This is actually chilling

I was having more debates with voters yesterday about the both votes SNP strategy and the Greens who hide their opinions around things like GRA and Independence very well and some people still don’t get it, the result of this stupidity and ignorance will be exactly what the National are reporting if there is not a huge YES representation at Holyrood after May to protect what we have right now. The latest polls, and I appreciate these are just a snapshot, show that unionists could win 51 seats against 78 pro independence parties, that is all the English Government will need to at the least think about what right wing undemocratic plank Adam Tomkins suggests in his Spectator article this week, it should also scare every single one of us, we should all be very afraid for lot’s of reasons.

Tomkins is suggesting that “something more robust than consent” should hold the UK together. Tomkins even relates his opinion to the example of Catalonia where the Spanish Government sent in their brutal and aggressive Police to beat, abuse and arrest Catalonians who want independence and even going as far as jailing politicians who fought for it. If anyone thinks the UK Government would never send in the Police to attack protesters should only look at any number of films on YouTube showing the miners strikes in the 80’s when the UK Police showed levels of violence that would have even put the Spanish Police to shame, don’t think for one minute it can’t happen here.

Just have a look at what this Tory is suggesting, have a look and a serious think about that, it really is chilling to think that Scotland could be trapped in the UK forever and what would we do about it, rely on the likes of Ian Blackford at Westminster, a man who gets humiliated week after week by Boris Johnson in the English Parliament. Would we look to Pete ‘Comfy Slippers’ Wishart to defend us or ‘her or she’ Nicola Sturgeon to stand up for Scotland, really. Tomkins suggests that the English Parliament should give legal definition to “not now”. He goes on to say the following which is just as bad and as frightening.

Are you willing to accept MPs representing England dictating what our colonial status is even more than they do now, is that really what you are willing to put up with because let’s be clear here, if the English Parliament was to legislate in the manner Tomkins would like to see independence is over, Scotland is over, again have a serious think about that before you vote. Would you rather Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill fight for Scotland or would you prefer Angus Robertson and Patrick Harvie, just think about that for one second, seriously think about it. This election in May is not just about an independence referendum, it is about our very future and I for one do not believe that the SNP and the Greens will stand up for Scotland, will fight for Scotland, will get down and dirty for Scotland and by the time people wake up it could be too late, we will wake up a few months from now and it will all be over, the dream of independence will be over and we might as well dissolve Holyrood and accept that Scotland no longer exists.

When I was reading Tomkins words last night it was actually chilling to be honest, I read it and I actually gave a little shiver because I know that too many in Scotland, too many so called YES both votes advocates would just accept this if it happens and keep falling for all the shit that ‘her or she’ Nicola Sturgeon churns out on a daily basis, we wait on her to deliver a referendum and I might as well just give up now it ain’t going to happen if there are not genuine people in Holyrood willing to hold the bomb scare SNP to account. People please look into this yourselves, please think about it when you go to vote in May and do not give both votes to the SNP, you might and probably will be dooming us all to English Government rule for the rest of our lives. 

I don’t hate the SNP, I just don’t like what they have become

Someone asked me why I now hate the SNP, I don’t hate the SNP, I don’t hate anyone, although some might come close but my feeling regarding the SNP now are about the betrayal I feel when I look at the party. I totally accept that the SNP have had some notable success over the last 10 years and more, I totally accept that there have been good policies like –

*No tuition fees.

*Baby boxes.

*Ending period poverty.

*Free prescriptions at the point of need.

*Removal of parking charges at some hospitals.

*A slightly more balanced tax system.

*Increase in social housing.

*Council tax freeze.

*The Forth Crossing and there are some more that we could list. All of this is all good governance by both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon over the years and I have never not noted the achievements where I believe they have happened. Certainly the Tories would never have taken the same approach, Labour and Liberals maybe in some ways.

But there have been notable failures also and these are what has made me question the party and leadership to the point where I honestly feel that Nicola Sturgeon should step down for the sake of the country and the sake of the party. We can look at areas such as

*Lack of reform of council tax.

