We have a problem
It’s pretty stark when you see it laid out like this.
In just four months, the SNP – because if you aggressively assert sole ownership of a political campaign, there’s nobody else you can blame when it goes south – have turned a 10-point lead for independence into a seven-point lead for the Union with the same polling company.
And while that’s pretty brutal in itself, it’s not even the real fly in the ointment.
Because once you have a referendum (or indeed a plebiscitary election) you can always turn things round in the campaign. Being slightly behind at the start is no big deal. But to GET that referendum in the first place, the SNP has bet all its chips on the moral force of a majority of Scots backing one.
That, as Wings has been pointing out for many months, is a terrible plan anyway when its target is Boris Johnson, a man of zero detectable morals. But even if you were the sort of massive clattering gullible idiot who ever thought it might work, it falls completely to pieces when you don’t HAVE a majority of Scots behind you.
In December, as well as a 10-point lead for independence ComRes found 52% of people planning to vote for pro-indy parties on the constituency vote and 50% on the regional list. The two votes tend to get near-enough identical numbers for pretty obvious reasons, so you can reasonably average them, giving you a total of 51% of votes cast for parties backing a new referendum.
That’s a thin margin, but it IS a majority and so you can use it to legitimately say “most Scots have voted for indyref 2 so democracy demands you allow it to happen”. If 51% of the vote is enough for something as big as taking the UK out of the EU, you can’t credibly argue that it’s insufficient for anything else. But where are we now?
The most recent numbers give Yes parties just 45% on the constituency vote and 48% on the list (entirely down to a drop in the SNP vote – Alba and the Greens have held firm). That’s an average of 46.5%, which ISN’T a majority. If those were the actual vote numbers then a clear majority of Scots would have voted for parties OPPOSED to a second indyref, and even in the fantasy land where Boris Johnson is susceptible to a “morality” argument, he wins it and the game’s a bogey.
Of course, as we predicted yesterday, the SNP are blaming everyone else.
But the awkward truth for Pension Pete is that the chart above clearly shows that the SNP had dropped the ball before Alba ever showed up. The Yes lead and the vote majority were both gone in early February, with No leading by three points and the combined pro-referendum vote down to 49%.
The first poll that included Alba, three weeks ago, in fact brought the independence numbers back UP to 50-50 after two months of No majorities, (perhaps because Alba actually talked about independence), and lifted the vote figures up from 49% to 50.5%, a tiny but crucial step across the winning line.
But weeks of relentless Alba-bashing from the SNP have blown that again – they’ve managed to get the Alba vote down fractionally, but at a significantly greater cost to themselves as they’ve repelled some of their own supporters with deranged and noxious hatred against a fellow indy party mostly comprised of their own former MPs, MSPs, councillors and officeholders.
(Alba didn’t do that – Alba has been telling people to vote SNP in the constituency vote with every breath, even as the SNP relentlessly and bitterly attacks them.)
The result of the SNP’s month-long fit of furious pique is that Yes now trails No by seven points, and as we’ve already noted the election vote is down to 46.5%.
You simply can’t claim any sort of democratic mandate for a binary choice on less than 50% of the vote. Claiming it based on a majority of seats that came from less than a majority of votes is the sort of thing we scream blue murder about when the Tories do it at Westminster, and justly so.
There are differences of opinion over whether this is exactly what the SNP have wanted to achieve all along, of course. But whether they intended it or not, it’s indisputably what’s happened. The supposed captains of the indy ship have blasted a huge hole in the bottom of the hull trying to kill what they see as rats, and unless they stop shooting and start patching in the next six days, all of us will sink with it.
I think it’s all going to plan for the cabal Stu.
Stu – you are right and the wokeratti are wrong, so very wrong.
The SNP have been attacking Alba rather than yoonery. Says it all really.
sturgeon has brought us to this. She has no one to blame but herself.
The wokeratti will live in infamy.
You are never betrayed by your enemies. The people of Scotland will be revenged on the SNP cowards and the woke cabal.
I’ve posted this on the last thread, but seeing as how I have to spend 8 hours in moderation each time I’m posting it here again.
The BBC have really gone all-out obvious with their bias & propaganda. Was there any outcome to Alex Salmond’s complaint to Ofcom do we know?
I was thinking, a few weeks ago, when Alex Salmond joined the political fray, that all the MSPs will have to step up their efforts in political skills & the current batch we have are not really up to the task – they are all lazy sheeple. During the harassment committee course of investigation I found that – well, Jackie Baillie proved she does have some skill in interrogation from the start – but likes of Murdo Fraser went from asking irrelevant moronic questions, to actually making useful input. If even Murdo can show up SNP MSPs we know how poor the quality of politician we have is – but it shows, if pushed, many might actually improve.
Anyway, that wasn’t my point, I was thinking of wider implications – how much the State doesn’t want Alex Salmond back in frontline politics – and one of the biggest things is that the likes of Boris Johnston is really not up to the task of standing against Alex Salmond. Boris is protected by the State at the moment – including by having a weak capitulating First Minister (who seems more intent on coercive control of the Scottish population and maintaining us in poverty and fear rather than do anything about Westminster) – and Alex Salmond, a shrewd statesman with a LOT of knowledge on how Westminster works, would run rings round Boris if he was in any negotiating position at all – and the threat is there even if Alex is a backbench MSP. The sheeple in Holyrood will follow Alex’s lead, and I include half the unionist MSPs in that (he does have respect, despite what the media tells us).
I had been thinking about it from the English people perspective – they should be grateful about Alex Salmond getting into parliament because it’ll mean a shake up of their shit governance, the State will have to change the leadership to a mature and rational person which will benefit everyone. And now I hear in the news that Boris is getting hammered by his normally friendly press about spending a few extra pennies on a refurbishment, of a state owned apartment I believe, and I’m thinking – really? Out of all the things Boris has done throughout his career – bad things, including causing the deaths of tens of thousands of people – they’ve chosen this as his hill to die on?? This has alerted me – why so early? I’d have thought they’d wait to see if Alex gets elected before making any changes to Westminster governance, but they are already laying the groundwork for getting rid of Boris ‘just in case’, a stupid one that can be wriggled out of later, of course.
I conclude the State thinks there is a very good chance of Alex Slamond being elected to the scots parliament. And the knock on effects of his being elected – it’s time the powers that be felt some of the fear they regularly try to impose on us, it will do them good – will be all-round very beneficial to everyone. A very good chance of being elected – the British State has made no move to unseat Boris at all up til this point, and I seriously believe the move now is solely because of the likelihood of having to deal with a politician of Alex’s calibre. I would really like all of the Alba candidates for glasgow region to be elected too – if the folks of glasgow would kindly oblige me on this? Thanks.
I’ve decided I want Alex Salmond to lead any negotiations and to orchestrate our transition to independence, whatever his status as an MSP or not, he knows how the politics works and he’s bloody good at persuading people. His economic thinking is now sensible & will see us good.
I realise now that it must have been only from AS the SNP policy ‘the positive case for independence’ because the SNP now don’t even seem to understand the concept of ‘positive’ – slagging off their ‘opponents’ has only developed under NS. I can’t believe I ever supported that party, the nasty coercive control they impose is anathema to me.
And it’s that negative campaigning that has led to the SNP drop in polls – people hate negative from politicians, they hate controversy, and they won’t be impressed by a FM that takes personal childish huffs instead acting like a stateswoman. I’m not sure I’ll ever have any forgiveness in me for what Nicola Sturgeon has done. I might have to end up voting SNP (Glasgow Maryhill Bob Doris) if polls keep going this way, which I really don’t want to do, which makes me even more annoyed with the SNP.
For the first time in my adult life, I have voted for a party other than the snp, and I’ve been a member longer than NS. I only remain a member in the hope that we can take the party back from the lunatic fringe.
If i lived in her constituency, i would, for the first time in my life, be voting labour.
