WHAT WE PRO INDY BLOGGERS ARE UP AGAINST.

Posted byiainlawson27Posted inUncategorizedTags:, , , , , , , , , , ,

Recent times have seen a number of bloggers leave the scene or at the very least cutback substantially on their number of posts. One of the main reasons for this is the impact of social media restrictions in the form of ALGORITHMS now being applied by the social media companies, particularly Twitter (X) that can be used to control the numbers reading political posts. Now bloggers, particularly those who raise money from the blogs, are usually pretty secretive about their true numbers ( Wings excluded). In this I am pretty unusual as I think readers knowing what is happening is very important.. I seek no financial income from my blog, only a few hundred pounds each year to cover my hosting and software costs, all other revenue raised is donated to Salvo/Liberation.

I am in my 71st year and have been an Independence supporter since 1985. I see my blog as the best contribution to our cause I can make given that I have some medical reasons why physical efforts are no longer the option they once were.

My blog is my main hobby that allows me to contribute and maintain the interest and involvement in our Movement for now approaching forty years. I have no fear telling readers how my blog is going because YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS. So here are the verifiable numbers

My Blog numbers

2021 500 email subscribers, 1000 twitter followers, 2700 Facebook.  No of views 1.2 million. Number of unique visitors 407,000

2022 1200 email subscribers 3500 twitter followers, 3000 Facebook No of views 750,000. Number of unique visitors 215,000

2023 2700 email subscribers, 8200 twitter followers, 3000 Facebook No of views 510,000. Number of unique visitors 160,000

OVERALL PERFORMANCE

Email subscribers UP 5.4 times over the 3 years

Twitter followers up 8.2 times over the 3 years

Facebook capped off at 3k after the 3 years ( intentionally by me)..

YET

No of views DOWN BY 57.5% over these three years.

No of unique visitors DOWN BY 60% over these three years

Facebook numbers have fell off a cliff as well, 150,000 in 2021, 75000 in 2022, 57,000 in 2023. So it is down by over 60% as well.

A very interesting factor in this is foreign readers as my blog goes all over the world. The USA has the most foreign readers in each of the three years, but there is no 60% drop in readers there 12,000 in 2021, and over 10,000 in both 2022 and 2023. Readership has been steady there while in the UK, OVERWHELMINGLY IN SCOTLAND, AN ALMOST 60% fall has been recorded. Clearly the factors responsible for this fall in Scotland are not being applied abroad. Why only in Scotland?

MAKES NO SENSE UNTIL YOU TAKE ALGORITHMS/ INTERFERENCE INTO ACCOUNT.

IF any article is non political it is pretty much guaranteed to attract many more views than a normal political one.

If any article highlights colonial control of Scotland the screws really go on and the article will attract less than half the views of a normal post. I publish and will continue to publish a lot of anti colonial articles. Readers regularly contact me reporting the share option has disappeared with some of these articles.

Make no mistake I run a dangerous blog. A blog that has attracted the attention of those whose purpose is to suppress Independence for our country. It is not just me, I am sure the majority, if not all pro Indy blogs, are facing the same problem.

Now they get away with it because bloggers don’t like to report dropping numbers, so the public are largely unaware this is going on. Look at the numbers, look at the huge rise in both direct subscribers and Twitter followers, up by more than five times and eight times respectively. Yet that has resulted in an almost 60% drop in views. That is impossible without serious interference.

Why can I write that? Well ALL my growth comes by organic means. I don’t pay or advertise for new readers but those big increases demonstrate conclusively that my content is very popular…with those that get the opportunity to read it. So popular that they want to sign up for an email subscription or follow me on Twitter for more. So these very substantial increases in subscribers and followers indicate positive proof of the interest in what is being written, so any defence that people have lost interest, made by those doing the interfering, does not stand up to the slightest scrutiny.

I have no idea what measures Twitter and Facebook will take against Yours for Scotland for making public this article. Whatever happens I will get the message of that to you one way or the other.

I just want them to be honest so I know who to blame. Is it Twitter themselves or is it, as Elon Musk hinted recently, pressure being applied on them to comply with the shadowy state apparatus in some countries? I am confident if it is the latter, severe restrictions on the pro Indy blogger community would be at the very top of the UK PRIORITY LIST. Also please note this has been going on for the last few years, not just since Elon Musk bought Twitter.

So what can you do to help? Well if you are lucky enough to see a pro Indy blog article, like it and even more important SHARE it. If enough people do that it will signal to those responsible that we are not tolerating this and are fighting back. I share articles and posts by other Indy bloggers all the time.

We do not get a fair crack in the Unionist, foreign owned media in Scotland so social media is crucial. Unionists know this and it is exactly why these measures against pro Indy writers are being applied. They plan to shutdown these last channels to the public that are available. Don’t let them, support the bloggers and Salvo/ Liberation that are being completely blanked by the MSM in Scotland. Even more than Alba if you can believe that!

This of course is a big issue for Independence supporters but it is an even bigger issue for those of us who also believe in Freedom of Speech. We are supposed to live in a democracy but without Freedom of Speech that democratic environment is being strangled in front of our eyes. Craig Murray has a huge following but I noticed several posts from him last week highlighting the interference his blog is also experiencing.

We are living in a country where our justice system has been used as a political weapon, where the Scottish Government are regularly choosing paths in direct opposition to the public will, and where Westminster is becoming much more aggressive in inflicting further colonial pressures on our society. Freeport’s and the loss of our sole refinery would be good examples of this.

We must be aware of all this hence why I have been so honest and upfront about what my blog is experiencing under their heel. I will not be going away! I hope you won’t either!

Share this article the public must know about the stealth like tactics against Indy and Freedom of Speech. We need both these measures if we want to finally live in a country realising it’s full potential.

