The opposite of intelligence
Yesterday we noted that rational people arrive at decisions about things based on the facts, not the personalities of who else might support or oppose those things. But in the interests of balance, allow us to present the counterpoint.
Yesterday the SNP’s defence spokesman at Westminster cited the position of French National Front leader Marine Le Pen when arguing with someone who suggested that an independent Scotland should leave NATO.
As it happens, we agree with McDonald on NATO membership. It would be a pointless folly and an exercise in self-destructive virtue-signalling to leave an organisation which is willing to defend Scotland militarily for free because of its strategic location, and it would be extremely unpopular with the Scottish public (including SNP voters), no matter how much those on the left might wish otherwise.
His reasoning above, however, is a wretched embarrassment.
McDonald, while very much on the right of the party, is typical of the SNP’s hyper-woke wing – a pious, puritanical fundamentalist completely intolerant of any dissenting view on any currently fashionable topic.
And as the woke are driven wholly by trends, it follows that they have no interest in facts and are all about personalities, whether it’s the cult of the leader or the merciless “cancelling” of those deemed unworthy.
McDonald’s view that “we can never, ever be on the same side as the National Front” sounds instinctively fine on first hearing. Who, after all, would want to be allied with a bunch of horrible racist thugs?
But the problem with an infantile policy of “whatever X is for, I’m against” becomes obvious after five seconds’ thought, and is twofold.
Because as someone on the thread pointed out, Le Pen’s party has, since 2017, been opposed to capital punishment:
And what that means is that if you’re also opposed to the death penalty, then whether you like it or not you’re on the same side as the French National Front. For his position to have any sort of logical consistency, McDonald would be obliged to start campaigning to bring back hanging.
(Typically, when challenged he insisted this wasn’t true, while failing to offer any sort of attempt at an argument to back up the assertion. It is, as with so many other aspects of the current SNP, a mindset terrifyingly reminiscent of “1984”.)
The second problem is flagged in the words “since 2017” above. Because what THAT means is that if the Front Nationale suddenly had an unlikely change of heart and became supportive of immigration, the SNP would have to start opposing it, because McDonald’s brainless student philosophy requires the SNP to reflexively position itself as the diametric opposite of the FN whatever the FN stands for on any given issue, and therefore to change whenever it changes.
(In other words, in effect Marine Le Pen gets to decide SNP policy.)
It’s a stance not fit for a primary school’s first ever debating society: “some people are just plain bad so we have to be whatever they’re not”. And we’re not misrepresenting McDonald’s views there – they’re his own unaltered words: we can NEVER, EVER be on the same side as Marine Le Pen.
No qualifiers, no exceptions, no “on this particular subject”, no “as long as she has this view”. Just NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, because she’s evil and he’s good and the two must never occupy the same space, like matter and anti-matter. If it turned out that she liked cheese’n’onion crisps, McDonald could never eat them again, because cheese’n’onion crisps would have just become fascist by association.
(Or less satirically, if she suddenly switched the FN over to a pro-NATO stance, then by McDonald’s logic the SNP would have to revert to opposing it, as it did until 2012. In fact, since McDonald despises this site, he really ought to oppose NATO membership simply on the grounds that we advocate it.)
We have no idea how such a pitiful intellectual void ever came to occupy a seat on the SNP’s front bench, other than perhaps as a box-ticking exercise. But if McDonald is representative of the party’s senior ranks then the independence movement really is in a lot of trouble in more ways than we can count.
A Guid New Year Stu.
Thanks for keeping up the good fight for iScotland, despite all the snash you’ve been bombarded with.
Isn’t he the SNP’s defence spokesperson at WM? and on the spook oversight committee for which he needed to be security vetted. What self respecting indy supporter would pass that?
How infantile, follow the logic and your “opponents” can control your policy decisions.
Happy new year all, ain’t 2020 been a beezer!!
All the best for 21, onwards and (let’s face it there really is no other direction!) upwards.
They probably put him up for it because he’s a young cleenskin.
Speaking of eejits, Alyn Smith’s just been on Radio 4 (World At One, I think) doing some quality avoid-the-question about Scottish independence.
The Bain Principle.
He is 100% unionist in my eyes and Mi5 candidate. Never been a Indy supporter, another Gravy train ticket season holder. Another who sides and castigated anyone who goes on RT as Commie sympathisers. Wasnt it Him, Robertson and another anal entity from SNP calling us Cybernats. Another deselected candidate in the future perhaps ?
Choose your enemy and then decide policy accordingly. Hence why the Rev can never say anything the SNP hierarchy can agree with.
No worries Derek, when I questioned who actually is gullible enough to believe Mrs Murrell`s Independence is coming garbage, I was put in my place by a SNP placeman who told me there would probably be a BIG announcement in the New Year regarding independence. Yeah, I can hardly wait. Will it be like the last one? And the one before that, and the one before that and the once before that and on and on and on …… !
SilverDarling as the saying goes.
Unless you are pissing people off, you ain`t doing it right.
I love to read the comments from the SNP attackdogs on FB having a go at Wings and the Rev. The hurt that shines through in their sad little posts would bring joy to the heart of a masochist.
Such simple things bring me so much pleasure.
I regard Mr McDonald as one of the worst, if not the worst, SNP MP. The dullest of the dull and the wokest of the woke.
newburghgowfer says:
” Another deselected candidate in the future perhaps ?”.
Well that’s one of my new year toasts sorted.:)
I have toasted for independence at the bells every year for over the last thirty years. Possibly I’m a jonah.
Wishing everyone independence in the new year.
Aptly titled thread for the day the SNP decided to arbitrarily extend everyone’s second vaccination from 3 weeks to 12 weeks against the advice of the manufacturer’s ..
Aktion_T4 after all…
link to mobile.twitter.com
Putin pisses,Trump pisses and back in the day Hitler pissed.
So no pissing for me!
Joking apart I am paraphrasing my favourite teacher who helped me sort the difference between straight and crooked thinking.
Have to disagree with your views on NATO membership – it doesn’t come for free, you have to spend a certain percentage of GDP on your military, although I believe not all NATO members have been doing so in recent years.
Ireland, that great comparison for indy supporters, is not in NATO and so hasn’t been dragged by the US and UK into conflicts it shouldn’t be in. And yet, surprisingly, non-nuclear Ireland hasn’t been invaded by the Russians since it gained independence. In fact, ironically, the only country that has invaded Ireland in it’s entire history as a country has been England, in the same way England has been the only country to have invaded Scotland.
Now some could argue that Ireland benefits from the NATO safety umbrella – the UK and US in particular could never allow the Russians to invade Ireland given Ireland’s strategic position, and I’m sure they would defend Ireland from any aggressors (as they would a more strategically placed non-NATO indy Scotland).
But Ireland hasn’t had to spend a “membership fee” on defence (they don’t have a single fighter jet), nor do they have US bases on their soil, unlike Scotland with the US nuclear bases, which could conceivably be a condition of continued NATO membership for an independent Scotland.
“Have to disagree with your views on NATO membership – it doesn’t come for free, you have to spend a certain percentage of GDP on your military, although I believe not all NATO members have been doing so in recent years.”
So, you DON’T have to, then?
The usual piss of virtual signalling from McDonald, like Smyth and Wishart and Blackford, Christ I could go on and add more useless SNP politicians names, they poke their bloody noses into affairs that don’t concern them then post tweets about them.
