The crumple zone
Wings has backed Ash Regan in the SNP leadership election, because she’s the only one with an actual plan for independence and the only one who doesn’t immediately start talking about something else if you bring the subject up.
But until this morning we’d regarded Kate Forbes as a decent consolation prize – no plan for indy, but at least someone who’d lead to the withdrawal of the toxic Scottish Greens from government and probably a mass exodus of the SNP’s Twitler Youth, leaving the party in a better place to rebuild for the future.
And after her disappointing chickening-out from the vote on the Gender Recognition Reform bill, we’d been impressed at the fortitude she’d shown by carrying on in the contest after the (justifiable) furore around her views on abortion and equal marriage, and her combative showing in Tuesday night’s STV debate.
But this footage from last night’s hustings in Johnstone is incredibly disturbing.
Erin Lux, the co-convener of the extremist SNP affiliate Out For Independence, is the ultra-woke Canadian activist who tried to have Forbes kicked out of the election for “transphobia” almost as soon as she’d declared her candidacy.
OFI, whose membership is measured in dozens, has a disproportionate influence on policy but a microscopic percentage of votes in the election. The chances of any of its members ever voting for Kate Forbes under any circumstances are less than nil. She could have waded into the crowd and decapitated Lux with a chainsaw for all the difference it would have made to the number of votes she’s going to get from OFI.
But Forbes still folded like a deckchair in a hurricane.
Wings’ post from January about the SNP’s plans to ban so-called “conversion therapy” is the second most-read on the site since we de-retired last November, and the 12th most-read in the site’s entire history.
To save you reading it all again, a few days ago we helpfully summarised it for the Herald after Humza Yousaf supporters had tried to get Joanna Cherry kicked out of the SNP because of something we said about it:
Erin Lux’s question last night didn’t even MENTION conversion therapy, but Kate Forbes fell over herself to cave in on it without even being asked, all to appease a tiny handful of people who still aren’t going to vote for her in a million years.
ACTUAL conversion therapy is a terrible thing, but it doesn’t happen in Scotland and pretty much every aspect of it is already against the law anyway. What the proposed ban actually amounts to ironically IS conversion therapy – it takes confused kids who would likely grow up to be normal, happy and probably gay adults and forces them down a path of “transition”, sterility, lifelong medical dependency and the permanent loss of all normal adult sexual function.
Perhaps Kate Forbes is happy about that because it means they definitely won’t need abortions, they won’t have any children out of wedlock and it’ll mean their marriages officially aren’t gay. We don’t know.
But what we do know is that for a potential leader of the independence movement to crumble so easily under no pressure at all, and to endorse something as flat-out evil as the proposed law (while backing the atrocious Hate Crime Act as well), is at best a piece of astonishingly bad judgement and at worst… well, we don’t want to think about the worst interpretation, to be honest.
Now more than ever, it’s plain that there’s only one candidate available who can save the SNP and the Yes movement from complete destruction.
Unfortunately thought from the start she was too good to be true.
This is so disappointing.
I wish someone would just just have the balls to say “excuse me, but why the hell should LGBT people get more rights than everyone else?”
Asking that question 100, 50, 20 years ago? Spot on. Now? gtf.
If they weren’t as blunt as me I’d suggest they respond with “what rights do you not have that everyone else has?”
The rights they’re wanting are not equal rights but greater rights and that should just be shut down immediately.
And oh yeah. Piss weak from Forbes.
Add Forbes rampant enthusiasm for the tax evasion objects know as Freeports, and she’s far from the golden child a lot of folk hoped she would be.
Except all three candidates oppose “conversion therapy ” link to thenational.scot
Face it, anybody still in the SNP is completely a lost cause
“Perhaps Kate Forbes is happy about that because it means they definitely won’t need abortions, they won’t have any children out of wedlock and it’ll mean their marriages officially aren’t gay. We don’t know.” I think all those suggestions are worthy of consideration. Transing LGB and non-conforming children and young people plays into so much autocratic religious “thinking” – we only have to look at Iran.
Christ, what a hotel fire this country’s politics now is. What’s the current state of that Hate Crime Bill idiotic madness, anybody any idea? Thanks in advance.
Pathetic stuff from Kate, but then her decision to kick off her campaign by talking about gay weddings in 2014 betrayed her naivety.
The SNP would need a mass expulsion of activists, elected officials and hangers on to turn it into a Scottish nationalist party. I think the chances of that are about the same as Ross Greer’s chances of becoming a sex symbol.
Another half-arsed performance from a mediocre candidate wishing to lead a sh1t-show of a party.
BTW, if you received a communication from ALBA this morning, be sure to drop an email to callum.baird@thenational.scot to make your feelings known.
Aye and That candidate does not sit in Holyrude.
I never for one minute thought Forbes would make a better FM than Yousaf, in my opinion nothing much will change if any of these two get their arses into Bute House.
Only Ash Regan has a sound and viable plan for independence, only Ash Regan stands up and tells it like it is with regards to the GRRB, if Regan doesn’t win, I think the SNP will be a lost cause for a long time, Alba will be the way forward.
link to petition.parliament.uk
“Update the Equality Act to make clear the characteristic “sex” is biological sex”
This petition is only 127* votes short of being considered for a Westminster debate. Please sign if you haven’t already.
*had to keep changing that number as new people signed whilst I was writing!
No choice in Scotland,
Do we get to pick from the best of the best,
No, our options is to pick the best of the worst,
Top that with the secondary corruption of when the externally voted FM goes, it again should be down to the people to choose,
But it is done internally, without the people of Scotland holding a vote on who there leader will be.
Them’s Westminster election rules,
Teresa May, Rushi Sunak, and any coalition made after elections.
The system stinks and is corrupt.
Wings has backed Ash Regan in the SNP leadership election
In the event of Ash Regan becoming leader will you vote for the SNP in the next election?
Kate Forbes would have made a great fisheries minister.
Because she’s all over the plaice.
Looking like the SNP are finished. As is The National.
“The end justifies the means” in this case Mrs Forbes needs to be very careful how she phrases her answers given her views on social issues.
Kate “isnae daft” and knows the media and all of the woke warlocks are after her blood.
She is the first politician who inspires me with confidence since Jim Sillars was on form.
Instead of pouncing on throwaway lines to keep the wolves from tearing her throat out, we should get behind the only competent politician Scotland has produced in years.
Reagan the only alternative at this point is a lightweight who lacks competence and is grandstanding on independence though she must know that it will take years to clean up the vomit which was the Sturgeon SNP.
Actual conversion therapy (involving torture, coercion etc) is already banned, rightly so. Talking (explorative) therapies should never be banned EVER unless coercion is used.
Sorry that this is off topic Stu.
I noticed the National has banned Alex Salmond & Alba party. Would love to see a full frontal attack against the National newspaper since you have a far larger readership base than the National.
What they’ve done is unacceptable mate.
I can see a day coming in the future when no one around the world politically accepts or challanges the candidates in a government, that are selected internally by the same government and by the party in government.
This is the first step of withdrawing voting rights of the people,
They are no longer getting to vote on changes of leaders in their Countries.
I think I must be watching a different video from the Rev Stu! she comes out clearly against conversion therapy (at the end – perhaps you didn’t stay to watch that?). if the first part of what she says, that she is concerned with hate crimes and wants to tackle them, is what has offended you, you need to take a good look at yourself
“I think I must be watching a different video from the Rev Stu! she comes out clearly against conversion therapy”
Yes, I know. That’s the point. Are you a bit dim? Did you not read the rest of the article explaining why the so-called “conversion therapy ban” is in fact the exact opposite, and a terrible thing?
Kate Forbes implemented Freeports
As Finance Sec I’d like to know her input to the atrocious ScotWind :the worst economic sabotage of Scotland since McCrone report. Self inflicted by the betraying Murrell Cabal she has happily been at the heart of.
Her ‘Christian conscience’ is ONLY conscience when easy: othering single mothers & gay married couples
Non existent when it actually matters.
The very worst example when she chose to deliberately support Sturgeon when NS was most on the ropes LYING about the evil yet failed attempt to frame & imprison Salmond at FMQS.
Thou Shalt not Applaud those Bearing False Witness
Yet, she was inexplicably hailed as ‘courageous’
The last thing KF is, is courageous.
She yet again put her career before her conscience at the GRR bill.
Now, she supports transing the gay away with truly horrifying gender ideology.
Why has anyobne rated her?
Kate Forbes implemented Freeports
As Finance Sec I’d like to know her input to the atrocious ScotWind :the worst economic sabotage of Scotland since McCrone report. Self inflicted by the betraying Murrell Cabal she has happily been at the heart of.
Her ‘Christian conscience’ is ONLY conscience when easy: othering single mothers & gay married couples
Non existent when it actually matters.
The very worst example when she chose to deliberately support Sturgeon when NS was most on the ropes LYING about the evil yet failed attempt to frame & imprison Salmond at FMQS.
Thou Shalt not Applaud those Bearing False Witness
Yet, she was inexplicably hailed as ‘courageous’
The last thing KF is, is courageous.
She yet again put her career before her conscience at the GRR bill.
Now, she supports transing the gay away with truly horrifying gender ideology.
Why has anyobne rated her?
We are sleep walking into yet another CON artist prolonging the con.
Forbes is, perhaps, side-stepping as many banana skins that Yousaf supporters can throw in her direction. Antagonising the cultural marxists is only going to lead to more controversy. I’m sure the demonstrations outside of where she speaks are being planned right now.
The furore over her convictions probably left her rattled and now she’s wondering whether she’ll even have a party and government to assume the leadership of. In one sense that’s simply being savvy but it raises the issue that maybe she will be unwilling or unable to clean house, if elected.
This makes Regan all the more remarkable. Someone who is not afraid of saying what she thinks and has a plan of action that will put a lot of noses out of joint.
So Forbes, like Yousaf, is the steady as she goes candidate who will happily sail the SS Independence onto the rocks.
Sorry to go O/T so early.
Just watched Sturgeon at FM questions. Now, invariably when the head of a government announces that they’re stepping down but staying on a wee bit while a successor is chosen then the outgoing FM or PM starts to shed some of the cares of office during those few last weeks in the job. In such a scenario, FM’s or PM’s questions often takes on a humourous, almost festive air.
I didn’t watch it all it has to be said, but Sturgeon sounded extremely nervous and was struggling to keep her voice strong. A hint of the old confident Sturgeon only returned when she was having a go at some Tory backbencher’s question.
She’s definitely rattled.
Passing the baton of FM for Scotland has nothing to do with the people choice through voting,
So it seems rather silly to turkey talk gobble gobble, gobble gobble.
Well that just convinced me that Forbes could never tackle the deeply imbedded TransCult running the Party.
I guess this will take us to the slow decline of the SNP over several years.
Looks like Indy is decades away now!
I will never vote SNP, Green, Labour. or LibDem ( Voting Tory would be unbearable but an option short term)
That leaves ISP and ALBA if candidates stand in my area.
So, keep up the good work Stu……the blog is more important than ever. I may not see Independence but my kids hopefully will.
Hang on, the questioner was clearly set up to field a question intended to get an answer from Forbes that could trigger faux outrage and a storm of abuse.
She did that very British thing of making concerned, conciliatory noises, none of which suggested she either gave a damn or would make any significant effort to deliver on the warm words any time before hell freezes over.
I thought she dodged the trap very well. Disarmed them by giving an answer they least wanted to hear (actually). But as we should all know by now, words are not deeds. Commitments and intentions are not always converted into policy or actions. Empty promises and insincere support for anyone who asks for it are simply the currency of modern politics. This is the SNP after all.
Kate doesn’t know if she’s coming or going most of the time, she can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk when it comes to the crunch.
One thing I will say is that if she manages to become SNP leader and manages to retain the title of FM** then you can expect a lurch even further to the right in policies.
**The decision on who is voted FM of Scotland is up to the sitting members of Scottish Parliament as enacted in the Scotland Act, not the people of Scotland and not the SNP members no matter how much some of them wish they could decree and anoint anyone they like as FM.
If Forbes is elected then all of the right-wing rights-stripping policies thrown at Scotland from Westminster will be enacted with it’s own wee Scottish twist disguised to be more appealing to the electorate, don’t believe me? It’s already been done a few times over in recent years under the Sturgeon government with Forbes heading up the finance side.
We saw it with the UKGov’s Freeports being rebadged as “Greenports” in Scotland under Kate Forbes’ watch to make them sound more environmentally friendly and appealing while at the same time creating unregulated tax-havens which are unregulated zones on much more than just taxation, you can wave goodbye to any workers rights within these zones as we have seen the world over when it comes to freeports, the 1% also use them to stash their assets & wealth, it’s strongly rumoured that Rotterdam has the worlds largest private art collections, so private that you cannot see them as they’re stashed within vaults inside its unregulated freeport zones and even the Dutch government officially deny their existence under a world-salad to keep their EU rule-makers happy.
Then there is also the great Scot-Wind sell off, which in financial terms make Thatchers poll-tax look like pocket-change in comparison and would certainly make McCrone blush at how cheaply it was given away for, it’s as much a project of Nicola Sturgeon’s as it is Kate Forbes’ as finance minister where most of it landed within her brief where she worked alongside the unelected Crown Estate Scotland board to implement it.
There’s also the Scottish Governments financial & business advisory board which was set up under Alex Salmond to seek business, academic & policy expertise advising the Scottish Government on those matters which was made up of plenty of Scots’, this was of course killed off under Forbes as Finance Minister with a new board being setup consisting of very few Scots business leaders nor academics or policy experts, but plenty of ex-civil-service employees from Westminster who implemented some of the most draconian austerity policies in decades for their Tory pay-masters.
With all of that said, there really is only one good candidate in these SNP leadership elections, it’s not Humza “Gravytrain” Yousless who has been promoted far beyond his abilities as self-demonstrated by his serial-failures across multiple Scottish Government briefs and it’s definately not Kate Forbes either.
I’m just wondering whether all the people who whined about, for instance, “unelected Prime Minister Liz Truss” are going to whine about, say, “unelected First Minister Kate Forbes”.
Do you know, I don’t think they will.
I agree, I had thought Kate would be OK.
But does she really not understand what ‘conversion therapy’ is, that’s very poor.
I’m sick to death of these new Scots who seemed to have moved here for trans rights and have far too much influence on party policy.
Lorna Slater, Maggie Chapman, what other country would allow people who’ve been here 5 mins to have so much input.
Very disappointing but the entire Scottish political class is terrified of this tyrannical minority. Hate crime reported by histrionic nutters and often proven liars, is no basis for a presumption in favour of this clique. This question was clearly a soft ball set up for Youssef, to put his arms around the trans clique. Why she couldn’t have countered with something like the disgraceful behaviour of trans activist “Bully Beth” or the rape threats v Joanna Cherry or the gallery of psychotics who pursue JKR like heat seeking missiles. She could certainly have questioned the Scottish Tavistock, and would be in sure ground. Virtually everyone who questions this cult is subjected to this modern day thought inquisition . She is looking more and more out of her depth, and like a high school debater who wants to please all corners. Of course Luxury gender Canadian isn’t going to cut her any slack anyway. Pitiful.
“In the event of Ash Regan becoming leader will you vote for the SNP in the next election?”
It depends:
a. on the manifesto
I want to see an explicit and unchallengeable commitment that a win in that (any) election is a mandate to end the union within a reasonable time frame (months, not years) with no caveats or small print. I will not fall for a mandate to ask permission to anybody, but a mandate to immediately withdraw Scotland’s MPs from Westminter, to communicate to the crown and England the Treaty of Union is going to be repealed and to initiate proceedings with the UN for arbitration to dissolve the treaty of union in anticipation of the crown’s and England’s refusal to cooperate. I will not fall for any wishy-washy referendum/permission/procrastination crap.
b. on whom I would be endorsing with my vote.
I will not endorse ever again neither my current MP or MSP. Both are troughers who did nothing to progress independence and did nothing to curtail the abuse inflicted by Sturgeon. One of them even voted to endorse paedophiles, perverts and rapists against the rights and safety of women and children. Ms Reagan would have to completely revamp the list of candidates and select credible anti-union and anti perverts/rapists/paedophile ones instead.
c. Available alternatives
if there is any other more credible anti-union party with a candidate in my ward they will have preference over the SNP. At this moment in time, I am of the opinion the SNP is totally compromised, totally infiltrated and beyond redemption, therefore a vote for the SNP is a wasted vote which will be used to endorse the union, perverts, paedophiles and rapists, and more squandering of Scotland’s resources.
Therefore if there is an Alba/ISP candidate on a similar manifesto to my ideal one they will get preference to my vote before the SNP. In my eyes the SNP is tinted by association – hundreds of MPs + MSPs simply sat and watch for 8 years while STurgeon butchered the party, Scotland’s sovereign rights and assets and did nothing to stop her.
“I want to see an explicit and unchallengeable commitment that a win in that (any) election is a mandate to end the union within a reasonable time frame (months, not years) with no caveats or small print. I will not fall for a mandate to ask permission to anybody, but a mandate to immediately withdraw Scotland’s MPs from Westminter, to communicate to the crown and England the Treaty of Union is going to be repealed and to initiate proceedings with the UN for arbitration to dissolve the treaty of union”
That is precisely Ash’s policy.
Forbes and Yousaf appear to be scared of their own political shadow. That has been the visceral problem with the SNP since the Sturgeon take over. The SNP’s shadow is independence and all that that implies, all the rest is posturing with no actual power to support it. It fits so neatly into the decaying British political system.
All image, no substance.
Nice, safe, boring.
Would the same not apply to any other religious person who supports the GRRB.
I hadn’t thought of the religious aspect to the GRRB. I did wonder why so many wanted people turned into eunuchs/female eunuchs and decided it was to satisfy yet another fetish.
You get who you vote for, in Scotland,
No “we” don’t.
We have not been offered a vote on this in Scotland. So a political arranged leader as FM seems the deal,
Nor were we offered a vote in Scotland on Gender issues, every one else was, but not Scots.
Nor were “we” in Scotland offered a vote on Climate change,
Nor ” we” offered a vote on 15 minutes cities being bought in.
Nor were we offered a vote on slowly phasing in energy change a slower pace,
Democracy in Scotland is dying,
And once you except a partial voting system and partial voting rights! In your Country, you can kiss goodbye to your voice, your democratic human rights. The safety of your children, and your freedom to travel outside your town or city.
This election should not be internal within the SNP, but should include other people in Scotland and other parties,
NS is not just stepping down as leader of the SNP, she is also stepping down as first minister of the whole of Scotland.
Whilst I note this blog’s preference, you might have to cut your cloth according to the reality emerging.
Regan is not the general public’s choice – they don’t think she’s the full shilling – so however purist and driven she is, however much you want to believe in the promise she seems to offer, the electorate are unlikely to support whatever she does. So it won’t happen, even if she has a plan, you still need wide popular confidence and support.
Yousaf is only popular with SNP members and minority groups who depend on government patronage in return for loud support. And when I say popular, not very. But the powers that be want to arrange it so he wins. Well, you know what Yousaf will deliver.
Forbes seems to be the general population’s preference. Now I don’t care that much for any of them. But if I wanted to pick a tool for a job in a modern democracy, I’d pick the one that the general population at least start out liking. It’s the only tool likely to work.
Think Boris and Brexit. A hideous oaf, but he was the hideous oaf that people were prepared to take a punt on and the Conservatives cynically used him for a purpose.
Kate Fobes has been praised far and wide by the Indy movement for holding to her religious believes, and yet she says Independence is part of her being, if this was the case why hasn’t shown the same determination to Scotland restoration as she shown to her religious views.
I’ve watch this lassie and to be honest she Sturgeon mini me.
Ms little look down at everyone has no vision other than continuing with the same old regime.
The fundamentalist Christian who looks forward to working with the fanatical wokeists. It’s hilarious.
For a day at least Humza can’t be singled out as the ridiculous candidate.
Mia,
The problem is that this is not a choice between political parties or the peoples choice,
This is a internal party exchange of passing the baton which also happens to change our FM of Scotland without our intervention or vote.
link to youtube.com
Kate Forbes and the woke brigade. That would be the the most unlikely political partnership since the Nazi Soviet Pact.
Erin Lux Medical Humanities researcher…that’s all you need to know right there. Essentially, this means studying how medical disciplines are represented or interpreted which means more Foucault, Derrida, Lacan etc.
Constantly surprised by how many pushy North Americans are having a high old time in the Scottish independence movement. Anyone know of any person prominent in the Indy movement from the most interesting country in North America i.e. Mexico.
(by the way if Salma Hayek wants to get involved in distributing leaflets in Greenock I would be more than happy to provide security…)
Liz @ 1:23 pm
“Lorna Slater, Maggie Chapman, what other country would allow people who’ve been here 5 mins to have so much input.”
Much worse is to come unless an ever diminishing number of Scottish fowk reclaim our sovereignty soon, failing which our culture and nation will perish.
There always was only one bona fide pro-independence candidate out of these three – need I say(?) that is Ash Regan. Anybody who is unable or unwilling to see this does not support independence.
“BTW, if you received a communication from ALBA this morning, be sure to drop an email to callum.baird@thenational.scot to make your feelings known”
I will not give The National even another second of my time.
The National is no longer a newspaper, never mind a pro-independence one. It is the SNP’s (Nicola Sturgeon’s) propaganda mouthpiece.
Their readership numbers must be appallingly low because the number of adverts they have is so large that sometimes you can hardly read anything. They are also constantly offering discounts if you take a subscription, so they must be desperate to increase readership.
At a time when Sturgeon, her version of the SNP and the Greens are failing pro-independence supporters and failing miserably, banning Alba and therefore indirectly pushing away Alba voters from their readership is not something that makes business sense at all. It is therefore quite possible this has been an executive decision from above.
Well, they can have it. I will simply delete the National link from my bookmarks and be done with it. I will no lose any sleep from being deprived of their usual pro Green Party, pro GRR and pro-Sturgeon crap.
Incidentally, I see they are also trying to pull a fast one with their readership. One of their headings claims:
“Subscribe to the National for ONE POUND for three months and help us win indyref2”
Their beloved Sturgeon in cahoots with the lady advocate ensured indyref2 will never take place in the foreseeable future, certainly not in the next 3 months, so if this headline does not come across as blatant lying and misleading, what does.
Personally, I think Alba will get far more exposure if they reach an agreement with the current pro-independence bloggers, so they can send their columns to them. The National obviously is desperate to go down with the rest of the unionist papers, so Alba should be happy to assist them in their quest to disappear by denying them the income from their adverts and the clicks of Alba supporters.
The readership of the pro-independence bloggers combined amounts to several times the readership of the National. Judging by the comments in the National newspapers, most of the readership are GRR fanatics and apparatchicks from the Greens and the SNP, anyway, so I do not think it is a great loss for Alba. In fact, I would wear it as a badge of honour and would be sure to mention it at every opportunity as an example of the incestuous relationship between unionism (and I considedr the Greens and Sturgeon’s SNP unionist parties) and the press.
Aye. I don’t trust her. I’ll stick with my original gut instinct. GRR bill no show did it for me. A fkn coward.
She’s probably pulling a Starmer – promise the world to get the top job then row back on everything later.
I said yrs ago Sturgeon was sleepwalking us into an authoritarian state. Silly me, little did I realise it wouldn’t be at WM but enacted through Holyrood by thier loyal serfs.
I don’t get this over the top Americanised buffer zone bullshit either. Anytime I’ve looked it’s two fucking pensioners with a sandwich board. Really? A sledgehammer to crack a nut? Or a way to ban protests all together like AUOB?
Are they so fkn bereft of ideas for parliament? Ban this, ban that, erase this, stop that, rewrite this, hide that..
FFS! Stop! I wanna get off.
Has “Beth” had a firm word with her?
“Face it, anybody still in the SNP is completely a lost cause”
Sad but true. If only…………
None of the candidates are fit to be FM. All of them are paper thin in terms of policy. None will solve any of the social or economic problems we face in Scotland. None of them will create a more equal society and none of them will push us nearer to independence and I think we’ve got to come to the conclusion there’s not a chance of independence happening while the SNP are in the state they’re in right now.
Nor is Alba a solution. They’re seen as toxic by too many people, as are the Greens who’s embrace of Queer Theory and the homophobia and misogyny contained in that has alienated too many people. As has been said by the likes of Stu, there’s no way independence is going to happen when driven by middle class types who really don’t want independence anyhow.
Scotland is in a mess. The SNP are inept and corrupt as much as the opposition parties are, while at the same time they’ve been quietly imposing an increasingly neoliberal agenda covered by the odd socially liberal policy to act as smokescreen. Anyone still supporting the SNP and calling themselves ‘progressive’ is just a liar.
To think we’ve wasted chance after chance of pushing hard for independence because Sturgeon and her acolytes clearly don’t want to lose power, and independence means the SNP is over as a major force. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe Regan or Forbes get elected and come out swinging but nah, not going to happen. We’re going to get Yousaf, it’ll be a bloody disaster and the core of the SNP will tell you it’s wonderful while the country falls apart.
I assume the criteria for membership of In-4-Outy are….
THAT way of talking that makes suicide attractive if heard for longer than 59secs
Kanye levels of megalomaniac delusory conceit
Be virtually unemployable outwith the Queerocracy aka the Scottish In Dependence Industry *
Have the depth & breadth of Real World life experience of a stillborn fruit fly
Have a degree in Narcissism from one of Scotland’s famous Genderversities
* or Trudy’s Tranada
Maybe a Gayngel of the * Lord * appeared to Katydid in a vision and admonished her for her previous heretical , schismatic statements ( which caused such terrible pain to former adults like Lesley Riddoch ) , compelling her to recant , thereby narrowly escaping being burnt at the stake as the kind of witch it’s ok to immolate these days
Debatable Lands @1.42 said: “Forbes seems to be the general population’s preference. Now I don’t care that much for any of them. But if I wanted to pick a tool for a job in a modern democracy, I’d pick the one that the general population at least start out liking. It’s the only tool likely to work.”
