On:
In: Michael Hance

‘Just had a fabulous stay in a completely off the tourist guide town. A great place to explore local attractions. The apartment is spotlessly clean with all the home comforts. Highly recommend’ Or how about this? ‘We had a wonderful time. The place is spacious, comfortable and equipped with everything you need. It’s in a great location with many shops and eateries close by.’ Paris, Prague, the Algarve? No, these are just two of the scores of heart warming reviews I’ve received for my Airbnb property in Bo’ness, a former mining town in West Lothian. These kinds of comments are what inspires me and holidayRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird, Uncategorized

There is a legend that the great Mongol warrior Genghis Khan used a very brutal form of psychological warfare on every city which he attacked. On the original approach his army would, if possible, surround the city and his own tent would be covered by a white cloth. This signified that if the city surrendered immediately only the ruling family would be killed. This would stay in place for 2 days. If the city had not surrendered in that time, the covering cloth on his tent was changed to red. This indicated that if surrendered, only the ruling families and the officials would be killed,Read More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

This week we had International Women’s Day. It was therefore very saddening to see not one, but two articles in the National about how increasingly difficult it is to encourage women to put themselves forward for election to public life. We have so many minorities lobbying for equal rights, yet women still have boundaries they can’t get past. It must be, that in a family unit, someone takes the responsibility for the home and the children. It is after all, a job in its own right. Many men do take on much (or all) of this role but in the majority, it falls to theRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

With less than a fortnight to go before the local council elections are officially called, candidates for the different parties are beginning to make themselves known over social media and the local rumour mill is in full force filling in any gaps. There has been an interesting development up here; a Tory Councillor from Inverness has announced that he will stand in our constituency as he feels not enough is done for rural communities.  He has been getting himself involved in local issues for a few months now which seemed strange but now makes sense and in the press release he states that he isRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

Who, I wonder, is the biggest liar? Is it the “Government spokesperson” who creates a fabrication to cover the humiliation of their boss? Or is it the media commentator who, knowing the truth, chooses to go along with, and repeat as “fact” the fabrication and in so doing deliberately deceives millions of viewers or listeners? I was watching the recent utter and total humiliation of the current occupant of the job of UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, at the hands of Russia’s Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov, in case you had forgotten, dismissed Truss as “like talking to a deaf person”. Given that he has been aRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

Well, every day is an adventure when tracking the goings on at Westminster.  Our Prime Minister has not covered himself with glory, or led any kind of example.  I buried my husband exactly one year ago.  At 63 too young, and although he was fighting prostate cancer it was Covid which ended his life.  We were allowed only 20 people including the funeral director and staff.  For a man who was so well liked, involved in rugby and motor sport and loved life, his departure from his community was sad, and his passing without friends and family was cruel. So you can understand, like soRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

So there is a wee shuffle around in Downing Street. We really are being taken for fools. Same faces, different titles and the new leader of the Commons is under investigation for how he treated a female, Muslim MP. As I heard a comedian state on the radio ‘they are doing me out of a job’. The really scary thing though is how the ordinary working people are being treated. We already have the lowest paid having to choose between food and heat. Remember these are not skivers, they are very low paid and often juggling more than one job. People who pay up frontRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird

Perhaps nothing has served to illustrate just how small minded the UK media and political establishments are than the events of the last few weeks. Narrow, insular and utterly irrelevant hardly even describe the UK “role” in the world. As the debates raged across the globe about the prospects of the Russians invading Ukraine, here we were given a daily dose of which “party / work event” has now been “discovered” and a side serving of Adele having to cancel some concerts in Las Vegas! Not even a mention of the queues of traffic clogging up the access to the Port of Dover. The Met,Read More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Tom Gibson started collating and binding copies of the Scots Independent as far back as the 1940s, we believe (please feel free to correct me if this is inaccurate). When Ian Hamilton became the Business Manager, Kenneth (Ken) Fee was the keeper of the archive collection. At some point Ken suggested that Ian take over this role. We made the trip to Glasgow and transferred the archive to our house. With the help of subscribers, and the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, Ian was able to track down many of the missing issues As younger members joined the board of directors, thoughts turned to more thingsRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Each week you think you have seen and heard it all. Then you get to the next week and go “nope, there’s more”. I find the Prime Minister neither amusing, effective, sexy or indeed anything but an immense embarrassment. I’d go so far as imply he and his little gang are having more of a negative effect on the 4 nations mental health than covid 19 and the restrictions. I don’t think I have ever come across such a serial liar in my life. It has been announced that Lady Mone is being investigated about her VIP tracking to get a PPE contract. What isRead More →