The road to hell
Posted on
May 19, 2018 by
Chris Cairns
The world's most-read Scottish politics website
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A tall tale
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Excellent.
In the old days Perfidious Albion was quite good at hiding its perfidy – these days, not so much.
Grab his arm Hamish, twist it up his back and apply the cuffs in one smooth movement.
Then breathe easy for the rest of your life.
Good show! The chiel searching for a pencil found one and produced a crackin’ cartoon!
exactly
Good to see he hasnae lost his touch and the sunburn didnae damage his drawing hand. 🙂
Welcome back, these powers will be like a lawnmower in Livingston, loan it oot… kiss it goodbye.
Indeed, sums it up exactly.
Welcome back Chris, nice to see you haven’t lost your touch after lounging about for a few weeks, ha ha.
…unfortunately
1. 55percent of Scots are still falling for the patter.
2. The MSM are fully under their control.
3. They dominate all voting and Westminster and the HOL.
…we are still held fast as stated in 1707
‘Today, in North Korea, it was announced that the glorious leader Kim Jong-un, could not get his new draconian laws past his parliament. So, in true dictator style he just created some new handpicked members of the parliament, who all agreed with him, so he had the numbers he required.’
That’s actually not true, it’s what Theresa May has just done today, in London. The UK is an utter joke of a democracy. She kept getting bills defeated, so just created ten new peers who would agree with her. They even timed the announcement to coincide with the royal wedding so many people might not notice.
This is an absolute f*****g outrage, and shows the depravity and out of control nature of the current Tory Government in London. Like Hamish above, NOBODY of sane mind should trust them.
Westminster is ignoring the ‘rules’ so it is high time Holyrood started doing the same, to protect Scotland from Brexit, and these lying sociopaths in Westminster. The ‘rules’ no longer apply.
Westminster is a cesspit of corruption. It is NOT a democracy. It is corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. Yet the paid liars at the BBC will carry on as usual, treating Theresa May with respect, and will NOT hold her to account.
We MUST get out of this ASAP.
C’mon my chums and I do this regularly at the weekends.You will be thrilled.Mon mon mon moan.
A timely graphic reminder that the Union Road has always been paved with bad intentions for Scotland.
right on the nose, Chris captures the mood yet again
On this day of sickly BritNationalism, a thousand cheers for a Scots republic.
Welcome back CC . Smashing start to a sunny Saturday in EK, but how true the cartoon is . Some would have us shackled to London for eternity and not utter a word in defence of their country. Whats that Ruth & your Lying Goon Squad?
Nice one Chris.
So good to have you back.
The last “short while” lasted 300 years. We still can’t get the leg irons off.
Great to have you back Mr. Cairns!
What a brilliant picture that sums up exactly what Westminster would like to do to the Scottish Government.
Hamish won’t be shackled!
Excellent! The road to Hell is indeed comprehensively paved.
“Why don’t you trust me?”
IndyRef2 must be about the lengthy catalogue of lies and broken promised of perfidious Westminster. Brexit is just another, among many. And this power grab and reconfiguration of devolution is much bigger issue than any.
Tell him to go to Hell, Hamish!
Trussst in meee and you’ll seee
They take on human form now and don’t need grass to slither away in
Middle aged Ruth Davidson talks to ‘youth’ in the Guardian. Bid for ‘national’ audience no doubt.
Trust me I’m a pregnant lesbian!
As a lovely Irish lady said to me some years ago- it’s not that we don’t like the English (British), we just don’t trust them. Hundreds of years where treaties have been signed and, eventually, broken. In each case guess who breached that trust? Why doesn’t Scotland wake up?! “Wha sae base as be a slave?”
tory of Scotland over brexit is taken as a written, but watch out for labour and liberal betrayal, it’s underway with Wallace and Foulkes in that unelected chamber.
The next frame would see Ruthie,Leonard and Rennie grab Hamish while John Bull forces the manacles on him,
link to youtube.com
The road tae hell , that’ll be the road tae Londinium full of potholes .
Ha haaaa..Very good.
Scotland’s rightful indignation, at being offered a powerless future.
UK Blighty’s vacant befuddlement.
What happened to Scotland should ‘lead the Union’. Oh, that kind of lead.
Robert Louis says:
19 May, 2018 at 8:00 am
‘Today, in North Korea’…….. That’s actually not true, it’s what Theresa May has just done today, in London. The UK is an utter joke of a democracy. She kept getting bills defeated, so just created ten new peers who would agree with her. They even timed the announcement to coincide with the royal wedding so many people might not notice…
Spot on Robert Louis, and yet here in Scotland, we remain queasy about enacting our distinct Constitutional Sovereignty, and remain content to face down Westminster using a democratic process that is hopelessly distorted by propaganda and false narrative, and choose to believe that Westminster and Unionism will somehow conduct itself with integrity and decorum.
It feels like there is a missing component in our campaign… We need registration of some sort at the UN that Scotland’s honourable intentions to secure Independence democratically are being thoroughly undermined by Westminster and the UK’s media abuse and manipulation of democratic principles. We are constraining ourselves with rules and principles which Westminster doesn’t even respect.
It worries me greatly that our faith in the success of IndyRef2 relies to no small degree on Scotland being somehow immune to or unaffected by the UK Establishment’s constant perfidy and manipulation of reality. If democracy is going to be key, then the current political landscape of rampant Unionist propaganda and mere token reluctant acknowledgment of pro Indy aspiration cannot be ignored. When democracy is confounded by wanton manipulation and propaganda, how can anything which emerges from it be credited as democratic?
We are currently in a no holds barred, bare knuckle street fight with Westminster, who will gouge eyes, throw sand in our face, and pull a knife on us if we somehow disarm them of their pistol. But still, we are bouncing on our toes, gloves up, adopting the pose, and have such faith in victory through the Marquis of Queensbury rules on Democracy.
If we must wear appropriate boxing gloves and stand square to our opponent, we MUST satisfy ourselves that the non-democratic nature of Constitutional Sovereignty is not a cheat or infringement of the rules, – rules which only we respect, and at times, seem to respect more than victory itself.
We are not making Sovereignty up. It is real. Can we please get our heads round it, and use it to terminate this farcical Union, before Scotland suffers yet more catastrophic damage and humiliation, and of course, expulsion from Europe?
Westminster gets around democracy by skewing public opinion with propaganda. Maybe it’s time Scotland got around democracy by enacting Sovereign precedent…. Just sayin’. We can sort out the democracy later with a ratification plebiscite once we’ve reached a place of safety.
If you’re still uncomfortable with it, look at it from another direction. If Scotland ends up dragged out of Europe and subjugated by the will of Westminster, where is the triumph of democracy? When and where did it occur?
Excellent cartoon again Chris.
Today I am avoiding the tv like the plague so I clicked on news now and right at the top of Scottish news I see that there is a new earl of Dumbarton, even the google home page has a ceremony on it. Ffs can we no get away from all that blatant propaganda.
The broken stones reminds me of the iconic first scene in Schindler’s list showing a path made from broken Jewish headstones symbolizing disrespect and dismissal of the culture of a despised people.
This captures very well the situation and the attitude of British Nationalists towards our country.
Why do the majority of Scots not see this?
In 2015 the SNP received 50+% of the vote and all but two of the Westminster seats.
It had a mandate for independence handed to it. It did nothing with that mandate but troop off to London into political irrelevance.
Shameful! Some people have become too accustomed to those chains.
Paul Colvin
13 hrs ·
The Stolen Streets. 18th May 2018.
Upon this street for many years
I have made and known my bed
And now, upon this eighteenth day,
I return to lay my head.
Here, I met a cloak-ed gentleman
As I made down for the night,
I thought of him as well-to-do,
Rather elegant by sight,
I made myself acquainted
And he acknowledged my request
With a smile I’d never seen before
Which unhinged my thoughts of rest!
He murmured low with increased tone
And a pitch, I felt, obscene
Till with fervour, crushed rebellious Scots,
All in favour of his queen.
I eased an open eye to him,
Then allowed it wander round
And saw his gabble revel royally
Dancing round a plastic crown.
Most were gentry from abroad
Beyond that great and civil wall
I believe from Watford going north
Where the heathen makes the call,
Old dears dressed like painted dolls
Clothed in hideously made suits
Strange bedfellows I must insist
They all sleep wearing boots.
Of Course! This is a charitable ball,
Gad, what splendidness I thought!
But there was something strange and rather odd
That rendered this, as not!
These gawdy suits, so bright and loud
Why had they all come here?
They were neither fiend nor friendly
But instilled in me a fear!
Where were my friends, my allies?
I now felt quite estranged!
These were not my gallant knights
But a people quite deranged!
I heard them in colloquial voice
Speak and sing to dolls
Struth! I thought unto myself
Their brains need overhauled!
