Not often I agree with an arch unionist – Sadly a man I loathed when he was an MSP, Adam Tomkins of the Tory Party, has an article today that I sadly think has a lot of merit. Tomkins notes that “the implication of last week’s seismic Supreme Court judgment is that independence campaigners will have to regroup”. While I would replace seismic with predicted I do think the yes community should take the chance to re-group, step back and have a serious think about the way ahead.
He goes on to say “their focus, if they are to be successful, needs to shift away from trying to win 50%+1 in a one-off poll, towards trying to persuade the people of Scotland that it is their settled will to break free of the United Kingdom and pursue independent statehood. For those who believe in independence, this is an unambiguously good thing”.
I have argued in the past in this blog that making devolution work is part of the key to successfully getting that yes vote in future, along with the rest of us taking back independence through civic disturbance, taking to the streets, it won’t be given to us we will have to take it back, but good governance would not hurt either. We know the SNP don’t have a serious strategy for independence, we know the SNP will not work with the wider yes community, least of all Alba and ISP, and all that does is keep division within the movement. Sturgeon has failed as First Minister and taken us back years, but I do still believe that good governance is a huge part of convincing enough people to vote yes, sadly we are miles away from that now.
Tomkins notes that “what it requires is years of painstaking work to persuade Scots that our country will be more prosperous, better served, more open and democratic, and better able to face the challenges and risks of the future, if we are a small independent country than if we continue as part of the United Kingdom”. Sadly, he is also correct in this, Sturgeon and the SNP have wasted the last 8 years and have set us back no end with shocking governance overall and no real strategy. The best we can do is take a step back and start again.
Scotland won’t be taken out of the EU against its will – Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water
IAN Blackford used his slot at Prime Minister’s Questions to attack Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer over Europe, dubbing the pair, the “Brexit together coalition.”
He did eventually get around to asking the PM “So on this St Andrew’s Day can the Prime Minister finally tell people in Scotland, the democratic path to escape Westminster control, to deliver independence so we can get back to the European Union?” To which he got the stock answer and sat down again. It is just not good enough; we know playing the British game doesn’t work. I also accept that we will have to take a step back, take stock, before we move forward, in many ways we have to demonstrate good governance in Edinburgh, but we also have to show some fight in London, not this pish that just doesn’t work yet Blahford keeps going back for more and more, just like his expenses.
Hypocrites and useless – UNIONISTS have been left furious after one of Nicola Sturgeon’s top civil servants was caught on video telling colleagues his job is about “breaking up” the UK. The most useless excuse for a man in Scottish Politics Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Thomson should reflect on whether his comments represent the high standards of the civil service and whether it was appropriate to say this in front of more junior staff”.
Where was the outrage when civil servants were accepting awards for leaking treasury reports during the referendum then bragging about their role in keeping what was formally the country Scotland a colony, so no not taking any lessons from that jobbie Alex-Cole Hamilton, he is up there with Ian Blahford in the f useless stakes that is for sure.
Interesting article in the Byline Times – An interesting article worth a read as it shows the very limited options available to the yes community after the abject failure of the Sturgeon doctrine for independence. The options appear to be very few and some better than others I suppose but it shows you how trapped the country formerly known as Scotland is right now.
Option 1 – go to the European Court of Human Rights.
Option 2 – simply go ahead with the referendum.
Option 3 – a continued process of lobbying within the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and perhaps bringing a case before it on the right of the people of Scotland to self-determination.
Gareth Roberts finishes by saying “the reality is that, if Scottish nationalists are going to prevail in their desire to take Scotland out of the United Kingdom, they must now devise new and imaginative ways to argue their case – and win new international audiences over to their cause”. This is where 8 years of Sturgeon has brought us, nowhere anytime soon.
Salvo The Great Pain Robbery – I would urge you watch this video and stick with it to the end. Now I am 100% behind and admire the work of Sara Salyers, and all of those involved in Salvo, and while their role in the debate, and the legal facts they are working on are vital, it is still not going to take us where we want to get to, well not on its own anyway. I get that for some the answer lays in the United Nations, in the International Courts, in the debate but how many colonies took their independence back through the Courts, through the United Nations?
if the country formally known as Scotland is going to become a country again it is going to have to TAKE back its independence somehow. None of the 60 nations who broke the yoke of the British were given it back without a fight, in some cases violent demonstrations but in most cases civic disobedience and we are not there, not by a long shot. No one advocates violence, I certainly don’t, but unless we are willing at every level, starting in Westminster, and ending on the streets in huge numbers the British will maintain control over our colony and that is that.
I’m sorry for being so cynical about our colonial status, and as I said I admire Sara, Alf, Phil, Ian, Roddy etc but the battle won’t be won intellectually, or even politely, I am convinced of that.
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