Free by Twenty-Three!

When I set up my blog after the 2014 referendum, I felt the ‘free by twenty-three tagline was fitting as I believed it would take until then to recover from the disappointment of Thursday 18^th September, not once did it cross my mind that those, we put in power to help us achieve this would have been systematically working against us.

Like many who flocked to the Scottish National Party after the referendum I was optimistic of seeing Scotland a free nation in my lifetime. Just weeks after the disappointment of that day, the New First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon took to the stage at the Hydro in Glasgow lapping up the cheers and adulation of a 12000 strong crowd and with the ever-growing membership displayed on a huge screen behind it became apparent that this was nothing to do with Scottish independence and everything to do with the popularity of the SNP as she boasted that “Party membership had grown from 90,263 to 92,187” Still hopeful of independence the country sent 56 out of 59 MPs to Westminster to settle up, not settle down, sadly that was not to be the case, those we put our trust in, let us down badly, soon pushing their own agenda which saw them loose a third of their seats in the 2017 General election.

 This should have been a wake-up call to Sturgeon had she not, been (in my opinion) working against the yes movement and indeed Scottish Independence. The EU referendum presented the mandate needed to initiate another referendum and indeed Sturgeon on the day after the result gave a press conference in Bute House:

“I have a duty to respond…to the democratic decision taken by the people of Scotland, as things stand, Scotland faces the prospect of being taken out of the EU against our will. I regard that as democratically unacceptable, and of course we face that prospect less than two years after being told that it was our own referendum on independence that would end our membership of the European Union and that only a rejection of independence could protect it.”

Sturgeon at that time could do no wrong in the eyes on the yes movement.

“Yesterdays results presents a significant and material change of the in the circumstances in which Scotland voted against in 2014.”

The 2016 Scottish National Party Manifesto states:

Scotland’s future

“We believe that the Scottish Parliament should have the right to hold another referendum if there is clear and sustained evidence that independence has become the preferred option of a majority of the Scottish people – or if there is a significant and material change in the circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will.”

The SNP were gifted the mandate, in fact on many an occasion Ian Blackford stated that “Scotland will not be dragged out of the EU against our will.” Then sat back and watched it happen. The tell-tale sign for me was when Sturgeon attended the LBGT+ rally in Glasgow stating that it was a “Real honour” I do not doubt for a second that leading the rally through the streets of Glasgow was an honour for Sturgeon, however, she was less than keen to show up at one of the many AUOB marches taking place at the time. When the people of Scotland were gathering in their thousands in all weathers to show their support for independence Sturgeon was nowhere to be seen. The only time she appeared was when she needed the votes of the very people she had pushed aside. The independence carrot dangled once again, only this time the excuse for inaction on independence was the results of Brexit were unknown and when we crashed out of Europe, the covid pandemic put independence on the backburner only to reappeared in the last Holyrood elections when the SNP needed votes one again.

Twenty Twenty-Three was the next carrot dangled until Putin decided to invade Ukraine, another excuse, SNP’s Ian Blackford: “SNP plans for a new independence referendum could be shelved again due to the Ukraine crisis.”

How long are we to put up with this, I am giving them until next year to fulfil their promise to the people of Scotland, no more carrot dangling, Scotland is in real danger of losing everything that we have built, our industries have taken a real battering during the last two years as have the rest of the UK. We have a Westminster government out of control and drunk on power who are systematically dismantling the NHS as we speak, the policing bill is shocking, not to mention the bill of rights. Scotland needs to be free of this draconian government, equally the people of Scotland must hold our politicians to account for the decisions they have taken and that includes the SNP. No more carrot dangling, no more empty promises, quite frankly we in the yes movement are sick of it. And anyone who still believes that the SNP are the party for independence, then you are in for a very rude awakening.  

Bypassing Holyrood!

I remember back in March 2018 a great many of us encircled Holyrood, well when you could protest outside, before our great leader decided she did not like being booed and promptly put a stop to the people of Scotland being able to protest outside the very parliament we paid for.  Such a great day and a great show of strength as protesters link arms and stood two and three deep, such was the turnout. To cries of ‘hands off our parliament’. We were there to protest the power grab we knew was coming. Now it is here and there is nothing we can do.  