This is why, as a Unionist, I think she is the danger. People like her (even in England). Sure, she’s as incompetent as all the others but what do you expect of the SNP? But not only is she liked, she probably chimes with the real views and opinions of most of the sensible adult electorate, not only in Scotland but in the majority population of the UK. Fortunately she is unlikely to get past the tiny SNP only electorate. But if she can reach the world beyond the SNP it would likely be a different matter.
John C
I have my suspicions about those types of ppl who find Alba too toxic.
Have I missed something?
Without NS and AS the SNP are totally lost.
Telegraph heading.
Whom are the handlers of the Snp.
Whom is delighting in the collapse of what was once a good political party in Scotland.
Not just the Telegraph we can be sure of that,
But on one thing I do with them agree on, the infiltrated Snp that have gone rogue in Scotland, they have to go, as long as they work against Scotlands people and favour the Union and Wars.
It has been rather easy to target a specific political party once in office, we can see this with the many set ups that have happened to the SNP since 2014,
The handlers have encompassed and infiltrated many issues into Scotland with political manouvres that Scots would not normally consider in their Old fashioned values of Country and small population,
It would indeed be the greatest gift to these handlers of the SNP, to then trap the independence grassroots movement under one banner, as this is a easier target to control, manipulate and accuse with set up court cases.
One of the independence grassroots movements advantages is that it cannot be controlled as one single target, although this was not for the want of trying by SNP handlers when they tried laying down the rules for people and parties to follow not so long ago,
The advantage that succeeds for the grassroots is not to become incapsulated as a single umbrella group like the SNP,
And to out smart the encouragement we daily receive to join all groups by the handlers and the Snp to one group, with new rules for us to abide by.
Independence of Scotland as a Country relies on people staying attuned to the shenangens of the state of government behind the Snp or the next party selected to govern Scotland by goverment from internal sources funded by whom knows.
We must be aware of why certain people are now pushing for the independence movement to be encapsulated under new governance rules,
Obviously this message will be protested from those with aims and reason to capture all of Scotland in this way.
Politics and parties rounded up under foreign rules through infiltration for the future of Scotland.
It has been a interesting last year or two,
Anyone who expected a fair cut from a globalist media hasn’t been paying attention. Nationalist and globalist are incompatible regardless of what some people will try to tell you, they have an ulterior motive which sees the nationalists either marginalised or literally put against the wall. Globalists weaponise black and brown nationalists, they are to be funded and promoted whilst the racist/white nationalist/supremacist smear is used against anyone who calls this out. Whilst one section of the demographic has Just Be Kind imposed upon it the others have By Any Means Necessary.
Re the woke, there are a number of places which I used to frequent and spent thousands of pounds in which I will no longer set foot in because I will not walk under that flag hanging over their front entrance, you know, the one which keeps having new colours added to it when another way to game the charity sector is discovered. I am/was an avid consumer of music and some of the Arts, the mailouts from the ones I subscribed to look as if they were written by someone at Socialist Worker or Class War.
This is not restricted to Scotland, it is a cultural heist across most of the West, I am a member of some hobby boards which have an, apparently, strict no politics, no religion, no taking sides in a current conflict rule which is completely bypassed if you are Marxist/Globalist, anti Christian, anti white, pro Trans and pro a certain other religion/culture/ethnicity. Gloating at what has happened to the likes of London, Birmingham and Manchester and is currently happening to US cities is allowed to stand by the mods whilst vocally not being in favour of it is a bannable offence. The fix and connection between the mods and certain users is so obvious it is deeply concerning and mirrors what we are seeing happening in our countries. Tolerating this has led us to where we find ourselves now.
An update on the Sturgeon Fanzine the National banning Alba columnists and banning Alex Salmond articles from the paper.
I advise everyone who hasn’t already dropped this Sturgeon loving shitrag to boycott it immediately.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
When a staged chat between two representatives of a couple of third rank powers Macron & Sunak is described as a *summit* you realise the political class, everywhere, has lost it.
The guys who really run planet earth do not do summits, other than that sinister Davos fest, they leave that nonsense to their minions.
“That is precisely Ash’s policy”
And that is wonderful and why I think Ms Reagan is the only and last chance the SNP has left to survive as a pro-independence party.
But there are three important practical things here:
1. for her to succeed in implementing it, the entire party has to accept it as policy, and that includes all the troughers and gravy train riders both in Holryood and Westminster.
For that policy to work, the MPs have to be prepared to exit Westminster at very short notice. Do you see the likes of the pompous Alyn Smith, Blackford, Black, Blackman, Oswald, Nicholson, McDonald etc ungluing themselves from the comforts of Westminster’s seats voluntarily?
I see them resisting and fighting against it with all they got.
Unless Ms REagan can substitute them all in time to the next election by real anti-union ones, she is going to have one hell of a fight on her hands to get them to comply.
2. Every time we see our current MSPs we remember how they betrayed women and children in the altar of perverts maskerading as green policies. In my case, every time I think in my MSP I see the picture of him with that Beth holding a placcard. To cleanse the image of the party, each and every one of those who voted for the GRR must go. This will be difficult to achieve
3. pro-independence voters have been mercilessly tortured for 9 years with STurgeon’s continuous dangling of carrots only to then removing them almost immediately, backtracking on her words and stabbing us in the back at every possible turn.
For many, and I certainly include myself here, trust in the SNP is gone. Personally, I am quite hurt MPs and MSPs indulged Sturgeon for 8 years in her destruction of the party and her sabotaging of the yes movement yet did nothing to challenge her or to stop her. Even now, Forbes has the brass neck of criticising Sturgeon in her approach to delivering independence but then off she goes shamelessly on to offer similar, if not the exact same.
I do no longer trust politicians’ words. I want to see what they promise written in black and white as the manifesto and in the party’s constitution so there is written proof which can be dangled on their noses should they choose to backtrack from it.
I appreciate Ms Reagan has shown a hell of a lot of courage resigning from her ministerial post and going against the leadership in the matter of GRR. It is noted.
She has all my respect and admiration for having stood up to the disgraceful Sturgeon and the corruption Sturgeon represents and sits on. It is not something that can be said for Forbes. She hid behind her baby to avoid comfrontation.
But Ms Reagan has an entire party of troughers and plants to bring to shape and they will offer some hell of a resistance. This may mean her policy may be “tonned down” or even changed over time to bring the whole party as one.
Unfortunately, the biggest damage Sturgeon has done to the SNP voter, at least from my perspective, is the bulldozing of our trust in politicians. It is regrettable that the first SNP person in 9 years who is willing to continue what Mr Salmond started has to undergo intense scrutiny and suffer the devastating consequences of the damage STurgeon has inflicted on the party’s trust. But that is the reality of Sturgeon’s rotten legacy.
Yousaf won’t survive the next GE (which is going to be a massacre for the SNP, they’ll lose 15-20 seats for sure) if he becomes FM. He’ll be gone inside 18 months because all he’s ever been (or will be) is someone else’s puppet;
Forbes is too young. She’s undoubtably clever/competent but she has no real experience and isn’t going to be able to hold the SNP together through the shitstorm that’s coming even if the payroll vote for her, which seems unlikely. Gone inside 3 years at most;
Regan is the great unknown. Talks the talk on indy, seems to despise the payroll (so will dispense with the worst of them ASAP) but who knows?
Unionists want Yousaf. Their second preference is Forbes. Third is Regan. Make of that what you will.
Ultimately it isn’t going to make much of a difference because when the shitstorm regarding £600k indyfund, Salmond conspiracy and the Murrells “marriage of convenience” (along with other legal matters we can’t currently talk about) breaks then the SNP aren’t going to be ScotGov anymore because people simply won’t turn out and vote for them. They may not vote for Alba/other parties but they’ll be done with the SNP for the short/medium term.
“In the event of Ash Regan becoming leader will you vote for the SNP in the next election?”
Are you expecting them to stand a candidate in Bath?
“Except all three candidates oppose “conversion therapy ””
In that link Ash Regan said she supports the principle of banning conversion therapy, but specifically said she wasn’t referring to the bill proposed by the working group the Scottish Government hired, so one would hope she meant something sensible. (It’s still a bit worrying, but I suspect it’d turn out to be a very low priority.)
She also wasn’t dumb enough to raise it unprompted at the hustings.
Anyone have the background on Forbes’ assertion that her family founded SNP in the Highlands “the farm owning uncles”?
I never did reckon Kate Forbes was the right choice for leader of the SNP. Ash Regan is the only one of the three that I would even consider voting for – only not in the SNP.
Prediction: No matter who is installed as leader it’s game over for the SNP.
1. Forbes wins the wokeratti and greens create merry fuck split will mean no SNP government game over.
2. Reagan wins ( see point 1)
3.Useless wins SNP enter purgatorial state til next GE (he will never win a GE for SNP.
I’m all for another Scottish GE, I am pretty sure HR would take on a whole new look for the better.
If they pull a Corbyn to Ash isn’t that automatic expulsion from the party & would that result in an instant election?
Apologies in advance, I’m not well versed on Holyrood procedure.
I think Sturgeon would love Holyrood closed. Especially if she thought Alex Salmond & Alba would get in.
Is Kate Forbes talking about hate speech generally or the dreadful and deeply flawed SNP Hate Crime Bill? Is she talking about ACTUAL conversion therapy here or the proposed SNP legislation (which amounts to a manically-Pro-Conversion-with-no-way-back bill)? I am not actually sure from the clip.
Everyone probably would agree that ACTUAL hate speech and ACTUAL conversion therapy are bad. So is Forbes just agreeing with that… or is she specifically backing the SNP’s Hate bill and the completely misnamed Conversion ‘ban’ insanity? Was that clear from watching more?
As Wings summarizes very well, under this incredibly odious conversion ‘ban’ plan the only solution for a confused young person is ‘trans’, is conversion, and anyone who says otherwise is literally criminalized.
It looks like in an effort to appeal to as broad a base as possible Kate Forbes is in real danger of becoming mealy-mouthed and Humza-like. You can’t run with the Fox AND hunt with Hounds Kate.
I’d taken it as a given Forbes (with her beliefs) would see what an abomination this proposed Conversion promotion legislation is. (I am not calling it a fucking ‘ban’ when it amounts to the opposite and then some…) But maybe that assumption was false.
Maybe her experiences talking about gay marriage have made her gun-shy and scared to say now what she really believes… which would be very sad if true, watching her slowly morph into a Humza clone in front of our eyes… reminds me of that film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.
Kate Forbes needs to step off the fence and start clarifying these things otherwise you have to start assuming the worst, given the lack of evidence for anything else.
If Forbes really is for the proposed SNP Conversion bill as it stands then she is as mental as the rest of the woke fudz in the SNP. Game over for me too.
But is she?
I’m in total agreement with your sentiments Mia@2.48
Stuart MacKay @1:11pm,
The SS Independence has been on the rocks for 8 years.
Yousaf and Forbes will continue asking the rocks for help while Regan wants a tugboat and a salvage crew.
It’s bewildering that any pro independence SNP members can’t see this or perhaps there just isn’t that many in the party anymore.
O/T re. The National
Having stewed for most of the day about Sturgeon’s fanzine’s treatment of Alba, I’ve decided to expedite it’s spiral of decline to oblivion by adopting a tactic I’ve previously seen used by Yoons – placing a copy of a.n.other newspaper on top of the pile of Nationals in my local newspaper outlet.
The National, presumably on behalf of their chums in the SNP/Scot Greens woke-alliance, appear to have taken a stance towards Alba that “if you’re not with us, you’re against us”.
Newsflash b1tches! Two can play at that game! There now sits a copy of the Daily Redcoat atop the 4 copies of The National in my local co-op. Guess they’ll be going back to the depot at 10pm.
GIRFUY @TheNational
“Whom are the handlers of the Snp.
Whom is delighting in the collapse of what was once a good political party in Scotland”.
Sorry to a pedant James – but it is just too annoying for me.
Whom is used instead of ‘who’ as the object of a verb or preposition.
e.g.’To whom should I give this cake?”
In each case above “Whom” should be “Who” – since they are not objects of the sentences in which they are used.
With these grammatical skills you could get a job with the National!
Otherwise I have a great deal of time for much of your commentary.
Of course Erin was able to get a ticket to the hustings… Just like every other extremist loony tune tra nutter. Unlike any “rank and file” snp members who weren’t even aware they were going to be held. Of course she was. There is no suggestion of stuffing the audiences! No suggestion at all! How many has he/she/it been able to get? Is jack/Beth alongside in the queue?
“ Wings has backed Ash Regan in the SNP leadership election”
=============
I have backed Ash to the tune of £20 at 25/1 against. But her odds on the a Betfair exchange have scarcely moved in the past two weeks.
The unfortunate truth is: she has NO chance.
So, Wings, please advise readers with a vote which alternative is the lesser evil: Yousaf or Forbes?
Alf Baird.
The devolved governance into Scotland and the Scotland act is run under Englands interpretation “Westminsters” self-proclaimed Sovereignty,
There has been no legislation or statues made for Westminster to “claim” that authority.
And as far as I can understand this is a growing issue that includes prince Charles, south of the border.
With this aid of a second Westminster branch office parliament legislated into Scotland do we not except ( (that) their sovereignty over Scots.
The problem of Scots losing or retaining their culture and Sovereignty stems from the Scotland Act and the legislation that created the devolved parliament into Scotland.
Quite often here in Scotland, we look at the wrong end of problem. Rather than the cause.
If Scots want Sovereignty I would not suggest going against the government that is here, for it would end in disaster for the people,
But rather to be creative in how the people of Scotland recognise in-depth Scots Law. And hold groups that can refute imposition of laws from outside our country.
One of these issues is the holding together of the union.
Unionist are big on “we must abide by the treaty of union, its articles and the only written constitutions ” it created for the new GB parliament.
In that written Constitution are two main issues, The “Bill of Rights” for England.
And the “Claim of Right” for Scotland.
Westminster parliament can not presume to alter by a “new interpretation” the written law of Scotland the “Claim of Right” made prior in Scotland and included as legally ratified and accepted in the written treaty of the union.
The bone of contention here, is that Westminster has presumed that the “Claim of Right” means members of Westminster parliament. That the members of the old Scottish parliament took it with them.
However when the “Claim of Right” was written it was for The 1707 Scottish parliament members and the people of Scotland prior to joining the treaty of union,
The Scottish parliament members Sine Die’d the old Scottish parliament in 1707, thus the “Claim of Right” is not Transferable after that date.
The “Claim of Right” has not been open to members of the Scottish parliament since 1707; hence nor to Westminster.
The debate lies with there being a Die’d Scottish parliament. And members.
This was not a Scottish parliament that closed due to the treaty of the union, but voluntary closed in Scotland under “Sine Die” (in Scotland) without Englands Westminster parliament being legally able to choose to close Scotlands parliament.
The state of Scotlands old parliament is under voluntary suspension in Scotland along with the “Claim of Right”
The treaty of union did not supersede the “Claim of Right” , nor could the Westminster parliament legally close the Scottish parliament,
And records show it did not precede the Scottish parliament of 1707 voluntary closing it parliament under “Sine Die”
The Voluntary suspension in Scotland under Scots law of the Scottish parliament in 1707 must have the ability to reopen, as it was not the Westminster parliament or the treaty of union that closed it.
The Claim of Right” for Scots therefore still sits in the old 1707 Scottish parliament, and the Scots today, as it was not transferable from a closed Sine die’d parliament into a union of parliaments that no matter how unionists may try to explain could not have taken place.
Bad as the above intervention of Erin Lux is, I’m afraid her professional profile reveals much worse and potential to do substantial harm to Scotland’s children.
Apparently, she is an ‘academic’ at something called:
Centre For Excellence For Children’S Care And Protection at Strathclyde University.
Below is the title of just one of her outputs (no doubt funded by the Scottish Government)
Development of Children’s Care Services in Scotland: Executive Summary
Andrew Kendrick, Erin Lux, Sharon McGregor, Richard Withington
Centre For Excellence For Children’S Care And ProtectionInstitute For Inspiring Children’s Futures
Research output: Book/Report › Commissioned report
link to pureportal.strath.ac.uk
Apparently the “Centre for Children’s Care and Protection” is not some kind of post-modern ironic title!
Who says Canadian academics have no sense of humour!
“or perhaps there just isn’t that many in the party anymore”
That is the main concern. How many of the “official” membership are ghost members (MI5/British state sponsored), ex-members or donors not removed from the database?
Should Ash win, how feasible would be for her, with the current crop of troughers and careerists in high party positions, to bring them all to heel?
How likely would be for the troughers to successfully go full on labour and do a number on her like the Blairites did on Corbyn?
I would say quite likely because they would have the blessing from the crown and the British establishment at large, including its political arms.
My hope is that, if she does not win the leadership contest or if she wins and the troughers do a number on her, the remaining pro-independence people in the SNP will abandon it for good and join Alba.
The main problem in the short term is the electorate though. There is always a delay between what is happening in the party and the electorate catching up on it.
Kind of fed up with the ongoing shallow cult of personality and wish there was a bit less focus on the leadership candidates’ personal views, and a bit more in depth analysis on what groups and / or advisors they are aligned with to help shape and develop policies that would better serve our country’s needs.
That’s because there is just no way one individual can be an expert in all matters such as economics, health, energy, farming, transport, etc.
Having a new leader in place is one thing, but whom they listen to for advice and are influenced by is a major factor in how they will perform.
We’ve seen far too much bad policy attempted to be rolled which was borne from outwith our own borders, rather than formed from the democratically expressed will and requirements of our own Scottish society.
I know Ash Regan has worked for Common Weal in the past, and Robin McAlpine is someone that she seems to respect and listen to. But what of Forbes and Yousaf, are they just going to be ongoing Charlotte Street Partners aligned puppets.
After reading the last article highlighting the wit of some of the members who are voting and supposedly deciding the new Party leader, they didn’t come across as particularly with it so it raises the question of whether they having much of a clue about other stuff like the ScotWind auctions, or implementation of Freeports. Because if those voting members were more alert to the reality of how these matters will impact Scottish society, you’d think they would have a bit more conviction and determination to choose a leader who would form a team to better serve Scotland’s needs over that of the sellouts we currently have.
So aye, a leader is a focal point, but please let’s have a much needed different type of leadership skillset compared to what we had with the outgoing self promoting she / her selfie yin.
Spoke to a SNP member member and a very ardent Yes activist earlier today and it just left me worried and depressed.
Based on their activism in 2014 they should be someone who would go for Regan. However they are now so wedded to the ideas of left of centre progressive politics and gender WooWoo that they can’t stand Forbes and thinks Yousef is the only game in town.
Despite explaining about the missing funds and a few of the other rumours swirling about they still can’t see past Yousef. If an otherwise intelligent, rational Independence to the core person like that is voting Yousef I think it might be too late then Regan doesn’t stand a chance.
After that conversation I firmly expect Yousef will win as the Gender WooWoo has rotted the party to the core and the only way forward for Independence is that the SNP split apart. Hate to say it but the SNP need to be booted out at the next election.
Garavelli Princip – thumbs up!
Who did what to whom?
If Regan disnae win it’s has to be Alba all the way. Nae mair nose-haudin votes for SNP unionists.
Rev Stu,
Slightly ot
In the Scottish Daily Fail today lovely pic centre of pages 8 / 9 of a SNP male inappropriately having cuddles with a he/she they it??
Surely grounds for a Police investigation and charges of inappropriate behaviour??
Oh That’s only if you are a former FM who could be a threat to the establishment.
Not a chosen SNP stooge yoonionist AKA Humza
Karma is such a IT!
Garavelli princep.
We have not all come through a good education system, especially with the way dyslexia was treated in my day and time, you were sent to stand in the corridor, or to the headmaster for the cane or strap, it was not understood,
and your education apparently shows your own ignorance in learning on on this matter, not mine.
However our thoughts are our own,
They stand the test of time for not having been thrashed out of me.
An intelligent person educated or not, would approach the conversation subjects as the issue, not make a personal attack on persons unfortunate strict education that lacked insight by the educators.
K Forbes, if she wins, might come in useful for pressure-hosing the woke and politically-backward to the edges or even right out of the party, after that, in terms of pursuing ambitious, radical policies, I doubt if a person of her background and education has it in them to do so. As for her over-lauded competence: how long’s that she’s been at finance now?
Anton Decadent.
It is always interesting to hear views from other Countries especially around the subjects and legalities of that, happening as world wide events.
It bring some perspective.
@Anton Decadent
Keep driving it home (re. bigger picture).
MIA 3:58
To what extent has the «national movement» been penetrated?
That the intelligence services would undertake such subversion is obvious given Britain’s colonialist history. Scotland’s territorial importance to the integrity and security of the British State renders political «meddling» a necessity.
The end of the UK would signal the termination of England’s pretensions, hubris, conceits, empire’s last yelp.
Frustrate their navish tricks.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush
Rebellious Scots to crush!
God save the King!
Tbh with all the pro Humza hostage videos all over twitter, I’m glad the campaign is weeks rather than months.
If he wins, the SNP is dead in the water.
So much wasted time and energy.
The only good thing about Lab increasing in popularity, the troughers will jump ship and join them.
The SNP must never again allow careerists to take all the posts.
@WhoRattledYourCage
The latest state of play on the Hate Crime Bill is Polis Scotland have asked and been granted more time to figure out how they are actually going to implement it without anyone who has been annoyed on social media reporting it as a hate crime.
A laudable aim I’m sure you will agree but I’m not sure it is achievable with the bill as written as aggrieved online punters will be able to accuse them of not following the law.
So as it stands the terrible bill has not been implemented yet. May it continue to rot in purgatory and Ash Regan gain election as leader so we can pretend it was never passed, like the GRR.
O/T.
“Constitutionally and in law Ash Regan is correct. No referendum is needed. There was not a referendum to create the British political union parliament, nor a convention. All that is needed as follows;
(1) Withdraw all (enough for a majority vote) Scottish MP’s from Westminster (and lords).
(2) Reconvene Holyrood as a Scottish parliament not a devolved parliament or EU assembly and simple vote on Voiding the Act of Union with England, if majority go to step 3.
(3) As Holyrood parliament is a court in its own right, VOID (not repeal) the Act of union with England.
(4) Inform the UN of Scotland’s Independence and sovereign status as per UN primary international human right – Self Determination.
The political union with England has now ended.
Part 2 is optional and needs a constitutional convention – remove the monarchy and establish a republic.”
Courtesy of Peter A. Bell.
“You ask what I will do to advance and extend LBTG rights. Well, the answer is: nothing. LBTQ people share the same rights as other members of society at large. On my reading of the situation, no extensions are necessary and, while I will, of course, remain open to coherent evidence-based arguments or proposals, I have yet to encounter any. The raisons d’etre of the SNP are, first and foremost, to govern the country effectively and, a close second, and gain independence, not to attempt to engineer society in a way that does have the support of the general public.”
Wouldn’t that have been refreshing?
I think KF is both intelligent and well-educated but (and I speculate) her relative youth and her background perhaps militate against the assertiveness required to tell the single-issue fanatics where to get off.
.
Hi PhilM,
You raise an interesting point when you mention the large number of pushy North American’s that are having a high old time over here in the Scottish Independence movement.
Phil, I think you have hit on a very important point.
One of several friends in America advised me that they are getting rid of the toxic-trans infestation.
The startling thing is, my friend is lesbian inclined and from Los Angeles. She is really pissed off. These pushy trans people have at their American core a disturbingly high number of “Minor Attracted Persons”.
My friend has found abuse against her and her circle of friends has INCREASED BECAUSE OF THE PUSHY TRANS CULT and these p3do school invaders.
Apparently the “Minor Attracted Person” pervs are emulating rats leaving the States where p3dos get a VERY BAD time in correctional institutes (Yankee Jails).
I have no doubt, after Stuart Campbell wrote his masterpiece on Pickle_Bee and her “7 inch surprise” in her knickers, along with the horrendous 5hitstorm of deviancy infesting the NuSNP, the word is slowly coming out. These deviants from the States and Canada are going to push too hard, too far to the point they get another bums-rush and turfed out of Scotland, New Zealand, Holland and the rest of small countries infested by these parasitic YankWnks.
Back on topic, is it just me, or has anyone else tried to compare any of the triumvirate of FM job applicant losers, to the true, genuine, towering statesman who was the greatest First Minister Scotland ever had: The Rt. Hon. Alex Salmond?
IMHO the best result is for hapless joke, the minister for wrecking departments, Humza Yousaf to be “elected” First Minister” for a few months so his mum and dad can boast aboot their doctor son, Sir Humza, Lord Yousaf becoming king of Scotland.
Then the NuSNP will be VOTED OUT OF OFFICE FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
That is probably why yellow-spine Callum Baird is banning the Alba Party.
For those in the NuSNP with the memory of a Twitter goldfish, the OldSNP had around 5 MPs in Westminster (plus or minus a handful) for 30 years.
Then we had that ALL TOO BRIEF 56 SNP MP MOMENT.
Just before we realised the troughers we sent to Westminster to SETTLE-UP went on to be addicted to short money, personal pensions and riches of that lifestyle and to SETTLE DOWN in London.
The point?
NuSNP will go from 50 MPs back down to 5 NuSNP MPs in just one disastrous election cycle.
PhilM’s quote: link to wingsoverscotland.com
With Clapstain TransBeth and it’s ilk influencing all three candidates for the FM job, it is only a matter of time before the whole NuSNP implodes forever.
“James Che says:
9 March, 2023 at 4:23 pm
“Garavelli princep.
“We have not all come through a good education system, especially with the way dyslexia was treated in my day and time, you were sent to stand in the corridor, or to the headmaster for the cane or strap, it was not understood”.
Sorry James, I wasn’t trying to be unkind. I am sorry. My comment was insensitive.
I had hoped that it was gently instructive (I used to work in education). This is not a good medium for that. Sorry!
To be fair James, a lack of grammar is not confined to those with dyslexia – hence my joke about the National. It seems that schools stopped teaching it about 50 years ago – and hence a large proportion of the population have no clue how to write a grammatical sentence.
