This is the final general election of the United Kingdom. The SNP has put Independence at the heart of its campaign, eschewing the dreadful error of the “don’t mention Independence” campaign of 2017 that led half a million potential supporters to sit on their hands on voting day. The SNP is going to win a thumping victory and eliminate the Tories from Scotland. Johnson’s hardline unionist pose, denying the sovereign right to choose of the Scottish people, would not be able to survive such a result. If the Tories were to think they would succeed in treating Scotland as Spain treats Catalonia, they would have a very rude awakening. Equally the SNP leadership will be politically unable to impose acceptance of whatever parameters Westminster attempts to impose. The divergence of politics and culture between Scotland and England is now so stark that the union is already over as a functioning political entity. It is now just a matter of arranging the obsequies.
It is essential to maximise the SNP vote at this election. Anything else is a distraction. It should be stated plainly that there is no seat in Scotland where an SNP vote risks handing the seat to the Tories. There are several where a Labour vote or a Green vote risks handing the seat to the Tories. To vote Labour or Green in Scotland in 2019 is an act of irresponsible self-indulgence. It must be SNP. After independence, which will be very soon, we can all go our own ways.
It is karma for the Lib Dems role in austerity that, just when the opportunity should arise for them to make massive gains as the major Remain party in England, they are saddled with Jo Swinson as leader. Her instincts are entirely right wing. When asked at her campaign launch why she said Jeremy Corbyn was unsuitable to be Prime Minister, by a journalist seeking more Corbyn knocking copy, her first and most immediate response was that Corbyn would not be prepared to give the order to British submarine commanders to fire nuclear weapons. Swinson combines inanity, delusion and ambition in a deeply unpleasant mix. It should not be forgotten that the Lib Dems were down to a handful of MPs after the last election and Swinson became leader from a very small field. Now some careerist Blairites have joined the sinking ship, Swinson’s right wing instincts are further reinforced. I am sure there are a few decent people still left in the Lib Dems. But they are invisible.
Nevertheless, there are many seats in England where people need to vote Lib Dem to defeat the Tory. The best practical scenario for the end of the UK is a Labour/Lib Dem/SNP alliance, that will eschew hard Brexit and agree a second Independence referendum for Scotland. Another scenario will also end in Independence but be messier and more dangerous. Even if we achieve Independence through a second referendum (and other options are available), that referendum would be a much dirtier fight even than 2014. We are already seeing in this election just how unrestrainedly pro-Tory the British media now is, and another Scottish referendum campaign would suffer not only that, but every dirty trick in the playbook of the British security services. Nevertheless, I have no doubt of the result.
Of course it is true that the media has always been biased, but it has got much worse. There has been a radical shift in the culture of the media in exactly the same way there has been a massive shift to the right in the Tory Party. While plutocrats always owned almost all of the media, in the complex relations within media institutions there were countervailing currents. Of course it was never true that editors and journalists had perfect ethics or integrity, but there were some notions of decency, balance, fairness and simple respect for the truth which did actuate, to some extent, editors and journalists. Even though these cultural factors might on the whole be outweighed by deference to the wishes of the bosses, by party allegiance or by personal ambition, these notions of proper conduct did on occasion provide some influence on behaviour and thus on media output.
Those journalistic standards have been almost entirely abandoned and you will scan the media in vain for evidence of fairness and balance. It is not a coincidence that at this time two of my good personal friends in the media, with whom I have major political differences but who are good professionals and decent people, John Sweeney and Peter Oborne, have left their posts at BBC Panorama and the Daily Mail respectively.
The state media is as bad as the plutocrat owned media. The BBC’s complicity in the Tory attack on Corbyn has been absolute, including the Tory set up interviews with Ian Austin and yesterday’s long anti-Corbyn plug by Sajid Javid on Marr. The Tory campaign is a disgrace. Johnson like May before him is being kept well away from any actual voters, and the BBC lights and frames his entirely artificial events with the careful precision of a Leni Riefenstahl. Kuenssberg and Robinson are simply Tory propagandists.
When realism does break through it is through citizen journalism, not the media. The outrageous statements of a ranting Boris Johnson in Northern Ireland, contradicting the EU withdrawal agreement, would never have been mentioned by the media if they had not gone viral from an individual’s mobile phone.
The claims that Johnson did not understand his own deal are wide of the mark. He is not stupid; he knows what is in it. If you listen very carefully to what he said then and subsequently, he is not claiming his deal does not specify any checks between Northern Ireland and the mainland. What he is stating is his assurance that there will be no checks. This confirms the fears I have been reporting within the FCO, that Boris Johnson simply has no intention of actually implementing the withdrawal agreement. He has been negotiating in bad faith with the EU, and signing up to things he has no intention of doing in order to “Get Brexit Done”. He has no moral scruples over lying, it is not his style to think beyond immediate personal advantage, and he is still enamoured of the idea that in the end the EU will always buckle because it needs the UK market.
