WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Guest Post by ABU HAIMI ABU HASSAN

Part 2.

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION 2016

Make no mistake, the Bitter Together gang are quaking in their boots with regard to this election. The chickens are coming to roost. They are reaping what they have sown. That is why the shrill is so loud from the Bitter Together gang. They and the establishment have been flinging all kinds of mud at the SNP but none seemed to stick. The one that ticked me off was the GERS cringe. Just whoa. I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that one takes delight in one country’s woes and wishes it ill.

Not to worry though. Scotland is about to deliver the third nail to the Union’s coffin. This vote signifies two things for me; one, it is a vindication of SNP competence and two, Scots realise that notwithstanding the independence policy, there is a home grown party managed by Scots themselves that can actually administer Scotland properly. This is why the SNP is defying the odds and the true cause of the dire straits of the Bitter Together gang in the polls.

I am quite sure those who are of the political anorak-esque persuasion have read a lot of blogs highlighting issues/policies relevant to this election. One of the themes of discussion that intrigued me is that the SNP is not being radical enough. The further discussion is that due to the said fact, Scots should vote for other left parties in Scotland particularly the Greens in order to drag the Scottish Government more to the left.

There maybe some merit in the discussion (personally for me I’d like the Scottish Government to be more radical on land reform) but in terms of political strategy these arguments must fail because of two reasons. One, it is Nicola Sturgeon’s promise that she will steer the SNP leftward. She was not elected the First Minister. She succeeded Alex Salmond. She needs to win this election as proof of her mandate to administer Scotland and the same given to her by the Scottish electorate. This might seem trivial but I believe this a personal psychological edge that is needed to validate her actions as First Minister.

Secondly, the SNP has the misfortune of building its political base top-down. It has the majority Scottish MPs in Westminster, in the process of gaining one in the Scottish Parliament and has yet to gain majority in local governments of Scotland. It should have been the other way round. Local governments are the last bastions of Unionism/Bitter Togetherness in Scotland. Unless and until Fortress Glasgow et al have fallen, the fight for a fair and just Scotland, and independence can never be fully realised. You can bet the Bitter Together gang controlled local councils will throw a million spanners into the works just to thwart anything to do with the SNP. #SNPbad. This is also one of the reasons why I have said Scotland was not ready to be independent in 2014.

For me, achieving independence overrides other causes. All the new powers devolved to Scotland were gained because Scotland voted SNP each and every time it happened. We are nearer to independence than ever before. Everybody knows it. Some can feel it. The establishment is merely delaying what is inevitable so that they can suck Scotland out for what it’s worth to the very last minute.

This is why we must redouble our efforts and vote the SNP twice in this election. Take Scotland seriously or we may just walk out.

THE FOURTH AND FINAL NAIL TO THE UNION’S COFFIN

As mentioned above, local governments are the last bastions of the Bitter Together gang. True enough, local elections are more about local issues but for too long Scots have suffered mismanagement by local councillors. Local governments control a lot of day-to-day affairs of ordinary Scots. The current fiasco of Edinburgh school closures highlights the magnitude of the problem. A small issue/problem like this can snowball into a national headache. In 2017, we must stop the rot, sort out the mess and turn local governments into an institute that serves the public, not the other way round.

It will be the final nail in the Union’s coffin. This is when the majority of Scots understand that they and they alone can run the country to the fullest of its potential without being propped up/restrained by Westminster. Thus the Union will then cease to be relevant.

WHAT THEN?

The moment that the SNP controls all tiers of government is when the second quest of independence will begin. I suspect Nicola Sturgeon has already anticipated this by preparing to launch an initiative to build up support for independence in this summer. By summer the only stumbling block will be the local governments. I will particularly enjoy when the SNP election machinery-behemoth steamrolls the Bitter Together gang during the local elections in 2017.

But what then?

I think this will the high-water mark of the SNP in Scottish politics. The only way after this is down. Not because I think the SNP will be less popular (due to malaise, which is quite possible) but the SNP would have used up all available avenues within the Westminster politico-legal framework.

Herein lies the SNP’s blind spot. They place emphasis and faith within the Westminster politico-legal framework. It is blindingly clear that there is one rule for the establishment and another for the rest, as illustrated by the recent Panama papers. In which the Prime Minister is still trying to wriggle his way out by protesting his ignorance/misfortune of being born rich. Right!

After 2017, the SNP must not be too constrained by the Westminster politico-legal framework. The SNP/Scottish Government must be radical in it is action. We do not want a government that is dissimilar to the UK one; we want a government that is truly divergent. Three issues (other than the standard ones) that the Scottish Government should agitate on are land reform, local government and youth participation in politics/governance.

