The Labour party isn’t even pretending to respect the devolution settlement now. Labour’s idea of Scottish devolution is that they’ll support it as long as Scotland votes for a Labour controlled Scottish Government. It’s the do as we say because you can’t be trusted school of British nationalist paternalism. It’s not for a government in Westminster to second guess the democratic choices of the people of Scotland at a Holyrood election, but that is exactly what the deeply undemocratic Keir Starmer is doing. When the devolved Scottish Parliament was established in the late 1990s, Labour genuinely thought Scotland would be Labour’s plaything and powerbase forever. The voting system imposed on Holyrood was supposed to produce a Labour Lib Dem Scottish Government in perpetuity – or rather a ‘Scottish executive’ because we can’t have Scotland getting ideas above its station now can we?
Things did not go to plan and since 2011, the Labour party has been sulking like a spoiled child whose toy has been taken away as a punishment for bad behaviour. They still believe Scotland is rightfully theirs.
Following a disastrous start to his new government – even Tony Blair managed to get through the first couple of years without making more than half the country hate him, on Thursday Keir Starmer set out a re-set for his government in a vain attempt to pretend that the past five months hadn’t happened. In a speech Starmer laid six new “milestones” which set out targets for his government to achieve over the next five years. These supersede his previous promises, most of which are now lying dead beside the political highway, having collided with Starmer’s opportunistic dishonesty.
The new “milestones”, which he really means this time, honest, are: higher disposable income per person; 1.5 million new homes in England; 92% of patients in England waiting 18 weeks or less for elective treatment ; 13,000 new police officers; getting 75% of five-year-olds in England “ready to learn” when they start school and 95% clean power by 2030, much of which will be produced by Scotland.
It’s high time that the Scottish Government and pro-independence politicians started screaming from the rooftops about Westminster’s theft of Scotland’s renewable energy, it’s the cheviot, the stag, and the tall tall wind turbine. Scotland produces more energy than it needs for its own consumption yet Scottish households pay some of the highest energy bills in Europe. All that electricity is produced by natural resources which are the communal property of the people of Scotland, yet the profits from it flow south along with the electricity itself.
Notably missing from Starmer’s list is any mention of tackling child poverty, wealth inequality, or social exclusion. The pledge to achieve 95% clean power by 2030 has watered-down a manifesto commitment from Labour to achieve “zero carbon” electricity by that year. Starmer insists that the new commitment is exactly the same as it previously was, forgetting perhaps that we can read too. But the shameless rewriting of past statements is very much on brand for Starmer. His claim that he never said Israel has the right to withhold food and water from Gaza springs to mind. He was literally recorded saying it.
There was little mention of Scotland, so much for the promise that Scotland would be at the centre of a Labour government’s decision making. However in a press release issued after the speech, Downing Street wrote: “The message is clear – devolved or not [italics in original] – we will collectively make a difference across the UK sharing best practice and aligning efforts across every level of government, business and with civil society.”
Labour mentioned policing, health, and “giving children the best start in life” as specific areas in which they would work in Scotland, given that these are devolved but also fall under Starmer’s new list of “milestones”.
The UK Government said that its pledge to work in devolved areas was part of a “genuine partnership with devolved governments on shared priorities of working people”. By genuine partnership what they mean is they tell the Scottish Government what to do in devolved matters and will deploy the levers made available to them in the Scotland Act in order to ensure that Starmer gets his way. All this is of course perfectly legal, legality is what Westminster says it is. Westminster doesn’t do co-operation or partnership, that is alien to the DNA of a body which sees itself as the sole possessor of unlimited sovereignty. In its dealing with other elected bodies Westminster is strictly a top-down institution, it gives instructions which are meant to be obeyed.
Labour is citing its victory in Scotland at this year’s Westminster general election as giving it a mandate to overrule the Scottish Government even though “trashing the devolution settlement” wasn’t mentioned by Labour either in its Scottish manifesto or at any point during the election campaign. This is the same Labour party which denied that the Scottish Government had a mandate to hold another independence referendum following a decisive victory by pro-independence parties who had prominent manifesto commitments to holding another independence referendum in a Scottish parliamentary election campaign which was dominated by the issue of a second independence referendum. For the Labour party the definition of mandate is “whatever suits the Labour party.”
The lesson ought to be clear by now. If you vote Labour in Scotland you are giving Keir Starmer licence to do whatever he likes. His interest in you and your needs ends the moment you mark an X beside the name of the Labour candidate and drop your ballot in the box.
Faced with this blatant contempt for the devolution settlement, it’s not enough for the Scottish Government to complain about the Labour party acting undemocratically. Labour knows it’s acting undemocratically and it doesn’t care now any more than it cared in the aftermath of losing the 2021 Holyrood election. Labour knows that it won’t be taken to task by the media in Scotland, it will be enabled and platformed. It’s time for some constructive obstruction. It’s time to seize the initiative.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
The current Scottish Government have a clear mandate to hold an independence referendum. That mandate expires at the next Holyrood election, whether in 2026 or sooner if there is a vote of no confidence before then. If the Westminster government do not sign a S30 order so that the Scottish Government can effect its democratic mandate then the next Holyrood election must be that referendum.
