SOUND ADVICE

Posted byiainlawson27Posted inUncategorizedTags:,

A very accurate comment from my friend Alf Baird as he centres in on Scotland’s key problem.

Scotland has now elected six Nationalist majorities in favour of independence, three to Westminster and three at Holyrood. The election of a Nationalist majority in any colony (treaty based or not) and in addition more especially a Nationalist Government means de facto independence. 

Many people appear to have succumbed to the prevailing msm and establishment line, as have the daeless SNP elite, that Scots need something even mair! democratic, which you assume to be a referendum with a dubious and irregular (non-reciprocal) local government resident-based franchise amidst a population that is purposely rapidly changing in terms of national identity and hence national allegiance (i.e. increasing No’s). There are numerous routes to independence as SSRG has found of which Scotland’s people now having repeatedly elected Nationalist majorities is undoubtedly one, and as both former PM’s Mrs Thatcher and John Major and many other senior Tory Ministers acknowledged. 

As Alan McHarg rightly says: “All that is needed is the desire, will and courage to settle up”. The only people letting Scotland down here are therefore the democratically elected supposedly Nationalist SNP MPs and MSPs who have been given repeated national majorities by the people allowing them to act in any way necessary to ensure Scotland’s interests are protected and respected. It is only because of their inaction (and thus complicity with the oppressor) that the economic plunder of Scotland continues with gusto, our undemocratic enforced EU withdrawal enabled, and with that the ongoing oppression, poverty and alienation of the people continues – social, economic, political, cultural, linguistic and much more, resulting in an undeveloped people and nation unable to access their own resources or opportunities. The SNP elite should be aware that the longer they continue to mislead the people and prevaricate and also act to hold back the independence movement, the worse the situation will become. The SNP elected elites need to take a close look at what they have done and continue to do tae haud Scotlan doun.

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60 thoughts on “SOUND ADVICE”

  2. Alf nails it: it is total inaction that is our greatest problem re independence. If The National report today is right, and Scotland’s resources have been ‘volunteered’ for or ‘drummed into’ active duty without our consent or even a preliminary consultation with the Scottish government, that says all we need to know about the UK attitude to Scotland and its people. They didn’t consult because they knew we would resist. Now, since Brexit, everything they do, they do knowingly and with due consideration for their own needs and to hell with ours. It is blatant now, and they don’t care because they believe we will do nothing because the SG has proved them right on so many occasions. They believe we are supine and malleable. They are wrong.

    Liked by 21 people

    1. Sorry, Iain, should have said that our resources might be shared on a financial pro rata basis, but simply helping themselves is not on. By the way, will have a satirical piece for you within the next few weeks or so.

      Liked by 14 people

    2. ” They believe we are supine and malleable” Of course you and I and the other posters here are not Lorncal ,but the awful truth is that a large proportion of the Scottish people are.
      What other explanation can there be for a country when faced with a choice of being run by English Tories for evermore or becoming a sovereign state voted for continuance of colony status.
      Scotland is the only country in history when given the opportunity to be independent , refused to do so. ( New Caledonia also refused independence but had no organised government before colonisation).
      Of course the present administrations in Westminster and Holyrood use this lethargy and apathy to retain power and continue with the status quo.
      So how to change matters? Unfortunately I am too poor, too stupid, too wee, and now too old but I live in hope that the Scots will rise again and get some fire in their bellies as I believe there are plenty of talented people in Scotland capable of running our country.

      Liked by 15 people

      2. Jim, If I remember correctly, the stats after the 2014 referendum result showed that “Native Scots” voted for independence (and would be independent now had the franchise been a constitutional one) but it was those from the rest of the UK, the EU and the rest of the world that swung the result to a “NO” vote. We were robbed!

        https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independence-referendum-figures-revealed-majority-5408163

        Liked by 3 people

  3. Alf, yes.

    Very simply, even a child knows that you don’t have time to do nothing if somebody is stealing all your possessions. So the first thing, everyone in the SNP knows we are running out of time.

