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The Nine-Month Emergency

Posted on December 17, 2022 by

At this point you really just have to laugh.

The Lord Advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court was filed on 28 June 22. The court delivered its judgement unexpectedly early on 23 November, but that still gave the SNP five months to plan for the various possible outcomes and be ready to spring into action. But perhaps Nicola Sturgeon misunderstood. She’s just announced that the party won’t even talk about it until another four months after that – in other words, no action until spring.

Is there any point in us even observing how pathetic that is? Should we waste our breath noting what a contemptuous pantomime is being performed here by the Widow Twankies running the party? Can we be bothered mocking the idea that this is some sort of “emergency” response? For Heaven’s sake, even NHS Scotland ambulances arrive quicker than that.

SNP members, of course, have shown time and time again that they’re happy to be fed even the oldest, rottenest carrots by the First Minister, so we won’t hold our breath waiting for them to muster a scrap of anger over this painfully blatant insult to their intelligence, loyalty and commitment. After all, it’s not like they were ever going to be given any meaningful influence over the eventual decision anyway.

(Sturgeon has already made absolutely clear that a UK general election in 2024 is the only option she’s willing to consider, and there is only one authority in her new SNP.)

But good grief, readers. Good grief.

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109 to “The Nine-Month Emergency”

  1. Desimond
    Ignored
    says:

    Och you know what its like…once you get the holidays out the way, nothing really picks up against until the daffs are popping up..and plus,once they agree to a “Review being commissioned in near future” well that then leaves plenty of time to look forward to Easter…then the summer holidays, then before your know it…its Xmas again…whats it like eh!

  2. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    I think its pretty clear for ALL to see, even for the die-hard Sturgeonistas that the SNP has binned any chance of holding an indyref. Oh the words will still be used to muster those who still believe in her, but the reality is that under Sturgeon’s tenure the SNP is no longer a party for Scottish independence.

    Come the next GE, the indy carrot will be furiously dangled in front of our eyes, not because Sturgeon wants to hold an indyref using the GE or by any other means, no it will be furiously dangled so that we elect as many SNP MPs to the HoC as possible, the job will have been done and the indy carrots will be stuffed back in their boxes until 2026.

  3. Taxi for Sturgeon
    Ignored
    says:

    I now think SNP members are becoming the problem. Has it got to the stage that the majority who attend SNP conferences are mainly made up of SNP elected representatives and all their staffers who are a huge block in terms of how new proposals and even branch proposals ever get to be seen. Was there not some absurdity a few years back where hardly any branches got new proposals passed at NEC level as a direct result of NEC largely made up of elected representatives? I remember a conference couldn’t get started because of it as there was a point of order right at the begging suggesting the NEC was just MSPs and MPs back slapping each other!

  4. Vivian O’Blivion
    Ignored
    says:

    conference /?k?nf(?)r?ns/ noun
    A gathering of cult members to mindlessly endorse a preordained decision taken by the cult leader. See Rev Jim Jones and the People’s Temple.

  5. Mr Jones
    Ignored
    says:

    For some reason, my eyes saw the above backdrop as reading

    STRONGER FOR ENGLAND

    Now that I cannot “unsee” it, I am doomed to see it thus forever more. Especially, because NS is, by keeping our resources tied to our neighbour, indeed stronger for England…

  6. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    At this desperate point you have to ask…might an Angus Robertson-led SNP actually be a significant improvement on this congeries of crap?
    The knee-jerk reaction is of course ‘don’t be so bloody stupid’ but the daily nonsense coming out of Butt House is an insult to our collective intelligence. At least try a bit harder to fool us all FFS…

  7. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @PhilM

    At this desperate point you have to ask…might an Angus Robertson-led SNP actually be a significant improvement on this congeries of crap?

    I think that’s very doubtful. There’s no evidence I’ve seen or heard that Robertson is his own man, or that he would produce a significantly different result than Sturgeon and nor would any of the others in her team. They are the problem, not the solution.

    There might be more hope if you actually believed that Joanna Cherry represented a cadre of folk in the party who were waiting in the wings to restore sanity and order to the party, but we know by now that simply isn’t true. Cherry, and any brave souls still within the party who support her, are very much an endangered and isolated minority.

    The SNP is no longer fit for purpose, nor can it be rendered so. It wouldn’t matter if Sturgeon was hit by a meteorite tomorrow, or was somehow politically defenestrated by the spineless jobs worth currently leading the party, they wouldn’t suddenly be overtaken by a fit of independence fever and call instant plebiscitary Holyrood elections.

    Today’s SNP is a vehicle for retaining power and influence, for securing and maintaining cosy sinecures, getting funding for interest groups and appointment to salaried jobs for the faithful. Why bet the farm on independence when you can enjoy the fruits of being a big fish in a small devolutionary pond sine die ?

    Independence will be hard. It will require sacrifices, pragmatism and an ability to negotiate hard and make difficult decisions. The SNP is not good at a single one of these things: it struggles to govern a devolved administration adequately, never mind negotiate and deliver an independent state which will make its current day job look like a walk in the park.

    The more you see of the SNP, the more you start to realise having them in charge of the process would be like taking a knife to a gun fight.

  8. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    Party afore country. SNP affrontery.

  9. Neil in Glasgow
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps they’ve all been given numerous citations to appear as witnesses for, you know, things, and just can’t commit until then.

    Probably not …

    And Angus Robertson is very much part of the problem, not a solution, even temporarily.

  10. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T: Excellent thread from Joanna Cherry rebutting the attempt by Mr Madrigal-Borloz the UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity to influence next week’s vote on #GRRBill.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1603663369428664326.html

  11. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    When is it ok to start throwing rotten tomatoes?

    Err,… asking for a friend.

    Who isn’t really a friend, more of an acquaintance really. Don’t really know them. Actually just met them at the fruit and veg counter at Tescos in err, town. Cough, cough.

  12. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    “At this desperate point you have to ask…might an Angus Robertson-led SNP actually be a significant improvement on this congeries of crap?”

    Absolutely not Robertson is as bad as Sturgeon, for us it would be like jumping from the frying pan to the fire to back this close friend of Israel. The SNP are finished as a party for Scottish independence, they will go the same way as BLiS went in Scotland, it will take time but the Alba party is now the only mainstream Scottish party for independence.

    We must vote for the Alba party at every turn.

  13. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Advice to all NuSNP types who may be finally seeing the light…. If you have this wee tune playing in the background while you sign up to SALVO and Liberation.Scot, maybe even join ALBA… the poignancy helps a lot.

