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Wings Over Scotland


While you wait

Posted on May 26, 2019 by

…for the EU election results, a reminder of days gone by.

Inexplicably, the Scottish Tory manifesto for the 2014 Euro election forgot to include the paragraph saying “Of course, if you vote No this September, then England votes to leave the EU in the most catastrophic manner possible, Scotland will be dragged out too no matter how it voted, and we’ll just tell you to shut up if you complain about it”.

It was probably meant to go in that space at the end, but you know how it is, mistakes happen. No harm done, eh?

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  1. 26 05 19 14:56

    While you wait | speymouth

163 to “While you wait”

  1. Mcdenster says:

    Lower than a vipers gonads.

    Reply
  2. Ryan M says:

    Just another example of Ruth’s never ending backtracking. Do you think her feet point backward she does that much walking backwards?

    Reply
  3. yesindyref2 says:

    Aaaargh I right-clicked on the whole thing and got confronted (or affronted) by a picture of Davidson and Cameron!

    Reply
  4. “I love it when a plan comes together”

    Reply
  5. I love the front page:
    ‘A stronger economy at home
    Renewed respect abroad
    Real change in Europe’
    My sides!

    Reply
  6. Calum McKay says:

    “the Scottish conservative and unionist party’ reserves the right not to be consulted by its overlords
    In London and subsequently to change its mind on anything without consultation with the Scottish People!

    Johnson will make this apparent unlike no tory pm before, labour voters in Scotland do you want to live in a right wing tory uk aligned to US, or a left side of centre Scotland in the EU?

    Reply
  7. yesindyref2 says:

    Mmm, it went as well as this bit: “DAVID CAMERON MP
    Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party

    Now working on the Mark 3 version as the current Beta one went Gamma.

    Reply
  8. Artyhetty says:

    Re; Calum McKay@2.06

    That’s the crux of the matter for Scotland. We are up against a monster, and it’s about to grow a whole lot bigger, these self appointed self-servatives will have Scotland for breakfast, chewed into tiny pieces, and spat out.

    It’s a bumpy ride ahead, let’s hope we can get behind the wheel rather than sit in the back seat, at the mercy of the jumped up, right wing establishment, both sides of the pond, who hate Scotland, but who are eyeing up Scotland’s land, waters, various industries, our NHS and abundant resources, and much more, all for the taking.

    Reply
  9. Giving Goose says:

    Conundrum –
    How do you reset expectations of English voters, to the UK’s real position in the world, in terms of economic & political strength, when those voters will not listen?
    Double conundrum – when those same English voter’s drag Scotland down because their world view cannot be properly reset, what is the excuse?

    Reply
  10. Sharny Dubs says:

    McDenster!
    Vipers gonads?
    Naw we are talking whale shit here.

    Reply
  11. bookie from hell says:

    midnight tommy robinson could be elected to eu

    Reply
  12. bookie from hell says:

    if snp don’t reach 40% ruth along with msm will call it cataclysmic

    Reply
  13. starlaw says:

    The fishing boat shown is registered in Brixam England.

    Reply
  14. Ottomanboi says:

    We’re all equal, but some are more equal than others. Mines considerably bigger than yours….

    Reply
  15. Welsh Sion says:

    bookie from hell @ 2.27pm

    That’s not including such charmers as Ann Widdecombe, Carl Benjamin, and of course the big Farago himself. (And that’s only on this side of the water, too.)

    Reply
  16. Dr Jim says:

    Rule 1:
    We are your rulers by divine right and while we make every effort to remember Scotland has people living in it those people by and large do not vote for us so it may not always be the case that consideration to your region of our precious UK is thereby given over favour of the country of England who do vote for us

    All terms and conditions apply in England’s favour in the case of any dispute
    In the case of such disputes reference to rule one is applicable without recourse to arbitration
    These rules cannot prejudice the governments right to amend them at any time according to changing circumstances and market forces

    The Conservative and Unionist Party

    Always working around you for ourselves

    Reply
  17. Jock McDonnell says:

    Lets not get sidetracked by making it all about Boris. Its about so much more than that.

    Reply
  18. bookie from hell says:

    Apart from one small part of Scotland all the results are expected between 10pm on Sunday 26 May and about 2.30am on the Bank Holiday Monday.

    Reply
  19. Bob Mack says:

    “Terms and conditions apply”.

    I.e. We hide what we don’t want you to know.

    Reply
  20. Abulhaq says:

    A Scottish voice at the top table, Mundell? Such heft!
    This would in other circs. be funny except that the joke is on the Scottish electorate.
    However, if even the hypothesis of Scottish independence scares Unionists, the joke does lose its punch line.

    Reply
  21. CameronB Brodie says:

    Tories are despicable. British nationalism is the practice of Tory ethos. British nationalism is despicable. Simples.

    Reply
  22. Frank Gillougley says:

    They definitely had a more seriously co-ordinated graphic design back then and that’s got to count for something, surely? Eh?

    Just like a cow pat. All hard and shiny on the outside, but inside… oh, don’t titter, fill in the rest yersels.

    Reply
  23. Capella says:

    Scotland hasn’t voted Tory sine the 1950s. I hope the luminaries in Scottish Better-Together Labour are enjoying this endless festival of Torydom. Because, thanks to them, it’s going to go on for decades. Unless the SNP beam us up.

    Reply
  24. Muscleguy says:

    It is more about when or if the SNP will ask the Court of Session for a ruling on whether the original Section 30 is still valid.

    Mind you if they do that I bet No10 will do something to withdraw or cancel it, except they know that doing that would drive many Scots into the Yes camp.

    So, essentially both the SNP and No10 are in a Mexican standoff over it.

    That is the only reason why the court case is not already going on.

    Reply
  25. Petra says:

    A fifteen paged 2014 Tory EU manifesto. What a farce. Well worth a read if you want a good laugh. Maybe one of our great Scottish journalists should take a look at it and put a few pertinent questions to people like Ms Davidson?

    link to scottishconservatives.com

    Reply
  26. Robert Peffers says:

    @Ryan M says: 26 May, 2019 at 1:56 pm:

    ” … Just another example of Ruth’s never ending backtracking. Do you think her feet point backward she does that much walking backwards?”

    Did you mean like this, Ryan?

    link to youtube.com

    Reply
  27. robertknight says:

    yesindyref2 @1:59

    I did the same. But I’ve decided to print a copy. I’ve thought of a use I can put it to when I take the dog out later…

    Reply
  28. Mac says:

    The Rise of Scotland – It’s Time.

    As a Nation, fettered and restricted by limited devolved powers, Scotland does not bad. We manage reasonably well, despite Westminster interference in our economy, finances, trade, taxes, policies and other fiscal strategies.

    Considering the lack of control over our own finances, and the ongoing exodus of talent, and economic migration, we still, as my Grandmother was apt to say, ‘make ends meet.’ This is not to ignore or diminish the problems that Scotland has, particularly around ‘standards of living’ and ‘child poverty’. Nor is it to suggest that Scotland should be satisfied. We will come on to this.

    We are a country rich in beauty, history, open space and natural resources. The Scottish culture, personality and humour are an international brand, backed up by an enormous diaspora of people who are proud of their Scottish heritage. Scotland is a country with a beating heart, and a kind soul. The Scottish brand is better than the UK. And better 100% of a vibrant respected Scottish brand, than 10% of the Great Britain brand focused on London and sullied by clumsy diplomatic policy and illegal foreign wars. In the past, Chinese media described Great Britain as a has-been country.

    The idea of Brand for a country applies particularly well to tourism and produce. It is affected by the personality and values of its people. It connects well to what a country looks forward to in the future. For these reasons, Scotland has a particularly valuable brand, in its produce, people and potential.

    Scottish whisky, water, beef, scenery, wilderness, islands, glens, tartan, tweed, bagpipes, poets, music, heather, thistle, salmon, kippers and New Year. Just some of the Scottish brand that we need Independence to grow. And some of the negative reputation ascribed to Scotland as part of the Union, which we need independence to improve or shrug off – Drugs, alcoholism, violence, obesity, poverty, subsidy junkies. These are not who we are. These are labels generated by others as part of the overall devaluation of Scotland’s worth. The myth of second-class subsidy junkies.

    Less brutally, some in England see Scotland as a big rugged, natural, national park, fit only for visits, or if you are wealthy enough, a cottage. But equally damagingly they don’t consider that Scotland is a Nation that should be allowed to manage their own affairs, by and for the benefit of the people who live there.

