The large majority of the financial support for this blog comes from supporters of Scottish Independence, and I have been extremely, extremely grateful for your support this past year.
But everybody who is OK with this particular gesture by Nicola Sturgeon, I should thank you now to cancel your subscriptions because I really don’t want your money.
For me, the death of millions of people in the Middle East, and Alastair Campbell’s role in the deliberate manufacture of a dossier of lies to cause an aggressive war that led to those deaths, were life-changing events. It led me to pursue the end of the imperialist British state.
If you think that the Iraq war was just a forgivable policy error I do not want your money. If you think that consorting gleefully with war criminals is a sensible bit of realpolitik I do not want your money.
Nicola spoke at the pro-EU rally today. It has been explained to me by countless people these five years that Nicola cannot speak at pro-Indy rallies – and she has not done so since 2013 – because as First Minister she has to maintain dignity and not take controversial political stances. If you think it is fine for Nicola to show zero interest to speak at pro-Indy rallies, yet show huge enthusiasm to join the Blairites at this event, I do not want your money.
Thank you.
Refunds are available on application.
The Independent Scotland which I want is not just for a continuation of UK neo-con defence and foreign policy. If you support that, stick with me. But not if you believe Nicola shares those goals. I have no desire to rob the deluded.
Craig,
I pay a modest amount each month because I feel it is important that voices away from the mainstream establishment are heard, and I will continue to do so.
I’m not Scottish and my only view on Scottish independence is that it should happen if that is the clear view of the majority of a well-informed Scottish population.
However, it seems to me that if your position is that you would like Scotland to be an independent country within the EU then, when faced with an imminent choice between being “part of the UK outside the EU” and being “part of the UK inside the EU” then the latter is closer to your goals.
I get your point about the apparent hypocrisy of Ms Sturgeon in declining to speak for independence whilst speaking for remaining in the EU. But pragmatically, the EU question is imminent, and if the UK leaves and its laws and regulations diverge from the EU then it would make it much less straightforward for a subsequently independent Scotland to rejoin the EU.
So it seems to me that pressing to keep the UK in the EU until the time is right for Scotland to gain its independence makes sense if your goal is an independent Scotland within the EU. Your disagreement with her seems to be over whether now is also a good time to push for Scottish independence. Given the apparent chaos that passes for a political system in the UK (as viewed from afar – I am currently based in Hong Kong) I think people could reasonably argue that now is not the right time.
Anyway, keep up the good work!
Paul
Yes I also pay a modest amount each month and agree with most of what Paul says. I’m not Scottish but if I had been I would have voted for independence. I also want to stay in the EU. The photo of Nicola with Campbell makes me want to vomit. I thought better of her than that.
Enough said.
“Nicola spoke at the pro-EU rally today. It has been explained to me by countless people these five years that Nicola cannot speak at pro-Indy rallies – and she has not done so since 2013 – because as First Minister she has to maintain dignity and not take controversial political stances.”
I mean, that’s utter bullshit right? The people explaining it thusly are just making shit up. She’s not the Queen. She’s leader of the SNP. Now, if I recall correctly, the first two words are Scottish and Nationalist. That ‘explanation’ is just spin, of a kind that Campbell would be proud.
I’ve never had any time at all for Nicola. I just don’t see it, whatever her talent is supposed to be, or whatever it is she’s meant to bring to the table, and I’ve never seen it. Alex Salmond – who she helped screw over – was and is the intellectual leader of the SNP, and a wily one at that. Nicola, she just has a tin ear.
No the second word is “National”
Ha Ha, thanks for correction. Clearly, I’m too dumb to be on the internet.
Hieroglyph – She is very popular with the ordinary Scottish people – that’s her talent. Being very popular with the people is a big positive when faced with elections and a possible referendum, don’t you think?
She may not be popular with the hard left/right or various commentators, and I don’t always think she is right, but among ordinary people who know nothing of neo-con politics, she is inspiring and has converted many of them to our cause. We have to actually win Independence first to change anything in Scotland, after that we can choose our options and I am sure that it will be a country free of Trident and one that will not take part in any of the neo-con wars that Craig is warning against. Don’t listen to Craig on this one – he needs to come out his little bubble now and again and breathe-in some reality.
Everyone is entitled to their views. Nobody is entitled to tell anyone else what their views should be.