The only momentum being put into this election is the Alba Party because there talking about what matters to voters, but yet they are being denied coverage by the MSM and orchestrated by SNP Leader and other SNP MP and MSP. When your voters (SNP) are Independence supporter and you start calling them Cybernats and keyboardwarriors and don’t vote for another Pro-independence party and only give two votes to the SNP is extremely counter productive for any campaign and by stating only vote for the SNP its like calling people stupid and taking them for granted. Look if we all want Independence the SNP have to put aside this problem they have with Mr Salmond because this election can still be saved and the Suermajority is still achievable Sturgeon needs to come out and tell her voters and members who don’t already know to vote for the Alba Party on the List but she won’t because she is a lair and a vindictive woman and Scotland will be the loser in all of this not Sturgeon or the SNP or so they think Westminster is next and I wander what Mr Salmond has up his sleeve.
What World does Comfy Slipper Pete live in ? “Every time Alex Salmond appears” soft voters are put off..” Yet the truth we see ourselves is of the continually lying thin lips Nikla failing miserably to properly answer any real questions on Independence, tanking on TV interviews while offering a electoral list of. offering bribes that Norway itself would struggle to be able to pay for and trying to talk of a “first 100 day plan” when re-elected as though she were some newly elected USA presedential candidate when the truth is she has had 14 years to do all the same sh*t already yet its Salmond putting people off ?
MaggieC says:
29 April, 2021 at 9:57 pm
Received an election leaflet today
The only problem is that it’s from the Scottish Greens and there’s no mention on it of them wanting to reform the GRA and taking away women’s rights.
Reply
The above was posted on the ‘Patrick Harvie is a racist’ thread.
It seems the Greens have two separate manifestos.
Anyone received an election leaflet from ‘The Rainbow Greens’?
Is the ‘Rainbow Green’ manifesto part of the ‘Green Party’ Manifesto or not?
Bang on the money, Combination of vicious, unprofessional attacks on Alba (e.g. Blackford on Mackaskil), a campaign which tried its best *not* to talk independence or a plan B approach, a tired, fried FM and a lack of movement earlier this year to capitalise on Brexit impact prior to pro-vaccination bounce hitting recently (wonder if they were worried about something else eh?). A party stuck in ‘meh’ leading to 5 years worth of independence stasis, where as a a husband and father of a daughter my own worries will be mostly on *their* rights and freedoms being impacted by GRA.
Outstanding, just utterly outstanding.
30th April is always a very poignant date. After all, it was on this date 314 years ago that Scotland last enjoyed the status of an independent nation. It is to be hoped that that status can be enjoyed once more in the near future, but, as long as Sturgeon and her legion of the damned are in charge, that future way be far beyond the horizon
Let’s hope that ALBA votes in targeted areas produce sufficient list seats
@Paul McRae –
Wasn’t aware of that.
Will send it out as a tweet. It’s the type of thing that folk might have a think about during the next few days.
😉
Susan XX
You may well be right. NS will be happy to lead a minority gov as it gives her a get out card. It may prevent full GRA but I’m not sure.
Of course Alex will be blamed but we may yet see votes of no confidence in SNP leadership come to fruition.
A lot will hinge on whoever becomes Presiding Officer.
Council elections next year will be next hurdle.
No surprise really.
All the people I speak to, save the party loyalists who see no wrong, are saying that they are sick of the SNP and that it has lost its way.
GRA, Hate Crime, the sordid attempt to destroy Alex Salmond, the attack on journalists like Hirst and Murray, the utter alienation of the SNP from the Yes movement, the Glasgow SNP attempt to disrupt the AOUB March and then their subsequent success in getting the organiser Manny Singh jailed, the rigging of the Party’s NEC, and the torpor of a party now treading water taking the pay and perks are the real issues that are causing the SNP to lose vote.
Yes, they’ll probably take the predicted 62 seats but without Alba they’ll be a flaccid weak minority devolved government delivering nothing as post Brexit Westminster tears them apart – as they are doing at present usurping the parliament and the civil services powers.
Without Alba I believe Scotland is going to get absolutely humped. But hey, it’s had centuries of it. Patrick Harvie for co FM perchance. Neither man or woman.
Mrs Murrell is the Pied Piper of Holyrood, leading the rats and the people to a miserable fate.
NB if you enter «holyrood» into the Scottish National Dictionary it does not recognize the term.
Halé Ruid, Halyrude, Hailiroid….are possibilities but Nix to Holly Rood, Hollywood.
The Scottish shiny arsed talkshop has an anglicized name, appropriate!
Loved Pete’s phrase, “ the case for independence”. Is anybody going to present one? Anybody? Or even a suitable definition?
I tweeted some time ago that the SNP attacking Alba will be seen in hindsight as the beginning of the end of the SNP as a popular force, and the most inept ‘independence strategy’ ever seen.
5 years from now, Alba will be on the constituency and increasing share of vote.
SNP vote will be down hugely.
NS will be in a job in the EU or USA.
Scotland will still be in the UK.
We are starting from scratch.
Oh dear scotland, you better not vote for independence or now nat west will relocate to london, dearie me what will you do then?. I know, there’s always eastenders, corrie or some such other great english, sorry british bake off shite to worry your selves about. Lol.
This has more to do with the SNP 24/7 obsession with gender id without a Gender Recognition Certificate instead of governing Scotland toward independence,
She/her has destroyed independence just to look woke to a couple of dozen nose ringed narcissistic transactivists.
@john rose 8.27am
How’s that going? I mean…as a former member of the SNP I’d quite like to see them rendered fit for purpose again, but the issue I have with those who are still in the party insisting they are hanging on for dear life in hope’s they can turn it around, is…..where’s the evidence of any appetite for change?
What have you or others in your constituency done to try and hold Sturgeon and her acolytes to account?
Have you challenged the Woke Stasi tendency in the party, the NEC and in your own constituency?
Even if you aren’t personally that involved, do you honestly see even a scintilla of evidence that the party is for turning….? Because I sure as hell don’t.
The sad fact appears to be that the “lunatic fringe” as you call them are no longer the fringe, they are the mainstream in the party leadership and activist base. Most of the decent folk have already turned their backs on the illiberal, regressive, shambolic mess the SNP has become. I hope – and suspect – that an increasing number of voters are about to do likewise.
The current SNP is analogous to New Labour and appears about to embark on the same trajectory.
The Murrellite coterie enjoys masquerading.
In every sense of the term…
link to forecheck32.medium.com
IScotland R.I.P.
Covid: the Holyrood strain.
Your sinking ship / rat analogy is simply perfect Stu.
Listening to the Leaderene on R4 Today programme this morning, it struck me she sounded tired and out of ideas. She was very keen to stress that this election wasn’t about independence, and that it wasn’t on the table until the pandemic crisis was over and the economy was sound. Confirmation – if any was needed – that we can kiss goodbye to #indyref2, still less independence, for a decade if the current SNP has its way.
Similarly rather than just be honest when asked about Trident and the likelihood it would be years before it was removed, she cavils at being required to even give an answer because it’s a hypothetical question. Why not just be honest and agree that of course it will be years, because safety is paramount and it will take time to negotiate the details and more importantly to arrange the alternative infrastructure for the British nationalists to base their WMD’s. It makes her look clueless and dishonest.
She stumbled badly on the same old 2014 Project Fear era questions about the economy, borders, currency and Nat West relocating its HQ from Scotland. Surely the great communicator should be better prepared than that to answer such obvious and repetitive questions? Instead we get the same tired deflections, the same grey suited managerialist Growth Commission soft soap of continuing to use the £, of being able to negotiate a reasonable compromise with the swivel-eyed yoon loons in Westminster.
The woman is delusional and increasingly looks out of her depth. The great communicator looks more and more like the great bloviator.
Pete Wishart and his soft voter excuse:
link to youtube.com
The SNP sinking the SS Independence by blasting away furiously at the ALBA rats would make the perfect Chris Cairns toon for tomorrow.
We are betrayed by the Wisharts of the world
I think we need to be ‘advising’ tory voters in Glasgow Southside to tactically vote Labour to get rid of Sturgeon.
She is a weak, toxic leader, with a capital T and a small l
Sturgeon back her in her safe space. On the Today programme this morning she refused to back a motion in the new parliament which would put independence on the table immediately. Her excuse? “We need to build a majority for independence by persuading the non believers”, so we have to go cautiously and not rush it.
