I was just talking to an old friend in the European Commission about Scottish Independence. He said within the Commission there would now be overwhelming support for it and for immediate Scottish membership of the EU. He then added “But please can you leave Dr Fox with the English?”.
He was joking, but it led me to think about the loyalties of Unionist politicians. I don’t doubt Dr Fox would stay with the English – there will be no power in prospect for Tories in Scotland.
When asked in an interview during the last Indyref where his loyalty would lie if Independence won, then Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael replied without hesitation that of course he was a Scot and he would be loyal to Scotland. Where, I wonder, would Fluffy Mundell’s loyalties lie? The border is a short hop for him. Colonel Ruthie Davison has always had her eyes on high office at Westminster, and I expect she would be quickly down the A1. As for Labour, I don’t suppose anyone in England especially wants Richard Leonard. To be fair, I suspect Gordon Brown is not going anywhere and would reconcile himself to being the Scot who, in his own mind, saved the World. Wouldn’t it be lovely if J K Rowling upped sticks and went to be closer to her beloved Tony Blair?
With Scotland in the EU and England outside, would Andrew Neil be allowed to “queue jump” and stay as a top Tory at the England and Wales Broadcasting Corporation? Or would he fall victim to a hostile environment? Surely the mighty Laura Kuenssberg would demand a larger field for her snide right wing jibes than her home country?
I offer the “which way would the unionists jump” game to those of you whose minds have been frazzled by the banal spectacle of the results of British hubris, as relayed to us from Westminster all week. The game works much better with a few drams of Caol Ila.
“Wouldn’t it be lovely if J K Rowling upped sticks and went to be closer to her beloved Tony Blair?”
Yes, their world views are spookily similar. (Judging Ms Rowling’s from her Harry Potter books).
Be careful lads, she’s sick of ‘liberal’ men whose mask slips every time a woman displeases them
She is very litigious when she can’t win an argument. Money helps you shout abit louder than others. Hoeever it doesn’t me you’re right.
Sure RoS. But it’s from her own tweet: https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/873208137028915203
Admittedly out of context and a little tongue-in-cheek on my part!
Well that’s OK as far as I’m concerned – I have never thought of myself as a “liberal man”. I believe in many liberal ideas and aspirations, but I have noticed with regret that many people who call themselves “liberal” seem to have a knack of causing great harm in the world.
Smearing Jeremy Corbyn is another of her pastimes.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/23/jk-rowling-mocks-jeremy-corbyn-brexit-stance-twitter-thread
Might be better to stay within the Union and reform it from within?
2014, David Cameron live on tv, Scotland don’t leave us, lead us. After no won, we never heard another peep from Cameron except to say that HRH purred when she heard the Jocks voted no.
2019, Scotland shut up and eat your cereal, and don’t expect a voice in the Brexit debacle. Labour every now and then when they need suckers to vote for them, spew out the tired old chestnut of reforming the HoL.
Westminster to Scots is a lost cause time to move on.
Incidently David Cameron persuaded Obama to say to Scots to stay in the union, recent reports suggest Cameron even asked Putin to say the same, but he told him to get on his bike or something similar from a spokesperson.
Fully understand. I lost faith in Westminster many years ago.
Obama also asked the UK to stay in the EU. Well threatened…
To be fair, the referendum allowed the population of England a democratic voice, which has never been allowed in votes about the nature of the union.
HM, surely?
Did we not say that 312 years ago Freddy?… And where did that get us?
Nowhere Robin. I get it 🙂
I trust your tongue is firmly in your cheek!
Why is Theresa May still Prime Minister??
https://off-guardian.org/2019/01/17/why-is-theresa-may-still-prime-minister/
Good question..
So that she and Corbyn can continue to stall for a few weeks more until the goal is safely reached.
Self fulfilling preparations
http://theportugalnews.com/news/europe-prepares-for-no-deal-brexit/48095
[ Mod: “remember kronstadt” = “charming“.
From Craig’s moderation rules for commenters:
Please use one identity only. ]
Craig, can I ask you this?
Do you – or this blog – get funding other than donations called for on this site?
PS Feel free to swear in your response, as seems to be your style.
ná bí chomh cladhartha sin!
Perfectly fair question. No. I earn some money working on various projects in Africa, but not connected to the blog.
A related trivia thought experiment: who will be the last Scottish member of the house of lords?
Some background on the last Irish peer (of course, there are still peers from NI):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Needham,_4th_Earl_of_Kilmorey
I’m amazed that the Daily Express, obnoxiously racist and pro-Brexit rag that it is, asks the question about Prince Philip that I thought the media were too scared to ask, namely has he got a driving licence?
He’s 97, has just been involved in a car crash which was presumably his fault (because if it was the other driver’s fault the reports would have said), so that is the obvious question. Drivers aged 70 and over have to renew their licences every three years.