Firstly, land reform is necessary because the unequal distribution of land ownership in Scottish is detrimental to the people and economy of Scotland. There is a housing crisis due to land unavailability and concentrated ownership has stifled economic growth because the land cannot be utilised fully, lies abandoned or both. The Scottish Government should table radical amendments to the recent Land Reform Act as recommended by the Land Reform Review Group. I am not sure why the Scottish Government is afraid of legal challenges to the more radical recommendations. Let it be challenged, let it be declared void. The point of passing such bold acts is to show that the government is serious about something. If the law is declared void, table another one. Now the Scottish Government can be accused of bowing to the landowners.

Secondly, the structure of local governments in Scotland is problematic to say the least. Local government areas must be broken up to smaller pieces so that it can be managed better and more representative of its population. Before 1975, Scotland was governed by a plethora of multi-tiered local governments. I direction your attention the Wikipedia article with particular reference to the map showing local government areas:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_local_government_areas_in_Scotland_1930–75

In the map, local government areas made sense geographically, economically and culturally. Coupled with the possibility of local government funding reform (introduction of local income tax), local governments have the potential to be self-sufficient administrative units of governance.

Lastly, I think Scotland has led the way in youth participation in politics/governance. I was sceptical when it was announced that 16/17 year olds would be allowed to vote in the indyref. As time passed by, I was proven wrong and I'm now a convert to such a proposal. Sometimes the youth can show the way because they are unencumbered by jadedness or cynicism. This why I cannot stress how important local government reform is. The easiest and nearest avenue to participate in politics/governance is local government. By making smaller and easier to access, we are encouraging people (in this case the youth) to engage with the local government. By allowing them to be involved with local government, we are training our youth to be responsible and better leaders of tomorrow. If one were to do a survey, I think we might just see a correlation between good state governance as whole and smaller local governments.

CONCLUSION

There is still a bit more to go before Scotland achieves independence. We must remember the State/establishment/elites will not allow this and they, for sure, will fight dirty. The SNP is the only vehicle available in order to achieve independence. Independence overrides everything else. For those who are apprehensive that the SNP is not being left enough, don’t be dissuaded by that fact. Join the SNP if you haven’t and drag it to the left. Nicky Lowden McCrimmon had shown that it could be possible.

And always remember: this Scottish Parliament is NOT the parliament that signed away Scottish independence in 1707. This Parliament has been bastardised by the Scotland Acts and hemmed in by Westminster. When we are ready, no amount of laws and regulations can stop us from being independent. It didn’t stop the Irish and it sure hell won’t stop us.

Before I end, I want to explain why I am sure an independent Scotland will be a beacon of fairness, justice and equality. An independent Scotland will shatter the myth that the UK is everything that it is not, and allow other Commonwealth nations (particularly) to chart their own course in the international arena. By propagating the myth that the UK is to be emulated within the Commonwealth, other nations are merely transplanting and creating environment ripe for democratic deficit, inequality and unfairness, as in the UK. It is imperative for me that Scotland achieve independence soonest possible.

Scotland must be independent by 2021 or it will take another 30 years. We are running out of time.

Make this self-appointed honorary Scot proud.

Both votes SNP!

WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Guest Post by ABU HAIMI ABU HASSAN

Part 1

INTRODUCTION

I will begin with the crux of the argument that I will make below: Scotland will be independent but we are running out of time. Scotland needs to independent as soon as possible. The Tories’ assault on the State and basic decency is like Thatcherism on steroids but in slow motion. Even though I can see the logic of SNP’s endgame, playing it slowly and surely will cost independent Scotland a lot more than one might think. Therefore all Scots who believe in independence must constructively create an opportunity for another indyref. Scotland must be prepared to be independent by 2021. Failing to do so will either delay the cause further or will make it difficult to rebuilt a better Scotland socio-economically, or both.

A LITTLE OF HISTORY

People who forget their history will be condemned to repeat their mistakes again and again. People who are denied their history will suffer a worse fate; they will wander aimlessly throughout their entire existence. One half of Scotland is having the first problem and the other half is suffering the second one.

One aspect I’d like to emphasise when it comes to the historical bit is the fruition of the 1707 Treaty of Union. Let it be known that this Treaty was achieved by coercion, subterfuge, bribery and duress. If such treaty were to be signed today, it would definitely be declared null and void. What was built on a foundation of falsehood can never be sustained. 

