SNP WIN AND DOMINATE NEW PARLIAMENT - BUT HAVE THE YOONS OR THE EMPIRE STRUCKBACK?

I don't regret my double SNP vote in the Glasgow region, even although they didn't get a list seat. 

SNP Lucky with D'Hondt in 07 and 11 

 

In 2007 and 2011 the SNP was lucky with the way D'Hondt turned out. This time they were not.

The result is great domestically i.e. within Scotland (and tinkering round the edges of problems) as I believe the minority SNP Govt was better than the majority and the SNP are by far the largest party.

However as an independence supporter I can't see how the green agenda can be furthered in the UK much at the moment. And I have said before I would probably vote green in an independent Scotland.

Has the Empire Struck Back?

So I can't understand the recent rather lukewarm response to Scottish independence from the Scottish Greens recently. I wouldn't bank on them agreeing to another indyref in the next 5 years according to a recent hearsay conversations with Zara Kitson.  However given that she is not now an MSP perhaps that will help a change of mind.

So the cause of of indy may have been delayed. If it has then in a way the Empire in Way has Struck Back. 

A Wonderful Result for the SNP

No matter which way you look at it though it is a wonderful result for the SNP. After 9 years they are still by far the largest party in Holyrood and will form the vast majority of the Government if not all, with other party support in new Scottish Parliament.

Just can't believe the Tory vote or indeed Orkney and Shetland still so strongly for LibDems after Alistair Carmichael. Weird.... Indeed one really does wonder about it as it was such an astonishing one. What local issues in Orkney and Shetland don't we know about.

Thats my view. Not a prob to have a different one. 

I hope my point re indy is proved wrong though!

Episode 2 : Winner Take Nothing begins with the increasingly desperate ‘No’ campaign arranging Her Majesty’s backing. The impact of Project Fear's negativity, elite self-interest, media imbalance and last-minute promises finally proved too much to overcome for the Yes campaign. Interviewees consider aspects of voter behaviour and results as well as flaws in the Yes argument that require attention before considering a second referendum. In a campaign that saw the unionist parties prepared to destroy themselves to win, perhaps the real winner was the newly politically aware Scottish public who are still deeply engaged in a conversation about their constitutional future, a debate that seems destined to arrive at only one conclusion. 

This episode includes interviews with Derek Bateman, Janice Galloway, James Kelly, Paul Kavanagh (Wee Ginger Dug) and Christopher Silver.

This can also be found on Youtube using the link below...
https://youtu.be/-zV1h20li20

This can also be found on the 'Wee Ginger Dug' blog at the address below...
https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/altered-state-part-2/

This episode follows on from my post of 30th September.
http://scotcitizen.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/altered-state-critique-on-first.html

Altered State - A critique on the first Scottish Independence Referendum on what needs to be done before the next...

This is part 1 of a series.

It also appears on youtube in the public domain at the following address if the above doesn't work...https://youtu.be/PJ90uKQmcGQ.

This video has also appeared on the Wee Ginger Dug blog which can be found at ...https://weegingerdug.wordpress.com/.

SCOTLAND WAS ROBBED OF ITS INDEPENDENCE

This is my response to any NO VOTER who tells me to just get over it and accept the result that Scotland VOTED NO in September 2014.

If the Scottish Referendum had been conducted FAIR and SQUARE then the result would have been considered to be more acceptable to the people who campaigned for and then voted "YES".

Unfortunately by any measure it wasn’t. David Cameron himself said, and I quote " The Scottish Referendum is a matter solely for the people of Scotland to decide".

From that moment on the people of Scotland and down south were bombarded with scaremongering lies and deceit from Westminster, Better Together and mainstream media which includes the newspapers, the broadcasters with particular reference to the BBC.

Westminster was virtually put on hold when it looked despite all this that Scotland may have the temerity to vote Yes with 100 Westminster Labour MPs shipped up to Scotland by train to try to force a NO vote.

Bus loads were brought from England and Wales (paid and fed I may add) to canvas for a NO vote whereas Yes campaigners were largely doing everything for free and were from Scotland.

Scottish Pensioners were phoned in their homes by Better Together and told that they could lose their pensions and put them at risk if they voted "YES". This was then backed up by Labour people at the gates of polling stations telling those on benefits or pensions that they would lose them if people voted YES.

