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The first sighting of the kite

Posted on December 10, 2022 by

From tomorrow’s Herald.

We’re calling it now, folks. The SNP will not conduct the next general election as a de facto referendum. There’s a reason they’re stalling. They know they’re going to have to let you down gently. The softening-up starts here.

 

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142 to “The first sighting of the kite”

  1. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    In my opinion this was never in any doubt, that we’ll wait two more years, and nothing will happen.

    We must find a way to compel Sturgeon to resign for the sake of the entire country, we need the snap election at Holyrood and the ensuing de facto indy vote.

  2. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    And we should all be aiming to put every one of them out of a job as a consequence by boycotting their Westminster election.

  3. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    These Fools are taking us for fools.

    Next SNP canvasser who chaps on my door isn’t going to come back in a hurry.

  4. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    I think we will be waiting a lot more than 2 years

  5. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    No JC in his cabinet.

    What I hoped was happening looks like it isn’t.

    Different faces, same shite.

  6. George Ferguson
    Ignored
    says:

    Well his 10 minutes as an ‘Arab’ are over. Can’t we get a proper leader. One that believes in Scottish Independence?.

  7. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    If his unease is about 50 percent of seats and 50 percent of the votes to get to ask for indy ref2 if there is a labour government and they might then change their mind

    Yes this is the plan folks!!!

    Then I to share his doubt

    But what is he proposing

  8. Garavelli Princip
    Ignored
    says:

    Why on earth would the SNP get off the Westminster gravy-train?

    So many big salaries for folks who would struggle to get the average wage – or even a job – in the real world!

    Why would the SNP shut itself off from its ONLY source of income, now that so many (including myself) have left the party and stopped paying Murrell’s outrageous salary?

    Just as there is no (Westminster) route to socialism (Labour’s ancient battlecry – and look at Labour now out-Torying the Tories) – there is NO Westminster route to independence.

    The SNP stopped being the party of independence in 2014.

    Now it is just a source of income for numpties, freaks and people with dubious sexual proclivities.

    The above headline is no surprise.

  9. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    ” Scotland will not be dragged into a de facto referendum against our will…”

  10. Anonymoose
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s another prediction:

    At the next UK General Election (Which by then the SNP ScotGov could have already collapsed ScotParl, forced a Scottish Election and stood on a cross-party Scotland-United ticket instead of using either a non-binding neverendum or by deliberately eliminating thousands of Scottish votes by using a UK-wide GE as a anti-democratic vote count), the SNP will bend the knee to Labour and push forward with Broon’s Devo-Max citing some bollocks about having no direct route to asserting Scottish independence within the UK – other than you know, following a cross-party pro-indy majority of votes in a Scottish Election, forcing the UKGov to either come to the negotiating table or we go to the United Nations and the international courts, because this is an international matter of soveriegnty over the annulment of and Scotland’s formal withdrawl from the Treaty of Union and the UK Union.

  11. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    If the ‘nationalist’ MPs or MSPs were serious about independence they would have pulled the plug on colonialism long before now, instead of coming to a friendly agreement with the colonizer.

    It disnae maitter whit wey ye spell colonizer the meaning is aye the same, and the anely wey oot is decolonization.

  12. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    ” a number of options are being floated ” …. in a paddling pool , surrounded by lots of wee yellow ducks , bobbling serenely in the lukewarm water . Soon mummy will come along and take all the pretty little ducks away .

  13. Garrion
    Ignored
    says:

    Well that didn’t take long.

  14. Astonished
    Ignored
    says:

    Saddened but not surprised.

    First the yoons retake westmonster in 23/24. And then Holyrood in 25. And the media portrays it as a total yoon victory. Then Scotland is destroyed.

    Unless thousands (and I mean thousands) join ALBA.

  15. Ian McLean
    Ignored
    says:

    We need to make it clear to them that they will not get our votes in a GE that is NOT a plebiscite. No more gravy.

  16. Andrew Gordon
    Ignored
    says:

    I am pretty disheartened if that is possible reading this article. I like many hoped naively for better things, just to throw a question into the mix is there any SNP MP in Westminster who would maybe have just tried and actually made tha case and delivered on independence or is my rapidly diminishing faith justified.

  17. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    Yet you will still get morons voting for these fakes at the next election because they believe all their pish DESPITE ALL the evidence in front of their eyes

    And those same morons will push the pish that if you don’t vote snp you will let the unionists back in, MY question to them is WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE, the snp are DESTROYING Scotland just like the other unionist parties, as for letting unionist parties back in, sturgeon wrote them a personal golden invitation to continue their troughing

  18. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Wishart will probably not stand in the next UK General Election, because his bank account is absolutely overflowing.

    He just couldn’t squeeze one more penny in there.

    His legacy is 21 years of Her Haw!!!

    He has taught the newcomers how to play the field at Westminster.

    All you do is talk mince, join a committee,. And mention Scottish Independence whenever an election is approaching.

    Dead easy, the Plebs fall for it every time.

  19. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Has anyone mentioned the France England game?

    The arrogant English got gubbed.

    It was a joyous occasion.

    Set you up for a good Saturday night out,. And probably Sunday as well.

    Their captain bottled a penalty and skyed it over the bar, brilliant.

    So glad they are OUT.

    We can now enjoy the rest of the competition without the usual English propaganda.

  20. DaveL
    Ignored
    says:

    It won’t take much to soften up the Scottish public. A carrot here a sound byte there…ooh and another carrot and another carrot and another carrot (let’s not forget a selfie here and there) Job done.

    Scots can get on with watching the tranny ‘its’ baking cakes and dancing off, swallowing aunty beebs ‘how to be poor’ articles, the ones with headlines like ‘Happy Mum feeds family of six on 10p a month and a weekly raid on the tip’ or ‘It’s cold, can I heat my hovel with a box of matches? There was a good one last week about going foraging in the forest. I reckon there’d be some valuable advice on how best to locate frozen birds and rats etc. Well worth a read.

    Meanwhile the new improved dynamic front bench SNP MPs will fight tooth and painted nail for Scotland’s independence with talks and meetings and proposed white papers. They’ll be touching each other up in the subsidised bar, passing notes and salivating on how easy it is to bend Scots over, young and old, and give them one up the arse.

    Not to worry though eh, there’s jam tomorrow.

    All of this makes me sick but in the end we get what we ask for. Another carrot anyone?

  21. Kenny
    Ignored
    says:

    Confirmation that (probably) the whole of Westminster SNP is settled-down.

    Personal message to my Pal, Al:
    It’s okay to leave SNP, Al, we’re all doing it.

  22. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Yip, bullshit and we all knew it.

    I’m not entirely sure why they substituted Blackford, Wishart, etc., but it stinks of some sort of “clever” stunt designed to muddy the waters and facilitate the rollback on the defacto referendum commitment.

    Is she going to say she wanted to go ahead with it but Flynn and the gang refused to do it? She couldn’t, could she? What a farce.

    Anyway, they aren’t letting us down slowly and gently at all; the ink’s not even dry on the Supreme Court ruling.

    On the contrary, they’re moving as fast as possible, for two reasons; 1) The MSM started gunning for them and even gave Salmond and Alba all sorts of attention, and 2) they’re shitting themselves in case a snap General Election is called.

    I guess she must be planning on leaving though. How can she stay after all this? It’s embarrassing to watch. Nobody in that party can have any respect for her after this. It’s another prediction; she’s stepping down.

    What a shambolic mess.

  23. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    And Westminster might block her beloved Gender Reform Bill.

    That is what she really wanted as her legacy, and to think it might not become a reality would break her perverted little heart.

  24. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    But why???? THAT is the question that really needs asked. Why is a party that has pretended to be in support of independence now stalling (yet again), when the whole world understands how badly England abuses our nation.

    The union could be trashed, if Sturgeon just did what she was elected to do. She chooses not to.

    So WHY??? People really need to keep that question fixed in their minds. Why is supposedly pro independence Nicola Sturgeon so determined to keep dangling carrots, instead of delivering what she already has a full democratic mandate to do?

    I have long thought that parts of the SNP leadership only play the part of being pro indy. Their job is to NEVER achieve independence, merely to keep dangling the carrot of ‘soon’. In this way, they act for England’s colonial governors, keeping the pro indy movement and people ‘under control’. They act as a ‘lightning rod’ for pro indy voters, to help England retain control.

    That is of course speculation, but I can see no other rational explanation for the incredible dithering and endless repeated procrastination by the SNP. A majority of Westminster MP’s, a majority of Holyrood MSP’s, the most councillors in the whole of Scotland. What more of a f**ing mandate does anybody need???

    England fears Alex Salmond because he is the real deal. He would not be bought and sold. He actually does want independence.

    Something stinks within the upper echelons of the SNP. It really, really stinks. The indy movement needs to start severing any links with the SNP. They are London’s people. Bought and sold.

    And let’s never forget Ireland, because Engerland has well documented ‘form’ for using similar tactics. In fact they used it against almost all their former colonies.

    The MP’s and MSP’s of the SNP need a rocket up their arses. They really do. I mean seriously the time is NOW! Wake the f**** up.

    Oh, and in other news, Vive La france, Vive La republique! Thank you FRANCE! Thank you from the whole world.

  25. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    This is quoted by the Herald from the SNP leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn;

    Quote “There have been many that have been floated, one of which I do vehemently disagree with, which is the idea of collapsing Holyrood in a cost of living crisis which I think would be utterly absurd.

    I think that tells us everything, and that the SNP intend doing sweet f all.

    I do hope they all (Flynn included) enjoy their last two years at Westminster, since there is absolutely zero point in voting SNP at a general election again. They have had a mandate to act for eight years, and they haven’t. So there is zero point voting for them.

  26. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    I struggle a wee bit because Flynn is such an unknown quantity.

    Good guy trying to steer the Independence wagon out the bog?
    Good guy trying to collapse Sturgeon’s house of cards?
    Good guy without a plan driven by exasperation?

    Bad guy without a plan driven by exasperation?
    Gravy Connoisseur sensing opportunity of promotion?
    Oh god, is he a Trans Talibaneer?

    I simply haven’t a handle on him so far.

    He gets a gold star for generally rattling the cage of complacency.
    He gets a black mark for passing over Joanna Cherry for Stuart McDonald. (Bit confusing, I’m sure Cherry was Justice and Home Affairs, while McDonald is Justice and Immigration). Give the Lady who ran Westminster up the flag pole twice her fkg job back.

    Perhaps the “tell” is his deputy, Mhairi Black, who’s judgement, integrity, and brain power I don’t rank and deeply mistrust. I wasn’t really paying attention, but I seem to recall Black being pretty tight with Blackford, on the circuit together going to joint SNP meetings. Can’t help but wonder how Blackford feels about her now. In my best Yoda voice, the “ruthless ambition” seems strong in this one. Loyalty not so much.

