We get so trapped inside the logic of the UK’s crazy electoral systems we often do not see what is really happening. Two thirds of active voters, voted against Starmer’s Labour at the last general election. He was always highly unpopular.
Just as Starmer’s landslide victory in the 2024 general election was based on only 33.7% of votes cast, as Reform fractured the right-wing vote across First Past the Post (FPTP) constituencies, so the SNP in Scotland stand to sweep to victory in tomorrow’s parliamentary elections under the D’Hondt system on an extremely similar percentage.
The D’Hondt system is modified FPTP. It consists of two parts. One part is simple, unadulterated FPTP. You elect a member of the Scottish parliament in a constituency, exactly as in a standard UK parliamentary election.
Then there is a second part. Constituencies are grouped into regions. You then have a second ballot paper to elect regional MSPs. On the second paper, you vote not for a person but for a party. As in the constituency vote, the regional vote is a simple X. The constituency MSPs won by a particular party in a region are discounted, and then the regional MSPs are divided between the parties on a basis broadly proportionate to that vote.
So if a party wins all or most of the constituency MSPs in the region, it is unlikely to get any regional candidates, unless it is polling at over 50%.
This is exactly what happened to the SNP in the 2021 Holyrood elections. It swept the constituencies, so 1.1 million regional list votes brought it only two regional list seats. By comparison, minority parties were able to pick up individual regional list seats with as few as 17,000 votes in a region.
This is definitely going to happen again. The SNP is only polling at 33% but will sweep almost all the constituencies, because the Tories, Reform and Labour are each polling between 16 and 20%. The parliament has 73 constituency seats and 56 regional seats.
But Tories, Reform and Labour could each pick up hatfuls of regional list seats because the SNP regional list votes will be discounted by the constituency seats they have won.
The D’Hondt system can be gamed, very easily. If SNP voters were all to cast their regional list seats for a different pro-Independence party, the unionist parties could be virtually eliminated from the Scottish parliament.
There is an argument this is “cheating”. Well it isn’t, because it is within the rules. The UK has rotten electoral systems. That usually assists us to get terrible governments, like the Starmer regime. If we can play the system to some good for once – and we can, perfectly legally – let us do so.
Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to persuade SNP voters to do this. They are very loyal to their party. The tragedy of this is that they view casting “both votes SNP” as a declaration of support for Scottish Independence.
Why this is tragedy is that the SNP’s careerist leadership has only a performative commitment to Independence. They know it is Independence support that gets them elected, so they remember it around elections. Their policy is to ask London for permission to hold another Independence referendum, through what is called a Section 30 process.
The problem is that everybody knows that Starmer, and all the other UK parties, will refuse a Scottish referendum. When that happens, the SNP’s John Swinney and his clique will huff and puff a little, then go back to enjoying their “ministerial” limousines and salaries, and forget Independence until the next election in 2031.
This has been happening for over a decade. The tragedy is the SNP voters who still remain do not see an alternative.
As I said, we get so trapped by these electoral systems that we do not notice what is really happening in politics. What is really happening in Scotland – the biggest single voter movement in decades – is the disconnection between Independence support and SNP support.
Independence support is, across the large majority of opinion polls in the last year, steady around 52%, with polls falling within the margin of error of that figure.
By contrast SNP support is only around 34%, with polls falling within the margin of error of that figure.
There is a profound, long-term gap of 18% between Independence support and SNP support.
Over one third of Independence supporters do not vote SNP.
Where is that Independence support going?
Well, it is with other political parties. Most significantly with Labour, with over 25% of Labour voters regularly showing in polls as supporting Independence. The figure for Reform appears to be at least as high. There is also Independence support for the Green Party, which is significant in D’Hondt.
But unfortunately a great many of the third of Independence supporters who do not vote SNP have given up. They won’t vote at all in the elections. They will just sit on their hands.
The significant tactical voting under D’Hondt is from SNP to Scottish Green. The fifth or so of SNP voters who have worked out that their regional vote is wasted if they cast it for the SNP, mainly intend to vote Scottish Green on the regional list. Indeed, this is the only thing that puts the Scottish Greens into Holyrood.
SNP voters tend to do this because the Scottish Greens have been in coalition with the SNP. But I believe this to be mistaken.
The Scottish Greens are only very lightly committed to Independence. It is point 27 in their 38 point manifesto – and their Scottish Deputy Leader has already stated that the moratorium on hydrocarbon projects is more important to them than Independence in forming a government. They have not ruled out joining a unionist coalition.
I have much time for the Greens in England. The Scottish Greens are an entirely separate party and frankly (remember all politics is personal) are dominated by some extremely weird and unpleasant people who should be nowhere near political power.
Scottish politics desperately need shaking up. That is why I am standing as a candidate for the Alliance to Liberate Scotland, an eight-week-old political party which has one single policy: Scottish Independence. We do not accept a London veto and believe the Scottish people should act immediately on their right of self-determination.
You cannot believe both that Scots are a people with the right of self-determination under the UN charter, and that London should have a veto. The UK Establishment will never voluntarily give up Scotland’s magnificent resources. If we want Independence, we must take it.
That is why I urge people to vote to put real radical firebrands into the Scottish parliament, like myself, Tommy Sheridan, Eva Comrie and many others. You can vote for the Alliance to Liberate Scotland in many constituencies, and on all regional lists.
Now, unfortunately I suffered heart problems and was hospitalised at the start of this election, and was unable to campaign. Had I been well, even a result equivalent to my 2005 Blackburn General Election vote (5%) would have probably seen me elected on the regional list and my 2024 vote (18%) would have seen me not just elected but bringing in at least one other regional MSP with me.
But illness means there has been not one speech, not one hustings, not one interview, not one door knocked, not one leaflet delivered beyond the single Election Communication.
But I have not pulled out because I think it is essential to give people the chance to vote for Scottish Independence if they wish to do so – and genuinely vote for somebody who actually intends to do something about it.
I hope you cherish every vote you give to the Alliance to Liberate Scotland as much as we will cherish your trust. Just do the honest thing with your vote.
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My respect for you as a human being outweighs what I might think about talk of “taking” independence. Therefore, Ambassador, good luck for tomorrow!
Its about decolonisation, which the UN is currently dealing with, there was no legal union, Scotland, the elder of the two nations between England and Scotland – has been reduced to a colony status, Holyrood is full of colonial and London branch office parties, that don’t give a toss about Scots or Scotland’s status, but change is coming.
There have been a lot of new countries created since ww2 and a lot of countries that have gained independence. Every one of them took it, they weren’t given it.
Including Israel.
Brunei? New Zealand?
And the SNP certainly aren’t going to educate their supporters on these rapidly diminishing returns under D’Hondt, and how they should instead, as you say, game the system to, ‘lock out’ unionists. Indeed, all their leafleting etc pushes the ‘both votes SNP’ line. Presumably, because they fear lending support to some other pro-independence party may come back to bite them one day? The SNP are still as tribalist as any party operating solely under FPTP. Parties supporting independence, either further to the SNP’s left or right, shouldn’t be seen as a mortal danger, they should be viewed as allies. A wholly pro-independence Holyrood, would infinitely empower SNP demands for a section 30 order. Of course, presuming that’s what they actually want?
They’re amusing though when they go for the flaky unionist vote by describing what the main differences will be after independence. They say that rather than hearing “Scottish Parliament” on the telly you’ll hear simply “Parliament”, and yes of course your passport will get “Scotland” written in it when it’s renewed. When asked what currency Scotland will use, they’ll sometimes say the Bank of England is Scotland’s central bank (to which the correct answer from any self-respecting “firebrand” is “Yes, of course it is, dearie”), and sometimes that the very question can only possibly be asked by a scaredycat under the influence of “project fear” (to which the correct answer is “You’re right. Marching towards the sunshine always gets questioned by non-believers. But while I’ve got you here, tell me what you think about Clintonian triangulation.”)
Most of them don’t give a f*** whether Scotland is independent or not. All they care about is money and trousering it. This requires being just enough of a pain in the British government’s neck so as to keep the money rolling in, but not too much of a pain, otherwise they’d get sorted out. Everyone knows they are corrupt to the core, rather like Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats, albeit fewer people are aware of the same thing in respect of Reform and the Greens. Might be an idea for a leftwing opposition party to voice this fact.
Scottish Greens have never been in Government.
Patrick Harvie & Lorna Slater were given roles as Junior Ministers, who assist the Scottish Ministers [The Scottish Government as defined by the Scotland Act 1998: FM, Lord Advocate & Solicitor General, s47 Ministers appointed by FM]
s49 Junior Ministers are discretionary appointments by the First Minister
The Bute House Agreement, and announcement, was a party political stunt, that shouldn’t have been allowed to take place in the Official Residence of the First Minister of Scotland.
Only those defined in law form The Scottish Government, EVERY other MSP forms the Opposition. ie When Henry McLeish resigned as FM, he became part of the Opposition, same with AS, NS & HY
There is no “party of Government” in the Scottish Parliament, or a standing “majority” The First Minister can seek to appoint any Member as a s47 Minister
All candidates should know and state this.
What do you get when you participate in a fascist electoral system?
Scotland needs to learn from Iran.
To overturn the racket of a malignant colonial interference in your society and affairs, not to mention economic plunder, you cannot fight the system designed and installed to keep your sovereignty in check. You have to think outside the box and plan to fight an asymmetric war which changes the whole paradigm. The “war” bit is hopefully optional, but the asymmetric thinking is absolutely essential.
Holyrood is very much an integral part of the very “symmetrical” forum masquerading as a parliament. Win, lose or draw at Holyrood, or indeed Westminster, and still Scotland gains nothing. It’s that tic, tac, toe realisation in the 1983 WarGames movie. Every option is futile.
The only sector of our Independence community coming remotely close to an asymmetric strategy is SALVO, but I’m at a loss, (or perhaps I’m not) why so many think SALVO’s asymmetric strategy to at least contest the meaning of constitutional sovereignty, is not fully embraced across the whole Independence spectrum. Instead, our forlorn army marches, or these days trudges, to the same old sound of the same old guns, where even winning 56 out of 59 seats delivers nothing except yet another affirmation of aimless political impotence.
When you know the enemy’s plan and cannot escape the rigged result, the only fight you can win is the fight which wrong foots that enemy. Iran worked that out, did their due diligence, and have emerged largely immune to maddest unhinged rage of the warmongering West. They’re not out the woods yet, but my god they’ve earned global respect. Even now, the Americans can’t figure out how they lost the war they won.
In Scotland? We put our hopes in the amateurish gravy bus of Holyrood crimbeciles yet again… Who’s gonna win? It doesn’t matter. Scotland loses; the only guaranteed result.
To pretend the world listens to Scotland for a moment, maybe Iran learned from us. Look boys and girls, look what happens to your nation and oil rich resources when you allow your sovereignty to be compromised on the black altar of Western democracy. Gonnae no do that, eh?
Rest in peace
RavenscraigGrangemouth. They’re already missing yoursteeljet fuel.Will there soon be Trump-Musk money for an armed-struggle extreme nationalist effort in Scotland? Lots of work in it for MI5 and their suppliers if so.
Trump has now congratulated Swinney. Trump is the guy who insisted on having saltires fly from his car when he was in Scotland.
Never forget that Scotland is Trump’s motherland.