He was definitely driving on a public road. If he was doing it without a licence, and more than that he caused two people to need hospital treatment because of his crap driving, his arse should be hauled into court. Almost everybody else’s would be.
Have the people he injured spoken to the press yet? Or have they been made an offer for their silence that they can’t refuse?
The Daily Heil says in the context of Prince Philip’s car crash (Norfolk 2019, not Paris 1997) that “experts (claim) younger drivers are statistically more likely to crash”. You know someone’s talking shit when they say something like that. Some scribe has written “experts say” in front of what their pathetic Tory brain tells them must be stated because it helps the royal family. What do statistics have to do with the question of whether a given person should be allowed to drive, let alone with the question of whether they were driving legally? Absolutely nothing.
” (Norfolk 2019, not Paris 1997) ”
Ha ha!
Surely there are drivers available that he can use?
Maybe the drivers refuse?
He likes driving himself. There wasn’t even a protection cop with him.
N_
I noticed that the injured people in the other car were taken to the local hospital (3 miles away) but HRH was rushed to Sandringham where he was seen by a doctor. Everybody in a car accident should get themselves checked out because injuries are not always evident immediately. I suspect there is more to this than meets the eye knowing the Royals alleged propensity towards the dreadful grog. Perhaps he did not want the world to know that the hospital found a minute amount of blood in his alcohol-stream. It’s a joke your highness, and one I would dare not have made in the days of Henry VII.
I hope the above does not bar me from my application as Royal Chauffeur to the old Duke. After all I’m only 73 and a paragon of discretion. I have had no recent endorsements either on private roads or public roads. Please confirm that the job-description does not entail any other (more menial) work, and that I can sit on the bonnet of the RR while waiting for a driving commission, that it is not a zero-hours job, and I am not forced to watch bloody Polo. Thanks for the consideration.
Or Henry VIII.
John, the newspapers said that Philip was breath-tested at the scene.
I wondered, as most people will have done, whether a man of his age should be driving. But after all, if he remains physically and mentally fit – which he apparently is – why not?
The accident arose from a very nasty set of conditions that has afflicted most of us at one time or another – having to pull out onto a main road with fast traffic, while the low winter sun dazzles one. I suppose the counsel of perfection would be to back up and go by another route, but that’s not always possible.
While discussing the story, I was told of a 30-year-old man who did exactly the same thing – only he was killed outright and left a widow and two children.
Are you now resting your case?
Anyway, to answer Craig’s original question: whether unionist or not, the vast majority of Scots will do as they have always done – follow the money.
Despite Craig’s recent dig at Qashqui owning suburban voters being scared of indie. It’s a big ask to expect people to embrace a vision that is obviously fraught with risk. Salmons knew that which is why he was seeking devo max not a full independence vote the idea being to move forward in stages – ofcourse cameron the ulterior motive man had a good idea it would be premature but a good way to paint Ed Miliband – already unpopular outside London as a Westminster stooge and he did it brilliantly, And more over Neoliberal new Labour did not know how to deal with it either, because let’s face it they were so desperate to be still in charge. Labour could not deal with being in opposition again and flailed. I make no excuses for them either they were dreadful a headless Blairite chicken.
Gordon Brown realized that if the real money has been stolen [ for funding Zionism ] it actually doesn’t matter if you print QE to fill the black hole. As well, because nobody saw the stolen money, nobody can accuse you of your complicity.
We know Blair and Brown’s guilty twitches, like failing light bulbs. But Mrs May is not destroying 3rd party nations.
She’s destroying us. We thought we were family.. but apparently we are not.
Comments from today’s John Helmer article on the Skripal’s house rip apart. Whole lot more at link, he can smell a rat like the rest of us.
The destruction of the main roof of the Skripal house and of the roof above Skripal’s study is the first evidence that the alleged nerve agent has been found in the interior, far beyond the range which the alleged Russian agents’ spray could have penetrated. The demolition plan also covers areas of the interior which Bailey did not reach in his March 4 inspection.
Forensic sources believe this is circumstantial evidence for two new conclusions. The first is that the poison was inside the Skripal house and inside Sergei Skripal’s study before the alleged attack on the door handle. Until and unless the British authorities explain why they are demolishing the roofs and other interior property, which only Sergei Skripal, not Sgt Bailey, could have contaminated on March 4, the sources believe no other inference is probable.
The second conclusion is that it was Skripal who exposed himself to a poison he was handling inside the house. That he did so by accident is likely; the accident theory was first reported here, on March 25, 2018.
