Here on the west coast of Ireland, we are currently hosting Storm Brendan.
In fairness, he is a powerful fella who promises to sweep all before him and currently over 48,000 homes are without power.
However, I expect this Brendan will leave earlier than forecast for a more exciting landfall, just like another one that springs to mind.
Remarkably on this island, we have weather systems that stop at artificial frontiers.
So Storm Brendan apparently doesn’t fancy a trip over the Lifford Bridge to Britain…
At the weekend the weather in my native city was, as they say there, pish.
However, it couldn’t dampen the spirits of the many thousands who turned up for a pro-independent rally.
I don’t envisage Prime Minister Boris giving a “winds of change” speech in Holyrood anytime soon.
However, you don’t need a weatherman to see which way this wind is blowing.
Without the opportunities of the Empire, the glue which connected the Scots to their southern neighbours is slowly weakening.
Of course, that is the business of the folk of Fair Caledonia.
However, it does have a long-term and profound impact on this country, particularly the North East.
Scotland has always had huge cultural weight in the partition statelet since it was created almost a century ago.
In 2014 the defenders of “Ulsturr” (sic) were very clear that they did not want Scotland to be a nation again.
In Glasgow, at the weekend the same dignified chaps reacted badly to the appearance of an Irish flag on the pro-independence march.
History takes a long time and a century is but a blink in the collective memory of a nation.
That is something that our gobshite found out last week when he thought it ok to commemorate the Tans.
Now, he is about to call a general election here.
For the avoidance of doubt, I would love it if Tan Fest were to blow him off course.
However, perhaps I’m just whistling in the wind at this point.
Last week I wrote about the Ireland that my grandmother taught me about.
A place of vicious landlords and the Tans.
Thankfully the latter have gone.
However, this is still a place where the tenant fears the property owner and many have no roof over their head at all.
An Irishman from Scotland warned of this over a century ago.
I hope that my grandchildren, if they are ever born, will know a different Ireland to this one.
They might even ask puzzled questions of this oul fella about why Scotland once did not have a seat at the table of nations in the world back.
In both those situations there are a certain People who are on the wrong side of history.
As the trees bend here in Dún na nGall I feel sorry for their situation and the place that history has given them.
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Message for Charger…
First up…do me a favour and read what I write…not what you want to read.
As someone who, for the first time in over 60 years ,never voted in the GE… ( and who is feckin angry about that ) let me confirm that IMO there is no Party worth voting for…hence my decision not to.
To pick someone just for the sake of it is counter-productive.
All of them drive their own agendas leaving the country and its people to go take a flying feck to themselves.
I am not anti SNP per.se…I just think that they and all the others in Scotland are useless…and have put us in a bigger mess than we were in before Devolution….The facts prove that.
As for Independence…I voted YES in 2014….but wouldn’t do it now…as the quality of Scottish MP’s across the board…is poor…and would cost us dearly.
So there you have it Charger…not an endorsement of Westminster…but a definite criticism of Holyrood…Big difference.
Finally I would confirm….I am not a gullible moron.
Cheers
In other words you not only think that Scots are too uniquely stupid to govern themselves and you do not believe in democracy.
I think you have actually proved the fact that your are a gullible moron very succinctly.
Stop digging you are only making but providing your stupidity🤔😂
Read this SLOWLY and CAREFULLY…
I don’t think Scots are too uniquely stupid to govern themselves…I think they’re incapable…big difference.
Also…The United Kingdom voted to leave the EU…as was the requirement of the referendum.
Whether Scotland…Wales….or indeed Stranraer voted to stay… is totally and utterly irrelevant.
Democracy had to be upheld…and not your version of it.
Finally…go and annoy someone else and gi’e me peace.
Definition of
Stupid:a lack of thought or good judgement
Incapable : a lack of capacity
I freely accept there are arguments against independence held by rational, intelligent people.
Arguing theScottish nation uniquely lacks the capacity to govern itself is neither intelligent or rational – frankly it is racist.
It is the type of argument used by people who are not democratic as is the use of capital letters to emphasise their patronising point.