And violent Scottish nativism may be just the kind of cause that Musk would want to support, albeit his team would have to frame it well if he’s to air an interest in Scotland when addressing Tommy Robinson’s London demo that’s simultaneous with the Nakba one. This is especially given that serving and former armed forces personnel are a big market for Robinson, Robinson uses “kingdom” in his branding, and Scottish service personnel and veterans tend mostly to be raving lovers of the UK. So the hard right would have a job on their hands. Do we think Stephen Bannon etc. and the “move fast and break things” boys are brave enough to take this on?
Almost all politicians hate democracy and will do everything possible to thwart it.
In most countries, they have been pretty successful. AFAIK, the only democratic country in Europe (or indeed the western world) is Switzerland, though a few US States may also qualify.
How can you tell if a country is a democracy? It’s very simple: can the people overrule the politicians by referendum?
In Switzerland, you need raise just 50,000 signatures on a petition to force a referendum to block a proposal passed by politicians. You need 100,000 to introduce a change to the constitution. (The population of Switzerland is about 9 million),
Not many popular initiatives succeed, but that is not the measure of their effect. The possibility of referenda has a chilling effect on what the politicians do – they try to avoid passing laws that the people will then throw out.
It stems from the sort of individuals who go into politics; to seek power over others, you either have to be an egotist, with a very high opinion of yourself (Trump being a prime example), or believe passionately in some cause or ideology, and that fact in and of itself is like a flashing warning light. Of 600+ MPs in the HoC, the number who believe in pure democracy is probably less than one-fifth. Compounding the problem of reforming democracy in the UK, for example, to a ‘Swiss-style direct democracy’ you mention, is a right wing reactionary press and media. When we were voting on the relatively modest change to Alternative Vote (AV), the Mail was running editorials claiming the sky would fall if the referendum passed.
Something is changing though, we now have a truly multiparty environment developing : Con,Lab, Lib Dem, but now also Reform, Greens, are seriously in contention, Plaid Cymru look like finally becoming an electoral force(in Wales) too and the SNP are still there. Trying to justify FPTP, a system based on a plurality vote share, in constituencies where there may be a five-way split, with a winner emerging with as little as say 22%, thus 78% go unrepresented, will become increasingly difficult to justify.
Women in Switzerland didn’t get to vote in federal elections until 1971, some cantons allowed them to vote in local elections earlier but the Appenzell Innerrhoden refused until 1991.
Sometimes their model of democracy has been slow, unwieldy and worked against minorities.
Democracy isn’t more or less, it’s either or; that’s why I only vote in democratic elections.
Some of them hate democracy and work to destroy it more than others.
Starmer for instance was a member of the Trilateral Commission, a secretive cabal of global elites explicitly founded as a reaction to ‘an excess of democracy’.
Starmer joined while Shadow Brexit Secretary under Corbyn, when the Labour Party had attracted a mass membership of ordinary people opposed to neoliberal uniparty politics. Once leader, he set about expelling and repelling as much of that mass membership as possible. He also quickly changed the leadership election rules to ensure that no insurgent, dissident candidate could ever be nominated again.
Naturally, Starmer has never once been asked by a British political journalist about his membership of an explicitly anti-democracy organisation. He has however openly expressed his preference for Davos and oligarchic intrigue over local accountability.
As stated many times here…
I don’t know if Stamer was installed by some shadowy cabal, either domestic or international, but he certainly isn’t a Labour leader; sharing very little in common with the party’s radical, progressive traditions. His time in office is very much time wasted.
Some would say, that’s a preposterous conspiracy theory, for why would some group, be it intel, financial or both in the establishment usurp our democracy like that, by hijacking a major party to install a puppet caretaker PM? If it is the case, the answer will be to do with the markets, borrowing and bond yield and the country’s precarious finances, both the deficit and national debt – too fragile for a socialist or redistributive govt that the markets take umbrage with. Reeves and Starmer went to Davos remember, to present Reeves’ fiscal rules to the fund managers, ruling out tax and spend.
Then there are the security service secrets to protect. MI6 have likely been involved in stuff they don’t want some curious leader poking around into. We have probably the most overreaching security services in the western democratic world. Only in the UK, are security services permitted to do physical harm, right up to and including murder, in the course of remaining undercover. Yes, British citizens can be legally murdered, the CIA and FBI don’t even have such domestic protections :Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Act 2021 . We’ve also got an all pervasive surveillance culture, the govt don’t trust the people, as seen with them demanding Apple remove end -to-end, secure ,advanced data protection (ADP). The British are the only citizens in Europe to be denied this feature, which Apple turned-off rather than grant the UK a backdoor. And Special Forces overseas, operate with no democratic scrutiny. We don’t know how many have been killed or injured in say, Ukraine.
None of what I wrote is speculation or theorizing.
zoot
Didn’t say you did.
Amazing, isn’t it, how we got a shit load of authoritarian legislation under the Tories, curbing protest rights, surveillance powers etc, and authoritarian Labour haven’t repealed any of it, in fact they’ve built on it.
A Guardian headline today : Starmer’s failure to demonstrate strong values ‘driving away progressive voters’ – his failure to demonstrate any values is the issue. He’s meant to be a human rights lawyer and the govt are obsessed with prosecuting pensioners holding up bits of paper, as terrorists. It’s rumoured they’ve been ramping up technical capability notice issuance too. Those powers, when debated in parliament, were talked about as if they’d be a last resort, in extremis – i.e. in a critical situation short of other options, not a first resort to mass surveillance and fishing expeditions. Of course no one knows , because companies receiving them aren’t allowed to talk about it.
What strong values did the Guardian want Starmer to demonstrate? The ones they constantly derided and attacked Corbyn for demonstrating?
The great man is apparently determined to cling on, aware there is no potential successor who is any more popular or less useless than him. Tonight’s results may force them to get rid regardless, even knowing there is nothing to replace him with. Will be interesting to see their next move on the road to Pasokification.
Here’s a wiki article on the Trilateral Commission. Their report The Crisis of Democracy in print costs three figure sums, even in used copies. There must be a demand for it!
It’s worth remembering that virtually every Swiss citizen has to undergo mandatory military service from 18 to 65 (I believe). This may only be a couple of weeks per year BUT you’ll find that your progress in civil life is closely associated with your military life and attitude. Your boss may also be your Commanding Officer. Is this democracy ? The referendum system is good, IMO, but some of the other restrictions are certainly not. I guess nowhere is perfect and Swirtzerland is certainly not perfect …
Yes but Switzerland isn’t going to send you to anywhere outside Switzerland for a war.
You might like to check that one ?
“Is this democracy?”
Why wouldn’t it be? What has national service got to do with the ability of the people to influence their government outside election time? I can think of one way that national service makes a country more democratic: if the adult male population has both been trained to fight and has access to weapons, the rulers are going to be a lot more wary of upsetting them in a big way. Indeed the democratic nature of Switzerland could well be because of its requirement for national service. It’s probably no coincidence that national service in the UK was introduced by a labour government and ended by a conservative one.
Compulsory military service was ended in Britain (turn of the 1960s) because of Suez, USA (1970s) because of Vietnam, and France (1990s) because of Iraq – in every case with the top brass wanting to show it the door.
The struggle against it was especially strong and inspiring in the USA. Anyone who doubts this should try to think of a parallel to the beautiful collective actions of young people burning their draft cards together in the street.
“Compulsory military service was ended in Britain (turn of the 1960s) because of Suez”
What evidence can you bring forward to show the causal link you postulate? It’s perfectly possible that the politicians had been wanting to get rid of national service for years and Suez simply provided an excuse. Ditto the other countries you mention.
Check out procedures for petitions in Scotland if you want to pursue this idea at a time when the proportion of the vote that gave pro-independence parties (eco fakes plus the corrupt government crooks whose coat-tails they hang on to) a seat majority was 42%.
The obvious person to compare Swinney with would be Starmer – the leader of an unpopular government who controls a lot of seating in a room with lots of cameras in it.
I voted for the Alliance to Liberate Scotland on the list vote, I defaced my other voting paper that had the colonial parties on it, the SNP like the other major parties at Holyrood are an enemy to an independent Scotland all are self-serving and they take their orders from London, this election is just another show election to placate the masses in Scotland, to make them think they actually have a say in what matters in Scotland, as long as Scotland is a colony of England’s – they don’t have any say.
Decolonisation is a must, and the colonial admin and the London branch office parties at Holyrood must be removed, or nothing will ever change.
Reminder: it’s possible to abstain in the constituency vote and still vote for a regional list (as I will be doing).
I have just voted. They hadn’t sent me a polling card, so I brought along ID. But when I offered it they said they didn’t need to see ID. I asked “How do you know it’s me?”, and they said “Oh that’s just in England where you have to show ID.” I didn’t point out that this wasn’t an answer to the question. The level of cheating in elections in Scotland must be sky high! It’s surely easy for parties to identify large numbers of people in any constituency who are either definite non-voters or not living at the address where they’re registered. Then all they have to do is send somebody along to the polling station pretending to be the person.
Cheating sky high that’s for sure – especially with regards to postal votes.
I recall Peter Murrell calling the English security service – known as GCHQ to oversee the leadership race within the SNP
Of course widespread vote rigging is common in colonies – co-opted Scots, who serve England aid and abet in the rigging process.
I don’t even know if ex-Tory MP Peter Lilley’s voting system is still in use in Scotland –
“I recall Peter Murrell calling the English security service – known as GCHQ to oversee the leadership race within the SNP”
They would be likely to organise the cheating in some way that favours what some clique decided was the ‘national interest’.
I hadn’t heard of this before.
” It’s surely easy …”
One big problem with this kind of conspiracy seems to me that it couldn’t be kept secret, and a party that tried it would suffer once it got out. I suspect that no mainstream party would have anything to do with it. There may be good reasons why voters in England now have to show some sort of photo ID (which didn’t happen in the past – I just took my polling card), but I don’t think that fear of widespread imposture is one of them.
M.J.
One big problem with this kind of conspiracy seems to me that it couldn’t be kept secret,
Depends on who suffers from any cover-up and who gains. It’s amazing what people will happily conceal if they’re sufficiently persuaded it’s in the national interest, or their personal interests. Everyone knows there was a concerted campaign to smear Corbyn and Labour’s membership right across the UK media. And most of these people knew of his tireless record opposing racism meant he was one of the least racist MPs in parliament. And yet he got tarred and feathered by the media as an anti-Semite.
Labour had a membership of approx 580,000 and just 307 disciplinary cases that resulted in suspension. that’s 0.05% of members. Yet because of the nonstop hysterical media coverage, and talk of endemic antisemitism and institutionalised ‘Jew-hate’ in the party,. the general public’s perception was that one-third (33%) had been suspended, that’s 191,400 members!
What reason, other than fear of widespread imposture, could there be for the new ‘photo ID rule?
If were talking about the possibility of a conspiracy now does that mean that the conspiracy has not been kept secret.
The vote riggers could be our own fair security services or a faction of them, combined with others sympathetic to their point of view and the interests they represent, who have decided they know what’s best for Britain, or at least some of its inhabitants. Political parties do not have to be involved.
One reason might be to prepare the masses for the introduction of compulsory ID cards, something to be wary of.
”The vote riggers could be our own fair security services or a faction of them, combined with others sympathetic to their point of view and the interests they represent, who have decided they know what’s best for Britain, or at least some of its inhabitants. Political parties do not have to be involved.”
The Glenrothes by-election of 2008 might be a case in point. It came just after the capitalist banking crisis when Gordon Brown was baling out the banks and Labour looked likely to lose the seat to the SNP. ‘Too close to call’ was the verdict from both parties on the day yet Labour, remarkably, won the seat by around 5,000 votes. Very odd and to add suspicion, the Electoral register which records who voted, went missing in Kirkcaldy- home town of Gordon Brown himself.
