The ordinary voter
Posted on
January 06, 2018 by
Chris Cairns
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A tall tale
Wee Books
Video
Probably a robbery
Transphobia
I say, nice badge.
Me thinks he has a thistle up his arse
kangaroo , methinks he certainly should have!
…and that’s just my second holiday home.
Spot on as usual Chris. A typical ‘grassroots’ Scotland in Union Toff.
Oh, belated Happy New Year greetings Chris.
Those who can do. Those who can’t join Unionist Parties, especially in Scotland.
Those who own lots of land in Scotland. Many of them are in debt. . They mortgage the land to the banks to get a (substantial?) income, That’s why a land tax might not work. It might help landowners. The price of land could/would go up. Put up the prices for everyone else. Put up the price of food, fuel and homes. Other essential services.
A land tax from the landowners could be covered by the increase in the price of land. It could increase their wealth and increase the amount they could borrow to make them better off. Land is not taxed to keep farms etc together. Large farms produce more. Scotland make £Billions of income from the farming sector food and goods exported. Self sufficient in food and energy. Exports them. Make £Billions from the land. A land tax might reduce that. Hit exports. Put up the balance of payments. Put up the price of land and benefit the landowners. Not benefit everyone else. Make things more expensive for them.
Tax evasion is the problem. Clamp down in that. If there were the powers. Scotland needs Independence to do it. Until then Put up progressive tax for the wealthiest. If that is needed. It could be more cost effective and would be more be fairer. Scotland being Independence could reduce the need to put up taxes. Stop spending money on all Westminster’s poor, bad decisions. Appalling mismanagement of the Scottish economy. Costing Scotland £Billions a year. False accounting.etc. Grotesque projects no one wants of no value. With no mandate.
Illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion. Spending more on groteque projects of no value. Wasting public money. Spending pro rata much more in London S/E. Raising/causing congestion affecting the economy. Less gets done and it takes longer because of congestion issues. Thatcher centralised the UK transport system through London. Used the Oil,revenues to build Tilbury Docks. Shutting all the ports around Britain. Built Canary Wharf investing in the ‘City’ to house the ‘City’ fraud. Losing £Billions of public money which went elsewhere. To the tax havens Thatcher created.
The increase inequality in Britain started in Thatcher days and has continued ever since. Deregulating world banking led to the banking crash. Demutualising the Buikding Societies owned by the members, Before no one could touch the revenues. Sold them off. The banks took over and used the mortgage book to gamble on the stock exchange. illegally with lower collateral in reserves for emergencies, Loads of money pozzi bankers. Eventually caused the banking crash.
Manipulating the Libor sffecting the world economy. Sold off utilities. Now owned by foreign cartels.putting up the price. Especially in Scotland were it is colder. Damaging the Scottish economy. Making fuel artifically dearer in Scotland, Scotland should pay 10% less per unit for parity. Scotland produces the energy, and is nearer the source. Surplus in food and energy.
London S/E is overcrowded. Affecting the economy. While Scotland is empty. Many people had to migrate to get a job. Affecting the growth of the economy. Westminster unionist policies, depopulated Scotland and caused hardship.illegally took Scottish resources and revenues. Kept it secret under the Official Secrets Act. Where they hide their criminality. Not to protect or benefit the economy but to benefit the Westminster unionist psycho bastards.
The North/South divide. Created by Westminster deliberately. Not helping the economy.
A factual truth Chris, well done as usual.A contributor to SIU no doubt pointing out what he just needs to keep.
He must be of the of the working variety of toff he’s goat ah flat cap oan LoL
Historically, colonists from any part of the UK when going abroad to new lands, inevitably took their culture and lifestyle with them. The idea was to carry on doing the things you always did in blighty regardless if it fitted in with native culture.
They would not bend to fit in with any other culture. They were superior you see. It was better for the locals to accommodate them rather than the other way about.
This happened in Africa,India,Asia,. All over the Empire.
This happened in Scotland too, with the complicity of landed gentry given titles in England , to keep the locals in check.
We are treated like a colony. The landowners in the main are colonisers.
met too many of these Toff Boy land owners, they hate the ordinary man with a vengeance. Well done Chris.
Simply Spot On.
The trouble with that is,
unionists would agree,
people who own 80% of Scotland ARE grass roots!
Butcher’s apron flying in the background – nice touch Chris.
Looks like he’s walked a bit too far and will need a couple of serfs to carry him home!
More trouble in the Westminster. Hunt to be promoted to not ‘destabilise’ the the Gov. They are having a laugh. The killer whose lies caused the trouble replaces the pervert who lied. The pantomine season is supposed to be over. It just gets more and more ridiculous. A farce. In the remote paradise of Westminster. An outpost of abuse of troughing useless individuals. While Mundell lives it up and holds Parties in the Scottish Offfice. More food banks open all hours.
Those border conservative reveivers have a lot to answer for. Not one Mundell raiders but two. Raiding the coffers at the Scottish Office, What do they get up to.besides picking the beard and eating it. Munching through a lot of canapés and quaffing champagne down their throats. Brass neck doesn’t come into it. Too much alcohol affects the brain makes people deranged. In the Scottish Office. Wee toading troughers being bred. Inbred unionists. Intwinned together. Just like Necker. Another donation for train chaos. £2Billion over contract. Another bail,out for Multimillionaire of public money. Fake bidding under EU rules.for non Dom tax evaders who are not even supposed to be residents. Not held to account.
Ken 500
How on earth do you work out that a land tax would result in rising land prices?
And what is your evidence that large farms produce more? The opposite is true, smaller family farms are more productive than the large agri-business set ups. Ie. if there was a one thousand acre block split into 4 and farmed by four families, that land would produce more than it would if farmed as one unit. I have the figures to back this, large estates are now starting to farm more and more land, they keep production low and collect massive subsidies.
The cartoon above shows a toff who will strictly oppose land tax, because they know what would happen. Land tax could be a great tool towards independence, as toffs would unload ownership of land and the locals would be able to see that there is a future without the ‘big laird from somewhere else’
Don’t think so. When the land debt is factored in. That is being let out of the equation.
It tax evasion that is the problem. People not paying their legitimate share.
Believe it folks.
Speyside is jammed with the type depicted in Chris’s toon. Including Lt General Alistair Irwin, a leading SIU man.
Excellent cartoon, Chris.
SiU didn’t even have the wit to try to hide the demographic of their members and sponsors.
The YES movement is a broad church of ordinary folks.
The NO movement is motley crew of very odd bedfellows!
Land tax is impossible to avoid, you can’t hide land.
Could you expand your response please? Because right now I suspect you are defending the land ownership structure scotland has had forced upon it, and it is very very wealthy, powerfull and extremely unionist.
So. Is this what Rock looks like?
Still more radical land reform is still required
The land debt is not being included. That is being left out of the equation. It is being assumed the landowners own the land.They don’t. It can be in their name Much of the land is mortgaged to the Bank. The value of the land as collateral. The landowners get their income from mortgaging the land to the bank. When land prices go up it increase theur income. They can borrow more money. If land prices go down they are in trouble.
A Land tax could/would put up the price of land to compensate. Land would increase in value. Many landowners use the value/price of land to provide their (substantial) living. When landowners buy land they often do with a mortgage from the banks. Others buy it as a tax dodge. Evade. It is the evasion that is the problem. That needs to be clamped down upon not encouraged by offshore. The banks are holding a lot of the land in trust for the Scottish people. It they were trustworthy. Making money out of it. The money made if profitable is invested and is taxed. Corp tax etc. Nat ins etc
“Thysand”
Well spelt!
Good stories in the National re SIU donors and in the Daily Rectum about the sashed Coonsellor in Dunoon. This is UK. OK.
And on a somewhat related subject — I see that there’s an article in the day’s Girniad re the “British Empire OK” project (starring Nigel Biggar). It quotes a YouGov poll which found that “43% of British people believed the British empire was a good thing and only 19% a bad thing, with 25% believing it was neither. Furthermore, 44% felt that Britain’s history of colonialism was something to be proud of and only 19% felt it should be regretted.”
I’ve always assumed that enthusiasm for Empire would be much more muted in Scotland, but if further opinion polls are being commissioned by WOS and others then this sort of question should be included. It would give an interesting insight into “The Unionist Mind”.
When the Normans acquired England their first act was to take an inventory of their new possession. The Domesday Book was that inventory. Land, ‘the how much of it’ and ‘the who and what was on it’ mattered.
After the Union that feudal mindset leached into Scotland, a country where land ownership smacks of colonial settlement and the anal retentive.
There was at one time a radical element in the Nationalist camp that advocated state ie public holding of all land. Land could not be ‘owned’ as property but belonged to the nation and was to be worked by temporary leaseholders and tenants for the benefit of the nation.
Perhaps we might revisit the idea along with the one about abolishing hereditary ‘aristocratic’ titles, monarchy included.
Land tax cannot be avoided, land cannot be hidden. The type of landowner depicted in this cartoon is sadly accurate, and this guy will not have a mortgage which will keep him awake at night if there was to be a drop in land prices. The estate I live next to was bought in 1856.
Yep, people buy land to avoid tax, why? Because land is not taxed! It is a good investment, why? Because land ain’t taxed. Tories hate tax, bring in a land tax together with strict residency laws and let’s start to slowly become more confident in using and living on our land.
Ken 500,
Land debt… so why is it that a local D&G farm recently sold for £1,5 million.. how in gawds name will that ever repay itself as it produces NOTHING apart from more green desert..
The Scottish Gov should be thinking of Compulsory Purchase orders for ALL land less the subsidies these landowners have pocketed most without any improvements.. like the Aberdeenshire landowner who pockets £3,000,000 pr yr for what?…
If landowners want to keep their assets… then they do so without subsidies as other EU farmers will soon import cheaper food as per the fear expressed at the Oxford Farming Conf & reported by bbc R4 Farming program..
But… they should not be taxed at all … providing that money is spent on improvements to the countryside.. investment in the local economy.. & I’m not talking about property speculation with holiday homes or caravan parks… as is the fashion in D & G……but of course all this is far too radical for any politician to consider as landowners have over the centuries managed the law to keep their assets outside the clutches of those who are taxed in their own business to support them.. those who fought & died to allow them to keep their estates…. & the same people who can only see these estates whilst travelling along roads that were originally put in from estate to estate.. hence our chaotic road network..
OT.
Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! Henry McLeish writes in the National:
“What is the point of a Britain that has simply lost its way?”
I really can’t give you an answer Mr McLeish. I don’t see any point to it.
What’s the point of the Labour Party Mr McLeish?
I’m betting you’ll abstain from giving me answer.
@Scotspine says: 6 January, 2018 at 9:25 am:
“Speyside is jammed with the type depicted in Chris’s toon. Including Lt General Alistair Irwin, a leading SIU man.”
Not to mention Her Majesty’s property in that area and the MOD’s, and other Westminster Government owned, bits of Scotland.
Here’s some of Her Majesty’s Scottish properties but some of them, while still hers, are kept and maintained by the State who, of course, claim them as, “Crown Lands”.
Palace of Holyrood;
Balmoral Castle;
Craigowan Lodge;
Delnadamph Lodge;
Birkhall;
Abergeldie Castle;
Dunfermline Palace;
Edinburgh Castle;
Falkland Palace;
Glamis Castle;
Linlithgow Palace;
The Castle of Mey;
and Stirling Castle.
Then there are the many MOD owned bits of Scotland from the Borders right up to Cape Wrath.
Nice article by Kevin McKenna on this very subject.
link to archive.is
It ends with: “My heart was glad when I saw that list of donors to Scotland in Union. My flush of enthusiasm for independence had lately waned a little. Now it is refreshed and more fervent than ever. For it would be immoral not to oppose these people and seek their downfall.”
Here’s hoping it makes many others feel the same.
Keeping the titled, rich and privileged in that same position is the status quo the NO campaign want.
While much of their riches are stashed in tax-dodging Cayman Islands bank accounts under shadow companies.
Now THAT is worth more than a thousand words.
Scotland in Union… run by the connected and wealthy. Financed by the connected and the wealthy. All for the benefit of the connected and the wealthy.
Who knew?
The sadness is in the accuracy of the depiction…well done Chris
Agree very good article by Kevin McKenna in The Herald.
And brilliant front page in the National
link to thenational.scot
Also good letter in Scotsman from Keith Brown rebutting Tory Jamie Green’s article on Transport.
We need more that that pro active involvement by Scottish Ministers as papers would be more likely to print these than from Joe Bloggs unless of course you are one the Scotland In Union’s Green Ink Gang as per Hugh Pennington in Scotsman trying to say we can’y compare Scotland to our Nordic neighbours. I can almost smell the cringe from 120 miles away.
