Unionists we know are great at grasping at straws, but they also don’t half talk a lot of shit – Mitchell holds the Chair in Public Policy at Edinburgh University (thank God none of my kids went there to learn) and is the latest deluded unionist to come out with this garbage. He is as ill-informed as former Labour MP Tom Harris who also signalled the end for independence when an unelected, entitled, out of touch Windsor passed away, now we have Mitchell informing us that the ‘outpouring of grief and love for Her Majesty has already signalled a dent in the SNP’s separatist hopes. And Professor James Mitchell reckons the crowning of The King could have a similar impact next year as it would give unionism a “symbol” of a multi-cultural UK’. What a lot of shit!
Only 26% of Scots identified as also British in 2020 compared to 36% in Wales, and 49% in England. Only 45% in Scotland said they wanted to retain the monarchy – with 36% saying the end of the Queen’s reign would be the right moment to move to a republic. (Opinium / Guardian).
Mitchell goes on to say that “The new king, and backers of the Union, may well feel comforted by the scenes we saw in Scotland following the Queen’s passing, as throngs of people lined the streets to salute that most British of institutions”. There were people paying their respects, even I held back on the blogging, but throngs of people, give me strength, there were more tourists.
Labour are having their conference in Liverpool and are finding their inner unionism all over the place – this is a party with nothing to offer, living in hope that they can win the election by standing for nothing, saying nothing on policy, banning any socialist that opens their mouths and singing their subservience to their new King, the Red Flag is now an embarrassment to the Labour Party, not that they ever meant it any way. Starmer, Lord of the relm, has no presence, no ideas, no honesty. Labour are just Tory light, politics is so crap in the UK now in every way.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Yes, they would talk shite, anyone would if you stood on your head and viewed the world upside down, inside out.
BR
Lol, that is very true. They are really clutching at straws aren’t they. They are good for the banter factor though. Labour embracing their unionism is also funny and Reeves today mentioned virtually every part of the country apart from Scotland, I was so glad.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
With the decades long economic decline of the UK now going into a demented overdrive mode, and with European businesses also suffering the consequences of a massive increase in energy costs, looking to the medium term of years rather than months may seem unrealistic when facing such immediate economic issues, but those seemingly now distant days will be here soon enough and planning for them is vital to solving the causes of the economic distress so evident just now rather than just reactive and short term firefighting.
Scotland has an abundance of the very thing that is at the heart of the current crisis in the UK and elsewhere. Energy. As energy intensive businesses begin to look at their medium term futures, sourcing cheaper energy has become pretty much top of their agenda, and that includes relocating their facilities to where energy costs are much lower.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/09/europe-faces-an-exodus-of-energy-intensive-industries.html
Norway has benefited from its cheap hydro-electricity for years, notably in creating a very large aluminium smelting industry. For example, Norsk Hydro revenue for the twelve months ending March 31, 2022 was over $19 billion.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/NHYDY/norsk-hydro/revenue#:~:text=Norsk%20Hydro%20annual%20revenue%20for%202019%20was%20%2417.17B%2C,aluminium%20company%20with%20production%2C%20sales%20and%20trading%20activities.
https://www.hydro.com/en/aluminium/about-aluminium/renewable-power-and-aluminium/
Dealing with the current crisis is vital, but arguably planning for the future is at least equally as important. The UK has and has for decades not had a viable economic plan. Even with a North Sea lottery win, it simply wasted all those revenues (unlike, yet again Norway). A simple truth is that if the UK can’t get its economic act together with a lottery win the size of the North Sea, the implication is clear. It never will.
So where does that leave Scotland and its wealth of renewable energy. Well on one hand being governed by a UK that becomes more inept and corrupt by the day, yet having massive potential to develop its economy thanks to the extent of its energy resources, highlighting the contradiction of remaining part of an endlessly deluded UK and foregoing Scotland’s economic potential as a result. Companies looking to relocate to places where energy is cheap is about as open an economic goal as you can get. Is this being actively being planned for in Scotland? Probably not.
It has been said many times, but not often enough, that it wasn’t Scotland’s job to save England from a Brexit that they voted for. Isn’t it then equally true that Scotland should not simply be giving away it’s future economic well being to satisfy the greed/delusions of those in power in England, especially when the end result will simply be more UK wide short term failures and endless firefighting. But without a solid plan for independence, the Scottish Government aren’t dealing with the economic future much better either.
So some very dark weeks and months ahead for most people, but where is the plan and ambition in Scotland to look further ahead and plan for a future, utilising its resources effectively, that could be so very different from that which remaining in the UK guarantees. The current Scottish Government have been utterly useless at providing leadership to plan for a positive economic future that beckons. They are content to just pointlessly whine about whatever UK screwup is current, which is the very opposite of what Scotland needs right now. If any good comes out of this latest UK economic disaster it will be that enough people will see the UK for what it is, an economic dead end. Hopefully they will also see the equally ineffective current Scottish Government in a similar light. It’s long past time when we needed capable adults in Holyrood that want independence rather than just say they do and sent letters to Westminster that go straight into the bin. The economic potential is there for the taking, all that is needed is the political potential to help make it happen.
Ian
You are spot on in everything you say. We can only hope that people will see the SNP and the unionists for what they are, charlatans and thieves. The UK isn’t even a banana republic anymore, we are way past that stage I think now. You are right we are in for pain, maybe a lot of pain. I used to say people starving in the streets would be enough to convince more people yes was the only option, I am not so sure now, Scots appear able to take a lot of crap and keep asking for more but we can live in hope.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Forgot to add that the Norwegian company Norsk Hydro is 43.8% owned by the Norwegian government. This is only one of many companies that the Norwegian government either own or partly own.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_enterprises_of_Norway
In stark comparison to the actions and achievements of the Norwegian government, all Scotland gets with Sturgeons SNP are smug promises from its FM that come to nothing – see at 24 minutes.