SPEAKING MY MIND.

Posted byiainlawson27Posted inUncategorizedTags:

A Desperate need for honest politics.

Scotland is in an appalling state. We have a corrupt, dishonest Government elected on the back of the most corrupt and undemocratic election campaign in living memory. No cancel that, ever!

A campaign where those participating tolerated, nay encouraged, the Public Service Broadcaster, namely the British State’s propaganda arm, the BBC, to operate a blanket ban on the Alba Party. Worse this ban was accompanied by the remainder of the MSM doing the same. This allowed the quite disgraceful and evil behaviour of the current First Minister to continually smear her absent rival, a pathetically cowardly act that degrades and devalues the status of the role she holds.

Don’t get me wrong the media were well looked after, they had plenty reason to support the First Minister, she had gifted them £3 million pounds of taxpayers money and was clearly volunteering to both slow down any progress on the Independence front while promoting the both votes SNP strategy in the sure knowledge it would protect the vast bulk of Unionist MSP’s and also protect against the most “ horrific” policy agenda from the Alba Party. No, the Union and the SNP have never been better friends. There will never be any Supermajority while the Murrells are running the show. There will never be Independence either. The Union is safe in their hands. 

So according to Nicola she is back to work already. Not to find out what happened to the “ring fenced” money, or to heal the damaging splits in her own Party. There are still plenty of very annoyed and disgusted members within the SNP. I have been speaking to several of them over the last weekend.. They will await the SNP moving on GRA and the Hate Crime Bill before taking their next steps.

Friday was a great day for the Nicola fans, the SNP were holding their existing seats and even won a few more. A majority was certain was it not? Well no, so while they won East Lothian and Ayr the Nicola supporters were blind to the fact that both these seats were in South Scotland and their “victory” resulted in two “losses” of SNP seats on the list in that region. All that work and “success” but Independence advanced not one inch.Saturday then saw the election of scores of Unionists on the list killing off any chance of a SNP majority. Exactly as the system is designed to achieve. All as was forecast accurately by Alba but ignored by the “both votes” blind.

While the loyalist dupes in the SNP refused to even try and secure a solid Indy majority or contemplate the opportunity of a giant step forward to a supermajority, unionists gamed the system successfully by using tactical voting to deny the SNP the seats they needed to secure an outright SNP majority. Tactician she is not. Strategist she is not. She is not serious about Independence. She is a Devolutionist happy to share the crumbs from the Unionist table. She talks the talk but baulks when it comes to serious action. She will not deliver anything, she will continue for a few more years as First Minister as the anger and disillusion about progress to Independence continues, she will hold out for as long as she can coming up with excuse to follow excuse, then she will be rewarded by a high level job in the UN or where she can continue her valuable work on behalf of her British master.

Too harsh? I don’t think so, she is an intelligent woman, an experienced politician, she knew EXACTLY what the effect of the both votes strategy would be. She knew the electoral system was specifically designed to make it virtually impossible for one Party to win a overall majority. That it could only result in loads of unionists being elected through the back door instead of a supermajority that could have been easily possible with some cooperation between the pro Indy forces.

If there was the supermajority that there should have been of around 95 pro Indy MSP’s in the 129 seat Parliament there would have none of the comments from Boris and Gove questioning the mandate and casting doubt on the result. Nicola’s tactics worked brilliantly for the Union because they were designed to. Someday some of the Nicola fan club might be able to work that out for themselves.

I hear the comment that there is nothing wrong with the electoral system that it is used in other European countries. Show me one where one Party rules under that system? It doesn’t happen it creates coalition Government, it requires two parties, at least, to work together to create a true majority. It is therefore completely unsuitable for Nicola’s desire for having only one sole all powerful Party delivering Independence. It can never work. It will never create a big enough majority. Nicola and the British State knows this. That is why it is there! That is why she is there. She is the toast of the Union. In secret of course! As a friend said to me only last week “I have no idea what they have got on her but it must be a doozie!”.

At the end of the 2021 election Scotland is pretty much where we were after the 2016 election. Another five years of non progress has elapsed. The arguments remain the same. Despite SNP claims of great success how has Independence progressed? Tricky one that is it not? All I see is the UK moving to close down our options and a supine SNP whimpering in response. We are paying a huge cost for allowing Nicola to be the sole voice of the Independence Movement.