    Then there are those in English Politics who ignore the UK deficit, yet call Scotland’s deficit, a subsidy. And it’s no ‘invention of Scottish Nationalism’ that Scotland is indeed the poor neighbour in this unequal UK community.

    Scotland played a disproportionately positive and influential part in the Enlightenment and also have a disproportionate number of significant historical inventions given our size. Sure, it’s in the past, and there is no need to list them all here. Suffice to say that there is something in the Scottish culture and psyche that generates a unique level of ingenuity and creativity. We are in danger of losing this unique part of who we are as a culture, but there is every reason it should recover in a wholly Independent Nation.

    Scotland has enormous potential, the determination and the flexibility to rise again. Scotland doesn’t want to be ‘Great Scotland’, or ‘Powerful Scotland’, we want to be ‘Progressive Scotland’ and again contribute something to the world. Scotland wants the opportunity to rise again. It was Voltaire who wrote, ‘We look to Scotland for all of our ideas of civilisation.’

    While Scotland struggles to fulfil her potential inside this Union, the UK as a whole, is a social, economic and political disaster. Its political and economic leadership has been deficient for 40 years or more and looks, with the Brexit time-bomb and Faragism on the horizon, likely to worsen. It’s hard to imagine that Boris could possibly be allowed to become PM, yet the Tories don’t have much else. And they need a maverick who is willing and able to damn the consequences of a ‘No Deal’.

    It is worth looking at the results of 40 years of Westminster leadership. It’s easiest to see when you compare the UK with its natural peers, the countries of Northern Europe: in general, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland who are all richer than the UK, and when you go there it feels like it.

    Unlike these countries, the UK has not earned its living in the world for the last 40 odd years, running a permanent balance of payments deficit of about 2-3% of GDP, and this despite North Sea oil, despite massive privatisation, despite repeated devaluations of sterling, and despite it being easier to sack staff here than in Northern Europe.?

    The UK is the least industrialised, has the lowest GDP per capita, and has the lowest productivity of all the nations of Northern Europe, with exceptions, in some respects, of France and Finland. Yet, despite the successful economic example of its neighbours, the UK national debate about economic success is couched almost purely in terms of less regulation – less EU interference – and hardly ever in terms of infrastructure investment, including apprenticeships and engineering degrees, and reliable long terms credit for business (as opposed to freedom for banks to chase short term profit and fleecing retail consumers).

    Germany, for example, attributes its success to investment, including infrastructure and training, and has recently reduced its university fees. Note that against German and other currencies the pound has devalued by factor of about 4 in the last 40 years.?The UK already has the most flexible workforce in Northern Europe and the least successful economy. The excuse? It was the EU.

    The UK is the most unequal society in Northern Europe with the lowest mobility between income groups from one generation to the next: Google Gini Index, OECD social mobility rates, percentage of women in positions of power, executive pay as a percent of lowest paid, percentage of youth in training, cost of tertiary education. Note there is no country in the world that has both high inequality and high social mobility between groups that the UK has. (So, the EU gets the blame again.)

    This not only makes the UK a less pleasant place to live, it also means that it is making worse use of its main asset, its people. This in turn makes it less able to compete economically and so more reliant, like the USA, on immigrants. This in turn increases social divisions: German research shows, unsurprisingly, the demand for private schooling increases with the percentage of immigrants.?The UK has arguably some of the worse social problems than its peers: Google life expectancy, obesity rates, cocaine usage, teenage pregnancy rates, % of the population in prison. (Must be the fault of the EU?)

    It is worth asking why the leadership of the UK is so poor? Is it really that it has been unlucky for a whole generation or more in the people who lead and all it has to do is keep changing them until a good lot turns up? Really? It seems more probable that the problem is structural. (Must be the fault of the EU) Of course, one wonders if Farage played a part in the EU being less beneficial for the UK than it could have been. Every Farage intervention in the EU over the past decades must have had some negative impact.

    Consider the predominance of the South East of England. The combination of Westminster’s centralised control of taxes and spending, and the phenomenal growth of a poorly regulated financial centre. This has led to a monopoly of power and influence in London and the surrounds.

    Monopolies tend inevitably to incompetence and corruption (does anyone still doubt that Westminster is corrupt?).?The centralisation of power started with Mrs Thatcher and continued under Blair. She wanted to make a country where worthies like her father could prosper but they have made a playground for crooks like her son. (Probably the EU’s fault)

    The FPTP system of voting coupled with a lack of local authority power is a democratic deficit, steadily eroding civic virtues and people’s belief. Without some kind of proportional representation (the norm in Europe) if you hold a minority opinion your view is not represented.

    But the modern world is increasingly made up of groups of minority opinions, often unrepresented and resentful. Fewer and fewer UK citizens are members of major political parties Add to this the low levels of social mobility, i.e. entrenched privilege, and the fact the South East has not experienced any recessions, and it means that the metropolitan chattering and political classes are insulated from the effects of austerity or other social policies. They are free to indulge not just in the ideologies of left and right, but to take up without consequence almost any position on any topic. In other words, politicians are all out of touch.

    Good leadership is about constancy of purpose but in the UK everything is up for grabs, everything is about careerist politicians or business leaders: hence there can be no consensus on long term policy, nothing for example like the agreement between German unions, Business and Berlin on apprenticeships. Any positive vision of the UK is usually a politician’s career construct.

    So, decades ago, the UK was the ‘Sick Man’ of Europe. Now the UK is the ‘Sick Man’ in the EU, openly blaming the EU for their illnesses. Although the same EU maladies didn’t infect the Germans or the Dutch for example.

    The UK has also a historical legacy, the idea of Britain being Great (powerful) on the world stage, which not only tempts – Blair and Iraq illegality, but deludes – May, Boris et al, inappropriately lecturing the worlds leadership while overestimating their own ability and competency.

    But the above simply distracts from the business in hand: in the end, there is no power, and little social welfare, without economic success.

    Thatcher gets much credit from the right, for ‘improving the UK’. But did she? Her methodologies were to kill the Unions and Workers rights. And meanwhile running down the UK’s financial assets. (Oil, Nationalised Industries, Coal and Steel, and of course people) There was something in Thatcher’s psyche that was inherently against the poor, against the blue-collar workers, against nationalised interests, and anyone who stood in the way of pure capitalist ambition. This is where the legend, ‘Thatcher hated Scotland’ came from.

    If we could roll the clock back and replace Thatcher’s destructive methodologies (kill or cure) with the kind of enlightened thinking on the Workforce that abounds in the more successful and progressive organisations (or countries) of today, we would not have the debate that the whole of the UK is having now. Tory and Labour polarised across South and North. Brexit versus Remainer. An archaic, elitist and self-serving Westminster was unable and careerist politicians unwilling to do anything about it. The UK class structure cannot accommodate real pluralism or true (fair?) democracy. It’s all been ‘smoke and mirrors’

    But sadly, and surprisingly, Thatcher did not turn the average resident of Scotland towards Independence, it has taken what many people see as ‘Labour Betrayal’ to start to turn the tide of generations of labour voters (Old father / son traditions die hard in Scotland). It wasn’t quite enough in 2014. People dislike change, especially when blitzed and carpet-bombed by Westminster Propaganda.

    The last three years Scotland has been remarkably patient about Brexit. There should be much more anger that Westminster hijacked our democratic right to remain in the EU. Indeed, Scotland should be furious over the Labour and Tory betrayals over the past thirty years. The imaginary Scottish Conservatives and the Pretend Scottish Labour.

    Take the long list of incompetent Leaders and pretenders to the throne, who did nothing for Scotland, and should frighten the life out of people. (Blair, Milliband, Brown, Cameron, Corbyn, Gove, May and many other who have passed.) Now Farage, Boris and the rest of the would-be PM’s are portents for the future of the UK and our children. Sorry, did I put Corbyn in the past? But as far as Scotland is concerned, Labour is passed as long as it works with the Tories and does nothing for Scotland.

    Scotland is a Labour colony no more. Scottish poverty and austerity were the catch 22 that kept Labour in power in the North. (And we got Lamont, Grey, Dugdale, Murphy, Ballie and Sarwar to name a few doughnuts) Luckily they were exposed between 2012 and today)

    For Scottish Tories, we get the ‘No Surrender’, one trick pony, with its ‘Independence is bad’ battle cry on some kind of 8 track repeat. They are like the Charge of the Light Brigade, poor communication, wrong target, took direct orders from above regardless of the consequences, contributed little to the battle … But probably made as much noise.