Defeat for Labour would likely have triggered a leadership challenge to a sitting PM. And, as the mantra goes, would have spooked the bond markets. I don’t believe the successful Labour candidate- who would have probably managed a narrow victory on his own efforts- had any involvement in this curious affair.
The excuse for demading proof of identity was a recent election, in which there were 166 cases of personation. It’s a lie, to disenfranchise poor people like me. Luckily I don’t vote in fascist elections.
@Squeeth – You make an important point. It is not compulsory in Britain to possess photo ID, and not having either a passport or a driving licence strongly correlates with being poor.
The authorities don’t give much of a toss whether anyone cheats in elections or not, just so long as the Scientologists don’t appear from nowhere and sweep into office some time. I think it is true there is huge cheating and also true that they want to habituate people to proving their identity at every opportunity.
I hesitate to put my oar in, being English – living not far from Craig’s youthful home, as it happens – but there is something I genuinely don’t understand. Why the hell do you want independence? Please bear in mind that I lived for 30 years in Scotland, for two of them as a paid-up member of the SNP, and spare me the too-predictable reaction based on my supposed ignorance of your country.
Haven’t you noticed that the international situation is currently dangerously unstable, with all bets on US support for any part of Europe cancelled? Do you seriously believe that you are of any value to Russia beyond fracturing what little unity exists against its aggression? Don’t you know that your current GDP per capita compares well with most English regions – with the notable exception of London, which is as much an issue for Norfolk as it is for you? Are you immune to corrupt politicians? Think the UK’s lousy government – and, specifically, Scotland’s – is a local phenomenon? It isn’t. The conditions you blame on the UK are global, not national.
Frying-pan and fire are the words which come to mind. Seriously.
This alternative point of view has been brought to you by the Komodo Awkward Squad.
GDP per capita tells you little when you compare London with other regions of Britain.
Did you know that house price increases contribute to GDP, in the form of what’s called “imputed rent”? Yet from any sensible point of view they do not constitute any kind of “product” whatsoever. Indeed even from the point of view of economists, what sense does it make to say a house sold for £1m a year ago, and £1.1m last week, so hundreds of thousands of similar houses have gone up in “value” by 10% in the past year? If they all went on the market together, the average price they would realise wouldn’t be anywhere near £1m let alone £1.1m.
As for the “London allowances” that many employees receive, these quickly get gobbled up on transport and especially rent.
Then among the “ultra high net worth individuals”, whom we know are concentrated in London (or at least they own properties in London although probably not under their own names, “residing” in them but not being “domiciled” in them – neither consideration telling us how much time they actually live in them), the conditions that determine how much of their income contributes or doesn’t contribute to British GDP calculations are … shall we say somewhat opaque.
There are of course some filthy rich areas in London, but I don’t think most working class people in London are much better off, if at all, than their peers elsewhere in Britain whether north or south of the border.
Sometimes it would be better if leftwing supporters of Scottish separatism used terms like “British government” than “England” or “London”. “Westminster” could in principle be a good term but too often functions as code. F*ck the UK and the British government!
“Why .. do you want independence?”
IMHO you’re dealing with the irrational, national or communal and cultural pride. It generates a vision of Scottish Nationalists that won’t include the usual failings of politicians any more than newly weds think of future incompatibility, infidelity or divorce. No more than North Korean Communist revolutionaries thought that instead of freedom and prosperity in a Worker’s Paradise, they would enter a slavery worse than capitalism, or Iranian Islamic revolutionaries thought that they were making a big mistake that would leave them worse off than under the Shah.
So it won’t go away any more than Brexit did, when David Cameron tried (vainly) to persuade people to stop ‘banging on about Europe’. It will take something bigger to overcome it. If that does not happen, and Scotland becomes independent, the rest of the UK will just have to learn to live with it (as she has with the Republic of Ireland).
ZZZzzzz. What’s ” irrational ” is for a country to be content to be in every significant aspect dominated by another country.
Being English you wouldn’t really know the experience of being dominated by, eg an overbearing neighbour, because England has been Independent since 1066. England lost nothing in the two ” Unions ” – Crown & Parliament – shenanigans; it pretty much carried on as it was. Scotland was the loser. And continues to be; and, ultimately, if the people of/in Scotland are not sufficiently motivated to change their circumstances Independence advocates – like myself – will just have accept the status quo; at least in Constitutional terms. Change of one sort or another will occur nonetheless. I doubt much of that change will emanate from the SNP, except maybe to see if they can be any worse this time than they’ve been since 2015. I reckon they could – and will.
You just made me think of something that could overcome Scottish Nationalism: a Constitutional Convention for the UK in order to unify the judiciaries, that would tilt the prevalent doctrine of supremacy in jurisprudence away from parliament towards the people, as it is in Scotland, in the interests of democracy. The ‘Scottish tilt’ (not an item in a ceilidh, to be sure) could be deliberately built into the New Constitution throughout, with the aim of long-term stability for the UK.
What might precipitate this might be a conflict between Scottish and English judicial rulings concerning Palestine Action. One actual motive, of course, could be to save the Labour Party’s bacon (whether or not the attempt is successful).
Who knows, we might see this beginning to happen before the year’s out!
” Do you seriously believe that you are of any value to Russia beyond fracturing what little unity exists against its aggression? ” hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha……………….HA
WTF are you on about?
Haven’t YOU noticed that the ” West ” – almost without exception is governed by the most abysmally useless and dangerously delusional collection of clowns ever to ( dis )grace political office: not least of which in the buffoonery stakes is fckn England-as-U.K. Why would Scotland want to be tethered to that sick animal and risk going down with the Titanically shite, rudderless, holed-below-the-waterline rubber dinghy that is LabConReformAdNauseam benighted Blighty?
Aye, we in Scotland shouldn’t even dream of leaving the …..what is it again?……..aye, right………” Precious Union ” whilst big bad bearlike Russia is ………causing neurotics like you to wet the bed every night. I mean, we really, really, REALLY need those 6 water pistols; 3 catapults; oh maybe as many as 11 sets of bows and arrows and I think there may be a couple of pointy sticks somewhere. yes we in Scotland are totally dependent on that formidable stockpile of armaments to deter those fiendish Ruskies from invading our cricket grounds and disrupt our Morris Dancing associations.
Here’s the thing pal, England-as-UK has precisely NOTHING that would make Russia – or any other country – want to invade it. Z.E.R.O
Ah. The Trump school of political debate. Do you spend your nights composing AI memes for people you dislike, too? Scotland has endured nothing worse from England, since, say 1800, than the industrial and agricultural sectors of England itself have. You might even say (of course you wouldn’t dream of doing so!) that the incompetence and failure of the ’45 rebellion created the conditions for social and economic improvement of Scotland’s condition. The Scottish Enlightenment happened under the Hanoverians. (descendants of an invasion of England you appear to have forgotten. Clue: by William III, at Brixham)) Stop playing the romantic victim. You’re saying Sturgeon was an example of government superior to Westminster’s – bad as that certainly was? As to being “dominated” by a larger neighbour, you (R.H.) have previously given the impression that you are completely happy to be dominated by Russia – which will be the major power in Europe if that uneasy alliance crumbles. Look to history for the flaws in that belief. And stop channeling Robert the Bruce. He was a bloody Norman, ffs.
Komodo , you were right first time you commented , being english , Scottish independence is not for you to decide and we do not want your opinions they are pointless , you have your own country and should stick to commenting about the disasters happening there
Rubbish.
Scottish independence affects the whole of the UK, so much as it pains you we all have a right to comment, just as we all have a right to comment on USrael, Russia, China, etc. You might like to think your little Scottish bubble is independent of the rest of the planet, but most of the planet has moved on from apartheid type systems.
If you can’t abide democracy you should at least try to mind your manners. A change in the nature of the UK affects us all so we should have a say. If a democratic vote like this was held, Scotland would be so independent it would be passing Pluto by now.
Sorry to go all “Relapsed Agnostic” on you, Komodo but the Hanoverians were not descended from William III who had no offspring, hence why he was succeeded by his wife’s (Mary II) sister, Anne. The Hanoverians were descended from James I’s daughter, Elizabeth.
“Do you seriously believe that you are of any value to Russia beyond fracturing what little unity exists against its aggression?”
The Establishment speaks! We must all be afraid of the big, bad bear, despite the fact that one foreign country maintains armed forces on our soil and another maintains a hold over our government and neither of them are Russia.
Indeed, B, it’s hard to know if people like Mr Dragon ( aka Puff – not very ” magic ” ) actually believe the garbage they come out with, ie the nursery-level propaganda about the ” Russian Threat “; or whether they are just on here to keep that narrative ” live “. I assume, based on a few years of reading BTL here that the majority of readers/commenters are not so easily deceived by such, actually quite pathetic, scaremongering silliness, but I suppose from a propaganda perspective it’s useful just to keep the notion visible: given that there is ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE that Russia has any malign intent towards the UK. That will change of course if Gormless- along with his fellow Euro-Cretins – persists in precipitating direct military conflict with that country.
Previously I would have thought even that mob – the preposterous EUK Blimps & Strangeloves – would never be THAT stupid, ie to provoke war with a nuclear-armed country, but now I’m not so sure they are NOT that stupid. I still think it’s unlikely but, if nothing quite as demented as actually unleashing thermonuclear hell occurs, they will still proceed ” as if ” they are going for all out confrontation: with all the hyped-up hysteria & fearmongering providing pretext for even more restrictions/prohibitions/possibly Conscription ( one tried n tested method of defusing public anger/threat ) and cover for the sheer shitness of whatever shit Political Party’s turn it is to fck-up the U.K.
FWIW I voted AtLS X 2 yesterday; more in hope and as a gesture of support for these Independents 4 Independence than expectation of success – as defined electorally. Every idea/plan starts somewhere and whatever the outcome for the Alliance this time it’s important that it continues; to give some hope for the future
The Daily Mail explained two years ago how Russia will invade western Europe, including Britain, in 2044. They even have a big map with arrows showing how the invasion is going to happen, and everything!
“Long-range missiles strike civilian targets across Europe. Baltic states are invaded. AI-controlled tanks rule the battlefield. As NATO warns of Russian attack in 20 years, a terrifying prediction of how it will unfold”
https://archive.is/nwun2
NATO military officials said so, and they’re official experts on this stuff. Is that not proof enough for you?
As an added bonus, that article also has a big map of how Iran will launch an invasion of Israel, via its proxy forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria (erm…), and Yemen. And they might even nuke the western world:
“Iran, for example, represents a grave threat in the Middle East, with a fearsome military and the resources to develop nuclear weapons – something Gen. Hodges said would likely happen in years to come.”
And of course Iran – being thoroughly evil – would also help the Russians invade Europe:
“In the event of a Russian attack on NATO, it is highly possible that Iran could enter the fray on the side of the Kremlin.”
Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid (or their efforts will have been wasted).
I wonder if McDonald™ Trump is briefed on this stuff directly by NATO officials, or if they just point out the big colourful arrow maps in the Daily Mail (that he can draw on with a Sharpie) – or their TV equivalents on Fux News?