Incidentally on capital punishment I’ve read that the last guillotine execution in France took place in 1977, the same year Star Wars was released.
I usually hate the conspiracy geeks modus operandi.
But I’d be willing to go along with the theory that McDonald is a British Mi5 plant.
He worked really hard canvassing, leafletting etc at Cathcart Branch, and got himself into a prime candidature position by becoming James Dornan’s assistant (I’m not so sure Mr Dornan likes him anymore).
So, he’s cunning, and ambitious. What he’s not is very bright intellectually. I had discussions with him about NATO and all he did was pretty much say “It’s a good idea, and the Party likes it.” He hadn’t done any homework on the subject and had no response to any of the points I made. I’d be hoping that he has a good staff around him, because he doesn’t seem to have gotten any brighter or better informed. By the way, a reason that was given (privately) to me by another SNP official was that it was to make us more acceptable to the EU.
I’m still, on balance, opposed, but at least your argument (that it would provide essentially free defence cover) makes some sense. I’ll be thinking about that one.
Stewart isn’t in that post because he’s the best for the job. He’s in there because he’ll faithfully repeat any line he thinks will advance his career.
This is typical of an ongoing problem the SNP has.
They do not want to be seen to agree with their opponents, even when an argument makes sense. It is confrontational politics that became absurd this week with the Brexit vote.
McDonald just comes across as another fucking idiot who doesn’t have the first clue about political debate, and does more harm than good.
But there are plenty more like him on Twitter.
” McDonald, while very much on the right of the party, is typical of the SNP’s hyper-woke wing – a pious, puritanical fundamentalist completely intolerant of any dissenting view on any currently fashionable topic.” . It’s sentences like that which make WOS the much valued and respected site that it is , irrespective of what the Pollyannas and Panglosses elsewhere may say .Mer power tae yer elbow Stuart .
newburghgowfer @2.01pm.
Good comment, lets not forget also that the likes of Ian Blackford, Angus Robertson and Stewart Hosie, have been members of the Intelligence and Security Commission, posts you cannot hold unless the British PM vets you first.
link to isc.independent.gov.uk
What an idiot – definitely not fit to be a politician who generally manage to conduct themselves a tad less ridiculously – they’re not all bad.
When I think of him I think of the neo liberal, Clinton, global capitalist types. To them the SNP and indy is a host to infect so they can spread their keech around the world. Woke is one of their badges – particularly the gender woo woo stuff -lots of money to be made out of it. Stonewall? Big pharma?
Well they can feck off. The host has had enough of the tape worms and took its first dose of rectifying medicine when it voted in a better NEC.
Still the deluded are out there wandering around saying rubbish like, “Wings is toxic!”.
Shall we study that accusation?
Stu didn’t cost the Scottish tax payer over £500,000 by instigating an illegal case against the greatest politicians and indy activist of recent times. Stu didn’t promote self ID and The Hate crime bill that will be used to undermine the SNP come Holyrood in May. Stu didn’t actively promote nonentities with zero interest in Indy. Stu didn’t pressurise the police into hounding the aforementioned indy activist (Alex) plus Craig Murray and Mark Hirst which has cost us, the tax payer, over £10 million. Stu didn’t sneak into the SNP ring fenced indy fund and nick it. Stu didn’t attempt to block Joanna Cherry – one of our best MPs. Stu didn’t drop the ball on independence.
No – somebody else did – them and their closest cabal.
Meanwhile what has Stu been up to? He’s been Busting a gut for independence.
So you lurkers and deluded out there. Wise up. And if that wee rant hasn’t done it – perhaps the upcoming events in January will.
Cheers Stu – lang may yer lum reek!
“No qualifiers, no exceptions, no “on this particular subject”, no “as long as she has this view”. Just NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, because she’s evil and he’s good and the two must never occupy the same space, like matter and anti-matter.”
Indeed this IS an idiotic and wholly unthinking and un-thought-through position. But what else would we expect from McDonald. He’s poorly (barely) educated and not very bright -a science-denier – not to mention nasty with it.
But I think there is a bit more to it than his being pretty thick. He IS extremely right wing – and sits for a constituency in a city which, were his right-wing views more widely appreciated, would make him pretty unelectable.
So the best way to view his stated position of opposition to the Far Right NF – NO MATTER WHAT – is to see it as an attempt to distance himself from his own equally – if not more – Far RIGHT views.
It is a (futile and idiotic) attempt at disguise.
Only someone as idiotically thick as McDonald would think that people of ordinary unwoke intelligence would not be able to see through his cunning disguise!
@Robert Dickson
Same here but what makes it more likely with him is that he is so utterly inept and dim.
Any SNP representative and supporter of independence must be in favour of NATO. There are a number of reasons to be in it.
1)The simple rational is we have an uncivilised neighbor and no defense force for the next 5 years anyway. We need them to defend us.
2) We have a lot of NATO infrastructure, excluding them will make enemies unnecessarily.
3) The USA will see us as a communist enemy if we are not in it.
If he is against NATO he must be another plant! and this is supported by his clearance by the security services.
What a funny old world we live in, The UK security services approve of a person that is against their main defense policy, possibly because he is a dim jock.
If Heineken did Social Media, they wouldn’t let SNP use it.
Has that man left the big school?
He and Annie Wells must have sat on the same stool
with a D on their cone shaped hat.
No wonder Scotland is no nearer independence with imbeciles like this in office.
Terry @2.35pm.
Good comment, on the Salmond fit up, I recall Crag Murray mention that 22 Police Scotland officers searched for four years to find dirt on Salmond, at what cost to the Scottish taxpayer I might add.
68 more dead in Scotland as NS and the SNP follow the murderous English Tories off the proverbial cliff. The opposite of intelligence has infected the SNP it seems.
Bob Leslie says:
“I’m still, on balance, opposed, but at least your argument (that it would provide essentially free defence cover) makes some sense. I’ll be thinking about that one.”
So am I bob (still opposed to NATO) – it could be equally argued that, rather than proving ‘free’ defence cover (nothing is free in life) – it makes us a target – for whoever it is that NATO is supposed to defend us against.
Of course, NATO is not a defence organisation, it is there to encircle Russia – still the enemy in the Great Game of domination Eurasia.
Great piece Wings, thanks a million.
I’ve put down a few thoughts, but I’m not good at expressing what I mean. My apologies for such a long piece – it’s my old-year’s gift to myself:-)
This article by Wings is why I don’t join ‘traditional’ political parties. They have rigid hard and fast edicts and many Scots have been ‘Holy Willies’ since way before Burns wrote about ‘Holy Willies’. The problem of reconciling the individual with the whole in parliamentary and secular terms leads to inflexible machines, circumlocution offices, rigid rule-books and often-illogical moral stances. These issues create an increasing necessity for educated, thoughtful, personal and corporate controlled responsibility to seek to resolve the problems. Instead we have Governments all over the world involved in the ‘blame game’. Political parties have become large insurance companies and are expected to ‘guarantee’ a ‘secure’ outcome for people. On the one hand they ‘protect’ the rich elite whose parties rely on the political machine to keep them in the manner to which they have become accustomed. On the other hand the masses in poverty who have to be controlled and most Governments in the world accept that they need to be educated up to a certain standard in order to be able to keep them in check through various forms of media circuses.