Actually – I had grammar literally belted into me in the 1950s and 60s.
The who/whom thing is just a bugbear of mine – drives me mad.
Don’t let the gripes of an old fart stop you making your insightful contributions to our debate.
Mia,
This is the issue now for the SNP party,
The voters are fully aware that manipulation and infiltration is the new politics in Scotland, not only in the SNP party, but within the Scottish government itself.
The problem for people in Scotland, knowing this is taking place in the devolved Scottish parliament,
Where do we go from the corruption of infiltrated devolved government and its political parties?
Even if we vote, GCHR decide which of our votes go through as valid with the aid of the SNP.
This overseeing of selecting our votes, can only be impoverished further by postal votes and digital voting from afar.
Ha! Ha! Ha!
The question was for everyone with a vote.
Let me rephrase the question just for you.
If you had a vote would you vote for the SNP if Ash Regan becomes the new leader?
Republicofscotland says:
“I never for one minute thought Forbes would make a better FM than Yousaf, in my opinion nothing much will change if any of these two get their arses into Bute House.
Only Ash Regan has a sound and viable plan for independence, only Ash Regan stands up and tells it like it is with regards to the GRRB, if Regan doesn’t win, I think the SNP will be a lost cause for a long time, Alba will be the way forward.”
100% agree with all of that. It is simple common sense and If you understand the government accounts and economics Forbes would get 0/10.
Forbes would simply hand us off to Brussels and because we have a PR parliament we would be trapped forever. Under their neo colonial treaties and spending and debt rules.
Anyone who thinks that is independence are completely bonkers or brainwashed within an inch of their lives.
robertkknight
The National and the SNP are both riding the same ticket Independence, but neither the Rag or the SNP want it. So why would they want Alex Salmond putting his oar into any debate, when he’s the only man to have ever delivered a referendum on Independence and has criticized the SNP for making no progress and wasting opportunities missed for Scotland since he left office.
I’ve said this for years the Rag is no friend to Indy or to any Pro-Indy parties who support it other than the New SNP. The Rag is only playing two side of the same coin for money.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Scotland being Independent doesn’t benefit the New SNP MPs, MSPs or Councillors and it doesn’t benefit the Rag either, there is a lot of people making a lot of money saying Independence, but in fact don’t ever want.
Garavelli princep.
There was no need to apologise, but thank you any way for your kind considerations on this topic, much appreciated.
It is a constant battle to try re-phrase every word in every line in conversation to make it make sense for others to read that are not dyslexic,
in those attempts often whole sentences alter from their original context, which in turn changes where abbreviation,s, full stops, commers, capital letters etc become misplaced, along and within with the sentence.
By the third or forth attempt I am just as confused as those whom suffer reading it.
We bang on about modern changes to education, by that I mean ( the three R’s ) but some things are for the better, when we realise how many children used to be treated with cruelty and violence within the class room and demeaned in front of the class, because of ignorance of the educator, not the child.
However it goes further than knowing your ABCs,
I am quite badly colour blind, and again used to be sent to the headmasters to get the strap or cane or stood in a corridor for colouring in the wrong colours on the school class room mural or for the wrong colours on the geography map.
Boys were recognised as having colour blindness in those days, but it was still a new phenomenom to recognise girls or women as also having the ability to be colour blind.
So as I spent most of my educational life outside the Class room getting thrashed, or abandoned in a corridor it is wonder I am able to communicate at all,
My sister and niece are both qualified and now help children in the education system for dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
That is why I do not give up on Scotland being independent as a Country, we can and must do better for our children and grandchildren,
I keep going against all the odds.
We must not give up on ourselves, our children’s safety, women’s safe spaces, a better fairer legal system, a good education, a brighter future in Scotland for all mankind.
Do not give up, we can make the change thats needed,
What Scotland Thinks
@WhatScotsThink
Who would make a good/bad FM in
@IpsosScotland
polling.
All voters
Forbes:
16.2: 31/18 (+13)
6-7.3: 35/27 (+8)
Yousaf:
16.2: 20/37 (-17)
6-7.3: 29/36 (-7)
2019 SNP voters
Forbes:
16.2: 44/13 (+31)
6-7.3: 40/28 (+12)
Yousaf:
6.2: 29/23 (+6)
6-7.3: 46/22 (+24)
didnt have ash
@Garavelli Princip says:9 March, 2023 at 5:02 pm
I used to work in education
Yeah. Right.
Actually – I had grammar literally belted into me
Really? Did you not have the use of pointless and unnecessary words such as “actually” and “literally” belted out of you, then?
Garavelli princep.
I went back and re read a few times your national comment, and realise how funny it was:-)
How and Why are Scots, REAL SCOTS , INDIGENOUS SCOTS having to suffer the imposition of these lunatic policies and perversions being forcibly pushed upon an electorate that has been proven to show huge opposition to this deviant behaviour
Is Tranada and America exporting all the super woke evangelists to Scotland, HTAF have they managed to GAIN so much power and authority over NORMAL PEOPLE, is this a direct result of kindness and empathy towards others or has WHEESHT for INDY been taken over by WHEESHT FOR TRANS or WHEESHT for LGBTQ+
For such a miniscule part of the population to hold such POWER over the politicians , governments , political parties, our police forces , our judicial system ,judges and lawyers ,the establishment, is incredulous, how has it gotten so far , and when you have a politician vying and fighting for the leadership of not only a political party but the ESTEEMED LEADERSHIP of our country Scotland OPENLY and publicly not only CAVING IN to unspoken demands she is blatantly illustrating that her integrity and beliefs are FOR SALE, the only question now is the PRICE
I look forward to the total destruction and annihilation of the NUSNP, IMO ALBA had better become more aggressive and honest in pointing out this POISON to the electorate or the unionists will capitalise on it
James Che says:
9 March, 2023 at 5:02 pm
“Mia,
This is the issue now for the SNP party,
The voters are fully aware that manipulation and infiltration is the new politics in Scotland, not only in the SNP party, but within the Scottish government itself.”
0ver 60% don’t realise that manipulation and infiltration is due to the liberal left and EU uber alles brigade. The growth commission was a love letter to Brussels and a copy and paste job of an EU convergence program. Forbes is no different to Tony Blair’s new Labour movement. Which was rejected by the Scottish voters big time. Why the SNP became so popular as they lied and promised a move to the left as Labour moved right and closer to neoliberal globalist Brussels. The move to the left never came.
A scene of desolation: local authorities starved of funds, public services in meltdown, workers on strike against falling pay, a country for sale to international monopolies. Is what we got instead.
All cheered on by Forbes.
link to conter.scot
Over 60% of the population are stupid enough to believe This is going to save them.
link to en.m.wikipedia.org
Ask any halfwit why they support the spending rule that deficits shouldn’t be above 3% of GDP. Rather than 5% or 7% or any number you pluck out of the sky. They’ll look at you like Homer Simpson. The majority of them don’t even know what a deficit represents. As they have been potty trained from the age of 5 to believe it is like the deficit in the own household finances. That’s how stupid they are. You see them at every husting.
@Gordon Gekko says:9 March, 2023 at 5:44 pm
Forbes would simply hand us off to Brussels
That’s a good point, and may even be true.
I have been intrigued at the lack of interest in the three candidate’s views on the EU. I am assuming that the Continuity Incompetence candidate agrees with SNP Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson, who stated in January that any vote for Indy will automatically be a vote to join the EU, and thus no further democratic mandate will be needed.
So that just leaves Regan. Is she too assuming that Indy will simply be the transfer of control from London to Brussels? A bigger trough to get the snouts into? Better expenses and pensions but still the familiar and comfortable insulation from consequences that comes when others are calling the shots?
Surely I can’t be the only one who wants to know.
“Now more than ever, it’s plain that there’s only one candidate available who can save the SNP and the Yes movement from complete destruction.”
Regan is making the best noises for independence, but the SNP is beyond being saved.
If she gets elected, she will be in a tiny minority against the SNP MPs and MSPs and party officials who are very comfortable in their positions and will hinder her in every move she tries to make towards independence.
The only way to shake and hopefully destroy the current rotten to the core SNP is for Regan and any others who genuinely support independence to resign from the SNP and join ALBA.
If she stays in the SNP after Yousaf has been “elected” leader, she will have no credibility left, IMHO.
Cherry has ZERO credibility IMHO.
What Yousaf and Forbes are offering ( The EU uber alles brigade ) is nothing new. It’s been around for hundreds of years.
link to moneyontheleft.org
The problem is the majority of Scots are hypnotised by it. Potty trained from the age of 5 in education camps to accept it.
Ash is the only hope for offering something different to TINA. Thatcher’s “there is no alternative.”
:-). Me too!
link to youtube.com
link to youtube.com
Matt says:
““Face it, anybody still in the SNP is completely a lost cause”
Sad but true. If only…………”
That’s a baseless, sweeping assumption. I’m still in as my MP is Joanna Cherry and I don’t want her to be deselected, she’s a damned fine MP. A bonus is that I now get to vote for Ash in the leadership election, so I can actually help get Youseless dumped.
I don’t vote SNP for Holyrood and I joined Alba (yes I know that can get me kicked out of the SNP) as that’s where my heart lies.
So please don’t tar all SNP members with the same brush.
Ruby says:
9 March, 2023 at 12:54 pm
“In the event of Ash Regan becoming leader will you vote for the SNP in the next election?”
You have posted hundreds of comments here but you don’t know that the Rev. Stuart Campbell lives in Bath (England)?
Forget the next election, who was insisting on voting for the SNP in the last election despite the Rev. Stuart Campbell advice against it?
I agree with that. Ash Regan is in the wrong party.
Pity you didn’t have being such a ‘smart arse’ belted out of you?
John Main says:
@Gordon Gekko says:9 March, 2023 at 5:44 pm
It needs to be brought up in the Hustings that’s for sure. So we all know where we stand.
Forbes spends more time in Brussels than visiting her family. Getting her orders before she sets her Scottish budgets To meet the EU austerity criteria so that you can join.
Privatising and asset stripping anything that isn’t nailed down to pass the ECJ court rulings on competition and free market tooth fairy rules. To hand over everything to the rent seekers from which to extract rent.
The Skye Bridge economic model. Whenever we get a tax cut or a pay rise the rent seekers will just rig the prices between themselves and take all of it. Any increase in our disposable income will simply be transferred to them. As they work out how much they can take off us when we get a tax cut or a pay rise.
Like walking down the high street in the 80’s with Burton, Top shop, Dorothy perkins, Top man and radio rental all owned by the same monopoly Consortium. An illusion of choice and competition say on a perch from which to charge us what they like.
During covid if you were paying attention these rent seekers were screaming for handouts. As high streets were empty. You saw what consortiums owned what on our high streets.
The IPSO public consultation on its draft guidance on the reporting of sex and gender identity is closing tomorrow, Friday 10 March, so if anyone wants to respond but hasn’t it’s still open for comments.
You can get to the consultation via the links in Stu’s article ‘A Chance To Begin Again’ from 10 February
link to wingsoverscotland.com
March, 2023 at 1:27 pm
“In the event of Ash Regan becoming leader will you vote for the SNP in the next election?”
It depends:
a. on the manifesto
I want to see an explicit and unchallengeable commitment that a win in that (any) election is a mandate to end the union within a reasonable time frame (months, not years) with no caveats or small print. I will not fall for a mandate to ask permission to anybody, but a mandate to immediately withdraw Scotland’s MPs from Westminter, to communicate to the crown and England the Treaty of Union is going to be repealed and to initiate proceedings with the UN for arbitration to dissolve the treaty of union in anticipation of the crown’s and England’s refusal to cooperate. I will not fall for any wishy-washy referendum/permission/procrastination crap.
b. on whom I would be endorsing with my vote.
I will not endorse ever again neither my current MP or MSP. Both are troughers who did nothing to progress independence and did nothing to curtail the abuse inflicted by Sturgeon. One of them even voted to endorse paedophiles, perverts and rapists against the rights and safety of women and children. Ms Reagan would have to completely revamp the list of candidates and select credible anti-union and anti perverts/rapists/paedophile ones instead.
c. Available alternatives
if there is any other more credible anti-union party with a candidate in my ward they will have preference over the SNP. At this moment in time, I am of the opinion the SNP is totally compromised, totally infiltrated and beyond redemption, therefore a vote for the SNP is a wasted vote which will be used to endorse the union, perverts, paedophiles and rapists, and more squandering of Scotland’s resources.
Therefore if there is an Alba/ISP candidate on a similar manifesto to my ideal one they will get preference to my vote before the SNP. In my eyes the SNP is tinted by association – hundreds of MPs + MSPs simply sat and watch for 8 years while STurgeon butchered the party, Scotland’s sovereign rights and assets and did nothing to stop her.
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
9 March, 2023 at 1:31 pm
“I want to see an explicit and unchallengeable commitment that a win in that (any) election is a mandate to end the union within a reasonable time frame (months, not years) with no caveats or small print. I will not fall for a mandate to ask permission to anybody, but a mandate to immediately withdraw Scotland’s MPs from Westminter, to communicate to the crown and England the Treaty of Union is going to be repealed and to initiate proceedings with the UN for arbitration to dissolve the treaty of union”
That is precisely Ash’s policy.
This will never happen, because it is illegal. Westminster would disregard it, or bring a case at ECHR. The UN would never stray into such a shitstorm, because it has no remit, wouldn’t or couldn’t enforce illegality, and recognises that to try to do so would be indefensible and precedent setting. Do you think the EU would support a presumptive applicant who demonstrates a complete contempt for the rule of law? Mia, the original poster, is unhinged, and Regan too, if this is her idea of cementing Scotland ‘s future status as a nation with whom others could do business. Grow up.
“I used to work in education
Yeah. Right.
Actually – I had grammar literally belted into me
Really? Did you not have the use of pointless and unnecessary words such as “actually” and “literally” belted out of you, then”
===========================
Poor John Main. Always superior. Doesn’t understand the difference between grammatical infelicities and literary style – and that people frequently introduce redundancy for stylistic effect in more conversational writing – as say – in a blog.
But you are right – grammar wasn’t literally belted into me – it’s what is called a figure of speech!
I guess as a mere scientist I can’t come close to his superior linguistic acumen.
I guess the people who awarded me a PhD (albeit some 40 odd years ago) and later appointed me a professor didn’t have Main’s intellectual wherewithal.
But I guess I can live with that.
Republicofscotland @ 4:48 pm
“Constitutionally and in law Ash Regan is correct. No referendum is needed.”
All it takes is a wee bit courage. Ash Regan is rightly seeking to rectify the SNP’s deceit, whilst Yousaf and Forbes continue that deceit:
In 2019 81 per cent of Scotland’s elected MP’s claimed to support independence, compared with just 61 per cent who voted to pass the Act of Union on 16th January 1707. But they took their seats in Westminster. In 2015 the SNP won 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats (95 per cent) yet these supposed Scottish nationalists also turned up at Westminster, preferring to give their continued consent to the UK union rather than exercising and asserting Scottish sovereignty.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
It was a disappointing moment. She had started to come over as very confident and very professional in person. Now I’m a bit depressed. She left kind of quick at the end too. I wished Ash well as did a few others.
Lee Floyd:
“Do you think the EU would support a presumptive applicant who demonstrates a complete contempt for the rule of law?”
Of course it has down it a million times already in its history.
“Do you think the EU would support a presumptive applicant who demonstrates a complete contempt of the American rules based order ?”
History helps to answer that question.
link to lrb.co.uk
Speaking as a Unionist I’m greatly enjoying this contest.
@Garavelli Princip says:9 March, 2023 at 6:52 pm
Soz, I must be getting you confused with the other Garavelli Princip on here.
The one who, just 2 days ago, posted an ungrammatical, lazy and abusive insult.
Pity you missed his/her post. You could have used your PhD, your stylistic effects and your scientific knowledge to make him/her feel really small and sorry.
Torn him/her a new one in fact.
Oh well, maybes next time, eh?
Westminster has just passed a law stating the wearing of tartan is to be banned – again. The SNP has replied saying anyone even considering breaking such an understandable ban needs to grow up because only grown ups have the wisdom and maturity to submit to such a glorious law.
How very very dare anyone for breaking Westminster law.
Jocks! Know your place!
Ash is our only hope along with Alba.
Stu has backed the right runner and rider.
Why ?
Why is Stu right again ?
I could give you a 100 examples but under Yousef or Forbes this is EXACTLY what happens. I mean no ifs, buts or maybe ‘s.
This is Scotland’s future if we get what THEY call independence. I could have used any EU country but decided on Portugal to show what Our future would look like.
Portugal demonstrates the myopia of the Eurozone’s fiscal rules.
link to billmitchell.org
The flexibility experiment in Portugal has failed
link to billmitchell.org
That’s what happens to us under Forbes and Yousef. No doubt about it. It is their laws.
Cats’ Eyes Kate is too compliant while occupying the middle-of-the-road. Humza is Nicola Sturgeon in low heels and only Ash Regan has a grasp of what is at stake.
What is it with these Tranadians over here. Who do they think they are? Parasitism is not a good look, ladies. Why is everyone so afraid of them. What we need is a full frontal refusal to bend the knee to this bilge.
I burst out laughing this morning when I read that Keith Brown wants to introduce five – yes, FIVE – new pieces of legislation to combat misogyny. The SNP is drowning us in swathes of legislation, most of it dead duck material. What is wrong with the Common Law Breach of the Peace. It is so flexible, it can suck its own toes backwards. How difficult would it have been to scrap the hated HCA and the loathed GRRB, and extended Breach of the Peace? It is not as if they even mean to try and tackle misogyny. What they want to do is incorporate TWAW in something they maintain is solely for females. Ay, right! Had the GRRB passed into law, this new legislation would have been utterly useless, as Stonewall and its lies have rendered the exception of biological sex almost redundant, while handing over all our rights to men in frocks – larpers, whom they KNOW are larpers and sex-driven, porn-addled MEN.
The more I listen to the leadership debates, the more I believe that the SNP needs a complete hosing down and disinfecting programme to be underway now. Get all these insane and lobotomised adult children out of the party, and let them take the odious Greens with them. If I hear one other person simper in a baby voice: “but we have so much talent in the SNP”, I’ll have to be restrained. No, what you have in the SNP are a confederation of foot-draggers, troughers, sanctimonious larpers, fetish enablers, woman haters, the deranged, and unmitigated idiots, most of who behave like two-year-olds in a tantwum. The decent are few and far between, from the public stands.
If they dig deeply they might find some adults with some life experience who will turf these mini monsters out of a party that once boasted some of the most intelligent people in Scotland. These parasitical elements are standing on the shoulders of giants and have not the humility to even acknowledge or understand the work that these people did for them and for their country. Even the surviving membership have no recollection of what so many women in the party did for the party; they can’t have, or they would not have have been happy to sacrifice them all to the rainbow warriors. The present-day SNP is a bunch of mainly self-serving ideologues whose sole role appears to be to disrupt Scottish society, ‘trans’ innocent children and make women’s lives untenable.
It is a wonder Erin didn’t go ballistic when JF said I couldn’t tell if your were a man or a woman! LOL
“This will never happen, because it is illegal”
Illegal according to whom, exactly? You? Sturgeon? England’s MPs? Alex Cole Hamilton when he wears a kilt? Ross? Beth? the current monarch? McDonald? the useful idiots of the crown? the Daily Record? Kezia Dugdale and the quango she leads? Who?
The Treaty of Union 1707 is an international treaty and therefore regulated by international law. I invite you to take a close look at the Vienna Convention in the law of treaties. England MPs embraced the Viena Convention when they were trying to rid themselves of their inconvenient own agreement with the EU in the NI protocol. When they couldn’t they resourced to console themselves by reciting to reassure themselves their fabricated principle of “parliamentary sovereignty” that trumps any law.
You cannot demand a partner to follow the Vienna convention and then refuse to follow it yourself when the litigation is with another partner. Consistency and credibility go hand in hand.
Some will argue the treaty is old and therefore not falling within the scope of the Vienna convention, This is quite possibly true. But the treaty falls within the scope of the international law which predates the vienna convention.
“Pacta sunt servanda” is a fundamental principle of international law, before and after the vienna convention. It means “treaties shall be complied with”. It is the principle of good faith. What this means is each and every fundamental principle of the Treaty of Union should have been complied with. Every single one. In the last 300 years, Westminster has repeatedly breached the fundamental principles of the treaty of union, one by one.
The Claim of Right has been violated every time the monarch has added the royal stamp to legislation which was rejected by a majority of the representatives of Scotland. It was violated for example when brexit was forced on us against the will of the people of Scotland, unless of course the useless Sturgeon agreed to the imposition on our behalf but without our consent.
The treaty of union should have been declared null and void many times over during the last 300 years. It is only because Scotland has been represented by a majority of crown arsewipes, most of them too feart to stand upright and stick their heads out of their own arseholes that those violations have occurred and continue to ocur instead of declaring the Treaty null and void which is what they should have done.
The treaty was already violated in 1707 and 1713. But the royal patronage was too tempting to refuse.
It can be argued the so called “supreme court” is in fact another violation of the Treaty of Union. Yet, the arsewipes claiming to represent Scotland, let this violation of the Treaty to stomp all over Scotland’s democratic rights, fundamental right to self-determination and legitimate right to terminate this bilateral treaty it entered in 300 years ago.
There is another fundamental principle of International law that applies before and after the Vienna convention which is called “rebus sic stantibus”. This means if there has been a fundamental change in circumstances, one of the parties can exit the treaty. Well, circumstances have changed one hundred times over in the last 300 years. They changed the minute England brexit voted for it. They changed the minute Scotland handed 95% of its seats to anti-union (or what we thought were anti-union) MPs.
This principle is the one the lying scumbag Sturgeon mentioned in 2016 when asking for the first mandate for a referendum. She chose not to use it. Not using it was her choice. There were plenty changes of circumnstnances to declare the treaty void one hundred times over.
“Westminster would disregard it”
And so what? The pope may disregard it too and so would be the next mummy they choose as USA’s president.
Westminter is not the main entity here. Westminster, the same as the UK gov and that English court otherwise known as “supreme court” are by-products of the treaty of union. This means if the treaty of union goes, those things follow.
As a matter of fact, and considering Scotland owns as much as England does that Treaty, one can argue that since May 2016 Westminter has no longer legitimate right to rule or legislate over Scotland. This is because the people of Scotland send one (or rather dozens) of mandates for an independence referendum. This equals to say Scotland has removed its consent for Westminster to legislate on its behalf until that referendum takes place and Scotland decides to renew that legitimacy or remove it permanently.
Again, it is only because we have crown arsewipes representing us instead of proper MPs that this has been let to continue and an entity which is in fact a byproduct of the treaty to exercise an authority it does not have over Scotland. Westminter continues to say no because our MPs are letting it to say no.
Unless our MPs have agreed with the UK government to do this, this is in fact the imposition of absolute rule over Scotland and therefore another direct violation of the Claim of Right and indirectly the treaty of Union.
“The UN would never stray into such a shitstorm”
Says whom? You?
The UN will have to stray into it it wants it or no if you call on the UN to arbitrate the revoking of a bilateral treaty between two parties and one of them is calling, legitimatelly on those two principles of international law to end the treaty.
The thing is if Scotland revokes the treaty unilaterally, which has perfectly legitimate right to do, communicates its decision to both its partner and the UN and asks for independent arbitration from the UN, there is nothing Westminster can do to stop it becasue Westmintster’s authority on behalf of Scotland ceases to apply at that point. It can only act on behalf of England.
“it has no remit”
What has no remit? Go and read Hansard if you must. Since 1800, which is as far back as the records go, the lords have been incredibly careful not to be seen openly breaking the treaty because they feared (and knew) the consequences.
“Do you think the EU would support a presumptive applicant”
Scotland revoking the treaty of union under the pacta sunt servanda and the rebus sic stantibus is perfectly legitimate and frankly I do not see why the EU or any other country for that matter, including England would not accept it. Scotland is not Catalonia. The only thing binding Scotland to England is that treaty which has now more holes than a sieve.
But let’s be honest here. The reason why the revokation of the treaty is pretended to be illegal is because of its consequences. Revoking the treaty means three things:
1. Unless Scotland agrees for England to become the UK continuator state, they will have to declare void and null every single treaty and agreement Scotland and England entered as the UK with any other state, and that means every one, going back as far as the Treaty of Utrech, potentially losing Gibraltar.
2. it would release Scotland from having to follow the same line of succession to the crown as England. That is the stickier point.
3. It would put Scotland and England on equal footing when negotiating the exit. It would not be Scotland seceding from anything. It would be the termination of the union. This means a fair division of assets, and I mean ALL common assets (not the natural resources due to geographical location)
“contempt for the rule of law?”
Westminster (and many of our representatives) have demonstrated absolute contempt for international law for the last 300 years. Legitimatelly revoking an international treaty under the principles of pacta sunt servanda and rebus sic stantibus is perfectly wihtin the rule of international law. Not accepting it is showing contempt for the rule of law.
“Mia, the original poster, is unhinged”
Why? Because it says what you don’t want to read?
“Regan too”
There is nothing unhinged in Ms Regan. She sounds perfectly logical.
“if this is her idea of cementing Scotland ‘s future status as a nation with whom others could do business”
What is wrong with following international law other than having to admit the English principle of “parliamentary sovereingty” is a pile of manufactured of bollocks which started in the 19 century from Dicey’s ideas? Go on, explain.
“Grow up”
I did that a long time ago, thank you. In fact I grew a little more every time I read the Vienna Convention and read the Hansard records. And to be sure I was not imagining what I was reading, I read them many times. I invite you to do the same and before launching ad hominem against those you wish to shut down because you don’t like what they have to say, try before to understand what you are talking about in case they had the audacity to reply back.
I watched the Ch.4 debate – a poor show.
All three candidates put Sturgeon ahead of Wee Eck as best First Minister. That should immediately disqualify them.
Glas I’m not in the SNP – that’s a very poor field – I would vote: None of the Above.