*Police Scotland.

*Year on year local authority cuts.

*Curriculum for Excellence and the attainment gap.

*No publicly owned energy company.

*Scotland will not be taken out of the EU against it’s will.

*Gender Reform Act.

*Hate Crimes Bill.

*Lack of movement on Independence.

*Party democracy.

*Fixing selection. Again I could list more like land reform but by far the biggest two for me the lack of movement on independence and an Harassment Policy at work that no matter what the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon say was designed to ruin and potentially convict Alex Salmond of alleged crimes that he was not guilty of, that for me is unforgivable. What is also galling in all of this is the continued smearing from Nicola Sturgeon and the fact that for the many millions of pounds wasted, from the alleged witch hunt by Police Scotland and the Crown Office against Alex Salmond the only person to really suffer has been Alex Salmond, there has not been one sacking, one resignation and the election has allowed it all to be brushed under the carpet. That Leslie Evans and James Wolffe are still in jobs is beyond belief and that Peter Murrell is still the Chief Exec of the SNP with members having zero power to hold him to account is as undemocratic as you can get, even the Tories when caught don’t go that far.

The CONSTITUTION OF THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY states that

Independence for Scotland; that is the restoration of Scottish national sovereignty by restoration of full powers to the Scottish Parliament, so that its authority is limited only by the sovereign power of the Scottish People to bind it with a written constitution and by such agreements as it may freely enter into with other nations or states or international organisations for the purpose of furthering international cooperation, world peace and the protection of the environment.

Where are we with that, where is the information to alleviate the concerns that voters had in 2014 and that resulted in our losing the referendum, where is the plan and campaign for independence, where is the date for the next referendum and where is the money raised to fight for it. The SNP and Nicola Sturgeon have not just broken the SNP with the fixing of candidate selection, with the consolidation of power at the very top, with the alleged bullying of MSPs and MPs, with a tainted NEC, missing money and again the disgusting way they tried to ruin Alex Salmond. Nicola Sturgeon has turned the SNP into the devolution and gender party of Scotland who are intolerant of anyone who gets in their way, members or non members, and anyone who questions their motives. That is what I don’t like and why I will not vote for the party in May, the SNP left me I did not leave them.

However, all is not lost. The SNP can be saved, although I doubt it will. The party need a time scale for Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell to step down, they are now tainted for me and have had their day, their time is past. The NEC needs to be returned solely by election, no place people from Nicola Sturgeon and a tainted leadership, power needs to be returned to members and the gender reform zealots need to be gone as well. There is a debate to be had around gender, that debate effects us all, not just a few in Scotland getting to decide over the opinion’s of the rest of society because no matter if Nicola Sturgeon likes it or not, the opinion of all Scottish voters and everyone who lives here matters. The party also needs to return to the fight for independence being the sole purpose of the party, good governance is just what we expect from the party of government but the main priority must always be independence, anything less is a betrayal. If the party changes it can win back my vote but as long as the likes of Sturgeon, Murrell, Blackford, Robertson, Wishart, Murrell, Dornan etc etc are involved then they won’t get my vote because these people don’t have independence as their cause, their cause is something else that is darker and it stinks.

 

Please don’t elect!

I was having a wee think about people I hope are not elected to Holyrood in May and one of those is Angus Robertson standing for the SNP in Edinburgh Central seat. Angus Robertson is everything that is wrong with our politicians over the years, just another drone who has a habit of milking the system and will add nothing to our national debate and the cause of independence. This is the man who was caught out in the expenses scandal where he bought a flat in London in 2006 pretty much using expenses to pay for it as it was his designated second home, promised to pay any profit from its sale (£60,000) to Charity and did the opposite. A man who bought a £2,300 leather sofa bed, he also purchased a £400 home cinema, an espresso maker, Sabatier knives and a £20 corkscrew. All essentials to be an MP and ok for poor people at the time to pay for it, yes I know this was in the past but it shows the measure of the man.

