The Dogs That Think They’re People
In these grim times, at least we have funny animal videos to cheer us up.
Unfortunately when you write about politics for a living, everything is an analogy.
It’s been six weeks since the general election now, and you’d think that was long enough for the shock to have worn off and some of the people/parties who lost to have taken a good hard look at what happened, thought about what went wrong and started to work out how to fix it.
And then there’s the SNP.
In the immediate aftermath of the vote it looked like at least a couple of the party’s dozens of ejected Parliamentarians were ready to face up to reality.
But by a month later, someone had clearly had a word.
And Tommy Sheppard was back to blaming the SNP’s failure on everyone else.
Because how DARE your opponents attack you? The sheer TEMERITY of politicians who aren’t in power to try to spin things to their own advantage against the ones who are! Honestly, we might swoon clean away in shocked outrage.
But what’s the answer? Luckily, Sheppard has a “four-step plan”, which presumably supersedes the previous 11-point one, which you don’t hear much about any more. Let’s walk through those steps, shall we?
STEP 1: EXPLAIN THAT INDEPENDENCE IS GOOD
Woah. It’s genius. Why didn’t someone think of it before?
STEP 2: SECURE A MANDATE AND MAKE DEMANDS
Amazing. Revolutionary. Inspired. Definitely hasn’t been tried at every election for the last decade. Definitely didn’t fail.
If you’ve been gathering “mandates” and making “demands” for the last 10 years that have all been routinely dismissed or ignored (and which you can and should reasonably assume are going to continue to be), issuing empty threat after empty threat after empty threat even after every bluff is called, this site might very very gently suggest that it would be a good idea to stop doing so while you might still have a couple of tiny crumbs of credibility left.
Because voters aren’t entirely stupid.
STEP 3: INSIST ON YOUR DEMANDS
Because when demanding fails, insisting is sure to succeed!
Never mind that the Yes movement struggles to get 1000 bodies on the streets now, a “broad-based civil society campaign for democratic reform” will fire the public imagination.
“WHAT DO WE WANT?”
“DEMOCRATIC REFORM OF SOME UNSPECIFIED TYPE, PROBABLY TO INVOLVE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE SCOTLAND ACT 1998, FOR WHICH THE LEVEL OF PUBLIC DEMAND IS AT BEST UNCLEAR, AND WHICH COULD ONLY STRENGTHEN THE DEVOLUTION SETTLEMENT AND REDUCE THE NEED FOR INDEPENDENCE!”
“WHEN DO WE WANT IT?”
“TO BE HONEST WE’RE NOT ALL THAT BOTHERED.”
You’re planning march routes already, aren’t you?
STEP 4: ACHIEVE STEPS 1 TO 3
Incredible. The party that just lost 40% of its own supporters will not only instantly win them back with this candyfloss drivel, but somehow also contrive to “build a wide political consensus” for changes it can’t name, for which there is no detectable political clamour, and which could – if there was indeed a “consensus” around them – be executed just as well by opposition parties.
(Because if what you’re campaigning for is actually more devolution – and that’s what Sheppard’s plan explicitly says – then wouldn’t it make way more sense to have a devolutionist party do that, rather than one that’s supposedly pursuing independence instead, and which has just said that what it wants to do is expose the “constraints and limitations” of devolution? Why would you trust someone who wants to demonstrate that devolution is bad to improve devolution?)
The “four-step plan” is beyond insulting. It treats SNP voters – both those who stayed at home or switched in July, and those still voting for the party – as absolute cretins.
But Sheppard’s got a column to file and a word count to fill, so we suppose he has to say something even if his head’s empty. What about some of the others, who have no such obligations? How about you, Hannah Bardell?
Okay, great, so we need to be better at explaining how everything is Westminster’s fault and how jolly hard it is to be an MP, actually. That’s really helpful, thanks.
We’re, uh, not sure who or what Stephen Gethins is “the boss” of. But what’s apparently important is that we understand that the First Past The Post electoral system, which the SNP benefited massively from in 2015, 2017 and 2019, is in fact really unfair – who knew? – and things aren’t actually as bad as they seem. So that’s reassuring. Everything’s probably basically fine.
Gethins also had the astonishing insight that would-be politicians could perhaps try listening to the concerns and priorities of [checks notes] the electorate.
We’ll write that one down. Maybe even underline it, if we get the time while we’re covering the SNP’s ongoing obsession with legislating against “transgender conversion therapy”, something which has literally never happened to anyone in Scotland.
Who’s next? Great news – it’s Anne McLaughlin! She’s bound to have some deep reflections about what lessons need to be learned from the SNP’s catastrophic defeat.
So the important message to take forward into the future is that it wasn’t really all that bad a result, and that Nicola Sturgeon was brilliant and we should talk endlessly about her long list of fantastic achievements and how amazing it was for people to meet her. Got it. You’re up, Mhairi Black!
So we’re hearing “more blaming Westminster, more drag queens in primary schools, more hounding out of any dissenting views from the party”. Roger. Any more? Oh hi, Alyn Smith. What have you got for us?
So listen to voters, then tell them they’re wrong. Awesome. And apparently, after you’ve rearranged the deckchairs on the sinking ship, it might also be a cunning piece of strategy to stop being in government so that there’s more time to talk to people about independence.
That definitely seems achievable, going by the polls. But it needs to be done in conjunction with Stewart McDonald‘s plan, which is to give up on independence and focus on being happy under a Labour UK government.
And we must place our faith in a proven winner as leader. Clearly, when you’ve just lost 80% of your seats is no time to go recklessly changing anything.
But readers, the entire premise of this article might be wrong. Perhaps we’re looking in the wrong place for answers. All these former MPs were by definition part of the problem, and people who were too close to the trees to see the wood.
Maybe what we need is a fresh, young perspective from an outsider. Someone who’s had a refreshing break and is ready to feel their feelings. Step forward the future of the SNP: Kelly Given.
It’s “change tack”, dear, not “change tact”. But having digested the full 1,133 words of Kelly’s heartfelt feels, what we glean is that what the SNP needs to be doing is to “find the party’s post-Sturgeon groove”, “[strike] a chord with the remaining membership”, “take this on the chin and reroute accordingly”, be “ready to listen”, and most of all “wake up” and “smell the coffee”.
