Scotland the grave

March 2024 Forums General discussion Scotland the grave

Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 30 total)
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  • #214800
    Bijou Drains
    Participant

    I don’t know Alan, I seem to recall Adam calling somebody a cult, or maybe I misheard😇

    #215138
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    The Internal Feud That May Doom Scottish Nationalism



    Much of this venom is driven by a desperate effort to damage the SNP before the May election for the Holyrood parliament in which, at the time of writing, the SNP is set to win a narrow majority. It would interpret this as giving it a popular mandate for demanding a second referendum on independence. Since the popularity and competence of Sturgeon is the SNP’s biggest asset at the polls, anything damaging to her – even if it does not destroy her politically – could stall the advance towards a pro-independence vote.

    #215588
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster
    #215595
    PartisanZ
    Participant

    No class struggle there then? Just sweat and hard labour.

    #215868
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56482881

    The Scottish government has published draft legislation for the holding of a second independence referendum.

    The legislation proposes using the same yes or no question as in 2014, with the date to be decided by MSPs.

    And, of course, we will be reviving our answer from 2014…

    I foresee not as much interest such as less registration to vote from the 2014 record numbers and more abstentions from the 2014 record turn-out.

    But i might be wrong. Perhaps romantic notions of an idyllic past will prevail

    #216012
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Craig Murray faces jail for contempt of court

    Murray Found Guilty of Contempt

    #216101
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    In almost a repeat of the the Scottish Socialist Party’s split caused by claims of who told lies, Salmond starts a new nationalist party – Alba – to stand in the proportional elections as list candidates.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/mar/26/alex-salmond-launches-new-independence-focused-political-party-alba

    #216349
    PartisanZ
    Participant

    Below makes no difference to us, but it is still a different take on the usual media stuff.

    While Scottish independence would have immediate economic costs, history suggests there are long-term benefits.
    By contrasting Scotland and England to the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic’s ‘Velvet Divorce’, Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott and Geoffrey Chapman suggest that an independent Scotland will continue growing real GDP per capita despite higher trade costs.

    In light of the ongoing challenges facing the UK, the idea of Scottish independence seems unpalatable to many, but the news implies strong support.

    https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/scottish-independence-cost/

    #216350
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    What i find galling, Matt, is all those left-nationalists who always go on about internationalism but are justifying independence because Scotland is more or could be more prosperous than other regions in the UK if it goes it alone.

    They are happy to desert our fellow-workers in England to fight their own battles against the austerity policies of right-wing Tories and Labour parties weakened by no contribution from Scottish workers, who most likely would be rubbing their hands in anticipation of taking advantage job-wise of their English fellow-workers misfortunes.

    Where is their spirit and sense of solidarity? Have they forgotten their own chant, you and i heard so many times…’United the Workers Cannot be Defeated’.

    #216700
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Serial party-founder, George Galloway, launches a unionist party, All for Unity, which will stand candidates in all eight regions of the country.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_For_Unity

    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56662415

    His fellow members include UKIP and Tommy Robinson supporters

    Sleep with dogs and get fleas, as they say

    #216827
    PartisanZ
    Participant

    Another (poor I think) L.S.E. post.

    Kieran Wright shows how Scottish Labour adopted a less left-leaning justification for its stance on the constitutional issue in the years after the party lost power to the Scottish National Party. Consequently, the party failed to present itself as a clearly left-of-centre alternative to the SNP and downplayed the progressive case for Scotland remaining in the UK.

    https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/scottish-labour-fmqs/

    #216992
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/17/scotland-norway-denmark-independent

    ‘Scotland 2070’ is a glowing prediction of an independent Scotland, rich beyond your dreams. Scotland as Scandinavia

    With the Arctic melting and the new east-west sea route that will open up off the northern coasts of Russia, shortening the traditional voyage via Suez between Yokohama and Rotterdam by nearly 5,000 nautical miles.

    Orkney’s Scapa Flow could be filled again with shipping as “a container port and transit facility to rival Singapore”

    “Within 25 years,” they write, “Scotland will be on the doorstep of a major new global trading passage and a new economic region in the Arctic.”

    5bn new trees;
    new farming techniques that reduce the atmosphere’s carbon content; exporting renewable energy and technology;
    transforming Scottish industry by doubling university spending on research and development.

    Scotland is portrayed as successful and progressive as Denmark.

    Strange when it comes to comparisons, no mention that Denmark was a participant in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and that today anti-immigration policies are being evoked.

    Once it was the Celtic Tiger of Dublin, the nationalists wanted to emulate. Now it is the Viking Capitalism

    #217186
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    IIRC, back in 2014 for the Scottish independence referendum, Matt and i drew attention to the success the nationalists were having with convincing migrant residents to vote for separation.

    The nationalists have always argued that they seek a more relaxed immigration policy to stem the gradual de-population of Scotland and many of the Scottish local councils have welcomed asylum seekers.

    It seems this open attitude to migration has been paying rewards for the SNP. A Kurdish refugee is standing as candidate in the Holyrood elections.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/23/the-kurdish-refugee-candidate-battling-for-scottish-independence

    #217737
    PartisanZ
    Participant

    It looks like Salmond’s ego has taken another bruising.

    During a fairly intemperate YouTube broadcast on Saturday afternoon, in which he hit out at “weirdos and cranks” in the media and accused Sturgeon of “losing her nerve” over a referendum, Salmond warned that Alba would be “much more vigorous post-election [and] free to criticise the lack of urgency and immediacy on independence”.

    How many will be listening is another matter.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/09/while-salmond-tanked-pro-unionist-tactical-voting-made-its-mark-in-scotland

    #217870
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    Where was the SSP rump, where was the Sheridan’s Solidarity

    I’m struggling to find how how they fared.

    UPDATE, Weekly Worker has a report

    https://www.weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1347/the-politics-of-denial/

    SSP did not stand a single candidate. Truly pathetically, its leader, Colin Fox – formerly of the Militant Tendency – justified the party’s absence from the battlefield on the grounds that it does not have sufficient resources.

    Sheridan advocated a vote for the SNP and Alex Salmond’s Alba Party

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