Nicola Sturgeon told the world she has got time on her side regarding Scottish independence. She is still pushing the fantasy that Boris Johnson will eventually cave into democracy like a good old chap. This is the same guy that illegally prorogued Parliament. The guy that lied to his monarch. Cheated on his wives and children. Lied and conned his employers and Party Leader. A man that lies constantly. A thoroughly corrupted individual.The same guy that is willing to break an international Treaty, the GFA. The same guy that wants to renege on his own oven ready EU withdrawal Bill.
Sturgeon also reiterated her commitment to a “legal, recognised constitutional process” eg. a Section 30 Westminster approval.
The recent Supreme Court ruling and Johnson’s continuing flouting of the law seems not to have penetrated the First Ministers understanding. Even giving England’s Parliament the right to agree or deny a Scottish Referendum on independence is a huge tactical error. It is also self-defeating, why would any English Prime Minister give away his Scottish money tree? Free oil, electricity, and soon water. Not only does England steal it they then sell it back to us Scots at an increased rate to help us subsidise English consumers. The highest fuel and power charges in the UK are in the remotest parts of Scotland.
They do a similar scam with Welsh water. By one calculation Wales’ present export of water to England, from the Elan Valley to Birmingham and from Lake Vyrnwy and Tryweryn to Liverpool, could be worth as much as £4.5 billion a year. This water is taken at zero cost. Then the water companies sell the Welsh back their own water at a higher rate than English consumers.
This is the mindset that Nicola Sturgeon thinks will play by Queensberry rules over Scotland’s Constitution. Is she stupid, niave or complicit? She has to be one at least. The UK is as corrupt as any nation on this planet. Courts ruling Government Ministers broke the law when handing out Covid related contracts to family, friends and donors. Yet nobody faces criminal charges. £37 billion spent on a Track and Trace App that never worked not only has this £37 billion not been audited, nobody has or will be held to account.
Daily we hear of more corruption and criminality committed by the English ruling elite with no consequences or criminal proceedings. We have a son of the monarch avoiding serious child trafficking and child sexual abuse charges in US. He is only able to avoid these charges because our monarch is paying his legal fees. This, despite the fact that the tax payers are further subsidising the monarch. This is above her generous annual grant, the near £1/2 billion refurbishment of her 775 roomed Buckingham Palace Council House. For the elite nothing is ever unaffordable. Affordability only applies when it is for the ordinary tax payer, pensioners and poorest in our society.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1339338/queen-Elizabeth-ii-news-coronavirus-treasury-taxpayer-royal-family-investments-property-va
In the real world the poorest in our society have to take a huge cut in their income with the phasing out of the £20 a week UC uplift introduced at the start of Covid. One in six working households were living below the breadline just before the pandemic and in-work poverty is at a record high.Around five million households claimed universal credit between the beginning of the pandemic and April 2021 – more than two-fifths (42 per cent) of the total 12 million claims made since the controversial benefit system was introduced in 2013.
At the same time a barrel of pesky North Sea Brent Crude is selling at $82.13. Scotland’s greatest natural resource is making the English 1% richer and refurbishing the Queen of England’s Palace while subsidising her pandemic losses. They really do know how to take the piss!
Nicola Sturgeon on her six figure salary added to her husbands skin from SNP membership may mean she can indeed wait out the storm. The vast majority of Scots cannot wait. We need action now. As this blog has repeated so many times. Recall all Scottish MPs immediately. Convene a Grand Assembly of the great and good and immediately withdraw from the Treaty of Union. Scotland and its people need to be rid of the parasitical neighbour in the South. The best way to navigate out of the Brexit and Covid disasters is to be in total control of our destiny. We cannot leave our fate in the hands of the corrupt Old Etonian gangsters.
If you have no stomach for the fight or cannot see the urgency and peril looming over our nation Nicola you need to stand aside. Time and English neoliberalism are our enemy it is time to ditch both. The Scottish people cannot wait any longer. We need to end 314 years of exploitation, theft and domination. Scotland must be independent and it must happen now. We have the right and we have the need we just need a leader to take us the last few steps.
Roddy, this is a brilliantly constructed article of absolute truth. A HUGE THANK YOU!
My comment seems to have gone up in smoke, so here we go again!
This is an absolutely brilliantly constructed article of truth. A HUGE THANK YOU!
Very good letter today
Scotland needs to leave the union. Everyone knows this. sturgeon is incapable of delivering independence .
sturgeon thinks she is ‘untouchable’. Let’s hope she is wrong.
Let’s see how blaa blaa blackford does at the AUOB march today ( and to all the cowards who are SNP MSPs and MPs – the reaction will allow you to gauge your chances of deselection and/or re-election ). I must say blackford and the SNP MPs and MSPs deserve all that is coming.
Sorry I wont be there to see it.
What it gets down to is that England is doing what it always does. It acts in its national interest, or at least in the interest of its ruling class.