As for give me peace – again the unthinking response from someone without a rational argument.
I enjoy discussing pros and cons of an argument with intelligent people it is how we learn and develop ideas.
Some good news for you I will not be engaging with you any more – nothing to learn from an empty vessel.
Your final paragraph has made my week-end….
Ave ave atque vale
My thoughts entirely ! why our Yoons believe that ov all the nations of this earth only the Scots are somehow unable to manage themselves to me is quite ridiculous
Incabable ? that describes yourself. Incapable of rationale thought, wedded to the Yoon racist mindset of Empire, glory, exploitation and genocide. You are beyond help
Every effort is being made at undermining Celtic’s tilt at nine in a row.
The daily record yet again today writes about lending Griff out the door.
Neil Lennon requires all his options over the next four months to end of May. If OE gets injured and unproven Patryk ends up a Timo Pukki then Griff will be desperately needed.
No lending Griff out (unless a proven striker is coming in to make it three).
Griff is now fit and playing football and that string to Celtic’s bow scares the blue end of GLASGOW.
They’re trying to talk CELTIC into self harm by loaning out Griff. He’s going nowhere.
Lord, where did all these pro-union posters come from all of a sudden?
There’s a certain similarity about them, the grammar, an absence of spelling errors…
Could it be JJ again, and all his self-created friends?
It is a genuine infestation of boris-loving dobbers, or has Phil’s site been targeted by the Yoon bot army?
If so, that’s praise indeed!
Thought I’d mistakenly logged in to the Scotsman comments page
How did the Klan-Fest Contingency get their name in a shop window?
The Truth is stranger than friction.
This storm Brendan that’s over our city at the moment is creating havoc especially over at Ibrox way . The BENNY’S wont be happy about that with their leaking roofs around the stadium . Nowhere near as bad as the last storm BRENDAN that was there in that 5 one game. I do hope Shamrock and and few others enjoyed the post tonight . Remember it’s only my opinion.
Honking
Aw wee Shamy the window cleaner is not to happy again cheer up mate I only want to be your friend
Well best to drop the bennys mate lol
I’m telling you, Scudmissile is JJ!
The amount of crap written about the SNP is unreal, snazi’s, wee nippy etc. they are the political tool to independence but there is a wider YES movement that will eventually force independence. The older generations will pass on and it has been shown the younger voters under 50 are pro indy they will deliver a better future for themselves and the next generations free of Westminster. I was at the march on Saturday and it took me 2 and half hours to walk from Kelvin way to the Clutha Vaults were I detoured to a local boozer. The SNP are doing a grand job in spite of cuts from Westmonster. Scotlands day will come the dam has burst it can’t be repaired.
Nice photo of two timing Brendan there.
Fake Brendan with his fake chicklet teeth.
The Ireland of the Tans and other Belligerents is long gone. They’re all dead. They lived their politics and struggles in their times. These are our times and We should let the past rest in the past. That’s why nature gives us generations to forget. Look positively to the future, do not languish in the past, which belongs to others long gone. Most certainly what happened 100 years ago should not affect/ bias correct decision making today.
Scotland will always be in the Union. The Nationalists governing Scotland are extremely poor at it and Scots deserve better. The First Minister apologises for poor social services in Scotland and in December a scandalous medical waste mountain in Shotts was finally resolved. Education KPIs go backwards and yet more SNP Politicians fail oN disgraceful personal standards.
Union voters stayed at home in the GE and SNP still only got 45%.
If you count some of the heads in your photos you will grasp that there’s about 500 people marching in one and about 750 in the other. I know the march goes on but claims of 80,000 is as mythical as the SNP myth of a Scottish Surplus, the myth of an IndyRef2 mandate and the myth of oil money bank rolling the country.
Scotland Is a shambles under snp.
History teaches us many thing, especially about mistakes and ignorance.
What a lot of whatabootery pish. What do you know about kpi’s,the health service, local government and balancing Westminster dictated budgets, and no viable alternative alluded to in relation to our governance. You really are a cretin for insulting Brendans physical appearance also.