Robertson benefitted from the stitch up that barred Joanna Cherry standing for the seat and is married to Jennifer Dempsie who boasted of having a black book of contacts and allegedly used these links to access funding for T in the Park and recently Angus Robertson said that independence would benefit from the deaths of the elderly from the pandemic, yeah lets elect Angus Robertson. If I were voting in the seat I would go for Prince Bob he will achieve more than another drone in our parliament.

Another that will bring nothing but scorn to Holyrood is the increasingly unlikeable George Galloway. Galloway is leading the Alliance for Unity Party and is pretty much a poor mans Donald Trump these days. Galloway has made a series of controversial comments about rape, anti-Semitism, he questioned MSPs Scottishness, he intends to vote Tory like any good socialist does these days, and believes Scotland should remain a colony and that Orkney and Shetland should be kept by the British in the event of a future yes vote and that Dumfries and Galloway become part of England, while he brings comic value to the election Galloway brings nothing to the debate and really is never the answer to anything.

Murdon ” the Queens 11″ Fraser Tory MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife. Never won a proper election in his life and only ever been successful through the list vote, both votes SNP anyone. Fraser has in past called union members bigots, opposed same sex marriage and once said “How much longer will we tolerate the statue of the brutal tyrant and oppressor Charles II in Parliament Square. Fraser has cost around 2 million overall in his time in Holyrood and I cannot think of a single thing he has achieved other than offend Celtic fans. In November 2016 he said that only poorly educated people voted YES in the referendum, while being a member of the Orange Order made the comment he was shocked there were Roman Catholics who held to the Catholic Churches teachings. Yeah I think here is a politician we could well do without now, 18 years is 18 years too long.

Willie Rennie Liberal MSP and Leader adds nothing to the parliament now and you could add in Alex Cole Hamilton as well. His whole stance on asking permission to do stuff with Westminster is shocking to say the least. Talk about jockholme syndrome in the extreme. Willie Rennie is clear that he would not allow another referendum even if the majority wanted it and that is where the Liberal Democrat comes in I suppose. Rennie abstained in the vote of no confidence in Nicola Sturgeon which was interesting as well, what does he know that we don’t. But in all the years at Holyrood what has Rennie achieved, I just can’t think of a single things at all. Rennie was also pulled into the expenses scandal and is also involved in the whole friends of Israel rubbish, Rennie is not as he seems or comes across and his day is passed I think.

Annie Wells Tory MSP. Elected on just 8.6% of the list vote, both votes SNP anyone. Formally a Retail Manager with M and S. I actually thought when she was surprisingly elected that even though a Tory she might actually come from a different place from other Tories and have a better grasp of what life is actually like for most people out there, nope. She has been the subject of fun when she praised herself on twitter, has been banned from Parliament for leaking reports, has 1377 deleted tweets which must be a record by anyone’s standards. Annie is a gaff merchant and slated the SNP for not improving air quality in Glasgow only to learn that her Tory colleagues voted against the measures anyway. I think we can do without Annie Wells.

So just a few of the people I hope are not elected or re-elected. We can and must do better.

Election 2021: The Tories

The Tories are pretty much going with the same policy platform they have since 1999, stop independence and stop a referendum. This is all about trying to get the no vote and have some sort of decent representation at Holyrood mainly via the list which again highlights the folly of the both votes SNP stupidity. They will be hoping to keep some of their Scottish Labour voters who shifted the last time and who knows they probably will as there really isn’t all that much difference between the unionist parties anymore. For my sins I have went through their manifesto and yes they speak about independence more than the SNP which continues to be interesting in and of itself in some ways. If there is one thing you can say about the Tories and their manifesto is they do seem to get it down like a business proposal and some other parties could learn from them in the presentation stakes.