    We do feel your pain, but Scotland cannot afford the luxury of lengthy commiserations, but the water’s lovely, come on in, and welcome back to the Campaign for Scottish Independence.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw3izcZd9zU

    It started off so well
    They said we made a perfect pair
    I clothed myself in your glory and your love
    How I loved you, how I cried
    The years of care and loyalty
    Were nothing but a sham, it seems
    The years belie, we lived a lie….

    …. The slate will soon be clean
    I’ll erase the memories
    To start again with somebody new
    Was it all wasted, all that love?
    I hang my head and I advertise
    A soul for sale or rent…

  14. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon said herself she going to remain FM for a long time to come, this statement isn’t from a determined leader who is going to deliver Independence for her country.

    The SNP aren’t even trying to persuade No’s to Yes, she trying to persuade Yes’s to No. When people listen to the SNP leader at their next conference, they’ll be listening to what little she has to say’s when we should all be focusing on what she hasn’t said in the very small detail contained in her speech.

    She’s differently going to stitch up Scotland before the next Westminster election. But I keep asking myself why does Lesley Riddoch who I don’t trust at all, keep standing Sturgeon corner, when we all know Sturgeon is betraying Scotland and our people, so what’s in it for Riddock?

  15. Shug
    Ignored
    says:

    100’/. Yes
    Correct because she has been turned

  16. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    We have indeed been treacherously done down by Sturgeon, her clique and the many freeloaders that are now the SNP.
    ,
    They have sold us out. A mechanism, a tool for their colonial masters to block the path to independence we should never forget her treachery. Like those who manned the concentration camps and were responsible for the deaths of many, Sturgeon is of the same foul ilk as our country goes cold, families go cold, whilst all around her colonial masters plunder our nation.

    History will remember her as a woman who tried to destroy Scotland. And one day, there will be a memorial to this stinking nobody who did so much to undermine Scotland for her colonial handlers.

  17. Astonished
    Ignored
    says:

    Was the “Good Grief” a subtle reference to Lucy van Pelt and holding the American football for Charlie Brown again ? And again. And again.

    I note there appear to be no nuSNP diehards coming on twitter to explain things. Possibly because they’ve all just had the stuffing kicked out of them.

    These charlatans must be removed before we’ll see independence. My disgust in them is now boundless.

  18. 100%Yes
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Shug

    There is a lot of people making a lifetime living out of being a supporter of Scottish Independence, I feel sure if it was England calling for Independence from Scotland these same people would be shouting for the Union.

  19. Hackalumpoff
    Ignored
    says:

    SNP = Vile Hybernats, asleep at the wheel.

  20. scottiedog
    Ignored
    says:

    What the plural of dufus? Maybe Scotland will go down as one big Darwin Award..

  21. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    My goodness, even I am genuinely shocked at how late next year this is. What a joke pretense of a party the SNP has become.

    I am now seriously wondering if, at the time of brexit and Theresa May, that it wasn’t the Tories who wanted to say ‘now is not the time’ (although it suited them), rather it was Sturgeon. Was it sturgeon who told Theresa May to say ‘now is not the time’????? Serious question.

    Yet all these years Sturgeon has played us all for fools, pretending it was London who was blocking independence. In reality the only block to Scottish independence is Nicola Sturgeon herself.

    Why would anybody now even slightly think Sturgeon is serious about independence? Just yet another exercise in doing nothing, while ‘promising’ ‘something’.

    Is there an SNP member left who seriously believes they will get independence via Sturgeon? I mean how thick must folk be to not at this stage see she is yet again delaying and delaying and delaying, over and over again. Dangling the indy carrot, but ‘sometime in the future’.

    What an utter fraud she is. With every passing day she betrays Scots who voted for her over and over and over again.

    Let’s make it simple, sturgeon is, in my opinion, a liar and a fraud, of epic proportions.

  22. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    republic of scotland at 427pm,

    Absolutely correct. For very well kent reasons, Angus Robertson would be out of EXACTLY the same mould. People really need to wise up to what is going on at the SNP.

    They have quite clearly sold their souls to London. The only sane pro independence party left with any clout is the Alba Party. I left the SNP and joined ALBA, and I’d recommend others to do likewise.

    You will NEVER see independence with the SNP and Sturgeon OR Robertson. It is quite clear, that for whatever reasons, the SNP is wholly and completely compromised, from the top down. Let’s never forget this is straight out of the English colonial playbook. It’s easy, you find ‘dirt’ on people, then promise them the earth if they play ball.

  23. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Robert Louis at 6.03

    Was it sturgeon who told Theresa May to say ‘now is not the time’?????

    I’ve seen that stated as fact, though I can’t give you a reference; she wrote to Theresa and supposedly said that, amongst other things. They also had a strange wee confab in a hotel on the Clyde, rather than any sort of government venue, after which the more obvious back-tracking started. I’ve long assumed the skeletons in the cupboard were cited as a warning during that chat.

  24. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    I was wondering why the BBC in Scotland have this carrot-dangling fraud of a story back as their No1 (out of 10 “news” stories) today on their teletext (Scotland) page.

    The event is being billed as a “opportunity to create a clear pathway for Scotland’s constitutional future.” And it’s to be held in March (no specific date given).

    These con merchants have had 8+ years to have created a bulletproof pathway to independence. It seems that every time bad news breaks about the SNP, and the Murrell’s in particular (see this sites Murrell money story), this old carrot is being regurgitated for the galloping gullible.

    And as Stuart rightly points out in the article above, Skank Sturgeon has already made it *very clear* that she’s only prepared to entertain the ‘when Westminster says so’ route. Couple that with the fact that SNP conferences have been doctored beyond belief to strictly control what gets said and by who. CON-ference right enough!

    Still, The National will get another misleading headline out of it i suppose and the gullible hoards will continue to gush and salivate over their supreme leader. Shame on the BBC for promoting fake news over real news.

    News breaks: Murrell Money Mystery

    News breaks: Murrell’s SNP put back in their box by England’s Supreme Court

    News breaks: SNP front-benchers desert front bench after years of feeding at Westminster’s trough.

    How does Sturgeon respond? Throw the thick bastards that conference carrot again.

  25. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Robert Louis

    This might be it:
    https://www.snp.org/nicola-sturgeon-s-section-30-letter-to-theresa-may/

    …I am therefore writing to begin early discussions between our governments to agree an Order under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 that would enable a referendum to be legislated for by the Scottish Parliament.

    I have, of course, noted and carefully considered your public position. However, it seems that we are in agreement on the essential matters.

    For example we agree that now is not the time for a referendum.

    You confirmed to me on Monday, and repeated in your letter invoking Article 50, that you intend the terms of both the UK’s exit from the EU and of a future trade deal to be agreed before March 2019 and in time for ratification by other member states – in other words, between the autumn of next year and the spring of 2019. As you are aware, this is the timescale endorsed by the Scottish Parliament for a referendum.

