Wings Over Scotland

Streuth! I just picked up on that ‘shrinking violet’ the Modest Mone talking about Nicola Sturgeon – thanks Rev Stu , next time put a health warning on any of that bloody woman’s comments.

I have NEVER bought her underwear and never will and I sure as hell won’t buy her jewellery either.

What an egotistical know all – and she has the audacity to criticise others.

Another brilliant cartoon Chris. These make Saturday mornings sparkle.
Perhaps the bulldog/terrier should be depicted as a poodle?

When Trump is the London government’s only hope then you know they are in deep trouble.

Worse, it now looks like the beginning of the end for the Trump dynasty. The whole house of cards is looking very shaky.

Where will the tories turn for succour and trade then?

If Trump falls can London realistically continue with brexit? If they do they will reduce the UK to a marginalised little backwater with few friends in the world. (not that that wouldn’t be the case anyway)

Chris you just go from strength to strength!

Maybe the mutt should be on its hind legs begging? lol

On a serious note, I took a strange interest in historical
cartoons, particularly political ones dating back to the
Napoleonic wars.

These cartoons also have the quality and depth to be enjoyed in 200 years time.

Wonderful skill to sum up the feelings of the day with one
picture.

Loyal beyond stupidity!

When a friend abuses you, mocks you and lies about you, it’s time to ditch that friend.

Both uk and Scotland should look to realign thier allies going forward!

Trump certainly trained his pet to “roll over”.

This insane clot Trump is about to pour petrol onto the Middle East by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and thus spawning a new grievance and provocation to Muslims, which will agitate yet more hatred and terrorism.

And for what? Why is this in any way necessary? The man’s a fecking idiot, but at least there are people in the US angry enough to seek to bring him down and be impeached.

The man’s a fecking idiot, but he’s still a NeoLiberal godsend, and Theresa’s Tories have the English NHS primed and ready for privatisation, the idea already sold to the masses as a vital reaction to crisis, forgetting its the crisis which the Tories themselves engineered, dancing to the tune of American Health Insurance and Drug companies who were big sponsors of the US TPP Trade Deal which had its eyes on European Healthcare.

The same Theresa’s Tories who just elected to omit recognition that living animals are sentient beings under UK law, thus rolling back EU standards in animal welfare and protection which exposes our domesticated livestock to US inspired use of steroids, growth hormones and chemicals in food production for human consumption, and our wildlife and other animals once again exposed to the barbarity of fox hunting, trapping, culls, gassing and vivisection. No less an auspicious newspaper than the Times has already carried an article where the Duke of Buccleuch talks up the merits of fox hunting, to a UK Prime Minister who cannot grasp the enormity of Brexit ramifications, but can take time out to back her own agenda to support fox hunting. Interesting priorities eh?

Perhaps Theresa May has plans to send a fox’s head mounted as a stuffed trophy for the Big Game Hunter Donald who wanted the trade of Elephant trophies made legal again. Wake up Scotland, these are the self serving morally bereft imbeciles who are making plans for our country.

Scotland’s golden future in renewables is right now imperilled by the same London conspirators who lied through their teeth about Scotland’s oil, plundered it for decades while Scotland saw virtually no benefit, no shipping manufacture, support infrastructure, or capital oil fund anything like that which Norway made prudent plans for the benefit of generations of Norwegians.

There are even credible arguments to be made that the catastrophe of Brexit itself was wilfully engineered and all part of the same conspiracy to allow the Tory’s UK to escape all the constraints and high standards of European law, actually manufacture a collapse in UK economics and industry so that John Redwood and his Tory ilk can hoover up the UK’s assets at bargain basement prices and later restructure UK industry and finance from the ground up, to the Dickensian ideal of the Tory delusions of Empire and class privilege. For the rich few, lives of privilege and entitlement. For the poor, a lifetime of poverty and servitude.

The Tories tried to destroy Scotland before, because they covet the buoyancy of Scotland’s resources to bail out their grasping greed and self serving interests, but see us Scots as a nuisance and a threat to their cosy exploitative practices. They will harvest the useful ones of course, the Mudells and Davidson’s, and they will tolerate the red ones who can be useful too. Every puppet government must appear credible and democratic after all….

Aye, we all a nuisance. Scotland will stop you fracking. Scotland will stop you plundering our seas. Scotland will stop you harvesting the poor and the sick like cattle. Scotland will stop slaughtering wildlife for bloodlust. Scotland will deny you our soldiery which has squandered itself so bravely for your Imperial influence. Scotland will resist you nuclear program and raise the global benchmarks and standards of sustainable energy production. Scotland will ban your genetically modified foods. Scotland will argue against you war mongering.

Heads up Tories, and lets be kind include the laughable “useful idiots” from Scotland who call themselves Tories, – you are losing Scotland, and despite your best efforts, Scotland once free of you, will begin to thrive and excell for decades, once it has cast off these centuries of exploitation and manipulation. Scotland will renew its vows and trading links friends from all over Europe as the European nation which Scotland is destined to remain. Scottish interests will lose the BritNat nepotism in its board rooms, councils and management agencies, where a persons credentials will not be who they went to school with, but their capacity to be clever and to put Scotland first.

Our culture, or Scottish culture, will be shared and enjoyed with European cultures, mixing together with our differences adding colour and enrichment to our individual time on earth, while south of the Border, you will celebrate a frigid, joyless winterland of Narnia for as many years, decades, or centuries as it takes to see your English exceptionalism and right to exploit others as cruel and self defeating delusion. You will have nobody to blame but yourselves,…. and your BBC.

Great Toon Chris we hiv aw different variations but you would need ah big wa tae put it oan , mibbee’s Trump wid gie permission tae put them oan the Mexican border wa lol.

Usual brilliant cartoon Chris. We are indeed lapdogs for Trump, or T- rump as I call him. He is a dinosaur from another age.

Reflecting on these past years I come to the conclusion that the majority of the Scottish public suffer from a condition called “learned helplessness”. They have been conditioned over the past few centuries to have no belief in themselves whatsoever. Here on Wings we have many who have put aside that belief and have grasped the fact that we are a resilient and capable nation.

I hope events over the last few months also inspire others to see the light.

