Wings Over Scotland

Chris – you really are awfy good with these coloured pencils and the captions are sooperb.

Thank goodness Stu has kept you/us going with the toons. 🙂

Fist they came for the low skilled, but I did not speak out because I was not low skilled……

We all know where it goes from there……..

I like this site as the Chris-Cairns-political-cartoons-on-a-Saturday-morning-experience. Less bile, more balance.

Carlaw thinks he speaks for the Newton Mearns set and need someone like orphan Annie to speak for the rest of us forgetting that Annie allegedly only joined the tories because she fancied Ruthie, she was the last tory on the list system to be elected and even she was astounded.

She is there because she has the nerve to go on TV and defend the indefensible when even Carlaw does not have the nerve.

Just look at this week not a tory from WM or Holyrood willing to appear on any TV programme or radio programme to defend immigration but the very next day and within 12 hours there is wee Jamie Green throwing stones at the snp about education. They are only good for a ‘moan-fest’ as someone so elegantly put it.

The Scottish Tories do so much bowing to their London masters they must spend half their lives looking at their shoes.

Nice one Chris, Wells has all the charisma and oratory skills, of a rusty gate squeaking on a windy day.

Meanwhile the QT racial hatred speech from that woman, that went unchallenged has reached over 4 million hits on Twitter.

Covertly this is where the state propaganda machine the BBC stands, Brexit however has pushed it further into the limelight.

The female equivalent of Billy Mitchell, thought that England and not the UK ad 60 odd million residents already.

Deputy Opposition leader on a decent salary just for getting a shade over 2000 people to vote for you. She’s not that daft. Wherever there’s opportunity you won’t have to look too hard to find an opportunist. The indictment is surely a reflection on Holyrood recruitment.

Then add in Jamie Greene, James Kelly, and one or two other sparkling allstars, and you have conclusive proof that being thick as shit is no obstacle to having a glittering high profile career in Scottish politics.

And then you look further afield, at the Labour leadership contest, Angela Raynor pledges her self sacrifice to do missionary work here in Scotland and live amongst the heathens, and across the floor, the eugenicists, fascists, and Priti Patel’s buzzing around the Westminster Government like flies round a shite… and you think to yourself…. the UK, irrespective of Indy or Union, in Scotland and England both, the UK itself has a MAJOR problem recruiting people of any kind of true caliber, integrity and capacity. There is lots of pond life, but the water quality is so rank, there are very, very few big fish anymore.

And in Scotland, when the tiny minority of fanatics, in the tiny minority of radicals, in the tiny minority of Trans people, in the tiny minority of LGBT people, can affect such disproportionate influence that it fucks up Scotland’s prospects of Independence, you’ve got to ask if there’s a cog or two missing in the machinery.

In 2014, there were aspirations for a second Scottish Enlightenment. In 2020, I’d sell my soul for a tiny wee re-emergence of humble common sense, and nevermind the luxury of dreaming about deliberate, purposeful steps being taken to defend Scotland’s Constitutional Integrity.

I know it’s a conversation we can’t have at the moment, but for all kinds of reasons, the future direction of the UK, either it’s evolution into something (or things) better, or a spiralling tailspin into bottomless misery, might very well depend on “someone’s” emphatic acquittal and timely political resurrection.

“I quite agreed with the woman on QT.”

You would, this your weekend on at Denison then, I’ll bet you Reeves has a lackey to do his weekend work, Fleming as well.

“Then add in Jamie Greene, James Kelly, and one or two other sparkling allstars, and you have conclusive proof that being thick as shit is no obstacle to having a glittering high profile career in Scottish politics.”

The only requirement is to oppose the advancement of Scotland in any shape or form. Placating their Westminster masters in the process.

With so many fat gammon overlords now in place it can’t be long till pigs become a protected and worshiped species, and thus the bacon roll will be off the menu.
That might actually be considered a good thing when food standards and regulations drop to allow crappy low quality meat into the food shops.

