Waving the flag

Universal Credit is ruining folks lives before they receive their first payment , rape victims are having to justify themselves before they get a few bob child benefit, Richard Branson is pumping the public purse so he can fly to Venus in a converted golf buggy, we’re the equivalent of a baw hair from Big Innes of Still Game away from the biggest mistake since Von Stauffenberg left his briefcase two seats too far tae the left in a German army bunker 70 odd years ago, with a government without the first clue what, how or why they are driving the four countries which make up the UK over the edge of an economic cliff which will cripple the place for decades.

We’re sending Royals on visits to countries we sell weapons to who use them to pick off by sniper fire young female medics as they tend to mortally wounded children. Our bestest best friend in all the world is the biggest nutcase that has ever sat his ample posterior in the Oval Office (he makes Bush the younger, Reagan and Nixon look positively cerebral) a man who has no qualms in separating infants from their parents and pamping them in cages. There are folks traumatised from the horrors of Grenfell Tower still not properly rehoused, and the Westminster Parliament are chortling on about flags, guffaw, guffaw.

Add to that the Germans are oot the fitbaw, “ Huzzah!” Maradona looks like he’s going to pass away every time a poor Argentina side give away a corner, never mind a VAR viewing, and Ingerlund have played and beaten two mediocre group opponents on the way to glorious glory. Cue the theme tune from Michael Caine’s “Italian Job” and visions of Noel Coward strolling down a flight of stairs taking the applause of assembled old lags in a Victorian style prison setting. All is well in the Great Great British world. Flags, you see, they are the important thing. Although, isn’t it supposed to be us vile separatists of Scotland that are obsessed with flags?

The weak and unstable Theresa May, place-keeper of the warm seat until the night of the long knives around March next year when the differing versions of right-wing Conservatism go at in a kind of two tribes going to war scenario, is all for raising the flag of St George over Downing Street and public buildings every time ‘Our Boys’ take to the noble field of battle, the Daily Depress no doubt will have them dressed for Agincourt, “and in Scotland, in Scotland” crowed the assembled public school self-servers to much guffawing again.

There’s never a show involving an attempt at ripping the pish out of good old Jock without Punch. Wee Davie, London’s man up north, the Secretary of State Against Scotland, had to get his neb in via social media, confirming that the Scotland Office in London will also fly the St Georges’ cross too because he is confident that in four-years-time the saltire will fly over Downing Street in return. I think what Davie is trying to tell us is not that Scotland will be doing well in the World Cup in 2022 but will still be, in his opinion, tied to his beloved adopted country in union then.

Now bearing in mind that in 2014 three Westminster cooncil workmen, a cherry-picker, two Whitehall front reception concierges, a passing golden retriever and five polis, one on a horse, couldnae force an recalcitrant saltire up a Downing Street flag pole, until David Cameron convinced Alex Salmond tae send it a pleading txt message I don’t fancy Davie’s chances on either count, do you?

In all seriousness it’s a flag. If the Swedish consulate out at Musselburgh wanted tae hang their flag high during the World Cup we wouldn’t bat an eyelid at it. Why should we be any different with an English flag? Our intention as an independent state is to have close respectful relations with our long-term neighbours. Let them have their fun. We’re better than that, and after all, we’ve a growing number of flags of St George amongst our indy family as we take each step forward together towards independence.

Come and join us

As Jim Kerr once famously didn’t sing to a backing pounding base line “Come in, come out of the sun’. Watch oot for the taps aff folks for bright stinging red peeling skin back to peely-wally blue is not a good look.

As Lesley Riddoch sums up in the Hootsmon, we seem to be gathering a wee head of steam, us independinistas, particularly when it comes to high profile conversions whilst wandering the road to Damascus ( is an ex-Daily Record editor high profile?) Anyway we’ll take it. Welcome Murray. Chris Deerin, who doesn’t say nice things about us, said nice things about us. That’s nice.

