So First Minister Nicola Sturgeon believes she has time on her side in the Independence debate, fair enough, many others don’t. The First Minister told the times that it would be unthinkable of Boris Johnstone to continue to deny another independence referendum but the reality is he will as he is under no pressure to agree to one.
Nicola Sturgeon notes that “I can’t look ahead and tell you exactly how this constitutional impasse is going to resolve itself, but it will resolve itself — and it will resolve itself on the side of democracy, because actually, the alternative is pretty unthinkable,”.
Democracy only works if you use it and right now Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP in the constitutional debate aren’t are they, mandate after mandate keeps her in office but nothing else and longer term that leads to complacency and incompetence as we saw with Scottish Labour over the years, it also leads to bad policy as we have seen with GRA, Hate Crime Bill, Covid 19, Education, Health the list goes on.
She goers on to say “The consequences of not being independent are much, much greater than they arguably were in 2014,” added Sturgeon. “Will it be worth it? Absolutely. We face change and transition now, whatever we do.”. “Will it be worth it? Absolutely. We face change and transition now, whatever we do.”
The consequences of not acting should be the focus. This Tory Government, supported by all the unionists on this issue, means the lack of action will continue to see too many suffer at the hands of the cruelest government I’ve ever seen and will result in the constitutional question being at risk of slipping down the priorities of many as the hunt for food and warmth becomes their priority this winter.
Nicola Sturgeon also goes on to say that “ there was frustration at her reluctance to say when legislation for a referendum would be put before the Scottish parliament”
There is an understatement if there ever was one. The lack of action from Nicola Sturgeon will either destroy the SNP or the Independence movement, there is no middle ground here. Many have joined Alba because they understand that time is not on our side, that we can’t wait around for ever. The SNP are suffering from a serious lack of talented elected reps, a serious lack of ideas, a serious lack of guts, and look like a government who like limited power with a middle class life style for the chosen few.
Now while I actually welcome this interview from Sturgeon it shows me that while time might be on her side it is not on ours and she just confirms she is as much a barrier as Johnson is to independence. We can’t wait around, the referendum bill needs to be done now if Sturgeon persists with her Section 30 folly.
It is time to get moving, it’s time to send a clear message to Scotland, it’s time to answer the question for the next 30 years because anything less is cowardice and just runs the risk of losing it all.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
“I’ve got time on my side”.
As usual with Sturgeon she seeks to identify Scotland’s Cause with herself. That is what a cult of personality does. I am not even sure that she is aware of this character trait but it is a flaw … and it is a flaw that betrays the fact that she has come to believe her own publicity. Having no insight is surely the first step towards madness.
Of course WE don’t have time on OUR side. Daily Scotland’s distinct political culture is being eroded. The Britz are telling us what they are going to do and are doing:
From Andrew “The UK is back in Scotland – Get Used to It” Bowie, to Oliver “Scotland is falling behind the rest of England” Dowden, to Michael “Never!, Never!! Never!!!” Gove to Alister “I make the rules up as I go along” Jack, the British are increasingly shrill and confident, cocky even, in their dismissal of this country’s right to self-determination.
But in terms of what they think of, and will do with, Scotland’s democracy they are telling us the truth. And in plain sight.
Sturgeon may have time on her side … as she eyes other career opportunities whilst Scotland burns.
Scotland, and her people, do not.
Duncanio
I don’t think time is on our side as the process will be a long one if she persists with the Section 30 nonsense. If she waits much longer then I really do think it is over, we are facing a winter of discontent that could be worse than the 70’s and people will start to worry about the day to day of feeding their families and heating their houses, independence for many will become a pipe dream if they can’t see the benefits of it being laid out for them in comparison to their current situation. I am glad she has at least spoken as it will allow people to contrast and compare with Alba and the yes community and might get more people to actually start think about the urgency of the way ahead.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
“So First Minister Nicola Sturgeon believes she has time on her side in the Independence debate, fair enough, many others don’t”
She has time on her side to build up her very nice pension whilst drawing an extremely good salary for doing heehaw of substance other than self promotion, waiting for the coveted UN job that she needs Boris Johnson’s approval for.
