Today’s Independence Rally 463


You can see me speaking 24 minutes in here. Can’t work out how to embed this one. It was literally freezing and the very small crowd was understandable. I think four hour rallies outdoors in Scotland in midwinter are somewhat optimistic. I think we also need to face that the high excitement of the referendum campaign, where you could just put something out on Facebook and 10,000 people would show up, is behind us. What we have now is a period of hard graft towards the general election.

I think what I say in this short speech will give comfort to those in the SNP who blocked me as a candidate, because as usual I am joyfully off message. Shortly after me there is an amazing speech from Tommy Sheridan; his physical voice projection alone is astonishing! It was bouncing back off Salisbury Crags and Holyrood Palace.

This really is under 100 yards from where we live. That view of Salisbury Crags is what I see every time I look out the window. The balcony will be great once it gets a bit warmer.


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463 thoughts on “Today’s Independence Rally

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  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    This link (or whatever it’s called) is not working. Or at least you don’t appear to be on it.

  • RobG

    Craig, I’m with you all the way, except for some very important stuff that I won’t go into here. I hope you get all the support you deserve and we manage to swat the flies from Cheltenham.

  • CanSpeccy

    From what can be seen on the video, our esteemed blog host appears to have been speaking to himself by way of a gigantic loudspeaker. LOL.

    But who are the Clan Alba? They sound like a bunch of white supremacist, Scotch skinheads. Bet they’re not for packing more, um, Asians, Romany and Africans into Glasgow and Edinburgh.

  • Jermynstreetjim

    Thanks for the Livestream posting of Craig’s address/speech, Republicofscotland…. 😉

  • Republicofscotland

    Thanks for the Livestream posting of Craig’s address/speech, Republicofscotland…
    _____________________

    You’re most welcome, Jermynstreetjim

  • bevin

    “Comparisons are indeed odious and so I shall refrain from pointing out that in his time the Caudillo used to pull in crowds just as big…..”
    Your hero used every sort of inducement from massacres to prison sentences to ensure that people turned up for his talks.
    Podemos, true to the principles of Franco’s enemies, neither pays for attendance nor shoots or jails its opponents.

  • John Goss

    Apart from the cold weather I would have loved to have been there. Great speech Craig. Great speech from Tommy Sheridan. Great music. All power to you.

    “Austerity means punishing the poor for the benefit of the rich.”

    Support for the anti-austerity groups that are growing throughout Europe.

    Meanwhile there has been a massive, I mean massive, turnout today in suport of Podemos in Madrid.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/31/podemos-spain-austerity-rally-madrid-syriza

    From what I learnt today, Left Unity is taking shape in England. It has a long way to go. But we are being supported by Podemos (representative today at our meeting), and Syriza, but more importantly there is a groundswell on English campuses.

    Power belongs with the people. Not with the thieving bankers!

    Syriza, God love them, are in power, in Greece. It will be other countries next like Ireland. And Italy of course.

    http://rt.com/news/italy-pitchfork-protests-clashes-259/

    http://www.ibtimes.com/spanish-elections-podemos-draws-thousands-anti-austerity-partys-rally-madrid-1801436

  • Tony_0pmoc

    This is My Independence Rally..sorry I just wrote it just now..when my wife and I came back from the pub..She did the jug for the band..cos we knew him from 10 years ago..and she volunteered..nicest wench in the pub..

    I am probably banned again so wtf

    Janet, sure the NHS is being shot to hell..but it is not the fault of the Nurses or The Doctors..and it is not that we can’t afford it..It’s Down To You Fkin Neocon American Cnts..You Fkin Bloodsuckers..The English and The Welsh, The Irish and The Scottish People are lovely ..and us in The UK still have communities and we CARE and LOVE each other..It’s you Fkin Americans and all Your Fkin Money..shiit ..you guys are nearly as bad..as the public bogs in Cuba 15 years ago…where there was no toilet paper inside..and you had to pay a girl outside for a bit of toilet paper..I mean FFS.You Americans have Really Lost The Plot…

    And Now You Have Gone To War With Us Europeans – Us English Too..Sure I Know how You Lie and Pervert The Truth..and You Have Con Coughlin Writing That..I mean FFS have any of you CRETINS actually met any Russian or Even European People except on a Cruise Round The Med..and got off Your Ship..

    You American Guys Have Seriously Lost The Plot..