More interestingly respected journalist Fidelma Cook, who seems to have been around forever, made it known the other day that during all of the 21st century circus of nationalist madness of the red, white and blue variety which is driving the politics of the Westminster government she can clearly see a bright future for an progressive independent social democratic small Northern European country called Scotland.

The SNP are attracting members like the queue at the meatballs and ice cream counter at Ikea, and despite the Cooncil routing the fine folk who turned up on Saturday at Kings Park in Stirling for the trek to Bannockburn through two drying greens, a hedge in Cultenhove, the back seat of a 1988 Cortina and a swing-park on the way the day was another tremendous success, helping to normalise self-government amongst our fellow Scots.

Social media, too, seems to be regularly throwing up posts just recently of folk saying enough is enough. They voted Naw in 2014, but never again. They’ve reached the end of their tether, the pish will no longer be taken out of them by a ruling government that resides in another country to the south. Good on them. Welcome tae ye. Come in and join the band.

One thing at the back of my mind that worries me a wee bit is wondering whether we in the Yes movement might still be spending too much time talking amongst ourselves, and if so, are we perhaps getting a bit of a false positive on progress? I accept that it is perfectly acceptable to hold the view that Scotland should remain a part of the UK. That is not my view but we live in a democracy, and everybody is entitled to their views and have them respected. However we are going to need to continue to persuade more of our country-folk that independence is the best way forward.

I’m not advocating that we spend wasted time taking on the numpties that haunt the likes of the Hootsmon’s reader’s comments pages. There are some serious wallopers hiding amongst that long grass, sitting in darkened rooms in front of a screen in their vests and Y-fronts. No, not them, nor the Rule Britannia mob, in fact not anyone with a conscious attachment to the whole Britishness thing. Why bother? You are just giving yourself grief.

No , what I’m suggesting is we continue to engage, re-engage, rugby tackle, buy a pint, offer tae change a lightbulb, for somebody who has no strong beliefs or leanings politically whilst having a conversation about how they see their lives and their families lives progressing in Scotland as it currently is. We might surprise ourselves. The other week there I had a chat with an auld pal from years ago, who in 2014, like many others, was BBC-ed into submission along the too wee, too poor, too whatever lines. Anyway we got chatting on that whole thing, resources renewable or otherwise, and during the course of the conversation I sent him a graphic I’d seen which shows the map of the British Isles and the coastal boundaries. He was astonished. That visual image seemed to do more for his understanding than anything he’s heard over the last few years. It is clear that once an element of doubt creeps in to a mind attuned to official British state propaganda the whole narrative starts to crumble. These are the folk we have a chance of persuading. Ignore those that want an argument. They are in your road.

I would urge caution, and I need to take note of this myself, in the use of the word Unionist. I use it too often. Most of the folk we are engaging with, not politically active and just getting on with their day-to-day lives ( and why shouldn’t they?) don’t see themselves as one side of the constitutional debate or the other. Labelling them can be, and is insulting. I’ve seen two or three examples recently where the casual use of the word Unionist has resulted in a potential convert taking the hump at being lumped in as being something that they clearly don’t identify with or feel strongly about. Now I write this with the knowledge that some folk of an independence mind will say aw well if non-committed Scots get insulted that easy they are never going to change their views towards independence, but I don’t think we can afford to be blasé about it. There will be a tipping point that will win the day for us, but we need to continue to do the work that creates that tipping point.

The key is information sharing, spreading knowledge, in whatever form, style or configuration that best helps whoever it is we are engaging with to digest that information, but if you have been on the grassroots trail now for a number of years I don’t need to tell you that. Grannies and sooking eggs and all.

The signs are looking good. There is so much to be positive about. Scotland will be so much better off in every way once it returns to its rightful state as an independent nation. Mind the sunblock!

The day out

A short fictional tale…….

Mrs Parveen, she never missed a march. Attendance a duty upon which she insisted. Her great grandchildren doing the pushing, after their initial chagrin, had been struck by the bug too.