The stars have aligned perfectly for those of us who support Scottish Independence, and I am delighted that both Irish unification and Plaid Cymru have been given a bigger boost than seemed plausible just a very few years ago. This election is sordid, tawdry, corrupt and uninspiring; a fitting end for the UK and its long history of callous exploitation. Never has a state been more adept at using its system of law to shift resources from the poor to the rich. Never has a state’s dissolution been more overdue.
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May this break the neoliberal stranglehold and empower essential change, before all is lost. Thank you Craig.
Yes. I doubtful though. They don’t actually understand there’s no leverage in the potential end of complex life on earth. They’ll fight because intellecually, psychologically, fundamentally they can’t envisage a world without them. If they could, they’d be helping.
Apologies for the muddle ^ too many fast edits…
I’m watching the UK GE from France, following developments (of which there are few) as I can and my impression so far is that’s a very ‘meh’ election, just the usual suspects going though the usual soundbites and actions.
You got it right when you describe it as uninspiring and I think that’s completely by design to encourage yet more voter apathy.
I don’t really care what England does but in Scotland, there is no debate. Simply vote SNP, that’s all there is to it.
Don’t you find it awkward supporting pro-EU parties after the Catalonia debacle? The EU have shown they do not respect democracy, that they ignore the rights of nations to self-determination.
It’s a crying shame that we don’t have a decent pro-Brexit party to vote for. Farage has withdrawn candidates in Tory seats, meaning I’m left with a choice between a pro-EU party (nope), or a nasty party that has awful foreign policy (nope).
I’m going to spend election day smoking weed.
It’s not the EU’s business to interfere in internal politics, so they don’t. That’s all.
Errm…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/mar/01/austria.ianblack
Something similar happened in 2017.
That was about Austria’s relationship with the EU – that does concern the EU, but if it’s purely internal, that’s different. But believing the take of British media is always foolish. It is always a Eurosceptic take, often misunderstanding the story, even in the Guardian, and especially today.
Laguerre
November 11, 2019 at 15:20
“It’s not the EU’s business to interfere in internal politics, so they don’t. That’s all.”
Not true.The EU Bilderbergers do non stop so wake up sonny boy.
Bilderbergers are not official. We’re talking about public policy.
Thanks for the laugh.
“It’s not the EU’s business to interfere in internal politics, so they don’t. That’s all.”
Where to begin? Suffice it to say, it is the duty of every decent, law abiding human being, and every purportedly democratic institution, to “interfere” by condemning, unequivocally, the use of violence against peaceful and defenceless protestors, wherever it occurs. To suggest that there is something constitutionally laudable in refusing to do so is grotesque.
I have the same choice as yourself and I’m not going to vote, either. As much as I want rid of the cruel Tories I’m not voting Labour so they can dump on my Brexit vote. Many Labour Brexiteers will likely stay at home, too, and I think this is how they’ll have screwed Corbyn.
And many Tory Remainers will likely stay at home too, say the analysts.
a vote for Brexit was a vote for the tories
Absolute nonsense.
For those of you thinking of not voting or any number of alternatives, please remember this is not all about Brexit. Any more Torydom and you consign us all to lies, deceit, the rip-off of the country by various groups of corrupt capitalists, the death of the NHS and rape and pillage by Trumpism. So I’d also stress – it’s not just about you. Or me. I’m thinking here of disabled people suffering a summons to work when they can barely crawl, people trying to raise kids with three gig jobs and Universal Credit, old people without social care support freezing in their homes. And I’d ask you to think again and vote to get the Tories out wherever you are.
I know it’s not about me. That’s why I can’t vote Tory. If this was all about the EU to me, then I’d vote Tory. I can’t, because of their foreign policy.
I was eagerly awaiting finding out what more the Brexit Party stood for then simply leaving the EU. I was hoping it was a party I could vote for. Now I don’t even have that choice, since I’m in a Tory seat.
People who dont even want to spoil their vote dont deserve it. To have brain lazy ads tp others on here, when we are talking of the break up of the union, is malododorous poppycock.
“Don’t you find it awkward supporting pro-EU parties after the Catalonia debacle? The EU have shown they do not respect democracy, that they ignore the rights of nations to self-determination.”
Could be worse though, the Catalans could be worse off such as the Chagossians in which Westminster denied their right to live on their lands.
Indeed. This is one reason I can’t vote Conservative.
If you don’t vote don’t ever think of complaining about anything.
Apathy is a weapon.
Reduced turnout preserves the status quo and enables safe seat parachutes.
Increased turnout increases the number of marginal seats.
Discouraging voting and engagement is pretty nasty gaslighting.
Awaywiyarcurs!