Poll after poll, election result after election result – including July’s – says Scots are ever more against Westminster rule, and absolutely don’t want what is effectively England’s parliament interfering in Scottish matters.
English Labour are out of their minds if they think trying to bypass Holyrood will do anything but more damage to them. They are hitting new lows in popularity, yet seem to only want to make themselves even less liked. It’s crazy. They’ve lost their minds.
Kudos , Paul , if you managed to listen to the entire Starmer dirge .
I am of the opinion that he is deliberately mind-numbingly boring so that he causes his audiences either to give up and die or switch off and think about what they are having for their tea that evening .
Some have compared his delivery to a Speak-Your-Weight Machine but are way off the mark as such a machine actually delivers a FACT at the end of its deliberation .
Labour under the present leadership ( and I don’t believe that Starmer is the real leader of this bunch of self-serving , greedy b*stards – he is the wooden figurehead) has no respect for the Devolved nations , and that was clear long before the July election . He is surrounded by people who have their own agendas , Streeting , Reeves , McFadden ( with Mc Sweeney pulling the strings ) and have little interest in anything outwith Westminster .
The ineffectual Sarwar will do as he is told and will be simply a message boy for Starmer and Ian Murray , and like the weak individual he is will be discarded when the time suits others . So don’t expect him to fight the Devolution corner . The position of Scottish FM has been dangled in front of him as a prize for doing his master’s bidding and he is so dazzled by this that he fails to see the frailty of Scottish (sic ) Labour’s position in the polls ( or his own in the Party ! )
The Tory arrogance of Alister Jack towards Holyrood has been replaced with the far more dangerous centralising intent of Labour which sees anything not controlled by Westminster as a threat .
They have wasted no time in ”re-setting the relationship with the Scottish Government” by trashing its record at every opportunity with lies and misinformation ( Reeves ), lack of consultation on major issues ( WFP ), re-allocating monies ( £160m) to allow the SoS to undermine the SG when it suits him , and dismissing attempts to reduce Child Poverty ( Starmer) …..They have taken Boris Johnson’s slogan of ”Taking Back Control !” and are applying it to Devolution – especially the Scottish version .
Labour at Westminster is NOT a benefit to Scotland after the Tories ; it is dangerous and has shown that it cares not a jot for local democracy .
Unfortunately I’ve not been too impressed by John Swinney, he’s obviously a nice, honest fellow – BUT lacks the necessary independence drive, or the cut-throat responses to opposition attacks.
We are being bombarded by dishonest journalism from BBC anti-Scotchland and the UK controlled media, and this makes it even more important that we get the ‘Indy’ ball rolling again.
Completely off topic, but something for one of you Scottish techies to work on.
If you do a Wiki search for the following:
Welsh people … you get the Red Dragon flag
English people … you get the Cross of St. George
Cornish people … you get the Cross of St. Piran
Irish people … you get a map of the world showing the Irish diaspora
People of Northern Ireland [sic.] … you get a map of the 6 counties
But …
If you search for:
Scottish people … you get the Butcher’s Apron
Don’t get too smug, they believe we’re all equally inferior, well, and Scots are fearties
I tried it but didn’t get the same as you. The “English people” search came up with the St George Cross but that was because the first item in the search referred to the Wikipedia page. The others didn’t have any flag in my searches.
But I know that Google alters algorithms to suit demands of the government of the day and place. I first saw that in 2008 when I took an interest in the US elections. Links to Hillary Clinton searches invariably came up with derogatory references to Bill Clinton’s affairs. But Barack Obama searches were fine. That was in the primaries when Obama was obviously to be the chosen one.
During the following election searches to any Republican site came up with kibble and the target site was relegated to page 40 of a search. Nobody ploughs through 40 pages of Google searches to find what they’re looking for.
After the election, Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was appointed to the new Obama administration. His daughter Sophie Schmidt was connected to Cambridge Analytica and the data mining activities of Palantir.
https://archive.ph/nLM2H
You mention Google. I meant specifically the Wiki search inside Wiki itself.
If this still gives hits different from one another I don’t know what’s up.
My mistake – sorry – I have now searched wiki and in the search thumbnails you are right, the Butcher’s Apron appears beside the Scottish search but the Saltire appears in the article.
However, the same applies to Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia. What was once a useful fund of knowledge comparable in accuracy to any other encyclopedia, became a tool of the intelligence services everywhere and again, in 2008, Hillary Clinton’s Wiki page was attacked relentlessly during the primaries. I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton. I’m a fan of freedom of speech and freedom of information.