I have no political ambitions. I have no desire to benefit from relying on any income from politics, all of which allows me the freedom to write honestly about what I truly believe is going on. I do not do it recklessly, I provide evidence and argument to back it up. My priority is to see progress on Independence. I see only a brake in Nicola.

If folk think I am wrong about this please name the other countries using this election system that has one Party, with a majority. Point me to the country where using this system has the main Independence Party successfully won Independence. Show me the country that won Independence where the Party Leader encouraged state censorship of the other pro Indy forces and sided with the State Propaganda arm of the very State they were supposedly seeking Independence from? Show me a country where the Independence Movement funds the media organisations lined up against it to oppose Independence.

None of the above is fiction. It is happening now, right here in Scotland. That many are too blind to see is not my fault. So instead of hurling the usual abuse explain to me why it is me that is wrong. Deny that the above is happening. Give me a plausible explanation of how it is all part of a clever secret plan rather than just blatant betrayal. Explain to me how it’s helping to win our Independence?

If what happened in our General Election happened elsewhere many would describe it as a police state. I think that would be accurate, when censorship of political rivals becomes an accepted, even encouraged event, when state financing is used for political advantage, when the legal judgement of the courts and jury system is questioned and ignored by the most senior Government leader then democracy is out the window. That all happened, here in Scotland I am ashamed to write. Can any deny or excuse it?

Lots of people are thinking the above. It is time we started stating it in the open. Then just maybe some eyes might open to the truth.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland.,

BEAT THE CENSORS

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56 thoughts on “SPEAKING MY MIND.”

  1. That is a concise summary of where we are at present – in a very dark place.

    I have nothing to add other than to say that, rather than waiting for the inevitable advancement of their intolerant and tyrannical policies (Gender Reform, Hate Crime etc) together with on-going backsliding on Independence I (and my wife) have resigned from the SNP like thousands of others.

    I wanted to wait until after the election result to act so as to show the Murrells that the SNP’s proclaimed ‘victory’ does not impress me and that I will not be part of an organisation led by such corrupt, deceitful, lying, deflecting, devious, fraudulent, fraudulent and treacherous individuals.

    Liked by 18 people

    1. Well done in coming over to our side. However, the Murrells don’t, and won’t, care a jot about your leaving. PM couldn’t be bothered to answer any correspondence from worried members who were considering leaving. Watching how all of this is playing out is terrible, because the general public in Scotland is unaware of what is really happening and the sad truth is that history has seen all of this before. Very worrying indeed.

      Liked by 8 people

      1. I’ve always been on the side of Independence.

        And I voted for ALBA on the list – could not have done otherwise for numerous reasons, too many to mention here.

        People are in for a torrid time … and the current SNP leadership are not going to protect them.

        When the scales fall from the blind there will be a backlash but the damage will have been done by then.

        Liked by 9 people

    2. Yes, this is the only way change will happen, resign from the SNP in enough number so that not only will the Murrells get the message so will the SNP MPs and MSP whose jobs will be on the line get it too. The BBC laid it out beautifully in their little graphs how the Lib/Dems throw their party under a bus to keep the SNP out of Aberdeen – The Tories held their nose and voted for Labour allowing Jacky Baily to return to Holyrood, and Labour voted with the Tories in the Borders to keep the SNP out. We all saw the graphics at the bottom of the screen after the constitutional votes were in – what was it 4 Tories – 2 Labour 2 Lib/Dem 0 Greens – who quickly that all changed after the list vote came in -1 million votes for the SNP changed into seats for the Tory, Labour, Greens, Both votes SNP was not about winning a majority it was about Nicola Sturgeon calling the shots “Me and no one else”, that is Oor Nicola. So there we have it the SNP at Westminster a waste of space. loved by the Tories because if they were Labour they would be a threat, now they are only the butt of the PM’s jokes. Holyrood held over a barrel by a few Greens although now that the SNP has moved so far to the right it will be the support of the Tories they will seek out. “But we didna ken”, well yi ken noo.

      Liked by 7 people

    3. One question that needs to be asked is where you go when a country’s Rule of Law becomes rotten and corrupt and is deployed to do harm to political opponents and or individuals expressing free speech.

