The great Orange March in Edinburgh will be the only occasion on which the No side have managed to gather more than 300 people in one place in the entire campaign.
The average turnout for David Cameron’s big speeches of the campaign in Glasgow and Perth was under 200 people. On my own recent speaking tour we substantially beat that in Dundee and equalled it in the small town of Insch! Not to mention the 70,000 people who have watched my St Andrews speech online. Gordon Brown’s speaking tours have been strictly ticket only – and a fair number of the invited have declined the opportunity.
Search online as much as you like. There are no substantial No gatherings of any kind, no No flash mobs or mass canvasses. There is no speech for the No campaign that has a fifth of 70,000 views online.
But they do have the Orange Order and their grand March in Edinburgh on the 13 September. This parade of knuckle dragging Neanderthals, many of them off the ferry from Northern Ireland, is the only show of popular enthusiasm for the Union ever to be mustered by Better Together. Unfortunately it is illegal.
As I posted on 11 August, this proposed Orange March is plainly in contravention of the Public Order Act 1936, which bans any demonstrations in uniform for a political object.
Section 1 (i)
Subject as hereinafter provided, any person
who in any public place or at any public meeting wears
uniform signifying his association with any political
organisation or with, the promotion of any political
object shall be guilty of an offence :
Normally, the Orange Order in Scotland are allowed to march on the (dubious) grounds that their object is cultural not political. But on this occasion they are marching as a registered participant with the Electoral Commission in the Referendum campaign, and with the avowed object of promoting a No vote. There is therefore no doubt whatsoever that the march is political and, if in uniform, illegal. Orange Order sources confirm they will be marching in uniform.
The march can be carried out in uniform with the consent of the Chief Constable and the Secretary of State for Scotland. But an assiduous reader of this blog has received confirmation from the Scottish Government that the Orange Order do not have this permission:
Dear xxxx
Thank you for your email. Following a search of our records I can advise that the Scottish Government has neither received nor granted an application from Police Scotland under the Public Order Act 1936 to permit the wearing of political uniforms by members of the Orange Order. As I stated in my previous email, I am unable to provide legal advice interpreting whether or not the Act applies in this situation.
Yours sincerely
Mathew West
Police Powers Unit
Safer Communities Division
Scottish Government
What is at question here is not whether it ought to be illegal to march in uniform for political objects. The fact is that plainly it is illegal. The law is not moribund – it was applied for example against Irish republicans in London in the 1980s.
The real question is whether the law is applied impartially to all, or are those who have the support of the Establishment allowed to break the law flagrantly and massively?
This is interesting could this be the reason, NATO is on the verge of attacking Russia, it would explain why western backed Ukraine forces shot down MH17, then blamed it on Russia.
http://www.examiner.com/article/jim-willie-saudi-s-are-on-the-verge-of-joining-russia-non-dollar-oil-sales
All the rubber duckies being lined up, RoS.
From NYT;
“France threw a highly contentious arms deal with Russia into doubt on Wednesday over the Ukraine crisis, saying that it was premature to schedule the delivery of a sophisticated French-built warship to the Russian Navy.
A statement issued by President François Hollande’s office said he had told a meeting of ministers that despite a possible cease-fire in Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists, the conditions for France to deliver the first warship had not yet been met.
Mr. Hollande also called the situation in Ukraine “grave” and said that Russia’s recent actions in eastern Ukraine were against “the foundations of security in Europe.”
On July 17, 2012, Zionist Knesset member Michael Ben-Ari publicly destroyed a copy of the New Testament, saying:
“This abominable book galvanized the murder of millions of Jews during the Inquisition and during auto-da-fé instances. Sending the book to MKs is a provocation. There is no doubt that this book and all it represents belongs in the garbage can of history.”
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Anti-Christian violence is on the rise in Palestine. According to Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz, a gang of 100 followers of Chabad-Lubavitch Yitzchak Ginsburgh have been linked to 24 attacks on Christian monasteries and churches across Palestine since 2009, including three since March. On May 9, 2014, the Romanian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem was defaced with the words “Jesus Is Garbage” and other spray-painted slogans.