@Ottomanboi says: 6 January, 2018 at 9:48 am:
“There was at one time a radical element in the Nationalist camp that advocated state ie public holding of all land. Land could not be ‘owned’ as property but belonged to the nation and was to be worked by temporary leaseholders and tenants for the benefit of the nation.”
Nothing radical about it, Ottomanboi.
Under Scottish law the people of Scotland are legally sovereign. As such the people of Scotland legally own all Scotland and that has been the established law of Scotland since at least 1320 and the Declaration of Arbroath.
This has indeed been established under Scots law in the High Court of Scotland and is shown to affect everyday life in Scotland.
First of all there is no English Style law of Trespass in Scotland and thus the people have always had, “Right to Roam”. There are, though, enhanced rights to privacy to protect the close proximity of people in dwellings.
The most seen effects of the people’s ownership of Scotland can be seen in the laws of Scotland that state no private landowner has the legal right, like their, English Kingdom, (three countries), counterparts, to clamp, or have towed away, vehicle parked on private land and demand cash to have the vehicle released back to the owner.
Such an action in Scotland can see the person doing the demanding of cash as, “Demanding Money with Menace”, and even charged with Extortion as there is no law of blackmail under Scots Law. By the way, it is deemed to be Extortion under Scots law, to gain financially or otherwise, by threatening legal action (Take note those who get threatened with legal action for not having a BBC TV Licence).
These people always threaten legal action but usually have absolutely no proof the residents are guilty of actually watching TV broadcasts. Not only that but they have no legal right to investigate within close proximity to a private dwelling place. There is no statutory requirement for anyone to tell the BBC representatives anything whatsoever.
Yet you will still see notices in Scotland that falsely claim, “Trespassers will be prosecuted”. So there you go – the people of Scotland legally already own Scotland and that even includes the Royal estates. But, “they”, don’t want you to know that.
PictAtRandom says:
6 January, 2018 at 9:41 am
And on a somewhat related subject — I see that there’s an article in the day’s Girniad re the “British Empire OK” project (starring Nigel Biggar). It quotes a YouGov poll which found that “43% of British people believed the British empire was a good thing and only 19% a bad thing, with 25% believing it was neither.
Not a straight answer PictAtRandom, but over New Year I stumbled across this video about the Sioux in North America.
link to youtube.com
I absolutely do not support the Imperialism and Colonialism of the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries, but from some raw perspectives, perhaps, (and I stress perhaps), Scotland has got off lucky.
As you’re watching the video, remind yourselves this was the “New” America which built its famous written constitution upon the founding principles of Scotland’s Declaration of Arbroath.
In Scotland, we bridle that Unionists can’t say the word “Independence”, and have to call it “separation”.
In North America, the modern American’s call wounded knee a battle. The Sioux call it a massacre.
For a pinch yourself reality check, Wounded Knee happened on 29th December 1890, just 24 years before WW1.
In 1763,just 56 years after the Act of Union, 17 years after Culloden, and 13 years before US Independence, Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who was the commanding general of British forces in North America during the final battles of the French & Indian war (1754-1763)was deliberately distributing blankets to the Indians which were infected with smallpox.
Does that count as “British” Imperialism? Yes. The US was not Independent until 1776… And incidentally, when the wearing of tartan was outlawed in Scotland, a first offence warranted 6 months imprisonment,and a second offence warranted 7 years transportation to “His Majesties” Colonies.
(And incidentally, Native American women were still being involuntarily sterilized in the US in 1970’s).
If, or when, the British Empire was ever a good thing, it was perhaps the “lesser of two evils” kind of good, not as evil and nasty as it might have been, but when it was a bad thing, it was a toe curling murderous obscenity.
I wonder how many Native American, Polynesian, Antipodean, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian people YouGov included in it’s poll. I’m guessing none.
Im not in favour of any buy back of land. Take it back in the same manner as it was taken from the people. The title deeds to these so called estates must have attached to them thousands of small bills of sale clearly showing how the vast acerage was accumulated into one large piece. It wasn’t just stolen was it. Deary deary me. Of course, with the help of the Scottish legal system they wrote out their own title deeds to our land, nice one. Buy back should IMHO be classed as reset
Ottomanboi at 9.48
AGR as proposed by Graeme MacCormick starts that process
Shouldn’t think Glamis is Windsor property!
From the Islands to the borders we are steadily being colonised quietly and effectively. Sometimes I feel a stranger in my own country and it makes me angry, angry at my own people for their apathy, subservience and indifference as to what is happening.
One day closer to Independence.Thank fuck!
Are we reassured that the labyrinth of connections is open to proper scrutiny? ‘Ethics’ in a system that is responsible for unnecessary harm and suffering to its citizens seems somewhat misplaced. Interesting familial connections within WM.
‘Under the Ministerial Code, Ministers must provide their Permanent Secretary with a list of all relevant interests. This includes where financial interests are held in a blind trust or similar.
Under the terms of the Ministerial Code, Ministers – including the Prime Minister – must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their Ministerial position and their private interests, financial or otherwise. On appointment to each new office, Ministers must provide the relevant Permanent Secretary with a list, in writing, of all relevant interests known to them, which might be thought to give rise to a conflict. The List indicates where financial interests are held in a blind trust or similar blind management arrangement.
Individual declarations, and a note of any action taken in respect of individual interests, are then passed to the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team and the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests to confirm they are content with the action taken or to provide further advice as appropriate. The List records the position at the end of this process. The Independent Adviser is consulted in the preparation of the List, has scrutinised the declarations made, and is satisfied that measures have been put in place, where necessary, to avoid a conflict of interest’
‘Nor is the List an account of all the interests or financial arrangements held by a Minister or members of their close family. If it were, it would involve unjustifiable intrusion into the private affairs not only of Ministers, but of their close family…
Rather it is a list of any such interests, which are, or might reasonably be perceived to be, directly relevant to that particular Minister’s public duties’
link to gov.uk
Ken 500,
I think you are wrong (blethering shite, even) about Land Value Tax.
Note that I do admit I only THINK this. I’m not expert, but my belief is that mortgaging land does not actually change title. Certainly this is the case with built property. If you have a mortgage on your home it’s yours; unless or until you default on the repayments in which case the martgager has claims on it. If this were not the case then ‘homeowners’ with a mortgage would not be liable for council tax.
Much UK land (and the fact that it is UK outside of Scotland aswell matters, because it determines/affects the total tax revenues for the whole of the UK)..much UK land is held by, spurious offshore entities (it’s a massive amount follow the link on this and you’ll find it listed.link to private-eye.co.uk)
Vast swathes of this land is generating no tax at all. It’s being held speculatively and comes I would suggest under the general category of land-banking awaiting the opportunity to develop it. Much of this is pure dog-in-the-manger holding.
The fact that it is held offshore would not render it exempt from land tax (assuming the tax is constructed correctly). Refusal or failure to pay due tax would/could lead to forfeiture of ownership.
This is a seriously BIG DEAL and undermining the principle with blether about it all being a con to profit the current land holders is unsubstantiated shite perhaps.(?)
So before you make further cynical and possibly vacuous pontifications I recommend you find out a bit more about it.
Land cannot be exported to tax havens but the wealth derived from it can be and is being. It constitutes a very large scale theft of national assets.
And let’s not pretend that this is anything to do with a ‘garden tax’. That’s a bit of right wing propaganda bullshit to stir up the sort of populist antipathy that MSM loves.
This is one of the few routes to controlling the tax income of Scotland from Holyrood. Most other avenues were proscribed in the devolution arrangements and kept (with Labour Party connivance) by Westminster. You denigrate this shift of tax emphasis at Scotland’s peril I think.
@Breeks
Let’s also not forget, the stereotype of the drunk Native American with the white man’s firewater whisky in his hand.
Likewise, the stereotype of the alkie Scot and alkie Irish.
Sadly, there is a lot of truth in those stereotypes to this day.
Thus, I fully support the SNP Scot Govt initiative on minimum pricing of alcohol. Well done, Scot Govt.
The sale and consumption of alcohol should also be phased out in govt properties.
Just like the smoking ban on hospital grounds.
Scotland, & Strathspey in particular, is being bought-up at an alarming rate by foreign owners, one of the biggest is a Danish shopkeeper, just try buying a bit of Denmark? The land is cheap, the natives don’t give any trouble & a factor is employed to extract the max in grants for this, grants for that & grants for the next thing. It is actually the Scottish taxpayer who is being farmed here. A land-tax is long overdue! They can’t take it with them!
This might appear off-topic and long-winded, but, bear with me please.
A distant relative of mine, these many years in British Columbia and happily retired was, in his youth a Socialist firebrand. It was said of him, at Glasgow University: “Politically, Jimmy is three miles to the left of Chairman Mao.” In a very Tory rugby club, he made no concessions to his left-wing views.
One night, after training, one of the club’s Fettesian members was holding forth about the bloody workers, and demanding the army be called out to sort-out an on-going strike.
His: “Crush the workers” speil was interrupted by Jimmy. “Haw bawheid, when you can sclim a hunner-fit ladder wi a hauf-hunnerwecht bag o’ cement under each oxter, ye can talk aboot the workers – till then, shut it.”
It was immediately shut. Any way, fast forward 50-years and said Fettesian is now principal of the family firm. He lives in one of the best addresses locally, he has sent his sons to Fettes and is by any measure well-off.
I recently, for a sports story I was writing, needed information about a former London Scottish and Scotland rugby internationalist, so, since the Fettesian had done a spell in the City of London, and been active in London Scottish, I asked him if he could help.
“As a matter of fact I can old boy – played golf with him at the R&A Autumn Meeting, I will get you his telephone number: which he duly did.”
Now, nothing against the Fettesian, he’s pleasant company in the bar, if a bit thick. But, he’s a member of what I understand is “the Hidden Establishment”.
He doesn’t own many acres, he is not active in government at local or national level – other than as an ordinary dues-paying member of the Conservative and Unionist Party.
He is Scottish-born and raised; he supports Scotland at rugby, but, he is a dyed-in-the-wool, pro-monarchy, pro-Westminster, Unionist.
We will I would say NEVER convert him to being pro-independence, but, he is typical of the enemy within, programmed from youth to believe in Mother England knowing best.
I pity him, because, his world is going to change, very soon.
It is pretty clear by now that the majority of No voters and unionist supporters who post online pretending to be ordinary voters are anything but ordinary voters.
These people are well to do people, high up in society, who may well be worse off under an Independent Scotland. But rather than see the bigger picture that most people will live and have better lives in an Independent Scotland, all they care about is themselves, and how much they can get out of the unionism trough.
Most ordinary No voters have probably got more important things to do with their time than spend hours everyday online and writing letters to newspapers to bring down and rubbish Scotland.
If we do not raise our game against this corrupt system that the unionists are using to keep Scotland down, they may well succeed, and that cannot be good thing for Scotland or our children.
These establishment gimps will still be there after Independence,
the privileged Scottish landowner is a tenacious animal,
been about for hundreds of years, picking sides when it suited,prob since Roman times,
no real loyalty to anything apart from their own Status Quo as the `privileged`,
even now the landowners are lobbying our Scottish Government behind our backs trying to influence the Land Reform Acts.
Great cartoon.
So now in the full daylight, Scots can see just how corrupt the unionist cause in Scotland really is. Paid for, supported and run by (and for) the privileged English aristocracy, who care nothing for the people of Scotland. To them, Scots are a mere irritant.
The United Kingdom is and always was, a corrupt construct, designed as with all of England’s horrendous global history, to deceive and mislead people from the harsh reality of what is, in effect, colonialism.
Scotland is England’s last remaining ‘jewel in the colonial crown’, both in status and monetary value.
The likes of Ruth Davidson and her LOYAL Labour unionist chums dance their wee jig at the behest of their London English masters, whilst they await scraps and favours from the tables of the English aristocracy. Scotland needs their ilk, like a proverbial hole in the head.
Enough. Time for independence.
Clootie has it right, another sad depiction of what this country is about. This is what the unionists are fighting to retain.
T.Roz and Street Andrew.
Both good postings to counter the garbage ken500 is spewing. Never read such nonsense about debt being accrued to the soil. Debt is in the name of a person or a company, who will be pursued by the lender.
The value of acreage obviously varies around the country based on a number of factors, but we need Land Tax to start breaking up these estates, being held for no other reason than to benefit the elite.
A lot of small business wished they had voted YES in 2914, next week when the results of the larger company’s are given, a lot of the bigger company’s will wish they also had advised YES.
Here is Andy Wightmans last reference in November about the revelations in the Paradise Papers as to the potential of how Buccleuch has organised an off shore company.
There’s a very good reason that poor Andy has been threatened with financial ruin, and his bravery and investigation should not be in vain.
I’m the sort of person who feels guilty at having the luxury of a downstairs loo! But, I struggled, saved, and bought a modest modern house back in the 90s, and they were all the rage.
I literally don’t know how these cheats sleep at night.