HA! Yes, Justin, our * amazing * ” Security Services ” + Political Caste + MSM Circus Act are all tireless ( ie lacking tires ) in keeping us, um……in a state of perpetual anxiety and paranoia: at least that is the intention; anyone who has been paying attention to the unceasing nonsense put-out by the latter knows – or should – not to give a second’s credence to such blatant propaganda
It’d all be mildly amusing if the YooKay & EU weren’t under effective occupation, by an international crime syndicate of totalitarians & invert totalitarians known succinctly as the Epstein class.
Plus even a Russian occupation regime under “General Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov” would at least have the honest legitimacy of conquest. Instead of the inherit lie, that constitutes the current rank shitebag regime of criminals the benighted British Isles suffer under.
Indeed, U.F
Excuse my intrusion. I’m Russian.
I stumbled upon this blog a long time ago, when Mr. Murray was offering his opinion on the Skripal case, and I’ve spent a lot of time here since then, discussing this and that. I still check in occasionally.
Here’s what the blog homepage looked like today, the latest 4 entries
– Mr. Murray in the hospital;
– historical background on the Venezuelan crisis;
– the British legal system and Palestine;
– the 2026 Scottish elections.
One would expect that none of this can attract a Russian to offer their opinion. However, upon checking this very last entry, I discover that it’s discussing Russia and its potential aggression!
Wow! I would even say wow twice!
Are you familiar with the term self-fulfilling prophecy?
It’s perfectly illustrated in the animated film Shrek.
Someone is simply seeking solitude and a quiet life in his swamp, but the neighbours believe him to be a terrifying ogre. So they come to his house with pitchforks and torches. To make sure that ogres can bite painfully. Something like that.
Well, for the prophecy to be self-fulfilling, just one condition is enough: ban direct dialogue, don’t let the “ogre” express their opinion, treat him as an ogre.
I see this in real life, and you see it too.
All Western diplomacy has simply died.
All sources of Russian voices are banned.
A “straw man” is being constructed in your minds – atraw man is a logical fallacy known since antiquity.
And there are plenty of people willing to be satisfied with this state of affairs.
Excellent comment, Tatyana: your command of English is admirable; I bet none of the Russophobes here and elsewhere have even remotely similar command – or interest in learning – Russian. It’s enough for them to invoke the name that sends tremors of terror down the ( rubbery ) spine of every ” right thinking ” EUK plank and informs every story told to idiots, full of sound & fury, signifying ……infantile credulity …….P.U.T.I.N ( shhhhh! don’t say that name out loud; you’ll frighten the children )
Your point is correct, the entire West * leadership * seems intent- having created the fictional monster of Vladenstein – of materialising this creation into – as you say – a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fortunately, the authors of this boring fantasy are incapable of coming-up with credible ending to their yarn, so it’s likely the Producers will drop the series and there will be no 2nd Season: even the imminent episode, ie the Season Finale, will suffer a drastic decline in viewing figures, as the public interest turns to more entertaining diversions, eg The World Cup.
I hope it gives you some consolation, Tatanya, to know not every person in the West is compliant with/ complicit in the unrelenting Anti-Russia – attempted – mind control 🙂
“Your point is correct, the entire West * leadership * seems intent- having created the fictional monster of Vladenstein – of materialising this creation into – as you say – a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Sadly, I suspect that in three years’ time, the deadline the West has given for Russia to attack the rest of Europe, Russia will still not have actually attacked and the West will have to come up with some trumped up casus belli and do the attacking themselves.
Yes, that’s if the EUK hasn’t completely collapsed – in particular economically, three years hence. Will they be able to keep pumping £/EBillions into Ukraine and impose even more draconian Austerity of the people to pay for massive increase in military build-up spending? They might, they certainly seem unhinged and indifferent to public opinion enough too try; but I reckon it will be extremely difficult to enact/sustain such demented plans in the face of mounting discontent as people’s real costs of living rise dramatically and their standards of living plummet precipitously.
Unless, of course, the last illusion of ” Democracy ” is stripped away and the Psychos That Be go full-on totalitarian; under the pretext of, what else?………” the terrifying Russian threat “, natch. Or maybe it’ll be the even more terrifying ( if that’s possible ) Chinese Threat – more terrifying because when the Chinese win and takeover, say……Clacton-on-Sea, every shop will be turned into a Temu outlet and all the fair English maidens subjected to foot-binding and the men compelled to give up fags and replace them with opium.
Let’s not even contemplate the so-dreadful-it-doesn’t-bear-thinking-about horror of a combined RussoSinoPersianNKorean mass invasion of this Zack Green & Plucked Pheasant Land. Shudder!!!!!!
Tatyana, on youtube: Thomas Röper: “die Schöne und das Biest” , 08.05.2026, German version – original in Russian. T.Röper: German, living in St. Petersburg since the 1990s; frequently on Russian TV stations;
Tatyana.
The west, and the UK specifically, are always coming up with bogeymen to explain why everything is shit. We’ve had Russia, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, China, even the EU, immigrants, antisemites and always Russia. The great mass of people don’t seem to realise that when they cast their vote in the ‘democratic’ circus that nothing actually changes. We have food banks, lack of medical care, falling educational standards, no real jobs, poverty and billions spent on killing foreigners in faraway lands. No political party ever campaigns on fixing these real problems. It’s always let’s spend more on fighting the imaginary bogeyman. The west’s greatest enemy is its governments, always has been.
Correct on every point, Stevie. Look how quickly ” better type of politician ” ( FFS ) Sturgeon joined-in the ” unprovoked Russian aggression ” narrative, stupid bint talking about instigating a No Fly Zone, which, had it happened, would have very likely led to WW3; Yousaf wasn’t FM long enough for his * thoughts * on the issue to be noticed, but subsequent First Monkey – Swinney – was only-too-happy to add ” Scotland’s ” voice to the Russophobic cacophony.
‘coming up with bogeymen to explain why everything is shit’
You are not unique in this regard; our authorities do the very same thing 🙂 This trick is so standard that the phrase “Obama pissed on our doorstep again” has become folklore.
Good luck Craig, I hope that SNP voters remember how you were set up by the SNP hirachial mongers surrounding Mrs. Sturgeon and tarred with can ntempt of court.
I hope they also remember that the same leadership has made claims over ferries that never materialised, sidelining most Scottish isles, because they wanted to stay in charge, rather than accepting Mr. Buchanans offer to renew the whole fleet for approx. 300million.
Good luck to all Allianz candidates, Scotland deserves change, urgently!
The amount of corruption over the ferries is huge, and one only hopes the day doesn’t come when one of them does a reprise of the Herald of Free Enterprise.
Look on the bright side.
Imagine how bad it’d be, if they tried building a bridge.
The SNP has always had a problem with fairies.
Craig the latest on Scotland as a colony.
https://www.decolonise.scot/the-united-nations-has-received-the-evidence-scotland-is-a-colony-and-the-world-now-knows-it-on-report-un-human-rights-council-a-hrc-61-ngo-210/
Christophe Dorigné-Thomson makes the same point again and again (that the IPSLA has a big, hairy, Chinese-recognised and internationally-recognised pair o’danglers), and he can rightly be characterised as going off on one. Moreover, given that he refers to Algeria and even cites Frantz Fanon somebody should remind him that the success of the anticolonial struggle in Algeria did NOT depend on the “international community” but on the course of an eight-year war in which as many as 200,000 people were killed.
“Fanon’s analysis can be understood as describing the moment at which the colonial relationship is recognised and named for what it is, rather than for what the colonial power insists it represents.” Maybe on Dorigné-Thomson’s planet it can. But the large majority of the indigenous population in Algeria who were up against the colonial presence (e.g. not having French citizenship unlike the settlers – and I haven’t even mentioned the concentration camps yet) knew damned well what the colonial relationship was, without it having to be named by intellectuals or lawyers. [1]
That said, I gotta express some respect for the idea of sticking it up the British government in a lawyerly fashion as well as in other ways. F*ck their so-called legitimacy on both sides of the border.
Note
1) Then there’s the question of Martinique. Martinique is obviously a colony if anywhere is. Interestingly together with Guadeloupe it was one of the places where the struggle against the rulers’ Covid bullshit was strongest. See the history wityh chlordecone.
I like the way he frames Faslane, though. Serious suggestion: how about comparing this to the French colonial state’s use of “French” Polynesia for nuclear testing?
Jacques Chirac, when asked why he was exploding nuclear weapons in Polynesia rather than in France, replied “But we ARE doing it in France!”
Are the Greens the most white-skinned of all the main parties?
Deputy leader is a Muslim. In my white-majority ward two of their three candidates are Asian women, staunch against genocide and neoliberalism. Can you claim the same for Lammy, Shabana, Kemi, Rishi, Suella, Kamala, Barack and co?
Yes but are they the whitest main party? In many pictures of groups of them, they look like a milkbottle enthusiasts’ convention.
What’s your point ? Are you now jumping on the anti white bandwagon ?
That both on what most people see as the right and on what most people see as the left, there has been a haemorrhaging of voteshare away from the main traditional party (the Tories, who have several highly visible non-whites in leadership positions including the current leader and her immediate predecessor, and whose voteshare has plummeted; and Labour, who have long been multiethnic, ditto) to parties which are far whiter (Reform and Green).
In the case of the Greens, it befits a Malthusian operation such as theirs to support “assisted dying”, as they do.
They are just a bunch of paid-for politicians. Whilst I support their policy of banning all blood sports, I gotta observe they don’t say they would ban vivisection and harmful animal experimentation on Day 1, policies I’d also support. Those who genuinely care about the human species and our place in nature think these things are important.
Sorry, maybe I’m thick but I read that several times and I’m struggling to make much sense of it !
Are you saying that a party that has candidates that “look like a milkbottle enthusiasts’ convention” is an issue in the UK ? A country that is actually over 81% white and over 46% Christian.
I mean, I wouldn’t go to Africa and say all the candidates look like ‘a Coal Board enthusiasts’ convention’. See how it looks ?
Early results…one result in …but it looks like the curse of Swinney is back. Why SNP members thought endorsing a man, who in his younger days as leader, nearly killed the party off, is a mystery known only to the SNP. From 21 years ago :
Swinney stands down as SNP leader –
Mr Swinney, only in the job for four years, recently insisted he would go on to lead the Scottish nationalists into the next Holyrood elections in 2007, but this morning fell on his sword after disastrous election results led to a loss of confidence from MEPs and party convenors.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/jun/22/scotland.devolution
SNP MSPs clearly only endorsed him to smother various scandals enveloping the party. In their own words to ‘steady the ship’… he was only meant to step in temporarily. Alex Salmond and Sturgeon(as awful as she turned out to be) were at least commanding figures, with a mastery of media presentation. Swinney just turns people off politics.
With more results in, it looks like I jumped the gun and they are holding on. My bad.
What I said about the SNP needing a more charismatic leader to sell their vision of independence; someone who can recreate that buzz Salmond generated in 2014’s referendum, stands though. Such a shame Sturgeon wasted so much time on petty vendettas.
The results for Edinburgh Central are here.
Scottish Green gain from the SNP.
Better luck next time, Ambassador.
Western Isles constituency result:
Labour 4665
SNP 4511
Reform 1625
Liberal Democrats 812
Conservatives 594
Alliance to Liberate Scotland 159
So if the ALS hadn’t stood and all its voters had voted for the other pro-independence party, the SNP, the constituency would have sent a pro-independence representative to Holyood rather than a unionist (oops, pro-colonialist). Clearly some highly skilled gaming of the system went on…
Is this where Lagavulin comes from?
