In January, in the lengthy period when I was not posting this blog received its 5 millionth unique visitor. That really is quite a lot of people. Despite having been dark for most of the last twelve months, remarkably after just three weeks comeback it is back in the top 30 UK political blogs, and well on the way back to its former position of being the second most influential UK blog of any kind.
Interestingly this page has been seen by over four hundred thousand people. Glancing through the locations of the last 100 to look at it, 90% of them were in Scotland. I might therefore humbly claim to have a small impact on the referendum campaign. I would stress I am extremely willing to speak at campaign meetings at any time, and will absolutely prioritise any such invites over the next six months.
I should express my enormous gratitude to all those who have helped keep this site going, designers, hosts, technicians and moderators, who have not only put in a huge amount of unpaid time but in some cases contributed from their own pockets to the costs over many years. I am not naming names as some specifically wish to be anonymous, but I am very well aware of who each one is – even though, in an extraordinary number of cases, we have never met in the non-virtual world!
Craig Murray – Scotland’s soon-to-be ambassador to what remains of the UK. I can’t wait.
CameraOn promises tax autonomy.
14 March 2014
Scottish Tory conference: Cameron in tax power pledge to No vote Scotland
By Andrew Black
Political reporter, BBC Scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26567029
Q How many Tory MPs in Scotland? Answers on a postcard please.
Time to get a few ads up.
It’s a proud record. Well done.
bookies offering 4-1 on a yes vote for independence.
Congratulations indeed Craig…. Some justice in the Fugazi world… Keep up the great work.
At the time, i put your post about the English/Scottish maritime boundary… up on my Facebook page… perhaps with your kind permission i should put it up again…and again.
The Scottish public are desperate for the truth, Craig.
The whole media in Scotland is London owned. The internet is the only source of London free information.
Nice one.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said it would be “extremely difficult, if not impossible” for an independent Scotland to join the European Union.
“French Socialist MP Axelle Lemaire, whose unique constituency role covers all French people living in Northern Europe, joined her conservative UMP counterpart, Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam, in saying President Barroso’s comments were nothing more than a manoeuvre to earn political capital ahead of a rumoured campaign to become NATO secretary general.”
“In order to become that, he needs the support of the United Kingdom and David Cameron, so, clearly he did that for reasons that probably aren’t as legitimate as they appear…”
http://www.newsnetscotland.com/index.php/scottish-news/8881-barroso-eu-indy-comments-fuelled-by-personal-agenda-says-french-mp
I am not in the least surprised to hear it. But I am very glad to see you finally taking a bow. Why not take a print of these statistics and carry them in your pocket for consultation during the dark times?
Warm regards, John
“bookies offering 4-1 on a yes vote for independence.”
Ie it’s seriously unlikely.
I think the bookies offered similar odds against a SNP win at the last Scottish elections.
Bookies offer odds to protect their investment, not the actual result.
Why Gamble at all When Nato is your Pal…. you just could not make this shit up –
A group of men who identified themselves as the ‘Warriors of Narnia’, one of Kiev’s ‘self-defense’ squads, have been released from custody after convincing authorities that their armed assault on a bank was merely a measure to “protect” it.
http://rt.com/news/extremists-free-kiev-bank-714/
http://caledonianmercury.com/2011/03/30/bookies-slash-odds-on-snp-win-as-polls-show-nationalist-momentum/0016656
Well done – world would be a better place if more people read it!
OK, Craig, put up or shut up: how many followers have you got on ‘Twitter’?
(https://twitter.com/BerntCarlsson)
Twitter is sadly overated, just because one partakes will not make it less of a celebrity Haiku.
You deserve the space you occupy, Craig, because your discussions and articles are relevant, honest and informed, whatever the twatting tweeties in the MSM may think.
You welcome!
Richard Kastelein
Hosting in Netherlands for a few years
Good to see you back and in good thought provoking form, but I wouldn’t read too much into those statistics – No 28 in the list of political blogs is one that closed 2 and a half years ago.
Craig,
We keep coming back because it’s a haven of truth, common sense and honest values.
Keep up the good work
Congratulations Craig, and thanks for the thanks; I’m pleased and proud to have had the chance to contribute.
Richard Kastelein, thanks for all your effort over the years.
Jon and Tim Ireland, thanks to you both, too.
And thanks to everyone who submits informative comments, links, and thought provoking arguments, or who has linked to this blog on other parts of the Web. It’s a community enterprise, and the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
Craig,
Congrats, and also, thanks for your generosity in sharing your thoughts with us.
Patrick Haseldine, Craig isn’t much of a Twitterer; the articles are just re-posted as Tweets by a WordPress plugin called the ‘Twitter Feed’. But Craig’s Twitter page says it has 5745 followers.
Your Wikipedia page says that you opened a cafe in Ongar, which is just up the road from me; do you still run it? If so, I’d like to drop in for breakfast and a chat some time.
Craig,
Any thoughts on Edward Snowden’s election as rector of Glasgow University? Apologies if I’ve overlooked a previous comment.
“At the time, i put your post about the English/Scottish maritime boundary… up on my Facebook page… perhaps with your kind permission i should put it up again…and again.”
If you had read my posts to the comments you would know that what Craig said isn’t actually true.
In fact there is no maritime boundary between England and Scotland to move.
It was almost entirely Nationalist propaganda.
I hope Craig will clarify this matter as he should have at the time.
Fred
Sometimes you are plain crazy. The thing is enshrined in (albeit secondary) legislation. Of course it is not an international boundary – yet.
John Seal, I was conflicted about Edward Snowden’s election. I absolutely support him as a whistleblower, but the position of Rector is important for students, especially at Glasgow where he actually chairs university court. As universities get ever more commercialized, I rather feel it is important Rectors are in a position to do the job.
“Sometimes you are plain crazy. The thing is enshrined in (albeit secondary) legislation. Of course it is not an international boundary – yet.”
I consider myself rational.
So there is no national maritime boundary between Scotland and England. No national maritime boundary has been moved. If there comes a time when a maritime boundary is needed then both parties will negotiate it’s position at that time.
You know that is not the impression you gave people in your blog entry.
Congratulations. Keep up the good work.
Fred,
Fascinating analysis. If the line is meaningless, why do you think Blair and Dewar went to so much trouble to move it, actually with the force of legislation? Do you think it was a party game of some kind?
It is, incidentally, currently used to calculate allocation of oil revenue to England and Scotland for purposes like the GERS report – and of course make Scotland look worse and England look better.