Whoever wins, we lose
You could actually weep for some of the people in our country.
But the point Yes supporters understand and Unionists don’t is that it’s everything to do with the question – because “who is or might be Prime Minister, or which party is in government” is never our choice. It’s the choice of England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland together. One of those countries outnumbers the others by 8 to 1.
More than that, it isn’t just who is Prime Minister now, or who may be in the future – it’s every single Prime Minister in my 35 years of existence on this planet.
My first Prime Minister was so beloved of my fellow Scots that the Number 1 song in Scotland on the week of her death was “Ding-Dong The Witch Is Dead”.
My second Prime Minister (even if he is, in retrospect, far and away the best in my lifetime) led the UK to financial disaster and aggravated the forces which led the UK to where it is now through his sheer incompetence.
My third Prime Minister is a war criminal who conspired to steal Scotland’s resources.
My fourth Prime Minister sold even more of Scotland’s resources to mitigate his cataclysmic mishandling of another financial crisis.
My fifth Prime Minister, who cannot be mentioned in the same breath as pigs in polite company, presided over cruelties, scandals, and catastrophes that would give my first Prime Minister pause.
My sixth Prime Minister has become a punchline.
So that’s six Prime Ministers in my lifetime, and valid arguments can be – and have been – made for each of those six being the Worst Ever.
At least until Seven, anyway. So who will that be?
At least we now know it won’t be Mark Harper, who:
- promised to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum
- supported a pitiful 8.5% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland
- thought strengthening the union meant dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will
- was the unrepentant architect of Theresa May’s infamous “Go Home” vans
- insisted that his party “will keep our promises to Scotland” before breaking every single one
- thought the only reason 16 & 17-year-olds got to vote in the independence referendum was because they would vote Yes
- perpetuates the English Subsidy Myth
- pretended the 2017 UK General Election “strengthened” the UK by returning the SNP’s second best result in history
- doesn’t seem to realise immigration is reserved
- planned to strengthen the union by ensuring “that Scottish and Welsh voices are heard through a dedicated devolved contingent in the Number 10 machinery to ensure we do a better job in demonstrating how UK Government resources are spent rather than having them portrayed as Nicola Sturgeon or Mark Drakeford dishing out their own cash”
Nor will it be Andrea Leadsom, who:
- promised to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum (literally one day after she said otherwise)
- supported a pitiable 9.9% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland
- thought strengthening the union meant dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will
- planned to strengthen the union by introducing an “Office for Strengthening the Union” & having annual Cabinet “away days” in Belfast, Edinburgh, and Cardiff
Expiration date: 24 hours later.
Lastly (thankfully) it will not be Esther McVey, who:
- promised to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum
- supported a piteous 11.3% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland
- thought strengthening the union meant dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will
- criticised the SNP’s pro-EU stance by pretending the UK and the EU are not two completely different things
- planned to strengthen the union by denying the Scottish people’s democratic mandate & referring to the elected Scottish Government as “separatists”
“I can pretend to be a bubbly happy cheerful personality for tax purposes, but being polite to Esther McVey is TOO MUCH”
Seven remain in the race for the seventh Prime Minister in my lifetime.
Will it be Michael Gove, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a paltry 20.9% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- went further and actually said that “the idea that what Scotland wants now is another expensive, divisive, investment-freezing, prosperity-draining, uncertainty generating, family-separating, acrimony escalating referendum is politically reckless, democratically insulting and just plain wrong”?
- failed the last leadership election with a betrayal so brutal he managed to knock himself out of the race?
- plans to strengthen the union by doing “everything it took” to ensure the UK Government was “a visible, proactive, force for good in every part of our United Kingdom”
- characterised his fellow countryfolk as “drunks,” “beggars,” and “unattractive” during his time as a cocaine-addled journalist?
Will it be Matt Hancock, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a puny 9.7% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- opposes a second EU Referendum because it “risks” a second Scottish Independence referendum?
- thinks that Parliament stopped a No Deal Brexit in March?
- takes great pride in ensuring Union Flags flew at the Edinburgh Festival – which apparently wouldn’t have happened without his involvement?
- thinks flying more Union Flags over Scotland will save the UK?
- plans to strengthen the union by introducing a “Union Delivery Unit” in Number 10 to “ensure that every government department is doing all it can to keep our United Kingdom together”?
Will it be Jeremy Hunt, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a poor 26.9% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- lied repeatedly about NHS funding as Health Secretary?
- says that a club that won’t let its members leave will increase that desire to leave (except, presumably, when the club is the UK?
- insists Scots that do want another referendum that they actually don’t want another independence referendum even after his own party got absolutely defenestrated after making that their entire campaign focus?
- plans to strengthen the union by… thinking about it?
- thinks the best Scottish town to invoke the memory of the Precious Union is Culloden?