      When the law goes rotten, what is the recourse.

      The nationalist and or catholic and or republican community certainly knew all about the rule of law gone rotten, with a police, prosecution and judiciary all set against them. That has now become the process in Scotland and there can now be no trust whatsoever in the functions of state.

      Liked by 3 people

    4. Forget Secret Plan. Work on the basis that there’s none. That Sturgeon is a barrier to the cause. She is not on our side. We should stop asking why she’s acting in the way she does. Take Sturgeon out of the conversation and work round her. It is what it is. We know she’s against us. We need to just deal with it. The next big job that comes up encourage her to go for it. She certainly won’t be missed by the Indy Movement. The huge mistake was not being able to have a system in place where we the members could have called her to Account. She’s been bad news and is no friend of Scotland.

      Liked by 3 people

  3. Exactly. Do you think “The National” our independence-loving newspaper would print this piece? Scotland needs to be told the truth otherwise we’ll never see independence.

    Liked by 11 people

    1. Not a chance. They prefer to print disgraceful diatribes from an individual,Stephen Paton, directed at Alba, Alex Salmond and our candidates. I am awaiting a response from them to my request for my money back. They received it under false pretences. They claim to be the only independence supporting newspaper in Scotland. They are not. They are Auld Nic’s and her acolytes fanzine. Nothing more, nothing less.

      Liked by 10 people

  4. Ah we could indeed have had a huge majority of maybe 95 MSPs but we don’t. We have instead a minority SNP of 64 backed up by 8 greens. But that was Nicola Sturgeon’s plan. She knew exactly the impact of promoting relentlessly that the Second vote be for the SNP.

    The waste of 1,094,300 SNP list votes for two MSPs was deliberate policy. And it worked in keeping the unionist number up. 31 Tories and 15 labour list MSPs to be precise.

    But an independence majority of 72 ( 64 plus 8 ) across two independence parties is a majority. 72 out of 129 in the Scots Parliament.

    And in Westminster 48 out of 59 ( or 46 SNP and 2 Alba as it is now is another majority.

    So why with parliamentary sovereignty in both parliaments is Sturgeon locked absolutely to the request for a referendum that Westminster will not grant.

    It was Parliamentary sovereignty and votes in the House of Commons that took the UK out of Europe. Not the referendum that was only advisory. Nor did the Covid 19 crisis stop or delay the final exit from Europe. Westminster could both fight the COVID crisis and the EU at the same time.

    Ah wee Sturgeon, asking for a referendum that won’t be given, disregarding parliamentary mandates in both houses, suspending independence focus due to the ongoing COVID crisis and the need to focus on its impacts.

    I think we’ve got the message. Bought and sold for English gold, or perhaps compromised by some dark secret held over her, or her husband. They and their coterie are both fifth columnists. Or am I missing something?

    Liked by 14 people

  6. “So instead of hurling the usual abuse explain to me why it is me that is wrong.”

    To quote a man who owes his list seat in Holyrood to the both votes SNP madness “You just can’t Colin”.

    I hate to say this but I agree with every single word. We will never have independence with Sturgeon and her cronies in charge. And her favoured successor Robertson is every bit the same.

    I’m glad I spoiled my constituency ballot paper. I could tell from online that too few indy voters were going to vote Alba so Both Votes Yes wouldn’t work. Until Thursday I’d only ever voted SNP. Never again. In the extraordinarily unlikely event of indyref2 in my remaining lifetime, I’ll do what I can to help to achieve a Yes vote. But if SNP voters continue to gift the Tories 26 and Labour 20 list seats there is more chance of Johnson telling the truth than indyref2.

    For now I’ll view the social lockdown of the pandemic good training for the social lockdown that removing my single sex spaces will deliver after women are redefined out of existence. From now on women’s rights are my priority.

    Liked by 15 people

    1. My commiserations to Paul Wheelhouse and Joan McAlpine on losing their seats in the South. Of course Joan should have been back as she topped the member’s votes for the South list but lost top place in the gerrymandered list. In fact she got the highest percentage of member’s votes of any SNP candidate in the whole of Scotland and is now unemployed.

      Commiserations also to Tom Willis who lost out on a list seat. He was second highest ranked by members only to Kate Forbes who won her constituency so he should have got the H&I seat but lost out due to the same gerrymandering.