The right to vote and the right to complain are mutually exclusive.
I will not feel compelled to vote for the least worst option just because there isn’t a good option. If I gave you a choice between a kick in the teeth, or a knee to the bollocks, I’d expect you to politely decline both offers That’s the state of British politics right now.
Why not? We’ve all got to accept the least worst option a lot in life. Unless you’ve got what you consider a perfect job, drive a perfect car, have the most ideal transport conditions imaginable, eat ideal food at every mealtime, have a perfect partner and so on.
I don’t know why people like you get so precious when it comes to politics, and unless a candidate is utterly perfect in every respect, they start going all childish and throw a tantrum, saying they’re going home and taking the ball with them.
Imagine if you had a choice between fascism and communism.
I’m not asking for perfection. I’m asking for something acceptable.
I’d choose communism in that case, Matt – no difficulty in deciding there!
¡ Viva la revolucion !
if you don’t vote for something different, you’re effectively voting for the status quo. That is, the tories.
The point about turning up in the voting booth is not where you put your X, or that you draw a phallus on it … the point is thar you turned up! That is a powerful message for the candidates who failed to garner your vote, THEY have to try harder to get YOUR vote.
If people don’t turn up except the die hards then THEY don’t have to offer anything different.
” If I gave you a choice between a kick in the teeth, or a knee to the bollocks, I’d expect you to politely decline both offers”.
But don’t complain, eh?
There have been elections in which I considered my abstention or ballot-spoiling as a genuine protest and as meaningful as validating either a broken system or a specific party. 2019 won’t be one of them of course.
Did you say that the SNP ARE putting independence at the heart of this election? They haven’t. The phrase they like to use is “Ensuring Scotland gets a chance to determine its future”. No mention of the ‘I’ word. Again. Look at the Launch photograph. A smiling crowd of SNP MP’s crowding around a huge big yellow ‘Stop Brexit’ sign. That’s their priority. Not independence. Sadly, I think if by some catastrophic coincidence Corbyn did manage to gain a wafer thin majority, NS would gladly hold off requesting another S30 in favour of some nice powers being devolved instead. We could be held enthralled by endless carrot dangling for decades. *sigh
Held hostage by the SNP. Despite them changing their minds on their main single issue…despite us already gifting them 6 hard won mandates, we must continue to vote for them. Otherwise it’ll be a sign that we don’t really want an iScotland after all.
How many years did it take for Scotland to realise SLabour were just…lying to us..?
100% correct. It’s the same failed strategy of 2017. I know so many people who would die for independence but swear they aren’t even going to vote.
In what way was it a failed strategy? Of course it didn’t win but the strategy itself was brilliant as you would expect from such an astute politician as Alex Salmond. Under his leadership, support for independence soared. In fact, it was because the polls were predicting a victory for independence that the three stooges (Cameron, Clegg and Milliband) came scurrying up to Scotland to bombard it with propaganda. They were photographed in the Daily Record holding an official-looking signed parchment called the vow and made all these promises which were never fulfilled. It was just a cheap con-trick but, sadly, it was enough to fool some people and the rest is history. From that point the polls started to sink.
You were correct about Farage. Thrown under the bus now he has moved national politics to the right.
A good friend and stalwart unionist confided more than a year back that he would vote YES in Indyref2 should BoJo the Clown ever become PM.
No one needs to hold his feet to the fire on this. Now that the Clown is in No. 10 this ex-unionist is more determined than ever. Moreover, he is actively canvassing unionist friends who share his disgust with Alec Johnson to walk the same road.
What they know is that after Scotland Wales is next. The party for split is growing, the only problem now posed by those few senior members of Plaid Cymru who want an independent Wales part of the EU. They are from the South, which is badly infested with English and other races the stupid English have allowed to have a vote. But no-one in the North will accept this. Eventually however, and with the help of a split Scotland, Wales too will be able to once again, after 900 yrs, regain her sovereignty.
“baddy infested with English” … “other races the stupid English have allowed to vote.” Wow! Do your hobbies include burning holiday homes perchance?
That is just how Nationalists talk. Once you think Nation is more important than human beings, and that your Nation (and “race”) is something special and superior, hating “the other” is easy.
700 years?
Don’t forget Owain Glyndwr.
Pamela, listen to yourself. The bile in your post is neon – typifies in 3D how loose the grasp of humanity is on so called civilised society.
Disturbing use of words and an unlikely post from a purported indepedence supporter in Wales who would know that the Plaid supporters of north Wales strongly voted to remain in the EU.
Pamela. are you really in Plaid rather than simply being deliberately provocative? Ever read Gwyn Williams’ When was Wales? Or John Davies’ History of Wales, which he wrote in Welsh and then English? Medieval sovereignty? Or war lord world of blinding and castrating your rival cousins and nephews.
