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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  • Peacewisher

    @Ba’al: Yes, I know. It’s terrible. But – at risk of repeating myself – the option was on the table in 1948 for a Palestinian state as big as Ernst(sp?) Israel with full UN backing. They refused, and went to war. In retrospect, that looks very, very foolish. Perhaps someone should apologise to the current Palestinian people regarding what was done in theoir name.

  • Peacewisher

    @Ba’al: Not an appropriate comparison. They would have had full UN backing… and as a previously British protectorate they’d have had a potential British veto to support them. This was 1948, remember.

  • Peacewisher

    Yes, I know. Ben. All the more reason to get UN protection! I suppose they didn’t bargain on the US supporting Israel militarily… but war is war. Best to avoid it!

  • Republicofscotland

    The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is raging out of control.

    The WHO’s plan aims to stop viral transmission in the most affected countries by June 2015, and stop it invading new ones, for a projected cost of $490 million over the next six months.
    —————
    The other angle of attack is a vaccine. Last week UK-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline said it would start making 10,000 doses of an experimental vaccine
    —————–
    Ebola possibly a man made virus, created to cause mass hysteria via the press, will make big pharma an absolute fortune, from their experimental drugs, Ebola isn’t even an airborne contagion, one has to wonder what Bill Gates injected into those poor African kids.

  • Ben

    “Ebola isn’t even an airborne contagion”

    That’s the assertion. This strain, at least. Other ebolas have gone airborne. When the US aid workers returned to the US their escorts into the hospital had oxygen generators on their suits, but I’m sure it was just a precaution. 🙂

  • Porkfright

    Somewhat O/T but I hope not too much. An Independent “Voice” today claims there were “Thousands” at a protest rally outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Sunday. Up to 4,500 mentioned elsewhere. I drove past en route to the Royal Albert Hall (Capacity about 5,000) and there were nowhere near that many-1,000,maybe. I have been to many gigs and concerts over countless years and I know what a given crowd number looks like. Hmm.

  • Peacewisher

    @RoS: The article talks about Zionists… not Zionist Jews. As I think I may have said before here… a lot of the early Zionists were not jews…. just land/power-grabbers that manipulated religion in their favour. Same old story.

  • Republicofscotland

    A researcher who raised the alarm over the sexual abuse of teenage girls in Rotherham more than a decade ago was sent on a “ethnicity and diversity course” by child protection bosses who refused to act on her evidence.

    The researcher, who was seconded to Rotherham council by the Home Office, was told she must “never, ever” again refer to the fact that the abusers were predominantly Asian men.

    Speaking to the BBC’s Panorama programme under the condition of anonymity, the researcher said that she identified more 270 victims of trafficking and underage prostitution by mainly Muslim gangs in Rotherham.

    —————
    Now you can’t even mention the ethnicity of the offenders,the worlds gone mad.

  • Peacewisher

    @Porkfright: you should know by now that crowds reported have numbers manipulated for political reasons. What’s your point?

  • Peacewisher

    I think it was/is called “political correctness”. Clinton’s version of exporting democracy.

  • Mary

    Here’s a laugh. BLiar speaking French drumming up support for Sar-Kosee in 2007.

    He sounds less convincing when speaking French than he does when speaking English.

    ~~

    Now what happened to Sar-Kosee? Did he live happily ever after with Carla and the baby?

    Mais non, mes braves.

    Le Parisien reports that Carla Bruni “had a huge row” with Nicolas Sarkozy during a holiday in Bali over the former president’s ambitions to make a political comeback. Elsewhere in the media, rumours of a disagreement within the former first couple are thought to be part of a narrative being spun by Sarkozy’s team. His running for the leadership of the UMP party and thereafter the presidency would be done out of a sense of “moral duty”, even if it’s against the will of his family.
    http://www.france24.com/en/mediawatch/20140901-nicolas-sarkozy-political-comeback-storytelling/

  • BrianFujisanWabi-sabi

    How the Slightly upperties Think ??? Re Indyreff.