All my life I’ve said you don’t get anywhere with England by being nice and polite, it emboldens them and their understanding of that is they see it as a sign of weakness
They changed the definition of polite to mean feart, they change definitions of words a lot
I seem to remember a recent former FM made it clear all over her face, and in the tone of her voice every time she met them, it worked
‘it’s the cheviot, the stag, and the tall tall wind turbine’
Watching the original in the early 70’s opened my teenage eyes and, I suspect, those of many others.
A contemporary re-write/update would fit in well with the final lines of the original play, when John Byrne said that the story does not yet have an ending.
Perhaps it could be performed by a re-constituted and re-named 1:99 Theatre Company.
Earlier this week I get a A5 leaflet through the door from the SNP with pictures of Wind Turbines on the front and on the back information on how Scotland was energy rich and exporting electricity and questioning why bills are still increasing.
I remember thinking at the time that it was good to finally see some action from the SNP in taking the message on energy into people’s homes. I would welcome more emphasis on getting this message out and the Scottish Government could do their bit too by getting it mentioned on the media at every opportunity.
Latest IPSOS.
https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/half-britons-disappointed-labour-so-far-pessimism-over-missions-grows
Half of Britons disappointed by Labour so far as pessimism over missions grows
Just a quarter (26%) say Keir Starmer is doing a good job as Prime Minister
Net rating hits a new low of -19%, and IPSOS are one of the better pollsters for Labour.
Net disappointed hitting a new high too.
Why on earth they want to make themselves even more unpopular by attacking devolution beats me.
I really am starting to believe McSweeney is an Irish republican aiming for the end of the UK and Irish reunification.
5 out of the most recent 9 polls now have Con ahead of Lab.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#National_poll_results
Don’t be silly Skier. Labour have 5 years to shower their base with goodies before another election is inevitable. Starmer has just announced the age old wheeze of using the construction industry to kick start “growth”. See the Wheatley Act 1924 and the Greenwood Act 1930 and endless housing acts for previous examples.
Previous Labour governments of course subsidised social housing through Local Authorities. Modern LINO subsidises the private development companies. It’s not about housing the poor. It’s about increasing employment and production to get the UK out of a recession.
They seem to be showering what’s left of their base in sh*te TBH.
Meanwhile the Tories that came to them for July are going back to Tory or moving to Reform.
Five years Skier, not 5 months. What will the polls be saying in 2028? If Starmer is a liability they will dump him and appoint somebody else.
Historically, New Labour in power lose support at each election, This became losing support at each election in opposition, with only Corbyn bucking the trend. Starmer got this losing streak back on track, securing half a million less votes than Corbyn 2019.
The next elections are in May; the English locals. Then there are national general elections in Scotland and Wales in 2026. Then we have more English local elections, then Scottish local elections in 2027.
I doubt there will be anything left of Labour bar it’s MPs in 2028. The UK probably won’t even exist. In every conventional sense they lost in July and very very badly. It’s only FPTP that gave a mirage of some sort of ‘win’.
And polling is everything. What do you think Starmer’s reset is about? It’s because all the MSPs and councillors facing an end to their career are up in arms, as increasingly are Labour MPs facing and to their careers after 1 term. This is a weather vane party which constantly chops and changes with the swing of the vane, which is the latest polling.
Things are not normal. IMO the union died in July. The two party system effectively came to an end. I see not the slightest hope for a revival of this / Labour and the union that needed it to work. Reform are, ultimately, England’s SNP. Nationalist, but extreme right. Labour’s abandonment of devo is English Labour replacing British just as English Tory replaced British Tory. Brexit was this happening. There are no British parties now, and I expect the deep divisions between ‘Scottish’ / ‘Welsh’ Labour and their English masters to only get worse.
English nationalism is destroying the union.
Turbines bring giant pylons stomping their way over the Scottish countryside feeding the wealthy of the south, Europe and across the atlantic’s offshore bank accounts.
Scot gov needs to get a grip and a tightener on the CPO’s and the local councils. Blatant land grab for some, handy wedge for the landowners who just happen to have land that the turbine routes and associated monster works are going through. They work hand in hand with the forestry commission on some of the access roads. On other routes, it’s ferries, as the roads are too windy and narrow for the carriers, eg. Argyll and Kintyre.
The language Starmer used about the Civil Service was like something from a Trump speech, albeit more eloquent. It would seem he is considerably more right wing and considerably more damaging than I had hitherto imagined. Westminster ignored Scottish Westminster seats when the SNP had 56 and 50% of a good turnout. I think Holyrood can ignore 37 on 35% of a poor turnout. Labour’s mandate such as it was is slipping through their fingers. They seem determined to make enemies not friends on all fronts.
….enemies not friends on all fronts .”
