The revelation – or should we better say, confirmation – that the SNP/Scottish Government led by Nicola Sturgeon has failed to do any work on planning or preparation for a new referendum should have brought crowds onto the streets in a spontaneous outburst of angry protest. That the response has been so muted is symptomatic of a serious malaise in our politics. For years the SNP’s loyal supporters have been responding to complaints of inaction on the constitutional issue – the central issue in Scotland’s politics – with assurances that however little was evident on the surface, below and out of sight there was a frenzy of activity as plans were being laid and refined. Those who suggested that the absence of any evidence of such activity implied exactly what it appeared to imply were told not to be so foolish as to expect that Nicola would reveal her secret plan before the time was right.
But the time was never right. Even when developments created the circumstances which we’d been told would make the time right, the time was never right. There was something else that was needed. There was always a plausible justification for delay. Always an excuse for inaction. Not to worry, though! Because this was all part of the plan. Which more and more seemed to be to accept everything the British state threw at us until the people of Scotland decided they’d had enough. While at the same time telling those of us who insisted it was already more than enough that it wasn’t. Not quite. Not yet. The camel’s back could take a few more straws. Especially if it was being encouraged to do so by the same people who when speaking from their other face, loudly protested that the British government had gone too far this time. They went too far every time! But never far enough!
We were assured that we’d never been closer to independence and despite the self-evident inanity of this assertion enough people believed it to be able to shout down anybody who dared to point out the self-evident inanity of claiming we are closer to independence now than on the morning of Thursday 18 September 2014. Those who expressed concern about being treated as the kind of idiots who would be reassured and inspired by such idiocy were told that they were the problem. It was their lack of faith which was holding Nicola back. But it was Nicola”s holding back which was making it increasingly difficult to maintain the reasoned confidence that rational people prefer to unquestioning faith. But that’s the nature of faith. The less reason there is to believe the more opportunity there is to prove one’s faith by believing. And by denouncing non-believers.
When we explained that there could only be a secret plan if there were options unknown to anyone outside Nicola’s inner circle and that this meant a lot of very knowledgeable and perspicacious people would have to have failed to identify these mysterious options and that this really wasn’t credible, we were mocked and abused for thinking we knew better than the First Minister – who must know best because she was elected by the people of Scotland. To suggest that there was no evidence of any secret plan because there was no plan was akin to heresy. Heretics were burned at the virtual stake in the public square of social media.
Now, by the SNP+SGP/Scottish Government’s own admission we discover that the heretics were right all along. You’d think the people who’d fallen for the mythical secret plan line would be very, very angry at having been deceived so egregiously for so long. You’d think they’d be furious. You’d think there would be a cacophony of voices denouncing both the woeful failure to prepare for a new referendum and the litany of lies told to conceal this failure. Instead, we get the likes of the following from what must surely be some of the most determined apologists ever.
i refuse to meekly submit to the drip feed undermining confidence in our elected Scottish government the recent election speaks for its self, Unhelpful attacks aimed at intensifying disagreements between independence voters by outside agents is nothing new and old friends can easily become vicious adversaries with new found allies.
You might have to work at it a bit to make sense of this below-the-line (BTL) comment on The National’s report of Alex Salmond’s reaction to the FoI responses revealing the dearth of preparation for a new referendum, but what this individual says is fairly typical of the response from Sturgeon/SNP loyalists. By their account it is not this lack of planning which is the problem but the revelation/confirmation thereof. The wrong is not Sturgeon’s failure to do the work but the public condemnation of this failure. However bad this failure might be it cannot possibly be as bad as saying that Sturgeon has failed.
It is not Sturgeon who has betrayed Scotland’s cause. According to here hard-working apologists the traitors to the cause are those who express dismay and anger at the betrayal. Anybody who so much as mentions the fact that Sturgeon has forgotten where she parked the constitutional issue seven years ago is immediately and automatically branded an agent provocateur working for our adversaries. Criticism of critical failures is “unhelpful”.
Where are the riots? Why so little anger at a failure which puts Scotland in such dire jeopardy? Why is the anger of the few not felt by the majority of those engaged in the fight to restore Scotland’s independence? How does Sturgeon get away with it?
Lately I have revived a plea I made during the first referendum campaign.
Be aware!
Be angry!
Be active!
Originally, this was meant to urge that people take notice of what the British state was doing and intending for Scotland. It encouraged people to allow themselves to be infuriated by the way the Union effects Scotland. It urged people to use that outrage to drive action aimed at ending the Union.
Now, it is an exhortation to be aware of how the SNP+SGP/Scottish Government is failing Scotland’s cause. To be angry about Sturgeon’s failure to lead and failure to plan. And to use that that anger to energise demands for immediate action to initiate the process of ending the Union and restoring Scotland’s independence. Surely all but Sturgeon’s most adamant apologists must now realise that nothing is going to happen unless the Yes movement makes it happen. Sturgeon’s inadequate captaincy has let the independence ship drift until Scotland is now on the verge of being engulfed by the destructive maelstrom of British Nationalism.