(We assume that a sub-editor somewhere purged the piece of Kelly’s suggestions for where that groove was, which chord needed to be struck, what that new route might be, who should be listened to or which sort of coffee should be sniffed.)
And okay, Kelly Given was a cheap shot. But her boilerplate airhead witterings were just a more artless iteration of the exact same thing from the other people quoted in this piece, who are what’s supposed to pass for the deep-thinking cohort of the modern SNP. The articles they’ve penned are vacuous quacking noise every bit as hollow as hers.
They’re what politicians feel like they’re supposed to say, when they don’t really have any clue what went wrong. They don’t actually know what they’re doing, or even why, except in the vague hope that someone might throw them a gravy bone.
And folks, if you think for a second that any of those people are going to turn the fight for independence around, you’re the one who’s barking.
Loved the animals clips…..
Disappointed none of them suggested a new Rebuttal Unit.
I wonder if the SNP previous sneering about elected Constituency MSPs some being superior to Regional MSPs will stand. The latest forecast for 2026 is the SNP will lose 42 Constituency MSPs. Partly mitigated by a 20 Regional MSPs gain. It’s the electoral system. Still a net loss of 22 MSPs for the SNP.
Talk about a Party which has “gone to the dogs”.
Thought I’d share my favourite SNP clip courtesy of the Evening Express…
youtu.be/JkP_YtjbetY?
Post-Salmond the SNP didn’t listen to the electorate – they went down their own route of consolidating power, and threatening and punishing anyone within the party that said – wait a minute this isn’t going to work – on top of that, they did their utmost to kick anything meaningful, to do with Scottish independence – into the long grass – unless of course they needed it to get re-elected, then, it was wheeled out and used to fool the indy masses.
On top of the above, they persecuted prominent indy bloggers who questioned what they were up to – Craig Murray – the Rev, and Mark Hirst, springs to mind; not to mention what they attempted to do to Alex Salmond – and all using taxpayers cash.
The SNP post-Salmond not only sold us out on indy – they abandoned it altogether, and replaced it with a unpopular gender policies such as the GRRB – which the English government blocked.
Countless mandates for indy were wasted – 600k given to help secure indy, is still missing – the SNP party is under a police investigation , with one prominent person already charged with embezzlement; we gave the SNP their chance post-Salmond to achieve indy – and they didn’t even try to – instead, they turned their backs on us, we the electorate – and pushed ahead with their own agendas.
The SNP have had their chance – post-Salmond, to bring about the dissolving of this illegal union – to continue to vote for them would be madness – we must remove the SNP wherever we find them, especially in the 2026 Scottish elections; the Greens also must be removed they too are a roadblock to indy.
The problem is who to vote for, come the 2026 Scottish elections – not the SNP nor the Greens – nor the Lib/Dems or BLiS, or even the vile Tories – all are compromised, and they don’t have Scots best interests at heart. I’d have to say vote for Alba or ISP candidates, where they are standing in your constituency – a vote for any other party – is a vote to keep Scots chained England.
All these platitudinous musings matter not a jot.
Accounts for financial year ending 31st December 2023 are imminent. The last set of accounts were published by the Electoral Commission on 24th August last year. Some delay is expected due to the crash GE.
The Party is effectively insolvent even before a £1 million annual reduction in Short money from the British State kicks in.
The SNP are finished the next Hollywood election will confirm that I am sure.
They want to check where they went wrong OK they promoted an agenda on behalf of male sexual deviants and mentally ill men.
No one wanted that.
They did NOTHING to promote independence NOTHING.
No one wanted that.
They drove away thousands of members with their dictatorship style of management.
No one wanted that.
Someone, and I’m not saying who but someone in the party appears to have stolen £660,000 of fighting funds.
No one wanted that.
In short SNP is a disaster it now needs to be closed down.
Liked the animal ones but even better , Dave Allen popped up doing religious jokes – as if he did any other kind – so I am now thoroughly cheered up and don’t even give a fig for the incompetent , untrustworthy and downright stupid SNP.
“I just wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school. I wish that I could bake a cake out of rainbows and smiles, and we’d all eat and be happy.”
Seriously, I wouldn’t leave any of these gypes in charge of a stick.
Unless the SNP rids itself of the Sturgeon clique, it’s finished.
Would have thought the next step was clear…big Angus goes and meets the Israelis who tell him “We will fund your campaigns…leave it to us…”
That shambles sums them up.
No sackings, bump Mason to take the headlines while Angus dares to double down with his “Im actually a hero if you think about it” responses.
The games done. Sarwars already getting maximum coverage and even lauded at the Edinburgh tattoo by the Military Marchers.
Cue some rejects from Westminster having a big fight to get onto the list and back to the trough.
Could they even fall to 3rd place come 2026?…pretty sure Labour never saw it getting that bad but it quickly happened none the less. They deserve it.
Mr. Sheppard, There WAS a “democratic expression of Scottish opinion” on Indy.
Several, in fact.
Most notably, the 2014 Referendum, which Indy lost by a fairly wide margin.
Or if you want a more recent example, the 2024 election, where pro-Indy parties didn’t even get 35% of the vote.
The “British state” isn’t “denying the democratic expression of Scottish opinion.” Just the opposite. It is (if anything) following it. It’s people like Mr. Sheppard who deny reality.
Stu’s take on Sheppard’s screed is that Sheppard “treats SNP voters… as absolute cretins.”
A fair take.
But why should Sheppard treat SNP voters otherwise? SNP voters have been voting for those grifting incompetents for decades now. What evidence is there that SNP voters are any more intelligent now than they were in the past?
It is staggering that senior SNP types are happy to have talks with Genocidal Israeli representatives but will not sit down in the same room with ALBA, ISP or Salvo.
As the Romans once said of Carthage. The SNP must be destroyed. Completely and forever.
They betrayed us. Every single one of them.
The best you can say about any of them is that they turned a blind eye. I’m going to enjoy them fighting like rats in a sack for list places in 2026.
And what Jason Smoothpiece said.
THE PUPPY by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
In our back yard a boy keeps his little dog Sharik chained up, a ball of fluff shackled since he was a puppy.