The cause that unites us is Independence for Scotland.
That is infinitely more important than one person’s views, yet it is about all of us one persons being able to express our different views, and about Scotland being able to pursue our own course – whatever that might be.
Totally off topic (apologies in advance) but I’ve been wondering lately how the Remain crowd will react if Brexit is delayed indefinitely or canceled outright. My position has always been that anyone who believes in democracy needs to respect the outcome of the referendum, even if they voted against it. No endless deadline extensions, no “people’s vote”.
If Remain had won with 52% and Brexiteers demanded a referendum rerun or engaged in calculated stalling tactics would Remainers just shrug and accept that they didn’t “consider the implications” before casting their vote? Of course not.
Yes, maybe Brexit will turn out to be terrible for the average UK citizens’ quality of life and living standards. If that happens the Nigel Farages and Singapore on Thames enthusiasts can’t say “it’s the EU’s fault!” and that would go a long way to legitimizing the left’s position that tinkering around the edges of capitalism or swapping out the people at the top simply doesn’t work anymore. Whatever the case, trying to deny the validity of the referendum will have huge repercussions and such a move would be a massive own goal.
Leftist Remainers pro-EU stance certainly isn’t based on logic. I think it’s driven by fear of the unknown, social pressure and the gaslighting tactics of the pro-EU neoliberal media/think-tank wonks (e.g. the Guardian’s many “only crypto facsist bigots support Brexit” pieces).
Liberals are fine with the EU because they don’t care about what happens to people who aren’t them. Leftists, if they are at all genuine, do. But the left is weak and hamstrung by liberal gaslighting and ‘divide and rule’ propaganda that ruthlessly enforces adherence to neoliberal orthodoxy using tactics that exploit basic human social psychology. An effective left that has mass appeal potential needs to boldly define itself and its values and realize that there are mortal enemies trying to kill it. Going along with the liberal frame is a losing strategy. Repeating Guardian pro-EU talking points won’t win new recruits, ditto the Labour Party’s milquetoast “strategy” of appeasing the anti-Semitism mafia time and time again.
In short, the left needs to face reality and learn that when the other side opens fire using their pistols, pulling out a knife and shouting “let us talk!” is not the correct response. It’s about as effective as waving a white flag and joining them. If the left wants to win it will have to learn how to venture out of its comfort zone and wage guerilla warfare against its much stronger opponents on the near and far right. That is the first step until it becomes strong enough to fight its enemies directly.
Some years back when a forthcoming UK election looked likely to be a close run thing, I asked my sister, a long standing Labour Party activist, whether they would soften their stance on some issues if the election result was very close and they won a narrow victory. “Not at all”, she said, “A win is a win, I would expect the party to implement it’s manifesto in full.” Says it all really.
Only if you view politics wearing s blindfold. In reality, every left government bends over backwards to appease the right. The reverse never happens.
Actually, it doesn’t say it all. General Elections are very different from referenda. A close result in the last GE left May without a majority and vulnerable.
Your comparison doesn’t work. You’re not comparing like with like.
My point is, if the Remain group had won by a small margin, in a large turnout, would they be receptive to shrieks of We wuz robbed, from Brexit supporters claiming that Remain lied, that Remain voters were idiots who did not under what they were voting for , that Remain voters had not really won because the actual percentage of the vote was too small for it to be fair , that there should be a rerun etc etc etc. Somehow I doubt it.
Your point doesn’t work Mary Paul. You cannot compare a GE with a referendum.
You also ignore the fact that in a referendum on a subject as huge as this it is absurd and ludicrous to dismiss a result that is virtually half for and half against. By no stretch of the imagination can such a result be called decisive.
To me it is irrelevant who won a vote on a massive question. What matters is the result being decisive. What matters is having terms which make it clear what the definition of decisive is. What matters is that 51.9% isn’t remotely decisive.
Back in 1979 51.6% of Scots voted for Devolution. The result was deemed irrelevant and so wasn’t acted on. Know why? It didn’t represent 40% or more of the electorate. In 2016 51.9%, also represented less than 40% of the UK electorate. But guess what? No such rule applied there.
For what it’s worth, I absolutely accept that major decisions should pass if a vote is clear and decisive. My problem is that politicians don’t apply sensible standards right across the board.
FYI Nicola Sturgeon is on Marr this morning as are Keir Starmer and Stephen Barclay.