K.A.Mylchreest,

Nae, it’s an Irish wolfhound (leading a pack of 26). More pee and from a greater height.

UK pooch should have the cross of st george, with a BBC dog tag. Looks like Orange Hitler’s on the impeachment channel soon though. Last night Trump’s biggest UKOK cheerleader BBC r4 news gimps, were really struggling with the Trump’s man Flynn confessing. The whole of the UK media is as neo fascist as Trump.

Trump doesn’t take criticism, any criticism, well. The little May has made is probably enough to ensure the UK is at the bottom of the trade deal pile.

Breeks says:
2 December, 2017 at 9:46 am
“This insane clot Trump is about to pour petrol onto the Middle East …………….You will have nobody to blame but yourselves,…. and your BBC.”

But apart from those few minor problems everything is just tickety-boo wouldn’t you say, Breeks? 🙂

Robert Graham says:
2 December, 2017 at 11:00 am

Jack McConnel had direct dealings with Trump. It was Mr McConnel as FM who negotiated with Trump to get his golf course built in Scotland. Although ‘negotiated’ is perhaps too strong a word – rolled over and did as he was telt would be nearer the mark.

The SNP coming to power in 2007 inherited the mess.

Scotland has Westminster over a barrel re powers coming back on Brexit. Or no concessions on Brexit. Scotland to stay in single market etc. Then an IndyRef2.

After all the slagging off of Scotland. Nicola has an article in the Guardian. Guardian hypocrites.

Stinky old The Graun never ever reports anything really about Scotland, Scottish nascent democracy and above all else Scots FM Nic Sturgeon.

Your average progressive liberal The Graun reader must be wondering who on earth this actually is.

link to archive.is

“The prime minister of course rushed to extend the hand of friendship – literally – to Trump when he was elected, and she is right to ensure that the deep, longstanding links between these islands and our friends in the US endure.”

Meh, UKOK war dogs maybe, useful idiots, really. Scotland’s just part of their wildly insane global nuke missile madness. Even St Obama shat hard on Scottish democracy, 2014 because they’re all so into democracy n shit over there.

It’s still unlikely that Trump will be impeached, but even if that happens, he will simply be replaced and Britain will still be in the same subservient position. The USA has the same regard for Britain that a dog does for the nearest lamp post.

Dorothy Devine 7.56am
I won’t be buying any more of Lady Mone’s underwear either 🙂

John H. says:
2 December, 2017 at 11:44 am
It’s still unlikely that Trump will be impeached, but even if that happens, he will simply be replaced and Britain will still be in the same subservient position. The USA has the same regard for Britain that a dog does for the nearest lamp post.

Collusion with Russia or any foreign state is treason and Trump’s not above the law.

What Trump will do is go to war, with North Korea probably, bettertogether with his useful UK idiots.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, worship the royal family, SNP bad… its quite easy being a UKOK media gimp.

It is tragic that our American friends thought that the election of Comrade Trumpinsky was the answer to the challenges to their democracy. The FBI is not letting this go it seems;

‘For the second time in a little over a month, the White House on Friday was forced to distance itself from a person implicated in criminal activity on President Trump’s behalf…The implication is that Flynn was removed from the president, just some guy who’d worked for Obama and who temporarily served Trump in the White House. It’s nonsense both because of what we know about Flynn’s time with Trump, and because of how hard Trump once fought to defend his friend.

Flynn was one of the first passengers on the Trump train…There are any number of indications that Flynn agreed to the charges from Mueller in exchange for testifying against other senior members of the transition team or administration — perhaps including Trump…The statement of offense indicates that Flynn lied about two conversations with Kislyak. One came after speaking with a “senior official” from the transition team about sanctions the Obama administration was imposing because of Russian meddling in the election’

link to washingtonpost.com

It’s tragic that Scotland is still under the cosh from a WM cabal that informs us;

‘It [Customs Union] puts up the price of food, clothing and footwear. These hit the poorest in our country the most because the largest portion of their money is spent on food, clothing and footwear compared to the richer in society’

Someone is confused and in denial about his party policies that are aggressively dismantling the state and destroying the fabric of society (although not his entitled society) of the disunited kingdom, ending lives prematurely- a million lives to be exact.

‘In 1891, life expectancy for women in England and Wales was 48 years. For men it was 44…By 1921, women lived to 60 and men to 56…Life expectancy continued to soar ahead. By 1951, 30 years later, women lived to 72 and men to 66… By 2011, women in England and Wales were living to 83 years and men to 79 years…And then, after 2011, under the Conservative-led governments of David Cameron and Theresa May, nothing. No improvement. Life expectancy flat-lined.
The latest figures for the period 2014 to 2016 were published in September 2017. Women can now expect to live to 83.06 and men to 79.40. For the first time in over a century, the health of people in England and Wales has stopped improving…The most plausible culprit was a combination of the particular kind of austerity for the poor and elderly that the 2010 Conservative-Liberal Democrat government so quickly enacted By 2016, cuts in welfare spending, especially to older pensioners had been linked to a rise in deaths – initially among elderly women and later older people in general living in poorer areas.

Public health experts writing in the British Medical Journal called for an inquiry, but none came. Instead, the government’s public health officials continued to claim that: “Recent high death rates in older people are not exceptional.”
The situation in Scotland was even worse than that in England and Wales, but again there was no official response when this was pointed out. In hindsight, there was wilful neglect by politicians, tinged by officials’ fear of upsetting their political masters in a time of savage spending cuts On November 16, an article in the British Medical Journal Open concluded that severe public spending cuts in the UK were associated with 120,000 deaths between 2010 and 2017. Just over a third of these occurred between 2012 and 2014 and almost none in 2010 or 2011. The rate of death due to austerity was rising and there was what is called a “dose-response relationship” between cuts and rising mortality.

In almost all other of the most affluent countries, apart from the US, people live longer lives than in the UK, often many years longer, and the best countries continue to pull away – leaving the UK and US even further behind.’

link to braveneweurope.com.

Toxic politicians, toxic policies, toxic stress nationally and being exported around the world- slow deaths here- rather quicker elsewhere-building our economy on the proceeds of war, famine and pestilience.

link to savethechildren.org.uk;
?
‘More than two million children are malnourished and thousands have died from preventable illnesses. One child is infected with cholera every minute.
In areas affected by fighting, children are being killed and maimed by airstrikes and explosive weapons. Hospitals are being bombed and many health services have completely collapsed’

‘I find that a bit strange. I think I might trust Kaspersky more than the UK Gov.

I would trust Del Boy and Arthur Daily more than the UK Gov.

heedtracker 11.52am.

Then the sooner he’s got rid of the better, or this could be the last war, for all the wrong reasons. I wish it were otherwise, but there is a long way to go. It’s not easy to impeach a president, even Trump. The Republicans seem determined to keep him in office.

Nice one Chris.

What will be hurting the arrogant British Nationalists even more is the fact that the once great empire is now even the poodle of the little Irish Paddys(courtesy of the EU).

Stick it to them Paddy!

I find that a bit strange. I think I might trust Kaspersky more than the UK Gov.

Any thoughts?

Everything we do online today is recorded and stored, everything. Its recorded and stored commercially by corps like google and the US/UK gov store exactly the same under their “Domestic Surveillance” programmes.

Here its the spooks at,

link to mi5.gov.uk

If you do anything or say anything online that the above class as dodgy, you will be examined completely, without your knowledge of consent.

Cops can show up at your door and look physically at your hard drive contents. Just ask toryboy like,

“GREEN CPS PROBE ‘Extreme porn’ allegedly found on Damian Green’s computer was referred to CPS by cops”

At no point in all the media coverage has any hack said why Green’s hard drive was actually examined by the cops. Its not hard to see why though, or is it?

Beneath all that, organised crime has probably hacked every single commercial database they can, collecting millions of customers personal details, to later steal everything from bank accounts, or black mail the hacked corps.

We should probably ask why the assorted UKOK tory media corps out there report/use all of the above, as in why the BBC is going big with UBER hacking and ofcourse now Kasperski?

So the least of your worries online is your anti virus.

Yanis Varoufakis on the last QT slaughtered the idea that the UK government were in command of Brexit negotiations by remarking that when inevitable outcomes are celebrated as breakthroughs – you know you’re in trouble. He pointed out that the UK ‘negotiators’ have caved in on every single point so far demanded by the EU. The whole clip of his QT contribution is on You Tube but WOS readers will not be surprised to see Mr Varoufakis cut off from his measured observations by the ever fawning establishment sycophant – Mr D Dimbleby.
If Mr Trump does visit London in February will he require to be hidden away from the public to preserve the faint hope of the ‘special relationship’ trade deal – or will his ego prevail.

Valerie 12.35pm

“Just caught a wee bit of Shireen this morning. Peter Geogeoghan? saying the Irish are shocked that after 100 years, there is no parity, and England just regard them as savages.

I’m shocked, the Irish are shocked.”

Well I’m not shocked Valerie. I lived in Ireland many years ago, and noticed the arrogance of English visitors. Some of them still think they own Ireland, just as they think they own us. To some of them the empire has never ended. The generation of Irish people I knew realised this too. The younger ones are now learning some hard truths.

Just a question; was the basis for this cartoon the appearance on the Today programme of Ann Coulter during the last week?. It was a really strange experience.

Nice one, Chris,

Not only is Trump’s country going to the dogs but so are some of his camp followers. The so called, “British”, bulldog has never represented other than England and the Westminster establishment.

Quite appropriate really. The Bulldog is perhaps the most inbred disaster of a canine that has ever been inbred to the extent of heading towards extinction.

The first example I ever saw has a wee story all to itself. A local bookie, (back in the days when bookies were virtually illegal), lived on a wee smallholding just outside Pumpherston. He had a wee son and a big bulldog.

One day the wee son came in crying to his Dad that the dog had bit him. The Bookie, in his usual manner, told the wee laddie, “Ach weel awa an bit it back”. However the wee lad, still crying, went looking for his mother hoping for a bit more sympathy from her.

On his way, though, he had to pass the dog’s kennel and the animal was lying inside the kennel with its rear end sticking out the entrance. The next thing was that there was an absolutely horrendous squeal of pain from the dog and it vanished into the dim distance still howling in great pain.

Wee Billy had indeed bitten the big dog back on the wee stub that is the bulldog’s apology for a tail.

Tell you what, though, that bulldog was a changed dug afterwards. It had such a fright that it began to follow the wee laddie around and was the canniest animal you could ever hope to meet. Another effect was the wee laddie had a great confidence boost and he too was a changed wee laddie.

@jfngw

Radio 5 last night a supporter of Greene referred to a ‘constable’ who was not as reliable as a government minister was in terms of who to believe.

So there! 🙂

Totally o/t , The BBC have on their website a reference to Harry’s burd having to take the UK citizenship test.
Just for a laugh I started part 1 , it starts to become obvious it’s not a UK citizen test but surprise surprise an English citizenship test.

Who would have thought it , yet another better together bonus aren’t we lucky the BBC and the medias quest to eradicate us looks like working , if no one knows we exist who’s going to miss us , then they can sit down and enjoy their British Whisky , ah what are they like .

Oh just for fairness they include who is the patron saint of Scotland, to placate the jocks probably.
Nice of them eh ? .

Breeks at 9.46 am. Thanks. I enjoyed that. So true, if we all (including OUR Government) extract the digit.

Heedie,

Green’s computer was looked at during an enquiry into a leak. This has been widely reported.

There are two sides to this. One being if it was not illegal what is the problem, other than wasting time during working hours?

If, say, the drug sqad turn up to search your house, find no drugs but spot 50 cases of whisky which match the ones that fell off the back of a lorry last week. Should they ignore it because it’s a different investigation?

Personally, I tend to think that his possession of large quantities of porn on his work computer is of public interest as it is the public who employ him.

Regarding Kaspersky. It’s sounding like some joke.

They have physical offices all over the world, including London. I used their anti virus software in the past, and it was very efficient.

What pisses me off about these pronouncements is there is never any pretence to even give evidence.

In other news, how noble of David Davis, the saviour of Brexit, to defend his pal’s right to have a hobby to pursue during working hours.

It must be boring between votes. What’s a guy to do, other than peruse his porn collection.