It is our misfortune that due to a colonised mindset of inferiority, and a house jock collaboration for personal gain (not uncommon among those colonised), our First Minister and her mediocre appointees do not act in Scotland’s national interest. They behave as if Scotland is a colony. And so Scotland is treated like a colony.
Spot on.
Yes indeed, Joan, the English establishment never does ‘nothing-for-nothing’, outside of its own self interest, as Roddy’s piece once more eloquently reminds us.
It is my opinion that the candidate-colonizers i.e. Sturgeon et al, ought to be banished from every aspect of the independence debate forthwith, as they have become little more than an irksome distraction. How many more times must they tell us that they’re just not interested in the independence leadership role, before we’ll believe them!? They’re colonial administrators. Full stop! Apart from anything else: can a colonized people ever realistically expect to achieve decolonization led by a compromised party down-by-the-head with candidate-colonizers?
Agreed .💩💩💩themselves . .
The panic must be setting in when Blackford has been ordered to get up to Glasgow to speak at the March today.
I hope this sudden false engagement with the peasants doesn’t fool anyone about the SNP’s lack of commitment to Independence.
This is a call from HQ to try and stop the membership falling further.
I hope Blackford gets the reception he deserves.
Do you remember back in 2016 when the NZ minister Steven Joyce was speaking to a crowd on Waitangi Day when a protester threw a large dildo at him and he got it right on the chops. It became known as Dildogate and Joyce became known as Dildo Baggins. The international coverage was massive.
I’m not saying that Blah Blah Blackford should be getting a dildo whacked round his face. There are other options; I believe in Iraq shoes are commonly thrown at unpopular politicians.
Let’s hear what he has to say before condemning him.
We’ve heard what he has to say for years. Words are pointless. Actions speak louder and it is their complete inaction that speaks loudest.
Geoff I just watched blah blah’s speech on utube and anyone who listened to his words and doesn’t think he is a lying troughing arsehole is severely deluded , all he done was repeat the same tired lies and promises the SNP manual written by Sturgeon espouses
There was NOTHING new all the usual lies and promises about a ref bill (same promise for past 3 years) and a ref in 2023 covid permitting HAHAHA
Boris has done Brexshit,we have had elections , the world has had elections but we can’t do referendums because of safety reasons , Nikla is protecting citizens even although through her 4 nations approach Scotland’s death rate is one of the highest in the world per head of population
The only march I will attend is one of protest against Sturgeon and her lying corrupt group of FAKE independence politicians to get them OUSTED and JAILED
A repetition of “Scotland will not be dragged out of the EU, Scotland will not stand for blah, blah, blah…” It’ll be like listening to stuck record. Sick of them talking. It’s time they actually did something.
Blackford as guilty of failing Scotland badly..Blaws n moans never any action no ruddy wonder they’re laughed at in London..Repeat buttons got stuck Blawbag!,Action or resign yir failing the folk who pay yir big wage..
As usual, right in the mail.
We cannot afford to wait any longer while England takes our substance and our people go hungry.
Unfortunately, you’re spitting in the wind (I cleaned that one up) if you’re looking for “the great and good” amongst the current crop of Scottish politicians to create a grand assembly. I calculate you’d have about 4 people in the room if this was what was done.
The Scottish public have to be mobilised to effect any change from here on in.
Time is indeed running out. The anglicization of Scotland continues apace. More and more people are settling in Scotland from England, the vast majority of whom will, I’m sure, be nice human beings but sadly, inevitably, the vast majority of whom will also be anti-independence. No amount of dainty persuasion will change their viewpoint that Scotland is just another part of England. Meanwhile Sturgeon et al do nothing to force the pace of necessary change in order to fight for Scotland’s independence. Her inactivity is deliberate. Her acceptance of English rule is ingrained.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Given the result of the recent Supreme Court case it now seems increasing unlikely that we will be Free by 2023. In the few days since the verdict we have heard little from the First Minister, the Scottish Government or indeed the SNP on this subject.
The Deputy First minister restricted his comments to stating the Scottish government “fully respects the court’s judgement”, but was “bitterly disappointed.” He said the ruling would require “careful consideration” and “one thing is already crystal clear – the devolution settlement does not give Scotland the powers it needs.” No nationalist could dispute this.The devolution settlement never did give Scotland the powers it needs. That should come as no surprise to Mr. Swinney. It’s been like that since 1999.
The real problem for the Scottish Government is – where do we go from here? It is fairly clear that any legislation to enable a referendum will suffer the same fate as these two recent bills. If we are to “respect” the Supreme Court’s judgement in future, there is now no prospect of a referendum in late 2023.
Are we simply to wait for the eventual demise, at some point in the distant future, of the Tory Government? Hope for a new occupant of 10 Downing Street who will allow us to hold a referendum? Perhaps we should hope against hope that the result of the next UK General Election will be a hung parliament and that in return for the support of the SNP MPs we will be granted a referendum by the then leader of a miraculously revived Labour Party.