This Union, by its progression in time, will be loosened and eventually broken. The 1^st indyref had demonstrated the chinks in the Union’s armour so clearly. Now it will up to us to smash and destroy it.

One can argue that the Union did bring some benefits to Scotland, the Scottish Enlightenment being an example. However it must be remembered that such benefits glossed over the detriments suffered by Scotland. I am citing the Jacobite rebellions (and the resulting Highland Clearences), the destruction of the Highlands and Gaelic culture, the land grab by the elites (with particular reference to the Highlands), abject poverty and population movement that it caused, forcing the population into the Central Belt/overseas, population drop, democratic deficit, de-industrialisation, punishment of the poor/vunerable, the defence of concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and the unspoken treatment of Scots as second class citizens. Yet time and time again a few Scots would rise and defend/help their fellow Scots in need. Some achieved fame but most went unnoticed. Here I must confess my ignorance of Scots such as Mary Barbour and commend Mark Frankland at the same time.

THE (INTER-) NATIONAL AWAKENING

The indyref was the best thing that had happened to me. I have believed in Scottish independence since my teens and an ardent supporter since 2002. Previously my support for independence was based on historical facts and simply on my sense of right and wrong. The indyref allowed me to put a name on it and cloth it with facts, ideas and concepts. It has opened my eyes to the machination of the establishment/elites via the State or vice-versa. It made me realise that the State/establishment/elites will ferociously stifle any attempt to change the status quo of the Union. My best friend, who is a political theorist, had early on predicted during the indyref campaign period that Project Fear (how apt during the indyref and ironic vis-à-vis the EU referendum now) would eventually overwhelm enough Scots to result in a NO vote. Me, being naïve back then, held out that Scots would do the right thing and vote Yes.

I knew the Bitter Together gang had won when the results for Western Isles were announced. It has always been my benchmark/barometer for Scottish politics. I can only imagine the devastation felt by the Yessers, especially the campaigners. I was so despondent that 55% of Scots actually refused to take a leap of faith in themselves. I find it incredulous that 55% of Scots still suffer the Scottish cringe of too wee, too poor and too stupid when it was clear (at least to me) the opportunities that an independent Scotland could offer.

I grieved for three days. I don’t think I could survive the gloating by the media and on online. I was so heartbroken till I resolved not to cross the Tweed until Scotland redeemed itself (that did not last for long, did it).

It was during the UK GE 2015 campaign period that I came to realise what an impact the indyref had had. If we were to translate the percentage of those who believed in Scottish independence into betting odds, it started at 7:3 and was narrowed to 11:9. What an achievement! I had also concluded that Scotland was not ready to independent yet as the timing was not right. Nevertheless the first nail, out of four, to the Union’s coffin was delivered on 18^th September 2014.

Scotland had changed.

ONWARDS 2015

The despondency did not last for long. Between 19^th September 2014 and 5^th May 2015, a lot of Scots (especially Yessers [but that is redundant because we have been telling this all along]) realised the powers and benefits promised by the Bitter Together gang were not worth the paper they were written on. The Vow. Enough said. The 45% instinctively coalesced around the SNP and their membership skyrocketed within a short time.

The scales fell off our eyes. We had become politically aware. Politicians’ words will be microscopically analysed. Vote Labour Stop Tories was no longer held as true. They were/are all rainbow Tories. It was time to vote for a party that will actually stand up for Scotland. Not like the Feeble Fifties. Hence, second nail to Union’s coffin was duly delivered on 7^th May 2015.

For me 7^th May 2015 was the date Scotland proclaimed its readiness to be independent. By voting for the SNP, Scots were telling to UK government that they were giving the Union a final chance. The SNP MPs were sent to make sure all those promises are fulfilled. The UK Government has to get the Union to work properly. If not, independence may be an alternative route after all.

*Please read Emlyn Pearce’s Facebook post entitled “What Is Up With All The Muslims And Black People In Glasgow Today???” It is a funny satirical piece but if it were to take place for real, it could only be in Glasgow. That’s how politically aware I think Scotland is now*

MY VISIT TO SCOTLAND

I’d like to note that I did cross the Tweed in late April 2015. It was a joy to watch BBC Scotland live and experience first hand the biasness. Not. Of course the highlight of my visit was to visit the Munguin the Great and his ever-doting carer, Tris, in Dundee (I got proof). I did an all round tour of Scotland, starting in Glasgow, rounding up the North via Inverness and Aberdeen, and ending up in Edinburgh. I have to say I am an Edinburgh man (sorry Glaswegians). A most magnificent city as everything I wanted in a city can be found there. But I love all of Scotland equally. Even if I am left in cold, cold Durness (I don’t do 15 degrees Celsius or below). I’d still be happy because I had concluded, should Scotland be the poorest nation on Earth by reason of independence or otherwise, Scots will always take care of their fellow Scots. The kindness and the show of consideration given to my family and me will always be in heart. A special mention of Jimmy, the owner of Café Ben Lora in Benderloch is very much deserved.