Scotland and its people not so much.
A charitable reading of her comments suggested she thinks people will stay yes come what may given the age demographic – the younger you are the more likely you will support indy. The problem is whilst Scotland is not free but is being made a desert, the younger you are the more likely you can emigrate elsewhere to make a good life for yourself.
It seems we have a new parcel of rogues in charge unfortunately…
Panda
Hard to disagree at all with anything you have said, I am glad she has spoken as it gives people a chance to compare with Alba etc but we don’t have that much time as the strategy she has chosen is a long term one anyway. It is also ok for them who are all comfortable and not worried about how they pay the bills but this winter for many could mirror the winter of discontent in the late 70’s, I don’t remember it as I was very young but I have heard my Mum go on about how bad it was, how cold it was and the lights going off, no heating and just struggling and her and my Dad still worked at that time so it can happen again but the SNP elected will be ok, not good enough at all. We are in real danger of losing it all if they don’t get the finger out.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Time is definitely on HER side. She has enough carrot-munching disciples in her cult that she can afford to hang on that bit longer for the cushy number at the UN she desperately craves. Meanwhile the rest of us can swing.
In any case, can anyone really see Sturgeon and her shower of dimwits delivering independence and concluding successful negotiations with the British state? Seriously? There’s not a statesman/woman/person among the lot of them. Trough-swilling, I’m all right Jack, careerists.
Dave
Starting to seriously look that way isn’t it, and it is all a bit depressing leading to a danger that we lose it all, so no we do not have time on our side we just don’t. The process is going to be a long one anyway so there is no reason not to be moving now on the technical side like the referendum bill but it won’t happen will it. Sturgeon won’t go hungry or cold, neither will her inner cult, they will be fine while the rest of us are facing a winter of discontent that might just rival the one in the 70’s or even by pass it if the signs are to be believed about what is coming down the road as companies start to exploit the state of this country for profit and drive us all into poverty.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
The level of hubris is quite breathtaking. In one sense time is on the side of independence BUT ONLY if you spend the period from now until the referendum/plebiscite/court challenge doing everything in your power to ensure a successful outcome. Instead this government thinks that time is better spent on their social agenda and ensuring the survival of the SNP and all those gilt-edged pensions. Procrastination, when your opponents are in a frenzy to throw up every obstacle possible and even erase the idea of Scotland as a country, is guaranteed to bring disaster.
Never mind. I’m sure we won’t need independence when Boris delivers UK-topia with all those high skill, high wage jobs that everybody else on the planet doesn’t seem able to create.
Stuart
I agree, I am glad Nicola Sturgeon has spoken as it gives people something to compare now on the way ahead between the various parties but I just don’t believe we have the time she thinks we do. We need the referendum bill now, we need to be having discussions about borders, currency, citizen assemblies could decide these things and we just agree to abide by what they come up with. This is all going to court either way so we should be using that time to have our debate and get our policy in place because if I were the unionists I would call a referendum now because we would lose as we are not ready to fight one.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
> This is all going to court either way
Never a truer word was spoken. It will take years to resolve the court case so why waste time sitting on your hands.
The Union is a house made of sand. There’s no need for a referendum. Sustained and relentless pressure will bring it down. If a sufficient number of people north and/or south of the border decide it serves no purpose then it cannot be sustained, except by force.
Everybody thinks there is a magic bullet but the reality is a lot more mundane. Look to Europe and rebuild our trade links with the likes of the Baltic states and England stops being relevant. As for a common language? Well, as Alf Baird says, that’s fixable too.