    But the real Conservatives have already done enough damage with austerity programmes. They charged the innocents. They ran down people like animals. They killed, hurt and starved people and this cannot be changed. This is written in the history of the last decade. Our civilised country lost its humanity. May cried and Scotland cheered. She “loved her country” Sure she did. Spoken like a true English Nationalist.

    But the only way is to move forward and change. People need to leave the misdeeds behind, never forgive or forget, but start to do something that leaves behind a legacy to be proud of (Can you imagine explaining to your Grandchildren the politics of the last 40 years? It reads like a sick horror story)

    The residents of Scotland have the opportunity to be what they want to be. With Independence we can recover more quickly from the Westminster economic, ‘criminal neglect and waste’ of the last 40 years.

    Pluralism is healthy. And if the increasingly bitter Westminster Brexit disaster doesn’t damage and divide her citizens, Scotland has a chance for real change and positive improvement based on decent economic principles and competent Government. In other words, a new start, a clean slate. Scotland owes it to Scotland to avoid the Brexit contagion. Scotland voted to stay in the EU two reasons. One, the EU works for Scotland generally. Two, we had prior experience of ‘Fear Campaigns’ and were less fooled than the South by the Leave Propaganda.

    Fear is a form of control. It is meant to steer the recipient away from the intelligent debate of the alternatives. It is designed to worry and confuse the electorate. It is designed to ensure that the undecideds ‘play safe’ with their voting choice. It is intended to ensure that the Establishment and the elite get the ‘democratic’ result that they want.

    Fishermen and their communities in Scotland have long memories, since their betrayal by Heath in the 70’s. But supporting Brexit doesn’t solve their problem. Fishing rights will always be an expendable currency in any Westminster negotiation. Tories in the South will not support fishing communities in Scotland as long as they can trade for some advantage for themselves. The South care nothing for the North.

    Residents of Scotland deserve much better from their so-called Government (Westminster) and the twisted rhetoric of fear from the Tories, Better Together, Farage and the Brexiters. The UK is broken. Westminster is broken. Politics are broken. Scotland does not have to be subsumed by populist politics imported from the US.

    Have you ever stopped to wonder why Labour and Conservatives in Scotland, are dead against independence? Why do they hate the very idea, when it’s clear that independence has many advantages? They are so terrified of Independence that they will not admit it has one single advantage, out of hundreds. Don’t you think that is strange?

    There is a very simple reason for this. They are both Political Parties run from London, and their politics will always be in the interest of the South, and never Scotland. There is a genuine financial case for a United Kingdom in London and in the heads of the ‘defenders of the status quo’. The epitome of this was the McCrone Report. These major political parties were complicit in the illegal suppression of this information.

    Brexit has taken us closer to the edge. Scotland needs to take action now to avoid decades of hegemony, deprivation, stagnation and obscurity. It’s time for Scotland to return and say hello to the world.
    If Scottish Independence does not happen this time, then the monopoly of power by Westminster and the South East, strengthened by Brexit, will ensure that the UK’s slow-motion train wreck will continue to right-wing mayhem.

    On a positive note for the South. Scottish independence may, just may, trigger a re-think in England. English Independence is a possibility. Westminster needs to be closed. It’s not the Mother of Democracy, today it’s the Bitch of F**k-ups. It’s no longer fit for purpose.

    Scotland has a massive potential to explore and exploit. It is a country that has suffered from arrested development as a result of the Union. From the plateau of arrested development great things can and will evolve.
    Support Independence as the only legitimate legacy to allow the young people of Scotland, fairness, opportunity and social justice. Support Independence because Scottish government of the people, by the people, for the people… is the only way to a brilliant future.

    The UK, an equal partner in the EU, blaming the EU for all it’s forty years of poor performance. Scotland an unequal partner in the British U

    For residents of Scotland, there should be no case for the Union or Brexit, except wooden boxes, where they should be laid to rest together and buried without memorial. Now is the time.

    Reply
  29. Macart says:

    They… they fibbed. 😮

    They fib on a daily basis and call the results of any win they achieve democracy. ‘Democracy is what they say it is’ (to misquote a famous movie). Except it’s not and this isn’t a movie. When you use democracy against itself and attempt to justify your wins based on fibbery with either evasion, yet more fibbery, or even the tired old trope of ‘that’s politics’?

    You’re storing up a bad day coming. (people tend to take being abused poorly)

    I’d say there’s only one route of travel for the chair of PM and politics UK at this point. And it’s not one which draws gasps of admiration from the political world in general. Laughing stock. Pariah. You pays your money kinda thing (shrugs).

    Remember when Trump addressed the UN and the assembly laughed at him? That. Only whilst the world laughs or shakes its head wonderingly at the idiocy that is politics on these islands, I guarantee you that the people living here won’t be laughing.

    Y’know it’s quite the irony really.

    Watching the news feeds this morning and perusing the pithy pitches of the prospective candidates in the aftermath of May’s exit. Quite the….ummm… sight.

    Scotland’s parliament has been compared to a parish council,(‘pretendy’ to some). Our country described (by the hard of thinking) as a region and our politics derided generally by those and such as those (can’t really call them the ‘great and the good’ for obvious reasons).

    So, yeah… The contenders, the political gyrations of their dishonourable opposition and the state of Westminster politics. (whistles nonchalantly)

    I’d hope that by this point people are beginning to see just what that no vote meant in 2014. What it was they turned their back on and gave into the care of that circus of venal clowns on the Thames.

    Just sayin’ like. But mibbies some folk would like to revisit that choice about now?

    Worth a thought.

    Reply
  30. Calum McKay says:

    Mac – excellent piece!

    When comparing and contrasting uk and Scotland with other countries in Northern Europe, always worthwhile looking at the Irish!

    Higher overall exports than Scotland, despite having a smaller population and no oil.

    Higher GDP than the uk.

    Higher standards of education.

    Ability to network effectively internationally and push brand Ireland!

    All this, from a being the butt of uk jokes, who is laughing now.

    Would this have have happened under uk rule? No!

    Reply
  31. schrodingers cat says:

    what time do they announce the scottish results?

    Reply
  32. Pete Barton says:

    Braw post, Mac!

    Reply
  33. Proud Cybernat says:

    What Mac said.

    Reply
  34. Marcia says:

    schrodingers cat

    In 2014 all the councils had declared by 11.30 pm. Western Isles tomorrow.

    Reply
  35. Col says:

    Yip, it’s clear as day that the left wing agenda of Labour will be all but trashed with brexit. There will be no NHS as we know it when the US trade deal goes through. Labour no voters if they want any chance of delivering their policies in a future Scotland will have to vote yes to independence.

    Reply
  36. Robert Peffers says:

    @schrodingers cat says:26 May, 2019 at 5:49 pm:

    ” … what time do they announce the scottish results?”

    I don’t know but there is an EU Election count special on Broadcasting Scotland at 07:00pm

    link to youtube.com

    It has a reminder thingy if you go to the link now.

    Reply
  37. doug_bryce says:

    That aged well…

    Ruth Davidson’s current leaflet is chasing NE fishing votes : by arguing brexit means exiting common fishing policy.

    Meanwhile David Mundell campaigning against a people vote : in case it sets precedent for IndyRef2,0

    Reply
  38. Nana says:

    This week, we are bringing you your Full Scottish a bit later to coincide with the EU Elections in a special Scotland Counts programme.

    Lewis Cedar will be in the studio with guests and we hope to be bringing you reports from the Highlands count in Dingwall with Victoria Johnson and from the count in Ayr with Corri Wilson.

    As polling has been taking place all across Europe, we will have reports and discussions about what is happening in the rest of Europe with Pilar Fernandez live from Galicia.

    We will continue until all the Scottish results are in across Scotland, except for the Western Isles which will be counted tomorrow morning, but we hope by the end of this evening to give you a picture of what the results in Scotland will be.
    link to youtube.com

    Declaration times for the #EuropeanElections2019

    see here
    link to twitter.com

    Reply
  39. Nana says:

    Sorry RP, I didn’t see your link at 6.14pm

    Reply
  40. Tom says:

    @Mcdenster says:
    26 May, 2019 at 1:53 pm

    Lower than a vipers gonads.

    Could limbo dance under a vipers gonads with a top hat on.

    Reply
  41. yesindyref2 says:

    Imagine this. An alien lands secretly on the planet and tunes into the TV. First he gets Fools and Horses, then Yes Minister. Then HIGNFY, Britain’s Got Talent, and another channel where Boris Johnson and other contenders are being shown in brief bits, along with a replay of May’s bubbling and squeaking.

    Which one does the alien think is the Reality show, and which one does it award the Alien Oscars to?