First Minister we need some answers. We need some leadership but mostly we need a plan B or C or D or E.
https://archive.is/WM9sz/again?url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19635908.kevin-mckenna-snp-fast-becoming-enemies-independence/%3Fref=twtrec
Archived copy of McKenna’s article
“Too much time to be without [indy]”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19635908.kevin-mckenna-snp-fast-becoming-enemies-independence/%3Fref=twtrec
Posted again – I don’t think the last archive post worked
Scotland’s political representatives are the most important element of the Yes movement. Why would so many of Scotland’s people vote for them if the case was otherwise? It is only logical to also admit that these same people voted for political leadership to show them the way forward in their fight for independence.
Thus the people have every right to question the current inactivity of their political representatives. They have every right to wonder why the FM [the logical leader surely] is so feart of the fight. They hear her continually declaring Westminster law must be obeyed and, as John Swinney recently announced, respected, even if that law, and the upholding of such, is demonstrably anti-Scottish in its nature.
The people of Scotland need strong leadership in the fight for independence; that leadership is conspicuous in its absence.
Excellent, BB. We do not have time – at least the poorest and those of us keeping our heads above water dolt have the time. Wealthy people like Nicola Sturgeon do. I’m not saying that she is unaware of the mess we are in, but her responses leave so much to be desired. Of course she is trying to ‘persuade’ through showing how difficult it is for Scotland to actually do anything to alleviate its position, but we all know that, Nicola, or we should if we don’t. That’s why we want independence. You could have brought in some of the finest minds in constitutional law nd had this all sorted out long since. Westminster has been acting in an ultra vires fashion towards Scotland since 1707. A mountain of evidence exists to show that, and the best place to take your evidence is to the international court, not the domestic court where Westminster rules the roost. Give me strength. England will always act for England, or England’s elites, at least, with the crumbs going to the hoi polloi, but we don’t even do that. The neglect of Scotland interests is verging on the criminal now.
The only problem is: the SNP as the democratically elected manifestation of Scottish sovereignty, would have to raise the case with the ICJ. What is the likelihood of such a thing ever happening? So, we either accept that, as a colonised nation, we habitually and conveniently elect political dunces or that we likewise, habitually elect brazen-faced political confidence tricksters. Personally I’m forced to go with the latter.
I’m no sure that’s so, Josef. A people’s committee could still raise this with the UN. I wouldn’t go so far as to claim it would be successful, but it surely would open eyes, and it would provoke a response from both within Scotland and outwith Scotland. The expense could be raised by a public subscription. The idea would be to publicize our predicament. I agree with you that it would take a duly elected SG to take this further. It will take a great deal of pressure on the SNP to force their hand, but the thought of being kicked out of office should concentrate minds. We have been far to compliant and complacent thus far.
The latest ruling by the Supreme Court appears to suggest, and underline at the same time, that Westminster sovereignty goes way beyond and above any previous constitutional understanding to limit and even remove devolved powers. We knew this was coming, of course, and it would appear that the SG was testing the water yet again with a couple of cases they must have know would fall. They are now aware that any future Westminster co-operation on another referendum will be a non-starter, but who are they trying to convince? Themselves or the rest of us? They do not appear to have a Plan B, but, then, when did they ever? A plebiscitary election win, plus the Treaty lodged at the UN is now the only route possible, but, since they have gone to great pains and length to let the Scottish public know that they respect the Court’s decision (and, by implication, the extended sovereignty of Westminster and the limits (eventual eradication?) of devolved power), you are right. Duplicity doesn’t do their lying mendacity justice. This administration needs to be pulled down, and soon. Their Vichy complicity and Quisling compliance is sickening.
Thanks, Lorna. I love the idea of a peoples’ committee, but gaining sufficient publicity to popularise the idea is a big call in light the msm’s de facto role as the propaganda wing-of the Scottish government.
Aligned, as I am, with developing anti-colonialist persuasion, I would argue that if enough Scots were to become aware of their colonized lot, the status quo would be turned upon its head overnight. One big problem is: When most Scots picture “the colonized” in their inner-eye, they see black, brown and yellow faces, never white faces.Thus immediately identifying as a colonized person is far from easily achieved for most Scots, despite the fact that there’s no shortage of concrete evidence to support the case. (The recent SC finding?). In tandem with the purely legal, traditional routes then, I am arguing for a concerted on-line consciousness-raising campaign throughout the grassroots independence movement, a campaign which has the potential to by-pass the msm and the many other predictable points of resistance that’ll clutter our way. If anything was learned in 2014, it was surely 1: We’re on our own. 2:We are as a collective, hugely resourceful. Whew!!! That’s it, Lorna.