Anywhere, so long it is Scotland.

(Part 2 follows tomorrow.)

HAPPY UNINDEPENDENCE DAY

It is thought that, had the Scottish public voted YES in September 2014, today is the day that we would have become independent.

Well, we didn't, and crying over spilt milk is as pointless as expecting George Osborne to be able to count past 10 without taking his shoes off,  Philip Hammond to get past the first sentence of a speech without everyone falling asleep, or the Tory Cabinet to come down hard on fat cat tax abusers and leave sick folk alone for a bit.

Going by the polls, on the back of a series of promises made by Better Together representatives, Scotland decided to stay in a hugely reformed United Kingdom.

Singa-longa-Gordon: God save the Queen.

Most notably Gordon Brown, on behalf of the two British political leaders who could possibly be prime minister at the time of independence, Cameron and Miliband, promised "as near federalist government as is possible in a union where 85% of the population live in one state". And, appearing on a television debate for young people alongside Ruth Davidson, speaking for the union on behalf of Better Together, George Galloway (couldn't Labour have fielded someone?) promised Devo-super-max. Whatever that was.

Its an interesting thought that neither the prime minister nor the leader of the opposition felt sufficiently confident of their popularity in Scotland to bring their promise directly to the people themselves. They were obliged to find an ex prime minister, who it was thought still had some popularity here, to do it for them. That, if you think about it, is a fairly strong indictment. In short neither possible future prime minister held much sway in Scotland.

The two of us.

Moving on, there are those who said that the YES side would never have won, were not winning at any point, could not possibly win. But if that is true why did Cameron do his famous volte face at the last moment and authorise the devo max/federal promises, having specifically ruled these out at the beginning of the debate? 

A man within sight of the winning post doesn't suddenly make concessions  that he previously specifically ruled out. Nor does he sit up all night unable to sleep, and then, when he knows the result, telephone the head of state to hear her purr (like she didn't have a radio in Buckingham palace).

Well we all know what happened...

In voting NO, by a reasonable majority, we put ourselves at the mercy of the UK government, which most people predicted would be Tory, or a Tory led coalition for some years to come.

Who said I purred?

They set up the Smith Commission with a remit to provide a report on further devolution. (The 'max' and 'federal' words had disappeared by this time, replaced by 'further' or 'enhanced' devolution.)

I remember reading that the time scale allowed to Smith was so short that the members of the commission were given a matter of minutes to read every submission and discuss it... and there were thousands, from political parties, civic Scotland, unions, employers, churches, charities and individuals, most of which must have been left unread.

So four pro independence and six anti independence representatives sat down to discuss what they hadn't read, taking orders instead from their bosses. Then the commission reported, not, as had been expected, to the people of Scotland, but to the Tory led coalition cabinet, where some of the proposals were apparently scrapped. So that was fair. Or not.

Fluffy: What he lacks in intellectual rigour, he makes up for with sleakitness. Ask Annabel Goldie.

Thence to the House of Commons in the form of a Bill, presumably overseen by David (Fluffy) Mundell or, more appropriately, Muddle, now amazingly a cabinet minister with responsibility for Scotland, where every single amendment proposed by Scottish MPs was voted down. Imagine, every single one, voted down by the Tory and Labour English MPs, while they were introducing English Votes for English Laws. You'd have thought they might have let a few minor amendments through, if only for the sake of appearance.

The Smith Commission had a policy of 'no financial detriment to Scotland', but Mundell and Osborne had ignored this and it was foreseen that the Scotland Bill would cost Scotland £7 billion in the next parliament.

Fortunately for Scotland John Swinney and his department aren't fools and the Treasury was eventually forced to make changes which ensured no detriment. The alternative would have been that the Scottish government recommend voting against the Scotland Bill.

Well, if you brag about broad shoulders and pooling and sharing, you really have to be seen to deliver.

The actual opposition.
The one that doesn't go home early or abstain.

So, we are where we are. Today we aren't celebrating. It's just another Thursday, and the brightest thing we have to look forward to is the clocks going forward on Saturday night.

