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Geoffrey Barrow, in his inaugural lecture as Professor of Scottish History, University of Edinburgh, 1979: "The failure of Scotland to establish its own organisation for public service broadcasting was the greatest cultural disaster which Scotland suffered in the 20th century."
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Desperate stuff from BBC Scotland as alcohol deaths fall, among women too talkingupscotlandtwo.com/202…
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As we suspected, Reporting Scotland had zero in depth analysis of the budget and its impact on Scotland. The programme instead had a vox-pop. The betrayal of Acorn was glossed over as was gas standing charge being applied to unit cost and the real terms cut to our block grant.
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The £100 will be welcome but the 27% increase forecast for January will add around £300 to the average Scottish energy bill.
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ENGLAND
Brutal, double-dealing colonials remove another chunk of investment in Scotland
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"But those same Unionist politicians know that calling a second referendum would lead to independence."
This is just wrong! Horribly wrong! The whole article is about how the British state can attach whatever conditions it likes to whatever kind of referendum it might deign to grant us. If they have that degree of control, why would they give us a referendum that "would lead to independence"?
Here's one of the hard truths that the independence movement must accept if Scotland's cause is to make any progress. Westminster cannot authorise anything which might place the Union in jeopardy. Therefore, the only sensible conclusion must be that any referendum which the British state might give us would NOT lead to independence.
The Section 30 process isn't a 'legal and constitutional' escape route. It is a trap. England-as-Britain didn't build a global empire by affording its seized territories an easy way out. John Swinney concedes to Westminster a veto over the will of Scotland's people. Am I the only one who sees what's wrong with this? The de facto leader of Scotland's independence movement accedes to the alien doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, denying the principle that the people of Scotland are sovereign. Doesn't anybody else consider it wrong that the supposed leader of the fight to restore Scotland's independence meekly accepts the British state's authority to thwart that aspiration at every turn?
Does anybody out there understand what a proper constitutional referendum looks like? Does anybody out there understand the difference between a proper constitutional referendum and a referendum held under transferred powers? In a proper constitutional referendum, the people's decision is final. In a Section 30 referendum, Westminster must always have the final say.
thenational.scot/news/266757… #EndTheUnion #ScottishUDI
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All mention of the Daily Record removed. Where will he go next? The only newspapers recruiting in Scotland these days are right wing English titles with a tartan masthead.
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BBC Scotland is so anti-SNP that even a demand from the SNP Govt for a review of the decision to scrap the BBC Scotland channel is stone last on the station's website.
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English babies and young children failed amid surging poverty and inadequate protection legislation compared with Scotland talkingupscotlandtwo.com/202…
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Scots to pay for a steel works, a national care service, an illegal dumps clear-up, and homelessness reduction in England, all out of a reduced block grant talkingupscotlandtwo.com/202…
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Wait, what? Is vandalism now being equated with terrorism?
Seven people are to stand trial facing a terror charge of vandalising US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort.
i.stv.tv/4isi7Mo
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I may not be one of Paul Kavanagh's biggest fans, but I must congratulate him for writing the definitive article about the 'currency question'. But he misses one very important point. While it is true to say that the Better Together parties weaponised the 'currency question', this weaponisation could not have been as effective as it was without the help it got from the Yes movement. He is correct to say that currency should be a non-issue. But Mr Kavanagh should ask wo is making it an issue. The ones keeping the currency pot boiling twelve years on are far more likely to be found in the pro-independence camp than on the Unionist side.
There's a lesson for the independence movement in this. But I fear it is yet another lesson which will go unlearned. Questions are not always asked for the benign purpose of eliciting information. Sometimes, questions are asked for the malign purpose of planting seeds of doubt. The anti-independence campaign didn't just weaponise the 'currency question'. They weaponised the question.
The pro-independence side totally failed to recognise that questions were being asked for the malign purpose of creating doubt and/or aggravating existing doubt. The pro-independence side behaved as if every question was a serious question deserving of a serious answer. The independence industry, led by the SNP, continues to make this same mistake - in effect, continuing the anti-independence campaign.
The sensible response to anyone asking what currency independent Scotland would use is to ask what reason the questioner had to suppose independent Scotland would be unable to handle its monetary affairs. When questions are asked for a malign purpose, turn them back on the questioner.
thenational.scot/politics/26… #EndTheUnion #ScottishUDI
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Why is a private company getting a platform by @BBCScotlandNews on a political programme
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Labour promised £200m to Grangemouth. The refinery got nothing. The b4stards have now done the same with Acorn. £200m was promised.
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Now live: George Buchanan and the Constitution Scotland Lost
Scotland didn't simply lose a Parliament in 1707.
It lost the sovereign institutions through which a distinct constitutional tradition — rooted in popular authority, fundamental law and conditional government — could continue developing independently.
This article traces that tradition through Buchanan, the wider European constitutional world, the Claim of Right, and the constitutional schism of 1707.
What Scottish popular sovereignty actually meant — and what was interrupted in 1707.
angrypict.substack.com/p/geo…
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WHISKY
Beater editor dives into rubbish cupboard for the bottle of malt hidden for a special occasion
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Genuine question. Does BBC Scotland have an editor or reporter capable of understanding the complexities and detail of the budget? We can't think of a single person left at the station who is up to the task.
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A teenage boy has been seriously injured in a third incident involving a knife at Manchester's Arndale centre within a fortnight. If this was Glasgow the BBC would be all over it. Glasgow would be slated. Labour would be condemning John Swinney.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv70…
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SCOTLAND'S COLONIAL NEWSPAPERS
The Herald has us laughing out loud this morning, they found a 'leading' historian' - who is anything but, (he's an untrustworthy member of the far-right Union gang: 'These (discredited) Islands', to publish guff about referenda. 😐 And if one chump wasn't enough to put you off buying the rag, they found a second suspicious character, an academic at St Andrews University who says there should be a third referendum to check if we like a decade of independence. The sods will say and do anything to stop Jockland enjoying full democracy. The two wafflers read as if picked from the talent agency 'Tubes R Us!' The writing skills of the Herald's staff is lamentable. And why do papers insist on the phony prefix a 'leading' this, and a 'top' that? Gie us peace!😐 On the same front page they have a photograph of a Jewish polling station full of Orthodox Jews. Is that really the extent of their journalism on the murderous Israeli election - a single photo? And we know the Yahoo will stitch up a collation with one of small parties so he can continue his death run on Palestinians. 😐 The Daily Vow (Record) has found a real news story to publish now that its wee frazzled editor, Paul Hutcheon, has gone on bonking leave. Well done the substitute editor. 😐 The story concerns flood defences operated by Renfrewshire Council remaining shut during Storm Boelo. Apparently (allegedly) this omission allowed flood water to cascade down a main street and into shops. Whoops Apocalypse! Local businesses are ragin'. 😐 Same front page the Record highlights fitba's McInnes, plus a story about a dead dug - lovely combination. 😐 Only the Colonial Times, Guardian, Mail and Financial Times allude to a Westminster budget happening today, and go as far as serving their readers by discussing what it might contain. 😐 For all the respect Scotland gets from its vapid press we might as well be a land north of Manchester- oh crap! We are.