March 2018

The UK Market Act, passed last year, is just the first step to clawing back powers that have been devolved for decades. The UK Government do not see individual countries, they see one United Kingdom draped in a huge Union Jack and are desperate to fly the flag from every government building regardless of how the people in the devolved nations feel.  

This happened on the SNP’s watch, given mandate after mandate all of which have been ignored, slogan after slogan the ‘Scotland will not be dragged out of the EU against our will’ a particular favourite. All talk nae action as we used to say when great big windbags were threatening a fight. Seemed that was exactly what the SNP leadership were doing, talking big, then running away. Far too comfortable with their lives in London. Years and years and years of living the charmed life south of the border. Champaign socialism, the order of the day.  

Now Brexit is here bringing with it the great big headache some in the yes movement predicted. Angry that their warnings fell on deaf ears, of both of party and membership some of whom still believe the SNP will save the day.  

No one is coming to save us. It looks like the SNP have sold the country out, not only to Westminster but to the globalists who come with their own agenda. Carrots are being dangled as usual, a referendum for April next year, or whatever titbit they are proposing now. Independence is not something you are given; it is something you fight for. It is good to see AUOB organising marches and rallies, but it might be too little too late. We are in the midst of a global takeover, Build Back Better, the slogan of the day. We have bigger fish to fry, independence, yes, but first we have to free ourselves from those in power who would do us harm. I know there are those living in their pretty little bubble, who think everything in the garden is rosy, nothing could be farther from the truth. Tyranny reigns supreme around the globe but we are too engrossed in independence to see it. Yet independence is exactly what we need but until we accept this is not going to happen under the watch of the SNP we are well and truly stuffed.  

Was she chewing a wasp?

If you caught First Minister’s questions you will have no doubt saw the outrageous behaviour of Tess White. White seems to be under the assumption that people in Scotland are all anti English. The Conservative and Unionist LIST MSP thought it was perfectly okay to heckle Nicola Sturgeon as she was answering a question from Labour’s Pauline McNeill.

McNeill had raised concerns about the sectarian singing coming from rangers’ fans at the weekend. Sturgeon was giving her usual, “…anybody who chooses to live in Scotland, whether they and their families have been here for generations or whether they have come to Scotland very recently, is home.

This is their home and we should not allow anybody to…” 

At this point a voice can be heard saying. “Except if you’re English.” 

The irony of this is, the person in question is sitting in the Scottish Parliament, granted she is there on a technicality the list system having provided a means by which she was parachuted into position. Conservative and Unionist MSP Tess White clearly has a grievance, but is her grievance against the people of Scotland, other nationalities who have made their home in Scotland. What caused the outburst? Has she been subjected to anti-English behaviour from Scots? It is easy to condemn but that outburst has to have come from somewhere, or perhaps White was just anti-Sturgeon and found a way to shut her down. That aside, if the people of Scotland had voted for Alba instead of giving their second vote to the SNP then perhaps those watching would not have to put up with someone who has clearly made her home in Scotland, taken a seat in the Scottish Parliament only to call out the people of Scotland. If White had a problem with anti-English behaviour, perhaps she should have put it in writing and gone through the proper channels. As for her apology, it looked like she was giving it while chewing a wasp. 

If wee Johnny puts on a dress in nursery, he’s playing dress up!

There is a time and place for discussions on gender identification, however, those discussions should be kept out of nursery. As previously stated, I believe that people can be born in the wrong body and should be able to change if they so wish. That said, bringing it into primary is concerning enough but nursery? 

As someone who has worked in nurseries and with four-year-olds in particular I can tell you that when wee Johnny puts on a dress and high-heels, all he is doing is playing a role for that day and will put on a superman outfit and pretend to be superman the next.  

In all my years of work, never have I ever come across any child who categorically stated that they are a certain gender, they may say they are male or female but they also may state that they are a super hero, does that mean wee Johnny is superman?  

