THIS IS SCOTLAND 2022. THE ENERGY CAPITAL OF EUROPE.

Posted byiainlawson27Posted inUncategorizedTags:, , ,

The picture above was sent to Salvo this week. I reproduce the message that accompanied it.

Hello Sara

I read on the Internet that:

One in 4 children in Scotland (24%) are living in poverty. 1 in 5 working age people (19%) in Scotland are living in poverty. 14% of pensioners in Scotland are living in poverty. 61% of working age adults in poverty and 68% of children in poverty live in a household where someone is in employment.

In my local small library in Auchterarder yesterday I saw an elderly couple sitting having a cup of coffee from a flask.  The library is now a ‘warm’ space where people who cannot afford to heat their homes can keep warm.  The librarian said some elderly people are now coming and sitting every day.  What brought tears to my eyes was the sight of free warm packs (see above) – carrier bags with blankets and things to keep children warm.  And this in 2022 in Scotland!

It is estimated that England will extract around £80billion of natural resources from Scotland sovereign territory within the next five years. 

I hope Salvo can help to end this Unionist tyranny before too long as I agree with you that our Scottish politicians will not save us.  I fear the lessons we have from history when democracy and sovereignty is denied to a people. This continuing English domination will not stand…

Kind regards

Robert

MY COMMENTS

The need for and use of warm places is real and needed now as winter begins to bite. I remember back in the early 1990’s in Tallinn Estonia the energy crisis as Russia was toying with energy supplies and rationing was in force with big areas being denied power for many hours at a time. This when it was possible temperatures could be as low as minus 20 or worse. People travelled to areas not being rationed and the Scottish and Irish owned pubs in the centre of town were regular and popular places. It gave the owners real problems as people took seats ordered one drink and nursed it for many hours. Nobody got tossed out but it cost them a lot because paying customers found it difficult to get a seat or a table. I suspect our local hostelries will experience the same this winter.

We like to think that Scotland is a country where we care for our own and this winter we are going to have to prove it. Here are some things we can do.

1 if a local church or charity is providing a “warm place” or some soup for the poor and the elderly, drop in and leave them a donation, whatever you can afford, don’t just walk by and leave it to others.

2 if you know of pensioners or a poorer family living nearby and you suspect they may be struggling invite them into your home for a meal. Introduce them to your children, before you know it you can have a babysitter which gives you the excuse for them to spend time in your house regularly, with them thinking they are doing YOU the favour.

3. Remember the homeless, as interest rates rise and unemployment builds this is going to become a growing problem. Again small regular donations can make a huge difference.

4. try and reduce your own energy footprint. Cut the number of lights on, turn the thermostat down a few degrees. Wear a jumper if that helps.

5. sign up to Liberation.Scot. Read up about Scotland’s assets belonging to the people of Scotland and are being robbed by Westminster despite the fact that they have no right to our assets as Scotland remains a sovereign territorial nation with sovereignty remaining with the people of this country. Watch this

6. above all CARE. Most people find caring and helping others a most warm and rewarding experience.

If you do then I hope you have a lovely Christmas…because you have worked to make our country a better place. Little stones doth mountains make!

I am, as always

YOURS FOR SCOTLAND


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69 thoughts on “THIS IS SCOTLAND 2022. THE ENERGY CAPITAL OF EUROPE.”

  1. It’s a bit of a catch 22 situation isn’t it? we, the people just above the ‘just managimg’ Level shouldn’t be the ones having to suport the less fortunate (I’m glad we do) The first priority of a government is the wellbeing of the people, I’m talking about the UK government here as we know the Scottish government can only work with the budget Westminster allows us.
    Would UDI work? I think the rest of Europe would recognise it, we have to ditch the tory opressors before its too late, some of their bills going through ‘parliament’ just now are opressive in the extreme.

    Liked by 16 people

    1. Alan it’s all very well blaming WM for what is happening in Scotland today , I DO NOT vote for english politicians to run MY country I vote for Scottish politicians to run MY COUNTRY, I am sure sturgeon and her MP’s and MSP’S are well aware of what is happening to our people and how many people will not survive this winter BUT their priorities lay elsewhere, they are busy delegating ridiculous inconsequential names so favoured by WM unionist parties to people who are supposed to be FIGHTING FOR and PROTECTING Scotland and Scots but rather than do that they are embracing the establishments namecards for their VICHY government just like the QUISLINGS who governed on behalf of nazi Germany and held their own citizens in contempt

      A shadow foreign secretary ( give us a break ) feed our f+++ing children and stop our pensioners dying of hypothermia in an energy rich country

      Liked by 7 people

      1. Yes, most of the Holyrood budget relates to public sector wages and a large slice of that pays for an Establishment elite throughout Scotland that is still primarily unionist, as well as mediocre, given ongoing repeated failure in numerous policy areas, including independence. The SNP leadership could have done much to change the institutional elites who run Scotland with actual pro-independence patriots, and there are plenty of Scots with the right skills too, but they have chosen not to. The prevailing elite and longstanding ‘cultural division of labour’ is also the basis of our colonial administration and its dubious ‘values’ which aye hauds Scotlan doun. Such is the Manichaeism nature of colonialism – i.e. faux nationalist politicians and colonial administrators working in alliance to oppress the people.

        Liked by 9 people

  2. If you can afford it, fill up a hot water bottle, and ‘wear’ it by putting it in a backpack or jacket pocket.

    In this way you heat your body, but not the house.

    Works for about 2 – 3 hours. Works very well I should add.

    You can get a ready made material sleeve and hot water bottle with velcro fastening for about £10 off amazon.

