Please Note: these are my views based on my observations and experience over a lifetime; these are not your facts these are my thoughts for you to think about. Scotland is at a crossroad it has never, in its entire history ever faced. I would urge people to inform themselves, resist belief without qualification and be prepared to rise to the challenges we face. Decide for yourself who you trust, be prepared to be wrong and make corrections and above all, keep well away from blind faith.
The people of Scotland are being misled, no ifs, no buts just misled.
My interpretation of what is reported in the MSM and Social Media leaves me with no other conclusion than a seed was planted in the SNP long before Sep 2014. I call this seed the Murrell Sleeper Cell. Alex Salmond played out Indy Ref to the best of his ability.
Following ‘defeat’ he must have taken stock, realised what had gone wrong and determined to get it right next time. The Sleeper Cell knew what Alex Salmond would be thinking, they knew they could not pull off the same lies as before and they knew that Alex could not be silenced. Their only option was to discredit him to ensure his words would be construed as bitter, twisted and Indynial (my word). Almost as a mark of defiance Alex took up the offer to host his own show on RT, the only broadcaster with the balls to host him.
So that’s my opening gambit, let’s see if I can work through the logic and let’s see if we can recognise the tactic of the Sleeper Cell when it awakes!
The Independence Movement has frankly been hijacked by the SNP. In 2014 this hijacking seemed almost immaterial because we believed we would achieve our Independence but I cannot be certain we would have succeeded. However, I believe we could have succeeded had the campaign been managed differently.
However, the fact we failed in 2014 can usefully be considered a dummy run, a practice, a training event. I am sure with hind-sight Alex Salmond would have done some things differently. Truth to tell, hindsight is out of stock.
When I say misled, that is strong stuff. In 2014 it may be more accurate to say misguided, mistaken and with a dose of naivety.
Not so since then. The hindsight no longer washes. We are being led, very deliberately and I suspect that Alex Salmond knew that and perhaps, that realisation meant he had to be dispatched.
Good news is, that attempt failed and if we learn from this exercise before it is too late we may be able to get the job done this time.
A long time ago, I blogged about the things I felt had gone wrong so first of all I would like to park that, it is water under the bridge and a distraction. So, here goes …
The very term INDEPENDENCE is a trap, a poison chalice. There is nothing wrong with the term and it projects our ambition but the word has already been compromised. This is the word that has misled us. It is a political terms and has railroaded our campaign into the open arms of the politicians. Scotland never was Independent and in fact our mistaken belief that we were independent in 1700 and near bankruptcy that we allowed ourselves to be conned into the Act of Union in 1707. The answer to our financial woes seemed solvable by greater trade with England. Prior to that Scotland had a successful Interdependent trading relationship with the Dutch. We must use words that do not have powerful opposites. Nelson Mandela chose Freedom. Self determination is good but 2 words. I believe that Sovereign is a globally recognised term deeply rooted in our Human Rights.
Scotland must restore or let’s say establish our Sovereignty; a nation in control of it’s own destiny. As a Sovereign nation it may be very difficult, it may be disastrous and it my be bloody painful; but it will be our difficulty, our disaster and our pain, nobody else’s. This is the simple answer to the ‘too wee to poor … bullshit’ the answer is ‘SO WHAT IF WE ARE, THAT’S OUR BUSINESS, WE ARE NEITHER BENEFIT SCROUNGERS NOR WIMPS’.
As a Sovereign nation we can chose to be a Sovereign Republic like America or a Sovereign Monarchy like Belgium. it’s our choice. We have a Monarch, a shared Monarch. We can get rid of them but the smart money says, let’s do things one step at a time, don’t get ahead of ourselves. We may decide at a later date the people don’t want a Monarchy, fine, scrap it. For now, it gives us some Social Capital in the World so leave that as it is. THAT SOCIAL CAPITAL IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL TO OUR SUCCESS, AT LEAST IN THE SHORT TERM.
In the absence of a widespread Movement for Sovereignty it made sense to attach the ambition to a political Party – but a Political Party got in there first and grabbed the reigns, and would not let go. Blair Jenkins is proof conclusive as Head of the Yes Campaign – sidelined by the SNP
Establishment of our Sovereignty is an ambition. But political Parties also have ambitions and here is where everything goes wrong.
SOVEREIGNTY
Sovereign of a Nation, once established as remains in perpetuity. Every country that has established its Sovereignty has remained so; never returned to hegemony. Sovereignty is a lasting State. It is not necessarily easy, in fact it is likely to be hard but it’s OUR Sovereign hard.
BY CONTRAST..
POLITICS
Politics, by its very nature is a very temporary State. A Nation in control of it’s own destiny has a Mission to maintain and improve the health, wealth, welfare and security of its people. Political Parties produce a manifesto of actions it will take to serve the people in line with the Mission.