Imaginative play is very important to the development of Children, according to Bain and Martin “Imaginative and imitative play flourishes, reflecting the child’s observation of real life as well as fulfilment of his desires.” 

If wee Johnny is playing dress up, he is playing a role, if he carries a doll or goes to the shops, posts a letter, answers the phone he is taken on the role of someone else. According to Bruce and Meggitt, “Children use their own real-life experiences and rearrange them.”  

The fact that a 70 page document drawn up by LBGT advisory group including Stonewall has been sent to schools by the Scottish government is concerning, as stated above in all my time as an early years’ practitioner I have never came across any child who has stated they are the opposite gender. If they did however, practitioners would not correct the child, merely let them be whatever they have chosen to be for that day. Whether it be Princess Jasime, or whatever Disney Princess the girls were playing that day, or a dinosaur as was all the rage when I worked in nursery education. Children were encouraged to be whatever they wanted to be. What didn’t happen, and should never happen is the casual way in which teachers and early years practitioners are encouraged to keep secrets from parents. If transgender is to be encouraged then why the secrecy around it? Why keep the fact that wee Johnny has said he’s a girl, or wee Jeany has stated that she is a boy. Why are teachers discouraged from mentioning this to the parent? And as stated, if many children grow out of this.  

Then why is it being implemented into nursery education? 

Bain and Martin believe “Four-year-olds may show curiosity about sex, children will explore one another’s bodies and perhaps indulge in mutual genital manipulation, no emotions except sensuous pleasure are involved”   

Children do explore sexual curiosity but that is all it is, they are not developed enough to know what they are exploring, yet we are being led to believe that they know at that age that they are a boy or a girl and that teachers are to use the he/she pronouns. Children of that age do not know what a pronoun is.

Let them be children, let them have their role play, leave them to develop into what they would like to be.  

The Piper Paid – Time to pay back, big time!

There is something desperate about the First Minister’s invitation to the Prime Minister. Instead of summoning Johnson to Bute House to discuss the several mandates given to her by the people in regard to holding a referendum on Scottish Independence, Sturgeon almost begs him to stop by. I would love to be a fly on the wall of Bute House and listen into their conversation. What will be on the agenda. Not independence, that’s for sure.  

I understand the PM will visit Scotland later this week. Since this would be our first opportunity to meet in person for a while, I’ve invited him to Bute House to discuss Covid/recovery. We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can. pic.twitter.com/Fo4N4nr2oN

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 2, 2021

The covid recovery seems to be the new buzz word, independence after we have recovered from the pandemic and the economic crisis that came with it. Just another excuse for not using the mandates given to the First Minister from the people. There are those of us in the yes movement who have had it with excuses. Will independence be held in the next five years many have asked me. I don’t see independence being held in my lifetime unless the people of Scotland unite against the party who have betrayed their trust. Who seem to have used money set aside for an independence referendum and who act like they are entitled to do what they damn well please after they have secured the vote? 

We have MPs in Westminster who assured the people that we would not be taken out of the European Union against our will and who stated that Scotland deserved better, yet here we are out of the EU. I do agree with the Scotland deserves better stance. Yes, we do, we deserve better than what the SNP offer. 

We used to live in a country whose justice system was revered around the world, now it is responsible for sending a man to jail for reporting on a defence case, who was singled out for jigsaw identification, only no one who read were able to identify anyone.  

We have children being failed by the education system who did not get the grades they deserve and the sex education being taught is questionable to say the least.  

We have a minority holding the majority to ransom, where freedom of speech is for the few not the many.  

This is not the Scotland I know and love, whatever discussions the first minister has with Johnson we can guess will not benefit the people. It will benefit the elite and big business. Whatever the economic recovery will look like is anyone’s guess, what we can be assured, the piper paid, now it’s time to pay back – big time.  

Betrayal they will conclude!

Scotland, my Scotland, what have you become? 
You were once a beacon of light for those who need it, a glimmer of hope, for those who seek it. 
Now my Scotland, a frail old man is judged harshly while another is let go with a slap. 
Oh, my Scotland, how I weep. 

