.
Rev. Stuart Campbell, don’t go back into retirement until all the corrupt criminals in the State of Scotland have been duly punished for their crimes.
It is time for yourself, Alex Salmond and Craig Murray to take the gloves off and really expose all of them.
To team Humza.
It is my country and if you are a UK citizen and resident and registered to vote in Scotland it’s yours. No racism here, interesting you go straight to the Humza playbook.
Humza is going to be a flaming radioactive nuclear meltdown of catastrophic disaster. People will actually die because they just made this idiot FM. He’s an utter effing moron. Hate crime bill will be back on, freedom of speech in your own house under attack. Watch out Rev! GRR rammed down everyone’s throats. Machiavellian? Aye son, he canny even ride a scooter.
For the love of Christ can we now be done with the SNP for good, and focus on the Alba party.
“30 minutes after being elected as SNP leader Humza Yousaf announces his first major u-turn of a u-turn. Not a mention of the legal advice, he has committed to challenging the section 35 order to defend the right of male Scottish rapists to legally identify as women.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisMcEleny/status/1640350864949780488?cxt=HHwWkICxxfaa2cMtAAAA
Alan A says:
‘ is devolution itself a worthwhile exercise or might we be better served by a car park at the foot of the mile.’
A fair point-though who could imagine the pain of losing that architectural marvel-built at such a cost to the ‘punters’?.
Let’s be honest; devolution is a bust. Labour only offered it as they thought they needed the nationalist vote to win in the UK (They didn’t); it pleases no-one (Are the majority on here happy ? are Unionists ?);the sole effect is that hard-earned tax money is ‘top-sliced’ by the numberless adherents of the assemblies before whatever is left is sent to be further top-sliced by numberless local authority employees and ‘representatives’ and whatever is left (After grants and ‘funding’ to outlandish non-accountable bodies) is distributed to the sweating populace.
That’s not good. But what is worse is that politicians high and low are given a free pass to spend the rest of eternity blaming the ‘other lot’ for failure. At least under the old system each side got a fair chance to sod it up from time to time before being booted out.
Is it possible that the ‘cost’ of NS/PM being acquitted of anything they are allegedly guilty of, was the fixing of this election??
Everyone derided Joanne what’s her face when she said something about the Scots not being genitically capable of being independent or whatever.
She didn’t go far enough.
What a bunch of fucktards.
Bring on the Zombie Apocalypse I say.
The biggest winners of the SNP leadership election. Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. The big losers, the Scottish Public. Full tilt at all the wrong policies GRR, DRS whatever, it is a long way down from here. But we have to go through it. And the BBC and MSM have to own it. The Woke agenda was more important than competence.
Sorry for the possible double post but for accuracy it was seemingly The Mail on Sunday who reported that Mi-Voice had been given 78,000 names to contact by the SNP.
Well that’s that then.
The new leader will send fiscal conservative Forbes with her art degree back off to Brussels with Lorna Slater to let them know mission acomplished.
Then she’ll back to deliver more austerity and sell off what’s left to the banking class and rent seekers.
Privatisation, Privatisation, Privatisation, Privatisation. Lie about the deficit and the national debt and tax payers money. Lie that governments have to balance their books like a household.
While the rent seekers continue to put up their tolls for using your TV and broadband, the railways, the buses, education, utilities, energy, airports, water, post a letter, etc, etc, etc. When all could be cheap as chips and some free at the point of entry like the NHS.
Oh, and your taxes will increase, all of them. Even though the public sector has been turned into a rent extracting monopoly by the big 2 or 3 in each sector. They are stupid enough to believe taxes stop at first use. Refuse to believe they leak across borders into the rest of the UK and rest of the world. Ignore the very simple fact that your spending is someone else’s income and never shows up on the Scottish government accounts.
Neoliberal, globalism it is then, wrapped up in insane fiscal conservatism. Who have lied how money works for the last 50 years and counting. Bank lending will continue to replace government spending as investment. The bankers will decide how our skills and real resources should be allocated not our elected government. Bankers who never face an election or held accountable or responsible for their actions.
The truth will get out one day and hell mend the lot of them. A brain is what Scottish voters need and just one book to get the Indy we all deserve.
https://gimms.org.uk/2023/01/21/modern-monetary-theory/
Hi Breeks at 6:20 pm.
You typed,
“Don’t defect to ALBA, but take their SNP carcasses along to a SALVO style Convention of the Estates which can then boast representation from all the Pro Independence Political parties, but “the” Convention which recognises the sovereignty of the people, NOT the sovereignty of Westminster or the 1998 Scotland Act.
[snip]
Keep the SNP badge on, loud and proud, and defy the phoney wee shites to kick you out.
Go! Go! Regan. Go! Go! Cherry… And anybody else who actually wants Independence.”
Reads like a plan. That would upset some in the SNP!
Colin Dawson says:
27 March, 2023 at 5:59 pm
‘If seven SNP MSPs defect to Alba, the SNP / Green coalition will be one short of a majority’
Not quite Colin. Losing seven would give SNP 57 + 7 Greens = 64.
That would leave things tied at 64 all – the 8th Green, Alison Johnstone is Presiding Officer and would have the casting vote.
So it needs EIGHT defections, a point I made on numerous occasions 18 months ago.
FMQs this Thursday
Opposition question should be
“To ask the first minister what advice will he give to the new Health Secretary given that his predecessor was so useless”
Yeah
Al-Stuart says:
27 March, 2023 at 3:25 pm
“My betting is on several defections of SNP MPs and MSPs and Councillors to Alba.”
My betting is on not a single defection, not even from Regan or Cherry, but I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
Their MSP/MP posts are more important to them than independence.
I actually look forward to Regan and Cherry being deselected by the SNP.
Will they then turn to ALBA to continue their careers?
Will they not look like opportunists then?
Robert McAllan says:
27 March, 2023 at 6:32 pm
” Big Jock and Geri, absolutely SPOT ON. Forbes is and always will be an opportunist of the worst kind!! ”
Of course because she’s a Brussels loving Tory anybody with an IQ in double figures can see it. She believes in balanced budgets and austerity like most with an art degree as they have never studied money. Just free market placard waving, slogan shouting ideologues. Which are all myths once you’ve have taken the time to study the assets and liabilities of a government balance sheet.
Why I believe the % is so high for Ash voters second preference being Yousef. Last thing any of these people wanted was a Tory, Brussels loving, fiscal austerity conservative running the SNP.
Regardless what the free market placard waving, slogan shouting ideologues shout. Scotland is still left wing and Yousef will still steam roll over the top of them. Why and the real reason the SNP are finished. Long before the Greens infested them with identity politics.
Alba released a statement condemning the violence against women’s free speech in NZ
(Ebenezer Scroggie says:
27 March, 2023 at 5:34 pm
Where is Alex Salmond in all this?
Had he lost his voice? Or just his balls?)
Alex is like the rest of us Watching & Waiting on the Shit hitting the fan .
So if Kate or Ash won it wasn’t a fix? But incompetent won so it’s a fix?
No one of note will defect to Alba because being honest the gravy train has to keep flowing. Humza will destroy everything he touches. If Labour can’t win an election with him as FM then they’ll never win one. However I suspect he won’t make it that far. Greens jumped on the gravy train because they won’t give up their minister pay checks.
Humza gets voted through tomorrow and by the end of April he will have at least two to three major issues to clear up. On top of the Ferries, Malicious prosecutions, NHS, SNP Finances and Covid enquiry still not starting. What a way to jump feet first into the job. Fires. Fires everywhere.
Well, foolishly, I thought Kate might just swing it. Ash, although charming (and very easy on the eye) was very much out of her depth, unfortunately. Humza will most likely destroy the SNP through hubris. Alba will benefit but by splitting the vote they will ensure Unionism prevails. A clusterfuck if ever their was one.
This site has been a massive asset over the years and incalculable thanks are due to Rev Stu for his efforts.
However, we are where we are, and it is gratifying to learn that we can rely on the good Rev to continue his quest for the truth. His output has been revelatory but of necessity, reactive. ‘Reactive’ that is to the chicanery perpetrated by those in Government. How refreshing would it be therefore, if he became more proactive and did a piece on the non political route to independence. Areas which are being pursued by Salvo and Liberation Scot. Because they sure as hell are not going to get exposure in the MSM.
That might seriously annoy some people. However, I fully understand that Bath is a lot closer to GCHQ in Cheltenham than I am.
Big Tam @ 3.35pm
‘Govern well and adopt a more explicitly long-term strategy to persuade more people to trust that indy could possibly be a good thing’.
The problem with this plan is it makes no provision for anything UK Gov does. When UK gov continues to cut the money to Scotland the Scotgov will be required to cut and cut budgets (or increase taxes) taking harder and harder decisions and affecting more and more people. Ultimately they will pay the price for that at the ballot box.
We cannot ‘fix’ the cost of living crisis without the levers to do so. Those are not going to be given to us by the UK gov. Listening to people interviewed on the news today it is obvious most have no clue that the Scottish Gov can’t fix things like the energy prices, cost of living crisis, etc. They will ultimately blame the SNP.
@duncanio – by my reckoning Ash’s HY 30% 2nd votes would have given KF a win, just. Who even votes AR1/HY2 ? Weird demographic I think.
@ Colin Dawson at 6:33 pm
SNP Branches can actually know who their local members are if the office bearers have a scooby and know how to use and keep an eye on the IT systems.
The branches have access to certain aspects of the overall database which shows current members, and also gives a heads up when each membership is nearing expiry. And also if members use online or prefer pigeon post for their communications.
The system is lax though as once an expiry date for a member is passed they do not automatically drop out as a member, and still receive various communications from different SNP depts for a good while after their membership expired.
That said, the access branches and specific individuals have is controlled by folk further up the chain at constituency level, and they in turn will have access parameters created by those above them, and so on into those with database admin levels.
So yes, there could indeed be many made up members, but they would be outwith the view of branches.
When I was a branch office bearer I could look at the member list in my area and knew of every member, which at the time was close to 200, but that was dropping and I left years ago when it was clear the party was captured, and now my branch like many others is barely quorate with the same older and worn out zombies putting their party before country.
In 1847 Scotland and Ireland suffered famines. Today, food banks struggle to provide enough emergency food and the Food Foundation reported in September 2022 that 9.7 million people in the UK experienced food insecurity.
In 1847 many Irish and Highlanders moved to Glasgow. Housing for many of them became slums. We still create slums today.
There is now (and long into the future) a public health crisis in Scotland as in 1847. Both shaped by UK government policy.
In 1847 as now the poor and vulnerable were made scapegoats. The racist Treasury Minister, Trevelyan, made food aid conditional on working for it, condemning the weak and sick. He held the Gaels to be inferior and that they should not depend on public charity.
Here, the aim of benefit sanctions is to help or force people into work. They fail in this aim and are harmful, pushing people futher into poverty and causing distress. They are punitive and, like Trevelyan, cause more harm to those already in trouble.
Newspaper campaigns, supportive of Tory policies, demonised the disabled on benefits as “scroungers”.
Cameron spoke of “a swarm” of immigrants and Braverman of an “invasion”, language described as “dehumanising”. Both words were used in 1847 in the Glasgow Argus to describe the presence of destitute Irish.
One remedy for the crisis in 1847 a few years later was the forced emigration/deportation of some, for example in Barra. This continued the long process of Clearances. Today, people seeking sanctuary here may be deported to Malawi against their will
We need independence and soon.
Disaster for independence . A few thoughts, and comments; the turnout was disgraceful -70 odd %? Why? The result gives an indication of the 50% woke element left in the SNP membership. The 30,000 that have left wouldn’t have supported Humza. And while I am not a fan of conspiracy theories- who had the most to lose from this outcome? The UK and the Union. How easy would it be for the SNP membership to be infiltrated by the spooks? Simple, and a ridiculously cheap way to save the Union. SNP is going to be trounced in the next election. Soar ALBA.