Ach well, at least I’ve just read some positive “Brexit” news:

“Children open to seeing insect-based meals on school dinner menu, study suggests“

Grassroots independence movements are springing up all over Scotland. The latest is (PIA) Pensioners for Independence Ayrshire.

There’s a wave of unity and optimism that we might not see at Holyrood or in the media for independence, that’s growing into a tsunami.

We just need to hold on and watch it wash away the union.

“With so many fat gammon overlords now in place”

Would be nice if a new outbreak of swine fever struck now.

Cmon China do the world a favour.

Unleash SWIVID 20 please.

Den Cairns@11-48

Congratulations, now you are a target for Preetie’s conscription workforce. Enjoy the fresh air, or elderly care duties!!

Well there is an open goal for Carlaw and Wells if they position themselves against GRA reform. People don’t need Titans of intellect to vote for and can hold their nose if they take a position they agree with. God knows we have done it enough with the SNP.

It will be interesting to see how the vote in Parliament goes if it gets to that stage. I suspect the SNP are rushing this through because they reckon they have the support of the Greens and some others. If they cannot get it through, it becomes an election issue for 2021 and they may fear they will be hammered on it and it will be an issue.

I have said it before, what a hill to die on. This does not need to happen if they would just regroup and look at sense and proper evidence. It has been mentioned before by others but I suspect the Greens have a bargaining chip as they have been reported as onside with the budget.

Sassenach 11:57. Preet can go take a flyin fluck tae herself. I’m 49 and the only job I’ll be doin is delivering Indy leaflets – but Gaud bless ye anyhoo.

O/T

So the “iconic blue passport” is to return next month. About as “iconic” as a boil on your bum! Why not sh1t brown? Be more appropriate surely.

Prefer to get my hands on one of these…

link to images.app.goo.gl

ASAP!

@SilverDarling at 12:06 pm

Aye, it’s a remarkable thing for a government to choose to be focused on when there are so many other important issues at this particular time.
Interesting too that so many of these new “young” political voices in the SNP and Greens are so vocal on Self ID, rather than say Land Reform and more particularly Housing, which for a lot of young folk across Scottish society is a real issue.
But I guess the folk struggling to keep their as born bodies warm and a roof over their heads are to preoccupied with that, so don’t have inordinate amounts of time like some appear to have to push the Self ID agenda…

@McDuff 2:32pm

But, but it’s English Telly, we’re not allowed to have Scottish Telly in case we say Scottish things on it and that would be offensive

How very dare we

This is how we deal a blow to unionist MSPs at Holyrood and Westminster as well.

Not only will it oust the likes of Murdo Fraser it will force Sturgeons hand into naming a date as well. We must support it.

link to thenational.scot

People like Willie Rennie, Gordon Brown, Jackson Carlaw and the cohorts of London financed British Nationalists only input now is to sap the moral of true Scots. They have nothing positive to say, their sole contribution is to run down any Scots achievements that are not the result of Westminster input, ignore them they are yesterdays men (some are women).

I’ve excluded Rumbledethumps Leftovers as he only rots your brain but otherwise is totally inconsequential.

@ ROS 3.37pm as I have stated on here numerous times I welcome a NEW indy party standing on list votes , but it has to be ONLY ONE party with a stated aim of independence ONLY as their reason d’etre , that way everyone who supports independence knows EXACTLY the aim of the new party , there is NO point in proposing divergent groups , it is all under one group or nothing and ANY deviation from that agreement risks exclusion and ANY posturing or attempting to forward egos or policies should lead to same exclusion

This could be a watershed move providing egos and affiliations are left at the doorstep , LET’S DO THIS RIGHT AND EJECT THE SEAT WARMERS

Go Joanna!

It should go to the candidate that the people in that constituency want as their representative. I’d happily have Ms. Cherry as my MSP and she will be a terrific addition to Holyrood. Lookout Mr. Tomkins.

Angus can always stand for Stirling since Bruce Crawford is stepping down as our MSP …. oh drat! I forgot, no he can’t, because we’ve already been told that our next list of candidates to replace Bruce will be an all – female list.