A precious shared space to make memories together, with Nanni.Her tartan and her banner, YES then, YES, now, YES forever, to the fore at every Start line. Her NHS chariot spruce and shining, wheels tightened and oiled, her legs and feet for the day.

She particularly enjoyed the pipes, reminding her of long past days in a warmer place, of her childhood. Her grandfather a havildar of a native regiment. She’d seen him march to ‘Scotland the Brave’.

She had seen it after the end, after they had long gone, after they had taken what they wanted.She remembered, oh she remembered it well.

Fifty-five years now a Scot. A matriarch of doctors, lawyers, teachers, even a woman’s football international with 30 caps.

‘What do we want? Independence! When do we want it? NOW!’The incantations were so familiar to her now.

Strong of mind, if frail of body, she was clearly on the case, oh yes. Devine, Cunninghame Graham, Alasdair Gray, in her bookcase, Riddoch, Bateman, the Wee Dug and others in her bookmarks.

Their cheeks adorned with painted saltires, her second and third youngest great-grandsons wheeled her in smoothly through the park gates. Loud hailers blaring, the rumble of multiple motorbike engines coming closer, drums and dancers hammering out a bhangra beat,an insistent pibroch capturing the attention of those in the corner over by the stage.

Small children with their parents, humanity of all ages, pets in tartan, flags of Scotland, flags of neighbours, flags of Europe.Smiles, laughter, at peace, as one, loud, chattering, determined.

Some familiar faces now, seasoned campaigners, looks of delight at recognition.A hand reached gently for her shoulder, a warm touch, a gentle kiss on her cheek.

It’s Anna and Claire, two students from Oban she’d met before on the Independence miles.

Another hug, amid warm smiles “Mrs P, How are you keeping? We were just talking about you the other day. ’This was Donna and Mike, English Scots, as they called themselves, originally from Stafford, as passionate about the potential of their country, Scotland, to be governed by its people as anyone born there.

The convivial conversation had attracted a small crowd of well-wishers around her chair now.She felt comfortable and at ease in her surroundings, amongst family.

Pushing her glasses away from her nose, and wiping away a slight moisture of her eye, the old lady looked across the vast field of demonstrators, and considered.

“How can we possibly fail to reach our ultimate destination?

Each step these people take, these people and the hundreds of thousands of others like them, marching, persuading, informing others, is surely one step nearer Independence.

They walk in giant’s footsteps, they really do, and one day soon the dam will burst and all of the self- doubt of a nation will cease.

For in the end that is really all that holds us back, is it not?”

Bannockburn

This Saturday, thousands of our folk will undertake a couple of miles stroll out to Bannockburn from Stirling, the next demonstration of the growing will and determination of higher numbers of the people of Scotland to take sovereignty back into their own hands and build a better future for themselves, their children, and future generations of Scots. If there is any chance at all of you being able to get there to join them please make every effort to do so. After the recent hugely successful events in Glasgow and Dumfries the excellent team at organisers All Under One Banner are looking to keep up the momentum in the historic heartland of long past struggles, the place of victories and memorial to those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the just cause of an independent Scotland.

The last few weeks have given us of an independence mind much to think about.

Not government by consent https://itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/not-government-by-consent/ via @wordpressdotcom

Patronised https://itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com/2018/06/19/patronised/ via @wordpressdotcom

Panic merchants https://itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/panic-merchants/ via @wordpressdotcom

The walls come tumbling down https://itisintruthnotforglory.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/the-walls-come-tumbling-down/ via @wordpressdotcom

One thing is for sure, no one in London will ever hand us our country back out of the goodness of their hearts. We are going to have to take it, at the ballot box. It is clear that the current constitutional arrangements which exist in the UK, starkly highlighted recently, where our larger neighbour has the ultimate legal power to rule, override and change any aspect of the devolution settlement it sees fit, whenever it considers it necessary to meet its own needs, not ours, ignoring the democratic will of the people of Scotland, is not a sustainable or in any way a satisfactory accommodation for Scotland in the 21st century. The Union simply does not work for us. That is a fact.