The only independent British investigator of the affair, Rob Slane, has announced that he is retiring from the case. Here is his last word. “Even as I was finishing this piece off, yet another round of nonsense was unleashed; this time, the news that the roof of 47 Christie Miller Road (including the roof of the study) is to be taken off and replaced. Remember, we’re talking about a substance that can be cleansed with baby wipes. Remember, we’re talking about a substance that apparently breaks down after 80 minutes of exposure to the air. But 11 months later, it is again so deadly, that a whole roof needs replacing! Of course the media is not bothering to ask the obvious questions about this action, such as: How exactly could the roof timbers have become contaminated? Who could have contaminated them? D.S. Bailey? But why would he have been in the attic? Why is the ceiling / roof in Zizzis [restaurant] not being replaced? Why has the roof in The Mill [pub] not been dismantled? What was really in the attic? Obvious questions, yet none of them will be asked.
In conclusion, I think it abundantly clear that what we have been told about what took place on 4th March in the beautiful city of Salisbury is not, in fact, true. It is clear that something else happened, and much of what we have seen since then has been theatre and an attempt to cover up what actually took place.”
http://johnhelmer.org/british-government-demolishes-skripal-house-roof-falls-in-on-theresa-may-as-evidence-grows-that-sergei-skripal-poisoned-himself-by-accident/#more-20250
@JohninMK 19:43
And, according to the Daily Mail, there is radioactive material in Skripal’s house, as well as Novichok:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6584645/Military-biohazard-suits-remove-windows-home-ex-spy-Sergei-Skripal-deep-clean.html
The page has been up since 12 January 2019 and nobody seems to have disputed it.
There is another much more likely explanation you have overlooked. The whole Skripal story is a ragbag of ten facts, and one thousand and ten fictions. The concept of destroying evidence is nothing new. The concept of keeping a false news story alive is nothing new either.
Precisely so, TonyF12. It has been glaringly obvious for nearly a year that the only fact of which we can be certain is that HMG, the police, perhaps some of the media and others have been lying in their teeth, deliberately and on an industrial scale.
They couldn’t even be bothered to keep their stories more or less consistent, so it’s clear they don’t care whether we believe them or not.
Blair’s Scottish , born in .Edinburgh…just sayin’.
Be careful what you wish for. Good sense among English speakers isn’t to be taken for granted. Recent examples include rejecting fairer voting systems; rejecting Scottish independence; electing Trump(US); voting for Brexit . Are Scots any better? You’d hope so . But Murdoch is Scottish so….
The Electoral system is pretty solid already, but you’d need a strong written constitution and proper transparency/oversight/ FoI laws to keep a ‘free rein’ spook state from developing, as has happened in the UK.
….Suppose the Trump one is 50/50 , as the choice between him and hawkish, corporatist Hillary was an atrocious one to make. I’m English , but had I had a vote I’d have probably voted for Jill Stein.
Voting for Stein was considered by many a vote for Trump.
Was that before, or after the election.
After bj, precisely 🙂
You know, the trouble with Hillary & the DNC is, they’re so degenerate, even their hindsight isn’t 20/20.
Apparently, the causes of the loss of what had already been god-given to them are:
1. Stein
2. Trumpians
3. Putin
They will remain forever blind to the fact that:
a. They, before the election, propped up Trump themselves because they thought they could win from him
b. They flew over large swaths of the country rather than land there and get in touch with the natives
c. Their incompetence in matters political, technical, scientific and ethical was evident to many among the more affluent parts of society
and will thus, in their godawful –scuse my french– arrogance, never see that some of 1, 2 and 3 contradict or raise questions, all of a, b and c should raise –but don’t– their eyebrows, and thus they will never gain the insight to that, which was and is conspicuous to many, which did Hillary in — not Stein, not Trumpians, not Putin — but Hillary’s:
i. blood thirst
ii. power hunger
iii. money addiction
It is exactly those that share these corporal ailments with her that mourn her loss.
I hear a lot about the degeneracy and venality of the British Empire – with good reason, and to much shame – on this blog. But yet, no reasoned or balanced view on why the EU would serve the Scottish better as as nation.
Can anyone here come to me and say that trading one empire is better than another? And, if so, why?
Pretty sure Craig can’t. Otherwise he’d be peddling it big time.
PS @ SE. Mr Craig Murray. No disrespect. Fortunate to be even able to comment
@freddy
I mostly agree with you re. replacing 1 master with 27 masters, but with a not-so-slight change:
replacing 28 masters with 27.
Or 27 with 26? (I stopped counting).
I’m no expert on US politics, as I stated I’m from the UK.
Trump vs Clinton seemed to be a choice between two unpalatable options though. I don’t envy our American friends with the state of politics over there. At least you have primaries and states hold referendums offering some hope of changing various things.
I know after Bernie was out, many progressives felt completely bereft.
Goose, II see that. Not sure Bernie is to be trusted….
“Trump vs Clinton seemed to be a choice between two unpalatable options ”
True.
That’s why it started to matter that one’s hands were dripping with blood, the other’s were not.
Once Bernie was out of the way the only way to stop Clinton was to vote for Trump. Which is what I would have done had I been entitled to vote.
AV isn’t fairer, quite the opposite.