    As I have said previously, if the timetable you have set out changes, we will require to consider the implications for the timing of a referendum. However, it seems reasonable at this stage to work on the basis of your stated timetable…

  26. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ me at 6.44
    I should have noted that it is, of course, my emphasis.

  27. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    crazycat responds on 17 December 2022 at 6:41 pm to:

    “Was it sturgeon who told Theresa May to say ‘now is not the time’?????”

    “I’ve seen that stated as fact, though I can’t give you a reference; she wrote to Theresa and supposedly said that, amongst other things. They also had a strange wee confab in a hotel on the Clyde, rather than any sort of government venue, after which the more obvious back-tracking started. I’ve long assumed the skeletons in the cupboard were cited as a warning during that chat.”

    Very intriguing! Any idea when this Clyde hotel event happened? Month? Year? Maybe that could help us pin-down sources/references etc.

    Thanks for any help in advance, i’m away out to give my dogs their evening exercise.

  28. PhilM
    Ignored
    says:

    In reality I don’t have any reason to believe that Angus Robertson would be better. I was making an ironic rhetorical point but all the same sometimes a change can set other things in motion. A leader who’s perceived to be weaker can be pushed around a bit more whereas now there is such a Sturgeon cult making it that much harder to challenge. With Sturgeon gone you have a window of opportunity for a clear-out. Honestly I am not holding out any hope with Robertson but we all know – don’t we – that he has a certain flank that will forever make him very, very vulnerable.

  29. TamC
    Ignored
    says:

    I wonder how much of their (Nu SNP) shite they think the long grass can accommodate. A UK government (UKG) that gives banana republics a good name and they want to give said UKG as much time as they need to move the goal posts, pure brilliant by the way. If only they were as good at fighting for independence as they are at hiding their accounts.

  30. Natalie Delon
    Ignored
    says:

    The unionists are always criticising Nicola Sturgeon about pushing independence instead of concentrating on the Health Service or Education. One has to ask oneself, when was that, when did she talk about independence? Because she rarely makes the case for independence and if she does, it’s usually a journo asking her a question about it.
    Is it possible that these unionist newspapers and politicians are in some sort of pact to keep Sturgeon’s supporters onside by convincing them that yes, she really does want independence?

  31. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    If The Murrells are nearing the end of the line, who’s in the frame for writing the ‘authorised’ biography?

    Who would actually *want* that gig?

  32. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Stoker; https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/nicola-sturgeon-theresa-meet-glasgow-10109842

    I’ve already linked to that on here, a few months ago. It was an odd meeting in a number of ways.

  33. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Stoker at 6.47

    https://archive.vn/D4HRe
    27 March 2017

    The SNP press release I quoted from above is dated 31 March 2017, and says “when we met on Monday”, so the bit about “we agree that now is not the time” refers to their conversation in the hotel.

  34. Tinto Chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    @crazycat and Stoker: wasn’t it this meeting? It was in that hotel opposite the BBC. Like crazycat, I felt things changed after that. Previously she had met important politicians in Bute House flanked by two saltires. The meeting at the hotel seemed weird and almost furtive:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20221217192339/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39399390

  35. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Democracy conference’

    FFS!

    WTF thought that one up for the Queen of denial?

  36. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Anyway, given the tight control she has over SNP conferences, and the certainty that the plan for a plebiscitary referendum will be ditched, or diluted beyond recognition, shouldn’t we be glad she’s dragging things out?

    Between now and then the MSM and other hostile forces are going to be constantly attacking and undermining her. Who knows what they’ll dig up?

  37. Frazerio
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon has had one policy since 2015. It is simply ‘Independence next year’. Most on here have seen through it. I was hoodwinked til about 2019-2020ish.
    But there is a very successful coordinated campaign being conducted by all the main political parties, the MSM and the clandestine mob whose job it is to ‘protect the union. That is to ensure enough donkey voters keep heehawing their way towards the dangling carrots which they’ll never actually reach. Because when we get to March 2023, Sturgeon will look at the donkeys with the contempt they deserve, unfurl her new/old policy of ‘Independence next year’ & the donkeys will bray in agreement and clip clop off after the shiny new carrot.
    I will never vote for a non independence party again and have a good mind to boycott carrots too just for the sake of it!!!

  38. Iain mhor
    Ignored
    says:

    It requires a completely new motion, that there be immediate action, once a vote is taken, in the light of fresh information…

  39. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis: the Lady Haldane ruling basically wipes out ALL protected characteristics except gender reassignment because women can be all of the other protected characteristics, too. It is a lie of monumental proportions to suggest that self-ID is not a gateway into all female rights. Of course it is. The lady rapporteur says the GRA Reform Bill is grossly unfair to females; the male rapporteur says it’s fine and dandy. Methinks these fetishy men exist in massive numbers, and so do misogynists, and they back this subset of men either because they are like them, but without the frocks, or they are misogynists and would rather that women dealt with them than have them in the men’s loos, or even because they view them as the vanguard in a new men’s rights revolution. What they do not see them as is a ‘puir wee sowels’ minority.

  40. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    The similarities between Sturgeon and the Rev Jim Jones are becoming closer by the day.

    Both were leaders of brainwashed Cults, and both were doomed to end in the death of their beliefs and ideologies.

    Jones committed suicide along with hundreds of his Cult members in Jamestown.

    Is Sturgeon planning a similar tragedy in Edinburgh at her Spring Conference?
    (We can only live and hope).

    For Sturgeon, read Rev Jim Jones Wikipedia:-

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

  41. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Tinto Chiel at 7.30

    Yes, that’s the same meeting described in the Daily Record link I archived; your link stresses that

    <blockquoteMrs May has repeatedly said that "now is not the time" for an independence referendum, but has not ruled out one being held after the Brexit process is complete.

    whereas my link and the SNP report only say that they “agree”, with no clue as to who used the phrase first. So in that respect, we are no further forward.

  42. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Tinto Chiel at 7.30

    Yes, that’s the same meeting described in the Daily Record link I archived; your link stresses that

    Mrs May has repeatedly said that “now is not the time” for an independence referendum, but has not ruled out one being held after the Brexit process is complete.

    whereas my link and the SNP report only say that they “agree”, with no clue as to who used the phrase first. So in that respect, we are no further forward.

  43. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    Apologies for double post – I spotted the formatting error but was too late to stop it.

