I have said this many times, however it is worth repeating again. Scottish Independence is inevitable. All that remains is the when and how. It certainly won’t happen if the Scottish people wait on the politicians to deliver what is required. They always look for the compromise, the least perceived difficult course of action.The method that won’t offend the media or the Party’s financial backers.
Politicians invariably worry more about offending their opponents than pleasing their supporters. Arrogantly, especially in Scotland’s case when your goal is independence the politicians prey on your conscience to control your behaviour. Keeping the media onside and keeping their seats is their primary aim, not advancing your desires and hopes. You only get a say once every few years or so, the Imperial media gets to speak every day. The MSM opinion is of far greater importance to your elected person than anything you might think, say or want. The reason is simple, you so desperately desire independence they know they can easily manipulate you. Your silent compliance is paramount. That suits the gravy train and grifters, not Scottish independence.
They know that too many of you will give up your critical thinking rather than think you are rocking the independence boat. Ergo ‘Wheesht for indy!’
The red herring about converting soft nos is a con job, a lie, a smokescreen. One can only assume it is in the forlorn hope that those unionists diametrically opposed to our cause will somehow turn 180 degrees with their beliefs if we never challenge their acquiescence to English Imperial rule. It is dumb thinking. Simply put, if after the past ten years of Tory theft ,pillage, corruption, Brexit,Covid someone still thinks that London Rule is in Scotland’s best interests they are not a soft No they are a die hard Britnat or an English immigrant pensioner.
It further cannot be denied that in the entire history of these British islands there has never been a more corrupt, incompetent, criminal Government than this bunch of ragbag English Tories. Sadly, at the same time we have the worst opposition party in the history of the union. A Labour Party led by a complete and utter wet blanket who is more of a Tory than, Ted Heath, John Major, Ken Clarke.
The London based political parties are almost indistinguishable on policy and ideology. The differences are so minuscule we would hardly even know the government had changed if we were out of the country during a general election. Neo Liberal economics is the norm. An ideology that favours the very few not the masses. Same shit just a different face spewing the keech.
The entire British Establishment is built in such a way as to make any kind of radical change virtually impossible. No written constitution, an unelected head of state that ‘cedes’ power to her parliament. Note it is not YOUR Parliament. When she opens the parliament, she talks of her government and what they will do. Not what YOUR Government will do, the one you thought you helped elect! Once you understand it is not your government or opposition and it will never work in your interests then the easier it becomes to understand the position we find ourselves in.
The subtle use of language actually reveals how little democracy actually exists in the UK. When you then realise that there is almost 900 unelected lawmakers sitting on the House of Lords that you neither appointed nor can remove.Even if our masters allowed us to vote the chances of removing many of these party toadies is likewise negligible. First Past the Post voting is like the entire British Union, archaic outdated and not fit for purpose.
In the UK Parliamentary system because of this FPTP voting franchise it is almost impossible to remove sitting MPs. On average at any General Election, less than 5% of seats in the Parliament ever changes hands. There are exceptions as in the 1918 and 1945 UK General Elections when Sinn Féin wiped out IIP which inevitably led to Irish Independence! It also heralded the end of the Liberal Party when even their leader Asquith managed to lose his seat.
It was the first general election to be held after enactment of the Representation of the People Act 1918. It was thus the first election in which women over the age of 30, and all men over the age of 21, could vote. This Act was in many ways a sop to the proletariat in response to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. The establishment thought it better to ‘devolve’ some power to the people rather than see them take it all themselves. The election outcome alone alerted the British Establishment to what happens when you give the people a say on matters political.Nothing as radical since has ever been bestowed upon the British voters, losing part of the English Empire, and the plebs destroying a political party would never again be allowed to happen. If nothing else the English Establishment are quick learners.
