Why women want Alba
Margaret Lynch is a former director of the anti-poverty charity War On Want, a former volunteer with Glasgow Women’s Aid and Strathclyde Rape Crisis Centre, founded the SNP Women’s Pledge and was elected to the Policy Development Committee of the SNP by the party’s members four months ago.
I’ve been a political activist for all of my adult life, firstly in the Labour Party for almost 20 years and then in the SNP for the last 23 years, and all my core beliefs and values have remained pretty constant throughout that time.
I’m a left-of-centre democratic socialist, internationalist and feminist.
A fair number of the folks that I was closest to in the Labour Party eventually ended up in the SNP – no real surprise, as we were labelled “Trot-Nats” by Brian Wilson when were in the Labour Party.
Unlike many Yessers I have the highest regard and respect for Brian – he is a values-driven politician and someone that I have always admired. The kind of country that Brian and I both want to live in would be remarkably similar. We just disagree about the route map of how to get there.
This is also true of my many friends who are currently choosing to remain in the SNP. There are really good and decent people who will stand with Nicola – notwithstanding recent events, I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person herself. But my point of departure arose because of the conflation of a number of different factors all profoundly affecting politics in Scotland.
A critical problem has been the weakness of Labour and its inability to provide robust opposition to a government that has essentially held the reins of power too long. There is something about power which tends to affect the character of those who hold it. Any party which is in power unchallenged for 14 years develops a kind of political myopia which blinds it to the need to take account of its base and accommodate the views and opinions of the broader constituency which brought it to power in the first place.
Their leaderships tend to forget that internal debate is crucial to the formation of policy – and instead of welcoming constructive debate, they target those who voice dissent.
When you then throw into the mix policy capture of the SNP leadership by an extreme transgender ideological faction which has driven government policy for the last few years, you get an administration acting to the great detriment of women and girls.
The inability of the SNP leadership to accept the simple distinction between sex and gender has led them into very troubled waters and has done real harm. It has led to vulnerable women in prisons being subjected to sexual assault by men who “identify” as women, to a local authority adopting a “gender neutral” approach to domestic violence which saw funding removed from Women’s Aid groups because they refused to admit men to refuges or work with perpetrators.
Lastly and perhaps most ludicrously it’s seen a situation arise where crossdressers – but not real women – are protected by a Hate Crimes Bill which omits misogyny from the list of prejudices it seeks to prohibit.
The response of the SNP leadership to those women who did try and constructively engage within the SNP around these issues was genuinely shocking. They stood by and watched prominent female SNP elected representatives be hounded and abused, and said nothing. They colluded in attempts to prevent the selection of gender critical candidates using all manner of chicanery.
And when a large number of us were elected by the grassroots membership to the NEC and various policy and conduct committees of the party last November, they just ignored us, snuck most of the rejected candidates back in through the back door, threw away the party rulebook and ploughed on regardless.
All of this could have been avoided. We could have conducted a sensible and informed debate around the rights of transgender people and the rights of women, and come up with practical and reasonable solutions on how to accommodate both. But instead, lazy virtue-signalling and pandering to a tiny clique of a few dozen extremist gender ideologues among a party of tens of thousands of members was deemed to be more important than addressing the very real concerns of women.
The irony of Alex Salmond presenting a solution to our problems has not escaped me. Some feminists think this is a bridge too far. But what I know is that Alex Salmond’s political survival now depends on him demonstrating at all times and to all people that he can be trusted in women’s company and to defend women’s rights.
Nicola, who I have long admired and liked, has demonstrated over and over again that she CANNOT be trusted to defend women’s rights – and in fact would throw them under a bus in a heartbeat to gain the support of the fanatical youth wing of the party, and the Greens who appear to care less about the environment than they do about bedding down Queer Theory in Scotland’s political institutions.
What drew me to join Alba was the tactical opportunity it presented:
– to ensure that there’s a party which will protect women’s rights in Scotland, and provide a safe harbour for those of us who want independence to cast our votes in the coming election without betraying our sex.
– to act as a countermeasure to the malign forces which have propelled the SNP leadership towards an agenda which is dismantling women’s rights, to speak out on the matters which affect us, and to retain safe spaces and representation.
The electoral system in Scotland means that if I cast my second vote for the SNP it will likely either transfer to a candidate who will act against my interests as a woman, or enable the election of an MSP from a party that opposes independence.
Lesley Riddoch recently stated that using the second vote to prevent these outcomes felt like “gaming” to her. But the political system is the way it is, and if there is a means of approaching it tactically to advance and restore women’s rights then I’m up for using it, whatever you call it. The issues facing women and girls are too important for us to hold our noses and look the other way.
My hope is that in the wake of these events, and hopefully with the election of some Alba members to the Scottish Parliament, that at last Nicola and the SNP leadership reach a point of humility and accept the need to collaborate with others who want to see an independent Scotland.
Hubris has been far too much in evidence of late, on all sides. Alba gives us a chance to move on. We need to get to a second independence referendum – so that we can then focus on the issues that really matter.
That’s not just the rights of women and girls, but also the crusade against poverty and inequality which to its credit the SNP has been tackling, but with one hand tied behind its back. I want an end to Universal Credit, to the hostile system for asylum seekers and refugees, to the underfunding of our public services and to Brexit.
So whilst my core values as a democratic socialist and feminist haven’t shifted much in 40 years, politically speaking I’ve become a serial monogamist. And as so many are saying, that’s not because I’ve left the SNP. It’s because the SNP left me.
It would be hard to put it better or more reasonably han that article.
That third picture – the graphics in DOOM are really amazing these days.
Well said Margaret and admire your courage for doing this as it must have been so hard after 23 years as a member of the SNP but as you rightly said the party left you.
Alba is no more “gaming the system” than the SNP did when putting BAME and Disabled (self identified) at the top of the list.
However Alba is not using discrimination to achieve its objectives.
*Gif of Leonardo DiCaprio applauding*
A perfect article for those who don’t want a fight but nevertheless need to win
For Christ’s sake Lesley Riddoch. Ireland had to gain independence by fighting the British state terrorist group the Black & Tans. If all Scotland has to do is have two indy parties at election time then why should that alienate you? I’d say your scruples are a bit too fine.
“That third picture – the graphics in DOOM are really amazing these days.”
I like the file name for that image.
Can anyone put the names to the faces?
Ms. Lynch,
Thanks for an interesting post but the Alba Party is more than just a way of keeping the SNP honest. There’s a real opportunity to set an agenda by women for women – time to grasp it with both hands and get others to do the same.
Let the SNP go. Even if Nicola was a good and decent person the party which see is supposed to lead is, in some quarters, outright hostile to women. As long as she remains leader that will continue as she is either unable or unwilling to do anything about it.
When someone shows you who they are you should act accordingly.
and perhaps most ludicrously it’s seen a situation arise where crossdressers – but not real women – are protected by a Hate Crimes Bill which omits misogyny from the list of prejudices it seeks to prohibit
Absolutely.
The solution is to get rid of “hate crimes”. It’s not a legitimate function of government to police prejudices or opinions. Making “misogyny” illegal just makes a bad situation worse.
There’s no such thing as a hate crime. No assaults, burglaries or murders are committed out of love. It’s not worse to punch someone because they’re a woman, or a transgender, or white, or brown, or whatever, than it is to punch someone because you don’t like their glasses.
Punching people is the crime, we don’t need and shouldn’t want the criminal justice system to take on the additional role of promulgating Correct Thought, or pretending words = violence. They do not.
Barring the obvious, longstanding exceptions of fraud, defamation, and literally promoting violence, the legal system shouldn’t be involved at all in determining how people may express themselves. Scots should be free to say whatever they bloody well like, and if other Scots disagree, or are offended, they should be equally free to criticise, ignore, or have nothing to do with that person.
As Margaret says, you can’t attack the structural causes of poverty unless you have the economic tools at your disposal. Increasing welfare payments treats the symptoms not the disease. As for defending women’s rights, this needs to be front and centre of Alba’s campaign and nobody better than Margaret to be arguing it. It’s an area where the SNP, Greens and Labour are really vulnerable. Just look at the kicking that Rosie Duffield is getting on twitter this morning from Labour’s trans extremists.
Again for any journalists reading the term “throwing women under a bus” is purely figurative and I am 99% sure that the author is not for a moment suggesting that the SNP are throwing actual women (adult human females) under anything but a metaphorical bus.
“Can anyone put the names to the faces?”
From front to back:
Teddy Hope
Declan Blench
Fiona Robertson
Emma Roddick
???
Jordon Henderson
Jack Deeth
Fatima Joji (90% sure)
???
???
Anyone fill in the blanks?
https://mobile.twitter.com/WhrcN/status/1377166845673840646
Norway using their Hate Crime Bil to prosecute a politician for stating only women can give birth, bloody disgusted that the country of my grandparents are behaving in this manner, although I should have expected it due to the similarities Between Scotland and Norway
Sorry Rev you have got those names wrong they are as follows
Arsheole
Arsehole
Arsehole
Arsehole
and so on
Look like NPC’s to me.
You’ve expressed my own feelings about Nicola and the SNP perfectly! Well said!
“… I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person…”
Lost me right at that point there.
She is not good and decent, she is a thoroughly rotten specimen.
No person who is ‘good and decent’ conspires to ruin the life of an innocent man and tries to send him to prison.
No.
This ‘gaming the system’ narrative is truly idiotic. For one thing, the unionist (all London based) parties set the system up to ensure one party could never have a majority. When they did so, they did it in the knowledge there were three London based unionists parties against one Scottish based pro-independence one, and they assumed it would stay that way. Hence, the SNP would never be able to achieve a majority.
At that time, support for independence was only around 22%, so in many ways it wasn’t really a problem. As support for independence rises up beyond 50% (and it’s now up to around 70% in the younger demographics) one party cannot possibly represent all those voters. So we now have a situation where our one Scottish Party and the Greens (who in policy terms are identical to the current SNP anyway, esp on things like gender issues) are trying to represent 55-60% of the population and growing, while electorally off-set by 3 anti-independence parties run from London with no other policies for Scotland beyond “no 2nd referendum; accept London rule”).
That simply isn’t a sustainable situation, and is in itself unionism gaming the system big time. The one positive of this system is that it allows new parties to emerge. This is in stark contrast to the Westminster system where both Labour and the Tories can be identical, but there is no alternative for voters who want something different. Here, we have a situation where new parties can emerge which support – or don’t – independence and give voters alternative options to the main parties. That should be embraced. Scotland is changing and its political landscape needs to change with it.
Increasingly unionism is looking backwards and outdated and so are its proponents in Scotland. The answer isn’t to yell – “You’re gaming the system!” It’s for unionism in Scotland to grow up and accept things have changed and they need to change if they want to be able to democratically represent and reflect that change. So does the BBC and media.
They are the Borg.
Denise Findlay makes a stronger case for Why Women Want Alba over at Barrhead Boy, https://www.barrheadboy.com/the-second-sex-the-second-vote-by-denise-findlay/
“Fill in the blanks”? I’m assuming that’s not a euphemism. The Herald will though.
Thon group photo.
The new ‘Miss World ‘ contestant show really has gone down the pan.Don’t think I’ll bother watching it this year.
As Margaret says, you can’t attack the structural causes of poverty unless you have the economic tools at your disposal. Increasing welfare payments treats the symptoms not the disease. As for defending women’s rights, this needs to be front and centre of Alba’s campaign and nobody better than Margaret to be arguing it. It’s an area where the SNP, Greens and Labour are really vulnerable. Just look at the kicking that Rosie Duffield is getting on twitter this morning from Labour’s trans extremists.
Got to love folk whining about gaming the Scottish Parliament’s proportional electoral system to elect politicians to administer the limited devolved powers that reside there, whilst seemingly forgetting that Westminster, where all the real power resides uses first past the post…
The master’s tools won’t disassemble the master’s hoose.
‘The irony of Alex Salmond presenting a solution to our problems has not escaped me. Some feminists think this is a bridge too far. But what I know is that Alex Salmond’s political survival now depends on him demonstrating at all times and to all people that he can be trusted in women’s company and to defend women’s rights.’
A fair point, well made. Alex Salmond can’t afford a slip up. Caesar’s wife, etc..
Nice one Margaret. Very well put.
More SNP constituency wins = more Alba regional wins.
It’s that simple.
SNP 1, Alba 2.
Well said Margaret. What would you replace Universal Credit with?
Kapelmeister,
Yes, incredibly timid from Lesley Riddoch and naive.
My apologies for coming over all Charlton Heston but Alex Salmond didn’t weaken Nicola, Nicola weakened Nicola.
@Rev Stu 12.34pm
The fifth Borg could be James Proctor, Edinburgh Central convenor? Fully paid up “there is no debate” merchant, and if memory serves someone who used the red target icon on his Twitter bio.
What was the percentage of SNP MPs elected vs their percentage of vote share again?…
That’s one system they are happy to ‘game’
Margaret, you’ve got my vote! You’ve summed the whole situation up pretty well methinks.
Agreed Dan,
The system has already been gamed before we have any interaction with it.
Everything this woman (without an x) just said.