So you can now add social media freedom to the list of oppressions currently in place in colonial Scotland at the moment. If you notice interference on Yours for Scotland posts please let me know and ALWAYS complain to the social media company.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland.

BEAT THE CENSORS

Unfortunately there are some sites where extensive blocking takes place against bloggers who do not slavishly follow the dictates of one political party. This is a direct threat to freedom of speech and I unhesitatingly condemn such action. To overcome this problem I rely on my readers to share Yours for Scotland articles as widely as possible. My thanks to those who help overcome censorship.

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The most reliable way to get articles from this site is by taking out a free subscription which are available on the Home and Blog pages of the Yours for Scotland website. Given that I often seem to face other problems with both Twitter and Facebook this guarantees that my content is freely available.

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Salvo continues to do valuable work and an ever increasing number of people are involved. They are now running strong campaigns on several key issues and as the campaigning arm of Liberation.Scot they are the key to success. If you would like to make a donation to further Salvo and Liberation’s campaigning here are the details. All donations large or small greatly helps our work.

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73 thoughts on “WHAT WE PRO INDY BLOGGERS ARE UP AGAINST.”

  1. You did well to get the email list going, thats the best way forward. I get your emails, seldom your stuff on social feeds as previously. Facebook is the worst platform for that in my experience, they want money or they are suppressing things. Doesn’t one of the architects of the Vow have something to do with Facebook UK 🤔
    It’s not the platform it was in 2014.
    All the best 👍

    Liked by 14 people

    1. Yes, I agree regarding the email list. I don’t do Facebook, but I rarely see Iain’s stuff on Twitter any more. I can’t keep up with the way everything that was stable in the world is being/ has been upturned, and here in Scotland every SNP / Green government policy causes a collective national “eyeroll” (to say the very least).
      Yessers are have all but given up on seeing Indy for the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t mean we no longer want Indy. We seem to be waiting to see the SNP crash & burn, and be replaced by Scottish Labour (eyeroll) for a number of years/terms until a more trustworthy independence party can become better established.
      Until then, our futures are in the hands of the UK… so we’re probably screwed.

      Liked by 7 people

      1. ‘A more trustworthy independence party can become better established.’ I agree with much that you say but as the reading of Doun-Hauden by Alf Baird will tell you, the path taken by the SNP is a well-trodden one and is the norm for the major independence party within a colony.

        They begin full of radical thought and actions but as they become the dominant party within the colony, a change comes over the leadership. They begin to act as the oppressor’s administration and to collaborate with them on introducing the Administering Authority’s policies within the colony.

        It is only when the people wake up to what is really going on with ‘the vehicle for independence’ that a People’s Movement is formed and becomes the real and immediate threat to the coloniser’s control of their country.

        Does any of that sound familiar?

        Liked by 17 people

    2. I’ve not used facebook for some time as I found it so frustrating . Having found a way to circunvent some of their blocks (by posting a photo of an article when not allowed to post a direct reference), I found I was effectively banned or restricted, my friend list vanished and my access to many sites denied.
      Any other suggestions on how to share Iain’s information and views on this site would be, helpful. I also find it hard at times to either comment on or ‘like’ on several Indy sites, abd usually have to register every time I want to fo this, though often still not successful.

      Liked by 8 people

    3. Hello, Congratulations on your success!!!!!! I’m sorry you’re suffering with this!!!!!! I’ve just entered my 6th decade on this rock, born and living in the U.S. When blogging first arrived with the advent of the public internet, I was shunned by both the people replying to my content, and the host sites. I would respectfully post state of the nation content, filled with as many facts as possible, and most importantly solutions guaranteed to work! I would write the governor of Florida, my congressmen, and the POTUS, fulfilling my civic duties, once again backed by as many facts as possible. Of course All of it to no avail! I’ve been denied the ability to be placed on the ballot to run for the office of governor. As well as denied a license to operate as a certified Insurance Adjuster because the state claims that I am a convicted felon, despite not providing me with the court documentation or records of the arrest and conviction. I have provided proof that I was never arrested or convicted of the crime, to no avail!

      Most will disagree with me but all of the fa is poi t to that our lives here are 100% scripted! Namaste

      Like

  3. The reason @indyscotnews was set up in 2016 was to repost & retweet current indy blog posts from genuine pro-independence bloggers to ensure a wider reach. I use aggregator software, which shows that there are lot of click and interactions, which means more traffic to indy bloggers. Odd thing is, the software also counts Twitter followers. It shows near a 1,000 more than TwitterX – my follower count appears to have been frozen for several months, if I only refer to Twitter. Odd that. If the guy from 77th Brigade psyops is still in the employ of Twitter he’d make the Stasi proud.

    Liked by 15 people

      1. Having recently viewed and very carefully listened to a presentation at Cyber Security Expo 2023 just before Xmas it is clear what they can now do with AI and the internet is extremely worrying.

        For example, using AI, a string of code can be inserted into a company’s payroll system and it will sit there and learn when the best time is to attack. So, it works out that the 2nd or 3rd of a month is not the best time but if it waits to take action until the 26th or 27th of the month to begin then it will cause most damage to the system as employees await their monthly salary to pop into their bank accounts.

        Another example was given whereby a country can now crash an online system anywhere in the world and when investigated all avenues lead to a completely innocent source. I know that this can already be done but with the use of AI it is almost impossible to discover the true source of the hack or action taken.

        Having watched the video on YouTube I wondered if the only safe way to communicate is to unplug anything connected online!!

        I have no doubt that our oppressors have many dozens, if not hundreds, of people working against our social media output and they are just warming up for the next real threat to the continuing colonisation of Scotland.

        As our approach to international bodies gets ever-closer, it would be useful if the interference with our social media output could be collected and provided as additional evidence.