Where have we heard this before? Oh yes, about five years ago and every year since. Never mind that she has singlehandedly reduced what was a majority for indy, in five years she has done not a single thing to persuade anybody for indy or advance the arguments one iota.
Throw in the “I’m concentrating on the recovery from covid” excuse, and you have the perfect alibi to chuck the whole thing into the long grass, for years to come. It will always be in the neverland of the future, at the end of the rainbow.
She will never have a more propitious time than she has had in the last few years, with brexit and Boris. But she has blown it, big time, and continues to make feeble, blame-shifting, mealy-mouthed excuses and prevarications. There will always be a reason to wait for the polls to register 60% for indy.
In the meantime she will get the power she craves, for purposes she would rather not discuss or publicise. What a charlatan, a tight-lipped presbyterian sanctimonious little Miss Brodie, all hypocrisy and don’t frighten the neighbours, middle class, social climbing succubant of the public purse.
Alex Salmond left Sturgeon on 45% all she needed was 6% swing and Brexit gave her that, but she wasn’t interested in saving Scotland from this horrible one sided union by holding an indyref which she could’ve, no she was only interested in saving England from itself.
For years she obfuscated on when she’d hold an indyref, of course it was all lies she never had any intentions of holding one, and now it looks like our best opportunity in recent times for ditching this increasingly authoritarian union has diminished.
As the Rev points out the SNP were always going to look for a scapegoats when the polls showed things going South, and the scapegoats are us and the ALBA party.
Secretly Sturgeon and her vile clique and Pete Wishart will be pleased that the polls are against us, it allows them more years at the trough, and they have no need to call an indyref citing the polls as their reasons for not doing so.
Make no bones about it Sturgeon has betrayed us, and she will do it again.
Andy @ 9.00
” The current SNP is analogous to New Labour and appears about to embark on the same trajectory. ”
I’d say the Neu SNP are worse than their Labour equivalents insofar as it’s insane advocacy of Identity ( mostly ” Gender ” ) Politics in the face of public antipathy coupled with the complete abandonment of it’s raison d’etre – outwith election times – is not simply putting a single election victory at risk , which , theoretically , can be reversed at future elections , but the fate of an entire nation .
Ergo ….the stakes are much higher , what we stand to lose is of much greater consequence than a 5 year term in office : so those who have been given the trust and support of voters with one overriding objective and have not only done nothing to achieve that objective , rather , have reversed and squandered the gains and opportunities presented to them , are culpable of more heinous dereliction of duties than any Unionist politician
The way I see it ALBA need maybe 100-150,000 regional votes to get a toe hold in Holyrood and Scottish politics in May.
Beyond that goal at this point, I don’t care if people vote SNP1 or not. The treatment of ALBA vanquished any notion of that.
I know I won’t vote SNP1 personally speaking and I think people should simply use their own judgement and instincts to decide if they want to vote SNP1 or not.
ALBA have done the intelligent and bigger & better thing for the greater independence movement by endorsing SNP1. But that does not mean we as individuals should ignore what our own mind and heart is telling us. If your SNP constituency candidate is woke w@nk then to hell with voting SNP1, go full tactical against.
I just could not live with myself if I voted SNP1 and we ended up with a woke nightmare coalition of SNP/GREENS for 5 years. I am not having that on my conscience no matter what the outcome here.
We might as well go rogue as we can see the supermajority goal is probably well out the window at this point given the SNP being such vindictive thick nobs. So they can fuck their SNP1 vote up their arse as far as I am personally concerned.
I’m just sick and ashamed that almost a quarter of our
Votes could be for Boris the bungling, serial adulterer,
pathological liar who hates Scots and you is leading the
most corrupt and right wing party I’ve experienced in a lifetime.
Totally disgusted that a caveman as a Scottish Tory leader can
promote closing parliaments, stealing from the public purse, totally
mismanaging the Covid disaster and ignoring our democratic rights.
It’s now hard to tell who is on our side and who isn’t in the push for Independence.
And isn’t it ironic that Pension Pete played keyboards on that classic Runrig song called ‘Alba’? Would be nice to have that one as the Alba Party’s theme song just to wind-up Pete.
“You simply can’t claim any sort of democratic mandate for a binary choice on less than 50% of the vote.”
Binary choice…Maybe Independence is a spectrum?
Stu, we don’t need any more proof than this, straight from the horses mouth:
link to archive.ph
“Nicola Sturgeon signals she would urge SNP MSPs to vote against Alba independence motion”
She’s not pro-Scotland and definately not pro-Indy, if she’s not under the control of the unionists she’s a complete idiot in such a ratarded state that she cannot work out up from down.
2025:
Sturgeon:
‘Forsooth, methinks we cannot proceed wyth thee referendum, not whyle we are as yet cursed with ye Black Plague and that Ye Great Witch Purges are as yet unended.’
I can’t listen to Sturgeon any more.
When asked a question she lets loose with so much irrelevant tripe, nonsense non-sequiturs and finishes off with an attack on someone else.
I know it’s deflection but it’s painful to listen to,
The art of debate is dead.
What ever happened with taking up the point made by the questioner and then arguing for or against. It is not enough just to state your position either. Reasons should be given.
There should be an attempt to persuade.
What has happened is that everyone is grouped into silos and the only political discourse is made up of rallying cries to the converted.
The other big problem could be turnout. Turnout at Scottish elections is generally pretty low, at just 53% on average since 1999 and as low as 49% in 2003. If not even half of them vote for an independence-supporting party, the resulting mandate for independence is very weak, or in fact is non-existent. Boris could – and almost certainly would – say “only about 25% of Scottish voters voted for an independence party and support for a referendum seems to be falling in the polls too, so there’s no way am I going to agree to another referendum – there’s no clear demand for it”. It would be pretty difficult to disagree with that logic…
Am i the only one who thinks it suspicious that the polls always favour the establishment just before elections.
Youguv owned by tories including a current Government minister always seem to be the worst re indyref polls
Or maybe its the people they ask
Yet another SNP rep who can’t accept the verdict of a jury it’s the same from Princess Nicola this wasn’t supposed to happen Alex Salmond should be in Jail
The final account of how much she and her government has cost the taxpayers will probably run into the Millions , anyone to blame NO anyone sacked NO
The procedure that was concocted solely to get Alex Salmond and to enable complaints of harassment or misconduct against former ministers hasn’t been used since it was deemed illegal
As far as I know the ring fenced indyref2 fund is still resting in some account somewhere because I haven’t seen anything other than the initial reports of a Police Inquiry anyone know of any movement
And this fkn arsewipe Wishart has the fkn cheek to call Alex the most loathsome person in Scotland akin to Jack the fkn Ripper because he didn’t lie down a go to jail as was planned he showed us what a useless vindictive bunch of fkn liars this version of the snp have become .
Take away the carrot of independence and what do you have ? fk all that’s what , they are just another bunch of lying money grabbing political never has beens can you imagine this bunch running a country without having Bawjaws to blame for all the problems ,not a fkn chance.
This is completely wrong: “You simply can’t claim any sort of democratic mandate for a binary choice on less than 50% of the vote.”
Yes you can. Of course you can. You don’t need a referendum on whether to have a referendum. There was no referendum on whether to have the Brexit referendum and there certainly wasn’t 50%+ of the UK population baying for one before Westminster called it.
Boris will not be around to do anything. His arse is in parsley already.
The powers that Be have grown bored with his capers and gambolling, and are already selecting new silhouettes for their shadowplay.
I think all bets are off with regards to polls and elections. There are too many major currents in flow right now to predict where things will be in one week or one year’s time.
There’s no visibility how incandescent women are over the GRA. It might just be a couple of spats on twitter or it could be that come May 7th the SNP is a bloodied corpse lying in the dust.
Repeat this for Covid, Brexit, Boris etc. The economy has take a substantial hit and if nothing else this will have dented peoples confidence in Independence. In some ways it’s surprising the numbers aren’t worse.
What is clear though is the the SNP expects to pick up where it left off with a continuation of not doing very much which is about all they’re capable of.