If we don’t stand up for Scotland now we will be on our knees forever! If the Yes movement doesn’t immediately set aside egos and agendas and grievances and resentments and combine for the common purpose of restoring Scotland’s rightful constitutional status then the very possibility of doing so will be placed beyond our reach by those ideologically determined to preserve the Union at any cost to the people of Scotland. We simply cannot have confidence that Nicola Sturgeon and SNP+SGP/Scottish Government will do what is required without being forcefully reminded of its obligation to defend our democracy and our very existence as a nation with a distinct identity.
Be aware!
Be angry!
Be active!
Peter A Bell 
Nobody likes being shown to be a fool, hence all the wiggling to deflect the spotlight. The clever solution is to give the Sturgeon loyalists an out so they can save face and deny oneself the pleasure that rubbing their noses in it would bring.
Unfortunately, like Trump supporters, they have invested so much in their leader that there’s no easy way to avoid a complete meltdown when they finally accept they’ve been had. Yes, I realise I’m not following my own advice. Sorry, couldn’t resist it.
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You’re right though, Stuart. The loyalists really have painted themselves into a corner. I wish there was a way to give them a painless way out. But if such a thing is possible then I am failing to see it.
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The trouble with trying to rouse the Yes Movement is that the bulk will be SNP supporters and members. The latter probably comprise predominately Sturgeon blind and loyal faithful. And the difficulty with that is that they are still remain stuck in the Denial stage.
Unless they race through the other 4 phases of their grief and insist on Scotland’s political representatives in government doing what they have been repeatedly elected to do the country’s doom will follow very quickly hereafter.
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All the union requires to continue is for independence supporters to do nothing.
I see some impressive prep work being put in by enthusiastic volunteers like Common Weal, but strangely, nothing at all from the Scottish Government.
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Unfortunately, Common Weal is preparing for being independent. They’ve little to say about becoming independent. Which is the priority.
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Hi Peter,
We shouldn’t forget that a large majority of Independence supporters are …supporters and not invoved in politics, not interested we can moan and moan nothing will change unless they are forced into it? ( Compulsary affiliation to Unions or obliged by law to vote for example…).
Anger, riots arised when people cannot feed themselves anymore or are physically opressed day by day. When people will be hit at their pockets they will act. Is that something that could happen in a rich country like Scotland? The Origin of pre and post 2014 mobilisation was the Ideal, the Hope, the unequivocal thought that we were right and that we will win … Then we have desilusion. Desilusion lasts unfortunately, it is in your face or latent but it impacts on people. Being revolted, with nothing tangible, nothing that impacts you everyday is something that does not come easy if you are desilusionned, if you had failed already.
If we think we can get people in the streets as in pre 2014 we are making a mistake. A nationlalist party in power wich does not explain via the gvt what is devolved or not is a mistake (few people really know) … Mitigating the impact of non devolved policy is a political mistake for a gvt who seeks Independence. Angryness comes from desperation. The ubuesque situation to have a Nationalist party in power is not helping … May be we should see the face to climb from a different angle….
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I agree that getting people on the streets as before is highly unlikely. I was using the term figuratively. Although we have yet to devise a way of replicating a mass street event online. This is what we should have been doing during lockdown when we had something akin to a captive audience. We should have taken advantage of tens of thousands more person-hours being spent on devices looking for information and entertainment. Instead, Sturgeon ordered a halt to ALL campaigning. Stupid!
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In order for people to show their discontent with our political system we need a decent impartial media. Like you said the SNP are paralysed with fear. As we have seen how the unionists have destroyed Alex Salmond.
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If we’re waiting for “decent impartial media” then we might as well forget the whole thing. If we’re not prepared to give up then we just have to work with what we’ve got. We have to take what’s at our disposal and make it more effective. It can be done. The media may be the masters of manipulation, but they are not immune to manipulation.
The problem, as always, is lack of solidarity, focus and discipline. Ideally, the SNP should have served as the facilitator for development of a media strategy using the means available to us. This has been yet another SNP failure. The party is hostage to its own control-freakery. So obsessive are they about controlling everything they will actually try to strangle at birth any project which looks like being difficult to put a harness on. Otherwise, they simply infiltrate and neutralise anything that they don’t entirely own.
Whatever else lockdown was it was a near-perfect opportunity to develop an online campaigning apparatus. Nicola very quickly stomped on that. Not because it would have been bad for Scotland’s cause. How could it? But because it was all but certain to develop into something very powerful and totally outwith Nicola’s control. Another unforgivably squandered opportunity.
It’s still a good idea. A coordinated effort to counter the British propaganda machine using our own resources is feasible and potentially of massive benefit. I challenge anyone to do it in the present fractious atmosphere.
More and more I feel like rather than being part of the Yes movement, I’m standing off to the side watching it make a total arse of itself.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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Peter: you shouldn’t be surprised. People will never accept that they made a mistake until the 11th hour. Every uprising and revolution in history was preceded by a stasis, the doldrums, even a sense of normality call it what you will. On top of the trauma of Brexit and the pandemic, revelations about the utter mendacity of the SNP – which so many have been pointing out since Nicola Sturgeon came to power – will just add to the overall anaesthetising effect, until, one day, enough of us will waken up. I sense a wee, almost indiscernible whiff of change in The National, though: just a very slight change in tone. They sense a change in the wind.