The Tories talk about Covid recovery, as all parties do, and what they think they can do to achieve that although we know they won’t get the chance. They talk about house building again, business rates and harmonisation of tax with England which would be tax cuts for the rich. There has been a hint of a Barnett type formula to fund local councils but that wouldn’t work as wealthier areas would be funding poorer areas and that just won’t go down well with many Tory voters funding the lazy as they see many people in need. There is the usual tough on crime rhetoric and while I do actually think this is an area that needs looked at the Tory way is not the way to go which would be to jail everyone. The party wants to introduce whole life sentences, meaning an offender could stay in prison until they die.

There is also talk about an attainment fund, infrastructure improvements like roads and broadband roll out, more money for the NHS and staff well being fund. The Scottish Tories are talking about the Universal Credit uplift being permanent but this would require either an additional tax in Scotland or agreement with Westminster and both appear to be unlikely. There are bits of green policy, homelessness etc but nothing too much. Most people won’t read this and fewer will vote for it. The Tories are corrupt and they will never change no matter how compassionate their manifesto sounds but again this highlights the both votes SNP strategy that will elect Tories either way. The SNP have questions to answer on this, they are Tory enablers if they don’t change tact.

Action when it suits

So it seems that it is only when the SNP don’t like the actions of an MP or a former First Minister that they act, and only when the accusations are made by people they like. After the Sophie Ridge interview where our esteemed High Chancellor Nicola Sturgeon (High Chancellor from V for Vendetta) continued to smear Alex Salmond when she said on the possibility of a future tie-up with Alba, Ms Sturgeon said: “No. I am not going to work with Alex Salmond. Firstly I have concerns about his personal conduct that he hasn’t acknowledged or apologised for.” She just does not get it, or maybe she does, because every time she opens her mouth now more and more people are turned off her leadership of Scotland, is that the plan.

Anyway it appears the SNP worker has accused the party of “victim blaming” and “bullying” after he made sexual harassment allegations about two MPs. He claims to have been blocked by SNP parliamentarians on social media and side-lined at his Westminster job. The “victim blaming” charge is included in a separate complaint against SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford over his alleged role in handling one of the misconduct allegations.

The staffer says he was moved to a different post this year and claims to have been treated badly after lodging the complaint. “I’ve been given next to no work to do. I’ve written two letters and two press releases in the last two to three months. I have been cut out of the meetings I usually attend, including meetings with the SNP MPs,” he told the Record. “I have also noticed that MPs and other party people have started to unfollow me on social media, or block me. I can only assume it is to do with that.” (Daily Record)

The key part of the interview for me is this “My interests aren’t at the forefront of this – party interests are.” Nicola Sturgeon has nothing but concern “allegedly” for the complainants in the Alex Salmond not guilty case but it appears that when the shoe is on the other foot the policy is different. I am highlighting this because I cannot stand the hypocrisy of Nicola Sturgeon anymore, I get more sick of her leadership every day and I really just wish she would go now, she is holding Scotland back and becoming an embarrassment in my opinion.

The “victim blaming” charge is included in a separate complaint against SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford over his alleged role in handling one of the misconduct allegations.

The Right Question

Does Scotland want to be a small, independent nation, likely in the EU but with new barriers to trade and travel with the rest of the UK, or does it wish to remain in the UK, with it’s own powers over some areas but subordinate to the will of the English majority on others? That is the question that Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP, and the both votes SNP crowd should be asking themselves this weekend. If the answer is YES then what the hell are they doing to achieve it? Not a hell of a lot if you ask me. I have been following the debate this weekend on social media and the both votes crowd need to both wake up and grow up, I know some people will say be nice and we can encourage them. We won’t for most sadly, they have been totally sucked in by Sturgeons smearing of Alex Salmond and her lies, as well as, the lies from the Harassment Committee to the extent that free thought has been thrown out the window for membership of a cult. Mike Bickle, an American author came up with some indications you are in a cult, here are some of them and tell me if they don’t mirror the both votes crowd:

Opposing critical thinking.

Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving.

Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders.