        Liked by 7 people

  5. Iain

    Grumpy Scottish Man was never as popular a blog as many others , including your own, but as it started to pick up in 2022 by number of reads and visitors, up to around 15,000 views a month, this last 8 months has seen a drop off with some friends commenting that it appeared to disappear from their feeds and I would have to start sending links that they could share.

    Now I am not pretending that I break stories such as yourself and a few others, my blog is purely an opinion blog, since I took a step back from politicians I just don’t hear the gossip on the ground and what I do hear I can’t write about for fear of identifying the person telling me or the Sturgeon state Police calling.

    I do agree though there has definitely been a ramping up of suppression in who gets to see what we write and the opinions we express. We know the media will blank us, and suppress us, for lots of reasons but I think others are at it now at the bidding of parts of the state. The yoons fear Scottish independence because the colony is the only thing keeping England afloat financially due to the abundance of natural resources as we all know. They are coming for the water next, just wait and see.

    We need to keep going though as best we can as we are all we have right now pretty much.

    Bruce

    Liked by 13 people

  7. I’d suggest that the “unique visitors” is not a reliable measure, the “number of views” should be.

    I don’t use Twitter or Facebook. I view your posts by regularly visiting your website.

    However my web browser is very locked down, so preventing a lot of “web analytics” from operating. Only when I come to post a comment will they manage to sample me.

    For some browsers this “lock down” capability is actually quite easy to achieve, but the degree of effectiveness varies. I go over and above what is offered in the UIs, and apply even more constraints. That is mainly to save bandwidth, but also partially for improved security, as the major source of attack of most people’s computers is actually via web browsers.

    As an example, I suspect that if people turn on “Lockdown Mode” on iOS devices, and haven’t whitelisted a given website, then it will severely constrain what analytics can extract for their web browsing.

    Over and above that, I’m also of the view that a lot of analytics is “snake oil”.

    Liked by 4 people

  8. I am not on social media at all but this seems to be a serious situation. I have emailed my MP (Chris Stephens) and my MSP (Humza Yousaf) with a link to the blog. I asked for their comments and if anything can be done in Westminster, the Scottish Parliament or both about what is going on. I will also send the link to some of my old Independence friends.

    Liked by 5 people

  9. “You can burn libraries, ban books, boycott scholars, and blacklist intellectuals, but you cannot blot out ideas.”

    The Blogs are still cutting through. Pathé News was replaced by MSM. We no longer trust the BBC. We have stopped buying the Newspapers. We no longer trust the Politicians. The Monarchy is being mocked. Political Party Manifestos are no longer trusted.

    Keep going……the attacks prove you are winning. The combination of Wings, YoursforScotland, Robin McAlpine, BarrheadBoy, PeterBell, GrouseBeater, X (Twitter)…….and dozens more create the conversations that lead to change.

    I remember the Pathé News propaganda of the 50’s and 60’s.
    I remember KStQ being played at the Cinema (and everyone standing)
    I remember KStQ being played on the TV every night and the TV NOT being turned off until it finished.
    We have over 300 years of conditioning to overcome…..It was never going to be easy.

    As long as you get up one more time than you are knocked down…..you win.

    Liked by 12 people

    1. To be honest there’s a couple of blogs listed there I stopped reading because if you asked them questions or disagreed, it was unionist, troll and other arrogant comments. So they themselves as well as possibly being restricted may have put people off even bothering to want to read their thoughts.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. The lovely woman who worked in the museums wrote the piece on Alistair Gray dealt with one of them rather well. It’s difficult enough trying to help the Scottish cause, as in everyone without people trying to arrogantly rubbish others as unionists who will be subjected to blocking or reposting in the hope others attack or try humiliate you (Grow up). It just acts like a midge repellent, or the wee memes you used to get fae Scots with the picture of anti bawbag spray. 😄 It’s like guys and gals I want to read what you write but fgs are we not allowed to question?

        Liked by 5 people

  10. “Never doubt that a small group of”, [strategically placed operatives is all that’s required to subvert the free-flow of information in any state]. Margaret Mead expired, of course, before she could experience the present-day technological-capture and subversion of public opinion. I wonder what the statistics are telling the state about the Scottish public’s acceptance of the idea of independence as a desirable and legitimate alternative to the status-quo? It’s a relatively easy matter to place pro-state propaganda in the public-domain, but quite another to kill-off a deep-rooted and popular perception when it is nurtured and sustained by a people’s ethnicity, culture and history. It is the state’s hubristic arrogance and ignorance regarding such matters that will ultimately prove its every effort futile. That the Yes movement remains as the largest non-aligned political grouping in Scotland by far, should tell them and us as much.

    Liked by 5 people

  11. Pingback: WHAT WE PRO INDY BLOGGERS ARE UP AGAINST. | Of Men and Markets

  12. Keep it going Iain. The fact that they are doing this, proves we are winning. I won’t wait as long before contacting you, if there has been some interference.
    I have went from 3500 followers on Twitter (X) to 1600+ since around May last year.

    Liked by 3 people

  13. This is what happens when I share on Facebook.Every.Single.Time.
       * Hi Carol, It looks like someone may have accessed your Facebook account. To secure your account, you’ll need to answer a few questions and change your password the next time you go to Facebook.For your protection, no one can see you on Facebook until you secure your account.  Secure Your Account Now  Thanks,
    The Facebook Security Team *

    Liked by 4 people

  14. This clip is one of a series, now over 5 years old, so things have changed, but the message remains, we are wide open to cyber infiltration.

    I did in fact raise a Petition to the Scottish Parliament, it was accepted, and I provided further evidence from the Security Commitee at the HofC who pinpointed possible Russian involvement in the 2014 Referendum, Their report appearing years – not weeks – after the 2014 Referendum. Long story short – the Petitions Committee with input from the Scottish Government closed the Petition.

