I have a confession to make. I kept my opinion of the SNP’s election campaign from you in order not to hurt the SNP during the campaign. I did however express it deep in James Kelly’s comments pages 12 days ago.
Yes, the SNP won the election in Scotland. 35 out of 59 seats is a clear majority. The Tories only have 13 Scottish seats. That is just 21% so there is no sense in which the Tories “won” Scotland. Do not believe the media lies.
But it remains the case that Theresa May is only able to cling on to No.10 because of the gains the Tories made from the SNP in Scotland. That is shameful and must be squarely faced.
There is a vital truth here. Support for Independence itself remains at almost exactly the same level as it was in 2015 when the SNP swept to 56 seats. Many opinion polls measured support for Independence during the campaign and their range was 42% to 54% for Independence.
So the SNP fall in MPs was not because of a drop in support for Independence. It was rather because the SNP failed the cause of Independence. Specifically they failed even to seek to present a radical and transformative view of what an Independent Scotland might look like.
In 2015 the SNP vote almost exactly equated to the level of support for Independence. Now the SNP vote underperforms Independence support by 10%.
This is not unfortunate. It is an entirely foreseeable consequence of a deliberate and wrong decision by the SNP leadership. They never once, at any time, made the case for Independence during the election campaign. Rather they fell straight into the trap laid by the unionists, of defending their government record in Holyrood.
Scotland’s lack of Independence leads to a constant drain on our resources in a massively London-centric economy. Our money is sucked down there and much of our best talent leaves to work in UK-HQ corporations and ministries based there. That is a different argument to the equally vital one that we are tied in to a neo-liberal austerity programme that prevents us from growing our economy, and to a number of completely inappropriate policies including on immigration.
Bound hand and foot by these constraints, the SNP has struggled at Holyrood – with very great skill – to manage matters as best they can to mitigate the Tory damage in Scotland, within the limited resources they are allowed. But this is utterly different to the situation if Scotland were an independent country and Holyrood a real parliament, and not what it actually is – a glorified regional council.
In this situation, where everything is stacked to ensure its failure, the SNP strategists boneheadedly accepted to fight on the enemy’s chosen ground. What the SNP offered in this election in no way stirred the blood, not even of their own supporters. The SNP did not mention the struggle for national freedom or the kind of country we will build if Independent. It rather attempts to win the support of the Scottish people by offering competent managerialism. “Don’t be scared, we are not nasty nationalists, we are harmless technocrats” is the line.
I hope the hard lesson of this election has been learned. You cannot manage Scotland with competence within the madhouse which is the Tory UK. You are on a hiding to nothing explaining that you can.
Yes it is indeed true that the media unfairly and deliberately, in every interview with Nicola Sturgeon, honed in on devolved matters irrelevant to a Westminster election. That was wrong of the media. But Sturgeon happily wandered around in their labyrinthine trap for long periods, providing lengthy and rational ripostes on educational attainment for 7 year olds. Above all, she emphasised it was not her who wanted to talk about a second referendum, it was that Ruth Davidson.
Sturgeon hotly denied she wanted to talk about Independence at all, saying only the Unionists kept bringing it up. It was a clever debating society point, but by refusing to make the case for Independence – and by appearing to concede it was a difficult area for her – Sturgeon was damaging the Independence cause and ultimately the SNP.
What Nicola Sturgeon should have done is the precise opposite of what she did do.
She should have taken every precious moment of TV time to outline the positive case for Independence, to declare her determination to achieve Independence, and to achieve it within the next Westminster parliament. She should have slammed Trident and slammed the British kowtowing to Saudi Arabia and to Donald Trump, and stated that Scotland should be an independent country with its own foreign and defence policy. She should have slammed austerity and Tory cuts and said that Scotland needs to be an independent country with its own economic policy that will look after its struggling, its disabled and its aged. She should have slammed Brexit and stated it is going to destroy the Scottish economy, and that Scotland needs to be an independent country within the EU.
Sturgeon did refer to all of these policy areas. But her entire dialogue was framed around how they should be tackled within a devolution settlement. Independence was almost entirely avoided as something that might scare the horses.
