I was delighted to see in The National yesterday a comment from my old friend William Duguid giving details of the forthcoming Independence Forum Scotland (IFS) Autumn Convention which is taking place on 8 November at Adelaide Place 209 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HZ
See the thing is that this could be a well orchestrated plan, with perfect timing to bring it to fruition over the conference weekend, a whole wonderful umbrella of Independence fireworks cascading all over the free sky in a multitudinous cacophony of gorgeous and convincing colours. OR it could all be the damp squib of earnest but dull and hopeless desperation.
The SNP have up till the postal ballots are sent next out year to pull a rabbit out of the hat so as to mix up some more metaphors, but this weekend of the SNP conference should tell us - is it going to be a trade wind into the burgeoning sails of Independence, blowing us strongly and firmly onto the fair and wonderful shores of Free Nationhood? Or is it going to be a smelly stinky inward facing tornado of SNP and Indy movement apathy and ultimate mutual destruction?
Words fail me! Let's hope they don't fail the SNP ...
A few John Swinney quotes contained in the article:
"As we embark on building a nation state in Scotland, there is every reason to believe that we can match the high productivity, higher living standard societies of our neighbours in north-western Europe"
"The opportunity of Scottish independence is the opportunity of higher living standards."
So that's the 'vision thing' which we are all familiar with.
He then says this
"Today’s paper sets out, therefore, not just the why of independence, but how a future nation state can practically be achieved"
but does not provide any detail on "how". Instead he reverts to the comfort blanket of "why":
"As the urgency and necessity of independence is now clearer, it is these themes that we will take to the people of Scotland – the benefits of self-government, the huge potential that is all around us, the evidence that independence for countries like Scotland leads to higher living standards and greater equality".
Perhaps the most pertinent part of the article comes at the end when he is quoted as saying that debate around the SNP's independence strategy was part of being "a democratic political party" and that
"The conference will decide, I've got my proposals there, I believe they're the right way forward for the party, and it's for the party to make it's choices."
The question I am left with is:
Are John Swinney's "new" plans different from the ones he floated a few weeks ago?
The SNP after 2016 could have made a real contribution by obstructing the Westminster Parliament. First with 56 MPs and later with 47. But they didn't. As the saying goes, they settled in, not settled up. The IPP of Ireland pre-1918 would have been ashamed of them.
"A minor group of impatient young Irish members, the genuine "Home-Rulers" distanced themselves from Butt's lack of assertiveness and, led by Charles Stewart Parnell, Joseph Biggar, John O'Connor Power, Edmund Dwyer Gray, Frank Hugh O'Donnell and John Dillon, some of whom had close connections with the Fenian movement, adopted the method of parliamentary "obstructionism" during 1876–1877,[6] to bring Westminster out of its complacency towards Ireland by proposing amendments to almost every bill and making lengthy overnight speeches. This did not bring Home Rule closer, but helped to revitalise the Irish party."
The SNP feeble 56 and futile 47 didn't even do that, same as the now nobbled 9.
In 1918 Sinn Féin kicked out the IPP and within years, Ireland was Independent.
I still haven't decided whether to vote SNP next May. They'll have to look far more like Sinn Féin now, as they had their chance as a poor IPP substitutes and seem to have totally blown it. But this weekend they still have a chance, otherwise we'll need to set up our own Sinn Féin at haste.
Go for it . Stop everything and get your weapons cleaned and ready to fire. I was struck on reading recently about how Tibet is held prisoner by the Chinese. ...monks burning themselves in protest.... and I thought this is the same as Scotland and sh*tty little england. We are held prisoner in a more hidden way than poor old Tibet. The devious sh*tty little english have cleverly tied us up in knots and we are only allowed to have control over certain elements in the running of our country..anything important is DEVOLVED to the sh*tty little english government. AND WE LET THEM! So make sure your address is relevant ..pointing out HOW we can grab back our freedom, country and independence..and why the tactics used by the blessed swiney are betraying the Scottish nation. You are just the guy to do it. Left to a psycho like me the sh*tty little english would be hurrying to the border back to 'civilzation'.
