As regular readers will know, I am no great fan of Alba Party. But I have to admit that I'm tending towards Kenny MacAskill's perspective on this much trumpeted "wind boom" (Scotland set for 'transformational' wind boom 'like black gold rush'). Not least because it is being so fervently trumpeted. I get a strong sense … Continue reading The windmills of my mind
Setting aside for the moment the improbability of Patrick Harvie giving up the status he has long considered his just desert - a consideration which, to be fair, applies to many other MSPs as well - would the resignation of the SNP+SGP/Scottish Government actually "precipitate an emergency Holyrood election"? Not necessarily. The strategy is not … Continue reading Weighing the options
Long before the coronavirus pandemic I had grown uncomfortable with the traditional handshake greeting. My discomfort only being aggravated by the fact that it was so difficult to avoid. And to forsake. The urge to shake hands on meeting friends and acquaintances or being introduced to new people is almost primal. It is close to … Continue reading Handshake no more
I am pretty sure I've put this question to Robbie Mochrie before. I've certainly asked it of others who talk of selling independence on the basis of some gleaming vision of Scotland's future as an independent nation. When you "explain clearly what will change with independence" what will you say to those who instead of … Continue reading The ‘prospectus’ fallacy
In her column in The National today Joanna Cherry makes an important point. It is a point that I have been trying to drive home for what seems like many decades - but is really just the one. The name of the British Prime Minister is of no consequence and neither is the name of … Continue reading It’s the Union, stupid!
I hear AUOB is calling for a "emergency" march in Glasgow next Saturday. If I were to attend this event how would I signal which of the things listed as the reasons for the march I'm demonstrating about? I don't give a damn about Boris Johnson. Removing him might allow some shallow-minded people to feel … Continue reading I’ll march for Scotland’s cause
I recently intimated my intention to migrate this blog to a WordPress.org site to give more flexibility - and to avoid the WordPress.com subscription fee. Like so many of my projects, this has come to nothing. I set up the new site without difficulty. But it proved impossible to migrate any of the content. With … Continue reading Still here
It's not easy to simultaneously lower expectations while keeping hopes high. I'm not at all sure Nicola Sturgeon has carried it off. There is no doubt that this was what she was attempting in the Scotland Tonight interview reported by The National. She now says she intends "to do everything that’s within my power to … Continue reading Hopes and expectations
That Toni Giugliano is an idiot has already been established. But it seems that his earlier remarks fomenting division in the independence movement by defining exclusive and excluded categories was not as I had supposed an utterance born of careless idiocy, but a statement of quite deliberate idiocy. In this report from The Sunday National, … Continue reading By invitation only
If there is one thing on which you might find general agreement among the sundry factions and cliques which are all that remain of the Yes movement it is that Philippa Whitford MP is wonderful. A few might balk at 'wonderful'. But far fewer would dispute the claim that she is among the brightest stars … Continue reading Plan and purpose
Peter A Bell 