Great phbrase.. the independence industry... Wish I had thought of that.
You're post is exactly correct, it's stifles real resistance to the colonial power... .. it's a bit like a Scotland football wearing the jersey but not on his heart... Singing flower of Scotland... Then voting for a British party to continue his subjugation. Certainly some fucked up minds
In the tartan army... And in the media, I just watched James Cook saying to school children isn't it all a bit nationalistic? That from the biggest nationalist erse ever... Albeit a British one... One who would like to see a British team rather than a Scottish one and of course that would comprise of English players with the requisite token jock.
That's right, but surely you must realise English Nationalism is the type that isn't really Nationalism at all. Those patriots that have emerged recently wearing buckets on their head are just contemporary Crusaders fighting a Holy War to protect stout hearts-of-boak countrified gentlemen & gently fried countrymen, fair English Roses, eg Katie Price and the ( demon ) seed of future generations; in order that the natural order, ie the Filthy Rich Man can keep his castle and the pauper can clean the moat.
Why do you think they are expending their precious ale-swilling-banger n mash-masticating days laying siege to Immigrant Hotels, plastering their St George of Lydda flags on every available circus and, when the opportunity arises, beating-up those lacking the lily white-yet-ruddy complexion that denotes the true-born Angle? Why, to demonstrate their distaste for Nationalism, of course
"... that we were largely ignored during Nicola Sturgeon’s reign, shall we say"
"But as far as I was concerned, independence was on the back burner. They just didn’t want to talk to us" (Sturgeon's era)
"Now I would say, not just with John but with Callum McCaig as the new [SNP] chief executive, we’ve now got a better relationship than ever and that does give me hope" (Swinney's era)
Grassroots <===> Government is surely a good thing. Didn't happen in Salmond's "Ivory Tower" era.
From your article: "I decline to be tamed"
Who on earth would ever think such a maverick COULD be tamed? Or want it?
Well yesindyref2 we shall soon have a good idea whether the cynics or the faithful have the right of it.
The cynics will note that the vast majority of former activists had already abandoned the SNP in disgust at its lack of progress on independence, and that John Swinney made the pact with BiS in order to use _their_ activists for campaigning for the SNP in the recent election and will now quietly resile form his responsibilities through inaction.
If the Believers are not to be disappointed again then some actual meaningful action will need to be undertaken.
When it isn't, the unbiased observer is left to question:
How much inaction is too much? When will The Betrayed cry 'enough'?
How about you? How much inaction will be too much for you?
If in another years time we are all left complaining that nothing meaningful has been achieved, will you reconsider the possibility that cynical manipulation has been deployed upon the voting public?
Independence seems to be stuck. Voting ourselves into devolution was our first big mistake. From there we embarked on a fruitless referendum. Arguably, the most notable event of the past 12 years was Nicola Sturgeon deliberately losing a court case to prove that independence is beyond our grasp.
There's nowhere to go from here. We're stuck! Everything has failed. No one has a forward-thinking plan.
The SNP, the political party most independence supporters trust, has now been proven untrustworthy. It's desperately hiding from further scrutiny and it's obvious why.
Far more has been stolen than the £400,000 on Peter Murrell's charge sheet and many more people are accountable. Every effort to cover the incompetence adds to the incompetence. It's a no-win situation.
Whilst this no-win scenario digs deeper, we can also look forward to the Alex Salmond court case.
I see Nicola Sturgeon's dreadful performance during the COVID crisis is also casting a shadow and the deletion of WhatsApp messages provides little cover.
No one involved in managing the SNP is coming out of all of these scandals untouched, yet there are reports of party fanatics behaving fanatically.
This dire situation is enough to defeat any forward-thinking plan. So, no credible plan exists nor will one exist for long into the future.
Hi Joe. Good to see you commenting here again. ;-)
I may be a bit late in coming to recognise this but Jonathon Shafi had a perceptive and thought provoking article two weeks ago on his substack. "Embezzling hope" [1]
It emphasises that the class based Left perspective cannot be ignored, but as Alf Baird notes in the comments, while simultaneously still failing to acknowledge the other dominant real politiK framework that is at play here.
No I don't mean the contrast between financialised neoliberal exploitative oligarchy and the lobby / donor class versus a Marxist / Socialist egalitarian human or planet centred view, I refer to the older and more fundamental juxtaposition between an invaded and dominated suppressed population and its larger dominating Neighbour and Ruler.
The settler / colonial / absentee landlord / Wealth Extraction and cultural subjugation that is described so extensively by the large body of work that makes up colonial and post-colonial theory.
Hello your n4m3, I've just read your link. I might've dozed off at various points, so apologies if I missed it, but there appears to be no mention of Alex Salmond.