But, in the biggest ever shake up in Scottish political history, the UK election which followed the referendum by 8 months, most of our seats in parliament were won by pro independence MPs, some of whom are making a real mark on the proceedings in Westminster. 

So called Scottish Labour, under the leadership of hard right winger, Jim Irn Bru Crate Murphy, was all but removed from Westminster, losing 40 of their 41 seats. This must be the most humiliating defeat for a political "leader" anywhere, ever. 

Ena Sharples.
No wait, I'm told she was sharp tongued but  a decent soul.
So it must be Alistair Carmichael, her stunt double, in drag.

Likewise the Liberals who had always been proportionally better represented in Scotland than in the UK, were reduced to one member, losing 11 of their 12 seats, and leaving only one sad little man who had felt obliged to lie about the First Minister and the French Ambassador in an attempt to retain his seat. The Tories held on to their one seat with a vastly reduced majority.

The election for our own parliament is only weeks away, and without counting chickens, pro independence parties look set to take a majority of the seats.

We have some limited powers over income tax coming in a year's time, and we will be able to change the road signs, at least within the limits of international law. Fortunately for Labour we will be able to vary the Airport Passenger Tax. I say fortunately, because is seems that their manifesto is largely dependent on the money that this will bring in, together with a scheme to lower council tax on Band D houses, presumably because their leader lives in one.

So things are better than they were. As the wise folk say:

Slowly, slowly catchy monkey!

A far more detailed analysis of what has happened since the referendum can be found on Wings' Little Black Book.

THE NORTH BRITISH NEWS NEEDS OUR HELP

This is a damned good site, indeed it is one of Munguin's favourites. It would be a real pity to loose it, but Shaun is seriously underfunded just now and there are, by my reckoning, 8 days left to raise the rest of the money and keep the North British News alive.

If you can, please help!

It looks like we may not get to design our own road signs after all

The Daily Mail reports on its front page that English MPs threaten to derail the DevoMicro settlement laid out in the doctored Smith Commission Report.

There was a picture of their front page on the blog, but Niko, quite reasonably, pointed out that as the rest of the paper's page was dedicated to the horrific story of the barbarous slaughter of school children in Pakistan, the frivolous headline and pictures I used to illustrate the Tory revolt was inappropriate. 

He was right and I was wrong. Apologies for any offence this might have caused.  

In any case it looks like we can forget ....

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted...

THE NATIONAL

According to Twitter, it sold out today and the print run has been increased for tomorrow.

Any comments on the paper so far?

GEORGE MONBIOT TALKS TO INDEPENDENCE LIVE...

Thanks to Cynical Highlander for pointing us it the direction of this interview.

WRITING OFF SCOTLAND

If you have around 25-30 minutes and you haven't already seen this, I can recommend it. 

The video explores the research of Dr David Patrick into press bias during the independence campaign. 

Carried out over Scotland's most politically important year in centuries, the study's findings are a shocking indictment of the role of the UK press in the independence debate. 

We all know newspapers take political positions but, uniquely for a western democracy, the entire press industry united against independence in an intense systematic propaganda campaign to save the union. 

In the film, Dr Patrick discusses the framing of the referendum and how front pages, editorial and commentary are used to get key messages across, the lack of media coverage for the research, strange BBC experience and how the Independence debate has damaged public trust in our press.

Munguin's thanks, once again, to Cynical Highlander for bringing it to our attention.

DAVE REWRITES HISTORY AND TELLS HIS FOLLOWERS HE WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG

David Cameron has patted himself on the back for getting it right over Scotland. "It was the right call", he is reported to have said. 

Scottish Conservative Party Meeting

According to the BBC he was addressing a “packed - and jubilant” reception for Scottish Conservatives at the party's annual conference in Birmingham. (That must make a nice change from the usual half empty hall.)

(Warning: You may need to avail yourself of a sick bag for this next bit.)

Cameron talked about his sleepless night as the results came in on 19th September.

"I tried to go to sleep. It wouldn't work. I was sat (sic) at 3 am in the morning (sic) in the press office at Number 10 Downing Street.

"At about four o'clock my children came down. Nancy and Elwyn.  Elwyn was wearing some tartan pyjamas. (The child is 8 for heaven's sake. It is stretching the bounds of reasonable possibility that even a privileged rich boy sent out for tartan pyjamas and chose to wear them that night. Oh, and David, we don't actually do much tartan here. That's for the tourists and day trippers.) 

Och aye, the noo, we a' wear the tartan and talk like teuchters
and we only eat porridge and oatcakes.