    Liked by 8 people

    1. I did this for the wee cats who come around to the garden in the wee cat house. I have not seen any plans advertised by local authorities on government. Like Brexit they knew was happening but kept talking about it just like this now and still just talking about it. It’s always the goodness of others trying to help as we should however nobody in authority is doing anything.

      Liked by 13 people

      1. I agree Fae Sae . It’s shameful local authorities are not organising large-scale purchases of food and firewood for the needy in their communities as well as warm meeting places where people can do something – study, play games, music, dances etc rather than just sitting watching the clock. They could finance the initiative by using local suppliers and then deducting the price from their future council taxes

        Liked by 11 people

    2. Sounds too much like a recipe fur cod’s heid soup fur mah likin’. Whit happened tae the rest o’ the generatin’ capacity that biled the watter? It went sooth fur free at a time when Amazon is enjoying massive tax breaks throughoot the UK and the Scottish Government pit ower seeven £million o’ business thair wye in the last three years. Think aboot it, is that no some insulation fae the cauld?!!

      Liked by 7 people

  4. Well for starters I didn’t think there was another man in the world smaller than Emmanuel Macron with exception of a dwarf. Then came along Rishi Sunak. So, my question is, do you think if Rishi Sunak was an inch taller, he’d be able to see the F*cking mess his party has caused?

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Local authorities will need an overhaul once we are independent as well obviously. All areas and buildings left rotting, towns and cities empty and full of charity shops, betting and those pawnbrokers. Oh and don’t expect local transport in some areas after 6 as everyone turns into pumpkins and doesn’t go out. Eat, drink, shop locally they say, aye okay then. It’s the usual, let others do what they should have. By now the government should have closed up and had the bottle to say no whit, not another needless death is happening in this country. Oh no though too feart for themselves and naebody else!

      Liked by 9 people

  5. This situation is heartbreaking and totally unnecessary. It is a deliberate impoverishment of the people of Scotland, as they plunder our resources – just as England has done for over 3 centuries.

    Although it is clear that England has stolen the energy resources of Scotland, ever since oil and gas was discovered in the North Sea, the biggest resource that they have plundered is our people and that has been going on forever.

    As I sit here typing away about fuel poverty in Scotland, had it been during the day I could have looked out of my window and watched the wind turbines turning all day long. I am sure that people who are now wrapping themselves in blankets in an attempt to create some heat and avoiding meals because the energy bills terrify them will be totally overjoyed that Scotland is “The Energy Capital of Europe”.

    I am old enough to remember dreading the energy blackouts – it was scary, but now many Scots are too scared to put the lights on!

    At the same time as millions of people are freezing in their homes, Sunak announces today that the UK government is going to get rid of the regulations on banks and bankers imposed after the 2008 banking disaster that was paid for by the people. The first priority of any government, anywhere in the world is to protect the people, but instead of doing so Sunak and his massive Westminster majority prefers to protect the bankers.

    It must have been “a good day to bury bad news” because Sunak also slipped in that the UK government, in collaboration with the Italians and Japanese, are going to develop a new super fighter named “the Tempest” and it will be ready for service by 2035.

    However, one thing that he did not tell us on his photo opportunity with the RAF was how much we, the people of the UK and thereby Scotland, will be paying for this new super fighter.

    So, this is where much of the oil and gas revenues of Scotland will be going over the next decade or so.

    However, no matter how hard I try, I cannot come up with a reason why Scotland needs a new super fighter – unless they are talking about another Ken Buchanan!

    Liked by 13 people

  6. You say iain that we like to think that Scotland is a country where we care for our own.

    Sadly I have to say that I do not think that is as true as we would like to think it to be.

    Yes there are those who have concerns about the lack of heating in homes across the country. And yes there are those who are striving to create things like heat hubs, or who might be minded to invite a poorer neighbour in for a heat.

    But in reality this is a sticking plaster. The lack of heating, or more accurately the inability of millions to be able to afford heating is an utterly political construct.

    Scotland is a country endowed with gas, oil, hydro and wind energy. But it a country where the people do not get the benefit of that energy.

    In Norway, a similar country to Scotland there is no domestic energy famine. In Scotland there is.

    But do the Scots do anything about it. Of course they don’t. They are after all better together. Happy and content even?

    Warm hubs et al is sadly but a sticking plaster.

    The Energy Famine of today’s Scotland is in many ways absolutely no different from the Irish Famine of the 19th Century.

    Back then something like a million people died of hunger whilst Britain exported food from Ireland.

    Not difficult to see the similarity here today in Scotland where energy gets shipped out for huge profit and the people go cold.

    The programme repeats. Colonialism repeats. That is the way.

    But unless and or until folks decide to do something about how their colony is run, then the obscenity of deathly cold homes in the depth of winter is Scotland’s choice.

    For me changing the system should be our priority. Ireland threw off their shackles. Countries across the world from India to Kenya did so too.

    If there’s one message we need to do the same, and not I may add with the rotten and corrupt SNP who are but Gauleiters in the pay of their Westminster masters.

    Liked by 16 people

    1. You may have noticed Willie I connected the problem to England’s theft of our resources. If people know about that they will act which of course is exactly why the MSM gave it the 100% censorship treatment. Now that is criminal and should be treated as such when we finally achieve Independence. I would jail the lot of them.

      Liked by 18 people

  7. An inspiring call to arms from iain, Sara, Alf and phil and all the more effective set alongsidethe picture of the dire circumstances so many Scots are experiencing now. Reading this and watching the video, we now know how unnecessary this suffering is, that it is imposed on us through the political choices of a Party we did not vote for, in a Patliament where we are massively outnumbered.
    I hope those of us who are still reasonably comfortable for now, though feeling the pimch in some areas, can help those less fortunate as far as we can and urge our loacal authorities to do more to help as suggested in the article, but that, as Iain and his guests point out is only, sticking plaste and the only way to solve our current problems are by becomimg an Independent nation once more.
    So sign up to the Liberation Movement . read and absorb the hisitoric information showing how we have been wronged and the solution we have to remedy this, and get the word out to as many people as possible

    Liked by 13 people

  8. I expect an organised attack line blaming the Scottish Government. I detest Sturgeon and the NUSNP but I will reject any suggestion that the blame lies at their door.