A light bulb moment – Angus can self ID as a woman and qualify for the list. Nifty solution.

wise words Dr Jim

With all due respect to the owner of this site, I am not in favour of launching a new pro-Indy Party. The time to organise such a thing seems to me too little. If it’s a political party in the normal sense of the term, all those who stand for it will have to be in the same position on a whole range of issues, not just having an Indy ref.

This includes issues which will come up immediately after an Indyref is won. For instance, what should be done with the nuclear weapons on the Clyde? The SNP is still clear that they will have to go, and as quickly as possible. I imagine that that is a position with considerable support among pro-Independence Scots. However, the owner of this site has suggested that these weapons be used as a bargaining chip, so that we could keep them for our neighbour, provided they are ready pay sufficient rent to Scotland for the privilege.

That is not necessarily an unreasonable position from the economic point of view, but I think many pro-Indy supporters will oppose it on ethical grounds. Will pro-Indy anti-nuclear-weapons people ever cast a vote for a Wings Party which espouses such a pragmatic and purely economic approach to the Faslane issue?

Even those who oppose the SNP’s unpopular position on GRA but support the SNP’s opposition to nuclear weapons on the Clyde are likely to prioritise the latter issue over the former, and stick with the SNP.

Having said that, I think there genuinely IS a place for non-SNP pro-Indy candidates standing. Not for the first preference vote on the ballot paper, but only for the list vote. As far as I know, that is how Margo MacDonald managed to get continually elected, after she had fallen out with the SNP, and was no longer one of their candidates.

I think Margo provides the model for what is needed. Namely, some prominent, well-known and broadly respected pro-Indy individuals standing as independents on the list vote. They wouldn’t all have to agree on everything, but only on independence.

They could even all call themselves by the same or a similar name: for instance, something like ‘Independents for Independence’. Or, to distinguish each one from the other, each of them could add their own name, putting it in front of the ‘Independent for Independence’ banner.

Or else, I suppose, they could organise themselves into a list, indicating the key points on which they are all agreed – especially independence, but maybe commonly prioritising some other issues as well. This would include publicly stating that there will be no Party whip, allowing for differences of view and more space for each one voting according to conscience.

Many will say this is unworkable … But it worked for Margo.

I am not 100% sure of how the voting system works, but my understanding is that the country is cut up into areas, with a specific number of list seats being allotted to each area. With a bit of organisation, there could therefore be just the right number of registered ‘I for I’ (or ‘Independents for Aye’!) standing in each area. In that case, of course, they would need to agree a pecking order among themselves, prioritising which of them was best known and respected, and most likely to be popular in the area concerned. Not easy … but not impossible either.

Another way would be to have only one, or at most two (well maybe three?) ‘I for I’ list candidates in each geographical area. Or a different number in each area, in accordance with what seems a genuinely possible outcome. Even if only one were to be elected from each area, these independents could well hold the balance of power in the parliament. Even if they did not vote the same way on every issue, if they did vote together on whatever fosters independence and brings it forward, and against everything that kicks it into touch … (notwithstanding the possibility that they might very occasionally disagree on the best way to foster that common agenda) … we would be well on our way.

There are obviously going to be objections to these suggestions. But I think some people would rather vote for an individual (or a couple of individuals) than a Party, as such, anyway. That is, quite a lot of us want to be represented by an individual who is immediately personally accountable to us – i.e. those who elected him or her – and our area, and not to anyone else.

A lot of people don’t like the present situation whereby all those who appear on the ballot papers do so only because they consistently conform to the diktats of the (largely unknown) Party machinery that provides them with the ‘ticket’ they hang around their necks, to stand on. Which means they are primarily accountable to their Party’s bureaucracy, not to their electors, or to the people of the area they represent.

People are fed up with this. Not least because it means that when the MSP’s Party bureaucracy bows down and keels over to some tiny-minority pressure group, he or she automatically does so too. They belong to their Party first, and the people who run that Party, not to the electors who made them MSPs in the first place.

