Where are the parties

There is not a huge amount happening in so many ways right now, cost of living is no longer news all that much as it has been normalised, Police Scotland are well Police Scotland so who knows when we will get a conclusion to the long drawn out alleged missing money. Ukraine / Russia War is now so old we are now all used to it and the fact that the media don’t really want to report how much it is costing us or even to educate us about the complexities of the origins of the conflict has become just another war in another country. So I was kind of thinking today about the political parties in Scotland and thought I would give my opinion of them.

The Conservative and Unionist Party – For as long as I have been politically aware, at whatever level of personal ignorance that may be, I have hated this party. I grew up in the 80s and watched as they threw my Dad on the scrap heap with their deregulation and wiping out of industry using Scottish oil to fund it, removing our main source of family income, and plunging my family into what was basically 7 long years of poverty. While I did not understand what Thatcher was doing, or even why, I saw the results of it around me every day for many people, not all, but I hated them for it. I still hate them today, now while their talent pool has shifted downwards big time, they are as hate-filled as they have always been. For me they despise the poor, they despise minorities, they don’t care if you are poor English, poor foreign if you can’t offer them something or have anything they want, they pretty much despise you. They are liars, thieves, and cheats. I cannot for the life of me get my head around poor people, mainly down south, voting for these toilet stains, I just don’t get that. These people are the enemy of the poor in every way, but even of ordinary hard-working people. If you don’t have money they don’t value you.

The Labour Party – Growing up most people I knew voted Labour in the hope that things would get better. They came close once in the 80s but then the Falklands War happened and Thatcher scraped a win and that was that. I never liked Kinnock the more I saw of him, he was a snake oil salesman although it took me a while to understand that. The party still had some socialists then but the longer it was out of power the drift to the centre began. People in Scotland put their faith in them, and have always been betrayed. I was never a fan of Donald Dwyer, John Smith, despised Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. Jeremy Corben, while being a mentalist on the Scottish question, at least had some principles. But New Labour became the new Tories and under Starmer, with his lies, and purge of the left, they have become a Conservatives and Unionist Party in every way, chasing the same racist and ignorant votes that the blue ones want. There is no love for Scotland, only its resources, and while the Scottish branch is seeing a lift in the polls any voter in Scotland voting Labour is voting Tory, of that there is no doubt. This is just another right-wing party full of too many toilet stains and bereft of any real principles and talent.

Scottish National Party – My Dad voted for Gordon Wilson, one of the few MPs they had in the ’80s. I never thought much about them and Gordon Wilson used to just be a guy who did the rounds in Whitfield when I was young delivering leaflets. I first became more aware of them when Alex Salmond got thrown out of the colonizer’s parliament during a budget, he was also pretty active in the anti-poll tax marches and campaigns. As my politics took shape and I learned more about our colonized situation they became my party and I joined around 2012. Never really active but did go on some marches, delivered some leaflets etc. Like many, I had faith in Alex Salmond, and even in Nicola Sturgeon briefly, but when Alex Salmond stood down as leader I had resigned within 5 months when it became clear what Sturgeon was going to be like. All women shortlists were the final straw but the power grab by the NEC etc made it clear that the party was changing and not for the good. The damage that Sturgeon has done is unbelievable and done so quickly. She has betrayed all those who put them where they are today and they are now a joke of a party, they are incompetent devolutionists at best but I suspect there are a few unionists in there as well hiding for the paycheque. I think they are now over as a major force, they have a poor leader, an even poorer cabinet, and no strategy, but they will struggle on for a while yet.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats – Joke of a National Party. Neither Liberal nor Democrats as far as I am concerned. Under Charles Kennedy, they had hope, a politician with principle and stature but in Scotland they had Wallace, a clown but smart, they then descended into the abyss with the likes of Willie Rennie, and the bloody awful, and ignorant Alex-Cole Hamilton, there is just nothing likeable about him in any way. I was briefly a member as I consider myself a social liberal, if Scotland were ever to end its colonial status then that is where my politics will lay. Nationally they just don’t really matter and they will stand still or lose ground under Hamilton. They do have some decent members and in Dundee some very good local councillors in my opinion but right now they are just not relevant and have adopted the gender warrior mantra that they will pay for I suspect with many of their voters.

Independence for Scotland Party – I must admit I find a lot in common with them on the constitutional issue, as well as, education, NATO, EU etc. Collette Walker I think is impressive as a leader and they deserve more credit than they are given for keeping the flame alive before Alba came along. I think they have an important role to play going forward but I also think it will be very difficult for them to make a major breakthrough due to their size.

The Scottish Green Party – I used to always give them my list vote before they went all mental and full of crap. When they were a socially left environmental party I found I had things in common with them, now I just find that they appear to hate women and are just using the independence community to get votes. They are, like most of the other parties, bereft of any talent and in Patrick Harvie truly have a leader who like Alex Cole-Hamilton is loathsome and that is being nice and in Lorna Slater have one of the worst politicians I have ever seen in Scotland, I wouldn’t even want this person on a community council let alone in Government. No doubt the carrot eaters will keep them relevant but they are just bloody awful.

The Alba Party – Now I am a member of the Alba Party although not active as I don’t want to embarrass them with my blog. The party is growing and will become the 3rd largest party in Scotland in the next year. In Alex Salmond, they have by far the best political thinker overall as far as moving the constitutional question forward is concerned but they also suffer because of that. For me, Alex Salmond is the greatest Scottish politician I have seen, but the SNP, the unionists, and the media did a real number on him with the courts protecting those who accused him of horrible offences meaning the truth will probably never get out and that will mean that Alba will take time to get a foothold. I do think if they can get that foothold they will grow as a party but they may lose their 2 MPs before they find their feet. I think the right people are involved in the party and I wish them well, as I do ISP. Alba is the future in many ways if the carrot eaters can open their eyes and see the SNP for what they have become.

Overall though Scottish politics has never been so poor and bereft of talent. Holyrood has become a 5th-rate Westminster, with poor policy, poor debate, poor legislation, just bloody awful in every regard. While devolution was an opportunity to do things differently within its tight constraints the current lot are demonstrating that they can’t even manage the few powers the colonizers have allowed them and that sets the whole independence debate back. Things will get a lot worse before they get better that is for sure.