On:
In: Jim Lynch

  January editorial from Scots Independent As I have said, I will publish the Editorial from the preceding month’s Scots Independent. Here is the Editorial from January; it does not seem dated, as the Unionists   keep repeating their behaviour Depreciate and deprecate The Leveson Report is published on the day of writing.  We had some repartee at First Minister’s Questions, calmly spiked by Alex Salmond’s proposal that as no one had actually seen the report it would be more sensible to have the debate next week.  This very reasonable approach was somehow not to the liking of the ‘earnest concerned’ leader of the Liberal rump,Read More →

On:
In: Clare Adamson

It seems that hardly a day goes by that Scotland takes one step closer to Independence Day.  History will see the Edinburgh Agreement as hugely significant in determining our country’s future. Tuesday 5th of February saw the launch of the Scottish Government’s proposals for “The transition to an independent Scotland”.  Of course this comes hot on the heels of the Electoral Commission Report “Referendum on Independence for Scotland, Advice of the Electoral Commission on the proposed referendum question.” This has given us the final question, with which many Yes campaigners will be as content as am I. ‘Should Scotland be an independent country? Yes/No’ Surprisingly,Read More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

Jimmy Halliday was unable to remember a time when he was not a Nationalist. He used to read the Scots Independent in the Greenock Public Library on the way home from school, and he joined the SNP in 1943 when he turned 16. He graduated in history at Glasgow University, and taught in Ardeer, Coatbridge, Uddingston and Dunfermline. In 1967 he joined the History Department of Dundee College of Education, and retired in 1988 as head of that department. He has written extensively on history and the teaching of the subject; in 1990 he wrote “Scotland – A Concise History – BC to 1990”.  HeRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton

Jimmy Halliday We are saddened to report the death of  Jimmy Halliday, Chairman and guiding light of the Scots Independent since it became a private company in 1957. He had also been the youngest Chairman ever of the SNP from 1956 to 1960. Jimmy died in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee on Thursday 3rd January 2013, aged 85. He had been in apparently good health until mid December. His obituary and tributes will be published in the February Scots Independent.   Accentuate the Positive So far this year there has been the same old negativity regarding the political discussion about our future. Was it really too muchRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

Today it’s all about Trident. A Westminster committee has declared that a “Yes” vote would cost Scotland 19,000, as moving British illegal weapons off the Clyde would require fewer Scots to work on them. There’s a massive moral problem with Trident – it’s a weapon that is indiscriminate about who it kills, and can kill thousands. But leave all that aside, if you can. Trident is enormously expensive. Modest estimates of how much it would cost to replace the system run from around £10bn in initial outlay to £83.5bn over the next 50 years. Obviously this varies depending on which academic, think tank or politicianRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

Last week I said I would publish, via the Flag, at least the editorials in the printed Scots Independent  a month or so afterwards. This week I am publishing the one for November; I usually do the Flag over the Christmas period as other Compilers may wish to have a complete break from politics, but I am too old and set in my ways to change! FIRST MINISTER’S NEW YEAR MESSAGE Monday December 31, 2012 Referendum to bring new opportunities for Scots to make own choices The First Minister’s New Year message has highlighted the restoration of free higher education as an example of theRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

This is the October Editorial. As I watched First Minister’s Questions this week, the quote came to me “Oh what can ail thee knight-at-arms, alone and palely loitering”  I suppose it was looking at the Labour benches, who sat, in thrall, as in the poem, but definitely not enthralled, as their leader dragged them doggedly further and further into the mire. We had been expecting some sort of a fightback from the Unionists, making a case for staying in the Union, but this was a very strange way to introduce it, and it flies in the face of reality.  We have had five years ofRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

When is a power not a power?  When you are the President of the USA it seems. Barack Obama was meant to be different.  Not being in the pocket of vested interests when first elected was meant to give him a free hand to sweep the same away.  But the inertia of office soon kicked in and any hope of radical change was quickly extinguished.  In many ways, this might have been just as well for, had expectations not been reset so early, his re-election might not have been so straightforward and who knows what course the US would be embarking on now. Already beingRead More →

On:
In: Uncategorized

On the fringes of Europe, a nation chooses whether or not to plunge itself into isolation, removing itself from the rest of the world. Business will falter as a result of this narrow minded parochial mindset. Families scattered across borders could find it more difficult to meet each other. What could, arguably, be seen as national pride and the desire for a nation to run its own affairs could be taken and twisted into a country having a smaller place on the world stage, and regressive effects on trade, culture and diplomacy. David Cameron’s plans for a referendum on the EU is far more isolationistRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch

4 December, 2012 First Minister invites cross-party suggestions on press group Necessary for Scottish Parliament to act on self-regulation criteria – FM First Minister Alex Salmond today invited the main opposition parties to suggest suitable candidates to sit on the implementation group that he has proposed be set up to determine how self-regulation of the press can be recognised in Scots law following the Leveson report. Speaking at Holyrood, the First Minister said that whatever type of voluntary self-regulation model was devised by the press in the wake of Leveson, it was necessary for the Scottish Parliament to set the criteria by which any newRead More →