SNP and Greens coalition.

[pablo]

25 minutes ago, XB52 said:

How many times does NS have to say the referendum will be 2023 before posters on here understand? 

I've said it before though; if they don't follow through with this promise then they are finished 

 

Could you please explain in simple terms what is the Scottish Government's route to holding this referendum by the end of next year. Thank you.

[Lord Montpelier]

1 hour ago, XB52 said:

How many times does NS have to say the referendum will be 2023 before posters on here understand? 

I've said it before though; if they don't follow through with this promise then they are finished 

More chance of the potholes being repaired on the road in front of my house than your fantasy 2023 referendum XB52

[JudyJudyJudy]

12 hours ago, Lord Montpelier said:

A well thought out post. With some fair points. But - you can't keep kicking the can down the road . There will be other things on the horizon - unemployment, high interest rates, climate, war in Europe. Always something. 

 

Someone could read this and argue your happier within a union and the comfort blanket that brings rather than striking out alone for freedom and the uncertainty it potentially creates. Will there ever be a right time ? Im not sure there will. 

There will never be a right time as they want the polls to say they have a commanding lead so will

only then want a Ref. There will be no commanding lead therefore no Ref . Once a campaign did start its gloves off again and it will be carnage with the Yes campaign and their flimsy arguments for Indy . They win it on an emotional level for me , but practically is a no from me 

9 hours ago, manaliveits105 said:

The separatists are aw oor the place in disarray - they’ve hibsed it

the Indy game is up the pole 

time to move on 

Yes the prominent Indy supporters on this ( irrespective if they have changed profiles ) are now saying they can wait  

“ when the time is right “ that’s a complete cop out . The time was hardly  

“ right” in 2014 as they were well behind eh the beginning of the campaign but def made up ground at the end . Therefore what’s stopping them now when they have a more substantial support than 2014 . She’s at it , they are at it and some supporters are at it . Like I said BJ needs to call NS bluff and agree to it . 

[Jeffros Furios]

6 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

There will never be a right time as they want the polls to say they have a commanding lead so will

only then want a Ref. There will be no commanding lead therefore no Ref . Once a campaign did start its gloves off again and it will be carnage with the Yes campaign and their flimsy arguments for Indy . They win it on an emotional level for me , but practically is a no from me 

Yes the prominent Indy supporters on this ( irrespective if they have changed profiles ) are now saying they can wait  

“ when the time is right “ that’s a complete cop out . The time was hardly  

“ right” in 2014 as they were well behind eh the beginning of the campaign but def made up ground at the end . Therefore what’s stopping them now when they have a more substantial support than 2014 . She’s at it , they are at it and some supporters are at it . Like I said BJ needs to call NS bluff and agree to it . 

The SNP are taking thier voters for mugs , they either put up or shut for a referendum. 

I've had enough of these incompetent clowns failing at thier job knowing fine well dangling a never never vote is enough for the mug masses to keep voting .

How can nearly all involved in politics from council up to mps be so hopeless. 

Time for civil disorder !  ! 

[Ray Gin]

https://fb.watch/cX9BDjjuF0/

 

Ian Blackford -  Scotland won’t need Tory Govt permission for indyref2, citing Claim of Right and McCormick 1953 ruling that ‘the unlimited sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament is a distinctively English principle that has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law’

[Lord Montpelier]

17 minutes ago, Jeffros Furios said:

The SNP are taking thier voters for mugs , they either put up or shut for a referendum. 

I've had enough of these incompetent clowns failing at thier job knowing fine well dangling a never never vote is enough for the mug masses to keep voting .

How can nearly all involved in politics from council up to mps be so hopeless. 

Time for civil disorder !  ! 

Ive said it before. All the best folk go into private companies - better money and less hassle. Leaving the hopeless but aspirational ones to become career politicians. 

[Dazo]

6 minutes ago, Ray Gin said:

https://fb.watch/cX9BDjjuF0/

 

Ian Blackford -  Scotland won’t need Tory Govt permission for indyref2, citing Claim of Right and McCormick 1953 ruling that ‘the unlimited sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament is a distinctively English principle that has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law’

I’m sure that is what  the legal advice will say when it’s eventually published. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

4 minutes ago, Dazo said:

I’m sure that is what  the legal advice will say when it’s eventually published. 

Yes that’s a sneaky way of securing a yes , as most no people wouldn’t vote on an “ illegal “ ref but the Nats will . The result will be invalid and it’ll cause civil disobedience if ignored by Westminster . Have a feeling that will please Sturgeon and her rabble . By means fair or foul . 

[JudyJudyJudy]

26 minutes ago, Jeffros Furios said:

The SNP are taking thier voters for mugs , they either put up or shut for a referendum. 