Thus, it often turns out that the vast majority of their actual electors – and indeed pretty much the whole population in the area that voted them in – are ignored by their MPs and MSPs. GRA may be the obvious example, but there are many others. Our so-called ‘elected representatives’ don’t belong to us! Instead they belong first and foremost to the bureaucratic decision-making processes of their Party, and these processes are largely hidden from public view.

To get a genuinely democratic Scotland, we will need to vote out all those Party-hack gravy-train self-serving so-called parliamentarians who represent their Party, not their people. The list system has been their harbour and their haven. Why not give them a rocket, and PI them, by voting in more genuinely independent-minded (as well as independence-minded) MSPs.

Think of Margo MacDonald. Or, beyond Scotland, think of the likes of Martin Bell. We need people of real calibre in our parliament, not all these dummies with their ventriloquist’s hand up them.

When we do become independent we want a real parliament, with real people who really do represent us. Not the kind of shambles that we see at Westminster and – alas – in our own Holyrood, or indeed in every parliament in the UK. If the SNP have got nowhere by then on the independence front, as seems increasingly likely (I still retain a faint glimmer of hope, but hardly anything like optimism), we could make a start by sending in some of the right kind of independence/independent-minded people at the next Holyrood election.

And it would surely be easier to organise quickly than a whole new Party (at which not a few of us would no doubt groan, as, essentially, just ‘more of the same old thing’).

Just a thought …

@Pete,

There is an acute shortage of teachers right across the whole of the UK. It isn’t a specific Scottish problem. It is actually worse in parts of England, but the real issue is that there isn’t enough teachers and those that do go into the profession don’t stay for long.

Maths Teachers are in really strong demand with many schools and local authorities not being able to fill vacancies for months or years on end. It is a problem in private education also.

This isn’t good anywhere is the UK and with education being politicised many teachers are moving to ireland.

It is fair to say that Ireland is picking up a lot of business moving to get access to an English speaking base that is in the EU.

Many of the teachers that have been in UK education have come from abroad. The UK doesn’t have enough teachers. The Scottish Government has been trying for many years to recruit enough teachers to plug the short term problem and potentially fix the big problem on the horizon with a large number of teachers coming up for retirement.

If you are a teacher then you have skills that are desired, then you have the ability to travel to where you will be valued. Ireland is doing better than the Uk in many ways right now.

The constant stories from other parts of the UK where schools don’t have basic books and materials for day to day teaching, failing school buildings and even some where schools are only open for three days a week is sad and indicative of a central government that doesn’t want to spend money on education as it values the private sector where education is something to be bought.

How can people in England buy an education when they themselves are on low wage jobs that barely if at all cover the family outgoings.

England is creating a large underclass with the market led education and health policies that have been in place for a number of years – the private sector is also additional money that needs to be spent on top of normal taxation, so in effect it is a further taxation for services.

If at the last Scottish Election is ALL of those that voted for the SNP on their SECOND vote had also voted for the SNP on their FIRST vote then the SNP would have gained more Constituency MSPs.

As things stand many voted for the Greens or another party as their priority FIRST vote and possibly only lent the SNP their second vote. It isn’t unknown for Unionists to vote for the SNP as they feel that they are at least competent.

Hi Adrian B at 8:39 pm.

You typed,
“If at the last Scottish Election is ALL of those that voted for the SNP on their SECOND vote had also voted for the SNP on their FIRST vote then the SNP would have gained more Constituency MSPs.”

I’m assuming by second vote, you actually mean “regional” vote and by first vote you mean “constituency” vote.

I don’t know how you can claim the above with regards to the 2016 Holyrood election.

SNP had 1,059,897 votes (46.5%) in the constituency vote and 953,587 votes (41.7%) in the regional vote.