Will it be Sajid Javid, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a piddling 13.3% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- seems to be perfectly fine with his ancestral homeland becoming independent from the UK, but not Scotland?
- has Ruth Davidson’s support, but none of their party’s Scottish MPs(who, Ms Davidson assured us, would “vote as a block” to protect Scotland’s interests?)
- seems to think Ruth Davidson led their party to victory in Scotland?
- plans to strengthen the union by starting a campaign promoting Britain’s shared values & history, appointing a Minister in every department responsible for ensuring “all policies consider how they can strengthen the union,” reducing funding to Holyrood in favour of local authorities, and moving some institutions outside London?
Will it be Boris Johnson, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a picayune 15.6% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- approved this “satirical” James Michie poem for publication while he was editor of The Spectator?
- was personally blocked from campaigning in Scotland by his own party’s Scottish Branch Office Manager?
- was the target of a discrediting campaign by his own party in Scotland in order to scupper his leadership bid?
- formulated a planned tax cut for high earners so destructive that even his own party’s Scottish MPs oppose it?
- thinks the UK doesn’t get enough credit for policy decisions in Scotland?
- somehow thinks the Great Campaign, which was literally entirely about Great Britain, wasn’t pro-Union enough?
- perpetuates the myth of a UK “Single Market“?
- plans to strengthen the union by appointing a “dedicated point person” to ensure that all UK Government policy promotes the union?
- thinks a pound spent in an 86 square kilometre town in England with a population of 170,000 is worth more to the UK as a whole than a pound spent in a 5,300 square kilometre region in Scotland with a population of 2.5 million?
Will it be Dominic Raab, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a petty 9.7% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- even after he himself argued for Devo-max and “full fiscal autonomy,” describing it as “well beyond what was promised” in the infamous Vow?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- regularly advocated questioning, reviewing, restricting, reducing, or scrapping the Barnett Formula outright?
- plans to strengthen the union by “ending the “Devolve and Forget” attitude” with a “stronger UK Government presence on the ground” and “we should fly the Union Jack alongside the Saltire” (which the UK is apparently not doing already)?
- said – with a straight face – that “there is a sense that parts of the Union may have been shut out of the debate, because we did not want to prejudice or interfere in the referendum campaign or to allow points made during it to be twisted or manipulated” literally days after he did exactly that?
Will it be Rory Stewart, who:
- promises to deny the Scottish people’s democratic mandate for an independence referendum?
- supported a pathetic 15.8% of votes to devolve further powers to Scotland?
- Even after he himself said that “Devolution max will be delivered without any questions”?
- seems to think the earliest another Scottish Independence referendum should take place is 2034?
- thinks strengthening the union means dragging Scotland out of the EU against our will?
- alleges that Scotland and England would not exist if it wasn’t for the Romans?
- plans to strengthen the union by introducing a “National Citizen Service” – where 16 and 17-year-olds will be moved out of their homes to another country within the UK in the interests of fostering some sense of Britishness?
I could weep for some of my countryfolk. And I could weep – not a genteel whimper or single manly tear, but an ugly, hacking, phlegmatic rasp of utter despair – because anyone who could look at this sorry, sordid, slithering collection of sneaks, and think “aye, but independence would be worse” has surely taken leave of their senses.
Look at them. Look at them. You think we Scots cannot do better than this worthless collection? You think we should resign ourselves to being represented on a world stage by the least deserving pool of potential Prime Ministers in the history of the United Kingdom? You think this is the best we as a people can hope to lead us? I certainly think otherwise.
Yet still, folk will fear exactly that: we can’t do better. But just because you think you can’t do any better doesn’t mean you get to decide that nobody can. Just because you’re scared you cannae dae it doesn’t give you the right to prevent others from trying – others who might succeed.
I’m sick of watching our people suffer and die while these clowns strut about with their puffed chests and inflated egos, under the illusion that a single one of them is worthy of leading a country of millions.
Whoever wins this race, we – the people of Scotland – will lose. And sometimes, the only winning move is not to play.
I think I understand the question very well and I haven’t even had my tea yet.
Thank you.
Whole lot of willy-waving going on with regard to Scotland from all candidates. Suspect it’s going to have the opposite effect to that they intend 🙂
Very well put Al, Scotland will never fulfil its potential whilst Westminster calls the shots. We must break this union sooner than later before the next Tory PM, finds a way to neuter Holyrood’s indy mandate, and strips Holyrood of its powers.
Johnson who also wants to ban Scots from becoming UK PM:
https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-ban-scottish-people-from-being-prime-minister-2019-6?r=US&IR=T
Still thick Scots support the Union….. why…they obviously care very little for their loved ones or their country. Very sad.
A plague on each and every one of them,
As none of them will give Scotland a second thought, other than as vote fodder.
