Action is needed now. Only the SNP/Scottish Government acting through the Scottish Parliament can give political effect to the independence movement. It logically follows, therefore, that all our energies should be focused on persuading/forcing the SNP/Scottish Government to act.
If Neale Hanvey thinks that demanding a Section 30 order is a way to "assert Scotland’s right to determine its own future" then I can only say that he urgently needs to revise his thinking. He needs to have a serious talk with somebody about sovereignty and what it means. How the hell is asking … Continue reading That ‘special’ sovereignty
Alba Party has launched it's latest billboard campaign with great fanfare. Well, as great as can be managed by a party which approaching two years since its launch, remains very much the minnow in the pond of Scottish politics. The billboard is bold (see above). As is the message ─ Enough is enough! It's time … Continue reading Bold on the outside
Regular readers will be well aware that I am no supporter of the Alba Party. I regard it as a powerless and therefore pointless distraction from the focus that Scotland's cause requires. Alex Salmond's new party needlessly dilutes the effort to pressure the SNP+SGP/Scottish Government into taking the action required if Scotland's independence is to … Continue reading Clinging to reality
Did Neale Hanvey actually say "Ukrainian independence needed to be balanced against Russia’s security concerns"? Reuben Duffy claims that he did. His entire critique of Alba Party's stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine is based on these words. Yet he neglects to provide a source. And I can find nothing in any published statement … Continue reading Exploring the flaws in Reuben Duffy and The National’s stance on Alba
It irks to see people falling for the blandishments of manipulators. It's like that bit in a nightmare where you see someone you care about walking into danger and you want to scream a warning but you can't; or your warnings can't be heard. I see the Pavlovian response to some glittering generality and I get annoyed. Perhaps unreasonably so. Maybe even irrationally so. An age thing?
Oversight of broadcasting is a signifier of the nationhood that the British are determined to deny to Scotland.
Scotland and England-as-Britain have diverged in ways and to an extent evident from everything except the way we are governed. Two separate nations with increasingly distinctive and incompatible political cultures, but with one forced to accept the political choices of the other.
There are things which are clearly anti-Semitic. And there are things which are only anti-Semitic because somebody has defined them as such. None of us can possibly be cognisant of all the things that everybody else deems offensive. We cannot hold that database in our heads. We certainly cannot update it minute by minute as ever more individuals and groups deputise themselves in the morality police.
But what if, having interrogated your conscience, you still believe Neale Hanvey is the best person to represent you and your community in the British parliament? What if you have serious doubts about his guilt? What if you have reason to suspect he has been maliciously targeted by some "darker group"? What if you believe in due process and the presumption of innocence? What if you have a well developed sense of fairness?
Peter A Bell 