Yesterday the licensing man from Dundee Council went down the taxi ranks ordering saltires and yes stickers removed from the taxis. (would he have ordered No stickers removed as well? We can never be sure as there weren’t any.)
Having missed the train to my Cupar meeting last night, I got in a taxi (it’s not far) and the taxi driver was giving his side of the story. He said he told the council man that “There is an argument that he was within his rights to tell me to remove the sticker, but when he told me to take off my lapel badge, I told him that he was infringing my absolute right to freedom of speech under article ten of the European Convention.”
This campaign has been the most uplifting experience imaginable. It will not be possible to put the people back in the box of media-induced apathy after this.
One of the most unexpectedly invigorating aspects of the campaign is that in packed town hall meetings, I have been sharing the platform with people who are not good public speakers. If that sounds paradoxical, it is because often they have never done any public speaking before. Yesterday in Cupar there was an excellent lady who works in the NHS who had a deep knowledge of its workings and of the threats from privatization of its services, including the mechanisms by which these privatisations were being advanced. She believed that after a No vote it would not be possible for the Scottish NHS to continue to be insulated from some of these trends, and she explained why she felt that.
There was no polish to her quiet delivery, but her heartfelt sincerity and the depth of her knowledge held the audience in intent silence. She had never spoken in public before. It was truly inspiring.
The substance of the campaign is people in local communities actually talking to each other about what is important to their communities and they way their society is organized. I have never seen anything to compare this to. No wonder the politicians have no idea how to counter it. The happy lack of hierarchical power structures in the campaign on the ground seems to relate to the fact that so many women are coming forward as speakers – for the third time, I was the only male on the panel yesterday.
Better Together have women too of course. Just in case anyone has been living under a rock and hasn’t seen it, here is the Saatchi and Saatchi produced Better Together broadcast that set the campaign on fire. The many spoofs are great, but I think nothing quite equals the sheer comic genius of the original.
I have added this picture as pro-government commenters have started to come on the site with their ridiculous propaganda claims that NATO killed very few people in its 398 bombing raids on Sirte. What you see is just one street of scores in similar condition. You can believe your eyes or the propaganda.
Fascist operatives in Dundee then.
Could not believe that there are only 19 councillors for a city with a population of 148,000.
My poxy council has 50 for a population of <70,000.
~~~~
Your St Andrew's speech has got onto the Macedonian International News Agency website. The message is spreading far and wide. Good on you.
http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/26013/53/
Craig is not driven by national pride (he’s English, born and bred where he continues to live). He is driven completely by his hatred of the British state after he was sacked from his job. While his stance at the time was commendable, unfortunately his vendetta against the ‘establishment’ clouds his judgment on pretty much everything he writes about. For example, a few days ago he was claiming (to an unquestioning Scottish audience) that the British killed 15,000 civilians in Sirte, which is total nonsense.
Al Milliner. can you prove Craig was lying about the 15000 killed in libya
Al Milliner
I have added a photo for you.
“He is driven completely by his hatred of the British state after he was sacked from his job”
Untrue. A while back Craig revealed that at some point during his tenure as an ambassador he was offered an honour, which he turned down because of his commitment to Scottish independence.
I think Craig’s main problem is hypocrisy. He is more than happy to re-assert his Englishness when convenient. When he was standing for Norwich North he produced a dvd that informed us that he was a Norfolk man through and through. When he lost he became Scottish again.
” can you prove Craig was lying about the 15000 killed in libya? ”
More to the point can Craig prove it’s true. Pictures of a lot of trashed buildings prove nothing.
“I have added this picture as pro-government commenters have started to come on the site with their ridiculous propaganda claims that NATO killed very few people in its 398 bombing raids on Sirte”
Craig, I claimed your figure of 15,000 was nonsense.
Gadaffi loyalists claimed 2,000 civilians dead, including those killed by the rebels.
Why are you making things up and then falsely representing my position?
I really find this fascination with my ethnicity peculiar. My father was from Edinburgh, my mother from Norfolk, where my father was posted in the RAF. I have lived in each country and abroad. I want Scotland to be independent for political reasons which I have outlined at great length. Nobody has suggested Scots should be locked in on independence.
I have lived in Norfolk and in Scotland and have family in both places. That I should stress genuine local links in each place is not in the least peculiar or “hypocritical”.
MJ 12:11pm
Was his losing that election about the same time he decided the English are racist knuckle-draggers (presumably because they didn’t vote for him)?
Al Milliner
Actually I was referring to the claim on another thread that 150 had died. You are saying 2,000. My information from Libyan sources is that the toll was many many more, and the photographic evidence plus the sheer quantity of strikes by NATO and very heavy munitions used would support my view.