The Channel 4 husting just finished in Glasgow, the presenter told all three candidates that Labour and the Tories will never grant an indyref again, the presenter asked Humza Yousaf and Kate Forbes what would be their route to independence knowing this, and both said they’d build an indy majority and push for an indyref FFS.
Only Ash Regan spelt out the route out of the union.
ASH slow down when talking. Think and calm@ down 19.59 please…..
The National’s deliberate policy of sidelining ALBA is misjudged. Alex Salmond will make a comeback. ALBA will continue and will thrive. Ash Regan, if she holds her nerve, will come out on top. The SNP will be cleansed. In another life, I once made the mistake of thinking that a hill Alex Salmond had to climb might prove too steep even for him, although I was willing to bet he’d not give up. He didn’t give up and he did climb that hill and he waved down triumphantly from the top. He will again – because he need him, Scotland needs him. Perhaps he will not be leader of the SNP again, but he will make that comeback. Callum, at The National, you are backing the wrong horse.
@Lee Floyd says:9 March, 2023 at 6:48 pm
Mia, the original poster, is unhinged, and Regan too, if this is her idea of cementing Scotland ‘s future status as a nation with whom others could do business
I disagree.
If Regan becomes SNP leader, and maybes FM …
If she announces, and her party backs her, that the next election will be a plebiscite on Indy …
If other Indy parties agree, so all are on the same page and working together …
If the intention is trumpeted from the rooftops beforehand, so that every Scottish voter, every political party, and every national and international observer is crystal clear on what a pro-Indy vote will mean …
If the threshold for victory is unambiguous; not 50% seats plus one, but 50% of the votes plus one …
If (the big if) the threshold is met …
Then it could work. Scots, clearly knowing what their votes meant, will have just voted for Indy. An undeniable fact, if it happens.
Its a long shot, and a long chain of ‘if’s. But what other option is there? The slow, gradual wooing of us Scots voters by means of quiet competence and responsible governance, so that the soft no’s lost all fear of Indy, AKA the boiling frog approach, didn’t work. Sturgeon, her hand-picked incompetents, and her deranged supporters put paid to that.
Waiting for WM permission won’t work.
Regan is Indy’s last chance, probably for a decade.
TenV56 says:
9 March, 2023 at 7:44 pm
It is a wonder Erin didn’t go ballistic when JF said I couldn’t tell if your were a man or a woman! LOL’
In SNP-world that is a compliment
Wouldn’t a smart thing to do in Forbes’ position be to say that she supports the bill against conversion therapy and then alter the bill at a later date to make sure that it lives up to the name? Isn’t it possible that’s what she’s doing? I still hope Forbes wins rather than Yousaf
Ash giving Gary Lineker a red card will generate a load of headlines… shot herself in the foot there
Lorna Campbell says
‘I burst out laughing this morning when I read that Keith Brown wants to introduce five – yes, FIVE – new pieces of legislation to combat misogyny. The SNP is drowning us in swathes of legislation, most of it dead duck material’
During FMQ’s today, Ross and Sturgeon and their teams engaged in hilarious banter over the hustings, all smartly dressed in their finery, warm, well fed, and dealing with the most important issue of the day: scoring points off each other.
I wonder if any of them know the cost of milk, butter, potatoes, mince, beans or soup, dog food, a loaf of bread, an apple, cooking oil, or pasta.
I wonder if they know how long a tenner in the electric meter will last in today’s freezing temperatures. I wonder if any of them give it a moment’s thought to families suffering abject poverty, huddled together under coats and blankets in 21st century Scotland.
But why worry when you are being paid a small fortune for turning up for ‘work’ just to have a good laugh and turn out malarkey legislation.
@Mia says:9 March, 2023 at 7:48 pm
it would release Scotland from having to follow the same line of succession to the crown as England
Are you sure?
Union of the crowns (1603) preceded the union of parliaments by over a century.
For over a century, two nations, two kingdoms, shared a sovereign. There may have been some problems, but it worked well enough.
As always, happy to be proved wrong. Perhaps you could tell us who the line of succession to the Scottish throne stems from?
Hint: Please don’t say Bonnie Prince Charlie!
Funniest line I’ve ever seen in any debate was the opening line out of Kate Forbes’ mouth as she tried to u-turn on the attacks she made against Humza and Sturgeon on the STV debate!!
Absolutely classic, haven’t laughed so much in ages!!!
Why?
If it transpired that iScotland would be part of the EU would you vote NO?
I watched both the STV and this evening’s Channel 4 debates.
Was even less impressed with Humza constantly talking over everyone, but noted he got huffy, when anyone tried to counter his points! And as others have noted, when asked how he would get Independence, when London keeps saying “No” he just reiterated his stuff about building support.
He didn’t say why he thought his wait forever approach would be any better than the Ash Regan one.
The sad fact is, Nicola Sturgeon had the mandates, and had the support, but refused to do anything with it.
She allowed folks to think she had this wizzo plan, and despite warnings from a good few, too many SNP folks still went along with it, and now, now, we have next to nothing. In fact it is absolutely nothing to show for all that goodwill and all those votes.
Westminster used to accept that a majority vote for Independence, or just a majority of pro Independence MPs was enough for Independence.
But it was SNP itself that changed its policy, and London has now used that against Scotland.
But if/ when the former policy is restored, there is nothing London can do to stop Scotland being Independent.
It might try, but if we have politicians with the determination, which alas, the present First Minister never, ever had, then we do become Independent.
We will just have to wait and see if Independence is still important enough for most SNP members, however.
But we also notice The NATIONAL newspaper has recently adopted a strident anti ALBA policy of late, and is openly flogging Yousaf.
We hope SNP members don’t let that approach from that publication sway them too much.
BBC (09/03/2023): Former child abuse inquiry lawyer John Halley faces sex charges:
“A former junior counsel to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has been charged with sex offences.
John Halley, 59, was arrested on 15 February…
He was appointed as a lead junior counsel by former inquiry chairwoman Susan O’Brien KC. He worked on the inquiry until October 2016…”:
link to archive.ph
Lee Floyd says “I want to see an explicit and unchallengeable commitment that a win in that (any) election is a mandate to end the union within a reasonable time frame (months, not years) with no caveats or small print. I will not fall for a mandate to ask permission to anybody, but a mandate to immediately withdraw Scotland’s MPs from Westminster, to communicate to the crown and England the Treaty of Union is going to be repealed and to initiate proceedings with the UN for arbitration to dissolve the treaty of union”
That is precisely Ash’s policy.
This will never happen, because it is illegal. Westminster would disregard it, or bring a case at ECHR. The UN would never stray into such a shitstorm, because it has no remit, wouldn’t or couldn’t enforce illegality, and recognises that to try to do so would be indefensible and precedent setting. Do you think the EU would support a presumptive applicant who demonstrates a complete contempt for the rule of law? Mia, the original poster, is unhinged, and Regan too, if this is her idea of cementing Scotland ‘s future status as a nation with whom others could do business. Grow up.
I agree completely with your point Mr Floyd. I find it strange that someone like Mr Campbell who has invested much time and effort exposing the Sturgeon regime to great effect, should be unaware of the consequences should Ms Regan attempt such a hare brained scheme.
A huge amount of time was spend on discussing EU membership during the 2014 IndyRef.
Presumably that was because people wanted to know where they stood before voting….then just 2 years later things changed and voters in Scotland found out exactly where they stood.
Why are you and John Main so keen to discuss EU membership?
After watching C4news tonight you have to be deaf dump and blind to still believe Independence is coming anytime soon.
The opinion polls from the SNP membership putting Kate/Humza in the lead no longer consider Independence as a priority, unbelievable I’m lost for words.
I really do see that if Forbes and Humza is elected as leader, the SNP will be run out of Scotland. The SNP will just die as a political party and to be honest I hope the party does, if it wasn’t for Sturgeon and the LGBT+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Scotland would be an Independent country yesterday.
I’ll tell you what i see happening if Forbes/Humza is elected Sturgeon will be asked to come back and safe the party, as some great messiah.
Its only my opinion but the reason the Rag has taken its decision against the Alba Party is because the Alba party membership support Ash Regan.
Y’know, the problem that we in the “Pro-Indy” community have is that the MAJORITY of the electorate get their news/propaganda from the red-tops and STV/BBC Scotland.
We. who read the Pro-Indy blogs, are in the minority. We know how things should be done to achieve Scottish independence but we are up against the MSM. Look at the treatment of ALBA by The National.
All we can do is chat to workmates, friends, associates and so on, and try to open their eyes.
Then, our time will come.
Desimond.
Not at all, she hadn’t read his tweets and knew nothing of the subject and just gave him a red card off the top of her head when pushed for an answer, it meant nothing.
Akenaton.
” Mia, the original poster, is unhinged, and Regan too”
What utter bollocks, comments wise you couldn’t lace Mia’s boots, and Regan has the Britnats and House Jocks running scared.
Ruby
” Why are you and John Main so keen to discuss EU membership? ”
As it is not independence or sovereignty in any shape way or form. If they impose spending rules on you and tell you how much you can save ( debt rules ) they restrict what you can do with your own skills and real resources.
Instead your skills and real resources are allocated by unelected, technocratic central bankers and the commercial banks via bank lending instead of government spending.
There’s only 2 places you as a voter get your money from.
Government or bank lending and that’s it.
Take a note out of your pocket and read it. It is in very simple English. Commercial banks apply for a licence to issue state money when they lend.
We’ve tried the bank lending approach and we got 2008. Steve Keen has made a career writing about it.
link to michael-hudson.com
link to archive.is
Misogyny could become offence under new Scottish Government plans
The consultation will run until Friday 2 June, and women in particular are encouraged to respond.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Hey Keith Brown your GRR Bill is the worst misogyny I have ever experienced.
Baroness Kennedy creating laws for women but was unable to define what she meant by a woman.
Would the rapist Isla Bryson be covered by this new misogyny law?
I thought the SNP needed to stay together until after Independence was achieved and then it would need to break apart to create separate Socialist, Liberal and conservative parties. I know think this needs to happen to achieve Independence
Since 2014 Holyrood elections have been decided on pro-union and pro-indy party lines. To normalise Scottish politics the pro-Indy vote needs to have parties to vote for that are left of centre, centre and even right of centre.
If that happens and assuming those parties can agree to work together to achieve Independence it offers the best hope in achieving over 50% of pro-indy votes.
Quickest way to get there would be for Forbes to win. If she does the gender woo-woo will either shift to the Greens or create a new party which in turn takes votes from Forbes SNP but will also probably take votes from Slab. Forbes SNP would probably be seen as a centre-right party able to take votes from the Tories in the NE and the Libdems in the few areas they still hold. Alba may well become a coalition partner for Forbes SNP by taking the pro-Indy but anti-EU vote.
However I suspect this will take at least 2 Holyrood elections to settle down which unfortunately means Independence is now only likely to happen in the near future if there is a Hung parliament at Westminster.
Sad to say bit the best short term hope for an end to the Union is the Tories needing shot of 56 Scottish MP’s to get a parliamentary majority.
@ Ebok
Aye, I mentioned the other week that a lot of politicians appear a little bit too comfortable and disconnected from the lived reality of the citizens they are meant to serve and represent.
Seemingly endless time available to discuss gender and front or back hole preferences, whilst others are tsruggling with cost of living “crisis”, and freezing in their living spaces due to the extortionate energy costs. JUst whose the priority between those groups…
I see Kenny MacAskill at least spends a good bit of his time pursuing some of the issues relating to energy, but he is doing that in Westminster, so he’s up against it trying to improve matters due to the persistent lack of political will London Rule has exhibited to address the issues.
But it’s an open goal for campaigning to return Scotland to self governance though, and easy for a genuine pro-indy Party leader candidate to pick up the baton and run with.
Energy being reserved to Westminster, and Health being devolved to Holyrood sets up a conflict, the energy poverty created by Westminster policy burdens our NHS Scotland which has to deal with the health issues living in cold damp spaces creates.
There were around 800 folk admitted to hospital with hypothermia in December’s cold spell.
link to bbc.co.uk
Scotland exported 2.35TWhs of leccy to England in January.
link to twitter.com
But our administrators of devolved powers in Holyrood would rather go head to head with Westminster over genderwoowoo…
@akenaton says:9 March, 2023 at 8:44 pm
Sorry, I have to disagree with you.
I outlined the chain of events that would get my support at 8:10 above. I see that as being a democratic route in that it would show a majority of Scots voters voting for Indy.
I just don’t see how any country wishing to be seen as abiding with the rules-based order and democratic norms could deny Scotland the right to Indy when a clear majority of Scots voters use the plebiscitary election route in full knowledge of what they are voting for; Independence.
As I wrote, it is unlikely that Regan will be able to get the dominoes lined up. There are a lot of links in the chain, and she will encounter opposition at every step, from the SNP itself, from the other Indy parties perhaps, and from the Unionist parties.
But if she does manage to pull it off, the very unlikelihood of it all coming together will give the result extra credibility. The difficulties she will have overcome in order to get the result will make it all the harder for others to write off the result as an inconsequential farce that can be safely ignored.
Anyways, what’s the alternative?
The other routes are closed off. The demographic clock is ticking as I write.
Tick tock! Another minute closer to the day when a Scottish democratic mandate for Indy will become impossible.
@John Main
Have you heard of the “Act of Security” Scotland passed in 1704?
This is the act which allowed the Scottish parliament to choose a successor to Queen Ann different to the one England chose.
This act proved the idea of “union of crowns” prior to the Treaty of Union was nothing more than a myth. There was not a proper union of crowns. What happened is that both crowns happened to sit on the same head at a particular moment in time.
Another proof of this is there was nothing forcing Scotland’s parliament to pass the Claim of Right after England passed the Bill of Rights and viceversa. England could have removed the crown from James II while Scotland could have kept James VII as monarch if it so wished. So a proper union of crowns did never exist before the treaty of union. The fact the same monarch was called differently in Scotland and England is another proof the union of crowns was a myth.
Queen Ann is as far as the Claim of Right extended beause she died without descendants. So legitimately, it was proper for Scotland to choose their own monarch, and some of the people in Scotland did not want the same monarch as England chose, hence the Jacobite rebellions.
It is precisely this Act of Security, and the fear by England (and its crown) that Scotland could choose as monarch who they wanted and potentially somebody who could ally with France, what precipitated the Treaty of Union by imposing the “Alien Act” against Scottish people living in England.
Take a look a the second article of the treaty of union:
“II. That the Succession to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and of the Dominions thereunto belonging after Her Most Sacred Majesty, and in default of Issue of Her Majesty be, remain and continue to the Most Excellent Princess Sophia Electoress and Dutchess Dowager of Hanover,….”
Make a guess which was one of the very first pieces of Scottish own legislation the brand new Westminter parliament declared null and void as soon as the union started. Yes, you got it. It was Scotland’s Act of security 1704
The treaty of union was always about ensuring Scotland and England had the same monarch. In fact, judging by the first article of the treaty, you could argue the main reason for the treaty was to permanently unite both crowns with the artificial creation of “the Kingdom of Great Britain”. But this never worked in practice because the monarchs were continued to be addressed as Queen/King of Scotland/England.
In practice, what this treaty does is it ensures the crowns of Scotland and England remain over the same head for as long as the treaty remains valid. But if the treaty ends, unless Scotland decides otherwise, Scotland walks away with its own crown and England with hers, so there is no real union of crowns beyond the treaty of union either.
In fact, should Charlie have not sworn abiding by the Claim of Right and the crowns could have been separated again, unless England refused him as king too.
It was claimed the same monarch was needed to maintain peace in this island, but if you read the history books at the time of the treaty, it becomes very clear it was more to ensure Scotland fought England’s wars on the same side as England than anything else.
The birth of the treaty of union in 1706 and its preservation until today have always been about preserving the interests of England’s crown.
The Scottish Government is consulting on the creation of five new laws, including making “misogynistic behaviour” a criminal offence.
This is intended to deal with behaviour which is “likely to” cause fear, alarm, degradation, humiliation or distress to women and girls, but where it is not directed at a specific person or group of people.
It’s been a long day. I would imagine that a woman or girl getting her meat and two veg out in a female changing room could well cause “fear, alarm, degradation, humiliation or distress” to the other women and girls, even if some of them also had their meat and two veg out.
Maybes I am missing a key fact.
Remind me again. What is a woman?
The Scottish Government’s proposed “misogynistic behaviour” law is nonsensical if the Scottish Government believes a bloke with intact tackle is a woman.
So, to summarise, keeping a bloke, sorry a woman, out of a female space will be a crime, but if that woman, sorry bloke, goes in the female space, and any woman (or bloke) objects, due to feelings of “fear, alarm, degradation, humiliation or distress”, then the bloke, sorry woman, is also committing a crime.
Does anybody know if intact transwomen still suffer from penis envy? I have heard that can cause feelings of humiliation and distress. Heartbreaking to think of it occurring in a female space.
Yup, it’s been a long day.
Better ring fence some taxes for all the prisons we are going to need for all the criminals.
Debatable Lands 1:42 pm
Ash Regan is “not the people’s choice” and it is better to “start out with someone the people at least seem to like” (i.e. Kate Forbes). [Apologies, I am paraphrasing]
Disagree. My actual gut instinct is much more that Ash Regan has what it takes to rise to the challenge and that, in the event she wins, and in the equally hard to hope for event of her being given a fair chance in the job, people would be much more likely to discover they do indeed like her, and will be far more likely to do so than with either of the other two. For me that includes, for what it’s worth, the sadly electorally significant matter of image and demeanour. She has grit and no nonsense.
BBC and Tory Magnusson put out a headline the Nicola Sturgeon FORCED to defend her leadership.
Have they just totally thrown any the pretence of not be a biased Westminster mouth piece?
Could she have refused to defend anything?
Could she have attacked Tories killing the NHS, Nationwide strikes, 13 years of poverty,
zero growth, corruption and scandal, the refusal to comply with human rights of refugees.
The sooner Scotland removes this broadcasting scum the better.
John Main,
You say of me that : “Just 2 days ago, posted an ungrammatical, lazy and abusive insult”.
I would apologise for the grammar but I don’t think it was ungrammatical – I could parse it for you if you like – but that would involve repeating it.
I was responding to what I thought was vile racist abuse at the expense of people whom Craig Murray has described as “desperate souls struggling through cold, cold seas to our shore in open boats”
But in any case, insults don’t need to be grammatical – they need only be insulting!
Given your reaction, I’d call that a result!
James Cleverly is to write to Britain’s embassies to remind them that a UK diplomat should be present during meetings between SNP ministers and foreign governments and a crackdown on SNP ministers using meetings with foreign governments to promote independence.
Gordon Keane
Why do you think Nicola did not use the mandates she had
RoS @ 9.22pm
Totally agree, I’ve though that about most of akenaton’s posts for a while now
My settled belief is he should change his pseudonym to akenfuckall
Let’s be honest. Jo Cherry would have been the ‘special one’. She would destroy all 3 candidates and the Holyrood opposition. But alas not to be.
In reply to shug, above, I really don’t know why the First Minister did not use all those mandates.
But my guess is, she simply didn’t want to have a confrontation with London.
Well, that’s the politest way of looking at it.
Some would say she never had any intention, and it was all about how many votes she could get for SNP at every election.
At any rate, had she really, really pushed it, the way Salmond intended regardless of what Prime Minister Cameron said in 2013, then, the support and the full backing of the YES movement was at her fingertips.
She had the popularity, and could have persuaded a large enough number of the electorate to go for it.
That all this was squandered, that she allowed us to be taken out of Europe, despite all the promises that were made to us, has been an absolute disaster for this country, and it will have trashed her hopes of any kind of “legacy” that was favorable to her.
Instead, Nicola Sturgeon will be seen as the First Minister who threw it all away, and for what? We, as yet, haven’t a clue!
That said, other senior figures within SNP have to take blame, as they too, could have pushed for a different approach, but instead, went along with a strategy that has totally failed Scotland, as far as Independence goes.
What was Ash Regan’s answer to Erin Lux’s question?
That’s a good un from Kate wanting to ban conversion theory.
Does that really mean she’ll stop all this shit in the school system to encourage kids to become gay, that she’ll ban operations to cut off genitals, create false breasts, construct vaginas in the place of testicle and penises.
Some how I don’t think so. That’s not what I think this is what this hypocrite means.
Forbes’s response on this is shocking. Just another wokist evolutionist.
John Main. Sorry John, made a bit of a bollox of my last post, which was composed mainly of a large quote from Lee Floyd, who was also quoting Mia, resulting in an unreadable mish mash, by me.
I do agree that the clock is indeed ticking as far as the Scottish electoral demographic is concerned.
Have you a degree in Negativity :o)?
BTW I never use personal attacks on other posters and would not refer to Mia as unhinged.
@Effijy
How dare anyone criticise the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, she’s the greatest thing ever to happen to this country.
@Gordon Keane
The “mandates” (they weren’t really because there was no majority) weren’t used because there is not enough support for independence, never had been.
Angus Robertson and the rest of the SNP spin machine spent years trying to dictate public opinion by manipulating polls to show support for independence higher than it actually was. It was done by using doctored samples and leading questions. The logic was that if we pretend that support is higher than it actually is that will encourage people to come to our side. It’s a tactic that has been used many times by government spin machines across the world. It’s no coincidence that every time Angus Robertson wheeled out a convert from no to yes they were soon outed as a long-standing yes campaigner.
Yes support is now at 37% and dropping. A large chunk of that will still be the sturgeon personal vote as the brainwashing campaign run by the Sturgeon/murrell cabal to create the Nicola Sturgeon personality cult has been so successful. When the truth outs and people realise how they have been lied to yes could be was down to near 30%. As with Blair sending Labour into the wilderness for years Sturgeon is going to do the same with the SNP.
This is where unquestioning support for politicians takes you. Sturgeon’s entire life is one great big red flag. Totally unfit for politics, a narcissistic psychopath and a habitual liar. Totally incompetent but has got away with lying her way out of scrapes her whole life. Yet people would ignore their eyes and ears and “stand with Nicola” because the Indy carrot was dangled. Worst of it is a new country founded by Nicola Sturgeon would be a bankrupt authoritarian hellhole within months. Many of us saw through her from day one, it’s time for those who didn’t to wake up tell themselves some hard truths.
Etticus…
Thanks for your post! Always good to start the day with a hearty bout of laughter… sets the tone for the rest in of the morning.
socratesmacsporran says:
9 March, 2023 at 7:56 pm
I watched the Ch.4 debate – a poor show.
All three candidates put Sturgeon ahead of Wee Eck as best First Minister. That should immediately disqualify them.
Glad I’m not in the SNP – that’s a very poor field – I would vote: None of the Above.
Well I sort of agree, but we are talking about politics and all candidates are trying to garner votes from people who have yet to come to terms with what Sturgeon really was.
They were the reason that she was allow to endanger our country and we were only saved from disgrace by the actions of the “hated” Westminster Tories. That is a hard pill to swallow for the indoctrinated, and all candidates appear to be playing to the gallery to a large extent.
Personally I think the prospect of Independence in the short to medium term has gone up the chimney with “Nicola pants on fire” and as Mr Main has intimated the Scottish voting demographic is rapidly changing, meaning that in all probability Nationalism will revert to its default position as a fringe political subject.
This will at least give us the opportunity to build a socially sane place to work, live and bring up our children.
In a nutshell construct a country and educate a people who are fit to run their own affairs. The Sturgeon episode should be a serious warning that we have not yet acquired these necessary skills.
@ robertkknight
Hope you enjoyed your wee laugh.
Welcome back into the room of things Scottish…
link to commonweal.scot
@robert knight
One can always rely on Sturgeonite cult members like yourself to ignore the truth. Well the truth is coming home to roost now whether you like it or not and it’s all thanks to people like you.
None of you seem able to join the dots why the SNP always gets results significantly below polling, recent by elections show a swing of 10% away from the SNP and yet this isn’t showing int he polls? Why? Because the sample has been deliberately rigged by the SNP spin machine and a media that needs to keep the Indy kettle boiling to pay the mortgage because they can’t think of anything else to write about.
Neither do you seem to be able to understand why organisations like AUOB feel the need to lie about march attendances. They make crazy claims like 100,000 marched when the reality is around a 10th of that on the biggest marches and that has now frittered away to the same couple of hundred losers every time.
England’s Foreign secretary to stop Scottish ministers talking to foreign minister’s unless chaperoned with a UK diplomat.
The usual House Jocks, Offord and Jack ( treacherous b*stards)are furious that Scottish ministers are talking to foreign ministers.
link to msn.com
Spot on – ‘A tight managerial group around Sturgeon have been captured by the US State Department.’
link to lobster-magazine.co.uk
I respect Ash for speaking out against the Gender Reform Bill, but how sound is her plan for Independence?
How will she get to 50% +1?
Hard to see No voters boarding her ship with the barometer. She needs to do more than preech to the converted.
The swing away from the snp.
The last few by elections have seen the snp share of the vote drop. Up to 10%. Most of this is down to the fact snp voters have stayed home. They’re going to get wiped out in central belt in 2024. Bang goes those millions in short money. I expect Flynn and rest of them are frantically strategising how to avert this. Here’s a hint Stephen – get back to your usp. Indy. That means getting ash regan in. Otherwise you’re doomed.
The image is forming of a land that will be forced to «fight» for its survival ie independence, just like the majority of sovereign countries with embassies in London, Paris, Washington.
That price too high?
Sorry, searches indicate no cut price sale in that commodity.
@ Etticus
” This is where unquestioning support for politicians takes you. Sturgeon’s entire life is one great big red flag. Totally unfit for politics, a narcissistic psychopath and a habitual liar. Totally incompetent but has got away with lying her way out of scrapes her whole life. Yet people would ignore their eyes and ears and “stand with Nicola” because the Indy carrot was dangled. Worst of it is a new country founded by Nicola Sturgeon would be a bankrupt authoritarian hellhole within months. ”
Correct . Except for the non-sequitur ..ie ” ….a new country founded by Nicola Sturgeon ” . That was NEVER on the cards .