The “leadership” door is wide open and the first person who comes along with a plan is likely the winner – maybe not next Thursday but certainly within the year. That’s never going to be Sturgeon and there’s nobody else in the SNP. As a result whether the members want it or not, the party is finished.
Can Alba step up? Don’t know. Salmond has the talent but more will be needed. After the Independence well being poisoned by the SNP there’s a lot of decontamination and cleanup needed for the numbers will start to look good once more.
There was a small window of 18 months to get independence.
Sturgeon blew it , and now we are all paying for it. Yet , she will not take responsibility. She will seek to blame me and others.
I have previously talked about a rebuild model to get independence back in front again. Unfortunately I now believe it might be over.
We should have had our referendum before we left the EU. That was our golden chance. Because Nicola waited too long. An unpredicted pandemic struck. That’s what happens when waiting becomes your strategy. Events determine your strategy.
Boris got his Brexit during the pandemic. It’s an absolute disaster, but the narrative means it is becoming normalised. The shock and anger is dissipating every day.
People only stay angry for short periods of time , because it’s exhausting. Independence supporters only keep faith , when they can see there is hope. We are entering the stage of hopelessness now.
I have spent my whole adult life on independence. I now think Scotland is a lost cause. It’s tragic ,but I think at least 55% of Scotland will never share my absolute , non caveated belief in independence.
I wish I had moved to Ireland when I was 18 , instead of wasting my time in Scotland.
I think we are too generous to suggest that this has been cleverly engineered by the SNP to avoid the responsibility of actually trying to push for independence. It’s more likely that the SNP are now just a toxic party, devoid of leadership and who will try and attack anyone who thinks differently to them.
I hope they get a massive hit in the upcoming election – Selfie Sturgeon needs a serious dose of reality.
from being in a position where people used to hang on her every word NS has now alienated so many of “her own side” that she is rapidly looking dead in the water as a leader.
I suspect much of the drop in support for independence is common sense people realising that the shipyard/airport/train debacle of intervention is not fully thought out in advance and the bill to be paid may be catastrophic to Scotland given the blank cheque mentality and lack of proper scrutiny of the cost implications of those decisions already made.
I have been uneasy about a trait in the SNP to take credit for moniess that have originated in Westminster and not to admit real failings that are squarely down to the SNP and it’s financial management.
I said however some time ago that nobody votes for somebody they perceive to be a liar and that is where we are. She is also not geared up for questions of Indyref 2 which the Tories fired tha starting gun on several months ago. People are asking her questions like she is the leader of the independence movement and you can tell she doesn’t want to be having that debate. Those chickens have come home to roost.
The Rev has said discreetly on here why he does not think the supermajority would be enough given the turnout issue resulting in the number of votes for independence not being a supermajority or even a majority. (I may be paraphrasing that badly.)
It is true, even if all the SNP1 voters voted ALBA2, and we got a supermajority, it would probably still not be enough to demand anything with certainty as there are strong arguments you can use against it being a ‘real’ supermajority.
This should not be a surprise, they are not just going cave-in and give us our independence based on ALBA’s plan.
ALBA’s plan is just a way to kick-start the independence movement again.
After that it is going to be up to us to keep pushing it forward.
The emergence of ALBA is surfacing the SNP’s deep reluctance to actually pursue Independence meaningfully. ALBA is starting to embarrass them.
The very leased we have to do is put at leased 1 Alba party MSP into that parliament or things are going to get worse. The country could have really done with Salmond and the Alba Party coming out six months before the election but at leased we now have a party who doesn’t want to bullshit about Independence they actually want it.
Apathy might not be the only problem.
Kate Forbes talking about anticipating a 20% rise in tax revenue over next 5 years (which, given the way the barnet formula works, could mean good news for state employees) but it does raise the question (given Scotland’s feeble defence against ejection from EU against its will, the seasonal flu and the ongoing clown show in DC) whether Holyrood is adequately prepared in the event Boris were to take offence at anything said about him and declare to the world that England will operate independently (ie on an experimental basis) with immediate effect.
A supermajority – as the Rev has pointed-out, is more than the 86 seats which marks two-thirds of the 129 MSPs.
So, anything short of that figure is NOT a supermajority. And you can bet your house on the fact, if there are not at least 86 pro-Independence MSPs, ready and willing to vote for an Indyref, then Boris will simply ignore that fact and say: “It’s not enough.”
Even if there are 86 or more MSPs, who vote to hold Indyref2 – or even to declare the Union is over – Boris (or his successor) will still say no. The Tories, backed by the other Unionist parties, will then jump through hoops to deny us democracy – it’s what they do.
Getting away from England and what England wants, will be so-hard, it will be bloody near impossible, but, it can be done.
Mind you, it will never happen, for as long as the Murrells are leading the SNP.
We have apathy and we will have low voter turnout because of the poor quality of politician that we now have.
They can’t construct a proper sentence and hopelessly fail at making an argument.
Their ability to persuade the undecided voter is so low that they are derided or at best treated as background noise.
Scotland has a very poor opinion of it’s politicians.
They are incapable of galvanising people to action.
Very few have rhetorical skills.
Of the few that have them, hardly any use them.
This campaign is lacklustre.
People are unconvinced.
Y’all had better do some hardcore activism for Alba in the last 6 days, because we’ve only had a couple of polls that put them over the threshold. Let’s not end up with the bitter consolation prize of only being able to talk about Sturgeon’s failure, as opposed to her failure plus Alba’s success. Moaning is boring.
The trend away from Indy and the SNP is starting to look very serious. These polls should be regarded as single frames in a movie sequence. We are watching support for the SNP fall like a stone here.
In the final few days as we head towards the election, we can expect the trend to accelerate. That’s what typically happens. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another 5% drop off.
Here’s another prediction; the SNP will ramp up talk of independence in the final week in a desperate attempt to shore things up.
The root cause of all this is Sturgeon. On a personal level, her record in government, and in terms of policies, there’s nothing in political terms you’d say was straightforwardly positive. At the same time, there’s quite a lot of negatives. She’s a vote loser who only looks appealing when you compare her to someone like Boris.
We are heading right for the sweet spot from the British State’s perspective, with the SNP too weak to do anything on Indy but stuck with Nicola for another 5 years.
Someone mentioned next years local elections as being ‘the next hurdle’.
I see them as being the next great opportunity.
This coming election is a busted flush already save for the seats Alba will win. Nothing else good will come of it.
She will still be in power. They will pat each other on the back, make a din about being given the consent of the Scottish people and how westminster cannot ignore etc, etc then settle in for 5 more years at the trough, bringing in despicable policies hardly anyone agrees with and doing fuck all to win independence. The happy clappers will blame anyone and everyone else for the next 5 years of inaction and make the usual excuses we have heard on repeat since 2015.
And worse of all, the SNP will jump into bed with the greens just to spite Alba.
Let them. This will be the beginning of the end for them. It will be laid bare for all in the movement to see and next years council elections is where the movement will begin to dismantle the cabal.
I still cannot bring myself to give the SNP my 1st vote. My paper will have a simple message written on it…
“Women dont have penises” and “Fuck off Sturgeon”
Childish perhaps but fuck it. She has destroyed my party and i’m angry.
Fingers crossed, let’s hope the SNP/Greens don’t even get support from 40% of the Electorate.
She took it for granted that she was going to win a majority without the help of the Greens.
Then it became clear she was going to need the Greens, so she offers Harvie a cabinet post.
Now it is looking likely to be the Unionist Parties will hold the majority.
Everything Sturgeon touches she fucks up.
The most corrupt and incompetent leader Scotland has ever had.
indyRef2 has to be kicked well into touch for the time being. (Has anyone really got the stomach for it at this moment in time?)
Our priority has to be to defeat Sturgeonism, the most evil form of government ever to descend upon Scotland.
A Tory/Labour/Libdem pact would be the ideal solution to defeat Sturgeon and her troughers at the Polls on 6th May.
It would be out quickest possible route out of this catastrophe.
Let’s hope the Wings SNP Clique have disbanded.
Surely there isn’t anyone still willing to keep this Witch in power?
