Notes for speech Check against delivery I'm not quite sure why I'm here. Usually, for events like this, they want speakers who'll tell the crowd what they want to hear. That's certainly not me. I tell it the way I see it - good or bad. Right now, there's more bad than good. They usually … Continue reading AUOB March & Rally Glasgow 26/11/2022
I don't know this David Clark. He may be every bit the foreign affairs expert John Drummond says he is. But I still need to pull him up on a couple of points. The reason federalism is a "non-starter" is even more "simple and straightforward" than Mr Clark suggests. A federal settlement acceptable to the … Continue reading If you want it broken, break it!
You were warned! (UK could bypass Scottish Parliament in devolved areas, MSPs warn) Even before the first referendum it was obvious that the British establishment considered devolution to be an experiment which has not just failed but seriously backfired. There was already considerable opposition to tis experiment when it was first embarked upon in an … Continue reading Sort yourselves out!
I have spent the morning poring over Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott's article titled Scottish Independence And The UK Government’s Unreasonable Refusal To Negotiate published by The Centre on Constitutional Change ─ a body which, I confess, I was previously unaware of. Or had forgotten about, as happens rather a lot these days. My attention was drawn … Continue reading The ghost question
Yesterday I did something quite unusual for me. I re-blogged an article from another site. I very seldom do this because I rarely encounter articles that I consider warrant republishing. When I find what I reckon to be a piece worthy of wider notice, I share it and link to it. This is what I … Continue reading Out of the box
In common with innumerable other commentators, Richard Walker portrays the British government as having no respect for democracy. He is, of course, perfectly justified in doing so. The catalogue of reasons for stating that the British government has no regard for democratic principles and that the latest iteration of British Nationalism is overtly anti-democratic, need … Continue reading Double the thinking! Half the sense!
If indeed Liz Truss "knows indyref2 will happen", as Lesley Riddoch insists, then she knows more than we do. Assuming that by "indyref2" is meant a referendum that serves as a formal exercise of Scotland's right of self-determination, there are neither plans nor proposals for such an event. But it is likely that Lesley was … Continue reading Inadequate!
Alyn Smith MP would have to talk a huge amount of sense about the constitutional issue to get his credibility account back in the black after his oft-repeated inanity about Scotland never having been closer to independence. His column in The National today doesn't even make a dent in his overdraft. Admittedly, he is not … Continue reading All pain and no gain!
I am not picking on Kirsty Strickland. I have selected her column in today's National only because it so neatly exemplifies the fallacy that has gripped a substantial part of the Yes movement. I could have taken the First Minister's appearance on Sophy Ridge on Sunday and her conclusions regarding the latest anti-democratic pronouncements from … Continue reading Fallacy and folly
My first reaction on seeing a headline such as this in today's Sunday National ─ UK Government considering legislation that would require 50 per cent of entire electorate to vote Yes in indyref2 ─ is to wonder why readers might be taken aback by being thus informed of the British state's intentions towards Scotland. It's … Continue reading The long night
Peter A Bell 