We remain in this Union to be demeaned by this collection of half wits, deviants and those that delight in the suffering of the general population.

o/t

Peter A Bell? @BerthanPete
57m57 minutes ago

Speaking at SNP National Council in Perth today, Nicola Sturgeon gave her strongest hint yet that we will be fighting an independence referendum campaign in 2018. I reserve the right to say, ah telt ye! #Referendum2018

Off topic and apologies if someone else has already mentioned this in a previous thread.

What do Scottish Water, Transport Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish BMA all have in common?

They have all felt the need to issue statements or press releases/tweets to correct misleading statements about their area of expertise given by both MSP’s and repeated by the media.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service – “Many public comments have been made recently about the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service which are broad brush and largely inaccurate, and which have been repeated in the Scottish Parliament and through the media.”

BMA Scotland – ” Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that despite these efforts, inaccurate information about the proposed contract and it’s impact on rural areas has been circulated to the media and some MSP’s” . “I am extremely disappointed that incorrect information has been able to circulate in this way, and in particular regret the lurid language that some have chosen to use that will undoubtedly cause alarm to patients”

Scottish Water’s media team Scot Water News have pinned a tweet on 27th November directing people to the part of their website explaining the governance of Scottish water making clear it is a public body.

Transport Scotland have also required to mount a campaign to get the truth out about the works on the Queensferry Crossing.

I can’t remember a week where 4 such disparate organisations have all felt the need to expand time and effort putting out statements where they feel both MSP’s and more notably the media are putting out inaccurate information.

We all know this has been happening but to see such organisations having to react confirms that we’re not all paranoid. On top of Andrew Neil being found to have basically used an inaccurate Tory press release against Alex Salmond it seems that their is mounting evidence of at the very least very poor journalism with failure to factcheck or contact relevant bodies and at the worst a “conspiracy” to put out misinformation to the public to cause alarm- or that such is their visceral desire to put down the SNP they don’t care if people become alarmed and worried about health, fire, transport and water services

Does anyone else know of any other organisations EIS etc who have had to do the same thing. It may be worth keeping copies of all such statements as they can be directly quoted back to people when needed.

@ shrodingers cat ( I reserve the right to say, ah telt ye! ) aw naw Mr ah hiv ah share in that tellin ave been saying there wud be a GE in 2018 & the SNP would need to fight that oan a Independence Mandate , there is no point sending SNP MPs to westminster to play the same game ie being ignored .

Off Topic- Apologies .

It looks like the good old USA never really let go of the McCarthy era , still shit scared of the reds under the bed hysteria .

This latest attack on Kaspersky brings the whole commie Witch hunt season back into fashion again , yeah if it’s Russian it’s bad.

Maybe Kaspersky refused to roll over to the NSA , refused to cooperate the way all the other big players have by allowing access to all their clients and users .

RT are next, expect their license to be revoked.

All the reporting on the state sponsored and funded BBC comes with the added phrase ” could ” we are not saying that the Russians are spying just that they could be , Aye ok .

Should have added,squeal piggy squeal,ha ha ha haaaaaa.

Thanks Ian , I thought it was just me being paranoid again, I thought of complaining but just like the BBC I guess it would be made that difficult in the end you loose the will to live before you complete it .

Bobp says:

And nice to know that Ireland has the brits bent over a barrel.

If there is to be any silver lining from this Brexit fiasco, it will finally be the humiliation of Perfidious Albion. They have evolved a unique superiority complex of entitlement and exceptionalism which no other nation has. (perhaps the Yanks are erring that way too)

Maybe, just maybe, they will be brought to their knees. They have painted themselves into a corner where any outcome will make them look utterly stupid. It doesn’t matter whether they cancel Brexit or go for a cliff jumper, they will be viewed as causing damage for no reason, and no possible gain. Even anything in between will be the worst of all worlds – still confined by EU regulations, but with little say in their formulation. They may lose trade deals negotiated by the mighty EU and replace them by being ripped off by the US, India, and China.

Lose, lose, all round. What were the dimwits thinking!?

With every possible outcome they will have moved from potential leaders, to definite followers.

And after all these centuries, who better that the Irish to bring them down to earth!?

Of course I speak in the third party, them not us. Scotland needs to step out of this.

How can we hope to understand what is happening around us, in these times of fake news and post-truth politics?

What Feminist Epistemology Would Say to Donald Trump

Since Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States in June 2015, the internet has exploded with reports and analyses of the candidate, with a special emphasis placed on the shocking and dramatic statements Trump has made the forefront of his campaign. As of yet, however, there has been relatively little attention paid to what feminist epistemology has to say about Trump, and his shocking and dramatic statements. This blog post is a small attempt to remedy this gap in the conversation, focusing specifically on Trump’s position as an epistemically privileged subject, and how this epistemic privilege shapes Trump’s approach to the truth….

link to blog.apaonline.org

I was on another forum last week, and a link was posted to the “UK citizenship” test. It took me four goes to pass, as I didn’t know the answers to the english questions.
On another point, when I was working for a well known multinational, within days of the computer guidelines being tightened up concerning personal use, several employees were instantly dismissed for accessing porn in works time. No inquiry or disciplinary action, dismissal, as rules had been broken.

@ Fiona Unfortunately those same bodies don’t demand a retraction either in print or in broadcast nor issue the media with formal notice that they will take legal action to protect their business in the case of Scottish Water .

Anybody in receipt of benefit/tax credits or on low income or under pensionable age can get money from the Warm Homes scheme , contact your power supplier £140 can be awarded Please Share this post .

@ Ruby – I use Kaspersky. It’s very reliable and better than AVG which I used to use but it conflicted with other software and was a pain to remove. Kaspersky support is also very good.

Best security software for we Kremlin stooges!

What is it with Daily Express and violent language in headlines!?

In the past we the following have appeared in headlines, always in capitals, always in context of what one persons did to another person or group.

“SLAPS DOWN”
“SAVAGES”
“DESTROYS”
“SLAMS”
“LOSES IT”
“SLAPPED DOWN”
“LASHES OUT”
“ROASTED”

They really need to back off from this behaviour.

Great cartoon Chris. Clearly sums up the current situation, once again.