Source:
link to en.wikipedia.org

I agree wholeheartedly that there should be a second Independence Party on the regional list vote.
A million votes there for the SNP produced three seats. As Stuart pointed out some time ago a second Independence Party standing only in list constituencies would have gained ten or twelve seats with such a vote, ensuring that there would be no chance of combined Unionist parties defeating the SNP.
There should be only one policy. Independence. The arguments over Trident, Capitalism, socialism, Royalty etc can wait til that is accomplished.
The party should be called THE SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE PARTY.

Who cares about list votes, constituency MSPs, how many are returned whatever? It doesn’t matter one jot if the SNP is not, as has been witnessed by all, determined to achieve independence for Scotland. All the signs are seemingly pointing out that they’re doing everything they can to avoid Scottish independence.

So, it doesn’t matter. Independence and the SNP HAS to be proritised and sorted out first. There’s no point in voting SNP then coming on here next year whining about how you voted SNP because you *thought* they were working towards independence and it turns out that they aren’t.

How about a vote of no confidence in the current leadership at the forthcoming conference (assuming it won’t be postponed again)?

Independence seems to be the furthest thing from Joanna Cherry and Angus Robertsons minds because they’re more interested in standing for Edinburgh Central at next years elections, rather than the more pressing matters that are happening right on their doorstep. They’re only the two high profile ones, what about the others who are more concerned about where they’re going to stand in the next Holyrood elections, rather than thinking about Scottish independence?

BTW, did I happen to mention how absolutely furious I am with the SNP?

@ Mist001,

I get it, there still isn’t enough support for an Indy Scotland and Nicola hasn’t called one, She wants Indy more than Salmond though – when did he last campaign for Indy?

“All the signs are seemingly pointing out that they’re doing everything they can to avoid Scottish independence.”

That is why there have been all the trips abroad talking with members of the EU , Scandinavian neighbours and accoss the world on trade trips to reassure and build our export market to support Scottish jobs.

Independence is going to remain a process that is unfortunately only obtainable if there are the numbers to vote for it.

You can see the Unionists are starting up with events to gain money and minds to fight against the upcoming vote – they are more than aware that there will soon be a vote and they WILL fight against Scotland gaining its Independence.

They have fought dirty in the past with screams of a HARD BORDER, Questions over currency. Scotland is not going to be allowed into EFTA or the EU. Scotland can get into the EU but it will be FORCED TO USE THE EURO! All nonsense, and Scottish Government have been briefing abroad so that when a vote happens it is very well understood what the position will be.

Sorry for appearing to shout- read ‘CAPS’ as a screaming Unionist on the BBC and you get my drift 😉

The issue around a border or currency is really bogus. We will have a currency – and it might change in due course, Westminster has created a border all around the UK coastline and a sea border with our Irish neighbour (even Northern Ireland which is a part of the UK! FFS)

As we have seen in the past few days there has been much fallout out from business in allowing workers from the EU into the UK and especially Scotland to serve in business and across all parts agriculture and tourism in particular as these are areas where very few Scots normally work.

In order to survive these companies have to get staff from somewhere or they will go bust. You could say this is going down like a cup of cold sick for many who have likely now more than ever to be former stronger in UK in viewpoint. If the Tories can and will damage the lives and opportunities of their own flock of voters as a matter of policy, then there will be many in a number of sectors that seriously have to consider some hard choices that the Conservatives may not have their best business interests at heart.

There is only so many natural SNP voters or sympathy voters to be had and in order to win the upcoming referendum we still need to support of those that actually vote often for parties with a Unionist agenda.

There is a good reason that the Tories have fought every election since 2014 as the party that will stand against change, against the SNP and against “Independence”. It works for them and it has helped kill Labour. The Lib Dems are in the doldrums, but still have reasonable pockets of support.

In order to win in 2020 or 2021 or when ever the vote happens. We need the support from more former voters of the now hard line Unionist opposition parties.

Getting independence will be hard but it is once we have the independence of any normal country then that is when the real hard work really starts. Devolution was hard to gain but once we had gained Devolution, Scotland started to change for the better as policy was being made closer to the people who voted for it.