As with the bombing of Iraq and of Serbia, we are consistently fed lies about the number of people western intervention kills. What is your motive for accepting it?
Where does the 15,000 come from Craig?
My wife is annoyed by the BT stupid woman advert in ways she cannot express. But she identified quickly when I quoted Dickens’ description of the idiot boy in Barnaby Rudge: ‘A face illuminated by that which is not wit.’
“I have lived in Norfolk and in Scotland and have family in both places. That I should stress genuine local links in each place is not in the least peculiar or “hypocritical”.”
Which is of course true for many people throughout the UK given that we have been in Union since 1707 – so all the more reason not to create artificial barriers between people. Anyway the claims of Northumbria to Edinburgh and what are now the lowlands of Scotland predate those of the Picts – so Yorkshiremen and Geordies rise up and stop the sons of Norfolk from stealing your rightful inheritance!
Craig: anyone born on these isles doesn’t have to look far back into their ancestry to find English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish roots. That’s the nature of being British. To choose your nationality depending on which constituency you’re standing for is just a pathetic politician’s trick.
MJ
You have a peculiar view of exclusivity. I have dual nationality. In Norfolk I several times made the point that like Ian Gibson I was a supporter of Scottish independence. If you look at the video of that St Andrews apeech, I am standing next to a large banner that says “English Scots for Yes”. I have never been disingenuous about my mixed background. I can’t understand why it is such an issue for you unionists.
Talk about Craig, talk about Lybya, talk about anything, anything at all but the Scottish people’s public happiness at the chance to get free of this criminal, degenerate British state.
“media-induced apathy”
Interesting concept – how does it work?
@mj
“Craig: anyone born on these isles doesn’t have to look far back into their ancestry to find English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish roots. That’s the nature of being British.”
Isn’t it just the nature of being human? I was born in Scotland of Irish parents, I have Irish citizenship and an Irish passport, my wife is a Ukrainian Jew with an American passport, and we are out together on the streets campaigning for control over the place where we live. It seems quite natural to us.
I can understand your racism simply because it is common, but I don’t know why you should think it is a useful prop for the Union.
“I can’t understand why it is such an issue for you unionists”
The question of separate nationality within the UK seems more of an issue for you separatists. Most people, with good reason, don’t care any more.
The “Better Together” video was actually very interesting, as it showed precisely where the No campaign are aiming. Like most advertising it aims to stimulate an emotion, or set of emotions, and connect them with an idea. The emotions summoned up by this film were fear, cynicism, and resentment of anyone who seems more confident, articulate, and better-informed than oneself. With a final touch of mother-love to lighten the scene a bit- because too much negativity is offputting.
These emotions are common in any society. But the fact that the No campaign are reduced to appealing to them, says a lot about them. Had I been Scottish, I’d have been ashamed to vote No after watching this video.
MJ
After weeks of pretending you supported independence, except were against it if Scotland did not have its own currency – a stance that was always transparently dishonest from your comments – it is good to see you finally coming out as a simple Britnat unionist ranting against separatists.
“The emotions summoned up by this film were fear, cynicism, and resentment of anyone who seems more confident,”
Or you could have said doubt, realism and dislike of the arrogant – your use of language undermines your faux neutrality I’m afraid. One of the golden rules of political campaigning that Craig has failed to appreciate is that negative campaigning only strengthens existing views rather than changes them.
Only strengthens existing views, Splendid! Since existing views, properly elicited, are more than adequate to shitcan the failing British police state.
Smoothface’s and Billy Fourteen Pints’ finest hour sickeningly referred to as an ‘intervention’ just as the massacre in Gaza is the result of a ‘conflict’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya
Costs[edit]
Funds spent by Foreign Powers on War in Libya.