    Two lessons I learned, 1) the vital need for a second chamber where experts can be called to provide the necessary level of competence so lacking in our MSPs 2) how unprepared we are in this area and so many others. (Estonia could help on cyber, Iain.)

    It is also why having been hacked on the links used by me and The National when the Declaration initiative was started, I reverted to pen and paper, and avoid all electronic systems in contact with the UN and 17 Member and only use Track and Sign postal services.

    (PS: The 6 weeks was amended to 8 weeks, and that remains in the Referendums Act to cater for any Referendum. 8 weeks + 1 Day and you cannot call the result into question, no matter how conclusive your evidence – you are out of time!)

    Liked by 6 people

  15. I quit Facebook during the lockdown. My posts were fact checked and let’s not forget the Cambridge Analyitica data scandal. Goverments impose fines on these companies but where does that money go? It’s not coming to the people who have been impacted is it?
    We tend to look at everything through the lense of Scottish politics and yes, I do think that if you support independence or post things that could gain traction then people have been limited.
    This is a worldwide issue and a while ago I saw that Crown Sterling/Orion Messenger website where they have developed with freedom of speech and data sovereignty in mind in line with America’s freedom of speech in their declaration. I think that there’s a fee for joining.I can’t recommend as I have not tried it however at least there’s folk out there doing something to try tackle this huge issue.
    There’s only a couple of Scottish politicians that I have heard speaking out about Julian Assange. One of them I find contradictory as later it emerged that Joanna Cherry was looking at possible court action when they tried cancel her, not all of us have the luxury or are in a position to do so on a personal level and it’s disappointing that those politicians are not doing it for the people.
    Is this our next point of action? Getting together as a country and challenging them? Goodness knows how many times do we hear the Scottish people are sovereign said like a mantra without the actions required to match it. The Claim of Right and Treaty of Union could and should be used to end this all but it’s unfortunately being used for policies like Rwanda. Now I am not saying that I agree with the Rwanda bill am pointing out that if they used them there wouldn’t be a need for us having anything to do with it.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Sorry, I mean in the notifications. A pop-up window prevents me from commenting. Have tried everything to lose it, but still there. WordPress won’t let me access either and rejects my password. Will very to work out what’s wrong. Could well be me and my digits doing something wrong.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I can’t like or comment on Peter Bells output if I read it on my desktop. WordPress continually asks me to login with no success. I engage with other means.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Published by me from Lorna
        I would think that you are right, Iain, to be worried about what is going on, and that something is going on is evident. We need to remember what big tech actually is: it is a means of controlling individuals and of controlling a population, first and foremost; its penchant for interfering in politics of a given country in order to influence policy is a given, as all corporates and global commercial interests do exactly this by means of lobbying groups already, we are seeing a shift in methodology as new technology allows; and people are simply not equipped to understand the extent of what is happening. I would hazard a guess that, very soon, all politics and political discourse will be controlled by money interests and the shaping off economies to reflect corporate interests rather than people’s. Our politicians – indeed, all politicians – have not a scoobie about how to counter it because they were the ones who allowed the lobbing groups such widespread access. They are merely puppets on the end of the corporate, global strings. It is likely that individual posters and commentators are also being shut down by various means, such as their details going AWOL. By the way, did you know that a pop-up window comes up on your blog that covers up the reply button and makes a reply to anyone, including you, impossible?

        Liked by 2 people

  19. Does this mean I am going to be obliged to delve into my blog’s stats!? I pay little attention to anything other than the view figure for articles. I have no idea how many subscribers I have. Or how this may have changed over time. I’ve always considered an obsession with site statistics to be a distraction from the main business. And possibly an unhealthy thing if the motive becomes chasing better figures rather than saying things that need to be said.

    Having said all that, I take the point Iain is making. If the stats can be useful as evidence of interference, then I’ll happily publish whatever figures are considered relevant. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea if we all did this as standard operating procedure. Just don’t ask me to do the arithmetic. Numbers don’t speak to me. I can do the arithmetic. But it’s hard work for me. And I see no point in being retired if you don’t get to be a lazy bastard.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Since England can’t exist without Scotland we can expect desperate measures. This makes it more difficult for us BUT we’re winning – slowly but surely. If the Irish people can escape their clutches, so can the Scots. An Irish fellow once said to me, “Why don’t you kick the bastards over the border?”
    My pathetic reply? “It’s not so easy.”

    That was in the late sixties when few people considered Scottish Independence. Things have changed dramatically. Today we are on the verge.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I have to correct you there. England can certainly exist as an independent nation. What ceases to exist with restoration of Scotland’s independence is the British state. The idea of ‘Great Britain’ and all the pretentions that go with it will wither. And good bloody riddance, I say!

      Liked by 5 people

  21. The unionists won’t help good or bad. They want free speech and sovereignty for everybody apart from Scotland.

    The biggest mistake the SNP movement ever made was they should have supported Brexit.Brexit was All about getting full sovereignty back from the EU. Both our economics and laws.

    That was a no brainer for any independence voter, but coming out against Brexit was sheer stupidity by those who don’t understand money or trade. The EU uber alles brigade.

    By supporting LEXIT which would have been the best thing to ever happen to the UK. It would have been a simple okay you have now regained your independence now we want ours. We want ours for ALL the same reasons you voted to leave the EU. It was the first logical step towards our own Scottish independence.

    Instead, the majority got behind Brussels led by Sturgeon’s neoliberal globalists who want to be run by Brussels. Instead of having full sovereignty of our own. It was a political car crash.

    Let’s be clear about it.The Libertarian right and right wing populists say they want free speech but they want nothing of the sort. What they offer is a very defined type of Libertarian ideology. A one that tried to cancel just stop oil and the Palestinian protests. They still try and cancel everything that comes from the left. Cancel Scottish independence. The free speech they are only interested in is right wing free speech that mirrors their ideology.