As the winds of change swirl around the heads of the Trump cabal, Mike Spence, his Depute, attempts to distance himself from the corruption and stands waiting patiently in the background for his turn to be President. Spence et al, some say, being Christianities answer to Afghanistan’s Taliban.

Trump and Spence do have a great deal in common however they differ in one major respect. Trump’s background is as a Protestant, as Spence’s is as a fervent Roman Catholic. Trump has been influenced by his mother who at the very least was a great admirer of the Monarchy. Spence learned his stories of the English / Irish relationship sitting on his grandfather’s knee and through many childhood visits to his relatives in County Clare. He often mentions his grandfather’s influence on him in his speeches and that his grandfather did a stint in the Irish Army (constituted initially from IRA volunteers) before leaving Ireland in 1923. He also holds the Oireachtas in high regard.

Just mentioning this as I doubt Mike Spence holds Theresa May and Westminster in high regard. If he becomes President in the near future will it make a difference in relation to trade deals with the UK? Will he always plump for putting Ireland ‘first’. What does he think of the DUP, lol? More than anything I wonder if his opinion of Scottish Independence differs from Trumps?

……………………………..

Some great posts on here today such as Breeks (9:41am), Phronesis (12:02pm) and Fiona Laing (2:37pm), to name but a few.

And Breeks at 11:13pm ….. “Is it just me – DUP influence.”

No it’s not just you Breeks. I’ve also pointed out previously that it’s totally incongruous, and utterly dangerous, for the DUP to have such influence over the Westminster Government and by extension of course over us. To add insult to injury the Scots are forking out financially to support this coalition from hell. I’ve started informing some elderly Roman Catholic individuals (no voters), friends of my mother-in-law, about the state of affairs. They’re absolutely horrified and I’m hoping as the implications sink in, given time to check it out / think about it, their attitudes to independence will change.

Thanks for your post Fiona. It looks as though the biased MSM has gone too far. Hell mend them. And yes I agree that it would be a good idea to list all such statements which could be used effectively when required.

@Fiona Laing, 2.37pm
Good post, Fiona. Another example, would be the BBC Scotland’s misinformation about accommodation on Skye at the height of the summer tourist season which Police Scotland had to squelch.

@Ruby, 12.04pm
Kaspersky Lab’s business is to help customers defend their computer systems against cyberattack. It has a global reputation. Kaspersky Lab helped identify the malicious computer worm, Stuxnet, the software which disabled the Iranian nuclear research programme. Kaspersky Lab also identified cybersurveillance worms, Duqu and Flame, which use coding related to Stuxnet. The US/UK governments are now advising that this cybersecurity business should not be used because it is Russian. This advice has the same provenance as the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Thepnr @ 17:42:

This could be a very important issue when it comes to trade with the rest of the UK once Scotland is independent. In theory we could have a single market and customs union with the rUK if we and they so choose.

Note the “they” there. Which of course dumps us right back into same old BritNat/rUK dependency in indyref2 that the EFTA advocates incorrectly claim we would somehow be free of. Just one example of how EFTA isn’t the “get out of jail free” card that some too easily assume.

(Yes, I know it would ultimately be different in practice post-indy, just like currency last time, but why gift any lever to our opponents beforehand all the same?)

Whereas being continuing members of the EU in our own right gives us enhanced power, as Ireland is demonstrating so very clearly right now. The EU gives that wee country a serious influence multiplier. It is the example that we could emulate.

As we are seeing, rUK just can’t take on the EU, and the BritNats won’t be able to use that scare on us next time. In fact it could be the other way round, if we are smart enough to deploy it.

Children’s commissioner may consider legal action over Universal Credit BBC website.

link to archive.is

OK but there is a lovely picture promoting labour
Good old auntie! 🙂

Two Unions:

First one ‘we will honour the wishes of all our members regarding any negotiations’.

Second one, ‘shut up and do as you are told, we voted out so you are out, the opinion of your nation is irrelevant’.

Kaspersky may be too much of a threat for our cybergoons. Like RT, they don’t kowtow to the British Establishment and probably not the US elite either.
I now seem to operate on the principle that, if the British Government and the rabid media and the BBC say it’s a BAD thing, then it must be good in some way.
General rule of thumb.

Just spotted this on Twitter….

David Allen Green
@davidallengreen

Brexit was to mean UK taking back control of its borders, its money and its laws.

Now:

Ireland decides what happens about the border.

UK to pay €50-100 billion to EU.

ECJ likely to keep jurisdiction during transition, for foreseeable future.

Not what was intended, really.

The word “intended” is the interesting one here. It could equally say “planned”. Plan? What plan?

The pish that was spouted by the Leave folks who sold the idea of a cherry picked best of everything without all the bad bits, was fantasy. Nothing more. No substance no possibility of actually happening. It was a mix of deceit, ignorance, arrogance, and wishingful thinking maybe.

Those Leavers who wanted (still want) to crash out with no deal, no payments, no EU interference at least had/have a scenario which is possible. Their flaw is, the damage would/will be massive. Of course they hide that embarrassing reality,

Soon we may hear if Trade Talks begin. If they do then the result will be a long way from the fantasy picture peddled to voters.

We may of course hear that no Trade Talks will begin. That takes us one step closer to the cliff jump. And the results of that will be even further from anything Leave voters hoped for.

The consensus seems to be Leave voters wanted a curb on immigration, but not at the cost of being poorer or unemployed!

What the shadowy people behind Brexit wanted, well, that’s something quite different.

starlaw@6.59
Basically,
We’re FKD if we do and we’re FKD if we don’t.
Hopefully the message is getting out to the electorate that there is a better path to follow. Indy is the only way.

I stand partially corrected Thepnr, but not completely. Scotland’s Trade with the EU is existing, whereas Scotland’s Trade through EFTA would be a new scenario with ramifications for agreed quotas. Scotland would have to negotiate its way into those quotas for a share, or renegotiate deals which do not adequately cover Scottish products. As far as I know, neither Norway, Iceland or Switzerland manufacture their own Whisky, so why would such trade feature in their trade deals?

In such negotiations, Scotland would be negotiating its case alone and bilaterally. In Europe, negotiations are collective, and you would have the bargaining clout and volume of trade to agree better deals.

If there is no free quota for the “new” trade, then if I understand correctly, WTO tariffs will apply.