You don’t need to be a party member to want to complain at certain policy and policy direction. I am sure that it is annoying sometimes though.

jackedup carcrash and calamity annie – you could leave the captions blank and have a competition

– to me it looks like jackson is back in car dealer mode and is -gently- informing ann that her new car warranty isn’t worth “jack” as the car lies 300 yards down the road, with the wheels falling off …

– tony blairs smooth shtick was often vilified as being that of a “used car salesman” – now Scotland could, if it went completely insane, have one for real as leader. This is progress, of a kind. He is not, as yet anyway, trying to cut all our dicks off.

– he also makes me think of “swiss toni” from the fast show
– “you know(to) gordon (brewer), being in the union is very much like making love to a beautiful woman …”
eh?
you creep up behind her in the dark with a claw hammer
chloroform her
do the deed, ravenously
then tell her – she was asking for it, she came too and its not really r4pe coz “she enjoyed it”
since we are BETTER TOGETHER

“laughter is the best medicine”

– not really since we get free prescriptions, with full access to opiate painkillers and happy pills … but anyway, try this

link to youtube.com

and this is not so funny, but will make you better informed

link to youtube.com

Why doesn’t the Scottish government tell the people exactly what’s happening regarding the dissolving of the Union, they will get the people on side if they do, if not who knows what might happen, the vast majority of Scots born people want a divorce so we can rejoin the world in the 21st century not to be part of the medieval union which has ran its course, so time to split in an amicable way, we can still be close neighbours and can still trade with each other, and Scotland will think for itself, we’ll be a modern country that will attract lots of attention round the modern world.

As one of Joanna’s constituents and as a member of the local SNP branch who campaigned for her in the GE, I am ambivalent towards her standing for Holyrood.

Not, I hasten to add, on any grounds of doubt about her ability, or commitment to independence, but purely because it is a gift to the opposition and their fellow travellers in the Scottish MSM. “Edinburgh Central needs a FULL TIME MSP!” the headlines will scream day after day – never mind that with Ruth Davidson we haven’t been represented at all in the last 4 years. It will be so loud that everything else will be drowned out.

Aye if the SNP really want to dissolve the Union between the four independent countries they’ll have to start really fighting for it and let the Scottish Nation know they are going for it, if they do millions will be behind them all the way, but show some grit.

Nicola Sturgeon on the Andrew Marr on Sunday, he keeps going on about if Scotland break away there will be a border so ok what’s the problem with that a border with a forty foot fence as well whatever but we’ll be free, but I’m sure english people wouldn’t like that and we could come to a compromise, it looks like they’re starting to worry a bit, their media and the bbc will be working overtime very soon.

“This could be a watershed move providing egos and affiliations are left at the doorstep , LET’S DO THIS RIGHT AND EJECT THE SEAT WARMERS”

Indeed Twathater, if they can stop squabbling among themselves for five minutes and unite, then we could really make a big change, of which the greatest would be a independent Scotland.

I for one will give whatever party arises from their deliberations my list vote.

“There should be only one policy. Independence. The arguments over Trident, Capitalism, socialism, Royalty etc can wait til that is accomplished.
The party should be called THE SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE PARTY.”

That’s it that’s the goal for now everything else is a side issue.

Dr Jim

Grinding away is an option, but I wouldn’t call it strategy. Scotland has just experienced the enforced loss of EU membership and faces years of being dictated to by a very right wing and anti-Scottish government.

Scots should be alarmed. The majority of us are. Yet the SNP leadership, instead of harnessing that alarm, are carrying on with conventional politics and the complacent attitude that it will all come together eventually.

We are told that things are moving and that the 51% and 52% for Yes opinion polls show this. I agree. But things don’t keep moving in your direction of you don’t keep on pushing hard. If people get weak or confused signals from their leaders then the are apt to lose any enthusiasm. How long before that 52% in the polls reverts to 47%?

Surgeon has to show she is more than just a hit and hope type. If she can’t then she’s out of her depth.

