scotlandisdifferent

Yanis Varoufakis, in 'Talking to My Daughter About the Economy', asks why the Australians, when the British invaders came to pillage their resources, destroy their culture, and murder their people, did not retaliate by invading Britain. Why did they not build an ocean-going fleet, load it with soldiers, arms and ammunition, sail it up the Thames, and lay waste to Sussex, Suffolk and the rest of the Home Counties? The answer, of course, is that the Australians were many marbles short of the technology that would enable them to do this. So that means that it was all right for the Brits to do what they did, doesn't it? As a second example of something similar, I recently had a conversation with a Scottish opponent of independence who had run for the hills after the close shave of the 2014 referendum, emigrated to Maine in the USA, and set up her own business designing and marketing household utensils. Ninety-five percent (or some similar and improbably high figure) of Scottish...

With IndyRef2 announced, the Unionist press (and that's virtually all of it in Scotland) is going berserk. Three consecutive "reader's letters" in yesterday's Metro say: "...Scotland has a large budget deficit..." Too poor. "I urge all of Scotland who want independence to watch the hilarious 1949 comedy film 'Passport to Pimlico'..." [Pimlico is a tiny area of central London which, in the film, declares independence, but gets squeezed back into servitude.] Too wee. "...The SNP wastes hundreds of millions of taxpayers' cash. Scotland needs professionals, not amateurs." Too stupid. These aren't readers' letters, they're artful journalists' propaganda. Counter it by talking to all your friends, and giving them copies of the Wee Alba Book .

Constant Readers Sey&Dor have chided me for not blogging for two months (can it really be that long?!). So here is a quick rundown on where this blog now stands, which of course means a quick rundown on where we all stand on Scottish independence. First up is total scunneration at the Holyrood election result: no dent in the SNP, Salmond's reputation is rubbished, and Alba gets nowhere. Indy off the table for five years. Second up is the unbelievable corruption in the Scottish government. Sturgeon and her clique conspired to pervert the course of justice and to jail Alex Salmond for life. A corrupt Lord Advocate - who runs the Crown Prosecution Service but is also a government minister - puts in place procedures (anonymity in sexual-offence cases) that mean that no whiff of this can be published. Craig Murray, the only journalist who gave an impartial account of the Salmond trial and highlighted the strength of the defence, has been sentenced to eight months in jail for doing s...

There still seems to be a lot of flak going around to the effect that Salmond was charged with so many offences that some of them must have been true. That doesn't follow, of course, and there are three things to be said about it: It's logical nonsense ( fallacy of the undistributed middle ). It's exactly what the conspirators wanted you to think, which is why they dredged up a dozen or more charges out of thin air. Moorov was a Scottish lawyer who formulated the doctrine that witnessing a similar event to the one on the charge-sheet would count as corroborative evidence. So Moorov, or "more of". The fragility - or rather the emptiness - of "Moorov" in this case has been fully debunked by a very angry and upset Craig Murray here . It's a bit long, but enormously worthwhile, and since it's a podcast you can listen to it in bits. Also, some readers of this blog have said to me that they really don't have time for this, it's only politics, a...

David Davis's speech in the UK Parliament on Tuesday evening blows the lid off the Scottish Government's long-term attempts to hide the Salmond stitch-up. He was speaking under Parliamentary privilege, which the Scottish Parliament doesn't have, so all the evidence is now in the open, and freely discussable and publishable. This means that the mainstream media can now report it fully. Be very leery of any outlet that doesn't! The full text of Davis's speech is here . Don't forget that you first read about the stitch-up on this blog.

Dear Patrick, I can't see why you sent me this. If it's a response to my claim that there's major corruption at the head of the Scottish establishment (and let me repeat, there is), it's tosh. Or to put it another way, I'm sorry to say that I find myself unpersuaded by the points you make: 1. "Police Scotland are operationally independent of Government and cannot be instructed to investigate". Police Scotland allocated 35 officers over two years, and untold public funds, digging  up dirt on Alex Salmond going back ten years. On the basis of what they found, fourteen charges were brought, and on fourteen of those charges Alex Salmond was acquitted. Police Scotland must be either thick as mince or eminently biddable (or both). 2. "This is one of the fundamental principles of our police system." Well, it would be if it was, but it isn't. 3. "COPFS (the Crown Prosecution Service) cannot instruct the police." I didn't say they could....

