Am I alone in thinking this was an ideal opportunity for Alex Salmond to set out Alba Party’s proposals for restoring Scotland’s independence so as to contrast them with John Swinney’s vacillating ambivalence on the matter?
Am I the only one wondering why he didn’t? Is nobody else curious as to why an admittedly astute politician like Salmond would pass up the open goal Swinney offered?
Are others perhaps thinking as I am, that the contrast between Alba and the SNP on the constitutional issue may not be quite as sharp as the former would have us believe?
It is easy to find fault with the SNP. It is even easier to criticise John Swinney’s shifty shifting as he tries to deprioritise the constitutional issue while continuing to use independence as an electioneering device. If your party is selling itself to voters as an alternative to the SNP then the criticism and fault-finding should be accompanied by a concise explanation of how you differ. This half of the argument is missing from Salmond’s response.
Salmond and his colleagues in Alba Party, not to mention their social media fan club, have been getting away with this half-baked rhetoric almost since the party ran naked and unarmed onto the electoral battlefield at the 2021 Holyrood election. In those early days, allowances could be made. Alba’s supporters could credibly claim that their party was in its infancy and needed time to find its ducks far less train them to stand in a row. Which begged obvious questions about why they were contesting an election at all when they were so ill-prepared.
But that was then. This is now. Alba ain’t a baby no more. They have had time and practical experience. Their ducks should be performing like a Busby Berkeley chorus line by now. A more apt analogy would be the Keystone Cops.
We all knew this election was coming. We’ve known for a long time. Certainly enough time for the parties to prepare. Yet here we are! The SNP’s position on the constitutional issue is ‘fluid’ enough that pretty much anybody – friend or foe – can interpret it according to their prejudice and agenda. Alba’s supposed alternative still exists only as a bag of glittering generalities, slick slogans and rickety gimmicks.
Am I the only one wondering WTF they’ve all been doing for the last couple of years?
Peter A Bell 
The John Swinney interview is available to view on BBC iPlayer here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0020jn4/election-2024-the-panorama-interviews-with-nick-robinson-john-swinney-snp
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Blocking, Bickering and Blowing it Big Time.
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You are not alone!!!!!!
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With regards Swinney/SNP he’s back at the “vote for SNP for a humiliating begging request to Westminster that comprises Scottish sovereignty”.
So far so spineless Swinney. He doesn’t disappoint. He meets expectation. Which is to say, he has betrayed the Scottish people (once more).
What is disappointing is that the Alba Party are silent on their proposals.
Where are the plans resulting from Ash Regan’s “Proposed Scottish Parliament Powers Referendum Act” consultation into which many of us provided copious feedback (pointing out its flaws, pitfalls and shortcomings)?
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Not “back” at the Section 30 crap. The leadership’s resolution adopted by conference was always just a thinly-disguised restatement of the Sturgeon doctrine – as I recall pointing out at the time, much to the irritation of party loyalists who insisted “give democratic effect” didn’t mean what I said it meant while never explaining what it did mean. Alba’s ‘strategy for independence’ is the same. It too tries to hide a Section 30 request behind a form of words. Which suggests both parties are well aware of the very serious problems with the Section 30 process, but are unable to come up with anything else. Or, more likely, they’ve recognised that #ScottishUDI or similar is the only way, but are too spineless to say so.
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Yes – Spinney just made it more explicit, probably more by accident than design.
Another numb nuts moment for him. Or maybe just no nuts.
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No you are not alone..
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I’m an Alba founder member and am looking for a bit of ingenuity and a more radical approach from the party. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
I gave the SNP years. Certainly more years than I should have to get their independence act together but, in the end was filled with disgust at the way they led the independence minded up the garden path on numerous occasions.
I’ve not given up hope in Alba yet as IMO they have the best political mind of this and past generations in Alex Salmond……But…..
They need to come up with something pretty soon or the scales will fall from my eyes again. The S30 approach is a busted flush and only idiots believe in that approach any more
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Certainly not re-assured about ALBA after seeing Andrew Neill interview Alex Salmond
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‘You had your chance!’ | Andrew Neil vs Alex Salmond on Scottish independence” Times Radio channel on youtube.
near the end at 11:42 Alex says:
“I intend to lead Alba into an independence coalition in the next Scottish Parliament in the next Scottish Governent, and from there face down Westminster in the sort of way I did before, with renewed vigour, and learning all the lessons I have learned from the past and applying them for the future.
That is my intent.”
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Still deferring to Westminster. I’d like to know what lessons he thinks he’s learned. There’s nothing evident.
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As I said the other day, Alba is part of the charade. They’re not challenging the devolutionist norm. Like all the other parties they’re allowing the SNP to pretend their a party of independence whilst cementing devolution in place.
For Alba to challenge Alex Salmond needs to explicitly state that the SNP is a party of devolution NOT nationalism.
Alex Salmond and Alba are treading water, waiting for justice to be delivered. If Salmond gets his justice, it’s a potential game-changer. Without justice Scotland’s top politician and his party are going nowhere.
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Why any truly independence driven party would want to stand candidates in these English elections is beyond me, of course some indy parties aren’t want they first appear to be.
I don’t think Alba has any new ideas on how to exit this illegal union, and that’s definite worry.
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Not long now until the next enactment of the ritual of Telling The Jocks To Fuck-Off .
Wonder what colour of ink they’ll use for The Letter this time . Maybe in their now established flair for innovation and thinking , well ….not quite ” out the box ” but in the recondite corners of that abstract cube , they’ll opt for invisible ink . Those big bad wolves down there in Angloshire won’t see that one coming .
Then again maybe , in a radical break with tradition , Swinney’s Toddlers will eschew the Sending of the Letter and opt instead to save the cost of bus fare to London by trying to communicate with Union HQ by ESP .
Johnnyboy does seem like a ” man who stares at goats ” ; not with any intention to – what’s that phrase again ? ….aye , ” bend them to his will ” , but just because he likes goats . It’s said that – despite Johnny’s childlike appreciation of them – the goats do indeed collapse , it’s reckoned because of JS’s formidable power to bore-at-a-distance ; his stare contains potent soporifics ; so we’re told anyway .
I dunno , with this troupe of merry funsters , I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent a goat to WM with The Letter round it’s neck , tied-up in pretty , rainbow-coloured string
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