On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

This week saw the service of thanksgiving in Edinburgh for King Charles and Queen Camilla. The UK has already spent well over £100 million on the State Coronation. Now we are to have more pomp, ceremony, and dressing in ancient style clothing. He is to be offered the jewels of Scotland and a brand-new sword at extortionate cost. The jewels and the sword will be kept under lock and key in the castle where the tourists may have the privilege of ogling them. The Lord Lyon was asked on Tuesday if it was fair that so much pomp and ceremony should be taking place, at such great cost, whenRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Over recent months the siren of voices who claim that they have the simple route to Independence has become a clamour to see who can shout the loudest, sadly not a debate about who has one which is actually workable and achievable. From withdrawing the SNP MPs from Westminster to declaring “UDI” we’re bombarded with sound, and not a little fury. The SNP should get their own policy house in order is followed by the SNP should open up to the rest of the YES movement. As is frequently the case, the calls are mutually exclusive. Everyone, it seems, has a plan to get usRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

Wick Is built around the mouth of Wick Bay, an inlet in the coastline in the far north of Scotland.  At the central point of this bay is the harbour and from there the town rises along both cliff tops leading out to neighbouring villages north and south of the town.  Originally Wick was a small village on the north side of the bay but the  creation of a new harbour on the south side in the 19th century led to the beginnings of Pulteneytown – with all its various spellings – and the two merged together and turned Wick into one of the largestRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance

Our neighbours across the sea in the Nordic countries will be heading en masse to their summer cottages over the next couple of weeks. If you visit Helsinki round about midsummer you’ll find a city as quiet as Christmas. Shops are shut, cafes and restaurants are closed or empty, and in the streets almost no one is about. The vast majority of Helsinkilaiset are off to the country to celebrate the long summer days.  Like us, Nordic people endure long dark winters. Months of mirk, days which don’t stretch much further than 3.30, and enforced detention in the house. Their response to that is to make the most of theRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

When doctors differ patients die, much can be compared when those fighting for independence do the same.  We now have more keyboard warriors than activists in the field it seems and it’s become a feeding frenzy for the media and our detractors in Westminster.  We may be a broad church, but we only have one aim, so why is all this catastrophe happening, and what will galvanise the troops? The first consideration is if this is truly about Alba trying to destroy the SNP, as we are reading in the media, then it’s time to talk.  There are many in both camps reasonable and passionateRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

Over the winter we took part in the PeakSave session trials that were running to try to limit energy usage at peak times of the day during a possible energy crisis. By changing your habits during a specified hour, sometimes two, of the day you would receive a credit onto your electricity bill. I was interested to see the results and just how much electricity we could save but when the times were released, I realized I would be out of the house for the majority of them and the effect would be negligible. Determined to try however, before I left the house I madeRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Greedflation; the condition where business increases prices because of a crisis but refuse to reduce them when the crisis passes. It’s what I believe is happening now to most things we buy but especially to foodstuffs. We could all understand when the oil price went through the roof last year as Mad Vlad tried to rebuild the Russian Empire by initially invading Ukraine. It was easy to accept that the rocketing price of fuel meant there would be knock-on impacts on everything, not that we foresaw just how horrific those impacts would be. Everything rocketed, fuel for the car, or lorry, electricity and the costsRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance

Unionists are gleeful that support for independence and the SNP is down.  In one recent poll Labour was ahead in the vote for the regional list and the SNP lead in the constituencies suggest that many of its seats might be at risk.   The SNP’s dominant position in Scottish politics is looking at real risk for the first time since 2011.  Clearly it’s been a tough time for the SNP and unionist propagandists in the main stream press have milked the situation for all they’re worth. They’ve found magic spell which will get rid of the SNP forever.  But are they celebrating too early? Let’s remember these important facts: No-one hasRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Since his mother died, he has been grinning like a Cheshire cat and rubbing his hands together. He has waited so long to become king that he is like a child let loose in a toy shop with sweetie shelves. He has totally misread the feeling of the nation. His nation has been through some very difficult times in the past few years. Loved ones no longer with us, who should have been. People homeless or using food banks to feed their families. While his people have been struggling, he has been spending the public purse on a ridiculously extravagant coronation. Not being content withRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

The late Oliver Brown brought wit, scholarship, passion, ribaldry and the most uncringing spirit to the cause of Nationalism. Readers of the Scots Independent recall his inimitable column “Oliver” which enlivened this newspaper just as its author enlivened so many public meetings. Oliver Brown was a great journalist and the least provincial of men. His Scotland stood an equal among nations, neither vainglorious or servile. He was the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election. For many years, alone, he ran a weekly Saturday night open-air meeting at West Campbell Street, Glasgow. The Scots Independent, sadly aware of whatRead More →