    Black marks too for giving both Smith and Blackman jobs. I wouldn’t trust Smith as far as I could spit, and I have never understood what anybody sees in Kirsty Blackman. I don’t know which is the more insulting, being promoted to deputy leadership of an Independence Party before admitting you’re ambivalent about Independence, or just being dumb enough to admit it.

    So I dunno. My “dream team” from what’s on offer? I’d have Joanna Cherry and Philippa Whiteford. And eh…. Em… Is three too small to actually form a cabinet?

    See, I “think” that might be how Joanna Cherry sees the SNP’s Westminster Allstars too… a bunch of B Team rejects pretty well incapable of overthrowing Westminster’s control, and not even a friend amongst them.

    Joanna Cherry is silent running at the moment, but she is what we need, and what we need in Westminster, creating mayhem for the Government, but she is on her own. But I think it’s the SNP which is lost frankly, not Cherry.

    When we go into battle with Westminster, I think our “holy trinity” would be Salmond from ALBA, Cherry from the SNP, and Salyers from SALVO. That gives us back our remarkable political instinct and cunning, a legal intellect that can out think and defeat Westminster, and a rediscovered rigidity to Scotland’s Constitutional strength and integrity.

    I sincerely believe that trio would adequately command both the democratic and Constitutional centre ground which would give Scotland the most robust and optimum chance to unite the clans and take down the Union.

    I don’t know that the three of them are on the same page seeing eye to eye on everything, but you kinda believe if you shut them in a room together they’d speak as one at the end of the day.

    When I say the SNP is lost, I don’t mean it’s a lost cause, but it’s lost and at sea, and whether the waters are calm or blowing a gale and stormy, it still lacks the compass bearing vital to navigation. It’s going nowhere.

    Maybe Flynn is the man who can steer it in the right direction, but I think many of us were rather hoping for a mutiny that would get rid of the insufferable dunderheid Captain who got us lost in the first place.

  27. Dubh
    Ignored
    says:

    Cherry stated that she’d refuse any offer to return to the front bench because she’s got MRA’s to fight in court.

    Phillipa is another one that grinds ma teeth. A surgeon. A fucking surgeon who has spent decades studying biology and physiology and yet she doesn’t have the integrity to stand up against the scourge of self ID.

    I can’t trust any of them, ever again. They’ve ALL had the chance to cross the floor and save their reputations and the people who loyally voted for them, but no.

    Self before Scots. Self before country. Me, me, me.

    Utterly shameful. We should be standing outside Butt House, HR and Colonial House screaming about their betrayal.

  28. Patsy Millar
    Ignored
    says:

    As Dubh says, we should be standing outside Bute House shouting against their betrayal and as soon as my cancer treatment ends that’s something I’d be prepared to do. In the meantime I don’t have the energy to do anything but despair at their perfidy.

  29. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    If you have nothing better to do you can read the interview here:

    https://archive.vn/S5UCU

    No de facto referendum because the SNP MPs don’t want to be on the ‘front line’

    No action because the SNP MPs don’t want to be on the ‘front line’

    They ain’t taking off their cozy slippers for anyone.

    If we are going to protest I think they need to take place in London.

    Let’s go:

    Allons enfants de la Patrie

    Que veut cette horde d’esclaves,

    De traitres, de rois conjures ?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIxOl1EraXA

  30. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Breeks

    Salmond , Salyers n Cherry .

    Aye , that sounds like a pretty formidable ( theoretical ) Central Defence …IF ..they’re playing for Scotland United . What about strikers though ?

    It’s one thing not to concede goals , quite another to score them

    Where are our maverick , free-spirited Wingers ( HA ! ) , Centre Forwards , Inside Lefts n Rights , the ones capable of moments of magic , game-changers ?

    On the bench ? Injured ? Dropped for non-attendance at Training Sessions ?

    We’re losing 1-0 in Extra Time ( aye , I’m going to torture this metaphor just a little more ) we need something akin to a * miracle * , at least , something VERY special to avoid another * glorious * failure

    Who do we bring on ?

    I’d suggest that awkward , reticent , often self-defeating but at times inspirational player …..

    The People .

  31. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    Unbelievable! Have the SNP officials caught something from sharing a room with the Tories?

    They seem to be able to lie on the grandest of scales while wiping their memory banks free
    of why they are in the job and what they have promised repeatedly.

    Just watched Tory James Cleverly discuss foreign office actions against Iran over its handing of protesters. It’s seems trade with Iran continues to increase in spite of this.

    Westminster just tightened laws against our own climate protesters.
    Tories claim to be leading the world on climate change but they are about to open a new coal mine. You may recall Thatcher closed down U.K. mines throwing away thousands of jobs and billions in valuable resources just to deafest trade unions.

    You might also recall Saudi Arabia has the most shocking human rights and who has murdered an innocent man in a European Cafe but as they buy huge amounts of U.K. military hardware they continue to be embraced.
    Although they bomb civilians in Yemen the Tories stand against it but provide the planes, the bombs, pilot training and maintenance teams.

    U.K. politics is like a sickening game where in order to win you must come up with the grandest lies, distort statistics and be oblivious to previous promises.

    How about a new party stands on prison sentences for politicians who lie and if anyone benefited from fraudulent PPE contracts has all their positions arrested under the proceeds of crime.

  32. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    B of E predicts cost of living pressures won’t ease until 2024, so there’s one of the SNP anchors on Indy.

    I still think January 2025, or the previous autumn, is the most likely date for the next UK GE. The Tories will seek to delay the Labour shoe-in for as long as possible, while meantime hoping something turns up.

    Prepare for an entire year (2023) of marking time. Maybes find a new hobby?

  33. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    Interesting that it took a mere 3 days for the devolutionists to reveal their true colours:

    He added: “There have been many that have been floated, one of which I do vehemently disagree with, which is the idea of collapsing Holyrood in a cost of living crisis which I think would be utterly absurd. From the National trial balloon:

    “But not withstanding that I am very open minded to what our position will be. And I look forward to engaging with party members at conference to come to a final deliberation.”

    Pressed whether the next Holyrood election could instead be presented as the de facto independence referendum, as some in the SNP have suggested, he added: “I am not going to be presumptuous about what the outcome of our conference is going to be.

    “I will obviously be feeding my views in along with colleagues over the course of the coming weeks and months.

    “But it will be for the party collectively to come to that decision. I want to play an active role in that. What is important is that we have a clear message we can take to the public..going into the general election.”

    So much for Flynn being anything more radical than Blackford. Where does this strident opposition to “collapsing” Holyrood come from? I don’t buy the line that it’s because it would be irresponsible to do so during the current cost of living crisis. elections happen all the time: so what if it’s during hard times? Would he be advocating postponing a GE if it happened to be scheduled for early next year rather than years off?

    He moans about SNP Westminster MPs being the ones in the front line if we want to make the next Westminster GE plebiscitary, then pours cold water on pro-actively bringing about early Holyrood elections. It makes no sense: it’s the political equivalent of pulling the wings off the independence movement then standing back and saying: “told you so…it can’t fly!”.

    More fool the Scottish people if they put up with these delaying tactics. We’ll find out of course in coming months if we see SNP support falling, and support for other pro-indy parties rising.

  34. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    English TV channels agree not to discuss the World Cup results?

    But we have been discussing it’s coming home constantly since the song launched 14 years ago. England are discussed before during and after the games they are not playing in.

    I want to hear and see how God’s team got on last night.

    Tory ministers have agreed payment with Tory supporting TV Chanel’s not to show certain movies until its coming home version 14 is launched in 2024.

    Among the movies we see the following films-

    The Road to Morocco staring Bing Kane and N.A Hope.

    Citizen Kane staring Orson Welliesit

    Aces High staring Malcolm McFoul and Christopher Plummet.

    Sings have been removed in English Airports.
    South Gate Exit signs are in storage awaiting Euro 2024.

    Karma Comedian by Boy St George is to become the new official England song.

  35. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    If you protest in Scotland you will just be ignored and risk being arrested for wearing the wrong scarf.

    If we protest in London you can confront them all. All the BritNats & the SNP MPs.

    Lets bring the ‘front line’ to them.

    Slighty more chance of some press coverage if we protest in London.

    I don’t mean just a one off huge protest I mean protests on a regular basis.

    I believe people are anxious to do something and going to London could be very difficult for a lot of people.

    There’s always the Brit Nat & SNP MPs constituency offices in Scotland.

    Even if it’s just a wee sticker, a carrot white feather or a post card dropped through their letter box you will feel you have done something.

    Even just that could cause a massive twitter storm and maybe even a huge police investigation.

  36. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    Flynn in this mornings Herald:

    “There have been many that have been floated, one of which I do vehemently disagree with, which is the idea of collapsing Holyrood in a cost of living crisis which I think would be utterly absurd.”

    What odds, all things being honest & transparent, the FMs next speech writer reckons its already time for a new leader at Westminster..

  37. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    Nicola “I’ve got time on my side” “Gold Standard” “We can’t be denied democracy” Sturgeon.

    When you’re going to lie at leased lie to the other side, she has treated the Scottish people with utter contempt she done nothing towards Independence.

    The people with any clout who support her, are people making a living out of the words (Independence, Scotland, Referendum etc) when in fact if a referendum or Independence never happened this would be their preference. These are all the characteristics of a Tory.

    When sturgeon uttered the words, I’ve got time on my side she was never talking about herself she was always talking about the Union the gold standard was always about sending it to the Supreme court and once we had the judgement that was democracy.

    Nicola Sturgeon has all the characteristics of a Tory, she greedy, vindictive and selfish its these characteristics that’s given her imposter syndrome.

    The Tories have been telling the Yes movement since 2015 she never wanted a referendum and that she wanted Devo-Mad-Max instead of a referendum. I’m telling everyone that Sturgeon treacherous, she hasn’t even started her final act of sabotage yet which will be the Westminster election to destroy the plebiscite being successful, she’s had a plan from taking over from Salmond, she stated it at her conference this year she’ll remain leader for a long time to come, she never sort Independence only herself own interest.

    I hope history remembers Sturgeon for what’s she is a Traitor, its hard to image how anyone can believe this woman is working towards anything other than her own interest.

    I’m dreading the SNP conference because it won’t be about securing Independence it’ll be able saving her own job.

    Our jailer isn’t Westminster or the Tories its the SNP and its leader.

  38. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Louis

    Show me a workforce that voluntarily puts itself up for evaluation and replacement on a regular basis?

    It simply does not happen. For MPs and MSPs, politics is their job. It’s their livelihood and career – now that NGOs, lobby groups, etc. are just an extension of government. Independence is an existential threat to those career paths and their way of life. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.

    Our big mistake is still thinking that politicians are called to serve the people and the interests of their country. How times have changed.

    It took forty years of rot (roughly with the rise of Blair) to get to this point. The collapse of the UK will likely provide an opportunity to put things back to the way they’re supposed to be a little faster. However I won’t be holding my breath.