  44. Frank Waring
    Ignored
    says:

    Since the UK is a parliamentary democracy, the only route to Scottish independence within the UK constitution is that the House of Commons must enact it. Persuading the UK government to agree would not be enough: a majority of the House of Commons would have to be persuaded to vote for it. Before the next General Election, every candidate will be asked “If the Scots vote for independence, will you agree to give it them?” The probability that more than half of the newly elected MP’s will have been candidates who said ‘Yes’ is close to zero — since none of the unionist parties is likely to endorse any such candidate.

  45. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    Ref, ‘ Tinto Chiel says:
    17 December, 2022 at 7:30 pm

    @crazycat and Stoker: wasn’t it this meeting? It was in that hotel opposite the BBC. Like crazycat, I felt things changed after that. Previously she had met important politicians in Bute House flanked by two saltires. The meeting at the hotel seemed weird and almost furtive:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20221217192339/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-39399390

    Had the meeting taken place at Bute House, all who attended would have been signed in and records kept.

    No such record keeping for the hotel, although signing in would have happened at the time, for security reasons.

    Obviously it was a while back and Sturgeon was still on her best behaviour – these days, records and official minutes are things not done, and never kept. Like taxes for little people, she’s far and above such things.

  46. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s time for a protest outside of Bute House.

    The hundreds of Wings over Scotland contributers. The 6,000 Alba Party members. Their hundreds of door step activists.

  47. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ crazycat on 17 December 2022 at 7:24 pm and
    @ Tinto Chiel on 17 December 2022 at 7:30 pm

    Thank you both for the archived links. Yes, the wording used is interesting to say the least – “we both agree now is not the time”? The suggestion it was Sturgeon who fed Theresa May that line seems very plausible and i wouldn’t put it past her.

    I always thought Salmond was the only person to use the throwaway remark “once in a generation” during our 2014IndyRef, until i seen video footage of Sturgeon saying it. My point being she’s well and truly capable of using questionable language, whether innocently or deliberately then letting others take the flack for it.

    As far as meeting in a hotel, rather than in any official Government setting, would that not negate the need to keep and record official minutes? I seem to recall Stuart mentioning something about this legal requirement in one of his articles on the Salmond stitch-up. Could meeting in a hotel be a way around this?

  48. Tinto Chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    @crazycat and Daisy Walker: yes, away from BH it would be “off the books”. The oddness of it all begins to make some sense now.

  49. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Daisy Walker on 17 December 2022 at 8:47 pm

    Thank you for that, Daisy. I’ve made a similar suggestion, re hotel meeting, before seeing your contribution. If we’re correct in it being a way around recording official minutes then that truly is a very *very* sleekit and untrustworthy way of operating.

  50. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Frank Waring

    Persuading the UK government to agree would not be enough: a majority of the House of Commons would have to be persuaded to vote for it.

    The HoC has no say in Scotland’s self determination, it’s a matter for the Scottish people. It doesn’t matter if every MP from the rest of the UK vote against “allowing” it. I have little doubt more than a few would in fact vote in favour, but so what?

    All that matters is persuading a majority of Scottish voters to vote for pro independence parties in plebiscitary elections. The opinions of the Westminster parliament, whilst interesting, would then be beside the point.

  51. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah yes, March. That puts any thoughts of a HR plebiscite in election season right oot the windae!

  52. Tinto Chiel
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stoker: posts crossed. You’re right too about NS using that phrase “once in a generation”. I remember seeing it quoted somewhere. A cynic might suspect it was akin to giving an opponent a stick to beat you with. Once you’ve lost trust in someone you can jump to all sorts of conclusions in hindsight.

  53. Kcor
    Ignored
    says:

    Instead of continuing to boil with rage with the anti-independence SNP, it is high time for some genuine and credible independence supporter to set up a new independence grassroots campaign from scratch.

    But with condition – every single SNP MP, MSP or councillor must not allowed to be a member.

    Ms Cherry, how about resigning from the SNP and Westminster and to really start doing something for independence?

    You have achieved NOTHING for independence since you became an SNP MP.

  54. Kcor
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie says:
    17 December, 2022 at 5:01 pm

    “We have indeed been treacherously done down by Sturgeon, her clique and the many freeloaders that are now the SNP.
    ,
    They have sold us out.”

    That is so glaringly obvious.

    Genuine independence supporters who continue to vote for the SNP despite the existence of ALBA are the dumbest people on earth, IMHO.

  55. Melvin penman
    Ignored
    says:

    The SNP have given up and are out of ideas and don’t hav ethe desire and determination we expect from an Independence Party. They play by londons rules and that will get us nowhere. It time to fight back and take the claim of right to the UN , in conjunction with civil disobedience and removing all British state emblems. The situation will turn nasty if the SNP don’t grow up.

  56. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:
    All that matters is persuading a majority of Scottish voters to vote for pro independence parties in plebiscitary elections

    According to the polls there’s not that much work to be done in that area however a great deal of work to be done convincing Scottish voters to accept plebiscitary election.

    We were promised a referendum Sturgeon has failed to deliver wouldn’t it be better to call for her resignation instead of extolling the virtues of plebiscitary elections on a daily basis.

  57. Mark Boyle
    Ignored
    says:

    David Hannah says:
    17 December, 2022 at 8:55 pm

    It’s time for a protest outside of Bute House.

    The hundreds of Wings over Scotland contributers. The 6,000 Alba Party members. Their hundreds of door step activists.

    One takes it your Christmas dinner will be a saucer of cream?

  58. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    They intent to hold the special independence emergency conference without the £20 Million. No plan B.

    It appears Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t want 16/17 year olds to have a say in Scotland’s future with her defacto neverendum.

    Civic Scotland should come together. We’ll have to tell the 16 and 17 year olds Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t care about you.

    I am confident we can make the case for Independence sperate from the UK. People need to know what Independence looks like at local level. We need the experts to put in the hard work so that we know what it looks like.

    Also that the SNP are the Irish Independence Party 2.0.

  59. President Xiden
    Ignored
    says:

    Our first minister is a danger to our wives our daughters and women in general, she is also a danger to our children. In short, Sturgeon is the Robert Black of Scottish politics.

  60. David Hannah
    Ignored
    says:

    You’re damn right. Sturgeon doesn’t want Independence for Scotland’s children. She wants to carve them up and make them into black pudding.

