As regular readers will know, I really don’t have much faith in any of the London based parties. Generally, the labels switch but the policy platform remains pretty much the same. But I have to confess that even I was amazed at just how quickly the wheels came off the new Government. From the first budget statement from Rachel Thieves which singled out the most vulnerable for attack by withdrawing the Winter Fuel Payments to an estimated 10 million pensioners the trajectory has been on a way one ticket to the bottom of the barrel where it will no doubt collide with what is leftRead More →

On Tuesday the new MPs from all parties started descending on Westminster. Scottish Labour had their group photo taken outside number 10 Downing Street. The railings had been bedecked with St George’s flag bunting. Perhaps it was there to support the England football team. This is, however, the Government of the UK. For once it should have been Union flag bunting. Never understand the confusion some folk have about which flag for which event. So, who has started the tally notebook on backtracking and non delivery? Jackie Bailey has started by wanting to privatise as many areas of our NHS as they possibly can. WonderRead More →

Speech by John Swinney, seeking election as leader of the SNP I would like to thank you, Lorna, and the Party staff for the professional way this leadership process has been run at such short notice – enabling the Scottish National Party to get back on the front foot so quickly. A year ago, even a week ago, I did not think my future would involve standing here accepting the Leadership of the Scottish National Party. Things have turned out differently and before I say any more about my leadership I want to pay tribute to Humza Yousaf. He has conducted himself throughout the lastRead More →

Once again, the Scottish branches of the unionist parties have absolutely no interest in what happens to the SNP. We are merely pawns in their game of who will control the Westminster Parliament. The SNP are merely punch bags, so they don’t actually knock lumps out of each other. They care not a jot whether we are doing a good or a bad job, just so long as the media is reporting that we are doing a very bad job. I have dipped in and out of different social media posts over the past few days. Some people are making comments that explain their thinking,Read More →

The Andrew de Moray Project was created to celebrate the 700th anniversary of Andrew de Moray’s 1297 North Rising. Each year in May we rally at Ormond Hill, Avoch in the Black Isle where a new Saltire is hoisted on the flagpole on the cairn which we built and was first unveiled in 1997. We are pleased to continue that old community tradition started in the 1930s. In 2024 our march and flag raising at Ormond Hill takes place on Saturday afternoon 18th May. You can celebrate the fame of a Scottish hero whose castle at Ormond Hill was the base for his successful guerrillaRead More →

I suspect that the next General Election, whether it’s in Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter this year, will turn not on which Party has the most positive platform or indeed charismatic Leader. It’s looking increasingly likely that it will in fact be a vote against a tired, corrupt and immoral Tory Government which has patently run out of steam and in favour of a boring, clueless and utterly uninspiring Labour Party which is devoid of policy, principle or ambition even before polling day never mind after years in Government. Labour do though have one big thing going for them: they’re not the Tory Party. If ever there was an electionRead More →

I was struck by a report, I think in The Guardian, that only 2% of school students are taught about the Middle East. Apparently, it’s too contentious and too hard, perhaps because of the pernicious roles played by many British Governments! Speaks volumes about the education system. For many, it’s a war which focuses on perceived victimhood and to a very large extent that depends on the start date you choose. For some the conflict started on October 7 when Hamas launched its assault on Israel and the resultant savagery. But as the UN has pointed out, this did not happen in a vacuum. For at least a decade, in Israel, and indeedRead More →

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 →

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 →

In a recent piece for The Atlantic, “How the UK Became One Of The Poorest Countries in Western Europe”*, Derek Thomson wrote ” When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, it hit hard, smashing the engine of Britain’s economic ascent. Wary of rising deficits, the British government pursued a policy of austerity, fretting about debt rather than productivity or aggregate demand. The results were disastrous. Real wages fell for six straight years. Facing what the writer Fintan O’Toole called “the dull anxiety of declining living standards,” conservative pols sniffed out a bogeyman to blame for this slow-motion catastrophe. They served up to anxious voters a menu of scary outsiders:Read More →