I was watching This Week on the BBC last night, and Andrew Neil teased John Nicolson that the SNP had given up campaigning for Independence, and never mentioned it any more. I have known John since student days, and much respect him. He is a very professional man and put in a very professional performance on the show. He can be relied on, despite his arch asides, to follow a party line.
How did John reply to the charge that the SNP had stopped campaigning for Independence? Did he reply, “No Andrew, we remain fully committed to the goal of Independence and that is our number one priority.”?
No.
He said “we have to respect the decision of the electorate”, a line taken straight from Nicola Sturgeon.
The problem with this is that it is exactly the Blairite line. Liz Kendall argued in effect that the electorate voted Tory, so Labour have to be Red Tories to respect the electorate.
It is a trite phrase. Nobody would argue you should disrespect the electorate. But it then elides into a distortion. To respect the verdict of the electorate means to accept your loss on this occasion and the processes of the state proceed on that basis, without any attempt to subvert the democratic decision. It does NOT mean the losing side had to change its beliefs, go quiet, or stop campaigning ready for the next time.
Since the referendum I have spoken on many stages in favour of Independence across Scotland, under the aegis of a whole variety of organisations only a minority of which are anathema to the SNP. Yet it occurs to me that of all the distinguished people I have shared platforms with, I have not witnessed a single one of the SNP’s MPs argue for Independence. To my certain knowledge they have declined many invitations to do so.
The SNP instead is setting out its stall as a kinder and more efficient manager of the governmental institutions of Scotland within the UK. It is elevating managerialism into a cult. Forget Independence and admire John Swinney’s figures. This is reinforced by another managerialist subtext, “the only organised opposition at Westminster.” Opposing the Tories is undoubtedly a good thing. But all this is symptomatic of the SNP becoming over-comfortable within the governmental institutions of the United Kingdom. All the energy expended pointlessly on the glorified local council powers of the Scotland Act while our country is dragged into yet another neo-con war against the will of the Scottish people.
When the media were promoting a narrative of potential ill-behaviour by new SNP MP’s, Tommy Sheppard famously declared “We have not come to act up, but to settle up!” What precisely have the SNP MP’s done that showed a scintilla of desire to “settle up” and end the Union? Where are the Parnellite tactics? A more honest declaration would be:
“We have not come to settle up, but to settle in!”
John Nicolson was led on to discussing his prospects of re-election last night, in response to a joke about Michael Portillo’s defeat. Andrew Neil gently reminded him he was not meant to want to be in Westminster long term. I am willing to bet a million pounds with anybody that the SNP structure is already giving more thought to defending its Westminster seats than to ending the union before the next Westminster election. I think deep down everybody reading this will find they believe that too.
Leadership loyalists will respond with a) more managerialism – we run the country better blah blah blah – and b), the argument that the SNP has to entrench in power before trying again for independence and win trust by – more managerialism. Oh OK, that’s actually the same argument. They don’t have another one.
The problem with this is gravity. In politics no party remains at the heights of popularity forever. Events take their toll. I suspect that what Nicola agreed with Dave this week about extending the extreme surveillance state to Scotland will be a little wave of erosion once we get told of it. The SNP will, regardless of anything I think or write, sweep the Holyrood elections. But that will likely be the high point of their absolute dominance of Scottish politics.
Let me put it this way. It is definitely a possibility that the coming real domination of both MPs and MSPs will never happen again. If the SNP do not even try to use that dominance to deliver Independence, then what is the point of the SNP?
Oh sorry, I forgot. They manage the institutions better, and are an effective opposition at Westminster. That apparently is the point. But not what I joined for.
Thanks for that link Mark G., time has come indeed to publicise the HJS links with US neocons such as Gaffney, his right wing Centre for Security Policy and Donald Pipes, his minion. the HJS and the Quilliam Foundation are also the link to Donald Trump, whose outrageous views have far more support in David Camerons Government than he would like us to know about.
Another excellent article from Nafeez Ahmed which points to exactly the same conclusions and connivance Mark is pointing at.
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/donald-trump-s-trojan-horse-in-britain-bdb40f7d1867#.lkrfahe2a
Time for us to highlight this toxic connection to the UK public, Quilliam and HJS are partially to blame that the petition signed by over 500.000 people wanting to ban hate preacher Trump from entry here, did not make any difference to our minority Government.
When it suits Government, it finds measures to override the power of petitions, ignores our democratic effort for the sake of some deluded neocons who want to rule the world.
