Jamie Hepburn has little need to state that he is “not going anywhere”. Given that he has been put in charge of implementing a plan that does not exist, we would hardly expect him to be doing anything. As if to confirm this, he has done nothing in the first six weeks of his tenure. The fight to restore Scotland’s independence which is nominally the SNP’s first priority, has gone nowhere in nearly nine years. Unless going backwards counts.
The hard truth is that in all relevant senses we are now further from independence than we were a decade ago. A fact that the SNP leadership fails or refuses to recognise. A fact about which the remaining membership is in total denial. A fact which The National declines to report, preferring to cover up the SNP’s failure with nonsensical reports of soaring support for independence. Reports which are roundly mocked by basic arithmetic.
Hepburn, along with Yousaf and the rest, behave as if they are oblivious to the chaos within the party and the turmoil across the Yes movement. They appear untouched by the reality of Scotland’s predicament, cocooned as they are in the comfortable bubble of Scotland’s poetical elite.
Jamie Hepburn seems like a decent sort. No doubt he is delighted with his promotion – even if being in charge of the party’s supposed number one priority doesn’t, in Humza Yousaf’s estimation, warrant a cabinet place. I doubt if he has paused to wonder what happened to those who previously held his brief, even if not his title. I seem to recall both Mike Russell and Keith Brown being celebrated as the persons who would do something about the constitutional issue. Although it was never clear what. Because there was no plan then either.
Some will argue that it is ‘early days’. Six weeks is nothing, they’ll say. But it is 42 more days of Scotland being ground under the British state’s heel. Every single day that Scotland remains shackled by the Union is a day the SNP has failed. There have been many days of failure. Far too many.
The argument that Jamie Hepburn needs more time might be more persuasive if he was starting from scratch. But if he is starting from scratch then we have to ask WTF the SNP has been doing for the sixteen years they’ve been the party of government. Planning and preparation for the next attempt to free Scotland from the Union should have started on Friday 19 September 2014. Jamie Hepburn – and his predecessors, should be taking the reins of an established operation honed to near-perfection over many years. Instead, it’s as if the constitutional issue has only just popped up on the FM’s radar so he’s appointed someone to whom he owed a favour to take a wee look at it.
At least Jamie Hepburn had sense enough to avoid saying “I’m going nowhere”. A phrase which can be synonymous with what he did say, but which might also be taken as a stating the prospects for Scotland’s cause.
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Peter A Bell 
He’s busy doing nothing, working the whole day through, trying to find lots of things not to do. He’s like to be independent but but he but he’s really short of time , he’s busy doing nothing , that’s the way he makes a dime.
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The position was obviously not pitched to Jamie Hepburn on the basis of job satisfaction.
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The SNP doing nothing, and the likes of Stephen Flynn wittering on about forcing Labour to reverse Brexit in a hung parliament that ain’t gonna happen and wouldn’t matter if it did, reminds me of books like The Call of the Wild where the intrepid explorer stands on the back of the sled and shouts out to the dogs lined up in front: “Mush, mush”, and the dogs shout back:
“We’re sick of mush give us some real food you lying faker”.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
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‘Jamie Hepburn seems like a decent sort’. Completely off topic (but) Calton Jock in his blog of 5th May 2023 might just possibly suggest otherwise in that context!
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It does appear that many senior elected politicians within SNP are in total self denial about what is going on, and the anger they have caused amongst Independence supporters, and that, by the way, is increasingly including many who either vote SNP or still members.
However, it doesn’t help one wee bit, when we read the delusional garbage from certain bloggs, and one in particular. As well as stuff we get in The National.
Also, it has been commented upon that the desire to have juryless trials in Scotland, and reduce the number of jurors from Scotland’s 15, to 12, is doing much needless damage to SNP, and by extension, not helping the wider YES movement.
The fact SNP is still insists it will go ahead with its dummy run plans, regardless, is a bit like how they do things where the Leaders simply do as they please.
None of this is doing anything to help, and of course SNP isn’t too concerned about helping us to get Independence,, so they appear not to care.
We can only hope there is a sudden seachange within SNP membership and they do something fast to change it
The alternative will be dismal both for SNP and Scotland, and if things go backward even more than they have, the backlash against SNP may well be furious!
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On the basis that the SNP MPs have achieved next to nothing at Westminster, there’s little point in voting for them to go back and do the same nothing for another 5 years. That’s 2024 taken care of, Holyrood is different, a decision for another day – for voters.
So unless there’s some total change of strategy and purpose from the SNP, I will either not bother voting at all in 2024, or write diagonally across my Westminster ballot sheet: “Independence”.
I’ve had enough flannel.
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Disappointingly, Hepburn has done nothing except get his wife a well paid job in the party. Surely during the leadership campaign, someone in the team must have mentioned Indy and having a plan and an announcement ready to kickstart the Indy campaign from day one. The First Activist seems to have mixed up his role.
Having meetings with Believe in Scotland only doesn’t show the wider YES movement that you, the SNP, will cooperate with YES.
We have policy on the hoof, that nobody voted for, being rammed down our throats. Not sure if it was a diversionary tactic. Jury less trials, court challenge for GRR, reducing size of jury. How are any of these tackling the cost of living crisis? How is any of this taking Independence forward? Independence is resilient and has been continuing. The SNP have to get behind it and start putting country before party.
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Peter … because I am not sure I can add a photo on here, I have posted what follows on your F/Book page where I know the photo will appear, the text on its own is as follows:
‘The Declaration of a Sovereign Scot’ initiative … An update. I am currently preparing the first of what will be a series of letters. To whom?
It will be a series of letters to individual UN Members – particularly those who a) have gained their independence from the UK, and/or b) have instigated and/or supported Resolutions related to self-determination.
When since April 2021, signed Declarations have been lodged with the Secretary General of the United Nations, they have been accompanied by a letter, with each letter listing UN Resolutions that relate to self-determination.
When I write to the UN Member countries they will be given copies of all the earlier letters issued to the Secretary General, so that they are also given that same list of UN Resolutions about the right to self-determination.
Bear in mind, very clearly, that these are the very Resolutions that as UN Member States they themselves have adopted and passed as binding.
They will also be given a copy of the photo below. I have left some content visible, but not it all. Why? Verification!
In writing I will be advising the individual UN Members that the Secretary General of the United Nations has all the originals of signed Declarations, and of the letters which accompanied them when sent.
Thus they should, if required, make contact with him to verify:
1) their accuracy,
2) to obtain access to the full version of the Declaration,
3) to ensure themselves that they do indeed contain the individual signatures of Sovereign Scots from the length and breadth of Scotland.
This is the first part of Stage 2 in this initiative, I will update it as it develops.
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As I’ve intimated before, Mike, I’m glad this is being done. But it is a long-term project. Scotland’s cause doesn’t have a long term. I am firmly persuaded that the next UK general election is the crunch point. We are already at least five years late. We sure as hell don’t have another five years.
The Westminster election, probably late next year, will return the most rabidly British Nationalist UK government ever. It will have a mandate – from the people of England – to put a choke-chain on those uppity Jocks. And that is precisely what the will do. Whatever obstacles are said to lie in the path of Scotland’s cause now, it will be worse by orders of magnitude by 2025.
Who would stop them?
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Walls have ears they say, so too and even bigger ears attach to social media. So as cryptic as I can be, ok.
One day, Peter, we will meet, and you will ask me “Did you have this in mind all along?”
On that day, I will smile, and say “Yes!”
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I look forward to that day. It better be in the next three or four months. That’s how urgent the situation is.
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