Parties and politicians present their manifesto for the people to vote on and the winning Party Governs for a period. Thanks to Cameron that is now a fixed term of 5 years. After this time the process is repeated and the Government is either re-elected or replaced. This is an ever changing revolving door.
There is nothing permanent in this, frankly highly flawed system. Promises made and undelivered are generally swept aside and replaced with a new manifesto, new promises – even when the Government is re-elected.
I hope people can understand why the ‘political route’ to Sovereignty is a blind alley; it’s a road to failure.
Prior to 2014 and with the benefit of hindsight this may be seen as a wrong decision or a bad decision. Fair enough.
What is going on within the SNP Leadership and the NEC is not a wrong decision, not a bad decision, it a very deliberate decision, and a measured decision; but not for the people of Scotland.
The Yes Community are rightly, extremely frustrated with the SNP’s intransigence, their lack of focus on the one job they were given by the electorate. But do we believe this is actually lack of focus? I for one do not believe this and I am not alone.
The SNP are playing deliberate DISTRACTION POLITICS. They do have a Plan A but it is not a Plan for Independence, it’s a plan to progress the agenda of the SNP hierarchy. Of course we don’t know for sure what that is, but we do know for sure what it isn’t – our quest for Sovereignty.
CITE 1: Politically, the SNP appear in the many opinion polls to be on a roll with 50+% in favour. That is pathetic, but much more than that. When the referendum is called and it will be IS some form for sure, we will lose. The SNP will survive, because 50+% tells me this can go either way. The SNP will continue, the people of Scotland will retreat once again and pin their hope on some future Indy Ref 3. Mrs Murrell and her chief cohorts will be rewarded as valiant losers, they did their best, and their Ermines are in the post
I have cited one piece of evidence to back up my claim. The 50+% for me is a dead give away. Given that Westminster has ripped the heart out of Scotland and gone back in for the liver and kidneys that percentage should be 95+% – so why is it not?
In summary, if I spin a fair coin, heads or tails and shout heads and it is tails that is just an even money chance that went against me. If the coin was weighted 95:5 in favour of heads and I shout heads and it is tails I would be very concerned about the fairness or veracity of the spin. This is why I believe the cc 52% is being artificially maintained at this level – they are managing our defeat in advance.
CITE 2: I was very surprised at the case brought against Alex Salmond. I do not know him but I have met him very informally on a couple of occasions. Alex enjoyed great popularity especially with the women. They would clamber for selfies and photos. Despite this celebrity appeal Alex always appeared to conducted himself with great dignity in public when not in the media gaze.
It is the accepted norm that a member of your team is given the benefit of the doubt when accused in a manner their close allies find inexplicable or at a minimum in the absence of any evidence. The attitude of Nicola Sturgeon in washing her hands of her mentor, was certainly construed as a confirmation of his guilt – we now begin to understand why this was the case?
CITE 3: I am not a Labour supporter nor have I ever voted Labour. Perhaps I am missing something but I saw Jeremy Corbyn as a decent sort. Sure I did not agree with all his policies but I did feel he was overtly hostile to Scotland and he could have been persuaded to allow Scots to choice their own destination. When asked to comment, and without qualification, Nicola Sturgeon stated very firmly, ‘I do not like Jeremy Corbyn’. She said this in a very managed, rehearsed manner as if she was tried to please or appease, whoever? Later, I believe this became clearer.
Jeremy Corbyn is not antisemitic. In fact the scurrilous and contrived claims are in themselves, Hate Crimes. Every legal person knows, especially Keir Starmer, that there is no such thing as antisemitism in law. Hate Crime there certainly is and this falls mainly only black, brown and Asian citizens, especially Pakistani; certainly not Jewish people. In fact when I examined Hate Crime stats, Police Scotland, against Jewish citizens in Scotland over the past 10 years – nothing, nothing. Jeremy Corbyn is not against Israel. He is against selling weapons to Israel as an Apartheid State. But what has that got to do with Nicola Sturgeon? Interesting question. I support the Palestinian cause as do very many in Scotland and around the world. It appears she is ‘sympathetic’ to the Israeli narrative.