Josef: maybe we should phrase it differently? Use the Roman Empire as the example instead of the British one, albeit the Romans colonized everyone they could, too. However, their invasions of Britain, mostly the south, but, latterly, the north, too – us – could concentrate minds. That was colonization of white people, and they, too, rose up in rebellion against their colonial masters – at great cost to the Iceni, Brigantes, etc., but also to the northern Pictish peoples (Mons Graupius). Rise up they did, though, and the Romans eventually left Britain, long after they had withdrawn behind Hadrian’s Wall. The Romans were also past masters at co-opting already colonized peoples into their cohorts to invade others: the Germanic tribesmen; the Spanish auxiliaries; the Dacian tribesmen – all white, all previously colonized, all used to invade and colonize others. The Scots should be aware of their own part in colonizing other peoples via the British Empire, but they should also be aware of the Roman use of colonized peoples to colonize others having been adopted by the British Empire. We were the administrators of the BE, but never its masters. That doesn’t mean we are clean tatties, but it goes some way to explaining how colonization in all its forms works.
Excellent summation – didn’t cheer me up!
May I suggest that those attending the march do not boo , hiss or make rude gestures – merely turn their backs in silent condemnation , the power of silence is remarkable .
Yes, Diabloandco, that is the best way to do it. Silence and turn backs, especially the turning of the backs. Same with trans identified men in women’s sports. Turn backs as they mount the podium. Refuse to co-operate on both counts.
Thank you, Lorna—appreciated. I fully acknowledge that colonisation has always been about exploitation and certainly not skin-tone. I further acknowledge that ethnicity has little decisive bearing on the creation of a colonizer and the fact that too, that Scots played an inordinate, if subaltern, role throughout the course of the, historically speaking, recent British colonial project. What might be termed: the extant cultural imprint of Empire, that surrounds us in architectural, linguistic and other forms in our towns and cities, day-and-daily, is largely why, in my opinion, at least, the English colonizer and his deeds right up to the present (e.g. the recent Supreme Court ruling, Jack’s inane 25 year stipulation etc. etc.), will have a much more immediate and louder resonance with most Scots than the ancient deeds of the colonizing Romans. It is because of that “closeness” to the experience of Empire, if you will, that I’m suggesting when Scots consider the colonized they don’t, for recent historical reasons, not to mention countless miles of British Pathé News and propagandistic BBC T.V. footage, envisage them with white faces. Because there are no carbon-copy colonizations there are no guaranteed off-the-shelf liberation formulas. It’s a strictly DIY project. Thank you once more, Lorna.
I really don’t think that Nicola Sturgeon is that “naive or stupid”. That just leaves the other one, I’m afraid.
Good article. I would add the following to it as anyone looking objectively at what has been happening since the Scottish referendum would draw the conclusion that I have that the treaty of 1707 has been not only fundamentally breached but actually replaced with the English Act of Union 2017-2019 bill. Look at the state and treaty name. Look at the new international identifier for motorists, the replacing of nationality, the veto over Scotland etc each increment was pointed out but folk turned a blind eye. The accumulation though is what follows. (Death by a thousand cuts.)
Has the Treaty of Union 1707 been replaced?
As you know I have pointed out for quite some time that the English Act of Union Bill (2017-2019) was being enacted in all but name. Now it has replaced the original English Act of Union!
During indyref the English establishment promoted the paper they commissioned Crawford and Boyle to pen stating that Scotland was extinguished and subsumed into a Greater England albeit under the new name of “UK”. They then on 19 September 2014 drew up EVEL and had that enacted creating, in breach of the treaty, in essence an English parliament within the parliament of GB. Then they sought an exit from the EU.
During that time though they drew up the English Act of Union (2017-2019) Bill. Facing opposition they let it sit and instead tried to write into law English parliamentary sovereignty via Clause 38. The building blocks were being put in place – the parliament and sovereignty. They then changed how Scots are identified internationally along with the name of the state by classing Scots as English subjects via travel requirements for motorists and changing Great Britain to United Kingdom. It should be pointed out that they also removed Scots nationality and replaced it with British and had all legal identifiers changed to UK and British. They even set up an English governmental office in the capital of Scotland and in Glasgow. They then had the English supreme court judgement claim that English (UK) law was in essence supreme. Bear in mind that they have enacted law that means the English government supercede the English courts!
All of which is in violation of the treaty of 1707 and fundamentally alters the very nature of the treaty.
The next thing to be changed by the English government is the Human Rights Act which the English government are replacing with an English Human Rights Bill (soon to be Act).
While all this has been enacted and in the case of human rights is being drawn up and legislated for, Scotland has been crying “now is not the time”. When is the time? When the English Human Rights Act is enacted as well? After that? In how many months, years? Scotland is actively being extinguished and the Scottish government and Scots representatives remain silent. If Scotland does not stand up NOW it will be too late. It already is in many ways.
Here are a few links. Note the terminology used. The wording in particular to the English Act of Union Bill especially part 1 section 1 and the IM Act.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/…/contents/enacted/data.htm – IM Act, https://publications.parliament.uk/…/201…/0132/18132.pdf – note the name of bill – UK not GB!,
https://www.gov.uk/displayi…/flags-symbols-and-identifiers – note “If you have a GB sticker, cover or remove it before driving outside the UK.”,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNawcGqBWc4&t=2s clause 38 English parliamentary sovereignty
By Carwyn Jones “They are trying to enforce English law on Scotland & take away our rights.”