    It’s now down to their willingness to do the right thing or their intentions to do the wrong things. Simples.

    Respect.

    Liked by 17 people

      2. I had to bin one of your posts because of a swear word. If you want to stay on this site and be regularly ridiculed you will need to control your language. Best advice I can give you!

        Liked by 16 people

    2. Or to put it another way, even a child knows when the nanny is giving away their toys… That same nanny cannot pretend, even to a child, that they are trustworthy.

      Firstly, the SNP is not trustworthy with Scotland’s finances or resources. Secondly, it’s through incompetent or malice.

      After 8 years of this… And now Israel buying Scottish oil fields, BP owning our our wind, and Scotland just getting to say cheerio to it all and praise the SNP and Greens for being responsible with our toys?

      Not possible anymore.

      Liked by 21 people

  4. The Professor forgets the SNP are loving the swathing new powers available under emergency legislation.
    A sovereign British digital currency in a cashless society is just round the corner.
    The SNP leadership will sell Scotland down the Thames and aspire to sit in a One – World-Government.

    Liked by 13 people

  5. Aye Alf, you’re quite right. Unfortunately the SNP won’t have a look at what they’ve done, and think, can we do better than this. Nae chance, they’re quite happy sitting there taking the money, nice and comfy and cosy. The sad bit for me is, maist o’ the electerate seem happy tae lee things as they ur. We’re a’ strugglin efter the pandemic and noo the cost o’ livin, jist trying tae mak ends meet.

    I’ve said before, I fear greatly these cooncil elections. I don’t think Alba or any of the other independence parties hae much o’ a chance. These elections are notorious for low turnout and I’ve a bad feeling these ones might be even worse than usual. I’ve just seen the candidate list for our ward here in Dumfries and Galloway and there’s naebody I can vote for. One SNP the rest are a’ the Brintnat parties and an independent. An he was the SNP councillor last election. I dinnae ken whether he’s left the SNP or just hiding it because of the GRA nonsense. I’ll have to find out, because in fairness, he was actually a good councillor.

    Liked by 16 people

  6. Deary me Iain, when it comes down to personal insults you really have lost the argument. Poor auld Bill, it seems that’s the best he can do. Sad really.

    Liked by 9 people

  7. Bit off topic but you might be reading the comments Iain and Alf, and it would be great to have your thoughts on what you’d recommend re the STV voting system.
    I’m of the opinion that we should vote for any and all indy supporting parties and leave all of the unionists blank.

    Someone I was talking to last night is of the opinion that we should vote for all candidates, leaving the least desirable to last place.

    Any thoughts?

    Like

      3. Unless there are some aspects that make one of the candidates from Unionist parties more commendable than the others I would suggest not voting Lib/Lab/Con.

        I would rank all pro-Indy candidates in order of preference. Yes, even SNP and Greens.

        Why would I rank SNP & Greens?

        Well, after much heartache – I believe that the SNP leadership are malign and sinister – voting for theoretically pro-Indy parties stops the msm giving the false narrative that Scots don’t wish for statehood. Think of voting SNP as a placeholder for when decent people regain control. (We have to hope that this will happen).

        For me I’d grade in the following order (bearing in mind that there can be multiple contestants from parties):

        1. All Alba Party candidates
        2. All ISP candidates
        3. All pro-Indy Independent candidates
        4. All SNP candidates
        5. All Green candidates

        But I recommend holding your nose and voting for all (theoretically) pro-Indy candidates for the aforementioned reason and ignoring Unionists (unless, as I say, you can differentiate between them on issues you consider important).

        Liked by 6 people

    2. The SNP recommends that you, your friends and relations vote SNP 1 and 2, and for no other parties. That shows at best an arrogant lack of knowledge of the STV system, at worst a serious and equally arrogant intention to mislead. There’s an excellent explanation at https://ballotbox.scot/councils/stv-explained . What a lot of people fail to understand is that you cannot harm your first preference candidate by marking later preferences. The best advice for STV is to keep giving out preferences until there is no longer any candidate you’d prefer to see elected over any other you’ve not marked yet either – thus Vote ’til you Boak.