Aside: My support of the Palestinian cause was founded on humanity and an aversion to murder, war crimes and genocide at the hands of Apartheid Israel. As a survivor, my father, not a Jew but a clear target by his disability had to leave his homeland. He served as Engineering Officer with the Merchant Navy on a major troop carrier until its sinking in 1944. A short time later we sought refuge in Scotland and he never saw his family ever again and died in 1970. I feel the pain of the oppressed. The treatment of Palestinians, herded into camps, starved, poisoned, dispossessed and subjected to humiliations too horrific to imaging regardless of gender, little babies, the sick, disabled or elderly all treated like meat on a butchers table and subject to a turkey shoot if they have the audacity to complain. Glasgow has a great tradition of standing up for the oppressed. In Chile, Nae Pasaran solidarity with the people of Chile won Global respect for Scotland and the Scottish solidarity with Nelson Mandela demonstrated our credentials as a humanitarian nation with a voice. Awarding Nelson Mandela the keys of the city of Glasgow must rate as one of our proudest moments. It would be unthinkable for the people of Scotland and our Government to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people – that is who we are, that is … a NO, a NO. Not a word of support nor condemnation of an oppressor from Nicola Sturgeon. It’s as if the word ‘Palestine’ would burn her mouth. Of course, it makes sense that she should be so hostile to Jeremy Corbyn. It cannot be political. She was not so hostile to war criminal Blair, or Brown who wrecked the economy and mouthed the Vow in 2014. I could only be his stance against arms support to Israel. But it gets worse. Nicola Sturgeon takes audience from Sammy Stein, Chair or joint Chair of Glasgow Friends of Israel, a man whom, I understand has or has had links to the IDF. He boasts about audience with Nicola Sturgeon in the Jewish Chronicle. Stein and his group set up stall every Saturday in Buchanan St and are openly hostile towards a Palestine Group. They approach the Palestine stall with smart phones in hand and take pictures of Palestinian supporters, they have even claimed these pictures are being sent to the Embassy. Complaints have been lodged with the police but still they persist. At a rally, I believe in 2018 in George Square around 300 Scottish Palestine sympathisers were met with an army of police; around 2 to 300 officers including, I believe armed units. Sammy Stein attended with a few of his supporters and were fenced off from the main body by police as if to feign a safety concern. Of course the protest was entirely peaceful and the protest dispersed without incident. It beggars believe that that level and cost of police presence can be deployed to a peaceful rally without an extremely powerful lobby of the Scottish Government from the Friends of Israel Lobby or possibly the extremely potent SCOJEC Lobby that certainly has audience with the Scottish Government.
The question must be asked, what influence does the Israeli Lobby have over Nicola Sturgeon and what is the extent of that relationship. Is there some Quid Pro Quo?
CITE 4. Last but by no means least is the SNP politics of distraction exhibiting an extraordinary level of focus on a myriad of gender issues. I have a number of good friends of Lesbian and Gay persuasion. They all have one important desire in common; to be seen and treated as completely normal in an environment where gender is totally transparent and people are treated as equal.
Factions of the SNP have allowed gender issues to completely hijack the agenda upon which the SNP was supported and elected, or perhaps not?
Perhaps the LGBTQ community has not hijacked the agenda, perhaps the SNP has USED the LBGTQ Community as pawns in a covert game of distraction politics.
THE WAY FORWARD
Finally, I would like to end on a high if that is possible. I have claimed that the temporary nature of politics is entirely the wrong vehicle to secure our Sovereignty. There are other reasons.
If we accept that Sovereignty must be taken out of the hands of politics there can be only one alternative. The alternative is simplicity itself. This is a 4 step process to avoid Scotland being seen as an Insurrection State
Step 1: we must take back control of the Party or Parties who represent the people of Scotland. This must be done with the commitment of an organised Yes Community, Yes Alliance or whatever Groups represent the whole people. These Groups must align in coalition and make it clear to the Political Parties representing us that we are committed to a Plebiscite on Sovereignty followed by a Unilateral Declaration of Sovereignty. Without this formal written agreement the Coalition for Sovereignty will remove the dissenting Candidates at the ballot box.
Step 2 : we enact the Plebiscite and on success make our Declaration.
Step 3 : At all stages the Coalition for Sovereignty should seek and secure concurrence with the other nations of the UK, Wales and Northern Ireland and a quorum from the EU. The United Nations should be appraised of our intentions under International Law and and Oversight Committee of Observers should be engaged to preside over proceedings to ensure we have conducted ourselves in a manner commensurate with the highest International standards of Democracy and Conduct.
Step 4: The next stage can be really simple or really scary and complex. I do not want to ignore the complex but rather focus on the simplicity in a complex environment.
Now that we have declared our Sovereignty it is important to recognise that we do not pull up the drawbridge and retreat to our own version of heaven. I -prefer to think of a little boy or girl saving their pocket money until they can afford a football. When they have enough they buy the ball then rally their friends and neighbours to a game of football. When the game is under way nobody is thinking whose ball it is rather the fact that somebody turned up with a ball and now we are all enjoying ourselves.
The message is simple: Quid Pro Quo. We can work in harmony with our friends and neighbours and everyone benefits. The United Kingdom has never in its history worked in harmony. The Union was built on power, privilege, greed, selfishness and the willingness and often delight in the violence required to achieve it goals ongoing.
Harmony will demand new structures commensurate with its success. This will mean a New Enlightenment, new political structure, defining and embedding our values into society, defining, building and maintaining the fundamentals of society based on fairness, access, equality, oversight, correction and evolution of our society and the wider society, we often refer to as the rest of the world.
This ask should not be outwith the gift of the Nation who gave us the Scottish Enlightenment in the 1800s that gave us the blueprint for a world that is fast slipping through our fingers..