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On May 5, 2014, “Death to Arabs and Christians” was painted on the Catholic Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem. On March 31, 2014 the words “Jesus Is A Monkey, Mary Is A Cow” were painted on the Deir Rafat Catholic monastery near the city of Beit Shemesh.
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If this shoe was on the other foot, they’d a worldwide public out cry, that lot reek of hypocrisy.
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http://americanfreepress.net/?p=19321
Muscleguy:
“Scottish residents, much closer to the referendum and each other are, in droves, betting on Yes winning.”
You’re falling for the same hype as Craig, namely that because Yes voters feel a groundswell of support around them and on social media and it all feels very radical and exciting and new, that means Scotland is going to vote Yes.
I’m afraid your ‘Scottish residents’ will be out of pocket come Sep 18th as the majority of Scots who are not blogging and twittering soberly place their tick in the No box.
All the rubber duckies being lined up, RoS.
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Interesting Ben,in one hand France oppose Russia whilst building ships for them, in another France arms the Free Syrian Army, check out the picture.
http://info-wars.org/2014/09/01/the-grand-saudi-reversal/
Of course these rules do not apply to all the piped bandsmen in uniforms at Scottish independence marches
http://www.demotix.com/news/2749707/thousands-march-scottish-independence-edinburgh-rally/all-media
But then they are decent people who buy into Craig’s rhetoric about the demotic UK state.
My own view is that you have to allow free speech to both religious and nationalist sectarians if you believe in democracy and free speech – let’s leave the banning to the dictators and the despots.
ROS; that Kurdish oil tanker that disappeared a few days ago from RADAR, showed up again. Iraq seems to have quite a reach. Maybe this was the same radar/sat that didn’t know where MH370 was, or is.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2740111/Kurdish-oil-tanker-disappeared-radar-Texas-coast-REAPPEARS.html
Tony Blair was last night improbably named philanthropist of the year by a leading magazine.
The former prime minister was handed the award to a ‘muted’ response at a celebrity-packed gathering in central London. It was in recognition of his ‘philanthropy, establishing three charities’.
GQ magazine’s decision drew immediate criticism, with Labour MP John Mann saying last night: ‘It sends the wrong message. This sort of award should go to an unsung hero who has given up their time for charity.’
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Conservative MP Rob Wilson added: ‘I can think of many awards Tony Blair might win but this wasn’t one of them.’
Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said the award was a ‘a slap in the face for all the damage he had done to the UK’.
He said: ‘This is the man that could split the union, having given Scotland a parliament.
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‘And is advising dodgy countries around the world… GQ or generally queasy?’
Tory MP Charlie Elphicke pointed out that Mr Blair has advised Kazakh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, including on how to improve his image after his police killed 14 unarmed protesters.
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What the f*ck, words fail me, what next Robert Mugabe given the Nobel Peace prize. Check out the creepy grin on Blair’s face
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2741328/What-Middle-East-crisis-Disbelief-Tony-Blair-handed-jaw-dropping-philanthropist-year-title-GQ-awards-ceremony.html
The bookies odds are a puzzle.
William Hill report 79% of Scottish bets laid on yes yet they still offer 11/4 odds. Of course the odd makers take into account other factors but this seems a surprising disregard for a fundamental indicator.
Perhaps someone familiar with odds setting can explain this.
Or is there really a bookies conspiracy going on, possibly encouraged by further deregulation winks and huge amounts being laid on no in London?
Al Milliner
It is a pretty common feature among the experienced involved in political campaigns to thing that they will win even in the most hopeless cases, and for the experienced to encourage such a view in order to keep up morale and to limit the damage. A large pinch of salt is required whenever you listen to participants in any political campaign when they start predicting the results – LibDems, and especially former Liberals are known for their inveterate lying on this score.
ROS; that Kurdish oil tanker that disappeared a few days ago from RADAR, showed up again. Iraq seems to have quite a reach. Maybe this was the same radar/sat that didn’t know where MH370 was, or is.
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Ben haven’t really been following this story, but IS the tanker full of crude or something else, it would be a good way of moving large amounts of arms and men or even tactical nukes without much detection, as for Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail, some of his stories need to be taken with a large pinch of salt.
But I agree this story warrants a closer look.