How many times will they need to hear ‘the snp left me’ ?
I think they will take a kicking in list votes.
They certainly deserve to.
Have never spoiled a vote in my puff.
Was pretty much all set for 1) Spoiled and 2) AFI or ISP
Now, really holding nose for 1) SNP 2) Alba
(we have alasdair allan, and after that committee performance..)
Feeling much more positive about the whole game now.
Friday to Monday there, felt like a fortnight !
“I’m a left-of-centre democratic socialist, internationalist and and feminist.”
Hmm. Defining your political motivations in opposition to an imagined set of ‘others’ raises the questions of whether they actually exist or have to be made up. Cervantes made that observation, and gave the reason why people who are politically one-sided will not be trusted by the populus to hold power for very long, if at all. In a democracy this is communicated via votes, but in his time it was communicated by ridicule.
The result of such ideologically one-sidedness holding power is that society ends up going backwards. A good example of this sentimental circularity is your claim;
“I want an end to Universal Credit, to the hostile system for asylum seekers and refugees, to the underfunding of our public services and to Brexit.”
So much for the aims of Universal Basic Income, reduced overpopulation and impoverishment of indigenous working class youth, decreasingthe the tax burden on the economy, and of couse the whole concept of political independence.
I suggest a reading of Adam Smith’s ‘Theory of Moral Sentiments’ that could help overcome this frankly unsuccessful ideological bias.
Opportunity Knocks:
IMO the Alba Party should go full steam ahead and really push hard on women’s rights issues. If they get this sorted ( at least to a significant level) in the next few weeks, the results could be amazing. With the GRA problems currently plaguing the SNP leadership, it’s an open door waiting to be jumped through. So it’s very clear:
Alba –
1. Develop a strong message on women’s rights.
2. Get that message to the electorate.
Fix number 1 and number 2 will take care of itself IMO. 🙂
I’m surprised someone as smart as Lesley Riddoch would think Salmond has weakened Sturgeon. She has managed that quite nicely of her own volition in the last few months.
On some things we agree. I cannot agree however that Nicola Sturgeon REMAINS a good and honest person. She may have been at one time, but those days are in the past I fear.
I agree also that women’s rights are coming under severe threat in addition to everybody’s rights of free speech.
As we have seen on this very site, puns and metaphors become obsolete under the Hate Crime Bill. How puritanical we become depends on how avidly the law is applied.
Women in particular are going to be targetted, as you well know. Organisations and places set up to protect them become challenges and targets for those who wish them non existent apart from functioning under their bias on terms and conditions of usage.
It is a fight we simply must win.I wish you well.
Lost me when she said she liked Brian Wilson. There are not many people I despise, but he is one of them. Horrible frothing wee Brit nat.
Thankyou Margaret Lynch for your article and thankyou to Wings for publishing it.
Best wishes.
This is an outstanding piece of work. It is clear, to the point, and describes many of the issues which are causing the gradual erosion of the SNP. It only gets one thing wrong; I firmly believe that, almost from the second year of her leadership, Nicola Sturgeon has been a deliberately divisive, alienating and malevolent force in the SNP. It is hard to think of a way in which even the most diehard unionist “plant” could have done more to rip the heart out of the party I left recently.
I do hope Lesley Riddoch reviews her position.
The British establishment has admitted the system at HR is determined against there ever being any prospect of a supermajority for a single Party – ergo, independence remains in the hands of Westminster.
A super majority of Independence Parties changes that.
We really could do with people like LR.
The Train is leaving the station – decision time for many.
Take the leap of faith and get on board – or get left behind being told what to do by London Tories and harbour a grievance for the rest of your days.
Stand Together SNP 1 ALBA 2
A very reasonable argument showing the real struggle SNP stalwarts have had to come to terms with what the SNP stands for now.
Margaret leaving shows this is bigger than personal loyalties for many and she is to be commended for that. If only Nicola Sturgeon could separate what is best for Scotland from her personal loyalties to the people dragging down the SNP we would not be in this position.
The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.
The fact that NS did not decry the abuse directed at Joanna Cherry and Joan McAlpine but sent a video message to trans people was the last straw for me – I’ve nothing against trans people they can dress how they like, call themselves as they like and take as many chemicals as they wish but they are not women.
What the government going to do when 90% of the Scottish prison population self i.d as women? Are women’s prisons going to be able to manage? If not surely those male prisoners will want to be compensated.
It’s just getting better. Dot Jessiman has moved to Alba.
See the wan right at the end.Is that Michael Gove, naw surely?
The journey from Labour to the SNP and to ‘Other’is one that very many for those of us who are left of centre, democratic socialist, internationalist have travelled.
Labour left me, and so did the SNP. Eventually you canna do it anymore.
This is for information at this point. Our considered attempt to fill in some of the gaps on the Independence offer. Click the image for the document
https://www.isp.scot/heres-what-you-could-have-won-the-isp-manifesto/
The SNP sorely needs a Neil Kinnock moment, when he slaughtered the militant reds at conference and showed them the door.
Nicola needs to have this show-down with her own “gender activists”, but sadly doesn’t seem to have neither the bottle nor the inclination for it. There will have to be an SNP showdown at some stage, however, if this is ever to be sorted.
Mac – that filename is… how you say? (chef’s kiss)
Tone – In a democracy this is communicated via votes, but in his [Cervantes’] time it was communicated by ridicule.
Why not both?
Don Quixote did nothing wrong though.
What more can a man with romance in his heart ask for?
I am going for a walk. She mentions Brian Wilson and I start to foam at the mouth. I caught rabies metaphorically from him.
Can you imagine a Gordon Wilson or an Alex Salmond putting up with the nonsense currently wrecking the SNP? Me neither – the loony contingent currently dictating party policy would have been dealt with swiftly and brutally. When a ship runs aground, the captain has to take full responsibility.
Breastplate says: at 1:00 pm
“Agreed Dan,
The system has already been gamed before we have any interaction with it.”
Aye, but the system has other tools that could be utilised. However the big old sovereignty spanner lies dusty and unused in the bottom of the tool box, much to the consternation of Breeks and many others.
I could envisage many of our current “brightest and best” political class members rocking up to change a dual mass flywheel on a Mondeo armed with a No.9 crochet needle and a feather duster, whilst oblivious to the contents of the full Snap On automotive tool chest sitting next to the vehicle. 🙁
Thank you for this article. Always good to hear coherent viewpoints from differing perspectives.
One wee side point that is occasionally touched on. How much of an insult is it to biological women, the ‘image’ many of these trans people and drag queens have of what it is to be ‘a woman’. Really weird.
@Clavie Cheil says: 31 March, 2021 at 1:17 pm
“I am going for a walk. She mentions Brian Wilson and I start to foam at the mouth. I caught rabies metaphorically from him.”
That’s because he’s a weasel.
Struan Born @ 1.22
Don’t be so absurd!
What kind of male prisoner would self-id as a woman to get moved to an all female prison with single cells?
The ‘good ones’ – Young terrified males. Males who have been raped. Males who want to move closer to home. Males who have political opinions and want to ‘highlight’ the absurdity of it all.
The ‘bad’ ones – Rapists, murders, paedophiles.
We truly are on the road to madness.
ALBA has the potential to right the ship before one of these ‘transgender’ criminals has the chance to rape and murder a female inmate.
Big Jock @ 1:03 pm
“Lost me when she said she liked Brian Wilson.”
Aye, perhaps the real problem with the SNP is that there are too many ex Labour people in it and the party became just like Labour.
Few of them appear to even understand what independence is (it is decolonisation) or why it is essential (necessary to remove an oppressor).
These folk think independence is just a change of governance and political ideology, when it is about the reclaiming of national sovereignty of an entire people and the protection of their national culture.
Alba are coalescing around independence.
The SNP are congealing around the wokeratti. Nicola brought this on herself.
I wonder where the money is ?
P.S. Alex Salmond was found not guilty on all charges. Brian Wilson remains a disgrace.
Re photo: 4th from front is Emma Roddick.
A very generous article, especially towards Nicola Sturgeon. Your decency shines through in every sentence. Would like to think that it might give the SNP pause to wonder why they’ve alienated people of integrity like yourself, but no doubt the bluehair who does the media monitoring has already just filed this under TERF.
Agree entirely, that is all.
Applauds
Terrified Teddy Hope, survivor of The Bearsden Incident looks very relaxed there. I’m assuming this picture was taken before he encountered women who held opinions he didn’t like.
Moving on to the substance of the article, this part sums it up for me:
“All of this could have been avoided. We could have conducted a sensible and informed debate around the rights of transgender people and the rights of women, and come up with practical and reasonable solutions on how to accommodate both. ”
That was all anyone was looking for. I raised the issue with an elected member I’d always have described as reasonable, open and approachable and was absolutely floored by their reaction to a very mild question asking if it wouldn’t be possible to include exemptions for some single sex spaces in any reform of the GRA. Note I wasn’t opposing reform of the GRA or calling for any loss of rights but trying to find a way through it. For this I was accused of entering a culture war, attacking Womens Aid (me neither) and of believing transwomen were a danger to others. None of that could reasonably be inferred from my question I had said nothing to warrant such an aggressive response. Upon protesting I was told that GRA reform was in the manifesto and if I didn’t like it I shouldn’t have voted SNP.
I would have preferred to remain a member of the SNP but I arrived at the conclusion that the SNP were trying to get rid of some of the support they regarded as embarrassing and that they’re of the view that people like me will either wheesht for indy or leave and be replaced by someone more on message.What they failed to factor into their calculations was another party with a bit of clout appearing to take all that support they didn’t want.
Still I’m sure they know what they’re doing.
This is a thoughtful, generous and well reasoned rationale for moving away from the SNP.
@Tone 1:02, did you just mansplain politics to a woman who has been a committed political activist and professional for about 50 years? I think you did!
I really hate this whole gaming the system nonsense, the Alba party are giving me someone to vote for as up until the party appeared i was politically homeless and at the end of the day thats what democracy is about. The unionists have a number of different branch offices they can vote for and now independence supporters have a choice too rather than getting the entitled condescending ‘well who are you going to vote for if not the SNP?’
Brian Wilson, nuclear’s frothing Scottish weasel.
You can ignore reality but you can’t ignore the effects of reality.
This talk of “gaming the system” I don’t understand at all.
In an electoral system where voters have two votes:
1 for a local representative and
2 for a regional party preference;
but in exercising that “freedom” there are arbitrary “laws” that the voter should not in fact have a free choice but must/should vote in a particular way according to the dictates of the dominant Unionist/SNP powers.
As far as I understand it, the SNP says that to vote SNP for the local constituency and Green for the List is ok but to vote SNP for the local constituency and Alba for the List gives them vapours and is therefore illegitimate.
OT So lockdown restrictions ease in England and my holiday home owning neighbours have just rocked up from down south, yet I can’t leave my local authority area to finally visit my family in the Scottish borders till the 26th April.
@Rikali says: 31 March, 2021 at 1:35 pm
“This talk of “gaming the system” I don’t understand at all.”
When your side does it, it’s within the rules.
When the other side does it, it’s gaming the system.
Is that not Emma Roddick fourth from the left? The #1 on the SNP’s H&I list.
This is a fantastic and very heartening statement. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
We’re not gaming the system, we’re shaming the system.
Regarding the picture is that not the new yoof wing of the Greens or was the mass flounce off just a PR stunt.
Dan@1:40
Tell them to eff-off back home or call the police on them for breaking COVID rules.
Well that is what most of us have said or wanted to say, but never found the right words in which we said it.. Thank You, you make it all become so clear without any hatred for anyone, but certainly a lot of disappointment for the leadership of today’s SNP.
Up until this election the SNP has been the only party I have voted for in 54yrs since turning the age to vote..
I admit to being a huge Alex Fan, as I felt with him we would definitely get the chance at going for INDEPENDENCE. And he delivered, as soon as he got the majority in 2011, he moved in getting us a referendum. And did so, with poll only in the 20% bracket..
When he stepped down after losing that vote, I was happy to see Nicola take over, I always believed that with Alex being her mentor for so many years, that they were more or less cut from the same cloth.. When we got 56MPs in 2015, I really thought something was changing in our favour..
Then Brexit happening in 2016, surely that was the change in circumstances, that Nicola kept talking about being a reason to hold another referendum, & with all those MPs, & at that time all the infighting among the Tories in WM. Surely the advantage of all that, would be taken on board.. But instead we were watching Nicola head of to LONDON to try to SAVE England from their legal democratic vote, while ignoring the 120,000 marchers shouting for INDEPENDENCE on her own doorstep..
Something was wrong, 2017 saw the SNP not even bother fighting for the GE called by May. So to lose some of our MPs, was NO surprise. Plus I honestly believe that people were scunnered by the BREXIT vote & us having the majority of MPs from Scotland and yet, NOTHING changed.. we saw NO action at all in getting us away from the bampots in WM.. Our Voters did stay home..
With Alex gone from both parliaments now. We were truly seeing a different party form under Nicola & it was not a party that was showing any interest in INDEPENDENCE..
