Let’s start by clarifying a couple of points. The office of First Minister is not the incumbent. Whoever bears the title of First Minister of Scotland does so only with the consent and approval of the people of Scotland and the Scottish Parliament. The office of First Minister belongs to the people of Scotland. The … Continue reading The Saltire strikes back!
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!
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
Other than her commitment to the Section 30 process nothing, I would contend, better evidences the woeful lack of strategic thinking within the SNP than the statement issued by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 March 2020 in which she effectively sent a cease and desist letter to the entire Yes movement. Aye! Not just members of … Continue reading The bosses know best?
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
The term "power grab", as favoured by the SNP/Scottish Government, is something of a misnomer. It suggests a sudden snatching or rapid seizing of power. In fact, what we are witnessing is more pauchle than putsch. More an insidious, creeping erosion of our Parliament's capacities than an outright coup. Dictionaries of the Scots Language defines … Continue reading The Great Pauchlin’
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!
The closing paragraphs of James Kelly's analysis of the latest full-scale Scottish poll from Redfield & Wilton Strategies fully explain why we need to be at Holyrood when the Scottish Parliament resumes on the afternoon of Tuesday 31 August to tell the Scottish government that "now is the time". They show no sign of deciding … Continue reading Now is the time!
On the afternoon of Tuesday 31 August 2021 I shall be standing outside the Scottish Parliament to greet MSPs returning after summer recess with a demand that they immediately initiate the process by which Scotland's independence shall be restored. It is, I freely admit, an act of desperation. Daily I read of the various ways … Continue reading A calculated act of desperation
Thinker. Listener. Talker. Reader. Writer.
Freeing Scotland from the Union
News, opinion and analysis on the things that matter to you.
Law, Culture and Politics
sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul
Scottish and Uk Politics
bringing you the community news in Orkney
Thinker. Listener. Talker. Reader. Writer.
News share
A blog by Iain Lawson