Dear Derek   Thanks for getting back to me.   Please be assured that, if there’s any credible evidence of criminal activity in Scotland, this will be examined by Police Scotland.   It may be helpful if I explain that Police Scotland are operationally independent of Government and cannot be instructed to investigate – or not to investigate – any evidence of criminality. This is one of the fundamental principles of our police system.   Similarly, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), who are Scotland's prosecution service, are entirely independent of the Police and cannot instruct, or be instructed, by them in these matters.   As you're aware, there is an ongoing and wide-ranging inquiry in the Scottish Parliament into all aspects of the handling of complaints against Alex Salmond, with which the Scottish Government are collaborating. If the Committee conducting the inquiry, which includes opposition MSPs, were to discover a...

Dear Patrick, Thank you for your reply. The administration of the Salmond inquiry isn't the issue; the issue is that there have been credible reports of a serious crime - perverting the course of justice - by the First Minister and others, and those reports require investigation by Police Scotland. If the Scottish Government is instructing Police Scotland not to investigate, then you as a member of that government are complicit in that dereliction of duty. Be aware that there is real anger among the electorate over this issue, and that if the government does not act, the SNP will get a kicking in the 2021 election. I will do my best to foster that kicking. And any MPs who don't take action on this issue will get their kicking in 2024. With all my best wishes for your political future, Derek Rogers  

Dear Derek   Many thanks for your email and for sharing your concerns with me.   As you'll appreciate, the administration of the inquiry into the handling of complaints against Alex Salmond is a matter for the Scottish Parliament. As a Scottish MP at Westminster I don't have direct involvement in this process. My understanding is that the inquiry is ongoing and the Scottish Government have committed to co-operating with this process.   If you wish to discuss this issue further I'd encourage you to contact your local Member of the Scottish Parliament. You can find out who your local MSP is using the postcode checker here.   Best wishes   Patrick -- Patrick Grady Member of Parliament for Glasgow North Chief Whip, SNP Westminster Group  

On the constituency ballot, write the word CORRUPT against the SNP logo. Those at the count (who include party observers, as well as officials) will see it, and get the message. Write nothing else. One word is enough. More words only confuse them. On the list ballot, vote for the party of your choice. If it's still the SNP, Lord help you.  

To: patrick.grady.mp@parliament.uk Dear Patrick, For the record, I am your constituent at [address], and an SNP party member. You will be aware of the corruption among Scottish politicians described by Craig Murray here and here , as well as by others, and I urge you to make moves that will bring these scum - all of them - to justice. If you would avoid doing this because it might damage your career, I put it to you that you should act on the side of political integrity, personal honesty, and Scotland. Best regards, Derek Rogers

Three additional shopping loads: Waitrose, 1st December 2020 Union Jack: eggs, mushrooms (2 items). The word "British": chicken, lamb (2 items). Saltire: none (0 items). The word "Scottish": cream (1 item). No mark: bananas, beer, blueberries, bread, broccoli, cake, cheerios, chocolate, cooking oil, fruit juice, grapes, lentils, milk, pears, pilchards, salad, sardines, shortbread, wine (19 items). So for Waitrose, 4 items out of 24 (17%) were marked with Jacks or as "British", one out of 24 (4%) as "Scottish". It seems clear where their sympathies lie. Morrison's, 9th December 2020 Union Jack: beef mince, cream, potatoes (3 items). The word "British": none (0 items). Saltire: eggs, milk, mushrooms, shortbread (4 items). The word "Scottish": milk (1 item). No mark: apples, beer, bread, cake, cheerios, empire biscuits, fruit juice, grapes, halloumi, jam, onions, red cabbage, salad, stock cubes, swee...

  Sick and tired (From Wings Over Scotland, December 20, 2020 by Rev. Stuart Campbell )  Oh just shut up you useless waste of space. He DOESN’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK. You can bleat at him for a thousand years and he won’t listen. You gave him his election and he has a majority and England has chosen its fate and there’s not a damn thing we can do to stop them dragging us down with them because you’ve wasted the last four years whining about it instead of doing the thing we elected you to do, which is put us in charge of our own future forever. Now either get off your worthless coward’s arse and do the only thing that’s actually in your power – a plebiscitary election – instead of grandstanding around the world stage achieving absolutely sod-all except getting your face in the press again, or get out of our damn way and let someone who can do the job take over. (PS that also includes the job of handling the pandemic, which you’re making a pig’s arse of too, but gosh, doesn’t ever...