They cuddled them and held them high
Then kissed them on the cheeks
Gadzooks! I cried to Windsor’s men
Your streets are full of freaks!
Hush now sir, a calming voice,
Now whispered in my ear;
Confound you Sir, my strict reply,
Are my words not true and clear?
I’d bullwhip every one of them
By god, I’d strike them down
But he just smiled, left me to my own,
In my beloved Windsor town.
I felt unsafe in this melee
And forsook my thought of rest
Then heard my gallant knights were moved,
To a place their queen thought best,
A great assumption on my part
But none had intervened
All this while Windsor’s outlanders
Still sang about their queen.
Red eyed, wearied wanderers
With strange concocted face
Had shamefully, in ill-fitting cloth,
Had, my gallant knights, replaced.
These ladies, painted marionettes,
Spoke with frog-like voice
Or perhaps the croak of wisdom
Had aged the sultry noise
And what of their lurching men
With leering laughing eyes
What devil lies beneath thon look
What weirdness is disguised?
Alas! I gazed upon my street
My home for many years
Now taken by half-witted fools
For their circumstantial cheers.
For these, my gallant knights have gone
For these, my friends were spurned
But tomorrow when the dusk’s begun
My bedmates will return
And we will take our corner
And prepare our fellow man
To share in all we have to give
In England’s, green and pleasant land.
Paul Colvin.
Ah Cartoonist an ah Poet in the wan day , we ur spoilt . lol
Prince Arry the Duke of Dumbarton ? Wonder why the Queen is giving him this title ?
@Abulhaq
Unfortunately in 2015 the SNP canvassed with the a vote for the SNP is not voting for independence. Maybe it was a mistake but so soon after the referendum it was probably still trying to come to terms with the result. Of course it may be at the time more representative of the feelings of the people, not so many postal votes probably. The establishment error was corrected in 2017.
Time for wee Hamish to get angry.
Sorry mixed up my Dukes with my Earls, silly me.
I fear the new Countess of Dumbarton will need to start putting-on the pounds in weight.
The only two “Daughter of the Rock” that I know is are a partcularly nasty female jornalist and Jackie Baillie – both of whom thoroughly deserve that great Scottish description: She’s a big wummin.
Neatly done Chris and a sharp choice of subject matter. 🙂
Shouldn’t be too much longer now.
I took the 2015 election result as a warning shot to Westminster mostly, about their behaviour immediately after the 2014 referendum.
I suspect that in 2017 a lot of 2015 SNP supporters realised that no matter how MP’s they sent to Westminster it was a waste of time and just didn’t bother voting. Or fell for the narrative that another referendum was to be called sooner than it was planned and they wanted to see how Brexit panned out first.
The media pandered to this too soon agenda and the opposition parties, working together, used this pretty much as their only campaign slogan in 2017.
Currently Westminster believes they can do whatever they like in Scotland and the Scots will just adhere to their wishes. They don’t think Scots have the bottle to vote for independence, if we don’t do it this time then I fear they are right and we will never have the self dignity to rule our own country.
Spot on Chris. I wouldn’t trust Mundell an inch. He has the look of a man wrapped in his own deceit and is slowly choking on it.
We sign nothing with handcuffs attached.
Had to struggle to uncover my National from under the Aberdeen Press and Journal, the Morning star and some free papers. We live outside Glasgow why the Aberdeen Press and Journal?.
I recovered my paper repositioned the Nationals and did my shopping.
On the way out I had to reposition the Nationals ten minutes and they had sunk from view.
Radio TV and Papers the British Nationalist propaganda is strong today.
I feel nauseous and rather wind filled.
UK government worried that by 2021 Catholic voters will outnumber Protestant voters and calls for a United Ireland will be unstoppable
This is truly what it’s come to, not economics not policies not the future of a people, the UK strategy has been to hope they could just outnumber people who don’t like them, so good luck to the Irish no matter what the UK attempts
So there we have the reason for the Ruth Davidson strategy of whipping up the sectarian vote for the Unionists in the hope there are more protestant Unionists with less brains than Nationalists or simply just protestants for No surrender
It says a fair amount of what the Tories think of their own supporters that they hope they’re stupid enough to continue to fall for religious garbage like this when choosing a future for your country when membership of the SNP and the wider Yes movement encompasses every religion in the book and none
Now that’s representational of the people of Scotland whereas Ruth Davidson and her Tories are *The cult*
“Earl of Dumbarton” – that’s just taking the piss.
Meghan, thin legs and massive feet with a fat old dad they wouldn’t let turn up.
Will “Shut up Meg” be the new Royal meme – does the Queen watch Family Guy?
Does Harry know what Prima Nocta means ? – and why Grandad is hovering around the bedroom with a video camera – will the new hip hold out for a magical 15 seconds?
Come and meet the in-laws – the FireFly Family with 20 squillion in the bank and a few castles!
Does this mean the Royal Family is now officially “black” – and can they claim compensation from themselves for all that slavery and colonial oppression?
A day for unplugging the TV and avoiding all mainstream print and online media … just like any other day.
Dr., Jim as I have said before the same thing has been and still is happening in Scotland the Incomers from England are becoming more and more and that is why I am saying that only those who were born and live in Scotland should be allowed to vote on the future of their country no one else and no postal votes allowed we must close all the openings for the U.K. to cheat on the result as I am sure they did the last time I have heard of the odd English person here voting yes but 80per cent voted no in the last ref., Scotland’s future must not be decided by Incomers but by the true Scottish people
Excellent cartoon. We have been on that road for too long and they’ve tripped us up many times along the way. Time to take a detour and build our own roads.
I wonder what the media will have to talk about tomorrow once the wedding is done, the honeymoon? the colour of the hats? sausage rolls? earl of Dunbarton?
This here earl of Dunbarton, would he even know where Dunbarton is?
link to twitter.com
Never mind, we can abolish all these titles once we are independent. I doubt very much the English will want to pay for the likes of Foulkes, Robertson, Goldie and the rest of the Scottish lordies.
link to theferret.scot
‘A people mentally poisoned by the adulation of royalty can never attain to that spirit of self-reliant democracy.’ – James Connolly
Links on previous thread for anyone interested.
@Blair Paterson
I object to being called odd when I’ve been a Nationalist since 1963. If it hadn’t been for the work that we put in then there would be no Indy movement now
Remember there are English moving here to be Scots because they too cannot stand Westminster
Jason Smoothpiece at 11.00 am
Hope you enjoyed WGD in today’s edition
” It’s fair enough that Meghan’s dad is not attending. A Lot of people think Harry’s isn’t going either.”
” We have royalist street parties every summer in Scotland usually accompanied by copious amounts of tonic wine, songs about killing Catholics and attacks on people who dare to try to cross the street…..”
Precisely. 🙂
Jason Smoothpiece says: @19 May, 2018 at 11:00 am
“Had to struggle to uncover The National”. This is a daily chore as Brit Nats cannot stand an alternative view to the Daily Mail / BBC view of the world.
That’s why its important to ensure STV stays out of ITVs clutches and why Labour should be ashamed to line up with the Tories to prevent broadcasting being devolved under latest Scotland Act.
Interested piece in this week’s Private Eye: Lib Dems sold their voter data to the Remain campaign for £100,000 before the EU referendum, so much for data protection rules.e
@Blair Paterson
Not sure if I would fall into your criteria, so I can’t agree with you.
I believe we do need to tighten up on who votes, not transient voters (only here for a short period with no intention of staying), anyone also registered to vote in another part of the UK.
I would also expect them to have a Scottish tax code, if you don’t want to pay your income tax here then you shouldn’t have a vote. Obviously some younger people may not yet have a tax code and there needs to be an accommodation for them.
This is a great day for phoning insurance companies, banks, broadband servers etc if you have any problems or queries. I got straight through each time I phoned these companies this morning.
Personally, I have never believed that the UK has ever had any good intentions!
Chris this is worth waiting for. 😀
The propaganda wedding
Even if you agree that the royal wedding is news you might still wonder why every available state controlled channel is showing it on our screens constantly, for unlike a war or conflict the outcome is definitely known and assured with the almost absolute guarantee of no surprises or changes to be reported as actual news
In a war situation conditions can change from moment to moment so news has to be alert and aware of such changes, yet I have never seen coverage of a war so comprehensively covered and in such mind numbingly constant a fashion as this royal wedding between what really is a fairly minor royal with practically zero chance of ever being in the position for the thronehood of the UK to a film and television actress from another country
Current estimates are this royal wedding will cost the UK taxpayer upwards of 30 million quid at a time when the UK economy has tanked poverty is at it’s highest level homeless people had to be cleared from the streets to allow it to proceed and the value of the great British pound is pushed to an all time low, the UK governments Brexit decisions are destroying trust throughout the UK and practically everywhere else on the planet, the DUP are now in the HOL giving them more power over Scotland once again than our elected representatives and to cap it all the latest announcement from the powers that be is that this minor royal Prince will be awarded and Earldom in Scotland a country who as a whole couldn’t care less one way or another about the guy or his Mum and Dad that they’re awarding this Earldom to
There are people in Scotland still voting for this system and they yell at the tops of their voices to defend it
It’s time these people defended themselves to us in their cultish obedience to this outdated and corrupt society they wish to preserve
Who the hell are you people, and start giving us your reasons for your disgusting sycophantic behaviour because if all you have is *we’re better than you* the rest of us will to take you down just like throughout history dictators always fall by the will of the people, and if you have no excuse then you are NOT part of the people, you’re something else
Re the white settlers, back in 1994 14% of the population on Skye was from the south and i have been told that it is now 62%.