I don’t often comment, but always read your posts. Your assessment of the situation is so accurate that I feel I have to add my name to it. It’s desperate when Scots can’t see the truth in a shambles like this.
Proud Cybernat.
Boris has bigger plans for Scots.
https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-published-poem-friendly-fire-james-michie-extermination-of-scottish-people-2019-6?r=US&IR=T
for crying out loud, we are looking at having a PM who is quite frankly, terrified to open his mouth in public.
that’s how bad he is.
if we dont have indy before tge end of ’21 Imay need to leave
To use the colloquial ‘They are all absolutely mental.’
Well if nothing else they are making their intentions known. I really hope that the SNP has something up their sleeve but I’m not holding my breath. I do wonder at the apparent acceptance the general public has when being screwed over whether it be bailing out banks, dark money corrupting elections or being forced out of the EU against their will. After the brexit vote I really thought we’d be ahead 3 years later. Who knows, maybe we are.
The hurdles we face this time around will be very high. I do worry that if the SNP don’t go for a referendum our only choice will be through an election but good luck trying to get balance from the BBC in that respect. It will be 4 against 1 most of the time. What damage will they do to us by the time another election comes round too?
I wish as a nation we had more balls than we’ve shown in the past but hopefully we’ll be showing them soon.
Excellent synopsis. Emailing link to waverers. Tories are beyond redemption several eons ago.
Aye it’s heads they win and tails we lose with that list of rogues.
The really unfathomable thing is, there are registered Scottish voters who will put a ‘X’ in the Unionist box no matter who is chosen to put their vile policies in place to subjugate us, including themselves. 🙁
Maybe, as I suggested in my last comment in the last WOS article things could get worse than this ridiculous group?
As pathetic as they are there’s more to fear in politics going wrong than a bunch of Tories being incompetent fannies.
A quick look through the last century in Europe will do. I know its unpopular, but perspective does count.
Also – doesnt it help to have a bunch of ridiculous fannies in power? I mean, if there was some socially delightful, charming, gracious and competent leader of Britain the answer would still be ‘no’ to Scottish independence.. It would just make more Scots happy to buy it.
In the past week, either on Wings, on other pro-independence websites, or on Facebook or twitter, I have seen so-many mentions of Boris publishing that Michie poem, I’ve lost count.
There may well be one or two pro-independence supporters who haven’t yet seen it, but, Ah hae ma doots. So, why don’t we just take it as read.
I am not much bothered about what Boris has done in the past, other than to take it as proof of how dangerous and stupid he is. But, I am scared shitless about what he could do to Scotland in the future, as PM, if we don’t get the Hell out of this unfair and rotten Union.
aitchbee 4.42
All that willy-waving!
And every remaining candidate a man.
Thanks Al, the post that facepalm don’t want us to share. How’s that working for you now faceache? Bit of a wider readership here eh…
Mike cassidy 5:21 I feel this is not coincidental 😉
We are effed.
Not so long ago it seemed inconceivable that the Tories would place Boris in No 10. Now it seems virtually certain unless it turns out he is a serial killer with 67 bodies in his cellar….and even then it might be touch and go.
That said, I think Hunt and Raab might actually be worse such is the paucity of genuine political talent available to them. Who can forget Hunt hiding from journalists behind a tree to avoid being seen meetng Murdoch at a drinks party when he was Culture Secretary (was Cameron having a laugh). Raab is just plain old fashioned nasty.
So yes, every option is lose. The die are very loaded.
Relatively speaking, when you consider that esteemed bunch, Thatcher was quite decent.
Mark Francois as Viceroy of Scotland. You read it here first.
Great article, Al.
The clips of our Imperial Masters are both risible and frightening in equal measure.
It is going to get very bad indeed, from 22nd July onwards.
A pox on their house
Yes, but for the original twat at the head of the article, unionist socialist emancipation is just over the horizon – and if not that horizon, then it’ll definitely be the next one – and if not that horizon, then look, it’s just a matter of time, it may even take aeons … and you’ll all be dead and buried, but I can definitely see it just over the next horizon, I’m telling you …
(cue shakespearian voice over said twat on an empty stage)
“Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.”
Well obviously we couldn’t do any better because, British nationalism.
But anyone who considers Scotland rather than Britain/UK/England as their country must find it very difficult to still call themselves a unionist.
There used to be the not-so Magnificent Seven.
Now that Hancock has pulled out [sic.], he’s willy waving for the biggest dick of them all.
The Tories and Farage’s lot want to return to a hybrid of the 19th century Great Powers system and the 20th century system of the more basic customary international law.
The 21st century practices of using modern communications to put proper detail on treaties and agreements. The more detailed versions of contemporary international law with its environmental, cultural and social protections offend these British exceptionalists.