This is also going to be a massive hurdle for rUK to join EFTA, because of the impact the UK’s economy would have on EFTA.

What annoys me most about the Kaspersky nonsense is that the only reason I have kept a Barclays Bank account is because they offered free Kaspersky for a PC, a Mac and a mobile device.
They haven’t said they will be offering an alternative anti-virus. I might have to withdraw my £25!

That’s me £400 out of pocket because I bought my Mac after Brexit when the £ when down and now no free Kaspersky!!!!

Is there any good news about Brexit. and being ‘Better Together’ in the UK?

Ruby @ 19:30,

Oh, don’t worry, the UK get a great special deal with China and the £50 Apple clones will come pouring in…

…oh, wait a minute, we’re supposed to be protecting all our home-grown producers, “Britain First”, aren’t we, seeing as how we’ll be “in control” again, won’t we…?

… won’t we…?

re efta eu membership

there is a difference between campaigning and winning indyref2 and the reality we will face immediately after we win.

i personally think the eu will be begging us to join after a yes vote but we still need to win and the discussion should be on what is the best policy to adopt which gives us the greatest chances of winning.

for me, that is efta, for many of the reasons the pnr pointed out

Cearc @ 7.44
I’m wi you Cearc I’m no all that fussed about a hard border either.
In the early decades of Indy having a physical demarcation line might no bad a bad thing.

Ireland however in this instance will teach us much!
I think what Westminster are trying to do is to tell the EU
“Youse are,the one’s concerned about yer precious standards, we don’t care what the North sells into the South,we are all about the marker dear boy!!
You want a border, you put it up and you pay or it”
Then we will get “Our citizens in Northern Ireland said they didn’t want a border.
So the democratic thing to do was not put one up.
That Wisnay us that wiz Dublin and Brussels” that did it.

We on the other hand have mibbi a bit more to worry about with Brand Protection…. All this Union Jackory going on!
What is to stop Westminster, importing our good’s and slapping oan a jack and selling them on as British.
They always wanted to keep the UK/British label and we know that those labels are always interchangeable,and that not many make the distinction.
Therefore between EFTA & the EU Scotland’s best bet is to pick the block that has the fastest Brand Protection and go for that one.

Re: Kaspersky.
A Synopsis.
Kaspersky AV (and others) use a form of ‘heuristic’ and signature analysis.
Signatures are the known virus/malware code, easily matched from a local database on your PC and recognisable.
‘Heuristics’ is a way of analyzing and flagging something which has the characteristics of known virus/malware code, as potentially bad.

This has two parts.
The first, the software informs you of something which it thinks is potentially bad and may ‘quarantine’ it locally on your PC.
The second part is the issue : this is where the AV software copies and sends suspicious files back to the lab for analysis – Almost all major AV players utilse this form of collecting suspicious files for analysis. It’s how they spot new variants etc.

The story as currently known:
A US government contractor had Kaspersky installed, removed Kaspersky AV to install a dodgy copy of Microsoft office and re-installed Kaspersky AV.
The AV found a virus signature in the dodgy copy of ‘Office’ when it was re-installed. During its subsequent full scan it picked up many ‘unknown viral signatures’ and sent them back to Kaspersky.
However, these signatures were because the contractor had a shedload of classified US Intelligence ‘hacking’ tools and software on his machine.

The ‘what’ and by ”whom’ is being argued about.
Was it really routine collection of some dodgy looking code and stuff? Did Russian ‘Cyber Agents’ intercept it and went and blagged the rest? Is Kaspersky AV actively an agent of cyber-espionage? Has Russian Intelligence turned Kaspersky AV into a virtual ‘botnet’ (With or without Kaspersy’s knowledge) scouring the planet for secrets and goodies, not just with “Heuristics” Was it a setup by someone else, even a black-flag operation?
More importantly – Who cares?

How did the US gov’t discover that their classified software & other files had been ‘hoovered up’ by Kaspersky AV?
Israeli intelligence squatting in the systems saw it and alerted the US govt. They were already hacked in both US gov’t & Kaspersky servers with ability to monitor and exfiltrate or implant data themselves.
Quite, quite fascinating cyberspace…

Shades of Campaign for Free Galilee meeting the Judean Peoples front if you like haha!

So there you have it. Can Kaspersky AV clandestinely monitor you? No more than Google, GCHQ and a hundred others tracking your every move right now. However, if you do hold some intriguing software code on your PC, I have some bad news…

Sleep easy, nobody much cares what you have, until you become “a person of interest”
Which is everyone who posts here probably, Lol!
You can be sure the database is already easily searchable for everyone’s personal details.
Live with it. Facebook and a shed-load of advertisers have as well. More than most can conceive. But most here probably only want to not lose the grandchildren’s photos to a virus. If it’s good enough for Nation States, it’s good enough for me ?

schrodingers cat @ 20:56,

You are right, in the short term it’s all about how best to “sell” the concept of independence. (And I don’t mean that in any false way.) It has to be both about minimising irrational fears and about inspiring people about possibilities.

That’s why I think Ireland will be a good exemplar here. If they show how Brexit can be handled with the EU at their backs, it might neutralise several concerns here and make people better appreciate the advantages of sovereignity within a co-operative of states.

Still an evolving situation, this, which doesn’t make it easy to navigate right now.

There will have to be an adjustment process post-indy though, however it happens, and I think that’s something we have to be more open about than last time. People don’t trust excessive optimism.

PS: I did very much enjoy your wee McGonagall-esque spoof on the Quensferry Crossing Disaster yesterday. =grin=

Shrodingers cat 8.56
Yip we’re on the same page, it’s all aboot The Indy!

We should not let a border going up be used as a Threat.
We cannot control if Westminster do or they don’t,and just saying
( not you personally) that they “probably”won’t as it wouldn’t be in their interests (Brexit…FFS) is not good enough any more.