They profess to love the UK, the monarchy, the Union and first chance they get, assets are put off shore to avoid their full taxes to support this country.
The enormity of this shitshow just makes me so sick.
Sorry, forgot link
link to andywightman.com
link to andywightman.com
Link which I forgot!
@Socrates mcSporran,
I can understand your story very well. I had a good mate who was best man at my wedding. We grew up in the Cowcaddens district of Glasgow together and we’re always pals through thick and thin. Anyway, he became very successful in life through business.
The change is remarkable. From a young man who used to steal lead from roofs to feed his family, because his parents drank everything, to successful millionaire.
Suffice to say his values and outlook changed with his success. Now chairman of Rotary club, conservative voter, prestigious golf club member. I can still talk to him as a friend,but in company he changes to this controlling, self assured, bellicose creature. He puts this down to expectations from other people because of his life position.
Sad really. Probably what success can do to somebody who forgets ,or tries to forget their origins.
@Robert Peffers
The fact that castles, with substantial land, in our country can be bought for the price of a semi in central London exposes us to the predations of modern ‘colonialists’ and the absentee landowners and tax farmers that the system engenders. The effective dominance of English law in business and commerce within the British state turns Scotland into a lucrative business opportunity for those buccaneering City types with little concern for the fine detail of our ‘local custom’.
The history of British ‘adventurism’ in the Indian subcontinent offers some interesting parallels. The cultural anglicisation of the ‘ruling élite’ in particular.
Scotland is in all but name a colony of england. That is a simple fact. Regardless of the perception of some of the natives, the reality is every organ of administration and ownership in Scotland is controlled directly or indirectly by the colonial establishment in london. The systems in place here , are in essence , identical to those employed in every other colony of the english empire though-out its history. In fact , like so often , we were the first, the test bed for many of those policies of control, mastery and ownership. Of course if the referendum were to have taken place just a few years after the colonial occupation began , during the many years of armed insurrection that followed the ‘rouges deed’ … we would no doubt, by a vast majority voted, for our independence back. But sadly the word ‘we’ no longer defines ‘ all the natives’ … merely those who are no longer conditioned to see all that is english, as being good and the best path to follow, After three hundred years of mind fucking … many are Scottish in name only. Their actions, there perceptions mirror those of their masters. They are colonised, They will no more change back to being ‘native’ than than the english queen becoming a catholic. They dance to the only tune they know, and it is played not by pipes but by and english trombone. They are Tartan Morris Dancers who along with the many (and rapidly increasing ) english colonists who already reside here, form a unionist block, that will never cede independence to the natives . Regardless of right or wrong, law and justice or even the transparency of the blockchain …. they are getting prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure the independence dream, remains as such, a dream. Having learnt from the 2014 complacency, these preparations are ongoing and are there for all to see if you look. In every department the colonial arms of control and mastery are dismantling , changing and removing the mechanisms that have supported the natives uprising. Every agency of the english crown is currently employed to undermine all that is Scottish. Each change may in itself seem innocuous and trivial but cumulatively when the time comes, will prove to be sufficient to disarm and neutralise the rebellious Jocks.
If you believe IndyRef2 will be a walk over … you are delusional.
Hi ‘Ken500’ You seem to be far more knowledgeable than me could you please email me at: asterix.at.valhalla[at}gmail.com so that we can discuss further, thanks.
Brilliant, hits the nail on the head Chris. Love the empty space, no people, no trees, no animals, just a totally useless git, economically inactive, sitting on his stolen throne, on his stolen land and doing everything possible to keep it that way!
Macandroid@9.04
The flag is a St.Georges one, as far as my eyes can tell on zooming in. Even more apt.
The yookay is owned by incompetent, economically selfish and economically inactive parasites, and Scotland’s land has been stolen while they have kept Scotland poor and begging. To have that challenged is not acceptable to these people and they are going to have non of it. What’s that Scottish saying which I only learned about a couple of years ago, softly softly, catchy monkey. It’s our best policy at the moment.
Have a good weekend all.
I suppose ultimately this follows the same rationale as to why King James created the plantations in Ireland. If you have titled English families owning the land and therefore controlling the local economy and workforce, it makes it much harder for people to resist.
Make no mistake, these landowners will view themselves as British and pillars of the establishment.
A problem that has to be tackled at some point
Rockhaggis
Those of us who fight for independence for this country don’t think the next battle will be easier. Neither do we toady’ to Westminster either. Your use of the term “native” has undertones which I prefer not to use as it infers only people born here have a right to vote. I’m quite happy for Welsh, Irish, English, German, Polish etcetera to vote for our independence including Scots born and living here. Your perjorative terms such as “Tartan Morris Dancers” do suggest you have a particular prejudice against certain ” Scottish ” aspects of life. For me I love Shetland white pudding, tattie scones, Burns night, ceilidh evenings, haggis, slice sausage ( I like food), a dram or two,fiddle music and the wide fabric of life that makes up our nation and people’s. I can do without a catholic or Protestant queen or even an agnostic or atheist one but my view of Scotland I think is probably different to your dour outlook. Maybe that is your intention? The fight ahead will be hard. It couldn’t be anything else.
Good work Chris. That is worth its thysand words.
The longer they take, the more people see the supermarket bill go up and wish they had voted YES.
Just in case someone does know, I am a YES person, tell everyone you know, just because the media says so it does not mean YES movement has gone away or getting smaller.
A simple remedy to the question of Land ownership ‘
Unless the supposed owner of any land in Scotland can produce a bill of sale from the original creator of said land ,Then all land reverts to ownership of the people of Scotland .
No recompense , No spending years in court assisted by expensive Philadelphia Lawyers , It just does .So all the landed Gentry get over it , your grip on our land ceases on the day we declare independence .
Rockhaggis – no one who gained their rightful independence from the Brutish Empire gained it easily. Remember that every place the Brutish colonized was infiltrated by the types who live here and will hold us back if they can. Your post is the most depressing I’ve read here but it will not change my mind or the vast majority here who really want our rightful and legitimate independence. Our right to be freed from the theft of our assets and the brainwashing of our people is undeniable! Never give in!!
@rockhaggis
Yes it will be struggle in inderef2, but we are starting in a good place with around 49% Yes.
You are right about the colonising aristos. I have never heard a “Scottish” Duke, Earl, Lord, clan chief being interviewed who did not speak in an English accent.
100% of them are Unionist voters and contributors so really do not deserve any sympathy in the event of independence. Countries like Norway or Denmark do not have to put up with this self elected elite.
Chris – this relates to your cartoon which I incorporated in the essay. Hope you don’t mind. Pretty please.
Scotland in Union – our McMafia: link to wp.me
Fireproofjim says:
I know what you mean, but to be precise the way they talk is Received Pronunciation.
It is defined in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary as “the standard accent of English as spoken in the south of England”, (according to wiki).
But I just don’t believe that. No one I know from the south of England uses that accent unless they are posh. To me it’s the accent of poshos anywhere in England, Scotland, or Wales.
These toffs don’t speak like ordinary folks from Kent, Essex, London, Hampshire, Wiltshire etc etc who all have distinctive regional accents.
They have a adopted, through education and peer group, that horrendous accent.
I think it is actually sad that they don’t have an accent based on where the come from, but based on a particular social group.
Re accents etc I have met Scots with accents you could cut with a knife and whose political views would turn milk sour. It is these who keep the system oiled. The P G Wodehouse aristo types would be nothing without tartan Unionism’s loyal ghillies and gamekeepers. Every ‘colonized’ nation has an element willing to cooperate and that may come from every social background.
Its not the fact that land is owned, that is not the problem, the problem is who it is owned by, i will not elaborate on who owns much of scotland’s land as its in the public domain, and i try not to be as long winded as some others
Alba Gu snooker loopy!
Death Duties without loop holes would finish the grand estates. But the biggest joke of all is the so called Clan Chiefs, original Chiefs were not hereditary and todays lot were appointed by Westminster, back in the day for there Loyalty to Westminster and betrayal of their own people. They collected titles and were protected through force of arms, their children being taken raised and educated in England. Part of the destruction of the clan system
Another devastating academic report on media bias during Indy Referendum
link to opendemocracy.net
The members of the MSM in Union seem to be livid that someone has the cheek to expose their sordid reporting practises. Mr Bateman had better watch his back now, they are not pleased with him.
Surely it is quicker to cut out the middle man for you daily quota of MSM news, just go directly to the Lab/Tory websites. Your daily news as certified by Tory and Labour central office (ignoring the LibDems, after all doesn’t nearly everyone else).
A UK government spokesman said that single-market membership outside the EU would force Britain to accept rules over which it would have “little influence and no vote”. “Such a loss of democratic control could not work for the British people.” – but a total loss of democratic control works perfectly for Scotland.
Such is English Colonial ‘democracy’.
Coco Alexander trying to pretend he is onside with independence again, i see…!!
Capital Coco this time…so clearly must be different person, like superman and Clark Kent are indistinguishable when Clark throws on a pair of specs…
Dear me, desperate stuff from the resident Clownshoe.
……………
As for the cartoon…absolutely spot on as ever, Mr Cairns sure has an eye for bringing out the subtleness of his topic, and crashing a sledgehammer down upon it.
Superb.
I am thinking that it will be much harder for the head of a business (like barheed travel etc) to turn to their employees and say Indy will somehow harm their business given our likely exit from the single market and the zero certainty over open skies for example.
I wonder if Nicola sturgeon would be able to get any cast iron assurances of SM membership on Independence Day + 1. To me that would push up the YES vote.
I’d be surprised if there were any similar assurance from then EU over our membership much as I would like there to be.
Not all aristos are unionists. The late duke of Hamilton supported independence and was a socialist. His widow, the duchess, campaigned for a Yes vote in 2014.
Sometimes rank, money and prestige mean zilch. It’s what’s in your heart that counts.
Can we expect more honesty in the media and just have these politicians write the columns directly:
Splashback by J.Baillie
Deep Thought by J. Carlaw
Gibber Jabber by W.Rennie
For counter balance of course
Bandwaggon by P.Harvie
My opinion on the land issue. The problem in Scotland is that certain group of people are hoarding land for the sake of hoarding. It is compounded by the fact that we don’t know who are hoarding these land. Some we do know, some we can guess and some not. So the first thing to do is the to have a land register that lists down actual person, beneficial or otherwise and the land owner. Only then we can who and what to tax.
Secondly, put in a progressive land tax regime. The more you own the more you will be taxed. My proposal (per acre):
a) x<250 = £1
b) next 250 = £2
c) next 500 = £5
d) next 1000 = £8
e) excess = £10
So a person having 60,000 acres can be liable to pay £591,250 per annum. You can bet your house,if the modest proposal put up the Scottish government has had the said certain group running like headless chicken, this kind of taxation will be like armageddon to them. Of course, the bands can be varied and/or added to take into account economic reality but you get the idea of how land tax can be used to restrict land ownership.
On the account of price rise, it make sense if you are in the lower bands. If you cross the excess threshold, you really have to work the land in order to pay off the tax. I don't think even the said certain group has that kind of money annually. The income from the mortgage can also be reversed if the tax burden is greater.
Which brings to the point of the landlord raising the tenancy fee. At 60,000 acres, it works around £9.85 per acre per annum. That is ok if the land is arable and every acre can be leased out. If the landlord burdens the tenants and the tenants flee, he will not have any income at all. The logical solution is to offload the excess land and reduce the tax burden. Not a loss since the land is idle anyway. If there is a failure to pay the tax, forfeit the land.
Thirdly, all lands originally belong to clans or commonties should revert back to its original status upon death of the current owner in lieu of death duty. I personally believe clan chiefs had/have no right to dispose of the lands. They were held in trust and not personal properties of clan chiefs. What happened especially during the Clearances was pure theft. This must be remedied.
Fourthly, current owners of cleared lands should be imposed a duty to resettle the land back to its pre-Clearences population level say within 5 years of the imposition of the duty. On top of the land tax, they should also be liable to pay council tax due as if the land contains pre-Clearences population. That should be an incentive to resettle the land.
These are some suggestions. There are many ways to redistribute land but the principle is simple; make it a financial liability to hold a large amount of land.
“Yoan union fur nevurr,
Hurrah boays, hurrah,
Fichtin wae yurr battle-cry, fur freedom”
(tae paraphrase yoan version ah ken, bae Ry Cooder)
I second one of the above comments; community buy-out is a farce. It is like being robbed in broad daylight, twice.
Regarding posh toff accents, I don’t actually consider them to be English. They are completely non regional and belong to nowhere. The marbles in the mouth voice can be found throughout Britain, is perpetuated by pubilic schooling and is actually a bit I of an act. It’s plumby origins, in terms of how it sounds can be linked to the Plantagenets, French sound. This lot held the English crown and as they began to Speak English the sound found its origin. You can hear the similarities when a French person today talks in English.