The 1945 election brought about another shock for the British Establishment.The returning soldiers and their families were not as expected eternally grateful to Winston Churchill and the Tory Party. Nor were they prepared to get back into their pre-1939 box. The Welfare System and massive nationalisation of industries took place under the UK’s only ever Socialist Government. A massive social housing programme took place these removing swathes of industries and houses out of the hands of spivs and profiteers and placed firmly into the hands of the people.
The right wing in British politics resented this greatly and swore to restore things to ‘normal’ at the earliest opportunity.This nonsense of equality and fairness for the masses was and remains an anathema to the establishment. It has taken them 81 years to retain control, however it has to be said the class war is over the working class have been routed.
All the industries, jobs and benefits our fathers and grandfathers took into public ownership in 1945 have now gone back into private hands both domestic and foreign hands too! All those houses they had built so that never again could unscrupulous landlords hold sway over the less fortunate have been returned to the spivs and unscrupulous landlords.
Meanwhile, the present crime syndicate posing as a democratically elected government are openly stealing all the money from the public purse. They do not even attempt to hide their misdeeds and criminality.
The reason is simple. On the payroll they have the unelected head of state, the unelected peers, the ‘elected’ MPs, MSPs, the media,the MSM, the broadcasters. Not only will none of those rock the boat they will assist in the cover up of all this thieving, they join in with helpful suggestions and scams of their own. They have learned just like the Romans knew that bread and circuses keep the plebs amused and distracted while they pillage at will.
Everytime you switch on your TV or Radio you are receiving propaganda and lies that benefit the establishment, not you. It is not just news and current affairs. Drama, sport, lifestyle programmes talk shows are all used to reinforce the propaganda. Be content, you are fortunate, be grateful the posh voices in parliament or on the TV or radio know what is best for you. The people like me that say you are being robbed and conned are attacked as the bad people. The immigrants, Johnny Foreigner, the brown people, the black people, the refugees, all to deflect from the posh boy crooks!
People like Jeremy Corbyn who wanted to give a little back to the people was roundly and routinely put upon by the elite. He now sits outside of the ‘Socialist Party’ his crime is not that he is anti- semite, his crime is he is too left wing for the Labour Party and the establishment. He threatened the status quo.
Meanwhile, in Scotland our radical independence Party has joined the ranks of the establishment. Nicola Sturgeon and her acolytes are more worried about offending die hard British Nationalists than enthusing her independence supporters. She gives huge sums of money to the Anti-Scottish MSM and media and only invites the Brits to her press briefings.She employed the creator of the Better Together Vow and named him her Head of Communications. Those of us advocating and agitating for independence immediately are sidelined, debased, and slandered by Sturgeon and her supporters. I and others have been blocked by SNP MPs and MSPs that we have never even interacted with. Strong independence supporters like Joanna Cherry, Angus MacNeil, Douglas Chapman are sidelined by the establishment party. MPs of principle like Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacasKill are shunned by former colleagues and treated as persona non grata. Their crime? They want independence!
Don’t kid yourself that we live in a democracy or that the politicians will eventually relent and do the right thing. Only last week we had two alleged Scottish Nationalist MPs in Ukraine sitting behind a Union flag promoting British and US foreign policy in the region.We have had an SNP MP making a run to be the speaker of the English Parliament. Meantime, daily he attacks anyone promoting Scottish independence while, playing in his Unionist pop band at Westminster! We have the leader of the SNP at Westminster trying to repair the damage to that accursed place! While we really should be throwing petrol on the flames of English Tory corruption and lies Ian Blackford is trying to put the flames out to ‘save the house and British democracy!’
In Edinburgh Nicola Sturgeon is more interested in getting men into women’s safe spaces, prisons and sports to be concerning herself with anything as mundane as Scottish independence. She says she will not advance the cause of independence until covid and the fall out from it are alleviated.
Why would she have twice the amount of Civil Servants working on GRA Reform than on Independence?