Like her ” detestation of Thatcher ”
Her ” lifelong support for Scottish Independence ”
And , probably , her ” we would liked to have children …but …miscarriage ”
Unlike millions of W.O.M.EN who have had miscarriages and subsequently went on to have children
The only miscarriage/s she’s been party to are of justice .
She’s is a total fraud and nothing she says , or has ever said , can be trusted .
And she’s STILL hanging around , a ghoul presiding over the death of the SNP , ensuring it breaths it’s last breath before she fucks-off to her reward .
Her real legacy …..
Scotland’s Worse FM . Destroyer of the Independence Movement . Attempted destroyer of W.O.M.E.N’s rights & definable difference from the opposite sex .
Etticus…
“One can always rely on Sturgeonite cult members like yourself to ignore the truth. Well the truth is coming home to roost now whether you like it or not and it’s all thanks to people like you”
ROFLMFAO…
Jog on.
It is the case,that just before the Covid Pestilence hit, in January of 2020, near to 100 00 marched thru Glasgow for Independence.
Even in the heavy rains, that day, they marched.
Only the most diehard, and blind pro 1707 lot would deny that reality!
Anton Decadent
“Tolerating this has led us to where we find ourselves now.”
Indeed. Your whole comment is well worth reading but your closing line I think points to the solution in many ways. The tolerance that was so systematically drummed into us has now been used to produce people who are in turn completely intolerant of us, people who make the Klu Klux Klan look like moderates, full bore fulminating bigots with a dazzling array of prejudices. I think it is time for us to stop tolerating them.
Gordon Keane
“The sad fact is, Nicola Sturgeon had the mandates, and had the support, but refused to do anything with it.
She allowed folks to think she had this wizzo plan, and despite warnings from a good few, too many SNP folks still went along with it, and now, now, we have next to nothing. In fact it is absolutely nothing to show for all that goodwill and all those votes.”
Absolutely Gordon. Sturgeon systematically and methodically squandered it, and slow-choked the life out of the independence movement leaving it limp and lifeless.
We are now passed the Anger stage (of the five stages of grief) and are heavily into the ‘Bargaining’ stage… but the chances are gone, squandered by a rat.
No matter how we arrange the pieces of the new leadership battle, we simply can’t put Humpty back together again. Sturgeon deliberately pissed it all away, that is what she was there to do.
The next stage is ‘Depression’…
Hmmm, I think it is already at the gates… as it is starting to dawn on people what Sturgeon’s legacy really is. I’ve known it since 2018 but it is catch-up time for a lot of people, and it is big time.
“Scottish voting demographic is rapidly changing, meaning that in all probability Nationalism will revert to its default position as a fringe political subject”
If you take a look at the National records for Scotland, you very quickly see that the reason why Scottish voting demographic is rapidly changing is that the artificial increase in the proportion of voters coming from elsewhere other than Scotland is accelerating.
This is because of three reasons:
1. A progressive increase in, and continuous, immigration into Scotland particularly from the UK itself and from retirees
2. Continuous emigration of our young out of Scotland due to lack of opportunities and continuous advertising outiwth Scotland of our best job positions to attract people from elsewhere
3. Lower birth rates than death rates – this is in part a consequence of the emigration of our young of child bearing age and the high immigration into Scotland of retirees outwith child bearing age.
Those three things will change the voting intention alright. But if nationalism is reverted to a fringe it will not be because of a natural and innocuous change in the viewpoint of people as you claim it to be. It will be because:
1. the population proportions (and voting intentions) are being artificially changed by the combination of emigration and inmigration
2. The hijacking of our main nationalist party by British state plants, fringe groups and labourites rendering it unfit for the purpose of independence and deliberately presenting it as useless, untrustworthy and dangerous to women and children to force opinion change
3. Industrial scale propaganda to portray any person who has the determination and will to end the union as a criminal, going as far as fabricating charges.
“This will at least give us the opportunity to build a socially sane place to work, live and bring up our children”
Either you live in a parallel world to where I live or you are burying your head in the sand. If our children are forced out of the jobs because preference is given to those from elsewhere to take the best jobs here, and if the opportunities in Scotland are constantly being reduced compared to those offered by England, we are not building a “socially sane place to work”. We are creating a barren land where there will be no possibility for our children to work and bring up their own families here.
If our young continue to emigrate, Scotland would approach soon the point where there is hardly any children left. Looking at the proportion of births compared with deaths, that point is not that far away.
I suppose that would be the ideal scenario from a colonial point of view, so they can replace the native population with their own views with a compliant one from elsewhere who have the “right” voting intentions and the “right” attitude towards the powers that be from our neighbour country ransaking our resources and assets for its own benefit.
Reality and Scotland’s current demographics tell us that if we want to build a better country we have to get independence NOW and revert the demographic trend which is haemorrhaging Scotland’s native population and continuously importing population from elsewhere in larger proportions than Scottish births. If we wait too long there will be no materials to rebuild a Scotland from.
“Educate a people who are fit to run their own affairs”
I am sorry, but this comes across as incredibly condescending and patronising. So, just as a point of curiosity, who do you propose to be the “educators” of Scotland? Our colonial overlords?
Scotland is perfectly fit to run its own affairs and the Scottish people does not need “educators” from elsewhere, thank you. The only thing it needs is for its young population to stop emigrating and for its population to stop paying attention to the industrial scale propaganda to protect the union that has been relentless since 2013. The latest move from the National banning Alba is a text book example of propaganda by deliberate omision.
“The Sturgeon episode should be a serious warning that we have not yet acquired these necessary skills”
This comes across as the classical colonial power’s perpective comment.
If the Sturgeon episode is a warning of something, it will be of the continuous threat of interference, bribing and gerrymandering by the crown and the British establishment into Scotland’s affairs for the sake of preserving the union and the interests of the crown.
Looking at how the civil service, the COPFS, the police and some Scottish judges (all crown representatives) were prepared to completely embarrass themselves and their professions to protect the interests of the crown at all costs, even if that involved sneaking through over the radar a crime or two, it is obvious there will be no lengths the British state will not be prepared to go to keep portraying Scotland as too stupid to govern itself for the sake of keeping control of Scotland’s territory and assets.
So I am intrigued by your claim that Scotland has “not yet acquired these necessary skills”. What skills do you refer to?
Are you referring to the skills of unconditional and blind compliance with the ruling colonial power and the unconditional acceptance of the colonial power’s occasional bypassing of Scotland’s rule of law when convenient to the preservation of its own interests, just as the COPFS, the police, the UK civil service, the perjurers and the judges have shown us they are prepared to do?
Let me tell you that Scotland may not have those skills, but it has had skills to govern itself aplenty since many years before the treaty of union. As a matter of fact, Scotland run its affairs rather well to the point it hand not debt when it entered the treaty of union, despite England’s and the crown’s best attempts to ruin it to force it into the treaty. This stood opposed to the eyewatering debt England had already generated by 1706 due to is insatiable warmongering. Debt which, of course, was expected to be shared with Scotland on signing the treaty.
300 years on and England’s warmongering continues to drag Scotland’s children to fight England’s (and USA’s) neoliberal wars, and continues to saddle Scotland with a share of England’s debt.
My apologies for being this blind, but I don’t see an awful lot of worthwhile “skills” for Scotland to learn from England in terms of state governance.
@Garavelli Princip says:9 March, 2023 at 10:51 pm
Given your reaction, I’d call that a result!
I stand corrected.
You may well have been a teacher.
You’re still in the playground.
@Mia says:10 March, 2023 at 10:01 am
Reality and Scotland’s current demographics tell us that if we want to build a better country we have to get independence NOW and revert the demographic trend which is haemorrhaging Scotland’s native population and continuously importing population from elsewhere in larger proportions than Scottish births. If we wait too long there will be no materials to rebuild a Scotland from.
I am intrigued that you have a permit to describe the real-world situation in plain terms. If I do that, I am assailed by eejits deploying the ‘R’, ‘T’ and ‘F’ words.
Where do you get these permits? I want one.
Not that being denied one is going to shut me up. In the year ending June 2022, net migration to the UK was 504,000 (ONS figures).
A smidge over half a million extra people. Read that again. In one year. Half a million extra people.
The knock on effects on white flight to Scotland are obvious – the people displaced up the M6 and across the border are predominately older and wealthier. In other words, your typical Yoon retirees, whose antipathy to Indy is well known and documented on here.
Only eejits and those self-ID-ing as Doctors of Philosophy are unable to see this cold, harsh truth.
Scotland’s demographic clock is ticking. At least Mia can see that.
Mia @ 10:01 am
“So I am intrigued by your claim that Scotland has “not yet acquired these necessary skills”. What skills do you refer to?”
To ‘debase the colonized’ is how colonialism works.
Demographics is clearly one of the ‘determinants’ of independence.
link to yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com
To be fair to both Kate and Ash, they have little experience at this level of debate and had very little time to prepare for Her Majesty’s sudden resignation. I think both are capable of growing into the job (as Nicola did – remember, she didn’t cut a very impressive figure before she got the top job). Humza for sure has his good points, although he does tend to lose the rag (the MSM will have him for breakfast). Watching his body language, I do wonder if he really wants the job – perhaps he was pushed (reluctantly) to hold the line for a while. I still think Angus (or even Nicola) may be quietly waiting to step in when it all to goes to pot (a couple of years down the line).
The trouble is, Ash or Kate may actually do a good job (and in any case, the dark side cannot allow either of them access to the books). This is a terrifying prospect for some. And so IMO it’s make or break for the current SNP leadership. Continuity it must (really must) be – it’s Humza or bust, I’m afraid. Whatever it takes. Desperate people do desperate things.
@ Ruby 09/03/23 20:37
“If it transpired that iScotland would be part of the EU would you vote NO?”
I’d vote No.
I’d also vote No if it meant Scotland would become a republic.
Yes, to the ending of the Union between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England, No to secession.
Mia…
Speaking recently to an acquaintance from South of the Border who came to Scotland 20+ years ago with work. (His employer transferred him so it wasn’t a voluntary move shall we say).
He’s planning on retiring next year and I asked, just in passing, if he’d be moving back south; given he’s always quick to complain about all things distinctly Scottish – “why can’t it just be the same everywhere” being a frequent gripe – I mentioned bilingual roadsigns once and the sky nearly fell in!
I was surprised to hear that he intends staying put… despite all that irks him about living here.
The reason? I won’t bore you with too much detail, but he basically said it was because England is now too ethnically diverse for his liking. In other words, the part of England from where he originates is no longer white enough for his tastes.
Sadly, I have a hunch that there are other Englishmen living in Scotland who are sympathetic to his point of view and, as a result, are here to stay.
Observing some of the posts above it looks like the 77th have got some new recruits in?
I was on the big AUOB march that took 4 hours to pass by any given point, one ‘name’ above farting the same old bollox about made-up numbers etc etc etc. Sheesh.
When you look at how other nations achieved Independence an often used tactic was civil disobedience. Ideally that would be targeted at the UK state but if the Scottish Government, SNP and other elected politicians at Holyrood will not pursue Independence then perhaps its time to target both.
I would like to see co-ordinated action at UK elections were the only candidates the supporters of Independence will vote for are candidates that won’t take up their seat. If no candidate offers this then it a mass spoiling of ballot papers would be the next best option. I would like that to extend to Holyrood elections.
Pro-Independence supporters need something to vote for at the polls perhaps “void vote” is the one we need to get behind?
“The knock on effects on white flight to Scotland are obvious – ”
So the arrival of elderly English folks in Scotland is entirely, or predominantly due to the arrival of refugees.
I presume you have evidence to back up your claim?
(And by evidence, I do not mean “I John Main think that’s the cause, therefore it is true”)
If you have that evidence, we will all by happy to see it – because – and this is where I agree with you – the arrival of large numbers of the colonial ethnicity in Scotland is indeed a demographic impediment to independence.
I see I’ve rattled a few sturgeonite cages this morning. Anyone that sees through the sturgeon cabal must be a 77th operative. How dare anyone point out that independence support and been deliberately linked to sturgeon personally by the SNP and will now decline as she’s outed for what she is. How dare anyone point out that AUOB is run by lying rip off merchants who could be seen spending the days donations down the pub afterwards and were prosecuted for lying to councils about the real attendance at their marches.
Of course I accept it’s hard to admit when you’ve been had, mind you I expect some of them were in it from the start. Imagine getting upset that the crooks in the sturgeon cabal aren’t going to be allowed to blacken scotlands name any further. The whole lot of them should be in jail…. Indeed they may well have been in jail by now if the clowns that voted them in last time round had listened to the Rev and others who told them what would happen. If sturgeon has been removed then perhaps the damage could have been limited, now it looks terminal. The SNP needs to be eradicated. It’s done.
“Wings has backed Ash Regan in the SNP leadership election, because she’s the only one with an actual plan for independence”
Your link doesn’t go to an exposition of Ash Regan’s ‘plan’ for independence, but to a story from mid-February. ‘Plans for Independence’ are a bit like those preferred league structures football supporters always posit – 12-12-16 and the like. Until most Scottish people want independence, and importantly, until the people who don’t want independence are not insulted and demeaned by those who do, it won’t happen. What we need is a ScoGov that doesn’t drop everything else and focus entirely on forcing indy through (as some here seem to want) but one that governs well. The trouble with this government is that while it has done good things, it has been asleep at the wheel on education, the NHS, the environment and public transport, and ill-advised re gender stuff. So they don’t encourage waverers to support indy.
We also need to present a decent image of what an independent Scotland would look like. Comments on here have included people wanting a 5-year residence in Scotland before people can vote and even one eye-swiveller furrowing his brow at Ash Regan’s English-influenced accent.
Give us the economic case, tell us how you’ll run Scotland, how we’ll re-engage with the EU (biggest issue, to my mind) and compare it to how Bungling Bonzo etc have run Britain.
If, however, you give the impression an independent Scotland will be a blood-and-soil project that’s anti-English and where people derided as ‘YOONS!’ are not welcome etc etc, independence will lose support, including mine.
Not just a “white flight” from rUK, what about the coming “yoon flight” from NI? Sooner or later, there is going to be an Irish referendum. There are going to be a lot of angry (Rangers supporting) unionists in NI looking for a place to go. A new home. They won’t stay in a united Ireland, for sure. Now, I wonder where they will end up? Scotland will get quite a few IMO.
The worst outcome of all IMHO, would be for Ireland to unite before Scotland achieves independence. The way things are going, it’s impossible to call how this plays out. Who goes first? So many twists and turns (in Ireland and Scotland) yet to happen. Interesting times.
@Garavelli Princip says:10 March, 2023 at 11:14 am
So the arrival of elderly English folks in Scotland is entirely, or predominantly due to the arrival of refugees
You’re the one self-ID-ing as the PhD, so why don’t you tell me the correct term for somebody who twists the argument and then demands an answer to a different question?
The 504,000 net increase in UK population in the last year for which figures are available was not due to “refugees”.
You may well be one of those eejits for whom the terms, refugee, temporary worker, medical tourist, skilled immigrant, student, benefits claimant, jihadist and drug-dealing criminal are synonymous.
I am not. Some of these categories are desirable. Some are necessary. Some are harmful. Some deserve help and compassion. Some should be deported.
I will answer the question you can’t bear to ask. Millions of extra people have entered the UK, whilst house building to cope has fallen far behind. The resultant red-hot property market in those areas of England which attract most of the incomers has meant that many English people have been able to sell a modest home for a sum that buys them a great place in Scotland. It even, in many cases, leaves them a left-over lump sum which managed well, augments their income for years.
In their situation, I would clear off to Scotland too.
The choice between staying and not thriving in an overcrowded, congested, lawless, and increasingly alien environment, or moving to a life of moderate affluence, comfort and familiarity in Scotland is a no-brainer.
If you want to believe this is all about wacism, then fill your boots. It matters not what the reason is. It’s the real-world effect that matters.
The effect is demographic change in Scotland. The knock-on effect is reduction of the proportion of Scottish voters who will support Indy.
“Indeed they may well have been in jail by now if the clowns that voted them in last time round had listened to the Rev and others who told them what would happen”
It is undeniable every prediction the Rev has made became true, however SNP voters are not in charge of the COPFS, the civil service, the crown agent, police Scotland or the judges.
If Murrell, Sturgeon, the UK civil service and the perjurers have not been prosecuted and charged yet, it is hardly the fault of the voters. It is the fault of the entity that controls the crown agent, the Uk civil service, the COPFS, the police and the judges, and that has been carefully protecting the culprits.
It is hardly the fault of the voters that, despite the high public interest and demand for their release, those infamous whatsapp messages and the identity of the perjurers have been kept safe under wraps by insidious threats of prosecution from the COPFS.
But it is also the fault of the parties of the opposition because they did not demand transparency from that entity as it was their democratic duty, particularly during Fabiani’s Farce. Instead, they looked obediently the other way while absolute rule was imposed by this entity on Scotland.
@DCMV
Anyone who doesn’t recognise that support for independence needs to be over 75% before we even consider it doesn’t have a viable plan. Norway successfully became independent because support was 99.95% when they had their vote, 51% is a recipe for disaster and inevitable reversal and potentially civil war.
I’ve always believed in independent scotland being a low tax high income country with limited social welfare. Like a Dubai or Kuwait on the North Sea. I always recognised that Scotland would have to run at a surplus to be successful and that there would be tough times while everyone adapted but in the end it would be worth it. It is simply the only way it would be viable. A similar view to that of Alex Salmond and he had a plan to achieve this.
Unfortunately reality has been taken over by the politics of the magic money tree advocated by the sturgeon cabal. Sturgeon has achieved nothing, indeed she’s resorted to claiming achievements by Salmond as her own and trumpeting such utter nonsense as a cardboard box full of tat that cost the taxpayer triple what it should have. Sturgeon is the first minister who has legislated less than any first minister before her and when she has its been nonsense like the hate crime bill and GRR bill. She’s been a total waste of time.
Fake nats are a disease and until we are fully inoculated, it’s never going to work; and it’s not “one bad apple” it’s an infestation, we are riddled with it, like ticks on the neck of a deer.
Fake nats have many tells, e.g.
– they really care about some made-up country being in the US proxy war against eurasian integration; the US never had an original idea in its life – this just Mackinder reheated
– on wings, the activity level jumps up and you get these new handles who post all the time, the same snark and FUD; there’s a lot of fannies posting right now
– they don’t like any practical measure which might work
– their preferred sources of information are the BBC, wikipedia and chatham house documents
– they kneejerk all things which mention the english and like to blame the eu, or the irish
– they have the time to be here, all the time, normal people have jobs and lives
– “nationalist” politicians who have made no preparations whatsoever for indy, or the fight it will involve
– “nationalist” politicans on defence committess and such; what?
another good tell is – they don’t want us to use the tools available for our task, e.g. getting the magnifying glass out on that treaty we were conned into, or using the UN’s own procedures – e.g.
Settler colonialism is the General Assembly Resolution 1514’s modern enemy. Settler colonialism is premised on the state’s recruitment of a class of settlers whose goal is to not only occupy the land of the Indigenous but also to eliminate the Indigenous who stand in their way
– or
A comprador elite is a native manager of European business houses in East and South East Asia, and, by extension, comprador social groups that play broadly similar roles in other parts of the world. Comprador elite class is a term for the natives of a colonized land that are “bought” by the colonizers.
Does this sound like anything? Now go and have a look at that population map with “white – other british”.
People have already “done the work for us” – all we need is to do a cut and paste. As I have explained before, multiple times, the rest of the world hates the UK and the English and would probably just laugh and maybe even masturbate furiously, if mad vlad nuclearized London and the south east. It’s like when the IRA blew up the tory party … you shouldn’t laugh (hasn’t Tebbit’s wife suffered enough by being married to him?), but you can’t help yourself. Eggs and omelettes, it’s a price worth paying. International recognition is pushing at an open door, most of the world is saying – do it … do it … or if not then “why have you not done it yet – are you so cucked?”
Boot them out, all of them. When you want new growth you need to get rid of all the weeds.
lovely people, the “new scots”
link to archive.is
when I was at ed uni, everyone hated the “YAHS” as they were known; but then they hit back by claiming this was a “racist” and offensive term – you have to admire the chutzpah of this. Scotland’s “oxbridge” churns out our middle class; half of it is already anglo, and the rest pretty much aligned with them, plus a trace element of nationalists trying to create a weak-piss civic nationalism that guardian readers would approve of. Generally though – fuck the middle class, they ruin everything.
the SCUM had the story too, but then scrubbed it
link to thescottishsun.co.uk
– the Sun has a history of scrubbing stories BTW, they have done quite a few regarding Nikki.
I think we need a new voting system for our country – you are currently living here and have been for 5 years, you get one vote; you also get a vote for being born here and every parent and grandparent who was also born here; and this all stacks, most natives will get 8 votes. Give the weight of the democratic voice to the preferred stock, to the indigenous peoples – that way, whatever the economic injustice of it all, having the country bought out from under you by people using the money they stole from you – the political power is always with the natives and if down the line we have to introduce restrictive ownership laws, we can do so, without being “democratically” thwarted by bloc voting, localised ghetto power and the fucked up intricacies of our heath robinson voting systems.
Also, look up “harkis” and “pied noirs”.
@mia
The person who controls the prosecution service and police in Scotland is Nicola Sturgeon, no one else. Re-electing that criminal was only going to have one outcome. If you hand your house keys to the thief would you be surprised if they burgled your house?
Yes the opposition have been weak but it is also the case that they have been kept in line by legal threats made by Sturgeon’s consigliere Swinney and others. Remember Sturgeons right hand woman lawyering up, threatening the committee and then refusing to attend? Who do you think paid for that? Not her anyway.
As for the media, many of them hold enough information to end her permanently and send her to jail. When sturgeon goes they “might” spring into action and out her to such an extent the crown office will have to act but that remains to be seen. What an unholy corrupt mess scotland has become.
At the risk of attracting ire as an English outsider, it is worth looking more coolly at migration into Scotland and its impact on support for independence (which I support btw though live in England).
Relatively speaking, if there were more support for independence amongst the ‘native’ population, it wouldn’t matter since the native population still far outweighs incomers.
We don’t have the latest census figures yet but in 2011, 83% of residents were ‘Scottish born’ and there will be a significant minority of the rest who actually support independence as well.
The best clue to the current state is that there are stats for schools from 2021 – 76% white Scottish born so one would assume the countrywide total of Scottish-born (white or otherwise) would be between that and 83%. This is all on wikipedia.
It is therefore still clearly within Scottish born hands in the country to garner considerable majority support for independence, not to mention the addition of incomers who would also support it.
Mia,
Alf Baird,
I enjoyed reading both of your comments and how aware you both were on the flaws and legal holes were in the treaty of union,
As you may have read yesterday I had a appalling and abusive education that left much to be desired, and I always wonder where I would have been today if things had been different during my time era as a female,
As I love research, archaeology, and history, art and music.
And this resulted in my having to think outside the box for all my life for to survive what poverty and lack of education throws at you in life.
You quickly learn to look for kinks and loop holes in the failing systems, you look for legal loop holes that are there but do not break the law.
I created work for myself many times where my education failed me.
I retired as a cartoonist a few years ago
It is a pleasure beyond words for me to see those with a better education than I also looking, studying, researching and commenting on the loop holes in the treaty of the union,
And there are many many loop holes that I have found,
That educated people could and perhaps should consider more often outside the box, but within the law,
I was never trapped into a set pattern of thinking, but trying to catch up on learning, has taught me a considerable amount about loop holes,
The treaty of union, the articles within, Colonisation legislation passed for Scotland since the treaty, the bank of England was not always the Bank of Britain after the treaty of union, but a private Corporation, and the conception and myths surrounding it are amazing,
Thank you for the pleasure of reading both your posts the past two. days.
“We also need to present a decent image of what an independent Scotland would look like”
I strongly disagree with this for four reasons:
1. you cannot predict the future
2. your image of what an independent Scotland should look like may be completely different to mine
3. if you present to the electorate an image of what Scotland will look like as an independent country you are basically claiming the people of Scotland do not have a say in how that independent Scotland will be. I think that is wrong and will put off many.
4. That image can be manipulated or abused (and will be) by the dark forces to put off many.
The remit of pro-independence parties is TO TAKE US to the status of being an independent state, not to rebuild Scotland to their particular liking.
An independent Scotland has to be a project in progress and the whole of Scotland, not only a particular political party or coalition between two parties, should have a say on it.
Besides, the particular image in the minds of a party who claims to be pro-independence (the Greens for instance) might be completely unpalatable for many pro-independence voters, never mind no voters.
If you release such dystopian picture as “the” image of an independent Scotland, you would be putting off a lot of people.
This is precisely the strategy the treacherous Sturgeon has been following for the last 8 years to put off people from independence. Her Hate and GRR bills, which would even embarrass the 20th century worse dictators, the level of corruption in her government, the formidable incompetence displayed by some of her ministerial departments, the waste of taxpayers’ resources in political experiments with unlawful complaint procedures, the malicious prosecutions or criminal cases on fabricated charges are presenting a scary image of an independent Scotland under STurgeon.
But that is not the image of an independent Scotland. That is the distortion created by a corrupt, incompetent political fraud in control of Scotland’s government and parliament.
There are far too many questions to answer yet to give an accurate image:
1. A constitution
2. Do we join EFTA?
3. Do we join the EU?
4. Do we join NATO?
5. Do we ditch the monarchy and become a republic?
6. Do we add an extra layer of representatives to our parliament?
etc
These are not matters to resolve by the party of the day. They are matters for the people of Scotland as a whole to decide and over time.
I agree that some matters, for example currency, a national bank, a Scottish national broadcaster, a Scottish civil service, a system to collect taxes, or temporarily joining other countries to ensure an initial basic trade system, need to be clear before we become independent. But the bulk of the decisions are not to be done by the party of the day, but rather by Scotland as a whole and over time.