There are reports that the up and coming COP21 meeting in Glasgow is going to be a UK Union Jack fest, this will be a perfect opportunity to get the point across that Scotland is not little England or a colony, by maximising the yes majority in Holyrood we can hope to force the SNP into action because I just do not believe they are going to move on independence any time soon. The SNP could encourage voters to think about their vote and vote for yes, they could offer to disband as a party as soon as they have achieved independence, conclude the negotiations then promise to hold an election because let’s face it not all yes voters support the SNP, myself included, but they won’t. A year ago when Boris Johnson wrote to Nicola Sturgeon and refused her request for another referendum she said  Johnson’s formal refusal of her request for a referendum to be held later this year was “predictable but also unsustainable and self-defeating”, and insisted that “Scotland will have the right to choose”. Can someone tell me what has changed and will change if the message is not clear from the voters, and a part of that is stopping as many unionists from gaining seats in Holyrood but do the SNP want that? Would that not be enough to make the Claim of Right a real thing, Blackford was all over it in 2018 but no ones mentions it now, even with 80% of MPs in Westminster all we got was Scotland would not be taken out of the EU against our will.

The elections are 3 weeks away and I am going to keep trying to convince people to vote for the Alba Party, but I am not going to play nice with the cultists any longer because their strategy and their actions is all the evidence unionists need to deny Scotland the right to make it’s own decision regarding it’s future.

 

Nicola Corbyn

I blogged about this yesterday and it is all over the headlines today, the great give away is a potential vote loser in my opinion. Most people right now know that as individuals and families most of us have to tighten the belt so when a Government comes along, or a political party, and promises the earth it is usually not met with all that much enthusiasm. Part of the reason that Labour lost the General Election in 2019 was that they offered too much and people just did not think it was credible to get all of that done in one parliament and candidates could not get such a huge message across to the voters.

For me there is a real danger here and while we can applaud the aspiration behind the SNP great spending give away there is a real impression of this as a fantasy here, we can’t fund local authorities properly but we can find billions to give away on what many will believe will be a burden on people who work. I have to wonder what the SNP game is here, is it to mirror Labour of old, is it to win but not win big, I just don’t see the plan here.

Costed policies come to a total of 41.6 Billion Pounds and that is not adding in the cost of doubling the Scottish Child Payment, providing school meals to all primary school children and breakfast to all high school young people. It doesn’t give us the cost of providing every child and young person with a laptop or tablet with internet access or before and after school child care and bring Scot Rail into public ownership. There is some mention of independence in the manifesto “after the pandemic” but it takes up a page with no real plan as far as I can see to be honest other than the same old platitudes we have heard over the last 6 years.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies have said that The SNP’s manifesto offers big gains to a number of targeted groups in Scotland – but would involve difficult trade-offs in a tight budgetary environment. They go on to say, and I said the same thing yesterday in my own way,  The manifesto does not provide information on how much these various pledges will cost altogether, which is disappointing. But the list of policies included clearly has a significant net cost. Paying for this in the context of what will likely be a tight fiscal environment in the coming parliament would require tricky trade-offs, and potentially either (as yet, unspoken) tax rises, or cuts to at least some other areas of public spending. A stated aim of not increasing income tax – the main tax currently under the Scottish Government’s control – and plans to cut business rates could make this an especially difficult circle to square.

I just don’t understand this manifesto at all. Nicola Sturgeon is not stupid and for me this looks like the SNP want to win but no too big, they don’t really want to talk about independence all that much and is setting itself up to fail in the longer term. This platform for the election has Labour written all over it, a Labour platform of old that voters eventually rejected. I just don’t get this approach at all, does anyone else?

Election 2021: Pledges

I thought I would have a look at the pledges I have seen from the parties so far in this election and from what I can see it is mostly a Christmas wish list of stuff but it has been interesting in some ways as you will see, or certainly I find it interesting, maybe I am a saddo with no life lol. Anyway (this might a bit of a longer read sorry) –

The SNP have went all Scottish Labour on us so far. As you can see from the official tweets the SNP are offering a lot of measures that are aimed at purely the poor and working class.