Please support Saturday’s rally to Bannockburn. Independence is the natural and perfectly normal constitutional framework for most countries of the world. High profile demonstrations of support for Scotland’s rightful independence helps to continue the process of normalisation of self-government amongst our yet-to-be-convinced, or swithering, friends and neighbours attuned to the ways of long established Unionist ideology. Now is not the time to hide our shining lights under a bushel. Our day is coming.

Not government by consent

I tend to get a wee bit carried away when I see or hear about the democratic will of the people of Scotland being disrespected, mocked and over-ruled. It can be a failing sometimes, clouding judgement.

Taking all emotion out of the equation however it is surely becoming clearer now for us as grassroots advocates of an independent Scotland to be able to put the case to our family members, friends and colleagues who are not yet convinced that the best way forward for our country is by returning to self-government, that the construct that is the UK simply does not work in the interests of Scotland. It cannot, unless of course, on all occasions the people of Scotland were to agree with the right of the Westminster government to do whatever it wants to do, and the decisions that they then make as a consequence of that right.

This whole backwards and forwards row over the “Sewel Convention’ which has even resulted in the British state media dragging in the wretched disgraced former peer to the debate to back up their view, which was then swiftly jumped on by his former colleagues involved with him in the set-up of this constitutional conundrum at the time, who say that most of them disagree with his interpretation, and they suspect he’s been got at by his former buddies in the Lords, proves the point.

Under the Sewel convention Westminster does not ‘normally’ legislate in devolved matters without Holyrood’s approval. This wee comfort blankie we were told, if you remember, as a reward for trusting the British state so much that we voted against our own independence, a self-immolating act which left many other countries in the world wondering if we needed our heads examined, was to be enshrined into law, firmed up, legislated for, put in place firmly to show how deeply respected the devolved governments of the UK were by London. Did that noble gesture of enduring partnership subsequently happen? No.

In fact what did happen was the whole premise of the Sewel Convention was reduced to the value of half a bag of what Its namesake subsequently had been shoving up his nose, after being tested at law and found to be unenforceable in any shape or form, leaving the UK government holding all of the cards, all of the time, in any situation. It all hinges on the word “normally”. Who gets to decide what defines normal times, who gets to decide when devolved matters need to be returned to the control of Westminster, who gets to decide when to overrule or countermand any decision a devolved government makes, without any legal requirement to consult with, or respect the will of the devolved parliament? Westminster, and Westminster only.

The state media, with their vested bias, try and tell us this is all a bit technical, minor, fringe, one for the anoraks, let’s sweep all of this quietly under the carpet, we’re all British, after all, aren’t we, but it boils down to this, under the current constitutional arrangements 62% of the voters of Scotland can have their wish to remain in the EU completely ignored. A parliament which was re-convened in Edinburgh by the democratic will of 74% of the people of Scotland can have their devolved powers taken away and a cross-party overwhelming vote of every party in that parliament, apart from the one which governs the UK, to withhold consent for that power grab from London, a decisive vote of 93 to 30 ignored and over-ruled, and an emergency debate in London’s Westminster Commons chamber generated by Scotland’s representatives seeking emergency measures to be taken to try and resolve this constitutional crisis where 51 Members of Parliament, mainly representing Scottish constituencies ( we only have 59 in a chamber of 650 constituencies ) with the aid of a few sympathetic others, can be defeated in the subsequent vote by a division bell calling a number of the British government’s representatives out of the Commons bars, where they have been watching the World Cup, with no other input or interest in the debate other than to vote against the interests of Scotland.

This, my friends. Is not government by consent. It is not a partnership. It is not democratic. It is one country being governed by another, a small country under the power of its larger neighbour. Surely to goodness it is time more of our people open their eyes to this truth, and I write this without a hint of emotion or passion. These are simply the facts.

