A new independence referendum has always been "undeniable". The deal between the SNP/Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party alters nothing. How could mere party maneuverings have an effect on one of the most basic principles of democracy - the right of peoples and nations to choose the form of government that best serves their … Continue reading By their desires and their works you shall know them
Transcript of speech at Union No More demonstration outside Scottish Parliament 31 August 2021. This demonstration is in many ways a first. It is – or it is intended to be – the first such gathering which is entirely focused on the constitutional issue. It is meant to be free of policy agendas, ideologies, partisan … Continue reading Union no more!
Few in the Yes movement can doubt that a game-changer is required. The fight to restore Scotland's independence has made absolutely no progress in the seven years since the first referendum. The SNP/Scottish Government remains committed to an approach to the constitutional issue which cannot possibly succeed given that it is crucially dependent on the … Continue reading Changing the game
Let me make one thing clear from the outset. I fully recognise the crucial nature of the climate crisis. I was persuaded by James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis long before climate change became the stuff of mainstream media interest and global political significance. Nor am I one to minimise the not unrelated issue of zoonotic pathogens … Continue reading There’s aye somethin’!
My hope is that Now Scotland will use the opportunity of its 6 March assembly to debate and vote on resolutions relating to the constitutional issue. I think it would do Scotland a great service if it were organised as a kind of mock party conference. I would like to see it staging the debates that should be taking place at the SNP's conference.
This is Scotland's affair. Nobody else's. Obviously there will have to be some kind of negotiation with the British state. But not before Scotland is in the position of negotiating as a nation with equal standing. Until then there is no legitimate role for the British state or any of its agencies. There is no legitimate role for the British state or any of its agencies in the exercise by the people of Scotland of our right of self-determination.
Peter A Bell 