They hate the EU, not because of its powers, but because it represents the impossibility of Britannia ruling the waves once more. They hate Scottish Parliament because it belongs in the modern world along with the EU and similar institutions.
They would rather have chlorinated chicken from the USA than have high food standards from Brussels.
These Britnats are indeed time travellers. But they only wish to go back.
Why don’t we just put up pictures all over Scotland of BJ’s ugy mug. Should scare enough voters to our cause surely. Saying that I did have to put my auntie right the other week when she was saying he’s just a bit of a harmless clown. Thinking it funny him being PM. I said he’s every bit as dangerous as pennywise the clown from the it movies and shouldn’t be fooled by his appearance otherwise.
Jack Collatin @ 5:41
“Mark Francois as Viceroy of Scotland”.
I think you’re being a bit generous to him Jack. He’d be more akin to a Gauleiter.
Mark Francois is the vilest specimen ever to be elected an MP.
I’m pretty certain that anyone with a background in the psychological sciences, such as David Torrance, will recognise the articulation of prejudice and cultural chauvinism when they see it. Mind you, DT’s a Tory-fanboy who actually supports the cultural patriarchy that is One Nation British nationalism. Did he not have a bit of a circle-jerk with Duncy? A right couple of melts.
Social Psychology of Prejudice:
Historical and Contemporary Issues
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/4088/149-164.pdf%3Bjsessionid%3D1859F9A6F038D7838956F30F029C3263?sequence%3D1
Rory Stuart is also the security services’ candidate. He’s a spook himself and so was his father so very embedded in it. I would therefore never bet against him. Getting any sort of indyref passed him would probably be fought to the death.
“Independence will be worse”
That’s your Stockholm syndrome right there. People conditioned so much that they cannot see past the doors of the prison they inhabit. They will vote to try and improve their standard of living in the prison because the prison guards are happy to allow that but vote to open the door and leave – that is way beyond their capacity – the prison guards will be very ? unhappy.
Well said.
The path to Scottish independence is like a ratchet – each step forward probably won’t be reversed. Once people have seen the light, understand what the union has done to Scotland, realise what its adherents plan to do, and can see there is a better alternative – there is no undoing of the leap they have made.
All sorts of things play their part in encouraging folks to ‘cross the floor’. Let’s be honest here, this sorry, sordid, slithering collection of sneaks will surely play their part in pursuading people that Indy is the safe and sensible option. These characters are an unintended asset to the Indy cause.
Just wait till Johnson opens up and lets fly with his offensive, thoughtless, arrogant, rants.
A marvellous piece of writing. It is a shame that none of the ****s mentioned will ever read this.
Scotland so desperately needs independence ASAP. These people are just Tory B***ards of the highest order. They are nothing but Tory scum, and have no mandate to have ANY say whatsoever in Scotland.
Every last one of these wastrels, regards Scotland as their personal plaything, to do with as they want. Scotland NEVER voted for them and does not want them.
Makes my blood boil.
And, to make matters worse, just imagine it was that weasel Rory Stewart. Just think about it, MI6 intelligence service man (whose father was also a spook), becomes PM. The same people backing him are the kind who moaned when the KGB’s Vladimir Putin became President of Russia.
With all of this, however, I just cannot fathom why Scottish Labour folk still cling on to English colonial rule, the way they do.
I also think Boris would be best for us, not just as a recruiting sergeant (unwitting) for Yes but also because he will not be bound by what he has to say to get elected and doesn’t rate or value us so might just be quite happy to see us gone as a too bothersome rebel province.
I also think meetings with Sturgeon will make him feel too much like a naughty schoolboy. Intellectually she will run rings around him and he will not like feeling inferior to a ‘mere woman’.
BTW as a piece of careful, referenced scholarship this is impressive. Thanks Al for doing this so we didn’t have to. A real depressing parcel of rogues in a nation.
Contemporary British nationalism is an expansionist form of English nationalism. This is that nationalism striking an authoritarian pose, as the candidates know it goes down well in the currently angry political climate in England. These dunces ain’t thick. Remeber, the full-English Brexit is most strongly supported by those who exhibit social dominance orientation or right-wing authoritarianism. Or both. 😉
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167217704196
Sorry, I couldn’t find an open text.
@Doug Morrison says: 17 June, 2019 at 5:00 pm:
” … It’s desperate when Scots can’t see the truth in a shambles like this.”
I think it is even worse than that, Doug, because some of them do see the truth but they still don’t want Scottish independence.
Could we put an end to this [ I will not allow ] illegal garbage from these appalling English MPs.
As Mr Peffers has written on many occasions a comprehensive and historical breakdown of Scotland place in the UK. I would like to see his writings flooded across all social media day after day after day, and show these liars up for what they are, and maybe some people in Scotland might begin to understand what is being done to them.