Anyone who votes SNP is a Cretin.
SNP is a self harm cult.
Scottish independence is self harm.
NS is The High Priestess of self delusion, Sep voter ignorance and bad government.
Rodgers’ teeth are indeed old type chicklet veneers. It’s true.
That’s not the point you moron. People can and should vote for who they want without being ‘cretinised’ and get themselves new teeth without ridiculous remarks about their physical appearance. Grow up and grow a pair!
Does the “D” stand for DICKHEAD??
Ben, whilst I advocate an independent Scotland, I want it with a competent and accountable representation at Holyrood. The fella above is correct regards education standards to name just one. Based on the measurements and figures released by Holyrood itself. We are way behind the rest of Europe in mathematics and science and have only recently managed to get literacy skills back to the level they were at prior to The SNP being the majority power in 2010.
This has nothing to do with Westminster. This is to do with a ruling majority who currently seem to be above any form of criticism or questioning whatsoever.
I have no love of “Westminster”, but I want the MSPs and First Minister to talk to me about their responsibilities and policies and plans to raise the standards now, right now, not based on the utopia of a future independent Scotland. That may well come, but what are they going to do now in the current status quo? Do we just sit back and watch standards decline with the ready made “Westminster” excuse or do we roll up our sleeves and be the absolute best we can be in the current circumstances without the increasingly frustrating same excuse trotted our for absolutely everything that is not up to scratch?
I personally wouldn’t ask any of the current incumbents of Holyrood to fetch me a coffee. The standards in our country will not improve when we are so poorly represented in the Parliament building.
Social media and the forensic analysis of every part of a persons life means that many people who would be marvellous politicians just can’t be bothered with the grief and that’s why we end up with an endless stream of box ticking self preservation artists who have the charisma and presence of a turnip.
We have a long way to go, but our own government figures do point to many areas that need urgent improvement and squealing “Westminster” and “Independence” will not improve anything right now and are nothing to do with budgetary constraints from central government. They are the sole preserve of the sitting Parliament and the majority party.
Well written and no abusiveness akin to racism or sectarianism from a Nationalist towards polite Unionist Posters. Chapeau!
All the snp government energy on a daily basis goes into Independence conversations, Independence emails, Independence meetings, independence brainstorming, etc…. the day job of managing devolved responsibilities is an afterthought for Holyrood Nationalists.
Mr Swinney needs sacked. He is incompetent at running education. Mr Dek MacKay needs sacked as Finance/Economy Minister. The Health Minister needs sacked over the downward Accident and Emergency and operation waiting times KPIs, plus this clinical waste debacle.
The empty sick kids hospital in Edinburgh is a National scandal.
The school built on poisoned industrial land is a National scandal. I wouldn’t put a prison on poisoned land.
The Fergusson Marine two Ferries construction SNP flagship foray into industry is shambolic and blowing £150m+ over budget.
Cancer treatment is a National scandal.
Mental Health treatment is a National scandal.
The SNP lies about green jobs revolution regarding offshore wind farms manufacture is a scandal. The turbines are built overseas.
Westminster, Eton College, Boris Johnston and the Tories are nothing to do with the above. The Nats are gifted £13bn a year more than Scotland brings in to pay for things, SNP blows it. Mr MacKay is a University drop out with no degree but runs the economy.
Police Scotland is ill equipped, underfunded and needs a programme of new police stations being constructed. Hopefully they wouldn’t sit empty afterwards or be built on poisoned land.
How much public money is going into the burnt twice GLASGOW School of Art? We were promised no public money was needed and private contributions would rebuild it by Muriel Gray. There’s a hush hush scandal there. That money should go into accident and emergency.
Nicola Sturgeon’s expeditions into Foreign Relations is disastrous. She is incompetent at diplomacy. Banning the Irish from fishing at Rockhall after visiting Leo Varadkar, when she has no authority to do so, and no means of enforcement, showed her up as a grand egotist bampot.
She is derided internationally for her interference in internal Spanish issues regarding Catalonia.