I’m getting at remove the concept as a Threat.
As in, something like…

We don’t need to plan for a border it’s no actually necessary for Independence but if you insist England….here is how WE will make good use of it…… World’s Newest and Oldest Border get it on yer Bucket list!!!that sort of thing.
Look at what Gretna did and could only do because it’s on the Scottish Border!
If I was saying let’s make any new Border a Word Famous wedding location right now as a new idea… some would think me mad….but it worked!
We are also not in anything like the position of Northern Ireland,where our Border is and should be is no in dispute,so why be frightened of one?
The minute it stops being a “Hadrian’s Wall” type of Threat and becomes an opportunity it’s not in the way of our vote,and that’s the tact I’m suggesting.
And I take that view because as I have said ….we can’t control what Westminster do….
Or believe what they say they will do.
But we can and I think should, make our own plans!

@Liz g

Any border is a barrier to trade unless the countries involved are in a customs union. This would potentially be the case between an Independent Scotland and an rUK out of the EU.

If goods are subject to tariffs for example it would be a huge hindrance. That is exactly we are all complaining about now with regard to trade between the EU and the UK once we are out.

Indyref2 will now be fought under different terms than the first was, back then we expected that the UK would remain in the EU and so too would Scotland. Clearly that is no longer going to be the case.

The “border issue” will replace the currency issue once the next campaign gets underway, you can be certain of that. “The UK single market is worth 4 x times the trade with the EU” ect. ect.

This has to be nailed down or if left to it’s own and the manipulation of the BBC and other media could be our downfall.

heedtracker,

“What Trump will do is go to war, with North Korea probably, bettertogether with his useful UK idiots.”

Guardian reader with a Slovene (ex-)girlfriend, should the west not have attacked North Korea instead of Iraq, if it was “democracy” and “human rights” they cared about, instead of cheap oil?

For the record, if reading the lying, warmongering British Nationalist The Guardian helps you keep sane, then I have no problem with it.

A fascist, a sexist, and a racist walked into a bar … so the barman says, “what will it be Mr President?”

(Courtesy on Na Trad on BBC Alba)

rjs

ah the Tay, the Tay, the silvery Tay
gings in an’ oot, twice a day 🙂

once indy, i think a border would benefit scotland for a miriad of reasons

but that isnt the point. we still need to win indyref2 and the uk “single market” and our exports to england will be the BT2’s main attack line. the idea of a border will be one of their main platforms to do this.

the issue of englands trade with scotland wont even get a mentioned. but fyi, england stripped scotland of its manufacturing base years ago. what is left is raw materials. england however produces very little which is unique to england. once indy, why would tescos in glasgow import heinz beans or coca cola or a BMW from england 10% more expensive than from the ROI/EU ? they wont, englands exports to scotland will shrivel to nothing and the people in Scotland wont even notice. we should down play this fact but highlight scotlands actual exports.

scotlands exports to england and the ROW are made up of 82%

oil, water, electricity, timber, seed potatoes, whisky, gas, fish, gas, salmon, petrol and stud beef.

these products cannot be grown or produced in england.

About the border. There will need to be one somewhere between the EU and the third party states.
Gretna sounds ideal to me. Not a huge number of roads cross the border, land in the area is fairly undeveloped and sparsely populated. Open between Scotland and all of the island of Ireland.
But and there is a but. To show we are serious investment needs to take place into the facilities required. Dundee has lots of underused dock space, so investment now in modern container handling facilities ready for the day. Something for the SNP council to think about, great opportunity for development and prosperity.
Rosyths ro ro facilities need an upgrade as well, quiet since DFDS decided that “Scotlands Ferry” should run from Hull.
Prestwick is ideal for ultra long haul aviation and the rail connections can simply be upgraded to connect all of Scotland and northern England.
A litle preparedness, at not much cost will go a long way to convince our doubters that we have the facilities to completely bypass England if needs be.
Meantime, just keep voting SNP at every opportunity. Plenty of time after independence for different factions to arise and put their case.

There is so much in the Brexit rhetoric that can be used to spike the anti independence propaganda and I hope there are researchers collecting the quotes from Davis et al.

The 4 times the trade with the rUK versus the EU. has no downside problem if we use the same arguments as the UK Government does in its Brexiteering. There are many other arguments where
they have shot their own fox so to say!

Rock on Nicola! Hope it is true!

Liz g says:

We don’t need to plan for a border it’s no actually necessary for Independence but if you insist England….here is how WE will make good use of it…… World’s Newest and Oldest Border get it on yer Bucket list!!!that sort of thing.
—————

too complicated Liz, bear in mind we would need the bbc and the msm to give this a fair hearing. and we both know that wont happen. better to keep it simple.

since all seed potatoes and fish in england come from scotland,
shame if those brit favourites, fish and chips and a bag of smoky bacon were to disappear 🙂

The Uk ‘single market’ is effectively the UK economic straight jacket. As I mentioned to the tuba player on social media recently how can you have a ‘single market’ when one government exerts power over both entities. According to him that isn’t the case. So I’ve been living in an independent Scotland all along!

Of course if they wish to play that game then EFTA skewers the argument. I suppose we could use that better together phrase ‘Best of Both worlds’. If WM wants to play hard to get then they lose big time.

I noticed Chris deerin shout that England should declare independence from the UK. I’m sure mr angry from Grimsby might like the idea but There is absolutely no chance ANY MP in England (including the uber-brexiteers) will call for that. Reason: economic suicide. You have an economy dominated by financial services – aka ponzi fiat economy backed by Scotland’s resources.
Overnight their trade deficit would soar and the currency depreciate. An increase trade deficit somewhere is balanced by a trade surplus elsewhere. That surplus would be enjoyed here unless they really cut of their nose to spite their face. They would be hugely dependent on imported gas and (nuclear) energy until the Hinckley white elephant arrives.

Independent England isn’t viable.

Just heard on the BBC the usual England means UK means England nonsense. Why can’t we be like Eire and escape from English clutches, they don’t in the main rate us so why do so many of us want to be with them so much?

Old Pete,

“Just heard on the BBC the usual England means UK means England nonsense. Why can’t we be like Eire and escape from English clutches”

Robert Peffers (4th February – The Sirens):

“The Irish, whether they like it or not, live in the British Isles and are thus British. If they choose to claim not to be British then, like you, they have conceded their right to be British to the United Kingdom.”

Rock (4th February – The Sirens):

“Conceded”?

They escaped from being “British” after a long and bloody struggle.

Who in their right mind in an independent Scotland would want to be called “British”?