  61. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    There is something about the events of Weds (HOC) and Thurs (HR) that I don’t quite get.
    On Thurs (On the Run) Rev Stu said: –
    ‘But it’s still hard not to feel a pang at the SNP officially signing the formal surrender document on the policy they’ve been unequivocally and categorically insisting they’d deliver for the last three years’

    This, after the ‘Scotland’s Future’ debate in the HOC on Weds, when NSNP MPs appeared quite spirited, with proposer Tommy Sheppard, making the following point in the opening of the debate: –

    ‘On the claim of right, it is remarkable how uncontroversial its assertion has been over the years, from 1989 onwards. It underpinned the 1997 legislation that led to the referendum on devolution; it was asserted by the Calman commission that followed that; obviously, it underpinned the 2014 referendum; and it was asserted by the Smith commission that came about as a consequence of that referendum. We have never had it seriously challenged. In fact, I added it up the other day, and I have been debating these matters about the government of Scotland for 45 years since I was a student at Aberdeen University, campaigning in the first devolution referendum in 1979. In all that time up until now, it has been understood that the claim of right exists, so it is important that we reassert it’

    Sounds good – come hell or high water, we ARE going to have our Indyref – yet less than 24 hrs later, Swinney and Sturgeon, after years of planning, raise the white flag.

    So, either their own MPs were being played and had no idea of what was coming next day, or they knew perfectly well about Swinney’s coming HR announcement and were play-acting in WM?

    Was it left hand not knowing what right hand was doing, or pointless collusion from a party devoid of moralities?

  62. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ stoker, Tinto Chiel, Daisy Walker at various times:

    I think it would be interesting (though probably impossible) to find out who suggested an off-the-record meeting. Was it Sturgeon, so that she could confess to being on board with saving the Union, or Theresa, with a bit of blackmail up her sleeve?

    It could of course be both, in the sense that the one who didn’t propose it might have had her own reason for agreeing.

  63. ben madigan
    Ignored
    says:

    @Melvin penman who mentioned

    17 December, 2022 at 9:26 pm
    ” removing all British state emblems”.

    Start by local councils voting to not fly the Butcher’s Apron on designated days and, in accordance with residents’ desires, changing the names of their streets from e.g. Imperial Avenue to Wallace Avenue or Robert the Bruce Avenue

    Step back and watch the Unionist/Loyal orders backlash!

  64. Alin Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s time members protested in their thosands outside SNP HQ.

  65. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    And she calls it an Emergency meeting.

    Thank God she does drive an ambulance.

    Interesting story in the Sunday Mirror about prisoners receiving payment for destroying all the billions of pounds worth Tory PPE that was never fit for purpose.

    Criminals helping Criminals to cover crime I’d say.

    The a pathetic disaster again as they admit that they have never investigated the recipient of honours for cash. Could the Met Police Seniors be replaced with traffic cones?
    At least the cones do something for the money

    The royals are obviously in on the act but remember we are in it together and all equal unless you are a royal. A Tory or anyone with deep pockets for bribery.

  66. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    When was the last time any of you tried to talk to a fully paid up member of the SNP Cult?

    They will not hear a bad word said about their leader.

    Just have a look at some of the comments in the National to see how blinkered they are.

    You will be vilified, called a raving Yoon, or worse still, in their eyes, an Albist if you try to convince them they are backing a loser in Sturgeon.

    They are not for listening to any logical criticism of her. In their eyes, she can do no wrong.

    And therein lies the problem.

    How do you get through to the core support for Sturgeon that they are being conned big time?

  67. Geri
    Ignored
    says:

    Daisy Walker 8:47pm

    Her cowardly mask was on full display even back then. It was reported in another tabloid at the time that Mayhem told Sturgeon at that hotel meeting that *the devolution settlement will be revised after brexit* So basically, piss off with yer notions YOU’LL ever be consulted over Brexit -get back in yer box cause your wee diddy parish council is up for the chop next!

    & So it came to pass.
    In came the single market tosh, no parly consent & returning powers snatched.
    No brexit input & no section 30.

    Sturgeon just did her usual. Rabbit caught in the headlights. Outmanoeuvred yet again & totally unprepared.

    She’s an administration office manager.

    We really need to ditch Holyrood. It’s a WM puppet. Indy needs to go back to basics with an Independence convention outside of Holyrood & any one political party.

    Vote an indy party to be competent in government, obviously – but keep indy totally separate from them claiming sole control of it.

  68. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Too right about the Scottish Paiament being a broken sham.

    Brexit, then the removal of all manner of powers through the UK internal market bill, the direct funding of leveling up funds to councils, the Supreme courts decision on the SP having no power to even call a referendum.

    The Scottish Parliament is not worth a fuck.

  69. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    And meanwhile as the Scottish Parliament stumble along on its knees the grim economic news crippling its failing colonial master continues apace.

    With the great City of london
    having lost its place to Paris as the top European financial centre a KMPG report has just revealed that IPO’s in London have collapsed.

    The volume of funds raised by companies listing in London has nosedived by more than 90% this year, according to a new report by the global consultancy KPMG, which attributed the drop-off to weak economic growth forecasts.

    The data, which was published on Wednesday, shows that only 40 firms have floated on the London Stock Exchange’s main and alternative investment markets so far this year. That’s down from 123 last year.

    Just another grim indicator of how the weakest worst performing economy in the G7 is collapsing.

    The Brexit Turkeys are getting basted. British beligerance and del boy government has done for the turkeys and then some.

  70. Dan
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu. If (and it’s a big, big IF) the SNP at the conference do re-affirm a plebiscite will happen at the general. No ifs no buts – and confirm that a victory is not to ask for another ref but to start negotiations. Will you put your full energy into taking down project fear and encouraging people to vote for pro-Indy parties at the election (including SNP)?

    I’m no longer an SNP fan but we need independence more than ever!

    Would be nice to see old Stu back.

  71. Ross
    Ignored
    says:

    Joke of a party

    You’ll find noone more willing to put bygones aside for Scotland than me; but this is absurd

    Just f off

  72. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Ebok @10:08pm

    On the face of it that’s quite an encouraging statement however,regrettably, I think it needs a pretty extensive “fact-check” over what is really being said.

    If the MPs were in the dark over what Swinney said the next day then the SNP is in serious trouble. If the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is up to then chaos is going to flood in.

    If they did know then perhaps they are trying to claim the Claim of Right and water it down to so it fits the neverendum model that keeps the SNP in Westminster forever.

    Deirdre O’Neill’s post on Barrhead Boy yesterday echoed a sentiment that appears in many places – that the political class is in it for themselves and only for themselves. Whether it’s Brussels, Washington, London, Paris etc. the same problem manifests itself. We’d be delusional if we thought for a second that Holyrood was different. You just have to look at the Government/NGO/Think Tank Industrial Complex to realise that Scotland’s administration is just like every other in the West.

    I wouldn’t let the SNP appropriate the Claim of Right. Rather it’s a stick that the populace use to keep the politicians in check and their feet to the fire. We can’t let it become another carrot.

