Let us make this clear at the outset, Scottish Independence will happen. That has been a given since November 1967 when Winnie Ewing won in Hamilton. In every opinion poll when the question is asked, the people of Scotland pro and anti-independence supporters agree it will happen. All that has ever been in doubt is the when and how it will happen, not if it will happen.
Since that momentous by-election in 1967 the union has been fighting a rearguard guerrilla delaying action. Regional Councils, Assembly Referendum and finally Devolution. None of these things were ever put in place to improve the lot or governance of Scotland. These were introduced purely to protect the union.The latest delaying tactic is The Internal Marketing Bill.
The subterfuge and lies of the British Unionists squatting in Scotland are on an epic scale. Iain Lang’s corrupt GERS being one of the most disgusting cons pulled on Scotland. The hiding of the McRone Report by successive unionist regimes is verging on criminal. Nowadays desperation has forced the enemies of Scotland to be even more draconian in their actions to keep the cash cow that is Scotland in the union.
The new Governor-General’s building in Edinburgh will be used as a means of implementing direct rule from London. The Brits intend to bypass the will of the Scottish people and in effect end the devolution settlement. They have already signalled their foul intentions. They will directly fund Scottish Local Authorities on policies of London’s choosing. The votes and wishes of the Scottish people will count for naught.The Internal Market Bill gives Johnson’s Tories sweeping powers over all aspects of devolved matters.
There is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop them stripping Scotland clean if we just carry on regardless. In a few short years our NHS could well be privatised as in England then sold off to American Big Pharma. University fees will be reintroduced to bring Scotland into line with Mother England. Higher education goes to the English model where only the elite is guaranteed the opportunity of knowledge. Prescription charges re-introduced, free care for the elderly and free bus travel scrapped. Bridge Tolls return to enrich some rich Tory donor company. Scottish Water handed over to the City of London Spivs to sell on to foreign buyers. Fracking all over Scotland scarring our beautiful countryside forever and possibly damaging irreparably our water table and endangering our alcohol industry. Nuclear Power Stations springing up to serve the needs of England. Water grid installed again no doubt enriching a Tory lackey and just like Wales our water will be stolen and then sold back to us.
These are not fanciful ideas to just alarm you for the sake of column inches. These things I have highlighted are all highly probable over the coming lifetime of the next Holyrood Parliament. The only way to prevent any and all of that happening is for Scotland to become independent.
I wrote earlier that the Unionists have been using delaying tactics since 1967, and that is true. Sadly though the delay to our freedom is now down to the party of Independence the SNP.
I know many of you do not want to face this uncomfortable truth, however if we are to avoid disaster it needs to be met head on. While the Unionists have been preparing to emasculate Scotland’s democracy, parliament and institutions what has the party of Independence been up to?
Regrettably they have been devoting their time in pursuing a former First Minister and Party Leader in what can only be described as a criminal vendetta. With each passing day more and more information seeps out showing that the entire Alec Salmond pursuit was conceived, planned and carried out by the present leadership of the party. Much as they try to cover their tracks the more they reveal their involvement. They have not understood that it is always the cover up that catches out the corrupt. Trying to overturn the English Brexit Vote. Introducing divisive single issue policies. Stripping the the ordinary SNP members of their rights and centralising power into the hands of a few chosen ones.
No policies in the past six years have been developed that will be needed in the independent Scotland. Nor has there been a decent strategy devised to gain our independence. In fact in the previous year with Alyn Smith as SNP Policy Development Convener not a single new policy even got discussed. The only two policies being developed by the SNP are the GRA, reform and its ally policy The Hate Crime Bill. The latter is to be used to criminalise anyone, women in particular that express concerns as their rights are once more eroded and abused by males.
You may well ask what steps have the SNP taken to protect Scotland against the Internal Market Bill. A fair question and sadly the answer is nothing. Have you heard anything? Beyond a few references to IMB, what have you been told are the counter measures? While the Tories unopposed get ready for the big power grab the SNP leadership and their devotees are attacking anyone in the Party that does not fall into line with their gender politics or that dares to question the party leadership. The Party has no money, over 50% of the entire membership have left the party in the last two years. Instead of addressing that it seems every minute of the day is spent in the cover up and attacking wayward independence supporters. No attacks on the union or the Internal Market Bill are ever made. Why is that?
The British Union has never been weaker. The Scottish people have never been so ready for Independence since 1707. The UK is reeling from England’s Brexit madness. The corruption and cronyism have rotted the union to the core. There has never been a better opportunity to grasp our independence.
It will take boldness and focus to end Scotland’s participation in this corrupt Union. Thus far our Party of Independence has shown little foresight or strategic thinking in taking the fight to the Unionists. Sturgeon and her tiny cabal still prioritise gender issues over independence. The 11 Point Plan of Mike Russell will not bring independence in the next Parliament. Its dependency on a Section 30 agreement from England’s Prime Minister is fanciful. Why would any PM ever agree? To get agreement you need leverage an emasculated Scotland has no leverage over the English Parliament.