Much of The SNP campaign echoed the Tories in spin doctored meaninglessness. The pictures of activists holding up placards saying “Stronger for Scotland”, and repetition of the constant mantra about strengthening Nicola Sturgeon’s hand in talks, was just a mirror image of Theresa May. I find it worrying in principle and it was as electorally counterproductive as I knew it would be.
Nicola Sturgeon adopted a deliberate policy of being all things to all men. She ran a campaign designed to say the SNP can attract the votes of unionists and the votes of Brexiteers. She attempted a “mother of the whole country” routine. Putting out the message that anybody can vote SNP because it doesn’t believe in anything much, it is just competent. This was incredibly stupid. It did not work and it did not deserve to.
Anyone can see that there is a worldwide mood of insurgency against the neo-liberal establishment. The fantastic Yes street campaign was absolutely a part of that. Corbyn has grabbed that mood and ran an inspired insurgency campaign. A great many Independence supporters – including some of my family – voted Labour yesterday to support the Corbyn insurgency, after being active members of the Yes insurgency. They still support Independence.
But in an age of insurgency politics, for the SNP to choose to run its entire election campaign on the basis of being a safe managerial political establishment for Scotland, was such a crass decision that it beggars belief. Many radicals went to Labour, while many of those who do like a comfortable political establishment decided they would rather have the real Tory version.
I greatly fear that the SNP will now compound the error by backing away from the second referendum and pushing Independence even further to the back-burner. The SNP needs to do the opposite. It needs to rediscover the Spirit of Independence and reconnect to the Scottish people. And it needs to sack the great raft of highly paid, besuited, professional spin doctors and political advisers I see going in and out of SNP HQ every day (I live next door). They look indistinguishable from their New Labour and Tory cousins and are a class of people the Independence movement really does not need.
One little anecdote. I have a large balcony overlooking Dynamic Earth, in a very prominent position and busy area. I wandered in to SNP HQ to see if they could give me a really big banner or poster to put up. The place was absolutely crammed with besuited spin doctors talking earnestly to each other and very much looking down their noses at me, resenting my intrusion into their space. They had hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of spin doctors, but no poster bigger than a tiny A3. That says it all for me.
I voted for Tommy Sheppard. I did so with pride and I am delighted he is back in. After a period of semi-detachment from the SNP, I am going to be more active inside it to argue for a much more radical and definite attachment to Independence upfront and at all times. And to make sure that the SNP is a quick route to Independence, and not just a quick route to a political class career path. In practice, building any other vehicle than the SNP to carry forward the Yes movement would be almost impossible.
As an institution in itself, the SNP is a very successful institution. There is no denying it. But as a vehicle for actual Independence, it is stationary with the handbrake on, and as a vehicle for radicalism its battery is flat and it has become positively inert. But let’s not abandon it, let’s try a push start.
I fear the current state of affairs is being normalised and that the SNP are getting too fond of their ‘strong voice at Westminster’. Perhaps this result will be a wake up call.
The current situation can’t continue forever. Despite having a ‘strong voice at Westminster’ we are still ruled by the tories. In this election we could have kept the tories out if progressive parties weren’t fighting each other. Considering that for many the main goal of independence is to achieve a more progressive society that will be difficult to bear.
At some point (and preferably in the next few years) we need to either achieve independence or back off from Westminster politics. I fear if the SNP don’t realise that then voters will tell them, as already they have started doing. In any case, if the SNP think the current situation can continue indefinitely they are mistaken. As a long time SNP voter this will be probably the last general election where they get my vote (assuming the normal timescale). If they haven’t achieved independence in the next five years then I think we have to accept it isn’t going to happen for a long time and look to Labour, who appear to have successfully escaped from the Blair era.
And, like Craig, I loathe the slogan ‘stronger for Scotland’. It really does sound like the sort of thing Theresa May would come up with.
This election result is good news indeed for the SNP and Scottish Independence.
The last one was a disaster for three reasons: 1.No hung parliament
2.SNP humiliate Better Together with one seat each. 3.Tory government.
This time we have a hung parliament but, more importantly, we have allies.
Labour, LibDem, and DUP all support SNP demands for a soft Brexit with full
market access.
If this means full membership or EFTA is not so important. What is important
is a discussion with our new allies of which option would be best.
Suddenly we can have a discussion at Holyrood on the same topic with LibDem
and Labour.
SNP can’t win independence alone. We need allies.