The main principle of independence is that the people of Scotland will govern Scotland in the way they see is best. That may be one way today but a very different one in 10 or 100 years’ time. Scotland, the same as any other country in the world, will have to adjust to continuous changing circumstances in its internal and external environment.
When we were asked to vote for/against Brexit, I do not recall being given a decent image of what Scotland would look like if we were dragged out of the EU. It was all incredibly vague.
So why is it that it is only when it comes to the subject of Scotland’s independence that everything must be absolutely crystal clear to minutiae of detail for everybody when, without having a crystal ball to predict the future, such demand is beyond impossible to deliver?
The suggestion that Scotland could have anything like the economic model of Dubai or Kuwait has given me the biggest laugh in quite a few years.
Well done Etticus, you’re a funny guy. Almost Swiftian in your ability to poke fun at those who believe in the most ridiculous of theories.
If the SNP are in control of Scotland and its laws why did they run to England for the supreme Court?
There may be some connection between the accepted British legislated Scotland Act that bought about a devolved government to Scotland that swears a oath of allegience to the Sovereignty of Westminster before the Scottish people,
Which has slowly implemented a change to Scots law through the back door of that Act, while breaching the treaty of union.
But John Main, it was you who spoke about ‘white flight’ – which as you may be aware, is a racist trope.
Much of the migration from England to Scotland – as Prof Alf Baird has frequently written here and elsewhere (including in his superb book Doun-Hauden – is driven by the reservation of top jobs in academia, public bodies, the civil service and the apparatus of the colonial state for non-Scots.
Having worked in several “Scottish” universities in my career, I share Prof Baird’s direct experience of this.
It is the deliberate policy of the colonial power to reserve the apparat to their own trusties – and to maintain native scots in relatively menial jobs – as per his oft cited colonial theory. Those Scots who do get these posts must swear fealty to the colonial power – hence the preponderance of those from private schools (on the English model) occupying top legal, civil service and other like positions. This is what is called evidence-based argument.
I think if we are to get the nub of these problems we need to be able to identify their nature honestly and truly – without racist tropes.
“The person who controls the prosecution service and police in Scotland is Nicola Sturgeon”
I am sorry, I do not believe that for even a second. The key is in the name:
The CROWN Prosecution Service.
The CROWN agent is another nice example.
The lord Advocate is appointed by the monarch on recommendation of the First Minister with the agreement of the Scottish Parliament.
The COPFS claims to be independent – they claim to make decisions independently from the police and government. The unlawful complaints procedure and the criminal case against Mr Salmond on fabricated charges demonstrated this independence is ficticious.
That Nicola Sturgeon might have been acting as the intermediate between powers is another matter. In that case, the pertinent question is
“Who has been controlling Sturgeon and Murrel?
She cannot be officially in control of these structures unless every pretence of having barriers between the executive and judicial and policial powers to ensure their independence from each other, fundamental in any democracy, have been completely demolished and this has become a police state.
In that case, the onus is on Westminter parliament for deliberately leaving in the Scotland Act that door between the powers wide open when that does not happen in England. Mr David Davis highlighted this problem in Westminster years ago. They have had plenty of time to lock that back door down if they had wished to do so.
“Yes the opposition have been weak but it is also the case that they have been kept in line by legal threats made by Sturgeon’s consigliere Swinney”
Excuses, excuses. The opposition parties chose to look the other way. Swinney had no power to make threats. If those threats came from somewhere, it was from the CROWN prosecution service. So shame on them for not exposing the corruption and abuse of power from the crown structures in Scotland.
“What an unholy corrupt mess scotland has become”
Scotland is not a mess. The powers that be have fabricated a mess in Scotland’s government, Parliament, COPFS and police with the help of a political fraud to make Scotland look incompetent, authoriarian and put people off independence.
Frankly, all this reeks at desperation from the British state and hints to Scotland’s independence being a much bigger threat they are prepared to acknowledge it to be.
James says:
10 March, 2023 at 11:09 am
I was on the big AUOB march that took 4 hours to pass by any given point, one ‘name’ above farting the same old bol….
So was I James. I left late in the afternoon to catch the bus home and people were still arriving. Conservative estimate – 150,000.
PHILM
The Gulf states «model», based on a single commodity, fossil fuel, belongs to the past.
Pollution, legions of foreign serfs, ludicrous building developments, corruption, autocratic régimes and a largely deskilled indigenous minority population is a model of mega $$$$ dependency.
Turbulence waits in the sand dunes.
Re size of marches, last one i was at in Glasgow, a person in our party from Arran was not fit to walk the distance, they went to the Glasgow Green direct from Train Station, they said
Folk started arriving 2-1/2 hours before us, we were there for an hour before heading to the railway station , there were still streaming in at a great rate then, in fact i took a detour back to the station (ie got lost) and ended up walking up the street the Marchers were coming down, there were people 12 across the road for at least a quarter of a mile when the route turned off that road.
Dont know how many but i would not argue with the estimates of 100,000 plus, not counting manky jaicket and a couple of his cohorts.
Southernbystander.
I was not born in Scotland, however the onus is not on the few native Scots that are left here after their Country was Colonised to vote independence.
It is not a contest between Scots and newbee Scots.
When in Rome……
If you choose Scotland as a better Country from the place you come from, then let us not make it into the Country you left. Its that simple.
Work with the native people to make it stay a lovely Country, if the other half of britain is failing and becoming over crowded and the government are busy at “war spending” all the structure resources.
We did not directly choose the government we have in Scotland, but dam it, all the people living Scotland should vote for a independent Scotland to maintain this beautiful land and its beautiful people,
Scotland is not your enemy, it is more akin to being your saviour from the place you left,
Respect to those you have joined, on wanting to walk different road to down south should be your main goal.
If the union is what makes you the happiest, but you flee to Scotland,
That says a lot about the Colonial mindset of the old empire, that takes over, and thinks the people of Scotland and its Country belong to them, and the Scots and there land are just a extention of what England owns.
This is not so, and it is a mistake many newcomers make when they move here,
It is a different Country, a different nation and a different culture that is being advertised in MSM as the fall out place to go when down south of the border becomes to uninhabital with influx of new people, ideas and bad government.
The Scots feel the same way about their Country when they see a influx of people changing their demographics and changing their culture
As someone moving to Scotland to escape what you no longer enjoy down south or from any other Country, you are seeking refuge,
Have respect for the people of that nation and Country that supply you with your refuge,
The Colonel belting out orders to the natives is never gonna fit in.
These people have all a seriously deranged fetish and/or are without doubt mentally very, very ill.
link to twitter.com
Instead of opening up adult human females/biological women’s spaces to allow greater and simplified access to these people, any remnants of normal thinking folk in the, so called Holyrood SNP, should get their fkn act together and just walk out as a group.
10 – 12 is all it would take to start the demolishment of the nutters cult.
Oh for a spine when you need one…..
@Mia
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
I see like many current and former sturgeonites the brain washing is still having an effect on you, 8 years of unending lies does that to some people unfortunately.
I hope for your sake that one day you’ll see the truth.
“If the SNP are in control of Scotland and its laws why did they run to England for the supreme Court?”
In my opinion it was for two reasons:
1. to ensure the court they took their charade to would be able to apply the multiuse repression tool for all circumstances: Westminter’s “parliamentary sovereignty”
I suspect it would be less likely for a Scottish court to be comfortable using this repression tool as a valid excuse to frustrate Scotland’s democracy because there was a perfectly valid mandate for the bill to be debated in Holyrood.
2. To avoid breaching Article 19 of the Treaty of Union at a time when an awful lot of people in Scotland (and SALVO) are watching like vultures their every step.
Should a Scottish court rule in favour of the bill, and an English court would not be able to revert that ruling without a massive constitutional confrontation, potentially breaching article 19.
Article 19 says:
“…And that no Causes in Scotland be cognoscible by the Courts of Chancery, Queens-Bench, Common-Pleas, or any other Court in Westminster-hall; And that the said Courts, or any other of the like nature after the Union, shall have no power to Cognosce, Review or Alter the Acts or Sentences of the Judicatures within Scotland, or stop the Execution of the same”
In my opinion, Nicola Sturgeon and the lord advocate used a double lock to ensure Sturgeon did not have to bring the bill to Holyrood:
1. By submitting the bill directly to the English court instead of a Scottish one
2. by referring it to the court before it had even entered Holyrood, so the ruling in the case of Martin Keatings would be applicable as a precedent.
This does not look like accidental. It looks carefully planned. A part of me wonders if they opportunistically used Martin Keatings case as a trial run to set up for themselves a precedent so they could have a safety fall-back in case the multi-use tool “parliamentary sovereignty” did not stick.
Garavelli Princip,
Ignore him,
He has a track record on here as opposing anyone that thinks of independence,
The stick in the spokes,
He has not learned or educated himself that Scots and their nation are not a copy from how he was raised or taught how to think,
They are a different Country and nation not a extension of another Country,
Colonial mindset, brow beating and nit picking his way through Scotlands commentators,
I have no problem with you, so why he has taken it up so personally……?
He is just about the same with everyone here on this site that supports Scottish independence.
Big chief problem instigator;-)
@philM
Aye, Queen Nicola will provide. I wouldn’t expect anything else from an ardent Sturgeonite defending the utter disaster that was the Scot wind auction.
Scotland had it all, oil, gas and then Renewables. Add in low tax and a pro business attitude and you’re halfway there.
Tony Benn scuppered the oil and gas bonanza and now sturgeon has committed the greatest crime against Scotland since the act of Union and destroyed the renewables revolution before it even got started. When the truth about what she was bribed with to give it all away like that comes out people will be shocked at how little she was bought for.
As for the warmongering laddie, he maybe wants to see where Dubai’s wealth comes from, it isn’t gas. It’s amazing what low taxes and positive encouragement of corporations does. Mind he is a sturgeonite himself so he widnae Ken.
“I see like many current and former sturgeonites the brain washing is still having an effect on you”
Don’t be ridiculous. I have never been a Sturgeonite. I have suspected her to be a political fraud the minute I found out she claimed a vote for the SNP was not a vote for Independence AFTER the polls were predicting a SNP landslide victory already by October 2014, and that was an awful long time ago.
You have completely misinterpreted me. If I do not believe she is the mastermind behind any of this, it is not because I am suffering from cognitive dissonance. It is becasue I do not consider her intellectually capable, strategically minded or powerful enough to come up with a grand scale plan like this involving so many actors.
If she was she would not have her guardian dogs trying to shut down dissent on twitter nor embarrassing herself by abusing her postion in a interview to smear Mr Salmond or by sticking her nose in the leadership context when she said she would not, for example.
These things clearly tell me this woman is no strategist or diplomat so she resources to use blunt tools as her only firefighting strategy and is following a script with instructions somebody else has written.
It is also becasue I genuinely do not believe for even a second a nationalist FM would ever be allowed anywhere near the control levers of the crown structures. And the COPFS, the crown agent, the courts and, in my opinion the police too, are acting crown structures.
She has obediently unlocked the door between the COPFS and the Scottish government cabinet to frustrate democracy and ensure the crown can waltz in and out at its pleasure to control what is legislated in Holryood and what not. That is not what a real strategist and leader who wants absolute control over its cabinet and legislative brief does. That is what a minion following instructions does.
“I hope for your sake that one day you’ll see the truth”
Should I interpret that as a threat?
@ Mia and linked to some other posts.
Its clear to me that the UK has and thinks it will continue to have the SNP neutralised. There is absolutely no concern at UK level at the SNP leadership change or reemergance of INDY in the near future.
Rumour had it that Nichola Surgeon had been got at by UK state actors but its hard to say what exactly. I mentioned in the 1st post I made for a long time here the other day that even after international and UN pressure to return Diego Garcia back to its ethnically cleansed former inhabitants, UK says they cannot be forced to comply.
Scotland leaving is orders of magnitude more impactful on English interests than the Chagos isles. So any impending threat to UK colonial rule over Scotland requires continued covert and overt measures.
As well as using elections asa test of independence support, SNP should field MPs bit not generally attend Westiminster. They should only attend crunch votes of Scottish interest and not even debate. Why debate with people who mock and treat us as their property?
So in my opinion other than the overt (to paraphrase) ‘we wont grant you a referendum so go fcuk yourselves serfs’ it shouldnt need that much covert action to keep the snp in check because they are making it so easy for the UK to walk all over them.
There seems to be a mix of reasons for this but overall I think that at Scottish and UK level the SNP are far to comfortable and secure in their posts. It would be better if Labour or tory could seriously take them on.
Lastly, there are any number of ways SNP could be a thorn in UK side, legally, and set the agendas. EG. Refuse to give back stone of destiny until there is a Scottish vote on it since it is Scottish property. They choose instead to play along as a region. This has to stop. They have to put on the persona of a state government ready and acting like we should be independent. The SNP play the parish council role and UK rules of the game instead, hence UK laughing at us every single day. Its a shame.
Etticus!
What a laugh you are it’s great to have a bit of stand-up comedy on here for a change – well done!
But I’ve worked out your secret….
You are manky jaiket man – and I claim my £5!
James Che said: ‘the onus is not on the few native Scots that are left here after their Country was Colonised to vote independence.’
Really – it is not up to the native population to want independence? Have I understood that right? And what about the stark fact that those ‘few’ make up c.80% of the population?
I don’t disagree about people moving to Scotland taking into account the independence cause (and I would though have no intention of moving) but you cannot dictate what they do; I mean how would you even do that other than through argument?
My main point is that this all seems like a sidetrack.
@ Mia and linked to some other posts.
Its clear to me that the UK has and thinks it will continue to have the SNP neutralised. There is absolutely no concern at UK level at the SNP leadership change or re-emergence of INDY in the near future.
Rumour had it that Nichola Surgeon had been got at by UK state actors but its hard to say what exactly. I mentioned in the 1st post I made for a long time here the other day that even after international and UN pressure to return Diego Garcia back to its ethnically cleansed former inhabitants, UK says they cannot be forced to comply.
Scotland leaving is orders of magnitude more impactful on English interests than the Chagos isles. So any impending threat to UK colonial rule over Scotland requires continued covert and overt measures.
As well as using elections as a test of independence support, SNP should field MPs bit not generally attend Westminster. They should only attend crunch votes of Scottish interest and not even debate. Why debate with people who mock and treat us as their property?
So in my opinion other than the overt (to paraphrase) ‘we wont grant you a referendum so go fcuk yourselves serfs’ it shouldnt need that much covert action to keep the snp in check because they are making it so easy for the UK to walk all over them.
There seems to be a mix of reasons for this but overall I think that at Scottish and UK level the SNP are far to comfortable and secure in their posts. It would be better if Labour or tory could seriously take them on.
Lastly, there are any number of ways SNP could be a thorn in UK side, legally, and set the agendas. EG. Refuse to give back stone of destiny until there is a Scottish vote on it since it is Scottish property. They choose instead to play along as a region. This has to stop. They have to put on the persona of a state government ready and acting like we should be independent. The SNP play the parish council role and UK rules of the game instead, hence UK laughing at us every single day. Its a shame.
Hi Etticus at 8:59 am.
You typed,
“Neither do you seem to be able to understand why organisations like AUOB feel the need to lie about march attendances. They make crazy claims like 100,000 marched when the reality is around a 10th of that on the biggest marches and that has now frittered away to the same couple of hundred losers every time.”
Have a look at the pic I’ve linked to below. As you can see, the front of the procession has reached The Meadows, the rest can be seen on the Royal Mile, while the tail-end is still at Holyrood Park. The pic was taken on 5th October, 2019.
How many thousands would you estimate took part?
Question Time last night nearly gave Tory Unionist Fiona Bruce a heart attack.
A panel member commenting on Boris and his quest to give his father a knighthood.
She called out as corrupt nepotism, as it is, and quoted a statement from Stanley’s wife who
unfortunately brought Boris into the world.
She stated that Stanley attacked her and broke her nose before being admitted to hospital.
Fiona Bruce jumped in to say it was only once and forced the discussion onto another track.
How absolutely disgusting that the BBC employs a woman who tries to make smashing your wife’s face in is not so bad as it’s only once.
Does this tell viewers who are in dispute with their wife that if you only smash her face once and hospitalise her you should still be fine for one of the nations most senior accolades.
Today I hear that her book states that Stanley regularly beat her.
A number of society females including Isobel Oakshot label him as a groper.
The fascist media want Lineker kicked out of the BBC for a truthful comparison on common issues between the Tories and 1930’d Germany but Bruce is OK.
Absolutely sickening! Bruce should be out on her posh arse today.
Remember Boris had the police called out to Carrie’s home when he was physically restraining her against her will.
Having made 6 different women pregnant it looks like he is a chip off the old block.
@ Mia and linked to some other posts.
Its clear to me that the UK has and thinks it will continue to have the SNP neutralised. There is absolutely no concern at UK level at the SNP leadership change or re-emergence of INDY in the near future.
Rumour had it that Nichola Surgeon had been got at by UK state actors but its hard to say what exactly. I mentioned in the 1st post I made for a long time here the other day that even after international and UN pressure to return Diego Garcia back to its ethnically cleansed former inhabitants, UK says they cannot be forced to comply.
Scotland leaving is orders of magnitude more impactful on English interests than the Chagos isles. So any impending threat to UK colonial rule over Scotland requires continued covert and overt measures.
As well as using elections as a test of independence support, SNP should field MPs bit not generally attend Westminster. They should only attend crunch votes of Scottish interest and not even debate. Why debate with people who mock and treat us as their property?
So in my opinion other than the overt (to paraphrase) ‘we wont grant you a referendum so go f*** yourselves serfs’ it shouldnt need that much covert action to keep the snp in check because they are making it so easy for the UK to walk all over them.
There seems to be a mix of reasons for this but overall I think that at Scottish and UK level the SNP are far to comfortable and secure in their posts. It would be better if Labour or tory could seriously take them on.
Lastly, there are any number of ways SNP could be a thorn in UK side, legally, and set the agendas. EG. Refuse to give back stone of destiny until there is a Scottish vote on it since it is Scottish property. They choose instead to play along as a region. This has to stop. They have to put on the persona of a state government ready and acting like we should be independent. The SNP play the parish council role and UK rules of the game instead, hence UK laughing at us every single day. Its a shame.
Brian Doonthetoon;
Them were the days eh? 🙁
James Che @ 12:58 pm
“I created work for myself many times where my education failed me.”
Creating one’s own enterprise was often the only option for many of us Scots kids of the 50s and 60s, maqny of us also forced to become economic migrants prior to and during the Thatcher era, returning with resources earned and learning about superior economic models and more equal cultures. My initial efforts as a mature student led to a blunt refusal for me to study law at Edin uni despite my having entry qualifications incl legal studies; such elite inst mainly took private school applicants as I later learned, and probably still do.
Much as Garavelli Princip writes @ 1:17 pm, a cultural division of labour favouring Anglophone elites continues to limit socio-economic opportunities for most Scots in oor ain laund:
“It is the deliberate policy of the colonial power to reserve the apparat to their own trusties – and to maintain native scots in relatively menial jobs – as per his oft cited colonial theory. Those Scots who do get these posts must swear fealty to the colonial power – hence the preponderance of those from private schools (on the English model) occupying top legal, civil service and other like positions”
Mia….. 100% correct yet again!
Graf Midgehunter says:
10 March, 2023 at 2:02 pm
These people have all a seriously deranged fetish and/or are without doubt mentally very, very ill.
link to twitter.com
—————-
I was telt these are all John Main’s x burds!
Do the Scots have a real «sense» of the country whose name they bear?
Perhaps the idea of the Scot and Scottishness needs work.
The history of liberation and renewal struggles offers many examples or rediscovering «th soul».
The current SNP is not a party of liberation, it plainly does not possess the intellectual tools to do that job.
As I have indicated elsewhere the cheapskate option is simply stay as you are.
But we know that dont we?
Sorry for the multiple posts…didnt think the submit had worked.
71st Highlanders (2022): Ewe with the Crumpled Horn:
(The Highland Band of the Scottish Division: The Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion):
link to tinyurl.com
Earlier on in this thread I referred to the hilarity at HR during Ross’s questions at FMQ’s yesterday.
Later, when it was Sarwar’s turn, the mood became more subdued. For his second question, he brought up the dilemma of a young boy who had been promised surgery, within 4 weeks, to correct a genetic spinal defect. 7 MONTHS on, having suffered in pain for the duration, he still waits for an appointment.
Yousaf’s coupon could be seen clearly during Sturgeons response, and for anyone who thinks this is leadership in waiting, I suggest they look at his staring and facial expressions during that answer.
This is only one of countless cases of various urgency in the three quarters of a million on the waiting list, denying many predominantly working-class people access to urgent medical care. As Sarwar pointed out, more that 20% of those on waiting lists eventually give up and pay privately. Many rely on family members for help, some borrow to pay. Of course, most poor folks don’t have these options in 21st century Scotland.
It highlights the gap between SNP supporters and reality when Sarwar and Forbes are the public voices exposing the shortcomings of what should be an apolitical functioning SNHS. Meanwhile, Sturgeon and Yousaf portray SNHS as a beacon of light requiring no more than a few tweaks to rectify its problems while everyone else can see it is falling apart in a race to the bottom before full privatisation.
Citizens want health, education, justice, and poverty to be prioritised in an independent Scotland, yet those tasked with that mandate remain preoccupied with every other ludicrous policy being imported by extremely well financed unelected and unaccountable neoliberals.
@mia
The conspiracy doesn’t require many people.
A bunch of people within the SNP willing to lie for Nicola Sturgeon.
A bent or bought lord advocate who directs the crown office and police accordingly.
Judges who will enforce a court order.
That’s it.
At brianthe toon
Never heard of photoshopping?
Seriously doctored “photo”
Ephemeraldeception.
Stanley Johnstone alleged wife beater and the man who has a book on sale for “depopulation of the planet” should have a word with his son on that subject, before attempting spouting the demise of the ordinary man.
These people are idealogical driven hypocrites, nice world for them, death for us,
James Che – 2:18.
“Ignore him”
Wise words James. I’ll do that.
It is perhaps diagnostic how he affects to understand the Scottish predicament – but ascribes its cause to an influx of poor refugees and immigrants in England driving good ole whities oop north to escape. Where have we heard that kind of thing before? Eh Enoch?
But there in front of his eyes – in the shape of your wise words and those (evidence-led) of Alf Baird is the true cause – the colonial denial of our nationhood, culture and foreign control of our own polity.
Now what manner of person would do that?
I can think of few true Scots (including those Scots – like you James – born furth of Scotland) who would resort to such despicable tactics.
It’s almost as if we have a foreign agent among us spouting the sort of anti-immigrant propaganda and right-wing xenophobic calumny that could get a blog like this a bad name!
Andrew scott @3,56
As a semi pro photographer I know photos hopefully very well , I also know what my own eyes see in person.
You are spouting pish.
Mia’s posts are excellent.
Especially….
” There are far too many questions to answer yet to give an accurate image:
1. A constitution
2. Do we join EFTA?
3. Do we join the EU?
4. Do we join NATO?
5. Do we ditch the monarchy and become a republic?
6. Do we add an extra layer of representatives to our parliament?
etc”
Most of these are HUGE traps and so important to get right. I mean really important to get right. The problem comes when you allow the people to decide. Quite simply because the debate around each topic will be filled with myths and lies. Exactly like the Indy ref campaign was for YES or NO. The truths will disappear under a barrage of propaganda.
The Scottish people will be ready for independence when they fully understand you don’t need EFTA or the EU anymore than New Zealand or Australia, or Japan or Canada or America needs membership in order to sell Whiskey or Salmon or anything else for that matter abroad. All you need is like those other countries is a trade deal NOT membership.
If we can’t get a trade deal because they want to tell us what Our taxes should be set at and what size of deficit we are allowed to have and how much we are all allowed to save via some dodgy rogoff spreadsheet. How many people should cross our borders and foreign capital can buy up any amount of our skills and real resources as it likes from which to extract rent. Then we walk away and trade on WTO terms.
If the Ukraine war has taught us anything Sanctions never mind tariffs don’t stop you from exporting. Never have done. Iran has defeated sanctions for decades now.
Why ?
You can’t get Scottish whiskey or Salmon or langoustines from anywhere else apart from here in Scotland. The demand is HUGE for them. Like Russia is selling its oil and gas into Europe via India and Asia right now. If push comes to shove we do the very same. We sell through 3rd party countries into Europe. There’s no chance in bell they stop selling their goods and services to us. WTO terms is all you ever need to trade.
Yet, 80% of the population have been potty trained to believe you either need the EU or EFTA membership. It is an absurd notion. Shows the real power of propaganda.
All you need to do is understand this – free from politics and ideology and learn what actually takes place.
link to new-wayland.com
And what a FX transaction really looks like.
link to new-wayland.com
How Russian Gas Is Paid For free from politics and ideology.
link to new-wayland.com
90% of people don’t understand this and will be easily led by their noses by their TV’s and radios and newspapers that will rub their confirmation biases and their ideological beliefs and push their world view. To get them to vote the way they want.
We see the exact same process playing out in the hustings. Watch in disbelief.
Some things are just way too important to let the public decide. Some things have to be done right to avoid the huge traps set by the neoliberal globalists. That are desperate to control an indy Scotland the way London does now.
Indeed that is so,
However as I have often noted some of the most learned and educated that had the easy route to education are the least educated in the book of life.
There are pages missing to their observations and studies to gain a qualifcation other than parrot fashion learning
The book of life requires a higher, much harder, longer training period and high standard before any qualifications are gained,
This is what actually is wrong with the education system, a few piece of paper? To say what,
Academically you can remember some one else’s thoughts and words and you can repeat them in a quiz like exam.
That is not life, nor does it qualify those people for life, especially when you realise the brain washing and twisted nonsense being taught right now in some of these supposedly top institutions.
Alf, you did well to educate yourself by finding a alternate route through the education system that is a failure to children,
At one time children were also taught other skills and training for the outside world, like apprenticeships, in carpentry, woodwork for joiners, police force, painters and decorators, mechanics and metal work, etc.