The lesson is simple, you cannot depend on the existing British or Scottish establishment or political parties of government to advance the cause of independence or fairness in society. The few will not let change go through the ballot box.There is no Nelson Mandela or Ghandi about to ride to the rescue. It is up to the people of Scotland to make it happen.The end of Communusm, the Arab Spring, the fall of the Berlin Wall did not happen because of politicians it happened in spite of them! The people took matters into their own hands. The people are the power and the Scottish people are sovereign.
Wonderful piece Roddy, best yet. Far reaching and wide ranging and so on the money (our money, their pockets).
Wee typo near the end “due bard” should read “die hard”? The conclusion as always though leaves us hanging a bit. Yes we must take it, but how? I’m all in, we just need to get organised.
Will Alba make a breakthrough in the councils and will that really change anything, can we force a single issue plebiscite GE, can we get sturgeon out, too many imponderables there on the long and winding political path, and oh the destruction the tories are going to rain down in the meantime.
So, what kind of direct action can we take? They are going to hike up all our bills massively, will we get a council tax freeze as demanded by Alba, or a rebate or some SG support? Whatever, it will not be enough, especially against the massive sell-off of our Scottish energy assets.
Can we all demand, through non-payment and collective action on many fronts, that we break out of this corrupt union now and force our government to act, or all get thrown in jail. We need some form of direct action group and leadership to plan this all out quickly and get a massive momentum going. F#*k the carrots!
This article is so true its depressingly political change is near impossible in UK, ok. The British establishment have it all sown up. Tweedie Dee, Tweedledum, Boris or Stammer whats the difference, Red Torys Blue Tory’s. We now have Nicola’s Yellow quisling colonial government. They all ensure Brexitland rolls on in total disregard for ordinary people or our commerce. The whole apparatus of government isint about creating a better place for people , health, housing, education and employment. Government is a tool for the spivs to enrich themselves engorged by stealing vast amounts of taxpayers money. Blair’s new Labour and his pals in the News of the World destroyed Sheridan so the Labour vote didn’t split, Sturgeon has done the same with Salmond. The one thing that tells me is there is hope if the state conspires against these people, its because they cannot be bought. Vote Alba and end this game once and for all.
Great analysis Roddy. The British elite have gained back total control over the entire UK and its populations.
The great Devolved assembly con has now been used to great effect to divide and conquer. The placed men and women are now in the ascendant in both Scotland and England. The English brainwashed into a xenophobic trance by their ruling class; the Scots divided and conquered by the treacherous SNP and its poisonous pack of inverts and weakling troughers.
Thatcher’s great plan to destroy the working class is almost complete: 70% now in thrall to mortgaged housing and exorbitant energy costs; 30% marginalised and now working poor or ‘welfare’ recipients. Our streets in disrepair, our villages emptied of indigenous folk and replaced by English settlers. We have no political consciousness raising organisations other than base ones such as the tory party or Rangers football club. The churches, the legal profession and the police are corrupted and in the hands of the Murrells. There is no trade union leadership and civic Scotland is in fear of speaking out in case of being cancelled and losing their jobs. Ditto the artistic community, once the backbone of popular independence is cowed by two years of poverty and political oppression.
Our young are left with no direction, no hope, and dependent on consumerism and social media diversions to keep them supine. Sturgeon won a landslide, but the evidence shows in the latest AUOB turnout that she has gutted the movement with her relentless counterintuitive policies. I now believe that there may well be a Referendum at some time, but one designed to lose. How could we possibly win with GRA, Hate Crime Bills and ongoing Brexit misery ?
I believe that like the poll tax experience that the working class in England will revolt when the food and energy bills increase beyond endurance. Then and only then will flabby Scottish resistance begin. But I have no great hopes for it when I look at the extent of compliance that exists amongst the SNP lay people. Witness the WGD fanatics who still think that Sturgeon is a saviour not a slayer of Scottish national aspirations.