“Disclosure Scotland, the organisation which carries out background checks on people working with children and vulnerable adults, is facing an 88% cut in funding. At the same time as the most authoritarian government Scotland has known is appointing a government guardian for every child in Scotland.”
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The majority of people pay for a disclosure, or their employer pays, subsidising a company to the tune of almost £7 million pounds, just can’t continue.
https://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk/news/
Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered a review after police chiefs warned that prolonged legal scrutiny after shooting incidents leaves officers scared to fire their weapons.
There’s good reason why there’s prolong scrutiny especially after the murder of the likes of Charles de Menezes.
Cameron by the sounds if it wants a fire and forget it policy. I fully understand on certain occasions a armed officer will need to draw his weapon and discharge it. But to relax inquires after such events can leave it open to abuse.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/david-cameron-orders-shoot-kill-review-allow-more-protection-uk-police-marksman-1534208
It is certainly looking likely that SNP will sweep up the constituency seats in the Holyrood elections. Some of us certainly hope so and are working toward that event. Many will hope also, as I do, that Craig will decide to remain part of that process.
If we do obtain a third term it will be because SNP have shown that, to use the words of Craig, they can manage the institutions better, and that they are an effective opposition at Westminster. If the Westminster based parties had made a decent job of governance there would be no need of SNP to insist on much more Scottish control of Scottish matters.
It is important IMO that momentum is maintained and that Scotland continues to take further steps to becoming a normal country again. Hopefully after May 2016, the next normalisation opportunity, unless Indy Ref 2 is announced beforehand, will be May 2017. Surely the abnormal control exercised by Westminster parties of so many Scottish local authorities can be lessened then and Scots councils can be run by Scots for Scots? If and when this happens, there is no doubt that SNP will be in a really strong position to be able to speak for Scotland. This is why the SNP Manifesto for May 2016 must surely contain some Assertion of Holyrood Right to consult with Scots on matters of National Governance. This consultation is, of course, irrespective of what Westminster says or “allows”. The consultations must be conducted by Scots for Scots.
The above strategy can be summarised in the single word “Hold”. It might seem boring and the temptation to break free earlier is certainly there. The brilliant strategy of Alex Salmond and the rest of SNP brought us Indy Ref1 though, before I even joined SNP, and I have faith that Nicola Sturgeon and an even stronger SNP will complete the process. My faith in the “Hold” strategy will, I think, be severely tested if the manifesto for May 2016 makes no mention of the right of the Scottish Government to hold consultations with Scots.
@ Tom Platt
At which level could Craig enter as a locally accepted candidate? Does the central party have the last word on who can be part of democracy and who can’t? Can the local membership pick their own candidate and run with her/him?
Somebody got shot last week who seemingly did not need a bullet, so best Government reaction to this event is to change the law so police can shoot to kill, based on their own judgement
“Someone is almost certainly going to die.”
http://rowans-blog.blogspot.co.uk/
“The majority of people pay for a disclosure, or their employer pays, subsidising a company to the tune of almost £7 million pounds, just can’t continue.”
That’s one way of looking at it. The right wing Tory capitalist way of looking at it.
@Nevermind, Lord Feldmann Keeps The Nasty Party In The News.
I am just a humble SNP foot soldier and do not know the answer to your question. It is not a matter for me anyway …more for Craig I suppose than for any other single person. What he now wants to do and what he is willing to do are unknown to me. Experiences of recent SNP MSP hustings however have persuaded me of the very high quality of candidates so, whilst. as an admirer of his writing and other efforts for various causes, I am disappointed at the outcome of his applications to further the cause closest to my heart at this moment it would be an error, IMO, to take this as in any way a personal rejection. I hope that i would see it as more of a preference for others who bring sparklingly fresh histories which are not as vulnerable to antagonistic media mischief. I hope to that I would be holding myself in readiness for speech making and other appearances at the YES2 meetings that will surely follow in the next few years.
Better to only make suggestions for myself with my own limitations and shortcomings. I will try to involve myself in “Activate” to see if it is even more useful than knocking on doors or taking part in street and meeting activities. Perhaps I could even help others apart from SNP too. There are high profile YES people, as well as Craig, whose presence in Holyrood would help us all. Supporting them in their bid to be elected as “List” members in Glasgow …and avoid wasting a few SNP list votes…might upset some of my SNP member colleagues but my YES colleagues might understand and value my efforts.