      Liked by 9 people

      1. “The best advice for STV is to keep giving out preferences until there is no longer any candidate you’d prefer to see elected over any other you’ve not marked yet either”

        I think the issue Neil referred to is do you continue to rank everyone regardless of whether you have a preference between them? Or do you stop before you have ranked everyone because after a point they are all as bad as each other?

        For example I’m likely to have 3 Tories standing in my ward. I’m not sure I give a monkey’s between them (they’ll all get elected – sad face). So do you just leave them blank or as the per last time do I try to work out which ones they wanted most then rank them in the opposite order cos I’m awkward that way…

        Liked by 2 people

    3. I will rank them all and the Tory will be placed above the SNP and Green candidates for two key reasons.

      a) Woman’s Rights are of zero interest to the SNP and Greens.
      b) The Tories are honest about their position on the Union whereas the SNP and Greens lie. (Beware the enemy within because he is the greater threat etc)

      The LibDems and Labour are also dishonest on their Unionist position ( pretending they are Scottish), and both are supporters of the TransCult. Labour think a Thistle logo will fool me!!!

      No Alba candidate is standing in my Ward but ISP are and decent Independents are also on the list

      I would rather give my mid ranking position to a Tory than a SNP Cult supporter who who lies about supporting Independence.

      My vote, my choice. I prefer my enemy waving his flag facing me than holding a Saltire behind me while waiting to betray me for reward.

      Yes I will start to boak as I list the Tory but not as much as when I put my last number against the SNP Nicophant.

      Vote till you boak.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Follow Kelly’s advice and you may as well put the SNP first!

        Council elections usually go to fourth, fifth preference choices. Has everyone forgotten this?
        The SNP voters will not be listing Alba above the Greens or has the Million wasted votes at the Holyrood election also been forgotten.

        The SNP will romp home with guaranteed First, second and third preference votes from all the Indy supporters.

        They will not get mine.

        A SNP High win will be used to claim support for GRA and the current slow Indy process policy.

        Liked by 7 people

    4. “Someone I was talking to last night is of the opinion that we should vote for all candidates, leaving the least desirable to last place.”

      My problem is all candidates in my ward bar one are equally undesirable. I do not have the stomach to put a cross near to a candidate from a colonial party. Among the colonial parties I include the SNP because under Sturgeon this carcass of a party seems to only be interested in the colonial administration of Scotland and handing over Scotland’s assets instead of pursuing its statehood and autonomy.

      Since the political fraud humiliated, undermined and embarrassed us with a capitulation speech on 31 January 2020 she did not have the right to deliver on our behalf, the only characteristic I am now looking for in a candidate to make them deserving of my time and my vote is that they stand for a political party that considers a majority of pro independence MPs as a mandate to end the treaty of union because those MPs will not swear allegiance and will refuse to take their seats. Nothing else in their manifesto interests me anymore.

      In my ward there is only one candidate with the required characteristic to be considered for my vote, and that is the Alba candidate. This means I can only put one cross in my ballot. I refuse to give credence with my pen to any colonial party whose only purpose is and has been to deceive the people of Scotland so Scotland can be stripped off its assets, so it continues to pay for England’s debt, England’s mistakes and vanity projects, and it continues to be used as England’s warmongers hazardous waste landfill.

      Hell fill freeze before I put a cross near to any party whose only ambition is to act as the colonial administrators of Scotland, Sadly, that includes Sturgeon’s SNP.