      Liked by 14 people

      1. If either of them felt strongly enough about the robbery of their rightful list places, to pursue the legal action the NEC were warned about, I’d be more than happy to donate to a crowdfunder to assist them.

        Liked by 7 people

      2. The SNP legal advice was that this gerrymandering was illegal. If any of those MSPs decide to launch a crowdfunder to hold the NEC to account, I’m totally up for donating to it.

        Liked by 6 people

  7. Scotland is an English colony.and Sturgeon is the Governor General. Both votes SNP is a policy designed to elect SNP MSPs and British party MSPs. Let’s hear from those who posted on this blog previously promoting both votes SNP. Happy that all these Britnat MSPs are back in Holyrood?

    The numbers are basically the same in Holyrood – a minority SNP party backed up by the Greens. Is this a success? In the last parliament it voted twice to hold a referendum – nothing happened. Why will it be any different this time?

    Two list SNP MSPs – Sturgeons idiots who wasted their votes in effect voting for British MSPs.

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Hi Cubby.

      It’s sad to see the “cunning plan” still being touted as the obvious choice for all pro-Indy voters after its utter failure to deliver at the election. Alba didn’t fail because the SNP were beastly and a lack of a place in TV debates. It failed because few people were interested in them. I told you this would happen months ago.

      As I’ve said ad infinitum now, the arithmetic of the “cunning plan” is flawless, it is just the practicality of it that lets it down. It requires that you convince up to a million people to join in your plot to game the system …. and too few were willing …. and most of them weren’t interested in Alba. Over 200,000 voters, who gave the SNP their Constituency vote, voted for another Party on the List. Only a small proportion decided Alba was the party to give that vote too. That’s just a simple fact.

      The result of these 200,000 voters switching on the List was a gain of 2 Green MSPs …. and the loss of 2 SNP MSPs. Net gain to Indy = 0. Had those 200,000 votes stayed with the SNP, they would have gained up to 5 more List MSPs according to this “calculator”;
      http://www.electionpolling.co.uk/swingometer/scottish-parliament?election=2021s#2021s
      SNP 1&2 would have delivered a comfortable, workable SNP/Indy majority. That is why the SNP understandably wanted both votes. Not to be horrid to poor wee Alba, but to get a stunning, extremely hard to achieve majority in Holyrood.

      The reasons for Alba’s failure are myriad. The most glaring being the impossibility of the task of motivating over 1 million ordinary, non-activist people to get on board with a gamble on an untried, raggle-taggle party. The gamble aspect creates a negative loop as, even if someone is sympathetic to it, they don’t know if enough others will go along with it to make it viable …. so they are less inclined to take the chance (Alba’s poor polling would only add to this effect).

      The second most glaring reason being the fact the leader is the most disliked major politician in Scotland. When your “Big Beast” can only poll 2% in the region he used to weigh the votes in, you’re really onto a loser before you start.

      The lack of a spot in the TV debates is not the reason for Alba’s failure. Hardly anyone watched them and Salmond’s understandable exclusion (why should he be there when all the other fringe parties weren’t) got as much publicity as anything that was “ranted” in the debates. Salmond’s presence in the campaign got Alba far more exposure than any other fringe party could have dreamed of, and no-one in Scotland was unaware of the party’s existence. Where they really fell down was in the drearily repetitive descriptions of the d’Hondt system as the mainstay of their campaign. Hardly what’s going to get the afore mentioned ordinary, non-activist voter inspired to take a punt.

      All in all, Alba’s failure was entirely predictable …. almost inevitable. It’s understandable that it’s proponents would strive to blame everyone and sundry for its demise ….. because the truth hurts. The knee-jerk lashing out at ordinary voters by describing them as “idiots” and “imbeciles” (WoS) for not doing what you brow beat them to do is unlikely to get them to warm to you any time soon either.

      Like

  8. Sorry it’s me again. The boot is still being put in even now.

    “By spending £25,000 on Facebook ads and absolutely bombing in the polls, Alex Salmond basically poured his supporters money down Mark Zuckerberg’s toilet.”

