On:
In: Maureen Forbes

During the General Election campaign in 2015, I was stopped by a woman who identified herself as a natural SNP supporter but said that if a party would stand up for women her age, then it would get her vote. She went on to explain that she had now seen her anticipated retiral age be raised twice; already in ill health, she had a very real fear that she would never get to see her pension and she pleaded for somebody, somewhere to stand up for her generation. Caithness Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) was launched last week in a a effort to raiseRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Well, that’s another referendum out of the road, and yet another on the horizon. As a movement we now have some serious thinking to do before the starting gun s fired for #indyref2 and we will need to come up with pretty good answers to win. One question which we did not convince the electorate about last time round was currency and it will be much harder this time to argue for a shared currency. A rUK which comprises, or at least faces being only England & Wales, will be much harder to convince on the merits of a shared currency. It may well alsoRead More →

On:
In: Guest Blogger

Given the Brexit vote many unionists, both elected members and ordinary members, are re-considering their previous loyalty to their political party and are recognising that as Nicola has said the Union that they had previously supported no longer exists and that it now looks like only full Independence for Scotland can protect Scotland’s place in the EU. The former Presiding Officer last week urged me to write an article outlining what I had gone through when I left the Conservative Party in 1985 to join the SNP. I was quite chuffed that she wanted me to do so, until she went on to explain thatRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

I sit here some 38 hours before polls open for the referendum. You will be reading it near close of poll or after. I am singularly uninspired. Just as well I voted by post before the depths of this campaign became apparent. Things came to a crashing halt last Thursday with the despicable killing of someone who had only ever sought to make conditions better for everyone. Whether it was charity work abroad in third world or war torn countries or at home in her beloved Yorkshire. I had been preparing myself for some sort of violence erupting as we got closer to polling day.Read More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

With less than a week to go, it certainly looks as if the UK – Scotland is on more of a knife-edge – is edging closer to leaving the European Union.   If the jittery markets are anything to go by then it may become time to batten down the hatches as the uncertainty over what happens next impacts on all of us whether we voted to stay or go.   Firstly, the debate over the past few weeks has been less inspiring than required but perhaps was no more than could be expected. The ‘short campaign’ should always be about getting down to reinforcingRead More →

On:
In: Guest Blogger

I am a political junkie – there I have said it out loud!  Not that there has ever been any doubt about my status. There is a family joke that infers that should there be a by-election in say, Outer Mongolia, then I will stay up all night to watch the results as they come in!  There may just be a grain of truth in this as, since becoming franchised some 5o years ago, I have always known how I would vote and have campaigned with passion and commitment for an Independent Scotland. In fact, it is probably true to say that I “live andRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

For the first time in my adult voting life I am scared. Really, I seriously am. Terrified that the Conservative elite have dragged us into this position because they could not understand their electorate and see this as the solution to internal party battles and as a reaction to UKIP. The only people we are hearing anything from are the privileged in society. They are throwing monetary figures around without doing any of the sums and appealing to the fears of the lowest common denominator of the population. Each side are just lobbying verbal bombs at each other, appear to have no strategy and absolutelyRead More →

On:
In: Political News

SNP MP Stephen Gethins has today written to the Vote Leave campaign calling on them to abandon their negative campaign after his image and misconstrued comments appeared on official Vote Leave campaign literature without his permission. Vote Leave used an image of Stephen Gethins MP on an official Vote Leave leaflet without his permission and used comments out of context to make it look as though he is in favour of the UK leaving the EU. The SNP is actively promoting the positive case for the UK’s continued membership of the EU with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joining Leanne Wood, leader of Plaid Cymru, andRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

Sixteen and seventeen year olds were historically able to vote for the first time in the Scottish Referendum. Many people disagreed with this decision claiming that young people were not interested, did not know enough about the world, could not be trusted to choose properly and basically, should just leave anything important to the grown ups. There was a lack of understanding that whatever decision was reached would impact on these young people more than anyone else who was voting. The change in opportunities that could have arisen affect the younger generation far more than it would mine and my parents. Many teenagers relished theRead More →