No one person, party or system has the ‘right’ answer to everything and it seems obvious that any country worth its salt should seek to create individual citizens who have a balanced, rational and logical view of the person within the group which then becomes subsumed by the masses.
Educational systems throughout the world have been geared towards running industries and financial institutions rather than creating sustainable and humane societies. I have a belief that the study of Language and Philosophy should be considered to be vital as part of the school curriculum to help take the first step on the road to a thoughtful and flexible human race.
Life may be a gift from God, an experiment from a crowd of ‘beings’ somewhere in space, an happenstance of nature: it’s of total irrelevance.
What we are pales into insignificance when we consider how we should behave towards each other and to the planet which we are so lucky to inhabit.
He is an absolute arse! The sooner he loses his seat the better & a few others from the SNP can join him out the door.
I wonder if Le Pen likes cats and eats bread and meat?
Nothing to add here except Happy New Year to Stu and everyone who supports this site.
McDonald is another wrong-un. Seems the brits have agents in the SNP not surprising at all if you look at the behaviour of that party for the last 6 years.
It’s kinda strange but ie I do not like Piers Morgan I think he’s a wanker as do almost everyone I know however I have to admit grudgingly the way he’s dealt with Tory MP’s and some gender woo woo advocates on GMB recently has been superb and again most people I know agree,
What is very noticeable is when anyone talks about him it usually starts with “eh canna stand that Piers Morgan but…..”
I don’t mean to appear rude, but most of the people in the SNP leadership cabal and their woke-wing come across as having learning difficulties. I just don’t know if it’s deliberate or not!
MacDonald always strikes me as being an immature try hard.
Wants to be in the club, will follow willy nilly to be included – inclusive!
That’s what the buzzword is about! It’s for the silly willys, not us!
On NATO I’m not a fan of it, its remit is long gone, and its now just a self-appointed world police force for Western hegemony.
In saying that, NATO will afford Scotland some protection as an independent state, we are luckily, positioned at the base of an arc with Iceland at the top and Scotland at the bottom, in which NATO sees as gap in the defence of the Atlantic ocean.
So we’re in a strategic position and Scotland would be very welcome by NATO members, and the added protection from NATO is that no NATO member may attack another NATO member, though the Tories were contemplating sending warships to push out EU fishermen, mainly French in origin, another NATO member.
Mcdonald is the male version of Kirsty Blackman.
Click on the link below to see a picture and info of every SNP MP and MSP.
I looked into the eyes of every one of them and asked myself what they had done to help us regain our Independence.
Apart from Cherry, I struggled to pick any champions out.
That is both sad and sick.
link to snp.org
Maybe we should get Le Pen to come out against Scottish independence then maybe, just maybe, tbe likes of McDonald et al will support it.
Not holding my breath though.
He’s gonna be right mess if Le pen ever expresses support for Scottish independence… mibbie naw since the SNP are a bit lukewarm warm on the idea anyway
Hi Republicofscotland at 2:34 pm.
You typed,
“newburghgowfer @2.01pm.
Good comment, lets not forget also that the likes of Ian Blackford, Angus Robertson and Stewart Hosie, have been members of the Intelligence and Security Commission, posts you cannot hold unless the British PM vets you first.”
Through 2018/19, Stewart Hosie must have been the SNP MP who attended most pro-indy marches/rallies, as a Yes Biker.
I first saw him at the WOS stall at the Inverness rally in 2018 and I think he managed to attend most of the rallies in 2019.
He always seems to visit the WOS stall…
link to isc.independent.gov.uk
Didn’t mean to paste that last link…
I am ending the year with feelings of anger and rage.
Sturgeon is number one on my hate list.
Being stuck in this stinkin Union had to end, and the way Sturgeon has totally misread my feelings only goes to increase my anger against her.
It looks like the rebellion will have to come from those who are inside the camp.
So looking for a lot more action from Cherry and Co,,,AND hopefully s rejuvenated Alex Salmond.
A pic to go with my comment above.
link to twitter.com
“…[It is] pointless folly – an exercise in self-destructive virtue-signalling to leave an organisation which is willing to defend Scotland militarily for free…”Wings
Iffy justification to assert, if the Scottish public want NATO, or believe decades of propaganda in favour of NATO, no one should feel comfortable suggesting withdrawal from NATO, or demand NATO change its spots.
Who says NATO will defend Scotland for free? Free? Really? No taxes involved?
And exactly who is NATO defending us from?
I recall the days when 75% of the populace were implacably against independence, or at least, had no enthusiasm for it, until Alex Salmond demonstrated it necessary to Scotland’s progress, and the rest of us duly discovered where truth lay.
NATO was starved of its role when the USSR suggested, generously under Mikhail Gorbachev, NATO move back from his borders and do it in return for a united Germany. (The same Germany that tried to wipe out Russia twice.) More fool he, he did it on a nod and a handshake, not a signed treaty. The West saw to a united Germany and then moved more forces around Russia’s border.
Back then, NATO was a US-run intervention force. It is now an international, *global* US-run military interventionist force.
One obvious purpose of NATO today is to integrate a European security system into a US dominated system, you know, that US who had a sociopathic Trump in charge, and others before him, ready to press the red button on a whim, or a bad popularity poll.
When the USSR became Russia, no threat to the West, it has expanded, not contracted. Why is that? A new enemy on our doorstep?
The US wants to absorb or illiminate European hegemony, and NATO is a smart way of achieving that. Scotland wants back into the EU in some form or other; so, to advocate we do nothing about NATO expansion, just accept it because some poll says we like NATO, is to accept American goals. Is that now an SNP policy?
An early goal of NATO was to block European initiatives, the French in particular, hence De Gaulle’s profound – and justified – distrust of England as a serious member of the Common Market.
“Europe is no longer playing its proper role as a major actor in world affairs because it is not *violent enough.” Richard Haas. Financial Times
(‘Violent’, meaning Europe refuses to join the US in its violent military adventures for global domination.)
So, no, I personally do not want Scotland to be a member of NATO, but if it garners independence, then I’d want to see NATO hobbled, working for Europe, not the USA, a country that has shown by past examples it would sacrifice Scotland if it meant gaining political or trading advantage.
Tory far-right action to remove us from the EU suits US plans down-to-the-ground. It will be interesting to see how President Biden handles a balls high Boris and NATO alliance now that we know he likes Europe and he likes all things Celtic.
Northern Ireland and Gibraltar are getting to stay in europe.
Thanks Nicola.
Thank you Brian for your comment @3.42pm.
I have a fond memory of Hosie ripping I think it was Lord Robertson apart on why we need independence at a seminar, in, if I can recall correctly a college lecture room in Scotland, around 2012 I think.
UK’s ‘Integrity Initiative’ embraces clowns like McDonald:
link to rt.com
Derek @ 1.58pm
I heard those grotesque replies from the Daddy Bear Smith on Radio 4.
He was asked two straightforward questions and instead of saying yes, of course Scotland must become independent/hold a referendum in 2021, he prefaced each evasive answer with a great long sinister guffaw. It could have been a Yoon response it was so weird and lacking in enthusiasm and positivity.
He threw in some rubbish about not having brought his crystal ball with him, FFS.
There was far more sense and positivity from Prof Peter Hennessy, who was very much of the opinion that Scotland is likely to become independent before long.
With “friends” like the Daddy Bear, who needs Yoons?