“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove.”
That’ll be independence.[Though PGW would not have approved]
What an iconoclast Donald Trump is, here he is now redefining the definition of the word genius.
Einstein – Theory of Relativity
Trump – The Apprentice
Equal in my book, one is too difficult for most people, the other is too simple for them.
Yip reorganising land ownership is important. Too many grants and tax benefits to allow our money to support the absentee landlord.
They hide under the green umbrella of planting mono culture Sitka . Its good for the country etc they say but if they got monies to plant banana trees they would do they same.
In this instance snp you are on a winner. Get revenues from the wealthy land owners. Push for the end of Crown estates and take MOD land under our control to prevent any more uranium tipped shells blighting our coastal shores.
1 & 2 could happen now The third we need independence
Every time the household food bill goes up, the people who will now vote YES goes up.
And every time the spending power of the household goes down, so does the people who would vote no, and that’s without us doing anything.
The landed gentry and their brown nosed hangers on who do their dirty work are a cancer that is holding Scotland back. They have incredible power and influence over us. They control the media and will do everything within their powers to stop independence.
A 18,500 acre estate in Ross-shire was owned by a Peter Fowler. The same Peter Fowler has a stake in Scottish Provincial Press Limited, which has 17 newspaper titles and associated web sites in the Highlands and Grampian region. The two local papers to Ross-shire and Sutherland – the Northern Times of Golspie and the Ross-Shire Journal of Dingwall endlessly promote and promoted the Liberals while simultaneously attacking the SNP. The MP’s Lord John Thurso and Jamie Stone (both in my view closet tories who stood as Liberals) were continually given an easy ride by the papers, while Rob Gibson, Dr Paul Monaghan and now Gail Ross of the SNP are and were treated poorly by the same newspapers.
@Ottomanboi says: 6 January, 2018 at 12:53 pm:
“The fact that castles, with substantial land, in our country can be bought for the price of a semi in central London exposes us to the predations of modern ‘colonialists’”, Ottomanboi.
You are, of course, preaching to the long ago converted. Historically there has been an elite immigrant faction based in South Britain since the Romans arrive in around 54/55 BC.
When they left, after several hundred years, the south Britons invited into South Britain a series of Germanic Tribes who then took over from where the Romans left off. These were not from The modern Germany but more or less from the Scandinavian areas. These culminated with the Normans.
These Normans, (the term is short for Norsemen), are still with us today for they gave us the Feudal system and the remnants of the Norman aristocracy still sit in the House of Lords as hereditary peers.
Incidentally the Normans never had a Norman Conquest in Scotland but they, none the less, form much of the basis of the Scottish Aristocracy. Both Bruce and Wallace were Norman Knights. In Scotland, though, the Normans gained power by intermarriage with the existing Scottish noble families.
So there you go – there has been a, more or less hostile to Scotland, elite ruling class based around London for as long as we have historic records.
I’m trying to devise a list of modern day parcel of rogues to do a poll on it at our Burns Night. Need about 30 names I think and all of our audience will be asked to chose their top (or Bottom) three. Any help with the names? Any suggestion for the presentation to be made to the “winner” of this enemies to Scotland competition..
This is funny coz its true.
Scotland’s a wasteland thanks to these shites, an open air slaughterhouse, sorry blood sports playground. One of their great shysts is their Highland scorched earth caper, or alien species fast grow fast buck forestation is somehow Scottishy and lovely. Couple of schlubs with a can of petrol and a lighter and its all over for all kinds of Scottish ecology.
We’re such saps. But their beeb gimps pile in to protect their tory goon masters.
link to bbc.co.uk
Tree planting ‘threatening’ Scotland’s grand vistas
By Kevin Keane
BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent
Its a toryboy Scotland but at least their gimps have to work quite hard to keep it this way, in Pacific Quay.
link to parliament.uk
How English votes for English Laws (EVEL) works.
See also:
link to evel.uk
link to evel.uk
and
link to evel.uk
Thanks Dave for the plug for my model of AGR.
Despite the desire to undo the historic abuse of land ownership both international and domestic law prevents public aquisition of land and property without compensation.
The way to democratise our land is to charge an Annual Ground Rent (AGR ) per square metre on all land and floorspace so everyone with the same land type is treated equally. Those large private and public owners will pay most and if they cannot meet the cost of the AGR there Land will have become a liability and in many cases they will want to or have to offload it. Unless there is a willing buyer to take it off their hands at a price or indeed no price, then the land owner will go bust because the liability to pay it can’t be avoided. Remember that at present a lot of land is almost worthless and the only reason it doesn’t appear that way is because it is not taxed and land owners hold on to it in the hope that part might be bought.
At that stage the government can reallocate that land to others who are prepared to pay for bits of it.
The value of some land may increase but other land will be cheap and enable more and more folk to own land on their own or as part of a group or community.
Folk should also recognise that it not just private land owners who have not stewarded land well. The worst offenders have been local and central government whose lack of stewardship of land for generations has caused many folk to live in ghettos .
To make the most of land democracy it’s is important to use it as a vehicle for indigenous enterprise. AGR is capable of replacing all existing taxes and provide more funds for public services. The money most folk will save by this change will make Scotland the best place to start s business anywhere and provide the basis for all of us to invest in and be part of a new Scottish era of enterprise.
Dave McEwan Hill
30 rogues required?
Surely there are enough in Dunoon!
Anyway Ex MP promoter of the nuclear Industry, Celtic FC, Irish independence and mainly himself Brian Wilson.
Robert Peffers at 6.37
William Wallace was not a Norman knight. He was a Strathclyde Briton.
The origins of the Wallace surname is derived from the Old English wylisc (pronounced “wullish”), meaning “Welshman”. All the Wallaces in the Clyde area were probably the same people as the Welsh britons but as the term was also used for local Cumbric-speaking Strathclyde Welsh, it seems equally likely that the surname refers to people who were seen as being “Welsh” due to their Cumbric language.
Hamish at 7.10
One of the first on my list! Another out of the same Dunoon box springs to mind.
Dave McEwan Hill says:
6 January, 2018 at 7:11 pm
Robert Peffers at 6.37
William Wallace was not a Norman knight. He was a Strathclyde Briton.
You need to watch it with William Wallace. His legend is something that’s been made up and then that’s all been taken as history. Its much like how the Scots tribe of Ireland invaded Scotland, defeated the Picts and took over. They never existed but that’s mythic history for you.
Scotland Act 2016
Permanence of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government
(1)The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are a permanent part of the United Kingdom’s constitutional arrangements.
(2)The purpose of this section is, with due regard to the other provisions of this Act, to signify the commitment of the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government.
(3)In view of that commitment it is declared that the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are not to be abolished except on the basis of a decision of the people of Scotland voting in a referendum.”
Of course, the Scotland Act can be amended or abolished by Westminster.
Note: it says a “commitment” and “are not”. Commitments can end; it does not say cannot or must not.
Dave McEwan Hill
I think I know who you mean.
Be careful though I can see some Sunday Hack writing that well known unionists are being targeted by an extreme left wing Celtic supporter possible atheist nationalist ex pub owner and closetmRoyal watcher ….. (stop me if I am wrong) and friends of the snp elite
lol
The journalists tell us that’s how all the parties work. They defend just publishing press releases without checking any facts. It’s not the sending of press releases that’s the issue, pretty sure all organisations do it, it’s the running of the story just assuming the press release is fact.
They say the SNP also do this, no doubt, the difference is I can’t remember spotting any that may have come from the SNP. A fortnight of continuous SNPbad would seem to indicate they are either not being truthful or they are not impartial. I wonder which it is.
Dave McEwan Hill
One way ticket to Lagos to try their London rule pish there. No point in wasting money on an unused return.
Heedtracker and others.
Personally speaking I’m a fan of Andrew Moray, his association with Ormand Castle, Avoch (on the Black Isle) and his involvement at the beginning of the Wars of Independence.
An often overlooked Scottish hero.
Independence will force an enlightenment in Scotland.
The creation of ‘properly-funded’ education, research, infrastructure and environmental schemes will enable our population’s progressive intentions to better use our natural resources.
Technology! Scotland’s good at it.
Change the world from your bedroom, garage or college.
Basically speaking, if the 300 mostly toffs who own 90% of Scotland voted NO, and the 3,599,700 who own or rent or are homeless on the remaining 10% voted YES, we’d be Independent.
Davie Oga at 7.41
Och. I wouldn’t mind a one way ticket to Nigeria sometimes. Did 15 great years there. Always had a wee notion to go and live in Jos.
Spot on with the cartoon Chris. Brilliant.
……………………………….
Interesting article from Lesley Riddoch in The National.
‘Why Neil Oliver is not the NTS’s biggest problem.’
…’Ownership and control of other people’s lives is a hard habit to quit. And the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) owns 120 castles, country houses and other properties, 400 islands and islets, 190,000 acres of countryside; 46 Munro mountains; 394 miles of mountain footpaths; 70 gardens nourishing 13,500 plant varieties; seven national nature reserves and 45 sites of special scientific interest….”
link to thenational.scot
…………………………………..
‘Letters: Those who believe we are bankrolled by the English need to be educated – CJ Kerr, Glenrothes.’
…”A very good example of “before and after” can be derived from the situation regarding the oil in the Moray Firth that is presently being extracted by the Norwegian State Oil Company. The estimated tax on that oil is £5 billion. I would imagine that the profit on that oil is therefore likely to be around £50bn. As things stand, that means around £45bn of profits will go to Norway and go into their pension fund. They will pay the other £5bn in tax and it will be divided up as follows: £4.8m to Scotland; £3.2m shared between Northern Ireland and Wales and £4.2bn to England…”
link to thenational.scot
…………………………………
Wee Ginger Dug in The National.
‘Scotland Office is just the UK’s propaganda outfit.’
….”The Scotland Office is essentially a glorified British propaganda outfit devoted to pushing a British agenda on us and to rubbishing the cause of independence, like the BBC news but without the fancy graphics or the annoying weather map. And as with the BBC, it’s ordinary punters who have to pay for it. They take our money, and then they use it against us. That’s the real theory and practice of the British state.”
link to thenational.scot
@Sam Mitchell: “The Scottish Gov should be thinking of Compulsory Purchase orders”
Why spend the money? Just put Land Tax on it, taking account of productivity, use, value to the economy, offset by revenues received directly and indirectly (income tax etc), and if they can’t pay the bill, they sell of parcels of land bit by bit at the market price they can realise.
That not only costs the Scottish Government nothing, it brings in extra revenue meantime.
Surprising amount of what passes as “political journalism” is just post boxing for press releases from spads and party press offices.
Not sure much in the way of political analysis exists any more. Time was that a genuine observer and commentator on politics would critically assess the wittering of spads and press releases, dissecting them and checking their veracity.
Of course intellectual rigour was once valued.
Giving Goose says:
6 January, 2018 at 7:57 pm
Heedtracker and others.
Personally speaking I’m a fan of Andrew Moray, his association with Ormand Castle, Avoch (on the Black Isle) and his involvement at the beginning of the Wars of Independence.
An often overlooked Scottish hero.
Maybe its just part of the human psyche but we seem to be more than happy to take stuff about our history what we’ve heard, as fact.
When it comes to Scotland in particular, its really not like that.
When Scotland was finally sold for English gold, each generation, just like today, has struggled to try and understand what Scottish history actually says about this shithead union, whether pro or anti.
Georgian Scotland went Romantic mental over Scotland and then Victorian Scotland went almost completely the other way. All the great statues we have today of say the Bruce outside Perth, they are all Victorian Scots, “trying” to assert the nation of Scotland again.
Everytime you hear something about Scotland’s past, touted as fact, right click google it, for their source. There either wont be one, or worse, its taken for mythic nonsense based on legend.
One of the greatest reasons we don’t really understand why our country Scotland is owned by a very few upper class shits, is also because of ALL of the above.
Its a toryboy Scotland, we just live in it and have no real idea how we got here.
But why not?
‘Letters: Unionist manipulation of our voting system has been clear from the start.’
‘IN his reply to John Black, Jim Lynch (Letters, January 3) mentions that the D’Hondt voting system was used for Holyrood to ensure that the SNP would never have a majority.
As he says though, the people somewhat confounded that notion. That the chosen method was a deliberate anti-nationalist ploy is proven in this extract from Sir Malcolm Bruce’s valedictory Commons speech:
“One of the most important events of my time here was the establishment of the Scottish Parliament. I was very pleased, having been the leader of my party in Scotland at the time, to work with the late Donald Dewar in setting up the framework for what became the Scotland Act 1998, which he and I helped to deliver.
I had one disagreement with him, however, and I think that the outcome shows that I was right. It was about the voting system. I supported it, as did he in the end, but we had an argument about whether the additional members should be elected on the basis of a second vote or an adjustment of the first vote.