    You are Attacking Us ENGLISH

    You simply do not do that

    You are Mad.

    Tony

  • Tony_0pmoc

    How can you believe all these outrageous lies???

    Well you just watch TV and the slightly more intelligent read newspapers…

    How can I explain this to you..some of it is not true.

    They are lying to you ..and you believe it..Well it was this nice Man on The BBC..I see him every night..and The News Girl ..She is Lovely..She is Reading and Telling You all The Story..she is reading..maybe rehearsed a bit..to get the licks and emotional cuts in..like a song..really polished..

    They are Feeding You Shiit

    She is Lying To You.

    Its Not True.

    Tony

  • Anon

    “Podemos, true to the principles of Franco’s enemies, neither pays for attendance nor shoots or jails its opponents.”

    All in good time…

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    I normally wouldn’t bother replying to someone like “Bevin” (who he?) but I’m feeling generous and would therefore point out that prominent amoung the Caudillo’s enemies were the Communists, who most certainly had form when it came to organising attendance at rallies and shooting and jailing their opponents.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    “From what I learnt today, Left Unity is taking shape in England. It has a long way to go.”
    ___________________

    You can say that again, Big Ears. A very long way.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “But we are being supported by Podemos (representative today at our meeting), and Syriza,”
    ____________________

    That should make all the difference

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=

    “but more importantly there is a groundswell on English campuses.”
    ___________________

    Ahhhh, the students in the vanguard for the creation of a newer, better society!

    That’s very 1968 isn’t it, Mr Goss.

    I always sensed that you were living in some kind of time-warp.

  • Robert Crawford

    Craig Murray.

    I have just watched all of the Clan Alba video you and Tommy Sheridan spoke at.

    It felt like an Irish Republican Rally.

    I do not like being addressed as, “brothers and sisters”. It feels too commi for me.

    Labour voters do what Labour voters do. They will continue to vote Labour at the General Election. Dyed in the wool, RED Labour.

    The only saving grace is the youth of Scotland. They are less likely to be brainwashed than their parents. They are more caring.
    I see how they behave towards one and other. They are not like my generation who fought at the drop of a hat with one and other.

    As for lending another Political Party your vote. There is no chance of that! It is tribal, just like football supporters.

    Fracking and Grangemouth, by Paul Young who also spoke at the Rally.
    International Rescue are based in Grangemouth, as far as I understand. Would it not be more practical to base them at an airport, for quick reaction to incidents throughout the world?
    Or, are they there for quick reaction to an incident in Grangemouth? Seems to me that is why they are based in Grangemouth. Otherwise, they would be based at an airport.

    Fife would be polluted by the fall out from an incident in Grangemouth. Take a trip up to California and watch the vapour from the cooling towers drift across the Forth towards Fife.

    The SNP Government of Scotland are not supporting me with my troubles with the establishment. Therefore, they cannot expect me to support them in their quest for power. The quality of candidate is not up to a standard I think is required to Govern.

    As far as being spied on, I have been spied on for years. I have never had a computer in business or privately, never needed it, or interested in it, until two years ago. It was only a fluke that got me a computer. Having said that, I have a pen and paper, and I was not afraid to write to the P. M. and whoever I felt needed to be told that what they were doing is unacceptable to me. They only like praise. Ask Gordon Brown etal. Reprisals is their Modus Operandi.

    So, if they have the notion to kidnap and torture me, not one of you reading this would DO anything about it.

  • Robert Crawford

    Craig Murray.

    Furthermore, listening to Cheryll in that video, she and other women have more guts than the men.

    Nicola Sturgeon has shattered my illusion that she had guts. I really believed she would be better than Alec Salmond, she is not!

  • John Goss

    It’s not about living in a time warp it’s about getting back what was stolen from us, free education, cheap utility bills, affordable train fares, friendlier banks, a manufacturing base and all the other benefits of the good old days. 🙂

  • Mary

    o/t

    Boots boss: Ed Miliband would be a ‘catastrophe’ for Britain
    Stefano Pessina, the acting chief executive of Boots, says the Opposition leader’s plan for power is “not helpful” for business or the country, in a major blow for Labour’s election campaign http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/11382303/Boots-boss-Ed-Miliband-would-be-a-catastrophe-for-Britain.html

    I hold no brief for Miliband but the CEO of offshore Boots is a hypocrite. He obviously wishes to see the continuance of Gideon’s favourable tax regime.