The question that should be asked is, why has Scotland’s government and representatives not at the very least suspended the treaty of union? The Vienna Convention Articles 60, 61 and 62 are all met requirements despite only only being necessary to invoke the suspension and dissolution. Not only is this a treaty on treaties but international law which is respected and adds to the UN charter on the right to self-determination.
Article 60 – Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty as a consequence of its breach:
1. A material breach of a bilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles the other to invoke the breach as a ground for terminating the treaty or suspending its operation in whole or in part.
Article 61 – Supervening impossibility of performance
1. A party may invoke the impossibility of performing a treaty as a ground for terminating or withdrawing from it if the impossibility results from the permanent disappearance or destruction of an object indispensable for the execution of the treaty.
Article 62 – Fundamental change of circumstances
1. A fundamental change of circumstances which has occurred with regard to those existing at the time of the conclusion of a treaty, and which was not foreseen by the parties, may not be invoked as a ground for terminating or withdrawing from the treaty unless:
(a) the existence of those circumstances constituted an essential basis of the consent of the parties to be bound by the treaty; and
(b) the effect of the change is radically to transform the extent of obligations still to be performed under the treaty.
3. If, under the foregoing paragraphs, a party may invoke a fundamental change of circumstances as a ground for terminating or withdrawing from a treaty it may also invoke the change as a ground for suspending the operation of the treaty.
Spot on, Gayle. I, too, have been banging the Treaty drum for years. Sooner or later, we are going to have to face up to the fact that we are being raped every which way, in every orifice, and to stop pretending that it’s love.
The Treaty cannot be replaced or sidelined because it underpins the UK. No Treaty, no UK, and we are home and dry. Crawford and Boyle just did what every English government since 1707 has done and stated that Scotland had been subsumed. Absolute piffle as any close reading of the Treaty itself and of the actings of Queen Anne show. She was certainly under the impression as the instigator of the Treaty that it was a Union of equals and that she was Queen of Scotland as well as Queen of England, and she enacted the Treaty (it was not either parliament or their representatives who did so) in her capacity as monarch separately of each independent state.
The ignorance and lack of close scrutiny around the Treaty is a disgrace. Crawford and Boyle were commissioned by Cameron to produce a certain answer. That does not mean that they got it right. The late Professor David Walker said that they had got it entirely wrong, just as the English jurists had done in 1707 (deliberately?). He was ably backed up by Professor Ian Campbell. The Treaty cannot be adjudicated upon finally in a British court, but only as a prelude to a final ruling by the international court of the UN, as the Treaty is an international agreement by any and all standards pertaining then and now. Westminster does not want us to know that, although they will hold it in reserve for when they can use it against us, following their own, flawed and ultra vires interpretation.
Absolutely, Lorna. The Scottish government have a lot to answer for by going along with the charade. As equal partners they should be telling the English government to sling their hook each and every time they try to assert authority over Scotland. The Scottish government are complicit in treating Scotland as an English region. Sadly very few folk have actually read the treaty nor paid attention to what is specifically omitted from it. Such as the fact that there is no GB government despite there being a parliament. The English government and its establishment will try every trick in the book to thwart Scots reasserting their statehood but even they know it is just dressing. They have no authority other than that which the Scots themselves grant. International law and the institutions that uphold it would tear them a new one if they tried to claim a sovereign nation state in an international Agreement could only assert its authority if the other partner granted permission to do so. Not just on referendums but on any matter.
The late professor was spot on with his evidence based essay on the subject and the follow up article by Ian Campbell is as informative. Some good articles to read in the reference section as well.
Yes, I agree, Gayle, and Professor Tom Smith, of Aberdeen University, was another such Scottish jurist who understood that Scots Law should draw for its development on international sources so as not to be bogged down by English Law which always had the potential to stifle it. The English jurists know all this, but many have been bad actors as far as Scottish rights are concerned. Their English Nationalism and ideas of supremacy have overridden any thought of fair play they might have had at one time. Unfortunately, so many of our Scottish legal profession has also abandoned any semblance of justice and equity in favour of Unionist baubles.
I suspect she means that she has time on her side, in that she has five years to push through her authoritarian agenda without any electoral pressure. Independence isn’t on her radar, unless anyone has concrete evidence to the contrary. She’ll then waltz off into the sunset, leaving the devastation of policy failure after policy failure in her wake.
Well said Roddy, I can feel the anger in your words, and rightly so, Sturgeon can afford to sit it out for years, many Scots cannot. I’ve even heard of folk asking the foodbanks specifically for cold food as they cannot heat it because they have no power at home, something Sturgeon wouldn’t know about.
The million dollar question is how do we get Sturgeon to call back our MPs from Westminster to hold a vote with our MSPs to leave this union, yes we the people are sovereign but how do we compel her to do our bidding when she wants to wait for Johnson and Westminster to sanction a S30, which is a non-starter and everyone knows it.