I've had enough of these incompetent clowns failing at thier job knowing fine well dangling a never never vote is enough for the mug masses to keep voting .

How can nearly all involved in politics from council up to mps be so hopeless. 

Time for civil disorder !  ! 

👍👍

[Lord Montpelier]

9 minutes ago, Ray Gin said:

https://fb.watch/cX9BDjjuF0/

 

Ian Blackford -  Scotland won’t need Tory Govt permission for indyref2, citing Claim of Right and McCormick 1953 ruling that ‘the unlimited sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament is a distinctively English principle that has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law’

Ah, the humble crofter again. A man who made his money in investment banking and so is immune to the economic impacts of his independence desires. Wouldnt trust him as far as I can throw him. Which i suspect wouldn't be very far. 

[Ray Gin]

 You want to get some ointment on those wounds lads. 

[The Real Maroonblood]

12 minutes ago, Ray Gin said:

 You want to get some ointment on those wounds lads. 

[jack D and coke]

 

 

CAN YOU REVILE THE SNP AND STILL BACK INDEPENDENCE?

by Kevin McKenna

NICOLA Sturgeon’s response after the SNP held on to Glasgow City Council last Thursday was both spiteful and disingenuous. “Labour threw the kitchen sink at Glasgow and yet they still can’t defeat the SNP,” the First Minister said.

Glasgow’s ruling SNP group know all about kitchen sinks, of course: on their watch these stalwart household appliances were a common feature of the city’s overflowing rubbish dumps during last year’s strike by refuse workers. The SNP’s reaction to that strike, as espoused by the council leader, Susan Aitken was to accuse trade unions of fascist behaviour. And besides, she said, Glasgow wasn’t “a uniquely dirty city”.

Ms Aitken’s leadership of Glasgow these last few years has turned large parts of the city into a wasteland. Nowhere is this more evident than on Sauchiehall Street where the lights have been going out one-by-one on iconic retail sites for several years now. The only growth Glasgow has witnessed in this period has been as a location for several Hollywood action movies. Perhaps Ms Aitken is now aiming for those apocalyptic, end-of-the-world films where groups of bewildered survivors wander through the crumbling remains of their city after a plague has wiped out most of humanity.

The First Minister’s defiant howl last Friday masked the true reality of what had happened in Glasgow. The ruling administration had come to within a whisker of being ousted by a party whose national leadership epitomises mediocrity and intellectual sterility. The SNP’s abject stewardship of Glasgow should have ended in defeat last week. That they hung on by one seat was due more to the fact that Scottish Labour have become so transfixed by the Union Jack that many of their former followers still feel they can’t vote for them.

And so, another national election has delivered another overwhelming victory for the SNP. By my reckoning that’s 11 elections in four different jurisdictions on the trot for the Scottish Nationalists. In Scotland they are virtually untouchable, being opposed by two parties whose elected members and leaders are now merely stealing wages to maintain the pretence that Holyrood presides over a functioning democracy. Until Scottish Labour finds a leader who can make a mature contribution to the country’s constitutional debate this impasse will continue.

After 22 years of doing little more than provide Patrick Harvie with a world-class pension, the Scottish Greens might have delivered something useful by now in chivvying the SNP out of its bizarrely lethargic approach to seeking independence. Instead they’ve been bound by a vow of silence in exchange for a couple of junior ministerial positions. And to think we all thought that the system of patronage which once produced rotten boroughs had disappeared with the 1832 Reform Act.

Perhaps the Scottish Labour Party did expend a substantial amount of money and energy at regaining Glasgow, but it’s doubtful their budget comes anywhere near the annual £1m the SNP spends on advisers and spin-doctors. Alongside providing edgy backdrops for fantasy action movies, this appears to be one of the few other areas of Scottish growth in the devolved era.

These party fluffers and agitators were all over social media in the weeks running up to the council elections. Many of them once purported to scrutinise the actions of this government; now they are good for little more than opening doors and fetching sandwiches for people who’ve laughingly been accorded full ministerial status and whom they once regarded as barely literate.

In these wretched circumstances where political opposition has been all but extinguished, responsibility falls upon the print and broadcast media and upon SNP dissidents to hold the Scottish Government to account. The SNP have already been in power for 15 years and few would bet against them reaching a quarter of a century. Few would be willing to bet either on their oft-stated pledge of holding a second referendum on independence before the end of next year.

There are many reasons to doubt the SNP’s ability or desire to pursue a referendum. Not the least of these is the absence of any fully-realised policy or even thinking around the currency issue, without which anything substantial about Scotland’s future relationship with the European Union is entirely redundant. The current Northern Ireland border dispute which has acted as a wrecking-ball to the governance of the Six Counties demonstrates the need for a detailed policy on an independent Scotland’s future border arrangements with England. Yet, there’s been nothing about this either.