"They knew how worried their Dad was - and they cared deeply about it too. And they watched result-after-result come in and I must say I now know the definition of relief.” (I'm finding it hard to believe that an 8 year old and a 10 year old really cared enough about Scottish independence to get up in the middle of the night attired like something from Brigadoon and make their way from the flat into the offices at No 10 Downing Street. Does no-one look after these children?)

Head teuchter fae
Rothsay

"Going to bed as prime minister of the United Kingdom and waking up as prime minister of the United Kingdom." (Don't get too used to it. Boris is creeping up on you, and he may be a buffoon, but... he's twice the bloke you are. As a thought, at this point, I know the Queen is on holiday in Balmoral, and of course that is in Scotland, and therefore barely connected to the rest of the world, but would it really be necessary for the Prime Minister to deliver the message that the UK was safe, personally. I mean, we do have the interweb up here...and she does have an enormous staff.  Added to which she's getting on for 90. You woke her up in the middle of the might to tell her? Prrrrrrrrrr...scratch!)

He said he had been inundated with messages from around the world from "friends" of the UK "delighted that we have decided to stay together but also impressed that this country would do it in such a clear, fair, open and democratic way". (I'll give you that one. Although most of the countries that congratulated you, probably made the break for your empire themselves, so that's a bit odd.)

"In politics they say you should never gloat and that is normally right, but there is one small one. (You've pretty little to gloat about Mr Cameron, so enjoy it while you can. But do remember that it's likely to come back and bit you on the butt.)

"We had a very clear strategy, a very clear plan, When Alex Salmond was elected into Holyrood with a very clear SNP majority, we could have ducked the fight we could have tried to put off what he wanted to do have let him have illegal referendum after illegal referendum." (That would have ignored a rather large elephant in the room. Sorry Alex, that came out all wrong. I didn't mean you!)

Boss teuchtar

He went on: "We could have let him, rather cowardly I think it would have been, break up the union by stealth. (Well, you could have, but rather like Spain, you would have looked like an autocracy, trying to hang on to the cash cow and refusing to listen to the will of the indigenous people, and almost certainly you would have lost, as Spain will.)

"That was not the choice we made. We said 'one question, one referendum'. Fair, legal and decisive. (But then you had to promise what you had sworn you wouldn't promise. You won, but you had to go back on everything you stood for in order to do it.)

"And let's not forget - in the dying weeks of the campaign - there were one or two people who were beginning to wonder whether that was wise. Let's just say now, loudly and proudly - it was the right call!" (Well Dave, you were one of them, according to your conversation with the ex Mayor of New York. You remember the one you had to apologize to the Queen about? The one where you also said you would sue the polling companies for giving you ulcers, because we were winning until your volte face?) 

Mad teuchter.

He stressed that the "vows that we made about further Scottish devolution.

They will go ahead." (Well, we await them with interest. Just remember that you were working hand in glove with Gordon Brown over this and he promise Federalism on your behalf. We await it with eager anticipation.)

The prime minister also said the Conservatives have a "huge political opportunity" in Scotland to win more seats at next year's general election. (Yes, that may be true. But this is mainly due to the fact that being in coalition with you has caused the Liberals in Scotland to implode. Estimates are that of the 11 seats they currently hold they will lose 9, 3 of which are likely to go to the Tories because they are in "Liberal" rather than "Democrat" country. You might have gone on to say that Labour's association with your party will likely cost IT dearly with the bulk of the seats looking like going to the SNP, on current reading. Munguin's Republic will be carrying shortly a guest post by Dean on this subject.)

He said: "We have got some targets in our sights." (Well yes, we all do, but so often these things don;t come to pass... for all of us.)

He also praised Ruth Davidson for her part in the campaign. (Well, I suppose someone had to.)

THIS IS A LITTLE ODD...

Somewhat disconcerted by the massive increase in the number of SNP, Green and SSP memberships, it seems that Labour may be trying a wee fight back. According to this fellow he voted YES, but he won't be joining the SNP. Fair enough I'm sure well over a million people feel just like that.

But wait...I can't be sure, but it looks to me like Mr Davy was actually voting no, and was, indeed, an agent for the No campaign, and there is his authorisation to enter polling stations and a NO rosette.

I could be wrong of course. Maybe there is more than one Braden Davy in Aberdeen who is politically motivated. And maybe they all have the same picture on their twitter accounts. 

Or maybe this is just a big set up to fool us all.

Never let it be said I don't consider all the possibilities.

I just wonder why Labour won't tell us how many members they have now.

SO THERE WAS A SMALL GET TOGETHER IN EDINBURGH ...