  39. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    stuart mctavish says:
    11 December, 2022 at 9:50 am

    Flynn in this mornings Herald:

    “There have been many that have been floated, one of which I do vehemently disagree with, which is the idea of collapsing Holyrood in a cost of living crisis which I think would be utterly absurd.”

    What odds, all things being honest & transparent, the FMs next speech writer reckons its already time for a new leader at Westminster..

    It sounds as if Flynn has employed Theresa May’s script writer. ‘Now is not the time”cos cost of living crisis. Bonkers.

    Have you noticed he’s got the ‘pointy finger’

    I too have a pointy finger for Flynn & the whole of the SNP but it’s a different finger.

    No Holyrood de facto referendum cos ‘now is not the time’ and no ‘de facto General Election’ cos SNP MPs would be on the front line.

    Is he going for a ‘once in a generation’ Section 30?

    That’s enough of Flynn for today

    I’m away back to watch this which got interrupted by the news that England had been robbed. (I can’t say more due to risk of being in contempt of court)

    Alex Salmond talks to the international press following the UK Supreme Court’s

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc0OzwOYJK8

  40. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Hatuey @2:31am

    The GRA will be presented as Sturgeon’s crowning achievement. After it’s passed she’ll move on to pastures new, waxing lyrical about how She has made Scotland a warmer, welcoming, progressive country where the oppressed of the world can find a new home.

    The Ursula von der Lying’s, Justin Trudeau’s, Jacinda Ardern’s and Sanna Marin’s of the world will all heap praise on her and laud her new role wherever that might be as they aspire to follow in her footsteps before their populations wake up and send them to jail instead.

  41. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Isn’t this the group that wants to control the narrative of the indy debate, and nowhere is it mentioned that a snap Holyrood election next year if Sturgeon does the right thing and stands down could be followed by a de facto indy vote.

    It appears the focus is to wait a whopping two years for the next GE.

    “Believe in Scotland is teaming up with The National, the Scottish Independence Foundation, Business for Scotland, and The National Yes Network to organise the Scottish Independence Congress.

    Believe in Scotland is leading organisation of the Congress and now has more than 130 affiliated local Yes Groups.”

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenational.scot%2Fnews%2F23183610.congress-uniting-scottish-independence-parties-groups-announced%2F

  42. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ll just park these links here to read later. Maybe someone else might want to read them and let me know if they are worth reading

    https://archive.vn/94F9K
    King Billy Coffee
    It is well known that coffee can make one restless but the Orange Order claims to have resurrected the brew that sparked a revolution.

    https://archive.vn/HUVOj
    MPs’ choice of new leader suggests that some want to loosen Nicola Sturgeon’s grip on the party

    https://archive.vn/94F9K

    Gender law ‘brings Scotland into line with other countries’
    https://archive.vn/v6Ear

  43. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    I fear this money will be used to drown out the easiest route out of this prison of a union via a snap election at Holyrood, and to widely promote waiting another two years for the next GE, where it will all fall apart.

    “SCOTLAND’S Yes movement has received a massive boost after a major independence fundraiser smashed its target of £100,000 ahead of its deadline.

    The Believe in Scotland campaign raced to its goal on Saturday afternoon ahead of its closing date on Sunday at midnight.

    As of writing, the campaign has raised £101,101.

    More than £50,000 has been raised from public donations since the crowdfunder launched on November 10 with another £50,000 from Business for Scotland, which promised to match the crowdfunded pound for pound.

    The money is set to support the campaign efforts of 127 local Yes groups from across Scotland and will provide them with messaging, campaign materials and fund-raising opportunities – with access to polling, mobile apps, training and billboards.”

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenational.scot%2Fnews%2F23183414.huge-scottish-independence-fundraiser-smashes-100k-target%2F

  44. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Hughes @8:58

    re the people..

    Not sure if Mario on the situation vacant post is same Mario as hosting twitter round table show on twitter files :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVLbnUzdtcg

    If he is Chapeau, & trust twitter dump5 gonna be about the Wings feed, but setting aside the capacity of chatgpt to deliver on dick turpin rust bots roaming the superhighway there remains good argument to delay bringing on the people, but not if it is not being made.

    ie Had SNP’s Westminster team said it needed to prepare for a snap GE/ plebiscite (lest the apparent revelations of government disinformation campaigns* spread beyond American shores) but preferred if it (or the holyrood proxy referendum) were delayed in view of said revelations (the decision of an informed electorate being likely to be far less stupid than that of a disinformed one) then public confidence in the integrity of their plans would be easier to maintain. As it stands, thank heavens for Salvo, COR & Alba!

    *The suppression techniques used against ‘deplorables’ being particularly familiar when viewed in context of positive messaging (or the apparent lack thereof) in respect of Scottish independence.

  45. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Here’s Flynn’s front bench, and their ludicrous titles.

    “Full list of SNP front bench positions held by MPs:

    SNP Westminster Leader – Stephen Flynn MP

    SNP Depute Westminster Leader – Mhairi Black MP

    SNP Chief Whip – Martin Docherty-Hughes MP

    Economy spokesperson – Stewart Hosie MP

    Social Justice spokesperson – David Linden MP

    Home Affairs spokesperson – Alison Thewliss MP

    Justice and Immigration spokesperson – Stuart McDonald MP

    Scotland spokesperson – Dr Philippa Whitford MP

    Europe and EU Accession spokesperson – Alyn Smith MP

    Foreign Affairs spokesperson – Drew Hendry MP

    Environment, Farming, Agriculture and Rural Affairs spokesperson – Patricia Gibson MP

    Women and Equalities – Kirsten Oswald MP

    International Trade, Northern Ireland and Wales spokesperson – Richard Thomson MP

    Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson – Alan Brown MP

    Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson – John Nicolson MP

    Defence spokesperson – Dave Doogan MP

    House of Commons Business spokesperson – Deidre Brock MP

    Levelling Up spokesperson – Chris Stephens MP

    Cabinet Office spokesperson – Kirsty Blackman MP

    Transport spokesperson – Gavin Newlands MP

    Health spokesperson – Martyn Day MP

    International Development – Brendan O’Hara MP

    Education spokesperson – Carol Monaghan MP”

  46. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Just watched the BBC Scotland Political Sunday Show.

    It had a Scottish trade unionist guest and Shona Robinson SNP minister on.

    It ran for 30 minutes.

    They discussed poverty and the way forward, and the up and coming Scottish budget on Thursday.

    And in all that time, and within all those words, not once was Scottish Independence mentioned.

    It was as if it just didn’t exist as an option.

    That Shona one of the SNP looks as if she has had her brain removed and replaced with a computer chip that Sturgeon has full control over.

    Everyone within the Sturgeon inner circle has that same vacant robotic look.

  47. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    If Sturgeon goes, it actually makes things worse, not better. It immediately buys the regime time. You’ll have some new person sitting there doing nothing, and that person won’t have a track record of failure and treachery or any obligation to fulfil predecessor’s policies.

    I suspect that’s why they’re playing musical chairs. The new team are going to ditch the plebiscitary election idea, that’s why they’re there, that’s the whole point. Those who went out on a limb with the plebiscitary idea are getting out of the firing line and leaving it to someone else to put the genie back in the bottle.

    From a party political perspective, that all makes sense. Those who are standing down are doing it for the team but they also get to disassociate personally from failure and disappointment that backtracking implies and which they know is in the post.

    That means Sturgeon is about to resign too, and soon. As the architect of the plebiscitary plan, there’s simply no way she can stand there and watch the party effectively ditch it. She wouldn’t want to.

    Better for her to leave now, let someone else break the hearts and take the blame. She can say she left the party and the cause in a great position, 56% in the polls, electoral success, etc.

    It’s a bit elaborate sounding, theatrical, but how else were they going to ditch the plebiscitary election idea? If you assume it had to be ditched, how else would they do it? They couldn’t just stand there and say “well, we’ve decided against that, we can’t be bothered…”

    It’s not all bad for us though, not entirely.

  48. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Kevin McKenna uses a wee bit of sarcasm to unmask the useless troughing SNP MPs at Westminster.

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenational.scot%2Fpolitics%2F23183428.mps-mentioning-scottish-independence-rare-giant-pandas%2F

  49. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    You’re probably right, stuart @ 10.30

    That probably explains why they’re rushing it through. She needs to get out fast.

  50. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    The message IS getting through, we just need it to get through to Sturgeon, we also don’t want to have to wait another two years for a GE to hold a de facto indy vote, and by the sounds of Flynn and his troughers they don’t want it at all, no it MUST be at Holyrood.

    “ALEX Salmond’s Alba Party have set out its plans to get over “referendum roadblocks” imposed by the Supreme Court and UK Government.

    Speaking after the party’s Way Forward special national conference, the former first minister said that there was a clear preference shown among attendees for an independence convention.

    Salmond said those in attendance at the event in Perth expressed their preference for a Scottish Parliament election to be used as a de facto referendum on independence.

    He said a Holyrood plebiscite could be used to propel the independence movement forward.”

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenational.scot%2Fnews%2F23183604.alex-salmond-backs-holyrood-plebiscite-amid-referendum-roadblocks%2F

  51. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Kevin McKenna is bang on.

    When I heard Flynn was the new leader, I looked into his background as I’d never heard of him.

    I found Flynn referring to his hair more often than I found him referring to independence… amazing really when you consider he’s bald.

  52. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    @Hatuey (10.48) –

    You must have a very charitable nature.

    We’re talking about a character who would happily have sent an innocent man to spend his final years in prison on the basis of fabricated charges. She has also flouted the Ministerial Code (repeatedly) without sanction of any kind.

    But you seem to believe it’s ‘pragmatic’ to leave her in place? Until when?

  53. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruby 8.53am

    This is a quote from Flynn regards Defacto election.

    “No de facto referendum because the SNP MPs don’t want to be on the ‘front line’”.

    Do you know what that means?

    Of course SNP MPs are going to be in the front line, It’s a Westminster e ok election.

    So I haven’t got a clue where he is coming from here.

  54. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Republicofscotland says:
    11 December, 2022 at 10:45 am
    Here’s Flynn’s front bench, and their ludicrous titles….

    Who’s the Minister in charge of getting Scotland out the Union and spreading it’s wings as an Independent Nation? Or is that the portfolio nobody wants? Or maybe they only do the jobs Westminster gives them…

  55. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    This is interesting.

    “The Scottish Government has been accused of trying to force through a gender reform law before Christmas to prevent the threat of the SNP Finance Secretary quitting.

    “Forbes, who is rumoured to be sceptical of the bill, is on maternity leave and expected to resume her Cabinet duties next year.“Whispers and rumblings from around the parliament, including in some SNP corridors, conclude that it is to do with… making sure that the Scottish Government doesn’t lose any more ministers.”