My view was that we should adjust the first vote, and I think that I was right, because we would not have a Scottish National party majority if we had stuck with that system. Unfortunately, that tells us that we are going to have to address the issue in future.”
Unionist manipulation from the start, and please note the threat contained in the final sentence.
G Foulis, Edinburgh.’
link to thenational.scot
Hmmmm. In hindsight Naija is a bad idea. Far too much chance of serious enjoyment!
rockhaggis,
“Scotland is in all but name a colony of england. That is a simple fact.”
Unfortunately such simple facts are like rocket science to certain “sovereign” clueless pompous armchair pundits posting here.
@Dave McEwan Hill says: 6 January, 2018 at 7:11 pm:
“William Wallace was not a Norman knight. He was a Strathclyde Briton.”
There is no reason to think he was not both. The Strathclyde Britons were certainly the same lot as the Welsh but that doesn’t mean they were what we know as the Welsh of Today.
They did not speak Welsh, they spoke the Brythonic language from which Welsh is derived, which is/was one of two groups of the modern Celtic languages, the other one being Goidelic.
The Brythonic languages (from the Brythonic word for, “Briton”) were spoken on the island of Great Britain and consist of Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.
Just as a comparison the Gaelic word, “Sassenach”, is derived from the Scottish Gaelic word, “sasunnach”, literally meaning ‘Saxon’. It was originally used by Gaelic speakers to refer to all non-Gaelic speaking Scottish Lowlanders. These were quite obviously now nearly all of Anglo-Saxon origins. Our Scottish genetic make up is mainly from stone age Britons from long before the Anglo-Saxons arrived in south Britain.
However, Lowland Scots language is descended from northern varieties of the medieval language known as Old English or Anglo-Saxon. However, both Scots and English evolved into their own distinctive forms, they certainly have much more in common with each other than with Scots Gaelic but Lowland Scots is not a dialect of modern English.
Both languages evolved from different Germanic speaking areas of Europe but historically when the South Britons were allied with one lot of Europeans the North Britons were allied with whoever were the south Briton’s and their allies enemies. Thus words came to each language from different areas at different times.
Just to put that into perspective, South Britain was occupied and governed by the Roman Empire, from 43BC until 410 AD. – 453 years but Latin was the official language of the law for very much longer than that.
There is much evidence the claim King Arthur was Welsh or English are a bit doubtful and many scholars believe Arthur’s capital, (his royal seat), was indeed Arthur’s Seat or Edinburgh. Further credence is that Camelon and Camelot are synoomous and further evidence is quoted that the famed, “Round Table”, was a mis-translation of, “Round House”. The two words for Table and House are said to be very similar and they claim that the tools and craftsmanship of the period were not capable of crafting a large enough round table as would seat such a large number of Knights but the northern British dwellings of the time were indeed round houses.
As for me, I do not know the truth but as the whole Knight thing was indeed a Norman import to Britain and Wallace was one of two sons of a Strathclyde Knight I assume there was indeed a Norman connection – I may though be quite wrong.
As you point out, “it seems equally likely that the surname refers to people who were seen as being “Welsh” due to their Cumbric language”. Which is very like lowland Scots being termed Anglo-Saxons by the Gaels of Scotland.
By the way the Lowland Scots term for Gaelic Speakers was originally, “Erse”, (Irish), which was not what that word means today.
So if a Highlander calls you a Sassanach, (meaning English Speaker), tell him/her, that by their reasoning, they are an, “Erse”, (meaning Irish Speaker).
The MSM this week reported on a Tory Press release about 10,000 ambulance journeys over a four year period being undertaken by ambulances crewed by only 1 person rather than 2.
This amounted to 0.3% of total ambulance journeys with 99.7% always being crewed by 2 people. This was intended as a criticism of the Scottish Government, we know that as SNP BAD.
Next time a Tory makes such a statement to you just point them to what is the reality outside of Scotland right now:
“Jeremy Corbyn has condemned the death of a pensioner who waited nearly four hours for an ambulance to arrive as shocking proof of an NHS in the grip of a “Tory-made crisis”.”
“East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) has admitted it struggled to cope with a surge in demand over the holiday period, turning to taxis to take patients to hospital on occasions.”
link to independent.co.uk
just in case anyone is interested
Your signature is a crucial first step in joining the Theresa May MP: Sack Toby Young from University Watchdog Post campaign.
//mail.yahoo.com/?.src=ym&.partner=sky&reason=bkt_myc#mail
Funny how large tracts of land arent being bought up by “foreign investors “In norn irn. Those barstewards know,The writing is on the wall.
Davie Oga at 8.40
Indeed. But I might just join IPOB.
Here we have the Derek Bateman exclusive on what we’ed be reading over the holiday period:
EMBARGO: 00.01 7 JANAURY 2018
MORE THAN 1,000 DELAYED DISCHARGE DEATHS SINCE 2015
link to derekbateman.scot
The Sunday Express though has ignored the “embargo” until midnight tonight and gone ahead with reporting the “news” ten minutes ago with the headline:
Bed blocking: More than 1,100 patients have died waiting to be discharged from hospital
link to archive.is
I notice they have also added another 100 deaths just to be sure SNP BAD. This is all starting to get a tad wearing even for me!
I suppose that’s meant to be the point but it’s now so obvious.
I spit blood to admit it.but rockhaggis is right. I go back home about 4 times a year, and all I hear about is ‘chelsea, arsenal,the “fantastic epl. eastenders, corrie,emmerdale,great brit bake off, strictly. Etc.etc. And then I come away thinking, Ah f**k it I’m 65 , i can’t make them see sense.f**k em.they deserve all they f***ng vote for.! Sorry to all yes voters.
Thepnr says:
I reckon this behaviour has a pretty short half life, so soon it will have almost all decayed away.
With each day which passes more and more see through it all. Once that happens, you can’t un-see it. You can’t un-learn what you have deduced. You can’t go back to being conned by the same old repetitive shit. I just doesn’t happen.
I am convinced that folks rejecting the Union, and all it tools and agents, is like an hour class which can’t be turned back. Slowly and steadily.
BOBP, ROCK, ROCK HAGGIS
Guys get yourself in a wee group sent emails to pro independence blogs –kid on that your sympathetic to independence then throw in a spanner (no not him).
Mind and put all your names in a wee spreadsheet and send to stu.
I don’t need to go back home I’m here already but independence supporters don’t have the view you guys have.
Hamish 100
Oh I want Indy so badly pal.but it ain’t happening in my lifetime. Sadly. Too many colonists in Scotland
Interesting idea having an embargo on when the press can report a story. Press obeying this is collusion as I would have thought it was up to them when they reported a story. An embargo is normally an internal instruction to stop any early leaks of information, or during a crisis when the government requests the withholding of information. Not acceptable for day to day reporting of press releases unless the press is indeed working hand in hand with political parties.
link to nls.uk
“The loss of Scotland’s sovereignty was widely unpopular at the time….”
So, according to the National Library of Scotland, Scotland lost its sovereignty. I strongly disagree with this assertion and think it should not be saying this.
Anyone care to comment?
Hamish 100 aren’t you the lucky one that didn’t have to leave, like I did 40 yrs ago. Just think, your kids/grandkids might have to do the same as I did.because of the colonialists.
Been off on my travels today so just catching up. Having read Derek Bateman’s piece on the infamous Christmas box and Mr McKenna’s piece on the SiU donor list, you just have to ask yourself one question.
What will it take?
What will it take before people wake the fuck up to what’s being done to them?
Manipulation? Of perception, opinion, emotion. Democracy? You’re having a laugh. Democracy undermined, managed, packaged and re-branded to suit. To suit who? To suit those who have become accustomed to wielding a certain entitlement obviously. Certainly not the public. Democracy is what our betters say it is and the public are electoral coin or collateral damage by turn and the bastards who run these parties, these ‘grassroots’ organizations, don’t give a shit whether we suffer or not. Not so long as their world is just peachy.
It’s not as if the evidence isn’t out there now. It’s not as if it isn’t damning. It’s not as if it isn’t shameful and embarrassing on the most personal level for both those who enacted these appalling acts and their intended victims.
So, what will it take before the worm turns?
In an infinite space and an infinite time Scotland’s time is about to arrive.
What a time to be alive.
Macart.Oh the evidence is out there for them alright.But only the ,stupid,The bigoted, or the ,don’t knows,Dont want to know.
Love some of the tweet on Wings feed. Mrs Gove doesn’t seem to like the fact the the plebs can comment on twitter. Their role is to turn up every five years, elect a Tory government, then shut up and do as they are told.
Toby Young, good guy, his abominable tweets merely disguises his intellect at work, in the same way that Trump’s tweets disguise his genius.
Macart.sometimes I despair of the worm turning. Do worms have balls?
@Bobp
Worth remembering that a good many folk in the YES movement didn’t start out as YES voters. Many were life long members of various parties. At the very least they were all brought up with the same values and ideas of ‘Britishness’ as the rest of the UK public. They became motivated and curious. They did the homework and they drew the obvious and logical conclusions.
Being late to the party still means you came to the party. How you get there isn’t what matters. Only that you get there.
And the party stands a very good chance of starting this year.
Right now is about the time to get people angry. Good and angry about what’s been done to them and reassure them that they can do something about that. 😉
‘s funny how all the apple carts are being over turned right now intit? SIU, Rag central, and of course by proxy all the tv media outlets including BBC who get their news from Rag central?
What a bunch of lying fucking mouthpieces they are. Yes we all knew it was a massive fraud, but now we have the evidence, the facts, the reality.
Slowly folks…slowly…we’re getting there. This is not the time to spit the dummy about our fellow citizens. They (grass spooks unionists) are fucking up massively right now…and they are not going to be able to bury this stuff.
Keep talking to folk. The movement has always been toward Yes. It has never stopped, it cannot be stopped, it will never stop.
Take heart, new year’s looking ‘interesting’. 😉
@Macart
The revelations these last few days have been very enlightening. Until then there was little evidence but now it is certain that the Scottish media are complicit in their dealings with the opposition to the SNP with what they’ll print.
The opposition supply the copy and tell them when to print it and they duly do as instructed. Makes a mockery of Democracy.
As for SiU I reckon there is no way back for them, finding out that it was mainly very rich and very entitled aristos that we’re backing them was no surprise and neither was the fact that they are so inept at keeping this a secret.
What was a bit of a surprise was getting caught with their knickers down by not following the rules of law and complying with electoral regulations regarding donors.
I’d hope this would cost them but they will likely get off with a smack on the wrist. I doubt their landed gentry backers will let them off so lightly though and they are now a liability and totally screwed.
Goodbye SiU, “These islands” launched in London like SiU are also having issues with nutty professors and the like I’ve read.
The shambles that is the opposition to Independence is crumbling.
@Thepnr
Pretty much.
Until recently the suspicions of independence voters were put down to conspiracy theory and tinfoil hat syndrome. Most folk suspected (knew) how the system, the reality worked, but it could be stepped on, or ignored without the hard evidence to back it up.
Today?
We know them for the sellouts, charlatans and users they always were. Now we spread what we know far and wide. We take sledgehammers to that crumbling structure.
Funny now that more oil than ever before is found in Scotland’s territorial waters and the price of Brent is way back up we hear Unionists say we should stop using oil and gas. They also say that even with this bounty Scotland would still have a black hole.I refrain from cheap laughs on that BUT
Crude oil is used as the base for most artificial plastics and other synthetic products and can be used to create energy in a carbon safe way. Scotland in ALL its natural and human resouces would make us wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice.
This in a nation favouring civic responsibility and fairness can simply be seen as karma. But only if we become Independent,
This in a nation favouring civic responsibility and fairness can simply be seen as karma. But only if we become Independent,
Over half of Norway’s new cars are electric now.
Progressive liberal THe Graun like this, as exact same UKOK tory creeps savage the living shit out of Scottish democracy and all its potential, because that’s not what the UK/England is all about in their Scotland region.
link to archive.is
It will never happen in our Scotland region because and until England first, its the UKOK way.
@ Bob Mack;
A man who will steal an egg will steal a kingdom. – read it somewhere.
Bobp says:
6 January, 2018 at 10:08 pm
Hamish 100
Oh I want Indy so badly pal.but it ain’t happening in my lifetime. Sadly. Too many colonists in Scotland
Bobp says:
6 January, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Hamish 100 aren’t you the lucky one that didn’t have to leave, like I did 40 yrs ago. Just think, your kids/grandkids might have to do the same as I did.because of the colonialists
Oh I see you left Scotland and it became full of colonists!! So its your fault! So you became a colonist elsewhere. Bit of irony there. You sound more like a racist. Anyway your maybe need to keep an eye open for Rock and rock haggis. Maybe they are heading your way. Glad I am here I can vote for independence rather than run it down. Your loss.
