No great political sophistication is required to intuit that when a politician says we should be looking at this thing it's because they don't want us looking at that thing. Everybody knows that when a politician insists on answering what they refer to as the 'real' question rather than the question they've been asked it's … Continue reading Don’t read this! Read that!
Nicola Sturgeon does good speeches. She is renowned for her communication skills. Skills which have stood her - and the nation - in good stead during a public health crisis which demanded the best of Scotland's First Minister. Her opponents-for-the-sake-of-it scoff and sneer and dismiss her role as mere presentation. Such people are stupid, of … Continue reading Leader wanted
As she set out her Programme for Government Nicola Sturgeon was at great pains to ensure that her get-out clause on the constitutional issue was not just placed on the public record but hammered into it. By my count the official transcript of her statement refers to 'Covid/pandemic' around twenty times while 'independence' and 'referendum' … Continue reading The ‘iferendum’!
The National reports today (Bid for SNP to commit to indyref2 date and define 'end of pandemic' rejected) that party managers have rejected a conference resolution which demanded that a date be set for a new referendum and a "concrete definition of what it means for the Covid-19 pandemic to have passed" be provided. This … Continue reading Two faces
Please join with me in wishing a very happy fourteenth birthday to the Scottish Government! It was on 3 September 2007 that then First Minister Alex Salmond binned the old 'Scottish Executive' title and so in effect created the first Scottish Government of the democratic era. It would be another five years before the legal … Continue reading Happy birthday Scottish Government!
The first six polls following the vote in 2014 averaged 47% for Yes. The most recent half dozen averages 44%. That Yes hit 52% and even 53% at different points in between is irrelevant. The fact that my bank balance was once in the tens of thousands of pounds in no way alters the fact … Continue reading A gathering point
My bio says 'No attitude immutable. No conclusion final. No opinion humble.'. Responses to this statement split very sharply into two categories. People either get it, or they don't. Especially the bit about none of opinions I express being humble. You will never find me starting a sentence with the words "In my humble opinion..." … Continue reading Scotland’s cause needs no justification
I have news for those who continue to insist that the way to "win" what they apparently think of as the "prize" of independence is by using gentle persuasion and more facts and better answers to lure 'soft Nos' towards Yes. The news is that there are no conclusive answers there are no persuasive facts … Continue reading Softly! Softly! Get eaten by the f***ing monkeys!
On witnessing the first ever atomic bomb detonation American theoretical physicist and "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer is reputed to have said, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds!". He was quoting the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad-Gita and more particularly referencing the Hindu god Lord Shiva, who represents the concept of constant change, … Continue reading The possibility of life
When Mike Russell made that dismissive remark about shouting from the outside as a way of effecting change I almost felt as if he was talking to me. When I quit the SNP a couple of months ago it was for a range of reasons - not all of which were entirely unemotional and some … Continue reading The shout!
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Freeing Scotland from the Union
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Thinker. Listener. Talker. Reader. Writer.
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A blog by Iain Lawson