They make it so easy sometimes. Hopin Le Pen is against whisky or my plans for tonight need revised.
Keep up the good work Rev. Cant be easy sometimes.
All the best to one & all.
One SNP MP I have a lot of respect for is Phillipa Whitford. She comes across very, very well on TV and speaks very eloquently and talks sense. I also admire Joanna Cherry greatly.
Greogor @3.55pm.
Its my opinion that they’ll always be an SNP MP more than willing to push the “Russia did it” narrative for Westminster. Only very recently Blackford compared the Chinese to Hitler, now here’s the crux of this matter, roughly at the same time Blackford was making powerful international enemies of Scotland, China and the EU were signing some sort of trade deal that’s taken seven years to thrash out, coincidence?
Grousebeater @3.50pm.
See my 3.33pm comment, I agree in part with your comment, as for Scotland after independence that is, not joining NATO, there are at least a half dozen EU member states that aren’t in the NATO alliance, Finland is the most obvious that comes to mind.
However I don’t think Finland has an aggressive warmongering state next door to it like Scotland does, so NATO membership will afford Scotland some protection there.
Just another dickhead swept into an SNP seat.
The old saw about putting a red rosette on a monkey is as true today for many a yellow rosette.
I unfollowed all SNP MPs and MSPs and blocked Sturgeon and Blackford content on Twitter. I’ve even had enough of Joanna Cherry and Angus MacNeil even though I have some respect for them.
I’m no longer interested in anything SNP politicians have to say and won’t be voting for Sturgeon and her unionist, wokist, devolutionist, colonialist colleagues.
Some of the countries within our population range who will be celebrating New Year as Independent Nations.
Nicaragua 6,071,045 0.08%
112 Kyrgyzstan 5,842,600 0.08%
113 Denmark 5,639,719 0.08%
114 Singapore 5,469,700 0.08%
115 Finland 5,462,939 0.08%
116 Slovakia 5,415,949 0.07%
117 Turkmenistan 5,307,000 0.07%
118 Norway 5,137,679 0.07%
119 Central African Republic 4,709,000 0.06%
120 Costa Rica 4,667,096 0.06%
121 Ireland 4,609,600 0.06%
122 Republic of the Congo 4,559,000 0.06%
123 Palestine 4,550,368 0.06%
124 New Zealand
“However I don’t think Finland has an aggressive warmongering state next door to it like Scotland does, so NATO membership will afford Scotland some protection there.” Republic of Scotland 4.13pm
I enjoyed that remark! Sardonic humour is always welcome.
If I thought better of our SNP MPs / MSPs I’d like to think they were reflecting on what they could or should have done this last year or 4. But am sure the reality is that cosy feet Pete is skulling some single malt and stuffing his face with grouse given to him from a landowner, daddy bear is busy hanging out with the Twitter youth team, mhairi black is still calling half the population‘Jeremy hunts’ oh how we laughed NOT!!! Meanwhile, mike Russell is trying to pull his book from Amazon( I didn’t write those words in my own book honest), Angus Robertson trying his best not to look like a carpetbagger, Ian Blackford blowing as hard as he can to squeeze out another ‘Scotland will not be taken out the EU against its will’. And then there’s all the skullduggery with the AS fit up, the accountant busy trying to make magic beans out of spent donations. Oooft what a year it’s been eh!!! Am sure there’s plenty to add to the list – feel free to add nothing beats a wee retrospective of our glorious SNP achievements.
Grouse Beater at 3:50 31 December has got it exactly right on NATO.
I was in favour of staying in NATO – just – although, instinctively, I would prefer it if it didn’t exist. It does and it is not going away any time soon, so that means that some accommodation has to be made or we campaign to get rid of it in the teeth of overwhelming odds. I think that, when we are independent, we will discover that many idealisms will have to go or be trimmed to the prevailing wind. That does not mean that we cannot retain our idealisms and, if ever the geopolitical climate changes and we are able to dismantle NATO and get rid of all nuclear weapons out of Europe, we shouldn’t do those things. Of course we should. It is just that the nature of human dealings is such that rigidity is not possible most of the time in politics, which is never more than the art of the possible.
In the GRA reform debate, for example, it must be possible for trans people to have an easier route to living in the gender of their choice, but it should not be possible to do so by bulldozing through women’s protected spaces and rights. The two – women’s rights and trans rights – are mutually exclusive if trans people (trans women) are not prepared to understand the limitations to their rights. They are the ones professing to be the sex they are patently not, by referring to it as ‘gender’, a societal construct, and it takes a very rigid mind indeed, to think that it is okay to take away someone else’s rights that actually attach to their sex – the sex (gender, in reality) that you claim as your own. That, just as much as refusing to see anyone else’s viewpoint no matter how abhorrent to you personally, betrays a total lack of basic human empathy which, in turn, betrays something very much darker underlying the surface.
In other words, you can believe that you believe in the rights of others, but still be a totalitarian when those rights in any way tailor your own and you refuse to acknowledge that you have obligations as well as privileges, and your obligations must, by implication, by sheer logic, be a brake on totality of rights/privileges.
Aye you just cant trump the Bain principle
I Suggest its RE-NAMED THE bam Principle
whatever they are for we are against
even if we agree with them we are agin it
and oh what a principled lot we are
Bain and Trump go pretty well in the one sentence dont they both fkn loony tunes logic just like some SNP MPs LOONY
Looking forward to Le Pen announcing that she believes the Earth is round.
On the lack of action from the SNP MP’s at Westminster, in defiance of Brexit and the refusal of Johnson to offer up an S30, the Sultan of Psephology Professor Curtice says that SNP MP’s could “Gum up” the Westminster machine making it difficult to function properly.
I won’t be holding my breath on Blackford and Co doing anything except belt out their usual tired old rhetoric.
@Republicofscotland says:
31 December, 2020 at 4:13 pm
Grousebeater @3.50pm.
“However I don’t think Finland has an aggressive warmongering state next door to it like Scotland does, so NATO membership will afford Scotland some protection there.”
Finland has been independent for just over a hundred years, and prior to that was occupied by Russia. Before that, it was occupied by Sweden. As far as I know, Norway hasn’t had a go…
There are always a few idiots who are inevitably going to call u a nazi for taking a principled stand, no matter what the issue. Never listen to the nutters, or else they win. Stay strong, stand tall, and passionately defend what you believe in.
Don’t let the fuckers get you down
@Republicofscotland says:
31 December, 2020 at 4:13 pm
“However I don’t think Finland has an aggressive warmongering state next door to it like Scotland does, so NATO membership will afford Scotland some protection there.”
Finland has been independent for just over a hundred years, and prior to that was occupied by Russia. Before that, it was occupied by Sweden. As far as I know, Norway hasn’t had a go…
I agree with Grouse Beater. Personally I wouldn’t like to see an independent Scotland join NATO. They sanction the possession/use of nuclear weapons and force nations to militarise.
People in here suggesting we don’t join NATO on indy have lost their minds Imho. Scotland should be in from day one.We should take same stance as Norway who were founding members of NATO.
Are you seriously suggesting we don’t have our own armed services? Christ, that’s really going to endear the current Scottish armed forces members to an independent Scotland. It’s bloody hard enough getting some onside now to support indy.To hear this will certainly cement a No vote for them and their families. That’s a lot of votes. People need jobs for starters and defending their “own country” comes 1st.