I find that quite incredible.
Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell are both mentioned!
Do you like that article? Is it based on reality or is it absolute drivel written by a halfwit?
Apart from it being drivel, my main complaint is the apparent lack of Alex Salmond. Did I just miss his appearance or is it a desperately biased article crediting a thief and the wife of a thief who claims to know nothing about the thriving despite being leader of the party!?
fuckin' hell, a mirror, ie self-awareness, is EXACTLY what you lack, ya tube. Those two writers/thinkers ( I don't agree with everything they write ) make you look like the * intellectual * adolescent you clearly are. Let's not forget, your supersmart mind led you to vote for the most useless so-called " Nationalist Party " in history; one that thinks Sovereignty means asking for liberation from the same entity that is intent on them NEVER achieving that liberty. Not just voting for them, but doing so x2. And you have the conceit to look down on ACTUAL intellectuals. ahahahahaha yr a right laugh, so ye ur: just not in the way you think you are
I've heard of Jonathan Shafi but couldn't tell you much about him. I regularly read Robin McAlpine. I don't always agree with him but his recent articles on Nicola Sturgeon and the wider Party's guilt find favour with me.
Too pessimistic for me. After the Ref and the day after a Hope Over Fear there was a rally at Glasgow Green. I don't listen to speeches (prefer taking it all in and a wee bit blether), but a (fellow at the time) Winger with initials TJ listened to McAlpine apparently saying there shouldn't be another Ref till 2023. TJ with his young daughter along was dismayed - he didn't want to wait that long, he wanted his life back.
Excellent article which expresses much of how I feel. Having lived in England and abroad for many years I returned to Scotland just over two years ago and wanted to get into the Independence cause as I've had to watch from afar with very limited insights into much more than the odd debates or news items in mainstream media. I've since attended a couple of rallies, Salvo meetings and watched lots of pro independence YouTube programs etc and I gave to say much as I enjoyed it at first, I soon realised the pointlessness of much of the energy being spent on 'preaching to the converted' or standing on flyovers with Saltires. One group form a choir for gawdsake..it was like a cross between dads army and the vicar of Dibley! I wondered how all this drove the cause of independence forward..maybe apart from from morale boosting or making like-minded friends. How many undecided or unpersuaded minds were won over? How many unionist lies and abuses did it rebut or uncover? It's all too 'tame'...toothless. This is why I welcome the thought of a new and much needed party (NSP) to take the fight forward and get off the treadmill that many appear to have been sleepwalking on for nearly a decade
Now that's a brilliant piece of writing Peter! I wish I could write like that..'annexed territory'..love it! I am incapable of scribing like that..I descend into snarls while sharpening my Lochaber. Ye couldnae put me in a delegation tae talk tae the f*ckin foreign english....I'd be over the desk separatin' us in a flash...I could not bear to chat and look at these foreign english wretches knowing the damage they have done to our culture..our self respect..our resources..the future of generations of Scots tae come..basically my country...and are still doing it...they sit there smirking and chatting so eruditely in their elegant grey suits about zilch while my eyes go red and in my head I am formulating different ways on how to inelegantly cut them tae ribbons...humanely of course...or not.
You could easily be an FM I would be able to respect and as soon as you had stopped speaking tae the foreign english sh*te I'd be over that desk again wi ma Lochaber.
We need someone tae speak for Scotland backed up wi homicidal intent...it's the only way tae deal with the turds we live beside.
Annexed territory..exactly. You've nailed it.
I speak to folk in Tesco...prisoners at the checkout.so canny run awa' fae me..and all descend into criticism of Sturgeon ( ah hate hur..is one comment) while the foreigners standing behind them look innocent....and the Scots look at me like I am mad..I am ..mad at their inability to see what's in front of them as they hold the foreign english newspapers in their hands that tell them how to think ..or not.
I have a dream!..england crash oot the world cup...we win it ..and then I lead my vicious english biting haggis regiment anywhere there are foreign english crap polluting oor country..we don't even have tae win the cup tho the foreign english would still have tae crash oot.
Excellent article...now how do we tell the brain dead Scots what is happening while as you say the independence business thrives...but not Scotland.
Great phbrase.. the independence industry... Wish I had thought of that.
You're post is exactly correct, it's stifles real resistance to the colonial power... .. it's a bit like a Scotland football wearing the jersey but not on his heart... Singing flower of Scotland... Then voting for a British party to continue his subjugation. Certainly some fucked up minds
In the tartan army... And in the media, I just watched James Cook saying to school children isn't it all a bit nationalistic? That from the biggest nationalist erse ever... Albeit a British one... One who would like to see a British team rather than a Scottish one and of course that would comprise of English players with the requisite token jock.