      Liked by 4 people

  8. The SNP’s 🌈praesidium will not like Viktor Orbán’s victory in the Hungarian elections. The EU is «upset» that the Hungarian government will not promote gay sex to children and is threatening to withhold billions of €. The gay sex shtick is apparently an EU «core value».
    In any other context such emotional messing by adults with immature minds would be considered «pervy». The principled founding fathers of the EU would not recognize the institution.
    I feel this is a situation where Mhairi Black, as Sturgeon special ambassador, might be sent to Budapest to sort Viktor out….🌪💥🔥

    Liked by 6 people

  9. First, I’ll take issue with Alf’s statement that there have bee six nationalist majorities in favour of independence. I assume he’s referring to elections since 2011. It really depends what you mean by a majority. Certainly the SNP won seat majorities in the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections, and in the 2011 and 2021 Scottish elections, the latter with the Greens. But they’ve never won a majority of the people, not even in their landslide general election win of 2015. The nearest they’ve ever come to a popular majority was in that 2015 election when they got fractionally under 50% of the popular vote. In 2017 they got 37%, in 2019 45%. In all these case more people voted for unionist parties than for independence ones.

    It’s not much different for Holyrood elections. 2011 SNP 45% of the popular vote, 2016 46.5%, 2021 47.7%. Again, in each of these elections more people voted unionist than independence. I’m a believer in the will of the people being judged by how they actually voted, not how these votes were subsequently converted into seats through whatever electoral system had to apply at the time. So Alf, I don’t agree – elections here have never shown a majority of the people being in favour if independence so indeed we do need something “mair democratic” in which the will of the people can be accurately expressed. A referendum is the obvious answer and there really is no case to dismiss that just because you think the answer won’t be the one you want. As I see it, a referendum should be open to all those aged over 16 who have their permanent home in Scotland and have no vote anywhere else in the UK. Excluding people because you don’t like where they came from or because they haven’t had their permanent home in Scotland long enough would almost certain;y be challenged under Article 21 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

    Basically, if we want the world to recognise our right to independence, we first and foremost have to show that a majority of people living here want it. We can’t currently do that and as the election results I’ve referred to indicate, we haven’t even been moving in that direction. Like others, I largely blame the SNP for that as they have done precious little if anything to advance the arguments for independence which are many and, if properly put, convincing. But I am also concerned about what I see as the major elephant in the room, the Scottish people. We’ve had Conservative governments we didn’t vote for since 2010, each one worse than its predecessor, each one passing measure after measure that have hit Scotland and its people harder and harder. And yet the Scots seem to be oblivious to this. We know what the answer is but we ignore it. A majority of us still prefer to vote for unionist parties. There has been no appreciable increase in the national desire for independence since 2014. Are we just too frightened or too brainwashed? Before anything else we need a major assault on public opinion, although how we do that I don’t know – the SNP is inactive, the MSM is almost universally against us and getting the message out is going to be hard.

    Iain mentioned a plebiscite election but I’m not at all sure that that would give the required result, at least at present. I assume it would be at a general election on a first past the post system. Hopefully the independence parties will put thier differences aside and put up one independence candidate in each constituency asking for a mandate for independence. I imagine that the unionist parties will do something similar, putting up one candidate who will support the union. As far as I’m aware there were only 10 seats in Scotland at the last general election where the SNP won more than 50% of the vote; in the majority of seats, unionists won more votes though they were divided between the parties. Personally I think we’d have a better chance with a referendum than a plebiscite election, but only once we (and yes SNP, I mean you especially) have taken steps to convince the population that independence is the right thing. We nearly did it in 2014, when doing it oor way and disregarding the MSM we raised support for independence by 20% Surely it’s not beyond the ability of the independence movement to add another 10% to that now?

    Liked by 3 people

    2. @daveytee19
      The SNP, as represented by the current leadership, is rather content with Britishness. So are rather too many Scots. Exposing Britishness for the anglocentric power scam it essentially is has not been a motivating principle. Indeed it is rather difficult to detect any motivating principle in the SNP’s current politics regarding exposing the system for the fundamentally colonial/neo-colonial construct it can, by its actions, be proved to be.
      Devolution is plainly the SNP’s day job and preferable to the bother of all that nationalist stuff with which some seemingly have «issues».