    “but their social conservatism and uninspiring vision for independence has no appeal with voters”

    said “Dr Rhys Crilley, part of the Department of Politics and International Relations at University of Glasgow,”

    A very interesting way of describing his job isn’t it. So you think he is a lecturer he’s not, he’s a research associate and the partner of Rhiannon Spear of the uber woke wing of the SNP. So obviously completely unbiased /sarc.

    https://archive.is/tjpzr

    Liked by 14 people

    2. Panda, I find Ted Crilley’s musings much more sense. But it does illustrate how this reality denying philosophy has been allowed to silence objectivity. It’s now seen as regressive to stand up for women’s rights because to be progressive you have to be nice and change laws to allow people whose philosophy is that they are what they believe themselves to be at any given time to be validated.

      So by that definition Alba are portrayed as regressive. The forthcoming battle is not independence. The election result has stymied that chance. The SNP would not win the argument currently anyway because they are stuck in the vision of 2014.

      The focus now must be woman’s rights and gaining supporters by exposing the stupidity of self id and the safeguarding issues it will cause. It might yet be Alba’s way into Holyrood if the SNP/Greens handle it as badly as anticipated.

      I also wonder if at this time Alba should consider promoting one of the very able women to co leader status like the Greens. I think that this could help reduce some of the flack aimed at Alex Salmond and I’d imagine that women may respond better to a woman making the case for their rights than a man.

      Liked by 7 people

  9. I’m as scunnered as everybody else but the time for lamenting over what could have been has long gone. It’s time to get to work.

    For me the upcoming referendum is the most important. Since if the upcoming referendum is not upcoming when Nicola said categorically that is was, then people might start to wonder why the upcoming referendum is not upcoming. In other words we know the lie of the land. It’s time to start making things work for Scotland and in our favour.

    For an alternative take on things, https://grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/who-won-the-election-alba-won-the-election/ is rather interesting because it’s this type thinking that’s going to make progress.

    Liked by 11 people

  10. Well said Iain, that needed saying. Try as I may, I stood in the polling booth last Thursday, but I just could not vote for the SNP. Spoiled my constituency vote and Alba on the list.

    I find that I have to take a step back from all the shenanigans at the moment, I’m just so scunnert wi it a’ I won’t give up on indy, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll see it in my lifetime as I’m in my seventies now.

    I can’t bear to watch or listen to that bloomin woman banging on about indy for which she has no care. I’ll have an independence referendum and see you in court Boris, to which I can only give that good auld Scottish answer, AYE RIGHT.

    Liked by 8 people

  11. Sickened by the divisions, horrified by the grip the far-right has now throughout the UK, Michael Gove ensconced in Glasgow and that other awful creature Alistair Jack in the unionjackery buildling in Edinburgh. Thank goodness for YES Ross and Sutherland. That’s where I am heading.

    Liked by 2 people

  12. OUCH there speaks an angry man.

    A lot of that I agree with BUT you are speaking to the converted.

    IT WAS A BIG BIG ASK to get many many SNP voters to vote for ALBA on the AMS/List paper.

    Doubly so in the time frame and the lack of info/handouts and an organisation that was trying to focus on social media and had not gathered and mobilised troops on the ground to spread the message and convert the SNP 1&2 voters to vote ALBA on the AMS/List vote

    AS could not even get that done in his local area, now that surely tell us something. What that was, I cannot say today, but for sure one thing it was, was the failure and lack of ability to convert the SNP Voters to give their AMS/List Vote to ALBA

    Whether you agree like or hate NS the Murrells and the present direction of the SNP you need to understand their strategy and logic.

    VOTE SNP 1&2 was a logical strategy for the SNP, as it was maximising their vote and increasing the percentage of people who voted SNP. That is somewhat important in any future negotiation on independence as it does give the SNP legitimacy. The number of unionist MSP’s is not a factor here.

    Shesh as a Senior Project Manager I wanted to help, doubly so as I could see the problems and issues that would make ALBA success difficult, I felt in the available time frame, and with the postal vote out and no real ALBA presence on the ground, almost impossible, but was hoping I was wrong and things I could not see, were happening elsewhere.

    Despite many many attempts to contact ALBA I have heard and received nothing from them apart from an automated reply to my emails.

    Maybe I should contact Alex as allegedly I have his email address.

    The SNP are back and ‘the people have spoken’ that is the reality of the situation.