The people behind why the votes lay over night.
https://www.emb.scot/us/us-1/3
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25580092.explained-scottish-parliament-election-count-wont-overnight/
Interesting.
“Explaining the decision, Malcolm Burr, Convener of the EMB, said: “Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers in this country have a history of delivering results in which voters, candidates and our institutions can have full confidence. The Directions I make today, with the full support of ROs and EROs, will protect that reputation, promoting resilience and giving clarity to voters and candidates across Scotland about how the election processes will be run.” ”
Someone should tell this dickheaded law graduate that if there’s full confidence in a way of doing something, replacing it isn’t necessary to protect its reputation. If he duckspoke any more, he’d add the “climate crisis” into his list of reasons.
“Malcolm Burr, Chief Executive and Returning Officer of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, was appointed Convener of the Board in July 2018, taking over from Mary Pitcaithly OBE, the Board’s the first Convener. Malcolm has been Chief Executive in Western Isles since November 2005. He was previously Assistant Chief Executive and Depute Returning Officer of Orkney Islands Council and began his career in Legal Services (including Elections) in Strathclyde Regional Council. Malcolm is a former Chair of SOLACE Scotland, the representative body for Local Government Chief Executives, and is currently a member of the First Minister’s Standing Council on Europe.”
Pity any parents whose offspring say they want to be able to write that kinda thing about themselves when they grow up. Maybe his father was a lawyer or something. If he was, he probably hoped Malcy would make it in private practice….
Why did Burr stayed on as returning officer in the Western Isles even after he resigned as chief executive?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5jqw3q7djo
All the parties cheat, including the patently obviously super-corrupt SNP, but I’m beginning to think there may be something in the idea that there’s especially powerful establishment cheating by unionists….
Yes Goose colonies are always subjugated to rigging on voting days – the Brits have decades of experience on this and have refined their technique using country’s such as Kenya – which like Scotland has many co-opted (gatekeepers).
There won’t be another indyref, what will happen is that Scotland will declare UDI at some point after Scotland is declared a colony, however those gatekeepers at Holyrood will need to be removed once and for all – Scotland now has a powerful ally at the UN in China, they are on our side with regards to decolonising Scotland.
I’d imagine the shower of self-serving corrupt MSPs at Holyrood, will piss-off so many Scots over the next five years that – their removal is inevitable.
Spooks Gallery from their profiles…and shows how the appointments of executive roles in councils to folk who have no connection to that city.is also political and controlling and malign…Edinburgh for examples as been gutted….these are all undemocratic policies that see generation after generation of able bright and innovative Scots kept from having any agency or benevolent contribution to their communities and without work that befits their talent, economically excised from their own communities that they understand and belong to culturally leaving a vacuum.
I see Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch are about to announce their results.
History: John III Comyn of Badenoch was Guardian of Scotland. He was killed by, among others, Robert the Bruce.
As the English establishment appear to be promoting a reform (national front in suits, lower caps intentional) style of governance, the Bonnie Prince needs to get it right this time. Fully support Scottish and Welsh independence for existing reasons stated by those who live under English tyranny.
Experience has shown that the Scots/Welsh establishment will ensure that independence is never achieved. The gravy train rolls on, the people vote and nothing changes.
Pro-inde majority reached an hour ago, after the Greens won two list seats in Glasgow.
BBC Scotland will be pleased lol.
Some speculation on Wales, as Plaid Cymru don’t have a majority. May be best to opt for minority rule if the Greens + LD won’t join. Then dare Labour to vote with Reform.
I noticed the SNP’s Angus Robertson lost his seat to a Green, Lorna Slater, something that Craig may have had a chuckle at?
Although, Lorna Slater was obsessed with gender self-ID and threatened to bring down the coalition govt in a confidence vote rather than drop the hugely unpopular policy. Iirc the whole debacle triggered Humza Yousaf’s resignation with Swinney stepping in to reassure the Greens and keep their Bute House Agreement alive.
That was in May 2024. Wow, just think had the Scottish govt fallen then, In early 2024. Labour were at the height of their popularity and would’ve almost certainly won an early Holyrood election with the SNP in turmoil. I think everyone here would agree, that in hindsight, that move by Swinney and the SNP to get to May 2026( today), with Labour having two years in power to become deeply unpopular, well, it looks like a very sensible decision indeed.
Goose.
There’s been a pro-indy majority at Holyrood for the last decade – this time around Swinney has once again said if there’s an indy-majority, he’ll go cap in hand to Westminster and ask for a S30.
RoS
Yeah I know. Frustrating that the SNP, feel they have to ask permission like some kid getting a signed letter(S30) from a parent to go on a school trip. The party has so many people seemingly comfortable with devolution. A leading SNP figure, Pete Wishart even got the nickname, ‘comfy slippers’. And SNP friendly journos produced guff like this : SNP leadership: Please stop abusing political pros as ‘careerists’
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/viewpoint/23411061.snp-leadership-please-stop-abusing-political-pros-careerists/
Now that N.Ireland and Wales have as the largest parties, those seeking independence, maybe form a powerful multiplier of three?
——-
And another thing…. If the notorious ‘men in grey suits’ are going to pay Starmer a visit to ask him to resign, it’ll be over the fact his unpopularity is jeopardising the integrity of this Broken disUnited Kingdom.
The establishment will be horrified by the results : Wales going Plaid is a nightmare for Labour’s prospects in the GE too. This after N.Ireland has gone SF. But in England the Greens finished second, this is an astonishing rise; the left do have somewhere else to go. What will happen now in my view, is the establishment will try to divide the Greens, using BS ‘antisemitism’ accusations, the likes of Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns plus Caroline Lucas already seem to be gullible enough to fall for it, as we’ve already seen. Polanski got 85% in the leadership contest though, so their arguments are moot,. The Greens membership is also 230,000 plus they can’t argue with the electoral results.
Goose.
Another five years wasted by the corrupt and London-centric political parties at Holyrood, its utterly unacceptable, apparently Holyrood is so bad now that a foreign student on a three-years visa has now become a MSP – along with some 6ft 4″ coloured bloke from England who dresses as a woman, the next five years is going to be far worse than the last decade, Holyrood is now a place for self-serving careerists with their own agendas, I’ve also no doubt that there has been some sort of vote rigging in the Scottish colony, especially with the votes lying overnight, and with the likes of the HIghlands & Islands taking an extraordinary amount of time to count the votes.
The Greens did well in England – but the Greens in Scotland are different animal, they spout concern for the environment -but that is a cover, one candidate (I don’t know if she got in) didn’t want anyone to go to prison, underneath – the Greens are utterly obsessed with gender identity – and furthering it in anyway possible.
Starmer’s Labour party got thrashed and rightly so, he thinks he might now be vulnerable and he is, so he’s brought in the ultimate Scottish Judas – the Messiah Gordon (the pledge) Brown (Special Envoy for Finance) and Harriet Harmen for (women and girls) the former sold UK gold for a pittance, the latter had lets say had a controversial time over (PIE) now she’s the “Special Envoy” for women and girls.
RoS
It’s the very same constituency Craig stood in. I didn’t realise my bad, apologies. He didn’t get so many votes but he didn’t campaign(due to health problems). And mixing it with big established parties, with lots of paid advertising and canvassers, is never easy. Typically, the only time independents win, is if they’re say a GP running against a hospital closure or some such pressing local issue.
On your other point. Yes there is the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) . The Scottish Greens have a separate, autonomous leadership. Although the Scottish Greens voted in early 2026 to strengthen the links with the English Greens. On what you said, this comes after the ‘ 2022 decision to distance themselves over disputes regarding transphobia’. Of all issues, are arguments about gender recognition worth collapsing govts over? Especially when doing so risks bringing to power parties for whom it won’t be a priority at all?
The Liberal Democrats, are a true federal party, acting as an umbrella organization that unites separate state parties in England, Scotland, and Wales.
Goose.
So the Greens in England and Wales look like they’re going the same way as the Scottish Greens, the Greens in Scotland are a Scottish party as is the SNP – the others are London branch offices, the foreign Electoral Commission, in England describes Scottish Labour as a (OIM) of London Labour, meaning a Optional Image Mark, every politician at Holyrood and Westminster along with the media knows they are NOT a Scottish party yet they keep the pretence going to dupe Scots into believing that we are in a union when we are not.
Also sickening is that every MSP – and Scottish MP knows about the Claim of Right yet they dare not mention it – these people are traitors to Scotland we know it and they know it, but again the pretence from them and the foreign MSM goes on.
Yet again Murdo Fraser a Tory at the London branch office in Scotland has been re-elected – but as usual not directly re-elected he’s been at Holyrood for 32 years without ever being directly elected – Holyrood is utterly captured by parties that answer to London – the capital of a foreign country, what’s needed is for it to be cleared out on decolonisation and UDI declared.
Blair appointed Hodge as minister for children, and now Starmer has Harman as his adviser on women and girls. The contempt for any memory that people might have of real politicians’ real records is extreme here. Just as even moderates should surely draw the line at genocide, the same applies to the rape of children, no? I mean can people of principle seriously not agree that such types are unfit for consideration for roles in the field of child protection? If anybody doesn’t get this, maybe start by asking yourself what message is being sent to victims.
Stevie boy.
Correct.
Scots, and if the Welsh are also up for it – will need to take their independence, regardless of their colonial admins.
@Alan – Can you explain your concepts please. I know how I use the term “national front” with lower case “n” and “f” (cf. “government of national unity”, or in Germany the “grand coalition” that long pre-dated the “firewall”), but what do you mean by this term when written in this style? Also what is a “reform style of governance”, what has it got to do with a lower-case national front, and who is the “Bonnie Prince”? (Surely not John Swinney?)
Can we access regional vote numbers at ward level? Or constituency level? Given that I may well have been the only voter in the ward, or perhaps even the constituency, to vote for the Workers’ Party, it would be nice to be able to check that their vote tally wasn’t recorded as zero. (The fact that I received no poll card bugs me somewhat.)
While it was bold to claim that SNP supporters voting Green on the regional list
it has just been proved wrong by Greens picking up constituency seats (by some thousands of votes margin). One doesn’t have to appreciate the philosophical Problem of Other Minds to reject the idea of reading the minds of voters. It isn’t good political science, which relies on empirical fact. Voting patterns have moved on. And anyway, many Green supporters don’t have a constituency candidate.
European Greens have approved a joint statement inviting the UK to rejoin the EU, although they don’t specifically mention Scotland.
Another relevant political movement is republicanism in the UK, which might force a codified constitution before any aligned cause, and it would be stupid for the Scottish Independence movement to miss out on that, whatever the SNP position on royalty is.
“Republicanism in the UK”? You could have used a different preposition in that phrase, to make things clearer.
I think republicanism in the UK is the correct phrase, although I don’t support an elected head of state as a replacement, unlike the Republic campaign. Essentially the hereditary monarchy of the British Empire retains a form of private government (hence the Privy Council and other features that bypass Parliament, draconian and increasing Royal secrecy, and so forth). I doubt an elected head of state will be much better, even if we get rid of a dynasty, and it would be someone beholden to the USAmerican Empire (probably, at this stage). A truly public form of government would have to demilitarise, certainly give up nuclear weapons and military alliances, and decolonise. But removing the monarchy is such a fundamental root-and-branch step that a new, codified political constitution would be the only logical step forward, in which membership of the new polity should be optionalised.
“I doubt an elected head of state will be much better, …”
Indeed, if Britain had been a republic, it’s pretty likely that we would have had President Thatcher followed by President Blair.