Joanna Cherry is the only SNP politician who has demonstrated any acuity on such issues. But, after a campaign of bullying, intimidation and misogyny – orchestrated by senior figures in her own party – she was demoted. The ordeal suffered by Ms Cherry has befallen many others within the SNP who have dared to criticise the merciless authoritarianism of Nicola Sturgeon. Many SNP activists have rushed to proclaim their feminist principles over the Roe versus Wade abortion debate in America. Yet they all chose to remain silent when their colleagues were being threatened with sexual violence on social media and bullied at Holyrood and Westminster for trying to defend women’s sex-based rights in the GRA debate.

At a less toxic level the orchestrated abuse directed at supporters of Scottish independence for daring to criticise the party’s con artistry in seeking a referendum has also intensified. And if you attempt to ask questions about the unexplained disappearance of £600k in party donations, or their incompetence around the CalMac ferry contracts you are reviled as a Red Tory or a Unionist plant.

The cabal of party loyalists who maintain the SNP gravy train also have questions to answer about their no-great-mischief-if-they-die policy towards Scotland’s elderly and infirm in the early days of Covid. Yet that too draws a pathetic response from the desperadoes on the party’s scarecrow wing who are seeking favour from “the boss” and the prospect of a considerable pay-day at a level beyond their talents in the real world.

The professional SNP is a vicious and pitiless organisation which proceeds on a ruthless system of patronage. They have disfigured what was once an optimistic and celebratory venture and damaged the overall cause of independence. It’s possible to revile this party and yet remain faithful to self-determination.

Find agreement in a lot of what Kevin McKenna says here. 

[Mikey1874]

1 hour ago, Ray Gin said:

https://fb.watch/cX9BDjjuF0/

 

Ian Blackford -  Scotland won’t need Tory Govt permission for indyref2, citing Claim of Right and McCormick 1953 ruling that ‘the unlimited sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament is a distinctively English principle that has no counterpart in Scottish constitutional law’

 

On that basis they would be better off just declaring independence on basis of winning 12 elections. 

 

20 years ago we thought a majority in Parliament was enough to declare independence. SNP brought in the referendum as a negotiated compromise. 

[Japan Jambo]

1 hour ago, jack D and coke said:

 

 

CAN YOU REVILE THE SNP AND STILL BACK INDEPENDENCE?

by Kevin McKenna

NICOLA Sturgeon’s response after the SNP held on to Glasgow City Council last Thursday was both spiteful and disingenuous. “Labour threw the kitchen sink at Glasgow and yet they still can’t defeat the SNP,” the First Minister said.

Glasgow’s ruling SNP group know all about kitchen sinks, of course: on their watch these stalwart household appliances were a common feature of the city’s overflowing rubbish dumps during last year’s strike by refuse workers. The SNP’s reaction to that strike, as espoused by the council leader, Susan Aitken was to accuse trade unions of fascist behaviour. And besides, she said, Glasgow wasn’t “a uniquely dirty city”.

Ms Aitken’s leadership of Glasgow these last few years has turned large parts of the city into a wasteland. Nowhere is this more evident than on Sauchiehall Street where the lights have been going out one-by-one on iconic retail sites for several years now. The only growth Glasgow has witnessed in this period has been as a location for several Hollywood action movies. Perhaps Ms Aitken is now aiming for those apocalyptic, end-of-the-world films where groups of bewildered survivors wander through the crumbling remains of their city after a plague has wiped out most of humanity.

The First Minister’s defiant howl last Friday masked the true reality of what had happened in Glasgow. The ruling administration had come to within a whisker of being ousted by a party whose national leadership epitomises mediocrity and intellectual sterility. The SNP’s abject stewardship of Glasgow should have ended in defeat last week. That they hung on by one seat was due more to the fact that Scottish Labour have become so transfixed by the Union Jack that many of their former followers still feel they can’t vote for them.

And so, another national election has delivered another overwhelming victory for the SNP. By my reckoning that’s 11 elections in four different jurisdictions on the trot for the Scottish Nationalists. In Scotland they are virtually untouchable, being opposed by two parties whose elected members and leaders are now merely stealing wages to maintain the pretence that Holyrood presides over a functioning democracy. Until Scottish Labour finds a leader who can make a mature contribution to the country’s constitutional debate this impasse will continue.

After 22 years of doing little more than provide Patrick Harvie with a world-class pension, the Scottish Greens might have delivered something useful by now in chivvying the SNP out of its bizarrely lethargic approach to seeking independence. Instead they’ve been bound by a vow of silence in exchange for a couple of junior ministerial positions. And to think we all thought that the system of patronage which once produced rotten boroughs had disappeared with the 1832 Reform Act.