Get real
I am also for continuing NATO membership. Probably wouldn’t have advocated joining it in the first place, but by keeping the Faslane nuclear base open we will be able to hold so much sway not just over England but over the organisation. Little countries like Iceland benefit hugely from geographical location, and I think using that to our advantage is better for the economy of our nation.
Faslane creates jobs and wealth for the local economy, and socialists don’t care about this. I also think using our geography could really help the economy in other ways, for example as a hub for cross continental flights and trade, like Hong Kong and Singapore
@Republicofscotland
I understand where you are coming from re. MP’s ‘keeping up appearances’, however, Macdonald was positively lauding UK Gov’s junk ‘Intelligence and Security Committee Russia Report’ over social media, which includes UK Gov ‘expert external witnesses’ such as completely discredited and extremely conflicted Christopher Steele, et al.
Considering the available growing evidence (being actively suppressed by mainstream media, on an industrial scale), as far as I’m concerned, Christopher Steele is a key Actor in a coordinated rogue deep-state criminal coup/illegal surveillance campaign against a duly elected US president/its campaign/certain journalists, and despite what politically rotten MSM/Big Tech partner portrays, is perceived by many as one of the greatest, most despicable high crimes in modern history (President Trump, or not).
I don’t want SNP to have any such association/s (just my opinion, like we are all entitled to – at present…).
link to theguardian.com
link to justthenews.com
link to justthenews.com
link to taibbi.substack.com
Did not MacDonald complain to the speaker of the house because a 80 odd year old man (Dennis Skinner) swore at him.
I’ve always thought Mike Russell was one of the good guys in Holyrood and I have had my opinion confirmed by a completely brilliant speech he gave yesterday, demolishing the Tories and their Brexit failures and looking to an independent future.
Check it out on the parliamentary website or the National website. You won’t be disappointed.
Robert Dickson @2:25
“But I’d be willing to go along with the theory that McDonald is a British MI5 plant.”
Aye could be. Although he seems more of a vegetable than a plant.
link to facebook.com
Pity this was missed by all U.K. Media outlets?
I hear it even made North Korean TV headlines?
@Fireproofjim
Indeed. High quality hot air. Oh, and Nicola Sturgeon says to “toerays” have betrayed Scotland. Irony bypass methinks.
‘Always a European’: Stanley Johnson applies for French passport on Brexit eve!
Oh, and Iain Blackford should take up the tuba.
Nigel Farage: two of my children have German passports
link to quora.com
to = the, obviously
Rats who steered the sinking Brexit ship are deserting it fast
Former Labour timeserver MP Tom Clarke has been knighted in the New Year honours.
NATO membership.
EU membership.
Two separate referendums to be held AFTER we become an Independent Nation.
We are putting the cart before the he horse AGAIN.
At the moment our aim is to win our right to hold indyRef2.
All else is put on back burner.
WELL IT’S GOODNIGHT FROM HIM
all the best to all you reprobates
And in the words of Mel Gibson
New Year New start
Maybe just Maybe
Night all take care
Here we are again proving there is no consensus ad idem in the SNP. Not exactly a great motive to create cohesion with the Scottish public at large. Again I reiterate unless all of Scotland’s population comes together as a whole and claims independence from Westminster we will continually take it up the arse I guarantee this. No to nuclear arms and no to NATO,
Contradiction: here we are clambering incompetently to get out of a gang of 4 and join a gang of 27!
Remind me why we are desperate to leave Westminster and the U.K.?
Derek@ 4.38pm.
Thank you Derek for that information
@Laing french
This is not an SNP site. What the SNP squabble about has no bearing post Independence. They’ll hopefully not exist and a more representative range of views will be on offer.
All Unions are not the same. Each will be judged on its merits and if the Scottish people don’t want to join NATO so be it.
“Effijy says:
31 December, 2020 at 5:09 pm
Nigel Farage: two of my children have German passports”
Effijy.
Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has applied for a French passport.
In 2019 Stewart McDonald was awarded the Third Class Order of Merit of the Ukraine.
Fourth Class must be reserved for particularly egregious thickos.
Still, nae bad for a guy whose most notable job before politics was being a holiday rep in Tenerife.
East London Hospital admits to being in Disaster Medicine mode!
English Schools announce the Tory plan to test all pupils regularly is
Impossible to implement. No resource, No skills and No time to do it.
UK import/exporters declare Brexit deal a disaster.
Are you better together or are you bitter and tethered?
O/T
Was looking through FIFA World Cup stats.
And noticed Uruguay won the world cup in 1930 and 1950 and finished fourth in 1970 and 2010.
With a population of 3.5 Million.
And Croatia finished 3rd in 1998 and 2nd in 2018.
With a population of 4.1 Million.
Just a couple of examples of Nations who don’t seem to be listening to the “too wee” message.
Right enough, their next door neighbour isnae the fuckin english, who through the state run media run Scotland down on a daily basis, phycologically abusing Scots is an accepted part of life (by a majority of Scots)
Oh, is Stewart MacDonald still in the SNP, thought he may have been suspended for antisemitism by now…
link to wingsoverscotland.com
I’ll wish all the best to everyone for the New Year now, in case my imminent foray into Belgium Duvel 8.5% “beer” renders me comatose, which the way things have panned out doesn’t seem like too bad a state to be in.
Apologies Effijy, I see you mentioned Stanley Johnson.
Meanwhile there were 981 deaths in the last 24 hours from the virus in the UK, I think 68 were in Scotland with just over 50,000 new cases again, I think around 2,600 were from Scotland.
link to news.sky.com
Congratulations Boris and the Tories.
A record 56,000 new Covid cases and just under
1,000 Covid deaths in only 24 hours.
Where would we be without such a skilled government?
And coming up on the rails at the Covid handicap is Boris’s Boys
looking to regain their previous held lead.
Will be able to retain his title for having the worst Covid Death rate in Europe.
There could be a Bar Stewards enquiry after this one!
Kapelmeister @5.37pm
Yes McDonald has taken an anti Russian stance, he’s doing Westminster’s dirty work for them, we didn’t send him down to Westminster to do their bidding we sent him down to do our bidding.
link to theyworkforyou.com
There is no such thing as left/right in politics, just cometh the hour, cometh the policy.
link to en.m.wikipedia.org
And Bismarck was certainly not everyone’s cup of ‘progressive’ tea.
The Nazis remember were National Socialists, Goebbels was a former Communist blah, blah…and as for Benito, but capital has such seductive allure.
Eugenics was a liberal, think Fabians & Marie Stopes, not Nazi construct.
Nice Social Dem. Sweden did a good job in that area well into the sixties.
Bill and Melinda still carry the race purity banner. Just lovd the rainbow motif!
OMG, if only things were simpler?
The Art of War by Sun Tzu is read by business leaders and politicians as it provides strategic ideas.
I think the SNP have been reading Hong Kong Phooey
The Scotsman Newspaper News
link to twitter.com
Happy New year to all Wingers, lurkers and Stu, for when it arrives – I hope 2021 is a successful year for all. Thank you for all your opinions and information over the past year, and Stu for hosting one of the last bastions of (near enough
) free speech.
Don’t normally disagree with you but I will be voting for a party after independence that will not join NATO and will determine to spend the same level as Ireland thus saving over 2.5 billion a year. When was Ireland last invaded?
Would accept it perhaps should be subject to a referendum actually but as far as I am concerned 2% of GDP is money badly spent.