Even in the unlikely event of getting agreement all sorts of conditions could be attached to that agreement. A two-thirds majority, voters not exercising their right to vote counted as No votes. No other referendum for 50 years. The Referendum to be overseen by Westminster, not Holyrood. Add more of your own conditions that is exactly what London will do!
It is becoming more and more obvious with every passing day that our best and only opportunity is the May election. It needs to be declared an Independence Plebiscite Election. It is legal, the Unionists cannot boycott it and nor can they fight it as one entity. This is when their five unionist parties fighting at Holyrood becomes a liability for them. With a will and coordination, the independence movement can unite under one banner. We can easily get more than 50% in the constituency vote which we declare to be the plebiscite vote. This must be in the Party manifesto to make it legal and watertight.
It is simple, it needs no permission from anyone and is internationally recognised as a method of declaring a nations sovereignty. You do not ask your oppressor for their permission or blessing. You tell them not to let the door hit their fat arse on the way out of Scotland.
The best ideas in life are always the simplest. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line What in electoral terns can be shorter than a plebiscite election?
If we want to make this happen in May, we need the SNP to focus on nothing else except independence!
The best way to get the attention of the SNP is to get the attention of your SNP candidate standing in the Constituency. Get in touch with him/her and say to him simply this,’you want my vote, I want a plebiscite election in May. You give me what I want, and I will give you what you desire. Quid quo pro!
SNP members at every branch zoom meeting you need to demand this becomes party policy. Hold branch votes and tell HQ if you want us to work to get you elected you need to work to get our support. Plebiscite for workers!
Please realise this, if things stay as they are and the SNP do not change their strategy what I have talked about earlier in this blog will happen. Even if SNP win a majority and get 5 more years, it will happen. While the SNP is begging England for a Section 30, Alister Jack and his 3,000 UK Civil Servants will be selling your NHS and Water. They are also likely to put legislation through Westminster that will ensure only referendums approved by London can ever we used. In 5 years time at the next election, there will be nothing of Scotland left to save. You now are the only thing between the emasculation of Scotland or independence. You have the power as individuals and as a collective. This is our only hope otherwise independence will be delayed for several decades, until there is nothing left for England to steal.
A Plebiscite in May must be our war cry!
Agree 100% on your call for urgent action. And I will contact the candidate for my constituency.
You are right of course, this will surely happen if we let them do it to us. As for putting on the pressure, this will take more than SNP branch or individual member action, the wider YES movement and the new organisation Now Scotland etc need to all stand up and tell the same story and demand the same action of the Scottish Government. What are they doing about the IM bill and other such questions shine a very bright light on the absolute failure of the SNP Government over the past few wasted years and screw the pandemic as a convenient screen to hide inaction behind. The Tories are not waiting until Covid subsides, in fact they are forging ahead. A May plebiscite calls everyone’s bluff and we would crush it in a landslide.
For me the key question boils down to this. Since Scotland within the UK is poorer than all nearby small/medium sized northern European countries –
Why would an independent Scotland not also be as wealthy as any of these countries?
In descending order of wealth using GDP US$ PPP per capita (IMF 2019) *
Switzerland
Ireland
Norway
Iceland
Denmark
Netherlands
Sweden
Austria
Finland
Belgium
UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Europe_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
* The UK gini measure of inequality is also higher than any of these countries
The only conclusion that can be made is that Scotland is at the bottom of this list and the most unequal because it is part of the UK. So the question then becomes – should Scotland become independent and similar in wealth to all our neighbours (excl rUK) or remain in a UK with it’s decades long track record of economic and social decline.
Sell of the Scottish NHS and Scottish Water.
Quite frankly Roddy, there are far too many in Scotland who couldn’t care less. A sad fact but true because the legislation to allow the NHS to be part of a trade deal has gone though.
And frankly, if you can’t be bothered politically with legislation like this going through then what right do you have to be treated in a National Health Service. And remember this too, current cabinet minister Michael Russell argue in a book a few years ago that he would privatise every hospital, every clinic, every doctors surgery and give people health vouchers to spend to buy privatised care.
So yes, if folks can be bothered, the might like to ask there all to common somnolent SNP candidate what their position on this is and what they are going to do save wheesht for Indy.
Me, I think we need new candidates, and what’s to stop decent Westminster SNP MPs coming forward to replace the woke – independence lite ones. Nothing to stop them. The law doesn’t preclude dual mandates.
I bought into almost all of this, till you wrote, “It is becoming more and more obvious with every passing day that our best and only opportunity is the May election. It needs to be declared an Independence Plebiscite Election.”
Who is going to make this declaration? Sturgeon? Excuse me, but I dont think so.
But, let’s allow that to pass and assume – however hard it may be – that the SNP under her leadership has a Damascene conversion and makes the kind of declaration that you want. You go on to write “We can easily get more than 50% in the constituency vote”. Really? Check the numbers. When did the SNP ever do this before. Even in the annus mirabilis of 2015 they fell short of 50% (though I agree, only just). What about folk who normally vote for other parties (aye even the Tories) who support independence, will they vote SNP? Mibbes aye, but mibbes naw. They’ll vote for indy, but voting SNP is a step too far.
But let’s allow even that to pass. I agree with what you say about the lack of development of policy since 2014. The need for this is obvious even to the most short-sighted, as is the need for a vigorous debate about the possibilities of independence – what we might do if independent. That said, though, the one thing I agree with Sturgeon on is that at some point there is an absolute need to engage with Westminster. Notions of things like UDI, phoning them up and telling them we are independent, and so on are just pipe dreams. If we did anything like this then while the international community might not act against us, look at Catalonia and the “support” the international community gave them during their time of Spanish violence. We could, for a start, kiss goodbye to joining the EU, or even having anything to do with them. The consequences of not engaging London are really too horrible to contemplate. In fact, this kind of action could be the intro they need to strip Scotland in the way you describe.
For the avoidaince of doubt, this is not an excuse to do nothing at all. Quite the reverse, but to act in such a way that Westminster simply has to negotiate – make Scotland ungovernable, tie their Parliament up in knots, secure pressure from the international community (I think they will do this) to negotiate with us in a constructive manner and in good faith (well, as much as they can, but I would still nail their hands to the negotiating table).
The SNP’s constitution provides ample scope for the removal of Ms Sturgeon, if deemed unfit by the membership to hold her present position. With no indication thus far of any constitutional initiative on the part of the membership, what conclusion can fair-minded people arrive at? If, with her coterie, she is allowed to continue in office, all of the negativity you associate with the IMB, as comprehensively spelled-out in your piece above, will certainly come-to-pass. Gauleiter Jack, anyone?
“Bought and sold” etc., unavoidably springs-to-mind.
Roddy, you write so well, and it is a delight to hear the way you interact with the guests you bring on. Every word you say here has the ring of truth about it. Regarding the new, bold 3000, I won’t forget the cruelty with which the Tories squandered the oil revenues on the rich and used Scotland for a year as their experimental workspace to test the poll tax on… How they watched working class families torn apart when people reached 18 and had to leave home… how homeless Scots begging on the streets of London became a joke for Johnson-types at the Spectator and Daily Mail. And then the squealing a year later when England had to suffer it.
They will be ruthless the next time they plunder Scotland. Make no mistake. They know this will be the last time.
But it’s not only that there is no compelling plan for a plebiscite in May. The FM is against it.
It also seems pretty clear that our current FM has been caught up in destroying the reputation of our most effective and humane advocate for independence… Alex Salmond. Whether that has been through her misplaced belief in her closest inner group, who somehow group-thunk their way into madness; or whether they did what they did at the FM’s suggestion, that is not clear.
But what is clear is that it’s not just hubris or lack of vision that is in the way of a plebiscite in May. It’s both this FM and her closest advisors.
If the Aberdein evidence is allowed to breathe in public, it seems inconvenievable that the FM will be able to cling on to her holy podium.
If so, we need to ensure that the next FM will be aware of the crisis situation in Scotland right now. And will be prepared to act. Very sorry to think it probably won’t be Joanna Cherry.
Respect.
We have a lot of ice outside now, often with a thin covering of fresh snow, which makes it almost as treacherous as Matt Hancock after a subsidised bottle of wine in the HoC bar…the Tory press have now triumphantly seized on the Salmond v Sturgeon war, claiming it can “save the Union”…the Westminster MPs who actually understand how the GERS accounting methodology works must be crapping their pants that the SNP doesn’t campaign on explaining it to the voters – it ain’t Black Hole mathematics, it’s a straightforward con, which explains why the Union has been so precious for English politicians since 1992, when the Major government started to publish GERS data, having presumably been dismayed by the reality it felt it needed to conceal…Scotland SUBSIDISES England!
Just too pick up on your point Roddy about lobbying our MPs and MSPs can I simply say that too many of them are far too comfortable and resistant to take on members wishes.
60,000 members have left over the last two years and there has been little if any concern about it. Members in the SNP are largely irrelevant now. The elected operate in a different orbit controlled by the coterie of control. Selection and deselection is very much not a members function. Just like policy is not now a members function either. Or for that matter campaigning either.
Sad to say, but vote em out, elect alternative candidates, seems to be the only solution. The comfortable and the corrupt have let us down and there is no indication, save for those who are valiantly trying to wrest back control and change policy, that these people will change.