Oh Jings, tune in quickly to the Roayl Wedding. Enough material for a whole generation of comedians, the Royals are hidng their laughter, Charles’s shoulders are shaking, even the Queen has her head down.
Comedy gold.
Superb Chris.
Not that it will resonate with the ‘Scots’who are not really and don’t want to be Scots.
Scotland as a nation and collective mean little or nothing to them.
Selfish and deluded British nationalists is what they are.
Dr jim 11.am. that’s why westmidden is encouraging the resettlement of southern daily mail reading economic retirees to Scotland. Because they know that 7/8 out of 10 will vote to stay in the union. Unless we can convince them otherwise.
Fire and brimstone
Tax evaders united. The eagle has landed.
Great stuff here from Craig Murray:
link to craigmurray.org.uk
Dr Jim.
You are frothing a bit over today’s wedding.
“Bringing down dictators and smashing the system” is not a very effective way to win people to your cause.
All the best democracies are also Monarchies. Eg. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Belgium. It seems to little harm to democracy and brings a lot of pleasure to many people. (Including my SNP member wife)
I know the system needs a complete overhaul and a clear out of so many hangers-on,and republicanism is a perfectly respectable position, but it would be a way to lose many votes if it was proposed before a referendum.
There is a time to change the system when we are independent.
mogabee says:
I tend to agree with you. Perhaps (being Deil’s advocate) the 2014 promises were made in the realisation that things had to change. Perhaps they offered ‘too much’ is a state of blind panic. However, it’s just as likely they had no intention whatsoever of honouring promises!
It was a case of say whatever was necessary to trick gullible and feart Scots into trusting them.
To reiterate Chris’s ‘pavings’ …
Lead us don’t leave us
Sewell Convention
Pensions
EU membership
We heart you
The Vow
Jobs
Equal partners
Shipbuilding
Oil boom
HMRC
… we could add investment in renewables.
Was there ANYTHING offered by the BritNats in 2014 that has been delivered?
@jfngw
I expect the National party to push hard at the system and make it squeal. The missed opportunity of 2015 should bring all to make certain there is no repeat of the error.
Davidson and her crew is a constant reminder of what happens when priorities become muddled or befuddled.
Nice one, Chris! Good to see you back.
Is that a Wings badge Harry’s wearing today, LOL!!
O/T
I don’t do cup finals or royal weddings so –
IndyRef2.
What will be the NO campaign’s main tactic? We have to start thinking about that and think about it now. I say this because, imo, it will be full on ‘Project Fear on Steroids’ we’ll be getting from them. Because, simply, this is all they have now in their locker and Blair MacDougall has acknowledged that had he not adopted this tactic in IndyRef1 then NO would probably have lost.
So – what will be their big scare tactics second time around? Probably pretty much the same as before with a couple of extras thrown in.
“You’ll Be out of the UK single Market”.
Yes, I know there’s no such thing as a ‘UK Single Market’ but that won’t stop them spinning that there is such a thing. That’ll be the biggy. “Scotland has four times as much trade with rUK than it does with the EU” will be shouted from the rooftops. Here on WoS we all know the response to such claptrap but we need our responses to be short and sharp. We need to start thinking about their attacks now so that we can get our boot in first, so to speak; undermine their rubbish (on Social Media naturally) before it can get a foothold.
This will, of course, be followed by the usual suspects – currency, pensions, borders etc. We shouldn’t get bogged down in detail. There should be absolutely NO 600 page White Paper dotting ever ‘i’, crossing every ‘t’ to the nth degree. All that does is simply give our opponents a mine of information to throw questions at, poke holes in. DISTRACTION.
We need a short and sharp indy manifesto that spells out only broad brushstrokes as far as the main issues go. Let us not be pulled into arguing about the minutiae of Sterlingisation, floating currencies and what not.
“What will we do about currency?”
A: “We will do what other independent countries have done. We will find the solution that suits Scotland best as an independent country. Scotland isn’t unique in the world that it cannot sort its own currency.”
Same for pension, borders and any other stupid questions they throw at us. And we need to be ready to have a truckload of awkward questions to throw back at them – put them on the spot.
As I said – we need to start thinking about all this NOW so that we can pose the questions ourselves out there on Social Media with the answer provided, of course.
Take the wind out their sails before they even leave port.
What UK Single Market?
O/T
Bridges for Indy have a surprise for Viceroy Mundell. Its a secret but share the hell out of it. @liveIndyScot broadcast here
link to livestream.com
“And there’s a wonderful fusion here of significant British pageantry” says Kirsty Young on the BBC. She also referred to “…these beautiful union jack banners”. She outdid the Establishment Tame Taff Huw Edwards.
Great image, telling it like it is. We all want to protect the lion who just wants his freedom, that’s all. ( did you know that research shows that when elephants see humans, the that’s ‘cute’ part of their brain is stimulated, yes, sadly they think humans are ‘cute’!).
Just have to hope Hamish is a fast runner and has a very fast getaway car ready to escape the huge chains of the UKgov’s power grab.
As for an ‘Earldom’ in Scotland, being granted by England, who do actually own Scotland as far as they are concerned, and T.May’s ten Tory peers, what a cesspit of a backward place their UK is.
Scotland can’t be dragged back to a time when only the rich land thieves could vote. No way.
jfngw at 10.44am
Maybe in the next AUOB March in Dumfries we could have a banner to the effect that
‘Tories consider the Scots don’t have the bottle to be Independent’?
Welcome back, Chris!
Your essential weekend reading:
The Newspapers Scotland Needs…..
One in the eye of Neil Mackay: link to wp.me
Reverend Michael curry trending on twitter. Mentioning Martin Luther king and slavey. Gospel choirs. African trilling. The colonists didn’t like it.
Hilarious!
Great cartoon by the way.
Anyways, seems the Growth Commision report is finally due out on Friday. Really looking forward to it. And Tom Gordon’s take on it, with the SNP conference due: “As delegates react to the report, choose a new deputy, reform their constitution, and ponder the date of a referendum, it could be the most turbulent conference in years. ”
I sincerely hope so.
I suspect Alex Salmond has had a good gander, hence his recent views being reported, and his “reawakening”.
It’s all happening …
Ian Brotherhood says:
Certainly is!
What I find upsetting is that Wiki is complicit and appears to have a right wing neo con agenda under the surface.
My trust was limited by the knowledge that I knew anyone can edit it. However I believed the organisation and ‘policing’ to be impartial.
So, no matter how sceptical and questioning I believe myself to be, I can still be naive!
Re; O/T Blair Paterson@11.22am
We have all discussed this before. The Scottish gov had a consultation about it which I think closed in March. You can probably view the results on the SNP website.
Most of the people I knew who voted yes in 2014, were originally from England, most who voted no, were Scottish. Saddening indeed.
Imo, certainly anyone not living in Scotland, at least for 2 or 3 years, and if not at least 6 months of the year and paying council tax, should not be able to vote Scottish elections. Edinburgh was stowed out with 4×4 porsches last year on election day, and while there are a lot of extremely well off people, you don’t see that many ordinarily!
Again like devolution, it doesn’t work in Scotland’s favour at all, because people from a neighbouring country can vote if they have property in Scotland but do not live here. I think one of the stipulations put forward by the Scotgov was that people have to be resident in Scotland to vote. Anything else is just crazy.
All this fawning over the man with lead in his pencil; where’s the Broad Shoulders, where’s the Now you know we abolished slavery? If it wasn’t for Hamish would we welcome him back?
Actually that is a killer cartoon, Chris; could it be tarted up and issued as a leaflet? It would treble the impact as people would want to see what it was before it headed to the bin.
Thank you and your publisher.
I see the BBC is in full snivelling, grovelling git mode. The attempts to suggest that this is anything but of passing interest to most people in Scotland is just pathetic.
@Artyhetty
Totally agree with everthing you said, all of it.
And as far as it goes, the consultation is in, decisions will be made, and any negativity from anyone now is totally counter-productive, and can stop people from voting YES, who otherwise might do. All this going is is just divisive, and the last thing we need.
Hearts and minds is what it’s all about, not potted and potty theories.