  56. James
    Ignored
    says:

    Can Mick Lynch be leader of the SNP, please?

  57. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    By tomorrow morning, will anyone notice the difference in personnel within the SNP “front bench”?

    Flynn will pick up the Blackford book on Westminster waffle and stand before Sunak telling him :-

    “We will not be…”

    And round and round we’ll go.

  58. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    New broom, same dreich.
    SNP, does it have a section in Thames House?
    You bet!
    Never in Scotland’s modern history have so many been conned by so few.

  59. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Not exactly, Ian.

    I predict she will leave because she needs to. When I say it’s worse if she leaves, I mean from the perspective of someone who wanted a plebiscitary election to take place. I’d prefer if she stayed and went ahead with that plan, although I always knew it was bull.

    I want her to stay for the same reasons I wanted Liz Truss to stay, though — she’s the diabolical blundering leader of a party that I despise.

    Are you happy that Sunak has taken over from Truss?

  60. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    Whatever the SNP do to scure Independence NIcola Sturgeon is always going to stand in the way.

  61. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Hatuey

    That means Sturgeon is about to resign too, and soon. As the architect of the plebiscitary plan, there’s simply no way she can stand there and watch the party effectively ditch it. She wouldn’t want to.

    Yea, the oracle has spoken!

    I wonder what the definition of “soon” is?

    Remember, this is the guy who assured us China was going to invade Taiwan by Christmas. 13 days and counting.

    I don’t know about other alert readers, but I think Hatuey’s pitch to be the movement’s Cassandra needs some work.

  62. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    «the gay movement’s choice of coalition partners has increasingly come to be based on pragmatism and success in advancing the gay agenda. Indeed, the roles of the gay movement and political parties have undergone a notable switch in recent years, with parties currying the support of the gay movement rather than vice versa. This signals a shift from the desire for politics to a politics of desire, going far beyond traditional socialist ideologies»

    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8666751/

    All Scottish, indeed «British» political parties are now ticking that particular box.

    «Globalism» and gay/gender campaigning.
    https://medium.com/globalizations-influence-on-global-lgbt-communites/globalizations-influence-on-global-lgbt-communities-daa8a120ea3d

  63. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    Wilson McBride @ 11:05 am

    “No de facto referendum because the SNP MPs don’t want to be on the ‘front line’”.

    The SNPs careerist MPs and MSPs do appear oblivious to the fact that elected ‘nationalist’ representatives are supposed to liberate a colonized people and their plundered land, not act to keep them subject to exploitation and oppression. Perhaps they really don’t know what independence means? This might help:

    https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/wp.towson.edu/dist/b/55/files/2022/05/The-Socio-Political-Determinants-of-Scottish-Independence.pdf

  64. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    The whole thing is an SNP/Sturgeon con.

    Even this mince about “uniting” the YES Movement is an SNP trap.

    All done for the sole purpose of returning as many SNP MPs as possible at the next UK General Election.

    And after that election, they will vote in another Westminster leader, who will choose another “front bench” who will promise to fight for Scottish independence… and you know the rest.

  65. sarah
    Ignored
    says:

    23 out of 45 [is it still?]. So 22 unwanted by Flynn/Sturgeon for one reason or another. Only 2 of those 22 who do/possibly see the urgent need for independence – Angus Brendan MacNeil and Douglas Chapman. [Joanna Cherry probably but wants the necessary organisation sorted out first.]

    What would it take to get those two or three to move to Alba, or at least resign the whip and join Margaret Ferrier? That would make a LibDem sized grouping as no doubt Kenny and Neale would work closely with them.

    That is the only hope I can see at the moment for stirring the SNP up.

    But the SNP leadership group including HQ know their safety from all kinds of “unpleasantness” [legal action] lies in staying in power so they won’t go easily.

  66. Geoff Anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon will resign in the same way as Jim Jones of “The People’s Temple” did.
    She will take the Nicophants with her.

  67. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon will be gone by the middle of January.

    Happy to bet on that. Anyone?

    Incidentally, did anyone think to ask why they need a new speechwriter? What is wrong with the one she has?

    Lol.

  68. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Even in these times of hardship and misery, there are certain things we can think of that will see us through them.

    Like remembering how England captain Harry Kane skelped the ball sky high over the bar, and in doing so knocked his England team out of the world cup.

    Oh what joy,,,aaahh.

  69. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Would have to agree. Calling a de facto referendum election would mean a loose alliance between all the independence factions, and that is not going to happen under the SNP, even if the other parties accept a subordinate position. In any case, a GE is not the best vehicle for such a thing if the SNP were ever to relent – a SE is. The SNP knows this full well.

    The party is no longer about independence: they will pull out all the stops and harangue their MSPs into passing the GRR. This is what is has been about, folks, for the past eight years. Just as we all saw the SNP as the vehicle for independence, built up over the years by sweat, blood and tears, so these parasitical ‘wokerati’ see it as their vehicle to bring in Queer Theory across the board in Scottish (and British) public life.

    They have done no work, delivered no leaflets in all weathers, not swallowed defeat after defeat when the party was small and powerless, but never gave up. Nor did they produce a Little Blue Book, nor man independence hubs, engage with voters. When we got to 2014, it was pay-off time, but our independence was thwarted by the NO voters, a large proportion of who did not feel sufficiently Scottish to vote for their country’s future.

    After that, the ‘wokerati’ stepped in and made hay while independence shrivelled. So be it. If the GRR passes, it will be ‘war’. Many of the female voters will turn our energies to campaigning against both the SNP/Greens/Labour/Lib Dems and the ‘wokerati’. They might win the ‘battle’, but they will, assuredly, lose the ‘war’ – and we will have independence and a clear-out of the parasites within the SNP/Greens.

  70. Nally Anders
    Ignored
    says:

    I had hoped that if the GRR Bill was defeated, it would have hastened Sturgeon’s departure.
    Thanks to Labour its a vain hope.
    However one last shout out if you can manage along to Holyrood on Dec. 21st.
    https://twitter.com/ForWomenScot/status/1601504036569894913?t=F7dkFaxyoaK3-gkSfLiw1Q&s=19

  71. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    When the ball hits your head,
    and you`re sat in row Z,
    that`s a Kayno.
    (That`s Amore tune)

  72. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    So basically, all these years I’ve been voting for the SNP I wasn’t voting for Independence, I was voting to give the SNP MP’s and MSP a job for life.

  73. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    Attendance at yesterdays National Assembly in Perth was a little disappointing with numerous call-offs because of adverse weather conditions. Nevertheless, abundant energy in the hall, and most YES groups represented.

    A wide range of views on various topics were aired, and strategies debated against a background of an over-riding call for a united front throughout the 3-hour meeting. Many believed a non-political figurehead was needed to lead ‘the peoples’ movement, while an action plan from early spring 2023 in clearly underway.

    EFTA, borders, currency, poverty, energy, were discussed as well as warnings over historic shortcomings of Scotland’s ‘renowned’ judicial system, and strong criticisms of WM imposed civil service controls.
    The highlight of the day was a rousing, passionate contribution from Kenny MacAskill, not to be missed when the video is released later today.

    The next National Assembly meeting will be held in Edinburgh on Jan 14 2023, details to follow.

  74. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon will be gone by the middle of January.

    Happy to bet on that. Anyone?

    Verily the Nostradamus of Wings hath spoken:

    34 days until the full eclipse of Sturgeon. S-Day minus 34 folks! Remember you heard it here first.

    I’m sure Rev Stu or some other impartial3rd party will be willing to oversee the bet should anyone take Hatuey up on it.

    I wonder if anyone took him up on his assurance Taiwan would be invaded by China by Christmas, and what Hatuey’s form is in general? 🙂

  75. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    Bon Jour folks. And isn’t it a crisp one.

    Re the SNP Kerrshuffle down in London City…

    Very much a case of meet the new boss, same as the old.

    It creates a narrative though, of an inner split, which will give Nikla an appropriate ‘nows the time to step down, pastures new’ narrative… once she’s delivered on the GRR.

    Several things standing out for me, Alyn Smith looking even more smug than normal, Dr Philipa Whitford no longer being the Health rep (good to know she’s got plausible deniability now re the Pervert’s Charter – and yes I know this happened a while back).

    And the fact that it is happening at all. I suspect some on the green benches are genuinely worried about getting re-elected, hence the beefed up efforts to look like they are trying, and of course, the recent statements by Blackford that they see themselves there to shore up the PM, support the Government at WM, the SNP’s very own version of triangulating the vote, in order to keep the Scottish Labour Voter voting their way (which is mind numbingly stupid, by the way, but there you go).

    What we are seeing is carrot seeds being planted and carrot soup recipe’s being swapped.

  76. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:
    11 December, 2022 at 1:27 pm

    Verily the Nostradamus of Wings hath spoken:

    34 days until the full eclipse of Sturgeon. S-Day minus 34 folks! Remember you heard it here first.

    I’m sure Rev Stu or some other impartial3rd party will be willing to oversee the bet should anyone take Hatuey up on it.

    I wonder if anyone took him up on his assurance Taiwan would be invaded by China by Christmas, and what Hatuey’s form is in general?

    Your post are looking very much like ‘fuckin’ playground shit’

  77. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Lorna Campbell says:
    11 December, 2022 at 12:32 pm
    Would have to agree. Calling a de facto referendum election would mean a loose alliance between all the independence factions, and that is not going to happen under the SNP, even if the other parties accept a subordinate position.

    I think that’s correct Lorna, but I also think the whole movement is being far too pedestrian.

    A Holyrood Supermajority “was” a clever option, but unforgivably killed stone dead by the SNP.

    A referendum legitimised by the the Claim of Right in defiance of Westminster and Westminster’s “Supreme Court” was a viable option, but required a degree of courage and confidence which the SNP doesn’t have.

    A Plebiscite Election “was” very much a viable option, but I think it’s window of opportunity has closed. To be blunt, the SNP closed it the instant they rebuffed the other Independence parties and initiatives. Their lack of good intent is shockingly transparent in the sheer scale of their ill-preparedness. The SNP is NOT doing the groundwork it should be. NONE of it!

    We are leaden footed. Slow moving, (some might say glacial), and far too pedestrian and predictable. We allow such little things to derail us.

    When it’s the politicians of the SNP repeatedly screwing this up and missing opportunity after opportunity, in my humble opinion, Democracy is going to end up removed from the front of the campaign and tagged on to the end.

    Get the Union collapsed by any means possible; by resignations, by-elections, impeachment, by Constitutional resolve, a 2022/23 Claim of Right, UN test cases, UDI, whatever it takes, just get the Union crashed into the dust, and we can worry about the democracy element further down the line when we’re having a ratification Plebiscite.

    How many times do we allow these feckless political nobodies to sell Scotland’s interests down the river?

    Play to Scotland’s strengths; our Sovereign Constitution and lawful legitimacy.