I decide enough was enough in 2018.. Scotland was doomed forever be a colony of England now…
I knew I would never vote for the SNP again.. Not under Nicolas leadership, or as we believe is the plan for when she does step down, A Robertson’s takes over. I saw No-one in that party now other than Joanna Cherry that would not be afraid to take WM on.. And they did what they could to stop her even standing for HR..
I was going to vote ISP and just spoil my first vote. But now, with ALBA & the one person I know who WOULD & WILL if given half the chance ensure this country gets it’s INDEPENDENCE. I will do as Alex wants, & I will HOLD my nose, & give the SNP my 1st vote, it really goes against everything I think of them now. But, I trust Alex Salmond..And I trust that he will also if given the chance, right the wrongs of these GRA & HCBs.
Nicola destroyed the internal democracy of the Party.
She trampled on the democratic Rights of the membership
As a leader it was her duty to listen to the concerns of Women – not ignore them.
It was her job to stop the attacks on members and elected officials but she said nothing.
She put the cult ahead of everything else and denied all debate.
I will still stick to the SNP1/ALBA2 because Independence is back on track.
As regards the comment by Lesley Riddoch
The “British” used German Mercs to fight Americans seeking Independence.
The “British” starved and beat Indians seeking a peaceful route to Independence.
The “Bitish” starved, hung, shot, etc etc the Irish
We are voting for a Party in a democratic election – get some perspectives!
“gaming the system”
It must be that I am just getting far too old for political correctness or simply that the breaks to speak my mind my brain should still have in good order have been completely worn out after 6 exasperating years of watching Nicola Sturgeon and the rotting carcass she has left of the SNP letting us down year after year, month after month, week after week, and she still at it today.
I am sorry, but 70 years after the British state has been “gaming the system” to drain Scotland out of its wealth, 20 years after the British state has been “gaming the system” to ensure England indulging in exorbitant debt and can continue borrowing at the expense of Scotland’s assets and can continue parking its WMD away from its own territory, the overblown purism displayed by the brigade of the SNP1&2 to avoid prejudicing those parties that have been gaming the system against us, comes across as totally misplaced and if I may say so, laughable.
When you put into the equation the fact that the England parties in Scotland have been gaming the system for over 20 years, first by giving their Scottish branches pseudonyms to fool us into believing they have an autonomy they do not really have and to hide the fact that the leader of those parties are England MPs elected to fight for England’s interests against those of Scotland, secondly by using money raised by membership elsewhere in Scotland’s elections, thirdly by ensuring there is only one favourite candidate among the three parties for constituency, by either arranging for tactical voting or by fielding paper candidates and fourthly by for example UKIP running only in the list in 2016 with nobody complaining, frankly the question “are you fcking serious?” comes to the fore.
But when you realise that this voting system was implemented precisely for “gaming the system” of Scotland’s democracy to stop the people of Scotland seeing THEIR parliament dominated by the SNP after getting an absolute majority, then you really have to ask to the faux purists:
Do you really want independence or are you trying to take us for fools?
I am sorry, but looking to be more papist than the pope indulging the England parties that have been relentlessly denying us democracy and our right to self determination for so bloody long, when we have been forced to work against a system that was precisely designed to ensure dominance of England parties in our own effing parliament, really does not fly.
I have to say that I had a lot of respect and admiration for Ms Riddoch until this “gaming the system” nonsense.
This election is not a happy family table game where you give your opponent significant advantage so they can beat you, but you will be seen as fair. If we let our opponents to win we will not be seen as fair. We will be seen as weak and laughed at. This is real life. It is our livelihoods, our rights, our democracy, our popular sovereignty, our autonomy and our own country what we are voting for, not to give the colonial parties an easy ride. And if to protect all those precious things that are meaningful to us we have to “game” a system that was specifically designed to game us, then bring it on and for heaven’s sake, open your eyes and stop clutching those faux pearls!
Another good article. I no longer think Nicla has ‘lost her way’, but if other do, that’s up to them.
I’m struck by some recent long term supporters of Indy – and their current ‘change of tune’.
I could understand the ‘Johnny come lately’ label against AFI and ISP – even though I did not agree with it.
Coupled with, we still need the SNP – its the only way. Even though all efforts to fix the SNP were failing big time. I could understand the blind loyalty, even if I had moved past that point.
But Alba and Alex – and the shear number of people joining it, plus front page headlines across the board – I really struggle for a person to still claim, aye, but what good will they do, we need to stick to the SNP and we need, ‘ Manifesto for Indy’.
So, to recap, a group of people, getting together, organising itself into an electable alternative to vote for Indy is bad.
But sticking with the SNP – ensuring no change in direction for it – when it clearly has issues – and a single person producing a ‘manifesto for indy’ out their arse is good!?
And as for others, becoming timid. Some jobs are so high profile and well paid, with quite a bit of ‘soft’ power, you become a bit ‘bullet proof’.
I’m quite sure a few decades of that kind of ‘protection’ would make you think it was all down to your own unique personal strengths and qualities.
Things like convictions for drink driving, publically committing domestic assault – never get mentioned, or reported. People, and more importantly the press, look away.
But they do not forget. And some organisations have the records.
I would not be surprised if a ‘gentle reminder’ has come a knocking at this perilous time for rUK.
Speculation on my part of course, and no names either – quite deliberately on my part.
‘Nicola Sturgeon REMAINS a good and honest person.’
A lorry driver friend of mine drank a bottle of whisky before driving his big truck into a house, nearly demolishing it.
But he remains a good and honest person.
Can someone please help I’m trying to access the live feed for the Alba Party regarding the National Candidate Launch Event but I can’t access it on there site so where is it.
Is Fiona Robertson a transwoman? I’d kill for those forearms.
Emma Roddick next to Fiona
This is another good move for Alba. And as Cath above so puts well across is the fact we have 3 unionist parties against a small one in Westminster (SNP) and a large and small one (SNP and Greens) in Holyrood.
Having a third and potentially bigger (than the greens) Independence Party at Holyrood it can only mean a bigger Independence majority. Also Alba will carry a lot more clout having the big hitters onboard such as Salmond and Mackaskill.
Don’t agree with Leslie Riddock ref Alba as having them as 2 on the list ballot will mean more strong Independence MSP’s onboard and hopefully rid us of some of the Con, Labour and LibDem MSP wasters currently sitting in Holyrood.
What’s not to like.
A very diplomatic post.
NS may have been a good person but she is no longer.
Lied and conspired to have an innocent man jailed.
Refused to accept the verdict of the jury.
Doubled down on her lies and hatred.
Watched as Joanna C thrown to the wolves.
Still no comment from NS when JC has had to take time out for health reasons.
These are not the actions of a decent human being.
On the previous thread, folk gave reasons for voting SNP 1, I understand all of those reasons.
If SNP fail in the constituency vote, they are very likely to gain list votes to the detriment of Alba.
I am in NSs constituency and will vote against her in the Constituency vote, not enough pegs in the world to make me change my mind.
Garrion says:
31 March, 2021 at 1:30 pm …..
“@Tone 1:02, did you just mansplain politics to a woman who has been a committed political activist and professional for about 50 years? I think you did!”
Yes, because it is obvious that the writer’s political ideology, plied as you say for 50 years or so, has not actually been successful. Worse, it is has been counterproductive. Look at the state of Scotland today; it is evident that more of that old ‘progressive’ misanthropy will only make things worse.
As I said, Adam Smith holds the key to solving this essentially sentimental paradox, and points to a genuinely philanthropic approach as being truly progressive.
BTW your use of ‘mansplaining’ speaks of a zero-sum attitude that Smith ‘mansplained’ as anti-progress.
I keep seeing this “gaming democracy” narrative coming up, mainly from the SNP. They really have a cheek. They have lied, redacted, bullied and cheated their way through for years in the run up to this. They can’t win the women’s rights arguement, so they ban it, even in the privacy of our own homes. That was the last straw for me. The SNP have “gamed the system” to screw the majority of the population over for gender bollocks, while keeping themselves on the gravy train. Meanwhile Alba seek to use the system as found and “that’s cheating!”. All this talk of “gaming” is pure bullshit from bullshiters who wouldn’t know how to tell the truth or behave fairly if their very seats depended on it. And it just so happens that they do.
I’ll be voting Alba 2, but I honestly don’t think I can bring myself to vote SNP 1 at this point. Their lies and games that effect real people in real ways while they smugly deny any wrongdoing make me feel sick. The SNP left me alright, utterly f*cking disgusted. And anyone even still thinking about voting for the Greens needs their harddrive examined.
Ref S30 order. Not needed as this is the other so called Act of Union partner (England) agreeing the result of the Sovereign people of Scotland asking to leave the Act of Union.
If they (England) don’t want to have a S30 order that’s their problem. England doesn’t own Scotland although some people think they do.
Many countries have become Independent and not been recognised intially by some other countries.
So fine if England doesn’t want to recognise a Sovereign people’s right to be Independent from another partner state that’s their problem not Scotland’s.
Poll out for panel base Scots voting intentions , in referendum, when it should be, in scots parly, who is most trustworthy Salmond/Sturgeon/ Johnston , lots of transright questions.
Will be interesting to see results , presumably out for This Sundays or next Sundays papers.
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
31 March, 2021 at 12:34 pm
“Can anyone put the names to the faces?”
From front to back:
Teddy Hope
Declan Blench
Fiona Robertson
Councillor Emma Roddick, Inverness
???
Jordon Henderson
Jack Deeth
???
???
???
“The Train is leaving the station – decision time for many.
Take the leap of faith and get on board – or get left behind being told what to do by London Tories and harbour a grievance for the rest of your days.”
Did they not say something like that during the darkest times of World War 2? It sounded like a good idea at the time, but it was a disaster for many.
Think about what Robin McAlpine had to say a few months ago: “The foundations of the SNP are rotten and you cannot build anything on top of that.” Are you suggesting we just all decide to hop aboard with Holyrood’s Storm Troops for the next 5-years and hope for the best? We’ll fix it all later?
I posted a comment earlier today regarding an unsafe school which Scotgov and their lawyers have ignored for the past 7-years. It lasted less than two hours and was taken down. The chap who has helped me most has had his whole site taken down earlier in the week. Is this the type of Scotland you want to live in?
I posted off advice I had received from the Institution of Structural Engineers to my MSP, who is the MSP for Dumbarton, on Monday morning. It said: “If you ever see anything which in incorrect, then report it straight away. It is your ethical and legal duty to do that and you will be protected.”
Try doing that in Scotland just now and they will hang you from a tree and that has been the case for many years and so forgive me if I do not share your confidence that this train journey of yours will bring happiness to all.
Our government and our lawyers are now interdependent and that brings with it great risks for the public. This has only happened during this parliament and it really needs to be stopped. I am neither Labour or SNP and I look upon this from a social justice perspective and not a political one.
We all have a right to expect honesty and we are very far from that at Holyrood at the moment. In my opinion we are living through the darkest of times in Scotland just now. I notice you mention Brian Wilson and I think if Scotland were to be run by folk of that calibre then I think many of us would feel a lot more at ease than we do at the moment.
This case will be solved on Friday and we’ll all know whether I have been right for the past 7-years, or wrong. If I have been right, then we are faced with another Edinburgh Sick Kids disaster.
I’ll watch with interest how long this post lasts.
The SNP left me….not before robbing me.
I never stopped to consider how ALBA might be embraced by those in Scottish Labour who were closet Independentists, but could never quite bring themselves to go full-on SNP.
Independence with ALBA might be more palatable for some than Independence, through the SNP… and that might apply to certain voters too. Who knows?
Bottom line is, ALBA feels like a long overdue change of pace, and a tremendously positive development with all kinds of spin-offs, options and benefits.
Clearly Lesley Riddoch doesn’t think it’s all that important that someone like me (and many others) who supports Independence and womans rights should have anyone to vote for so long as we don’t “game the system ”
Lets not forget the SNP are using Independence voters vote as a proxy to pass the HCB & GRA reform which the vast majority of us don’t want, because they know we have no one else to vote for, that’s “gaming the system”
I can’t believe that independence supporters like Leslie are using expressions like gaming the system. What is she worried about, offending unionists!
As far as I am concerned , I want rid of every unionist MSP and I don’t care how we do it. I don’t care if they aren’t represented in our parliament. Because they have no business being in an institution of a nation that they don’t believe should exist.
Today England congratulates itself on not being institutionally racist. Well it would, wouldn’t it.
The oldest racism that of official England regarding Scotland as inferior is, however, very much the active default mode.
Too small, too poor is only the iceberg’s tip. The nasty, cultural supremacist stuff you find in the books on British history.
No one would have guessed that in 1066 England was annexed by Normandy whose rulers then set about doing an inventory of how much the place was worth.
Honi soit qui mal y pense etc.
What’s with Lesley Riddoch these days?
This woman in Maastricht, The Netherlands, is doing Scotland proud, as a Piper playing ‘Highland Cathedral’.
‘Not a dry eye in the House’.
Enjoy.
https://tinyurl.com/38r3bc4h
Yikes. What a photo.
Anyone else reading tweets like the above by people they had so much in common with (politically) and thinking wait, what?