    This is the result of being in a Colony under the Control of another Nation.
    Billions of Pounds are being siphoned of by Tory donors and friends.
    Billions have been wasted in a BritNat Brexit.
    Billions are being wasted on a Trident replacement project in order for the UK to sit at the big table.
    Billions on CrossRail, HS2, Westminster upgrade, London Sewers upgrade, North of England E/W connection.
    Billions of Pounds in revenue from North Sea Oil & Gas stolen from Scotland.
    Billions about to be stolen via the theft of our Renewable Energy Potential.

    The Union via their Red Tory serfs will try to deflect you from the truth.

    The Union is the last relic of an Empire designed to feed the Wealth of London and a handful of elite people. It cannot be reformed because it was created for that single purpose.

    Where did the wealth stolen from India, Africa, Iran, West Indies go?
    When they tell you “Scotland was part of it”, Remember what they mean by that, a handful of greedy men encouraged by the London message jumped at the chance to exploit their fellow man. You need look no further than Lady Mone to see little has changed. Those who protect the Colony hold will be rewarded.

    Stammer screams the tired old message that the poor of Liverpool are the same as the poor in Glasgow. Doing this while sitting at a desk with two Union Jacks behind him. While defending Brexit. While telling MPs not to go to picket lines. While telling Scots you cannot have a Referendum.

    £45 Billion was stolen from India.
    An estimated 8 Million People had to leave Ireland due to the cruel mismanagement by London.
    I have no idea what the financial and human cost to Scotland has been in support of the Empire.

    Yes I am angry! I wish more Scots were.

    Liked by 14 people

    1. Clootie I refer you to my comment above , the snp are being PAID to govern Scotland, if they don’t have enough money with their begging maybe they should do something about it , they have been in power since 2007 and yet have produced NO EVIDENCE to show england is STEALING OUR WEALTH AND RESOURCES , WE all know this but so many others don’t because they get their info from the auntie beeb and NO politician including AS has confronted their lies and constant misinformation

      Liked by 5 people

  9. What sickens/enrages me is the sight of these f****** useless , spineless creeps obsessing about the * rights * of MEN impersonating women , dedicating so much time and effort into this lunacy , while people in one of most energy-abundant countries in the WORLD are paying the highest unit-cost IN THE WORLD ; and you have * Identity * fanatics like Blackman with the sheer nerve to attempt to gatecrash the genuine hardship of so many people in Scotland by displaying herself indoors wearing some kind of thermal romper-suit ( fitting indeed ) , when you KNOW the room she’s in will not be lacking in heat and her generous salary means SHE will not be choosing between eating and heating .

    The moral decadence of * our * representatives is beyond contempt .

    Liked by 12 people

    1. Blackman is a shameless fraud but her attempt to appear ‘one with the people’ only demonstrates her contempt for the voters by thinking that they would be taken in by this blatant deception perpetrated by one of the well-remunerated political class. It should really rouse the ire of those whose loyalty is being exploited but where is the justified rage?

      The SNP loyalists appear unmoved by the predicament of many of their fellow countrymen and women. There should be general outrage against the parasitical political class but Blackman and her ilk feel safe. They should not feel safe enough to lie as blatantly and shamelessly as she does, pretending to share the worry and hardship of the poor. These people have no genuine empathy. I know Blackman is not intellectually gifted but to put out that picture of herself pretending to be affected by the same cold conditions as many ordinary people is gross hypocrisy and should mean she should lose her seat on the gravy train but I despair that we will ever be rid of nitwits like her.

      Sometimes I think that we live under the illusion that because we have a sham democracy that we have some kind of control. In fact, it often appears that things have not really changed since the days of empires. We still have elites who live in rarefied detachment from those they rule and the disparities in wealth between them and everyone else is as great as at any time since the growth of empires. Yet they are few and we are many. How does it happen that they are safely ensconced in their palaces and mansions unworried by the anger and frustrations of the ruled who seem impotent? Many years ago a Tory grandee remarked that we live in an elective dictatorship. Knowing that, generations of politicians have understood how to manipulate that system to their advantage. Nothing changes, only the appearance of it.

      Liked by 12 people

      1. Couldn’t agree more , J . I keep waiting for signs of some kind of mass insurrection , or , at least , some increased awareness of the corrupt nature of the Political Class , here , in Scotland as much as anywhere else : in some regards , more so than here than other countries .

        So far , no signs visible . I honestly don’t know what more it would take to get people out of their political paralysis and on to the streets en masse . If this Winter doesn’t do it , hard to see it ever happening

        Liked by 8 people

  11. The law of unintended consequences hits again – Cold weather payment. In the past this was triggered by 7 days in a row where the temperature was below 0. This resulted in a payment of £25 to eligible people each time. a period was triggered (Eligible people were those with children under 5, pensioners and disabled people or those with disabled children over 5 on means tested benefits). The problem was if it was below 0 for 6 days, warmed up for a day or two then plunged again, no payment was ever triggered.

    The ScotGov decided they would do things differently this year, following devolution of this payment. A guaranteed payment of £50 will be made in February 2023 equivalent to two periods of 7 days as above. The astute amongst you will begin to see the problem – it looks like December alone would have triggered 2 payments this year. Even if we hadn’t had these cold days recently in the Central Belt, those further North generally get more the 2 payments per winter in a normal year due to their colder weather.