Their enemies appear to be – OAPs , people on Welfare , families with more than 2 children , left-leaning Labour MPs , anyone who criticises Israel , the SNP government ….
Their friends appear to be- anyone who will donate , designer glasses , designer dresses , V I P boxes at entertainment events , Executive boxes at Football stadia in London , lots of spondulics for The Party ( even from Off-shore tax havens )….
UK governments can mostly get away with enormous amounts of damage before they’re nobbled by their own media, but when they attack the civil service they take their future longevity out of their own hands and hand it to the Sir Humphrey’s
The civil service bites back, they run the show and they don’t like it one bit when uppity wee MPs think they know better and want to change the system, especially Labour types
It’s not just Starmer who continues the Tory war on devolution, the BBC in Scotland have never stopped since the Sarah Smith years, as Glenn Campbell demonstrates with his latest contrived bunkum ” SNP rediscovers its political confidence with wily Budget ” https://archive.ph/c0yK2….
’Glen(n) Campbell, defo not the ‘lineman for the county…’
His parents clearly had a sense of humour that he fails to be humble about.
Dig, dig, dig, poke poke, poke. Wonder if he is still carrying the Scottish Cringe, or does he not even realise it – big, comfy, pay deal.
A tale of two unions.
If the UK enters a recession, it’s all because Starmer didn’t want to up his own income tax, even though he’s a multi-millionaire on a massive salary + £100k in freebies. That nor up the tax of those bribing him with said freebies.
https://archive.ph/fSZ66
Eurozone economy touches two-year high as households spend more
The Eurozone quarter-on-quarter GDP growth rate inched up in the third quarter of the year, boosted by increased government and household spending, as well as higher inventories.
The third estimate for the quarter-on-quarter Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for the third quarter was released on Friday. GDP growth came in at 0.4% in Q3 2024, according to Eurostat, in line with analyst estimates, and above a 0.2% increase in the second quarter of the year.
https://archive.ph/2bVas
UK ‘heading for recession’ amid ‘jobs car crash’ sparked by national insurance hike, recruitment giant warns
One of the UK’s biggest recruiters has warned that the UK is heading towards recession, blaming the chancellor’s National Insurance hike for a slump in the jobs market.
Pensioners lost winter fuel payment and £1.3Billion in spending power. Poverty is the scourge of society. NHS will have more patients. NHS recruitment drive. The largest employer. £22Billion funding to NHS next year. The NHS funding was cut for 10 years by the Tories.
Brexit is costing £Billion. Trident putting Scotland in danger. Redundant weaponry wasting £Billions. Means testing administration wasting £Billions. Scotland in surplus in fuel and energy nearer the source pays more. HS2 & Hinkley Point a waste of £Billions. Tax evasion losing £Billions. UK tax laws not enforced.
Here’s how things look, with turnout included, for Westminster.
Labour are losing left right and centre, including notably to ‘giving up as there’s nobody to vote for’, hence crashing turnout projections. Reform have not actually made any real gains; it’s pretty much all down to low turnout projection inflation. Their voters are still champing at the bit and answering those poll emails, but these comprise only 10% of the electorate, up 1-2% on 2015’s UKIP share. Farage is not riding a wave.
The SNP are gaining, and this seems to be swing, as there has been no rise in turnout projection from recent record lows here. So this seems to be coming from Labour losing to SNP. Also a touch of Con, Lib too as these move to Yes, but mainly Lab. Reform have basically gained nothing from the SNP in Scotland, and the former also look better in full Scottish polls than reality due to the same low turnout projection inflation.
What this data says is that Labour should move centre left to start winning back its traditional base. Support PR. Offer more devo. Agree to iref2. Explore rejoining the single market. Increase taxes on the rich. End the two child cap. Bring back the WFP. All these sorts of things would give people a reason to vote Labour.
But Labour will not do this. Instead, they will continue to do what got them 0.5 m less votes than their worst defeat since 1935 in the form of Corbyn 2019. Nope, they’ll go knee jerk, anti-science, right wing Tory / Reform, so continuing with their popularity nosedive.
Prof Robertson has some sage advice for the Real Independence Supporters.
As the fight for Scotland in May 2026 looms where are Wings Off Scotland and Scot Goes Poop?
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/12/07/as-the-fight-for-scotland-in-may-2026-looms-where-are-wings-off-scotland-and-scot-goes-poop/
It is sad that Wings went weird. I suppose those of a yoonish disposition would argue it was always weird but I liked it.
I kind of get where SGP went with the Alba thing but as far as I can see that has not done much for his sense of well being. I can’t see much that would attract me to leave the SNP for Alba. The SNP are far from perfect and need to focus. I thought the budget reminded me of the Salmond/early Sturgeon years when there was a surer electoral touch. Long may it continue.
As for below the line, both are pretty toxic concern troll and ordinary troll cess pits.
I agree. I enjoyed his sharp wit and ability to research facts, analyse events and expose the flaws in the unionist “narrative”.