“Why can’t we be like Eire and escape from English clutches, they don’t in the main rate us so why do so many of us want to be with them so much?”

Because Scotland is the last great jewel in the crown, like a chilly India.

Scottish democracy is also rather revolutionary, in that there is a good chance that this Scottish democracy journey that we’re on, may well see Scotland becoming a nation state that the majority really want, not what you know who, you know where wants:D

Scrap that we may well. We will see Scotland becoming a democratic nation state, the majority wants.

“British” is a GEOGRAPHIC term, like “Scandinavian”

@Rock

Luvin it!

Watching you make an arse of yourself again on Wings, keep it up 🙂

I see a few comments along the lines of “going to war for cheap oil”
It’s the opposite – Going to war to raise the price of oil.
Though, granted, there’s also taking control of the oil production. In that way it may be construed as a way if gaining oil cheaply (highly debatable… Define cheap!)
But it’s not in oil corporations, or any governments interest for the price of oil to remain cheap. No less Russia, whos economy took a tanking with the depression in oil prices.

For a precis of the situation, I’d recommend this article About Trumps Government, from June this year; Among other analysis, it quite accurately predicts why the price of oil shpuld now soar beyond the $80 a barrel mark

Extract: (Economic Shocks)

“There is no faster or more effective way to drive up the price of oil, especially if the violence interferes with the supply of oil to the world market This would be great news for oil giants like Exxon Mobil, which have seen their profits drop dramatically as a result of the depressed price of oil — and Exxon, of course, is fortunate enough to have its former CEO, Tillerson, currently serving as secretary of state. (Not only was Tillerson at Exxon for 41 years, his entire working life, but Exxon Mobil has agreed to pay him a retirement package worth a staggering $180 million.)

Other than Exxon, perhaps the only entity that would have more to gain from an oil price hike fueled by global instability is Vladimir Putin’s Russia, a vast petro-state that has been in economic crisis since the price of oil collapsed. Russia is the world’s leading exporter of natural gas, and the second-largest exporter of oil (after Saudi Arabia). When the price was high, this was great news for Putin: Prior to 2014, fully 50 percent of Russia’s budget revenues came from oil and gas…”

link to theintercept.com

Trade – how I long for the day some enterprising Tayside soft fruit farmer strikes a deal with am Emirati businessman to ship his Strawbs to the middle east via those big Airbus things that leave Glasgow twice daily. Maybe by then Qatar will also be an option.

Trust me, the American crap we get over here is tasteless. The only country that betters our strawbs is Norway. Salmon, vacuum packed Scotch Beef or smoked haddock – all high value exports that would sell well.

Believe it or not the cheese I tend to buy in Saudi is Manx cheese – it’s as close as I can get to a proper extra mature scottish cheddar.

Further tourist and trade boosts would come from extra air routes. There already are daily flights from Turkey, Dubai (twice daily), Qatar and a few flights from Abu Dhabi. The US and Canada would also add extra flights after independance. Take the need to use London as a hub further away from tourists and do what Iceland has done – offer a free stay in Scotland on flights from the Americas to Europe on one leg (afer all they mostly fly over Scotland anyway)

High speed rail link from Prestwick to Glasgow and Edinburgh would certainly boost the airports.

I’m sure that a Ferry service from Rosyth to the Scandinavian countries would also be viable. Stavanger/Bergen and Oslo/Gothenberg. Hell why stop there – Hamburg, Hook of Holland & Ostend also.

Apparently, 14% of Free Ireland’s trade is with the UK. 40% of “bulk”.
Go on, Eire, go for every thing you can.
England, your past is coming back to haunt you.

@Breeks
If Mundell is headless nobody will know who he is. El Cid wasn’t headless, just deid and propped up.

twathater says:
3 December, 2017 at 4:08 am
@ Ian Brotherhood 10.31pm
WOW what a link even if only a small percentage of that article is true it is absolutely mind boggling….

I agree Twathater, but I’m more inclined towards Occam’s Razor type explanations rather than the grand conspiracy theories and existence or otherwise of the all knowing and interfering Illuminati.

My belief is that history is just like a big game of bagatelle where the ball bearings are historical timelines which change trajectory according to how they bounce off each other and influence each other. Yesterday’s enemies might turn out to be tomorrow’s allies.

I’m cynical about the UK’s special relationship with the US. It reminds me of Scotland’s Auld Alliance with France which traditional belief suggests meant a lot more to Scotland than it ever did to France.

Look back to the beginning of WW11 and circumstances surrounding Roosevelt’s release of 50 clapped out relics of WW1 Destroyers to help defend UK convoys. The US was extremely reluctant and didn’t want to be involved in a European war on the side of the Colonial and Imperial British or indeed French. It wasn’t until German Uboats started sinking ships of the US coast that Roosevelt released the Destroyers to Churchill, and only then in exchange for generous land rights on British held territories. The US was still technically neutral until it was directly attacked by Japan, and after declaring war on Japan, it was Hitler who declared war on the US. If Hitler hadn’t been so hasty, there is an awkward question about how much longer the US would have stayed out of the war, but sat back getting rich selling arms to both sides.

In fairness, there were also covert actions of support which did compromise US neutrality, but there is still a picture which emerges that in 1939 to 1941, the UK’s “special relationship” with the US was barely even lukewarm.

Countries draw closer together when liaison pays dividends, and draw apart from each other when they dispute things and see things from different perspectives. But off course, owning a countries media is a tremendous tool when it comes to manipulating popular opinion.

Coming back up to date, I seem to recall Trump’s camp describing Theresa May looking for a Trade Deal but “not having very much to offer”. Seems that special relationship needs an awful lot of elbow grease and Brasso to keep it’s shine… that and reliable gung-ho enthusiasm for US militarism of course…

@Breeks

Excellent post Breeks as usual. I gain a great deal of insights into your posts here on Wings.

Keep them coming.

Just stepped out my door to look at the blue sky and two airy planes have drawn a gigantic Saltire – it’s an omen I tell ye!

@ Sandy who wrote “England, your past is coming back to haunt you”.

The historical echoes are deafening as ireland faces up to the UK in the Brexit negotiations

link to eurofree3.wordpress.com