“be voting for a party after independence that will not join NATO and will determine to spend the same level as Ireland thus saving over 2.5 billion a year. When was Ireland last invaded?”
You can do whatever you like after independence, mate.
“But I’d be willing to go along with the theory that McDonald is a British MI5 plant.”
He certainly parrots the UK state narrative, probably with guidance from Neal R Stewart, who was(is?) an advisor to the SNP parliamentary group and also a briefer at Integrity Initiative, the propaganda mill run by military officers and covertly funded by the British Foreign Office to cultivate public opinion in support of heightened conflict with Russia.
Happy New Year to Stu and all folk who read WoS.
We’re going into the unkown as of midnight, hopefully we see the back of Sturgeon, and Murrell, then we can get the gloves off.
On balance, I’d agree with staying in NATO as it’s one less battle to fight.
See everyone on the other side
Can we have a coffin draped in an EU flag at the bells please. 2021 marks one of the worst periods in Scottish history.
We have been made to look impotent by our English masters. Our leader is silent in what is a truly dreadful act of national sabotage.
2021 shove it. If she doesn’t immediately declare the May election a referendum. Then it’s over. We are all fucked.
We will become English forever more.
Roland. I also agree. I am against NATO membership.
Ach, it’s shite being human with nae socialising due to covid…
The Boston Dynamics robots have a freakin party going on!
link to youtube.com
Meanwhile a vanishingly small number of the 1600 people a day who die have died of a the flu.
Just cant see indy happening with this lot in charge
Roland Smith
Ireland is not in NATO because it doesn’t need to be.Both strategically and because of it’s long stance on neutrality, 1930’s me thinks. Probably cause they fed up from wars with the British.
They’re a long way from North Britain and if any foreign invader(like the Soviets)got that far south,they know their fucked anyhow. They hate the Soviets just so you know, just as much as the Brits.
Don’t need to be because Norway and Britain is and because we’re still part of UK ,we are too.
If you don’t want to spend 2% of GDP on defence as part of NATO and another 2% spent building our own then, what do you want to spend it on – sweeties?
I feel very sad for Scotland tonight.Bad enough having Hogmanay with each family alone at home but knowing that the bells ring Scotland out of the EU, against the democratically expressed wishes of the Scots, must be very hard to take on board.
Here is a message for Scotland from the Irish 1803 Proclamation of Independence
“To THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND
You are now called on to shew to the world that you are competent to take your place among nations, that you have a right to claim their recognizance of you, as an independent country, by the only satisfactory proof you can furnish of your capability of maintaining your independence, your wresting it from England with your own hands”.
With all best wishes for every success in the endeavour!
And a Happy 2021 to all
Happy 2021 everyone, when it comes.,
On behalf of the 62%, thanks SNP. Thanks a lot.
It’s essential we allow rendition flights at Prestwick to enable our NATO allies to torture prisoners.
This won’t cost us a penny, will be absolutely “free”, cheap as chips apparently.
@AYRSHIRE ROB, have you forgotten to take your meds today? You’re claim that not being in NATO equals no armed forces is absolute nonsense – Ireland has armed forces, they just don’t take part in war games orchestrated by the US. And Irish forces serve in the UN Peacekeeping forces thus doing something good with their armed forces instead of being dragged into US/UK conflicts.
And your comment that Ireland is “a long way from North Britain” is also nonsense – by air it’s barely over an hour and by sea less than a day. Given that North Britain (is that a unionist I see before me?) is much further from Russia than Northern Scotland is from Ireland, I think we’d have some notice of an impending Russian invasion. Besides, the Cold War propaganda is over (I think you’re giving your age away there), Russia was never interested in invading other countries, unlike the UK and US, it was only interested in creating a buffer zone to prevent invasion by the West – the USSR’s entire armed forces policy was based on their response to an attack, never a first strike attack, unlike the US considered a first strike attack to destroy the USSR.
And your final comment is the icing on the cake “If you don’t want to spend 2% of GDP on defence as part of NATO and another 2% spent building our own then, what do you want to spend it on – sweeties?” How about health, education, housing, social services, infrastructure, investment fund, etc? Not that we’d be talking about the full 2% mind you, but if even if a non-NATO Scotland chose to spend some of that 2% on something else (though there’s nothing to prevent it spending it all on defence anyway) it’d be to the benefit of the Scottish population and not arms manufacturers. Unless you are already living in a fully-funded perfect Scotland and don’t see any underfunding anywhere?
It’s not a surprise how many comments above have ignored Ireland because for NATO supporters it’s the huge elephant in the room regarding an independent Scotland, closely followed by Finland, which as mentioned above borders Russia and yet, curiously, doesn’t feel the need to be a NATO member.
Roland Smith says:
31 December, 2020 at 6:16 pm
When was Ireland last invaded?
Would accept it perhaps should be
Bit harsh, no? ??
*Your claim, not You’re claim
The cats aren’t WOKE, mkay! They are either completely deluded diddies, or self-serving crooks. Woke theory does not reject medical philosophy and bio-ethics.
Science identity as a landscape of becoming: rethinking recognition and emotions through an intersectionality lens
link to link.springer.com
“In this conceptual paper, I put forward an argument about the conceptualization of science identity as a landscape of becoming by placing emphasis on recognition and emotions, as core features of identity, through an intersectionality lens. These constructs intertwined, I argue, can give meaning to the process of becoming a science person or forming a science identity, and at the same time shed light on issues related to power, inequality, racism, and exclusion.
In the context of these bigger issues, I argue that forming a science identity is not only personal, but also political. The need for intersectionality as a conceptual framework for studying science identity is underscored by the dearth of theory and empirical evidence that addresses classroom inequalities, as well as the multiple and interlocking influence of systems of privilege and oppression in science, such as racism and sexism.
Recognition, which refers to how individuals are recognized by others as certain kinds of people, is an ineradicable part of our social world; it is bound within sociopolitical contexts and tied to specific cultural norms, values, beliefs, and stereotypes. Hence, recognition becomes of paramount importance in science identity research. However, critical questions still remain unanswered, such as who is allowed in the world of science and who is recognized as a science person in specific contexts?
Directly linked to recognition, I argue, are different types of emotions which can offer a valuable lens for studying inequalities within the process of forming a science identity. What this means for science identity research is how important it is to explore the emotionality of science identity given that emotions are not just dialectically related but inextricably bound with (mis)recognition as well as with various systems of oppression.”
@ Ben Madigan:
Poignant and slightly sad but thank you for making that point.
While my Xmas family group are all counting their blessings, being positive tonight it took your observation that the bells ring out not in defiance but defeat for our democracy here.
Maybe just one setback on the road, I don’t know.
It’s as if Brexit and the consequences must not be discussed; that to speak of it is heretical.
Head in sand approach is almost normal in some circles.
I despair, Ben.
But you’ve reminded us that others have chosen their future, as the Irish did before us.
Again, thanks for reminding us.
I wonder for whom the bells toll this night?
@Ottomanboi (12.17, previous thread) –
Thanks for the link.
Powerful stuff – hopefully some of the resident lockdown fans will make an effort to watch it.
link to corbettreport.com
Giesabrek Dont know where you get by sea Ireland is less than a day, You do it in less than an hour or 12 return trips a day!
I can see Eire from Arran.