My brother came out of school with no qualifications as he wanted to start life as a mechanic, however he too was colour blind,
Once he left School he found one of those legal loop holes I mentioned, took night courses for over five years, paid for by himself by working full time, and studied engineering,
He went on to become a engineer that looked after the rigs in the north sea, and a self employed consultant in engineering.
He had a mild form of dyslexia.
One of sisters whom came out of school with out qualifications, afterwards qualified as Horticulturist and tree surgeon, which requires a good knowledge of latin.
It is the British education system that is a failure to children, once out of that rigid narrow system children often go on to thrive.
Education and the way it is presented as a result to ones future life is one area that should be seriously reviewed in a independent Scotland for sure,
Take the Colonial regime teachings out of Schools, it does not work, however there are excellent and good parts to keep, like going back to teaching the three Rs as a basic foundation.
Instead of transgender issues and sexualising children for the benefit of perversion in adults.
When you ask any blue collar worker and the majority of the working class what they think about trade.
They will talk like capital/ city of london, walk like capital and act like capital when they give their response.
Some will now even talk like capital/ city of London, walk like capital and act like capital when talking about the NHS.
That my friends is the greatest trick they ever pulled. Through years of propaganda and potty trained from the age of 5 in education camps to convince Labour they are capital and get you to vote against your own interests.
The early AUOB marches in Glasgow and Edinburgh were certainly very well attended. But obviously numbers tailed off over the years as enthusiasm and motivation dropped due to Sturgeon’s prevarication, stalling, divisive disruption, and incompetence.
Our YES group ran coaches to most of the marches, sometimes a couple of coaches were required.
I recall the first march in Glasgow, we were held in Kelvin Grove Park till the start time, we were quite near the front but even then couldn’t see the actual front marchers when we looked down the long downhill sections on the route.
The route was 4.8km / 3 miles. It took hours to get from Kelvin Grove to Glasgow Green. When I arrived at Glasgow Green it had a large number of marchers and folk that had already congregated to set up the stalls / stage or weren’t able to complete the walk. I asked a policeman as I entered the gates if they had an indication of the size and numbers in attendance. He said there were still people starting the march at Kelvin Grove Park. So that was a full 4.8km / 3 miles long snake of folk.
There will be images of this as the police had a helicopter constantly flying back and forth over the route monitoring the march, but for obvious reasons we know this won’t be made public.
Route can be seen here.
link to plotaroute.com
Scot Goes Pop opinion poll on independence – results will be released later tonight
@ Gordon Gekko
What are your views on Graeme McCormick’s Annual Ground Rent initiative as an alternative way of raising revenues to fund public services?
Mia says, a whole tranche of conspiracy theories about how the big bad Union is out to get us.
Why cannot people see that we allowed ourselves to be governed in the last ten years by a group of criminal wasters who ultimately were driven mad by believing their own propaganda.
There is no Unionist conspiracy…..they just don’t have the brains or the inclination and they do not need to conspire we have the long held ability to damage ourselves without any help from the Tories or whoever the current bogey men are.
If the Union is so evil why the **** did they save us from ourselves over the GRR? We could by now be fully signed up to a perverts charter and that is only the starter for the main meal the chefs in HR had prepared for us.
We all really need to get our heads straight and start to elect real people to parliament that means facing up to wokery and the alphabet circus, we can never get our economy and social services right while the lunatics are still running the asylum.
Garavelli princip.
It is a strange situation when someone flees to your Country for refuge from their own that has taken a bad or awkward turn in politics, to then cry that the Country they fled too is no use, it is not as good as the Country they came from,
And they would prefer it if Scotland was not independent of those other Countries politics, that they fled from.
Being a true Scot in your own Country and being proud of it is to be admired and held high as a principle of a bigger community in a nation,
This principle should be the same for people other nations as well, it is timeless.
My Grandparents on both sides, fathers and mothers were Scottish, and when they returned to Scotland I was still a youngster,
But by goodness, what a feeling,
I felt like I had come home, and still feel the same way all these years on, I can only presume that we must have genetic memory somewhere in us.
On this basis I would presume that if Scotland gained its independence, many more Scots may return home from foreign lands that were forced to be economic migrants, while under a Colonial Scotland.
So tell me, ‘Etticus’, what’s with the name? Did you see it as a potential winner on Countdown or in a game of Scrabble? Are you using part of the saying ‘etticus fetticus’? Or are you the same bloke masquerading on social media as the aforementioned?
I’m truly intrigued because, as far as i’m aware, there’s no such word or name as ‘Etticus’. No such word as in a word with a formal meaning to it. So what’s the story behind it? BTW, i’ve a strong feeling our paths have converged previously. LOL! And i do remember someone using the name ‘Atticus’ on the ‘Dead Tree Scrolls (newspaper) comments a very long time ago. But ‘Etticus’?
And if you are who i think you are then, Yes, you truly do have something worthy enough in your life, etticus fetticus. BTW, have you met ‘gregor’? gregor’s into words too. Yes i know i used lower-case on the name, that’s because that ‘gregor’ isn’t the original ‘Gregor’ who posted on here once upon a time. So, spill, what’s the story behind the name? Put me out of my misery.
Gordon Gekko.
You are wise in your comments, it is the biggest trickery of all as you say,
There is a little phrase slipped into office work places in the last decade that says it all.
“Human Resources”.
A robotic like terminology that takes away a individuals personality, and has parallels as a new invented word for slavery.
The BBC Belligerent Biased Corruption announce that Gary Lineker will set back from the Match of the Day show while they discuss his social media posts.
Gary has informed Sky News that the BBC has forced him off the show.
As a self employed presenter of Sports he is not bound by the shackles put on Media presenters , but they seem to have changed the rules to suit the fascist supporter Boris put in at the top of the BBC.
Lineker has commented off air that this Tory government is moving in the direction of 1930’s Germany.
Absolutely spot on Gary! It’s a fact!
Both comparables where extreme right
Both tried to closed down parliament- prorogued is the nice name Boris used for it.
Both put their own people in charge of the national broadcaster.
Both had right wing extremists owning the majority of newspapers- Daily Mail, Express, Telegraph etc
Both chased away thousands of foreigners- Brexit they call it here.
Both blame foreigners for ruining the economy
Both want to take money even from the poor to invest in the military
Both are handing government contracts to party supporters- Emergency Contracts, PPE.
Fiona Bruce on the BBC Trying to cover up Stanley Johnson’s history of breaking his wife’s nose and hospitalising her in last nights Question Time.
Although the wife identified him as a regular wife beater Fiona Bruce suggested it was only once.
So Lineker with refugees living in his home bad and biased
Fiona Bruce no problem defending Tory wife abusers.
Let’s boot the BBC out of Scotland
“Rumour had it that Nichola Surgeon had been got at by UK state actors but its hard to say what exactly”
I do not pay attention to gossip. I am however most interested in dates, particularly all these ones:
20 September 2014
The guardian: “Gordon Brown tells Scots: I’ll make sure Westminster keeps promises”
30 September 2014
The Financial Times: “The SNP has seized on the vision offered by Mr Brown ahead of the referendum of devolution that would leave the UK “as close to federal state as is possible”.
“The pre-referendum vow?.?.?.?contained no ifs, no buts,” Mr Brown wrote. “All parties have to be reminded again of both the no strings attached promises they made, and their responsibilities to the whole country.”
“Mr Brown’s intervention comes at a time of fierce debate about the best form of further devolution and accusations from the Scottish Nationalist party that the pro-union victors are already preparing to backslide on their promises”
14 October 2014
The Guardian: “Forces of Evel trample over The Solemn Vow to Scots. William Hague opens proceedings for the government – and dispenses with Scotland in seconds”
15 October 2014
REuters reports Nicola Sturgeon saying “I believe Scotland will become an independent country well within my lifetime,”
“I will always make the case for Scotland to be an independent country, but with the Westminster parties already backsliding on the delivery of new powers, my immediate job will be to hold them firmly to account,”
17 October 2015
Reuters publishes this headline:
“Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon told British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday Scotland alone would decide whether to become an independent country” ““It is not you (Cameron) who will decide the future of Scotland, it will be the people of Scotland who decide the future of our country,” said Sturgeon”
18 October 2014
The Herald publishes:
“Alistair Carmichael says: “I would call on Nicola Sturgeon to show genuine leadership and accept the result,” “There have already been cries of reneging on the more powers vow even though the Smith Commission has not even proposed anything yet. The betrayal bandwagon is already getting dusted down; this is simply not good enough. The Scottish people have made their democratic decision and it must be respected.”
30 October 2014
The New Stateman publishes:
“Poll: SNP will win 54 seats in Scotland”
3 November 2014
The Guardian publishes:
“Labour faces losing up to 20 seats in Scotland as SNP support surges”
14 November 2014
The guardian publishes
“Sturgeon predicts SNP majority win of Scottish Westminster seats”
“The SNP could win a majority of Scotland’s Westminster seats and force the UK to devolve far greater powers, Nicola Sturgeon has said”
7 November 2014
BuzzFed.News publishes this:
“The Referendum Will Stop Scots From Becoming Prime Minister, Says The Scottish Secretary”
22 November 2014
It was reported Scotland addressed a massive 12,000 members at a rally in Glasgow’s SSE Hydro Arena. She reported a raise in membership from from 25,000 at the time of the referendum to a massive 92,000.
26 November 2014
The Daily Record publishes:
“The Vow DELIVERED: Scotland to be responsible for more tax and welfare worth billions of pounds in radical devolution package”
10 December 2014
The BBC publishes this:
“Nicola Sturgeon has first audience with the Queen”
“The palace admitted a “mistake” in introducing Ms Sturgeon as first minister of the “executive” rather than “government”. But Scottish government sources played down the error”
“The first minister said she had “no reason to believe” the Queen opposed Scottish independence”
22 January 2015
the Daily Record published:
“A FURIOUS row over The Vow of more powers for Scotland erupted this morning amid claims Westminster will still hold a “veto” over key welfare measures being handed to Holyrood.
Nicola Sturgeon was accused of “going on a hunt for reasons to be miserable” for hitting out at the UK Government after proposed legislation for more devolution was published”
2 February 2015
Nicola Sturgeon tweets: “If our poll lead has Labour desperately trying to make the Vow sound better, think how much real power a big SNP team can win for Scotland”
8 February 2015
the Guardian publishes:
“Scottish MPs will vote on English issues, insists first minister Nicola Sturgeon
SNP leader dismisses Tory proposal of English votes for English laws when Scotland’s interests are still affected”
22 February 2015
Meeting with Sir Jeremy Heywood, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, in Glasgow
26 February 2015
Nicola Sturgeon’s official diary records a meeting with the French Ambassador
6 March 2015
What was allegedly said in the above meeting was recorded in a memo by a civil servant from Scotland’s Office on the basis of a conversation he had with the French Consul General. It is not stated if either the civil servant in question or the French Consul General were present at the meeting between the FM and the French Ambassador.
1 April 2015
The above memo is allegedly leaked by the civil servant who wrote it to the Daily Telegraph
3 April 2015
The Daily Telegraph publishes an article claiming “Nicola Sturgeon secretly backs David Cameron”, based on the contents of the memo
3 April 2015
James Cook from the BBC tweets: “French consul general tells me that @NicolaSturgeon did not express any preference as to who should be the next UK prime minister”
Sturgeon tweets: “the story was “Categorically, 100 per cent untrue,”
4 April 2015
The French ambassador says Sturgeon did not discuss PM ‘preference’ with them
5 April 2015 – Cabinet Office announces official inquiry into leak
Also on this day, Alistair Carmichael denies being involved in leaking of the memo. He said “I’ve told you the first I became aware of this, and this is already on the public record, was when I received a phone call on Friday (3 April) afternoon from a journalist making me aware of it,”
8 April 2015: The guardian publishes this bombshell headline “Nicola Sturgeon: vote for SNP is not vote for second independence referendum”
13 April 2015:
LSE publishes this “Given that SNP electoral success largely follows support for independence, we might expect the losing September referendum to deal a major blow to the party’s prospects. However, SNP voters, unlike voters of other parties in Scotland, do not see the independence issue as settled. SNP voters are highly likely to believe that there will be another independence referendum in the next 10 years. Therefore, the goal of independence, which appears to be the major draw of the nationalists, remains alive to its supporters”
13 April 2015: STV online publishes the following headline “Sturgeon: A vote for SNP is not a vote for independence”
20 April 2015: The BBC and the Guardian published the highlights of the SNP manifesto. Among them:
“Securing home rule – SNP MPs will demand that the proposals of the Smith commission are delivered in full and as quickly as possible, but the manifesto also states that Smith did not go far enough to honour the promises made during the referendum. The SNP will seek a phased transition to full financial responsibility, and in the meantime devolution of powers over employment policy, welfare, business taxes, national insurance and equality policy”
Independence or Referendum are not mentioned.
22 April 2015 – Cabinet Office inquiry miraculously finds Alistair Carmichael responsible for the leak: The inquiry also finds the memo was sent to the Telegraph by Euan Roddin, special advisor to Alistair Carmichael. Carmichael admits to agreeing the memo should be passed to the press, despite having denied this emphatically previously on the 5 April
And that was it. The whole thing buried downm the SNP majority neutered and the rest is history.
I do not believe in coincidences. I am of the opinion there was something else or the suspicion or something else in that memo or any other memo which made her capitulate. I am also of the opinion the article in the Daily REcord was some kind of warning to Sturgeon and Carmichael simply the chosen patsy to take the fall, possibly because of his monumental blunder saying that due to the transfer of powers because of the vow and EVEL, no Scottish politician would ever become a PM of the UK. It is obvious this only contributed to inflaming even more the calls for independence.
I find most fascinating that Carmichael took the rap for the whole thing and not the actual civil servant responsible for writing and leaking the memo, allegedly based on gossip from a telephonic conversation with the French Consul, who then, bizarrely, said to the reporter from the BBC that Nicola Sturgeon did not express any preference for UK PM to the French Ambassador.
Despite the investigation establishing that a phone held by this civil servant was used to make a phone call to one of the authors of the Daily REcord article, nothing appears to have happened to the civil servant. Conveniently, and according to his linked in profile, this civil servant left Scotland’s Office in March 2015. What is fascinating is that the memo was not leaked, according to the official investigation, until the 1st April 2015. By that time, the civil servant was no longer working in Scotland’s office. The civil servant is holding now a nice job in Brussels. So knowing French came in handy after all.
There is some sort of Deja vu on all this, the leak of Mr Salmond’s info to the newspaper and the case of the unlawful complaints procedure.
Somehow, UK civil servants working in Scotland appear to always be the ones caught red handed doing the dirty deeds but they are never the ones taking the rap for it. It is Scottish politicians who are. Civil Servants seem to be rewarded for doing the dirty instead.
One cannot help but wondering what it isthat makes UK civil servants working in Scotland untouchable.
“The conspiracy doesn’t require many people”
You are kidding, right?
How many civil servants, members of the SNP executive, SNP members of parliaments, government quangos, perjurers, elements from the police, judges, COPFS and press were involved in the case of Mr Salmond and the smearing that followed? What about the National now refusing to interviewing him or denying Tasmina a column? You could fill a football stadium with the amount of actors involved on this character assassination.
“A bunch of people within the SNP willing to lie for Nicola Sturgeon”
What about all the rest of actors in all the other structures?
“A bent or bought lord advocate who directs the crown office and police accordingly”
We are talking about 2 lord advocates and don’t forget the crown agent which has now conveniently left the COPFS. Some of the civil servants involved in the unlawful complaints procedure have also been conveniently moved to other posts or retired.
“Judges who will enforce a court order”
In the case of Mr Murray it was much more than just enforcing a court order. The judge embarrassed herself and her profession with her verbal acrobatics trying to justify her dodgy decision of sending him to prison by actively discriminating bloggers over “traditional (compliant)” press reporters.
A conspiracy of this scale requires a lot of actors. Sturgeon and Murrell are just two of them.
@ garavelli princip ,I am not here to defend John main, I agree with a miniscule of his comments and disagree vehemently with lots of them , but , you say that main’s interpretation of the demographic change is wrong and racist and that you agree with Alf Baird’s interpretation that Scotland has and is suffering from a replacement of native academics and the managerial class which is responsible for the demographic change
1 Can you point out where Alf Baird has made the claim that the entirety of the demographic change is due to the influx of the academic and managerial class , as far as I’m aware Alf has never made that claim , he has stated his opinion openly re the replacement of senior academia and management in Scotland but he has never stated that they are the cause of the demographic change
2 I find it offensive when people utter the racist epithet to silence opinions, AFAIC John main’s interpretation or opinion on the change of demographic is more credible than your assertion that it is caused by the influx of academics or the managerial class, it is not only offensive that what appears to be an explanation of the true reason for the demographic change but for people to attempt to target and vilify the commenter as a racist exemplifies what we are facing in the silencing of opinions , sturgeons vilification of truth tellers where we will all be silenced for wrongthink
“If the Union is so evil why the **** did they save us from ourselves over the GRR?”
How do we know the British state did not create the problem in the first place? How do we know it has not been all along behind the trans trojan horse that has taken over the governing structures of the SNP and has rendered it useless as a vehicle for independence?
Some of the biggest advocates for this nonsense within the SNP look, sound and move like plants. They also emerge at the most inconvenient of times and almost synchronised. It is like carefully calculated to cause the biggest damage.
You will have to agree the biggest beneficiary of the whole thing, the destruction of the SNP and discrediting of Mr Salmond/Alba has been the British state. With a blocking from the UK gov the trans-wagon riders don’t stand to win an awful lot out of this.
Any links to Leaders debate in Stirling
Ignoring what must have been one of the main reasons for Rwanda asking to join the Commonwealth in first place:
( link to lemonde.fr ),
and all that that might imply in relation to whatever was whispered in Gary Lineker’s ear that triggered him enough to violate Godwin’s Law*, I’m curious about the Barnet consequential arising from reports of a £500M payment to France aimed at deporting potential immigrants before they arrive.
Doubtless all 3 SNP leadership candidates, if asked, will pledge to give the £50million directly to new Scots, albeit without the transparency that any such commitment might merit.
However, at the fundamental level, it might be smarter to think in terms of Scotland being independent already- and base Scot gov’s invoicing on the percentage of Scotland’s population emigrating across England’s northern border (approx 0,4 % pa) pro rata with the percentage of the European population France is being paid to keep from crossing the southern one (0.004% pa).
That way, even if indy has to wait a couple of months/ years/ millenia, they’d still bank an extra £50 billion each year simply by encouraging Scots to stay home (or move to Africa) for a more coherent reason than seasonal flu.
*No small achievement given the number of times (0!) he lost the plot when playing
Etticus says at 1230 pm “ anyone who doesn’t recognise that support for independence should be at 75 percent blah blah etc “ ( could we not also say “ who doesn’t recognise that support for the UNION should be at least 75 percent??) etc
Ronald @6.47pm.
I thought it was in Edinburgh tonight.
link to youtube.com
More than unequivocal evidence of the BBC being the main mouthpiece of U.K. fascism
link to theguardian.com
PS Delighted to hear Alan Shearer and Ian Wright have backed up Gary Lineker by refusing to take part in BBC Match of the Day.
Anyone taking their place will be hated forever but 30 pieces of silver can buy the worst of the worst.
I can hear it already – That Change crowd are bad.
Back Gary Lineker taking on the Tory BBC
link to you.38degrees.org.uk
@Effijy: “Anyone taking their place (on BBC’s Match of The Day- Ed.) will be hated forever but 30 pieces of silver can buy the worst of the worst.”
I can think of someone but she (pronouns permitting) may not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Irvine Vics/Meadow or the footballing world beyond 🙂 .
A campaign in support of Gary F*cking Lineker on Wings?
F*ck him and his oh-so-superior attitude.
He’s had enough of my money.
Bring back David Coleman.
“That’s the fastest time ever run – but it’s not as fast as the world record”
Mia says:
10 March, 2023 at 12:58 pm
“We also need to present a decent image of what an independent Scotland would look like”
I strongly disagree with this for four reasons:
1. you cannot predict the future
2. your image of what an independent Scotland should look like may be completely different to mine’
Seems a bit pointless to campaign for it then; what’s your image? Whatever it is, it would currently mean suppressing the majority of your fellow (Decent?) Scottish voters
North chiel @ 7:16 pm
“who doesn’t recognise that support for the UNION should be at least 75 percent”
Aye, the colonizer will always make liberation seem impossible, raise the hurdle bit by bit. The reality is that a majority of MPs in Scotland in 1707 is still deemed as having lawfully ratified the Treaty of Union hence a majority of Scotland’s MPs today must be deemed lawfully sufficient to bring that agreement to an end. Even Thatcher and Major accepted this was the case, and that was also SNP policy until its infiltration. The Scottish people should also accept this, just as we have always accepted that returning a majority of MPs in favour of the union means we remain tied to Westminster diktat in all key respects. Unionists want to have their cake and eat it. The fact is Scotland’s majority of MPs may lawfully end the union anytime they want and it would be interesting to see what Scotland’s highest court had to say about that should the UK administration seek to contest the matter.
WARNING to anyone not in the know. The 38Degrees petition being punted upstream by ‘Effijy’ is a data-harvesting company. Westminster doesn’t even entertain “petitions” from these companies. So what’s the BBC going to do? Anyone asking you to sign up to those “petitions” is manipulating you to give your details away. Effijy knows this so you have to wonder why Effijy is trying to promote those traps on here, again.
I guess Effijy’s other post, a direct link to a Unionist rag, says it all. Not only is Effijy trying to get you to help them bring in advertising revenue via clicks etc, Effijy is also failing to keep a permanent record of the article by not archiving it. Banging on about the BBC and then promotes a Unionist rag that played its part in spreading bullshit about Scottish independence throughout the 2014 campaign. And all for some overrated & overpaid former English football pundit who has got fuck-all to do with Scottish indy.
And Yous wonder why we’re not independent? With so-called indy supporters like that who needs Unionists. Let the BBC & multi-millionaire Lineker fight it out, we’ve enough on our plate. NOTE: These companies have “petitions” with millions of “signatures” that have never got anywhere. Petitions for far more worthy causes. There’s a reason for that. Their reason for existing is to harvest and sell-on contacts/details etc. Be careful what details you part with, folks. Don’t say i didn’t warn Yous when your inboxes explode with spam junk etc.
Princip & Robbo
Unable to respond to my arguments, but so, so quick with the insults.
Nuff said.
FFS, wise up to Gary Lineker.
Gary Linekar the Twitter social warrior is just another same fake media persona in the same vein as Jeremy Clarkson, the grumpy Ukiper saying how it is on behalf of the silent majority.
Both create their media persona’s to target the demographic that their media activities is aimed at in order to make as much money for themselves as possible.
Don’t be so gullible and help make Lineker even more richer.
@Effigy
You defending Lineker now?
I thought everything and everyone from the other side of the border was beneath your contempt.
Whatever. Why not educate yourself on the Holocaust before you make a fool of yourself again?
You will discover that 5.5 million people were exterminated because of their ethnicity, their sexual orientation, their mental and physical handicaps, and their politics.
Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the infirm, communists, and trouble makers.
Believe me, if I see any sign that the WM government is going down that route, I will be alongside you on the streets. If you can be arsed to get out from behind your keyboard that is.
But right now, I believe that defending borders and controlling who is allowed to enter the country, whether the UK, or iScotland, is a fundamental obligation of our governments.
I see no congruence with cattle trucks, gas chambers, and being worked to death in concentration camps.
Linekar is an eejit. And so are you.
“Seems a bit pointless to campaign for it then”
Why? Was it pointless for the tories to campaign for brexit despite not giving an indication of how it would look like?
“it would currently mean suppressing the majority of your fellow (Decent?) Scottish voters”
Oh dear. Doing a Gordon Brown now by pulling the psychological blackmailing card, aren’t you?
I am sorry to say that kind of colonial propaganda was on trend around 2014. You appear to be stuck in the wrong decade.
“Should Scotland be an independent country?”
Yes 52%
No 48%
Scotgoespop
John Main you are a bit of a Dick.
I’ll unite with anyone standing up against fascism and against corruption in the media.
I am totally against Westminster ruling my country Scotland.
The 1930’s Germans had similar history to this Tory mafia as listed.
Things have moved on you don’t need to kill the people you want rid of you Simple remove any external forces that might hinder you, you cut benefits you have people living in hunger and cold wet conditions and stop them getting the health care they need.
Exactly why life spans are reducing why and estimated 25,000 excess deaths have happened while NHS Services strike to stop continual cuts in their standard of living.
The BBC Belligerent Biased Corruption announce that Gary Lineker will set back from the Match of the Day show while they discuss his social media posts.
Gary has informed Sky News that the BBC has forced him off the show.
As a self employed presenter of Sports he is not bound by the shackles put on News Media presenters , but they seem to have changed the rules to suit the fascist supporter Boris put in at the top of the BBC.
Lineker has commented off air that this Tory government is moving in the direction of 1930’s Germany.
Absolutely spot on Gary! It’s a fact!
Both the Tories today and 1930’s Germany have similar beginnings-
Both where extreme right.
Both tried to closed down parliament- prorogued is the nice name Boris used for it.
Both put their own people in charge of the national broadcaster.
Both had right wing extremists owning the majority of newspapers- Daily Mail, Express, Telegraph etc
Both chased away thousands of foreigners- Brexit they call it here.
Both blame foreigners for ruining the economy
Both want to take money even from the poor to invest in the military
Both are handing government contracts to party supporters- Emergency Contracts, PPE.
Fire away John and tell me if any of the above don’t apply to Tory Westminster.
whats this ?- YES ahead
Ballot Box Scotland
@BallotBoxScot
·
3m
New Scottish Independence poll, Find Out Now 1 – 9 Mar (changes vs 11 – 18 Jan):
Yes ~ 50% (-2)
No ~ 46% (+2)
Don’t Know ~ 4% (+1)
Excluding Don’t Knows (/ vs 2014):
Yes ~ 52% (-2 / +7)
No ~ 48% (+2 / -7)
Many Thanks Republicofscotland for the debate link
Anyone got thoughts on whether Ash Regans chances are improving in the SNP leadership race?