A lot of the measures are about alleviating poverty and providing services that will to a degree try to level the playing field for those less well off, especially children and young people, while tackling the on-going health inequality in Scotland which we know is some of the worst in Europe and the industrialised world. Now while on the face of it these aspirations are to be welcomed they are a plaster over the long term issues of meaningful employment and education. We don’t create enough jobs in Scotland and education is still patchy all over. Mental health support is poor in Scotland but is linked to other issues we face and while I accept there is no magic wand to the issues we face I would like to see more on how the Government will grow the economy while also eventually getting around to the issue of local / tax reform etc.

Conclusion: The SNP are really in danger here of falling into the old Scottish Labour trap of promising the world and not really being in a position to deliver so much without making huge cuts to other things as there is only so much money. We know the SNP are also promising another referendum, that is not going to happen, but while I don’t disagree with the aim of levelling up communities I just think it reads like they are throwing everything at this and promising far too much. Will win, it really is just about how big.

Scottish Labour are a bit all over the place to be honest in my opinion but again there are things to like and others I am not so sure about. I don’t get the loans things for fuel poverty unless it is to insolate private homes but even then it makes little sense to me so need more detail on what this actually is. The tv licence thing is about the elderly vote and again there just should not be a requirement to have a tv license full stop and I would have preferred to have seen some discussion of the role of a state broadcaster even though it is a reserved matter.

The £75 to spend in the high street is a nonsense and who ever thought that one needs to be spoken to. I appreciate the USA have done this as a short term boost to the economy but surely having a better uplift to Universal Credit and that be permanent would be a better boost medium term to the economy, as would a decent increase in the minimum wage. I appreciate another reserved matter.

A job guarantee is no bad thing but what is at the end of it is more the issue for me, if there is no full time permanent role at the end of these schemes they are again just a plaster over a bigger issue and short term thinking. I think a high tax system for business would be better where that tax reduces every time a company open a new shop, or creates so many jobs, encouraging companies to invest in communities to reduce their tax base over time. The pledges from Scottish Labour don’t really do it for me, some good ideas but not thought through to the end properly.

Conclusion: I don’t see what Scottish Labour are trying to achieve here at all, they are just as confused as they have been the last 10 years and there is no let up, they can’t seem to make up their mind if they are a left of centre party or a right of centre party with the middle just being the mess they seem to think they occupy. I cannot see them making in roads at all.

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. Another series of pretty much aspirational pledges that are a bit all over the place. Tory pledges tend to be about supporting the private sector, promising service men and women things that they have no intention of ever delivering and tinkering with social security. The top up to Universal Credit should be a matter of course as the benefit system in the UK is a joke and is designed to punish people for being poor but I don’t see how they make it work in only Scotland.

The pledges are mostly crap if you ask me and no different than they always put out there. The never ending roll out of broadband, more teachers and nurses to basically replace the ones that leave or retire. Being against another independence referendum is just power for the course and the £500 towards training is a waste of time and again more about providing public money to the private sector, namely their pals. They are also offering unlimited apprenticeship places but again no detail on what is at the end of this by the way of an actual job.

Conclusion: The Tories have nothing to offer because they are so trapped in Westminster rule that anything they offer will always be just tinkering around the edges for them and just won’t appeal to many in Scotland at all. They would be better going all UK and saying no to independence and no to Holyrood, that would appeal to some.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have went all environmental and mental health by the looks so far with a few other things thrown in. I don’t know a lot about the hydrogen heating issue at all but this is coming more as a possible replacement to fossil fuels. Reforming business rates is a bit of weird one as the USA etc are in discussion about reforming business rates world wide so nothing much will happen in this area at all anytime soon but not against it if is about creating jobs.

I am for investment in mental health services in Scotland, it is a no brainer and is long over due but it has to be well funded and long term if we are to really tackle the ongoing problems that we continue to face. I am all for looking at children starting school later, most of Europe already does this and from what I have read it seems to have a positive impact on learning and lowering the education gap. While not a lot has come from the Liberals I do find myself liking their aspirations but they need to flesh the ideas out a bit more.