A parrot walks into a bar and says to the bartender: Bird: Got any nuts? Bartender (curtly): No. Bird: Got any nuts? Bartender (louder): No! Bird: Got any nuts? Bartender (shouts): NO! And if you ask again I'll nail your beak to the bar! [Slight pause] Bird: Got any nails? Bartender: NO!! Bird: Got any nuts? Not quite sure how this fits in to anything, but it must apply somewhere to the bourach that is Brexit and the stramash that is independence.

There has been discussion in the blogosphere, and some anger, at the supermarkets' policy of labelling as "British" anything that could conceivably be so called. There are suggestions that this is a deliberate ploy to undermine the independence movement. So, being a good boy who does what he's told, I reacted with anger when I saw the rows of British flags ("flegs" in England) on produce on the supermarket shelves. Then I stopped feeling angry, and wondered whether there really were that many Butchers' Aprons on view. Time to gather some data, it seemed. Fortunately that was quite easy. I do an online shop roughly weekly, using different supermarkets, so when the order comes in I can simply sit it on the kitchen table and count the flegs. This of course means that the data is dependent on what I've happened to buy that week, and that in turn is skewed by my feelings about flegs anyway. ("Do I feel like paying double the price for eggs that don...

Dear Nicola, I'm looking at your St. Andrew's Day appeal for funds, and I have to say I have some issues with it. Let's have a look at them. Your top line says that this is an appeal for the "Holyrood 2021 Election Campaign Fund". So the donations are ring-fenced. But you'll know that £700,000 raised by two earlier ring-fenced appeals didn't appear in the party's financial accounts, leading to suggestions of criminal false reporting. Can you assure me that the new funds will be properly accounted for, and can I believe you if you do? The top line also means that this letter sets out the basis on which I'm to donate. It's not the election manifesto, but it's a precursor of it: it presents your side of the bargain, the offer in return for which I'm to give you money. And it isn't impressive. I'm looking for indy in the first line, since that's the first item in the party's constitution, but indy isn't there. Wh...

Remembrance Sunday is a poignant time for my family - my wife's side of the family, that is - because her grandmother lost her only son - my wife's putative uncle - in the First World War, and never recovered from the shock. Owen Griffiths was killed early in the War, and is named on the memorial at Mons. He had three sisters - one of whom was of course my wife's mother - who went on to solid, middle-class careers in teaching and healthcare. But it was the loss of the boy that did for my wife's grandmother. Every year my wife's sister puts on display the family photograph of Owen Griffiths, in military uniform. This is how she described the effect of his loss on her grandmother and her mother: "When she [our grandmother] was dying she just said, according to our mother, I never should have let him go, he was much too young. And she never got over the fact that her only son had died, aged 21, in the First World War. And our mother, who was sixteen at the t...

We linguists very much like the item immediately below because it's so beautifully put together, with spelling and wit and everything. So as a wee linguist myself, I've pinched and posted it here. It comes from Wee Ginger Dug on 2nd November, second comment . Lucky Molly, with her clear-headed Mum!   Molly's Mum (@SNPsoosie) says: November 2, 2020 at 6:53 pm Boris Johnson has completely lost control of the pandemic in Englandshire now, if he ever had it before. Asked in the Commons what the plan was for coming out of the new lockdown, he said Englandshire would be coming out of lockdown, regardless of whatever happens, on December 2nd, for that is the date he hath spoken. He added that the R is currently above one, only a teeny weeny scientific bit, and hopefully, having waved some of Dominic’s entrails about, it will come down a eeny spleeny bit to just under one, but even if it doesn’t then the lockdown will endeth regardleth. All haileth Borith for he is the slayer of th...

A newspaper editor was sitting at his desk, when a bullet crashed through the window and buried itself in the upholstery of the chair just beside his left ear. "Ah," he said unruffledly, "I knew that new personal column was going to be a success." Or, to put it another way, if you're writing stuff and publishing it, and somebody, somewhere isn't wishing that you weren't, you're not doing it properly. I'm able to report that this blog has now succeeded on that front. Readers may be aware that there is a big stooshie going on in indy blogland between those who think that the SNP will deliver indy, and those who think that it won't. The two sides are represented by Wee Ginger Dug and Wings Over Scotland - both extremely good blogs, well written, and with vigorous comments after each article. Let's call them the Dugs and the Wingsters. The feud worries me, because there is a real issue here, demanding thought: do we vote for the SNP in the ...