    Do not play to our weaknesses; lame and crappy, corrupt politicians picking their way through a rigged political process designed to stymie Scotland’s self determination, and augmented by wall to wall Propaganda and indoctrination. It’s actually a lie in itself to even call that shambles a functioning democracy. It isn’t. It’s a broken and dysfunctional democracy.

    We are even setting our watches by dates set by our colonial oppressor and their election timetable. When’s the next election? When WE fkg say it is.

    It should be Scotland taking the initiative, and Westminster kept off balance trying to keep up with us. Not just “the” initiative either. Scotland should be seizing the initiative across multiple fronts, mining seams everywhere they occur, never relenting, and never giving the Union time to draw breath. One approach to the UN? How many approaches to the UN and individual UN Member states, politicians and diplomats can we keep in the air at the same time?

    I look forward to the day when I’ve heard my last Scottish MP or MSP whining about how beastly Westminster is towards Scotland, when it was these very same whiners who were entrusted with the damned job of extricating Scotland from that very position. Stop the bleeding heart guff and the fkg job you were given.

    Or if it’s beyond you, just step aside and get out of the way. Juggernaut coming through…

  78. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    ” Nevertheless, abundant energy in the hall, and most YES groups represented.”

    Ebok.

    The YES groups need to compel Sturgeon to resign to trigger a snap election at Holyrood with a de facto indy vote to follow, that MUST be the priority, everything else will fall into place once we exit this prison of a union.

    For now, nothing else takes priority, Sturgeon MUST resign she knows it’s the right thing to do, and so do we.

    At the National Assembly this January coming the YES Groups MUST push this agenda, no ifs, no but’s, we could be out of this prison of a union next year if Sturgeon resigns, forget waiting two more years, it needs done now.

  79. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Typo Correction… “DO” the fkg job you were given.

    You’d hope the error was obvious, but when it’s SNP, you can’t be too careful.

  80. Chas
    Ignored
    says:

    Can someone please enlighten me.

    Who would govern a brave, new Independent Scotland? Will it be the existing lazy, clueless, incompetent Politicians we currently have. Or is there some hidden sooper dooper ones hiding behind the scenes waiting to take over?

    Or does it not really matter as long as Independence is won?

  81. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Lorna Campbell says:
    11 December, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    The party is no longer about independence: they will pull out all the stops and harangue their MSPs into passing the GRR. This is what is has been about, folks, for the past eight years

    The question is why? It’s not as if the GRA 2004 doesn’t allow men to put on a dress and call themselves a woman and enter into women’s spaces. See Eddie Izzard

    Why the urgency for ‘trans’ to get a GRC?

    The test as to whether the reforms were so urgent will be the number of people who apply for a GRC and why they apply.

    Why would someone apply for a GRC.

  82. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps we need to copy how the “Black Lives Matter” campaign for gaining respect from our masters and the media.

    Have you noticed the influence they have gained over the last couple years?

    Every TV show has Black presenters or guests, and nearly every advert on the telly has black actors representing their products.

    The white Anglo Saxon run media are shit scared to leave them out.

    The Scots are different, they know we’re too polite to do anything that would offend them. As proved by our Westminster contingent of SNP MPs.

  83. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    The big question, forgotten in all this, is; why are they so determined to ditch the plebiscitary election idea? Why the panic-stricken urgency to dirty it?

    Polling seems to suggest there was solid support for the idea. Even Andy Ellis supported the idea, albeit without seeming to realise it was arguably the most “cunning plan” of all.

  84. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    What is opposite Bute House?

    More buildings?

    A park of some sort?

    Whatever it is, we ask Police Scotland where a protest space would be legit, then set up some kind of stand with simple message: ‘Resign’. Then we take turns standing behind the message and we stay there until she leaves for the last time.

    There’s no reason why this kind of peaceful protest can’t be done.

  85. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Scott Finlayson 12.55pm

    Very good.

    But the line,

    “and you’re sat in row Z” will have to go.

    That’s very much English speak.

  86. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Hatuey says:
    11 December, 2022 at 2:21 pm

    The big question, forgotten in all this, is; why are they so determined to ditch the plebiscitary election idea? Why the panic-stricken urgency to dirty it?

    Could lead to Alba winning a lot of seats?

    They want to ditch anything that might possibly lead to them losing their jobs?

    PS Could the UK Gov. hold a referendum in Scotland?

  87. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian Brotherhood says:
    11 December, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    What is opposite Bute House?

    More buildings?

    A park of some sort?

    Charlotte Square
    https://tinyurl.com/wmnsnfu4

    I think Bute House is the one with the guy wearing the high viz jacket standing outside.
    If it’s not that one it’s the one next door.

    The ‘park’ at the front of Bute House is called Charlotte Square Gardens and I don’t think they are open to the public.

    More info to follow about Charlotte Square Gardens.

  88. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ruby (3.02) –

    Thanks. 🙂

    If it’s the gates of a park, fine, a long banner would do the job. So long as it’s not obstructing anyone then it should be allowed.

  89. velofello
    Ignored
    says:

    Well I “speed read” the article above referenced by Alf Baird – Towson.edu. – Socio-political determinants to Scottish Independent.

    Speed reading probably means I missed quite a number of points discussed, nevertheless the report makes for uncomfortable reading.

    I was pleased to note a reference to the old colonial trick – acquire/buy cheap, then sell it back, reprocessed or not, at inflated prices. It reminds me of Robin Williams’ description of golf. Not only do they take our generated power, charge us for connection their national grid, they sell it back to us, plus fkg VAT!

    Interesting interview with Stephen Flynn in the Sunday Herald. We’ll see.

  90. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian Brotherhood says:
    11 December, 2022 at 3:30 pm

    If it’s the gates of a park, fine, a long banner would do the job. So long as it’s not obstructing anyone then it should be allowed.

    You might get complaints from local residents.

    https://archive.vn/sncon#

  91. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    See OVO have taken over from SSE and have immediately put everyone who was on quarterly bills onto monthly bills with payment due on demand.

    Shape up Turkey’s you’re all on the plate ready for the feast.

    No wonder folks are cancelling their direct debits and taking back control of paying the bills. This it seems could be shaping up for a campaign of mass non-payment, and if so, it is difficult to see what these corporate super profit businesses can do.

  92. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks: yes, every route explored. However, time is not on our side. I agree that we need to be far more pushy and keep the pressure on the SNP. I have little doubt that the GRR will go through, and, when it does, the whole shebang will have changed. This is an existential fight for females – all females, of all ages. Many just don’t realise it yet, but they soon will. Nothing will ever be the same again when women start to fight back – and they will, en masse. Unity must the catchword for both movements. Have said all along that this is the same fight. It is, in the main, but not exclusively, the ‘wokerati’ parasites who took over the party, who threw independence overboard and concentrated on what they were there for: Queer Marxism. We need unity separately, but also together, as two prongs of the same existential fight. If we don’t get it, we will lose it all. I think, belatedly, we will get it. I think we ARE getting it.

  93. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    So Flynn has orchestrated a coup of the SNP Westminster HQ, motivated by the idea of denying Scotland’s right to self determination.

    Flynn is a ("Tractor" - Ed) already. Nationalist only in name. Worse than Blackford already. Flynn has played his hand by appointing Kirsty Blackman to his pretend cabinet.

    Flynn will now ensure the total destruction of the self preservation society.

    Well done Flynn. Scumbag.

  94. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Willie

    If leccy is a such a global market one wonders why pals in America are paying just 14 cents (11 pence) per unit.

  95. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    https://archive.vn/RnBbq

    Treating this with due suspicion… if my eyes don’t deceive me, it’s only The National who even mentions Alex Salmond.

    Nevertheless, ” Stephen Flynn said he’s been “quite happy” to work with all parties in the independence movement.” is probably sailing pretty close to a confession of heresy to the ears of Torquemada Strugeon.

    Interesting developments, or The National trying to be cleverdicks? You choose…

  96. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    “Who’s the Minister in charge of getting Scotland out the Union and spreading it’s wings as an Independent Nation?”

    Apologies Breeks I missed your comment @11.09am.

    There’s not a SNP MP minister for independence because independence isn’t on the cards for that lot, the other titles they’ve bestowed upon themselves clearly show that they are at Westminster for the long haul.

  97. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks says:

    11 December, 2022 at 4:45 pm

    Treating this with due suspicion… ” Stephen Flynn said he’s been “quite happy” to work with all parties in the independence movement.”

    Suspicion noted.
    Neale Hanvey said yesterday that he’d sent a message of congrats to Flynn after he’d won the WM leadership contest, but, as yet no reply.

  98. Tam Norrie
    Ignored
    says:

    ““Of course my colleagues have a lot at stake in that regard. It’s us who will be on the frontline and I have no doubt our voices will be heard in relation to the up coming debate,””

    They really do see themselves as an elite, don’t they? What a pompous statement.

  99. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    Looks like a deposit scheme for disposable vapes devices would be a good idea judging by the amount of them being discarded along roadside once huffers have emptied them.
    Get a quid back when you hand the empty one back.
    There’s fuck all says you’ve pride in your country more than lobbing a battery and lump of plastic oot yer windae.

  100. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Flynn doing a bit of backtracking here probably to keep the natives onside as usual.

    The thing is there’s no route out of this prison of a union via Westminster, so does it really matter what Flynn says, and even if he does work with the Alba MPs at Westminster, there’s not much they can achieve simply because they are well outnumbered, in reality all they are doing by remaining at Westminster besides troughing, is giving an air democracy to the place at a heavy cost to Scotland.

    Flynn and his motley crew of SNP MP troughers could impress the hell out of us by walking out come Monday morning, never to return to the HoC, anything else is just play acting on their behalf.

    The way out of this prison of a union is not via Westminster but through our own parliament at Holyrood, and we could be free in 2023, if only our FM did the right thing and resigned to trigger a snap Holyrood election used as a de facto indy vote, Sturgeon knows this is the right thing to do to save Scotland from further abuse by the foreign parliament in England, but like the sniveling little shit that she is, she’ll put self-interest and party before the welfare of the people of Scotland, and her MSPs, will back her like the Three Wise Monkeys they are.

    A concerted effort by the indy masses (Yes Groups) membership etc, to compel Sturgeon to do the right thing and resign for the sake of the entire country is needed now.

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/how-you-do-it/

    “THE SNP’s new Westminster leader has suggested he is open to working with Alex Salmond’s Alba Party in the pursuit of Scottish independence.

    Speaking to The Herald, Stephen Flynn said he’s been “quite happy” to work with all parties in the independence movement.

    After former first minister Alex Salmond launched the party last year, many in the SNP have been reluctant to work alongside Alba.

    Salmond’s party argues that the SNP have not done enough to get Scotland out of the Union, and disagreed with the move to refer the matter to the Supreme Court.”