I am sure AV would be fairer, especially if a “None of The Above” box was included too.
“Blair’s Scottish , born in .Edinburgh…just sayin’.”
Well, Jesus was born in a stable but he’s not a horse.
(What signifies “just saying” beyond making the speaker sound like a cretinous bit player in a cheap Western?)
Which way would the Nationalist jump in the event of war or economic crisis?
Which way upon graduation, or when scouring the job market?
It’s a divisive game best played in private with a dram, but not taken too seriously. No one should identify too much with a race, a tribe, their DNA, their culture, their nation, their language or even their family or their job, or their title or anything. You are who you are and nationalism is for suckers and patsies. In a crisis, in a war then sure enough one should know who one can rely upon but other wise just get on with what you can in the the environment you find yourself, or if you don’t like meander along if permitted to do so.
Scottish nationalists who look down on Scottish Unionists who have done alright in London are deluding themselves if they feel they have some sort of moral high ground. We all take advantage of the opportunities before us and hopefully if we are presented with ethical choices we make the right ones. Those ethical conundrums present themselves to Scottish Nationalists and Unionists both. Whether we are making the right choices is something known to our consciences, but we don’t know this about others or if we do then we shouldn’t be tolerant of their weaknesses and consider how hypocritical we are most of the time.
“we should be tolerant of their weaknesses” not shouldn’t be tolerant (!!) – excuse my Freudian slip there revealing my own intolerance of others…..
As a Scot resident in Luxembourg, I wouldn’t be too sure about the welcoming from the European Commission. I well remember Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s then and current foreign minister, demanding in 2013 that an independent Scotland be thrown out of the EU and its economy destroyed. He finished his intolerant rant with the statement that “..Scotland is a small country and it must collaborate with England to remain in the EU”. Given he has represented Luxembourg at the Council of Minsters since 2004, do you think he was speaking out of turn or just blurting out the truth? Certainly, he seems to be a recurring performer in “Project Fear” productions.
The EU is another imperial construct. People with no grasp of history (or people with a grasp of history who want to turn it to their own ends) pretend it is something different.
Choose your empire, Scottish serfs.
Indeed. Today’s letter to the Times from the Germans isn’t an altruistic move. The German “restaurant bill” has gone up by EUR4bn. It wasn’t meant to be like this. They benefit hugely from the EU with little cost to themselves.
I have little time for empires of any kind. They are usually vainglorious enterprises that cause ruin for all….
Kirk, thank you. that makes sense to me
Mr.Pau!’s objections to the EU derive from his view that it is a bid to impose German/French hegemony on the member states of the EU.
Original thinker this Mr Paul fellow, but a bit lacking in logical clarity there, no?
I think you will find that Brexit has changed even his view.
Assleborn was taking the side of a powerful EU member state. Next time round England are extremely unlikely to have remained a member of the EU.
Which powerful Member State will Asselborn side with next? After all the Luxembourgers worked with France and Belgium (Arbed now ArcelorMittal) to help close Ravenscraig.
Given Juncker’s propensity to look after the French and German national interest (see Politico June 2016 et al) we won’t get a look in. We have no friends in Europe and the best we can hope for from the EU is to be used as their footsoldiers in political or proxy wars. I thought we had given up that role in the 1800’s.
As a Luxembourg resident, I can tell you that the Scots are seen as an irrelevance here (by the Luxembourgers, Belgians, French and Germans). Note the German’s letter to the Times played to English national characteristics. Then again, when a personality cult like Sturgeon does little to advance Scotland its no wonder we are ignored and our future is bleak.
More fool Asselborn! He had no need to do so. His desire to do so shows the malevolence at the heart of the EU..
Well I’m not putting sixpence in your collection plate.
this week russian news agency is bringing us this:
Assad returns to the League of Arabian States
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-uae-egypt-israel-syria-khashoggi-1467976694
Russia refuses to participate in and to pay for member’s fee to PACE
https://ria.ru/20190115/1549402177.html (rus lang)
Investors bought the Russian national debt: demand for paper more than doubled supply
https://ria.ru/20190117/1549457372.html (rus lang)
Saudi Arabia is planning major investments in the petrochemical industry in Russia
https://ria.ru/20190117/1549524098.html (rus lang)
Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Berlin, sent letters to German companies asking not tot support Nord Stream 2
https://www.rt.com/news/448696-us-ambassador-threat-nordstream/
This, this toxic sob Grenell keeps meddling with German politics.
I’d kick his ass and declare persona non grata if I were German.
I sound excited.
But I could have sworn the first ‘This’ was typed as ‘Yes’.
more russian news report, Putin is visiting Serbia
Vucic says he is eager to see Serbia as a hub for russian gas through Turkish Stream, to drive it farther to European countries.
They’ve just signed some pepers, I’m not sure, is it connected with gas supply or not.