One day I took him some chicken bones that were still warm and smelt delicious. The boy had just let the poor dog off his lead to have a run round the yard. The snow there was deep and feathery; Sharik was bounding about like a hare, first on his hind legs, then on his front ones, from one corner of the yard to the other, back and forth, burying his muzzle in the snow.
He ran towards me, his coat all shaggy, jumped up at me, sniffed the bones—then off he went again, belly-deep in the snow.
I don’t need your bones, he said. Just give me my freedom.
(Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Stories and Prose Poems. Translated by Michael Glenny – New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1971)
The party’s over. Time to call it a day… or take the money and run before they start a lynching.
Don’t forget Mike Russell, so-called party president, for his role in the deception (11 point plan and muddying the Murrell saga) essentially covering up. A reputation totally shattered. Only cares for himself, not country.
“Great news – it’s Anne McLaughlin!”
She’d have been better delivering that through the medium of interpretative dance, at least there would have been a point to it and something to watch!
And no, a mere 6 months after taking over as leader, it wasn’t Sturgeon who delivered the astonishing May 2015 result. Right time, right place. Inherited a cohesive yes movement, energised and ready. and left us with police investigations, biased, unfair and unlawful procedures, the removal of women’s single sex spaces and a fractured independence movement. Well done you, hen! Never mind flowers from the SNP after she was arrested. That deserves flowers, wine and a lifetime pension from the British state!
When the SNP got into power, I thought at the time they’d become the party of governance instead of Independence and that’s what the party did. Yes, Salmond gave us a referendum in 2014 but we were never ever meant to win it how could we when Salmond rigged it for us to lose and lose, we did. To allow 1.5million EU and UK nationals and foreign students to vote on a constitutional question that really on matters to Scots was doomed to fail and fail it did and to add insult to it all the SNP and its leadership hadn’t even addressed the question of what currency we’d use if we became Independent how pathetic. Do I blame Sturgeon yes and I also blame Salmond and to be honest if I never hear of Salmond or Sturgeon again it’ll be too soon for me?
We could start with discussing this…….
https://x.com/Psychgirl211/status/1808825717204922755
To keep the doggy theme going, they really don’t have a Scooby Doo.
Also, the cringeworthy “boilerplate witterings” of Ms Given are indeed the most honest post-post-modern gauge of the vacuous SNP.
The betrayal of Scotland by the SNP is bad enough, but it is not limited to the SNP’s MPs; that betrayal is perpetrated by all of Scotland’s MPs every time they give way to a majority vote by England’s MPs! Not a single one of Scotland’s MPs has ever had the guts or the nous to point out to our English overlords that England’s MPs are not remotely entitled to any authority over Scotland, nor over Scotland’s MPs, and that Scotland’s sovereignty cannot be set aside by any English MP majorities.
The Treaty of Union did NOT put Scotland under English governance, it put both Scotland and England under the joint governance of a shared parliament where their two bodies of representatives could negotiate, coordinate, and jointly agree that governance face to face. Nothing in the Treaty or Acts of Union mandates that Scotland’s MPs must submit to English MP’s decisions. And, nothing in the Treaty or Acts of Union mandates that a single flat voting system must be used to determine the outcomes of debates between those two MP bodies.
If you wish to disagree with either of those statements then damn well pony up the relevant clauses from the relevant articles from those documents that spell out those obligations.
If those obligations were formally agreed by both kingdoms then those agreements must be IN those documents and not elsewhere, or else they cannot hold any formal constitutional standing.
The SNP hierarchy wants to wait to see support for independence increase before it even considers doing something to increase that support for independence.
Selfishness and cowardice.
Another good article from Rev Stu.
I’ve read all the assembled witterings (I do really need to get a life) and one observation leaps out:
Not one of the SNP apologists seems to be remotely concerned about the topic that the usual BTL suspects just can’t stop virtue signalling about – the war in the ME.
Now it’s defo possible that this subject is the hot button topic that will, overnight, garner the SNP millions of new votes. The great moral crusade of our time – the one subject we stereotypically fractious Scots can all unite around.
It’s been ongoing 10 and a half months now. If it gets to the one year anniversary, perhaps the SNP will be desperate enough to clutch at that final straw.
But before I will start to believe that, there’s a simple, wee credibility test, that all the SNP talking heads pass with ease:
Yup, they all know that our country’s name, Scotland, starts with a capital ‘S’.
So, not absolutely, but on a relative scale, in comparison to others, maybe they do know just a little about what they’re talking about.
The fairly obvious metaphor for this outpouring is that the electorate kicked the side of the SNP kennel and the puppies are yapping until their master comes and tells them to be quiet.
The sooner Branchform is done with and the crooks get their just deserts the better as there is one master (mistress actually) that I don’t think any right thinking independence supporter ever wants to see again never mind be top dog/ bitch again.
It certainly looks like Mr Swinney is going to go down in history as the man who crashed the SNP.
Of course it was Nicola, but having taken over he did nothing to turn it around indeed he made it worse
They’d have done better work by collectively standing on a Fringe stage and saying nothing. It would have won them ‘best joke’.
Can’t argue with any of that but there is one glaring omission: what is the author’s strategy? Moreover, what is the use of any strategy that fails to acknowledge the fundamental problem: you need the votes and don’t have them.
Cuphook, I’d forgotten the word ‘gype’ , such a lovely word and ‘gypit’ seems to describe some of the more inane members of Holyrood.
Casting the blame internally rather than to agents of the British state? Er, no. In blaming the SNP for trashing independence, we’re very much also blaming the U.K. state agencies and actors who took over its leadership and brutally drove out the real pro Indy people.
Wow, the SNP hierarchy really seem to have bought the ‘oh, folk don’t want independence anymore, they have more important things to worry about‘ unionist-created narrative.
They are sitting back, literally waiting for something to change, instead of actually making it happen. Analogies might well be made of the key protagonists in ‘waiting for Godot’. Endlessly following the same process, same patterns of behavior, eternally wondering when ‘it’ might happen. Waiting.
The point is, of course,folk DO still want independence. It’s just that right now we have no people in power willing to do sweet F all to actually make it happen.