  101. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Hard to bear for whom?

    https://twitter.com/StephenFlynnSNP/status/1601683342272757760

    Meanwhile it’s been twenty-one years since Pete Wishart began troughing at Westminster, even Murdo Fraser (never directly elected) can’t match that at Holyrood.

  102. velofello
    Ignored
    says:

    I recommend logging into the Yours for Scotland article – Scotland in 2022, Energy Capital of Europe. Sara Salyers clearly states our route to independence, and our right to reparation for the resources taken from Scotland.

    Also the need for those of us seeking independence to sign up to Liberation.scot.
    The site appears to be under access attack, so be persistent.

  103. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Flynn being willing to work with Alba could be a sign that a more pragmatic approach is on the ascendant.

    Then again, it could be that somebody has learned the old saying “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”.

    Bottom line though, who gives a fuck. They could all walk out of WM tomorrow, and the ensuing “seismic shock” would be largely forgotten by Xmas.

    But, if HR forced a plebiscitary election for January 2023, all of Scotland would be alight with excitement, enthusiasm, rage, interest, debate, passionate arguments, you name it.

    No better time than the New Year for a fresh start, a new approach, a collective national resolution that 2023 is going to be better than 2022.

  104. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Wilson McBride,

    it`s a song from dan saff in Englandshireland,

    used to be,

    “When you’re sat in row Z, and the ball hits your head, that’s Zamora, that’s Zamora”

    `Fulham supporters hail their striker Bobby Zamora, sung to the tune of Dean Martin’s That’s Amore`

  105. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Thing about Flynn, is everybody wanted wanted a breakthrough, as in “something” to change, but nobody really knew what that change would look like or form it would take.

    Don’t forget too, Iain Blackford resigned, so Flynn probably had to jump before he was fully ready. I don’t know that… it’s just speculation.

    So I dunno. Compromise needs a little flexibility on both sides, and if he is making tentative approaches to ALBA and all the other groups Sturgeon considers renegade, then it has to be a good thing doesn’t it?

    If he is lining up a fight with Sturgeon, and cosying up to ALBA kinda suggests he might be, then all things considered, he might just be our best bet at getting rid of her, and that very definitely would be progress.

    My worry is the Traniban factor. It has caused so much angst and division it seems a dangerous element to keep on board.

    Maybe Flynn is flying more than one kite…

  106. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    Why would anyone who supports Scottish Independence give an interview to the Herald,
    Scotsman, Express or Daily Hail?

    They are just biased unionist propaganda peddlers
    They will distort everything and anything you say.
    Anything positive about independence would be on the cutting room floor inside 2 minutes.

  107. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Wilson McBride says:
    11 December, 2022 at 7:37 pm
    Scot Finlayson

    You mean this penalty?

    That’s a good question, there’s so many to choose. I seem to remember a certain David Beckham putting a penalty kick into the back of the stadium, not just once but twice, Turkey in 2003 and Portugal 2004.

    I suppose it’s not very nice to miss a penalty and put your country out of the World Cup, but you have to remember, there is always someone worse off than you.

    That person is Gary Lineker, shitting his pants in a World Cup opener against Rep of Ireland back in 1990.

  108. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks 1.59 pm

    Get the Union collapsed by any means possible; by resignations, by-elections, impeachment, by Constitutional resolve, a 2022/23 Claim of Right, UN test cases, UDI, whatever it takes, just get the Union crashed into the dust, and we can worry about the democracy element further down the line when we’re having a ratification Plebiscite.

    Unicorns, rainbows, money trees. Magical thinking at its delusional worst. There is no plausible path path to independence except via a majority vote in a referendum or plebiscitary election, whatever the partisans of cunning plans thing.

    Wishing for it to be true, really, REALLY hard won’t make it any more likely to happen. We don’t NEED a ratification plebiscite, we only need one vote. What you are proposing is at best fanciful and at worst anti-democratic.

    When’s the next election? When WE fkg say it is.

    Hate to rain on your parade but the next election will be when scheduled unless the feckless bunch the Scottish voters (in their infinite wisdom) voted in not so long ago decide differently.

    Folk are of course entitled to believe that’s going to change because *reasons*, whether those are think a few thousand bedraggled demonstrators pitching up outside Bute House, or 100,000 folk signing a petition, or “Scott” finding some dupe to annul the Treaty of Union via nobile officium or whatever the latest woo-woo du jour is, but the vast majority of the movement think you’re all a bit over wrought.

  109. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    “Congress uniting Scottish independence parties and groups announced”
    https://archive.vn/JvCYO

    Not exactly shouting about this from the rooftops, are they?

    Peter Bells comment underneath is worth reading.

  110. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    velofello says on 11 December 2022 at 5:52 pm:

    “The site appears to be under access attack, so be persistent.”

    Don’t know about anyone else, or if it’s just coincidence, but ever since ‘The Rev’ dumbed-down WOS (pre-retirement) i’m getting a lot of: ERROR 503 Backend Fetch Failed. Especially this last couple of weeks. Apparently one of the reasons you get that is due to the server not being able to handle the overload request demands. Wonder if ‘The Rev’ will reinstate the site to pre-retirement operations?
    __________

    John Main says on 11 December 2022 at 6:38 pm:

    “Bottom line though, who gives a fuck. They could all walk out of WM tomorrow, and the ensuing “seismic shock” would be largely forgotten by Xmas.”

    If they all walked out of Westminster tomorrow, such are their achievements thus far, would anyone notice?
    __________
    Republicofscotland says on 11 December 2022 at 5:27 pm:

    “THE SNP’s new Westminster leader has suggested he is open to working with Alex Salmond’s Alba Party in the pursuit of Scottish independence. Speaking to The Herald, Stephen Flynn said he’s been “quite happy” to work with all parties in the independence movement.”

    “After former first minister Alex Salmond launched the party last year, many in the SNP have been reluctant to work alongside Alba. Salmond’s party argues that the SNP have not done enough to get Scotland out of the Union, and disagreed with the move to refer the matter to the Supreme Court.”

    Remember, this is from Unionist rag The Herald. Let me repeat the key part in that paragraph above: “Stephen Flynn said he’s been “quite happy” to work with all parties in the independence movement.”

    He’s “been”? Past tense! If he was truly going to work with ALBA he would be announcing his successful approach or his intentions. He hasn’t done any of these. It’s all waffle thus far.

    It just goes to show the true damage Sturgeon & Murrell have done to the SNP and the wider ‘Yes’ movement when news like this would normally be treated as a brilliant and very welcome move. But instead it’s being rightly treated with great scepticism and doubt.

    Personally i think there is no low to which the current SNP, under Sturgeon & Murrell, would not stoop in order to save their own places at Westminster’s trough. Let’s see Flynn actually announce he has contacted Salmond and requested a meeting to arrange a possible working relationship between the two parties then i will start to believe they (SNP) are serious.

    Anything short of that is just hot air and more SNP window dressing. The SNP know they’ve fucked-up and their day of reckoning is drawing in on them faster than they’d like. They thought they had their latest carrot con (defacto) signed, sealed and………whoooooops! Someone has tampered with the “delivery”, ie; they’ve been rumbled. The SNP under Sturgeon has become the Hermes (now Evri) of the political scene, both have a reputation for poor delivery standards.

    The publics only comeback available to us is to boycott all Westminster elections, don’t vote at all in WM elections. And if that means Unionists getting voted-in, in very small numbers, then so be it. Let’s see what they get delivered for Scotland from their London masters and their “Mother of all Parliaments” And at the same time we make sure we work to keep the Unionists out of Holyrood as much as we can.

    We treat Westminster with the very same contempt it regularly displays against Scotland. This will get noticed internationally. Might not do a lot of good but it will get noticed and at the same time it’ll put a ferret among the SNP chickens and show Sturgeon & Co just how serious we are. We have to hold them to account or it’ll be very much the same self-service for the next five years or more.

  111. Iain More
    Ignored
    says:

    Sic a Parcel o Traitors in a Nation.

  112. DaveL
    Ignored
    says:

    I watched the video on Iain Lawson’s ‘Yours For Scotland’ site the other day. Since then I’ve been wondering about the forthcoming coronation of the Tampon King, King Big Ears.

    Why I’ve been wondering is because I recalled reading about some confusion before his old girls coronation. Specifically what was to happen regarding Scotland? Should the Scottish Crown be placed on her napper or not?

    I don’t remember the ins and outs but the upshot was that it was’nt, (placed upon her head that is) it was merely presented to her at some ceremony or other in Edinburgh whereby she looked at it, it looked back and something may or may not have been said. This haprpened several days after the English do.

    I don’t think they’ll have the gall to put the crown on his head (you never know though) but what will take place? Will anything take place at all? I don’t know. What I do know though is that should it go the same way as Betty’s it’d be a golden opportunity to show a massive Scottish audience that the United Kingdom’s king is not and cannot be the King of Scotland, not sovereign, not the boss.

    Just a thought, and probably moonhowling since I see Storm Ellis in the room. I’m of the opinion that if God himself came down and presented a cast iron gold plated guaranteed plan for Scottish Independence tomorrow Storm Ellis would rock up and piss on it…however, I digress.

    But anyway I’m wondering, has anybody seen anything to do with the ceremonial whatever you call it of Big Ears in Scotland?

    PS Watch the video, it’s well worth it.

  113. aLurker
    Ignored
    says:

    @DaveL

    >PS Watch the video, it’s well worth it.

    More people might have done that IF you had posted the bloody link eh ?

    Jeezo …

  114. Maxxmacc
    Ignored
    says:

    As good as this site is, what if it is controlled opposition?

  115. DaveL
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry aLurker

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-MAS-JkRXwk&feature=emb_imp_woyt

    If that does’nt work cut and paste on YouTube will. That’s all I’ve got.

  116. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks 8.23pm

    The English football team definitely have problems with taking penalties.

    Bottom line is they are bottle merchants.

    The English talk the talk on their English dominated sports media, but they can’t walk the walk.

  117. Rab Davis
    Ignored
    says:

    The not so mighty Flynn.

  118. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Kind of unsettled by the “arrest” of a Libyan for the Lockerbie bombing.

    The unanswered questions about Megrahi’s conviction, and whether he had anything to do with the bombing are suggestive of a conspiracy to pervert justice by prosecuting scapegoats rather than the real people responsible.

    If the case against Megrahi wasn’t true, then it follows the case against those named with him feels shaky too.

    The second area of deep concern is the nature of his “arrest” which is being reported as a kidnapping by armed men in Libya. Has the US abandoned International law and due process? Why wasn’t he arrested lawfully and properly extradited rather than kidnapped by by a criminal snatch squad?

    The lingering smell about Lockerbie isn’t just the death of all those people, but the troubling inconsistencies in the evidence of those held responsible for doing it.

    One of the discrepancies in the case against Megrahi was the assertion the bomb came from Libya when the evidence pointed towards Iranian backed Palestinians, and the Libyans were merely patsies set up to take the blame.