I wonder what Neil Gray’s pay off will for supporting Useless be Dippity Dug .
That’s independence dead for the next 20 years, probably longer. Certainly it isn’t happening for a lot of people in their lifetime which is extraordinary considering less than a few years after Brexit where the vast majority of Scotland would have voted for independence in an instant had they been given a chance.
Now Yousaf will keep the gravy bus running. The Greens will still be overly self-important and have more influence than a junior partner in government should, and things like the Section 35 order will be fought at great cost to the taxpayer, Scotland, women and girls, and again, the idea of independence.
Neither will Yousaf fancy his first test at the polls. I do think the SNP will still be the largest party in both Westminster and Holyrood elections but they’re going to suffer with reduced majorities, especially if they insist in pushing Queer Theory upon Scotland and putting the feelings of rapists above the rights of women & girls. I don’t think many politicians get what will happen will women and their allies mobilise, especially in the light of last weekend which has now clearly peaked so many more people & any last bit of tolerance for Trans activists has been used up. It also seems to be clear now that the TRAs have at the very least a high level of support from the police at the expense of others in society.
My only hope is the Yousaf era self destructs ASAP.
Would it be possible for a Scot, even one outside the country, with a crowdfund to interdict and seek judicial review of the decision to go to Court over the UK’s sec 35?
Discussion about possible Wingers meet after Glasgow Green on 6th May.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/quarantine/comment-page-3/#comment-2748320
thats me done with the party now, I was holding out to see if it could be changed. This was the last chance all hope is gone now along with Independence
Anyone who thinks Ash Regan got less than 6,000 votes out a membership of supposedly 72,000 is tripping.
I did not expect her to win or even do well but that is taking the piss, as is the overwhelming support for someone who is about as likeable as Liz Truss, less anything likeable about Liz Truss.
Simply fuck off.
The guy who everyone thought the contest was being rigged for… ‘won’.
So what are we just going to accept this shit for another 9 years.
My vote is now
Tactical vote against the SNP 1 / ALBA 2
Until I can vote
ALBA 1 / ALBA 2
I was wondering if someone wanted to start a fund to send Ash Regan a card and flowers with Chocolates along with a nice bottle of wine from us on wings to say thanks for all she done. I’ll donate if someone gets the ball rolling.
10,000 pipers.
Voting SNP 1&2 allows unionists a seat.
What Holyrood needs is a super pro indy majority. What exactly do they do anyway?
What would they be splitting? There’s nothing on the table other than GRR guff & 70% of Scotland don’t want it but thanks to eejits voting SNP 1&2 – there is nothing to halt it.
Get the Greens & the SNP out of Holyrood. If we’d have wanted Greens forced down our throats we’d have voted for them. We didn’t so we don’t.
The Greens & the SNP are not pro-indy.
Oneliner – I’d like to see that too. I’ve stated before that we shouldn’t hitch our wagon to the fortunes of a political party who can fall from grace. It should be completely independent.
sam says:
27 March, 2023 at 7:23 pm
In 1847 Scotland and Ireland suffered famines. Today, food banks struggle to provide enough emergency food and the Food Foundation reported in September 2022 that 9.7 million people in the UK experienced food insecurity.
Sounds like we have enough problems already.
George Ferguson says:
27 March, 2023 at 6:46 pm
The biggest winners of the SNP leadership election. Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater. The big losers, the Scottish Public. Full tilt at all the wrong policies GRR, DRS whatever, it is a long way down from here. But we have to go through it. And the BBC and MSM have to own it. The Woke agenda was more important than competence.
It’s mental when you realise Scotland was a lot more competently governed, with considerably less corruption, when everybody’s least favourite Tory Mekon Michael Forsyth was in charge of the Scottish Office.
Interesting content, especially on this day,just under 10 minutes long video.
“Democracy is DEAD in the Labour Party”
Ken Loach on Keir Starmer:
https://twitter.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1640327433692872705?s=20
John. Humza is bound to lose at least 10 seats to Labour in the GE next year. That will mark the start of the decline.
Once that happens it will drip down to Holyrood 2026. With a Labour government, some Scots will buy into that. Even though Starmer is a Tory, it won’t matter.
This really is the slow but terminal decline of the SNP. The question is. How do we keep Yes together?
RE: Twitter.
“”Tomorrow Belongs to Me” is a song from the 1966 Broadway musical Cabaret, and the 1972 film of the same name. It was written and composed by two Jewish musicians – John Kander and Fred Ebb – as part of an avowedly anti-fascist work; the nationalist character of the song serves as a warning to the musical’s characters of the rise of Nazism. Nonetheless, “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” has been adopted by right-wing, neo-Nazi, and alt-right groups as an anthem.”
and
“Almost immediately after the first stage performances of Cabaret, it became clear that “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” could widely be misunderstood.
There were complaints from people who were insistent that they had heard the song in use as a genuine Nazi anthem. Others seemed to embrace its lyrics at face value, without political context; a Jewish youth group requested permission to use it in their summer camp show.[3]
In 1973, concerned parents at a largely Jewish school in New York State raised a petition against the song being included in a school performance; school administrators determined that it would go ahead as planned.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Belongs_to_Me
“Tomorrow Belongs to Me”.
Reminds me of “Part of the Union” by The Strawbs, which was an anti-union satire, but for a time, was adopted as a pro-trade union anthem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtiaReNsHOo
Isn’t it strange that the ONLY candidate committed to de facto referendums on Indy comes last among voting SNP membership.
The very thing that founded and maintained the party.
I think Ash should stay where she is for now – if she resigns and moves to Alba, she will come in for masses of abuse and some of that might stick to affect her chances in future of helping achieve indy. Things will be much clearer once Useless announces his cabinet, but I suspect Ash will be de-selected at the next round of selections and that is the time that she should stand as independent or Alba, having used the interim to make her mark as a staunch advocate for indy. She has Cherry onside and they could make a formidable team in time, if they can maintain their place in politics and the public eye and up their profiles.
Sometimes the unexpected happens, and I recall Useless s facial expression when Sturgeon publicly humiliated him with her finger. He comes across as arrogant and spiteful and it wouldnt surprise me one bit if he attempts his revenge once he is settled in to Bute housse. Who knows where that could lead?
For all those who blindly listened to Smitty, surely by now you have learned under Stus excellent tutelage not to take things/people at face value but look at motivations, reputation, timing etc. My own feeling is that Smitty is a unionist who was laughing up his sleeve at getting everyones attention and uncritical belief. We all hoped that what he was saying was true, but it pays to maintain a scepticism of anyone unknown making pronouncements and predictions. After all the snp thuggery read this page as well and would quickly have outed any real mole.
“Part of the Union”.
What I typed was pure urban myth from the time. I should have checked before commenting.
“The song (especially its chorus “You don’t get me I’m part of the Union”) quickly became popular as an unofficial anthem of the trade union movement.[1] Subsequently, the Strawbs have confirmed that the song was written with genuine celebratory intent, in support of the unions.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_of_the_Union
‘The beginning of the end’ indeed. No words exist to adequately describe my utter disbelief. Even though we all knew it was going to be ‘Mr Continuity’ having it confirmed doesn’t make it any easier. It’s twisting the dagger after it’s been plunged.
I never thought i’d see the day so-called independence supporters would vote someone into power just for image, ie: “first Muslim” & “first First Minister of colour” etc. It certainly wasn’t on policies. The SNP are now well and truly a party infested by utter f@ckin’ morons.
Already today i’ve heard various comments on my travels, and none of them flattering. Ranging from “another bloody Muslim to go with Sunak” to the outright rancidly bitter racist i wouldn’t even repeat, and they say we indy supporters are the racists? Mind you, that’s nothing new to me, i live in a Tory stronghold with the blue-rinse brigade as the dominant electoral group.
Shame on every one of you in the SNP who voted for that self-serving abject failure. Not one of you can hold your heads up high, and you can now kiss indy goodbye. That’s if you were ever really interested in indy in the first place. Halfwits!
BTW, kudos to Al-Stuart (@5:18pm) further up the comments for coming up with Scotland’s “Fixed Minister.” How apt! We can only hope for a lot of defections to The Alba Party now but i will not be holding my breath. This will go down as one of the worst days in Scottish political history OR it’ll end up a blessing in disguise. Time will tell. Let’s hope it’s real soon.
John – They destroyed Jeremy Corbyn for the same reason they coup’ed our last two prime ministers and for the same reason they tried to fit up Alex Salmond.
That sound you hear is the shutters coming down as the political class turns politics into a closed shop run for their benefit. Anybody with funny ideas about listening to voters need not apply.
If Yousaf, in his new role, has already committed himself to challenging the S35, does that not mean he is deliberately making it impossible for Ash Reagan to accept a ministerial role in his Government?
Could that not be his first big mistake?
Even if she was not going to accept such a role anyway, insofar as it is Humza deliberately excluding her, that is hardly going to go down well with those SNP members who voted for Ash.
It also leaves her free, not being obliged towards Cabinet collective responsibility. She will be able to plough her own furrow, play her own game within, and in reference to, whatever now follows for the SNP.
That may mean there will already be the beginning of an internal opposition group within the SNP. One, moreover, that could always defect to Alba, or align with it. The question might even be when, rather than it.
Admittedly, these will be difficult cards for Ash Regan to play. But through this election she already has a profile she did not have before it took place. She has gained a following not only within the SNP but, no doubt more important in the long-term, within the wider independence movement.
She can build on that.
If she plays her cards right – and/or gets her timing right when she plays them – she can take off from here. Despite losing, she is certainly in a stronger position now than she was before the leadership election started. We should take heart – she has done herself no harm, and remains very much one for the future.
And that future does not have to be so far away as most posters seem to be presuming. It might be, but a week remains a long time in politics – all kinds of things can happen.
As the owner of this site so rightly says, there will be plenty for him to get his teeth into. And he is going to keep pounding away at it.
As for Forbes, she probably did not want to win, for both political and personal reasons. On the personal level, she surely does sincerely want to spend more time with her baby. Politically, it suits her fine to be the obvious ‘Lady-in-Waiting’.
When Humza’s shot at the supposed ‘big prize’ finally implodes in his face, probably sooner rather than later, she’ll be in pole position to pick up the pieces.
By the way, this does not mean that she knows anything about economics. So far, her only achievement in that field is to have read out someone else’s speech at short notice when he finally had to be ditched, because no further cover-up could save him.
Reading a speech you didn’t prepare, and probably don’t understand, is not such a difficult thing to do: being an actor / actress – even a hammy one – doesn’t make you an economic genius.
I expect Forbes already knows that what Humza has so beamingly accepted is simply a poisoned chalice. Who wouldn’t be glad not to have to drink it?
As for me, I am not despondent.
My disappointment came earlier, when the two women did not combine the way I thought they should have done to embarrass further the ’empty waistcoat’ (with its all-too-tartan tie) when they had it flapping on the ropes. I thought they could then have prevented ‘it’ (if that’s the empty thing’s preferred pronoun?) from getting the job that way.
So, they didn’t: they ducked instead, and ‘it’ got through. In the end, I am not unhappy that they both dodged the bullet, and not disappointed that it therefore landed on someone else. I don’t write either of the two women off for the future, even if I have my preferences, especially if the winner will soon turn out to be the loser. As I think will surely and quite soon be the case.
Maybe the one who didn’t duck simply becomes – a la Truss – the dead duck.