What will we do with Bulgaria? their president’s words became a type of meme in Russia “big brother, smaller brother” and Putin saying “I do not mind being called the “big brother” untill you ask the big brother to pay for everithyng. Bulgaria was an expected gas hub for then ‘South Stream’ and just denied it due to EU pressure.
Saudi Arabia? any treaties with them? after Khashoggie’s murder ??? I don’t know how it is possible!
Seems Putin agreed a potential $1.5B for upgrading the Serbian gas pipeline network. I think the term ‘hub’ in both the Serbian and Bulgarian cases is an exaggeration the actual hub is Baumgarten in Austria. This is Russia smoothing the way on behalf of Turkey to get the gas up from landfall in Turkey to the EU. To get round the EU 3rd Energy Directive the pipe will have to allow 50% non Russian gas capacity.
The EU/Bulgaria buckled under pressure from the US to cancel SouthSteam. It cost Bulgaria several $B in transit fees..
Why should Putin care about a Washington Post reporter when the Washington Post doesn’t?
Russia lost 800 millions euro on the South Stream, and Bulgaria only said “excuse me”. And in its turn, lost opportunity to get transition fees. Ukraine is struggling to keep transit, and Bulgaria just refused it. Amazing.
Francois Holland cancelled the deal on Mistral warships. Refunded 900 millions euro. Many ship building companies struggle to get good orders, and France just refused it. Awesome.
But no worry, those EU citizens who expected to work on the cancelled projects, they can easily migrate to another country. Freedom of movement. They can complain. Freedom of speech. Ater all, they’ve lost money for democracy’s sake!
Tatyana, I understood, both “aircraft” carriers were sold on to Egypt and are now in use blockading Yemen.
Another illustration of how US influences simple workers through EU and sanctions against Russia –
Aughinish Alumina, the largest in Europe alumina refinery near Limerick, Ireland.
https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0116/1023487-aughinish-alumina/
I know there are people from Ireland here on the blog. I wish I knew what is their opinion. Are they really ready to close the plant and loose jobs?
Tatyana, another mining problem for Ireland, potentially the largest gold mining prospect in Western Europe, is 2/3 in The United Kingdom and 1/3 in The Republic of Ireland, yet it had been agree by both governments that it would be run as on concern.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAXTBa-xrHk
Probably will not now happen, for years, unless Ireland leave the E.U. as well.
The very idea that some congressmen of another country very far away across the ocean, the country that has no shares in your refinery, that men decide, if you have job tomorrow!
Is it democracy?
Long time US spokesman at the UN under Bush Jnr.
Had his own PR set up and has been a contributor on Fox News. Enough said. He speaks for Trump on Nord Stream 2.
On here.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Grenell
Thought this for a very long time, these ” people” have never had a good thing to say about Scotland ,so, why should they have a say in an Independent Scotland ? But would they want to ? I think they are more interested in the pension in the other house, but maybe years down the line the people of england will then rebel to have the Lord’s removed as they can not afford them
As quick as a flash, a new Land Rover is delivered for the use of the old lizard.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2019/01/18/prince-philip-crash-duke-takes-delivery-another-land-rover-will/
Not new by the sound of it, just re-positioned from Balmoral.
Why weren’t royal protection officers in the car? Palace faces questions over why Prince Philip was on his own at time of crash – as Princess Diana’s ex-bodyguard claims Duke ‘would often take off without security’
Duke of Edinburgh’s was without a bodyguard during crash near Sandringham
Security team followed in a car behind and arrived after driver rescued Duke
Ken Wharfe says Philip has a reputation for giving his police team the runaround
He told MailOnline: ‘He would say things like “I don’t need you, leave me alone”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6607013/Palace-faces-questions-Prince-Philip-time-crash.htm
I don’t think they like him.
The use of the word ‘loyalty’ is interesting – loyal to what exactly? Is what I am trying to figure out. I am not sure the Scottish psyche perceives loyalty as a thing into itself (in very general terms). Certainly no loyalty to the state. Loyal to yourself, loyal to your community or family maybe. (Plenty to football teams). Loyalty to a country – is that the piece of ground or people on it? You can’t be loyal to all the people, because we will always have people like Murdo Fraser and Gordon Brown (etc etc). I’d prefer to hear words and phrases like – support – care about – believe in. Loyalty sounds a bit to close to swearing fealty to a monarch or something. All the BritNat politicians will be looking after their own interests, as usual, whether that’s in Scotland or not is up to them.
But please please please can we do away with the list system at Holyrood – we need to stop paying dimwit leeches like Murdo Fraser that no one votes for.