Brexit. Brexit. Brexit……….
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How refreshing. A man who cant be bought, congratulations
I agree with your views on Craig
He is a lone voice on so many issues that are important to me and others
Good luck to him
I shall continue with my paltry financial contributions
Regards
According to establishment rules he lost it long ago. But it’s an establishment that venerates unrepentant war criminals and austerity, so who cares?
sad to see the grins of the picture, but he’s been all over the pundit tv “live from parliament” shows. Can’t he just be elevated to the Lords, and dropped from all the state channels, sky, beeb etc,
I was mildly surprised whilst driving through rural Linconshire this week, that BBC Radio Lincs gave me a news item that was pro indy-ref!
And that’s the right to ask our people whether we would be better to take control of our future as an independent member of a European Union, not a second-class region in a failing British state
I suspect that young Adam Price is not in a position to call a referendum for Caerdydd, then secede, but people are still thinking of the benefits and options, which is nice.
( he reckons he’d get £2.5bn in structural funds from the EU, and four times as many MEPs as WAM) compared to ‘nowt from another UK PM who is about to do the ‘running away trick’ to solve her problems.
sorry to quote from such a blatantly biased corrupt website, but this wasnt carried on that many alternative voices https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-47656578
“Can’t he just be ….dropped from all the state channels, sky, beeb etc,”
Being dropped from a tall building might be more appropriate.
I really admire Nicola. I love to see women in high office speaking with supreme confidence and arguing cogently and forcefully. She is quick, articulate and clear. This photo, however, is misjudged and turns my stomach. It’s a holiday romance snapshot, made all the more toe-curling by AC’s casually worn spectacles. The drawn face of a spent man who can’t believe his luck.
“It’s a holiday romance snapshot”
At a rough guess, the number of selfies Sturgeon’s been in, she must have had over 100,000 holiday romances, hundreds in the same day, including with me and my boy!
Campbell should already be resident in the EU. At The Hague. With Blair.
NO.
At Nuremberg, publicly displayed at the end of a rope.
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I’m not a subscriber, I am a pro-indy Scot and I completely agree with you here, the SNP are losing it, they are now fitting in with a corrupt establishment. Sturgeon has been going around saying iScottish foreign policy will not be that different from British for a while now, as if it’s the support of western elites that matters rather than Scots, and that starts to undermine the whole reason for independence which is about being different, about not getting involved in the aggressions and regime change the “rules based international community” bestows upon the world.
But independence is still the best chance to change the British state and free England and Scotland of it’s imperial pretentions, the SNP are only a vehicle to get there after which it’s the job of the Scottish people to make sure we take a different route.
Craig, have you been at the Lagavulin?
I’m a big fan of your work, and I appreciate your insight, courage and judgement, but your judgement seems to have deserted you this time. These are nonsensical things to write.
John
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Lagavulin?
Unlike you, Craig Murray has a well-directed moral compass.
I don’t know what you’ve got, but I doubt decent people would want any of it.
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Both me and my wife have cancelled or membership to the SNP as from today, I’ll be in freedom square today in support of the Mandate.
Have you asked them not to pay you your pension yet?
Earned Serving Blair’s government.
Knowingly and actively working on projects that harmed and killed, that were personally known to you to be corrupt and dishonest.
No I thought not.
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WHat a stupid comment.
State pension, or any other Govt. stipend represents money that can not be used to contribute to the Mass-murder of distant foreigners who are absolutely NO THREAT to the UK – so they are a GOOD thing, not matter under what nature of Govt. leaderships they were accrued, and no matter what the range of job postings were that covered the periods of accruement.
Just like I prefer US and UK “service”men to be crippled and maimed rather than killed in the outrageously illegal and brutal aggressions they willingly take part in – on the basis of an assumption I make that their long term care costs the state far more than one-off funerals and some stipend to the MARITAL family only of deceased Jackboots.
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Lammy got a hug (and a photo op) too.
https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1109479394064678912
Sounds like a doubled-whammy to me
Too far away from each other for a hug. Just a handshake sufficed here.
22 May 2017
Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP, like Tony Blair’s New Labour, is heading for a crash landing
The fall of Tony Blair should be a set text for anyone wishing to know what happens next to the SNP
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/june2017/2017/05/nicola-sturgeons-snp-tony-blairs-new-labour-heading-crash-landing
The fall of Tony Blair should be a set text for anyone wishing to know what happens next to the SNP
Mmmmm Tony Blair, a bit like the Gerald Ratner of Politics.