    Reply
  42. Nana says:

    You can also follow this account for results as they come in

    link to twitter.com

    There is also a live blog but they are having some tech difficulties right now. You can access it from the twitter link above.

    Reply
  43. Marcia says:

    Highland Council turnout is 43.2% up from 36.3% in 2014.

    Reply
  44. Cubby says:

    Mac@5.18pm

    Get yourself a book deal.

    Reply
  45. Bobp says:

    Mac 5.18pm fantastic post,well said.

    Reply
  46. Hamish100 says:

    BBC Radio 2 Claudia Winkelman – good 20 mins on “our girls” could bring it “home” . What I wondered are they talking about. Us, We, Us, the lionesses!

    Then it dropped – cmon Engerlund cmon win it for us says the commentator for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Women’s World Cup. First game England play a team called Scotland.

    Come on Scotland – getitinterum!

    Reply
  47. Robert Peffers says:

    @Nana says:26 May, 2019 at 6:19 pm:

    ” … Sorry RP, I didn’t see your link at 6.14pm”

    o.k. Nana, your link had more information than I had. It said 07:00pm but then later they said they were going to start late tonight.

    Reply
  48. Dave McEwan Hill says:

    Turnout in the Holy Loch area of Cowal over 50% at all stations. Significant increase on last EU vote.

    Reply
  49. Robert Peffers says:

    O/T: I came across this on YouTube – it is a clip from 5 days ago of Nicola being interviewed. I nearly wet myself at the English interviewers bad manners, total ignorance and obvious desperately anti-Scottish bias. It looked like Nicola thought them hilarious too.

    It was so bad I couldn’t do other than laugh:-

    link to youtube.com

    Reply
  50. Cactus says:

    While we wait…

    Aye ah need two new tyres put on mah beastie like

    Funky Sunday 🙂

    Reply
  51. Republicofscotland says:

    Mac 5.18pm, excellent post sir keep em coming

    Reply
  52. Terry callachan says:

    Ten percent of the voters in Scotland are English people living in Scotland and ninety percent of them are against Scottish independence , they will vote tactically to support England’s Westminster reign over Scotland.
    I expect a high turnout in Fife Orkney Shetland borders Edinburgh all the areas where there are large numbers of English people.
    Scottish people have already made their feelings known they voted remain in the brexit referendum and don’t see these EU elections as being as important as English people across the UK see them.

    English people living in Scotland will turn out in high numbers to vote in these EU elections because every vote to them is a vote to retain England’s control of Scotland so expect the Lib Dems to do well in these EU elections in Scotland.

    Reply
  53. Nana says:

    James Kelly scotgoespop says

    link to scotgoespop.blogspot.com

    link to rte.ie

    Reply
  54. doug_bryce says:

    @Robert Peffers
    Wow. That video is incredible.
    15 mins of comedy 🙂
    Piers Morgan is clueless, unprepared and patronising.

    Reply
  55. Ken500 says:

    6% of people in Scotland are from elsewhere in Britain. 2/3% are voters.

    Reply
  56. SOG says:

    That leaflet has a photo of an oil platform. The photo having been reversed, the field name on the side of it is obscured. It looks to me like ‘Saltire’.

    Reply
  57. Welsh Sion says:

    Robert Peffers @ 8.32 pm

    That would be the Piers “arrogant tw*t” Morgan who is one of Donald Trump’s “good friends” and was sacked as Editor of the Daily Mirror after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake.

    According to one report Mr Morgan refused the demand to apologise, was sacked and immediately escorted from the building.

    link to radiotimes.com

    Reply
  58. mogabee says:

    Well, reading that manifesto was quite the challenge!

    A work of true fiction, a contender for some prize surely.

    Particularly liked the part dealing with broadband…

    Reply
  59. Welsh Sion says:

    SOG @ 9.11 pm.

    You’re right. It is SALTIRE A on that oli rig.

    link to onepetro.org

    Reply
  60. Welsh Sion says:

    oil*

    Reply
  61. Welsh Sion says:

    SOG @ 9.11 pm.

    You’re right. It is SALTIRE A on that oil rig.

    link to onepetro.org

    Reply
  62. Brian Doonthetoon says:

    Hi Robert Peffers at 8:23 pm.

    You typed,
    “O/T: I came across this on YouTube – it is a clip from 5 days ago of Nicola being interviewed. I nearly wet myself at the English interviewers bad manners, total ignorance and obvious desperately anti-Scottish bias. It looked like Nicola thought them hilarious too.”

    I watched a video of that interview later on that morning, that somebody had done a video of, as they watched it on their TV. I think I came across it on Facebook. I think I may have it downloaded and saved it at work. I’ll have a look tomorrow.

    Onnyhoo, that “official” Good Morning Britain video on Youtube, that you linked to, cuts off too soon and does not show what Piers Morgan said when the interview was concluded.

    He congratulated Nicola as being a straight talker and the only party leader who had accepted their invitation to be interviewed, then threw the gauntlet down to Teresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to be as open.

    If I have it on my work Mac, I’ll link to here tomorrow.

    Reply
  63. McDuff says:

    Ken 500
    I believe the English pop is nearly 10% and you only have to travel around the country to see that they are here in significant numbers and growing. And their vote in`14 had a significant impact on the result.

    Reply
  64. Bobp says:

    Brian doonthetoon. Yes I posted that on the morning of the interview with Morgan. His words were she had more bottle than may or Corbyn. Obviously some in here thought I was mibbees trolling.

    Reply
  65. Bobp says:

    You be careful Mcduff or you’ll have the usual suspects vilifying you as a racist bigot.

    Reply
  66. twathater says:

    RP @8.23pm Robert I’m glad you nearly wet yourself at that interview with Piers morgan and Susanna Reid , I personally was incandescent with anger , this ARROGANT AGGRESSIVE TAG team were deliberately out to demean and denigrate ANYTHING NS had to say , they weren’t interested in any of her reasoned explanations or discussion of her views , this constant raising of 36% of SNP voters were against remaining in the EU can easily be demolished by saying , well that means 68% of SNP voters wanted to remain in the EU so does that mean that we have to do what the minority want , yet the wastemonster government tell us repeatedly and continuously that brexshits 51% to 49% is the will of the people and must be enacted irrespective of people’s change of mind

    Also I don’t think NS should think that her treatment by these people should be considered to be hilarious , NS should be OUTRAGED at their conduct and should insist that she not be continuously interrupted and should insist on being allowed to answer their accusations

    NS is a seasoned politician who should be extremely adept at answering and dealing with awkward biased interviewers but this was a cringeworthy and amateurish presentation of our FM , their aggression and insulting behaviour should have been met with positivity and a determination to DEMAND respect instead of awkward smiles and grins
    I cannot stand aggressive bullying people but you will never gain the respect of these imbeciles by being meek and mild , this is why tRuthless thinks she has the upper hand at FMQ’s

    Reply
  67. Heart of Galloway says:

    Glen Campbell says turnout up by 6% on last EU vote. I’ll stick with my predication last month of SNP 3, Green 1, Brexit/Tory 1 Lib dem 1, Labour 0.

    Reply
  68. Heart of Galloway says:

    In 2014 the UKOKists won 4-2. If the indy side can reverse that result tonight, mark that down as a major achievement and a declaration of intent that Scotland will stay in Europe.

    Reply
  69. Col says:

    BBC say Scottish vote up by 9 points on 2014, caveat … it is the BBC.

    Reply
  70. Bobp says:

    Twathater10.06pm my thoughts exactly. My wife and I watched the interview, and I’m shouting at the screen .ffs will you tell that ignorant pr**k Morgan and his sidekick, ” if you’ll stop interrupting me and let me speak’. F*****g grrrr.

    Reply
  71. Heart of Galloway says:

    SNP 45% West Dunbartonshire, 41 East Renfrewshire and East Ayrshire, 28 Borders. Brexit Party averaging 16% in those seats.
    Early days but it looks as if the SNP is a stick on for three seats and Brexit for 1.

    Reply
  72. call me dave says:

    Radio 5 live gives some good news for SNP with 3 vote totals in Scotland in. SNP topping poll in all, Brexit Party well down but 2nd in two and Labour 2nd in one.

    SNP seem to be drawing votes from across board says BBC.

    Sorry was catching bits & pieces of it faintly from a distance.
    🙁

    Renfrewshire mentioned?

    Reply
  73. call me dave says:

    @Heart of Galloway

    You were paying attention more than me. 🙂

    Reply
  74. Brian Doonthetoon says:

    Hi Bobp (and Robert Peffers).