What happened to people? Or is it that I see things in a new light now? Maybe both. Whatever it is, I can’t bear certain personalities and comedians who are so pro-SNP and anti anyone else. Changed days.
100%Yes @ 2.02 pm
“ Can someone please help I’m trying to access the live feed for the Alba Party regarding the National Candidate Launch Event but I can’t access it on there site so where is it. “
This should give you the link to the Alba Candidate Launch page ,
https://www.albaparty.org/national_candidate_launch_event
There have only been 5 Holyrood Elections since it was created.
And since Alex won in 2007… it sort of means that Scotland’s voters are very quick learners.
Looking again at the rough numbers for Mid Scot List votes from 2016
SNP about 120,000
Cons about 73,000
Labour 51,000
LD’s 20,000
Grns 18,000
SNP got zero reps out of that. Nill, None, Nadda.
They took much the same figures in 6 out of the 7 ‘bits’ of the Region – the difference being that in the Fife areas the Tory and Labour vote share was swapped. Only North Perthshire (or it might have been south Pthsr) voted for a majority of Tories rather than SNP.
So, 120,000 compared to the next biggest vote of 73,000 – gets you nothing.
Don’t know about you, but I think that level of democratically expressed political voting expression deserves getting elected reps to represent it.
Anyone arguing ‘both votes snp’ would be as well saying, just don’t bother with your second vote, throw it away, its rubbish and counts for nothing.
OT Can anyone provide me with a pithy guide to the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of Covid Safe Campaigning. Thanks.
I suspect Lesley Riddoch enjoys journeying to indy a bit too much and prefers it to getting there. I could be wrong, but she has created the doubt.
How can you be an “internationalist”, “socialist” and a Scottish nationalist all in one? Why pursue nationalism and proclaim you are an internationalist. And what is nationalism + socialism. Ahh… it’s national socialism.
https://caltonjock.com/2021/03/31/the-1707-incestuous-marriage-of-england-to-scotland-was-against-natural-law-and-should-be-annulled/
The increased taxation impacted adversely on key Scottish industries. The key Scottish fishing industry was subjected to debilitating new salt taxes.
But the English needed the money to pay for their expansionist policies and wars against France, Spain and other European nations, many of whom had been allied to Scotland for centuries.
Westminster also introduced customs and excise control which brought with it the employment of a huge number of customs and excise officers who enforced many new bureaucratic procedures. The result was a further marked increase in poverty as finance was taken away from Scotland to feed the gluttony of the English parliament at Westminster.
@2:53
That tired old rubbishy jibe.
Al Dente stuck in the pasta.
Those like Lesley complaining about Alba gaming the system.
Need to remember that when the unionists set up the parliament, it was gamed against the SNP in the first place. I say use their weapon against them, rather than allowing their weapon to blockade and hamper our progress.
It’s time that we had our chance to run the show. The unionists have been getting free seats for far too long. They are utterly useless individuals.
The lass to the left of Fiona Robertson is Emma Roddick. She was put to the top of the List in my Constituency of Highlands & Islands. Her dubious claim of having a disability sent her to the top, despite being unpopular with members.
Cenchos
I don’t know – I was looking over some of her twitter feed and its as if the penny just hasn’t dropped.
There was me thinking she was pretty smart.
It really is surprising the amount of people incapable of thinking outside of the box. That said, I am positive ALBA will get plenty of List Seats – my spidey sense says 12 to eighteen, but let’s see what comes out of polling.
True story, couple of years ago, a group held a meeting in Dundee in a building that is dedicated to those hard of hearing.
Leslie – lets not game the system – was a speaker.
The purpose was to ensure the campaign for Indy learned from the previous campaing and improved tactics.
The set up is a large canteen area and meeting / conference room separated by a partition wall. Large double doors in the middle.
I took the day off work (legitimately I might add) to attend. It was the day before I was to be fitted with hearing aids.
It was hot day.
I was sitting at the back of the room, unfortunately someone opened the double doors behind us and the clattering coming from the canteen area meant I could no longer hear Leslie.
So I got up and closed them. Only for the lovely Leslie to go on and make really pointed catty remarks about it later.
She gave a good talk by the way, very useful. Glad I got to hear it. Could have done without the bitchieness. But hey, broad church an all that. I never bought her book though or contributed to her request for funding her her latest film project. Have my limits.
There are people out there who have had decades of working in very high profile positions, with all the right contacts, for whom the normal rules of conduct have not applied.
After decades of that I don’t doubt that they would believe their ‘bullet proofness’ was all down to their strengths and personality.
Must be a great big, huge shock to the system, when the support gets pulled away big time and some old misdemeanours can be very publically brought to the fore.
Lets just concentrate on the ground that needs covered, and if there are those determined not to, or trying to tell us not to, lets just assume they have their own issues to contend with.
Thinking about it, the entire political system is gamed. There is an inherent dishonesty about the debate in Scotland as no one is talking about the future. No party is putting their vision for a gradualist, more-devolution-maybe approach to the electorate. And yet that is, in essence, what all parties are planing for us. A bit of horse trading where WM takes powers from HR which it needs because of Brexit, and hands back some complex difficult to administer things (like a few more benefits powers) but without the real power or fiscal levers do make real changes. The SNP and greens are not telling the electorate anything about their HCB, GRA policies because they know how badly they’d play.
So the populace watch BBC debate where 5 grey people talk about nothing much and lie to them about their plans for the future. At the very least the public deserve honesty: have a debate where Alba shares their vision for an independent Scotland; the SNP shares their vision of the next 10-20 years, whatever that is; the unionist parties tell us what their policies are beyond just ‘no second referendum’. And if parties are going to focus on things like GRA and HCB then have the guts to sell them to the public rather than hide behind “vote for an independence referendum via a S30 which we probably can’t deliver”.
Hey Folks,
Can you get behind this petition rejecting the plans for mixed sex toilets at Musselburgh High School.
Don’t think we need to spell out the dangers.
https://m.facebook.com/100006544368751/posts/2995491324012317/?sfnsn=scwspmo#
Sorry, you’ll need Facebook.
kapelmeister
Unfortunately, she seems to have signed on with the “independence, any day now” carrot danglers that run The National.
It is difficult to get a woman to understand something when her salary depends upon her not understanding it.
Bit of a pity since her mam came from the right part of the country.
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/latest-dot-jessiman-joins-alba/?fbclid=IwAR1qN-DY6HKo6bHA9-HGUpOPNnZC1b1UzqCM2yyPNUiTYoLxnRn7-OPDFMM
Breeks @ 2:30 pm
“I never stopped to consider how ALBA might be embraced by those in Scottish Labour who were closet Independentists, but could never quite bring themselves to go full-on SNP.”
My problem is I don’t believe Kerevan, MacAskill and Salmond are full-on independentists. More closet Labour.
I think this is quite well writtten and a very good point about Alex having to be on his best behaviour with women, which had been one of my concerns. He hasnt done anything criminal or anything many other men haven’t done, ie cheated on his wife, been attracted to young women etc and everyone should be allowed a second chance & if women trust him that is good, But i also think nobody should blame women who are not yet ready to trust him. Time will tell.
One thing though, I disagree about Nicola being a decent person and if she is so concerned about poverty, why hasnt the Scottish government used its tax raising powers better and taken over the benefits systems. Sturgeons own constituency is a disgrace. She cares about nobody but herself imo
shiregirl says:
Yikes. What a photo.
Anyone else reading tweets like the above by people they had so much in common with (politically) and thinking wait, what?
What happened to people? Or is it that I see things in a new light now? Maybe both. Whatever it is, I can’t bear certain personalities and comedians who are so pro-SNP and anti anyone else. Changed days.
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978) is superficially about a society of human beings being infiltrated and replaced by alien pod persons who outwardly resemble the people they’ve usurped, but express no emotion other than malice and have no apparent purpose except to dominate.
There is no evidence that the scriptwriters had a palantir which allowed them to scry into the grim, septum-pierced future of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP. But French literary theorist Roland Barthes’ celebrated 1967 essay informed us that the author is dead anyway, and the true source of meaning lies in the interpretation of the reader.
I can read.
Therefore, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978) is indeed literally what has happened to the formerly Scottish, formerly National Party, which retains the familiar exterior forms we recognise but is something worse than dead inside. It no longer seems to particularly like Scots, Scotland, or the idea of nation states, but it does lust for dominance even over what topics you may or may not discuss around your own dinner table.
When you see someone on Twitter figuratively point and shriek, mouth agape and moustache askew, like Donald Sutherland at the end of that film, what you are observing is a form of communication, but it’s not aimed at you. It’s aimed at their fellow pod-people, whose estrangement from humanity is reflected in their sadomasochistic relationship with logic, laughter, and biological reality itself.
Also, Leonard Nimoy was in it.
Al Dente at 2.53.
Being so clearly obtuse makes you look like a twit. Think about it. How can you be an internationalist without first being a nationalist? You firstly need ‘nations’ for the ‘inter’ bit. Its what the British nationalist mindset doesnt get. They dont see themselves as nationalist, but everyone else is. Its the British nationalist exceptionalist mindset.
Calling the author of this piece a nazi, because that is what you are doing, bankrupts anything you say. Nationalism, internationalism, socialism, they all have variable meanings. It is beyond ludicrous to suggest Margaret Lynch wants to gas Jews. The SNP & BNP dont espouse the same type of nationalism. Either acknowledge the vagaries of language or apply for a job with Tom Gordon who also uses language to twist what people are really saying.
The question is, what type of nationalist are you. Ms Lynch sets out her position very reasonably.
“The irony of Alex Salmond presenting a solution to our problems has not escaped me. Some feminists think this is a bridge too far”
I don’t see any irony – the man was acquitted. I’ve said before that I’d feel safer in a room alone with him than any of the ladyboys.
@Macaulay Culkin at 1:07 pm
You say
I firmly believe that, almost from the second year of her leadership, Nicola Sturgeon has been a deliberately divisive, alienating and malevolent force in the SNP.
From Wiki
In May 2015, it was announced that [Lesley] Evans would be the first woman to become the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government, taking up the position on 1 July 2015.
Coincidence?
I think not.
Anybody told Ms.Riddoch that there are 3 unionist parties who have ‘gamed’ the system?
Got these figures elsewhere. FPTP @ Westminster.
SNP – 13% of seats on 3% of vote.
If FPTP was used at Holyrood, there’d be a handful of non SNP MSPs (Borders, Orkney/Shetland)
If FPTP is good enough for the Mother of all Parliaments, why not Holyrood?
Rev Stu
Are we aware that the picture label of the trans bench of of bampots says? Might cause another bout of pearl clutching.
Whenever a SNP pol or supporter whines about “gaming the system”, remind them the supposed flaw that allows Alba to do this (list-only parties/candidates) could have been fixed at any point in the past 5 years.
Since 2016, Holyrood has controlled its own voting system.
Far too many tweets like this, it can only lose alba votes IMO…… https://twitter.com/scotlandpage/status/1377269753979543552/photo/1
Well said, Ms. Lynch
Al Dente @ 2:53 pm
“How can you be an “internationalist”, “socialist” and a Scottish nationalist all in one?”
Many still get aspects of political ideologies mixed up when considering the matter of national independence. As Cesaire noted, the quest for national liberation, which depends on national consciousness, is a quite separate matter “from the conflict between capitalism and the proletariat”.
According to Frantz Fanon: “..culture is the expression of national consciousness”. “National consciousness”, which is dependent on a peoples’ culture and mother language (i.e. Scots language) which gives us our national identity, “is not nationalism”. It is our national consciousness which “is the only thing that will give us an international dimension”.
In other words, it is national consciousness which provides the basis for the desire of a defined ‘people’ to seek national independence in the first place. This is a quite separate matter from conflicting political ideologies.
“Far from keeping aloof from other nations…it is national liberation which leads the nation to play its part on the stage of history. It is at the heart of national consciousness that international consciousness lives and grows. And this two-fold emerging is ultimately the source of all culture”.
AKA-Kieran
Good point, well made.
Up until Eck announced the formation of ALBA, I was set to spoil my Constituency vote, and give my List vote to one of the new pro-INdependence parties there.
Now, most of these new parties are joining with ALBA, so ALBA will get my vote – and not merely because I have joined that Party.
However, it is all about maximising the pro-INdependence vote, and, for that to happen, I will have to, albeit reluctantly, hold my nose and vote SNP on the Constituency vote.
SNP – Constituency; ALBA – List, is the surest way to maximise the pro-Independence vote and hasten Scotish Independence. Yes, given the recent behaviour of the SNP, it’s a hard choice, but, for the best future for Scotland, hard choices will need to be made.
@AKA-Kieran says:
31 March, 2021 at 3:45 pm
Far too many tweets like this, it can only lose alba votes IMO…… https://twitter.com/scotlandpage/status/1377269753979543552/photo/1
Wee bit disingenuous taking that tweet out of context Kieran. As you well know it was in response to someone saying they would not vote SNP at all. Not sharing the full exchange can only cast doubt on your motives IMO.
My my – Humza will have FuzzScotland searching for whoever gave the filename to the third image above!