    It all makes this recent “arrest” a rather ominous development in the murky world of US “justice”, and deep suspicion about why now? What’s really going on?

    Given shifting public opinion towards Israel’s recent conduct, and given further troubling questions about the US integrity over NATO and YooKraine, I already have deep cynicism and concern about what’s actually going on here. What’s the wider agenda?

    I’m not at all convinced by the trope this is a result for the long arm of US Justice. It’s the long arm of US “something”, but let’s not rush to call it justice.

  119. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    DaveL @ 11.34

    Yes , it will be * interesting * to see how the impending bit of English monarchical Pomp n Circumstance camp plays-out vis-a-vis Scotland . Sturgeon will be in grovelling attendance to ceremonially place the Scottish crown on Chic 3’s august heid , if required.

    And , it’s * true * . ALL we can do in relation to realising our Independence is live our lives continually looking ahead to NEXTs

    Next UKGE , Next S.E , Next Local Elections , Next By-Election . Next Reincarnation

    Also Sprach Zarathrustra : who are we to contradict the sage ?

    That’s right …..there is absolutely NOTHING to be done , other than clock-watch for 4/5 year interludes .

    Oh , we can ” build support ” viz….play dumb-down dominoes with ” Soft Noes ” , invite New Scots to candle-lit dinners , promise ” Soft Yessers ” a glittering future of riches beyond their wildest imaginings . That kind of thing

    After all , do not these stirring words of our future Liberator – Nicola The Mediocre – not ring through the ages ? …..” Time is on MY side ” . Once again , who are we swine to gainsay these pearls ?

    So friends , never forget …. THERE IS NOTHING TO BE DONE – other than follow our leaders , tick a box every 4/5 years , and pray our jailers don’t build the walls and ceilings of the prison so high we’ll never see the sun , moon and stars shining over Scotland again .

    Only 2 years or so to wait till the next NEXT . YEAH !!! Get those pens n pencils ready troops

  120. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @DaveL

    Just a thought, and probably moonhowling since I see Storm Ellis in the room. I’m of the opinion that if God himself came down and presented a cast iron gold plated guaranteed plan for Scottish Independence tomorrow Storm Ellis would rock up and piss on it…however, I digress.

    Would that your digression was an honest attempt to engage rather than just another moonhowler playing the man not the ball. Stun us wi’ another!

    If there was such a plan, I’d happily support it. The issue for all the proponents of “cunning plans for indy” (which you ay or may not be….I don’t know your from Adam, so maybe you’re just trolling for the LOLZ) is that the only current “plan” with the slightest chance of securing independence in the short to medium term is a plebiscitary election held at Holyrood.

    Pissing on the parades of magical thinkers and delusional Treaty of union obsessives and “Scotland as colony” snake oil purveyors is a necessary service. Nobody would be happier than me if there WAS this cast iron gold plated plan of which you speak. Indeed. BTL comment has been replete with armchair constitutional experts assuring us that there’s a short cut to independence which dispenses with the troublesome requirement of actually securing a majority of Scots supporting it.

    It doesn’t matter if it’s those insisting that only the number of seats matter, or those insisting Sarah Salyers and the SSRG are the new saviours of the movement and will secure independence on the basis of their hot take on the Claim of Right, because none of them have the necessary support, or any chance of turning their plan in to reality, let alone a sure thing.

    If you and others want to abandon traditional parliamentary routes to indy and advocate for novel approaches go right ahead. They might prove necessary down the line. Hell, one of them might even work at some point in the future when we’ve exhausted all the other avenues that the international community will expect us to have tried BEFORE we say they’re impossible.

    Most folk would rather see independence happen sometime in our lifespan though.

  121. Luigi
    Ignored
    says:

    Like many others, I seriously doubt we will get a plebiscite WM election in 2023/4. I wonder if the ex use will be that a Holyrood plebiscite is more relevant and winnable so we just have to wait a few more years. Of course, the SNP leadership could facilitate a snap Holyrood election, but they won’t go there.

  122. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    https://archive.vn/kFLrZ

    Nicola Sturgeon is damaging women’s faith in politics

    Sure what she says is true but then the GRA 2004 which is law in Tory England is equally problematic.

    The GRA 2004 states men can be women it’s just that to get a GRC they have to jump through a few more hoops.
    Stating men can be women is where I think the problem lies.

    The GRA 2004 states to obtain a GRC you are required to live for a period of 2 years as your acquired gender. Nobody has specified what that means.

    If you take Eddie Izzard for example he is presumably living as his acquired gender and is free to enter women’s spaces.
    It would be ridiculous to state you need to live as a woman and then ban that person from women’s spaces, prisons, hospital wards & sports.

    This problem is bigger than Sturgeons self-id. Maybe Rachael Hamilton could address these issues.

  123. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Hatuey 9.57 pm

    Not exactly shouting about this from the rooftops, are they?

    Peter Bells comment underneath is worth reading.

    What’s Peter’s alternative though? He always comes across as something of a contrarian if you can get through the prose style. Having a body that isn’t controlled by the parties and reflects the broader movement is surely a good thing?

    If nothing else it might serve as a pressure group to push the reluctant devolusionists in the SNP towards “real” plebiscitary election at Holyrood. I honestly can’t see members or the leadership of the SNP having a road to Damascus moment, can you?

    Flynn’s recent comments show he’s absolutely against “bringing down” the Holyrood government to provoke early elections because of the cost of living crisis, but nervous of plebiscitary elections at Westminster because he and his colleagues are scared of a doing the grunt work. Hardly an indication of a new broom sweeping clean.

  124. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks 3:47

    I note your various concerns.

    I too have a concern. There’s a certifiable madman, claiming he is doing God’s work, committing acts of armed aggression, overt and covert, against various European countries, and millions of the poorest and hungriest in the world.

    Some of these countries we have political, economic and military ties with, arising from the fact we are still part of the UK. Although, tbh, I guess these ties would still exist in one way or another, if we were independent.

    Did I mention my second concern? The madman likes to wave his nuclear scabre around.

    It’s all bad news for Libyans, but right now, the focus of my concerns lies elsewhere.

    Feel free to come back at me, explaining how all we have to do to settle my concerns is give the madman whatever he says God wants him to have.

    Alternatively, tell me how an iScotland will be magically immune and care free about all this shit.

  125. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    NHS Trust in England pays out £5,200.00 to an Agency who provided
    a Doctor for 1, One shift.

    Would the Doctor receive as much as £1,200.00 for 1 day’s work?

    Anyone want a bet on the Agency making £4,000.00 for receiving and making a phone call
    is owned by a Tory supporter or donor.

    Now could the NHS make their own bank for emergency staff and save £4K per Doctor’s shift

    Absolutely disgusting and disgraceful Tory abuse and theft from the public health budget

  126. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis @ 7:53

    “…BEFORE we say they’re impossible.”

    And pretty much as Frantz Fanon said: “The settler’s work is to make even dreams of liberty impossible for the native”

  127. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    None of us really know what’s going on behind the scenes or what forces are in play. We are really looking at ripples on the surface of a murky pond and trying to guess what caused them. The defacto referendum plan, which they are rolling back on right now, had good support amongst the grassroots and wider independence movement, though, we know that.

    Again, then, why are they ditching it and getting out of Dodge? On the face of it, looking at the polls and general mood, the SNP hasn’t looked this strong in years, possibly ever. It looks and feels like the sort of forced regime change we see all over the second and third world when politicians step out of line or no longer serve the intended purpose of keeping troublesome populations in line.

    I’ve been trying to make sense of all this for the past few weeks and explain that the (“cunning”) plan for a defacto referendum was a watershed moment. It was on the basis of my understanding of what it represented that I expected the British State would react strongly against the idea and force Sturgeon to ditch it. That’s what we are watching.

    I tried to explain a couple of weeks ago that the plebiscitary election route takes us right down the very same road that Catalonia went down. It’s remarkable how similar the circumstances are; with a powerful state refusing to provide consent for a referendum on one hand, and pro-independence politicians attempting to turn a regular election into a plebiscite on the other. Most of you know the rest…

    It’s all guesswork, more or less.

    I don’t expect many here to cry when Sturgeon steps down, and that’s fair enough, I won’t either, but your enemy’s enemy in this case is definitely not your friend. They’re forcing her out because for the first time in 8 years she actually hinted at doing something towards realising independence. Where does that leave us?

  128. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Luigi 7.58 am

    Like many others, I seriously doubt we will get a plebiscite WM election in 2023/4.

    The problem is how “the movement” as a whole can make the SNP/Greens resign and precipitate early Holyrood elections. It’s only really a plausible outcome if the SNP membership and/or activists and leaders decide that it is in their interests to do so, because the costs of being seen to do nothing are too high. That might come around due to protests, demos and petitions or it might not happen until and unless they actually see clear polling evidence that their support is falling, while support for independence rises, or when they start losing in elections.

    It is as Renton famously said a shite state of affairs to be in.

  129. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Luigi says:
    12 December, 2022 at 7:58 am
    Like many others, I seriously doubt we will get a plebiscite WM election in 2023/4. I wonder if the ex use will be that a Holyrood plebiscite is more relevant and winnable so we just have to wait a few more years. Of course, the SNP leadership could facilitate a snap Holyrood election, but they won’t go there.

    Thing is, the SNP are already mid-delivery in the process of delivering nothing.

    Switching to a plebiscite election strategy isn’t a last minute flick of the switch, it takes a level of commitment and preparedness which we just aren’t seeing.

    It require all pro-Independence parties to forego their normal manifesto’s with adequate time for it to sink in, forego their distinction as individual parties and coalesce under a single banner such as YES or something like it, so that when a vote is cast for that candidate it is unequivocally a vote that is explicitly for Scottish Independence, with that as it’s sole commitment.

    But I think bigger than that, (as if that’s not big enough), I think the Independence fight needs taken to a different level that every election is now a plebiscite on Independence.

    In fact a different strategy might be to change the format so that the people of Scotland get an annual referendum on staying in the UK Union, and the Unionists have to win that every year because the moment they don’t, the Union is over.

    If Scotland’s sovereign people embrace Scotland’s Constitution, and stop pandering to the faux sovereignty and colonial encroachment of London rule, we can choose what type of governmental delegation Scotland sends to Westminster and really, Westminster cannot interfere with that.

    The “technical” power of Scotland’s Constitution is indeed the mechanism, levers and switches which SALVO has unearthed, but the REAL power coming back to Scotland is when the penny drops and our sovereign people grasp what being sovereign means.

    I don’t belittle the importance of what Sara Salyers and SALVO are doing, far from it, but there is already “knowledge” out there that the Scot’s are sovereign; that’s exactly what Blowhard Blackford was blowin’ hard about!

    The big difference will come, the step change towards Independence, will happen when the discord between being sovereign, yet dancing to the tune set by Westminster, actually penetrates the psyche of the ordinary citizen.