Geri says: at 5:50 pm
“I wonder how Robin has taken the news?lol!”
http://robinmcalpine.org/fuck-it-thisll-do-said-the-snp/
@Red 8:00pm
Sure I agree with you. The latest intervention from Michael Forsyth in the HOL debate was good one. How long does it take to investigate the misappropriation of 600k. I have no criminal convictions or charges or speeding tickets or parking charges. But if I walk across prohibited grass I will charged. Police Scotland no longer represent me. They represent the SNP Government.
Sickened.
King Humza the cheat of Bute House. The SNP fucking corrupt.
Scum.
Hopefully all the honourable Independence supporters quit and join Alba.
Seen a few posts on FB by people saying they are switching to Alba.
Also saw Ash Regans ‘Unity message’
FFS. Salmond is a fucking god level politician compared to this shit we have up here.
Time for people to cross the floor.
Join the Alba Party on mass. Give us some representation in the tin pot Parliament.
Humza has no plan for Independence. The SNP as the party of Independence ceases to exist. They stand only for themselves.
The election was a shambles. The false First Minister of Bute house. Humza the liar.
Not my first minister. SNP don’t respect mandates. And he hasn’t got one.
He cheats on his wife. Hell cheat and manipulate Scotland.
The muslim council says he’s a bad egg. Minus 20 in the opinion polls. Failing upwards. A fraud in Bute House.
I hope that the dirt comes out on them all.
@Breeks
Its a badge of shame now I’m afraid – regardless how many of the gaslighting cretins couemight suddenly think they were robbed blind by the size of the crowd or the so called cunning plan that made Humza the smartest guy in the tiny wee toilet booked to house the shameful event.
Too thick, too cringe and too full of shit. Who’d have thunk (seasonal flu/ bepenised women deniers and the 2014 postal voter(s) notwithstanding.
In order to gain a significant majority all someone needs to do is to look after what the majority deem important (health, education, transport etc).
As the majority of Scots do not want independence – they need convincing that those in charge are capable.
To push, push, push for independence and fail on everything else will bring the end of the SNP movement.
Concentrate on what is important to the masses and in good time the masses will follow.
Every other approach will fail, time and time again.
sam says:
27 March, 2023 at 7:37 pm
Would it be possible for a Scot, even one outside the country, with a crowdfund to interdict and seek judicial review of the decision to go to Court over the UK’s sec 35?’
To quote the words of Prince Charles when asked ‘Will ye no come back again ?’; ‘Ehhh-No’
That is why the revered leader committed Sepuku and the whole thing unravelled-because the people of Scotland totally reject the nonsense.
Confuseyous foretells:
“In less than 2 years time, a general election will be help to elect a new UK Parliament. The SNP will lose a substantial number of seats as Labour sweeps to poer. Prior to that, Labour will promise increased powers to the Scottish Parliament but will not guarantee a new Section 30 order.
With the anti-Westminster rhetoric now deflated by a more palatable administration in London, SNP support across Scotland will wither. HY will be ‘sacked’ through a vote of no confidence and major blood-letting will take place within the SNP.
The following HR election will see a minority government of Labour and Lib Dems, and a fractured opposition.
Although dimished in size, the SNP will re-invent itself as a pro-independence party but will struggle to gain traction with an electorate disenchnted by their years in office. ALBA and the SNP will merge with Alex Salmond as a leading figure but not as an elected member.
The opportunity for independence has been lost for a generation.
I’m warming to ‘Farce’ Minister. Clown world.
@Red
Then as now. We have not moved much beyond 1847 in what we do for the disadvantaged.
Swinney has a lot to answer for, including the botched settlement after 2014.
Jim Cuthbert, former senior civil servant, has a good site for information on the SNP bungling.
Here’s a bit.
“It is an insufficiently appreciated fact that, following last November’s (2019?) Scottish Budget, the marginal rate of income tax in Scotland, (or, to be precise, income tax plus national insurance), for employees earning between £43,430 and £50,000 will be 53%: this is more than 20 percentage points higher than the corresponding marginal rate for employees elsewhere in the UK. How this anomalous position has arisen illustrates yet another deeply unsatisfactory aspect of the fiscal settlement foisted upon Scotland following the 2014 independence referendum.”
A Freudian slip perhaps in Emma Roddick’s twitter.
“A cracking day to appoint a new party leader.”
Appoint?
Er..do ye no mean elect?
Bob Mack says:
27 March, 2023 at 8:15 pm
Isn’t it strange that the ONLY candidate committed to de facto referendums on Indy comes last among voting SNP membership.
The very thing that founded and maintained the party.
We are in a cost of living crisis along with issues in the NHS to name just two. Ash being the indie focussed leader is great but there needs to be a short term policy making coming into it as well. Ash nailed indie but she was never going to win on policy versus Kate. She did help drive indie into being talked about front and centre which was good.
Humza will make an ass of this and be out of the top team. Ash can then take it forward with time to properly spell out her policies (like currency). One week to develop policies / ideas wasn’t going to help someone like her who isn’t in the top team.
SNP need buried like Labour to take a look at themselves and come back from it. Indie has been kicked down the road for 10+ years unless something magical happens.
Tommo
Badly worded. I meant seek judicial review of the decision of the Scottish government to oppose sec 35.
I am sure we Scots can do that.Did not Jo Cherry suggest that?
I think it possible however that the FM is blustering and will not oppose the UK government.
One way or another he has big problems and big decisions over GRR
There is definite unity on here. I don’t think one single one of us will support Humza. Ash calling for unity is another name for capitulation.
She was broken and spat out by the corrupt SNP machine. Now she has surrendered to it, like a comfort blanket.
I am reminded of the scene in Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. Where the alien human convinces the others there is nothing to fear. Just to surrender to it.
But they are trading their soul because they are tired of running.
Just another disappointment, but not a surprise. People need to accept and get their head around the fact that anyone who can seranswer the question “what is a woman?”, who is aware of the SNP named person or hate speech legislation or who takes a passing interest in the free speech has long since consigned the SNP to the bin. Only idiots who think they’re still voting for independence and the children of the corn are left. And Stu is spot on…strap yourselves in for more indoctrination of our kids at school, woke madness, mutilation of healthy, vulnerable kids and criminal charges if you complain about it.
Sam . I think anyone can challenge an election result. You need the legal fees to pay for it. How often were we told any group could challenge an ‘illegal’ referendum.
By an amazing coincidence, ended up in Rutherglen Main Street at the weekend for a family celebration and found myself looking squarely at an old building known locally as The Tr@itors’ Tower, supposedly where Menteith et al. planned the betrayal of William Wallace.
‘Nuff said after today.
Not too much of a stretch to imagine a disastrous Humza-led (and/or successor) SNP eventually losing control of Holyrood. If globalist/Trilateral Commission Keir Stumer, now wreathed in the Union flag, gets in despite all sorts of desperate Tory tax-cuts before the next GE, I suspect an attack on HR itself, inspired by yon shambling mummy from the crypt, El Gordo Broon.
The Union never sleeps, after all.
@Alex,
I take your point,however the crisis will remain no matter who won. We operate on a fixed budget from Westminster and therefore their cost saving exercises applies to us as well. We can’t change anything of significance.
The only alternative is Indy to make our own decisions good or bad. That is the bottom line.
Why would anyone join ALBA? The ALBA party hosts Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and that is no recommendation.
Strap yourselves in for more servile chains and slavery. It’s going to be hell.
I’m depressed.
Its Scots that have shafted Scots.
The only glimmer of light i can see is if a substantial number of members leave the SNP and join Alba including MSPs but i doubt if the latter would oblige.
What’s wrong with Tasmina?
“100%Yes says:
27 March, 2023 at 7:52 pm
I was wondering if someone wanted to start a fund to send Ash Regan a card and flowers with Chocolates along with a nice bottle of wine from us on wings to say thanks for all she done. I’ll donate if someone gets the ball rolling.”
For failure? No thanks! I won’t forget her tweeting thanks to Sturgeon post resignation. I won’t forget her saying she was proud of the SNP government.(Eh!) I won’t forget how she chose Sturgeon over Salmond when asked about the best FM. I won’t forget how she bottled it over going for an interdict. And finally, I won’t forget her ‘Team SNP’ tweet this afternoon.
As for Freeports Forbes, didn’t she just look like Krafty Kate, clapping like a seal on the back of a promise no doubt.
My last post has disappeared into the ether. I am not surprised. If I can’t talk about the parallel life with Brian Cox and Fintry Dundee then his life has no more value than mine. Money talks even on Wings.
One of Forbes first acts as Finance Secretary was to give 3 million pounds of tax payers money to the Unionist press. Just saying.
This is O/T, but there are things coming down the tracks by way of the SGP and Sturgeon’s SNP policies which is set to tax the poor even more and completely do-over our distillation, brewing, pubs and retail industries – one of Scotlands largest exports, including all of those “trendy boutique” drinking venues you usually find SGP members having a pint in breach lockdown laws at.
The bottle return scheme is set to go live in 141 days time on 16 August 2023, a policy brought in by the Greens and spearheaded by Lorna Slater who arranged for an unaccountable company Zero Waste Scotland to set it up and implement it, Zero Waste Scotland are exempt from FOI’s even though they are 100% in charge of implementing a Scottish Government policy because they are classed as a private company limited by guarantee without share capital, in short the Scottish Government is privatising things that should be administered and ran by the Scottish Government themselves, its not just limited to the health sector anymore.
Zero Waste Scotland have brought in another private company limited by guarantee without share capital, Circularity Scotland, to administer this government scheme once it’s been set up, further privatising it and making it untouchable and unaccountable to the Scottish people and again wholly exempt from FOI law as it’ll be privatised, that’s now two private unaccountable companies doing the work of the Scottish Government under a single scheme costing the tax-payer millions of pounds, talk about skimming it off the top.
So we have a private companies setting up, running and administrating what is basically a stealth-tax on plastic bottles and cans that will hit the poorest people in Scotland the hardest, it’s going to tax them ontop of all the VAT they pay at the till for their weekly shop, that is, if they’ve actually any money left after having to pay the electricity and gas bills Scotland cant afford after the Scottish Government crapped on our oil and gas industry and to stick the knife in further they sold off thousands of square kilometers of our seabed to multi-national investment-fund backed foreign energy companies for pennies in the pound under the guise of ScotWind.
Make no mistake, there’s no way in hell that the multi-nationals like Heinz, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and the like are going to cover this stealth-bottle-tax, it will be all of us who have to foot the bill and the working class, those unable to work, the disabled and our auld folk who are wholly reliant on their state pensions who are going to be hit the hardest.
Ontop of this we also have a Scottish Government consultation that has just finished on the 9th of March which is basically a feasability study into the Scottish Government banning the advertisement of alcohol throughout Scotland, this is being spearheaded by another champion of ineptitude and another serial-disaster in government, the SNP’s Maree Todd [https://www.gov.scot/publications/consultation-restricting-alcohol-advertising-promotion/].
This bill when it materialises will outlaw everything from billboards to small signage in shop windows, your local pub and even as far as preventing distilleries & breweries of any size from even having a sign up on the side of their own property with their company name on it as well as destroying any tourist revenue from visitor centres because it will be illegal for them to advertise them – these companies produce one of Scotland’s largest exports, an export which attracts tousists to our shores in droves.
This law will prevent any business which produces or sell’s alcohol from advertising the fact, they wont even be able advertise the fact they they do tours of their establishment because it that will be covered under them advertising alcohol, no more signs outside your local pub or in the window either, that’ll be banned too.