    We lost that battle because unlike The Bruce the wee people did not come out and back ALBA. We can blame others for that and while that suggestion is valid, we ALBA did not have the army tooled up and weaponised to have any chance of winning that battle. Sadly we could not just walk away to get totally organised and put this fight off for another day. The window of opportunity was small and that was due in many ways to the GET AS TFU and the Parliamentary Enquiry into the Scottish Governments GET AS TFU.

    So ALBA was born by caesarian.

    It’s here alive and growing, hopefully to mature into a powerful political party and movement and lead Scotland into a new world as an INDEPENDENT Country.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Thank you Roibert a Briuis for very valid comments without the usual hatred and bile spewed out on this blog.The offensive insulting language used to denigrate and insult people with a different perspective is offensive and very damaging to the cause .As an intelligent, informed social democratic Independista I would never consider joining Alba if the narrative articulated almost daily is representative of the beliefs and strategy of Alba supporters. So very sad and so damaging to what I considered our mutual.cause.The fact that not even AS was elected to parliament should IMO give cause for reflection.

      Like

      1. Perhaps some examples of offensive insulting language Florence to back up your argument. I don’t swear, or use what would be regarded as offensive language. I am direct yes with any criticism but normally it will be backed by fact and example. If it is disturbing to you why do you read it? As yet reading of blogs is not compulsory, indeed the Thought Police are doing their best to discourage and limit access to them. I would suggest that while Alba were denied access to the media it’s a bit rich for you to complain at the few avenues on social media that were available. Ask yourself “ when did I Florence Sinclair move into the business of State and Media censorship of political rivals and support jailing people like Craig Murray who reported the truth that reflected the jury verdict rather than the lies of the MSM?” If there is any reflection I suggest you start there!

        Liked by 6 people

      2. I think you’re perhaps reading a different blog Florence. This isnt a blog filled with hatred and bile at all. Snp 1 and 2 are ya

        Liked by 3 people

  13. Excellent summary of where we are in Scotland at the moment Iain.The SNP no longer the party of Independence or even an Independence party.Members have left in droves and if social media is to be believed many more are leaving realising they have been duped by the 2 votes SNP message which was proclaimed by the leadership of the SNP.Talk of them forming a “sister” list only party which would be illegal in any case shows that ALBA have really shaken them up.The actual picture from this election is false as the SNP won 2 constituencies due to ALBA voting for them in the constituency.This will not now happen again.Nicola Sturgeon saying on the Andrew Marr show she had won a majority, she has not and the SNP are only the largest party in Holyrood having to be supported by the Greens once again.More of the same to come.Even though we took no seats 45,000 votes for a party that is only a few weeks old is a great result.Unfortunately the leadership of the SNP have proved they have no intention of working with ALBA but at least we know how the land lies and ALBA is now the main party of Independence though we must not forget that there are others who are prepared to work together for Independence.Where we are in Scotland now is very worrying, it is a one party state with a dictatorial Government. The next 5 years look very bleak.

    Liked by 5 people

  14. Agree with every word Iain. I am one of those who debated with themselves about following Alex’s advice – in the end I did SNP 1 ALBA2 but I deeply regret the |SNP1.

    Liked by 6 people

  15. For those of you who don’t know , Craig Murray hasbeen given an 8 months sentence for doing what the media did – which isn’t getting hauled into court.
    I am utterly disgusted .

    Liked by 10 people

    2. A shocking end to the process of persecution by the Scottish Government (SNP + Civil Service). I regard him as a political prisoner in jail at the behest of Nicola Sturgeon, Woolfe, the top civil servants in the Scottish Government and probably Westminster as well.

      How Nicola Sturgeon sleeps at night I do not know.

      Ready to contribute to a crowdfunder for the appeal.

      Liked by 8 people

  16. Great article Iain straight from the heart, as you rightly say we’re not one step closer to achieving independence than we we’re in 2016.

    Meanwhile.

    Absolutely shocking a travesty of justice, the Scottish judicial system, is now akin to that of a banana republic, this is what happens when you allow a Lord Advocate to sit on the cabinet of a Scottish government that’s been up to no good. Craig Murray exposed the dark under belly of the SNP government and the COPFS, and for his troubles he’s been fitted up and sent to prison.