She lies through her teeth and grand promises at SNP party political conferences such as a not for profit Scottish nationalised Energy Company embarrassingly melt away never to be mentioned again. The commission to calculate the independent Scottish SURPLUS and how to spend it is akin to the SFA calculating income from Scotland winning the next five world cups as a factual reality. Utter delusion.
And on and on the list grows of factual omnishambolic SNP running Scotland. Scots indeed deserve better.
We should abolish Holyrood.Attotal waste of tax cash for 20 years now . Full of rank rotten amateurs who are costing us millions and for what.Nothing beneficial to us. We were better off when we just had Westminster. Shut the place down and get shot of the freeloaders.
Wee message for Nasty deel…
Most sensible suggestion I’ve heard in a long time.
Its nothing but a Gravy Train…full of incompetents.
Well said sir.
And as another man said…
“The first thing that should bar you from being a Politician…is wanting to be a Politician.”
Do you people actually believe that Westminster has a well run competent government?
Because if you do you are living in cloud cuckoo land. You make outlandish claims about the SNP talking of nothing but independence. NO party in Westminster has talked of ANYTHING other than Brexit since THEY decided WE would leave. We’ve had three and a half years of complete paralysis down there.
Remember the big fat lies of the remain side in the Independence Referendum? The ONLY way Scotland could stay in the EU was vote remain! And you gullible morons swallowed it hook, line and sinker!
Remember the big fat lies of the Brexit bus? You swallowed them as well. And then allowed it to drive straight over the cliff edge taking the rest of us with it.
Aye, we’re better off with the Old Etonians of Boris and his crew right enough. The very fact that the Tory party can vote in such an unscrupulous, proven liar as their leader says everything about their thinking skills. The fact that the ENGLISH electorate see them as the best choice says everything about their thoughts on the competency of the other parties. Thankfully, we had an alternative.
Independence WILL come. My advice to ANYONE who doesn’t like it when it does happen is simple. Fuck off down South and see how welcome you are as an immigrant!
At least you can vote out your MSP’s and change government of Scotland.
Do you trust Boris Johnson, Dominic Rabb & Pritti Patel to make you a cup of coffee – because Scotland can do nothing about it – vote Labour or SNP get Tories!
Or for a more reasonable considered response. The democratic case for a second Indy referendum is the Scottish Parliament which has both voted for it and is also elected by proportional representation.
To make the referendum legal the consent of Westminster is required.
This is a democratic vs legal standoff.
The intransigence of an elitist Etonian in denying the democratic will of Scottish Parliament along with implications of Brexit will not harm the independence case.
Post independence you will still be free to vote whichever party you support and I would be surprised if SNP survived after this.
They may not. One of the major problems facing the independence movement, particularly among older voters, is the fact that they cannot distinguish between independence and the SNP. Many of them actually believe that voting for independence is voting in the SNP……FOREVER!!
I’ve had this conversation with literally DOZENS of them.
This madness of let’s all vote for SNP then after Independence vote for better folks because, yeah SNP are crap at running the country, really is the slimiest SNP junk ever put out.
How about the more logical, don’t vote snp because they’re crap at running the country? Plus independence really shafts Scotland, it’s income, it’s economy it’s future prospects.
Scotland trades with England more than the EU or the rest of the world. 350,000 jobs in Scotland rely on English trade within the Union.
A the old
Too wee
Too poor
Too stupid
To be independent stock response:
Too poor – still oil fields being discovered in short term
Wind/ wave power resource
IT
Tourism
Whisky
Ability to develop our own industry to our own needs.
Yes there will be initial problems but Brexit is going to cause the same and Scotland voted against it and has and is being ignored in its implementation.
Too wee
Same population as Norway by recent poll most desirable place to live on earth because their oil resource was utilised effectively (read McCrone Report – now we are allowed too)
Too stupid – very sad if anyone in Scotland thinks this. Mind you having read your rant they may have a point🤨
Norway is not a member nation of the eu. This is historically why it does so well.
We will be joining Norway in days thank God.