Unionist parties, gaming the system…..good. Pro independence parties, gaming the system…..baaad. go forth and multiply you unionist twats.
I think 3rd from the right in the picture is Fatima Joji. #1 on the SNP list for the North-East.
In the picture, could it be Cameron ‘Mammoth Whale’ Archibald who is between Emma Roddick and Jordon?
David says:
31 March, 2021 at 4:07 pm
In the picture, could it be Cameron ‘Mammoth Whale’ Archibald who is between Emma Roddick and Smith’s bydie in
That was who I thought it was Mammoth Spunktrumpet Whale, sorry, every time I see this picture of kiddy fiddlers my Tourettes kicks into overdrive
Maybe should stop framing the SNP1/ALBA2 as a #BOTHVOTESYES and just ask these worrywarts and hand wringers…
“2nd vote is for who you want as opposition – unionist welps or an indy focussed party prepared to actually hold allies (for the most part) to account (unlike the greens who are two busy smelling their and shite to care about what good for the country)?”
#YourPreferredGovt1/YourPreferredOpposition2 (No, you’re to long for a hashtag!)
Hi Captain Yossarian.
You typed,
“I posted a comment earlier today regarding an unsafe school which Scotgov and their lawyers have ignored for the past 7-years. It lasted less than two hours and was taken down.”
This page has no comments from this morning. The first is at 12:13 pm.
However, you have a comment on this linked page –
https://wingsoverscotland.com/the-seekers-of-fury/comment-page-1/#comment-2640735
at 9:07 am, which is still there. It starts,
“I keep wishing the folk at Butterstone School well in their campaign. They are on the Holyrood hamster-wheel: you write to them and they don’t respond; you write to their lawyers and they don’t respond either.”
Dot Jessiman, who exposed what was going on in the SNP NEC has joined ALBA.
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/03/31/latest-dot-jessiman-joins-alba/
Bit of 2016 Holyrood voting data. Just to chew upon.
The SNP won 59 of the 73 constituency seats with 46.5% of the votes. The Conservatives won seven (22.0% of votes), Liberal Democrats four (7.9%) and Labour three (22.6%).
**** The Unionists are going to try and get their voters to vote tactically on this – how do we get the voters to do the same? Plenty Labour who want Indy, plenty LD’s who didn’t want pulled out of Europe, quite possibly some in the Tories who didn’t want pulled out of Europe either. Just some thoughts.
In the list voting, the SNP had 41.7% of votes, the Conservatives 22.9%, Labour 19.1%, Greens 6.6% and Liberal Democrats 5.2%. UKIP led the ‘others’ with 1.9%.
This earned the Conservatives 24 list seats, Labour 21, Greens six, SNP four and Liberal Democrats one.
Turnout at 55.8% for the constituency contests and 55.9% for the list voting was significantly higher than in 2011 (50.5% and 50.4% respectively).
**** We max the yes – then voter turn out can be much better than this. *****
This bit below might be of use – re Holiday Home voters:
In the 63 constituencies for which data are available, new electors added to the register between December and March amounted to 3.8% of the electorate while those added between March and April constituted 2.2%.
The total varied from less than 2% in two constituencies to more than 10% in four. *** Anyone know which 4 constituencies?
Across 58 constituencies, electors aged 16-17 accounted for 2% of the electorate, the figures ranging narrowly from 1.1% to 2.7%.
Quite a shock reading that. Thanks, Ms Lynch. If I was still a member I’d be off too.
SNP’s priorities have shifted. They should rename as the Gender (Women & Girls Excluded) Party. At least that would be honest.
I wasn’t going to vote at all but now I’ll vote SNP (reluctantly) and ALBA.
Luigi says:
31 March, 2021 at 1:14 pm
The SNP sorely needs a Neil Kinnock moment, when he slaughtered the militant reds at conference and showed them the door.
_____________
or when he fell in the water at the seaside…. nobody will be diving in to rescue…
Thank you Margaret for your thoughts on how the SNP left you, it left a lot of us, isn’t remarkable the amount of women now joining the ALBA party.
We know the SNP will win comfortably on the Constituency vote, however we need to decimate the Green vote on the List, for when it comes to all the trans and genderwoowoo unpopular policies the Greens are propping up, or instigating the ridiculous changes that are destroying real women’s rights.
If you’re a real woman and you value your rights, voting for the ALBA party on the List vote makes sense, lets remove the Greens.
Big Jock, I have known Brian for over sixty years and though never sharing his political opinions, I know him to one of the most gentle and nicest people that you could wish to meet.
Sturgeon is a supposed Nationalist, but her behaviour in office and during the attempt to have Mr Salmond jailed to enable her and her acolytes to cling on to unbridled power is despicable.
This article troubles me, seems to be all about self and the writer’s political opinions, which are certainly open to challenge. Is there to be no room in the new Alba, the country not the Party, for conservatives?
Anent NS demanding that AS apologise to “the women” – When will NS apologise to the domestic violence victim she let down when a solicitor and which appears to have ended her legal career?
Fuller detail can be seen if you google “FIRST INTERESTS: Judge recommended for judicial role..”
Short version of this is as follows:
NS was working as solicitor at Bell and Craig. She left the law firm suddenly and the client [a domestic violence case] had to go to another solicitor.
The new solicitor discovered (it was reported) that Legal Aid forms completed and signed by the client and the client’s employer had not been submitted, despite assurances that the Legal Aid application had been submitted.
A formal complaint was duly made against NS of Failure to provide adequate legal services to a victim of domestic violence.
The Law Society of Scotland duly appointed a Case Officer to investigate. That Case Officer. Olga Pasportnikov, was a solicitor and is now a Sheriff. Her five page report dated December 1998 identified three counts of misconduct by breach of Code of Conduct and Conduct Unbecoming a Solicitor.
The three counts were: Failure to raise interdict, Misleading client about Legal Aid application and Failing to properly consider client’s financial circumstances.
There was no formal recorded finding of misconduct, NS leaving the legal profession and the Scottish Law Society concluding there should be no further action.
One has to ask “What about the victim, the woman client?” Well, by the time the matter was considered she had a new solicitor who (we assume) represented her competently and professionally, and did not neglect to seek Legal Aid or lie about having done so – and NS departed the legal profession altogether.
But has there been an apology? I think we should know.
PS. When this matter surfaced three years ago a certain newspaper was interested in publishing it but a “Political Editor” at the paper spiked it. A very short time later the same newspaper received the leak of the harassment complaints against Alex Salmond and the investigation by Police Scotland. The paper published that one, as we know. Was there a connection between spiking one story and being favoured with the Salmond leak? Might a certain person (not to be named) linked personally to a journalist be a factor in common?
“In the picture, could it be Cameron ‘Mammoth Whale’ Archibald who is between Emma Roddick and Jordon?”
No.
The SNP have been in power for too long and like Thatcher at the end of her time are pushing policies that are deeply unpopular.
They have lost touch with reality
The topic of gaming from the last thread. I think what we have seen of late and for some time has been dispassionate gaming by SNP leadership, and I guess that’s mostly what politics is when you are inside it, although I naively expect there to be more passion in it. People observe what has been happening and know in their hearts that it is not right.
Alex Salmond’s appeal is more to the emotional, heart centre, whether that’s a positive or negative reaction you experience is down to you. The calculation and scheming is out of sight behind the scenes, I suspect. By comparison I would see the like of Swinney as being a slick operator, but ultimately just an inventory of carefully planned and rehearsed statements devoid of aspirational content. That’s how he supports his version of the game but it has low entertainment value.
Beneath the surface and divorced from the rhetoric and emotion of MSM reportage, Alba will be operating a game plan. To apply reverse logistics ;
The interim objective for Alba must be to establish a balance of power in the Scottish Parliament. If SNP plus Green = Majority the game’s a bogey.
At present the Greens hold the balance of power via list Msp’s. So there needs to be a strategy of undermining the Greens position by highlighting those undesirable elements of policy in which they have indulged, and also by an Alba offering in those positively perceived elements of the supposed core Green beliefs e.g. establishment of an indigenous renewables industry. So a perception of Alba of green competence that doesn’t disenfranchise the carbon lobby would be an early vantage point.
The other front of operations would be in limiting the overall number of SNP Msps to avoid an outright majority. Vote splitting faux independents would need to be deployed in the constituencies by today. Who could be encouraged or withdrawn according to necessity as Election Day approaches. As could selective leaking of dirty secrets to derail certain candidates.
The effect of Labour/Tory co-operating on the constituencies in an attempt to preserve numbers lost on the list is currently an unknown factor. The extent to which they may do this in response to the Alba game is a huge gamble potentially for SNP seats but also for the integrity of Labour/Tory voters. And if things go too far down this rabbit hole we end up with virtually a plebiscite election.
Vive la revolution
See that Margaret Lynch was a director of War On Want. No doubt she could tell us an anecdote or two about George Galloway, also formerly of that parish.
I couldn’t really connect these two bits of the article:
“…notwithstanding recent events, I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person herself.”
“…she CANNOT be trusted to defend women’s rights – and in fact would throw them under a bus in a heartbeat to gain the support of the fanatical youth wing of the party…”,/i.
Tantamount to saying of an axe murderer, “Well, yes, he has faults; but he has always been good to his old mum.”
Margaret Lynch, main article: “The electoral system in Scotland means that if I cast my second vote for the SNP it will likely either transfer to a candidate who will act against my interests as a woman, or enable the election of an MSP from a party that opposes independence.”
That’s wrong. Your list vote determines the make-up of the Parliament, irrespective of anything else. If the list-vote shares for SNP, Alba, Lab and Con are 40%, 20%, 20% and 20%, then each party will have that percentage of seats (approximately) – 51, 26, 26 and 26 seats respectively. Your list vote doesn’t transfer. Get a grip.
Stephen @4:41
“The SNP have been in power too long and like Thatcher at the end of her time are pushing policies that are deeply unpopular.”
Aye, Thatcher caused the anti-Poll Tax Riots.
Sturgeon may yet be remembered for the anti-Unisex Toilets Riots. Many would turn up, Mennie wouldn’t.
A thought re Holiday Home / Voter Fraud.
As I understand it, people with holiday homes have been avoiding some of the usual tax payments, by registering their holiday homes as Lets.
I don’t know the ins and outs of it.
And the voting data will be on a separate data bank from the Council Letting Agency lists, rates, etc.
I am aware that the ability to vote from different areas of the UK in elections, and the possibility of voting more than once in any given election is real, and the mechanics of proving it, or preventing it – not exactly transparent.
So which party would benefit such a set up? Which party is most likely to have voters who own more than one property, and don’t mind that by doing so, it has an adverse affect on the locals, hmm, which party? I will have to think.
I am all for equality of women’s rights, and for men’s rights,
We must not forget that without real justice, law courts and real public in place, as good old fashioned juries in open court hearings AS could have not had a fair trail, we must not eliminate fairness to women at the expense of men,
That would be the same as pushing forward trans rights at the exspense of women’s rights, let us be a fair and balanced society to all,
At the moment white males are becoming politically attacked to,
There are global politics afoot at the moment to divide and rule all nations on all fronts, wether it is gender against gender, black against white, the breaking up of family units, old white privileged males under fire, The ending of employment to go on universal credit, creating permanent financial divide between rich and poor under control of the wealthy in governments, food control, shopping facilities control pushing small businesses out, and customers onto big online shopping giants.
We need to be aware at all times that removal of small businesses loose local employment ,
Remember we have to re- develope what has and is being destroyed by agendas beyond our knowing. Wether that is railways or the NHS
I am minded of the Kevin Costner film, Field of dreams, ‘if you Build it, and they will come’.
We will not have to worry about a decline in our population, if a country is run fairly for all.
The ironic thing is that on today of all days Nicola didn’t tweet congrats to a group she has been very vocal about. Happy International Transgender Day of Visibility people…..even the Ministry of Defence tweeted several times about today….
I am all for equality of women’s rights, and for men’s rights,
We must not forget that without real justice, law courts and real public in place, as good old fashioned juries in open court hearings AS could have not had a fair trail, we must not eliminate fairness to women at the expense of men,
That would be the same as pushing forward trans rights at the exspense of women’s rights, let us be a fair and balanced society to all,
At the moment white males are becoming politically attacked to,
There are global politics afoot at the moment to divide and rule all nations on all fronts, wether it is gender against gender, black against white, the breaking up of family units, old white privileged males under fire, The ending of employment to go on universal credit, creating permanent financial divide between rich and poor under control of the wealthy in governments, food control, shopping facilities control pushing small businesses out, and customers onto big online shopping giants.
We need to be aware at all times that removal of small businesses loose local employment ,
Remember we have to re- develope what has and is being destroyed by agendas beyond our knowing. Wether that is railways or the NHS
I am minded of the Kevin Costner film, Field of dreams, ‘if you Build it, and they will come’.
We will not have to worry about a decline in our population, if a country is run fairly for all. Many will come back home and others will follow,
Derek Rogers at 4.51
You are correct in saying that list votes don’t transfer. You are wrong in saying that 40% of the votes will achieve approximately 40% of the available seats.