    What, if anything, will ScotGov do to help those people cope with the severe weather this winter for whom the new system will be worse when the cost of heating has trebled?

    Liked by 11 people

  12. Scotland, independent inshallah, will enter a different world.
    Example here; https://archive.vn/TgC4L The old political order is mutating as Qatar is certainly aware.
    Scotland cannot afford to be stuck with the old dispensation. There is no reason to be «loyal».
    This is the century of declining Anglosphere influence and the neocolonialism of US interests first is being challenged.
    Scotland is not «anglo» and should be nobody’s colony. Scotland’s energy resources are like those of the Middle East before WW2, appropriated, requisitioned, stollen.
    The British state is death by extortion for Scotland.
    The frozen wilderness is not Scotland’s rightful place.
    Time for some enlightened self-interest from Scotland’s leaders.
    NB the proxy war with Russia is edging towards open war with Pentagon sanctioned attacks on Russia proper. Interesting times, no time to be rudderless.

    Liked by 11 people

  13. This is all the consequence of Brexit the elites have made millions at the expense of industry and commerce destroying the Myth that a Tory government is good for the economy and buisness. The rich and big corporations dont pay tax and have placed this burden firmly on the shoulders of the ordinary people. We have a miserly Uk government who wont pay properly for the things a normal country provides for, health care ,wealthfare and education. They cant give their millionaire pals tax breaks if they pay for this. They always seem to find money for bailing out the banks of for Trident 2. The UK government has broken its Covenant with the people.
    The big lies are being pushed daily by the Media brainwashing us particularly the BBC and Sky , it’s the war in Ukraine, Its Big Bad Mad Putins fault. We all know it is a Scam run by the greedy rich and the politicians who they have in their pockets. Red Tory ,Blue Tory what’s the difference in UK,Ok.
    If you keep a population impoverished their focus becomes survival, where is the next meal coming from how do I keep warm. The establishment are walking a fine line with their deliberate impoverishment and their greed they never seem to learn from history. Our colonial masters have never experienced an in house revolution , they should take a lesson from Marie Anttoinette. This coercive Union has never been weaker yet our Supreme leader has never been quieter. We need change now, forget a Pebicsite election as another useless mandate for Sturgeon, use a Pebicsite to disolve the Union. Use the Mandate you have all ready got.

    Liked by 13 people

  15. ‘Use the Mandate you have all ready got’
    A lot of folk are saying that but with no suggestion of HOW to do it. Its getting so bloody frustrating.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. AUOB Pebicsite election on ending the Union after winning, the MPs are removed from Westminster and the Scottish parliament is reconvened in Holyrood and we then dissolve the Union which is our democractic right. We need to enact our sovereignty .

      Liked by 11 people

      1. Do you know I found a random piece on this year’s back and apparently this was almost done before until they patted their shants according to that papet. It was long ago and I can’t find it but I am sure Robin Cooke and Gordon Brown were in this piece. The Internet was better back then and there more random pieces and documents just waiting to be found.

        Liked by 4 people

  16. The UK is in bits and won’t be put back together again, particularly not by the militant, Tory idealogues who threw it up in the air in the first place in the way a frustrated child might an overly complex jigsaw, leaving the component pieces lying where they fell: irretrievably disconnected. To escape chastisement, we now see the same true-blue-believers, Thatcher’s children, fully grown, attempting to turn the public against the strikers, along with unspecified threats of ever tougher anti-labour legislation. Dialogue, it seems, is out of the question for the now less than cock-sure militants who, If nothing else, remain predictable in their taste for divisiveness and one sided application of the law. The bankers haven’t hesitated in demanding deregulation from what they know to be a Tory party in terminal crisis, so why should anyone else, particularly, our public service workers, feel restrained in any way when their livelihoods are under severe threat?

    Liked by 10 people

  17. As if people in Scotland are not having it hard enough, I was shocked when I attended a Zoom meeting last week with the STUC and Inclusion Scotland regarding the plight of disabled workers in this “cost of living crisis” and was informed that 25 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are still chasing parents for “School Meal Debt”. Apparently, Edinburgh has just stopped this abhorrent practice.

    Is it not enough that our children are stigmatised and traumatised by being singled out as different without compounding this by harassing families because they cannot afford to pay for their children’s school meals?

    Immediately upon leaving the Zoom meeting, I Googled “School Meal Debt in Scotland” and there were a number of web pages dealing with this issue. So, I chose the one from Heriot Watt University and although it is not quite up to date, it does confirm that Scotland’s local authorities are indeed chasing parents to pay off these “debts”. Reading about what is going on brought a lump to my throat that quickly turned to anger – what the hell do they think they are doing? So much for an “enlightened Scotland”!

    Who are these people within local authorities that authorise this massively damaging witch-hunt of the poorest members of Scottish society and why are they not being held to account for their actions?

    The Right to Food is a human right and it protects the right of all human beings to live in dignity, free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. The right to food is not about charity, but about ensuring that all people have the capacity to feed themselves in dignity.

    The Right to Food is also protected under international human rights and humanitarian law and the correlative state obligations are well-established under international law.

    The Right to Food is recognized in article 25 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), as well as a plethora of other instruments.

    Of particular note to us, the Right to Food is also recognised in numerous national constitutions.

    The UK Government and thereby the Scottish Government is legally required under international human rights law to secure the human right to adequate food for everyone in the UK. However, in recent years we have seen large increases in the levels of malnutrition, hunger and food bank usage, all of which are indicative of the UK being in breach of its international legal obligations in respect of the Right to Food.

    The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) is an international treaty which aims to ensure the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, such as the rights to work, social security, health and education.

    Article 11(1) of the treaty recognises the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.