Patronised

Patronised and deceived. From the moments after Ian Blackford’s expulsion from the Common’s chamber last week, followed one-by-one by his protesting colleagues, when David Mundell advised us all that it was a great pity that the SNP had pulled such a “stunt’ because they missed the opportunity, by leaving, to have a full and respectful debate that he was just about to take part in, had they stayed, about the Sewel Convention and the destinations of returned powers from the EU.

Right from then on to Sunday on the politics show, with his big talking-head beetroot face telling Gordon Brewer that he had nothing new to add to the emergency debate that had been granted in the Commons to discuss what is essentially a constitutional crisis involving the country he is supposed to represent and the country he does represent, he or his government had no new proposals to try and break the deadlock, he told his interviewer.

From then on to the debate itself yesterday, where he wasn’t even listed to speak, instead of taking part he chose to sit and play with his IPhone ( No doubt googling “ list impressive titles for a new peerage which sound good with the word Fluffy as a pre-fix) we are being demeaned.

You would expect the Secretary of State for Scotland to take a leading role in any debate in parliament which involves an examination of the constitutional arrangements of his country now wouldn’t you? No. Eventually shamed into saying something, after wee John Bercow from his lofty perch pulled Ian Blackford up for trying to make a Minister of government speak against his will, he could only say that the debate wasn’t worthy of him getting involved. What a guy, what a servant to his London masters.

The clear democratic deficit which exists in the current relationship between Scotland and Westminster was further demonstrated and clearly exposed in that the emergency debate, and showing respect for the democratic decision of the people of Scotland’s Holyrood parliament, was considered so important to the UK government, and their fellow unionists, the pseudo-socialist opponents, that hardly any of their elected members showed up to take part, straggling in to the chamber at the sound of the division bell, unwillingly pulling themselves out of the Commons bar in the aftermath of Ingurland’s triumphant slaughtering of John Foreigner 2-1 with an injury time goal in the fitbaw, to put the infernal Scots to the sword in the voting lobby over something or other yet again, guffaw.

The patronising was complete when, after impassioned speech after impassioned speech from the Scottish bench was met with boorish catcalls, and outnumbered in the vote, Ian Blackford made the point to Speaker Bercow that the debate was an important moment in the history of the constitutional relationship between both parties but still the voice of the people of Scotland was not being heard, asking, as had done last week, what Scotland’s majority elected representatives should do to be heard. Wee John rising up to his dizzy height gave him a big smile and a pat on the head, there there little Scotty, don’t you worry, just you keep trying, just you keep arguing your case ( to a three quarters empty chamber which will fill up when required with enough self-entitled wannabe upper class yobs and millionaires to outvote you on every occasion we need to). It would make you weep.

It would almost make you want to cancel your membership of the SNP just so you could have the personal satisfaction of immediately signing up to join again. I can see the numbers of new members surging again this week after this clear travesty of sham democratic discourse. The time is here when any divisions that exist in the movement for an independent Scotland need to get pushed firmly away to one side, unity is needed.

This constitutional situation has got to change. It cannot continue. Mundell was right the other day when he said Scotland is not a partner in the UK, we are part of the UK. Scotland is a possession of the UK to be used, plundered and manipulated at will. It was never a partnership of equals. More and more the people of Scotland are seeing that this is the case. London is never going to give us our country back. We are going to have to take it back, at the ballot box. This time we will be more than ready. You can be sure of that.

Panic merchants

That sound you perhaps can hear is the sound of the collective might of Scottish unionism’s bottle crashing.

We’ve got them rattled. Cue time to wheel oot the Gordy Broon robot for yet another intervention, he’s been involved in more of them than Betty Ford, Jim Sillars, who is letting his views on Brexit cloud his views a wee bit, or perhaps even a big bit, and quick, get Fluffy on the Sunday politics show tae straighten it all out and show us the error of our ways.

It is amazing what the best part of 10,000 folk saying fuck it, we’ve had enough of the lies, the fake promises, the reconciliatory talk with no actual substance, the spin, the lack of consultation, the disrespect and the arrogance, and signing up to the SNP in short order can do to get the spin doctors of the British state into a fankle.

