On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

As lockdown continues the topics are getting harder to find. However, social media got a bit hot last night (Monday) among SNP members, some saying they were resigning their membership. This seems to have become fashionable. I’m not sure resigning is necessary as you just need to stop your monthly payment. However, if you think you need to draw attention to yourself, I can see how an email or a letter of resignation might be something you would want to do. The SNP Westminster group was reshuffled on Monday. This is something that happens from time to time. It is no great deal usually. However,Read More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

As a daily reader of The National I look forward to doing the Crossword each day; I do this at lunchtime.  However this does not happen on a Sunday! So at lunchtime on the Sunday I usually read Gerry Hassan – it is quite often in the 7 Days, a broadsheet, and difficult to handle. This week the 7 Days broadsheet had a front page by Hugh MacDonald  entitled ‘“The Wait of History” most of my time in the SNP’.  I never met Hugh but I knew his father, also Hugh MacDonald, SNP Vice Chairman for Publicity  at the time of the Hamilton by election.  He worked for Beaverbrook Newspapers,Read More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

The hunt is on for yet another leader of Scottish Labour.  Once again, someone has stepped down either to try to bolster the party’s abysmal ratings ahead of an election or because they no longer believe in the message that they have to promote.  Since the inception of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, there have been no fewer than 9 elected leaders for Labour in that two decades compared to only 3 from the SNP.  The Lib Dems and the Tories showed more reliability with 4 and 5 respectively whilst the Greens, although now sharing a collective responsibility, have had 2 consistent leaders.  It isRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

On the morning of 6 January I sat down with a new book which I’d received as a Christmas gift and was looking forward to reading. I’d spent a fair amount of the previous night watching CNN and hoping rather than expecting that the Democrats could win both Senate seats in Georgia’s runoffs. I knew that Trumpery had done a lot to help them but had the idiot in chief done enough? Little did I know how prescient that book selection would be as the day unfolded. The book; Bob Woodward’s “Rage”! As the day unfolded and it looked as though both seats were aboutRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

Last night watching CNN news was compulsive. The USA considers itself to be the leader of Nations. A shining example for us all to aim for. Well one man’s campaign of several years destroyed that yesterday. Since the election in November he has behaved like a spoilt child. In a Nation that positively encourages people to carry arms on a daily basis, their leader uses social media to wind up his supporters to the level that they feel entitled to enter a government building, threaten the staff, trash the place and shoot people. 4 people dead because someone cannot accept defeat at a democratic poll.Read More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

So that was another embarrassing week by our Prime Minister. Goes to Brussels for a meal and a chat. He had tried to have separate talks with the individual leaders of EU countries. They didn’t play his game and remained a unified unit. Split and divide is what the tories do best. Some Yes campaigners need to waken up to this. Rather than behave in a statesmanlike manner at the dinner he decides to play the bullish clown and make some crude and tasteless jokes about some of the EU countries. Then the following day, at a press conference with Ursula von der Leyen, heRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

We’re now a full month past polling day in the US and still we await the final results, just how is it that they cannot organise a simple straight forward count of votes yet can put people in space and bring them back? Seems simple that if you want to vote then that vote must be in by close of polls and then all votes are counted. One thing the current US situation does highlight however is the need for a written constitution and one which is capable of adapting to changing circumstances which the US model is not. However long it takes the trumpetRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

As I am starting to write this on Monday 30th November I take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy St Andrew’s Day – I am a slow writer at the best of times. SNP Conference The SNP Conference is on at present, and I have it on Zoom, but I am not able to watch and write The Flag at the same time. However I did go through to the next room to watch Nicola’s Speech, which I followed avidly, and one part jumped out – £500 for every member of the NHS payable in this financial year. The master stroke is that sheRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

With National Conference taking place this weekend on a virtual platform for the first time, I am eager to see how it works as I cannot envisage how it will all come together and am sure that there will be many nervous moments in the run up to it. For me, conference was always a wee holiday, a break away from the kids and a chance for me not just to be someone’s mam but someone in my own right however a new job put paid to that and I have been unable to attend for the last few years, missing it greatly.  The coupleRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

As we approach the festive season, we are often told it’s more important to give than to receive. As far as the Prime Minister is concerned, he is the gift to Scottish independence that keeps on giving. In a private Zoom call to Northern English Tories, he pronounced that “devolution has been a disaster” and poor we Dougie Ross is left apoplectic. However, to the diehard Unionist cause, it is manna from heaven. They hate devolution and believe now that abolishing the Scottish Parliament is the answer. Meanwhile, the rumour mill over the past week has been strong on suggestions the Scottish Tories are re-shapingRead More →