Tag: SNP

Not just any referendum! Not just any campaign!

~ Peter A Bell ~ 23 Comments

Perhaps Nicola Sturgeon will listen when John Curtice tells the SNP they need to fire up the independence campaign. She has turned an arrogantly and obdurately deaf ear to the pleas and demands of the Yes movement. When a highly respected polling expert such as Professor Curtice tells her she's letting support slip away for … Continue reading Not just any referendum! Not just any campaign!

Speak softly and carry a white flag

~ Peter A Bell ~ 8 Comments

Protocol dictates that I congratulate Mike Russell on his appointment as political director of the SNP's independence unit. Honesty makes me wonder how long it will be until he resigns in doubtless well-concealed frustration and despair. The embittered facetiousness born of my own frustration and despair prompts the observation that if history is to be … Continue reading Speak softly and carry a white flag

Tipping and toppling

~ Peter A Bell ~ 6 Comments

Above all else though, it’s time for the Scottish Government to end its silence and move assertively on to independence.David Pratt: Post-election silence on independence from SNP is deafening When yours is the dissenting voice there are times when it feels as if yours is the only dissenting voice. It's a lonely place outside the … Continue reading Tipping and toppling

A place of political unreality

~ Peter A Bell ~ 11 Comments

...this argument comes from a place of political unreality.Andrew Tickell: Home Rule in this reactionary UK would not answer our problems Reading Andrew Tickell's column in The Sunday National this morning, the phrase "a place of political unreality" struck a chord. This, I thought to myself, could be the strapline for 'brand Scotland'. We are … Continue reading A place of political unreality

If only

~ Peter A Bell ~ 16 Comments

Ruth Wishart adds her own plea for an end to squabbling within the independence movement to the seemingly endless list of other such futile efforts at refereeing the affray. The Believe in Scotland Facebook group threatens to eject anyone judged to be conducting "internecine warfare". There we have the two most common 'solutions' to the … Continue reading If only

The nature of grievance

~ Peter A Bell ~ 8 Comments

You have to admire Chris Hanlon's commitment and dedication. But I fear he has painted a target on his back with his statement promising to continue the fight to reform the SNP from within. With other high-profile reformers lost to resignation or defection and some of the hijackers' most effective (vicious?) operators returned to the … Continue reading The nature of grievance

Problem solved?

~ Peter A Bell ~ 15 Comments

With the announcement that Joanna Cherry MP has quit the SNP's National Executive Committee (NEC) coming hard on the heels of Douglas Chapman MP resigning as National Treasurer Nicola Sturgeon may consider that any "problems" caused by last November's elections to the party's (nominal) ruling body have now been well and truly solved. In fact, … Continue reading Problem solved?

Nothing changes

~ Peter A Bell ~ 26 Comments

https://twitter.com/DougChapmanSNP/status/1398716551805669378?s=20 Douglas Chapman MP's resignation as SNP National Treasurer comes as no surprise. He is an honourable man. When he tells me that he did not receive the support or financial information he needed in order to carry out the fiduciary duties of the role to which he had been elected by party member, I … Continue reading Nothing changes

The legal and the political

~ Peter A Bell ~ 4 Comments

The Scots Government should in the court action challenge the very existence of the legal power of Westminster to say no to indyref2, by plainly asserting that the democratic legitimacy of Holyrood trumps that of the Westminster Parliament over Scots affairs, giving it Holyrood the legal authority to hold an independence referendum.Scott Crichton Styles This … Continue reading The legal and the political