I have printed out Mr Peffers writings and left them on buses libraries cafes etc etc.
The message has to be gotten out that Westminster does not have the power., we the people do, we do not live in an occupied country.
Good article. They’re all very much playing to their “home” crowd. And willing to alienate Scotland in doing so.
Should make sure we all tweet it to each of them so they see it. Pity nobody’s been and grabbed all their twitter handles and posted them here in one box to make that really easy to do.
They all seem to be saying no IndyRef2 and Scotland will be made to do what England tells it. That’s bollocks on so many levels. It’s unsustainable.
Not least because England can never have the hard(ish) Brexit it appears to want and maintain their UK union. TMay herself recognised this before EURef, putting on record that if there was a Leave vote then Northern Ireland would need its own Brexit arrangements to fulfil the obligations of the GFA. Let us not forget the EU’s preferred solution was a border in the Irish Sea, it was the Tories themselves who unwittingly brought about the Irish Backstop.
Then we have the SG and Parliament with mandate for IndyRef2 specifically if we are hauled out of the EU, on the table before EURef had even taken place!
The Tory hopefuls may put a telescope to their blind eye to allow them to spin their magical fantasies. Meanwhile in the real world, the cost of EngExit was always going to be dissolution of the UK.
Despite the rhetoric, the politicians know most of their voters would consider that a price worth taking. Question is, will the new PM take the easy route to delivering EngExit?
If the people of England wish to elect a sock puppet for their leader then I’m glad I’m not in their shoes
“Not least because England can never have the hard(ish) Brexit it appears to want and maintain their UK union. TMay herself recognised this before EURef, putting on record that if there was a Leave vote then Northern Ireland would need its own Brexit arrangements to fulfil the obligations of the GFA.”
Not least because the Treaties of Union specify no preferential treatment within the Union. As such, the full-English Brexit is unconstitutional, on a number of levels. I’m certainly not ambivalent about that, frankly.
Perhaps the central question in this revolves around why they felt the need to single out Scotland at all. I believe it emphasises the importance of keeping hold of Scotland should they crash out of Europe without a deal.
They simply could not afford to shrink the English economy by so many billions which would affect their ability primarily to borrow at the same levels.
That is our real importance. We are nothing more than part of a credit reference for Westminster.
Oh Al, you always speak strongly from the heart and this is no exception.
Everything you’ve highlighted is sure to make some take a deep breath and agree but sure there are too many who care zero for Scotland and its future.
We have so much to gain from being a proper country and we need to get that across.
That lot of useless clowns are detrimental to the UK never mind Scotland but at least, hopefully, we have an option to escape.
CameronB Brodie says:
Indeed. There are so many angles and issues Brexit exposes.
It is incompatible with an ongoing union, unless soft. (Single market plus customs union).
None of this should be news or a surprise. They can’t deny they knew before EURef. Covering up the existential ‘threat’ to their UK was just part of the package of deceit.
Though truth is, I doubt of wider knowledge if this across England would have changed their voting! As I say, polls seem to suggest Leave voters consider it a reasonable price to pay.
English votes for Scottish laws?
I am Scottish, Scotland is my ‘country’, ‘nation’, not the political construct, ‘the UK’.
The Brit Nats, and that includes Davidson, Findlay, Rennie, and the rest of the miserable Scottish bunch, repeatedly refer to the ‘country’ in the sense that Jeremy Rhyming Slang uses in his ‘Culloden’ clip, England as Master, the rest as serfs outvoted by Mark Francois, who to quote, kapelmeister :-17 June, 2019 at 6:05 pm
“I think you’re being a bit generous to him Jack. He’d be more akin to a Gauleiter.
Mark Francois is the vilest specimen ever to be elected an MP.”
The thought of this wee Mars Bars munching Phat Phuck in lederhosen burns my stomach lining.
Johnson has never revealed his contempt for Scotland. There is no doubt that he considers us a conquered people.
He would send an Englishman North to quell the rebellious Jocks.
Jason smoothpiece 4.59pm they are not Scots Jason…..they are British nationalists.
Predicting what will happen with the Union as a consequence of Brexit together with a destabilised political Establishment is one thing, but the construction of a UK Government ‘hub’ in Edinburgh,designed to house a mainly English workforce of approximately 3000, leaves the Yes Movement needing no crystal ball to see clearly the intentions of Westminster, which is to rule over Scotland from close range while holding it on a short leash.
Free men sleep only to awake slaves.
Wake up Scotland! Before you hear the sound of English chains and leg irons around your feet.
A powerful article thanks.
The question of whether any of these lunatic candidates could ever push through their more swivel eyed manifestos without the assistance of more competent professionals; is easily answered by : “With the willing aid of the civil service on both sides of the border”
Anyone believing their monomaniacal contrivancies would be tempered by more more sober heads behind the throne, should be disabused of that notion.