    After I had posted my previous comment, I remembered that I had stuck the video on a Flash Drive that goes back and forward between work and home, so I could stick it on my boss’s wintelbox, for him to watch. So I checked my troozer pocket – and found it!

    I hope you don’t mind, Bobp but I have uploaded it to Youtube, to facilitate linking to it here. As you’ll know, it includes the preamble before the interview but also includes the stuff in the last minute or so, that was not included in the official video.

    link to youtube.com

    But, I would remind you of this:
    Check out the last comment, in red, at lower right, from Piers Morgan, which I took the liberty of adding to Rev Stu’s original poster. (That’s me for the hammers…)

    link to i.imgur.com

    Reply
  75. Heart of Galloway says:

    Latest exit poll shows SNP 39 Green 7, Brexit 16, Tories 12, Labour 11 and Lib Dems 12.

    On those figures, if correct, the Lib Dems will beat the Greens to the last and sixth seat. We’ll see.
    By comparison, Brexit Party is polling twice as highly in England.

    Reply
  76. Bobp says:

    Brian doonthetoon.even my English wife couldn’t believe the vitriolic way Morgan and Reid continually interrupted the FM. I think she couldn’t believe it herself.

    Reply
  77. Brian Doonthetoon says:

    Hi Bobp.

    I’ve shared the video widely on Facebook.

    If you want to link to it anywhere, copy and paste this link:

    link to wingsoverscotland.com

    (Could bring more visitors to WOS…)

    Reply
  78. call me dave says:

    Glen chats to Lesley Lairdon Scottish tv channel.
    Neither looking happy. ‘Scots@ Labour getting hammered.

    Prof Curtis predicting 39% – 40& of votes in Scotland.

    Reply
  79. Petra says:

    I really enjoyed watching the Piers / Nicola video. She came across as being intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable, calm, friendly and honest. More than anything in contrast to May and Corbyn she came across as being human. The tag team came across as being a couple of ill-mannered, ignorant, loud-mouthed asses and no doubt viewers even in England saw it that way too.

    Reply
  80. Bobp says:

    Am I hearing right that Carlos puigdemont and oriol junqueras have been elected as MEP’s.? For catalonia. Brilliant.

    Reply
  81. CameronB Brodie says:

    Terry callachan
    Please stop that line of argument, it’s irrational and IS prejudiced.

    Reply
  82. Tam fae somewhere says:

    East of England returns had over 9000 spoilt votes if I heard it right!

    Reply
  83. Heart of Galloway says:

    Lesley Laird floundering hopelessly to explain Labour’s reward at the hands of the electorate for trying to face both ways at the same time.
    Neil Findlay equally lost in trying to find light in the darkness of a -20% fall in Labour’s vote share.
    He uses an interesting phrase to describe the Tory leadership hopefuls…’parcel o’ rogues’. A straw in the wind for IndyRef2?

    Reply
  84. Lenny Hartley says:

    Plaid doing well in North Wales
    BREAKING: Local results from the EU elections…

    Anglesey – Plaid: 7,144, Brexit: 6,791, Labour: 1,890, Lib Dems: 1,603, Conservatives: 1,157, Greens: 941, UKIP: 668, Change UK: 382
    Gwynedd: Plaid: 18,009, Brexit: 7,886, Labour: 2,761, Lib Dems: 2,224, Greens: 1,826, Conservatives: 1,335, UKIP: 886, Change UK: 513

    Reply
  85. yesindyref2 says:

    @Terry callachan
    Ten percent of the voters in Scotland are English people living in Scotland

    Yup, maybe just less than 10%.

    and ninety percent of them are against Scottish independence

    Nope. Totally invented figure from you, a dung of smelly.

    You thought nobody was looking and you’d get away with that one …

    … clean-up on aisle 5.

    Reply
  86. Bob Mack says:

    Scotland thinks—–the rest of the UK doesn’t!

    Reply
  87. MacMina MacAllan says:

    Just tried applying d’Hondt to the percentage figs coming in.
    Looks like definite 2 SNP and good chance of 3rd.
    Disappointingly Brexit will get 1 definite but thankfully not 2.
    Lab and Con probably one each and Greens just missing out.
    Enjoying watching Glen Campbell choking on reading out the SNP’s good performance figures.

    Reply
  88. Croompenstein says:

    Getting drunk on Yoon tears.. Brilliant

    Reply
  89. yesindyref2 says:

    SNP looking good, but at 38% / 39% it doesn’t look like Margaret Ferrier will get elected sadly. And Greens won’t get one either. SNP 3, Brexit 1, Lib 1, Tory 1.

    Reply
  90. Welsh Sion says:

    Exit poll for Wales:

    Brexit Party – 32.5% – two seats
    Plaid Cymru – 19.6% – one seat
    Labour – 15.3% – one seat
    Lib Dems – 13.6%
    Conservatives – 6.5%
    Greens – 6.3%
    UKIP – 3.3%
    Change UK – 2.9%

    Reply
  91. Well if the Brexit party is here to stay in Scotland, it has just split the Conservative and Unionist vote and the Labour vote into smithereens.

    Can’t imagine that (t)Ruthless will be smiling tonight!.

    I know some ‘dyed in the wool’ Tories who were voting for Nigel and looks like they’re not the only ones.

    Mind you, the combined SNP/Green vote is still not coming in over 50% so there is still work to do but it’s looking good.

    Reply
  92. Heart of Galloway says:

    Labour vote the big story of the night – on latest figures down to 9%. That is pretty damn close to political oblivion.
    Will the North British accounting unit simply shrivel and die?
    Or rethink its death wish in allying with the Tories to oppose IndyRef2?
    Odds heavily in favour of the former, methinks.

    Reply
  93. yesindyref2 says:

    Oh God, Nigel Farage apparently looking very very happy.

    It’s life Jim, but not as we know it. Scrape them off!

    Reply
  94. Welsh Sion says:

    Wales results – official

    Brexit Party – 271,404 – 32.5% – Two MEPs – Nathan Gill and James Wells

    Plaid Cymru – 163,928 – 19.6% – One MEP – Jill Evans

    Labour – 127,833 – 15.3% – One MEP – Jackie Jones

    Lib Dems – 113,885 – 13.6%

    Conservatives – 54,587 – 6.5%

    Greens – 52,660 – 6.3%

    UKIP – 27,566 – 3.3%

    Change UK – 24,332 – 2.9%

    (Rejected ballot papers – 5,655)

    First time ever Plaid Cymru beat Labour in a national election. (Sorry about the Brexit Party vote, folks – but a great night for us Nats.)

    Reply
  95. call me dave says:

    Kezia: Labour sick in Edinburgh!…..err sixth!

    Neil Findlay supping valiantly from poisoned chalice.

    Where’s Dickie?

    3 seats for SNP seems solid now. .

    Reply
  96. Welsh Sion says:

    Votes in Wales for hard Brexit parties (@brexitparty_uk plus @UKIP) = 298, 970

    Votes for clearly pro-Remain parties (@Plaid_Cymru plus Lib-Dems, Greens and CUK) = 354, 805

    Votes for parties with less clarity (@WelshLabour plus @WelshConserv) = 182, 420

    Reply
  97. yesindyref2 says:

    Oh God, Nigel Farage apparently looking very very happy.

    It’s life Jim, but not as we know it. Scr*pe them off!

    Reply
  98. yesindyref2 says:

    @Welsh Sion
    Great result 🙂

    Reply
  99. Sarah says:

    @Welsh Sion – happy for you!

    Reply
  100. Stirling SNP 38.2 % Tories and lib dem 2nd equal on 15% each, Brexit on 12%.

    After 26 out of 32 declarations %
    SNP 36.9
    Brexit 15.1
    Lib Dem 14.6
    Conservative 12.2
    Labour 8.8
    Greens 7.8

    Reply
  101. Capella says:

    Congratulations Welsh Sion. Good to see Plaid Cymru overtake Labour.
    Happily the far right don’t seem to be doing well in Denmark, Netherlands and Germany? BBC will be gutted. Pinning their hopes on Marine le Pen though.

    Fingers crossed for SNP 3rd seat. As Ruth said – send a message to Nicola Sturgeon everybody.

    Reply
  102. Willie says:

    Well it looks very like Corbyn’s Labour has just died.

    Down to around nine percent in Scotland is political extinction and in England the LibDems took more of a vote than Labour in Corbyn’s own Islington constituency.

    Labour are finished, wiped out, dead, and the people know it.

    Well done the SNP who are doing well. This is now the time to push to jettison English Tory / Brexit / UKIP control of Scotland against our will.