Being in the EU will give an independent Scotland some stability in the first place, and the regulations seem to suit Scotland – I look forward to Scotland complying with the tax evasion regulations, it should ensure the SLPs are used properly (or scrapped) – we are well ahead of the game in the carbon reduction green stuff. We might find having a greater say in the EU suits us (more bods in the parliament) – but, if not, well, we can decide if we want to stay or not at any future time, now we know how not to do it. The idea that somehow we lose independence because we have a membership agreement with the EU – they do not have fiscal autonomy over us for a start – in fact I can finish there, the list is endless. The world does not end after independence, at least I thought not, judging by the, what, 60? Other countries that have gained independence from England. And nothing is set in stone.
Anyway, there is an EU petition up, asking for the Europian parliament to debate the acceptance of Scotland if it chooses to become independent:
https://www.new-direction.scot/european-parliament-petition-on-scotlands-independent-membership-of-the-eu/
The website gives directions on what to do to put your name down, registration is necessary.
Thanks for the link to the petition which I have signed. Let’s get out of this hell hole now.
Interesting point about the list system at Holyrood. One of the key reasons why John Prescott’s scheme to introduce regional government in England failed was because it based on regional reps being party members selected from party lists. Although commonly used in many countries, there is considerable hostility in England to the idea of representatives selected from party lists. .
The list system is pretty rubbish, you don’t get any choice on the people allocated, makes the whole thing impersonal and even more party political. For councils you want STV voting, it is apparently the fairest system around at the moment, though far more complex voting and makes it harder to do any tactical voting. In Scotland we have three voting systems, and it gets confusing, but we need to get away from the atrocious FPTP bipartite system.
Loving this post Craig.
A pebble Somwhere Found
Vibrating, A Scottish sound
Yes stones on the Ground.
J
Ta for those Videos..Wonderful.
I was out tonight at the Premier of ‘ Mary Queen of Scots ‘ With Inverclyde for Independence group
A Powerful History Lesson.. All I really Knew was Mary was Queen of Scotland, and got Beheaded.
Great Acting by the Two Queens.. And portrayed well the dificulties of women trying to rule a mans world back then. There was a Big difference in the 2 Queens relationship with the Gentle girls.
Probably the Quietest long Movie I have ever seen.. Mostly Dialogue.. Over all I thought a Complex Long Tale well told.
I’m perfectly ok with a wee bit of Historical Omissions / Inacuracies, as it’s a Film.. not a Documenary
The Film makes one want to read up on This .
The Trailer
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Official Trailer #2
«the dificulties of women trying to rule a mans world»
The matronarchy of the past dozen thousand years has always been ruled by women, men merely have been doing the governing, to the women’s benefit. Many married men will understand…
CM – ” … but it led me to think about the loyalties of Unionist politicians”
I’m probably on dodgy ground, but an examination of the (possibly) resolved equal pay dispute at Glasgow council might offer some idea of unionist loyalties. The dispute began in 2006 under a Labour ( = unionist) council. In 2017 the SNP ( = indie) took over the council promising to resolve the dispute. It took a strike to boot the SNP up the backside, but it looks as if the dispute may be resolved.
Doubtless much mud will be slung in various directions (the GMB are involved), so it might be wise to refer to Wings over Scotland for some clarity. Nevertheless, it appears to be the case that a unionist Labour council were happy to create this inequality between co workers, whilst an indie SNP at least committed to treating co workers equally.
Interesting that the GMB stook (crikey! where did that come from! stuck) loyally with a Labour council until the SNP were elected and then discovered that their loyalties should lie with the women. Loyalties can change.
Labour were only loyal to themselves.
Yes you are on Dodgy Ground
Labour fought tooth N Nail against this Eaqaul pay..Liebour started the strikes..As the establishment Do..Red Tories..
It took a About Three Years.. A Much more Important Disaster..By Tories / Labour 2 / half year for Brexit..And Way more U.k tax ££
Wake up
Re the equal pay issue in glasgow city council:
The SNP said since they gained office that they wanted to resolve the issue – that has taken 2 years for an agreement (what is outstanding is that each individual person needs to be evaluated separately, it will be a long, expensive, process).
The GMB Union stopped the talks for no reason and forced the strike, rumour has it.
Richard Leonard, now head of Labour in Scotland, was on the management team of GMB when these women were actively being denied fair pay by Labour-led GCC.
The Labour Party, in the GCC, fought against the women demanding fair pay by tribunal, spending millions of tax payer money to do so. Fought against fair pay – Labour.
The GMB Union had advised the women to take a rubbish deal – and some of them took it – those women have now brought law suits against GMB.
GMB have given Trade Unions a bad name. The Labour Party are hypocrites, and in council are often corrupt. (And would prefer to be in coalition with the Tories, than with the SNP).
There is no ‘appears’ in this case, this is all documented information in the public domain, GMB were complicit with a Labour council actively denying fair pay to women. And they spent millions to ensure they weren’t given fair pay! If anyone wonders why Labour are not a popular choice for voters in Scotland – their loyalties do not lie with the public, that’s for sure.
Thank you Very Much for that Info Contrary.