@ Kapelmeister
Sorry but no. I know its the popular narrative in certain bubbles but the current government in London is not far right wing. By any stretch. Far right wing might be on the horizon however if the shitshow that passes for left wing politics isnt reigned in tightly and soon

To cut a long story short – if you want to get Westminster out of Scotland (or any other foreign powers) yer gonnae huv tae gee the SNP the boot. Ye ken?

I understand people getting edgy about Nicola delaying action but the reality is the longer she leaves it the better the SNP vote will be.
The bottom line there is no point in a referendum until we know the result will be.

We have to convert more NO voters

If we fail this time there will ne no more Scotland

@ Shug

I do agree. But can we honestly say that SNP policies are a net draw or a net drain to the cause? Id suggest SNP policies are not in themselves something that gets Mrs and Mr Ordinary very enthusiastic. In fact, id say they were completely off putting. So what does that leave us?

Hi kapelmeister at 12:13 pm.

You typed,
“How about simply calling a new party Independence? Loud and proud.”

There is a Dundee band going by the name “Independence”. They’ve been on the go for years. I’m sure Frankie Cosgrove would be well chuffed to see his band’s name on every voting slip!
Here they are recorded in April 2014.

link to youtube.com

Brian @ 1:09

Hi Brian. Good band. Good attitude. I reckon Pete Wishart won’t be auditioning as their keyboard player!

“You are right that a new party should be entirely focussed on independence. That being so it would be better not to have the word Party in the name. This would let people know that it isn’t just another conventional outfit.”

Kapelmeister.

Yes I agree, and I’m sure there’s a catchy name somewhere still to be thought up, one that appeals to indy supporters and those thinking of becoming a indy supporter. However more importantly is that we know what it stands for and as you rightly say independence is the target.

We really need this new party or whatever they call it, to change not just Sturgeon mind to push harder for indy but to try and reduce, if we can, the Tory MSPs at Holyrood.

Things can’t go on the way they are, with only two parties at Holyrood having the best interests of Scots, and not England at heart, something must change.

“I understand people getting edgy about Nicola delaying action but the reality is the longer she leaves it the better the SNP vote will be.
The bottom line there is no point in a referendum until we know the result will be.

We have to convert more NO voters”

There’s a glaring flaw in this tactic, what if the number never reaches say 60% until you name the date. You see a lot of folk aren’t interested in politics, but become aware and more interested when there’s a date for an event.

They say if you are unsure do nothing, but independence won’t come to us, Johnson won’t willingly break up the union, a union that’s been, and still is, incredibly profitable for England, why would he, because Sturgeon is asking for a S30 which he can ignore till the cows come home.

Also, say we follow your tactic, and wait, for how long, just when would that magic figure be achieved, 5 years 10 years, or sooner maybe, after Johnson has used the full weight of the unionist machine to damage our cause.

No matter what happens, Sturgeon will need to take, as we all will, a risk on independence sooner or later, or be sidelined in order to let someone in who will before we suffer a major set back brought on by Westminster.

Hows about the ‘Scotlands voice’ party.

There is a good argument to be made that Sky, along with the gross incompetence of the Scottish football authorities (SFA and SPL) has been largely responsible for the cliff-edge decline of Scottish football since the late 80s. The financial inequality between the eye-watering sums being pumped into the English game compared with the dire poverty of ours is obvious.

The last time I chanced to see Sky Sports, the Scottish Premiership featured after the “national league”, which is what we used to call English non-league football.

I believe BBC Shortbread (according to The Rev’s twitter) ignored the highly-entertaining Motherwell V St Mirren and Killie V Aberdeen cup-ties this week, which produced over 13 goals, including a penalty shoot-out. It also fired TV pundit and Yes campaigner Michael Stewart because he dared to suggest RFC’s PR guy James Traynor got an easy ride from the corporation.

The Renton Doctrine i.e. “It’s shite being Scottish” seems the dominant one on Pathetic Quay.

Sky or the BBC? A plague on both their houses.

You know it makes sense…….