Conclusion: The Lib Dems have surprised me a little as they are keeping to a few themes and so far are not offering the world on a plate. Mental health is a policy they have been sticking to for years. The business rates thing could be interesting but possibly nothing will come of it and I like the idea of children starting school later. Won’t do anything at all in the election and may lose seats to Alba on the list but are a party if they had more talent could do better.

The Alba Party are only two weeks old so was not expecting much to be honest by way of pledges other than independence. So far Alba are looking to try to get free sport access to all young people which is a decent pledge I suppose, sport is popular but can be very expensive. The party have also began work on various policy areas such as equalities and freedom of speech.

Conclusion: Independence is the big one obviously and it is too early to really judge Alba yet on pledges, more information will come out once the party release a manifesto but possibly it could be fair to ask why some of this was not done prior to launch.

The Scottish Green Party are similar to the SNP in some ways. The offer of a guaranteed residential for young people feels a little like tokenism but could go down well. The party want to  move away from exams in school to continued assessment which while it sounds great I am not so sure how you make it work without a major redo of education. The environmental message is there as you would expect with a few policies in this area.

We also see another pledge for more teachers and some policies around land reform and affordable public transport both of which are to be welcomed if they could actually be pulled off in the parliament and they will be hoping that they hold the balance of power to get some of their policies through.

Conclusion: The Greens will be hoping to ride the SNP ticket on the list to increase their number of seats and might well do that but cost the SNP seats as they are sitting in 12 constituencies so it could be a good election if Alba don’t pick up more traction on the list.

Overall if the message gets out Alba could do better and pick up more votes especially if the wider public start to understand that the SNP, Labour, the Greens and the Liberals support Gender Reform and the limits to free speech. Basically all bar the SNP are playing catch up and so far no one really impresses but I will exclude Alba for now.

Devolution it is then

I didn’t watch the debate last night on STV but the Daily Record are calling the result now by the looks of things and the unionist parties have all but given up on actually trying to win the election. This is both dangerous for our democracy, think about the years and years of Scottish Labour and the Tories, and means that Scotland faces years and years of more devolution.

As was highlighted on Wings Over Scotland last night the SNP are starting to send out their election leaflets and the elephant in the room is not mentioned anywhere, independence. I tweeted yesterday that independence is now a dirty word for the SNP and only to be deployed in extreme circumstances. I have had leaflets from the Tories so far and they can’t stop talking about independence, of course they want to stop it, but at least they are talking about it unlike the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon. I blogged in February asking Is it time to think the unthinkable? I am pretty much at that point now if it means we actually get a party in the future that will fight for independence.

Mandy Rhodes tweeted last night (sorry for the poor pic) “Nicola Sturgeon scoffing at idea that she could persuade Boris Johnson to give Scotland the powers to be able to deliver UBI and yet believes she could get him to agree to a Section 30 order” , that tweet sums up Nicola Sturgeon for me exactly and her deceit in this election. She responds to a point that she would never be able to persuade Boris Johnson to allow Scotland to deliver Universal Basic Income but she does a Section 30 Order to hold another referendum on independence, Nicola Sturgeon is taking all of us for mugs in this election and I am at the point now where I don’t care if the SNP win or not because I really believe that Nicola Sturgeon has no intention of delivering independence and maybe it is time to take a step back to take five forward. I never thought I would ever be writing this and I know it goes against what Alba are saying, what the main bloggers are saying, but the thought of 5 years of more of the same to be asked for another mandate in 2024 and 2026 is just too much to bear now. Maybe a reminder of what unionism in Scotland means, while a real party of independence get a foothold (Alba or ISP) is what Scotland deserves right now.

I know I will get a lot of grief for this post but I am just throwing the idea out there, I am not telling anyone how to vote I am just expressing the fear that I have that I am being taken for the biggest mug ever, that we all are. Last night I did see some of the tweets on social media from the SNP and things Nicola Sturgeon said:

“In asking you to re-elect me, I promise you this – strong leadership to steer Scotland through the pandemic & a policy programme to kickstart our recovery.”