Thepnr @ 9.28pm
Delayed Discharges. This story has appeared at regular intervals during 2017 in various newspapers from the Telegraph through to the Daily Record.
The new integration of health and social care came into effect in April 2016. The policy was, among other things, designed to reduce delayed discharge of patients commonly known as bed blocking.
link to gov.scot
Figures published by ISD show a steady decline from October 2016 in the number of beds taken up in hospitals due to delayed discharges. ISD publishes monthly reports in arrears of delayed discharges. The June figures quoted here were published in August 2017
The reasons for the delay in discharging patients are varied and trying to draw a direct causal relationship between the delay and a failure of policy, as this story in the Express is trying to do, is inappropriate to say the least. For example this is a breakdown of the reasons for delayed discharges from an ISD report for June 2017. Note the figures relate to patients over 18 years of age.
“”At the June 2017 census point, there were 1,300 people delayed. Of these, 1,057 were delayed more than three days. The most common reason for delays over three days was health and social care reasons (727), followed by complex needs (292) then patient and family-related reasons (38).””
Furthermore the data collection methods changed in 2016 so any direct comparison between figures for 2015-16, the period covered in the Express report , is not possible.
From the ISD report for June 2016: “”The average daily number of beds occupied is calculated by dividing the total monthly number of delayed discharge bed days by the number of days in the calendar month. ISD considers this daily average a better statistic for comparing month on month differences when months vary in the number of days. New data definitions and national data requirements came into effect on 1 July 2016. These align census information and associated bed days and ensure more robust and consistent reporting across Scotland.
The impact of the definitional changes is explained in a technical document which also describes the reporting of figures, including trend information, which were agreed in consultation with our stakeholders. Responses to this consultation can be found on our website.
Reports published using data prior to July 2016 cannot be used in direct comparison to figures published in this report.””
The Express article does not indicate the length of the delay in discharging these patients but, in the way it is structure, gives the impression that it was a long time.
If the patients had been discharged on time, then died within a few days of discharge then the headlines would no doubt be screaming another story which would also of course amount to SNP Bad.
The article, and all the other newspaper articles rehashing this story throughout 2017, also states: “”In February 2015, Health Secretary Shona Robison pledged to eradicate the problem by the end of that year but the new figures show she has failed to do so.”” Can anyone find the original source for the quote?
@Robert Peffers
===================
I must correct you. Scots is a dialect of English. Yorkshire, Northumbrian, West Country are all dialects (though thinner than Scots) of English. RP (or BBC English or Oxbridge English) is a dialect of English. English is the name we give to a conglomeration of dialects throughout the UK and the world. No one of these dialects is “proper English” with the rest being offshoots. They are all offshoots from a historical Germanic language (which was already developing different dialects when it arrived 1500 years ago). Of course whoever is in power or forms the elite thinks their dialect is the real language and all the other dialects are “inferior” versions of their speech. Not so, their speech is just another dialect, there is no pure language – though it’s useful to have a shared version of English that version is just another dialect, just like Scots.
**I know strictly speaking RP is pronunciation but it’s always associated with the Standard English dialect.
stu mac @ 00:19,
I must correct you. Scots is not a mere “dialect of English”. Both languages are indeed derived from a common ancestor, but Scots is correctly regarded by linguists as a distinct language in its own right, with unique grammatical forms and words, including vocabulary derived from a range of co-languages other than English, esp. Dutch/Flemish, Niederdeutsch and Danish/Norwegian.
Scots, having already diverged from English before the Norman Conquest, also has an entirely different inheritance of French, largely based on much later friendly relations between France and Scotland (not least Mary Queen of Scots presence at the French court after her marriage to the French Dauphin).
Scots also has its own set of dialects, Doric for example being one of them.
@ RJS at 1.46
I was considering pointing that out to stu mac, but you’ve pre-empted me more than adequately.
For anyone who’s interested, these articles also explain it pretty well:
link to weegingerdug.wordpress.com
link to weegingerdug.wordpress.com
Paul K is of course a linguist, and definitely knows what he’s talking about.
language
2. a system of communication used by a particular country or community.
dialect
a particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group.
Not a lot of difference, frankly, in a lot of cases.
The more yoon goons appear on here, is a good indication they are utterly crapping it.
They know the union is over, all we are waiting for is the date for the funeral.
And the party.
Just as en example, check out the word “spuggie”, a sparrow, used in Scotland along with other variants, but also in and around Newcastle. Yet in German the word is speug (pronounced spoig), and in Scots there’s also speuggie.
Personally I’d call Scots a language, and I guess I should have made 1 posting out of 3!
To me, dialect implies that there is a pure form of a language and that all other usages are dialects. But as far as I know the only pure form of a language is Hoch Deutsch, as at one time that was laid down by “authorites” rather than evolution, and even that by now is probably dialecticised itself.
When my grandson was born in Surrey in 2005 I took some Scots language children’s books for him.
While we were looking through them my son mentioned there were some words he didn’t recognise and neither did I but my daughter-in-law, brought up on the east coast of England did.
We think these words were spread by those who fished for herring and the fishwives who gutted them for market.
Language is spread by the people who use it.
Brought up in Aberdeen and ‘speugs’ were wee sparras and remain so !
I see the Herald/Sunday Herald have put up
‘More than 1,000 ‘bedblock’ deaths since 2015′
They have quoted it is a Scottish Labour freedom of information inquiry.
I actually thought they may have used some sense and pulled the last of the Slab Xmas box headlines,for today and tomorrow.
Derek Bateman’s blog has been up since Friday, and has been widely commentated on. So either the Herald are lazy,ignorant of the blog and/or don’t give a shit and must follow the Slab news timetable whatever.
I am gobsmacked, though maybe I shouldn’t be.
Many people would be surprised how many of these landowners were up to their eyes in debt. To fund their extravagant lifestyles. Just a few steps ahead of the bank. The land is used as collateral but they have to pay interest in it. A tax on land? Some estates folk even have to have another job keep one step away from the bank. In professional service, industry or public office or finance etc,
Not all farms/estates are profitable. Many farmers are making a loss unless they can diversify. Scraping a living, One of the partner’s has to have another job to keep things going and to make ends meet. Land comes on to the market when children refuse to take up the inheritance and work the land. They have a better job elsewhere. Or when there is not an apparent successor. The land goes to the crown! and comes up for sale. If farms go bankrupt or their is retire the land comes in the market. Or loans are called in and they are sold. More land and farms – estates will come in the market as the elderly (higher proportion) keel over.
The ‘subsidy’ or investment. actually keeps things going to produce more food. Exactly what it is supposed to do. The EU was formed after 11WW to stop war and starvation in Europe when the European economy was devastated. Especially Russia who took the brunt if it. 26million Russian died in 11WW. The Russian economy (Europe) was devastated. The Russian saved the West. 1/2Million British 1/2Million US. They came out best with less damage. Every time their is a commemerstion of the 11WW. A Russian should be there getting the praise and appreciation,. Not the psycho bastards. In many cases who started it,
People would be really surprised how many ‘rich’ landiwners don’t in fact own the Land. Common names. All fur costs and nae drawers. Just about the lot of them. It is mortgaged to the bank. They do in fact tax evade on an industrial scale. Along with many other wealthy people folk. A land tax in many cases would be tax deductible. It could put up the price of land to be accounted. Not raise enoigh/much from a handful of wealthy landowners. In fact do the opposite. Create value benefits from an increase in land values, Giving them more to mortgage. A loss
A land tax would affect everybody. Putting up,prices of houses, food, exports and any balance of payments deficit. It could affect everyone else.Not affect but benefit in many case the wealthy owners who live off the land.
It is the wealthy offshoring and tax evading. Not paying their fair share by evading tax. That is the problem. To try and remedy this state of affairs a Land tax would not work. Just put an extra charge on everyone else. The price of land could/would go up this would stfect everyone else. Like throwing out the bath water to skin a cat. Boom, boom. Almost as bad as a land tax,
Another little greenie scheme of no merit. They really never think things through. They are leaving out the massive debt on land. From the miscalculation. The interest repayments A tax on land already in kind.,They can’t count or read a balance sheet. It would not achieve what is intended but muck up the economy and the price of food, everything would go up. House prices etc. House prices are already high because of the price of land (with planning permission) which has to be incorporated in the price. Preventing more people buying or having a home. One of the reason land stays relatively lower than other parts in Scotland. £5,000 an acre. Is the abundance of land in Scotland compared to head of population. Non density.
Anyone on a relative low income can buy an acre of land and build a hut of a certain size. If they so wish, To enjoy the landscape. Many do not want to. Scotland has a ‘right to roam’ which means for a small amount of dosh people can roam where ever they want. In spite of and like the toffs. Another unique equality guaranteed in Scotland. People do not need to buy the land or own it or mortgage it to the bank, to roam allover it. It is the conservationist who try to stop them. Grt them off the land and make restrictions. Green brown nosers. They try to control the land. Keep it empty. They try and stop them enjoying the land. Or stop needed development etc to benefit everyone. Roads etc. Often secretly in the labdowners pocket for favours and donations (bribes) doing the landowners dirty work. United in trickery, Dishonest and dishonourable telling lots of lies. To the Press and elsewhere around the world,
Land has stayed in the name (not mortgaged ownership) of a relatively few people in Scotland. Scotland has been depopulated by Westminster unionist policies. Illegally and secretly taking funds and resources out of Scotland to benefit London S/E forever. Not treating Scotlsnd equally as was intended, in an Union forged without the support of a majority of people. There were revolts and protests..The depopulation has led to stagnation. If the population had increased instead of decreasing more land would have come down into other (public) ownership as a natural progression. The Scottish SNP Gov has alresdy facilitated land buy bsck for the communuty/people. In some parts reportedly more land than was taken. In the first place.
Land is only valued higher on what is on it. Or the use that is being made if it. In Scotland people do make use of the land. They roam all over it. Enshrined in a Law. Produce food and benfuts from it even fuel. Exports making lots of money. Bring it into the country. £Billion. Tourusm etc. Everyone owns the land no matter whose name is on the documents. Interest and taxes being paid etc.
The way to make to make the wealthier pay their share is thriugh progressive taxation. This can be done. No tax evasion. That can be done as well in Scotland. A Land tax would not do that but would affect the economy. Everyone else would be paying it. Paying to subsidise the landowners with a land tax which would not affect them. If they can evade it. Quite the opposite it could benefit them. Progressive taxation is the way to go. To make sure everyone pays their necessary share.
This can’t be tax evaded so easily in Scotland and would raise more revenues without damaging the economy. Scotland has to pay more unfair illegal tax than the rest of the UK because Westminster taxes Scotland at a higher rate. To pay for Westminster fraudulent mistake and mismanagement of the economy. Scotland fares the worst by comparison. Westminster financial fraud and tax evasion. A higher tax on Scottish industry. On the Oil sector when price had fallen etc. Paying for groteque projects of no value in the rest of the UK. Interest on loan repayments Scotland hasn’t borrowed or spent. Etc, etc, Trident, Hinkley Point, HS2, Heathrow etc.
The last Scottish Gov budget was a stroke of genius. Whoever thought that up deserves a medal. How they came up with that so the majority pay less tax and the wealthier pay a wee bit more. Sheer genius. No all wealthier people are bastards. Some (the majority?) pay their taxes and would be willing to pay a bit more. Pay their fair share. They declare it.
Class act but that’s the SNP governance. Full of smart, talented well informed people who care. Independence in the EU will bring Scotland to the fore. Diminish the corrupt Westminster gov in Scotland. Scotland has never been better run than with the SNP governance. Independence in the EU would make Scotland more equal, fair, prosperous, pesceful and happy. With everyone contributing and everyone paying their fair share through a progressive tax system.
The food banks are a public disgrace. An embarrassment in a supposed civilised society. From a Tory gov of corruption and intransigence. Imbecile Johnston. The rest of the UK might hsve to get supplies of Gas from Russia in the winter. How will that pan out. At higher cost than renewables. Westminster cut investment. Milking the public purse like their is no tomorrow. How much longer can this farce last? The pantomime season is over Here comes summer. The last summer of the Conservatives? The last summer of the winos. Bring it on.
It is a recognised fact larger farms produce more in the UK and the rest of the world. It does depend on the climate, weather, soil conditions etc.
Donald Trump’s mad and the SNPs Baad
Just think folks without the Labour party in Scotland our great Scottish “journalism” would only consist of Trump, and what’s funny about that is they’re just quoting from a book written by somebody else
So basically Scottish news media doesn’t do anything at all
That must make them not part of the “working class” then eh
Ken 500.
How are things on the Estate? Still pleading poverty! Your fortunate to be getting your factors salerie for posting on here. Pheasant shooting tomorrow morning old boy?
