On:
In: Stephen Bird

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 →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

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 →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Seventy-four years ago, on the 6th August 1945, the United States, with the consent of the United Kingdom, dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing up to 80,000 people with over 70,000 people injured and dying from radiation sickness in the following weeks and months. The city was destroyed and over 100,000 people died from the bomb named “Little Boy”. Three days later the US dropped “Fat Man” atomic bomb on Nagasaki in Southern Japan, killing nearly 100,000 people – the majority of which were civilians. People across the world say never again. Every year, groups across Scotland, and the globe, holdRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

We are verily indeed the victim of the old Chinese Curse “May you live in interesting times”, as the political situation gets more and more complicated. However at the end of the day, Scotland can feed itself, has vast amounts of fresh water, a scarce commodity in today’s world, ample producers of alcohol, and enough energy to not only power Scotland but to sell energy to England. We also have a bright and gifted population and a good National Health Service. What we do need is more of that population, and we face a shortage of young people; our moves in that endeavour are frustratedRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

I have no idea how the cinemas choose what they show and in which size of cinema room. One presumes it has something to do with film budget and distributors enticement, not to mention ability to put bums on seats and intake in ticket money and over priced eats and drinks. Therefore I was puzzled at so many cinemas initially refusing to show it. If we want to see small interest films like ‘Wind that shakes the barley’ or ‘Black 47’, we tend to take a trip into the Belmont cinema in Aberdeen. They do lots of films the bigger companies don’t touch. Nowhere thisRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

I was a week late in submitting this article due to a culmination of events over the course of a week that had left me rather time short so Stephen was kind enough to swap weeks with me. It started with Wick Harbour Day which is the main fundraising source of income for Wick RNLI. My job is to man the ice cream stall – hectic in a heatwave but still busy in a downpour as children always want ice cream regardless of the weather! This year it was misty; as I left my house on the north eastern edge of Wick Bay to walkRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

A little while ago in a post on this blog, I recalled the words of the late, great Margaret Ewing that she knew when “Scotland would win Independence when the people started to march for it”. The recent march in Galashiels however suggests to me that we may well now know when the forces of Unionism also know when Scotland will win Independence; when they resort to unthinking violence. Whoever the numpty or numpties were who decided that spreading screws and nails across the road on the route of the YES bikers has demonstrated that they are rapidly running out of arguments and we areRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

At the weekend we went along to Inverness to attend an event discussing Nuclear weapons. The three speakers were Bill Ramsay from Scottish CND, local MP Drew Hendry and the Green MSP John Finnie. There was a good crowd in attendance but sadly the age group was definitely of the older generation. There were a few under retirement age but not as many as there should be. The debate was around two of the CND publications Disarming Trident and The treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons (both can be purchased by clicking on the links for £1 each). Bill talked through the process forRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

Well the dust is settling on the European elections and after effect for all parties is rippling through them. The new no-members, no-policies Brexit Party has failed to take a parliamentary by-election in a seat they romped home at European level, which suggests voters are clear that Farage is great for a protest vote but no one wants him or his party in Westminster. Labour’s humbling in Scotland to an all-time low in share of the vote has at least forced out arch-Brexiteer/Unionist Neil Findlay, and made his boss do a U-turn to support a second EU referendum and to Remain. A long realisation thatRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

       As I completed last month’s Flag I said something like there are going to be European Elections, I’ll have to get out my SNP poster – and lo, it came to pass. The SNP decisively won the European Election, and took 3 of Scotland’s 6 seats, our best ever performance;  I am very pleased to see Christian Allard, who had been an MSP but got squeezed out in a gender balanced selection, to my recollection. I was also more than pleased at the election of Aileen MacLeod. I first met her at a General Election in Ochils Constituency in 1999, I think, Annabelle EwingRead More →