  73. stuart mctavish
    Ignored
    says:

    On bright side you can get seriously healthy in 10 weeks of post hogmanay cross fit, hitting top form just about time Rev Stuey is pencilled in for the FM speech writing gig 🙂

    .. and if the global miss information complex insists on getting us all stuck in a slow boil lobster pot of aspersion casting with a view to founding an increasingly perverse new order on hate, misery jealousy, anger, hair ruffling allegations, etc chances are it’ll still be no bother because few things are more satisfying than converting the clutter back into wearable garments – and not needing to rely on laughter alone to keep the doctors away:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5M9elm5jdw

  74. Allan Faulds
    Ignored
    says:

    It remains extremely tiresome that the people literally in control of the media narrative about trans people – I don’t mean that in a conspiracy theorist sense, I mean they are literal newspaper/magazine editors, columnists etc – claim to be being silenced.

  75. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @Allan Faulds

    They’re not being silenced, they just lack the balls to stand up and be counted. The few who have like Many Rhodes have been attacked and othered just like the relatively few politicians and office holders who have had the courage to stick their heads above the parapet.

    It’s interesting when you hear from pieces written by folk like Mandy that off the record many office holders share the legitimate and proportionate concerns expressed by Joanna Cherry and others, but wouldn’t dare express their support publicly.

    That may be beginning to change, pace comments recently online and on Twatter from figures like Roddy Dunlop and Aileen McHarg in relation to Edinburgh University caving in to TRA extremists cancelling the screening of the film “Adult Human Female”, but many people will still take the safe route an pull their punches when faced with demands to bow down before the TWAW mantra and accept that the earth is indeed flat.

  76. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    “Leading charity accuses Scottish government of failing on pledge to support women trapped in domestic violence”

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/dec/18/scotland-fund-women-costs-abuse-scottish-government-domestic-violence

    Another broken promise. Outside of the commitments to men who want to take womens’ jobs and use womens’ toilets, has Sturgeon ever delivered on anything?

    Scottish Women’s Aid Deserves better than this. They’re on the frontline dealing with wife-beaters and abusers every single day.

    Sturgeon, the feminists to her finger tips, promised to set up a government fund to help women trapped in relationships with violent partners — of course, it didn’t happen and that means thousands of women all over the country are forced to choose between staying with those violent partners or sleeping on relative’s couches. Most of them have kids, too, of course.

    File under “Nobody Gives a Fuck”?

  77. Wilson McBride
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie. 7.54am

    Good to hear the demise of the City of London financial centre.

    It does give you that wee spring in the step when you see that dump London start to slide into the Thames.

    Almost as good as watching France fuck the bastards last week.

  78. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    David Hannah

    I don’t want 16 & 17 YO’s deciding Scotland’s future either.

    They’re kids. FFS, your average narcissistic, cosseted, snowflake teenager of today knows SFA of the real world til they are in their mid twenties.

    Don’t agree? Then how do you explain their enthusiasm for the genderwoowoo pish?

  79. mikestand
    Ignored
    says:

    @crazycat et al

    Possibly TM & NS just reading from the same pre-agreed statement ? Now who prepared that “script” I wonder …

  80. Mr Jones
    Ignored
    says:

    I have to admit that I am not much up to speed on indy things, but one thing confuses me. In Glasgow, there is a lot of fuss about the Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival, with people saying that it was run by first a son of Craig Murray called Jamie, then Craig himself. Many of the bands are disgruntled about payment.

    But is this the same Craig Murray? There was a Jamie Murray twitter account, but it no longer exists, so it is hard to say. I cannot help thinking there has been a misunderstanding and the link is to someone else with the same name (Murray is common enough).

  81. robertkknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Swinney is just the Igor character to Sturgeon’s Dr Frankenstein… always in the background, up to something…

    Having concluded that there’s absolutely no point in having any SNP MPs in Westminster, and having also concluded that they’re not likely to walk out unaided, I’m determined to assist them in doing so!

    Next WM election I’ll be pinching the nostrils and lending my vote to whoever is best placed to keep the SNP out. Their presence lends legitimacy to a place that deserves none, whilst simultaneously funding themselves and their rotting-from-the-head-down party from the public purse. There is zero net benefit to Scotland from them being there. None. Zip. Nada!

    Stuff Sturgeon, and her rancid SNP.

  82. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart MacKay 9:10

    Good post.

    What happened last time around was that a populist, grass-roots movement that had been grown and nurtured by ordinary Scots was handed over to the professional politicos.

    The ordinary Scots then congratulated themselves on job well done, and went home, trusting that the politicos would see it through.

    That is not a mistake Scots Indy supporters should make a second time.

  83. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @John Main

    What actual evidence is there of 16 7 17 year olds disproportionately supporting “gender woo” though? I’m prepared to believe that more of them may have fallen for the “just be kind” stuff, that they’ve been more exposed to the TRA agitprop, and that they *might* have been hoodwinked in to accepting the false equivalence between gender critical beliefs and not accepting that trans people exist, or that they are being targetted, but without accurate polling of a representative sample of 1000 Scottish 16 & 17 year olds, how do we know…..?

    Even then, the devil would be in the detail with respect to what questions were asked, and how those questions were structured, and whether you could realistically compare them with any previous polling on the issue.

    Again I suspect but don’t know that, like most people, that age group would broadly express support for trans people to live their best lives, not be discriminated against, and to enjoy the same rights as others. Where you might find them being less supportive is if you ask the difficult questions about the automatic and unrestricted right to a GRC on demand then giving access to women only spaces, prisons, provision of intimate care, female sports, and to programmes aimed at increasing the participation of women in particular areas.

    These are of course the kind of hard questions which should be being directed at the TRA extremists, and which they should be forced to address until they give adequate responses, but up until now have been almost entirely absent.

    In the end 16 & 17 year olds on their represent a fairly insignificant proportion or cadre of the total electorate, and it’s quite possible that “new” voters like them will in any case change their views as the get older.

    The issue is to ensure that the overwhelming majority who oppose the Scottish Governments TWAW mantra and TRA extremism are persuaded to make it part of their decision who to vote for.

  84. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    I heard that treacherous rat John Swinney talk on the radio, he was being interview by Martin Geissler, I’m no fan of Geissler, but he did ask Swinney why he didn’t tax the rich more to get us through this cost of living in the union crisis, Swinney mumbled a few incoherent words then tried to change the subject.

    Its a bad f*ckin day when an establishment puppet like Geissler says the right thing whilst a supposedly left-of-centre SNP MSP tries to avoid doing the right thing, but then again the entire SNP has avoided doing the right things since Sturgeon the Judas became FM.

    More power to the Alba party.