However we diverged over his ferocious and quite irrational attack on the SNP and he eventually banned me. Oh well. Their BTL community is appallingly hostile to all the wrong people. They might as well be unionists.
To be honest I think many of them are unionists, hiding under the cloak of “deeply disappointed or deranged disputants”
So many of the turns of phrases, innuendo and insults are identical to the Tory regulars on the BBC and the Heil that it is hard to believe they are separate people.
The “we hate everybody” blogs
Both of them dead blogs that keep a couple of nutters on to attract more nutters to make it appear that folk are reading their blogs
Neither one is about politics except for the politics of hatred of those who aren’t them
True. It can’t be good for your mental health to harbour so much bitter resentment for years and years. Better to find something positive to do with your time.
To be honest I think many of them are unionists, hiding under the cloak of “deeply disappointed or deranged disputants”
As a right wing southern English website, that’s where it will draw much of its audience. Farage types and whatnot.
I don’t think that’s how the world wide web works TBH.
I assure you people from England can access the wings site. Wings is run from England, ergo is an English website. If you donate, that’s where your money goes; to England. Campbell pays English tax, votes in an English constituency etc. So it’s an English website in every sense possible. Now Campbell might say he self id’s as Scottish, but he doesn’t believe in self-id, so the site can’t be Scottish that way as that’s the only way to be if you don’t live here. Residence is the only way you can legally be Scottish. Parentage, birth certificates are meaningless as these do not confer Scottishness, not until indy.
Campbell is an English citizen. ‘New English’ if you like. He loves life in England, preferring to live there than Scotland. Unlike him, I don’t think I could ever feel at home in England, particularly now it’s government subjugates my people. But Stuart Campbell is very much at home in what is one of the most quintessentially English places there is; Bath. I recall he used to document his strolls and how lovely he finds England, finishing up in a typical English beer garden. Hiding in plain sight.
I understand many Scots have been forced south to find work in the past. Almost happened to me. However, Campbell wants to be an English citizen. The thing that keeps him there is his love for England and his preference for English people / culture. But if he can make money pretending to be Scottish, why not exploit the Scots? But of course you can see how poorly he understands Scotland and her people. Was it not in like 1990 he left Scotland for his desired new country of England? When he talks of Scotland, he shows the same ignorance as other right wingers from the South of England.
So in every sense an English website IMO.
Undoubtedly one of your most stupid observations to date…
Like Campbell, you are rather quick to resort to abuse rather than rational argument.
Wings is website run by an English citizen. Donations to it go to England to be taxed at English rates. If the site broke the law, such as by stirring up hatred, copyright infringement etc, it is the English police and courts that would deal with it. It is an English website in all senses.
Now I don’t know where the traffic comes from, but from BTL comments, these don’t seem very Scottish to me. England seems like a logical origin given the site’s provenance.
“rational argument” 😂
Ha ha, I appreciate you tend to laugh at these rather than use them.
Meanwhile I await the evidence that the bulk of Wings readers are least from Scotland, even if not necessarily indy supporters as was questioned in the initial comment.
I can’t prove they’re not, but the statistics do favour a large potential English readership given he’s better known there for his writing and by sheer force of numbers.
Precisely
And I note Campbell is well known in England for his video game journalism and other English blogs he runs / has run. Wings came along 20 odd years into his Writing career. As the games titles he wrote / writes for are UK wide, far more English people should know him than Scots given we are outnumbered 10 to 1. Even if his English followers were just 1/10 of his Scots followers per capita, the BTL comments would be 50% English / 50% Scots.
FFS if you insist on digging this hole use a helmet…
I’m still waiting on the evidence that Wings is somehow not an English website and that its commenters are overwhelmingly from Scotland.
Maybe the latter is at least true, but the stats suggest it could well be otherwise.
I don’t need a helmet. It’s not like I’m crying into my keyboard; if someone resorts to abuse rather than countering with evidence, it means I’m winning.
FFS
I was once a Wings reader and commenter. I did originally believe he was pro-indy and figured he was like one of the many Scots forced to leave in search of work. But then over time I grew suspicious, namely when he started openly lying in blogs, gas lighting etc, making him no better than unionists. That and it became clear to me over time he really does love England and prefers English life / culture, so much so he has no intention of ever living in Scotland as far as I can see. Add in the relentless attacks on the SNP in recent years, even calls for people to vote unionist as Yes moves into majority, and I now don’t believe he ever supported indy. I figure he just saw a way to make some money and give himself a following, which he craves.
It’s amazing how techy some get when you question Wings and point out the reality that his website is English, as is he legally these days, and 100% by free choice.
You seem very anti English
You also seem to imply if someone doesn’t live IN Scotland they are not legally Scottish.