I am sick of this nonsense about Rangers and its support.On so many occasions I have revealed the reality to Rangers haters and Scotland hating Rangers fan’s.46% of RFC supporters are behind Independence.similarly 33% of Celtic fans are die hard unionists.Also in reality Celtic FC are the quintessential British Establishment club.I know that us hard for a lot of the Celtic supporters who like nothing more than victimhood and also kidding themselves on that the entire Celtic support are indy supporting.
Here is a blog I wrote 5 years ago only the numbers are slightly different.
https://www.barrheadboy.com/rangers-republicanism-v-celtic-unionism/
It’s often better to keep ones angrier thoughts to oneself, Roddy. Any fare-minded, non-football enthusiast will only conclude, by your words, that you’re still dancing to a very old and historically divisive West coast jig with your partisan and extremely ill-considered remarks. For your clarification: I have yet to visit Ibrox or Parkhead or any other football stadium, and most likely never will at my advanced age. May I respectfully ask: Is it not perhaps high-time, in 2022, for a little, critical self-analysis regarding the values and assumptions underlying your well-considered and, clearly, hardened position, especially at a time when unity and not division is essential?
I see the science of several opinion polks carried out by Stu Campbell ( no Rangers fan!!) have to be ignored because they dont meet a narrative you have in your mind and because I go against your strongly held assumptiobs I am the one with a hardened position? Climate deniers and GRA enthusiasts use the sane tactic when anyone dares to call out their intolerant nonsense too
Forget about “me” and my opinions, Roddy, they are of little importance, what is of capital importance are the perceptions of a mass of others with “strongly held assumptions” regarding Rangers and Celtic, that is: the majority of people in Scotland who’ve been forced to listen to this divisive, antediluvian sniping since they were children. To dismiss what those people say and think, places you, not us, alongside the “Climate deniers and GRA enthusiasts” methinks. No debate, my way or nobody’s way! You place great stock in Stu Campbell’s poll, whereas I place total stock in what people have been telling me for many years. So sorry, if this contradicts the “narrative you have in your mind” and goes “against your strongly held assumptions”.
Celtic FC – you do not get bigger Britnats than John Reid, Labour Home Secretary and Celtic Chairman. Brian Wilson Labour and Celtic. Jim Egg Man Murphy Labour and Celtic.
People can argue about the percentages of Rangers and Celtic supporters who are Britnats but there is no doubt that it is far from 100% Rangers Britnats and 100% Celtic Scottish independence. Sadly some Celtic supporters are against the union when it comes to Ireland but for it when it comes to Scotland. Finally, Celtic showed great enthusiasm previously in trying to join the English league.
Spot-on comment Lochside
Divide and Rule taught by the Roman’s and embraced wholeheartedly by the English , Celtic, Rangers, East, West ,Glasgow, Edinburgh. Protestant, Catholic. The twisted game of imperialism. See the light Brothers and Sisters we only half one true Foe.
Great article, and so true.
As an “English immigrant” worker coming here in 1986 to build up a new Scottish company, I very quickly saw the arrogant English Westminster parliament and anglocentric BBC and media for what they are, and became very indignant on behalf of my adopted homeland.
It has rankled ever since, so I was Yes/Yes in 1998 and in 2014 I was campaigning and voting for Yes.
Now I’ve added “pensioner” to “English immigrant”, but also “ex-SNP ALBA founder member” to my description. But I’m still Yes, despite some extremists not wanting me to have a vote next time. Maybe 36 years permanent residency might let me get a ballot paper?
“… The red herring about converting soft nos is a con job, a lie, a smokescreen… ”
Almost every policy from both Westminster and Holyrood is a smokescreen, a con job, a cover up, a performance, Roddy. Everything, but everything, is geared to the advancement of the middle-class as the shoulders on which the system rests for its legitimacy, and to the elite as the beneficiaries. Nobody and nothing else matters. Working-class people of both sexes, and women, as a group, are entirely disregarded and expendable – until, of course, a war comes along, and young working-class men are required to do their dying for them and women to hold up the sky.