That's right, but surely you must realise English Nationalism is the type that isn't really Nationalism at all. Those patriots that have emerged recently wearing buckets on their head are just contemporary Crusaders fighting a Holy War to protect stout hearts-of-boak countrified gentlemen & gently fried countrymen, fair English Roses, eg Katie Price and the ( demon ) seed of future generations; in order that the natural order, ie the Filthy Rich Man can keep his castle and the pauper can clean the moat.
Why do you think they are expending their precious ale-swilling-banger n mash-masticating days laying siege to Immigrant Hotels, plastering their St George of Lydda flags on every available circus and, when the opportunity arises, beating-up those lacking the lily white-yet-ruddy complexion that denotes the true-born Angle? Why, to demonstrate their distaste for Nationalism, of course
The key takeaways from that article are these:
"... that we were largely ignored during Nicola Sturgeon’s reign, shall we say"
"But as far as I was concerned, independence was on the back burner. They just didn’t want to talk to us" (Sturgeon's era)
"Now I would say, not just with John but with Callum McCaig as the new [SNP] chief executive, we’ve now got a better relationship than ever and that does give me hope" (Swinney's era)
Grassroots <===> Government is surely a good thing. Didn't happen in Salmond's "Ivory Tower" era.
From your article: "I decline to be tamed"
Who on earth would ever think such a maverick COULD be tamed? Or want it?
Well yesindyref2 we shall soon have a good idea whether the cynics or the faithful have the right of it.
The cynics will note that the vast majority of former activists had already abandoned the SNP in disgust at its lack of progress on independence, and that John Swinney made the pact with BiS in order to use _their_ activists for campaigning for the SNP in the recent election and will now quietly resile form his responsibilities through inaction.
If the Believers are not to be disappointed again then some actual meaningful action will need to be undertaken.
When it isn't, the unbiased observer is left to question:
How much inaction is too much? When will The Betrayed cry 'enough'?
How about you? How much inaction will be too much for you?
If in another years time we are all left complaining that nothing meaningful has been achieved, will you reconsider the possibility that cynical manipulation has been deployed upon the voting public?
"whether the cynics or the faithful have the right of it"
Or the other 98% in-between, of which I am one!
"Believers" - "Betrayed"
Jings Crivvens an Help ma Boab!
Independence seems to be stuck. Voting ourselves into devolution was our first big mistake. From there we embarked on a fruitless referendum. Arguably, the most notable event of the past 12 years was Nicola Sturgeon deliberately losing a court case to prove that independence is beyond our grasp.
There's nowhere to go from here. We're stuck! Everything has failed. No one has a forward-thinking plan.
The SNP, the political party most independence supporters trust, has now been proven untrustworthy. It's desperately hiding from further scrutiny and it's obvious why.
Far more has been stolen than the £400,000 on Peter Murrell's charge sheet and many more people are accountable. Every effort to cover the incompetence adds to the incompetence. It's a no-win situation.
Whilst this no-win scenario digs deeper, we can also look forward to the Alex Salmond court case.
I see Nicola Sturgeon's dreadful performance during the COVID crisis is also casting a shadow and the deletion of WhatsApp messages provides little cover.
No one involved in managing the SNP is coming out of all of these scandals untouched, yet there are reports of party fanatics behaving fanatically.
This dire situation is enough to defeat any forward-thinking plan. So, no credible plan exists nor will one exist for long into the future.
Hi Joe. Good to see you commenting here again. ;-)
I may be a bit late in coming to recognise this but Jonathon Shafi had a perceptive and thought provoking article two weeks ago on his substack. "Embezzling hope" [1]
It emphasises that the class based Left perspective cannot be ignored, but as Alf Baird notes in the comments, while simultaneously still failing to acknowledge the other dominant real politiK framework that is at play here.
No I don't mean the contrast between financialised neoliberal exploitative oligarchy and the lobby / donor class versus a Marxist / Socialist egalitarian human or planet centred view, I refer to the older and more fundamental juxtaposition between an invaded and dominated suppressed population and its larger dominating Neighbour and Ruler.
The settler / colonial / absentee landlord / Wealth Extraction and cultural subjugation that is described so extensively by the large body of work that makes up colonial and post-colonial theory.
[1] https://jonathonshafi.substack.com/p/embezzling-hope
Hello your n4m3, I've just read your link. I might've dozed off at various points, so apologies if I missed it, but there appears to be no mention of Alex Salmond.
I find that quite incredible.
Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell are both mentioned!
Do you like that article? Is it based on reality or is it absolute drivel written by a halfwit?
In general I find Jonathan Shafi to be an intelligent observer and a skillful writer.
Peoples substacks aren't their professional work that they are getting paid for, and I find that his published work is generally very good.