Stuart
Agree, just do things and let the English Government take us to court every time, that is a message in and of it’self. We want injecting rooms, open them, we want an EU ferry route negotiate it, we want immigrants set up an expert project that helps people apply and for critical workers pay for their application by thousands. We need to stop acting like a colony and start acting like a country. COP26, have a daily press conference with a climate change counter saying how we are running out of time, point out the bullshit of Johnson on climate, we really need to act like we mean it and the English will want rid of us soon enough but does Sturgeon have the guts.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Further proof of the ageism prevalent in her party. She thinks she has time to wait on the youth vote that she is courting and propagandising with her woke agenda and she doesn’t give a shit about the older Yes supporters, many of whom have spent the entirety of their adult life campaigning for independence. As far as I’m concerned the youth can take care of their own future when their time comes – they will make their own mistakes, like we all do and I have no care about what happens when I am no longer here – I won’t know about it. This woman has killed stone dead any chance of independence in my lifetime – but then I’m not the middle class generation Z or generation Alpha that she wants in her neo liberal party. There are as scummy as the Tories and New Labour. Stuff ’em.
Wee Chid
I share your frustration, I can live with losing another vote I just find it very difficult to accept not even fighting to hold the bloody vote in the first place. The campaign for independence should never stop, the preparation should never stop, everything the SNP do should be about taking back more power and fighting for independence but that is not the SNP any more, they are a devolution party and while I am glad Sturgeon made the statement it is now up to the yes community to decide who do they get behind, the gradualists or those of us who actually want to fight for independence.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Time?
I would recommend a wee listen to Pink Floyd’s “Time” to see what result waiting for “Time” to sort things out has.
50,000 NO voters waltzing in. year in, year out (see Alf Baird’s analysis), yes, with a few honourable exceptions but roughly a constituency worth of NO votes delivered every year, 250k every five years, half a Million every ten.
I’ve seen the future and the future is Wales.
Kyle
We are certainly running out of time that is for sure.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
I’ve no idea why Sturgeon has done what she has, but being power crazed isn’t an unusual trait among those that seek it. These people will always exist. It is ironic though that she talks about the one thing that simply doesn’t exist within the SNP – democracy. She has twisted the SNP to her own ends and those within the SNP have allowed this to happen. That is the most nauseating thing about how the SNP have evolved into what it is now, a party that is running down the clock as they surely are, to their own personal advantage. The egomania of a leader is nothing new, but allowing a party to be totally bent to their will, exposes the SNP as being far beyond any hope of being returned to what they were before Sturgeon. The SNP are a punch bag that the UK can hammer at will without any fear of a rebuttal or god forbid, having factual and self evident criticism’s made against the UK (that would be a long list with Brexit at the top).
Meanwhile the powers that be in England continue to treat Scotland with open contempt, as they have for so long now, and with no fight back from anyone in the Scottish Parliament. And all this when the UK is being exposed worldwide as nation trying to finally commit economic suicide. The relentless decline of the UK is the most important reason to become independent and a huge amount of evidence is there to be used as proof. It’s clear that the UK doesn’t have an economic case for the UK and we can leave the hollowness and childishness of the UK ‘arguments’ on economic matters to them (strong shoulders), it is just yet more evidence of how scared the UK is of Scotland becoming independent (and therefore eventually England too). Would a reasonable or confident country make such a front page slanderous economic comment about their neighbour as this, as a supposedly serious UK economic magazine did in 2012 ? –
https://archive.is/sVNrl
England took their gloves off a long time ago. It’s time Scotland had those that will do the same.
Ian
I actually welcomed what she said as it gives people a chance now to compare the SNP and Alba/ISP and make a choice. That choice is more of the same with a slow decline as you indicate of the UK or a push for independence at every level with a clear way ahead from Alba/ISP, I know what I prefer and will be voting for at the council elections. I also think that Sturgeon is on borrowed time and she won’t be able to rely on Johnson saying no and that is that, I don’t think everyone will accept that apart from her cult. We don’t have time to faff about thought and need to see some movement.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Sturgeon is just taking the piss now. Only idiots cannot see that. Sorry to say but there seem to be plenty of them in Scotland.