Once i was at the car park of the Giants Causeway in Antrim , i was closer to my home on Arran than Belfast. Kintyre to Antrim is around 25 Miles, Less than an hour by rib.
Ian Brotherhood
Lock-down is shite, but you pose a threat to public health if you oppose mass vaccination as a means of curbing a pandemic. It’s as simple as that.
I never said Ireland doesn’t have armed services dim wit. They have a limited defense force.Scotland is in North Britain and if you don’t know the strategic importance of Scotland and Norway in the NATO alliance then no point in talking to you.
Ireland has no fighter jets, no early warning systems ,no
Is McDonald the cowardly maggot who scurried away to hide when Tommy Robinson went to Glasgow to confront him for saying that he (TR) should never be invited to have dinner at the HOC (by a UKip guy, I think) because he (TR) is a fascist or something like that?
I remember watching it on TV and wondering why McDonald was so upset at TR being invited to the HOC, as if it was only a place for ‘honourable people’
I’m sure this is the same cowardly creep who scurried of down the corridor like a scared rat when confronted by Robinson.
@CamB –
I thought we’d agreed, months ago, to ignore one another’s comments?
I’ve had no trouble adhering to that agreement.
Please resume doing likewise.
Ian Brotherhood
Solid, unlike your judgement.
We’re Not All in This Together: On COVID-19, Intersectionality, and Structural Inequality
link to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Bob Dylans ‘False Prophet’ cover picture paints the words.
His CBS 60 minute interview has the confession in his own actual words. This is not metaphorical.
If you know this and take the Vax – you get what you deserve.
They communicate in symbols and numbers – always have.
Bob Dylan was an immature, angry, untalented buffon of a boy right up until he made his decision. Now he serves.
I’ve been asked to post this by the former ‘Friends of WOS stall’ organiser, Ronnie Anderson.
“To all the Genuine Wingers have a Guid New Year hopefully we’ll have a get together in a few month’s time Stay safe & look after your selves & your Families ??
To Rev Stuart Campbell
May Auld Acquaintances be Forgot ?”
The “??” was a love heart and the “?” was a smiley.
I’ve at least a modicum of professional insight into crises management, public health management, and relational law. I’m also trained in the public communication of medical science, but apparently that doesn’t count for much with some.
Beyond sex and gender analysis: an intersectional view of
the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and response
link to qmul.ac.uk
To all past, present and future WINGERS have a Healthy , Happy and Prosperous 2021
The BETRAYERS will be held to account and face the music , we WILL be independent
Last rant of the year.
How Ironic it is that poor wee stupid NZ without the English Tories fuckin broad shoulders to support them can bring in Hogmanay yet us Scots have to sit at hame and shield/self isolate or quarantine. My nieces husband has to quarantine because some naw voting cunt that he works with tested positive to the English Tory plague yesterday. My anger at the SNP and those who voted Naw in 2014 grows by the second.
Shouldn’t Stewart now merit an entry on the thickos list Rev?
What is The Great Barrington Declaration?
Current signatories:
‘Concerned Citizens’ : 712,344
‘Medical & Public Health Scientists’ : 13,083
‘Medical Practitioners’ : 39,544
If you would like to add your signature and/or spread the link, please go here:
link to gbdeclaration.org
Well, as the auld year hobbles off to a close it’s good bye to all that and hello to the brawling bairn of 2021.
Best wishes to you all for the new year, I hope it’s kind to you.
“The Great Barrington Declaration” was procured by far-right science deniers. Anyone punting it in evidence of anything other than their ignorance, is in for a rude awakening.
link to jfsdigital.org
“Causal Layered Analysis is a critical part of futures education because it helps students deepen their understanding of controversial issues. However, critical thinking about the future is new and challenging to most students. This study will examine how the analytical framework of intersectionality can provide a structure to help students use Causal Layered Analysis.
“Intersectionality” interprets how different social identities and/or social problems are interrelated; as such, it encourages students to consider more evidence about issues, make connections between different pieces of information, and envision solutions to complex problems.”
Gibraltar votes to Remain-stays in.
N.Ireland votes to Remain-stays in.
Scotland..GET BACK IN YOUR BOX!
Posted about the change in procedural timings of the Pfizer vaccine 2nd dose yesterday.
Should Scot “Gov” stick to the original guidance the delivery license was granted for on the basis that health is devolved, rather than following the changed UK line.
link to twitter.com
To the Rev and all Wingers (except the Trolls, pretend wingers and other assorted plonkers/disrupters) may I wish you all the very best for 2021.
A very happy New Year and the courage to take the fight for Scotlands right to rule itself to success.
In a few minutes time the transition period ends and the final break is there. The UK actually left the EU on the 31 Jan. 2020 and for most of you, your EU Citizenship ended.
But not for me.
On the 31 January 2020 I gave in my application for German Citizenship. 14 hrs before the deadline.
On the 13 July I swore to uphold the Constitution of Germany and received my certificate.
Boris didn’t get me..
Remember, I’m a bit of a critical woke bloke, so I’m certainly not punting a state-ist agenda. I simply appreciate the legal need to resit ideology born out of undervaluing ethical science. Happy New Year, btw.
COVID-19, Authoritarianism Vs. Democracy: What the Epidemic Reveals about the Orientalism of our Categories of Thought
link to sciencespo.fr
I used to be an EU Citizen.
I used to be an SNP supporter.
Yes, the two are connected.
Fireworks here in NL, and I feel gutted. Hny, wingers.
Heading to bed with a cup of tea soon (how times have changed) but wanted to wish each and everyone of you a happier, safe and peaceful 2021.
All the best folks
Almost 2021… thank fuck for that
Hope next year goes better than this one did…
Aye Stewart McDonald my bloody MP, utter charlatan, waste of space,wish he’d stayed on the cruise ships. Acht let’s be honest we live in a shitty wee country, aye the scenery is fabulous BUT that’s window dressing.
Have you seen the recent drug deaths’ figures?’
Well done, camB, holding the line against the flat-earth cuckoo brigade science-denying crackpot cultists… as if it’s not hard enough trying to buy tinfoil at this time of year.
I still don’t really know what any of them actually think about the vaccine. They just keep posting links without saying anything.
I suspect when the time comes most of them will roll their sleeves up. But shhhhhhhhh…
Anyway, I think we should surgically remove the legs of people that don’t take the vaccine. Not to stop it spreading or anything, just to piss them off.
Patrick Rogen “ Is McDonald the cowardly maggot who scurried away to hide when Tommy Robinson went to Glasgow to confront him…”
Yes. There’s a video of it on YouTube. McDonald was doing his surgery in the library and got the cops to give him a lift afterwards so that he didn’t need to face Robinson outside.
The prognosis is not good, unless the SNP pampered elite and its ‘accommodation with colonialism’ are removed:
“This fight for democracy against the oppression of mankind will slowly leave the confusion of neo-liberal universalism to emerge, sometimes laboriously, as a claim to nationhood. It so happens that the unpreparedness of the educated classes, the lack of practical links between them and the mass of the people, their laziness, and, let it be said, their cowardice at the decisive moment of the struggle will give rise to tragic mishaps.” (Fanon 1967).
Wishing all wingers a Healthy and Safe New Year.
An Independent Scotland is comin’ fir a’ that…
Then let us pray that come it may,
As come it will for a’ that,
That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth
Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that.