Great piece again. Accurate and erudite. That will be their downfall. They think that working-class people, if only by origin now, and women, are stupid and will keep on taking it. They have never been so wrong.
“… Why would she have twice the amount of Civil Servants working on GRA Reform than on Independence..? ”
Because the GRA stuff is far, far more complicated than independence is. If you take several, well-defined steps and apply to international law, you will have the groundwork done for independence. Indeed, there is a veritable wealth of information out there. Of course, there will be problems to be considered and which will have to be solved all along the way, but the international community is well-used to them. What is missing in Scotland is the backbone to implement it and the willingness to stand up to the bullies of the establishment thereafter.
In this, the SNP has failed dismally, and will continue to fail dismally because there is no real incentive in the managerial middle-class to take risks on behalf of a half-defeated, half-resentful working-class that has been all but abandoned after brutal betrayal after brutal betrayal and a failure of nerve to do what it will take to change the political landscape in their favour. All the parties are bastions of middle-class, middle-of-the-road compliance and lack of any critical thinking, because it’s not on them. The only way that is going to change is when it is on them, when they start to feel the sting of financial want and loss. Right now, they simply do not care about the working-class communities. Well, Roddy, don’t care was made to care.
The GRA is fraught with legal potholes and crevasses and it could, and possibly will, bring down the present administration because, unlike the working-class, women are enraged beyond pacifying now. They forgot the age-old adage: if you are going to enrage any group, do not let it be women because they will tear you limb from limb.
Well said, Roddy. We, as individuals, can and should do more to further the cause of independence. Don’t wait for gutless politicians to take the lead. As I’ve said before, and aye it may be just a small step but I offer no apology in repeating it, we need to get out the Saltires, the independence posters, stickers, badges etc and rum them down the throats of our supposedly pro independence politicians. Shame them into actually doing something.
Roddy, you undermine your article by jumping to the defence of the indefensible: Rangers football club. Raising the spectre of its ugly twin, Celtic, does nothing to diminish the political acts perpetrated by a significant element of Rangers support. The ugly face of Unionism in George Sq. has materialised on many occasions in the past 7 x years always with a Union Jack and Rangers regalia bedecking it.
No matter. My other points are surely more worthy of consideration rather than knee jerk defence of a cynical money making Unionist institution that acts as a focal point for sectarian anti-Scottish bigots.
WTF either RFC or CFC had to do with this article escapes me.
Only some sort of twisted thinking could bring that into this article.
I assume it was done to get a reaction from me,well congratulations you got a reaction.It says so much more about you and your narrow perspective than anything.Anyone who places football into our politics is a fool and probably a bigot too.
Truly excellent article Roddy . Shame to distract from it by this argument .
Having noted Lochside’s contributions both here and previously on WOS I seriously doubt his intention was to get a reaction from you . He doesn’t strike me as any kind of provocateur , his spleen being reserved for the deserving targets .
Same targets you consistently aim at , and don’t miss .
Continua amb la feina excel·lent amic meu 🙂
Let us be perfectly clear,Lochside introduced a stupid provocative comment about Rangers,what it has to do with the article is beyond my ken,neither my response or motives are the ones in question.Any distraction was not of my doing
Awe BB . Nae need tae be like that. I am a self confessed avid Jambo.I am not a bigot. I campaigned for No in the referendum telling myself if Yes wins so be it. I will accept that. I accept awe the abuse that comes my way from the people that cannot accept a political decision. It seems to be the case all over the Nats sites if you raise your head above the parapet. Why BB, I was on Peter Bells site and he was nasty to me also and I was being polite as I usually am.
Because Peter Bell is nothing but a pompous ignorant Bigot of a man full of nothig but thougthts of his own self importance. Just another clueless cretan really using Independence to try to get himself a platform because without it he would just be another English nobody.