The Neutral Service:
“We all had something in common, we’re trying to save the Union here, and it came so close. We just kept it by the skin of our teeth. I actually cried when the result came in. After 10 years in the civil service, my proudest moment is tonight and receiving this award.”
The Apolitical Service:
“As civil servants you don’t get involved in politics. For the first time in my life, suddenly we’re part of a political campaign. We were doing everything from the analysis, to the advertising, to the communications. I just felt a massive sense of being part of the operation. This being recognised [at the Civil Service Awards], makes me feel just incredibly proud.”
The Improper Service:
“We’ve learned that it is possible for civil servants to work on things that are inherently political and quite difficult, and you’re very close to the line of what is appropriate, but it’s possible to find your way through and to make a difference.”
The United Swrvice:
“The reality was in all my experience of the civil service, I have never seen the civil service pull together in the way they did behind supporting the UK government in maintaining the United Kingdom. It was a very special event for all of us.”
The Very Civil Service:
“..credit to (our) Scottish Government counterparts, “in particular the government economic service there, who did their jobs for their ministers..”
https://www.civilserviceworld.com/articles/news/hm-treasury-team-wins-special-civil-service-award
Excellent article, Al Harron. Thank you.
Re; Proud Cybernat @5.41pm
Nah, had Thatcher the milk snatcher been around past couple of years, and active in the UKoK political arena, she would not have been anymore accommodating, respectful, or tolerant towards Scotland’s democratically elected government, ie the one we have now that is NOT a British Nationalist party, and she would have rigidly opposed Scotland having any say in Tory Brexit, and she would have vehemently opposed Scotland having a a second indy ref. She only uttered that the ‘SNP would need a majority of MP’s at WM’ to have a say in whether Scotland should be independent, because she believed it would NEVER happen.
O/T
anyone see that the French company running HunterstonB nuke plant are hoping to restart the reactors next week? Thoght not. Well if they do, and, they want an acceptable 700 cracks rather than the current 350, and there are at present, 400 cracks in the walls holding the whole thing intact. At least two top nuke scientists have said if an accident happened, central Scotland would face huge radiation leak. I think that’s code for, wiped out. So, amidst all this Tory bllcks, we are being distracted by Britnats, who do not care one iota whether central Scotland is fried alive.
Those young folk protesting about the oil rig at Cromarty, should maybe be elsewhere, like at HunterstonB because we are in grear peril re that, due to being shackled to this cesspit of a so called union. I was wondering how many nuke power plants were built in Scotland, in proportion to rUK? I think I know the answer.
Have a nice week everyone!
Neatly done Al and very well said.
Scuse the spelling mistakes, I hate that. Too many things on my mind.
One SMALL point. When referring to “second referendum” if I’m REALLY pedandtic (and I am) it’s actually the THIRD (were it to go ahead)
But back to the list of nasties, a tiny majority or a tiny majority will make the decision which will affect the entire UK for decades to come. And once we ARE out, we WON’T get back in. It was hard enough to get in in the first place. French leader Giscard D’Estang was right when he said that there was no point in UK joining as it would just want to leave again anyway.
One SMALL advantage, it MAY springboard support for Indy that becomes unstoppable ie over 60% in the polls constantly, if THAT were the case then additional support could be gained in campaigning. Look at the level of support gained during the campaign for 2014! And that HASN’T gone away..
What is it about these
BRUKExit people? Right from the outset the EU has made it very, very plain there will be no way the EU, “Four Freedoms”, will be negotiable.Indeed those four freedoms actually form, “The Single Market”, and without this, “Single or Common Market”, with the guaranteed free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour, the European Union just cannot exist.
Yet Theresa May is leaving the office of United Kingdom Prime Minister having maintained till the last her belief she could negotiate a deal to leave the EU that retained at least some of the four Freedoms.
Now we have a bunch of Tory diehards and each of them still believes the United Kingdom can negotiate some kind of deal that involves at least some of the, “Four Freedoms”, yet the EU is still telling them there will be no further deals to negotiate.
What is even plainer is that the Irish Border problem and The Good Friday Agreement is guaranteed and backed not only by the United Nations but by the USA as well but these Tory numpties still cannot see that any kind of, (so called), Brexit has at least got one remaining guarantee.
There will remain an open border between the two parts of Ireland for without that open border there can be no Good Friday Agreement and the EU is not about to allow a great big hole in the European Union open border. There is absolutely no way to preserve the European Union four freedoms with an open border between both parts of Ireland while Northern Ireland remains part of a United Kingdom outside the European Union. Ireland will thus reunite.