    LEXIT was the true Indy voter home. The natural no brainer position for independence voters but the majority turned their back on it and wrapped themselves in EU globalist neoliberalism instead. As they don’t understand money or trade.

    Many independence voters will move to the Tories. That’s the big shock still to come in my opinion. As the SNP and Labour EU uber alles brigade offer these voters nothing. Many of their EU policies of the neoliberal globalists have repulsed Scottish voters .If these voters can’t get an independent Scotland they will settle for at least an independent UK in my opinion.

    Many have looked and been disgusted by what they see and it will effect the numbers of many Indy blogs, as these voters have simply given up on it. Went for an independent UK instead. I’m convinced this behaviour will become very clear, as the votes are counted at the next Scottish election.

    How any Indy voter even believed for one second that being run by Brussels was independence. Was in my view, a quite staggering state of affairs and showed many people in Scotland who 100% believed in LEXIT that we are simply not ready to be independent. These people will vote accordingly.

    The political landscape in Scotland is about to change in my view and many are not prepared for it.

    Like

      1. The Scottish Tories and Scottish Labour will have the best Scottish election results they have had in years Lorncal.

        My fear is the Tories will do very well and I predicted they would after seeing the SNP and Indy movement up close and personal during my time setting up MMT Scotland. My nose was pressed up close to the EU uber alles brigade. I saw first hand how they think about Brussels. I walked away in the end as they are entrapped by GROUPTHINK.

        They simply don’t understand you can love and adore Europe but despise the EU and what it stands for. Don’t understand modern money or trade.

        Open borders, the trans kids stuff, the third of Scotland that voted for Brexit Will move voters to the right. They simply have nobody else to represent them. The liberal left and liberal Right and the liberals are neoliberalism INC. Wrapped in globalism.

        Some voters already moved to the Greens during the last few elections but got their fingers burned as the Greens followed orders from Brussels and the German Greens. Moved massively to the right and neoliberalism under Lorna Slater and her privatisations and identity politics.

        Those voters won’t make that mistake again. The Scottish Tories are standing there with open arms. As the voters move from one con trick to another.

        I was convinced this was going to happen, just as it has happened all across Europe and why I predicted it and why I told Robin Macalpine it will happen if the EU uber alles brigade stay on their current path. Even more so now after the SNP/ Green farce.

        What is needed desperately is A Progressive Vision of full Scottish Sovereignty. We need to quickly reclaim the Scottish state for ourselves. The Scottish people. With full sovereignty free from Brussels and EFTA. True independence and choose our own path. A more domestic orientated one that is focused on Scots and our own well being first. Our own free floating currency and a job guarentee and many other rights embedded within a constitution.

        Here:

        https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337326/reclaiming-the-state/

        Like

      1. Of course Iain because it was infested by the EU uber alles brigade.

        Neoliberalism INC. Wrapped in globalism.

        They became Tony Blair’s new Labour following EU and Washington dictat.

        Which Scottish voters rejected on mass Blair’s third way and how the SNP done so well in the first place.

        It is all driven by geopolitics. Washington and Brussels control the SNP. They’ll do anything they say. Why they are so desperate to join the EU. While everyone else is having second thoughts after discovering what it is actually like being a member.

        It is not ineptness it is actual policy. Read the NATO charters and EU treaties. It is written as clear and right through both like Blackpool rock.

        The Scottish growth commission was a copy and paste job of both the EU treaties and NATO charter.

        Voters throughout Europe didn’t suddenly turn to right wing populists because of their own countries ineptness. They turned to right wing populists because of EU policies. Foreign and Domestic.

        It’s the most undemocratic institution ever created. After totalitarian regimes.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. The Scottish growth Commission was a copy and paste job of an EU convergence program.

        Word for word – Policy for policy.

        Read any EU convergence program and then read Andrew Wilson’s growth commission they are identical bullshit wrapped in geopolitical groupthink. Paragraph by paragraph.

        That’s not ineptness it is Scottish government EU policy. Passed down from above. It is planned and not because the SNP don’t know what they are doing.

        Just like all across Europe, Some Scottish voters will run into the arms of right wing populists. They have nobody else to run to.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. I would not worry too much abou the punters Derek. EU elections turnpouts were woeful. 50/50 whther they were noticed at all? The majority of Scottish punters weren’t going to ‘war’ about it. I agree though that the leading SNP did more posing in the media about the EU than they did Independence. Any idea why? I suspect Sturgeon, Swinney and Murrell have no political beliefs at all.

      Liked by 1 person

    4. Is it these EU values or western values that get preached at us? Definitely elitism, definitely neoliberal. Maybe the fannies at the top of the SNP wanted to join the club where they all think the same or are feart not to so they don’t get flung oot o the same club before they’ve joined it!

      Liked by 1 person

    5. I am convinced that some of these people online claiming to be unionists might not be just ordinary people who would value freedom of speech and real justice. There’s got to be rational thinkers looking at what’s going on and they just may sign up to liberation. The UK government and Scottish governments both closed businesses and the backlash from lockdown is going to take a long time to recover from. Some lives and businesses will never recover. Now a lot of people who support the union love Scottish government bad stories but are failing to look at Westminster bad stories with equal measurement. That’s a mistake that they might regret. Now some Scottish folk both pro union and pro independence get their knickers in a twist if you question the government and convince themselves that each other are enemies. Both fail to look directly at the policy makers with equal judgement and instead argue with each other.
      I personally am not into the EU and am fed up with it being tied to Scottish independence. The EU was taking the UK government side before Brexit. Greeks weren’t allowed to leave. Look at the wars they are involved with just as much as the UK/USA. Vaccine passports and restrictions which are no way independent or sovereign. Two of Irelands politicians are doing a great job along with other European parliamentary politicians at speaking out. Yes I get that 62 percent of Scots voted remain and it highlighted a valid point and breach of the Treaty of Union. I think the EU is on a shoogly peg itself and perhaps we might be going back to local rather than global.
      I am only one woman but I would love to experience an independent Scotland with our own currency, passport and time to feel what it’s actually like to be our own wee nation. Everyone and their auntie wants us to be like Scandinavia, Switzerland or another country. I am happy with being Scottish despite Ewan McGregor and Irvine Welsh saying that it’s shite they were paid to say that am no. 😄
      Who knows, perhaps when we start being ourselves we won’t want to be anyone else.