Bang on the money Chris.
jfngw says:
19 May, 2018 at 10:44 am
I took the 2015 election result as a warning shot to Westminster mostly, about their behaviour immediately after the 2014 referendum.
Quite a few factors conspired to produce the 2017 GE result in Scotland. Firstly, the perfect alignment of stars that produced the stunning 2015 result was unlikely to be repeated again so soon (we were warned). Then large numbers of SNP-NO voters voted SNP again, some out of shame, others out of habit. One more time, possibly the last. Remember there was no risk of another referendum in 2015 – this was made quite clear by NS at the time, so it was still safe to vote SNP. Since then BREXIT has put the frightneners on the SNP-NO voters – they know another referendum is going to happen (fear and shame all over again and if they can stall it they will). Presto! Up pops “No Surrenda!” Ruth Davidson at an opportune moment and captures these confused SNP voters. They ain’t coming back soon, I’m afraid. Add to that some excitement about Corbyn among traditional Labour voters, and the fact that so many SNP voters saw no point in turning out to vote, and we have the result in 2017 – portrayed as a disaster for the SNP by the media, of course, but not a bad result when you look at the bigger picture. 🙂
Just had a quick swatch at the Rev’s twitter feed.
Why didn’t Michael Kelly stick to fucking-up Celtic, the likes of him is what’s wrong with Scottish politics.
I have a hard time believing people don’t know what wikipedia is. You’re either hopelessly naive or very stupid if this is coming as a surprise to you
Wikipedia is used to propogate (mainly ultra-right wing) political views. End of story.
I blocked wikipedia in our house the best part of ten years ago when I saw how it was going. Some of the (wikipedia-sourced) coursework submitted was ultra-right wing US crap.
@Abulhaq says: 19 May, 2018 at 10:11 am:
” … Shameful! Some people have become too accustomed to those chains.”
So it’s really all the SNP’s fault then – is it, Abulhaq?
Aiblins Ah micht forhoo voting fir the SNP: (Owersettin intil the Ingis), “Perhaps I might abandon voting for the SNP”.
As you seem to know best, Abulhaq, which party do you suggest I should vote for now that the SNP are so BAAAAD?
Let’s see now – there is the Westminster based Conservative & Unionist Party. No That will not do they are unionists.
Then there is the Westminster Based United Kingdom Labour Party – no that won’t do for they too are Unionists as are the Liberal Democrats who seen both illiberal and antidemocratic so they wont do.
Ach! Aiblins Ah micht nae bother tae vote ava. Whits the pint whan the SNP are sae afu BAAAAD!
From ITV.com
That figure of 53 includes the UK as a ‘country’.
I wonder which flower was chosen for the UK? A thistle, perhaps?
Vestas
I think you are overstating the difficulty with Wikipedia. As long as it is used with common sense and cross references are checked it is perfectly serviceable. It does get the treatment from would be right wing editors but that is not the rationale behind Wikipedia and many of these ed hacks are corrected fairly quickly. It is always useful to check the talk pages if you suspect a page has been subject to a particular slant.
Clearly the page on say the Blue Whale is less likely to attack than say the page on the formation of Israel in 1948. There are key events and topics that are in danger of being slanted politically but there is a whole wealth of data on Wikipedia that is rarely troubled by such activities.
The far right in the US loathe Wikipedia so much they created their own Conservapedia. Worth a look just for curiosity value.
link to conservapedia.com
Yeah, I find wikipedia useful but don’t take it as gospel. I use it all the time on defence as the info is easy to find and has a fairly standard format. But if I was going to argue with someone about the new OPVs being complex warships or not, I’d use BaE’s description of their combat system which is also on the T45 and will be on the T26 to make the point that it can be considered a complex warship (it’s actually a moot point).
I read the Salmond entry and it was interesting, reminded me of a few things. Mostly accurate, one or two errors, some slanting to some of the facts. Otherwise useful but indeed – read with care, it’s not a eulogy by a fan.
Oh aye a for instance of the inaccuracy of that Salmond wilipedia entry, it says the SNP were government after a confidence and supplt with Green. That’s wrong, Greens had 2 seats, the reason the SNP were able to try to form a government was they ahd 1 more seat than Labour, and got votes from ALL parties on a confidence and supply arrangement. As far as I know, no specific arrangement was made with the 2 Green MSPs. Not that wasn’t perhaps made with other parties.
2007 I meant.
I think it’s important that like Wikipedia, posters here should try and be as accurate as possible, it’s always a good idea to do a bit of research from reliable sources in particular if you are intending to quote stats in your posts.
Also helps if you can post a link to your source, I find links very helpful.
Earlier it was mentioned here that in 1994 14% were from the South and now had heard that 62% of the residents on Skye were “white settlers” from the south. The 15% in 1994 is more or less bang on the money but the 62% is a massive distortion when the true figure from the 2011 census for Skye is less than 25%.
Census Results for Isle of Skye 1991
All people 8,868
Europe 8,749
Europe: United Kingdom 8,672
Europe: United Kingdom: England 1,367
Europe: United Kingdom: Scotland 7,237
Europe: United Kingdom: Wales 50
Europe: United Kingdom: Northern Ireland 18
Census Results for Isle of Skye 2011
All people 10,013
Europe 9,802
Europe: United Kingdom 9,565
Europe: United Kingdom: England 2,358
Europe: United Kingdom: Scotland 7,100
Europe: United Kingdom: Wales 65
Europe: United Kingdom: Northern Ireland 40
1991 15.4% of residents on the Isle of Skye were born in England
81.6% of residents on the Isle of Skye were born in Scotland
2011 23.5% of residents on the Isle of Skye were born in England
70.9% of residents on the Isle of Skye were born in Scotland
You can make your own table of Census data for any area of Scotland and multipe topics at the following link link to scotlandscensus.gov.uk
Tory Douglas Ross running the line at Scottish Cup final, just fell on his arse, I’m surprised he didn’t scream out loud and wave his flag for a Celtic player to be sent off.
The last time there was an Earl of Dumbarton it was the 1740s and Scotland was having its culture suppressed and under the iron heel of the Hanoverians. Leading to the Clearances.
Now there’s an Earl of Dumbarton once again and Scotland is having its Parliament and democracy threatened and an EU exit imposed. Saltires are being removed from products and Scotland is under the iron heel of the Westminsterians.
Is it a coincidence that this title from that unhappy time in Scotland’s history has been revived now? Of course not. Those shady courtiers who suggested it will think it’s a great joke.
@mogabee says: 19 May, 2018 at 12:10 pm:
“Personally, I have never believed that the UK has ever had any good intentions!”
You are correct, mogabee, and there are many historic documents that prove you are right. Henry VII, (born 1457 died 1483), when arranging for Margaret Tudor to marry King James IV of Scotland was accused of trying to set a Scottish monarch upon the throne of England. (Which he did but in 1603), claimed that England would always s overrule Scotland like a raging Torrent against a trickling stream.
So even in the reign of James IV the English were plotting to take over Scotland and to relegate Scotland as part of the Kingdom of England. Mind you it didn’t happen until 1603 and England has always claimed that as a Union of the Crowns yet the two kingdoms remained independent until 1707.
The Treaty of Union was between the only two Kingdoms in Britain in 1707 yet today Westminster is the de facto
Parliament of the country of England and thus the country of England, not the parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster is lording it over Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
I had to nip out to Aldis for some bits, having selected my purchases I joined the checkout queue
As I stood waiting my turn I noticed a lady standing by the door bedecked in Saltire garb with a Saltire emblazened chidrens charity box
At that moment two men were exiting the store, the lady smiled and rattled her charity box the first man said *Aye right catch ye next time* the second man said *Aye if ye get that flag aff it* they were followed by an elderly woman who immediately produced her purse and fumbled for coins to give over to the charity box
Needless to say at that moment I was already sorting out all my coins and when finished at the checkout deposited them in the charity box on leaving
The two men who refused to donate refused because the box and the lady had a Saltire on, both these men were Scottish and even though they probably were Unionists they refused to donate to a Scottish charity because of a flag so one can only assume the *would* donate to charity which benefitted what they think the Union flag stands for which is England or in their case I think Rangers might be closer
Whatever the case or whatever these two men thought I determined in that single moment these are not normal people, these *types* are the lowest form of life who would deny their own country’s children help with a few spare coins because of their misguided stupidity and hatred of their own country for their loyalty to another which keeps them enslaved and obedient to pure badness
The last time there was an Earl of Dumbarton it was the 1740s and Scotland was under the iron heel of the Hanoverian government.
Now there’s a new Earl of Dumbarton, just as Westminster attempts to put Scotland under its union jackboot.
Coincidence that this title from those days is being revived now?