    The outside world will reverberate in shock at this from the giants of justice Noam Chomsky to John Pilger, they’ll now look upon Scotland as a small country ran by a corrupt government and Crown.

    Liked by 8 people

    2. I listened on the public telephone link into Craig’s trial (you were allowed to do this). It was absolutely clear to me that the main thing the Crown were thrieping on about was Craig’s polemical pieces published well before the Salmond trial, his Yes Minister spoof piece in January, and an article he’d published the previous August. I’m beginning to wonder if the jigsaw identification charge is just a cover, because, as noted, Craig did not identify anyone. He was excluded from the court and only reported what other journalists were tweeting. He has now removed the offending articles so why are they punishing him? Craig has however made a number of enemies in the British establishment by his many articles critical of British policy in its shadier and more clandestine areas.

      And coming at a time like this, when the indy movement is more bitterly divided than ever, all this does it open old wounds and continue to poison the Scottish public and political sphere, like a neutron bomb, that indiscriminately poisons everything. Which again, makes me suspicious of who is really pulling the strings, and why.

      Liked by 9 people

  17. Endorsing what Annie has said above, if any candidates robbed of their rightful positions on the list, wished to test this in court, I too would be happy to donate to a crowdfunder.

    Dark days for our democracy and independence but we will get through them.

    Thanks for everything you have done, Iain, and do keep going.

    Liked by 6 people

  18. For those who voted SNP 1 and 2. How can theynfrind out which other party got their vote. I personally would like to see where the second vote in every area was distributed.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Wullie, no other party got the second SNP vote. It was wasted, It went in the rubbish bin. This was an SG election, not a council election. It’s only in a council election that votes are transferred to other parties.
      I don’t know if you are still living in Scotland. If you are you should know this.
      I left Scotland 50 years ago in my early 20s. I wasn’t political minded back then & never ever voted in Scotland. However since your Indy ref in 2014, I have done a lot of political research going right back to 1969 when I left Scotland. I would say given my long absence from Scotland, It appears to me reading posts on Face book etc, I have a better understanding on how your different elections work.

      Liked by 7 people

  19. “I have no idea what they have got on her but it must be a doozie!”.

    Well, we could start with the Balmoral Hotel!
    Then the house in Bridge of Allan.
    Not to meting the missing £600k (or is it £700k)
    Who thinks that police investigation is going anywhere?
    And now we know that she will need the ‘permission ‘ of the Lord Advocate to have any kind of referendum – even an advisory one.
    What nation needs anyone’s permission to gain its freedom, least of all the politician and legal officials of the occupying power?
    What a mess. What humiliation!

    Liked by 8 people

  20. Agree 100% With everything you wrote here, This country will NEVER win INDEPENDENCE when the party of the SNP is now a dictatorship like WM. there is a bully leading that party today, a LYING bully at that. And she has ensured that those now serving in that party are all obeyers of their CULT LEADER.. Her cowardice knows no bounds, She is not fit to lace Alex Salmonds shoes, & she knows it & proved it by insisting he never be involved in any of the debates. She is a despicable creature & to think I once hung on her every word, Thought she was a great deputy FM, And she was of course as she had Alex showing her the way. I would love to see her jailed for the stitch up she put into place to ensure the cleverest politician in the U.K. never returned to politics, because she knew he would wipe the floor with her. The nastiness that is in her knows no bounds.. she is POISIN s far as I am concerned & stole my dream of not just living in an INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND But probably not even being able to die in on..
    Does she care? Does she hell as like..

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  21. I met an old school pal this morning while out at the local shop, and we were talking about the election results and the SNP faithful voting for the SNP on the list and for all the good it did for electing more pro indy MSPS. Now I should say at this point my mate is very much into military history and collects medals.

    When I jokingly suggested that Nicola Sturgeon will probaby set up her own medal and honours awards for those that show blind loyalty to ‘her’ cause, my friend had a quick and apt suggestion for her first medal award.

    He suggested a form of restrike of the ‘Bravery and Loyalty Cross (Quisling Cross) Political Issue with obvious alterations to the emblem and name (Sturgeon Cross) of course. The suggestion intrigued me about my mates suggestion so much, when i got home I looked up the story of the Quisling Cross, which was apparently introduced approximately in 1944 for a short period as the Quisling Government’s ruling masters dictated that only awards from the ruling masters awards systems were to be awarded.