      Like

      1. I think you misunderstand. When Salvo/Liberation state we support Swiss Popular Democracy that does not mean we want to be Swiss but that we recognise the value of having a Swiss type democratic system that enables the people, rather than the politicians and Parliament, to be sovereign at all times. Make no mistake we want to be Scots, successful Scots, making all the key decisions about the future, here in our own land.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Ps, wasn’t having a dig at you, I think your blog is one of the best ones going. I was referring just generally to the amount of people who want us to be like others and some have even made some cash out of it. Not against people earning but I would love to see our or at least someone’s vision of Scotland being Scottish.
        The guy who wrote about folk who support independence joining the Tories, I don’t see it but I felt Donald Trump would have liked Scotland to given quite a few support him as we saw recently one visiting his Florida residence. Some other Brits have too.

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      4. Andrew, Charlie’s brother’s ex girlfriend Victoria was over there partying as reported in the media. Ross Thompson was there as well. Another was online saying that Donald is our king. Donald is on film saying that he didn’t support Scottish independence. Not saying folk can’t support Donald because in a free society we should have a right to support who best resonates with us regardless whether we agree or not however I think that lines need to be drawn under possible influence of our policies and country to make sure all is above board.

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  22. When you read the many Indy blogs when they write down what they think an independent Scotland should look like. It is LEXIT in all but name. What they describe is what a true left LEXIT would look like.

    But when given the chance in the EU referendum over 60% in Scotland voted against it. They thought the Tories would be in power for the next 1000 years. Couldn’t even imagine would it would actually mean being outside of the EU If a Corbyn type figure was in charge. No longer hobbled or decapitated by the EU directives and spending rules and everything else embedded in the treaties.

    After voting that way. Now complain all day long that not only can we not leave the UK but have to follow neoliberal globalist policies, passed down from the EU uber alles Brigade who.are joined at the hip with the SNP.

    The leave the EU vote in Scotland, should have been the majority if voters actually believed in full sovereignty independence. If they had actually understood modern money and trade. The fact that it wasn’t and only a third voted to leave speaks volumes. Created a farcical independent position that Indy voters find difficult to defend. Without exposing just how little they actually understood modern money and trade as they cast their vote. Never even considered what a LEXIT would look like if the chance arose in the future. Were more than happy to stay and keep voting for neoliberalism and Andrew Wilson’s EU convergence program – The Scottish growth Comission. The growing number of banks popping up along the Clyde getting ready to asset strip the place EU style.

    You can Count the number of Indy blogs on one hand or a couple of fingers who highlight this huge mistake and who promote EFTA instead. Which is just as ironic and an inbuilt obsession of giving our full sovereignty away if we ever find the courage to take it. Give it away to somebody else as soon as we have it.

    It’s a very sad and sorry state of affairs, regardless of the cancel culture going on at independence blogs. The majority of them need to learn what independence and being fully sovereign actually means first. The Tories and the true left that voted for Brexit knew exactly what being fully sovereign means. Always have done.

    They are moving to the reform party and the SDP in ever bigger numbers as the SNP, Lib, Lab, Con have refused to carry out the result of the referendum.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Which shows Iain you fully understand what the EU stands for. You are one of the few.

        But like I have posted before we don’t need EFTA once you understand trade and modern money. Standing in front of a neoliberal judge that uses the ECJ in an EFTA court to ask to get policy through like state aid and many other things is not independence.

        Independence and being fully sovereign means you NEVER put yourself in a position to ask anybody for permission to carry out domestic economic policy.

        I’m not sure but I think the idea came from the other obsession that we need to export our way to growth. Why we think we need to be part of these trading blocs – we don’t.

        The idea also comes from the false belief that we need to export to get the Foreign coins to buy the imports we need – Again we don’t that is a complete mis understanding of how modern money works.

        International competition stops nations getting all their imports for no exports.

        When coupled with a floating rate currency, that means that the cost of barriers is paid by the importing area imposing them – via a shift in the exchange rates. After all barriers are nothing more than a tax on trade.

        Therefore all we need to do is reduce our import barriers as low as we can and smooth the path so that everybody in the world can sell to Scotland as easily as possible. Then simple competition for Scottish business sorts it out. Those nations with the lowest barriers on Scottish exports will find that their goods and services are cheaper and sell better here as imports than those with higher barriers on Scottish exports.

        There has been far too much focus on the wrong side of the balance sheet – the bit Scotland can’t control, exports and foreign inward investment. That is backward. We need to focus on easing imports and conducting outward investment – the bit we can control. The natural feedback mechanism from that will then automatically rectify the other side.

        The correct solution to the trade issue is to remove the rocks from our harbours, and eliminate fixed exchange rate thinking.

        We don’t need bureaucratic trade deals at international level. Standard contract law, along with strong consumer rights, will do the trick via back pressure along the supply chain.

        It’s been thought through very well by lots of people. The idea of international trade is to get as much in exchange for your stuff as you can. It’s a productivity play.

        The national aim is to gain physical imports, not foreign coins you can count.

        Nearly all talk of international trade founders on a strategic misunderstanding. The purpose of international trade is to gain as many physical imports as possible for as FEW physical exports as possible. That, along with full domestic employment via a job guarentee, is how you maximise a nation’s standard of living.