According to the Torygraph, today is a day of great healing and unity for Britain and the world…
Mmmmm, no. No, it’s really not. Not on Brexit. Not on the political union between parliaments/kingdoms. Not on the system and practice of politics of the UK and not between major demographics between the peoples of the UK. Today is a marketing sticking plaster over the cracks in a dam wall. A wall that is about to burst.
Today, mainly I really, REALLY, don’t appreciate having the media define my reality.
Douglas Ross MP falls over because he was hit not at all hard by a football. Douglas Wuss MP more like it.
Dr Jim says:
Eejits! Funny though. Sad too. The saltire is our nation’s flag, it should belong to everyone. Their rejection of the saltire says so much about them and their mindset.
I would have thought they might have chosen a different supermarket, mind you, given the number of saltire adorned products in Aldi! Very few butcher’s flegs on display.
Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg…. “They were in with a load of opt-outs. Now they are out, and want a load of opt-ins.”
Brexit has made the UK the laughing stock of the world.
Not so damned funny when WM threatens to drag Scotland over the edge with them!
STV news trying their hardest, but failing to find more than a handful of Scots who are genuinely excited about the royal wedding.
I see they’ve taken titles to do with Dumbarton, bad luck Dumbarton.
Just watched STV news where they were desperate to force the waddin, they went to a pub in Ballater where about 5 people were thronging the bar , then to Deeside where they interviewed 3 couples separately whilst the thronging crowds had done a Darren Brown and disappeared , what pathetic desperation to appear part of the charade ,they’ve just proven how insignificant and ignored they are
@Proud Cybernat says: 19 May, 2018 at 1:16 pm
““You’ll Be out of the UK single Market”.”
Aye! But by assuming that a UK single market still exists after the two Kingdom UK, (United Kingdom), ends when one of those kingdoms leaves then so will they be out of the UK open market.
Thing is we have the oil & gas reserves and we are a net exporter of fuel, energy and food/drink while they are net importers of them all. Furthermore they will be out of the EU and we probably won’t.
Not to mention that a large portion of what they claim just now to be English exports are Scots produce and products classed as English exports by Westminster on their way via English ports to other countries and that will stop on Scottish independence.
As will the Westminster National Grid Connection Charges that increase the cost of producers adding power to the national grid depending upon how far they are from London. Post independence that rule will be reversed and will increase depending how far the consumers are from the producers.
Yes, I know there’s no such thing as a ‘UK Single Market’ but that won’t stop them spinning that there is such a thing. That’ll be the biggy. “Scotland has four times as much trade with rUK than it does with the EU” will be shouted from the rooftops. Here on WoS we all know the response to such claptrap but we need our responses to be short and sharp. We need to start thinking about their attacks now so that we can get our boot in first, so to speak; undermine their rubbish (on Social Media naturally) before it can get a foothold.
This will, of course, be followed by the usual suspects – currency, pensions, borders etc. We shouldn’t get bogged down in detail. There should be absolutely NO 600 page White Paper dotting ever ‘i’, crossing every ‘t’ to the nth degree. All that does is simply give our opponents a mine of information to throw questions at, poke holes in. DISTRACTION.
We need a short and sharp indy manifesto that spells out only broad brushstrokes as far as the main issues go. Let us not be pulled into arguing about the minutiae of Sterlingisation, floating currencies and what not.
“What will we do about currency?”
A: “We will do what other independent countries have done. We will find the solution that suits Scotland best as an independent country. Scotland isn’t unique in the world that it cannot sort its own currency.”
Same for pension, borders and any other stupid questions they throw at us. And we need to be ready to have a truckload of awkward questions to throw back at them – put them on the spot.
As I said – we need to start thinking about all this NOW so that we can pose the questions ourselves out there on Social Media with the answer provided, of course.
Take the wind out their sails before they even leave port.
What UK Single Market?
Dr Jim says:
19 May, 2018 at 5:25 pm
I had to nip out to Aldis for some bits, having selected my purchases I joined the checkout queue
As I stood waiting my turn I noticed a lady standing by the door bedecked in Saltire garb…
….Whatever the case or whatever these two men thought I determined in that single moment these are not normal people, these *types* are the lowest form of life who would deny their own country’s children help with a few spare coins because of their misguided stupidity and hatred of their own country for their loyalty to another which keeps them enslaved and obedient to pure badness.
Look to the positive Dr Jim. In their minds, they have formed the conclusion that we “own” the Saltire.
What I find a tad strange is the idea that, somehow, if Scotland becomes independent (whether or not we are in the EU or EFTA), people down south will make a decision NOT to buy Scotland’s produce, in a fit of pique.
If they want WHISKY, or Scotch Salmon, or GIN, or electricity, will the subjects of England look for alternative sources, or will they stick with the produce they know, even if an English government imposes tariffs?
Tariffs work in both directions.
Anything they can do, we can do also.
We can do anything…
Just one example: England/Wales is a net importer of electricity and gas. If E/W doesn’t want to pay a fair price to Scotland for electricity and gas, they will have to source it from France, or the wider EU.
Will they really cut their own throats? Just because we Scots got out from under the yoke of Westminster pseudo-imperialism?
I found the royal wedding today surprisingly re-assuring! I walked my dog around my Aberdeenshire town at about midday when the wedding was at its peak. It was quiet and uneventful until I came upon a house with three small union flags outside. I live in the Tory north east and I thought to myself they were probably unionists and enjoying their wedding. I smiled and silently wished the people inside enjoy their day. It then dawned on me that, if the union was so popular, today should have been the biggest unionist festival day in Scotland for a long time…but there was nothing. This was a fabulous day of sunshine almost melting the tarmac and there was no street parties and no bunting. I drove around a couple of the more well off areas and there was still no sign of any celebrations. The only other place where there was union bunting was outside the British Legion where they have a flagpole with a large union flag all year but even there there were no signs of pending outside celebrations. You would think that, today of all days, if unionism is 55% of Scotland then they would be taking advantage of the wedding and having lots of demonstrations of how wonderful the union is. You would think that if 45% can muster 40-50-60,000 for a march through Glasgow then supposedly 55% unionism should be able to get something together. I think what I saw today re-assured me what the real feeling is in Scotland.
Hi TheBuchanLoony.
It would appear that Scotland, albeit slowly, is growing up.
More of us are realising that, YES, we can do it! What do we need? 50% +1 in the next indyref and we’re home and dry.
TheBuchanLoony @ 19:47,
Yes, and I think we should try to capitalise more on that zeitgeist by “normalising” the notion of independence, that it’s actually the necessary and inevitable future.
Instead of getting distracted in nit-picking arguments with BritNats of fixed mindset, for example, just ask them if they are prepared yet for independence, since it’s coming.
Get that general self-confident feeling out to everyone (bumper stickers, etc.), actually, that independence is our future, it’s a perfectly normal development, and it’s just round the corner, so get ready…
Edinburgh Evening News desperate to find Royal Street party in No voting capital finds one in leavy Buckstone run by English incomer who moved to Scotland a few months ago.
Nicola Sturgeon on ITV Preston Show at 10am tomorrow.
Alex Salmond packed out Church Hill Theatre with 200 punters in Red Torys safest seat at £10 a skull. He said he favoured Efta initially due to certainty of acceptance and currency choice oice always depended on prevailing circum and stances. He was in top form despite what detractors might say.
RJ Sutherland at 8.43pm
‘independence is our future’
That sound like a good bumper sticker title!
Thanks,
Ian
@Sinky
I think EFTA / EEA is the way to go to start with, and maybe to stay with as well. It should be less divisive, as long as the EU continuation option is examined properly and it’s found out that a transitional period while EU formal membership is applied for is still a possibility, giving us time to make oour collective minds up.
Just have a look at this link to a Craig Murray site. It is all about one way the Westminster Establishment is altering things on the internet:-
link to craigmurray.org.uk
I do a lot of research, (on mainly Scottish History & politics). This often involves some complex searches because little, almost unnoticed, consequences of one historic event can have great influence upon other, seemingly unconnected, events centuries later.
It has all been made a great deal harder to follow and understand what was/is really going on because events recorded at the time and ever since are tinged by what is nothing less than propaganda – and history is riddled with propaganda. With authors spinning events to suit their personal and political agendas and this ever since Britain’s history was first recorded by the invading Romans landed in south Britain.
However, for a some time now I had been aware sources I had found, verified, and noted down for refence, were slowly vanishing. Then it occurred to me the things that were vanishing were being deliberately edited out and it was always things that put Westminster, the Union or the English in a bad light or was evidence of nefarious doings by Perfidious Albion that were being edited out while other things would suddenly become topical, or more prominent, that favoured the Westminster Establishment. I began to think I was imagining things or thinking of conspiracy that did not exist.
Craig Murray isn’t wrong and he is not a conspiracy theorist either – he has just found the same organised on-line campaign to suppress truth and put lies in their place I had been finding of recent times. There is certainly strange editing or erasing of on-line data and news.