History will not be kind to those who ruin your good name. 
Scholars will look upon and wonder just how we got here, 
betrayal, they will conclude.  

I hope they are as embarrassed as I am for them!

Are we any nearer to independence?  I mean it’s been what? Two months since Sturgeon are her minions re-entered Holyrood. Can anyone tell me what they have been doing in that time? I know Sturgeon has been doing her updates, although not daily thank the lord. But what other things have the SNP been getting up to? I know there may be a case of fraud being investigated by Police Scotland that may be consuming those at the top but what have the others been doing to earn their money?

The independence dream is gone, killed off by the very party that are supposed to want it. And it would seem those pushing the both votes SNP have suddenly gone quiet, could that be because they realise that the both votes SNP meant more empty promises? I hope they are as embarrassed as I am for them.

Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result” That could be said of the Scottish electorate, repeatedly putting the SNP into power and expecting them to deliver independence.

We had the perfect opportunity to deliver a super majority back in May had the SNP diehards took time to research what Sturgeon and her minions had been doing to weaken the independence cause. Had they taken a step back and asked themselves why the hierarchy were hellbent on stopping any plan B from happening or why Sturgeon was too busy trying to stop the democracy of two other nations when she travelled around in a huge yellow bus trying to stop Brexit. What she should have been doing was addressing the people who put her in power. What she should have been doing is tackling the crisis that would and has now begun to unfold. We are in the position we are in because Sturgeon and her minions seem only interested in their ‘pet’ projects. They seem to be held to ransom by a minority of people who obviously have the ear of the First Minister and are pushing their agenda onto the public whether we like it or not.

There will not be independence referendum while the hierarchy of this SNP remain in place, I await the outcome of the police investigation but I have a sneaky suspicion they will come up smelling of roses, then again, maybe not.

“…you just offer the electorate a vote on independence…”

It would seem that the ‘both votes SNP’ crowd have gone silent could it be that they are finally realising that the party they have given their second vote to has wasted not only that one but their first also? 

Back in May you were sure the SNP were the route to independence, how is that working out for you? Are we any nearer? Where is the masterplan you all spoke off, the one the blessed Nicola had up her sleeve? Not only are we out of the European Union but we are now faced with Nicola’s new pet project, that of climate change. Speaking at the Austrian Summit Sturgeon stated that we are all preoccupied with Covid but the “threats of climate change, nature loss, pollution, remains the single biggest challenge that the world faces.”  

Whether you believe in climate change remains to be seen, that is not the issue, the issue right now is the fact that the Tories are coming for Holyrood, Boris Johnson has said as much. Of course, they will not close it overnight, that would be silly, all they need do is erode powers until it is nothing more than a museum.

South of the border they are in the process of handing over the NHS in England to their chums. When David Cameron told the Tory Conference back in 2006 that it was safe in their hands, he was not telling the public, he was addressing big business. There are huge amounts of money to be made from the illness of a public. Last year I wrote an article for this blog on just how much healthcare cost in America which is not for the faint of heart. It runs into the thousands and for the uninsured, well, that does not bare thinking about. We need out of this union but if Sturgeon and her cohorts are anything to go by, that is not going to happen, not when she has a new pet project to be getting on with.  

“Scotland.” Sturgeon told the Austrian Climate Summit, “Is honoured that Glasgow will be the venue for COP and we are working closely with the UK government to make sure that it is successful.” 

Does this sound like the First Minister has her mind firmly fixed on independence for Scotland? No, of course not.  She went on “That honour comes with a massive responsibility. Scotland is one of the birth places of the industrial age so we are now determined to lead by example in the race to net zero.” Not leading the way in the race to independence then. Right now, Scotland faces a bigger crisis, that of being asset stripped for the Tory Brexit Sturgeon spent a great deal of time trying to stop. Out of the European Union and out of options, Scotland faces a very bleak future. The crunch of the interview came at the end when Sturgeon was asked to share why having taken the bold action over climate change, she was re-elected. “How do you do that; how do you get transformative policies into place and still win voters’ approval?”  