    Final figures, save for Western Isles will confirm .

    Reply
  103. Conservatives get 6% of the vote in glasgow

    Reply
  104. Chap on BBC R4 had an argument with Presenter that BBC is not reporting the statistics properly, obsessed with Farage but actually if you add up the votes cast for Plaid SNP Lib dems Change UK then Remain is actually in the lead and it’s high time the facts were reported correctly i.e. the people of the UK actually want to Remain.

    BBC presenter refused to accept that the BBC is misleading and not reporting correctly!!!

    Interesting few minutes of live radio…

    Actually had Kirsty Blackman on discussing how well the SNP are doing tonight.

    Reply
  105. Dr Jim says:

    Jackson Carlaw’s at the counting the dead as Tory voters stage now, *you’ve only got 4 out of every 10 and we’re the government* he squalks to Mike Russell
    Neil Findlay says the SNP and the Tories are Nationalists and Labour have been trying to fix everything but doesn’t want to talk about the many faced man getting it all wrong

    One thing Jackson Carlaw is very clear about and that’s that the vote is a clear indicator that everybody wants Brexit

    Eh, right OK?

    Reply
  106. Cubby says:

    Terence (oops it’s Terry now ) Callachan@8.41pm

    Callachan the anti English bigot shows his racist colours once again. Do comments like his help the campaign for independence?

    Reply
  107. call me dave says:

    Ooh!

    Toodleoo-the-noo getting a bit shirty on shortbread tv with Christine Jardine there. Hurt feelings, his party not showing!

    SNP boots too big! 🙂

    Reply
  108. Welsh Sion says:

    Final stats for you tonight from Wales:

    Brexit Party 32.46% (+32.46) 2 Seats

    Plaid Cymru 19.60% (+4.34) 1 Seat

    Labour 15.29% (-12.86) 1 Seat

    Lib Dems 13.62% (+9.67)

    Conservatives 6.53% (-10.90)

    Green 6.30% (+1.76)

    UKIP 3.30% (-24.26)

    Change UK 2.91% (+2.91)

    Reply
  109. Dr Jim says:

    So it’s all over with the BBC predicting the SNP get 3 MEPs so not 100% of the vote there for the SNP so they’ll be dissapointed with that but a success story for the Brexit party at the first time of asking with a great result of 1 MEP and that does show that there is strong Euro scepticism in Scotland

    It’s the way they tell them! all hail the new BBC pro Scotland channel

    Reply
  110. Petra says:

    Looks as though Labour has lost its two seats in Scotland. With the votes that are in so far the SNP have 3 seats, Libdems 1, Tories 1 and Brexit 1.

    Reply
  111. call me dave says:

    Ooh!

    Add Ian Murray ‘Lab’ Howling at the moon in Edinburgh about his party approach, ignoring the voters & calling some fellow Labour organisers ‘Tory sleepers’ 🙁

    Reply
  112. Capella says:

    Listening on R4 they finally go to Edinburgh to hear what’s happening on Scotland.
    Sadly it had to be rudely interrupted to go to Southampton – a very important region. Now they’re back in London talking about the Brexit Party. Now Nigel Farage addressing the Nation.
    BBC.

    Reply
  113. Cubby says:

    Disaster for the SNP in Scotland they have failed to get every living human being and their dogs to vote for them. SNP has peaked. What a joke the media in Scotland are.

    Talking about jokes Ann Widdecombe turning up at Brussels.

    Reply
  114. Col says:

    Well I hope the first person Nicola Sturgeon thanks is Ruth Davidson for asking the electorate to send her a message lol

    Reply
  115. Robert J. Sutherland says:

    Petra @ 00:17,

    Shame if the Tories manage to hang on to a seat, because they of all parties don’t deserve it. But that’s politics I guess. Besides an ultra-ambitous 4x for the SNP, I feel slightly sorry that David Martin took a hit rather than the real authors of Brexidisaster. Which hasn’t even properly arrived yet, dummies!

    But (again, if that’s how all the votes finally fall) it’s surely writing on the wall time (yet again) for Labour. In different ways on both sides of the border. It would prove that (a) you can’t triangulate your way out of trouble, you have to have a distinct, decisive policy and stick to it loud and proud, and (b) if NorthBritLab don’t quit the BritNat Cartel toute-de-suite, they are toast. Maybe they are toast anyway.

    Reply
  116. geeo says:

    Tommy Robinson: stone cold last. !!oh how we laughed.

    Reply
  117. Al-Stuart says:

    .
    Looking good for Scotland with a projectd 38% of the vote going to SNP meaning an ADDITIONAL SNP MEP to THREE MEPS.

    Meanwhile in south east Englandshire, Farage has just given his speech as a new MEP and extraordinarily thrown down the gauntlet to Westminster….

    Farage is aiming to be the next UK PM or deputy PM.

    England may just be daft enough as much of the electorate are already onboard the Farage Bus for Over The White Cliffs of Dover. FFS.

    Dellusions of grandeur and I bet the media will start focussing on the possibility of Prime Minister Farage.

    Reply
  118. Capella says:

    BBC now interviewing Nigel Farage.
    They’ve clearly never heard of Scotland down there. Fortunately, Stu is tweeting results so at least there is one source of info.

    Good map showing Scotland nearly all yellow.
    link to twitter.com

    Reply
  119. geeo says:

    My god !!

    Sky News just reported that Remain Parties have won more votes than leave Parties !!

    So both remain and leave have a mandate coz Brexit party won !!

    Meanwhile in Scotland…

    I always said since THAT 2015 GE that the only way labour in Scotland can recover here, is to back independence then split legally from The Labour Party to allow them to stand as a party in Scotland post Indy.

    If they fall much more, their conversion to indy might make little or no difference.

    They probably think they would lose even more support by backing indy.

    Thats classic Labour-think.

    Reply
  120. Jock McDonnell says:

    BBC: Ann Widdecombe is going to Brussels.
    Mike Russell: Could she not go a wee bit further?
    lol

    Reply
  121. geeo says:

    Farage demanding a seat at the brexit table.

    Meanwhile, with a HUGE Majority of SNP MP’s in Scotland, in power in Scotland for 12 YEARS, and winners of, what is it now, NINE elections from the last 10 contested (2010 GE being the anomaly) the SNP have been completely ignored and erased from the brexit process by WM.

    But hey, Nige ‘deserves’ a seat at the table.

    Welcome to ukok 2019

    Reply
  122. Col says:

    Curtice doing a balance of leave v remain but ignores snp votes, Jesus wept.

    Reply
  123. Capella says:

    I’m only continuing to listen to the BBC out of a perverse fascination with their complete ignorance about Scotland. They’ve just discussed Brexiteers becoming the government and negotiating BREXIT, then off to Italy to discuss Salvini and now talking about right wing parties in Europe generally.

    There must be a FATWA against mentioning Scotland or the SNP.

    Reply
  124. Robert J. Sutherland says:

    I see from Stu’s Twitter that “SNP beat ChUK *in the whole UK*”.

    So maybe now we’ll get better coverage than them on the Beeb news and That Panel Programme.

    =cough=

    Reply
  125. geeo says:

    Curtice: if we remove ‘the nationalists’ from the remain vote total, because they got huge support from remain AND leave, then judging it as parties drawing their votes entirely from leave or remain voters, it was a draw !!

    WTAF ??

    Nae wonder he is ‘Sir’ pish-dribbler.

    Reply
  126. call me dave says:

    Remain vote beating leave mentioned on BBC but darn Sarf when counting up the parties votes no-one (no-one) even mentioned Scotland – SNP! 🙁

    Reply
  127. call me dave says:

    Rev says Leave upped their vote overall. Hmm! BBC misspoke then?

    Another yellow map you say! 🙂

    Oh BBC goes North!…. Provisional results SNP 3 but the great news is Brexit gets a seat! Real shocker Labour no seats share of vote plummeted.

    Was this about Independence in Scotland no asks BBC man …. maybe probably yes.

    Scotland “is different”

    Going to count sheep now! 🙂

    Reply
  128. Connor McEwen says:

    PETRA 4.46 AND RAB PEFFERS 4.49 DID YI MEAN THIS BEEZER OF CON-SERVATIVE AND UNIONIST D.U.P.-ING PARTY CABINET MEMBERS link to comicvine.gamespot.com

    Reply
  129. CameronB Brodie says:

    “There must be a FATWA against mentioning Scotland or the SNP.”

    Predictable, if nothing else. Time and event conspire against the ideological, e.g. British nationalism. That’s when the ideological becomes threatened and must resort to strategies aimed at survival, which is the primary objective of power.