The New Statesman no less! A Millwall brick for the new century. lol Your hatred of Scotland is visceral.
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Lammy another War-Criminal scumbag who voted on every motion in favour of the atrocity against Iraq, and against Chris Smith’s emasculating amendments to the Govts’ Criminal resolutions.
Not as much a War-Criminal as Campbell, Hoon, Straw, Hain, and of course, Blair, but still a war criminal in the ‘minor’ leagues, as were all pro-war voting MPs back in 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/yyglqcod
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Four stabbings in London yesterday, at least one fatal. Meanwhile the Mayor was doing selfies with Twitter blue tick luvvies on the Waitrose march.
There’s always lots of stabbings in London anon it’s the London youths choice of weapon, be thankful it’s not machine guns as it is in Los Angeles. I have a book that talks about Victorian teenage gangs running drugs and stabbing victims. So stick you tv watching fail mail reading twaddle up your …
I am both with Craig and against him. That said, I don’t really have a dog in this fight and shall consider the request about subscriptions.
Meanwhile, I look forward to a positive plethora of sparking comments from the the usually loquacious Republicofscotland in reaction to what Craig has written. As the foremost advocate on this blog of Scottish independence he will surely wish to share his insights and wisdom with readers yet again?
Nice virtue signal.
I think a new party is going to emerge to take us out of the Union. I am so sad today, Mr Murray, but, for the past two years, I have been struggling to justify my SNP membership. Mr Russell talks of ‘visionaries’. Visionaries? No, I don’t think so. Not in Scotland. Look elsewhere.
Cheer up Lorna, none of it has actually happened yet. Sturgeon with a legal background is very precise (mostly) in what she says, and said what she wanted today in the Marr show. Watch like a hawk by all means, but the mandate hasn’t been betrayed until the second after we’re actually dragged out of the EU against our wishes with the rest of the UK – if it happens. That hasn’t happened yet, but if it does, then is the time to talk about betrayal, not now 🙂
It needs people to speak out like Craig Murray and Jonathan Shafi, but it also needs us to keep our heads.
PP
If Scottish independence is going to succeed it needs to be a broad church and to embrace those with a diversity of views and opinions. And while the EU is not perfect, and independent Scotland will be much better off part of it. I am disappointed by your stance here – there was no such loyalty test when we contributed generously to the appeal in relation to your court case. To have such a test now seems petty and akin to those denominations who split off from one another on minor aspects of doctrine.
Of course it needs to be a broad church, AS, but there is broad and there is pandering to something that is not in your interests to pander to because it legitimizes something which is, in its essence, not legitimate. Since 2014, the NO vote has been pandered to when it is not just a viewpoint, but a definite movement to kill independence stone dead. Independence is a legitimate and human right. Self-determination is not something that people have to earn by being nicey, nicey to those who would stand on your neck and crush it to ensure you don’t raise your head. Wars and battles, metaphorically speaking, are no different from the real thing. You don’t stop till you’ve won. When you’ve won, you reach out the hand of friendship and reconciliation. Anything else is just pretending. For too long, the SNP has been pretending to want to deliver independence when it really has not the slightest intention of doing so, unless it is a type of independence that is so obsequious and diluted that it is no threat to anyone, and therefore, not independence at all. Just as well stay in the UK.
Must say that I think it is much ado about relatively nothing. Doubt anyone is going to cancel their subscriptions, and I wouldn’t get upset if that Campbell bastard was shown in a photo kissing Blair’s ass.
sorry Craig what you are doing is dividing the Indy movement Nicola has explained she doesn’t talk at our rallys because there’s people wanting to jump on bandwagon and say Indy is just the snp
Craig is right to speak out about her admiration for people like Kissinger, McCain, Hillary and Campbell. He would be half the man he is if he chose to stay silent about people like Sturgeon.
Really? So the Remain rally is what – just the SNP? In London?
Well, I certainly agree with your Foreign Policy positions 100% Craig, but I wonder if you (and others) are reading a little too much into this Campbell v Sturgeon selfie.
In respect of the EU, Sturgeon and Campbell appear to be on the same page. But is this selfie an implied statement of a Foreign Policy position by the SNP or just a “friendly” quickie?