This explains a lot. My opinion of Sturgeon was formed when I saw her at the Wimbledon final only a handful of seats away from Cameron himself. Perhaps this is totally unfair and Salmond did likewise in previous years, but somehow I can’t picture him or Corbyn putting themselves in that frame. It’s part of this now proven false belief that you need to rub shoulders with these people to be able to compete with them. No, you can just be honest.
I expect she’ll go now and much will depend on whether a “radical” is allowed to lead.
Not so.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-23225470
I admit, I noticed that Nicola, the best of debaters on the Scottish political scene, was reacting to a media-set agenda and doing it efficiently. I thought at the time she had no choice, but now you point it out, I agree. The SNP should have set its own agenda, not reacted to someone else’s. In one sense, sending SNP MPs to Westminster isn’t *directly* about independence, since the Scottish Parliament had already agreed on indyref2 and the mandate was in place. However, the opposition parties and the Britnat media had made it about that, so defending the record on devolved issues was chasing a red herring. Basically, everything in Scottish politics is about the independence question and I hope the Yes Movement and the SNP regroup, rethink, and come out swinging again! Compare the reaction to the 1979 fiddled devolution referendum and the 2014 *rather suspect* independence referendum. I know which I preferred!
If they would put as much energy and language into it as Jonathan Pie, it would be a walkover.
I voted for Tommy too and I’m so glad and relieved he was not one of the victims. In the early hours of Friday morning, among some despondent friends, I watched Angus Robertson lose his seat and reflected on his fairly recent elevation to deputy leader.
He was doing an excellent job as leader of the Westminster group and his questioning Theresa May was really excellent. I thought he was busy enough and, much as a I was pleased with his performance, I thought the last thing he needed was another status hat to wear. Was he not already busy enough?
I voted for Tommy for depute leader but I realised before the votes were cast that the membership at large were going to give the role to Angus. I think that he got this job, sorry Angus, for no other reason than he was the only weel kent face. The membership at large, as opposed to the less than 10% that are reasonably active, go for the person that has made an impact in their living room via the BBC news.
If anybody in SNP is going to get the spinning suits at party HQ dry cleaned then Tommy is the one to do it. I am not certain he’ll sit as comfortably beside Nicola but he’ll reorganise the party and he will connect it appropriately to the broader yes movement.
We need to campaign less on our performance of running the minority devolved part of Scotland and much moe emphasis on how and why we will be able to improve on these issues after we have won the big contest.
We need to get people to support us by telling them clearly what we stand for and not by acquiring their votes under the false pretence that the main thing we stand for doesn’t really matter in this or that election.
We need to accept the raison d’être of the SNP and stop treating it like the elephant in the room. Maybe a handful of MPs clearly supporting independence is better than 35 treading on eggshells trying to explain Stronger for Scotland.
Independence, let’s put back at the top of the agenda.
Hi Craig,
Did you see this Article about ‘dark money’ in Scottish elections:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/brexitinc/adam-ramsay-peter-geoghegan/dark-money-driving-scottish-tory-surge
Thanks
Alpha N
I continue to believe that if we maintain the pressure, we can bring Theresa May down within a day or three. I seriously do not see her remaining in office until the start of the Brexit talks. Moreover, if our pressure is sufficiently strong and continuous, we can keep the parliamentary Tory party in such a weak position that it won’t be able to form an effective government even under a new leader.
But remember that Lab + SNP + LD + PC + Green = 314, which is still a minority, even if Sinn Fein take the unlikely decision to accept their 7 seats. Con + DUP are on 327. So if we bring the Tories down, then Jeremy Corbyn’s government, supported by the SNP, LibDems and Plaid Cymru, will probably need to call a general election within a few months at most.
If (and hopefully WHEN) a Labour government takes office without a new election, the Tories and their DUP chums will be able to bring it down at short notice. It’s hard to predict an issue over which they would want to call a formal confidence vote, because the Tories are hardly in a position to sell a “We can run the country better than Labour” message. But they could for instance abstain on the queen’s speech, let the Labour government roll on for a bit, and then simply vote against major government bills.