As for the SNP, it’s like every last one of them, top to bottom, is in a drug-induced stupour. Happily swilling the Kool-aid, that everything will be ‘all right’ All they need to do is ‘forge strong working relationships with the English colonial government’. Mugs.
Honestly, anybody with half a brain can see that for decades, and even more so under London Labour, Scotland is as a country, akin to a frog being slowly boiled. Labour know they cannot just shut the Scottish parliament all at once, so drip, drip, drip, step by step, they are removing its authority, whilst stealing Scotland’s wealth and resources.
This year, England is stealing our electricity. Next year England’s Labour government will steal our water, then it will be the air we breath.
Boiling the frog slowly. That is Labour’s plan for Scotland. And the SNP still sit around doing nothing, but blame voters, waiting, waiting.
Xaracen 5:47
100% spot on. Nice and concisely stated.
Dearie me, why am I reminded of a herd of ostriches.
Labours plans to increasingly undermine the Scottish Parliament are now official. Expect more by the autumn budget.
“Labour plan to bypass Holyrood and give direct spending powers to Westminster-run Scotland Office”
https://archive.is/kvjZC#selection-1089.0-1089.97
100%Yes
20 August, 2024 at 4:24 pm
“To allow 1.5million EU and UK nationals and foreign students to vote on a constitutional question that really on matters to Scots was doomed to fail and fail it did”
Rev. Stuart Campbell, is it still your view that anyone of voting age living in Scotland should have the right to vote in a Scottish independence referendum?
aLurker
Ignored
says:
20 August, 2024 at 10:18 pm
“Labour plan to bypass Holyrood and give direct spending powers to Westminster-run Scotland Office”
Were Scotland to impeach Holyrood now, on the basis of its Vichy tendencies and unconstitutional improprieties, the action would have some potency and international significance.
Allow Holyrood to be diminished even further, either by the dysfunctional imbeciles in the SNP, or by the Westminster Government which created it, will render Holyrood’s subsequent impeachment increasingly academic and insignificant.
In short, Scotland should show some initiative and seize the bragging rights for the destruction and expulsion of the supine, corrupt and unconstitutional Vichy Assembly masquerading as our Parliament and seat of”Government”.
Think Swinney capable of that? The gutless Swinney couldn’t run a bath.
On a more positive slant, when Scotland finally is ready for proper self Government, (do hurry up ffs), it will ditch Holyrood as effortlessly as it will shed every other vestige of colonial Westminster rule and unconstitutional encroachment.
Once you see Holyrood for the sham that it is, you cannot un-see it.
Left to me, I would demolish that “Architectural” mess at the foot of the Royal Mile and even hand them back the many, many tons of concrete rubble.
Think about it. Labour (or Tory, same difference), “bypasses” Holyrood to govern Scotland leaving Holyrood imasculated and impotent. That’s right, look at your shoes everybody.
Or, plan B, – Labour or Tory, bypass Holyrood, because they must, because the Sovereign people of Scotland rebelled against their unlawful subjugation, and expelled the colonial encroachment of Westminster’s Vichy Assembly, which sought to subordinate Scotland’s sovereign rights and ascendancy.
You YES yet? Actually, No. No mate, I’m not. I’m so very far beyond voting Yes in a poxy referendum. I’m in open revolt here. Come on in, the water’s lovely.
The people in Stu’s article, Tommy Shepherd
Mhairi Black et al. Are the prospective SNP MSPs most likely to be elected. Because they will be on the list. The cohort rejected in the General Election will be the ‘new’ faces on the SNP benches post 2026. Ironic that the nodding SNP donkeys in Holyrood that caused the rout of MPs in the first place with their GRRB etc. will be replaced by said former MPs. Look out for a massive campaign for SNP 1 and SNP 2. Grifters going grift.
@ Breeks
Like yourself , and many others , I’d relish something like Impeachment being effected on the clown troupe that has presided over the unbelievable trashing of Scotland post-Salmond – what it’s done not only to the formidable , energised , ready-to-take-the-next decisive step Independence Movement , also the very socio/political/judicial fabric of our country .
They’ve created a ” dinner ” even a hungry dog would find inedible
The question is ” how ? ” .
What would/could be the mechanics of such an Impeachment process
Who/what would do the impeaching ?
From where would it draw it’s authority ?
How would any penalty/punishment as a result of such impeachment be enforced ?
IF , big one , but if it did come to pass , it would be a delicious irony if it , ie the range of Impeachment was ” applied retrospectively ” – like the fuckers did in their conspiracy to destroy Alex Salmond .
Sturgeon should be the first name on any Impeachment list . The damage she done in office and the poisonous legacy she has bequeathed our country would , in other times , have merited the severest punishment possible .
Not believing in Capital Punishment , I’d settle for permanent banishment from the country – supposedly her country – she has inflicted so much pain and discord on
Depressed , oppressed, repressed , suppressed Scotland.
Where are the brave , certainly not in Holyrood or Westminster.
All the SNP needed to do from their position of power was to provide consistent good governance of Scotland, create inward investment through promoting the positives of our great country and improve the lives of the people living here by providing well paid jobs, good healthcare, policing and education.
In other words do the basics well, demonstrate to all how great our country could be and the support for independence would have rocketed. At an average of 45/49% support it was easy for the UK to say not yet but at 60-70% they wouldn’t have been able to say no. If the vast majority of Scots backed independence it would be easy to declare an independent state.
The incompetence of the SNP government has been so bad, their polices so lacking and their management of every part of our public services so poor that they have blown the chance to achieve independence for a long time. They have screwed up every opportunity presented, they have squandered our money on pet projects and nanny state nonsense.
Where now for them, get back to basics, govern well and start fixing the mess they created, kick out the weirdos and drag the party back towards what the majority needs whilst providing well managed public services. There can only be a one point plan, get the vast majority of Scots to want independence. They were almost there under Salmond but Sturgeon blew it spectacularly, they need new leadership to turn the party around, it can be done, look at what Starmer has achieved with Labour but my fear is that the SNP won’t change for many years to come putting independence on the back burner for a generation.