The Scottish Question is the next problem Westminster will face no matter whichever choice of Prime Minister the Tory Party makes and the Scottish Government is just waiting on Westminster doing one of two things. Either leaving the European Union with what Theresa May claimed to be a deal but did NOT include any of the Four Freedoms or conversely leaving without a deal and thus also without any of the Four Freedoms.
Which makes no difference as Westminster has been told on numerous occasions that, “Scotland will not be dragged out of the European Market against the will of the people of Scotland”.
I do not believe that was an empty threat by the both the Scottish Government and the Westminster elected SNP MPs, and upon Westminster ending its membership as an EU member state the EU is free from the constraints of not interfering in member state internal business and Scotland will then get the backing from the EU that has been lacking to date.
Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t been making those frequent trips to both Brussels and other European states for fun. Scotland has many friends in the EU.
Bobp
Absolutely correct.
There are 2 identities in Scotland.
One of those identities wishes harm on Scotland, wants Scotland to be subservient, is economicaly illiterate and quite simply embarrassing.
The other is Scottish.
Artyhetty @ 8.28 pm
“”I was wondering how many nuke power plants were built in Scotland, in proportion to rUK? I think I know the answer.””
There are 7 nuclear power plants in the UK of which 2 are in Scotland plus the non-operational Dounreay which is in the process of being decommissioned.
In addition to the 5 in rUK there is the new nuclear power plant being built at Hinckley Point. A further two nuclear power plants were planned in England but the companies involved eg Toshiba in Cumbria for one, have pulled out so these plants may not go ahead.
In addition there is the nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield which is considered to be the most dangerous industrial site in Europe and pretty high up the list of dangerous sites in the world. There is nuclear fuel stored there from the 1950s that has still to be processed. The clean-up of Sellafield was put at around £80 billion – back of an envelope number.
So overall Scotland has come off a bit better than rUK but given the likely fallout in the event of any nuclear accident anywhere in the UK that is maybe not saying much.
What faces Scotland may well take the form of the classic de-colonization route.
Best get the history books out and see how how the Brits employed projects for fear, division, media misinformation and subversion and how the ‘natives’ responded.
I do not believe that England 2019 is fundamentally different than England 1919. The imperial mindset still stalks the decaying corridors. What they consider theirs they intend to hold on to.
After this ridiculous macho man contest is concluded, we may be entering an entirely new stage in Scottish politics.
As I said, check out those history books.
It hasn’t dawned on them yet the uk is a bit player, and decline outside of the EU will accelerate!
It’s dawned on Hammond who is a rat leaving a sinking ship currently!
It’s also dawned on US, China and every other country in the world who are queuing up to screw the uk, long hard and with a smile on their faces, including the EU!
If you are in with the crows, you get shot!
@Abulhaq says: 17 June, 2019 at 8:55 pm:
” … After this ridiculous macho man contest is concluded, we may be entering an entirely new stage in Scottish politics.
As I said, check out those history books.”
No need to check out the history books, Abulhaq, they are, mostly, claptrap. So many quite obvious lies and either written by English people or by Scots educated and brainwashed by English Universities. Fortunately it doesn’t take much to discover the lies and get to the truths.
Mind you it doesn’t just happen in this country. Just last night I had a look for a few definitions in USA dictionaries for terms I knew the derivations of. I’ll not bore you with them all but here is a couple I’ve mentioned several times on Wings before.
What prompted the search was a visit I had from a friend who was rather confused by several USA terms he had come across in a computer game. These included, redneck, hick, and hillbilly. Which, in the game, were used interchangeably but are not quite so.
So for redneck they said a white, working class male especially a politically active one. However, the term redneck comes from the old wild west and was a derogatory term used by the cattlemen and cowboys for farmers. Who, to sat the least didn’t get on well together.
It derived from the farmers of those times ploughing fields and walking behind a horse drawn plough. The stance taken was with a slightly bent down head while watching the ploughshare and the then inevitable sunburned back of the neck.
Hick – a person who lives in the country, regarded as being unintelligent or parochial. I have no idea on that one.
Lastly Hillbilly: = informal•derogatory
an unsophisticated country person, as associated originally with the remote regions of the Appalachians.
Now, as it happens, I knew this one from long ago:
The hillbillies were Scots/Irish immigrant to the USA originally of Scottish descent via Ireland and were followers of King Billy. These emigrated due to the Irish Troubles. Being originally from Scotland they naturally gravitated to the highland regions of the Appalachians and hence were dubbed hillbillies.
Yet the USA dictionaries got both terms wrong. So there is your history often pure guesswork by people who know no better.
There really are great differences in the 2019 Scotland and that of 1919. I was brought up by my Grandparents for most of my early years and the old man was born in 1858. I learned a great deal about Scottish history from that old man who, by the way was very much a Scottish Nationalist.