Corbyn has promised to introduce a finance bill (budget) very soon after taking office, and seriously I cannot see the Tories doing anything other than voting against increases in inheritance tax, corporation tax, and income tax for the filthy rich, even if they know they’d be unpopular. Popularity is one thing, but getting their stinking hands on the money to which they believe they are “entitled” is quite another. It’s money that puts the happiest smiles on Tory faces.
Loss of supply amounts in practice to loss of confidence. That would cause Labour to call a general election, either using the 2/3 rule or by no-confidencing itself. The route they take doesn’t much matter. Most people would forget about it once the election campaign started.
The point is this: if we manage to bring the Tories down we will soon be looking at a general election. That’s good news, not bad, because however much Saudi money gets spent on more terror attacks, and however violently the Tory BBC, the billionaire press, MI5, thugs with UDA connections, and ex-MI6 fuckers like Richard “I went to Paris as MI6 director of ops shortly before the Diana crash” Dearlove might blame Jeremy Corbyn, we’ll still be likely to win.
Labour has already got a decent manifesto. I don’t think many changes will be needed. Sure, I’d like a promise not to replace Trident, but that can wait for the strategic defence review, and the many other things that could be in it can wait a short while too. Just fucking win the next election by a landslide. The Tories…well, they don’t know their arses from their elbows at the moment. They are reeling. Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were sacrificed today. What would the Tories put in a new manifesto? Has anybody got any idea? “Vote for us because Brexit”? LOL! Which leaves? Er…the country can’t afford to look after old people and maintain university students, so old people have to get robbed and youngsters have to get into enormous debt, and that’s life, because otherwise you believe in a magic money tree? Few believe such lying thieving Tory shit any more.
It’s a given that we need to bring the Tory government down, whether May stays (which is extremely unlikely) or whether she is replaced by some other Tory.
So prepare for another election. And prepare for power.
I predict the return of Nigel Farage in an attempt to get UKIP votes back from Labour. The catch is that if he just says what UKIP has been saying for years, he’s unlikely to be successful. More likely is that he will go even further out to the racist right.
The loss of SNP seats in NE Scotland might be no bad thing. In my early days in the party (quarter of a century ago) I was occasionally shocked by hearing our (very few) sitting MPs speaking against leftish motions at party conference. I was informed by more experienced colleagues that these MPs had been elected to Tory constituencies not on the basis of being SNP but because they were not Labour. For those MPs, support for radical policies would have been career suicide.
That deadweight is now gone. The fishermen and farmers of Buchan have voted for their own extinction, and we should leave them to it. The demographic of SNP support has changed. Its Achilles heel – the urban working class – now looks a little more like a power base. So I think you’re right, Craig. It’s time the SNP scared the horses.
This is what people seem not to understand.
There probably has been a reaction to Indyref2 but the bigger reaction is undoubtedly that of the voters of Angus and Gordon finding themselves essentially in coalition with Paisley, Leith and Parkhead. The areas that voted Tory in this election were formerly Liberal before going SNP but the common theme is that they see themselves as distinct and want MPs who will directly represent their local economic interests rather than find common cause across Scotland or the UK. Ruth’s policy free platform is perfect for these people.
It is impossible to hold Glasgow and the North East. The only reason they managed to win both is that the NE voters weren’t sharp enough to realise what was going on. Two years later and they have reacted.
Expert analysis Craig – agree with you 100%.
The SNP high command need to wake up , remember their raison d’être, focus on it, and radically act to achieve it – asap!!
Great Analysis Craig..But Kinda Depressing reading.. in the cold reality.
If May can cling on, even though she hid from live debates, interviews ect, maybe Sturgeon should now do the same.. After all these t.v stitch up jobs are really all about the Paxman’s, N. Robertson’s, Neil’s
She ( Nicola ) and others in SNP should have been Yelling the truths.. Clobbering the Divisive indyref Lies..Trident. Arms to Saudi’s Ect
It all makes One very Angry.. Needs to go a walk.
P.s Robert, Jonathan Pie’s Post election Video went up by way over 300,000 views in 24 hours
Saw it, Brian.
Made me think “YES” the public are with this/his attitude. Corbyn will win.
What a disappointment, AGAIN.