        Producing for domestic consumption, and imports are what improve the standard of living for UK residents. Not pass through. Not ‘export led growth’.

        The needs of the country are not the needs of the exporter. That’s why so many voted to leave the EU, which favoured UK exporters over UK workers.

        We don’t need to ‘earn’ anything. You win in international trade by exporting as little as possible and importing as much as possible. It’s the physical exchange that represents the terms of trade and the standard of living increase, not accumulating coins from other nations.

        There is a section of society that believes that everything should be sacrificed on the altar of ‘international trade’. Once you realise that exports are a physical loss to the country and imports are a physical benefit that increase our standard of living then you can switch that belief around.

        As a major net importer we receive items in return for mere blips on a central bank spreadsheet. That’s not a bad thing. That’s a demonstration that those exporting to us haven’t got anywhere else to send their stuff that offers a more material return.

        That’s not to say we go mad, just that we can look at things from a different point of view. International issues aren’t quite the straitjacket many believe.

        What’s more important is we don’t have to be a member of EFTA to achieve any of this.

        Like

  23. Good evening from Jockistan. We are getting hammered by the weather knocking off most of the ferries. Our main ferry which is well past its replacement date was in for a service and they found serious rust problems so it will be absent for a longer period than planned. The small ferry it shares the run with was tied up most of the day and they discovered a crack in its radar mast that can only be fixed in Oban but it is stuck here on Mull because of the weather. Thank goodness for the small Lochaline ferry which continued to sail. For other islands this is not an option so they will be without the “lifeline service” that Calmac are supposed to provide for today and looking at the weather forecast Tuesday as well. I know this is small beer to the troughers in Edinburgh and Westminster who have more weighty matters to occupy their time like cocks in frocks and sending hapless people to Africa but if you can spare a couple of minutes sort it out that would be good. I suppose the ferries do not matter at this time of the year as the holiday home owners are on ski holidays , the bloodthirsty tourist are shooting pheasants at home and the sea eagle/puffin botherers are waiting for better weather but for those of us that cling onto this pile of rocks all year round a reliable ferry service would be nice. Thank you.

    Liked by 2 people

  24. This article from 2016 by Craig Murray describes the concept of “ghost banning” that is used against any person and any story that the “ruling classes” disagree with.

    https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/twitter-facebook-censorship-mainstream-media-denial/

    Blanket censorship of this kind is the sort of thing that I used to believe could only happen under extreme authoritarian regimes. Sadly however, that’s what the UK, USA and many other countries have slowly but steadily become over the past 60 years. The supposed “war on terror” was just an excuse to legislate to complete the transformation.

    Liked by 2 people

  25. Iain forgive me but I don’t do social media, but do you know if this affects the National? I am not a fan of the paper but I ask this as I wonder if it has some protection being a newspaper that has an organisation behind it and has a print edition. Genuinely interested. Thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Iain Thanks for the reply. The thing that interests me in this is not the paper, but the possible protections it might enjoy.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Lady Dorrian in her judgement on Craig Murray’s “jigsaw” conviction made clear her belief that protections for MSM publications did not exist for others. This of course is ridiculous, in Craig’s case he has more followers than many of the MSM in Scotland.

        Like

    2. The ‘wokersati’ have taken over The National, WT. That’s it in a nutshell. They do, however, still allow fairly strong comment both in the BTL comments and in the Letters Pages, so all is not lost. Like the SNP, they seem to think that kow towing to a younger generation that is itself ‘woke’ is the future. Both they and the SNP have failed to realize that the new generation coming up who are not late teenagers or early twenties appear to reject this stuff now, as every generation rejects the values of the preceding one and even their older siblings’ values. The pendulum always swings back eventually as the middle ground is humanity’s final chosen, evolutionary resting place after all the to-ing and fro-ing of revolutionary and radical politics. Real social change requires hard work, not the donning of a frock and some lippy.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I completely agree with you Lorncal, I am not a fan of the national but as i said above to Iain it is the possible protections for MSM that interests me. Thanks for the reply, I have always found your contributions over the years – even in the comments bit in the national – to be very informative and interesting. Thanks

        Liked by 1 person

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  27. Derek Henry, I agree with much of your posts. I do believe that the SNP, Greens and all the mainstream parties are captured by neoliberal, global corporatism. The lobbying groups have made sure of that. The EU is part of that neoliberal, global corporatism, I agree. EFT might not, as you say, be a compromise worth the candle, but time will tell.

    I don’t believe that ordinary people have moved to the right, but, rather, that their innate conservatism is rising. The irony is that working-class people, in particular, are almost immune (not wholly) to twaddle because they possess an innate conservatism tempered by an innate liberalism.

    We are under threat from the hard left/post modernist/queer theory brigade who want to alter our society – and the entire West – by overturning basic, shared values of liberalism tinged with conservatism (small ‘l’, small ‘c’), ie, the middle ground. That is not populism or a move to the right, but, again, a move back to common, shared values. The right has moved to try and take advantage of that, but the bulk of the population are not blue Tories, albeit they might end up by voting for them or for Labour, their red twin.

    Neither the Tories nor Labour, nor even the Lib Dems or Greens, get it in Scotland. I’m not at all sure that they get it in England either. Both countries are being riven with turmoil for different reasons that, in the end, are the same: we all want our own space, our own sovereignty, a return to ‘best practice’ – post WW II values which Thatcher destroyed without actually increasing the base Tory vote. The conservatism of post war Britain was benign compared to Thatcher’s raw social, economic and political sadism.