We will agree Norway type trading agreements with the eu but will have better conditions due to our greater bargaining powers. The eu has already offered us Norway+++.
Yes we have oil, whisky, IT, etc…. but there’s still a £13bn deficit. Westminster is not holding Scotland back from trading more and never has. Trade on to your hearts content. We now have the genius situation of being out of the eu and are free to trade with them AND the rest of the world market unrestrained by the eu.
Ironically, being free of the eu will see the £13bn deficit fall as Scottish trade takes off. No doubt the Grand Detractor of BREXIT, Nicola Sturgeon, will claim bragging rights for a success she Fiercely resisted.
Hypocrite!!!
The Scottish parliament election of 2016 had only a 55% turnout. It was not an independence referendum.
SNP only got 46% of the vote in the constituencies and 41% of the vote in the Regions.
None of that is a mandate for IndyRef.
Once in a lifetime – 80 years. Or once in a generation – 30 years was the deal. Stop breaking the deal, going back on the deal, and making fools of yourselves.
The quiet educated majority shall always prevail.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Scottish_Parliament_election
That’s the reasonable considered position.
JP58
Which party would have any chance of winning a post-independence election if not the SNP?
It certainly wouldn’t be any one of the existing.
A new centre right wing party will emerge after Independence to voice the opinions of the current 55% (which will be close run to maybe 48% after an independence victory) and the folks who want to stay part of the Union.
This centre right party will call upon the unionist votes and others who will soon realise the party who facilitated independence are not actually very good, by their own available figures, whilst in office. The SNP have the republican/nationalist/catholic vote, incredibly, sewn up in a nice bow. They will attempt to retain power and have no need whatsoever to appease their disciples so they will attempt to pacify the rest of the country. They, along with the new construct party who will be screaming from the rooftops with demands from their demographic, will play to the gallery.
Catholic schools being abolished/closed/not central government funded already is in the public domain and rears its ugly head regularly. That is one area that will be “hotly contested”.
If things go awry, the minorities will suffer first. Only 14% of the Scottish population identify as Catholic. That is an overwhelming minority.
It is going to take an enormous shift from the default setting in the Scottish psyche to make independence work. I hope the minority prevail and manage to persuade the middle ground, and not necessarily staunch, in this country to abandon their old bigoted ways and move forward as a progressive inclusive society that no longer asks what school you went to?
We face an almighty task in doing so. The current incumbents at Holyrood seem incredibly silent on the real racist and bigoted undercurrent in Scotland, probably for fear of bullets and bombs in the post.
We moan about the shenanigans in Scottish Football, the corruption, the fraud, the lie, the bigotry and outright brazenness of it all. Our politicians remain silent because they know who the biggest demographic are in Scotland and they will need their votes, eventually, to stay in power.
Here’s to a better society and a willingness to see beyond the colour of a scarf or the name of one’s school.
Being in the Union protects Scotland’s minorities including Catholics.
An Indy Scotland gives the religiousless (former Protestant) majority who hate religion a free reign at beating down the minority and raising themselves as the Supreme masters of Scotland.
Minorities will flee. Mostly south. Religiousless Ulster (former Protestants) will be welcomed with open arms as NI unifies with the Republic.
The minorities will have brought it upon themselves by voting snp.
The country will be an economic basket case. Corporations will walk including oil companies.
Sorry I forgot to add too bigoted to too wee, too stupid, too poor.
What a uniquely cursed country Scotland is according to many on here.
I think you find a strong correlation between bigotry and increasing age – exactly the unionist demographic.
Younger people are rejecting formalised religion due them being less differential and more informed.
Re Brexit – the UK is a union of nations so why should Scotland which rejected Brexit be dragged out against its will. It is not even being allowed a say in any deal and SG have recommended a Norway type deal – not allowed by the hard line Anglo British Nationalists now in government.
Democracy in a deferential cap doffing UK.
You clearly were NOT at the march. If anything the 80,000 figure reported was an underestimate. It took an hour and three quarters to pass any given point on the route.