Perhaps the Scottish Labour Party did expend a substantial amount of money and energy at regaining Glasgow, but it’s doubtful their budget comes anywhere near the annual £1m the SNP spends on advisers and spin-doctors. Alongside providing edgy backdrops for fantasy action movies, this appears to be one of the few other areas of Scottish growth in the devolved era.

These party fluffers and agitators were all over social media in the weeks running up to the council elections. Many of them once purported to scrutinise the actions of this government; now they are good for little more than opening doors and fetching sandwiches for people who’ve laughingly been accorded full ministerial status and whom they once regarded as barely literate.

In these wretched circumstances where political opposition has been all but extinguished, responsibility falls upon the print and broadcast media and upon SNP dissidents to hold the Scottish Government to account. The SNP have already been in power for 15 years and few would bet against them reaching a quarter of a century. Few would be willing to bet either on their oft-stated pledge of holding a second referendum on independence before the end of next year.

There are many reasons to doubt the SNP’s ability or desire to pursue a referendum. Not the least of these is the absence of any fully-realised policy or even thinking around the currency issue, without which anything substantial about Scotland’s future relationship with the European Union is entirely redundant. The current Northern Ireland border dispute which has acted as a wrecking-ball to the governance of the Six Counties demonstrates the need for a detailed policy on an independent Scotland’s future border arrangements with England. Yet, there’s been nothing about this either.

Joanna Cherry is the only SNP politician who has demonstrated any acuity on such issues. But, after a campaign of bullying, intimidation and misogyny – orchestrated by senior figures in her own party – she was demoted. The ordeal suffered by Ms Cherry has befallen many others within the SNP who have dared to criticise the merciless authoritarianism of Nicola Sturgeon. Many SNP activists have rushed to proclaim their feminist principles over the Roe versus Wade abortion debate in America. Yet they all chose to remain silent when their colleagues were being threatened with sexual violence on social media and bullied at Holyrood and Westminster for trying to defend women’s sex-based rights in the GRA debate.

At a less toxic level the orchestrated abuse directed at supporters of Scottish independence for daring to criticise the party’s con artistry in seeking a referendum has also intensified. And if you attempt to ask questions about the unexplained disappearance of £600k in party donations, or their incompetence around the CalMac ferry contracts you are reviled as a Red Tory or a Unionist plant.

The cabal of party loyalists who maintain the SNP gravy train also have questions to answer about their no-great-mischief-if-they-die policy towards Scotland’s elderly and infirm in the early days of Covid. Yet that too draws a pathetic response from the desperadoes on the party’s scarecrow wing who are seeking favour from “the boss” and the prospect of a considerable pay-day at a level beyond their talents in the real world.

The professional SNP is a vicious and pitiless organisation which proceeds on a ruthless system of patronage. They have disfigured what was once an optimistic and celebratory venture and damaged the overall cause of independence. It’s possible to revile this party and yet remain faithful to self-determination.

Find agreement in a lot of what Kevin McKenna says here. 

 

Interesting article, but yet Alba seem unable to cut through.

[jack D and coke]

3 minutes ago, Japan Jambo said:

 

Interesting article, but yet Alba seem unable to cut through.

Not sure why that is either. Is it all because of Salmond? They’ve been on the side of women too in this ongoing trans debate yet barely register anywhere, puzzling.  
I’ve only voted them a couple of times but I can’t see me voting SNP again unless there’s big changes. 

[Ked]

1 hour ago, jack D and coke said:

 

 

CAN YOU REVILE THE SNP AND STILL BACK INDEPENDENCE?

by Kevin McKenna

NICOLA Sturgeon’s response after the SNP held on to Glasgow City Council last Thursday was both spiteful and disingenuous. “Labour threw the kitchen sink at Glasgow and yet they still can’t defeat the SNP,” the First Minister said.

Glasgow’s ruling SNP group know all about kitchen sinks, of course: on their watch these stalwart household appliances were a common feature of the city’s overflowing rubbish dumps during last year’s strike by refuse workers. The SNP’s reaction to that strike, as espoused by the council leader, Susan Aitken was to accuse trade unions of fascist behaviour. And besides, she said, Glasgow wasn’t “a uniquely dirty city”.

Ms Aitken’s leadership of Glasgow these last few years has turned large parts of the city into a wasteland. Nowhere is this more evident than on Sauchiehall Street where the lights have been going out one-by-one on iconic retail sites for several years now. The only growth Glasgow has witnessed in this period has been as a location for several Hollywood action movies. Perhaps Ms Aitken is now aiming for those apocalyptic, end-of-the-world films where groups of bewildered survivors wander through the crumbling remains of their city after a plague has wiped out most of humanity.