Country/Funds Spent
By
United Kingdom $336–$1,500 million USD September 2011 (estimate)[232][233]
United States $896 – US$1,100 million October 2011[234][235][236][237][238]
Italy $700 million EUR October 2011[239]
France $450 million EUR September 2011[240][241]
Turkey US$300 million July 2011[242]
Denmark $120 million EUR November 2011[243]
Belgium $58 million EUR October 2011[244]
Spain $50 million EUR September 2011[245]
Sweden US$50 million October 2011[246]
Canada US$26 million June 2011[247]
On 22 March 2011, BBC News presented a breakdown of the likely costs to the UK of the mission.[248] Journalist Francis Tusa, editor of Defence Analysis, estimated that flying a Tornado GR4 would cost about £35,000 an hour (aprx. US$48,000), so the cost of patrolling one sector of Libyan airspace would be £2M –£3M ($2.75M -$4.13M USD) per day. Conventional airborne missiles would cost £800,000 each and Tomahawk cruise missiles £750,000 each. Professor Malcolm Charmers of the Royal United Services Institute similarly suggested that a single cruise missile would cost about £500,000, while a single Tornado sortie would cost about £30,000 in fuel alone. If a Tornado was downed the replacement cost would be upwards of £50m. By 22 March the US and UK had already fired more than 110 cruise missiles. UK Chancellor George Osborne had said that the MoD estimate of the operation cost was “tens rather than hundreds of millions”. On 4 April Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton said that the RAF was planning to continue operations over Libya for at least six months.[249]
The cost for Greece was $1 million daily.[250]
Plus Plus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War
‘The number of war wounded is currently estimated to be at least 50,000, including some 20,000 with serious injuries, but is expected to rise, Barakat said.’ Huff Post
~~
PS Don’t the supporters of the war criminals love the counting of numbers killed in the wars and disputing them. One death is too many.
“Only strengthens existing views, Splendid!”
Clearly you have not seen the opinion polls.
“After weeks of pretending you supported independence, except were against it if Scotland did not have its own currency”
My position has always been that you can’t be independent without your own currency.
“it is good to see you finally coming out as a simple Britnat unionist ranting against separatists”
I certainly believe in the independent nation state because that seems the best structure we have for empowering people as a whole. Part of me thinks that the island of Great Britain and its people forms an almost perfect nation state: clearly defined and not too big or too small. It already has its own currency and central bank but the country has been taken over by the bankers of the City and, more recently, the EU. I would like to see the UK as a whole throw off these shackles and become independent again.
Failing that however a truly independent Scotland is the next best thing. If it was able to extricate itself from the banksters then I’d be in favour of the rest of us submitting to Scottish rule and renaming the whole island Scotland.
Res diss, you fucking liar.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/07/30/scottish-independence-vote-is-too-close-to-call/
You can’t even argue the subsequent trends. Your only hope is stuffing ballot boxes, to which you will doubtless resort.
Yes Campaign Accused Of ‘Sinister’ Mobbery
Labour’s Jim Murphy accuses the Yes campaign of disrupting meetings, as Alex Salmond claims there are “idiots” on both sides.
Sunday 31 August 2014
Video: Yes Campaign Accused Of ‘Mobbery’
A Scotland referendum No campaigner has accused the Yes campaign of “sinister” street mobbery after his tour visits were disrupted by crowds.
Labour frontbencher Jim Murphy described the abuse as “sinister”.
He said his last 12 No campaign meetings had been disrupted by hundreds of “co-ordinated” individuals throwing eggs and hurling abuse.
Mr Murphy has been staging a tour of 100 towns in 100 days with weeks to go until the referendum vote takes place.
Scottish independence information leaflets are placed on a table
The Scottish referendum takes place on September 18
He told Sky News: “I don’t mind heckles, do you know what I don’t mind people throwing eggs, that’s just a dry cleaning bill that’s neither here nor there.
“Instead of turning up and crowds of people on all sides, I would turn up and there was an organised mob of yes supporters facilitated through the Yes Scotland organisations, through websites, through Facebook and other social media.
“This is co-ordinated, it’s sinister and there have been times, across the period, [there have been] hundreds of people involved in it.
“These are people intending to disrupt and silence undecided voters on street corners so they cannot have their say.”
Alex Salmond replied appropriately to the whinger.
http://news.sky.com/story/1327707/yes-campaign-accused-of-sinister-mobbery
You can almost taste the Britnat rage, let them vent now, it’s all over but for the vote.
The video has a touch of Jean Brodie, meets Acorn Antiques, they should have got Celia Imrie, this is Miss Babs to a T, and is so hilariously fake and staged, so cringe-inducing and insincere I’m certain now that BT/U-KOK itself is being run by secret Yes supporters, if not then their ocean’s breadth detachment from reality, must make them objects of pity. With Persistent Piss-Stain laying down “golden rules of political campigning”, plucked straight from somewhere, perhaps Oligarch Central Orifice, can I suggest this video is comedy and campaigning gold, the actress deserves wider recognition. I suppose once Miss Babs has gone out to work, perhaps as a High St. Loan Shark (sorry financial advisor), her cleaner comes in to give the house a once over.
I think this was one of the many compelling videos made in response to this load of rubbish.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/lbxLZzzDDws
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristocracy
Rule of the best. The way of the current system essentially natural law.
All process of democracy run through this system.