Not all Scots leave Scotland for work, some of us like to travel, live in different places, experience different cultures. My paternal grandfather was a great traveller, lived and worked all over. So did his brother. My father also. I like to think I inherited the love to travel.
Indeed, i have no idea if he supports indy or not, but the fact that he lives in England or runs his website from their is immaterial.
You seem very anti English
You need to point to where I was anti-English. Please quote a line example of this. If you can’t, you are the unpleasant, bigoted person here.
I simply pointed to where a website was run from and noted the author seems to love his adopted country. Some people of course move to England and decide they like it so much they want to stay. People do the same for Scotland. So what? How they hell is noting someone loves England and had made it their adopted home ‘anti-English’ FHS?
How that could possibly construed as you say is beyond me. It’s the opposite. Anti-English would be me telling stories of people who moved there and how they hate it. Campbell really loves Bath from my memories of his photo tour blogs he published. It is a very beautiful city from what I’ve seen, albeit it votes strongly in a right-wing neoliberal way alien to me.
But your home is where your heart is, and Campbell’s heart is in England based on all the evidence.
I was almost forced to move to England in the late 1990’s for work and it was very depressing. Not because people were unpleasant when I went for interviews etc – far from it I was made to feel welcome – but just I was being forced to leave the country I wanted to live in. Forced from my home country where my heart was. My family, my friends… where I felt happiest.
More importantly, personally, I think it is hypocritical to attack ‘The English media’ for interfering in Scottish politics, making up negative stories about the SNP etc, then make exceptions when it suits. I did make an exception for Wings initially for reasons I gave; I thought he was one of the diaspora that had to leave to find work due to the damage of the union to Scotland’s economy and really wanted to come back. But in time, I came to the conclusion he had zero interest in Scotland other than as source of income / fan praise / crap stirring, so he was just another England based media outlet attacking the SNP / Yes voters from the south of England.
From all I’ve seen, I don’t believe he supports independence.
I hate to point out the absolute obvious there is no legally Scottish . In legal terms all of us unless we hold citizenship from outside the UK are all legally British. At the current time being Scottish is a matter of identity as is being English or Welsh. If you live in England you can still identify as Scottish obviously.
Yes, precisely. The only legal way to be Scottish is by living here. Until such time as Scotland is independent that is; then Scottish nationality will exist. For the moment, we only have citizenship and/or national identity, with the latter based purely on self-identification as per e.g. the census.
And it must be based on self-id, or we are into blood and soil territory, dispensing with any notion of our nationalism as being civic. If having Scottish parents, being born here etc is what confers Scottishness, that excludes new Scots and the Yes movement’s inclusive approach that ‘all people who come to Scotland can be Scottish’ is dumped.
And if we stick to our guns on civic nationalism, we can’t dispense with it when it comes to other countries, including England. If we call our migrants ‘new Scots’, well we should consider England as reciprocating with ‘new English’. If all people living in Scotland, voting here etc are ‘Scots citizens’, then in England these are ‘English citizens’ we’d hope right? To suggest otherwise, and that Scots can’t become English in the same way English folks can become (new) Scots if they want to be, would be anti-English.
As for self-id for protected characteristics, I support this. There is no choice. Being LGBT etc isn’t genetic, nor is being Scottish. You can’t prove people’s identity, so you have to take what they say at face value. So people can live anywhere in the world and still see themselves as Scottish, self-identifying as that, and I completely accept them as that 100% (not least because if I e.g. retire to France with Mrs SS, it would be me). Except, like Stuart Campbell, if they oppose self-id for protected characteristics. Then they can’t be Scottish unless they live in Scotland. It’s that or they see Scottish as genetic blood and soil, which makes them a right-wing racist. Must be one of the two, or they need to support self-id.
I may be irritating on stuff like this, but I do my utmost to be consistent. It is hypocrisy I can’t stand. That includes people opposing self id for others while self-iding themselves, including as Scottish.
Anyway, enough time wasting on someone totally unimportant to the Yes movement, although my point stands on ‘Scottishness’.
Self id is all we have here, and we should hold on to that sense of Scottishness as strongly as we can as it embodies our civic movement.
Forget the helmet. I think you need a block and tackle now. 😱
” It’s amazing how techy some get when you question Wings and point out the reality that his website is English, as is he legally these days, and 100% by free choice. ” – Ehm no. Stand up like any normal person and admit you what followed you got wrong. It’s called being honest.
I can’t believe so much time has been spent here recently discussing the Bam from Bath who I won’t even dignify by naming. I may as well add my tuppence worth. I discovered his site a couple of weeks before the Indy Ref thought some of the stuff there was interesting and a few months later saw a link on it to this blog and have been here ever since. My interest in reading the Bams blog waned quite quickly as even before he totally jumped the shark it became blatantly obvious he suffered from severe shouty wee man syndrome. I haven’t been on his site for at least three years Personally I couldn’t care less whether he identifies as Scottish, English or a Triffid. However I do not think it is easy to understand Scottish politics and to an extent it’s people unless you live here. I seriously object to those who call themselves Scots but live in England whining about whether Scotland should be allowed Independence. Quite simply it is none of their business.