    Reply
  130. yesindyref2 says:

    SNP won 29 out of 31 LAs so far, LDs first in Orkney and Shetland, but SNP gained vote share in both. Shetland was close all the same:

    Shetland Islands, Scotland
    Liberal Democrats Share %29.6 (-4.4)
    Scottish National Party Share %25.9 (+8.6)
    The Brexit Party Share %19.7 (+19.7)
    Green Share %11.2 (-1.2)

    Orkney Islands, Scotland
    Liberal Democrats Share %33.5 (-1.9)
    Scottish National Party Share %24.2 (+7.3)
    The Brexit Party Share %16.2 (+16.2)
    Green Share %11.3 (-0.7)

    link to bbc.co.uk

    zoom in and out

    Reply
  131. Robert J. Sutherland says:

    U-turn Ruth should resign now. After insisting a Tory vote was nothing but a vote against “Nicola” and IR2, she and her policy have both been comprehensively defeated by the electorate.

    Her failure is stark and plainly visible to all. (Wonder when the BBC will notice…?)

    Reply
  132. Patrick Roden says:

    Labour Party has completely collapsed!

    Even Duncan Hothersall is calling for resignations!

    Many people asking Branch office leader ‘Reginald Dickson’ to resign, claiming no one knows who he is anyway!

    ‘Buckfast Socialist’ Neil Findlay, is partly blaming Kez for Labour coming in third place (must have posted his message when they were at the heady heights of third)

    Kez responds with a tweet saying ‘Yous are fifth mate’ Yous? has she left Labour already?

    I think we might have to order some popcorn in for the next few days, this looks like it might be about to start getting messy!

    Reply
  133. Patrick Roden says:

    @CBB

    “There must be a FATWA against mentioning Scotland or the SNP.”

    Didn’t the Labour Branch office not decide that they would not mention ‘Scotland’ at one time, because they thought this would be playing into the hands of the SNP?

    Reply
  134. Capella says:

    BBC did briefly go to Edinburgh where an English accented reporter (no idea who) opined that the big winners in Scotland were the SNP and the Brexit Party! So that’s that.

    Now back to Europe to talk about all the right wing parties there, soon to be joined by lots of Brexit Party reps.

    There are no Scottish politicians available to talk to the BBC. I suppose they’ve all gone to bed. Luckily Jo Swinson and Nigel Farage have stayed up.

    Reply
  135. geeo says:

    Psst….wanna see some political pornography ?

    Its more yellow than the simpsons characters !!

    What a joy to see and i put on it what Ian Blackford said re: ruth davidsons pre match message 🙂
    link to m.facebook.com

    Reply
  136. yesindyref2 says:

    Okey doke. 2014 result for Tories was 231,330 17.2%, Current percentage is 11.7%, so they’re DOWN 5.5%. Yes, down down down, down 5.5% in Scotland. We’ve seen peak Tories, they’re going down. And down. Bye now, please take your mud with you on your tackity boots.

    From 2014:
    WESTERN ISLES
    SNP 3,310, Labour 1,842, UKIP 847, Con 761, Greens 500, Lib Dems 243, Britain First 88

    so that’s going to make no effective difference to the overall result, except it should make it 30 out of 32 LAs for the SNP.

    Reply
  137. yesindyref2 says:

    Did I say, the Tories are DOWN DOWN DOWN in Scotland?

    No? How absent-minded of me! Well, here you go then:

    The Tories are DOWN from 17.2% in 2014 to 11.7% in 2019.

    And all because the Ruth Davidson party opposes Indy Ref 2.

    Ha haha hahaha ha ha haa har haar!

    Ha!

    Reply
  138. Robert J. Sutherland says:

    Patrick Roden @ 01:25,

    It’s because we don’t exist. (Except when we want to bail out of the UK, that is.)

    Reply
  139. CameronB Brodie says:

    While we’re waiting to here what England wants, how do those living in Scotland identify themselves and with which culture do they identify.

    SPOILER alert: This is what happens when you let the New Right play with cultural nationalism.

    British Culture Wars? Brexit and the Future Politics of Immigration and Ethnic Diversity

    Introduction

    THE role of ‘culture wars’ driven by divisions over identity and values in American politics have been a source of intense debate since the 1960s. When we borrow this controversial title for our chapter, we risk provoking a strong reaction. Is British society truly divided enough to warrant the claim of a ‘culture war’, and if so, what are the differences that divide us so deeply?

    Pragmatic ‘Mondeo Man’ and ‘Worcester Woman’ voters of the 1990s and early 2000s have not disappeared, but new divides in the electorate have in recent decades grown in salience owing to demographic change. Issues which mobilise and polarise voters over their identity attachments have come to the fore-in particular those of immigration and ethnic diversity. Both are inherently about groups, boundaries and belonging. They are unavoidably issues—related to basic aspects of psychology and the tendency to divide the world into ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups—that invoke questions of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Here, we offer a glimpse of how they have affected and are likely to continue to affect politics and policy making in post?Brexit Britain.

    These two issues have become politically potent because the British electorate is changing. A generation ago, a large majority of voters were white and had few qualifications, and all parties had to accommodate their views. But over the past decades, educational expansion and rising diversity have eroded this group’s dominance.

    When Tony Blair was elected in 1997, over six out of every ten English residents were white and left school with GCSEs or less. When Theresa May lost her majority twenty years later, less than four out of ten were in this category. Over the same period the share of the English population who were university graduates, members of an ethnic minority group, or both, more than doubled from 17 per cent to around 40 per cent.1

    This shift in the electoral balance of power matters, because these groups have profoundly different views on identity issues. Graduates and ethnic minorities are generally open and liberal on immigration and ethnic diversity, while white voters with low qualifications tend to be closed and sceptical. There is also an overlapping generational divide: younger people who grew up in a more open and diverse Britain are more liberal than older voters socialised into a more homogenous society.2

    In aggregate, these changes have moved British society in a liberal direction. For example, expressions of racial prejudice and discriminatory attitudes in surveys have declined sharply over the past few decades. Brexit will not reverse these structural shifts, which have powerful demographic momentum behind them: the voters who come of age in the next decade will continue to be more university educated, ethnically diverse and socially liberal than their parents and grandparents.

    But demographic change is slow, and large sections of the electorate are uncomfortable with identity change and rising diversity, ranging from anxiety about high migration to outright hostility to ethnic minorities. While large majorities of both Leave and Remain voters express tolerant views towards minorities on all measures, the divide between the two Brexit groups is substantial, with opposition to immigration and racial conservatism concentrated on the Leave side.

    The strong links between identity attachments and EU referendum choices mean the Brexit debate could further politicise and polarise these identity politics divisions, even as Britain continues its slow transformation into a more inclusive multicultural society. This is the ‘culture war’ Britain risks in the wake of Brexit—a heated and divisive argument over immigration and diversity, with substantial electorates holding entrenched views on both sides….

    link to onlinelibrary.wiley.com

    Reply
  140. CameronB Brodie says:

    Patrick Roden
    Don’t blame me. I’ll not clipe this time, so you’ll have to check up thread for the correct source. 😉

    Reply
  141. Willie says:

    Big picture is that Scotland is on a different tack from England and this election has just reinforced that.

    Wee picture is that Labour in Scotland has collapsed to virtual extinction with support as low as 3.9 % in Argyll and Bute.

    And in England Labour drubbed by the Brexit Party in Jeremy Corbyn’s very own backyard constituency of Islington.

    Reply
  142. Petra says:

    BBC1: Anne Widdecombe chuntering on like a big wean, whilst looking like a bl**dy madwoman, saying that the Brexit Party will now have a say in the Brexit negotiations. Farage is stating this too and saying that their EU wins will be reflected in a GE. She’s then told that the negotiations have been formally terminated, so what can they do now, and responds by saying, “so the next Tory leader is going to sit around doing nothing after they are elected”, leaving me with the notion that they plan to pop in and out of No 10 over the next 5 months. So with Scotland once again voting overwhelmingly to remain in the EU we’ll no doubt be excluded from talks and be telt what to do by a coalition of Tory, DUP and Brexit party vipers.

    Curtice saying that it’s a one issue (Brexit) election and that the results show that it’s a draw. So in other words we’re (England) back to square one with the Brexit party versus Libdems / Greens. We’re a polarised country he says. No doubt referring to England only again. He goes on later to state that the SNP EURef vote share of 40% falls far short of the 50% plus that we need to win IndyRef2 and then says, with a smirk on his face, that we won’t get a Section 30 anyway.