    After all if you are only a puppet goverment, in power at the behest of your superior political masters…you can play at being in charge…to the limits of what your political masters allow.

    Liked by 7 people

  25. Dear Iain
    I have read your article with great interest, and have looked at one or two previously. I think you write very well, and certainly with great passion. This article is no exception.

    My own position is that I live in the south of England and was born in the West Country but have strong Scottish roots on both sides of my family with relatives still in Perthshire.

    I have written about Scotland and the SNP on my website. Links here if you or anyone else is interested.

    https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/s-is-for-scotland/

    https://alphaandomegacloud.wordpress.com/s-is-for-s-n-p/

    You will see I am a supporter of the union for various reasons and you may therefore not consider my views worth looking at.

    However, having researched the matter I see that at least 10 prime ministers of the UK have been Scottish or with Scottish roots. This out of a total of 76 since Robert Walpole.

    Given that Scotland’s population is around a tenth of the UK, this is a disproportionate figure and suggests that Scotland’s influence has been greater on England than the other way round.

    As regards MP’s there are slightly more Scottish MP’s than the population distribution would suggest as fair, by my reckoning 59 existing as opposed to 55 which might be fairer.

    Scotland has a different legal system and different way of buying and selling property, much more similar to the continent than in England and Wales. Its NHS is technically separate, so there is already a fair degree of separation.

    So I don’t see quite what full independence (whatever that means) would bring.

    I see from the following link that the National newspaper which supports Independence thinks that Scotland and Germany have stronger links.

    https://www.thenational.scot/news/14869884.alison-phipps-scotland-and-germany-two-countries-that-in-many-ways-speak-the-same-language/

    Is this what you want? I have argued on my website that Germany, strictly Prussia, and more strictly the Nazis’/communists are behind much of what goes on now with Covid 19.

    Scotland fought with the other countries of the UK against the tyranny and jackboot of Germany under the Nazis. My grandfather was an officer in the London Scottish TA regiment and fought in WW2.

    He was at the Nuremburg trials according to my father and had nightmares afterwards because of the photographs he saw of the concentration camps.

    So as I see it Scotland and England have a common cause and ties worth keeping, whilst Scotland still has, in my opinion, considerable power and influence over its own internal affairs, as well as the affairs of England.

    That is my take on the situation between England and Scotland.

    Kind regards

    Baldmichael Theresoluteprotector’sson

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  26. Alba supporters might find it useful to read this alternative perspective from Gerry Hassan in the Scottish Review .

    https://www.scottishreview.net/GerryHassan570a.html

    Yesterday’s men: Alex Salmond and George Galloway

    Perhaps the biggest losers in the election were the two popular tribunes of yesteryear – Alex Salmond and George Galloway. They both promised to deliver so much: Salmond’s ‘supermajority’ and in Galloway’s case stopping separatism, but delivered very little: Salmond’s Alba winning 44,913 votes (1.7%) and Galloway’s All for Unity 23,299 (0.9%). Both were given disproportionate media coverage beyond their current status and appeal: one pollster in the last week finding that Salmond had an 8% favourability rating, the lowest of any party leader in Scotland. Rather than reflect on the shrunken nature of their pull, both railed against ‘media blackouts’ – the only basis for which was that they were excluded from the BBC, STV and Channel 4 leader debates.

    What Alba supporters refuse to recognise, like the long-heated debate about UKIP coverage, is that how BBC, ITV and SKY cover political parties is regulated by Ofcom, and in election time there is a carefully calculated formula applied to the amount of coverage. Alba had no history, no record of support and had never won an electoral contest, yet still some of their supporters believed they were unfairly excluded. Both Salmond and Galloway were actually over-hyped by the media compared to their appeal, in part because they added colour and controversy – but those should not be the guiding principles of election coverage.

    Salmond and Galloway raise serious questions about the nature of democracy, politics and media, and how seriously we should take the claims of yesterday’s men. This is not just about these two individuals but about much deeper questions such as the role of RT (formerly Russia Today), Russian state disinformation, the limits of political regulation in the UK, and the future threat of demagogues and populists peddling their simplicities and conspiracy theories.

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