In a nutshell Eilidh
Labour have really done serious damage it seems. Makes you wonder if Truss might have been better for the economy.
Labour inherited ‘one of the best performing major economies’ and have trashed this with their mini-fiscal event and budget for multi-millionaires like Starmer.
https://archive.ph/BiSm1
Households cut back on spending at fastest pace in five years
Households cut back on essential spending at the fastest pace in five years last month as concerns over the economic outlook weighed on consumer confidence.
According to figures published by Barclays, essential spending fell by 3.1 per cent in November, the sharpest monthly fall since 2019, when the bank first started publishing spending figures.
The survey showed that supermarket spending fell by 1.8 per cent in the month, with just under two thirds (64 per cent) of consumers looking to cut back on spending.
Looking across all sectors, card spending fell by 0.5 per cent year-on-year, the first drop since July.
Consumer confidence in the UK economy also declined in the month, falling to 25 per cent in November from 31 per cent the month before.
The figures add to a growing sense that the UK has lost momentum, having been one of the best performing major economies in the world in the first half of the year.
Fiona and Marlene with their What’s On for December. I’m a bit late in posting this sine one event has already happened. But don’t worry, they even have a podcast on Xmas Eve because, let’s face it, there won’t be anything worth watching on the TV.
There’s definite confusion between being anti England and anti English, they’re not the same thing at all
Coming back to important stuff.
This is with record low engagement favouring unionists.
From English website The Times.
https://web.archive.org/web/20241207212451/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/john-swinney-on-course-for-pro-independence-majority-after-budget-9vcpvjwg7
John Swinney on course for pro-independence majority after budget
John Swinney is on course to command a pro-independence majority in Holyrood and lead the SNP into a third decade in power after a popular debut budget as first minister, according to a new poll.
In a significant blow to Scottish Labour, the first survey carried out since the Scottish government’s tax and spend plans were announced has seen the party’s support drop to its lowest level in three years.
Backing for independence has also risen to 54 per cent when undecided voters are excluded, the highest level for more than four years.
After the budget, support for the SNP increased by four points to 37 per cent for constituency votes and by three points to 32 per cent on the regional list since the last poll in August.
Analysis by Sir John Curtice, the polling expert and Strathclyde University professor, projected this would mean the nationalists would return 59 MSPs, which would almost certainly see the party continue in power beyond the 20-year mark. The SNP runs a minority administration at present with 62 MSPs.
“The finger of blame for Labour’s predicament,” Curtice said, “points to 10 Downing Street.” He added: “Far from easing Anas Sarwar’s path to Bute House, Labour’s victory in July has seemingly made his task harder.”
Swinney has also seen a bump in his popularity by four points to minus 7, according to the Norstat poll for The Sunday Times.
I was sure that Starmer would be found out and that once in power prove just how clueless he really is. I never in my wildest dreams thought he could possibly be this bad but there you go.
That’s the price you pay for promising “CHANGE” and delivering only more of the same but hitting your own supporters the hardest. Sarwar must be bealin hahaha.
We can thank Farage too. SNP getting a notably larger number of seats than their list share should yeild via the constituency FPTP vote. A result of unionists being very badly split 4 ways now. Their voting system and their division back firing.
But it’s 54% Yes that’s very interesting. I await the tables, because this seems to be swing among unionists, not Yessers reengaging.
Reinstate winter fuel payment. Reinstate the child benefit payment. Job done. Support the vulnerable. An increase in Independence support.
The National’s Nan Spowart reports on a new book by historian Conor McCabe publishing the writings of James Connolly for the first time.
Lessons from history for Scottish independence campaign
https://archive.ph/aYkex
Another interesting insight from James Connolly in the Nan Spowart article:
Hmm, that Norstat is like so including DKs.
51% Yes
43% No
I really need to see the tables for this one! Wow.
Labour have collapsed to just 18% on the list. Holy guacamole. They are losing to Con, Reform and SNP. Sarwar needs to move left, right, extreme right, anti-indy and pro-indy to win voters back.
It was not so long ago that there was consensus between the Unionists and the media in Scotland that any thoughts of Independence were dead for the foreseeable future.
The SNP were finished and Sarwar was gong to be the next FM come the election in 2026.
Then we get the Times poll today and the panic is rising already, the Times themselves have two articles totally based on finding any excuse for such a “dire” result at least in their eyes.
They have found the problem it’s not that Labour have been found out as being totally useless, it was the SNP budget that done it!
They need an excuse to cover their own failings and for the Times at least the Budget must have been responsible. Now, I’m a bit of a political anorak and although I have read a few of the main details about the budget I wasn’t glued to the TV greedily taking in every word.