    Article 11(2) guarantees the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and obliges State Parties (i.e. those countries that have voluntarily agreed to be bound by the treaty) to take positive steps in this regard,

    The UK has ratified, and is therefore legally bound by, the ICESCR, including the human right to adequate food. As a party to the treaty, the UK reports on its compliance with the treaty on a five yearly basis regarding implementation of the ICESCR in the UK. This is known as a Universal Periodic Review. The UK will submit the state report for the purposes of its seventh periodic review by UN experts, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

    So, what do human rights experts / Human Rights Defenders have to say on the Right to Food?

    Well, according to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN Committee/CESCR), the right to adequate food is realised when “every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement.” Also, according to international human rights standards, food must be available in a quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy dietary needs, with nutrients for physical and mental growth, free from adverse substances and culturally acceptable.

    However, we are seeing evidence of inadequate food provision to families with low or no-income, but even in times of crisis, the UK Government has a duty to ensure physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. Plus, accessibility of food must be sustainable and not interfere with the enjoyment of other human rights, such as the right to education or health.

    Currently, the Sottish Government is trying to incorporate International Human Rights Treaties into Scotland’s domestic law. However, that is not going to happen overnight and if the experience of the first Treaty to be incorporated (The UN Rights of the Child) is anything to go by, the UK Supreme Court will ensure that the incorporation will be limited to those matters devolved to the Scottish Parliament and take an inordinate amount of time to complete.

    14 months ago when the UK Supreme Court passed judgement on the incorporation of the Rights of the Child it stated that:

    “Section 28/7 of the Scotland Act preserves the power of the UK Parliament to make laws for Scotland”

    The judgment went on to say that there were 6 points with which the Supreme Court did not agree and
    “if any provision of a Scottish Act of Parliament purports to modify Section 28/7 of the Scotland Act, it will fall outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament”.

    Basically, this Supreme Court judgement was about Westminster maintaining ultimate control over Scotland and its competence to make laws, and that we were being naughty devolved children and the Mother of Parliaments knows best what’s good for Scotland.

    My apologies for such a long explanation but I get so damned angry that the UK government is allowing this to happen and that the Scottish Government is not urgently seeking the ultimate solution by whatever means possible – the restoration of our independence!

    For Scotland, this is NOT a “cost of living crisis” it is a “CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS”!

    Liked by 15 people

    1. Learning the Scots language is another human ‘richt’ that Scots are aye denied, as is oor richt tae sel-determination, an oor richt tae oor ain launds an resources. Clearly these and more of our rights are and continue to be violated, wi thon daeless SNP faux-nationalists complicit in oor fowk an naition bein ripped off an ‘doun-hauden’ (i.e. oppressed).

      Liked by 8 people

  18. A thousand upticks arthor49. Priti Patel suggested recently ‘we should starve the Irish’ Shows exactly what the tories think of the colonies.

    Liked by 7 people

  21. The power corporates how their control and exploitation grows.

    Determined to know everything about their customers collecting information ranging from customer – date of birth, to national insurance number, to whether they own or rent their home, to whether they are on benefits, to their browser history, to details of any other utility contracts that they hold, to how many people stay in a house, to how many rooms, to the type of property, to where in the world they log on to their utilities website, to ANY information whatsoever that the utility deems necessary to allow the utility to contact the customer, to details of people connected to the customer, to exchanging of information with third parties and in fact much more .

    And this information is being collected now and not by the generators, or the shippers but by the traders, the billers, the middlemen. And the hapless public open their legs and accept this.

    (If you doubt me on this check out OVO who recently took over from SSE saying all terms and conditions would remain the same – but elected somehow, without me having given them my email or permission to contact me through my personal email, to send me electronic correspondence setting out pages and pages of new terms and condition updated they said September 2022.)

    ( OVO even had the chutzpah to say that I had requested the electronic updates. They also sent the correspondence with no provision for reply. Moreover, their email made no provision to unsubscribe which I thought was a legal requirement. But of course, there is no law when it comes to these energy corporates. There is no law for them. They are the big predatory jungle beasts, they have a fee hand, and I use this word in it’s true sense, to f*ck whoever they want – and they do.)

    But you know what people can still have control. Yes, he power companies try to put as many of the bottom end ecio-socio people on pay as you go meter, since that allows for their power to be in the trade term ” self disconnected ” But not all households are on pay as you go metres.

    In South Africa back in the apartheid days people just stopped paying. What if that happened here. It’s a jungle here and at some stage the small creatures might gang up and fight back. Could that happen here or will the majority just cower. Could there be a restoration of the natural law. I don’t know. I cannot speak for the millions and millions of folks in this country. Maybe they are happy, better together, and delighted that the gas or electricity biller wants to know absolutely everything about them as it levies the astronomical prices.

    Me, I’m off now to turn my heating up whilst I can still afford it. And should society feel pity for the cold children, cold old folks or whoever cannot afford to heat their homes. Well that as they say is a matter of choice.

    In Ireland years ago many would just have walked by the dead and dying during the famine. Are we any different here today in the energy famine.

    Liked by 9 people

  23. This is what we must do, as 100,000 Bangladeshi’s take to the streets to call for their PM to stand down, some of the PM’s nationalist MPs have resigned to aid the protestors cause.

    https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/12/10/bangladesh-opposition-mounts-huge-protest-mps-quit/

    Unfortunately, the gutless and spineless self-serving troughing SNP MSPs would never resign to try and force Sturgeon to resign, to aid the holding of a snap Holyrood election to be used as a de facto indy vote.

    That what we need a 100,000 outside Holyrood shouting for Sturgeon to resign to trigger a snap election. The Rev has pointed out the way step-by step we could be out of this prison of a union next year.

    https://wingsoverscotland.com/how-you-do-it/

    You want out of this prison of a union? then get out in a large number to Holyrood and tell Sturgeon that she MUST resign for the good of the country.