The First Minister’s defiant howl last Friday masked the true reality of what had happened in Glasgow. The ruling administration had come to within a whisker of being ousted by a party whose national leadership epitomises mediocrity and intellectual sterility. The SNP’s abject stewardship of Glasgow should have ended in defeat last week. That they hung on by one seat was due more to the fact that Scottish Labour have become so transfixed by the Union Jack that many of their former followers still feel they can’t vote for them.

And so, another national election has delivered another overwhelming victory for the SNP. By my reckoning that’s 11 elections in four different jurisdictions on the trot for the Scottish Nationalists. In Scotland they are virtually untouchable, being opposed by two parties whose elected members and leaders are now merely stealing wages to maintain the pretence that Holyrood presides over a functioning democracy. Until Scottish Labour finds a leader who can make a mature contribution to the country’s constitutional debate this impasse will continue.

After 22 years of doing little more than provide Patrick Harvie with a world-class pension, the Scottish Greens might have delivered something useful by now in chivvying the SNP out of its bizarrely lethargic approach to seeking independence. Instead they’ve been bound by a vow of silence in exchange for a couple of junior ministerial positions. And to think we all thought that the system of patronage which once produced rotten boroughs had disappeared with the 1832 Reform Act.

Perhaps the Scottish Labour Party did expend a substantial amount of money and energy at regaining Glasgow, but it’s doubtful their budget comes anywhere near the annual £1m the SNP spends on advisers and spin-doctors. Alongside providing edgy backdrops for fantasy action movies, this appears to be one of the few other areas of Scottish growth in the devolved era.

These party fluffers and agitators were all over social media in the weeks running up to the council elections. Many of them once purported to scrutinise the actions of this government; now they are good for little more than opening doors and fetching sandwiches for people who’ve laughingly been accorded full ministerial status and whom they once regarded as barely literate.

In these wretched circumstances where political opposition has been all but extinguished, responsibility falls upon the print and broadcast media and upon SNP dissidents to hold the Scottish Government to account. The SNP have already been in power for 15 years and few would bet against them reaching a quarter of a century. Few would be willing to bet either on their oft-stated pledge of holding a second referendum on independence before the end of next year.

There are many reasons to doubt the SNP’s ability or desire to pursue a referendum. Not the least of these is the absence of any fully-realised policy or even thinking around the currency issue, without which anything substantial about Scotland’s future relationship with the European Union is entirely redundant. The current Northern Ireland border dispute which has acted as a wrecking-ball to the governance of the Six Counties demonstrates the need for a detailed policy on an independent Scotland’s future border arrangements with England. Yet, there’s been nothing about this either.

Joanna Cherry is the only SNP politician who has demonstrated any acuity on such issues. But, after a campaign of bullying, intimidation and misogyny – orchestrated by senior figures in her own party – she was demoted. The ordeal suffered by Ms Cherry has befallen many others within the SNP who have dared to criticise the merciless authoritarianism of Nicola Sturgeon. Many SNP activists have rushed to proclaim their feminist principles over the Roe versus Wade abortion debate in America. Yet they all chose to remain silent when their colleagues were being threatened with sexual violence on social media and bullied at Holyrood and Westminster for trying to defend women’s sex-based rights in the GRA debate.

At a less toxic level the orchestrated abuse directed at supporters of Scottish independence for daring to criticise the party’s con artistry in seeking a referendum has also intensified. And if you attempt to ask questions about the unexplained disappearance of £600k in party donations, or their incompetence around the CalMac ferry contracts you are reviled as a Red Tory or a Unionist plant.

The cabal of party loyalists who maintain the SNP gravy train also have questions to answer about their no-great-mischief-if-they-die policy towards Scotland’s elderly and infirm in the early days of Covid. Yet that too draws a pathetic response from the desperadoes on the party’s scarecrow wing who are seeking favour from “the boss” and the prospect of a considerable pay-day at a level beyond their talents in the real world.

The professional SNP is a vicious and pitiless organisation which proceeds on a ruthless system of patronage. They have disfigured what was once an optimistic and celebratory venture and damaged the overall cause of independence. It’s possible to revile this party and yet remain faithful to self-determination.

Find agreement in a lot of what Kevin McKenna says here. 

Summed up perfectly.

[Ked]

1 hour ago, Ray Gin said:

 You want to get some ointment on those wounds lads. 

It's more than ointment that Scottish voters will need under the incompetence of the SNP.

 

[JudyJudyJudy]

2 hours ago, jack D and coke said:

 

 

CAN YOU REVILE THE SNP AND STILL BACK INDEPENDENCE?

by Kevin McKenna

NICOLA Sturgeon’s response after the SNP held on to Glasgow City Council last Thursday was both spiteful and disingenuous. “Labour threw the kitchen sink at Glasgow and yet they still can’t defeat the SNP,” the First Minister said.