...And in Glasgow they collected food for the Foodbanks, because Scotland has now been put on the back burner while the Tories lose people to UKIP and send people to war yet again, in the mess that they left Iraq. This is clearly much more important to them that Scotland is. 

Niko will say... you lost, give it up. 55% of Scotland wants to be British. 

I say, OK, we will do that, when the Public School Boys start to comply with what they promised in the last days of the campaign when they were sure they were going to lose... and what swung it for all the people who really wanted devo max anyway.

OK, that's not me (I don't want to be at war right now), but I accept that it's what overall Scots wanted. 

They did right at the beginning before Cameron ruled it out. (He has form on this... you can have a referendum on voting systems but you can't have the one you all want on the ballot paper; you can have a referendum on Scotland's future but you can;t have the option most of you want.) 

And they did when the party leaders promised something like it ... no sorry "vowed" it... and when Gordon touched down briefly in Scotland, between 5 star hotels, and promised that he would guarantee devo max... as near federalism as you can get in a state where one country comprises 85% of the population. 

As soon as Gordon starts guaranteeing this, and the government starts delivering it, we'll stop hounding them to do it. Simple.

And no. It won't do to say that we will have to wait because the country is at war. It seems to me that most ministers are not involved in this war (more's the pity). They can get their pretty little heads around the problem.

The next deadline approaches, Cameron. You missed the first one. Don't do it again. 

Just in case you forget us...

Lots and lots of us...

All over the place...

Yes, we know no one in Westminster gives a flying one
that people are starving. They'd much rather be off killing
Johnny Foreigner, while supplying arms to the enemy's
backers. But in Scotland we do actually care.
Let's support people who are being starved
to death by Westminster's policies.
Oh and Edinburgh does food banks too...

*****************************

I thought it was worth reproducing this piece from the Guardian (without permission of its author, Kevin McKenna, but with a suitable link). 

The Guardian used to  be a Labour paper. Lord knows what the Torygraph is saying about Labour now.

Jim Murphy’s “scary monsters” tour of 100 towns during the independence referendum campaign encapsulated many of the reasons why the Labour party is all but finished in Scotland. Murphy, a man who has pocketed a small fortune in legitimately claimed expenses from Westminster in his 15 years there, would have had us all believe that his Herculean task of completing the tour in 100 days was all about saving the union. And indeed his narrative, like that of Alistair Darling, was all about how small, vulnerable and cowering Scotland is and why a curfew must eternally be imposed upon it.

But let’s be honest with each other here. This wasn’t really about his new-found enthusiasm for the union. It was, instead, a three-month job interview for the post of leader of the Labour party in Scotland. As Murphy began to embark on his bizarre urban peregrination around the country it began to dawn on several young Labour MSPs why, in the previous several weeks, they had been solicited to have cosy lunches with some of Murphy’s acolytes in a few of Glasgow’s more chichi restaurants.

The most troubling question that may be asked about Murphy’s tour is this one: you’ve been a Labour MP for 15 years, Jim, so why didn’t you ever get up off your arse during that time to conduct a tour of 100 towns to highlight urban deprivation and social inequality? You waited far too long to show you cared about anything beyond your career and, when you finally did, you chose the wrong subject to get all passionate about: the British state.

The same can be said about Labour in Scotland and could probably pass as its epitaph. Because, if something very drastic and very radical doesn’t happen to the party in this country soon, then it is effectively finished as a serious political entity and will become a party of the undead. It will be condemned to spend the next two generations in the same twilight zone as that occupied by the old British Liberal party throughout the 20th century.

Those Scottish nationalists experiencing problems in accepting the independence defeat are gleefully portrayed as stumbling through the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief model. Some grief. Seven years ago, their party remained in opposition in its own devolved parliament. Since then, it has become the natural party of government in Scotland, having achieved an overall majority of seats and having come closer to bringing the British establishment to its knees than Hitler, Napoleon or Christine Keeler. Its membership currently sits at around 70,000, almost three times what it was on 18 September. If Carlsberg made political defeats…

It is Scottish Labour’s party chiefs and its senior strategists who need to acknowledge, and quickly, what has just happened to them and to face reality. In four of their five most impenetrable redoubts, their core voters rejected the most intense barrage of anti-independence propaganda that any had ever encountered. They lost Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, for heaven’s sake. For two years, every Scottish MSP and all the Westminster ones that matter hectored Labour’s most loyal voters with wave upon wave of attacks on Scottish independence: only Labour at Westminster can deliver true social justice; there are too few of you adequately to foot the annual care bill; your pensions are at risk. Yet still, almost 40% of their supporters rejected these lines.