If a party scoops up most of the constituency seats in a region, that increases the divisor by which the party’s list votes in that region are reduced in dividing up the seats. The SNP won only a handful of list seats across Scotland in 2016, based on over 900,000 votes. Percentages don’t come into it.
@Brian Doonthetoon – thanks for that; that’s reassuring. One thing about this site – people either like or dislike Stuart Campbell, they all though have a grudging respect for his graft and horsepower. We’ll see where we all are on Friday. From Holyrood’s perspective, there are no good answers I’m afraid but it needs to be answered.
@kapelmeister 4.51
“ Sturgeon may yet be remembered for the anti-unisex toilet riots”
/
Good one.
Difficult though to get a handle on this Byzantine subject though!
Alf, stop using big words. You are alienating the proles.
Scottish socialists generally need a firmware update.
What you’re basically saying, if you’re a socialist, is that life is pretty shit for some people and we need to throw them a few bones. Surely we can be more aspirational than that.
This vision of an independent socialist Scotland a lot of people have, with 1970s industrial relations, a huge and ever-growing public sector, and half the population sitting waiting on bungs, fills me with depression. I’d take it over what we have now, but I’d devote myself to changing it.
Scotland could be a global capitalist winner. It has everything going for it, resources, infrastructure, geography, educated people, and much more. With a few tweaks and strategic investment, Scotland could be one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world.
You want to give a hungry people fish. I want to give them chips.
I don’t think anybody is against justice and equality for trans people. The question is why so many institutions, like the SNP, have allowed themselves to capitulate to a tiny sect of trans activists who have no apparent interest in debate or persuasion. They are using this a wedge issue to divide people, and feeble populists like Nikla have folded before them as if they are scared of being seen as anti-trans. J K Rowling put it all in writing – it is not trans rights that are the issue, it is balancing them with women’s rights.
Screaming ‘bigot’ at anybody who would like to discuss it sounds pretty bigoted to me. If you are a trans woman why would you support alienating women who should, and would, be your allies and supporters? It is an object lesson in exactly how not to mount a political campaign. Social media as the new witch trials.
Anyway, good measured, cogent article, Margaret.
I am all for equality of women’s rights, and for men’s rights,
We must not forget that without real justice, law courts and real public in place, as good old fashioned juries in open court hearings AS could have not had a fair trail, we must not eliminate fairness to women at the expense of men,
That would be the same as pushing forward trans rights at the exspense of women’s rights, let us be a fair and balanced society to all,
At the moment white males are becoming politically attacked to,
There are global politics afoot at the moment to divide and rule all nations on all fronts, wether it is gender against gender, black against white, the breaking up of family units, old white privileged males under fire, The ending of employment to go on universal credit, creating permanent financial divide between rich and poor under control of the wealthy in governments, food control, shopping facilities control pushing small businesses out, and customers onto big online shopping giants.
We need to be aware at all times that removal of small businesses loose local employment ,
Remember we have to re- develope what has and is being destroyed by agendas beyond our knowing. Wether that is railways or the NHS or real old fashioned policing.
I am minded of the Kevin Costner film, Field of dreams, ‘if you Build it, and they will come’.
We will not have to worry about a decline in our population, if a country is run fairly for all. Many will come back home and others will follow,
Read this (from Blench) if you want a laugh.
https://web.archive.org/web/20181201072531/https://sexwithdexxx.com/
If what has been on display from Nicola Sturgeon, SG employees, Alphabet women & SNP employees is what is called feminism then I would like to declare that I am not a feminist.
@ Republicofscotland 4:38 pm
I can understand the desire to achieve a super majority made up of supposedly Indy Parties.
I question whether that will be achieved tbh judging by the numerous conversations I’ve had with local Indy folk who still seem unbelievably uninformed whilst also exhibiting next to fuck all motivation or ambition in engaging and seeing this election as an important push towards Indy rather than just another election.
Plenty plastic hippies still voting Green with their 2nd vote. (which I reckon they do more out of guilt thinking it will some how compensate for their lacklustre efforts to make any positive changes in their lifestyles which would actually improve their environmental credentials.). But I digress…
I understand 100% take up of giving Alba 2nd votes isn’t required, so even if folk are 50 / 50 in giving their second vote to Alba things may work out well.
But… if a super majority is obtained or the push falls short but still leaves a majority SNP Administration because motivated Alba supporters all turn out and vote SNP in their constituencies; Then I wonder what leverage Alba would then have to stop SNP continuing to go down their reversing snail like gradualism to Indy path whilst still foisting the likes of the GRA stuff onto us.
Are there enough good guys / gals in the SNP that would post election cross the floor to join Alba in sufficient numbers to disempower the SNP from a majority position and empower Alba to exert more influence in pushing for Indy and stopping HCB and GRA implementation.
Margaret, you have written everything I feel, but much more eloquently than I could.
Thank you.
My apologies for the multitude of postings, that was not meant to happen,
” …. And when a large number of us were elected by the grassroots membership to the NEC and various policy and conduct committees of the party last November, they just ignored us, snuck most of the rejected candidates back in through the back door, threw away the party rulebook and ploughed on regardless…. ”
That’s why this Ancien Regime has to be flushed away in May.
The d’Hont system is supposed to match the seats pro-rata with the %age of the vote, and it usually works out like that.
There is plently of time to get Independence, once the Dictatorship is removed from power -and they will not be reomved from power by winning the vote next month. They’ve shown time and time again that they are not democratically-minded, so they are absolutely bound to insist they’ve got a vote of confidence if they win the main MSP section of the election.
Vote them out and start again, the scorpions cannot change their spots (sic)
Tasmina now Alba Candidate.
https://twitter.com/BBCandrewkerr/status/1377286469665062914
@ Dan re, ‘But… if a super majority is obtained or the push falls short but still leaves a majority SNP Administration because motivated Alba supporters all turn out and vote SNP in their constituencies; Then I wonder what leverage Alba would then have to stop SNP continuing to go down their reversing snail like gradualism to Indy path whilst still foisting the likes of the GRA stuff onto us.’
Then we will be back to plan B, but with a real Indy party to push for it, and put electable candidates forward to elect at the next GE on a plebiscite indy election basis. It might come to that anyways, if even with a supermajority Boris refuses to come to the table to deal.
But by then he will have publically refused to come to the table and deal… not a good look, in addition to the Asset stripping that will be going on.
“They are on the Holyrood hamster-wheel: you write to them and they don’t respond; you write to their lawyers and they don’t respond either.
Someone I know recently wrote to the Scottish Government asking for intervention about the ongoing deliberate breach of Human Rights by a Health Board (A court already ruled the Health Board’s conduct to be a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998).
The Health Board continued the human rights abuse despite the court ruling.
This is the Cabinet Secretary for Health’s response to the request for intervention: “The role of the Scottish Government is to provide strategic direction, policies, frameworks and directions…”blah blah blah.
To summarise: I don’t care. Not interested, unless it gets on the front page of the Herald and opposition politicians are calling for my resignation.
For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Here comes The Deluge!
From the article
“the Greens who appear to care less about the environment than they do about bedding down Queer Theory in Scotland’s political institutions.”
I’ve been noticing in a lot of gender critical rhetoric a tendancy to blame the excesses of trans rights on Queer theory, since I’m not on twitter, I feel need to say something here, even if it isn’t specifically about Scottish politics. I generally agree with the gender critical side in the trans debate, but I do so because I read Queer Theory (Leo Bersani in particular). The original theorists, even Judith Butler at one time, were profoundly against identity politics and essentialism, the whole thing is about breaking down boundries between socially constructed identities, between the things you use to define yourself from others, it’s about taking yourself, your ego, your identity, less seriously, but biological sex is not socially constructed, it’s a physical and material fact.
It’s true Butler seems to have gone off the deep end, in supporting the new trans ideology she contradicts her earlier anti-essentialism, but Butler is losing it in general, she’s not the radical theorist, she contributed funds to Kamala Harris’s campaign, she’s put her name to a host of standard Democratic Party petitions, exposing her as just another run of the mill lib rather than a revolutionary new thinker, maybe the trans stuff is her attempt to pose as one. Her response to her gender critical critics is pityfully shallow and undermines her reputation as a thinker, she just insists they are all social conservatives like the Pope. She is increasingly an embarrassment. Perhaps Butler thinks the TRA’s are just a phase we need to go through, that after they’ve been accepted, we’ll all realise gender is bollocks anyway and let everyone behave according to their individual tastes regardless of their sex, I think that would be niave, but as it is, she seems to be supporting it as an ends not a means.
Critical theory (of which Queer theory is a part) is difficult stuff, it’s hard to comprehend and is written in thick jargon, you need a good grounding in technical and philosophical terms before you can begin to understand it. I was taking time reading a paragraph at a time and taking an hour to make make sure I felt I understood what it was saying before moving to the next (I kept a glossary beside me at all times). Neither those idpolers or TRA’s who claim vindication from it, nor their opponents who regard it as the root of trans ideology seem to actually have a handle on it. It’s like British undergrad French lit students arguing with Germans about the best Chinese translation of Tolstoy. Maybe the fault in Queer theory is more tactical, Queer theory called for an opening up of the Gay rights movement, it wanted to represent sexual non-conformists in general, almost anyone could be “Queer”, and that let the trans lobby take over and then use Queer theory to advance a new self serving conservative essentialism in which behaviour or taste is supposed to determine gender and sex.
I’d say Queer theory was sort of aiming for a world in which a male could go around in a skirt doing all sorts of activities associated with femininity and still be thought of as a man, what the TRA’s push instead is a world in which a male who wears a skirt and likes feminine things must be “a woman” just because he wears a skirt, it’s a profoundly reactionary idea, it is a reassertion of traditional gender stereotypes.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that Queer theory or Foucault (who is more of a influence than an actual Queer theorist) aren’t the root of all trans evil, you could blame it for TRAs indirectly (that it was so abstract people misunderstand and it could be hijacked for any purpose, that Foucault’s focus on the importance of discourse neglected the fact that sometimes a discourse has material origins) but these TRA’s are actually not a representation of Queer theory, even if they claim they are, they often haven’t understood it themselves.
@Ian Mac says: 31 March, 2021 at 5:13 pm
“I don’t think anybody is against justice and equality for trans people. The question is why so many institutions, like the SNP, have allowed themselves to capitulate to a tiny sect of trans activists who have no apparent interest in debate or persuasion.”
Because special interest groups is the new divide and conquor. Years ago it was derided as far right insularity, umpteen phobias, and tribalism.
Then little bastards like Aamar Anwar saw in the U.S. how a lovely career could be made on the back of being a professional grievance monger to such groups and not making the mistakes of everyone from Colin Jordan to Tariq Ali of taking things too far, but being like Germaine Greer, keeping to just the right side of popular outrage.
[Aamar Anwar famously left Glasgow University one summer holiday a card carrying Tory for two years, only to return suddenly a Socialist Worker in his third. The rest as they say is history]
Politicians, at first appalled, saw in turn they could play the same trick. Labour latched onto it in desperation after being cuffed so often at the polls in the 1980s under Kinnock – ironically copying the very same cynical strategy Militant and the Trotskyites has used to burrow into legitimate grievances amongst ethnic minorities, gays, etc; and which they’d decried Peter Tatchell for doing at Bermondsey (granted in his case it was the grandmother of all backfires!)
It wasn’t long until they took it further. Why not have a society where EVERYONE is part of some little minority group with special little privileges over everyone else they can get to guard jealously?
It’s the same mind-trick cynical middle class parents play with their offspring on a one-to-one basis all the time to get them to behave – let them think they’re the “special” one, the “favourite”.
Except in this case what is created is a society of silly children more preoccupied in being the “favourite” and not realising they’re all being played off against each other – and meanwhile Nanny State is giving away quietly what is meant to be going on THEIR welfare to the illegitimate child she had with Lord Peregrine Fortesque and who is already living a life of Riley enough at it is.
Daisy Walker at 4:53 pm
Re. Holiday Home / Voter Fraud.
All big Parties will have access to the electoral roll and their own database such as SNP Activate, so they should be able to keep on top of fraud if the will was there.
The Conservative Party really seem to keep on top of their data as it makes it more efficient in campaigning terms and ensuring they get their vote out.
I’m no longer an SNP Party member but do recall noting a certain second home owner in my area was included on the canvas sheets which were printed off using the specific filtered franchise for the last General Election which I thought was odd.
I tried highlighting this matter further up the chain but as usual didn’t get a response.
You’d think an active member with a huge social knowledge of the local area would be an asset to a Party, but no, the canvas data is still years out of date because the Party can’t recognise or embrace decent folk, but would rather stick with compliant magnolia wastes of space.
@James Che 5:01
“old white privileged males under fire”
I suppose that’s me who’s under fire. I was brought up in a third floor tenement flat, two adults and two children living in one room with a toilet on the first floor landing shared between six families. At primary school the boys got belted for spelling mistakes in their homework; at secondary school the teachers belted everyone just for fun.
I left school and got a job in 1973. Back in those days, the pubs closed at 10 p.m. and weren’t allowed to open at all on Sundays. During the summer months Scotland was the only country in Europe where the nightlife ended before it even got dark.
