Margaret Hamilton (Page 16)

We have just spent last week in a small independent country. It was a popular wee place with tourists from all around the world. Some were tracing their roots and discovering where their fore bearers came from. Others, like us, just enjoy the country for its scenery, history, culture and the warmth of the people. We were in a very rural part of Ireland and it took till the middle of the week for me to make the most obvious comparison with Scotland. Each small community had everything it needed with no need to travel great distances for the essentials. There were Tesco stores inRead More →

The Better Together Campaign just can’t get it, but the Yes campaign obviously does. It’s better to campaign together when groups from different political and social backgrounds in society all believe in one common idea…………….that Scotland could be so much better as an Independent country in so many ways. Does it matter that we stand behind a banner of a group we are not a member of if we all share the big idea? http://wingsoverscotland.com/a-dangerously-radical-idea/#more-38446 is a piece by Labour members in the Labour Voters for Scottish Independence group addressing the weekend’s accusations. Even Annie Lennox gets it. I had long despaired that Annie justRead More →

As I write this the report commissioned by the Scottish Government on pensions and benefits is released by the welfare working group. By now many of you will have had a chance to read it. No wonder the Westminster government is burying its head in the sand and hoping Scotland will vote no. I had no idea that so many of the UK pensions were processed here, in Scotland.  How many other parts of UK  government are carried out here? This will have massive consequences for the running of the rest of the UK (as it is being called) when we become independent. If theyRead More →

Can I kick off this week with a reminder of the by-election in Aberdeen Donside constituency? Any help at all will be much appreciated. So no apologies for reminding you. This week we decided with spring in the air that we should replace our winter wind battered Saltire with a nice new one. We phoned our usual supplier and he said “would you like a new YES one? Silly question really. If you would also like a YES flag for your flagpole please contact James Stevenson (flags) ltd, 75 Westmoreland Street, Glasgow, G42 8LH Tel 0141 423 5757 http://www.stevensonflags.com/index2.htm   It was mentioned at ourRead More →

I fear that I am going to lose the will to live before getting to cast my YES vote. Every week is another absolutely obvious lie from the No camp. This week we are not going to be able to use the pound. Why not? I know that economics is well beyond my ken, but surely it’s not just because Alistair Darling, Danny Alexander and George Osborne say so? I heard more than one economics professor on the radio state that they were playing political games and there was no reason why we couldn’t use the pound. Other countries have managed to become Independent ofRead More →

So, according to the Mail on Sunday all that is British will be dead and gone when Independence is declared. In some cases maybe a good thing. But the scaremongering continues……………….. Car tax will go. Don’t think so. We pay it direct to our own tax office but we’ll still pay it, how else will we fund the roads? If the tax does go it will because Mr Swinney has thought of another way to go about things. No National Lottery. Don’t think so. You can buy the Euro lottery and the Irish lottery tickets here so why not the UK one? If they stopRead More →

Jimmy Halliday We are saddened to report the death of  Jimmy Halliday, Chairman and guiding light of the Scots Independent since it became a private company in 1957. He had also been the youngest Chairman ever of the SNP from 1956 to 1960. Jimmy died in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee on Thursday 3rd January 2013, aged 85. He had been in apparently good health until mid December. His obituary and tributes will be published in the February Scots Independent.   Accentuate the Positive So far this year there has been the same old negativity regarding the political discussion about our future. Was it really too muchRead More →

Not so long ago I seem to remember the unionists criticising the S.N.P. for wrapping themselves in the Saltire as though this was a bad thing to do. Fast forward to this past week when the Scottish Conservatives have changed their logo. They have attempted to use the Saltire while trying to keep it incorporated in the Union Flag (please note flag, not jack!). Two shades of blue slashes with a slash of red. Rather obviously this has been named the double cross logo. Were P.R. or design people paid for this?   What’s in a Name? Meanwhile poor Jim Murphy just cannot keep upRead More →

I write this the day after S.N.P. conference finished. I saw on Facebook this morning that Douglas Fraser has likened the S.N.P. leadership’s control over the membership as akin to North Korean control. He really must get out of the press box when at these affairs. As in all large groups there will be the sheep that blindly follow the leadership but in the S.N.P. there are many who question and debate, sometimes vote with the leadership, sometimes don’t. I reckon this number is possibly reflected in the numbers in the result on the N.A.T.O. debate. Talking of which, the N.A.T.O. debate was the firstRead More →

Maybe now the pageantry of the Royal Tour, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the Edinburgh Festival is over and done with we can perhaps get back to normal on radio and t.v. Might there be a chance we might just find out what is actually going on in the world? I know we have the internet but I like my routines, like news at 1pm and 6 p.m. It’s an age thing. I think I am going to ask to get into the grumpy old gits groups on fb for nationalists of a certain age! Remember the furore over the cost of the Scottish Parliament building?Read More →