  85. Johnny
    Ignored
    says:

    Mr Jones, why do you not go and ask Craig himself? In fact, if you did, I think you would see on his website that he does have a link to that festival of some kind.

    I don’t think that festival is an “indy thing” although I have never been to it, in fairness.

    So I cannot see why you would go onto someone else’s website and link the two.

  86. mikestand
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Stuart MacKay

    Well said Stuart.

  87. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    “The Scottish Parliament is not worth a fuck”

    Willie.

    Its not the parliament that’s not worth a f*ck its the people inside of it that aren’t worth one.

    We have BLIS, the Lib/Dems, the Tories all working to keep Scotland chained in this union and ergo severely damage our economy and life chances of our children, they put London’s interests ahead of their very ain folk.

    Then we have the SNP which under Sturgeon’s tenure has also morphed into a stay in the union party, and along with the Greens they are trying to tear apart the very fabric that holds Scottish society together namely the family unit, with their unwanted and unwelcome (by the majority) gender policies.

    So its not the parliament per se that’s the problem, its the people we elected to it that’s the real problem.

  88. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    Willie 7:54

    I have never supported the idea that if Scotland just waits long enough, every other country around it will fall to pieces, e.g. England, the USA, and we will miraculously be left standing and thriving.

    Two things wrong with that view IMO:

    1. It smacks of the “too wee, too poor” argument. It says that iScotland can’t make a go of it in the existing world order, but just you wait til everything is shit and then watch. So how long do we have to wait, and just how shit do things have to become?

    2. Meantime, while Scotland passively waits, gloating over the destruction of our “enemies”, we will continue to be enmeshed and entangled in the chains we are in now. Meaning that every economic and political UK downturn will impoverish and enfeeble us too.

    Scots Indy is about justice, not revenge.

    Post-Indy, I will be wishing England well. TBH, as they will continue to be our main trading partner, and our main ally in matters of defence, and a power 10 times our size stuck on this small island with us, it would be sheer real-world folly to wish them anything but.

    One other consideration. Which England do you think might be more willing to let energy and resource rich Scotland break free? A successful, flourishing, wealthy England? Or a failing, struggling, desperate, broke England?

  89. Stoker
    Ignored
    says:

    Ruby says to Andy Ellis on 17 December 2022 at 9:38 pm:

    “We were promised a referendum Sturgeon has failed to deliver wouldn’t it be better to call for her resignation instead of extolling the virtues of plebiscitary elections on a daily basis.”

    The trouble is, most of us believe there isn’t even a snowballs chance in hell of Sturgeon giving up her throne. She’s far too immature, selfish and an egotist to take that step and do what’s right for Scotland. Besides, her and Patrick Harvies’ Stonewall work is far from done.

    We will only get somewhere once we force a backlash on her. And the only way i see that happening is via a campaign to boycott Westminster general elections – threaten to put an end to her Westminster groups self-indulgent feeding frenzy at the Westminster trough.

    A well organised boycott Westminster campaign should trigger internal moves against her. Nothing grabs a politicians attention more than the threat of being made redundant, surplus to requirements. And if that doesn’t achieve its aim of shifting her &/or her approach we make it clear Holyrood is next.

    Unless someone comes up with ‘the dirty’ on her then i don’t see any other effective way of us, the public, taking control. It also bothers me that Salmond is supposed to have said that he could bring her down in a heartbeat, whenever he felt like it. Well, why isn’t he? And i’m afraid i’m not one who subscribes to principles theories on his part. This is politics and Sturgeon has sold Scotland out, and all for a ‘Perverts Permit’. Bring her down, Alex, give her the best Christmas present ever. 😉

  90. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    “They intent to hold the special independence emergency conference without the £20 Million. No plan B.”

    David Hannah.

    There’s no Plan B because in reality independence isn’t on the cards for the SNP, waiting a whopping two-years for the next GE to elect as many SNP MPs to Westminster is the Plan A, and Sturgeon will use the indy carrots to achieve that goal, the last eight years of broken promises and carrot dangling by Sturgeon on independence shows us her track record isn’t a good one when it comes to promoting the indy cause, basically independence is all about re-electing SNP MPs and MSPs, without the independence bit.

    Of course there’s a perfectly good Plan A that could see us out of the union next year, but Sturgeon has shot that plan down because its a perfectly viable one that would lead to Scotland ditching this rancid onesided union.

    As much as I loathe the Westminster establishment, in reality its not Westminster that’s keeping us chained in this prison of a union its the SNP.

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

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

  91. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    RoS 10:55

    Tax the “rich” in Scotland and many of them will move south.

    Simples.

    The law of diminishing returns with regard to tax increases in functioning democracies with freedom of movement is well known, well understood, and supported by ample real-world evidence.

  92. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    “Tax the “rich” in Scotland and many of them will move south.”

    John Main.

    And they would face just as high taxes South of the Border, Scotland is a low wage economy mainly due to being part of this prison of a union, I would venture that there’s not that many higher tax bracket folk in Scotland than say in England, so if they stay then fine if they go well, they go.

    We had all this shit before with RBS etc which was going to stick a plaque on a building somewhere down South if I recall right.

  93. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Why do 16 – 17 year olds support ‘trans rights’

    The simple explanation is because it’s trendy.

    Keep signing

    https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/628382

    Would be interesting to hear from people who don’t agree and are happy with the GRA2004.

  94. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    So its now every Sunday that we Scots are to be force feed English lower league football and Rugby on a “supposedly” Scottish channel STV. Its bad enough having to suffer the entire contents of another countries media output on your tv 24/7 without being force feed this foreign dross as well.

    When will Scots snap out of their 300+ year torpor?

  95. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    @Andy Ellis 10:52

    Defo some evidence that uni students don’t like to hear views at odds with the new fantasy-world orthodoxy.

    Then again, that could just be protective colouration, adopted for safety in their intolerant uni environment. Maybes in the solitude of the voting booth, they would think differently.

    And, of course, 16 & 17 YO’s generally aren’t at uni.

    So, point accepted. But my main point was that I am against kids of that age being given a say in anything important. And it doesn’t matter whether it might boost support for something I favour. My opposition is principled.

    And, of course, totally irrelevant. As is your opposition, or support, or the views of anybody else on here 🙂

  96. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    When Sturgeon announced her Supreme Court/defacto referendum plan, I responded by saying I don’t know what she’s up to but, whatever it is, it’ll make everything worse…

    Are we there yet? Not quite but we will be on the 20th of March — the day after the SNP conference which we all know will be rigged like everything else.

    Prediction Alert: the defacto referendum commitment will be ditched or watered down to nothing at that conference.

    The upshot of the Supreme Court ruling is that we aren’t even a colony. And that means we don’t have any rights or recourse to international law whatsoever. Thanks for that, Nicola.

    When Scotland finally comes out of the Sturgeon era, it will be further from independence than it has been in any of our lifetimes. That’s quite an achievement when you consider the crap we’ve been dragged through.

  97. Ebok
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart MacKay says:
    18 December, 2022 at 9:10 am

    ‘On the face of it that’s quite an encouraging statement’

    Stuart, ‘sounds good’ was meant to mock, not praise. I was just surprised Sheppard brought up the Claim of Right.
    The point was, it is just inconceivable that a two-bit operator like Swinney would pull a fast one over their WM contingent by pulling the plug on Indy less than a day later after MPs beating the war drums in HOC.

    The gullible are being played. On Weds, marched up to the top of the hill, on Thurs, marched down again.

  98. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    @John Main 11.30 am

    Although I see why some folk have an issue with giving 16 & 17 year olds the vote, on balance I think t is probably the right thing to do. Many in that age group are pretty clued up, and to be honest given the state of many folk in older age groups, I can’t see that they should be uniquely disqualified given that they are old enough to work, pay taxes and join up.

    As for students, ’twas ever thus…? I remember a fair few intolerant extremists back in the day when I was a student from both the right and left. I think there is more of an issue with cancel culture now, and folk keeping their heads down for fear of being pilloried, abused and worse. There is definitely more to be done in ensuring that freedom of speech is protected and maintained, and our universities have in general been derelict in their duties in that regard.

    I’d hope going forward that an independent Scotland will take a fairly high ground position on freedom of speech as a corner stone of our democracy and a new written constitution backed up by a strong, independent and non-political supreme court which can strike down unconstitutional laws along the lines of the US Supreme Court.

    If Alba has any sense it will emphasise the clear water between themselves and the other parties on gender-woo issues: hopefully as the general public wake up to the dangers of TRA extremism and a-scientific flat-eartherism, it will pay dividends at the polls.

  99. John Main
    Ignored
    says:

    RoS 11:26

    Sorry, I got the impression from your earlier post that you were in favour of Swinney increasing taxes in Scotland.

    Which is within the competence and capacity of HR, but has been ruled out on here for many reasons in the past.

    Still, desperate times, etc. etc.?

    I guess, then, you wanted Swinney to call for U.K. tax rates to go up. Seems like hardly any time since the autumn statement (mini budget) when U.K. taxes did exactly that.

    Incidentally, plenty of economic experts to be found stating that nobody has ever succeeded in taxing their way out of a world-wide recession. IMO, the idea that every problem can be simply solved by taking money from people we disapprove of and gifting it to people we approve of is best left to The Guardian BTL.

    They’ve had decades of practise to become experts at that.

  100. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Stoker says:
    18 December, 2022 at 11:11 am

    The trouble is, most of us believe there isn’t even a snowballs chance in hell of Sturgeon giving up her throne.

    How come people are so defeatist? Is it due to colonialism?

    This is for everyone feeling down & defeated:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0uTz7uur8I

    Boycotting GE great idea. I’m supporting that too.

  101. Andy Ellis
    Ignored
    says:

    Prediction Alert: the defacto referendum commitment will be ditched or watered down to nothing at that conference.

    Shall we file it with the “China will invade Taiwan by Christmas” prediction? Six days and counting now. Wouldn’t we be seeing some reports of all the preparations for the biggest invasion since 1945…?

    Wasn’t there another one about Sturgeon resigning or being ejected too?

    Perhaps you think that if you just make predictions all the time, however outlandish, one of them is bound to come true at some point?

  102. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:

    If Alba has any sense it will emphasise the clear water between themselves and the other parties on gender-woo issues: hopefully as the general public wake up to the dangers of TRA extremism and a-scientific flat-eartherism, it will pay dividends at the polls.

    Would that be by supporting
    ‘The Repeal of the Gender Recognition Act 2004’?

    If not then they will be the same as the other parties.

  103. Ruby
    Ignored
    says:

    Andy Ellis says:
    18 December, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    Prediction Alert: the defacto referendum commitment will be ditched or watered down to nothing at that conference.

    Shall we file it with the “China will invade Taiwan by Christmas” prediction?

    Please cut out the ‘fuckin playground shit’ Andy

    Thank you.

  104. Robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    STRANGER FAUX SCOTLAND

    The next NEXT being in March , when mad hares abound & which allegedly comes in like a lion n goes out like a lamb ( in my neck o the universe , it comes in like a Polar Bear n goes out like an Arctic Tern ) n’aw that , choosing that month to hold a * Conference * where they only ones conferring will be the NSNP Intellectual Colossi n it’s payroll automatons + assorted hingers-oan seems apposite .

    The Long March to March is oan , troops : so , shake off those Winter Blues n look forward to Springtime For The Witless

  105. john walsh
    Ignored
    says:

    Beware the aye’s of March

    We have been perfidiously stitched up by Sturgeon, her woohoo clique and the many carpetbaggers that are now in the NuSNP.
    She has frittered many oppertunities to confront WM and force a reaction. But the gradulists have turned her head. One of her former advisors on the Nine stated he would like independence tomorrow but that reality it might take 5,10, or fifteen years to get to that point. Is She waiting until the yoon OAP’s die off.

  106. Frank Waring
    Ignored
    says:

    @Andy Ellis says:
    “All that matters is persuading a majority of Scottish voters to vote for pro independence parties in plebiscitary elections. The opinions of the Westminster parliament, whilst interesting, would then be beside the point.”
    I think you missed the point that I was setting out the position as it exists in UK constitutional law. Within this framework, a change as drastic as changing the boundaries of the UK would certainly require to be enacted by the House of Commons (and by the government, since the government sets the agenda there). The First Minister insists that independence must come by what she calls a ‘legal’ route, and I think that it is generally agreed that what she means by this, is that it must be sanctioned by a process within UK constitutional law.
    My point is that, since the First Minister will only attempt to reach independence by a process which has a close-to-zero chance of succeeding, Scottish independence will not occur under her leadership.
    The only route to independence which has a chance of success, I think, is to proceed instead within the framework of international law: in other words — elect a representative assembly which will declare independence and establish a provisional government, which in turn will write an interim constitution and take it to the United Nations.

  107. paul
    Ignored
    says:

    Woudn’t be wonderful if every candidate had on their flyers:

    I am against scottish independence and I will do anything to defeat this

    I am for scottish independence and I will do anything to achieve this

  108. Maxxmacc
    Ignored
    says:

    As Lenin might say, “the best way to control the opposition is to lead it ourselves.”

    Anyone who thinks that NS isn’t being operated from London is sadly deluded, which would probably sum up most SNP members these days.



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