That Nicola Sturgeon has totally failed to advance Scotland's cause since becoming leader of the SNP, First Minister and de facto head of the independence campaign is a matter of irrefutable fact. Even the illustrious Sir John Curtice has seen fit to comment on this failure. The fight to restore Scotland's independence flatlined the day … Continue reading Failure explained
Over the past few days, I have been the target of a stream of abuse on Twitter. Some of this abuse is of the 'passive-aggressive' variety. Much of it is just aggressive. Some I can't comment on as it's from people who have blocked me. People such as Gareth Wardell (@Grouse_Beater), who blocked me some … Continue reading Knowing how?
Why Scotland's next White Paper must do more to involve other parties And there we have the problem. It is simply assumed that because there was a White Paper for the 2014 referendum we must have one for the next referendum. No stopping to consider whether this is appropriate or advisable in the light of … Continue reading Unforgiveable folly!
It is nearly a week since I wrote anything. As other bloggers will testify, a blog is a ravenous beast. It must be fed regularly or it shrivels and dies. It's all about content. Which is why I haven't written anything. I've had nothing to say that I haven't said many times already. Such repetition … Continue reading To repeat…
Andrew Tickell's column in this week's Sunday National is largely given over to the gut-wrenching testimony of those affected by the Post Office 'Horizon' scandal. Hundreds of lives wrecked in the name of corporate greed and arrogance. Thousands if we count the families of those falsely accused of dishonesty because the Post Office management was … Continue reading The stuff of nightmares
We now focus our full energies on developing the independence case in anticipation of the referendum vowed next year.Alex Salmond This is precisely what the SNP is doing. And what the Scottish Green Party is doing. And what the Independence for Scotland party is doing. And what countless other pro-independence parties and organisations and groups … Continue reading WE WILL LOSE!
Co-organiser of Aberdeen Independence Movement (AIM) Progress to Yes conference Alan Petrie said: "It's going to be very independence-focused looking at things like policy and how we win, and not so much about process." How can we win with this kind of stupidity? First he says the event is going to be "very independence-focused". My … Continue reading The question of the question
Big changes are only hope of survival for Alex Salmond's Alba party George Kerevan It was ever thus, George. It was ever thus. Alba Party was doomed from the outset. It was never going to amount to so much as the merest shadow of what the party's members had convinced themselves it could be. But … Continue reading Advantage and how to waste it
What strikes me most about the comments from Linda Fabiani and Alex Neil is the extent to which their thinking about the constitutional issue appears unchanged by the passage of a decade in which everything else has changed dramatically. Their obsession with setting a date and publishing a 'prospectus' directly echoes the obsessions of the … Continue reading A poverty of imagination
I like to think of myself as one of the 'Yes bloggers' hated with such spittle-flecked fervour by the likes of Pete Wishart. I reckon I can fairly claim to be a dissenting voice within Scotland's independence movement. I would never presume to be representative of all dissent within the Yes movement. I speak only … Continue reading Dissenting voices and cloth ears
Peter A Bell 