I thought about the polls ..recently discussed... supposedly designed to keep Holyrood 'balanced'. If the independence based parties get all the votes then the other parties get on the List and the independence based parties get nothing...eh? this balance I don't want ..if the Scots vote for independence parties then they FILL Holyrood and we don't spend an eternity fighting those parties who are against our freedom..and shouldn't be there in the first place..(Take a look at westminster voting style)...I want everything loaded in OUR favour because it sure as hell is loaded in favour of the sh*tty little english of whom there are over a million in our small country. You have to wonder why the sh*tty little english are here...surely not to take advantage of lower bills,house prices and any other advantages we hand to them...like not looking after OUR land...and resources...our TREASURE the Chinese call it.( another bunch of lying hypocrites)
Don't make it 'promising' ..make it deadly and right to the point..'cause sure as hell no-one else is doing it. Power to you.
The voting system is not designed to keep Holyrood "balanced" in terms of pro- and anti-independence. It is designed to make the parliament proportional in terms of parties. It is designed to ensure that as far as possible, the percentage of MSPs from each party reflects the percentage of the vote for each party. It does this quite well. Extremely well relative to the FPTP system.
Why would you not want this? It seems essentially democratic that representation should be proportional to vote share.
We are not "fighting those parties who are against our freedom". We've had those parties beaten since 2007. The British politicians squatting in our parliament have been powerless to prevent independence for 19 year - come the 2026 election. It's not them we've had to fight for the last two decades. It's the nominally pro-independence parties - particularly the SNP - which have been the obstacle all this time.
"Loading" Holyrood in our favour isn't possible because there are no parties in our favour. Suppose the SNP had 67 seats - a working majority. Do you imagine this would help Scotland's cause? Suppose they had 76 seats. Would that make a difference?
It isn't numbers that matter. Beyond a simple majority, numbers make no difference. It's not numerical weight that we lack it is political will. You won't get anything done by packing the Parliament with parties/politicians who aren't willing to do anything.
All we need is 67 people genuinely committed to a well-crafted strategy. It's the strategy and commitment that make the difference, not a bigger number.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25525623.john-swinney-unveil-new-scottish-independence-plans/
See the thing is that this could be a well orchestrated plan, with perfect timing to bring it to fruition over the conference weekend, a whole wonderful umbrella of Independence fireworks cascading all over the free sky in a multitudinous cacophony of gorgeous and convincing colours. OR it could all be the damp squib of earnest but dull and hopeless desperation.
The SNP have up till the postal ballots are sent next out year to pull a rabbit out of the hat so as to mix up some more metaphors, but this weekend of the SNP conference should tell us - is it going to be a trade wind into the burgeoning sails of Independence, blowing us strongly and firmly onto the fair and wonderful shores of Free Nationhood? Or is it going to be a smelly stinky inward facing tornado of SNP and Indy movement apathy and ultimate mutual destruction?
Words fail me! Let's hope they don't fail the SNP ...
A few John Swinney quotes contained in the article:
"As we embark on building a nation state in Scotland, there is every reason to believe that we can match the high productivity, higher living standard societies of our neighbours in north-western Europe"
"The opportunity of Scottish independence is the opportunity of higher living standards."
So that's the 'vision thing' which we are all familiar with.
He then says this
"Today’s paper sets out, therefore, not just the why of independence, but how a future nation state can practically be achieved"
but does not provide any detail on "how". Instead he reverts to the comfort blanket of "why":
"As the urgency and necessity of independence is now clearer, it is these themes that we will take to the people of Scotland – the benefits of self-government, the huge potential that is all around us, the evidence that independence for countries like Scotland leads to higher living standards and greater equality".
Perhaps the most pertinent part of the article comes at the end when he is quoted as saying that debate around the SNP's independence strategy was part of being "a democratic political party" and that
"The conference will decide, I've got my proposals there, I believe they're the right way forward for the party, and it's for the party to make it's choices."
The question I am left with is:
Are John Swinney's "new" plans different from the ones he floated a few weeks ago?