@Calum McKay says: 17 June, 2019 at 9:28 pm:
” … It’s also dawned on US, China and every other country in the world who are queuing up to screw the uk, long hard and with a smile on their faces, including the EU!
If you are in with the crows, you get shot!!
Aye! Calum, very true – they don’t call England, “Perfidious Albion”, for nothing. All those pink bits on those old World Globes that were painted pink have old scores to settle with England – as does most of the European continental countries.
Hello geeo
What do you think about this post by wings
This is the core of our problem
Whatever England decide they will simply say that we have to obey even if we choose another path
Whatever England decide will be rubber stamped by the Scottish office and the tories in Scotland and labour in Scotland and the Lib Dem’s in Scotland
Whatever England decide will be supported by the britishers in Scotland who are made up of
Scots who have a good life and don’t want to change anything in case it puts their better life at risk
Scots who have such a bad life that they have no time or stability in their life to keep an interest in the politics of their country
English people living in Scotland who will always vote for their own mother country even if it means the total destruction of Scotland
People from other countries other than UK who have a british passport or hope to apply for one once they have British citizenship and value that passport so highly they will obey the british way
I’m sure there are many other groups
I can’t see any of the ones I list here ever changing their minds
They account for a sizeable proportion of voters
Callachan back on his old familiar racist ground. Callachan back on his old familiar ground of concern posts.
Callachan stick your racism up where the sun don’t shine.
Cubby and geeo both gone missing in this post “whoever wins we lose “
and missing from the next post too “ from the archives #9”
Weedled one out
Where’s the other ?
The two best worker bees for British nationalism
Callachan are you blind as well as a racist. Look above – you diddy.
WTAF is going on when Bojo refuses to participate in ch4s debate then refuses to attend or say his piece at the hustings on Monday ,are tory voters so detached from reality that they don’t know this CLOWN is treating them with utter contempt or are they all masochists that like being treated like shit
The election of the next PM will be decided by approx 150000 tory members yet the 65 million people in the UK will just have to suck up the decision of a shower of elderly blue rinse brigade WI baking members alongside their moustacheod colonel blimp gammons , surely it would be some kind of karmatic justice for these dodderers to vote and elect bojo , whilst Nicola gets us out of the asylum
The pressure of impending independence has finally led to callachan having a breakdown !!
Obsessing over what I think all of a sudden !
What a fruitcake.
Anti english bigot and British Nationalist callachan, accuses 2 people who have NEVER posted a single comment EVER defending anything union, unionist, tory, labour etc and clearly staunch suppoerters of independence/SNP/Scotsgov, of being British Nationalists….!
Comedy Gold.
You should be on the stage, callachan, with the rest of the planks.
Deary me !
I will NEVER support the Union even if MPs could say ;
“ I do not understand why Scotland wants another referendum as we have delivered everything we promised in 2014 to ensure a NO vote” ……….and it was true.
It’s been a tricky few years of highs and lows, keep our shoulders on the wheel, it’s only a few more turns.
The Tory Party is going to anoint an idiot who cannot even be allowed to speak in public as it would damage his chance of success.
I think we deserve better, much better.
The key point being demonstrated by the leadership debate is that England will be run by a right wing Tory Party driven by a fear of Farage.
Labour are finished as a political force. The new power base will be variations of the Tory Party / the Brexit Party / the DUP.
We will certainly move to opening the door to the American Neo liberal madness.
Independence is not only desirable it is now critical to protect our citizens.
@Terry Callachan
Sweeping generalization. I do not have a British passport, I don’t want one and am prepared to tolerate the many difficulties of not having one. What I want is a Scottish passport as a citizen of an independent European state and I am not alone in that. As for English in Scotland, my guess is that a good number would want one too. Like me they are New Scots. Please do not muddy the waters, they already run deep, dark and unpredictable.
THIS AFTERNOON: Now it’s FOUR of Scotland’s Tory MPs who are backing Boris Johnson as our future PM !
Andrew Bowie,Tory MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Douglas Ross,Tory MP for Moray
Ross Thomson,Tory MP for Aberdeen South
Colin Clark,Tory MP for Gordon
There’s a simple solution to all of this, but when it comes down to it, Scotland, whilst neither too wee nor too poor, has an electorate where the majority are without doubt too stupid.
Until that majority wake up, the electorate in Scotland will continue to be at the mercy of the electorate in England.
‘Better Together’ my backside!
Thanks very much for all the kind comments. This was a difficult one to write due to the sheer unpleasantness of all the people involved. I don’t know how Stuart manages to do it day in, day out. There’s only so many times you can read someone saying “let’s give the Scots devo-max” and then *vote down every devolution amendment* when they get the chance.
Gaaaaaaaah.
Evenin’ Al, cheers for your article
Wings readers can read more from Al here:
https://wildernessofpeace.wordpress.com/