Phil;
75% of Londoners bet on ‘no’ so it seems wishful thinking is driving the odds. When folks start betting on a long-shot in a horse race, it drives the odds down to some reality.
Ben
“75% of Londoners bet on ‘no’ so it seems wishful thinking is driving the odds.”
But William Hill know that Londoners do not get a vote.
They seem to be disregarding a fundamental signal of the outcome. In my half baked understanding it makes no sense to me.
Though news on the Ebola virus has been muted since two American health care workers were admitted to U.S.-based facilities last month, the deadly contagion continues to spread. According to the World Health Organization more than 40% of all Ebola cases thus far have occurred in just the last three months, suggesting that the virus is continuing to build steam.
Physicist Alessandro Vespignani of Northeastern University in Boston is one of several researchers trying to figure out how far Ebola may spread and how many people around the world could be affected. Based on his findings, there will be 10,000 cases by September of this year and it only gets worse from there.
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Enter big pharma who’ll inoculate million, whilst making billions, but not before the Ebola scare story has hit maximum panic,by the ever obedient press,of course if big pharma can somehow create panic in the USA, the dollars will flow in.
It doesn’t make sense, but I’ve watched the chaos on a trading floor, and that makes no sense to me either. Are you suggesting some manipulation?
Here’s What the British Government Has Been Hiding from You.
==============================
In 2013, The Guardian revealed that Britain’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) had illegally withheld 1.2 million (later revised to 600,000) historic documents from the public, in flagrant breach of the UK Public Records Act.
============================
The documents – which include the desk diary of Soviet spy Donald Maclean; case files from Nazi persecution compensation claims; and masses of material removed from Hong Kong – were being held at Hanslope Park, a secretive, high-security compound in Buckinghamshire that the FCO shares with intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6.
========================
The whole document saga began in 2009, when a group of elderly Kenyans brought a historic lawsuit against the FCO, claiming damages for abuse they suffered under British colonial authorities (which, in the case of these particular plaintiffs, included rape and castration). At the time, FCO officials denied having any relevant documents that might shed light on the crimes. Only two years later, in 2011, did the FCO admit it was unlawfully holding 1,500 Kenya files at Hanslope Park.
Later, it confessed to possessing 20,000 undisclosed files from 37 former British colonies.
===============================
The documents include incriminating evidence of murder and torture by British colonial authorities. (An embarrassed British government began releasing the so-called “Migrated Archives” to Britain’s National Archives in 2012.)
==============================
Looks like the FCO were forced to show some of the many skeletons in their closet.
http://rinf.com/alt-news/uk-news/heres-british-government-hiding/
Ben
“Are you suggesting some manipulation?”
Not really and yes of course at the same time.
I am not sure how much bookies odds influence the outcome. Probably not much so no manipulation is worth it. Yet again the odds are often quoted to quiet yes enthusiasm.
Either way it makes no sense to me. Maybe someone who better understands odds setting will chime in.
The real indicator of the odds on independence is an increased number of PIE old boys making one last trek North to bugger Scottish children while they can.
But this account is wrong: the United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis. The taproot of the trouble is NATO enlargement, the central element of a larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit and integrate it into the West. At the same time, the EU’s expansion eastward and the West’s backing of the pro-democracy movement in Ukraine — beginning with the Orange Revolution in 2004 — were critical elements, too. Since the mid-1990s, Russian leaders have adamantly opposed NATO enlargement, and in recent years, they have made it clear that they would not stand by while their strategically important neighbor turned into a Western bastion. For Putin, the illegal overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected and pro-Russian president — which he rightly labeled a “coup” — was the final straw. He responded by taking Crimea, a peninsula he feared would host a NATO naval base, and working to destabilize Ukraine until it abandoned its efforts to join the West.
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/141769/john-j-mearsheimer/why-the-ukraine-crisis-is-the-wests-fault
Yet another unintended consequence of removing Khaddafi…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/09/03/libya-islamist-militants_n_5758520.html
“They seem to be disregarding a fundamental signal of the outcome. In my half baked understanding it makes no sense to me.”
It makes perfect sense, they don’t much care what the outcome is, they make money either way.