Labour Tory controlled councils deliberately not gritting pavements, Reports just coming in on pedestrian fractures
Although I said this a fortnight ago
The issue of what constitutes a language as opposed to a dialect is an interesting and sometimes entertainingly surreal one. According to the sociolinguist and Yiddish scholar Max Weinreich: a language is a dialect with an army and navy.
?? ??????? ??? ?? ???????? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ?????? (a shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot)
Very true given the exceedingly minor differences separating some European languages. Is Bosnian a language or simply a variant of Serbo-Croat? Indeed is there sufficient difference, other than script, between Serbian and Croatian for each to be counted as distinct languages. Is Moldavian a dialect of Rumanian? Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are largely mutually intelligible but are nevertheless deemed separate languages. And then there’s Macedonian and the dozens of Arabic dialects, some of which on the basis of mutual unintelligibility could be classed as distinct languages but for geo-political reasons are not.
Scots/Scottis ie classic Scots, not the Anglo-Scottish form of English, has a distinct grammar, lexis, pronunciation and orthography which set it apart as more than a mere variant of Standard English. It has some similarities with North English dialect forms but in pronunciation it differs markedly. The boundary between England and Scotland is also a linguistic frontier in terms of how people speak. The most distinct frontier of its kind in the so-called English speaking world.
Compare it to Wales where English forms and sounds penetrate deep into the Welsh speaking heartland, particularly along the North Welsh, coast the hinterland of Greater Liverpool.
Scots/Scottis needs much remedial work. It needs to be brought out of the folkloric kailyard into the 21st century. Like Gàidhlig it has to become a working language again and it needs to be systematised and standardised in vocabulary, spelling and grammar and given its rightful place in our culture as a voice that better articulates our nation than the foreign sounds of Anglo-Anerican.
Much that passes for Scots today has the look of standard English with ‘Scots’ glosses sourced from dictionaries; I have the versions on Wikipedia in mind. The spelling is often erratic and the overall effect rather amateurish if not comic.
We certainly need an Academie o dhe Scottis Leid….an academy that sources language building and planning data and expertise from beyond our shores.
Scots has the all the basics, it simply needs the application of imaginative minds thinking outside the box of staid convention.
This post contains Yiddish script which may not be supported.
@Rock,
Scotland is a colony of England ? Well, truth be told, that is inaccurate and yet somehow true.
It is true because we have had at least the last few centuries of being governed by compliant politicians who were very pro union. As such they gained ample reward for their services. We have fought wars,traded ,and endured hardship all in the name of a greater good. E. The UK.
However, times change. I cannot remember such support for independence in Scotland,and England does not enjoy it one bit.
The problem we have ,and it is a problem, is that the English population in general now view Scotland as a region of England. Not surprising I suppose considering the population of Greater London alone ,is greater than that of Scotland.
We have allowed ourselves over the years to be assimilated. In that regard I refer more to politicians than the public.
Change is coming though. Elections are returning more pro indy politicians, and social media at least gives us a voice to reject our “colonisation”,even if the MSM are compliant and Unionist.
You can only win by being in the game Rock. Perhaps the lesson for yourself is to be more creative with your contributions rather than push your usual line of revolution.
Ken 500
The Russians started World War 2 when they jointly invaded and divided Poland with Germany as per the Von Ribbentrop pact signed the previous year.
Pubs being permitted to open late on the day of the royal wedding.
That should keep the proles happy.
Now if we were independent we wouldn’t be able to take part in all that fun.
@stu mac says: 7 January, 2018 at 12:19 am:
“I must correct you. Scots is a dialect of English.”
No you must not, stu mac. You can, though debate the point with me, which is quite a different matter.
Lowland Scots is not a dialect of the modern English Language. Scottish Standard English is.
“They are all offshoots from a historical Germanic language (which was already developing different dialects when it arrived 1500 years ago).”
Claptrap. Both lowland Scots and English were indeed derived from a common Germanic Language but there the commonality diverges. There was really no Standard English Language before William Shakespeare set the standard for a common English Language.
The English Bard was born in 1564 and the printing press was introduced to England in 1476 by William Caxton. This had consequences. Many printers in England were Dutch and they introduced Dutch spellings in some words. For example, the spelling of word initial /g/ as in ghost was introduced by Dutch-speaking typesetters. However, the printing press opened for the first time literature for the masses but there was no standard English language until that used by Shakespeare.
In Scotland there was no such standardisation and as both kingdoms were constantly at war with each other their respective allies were obviously always different European Nations and words came into each kingdom from different sources at different times.
For an example of those differences Elizabeth the First of England is recorded historically as being a great linguist and letters of that period of history record the different languages the English Queen was capable of writing fluently. One such language they quote is Scots.
Today the old Lowland Scots remains a language in its own right and has its own regional dialects, but, “Scottish Standard English”, is a dialect of English.
I refer you to :-
link to scots-online.org
Re the manufactured newspaper headlines. It would be a good idea if someone from the SNP Media team would give a list of the press releases issued over the Christmas season so we can if any were included in the newspapers etc during that period.
By chance I came across a long interview with Alec Salmond on the Parliamentary Channel. It is worth seeing if it repeated.
I think these revelations about the Press and their “programming” by Labour press releases is a big story.
Ever wondered why all those repetitive smears on Alex Salmond being a liar and unpopular with women voters seemed coordinated? Wonder no more.
Ever wonder where the assertion that Scottish Independence was Alex Salmond’s personal crusade for glory actually came from? Wonder no more.
Ever wonder why an English lead story on a failing NHS was complimented by a contrived false narrative about the Scottish NHS? Wonder no more.
Ever wondered that the infiltration of BBC Scotland by Labour sympathisers was skewing the news you were getting? Wonder no more.
Ever wonder why a Labour party humiliated in the polls has it’s failures airbrushed, dearth of talent ignored, and Muppeteering spokespeople given an easy ride in extensive interviews? Wonder no more.
Ever wonder why the scandal of PFI is rarely ever linked to the Labour Party who couldn’t get enough of it? Wonder no more.
Ever wonder why Unionism, whether it manifests itself as Better Together, No Borders, Scotland In Union, or Kevin the dog food salesman, seem to have habitual access to a high profile national broadcasting platform to make disparaging remarks about Scotland regardless of relevant qualifications our knowledgeable competence? Wonder no more.
Ever wonder why the coordinated attack on Scotland’s self determination and dialogue about Independence and Brexit seems scripted to follow the Unionist agenda? Wonder no more. We have seen the damned script.
With this revelation from Derek Bateman, and the data dump of SIU donations and Astroturf credentials, pro Indy spokespeople, the SNP and Scottish Government must go on the attack and demand this corruption and manipulation of Scottish news and political discourse is fully exposed, discredited, and brought to an end. Not just in the papers, but on TV, radio, and online, but especially on the gimps in chief at the BBC.
This is wall to wall corruption masquerading as news media and wilfully subverting and manipulating the narrative expressly to smear and damage the SNP and Scotland’s aspirations for Independence.
Let us ram this corruption and mendacity down their throats at every opportunity.
@yesindyref2 says: 7 January, 2018 at 2:28 am: language
“Not a lot of difference, frankly, in a lot of cases.
Trouble with that theory is that neither statement is true.
All countries, (note countries – not Kingdoms), have their own official language, (or languages). This is of necessity because they must have a standard language in order to write the laws of that particular country. More often these days the country will have an official language of Government but will recognise several others as official languages.
In the case of Scotland there has been use made of Latin, French, Scots and English at various times. Not only that but there has been periods in history when quite dramatic changes in the language occurred.
For example there was a big change when the Christian saints first came upon the scene. See:-
link to en.wikipedia.org
Auld reekie @ 8.16 am
The Herald and bed blocking story.
On 4th January 2014 the Herald ran an almost identical story about deaths in hospitals and delayed discharges only the number dying was 700. The Telegraph, Sun and The National also ran This story on 4-5th January 2017
Not only are they printing Labour/Tory/Libdem (delete as appropriate) press releases verbatim as ‘news’ but the recycle them at regular intervals.
Davie Oga says:
7 January, 2018 at 9:58 am
Ken 500
The Russians started World War 2 when they jointly invaded and divided Poland with Germany as per the Von Ribbentrop pact signed the previous year.
The greatest lie we Brits are spoon fed from birth? UK won the second world war.
Its so spectacular a lie too, audacious even. All the UK did from 1939 onwards, or at least til the EU lets us join them, was loose, and loose and loose and loose.
And its all ongoing, a bus just passed me with a huge ad for even more, “We won the war” nonsense.
link to rottentomatoes.com
It was the not the end of the beginning of the end of the end of the beginning, of the end, of the world wide cancer that was the British Empire.
Altogether now, Rule Britannia etc ad nauseum…
Marcia 10.14 am
You will find a list of the news releases from the Scottish Government here:
link to news.gov.scot
May be of some help
Breeks
You are quite right the evidence of what many suspected was going on is out in the open.
The English regime is clearly acting in an undemocratic manner people now know that all TV and press reporting is frankly half truths or complete lies.
The mishandling of brexit, a badly judged election, previously told lies being exposed, add to that a group of completely incompetent politicians in government and Labour and Libdem.
An increasingly more aware population in Scotland of the complete fraud we are being sold on the political union which is now crumbling who would want to be Mrs May?
The problem now is what is to be done there is I suspect a degree of panic at the British Nationalists centre.
My fear is what will the crowd of idiots try next, it is quite worrying.
@yesindyref2 says: 7 January, 2018 at 2:35 am:
“Just as en example, check out the word “spuggie”, a sparrow, used in Scotland along with other variants, but also in and around Newcastle. Yet in German the word is speug (pronounced spoig), and in Scots there’s also speuggie.”
Trouble with that example, yesindyref2 is that it’s not true.
In Lowland Scots the word for a Sparrow is, “spug”, or, “speug”. There are at least two regional variations as, “spurg”, or, “sprug”.
What you are quoting is, “Scottish Standard English”, and thus a dialect of English not the Lowland Scottish language.
Trouble is that all languages are living and changing all the time except for the language used for legal or legislative processes where absolute meanings must be clear. Which is why our legal system still has a great deal of Latin words in use.
I was brought up on a farm where mainly Lowland Scots was used but I find it has become increasingly difficult to come across anyone who speaks proper Lowland Scots. Proper Lowland Scots is a literary language as well as having been the language of the masses on Scotland. It did, though, always have its own regional dialects.
Let’s be clear – “Scottish Standard English”, is not the Lowland Scots language but it is now spoken throughout Scotland and it includes many unique Scottish Lowland words.
i.e. minging, minger, dreich and many others. Laughably both of which are being increasingly used in England now and can even be found quoted as NEW English terms in the Greater Oxford Dictionary. Is there nothing the Englanders won’t steal from Scotland?
;-))
@Dorothy Devine says: 7 January, 2018 at 7:13 am:
“Brought up in Aberdeen and ‘speugs’ were wee sparras and remain so !”
You are correct, Dorothy, but here is a wee variation that may, of course, be a Lothians/borders dialectic use.
Wee bairns, or weans, were often described as, “The wee speugs”, where I was brought up in Mid Lothian by my family originally from the Borders/East Lothian areas.
Did you know that since the SNP came into power in Scotland over ten years ago around 600,000 Scots have died?
Perhaps we should just stop referring to written pieces in newspapers as articles, and start calling them press releases.
Or even better, don’t refer to a particular piece as article by, but to {insert party} press release.
My fear is what will the crowd of idiots try next, it is quite worrying.”
I don’t think you need be paranoid about yoon culture in Scotland today. There probably are some OO nutters that want to get jiggy, NI style, who knows, maybe they will. Its all about effective policing really.
Lets face yoon facts here.
What IS the great beeb gimp network plan for their Scotland really, routinely discussed in their giant half a billion quid mausoleum of yoon at Pacific Quay?
Get the SNP out by next Scots GE, Thursday 6 May, 2021.
That’s all that matters.
After that, Scots indy is all over.
Sure we’ll just get back to a SLab style red tory Holyrood, and they’ll flounder about for 4 of 5 Holyrood years, ondoing, screwing up, doing nothing, as the great UKOK beeb Scotland gimps cheer them to high heaven, as they send back UKOK block grant “excess” because Scotland didn’t need it, work hard to get to the great Lords reward/trough etc…
By say 2025, Scots probably will have had enough of the red tory carry on, again, and maybe SNP might be allowed another go, at running whatever is left of the red tory Scotland regional mess.
And the beeb Scotland gimp network will go, OK SNP, in you come, again, but you can forget indy ref2, because we will only kick you out of Scots gov, again.
So chillax Mr Smoothpiece, whoever you are.
link to facebook.com
I wonder what Jackie Baillie would tell her constituents on this issue .
Media saying Trump won’t allow a post Brexit Trade Deal is he isn’t invited to the royal wedding.