Gordon Brown was wheeled out at the last to entreat the comrades to win one more for the Gipper while displaying a love for the NHS largely invisible during his 13 years at Downing Street. They saw through him, too, and left Labour’s King Lear to reflect that his greatest political achievement was to play a cameo role in keeping David Cameron’s career alive.

Labour’s recently elevated aristocracy, Baron Reid of Cardowan and a retinue headed by their lordships McConnell of Arran and Robertson of Port Ellen also suffered to come down among those folk they once knew and talked too of social justice and building communities. Margaret Curran was the first to wake up to the nightmare when she declared that Labour must reach out to its heartlands. There is no satellite navigation system sophisticated enough to guide them to these long-forgotten places.

Already I hear some of them claiming that the lost 37% will be back in due course to “kick the Tories out”. They are deluding themselves. This time around, disaffected Labour people aren’t simply registering a protest vote. They are actually joining the SNP in droves. Many of the 37% of their voters who voted yes were initially disowned by their own party, or their existence actually denied. Then they were hounded out of their constituencies and demonised as nationalist stooges. They will not forgive such treatment easily.

Many others were sickened at watching their party acting as swordbearers for the baleful forces of the Conservative party, big oil, big business and the landed and undeserving rich during the referendum campaign. The sight of Labour people singing and dancing with Conservatives at having preserved the established order of things will not be erased soon.

Ed Miliband will require all of his 41 Scottish Labour MPs to be returned if he is to have any hope of winning an overall majority at Westminster next year. Yet how many of them would survive a backlash from among the 1.6 million who voted yes and who have effectively renounced the Labour faith?

In recent days, I’ve been rebuked by some chums in the Labour party for deploying the term “careerist” to describe them. Leaving aside Murphy and his 100-day job application and Baron Reid and Baron Foulkes of, ahem, Cumnock and their exalted Labour lordships McConnell and Robertson, I’m willing to concede that “careerist” doesn’t apply to all Labour stalwarts.

So here’s a challenge to the good and able Scottish Labour MPs at Westminster such as Gregg McClymont, Tom Greatrex, Ian Murray and Anas Sarwar. The party in Scotland, gentlemen, is on a life-support machine. How many of you care enough about it to give up your Westminster careers and come to its aid at Holyrood?

MOTOR MOUTH CAMERON BLURTS OUT QUEEN'S VIEW ON REFERENDUM

He's not really prime ministerial material.

STV reports that David Cameron has been overheard talking about the queen’s reaction to the news that Scotland had voted No in the independence referendum. 

Bloody SPIV Cameron, he's really not our sort of person.

Cameron was talking to former mayor Michael Bloomberg whilst in New York for a UN meeting, and microphones picked up him saying that the queen "'purred down the line" when he relayed the news.

His exact words were… "The definition of relief is being the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and ringing the Queen and saying 'It's alright, it's okay'.  She purred down the line."

So now we know that the Queen was on Better Together’s side.

We already know that during the campaign she authorised her grandson to announce his wife was pregnant, although it could easily have been kept quiet for a few more days, and we also know that so-called newspapers interpreted something she said to people at Crathie Church as indicating that she was on the No side.  But now we know straight from the mouth of her English prime minister that she was against the Yes campaign or 45% of the Scottish voters.

It is particularly  unfortunate that Cameron should decide to share private and confidential discussions between him and the queen with Mr Bloomberg, especially in a public place where microphones were in evidence. Cameron's government have been instrumental in removing senior members of the royal family from Freedom of Information legislation, in order to keep their interfering with the process of government secret from prying Guardian reporters. It seems a little unfair that facts kept from the British taxpayer who fund the queen's family's luxurious lives, should be randomly shared with foreigners who happen to share Mr Cameron's right wing politics.

I’m sure that the queen will be mindful in the future that when she tells him anything, he is likely to brag about it to anyone who will listen.

He went on to complain about the polling companies having given him ulcers with the close polls. He said he wanted to sue them.

So the lesson from this is, if you want a knighthood or a seat in the House of Lords, polling companies’ management, tell Cameron what he wants to hear. And if you’re the queen, don’t tell the loud mouth anything. He is, as my granny would say, a gossiping old fishwife.

So that didn't take long

That's the trouble with trying to be the same party
in two really different countries.

Practising for a coalition with UKIP?

Who indeed...? Anyway, don't you worry your, erm, pretty
little head about it. There's cereal plates that need washing.

Bless him, David Torrance get's Salmonded!

++++++++++++++++++++