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s comin yet for a’ that,
That Scots to Man the warld o’er
Shall Independent be for a’ that.
( with apologies to Rabbie Burns)
Happy new year Stuart to Wings and everyone here.
Stu and all Wingers, wishing you all A Very Happy New Year.
We can only hope that 2021 will be an improvement and that movement towads indy is rapid and relentless.
Will there be an announcement after the bells or later during the day?
Happy new year stu and all wingers and yessers for Scotland.
What a miserable fricken year,
think next six months will be worse with Brexit and the English strain,
thanks No voters,
anyhoo, Happy New Year.
Not lost my eu citizenship today thanks to my Irish granddad. God bless you gramps and thanks for your legacy.
I might be eligible now to vote for sinn fein, at least more principles in their little finger than that shower of pretenders in holyrood and westminster.
I completely agree. However Stockholm Syndrome is rife in our motherland.
Time will adjust that but I fear as to how little time we have left.
England is a hostile state. Who knew.
I’m not doing the Happy New year thing this year. No offence to anyone, but it’s an empty gesture. We are all feeling gutted.
I don’t think anyone on here is really looking forward to the early days of Brexit. Or Nicola getting another mandate to fanny about for 5 years.
It’s shit and things will get worse this year.
Boaby @ 12.19
There’s a lot to be said for parental descent, tho a bit too late to correct the tragic error of a residence-based franchise. Many more of us may join you, especially if thon mankit SNP unionist slump isnae suiked oot, swift lyke.
I have an Irish Surname. Alas all my grandparents were born in Scotland. So no chance for an Irish passport.
I wouldn’t hesitate to renounce my British citizenship. I would have done that at birth to be honest.
Happy New Year to all “Wings over Scotland” folks. Love this website. Thank you Stuart again for all you do. Happy Hogmanay and Happy New Year when it comes.
Happy New Year Mr Wings. May 2021 prove to be the year you come home.
Thanks for everything
Though next year’s field of engagement hasn’t yet yet come into full view, there are almost certainly tough times ahead for those who support Scotland’s democracy. That does not mean there isn’t hope though, or the means to emancipate ourselves from Westminster’s cultural chauvinism. But only if we prevent those who clearly don’t understand WOKE theory, from destroying the potential for social emancipation offered by post-colonial theory and cognitive law.
Intersectionality: Engaging the Epistemology of
Leadership Theory
link to aura.antioch.edu
“This dissertation investigates the potential of linking intersectionality and leadership theories utilizing a theoretical bricolage research strategy. In order to explore a theoretical merger between these two disparate disciples warrants a preliminary understanding of how the production of knowledge has constructed a long-standing epistemic bias against marginalized perspectives.
This analysis will seek to illustrate how androcentrism pervades the corpus of intellectual thought and the resulting impact which extends beyond the traditional canon of epistemology to the field of leadership. Intrinsic to this analysis will be an exploration of social identity and how it interacts with larger social environmental factors such as power, privilege, and the nominal integration of intersectionality within leadership studies.
This level of analysis will be used to construct a conceptual framework connecting the constructs of complexity, interdisciplinarity, epistemology, and oppression. Beyond exploring this theoretical merger, this examination will consider how an intersectional understanding of identity development can expand the epistemology of leadership theory. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, link to aura.antioch.edu and OhioLINK ETD Center, link to etd.ohiolink.edu“
I’m not looking for accolade but it would be nice if some folk recognised I might actually have a valid point of view that is informed through academia, not ‘alternative media’. Er….
This is what critical post-colonial theory looks like in action, btw.
Decolonizing gender and education research:
unsettling and recasting feminist knowledges,
power and research practices
link to tandfonline.com
Happy new year to you, CameronB.
And the good work you do here is appreciated. It’s not for everybody obviously, but neither is ambrosia.
Ah the British defense minister speaks again
I’m guessing you don’t espouse Lincoln when he said: “Do I not conquer my enemies when I make them my friends?”
As is now common on this ever more irrelevant & somewhat amusing site, Campbell’s analysis is logically flawed & no, I won’t explain why. If you can’t see it for yourself go buy The Ladybird Book of Logic. Oh, & don’t forget to read it as well as looking at the pretty pictures.
Rabbie Burns
Here’s freedom to them that wad read,
Here’s freedom to them that wad write!
There’s nane ever fear’d that the truth should be heard,
But they whom the truth would indite.
@ Robert Moore at 9.42am
If this site is ever more irrelevant then why are you reading it and expending your time posting on it.
FYI in the scheme of things there are less relevant sites out there…
link to twitter.com
@Dan
Your post is fallacious
Contextomy. Look it up.
You missed quoting the part of my post as follows:- “somewhat amusing”
Care to knock the logic out of this, or are you simply hear to stir and pose?
Enacting Critical Citizenship: An Intersectional
Approach to Global Citizenship Education
link to mdpi.com
sorry…simply HERE, doh.
Intersectionality as a Regulative Ideal
link to quod.lib.umich.edu
Dan says:
31 December, 2020 at 5:42 pm
“….I’ll wish all the best to everyone for the New Year now, in case my imminent foray into Belgium Duvel 8.5% “beer” renders me comatose, which the way things have panned out doesn’t seem like too bad a state to be in.”
Dan – good choice, Duvel is exceptional. How’s the head today? I’m sure you already know this – it’s based on strong Scottish ale; the Moortgat family wanted a strong pale beer similar in strength. On tasting the first attempt one of the brewers exclaimed “this is a devil of a brew!” Hence the Vlaams for devil, ‘Duvel’, and it’s still fermenting in the bottle so the longer you keep it….
If you like dark beer check out Kasteel Bruin at a mere 11% it is also awesome lol. Happy New Year.
Happy New Year
The world has changed and continues to do so, it’s either unipolarity, globalism, woke agendas via the Anglo Empire or multipolarity as advanced by China,Russia and most of Eurasia, Africa & South America, thems the choices. Those advocating multipolarity believe in sovereign states being equal under international law whilst unipolarity is Washington/London top down control. German industry is hanging out to get involved in the new silk road, BRI economic initiatives, the largest project in the known history of the world, but can’t because the US controlled EU doesn’t allow it due to US sanctions on Russia. Elections in Germany later this year too and Merkel’s over and out. I’d be very wary of joining NATO and would rather we were part of the Non Aligned Movement of countries working for peace, balance and harmony, like charity it begins at home.
Cameron Brodie mass enforced vaccination would be a crime against humanity. Please stop shilling for Bill Gates.
Republicofscotland says:
31 December, 2020 at 4:13 pm
“However I don’t think Finland has an aggressive warmongering state next door to it like Scotland does”
Displaying your ignorance of Finnish history there. Finland fought 3 wars against an aggressive warmongering Soviet Union or their proxies
– in 1918 against Bolshevik-armed and -supported Red Guards who had seized Helsinki in a coup
– in 1939-40 against the SU’s attempted conquest of Finland
– in 1941-44 following unrelenting pressure from the SU in the year following the 1940 peace treaty and the Soviet bombing of Finnish cities
Having already fought the SU/Russia 3 times in Finland’s history the Finns have no desire to do so again. Finland has maintained strict neutrality since 1945. To join NATO would be to abandon neutrality and be seen by Moscow as hostile to Russia. In Finland’s position it’s not smart to poke the Bear. That’s why they haven’t joined NATO and aren’t likely to.