Potential for win win situation here! 🙂
Dave McEwan Hill says:
7 January, 2018 at 11:13 am
Did you know that since the SNP came into power in Scotland over ten years ago around 600,000 Scots have died?
60,000 a year is a lot. There are a number of causes of dying but at the very least, I hope I get reincarnated as a fcuking tory next time.
Because not being a fcuking tory in teamGB is not fun at all. Sorry, that should be a hope I get reincarnated as a fcuking tory yoon. Although on balance, imagined what it must be like being a UKOK tory hack, as you professionally lie you’re creepy way for your tory masters, pay cheque to pay cheque.
Think I’d rather come back as one of these me, than a tory hack/ligger:D
link to youtube.com
@Abulhaq says: 7 January, 2018 at 9:54 am:
“Scots/Scottis ie classic Scots, not the Anglo-Scottish form of English, has a distinct grammar, lexis, pronunciation and orthography which set it apart as more than a mere variant of Standard English.”
Indeed so, Abulhaq.
“The boundary between England and Scotland is also a linguistic frontier in terms of how people speak. The most distinct frontier of its kind in the so-called English speaking world.”
Very much so and quite startling to listeners with an educated ear for linguistic differences.
“Scots/Scottis needs much remedial work. It needs to be brought out of the folkloric kailyard into the 21st century. Like Gàidhlig it has to become a working language again and it needs to be systematised and standardised in vocabulary, spelling and grammar and given its rightful place in our culture as a voice that better articulates our nation than the foreign sounds of Anglo-Anerican.”
Frankly I thought such, “systematised and standardised in vocabulary, spelling and grammar”, work had already been done by such as Christopher Murray Grieve, (known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid). the Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure.
He is best known for his works written in what his detractors falsely claimed was, “synthetic Scots”, a literary version of the Scots language that MacDiarmid, and some of his fellow Scots authors, developed.
This was indeed an effort to do what the likes of the English Bard, Shakespeare, achieved for English centuries before.
Unfortunately for the Scottish Language the Westminster, English/British, Establishment went to great lengths, (and still do to great extent), to eradicate the Scottish Language. Aided and abetted by the mainly Oxbridge educated teaching profession and the elected local councils of the day.
To the extent of severe physical punishment of Scottish children throughout their entire time in the Scottish Education system. Both Scottish languages saw Scottish children subjected to, (up to the regulation, “Six if the Best”, by teachers armed with, “The Lochgelly Tawse”). An instrument of torture, that male teachers wore, often across their shoulder under their jacket, but more often never really out of their hand.
In fact the term, “Lallans Scots”, as the language was dubbed, simple owersets, (translates) as, “Lowlands”, Scots. For my part it was the language I learned at my Grandmother’s knee but had never seen written or printed so as only to become a spoken language. That is until I discovered such tales as, “Thrawn Janet”, by R L Stevenson. To my great delight I was instantly able to read great literature in my first language.
Here’s three good examples, Including, “Thrawn Janet”, by RLS:-
link to arts.gla.ac.uk
See how you get on reading these great horror stories by a master craftsman.
My point is that all Chris Grieve did was standardise the existing Scots that native Scots speakers had only spoken but never actually been taught is read and write. “The Lallans”, was almost exactly the language my Grandparents had spoken all their lives but with a standardised spelling and the grammar they had only ever spoken.
Hi Abulhaq at 9:54 am.
You typed,
“We certainly need an Academie o dhe Scottis Leid….an academy that sources language building and planning data and expertise from beyond our shores.”
You may find this useful:-
Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL)
Dictionar o the Scots Leid (DSL)
link to dsl.ac.uk
The “About DSL” page has a lot of info, once you click on the “More” buttons after the opening paragraphs of each section.
agree with RP that our languages (and culture) are and have been much “put upon”
if anyone tells you that gaelic and scots are dying languages, correct them and point out that they are exterminated languages. there’s a difference
Dave McEwan Hill
Tongue in cheek with so many unionists dying off and more to come should we just wait another year?
How many young people in 2014 are now able to vote and likely to vote for self reliance and self government?
Certainly the young folk I know off who can now vote seem to be independent minded, pro European and Patriotic– Scots
Anyone having difficulty reading our Scots language may care to try hearing it instead.
You may be surprised just how much of it you really understand when listening to it.
When you try this YouTube link you will find the other RLS Scottish language tales listed on the right hand panel of YouTube
link to arts.gla.ac.uk
Hope you enjoy the hard work of the Glasgow arts people. I most certainly do.
@ Robert Peffers 13:22
I came across this chap while doing some research, on 17tyh century chapbooks, last year and thought he may be of interest to you regarding the written Scots language. … If you don’t already know about him, that is.
link to en.wikipedia.org
It’s only a Wikipedia link, but it may lead on to some interesting reading for you.
@Brian Doonthetoon
Thank you..but know the site. A wonderful resource that deserves to be better known and consulted.
There is a massive collection of Scots language texts, particularly from the ‘classic period’ of Middle Scots when the language was developing a unique voice in literature, polemics and civil administration and that Unionism with its mono-culturalising agenda has sought to brush to the folksy margins. An anglicised Scotland is more compliant than one expressing itself, in all domains and registers, through the genius of its native means.
We have a powerful medium waiting to be released from enforced obscurity. English, however functionally useful, is not Scotland’s authentic voice. Along with Gaelic, Scots is a key to our ‘liberation’ from the baggage that psychologically impedes our re-emergence into the great world. Getting rid of the inferiority complex that, thanks to the system, seems to bite at the heels of our cultural patrimony is an imperative.
My take on this matter, I admit, isn’t ‘mainstream’. However, language in the scheme of national renewal does matter and rather more than some would care to recognise. The cultural histories of states that emerged in Europe during the 20th century signals the importance of the language question. The Gaelic dictum ‘tìr gun chànan, tìr gun anam’, a country without a language is a soulless country, gets to the heart of the matter.
“the SNP and Scottish Government must go on the attack and demand this corruption and manipulation of Scottish news and political discourse is fully exposed”
Aye, just don’t hold your breath waiting for it.
Even if they demand, they are just laughed at or ignored.
colin alexander
You answered your own question.
@ Robert Peffers – Yesindref2
In all my years in Germany I’ve never ever heard the word sparrow as “spoig”. Not even in one of the many dialects.
A sparrow is and was a Spatz or a Sperling.
@ Robert Peffers – Yesindref2
Oops sorry, SPEUG not Spoig..! (idiot)
Nevertheless – sparrow is and was a Spatz or a Sperling.
How many over 65’s have died in Scotland since Sept 2014? Apparently around 70% of them would be no voters and if they’ve obligingly croaked it since then and been replaced on the register with 16 – 18 yr olds who are apparently around 70% Yes then shouldn’t this be having some effect on the polls?
The Leave/Remain thing threw a bit of a spanner in the works with that however the trend should be starting to become clearer soonish.
After all polling is of course sacrosanct isn’t it? It could never be corrupted or influenced by vested interests like the mainstream media. Could it?
Bairn, Kirk and many other words we think of as “Scottish” are the language of the Norsemen that we have adopted into our language.
@Graf Midgehunter
Maybe it’s Schwaebisch.
@Robert Peffers
Ah well now, the thing is that according to some accounts there was this Germanic tribe that were the overlords but the slaves revolted and kicked them out. Some went north, some west, but others went south. Some of those apparently went east, but others went west and possibly sacked Rome as the Barbarians before getting fed up with pizza and heading for the sea.
Thence they sailed to Spain where they got fed up with paella and set sail again, to a part of France when they didn’t like snails. Then off to Cornwall where the pastie really wasn’t their cup of tea and anyway the locals had this ahbot of luring their ships on to the rocks.
So off they went again, always leaving some behind and doubtless some extramarital offspring, to Wales where they really like lamb – and sheep of course. Not to mention the Welsh rare bits. So they bided there awhile and many for even longer, but some headed off for Ireland where Guinness was just the job, and some off to the Isle of Man for the TT races.
Thence from either direction or both they came over to Scotland and realising there was plenty of uisge, quickly (or at least over a period of years) converted it to uisge-beatha, using some left over sherry casks from Spain for storage, and the rest as you know is history!
Meanwhile of course the original language changed and changed which is why Scots is a dialect of German or a language in its own right.
Bob Mack,
“@Rock,
Scotland is a colony of England ? Well, truth be told, that is inaccurate and yet somehow true.”
As ‘rockhaggis’ very rightly says, “Scotland is in all but name a colony of england.”
Unfortunately such simple facts are like rocket science to certain “sovereign” clueless pompous armchair pundits posting here.
Accept the truth with humility instead of pompously claiming to be “sovereign”.
Name one “sovereign” right you as an “ordinary pleb” have Bob Mack, and explain what procedure you can follow to exercise it.
Our resident pub bore always runs away when asked this question.
Hi Rock.
Can you explain, contrary to historical fact, why the people of Scotland are NOT sovereign. You may not cite the fact that we exercised it in a negative direction in 2014.
@ Rock
“Name one “sovereign” right you as an “ordinary pleb” have Bob Mack, and explain what procedure you can follow to exercise it.”
Bob Mack seems to have moved on to the next article so I will answer if you don’t mind.
All Scots have the Right to Roam and the information and procedures you need can be found at http://www.outdooraccess-scotland.com.
You should get out more, you might enjoy it.
Ealasaid,
“All Scots have the Right to Roam and the information and procedures you need can be found at http://www.outdooraccess-scotland.com.”
Another example of something not worth the paper it was written on.
Name some lords, earls and barons and their lands in Scotland you have freely roamed through without being chased.
Well don’t bother because I wouldn’t believe you anyway.
The only “sovereirgn” right the “plebs” of Scotland have is the one that was given to them by the UK parliament: the right to go out and vote if and when an election is called.
No right to hold the political parties and candidates to account for their lies and false manifesto promises (re the right honourable Carmichael, MP).
@Rock
Everyone who has ever walked the hills and valleys of Scotland, Highlands or Lowlands, north, south, east or west has walked over the lands of the numerous aristocracy and other wealthy landowners. I have done it for decades and never been ‘chased’. We have on occasion been asked to deviate slightly when they have been dealing with livestock, but they pointed out how to get past and there was no acrimony at all.
After a trial court case a few years ago against a new landowner who wanted to keep the public off his estate the court ruled that only the close vicinity of the house could remain private. (If you look at the websites you will find links to the case.) Many new landowners in England have been closing down rights of way but in Scotland such cases always lose as the sovereign people of Scotland have the Right to Roam. That is the Law.
I thoroughly enjoyed Ridley Scott’s latest film, flaws and all:
All the Money in the World: link to wp.me
@Graf Midgehunter
According to the DSL, spyug, speug etc entered Scottish usage, among Children in Fife, in the early 19th century which could indicate a non Scottish provenance. The word occurs in English dialect as sprog and sprag meaning ‘young and lively’.. Sprag is also an obsolete naval term for a raw recruit. The influence of the vocabulary of southern English military based in Scotland cannot be discounted.
Most early Scots words for the bird are variants of middle English spar(r)ow.
@Robert Peffers
Grieve was to a pioneer, albeit an eccentric one. Sadly and typically the cultural milieu was inimical to his cultural endeavours and he succeeded in creating an idiolect which he skilfully employed for its literary value.
If Scots is to develop beyond the intellectual plaything of poets and short story writers into a medium in which one might compose a scientific thesis it is obvious, to me, that much work on creating a modern lexical bank and rationalising the orthography remains to be done. Scots linguistics, in common with anything to do with our culture, is a somewhat recondite domaine and as we lack a true government, one with the powers to be educationally and culturally pro-active that is, as opposed to the subordinate executive currently proffered, it is likely to remain so.
Scots, for reasons political, cultural and practical needs to put some distance between itself and the tyranical predations of Anglo-American. In the early years of the 16th century Scots, like English, was developing its unique voice. Perhaps we need to pick up where our ancestors left off, before the time when Knox and his merry band insisted that God spoke wi aen Inglis tong.
In order to do that we shall need a very open mind. Not an area for the parochial or the risk averse; not unlike the politics of independence in fact.
Interestingly on the matter of spelling it was effectively one hundred years after Gutenberg’s printing press that printing really took off in Scotland. As printing text imposes a measure of standardisation it came rather too late for Scots which already manifested a varieties of orthographic conventions some influenced inevitably by English forms.
As intimated above the Reformation did the language no favours. The voice of that was decidely non-Scottis. The ‘rustication’ of the language began then.
Ealasaid,
“the sovereign people of Scotland have the Right to Roam.”
May the “the sovereign people of Scotland” keep on roaming for the next 620 years while Scotland continues to remain a colony of England.
I would define the “sovereignty” of a people as infinitely more than the right to roam.
It appears that some peeps have to get their heads round the principle of “Sovereignty”.
In the case of others, you know, “others”, they prefer to retain their ignorant beliefs.