Picture a warm mid-summer afternoon in Scotland, driving through the Speyside Whisky trail for example, except rather than being chock-full of tourists with coaches and dozens of folk in the car parks at some of our famous distilleries such as Glenfiddich or maybe even the nearby Macallan (who have just pumped £millions back into the local economy in order to build a brand new state of the art visitor centre), queues of people all waiting to go on a tour to learn about the history of Scottish Whisky and purchase a bottle or two on their way way out the door to take back home, all the nearby shops selling Scottish locally made gifts & produce, all making secondary revenue off of toursists attracted to the area by the still’s, except under this Scottish Government ban on the advertisement of alcohol, there wont be any tourists filling up our glens, the car parks will be empty, because it will be illegal for these businesses to advertise that they exist, the nearby gift shops will shut too because there’ll not be enough folk coming through the door for them to cover their bills either.
Then you’ve got our islands on the west coast and in the far north of Scotland, islands which not only have suffered severe neglect at the hands of the current Scottish Government with their absolute failure to provide modern suitable lifeline-ferries, their attempts through HIAL to sabotage local air traffic control of the island’s airports in order to centralise it leading to the projected losses of hundreds of island jobs (thankfully for our islands, that effort failed), areas of Scotland which are home to distilleries & breweries who make award-winning whisky’s, ale’s and gin’s that are famous and sought after throughout the world, except you’ll no longer know where they are when you visit because our Scottish Government will have made them take down all their signs, close all of their visitor centres, they’ll have to lay off all of their staff too because no tourists will be stopping by, no more summer tourism based jobs for our youth to take up, and that is of course if you can even get to the islands in the first place, because the ferries are an absolute rusting disgrace, 50 years out of date, they dont have the capacity to serve the folk who live on our islands, let alone those who want to visit the them.
That’s a pretty bleak picture, I took no joy in writing it, for our islands its a reality which they already face today and have faced for a considerable time, but if this deposit return tax goes ahead and this alcohol advertisement ban makes its way into law, you can rest assured it’s going to be highly detrimental to Scotland’s people, our local businesses and our economy all the way from the southern border of Scotland to the northern tip of Unst in the Shetland islands.
Maybe Ash will prove us wrong.
But from her facial expression today. She looked outraged. As she knew it was a fix. Fast forward a few hours, and she says well done to Humza.
Don’t get me wrong. I know why she did it. Self preservation. She has a mortgage and bills like the rest of us. But if you suspect foul play, you do not congratulate the cheater. That’s a step too far.
Disappointed in her, but absolutely done with Kate Forbes. She can go back to being a nodding dog now.
The SNP haven’t got anyone with any backbone or principles left.
Quite something that the greens who told us they would only vote for a ‘progressive’ candidate are quite accepting of freeports. Their red line of course was GRR.
The corporate capture of U.K. politics is complete.
If this sh1t doesn’t improve I’m inclined to look to the French…
Ash just said she was waiting to see if she was offered a job. Honestly I just can’t get my head around that. Why would she want to work with someone she has no respect for.
Either the Scotnats are the chumps I’ve always assumed them to be, or a lot of them are devout believers in “the worse the better”.
The categories are not mutually exclusive.
I wish Ms Forbes a happy time with her nipper(s). Perhaps she can kindle more political ambition when she’s older and wiser, in whichever party then suits her.
Keep the hope up folks.
Remember Ireland’s Irish Parliamentary Party, their version of the SNP, failed because it was white-anted to death.
However the movement is greater than the party and just as in Ireland a more vigorous party will fill the vacuum and bring about independence.
private schoolboy now lording it over us lower class proles
Scotland trying to tax out the wealthy and inventive big businesses will leave in droves Give it a bit and the next influx across the border bootleggers bringing cheap booze and food to sell from the back of vans
Today Humza’s has written to the PM asking for a Section 30 order, reply from PM will be NO so that’ll be Indy dead in the water but he’ll be able to say he asked but the UKG said no and they can’t keep denying democracy. So much for touring the country and getting the membership involved, I bet Kate Forbes betrayed her supporters for a ministerial seat in Humza cabinet, well know soon enough.
Prior to Ireland achieving Independence the Irish Parliamentary party was for many years the biggest pro-Irish party at Westminster through the 1800’s. They eventually died off and it wasn’t until Sinn Fein came along that Independence was achieved.
If Regan was the last hope and a distant 3rd its probably best that the SNP die as quickly as possible that way another party can emerge.
Forbes wouldn’t have got us any closer to Independence but she was probably competent enough to keep the SNP winning the elections.
Yousaf is just the man to destroy the SNP as quickly as possible so perhaps the result today may be the best one to achieve Independence as quickly as possible.
will Ash vote against useless’ coronation tomorrow??
If not why not
100%. Absolutely,Forbes sold out a week or so back. Left Ash high and dry. Now even Ash is begging for a job. They can go hang as far as I’m concerned.
As for the Section 30 request. Box ticking exercise. I mean why do it on day one knowing the answer is no. His failures have started on day 1. Next will be the section 35 challenge using public money. Then the Ferries …that is a ticking time bomb.
If all of those that put Ash first pref had put Kate second pref would Kate have won.
ALBA and ISP and SSP will not stand in UKGE 2024. We need 57 independent candidates at £500 per go ,to stand for Indy. I’m willing to be one. Better would be a one-off pop up party for UKGE . Start saving folks. Folk need the opportunity to vote Indy in U.K. GE. No party currently offers that chance.
‘it is worth noting that there are long-term supporters within the party who believe the best thing that could happen to it would be a term out of office; and that Yousaf as first minister might be the best way to achieve it.’
Dani Garavelli
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/27/snp-humza-yousaf-leader-scotland-politics
Given that the only candidate who proposed using Holyrood elections as referendums came in last, I take that to mean that the membership have no interest in that option. That leaves asking for section 30 again and ??
It will be interesting to see if at the next HR election ISP or Alba propose making the election a defacto indenpendence referendum how the SNP will respond.
I don’t know why so many think that us ‘Yoons’ are pleased that Humbug Useless has ‘won’. I am disgusted, depressed and generally pissed off. What will Mr Reverse-Midas-Touch do to our beloved country? What havoc and carnage will he create? This hit me like a boot to the solar plexus late this afternoon, I was being driven along the A926 and the beauty of the Vale of Strathmore was beyond describing. I cried.
My only hope is that either Ms. Regan or Ms. Forbes has a very cunning plan up their respective sleeves. I doubt it but would love to be proved wrong.
I’m guessing that deep in the bowels of GCHQ, there will be a big party tonight, for the British State has just secured a major victory. The Rev is right that independence is dead for at least ten years (I would say 30-50 but hopefully I am wrong).
Perhaps we need to take a longer look at this, and view it from a historical basis. History is littered with countries who have underestimated the English, and today shows how resilient (and sleekit) they are.
The best comparison is with our Celtic cousins across the water. In more recent times the UK has admitted to having no real interest in the future of Ireland (they clearly seem to be trying to rid themselves of N.I. since the Millenium). However prior to this, they had infiltrated both sides to an extent that they were knew everything that was happening, at every moment. Take things back further and there is plenty of evidence for the British State splitting the unionist side in order to weaken them. Whilst at the same time, possibly recruiting De Valera as a British agent. Thus once again they had a foot in both camps, in order to remain in control of the direction of events.
So consider how much more serious they take the threat of losing Scotland, who they rely on for gas, oil, electricity, whisky, water, nuclear bases, and masses of land for their elite to have fun in, and to invest in. Ireland they can now afford to lose, Scotland they cannot.
Salmond played a blinder in forcing a mistake from Cameron in allowing the referendum. But instead of killing the movement (as planned by London), it brought it to life. Indeed had the vote been only based on Scots born here, we would have won (perhaps we still did). It was obvious that after the narrow vote, a mission would be set up to destroy the independence movement. But how could that be done? How could London stop the momentum which the SNP had built up under AS? Divide and conquer was always the name of their game, and thus the process started.
We all know who was used to fester the movement from within. We cannot say if that person was compromised, or just liked the feeling of power. But almost ten years down the line, look at where the movement is now. It has gone from a seemingly unstoppable force, to one which is divided between real nationalists, and people who haven’t yet woken up to smell the zombie coffee.
In less than ten years, the leadership has gone from a statesman, to a guy who seems to have the reverse-midas touch. The real establishment down south need do no more. The resulting car crash which shall ensue will put the SNP out of power for a large number of years. Indeed, if its internal workings have been truly captured, then it might never recover (this being the ultimate prize for those in GCHQ).
As for Alba, it will be a long, long road. As the SNP power declines, their attacks will turn upon Alba, rather than the unionist parties. The predictable squabbling will curtail both parties, and will set in train a series of events which will take on an Old Firm type rivalry. The only winner in this will be Westmonster.
The only positive at the moment is that 70% of young folk now believe in independence. Such stats can achieve the goal if they are all focused on a single entity. But that is no longer the case. The SNP are no longer the radical party, and no one really knows what their ‘raison d’etre’ is. Indeed they may have to ask their masters in GCHQ before they could answer such a question.
Alba are too weak to mount any serious challenge for a number of years, if not decades, and even if they do rise to prominence, the British State will get to work again with their destruction from within. So where do we go from here?
Personally I would hope that getting the Americans on our side might help in the long term, but they are very happy with the status quo, and thus won’t be rocking the UK boat anytime soon. Unlike the Irish, we Scots never banded together strongly enough in the States to help deliver any deals back home, thus we have few friends across the Atlantic. We do have support in Europe, but nothing that will force the hand of the UK into delivering another referendum.
So that looks like it for the moment, indeed for many millions of moments. I can only hope that I am proved wrong by our young folk, who might see that freedom matters enough to stand up and be counted en-masse. Hail Alba!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for continuing your hard work. Scotland needs you even more now!
Andouilette says:
28 March, 2023 at 1:09 am
…. What will Mr Reverse-Midas-Touch do to our beloved country? What havoc and carnage will he create?
…Says a unionist.
“Stuart MacKay says:
27 March, 2023 at 5:42 pm
It seems even the WGD faithful are abandoning the SNP as well
========
Thanks for the link. I could hardly believe my eyes when I read this post on WGD:
‘Dr Jim says:
March 27, 2023 at 5:10 pm
After over 50 years my membership of the SNP is finished’
For the ultra-loyal Dr Jim to abandon the SNP so publicly on WGD is like the Pope declaring himself a Protestant.
@Breeks, it may surprise you to learn that unionists are allowed to love our country too. The one does not exclude the other.
Hey Geri HTAF did you manage to get a comment posted on Paypal Pauls site all us nasty divisive wingers are banned from posting comments that EXPOSED sturgeon’s lies and corruption, even if you tried he would just delete it
I noticed the usual defenders were on your comment fast and because you weren’t part of the nikla appreciation society you were shouted down
OMG it appears Dr Jim and Capella will not be continuing their membership of the paedo party as it is no longer the snp it has morphed into the greens
is that a sign that the roof maybe collapsing or is it just more rats deserting the snp titanic
I have no idea why people on here are having a go at Ash, her disappointment shows in these photos. Come on people, Humza is now her boss she hasn’t sold anyone out for a job, she was the only candidate standing Scotland’s corner.
If she asked if she would serve in his cabinet what would you expect her to say.
@Andouilette
They do love a country it’s Britain. I’ve never met or heard from a Unionist who’s ever put Scotland before the Britain or more to the point what former country or its citizens still calls themselves British after English rule.
twathater says:
28 March, 2023 at 3:06 am
Hey Geri HTAF did you manage to get a comment posted on Paypal Pauls site all us nasty divisive wingers are banned from posting comments that EXPOSED sturgeon’s lies and corruption, even if you tried he would just delete it
I noticed the usual defenders were on your comment fast and because you weren’t part of the nikla appreciation society you were shouted down..
Would that be same gobshites and apologists for Sturgeon’s abandonment of Independence by saying she was FM for all of Scotland so couldn’t possibly spend all her time pushing for Independence? Nasty wee bellends the lot of them.