Anyway leaving aside toxicity your point appears to be that you say Gog nationalists are anti EU and the Hwnters down South are pro EU: is that what you are saying? Any evidence?
“Johnson’s hardline unionist pose, denying the sovereign right to choose of the Scottish people, would not be able to survive such a result.”
That’s wishful. The Scots don’t want to leave the EU… but they will be dragged out along with the rest of us who don’t like it. The polls suggest Johnson will be returned with a stomping majority… his constituency (9/10 Tories) don’t want another Scottish Independence referendum… its not going to be very difficult at all to say no to one.
Perhaps not difficult to say no to one. But difficult to stop it if Michael Russell & Scotgov (as per their comments) take bozo to court over it. That could make a mighty big difference.
https://archive.is/RUpKd
I doubt the Court will see it bozo’s way if he continually refuses to let Scots decide what they wish for their own country. Given WM voted and reaffirmed the Claim of Right last summer and agreed Scots had the right to determine their own futures, he can hardly prove to a Court that we don’t HAVE that right.
The sovereignty of Scots & Scotland hasn’t ever been tested in court. I think 1) it will take a lot of wrangling, a lot of time & a LOT of money that bozo doesn’t want to expend on Scotland. And 2) I think it likely Scotland will win in the end. Thus I think even the threat of Court may make bozo think twice – and decided to let Scotland go so he can get brexit done. He doesn’t have a good record when it comes to winning in court the last little while. Will he try fighting against Joanna Cherry, Aileen McHarg etc knowing he’s not likely to win (given United Nations decree all countries have a right to self-determination & independence)?
Nicola said ‘When the effects of brexit are known’. Well up till now we haven’t even been sure we WILL brexit. But if bozo is re-elected as looks possible, brexit WILL happen. And so I believe this has been Nicola’s Plan B all along; follow the courtesies & niceties that have to be followed & met, doing what she can to make brexit a non-starter, given we are still in UK. But with the likelihood of bozo winning the election, now its a case of play out the game but keep an ace up her sleeve to trump her opponent at the last minute. Let WM think Scotland is dependent on their ‘permission’ then sock it to them that we’re not accepting their decision. And head off to the Courts. I’m happy to go with this plan.
If the Tories win a majority in the GE (which seems horrifyingly likely), how will Scotland gain independence in the near future?
Mighty Drunken: I’m not a Scot Nat but there is a way. Do what the Irish did after WW1 and boycott English institutions. Carry on standing in GB-wide elections but stop sending the elected SNP MPs to Westminster; set them up with a second house of parliament in Edinburgh. Give notice to England to remove its submarines from the Clyde. Start paying bills with Scottish Govt IOUs. Make such a nuisance of yourselves that the English will be glad to see the last of you. Don’t be put off by the Catalans’ lack of success – the English elite are softies compared with the Spaniards and won’t want a fight. That’s if you really want independence. If not, just concentrate on getting a better deal with the existing setup, which is already a lot better than what we have in the S of England. . .. . . .
Please forgive me but I must point out that you English-speaking propaganda victims demonstrate profound ignorance. Catalans are Spanish just as much as Yorkshiremen are English. Irish, Scottish, Welsh: that’s different. Most Catalans do not seek separation from Spain, an historical nation currently with administrative powers devolved to eighteen semi-autonomous regions of which Catalonia is only one. Thanks for reading. Please do your own research rather than succumbing to brainwashing.
Surely it would be time for the Edinburgh parliament to arrange its own referendum and, if won, just wave English rule goodbye, like the rest of the world has. No self respecting people would be denied their independence just because another country elected a dishonest clown like Boris Johnson.
Jings. Does anybody really think that a successful, if ‘unauthorised’, independence referendum will be denied by Westminster? That’s a recipe for civil war. Furthermore, English neddism (it’s not nationalism) is such, right now, that they’d be volunteering to come up and repair Hadrian’s Wall for us, not signing up to fry their asses in a shooting war. It’s simply unthinkable.
Almost, but hadrians wall is in England , if they make hadrians wall the border they will be donating a large chunk of England to Scotland !
Craig, Hoe do yo manage to steal my very thoughts? Excellent piece: even if it should really be under my name. ?
In all seriousness much as I believe and support what you’ve said: I have serious concerns annout the ability of the British State to accommodate the democratic will of the Scottish people. Far less, the will to deal with the reality post-General Election 2019.
Ipso facto, I fear that this will represent a new phase in the struggle for Independence which will necessarily involve large scale civil disobedience.
I hope that I am wrong, but post-colonial history does not fill me with optimism.