    Liked by 11 people

  25. It’s terrible that Scotland has come to this. The theft of our natural resources by UK gov, and lack of action to free us from this toxic union by our own Scotgov are just making things worse for us all.

    Where I think the idea of having ‘warm places’ is wonderful, to help ease some of the problem, it isn’t accessible by all. There are folk who have disabilities or suffer with anxiety and other MH issues, that mean they cannot use the community ‘warm places’ and must suffer in silence at home.

    I’ve been working hard over the past couple of years to reduce my carbon footprint, and am currently living at the level set as a world target. I expect it to be lower now as I can barely afford to have my heating on more than a couple of times a day. One way I’ve managed to reduce things is by using a thermal cooker, made from an old curtain and some wool as stuffing. https://thriftycorner.wordpress.com/2022/05/11/thermal-cooking/ It really does reduce energy costs. I’ve also been spinning wool yarn from raw fleece and knitting myself wooly jumpers and socks to keep warm. Wool is a great insulator and so much warmer than man made fibres.

    A friend has often said that Covid didn’t kill off as many as expected, so now they’re trying to freeze us or starve us to death. Who ‘they’ are is difficult to tell. But it really does feel that way sometimes.

    Liked by 5 people

  26. An uprising against the oppressor? North Africa was rocked by such uprisings. Unfortunately, they lacked organization . No Organization spells failure. In the North African case the cyber element was a distraction. Westernized types, sitting in front screens, playing smartphone politics in the comfort of their apartments in the US and Europe introducing those western «values» which we now name «woke», screwed up the process.
    The self styled gender politics infecting what passes for Scottish nationalism is a similar alien « virus».
    It is significant that the puppet masters of Globalism have no problem with such politics.
    Divide, reprogram, conquer, rule.

    Liked by 6 people

  27. You say no organisation spells failure. But is this actually so. What if mass non-payment of energy bills becomes a reality. How do the corporate raiders deal with that. Cut millions of households off. Get Sunak to send the army in. It’s a genie that once it’s out the bottle it’s out the bottle.

    Or what of the corporate raiders themselves. How secure are they. You can only have so much close security, household protection. How do they deal with the lone wolf enraged by their conduct. Even the Glasgow gangsters have a hard time keeping themselves safe all of the time.

    Already we are seeing the Tory government resorting to threats to bring the army in, to make striking illegal. So, tell me how that is going to work. Are they really going to jail nurses. And if they do, will every policeman, every soldier be a target of hate. Or even the politicians themselves. The Northern Ireland politicians used to carry handguns. But it didn’t keep them safe.

    My narrative here however is now breaking down into the horrible thought of a societal breakdown. But breakdown can be part of the natural law. And it is a spectrum that runs form maybe non-payment, to general strike, to violent disorder. yes, the corporate raiders and corrupt politicians, may fill their boots, and abuse the populace, but what gives them the mandate to do so. The army, the police, or who?

    There’s many a country around the world where the corporate raiders and their bent politicians were found hanging from a tree or their grey matter decorating the wall of their home. But that is extreme. We live in the mother of democracies. A few people going cold is no big deal.

    Northern Ireland was a statelet where consensual consideration was in very short supply. The politics were rigged. Some got, some most certainly didn’t. Protest and civil rights marches were met with police violence. And guess what the wheels came right off the wagons. Thirty years of absolute mayhem and now the UK thinks it could run it again and win. But maybe it might be England’s own loyal Brits who faced with police, army intervention and the criminalising of ordinary workers who will decide enough is enough.

    Worms do turn, and cornered animals do bite back. Who knows. But my question for now is how many might not pay their bills, and when is the army going in.

    Liked by 4 people

  28. On topic with energy in mind.

    Here’s a more close to home statement for all Scots in Scotland, what if you got your arses down to Holyrood and protested against Sturgeon not resigning to trigger a snap Holyrood election that would be a de facto indy vote, and if you did this, and Sturgeon also did it, and we voted to exit this prison of a union, would you do the above (get your arses down to Holyrood to protest) if it led to cheaper energy bills, giving YOU the ability to put the heating on when you needed it and not to worry yourself silly about the cost.

    Scotland is swimming in energy sources, we should have cheap energy but we don’t, YOU know what to do, so do it.

    Liked by 10 people

  29. I see Wings is already pointing out that the new leader of the SNP group in Westminster is wasting no time in back tracking on the next general election being a plebiscite on independence. The ” new look” SNP front bench looks a hell of a lot like the old one with lots of grand sounding titles that mean the square root of bugger all other than to decorate the CVs of the Bisto kids after they are voted out and looking for a job. Alba favour using the Scottish elections as plebiscite which has merit but to get there would require the SNP to play ball and that is not happening anytime soon. In other news after all the efforts to get our new Ukrainian neighbours set up for Christmas a council jobsworth turned up during the week wanting to move them to Oban as they claim here is not suitable as it is too remote. The community have taken to the extended family of six from Mariupol and are helping them get ready for Christmas and the family are busy building a garden and want to stay here. There is plenty for them to do here but if moved to Oban all they can do is walk the streets looking in shop windows at things they can’t afford to buy. To say people are angry would be an understatement. If here was unsuitable the time to act would have been during the lengthy process their sponsor underwent to get them here not wait until they are settled and then uproot them. Looks like we have a bit of a fight on our hands in this season of goodwill.

    Liked by 8 people

  30. I contacted my local MSP and suggested that he, in his role as a senior SNP cabinet minister, bring a debate to Holyrood about the energy crisis. I did acknowledge Energy is a reserved matter but that by having a debate highlighting what an independent Scotland could do to improve the lives of all.