Oh aye, the Nationalists running Scotland are poor at it? Those fine Unionists in Westminster, led by Boris the lying buffoon, are making right good job of it!
Westminster has been paralysed for the last three and a half years. For anyone in the UK government to question the efficiency of the Scottish Parliament is beyond laughable.
SNP caused the furore at Westminster with their MPs then they richly criticise the furore at Westminster. You couldn’t make it up. Their numbers mean nothing now, a wee minority protest group. In reality, have they ever been anything else?
It was 40,000 walking ever so slowly, but let’s say ok 80,000. That left five million four hundred and twenty thousand Scots who didn’t march for Independunce.
Hardly a mandate!
In future these marches need to fully pay for their policing.
Have a referendum don’t have a referendum. We’d still be in the Union. It would fail again anyway. Scots don’t want Independunce.
Grow a brain pal. Marches are NEVER more than a small representation of a wider movement. I’ve never been on any kind of march in my life. That DOESN’T mean I don’t support the cause of the march.
The overwhelming majority of people who attend any march live locally or are going to be in the vicinity on the day of the march. I’m actually amazed that so many turned up in such God-awful weather.
Your comments are abusive against other posters. Can you try to present your argument without personal abuse?
You’re clearly just another online SNP Troll. It’s what Scots have come to expect online from you types. It gets you nowhere and drives tens of thousands of reasonable people away from your party.
Who wants to be controlled by a gang of abusive Trolls running the country?
😂😂😂
The head of the March went past the Yoons and 2 hours later the last of it passed , 80,000 seemed reasonable to me . For a party that is doing such a bad job then the electorate have had numerous chances to vote them out , 13 years in power with the full weight of the media and establishment in Scotland and UK against them – a pretty resilient bunch . Nicola Sturgeon is widely admired throughout the world with maybe the exception being here in her own land by a diminishing Unionist mindset . The last GE results explicitly show the Empire is rattling it’s death cough , Scotland and England have never been further apart and with another 10 years of Tory government Bawjaws and co. will be doing the SNP’s work for them .
Yes admired by fellow Neoliberals.
Meanwhile Socialism is being attacked from all and sundry.
Coincidence?
Corbyn’s Labour Party adopted many SNP policies in their manifesto , they are the most left leaning credible party in the UK . You been keeping up the last few years ?
Smoke and Mirrors
Scottish Socialist Party supports independence.
About 50% of Labour voters have switched to SNP.
Nearly 50% of current membership support independence.
More chance of socialism or Social Democratic govt in an Independent Scotland than stuck in an imperialistic & deeply conservative Uk.
1st many a day scince I read such rubbish! Scotland will be a nation again! Time gutless Quislings like you recognise it What, s the saying “Shape up or Ship out.!
I believe Sevconians and their apologists use the phrase “why don’t you go home”?
Is that what you mean? Agree with me or beat it?
Surely not in the best wee country in the world, one nation – many cultures?
The key to a thriving vibrant democracy is healthy debate and recognition for improvement and raising of standards by all concerned. By refusing to listen to different opinions, whether you vehemently oppose them or not, does nothing to widen the horizons and the seeking of common ground for the greater good.
What have Unionists got against KFC Vegan Burgers?
Maybe they’re kafflik burgers!!
Storm Brendan – aptly named. There is a distinct similarity between this storm’s name, and its namesake, currently residing in Leicestershire… both are full of wind and pish!
A smashing piece Phil. Storms and winds are perennial symbols in literature. I wouldn’t dare trample on your preserve no matter how much you may stretch a conceit. Symbols are always important; the thistle with its beguiling flower, with thorns that repel its predators and it’s anchor-like roots that can take hold in the most barren and hostile terrain. Now there’s an image far more noble than the butcher’s apron.
As optimistic as I am, I despair of those whose cultural nourishment comes from the bottom of an imperialist colonial barrel and has all the relevance and foresight of leeches in surgery.
Enough is enough! A change is gonna come!
On a different topic, are sevco up in court this week? I heard the 17th?
Ronan sevco are back up in court this week now that will be one big almighty storm . Aka Storm Mikey .