Stephen Flynn MP
@StephenFlynnSNP
SNP MP for Aberdeen South | SNP Group Leader at Westminster | Arab | Tartan Army
==============================================================
I was looking to see if Flynn had made any comments about recent happenings (he seems to have completely disappeared) and noticed his X description includes “Arab”?
Dorothy Devine @ 9:34 am
“Depressed , oppressed, repressed , suppressed Scotland.”
Aye, a colonized fowk are aye a Doun-Hauden fowk gaun naiwhaur fest, a fowk pit richt oot the gemme (a condition known as ‘calcification’ in postcolonial theory).
The people first need to understand their oppression in order to find the anely remeedy, whit is decolonization an leeberation. Scots colonial oppression is nae different fae whit wis imposed on Indians, Kenyans, Irish, Welsh an loads o ither fowks an naitions.
Tae be free, a colonized fowk hiv tae cast oot the colonial yoke in aw its mankit naitur. Its a great tragedy the dominant national party elites do not know this, for they have never undertaken a reasoned study of colonial society. Instead they have been ‘brought under the colonizer’s wing’ where they become the oppressors ‘confidential agents’ (Fanon) and work against the people:
https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/wp.towson.edu/dist/b/55/files/2022/05/The-Socio-Political-Determinants-of-Scottish-Independence.pdf
No great mystery in Flynn’s description of himself as an Arab.
He’s a follower of Dundee Utd. FC. Their nickname is ‘The Arabs’.
They have missed the opportunity to continue the opposition to the two child benefit cap and the different policy to it between Sarwar and Starmer.
Not opposing electricity going to England for nothing while claiming people living in fuel poverty (who makes up pish phrases like this).
Stop building student accommodation or tell the people behind the plans to restore old and derelict buildings but that won’t happen as they are to lazy and greedy using sites that could be used for native or other permanent residents housing.
Tell the Court of Session that it will be the supreme court of Scotland and tell the UK supreme court to GTF,and stop the anglisisation and gradual erosion of Scots Law,finally repeal the GRRB and clear out its toxic supporters who have damaged the party and support for indepence.
“The Dogs That Think They’re People”
===========================•
Hmmm.
Are we sure the dog in the video is the canine real deal? I hope it isn’t a predatory furry invading the safe space of young girls doing their exercises.
Someone should send this bunch of Jannies a clue. They clearly have none.
It’s all to play for at the next Scottish election.
Looks like Labour are on course to be deeply hated by then. There is the shambolic, incompetent and perverted SNP, or everyone’s favourite political punch bag Tories no doubt fighting another internal civil war.
Leaving side the clown party politics of the lib Dems and the greens, is there any chance of new parties with normal people, just wanting a successful, functioning country, not just pursuing political hobby horses?
Ian Smith @ 13.31.
I’m maybe just fooling myself, however the most encouraging and hopeful suggestions I’ve viewed on BTL here concerned the possibility of individual, independent candidates standing in 2026.
It’s appreciated that some type of loose, umbrella structure would require to be in place both to take advantage of the D’Hondt system and to assist economically in defraying the not inconsiderable cost to the individual standing.
I fear that any support to a Political Party per se has now totally dried up in this household.
Six days after the General Election – John Swinney became a member of the UK Privy Council for life (by Invitation of the Prime Minister (Keir Starmer) – and is now sworn to secrecy and loyalty to his fellow members(for life) – fellow life time members of the UK Privy Council – which is the real government of the UK – the hidden hand – includes Jim Murphy, Ruth Davidson, Michael Forsyth (Thatcher’s favourite), Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, Ian Blackford, DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson and Arlene Foster, Angus Robertson (since 2016 – was he meeting the Israeli in his capacity as a Rt. Hon member of UK privy Council for life and that is why the meeting was kept secret – all sworn to secrecy for life remember) and hundreds of other retired and sitting MPs-MSPs
Other members for life include certain bankers and business bosses (aka Lords and Ladies) AND MOST OF THE SENIOR JUDGES OF SCOTLAND and rest of UK – they all claim are completely indpendent of politics, politicians and parliament)
Is this why Scottish Green MSP, Alison Johnstone, wrote on the Scottish Green website
“The UK Privy Council is the least democratic part of the British Government”
After Alison accepted the invitation to become Rt. Hon Alison Johnston (for life) when she accepted her invitation to become a Rt. Hon Member of UK Privy Council on 16th March 2022 she was asked to explain and expand on the above statement – she refused to answer (is it because she’s now sworn to secrecy for life too?
THERE IS ONE NATIONALIST WHO REFUSED THE INVITATION TO JOIN – as it is optional – NO SNP leaders have refused – it was a Northern Irish Judge – who believes UK should be a Republic (Alex Salmond claimed to be Republican for years – then sold his soul (and YES movement out – before it was even created – to become the Rt Hon Alex Salmond member of the real government of UK (sworn to secrecy) FOR LIFE
during Indy Ref I did verbal survey of stauch NO voters and asked them – would you say YES – IF Independent Scotland has DIRECT DEMOCRACY (like the Swiss) where the people hold the power over every party and politician
Direct Democracy means we vote on policies (not fight over parties) – if we disagree with a bill put forward by any party, politician or coalition – the public have the right to say YES OR NO
If enough people object – the bill is parked – and once a year the public vote YES-NO to all parked bills – those we say yes to then can become law – the others cannot
BUT WE CAN MAKE DIRECT DEMOCRACY EVEN BETTER – what Indy and Brexit refs BOTH proved is – political parties cannot be trusted to explain why they are doing anything – as the reasons they give for the bills they propose are PROPAGANDA to hide the real reason for bills
Indy & Brexit referendums political class united to do the hokey kokey and SHAKE US ALL ABOUT TOGETHER making contradictory statements every single day – we will be in Europe – we wont be in Europe – we will be better off – we won’t be better off – we need a currency- we don’t need a currency
SO WE NEED AN INFORMATION CHAMBER of members of the public advised by lawyers – which SUPERVISES Parliament and scrutinies what they propose – every day – in parliament and in local councils – and Independent Information Chamber ADVISE THE PUBLIC what is proposed not the political parties – this means for direct democracy if we vote for-against bills the information chamber can advise the prose and cons of proposals and the nation has lots of time to understand and decide together YES OR NO
And members of the public can submit policy ideas to the Information Chamber – why should parties have a monopoly – AND information chamber can hold elected politicians to account IN PUBLIC
And why not make every elected official in all consstituencies HOLD MEETING EVERY SUNDAY or ONCE A MONTH – TO FACE their constituents who can challenge them on what is going on (as information chamber keeps everyone informed – (replaces the BBC)
EVERY SINGLE NO VOTER I PUT THIS TO said they would say YES TO INDY if independent Scotland had this sort of DIRECT DEMOCRACY even better than the Swiss version
We already did it – we had an INDY REF and BREXIT REF – but we didn’t have an information chamber which meant the political class misled us all together why Information Chamber has to be independent of all parties and politicians to ensure we are an INFORMED NATION not relying on political pied pipers (where the rats are playing the pipes)
Their status quo has to go and EVEN NO VOTERS agree – and will say yes TO INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND WITH DIRECT DEMOCRACY which can be constantly improved – thats why the Swiss have the highest rate of participation – as the people hold the power over every party, politician and coalition.