I fully expect that something will cause the cracks to widen very soon, and it will not be immediately recognisable, but the dam will be breached and, as more and more water pours through the cracks, the dam will weaken and fall. That is always how it happens, Peter. The SNP leadership will overreach itself, if it has not already done so, and the Unionists will be licking their lips in anticipation of a return to their tender care. It will not happen like that. When the tsunami comes, it will wipe out all in front of it. The Scots who want independence are done with waiting and many, many women, half the population, are done with con merchants pretending to be them so they can get their rocks off in our spaces and rights. When the two converge, they will create the perfect storm. It would have happened by now had the pandemic not created the perfect smokescreen for Nicola Sturgeon and Boris Johnson.
No matter how bad it gets now, no matter how many hospitalisations and deaths, the dam is cracked and the water is seeping through. Too many Scots no longer believe you, Nicola, and too many women are not conned by your latest rapey, silencing stunts, chaps. Too many metaphors and similes, I know, but I enjoyed writing and using them as an antidote to the b***s**t we are fed every day by mendacious fraudsters in politics and the ‘bring porn and queer theory into the public square because I want to include you forcibly in my hitherto private sexual fetish’ band of sexual opportunists who have actually conned the political fraudsters along the way and screwed millions in public funds out of them so that the political fraudsters have actually financed a men’s sexual rights lobbing group to provide propaganda on how to con money out of public institutions. It’s called an extortion racket, Nicola, and you’ve been well and truly had, because you, and your coterie – let’s not forget them – abandoned independence, and betrayed your own party members, to pay them to con you.
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Just over three years ago I offered my help, through Mike Russell, to develop elements of what will be needed in the wake of a pro-independence vote. Very nice e-mail saying thanks and someone will be in touch. Nothing. I reminded him of the offer and his promise of contact, and a week or so later a short e-mail saying they’d “lost” my original submission could I send it again. Did that and ever since … silence.
That has been the playbook pattern for a few of my friends and acquaintances, with professional skills, that have offered to assist over and over. The SNP seem to prefer the paid use of unionist leaning “professionals” to provide their policy development.
Complete lost cause and totally disheartening – which is what it is obviously meant to achieve and seems to be succeeding.
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Received an email from SNP “It isn’t independence or recovery it’s independence “for” recovery. My email back was “so what are the leadership going to do to make it happen” I now await the pile on or some other retribution.
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So basically speaking I guess the crunch date is 9th December, as that’s the date of the budget for 2022-23, but also I think and could be wrong, where any underspend is allocated, or any balance of Barnett consequentials, outturns, that sort of stuff.
Follow the money as they say!
https://www.gov.scot/news/date-set-for-2022-23-scottish-budget/
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Eh, oh aye.
And for anyone who wants to exert a very effective potentially amount of pressure on the Scottish Government not to dilly-dally or even shilly-shally, I suggest EVERYBODY confidently tell everybody else, that all expenditure for the referendum and forthcoming detailed prospectus for independence, so to speak, will be in that budget on 9th December.
And let the good times roll.
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A year ago I submitted a proposal on WOS for an online pro forma document that could be downloaded and signed and submitted to Sturgeon stating that the signatory would refuse to vote SNP in the MAY 21 elections unless and until Sturgeon unequivocally and publicly stated that the forthcoming election would be a plebiscite election and she would defer the GRA and HCB till after independence to allow a ref on the issues
One or two people thought it had merit most ignored it , I also posted the idea in comments on other blogs 2 of the bloggers removed the comment others ignored it . FF to May 21 and Sturgeon romps home with her both votes SNP and allows numerous unionist MSP’s in the SP, and basically her election for 5 years allows her untrammeled power to SABOTAGE independence which she already has done for 7 years
I have argued with you numerous times and been called all sorts of names for it BUT I agree with you that the ONLY way to either get Sturgeon to do what is needed or to get her replaced is with power , the power of the collective , yes be angry and be active , but also be unforgiving
I also made a recent proposal to Iain Lawson of Yours For Scotland asking him to form a committee of Indy Bloggers , ones who we know are critical and ANGRY at being taken for a ride , and there are enough of them , THAT small selective committee on behalf of the independence support and their readership who they represent would then DEMAND a meeting with Sturgeon to also DEMAND she gets her finger out her arse and declare that ALL forthcoming elections will be plebiscite elections .
Iain has declared he is going part time with the blog and doesn’t believe it would work anyway as she would just say NO and dismiss the demand , BUT even that has the upside of showing more people her shallowness for indy and her intransigence to move
The ONLY way to FORCE her to pay attention and act is through STRENGTH and the sooner we realise we have that STRENGTH in numbers the sooner we will get action , Sturgeon and her MSM are just ignoring the marches we need another route
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Spot on Peter, and I like the message
Be aware!
Be angry!
Be active!
An appropriate acronym would be
BA BA BA.
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For some time now I have had no faith in NS ever delivering a Referendum. I believe we now have to bin her and go elsewhere. A waste of 7 tears will soon be a waste of 10 years
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How?
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