      Liked by 9 people

    3. I would also point that the Tories with only 42% of the vote enjoy an 80 seat majority and used that majority to take Scotland out of the EU DESPITE 62% of Scots voting to remain a member. You seem to find that acceptable which makes it all the stranger that you cannot accept that the overwhelming number of pro Independence MP’s from Scotland is sufficient mandate if the will existed to exercise that power. Even Mrs Thatcher thought it was, very strange pro Indy Scots do not agree.

      Liked by 10 people

      1. Whatever makes you think that I find the Tory situation in Westminster acceptable? As a long term proponent of proportional representation, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I think that the 42% vote/80 seat majority enjoyed by the Tories in Westminster makes my point for me. The results of our First-Past-the-Post electoral system do not reflect the wishes of the majority and are profoundly undemocratic. The SNP enjoyed a similar nonsense in 2015 when they got 50% of the Scottish vote and 95% of the Scottish seats. That being the case, I’d be very interested to hear how you think a plebiscite election should be conducted.

        Like

    4. As for any defined ‘people’ seeking self-determination, our Scottish national consciousness and therefore our Scottish national identity and hence desire for Scottish nationhood is built upon oor verra ain Scottish culture and language(s). This also explains why peoples of other national cultures and languages will likewise tend to hold to their respective national identities. In helping to address your question and to understand why “There has been no appreciable increase in the national desire for independence since 2014”, we therefore need to consider, amongst other factors:

      a) what has been happening to Scotland’s population during that period, and previously, and;

      b) in particular, what are the changes, if any, in the national identity of those who are permitted to vote on the specific matter of Scottish sovereignty and the self-determination of the ‘Scottish people’.

      This article and others in the series published by YfS relating to the ‘Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence’ theoretical framework may help to answer your question(s):

      https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/07/11/determinants-of-independence-demographics/

      Liked by 9 people

      1. Basically the article appears to say that a lot more English people are coming to live in Scotland and have been doing so for years, something I think we all know anyway. There’s a rather doubtful suggestion that this is in fact partially due to a covert UK government policy to reduce the chances of indepepndence – I have to say that in the absence of any evidence I find that rather unconvincing. So having considered the factors you mention, what do you propose should be done about it?

        Liked by 1 person

      3. “what do you propose should be done about it?”

        As I said, Scotland’s elected nationalist majorities need to assert sovereignty, that’s their only purpose. What’s your solution?

        Liked by 9 people

      4. Alf, you’re very good at putting theories forward but not so good at suggesting how your theories could actually be put into effect. Have you any suggestions as to how the problem to which you refer can be resolved?

        Like

      5. daveytee19
        In the colonial situation, the most urgent task is liberating the people. That is or should be the role and purpose of the elected ruling national party majority. However we know from postcolonial theory that the dominant national party elite prefers to feather its nest and reaches a compromise with colonialism. Those seeking independence therefore first need to understand the nature of colonialism in order to figure out how to end it.
        https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/07/18/determinants-of-independence-colonialism/

        Liked by 3 people

    5. In fact there was a majority of seats for pro-Indy parties in 2016: SNP (63) + Greens (6) = pro-Indy (69) or 53.5% of all seats.

      Also in 2015 the popular vote for SNP + Greens was 50.7%, so a majority albeit a miniscule one.

      Liked by 6 people

  10. No chance of a Referendum wining independence on the current franchise we will see that when the census results comes out. Sturgeon has tried to delay this using covid as an excuse. It’s already a year late and here is why the level of migration from England, has reached frightening levels we are being swamped by colonial settlers especially in the Highlands and Islands, by 2030 we will be a minority in our own country. Sturgeon who repeatedly tells us the demographics are on our side knows this is a blatant lie, she is a Unionist pretending to be a Nationalist , I know this is a hard one for people to except especially SNP members but this is how the British establishment work. We need to put Hollyrood under siege and protest that we have no confidence in Sturgeon duff Leadership and get rid of her and her cabal.
    Before we can do anything to progress the cause, we need someone who is genuinely wishing independence and striving for it and that means campaigning for it .