Just bitter old men. – Diseased old mystics. Worthless remnants of a time before
Sparta’s ascent fromScotland’s decent into darkness. “Honour theCarniaSturgeon”.@twathater
Looks like Dr Jim and Capella have woken up to the idea that NUSNP isn’t going to delivery and blind faith isn’t going to cut the mustard anymore, I told you comes to mind. Watch the membership tumble.
Sam/ big Jock..
Re challenging the election.
I read elsewhere this is unlikely. The SNP is entitled to run their election of a party leader as they see fit?
It’ll be the parliament today, accepting him as FM, who’ll have questions before it’s signed off by Chucky. (Smacks head FFS, I forgot about this ass kissing ritual to come) I suspect they won’t oppose him because they’re as deluded as he is in thinking they’re any better than he is.
This was all about destroying the movement towards scottish independence…and still they’re saying they will give thier votes to the snp…even suggesting we join the snp…hahahahahahah!
The snp are not a football team.
when will snp supporters of independence (and we know for sure now
that many of them don’t),realise they’ve been fu£$*d over again?
The snp is over.for independece supporters like me!
they are despised!…do u get that davy mcG and all at wee ginger dug i have voted for them for decades…and you stupid people will likely think i’m a unionist…hahahaha!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk5H_DEkhLE
There are 2 choices independence or the snp you cannot have both!
If the yes movement cannot move forward together without chaining itself to a political party then there is no hope!
Nice little earner for the arse licker’s in the snp though!
alway’s a bright side (for some)!
THEY’RE LAUGHING AT YOU…www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAelaDI1Zto
Chaos or cooperation…you decide!
@anonymoose
Nail hit on head.
Alcohol advertising bill.
GRR bill.
Hate crime bill.
Deposit return scheme.
Useless is now going to try and ram all of these through. What an absolute disaster. I hope the people who voted SNP last election are proud of themselves.
A third of the membership not bothering to vote is also totally unbelievable.
We now have a FM who has been cheated into position by a party so crooked no one believes a word they say anymore.
There has to be a GE. Humza is illegitimate, but of course being in the post democracy era there won’t be.
Whatever the future of the independence movement is, it is not Kate Forbes.
The SNP are the imposter party and have been since 2014. Sturgeon herself was a massive imposter and that is what she has left behind.
A rigged election, an imposter election, to elect another massive… you guessed it, imposter. Get them to f**k. The SNP is an obstacle to independence, fooling people into wasting their votes.
SNP1 / SNP2 you cunts. Aye that’ll be right. Cold day in hell…
It’ll be ‘whoever has the best chance of beating the SNP’ 1 / ALBA 2 until it can be ALBA 1 / ALBA 2.
So now in the Scotland we have a PM and a FM who the public never elected and who no one likes. Funny that.
I wonder where Huzaf,(do you know i can never remember how to spell that pricks name), will be holding his mass gathering of the faithful?
Will it be Murrayfield?
Hampden? The Hydro?
Or will it be a quick “thanks suckers” before he disappears into Bute House?
Clock ticking at Crime Only Pays For Some (COPFS)…
https://news.stv.tv/politics/police-scotland-passes-snp-fraud-investigation-progress-report-to-crown-office-as-part-of-probe
Ash Regan joining the ALBA Party would give her the status of being their MSP at Holyrood.
It would surely mean she would be allowed to ask the First Minister questions at FMQs, being that she is the sole member of the ALBA Party.
She could make those questions all about Scottish Independence, and what options is he pursuing other than the failed Section 30 route?
It could be the opening the ALBA Party have been waiting on.
@Beauvais says:27 March, 2023 at 9:07 pm
appoint?
She meant “anoint”.
It’s a secular, religious thing for her and the clapping seals. A faith-based belief system, shorn of its deity-in-the-sky overtones.
Incidentally, how many people know that when HY is anointed, his full title will be “First Minister of Scotland and Keeper of the Great Seal”?
I laughed like a drain when I discovered that.
robertkknight 7.14am
It’s widely known that a luxury holiday pad in Portugal costs around £600,000.
I wonder if “Pete the planner” bought his hideaway in Portugal from the said missing cash?
One things for sure, the marital bed in that pad will remain unused, the same as their marital bed in Bute House.
The past eight years have been nothing but a fraudulent sham, including the marriage between Sturgeon and Murrell.
Big Jock says:
27 March, 2023 at 9:45 pm
“What’s wrong with Tasmina?”
I never trust anyone who accepts a gong from the British establishment – and hers came under Cameron.
One upside from the (ahem) snp members betrayal might be if the claim of right prevents any monarch from recognising a muslim as FM (let alone one that endorses the concept of self identifying women with penises and would thus even fall outwith any loophole empowering the defence of all faiths)
In that case Humza will either be prevented from taking office pending a Holyrood GE (defacto ref) or the monarch will be (defacto) denied the Scots Crown (and possibly in actual fact the English one) and UK risks enforced dissolution regardless.
Catch 22 is that it is manifestly immoral to accept sharia on Scottish land or in Scots law so the decision to new labour the party means poor Humza will need to renounce his religion if ANY snp policies are to survive challenge in the high court*/street (particularly given they must now be assumed to be tarred with the taqiya caveat that encourages deception).
*(ie, back on the upside, goodbye to being able to rescue the absurd self identifying pedos in ladies loos bill on his watch)
I see the Ritual of the S30 Knockback has been pre-emptively enacted & fellow Asian* great guy Richie Rich has already uttered the magic incantation – ” Precious Union ” .
This will be the dominant theme of the imminent UKGE – the Tweedle D n Dumb wings of the – in essence one – Union Party vying to see which can wrap themselves most ostentatiously in swathes of Red White n Blue , refer to ” our great country ” the loudest and offer the most – theoretically – tasty crumbs to their Northern colony .
The SNP having all-but-stated ” now is not the time ” for Independence ( not when there are far more important issues ..eg getting more men into woman’s clothing , spaces & roles to prioritise ) Union Inc will be pushing at open doors : the * Progressive * Poodles of Nu Scot International will gladly lick the hand that feeds it juicy bones of Short Money , involvement in * important * WM Committees and the guarantee of well-upholstered seats on the Gravy Bus – albeit right at the back , beside the toilets .
Nae porridge yisterday , nae porridge the day , fuck all porridge the morra . O thank you Sir .
* isn’t it wonderful to be getting fucked-over by such a refreshingly diverse range of cunts ?
thursoberwick says:
27 March, 2023 at 4:13 pm
“Would everyone who is doing so please stop all the racist and Islamophobic snide remarks related to Humza Yousaf. There are many negatives about that careerist slimy @rsehole who will not further the cause of independence, but there is nothing negative about being a Scot of Pakistani or Muslim background.”
What? Even one who is so obviously racist himself?
@sam says:27 March, 2023 at 7:23 pm
It’s unclear what point you are trying to make. I do get it that you reckon Scotland is a shithole. You could be right.
One fact follows on from that though. People don’t seek sanctuary in a shithole when they bleeding obviously have a number of better, non-shithole options available to them.
Ron Clark
You’ll get a nice holiday pad for £600,000 in Alentejo or Algarve. If you want luxury then, I’m afraid you’ll have to plunder the coffers of a few more political parties to get one.
A couple of people were asking in other threads. Extradition from Portugal is the same as the rest of the EU. There are very few conditions attached, for example, extradition so you can string somebody up is a no-no.
Al-Stuart says:
27 March, 2023 at 3:25 pm
“Should we now refer to Yousaf as the “FIXED MINISTER”?”
Well, he’s definitely not the “Yes, Minister”
Is it possible for the Scottish public to raise an official petition to remove him from being FM due to suspicion of electoral fraud? Or something along these lines. I’m not sure what the correct wording would be. The look on Ash Reagans face told us all something. And it’s rank rotten!
It amazes me that intelligent people, having seen the damage created by a “one issue” political party running their country, still prioritise independence over sorting out Scotland… and I’m sorry, blaming all the country’s woes on Westminster just does not cut it. This cop out is the perfect foil, allowing incompetents like Yousaf and the Murrells to decimate Scotland, right before your eyes. Westminster was not in control of Police Scotland when last I looked, or the Scottish judiciary! Your last leader took to Russian state media to make a living, the outgoing one, and her “ husband”, are expected soon to be under criminal investigation, and the new one?. Sorry, I just don’t get it. By the time you do get your independence, no one will want to live there.
It amazes me that intelligent people, having seen the damage created by a “one issue” political party running their country, still prioritise independence over sorting out Scotland… and I’m sorry, blaming all the country’s woes on Westminster just does not cut it. This cop out is the perfect foil, allowing incompetents like Yousaf and the Murrells to decimate Scotland, right before your eyes. Westminster was not in control of Police Scotland when last I looked, or the Scottish judiciary! Your last leader took to Russian state media to make a living, the outgoing one, and her “ husband”, are expected soon to be under criminal investigation, and the new one?. Sorry, I just don’t get it. By the time you do get your independence, no one will want to live there.
One fact that nobody else is prepared to say, so it looks like it falls to me.
Those 20K or 30K SNP members who flounced out in hissy fits because they didn’t like the way things were going. If they had stayed in, the vote would have been completely different.
We would not be anointing HY today. You would almost certainly have had KF or maybes even AR.
So, you had your moments of righteous self-satisfaction when you tore up your membership cards. You maybes splurged the savings you made on a fish supper.
You made the bed Scotland is going to have to lie on.
You all know who you are. Own this one – it’s yours.
Portugal has very favourable taxation rates for overseas pensions.
When you consider the readership of this blog I find it really hard to believe Ash Regan got less than 6000 first preference votes.
I had exactly the same feeling seeing this site endorse SNP 1 / ALBA 2 at the last election and yet so few people actually voted ALBA 2.
I don’t know what to make of it although I have suspicions. It doesn’t add up for me.
The supermajority idea was a really sound idea and yet so few did it. Voting Regan 1 / Forbes 2 was also a really solid plan with zero risk but yet again so few did it. Or so we are lead to believe.
For a long time powerful interests had a lock on democracy via their control of the media. People were given ‘choices’ but ultimately they were all the same.
That ‘lock’ however has been undermined and picked by the emergence of the internet and the so called alternative (i.e. real) media, to the extent that control over public opinion was eroding to dangerous levels. (The banning of RT and Press TV also revealed their fear.)
So I think now they have moved to other methods to ensure they get the preferred outcome, preferred candidate. Controlling the media is not enough anymore…
Anyone who thinks GCHQ was involved to ‘protect us against the Russians’ most definitely buttons up the back.
In the digital age I think we are wide open to manipulation. It has made up much more vulnerable to it. That is why the NSA and GCHQ recruit mega brains to work for them.
Just look at what Snowden revealed. If they are doing all that do you think they give a shit about meddling in a few ‘regional’ elections.
What we did in 2014 frightened the shit out of them and bizarrely the election of Trump did the same. I think they just decided ‘okaaaay, fuck democracy then’.
sadscot says:
27 March, 2023 at 5:13 pm
“You may not like Forbes but it took guts to take the absolute savaging she faced from the press from day one,”
In the words of another famous Tory (in his libretto for Evita)
“Conservatives are kings of compromise. It hurts them more to jeer, than to applaud”.
It’s in her make up, along with Freeports.
Stuart MacKay
It doesn’t matter what the cost of his bungalow in Portugal is, Peter Murrell will just keep dipping into the SNP coffers until its paid for.
And let’s hope the Yousaf appointment is a light bulb moment for thousands of SNP members.
Robert Hughes says:
28 March, 2023 at 7:55 am
I see the Ritual of the S30 Knockback has been pre-emptively enacted & fellow Asian* great guy Richie Rich has already uttered the magic incantation – ” Precious Union ” .
This will be the dominant theme of the imminent UKGE…
I dunno. It reads like even Rishi Sunak is bored rigid by the lack of talent in the SNP. Sadly, I get where he’s coming from.