Only a mass demo and I mean a big crowd outside Holyrood or Bute House when Sturgeon is at home, or if need be her domestic residence in Glasgow to get the point across. Watching the indy march today in Glasgow and Ian (Scotland won’t stand for it) Blackford speak at the rally point in Glasgow Green, it was the usual speel from Blackford, aimed at Boris Johnson, and how he must listen to Scotland’s wishes, Blackford should’ve been heckled and chased out the Green for his miserable failure in pushing the people of Scotland’s wish to leave this union.
In reality if we want Scottish independence, we’ll need to compel our FM to sooner than later to take action, time is definitely not on our side, most Scots don’t have the economic luxury that Sturgeon and her husband Peter Murrell has.
Or what about a declaration (floating an idea here) signed by as many Scots as possible (we are sovereign not Sturgeon or Johnson) and handed into the UN, we would be asking for our right as sovereign people to leave this union.
The way to do it is NOT to make the request to Mrs Murrell but to the Alba MP representatives who, if they were truly in support of reasserting Scotland’s statehood with immediate effect, would be calling out the fundamental breaches and changes to the treaty and demanding the suspension of the treaty with immediate effect. They would call out the SNP/Green contingent within the parliament of GB making it public knowledge and on record that the only ones holding Scotland in the treaty are the SNP/Green contingent of the Scottish government who have abdicated responsibility and are granting a veto over Scotland by NOT suspending the treaty. Alba MPs should be firstfooting not back footing and they sure as hell should not be referring to the English government as “UK” or sitting at the back of the room. They need to be proactive not reactionary. Get them to treat Scotland as the sovereign nation state that it is not a region of England that they have been treating Scotland as.
Well said, Gayle. Even ALBA don’t take this stance, and it is deeply disappointing. If it is going to put pressure on the SNP leadership/Greens/Westminster, it, too, needs to find a new way to do it. The Treaty is absolutely fundamental to the continuation of the Union. Westminster, and, apparently, the SNP/Green coalition don’t want ordinary Scots to know that. Yes, we need a people’s committee set up to gather signatures, to build a case based on the Treaty, its constant breaching in favour of one country of the UK – England – and on the fact that an independence party – THE independence party – has won every election, the primary source of democracy, since 2007. It would, at the very least, show intent to refuse to put up with this situation any longer. Go for it. Perhaps all the bloggers would place the petition on their sites for people to sign?
Gayle and Lorna , I admire and laud Alex Salmond for forming the ALBA party and giving us hope , BUT unless they become publicly and openly vociferous in EXPOSING the stranglehold Sturgeon and the Greens have unnecessarily foisted on us they are just another establishment party with their false radicalism intended not to upset the apple cart or scare the horses
I don’t understand what they are waiting for , EVERY DAY is a shooting gallery in NSNPG Scotland , where every day just EXPOSES more incompetence by Sturgeon and her tartan taliban hordes , it would maybe waken some sycophants up to the reality that she is sabotaging indy
If ALBA are truly the party of independence SURELY it behoves them and it is their DUTY to protect Scotland and Scots from their enemies by ANY means possible , including EXPOSING the lies and corruption forced on the people by politicians who are traitors to the independence cause , TBQH that is why I question Joanna Cherry ‘s and others commitment to the indy cause , how can it be possible that a QC who openly states that she supports indy does NOT do everything within her power to expose and pursue the various avenues that are available to our cause and fails continuously to call out her leader Sturgeon for NOT following them , even although that same leader and party has treated her abominably when she has been threatened with violence and rape
Robert: I, too, have a few misgivings. Alec Salmond himself was totally opposed to the imposition of the Supreme Court on Scotland. I just cannot see Mr Salmon being too happy about the latest ruling, but perhaps he is holding his hand until the GRA reform comes along, and the Hate Crime legislation because these are going to throw a real spanner in the works. I would also like to see ALBA pursue a study of our constitutional situation. Commissioning such work would be expensive, but an enterprising lawyer or two could be co-opted voluntarily to undertake this task. It would make his/her name. Much of it has been done already by the late Professor David Walker and Professor Ian Campbell, and the writings of Professor T. Smith, of Aberdeen University in the 1950s on the subject of Scots Law drawing from international law and foreign jurisdictions could also be a starting point. As per, we have much talent in Scotland but do not use it to help ourselves.
@Robert T The day when a Scottish political party or grouping becomes “publicly and openly vociferous” will mark the day when the game has finally changed. For whatever reason being even remotely vociferous doesn’t seem to be the “done thing” for our politicos, despite continually doing the ‘done thing’ being one of the main reasons that we are where we currently are. Such behaviour prolonged, is bound to end in tears methinks.
Good points Gayle, as you rightly say the so called Treaty of union has been breeched by England on multiple occasion over the years, infact the Treaty wasn’t even a democratic process to begin with, we are being held within this union not by consent but by force of law, laws that do not apply to Scotland, as we the people are sovereign.
Alba needs to as you say publicly debase the Treaty at every turn and compel the SNP to do so as well.
