On:
In: Stephen Bird, Uncategorized

Brexit n The undefined being negotiated by the unprepared in order to get the unspecified. When I first started to print this on shirts, mugs etc way back in 2017 little did I realise just how apt the words were. Sure, we knew that the Government had no strategy, vision, plan or destination in mind but most of us assumed that there were enough adults in the Civil Service to ensure that something semi sensible would emerge and be accepted by the Government. Oh how wrong we were! It’s perhaps worth recalling that in 2016 one of the aims of the Leave campaign was toRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

Article 155.3 of the 1985 Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal was the Treaty law sub article that was supposed to guarantee that MEPs from the sub states of Scotland and Northern Ireland would never have to start doing too much defensive work for the fish that actually swam and insufficient work for our peoples in the political mainstream. It was the Treaty law that recognised the simple fact that our sub states didn’t have, and could never get, enough MEPs to do the two jobs of representing our peoples and defending our fishing interests in a Parliiament full of MEPs from landlocked places,Read More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

As the polls close in the Shetland by-election, hopefully Tom Wills has snatched the seat and is now the first SNP MSP for the islands. Tavish Scott, who has been the MSP since the Scottish Parliament reconvened in 1999, resigned to begin a new career with Scottish Rugby. The association with the LibDems (through their varying forms) in the Northern Isles has had a historic longevity unmatched elsewhere in the country that has only in the recent past shown signs of decline. Tavish Scott, Liam MacArthur, Alistair Carmichael, Jim Wallace and Jo Grimond have been the only names to succeed in national politics for OrkneyRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Voices for Scotland is the campaign organisation that seeks to plan, deliver and win the next campaign for Scottish Independence. It is the campaigning and fundraising arm of the Scottish Independence Convention, a coalition of independence supporting organisations. Its goal is to lift the support for Scottish Independence to about 60%, building on the independence movement that delivered a 45% vote in favour of independence in 2014. We are looking for a dynamic, flexible and enthusiastic person who is a strong supporter of Scottish Independence to become our new Campaign Organiser. This opportunity comes at an exciting and worrying time in our politics: there isRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

Watching the lunchtime news, Ian commented ‘Is there a massive sand pit down at Westminster where they have all stuck their heads?’ I have become detached and terrified in equal measure. Boris and his team are definitely in the lead over ‘the Donald’ in the lying stakes. How the hell did the elected members down there allow such a deluded, bumbling, arrogant person to be running our affairs? Yes I do blame the other MPs. They were all elected by their constituents to do the best they could to defend and support them. Too many of them have only been concerned about their own payRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch, Uncategorized

I did not know if I would be able to do The Flag this week as I was in hospital, kept longer than I anticipated, but everything went well. Do not believe all the criticisms you read from the Unionists, I get great service from my surgery and this week it was the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh as well. So nothing but admiration for the NHS. When in hospital I was able to keep up with the news through the Herald and the National, my wife brought the papers in each day; so where are we? Latest comment about the Nationalising of Ferguson Engineering;Read More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Over recent years more and more questions have been raised about whether or not there is a future for the UK. Never mind questions about quality of life, earnings, employment prospects housing, or education etc. The simple question has been can the UK survive? For most, that question has been centred around politics here in Scotland and especially with the success of the SNP in Government. Our party has undoubtedly gone from being a “movement” to the natural party of Government. However, I suspect that there may well be major changes afoot in some of the narrative. It’s not widely appreciated that the “Unionist” bitRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

So. New Prime Minister, new Cabinet. You know, as the announcements were made I actually had to search the internet to find out what all those archaic titles were about. Seriously, they date back to the days of the Empire! We are living in the 21st century, aren’t we? This week has been fun. Just how many people did he trundle around with him on his grand wee tour of the United Kingdoms? Seemed like a small army. Let’s do Scotland said Boris. So where did he go? A nuclear navy base where no one would be allowed to disagree with him as they areRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Seventy-four years ago, on the 6th August 1945, the United States, with the consent of the United Kingdom, dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing up to 80,000 people with over 70,000 people injured and dying from radiation sickness in the following weeks and months. The city was destroyed and over 100,000 people died from the bomb named “Little Boy”. Three days later the US dropped “Fat Man” atomic bomb on Nagasaki in Southern Japan, killing nearly 100,000 people – the majority of which were civilians. People across the world say never again. Every year, groups across Scotland, and the globe, holdRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

We are verily indeed the victim of the old Chinese Curse “May you live in interesting times”, as the political situation gets more and more complicated. However at the end of the day, Scotland can feed itself, has vast amounts of fresh water, a scarce commodity in today’s world, ample producers of alcohol, and enough energy to not only power Scotland but to sell energy to England. We also have a bright and gifted population and a good National Health Service. What we do need is more of that population, and we face a shortage of young people; our moves in that endeavour are frustratedRead More →