It seems no coincidence that the Establishment have recently spent a large fortune of taxpayer’s money creating on-line United Kingdom keyboard warriors and that is besides the already in business 77th Brigade and existing so called, “Security Services”, hillariously referred to by The Westminster Establishment as, “The Intelligence Services”.
Now I may be wrong but to me this is very encouraging. If they have deemed this expansion of anti-truth government departments is necessary to protect their beloved Union then they are now actually fighting a bitter and hopeless read-guard action and are now in swift retreat.
It will make their efforts to depict the desperate defeat and withdrawal of United Kingdom armed forces from Dunkirk seem like nothing in comparison to their efforts to make the end of the United Kingdom seem like a win for not so merry England.
For Sale or breaking for spares
——————————-
One red white and blue Union
Genuine reason for sale
Failed MOT
One driver’s seat reserved, small bench in back for 3 nervous passengers
Only 311 years old
Piston broke
Blown head gasket
Head totally warped
Dry sump
Stuck in reverse gear
Prop shaft bent
Loads of non-functioning differentials
Suspension imminent
Handbrake fails when facing a cliff
Brakes don’t work but it don’t matter as there’s no brake pedal
Clutching at straws
Rust-free it comes included in price
Bring your own starter
No steering wheel, never was, who needs it
Battery court case pending
Fuel tank cap seized
Vintage city-based distributor will siphon off your funds
Tie-rod ends and who can blame it
Comes complete with installed blu tack and duct tape
Any offers?
The one “media” area where the YES campaign won in 2014 was the internet: websites, social media etc.
The UK Establishment have learned the lesson and worked on that to try and dilute or minimise that previous clear advantage. Craig Murray has highlighted how the internet is dominated by Google, Facebook and Wikipedia, so if you want to get your message across and they don’t want you to, you are largely snookered.
The UK Establishment dominated absolutely in: TV ( BBC, ITV, SKY etc); newspapers such as the Daily Record, The Sun, Herald, Scotsman etc and radio.
What has pro-indy people done about them in the four years since? Work FOR them, giving them credibility.
Just ONE daily newspaper currently supporting indy, and its owner owns load of anti-indy titles in its portfolio, so whether it will continue to support indy if there is an indyref, nobody knows.
The last four years have been years of missed opportunities. The UK Establishment opposition have not wasted time undermining. They do it daily and learn daily. They aren’t all as incompetent as Scotland In Union.
The one thing they don’t have is all us YES supporters. That is our big advantage that they cannot stop.
@Robert J. Sutherland
I would drop the phrase independence, it infers we are currently dependent. I’m also not a separatist since Scotland is already a country. Reclaiming our self determination is what should be the normal state of governance.
I prefer the notion that what is more normal for a country than being governed by the partie(s) it voted for, rather than the party another country voted for.
So I’m not supporting independence but the ending of the Treaty of Union and the reclamation of the Scottish Parliaments full powers.
Crank shafted and lost its bearings
Journals heavily biased to the right
Oilways gone south for more than 40 years
Dog nut has got rabies
Pulley stringing it out
Dynamo the magician avaliable at extra cost
No wheels on the wagon
Drums breaked, nipples seized and pipes in a fankle
Wiring looms and shorting like there’s no tomorrow
Head lights but fire extinguisher included in price
Bumpers have seen a LOT of action
Panels are not for the SNP
Bonnet flew away in a gale
Radiator got grilled
Sparks are plugged
Ignition coil is at low tension
Plug leads but not very well
Wipers work intermittently, handwipe only
Indicators are that it’s fit for scrap
Hazard warning
Satisfies all USA food safety regulations, chickens included
Robert Peffers @1016
Thats a bit scary is it not, a bit 1984 ish.
‘So I’m not supporting independence but the ending of the Treaty of Union and the reclamation of the Scottish Parliaments full powers.‘
jfngsw at 10.44pm
Like that view point and am sure it will be supported by many others.
@Ian Foulds
The only problem is it is a bit long winded to grab the imagination, but I don’t have the ability to come up with a short slogan that encompasses this idea. Choose Scottish Democracy is the best I could think of, but it doesn’t really work.
jfngw @ 11.38
How about….. Bring Our Government Home ….?
@Dr Jim
That is beyond pathetic. I actually became angry when I read that. How can people have that kind of hateful attitude towards their own country? Idiots like that aren’t Scots. Perhaps the one who didn’t like the flag should f*ck off to England. Very few saltires down there.
What an absolute embarrassment. I’m sure he doesn’t mind being Scottish when he’s getting his free prescriptions though. F*cking pond life. Probably an Orange Order deadbeat.
yesindyref2 @ 21:50,
There we disagree, I fear. I believe the EEA/EFTA “compromise” is wishful thinking, since it assumes that on the one hand it will re-attract all those who have been activated since 2014 by false isolationist promises, and on the other hand will somehow continue to retain those who have already switched (or who are strongly tempted to switch) by the self-evident idiocies of Brexit.
Both of these propositions are on a shoogly peg, not least as the realities of Brexit begin increasingly to dawn, the former because they have been sold a false prospectus that can’t be fulfilled without extreme economic damage and the latter because a solemn promise given them (by the SNP corporately and Nicola personally) to respect the majority preference in 2016 would be broken, whatever new smokescreen might be attempted to cover that up. We’ve all had our fill of political duplicity.
In the end it isn’t even necessary, just like all the other divisive and distractional political angles that some people on the “yes” side just can’t seem to stop themselves from bringing up.
We don’t know what the new Scotland will evolve into after even a handful of years, so why are some so determined to foist their own prescriptions onto everyone else beforehand, regardless?
(Could it possibly be that they know that their preferences wouldn’t get the time of day afterwards? Not least with Big Brother UK and its gang of faithful lackeys well and truly out of the loop.)
The new sovereign government of Scotland, whatever its political inclination, will be duty-bound to explore all options, not least the formal legal and economic relationship with our nearest neighbours. How can it do any other?
So why are some so eager to restrict it before it has even come into being? The only effect of which would be to alienate one body of public opinion or another, and make independence (a word of which I’m not in the least ashamed) much harder to achieve in the first place.
If a new Scottish government cares to make a recommendation, based on evident fact and good judgement, on how to proceed with some issue and most people find it acceptable nem con or nearly so, we get on with it without more ado (as most people expect) and all live with the consequences.
Advanced democracies, however, do tend to recognise that any strongly-contested proposition should be put to a vote, provided a sufficient number of signatories can be found to request it. Simples!
Please, let’s avoid becoming too prescriptive in advance. That always makes me think someone is trying to force their own narrow agenda onto everyone else beforehand. A short-sighted business that could so easily destroy our potential future before it can even happen.
@RJS
I think you’re taking me up wrong. The important thing is to keep up with the EU acquis as Kirsty Hughes points out, as that would make joining the EU straightforward and fast. And it is joining formally, as Scotland isn’t a member in our own right. Chances of inheriting the UK membership are small, though not non-existent – that all depends on the attitudes of the EU-27, and perhaps the UK Government itself.
It’s a reason those 25 powers that Westminster wants to steal are so important too, food standards and so on could slip badly and delay entry / re-entry. Option 1 therefore is to keep EU laws on a voluntary basis and apply formally whenever possible, hoping that some kind of transition – perhaps an extension of the UK one – can be arranged meantime.
But option 2 is to join EFTA and the EEA, keep the EU acquis, be part of the single market, and also the customs union which isn’t obligatory in the EFTA route, so that actually joining the EU affects really only government, and means we got to vote in the Councils and parliament.
Whether to progress to EU membership, stay in EFTA or get out completely should be a referendum, and the EU-27 might insist on it. But with 62% in the last one, it’s likely it would be the EU that would be the final destination, whether in 1 day, month, year, or 2 or 3 years. The rUK market is an unkown factor though, EFTA would make that easier.
Whichever way it goes there does have to be negotiations and formal applucation, even if still in a transitional phase.
Hopefully the practicalities would be cleared up by Indy Ref 2 itself. And the full debate also, hopefully, till after a YES vote.
Jim Rogers the multi millionaire American investor said in an interview on Bloomberg that post Brexit if Scotland becomes Independent the British £ will drop to around $0,80c and Scotland taking its oil with it and being in the EU will be the place to invest as the UK or lttle England or whatever they call themselves will have nothing to sell so why would anybody be interested in it
I like Jim Rogers….a man with a lovely vision
GE 1/2Million people did not come out to vote in Scotland. That’s what let the Tories in.
£12,000 for a dress, a piece of material. That’s just one of the hanger on. What a farce of inequality. The Tory Royals and the tax evading sychopaths. The chancers. Wasting £Billions on Trident, HS2 and Hinkley Point. The unionist Parties the only ones in the world supporting nuclear. They are a disgrace. Brexit is a disaster. The appalling Tory unionists. Incoherent, illiterate incomprehensible liars.