Glasgow’s ruling SNP group know all about kitchen sinks, of course: on their watch these stalwart household appliances were a common feature of the city’s overflowing rubbish dumps during last year’s strike by refuse workers. The SNP’s reaction to that strike, as espoused by the council leader, Susan Aitken was to accuse trade unions of fascist behaviour. And besides, she said, Glasgow wasn’t “a uniquely dirty city”.

Ms Aitken’s leadership of Glasgow these last few years has turned large parts of the city into a wasteland. Nowhere is this more evident than on Sauchiehall Street where the lights have been going out one-by-one on iconic retail sites for several years now. The only growth Glasgow has witnessed in this period has been as a location for several Hollywood action movies. Perhaps Ms Aitken is now aiming for those apocalyptic, end-of-the-world films where groups of bewildered survivors wander through the crumbling remains of their city after a plague has wiped out most of humanity.

The First Minister’s defiant howl last Friday masked the true reality of what had happened in Glasgow. The ruling administration had come to within a whisker of being ousted by a party whose national leadership epitomises mediocrity and intellectual sterility. The SNP’s abject stewardship of Glasgow should have ended in defeat last week. That they hung on by one seat was due more to the fact that Scottish Labour have become so transfixed by the Union Jack that many of their former followers still feel they can’t vote for them.

And so, another national election has delivered another overwhelming victory for the SNP. By my reckoning that’s 11 elections in four different jurisdictions on the trot for the Scottish Nationalists. In Scotland they are virtually untouchable, being opposed by two parties whose elected members and leaders are now merely stealing wages to maintain the pretence that Holyrood presides over a functioning democracy. Until Scottish Labour finds a leader who can make a mature contribution to the country’s constitutional debate this impasse will continue.

After 22 years of doing little more than provide Patrick Harvie with a world-class pension, the Scottish Greens might have delivered something useful by now in chivvying the SNP out of its bizarrely lethargic approach to seeking independence. Instead they’ve been bound by a vow of silence in exchange for a couple of junior ministerial positions. And to think we all thought that the system of patronage which once produced rotten boroughs had disappeared with the 1832 Reform Act.

Perhaps the Scottish Labour Party did expend a substantial amount of money and energy at regaining Glasgow, but it’s doubtful their budget comes anywhere near the annual £1m the SNP spends on advisers and spin-doctors. Alongside providing edgy backdrops for fantasy action movies, this appears to be one of the few other areas of Scottish growth in the devolved era.

These party fluffers and agitators were all over social media in the weeks running up to the council elections. Many of them once purported to scrutinise the actions of this government; now they are good for little more than opening doors and fetching sandwiches for people who’ve laughingly been accorded full ministerial status and whom they once regarded as barely literate.

In these wretched circumstances where political opposition has been all but extinguished, responsibility falls upon the print and broadcast media and upon SNP dissidents to hold the Scottish Government to account. The SNP have already been in power for 15 years and few would bet against them reaching a quarter of a century. Few would be willing to bet either on their oft-stated pledge of holding a second referendum on independence before the end of next year.

There are many reasons to doubt the SNP’s ability or desire to pursue a referendum. Not the least of these is the absence of any fully-realised policy or even thinking around the currency issue, without which anything substantial about Scotland’s future relationship with the European Union is entirely redundant. The current Northern Ireland border dispute which has acted as a wrecking-ball to the governance of the Six Counties demonstrates the need for a detailed policy on an independent Scotland’s future border arrangements with England. Yet, there’s been nothing about this either.

Joanna Cherry is the only SNP politician who has demonstrated any acuity on such issues. But, after a campaign of bullying, intimidation and misogyny – orchestrated by senior figures in her own party – she was demoted. The ordeal suffered by Ms Cherry has befallen many others within the SNP who have dared to criticise the merciless authoritarianism of Nicola Sturgeon. Many SNP activists have rushed to proclaim their feminist principles over the Roe versus Wade abortion debate in America. Yet they all chose to remain silent when their colleagues were being threatened with sexual violence on social media and bullied at Holyrood and Westminster for trying to defend women’s sex-based rights in the GRA debate.

At a less toxic level the orchestrated abuse directed at supporters of Scottish independence for daring to criticise the party’s con artistry in seeking a referendum has also intensified. And if you attempt to ask questions about the unexplained disappearance of £600k in party donations, or their incompetence around the CalMac ferry contracts you are reviled as a Red Tory or a Unionist plant.