    Liked by 11 people

    1. I watched Reporting Scotland earlier. They were interviewing people on the street about the census. Judging by the English accents, I thought they might be in Solihull. Turns out it was Newburgh in Fife!

      Liked by 10 people

  11. I do wonder what the ‘red lines’ are of the current sitting SNP MPs / MSPs. We know the mainstream media, including the BBC, have normalised the existence of foodbanks. The ONLY way out of food and energy poverty is independence. So what will it take for those in WM and holyrood to say enough is enough – regardless of the position of the leadership.
    Surely life is about more than a cushy pension. Or is it? The crazy thing is, the spoils are far greater being at the helm of a newly recognised state.

    And do we really want such invertebrates sitting around a table with London officials? We’d be sold doon the river!

    Liked by 11 people

    1. I wonder what the red lines are for the Scottish people. What will it take for them to say enough is enough? We can go on about the politicians, but as long as the people keep electing them they’ll think they’re doing enough. It’s not as though we don’t know what’s happening – Brexit, partygate, National insurance, PPE scams, Johnstone (that alone should be enough), gross disparity of wealth, power grabbing, taxing the poor but not the rich, energy, cost of living, food banks, cronyism and corruption, it goes on and on and on, but the Scottish people remain supine. I’m beginning to wonder if we deserve independence.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Indeed. How, for example, did we ever tolerate foodbanks as a people? What is wrong with us?
        Perhaps we haven’t suffered enough yet.

        Liked by 8 people

      2. It is perhaps rather simplistic to say that Scots vote against their own national liberation simply because “the Scottish people remain supine”. The explanation for the No voting majority seems quite straightforward based on the colonial reality/colonial theory and post referendum data. In line with census and post referendum data, of the two million No voters in 2014 approximately half (1 million) were voters who do not have a Scottish national identity and who clearly did not want to be ‘Scots’ given that by voting No they rejected the offer of Scottish citizenship, and they also took it upon themselves to block national citizenship for indigenous Scots – how nice was that to your host nation/people! The other half of No voters are Scots, many of whom will have developed a colonial mentality as a consequence of Scotland’s ongoing colonial and cultural oppression. “Colonial mentality is defined as the perception of ethnic and cultural inferiority and a form of internalized racial oppression.”

        Liked by 11 people

  12. Walk down the street in any town or village in Perthshire and you will hardly hear a Scottish voice. If you shut your eyes you would swear you were in England.
    Of course, to raise an eyebrow at this, or to have concerns about the very real possibility of this massive influx rendering our independence all but impossible, or even to NOTICE this huge demographic shift means you are a racist, and a hate-filled bigot. I have nothing against English people, but like everybody else in the world they will vote with their hearts and vote for what they think is best for “their” country. And Scotland is simply another part of “their country”, like “the midlands” or “East Anglia” or “Wales” (!)
    Our task gets harder month by month. Nicola Sturgeon is perfectly aware of this and perfectly happy about it.

    Liked by 12 people

    1. Voting in Scotland is a joke. Three Westminster majorities for independents don’t count. Neither do three independence majorities in Hollyrood.e

      Nor does the vote of 62% of Scots to remain in the EU count either.

      But of course 42% of the vote delivering an 80 seat majority Westminster Tory Government does count. And if you don’t accept that they will come for you with all the power of the coloniser using whatever force is necessary..

      Once we truly understand that then we can do something about the democratic deficit and win.. The world is full of countries who took their independence back from the colonisers and there is no reason that Scotland cannot do the same.

      Liked by 7 people

  13. On a slightly different tack isn’t it really quite quite amazing to be now being told that the Chancellor Rishi Sunak who was elected as an MP in 2015 and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2020 was a permanent resident of the US.

    Put in plain English the guy was a foreign resident, a permanent resident of the US sitting in the UK parliament in high office and due, it would seem, to be liable to the US for tax on all his world wide earnings. And conversely for the US the situation where one of their permanent residents was taking up government in a foreign country. The UK as it turns out but what equally if it were the Duma.