    “I think the people who are lower down the economic scale are by and large the people voting ‘Yes’, and the people who are higher up the economic scale by and large are voting ‘No’. People who perhaps have lesser jobs have never been exposed to the issues of economics and therefore can’t make a proper judgement, on the dangers.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-jxNaAcna4

    And here –

    A Brilliant Short Video explaining illegal Israeli settlements –

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sib5HbdEV4#t=60

  • Republicofscotland

    Documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show that Turkey is one of the agency’s top spying objectives, on a par with Venezuela and more than arch-foe Cuba – despite Ankara’s close cooperation with Washington on intelligence.
    ————————–

    Turkey is the National Security Agency’s (NSA) oldest partner in Asia. However, their military and intelligence officials, as well as politicians, are seen in the US as legitimate targets to spy on. According to a report in Der Speigel in conjunction with The Intercept, documents released by Edward Snowden show just how far Washington was willing to go to snoop on its ally.
    ————————-
    However, despite Turkey supposedly being a US “friend,” it seems America is treating it more like a foe, with the country that spans Europe and Asia being listed as “one of the most frequently targeted by Washington for surveillance.” The US has two secret branch offices, with listening stations in Istanbul and Ankara, as well as its official bureau, SUSLAT, which the Turkish authorities know about.
    ————————-

    American paranoia surrounding Turkey has reached such levels that it is surveyed at the same level as Venezuela, and its surveillance is given a higher priority than Cuba. Both Latin American nations are openly hostile to the US government.
    ————————-
    So the head of the Axis of evil Washington, doesn’t trust its partners in crime.

  • doug scorgie

    Mary
    2 Sep, 2014 – 5:37 am

    ‘The War of the Tunnels
    “For seven weeks, Hamas rockets roared over the border into Israel while Israeli bombs pounded Gaza. Panorama’s Jane Corbin goes deep into the underground tunnels where battles have been fought, to investigate the war that has devastated Gaza.”

    ——————————————

    It should be remembered that at the time of the ‘documentary’ Death in the Med Corbin was married to John Maples who, at that time, was a Tory MP and president of the Conservative Friends of Israel.

    He seemed to have had sticky fingers when it came to his MP expenses.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5326337/John-Maples-fails-to-explain-as-main-home-row-grows-MPs-expenses.html

    He died in 20012.

  • Habbabkuk (La vita è bella) !

    Peacewisher

    Interesting posts from you on Israel/Palestine in 1948 (the 50/50 option).

    Now I knew that of course, but that’s by the by – what’s more pertinent is that the Israel haters/Palestine propagandists knew/know it as well but of course NEVER mention it on here when they’re foaming away.

    The sign of how much you’ve upset the Eminences by coming out with the fact is that Baal-Komodo_Afrend himself has descended from Mount Olympus to rebuke you and to try and introduce a couple of deviations.

    ************

    A friendly warning to you: thids time, it was just a rebuke from the Headmaster, but repeat your offence and you’ll have the three sub-prefects (Macky, Passerby and Fedup) calling you a scum Zionist troll… 🙂

  • fool

    Craig has very occasionally posted on the speculatives and their lodges. Is there any consensus or division or direction within the Scottish lodges as to the vote?

  • Fedup

    I discovered, to my great shock, that a roughly 50:50 partition between an Arabic state and a Jewish state was proposed to the newly formed UN in 1948

    Tell you an even a more shocking story;

    I have been given permission by the local goons (minor criminal dynasty), to the effect that that I own have half of your house, and everything that you own. A fair and equitable arrangement if you will, in which I own half and you own the other half. Although I must add, I as it happens I own the access to the yard, and also I own the access to the front of the property too.

    I intend to ratify this equitable mandate in the goons committee in the coming weeks (criminal fraternity get together in Leeds next Sunday).

    I hope you will agree to this fair and compassionate proposal. However if you don’t then I intend to beat the crap out of you on a daily basis making your life a misery and ultimately drive you out of your half of the house letting you to take only the clothes that you happen to wear on the day of eviction form my house.

    Glad that you have just found out; how can you not agree with my ever so generous offer?

    BTW don’t forget that I also own the main water tap, so any hassle from you , your half will end up dry and with your water supply cut off, and I will only reconnect water to your half only when I can no longer stand your stink.

    Just remembered!

    Did I tell you that the fuse box for the electricity supply is also mine and that goes for the gas main. You realise that I have to charge you for these facilities that I own and let you use it, purely out of the goodness of my heart and my enormous decency. I will charge you the going prices as per the feelings in my water and how broke I am at the time of sending you the bills.

    Bye for now neighbour.
    xx

  • Macky

    Resident Dissident ; “Just imagine the kerfuffle if Habba or I were to respond with “humour” in a similar vein. Macky would have written out at least a dozen posts calling for our banning already”

    The only person I have twice advocated for banning is the Habba-Clown Troll, and only because at one stage his juvenile brain-farts were flooding this blog to such an extent, that making any sensible discourse practically impossible, and secondly for conducting a vicious year long victimisation of Mary, an example of cyber bullying at its worst.