    “While Energy is a reserved for Westminster matter, why doesn’t the Scottish Parliament have a full debate on the diverse options which should be looked at. As Truss is setting out to interfere in the devolved governments, surely, they should show their value, their importance, by showing the sheep at Westminster up.

    The energy market has three main parts which all need controlled far better.

    I would like the Scottish Government to look seriously at imposing a condition on those Oil and Gas companies who are exploiting our resources to provide oil and gas to Scotland at cost price. Failure to do so would see the loss of their licences to rob from us. The production side of these businesses have not seen their costs rise.

    In addition, the link that electricity prices are based on the price of Gas has to be broken. We are constantly told that renewable costs have come down substantially. As I read, they are about 16% of gas to produce the same energy output. If Scotland is almost self-sufficient in renewable energy, why are our costs so high?

    The second part are the middlemen, (often those companies have those themselves). They speculate on prices and have no share in the outcome – as long as they profit. Many shipments are bought and sold repeatedly before they arrive at their market. At no time have these speculators actually had to “pay” for their purchases. If they had to pay up front and only received payment when the product was delivered would it control their greed? Why does the windfall tax not cover them? Nothing to do with the City of London lobbying, is it?

    The third part is the energy companies having for decades put the shareholder first. Indeed, in the UK shareholders are paid more than the workers.

    One major cause of our energy crisis is we have no storage capacity. We could have bought cheap and stored it, releasing it now. There is no national plan to address this. If one appears it will be taxpayer funded, as the Tories won’t want to bother the shareholders or reduce the profits of the companies.

    In the Scottish Parliament debate we could learn of other ways to tackle this problem, not only in the short term but long term.

    How we could use the windfall tax to scrap VAT on insulation to reduce energy consumption.

    How we could let the energy companies go bust, take them over for nothing and use the existing service structure to provide a Scottish Peoples energy company.

    Where we could store our future energy to avoid such a crisis again.

    Investment in tidal, offshore (as long as Scottish companies are used).

    Transmission infrastructure improvements brought forward (paid by the windfall tax?)”

    I received a reply which said basically, “Thank you but it is a reserved matter.”

    The SNP need to look at Scottish Labour. They left the people they were founded to protect for the green and red benches. If they no longer wish independence, they will be replaced.

    Leadership means explaining how Scotland will be better. The Tories believe in a fairer society. Just not one which fits with mine. So many open goals missed. Don’t say we’re mitigating, say what you would have done in an independent Scotland. Show the difference!

    Liked by 6 people

  31. I see that Believe in Scotland is porganising a Scottish Indepepndenc Congress to be held on February 18 2023 – https://www.thenational.scot/news/23183610.congress-uniting-scottish-independence-parties-groups-announced/. The aim is to bring the Yes movement together, to agree goals, tactics and (slightly worryingly) behaviour, They hope for 300 delegates, and say that delegates from any organisation that can demonstrate that they are actively campaigning for independence will be invited, regardless of affiliation. Also involved in the orgabisation of the Congress will be The National, the Scottish Independence Foundation, Business for Scotland, and The National Yes Network.

    Apparently the three main independence parties – SNP, Greens and Alba – have been invited, but none will be asked to debate or share a platform. Each party will be offered a 45-minute slot to engage from the main stage.

    Like

    1. Hopefully it will do good work. It will however be controlled by the political parties, very different from the Scottish National Congress as proposed by Liberation.Scot which will be a true Peoples Congress.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. That’s not how I read it, Iain – I gained the impression that the Congress was being organised by several non-political (in a party sense at least) organisations, that delegates would be welcome from a large number of independence supporting organisations, and that while delegates from the SNP, Greens and Alba will be invited, they will each have only a 45-minute slot on the platform and won’t be involved in debates. Whether that will appeal to the SNP is perhaps questionable and I’m not sure that they will be at all happy attending a conference where they don’t control the delegates and where their progress towards independence over the last few years is likely to attract some fairly robust criticism!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Ah Davey Believe in Scotland is Nicola’s tool to be introduced when the SNP can’t do it directly themselves. Note the recent “yes” fundraising necessary because the 600k raised under the SNP is nowhere to be seen. Don’t worry SNP supporters with GMK in charge Nicola’s hand will never be far away.

        Liked by 2 people

  32. Sorry daveytee19, I just cannot break your code – porganising – indepepndenc – orgabisation.

    And in response to the article – superb. Well done Sara.

    Now, can we have precis’d leaflets promoting Liberation.scot and contents of the article that we can get through letterboxes.

    Funding? The SNP have £600K available. believe in Scotland now have £100K

    Liked by 2 people

  33. Apologies velo, but my ageing fingers aren’t as supple as they used to be and while I’m finding typos increasingly common, this was a particularly poor effort on my part. There is unfortunately no way of editing typos once they’re posted. If my article really is beyond you and my code unbreakable, have a look at the link I posted to The National and all should be clear. Meanwhile, I assume that Salvo and/or Liberation.scot will be arranging for their delegates to attend the proposed Congress?

    Incidentally, I don’t think that percis’d is correct usage as precis is not and does not have an adjectival form (if it did I imagine it would be precised as in the past participle of the verb) and in your last sentence “believe” should commence with a capital letter, being both the first word in the sentence and a proper noun. Nobody’s perfect!

    I’m not going to spell check this although I have read it through carefully……..

    Liked by 2 people

      1. That’s an interesting one. Apparently, “delegates from any organisation that can demonstrate that they are actively campaigning for indepepndence will be invited…” Now let’s be charitable and say that BinS don’t know about Salvo or Liberation.scot. That being the case, maybe you should point out who you are, show your campaigning credentials and that you satisfy the criteria, and ask for an invitation. If they then don’t give you one, draw your own conclusions (I don’t know why I’m encouraging you to do this, you know my views on Salvo).