Scottish SUPERMARKETS and BANKS and BUSINESSES were called into Downing Street to frighten the Scots about prices going up and businesses moving south and mortgages costing more if they "VOTED YES".

Scotland was told that the NHS would be at risk if they VOTED "YES". But we now know from Labour General Election campaigning that it is at risk in the Union. Gosh what a surprise! People were told that Scotland’s OIL would run out in 20 years; and 2 days after a NO VOTE they were told that the Oil would last at least 120 years. None of the economics of a Yes vote was based on oil being anything other than an added extra.

The USA was contacted to speak out for the Union; Russia was contacted to speak out for the Union; Spain was contacted to speak out for the Union; The EU was contacted to tell Scotland it would not be allowed in the EU. Even the British Embassies around the world were contacted to support the Union.

Every dirty trick in the book was used by Westminster against Scotland voting Yes. The only thing they did not do was put tanks on the streets and threaten to blow Scots off the map.

In spite of all the lies, the might of "THE ESTABLISHMENT" and dirty tricks etc being launched against them 45% of all the Scots VOTED "YES".

I think under the circumstances people in Scotland therefore have every right to vigorously pursue self determination and independence for their country. Justice will be seen to be done and honesty will prevail.

Any reservations I may have had before the vote have now gone thanks to what occurred during the campaign and on the day of voting. Until the day of Scotland’s independence, the fight goes on. Of that the world can be rest assured.

Dear World 2, A Letter from Scotland to our friends around the globe

Dear World,

What a week it has been! There was the optimism of a possible vote for our independence last week, rewarding the hard work of the many thousands of Yes campaigners and starting a new optimistic chapter in Scotland’s history.

Instead Scotland appears to have voted NO and we are in many ways embarrassed and ashamed of our fellow countrymen who believed the Westminster lies and scare stories yet again. We have history on this – you may remember. Normal service has indeed been resumed but not in the way we expected or wanted.

There is some evidence of electoral fraud and dubious electoral practices. But I guess you could have expected that. The British state never expected us to vote Yes and when they discovered that we might, to their great shock, actually do so, it is no surprise they would use every underhand tactic to undermine that possibility. After all Scotland is the British State’s fountain of wealth, which most in Scotland never see.

All ready the Westminster bribes and promises are beginning to look as hollow and false as those of us in the know knew they were all along. Although our own media (television, radio and nearly all our newspapers) who all have a vested interested in perpetuating the corrupt, morally and intellectually bankrupt British state continue to play this down.

Our work to convince our fellow Scottish countrymen that looking after our own home is practical and logical whilst looking after and working with our neighbours is not over yet. The Yes Movement is continuing – it now known as the 45 movement and/or Yes Alliance, and our largest political party supporting our country’s independence, the SNP, has doubled in size since last Thursday, meaning it is now, in terms of membership, the third largest in the whole of the UK.

The fear element can be put down to the aforementioned above. (F.E.A.R. = False Evidence Appearing Real), and also a certain amount of false hope that Westminster may have changed.

Many thanks for your continued moral support. I know we try the World’s patience with our predicament. Until we sort this all out we must continue to bow to our imperial masters in Westminster and suffer the ignominy of continuing to be part of Greater England. We hope soon to sort this out by eventually becoming independent.

Please bear with us. Respect and kindest of regards.

All the best from:

Scotland.

An alien in my own landscape, by my brother. Scotland 9/19.

An alien in my own landscape

A surreal experience, was Friday, 19^th September, 2014. 

I listened to Podcasts in the car to avoid the radio. I entered my office for a NORMAL WORKING DAY. 

Face on. 

Through my lenses I can feel people chatting about the traffic and the weather. Ohh, the weather. ‘Bit foggy this morning, you know’. ‘Bad queue on the bypass.’ 

As the morning progressed the occasional, personal appointments and dates were being made, you know, in advance of the weekend to come. AS YOU DO. One, calls her hairdresser to get a tint and her eye brows waxed. 

Another, organises his prodigal son’s latest game of football or it might have been Judo. One more is on the net checking arrangements for the weekend cycling run. 

Some others are ranting wildly, and e-mails are circulated to all about ‘Immediate changes to Policy’ in the standard knee jerk manner to the latest priority 1 system failure.  For the avoidance of doubt, E-mail is now, officially, business critical. AND, the IT Director will take PERSONAL responsibility for incident management (eh, but only when on site, by the way).