“I’m asking you to re-elect me as First Minister so I can steer us back to better times. And then get on with the serious job of rebuilding our economy and recovering our NHS.”

“And, yes, when the crisis has passed, offering you the choice of independence.

“It’s about getting through the crisis, first and foremost. That is my priority when I wake up in the morning. It’s my priority when I go to bed at night.

Now in fairness Sturgeon did mention independence a couple of times “If, at this election, Scotland returns a majority of MSPs who support, after the pandemic, Scotland having the right to choose independence in a referendum…” You see that is the problem, after the pandemic, when the crisis has passed, all words designed to kick independence into the long grass and perpetual devolution. I am now resigned to the fact that I will have to accept more devolution for the medium to long term, what I think that will do is encourage people to start to look very closely at the SNP record in Government and some may not like what they find out with this SNP Government.

Jaw Dropping eh right!

The SNP are only happy to go to Court when it suits them, take an innocent man to Court yeah support that, go to Court alongside the UK Government to fight against Forward as One which was the case to find out if the Scottish Government were able to hold an independence referendum, yeah we will do that one. The SNP will go to Court to stop the UK Government from the prorogation of the UK Parliament, yeah we will support that one. I also had to have a wee giggle when I saw that Nicola Sturgeon has described the challenge as “jaw dropping”. It wasn’t jaw dropping that people may have lied to put an innocent man in jail, wasn’t jaw dropping when the SNP Government acted against Martin Keatings to try and stop him asking the referendum question, wasn’t jaw dropping when the Courts and the Harassment Enquiry found against both the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon herself . The missing referendum money from the SNP accounts, that’s not jaw dropping, no move on nothing to see here, not jaw dropping fixing list selection candidates, move on nothing to see here.

All this fake outrage just does nothing for me because of the hypocrisy of Sturgeon to be honest. Devolution has it’s limits, that is why there is an independence movement, so the UK (English) Government being willing to go to Court to protect their colonial rights actually does not bother me at all. The SNP have been in power since 2007, had a majority in 2011, they could have brought this legislation forward for many years so rather than play silly games I would much prefer the SNP get serious about independence. The SNP knew that Westminster would react against the passing of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the  UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This is just the usual UK political games they all play, the Westminster play book down to the wire and the SNP are all too happy to play that game.

Now I know the Scottish Government have to pass their legislation, the Parliament has to pass it’s legislation but the potential answer is right in front of the SNP. They could have made the May election a plebiscite election to give the voters the option of independence, they could be advocating the maximisation of the pro independence vote by not promoting the both votes strategy and smearing the Alba Party as much as they can, so please forgive if I am very cynical about all this shit. I don’t mean to play down the charter or the UNCRC but the charter has been around since 1985 and the UNCRC since 1989 so again forgive my cynicism with all of this. This is about protecting devolution and picking fights, not about moving the cause of independence forward, the SNP are the devolution party now and don’t fall for this rubbish that they suddenly care about children’s rights, good local governance, they only care when it suits them as we have seen with their attacks on women’s rights, the right to freedom of speech, they really do think we are all buttoned up the back.

I don’t want to have to highlight SNP and Sturgeon hypocrisy but they are no better than the Unionists now in every way to be honest, I want independence not more devolution with a woke SNP Party in perpetual power doing nothing to get that independence while sitting comfortably within never ending devolution because to be honest under the current limited set up it doesn’t matter who is in charge when the programme is not radical in any way. Sad but true. We need an SNP whose focus is on independence now as we know the powers of the Scottish Parliament are not enough in some ways or haven’t been used in others. It’s no wonder that many people just don’t bother to vote any more when this is the standard of our politicians, some days I just want to give up you know that but I won’t. I will continue to try and encourage people to give a vote to the Alba Party because no one else is going to hold Sturgeon and the SNP to account, I am not interested in SNP games anymore, I’ve had enough of that now.