The SNP after 2016 could have made a real contribution by obstructing the Westminster Parliament. First with 56 MPs and later with 47. But they didn't. As the saying goes, they settled in, not settled up. The IPP of Ireland pre-1918 would have been ashamed of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Parliamentary_Party
"A minor group of impatient young Irish members, the genuine "Home-Rulers" distanced themselves from Butt's lack of assertiveness and, led by Charles Stewart Parnell, Joseph Biggar, John O'Connor Power, Edmund Dwyer Gray, Frank Hugh O'Donnell and John Dillon, some of whom had close connections with the Fenian movement, adopted the method of parliamentary "obstructionism" during 1876–1877,[6] to bring Westminster out of its complacency towards Ireland by proposing amendments to almost every bill and making lengthy overnight speeches. This did not bring Home Rule closer, but helped to revitalise the Irish party."
The SNP feeble 56 and futile 47 didn't even do that, same as the now nobbled 9.
In 1918 Sinn Féin kicked out the IPP and within years, Ireland was Independent.
I still haven't decided whether to vote SNP next May. They'll have to look far more like Sinn Féin now, as they had their chance as a poor IPP substitutes and seem to have totally blown it. But this weekend they still have a chance, otherwise we'll need to set up our own Sinn Féin at haste.
Go for it . Stop everything and get your weapons cleaned and ready to fire. I was struck on reading recently about how Tibet is held prisoner by the Chinese. ...monks burning themselves in protest.... and I thought this is the same as Scotland and sh*tty little england. We are held prisoner in a more hidden way than poor old Tibet. The devious sh*tty little english have cleverly tied us up in knots and we are only allowed to have control over certain elements in the running of our country..anything important is DEVOLVED to the sh*tty little english government. AND WE LET THEM! So make sure your address is relevant ..pointing out HOW we can grab back our freedom, country and independence..and why the tactics used by the blessed swiney are betraying the Scottish nation. You are just the guy to do it. Left to a psycho like me the sh*tty little english would be hurrying to the border back to 'civilzation'.
I thought about the polls ..recently discussed... supposedly designed to keep Holyrood 'balanced'. If the independence based parties get all the votes then the other parties get on the List and the independence based parties get nothing...eh? this balance I don't want ..if the Scots vote for independence parties then they FILL Holyrood and we don't spend an eternity fighting those parties who are against our freedom..and shouldn't be there in the first place..(Take a look at westminster voting style)...I want everything loaded in OUR favour because it sure as hell is loaded in favour of the sh*tty little english of whom there are over a million in our small country. You have to wonder why the sh*tty little english are here...surely not to take advantage of lower bills,house prices and any other advantages we hand to them...like not looking after OUR land...and resources...our TREASURE the Chinese call it.( another bunch of lying hypocrites)
Don't make it 'promising' ..make it deadly and right to the point..'cause sure as hell no-one else is doing it. Power to you.
For OUR Scotland and her imprisoned weans.
The voting system is not designed to keep Holyrood "balanced" in terms of pro- and anti-independence. It is designed to make the parliament proportional in terms of parties. It is designed to ensure that as far as possible, the percentage of MSPs from each party reflects the percentage of the vote for each party. It does this quite well. Extremely well relative to the FPTP system.
Why would you not want this? It seems essentially democratic that representation should be proportional to vote share.
We are not "fighting those parties who are against our freedom". We've had those parties beaten since 2007. The British politicians squatting in our parliament have been powerless to prevent independence for 19 year - come the 2026 election. It's not them we've had to fight for the last two decades. It's the nominally pro-independence parties - particularly the SNP - which have been the obstacle all this time.
"Loading" Holyrood in our favour isn't possible because there are no parties in our favour. Suppose the SNP had 67 seats - a working majority. Do you imagine this would help Scotland's cause? Suppose they had 76 seats. Would that make a difference?
It isn't numbers that matter. Beyond a simple majority, numbers make no difference. It's not numerical weight that we lack it is political will. You won't get anything done by packing the Parliament with parties/politicians who aren't willing to do anything.
All we need is 67 people genuinely committed to a well-crafted strategy. It's the strategy and commitment that make the difference, not a bigger number.
Very promising.