P.S. Got another threatening letter from the tv licence mob to-day. What is it those fuckers don’t understand about, “I don’t have a tv and I don’t watch anything live.
i wrote something similar in mungiuns republic,it is not the snp that is the sovereign.it is each and every one of us,and when the snp wander away from the fight for scotlands independence then it shows in the election results,we need our own voices not a political party.we are sovereign
You may be interested to know that there is now a petition on Change.org against this obscene coalition of chaos:
https://www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-no-confidence-in-a-conservative-and-dup-colaition-forthevoiceofthemanynotthefew
HI Zippy – 136000 people have signed the petition that you link to. But it’s one of several – as often happens on popular issues. The biggest one has been signed by 591000 people. It’s not well-written. Most of them aren’t. (A lot of people don’t fully understand the terms “minority government” and “coalition”. No coalition has been suggested between the Tories and the DUP, nor will the two parties form a minority government. Were they to form a coalition, the government would command a majority.) But that’s all by the by. Please can people make sure they sign the BIG petition, which is here. It’s fine if people sign more than one petition calling for the same thing, of course. But the force of this kind of petition lies in its getting reported in the media, and reporters and editors will focus on the biggest number.
The number of signatories will get into the millions. If it reaches 10 million, it could have an effect. Of the 32 million people who voted, 18 million voted for parties other than the Tories or the DUP.
I think you are wrong. It was impossible for the SNP to campaign for Independence in this election.
Before the Brexit result is known the alternative to Independence is impossible to argue.
Ruth Davidson should have been told that if she didn’t want Indyref2 then she should campaign for a soft Brexit.
This Message is even more important now when the Scottish Conservatives have real influence in Westminster.
Brexit gives other parties the opportunity to agree with the SNP on the best future for the UK and Scotland.
“Before the Brexit result is known the alternative to Independence is impossible to argue”
I thought independence was an absolute objective in itself. If you think there may be superior alternatives then you obviously don’t want independence.
Theresa May started the 2017 election with a ramble in the Welsh hills. And she ended it with a march down the Shankhill Road.
HI Craig. I agree with you on this and great to read your views an everything!
Nicola Sturgeon and her leadership team need to draw breath and then up the ante. Her passive acceptance of the British Nationalist agenda promoted by the media was pathetic.
I am sad to say Truthless Davidson is much more effective communicator despite all her party’s problems, The SNP have no such problems yet Nicola seems scared of her own shadow. I hope the SNP find an effective ‘attack dog’ to do the media interviews soon otherwise the game will be up. Sadly all the senior SNP politicans are limp communciators, – they sound like civil servants not leaders.
PS. I cannot belief Nicola gave the BBC the headline they wanted this morning regarding indy ref 2. We do indeed need to fire up our movement before its too late ….
It is already too late.
Sturgeon couldn’t sound gung-ho about indyref2 in her press conference. She knows that waiting for the details of brexit will result in a refocusing on the need for that referendum.
Spot on
Great read Craig
This election has been a timely jolt.
I do have some sympathy for Sturgeon as she does have to govern and that implies a set of rules & obligations and consequently we lacked a radical message. McConnell’s managerialism is what did for him against the radical Salmond insurgency.
For clarity, we could do with a conference resolution on this – Item #1 – a DETERMINATION to pursue Independence as the only dignified path for our country.
Let Nicola loudly & proudly proclaim the goal of Independence at the autumn conference. It will need to be a speech of passion & vision but she is highly capable & still greatly respected.
I promised myself some time off – but its in the blood, same as 19th September – get up and get going.
Come 2019, or when the Brexit negotiations appear to have reach an informal conclusion. We push for independence, we cannot be fobbed off with now is not the time, not the time for whom? Westminster is the answer, but it WILL be our time.
Time to take control of all our fiscial and political levers, time to take back control of immigration and foreign policy, too long has Scotland taken a back seat, on international affairs. Recent events have shown that Europe is a friend to Scotland, if we reach out and make the effort.
Our voice around the globe is diminished inside this union, so much has changed politically since the first indyref in 2014 and the mental awareness of Scots has (in some for now) opened the prospects for new and exciting avenues of change. Change that can only be acquired if we reach out and grasp it.
Scotland can become so much more, but we have to believe in ourselves, to take a leap of faith, not just for our benefit but for our childrens too.
I’m reminded of Glasgow’s motto, Let Glasgow Flourish, only independence will let Scotland flourish.
