Given that Westminster is not in Scotland’s bests interests and that devolution, as it is, is not fit for purpose – things even Murdo Fraser has conceded, Nicola Sturgeon has proposed an open process of dialogue with the British unionist parties seeking to gain something short of independence but better than what we have. In a world running short on statesmen, this was a splendid – even Bismarckian – act of statesmanship, and kudos to her for it. Some may see this as a sell-out, but I will argue the case that it is not. This is a smart move.
Clair Ridge: Thieves and Gaslighters
To put this is Texas terms: We’ve struck oil. We are rich. We are richer than our wildest dreams! But, wait, we’re not. We are not an independent country. We voted No to independence in 2014, believing we were broke, and that the oil was running it. We bought the lie that what oil we had left wouldn’t be worth a pittance. The same people who were laughing at us then are laughing at us now; that oil bonanza – which they knew was in the pipeline – will not be coming to us. It will be going right where it has always gone, to London.
The Poison Pen Email to Murdo Fraser
Yesterday morning the Scottish Tory list MSP for mid-Scotland and Fife, Murdo Fraser, shared on Twitter an image of an email he had received the previous evening purporting to be from me. “A measured addition to my inbox this morning,” he wrote,” from Jason Michael McCann aka Jeggit…” He went on to ask: “did he write it, or Uncle Rab?” There is no doubt this nasty and abusive email cased Murdo some distress. It certainly caused me some distress. I neither wrote it nor sent it.
Why the Budget’s Getting on Murdo’s Wick
Murdo Fraser, like the rest of his smug-faced cronies, is interested to know how many people who voted for the SNP last year will be feeling betrayed today. I think I am in a position to answer that question for them: Precious few. People all over Scotland have turned to the SNP precisely because they are tired with the kleptocracy the Scottish Conservatives in our country represent. Independence has turned out not to be about the “flag waving nationalism” they love to cite, but a boiling desire to make our country the nation Scottish people in growing numbers want it to be.
Claims of its Demise have been Greatly Exaggerated
Scotland under the SNP is the only place in Britain where strong and stable have kept their original meaning. So the more that Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale scream about the decline of Scottish nationalism, the more like a comedy routine it becomes.
What Happened at Westminster
Something truly awful happened in London, and we have to bear in mind that all our discussion and arguments are happening in the context of a real human tragedy. We all have a responsibility to be sensitive and compassionate.
Keeping Scottish Politics on Track
Ongoing criticism on the most spurious of pretexts of the Scottish government on the part of the unionist coalition betrays the deepening sense of panic in its ranks. This nonsense must help us mind the gap between the mass support for the SNP and the disproportionate weight of the unionist media in the country.
Just in case you don’t Already think Murdo’s a Spanner
What Murdo is trying desperately hard to ignore is that the SNP do have a plan, the same plan that it has had since its inception in 1934; full independence for Scotland – leaving the London government to sleep in its own bed.
Random Public Journal 