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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →