I am not picking on Kirsty Strickland. I have selected her column in today's National only because it so neatly exemplifies the fallacy that has gripped a substantial part of the Yes movement. I could have taken the First Minister's appearance on Sophy Ridge on Sunday and her conclusions regarding the latest anti-democratic pronouncements from … Continue reading Fallacy and folly
For a process to exist there must always be an answer to the question, what happens next? So, Yes wins by a comfortable margin in the proposed referendum ─ what happens next? More specifically, what happens next in the series of linked actions which form the process leading to the restoration of Scotland's independence? If … Continue reading What happens next?
Remarks to the Scottish Sovereignty Research Group (SSRG) Conference 29/07/2022 First, the Manifesto for Independence. Not Manifesto for Indy. Although they had the same origin they are quite different. The Manifesto for Independence sets out the essentials of the process of restoring Scotland's independence in four steps - plus one. The plus one isn't really … Continue reading The Manifesto for Independence and Scottish UDI
For many years now - since long before the first independence referendum - I have been warning that the ultimate aim of the British state is to lock Scotland into a 'reformed' Union, unilaterally altered and imposed on Scotland without consultation or consent. A Spanish-style constitution which proclaims the UK to be a single nation … Continue reading The other UDI
Surely the obvious conclusion from Richard Walker's analysis is that the Section 30 route is dead. Even setting aside objections on the grounds that requesting a Section 30 order compromises the sovereignty of the Scottish people and quite apart from the fact that the Section 30 process gifts the British political elite legitimised power to … Continue reading To be a nation again!
Making her statement to the Scottish Parliament yesterday setting out the SNP+SGP/Scottish Government's proposed 'routemap' to a new independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon quoted the redoubtable Canon Kenyon Wright speaking as Convener of the Scottish Constitutional Convention on the subject of Scotland's Claim of Right said, What if that other voice we all know so well … Continue reading We, the people?
We frequently see it claimed that a Section 30 order is merely an agreement that Westminster will respect the result of the vote. We also see it asserted that there are viable options other than the Section 30 process. What I have termed 'cunning plans'. The most commonly cited of these cunning plans are Dissolve … Continue reading Looking at the options
Yet again Sturgeon is long on "bullish" rhetoric but damnably short of substance (Indyref2 WILL be held with or without Section 30 order, Nicola Sturgeon pledges). What is stopping her from telling us now what she intends to do if a Section 30 order is refused? How will she guarantee a referendum which stands as … Continue reading Where’s the substance?
As I have explained countless times for the benefit of the politically naive, there cannot be a secret plan. For such a thing to be possible Nicola Sturgeon would need to have a near-infinite number of options some of which only she can identify. That's not how it is in the real world. In the … Continue reading There is no ‘Great Secret Plan’
On the constitutional issue, there are two statements in the Alba Party local election manifesto. There is the claim that "Only ALBA is prioritising Independence in this Election". I suspect the First Minister would dispute this. Once again, Nicola Sturgeon is making all the by now mind-numbingly familiar noises about independence and a new referendum. … Continue reading Immediately eventually
Peter A Bell 