I see people also asking why Blackford bothered to turn up at the weekend march in the “Gods Waiting Room” that is now the moribund Wings forum thats been left to wither on the vine with its majority of contributors now being ant-vaxxers and desperately clueless conspiracy theorists, i’m at a loss why one contributor is pleading for Stuart to come back and explain it to the desciples of WOS so that they can then go forth and spread the word to others. Why ? Do they think Stuart has a crystal ball ?
There could be many reasons ..
“Fatty Blackford” can see exactly the same things as many of us here, on WoS and elsewhere, the light from the Sturgeon Supernova is fading fast and He wants to position himself in the best place to benefit when that time comes, Blackford is already a Multi millionaire but he still simply cannot stop feeding at the trough of Taxpayers money when it comes so easily to him for doing virtually nothing , he is one of the top troughers of expenses from Westminster and doesn’t want to have to give that easy pocket money up. Blackford also is a desperately conceited man who thinks he is Gods Gift , so while he may think he has a good chance in a leadership bid we all know that he has none at all. Sturgeons choice when she throws in the towel is the experience of Angus Robertson backed up by Kate Forbes basically to attempt to remake a repeat of the Salmond/Sturgeon Golden Years long gone.
Blackford may also be seeing his support in his own constituency falling partly of course for his lack of appearing at marches etc so he may be only doing that to try to shore up his own local constituency support to try to save his own skin in any Boris Johnson called suprise General election which has already been mentioned here in recent threads, it isn’t as impossible as many would think.
As far as talk of Blackford moving to Alba thats just a big massive Naw for two reasons , the Western Isles and Lochaber areas are dyed in the wool SNP/Lib Dem Voters and they are not for moving anywhere else , for Blackford or McNeil to move to Alba would be political suicide for themselves.
Also for those of us that were into politics before the year 2013 we all remember the epic falling out between Blackford and Salmond many years ago that actually came to both taking legal actions against each other , that bad blood i doubt very much will ever likely be healed , they probably still loath each other.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12195953.bitter-feud-puts-snp-in-turmoil-treasurer-threatens-to-sue-party-leader-for-defamation-unless-salmond-apologises-for-remarks/
The curved ball potentially is that the elites like Blackford inside the SNP perhaps know the likeliness of the missing £600K financial impropriety ending in Police charges to those in the party and some are trying to distance themselves from those who may also suffer collateral damage in that process on top all the other failures that are now already coming back to bite the Murrel dynasty. Mud always sticks and mudfights are a dirty old affair.
“Nicola Sturgeon told the world she has got time on her side regarding Scottish independence”
Then after such an ill-advised, insensitive and inappropriate comment by a woman who has already wasted us seven years of our time doing nothing, the immediate question to Nicola Sturgeon is
“on what side are you”?
Because you do not need to have night vision nor above average IQ to realise that if there is something Scotland does no longer have is time. Scotland stopped having time over 300 years ago and the proof is the millions of oil barrels England’s governments have extracted from OUR waters claiming to be on “our” behalf, and yet we have nothing to show for it, while Norway has a trillion dollar trust fund and the South East of England a level of wealth that should be in Scotland, not down south.
For seven years this totally useless as pro independence “leader” has deliberately wasted time, happily handing England’s government absolute control over our resources while people in Scotland faces poverty and hardship.
For the last 1.5 years, this corrupt and unprincipled individual has chosen like an obedient sheep to follow Westminster’s flawed narrative and treating the people of Scotland as disposable because this coward could not possibly act like a real pro independence leader and find the balls to close our borders to protect the population.
Clearly for her, it was far more important to preserve the illusion of a union or, rather, the “4 nation approach” as she chooses to call it, leaving the borders open and allowing over 8000 Scottish people to die with the virus unnecessarily, instead of acting as a real FM and protect the population.
For seven years has this person handed to England MPs we did not vote for absolute control to steal our powers, our rights our dignity.
For 5 years has this woman has actually helped England Mps to bury our expressed democratic will because instead of ending the treaty of union as she was expected to do, she chose to ignore democracy, to ignore the reason d’etre of the SNP and to continue legitimising the abuse by keeping our so called nationalist MPs sitting in a corrupt parliament, where the only reason why Scotland’s MPs are allowed in is so the abuse of Scotland by England can be claimed to be done “on our behalf” and “with our full consent”.
For seven years this woman has not given us anything other than cheap platitudes, stellar disappointments, what looks like deliberate gross incompetence regressing Scotland’s autonomy and undermining our popular sovereignty, and of course, embarrassment. The embarrassment of looking how an alleged pro independence “fighter” turned out to be nothing but another useful idiot of the British establishment who did not hesitate to jump at the opportunity of helping them to destroy our democracy, the credibility of our democratic and justice structures in Scotland and allowing the Scottish taxpayers’ purse to be wide open so a bunch of corrupt civil servants proceeded to abuse their position of power to attempt to imprison an innocent man, and all to save the British state the embarrassment of watching the best politician Scotland has ever had reaching Holyrood again and giving a voice to the yes movement. A voice that Sturgeon has done nothing other than attempting to drawn for seven years and that continues to do so by stealth.