Well, I then sallied forth. AS YOU DO. I went to the South Gyle Shopping Altar at lunchtime to buy medication for Mo’s cold. 

‘This product contains Paracetamol’, the shop assistant explains. ‘no shit - Yes, that’s why I chose it’ is my internal response, sounding remarkably like John Cleese. 

I do explain Mo is not on any other medication and then the item is hurredly sold, but done so in a grudging manner, as is the official procedure for stuff that ‘comes oot from behind the counter’. It’ll be just in case I don’t know what it’s for, or perhaps what to do with it. You can’t be too careful it seems. I might even know what might be best for the ‘country’. Nah – bollocks to that; probably not.

As I did actually feel physically sick, I bypassed the M&S food hall where people were stocking up on the weekend ‘2 for 1s’ or ‘dinner for 2s’.

People were trying on shoes and chatting over shopping trolleys. EHHHHH ?

Back in the office comments are made by Another, that I’m a bit quiet today. 

He would. 

However, I was, and I am. 

I am keeping close counsel. I do not trust myself to speak.

You see - and this is important - Something died for me, this morning, today. 

Like a death in the Family. I don’t say that lightly.

I no longer have those rocks of certainty and of support that were there previously. Part of My Foundation for MY Life has been destroyed. Part of MY Soul has withered. 

I, have been made Homeless - yet still can live in a nice house. I, have a garden where I can dig the earth and feel the land but it does not feel the same. 

My neighbours are not who they appeared to be, Yesterday, or could have been today. 

The Community in which I lived and will continue to exist in, is only 45% of the size it was yesterday. 

And I Grieve for All of Us.

Flower of Scotland

A good friend has asked me to the rugby in November to watch a team called ‘Scotland’. They’re professional, you know. As a resident of North Britain I no longer see the significance of following and supporting a team that does not represent anything real or tangible. 

All sports teams representing this region in North Britain will require to source a new anthem for the start of their games as non-one should sing THOSE words again. They have a very hollow ring now. 

Indeed, I hereby declare that all ‘national’ teams related to this place should be scrapped unless it can be proven that they are real Countries. And Real  Nations. This one is no longer. And, if it ever does become one again, then, perhaps, it may deserve or indeed Require, a team. Any team.

It certainly doesn’t now.

Ghetto

Perhaps a native American style reservation might be the answer. Those of us That Care can move there, and we can have our own rules. And own time zones and stuff – like the Navajo. That’ll be better. Won’t it? They’ve done just great out of the White Man.

Or, here’s maybe a better idea - maybe we can club together and buy an island. And all move there. Declare unilateral independence from the rest of this shower. 

Or, Something ???

Maybe in this New World, 1.6million people will get bags of horse tranquilisers on prescription (we WILL need to pay, of course). But it’ll be for the best. Won’t it? That’ll do it. 9 out of 20 – or 45% - of the population wearing 6 pointed stars on their clothing. 

Visible for all to see. 

So they know. 

So we all know.

Parcel of Rogues

I couldn’t stop the words of a rhyme by a guy who used to live down the coast in Ayrshire going round my head yesterday. 

Or today for that matter. 

And all night. 

I want to cover this place in large posters, really spelling the words out, letter by letter.

Slowly, so that any passers-by that take the time to spell-it-out will feel...something. 

...Anything ? 

It is the ‘best’ and only option for a new anthem for this Northern place, if indeed a shire deserves a wee tune in the first place.    

Comedy

Billy Connolly once said that the Scottish parliament was a ‘wee pretendy parliament’. 

Well, we now have a wee pretendy country to go with it. 

Ironic that. 

I had agreed with Billy on the parliament, however it WAS better than nothing. 

I had rather hoped things would move the other way, and that the parliament would take control of the country. Logical that. 

Still, Billy’s going to lecture in October, so it’d better be good.

The ‘Government’ and Education

It is a strange place in which I still live and breathe that has chosen to continue to have 22 millionaires that used to go to one school in South Britain called Eton control our affairs, up North.  

I am using the term ‘our’ more loosely these days. 

Not sure North British Geography or Anthropology was on their curriculum in Eton but, God, it must be a good school you know? Maybe everyone else here knows how GOOD it really must be and I must have missed something during my Highers. They are da GOVERNMENT after all.

North British education, you know, was once ‘the envy of the world’. They did at least teach me that at school.