        Of course they also say: “The conduct of a very small minority of Yes supporters is often seen as hindering progress so a Truth and Reconciliation Session will include agreeing behaviours the Yes movement needs to stop….” I wonder who they have in mind? And how are they going to stop it?

        Liked by 4 people

  34. In times past Auchterarder *the lang toun* dirty doorsteps weavers aw. Nowadays enjoying comparative affluence being situated closeby to the millionaires row complex surrounding Gleneagles Hotel.

    There is no ‘energy crisis’ other than we have no control over ownership, pricing or distribution. Unfortunately for the people of Ochil and South Perthshire wherein Auchterarder lies they are represented at Westminster by John Nicolson in the guise of an SNP MP.

    Nicolson’s foray into Londonshire real estate in earlier years ensures he will nivver hiv tae endure the ignominy o’ sittin’ aboot in a cauld hoose wi’ a hot watter bottle strapped tae his arse nor should ony o’ his constituents.

    Liked by 4 people

  35. Yes it has gone through. An earlier blog disappeared some five times despite repeated attempts to send. It was about power company abuse and how millions might take back control and cancel standing orders.

    Had similar difficulty trying to send on another Indy blog. Must be Gremlins.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. No bother davetee19, I view English as a bastard language so punctuation and spelling of little consequence. I did have three school years of …amo amas amat…would have better spent learning more about Scotland’s, history beyond caves and spiders, or maybe Gaelic? I scratch the fiddle and so Gaelic music is a must for me. And I’m still quite fluent in Scots – some really expressive words to enjoy.

    Liked by 4 people

  37. Pardon an off-piste comment, but placename interest was triggered by an above post.

    AUCHTERARDER = UACHDAR ÀRDAIR (uachdar + àrd + dobhair) = “upland of high water”

    GLENEAGLES = GLEANN EAGAS = “glen of the learned man, sage, poet”. (Thus the derivation of the “eagles” element of the anglicised placename has in fact nothing to do with eagles, nor indeed is it from the Scottish word for church [“eaglais”] but rather derives from Scottish “éigeas = “learned man”, cf Irish “ord éigeas” = “order of poets/ learned men”)

    OCHILL = “high” (> Welsh “uchel”, Pictish “oykell” [Norsified as “ekkjall”] > Gaulish “uxellos”, cf Scottish “uasal” = “noble/ high-minded/ genteel”)

    Thus OCHILTREE = “highstead” (> Welsh “Ucheldref” with last element “dref”/ “tref” > early Celtic “trebo” = “dwelling/ village”; cf Irish “treabh” = “abode/ home/ region/ family”; cf Scottish “treabh” = “to plough”, also cf Scottish “dìthreabh” = “wasteland”/ “desert” [ie ”unploughed” ”untilled”])

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I find it necessary to qualify something I wrote above, and to give space to another possible explanation of the “eagles” element in in GLENEAGLES / GLEANN EAGAS. The main entry on the the ‘Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba’ site is indeed in accord with the “learned man” derivation (as supported by Charles M. Robertson’s ‘Scottish Gaelic Place-Names’, 2019). However I am just seeing the following item on another part of the Ainmean-Àite site (and in fact this alternative view chimes with Iain Taylor’s excellent pocketbook ’Place-Names of Scotland, 1988) —

      “First published in the Scotsman on 3 December 2016: The name Gleneagles (Glennegas in 1482) has been subject to several interpretations – in both Gaelic and Scots – which have influenced the form of the name over time. The first element gleann ‘glen’ is not in doubt; the second or specific element however may have originally been from eagas ‘notch-place’, a derivative of eag ‘notch’. This was apparently not readily understandable in Gaelic however and it seems to have been interpreted later as èagas ‘bard or learned man’. It is not until the seventeenth century that forms with –l– appear, for example Gleneglis in 1664. The name appears to have been reanalysed yet again as Gleann na h-Eaglais ‘the glen of the church’, possibly by non-local Gaelic speakers who used this glen for droving cattle. Finally, within a Scots context, the form eaglais was reinterpreted as if it were the English word eagles, leaving us with the modern form. For more information see our Database.”

      So in effect the site ends up ambivalent. But opting for this latter line of thought yields —

      GLENEAGLES = GLEANN EAGAS = “Glen of the Notch-place”.

      Here for those interested is a link to the main ‘Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba’ entry for Gleneagles (and note also the Research Notes heading) –

      https://www.ainmean-aite.scot/placename/gleneagles/

      Liked by 2 people

  39. I have been trying to watch the videos of the speeches at the Alba bash in Perth but as the island wakes up the interweb grinds to halt so will have to try again during the night. Pleased to have got to watch Kenny in action as even with gaps he is a great speaker and has a bit of fire in his belly unlike so many others. Talk about the tail wagging the dog the proposed independence congress only happens after Salvo/liberation have started to form a peoples congress and Alba have already hosted their effort in Perth and scheduled a second one in the New Year. The SNP a day late and a dollar short.

    Liked by 4 people

  41. English law and the Supreme court is our colonial masters law, it is imperialistic in nature and designed to keep the indigenous population in their place firmly under colonial control
    It is undemocratic, oppresive and as a consequence has no legitimacy in international law. The British state make the rules and gerrymanders it to suit is self. What we need is a campaign of civil disobedience stop paying the licence fee for their BBC propagandanmachine.Withdraw the MPs from Westminster (It only gives their undemocratic state legitimacy) . Masses disobedience with electricity gas payments etc. That will get the message through we have had enough of UK.Ok.
    Dissolve the Union.

    Liked by 2 people

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