Alibi

My membership of the SNP has, I think, run out. I haven't bothered renewing so far as I have no intention of going to branch meetings or being active, at least until we are doing something to progress indy. Since about 2017 the SNP has been a disaster, loony policies that few want. The GRR has been an unmitigated disaster and is a large part of the reasons behind support for the SNP dropping. I'm sure that is not an accident. Anyway I think I'll remain politically homeless for now, although it's not so much homeless as coming home and finding a bunch of squatters in my house. And today I read about Alister Jack and Douglas Ross proposing to fund things in Scotland directly rather than going through the Scottish government - if that's not tearing up devolution, what is? I am waiting to hear any real protests from our governing party, or indeed from any Scottish opposition parties - suspect I'll be waiting a long time for that useless fuckwit Yousaf to grow a spine.

Read about it somewhere a few months ago but can't recall where - the line was that rather than adopt an existing scheme that worked, she wanted to to do it her own way. In my own view if there is a working scheme anywhere (I think Germany has one) why not just copy that rather than start from scratch. Based on my own household, there is no chance that any coke can will ever reach one of these recycling machines without being crushed in the middle. Where are you meant to store loads of uncrushed cans at home so that they can be scanned in? The council bin collection scheme seems to be far simpler and much more convenient.

He opposes the deal with the Greens. He thinks Lorna Slater has made a right royal mess of the DRS. Hard to disagree with him tbh, she did. In my view actually, it would have made sense to discuss such a scheme with governments in England & Wales, and NI possibly, to agree a joint strategy given that all the nations tend to be dealing with the same problem. It might not have been possible to negotiate an agreed approach, but it would have been worth trying. We have the right to do things differently, but if we had a sensible scheme maybe others would have joined in rather than reinventing the wheel. Taking the logic further, our scheme should have been nicked from a European nation that has such a scheme in place, possibly with local adaptation to suit our own circumstances. from what I hear, Slater tried to start from scratch. No wonder nobody has any confidence in her.

Deleted as re-posted by accident.

Really? So why the fuck did they vote for it? Why did they not support any of the amendments, at least the ones that were worthy of support? Most of them bent the knee and voted as they were told to. I for one don't want an MSP who doesn't have the guts to stand up for what they actually believe, especially when they must have known that this issue was controversial to say the least, never mind that most folk who actually took an interest in the matter were opposed to it, either in full or in part. Had Sturgeon been able to get away with expelling them, I don't doubt she would have.

The SNP is meant to be about indy first and foremost. If anyone thinks GRR is a ridiculous clusterfuck and refuses to adhere to the ridiculous mantra that "transwomen ARE women", it shouldn't make a blind bit of difference as far as their qualities as a candidate are concerned. I'd wager that more than half of current SNP MPs and MSPs do not actually think TWAW but they just daren't express that view publicly on pain of excommunication. Whereas with other less controversial policies some leeway is often allowed.

It is indeed, but seems to be what happens when you don't toe the line on the things that matter to the leadership - like GRR. As a member (until my membership runs out in a few days at least) I am repeatedly appalled at what the SNP has become. Mindless acceptance of any edicts handed down from the top or you will be hounded out. What happened to the independence party that I used to know? Worst thing Salmond ever did was hand unfettered control over to Sturgeon. We need a revolution.

Wings produced the wee blue book in 2014 ffs. He's not against indy, he's against the stupid unpopular shite that the SNP has been pushing since Sturgeon took over. The real question here is why Sturgeon and her cronies decided to fuck things up when they had everything going for them. Is their GRR obsession really worth it or is that just a wrecking ball tactic?

I don't entirely disagree; However a majority of MPs in a FTTP vote was accepted as being what was required - the difference being that at that time the establishment parties believed that it was an impossible target to reach. Simply put, rule britannia, britannia waives the rules. If we ever got another referendum and support was at 70% in the polls, they would make it a 90% threshold. They will do whatever it takes to prevent indy - up to and including killing people.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Yousaf isn't very bright. It used to be the case that a majority of MPs was accepted as being the threshold for independence but the goals keep getting moved to make indy as unachievable as possible. Unlike PapofGlencoe I wouldn't change sides but the strategy needs to be better defined, and with clarity. What threshold in a general election would be acceptable? We can be sure that even if we got 50+ % of the votes, Westminster wouldn't co-operate. They will never co-operate.

I think when we get to the point of actually being able to vote on it, he will vote for indy. Criticising the utter clusterfuck that the SNP leadership are making of the whole thing at the moment is a reasonable reaction. I do it myself. However when it comes down to it, we who actually want indy will all be voting Yes.