The problem with the SNP is that they are not really painting a picture of an independent Scotland that many people really see themselves as belonging in.
Someone summed it up above.
Alex left her 45% supporting Independence and the momentum of a campaign which took the SNP membership to over 120,000.
Brexit boosted Independence support to over the winning line.
The only things Sturgeon has done in 7years is:
Destroy the membership base.
Destroy Party internal democracy.
Prevent any new Indy Parties gaining traction (both votes SNP mantra/ a million wasted votes)
Use her power base and clique to attack her mentor and try to have him jailed for life.
Somehow lose £600,000 of ring fenced Referendum money
Promote relentlessly the cause of “men in frocks”
I’m reposting this piece. Last time, it was at the tail end of a post. Concerning the “interwoven money” .
This is off the topic, however. Looking for a consensus, and Stuart’s, advice.
It concerns the missing, or repurposed, “ring-fenced” referendum fund.
Now approaching a month ago now, I went to a local police station to make a complaint about the posible misuse of the monies donated by me to the referendum fund.
I took a copy, slightly modified, of the template Al-Stuart put on here, and a covering note from myself showing the sum I had donated and the date, which was just after the appeal was launched.
I spoke to a young female constable, who seemed to have difficulty understanding the circumstances of the cash appeal, and the ring-fence aspect of it. She took a few details, very few, popped out a couple of times, for advice I assume, suggested I try the small debt court, declined to take the two documents with the details, although she did take them, to show someone else, gave me them back, and had to be prompted to give me a ref. number. On a postcard, a number, nothing more. I added her shoulder number, time, date.
She did check the ref. number detailed on here of the Barrhead complaint, and that appeared to check out.
I have heard nothing since, in truth, by her attitude, I did not expect anything.
So, any advice on any next move.
So, first ensure that support for independence falls well below 50%, then refuse to prepare for a referendum “until a majority of the Scottish people want it”.
That’s very clever – well done Nicola.
NS is not daft, she knows exactly the gane she has to play (to save herself). Think about it – noone expects senior SNP politicians to openly support another party. However, they could at least have eased off and given Alba some breathing space (ye know, like the way they treat their pals the Greens who are actually contesting 12 constituency seats). But no, the exact opposite, they doubled down and went for the jugular – strangle Alba at birth, that seems to be the order of the day. This despicable behaviour may well work in the short term, NS may end up with her minority SNP-Green government. In the longer term, however, there will be pay back. People won’t forget this.
Utterly shameful.
TheSNPLeftMe says:
30 April, 2021 at 10:59 am
The only things Sturgeon has done in 7years is:
You’re forgetting she arbitrarily overruled the sovereign mandate of the Scottish Electorate to remain in Europe, then capitulated to Scotland’s colonial Brexit subjugation without a fight like a spineless coward, and then sold out Scotland to Westminster’s colonial adventurism over the unconstitutional precedent of Westminster having a veto over Scottish Democracy.
If that’s her fighting for Independence….
Come to think of it, is that her fighting for Independence?
Last of my batch of 500 Alba leaflets delivered this morning. I need a cup of tea!
Perhaps the long list of failures to deliver on Sturgeon’s pledges is starting to have an impact on people’s lives.
For instance: –
‘Nine hospital treatment centres which the SNP promised [in 2016] to deliver by 2021 are yet to open, including four intended to provide rapid care for cancer patients.’
‘Leading clinicians say that if the new facilities had been delivered they would have helped to reduce the huge backlog of patients waiting for tests and treatment because so many procedures were cancelled during the waves of Covid-19.’
link to archive.is
I heard Kate Forbes on Radio Scotland this am ‘standing in’ for you know who. From the get go cliches about ‘mood music’ and ‘road maps’ and complete inability to answer clearly an irate Dundonian re. private health care homes being legally obliged to report infection outbreaks. She obviously did not know the answer apart from burbling about the Care Commission.
This was the next successor to Saint Nicla of clacky heels?
Well all I heard was unadulterated mediocrity and pathetic lip service. As I said before, the Yes Movement is on its arse with this lot. We have to start again from Ground Zero. I wish I could believe it’s started with Alba, but I think Boris and Co. will ensure, along with the SNP sleepers, that it is strangled at birth.
Just joined Alba.
Tried on the night of the launch but it was just too busy.
No probs now, took two minutes.
My ‘receipt’ number is 9938. Dunno if that tallies with actual membership.
😉
Is anybody else struggling to get an answer from their ‘SNP1’ constituency candidate on their attitude to changing the GRA legislation? The south Perthshire farmer, who can presumably tells his cows from his bull, seems incapable of replying.
When you turn the independence campaign into a personality cult built around one person and that person turns out to be a corrupt lying bastard this is what happens.
If the SNP had any backbone they would have turfed Sturgeon out months ago, got her to take her corruption with her and rebuild for the election. I suspect the reason they didn’t is because many of her fellow MP’s and MSP’s are corrupt bastards as well as well as being too thick to be able to think beyond what they are having for their next taxpayer funded meal.
I suspect that the tories are going to show how to do it with Boris because if he is shown to have lied I believe they will boot him out and get a new PM in place without even batting an eye.
Got to laugh at the hard core sturgeonites breeks and SNPleftme whinging about sturgeon when they are campaigning day and night for her to be relelected. If you are trying to act as SNP1 Nicola Sturgeon fanatic foxes in the Alba henhouse at least you could apply some intelligence to your tactics.
I can’t wait for the next Westminster election when we dump the whole lot of these trough-swilling bstrds out on their arses.
In the meantime I’ll vote to try and get a supermajority as I’d love to see St Nicola arguing against doing anything with it. Surely – SURELY – even the most indoctrinated apologist who’d look on approvingly as she set fire to a blind man’s wooden leg before booting his guide dug in the goolies would then see her for what she undoubtedly is?
These heady days at the Hydro must seem so long ago. I doubt if she’d sell out Meadowbank Bingo Hall now.
Luigi 11.11am ”until a majority of the Scottish people want it’
I dont think the scottish people know what they want luigi, first (according to the polls) they dont want indy, then they want indy, now apparently they dont want indy. What a funny fickle people.
Mikey d
Project Fear II is running at full speed. Why repeat the same old questions from 2014 on interviews and polls. These are all the points have not been answered in the 7 years since so they are ideal to generate fear, uncertainty and doubt. Throw in the damage from lock-down and it’s no wonder people are uncertain about going it alone.
YouGov, Scottish coalition survey, field work 16th – 20th April, release date 29th April (so, who commissioned it?)
SNP voters express a net 78% approval of coalition with the Greens.
SNP voters express a net 40% disapproval of coalition with ALBA.
link to docs.cdn.yougov.com
The Murrells have earned a substantial bonus from their MI5 handlers for fundamentally splitting the Indy movement.
For the record, I don’t really believe that the SNP has been infiltrated by MI5 (at least, I am unaware of any documentary evidence). I can however produce evidence that they HAVE been infiltrated by the US State Department.
Anonymoose says:
30 April, 2021 at 9:44 am
But, but “She’s got this. She has a plan. She really does want independence”.
Sick hearing this excuse from folk who should know better.
Where is the evidence? Where is this plan? I can’t see any sign of it – and, as you point out, she is openly admitting that indy is off the agenda.
Agree with others here – she has blown it and wasted the best opportunity we’ve had in years.
The main purpose of of the unionist is to achieve a recognisable drop of independence majority votes into the Scottish Parliament.
Although the snp are unionist in all but name nowadays, The old name tag is still recognised as a Scottish independence one by the rest of the world,
If we had followed and still follow Alex Salmonds advice and snp got in, supported and enabled by the Alba party only, on the list vote instead of greens, Tory, labour or dems, we all would be a hell of a lot closer to independence in six days time than we ever have in the last six years.
It would have and will change the the political face of the Scottish Parliament.
Alex Salmond is Nicola Sturgeons biggest fear, and worst enemy
by voting as AS had suggested you will wipe out all rainbow greens and gave one gigantic kicking to wokeratti, tories, labour and Nicola sturgeon.
NS is not for independence but, none can say that of Alex Salmond, and he recognised what the old snp name tag still means to unionists.