@Bayard, maybe not, if something like the two-round French Presidential voting system was employed: we might have had President Paddy Ashdown. Some electoral systems are geared towards the least unpopular choice. But politicians have been unpopular in the UK for a long time, and maybe some other profession would have greater appeal. Again, people-centred politics is not my recommendation.
“@Bayard, maybe not, if something like the two-round French Presidential voting system was employed: we might have had President Paddy Ashdown.”
Given the way that British politics is set up, the most likely option for the presidency would be some sort of shoo-in for has-been Establishment politicians, like the House of Lords with an elective fig-leaf attached. In an ideal world we would have had Paddy, but realpolitik suggests we would have had Maggie or Tony or both.
How hard did you try to understand my meaning? You sound like an AI bot. The UK is a political regime in a country. Republicanism opposes that regime. Suggest “against” as a better preposition. You can also have “under”, I suppose. But since I am a republican, I prefer words that best delegitimise what I’m fighting against, and which don’t only conceptualise its replacement using sophomoric political science speak. Remember what happened in the Australian referendum for how to fail at getting rid of the monarchy. We’re talking about undermining, fighting against, abolishing, and replacing the UK here. Put that up front. We’re not talking about operating “in” it as if it were an area with borders or a country with a regime in it. Don’t legitimise people’s belief in this crap.
England has been a republic since 1688.
Since 1649 surely? It’s a great position not to accept the legitimacy of the re-establishment of monarchy in 1660, upon which (among other crimes) the Stuart family set up the Royal African Society of slave traders.
THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND HAVE SPOKEN.
Have they, what did they say?
THEY SAID……” Mediocrity; Corruption; Bungling Incompetence & Betrayal of First Principles Are Ok With Us ”
ah! ok, so will Jellyfish Swinney even bother with the now ritualised ” Telling The Jocks To Fuck-Off ” pas-de-deux of Scotgov asking, ever so politely, if * we * can have a Referendum-type thing – not, y’understand because * we * ( the snP Management ) actually want one, au contraire if one was ” permitted ” the latter would in all likelihood crap their nappies – and being told be the Senior Management in Londinium to, as stated…..FUCK OFF. Which Spineless will be ever-so-happy to oblige, then to scuttle back to Mute House and stash the whole Scottish Independence irritant back in the bottom drawer for another 5 years: or whenever the next G.E – the one that will install Man Of The People – Nige Farge – into #10 occurs
One day someone may write a book called ” When Spineless Met Gormless “. It will be a slim tome, more a pamphlet really, or even a flyer. In fact, it may not even be one of those meagre offerings but a footnote in, eg The Twitchers Almanac. This footnote will say something like…..” the day Spineless met Gormless was rainy and quite windy; it may have been a Wednesday, possibly in October ”
I imagine, though you were probably not surprised by the result, Craig, that you may nonetheless be a little disappointed; if so, hope that feeling passes asap. In the end, amigo, the cliche is accurate….” it wasn’t you, it was them “. If the majority of Scottish Independence supporters can’t see further than the snP and insist on giving that mob both votes – in the process allowing more Unionists to * win * seats in Holyrood – so be it, let them bask in the certain knowledge that NOTHING will change on the Constitutional front and they can enjoy being patronised, gaslit and subjected to even more idiocy for another 5 years.
” wha’s like us ” ? not many, not many that ovine and so easily, willingly duped.
No surprise but the dishonorable Starmer pose as clueless why he lost, the elephant in the room is of course his ironclad support for Israel. Why would any sensible person support a person that actively support a genocide? Not to mention, Israel’s war ruin the economy, bringing up the prices all over the board and it is the people at the bottom, Starmer’s alleged voter base, that will feel the most brunt for years, decade to come.
Labour could easily have run on a more left-leaning platform to establish itself as a real alternative to the rising far-right politics.
With the horrible result, one should today ask those in Labour that was part of slandering and ousting Corbyn: was it worth it?
Sir Keir is going to set out his ‘values and convictions’ in a speech on Monday.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26092527.keir-starmer-set-values-convictions-following-defeat/
That will be a short speech. “Attacking Russia, supporting Israel”, what else can he say?
There will surely also be something about “Looking forward, not backward”, reference to an immense pride in being British, and doubtless a commitment to “Stay the course” as demanded by the electorate.
Are we assuming Starmer won’t be called as a witness in the ongoing trial of alleged rent boys at the Old Bailey>?
What do you think? If Stürmer is called as a witness, it will be in camera and we will never know.
You forgot ‘aboiishing trial by jury,’ the archaic principle that is holding back legal reform. Which links with criminalising public support for Palestine to prop up Zionism. Opening a second front in the war against Russia was also part of his remit so there is still work to be done before he departs. Once these structures have been advanced then Wes Streeting can be installed to work on the modernisation of the NHS.
Bayard
May 9, 2026 at 17:08
You meant to say “Supporting Ukraine, supporting Israel”.
For the avoidance of doubt, Ukraine deserves support, Israel doesn’t.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Ukraine deserves support….”
Donbas yes, US putsch regime nazis no.
” US putsch regime nazis ”
Who they?
“You meant to say “Supporting Ukraine, supporting Israel”.”
No I didn’t, because I realise that not every issue is binary: it is possible to support Ukraine without attacking Russia and possible to attack Russia without supporting Ukraine. Well, it is for most people who use their brain for actually thinking about things rather than retrieving prejudices from storage and broadcasting them.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Ukraine deserves support, Israel doesn’t.”
Only because Ukraine are only fighting a war because the West told them they would support them if they did, rather than sign a peace treaty and get the Russians out of Ukraine that way, not because there is any virtue in Ukraine as a country, which has the reputation in Eastern Europe that Liverpool has in Britain. Unless you believe that overnight in 2014 all the corruption in Ukraine disappeared, then it is obvious that Ukraine’s government is nasty and corrupt and is only being supported by the West precisely because it is fighting Russia. Once Ukraine stops being useful in this respect, all support will vanish, regardless of what was promised in 2022.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Ukraine deserves support, Israel doesn’t.”
and Iran? Does Iran deserve support?
Bayard
May 10, 2026 at 09:00
” … it is possible to support Ukraine without attacking Russia “.
I agree.
And that is what the Zapad (excluding the US) is doing. Not enough but a lot.
Just as the US supported Britain without attacking Nazi Germany until Hitler declared war after Pearl Harbour.
No Western country is attacking Russia. Do you claim otherwise?
Leaving aside the old nonsense about Ukraine only putting up a fight for its survival because the west told it to (the treaty you refer to required Ukraine’s unconditional surrender, no way the Russians would’ve left) if having a ‘nasty and corrupt’ regime is reason enough to condemn Ukraine then it’s an even greater reason to condemn Iran and Russia. Ukraine comes 104th on the current CPI, Iran 153 and Russia 157.
https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2025
As for being nasty Iran still has the death penalty, which Ukraine abolished in 2000, and last year hanged over 1,600 people including some children for crimes as varied as being gay, apostasy or simply opposing the regime.
But of course as Iran like Russia stands in opposition to ‘the west’ such facts will either be challenged on spurious grounds, denied, excused or simply ignored.
“(the treaty you refer to required Ukraine’s unconditional surrender, no way the Russians would’ve left)
Ah, we’ve moved on. Last time you claimed that no such treaty existed. Do you have any evidence for this claim, apart from the word of the ever-truthful Boris Johnson?
“if having a ‘nasty and corrupt’ regime is reason enough to condemn Ukraine then it’s an even greater reason to condemn Iran and Russia. Ukraine comes 104th on the current CPI, Iran 153 and Russia 157.”
The UK is supporting neither Iran nor Russia so that statistic is irrelevant. In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a difference between “not supporting” “and condeming”.
The UK is supporting neither Iran nor Russia
No but you and your tankie mates are.
Have you any evidence, real evidence, that Zelenski was ready to surrender until Johnson intervened?
“the treaty you refer to required Ukraine’s unconditional surrender”
It can’t have done. Unconditional surrender is just that, surrender without conditions. If there were no conditions, why was there a treaty?
“The UK is supporting neither Iran nor Russia
No but you and your tankie mates are.”
and the relevance of that is?
“Have you any evidence, real evidence, that Zelenski was ready to surrender until Johnson intervened?”
Did I say that he was? If he wasn’t there to tell Zelensky to fight, or to reassure him that if he, Zelensky, decided to fight, the West would support him, what was he there for, a bit of sightseeing in old Kiev? The moment you acknowledge that there was a treaty, you acknowledge that Zelensky had the choice whether to fight or not. He would have been a damn fool if he had decided to go it alone. You have only got to look at the relative sizes of Ukraine and Russia to see that. How long do you think the heroic Ukranians would have lasted without any support from the West?
In any case agreeing to a peace treaty does not necessarily mean surrender, but I forget that you are a Yankie and see everything in binary terms, where “winning ” means total capitulation of the other side and anything else is “losing”.
“Just as the US supported Britain without attacking Nazi Germany until Hitler declared war after Pearl Harbour.”
Not at all like the US supporting Britain in WWII. That was a pure business deal, and it took the UK until this century to pay off the debt. Ukraine, however, has been on the receiving end of multi-billion dollar handouts.
“No Western country is attacking Russia. Do you claim otherwise?”
If you think I was suggesting that Starmer had personally taken a rifle and gone to fight in Ukraine when I wrote “attacking Russia”, you do have a bit of a one track mind. There are ways of attacking that don’t involve tanks and bullets, such as cultural, economic and verbal. How many tanks did Boris Johnson have parked in Parliament Square when he attacked Starmer over Savile in the Commons (and got lambasted by everyone for it, which must have surprised him and which says a lot about how the Establishment works)? Russia was attacked economically by the West long before the 2014 coup in Ukraine and the attacks have continued unabated since.
He hasn’t been convicted yet for supporting genocide, we can only hope 🙂
Zoot.
A online comment with regards to that – sounds about right to me.
“If you’re still having to clarify what your values are 11 years after becoming an MP, 6 years after becoming Leader of the Opposition, and 2 years into being Prime Minister, it’s because you don’t actually have any.”
His fundamental conviction, above everything else, is his old Trilateral instinct — abhorrence of democracy.
That’s been the dominant theme since he appeared as a politician.
First, trying to overturn the Brexit referendum; then destroying Labour’s brief incarnation as a democratic, mass-membership party; now attempting to end trial by jury and public right to protest; handing democratically-accountable public services to foreign vulture capital and scores of Billions of taxpayer money to Ukraine; secretly participating in a genocide hated by the public.
His refusal to go in the face of unparalleled public unpopularity, stating in the Guardian today that he wants to remain in charge for a decade, is just par for the course for this fella.
Zoot.
He showed his true colours long before he became a politician, with the failure at the CPS to prosecute Jimmy Savile, and the clearing of the armed officers (thugs) who blatantly murdered Charles de Menezes – from there on in, he was assured a seat at the table on the gravy train, and the seat was further assured with his undying loyalty to Israel.
Let’s add to that, his role in the persecution of Julian Assange.
Around 42% of votes went to pro-independence parties on Thursday, down from almost 50% in 2021.
And about 16pp of the 58% who voted for unionist parties voted for Reform UK – a one in six share of the voting electorate that accounts for almost the whole of the unionist majority over separatists. If only the common references to “London” and “Westminster” could be replaced by a reference to “Westminster and Dover”!
Starmer talking about bringing in Harman and Brown is pathetic.