The cabal of party loyalists who maintain the SNP gravy train also have questions to answer about their no-great-mischief-if-they-die policy towards Scotland’s elderly and infirm in the early days of Covid. Yet that too draws a pathetic response from the desperadoes on the party’s scarecrow wing who are seeking favour from “the boss” and the prospect of a considerable pay-day at a level beyond their talents in the real world.

The professional SNP is a vicious and pitiless organisation which proceeds on a ruthless system of patronage. They have disfigured what was once an optimistic and celebratory venture and damaged the overall cause of independence. It’s possible to revile this party and yet remain faithful to self-determination.

Find agreement in a lot of what Kevin McKenna says here. 

Good article 

[The Dragon Reborn]

2 hours ago, jack D and coke said:

Not sure why that is either. Is it all because of Salmond? They’ve been on the side of women too in this ongoing trans debate yet barely register anywhere, puzzling.  
I’ve only voted them a couple of times but I can’t see me voting SNP again unless there’s big changes. 

Combo of having him as their figurehead and the amount of petty squabbles they’ve been involved with since inception. They’ll disappear over next few years I reckon.

[jack D and coke]

Just now, The Dragon Reborn said:

Combo of having him as their figurehead and the amount of petty squabbles they’ve been involved with since inception. They’ll disappear over next few years I reckon.

I sincerely hope not. I dislike this incarnation of the SNP and there needs to be another vehicle to this end. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

3 hours ago, Lord Montpelier said:

Ah, the humble crofter again. A man who made his money in investment banking and so is immune to the economic impacts of his independence desires. Wouldnt trust him as far as I can throw him. Which i suspect wouldn't be very far. 

The comments are hilarious 

[Lord Montpelier]

3 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

The comments are hilarious 

A natural reaction for having to listen to that ruddy faced Hibs blow-hard for more than ten seconds. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

1 minute ago, Lord Montpelier said:

A natural reaction for having to listen to that ruddy faced Hibs blow-hard for more than ten seconds. 

I know ! 😂 same crap every time ! The 

“ people have Scotland have spoken “ no mate some people in Scotland have , not everyone 

[JudyJudyJudy]

19 minutes ago, The Dragon Reborn said:

Combo of having him as their figurehead and the amount of petty squabbles they’ve been involved with since inception. They’ll disappear over next few years I reckon.

Yes I think your right . Too much baggage attached to Alex S . 

[Unknown user]

30 minutes ago, The Dragon Reborn said:

Combo of having him as their figurehead and the amount of petty squabbles they’ve been involved with since inception. They’ll disappear over next few years I reckon.

They need to give people a reason to vote for them. Right now any votes that go to them are weakening the SNP and making unionist parties more likely to gain power.

 

That's not a price worth paying if they haven't given me a particular reason to change my vote.

[jack D and coke]

6 minutes ago, Smithee said:

They need to give people a reason to vote for them. Right now any votes that go to them are weakening the SNP and making unionist parties more likely to gain power.

 

That's not a price worth paying if they haven't given me a particular reason to change my vote.

They aren’t though…I thought they were asking for them to be your second vote or whatever to make this super majority or something? Or have I got that wrong?

[JudyJudyJudy]

1 minute ago, jonesy said:

Brilliant!

 

Fat Hibs twat.

 

Blithers, walks an' acts like mair ae a 'hoose jock' than any yoonyunist I've ever met.

 

[JudyJudyJudy]

Another failure 

[Dazo]

1 hour ago, jack D and coke said:

They aren’t though…I thought they were asking for them to be your second vote or whatever to make this super majority or something? Or have I got that wrong?

Didn’t wee Nic tell the followers not to vote for them ? The majority will do as they are told so they will never get enough votes to make an impact. Super majority is the last thing she wants. She would have to stop the independence charade, remove the dangling carrot and actually have follow through on what she says. 

[Unknown user]

2 hours ago, jack D and coke said:

They aren’t though…I thought they were asking for them to be your second vote or whatever to make this super majority or something? Or have I got that wrong?

 oh yeah, the thing I keep going on about.

 

**** knows then, shite name?

[Unknown user]

26 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

Another failure 

Do you remember why the Erasmus scheme needs replaced?

[il Duce McTarkin]

2 minutes ago, Smithee said:

Do you remember why the Erasmus scheme needs replaced?

 

Nae Googling now, @JamesM48.

[manaliveits105]

3 hours ago, JamesM48 said:

I know ! 😂 same crap every time ! The 

“ people have Scotland have spoken “ no mate some people in Scotland have , not everyone 

This - a third of the electorate or 1 in 7 of the population - hardly the people of Scotland 

the snp lies continue 

[jack D and coke]

47 minutes ago, Dazo said:

Didn’t wee Nic tell the followers not to vote for them ? The majority will do as they are told so they will never get enough votes to make an impact. Super majority is the last thing she wants. She would have to stop the independence charade, remove the dangling carrot and actually have follow through on what she says. 