For once you say something sensible, Craig. But something else was said – that those under 55 years voted for independence and that – admittedly anecdotally – teenagers were likely to support independence. One could then take the view that time will do its work – those opposed to independence will die off. This avoids the dangers of a neverendum and disrespecting the electorate.
You are then left with the problem of how exactly does the SNP keep independence at the forefront. You are right to note the SNP electoral preponderance at the moment. This cannot be taken for granted. In 20 years will the antipathy to Thatcher carry any weight? Will the importance of the digital economy and academic research mean more not less dependence of UK grants? What price a Scotland outside the UK, the EU and Nato?
The real problem you reveal is the smallness of independence. Independence is precisely a change of management. And what is now beginning to be shown is that the SNP is not all a better manager of Scotland. If all that’s on offer is another management team, why bother? Why take the risks? Also, it’s one thing to declare independence from Westminster – quite another from Newcastle or Carlisle. A revitalised North, happy to grab the Scottish place in the UK and challenge an independent Scotland is a risk.
So – you are right to fret that a vital moment is being lost. But how can they engineer another ballot so soon after the last one without the damaging effects of a neverendum, and without losing the vote? Oddly, the SNP seem defensive in both Scotland and Westminster. It’s not that they have lost their nerve so much as they are caught up in running Scotland, and working in Westminster. It’s possible to see how easily the light ever so gently fades on the independence dream. Success is destroying the rebel impulse. Albion is a cunning bitch.
“That’s one way of looking at it. The right wing Tory capitalist way of looking at it.”
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What more do you want Fred, you have free prescriptions, free bus passes and a freeze on council tax. You seem to think (and you’re not alone) that the SNP can keep giving constantly, even though Westerminster cuts their budget year upon year.
They’re doing a bloody good job under the circumstances. Scotland would’ve went to hell in a hand basket, if Labour had been in power.
£ I hope to that I would be holding myself in readiness for speech making and other appearances at the YES2 meetings that will surely follow in the next few years. ”
Thank you Tom Platt, for your honest reply, you are right, it is for Craig to find out.
Wishing you good luck with forging a speech at YES2 meeting.
For all its worth, being Independent is not party politics,imho, it is being independent to make the best available decision for your constituents, regardless of the pressure that is put on you to kowtow.
The key is to keep up a discourse with voters at all times, inform them of your work and let them voice opinions for or against decisions that come up. Possible coalitions can always flourish, on an issue by issue basis, leaving an Independent enough scope to consult the electorate.
Nicola and the senior party members are far better placed than anyone posting on this thread to plot the path to Indyref2. It comes down to who you trust – the lunatic fringe or Nicola and her team. I’m with Nicola. She has played a blinder carrying on from the high point achieved by Alex. What is wrong with you carping people? Get real. Indyref1 was lost in 2014. How would we feel if Yes won 55 to 45 and No gibbered endlessly on about a re-run? A decent period needs to elapse. My hope is for 2021 or 2022. Those worried about high points of SNP support slipping away are really conceding that they can never win a sustained majority of the hearts and minds of the people of Scotland. What would be the point of a very narrow Yes win on the back of a fluky high point? In my book, to release the energy potential of a new Scotland there needs to be sustained polling evidence that people want independence. I am not aware of any such evidence. Having voted SNP at every election since 1968, a few more years waiting is neither here nor there.
John Nicolson handled himself very well against Andrew Neil on Daily Politics and any carping about his performance is absurd.
Leslie says
“For once you say something sensible, Craig. But something else was said – that those under 55 years voted for independence and that – admittedly anecdotally – teenagers were likely to support independence. One could then take the view that time will do its work – those opposed to independence will die off.”
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One could take that view provided that one accepts the possibility of disappointment. That is because people’s views on many matters tend to change as they get older = and more often than not in a conservative, status quo direction. Today’s under 55s will one day be over 55s (except, perhaps, for many inhabitants of a few parts of Glasgow).
Incidentally, I should like to see a greater breakdown by age range of how people voted – the under 55/over 55 break seems a little crude and arbitrary to me 9and I wonder which side is making most of the running with it
“What more do you want Fred, you have free prescriptions, free bus passes and a freeze on council tax. You seem to think (and you’re not alone) that the SNP can keep giving constantly, even though Westerminster cuts their budget year upon year.”
The poor get free prescriptions anyway, they benefit the wealthy. The freeze on council tax benefits the wealthy, the poor get rebates. Free tuition fees benefit the wealthy who could afford to pay. The free buses puts money into Sauter’s bank account.
