On:
In: Maureen MacGregor
With: 0 Comments

BBC Parliament was interesting.  The debate on the amendement to the Bill flowed swiftly in a very socially distanced House with some contributions easier to listen to than others.  Very few mentioned the big issue with the UK Internal Market Bill – the fact that it was breaking the law.  In a place where you cannot call another member a lair, it should have been incomprehensible that the Bill had even reached the House; that a vote was being held on rejecting it was thankful yet still absurd.  The UK’s own agreement was now to be dismissed and that  the country was to enter intoRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms
With: 0 Comments

Eight months to go until the Scottish electorate (all things being safe), give their verdict on the SNP in government and the desire for a second independence referendum. Thursday 6 May 2021 should be ringed on your calendar if it hasn’t been already. We know for certain that at least a fifth of the current MSPs are not standing again and they should be rightly praised for the hard work they have done for Scottish democracy over the Scottish Parliament’s current 21-year history. Without the sterling efforts of this band of veteran parliamentarians, the Scottish Parliament would not be the primary trusted legislative body thatRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

This week started with new Scottish Tory leader landing himself in it. In his ‘I am right’ manner he put the radio presenter in his place, he thought. Trouble is the person he quoted was listening to the programme and was very angry at being misquoted. You got to admit the Scottish Tory leaders have spectacular abilities to land themselves in the proverbial. Then Tuesday arrived. All the issues that have arisen during Covid 19 are to be looked at by the government in the last programme for government of this parliamentary term. Some snippets from her speech :-“The Economy Secretary will publish the implementationRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird, Uncategorized

This has been an incredible period for the Independence movement as we now have a succession of 6 opinion polls showing a lead for the Yes campaign.I was particularly struck by two factors in this trend.Stuart Cosgrove in his piece for the Sunday National on 16 August noted that only 68% of those who voted NO in 2014 would do so again and that only 17% of those aged 18 – 24 are opposed to Independence.These are figures which tell of a long-term direction of travel which can have only one possible destination. The figure of only 68% of NO voters staying with that particularRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

What a lot of items to choose from in this week’s Flag, so I thought I would give a few details as to how it was created. The Flag is an offshoot of the Scots Independent Newspaper. The SI, as we use the shorthand, was founded in November 1926 by Scots living in London.  The first page was written by James Clark;  I met his son Duncan, at an exhibition of the  Scottish Political Archive in Edinburgh.  The SNP was not officially in its present form until 1934, approximately 6 months before I was born! (The Scottish Political Archive is at Stirling University, and isRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

We go back to school tomorrow –  20 long weeks that we sometimes wondered if we would see.  Preparations are in place for a smooth phased return to education but it will not be the way it was offered before. Whilst numeracy and literacy are of course important, they can be caught up on; the immediate concern is the social and emotional development of children, some of whom will not have been to a shop, seen friends or been in a larger group than their household for nearly half a year.   The primary focus will be on fun and friendships, laughter and listening whilstRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms, Uncategorized

Riding high in the polls, a political leader with a strong public approval rating, our FM in the world top 5 of women leaders, on course for a general election victory and outright independence majority, the closest we have ever been to our political goal and what could possibly go wrong? For starters, internal division. The suggestion by some independence supporters that the SNP and, by implication or direct accusation, Nicola Sturgeon are not interested in independence beggars’ belief. Polling analysis by Sir John Curtice (no ally of independence), that the sustained lead for independence is gaining momentum and the SNP-led national movement has crossedRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

A new political organisation has been born. Apparently, the aim is to bring together people who don’t like to belong to a political party, to discuss, debate, form policies and field list candidates. Lifted from the about section of their facebook page ‘The Alliance for Independence was created to give YES, Indy groups and individuals a voice in Scotland’s parliament and to remove as many non indy msp’s as possible.’ They wish to attract all small bands of independence supporters and YES groups. My take on the reason there are so many small groups of independence supporters is because they all can’t get on together.Read More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

In recent months there has been a plethora of debate about tactics for the second, list, vote in the Scottish Parliamentary General Election next year. With more opinions and assertions than I could shake the proverbial stick at. Very few accompanied by an analysis I have to say. One thing they tend to share is an acceptance that anyone voting SNP in the 1st paper can be readily transferred on a whim. WRONG! One because lots of people will vote SNP 1 & 2 regardless. Two because lots of folk were persuaded to do that in 2016 with very little extra to show for it.Read More →

On:
In: Guest Blogger, Uncategorized

by Lloyd Inglis Text of a Talk Given To The Tomball Rotary Club In Texas, USA – October 2003 Introduction Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be here today to speak to you on the subject of Scotland’s Geography, Culture & Contribution to the Global Village – a snapshot of 2000 years of history in 20 minutes! In a situation like this, when one looks at ones own country, so often it is a question of perception. Is the bottle half full or half empty? – Or is it whisky or is it cold tea? – Perception! Pleased do notRead More →