Freeedom

This is a really lazy response so I'll give you the same in return. The bottom line for you is your salary and that's about it, not much else to add.

Carbon capture is a technology that is in its early development and it will NOT offset the carbon emissions from extracting further resource in the North sea despite what Alex Salmond says. I support any technology that is going to lower our emissions but the fossil fuel industry and Alba are using it as a greenwashing mechanism to justify their vested interests. Pensioners are not going to die as a consequence of not giving out more drilling licenses to the oil giants. Pensioners are freezing to death already because these greedy bastards are profiteering and making the resource unaffordable, people are turning the heating off because they cant afford to have it on. The oil giants are responsible for their deaths, they are not the saviours of anyone and if we let them continue to drill they will be the end of all of us. Do you have any real understanding of the devastating consequences of climate change if we continue to burn fossil fuels at the rate we currently are? The migration crisis that we are currently dealing with is the tip of the iceberg, this is not a problem that is going to be fixed. It's only going to get worse as people migrate in their MILLIONS from countries in North Africa and the middle east that have become completely inhospitable to human life. Wars will be fought over diminishing natural resource, we will have mass famine, disease and the complete collapse of our ecosystem which is already well under way. Scotland has about 60 years of accumulated emissions that have contributed significantly to our current crisis, further expanding fossil fuel exploitation when we should be putting all of our resource into the investment of our vast renewable potential makes no sense. This is all about short term profits like Phart says and nothing else.

How anyone can look at the already devastating consequences of climate change and think that opening up the North sea for further extraction is a good idea is fucking bonkers to me. We are in March 2020 of climate change, bodies are starting to pile up and these fuckers are doing the equivalent of going into hospitals and shaking sick people's hands. Humanity is fucked

Of course, so let's use it as leverage in an argument for independence. Next on their list should be shutting down the North sea.

It's the best policy they've pushed for in a long time

Can't wait for indyref2 in October, just a few months left of the campaign. Wasn't that the promise?

Vote for whoever you want or abstain. I'm just saying that our only leverage is our vote. Why should the SNP change anything if people vote for them regardless of how ineffective they are? The SNP could crash and burn at the next general election but I'm sure polls for independence will still be around 50%. That leaves the party with the question about how they can win independence voters back, maybe they will actually start to have a think about that and take us seriously.

It's been clear for the best part of a decade now that the SNP haven't a clue about how to get independence. If people keep voting for them regardless of how little they actually move the needle, or even demonstrate the most basic level of competence on the issue then why should they ever change? If you want to kick the SNP into gear don't vote for them. It's the best thing you can do for Scottish independence

Jim is very poor, he gets rattled far too easily and starts talking before he has thought through what it is he actually has to say.

Thanks, I'll check that out

The met have always been institutionally racist, sexist, homophobic, authoritarian etc. They're not here to protect people, they are here to keep us all in our place and protect the interests of capital and the establishment. The lower your rung is in society the worse you are likely to have been treated by them. It's only in the last decade or so that some of the white middle class (myself included) have come to realise exactly how they operate. As people have gotten more angry, the government has become more authoritarian and fascist to clamp down on any kind of dissent and as a consequence we've seen clubs like Rangers and their supporters follow suit.

Can you explain it again?

It's not the most important issue no, but now is the time to have the conversation about our policy position moving forward. To me, this is the right time for the SNP to make the necessary change and back republicanism so that we can achieve independence. The greens get it, Alex Salmond sees the writing on the wall but the SNP are reticent for any change because they are pretty cosy where they are. Is your question a serious one? There is no circumstance in which I would forgo Scotlands independence.

You - we should park the issue of the monarchy until after indy. Me - We can't do that, we should support an independent republic rather than a monarchy. You - people will know what they're voting for like in 2014 and we should maintain the monarchy Me - ...? What are you actually advocating for because it's not clear to me? The Scottish government need to have positions on certain issues going into a referendum because they are foundational to the formation of an independent state. We need to know what the currency will be, we need to know what is going to happen to people's pensions, we need to know what will happen with nuclear weapons, we need to know the governments position on NATO membership, on our relationship with the EU and of course the monarchy... My argument is that it is not only right, but the political policy moving forward should be that Scotland become a republic upon independence. You cannot hide this one under the rug and I think that moving forward with a policy that grows more and more unpopular by the day is not a vote winner for independence. Whether Scotland will be a socialist utopia or not is neither here nor there, that will change depending on what party we vote into power. But we must have a position on the monarchy and that position should be to get rid of it. I'm sick to death of the under 45s having to appease the selfish wants of stubborn baby boomers who don't want to see any sort of change whilst civilisation calmly walks over the precipice of the cliff edge we're sitting on.