First up steps Gordy Broon, a son of the manse indeed, calling down fire and damnation on all things self-government in defence of his beloved UK. Oh woe unto thee, if independence happens there will be a plague of giant locusts swarming so thick that sunlight will be blotted oot for two years. In the ensuing darkness all plant life will perish. Small short-sighted rabbits in their desperate hunger and confusion will bump into other small short-sighted rabbits causing an epidemic of severe short-sighted rabbit concussion. The lochs will dry up, so will the whisky, and granny better start stocking up on the Fray Bentos individual small steak and kidney puddings for unto you the curse of the dwindling pension will strike ( the UK of course currently has the lowest and poorest retirement pension provision in Europe).

Aye, good old Gordy. When has he ever given us a bum steer before, apart from every single time he opens his gub on the question of sovereignty and Scotland. We should trust him, right? No, never, ever, ever. If he told me Tuesday comes after Monday I’d check the calendar.

Then we’ve had auld Jim Sillars, in an article in the Times, effectively attacking Nicola Sturgeon because she has a differing view on Brexit to his. I respect much of what he has done over the years to help progress the movement for independence and the scope of political debate in Scotland towards its rightful and inevitable return to self-determination, but he’s being used.

Last, and certainly not least, we come across the Sunday Politics show where London’s man, the Secretary of Hate for Scotland, as a certain Mr Dugdale aptly referred to him at the weekend, (I usually call him the Secretary of State Against Scotland) had a wee chat with Gordon Brewer about how slippery he is (There are eels that follow him on Twitter and send him fan mail).

I watched it on Youtube later because I’d have only ended up lobbing half-eaten tawtie scones and fried eggs at the google-box if I’d watched it when it was on.

Far from calming the waters and soothing the savage brow the wee fella with the pickled onion expression once again looked like what he is, a mouthpiece for his masters. He’s a great advert for independence though. I think he should get his own show, one hour long every night, we’d be at the ballot box and singing Freedom come all Ye by October. Do you notice whenever he is pressured and backed into a corner, which is often, about the fact that he is a blether who never ever protects the interests of the people of Scotland and therefore should resign, he reverts to the same scripted line, “ I am here to protect the will of the Scottish people who voted to remain in the United Kingdom in 2014 and that decision should be respected”. That’s like saying he’s there to protect the decision of the board members of NASDAQ for appointing Bernie Madoff Non-Executive Chairman.

Rattled they indeed are. Scotland is going to be so much better off in every way when it returns to its rightful independent state.

Arrogance comes before a fall

Before I started this blog I used to contribute articles to various sites. I wrote this particular piece on a historic day in May 2015 when the people of Scotland decided that they would place their trust in the SNP to represent them in 56 of the possible 59 Westminster parliament seats allocated to Scotland. When I read this now, particularly the fifth paragraph, as time moves on, a nation ignored, over-ruled and insulted, it seems that we are heading towards only one conclusion ……….Arrogance indeed comes before a fall.

“The people of Scotland have spoken, Along with the citizens of the rest of the UK they have exercised their democratic right to choose who represents them and best serves their interests in government.

By an overwhelming majority, and importantly not just those who voted Yes in September, they have selected a progressive social democratic political party whose policies most reflect the traditional values held dear by them. Values which have over generations helped build the NHS, protect the old and the vulnerable, and paid due consideration to the needs of others in society.

Scotland has radically gone it alone against the tide of hypocrisy and self-serving greed which has pervaded politics in the UK for at least the last thirty years and looks like it may continue for another five years.This divergence ultimately may lead to only one conclusion.

In the last two years there has been a period of civil engagement and enlightenment on a scale never seen before. Apathy and resignation regarding politics has well and truly been banished. Facts about Scotland’s ability to flourish and be self-reliant, its resources, its innovation and its expertise have been examined and substantiated. Negativity and myths, often propagated by the state and unionist broadcasting and print media regarding the nature of our relationship with our partners in the United Kingdom, have been debunked. The people of Scotland are not now going to unlearn what they have come to know and better understand.