Political Parties were INVENTED (when the first of the “common” people were given the vote – to ENSURE the common people NEVER have a say or voice on ANYTHING – EVER ONLY THE POLITICIANS elected do (party members don’t)- a system devised when the only means of communication was the stagecoach –
politicians won’t offer Direct Democracy, political parties won’t offer Direct Democracy- THE YES MOVEMENT CAN – we want an Independent Scotland where we discuss policies not fight over parties where the people, for the first time in our history have a say and a voice – like the Swiss – their population around 8.5 million ours around 5.5 million – so if the Swiss can do it – so can the people of Scotland – and NO VOTERS AGREE THEY WOULD SAY YES TO THIS
BigJay
says:
21 August, 2024 at 11:29 am
No great mystery in Flynn’s description of himself as an Arab.
He’s a follower of Dundee Utd. FC. Their nickname is ‘The Arabs’.
————————————————————–
Ah – thanks
The SNP and the Greens – couldn’t run a piss-up in a brewery, again the taxpayer takes the hit – as these clowns- squander millions. The waste management firm BIFFA – are in the process of suing the SNP/Green government for £200 million pounds – due to losses incurred by the Bottle Return Scheme.
“An investment bank set-up by the Scottish Government lost £8m last year as a result of a botched recycling scheme.
The deposit return scheme (DRS) was championed by SNP and Green ministers before it was abandoned last summer following a backlash from small business owners.
It was announced today the Scottish National Investment Bank lost £14.6 million in the last financial year – including £8 million following the collapse of the company set up to administer the DRS.
But the publicly-owned bank exceeded its operating costs of £16.1 million for the first time with an income of £19.3 million. Its losses before tax was £14.6 million, down from £20.2 million the previous year.”
@ Ros
Some articles on SNIB
https://robinmcalpine.org/why-transparency-at-snib-is-so-important/
https://robinmcalpine.org/a-little-map-of-whats-wrong/
https://robinmcalpine.org/the-bank-of-friends-and-family/
And another…
https://commonweal.scot/the-scottish-national-investment-bank-desperately-need-reform/
Dan @4.19pm.
Thanks for the links.
Over £80bn, and counting, on a vanity project that only serves the wealthy. HS2 is an embarrassing disaster that we’ll all be forced to pay for for God knows how long.
Yet, when asked to put power cables under ground to retain the natural beauty of Scotland we’re told it would cost around £10bn instead of the measly £3.1bn they might spend on enormous pylons on an energy super structure. An infrastructure to serve england with the theft of Scotlands resources along with maximum profit for foreign investors.
When asked, what are the benefits for Scots in all this? The answer was indeed very strange. The answer wasn’t cheaper energy prices across all Scotland that every household would benefit from. It wasn’t even revenue will be reinvested into the Scottish budget.
No, it was, Scotland might be able create some kind of manufacturing support supplying some components. Yeh, sure.
These people have no rights Scotlands territory or it resouces. We have never been asked as sovereign Scots. Our legal eagles need to step up to the plate and start fighting for this country as clearly the politicians won’t.
A legal case can be so easily made to stop this colonial rape of our country.
Or does Scotland and its laws mean nothing to you!
Dan @ 4:19 pm
“Some articles on SNIB”
Just a pity Common Weal and others on the left sympathetic to independence have yet to figure out that institutions in a colony are always colonial in nature and in terms of their ‘values’. In sum, they exist to protect only the colonizer’s interest. “Being represented among the colonized by colonialists, they can have no other” (Memmi):
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/the-determinants-of-independence-institutions/comment-page-1/
The SNP didn’t even bother their arse to educate the populace of our colonised situation, let alone think the nation’s liberty was in jeopardy if formal autonomy was not installed, left too long, and multi-mandates squandered.
The second clip isn’t simply a time to laugh, it’s a time to be amazed. That dog is just marvellous and yes, I did laugh, but not at him, but simply to join with him in his obvious enjoyment of the game he was playing. Thanks Mr Wings.
On bbc lunchtime news massive heaps of HR virtue signalling , a couple with honourable intentions bringing 19 females from war ravaged country Afghanistan to Scotland to continue their education at Scottish universities
WM has produced visas for all the females and Jenny Gilruth Kezia’s partner and education minister at HR has promised to supply accommodation and funding for their university courses and financial assistance
I feel genuine sympathy for all of these females and their fellow sisters in Afghanistan and every other country that oppresses and degrades women ,BUT WHY is OUR government and our TAXES not being used to lift OUR females out of poverty and to finance university courses for them
I have a wee message for WM and the SG, STOP sending arms and amunition to other countries, STOP interfering in other countries governance , STOP supporting the willful SLAUGHTER of women and children ,STOP supporting corrupt governments, and you will not need to participate in feigned VIRTUE SIGNALLING, YOUR HYPOCRISY IS SICKENING
@ Ros
Nae bother.
When you look at the considerable sums of money being pissed away folk need to consider the positive improvements to society that could have been accomplished with those sort of funds.