You real off the right wing Tory capitalist policies aimed at the upper middle class.
“The poor get free prescriptions anyway, they benefit the wealthy. The freeze on council tax benefits the wealthy, the poor get rebates. Free tuition fees benefit the wealthy who could afford to pay. The free buses puts money into Sauter’s bank account.”
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Fred says “the poor get free prescriptions anyway.”
But I say to Fred, what about those who are working but need quite a few prescriptions but can’t afford them all, what do they do Fred? Do they choose which medicines to buy or not to buy.
Fred says the freeze on coincil tax benefits the wealthy.
I say yes it does Fred, but it also benefits the not so wealthy, for numerous reasons, I refer you to my above comment.
Fred says Free bus passes benefits Brian Souter, a desperate dig at Mr Souter.
I say Yes Fred they do benefit Mr Soutar, and First bus, and Arriva buses and a plethora of other bus operators, but mostly free bus passes benefit the old and disabled.
Fred obviously can’t see past his croft window.
From an aaronowitch to a zakheim in their 666G parlance, Druze and their “belligerance” have become big buzz words , among the zionist circles, culminating with the killing of a Druze leader by an entire apartment block crashing on his head. There must be big oil in the Golan, lame-duck Obama affords only a 9 month window, and the cryptos are chomping at the bit – I wish we had a whistleblower to tell us of Fallons already drawn plans. There is hardly any ISIS bombing going on, it appears the vote was a cover for action on assad direct, but when??
It must be something major the in-house canaries are even more clammed up than a ducks ass on the Serpentine.
It is surely at this juncture, or thereabouts, that our friend Mary would have written something like “ten posts of utter garbage written by the Chief Troll in less than an hour!”
Would you settle for a shut up, you cunt?
It isn’t antipathy to Thatcher, but to Thatcherism, an ideological import re-branded that might otherwise be called neo-liberalism, but fascism better describes it for any purposes, which knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing and which lives on unapologetic in the Tory party, and ultimately will destroy the rest of the Labour party, where it is every bit as pernicious, south of the border too, Jeremy Corbyn just another Michael Foot caretaker till the next rightist putsch. Antipathy to it continues to grow as the awful long-term consequences play out predictably before our eyes, with a weakened hollowed-out prone UK economy, arms production considered a bright spot, governments projecting their power no further than within shouting distance of Downing St.
In this Labour-Tory duopoly you project dreamily as utopia, or ukokia, ignoring its record of utter failure, widening the gap between ultra-rich and all the rest of us, looting of all public enterprises, human lives and the environment expendable, there you have the very thing -a change of management, a re-shuffle of one indistinguishable lot for the other, in policies in the direction of travel, in awfulness, troughers all. Labour, Tory, LibDems, awkward three-legged beast of prey, all parts of the same sham pretence of democracy. Overt and terrible UK managerialism is good, real Scottish leadership of our country, you call managerialism and pronounce it bad.
As for the ‘Scottish place in the UK, the north would be keen to grab’? Its role as punchbag, test-ground, cash-cow, waste dump, butt of jokes. I wouldn’t wish more of that than they already get, on anyone not least our friends in the north. Hilarious self-contradictory stewed twaddle Leslie. Real grasping at straws stuff, Labour are to use a technical expression -gubbed, is that what’s bothering you most? Put out of your reserved carriage on the gravy-train, dumped on the platform in the dark and with no one in authority to tell you what to do, you fret uselessly, inadequate dependent, lacking a clue. Unable to think, much less act for yourself.
MerkinScot
“Now that Lord Janner has sadly passed away I think certain people who were so insistent that his dementia diagnosis wasn’t genuine have apologies to make.”
……..
Not at all.
After April the game would have been up.
Better Altogether for the Establishment.
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A very foolish and irrelevant “response”, indeed.
MerkinScot thinks that no apologies are due for having falsely claimed that Janner was not suffering from dementia and that it was all a ploy to get him to avoid being tried – and the “reasons” he gives is that “after April the game would have been up”. and it is “better for the Establishment”
For those reasons to be valid to even the slightest extent, MerkinScot must be assuming that Janner was guilty as charged.
I congratulate him for his unrivalled knowledge of all the facts and evidence in this case, on the basis of which he is able to predict with such certainty the outcome of the trial.