    Anyhow, true to form, I see that the aforementioned obnoxious Clown Troll has indeed tried to mitigate/excuse the vicious assault on Galloway;

    http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/08/st-andrews-speech/comment-page-2/#comment-475422

    Habba-Clown Troll ; “and you’ll have the three sub-prefects (Macky, Passerby and Fedup) calling you a scum Zionist troll”

    I’ve never ever called anybody here that, or even just “scum”, but now I make an exception for you, as you are indeed, shameless barefaced lying scum.

  • doug scorgie

    Peacewisher
    2 Sep, 2014 – 3:13 pm

    “I discovered, to my great shock, that a roughly 50:50 partition between an Arabic state and a Jewish state was proposed to the newly formed UN in 1948…”

    ————————————

    I’m shocked too Peacewisher…that you haven’t done any proper research into the history of the conflict!

    ——————————————-

    “This was accepted by the Jewish side, but not the Arabic side.”

    —————————————–

    There were reasons for that Peacewisher one of them being that, at the time only 7% of Palestine was owned by Jews. 93% of the land belonged to Palestinians.

    The partition plan was to take 46% of that land from the Palestinians and give it to the Jews.

    This plan gave 57% of Palestine to 608,000 Jews and 43% to 1.88 million Palestinians.

    In other words 57% of the land was given to 32% of the population (Jews) and 43% of the land to 68% of the population (Palestinians).

    ————————————

    “I’m still sympathetic to present day Palestinians…but this changes my view of the history of the region quite a bit.”

    Your view of the history of the region is obviously inadequate and misinformed may I recommend:

    More Bad News from Israel, Greg Philo and Mike Berry

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/More-News-Israel-Greg-Philo/dp/0745329780/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409682370&sr=1-1&keywords=more+bad+news+from+israel

  • Mongol in China

    This is Joan Rivers a couple of weeks ago about death of children in Gaza: “Speaking to a TMZ journalist on camera, the 81-year-old said: ‘You started it. You’re dead, you deserve to be dead.’
    When told of the rising death toll among the Palestinian population, she said ‘good’, adding: ‘Who cares?. They were told to get out. They didn’t get out. You don’t get out, you are an idiot.‘At least the ones that were killed were the ones with low IQs.’

    This is Joan Rivers today: The comedienne was rushed to New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital last Thursday when she suffered cardiac arrest after her breathing stopped during vocal cord surgery at a Manhattan clinic. Today “the waking-up process has begun and will take until Tuesday,” a close family source told The New York Daily News. “There is real concern that the part of the brain that controls motor skills may have been compromised, leaving her as either a vegetable or in a wheelchair.”

    – I never wish anything bad to people. But, in this case, I hope she will feel the pain the Palestinian children and women, whose land and country have been taken have felt for the last 67 years. I hope in her wheelchair she will also remember her words about dead Palestinians from Gaza.

  • Republicofscotland

    Reasonably good evidence that someone’s talking out of their backside.
    —————-
    KEMPE.

    ———
    After reading comments directed at you on Liveleaks I’d say you talk out your sphincter muscle quite regularly.

    Go on deny its not me on Liveleaks Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! pull the other one.

  • Doug

    Mary, there is no evidence so far to prove this is true and so far the culprit has not been identified. Lots of speculation it was a setup.

    “the Labour MP Jim Murphy was forced to abandon campaigning in Scotland for the No campaign. He cited intimidation and was advised by police to end his campaign.”

  • Dave Lawton

    @Tony M 3:51pm

    “Did anyone else hear that the Zionist entity had ‘lost’ two of their brand new submarines? How careless of them if true. Hilarious if so.”

    From Veterans today
    “This would be the second submarine Israel has lost.  The former HMS Token, renamed the Dakar by Israel when it was given to them by Britain in 1967 “disappeared” with all hands.  There has been broad speculation that the US Navy sunk the Dakar in retaliation for the Israeli attack that killed and wounded over 200 American sailors on the USS Liberty a year before.  Israel now openly admits to attacking the Liberty, claiming that the United States was spying for Egypt during the 1967 Six Day War.#”

    As a Ex T boat submariner this is how I see it.
    The submarine was HMS Totem not Token. It was lost with all hands.
    When it was in service with the RN it carried a Totem pole carved by First Nation Shamans
    to protect the boat and the crew. The Israeli navy renamed the boat and did not want the Totem. And arrogantly disregarded its power so lost the protection. You don’t mess with shamans.

  • Aidworker1

    Mary 5.48

    Thanks for this amazing post.

    Shouldn’t this be illegal – how can it be right that people are funding a criminal act?
    I’m too am appalled that the only commentator on this is Peter Oborne.

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