    …………..

    Call me Dave says …. “Where’s Dickie?” Gone into hiding with Ruthie the wee wummin that’s been telling everyone that she’ll be the next FM?

    …….

    Congrats to Wales, Welsh Sion.

    ……..

    Looks as though Angela Merkel is in trouble.

    ………

    Iain Blackford is on now and getting the Independence message across as brilliantly as usual and stating that the SNP is the best performing party in the United Kingdom. Oh and just loved seeing the map of Scotland totally coloured yellow right down to the border with a couple of orange blobs covering the Orkneys and Shetland due to voting for the Libdems who of course want to remain in the EU too.

    Reply
  143. Capella says:

    Guilty as charged. 🙂

    That’s enough excitement for one night. I will tune in again tomorrow to see whether any Scottish politicians have been located. Or, indeed anyone Scottish who isn’t Laura Keunssberg.

    Reply
  144. yesindyref2 says:

    As for, errr, ummm, Labour that’s it nearly forgot the name:

    link to twitter.com

    Time for Robert Leotard to do the swan song dance. He cost David Martin the election.

    Reply
  145. Cubby says:

    Petra@1.59am

    Sir Prof Curtice did of course forget to include the independence vote for the greens in his commentary about independence. Getting tired perhaps or just on purpose as he is a Britnat.

    Reply
  146. Willie says:

    Yes and for Mad Ruth the Mooth, she called for voters to send Nicola Sturgeon a message – and they certainly did.

    Where to now for the Blimp one has to ask. Back to pushing the prom and or playing toy soldiers. The wummin ain’t no front line politician.

    Yeh, send Nicola a message!!

    Reply
  147. AndyMcKangry says:

    Never too hot on staying up late for English voting results but thought Mr. Blackford was spot on for us tonight. Got the impression that everyone else there were totally respectful of who he was and what he represented. Thought the whole vibe while he was on was “ we are Scotland and we are and will be different” and that everyone else round about him , kind of acknowledged that as well.
    Liked that he just sat back with a contented smile and let the others come to him.
    Are the Brits getting the inevitable??

    Reply
  148. yesindyref2 says:

    Mmm, quick EP analysis, bearing in mind iScotland membership / transition.

    Greens so far 70, but also add 3 SNP MEPs for 73 – up from 51.

    ALDE at 107 which lost the 2 ScotLab MEPs, but should gain the LobDem one for 108 – up from 68.

    EPP lost some seats 179 from 216 and so did S&D 150 from 189, which means they don’t jointly get a majority – so that strengthens the position of the Greens and ALDE.

    Which is not a negative for iScotland, and could be a +ve.

    Reply
  149. Petra says:

    @ Connor at 1:13am …. “The Beezers.”

    Spot on Connor. I clicked on that link and see that they are all there, lol

    ………………

    Ian Murray is far from happy. What a dilemma, eh? A member of SiU, who loves wearing his wee Union Flag suit, so seemingly no plans to change course and support Independence? The only way that I can see the Labour Party in Scotland surviving in any shape or form at all now. So he’ll just carry on watching his party go right down the stank. No job satisfaction in that, lol. Good enough for him / them.

    link to mobile.twitter.com

    Reply
  150. Petra says:

    Ruth Davidson:-

    link to mobile.twitter.com

    ………..

    Nicola Sturgeon:-

    link to mobile.twitter.com

    Reply
  151. Robert J. Sutherland says:

    yesindyref202:43,

    Hmmm, the 2 former NorthBritLab MEPs were in the ALDE (Liberal) grouping, not S&D? Surely shome mishtake?

    According to Euronews earlier, ALDE increased their representation overall and are the 3rd largest grouping. Verhofstadt is chipper.

    Reply
  152. yesindyref2 says:

    Those were actually projections, so probably NOT plus 3 for Greens and 1 for ALDE. My bad.

    Reply
  153. Petra says:

    I’ve just noticed a tweet from someone on the Ruth Davidson link saying that, “the SNP seemingly have the highest political party vote share in Europe. I bet that doesn’t get reported in the press.”

    I’ll bet he’s right. Just as Nicola Sturgeon holds the highest vote share of any party leader in Europe and no one seems to want to mention that either.

    Reply
  154. yesindyref2 says:

    @RJS
    Yes you’re right, my bad – again! David Martin and Catherine Stihler were indeed of the S&D group.

    Reply
  155. yesindyref2 says:

    SNP should have 3 out of 6 MEPs – 50% – with 38% of the vote.

    Brexit party 29 out of 73 – 40% – with 32% of the vote.

    That means the SNP beat the Brexit party in the UK as a whole, Sturgeon wins, Farage loses 🙂

    As far as Scotland is concerned, Farage is a small time loser.

    Reply
  156. Robert J. Sutherland says:

    yesindyref2 @ 03:14,

    To save you any more brainwork at this, the hour of the wolf, you can find the projected results as a graphic if you scroll a little way down the following page:

    link to euronews.com

    Reply
  157. yesindyref2 says:

    @RJS
    Yes, I was taking it from the BBC, and the guy has confirmed that PC and the SNP are part of the Greens, so that’s that then!

    Anyway, time to stop howling at the moon and get some zzzzzzz

    Reply
  158. CameronB Brodie says:

    I should have been in my bed long-ago but I can’t find a text I found a couple of days back. I couldn’t switch-off with it niggling me. I didn’t mark the page as I thought it a bit technical, but I’m on a bit of a role so here’s a different perspective on legal theory, that might be of interest. Btw, I had been looking for a paper called “OPPORTUNISM AS CRUCIBLE: RETHINKING EQUITY IN VIEW OF RELIANCE INTERESTS AND LEGAL EVOLUTION”. I thought it topical (I’ve got the pdf, which I might drip-feed in installments). 😉

    Anyhoo…

    EVOLUTION, POLITICS AND LAW

    I. INTRODUCTION

    The law begins and ends with human behavior. The ends of the law focuses on human flourishing, and the means of the law is to channel human conduct. The needs and wants of humans ground the norms of the law, from the overarching to the secondary. Hence, for the law to be suitable and effective, it must be based on a clear vision of the human condition.

    Evolutionary psychology is a discipline that helps to meet this requisite, for it is a powerful, but controversial, vehicle for analyzing and understanding human behavior, and hence, legal and social doctrine.

    The aim of this article is to demonstrate the potential usefulness of evolutionary psychology. To achieve this, I discuss the controversy over the discipline and identify the political roots of the debate. In the end, I hope to show that evolutionary psychology provides a valuable tool for those involved in the ordering of society….

    scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1341&context=vulr/

    yesindyref2
    A source you might be interested in, I’d forgotten all about it.

    Official Journal of the European Union
    Information and Notices

    link to eur-lex.europa.eu

    Reply
  159. Craig Murray says:

    Petra @ 3.12am

    Actually Viktor Orban in HUngary is very much more successful in terms of both party and personal vote share. Which just goes to show it isn’t a useful measure of worth.

    Reply
  160. CameronB Brodie says:

    Now we’re cooking with gas. That’s me done. And so is the UKOK plc., mk.

    The European model of constitutional review of legislation
    link to academic.oup.com

    Reply
  161. Craig Murray says:

    Have you seen the front page of the Herald from the disgusting Tom Gordon again! Huge picture of Farage declaring him the winner. The Unionist Herald seems to have a tactic now of not noticing Scotland exists.

    Reply
  162. Al-Stuart says:

    .
    Good morning Craig Murray,

    I stopped buying the Herald but do see it’s front cover when buying The National. You are right about disgusting Tom Gordon and the Herald not noticing Scotland anymore.

    When the subject of dead tree media short-changing Scotland arises, I reach for the PressGazette and abc circulation….

    link to tinyurl.com

    The Herald parent company lost £7,000,000 in the last statutory accounts and of course have killed off the Sunday Herald. The only thing that worries me is The National drowning along with the sinking ship that is the MV Herald.

    Craig please keep up the good work with your website. The fleet of Scottish independent and independence websites are the way to go.

    My main media wish is the disreputable BBC Scotland could be closed down and a proper, independent terrestrial broadcaster created. I fear that BBC Scotland keep 5% to 10% of voters in the NO camp and depriving Scotland of it’s future.

    Best wishes, Al.

    Reply
  163. Legerwood says:

    The Herald Front Page.

    I am surprised anyone expected anything different.

    However, the Herald’s online ‘live’ coverage starting yesterday evening and through to this morning has been pretty good with useful breakdown of the results in Scotland and quotes from various SNP luminaries

    Reply


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