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!
Yesterday, I received a number of messages drawing my attention to Lord Frost's rant in the Telegraph and asking if I would be commenting on it. I was already aware of the article. It was difficult to avoid given the unfavourable attention it was getting from the independence movement. Given that Yes activists make up … Continue reading The ugly face of British Nationalism
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith Sometimes it's the little things that get to you. The memory from yesterday's demonstration at Perth Concert Hall that is most vividly imprinted on my mind is … Continue reading Irreconcilable differences
The Union is the constitutional device by which the people of Scotland are denied the full and proper exercise of their sovereignty. The Union imposes the alien principle of parliamentary sovereignty and gives it precedence over Scotland's tradition of popular sovereignty. Independence can only be restored by means of an impeccably democratic event which stands … Continue reading We must reclaim that which is ours!
The principle of Scotland's right of self-determination is of little worth or utility if there is no process by which that principle can be put into practice and the right exercised. After the principle comes the plan. Which is also dependent on process. Without a process, the plan doesn't even qualify as a plan. It … Continue reading The horizon or beyond?
The thing to bear in mind is that all those international laws and conventions brought in to end the old imperialism apply to Scotland just as much as they applied to any of the other nations which chose to challenge the remnants of old imperialist power.
Why ask if 'Plan B' might be a panacea anyway? Has anybody claimed that it might have the power to cure all ills? Come to that, has anybody claimed that it might be the "solution to all our indy woes"? Or that it could "break the constitutional stand off and get us swiftly and easily to independence"? Who has described 'Plan B' in such terms? When? Where?
Section 30 is all about denying and curtailing democracy. #ScottishUDI is all about enabling and facilitating democracy.
Independence is normal. It is not normal that a nation such as Scotland should be purposefully and maliciously denied its rightful constitutional status. It is not normal that the people of Scotland should be denied the full and effective exercise of the sovereignty that is theirs by absolute right. It is not normal that Scotland should be forcefully prevented from freely negotiating the terms on which it associates with other nations.
Where we might have hoped for a rousing message of encouragement and incitement to the Yes movement urging us on with a call to some kind of action, there's nothing.
Peter A Bell 