I daresay it may not be the most interesting of your articles, but just what is the current Foreign Policy agenda of the SNP? I think that has more relevance than this photosnap taken in a matter of seconds.
Under Sturgeon, you could not fit a rizla paper between tbe SNP’s foreign policy and official NATO policy on any given issue.
Exactly!
I wouldn’t put it past Campbell to have engineered this photo op in order to use it for Party-political reasons. Once a spin-doctor…..
More fool Nicola for giving him the chance.
Hi Craig,
I despise Alistair Campbell for what he has done, but surely you must have shaken hands and smiled for the camera with some deeply evil people during your career?
A failing Brexitania on our southern borders would be very difficult. I view any alliance of convenience that gives them a chance to save themselves from Brexit madness as reasonable neighbourliness -as long as it doesn’t become too much of a distraction from independence. Some clearly feel that it already has taken too much effort. I still think it is analogous to the Allies and the Soviet Union in WW2; unpleasant but logical (the debate about which partner was the more unpleasant is another story!)
I agree that there are concerns about the direction of the SNP; I hope that Nicola doesn’t turn out to be a ‘Hilary’ but I’m still (just) keeping an open mind. I think that what happens in the next few weeks will confirm or relieve these concerns.
I miss Alex Salmond’s gambler’s instinct (see lyrics to Kenny Roger’s ‘The Gambler’) and absolute commitment but we have to work with what we have -or start again almost from scratch.
I’m a member of the SNP but probably only until independence, then I think my true home is with the Greens.
With eyes open I’ll continue to contribute when I can; both to you and to the SNP.
Shaken hands with yes. Smiled for the camera no. Certainly not as gleefully as that photo. And that is a lot more body contact than a handshake. Plus it was not avoidable in the course of my duties. Sturgeon has to shake hands with May FM to PM; I don’t object to that. But that photo was entirely gratuitous and uncalled for. Nor does it in any way advance the cause of Remain. Indeed the involvement of Campbell and the other war criminals is why many people voted Leave.
The remain ‘people’s vote’ was put in motion by Tony Blair who has been going around European capitals, particularly Berlin and Paris, reassuring them that all this parliamentary shenanigans will result in the UK not leaving the EU. His interview on Newsnight earlier in the week was very informative. All the big Blair players are in cahoots with their supporters in the Labour party – Watson, Cooper, Benn, Kinnock etc. to undermine the ‘will of the people’. The same force who constantly went against public opinion and wouldn’t change course because ‘they were democratically elected’. Their adherence to democracy is when it suits them. A parliamentary coup d’etat acting against the democratic vote of the people is taking place.
Their first task was to split Corbyn led Labour so as to make it ‘unelectable’. They’ve ticked that box with the ‘anti semitic’ garbage pouring forth and giving those the ‘excuse’ to leave and undermine Labour. Brexit will be overturned and the ‘lovers of parliamentary democracy’ will say it was the ‘will of those elected to represent the people’ who acted in the ‘national interest’. Garbage. Europe has split the ruling class in this country between those that want to align more closely with America and those that want to align with Europe. This is the same as what happened in the 1930s between those that wanted to support Hitler and those that didn’t.
The SNP leadership’s snuggling up to the Blairites is sickening and will not go unnoticed among great swathes of the Scottish public. The SNP have put Indy2 on the back burner and want the ‘people’s vote’ to deliver staying in the EU for Scotland. A Corbyn Labour party will take loads of seats of the SNP and that is why they side with the anti Corbyn Blaites and the Tories. I feel the SNP have had the pinnacle of their influence with Indy1 and it’s downhill from there.
Should have started with keep up the excellent work and debates and an avenue to debate and get information. A breath of fresh air from a section of the alternative media against the deluge of sycophantic mainstream garbage.
The SNP and the Scottish Greens are the only parties that are willing to bring about Scottish independence for the time being.