I’ve been working ever since and paid huge amounts in tax and NI over the years but at age 65 am still waiting to receive a penny piece back. The state pension which I should be getting by now is still a year away thanks to new rules imposed by the Tory/Lib Dem Coalition ten years ago.
So much for being old, white, privileged and male!
‘Gaming the system’
Is that significantly different from:
Parachuting in election candidates that local associations don’t want;
Having list candidates self-identify as disabled;
Asking someone found not guilty in court to apologise to his accusers…
It probably even includes voting for the party you’d like to see in government, otherwise, why bother?
Emma Roddick getting herself into it. Her and that weirdo Jordan Henderson who both got sacked from the party and then leaked private messages between Martin, Maguire and Denham. Then Roddick went on to cover up for Cllr. Richard Laird who resigned after being
reported for grooming kids and sending dick pics. She cares about trans rights than the protection if children. Cannot wait to vote for Alba to stop her and her gerrymandering.
Why women want Alba – Margaret Lynch.
Very puzzled by this article. Lots of good points, but some things, as highlighted by other posts, do not add up. Labelled a trot-nat by Brian Wilson but has the highest regard and respect for him?
Long list of nasty things done by Nicola Sturgeon, but she is a good and decent person?
Whilst accepting a wish to be inclusive is a good thing, on occasions ( or perhaps always) it is not possible to be all things to all people.
Would I want to be represented by someone who held that opinion of Nicola Sturgeon? Hmmmm….
Excellent article.
However I would wager everything I’ve got, that NS would do a deal with the Tories or Labour before a deal with any Alba politicians. And that includes any moves towards another referendum.
Brava!
Given the SNP’s record on punishing and sidelining women for opposing Genderism, I am not now convinced as to the safety of women and girls in an independent country, given that it would take some years for the political landscape to even out.
ScotGov fund women’s groups ONLY if they are ‘inclusive’, which means that they must adopt Transwomen ARE women and all that follows, against the interests of women.
ScotGov do not act in the interests of women, yet take our taxes and with those taxes fund groups to lobby against our interests. For Women Scot and the other grassroots have been refused ScotGov funding and are entirely self/crowd funded. They then are accused of being funded by right wing/evangelical/Nazi/whatever by those who refuse to believe that individual women are funding them. And paying twice to have representations.
A protest of ‘No Taxation Without Representation’ seems apt.
I always said that I would support the first (reasonable) party that opposed the Genderists. So I will support Alba. I have more concerns re. the future of Women and Girls’ Rights in Nicola’s hands than I do in Alex’s. Which is pretty damned shocking.
I will not vote SNP again until they abandon Genderism. I am acting in my own interests and the interests of women and girls.
Not a Turkey. Not Christmas.
How can it be ‘gaming the system’ if it’s the only party that women who oppose genderism can vote for? Women are 51% of the population and those of us who have woken up to the Gender Stasi had no political representation at all.
I spoiled my ballot in the last election.
I will vote Alba, but I will campaign against SNP as long as it campaigns against the interests of women.
Hatuey @ 5:12 pm
“Scotland could be a global capitalist winner. ”
The bloated public/semi-public sector we have today is certainly full of waste, and at the highest levels is now run by some 10,000+ heid bummers on 100k+ a year.
What we need to do is develop and enable entrepreneurship, which Scots are actually very good at. As a Business academic I have no problem with that.
One of the main problems is our policy makers mostly only know the public sector, they know nothing about business and trade; so the latter gets ignored and the main focus is on ever increasing the budgets of the public sector, irrespective of diminishing ‘returns’.
The other problem is our meritocracy still consists mainly of the privileged bourgeoisie and/or is drawn from south of the border with little interest in Scotland’s national development; to many of our elite its just a nice place to stay, easy access to high paid jobs, and a top quality house/location for a lot less money than in many parts of England.
Colonialism always ends up with a mediocre meritocracy and that’s why we are where we are – mediocre and going nowhere fast. Its our privileged and mostly Anglophone/unionist meritocracy we have to change, that is the big useless drag on the development of our nation and people, and which is why independence is needed.
Its equality of opportunity we need and with that a new national vision for the development of the Scottish people and nation.
I don’t think anybody is against justice and equality for trans people
Our civilisation was built on the idea that you should treat others as you’d like them to treat you. We’re not very good at this, but that’s our fault and not the rule’s fault.
If you care about other people, and they’re suffering from a delusion that leads them to want to cut their fingers off and have them stapled to their chin, or inject themselves full of artificial chemicals that make their vital organs stop working properly, do you:
(A) Say “I respect your right to become a chinny-fingered freak straight out of the direct-to-video sequels in the HELLRAISER franchise”, and pass them the scissors and Harpic
Or
(B) Try to get them the mental health support they desperately need so they hopefully don’t hurt themselves
We used to take normality for granted, but it’s actually an achievement that requires constant work. What passes for “tolerance” is often just disguised cowardice.
A man from Nazareth who told people to love their neighbours was once asked “who is my neighbour”? So he told a story about a fella who was robbed and beaten and left for dead by a dusty hot Judean roadside.
Spoiler alert: the man who turned out to be the robbery victim’s neighbour was not the guy who left him bleeding in the dust, after possibly respecting his identity as a robbery victim.
Love is not hearts and flowers and earnest teenagers fumbling in the back of the school disco. Love is the most courageous and terrifying emotion there is, because it’s the opposite of living for ourselves.
Cause love’s such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
If we love our brothers and sisters and neighbours who are troubled by alcoholism, drug addiction, or any other type of mental/behavioural problems that are likely to damage their health and lead them down a dark path of suffering, isolation and early death, we would want to try to heal them, not indulge their self-destruction.
I didn’t know that a man who identified as a woman assaulted a woman in prison. That’s shocking and unforgivable.
For balance; can we also spare a thought for the late (genuinely) trans woman who was imprisoned with men who assaulted her relentlessly until she took her own life. There have been more than one, but that trans girl’s face I still haven’t forgot. She didn’t deserve to be thrown to the wolves, in fact wolves would have been kinder. She was a person.
While the SNP have got it wrong, let’s not lose sight of the fact that there are trans people who suffer heinous crimes that deserve to be protected. I really sense that gets lost amongst the howls of protest. If you can’t care for all people then what are you really?
Nally Anders @ 3.18pm
Sent a facebook link for this petition. Here is an alternative link. Please show support by signing http://www.change.org/p/east-lothian-council-say-no-to-majority-mixed-sex-toilets-at-musselburgh-grammar-school
“… All of this could have been avoided. We could have conducted a sensible and informed debate around the rights of transgender people and the rights of women, and come up with practical and reasonable solutions on how to accommodate both… ”
Stonewall, Trans Alliance, et al, and their activist warriors do not want accommodation: they want total surrender. When an Ethiopian-origin woman who campaigns against Female Genital Mutilation, the harmful cutting of the external sex organs of little girls, often completely excising them, can be attacked and vilified by these trans warriors because she refused to include trans women, you know that insanity rules.
The FM and her coterie of adolescent-brained, ‘our synapses have not quite connected’ trans warriors know what they are doing, and it has nothing to do with equality for women or equality for anyone but those who embrace Foucault’s trans identity/queer theory, and that does not bode well for our children, who are being deliberately encouraged to become alienated from their parents and grand-parents, and their mores for reasons that would be obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. This has everything to do with male sexual entitlement, taken to the nth degree.
Genuine body dysphoria individuals are a minuscule element of society, and, in general, they abhor the trajectory of the trans warriors who do not speak for them. The LGB Alliance lines up with women, as do most transitioned people and those who have no desire to take over women’s spaces and rights, but with to live their own lives as they wish, in peace. That the SNPG and its pseudo ‘wokerati’ refuse to change tack on this issue speaks volumes about everything else that has been happening during this administration. They have not yet been taught the lesson they need to learn, but it is coming.
I’m not sure that Lesley Riddoch’s concern over ‘gaming’ of the electoral system bears much scrutiny….
Somewhat perplexed by that one.
@ PaulaJ
Or even gaming the system like this.
https://wingsoverscotland.com/how-to-make-a-coup/
Graham
Re. the transwoman targetted in prison, If men are violent to other males who wish to dress in a stereotypically feminine manner, take it it out with men. Women are not human shields for male violence. Sort your own shit out. Don’t lob the problem over to the women to sort out.
The “She” you are referring to, is male. You may be choose to refer with female pronouns, but understand that it does women no favours.
Please read this:
https://fairplayforwomen.com/pronouns/
Graham says:
31 March, 2021 at 6:34 pm
I didn’t know that a man who identified as a woman assaulted a woman in prison. That’s shocking and unforgivable.
For balance; can we also spare a thought for the late (genuinely) trans woman who was imprisoned with men who assaulted her relentlessly until she took her own life. There have been more than one, but that trans girl’s face I still haven’t forgot. She didn’t deserve to be thrown to the wolves, in fact wolves would have been kinder. She was a person.’
Graham, first of he was a person. Biologically male, second, can you reference the details of the case, given it was a death in custody there will have been a full enquiry which should have uncovered motive.
Two of the most common reasons for prisoner to prisoner assault/murder are believed to have informed on Police, or believed to have sexually abused a child.
It is for this reason convicted sex offenders are often segregated from the regular prisoners.
So you see, without the details of the case you cite, we have no way of knowing if the transgender issue was even a factor.
Thanks
I’m afraid I won’t be applauding and congratulating Ms Lynch in her defection from SNP to ALBA, IMO Ms Lynch’s defection stinks of self preservation and opportunism , to me Ms Lynch is ship jumping because she knows that her position in the SNP is threatened due to it now being the YWP (young wokist party) so she is looking at preserving her future position and finances
I do not believe that the system is being gamed or that there is ‘cheating’ going on. Mr. Salmond had a good idea and is making the most of it. Sensible. Do I like it? No. I am a unionist and it’s never nice to be on the wrong end of somebody else’s good idea. Honesty compels me to say that I don’t blame him and Alba one bit.
Statitics from MOJ
https://fairplayforwomen.com/transgender-male-criminality-sex-offences/
TL:Can’t be arsed reading? Half the transgender prisoners have at least one sexual offence, compared to 3% of female and 20% of the male prison population. But sure, they are the vulnerable ones.
twathater says:
31 March, 2021 at 7:02 pm
I’m afraid I won’t be applauding and congratulating Ms Lynch in her defection from SNP to ALBA, IMO Ms Lynch’s defection stinks of self preservation and opportunism , to me Ms Lynch is ship jumping because she knows that her position in the SNP is threatened due to it now being the YWP (young wokist party) so she is looking at preserving her future position and finances
Any chance we can persuade a few of the snp MP’s to follow suit? Asking for Indy supporters everywhere. Max the Yes.
@twathater says: 31 March, 2021 at 7:02 pm
“I’m afraid I won’t be applauding and congratulating Ms Lynch in her defection from SNP to ALBA, IMO Ms Lynch’s defection stinks of self preservation and opportunism , to me Ms Lynch is ship jumping because she knows that her position in the SNP is threatened due to it now being the YWP (young wokist party) so she is looking at preserving her future position and finances”
Seconded. She also has a VERY chequered history regarding her time with the Citizens Advice Bureau.
Meanwhile in Norway..
https://twitter.com/ForwomenScot/status/1377202384229785605
@Bartleby64
You seem honest, I will read your future comments with interest.
You lost me at “Nicla” being an honest decent person. Otherwise I think Denise Findlay makes a better case for women joining Alba.
Michael B says:
31 March, 2021 at 5:10 pm
If a party scoops up most of the constituency seats in a region, that increases the divisor[…]. The SNP won only a handful of list seats across Scotland in 2016, based on over 900,000 votes. Percentages don’t come into it.
Percentages do come into it. A party’s percentage of list votes determines its share of all Parliamentary seats, not just list seats. The reason the SNP gets no list seats is that its constituency seats already give it its full share.
Apologies for typo.
Michael B says:
31 March, 2021 at 5:10 pm
If a party scoops up most of the constituency seats in a region, that increases the divisor[…]. The SNP won only a handful of list seats across Scotland in 2016, based on over 900,000 votes. Percentages don’t come into it.
Percentages do come into it. A party’s percentage of list votes determines its share of all Parliamentary seats, not just list seats. The reason the SNP gets no list seats is that its constituency seats already give it its full share.
Also THIS
” I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person herself.”
I wonder if Mr Salmond would agree with that sentiment , or would he maybe be rather more AGGRIEVED at this decent and honest person which Ms Lynch admires so much who DELIBERATELY and with EXTREME MALICE colluded with others to accuse Mr Salmond of heinous criminal and sexual acts which would inevitably have led to a prison sentence which may have resulted in Mr Salmond’s death , but unfortunately for that good and decent person Mr Salmond was cleared of ALL charges
ALSO THIS
“The irony of Alex Salmond presenting a solution to our problems has not escaped me. Some feminists think this is a bridge too far. But what I know is that Alex Salmond’s political survival now depends on him demonstrating at all times and to all people that he can be trusted in women’s company and to defend women’s rights.”