It’s been splendid at producing serfs, managers and administrators that can toil to satiate their avarice. Perhaps Curriculum for Excellence in this New World we find ourselves in could take a look at their approach. We need new courses in patronage, forelock tugging and grouse beating – not to mention newly expanded British history lectures that could have a whole new twist. There can be new tragic-comedy sections added, you know to lighten what can at times be a dull subject. Let’s face it, when you write the history books you do tend to put in just a bit too much flannel and it does tend to BIG up the victor. I do have to say there is only so much that our children will need to know anyway about how the Pink areas on old school room and atlas maps came about, and how the only ONE left is at the north end of this island. 

Shameless

A now distant acquaintance of this parish has apparently come across a five figure sum from ‘the keepers of the book’ with relation to a recent referendum poll. 

The Person asked a slightly gloating question via social media regarding what this money could possibly be used for. To maintain decorum and not commenting directly was problematic, however I remain keen to suggest to the Guilty Party that the Tressell trust foodbanks charity in Glasgow would be a suitable beneficiary for our fellow citizens who might be less fortunate that himself. We are, apparently, BETTER TOGETHER. Awww.

Porridge

I have only eaten porridge since Friday morning, 6am. 

It’s as if I’m seeking to draw from the very Essence of the Oats - to draw it from  the very soil in which it came to be, and to seek solace from it’s soul. 

Porridge (in this place), is made with tap water (from Glen Turret), Organically grown Scottish oatmeal, and Salt. 

Ohh, there’s that 8 letter S-word again, the name of a people and a land from the past.

It does seem though still to be refusing to die from my spoken vocabulary however quickly it should. I’m sure it’ll go though - through time - though it will not be forgotten in mind. 

In the early morning porridge making I spilled a wee bit salt, so I had to throw a pinch over my shoulder into the face of the de’il to ward him off. As you do.

I think though I must have got the wrong shoulder.  Maybe where I’ve been going wrong is that I should adopt the make-it-with-milk-and-adulterate-with-dried-Mediterranean-fruits-and-nuts approach. That’ll maybe help me move forward into this New World, on this new day into which I stare.

Maybe I’ll wait just another Day.

9/11.... or 9/18

The Americans would put it that way wouldn’t they? Back to front, like. 

A bit like Ours. 

We’ve just done it, or err, not done it, back to front, like. 

Scotland’s non 9/11 is 9/18. 

It could have been SO different. But actually, it’s not. 

It COULD have jolted that North British (ex) nation and attached southern neighbour out of it’s detached, untouchable, conservative conceit like 9/11 did to the USA.

But it didn’t. 

So.  What did ‘We’ do ?

Well, We did NOTHING.                                       

ABSOLUTELY FUCK ALL.

 

Aye, you could say we all went trooping through the Polling Booths and put our mark on a piece of paper. I grant you that.

But we weren’t just too sure, were we. 

Imagine – being able to govern – wait a minute – YOURSELF ! .... too much.

 RIDICULOUS. 

Someone always TELLS us what to do  - it’s what this country is famous for. 

Remember ? ‘You HLI chaps pop out of this trench and over that hillock first would you, there’s a good man. Now, mind your skirt on that wire as you go and do try not to breathe in that coloured smoke for a least a little while. There’s a good chap.’

It CAN’T be true. 

‘An’ that David Cameron has such a nice smile, too’. ‘And wee George Osbourne ? Well, he looks lovely – very smart. Always wears a tie - and I used to like a band with a singer that was called Osbourne to boot’.

 ‘Well, there simply MUST be a catch’.

‘ And then there’s that nice Gordon Brown. He’s from Fife you know. A Son of the Manse too, Mabel, like Douglas Alexander’. 

Meanwhile back in the real world, the number 23 bus to da Modern World,

 Just---Passed---Us---By.

We failed to stick out a hand. 

There was a bit of peculiar waving as it went by, by a few, I grant you. ‘Hey.......’.

If the metaphorical Scotland, sorry, North Britain, was male then we were standing scratching oor bollocks with oor eyes shut when the operchancity  came.

BUGGER.

We must have been in at a bus stop in Glasgow and thought it was Edinburgh – You Know ?  ...OK, OK - for the tourists -  in Edinburgh the bus actually stops if it sees a pedestrian at a Bus Stop, hand up or no;  in Glasgow it disnae stop unless you stick out a hand half way across the street, or have wan wi’ a gun in it. 