Harman was already in anyway (reporting to the foreign minister rather than the PM), and in a period where there’s a lot of interest in Jeffrey Epstein some may recall that Harman called paedophilia a “preference”.
As for Brown, it wouldn’t surprise me if that crook was already in too, and in any case Starmer is saying he’ll get advice from Brown because he’s committed to the future and because Brown is good at spending state money on “defence”, neither of which reason is likely to convince many.
Some media pundits claiming – that Starmer is bringing them in to stop them challenging him for the leadership, and PM position.
Gordon Brown was the PM when the infamous Home Office memo done its rounds,
“It said child victims of Pakistani rape gangs should be seen as prostitutes who are consenting,”
Brown was also in personal contact with the McCanns soon after their daughter Madeleine supposedly “disappeared”.
This is desperation from Starmer. If he wants to make it a triple he can bring in Margaret Hodge.
I’ve read a few articles that claimed Ghislaine Maxwell was also in attendance when it went down, strange how – Kate McCann refused to answer 36 question put to her by the Portuguese police, asked very shortly after Madeline disappeared.
Anyway this man is back on the suspect agenda – and even though he’s a nasty piece of work, I’d imagine he’s the patsy for Madeline’s disappearance.
“The Metropolitan Police are actively seeking to bring Christian Brueckner, the prime suspect in the abduction and murder of Madeleine McCann, to stand trial in the UK”
“Starmer is saying he’ll get advice from Brown ”
=====
The man who famously saved the world after 2008 can surely save Starmer’s skin after last week’s general election.
Note how the national media, with all the stories about Starmer’s position, are desperately trying to hide the abysmal performance of the Tories and Badenoch in these elections, who came fourth or fifth in each nation. I can only assume the powerbrokers can’t have a decent Conservative leader because he or she would then much more effectively take on US-backed Reform, which wouldn’t fit the narrative. No doubt I am too cynical again!
It could well be that Kemi Badenoch was put into position to lose votes – not because she is any direr than e.g. Michael Howard, Iain Duncan Smith, or Rishi Sunak, but because she will lose votes on account of being a black person trying to appeal to Tory voters who are mostly white racists unwilling to listen to anything she says. As for Sunak, I wouldn’t say the same about him because after the Liz Truss heist he probably got there by mistake.
Interesting for the folk of England.
“Labour MP says she is “almost certain” Catherine West will have the 81 MPs she needs to trigger a leadership election on Monday”
Here she is telling the BBC of her intentions.
https://nitter.poast.org/BBCPM/status/2053140970607145366#m
Although Starmer is an absolute c*nt, just look at the possible replacements: milliband, rayner, Burnham ! Does anyone believe substituting one turd for another is going to improve things ? The problems go deeper, it’s not just Starmer, it’s not just labour, it’s the whole British political establishment: corrupt, incompetent and egocentric.
The worst possible outcome would be Miliband, who to paraphrase Jo Rowling is so stupid he doesn’t realise how stupid he is.
“Does anyone believe substituting one turd for another is going to improve things ?”
Unfortunately a great deal of people do believe that. Nothing is going to happen until people realise that the post-war Socialism that gave us the Welfare State is well and truly dead and gone along with the people who lived through the war as teenagers and adults and that we are doomed to repeat the status quo ante, which was “a series of crappy Tory governments” as my mother memorably put it if nothing is done.
A way will be found for Andy Burnham probably, even if it means putting someone else there in the interim.
Sooner they get their way and make him leader the better. Otherwise the delusions will go on forever. Hopes being invested in nothing at all.
Brian Red
One of the main objections to Burnham among many Labour MPs, has been his support for the introduction of a proportionate voting system for Westminster. However, with politics now looking like a five-way fight and Labour facing getting around 20% in a GE, attitudes may soften. I mean, better to keeping 150 MPs under PR than the crapshoot risking no MPs, under FPTP.
I think this self-preservation realisation will kick in among all of them at some point. FPTP can deliver brutal, unrepresentative results. And the idea of Reform winning 70% of the HoC seats on a 27% vote share should be unacceptable to all. it could lead to riots and instability, as so few will have endorsed them.
Good point, so long as FPTP keeps making sure that the right people get elected, the Establishment will cling onto it like a limpet. Once it starts producing the wrong results, it will be discarded. c.f. also referendums.
There’s a very real prospect Reform can amass an insanely large majority from as little a vote share as 25%, maybe HoC seats comparable to Starmer’s two-thirds of the seats from 33%.
FPTP simply can’t handle multiparty five-way splits: Ref, Tory; GRN, Lab, LD and in Scotland, Wales, six-way, with the SNP and PC.
Reform are very right-wing, I don’t think many of their newly acquired supporters realise just how right wing they are. Many would be against their divisive plans. For example, Operation Restoring Justice – they aim to deport up to 600,000 “illegal” migrants over one parliament. It’ll create lots of civil unrest. Especially in areas with diverse communities like London, Birmingham, because they’ll have to deploy their own ICE equivalent. And we’ve sen how that goes down in the U.S.
Judge them by what they actually do as opposed to what they say, to get into power.
Reform’s ‘Operation Restoring Justice’, is equivalent to the SNP’s promise of scottish independence.
“Judge them by what they actually do as opposed to what they say, to get into power.”
I’m sure there were those that said that about the NDSAP in 1930s Germany.
Do Turkey’s vote for Christmas ?
FPTP is rubbish until they get voted in by it, then it’s great.
“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” ?
Starmzki is desperate to survive this rout, his unpopularety being mentioned by many voters. Now watch the Zionists helping to construct a rickety ladder out of this political and judicial morass, todays news, showing his will to fight, was closely followed by the Zionist announcing that something has to be done about anti semitic attacks (they generated by committing genocide and stealing land in Syria and Lebanon). Jabba jabba.
If Labour keeps riding this bloody hobby horse of mega maniacs and Ziocrooks who occupied Palestine and is destroying a whole culture, whilst not realising that the majority of voters want International courts to be recognised, not punished with fascist financial harassment of judges, they want money spent on reducing their cost of living, want a positive plan for our children and grandchildren, not many billions on a war that will lead to more war, with no returns, except some 300k of ‘the right’ refugees who are integrated, get jobs and benefits….instantly.
Mind, the lucky SNP in Scotland, by talking up Independence, has managed to bambuzzle its bonnie voters with the same slogans and manners that has achieved nothing much in the past, ‘just trust us, we know best!’
Speaking of the Zionists.
“Israel reveals its true face.
An Israeli bill to cancel the Oslo, Hebron, and Wye agreements
The Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to discuss today, Sunday, a bill submitted by members of the “Jewish Power” party headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, calling for the cancellation of the Oslo Accords, the Hebron Agreement, and the Wye Agreement.
The proposed law stipulates the annulment of all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian National Authority on one side, and Israel on the other, meaning they would no longer be binding on Israel or any body representing it.
The bill also includes repealing the laws enacted to implement the Oslo Accords and restoring the legal and political situation to what it was before those agreements were signed.”
The Israelis have one agenda, ‘the annihilation of every Palestinian’. Once you realise this then everything else makes sense. There won’t be any negotiations, there won’t be any ‘returns’, there won’t even be any mass deportations. There will only be killing. And every zionist and jew that supports Israel is supporting this agenda. Any other explanation is provably BS.
nevermind
Starmer was put in place to do those things. His replacement will be the same.
Hi,
take care and get well soon !
Kind regards.
jdb
Hantavirus (or is it military public relations?) news:
the monarchist regime is boasting about how its military has interfered on Tristan da Cunha. Meanwhile its media doesn’t even accord the poor soul who is being “assisted” a sex. The person is simply described as “they”. What an insult.
The message is “Wherever you are, we will get you.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hantavirus-army-tristan-da-cunha-parachute-b2973754.html
This stinking article in the Independent mentions the monarchy 11 times.
It’s about time for everyone who wants to be on the left to stop calling Britain “the UK”. How we speak is actually something we can control. So how about we control it? This is very much in the tradition of William Blake who referred in his poem “Holy Thursday” to what is usually called St Paul’s cathedral as “Paul’s”. That wasn’t just for scansion.
Don’t challenge stuff and soon you will find you’re saying “Heil Hitler” instead of “Hello”.
Superb article on Tristan da Cunha by Ian Bone:
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2023/02/08/tristan-da-cunha-the-utopia-that-worked/
“Don’t challenge stuff and soon you will find you’re saying “Heil Hitler” instead of “Hello”.”
“Hail Starmer”, surely.
“The person is simply described as “they”. What an insult.”
Funny, isn’t it? They never say “Their Honour” or “Their Lordship” for a judge, or “Their Royal Highness” or “Their Majesty” for a member of the royal family. Judges, members of the royal family, and members of the titled nobility are always accorded the respect of being recognised as having a sex.
I’ve seen your long-nosed, lop-eared king visited USA and spoke to Congress, asking to support NATO in Ukraine, and Congress applauded him. I’ve also seen his ginger-haired son (is anybody of Windsors is ginger-haired?) visited Ukraine to show support.
My sarcastic observation is not really pointed at Ukraine, as one could expect. I just wonder why people tried hardly to convince me that monarchy in Britain is just decorative, tribute to tradition, with no real influence in state politics.
—
Well, it’s also an opportunity to show you my new avatar 🙂
re ginger hair, not the Windsor’s – but the Spencers, very much so. Diana’s brother Charles Spencer was ginger when a kid (Google it), that’s where Harry gets it from not some rumours about her having affairs.
JDM
It’s not just that, William and Harry are very unalike in terms of personality. The pair may never fully reconcile after that book ‘Spare’, the title being from the ‘An heir and a spare’ moniker. Which was itself a derogatory take on how Charles used Diana purely to produce an heir.
Despite the expensive private education at Eton, Harry left Eton College in 2003 with two A-levels: a B in Art and a D in Geography. And the art A-level a former teacher, Sarah Forsyth, claimed she helped him cheat on his Art A-level, a claim denied by Clarence House.
And that’s how I know I’m not in Russian space, but in the Western one – they’re commenting on the main message of my post!
They literally start talking about the royal family, as if it’s the most important thing to talk about, ever!
Completely ignoring the need to compliment my new avatar, even though the hint to that was more than obvious!
I find this practice vicious, excluding real people from the discussion, depersonalizing, robotic, and simply disgusting 🙂 I need to file a complaint with the Human Rights Court, with a copy to this site’s moderation team – this needs to be improved. Who needs a world
without Russiawithout genuine human reactions?This is a response to the comment from Goose. I remember reading that in addition to their education at Eton College at a cost of over £70000 a year both princes were treated to the services of private tutors, which seems to me to be the academic equivalent of attending the Buckingham Palace garden party and taking along a packed lunch.
If anyone’s interested, here’s my (slightly delayed) round-up of the Scottish Parliament elections – with my customary emphasis on the minor parties:
As expected, the SNP topped the polls in both the constituency and regional ballots, though with significantly reduced vote shares from the 2021 election in each (down 9.5 & 13 percentage points respectively). They now have 58 seats (all but one for constituencies), which is less than needed for an overall majority, so in order to govern they will probably have to come to another agreement with the Scottish Greens, who now have 15 seats. The best performing party was Reform UK, who gained roughly a sixth of the vote in both the constituencies & regions and now have 17 seats, the same as Labour. Elsewhere, the Tories did badly losing 19 seats, whereas the Lib Dems gained six. Approximately 45% of votes were cast for Independence-supporting parties in the regional vote, down from circa 50% in the previous election.