The snp do encourage you not to vote for them aye. I have to admit to not really being up to speed on how exactly it works.
SNP claims it helps the unionist parties and Alba claim it helps the unionist parties🤷🏽‍♂️

[jack D and coke]

27 minutes ago, Smithee said:

 oh yeah, the thing I keep going on about.

 

**** knows then, shite name?

It’s shite the way Salmond says Alaba I know that. The **** is that about?!! 

[Dazo]

6 minutes ago, jack D and coke said:

The snp do encourage you not to vote for them aye. I have to admit to not really being up to speed on how exactly it works.
SNP claims it helps the unionist parties and Alba claim it helps the unionist parties🤷🏽‍♂️

Me either, not sure how voting Alba as your number 2 can be seen as a bad thing if independence is your goal. 

[JudyJudyJudy]

47 minutes ago, Smithee said:

Do you remember why the Erasmus scheme needs replaced?

Yes Brexit ! However that’s irreverent . 

[JudyJudyJudy]

2 minutes ago, jonesy said:

It wiz the Derek the Deviant, with the email, in the archives.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-61413385

 

They must think the electorate are buttoned up the back ! Really ! 

[The Dragon Reborn]

15 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

Yes Brexit ! However that’s irreverent . 

 

Why do you think it’s irreverent?

 

[The Mighty Thor]

circle jerk in full swing.

 

tug away ya mugs!

[il Duce McTarkin]

8 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Think? I reckon it's common knowledge.

 

This is the equivalent of a wee laddie eating all the Easter eggs in the house and then, face still covered in chocolate, pointing at his naughty invisible friend and blaming him for making the eggs disappear.

 

And yet all we'll here from the SNP bots is 'Tories did it with PPE' etc instead of acknowledging the fact that, as far as running the country is concerned, the SNP are doing a terrible job.

 

Rubbish.

Two ferries for less than half of the Edinburgh trams overspend is bloody good value.

[Lord Montpelier]

3 minutes ago, jonesy said:

In what way is criticising the SNP hierarchy for the mismanagement of this project similar to being a mug? Ought we really to be applauding them or summat?

I suspect MT is a fully paid up member of the SNP.

 

As such, he won't be allowed to criticise or question SNP policy for fear of being exiled. Sturgeon clamped down on dissent a few years ago, as Cherry found to her cost. 

 

So yes in MT's little nationalist world , applause of all SNP decisions is his only option. 

 

 

[Roxy Hearts]

1 minute ago, jonesy said:

Ach well. At least the witches got their apology.

Why do you keep on posting Jonesy if you've established QED when responding to my posts? Surely, that covers all your ramblings 🤣. 

 

Thought I'd put a random post on. I hope I'm grammatically incorrect. Wouldn't want to disrupt your condescending manner.

[XB52]

46 minutes ago, The Mighty Thor said:

circle jerk in full swing.

 

tug away ya mugs!

If only there was an election where the people of Scotland could show the snp how unpopular/crap they are 😊😊

[JudyJudyJudy]

36 minutes ago, Lord Montpelier said:

I suspect MT is a fully paid up member of the SNP.

 

As such, he won't be allowed to criticise or question SNP policy for fear of being exiled. Sturgeon clamped down on dissent a few years ago, as Cherry found to her cost. 

 

So yes in MT's little nationalist world , applause of all SNP decisions is his only option. 

 

 

It’s tragic . He’s got it bad and that ain’t good , as the song goes 😎

[Roxy Hearts]

2 minutes ago, XB52 said:

If only there was an election where the people of Scotland could show the snp how unpopular/crap they are 😊😊

But, but, all the unionist parties goat the gither and won!

[Roxy Hearts]

3 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Hi Roxy,

 

I'm just impressed you managed to go a whole post without using the word 'unionist' 😀 

 

Love,

Jonesy

😂👍still condescending though!

[JudyJudyJudy]

38 minutes ago, Lord Montpelier said:

I suspect MT is a fully paid up member of the SNP.

 

As such, he won't be allowed to criticise or question SNP policy for fear of being exiled. Sturgeon clamped down on dissent a few years ago, as Cherry found to her cost. 

 

So yes in MT's little nationalist world , applause of all SNP decisions is his only option. 

 

 

It’s just incredible how much shit they support , or excuse from the SNP .  

[Roxy Hearts]

5 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

It’s just incredible how much shit they support , or excuse from the SNP .  

Who should we support? What other Scottish political parties are there other than the Greens having established an office here. **** voting Labour, Libdems or Tory as all English Nationalists! How on earth Scots vote for them is beyond reason!