Where now ?

Friday morning and Douglas Alexander and Ruth Davidson are on the telly grinning inanely. They occasionally mouth something, but thank God the sound is turned down so I can hardly hear. Every TV in the office has been tuned to the BBC where Tommy (Sheridan  – aye, him – Real Madrid and the Ber Na Bow an’ a’ that !) is ...and yes, he is indeed talking of orchestrated plots - I just caught that bit. Christ, he’s off again and he’s only just put his head back above the parapet. Where’s he bin hiding since he got out? Convincing voice of the Yes campaign ? Possibly not. Seems the non-news of a non-Yes vote (i,e, NOTHING actually came to pass) is keeping even our CEO and Communications people off the screens, who regularly espouse the latest numbers and marketing campaign successes. Leading through the telly, eh – it’s always the personal touches like that, that really work, isn’t it ? They’re good at making a huge song and dance when nothing actually happens too. Perhaps they could be full time politicians.

Emigration

The clearances (or more precisely the greed of the people’s landlords) sent many folk across the sea to a very different life in previous centuries. Of course it happens all the time these days when an area struggles and opportunities for better or worse seem to come up in other places. A man called Tebbit said get on your bike to find work. This time it will be the fear and in some cases the greed of the majority that will drive many newly lost souls abroad. And who can blame them. How can I argue the case for my only daughter to stay ? 

The Scottish Referendum and its aftermath. Feelings of absolute desolation, anger, disbelief and betrayal.

Know that you are not alone in your feelings of desolation, anger, disbelief and betrayal over the outcome of the Scottish Independence Referendum. It has almost been like a bereavement. I too am in many ways ashamed and embarassed for Scotland.

There was a strong feeling on Friday night when I was at the local Yes activist party (yes that what it turned out to be) that we had won in every way but the outcome of the vote. It was amazing. We had the get together at one of the local snooker clubs, and we had rented a room for the occasion. When the people in the main part of the club discovered that we were the local Yes group many wanted to talk and shake our hands. Some turned their heads and would not look us in the eye which is not a mark of someone who is proud of what they have done.

Despite almost every vestige of the British state being thrown at us (the only one they left out was the use of the military) including the media, the heads of multi nationals, the heads of supermarkets, the head of banks and finance houses, etc. the Yes campaign achieved 45% of the vote.

The Yes campaign won the argument. It was only the concentrated fear and small amount of hope churned out by the British state and its pals which turned the few in the last week or so from Yes to No. The British state only won by bullying, intimidation, lies and deceit. It was pointed out that within a few months, nobody in Scotland will have voted no, or at least remembered doing so as it will be proved to be act of national betrayal, and actual stupidity.

So the Yes Movement will continue in some form or other (we are meeting again in 3 weeks) and I understand from a few other Yes groups that they will be continuing too. You may even see the organisation continue nationally and that is what we shall be lobbying those on high for. However we all need a rest at the moment.

Therefore we at our local Yes group were asked to do the following...

1. Continue to display at least one or two of you yes signs in your windows or garden. These now do not need to be so prominent or numerous but should still be visible. This is to reassure those people who voted Yes that this is not over.
2. Continue to wear any Yes badges, and Scottish flag buttons on any occasions you can.
3. Display a 'stay Yes' sign, or a '45' logo on your social media profile. Again this will keep the Yes campaign visible. I personally prefer the first one, but have done both on mine.
4. Join the SNP, Scottish Greens or Scottish Socialist Party. You will be far from alone if you do this - I opted for the first one but this does not mean you shouldn't opt for another. We are hopeful there will be an electoral pact between these parties in future elections fighting under the banner of Yes or something similar. They have all flourished throughout this campaign and have a flood of members since Friday to the point that both the SNP and Scottish Green websites crashed several times on Friday and Saturday.
5. Keep the faith. Who would have thought that even 10 years ago 45% of the Scottish population would vote for Scottish self determination? The rich and powerful in Westminster that triumphed on this occasion over the people will not do so again. They only won by using every underhand tactic in the book.


Remember Alex Salmond, on Friday 19th September 2014, said 'The real guardians of progress are not the politicians at Westminster, or even at Holyrood, but the energised activism of tens of thousands of people who I predict will refuse to meekly go back into the political shadow'.

Why not have a wee visit to Edinburgh at the end of September?