My Scotland 420


Yesterday the licensing man from Dundee Council went down the taxi ranks ordering saltires and yes stickers removed from the taxis. (would he have ordered No stickers removed as well? We can never be sure as there weren’t any.)

Having missed the train to my Cupar meeting last night, I got in a taxi (it’s not far) and the taxi driver was giving his side of the story. He said he told the council man that “There is an argument that he was within his rights to tell me to remove the sticker, but when he told me to take off my lapel badge, I told him that he was infringing my absolute right to freedom of speech under article ten of the European Convention.”

This campaign has been the most uplifting experience imaginable. It will not be possible to put the people back in the box of media-induced apathy after this.

One of the most unexpectedly invigorating aspects of the campaign is that in packed town hall meetings, I have been sharing the platform with people who are not good public speakers. If that sounds paradoxical, it is because often they have never done any public speaking before. Yesterday in Cupar there was an excellent lady who works in the NHS who had a deep knowledge of its workings and of the threats from privatization of its services, including the mechanisms by which these privatisations were being advanced. She believed that after a No vote it would not be possible for the Scottish NHS to continue to be insulated from some of these trends, and she explained why she felt that.

There was no polish to her quiet delivery, but her heartfelt sincerity and the depth of her knowledge held the audience in intent silence. She had never spoken in public before. It was truly inspiring.

The substance of the campaign is people in local communities actually talking to each other about what is important to their communities and they way their society is organized. I have never seen anything to compare this to. No wonder the politicians have no idea how to counter it. The happy lack of hierarchical power structures in the campaign on the ground seems to relate to the fact that so many women are coming forward as speakers – for the third time, I was the only male on the panel yesterday.

Better Together have women too of course. Just in case anyone has been living under a rock and hasn’t seen it, here is the Saatchi and Saatchi produced Better Together broadcast that set the campaign on fire. The many spoofs are great, but I think nothing quite equals the sheer comic genius of the original.

sirte

I have added this picture as pro-government commenters have started to come on the site with their ridiculous propaganda claims that NATO killed very few people in its 398 bombing raids on Sirte. What you see is just one street of scores in similar condition. You can believe your eyes or the propaganda.


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420 thoughts on “My Scotland

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  • Macky

    @Dreoilin, Welcome back & thanks for the belated non rebuttal ! 😀

    However firstly sincere facilitations on keeping your trademark ugly vituperative excesses under control !

    Now about that Travelers Thread, be advised that I did indeed read through all of it, as it wasn’t very long, and I paid particularly close attention to your Posts, in fact I read them twice to make sure I was reading what I was reading ! I still have to break it to you, however hard it is for you to admit to it, but you totally got hold of the wrong one of this stick about an innocuous remark, a misreading that’s both bizarre as it’s understandably embarrassing, so I see where your reluctance to acknowledge this, is coming from.

    Anyhow, as I am so “simple-minded”, perhaps you will be kind enough to explain how “irritation” does not involve an integral element of “animosity”, and how something that started years ago and has lasted to the present, with it only getting more bitter with the passing of time, is not a brooding that has been allowed to grown & multiplied into its present sorry & pathetic state ?

    Finally, you do seem most ungrateful towards me for my posting these last few days, as I’m sure you will have noticed that discourse is flowing much more smoothly now that the trolls have retreated back under their bridges, confused & cursing because I told each one to piss in the corners of their respective barrels ! 😀

  • BrianFujisanWabi-sabi

    Brendan

    Nice one.

    its a hard slog..and just after a big music fest …behind the bar till 5 am.. Envy the energy…P.s Fuck Craig ..It nearly Killed Me Lol 🙂

  • Fedup

    I do wish you’d go away and grow up, Macky. You and a couple of others here (including Fedup) produce nothing only a lot of repetitive hot air.

    And the sum of contributions of dreo are;

    ….

    ….

    Hmmmm

    Dumdi
    …….

    Yeah! remembered; poor Mr. dreo, who was last seen wandering around Dublin, and talking to himself;

    what have I done to deserve this?
    Who will rid me of this unstable harridan?

    Anyone seeing the poor chap, so driven to distraction to talk to himself, buy him a cuppa, he is deserving of human kindness. He is suffering so that the rest of us can be safe from dreo and her helter-skelter hormones.

  • Ba'al Zevul (With Gaza)

    I think we all need a laugh.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/11071113/Tony-Blair-named-philanthropist-of-year-at-GQ-awards.html

    Another for the Blair-as-gibbering-maniac photo collection. And see:

    http://rwandaspeaks.com/2013/01/13/tony-blair-man-who-turned-amorality-into-an-art-form-his-friend-paul-kagame/

    (Originally published by the Independent)

    Still, nice to see the man back from his freebie on Lipari and villa holiday in Noto. Maybe he will do something about this –

    http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/no-hope-lasting-gaza-ceasefire-41797115

    And maybe he won’t.

  • DoNNyDarKo

    Fool: I would love some answers too as to why our “brave” RAF trashed their reputation by being part of the destruction of Libya.It was supposed to be a no fly zone.It became a kill zone once they got rid of Ghadafi’s air defence.They shipped in thousands of armed fighters supported after dusk by our SAS.In their attempts to kill Ghadafi and high ranking officers with bombs,they managed to hit all manner of buildings and families.Schools, Universities,hospitals,power plants , water and sewage treatment works, and then the big prize,the man-made river that was Ghadafi’s dream.I suppose they flattened Sirte to show Ghadafi that NATO had a bigger one.None of it was necessary.So from a modern welfare State to a desert basket case flowing with weapons.I dont suppose the true number of dead will ever come out as there is no one organised enough to count,and the killing hasn’t stopped yet in any case. Mission accomplished.A man who wanted to unite Arabs,introduce a gold currency leading a country without a Central Bank beholden to the West, was gotten rid of.They made sure there was nothing for anyone to take over and replace him.They’ve tried to divide the county into 3,but the divisions are more than they bargained for. Bombs kill and there were over 25,000 bombing sorties.I am no mathematician, but the probability that more than 25,000 died is pretty high.
    Kempe:Prove that bombs don’t kill people instead of giving us that humanitarian bombing thang with no casualties.