Their are an awful lot of people on here aiding and abetting the unionist by default,
None of us of the independence nature any longer believe that Nicola sturgeon, greens and her cronies will get us independence,
but Alex Salmond has a purpose and reason to catch up with Nicola sturgeon do you not think.
Mikey d says:
30 April, 2021 at 11:55 am
Luigi 11.11am ”until a majority of the Scottish people want it’
I dont think the scottish people know what they want luigi, first (according to the polls) they dont want indy…
I would like to see what the Scottish people would actually decide if they weren’t indoctrinated with UK propaganda 24-7 and denied exposure to pro Independence arguments and discussion.
Furthermore, if you removed ALL the polling related dialogue from so called debates, there’d be a lot more time spent discussing the actual issues.
Maybe for 1 calendar month before an Election, or even two weeks, there’s a Purdah type ban on polling.
Stuart MacKay. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence uncertain about going it alone, should be telling themselfs… how can we be any worse off than we are now under that shower of in our face incompetent twisted corrupt barstewards in westminster who constantly spit in our faces and denigrate and belittle us.
They really have done a number on AS. People’s first response when I speak about Alba implies that he is guilty of rape. If Alba get into double figures I’ll be delighted. That would give them decent leverage in holyrood. If they get 5 or 6 I’ll be happy though.
Rev Stu says…
“There are differences of opinion over whether this is exactly what the SNP have wanted to achieve all along.”
I’d suggest the only “differences of opinion” concern timing, i.e. at what point did Sturgeon and the other intellectual pygmies in the SNP decide to quietly morph into the pro-Devo, pro-Trans, turbo-charged version of the Scottish Greens and kick IndyRef2 into the longest grass possible.
The SNP may as well merge formally with the Scottish Greens – there isn’t a fag paper width between them.
Well done Sturgeon – you saved the Union and your Westminster lackies’ pensions. I’m sure the Queen will find time to Honour you in due course.
Just asking- can a Tory member of the House of Lords become Prime Minister?
Is (T)Ruthless moving south for another reason?
Oh, yes, it is what they wanted, Rev, and you and your fellow bloggers + Alec Salmond will bear the brunt of voters’ ire. That was, and is, the plan. The only one they have apart from GRA reform. The utterly vacuous, venomous stupidity of the SNP is a sight to behold. Sturgeon is like Thatcher in her dying administration days. All the propaganda telling us how popular she is across the UK – ffs, what genuine independence article would want to be popular across the UK? The whole point is that you are not popular across the UK because you simply can’t be and regain our independence. What the SNP has done to Scotland in six years is beyond belief, and Pete Wishart has the nerve to claim that Alba is a drag on independence. No, Petey, you and your party are the drag act – in more ways than one.
So will I ScottieDog. The dream of an independent Scotland is truly in the hands of Alex Salmond and the members of Alba.
Pension Pete tweets:
“Every time Alex appears soft indy voters are put off and every time the ‘bloggers’ are seen the popularity of indy takes a hit.”
We can’t ask this despicable oxygen-abusing arsehole for his evidence on that because he has none. And in true BritNat style he hides from questioning and either blocks folk or just doesn’t respond. Rather rude from someone who’s very job requires him to speak with the public and answer their concerns. But we on the other hand can point to the 50K+ snp members who have been chased away by the current self-serving hierarchy of the snp, Pension Pete included.
__________
In other news i see Kenny ‘Facker’ is at his lying manipulative churnalist best again. Tweeting rehashed shit about banks moving south and how he’s more a “nat” than those indy supporters who can’t see it. And the amount of job losses it will entail. Absolutely no mention of the hundreds of thousands of bank jobs gone since 2013. Nor any mention that RBS address in Edinburgh is listed by London stock exchange as a “branch office” etc etc.
Well let’s just hope these weird Greens are wiped off the political map next Thursday, the only reason they have some support was on the back of SNP member’s support, once these people figure out that independence is way down their to do list and their main objective is to turn Nature on its head and make Scotland a queer society and their demands be imbedded in our laws and reinforced by this Hate Crime legalisation , that’s it job done ,that is what they are after, soon their peculiar lifestyle will be bloody compulsory and you better not object to it you because will have no opinion on the matter all curtesy of Princess Nicola and this version of the SNP .
Sorry Alex I can’t support this lot and I hope the public wakes up and let’s them know next week they are in charge not the inner circle of the SNP half of whom should be facing jail time for their misuse of and misappropriation of freely given funds for a indyref2 that still haven’t been accounted for
We’ll know on the 6th may if the Scottish people have the heart of a lion and make the world take notice, or the heart of a wee timrous cowering beastie and slink back into their box.
@Ottomanboi 9:07AM
Get a grip. Medium articles are for people who are too lazy to set up a WordPress site for personal blogging and that one is no different. There is so much conjecture that it doesn’t even count as the usual junk science and conspiracy garbage you dredge up.
On a relevant note, a new leaflet from Michelle Thomson arrived today in the post. Highlighted in bold on the back is the phrase,
“This is the election which will deliver Scottish Independence.”
A bold phrase indeed from the SNP.
Sturgeon the betrayer on Radio 4 saying that she doesn’t agree that if there’s a majority after the 6th of May that we should start negotiations with Westminster. The Betrayer, has the sheer chutzpah to say that anybody serious about independence, that ALBA are in danger of pushing folk away from independence by wanting to start negotiations with Westminster after a indy majority is confirmed post May 6th.
The Betrayer knows no shame when she brazenly says that she’s a life long independence supporter. Sturgeon is a cold calculating self serving egotistical chronic liar who is hellbent on keeping Scotland in this horrendous union.
link to thenational.scot
The coming about of Alba has exposed the SNP for what it is, what it stands for and what it doesn’t stand for., A clever and responsible move that we all cried out for, and most MOST urgent.
Meg Merrilees,
Those days are long gone.
Perhaps the last real toff was McMillan.
And then came Heath, the grammar school boy.
I suppose it could have been worse.
It could have been Powell.
I can’t believe Pet Washoot wrote that tweet. That is awful.
Republicofscotland says:
30 April, 2021 at 12:25 pm
Sturgeon the betrayer on Radio 4 saying… that ALBA are in danger of pushing folk away from independence by wanting to start negotiations with Westminster after a indy majority is confirmed post May 6th.
She is already taking for granted she will win a majority. Thus, Sturgeon is attempting to shape the political landscape ahead of the vote.
We’re gonna lose a chance at independence starting as of now if we’ve keep listening to to the unionist instead of AS.
Wake up and stop being persuaded by unionist mantra to reduce independent (name tags) in Hollyrude, its a strategy
, not a perfect Disney dream.
And it’s our only hope of getting independence sooner than later.
And I for one would love to see NS feet held to the fire by him in the Scottish Parliament when she has no greens to rely on,
IMO both the SNP and the Greens are more focused on re joining the EU than they are on an independent Scotland. Remember NS parents standing for constituencies when they thought all you have to do to be part of the political classes is make some vague promises? The SNP were showing all of the signs of Labour style nepotism and cronyism a long time ago, Greens are the same. They don’t want to be walking around Greenock in the rain in January, they want to be paid to be somehwere nice on the Continent.
I know this is stating the obvious but the political classes across the board attract the absolute worst of the worst, the connections between politicians and organised crime across the world aren’t a coincidence.
Stephen @ 12.33
Now it gonna be Gove
Sturgeon sounds tired and stale. No wonder, she hasn’t progressed an inch in seven years. Seven years – that’s how long she has had to create a vision of an independent Scotland, working out all the answers to those tricky questions which deflated the 2014 campaign.
Yet here we are, seven years later, and it is exactly the same bombast, the same deflection, the vague generalised answers and refusal to be specific. You could tell how uncomfortable she was on Today, all those tedious questions about the detail of independence she doesn’t have a clue about. She doesn’t want to talk about independence, so her only response was to make clear it wouldn’t be considered until various long term projects and the polls worked in her favour. So she doesn’t have to answer those detailed questions, because it is years and years away, in neverland.