Sturgeon has time, but not for independence. All she has time for is to stop independence, to destroy the SNP, to give legitimacy to England’s governments’ abuse of Scotland and to drawn the voice of the yes movement. That is all what this woman has been doing since 14 November 2014. To stop independence so England’s governments can continue ransacking Scotland and then claim it is for our own good.
“Sturgeon also reiterated her commitment to a “legal, recognised constitutional process” eg. a Section 30 Westminster approval”
Then the immediate questions to such nonsense is:
if the people of Scotland is sovereign, yes or not?
Is Scotland in a bipartite union with the Kingdom of England, yes or not?
Because if the only reason why Westminster exists is because of Scotland’s continuous consent, then how on earth can this loser ever claim that it is legal for a third party, dependent structure as it is Westminster to empower itself and deny those who have the lawful right to determine Westminster’s existence and its legitimacy, their right and ability to actually decide if they want to continue giving that legitimacy to Westminser or not? What kind of lawyer is this person?
This has to be the most corrupt, flawed, stupid reasoning a useful idiot of the colonial power could ever come up with to attempt to hand over to the colonial power a veto for Scotland’s right to decide but still pretending there is legitimacy in what seems at all practical effects a clear attempt to usurpe Scotland’s lawful right to decide.
From where I am standing, Sturgeon’s claim that Westminster, and in particular England MPs who hold the mandate of not a single constituent in Scotland, are the only ones with a say about if Scotland can or not exercise its legitimate right to end Scotland’s consent for Westminster to continue acting on Scotland’s behalf, is just bollocks of the biggest order and clearly shows how, either this woman is a monumental and dishonest coward undeserving of the seat she holds, or she has nothing but contempt for Scotland’s sovereignty, nothing but contempt for democracy, nothing but contempt for justice, nothing by contempt for the treaty of union, nothing but contempt for Scotland’s rights and nothing but contempt for all those voters who cast their vote for the SNP thinking that this party was serious about independence when it clearly isn’t.
I say dishonest coward because if that is what she truly believes is the only pathway to independence, then she clearly believes Scotland is a colony of England and she fully accepts that this situation will continue until the time England decides Scotland is no longer of use because Scotland’s sovereignty is inexistent. That is not an acceptable position for a Scottish FM, and even less for a pretender who claims to have been fighting for Independence for decades and “leading” the main pro independence party. If that is what she believes, she should immediately resign from her position of FM, leader of the SNP and openly and publicly accept she does not think Scotland can become independence until England chooses because our sovereignty counts for nothing.
Sturgeon’s claim that only Westminster can decide if Scotland can then decide or not terminate Westminster’s legitimacy is like saying that a Medical Chief in a hospital cannot sack a bend, corrupt and unprincipled doctor because this doctor has self-empowered himself/herself to not giving consent to the Medical chief to exercise their right and do their job and sack the bent doctor.
Until when are we going to let this political fraud to continue taking us for a ride?
Nobody want to pay any attention to you any more on WoS Mia or did the Ref’s patience finally run out and he blocked you as he recently did with others too ?
Do you know what “TLDR” means ?
Anne I must have scrolled past the notification where Roddy had appointed you as moderator on HIS forum , I presume that if Roddy had any problems with Mia’s content in her comment he would have done something to address it , I also note that on your previous comment above you are inserting some wee snidey digs at some of the btl commenters on WOS , not every subject matter appeals to everyone and they are selling computer mice now with scrolling keys on them to enable people to just scroll past comments they don’t like
The pandemic is something which has impacted ALL of us in one way or another , but the constant misinformation and lies from all sides should concern us all , and that is the problem there is literally NO ONE that we can trust to tell the truth of what is going on , that is ONE of the reasons I desperately desire independence for our country in an effort for the electorate to hold politicians to account because they have shown repeatedly that the majority are corrupt liars who hold voters in contempt
I have NEVER agreed with all the posters or comments on WOS not even Stuart Campbell’s but his dedication and fortitude to the independence cause should never be belittled or questioned , most people would be unaware of the sabotage , theft , corruption and lies taking place against independence if it wasn’t for him and his EXPOSURES
Too true, Roddy. We don’t have time.
And Nicola Sturgeon knows it.
But I am sure she has time. And a well-paved exit strategy when the time is right.
The easy “Exit Strategy” may be “standing down for the good of the Party” if token husband (according to others) ends up on fraudulent bookeeping charges.
Anne, this is definitely a possible exit route. And I am sure it’s just one of many. However, whether the police investigate the financial scandal, or whether something causes it to get shelves … I think that is still up for grabs. If it goes away, the FM is likely here to stay.
Roddy apologies for O/T.
Our route out of this rancid union, however its being blocked by Sturgeon.
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2021/10/10/a-plan-for-actionand-the-path-to-take/