My view is that indy takes priority and should not come with any rigid policy conditions attached - we can decide everything for ourselves after indy. In particular although I am very pro-Europe, I believe that our relationship with Europe post-indy should be a matter for the electorate to decide, whether EU, EFTA or outside. At the first post-indy election, we can elect whichever party or parties we judge to have the best policies. I think in Wings' case, he has judged that the current and recent leadership of the SNP have put things other than indy at the top of their priority list, and it's hard to disagree given the pernicious attitude of the wokerati who seem to want to link indy directly to LGBT etc. issues and who seem to have captured the previous FM and bound her to their cause for whatever reason. Why that has happened is the million dollar question but without a doubt it has caused immense harm to the indy movement, at least in the short term. for reasons for all this, probably, as usual, follow the money.

Yes, fair point that it is James Kelly doing the misrepresentation, but on reading the Wings article it doesn't actually say what Kelly is claiming - he is embellishing and distorting for his own ends. Campbell specifically states that he would never vote no (not that he has a vote due to where he currently resides). For Kelly to claim that Campbell is now a unionist is spectacularly missing the points that Campbell makes in his article. Rather than a unionist, he is a very pissed off indy supporter, much like many of us really.

I went to look at the Wings article to which that blog post refers, and it does not say that Stu Campbell opposes independence; it says that if the wokeist nutters were in charge of an indy Scotland, it would not be a pleasant place. Hard to disagree with what he writes frankly. I think you are wilfully misrepresenting his views, and doing it quite deliberately.

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Where did you get that idea? He doesn't like the way the SNP has seemingly deliberately fucked up everything related to achieving indy in recent years. Seems to me that his argument is with the SNP, not with the idea of independence. As for your "swivel-eyed loons" comment, did someone at SNP HQ tell you to put that one in? Unfortunately for those of us who have supported indy since before Sturgeon was born, Wings has tended to be ahead of the game on most things, and things do seem to be panning out much as he has been predicting. The SNP needs a major clear out, and soon.

Scotland isn't an option on drop downs with Microsoft at least, but you do sometimes see it on forms which have multiple options to choose from. HMRC options never include Scottish for nationality, so no idea how Salmond managed that - is it possible it's been faked?

Yes, the degree of contortions that these unionists will go through to do down Scotland is beyond belief. Once they put this new cable in, we'll no doubt still be paying the highest electricity prices in the UK and have the highest transmission charges. Unionists just love being in an abusive relationship. Happy family? Not a chance.

As a chartered member of the I.C.E. I can comment on that article. needless to say I have done so, pointing out that this is a blatant theft of our resources. Will be interesting to see if they allow the comment to remain. If they don't, I'll be asking why.

Foote should be nowhere near the CEO position. You could maybe argue a case if the leadership had been someone fresh rather than the continuity clown, but this is taking the piss. What next? Douglas Ross at comms and Anas Sarwar in charge of organising the next conference?

That was my thoughts after attending a local branch meeting a few months ago. They were just going through the motions, reporting on branch membership numbers, all the usual utterly tedious trivia about which nobody gives a fuck, stuff about town centre market stalls handing out leaflets (it's not the 1970s any more). After NS resigned, they invited folk to come along and sign a grovelling thank you card. Oh, and Alex Salmond was officially persona non grata. I haven't been back since.

I don't think that's what is meant by a "Karen" at all. I always interpreted it as a sort of generic insulting term. It's one of those words that has become fashionable, much like "gaslighting", the meaning of which is often distorted - and don't get me started on when it's used as a verb and someone says he "gaslighted her" when to my ears it should be "he gaslit her". But when so many people say things like "I have went" and "I done", I would expect nothing less.

As is often the case, you have attempted to deflect and completely missed the point I was making. Your response there is frankly a bit of a word salad.

Oppenheimer is a bit too long - it's almost two films in one, the first bit being about the development of the A-bomb and the second part being about the McCarthyist demonisation of Oppenheimer and the witch hunt against him. I think a large proportion of the population won't particularly enjoy it, but the acting is excellent and it's worth sticking with it.

Re-arrange that as "I think that a young lesbian woman telling middle aged straight men what they can and cannot say isn’t a great look". That way round it perhaps highlights an implied ageism and heterophobia that underpins your post, and to be clear I don't actually ascribe such views to you. People can't help becoming middle aged and what's wrong with being heterosexual? Mhairi Black is entitled to her opinions but it doesn't mean she's necessarily correct just because she's a lesbian.