    It isn’t SALVO’s discovery which is the watershed, it’s the fact that SALVO are going much further. SALVO are making Scotland’s Constitutional Rights real to people; powers which exist but need certain things to happen to be actionable powers.

    SALVO is actually doing what even a half way competent SNP “Government” should have been doing, but for eight dreadful years have not been doing, and that is making the prospect of Scottish Independence real, and the processes of getting there, to be credible and achievable. SALVO is the acorn from which true belief will grow.

    That belief will not be content with a flick-of-the-switch Plebiscite election; it’s a more permanent change coming to the Scottish psychology which is going to make Scotland a difficult place for Westminster to govern, and Westminster will not win that struggle.

    I hope that Scottish Independence is delivered very quickly. The sooner the better for all concerned.

    I was going to say the sooner the better for everybody except Westminster, but even that isn’t necessarily true. I still believe that a relatively harmonious UK divorce is possible if Scotland was to become fully Independent, but a buffer Nation facilitating through-trade between England and the EU, with Scapa Flow becoming a major, let me stress major, global hub for International freight… including Scandinavia and the Baltic.

    “IF” Scotland had already so disposed, an Independent Nation pivotal to trade links between East / West / and Europe, an exporter of oil and natural gas, a NATO member which had stood up to America and expelled nuclear weapons from the Clyde, and shown diplomatic maturity in helping England make it’s Brexit misadventure less catastrophic, perhaps one day giving them a pathway back towards the light, then our “wee”Scotland could have been a truly influential peacemaker and interventionist, in the NATO expansion which has destabilised the whole European continent.

    Not from any position of notional weakness either; if trade sanctions were the prelude to war, those sanctions would bite in Scapa Flow. If NATO needs encouraged to back off, Scotland has the strategic location and territorial waters to make it so. We might be a small landmass, but we’re a small landmass in a vital strategic location.

    I don’t know the figures involved, but had Scotland been exporting oil and gas to Europe, perhaps wee Scotland could have bent the ear of mighty Germany in a time of crisis.

    I know tensions are high, and there are many not yet ready for peace, but the world will move on from war in Yookraine and BRICS is going to be a growing phenomenon in our lives.

    I keep coming back to Scotland being the Istanbul of Western Europe. Where Continents and empires collide and occasionally clash, but where deals are done, and they mostly trade their way to peace and stability. Arguably, it was Istanbul which enabled the Ottoman Empire to flourish for 600 years.

    We Scots should think on that, and look again at where Scapa Flow sits in the world.

    An Independent Scotland WILL flourish. It will enjoy wealth and influence, and be party to geopolitical strategies.

    It is right there, in the palm of our hands… yet we’ve entrusted it all to Sturgeon? To all the deluded sycophants, do you yet see why she simply has to go?

    Most people dream about wealth, success and opulence, but wake up to find a sober and impoverished reality. Scotland is the reverse. It’s waking up and rejecting the Treaty of Union which will take away our Nation’s misery and eternal penury.

  130. Karen
    Ignored
    says:

    I wrote to Mhairi Gougeon and Maggie Chapman, my MSPs re collapsing Holyrood. MG relied twice (same email), MC didn’t reply at all.

  131. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    Well, another freezer of day in Scotland a country swimming in energy resources, as Scots pay through the nose to heat their homes, some won’t be able to turn the heating on at all, this is all wrong, Scots should be able to heat their homes at a very reasonable cost, but we can’t.

    Sturgeon MUST resign and trigger a snap Holyrood election to be used as a de facto indy vote, Scotland needs control of its assets, the current situation (trapped within this prison of a union) is utterly unacceptable.

  132. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Breeks

    You seem to have delusions of grandeur about what an independent Scotland’s abilities to dictate terms to the USA, NATO and Germany will be. It’s really rather an odd take on things. An independent Scotland will no doubt take its place as a valued partner of all of those, and hopefully be seen as another welcome addition to the list of small, well governed, relatively stable social democracies. Our strategic situation and our resources definitely have their advantages, but the tail won’t be wagging the dog.

    It all sounds a bit like Scottish particularism writ large: we’re going to be the Istanbul of NW Europe sounds a bit like brexiteers claiming the UK was going to be Europe’s Singapore or Dubai. You can’t on the one hand expect to dictate terms to NATO and the USA and throw nukes out overnight (not going to happen – it’ll take years and be part of a negotiated settlement) and expect to exert profound influence and be seen as some neutral “honest broker” sitting on the fence between the West and the rest of the world.

    Those advocating staying out of NATO and the EU are likely to find that their preferred worldview, and their rose tinted view of Scotland’s place in the world, won’t survive contact with real life post independence.

  133. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    A very informative article from excellent Sara Salyers.

    A wee snippet.

    “You cannot impose a foreign constitution on a joint partner in a Union that is created by treaty. We are not a nation state. They have behaved like a nation state, and that nation is England. This is not – and this is a sovereign state – but it is a combined state. It is made of two separate nations and they have separate laws. That principle was accepted. The continuation of the Scottish constitution was accepted, and therefore, our government, our politicians, or rather our MPs, have needed for a very long time to stop repeating English lies. To stop repeating, ‘Oh well, we were incorporated.’ No, we were not. Walker and Campbell have both blown that out of the water. Everybody’s kind of carried on.”

    https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2022/12/12/scots-law-is-not-english-law/

  134. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @RoS

    Sturgeon MUST resign and trigger a snap Holyrood election to be used as a de facto indy vote, …

    The $64,000 question is though….how does the movement ensure that happens?

    There are only a few scenarios:

    1) Sturgeon is forced out by a “palace coup” within the SNP. Doesn’t seem that likely, and given the “noises off” from Flynn and others, what difference would it make if she’s just replaced with another devolutionist reflecting current thinking, which appears to be furiously back pedalling on the plebiscitary election concept anyway.

    2) The SNP membership suddenly bestir themselves to root out the Sturgeonite cancer from their party altogether. Good luck with that one! If the party membership had any balls, we’d have seen evidence by now.

    3) Sturgeon is disgraced and forced out of power by an external event or crisis. I wouldn’t bet the farm on that one either.

    4) Sturgeon steps down for a better gig elsewhere after imposing GRA Reforms as her legacy policy before everything goes south and folk realise she’s a busted flush.

    I don’t see any real likelihood of the movement as a whole forcing the pace. Even if there are widespread protests, the SNP can just sit back and claim it’s all too hard right now, and circumstances have changed / aren’t right. Flynn’s already preparing the ground. The only thing that will force change is the SNP being denied support.

    The party might have pause for thought if their polling numbers take a dive or more folk defect to other parties, but if that doesn’t happen or doesn’t work only a bloody nose at elections will make a difference.

  135. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    https://archive.vn/zCKXt

    Oooft! Take that Sturgeon. An early wee Christmas present from J.K.Rowling.

    To channel some Janis Joplin and tweak it a little…

    But I’m gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough
    … I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
    Take another little piece of her heart Transgender Dystopia now, baby…

    Break it.

  136. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    They are desperate to get rid of juries. Let’s not forget Sturgeon was tripping over herself to use the pandemic as the excuse to do away with them.

    People really need to wake-up to how dangerous to our civil liberties Sturgeon really is. Never mind the colossal damage she has done and is doing to the independence movement. First she betrayed her mentor and now she is betraying us all.

    If they get rid of juries they will be able to stitch-up anyone they want with ease. They nearly got away with it with Salmond but the jury completely saw through it.

    Dorrian was not resisting any of it, far from it, she was the one who ruled out the jury seeing the highly revealing messages showing the plotters and accusers all conspiring to ‘get Salmond’. That tell you everything you need to know…

    If she had been in charge Salmond would have been rail-roaded without a shadow of doubt, none. And this is the second most important person at the top of the Scottish judiciary, really?

    Seeing what Dorrian did with Salmond and then Murray it is obvious they can just make it up as they go along and can justify any decision they fancy. Just look at the astonishing rail-roading of them and of course Julian Assange… it is off the scale at this point.

    Something really changed post 2014.

  137. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    “The $64,000 question is though….how does the movement ensure that happens?”

    Andy Ellis.

    Yes that’s the difficult part, we need the Yes groups, the SNP membership, the entire indy movement to put pressure on Sturgeon to do the right thing and resign, we need to convince any of the SNP MSPs who are open the idea to aid us in compelling Sturgeon to do what’s best for Scotland, and not what’s best for her and her party.

    It’s a huge task, but the entire country’s future is on the line here, no one person should stop an entire country from progressing via leaving this prison of a union. We know it’s the right thing to do, as does Sturgeon and her MSPs, urging them to do the right thing is now the MAIN priority, everything else pales into insignificance.

  138. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    @DaveL & MaxxMacc

    Worth noting that the politicians are currently paid by UK state so Salmond’s cheeky suggestion in Perth at weekend, that they should form a substantial majority within the convention of the estates, risks raising red (or white) flags from the getgo

    However, Salmond & McAskill also discussed the issue of exploitative pricing – in Scotland – from utility companies operating with UK oversight, and raised the question of whether Scot gov (ie through manipulating loopholes in devolved taxation) or a pressure group (through advising the fair price and a campaign of civil obedience to pay not a penny more) could help mitigate the insanity.

    Taking both issues together (and throwing in opinion polls of 56 % yes together with the Scot Goes Pop analysis of what that actually means in terms of referendum denial) why not solve three problems at once by starting the new currency early and imposing it on utility companies from January 1st.

    Easy way to do so might be pay all civil servants and government pensions half-half English/ Scottish money, tax the scottish half at 5 % (or less to ease the transition), and use the English paper withheld as collateral to rehypothecate 30 times (or whatever the market tolerates for central banks & blue chip corporation PE ratios etc) and dramatically increase spending on nicer things and genuine wellfare, etc..

  139. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    Republicofscotland says:11 December, 2022 at 10:38 am

    “SCOTLAND’S Yes movement has received a massive boost after a major independence fundraiser smashed its target of £100,000 ahead of its deadline.
    The Believe in Scotland campaign raced to its goal on Saturday afternoon ahead of its closing date on Sunday at midnight.

    As of writing, the campaign has raised £101,101.

    More than £50,000 has been raised from public donations since the crowdfunder launched on November 10 with another £50,000 from Business for Scotland, which promised to match the crowdfunded pound for pound.
    ————————————————-
    Both Believe in Scotland and Business for Scotland belong to Gordon McIntyre-Kemp so transferring money from one account he controls to another account he controls isn’t really much of a gain. Not sure i’d trust him with 50K of my money. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15105527.business-scotland-boss-admits-losing-money-business/

    On top of which Gordon spend much of his time apparently “debunking” other Yes groups “fake propaganda” he calls it and says people should ignore it all and only believe why he and the SNP alone produces. Its all about trying to achieve one party control really. https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/founder-pro-scexit-business-group-27594100



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