    Boots owner Alliance ‘uses havens to save £1.1bn in …
    http://www.independent.co.uk › News › UK › Home News
    15 Oct 2013 – Alliance Boots, the owner of Boots the chemist, has avoided £1.1bn in taxes by routing its cash through a series of subsidiaries in well-known …
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boots-owner-alliance-uses-havens-to-save-11bn-in-corporation-tax-8880052.html

    15 May 2014 – Boots has been able to boost profits by tearing up calculations on tax due to be paid after cuts to corporation tax rate was introduced.

    George Osborne’s tax changes sweeten Alliance Boots liabilities pill by £100m
    http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/15/george-osborne-tax-changes-alliance-boots

  • Mary

    Wee Duggie was on Marr. A bit rattled about the poor Labour polling in Scotland. He was heading up there after the programme.

    ‘Labour has vowed not to feature Prime Minister David Cameron on billboards ahead of the general election. The party said it would not use negative personal campaigning, focusing on issues rather than personalities.

    Opposition election strategist Douglas Alexander said the Conservatives were preparing to spread “fear and smear”.

    He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that claims in Sunday newspapers that Labour’s campaign was in trouble were “rubbish”.

    “They tell you much more about the agendas of the newspapers than the agenda of the Labour Party,” he said.’

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31079026

    but ???

    10:29: Salmond tells Sky’s Murnaghan programme that another referendum on Scottish Independence would not form part of any coalition negotiations.

    Scotland has already “set the gold standard” for establishing a national referendum, Mr Salmond says: If Scottish people want another referendum on Scottish independence they should vote for a party that promises one.

    He is “not ruling out” a coalition with Labour that would make him Deputy Prime Minister after the general election.

    However “a formal coalition is unlikely” he warns. In his experience “the best way to affect change is to negotiate on a vote by vote basis” he says. But “who’d want to give either David Cameron or Ed Miliband a majority?” Mr Salmond asks.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-31057247

  • Clark

    Compliments to whoever is responsible – the Livestream page supplied a URL that enabled me to download the whole MP4 using wget.

  • Robert Crawford

    Clark.

    Thanks for your good intentions.

    I learned nothing from that constantly stop starting video, except, they wanted money.

    My free virus protection company constantly puts up demands for money. Last month they offered me the full package in their January sale, for £9.00 odds. I decided to take it. Fuck!! I wish I had not. I tried to cancel within a couple of hours and was told I could not have a refund. I needed help from a local computer shop/repair remotely. They are great. Anyway, they went back into this transaction for me and would install what I was supposed to get for £9.00 odds. I have just received my Bank Statement, they took £34.98 off me. Another American bully!.

    ___________________________________________

    Tony.

    Well said.

  • Clark

    Robert, sorry the video didn’t play well for you. The Free Software Foundation are a voluntary campaign group protecting the right to innovate, and users’ rights to hold control of their own systems.

    Things are different in the world of free software – free as in free speech rather than free beer. Free software is software released under a licence that protects users’ freedom, such as the GPL. I am not referring to “freeware” here; chalk and cheese. The confusion stems from the English language, where “free of charge” is covered by the same word as “freedom”. Free software advocates such as myself use the terms “libre” and “gratis” to differentiate.

    This whole blog runs on free, libre software – from operating system to front-end. The system I’m using now has no anti-virus software because it doesn’t need any – it’s far more secure by design, and that’s because the users have the legal right to fix and improve it; we’re not beholden to any “American bullies”.

  • Clark

    Robert, if you’re using anti-virus software, it’s a pretty good bet that your systems are running Micro$oft Windows. The video is released in a free ie. libre format. The libre decoders for such formats work very well. On non-libre, restricted, proprietary systems, the proprietary decoders may well have been deliberately crippled, to degrade playback and cast libre formats in a poor light – similar tactics have been used in the “browser wars” and to enforce proprietary “user lock-in”, like when you can’t open an M$ Word document with anything other than M$ Word, forcing perpetual expensive “upgrades”.

  • Clark

    Robert, I won’t try to claim that software freedom is directly on-topic for Scottish independence, though the issues are related and Scotland could be helping to develop free, GPL software, employing Scottish programmers, instead of accepting “special offers” from the likes of M$ that prove expensive in the longer term. No, this is off-topic, so if you’d like to discuss it further or want any help with software, click on my name to get to my contact page; you’ll find an e-mail address for me there.

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