On Machiavellianism, I give you the Great Debunking Money – The Way the World Really Works – Full Length – Damon Vrabel (1)
https://d.tube/#!/v/tonefreqhz/tozmrn0l
Two Birds With one stone.
Federated Pound Stirling, Will Independent Scotland get the EURO?
https://longhairedmusings.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/a-fedearated-pound-striling-and-a-federated-euro-subsidiartity-and-complementary-currencies/
Its a Parcel of Rogues question really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lV_5Cdt4pQ #ParcelofRogues
So the Queen, who in her own kingdom is immune from criminal prosecution, does not wear a seatbelt when she is driving.
I’d be surprised if Prince Philip, the man who after the Dunblane massacre of 16 small children and one schoolteacher by gun nut Thomas Hamilton (himself connected with the abuse-ridden Queen Victoria School in Dunblane with which the said Prince was “patron”), sneered at the idea of a handgun ban by asking “Are you going to ban cricket bats?”, has ever passed a driving test or had a driving licence in his life.
It turns out now that there was a baby in the other car, who fortunately was uninjured. It also transpires that Prince Philip’s car may have been armoured.
Quite a record. In the Torygraph no less.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2019/01/18/prince-philips-decades-previous-collisions-remembered-norfolk/
Identity is often a multi-layered thing, but its a bit odd appealing to Scots to be exclusively loyal to Scotland, when this involves promoting open borders and Brussels rule, which would make Scotland as Scottish as London in a few years time.
Are you promoting a loyalty to the shape of a country, rather than the content of a country?
Based on Guardian ‘stories’ that Manafort has visited Julian, the US are interrogating Ecuadorian embassy officials about Julian’s visitors.
‘US investigators will on Friday begin to question diplomatic staff who were stationed at the Ecuadorian embassy in London during WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s years-long stay about his visitors, according to the whistleblower group.
It follows international subpoenas from the US Department of Justice, which is probing a report that President Donald Trump’s disgraced former 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort held secret talks there with Assange, Wikileaks said.’
https://www.france24.com/en/20190118-us-officials-ask-ecuador-embassy-staff-about-assange-visitors
I hope they stay shtum.
“I hope they stay shtum.”
That I do not understand.
I know its virtually impossible to establish a negative fact.
But if they all attest “saw nothing of the kind” nothing of the kind gains plausibility.
Neil Clark
@NeilClark66
Jan 13
Worth remembering when you come across someone claiming (preposterously) that #Israel has been ‘neutral’ & not involved in #Syria: ‘We struck thousands of targets’: IDF chief of staff on Israel’s ‘near-daily’ strikes in Syria
https://mobile.twitter.com/NeilClark66/status/1084369316584321025
No surprise here.
Lords of war: US weapons factories dominate global arms trade
https://www.rt.com/business/449171-us-weapons-first-sales/
19th January 2019
The latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed that sales of arms and military services by global majors totaled ++$398.2 billion in 2017++, marking a 44 percent growth over the past 15 years.
Lockheed Martin lead the league table. Remember they have the contract for the UK Census too. BAE are 4th.
Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say
We’re ready to face £1,000 fine, declare anti-war protesters in row over role of US arms firm Lockheed Martin in data gathering https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/feb/19/census-boycott-lockheed-martin
They collected £150m from the UK government which was under Agent Cameron and Cleggover at the time. I assume Labour had appointed Lockheed.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldintrel/250/250.pdf
This is a very interesting paper. Particularly the sections about the US-UK foreign policy relationship strains since the arrival of Donald Trump. Anyhow, whatever happens with D Trump, Westminster still believes its position requires it to be demonstrative and active in sustaining hostility towards Russia and China.
No mention I could see of the relationship between GCHQ and US security in enabling the US to spy on US citizens on US soil using GCHQ as offshore proxies.
It certainly defines that UK foreign policy has much more to do with being thick as thieves with Washington than it could ever be with the EU. It is easy to see that the EU would not regard the UK as a foreign policy partner except insofaras policies were compatible with Washington’s vision of the world.
“It is easy to see that the EU would not regard the UK as a foreign policy partner except insofaras policies were compatible with Washington’s vision of the world.”
The meaning of this phrase escapes me. I thought I had it, then re-read and… no.
An equally interesting question is how many Scots currently living in England would move to Scotland, were Scotland to become an independent country. My guess is initially not many. In time, the flow of migrants would reflect relative economic performance.
Of course, had the English been given the vote, Scotland would now be an independent country.
I reckon if Mrs May offered an English Independence Referendum they would jump at it and solve Scottish requests for Indyref2!
Given the popularity of ‘Scottish Independence’ darn sarf, it’s rather odd that none of the Westminster parties is hoovering up votes by putting it on the table.
Anybody would think they knew some stuff. that the general ignorati don’t.