There is no possibility of anyone in the UK attempting to “treat Scotland as Spain treats Catalonia”
Only yesterday actual Fascists achieved over 50 seats in the Cortes. In part this represents a vote that is designed to show that no circumstances exist whereby the Spanish people will ever countenance the dismemberment of their country. Conversely absolutely no one cares about Scotland. No-one outside of Scotland will cast a vote based on anything at all to do with Scotland. No senior politician or senior military figure will ever propose invading Scotland so as to maintain the integrity of the union.
Possibly a complete disregard for Scotland is a mistake. It seems pretty clear that some of the more deranged Scottish Nationalists who seek to argue for equivalence between Spain and Catalonia are in part directly responsible for an upsurge in the Fascist vote in Spain. What you will not tolerate in your own country you try to cosset and foster in someone else’s country. This seems a lot like imperialism of the most malign kind.
Unlike the people you so regularly malign as Fascists Vox is the real deal. Call them Fascists and their chests swell with pride. You seriously think that these people will go away or surrender? They will need to be dealt with – try and think of any way of dealing with Vox that allows an independent Scotland to maintain membership of the EU.
What about the actual fascists in the British parliament, but who happen to use another name? The Far Right in Spain got 15%, much like the AfD in Germany, and the BXP is predicted to get in Britain (and they’re only the avowed Fascists). 15% is not a winning vote.
Unfortunately the signs are that Johnson will win a substantial Westminster majority (the YouGov regional polls published Friday, the Brexit Party announcement today, the appalling bias of State media). In the event that Johnson wins a working majority, I cannot share Mr Murray’s confidence that in replicating Madrid’s position on Catalonia, the Tory government would be in for a “very rude awakening.”.
Prediction : He will do precisely that!
And what will our response be? Sturgeon can’t even bring herself to criticise her “fellow sister in power”, Donalda McKinnon at BBC Scotland over the Menthorn Media / Billy Mitchell scandal.
No; if a Section 30 Order is refused, the SNP and all Indy minded organisations and folk must deny all cooperation with organs of the British State.
Holyrood must go into offensive mode. Challenge the limits of the devolution settlement (particularly control over broadcasting). Imaginative initiatives such as licensing grouse moors (and closing them down when raptor persecution occurs) will infuriate the Tories. Taxing the Private Education sector will similarly troll the Tories.
When the Section 30 Order is refused, attitudes must change. Civil disobedience must become an everyday event.
“YouGov, the polling company, has sent out an analysis of the Nigel Farage decision saying it is unlikely to be a “game-changing moment” for the election.”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/nov/11/general-election-parties-vie-for-veterans-votes-as-keith-vaz-quits-politics-live?page=with:block-5dc96d138f08be4a102e7061#block-5dc96d138f08be4a102e7061
Personally, I agree, I don’t think Johnson is home clear, unless you happen to be a believer in right-wing pollsters, and here we even have one of them, yougov, offering a not very positive analysis for Johnson.
YouGov was co founded by Nadhim Zahawi, the millionaire Tory MP for Stratford-on-Avon . He has vast interests in Iraqi oil production etc.
The other co-founder is Stephan Shakespeare aka Stephan Kukowski.
Well into the Tory hierarchy and the UK establishment. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_Shakespeare
YouGov’s revenue – £136.5 million Income £18.3 million What is known as a nice little earner.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouGov
“Unfortunately the signs are that Johnson will win a substantial Westminster majority”
That’s what the MSM were saying right up to the morning of polling day in the last election. I think it’s called believing your own bullshit.
“Unfortunately the signs are that Johnson will win a substantial Westminster majority (the YouGov regional polls published Friday…”
Seriously? That’s your argument?
I nearly always call elections correctly. The Tories will have a majority.
Vivian….You are correct. The British (English) Establishment have no intention of giving up Scotland. The theft of Scotland’s oil continues after 50 years and is essential to their further dominance and control of our affairs. Civil disobedience will be required and more.
It will
At the right time
Could you be a bit more precise please, Craig? If it’s the union of England & Scotland you are talking about, then your article should be called “The End Of Britain.” Because of course “the end of the UK” will be accomplished by ceasing to occupy northern Ireland and allowing the unification of the Irish Republic across the whole island of Ireland, which is another consummation devoutly to be wished.
Craig is correct. The UK was formed by the treaty of union between Scotland and England. If Scotland withdraws and revokes it, that is the end of the UK.
It’s the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, not the United Kingdom of England and Scotland.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain …plus Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland never was / is / a kingdom
“Northern Ireland never was / is / a kingdom”
That’s because the title was originally “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland”, but then most of Ireland left to form a separate state. They could have gone back to being just plain Great Britain at that point, but obviously wanted to hang onto the “United Kingdom” tag. Probably something to do with saving maoney on not having to buy new stationery.
That’s not my interpretation of it as the following article makes clear;
“The Acts of Union, passed by the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, led to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 May of that year.”