The Alliance to Liberate Scotland / Sovereignty party coalition didn’t make much impression, getting less than 1% of the regional vote. Combined with the vote for the Independence for Scotland party, who left the coalition near the start of the campaign after various issues arose, the grand total for the nationalist ‘ultras’ was 1.3%, significantly less than the 1.7% that the now-defunct Alba party got last time round under the late Alex Salmond. Our host, who stood for them in the Edinburgh Central constituency could only manage 0.4% and was eclipsed by the Independent Bonnie Prince Bob. The only silver lining for him was that the SNP’s Angus Robertson was beaten into third place by the Greens’ Lorna Slater. Things weren’t much better for the ALS in Glasgow despite its regional list being headed by Tommy Sheridan (far on from his early noughties golden years, these days he doesn’t seem to hold much appeal to the swing voter ;-). Its best performer was the ‘gender-critical’ Eva Comrie, who got 3.8% in the Clackmannanshire & Dunblane constituency .
On the far right, the charge was led by the curiously-named Independent Green Voice party, skippered by the Holocaust-denying Alistair McConnachie, which stood in all eight regions and obtained 0.9% of the vote. In the last election, there was speculation that some Green-supporting voters had been misled by its name, and that that had cost the actual Greens two seats. A subsequent Electoral Commission verdict refuted this, which seems to have been vindicated as the party increased its vote share significantly in this election. The far-right tally was augmented by UKIP and Ben Habib’s new outfit, Advance UK, to just over 1% of the regional vote.
On the opposite end of the political horseshoe, the Scottish Socialist Party could only manage 0.4% of the regional vote and, despite his recent Damascene conversion on Independence, Galloway’s Workers Party just 0.1%. The Communists barely registered, with a vote share of just 0.03%. The Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) only stood in a handful of constituencies to negligible effect, whilst Your Party didn’t bother putting up any candidates at all.
Bonus paragraph on the Welsh Senedd election:
This year the real action was in Wales where, under the new party-list electoral system, Plaid Cymru became the biggest party in the expanded Senedd with 43 seats, just six short of an overall majority. Its vote share rose dramatically to 35%. Reform UK also performed similarly well in coming second, gaining 34 seats on 29% of the vote. In contrast, Labour suffered a massive defeat, retaining a mere 9 seats on just 11 [ELEVEN!] % of the vote (remember this is Wales!), and the former Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan lost her seat. It’s all a far cry from the glory days of Mark Drakeford. Elsewhere, the Tories lost more than half of their seats, retaining just seven, the Greens debuted with two, and the Lib Dems managed to hold on their solitary seat in Powys. Among the minor parties, the centre-right Welsh nationalists Gwlad got 0.2% of the overall vote, the Communists just 0.03%, and the Socialist Labour Party & TUSC both polled a mere 0.02%. Again, no Your Party candidates in Wales.
That’s your lot I’m afraid. Might do an English local elections round-up for you either tomorrow or Tuesday if I get time. Finally, in honour of Plaid’s election victory, here’s some Welsh wizardry on the green baize from nearly half a century ago:
https://x.com/ILoveSnooker_/status/2053089165646942422
It’s going to be interesting to compare the performance of Plaid Cymru WRT independence for Wales with that of the first SNP Scottish government WRT independence for Scotland, given that the Welsh seem much more lukewarm on the subject.
Thanks for your reply Bayard. Support for Welsh Independence is currently running at roughly the same level as that for Scottish Independence in 2013 (25-30%). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s entirely possible that Wales will gain Independence before Scotland.
The Starmer effect has effectively wiped out the relatively more progressive social policies that has happened in Wales first under Mark Drakeford’s leadership, unless of course Plaid continue them which is a possibility. Starmer evidently refuses to accept responsibility for the consequences of his own abysmal performance.
Scottish Labour has clearly also suffered from the Starmer effect, though in a lame kind of way.
Starmer seems more concerned about the English local election results than the Wales and Scotland national election results and shows he does not have much of a clue about anything really. But they do provide a springboard for the leap towards independence for those countries because of his ineptitude. How he can cling to office from this and what has gone before beggars belief.
Hilariously, he’s done an interview insisting he wants to be PM for another ten years. Talk about delusional, he’ll be lucky to survive ten days, with the speed at which things are currently moving.
He’s truly a wretched man, who has surrounded himself with wretched people. He not only brazenly lied to become leader, but then seemed to revel in pissing the left off further, who he’d already tricked, by not creating any sort of ‘broad church’ govt – something even Blair managed. He’s appointed every f*cking Blairite he could dredge out of retirement. His delight presenting Mandelson as U.S. ambassador being the latest example. We’ve since been told by McSweeney, that George ‘austerity’ Osborne was on the final-three shortlist with Mandelson. Debate is dead in the party; conference is heavily vetted with last-minute suspensions and other dirty tricks, and conference motions are simply ignored. He is just a nasty anti-democratic piece of work. He’s so bad at politics, so without vision, ideological underpinnnings and purpose, he must be some sort of plant? The fact his wife doesn’t live at No.10 and he’s never pictured with his kids, supports that theory too. As, if you were an establishment plant you wouldn’t want to involve your family in that deception.
Time for a closer look at Andy “Israel has the right to defend itself” Burnham. Will he bring Sacha Lord, Manchester’s “night time economy expert” into Number 10 with him?
All of Starmer’s team were selected by israel and have taken their thirty pieces of silver. Whoever replaces Starmer, assuming that happens, the orders will still come from Tel-Aviv. Nothing will change, it’s the same hand shoved up the arse of another puppet.
Thanks for your reply Crispa. Apart from youthful relationships (likely secured largely on his looks) ending and losing the odd case, Starmer has got to his sixties without ever experiencing failure. He probably genuinely thinks he can turn things around.
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Keeping his kids out of the spotlight is one of Starmer’s more admirable points, Goose, especially after what happened to Blair’s daughter (which, despite it being an open secret in Westminster, we’re still not allowed to talk about).
‘Our host could only manage to get 0.4%’
Well, I wonder what our re lapsed agnostic would fare in any electoral contest whilst laying in bed with a newly fitted pace maker.
Would that same result point to a collapsed agnostic about to join the happy clappy’s?
@ Tatiyana. I once looked like you on the new avatar. Then I was tobogganing/ sledging down snow bound roads in the Harz mountains on my front steering with my boots, I loved it, but you had to wrap yourself up with a few layers of jumpers and a thick coat.
It looks like your winter avatar, btw, I totally agree with you on the royals, they are worker bees/advance propaganda Bumbles who do the work the Government demands of them.
Thanks for your reply nevermind. To answer your questions:
1) We’ll never know for sure but I’d imagine that, provided I had someone to deal with the paperwork and get my free mail-shots delivered to every household in the constituency, I could get well over 0.4% of the vote anywhere in England & Wales (and possibly Scotland) as an Independent just by outlining a policy to open up a massive asylum processing centre on South Georgia, tighten up the asylum laws so that only around a third of claims were successful – rather than the current 75% – as was the case between 2010 & 2018, and deport the unsuccessful back their countries of origin.
2) No.
Have the various contenders for Starmer’s job got any different ideas from Starmer? If not, what’s the point?
There is scant reason for believing there would be any change at all.
Burnham’s biggest booster on the Labour left, Clive Lewis, says the all-consuming aim for Andy must be transforming Britain into a war state, channeling the prevailing militarism of the day.
‘Comprehensive security. Whole-of-society defence. Civilian preparedness woven into military planning.’ All domestic policy, in Clive’s opinion, must be moulded towards achieving this martial nirvana.
https://x.com/labourlewis/status/2053538238384787606
Thanks for this. Warfare state sounds like a big part of it.
What they’re saying about the bond market and how stupid and “illiterate” their opponents are is a heap of crap. If a government massively increases its borrowing, of course it will be more dependent on the bond market. They know they are talking crap about this – this is why they are so touchy on the “Remember Liz Truss” point. This reality can’t be negated purely by saying how much they love the working class – or at least they love workers who are producing a surplus, because if we look closely we can see promises such as that housing benefit ain’t going to rise even nominally.
Now if they nationalised the banks, that would be much more interesting, but of course they aren’t talking about anything like that. They might at some point bail them out, but that’s completely different.
Burnham’s supposed emphasis on the real productive economy and industrial capital is a chimera. Much of the Manchester phenomenon has been bought with investments from Abu Dhabi and elsewhere. He’s a finance capital boy just like all the other creeps in politics.
On a broader level, the image of the current administration under Starmer has been one of a bunch of incompetents, responding to events from one day and week to the next, with no plans whatsoever. This is most reminiscent of the premiership of Theresa May, although there were also big elements of it under other recent Tory prime ministers. (The PM who was in office for longest was David Cameron, who in his valedictory speech claimed gay marriage as one of his greatest achievements. I doubt there were many people about to be kicked out by their landlords who thought “He’s right to be proud – if it weren’t for gay marriage, my landlord would have kicked me out two months ago.”)
This is all likely to change under Burnham. If he turns up when the cops bust a couple of (alleged) crooked immigration lawyers as if he were Winston Churchill at Sidney Street (he’s a no-nonsense Mancunian who tells things how they really are, remember), he could have it made.
The overwhelming pressure on Burnham would come from his donors and the extreme Centre and Right of the Mandelson-McSweeney party. So if the loudest counterweight and ally on the Labour left is urging him to prioritise war and militarism you can sense where it would go.
“Now if they nationalised the banks, that would be much more interesting, ”
If you want to know who really runs the country, you need to look at which sectors of commerce a) escaped nationalisation under Attlee’s government and/or b) got themselves exempt or zero-rated for VAT.
In short Lewis is calling for UK society to become comparably in thrall to what the conservative and former general Eisenhower called the military industrial complex as are the US and Israel, presently uniquely so amongst developed countries
Extreme militarism has very suddenly become the new commonsense in the British political-media class. The Masonification of public life, exemplified by Lewis.
Burnham, yet another zionist taking shekals for his service to Israel.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/05/11/andy-burnham-is-not-the-answer/
Is there anyone in Labour who isn’t a zionist and/or a pedophile ?
Or a Tory..
A party now very much in the image of our sovereign’s chosen mentor Sir Jimmy.
Nobody won an election from the intellectual strength of their ideas. Burnham comes across as strong and knowing how to handle himself, and he speaks with a Manchester accent. Best not to assume that Reform voters in the North of England are especially strong upstairs.
Burnham has also nailed his colours to the mast of increasing government borrowing. That will go down very nicely, thank you, in the City of London, even if they call it “Manchesterism”. Needless to say, Burnham has already pointed out he’s a Cobden man and not an Engels one. As if anyone thought otherwise.
He has also got useful links into “the night-time economy”. They sound as they could come in handy.
There is always the route of asking him to attend cabinet meetings while he’s waiting, as Cameron did with his Eton and Bullingdon Club pal, mayor Johnson.
If Starmer’s bringing in of Brown and Harman is anything to go by – bear in mind that he also brought back Mandelson and how that developed – his speech today could be hilarious.
Okay so the above is more or less where I’m at with Burnham. If anyone else here is seriously looking at him, what do you think of his supposed opposition to deindustrialisation? Chaff in the wind? The guy is by no means stupid and he is probably fully aware that what is badged as “AI” means mass de-employment. He’s unlikely to reopen the Lancashire pits. Is there something big he could put his name on before it all goes Liz Truss?
“he speaks with a Manchester accent”. Only metaphorically. He literally speaks with a scouse accent.