In earlier times, people gave her the benefit of the doubt, now it is tedious to hear the same old diversions and distractions wheeled out, it becomes irritating. What does she ever talk about that fleshes out a credible vision of the future? Their manifesto is all apple pie promises, uncosted vague aspirations, obviously designed to get your vote, before the promises are consigned to the memory hole.
I reckon the turnout will be very low, because many people will be switched off by her, and don’t like or know about alternatives. She is a busted flush, out of road, heading nowhere. I fully expect she will be gone in a year, with some vague excuse, when a plum job comes up in some kind of international bureaucracy – the type that is stunningly well paid, with little accountability, just a nice little sinecure for worn out ‘progressive’ game players.
And Spouse
I don’t know.
He certainly doesn’t lack ambition.
He is skilled in the dark arts.
And Rupert seems to like him.
But then he knocked it back once before.
And people think he’s too clever by half.
Meg
I think Truthless is being lined up for SoS for Scotland to manage us via the big HQ in Edinburgh. A Lords person can hold office in the Cabinet.
Ian Brotherhood says on 30 April, 2021 at 11:33 am
“Just joined Alba. Tried on the night of the launch but it was just too busy. No probs now, took two minutes. My ‘receipt’ number is 9938. Dunno if that tallies with actual membership.”
Well done Ian! Me too! But my story’s slightly different. I thought i had joined after the official launch but turns out i only registered as a member of their site/blog. Anyway, done now! I’m not one for conforming to organisation rules etc but needs must and times dictate. We will see how things go but that’s me joined up, at least to get my name on the co-founders wall AND my metal membership card. 🙂 LOL!
One concern i have is that i’m getting stories down my way of folk emailing asking if they can help by volunteering etc but aren’t getting responses. Hopefully it’s just some sort of glitch but time will tell. Or to put a positive spin on it maybe they are just inundated by offers of help and new memberships?
BTW, anyone living in the south of Scotland wanting to promote the fight to take back Scotland’s right of self-determination then ALBA are the organisation to attach yourself to. Here is their South of Scotland contact: albasouthscotland@gmail.com OR join up here: http://www.albaparty.org
Another wee bit of advice to anyone maybe put off joining due to not being able to commit to a monthly donation can simply donate a one-off donation of your choosing. I was nearly put off by the monthly donation commitment until i found the one-off facility.
Ian Mac says:
30 April, 2021 at 12:39 pm
Sturgeon sounds tired and stale
Couldn’t agree with you more. Alba at least gives us the chance to start again, led by a leader who truly believes in Scottish independence.
DJ @12.36pm.
She’s already shaped it, the Betrayer gave a statement on her first hundred days if reelected as FM, there was no solid mention of moving forward on Scottish independence.
While we are whiling away the time until Thursday could someone please fill me in on what happened in the ‘Balmoral Incident’… (perhaps in the style of a Brazilian soap opera to avoid any potential legal issues).
Did El Prezidente find his favourite chambermaid in bed with Juan the chauffeur, resulting in a domestico and the Federales pitching up?
@Stephen says: 30 April, 2021 at 12:33 pm
Meg Merrilees,
Those days are long gone.
Perhaps the last real toff was McMillan.
And then came Heath, the grammar school boy.
I suppose it could have been worse.
It could have been Powell.
You mean the same Enoch Powell that Michael Foot said was the best PM the Tories never had? If he’d got in, the privatisation of the health service by stealth would have been stopped in its tracks. His book “A New Look At Medicine And Politics: 1975 and after.” ought to have warned people what Maggie was planning long before she got her chance.
Contrary to the myth, he was in favour of greater devolution but only so long as the reason’s for it were genuine (ie. good government) and not in order to feather career politicians nests – hence why he was so anti-Stormont.
The trouble with Powell (along with Benn and Foot) was they were politicians of the pre-career politician era, where you went into politics in order to make the world a better place (worse in Powell’s case as he’d been a career academic, which as Dr Gareth Fitzgerald in Ireland showed can often be fatal). Idealism and politics are oil and water.
I have been an Independence supporter for more than 40 years.
All of that time I have voted for and supported the SNP. I stopped my membership over the NEC woke takeover and the treatment of Joanna Cherry.
In the next week or so, I may witness SNP MSPs vote down an Alba motion to start independence negotiations with the UK government, according to Nicola Sturgeon.
Aftef 40 years the SNP has come to this!
Stoker
I think what resources Alba has are being put into the election campaign. The Alba website appears to still be managed by people from NationBuilder – the company that created the software that created the site.
I had a question about getting multiple emails and the replies are from people with American names and American writing styles. The signatures on the emails are “for and on behalf of link to albaparty.org”
So, that’s a long winded way of saying don’t expect much interaction via the website till after next week.
Mark Boyle
Powell a career academic
/
Yes he wrote the definitive work on Heroditus just after the war and then opined on the Greek New Testament before his death (he had originally learned Greek from his mother reading the New Testament)
He was the orator of his generation.
However this is not the place to delve into his political manouverings.
Suffice to say, he had a well developed self-destruct mechanism.
The excuse that we need to recover from covid before we push for indy is so redundant it angers me. That it comes from someone pretending to stand for independence is as low as it gets. Control of our own economy, our own resources, our own borders, our own policies and our own EVERYTHING FUCKING ELSE are exactly why we need independence and why something like covid just rams home the need and the urgency for the people who live and work in Scotland to be the ones who decide what is best for Scotland. Not Boris Johnson, not Priti Patel, not David Cameron, not Matt Hancock or Chris Grayling or Jacob Rees Fucking Mogg. Not James Dyson or Lord Socialist Republic Darling or Lady Fucking Mone.
Scotland needs its independence. It needs to make its own policies, covid has only accelerated that need. Waiting until any of the above chancers tell us its ok is the most stupid position its possible to take. And not a single one of them will ‘allow’ it under any circumstances.
Covid accelerates the need for independence Nicola you stupid, deceitful, lying, forgetful, nasty, corrupt, spiteful, vindictive piece of steaming traiterous dog poo. The sooner Scotland is rid of you the better.
Rant over.
@ Stuart MacKay on 30 April, 2021 at 1:03 pm
Thanks for that, Stuart, much appreciated!
Over in the Herald a comment comparing AS to Peter Sutcliffe and Ian Brady.
Frazerio. It was a nail on the head rant. (Thumbs up)
Anton
Yes
A disgusting comment by “Craig McNeil” on an article on Nicola saying no to Indeyref2.
The Herald should remove it straight away and ban the poster.
Outrageous.
Ian Brotherhood says:
30 April, 2021 at 11:33 am
Just joined Alba.
Tried on the night of the launch but it was just too busy.
No probs now, took two minutes.
My ‘receipt’ number is 9938. Dunno if that tallies with actual membership.
————–
Ian B
I’ve been trying to get answers on this for a month. Any chance you could get Kirk Torrance on twitter and ask him what happens with these sign ups exactly as I think receipt numbers for any donations/monthly memberships don’t exactly correspond with actual membership numbers ?
I signed up on DAY 1 and since then have had two-three different numbers corresponding to member dues/donations- it can’t be same number as membership. Otherwise our accounts will be worse than SNP’s if certain receipts aren’t segregated.
If you could get an answer from him by DM or whatever u twitter folk use. Would be helpful?
thanks
The 10,000th member to sign up for Alba would be a wonderful photo op to flag up. Foreign media would probably cover it even if the National refused!
Just back in from leafletting – another big chunk of Perth done.
Anyway, at the risk of saying, ‘I told you so’… actually that phrase kind of sums it up.
The reason the Tories, Lib Dems and Labour are keeping their heads down, doing almost no campaigning, is so that the spotlight is on oor Nicla, and Nicla can slag off Indy, and slag off Alba.
Anything and everything to ensure no Supermajority, even if it means scuppering the SNP vote while doing it.
Play the game folks, everything she says, ask yourself – who is her target audience with that statement? Unionist voters, soft No’s, or Indy Voters who have lent the SNP their vote?
It’s aimed at the latter, with the intent of demoralising them so they stay at home and don’t vote for anyone. Sadly its working.
The Max The Yes concept is not getting out wide enough.