Apart from it being drivel, my main complaint is the apparent lack of Alex Salmond. Did I just miss his appearance or is it a desperately biased article crediting a thief and the wife of a thief who claims to know nothing about the thriving despite being leader of the party!?
Thieving*
If you locked Jonathonan Shafi and Robin McAlpine in a room together, they'd probably die for the lack of intellectual stimulation. Or a mirror.
fuckin' hell, a mirror, ie self-awareness, is EXACTLY what you lack, ya tube. Those two writers/thinkers ( I don't agree with everything they write ) make you look like the * intellectual * adolescent you clearly are. Let's not forget, your supersmart mind led you to vote for the most useless so-called " Nationalist Party " in history; one that thinks Sovereignty means asking for liberation from the same entity that is intent on them NEVER achieving that liberty. Not just voting for them, but doing so x2. And you have the conceit to look down on ACTUAL intellectuals. ahahahahaha yr a right laugh, so ye ur: just not in the way you think you are
"Liked by Peter A Bell"
-------------------------
Imagine the host of a forum "liking" a personal attack - an ad hominem - by someone on a regular contributor. The shame of it.
The host clearly suffers from an awful debility and a lessened utility.
There'll be rejoicing in a clachan somewhere over your departure.
I've heard of Jonathan Shafi but couldn't tell you much about him. I regularly read Robin McAlpine. I don't always agree with him but his recent articles on Nicola Sturgeon and the wider Party's guilt find favour with me.
Too pessimistic for me. After the Ref and the day after a Hope Over Fear there was a rally at Glasgow Green. I don't listen to speeches (prefer taking it all in and a wee bit blether), but a (fellow at the time) Winger with initials TJ listened to McAlpine apparently saying there shouldn't be another Ref till 2023. TJ with his young daughter along was dismayed - he didn't want to wait that long, he wanted his life back.
Same for me, and look what happened.
The 3 monkeys comes to mind.
Excellent article which expresses much of how I feel. Having lived in England and abroad for many years I returned to Scotland just over two years ago and wanted to get into the Independence cause as I've had to watch from afar with very limited insights into much more than the odd debates or news items in mainstream media. I've since attended a couple of rallies, Salvo meetings and watched lots of pro independence YouTube programs etc and I gave to say much as I enjoyed it at first, I soon realised the pointlessness of much of the energy being spent on 'preaching to the converted' or standing on flyovers with Saltires. One group form a choir for gawdsake..it was like a cross between dads army and the vicar of Dibley! I wondered how all this drove the cause of independence forward..maybe apart from from morale boosting or making like-minded friends. How many undecided or unpersuaded minds were won over? How many unionist lies and abuses did it rebut or uncover? It's all too 'tame'...toothless. This is why I welcome the thought of a new and much needed party (NSP) to take the fight forward and get off the treadmill that many appear to have been sleepwalking on for nearly a decade
Looking at the content of the piece my only observation is that The National must be really hard up for articles today.
It's represents the very definition of a waste of space.
Now that's a brilliant piece of writing Peter! I wish I could write like that..'annexed territory'..love it! I am incapable of scribing like that..I descend into snarls while sharpening my Lochaber. Ye couldnae put me in a delegation tae talk tae the f*ckin foreign english....I'd be over the desk separatin' us in a flash...I could not bear to chat and look at these foreign english wretches knowing the damage they have done to our culture..our self respect..our resources..the future of generations of Scots tae come..basically my country...and are still doing it...they sit there smirking and chatting so eruditely in their elegant grey suits about zilch while my eyes go red and in my head I am formulating different ways on how to inelegantly cut them tae ribbons...humanely of course...or not.
You could easily be an FM I would be able to respect and as soon as you had stopped speaking tae the foreign english sh*te I'd be over that desk again wi ma Lochaber.
We need someone tae speak for Scotland backed up wi homicidal intent...it's the only way tae deal with the turds we live beside.
Annexed territory..exactly. You've nailed it.
I speak to folk in Tesco...prisoners at the checkout.so canny run awa' fae me..and all descend into criticism of Sturgeon ( ah hate hur..is one comment) while the foreigners standing behind them look innocent....and the Scots look at me like I am mad..I am ..mad at their inability to see what's in front of them as they hold the foreign english newspapers in their hands that tell them how to think ..or not.
I have a dream!..england crash oot the world cup...we win it ..and then I lead my vicious english biting haggis regiment anywhere there are foreign english crap polluting oor country..we don't even have tae win the cup tho the foreign english would still have tae crash oot.
Excellent article...now how do we tell the brain dead Scots what is happening while as you say the independence business thrives...but not Scotland.
For OUR Scotland and her 90 minute patriot weans