Re. DRS Scotland’s 32 local authority areas already had reasonable recycling facilities in place. Collection logistics and economies of scale would surely mean developing and improving existing infrastructure and usage would be the way to go. Not go down some half-baked unworkable back door path to privitisation.
https://commonweal.scot/deeper-into-the-challenge-of-changing-scotland/
http://robinmcalpine.org/do-you-really-have-confidence-in-slater/
If that “green” bird-brained muppet or SNIB had spent / invested 200 million on installing upgrades to our sewer treatment systems we could have been well on the way to stopping pumping many thousands of gallons a day of untreated effluent into our biggest river.
But instead of that the taxpayer is going to have to pay out huge amounts of compensation for oor pound shop “government” implementing flawed policy.
Taymount Castle development. Fucktards praising “investment in Scotland” with a private company building loads of 4 million quid mansions, and instead of anybody in power having the gumption to suggest a planning constraint or developer contribution to build a new sewer treatment system capable of tying in with and serving all of Kenmore, they just allow each of the new properties to have individual private bio-digester systems installed, and keep the old archaic sewer system in place for Kenmore’s existing properties.
A big opportunity missed to start reducing effluent discharges at the very start of our biggest and famous river, but I guess Biffa won’t be complaining if they get their compensation claim.
These days you’re more likely to haul out a 1/4 pound Tay brown
troutshite than a decent sized salmon.If you were a fish arriving at Dundee looking forward to heading up river to your birth place for a good shag, and were met with an asteroid field of jobbies floating in a diluted cocktail of piss, Cillit Bang and Domestos, it’s hardly surprising you’d say “sod this” and look for alternative locations to procreate.
—-
@ Ronnie
If you’re reading could you give Wee Annie a call please as she’s been trying to contact you.
And where’s the famed Hairy String these days? Who got custody of the beige fibrous strand that used to hang oot in the Wings stall?
twathater @6.09pm.
The truth of the matter – is that, our SNP government doesn’t really care about Scots, if they did we’d have ditched this illegal union around the time of Brexit. The SNP are quite happy to govern under the status quo – at great expense to your average Scot – when you take into account, that English governments – use smart accounting tricks, to steal hundreds of millions from Scotland every day.
You have to remember – that Scots, have very little say in who comes and lives in Scotland – that matter is reserved to a foreign country namely England, which is a preposterous situation one, which I cannot understand why Scots tolerate it.
On the Afghan women – for twenty-odd years the US and its minions including the UK, pillaged – and murdered in Afghanistan – under the guise of defeating terrorism – and bringing democracy, to the Afghan people, many Afghani’s – aided and abetted the suppression of their ain folk – some of the Western Afghani collaborators, were given sanctuary in the West, such as judges etc – the Western puppet president of the day Muhammed Karzai – fled the country with so much money – that he abandoned $5 million dollars on a runway – as he soared off into the sunset on a US military plane – whilst poor Afghani’s, had to sell a kidney – to survive.
I’m not saying that the Taliban government are a liberal government – they’re not – but they put an end to Western hegemony in their country – the USA still holds millions in Afghan gold in its vaults, that it won’t release to the country, the people really need this wealth to be returned to Afghanistan – but POTUS Biden – has indicated that the Afghan assets, will be used to recompense those – who lost loved ones in the 9/11 event – even though the perpetrators, of the event held mainly Saudi passports.
@Ian Smith
“…just pursuing political hobby horses?”
“A new study has suggested horses are more intelligent than previously thought, having been observed to quickly adapt to a treat-based game with changing rules.
Researchers from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) said they were surprised by how the horses quickly grasped the game, busting previous theories that equine brains respond only to immediate stimuli and are not complex enough to strategise.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy4j4kkxd8o
Dan @6.49pm.
The SNP, if you asked – are in my opinion, now a party of rampant capitalism -and that comes at great expense, to the people of Scotland. On the SNIB, Sturgeon the Judas appointed the Duke of Buccleuch’s head of his Estate Company – Bernie Higgins, to the post of Strategic Advisor with regards to the SNIB, from there on in, I feel the SNP has shifted to the right – and it now caters mainly for business – and of course any group that promotes the SNP’s kind of genderism.
The SNP/Greens – appear to have no fear, when it comes to wasting hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers cash – the two-ferries spring to mind- worst of all there is no accountability, within the party, no one resigns from the taxpayers gravy train at Holyrood.
twathater @ 6:09 pm
“WHY is OUR government and our TAXES not being used to lift OUR females out of poverty and to finance university courses for them”
A good question.
In a colony. of course, the educational void is a result of enforced and thus institutionalised social inadequacy which “perpetuates that same inadequacy, damaging one of the essential dimensions of the colonized individual” (Albert Memmi).
Hence in a colony the learning institutions are not primarily about the further development of the colonized native, far less the progression of native culture.
Ian Smith @ 1.31pm
‘It’s all to play for at the next Scottish election’
If Indy parties can’t get their act together, the vacuum will be filled by Reform. If I was a bookie, this is what I’d be looking at before compiling the odds: –
SNP: in terminal decline. Big financial difficulties. Could even be forced to call early election.
Labour: won in a canter recently (WM), but opposition was extremely weak. Wasted no time in Crossing the Rubicon after that success, but Starmer is no Julius Caesar. May have seriously miscalculated after ditching much of their support immediately after WM prizegiving. Will continue to blunder along for next 20 months, therefore Sarwar is no shoo-in.
Tories: have been deteriorating rapidly. Now in complete disarray. Like their big brothers down south, possibility of significant defections.
Liberal: the go-to destination for dissident Tories. Signs of improvement recently and may take a minor place. Could conceivably take more seats than SNP.
Alba: massive initial potential, but currently only 2 – 3% support and stagnating. Could have been the answer, but electoral setbacks, in-fighting, inability to contest constituency, and failure to utilise its undoubted competencies means no chance of making an impact in 2026.
Indy factions: Independents never do well FPTP, may not have capability to contest list.
Reform: from almost nowhere, polled 7% in GE (Scotland) – likely higher now – outscored Alba in votes by a factor of 14 (with treble no. of candidates). The expected freefall in support for the 3 main parties could benefit from a large default swing. Well financed, well organised, they will contest every constituency seat, likely to attract across the board support from a disillusioned electorate.
Sven @ 1.59pm
As you point out, independents must organise themselves into some form of recognised political party, otherwise they cannot win list seats, such is the scam of AMS in HR.