Craig – I agree wholeheartedly with everything you’ve written here since it articulates many of my own concerns about the SNPs lack of a discernible election campaign. My own bugbear has been the utter failure not only to inspire, organise and mobilise it’s main resource – the vast increase in its membership following the Independence referendum – but to use the talent within these ranks to develop radical but eminently deliverable policies.
Cut a long story short: I live nearby (Campbell’s Close) and would be delighted to meet with you to discuss how the fairly moribund Edinburgh Central branch might be given a blood transfusion. Happy to meet in Hemma one evening to buy you a drink!
Craig what we have lost is the amatuer elan of the SNP. During the 70s. we had around 50,000 members and from that we had twic as many activists as he have today and this from a membership of 120,000.
In recent times I have sat through branch and CA meetings that made me feel as though I was on the set of Yes Minister.
The problems we have are not just with some of the heid bummers but local members and some paid staff who think we need permission for eveything.
My local branch in Perth-shire (Almond and Earn) turned down my offer to screen the film London Calling on the basis it would offend the BBC.
Politicians know better, or so they think.
They are right and we are wrong.
They just will not listen.
What a great piece. I have been considered and even tweeted the idea of taking indyref temp off the table to show just how the other parties have no policies,but this piece has shown I was very much mistaken. I have also tweeted about how powerful insights change beliefs which change behaviours which change results. This piece is case in point. More please……
How can it be constitutional (i.e. legal) for the Conservatives to invite the D.U.P. into the Westminster government?
We have the Peace Process which obliges Westminster to be even-handed balancing both communities in N. Ireland?
We have the issue of the D.U.P.’s still unresolved disagreements with Sinn Fein in the assembly, and the role of Westminster in their resolution? If direct rule were imposed, then the D.U.P. would be de facto effectively in control.
Has anyone in the Tory Party considered these realities, or are they so obsessed with retaining power in the House of Commons they are prepared not to consider them?
I predict a Conservative minority government with Philip Hammond as P.M. within a week.
I’ve read somewhere that Sinn Fein have declared that the May’s Tory/DUP arrangement is a direct violation of the Good Friday Agreement.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/what-connects-brexit-the-dup-dark-money-and-a-saudi-prince-1.3083586
Is this another piece in the puzzle of the DUP’s fellowship with Theresa May’s Conservative Party?
Putting the pieces of this DUP puzzle together has invoked some threats. Here is a dusty but somewhat relevant primer in another ‘follow the money’ trail:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland-assembly-election/revealed-group-that-funded-dups-425000-brexit-ad-campaign-35477951.html
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/adam-ramsay-peter-geoghegan/secretive-dup-brexit-donor-links-to-saudi-intelligence-service
What? Did they actually agree that any party in NI must be loyal to Stormont and can’t be in charge of another Government?
I mean, we have triple hatters on our local councils who see nothing wrong to do three jobs. Can you elucidate please Macky.
Saw it in a tweet, but now being reported in the Mirror;
“Sinn Fein say that DUP-Tory pact breaks terms of Good Friday Agreement
Sinn Fein have said that a possible Tory-DUP pact would be in violation of the Good Friday Agreement which stipulates that the British government should be impartial when it comes to the government in Northern Ireland.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/live-election-reaction-theresa-set-10597300
Thanks, Macky, so should they be part of a negotiation team they could be rejected by the other side not wanting to interfere or take sides in the good Friday agreement, basically rejecting them as not representative of the UK overall?
a lawyers paradise
You bet.
Conservatives are taking one for the team right where it hurts most.
The D.U.P.? You have to be joking.
Minority government with a grownup in No.10 has to be a 1000pc better answer than the burning red-hot poker and a jettison of the Good Friday Agreement.
You mirror the thoughts of many! As the 2014 indyref (and the Momentum movement) have demonstrated, there are plenty of people who want real change and who fully comprehend the insanity of austerity, the current bank-dominated system and destructive foreign policies, but if their opinions aren’t reflected by political leaders there’s no-one to effectively take that spirit and message forward, we can’t underestimate how important inspiring leadership is to political change. I know that blogs like this and organisations such as Common Space are effective, but if the SNP, as the most powerful political voice in Scotland can’t reflect the need for change, we’d have to wait a long while before an alternative effective leadership emerges, which would be a terrible waste.
beautiful paintings and singing Rose
seconded, great colours Rose. My wife’s sister lives in Lochgoilhead and she prints collographs of the surrounding countryside and elsewhere, she also teaches because her techniques are quiet unique.