Roll on Ibdependence. Vote SNP/SNP. Vote for Ibdependence. The unionists even illegally changed the voting system in Scotland. So 3rd unionists could gang up and keep the SNP from power. Thousands of 1st pref SNP votes going in the bin.
Vote Tory/unionist to die younger. Vote Toryunionist to be unemployed. Vote Tory/unionist for higher prices. Vote Tory/unionist for total complete mismanagement. £Billions wasted.
Re : lack of flags on show…
I live in Leicestershire, in a “village” with a population of about 11,000. This area is about as right-wing as you can get – there’s still a couple of UKIP concillors (both ex-BNP) – so I’d expect wall to wall union flags.
Well I went for a walk around in the morning & afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see only two houses with flags.
One was the batty old woman on the corner who had a full size flag draped out a window and the other was a couple of hand-held flags in a jar on a windowsill.
Not even the local co-op had flags up – and they had English & Union flags up for St George’s day.
The monarchy are fucked. If they can’t raise any interest in an area like this then they’re on the way out. Alternatively of course it could be that most people know Harry is a bastard so its not really a “royal” wedding.
Whatever the reason it was a welcome surprise 🙂
@ jfngw – how about “Choose Life, Choose Freedom”
Links
link to alynsmith.eu
link to indyref2.scot
link to newsnet.scot
link to autonomyscotland.org
Secret Brexit deal could threaten scotch whisky
link to archive.is
link to politicshome.com
link to rt.com
link to irishcentral.com
Brexit: the price of ignorance
link to eureferendum.com
EU Brushes Off May’s Pitch for Customs Plan Guarantees
link to archive.is
Vote Leave’s director refuses to go before the Commons. He fears the truth will out
link to archive.is
link to thecanary.co
Could Brexit cause a revolution within 2 weeks of going over the cliff?
link to twitter.com
link to politico.eu
EU unveils plans to block Donald Trump’s sanctions against Iran
link to archive.is
Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election
link to archive.is
Happened to hear a bit on radio 4 this morning. A discussion about a referendum on Irish reunification. Seems the establishment are pushing for it now.
How about ‘save scotland’..
Save the brand,
Save our food
Save our soils
Save our future generations.
Scotland’s Future Scotland’s Choice
Scots Decide For Scotland
Good morning Nana.
Just getting stuck in to some of these lovely links but getting a 404 unavailable on the Ruth Davidson link. Perhaps she’s had it pulled?
…is it save to come out yet?
Just visited the Republic of San Marino…sounds good doesn’t it…”The Republic….”
A population of 33k and a GDP approach the top ten. No major resources!
link to en.m.wikipedia.org
The have nicer neighbours.
Highlandwifie , it was in the Guardian yesterday – it was the usual RD style lots of words but little content , unless it was further encouragement to work with the bigoted . I think Mrs May has that covered already.
Yesterday at Windsor the English establishment, founded 1066, remorphed into the English establishment. Rejoice and alleluia Brothers and Sisters!
Poblachd na h-Alban/Scots Republic anyone?
Thanks @ Dorothy.
Yes the message is pretty much always the same from them both, yawn.
@Highland wifey
here’s the text for you
The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said that the Tories have ‘lost the trust of the crash generation.’
High house prices and poor career progression have pushed younger voters away from the Conservative Party, Ms Davidson has claimed in an article for the Guardian.
Ms Davidson said that younger voters currently see the Conservatives as ‘anathema’, and called for the party to adopt a more open, liberal outlook to win over under-40s.
Calling current polling figures ‘depressing’, the Edinburgh MSP writes that almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds would never countenance voting for the Conservatives, while less than 10 percent of under-40s say they are certain to vote Tory.
‘I find these figures depressing, but not entirely unsurprising’ she said.
‘The crash generation simply don’t trust the motivation of the right. Given the hand they’ve been dealt in the past decade, there’s little wonder.’ Ms Davidson wrote.
Ms Davidson called on the party to follow the lead of the Scottish Conservatives in making gains amongst younger voters and removing the negative stereotypes’ associated with the party.
‘Top of the list of priorities are policies that will make housing affordable again’ she said.
‘We must do more to level up the playing field, take on vested interests, and free up affordable land.’
Ms Davidson also announced plans to launch Onwards, a centre-right think tank aimed at developing policies to appeal to the young.
Thanks for the links Nana.
Re: DEFRA, it chimes with this I saw this on the BBC a couple of weeks ago:
link to bbc.co.uk
“Much of the department’s Brexit-related work involves new IT systems which the department has a “poor track record” on, the report says. If these are not ready, the department says it could resort to manual workarounds – which the committee says would be ‘costly and embarrassing'”
Which also makes me wonder: if DEFRA doesn’t have a clue what to expect, then how can the Scottish government? The clock is ticking, you can’t do scenario planning with less than a year left.
If the chaos of airlifts and lorries queuing at ports does come to pass, the unionists in Scotland will just blame the SNP for creating uncertainty by not accepting the Brexit bill.
Piss Harry laying claims to bits of Ireland as a Baron and titled possession of Dunbarton is like some circus farce but the custard pies are being slapped firmly on the faces of ordinary people.
The Toires and the Brit establishment must be laughing themselves sick when they see supposedly leftwing Scotland looking on like dumb cattle.
To me the 75% who claim they were not interested in the wedding were just another face of the 90minute patriots crowd. They cheer for Scotland but won’t support it becoming an independent state, they diss the royals but say nothing when they take on grandiose titles and claim lands.
The bride with the 50 flowers of the Commonwealth reclaiming the empire possessions. Empire 2. The further farce of having black preachers and gospel choirs when old Harry is taking on landed titles is a monumental joke.
Thank you Nana.
Sounds like Ruth has her work cut out for her there. You can’t polish a turd!
What Ruth Davidson finds ‘depressing’ is
that those who are young at heart, those
who look to the future with hope, those
who see legalised inequality everywhere,
find her, and her party as a disgusting
stain on our current society, with no
place in the future, in its current form.
I visited my Dad yesterday, born in England and moved up here in the late 50s, before I was born, when he got a job with Strathclyde University. He’s getting on a bit now (born on the same day as Fidel Castro). We were talking about the EU and Brexit (I hate that word) and the Indyref. He said he voted no, but when he was watching the results, he was hoping for a Yes. He said he would vote Yes next time.
One of my daughters would definitely vote yes after I explained a few things to her the other day. I just have to work on my wife and older daughter.
Reporting Scotland can be very useful for explaining the bias. We had it on the other day and regarding the vote by the SG to keep controls of the powers, it led with the fact that Ruth Davidson had criticised it. I pointed out that it should have led with the fact there was a vote and the result and then pointed out the Tories voted against.
Am confuddled today is it ah de brief or ah regurgitation of the royal nuptials from our fawning media . I caught a couple of comments ( briefly very briefly ) from the commentariat , this wedding brings the country Together & this wedding brings USA & Britain closer . Cod help us all having to converse with people with that mindset .
Nana, thankyou for some very tasty links.
Craig Murray’s latest blog is a must read, could you repost that one today?
Robert P, last night, spot on.
@louis.b
link to craigmurray.org.uk
@Marker Post
I think I posted the following links[or similar]some time ago.
link to theregister.co.uk
link to civilserviceworld.com
link to instituteforgovernment.org.uk
Can we finish off on the wedding,please. It is a matter of complete inconsequence.
Brilliant cartoon which says it all about the current Westminster government, plus some cracking comments. I wish you had a ‘Like’system to rate them but have managed to save the whole document so that I can keep it. It deserves further studying. Thanks to Chris and all who have commented.
Here is a suggestion:-
The USA Congress passes an amendment to the Constitution abolishing the office of President and replacing it with a Hereditary Monarchy stating with Harry and Meghan.
Canvasing at Buchanan steps yesterday a Australian gent was asking questions on Indy2 , how we could support ourself’s on gaining Independence Pensioner’s ect ect ect after half hour conversation he left with a hand full of information cards & complimented me on my knowledge of History ( down to reading Robert Peffers posts ) & being well informed ( Nana’s/Smallaxe links ) & not forgetting the ( de bunker in chief of the media ) The Rev .
The guy isn’t able to vote in Scotland but I scored a conversion he wont vote to remain in the Commonwealth on the next election .
Hello Wendy fae Aberdeen DON”T BE A LURKER BE AH LURCHER show yer teeth & Comment xx .
I’d like our next indy campaign to go under the name “Free Scotland” where the free is understood either as a verb or an adjective – boring old git ain’t I?
OFF TOPIC
From where did the BBC dredge up this Emma Barnett, sho is standing-in for Andrew Marr this morning?
What a rude, offensive, aggressive harridan. If she was a man, interviewing me in the manner in which she has conducted herself this morning, I’d have punched her.