Cue the SNP to start telling us we’re ok really, because the new leader now has the necessary security clearance to see Sturgeon’s secret plan, the secret plan given to her by MI5.
I honestly don’t mean it in a racist way, but just ethnically speaking, I cannot unsee the irony of a private school Indian Hindu UK PM, facing down a private school Pakistani Muslim Scottish FM, in a dispute over the undemocratic subjugation of Scotland, and yet the thing at least risk of change is the colonial status quo of London Rule, and only 11% of the SNP backed the only Independence candidate in the race.
Looks like transgender bullshit is back on the menu Scotland, and even the Wee Ginger Duggers can’t polish that turd.
“The creatures outside looked from SNP to Labour, and from Labour to SNP, and from SNP to Labour again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
RIP SNP.
And Scotland? Be careful what you
wishvote for.But at least Sturgeon and Murrell are gone… even if only because their sell by date had expired.
Yousaf is basically Sturgeon without the cunning.
The SNP have been in terminal decline since Sturgeon took over and they’re now well passed the point of no return.
They’re finished we need to accept that, If I had a vote it would have been Ash for me but even if she had won I don’t think she could have turned things around as well meaning as she may be so deep is the rot that infests that once great party
So if it’s not to be Ash I’m glad it’s Humza because I think he’ll facilitate the end of the SNP faster than Kate who would only have kept the party on life support longer prolonging our misery.
Alba/Salvo are our only hope now
The Catch 22 of the independence movement is that as we near the goal of achieving our independence by democratic means, we will be classified as a threat to national security and undermined using thoroughly undemocratic means.
We are simply not allowed it.
There comes a point when you have to look around you and see the devastation that has been wrought the last nine years and recognize it for what it is, enemy action.
We are being fucked over and they are winning. We can’t continue to play this game by the same rules or we will be defeated. It is already upon us…
We are going to have to learn that we will have to ‘shed our skin’ regularly to avoid the chosen political vehicle for achieving independence becoming corrupted / infiltrated as is the SNP now. e.g. just drop the SNP like a heavy bag and switch to ALBA.
And then years from now if ALBA start to go the same way, move again to SNP2 or ALBA2 or whoever. They can corrupt the vehicle but it is much harder to corrupt the movement itself. Don’t get attached to any particular vehicle, as you will very likely have to burn it to the ground and get another in the not to distant future.
Our reliance on the SNP made us vulnerable. That over reliance was a weak spot and they exploited it to the full. We need ‘vehicle’ competition in the independence movement. So if one goes bad we always have another to jump ship. That way one hand washes the other from time to time.
But most of all we need transparency. The current SNP is such a secretive, murky, sneaky, lying organization it is another huge sign that it is rotten. Sunlight is best disinfectant.
That’s independence finished now. Me too, sadly. I just couldn’t vote SNP ever again. What a total sham!
Can anyone pinpoint the membership numbers for Alba
and has the latest SNP shenanigans boots their numbers significantly.
Would Alex Salmon comment on his numbers?
Almost a day since the result announcement and I awoke still astounded, not at the Victor, but at the reaction of folk being so overjoyed at seeing Ash Regan apparently angry at not winning.
Forget Independence going nowhere, forget Police investigations, forget years of incompetence and skullduggery, lets just laugh at the only candidate who apparently was deemed “mad and dangerous” for saying Independence was the priority and that Scotland doesnt need to ask Englands permission for a divorce.
Robin MacAlpines recent piece touching on Halo bias really ringing true yesterday at so many folk so very happy whilst facing such a poor time ahead.
Seems we are living in a nation suffering from Jockholm Syndrome
right enough.
“He was the “continuity candidate” of a party that pretty much everyone agrees is currently a radioactive bin fire of corruption, incompetence and chaos, so we can only assume its members want the calamitous shambles to continue. He already has a -20 approval rating with the Scottish public, and even among SNP voters he’s only +11.”
“But so incompetent is the opposition that even under Yousaf it’s quite hard to see the SNP failing to win the next Holyrood election.”
So Yousaf is likely to double down on the “progressive” (aka woke) policies that a majority of the Scottish electorate appear to disapprove of. Yet despite that and the “corruption, incompetence and chaos” of the SNP, sufficient numbers of the self same Scottish electorate will still vote SNP to make them the largest party?
Really? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice blah blah
How many votes were already in and counted before Mike Russell decided it would be far too confusing to allow people to adjust their votes following the admission of head office lies and manipulation; and the mass resignations around the leadership? Most would have decided pretty early on which side they were on.
If they had access to the data, it would have been the difference between almost certainly getting their man, to almost certainly losing.
I voted ash 1 kate 2 everybody I spoke to that was an SNP voter with no membership vote were favouring humsa :E it’s absolutely wild but there you go. We are our own worst enemy sadly. I don’t know any other SNP members. I paid a lifetime membership a few years ago so I’ll still be voting on internal stuff and won’t leave the party but it’s clearly going to drop seats in every parliament and our journey to independence is going to endure a considerable setback. The squandering of the opportunities presented to us over the last few years has been excrutiating.
@Mac
Fairly sure the mess is entirely nusnp doing (maybe at request of nuAlba) and very little to do with GCHQ – whose true English element (if any) must be falling about laughing at the state of it all.
Might be interesting to learn definitively how many of the English members voted for Humza though (up to 27000 -lol- by sound of radio Scotland).
For years the WGD demographic said it does not matter who the leader is, get behind the SNP for independence. (Well turns out it does matter.)
But now ironically we are going to see how much the WGD demographic really believed in what they were saying.
Because right now the independence movement has a choice of two weapons in front of us.
The first weapon is a Humza Yousaf led SNP. This one comes in a massive and impressive crate but when you open it up it amounts to a peashooter and a water pistol.
The second weapon is an Alex Salmond led ALBA party. This one comes in a small, slightly crappy looking cardboard box but when you open it up it contains an excocet missile.
I could never get behind Nicola for the sake of independence because she was IMHO a rat. You don’t go into the most important battle of your life with that leading you. It is suicide.
Compare this to the crimes of Alex Salmond. There are none. He was completely cleared, twice. He is a true statesman and is the only leader to have moved the needle on support for YES. He is proven.
So here the WGD demographic have the most devastating weapon, which they can unleash just by voting for ALBA, but will they?
Or will they ignore it because he is too ‘smug’ or whatever pish they come out with and instead pick up the peashooter and top up the water pistol and ride off into battle in their modified tank-horsebox.
I think we all know the answer to that one.
I can’t see Ash Regan joining Alba tbh.
However, one of the calculations that would go into this (for better or worse) is how likely she would be to be able to retain her seat at next Holyrood election if she did defect.
Tricky, you might think.
At the same time, it is really very likely that there will be calls from certain sections of the SNP now for her to be deselected so she might lose her position even if she stays in the SNP anyway….
Ian Smith – Most people will vote on day one! The refusal to allow a revote was crucial. That’s how it was fixed. Short campaign, because Humza is a liability.
The whole thing stinks , and I absolutely hope he fails, and brings the rest of the rotten party down with him.
@ Jock McDonnell says:
27 March, 2023 at 7:18 pm
@duncanio – by my reckoning Ash’s HY 30% 2nd votes would have given KF a win, just. Who even votes AR1/HY2 ? Weird demographic I think.
Yes they would have. In fact, if 1072 of the 1696 AR 2nd preferences went to KF instead of HY then KF would have won. This demographic is what I’d call my “Idiot” cell – they understand the voting system but STILL voted for HF second.
Incidentally the 572 AR votes that did not express a second choice would be one step up the IQ scale as my “Moron” cell – they didn’t understand the system but AT LEAST they didn’t vote for HY.
Yesterday Humza asked for a Section 30 order even before he’s got is answer, today Stephen Flynn has stated the SNP will not bring forward a early Holyrood election.
Its obvious to the rest of us apart from the SNP members that the SNP does not seek Independence for Scotland but to govern within the UK.
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this but the UKG isn’t Scotland jailers its the SNP and its membership, that was proven yesterday.
Johnny @9:43
CEO seems to have been quite a pivotal role in the past, any idea who the new one is and whether they have access to party’s old hard drives, etc.
Looik’s like UKIP won after all: The United Kingdom of India and Pakistan!
Just hearing Cameron M cNeish has left SNP for Alba
I don’t think Ash or JC should jump ship to Alba, it’s what the cult want.
Those saying Kate made a deal, are you suggesting she had a control over the voting system.
IMO she was delighted as the toxic Humza voters and the Greens would have been doxxing her at every turn.
The worst news for me is, all the neolib policies will be implemented, like the BRS, which is a scam.
Scotland will be poorer and nore divided at the end of this Holyrood term.
In this battle for the feedom of our country all that is asked of you is to join a political party who can make it happen. The SNP have shown themselves toothless, and have succumbed to power and privelige.
I hope Regan joins Alba ,as many are doing over the last day.
People of conviction to Indy must show Westminster and the SNP that they must not be taken for granted.
They want a fight? Let’s give them one.
@James 8:14 & 8:15
I would very much argue that prioritising Scottish self-determination is the right thing. When we look around at what is going wrong in Scotland there are no mechanisms to properly address them from Holyrood, especially with the block grant coming down year on year. Most of them are the result, some the intended result, of 40 years of neoliberal politics. Devolution is not designed or equipped to fix what is wrong. The SNP have now embraced devolution and neoliberalism, they will not fix what is wrong. The Westminster parties all follow the same free-market model, they will never fix what is wrong.
Besides independence, what other options do we have?
Trying to understand those Ash voters who put Humza 2nd is easy. They were anti Kate voters trying to be clever.
Hi there,
I feel your pain. The fact is that the independence movement has been completely outmanoeuvred by the British State. In 2014 you threw your best punch and missed. Not by much but a miss is a miss. I understand the conspiracy theories but think they hide a basic fact. The British state demanded Sturgeon and let her ego and incompetence run riot. At the same time they pumped money into Scotland, not least to Holyrood itself to create a pampered overpaid bourgeoisie which would steadily turn away from any desire of losing its status.
Then they sat back and let it fester in all its vainglory.
Yesterday the job was completed.
Every penny (sterling) spent was a price worth paying.
Sturgeon and Murrell et al will be allowed to run free.
There is no need to do more, they know they can’t come back.
Sorry folks, the race is run.
Re Section 30: Be careful what you wish for , what happens if WM calls his bluff and says go for it in the next 18months , Indy polling below 40% and Scotland in a mess under the SNP it’s likely Yes would loose by a bigger margin than in 2014 when we had the feel good factor.
The Brexit Party and the whatever the rejoiner party were called at the last general election, plus Alba at the Holyrood elections gave a pretty strong signal not to jump ship from a mainstream party if you value your seat. The system and the media that we have completely marginalize you, despite the main parties being shockingly poor.
These three photos say it all, Forbes looks pleased that Yousaf won, Yousaf looks over to Regan with a kind of told you so expression, and Regan looks distraught knowing what comes next, not just for her but for the country as a whole.
Lets be done with the SNP, and focus on Alba.
https://twitter.com/feedthefinches1/status/1640589267310133248?cxt=HHwWgIC2xeLPxcQtAAAA
I wonder how long the Woke path to independence will take. 100 years?
If Humza is not careful, a Labour-Liberal coalition at Holyrood is a distinct possibility. Labour’s big weakness (for now) is Brexit, which they support out of fear of red wall England. The SNP will take an independent Scotland right back into the EU – no questions asked. This has annoyed a lot of independence supporters. If Humza said, OK following independence, we will have another referendum on the EU, this would go down well IMO. But to force us back in without people having a say is undemocratic.