    One could be forgiven for thinking something is not quite right here. What perchance would our fickle populace think if the now current world number one bad guy Vladimir Putin came to be elected as Chancellor of the Exchequer.With the number of Russian, and for that matter other countries oligarchs who resided in London, making huge donations to the Tory Government, and owning much of London, the postulation about Putin is not so daft.

    Oligarchs transcend borders, nationality and the obligation to pay tax, or not or where is for them a matter of choice. That is how Britain works under the Tories.

    And then of course there is Mrs Sunak. Indian by birth, Indian by nationality, daughter of one of the world’s wealthiest men, and pretty wealthy in her own right. Domiciled in the UK with her ( until October 2021 ) US permanent resident status husband Rishi, it now emerges that Mrs Sunak has not being paying UK tax on her worldwide earnings.

    Of course from recent statements she has declared that she has no long term attachment to the U.K. since she intends to return to India to be with her aging parents. And that’ll no doubt make it all right.

    Or does it. Seems to me that tax and nationality for some is absolutely optional. No rules for them, only for us. And as for Mr Putin in Government, of course he is, or was. All those oligarchs, all that money, all those donations, he was as much part of the UK government as RIshi Sunak.

    Vladimir Putin, Rishi Sunak, Duma or House of Commons, they’re all the same.

    Liked by 10 people

    1. We hear much of the so called oligarchs of Russia, and occasionally China, but suspiciously little of their far more oligarchic/plutocratic equivalents in the supposedly democratic «West» except when they are vaunted as entrepreneurs worthy of admiration by the demos/plebs and through their select promo club and «new man» nursery the corporatist/neo fascist leaning WEF.
      Riches do get you more influence for your buck in the Anglosphere, the total antithesis of the principle of popular democracy. With such a model why should Russia and China be troubled by «conscience».

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Absolutely bang on Ottomanboi. The West has more of its fair share of oligarchs. It’s just however that we don’t call them oligarchs. or recognise them to be anything else than than saints.

        And make no mistake, with their ever increasing wealth, influence and power there is nothing that these people will not do to exploit and maximise their positions .

        Like rats in a trap, and make no mistake, that’s not an inappropriate analogy, we live the dream that’s fed to us. Look at Scotland, we found oil and gas, and now renewables and got poorer.

        Liked by 7 people

  14. It’s quite obvious that Johnson has asked his media pals to destroy Rishi Sunak. That was accomplished a few days ago, but still they keep at it. Not that I have any sympathy for Sunak, but it’s overkill now. He will never be a rival to Johnson as tory leader.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes Resipole, that’s how it works in the World’s greatest democracy.

      Rich. typically, but exclusively male Tory politicians, acting on behalf of the truly rich elites, having a little fall out, sticking the knife into each other. And all the while the little people look on as if somehow they had some kind of say in their governance.

      It’s the populist politics of believing in the good tooth fairy.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. A Scottish «republican» Constitution ought to have no dark corners where influencers, however defined, might hide from the bright light of public scrutiny and accountability. Like Caesar’s wife all in public service, or having access to its agencies must be seen to be ultra squeaky clean. The clientism exemplified by the default operations of the quasi-monarchic «anglo-saxon» model requires constitutional checks.

        Liked by 4 people

  15. The three strengths of the British, according to a venerable extended family member, are exclusivity, philistinism and smug complacency. These strengths have served them well. They managed to get an empire on the basis of them.
    In imperial days, for practical reasons, Scots played along. There is now no practical reason why they should continue to do so. The psychology of kicking the old habits applies however. When many around are stuck in a rut, how, without unduly traumatizing the party, do you get the message over that you’ve been played for a sucker for rather too long? Shock treatment, douche écossaise, a «national» party not ashamed to be called «nationalist»?