Inside info, etc. I don’t buy into the let’s waste 20 years building a new vehicle if there’s a ready to go one just needing an oil change.
Richard Murphy
@RichardJMurphy
“So, this afternoon the BBC gives in to fascists over Gary Lineker’s support for asylum seekers and on David Attenborough’s desire to highlight the impact of climate change. Fascism isn’t a threat. It is happening here and now, with the BBC enabling it.”
And the 77th Brigade is trolling this blog and thread.
Censorship is alive and well with Campbell’s WoS.
F*ck Gary Lineker and the Godwinising everybody-who-disagrees-with-me is a Nazi bellends, like John Main.
You dont like borders? Why are you supporting Scottish Independence?
“Can you point out where Alf Baird has made the claim that the entirety of the demographic change is due to the influx of the academic and managerial class , as far as I’m aware Alf has never made that claim “.
He doesn’t – and I didn’t say he did.
I was using it as an illustration of one of the many ways that Scotland’s colonial status is an infinity more credible explanation of our predicament than the xenophobic interpretation offered by the likes of Main:
“But right now, I believe that defending borders and controlling who is allowed to enter the country, whether the UK, or iScotland, is a fundamental obligation of our governments”
Pure ToryGraph and Daily Heil.
If you read Alf’s book you will see that the occupation of the cultural heights of Scottish institutions is part and parcel of the apparatus of colonial control which permeates our society.
It is emblematic and totemic. And THAT is why that observation is important.
This is not just a numbers game – it is about persuading Scots themselves that Scotland is hopeless and struggle is futile.
Cultural and psychological occupation is what determines the mid control that means a substantial proportion of native Scots do England’s dirty work for it
.
“Censorship is alive and well with Campbell’s WoS.”
Well fuck off and start your own blog then.
You could call it something catchy like “The National”
Sorry Stu but FFS…
Looks like it’s going to take 6 hours to gather 100,000 signatures supporting
Gary Lineker against Tory Fascism and their BBC Facilitators.
His stance could be popular enough to gain a million signatures over the next few days.
Late night for the newspapers creating crap against him.
Mia says:
10 March, 2023 at 2:16 pm
2. To avoid breaching Article 19 of the Treaty of Union at a time when an awful lot of people in Scotland (and SALVO) are watching like vultures their every step.
Should a Scottish court rule in favour of the bill, and an English court would not be able to revert that ruling without a massive constitutional confrontation, potentially breaching article 19.
———-
st
What rubbish, the sc has ruled against scot courts plenty of times including against cherrys so called win.
All I care about is Scottish independence, and freeing Scotland from England’s increasingly racist and fascist jackboot.
Given that priority, their is only one candiate I would vote for, Ash Regan.
Ash Regan is the only candidate who has from day one, made Independence the first priority. Ash Regan is the only candidate who has, whilst in Government demonstrated clear, Principled INTEGRITY, by resigning over the Gender woowoo bill.
Kate Forbes has shown herself to have no principles, but lots of bigotted views. She is a political careerist. Humza, is a self opinionated, promoted beyond his abilities, political careerist.
One of the candidates campaigned for independence, her name is Ash Regan. The SNP is finished if they select either of the other careerists.
Doug says:
10 March, 2023 at 8:34 pm
Bring back David Coleman.
“That’s the fastest time ever run – but it’s not as fast as the world record”
At my Ma’s house, so the enemy BBC was on, and I’m sure the BBC Weatherman said the day before yesterday, “… some of this snow will fall as rain”.
There’s a convoluted way to be right, but I’m sure it was just a thoughtless offhand remark.
Some of this snow, (as in the snow icons on our weather map), might actually be rain… so we might have to let that one go on a technicality… lol
… but someone should put a Christmas tree on his dossier just to be sure.
@brian doon the toon
A doctored photograph? Really? Did you not notice there was something a bit odd about it?
About 15-20,000 max, certainly not the 200,000 the frauds at AUOB claimed. Defending these rip off merchants who do our cause no favours is not a good look.
I also note that the rigged polls have been wheeled out. Don’t worry folks independence is in the bag with Humza in charge!
As I said before, these polls are all about trying to dictate public opinion.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. Under the jackboot of the New SNP Scotlands like North Korea in the rain. Everyone who voted for these frauds take a bow.
Wee Monkey: Never read the National – good, is it?
Thought Stu was censoring my anti-Lineker post earlier, but I think I may have fucked up posting it (sorry).
Humza will win, even if he gets 5% of the vote. (And he’ll get a lot more than that, incredibly) Its rigged. + Anyone who woke up to Sturgeon’s evil left the SNP years ago. (A friend who’s a member still won’t hear a bad word about her. Won’t even consider the possibility she’s less than perfect. I fear the idiot might vote Humza if she says to do so.)
I think she’s worse than anyone in history, living or dead. Even including fictional characters and the singer of Arctic Monkeys.
The amount of people on here calling political opponents fascists is ridiculous. It’s like listening to an episode of The Young One’s featuring Out for Scotland. Lineker is entitled to his views and I don’t agree with any censorship. However the issue of illegal migration supported by criminal gangs is one which requires government action. If people believe in completely open borders they need to be honest about that rather than demonising ordinary working class people who have genuine concerns. The idea that they are “far right” by the way is the same nonsense peddled by the trans brigade against women protecting women’s spaces. It’s also the aimed at those who question the states response to grooming gangs and even critics of net zero.
In truth the Tories under Sunak and Johnson would prefer to do nothing over this, in fact Hunt’s policy originally adopted by Truss and Kwarteng was to lower the earnings thresholds to bring more immigrants in. That would continue their policy of racing to the bottom to find economic growth. The issue of housing mainly young male illegal economic migrants is causing real tension in the communities which are “chosen” to house them. The pressure on local services and the threat of criminal and terrorist incomes is very real. The same issue is playing out in Ireland where the infantile leftists of Sinn Fein are losing support from disadvantaged communities who see a country with limited resources at breaking point. The response of the media and the political class is to vilify the ordinary people and to stymie the governments attempts to control it. Asylum as a human right can only be available to those who really need it if it is protected from the claims of people who seek to enter a country for other reasons. That might be tough and unpalatable but it’s true. It’s also true for Scotland and if the SNP where ever to be granted the right to derogate from U.K. immigration policy and pursue their chosen policy we would see the same problems.
highlander says:
11 March, 2023 at 1:13 am
What rubbish, the sc has ruled against scot courts plenty of times including against cherrys so called win.
The point isn’t whether the Supreme Court can or can’t make decisions regarding Scotland, but whether the Supreme Court is sovereign over Scots Law, which it definitely isn’t.
If memory serves, both Joanna Cherry’s Article 50 case to the European Court, and Johnston’s Prorogation, were both deemed beyond the UK Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, and thus, there were doctrines of Scots Law which were higher up the chain of command and lay beyond the reach of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court may have powers under the domestic legislation of Westminster’s Scotland Act, such as Sections 30 and 35, but the Scotland Act is Westmisnter’s constitution for a Vichy Scottish assembly. The Scotland Act however, is not the Constitution of Scotland.
Tear up the Scotland Act as an alien and invasive colonial doctrine which is incompatible with Scotland’s popular sovereignty and roundly unconstitutional, and the UK’s Supreme Court has no authority or leverage in Scotland whatsoever.
And even if Scotland’s Court of Session makes concessions with the UK Supreme Court, we have SALVO to remind us that the Cout of Session can itself be answerable to, and overruled by, a Convention of the Estates, in other words, the sovereign people.
Scotland has these powers in it’s Constitution highlander. All that has happened under 300+ years of Union is that the Scottish people have been denied the mechanisms and protocols to enact and animate these Constitutional rights.
Traditionally, those who should have defended Scotland were bought off, discredited, or silenced in other ways. Just look at the mess the SNP has been encouraged to get into.
But SALVO it seems has the clarity of binary purpose and uncorruptible determination to demand Scotland’s Constitutional Rights are upheld, and the myriad of unwritten UK “conventions” which are routinely used to subjugate Scotland are exposed to critical scrutiny which will expose their fraudulent legitimacy.
The Lineker furore is perfectly simple. If i posted here that Mrs Murrell is a pervert for attempting to bring forward GRR, I would be expressing my opinion as a “nobody” and few would pay my comment much attention.
If however I was a famous footballer and TV presenter working under the auspices of the National Broadcasting Service and posted that the Conservative govt were equivalent to Germany’s National Socialist Party, my comment would be viewed as biased and inflammatory and I would be rightly sacked from my job.
Dan
@ Gordon Gekko
“What are your views on Graeme McCormick’s Annual Ground Rent initiative as an alternative way of raising revenues to fund public services.”
Let me have a look and think about it and are we talking about now or after independence when we have our own currency?
1) Is it similar to a land value tax ( LVT) ?
2) You never need to raise revenues to fund public services if you are sovereign with your own free floating currency.
So if we are talking after Indy then it is not needed to fund anything it will serve another purpose. So really depends what he is trying to achieve.
After Indy a spending bill passed in parliament will find the money and the votes that passed the bill will fund it. The central bank will then start crediting the commercial banks reserve accounts held at the central bank. Then the commercial banks will credit people’s bank accounts who provide the public service.
Not a tax payer in sight in this process. The money is created from thin air via the spending bill.
Once those providing the public service start spending the money created from thin air by the spending bill. This is when
The taxes start to happen because Money doesn’t stop at its first use. Your spending is my income and vice versa. Every time somebody received some of this money as income a part of it is taxed out of the system. So all the government is doing when it taxes is collecting back what it issued via the spending bill.
If taxes are cut, then people have more to spend which increases the number of spending transactions in the economy. Taxation quantity is a geometric series, not a simple sum. It behaves like a stone skipping across a pond. Lowering taxes just means more hops around the spending chain before the stone sinks. The total collected, however, will be much the same as before unless there is a material change in the amount of saving by households and businesses.
If households and businesses save what they receive ( The budget deficit ) then that stops the money going back to the government to be destroyed. Slows down the process.
Once households and businesses start spending their savings that returns it back to the government. Until eventually the tax collection matches the initial spending bill injection.
Nurse gets paid pays her tax -> buys her shopping at Tesco. Tesco pays tax on that income -> pays her bills. Utility companies pay tax on that income -> takes her family to the cinema. Cinema pays tax on that income. Etc, etc,
As you can see that spending bill creates several different spending chains that creates a various number of taxes. It’s not finished there.
Tesco buys potatoes using nurses income the farmer pays tax on that income. Utility company buys posted notes using nurses income the stationary company pays tax on that income. The Cinema buys popcorn using the nurses income the popcorn supplier pays tax on that income.
It goes on and on and on until it equals whatever the government spent is all collected back as taxes. They ISSUE then COLLECT. Then destroy what they collect. As money has,served its purpose and moved both skills and real resources around to where they were needed.
Taxes move skills and real resources around so the government can get what they need to fufill their manifesto and election promises. By denying business the use of those skills and real resources.
Rates and fees etc just change people’s behaviours. To stop bad behaviours like polluting or smoking and try and promote good behaviours like less drinking etc, etc.
Once you understand these simple facts you can clearly see the problem we have as a nation state.
When we spend or when we tax both can flow across borders into England, Wales, Ireland, Europe and the rest of the world. If the nurse went to Blackpool on a hen night and spent all her wages. It is impossible to calculate how many taxes were collected from that Scotland government spending. Too many people think the nurse gets paid pays her tax and that’s it finished. They are stupid enough to believe taxes stop after first use.
Why GERS is a complete fantasy.
Only way we can calculate how much we spend and how much we tax is by having our own currency. As the FX exchange will tell us as it can no longer flow across borders. Then we can also pass spending bills in our own currency and create money from thin air to fulfil our manifesto.
The only constraints we have on that whole process are the amount of skills and real resources we have as a nation.
1. Over spend what skills and real resources we have we get inflation.
2. What are our skills and real resources actually doing now and would we rather have them doing something else ?
3. Why imports are a HUGE benefit as others have used their skills and real resources to give us stuff we can use ourselves.
4. Why exports are a HUGE cost as we use our skills to send our diminishing real resources abroad for others to use denying us the use of them.
It’s all about skills and real resources as you can run out of those. Taxes move these skills and real resources between the different sectors of the economy. Money – blips on a spreadsheet that you can never run out of greases the wheels to get things done.
If Graeme McCormick’s is trying to fund public services with this tax he doesn’t know what he is talking about. He thinks we are either still on the gold standard and using fixed exchange rates or use the Euro.
If he is using this tax to try and move skills and real resources to where they are needed for a specific purpose then I need to see what that purpose is that he is trying to achieve.
Dan,
The way to approach government procurement is as follows:
There are physical people in a nation. They all have labour hours for sale. Some are worth more than others because of skills and experience. A legislature is elected by those people to achieve an end. That legislature decides it needs some of those people to achieve that end, and it debates to set a price it is willing to pay. It sets that price relative to the labour hour of the unskilled individual.
If there are sufficient people who wish to choose public service over private fortune, then great, that is their choice pay them the designated wage and off we go. They’ve crowded themselves out of the private sector and no further action is required.
( You’ll notice the complete hypocrisy of the libertarian GB News crowd. They’ll scream freedom and people should be allowed to choose to do anything they want. Apart from work in the public sector apparently )
( When the people of Skye fought to remove the toll put on the bridge via bank lending. The libertarians GB News crowd screamed marxist, commie. When the people of Skye showed the world the greatest expression of freedom you will ever see.)
See the rank hypocrisy by the GB News crowd and how their framing and narratives work. The majority being working class but brainwashed to act like capital, talk like capital and walk like capital. Do their masters bidding like a battered wife suffering from Stockholm syndrome.
Anyway ….
If sufficient people don’t turn up for work, then the legislature needs to make people unemployed until the public service jobs get filled at the wage it is willing to pay. It does that by banning things and raising taxes, which crowds out the private sector in real terms.
Tax has one operational job- releasing resources that the public sector wants to hire as part of its democratic mandate. In other words what people voted for in the polling booth.
Government, on behalf of the legislature, then hires all those crowded out:
1. Those who were planned to be hired, via permanent public sector jobs
2. Those who end up unemployed, because taxes and bans are not precise instruments.
Of course The private sector is similarly imprecise regardless what the free market ideologues tell you. Is clearly incapable of clearing the labour market on its own.
You introduce a Job Guarantee which handles the fallout from the imprecision of both private and public sector activity.
This approach represents a completely different way of looking at the task of constructing a national economy. The private sector is the meat in the sandwich between the required public sector, and those who would otherwise be left unemployed by the private sector.
Looking at the system people-first ensures everybody who wants to be hired in the monetary economy for wages gets a wage. This allows the economy to operate at a greater level of output than any other competing way of organising one. Thanks to the stabilising and anchoring effects of the Job Guarantee, all while retaining stable prices.
Tax also has a functional task of driving the denomination across a currency area, but we’ll assume for the purposes of discussion that there is a large enough public sector here that the operational tax will do that job too. We’ll leave ‘how to do tiny government’ for another day lol.
I agree with you Jontoscots21.
A bus load of Scottish nurses go to Blackpool on a hen night and blow all their wages.
( to keep it simple they all spend their income in the same places ) which is never the case but will prove my point anyway.
Nurses pay their tax – buy virgin train tickets – buy loads of drinks in the tower bar – Go for a lovely Chinese meal – hit the bingo hall- end up in the sun set nightclub.
The tax collected from virgin, tower bar, Chinese restaurant ‘the bingo hall and sunset nightclub. From the income they earned from the Scottish nurses will NEVER show up on the Scottish government accounts even though it came from Scottish government spending.
The only way to calculate it is if the notes had infra red ink on them saying this is Scottish government spending. Follow the notes via the spending chains created.
It gets worse.
Virgin using the income from the nurses buys napkins in China. The tower bar buys beer mats from a company in Cardiff. The Chinese rest buys soap in Northern Ireland, the bingo hall buys light bulbs in Dublin and the sunset nightclub saves everything they earned from the nurses.
All this tax collection from earned income created from the initial Scottish government spending will never appear on the Scottish government accounts.
The Scottish government accounts are a complete fantasy.
Now let’s play it out using our own currency.
Nurses get paid pay their tax-> Then exchange everything they need into £’s so they can party in Blackpool.
In a free floating currency to do this…
Change new Scottish currency —–> into £’s
You need other people wanting to do this
Change new Scottish currency <—–into £'s
Or the floating FX exchange doesn't take place.
Smart people will notice straight away that the new Scottish currency hasn't left the Scottish monetary system. All that has happened is the nurses used to own it now somebody else does.
That somebody else are now free to spend the new Scottish currency into the Scottish economy. Buying Scottish goods and services sold in the Scottish currency. With the tax collection from that spending ( The earned income ) showing up on the Scottish government accounts.
There are now NO leakages flowing across the Scottish border.
David Attenborough being silenced by the BBBC too.
Free speech indeed , nation speaking unto nation and other bilge.
We seem to have an infestation on WoS , it was quite pleasant when there were but a few.
@ Gordon Gekko
Appreciate your responses, good timing too as gave me something to read whilst warming up with a cuppa after a session on chainsaw processing firewood in freezing temps. Still have to burn a wee bit of petrol and a fair bit of wood seeing as reasonably priced renewable leccy power is not available yet because the powers that be don’t seem to want to decouple the price of renewable energy from fossil fuel derived power. Make renewable derived power cheaper and folk with use that rather than pay more for fossil fuel derived power… I question chucking large subsidies at renewable projects like crappy heatpumps as that basically sustains the high fossil fuel price and usage.
I’ll mull over and try to absorb what you have written. Do have a look at Graeme’s AGR if you get a chance. There were several iterations though as the concept was initially developed to simply match our current public service spending of revenues raised in Scotland with limited powers we have plus the additional Barnett consequential block grant returned from London.
But that is effectively an austere amount so he then looked to raise a significantly higher annual amount so services could be better funded. Plus it also incorporated a UBI / higher pension payment element addition too.
I understood AGR was actually implementable within the remit of the current Scottish setup in the UK. It may seem radical, but as the current situation is radically bad then it needs a radical shift to address this. Folk are far too tame and lack vision, thinking tinkering around the edges of something that is clearly broken is all we can do.
You mention tax as a tool, but if those in power in the current setup allow that tool to be abused by global entities and corporations using tax avoidance and evasion loopholes, money is taken out of our local game.
I understand part of his idea is that you can’t hide the land you own, so this would reduce folk avoiding paying the tax they are due. It also may help land reform too, as big landowners would then have to reassess what they do with the huge areas of land they own.
His AGR basically replaced most existing taxation like income tax, national insurance, and council tax etc. Though iirc it didn’t deal with the oil/gas/renewable industries which would then have some other system to deal with them.
@SusanAHF 9:32
Me too.
The ordinary working people who are most disadvantaged by open borders are the ones least likely to have the time to post on here.
Leaving the field clear for the unemployable and the frankly deranged virtue signallers.
Present company excepted!
John Main says:
11 March, 2023 at 10:49 am
The ordinary working people who are most disadvantaged by open borders are the ones least likely to have the time to post on here.
Leaving the field clear for the unemployable and the frankly deranged virtue signallers.
============================================================
Well – at last some self-reflection from that most copious of posters, John Main!
How do you find the time?
Well it didn’t take useless long to play the race card. appears he has had to call the police because somebody said a nasty word about him
Sorry, but only a link to a image from the “hustle”.
You can almost taste the HATRED permeating from the male candidate…look at the facial expression, the eyes…
Dorothy Devine says:
11 March, 2023 at 10:21 am
‘We seem to have an infestation on WoS , it was quite pleasant when there were but a few’
They’re replacements for Andy and Chas, Dorothy.
But what’s happened to Ruby? I’m missing those zany, witty, razor-sharp retorts. This place feels kinda empty without her. I hope all is well and she’ll be back with us soon.
Quote:-
Ebok says:
11 March, 2023 at 12:03 pm
Dorothy Devine says:
11 March, 2023 at 10:21 am
‘We seem to have an infestation on WoS , it was quite pleasant when there were but a few’
They’re replacements for Andy and Chas, Dorothy.
But what’s happened to Ruby? I’m missing those zany, witty, razor-sharp retorts. This place feels kinda empty without her. I hope all is well and she’ll be back with us soon.”
Well done.
At a time when the current independence movement is being effectively eviscerated nightly on prime time tv [you know, a racist, a fundamentalist and someone whose ideas for popularising indy is based on a thermometer [somewhat whimsical considering current cost of living crisis], at a time when many soft yessers look at Westminster and are thinking they no longer want part of that IF ONLY and along you come to remind them just why they remain soft yessers…
Do you live in Clown World? because that’s what Westminister and Holyrood look like to the majority on the streets.
Dan,
Stay warm and thanks for the heads up. Keep smiling and your chin up.
Yes, like a land value tax. Question is how good is that at moving skills and real resources around the jury is still out on that one. I’ll see what he says.
Basic income is a terrible idea. The furlough payments showed what happens with inflation if people are paid to sit at home and not produce goods and services everybody needs. The Job Guarantee is far superior as it is a price anchor and increases effective demand and forces competition on reluctant players.
They avoid mentioning the hidden issues with these basic income ‘experiments’. Why they always fail.
1. The first is that they are local schemes within a fixed exchange area, and are therefore linked to production areas that have no income guarantee scheme. So the shortfall in output is actually provided by an external group locked into a fixed exchange rate and with no income guarantee. The income guarantee area exports inflation to the non-guaranteed area and steals output to replace its own shortfall, much as the Germans are able to export their unemployment to the rest of the Eurozone and make it look like there is some saving miracle going on in Germany and laziness everywhere else. Look at the overall currency area and the results are less miraculous.
2. You find this in every experiment. There is either an external group that transfers goods and services into the income guarantee area under a fixed exchange rate system and thereby suffers a real loss themselves, or there is a sub group within the area that is not eligible for the payment and acts as a servant class. It is no co-incidence that those who believe in Basic Income are also advocates for Open Borders and Fixed Exchange rate systems. Those are required to keep the process going.
3. Is that all the experimental income schemes end, or wither away to an amount that is insufficient to provide an existence. The schemes end because the politics changes and ends them. This is an obvious outcome once the theft of output comes to light. People vote to stop the theft. You will rarely if ever see any discussion of why schemes are ended or run down.
Once a scheme is reduced below the amount of the living wage, it becomes a form of tax credits and those are systemically a subsidy to private businesses. Tax credits induce ‘bullshit’ activities in the private sector?—?using labour when automation or elimination would be the better options. Only when the public sector provides enough activity for all at the living wage is the private sector required to compete for labour at all levels. Only then is the race to the bottom in wages ended. And all that requires is a Job Guarantee?—?the active process of creating enough to do.
Tying the income to the work prevents the private sector ursuping the scheme and changing it into a subsidy structure for their own benefit.
The fundamental weakness at the core of Basic Income?—?a focus on rights without an equivalent focus on duties?—?sows the seeds for its own destruction. The number of failed income guarantee experiments ought to be the first sign of problems, as should the constant run down in unemployment benefit, the end of universality of Family Allowance and the aversion to generous state pensions.
The failure of the UK student maintenance grant scheme is an excellent example of why income schemes are doomed from the start. Introduced in the mid 1960s, it was chipped away and ended by the turn of the millennium. Although the majority of grant supported students were very hard working, a small minority skipped lectures, avoided the library and took up resident in the ubiquitous Mandela Bars of the era. The media took these self-important individuals?—?full of talk about their rights, but little about their balancing duties to others?—?created a stereotype out of them and those opposed to grant funding were then able to find their mark. The death of the scheme was then inevitable.
Any reintroduction of student support should come in the form of a job?—?more akin to an apprenticeship than anything else. You turn up, you do the lectures, tutorials and reading you are required to do, somebody signs off your timesheet and you get paid the living wage for doing the job of educating yourself. Just in the same way as a day release apprentice. That would maintain support in a nation, because you have done something demonstrably of value before you receive anything from anybody else. You have put others in your debt.
A basic income will never threaten the gig economy. A job guarentee would destroy it.
Uber under a Job Guarantee
link to new-wayland.com
Breeks says:
11 March, 2023 at 8:09 am
highlander says:
11 March, 2023 at 1:13 am
What rubbish, the sc has ruled against scot courts plenty of times including against cherrys so called win.
The point isn’t whether the Supreme Court can or can’t make decisions regarding Scotland, but whether the Supreme Court is sovereign over Scots Law, which it definitely isn’t.
If memory serves, both Joanna Cherry’s Article 50 case to the European Court, and Johnston’s Prorogation, were both deemed beyond the UK Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, and thus, there were doctrines of Scots Law which were higher up the chain of command and lay beyond the reach of the Supreme Court.
————
nope sc overruled the scot courts on prorogation finding.
they don’t know what bozo said to the queen on which cherry rested it’s in the sc ruling.
the art.50 case was a trap which cherry- miller walked into, brexit wouldn’t of happened without them.
nothing matters before 1707 under uk or international law
@ Gordon Gekko
There was a lot of focus on UBI in your last post. But that was only one small element that may potentially be included in the overall AGR concept.
IIRC the UBI figure wasn’t a sum equivalent to a full working wage, so folk would still be motivated to go out and work to boost their income. I suspect any relatively small UBI payment / supplement is more to do with aiding folk to spend money and boosting local economy seeing as trickle down economics hasn’t really worked.
The pension element was included though, and the AnnualGR rate could adjusted slightly to compensate for and address the changing demographics of our society, rather than the current situation which is restricted and burdened by changes in demographic not being aligned with long term pension fund investment returns, which are also at the whim of and influenced by the markets.
Graeme McCormick has in the past posted on here so someone might want to give him a nudge so he has the opportunity to correct what I have said, or add to the discussion seeing as what is on the internet is a bit piece meal as some of it covers the earlier AGR iterations.
I understand he is still a member of the SNP, so with the pending leadership result I guess we’ll see if his AGR policy has any chance of being considered depending on who becomes the new leader.