Who needs trials, judges, juries, prosecuting and defending counsels, evidence and witnesses when we have such a splendid fellow as MerkinScot around?
(Cue a certain poster with a curiously string interest in British paed******lia)
“Rumbled”
“It is surely at this juncture, or thereabouts, that our friend Mary would have written something like “ten posts of utter garbage written by the Chief Troll in less than an hour!”
Would you settle for a shut up, you cunt?”
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Try posting under your usual handle, there’s a good boy.
—
[ Mod note: That is his usual handle. ]
Happy Checka day to anyone here to whom it applies
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/20/putin-salutes-russias-intelligence-agencies-on-national-spies-day
“But I say to Fred, what about those who are working but need quite a few prescriptions but can’t afford them all, what do they do Fred? Do they choose which medicines to buy or not to buy.”
No, if you need a lot of prescriptions you are better getting a three month certificate for £29 or a twelve month for £104.
So what about the wealthy getting free medicines while the health service is so poor people have to travel hundreds of miles to give birth or for emergency treatment? What about bankers, lawyers and politicians getting their prescriptions free of charge while up here they can only afford two ambulances to cover an entire county?
Bloody yellow Tories with their capitalist policies robbing the poor to give to the rich.
“Cameron by the sounds of it wants a fire and forget it policy….”
Imperialists like Blair and Cameron automatically defer to the centre of the Empire, which in this case is the United States. They see any policy bringing the country into closer conformity with US practises – wrecking the NHS, private prisons, privatising utilities etc- as progressive and beneficial.
It seems to them axiomatic that London should be more like St Louis or Chicago- hence the executive mayoralty and Police Commissioners- and that the British policeman should emulate the US model and add firepower to his duty terrorising the poor and the vulnerable.
To the two bald men fighting over a comb, above.
Re: Prescriptions -most of the pharmacueutical ones are positively harmful, if not the cause of much ill-health in the first place. Using people’s taxes for the purposes of worsening their health and killing them off is a cunning wrinkle in an enormous inter-locking chain of government approved rackets. Pay-up the cost of these slower forms of de-population, or else or they’ll have a look in their deep-freeze for a pandemic that will do the job in a quicker but far more unsightly way. Big-weapons that go bang are incomparably more expensive and messy than the effect of a small vial of witches brew.
We need to be thinking not of how to pay for much that is prescribed, but of the efficacy and usefulness, the deleterious results of a great part of that which is prescribed. Most of it is not simply useless but lethally dangerous, when used as directed. Corporations and our own government are the real terrorists threatening and harming us.
“No, if you need a lot of prescriptions you are better getting a three month certificate for £29 or a twelve month for £104.”
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That’s easy for you to say Fred, but what about the working poo (a Westminster concept) who at the end of the month rely on food banks to feed their families, due to piss poor wages and Zero-hour contracts, both adored by those Tory b*stards at Westminster.
As so now it become clear Fred is bitter about the ambulance service he want the same as Glasgow, or Edinburgh.
Last time he resorted to these tactics and topic, as this is definitely a repeat performance, he complained about the distance he had to travel to visit someone in hospital, it being evidently all the SNP’s fault for not wheeling the patient still in their hospital bed to his front door.
Habby praises Merkin : “I congratulate him for his unrivalled knowledge of all the facts and evidence in this case, on the basis of which he is able to predict with such certainty the outcome of the trial.”
.
I thank you for your vote of confidence.
Has there been an autopsy of Janner? Will there be an autopsy?
If Janner was able to walk around in public just a few months ago, how likely is it that his Alzheimer’s would have progressed to being mortal so soon thereafter?
“That’s easy for you to say Fred, but what about the working poo (a Westminster concept) who at the end of the month rely on food banks to feed their families, due to piss poor wages and Zero-hour contracts, both adored by those Tory b*stards at Westminster.”
Health is devolved, the Scottish government have the power to make prescriptions free to people on low incomes and still charge their rich fat cat mates so why blame me or Westminster for a small number of people on low incomes who probably just tick one of the boxes on the back of the prescription anyway? People who grab severance pay then keep on working being a member of parliament in two countries could pay for prescriptions but people on less than 40 hours on minimum wage could be made exempt. There are no rules say it has to be all or nothing, they can charge their fat lawyer, banker, politician mates but not the working poor if they want to.
Lysias, we don’t know whether he was made to take one for the team – but neither does Habby.
What is certain is that like Savile, Smith and Brittan he was innocent before the Law.