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/legislativescrutiny/act-of-union-1707/
Craig, next you will be suggesting the BBC would use old footage of Boris at remembrance Sunday….
How dare you malign the BBC! It was a production mistake.
https://www.indy100.com/article/boris-johnson-remembrance-sunday-wreath-upside-down-watch-video-9198116
A pact between Labour and the Lib Dems is not a bad idea – if it can be agreed. Especially since Farage has made things easier for the Tories by deciding that the Brexit party will only stand in non-Tory seats.
If the Tories do win power, I’m quite sure there won’t be a second referendum, either on scotland or the EU!
“The union is already over as a functioning political entity.” It worked pretty well when the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh plus the Supreme Court of the UK decided that Boris’ attempt at frustrating Parliament was illegal.
Was that political or judicial?
A good question. The legislatures work as a political union when the judiciary carry out their proper monitory role (which they did, in the case of the illegal attempt at prorogation of Parliament). We might have had a problem if the Supreme Court had disagreed with the Court of Sessions.
“Never has a state’s dissolution been more overdue.”
I couldn’t agree more lets be rid of the ball and chain that is Westminster forever.
Meanwhile, the unionist media machine often spouts that Scottish independence would open the door for Putin. However Downing street has supressed the publishing of a Intelligence and Security Select Committee (ISC) document that nine Tory party donors are named in the secret dossier on illicit Russian affairs and activities in Britain.
Why is the British government continuing to suppress this vital info? Answer so it won’t damage their GE chances.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18027350.election-row-hushed-tory-russian-donor-secret-files/
Meanwhile Farage will stand down hundreds of his Brexit party candidates opposing the Tories, but not any other party. Look out for Sir Nigel Farage in next years honours if Johnson prevails.
Finalky yes we must all vote SNP and show whoever is the next PM that Scottish independence is inevitable.
PS. Farage is giving an interview on his new found stance on LBC aaround 5pm, according to Eddie Mair that is for anyone who’s interested.
Farage on LBC now.
LBC is the non-stop Fartage station.
Mair and his fellow dj’s are the chorus, quite some prize ‘pieces of work’.
“Why is the British government continuing to suppress this vital info? Answer so it won’t damage their GE chances.”
Talk about hoist by their own petard!
So what did the daily Fail do over the weekend?
Last week they suddenly decided to offer Liddl customers a voucher for shopping there for xmas (the foreign owned discounters that are wiping the floor with Waitrose’s and other British supermarkets i.e the traditional tory voting Mail readers choice).
So, many more copies published (costly); many vouchers given away (humongously costly) and copies given away (whats a few pence extra?)
Why? Because apparently liddl/aldi customers are the austerity worst hit and most likely Labour new voters – so give them the voucher and the paper headlines the £1.3 TRILLIONS scare.
Some will buy it. But they are being scammed.
The DS is desperater by the day.
The manifesto’s haven’t even come out yet.
The Fartage is being told to target only Labour.
Their attack lines from 2017 will not be as effective- the voters have heard it all before. Hence this mornings ‘JC won’t nuke civilians! The bastard.’
Johnson ‘the great white hope’ charismatic performer is predictably just a great one trick pony dope.
He is a surly entiled school boy who will deink what he wants when he wants as late as he wants and would have been better turned out in Foots donkey jacket at the cenotaph yesterday before running away immediately after, so avoiding his smelly breath conversation with the old soldiers who he has zero empathy with.
Bobo is in actual danger of doing fewer live public campaigns then Trezza did in 2017!
Lol, I love it when a plan falls apart!
“To vote Labour or Green in Scotland in 2019 is an act of irresponsible self-indulgence. It must be SNP.”
Many will probably abstain if they think the “only” way to hit the Tories is to pay off the Nationalist party and then watch the corrupt Scottish government swan around cockahoop, forgetting their votes were tactical and treating them as if they amount to support for independence. That’s called tricking people.
Some will think “So it’s SNP or the Tories?” and decide to vote Tory.
Since the early 1970s the SNP has been a similar operation to what the Brexit Party will be in next month’s election: a method of taking votes away from Labour to help the Tories.
Why should anyone heed your comments when you can’t even correctly name the SNP its not the “Nationalist” party its the National party.
“Since the early 1970s the SNP has been a similar operation to what the Brexit Party will be in next month’s election: a method of taking votes away from Labour to help the Tories.”
If I had a quid for every time I’ve busted this bollocks myth I’d be a rich man, you clearly haven’t a clue.
When you read the following in the Daily Express, the thought that comes to mind is “Isn’t it about time for a civil war against the Tory scum?”
