As I write this I am also preparing a wee talk on the structure of the SNP and how it works for a branch meeting later this week. As of yesterday we now have 223 members. We have had to hire the theatre space at the local high school, just in case everyone wants to come and participate. It is scary but at the same time exciting. Nothing about a branch meeting will ever be the same again, hopefully. Wonder how it will all pan out? What exciting ideas will these new members have? At the same time there is a 6 hour debate happeningRead More →

To win in every single constituency in Glasgow, but lose the referendum was quite a surreal feeling; we’d given it our all in Shettleston, the culmination of everything we’d learned. Volunteers worked incredibly hard; we surpassed all canvassing and leafleting targets. Ballot box sampling giving encouraging results. Standing in Emirates Arena with my baby daughter in my arms, hearing the returning officer confirm that Glasgow had voted Yes, when we all knew Scotland had, with a few notable exceptions, voted No was bittersweet. But yet, the strangest thing was yet to come; out of Friday and Saturday’s despair, people began joining the SNP in droves.Read More →

Gutted. Hurt. Sad. Grief. Angry. Shocked. The list goes on as Yes supporters digest the realisation that the culmination of their hard efforts – over weeks, months and years for many activists – resulted in coming close but not close enough. Many talk with frustration at their fellow Scots. Feart. Shame. Traitors. Fools. We say these things in anger, just one stage of several in the process of coping with loss. That has to stop. We will never win by insulting those we need to win over. And we still have a cause to win. That is the focus of this piece. As the dustRead More →

Today Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party announced his resignation from both posts; he accepted responsibility for failing to win independence and felt very strongly that the SNP would benefit from a new leader, and the Scottish Parliament from a new First Minister. I am very sad that Alex is standing down, and this came as a complete surprise to myself and to all in the SNP. He has identified what we have all noticed and that is the grassroots campaign, non party political, and puts his trust in them. However, while respecting his decision, I do notRead More →

In 1979, before the Referendum, a former Prime Minister, Lord Douglas Home, Tory, said “Vote No and we will give you something better” While Scotland did not vote No, not enough voted Yes to win the Referendum; the devolution project was dumped and the “something better” was Margaret Thatcher. In 2014, before this Referendum, a former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, Labour, has said “Vote No and we will give you something better”. There was no devolution question on the ballot paper, Westminster’s rule, and thousands of postal ballots had been cast before this non option was mentioned! Margaret Thatcher has gone, but this very week,Read More →

Well, what a week. Mr Murphy has been egged in Fife. Rumour has it that we, the public, weren’t playing ball by reacting to his rabble rousing tactics so one of his team had to do it for us. The fire set alight at a Glasgow Yes hub wasn’t quite such a humorous matter. There was the distinct possibility life, human or animal, could have been put at risk. On a lighter note, the actor in the better together campaign broadcast turning out to be a yes voter in real life was a real hoot. As she said, it pays the bills and a lessonRead More →

Sitting writing this at 5 o’clock on Thursday 21 Aug, while the rain batters down – mistyped that word – became betters! Freudian slip or just carelessness? This has not been a good week for the Better Together lot. They keep howling about privatisation of the NHS in Scotland being a monstrous lie. I think that Kirsty Wark also took that view when interviewing Alex Salmond. I suspect that what is wrong with them is that they do not understand the significance of the Barnett formula; they are correct to say that the NHS in Scotland is run by the Scottish Government, who are deadRead More →

For years as a Nationalist I have put up with friends and colleagues questioning why a left-leaning democrat like me was drawn to the narrow confines of nationalism instead of fighting for socialism, social justice and equality (as if this was the exclusive preserve of the Labour party). Breaking down the class barriers instead of creating bourgeois borders is what I was told was important. All the time, I never once heard them talk about uniting Britain with the workers’ republics of Europe. No, they were just as nationalist for Britain as I was for Scotland, only self-deceiving in their outlook. Many British Labour supportersRead More →

The SNP’s historic “Tsunami” of a result in 2011 meant that what had been a dream, aspiration and hope of all Independence Supporters was now a real possibility as we all set our sights on the Referendum on Scotland’s future. I have been convinced for half my life, over twenty years, that Scotland should be an Independent country. Nothing in those intervening years from the banking crisis, selling off the gold reserves cheap, raiding of the pension funds, the Iraq war, the poll tax or bedroom tax to the privatisation of the Royal Mail has swayed me from the conviction that Scotland should be anRead More →

The Commonwealth games have arrived in Glasgow. Whether you think it’s good or bad, it’s a time to put Glasgow and Scotland on the international map. With trepidation we turned on the t.v. to watch the opening ceremony. John Barrowman………………not exactly our cup of tea but we know he is in huge demand for pantomime. Is this boding well we ask ourselves? Karen Dunbar, a bit “in your face” but like some of her stuff. Needn’t have worried really. The ordinary people from various community groups in Scotland stole the show, along with the humour which was definitely Scottish. Good use was made of theRead More →