Yes 60,000 members left in two years, and of those who have remained, many of them, save for their longstanding commitment to the party, are ready to leave too. What does that tell you! But you know that as well as we all do.
So yes, voting the comfortable and the corrupt out certainly looks to be the option, because by way of example, does anyone think that writing to Nicola Sturgeon, as an example, is going to change policy, change anything.
And that I think is where we need to be. Declare for us, or like the ancient kings, we secure another.
“If we want to make this happen in May, we need the SNP to focus on nothing else except independence!”
Nice to know you think education, the economy, and our health service are not worthy of the SNP’s attention.
I bet you thought that was a pure dead brilliant put-down showing your superior brain power to someone beneath your level hmm?
James is correct though..
James?
So maybe I should point to this:
https://www.plebiscite.scot/
Only showing 2600 or so at the moment…
Barrheadboy and WingsOverScotland neither live in Scotland .
Do you have to live in Scotland to really know whats going in here ?
Of course you do.
Both have lost the plot falling into the trap set by Westminster , it must be Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon which is it ? weak minds choose which one of the two they back and then attack the other , exactly as planned by Englands Westminster .
But dont panic , these two and their followers are a minority .
People in Scotland are wiser they know the trick , they know that both NS and AS are very special people and have Scotlands welfare at heart.
The vast majority of people in Scotland agree that both NS and AS are being attacked by Westminster they failed to bring down AS through the courts but continue to treat him as if he is guilty of crimes the court decided he is not guilty of.
Now they are after NS that was always their plan (b) anyone who didnt recognise this was slow on the uptake.
Both NS and AS are heroes in Scotland , Westminster and helpers have tried to make out they are at war with each other but they are not , never have you seen either of them directly accuse the other of anything wrong, never, all you see is second hand news , from the britnat media which we know is untrustworthy , the british media is an expert propaganda unit they can claim things front page that are patently untrue then six weeks later detract on page eleven in tiny print yet people believe them , theyve been brainwashed Barrheadboy and WOS included.
Oh dear Terence starting with unionist learned traits, smears!
In fact you try discrediting me with two smears. My present location and an association with Wings. Both completely irrelevant to the rest of your rather pathetic and ill informed nonsense. To suggest that because one lives in another location it somehow excludes you either being aware or competent to understand or comment on events in Scotland is downright stupid. Such thinking would preclude the FM from having an opinion on anything for example in Aberdeen as she resides in Edinburgh. You then show your absolute moronic stupidity in trying to blame Westminster and unionism for the ills of the SNP. From my remote location I know that all the problems of the SNP are self-inflicted. The entire Alec Salmond fiasco was conceived and implemented from Bute House and SNP HQ. The ensuing cover up is also being directed from the same location by the same SNP players.The players in the trial,the liars a more accurate description are all either SNP members,an MSP,employees of the SNP, wives of SNP prominent members or Scottish SNP employed civil servants. They are all in one way or another attached to the FM office and administration. The attack on women’s rights, GRA, the thing dividing the movement more than anything else was similarly conceived by the corrupt Party Leader and her cabal of crooks. The attacks on Joanna Cherry, Joan McAlpine and any other people that try to defend women against the biology denial of Self ID is likewise something the party leader overtly supports and encourages. Her silence is only broken on this topic when one of the GRA liars and deniers comes under scrutiny from outwith the cabal. London did not gerrymander the SNP NEC nor the regional lists that was all self-inflicted illegality planned by Sturgeon & Co. It was not Unionists that sacked our most able MP and had her replaced with a failed drama student. It is not Unionists delaying Scotland’s March to independence. It is the reluctance of the present SNP leadership and their desire to promote Gender Politics over Scotland’s Independence that is the problem.The Unionists did not spend the £553,000 of ring fenced independence funds. Lastly this dishonest charlatan Sturgeon could not get away with her corruption and possible criminality if there weren’t gullible low intelligent fools like you around turning a blind eye. You pretend to yourself and others that Sturgeon has Scotland’s best interests at heart and that she will deliver independence. Anyone pointing out the truth you and the other hard of thinking attack. I may be for present in a different location however I am certain I have a better grasp of the reality and the solution than you do about Scotland. It is the cowards, liars and deniers like you that really are the problem. You are too feart to actually do what is needed for your country. Instead you lie to yourself and anyone else who listens. When you have the grasped the truth and reality do come back and try and make sensible points not just lies and smears. Last point anyone is welcome to come on here and express an opinion and disagree with mine or fellow commenters. However, be assured if you try those personal smears or abusive tactics on me ever again you will be banned from participating in future.
Terence Callachan publicly embarrassing himself once again. Terence you truly are an idiot, and as you know Terence, I have been saying this for some time.
Salmonds own submissions to the Committee call out Sturgeon. Is this all made up in your mind? If it is then I advise you find yourself a more improved mind.