In a 2016 interview, Professor Mark Blyth (a Scottish himself) spoke these words, that I find pretty relevant to this very day:
“If apparently there’s going to be a Brexit, a vote to get out, the Scots are going to vote to get back in. Ok, this is fun, right? So, you are going to give up George Osbourne, who is an austerity chancellor, for who? Dr. Schauble. So your nice little Scottish welfare state’s going to be protected by the tender embrace of the Germans. How is that working out for the Greeks?
People aren’t thinking this through. This is basically a revolt against technocracy. It is a revolt against governance by unrepresented, unelected, undemocratic elites […]”
I always found that part enlightening because it reminds us how charged with assumptions and political ideology these decisions are. Real problems about the economic paradigm, social organizazion and governance are basically being dismissed and turned into simplistic problems (stay or leave) with simplistic solutions. On both sides.
Very interesting. 🙂 I too am a fan of Professor Blyth. If the Scots bridle now at being controlled and funded from Westminster, once they become independent, will they get more funding and increased local control from Brussels?
I think another issue is that the regional development grants the UK’s “depressed” areas used to attract from Brussels, are no longer available: they now go to eastern europe when some of the rural areas are higher up the EU’s poverty index. So Scotland would not be eligible. Independence always has a price. How much will freedom from the UK cost in loss of income and how can the Scots make up any difference if one occurs ?
I have had this debate before here and been assured Scotland is more than capable of surviving financially without money from England. I do hope so. I think you need to do the sums very carefully as i do not see the EU making up any shortfall.
Options for Scottish financial indepence discussed:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/22/scotlands-public-finances-limit-its-independence-options
Mary P,
If as you say, your point has been answered repeatedly (and I can assure you it is indeed facile), then why do you continue to make it. Scotland is a net contributor to the Westminster pot. Don’t believe the pochled GERS figures, which include spending in the Home Counties as ‘Scottish’.
We are more than capable of fiscal and financial independence – and without Great State pretensions, we will live well, and comfortably within our means, whilst having a more equitable distribution of the wealth available, obviating the grotesque and obscene levels of social deprivation currently inflicted from Westminster.
Unless you provide evidence to the contrary, then please stop making the same erroneous point. It doesn’t look good.
Please read the link I supplied.
No country is truly Independent, but Iceland is more Independent than a devolved Scotland pretending to be Independent in the EU. The way they dealt with their criminal bankers and debt was the measure of an Independent country and sovereign Parliament. They jailed the bankers (or at least one) and said the bankers involved rather than the people carried the debt.
Can’t repeat that often enough.
Thank you.
Craig is of Italian descent. Why should instinctively relate to continental tribery as represented by the EU & Scottish tribery & English class tribery & any other tribery he sees fit. He is free to do all of that.
He has frequently told us that his Scottish nationalism is not a racist, but an inclusivist one. And it follows that his Scottish independence system would be inclusivist of anybody Scottish or not Scottish whether they had other loyalties to England, the EU or anywhere else.
What I believe is totally intolerable is to be told by the prime minister Theresa May that the vote to leave the EU is exclusivity I.e.us rejecting the presence of foreigners here and vice versa.
That idea I suspect has been seeded in her mind by the Zionists who have used this countries military and diplomatic supremacy for thirty years to serve their interests and pervert ours.
It is fundamentally unbritish , empire or no empire , to be racist. It’s so unbelievable a concept to us Brits that we haven’t been able to believe it for two and a half years of brexit
But now we know what she wants, and what she actually did as home secretary with Windrush, it is utterly reprehensible of the Tories to vote against her policy one day and vote for her, knowing what she thinks, the next.
The spectacle of raw Tory self-interest should be enough in a decent society tovshame the entire ruling class. If however the Tories stick to their shameless support of Theresa May’s pure racism, the offenders should be brought to court. If not the ECJ, then to the court of public opinion in a general election.
Unusually at this precise moment we have a man of decency and integrity available.
Some things are so glaringly obvious that it takes the entire MSM and commentariat to disguise the obvious fact of their intuitive indecency and his intuitively benign presence
Off topic: some more “official” info on the decontamination of the Skripals house for those like me, who remain interested in the reality gap berween what happened in Salisbury and what we are told
https://www.spirefm.co.uk/news/local-news/2777546/why-is-only-the-roof-being-removed-at-sergei-skripals-house/
What you should do with the old timber is burn it and repalce it with new timber.
Better still knock the house down. Check the ground underneath and build a new one.
A rumour going round at the time was that Mr Skripal didn’t own the house – it is/was a police house.
Possibly to help old defectors out in their retirement.
Looks like Spiderman put his Novichocked feet everywhere including the roof or the spraying of the door handle was too strong.
If there’s a squirrel in the loft then its life is in danger.
You would think the alleged journalists would have died of shame by now but there’s more to come from the Integrity Initiative.
Perhaps we wil be convinced that the earth is falt and the Russians have taken over the moon – the bit we don’t see of course.