  • Kempe

    ” Trying to squabbling over Numbers. Fucking Disgusting ”

    Then why did you join in?

    ” Kempe:Prove that bombs don’t kill people instead of giving us that humanitarian bombing thang with no casualties. ”

    I never said that bombs don’t kill. The claim has been made that bombing killed 15,000 in Sirte; proof has been asked for and has not been forthcoming.

  • DoNNyDarKo

    Thanks Brian ! Surprisingly missed the bombing reports of the civilian infrastructure…. or were they just the stray’s? I knew the logistics had to be difficult,but when you begin to try and get your head round it,no wonder they call war an art.

  • Al Milliner

    Donny – I think the onus is on Craig, or anyone supporting him here, to proide evidence for the claim.

    He said in his St Andrews speech:

    “We killed 15,000 people when NATO bombed Sirte, something they never tell you on the BBC.”

    He then blogged that this information is still coming as a revelation to people as it is suppressed by the ‘mainstream media’. He is using it to shock people into supporting Scottish independence from the UK.

    Craig’s speech has been tweeted widely and watched by thousands. According to Mary, it is even a hit in Macedonia.

    So it is important to ascertain whether there is evidence to support Craig’s claim or whether his audience have been lied to in the manner he accuses the ‘mainstream media’ of doing.

  • Ben

    1. Sierra Leone: highly successful capacity-building only partially undermined by frenzied British looting

    2. Uganda: very successful for a long time until US holy-rollers infested it

    3. Guinea-Bissau: Remember that awful holocaust? No? Exactly.

    4. Lebanon: That it exists at all is an awesome achievement, considering US and Israeli extermination campaigns

    I see that now and thanks KOP.

    I hope they can see some success in Pakistan. Imran Khan is trying to reform and straighten the spine so long crooked.

    I hope Scotland doesn’t need UN intervention. 🙂

  • Kingdom of PIE

    Scotland could certainly use OSCE election monitors, they’re close to incorruptible. Compared with rigging the last three US presidential elections, this referendum would be child’s play for NATO Pact apparatchiki.

  • Ben

    Did I say Pakistan? Sheesh. Ukraine surely will be accepted into the malignant body whilst in Wales. It’s in the sweet spot.

    New thread, on Scots Indy. No takers on the NATO component. It’s off-topic. 🙂

  • Macky

    Habba-Clown; “Any ideas on whether “Macky” is certifiable?”

    What you trying to say, that your sorry clown ass is being handed on a plate back to you by a crazy person ! 😀

    Unfortunately for you, the truth is that almost everybody is saner than yourself, but that’s a Catch-22 for you as you are not sane enough to realise it ! 😀

  • Resident Dissident

    Macky

    Congratulations on your Order of Vyshinsky Medal (lower third class) – good to see that your efforts are being recognised in the appropriate quarters.

  • Macky

    Resident Dissident; “Congratulations on your Order of Vyshinsky Medal (lower third class) – good to see that your efforts are being recognised in the appropriate quarters”

    Is this an example of your self-acclaimed “flair & humour” ?!! 😀

  • Dreoilin

    “Any ideas on whether “Macky” is certifiable?”

    Absolutely.

    😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

    and I’m not too sure about Mary, given that she doesn’t want me to call her ‘Mary’ anymore. I wonder what she *does* want me to call her.

    😀

  • doug scorgie

    Fred
    2 Sep, 2014 – 11:21 pm

    “Yes Fred he is Jewish! ”

    ———————————

    Why does his Facebook profile say he went to a Catholic school then?

    ——————————–

    Fred of little knowledge you can be Jewish by race and adhere to any religion you want. You can be a Jewish Catholic, a Jewish Jehovah’s Witness or even a Jewish Muslim.

  • Dreoilin

    You missed the point, Macky. (Not for the first time.)

    I was trying to show you that tacking on “:D” to everything you say looks rather demented.

    But have it your own way.

    Me, I’ll be ignoring you in future.

  • Macky

    Dreoilin; “Me, I’ll be ignoring you in future”

    You really shouldn’t be making promises you can’t keep ! 😀 😀 😀

  • Mary

    Duh! I did not say to Dreoilin not to call me by my name. I asked her to leave my name out of her posts ie to stop referring to me. She obviously cannot.

    ‘ Mary
    3 Sep, 2014 – 3:53 am
    Could you please leave my name out of your posts Dreoilin. It is getting on my nerves.’

  • Macky

    Mary; “Duh! I did not say to Dreoilin not to call me by my name. I asked her to leave my name out of her posts ie to stop referring to me. She obviously cannot”

    Try to be a little understanding Mary, she’s not exactly the sharpest knife in the draw ! 😀

  • Dreoilin

    Don’t be daft, Mary.
    You’re the most prolific poster in this blog’s comments, and you want to stop someone referring to you? That’s just weird.

    Anyway, the answer is no.

    [Same answer you gave me when I politely asked you to use quotation marks or italics to separate your ‘copy and paste’ from your own words.]

    G’night now

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