And hell mend the SNP ‘Indy’ supporters ( who do understand DeHonte) spreading LIES about both votes SNP. Hell smack it intae ye. You are betraying Scotland with this disinformation to the voters and its WICKED.
And for your information, you are a dead party walking just now, considering all the extremely able people who have left to join Alba and taken their local knowledge, their volunteer time, their financial contributions with them. Make the most of the votes/seats you get this time out, next time out your gubbed.
One – former Indy supporter – though they might not recognise themselves described as such – stated, ‘more flies with honey’ as being Nicla’s policy, for the reason being they’ve spoken to those who previously voted No and now they’re saying nice things about Nicla, and ‘swithering’.
I would question ‘who is the fly and who’s the honey’ in that parable, and I would read the word ‘swithering’ to mean ‘blawin stoor up yir gullible arse’.
One thing’s for certain for me, we are in the last straight now. Alba do well, its on until the next GE. Alba do badly then I think I’ll have to move on.
Thinking a bit more about it.
If there are SNP MP’s intending to come over to Alba after this election.
YOU NEED TO DO THAT NOW.
MAX THE YES message is not being understood in the schemes.
And in the more middle class SNP area’s – they want all the power to be with the SNP and have not twigged that it is Now or Never.
You need to do it now, and with the maximum media impact.
It is all the more important to do it now, to inspire the Yes voters who Nicla is disenfranchising every time she speaks.
Stu,
Time for you to put up a “Wings Party” for the next election.
Alba can go for constituency seats and Wings can go for the List seats.
We have 5 years to set it up.
K
So now there are those in the SNP allying themselves with the very same media who have spent the last 20 years belittling the cause of Indy but it’s you and Alex Salmond that are to blame for their lack of support? How?
All I know is that Alex is being bad mouthed by everyone and anyone with rumours all coming out now that seem to just want him jailed.
I moved back here to help get independence only to find it’s the indy supporters doing the Yoons work for them.
It feels like the Spanish Civil War and we are the Republicans. Doomed by our own infighting.
Robert says:
30 April, 2021 at 11:21 am
Last of my batch of 500 Alba leaflets delivered this morning. I need a cup of tea!
Rply
Well done Robert enjoy your cuppa tea.
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TROLL ALERT – TROLL ALERT
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NEW SOCK PUPPET ACCOUNT
The resident troll, Rock/KcoR/Andy/Gordon/Labour4Indy etc., has a slithered from under its slimed libellous rock AGAIN with a fresh new dishonest ID BUT punting the same old tired messages and abuse again.
10.51am Patrick Jones.
Writing pish and drivel.
Gordon or Patrick or whatever FAKE name you are dishonestly trying to delude new folk to this site with. Wingers old and new, please be advised…
Gordon is Patrick is Andy is Rock is Kcor is Labour4Indy etc.
By all means have a debate or a passionate argument.
But Gordon, those of us you have libelled on this public website who have the legal means and money at our disposal are now working in the real world to recover damages from you personally.
If you are a sad incel (involuntary celibate) with your Mum and sitting in your Y fronts in your bedroom banging away at your laptop and NOT a 77th Troll, then you will be defending yourself in court, or paying for your own personal solicitor to so do.
However, if you are one of the 77th, you can still expect to face justice.
If you think being a member of the 77th means you can libel people on forums such as Wings Over Scotland, think again. We have seen what happens when state actors go beyond the law. It doesn’t always end well for Trolls like you. Look at this sad creep…
link to bbc.co.uk
Good luck Gordon or Patrick. Be seeing you soon enough in the appropriate legal venue.
I can tell you one reason the SNP will be leaking votes – schools!
Since the schools went back a couple of weeks ago parents will have become very disillusioned with the assessment/non-assessment problems their kids are facing AND the hush up of the huge number of schools that are still closed and kids send home due to COVID scares.
COVID is not the fault of the SNP but they will be catching the flak for perceived problems.
Spot on as usual Stuart. Unfortunately the SNP are unable to comprehend binary choices.
Scottie Dog 12.17pm :- if Alba get 5 to 6 seats I’ll be happy, where I am in the North East, I’ve yet to see an Alba flyer, leaflet, window poster, etc, so I take it the party is targeting Central Scotland??
On another note, whilst I don’t bank with RBS as I never get involved in any business with Royal in the title, I would certainly be changing my bank pronto after recent uttering’s.
That Wishart twittering at the top made me smile over my cornflakes this morning. Scribblings of a mental pygmy…
His ‘most loathed’ figure in Scottish politics must be AS. If you translate ‘most loathed’ into ‘fought for and got an indy ref’, then he is correct. He couldn’t possibly have meant loathed by most, as hisoty proves.
It was also amusing to see an utter irrelevance keep using the term ‘utter irrelevance’. He obviously doesn’t do irony, does he?
Neil Mackenzie says:
This is completely wrong: “You simply can’t claim any sort of democratic mandate for a binary choice on less than 50% of the vote.”
Indeed, Neil. In fact, I’d bet there’s more chance of a referendum getting the OK if there doesn’t seem to be much of a call for it than if there were. The tactic mught be to pretend we’re not interested, let them grant an indy ref and pile in with a sneak Yes majority?
Probably a fond hope, but with the current SNP setup, what else is there?
Mark Boyle says:
The trouble with Powell (along with Benn and Foot) was they were politicians of the pre-career politician era –.
If you mean that they didn’t necessarily lie whenever their lips moved, I’d have to agree.
Interestingly, Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech, doggedly misinterpreted by the MSM, might have foretold nothing more than the mass stabbings currently taking place in the oh-so diverse London, which have worsened under the auspices of its diversity-fuelled Mayor Khan.
Robert Graham says:
…the inner circle of the SNP half of whom should be facing jail time for their misuse of and misappropriation of freely given funds for a indyref2 that still haven’t been accounted for
Not forgetting a concerted (and taxpayer-funded) conspiracy to imprison a perceived political opponent. I doubt even Putin would dare to be so patent.
If you thought the utter misuse of the police and prosecution against political opponents was bad then just think what it will be like if Sturgeon was re-elected.
A lock down on marches, the censorship of free speech and comment, the arrest and harassment of political opponents, the blacklisting of jobs, and the sleaze of a party now firmly rooted to the right wing corporate interests – will all become more prevalent.
Lockdown created a paradigm shift in how the police could lock down area, issue huge penalty fines, selectively pick out certain folks for alleged infringement of illegal and i use the word illegal movement restrictions, and all wrapped up with the police being able to force entry into private homes on the flimsiest of allegations, often malicious, of non family members being in one’s house.
These shifts in police behaviour and autocratic order issue have been carefully crafted to condition people to how they can expect to be treated. A deliberate attempt to change the culture of=policing by consent to that of step out of line and you know what you can expect.
Population control, its insidious, and its actively being advanced under the cover of the pandemic that Sturgeon says she is still fighting.
In South Africa they used to call it ‘ getting the white man’s stick ‘ and you don’t need to think to hard about that the next time AOUB or Yes or anybody else wants to march. The jailing of Manny Singh for not changing the pre arranged March time to suit the SNP Glasgow councillors who were hostile, is evidence of that.
And meanwhile off the coast of Jersey a face to face military stand off beckons.
With Boris Johnson having sent two Royal Navy gun boats to patrol the waters and enforce British sovereignty on fishing off the coast of France, the French have responded by dispatching a warship expected to arrive imminently.
Will be most interesting to see then what action Belligerent Britain will take against French fishermen with a French warship in place to protect them.
And so will Boris in an act of Belligerent Britannia fire the first shots or will he instruct the RN to skulk away. This truly is the stuff that conflicts arise from, and we should make no mistake Britain is at war with Europe.
But you know what, Europe won’t be any Falkland Isles. Quite the reverse, and whilst during the Falklands war, the grandson of Winston Churchill stood up in the Commons to declare that the off shore nuclear armed submarine should ‘ nuke Buenos Aries ‘ I doubt Johnson would be bold enough to declare that to a country better armed than Britain.
But hey, at times of political difficulty, as Thatcher had back in the day, a little war can be a political distraction………assuming that one wins.