Alba want us in EFTA – fair enough, but again the people have to be consulted. The first party to uncouple Europe from Scottish independence will be on a winner. Sure, tell us your EU/ EFTA policy, but also promise to consult the people before you go joining international clubs. Simply replacing one union with another if and when we vote YES won’t cut it. Not for me, anyway.
In the above photo you can see that Hush Regan’s face was tripping her.
She had just been told that her second preference votes had been what tipped abu Humza into the winning position.
The silly bitch had just realised that if she had not stood against him, Forbes would have won.
Scot Finlayson asked;
“If all of those that put Ash first pref had put Kate second pref would Kate have won?”
Yes. Ash’s second pref votes totalled 5027, which if added to Kate’s initial 30559 would have given her 25586, which comfortably exceeds Humza’s initial 24336, and there was nowhere else Humza could get additional votes from.
The Section 30 request was simple virtue signaling.
Like window dressing for dummies.
The SNP are Scotland’s jailers, its time to rid ourselves of the SNP for good and vote for another pro-Independence party if in my area willing to make the decisions the New SNP can’t.
If I had still been in the SNP I’d voted for Ash, I don’t believe for a single minute Yousaf won.
I have spent my whole life voting for the SNP in total nearly 35yrs as from today I’ll be voting for the Labour party at every election if there isn’t an alternative party who supports Independence until the SNP has gone for good.
Listening to Flynn is enough to make you vomit, already they have killed any idea of seeking Independence for Scotland so its time to rid ourselves of our jailers.
If the Tories had a modicum of common sense, they would be pressurising Police Scotland and the COPFS to go after the Sturrels.
Then, the day after they are sent down, tell the SNP: “OK, you can have your Referendum.”
No would probably win even more emphatically than they did in 2014, and I don’t think the Estabshment would need to try too hard to pauchle it.
Independence put back in its box for at least 25 years.
Thankfully, I don’t think the Tories are that smart.
I actually felt sorry for his parents. They were genuinely tearful, at what should have been an historic day. It’s just that he is hopeless , and we can’t do anything about the tragedy unfolding.
John Main
GTF. Those that saw the treachery and created new parties in their bid for independence are not to blame for the clusterfuck that the nuSNP is. It is the gullible, those that blindly believed that Sturgeon had a secret plan and ignored the corruption and totalitarian governance. What the results, if genuine,proves is that the nuSNP are NOT an independence party and that its remaining membership wants more of the same and not change. This shit show belongs to the snp and its remaining membership and no one else. If the shit fits…You seem to be well and truly Sturgeonised, its always someone else’s fault. Look for someone else to blame and throw them under the bus. FFS
@Ebenezer Scroggie
So if Ash hadn’t stood and Kate had won just tell us all what you would be seeking from Kate Frobes, I’d love to know.
I think I have just had a vision and its perfectly logical, Humza is an already dead party leader walking but he will be kept in post till other more competent current MP’s at WM who can see Labour are going to wipe them out at the next GE have stood for Holyrood and been elected MSP’s and then will be able to stand for election for FM. (Who knows as Pete Wishart is one of those likely to lose his job at the next GE he might even be one of them…God forbid)
What Alan McHarg has just said.
If you remain in the nuSNP you want an unquestioned transgender regime and devolution. If you think the nuSNP will deliver independence then you’re delusional enough to believe a ‘transwoman is a woman’.
If you can no longer stomach the carrot-dangling lies or serial rapists in a woman’s prison – Then you have to join Alba or the ISP.
As very many people are actually doing.
@socratesmacsporran
The Sturrels are doing the Unionist job for them you don’t rid yourselve of an asset. The Tories were telling us back into 2017-18 that the SNP didn’t want Independence its now 2023 we can all now see the Tories were right.
MSM isn’t blaming Sturgeon for the SNP mess their blaming it all on the fact that Sturgeon has stood down, that says it all.
So the SNP membership is split roughly three ways.
One third to a greater or lesser extent want independence.
One third do not.
One third don’t care.
@ johnMain 8.18 am
All who left the SNP did so for their own valid reasons.
Its you who needs to stop the flouncing and totally own what you have done.
@ johnMain 8.18 am
All who left the SNP did so for their own valid reasons.
Its you who needs to stop the flouncing and totally own what you have done.
laukat @ 23.04
The Irish Parliamentary Party were the main Irish “Home Rule” Party , They could be compared to the SNP Today, with grifters and Pension Collectors enjoying the subsidised restaurants and bars of Westminster without doing much to further the cause on which they were elected.
In the Nov 1918 General Election despite having never stood in a GE before, Sinn Fein swept to power with 73 seats out of 105, i would not describe losing 68 seats as “eventually dying off” !
At the Moment that is unlikely to happen here with Alba, not with Salmond’s popularity rating in Scotland being lower than Boris Johnson’s, however when the truth emerges that may change.
Unless Humza surprises us all which i doubt, then a similar Political tsunami may occur, but i wont hold my breath.
Salvo is our best hope unless there is an Irish Type Tsunami.
No idea how many have already shifted to Alba but a lot of folk (on Twitter at any rate) aren’t shy about stating it openly.
Looking forward to hearing Alex Salmond announce udated membership by, say, the end of this week?
Ebenezer Scroggie says:
Leaving aside your misogynistic slur, if Ash Regan hadn’t stood then her second preferences would have become the other candidates first preferences and thus not have changed the result one iota.
Simple facts, If Ash had not Stood there would not have been 2nd preference Votes therefore folk blaming Ash for letting Humza in though the back door do not understand how the voting system works.
Humza won on 1st preference, he would have therefore won on a straight vote between him and Kate.
Ebenezer Scroggie says:
28 March, 2023 at 10:50 am
The silly bitch had just realised…
Expression says a lot more about you than it does Ash Regan.
Are you a Kiwi by any chance, or just a run of the mill woke misogynist?
@Ebenezer Scroggie
Any chance that’s exactly how troughers seeking to humiliate Scots, especially Scots women, with the Humza candidature might have fixed the result were it within their power to do so?
Depressed.
SNP Membership Number is very dodgy and not to be trusted.
I also think the low 70% voter turnout can partiually be explained by many ex-members, on hearing Sturgeon had resigned, rejoining, in order to take part in the new leader election.
Members of my family did just that, on the day Sturgeon resigned.
But all such ‘new’ or returning members were deliberately thwarted by the old guard and denied a vote.
Not even the Tories leadership vote was that desperate/corrupt/rigged, to favour tghe Sturgeon/Murrell ‘continuity’ candidate or as I prefer to call Yousaf, the ‘patsy’. Yousaf is so conceited/daft, he doesn’t even see it, yet.
Obviously not my call but I have to say that Ebenezer Scroggie calling a woman a ‘silly bitch’ in the midst of the violent, misogynistic war against women, deserves being banned by the owner of this site from further commenting.
How many snp msp’s have vote against Useless to stop him being elected??
I cancelled my SNP membership & joined ALBA in abject protest, In reality, I expect absolutely nothing from politicians, when it comes to self-determination.
I don’t have any more faith in Salmond than I did Sturgeon. 2014 campaign and beyond, enough to establish both’s lack of genuine planning for independence.
SNP/ALBA.. Punch & Judy Show, will get us nowhere in a hurry. More rhetoric.
Feel free to bin this comment. That’s where SNP has trashed our hopes.
Typo alert! Kate’s initial 30559 should be 20559.
Why don’t you piss off Scroggie!
If Yousaf is the SNP leader at the 2026 Holyrood election I think he may well be the last SNP FM.
Alex Salmond was FM in 2007 leading a minority Government. However that was at a time where Labour where still meant to hate the Tories. If enough votes exist for a Unionist FM to be elected the Tories, Labour and Libdems will be unlikely to pass that up.
It would only take 7 seats to move from SNP & Green to Tories, Labour and Libdems for a Unionist FM to have enough votes to be FM. That to me looks entirely possible.
If that happens once its very difficult to see when the SNP will once again get close enough to the seats required that support from a minority party would allow them to govern again.
Ebeneezer Scroggie
Ebenezer Scroggie is the moniker used by someone who regularly posts on Craig Murray’s blog He is a Tory Unionist who detests Scottish Nationalism and is extremely insulting about anyone who does. As you might expect from that comment which contains the disgraceful misogynistic description of Ash Regan, he really prefers Forbes just because of her neoliberal politics. It was just an opportunity to insult a left wing woman.
I haven’t read through all of the comments, so my apologies if this has already been mooted but I’m of the opinion that KF was only there to split any anti-HY votes, and this could be why she was quite happy at the result.
Rhetorical question: What might the result have been in a straight (honest) choice between Humza and Ash?
There’s nothing new in the SNP being controlled by devolutionists, and real nationalists being unwelcome. Even the SNP’s main forerunner, the NPS, had been purged of those zealous for indy by John MacCormick. And MacCormick was the prime mover in the creation of the SNP. The only difference is MacCormick and his SNP non-radicals were beset by a British empire era pusillanimous mindset. Whereas the Sturgeonites are neo-liberal troughers.
MacCormick ended up in the Liberal Party.
Genuine nationalists have only intermittently held sway in the SNP, for a minority of the party’s history. Which only serves to show just what a great achiever Alex Salmond is, since he got us so close to the goal, in spite of the many in the party who did not really want the indyref.
Serial ministerial failure and the only certainty is that he’ll fail again, hopefully very quickly.
The SNP need to get booted out and undergo a complete transformation. Independence won’t happen for decades and the current shower of incompetents should be culled and never return to politics. It pains me but a period in opposition is needed and competent, capable and sensible candidates installed before the process of genuine self government can be anticipated. Let the current tribe of “progressives” jog off to the Greens.
“As goes the Alamo, so goes Texas,” or “As goes the SNP, so goes Independence” but that is if Scotland continues to believe that politics and so called democracy is the means to an end. Our option is now as a “Liberation movement” via SALVO/Liberation.Scot which frees Scots from a corrupt political system and corrupted politicians whom have sold their souls and nation out for foreign gold. There is still an alternative, and therefore hope.
Bortwhiskels @ 10.25 a.m.says:
“Besides independence, what other options do we have?”
Well, making good use of what you have, for starters. I don’t think your comment does anything to refute James @ 8:14 & 8:15. He has is exactly right.
Scotland absolutely needs to demonstrate competent governance to show to the people who would be voting for it that independence is a goer. It should be perfectly possible to do that within the bounds of devolution.
But what do we have? — a complete car crash.
The posture of internalising all that is good to Scotland and externalising all that is evil to England/Westminster is the very essence of paranoia, and it is BS.
A party/movement captured by the globalists the same as parties like Sinn Fein in Eire have also been captured. Same as Eire etc those of you who oppose this are going to find yourselves being labelled extreme far Right white nationalists etc even by the party you vote(d) for. Anyone who reads the Herald and has seen what has happened to it staff wise knows what to expect.
Look up things like Salami Politics and Rules For Radicals to see what to expect more of in the near future. Also read 1984 if you have not already.
Expect to see a lot more opaque companies exempt from FOI requests and front operation charities appearing. Actually look at who the leaders of SNP/Greens/Labour/Lib Dems are in Scotland, this isn’t a coincidence.
Interesting there has now been an agnostic female FM, Several Church Of Scotland male FM’s and now a Muslim one. Yet never a Catholic one! I jest of course it matters not , but 20% of Scotland is Catholic and only 1% Muslim. Who is marginalised?
Reading the auguries are bad, «it’s all over for decades» depressive stuff on here I fully understand why England has had Scotland on a dog lead for so long.
Enough crying in the whisky, it looks pathetic.