However, that would require contesting most of the 73 constituencies to make it most beneficial in the list vote, where electors could then vote Independent 1 and/or 2.
But with a mere 20 months to go, less the period required for registering before May 7, 2026, it is a very long shot that either the number or organisation required is feasible.
Ebok @ 09.59.
Thanks for that analysis Ebok, appreciated.
I hadn’t looked at this site for some time. It seems R.B.C Graham’s prophecy was correct.
The SNP – are robbing Peter – to pay Paul.
“The SNP’s membership numbers have fallen to 64,525, but the party has also posted a budget surplus.
Accounts published online by the Electoral Commission today show the party have lost 9411 members since last year, down from a total of 73,936.
The accounts also show that the SNP has recorded a surplus of £661,568 for the year ending December 2023 thanks to a levy imposed on local branches.
It marks a turnaround from last year’s accounts, when the party recorded a deficit of £804,278.”
https://archive.is/qhSFf#selection-1759.3-1787.1
” The accounts show that the SNP has recorded a surplus of £661,568 for the year ending December 2023 thanks to a levy imposed on local branches. Last year’s accounts recorded a deficit of £804,278.
However, they also come with a health warning from the independent auditors, who offer a qualified opinion as some financial paperwork is missing.
The accounts state that some “cash and cheques received, relating to membership, donations and raffle income were not kept by the Party prior to July 2023”.
The auditor goes “We have been unable to satisfy ourselves by alternative means regarding the completeness of income for the current and prior year in respect of the above limitation in scope.”
——————————————–
SNP accounts are out.
Directors at the Scottish Event Campus, which is 90 per cent owned by Tammany Hall aka – Glasgow City Council – are awarded huge bonuses – as profits fall – meanwhile Tammany Hall – wants to cut 450 teaching jobs in Glasgow, over the next three years – beginning with, cutting 172 teaching jobs this year alone.
https://archive.is/4WDsJ
The self-coronated leader of the SNP – and FM by default – John Swinney, desperately trying to backtrack here.
“John Swinney has held talks with the head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, discussing the situation in the Gaza Strip. Scotland’s First Minister spoke by video call to Dr Husam Zomlot on Wednesday afternoon, with Mr Swinney expressing his “support for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza”.”
However what he is – has been exposed by Craig Murray.
“Swinney and Robertson are of course long term Zionists, as is almost the entire UK political class (and mark my words, there are few members of the British political class with their feet more firmly under the UK political structures table than Swinney and Robertson).”
First Minister John Swinney has a terrible record of collaboration with Israel.
Eden Springs was an Israeli settler owned water company, bottling water from the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights. They opened a subsidiary company in Scotland which was the subject of much controversy a decade ago, with a huge and successful boycott movement, especially among students.
As Scottish Minister for Trade and Industry, Swinney actually gave Eden Springs £200,000 of Scottish government money to help them overcome the effects of the boycott.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/08/the-purpose-of-scottish-independence/
ALEX BEVERIDGE
[22 August, 2024 at 9:40 am]
[I hadn’t looked at this site for some time. It seems R.B.C Graham’s prophecy was correct]
RBCG strikes me as the sort of larger than life character peoples need in times of change and renewal.
The ordinary, the commonplace manifest in contemporary politicians and their «politics» just will not suffice.
¿Don Roberto, dónde estás?
Necesitamos de los tuyos
” It marks a turnaround from last year’s accounts, when the party recorded a deficit of £804,278.”
Aye , it does . Makes you wonder where their funding is coming from . Can an increase in Branch levies alone account for this * surprising * turnaround ?
When the financial impact of drastically reduced Short Money kicks-in that ” surplus ” will surely turn into a deficit .
Maybe they could ask Elon Musk for a sub . Get Humzy on it , those two are getting on like a house on fire . E.M has the petrol n lighter ; HY has an empty fire-extinguisher .
A surplus of around £660,000 in SNP finances, now why does that figure ring a bell somewhere in my old memory.
On R.B. CUNNINGHAME GRAHAM
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2012/05/a-world-of-story-rediscovered-r-b-cunninghame-graham-scotlands-forgotten-writer/
A neglected, forgotten Scot, with all the right «flaws».
I’m reminded of the time when I first saw my granddaughter and remember reaching into her cot and saying something like “ hello sweet baby”. She replied with “goo goo goo “ . That baby made more sense that this entire bunch of ignorant chancers.
If this is the best Scotland has to offer Heaven help us all.
coincidence theorists out there will note – SNP surplus 661K which is almost
600K (indy ref fund)
+
60K (owed to mundell)
so … “nothing to see here, move along” / the system works / turned out alright again / sturgeons vindicated
or the result of frantic manipulations we have not seen the last of.
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/13397810/snp-owe-nicola-sturgeon-husband-peter-murrell/
great photo of mundell there – has that “don’t look on my hard drive special folders” of a man taking his laptop to PC World for a repair
bit dead in here. It’s like a party – you need one bampot to give it a buzz; anymore than 1 bampot and you’re fucked.
The SNP is a sick dog best to put it down.
“Can’t argue with any of that but there is one glaring omission: what is the author’s strategy? Moreover, what is the use of any strategy that fails to acknowledge the fundamental problem: you need the votes and don’t have them.”
Fuck me, how many times do I have to lay out my strategy in detail? Check the Reference tab.
“Rev. Stuart Campbell, is it still your view that anyone of voting age living in Scotland should have the right to vote in a Scottish independence referendum?”
Sigh. That was never my view. There were eligibility requirements in the indyref including minimum periods of residence.
Rev. Stuart Campbell
25 August, 2024 at 11:41 am
“Sigh. That was never my view. There were eligibility requirements in the indyref including minimum periods of residence.”
Did you agree with the eligibility requirements then?
Would you be happy with the same eligibility requirements in a future indyref?
There were many opposed to non-Scots being given the right to vote and as 100%Yes posted:
“To allow 1.5million EU and UK nationals and foreign students to vote on a constitutional question that really on matters to Scots was doomed to fail and fail it did”
“Did you agree with the eligibility requirements then?
Would you be happy with the same eligibility requirements in a future indyref?”
Yes.