Scots during the 2014 referendum were invited to stay as part of a partnership of nations. They have done so and have called Westminster’s bluff. Whatever the mechanics of the deals and discussions of the next few days the outcome is clear. The people of Scotland’s views must be accommodated. The parties of Unionism and the British government must respect the democratic decisions of Scotland’s people and Scotland’s parliament. If they do not they do so at their peril, and the days of union will indeed be numbered.

Politicians of all parties, no matter who they are, will let the electorate down at some point or other, that is the nature of the beast. The Scottish National Party are no different. However they have earned the significant kudos of being the key which has unlocked the door to the possibilities of progressive government, a cliche perhaps, but “real” government by the people. With a bit of luck and a fair wind this radical turn in politics will eventually spread throughout the rest of the UK as like-minded voters elsewhere take up the call and others become more deeply engaged in issues which affect them. For now though it seems withering austerity measures for ordinary people, and not those of privilege and wealth, coupled with the fallacy of Thatcherite Blair trickle-down economics, will continue.

The oft used but much misused word “awesome” comes to mind. As a Scot who loves his country passionately I almost always see the positive side of any social progress that takes place, I generally, therefore, do not need much convincing on all things Scottish, but today in particular I am completely in awe of the courage of the people/s of my country, as never before.

Not in any way trying to overstate the magnitude and significance of today’s events in Scotland (the progress towards change achieved has not needed to be on the scale of the struggle for representation and self determination which generated the following quote), but as a man diminutive in stature,but a giant in terms of world leadership and progressive politics once said:

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

The walls come tumbling down

I sat down and began to write three times yesterday. I couldn’t get the tone right. I couldn’t put into words what it was I wanted to communicate. Emotion can cloud the mind. Anger can either be a great motivator or create a temporary befuddle.

This was in the hours after two years of Scotland’s democratically elected representatives seeking acknowledgement by Westminster that 62% of the people of Scotland voted to remain as members of the European Union, offering assistance on plans to change the UK’s relationship with its biggest trading partner, seeking co-operation, making proposals to cushion economic blows or avert financial ruin, suggesting alternatives, attending endless pointless lip-service meetings, and then having the very foundation of the devolution that Scots voted for in 1997 undermined, marginalised and over-ruled following the coming together of the parties of the Scottish Parliament (minus one) in a vote to protect that parliament, reduced, and traduced, when the leader of the majority Scottish party at Westminster asked the Speaker of the House what options were available for Scotland’s representatives to be heard, to a Tory MP amongst the guffawing from his bench, shouting the word “suicide’.

Then as the day went on things got better. The circus over the debate, or lack of debate, in the House of Commons over the EU Withdrawal Bill disintegrated into pure farce as the weak and unstable Theresa May’s weekly PM Questions session saw the SNP leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, punted out of the parliamentary arena for the day for deploying an archaic rule, one of many archaic rules, in an archaic chamber, in an archaic system designed to confuse the public that somewhere in there someplace there is a democracy, which there clearly isn’t.

Ian, in protest at the filibustering and manipulation of the previous day’s session, which effectively blotted out any chance of any representative from Scotland making any point at all about the fact that the British parliament ignoring the result of a vote which is effectively the sovereign will of the Scottish people, and taking powers which are part of the devolution settlement away from where they rightfully should be, Holyrood, initially for up to seven years, (the chance of them ever coming back being the middle of a doughnut) creating a constitutional crisis, called for the House to sit in private, a parliamentary procedure which up until 1998 MP’s used to invoke by calling out “ I spy strangers”. How much old public school guff is that?

This sent wee John Bercow from his lofty Speaker’s perch in to a fit of the carnaptions as he scrambled around trying to keep order whilst finding out what it was he could do to close the infernal Scot down and get back to the serious business of letting the incompetent leaders of the government and the official hand-sitters babble inanely at each other. He could have agreed to have a vote on the matter there and then, in fact he looked like that was the way he was going to go, but no, oot, banished for the day was Ian.