That is easy, you just offer the electorate a vote on independence is what I would have said, had I been there.  

It is not coming home and neither it would seem is independence.

This past month all we have heard from south of the border is the words ‘it’s coming home’ sung by jubilant English fans and encouraged by overzealous media pundits before a ball was even kicked. And it almost did come home but like independence for Scotland the dream has died our dream killed off by the parcel o rogues in a nation.  

I took a week off from writing to recharge my batteries and decide If I want to continue to flog this dead horse. The tagline in my blog reads free by twenty-three, at this rate I doubt very much if we will be free by thirty-three or in my lifetime. Like England in the Euros, we came so near, yet so far with huge turnouts at the marches and rallies it would seem we were very much on the course of showing Sturgeon we meant business only to discover that the very person whom we had put in place to help with the political part of the movement had other ideas. Even now that parcel o rogues are still trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public.  

I intend to keep this blog going until next year at least. If nothing has happened by this time next year then I shall not renew my subscription and step back. I have given this movement all I can I cannot keep writing the same articles. I am done with it. Time for me to move on. Does that mean I am giving up on independence, no of course not. I am however giving up on trying to persuade people that the SNP is not the way to go.  

Living it large in London!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I am past listening to anything Ian Blackford has to say.

It would seem Ian Blackford takes his job in Westminster very seriously indeed. For years now he has taken pride in holding the Conservative government to account. Week after week he stands up in parliament and challenges them on whatever tomfoolery they are getting up to now. All while completely ignoring what he and others in the party were sent to Westminster to do.

Settle up, not in.

Apart from a couple whom it would seem are genuine independence supporters, many are there I am quite sure for the large salary and benefits that comes with the job. Living it large in London while people struggle financially here in Scotland is fascinating. Back in 2015 the first time we sent 56 MPs to London we had high hopes and for the first weeks or was it days that they showed great promise of disrupting proceedings. What with taking selfies, applause and singing in the chamber. That however soon changed when we seen them settle in before our very eyes. Of course, they were those who were defiant Mhairi Black whose maiden speech will be remembered for years to come.

For years now Westminster have been reminded almost daily by Blackford that Scotland are watching, yes back then the people of Scotland were watching and applauding the SNP, particularly when they developed a backbone and walked out after Blackford had been thrown out of the chamber for refusing to sit down. That was the time in my opinion for the Westminster contingent to be brought home. The ripple that action had caused should have sent shockwaves in Westminster. By calling them home to Edinburgh and have them work in Holyrood on a plan for independence would have had Westminster on the backfoot, instead they trotted back into the chamber with tails between their legs and have done nothing to strengthen the independence cause, if anything they have weakened it.

Scotland is watching, Blackford would say. Yes, we were, we watched every day the SNP MPs getting their butts kicked, we watched Scotland be humiliated and put down by the Conservatives and Labour, it seemed to be open season. Yet, we still had hope that the SNP had some master plan up their sleeve that would get us out of the danger we faced if we were dragged out of the European Union and some of us believed the SNP would by some stroke of genius prevent this. It was always going to happen; we were just hoodwinked into thinking the SNP would wave a magic wand and all would be well.

Scotland faces being asset stripped by the government of England to pay for their Brexit and all we can do is watch and weep. Even now as we career to disaster the SNP MPs and MSPs are bleating on about independence. It is far too late; Sturgeon has already said there will be no referendum until after the Covid crisis is over and has gone as far to suggest that it must wait until the economy recovers. We cannot wait that long, every minute we spend trying to get Sturgeon and her team to devise another way in which to gain independence we can wave goodbye to many things in this country, not least the NHS which will now be sold off piece by piece to the USA. When we are brought back under direct Conservative rule you can kiss goodbye to independence. Those who still think the Scottish National Party are the party for independence are living under a rock. They are not a party for independence and have not been for some time. They are sell-outs who masquerade as a party for Scottish freedom in order to gain power, now they are terrified of other parties who actually do stand on a platform for independence. It makes them sick to their stomach because they know once the people of Scotland catch on to what they have done, their days will be numbered and I for one cannot wait to see them fall.