On:
In: Grant Thoms

One of the most momentous weeks of my life took a turn for the worse by Saturday morning.  Tuesday’s media launch of the White Paper was a fascinating study in how London-based journalists ‘just don’t get us’ and/or resent the notion that self-determination – which they would support in practically any other part of the world, with gusto – is being espoused within mainland Britain. The difference in how Scottish-based journalists asked a question which showed their understanding of context and complexity was a credit to them. When the likes of the BBC’s Nick Robinson posed a question he sounded like a public school boyRead More →

On:
In: Clare Adamson

In the Herald on Sunday Ian McWhirter said of the Scottish Government’s White Paper on Independence, Scotland’s Future, that “Not since the tablets of stone descended from Mount Sinai has any document been more eagerly awaited or expectations greater”. Does he exaggerate? Were the tablets expected when Moses ascended Mount Sinai? As someone who has a 16 year old son I have to say Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows launch may have been a better comparator! Harry Potter launch took place at the National History Museum, “Scotland’s Future” at Glasgow Science Centre.  Both launches captured the world’s attention and imagination, with press reports, liveRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

So, former Lord Provost of Glasgow, Alex Mosson, has publicly declared that he will be voting YES next year. According the political editor of The Herald today a press release from YES Scotland states that Mr Mosson said :- “People need to realise that this is not about the S.N.P., Scottish Labour or any other political Party. This referendum is all about us, the people of Scotland, and our right to self determination. Once we achieve independence I’m sure people will start to regain their interest and engagement in politics, and that will be a good thing for democracy. But first we need to findRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

The ancient, and probably best known of Chinese curses is the wish “May you live in interesting times”, and this can be fairly applied to Scotland today.  The latest bombshell for Scotland is the loss of 835 jobs at Scottish shipyards. This has to do with Royal Navy orders, which may or may not come to Scotland.  The reason is that work on the two aircraft carriers will be completed in the next two years and there are no orders to employ all the workforce;  in fact the elusive orders for the Type 26 frigates are causing alarm and despondency in the ranks.   Firstly, theRead More →

On:
In: Clare Adamson

By general agreement, the 2013 SNP Annual Conference, the last before the Referendum was a great success! Held in the most difficult of circumstances, in the shadow of the dire threat to the Grangemouth workforce and possible blow to the Scottish Economy that the closure of Grangemouth would deliver and the Dunfermline by election, the Conference displayed a confident, positive party enthused by the up and coming European and Referendum campaigns.  As someone who lived through the closure of Ravenscraig in my own home community and the mass unemployment caused by the deindustrialisation of Motherwell, I was deeply concerned for the people of Grangemouth andRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

Whilst the YES Scotland campaign sums up the 2014 Referendum as the biggest grassroots/community campaign Scotland will have ever seen (I wonder if John MacCormick would be throwing his arms aloft with copies of the National Covenant, saying ‘beat me’!), quietly in the ivory towers of Scotland’s universities there are a number of research programmes taking place looking at devolution, independence, post-independence and all their public policy implications. A recent blog post about an event held in Edinburgh gave an insight into some academics thinking about the economics of constitutional change. “Speakers from Ireland, Belgium, Lithuania, Catalonia and Spain, Quebec and Canada, explored the constitutionalRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

The Editor of the paper has just shared a link on Facebook, as I write this, from Business for Scotland’s webpage on why the No camp really don’t want a Scottish Oil Fund. I thought I would share it with you to let the editor see that I do get his communications…..http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/articles/ where you can find not only the piece on the oil fund but the article on the poll vote after last week’s Business for Scotland meeting and a few other interesting pieces not supplied by the main media. I really do despair of the “talent” in the U.K. parties and their approach toRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

With the Yes Scotland campaign boosted by the hugely successful Independence March and Rally, the ‘no’ side would appear still to be floundering in their attempt to put a case – any case – for staying in the Union. They don’t even seem able to find someone to make that case, as David Cameron has declined yet again to debate with Alex Salmond. Letters have been zipping back and forth between the two, with Cameron finding all kinds of reasons to dodge the debate. Correspondence quoted in The Herald from Cameron to Salmond states that: “…it is right for you and Alistair Darling, as theRead More →

On:
In: Clare Adamson

There could only ever have been one topic for this week’s flag and I hope I can do justice to the 30,000 marchers on Calton Hill on Saturday. Our day began with a meet at 9.15 at Motherwell Station.  I was mindful that if we each had a plus one on last year then we could double the numbers.  I was delighted that not only had our Branch members, volunteers from Yes Motherwell and Wishaw, and the Lanarkshire Forum for Independence turned out in force but that the platform was full of YES badges and T-shirts on people that I had never met before.  IRead More →

On:
In: Grant Thoms

I had thought that Alastair Darling, as a seasoned politician, would have risen above any personal slight on his status as a leader of the No campaign. However, his assertion that he should face the First Minister in a televised debate is quite wrong. What is Alastair Darling’s position within our body politic? Firstly, he is an MP for an Edinburgh constituency. Secondly, he is merely the chairperson of the Better Together organisation and is very welcome to be challenged by his equally eloquent and distinguished opposite number, Dennis Canavan. No one voted to make Alastair Darling the leader of the opposition in Scotland, ifRead More →