“Outrage as Corbyn accused of failing to bow in respect to war dead at Remembrance ceremony
JEREMY CORBYN’S appearance at the annual Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall has caused a Twitter row to erupt as people clashed over whether the Labour leader bowed his head low enough to honour the war dead at the cenotaph(…)
(T)he socialist marched towards the monument when it was his turn and respectfully laid a wreath before stepping back and pausing. But while his choice of outfit was praised by members of the public, who said it was an improvement from the ‘scruffy’ anorak he donned at last year’s service, his bow split opinion. Footage broadcast live on TV shows Mr Corbyn slightly tilting his head downwards for a few seconds before turning and walking away
His actions were in stark contrast to those of Boris Johnson and other politicians, all who clearly bowed in a dignified manner.”
A “stark contrast” indeed. That will be because socialists aren’t proper Tory honkies, which of course God himself is, as every self-respecting Tory honky business type is aware. Strange they don’t refer to Johnson as “the racist cokehead liar”, but that would be so “Remoaner”.
The BBC helped their Tory masters by fiddling the footage they showed on TV, broadcasting film of Boris Johnson laying a wreath a few years ago rather than from yesterday when apparently he laid his wreath upside-down.
Blatant skullduggery – it is an impossible mistake according to ex – journos.
https://skwawkbox.org/2019/11/11/huge-ex-bbc-journalists-accuse-bbc-of-lying-over-near-impossible-johnson-wreath-clip-error/
They are not paannnnicking like corporal jones!
“When you read the following in the Daily Express, the thought that comes to mind is “Isn’t it about time for a civil war against the Tory scum?””
Im sure it was James Obrien of LBC who said only morons read the Daily Express, I see you’ve found your level. ?
You don’t see Swinson’s strategy. She needs to win votes on both fronts so is trying to appeal to those who vote Conservative. The hope for the Lib Dems is that the Labour vote collapses under Corbyn (possible) so there’s no point trying to pander to Labour voters when, in England, they are already the left-wing alternative. They need to compete on policy with the Tories in Tory seats knowing that, if the Labour vote does collapse, many moderate Conservative voters are indeed inclined to vote Liberal when not drawn by having to keep out socialism.
BBC Breakfast used a 2016 footage of Boris Johbson laying a wreath at the Cenotaph instead of the one from this weekend where he looked like he popped by the event during his walk of shame and laid the wreath upside down. BBC say it was an “honest mistake”.
Of course when people made complaints in the past about media biased, smarmy liberals called us conspiracy theorists.
So Lemesurier, founder of The White Helmets has fallen to his death in Istanbul. Fishy eh? BBC says he wasn’t a spy. There you are then.
Jackie Sutton and Jamal Khashoggi, both met their fate in Istanbul as well, now James Le Mesurier.
Someone he knew, who he admitted to the apartment, must have thrown him over the balcony. His wife said he’d taken a sleeping tablet, but that doesn’t usually lead to sleepwalking. More likely one of his (Syrian?) associates came (thus let into the apartment), and betraying him, did the dirty. Somewhat like a ME leader, shot by his bodyguard. Sadat was like that, I seem to remember.
@ Laguerre November 11, 2019 at 18:53
I’ll have a pint to one War Criminal less tonight, after a stint in solidarity to Chile’s National Strike outside their Embassy.
Any chance of BoJo and Farage visiting Istanbul? I’m sure we could rustle up the (one way) fares.
Farage and Johnson have struck their deal.
Arise Lord Farage of Brexit.
Inevitable. Farage was never going to scupper an opportunity to destroy the NHS.
Why does he hate it so?
The BBC has gone yet further, it today had to apologise after an eagle eyed viewer spotted that the Cenotaph footage of Boris Johnson laying a wreath was actually from his time in the Foreign Office three years ago. The BBC cited a ‘production error’ but the reality was that Johnson had made two ‘gaffes’ having stepped out of line too early and laid the wreath upside down. Not very good optics for a PM campaigning for his party, no, better to ‘lose’ the footage and use an old one, the plebs won’t notice. But we did. I wonder (not really) if the ACTUAL footage will ever surface?
Still, I wish I had your confidence that we will get our independence. I truly hope for it and will do everything and anything I can to ensure it, in my own small way and I remember the crushing feeling of the result in 2014. I agree that Scotland and Westminster have diverged SO far now as to be irreconcilable. If we were a married couple we’d have divorced long ago, the relationship really IS abusive…
From the Daily Mirror
Remembrance Sunday: Boris Johnson pictured laying wreath on Cenotaph upside down
The Prime Minister appeared to make a minor gaffe as hundreds gathered to remember the dead on Whitehall
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/remembrance-sunday-boris-johnson-pictured-20853195
Gaffe, Error.. I doubt it.. Some more on that here –
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/did-bbc-deliberately-use-wrong-footage-johnson?