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    1. Rather interesting letter in The National today from one Clifford Purvis which accuses those of us who no longer toe the New SNP line of being bots, infiltrators, trolls, etc. It used to puzzle me when I was about seventeen why so many Germans went along with the Nazi ideology, why they didn’t see through it to the nihilist cul-de-sac it was. I no longer wonder: too many people are simply willing to believe anything; and the false promises of the SNP and their idiotic and science-denying GRA reform bill are two examples of people being force-fed, and swallowing s***e, and enjoying it with lip-smacking glee. It is as if the Scottish Enlightenment, with its emphasis on rationality, science, critical thinking, and, yes, even religious humility, had never happened. Totalitarianism appears to be deeply-rooted in too many on our side as if the virus has been brought to them from the Scottish Unionists and assorted UK “no independence till I say so” brigade and has infected so many, so quickly. All of them are blind to reality, and, even if they make a killing in the local elections, their days are numbered.

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  16. Alan McHarg: you are right in that a majority of naive-born Scots voted for independence by almost 5% over the 50%. It was the coalition of Scottish Unionists (who lost heavily), rUK voters and voters from the EU and elsewhere that stymied our independence in 2014. In New Caledonia, the native-born people for independence were outvoted by their own Unionists in a coalition with colonists. In Quebec, in both referendums, it was Quebecois Unionists and Anglophones. There seems to be little point in holding a pre independence referendum at all, and the fact is that such a referendum is supremely unnecessary. A post independence ratifying/confirmatory referendum is all that is required for the international hurdle, democracy and legality. This fact cannot be stated enough.

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  18. In response to my question as to how a plebiscite election should be conducted, Iain succinctly replied “majority of seats won”. That’s still a little lacking in detail – if you want a definite result with a definite majority, I assume that the plebiscite elction would be at a general election using the first-past-the-post system. That means, of course, that you’d have to use the UK franchise system, ie no votes for under-18s. I’d expect there to be only two serious candidates for each seat as the independence parties would presumably band together to put one candidate forward on an Independence ticket, and if they’ve any sense the Unionist parties would also band together and put one candidate forward on a Unionist ticket. It would obviously be much better if the unionists didn’t do that and their parties all put up separate candidates, but I can’t really see them doing that.

    So would that achieve a better result than a referendum? Could one reasonably expect that in a majority of constituencies independence votes would outnumber unionist ones? That only happened in 10 constituencies at the last election and it is difficult to see why that situation would radically change – after all, the same people who would vote no in a referendum would presumably still vote unionist in a plebiscite election. Also, 16 and 17 year olds would be excluded. It has been estimated that 30% of Labour voters are in favour of independence, so faced with a straight choice between an independence candiate and a unionist one, a fair number of people who might normally vote Labour could vote independence, but they’d do that in a referendum anyway. On the other hand, polls show that a surprising number of purported SNP supporters don’t want independence, so thy might vote for the unionist candidate. Taking all that into account I have very serious doubts that a plebiscite election would serve us any better than would a referendum but in the absence of a latter there might be little alternative.

    Oh, and if anyone comes on about the alternative being to proclaim our soveregnty under the Claim of Right or whatever and “just do it”, perhaps you’d also tell us just how we would do it – some details please!

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  19. I would agree with much of that, except to say that, in a plebiscitary election, all seats and votes should be counted, with all independence candidates from whichever party swearing an oath to advance a case for the end of the Union – on pain of immediate deselection by their local party if they do not keep to their oath immediately after the election and in conjunction with all the other elected independence MPs. Any candidates not swearing to that oath should be dropped from the list of candidates and replaced. That would involve the local branches and constituencies taking back control of the process of selection and deselection. If the SNP or the Greens refused to co-operate, it would be very evident to everyone that they had no intention of doing anything except cashing in their salaries and pensions in exchange for a Vichy-style collaboration. I really don’t think these people understand how sick of them and their foot dragging we all are now. I, personally, am almost at the point where I will not vote at all, so betrayed do I feel by these middle-class, one-step removed from reality and two steps removed from independence politicians. I don’t believe I have ever encountered so many ordinary people who are so fed up of politics and politicians as lately, and there has not been a time in my own lifetime when so many elected representatives are happy and willing to tread water and stagnate while our country collapses around them. Echoes of pre revolutionary France.

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