Observing the recent scenes from Catalonia and the appalling treatment of free citizens being treated as criminals in a way that would not be tolerated under any criminal justice law, I\u00a0 was disappointed at how mealy mouthed the European Union treated this disgrace.<\/p>\n
The Spanish Government made great play as to how the Catalaonians were behaving unconstitutionally; it seems that anything the Catalans want is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Now here\u2019s a thought \u2013 the UK does not have a constitution, a factor the Unionists seem quite proud of, so why cannot Scotland just declare UDI?\u00a0 Also in that context, they seem to like to refer to the Henry VIII option in what they do.\u00a0 Henry VIII was an English King before the Union of the Crowns never mind the Union of the Parliaments, so why should they keep quoting him.\u00a0 He was noted for having six wives, having had at least one of them beheaded, cheaper than a divorce.<\/p>\n
He was awarded the title \u201cFidei Defensor\u201d by\u00a0 the Pope which he passed on to his heirs, and pillaged the monasteries\u00a0 while on his merry way.\u00a0 No conscience.<\/p>\n
We should be quoting The Bruce, who saved us from being subjugated by the English Crown, time for a re-run…<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Every day I am in touch with Andrew J.T. Kerr who now lives with his mother in Farnham in Surrey; he has done this since his father Anthony J C Kerr died suddenly, at National Council in Stirling.\u00a0 Anthony was an Elected Member of National Council, an inveterate letter writer and travelled from his home in Jedburgh to virtually every by election in Scotland, by scooter mostly.<\/p>\n
Andrew scans the English papers but devil the attention is paid to Scotland, so he phones a few people in Scotland.<\/p>\n
His latest comment to me today was that while Scotland was looking for Renewable Energy, Westminster was pushing Renewable Trident, coincidentally he had a letter published in The\u00a0 National on 17 Oct.<\/p>\n
He also compared the political situation of the Labour Party between the 2014 Referendum and the present.\u00a0 At the Referendum Labour were in bed with the Tories, hellbent on saying what disasters would arise, particularly with regard to the EU.\u00a0 At present, Labour is trying not to be too much in bed with the Tories, but are crying woe, woe and three times woe at the absolute mess being made of leaving the EU.<\/p>\n
This in a short three years, but what events had occurred!\u00a0 Scotland did not win the Referendum, the Unionists with lies and evasions, scare stories, saw to that.\u00a0 Promises were made the \u201cVow\u201d, apparently approved by Cameron, Clegg and Brown turned out to be non- existent, a fabrication of the Daily Record.\u00a0 On the morning after the vote Cameron stood outside Downing Street and announced plans to make every MP for a Scottish seat second class, quite a lot of them were, but this made it official.<\/p>\n
The aftermath of that Referendum was the General Election of 2015, when the SNP won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats, to the utter astonishment of many SNP members, including myself.<\/p>\n
Mr Cameron then fulfilled his promise for a referendum on the EU, fully confident he would walk it!\u00a0 So in 2016 we had the Scottish Parliament election where the SNP lost its overall majority, and then a European Referendum. In this Scotland voted 62%Remain and 38% Leave.\u00a0 However the overall figures for the UK were narrowly in favour of Leave, so Leave we must!\u00a0 Cameron resigned, and eventually Theresa May was the sole nominee.\u00a0 She then went for a walk in the Welsh hills and decided to have another General Election as she was concerned at the narrowness of her majority; this resulted in her losing her majority, and having to go cap in hand to the DUP in Northern Ireland for their support.\u00a0 This then jeopardised the Irish Peace Process and also used up a lot of public money, ie ours, to give a bung for the Conservative Party.\u00a0 Funny old World, as someone once said.<\/p>\n
At the time of writing the roadblock to the Irish peace process has not been removed.<\/p>\n
I list all these facts, dear reader not to inform you of what you already know but to refresh my own recollections; all these events were running together in my mind, and if I, who involves myself in politics had to check dates, what chance the casual observer?\u00a0 I know I am not as sharp as I was before my illness.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I watched Jim Sillars on the BBC Politics Show last Sunday and I was not impressed.\u00a0 Interviewers have a habit of referring to him as a former Deputy Leader of the SNP, but to my recollection he only served one term. I remember one National Council Meeting at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh when he was severely criticised for mis-spending the Party\u2019s money, but I cannot remember what on. His derogatory comments on Nicola Sturgeon were to my mind unacceptable.\u00a0 His remark that she was only in place because there was no suitable replacement available was insulting, dismissive and ignorant.<\/p>\n
Up to Alex Salmond\u2019s resignation the SNP Government was run by a trio, Alex, Nicola and John Swinney.\u00a0 Alex and Nicola were the public face, and John Swinney the engine.<\/p>\n
During John Swinney\u2019s reign as SNP Leader he disciplined Margo MacDonald, Mrs Sillars \u2013 perhaps why Mr Sillars ignores him?<\/p>\n
In any event looking at the history of the past three years it is difficult to see what course could have been followed.<\/p>\n
Speaking for myself I am delighted with Nicola\u2019s leadership, and there is no demand for her replacement!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I am very pleased to see there will be a meeting of the Convention in the Usher Hall in Edinburgh 4th<\/sup> November.<\/p>\n It is not an SNP meeting, but a Convention one, or re-starting the Yes Campaign.\u00a0 There is no doubt in my mind that we need the re-start, and I anticipate they will be planning for the Referendum.\u00a0 The SNP is doing what it has to – the day job.<\/p>\n My belief is that we plan and lay out the campaign over the Winter and activate the members in the Spring.\u00a0 Nobody wants to be knocking on doors or running street stalls in Winter so we wait until spring.\u00a0 Over the Winter we run events to make money to spend on campaigning.<\/p>\n I am too old to take any part in the forthcoming campaign. \u00a0I felt that the last time too; I retired on my 78th<\/sup> Birthday after polling day\u00a0 in the Dunfermline by election of 2012.\u00a0 Six months later I walked past a Yes street stall in Corstorphine, my local area, when I had been sent out to get bread.\u00a0 I walked on a bit and then stopped\u201d You are an idiot\u201d I said to myself \u201cThis Yes campaign is for Independence and you have just walked past!\u201d So I went back, got a bunch of leaflets and started handing them out.\u00a0 I was hooked!\u00a0 When I returned home an hour after I should have been my wife\u2019s only question was \u201cDid you get the bread!\u201d\u00a0 Which I had.<\/p>\n I took part in some canvassing, street stalls, and occasional meetings \u2013 no leafletting as I no longer moved fast enough.\u00a0 I found the work exhilarating and moving.\u00a0 It was incredible to me that we had all these people bursting with energy and enthusiasm.\u00a0 I loved it.\u00a0 Generally the workers were not SNP, although after the Referendum most of them joined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Observing the recent scenes from Catalonia and the appalling treatment of free citizens being treated as criminals in a way that would not be tolerated under any criminal justice law, I\u00a0 was disappointed at how mealy mouthed the European Union treated this disgrace. The Spanish Government made great play as to how the Catalaonians were behaving unconstitutionally; it seems that anything the Catalans want is unconstitutional. Now here\u2019s a thought \u2013 the UK does not have a constitution, a factor the Unionists seem quite proud of, so why cannot Scotland just declare UDI?\u00a0 Also in that context, they seem to like to refer to theRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1973"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1975,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973\/revisions\/1975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}