Baley baley to the new guy.
sadscot: while were were all concentrating on Humza to see just how far the party establishment would go to have him, the continuity candidate, win, some of us stopped seeing Kate, as she became more and more centre-of-the-road. I am not saying that she placed herself or was deliberately placed to thwart Ash, but that was the effect. Ash should not be too downhearted because she has cut her teeth on the gruelling leadership round and will be all the more prepared next time – and I can almost guarantee that there will be a next time – whether within the rump of the SNP or elsewhere.
Bortwhiskels @ 10:25am,
I agree completely, James shows in his post, amongst other nonsense, amazement at intelligent people’s quest for Scottish self determination at the same time unveiling to the world his short sightedness, his hypocrisy and complete lack of understanding of the ramifications of independence regarding political parties.
He is short sighted because he can’t see beyond the term of an SNP government and fails to understand that in the event of Scottish self determination, the political landscape will be changed utterly.
Making known his dislike for people that have anything to do with the evil russkies he lets us know what side of the fence he is on regarding the ongoings in Eastern Europe and like many other people in the world he values independence highly, no doubt he finds independence very important, just not for Scotland.
Arrogance, ignorance and thoughtlessness writ large.
Poor befuddled James.
Good point big Jock. But there’s more woke points for selecting a brown mohammedan than anyone white
Cuilean, it was announced on the day Sturgeon resigned what the process for election of new leader was , it was stated that only members who were members before the day she resigned would have a vote.
Ticks all the boxes Susan! Even if the FM is a dimwit, they can boast about inclusion. Join the SNP , we welcome idiots of all creeds and colours. Except feminists of course.
Big Jock says:
28 March, 2023 at 1:42 pm
“Interesting there has now been an agnostic female FM, Several Church Of Scotland male FM’s and now a Muslim one. Yet never a Catholic one! I jest of course it matters not , but 20% of Scotland is Catholic and only 1% Muslim. Who is marginalised?”
How many have been working class or come from disadvantaged families. I should add that in my “scheme” “buyin yer cooncil hoose” precludes you from being counted as working class. Forget religion – it’s class where you’ll find the real marginalised.
Ash Regan, by standing, subtracted non-Humza votes from Kate Forbes.
A very silly thing to do. She is the reason why we are now stuck with a blithering incompetent leader of the Party and First Minister for the rest of the parliament until SNP slithers into the undergrowth of political oblivion and insignificance.
She’s a gift for ZanuLabour unless Alex Salmond emerges from the shadows and somehow gets Alba off the ground.
“A very silly thing to do”
Only if your priority is not independence. My priority is independence so I see it precisely the other way around: Kate standing ensured the next leader of the SNP did not have independence as their main priority. And that, from where I am standing, is a really, really silly thing to do if you want to continue peddling the lie that the SNP is “the” party of independence.
It looks to me Prof Baird got it right all along.
That huge smile in Kate’s face and expression of relief when Yousaf was announced as “the winner” of the rigged contest, and her previous acknowledgement that she did not intend to run for leader again, points towards the idea she never run with the purpose of becoming leader or FM.
Yesterday we were proven the SNP is no longer the party of independence and it has not been for a long time. It has become a different brand of New Labour: a boring and unexciting devolution party far more concerned about keeping careerists in the gravy train than ending this union.
If the SNP has chosen to behave like New labour then it is only fair it meets the exact same fate New Labour did in Scotland in 2015. And frankly, the sooner the better.
Whatever deal Forbes thought she had with Yousef seems to have fallen through.
He fobbed her off today with what amounts to a major demotion.
She’s stompted off in high dudgeon. She’ll not be back, probably, though hell hath no fury like a woman scorned so she may surprise us all.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the continuity ‘candidate’ is Sturgeon/Murrell in a man’s business suit.
Business as usual for the SNP leadership. Very much a case of ‘meet the new boss, just like the old boss’.
The SNP is comprehensively gubbed.
will hamza still have his earpiece in when he and sturgy are in the chamber. Continuity and all that.
Mia @ 5:50 pm
“she never run with the purpose of becoming leader or FM”
Yes, Forbes merely a stalking horse designed to take ‘conservative’ anti-GRR votes away from Ash Regan. Worked fairly well for the colonial administration.
I left the SNP 5 years ago after 56 years ofmembership because of Sturgeon’s lies, obfuscation, spite, narcissism and total lack of movement on independence.
It hurt me to do this having given such a huge part of my life to this party.
I celebrated Winnie Ewing’s victory in 1967 and watched it grow and elect ‘Scotland’s Eleven’ in the 1970s.
Watched it come back from losing many of these MPs through the 80s and 90s and grow stronger under Alex Salmond’s leadership and rejoiced when it became the governing party in Scotland.
Cried like a bairn on 19th September 2014 but believed that independence was not that far away.
Then – Sturgeon!
I did not believe that she was a suitable successor to Salmond.
She never had the fire in her belly that makes a great leader.
She was always all about the glorification of Sturgeon.
There were 56 SNP MPs in Westminster, there was an SNP overall majority in Holyrood. How much more of a mandate for independence could there be?
But no – it was not the time!
After throwing this chance away,her self absorption and narcissism grew worse and distance from independence grew greater.
The SNP was going nowhere but down. Mandate after mandate – wasted.
That was enough for me – I left.
And now – Humbug Useless. Put there by corruption, chicanery and downright cheating.
Forbes – only there to make sure Regan wouldn’t be able to show up Useless to much for the incompetent he is.
There are many thing I don’t believe about this election
I don’t believe there are over 20000 members who didn’t vote because I don’t believe they exist.
I don’t believe Ash Regan on got 5500 votes – that would mean that only 5500 members of the SNP actually WANT independence.
I don’t believe that 3000+ of the 5500 gave their second vote to Useless. It doesn’t make sense.
Scotland has been sold down the river.
Independence has been put back at least 10 years.
The only hope now is ALBA. I anyone can drag Scotland out of the cesspit, it is Alex Salmond.
But, like me, Alex is not getting any younger and our time is running out. We need to get behind ALBA now. Those MPs and MSPs who GENUINELY want independence and not just a cushy seat on the gravy train, earning salaries they could never earn in REAL life, need to ‘cross the floor’ NOW!
It breaks my heart to have to accept that I will never now see my country free.
PLEASE, in the memory of those who got us to where we were pre-Sturgeon – get behind SALVO, ALBA, ISP etc!
It certainly looks like we’re in for a long wait for independence. If Alex can bring Joanna Cherry and Ash Regan over to Alba I think that would certainly put the cats amongst the pigeons. The SNP must be given an almighty shock electorally if we are to hasten the process to achieve our goal.
It’s a sometimes fact that members of political Parties are not always best placed to decide the leader who will make their Party the most electable.
In recent years, Jeremy Corbin, Ed Miliband, Liz Truss have been elevated despite a wide public consensus that they are duds. A consensus identified and intensified by an ever hostile media.
In this respect the SNP is no different.
Timing is all.
While John Swinney (beloved of the membership) took the reigns during the Salmond interregnum, he crashed.
No one put his failure down to crawling gradualism and the phenomena of wokism was yet in its infancy, not even to continuity – which he certainly was.
No one predicted Salmond’s symbolic return to the helm would catapult the SNP to Government.
That the SNP achieved electoral victory was not due to a power surge of fundamentalism within the Party or a mass electoral conversion to the cause of independence.
It was the collapse of New Labour, the Iraq war, the absence of radicalsim within the Scottish Labour movement and it’s complacent conceit after decades of political hegemony in Scotland… it was the still raw distaste for Toxic Tories, their denial of the existence of “society” and idealisation of individual greed over eradication of poverty.
The time was right, the mood was for something radically (even just a bit) different
It was Salmond’s Government which brought an edge to Scottish politics in unbound as the SNP was from merely implementing policy directives from Party HQ in London.
Salmond’s Government went public at full blast to bring down the Clause 28 remnant of the Thatcher era, something hated by LGBT community. It loudly pursued equal marriage in Scotland, despite being opposed by some it’s main financial donors and former leader(s).
There was as much heat and fumes created over equal marriage – now regarded as basic right – as there has been over GRR, and as much rubbish spouted – from all quarters.
Free prescriptions/eye tests, free education, ending Thatcher’s “right to buy”. Despite outrage in certain quarters that this was spending beyond Scotland’s means.
These were not massive game changers, but they were significant in holding up a mirror to Scotland – what it was and what it could be, without the restrictions or dead weight imposed by Union. Scotland could respond to and alter it’s own condition faster and better where it had control of the means to do so.
That radical public face drove the SNP’s electoral success up to and beyond the 2014 referendum.
If this is what Humza Yousef means by reinvigorating a radical progressive agenda, then that has proven to be an electoral success.
It needs costing, it needs expert implementation and it needs shouting about because it demonstrates both what is within the powers of devolution and what hold’s Scotland back.
The catastrophic ferry fiasco undermines all of that work and should have been fixed as an absolute priority
In Scotland, we should be building homes like no one’s business, not to line the pockets of boards and shareholders (headquartered in England), but to provide decent homes for our own and to accommodate the thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants Scotland needs to sustain and grow it’s economy in the face of an aging population and declining tax base.
There is a radical ambition, to grow Scotland’s population, to demonstrate people want be in and contribute to a successful Scotland and with the ground work having been done, a Scotland that is open and inclusive and not hung up by prejudices from a different century and a colonialist mindset.
Of the three leadership candidates, Kate Forbes was the most conservative. Seeking to provide encouragement to business and industry (within the limited means available under devolution).
Nothing radical, nothing exciting and a program that would thrown into disarray at any time, by any unexpected event(s) or events deliberately created elsewhere. No radical edge, no challenge to the UK status quo and its hegemony over swathes of international and domestic policy that impact the people of Scotland.
Added to that, Kate Forbes accidentally or honestly positioned herself alongside those SNP members with deep conservative values who would simply not countenance “progress” on minority rights – forget the calamitous GRR – had she been SNP First Minister, she would not have lead the UK on removing Clause 28, she would not have led Scotland towards same sex marriage and it is questionable whether she would have protected (even in name) the primacy of tax funded health care and education.
That conservative – don’t-rock-the-boat – approach to government, as an aid to business and a barrier to society, may well have found support among certain SNP members who understandably fear radical policy will result in single figure electoral outcomes.
Ash Regan’s apparent flirting with the fundamentalists certainly promised a potentially more radical edge and may explain why some gave her their first vote but her dismissal of the importance of socially progressive signals – how open an independent Scotland could be – may also explain why those holding that as equally valuable gave their second vote to Humza Yousef who at least committed to maintaining the SNP’s radical tradition – however that comes to be formulated.
It is for all SNP members to hold Yousaf’s feet to the fire.
In the very short term he needs to deliver both a new progressive and radical agenda for Government as well as a budget and team capable of reinvigorating the SNP membership and wider independence movement. Shouting “independence” isn’t enough but neither is it enough to say it’s just about competent government.
What people in the world ever took or reclaimed their independence on the ideal of “competent government”.
All espoused radical ideals as to who they were and what they wanted to be. All aimed to be a beacon of progress and justice to other nations and themselves. In modern times, all have declared that those leaders who oppose or frustrate the equal rights of all their citizens, will unceremoniously be on the broo.
Yousaf needs to demonstrate that after the humiliations of the Supreme Court and the UK’s striking down of Scottish legislation, his Government can stand up to and take on the Westminster machine.
The SNP’s London brigade need to be put on notice that their presence in Westminster is inherently temporary and solely to secure Scotland’s independence. Getting comfy is not an option.
My shout is for the Reverend Stu to do his bit.
We can all navel gaze the failures of the last decade to build independence support.
The harder task is turning that energy into creative ideas that can be used to challenge the status quo, demolish the “bettertogether” myths and to hold feet to the fire of those who are privileged now to lead the SNP and be elected as it’s representatives.
Should Stu recoil from the task ahead it may be he too has a kettle to broo.