She used to live in Dorset, which comes out in her prints.
enjoy, her triptychs are gorgeous.
http://www.rossthompsonprints.com/galleries/gallery%20VIII
I must agree with you that the SNP fought a low lustre campaign. Their Party Political Broadcast was a joke. No way did it inspire people to vote SNP. Time to rid themselves of spin doctors who are obviously wasting party funds and I certainly agree that the SNP need to rediscover the spirit of Independence. most importantly they must reconnect with the Scottish people especially their own supporters.
Craig I have to disagree with most of your comments,first of all the SNP stated that it would not hold an indy2 ref until it was sure that most of the people of Scotland were behind it, then after the Brexit vote it proved that a lot of SNP supporters wanted out leaving Nicola on a tightrope,if she goes hard on Indy as you would have wanted she would have completely alienated these supporters,supporters who although may have voted for another party still want indy.
Then there’s the media, you say she should have been more positive, how when as she was being interviewed the BBC stopped her mid stream to cut to Theresa May so she could say stong and stable, the other parties and their spin doctors backed by the media rounded and constantly pushed the Scottish governments week point continuesly, and when it comes to people understanding the pros and cons most people I see can’t even decide to cross the road on the green man.
Nicola Sturgeon is right in this war of attrition,stand back and see where the Tory bombs land, unfortunately this might be very painfull for some but after Brexit,deal or no deal the SNPs hand could be strengthened considerably.
I believe you are correct. Where was the passion ? We are fighting for independence not playing cricket.
I’m afraid our leaders of the SNP have fallen to the three deadly sins of successful politicians – ego, hubris and sloth. Time for a take-over by some new blood with the fire of revolution in their bellies and the determination to overcome the obstacles put in place by the seductive rewards on offer from the Establishment. Time for a non-violent reincarnation of the SNLA, to act as a focus and keep the pot of Scottish Independence boiling.. We must stop playing the game by their rules, or we will always be part of the UK.
This is the moment to once again remind readers : do not go a-whorin’ after false gods !
Thank you for that comment of the Conservatives choice of partner, Habbakuk, for once you have said something with passion, spoke the truth.
Even Norfolks hardest Tory’s, there is a poll nationally for these hapless members to have a say, the majority wants her to resign, not only you.
If 10% of the electorate roughly have stopped supporting or voting for the SNP but are still Yes, then surely that points to the Yes movement needing to be something that folds in everyone, including people of no party. Part of the problem is this continued close identification of Yes and SNP. There isn’t even a Yes movement any more. There is something, the SIC, but nothings’s happening! I’m ready, but I don’t want back on the big yellow bus. I want to be part of a diverse body of people that are not hidebound by party politics.
Surely if she had discussed a post independence Scotland the opposition would have had justification for saying that the SNP only talk about independence? I assumed that’s why they kept away from the subject and stuck to defending their Holyrood record and performances in Westminster.
Before the election people out canvassing for the Conservative party in Cowie were harassed and intimidated by SNP activists. They say this is far from unusual.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/general-election/police-investigate-get-out-of-scotland-abuse-video-1-4457902?hh=
Stephen Kerr won Stirling for the Conservatives with 18,291 votes, a swing of 14%, he beat the SNP by just 148 votes.
Yet everyone seems to be pointing their fingers at the party leadership and blaming them for the SNP bad fortunes, it was Lorna Taylor, a rank and file activist that won Stering for the Conservatives and I wouldn’t mind betting that wasn’t the only seat rank and file activists lost for the SNP.
Agree 100%. Nicola was not on top of her game this election. All that you said, plus the details like having no comeback to that underpaid nurse, and revealing a private conversation with Kezia Dugdale. I know it has been in the public domain, but it looked like betraying a confidence.
Pleased to hear that you are going to become active again , this was a very astute appraisal of what is happening . you are correct , it has to have a bit more passion and vision , being good Councillors aint gonna cut it. We need a much more aggressive stance against the three headed monster that the media feeds us relentlessly. I think that the wake up call that this election has provided will be historical. Thank you TM.