    The Swiss democratic model might suit Scotland well, but, as always, anything which derives from another country needs to be tweaked to suit ours. This has not been allowed to happen with the Union. The problem for Scotland is that it has not been allowed to develop and evolve naturally in the past 50/60 years to find its own level. We are not England. Forcing us to be so will lead to dire consequences as it did it Ireland.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I agree with most of that 100% and it will be interesting to watch what happens in the next Scottish election. Maybe people will just choose not to vote when having nobody to vote for rather than vote Tory. Which is in itself is a very sad state of affairs.

      We desperately need somebody to vote for that understands we neither need the EU or EFTA to be a very successful independent fully sovereign nation.

      Unless, we do then what is happening across Europe will happen here. More slowly but it will happen.

      https://www.socialeurope.eu/needed-progressive-vision-national-sovereignty

      Like

  28. Fae See: I think you articulate what we are all saying. We need to spread our wings and be ourselves, whatever that is in the 21st century, come hell or high water. Being crushed is making us all unwell, both physically and psychologically.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. It actually might happen very quickly.

    Capitalism’s response to the inherent contradictions of neoliberalism was financialisation and debt-based consumption. Households, faced with stagnant incomes and declining purchasing power, were encouraged to borrow more and more to make up the difference between spending and income, leading to a colossal rise in private debt.

    2008 happened – That should have been the beginning of the end of Thatchers right wing free market project.Yet, just look at was has happened and it is quite extraordinary they have got away with it.

    The whole right wing propaganda machine are blaming the left for the mess and destruction they have caused since the 1980’s. Even though the left have never been in power for over 50 years. This has been their response.

    They have rewritten the economic history of the last 50 years and are using repeated sound bites to do it – WEF, DAVOS, WOKE, Marxism, scientists and experts and globalists are all under attack.Tory and liberal voters across the UK are falling for it. WEF and DAVOS and Globalists were created as right wing projects and gained prominence after the 80’s. Are now being called Marxists and left wing by the right. An unbelievable state of affairs but genius when you think about it.

    They are successfully convincing millions of people that the right hasn’t caused this mess since the 80’s, when Monetarism and free market were policies was introduced. Are successfully convincing millions of idiots it has been the left fault who has never had any political power in the West for decades.

    GB news, Sky news and Talk TV and right wing blogs funded by the American right are spreading these myths very successfully across this land. The dumb are falling for it.

    Amidst growing popular dissatisfaction, social unrest, and mass unemployment (in various European countries), political elites on both sides of the Atlantic responded with business-as-usual policies and discourses. As a result, the social contract binding citizens to traditional ruling is more strained today than at any other time since World War II – and in some countries has arguably already snapped, as testified by a series of electoral uprisings that, despite their differences, all share a common target: globalisation, neoliberalism, and the political establishments that have promoted them. The left are getting the blame for it all.

    They are pulling it off as recent election results prove it across Europe.

    What has allowed these morbid symptoms’ to emerge as the dominant reaction to neoliberalism and globalisation, however, is simply the fact that right-wing forces have been much more effective than left-wing or progressive forces at tapping into the legitimate grievances of the masses disenfranchised, marginalised, impoverished, and dispossessed by the 40-year-long neoliberal class war waged from above. In particular, they are the only forces that have been able to provide a (more or less) coherent response to the widespread – and growing – yearning for greater territorial or national sovereignty, increasingly seen as the only way to regain some degree of collective control over politics and society, in the absence of effective supranational mechanisms of representation.

    That is after they themselves caused this mess. Millions of Tory and liberal voters simply won’t admit it. Admit what they have voted for consistently since the 80’s has resulted in where we are today. As liberals masquerading as the left destroy the left from within and make them repulsive to a swing voter.

    This con trick has still to raise its ugly head in Scotland. I’m convinced it is coming as voter after voter falls for it. All this con trick offers is more of the same – tax cuts for the rich, laffer curve trickle down economics, privatisations, monopolies and even more rent seeking and moving the Overton window even further right and opening the door to Facism and the end of the NHS and regulations on greed and power.

    We are standing by and allowing it to happen as world history repeats itself. This juggernaut if not stopped will trample over all of us. Voters are being herded like sheep from one right wing con trick to another. As the baton is passed from the liberals to the right and the right to the liberals for decades under the guise of a so called democracy. When they are all in on it.

    Listen to that nutters speech who now runs Argentina at Davos and the US Heritage foundation speech at Davos and you can hear first hand what is coming. They are both on you tube and then read the comments underneath both speeches. The voters have fallen for it and blame the left for the last 50 years and willing to give the far right free reign to do what they like. After causing this mess with their ideological drivel of the last 50 years.

    Don’t be fooled into thinking that this can’t happen in Scotland. Just read the blogs – WEF, DAVOS, WOKE, Marxism, scientists and experts are showing up more and more throughout Scotland everywhere you look and all are under attack.. Scottish voters are already falling for their con trick.

    It is happening everywhere as they change the propaganda and narratives with the media they control, instead of they themselves looking in a mirror. Look at Who really caused this mess. The ones who caused it will get away Scott free and hand the baton over to the hard right libertarians to finish what they started. It is foolish to believe it can’t happen here. Happen quicker than any of us thought.

    We need a Scottish independence party. A new one, free from the likes of Kate Forbes and other right wing conservative , neoliberal stooges who were planted to take the Indy movement over from within and destroy it. To stand up.against this assault before it is too late. Or marching and being kettled on the street is all we will have left. Then you will fully understand what the so called libertarian fascists mean, when they say and instruct by law, what they consider as freedom. After fooling millions to get their hands on the state and the state power that they crave.

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  34. I’ve noticed a decline too, but it’s been like that for years for me. My shared links to my old FB page got at best viewed for 20 people, but only a handful clicked to read. Never or rarely any comments either. Now I’ve started over with a new blog and I’ve made a decision to not share posts to social media, and instead hope that I become big regarding subscriptions and the WordPress reader. Hopefully Google as well, but I’m not counting on that. Or anything, to be honest.

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