In fact I’d be surprised if more than 50% even knew there was a Scottish budget and those that did probably got no further than a few headlines or highlights on the BBC. To use an old Scottish phrase, 54% support for Independence in their poll has them keeching their breeks.
Independence is Dead! Long Live Independence!
Aye. Average is now 51.3% Yes based on 3 different polls / pollsters.
TBH, that 54% Yes it doesn’t look out of place. It could fit well simply as a continuation in the surge in Yes we’ve seen since Labour took office. The average was already 50%, up from a 47% low just after the British election. That low was driven by disengaged Yessers, hence their low turnout in July. It was not support for independence, just support amongst those engaging with pollsters, which was British people in Scotland disproportionately engaging for their national election.
Then we have the fact those speaking to pollsters consistently said to Savanta that Labour winning would drive them to indy. We’ll they were being totally honest here. It’s why I wanted Labour to win; it was what was needed to finally end the union; a deeply disliked English Labour government Scots massively rejected at the ballot box.
Labour leader of Edinburgh Council being investigated by police for “inappropriate behaviour”. Will the investigations last until after the next Scottish Government elections”
Surely with a sexual allegation a BLUE police tent is required ? Have they any to spare ?
And a policeman standing outside his house. While others search through his dustbins. And it should be in the front pages of all the newspapers for the next three years,
37% on the constituency is the highest SNP from Norstat since March 2023 when SNP dropped as voters disengaged en masse in response to England ending democracy then trying to jail our former FM.
The union is already in deep doo doo. If Sturgeon is cleared, it’s utterly screwed because people will conclude branchform was politically motivated.
I am so glad Labour won the British election. We could have still been stuck in groundhog day if the Tories had stayed in office. However, Labour are performing well beyond my original expectations. I knew Scots would massively reject them and then grow to deeply dislike them at huge levels, but this quickly, this soon is really quite something.
Just when we think we need a warrior, maybe we don’t
I reckon folk are seeing John Swinney as the grown up in the room and they like it
Who’d a thunk it!
https://archive.ph/PQvG5
Labour’s big majority is fragile and it has weak mandate for change, says report
Exclusive: Election strategy of ‘not being the Tories’ is a time bomb, says Labour-linked thinktank Compass
Keir Starmer’s focus on winning over voters from the centre-right has delivered Labour a large but fundamentally shallow electoral win and a weak mandate to deliver real change, a report from a Labour-linked thinktank has warned.
The report by Compass, titled Thin Ice, argues that Labour should be less worried about losing 2024 voters to Reform UK and the Conservatives than to the Liberal Democrats and Greens, arguing this is the greater electoral risk.
Polling carried out for the report said of those who voted Labour in July, more than twice as many would consider moving to a party on the left as to one on the right, and that four in 10 2024 Labour voters do not especially identify as supporters.
Unemployment rising at rates not seen since the pandemic. Job vacancies crashing similarily.
Labour are trashing the economy, putting thousands out of work while slashing welfare. If people lose their jobs, it’s Labour’s fault. They are who is creating ‘worklessness’. And all because of personal greed. Multi-millionaires Starmer with this hundred £k in freebies just will not pay a penny more in income tax.
https://archive.ph/v1M6O
UK job vacancies fall at fastest rate since pandemic as business confidence slumps
The number of job vacancies in November fell at the fastest rate since the start of the pandemic, as business confidence slumped to its lowest level in almost two years, according to two new reports.
In a damaging blow to the government efforts to boost growth, the latest monthly report on the job market from accountancy firm KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) found demand for staff declined at a “sharp and accelerated pace” last month, with the steepest fall in vacancies since August 2020.
That article isn’t about unemployment. It’s about job vacancies falling, especially among permanent posts. It doesn’t mention unemployment at all.
Huh? Have you not seen the recent unemployment figures? The rate of rise was last seen during the pandemic. This has been posted and discussed this previously, so I was not going to repeat it when noting job vacancies were collapsing at similarly alarming rates.
We are still in the pandemic. It is just the emergency phase that is over. Therefore Sars-Cov2 still impacting health and thus employment.
A fair point. Since the initial covid outbreak then, when the economy went into freefall.
Yes I have seen the unemployment figures. Orkneystirling posted them below. I checked via Google. Practically the same as last year and historically low.
The last time the unemployment rate rose 0.3% month on month was when we had the initial covid outbreak and the economy was shutting down. Previous to that, you’d need to go back to the major recession that was the 2008/9 financial crisis.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/unemployment/timeseries/mgsx/lms
That might not worry you, but it does me and economic experts. I really hope it’s some sort of blip, but all the other economic indictors are dire, including job vacancies. Taken together, they suggest Labour may have triggered a recession.
Unemployment rate UK. 4.5%
Unemployment rate Scotland 3.3% (low)