On:
In: Stephen Bird

Perhaps nothing has served to illustrate just how small minded the UK media and political establishments are than the events of the last few weeks. Narrow, insular and utterly irrelevant hardly even describe the UK “role” in the world. As the debates raged across the globe about the prospects of the Russians invading Ukraine, here we were given a daily dose of which “party / work event” has now been “discovered” and a side serving of Adele having to cancel some concerts in Las Vegas! Not even a mention of the queues of traffic clogging up the access to the Port of Dover. The Met,Read More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Tom Gibson started collating and binding copies of the Scots Independent as far back as the 1940s, we believe (please feel free to correct me if this is inaccurate). When Ian Hamilton became the Business Manager, Kenneth (Ken) Fee was the keeper of the archive collection. At some point Ken suggested that Ian take over this role. We made the trip to Glasgow and transferred the archive to our house. With the help of subscribers, and the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Ian was able to track down many of the missing issues As younger members joined the board of directors, thoughts turned to more thingsRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Each week you think you have seen and heard it all. Then you get to the next week and go “nope, there’s more”. I find the Prime Minister neither amusing, effective, sexy or indeed anything but an immense embarrassment. I’d go so far as imply he and his little gang are having more of a negative effect on the 4 nations mental health than covid 19 and the restrictions. I don’t think I have ever come across such a serial liar in my life. It has been announced that Lady Mone is being investigated about her VIP tracking to get a PPE contract. What isRead More →

On:
In: Guest Blogger

The independence movement is not a make-or-break gamble, but a break-to-make impetus for both Scotland and Britain It was the last day in 2020, and when the clocks struck twelve, the Union eventually and officially left another Union. A year since then, the Prime Minister’s nostalgically forward-thinking Global Britain project has been well carried out, and now no one could question the competitiveness of Britain and its global standing in the number of daily new Covid-19 cases. 2021 was a remarkable year, it opened with crisis and ended with corruption. Would 2022 witness something different or be just another year of historic recurrence? Hardly couldRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

2022 is here. Forty nine years ago we joined our European partners and began building relationships. How many remember what life was like prior to 1973? The vegetables and fruit you ate were seasonal and mums and grannies preserved some for when they were not in season. Family members going to work abroad often lost touch if they couldn’t find time to write. Macaroni cheese was exotic and people like my dad didn’t like it. Slowly over the years my age group expanded our horizons. It became easier to travel abroad, especially the European Union countries. As technology developed so did all sorts of agreementsRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

This is traditionally a time when we look back at the year just gone and forward to the new one. On a personal note, this year has seen two major medical procedures, chemotherapy and a change of house. So pretty hectic from January right through and I can only pray that next year brings a bit of much needed calm. Politically, it’s been a strange year, with the relief of getting the aftermath of that trial out of the way, unionists as usual shooting themselves in both feet especially in that committee and a good performance in the General Election. The birth of a new partyRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

So Douglas Ross, once more, prefers petty political point scoring to actively co-operating in getting us through this turmoil. His, and Westminster’s attitude continue to strengthen the case to be running our own affairs, completely on our own. The levels of the new strain of the virus are galloping way ahead of it’s predecessors. The science is the only fact we have as the movement of the virus cannot be seen till people test positive. The UK government are ignoring the facts as best they can. The rebellion of the Tory MPs, refusing to bring in further restrictions, was despicable and showed what they reallyRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

Anyone who endured bad weather through the last few days knows community is everything. It’s bad enough being cold and wild outside but having no access to food and heat indoors is another matter.  It always amazes me, but shouldn’t, the kindness of so many who battle through wind, rain and snow to attend the needs of others.  Scotland has its own weather system which changes by the hour.  For much of the Winter we are in dark skies.  The increase in energy costs has a greater effect on us yet we produce so much green energy.  We appear to be at the mercy ofRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Those of us of a certain vintage, will recall singing along to Edwin Starr’s anti-Vietnam war anthem in the 70s. The response was “Absolutely nuthin” but perhaps that’s not the whole truth. Apart from the armaments industry and some mercenaries who are the obvious profiteers there are those especially on the right of politics who see the “blood and soil” version of nationalism as something worth fighting for. There are also those who see war as a potential unifying factor and this sadly includes many UK Governments down through the years who have used the concept of glory and valour to their own ends. BritainRead More →