Would Ms Lynch like to explain what Mr Salmond has done for the need for him to demonstrate and show that he can be trusted in women’s company , correct me if I am wrong Ms Lynch but was Mr Salmond not cleared of ALL charges
What a horrible disgusting denigrating comment, more suited to what a certain Ms Sturgeon might say or put in a press release
Or are you of a similar mindset to that good and decent person Sturgeon that even although Mr Salmond is cleared by a jury of his peers he must still be guilty
” I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person herself.”
She is PURE EVIL.
The most wicked woman ever to have lived in Scotland, IMHO.
If you left the SNP because of women’s rights, why didn’t Cherry?
Would Ms Lynch like to explain what Mr Salmond has done for the need for him to demonstrate and show that he can be trusted in women’s company , correct me if I am wrong Ms Lynch but was Mr Salmond not cleared of ALL charges
I think it’s fairly obvious that what Mr Salmond has done has been to be the object of a raft of false allegations and to have been through a criminal prosecution as a result. Once that has happened to somebody, and the usual suspects are doing the no smoke without fire and believe the women and what about the victims thing, they are acutely aware of the necessity not to put a foot (or a hand) wrong in the future.
Frazerio says,
“Always good to hear coherent viewpoints from differing perspectives.”
What coherence?
“I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person herself”
“Nicola, who I have long admired and liked, has demonstrated over and over again that she CANNOT be trusted to defend women’s rights – and in fact would throw them under a bus in a heartbeat to gain the support of the fanatical youth wing of the party”
“Unlike many Yessers I have the highest regard and respect for Brian – he is a values-driven politician and someone that I have always admired. The kind of country that Brian and I both want to live in would be remarkably similar. We just disagree about the route map of how to get there.”
For the record, Brian Wilson is a sworn enemy of independence.
This article is pure waffle.
The writer could have made her core point in two or three paragraphs:
‘The SNP has sold women down the river so Sturgeon can present her super woke credentials to get a top international job’
‘ALBA holding the balance of power would stop the SNP from pushing the GRA’.
‘Vote ALBA on the list to elect MSPs who will support women’s rights’
Big Jock says,
“I can’t believe that independence supporters like Leslie are using expressions like gaming the system. What is she worried about, offending unionists!”
Their top priority is their well paid jobs, not independence.
Frazerio says,
“Got these figures elsewhere. FPTP @ Westminster.
SNP – 13% of seats on 3% of vote.
If FPTP is good enough for the Mother of all Parliaments, why not Holyrood?”
Do you see it as right for 3% of the vote giving 13% of seats?
Although the figures you quote are misleading because the SNP only stand for election in Scotland.
Ruby says,
“If what has been on display from Nicola Sturgeon, SG employees, Alphabet women & SNP employees is what is called feminism then I would like to declare that I am not a feminist.”
Are you still voting SNP1/2 or have you changed your mind?
Ruby says (“Three choices”),
“I’m voting SNP 1/2 because I want Nicola Sturgeon to have to face the consequences of her actions.”
I loved reading this Margaret. Thanks for your passion and your integrity. I will vote Alba with more conviction for your involvement.
I would just like to say however, that having had some experience of Brian Wilson, the man is an utter snake. The lowest form of political pondlife. It speaks volumes for your good nature that you can see virtue in the multimillionaire dark-trot war criminal.
Am I right in thinking 2 of the people in that 3rd photo have 1st places on the SNP list in H&I and NE Scotland? That’s what Both Votes SNP gets you these days..
Impressive list of Alba candidates assembled …. especially when some Alba sympathisers have been asked to stay as sleepers (close to the top) in the SNP ….
Kcor: I find your hounding of individual commenters on this site thoroughly unpleasant. Regardless of the rightness or otherwise of your opinions, you come across as a bully and a creep. How others choose to vote is not for you to dictate. I wish you would give it a rest.
Michael Laing,
If you have any counter points to the ones I make, please make them.
If you don’t like my comments, please don’t read them.
How is it possible to “dictate” how someone votes?
Follow them into the polling booth and make sure they vote as I “dictate”?
Douglas MacMillan says:
31 March, 2021 at 11:48 pm
Impressive list of Alba candidates assembled …. especially when some Alba sympathisers have been asked to stay as sleepers (close to the top) in the SNP ….
Reply
I totally agree with you Douglas. It grieves me to read a few people thinking those who haven’t crossed the floor as yet, have done so to secure their own seats & career.
In my mind it is the opposite. It’s a difficult & lonely stance to take but one that has to be taken to speed up the quest & actual date for Independence.
Michael Laing says:
31 March, 2021 at 11:53 pm
Kcor: I find your hounding of individual commenters on this site thoroughly unpleasant.
Reply
I totally agree.
Kcor will probably be the next poster on Wings picked up by Tom Gordon as an example of the type of person who supports Alba.
ie A Creepy Stalker & Bully of women!
Kcor & Andy same person two accounts?
I do have some serious doubts about the feminist movement and I have done for quite a long time.
I’m wondering if the slogans ‘old white men’ & ‘old boys club’ is coming from the feminist movement.
I have still to talk to anyone locally who intends to give the Alba party, their second vote.
“I think that at heart, Nicola is a good and decent person herself.”
I think everything that has happened over the years proves that and your ability to judge the character of people off the mark at best or completely detached from reality at worst. At some point we’ve got to realise someone is not what we idolised them to be. What Nichola did to Alex and other dreadful messes she’s made just isn’t something I would think is done by someone who is “a good and decent person”. It was cruel and spiteful and also deeply disturbing for it’s implications on how a country could be run by a ruler or dictator if it goes down that path more and more with no civic pushback against abuse of power and influence.
This is also another case where the author doesn’t like the hate crime bill…but only because they personally don’t get anything from it. It’s okay if everyone or anyone else gets knocked on the head or rights stripped or chained up by the government, as long as you get a freebie or a leg up or some special protections it is all good. Selfish voting, selfish demands. People who selfishly demand the government step in like that frankly deserve what they get when it all goes wrong. In this case the trans lobby taking it over is just desserts and a taste of their own medicine all in one. Enjoy being painted the evil oppressor and having laws written and used against you!
Hoist with her own petard.
And then this happens
https://www.albaparty.org/tasmina_ahmed_sheikh
Roll up, roll up to the gravy train
FFS.
The people claiming it’s “gaming the system” are using dishonest and frankly stupid arguments. There are several anti-independence parties. Is that “gaming the system”?
In a democratic system it is healthier to have several parties with a range of views to represent all sorts of variations so that everyone is part of the democratic process and can speak out that way. Demanding some one-party state is bonkers. Demanding that pro-independence must be contained in one party is also bonkers.
Would these people demand liking the NHS or EU or any other policy or concept must be contained only in one party…? How would that even work from a practical sense as you divide it all up and wall it into this and that party? Obviously impossible.
We should have had something like the Alba party (and others) long ago. Competition in business and politics is not only good, it is vital to keeping it healthy and non-predatory.
Ruby says:
1 April, 2021 at 9:11 am
Michael Laing says:
31 March, 2021 at 11:53 pm
Reply
I totally agree.
Quote:-
“Kcor: I find your hounding of individual commenters on this site thoroughly unpleasant.”
Whilst immediately doing that itself.
—–
What IS unpleasant is the complete
volte-face
of many who have decided that the path to “true enlightenment” means actually voting for the cabal who have guided scotland down a path leading to the destruction of civil liberties…
wee monkey says:
What IS unpleasant is the complete
volte-face
of many who have decided that the path to “true enlightenment” means actually voting for the cabal who have guided scotland down a path leading to the destruction of civil liberties…
Reply
What leads to a lot of unpleasantness is when you ask Kcor/Andy/Wee Monkey the implications of ‘No Votes SNP’
Luigi says:
31 March, 2021 at 1:19 pm
Can you imagine a Gordon Wilson or an Alex Salmond putting up with the nonsense currently wrecking the SNP? Me neither – the loony contingent currently dictating party policy would have been dealt with swiftly and brutally. When a ship runs aground, the captain has to take full responsibility.
The problem may well be that the hierarchy itself believes in this stuff, or, at least, believes that the youth, the country’s future, is comfortable with it. As Carnyx says, a lot of people who advocate critical (and queer) theory have not really understood its aims. The problem for those who advocate total human freedom to live as one wishes and to allow others to live as they wish is that there will always be tension between one person’s or one group’s wishes and those of another. What if one group or one person cannot express, or is not able to express, his or her or their or its individual or group freedom? The young? The mentally lacking? The mentally ill? The physically weaker? Human nature being what it is, it is very likely that certain people and certain groups will find themselves at the mercy of others.
It cannot be other than a good thing if gay people and trans people and others are allowed to live as they choose within the strictures of the society in which they inhabit – which means that people who are not heterosexual, straight and biological adherents will be treated very differently in the West than in other parts of the world that do not embrace the same mores and liberalism, but the trans warriors appear to be unable to recognize that their whole approach to the debate (there is no debate, therefore you are a bigot if you suggest such a thing) is profoundly illiberal in, and of, itself.
The thousands of cross dressers, gynephiles, transvestites and others who shelter under the trans umbrella appear to be much more concerned with sexual licence (theirs) than they are with fundamental freedoms of others, hence the clash between (moderate) feminism and transgenderism, which simply cannot co-exist in the same space. There is no conceivable scenario in which they can occupy the same space in societal and political terms. The transgender lobby knows this, which is why it is threatening women into capitulation, and because the alternative, having to actually carve out a space for itself is just too much work when you can predate another’s like any parasite worth the name.
The trans warriors answer this dilemma by threatening and ousting women, so that a genuine body dysphoric condition and transitioning are no longer the sole criteria on which transgenderism depends, but have been superseded by what appear to be diverse and non-mainstream male sexual preferences. In other words, we are talking here about the greatest excesses of the internet being brought into the mainstream. In that sense, it is a traditional, regressive, aggressive and male-orientated pulling of the wool over eyes to achieve what they want.
This is just beginning to be borne out by the experiences of young, gay women who previously believed they were transgendered males (detransitioners). Their experiences, which are just starting to filter out from America and Canada, about the way that some men (transgender ‘women’) have treated them as sexual objects is very enlightening and lends the lie to some of the claims of the transgender movement. Essentially, large parts of it are a men’s movement – misogynistic and sexually aggressive and entitled on a heterosexual/gay/anything goes basis.
The corollary, of course, that women are reduced yet again in the never-ending cycle of oppression and repression. This time, however, it is starting to look as though women are getting very much meaner and we are not going to back off, even if we have to take casualties. We are fighting for our daughters and grand-daughters. It is not our job to fight for those who would happily displace us: Darwinianism is also a female thing; we have just been slow to recognize that fact.
That is why I cannot vote SNP in anyway. Sturgeon’s stance is just that, it is not based on fairness, on equality, on commonsense nor Truth.
She’s jumped on the latest bandwagon, and few in her Party are willing to say “wait a minute”. Intolerance and blanket judgement is not admirable.
The SNP have come to represent the worst form of politics, a Party full of hot air.
Why is the SNP so inactive?
Why aren’t they making any improvements in Scotland?
Give me the cash the SNP have and I’d have Scotland out of the gutter within my 5 year period easily. That’s not hot air, that is because I know how to run a household, how to run a business.
The quality of the SNP just shows they are not qualified to run Holyrood, certainly not a Nation.
Scotland deserves better alright, and we had better make Abla the Party which delivers.
The Scottish economy has to be based on a solid foundation. As does the Scottish currency. Scotland has the resources to make it a wealthy Country. That is what our Currency should be based on, not some silly idea of being backed up by the bank of England. We should have a Bank of Scotland, but a National Bank of Scotland where the government issues and controls all money.
Lorna Campbell I genuinely love your posts on all of the blogs they are enlightening and explanatory but to me that is the problem , everyone is going around in circles trying to explain and be conciliatory and respectful to those who will NOT listen , unfortunately worldwide we have governments ours included who PANDER to these infantile deviants whilst alienating voters
TBH NOTHING will change until we get rid of parties like the SNP who are INFESTED with individuals who are more interested in sexual deviancy than they are in feeding and protecting children
“Read this (from Blench) if you want a laugh.”
Oh my. How do we know it’s him?
Ruby says,
“What leads to a lot of unpleasantness is when you ask Kcor/Andy/Wee Monkey the implications of ‘No Votes SNP’”
You mean when someone asks you the implications of SNP1/2?
Ruby says (“Three choices”),
“I’m voting SNP 1/2 because I want Nicola Sturgeon to have to face the consequences of her actions.”
Ruby says,
“Kcor will probably be the next poster on Wings picked up by Tom Gordon as an example of the type of person who supports Alba.
ie A Creepy Stalker & Bully of women!
Kcor & Andy same person two accounts?”
So, you are the (im)poster who alerted Ian Reid and Tom Gordon to Andy’s comment on Wings Over Scotland?
You can fool many here, but Andy and I know you are a diehard Sturgeonist, a Wee Ginger Dugger, trying to cause confusion and division here.
Brian Wilson is a person who becomes nuts whenever anyone mentions Independence. He positively foams at the mouth, as Mr Mackay did today in the Herald. I don’t think I’ll be buying that paper again. Two muppets baying at the moon.