The odds never add up. If the odds of yes winning are 5/1 against then the odds of no winning should be 5/1 on but they aren’t, they are 8/1 on. The bookies are going to win, they have taken enough money from whoever loses to pay out whoever wins and some left for themselves.
If those in the yes camp had as much confidence as they say they have they would be betting their life savings and getting rich. Obviously they don’t.
The “Wee Blue Book” on the true facts of independence, please share far and wide, thanks.
http://theweebluebook.com/
Fred
“they make money either way”
Yes, I get bookies margins, but if the odds reflected the (apparent) reality they would make more money.
Oops didn’t see the new Post !
Is it just me or is the new Poster “Al Milliner” a horrid fusion of Resident Dissident and the Habba-Clown, or maybe even Resident Dissident on Dutch Courage ! Well he has been known to engage in sock-puppeting, as of course has the Habba-Clown; I think my money is on Resident Dissident, as his pet fake self-righteous hobby horse has already been aired by “Al Milliner” with his,” A loathing of the West so deep-rooted that it allows no room for any other evil in the world? “. Maybe I’m being too pre-judgement, as although “Al Milliner” is airing the same carbon copy views, he hasn’t resorted to full blown troll tactics as yet, but I’m watching ! 😀
Anyhow “Al Milliner” is justified in asking Craig for the source of his 15,000 killed iro Sirte, and Craig is being strangely evasive in not be forthcoming; a quick check google check may have provided the answer, as it gave a link to this Guardian article;
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/17/libyan-rebels-capture-bani-walid
Which has this; “with a diehard group of about 15,000 residents and fighters holding out in several pockets of the city”
So perhaps the thinking is that practically nobody got out alive, which is not so far-fetched really, as remember what happened to the inhabitants of Tawargha once it was over-run by the “Rebels”, and the NATO bombers literally handed what remained of Sirte to them.
Saudi Arabia to demolish tomb of Prophet Muhammad for expansion of mosque.
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I’m surprised at this.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=42e_1409759076
Good point, Macky.
“Andrew Gillighan is a serious reporter and he even mentions the racial context:
And as so often in Libya, there is also a racist undercurrent. Many Tawargas, though neither immigrants nor Gaddafi’s much-ballyhooed African mercenaries, are descended from slaves, and are darker than most Libyans.
Along the road that leads into Tawargha, the Misurata Brigade has painted a slogan. It says, “the brigade for purging slaves [and] black skin.”
We have to say, the racist element is more than an undercurrent, but if more journalists had reported the truth rather than turning a blind eye, refusing to report or to investigate then perhaps lives could still be saved.
In this context we should just mention the “reporting” of so-called journalists such as Chris Stephen who has been in Misrata for weeks writing pro-war, pro-NATO propaganda for the benefit of the Guardian’s readership and failing miserably to report on the racist atrocities and ethnic cleansing.
Update (12 September) – The Washington Post reports Human Rights Watch Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert as confirming:
“It really is racist violence against all dark-skinned people, this situation for Africans in Tripoli is dire.”
Update (14th September) – The ethnic cleansing of Tawergha is now being made permanent with the seal of approval of Mahmoud Jibril.”
http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/12/libya-the-racist-revolution-tawargha/
But NATO eschews racism, donchaknow?
Al Milliner: You should change your name to the Brahan Seer.And since you’re getting your info from the horses mouth so to speak, next weeks lottery numbers would be appreciated.
As Craig has pointed out above,they dont turn up for meetings, not even when its gloomy Gordon or the PM himself.Better Together really are the silent majority if they are a majority.But then you know Al ,don’t you ?
Polls like most things these days are manipulated.Its the American way.Why wait on a result when you can make it happen.Its called being pro-active.
RoS; Weird. Do they consider anything truly ‘holey’ except the House of Sod? Self-preservation seems to be the highest form of spirituality.
Ben
“Weird.”
Not really. Certainly not surprising. Take a ganders at this: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mecca-for-the-rich-islams-holiest-site-turning-into-vegas-2360114.html
PHIL; IS are not muslims. Now it seems even devout muslims are not muslims. Where shall we turn for guidance of a spiritual nature?
It’s not a question of morality or spirituality, but economics and National/tribal pride. Can we agree on that at least? 🙂