No sooner said than done. Out he went, and one-by-one his SNP colleagues, running a gauntlet of braying self-entitled right-wing troughers, shamefully some of them Scottish Conservatives ( a full packet of Nytol wouldn’t give any of that parcel of rogues a good night’s sleep) went with him. Straight out the front door, and for once, into the arms of the waiting media and the headlines of the whole of the UK’s news. A stooshie having well and truly been caused.

It’s interesting too how these things are reported. I read something later from someone living in England, and a regular viewer of news, who up until hearing Ian Blackford talk outside of the Commons yesterday hadn’t even been aware that a ‘power grab’ was actually being proposed to re-centralise to Westminster significant devolved powers under the devolution settlement. She assumed the English media hadn’t deemed it worthy of reporting.

From that moment yesterday though something has changed. The political relationship between Edinburgh and London will never be the same. Any respect and any modicum of trust that existed have gone.

The actions of the Tory government, and their unionist colleagues across the chamber, to use one of the words of the MP who thought he was being something of a comedic wag the other day, Ian Liddell-Grainger, have resulted in the Union committing ‘suicide’. It’ll be a slow painful death, but they’ve played their hand and lost. There isn’t a Vow, a love-in plea or fake scary story that will save them now. The tipping point is rapidly approaching.

Currently there is a huge lightbulb warming up, building to a brilliant glow over Scotland, illuminating the unfairness, the fallacy that the Union is in any way a partnership of equals, and the arrogant lack of self-awareness and disrespect of those who govern Scotland from London for the will of the people of that country.

Most importantly, that brilliant light is spotlighting in so many ways that absolutely the best, and possibly at this stage the only real hope of a prosperous future for Scotland is as a progressive small independent Northern European country. Let’s do it. Let’s start the process to get there now.

Peace in our time

Let the cathedral bells ring oot, let there be rejoicing in the streets amongst the plucky stoic peasantry, let the very wee birds in the trees sing like wee birds in the trees have never sung before, because lo, unto us, there comes a signed document that will change the world. Wee Kim Jong-un (ye can tell he’s fond of a chocolate digestive) and big heidwig himself have signed off a bit of a bilateral ‘very important, historic and comprehensive document’ to cement their ‘special bond’.

An observer having a wee keek over Donald’s shooder (no he wisnae female, or Russian) has unofficially confirmed that according to the text of the document, which appears to be set to Calbri 48 so that the big Trumpet can see the fine detail with his perfect 20 20 vision from his height of 6 Feet 3 without upsetting his Olympic marathon winning runners blood pressure and heart rate according to his last medical, he’s gifted the wee man the north English province of Scotland in exchange for five dodgy cardboard fake inter-continental ballistic missiles with the words ‘ Welcome to Rothesay” stamped on the underside and a contract tae build three new casinos around Pyongyang.

This is seen as a huge win win by both parties, and for British Prime Minister in waiting Jacob Rees-Mogg who is pleased to jettison the troublesome region (Cromwell having had the right idea about solving the West Lothian question, guffaw guffaw, according to one of his parliamentary colleagues).

The wee man wae the bad hair and the starving population intends tae start a cattle farm which will extend the full length of his new province, apart from a couple of golf courses around Girvan and north of Aberdeen. The Leader of the wind blow Free world assured his new pal that this will not be a problem because any existing indigenous population will be quite prepared to be hoyyed off their land and out of their peat roofed semi-detached villas, their ancestors having been already familiar with the concept.

Meanwhile the big man wae the bad hair, well, he gets tae look like some sort of saviour for a wee while, until it all unravels again, remembering his style of diplomacy (at the end of last week he was complimenting Justin Trudeau on his boyish good looks, but by Monday he was accusing him of being weak and dishonest).

My auld Faither, God rest him, seen active service wae the Argylls in the Korean war that has never ended, which has been in suspended animation for so many years. There is nothing these two dictators could do that would have impressed him.