That is an exceptional article, Roddy. The absolute truth spoken from the heart. Wonderful to see reality in print. Thank you.
This is also why, now, protest and marches need to be targetted, not just at the English Unionist parties, but the Scottish devolutionist one too. It is time to become more forcefully demanding of our representatives. Less tolerant of obsfucation and double speak. We need to tell them wr know their game and we see their lies. Remind them that they are there because and only because we allow it. Reminding them of why we put them there and making it as clear as day that if they fail to work towards fullfilling our wishes then they will face oblivion. No more mucking around. No more nicey nicey approach. We don’t have time. We cannot afford to delay. We deman independence, and we demand it now. On our terms. Not theirs.
All of this is true Roddy. It is depressingly accurate.
In particular the case of comfy slippers Wishart. He has fostered friendships with the common enemy. He might think that this is a form of diplomacy and deliberately proving a point that the SNP don’t hate unionists. The problem is. When you go down that particular wormhole, it becomes very difficult to fall out with your mates, who are diametrically opposed to what you stand for. We all have colleagues in our workplace who we have to work with , who have these ultra unionist views. What we don’t do is become best friends with them.
We do this to protect our beliefs from becoming tainted , softened and eventually abandoned. Politicians should never be best friends with those they wish to defeat. It can only ever lead to compromise and a conflict of interest.
The SNP mp’s in Westminster went down there to pick fights with the enemy, to fall out, to cause trouble for them and to stand up for Scotland. But in order to operate in their establishment, they have had to put all that aside and become part of the establishment. They have lost their way, they are changed. They are not the same people we elected and it was innevitable.
The reason Sinn feign refused to take seats in WM was for the very reason’s outlined above. Far away from home , it’s easy to forget how tough things are at home and how those at home feel. Your core beliefs are softened with compromise and compliance.
Unless we get them back home. They might as well represent the Tories or Labour. They are all different shades of a corrupt establishment.
Couldn’t agree more, BJ. You have it in a nutshell. Bring them home and let them fight it out for seats with the airheads who occupy Holyrood. At least, one or to of the Westminster lot have a discernible organ called a brain.
Yes BJ and weak pishfart is the perfect example of a quisling and betrayer , he is more at home with his fellow tory band members and his desperation for the speakers job (it was only a joke to wind THEM up honest , yes I believe you duh ) and him and honest John the redactor like to have a wee dram and a wee photie wi thir fellow landowners , they were maybe looking for a ghilllies joab
https://youtu.be/yS2rJpBgtkI
Here’s a song I wrote about the UK government, past and present.
I believed in then SNP. Now I just feel like a fool. I guess the money and power do ultimately corrupt. Maybe Nicola Sturgeon is waiting for Covid to pass before movingly forward with it, but selling off the wind energy to big business, rather than keeping it in house and creating a sovereign wealth fund for the nation, was unforgivable. They have hobble us, plain and simple. More asset stripping
What he say…
This is why:
It’s seven o’clock… in the evening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e36nYfjwQzw
The class war is over and there is much to be done.
“No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems – of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.” —
Thomas Sowell
The frightening thing is that young Scottish men and women can be dragged in to a conflict where Scotland has no say but can pay for it with their lives. At the very least you would hope the SNP would be asking the Tory foreign secretary – whose ineptitude could result in all our demise- why she doesn’t no the difference between the border regions of Ukraine and Russia. At the moment England as the UK is threatening to impose sanctions on Russia if Russia invades Russia! I’m not quite sure what punitive sanctions England can impose on Russia beyond restricting the export of primary goods from her UK colonies to Russia given that Brexit was to avoid the EUs legislative reform of financial services and it seem unlikely that financial dealings across the board with Russian nationals will be prohibited.
Imelda McSelfie has been happy to take Russian help when it suited Her too though.https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,credible-commentary-suggesting-russia-undertook-indyref-influence-campaigns-report