She has a very bright future with the BBC. A star is born.
Socrates – Emma Barnett first came to my attention on BBC Radio 5 and she was the same there – after a week or two she calmed down and became almost acceptable – I say “almost” you understand because she is BBC.
Emma Barnett?
The one that skewered Davidson so well with her
“…deceptively laid back and friendly interview technique…”
link to archive.is
Maybe she’s been sent for training!
So many people comment here and elsewhere that they just don’t understand why so many Scots do not vote for Scottish independence ?
Wake up face the music, your country has been colonised and you are happy to let the colonisers vote to continue the control they have, 18% of the people living in Scotland are English people, that’s roughly thirty five percent of the NO vote ,they came here to work, a small number came here to get married or with a partner but they are so few in number it doesn’t affect this problem, the real problem is the huge number of English people living in Scotland who came here to work and will almost certainly return to England to retire or to take up another job or simply to return home.
We in Scotland allow them to vote against Scottish independence
People from EU countries have taken a much bigger step in their lives coming to a country that speaks a different language and is not under the control of the country they left, it is a much bigger shift in their lives and in all likelihood their intention is to settle here for good as we have seen with the many polish people that have come here.
The majorly important factor here is that EU countries do not control Scotlands money and economy but England does and that is crucially what makes the difference between a person from an EU country voting in a Scottish independence referendum and a person from England voting in a Scottish independence referendum.
Sometimes I hear people say they don’t want blood and soil nationalism ? This is a smokescreen set up to try and divert attention from the real blood and soil nationalism that is in fact English nationalism and its wish to control other countries.
Scotland does not want to control Englands money or economy or that of Wales or Ireland or Gibraltar etc we just want to control our own.
We should not allow people from England to vote in a Scottish independence referendum because they are not voting for the future of Scotland, they are voting for the future of England and that’s the difference.
The tiny number of English people living in Scotland who genuinely want their future to be in Scotland will be able to take Scottish citizenship and nationality in an independent Scotland should they choose to do so and will as now be able to vote in local and general elections but when it comes to the very future and existence of Scotland it’s clear that English people should not be allowed to vote in a Scottish independence referendum because they will be voting for Englands future and not Scotlands future.
Wake up wake up
Mike Cassidy @ 10.17am
Got her now. She certainly came across as a lot more aggressive on TV than she did when I heard the Radio 5 Live interview with Colonel Yadaftie. I had forgotten about that.
Maybe it’s just Tories who get her fired-up, which is no bad thing, but, again, maybe if the BBC trained their interviewers to ask a question, shut-up and listen to the answers, the come back with a supplementary, things might be better.
Against that, certain politicians do like to waffle on and need to be reined-in.
Ach! I’ve been wasted, interviewing footballers and managers, who cannot remember what they said, ten seconds after they said it.
@jfngw says: 19 May, 2018 at 10:44 pm:
“So I’m not supporting independence but the ending of the Treaty of Union and the reclamation of the Scottish Parliaments full powers.”
So basically you are on the right lines but you still haven’t grasped the actual truth that there are three distinct anomalies that are glaringly obvious to some and totally incomprehensible t0 the majority of others.
The United kingdom is legally what it’s title described it as upon its instigation in 1706/7:- “THE UNITED KINGDOM of Great Britain”. Nothing more and nothing less than that. Any changes made to that title after the signatures were added are made by the totally new parliament hat began its operation on 1 May 1707 and thus any changes immediately break the terms agreed in 1706/7.
So Westminster is legally thus neither a united country nor is it a union of four countries. It is legally a union of the only two equally sovereign kingdoms still extant in the British Isles in 1706/7 when the Treaty of Union that gave it birth when the KINGDOM of Scotland representatives were illegally coerced into signing the Treaty of Union in 1706/7.
So before going any further the known facts show the union was formed by illegal means and that is illegal under both signatory kingdom’s laws. In the case of the Scottish Kingdom’s legal system the people, (even today), are legally sovereign and as the legally sovereign people of Scotland were rioting in the streets of the Scottish capital proves that the Landed gentry/parliamentarians had no legal mandate to sign away the people’s sovereignty.
The evidence is stark. The London Scot, William Paterson, was in the pay of Sir Robert Harley the English Spymaster and had already been responsible for the instigation of the Bank of England and had then instigated the Darien Expedition that had bankrupted, not Scotland, but the landed gentry/parliamentarians of Scotland. He was aided in his undercover work by the Author and paid for English undercover agent Daniel Defoe who was also in the employ of Sir Robert Harley. There are letters, held in the English archives. written by Defoe reporting to Harley his progress in coercing the parliamentarians, (coercion is the equivalent of blackmail), under Scots law). So the Treaty was illegal before the Union began.
Then, after 1 May 1707, any changes to the Treaty made by Westminster are clearly made under the assumption that Westminster had sovereignty over Scotland when the treaty itself clearly states otherwise.
This is why it is so important that we can clearly distinguish the difference between a country and a kingdom and that highlights the fact that legally “The Union”, is a union of only two equally sovereign kingdoms and is not a unified country nor is it a union of four countries with the country of England being the master country and Westminster the de facto parliament of the country of England while calling itself the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
jfngw
The Yes campaign should take a leaf from the EU Leave campaign.
The campaign should be about “taking back control” of our own affairs.
Once we have taken back control: THEN we can decide what we want to do.
The current situation is that Westminster and Holyrood had a settled devolution agreement. Now WM has decided unilaterally to change that.
That raises the issue NOW.
Even before any indyref, it should be asked right now if Scotland’s parliament should be able to decide what powers are reserved to Holyrood on the basis that the people of Scotland are sovereign and voted for the current “what is devolved is devolved” settlement.
So, whether the people ultimately decide to end the Union, Scotland’s place within the Union would be decided by us, not by Westminster.
I think if that were the case, I think it would be Westminster MPs who would not want the Union.
The Union is not a partnership of equals. It is UK parliament ruling over Scotland. A UK parliament where Scotland has 56 votes:
out of:
650 MPs
800 Lords
and a monarch.
That’s not democracy: that’s domination.
Robert Peffers
The FM has repeatedly spoken about the “four nations” of the UK. I don’t think she’s listening to you, sir.
Correction: Scotland has 59 MPs
The LeaveEU campaign cheated lied and were just a bunch of lying criminals. One is now refusing to go before a UK Parliamentry committee to account for their actions. Many are still immeshed in the Tory Gov. The wealthy buying elections and illegally overspending limits. When will they be charged and convicted? BT did the same.
Ken500
They Leave campaign also had the best slogan and WON.
Nicola on this morning’s Peston show
FM re-iterates her intention to decide on Indyref2 timing when Brexit situation becomes clearer. She also reveals SNP will ‘restart debate’ on the opportunities of independence within next two weeks. Growth Commission Report within
link to youtube.com
Nicola …
” Once we get some clarity, which hopefully we will in autumn of this year, about the Brexit outcome and the future relationship between the UK and the EU, then I will consider again the question of the timing of an independence referendum. “
link to uk.reuters.com
Hmmm. The EU want clarity by the Autumn. Not sure the UK will provide that clarity!
link to youtube.com
I think Emma Barnett is brilliant! She nailed both the tory and labour guys and didn’t let them away with anything. The tory guy thought he would escape by asking back if she ‘had read the whole report’…she said ‘thoroughly…which page are you referring to?’ You could see the blood drain from his face!
Rev Stu says
link to twitter.com
Give ’em hell Rev!
11am Gie that manny some Tipex ( correction fluid ) might need some instructions on how to use it , don’t aw put yer hawns up at once
@Nana
Saw on The National that the Rev v Leask or should I say Leaks v Rev thing might be on.
I don’t get normal inline video, any chance when it’s on youtube someone could post the link?
Well done Rev for giving Wings readership figures a mention. Interesting the Brewer was being quite reasonable.
@yesindyref2
If I spot it I will post, or maybe Rev will link to it later.
Sorry but I thought the ‘visuals’ of the Rev’s interview were not good.
Black shirt and the insignia on the wall were OK for us supporters, but I can foresee a lot of others being put off.
twitter.com/GrahamRMann/status/997863478433058816
Douglas Ross whit ah muppet , you could hey knocked me doon wie ah feather lol.
It was noted Graham Stewart (BBC) failed to ask Leask….” Is the Sunday Herald still a pro-indy publication?”Am I surprised ?Not really.
Yeah, that’s quite a striking Cairnstoon when you see all of the broken promises to Scotland laid bare on the paving stones.
Next you see it, John Bull will be trying to tie Hamish to his back and take a running jump off of THAT cliff edge…
Fortunately, Hamish’s hands are still free and he has a
cl‘secret’ yes weapon, in the form of a parachute (in case of emergency), where all he needs to do is cut himself free, drop the dead-weight, deploy iScotland and fly HOME to freedom.X marks the spot.
Cheers.