So the brexiteers aren’t equally tainted by the warmongers and spivs that promoted brexit? Sorry, but this guilt by association meme is ridiculous. Just as ridiculous, in fact, when it is used, as it continually is, against Corbyn for being in the same room as someone most people have never heard of. I could care less about Campbell, but elevating him in the way you do as somehow proof of the invalidity of the second vote campaign is just illogical. You are massively overreading that photo, with your talk of ‘glee’ and ‘close bodily contact’ – all i see is a standard, boring selfie of two people standing close together, with their professional smiles. Talk about a storm in a teacup. I’m all for principles, but standing them on the misinterpretation of a casual photo is just nonsense. I get it that there is an internal debate in the SNP about Sturgeon, and some people clearly don’t like her, but there are surely more rational grounds for making your case. Whatever your views on Campbell, they don’t make an iota of difference to the far more pressing case of the brexit disaster and what to do about it, which affects every citizen in the UK, which at present includes Scotland. Sturgeon was doing her job in representing Scotland in that debate, and resisting the right wing disaster that is brexit.
I joined the SNP in 1986 when the cause of Independence was but a dream – it is now very alive and hopefully close to being reality. Meanwhile you were in the service of the British establishment helping along with the very foreign policies you so hate now.
We all make mistakes in life and lets face it yours was huge! If you are now going to damn someone on the degree of gleefulness in a selfie, you have completely lost the plot.
This is one you cannot win Craig and you will loose many loyal supporters. Personally I will not put up with anyone on the left or right trying to split the overall ‘yes’ movement. The SNP is a vehicle to Independence and will soon disappear after it is reality, but until then we have to remain united.
It’s about the bigger prize: Winning independence . Look at the difference having newspaper backing can make (worth 10%-15%). The SNP support the Queen and UK monarchy, despite the fact we know many of them are closet pro-republic, with a deep dislike for the hereditary principle shaping our nations.
Yes, it’s unprincipled taking such a utilitarian approach, grubby in fact. But winning independence will involve pacifying influential critics(including the horrid Campbell) Also leveraging everyone of Scottish ancestry to the cause (including even *gulp* Murdoch and Trump) . Maintaining incredibly high principles is all well and good, but won’t deliver independence. If Nicola delivers independence then any alliances to get there can be forgiven.
Is Nicola more of a ‘Bruce’ than a ‘Wallace’?
I can live with that -as long as she gets on with it and the job is done.
Fair enough Craig,
I guess I just don’t see it as such a big insight into her soul.
Much more interested in what she does in the next few weeks.
Still hopeful but taking nothing for granted.
Well said!
How long before she supports the annexation of the Golan Heights?
I think Nicola was there, more for the benefit of European politicians.
You speak for many in the indy movement Craig. Anti-neoliberal, neo-Con platform should be our movement’s position, otherwise we have a mini-me UK. Is that what we are fighting for?
“The Independent Scotland which I want is not just for a continuation of UK neo-con defence and foreign policy.”
I couldn’t agree more, if there were another way of obtaining Scottish independence other than through the SNP and in a similar time scale I and many others would vote for it, but there isn’t one yet.
Lets see if Sturgeon uses the mandate, as Patrick Harvey said at FMQ’s earlier this week, if not now when.
Leaving aside Campbell, the SNP’s foreign policy and any personal misgivings regards Nicola Sturgeon (I have plenty), what was at stake YESTERDAY? If the UK leaves the EU without a Customs union then that necessitates Customs posts at Gretna and Berwick when we have an independent Scotland in a Customs union with the EU. Customs posts will be a very hard sell in IndyRef II. The prospects of Customs posts was not a significant feature in 2014. I can only recall that political giant Miliband raising it with any regularity. Flouncing off because of an ill considered photo could be characterised as applying the Buckaroo principle as espoused by another site.
There are custom posts all over the world, so why these custom posts be any different.
Why should a customs post between two different countries, one in the EU and one out be a hard sell in Indyref2? Drove through the one between Switzerland and France yesterday, and hardly noticed it was there. Such posts are perfectly normal features when the factors that make a post between Ireland and Northern Ireland so different.
Incredibly disappointing.
I get your objections but I’m afraid that to be an effective politician you have to be willing to talk to people you don’t agree with. We would never have got the good Friday agreement by refusing to engage with people based on ideological reasons.
This photo is surreal. Why is Nicola Sturgeon posing with Campbell?
Craig is 100% right. He is as toxic as a chemical weapon.
You’re reading far too much into this imho.
Until independence is won Nicola has to take the path of least resistance in all areas.
Why pick multiple fights on multiple fronts with the UK establishment? And besides, If Nicola really is another Hillary have confidence in the SNP membership and electorate to course correct later, post independence.