Mate... You just suggested in your last post that we park the issue of monarchy, I was addressing that point don't change the subject. I'm out for lunch, I'll address the rest later.

The problem is that we have this delusion that we can just park all these issues until after indy. We can't, people want to know what they are voting for when they vote for independence and the monarchy is not an issue that can just be put to the side. The queen is dead, Charles is deeply unpopular, we have new leadership in the SNP (an alleged republican) and an overwhelming direction of travel amongst the general public against a system of monarchy. Now is the perfect time to follow the tide and do the right thing. Humza attending the coronation and arguing he was somehow obligated to go is bizarre. He's beholden to independence supporters that voted for him, not the monarchy. He's a gravy train, slurping careerist useless shitbag of a leader and with him in charge we'll never get independence.

I don't understand this blase attitude towards the monarchy from older generations. The monarchy may not be a symbol for unionism (although I would very much argue that it is) but is certainly a symbol of British empire, colonialism, theft and of slavery. Why do you think so many nations in the common wealth now want to leave? Why is anyone here happy to compromise in sustaining a system with such a wretched history and one that continues to sustain a class system that funnels wealth from the working people in this country to an unelected, inbred, fascist hereditary lineage when the monarchy grows more deeply unpopular by the day? Supporting the monarchy is not going to win us independence, it's madness.

I think it's fair to say he has had a pretty strong influence on my political upbringing. But there's certainly as much we disagree on as much as we agree. I'm less stubborn but just as uncompromising on certain issues, the monarchy is a red line for me.

I don't know why any of you are surprised, independence supporters have always disagreed on how and why we get there or what Independence actually means. It's just been more vitriolic because the SNP have fucked things up so much. John Curtice is a dick who the BBC like to wheel out now and again, he has no credibility with me. Have you all been brainwashed somehow into believing that we need to support the monarchy to get our independence? Wake up people... The tide has clearly shifted and will shift more towards republicanism every passing day forward. If you want to win independence you need to be bold and this gradualist wishy washy, half in half out nonsense doesn't work.

Sorry, but I hate to inform you that you can't claim to be a republican when you vote for a political party that opposes republicanism. This is 2023, 2014 was a long time ago and there has been a big shift in public opinion since then. The over 65s who support the monarchy do not generally support independence or the SNP, so changing policy on the monarchy is going to have a negligible affect for the party on that issue. More importantly, the trend amongst young people is towards a republic and support for independence. You are decade behind the times champ

I don't know what political reality you live in but the monarchy is not popular in Scotland. Principles also matter. Off your knees

Any old shit? Supporting a republic is not "any old shit" you complete plank.

I looked up Albas position, they support a republic of Scotland. Good. Pretty sure the Greens support a republic too, it's the SNP who are behind the curve I don't know how I can make this any clearer, millennials and Gen Z do not support the monarchy and that is the direction of travel going forward. In addition whatever happend to having a principled position of being opposed to having a fascist, hereditary system of government? People are literally being arrested for holding up signs If the SNP don't have enough backbone to support republicanism then they will never have enough backbone to get us independence. That's the goal isn't it?

I don't know what Albas position is, but they're not the government. The horses aren't going to vote for independence anyway, now is the time more than ever for Scotland to move away from the rancid institution if the monarchy. Young people overwhelmingly support the abolition of the monarchy and it's about time our politicians reflected that. Humza Youseff choosing to attend the coronation rather than an independent rally tells me all I need to know about him and his aspirations

As far as I'm aware SNP party policy is still to sustain the monarchy in an independent Scotland. A party of moderate, subservient careerists will never do what is radical and get us to independence.