And one of Britains leading barristers has claimed he has evidence the BBC is biased.https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/lawyer-speaks-out-over-bbc-bias-against-corbyn-as-evidence-of-coded-negative-imagery-emerges/12/12/?fbclid=IwAR3BVe0n1ky0p3jO1XnwUy8yKv285TKzqa9-gi70PBVKmzCQXNR8WiCB4do
It seems that a Three Year old Video has to be specially requested from the Library..According to an ex bbC news employee.
P.s Angela.. The Clark at the top of This Page 1.. Once gave me a kool wee tip..Re your link above,.. Everything after the ? mark or & can be deleted.. it still works, Always grateful to Clark for that one myself.
You already had a democratic referendum and lost and every time you dismiss it you show yourself to be a tyrant and a threat to the very democracy many of us and our families have defended and even died for. Every time we, the forces of democracy and light have won against the forces of darkness and tyranny that you seem intent to wed yourself to. Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.
Swinson stood for parliament at the tender age of 21, entering parliament at 25.
She’s much like the freakish Ed Miliband; a product of uni safe spaces, a closed off little world with no real experience of how the world is; how people really speak and the give and take , above all compromise, required to function without completely losing it. She is painfully deluded and naive and as out of touch as any member of the royal family. The SNP taking her seat wouldn’t just be a pleasing result, it’d be an act of political mercy.
Hilarity Clinton has finally said something which I agree with!!
“The 2016 US presidential candidate told the Guardian it was “incredibly surprising and unacceptable that in your country there is a government report sitting there about Russian influence and your current government isn’t releasing it”.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/11/uk-government-delay-of-russia-report-is-shaming-says-clinton
The disgust H.R.C. is in England moaning about Russia interfering in U.K. Elections, while H.R.C. attempts it interfere with U.K. Elections,
do you have to be two faced to be a politician?
Oh, elections somewhere! 🙂
Well, according to the latest western fashion, whoever wins, it will still be beneficial to Putin. So, nothing new is expected.
I’d better be back to my kitchen affairs.
Hilarious tbh , how any result is interpreted as ‘suiting Russia’s objectives somehow , even if they have to contort all logic and reason.
There is a man called Sir Mark Lyall Grant – very senior establishment figure in the UK who regularly appears on BBC 2’s Newsnight when Russia is discussed and he asserted Russian interference in this election; although he couldn’t determine on whose side it’d occur , because it’s obviously Brexit is in Russia’s geostrategic goals & interests, therefore Russia should hope for a Johnson victory but Lyall Grant didn’t want to jump to that obvious conclusion:
• Brexit will likely Breakup the UK – risking the perm. UN seat.
• Brexit will weaken the UK’s influence on European countries allowing for better Russian relations with those countries.
• Brexit will weaken NATO; France and Germanyt are already expressing major doubts with Trump’s demands and general hostility to the EU.
Sir Mark Lyall Grant may have met this russian funny doggerel 🙂
https://pikabu.ru/story/yeto_putin_vinovat_2098021
Putin this and Putin that – that’s really boring. Someone please tell Sir Grant it’s not amusing anymore.
Putin danced arm in arm with Austria’s Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl at her wedding.
Which is strange, because she was once a favoured regular guest on Newsnight by satellite. BBC 2 Newsnight is very pro-establishment and its presenter Mark Urban made a close friendship with Sergei Skripal , during the course of writing a book he only belatedly revealed. H(Urban) visited Kneissl to interview her in Austria.
Hmmm, Putin once gave flowers to Frau Merkel, and I personally hoped they would announce their marriage 🙂
Another time, Putin shaked hands with Mr. Trump and even made a movement as if embracing him… It’s pity they are not gays, really. So many people on the planet would have feel relaxed in case of the Putin+Trrump marriage…
Trump has actually done very little for Russia.
I don’t buy for a second it helps Russia Trump being in office. Russia would probably have a better chance of normalised relations and sanctions relief with Warren or Sanders as President.
Even in Syria the US(there illegally) are holding on to the oil producing areas.
Exactly, Goose.
Imagine Trump and Putin were a gay couple! then Trump would probably have done more for Putin, than he has done for his daughter and his son-in-law!
I belive, this marriage would have settled all the troubles in the Middle East (*what is correct english idiom?*) in a blink of an eye???
I think Joe Biden, given his links to Hillary Clinton and Ukraine, could be worse than Trump from Russia’s perspective however.
Biden is an appalling prospect for the world to tbh. I can’t imagine what US voters see in him , but it’s their choice not mine.
Did you not know, Mr Putin wants Gareloch, Barrow-in-Furnace and Portsmouth as back up warm water naval ports just in case Uncle Sam does something dreadful to Sevastopol.
He told Boris that if he sells the NHS to the yanks he has to maintain decorum by selling naval ports to Russia.
And he has a whole set of FSB videos showing Boris doing lines with George Osborne if he disagrees.
The BBC Christmas Party script says so, so it must be true, mustn’t it?