Month: January 2016

This is a posting from exactly a year ago although the photo I used was from the days of the referendum. I was reminiscing that it was good to be back in the City square speaking once more to people who at that time were still trying to come to terms with the result of the referendum. I remember that day well because it was the day after we had been in the Square collecting for the food bank and like yesterday when we collected in the Murrygate , it was bloody cold.
it was also the weekend before we confronted Jim Murphy in Ardler.
I had heard that he was coming to Dundee on Monday but couldn’t find out when and where he was to be appearing.

As it happened we found out on the Monday Morning and the team hurriedly got some posters together and wrote various messages on them to welcome Murphy to Dundee.
We had a score to settle with him and we were on a mission. The only poster material we had to hand was the signs you see on the Yes Bus in the photo., So we wrote various massages on the back of them. Messages concerning Murphys roll in the Iraq war and how he came to Dundee during the referendum and lied to the Pensioners of Dundee.
On that day when he came to Dundee during the referendum we were at our usual station in the square handing our referendum material and talking to people about the referendum when the Murphy bandwagon rolled in and there was a spontaneous demonstration against Murphy and because we were there with our referendum materials people were coming to our stall and taking posters and demonstrating at the circus that was the Murphy mob.
However it was us who were vilified in the unionist press the following day.
That is all a long story and I wrote about at the time, but that was the background to our decision to demonstrate against Murphy, that Monday.

Again the story of that day has been written about,and the video we took at the time of Murphy going around pre chosen houses talking to conformed labour supporters was viewed 31,000 times in the first three hours of us putting it up and before the dark forces of the Unionist establishment took it down. That in itself is another story along with the harassment we received on social media and various other incidents which necessitated the involvement of the police.

So another day in the battle to move towards independence . Interesting times then and still interesting times ahead, if only the SNP would get their act together and put forward a proper road Map to independence instead of blowing hot and cold on what is after all the very propose of their existence.

Yes we did not have a very good experience with labour during the referendum and the election to Westminster that followed but that is in the past and Labour have been punished by the Scottish people for the disgraceful way they acted.
There is yet an opportunity for them to redeem some semblance of respectability in the eyes of the Scottish people and that is to embrace independence. Form a new Labour Party of Scotland and break away from their London masters.

The SNP and Nicola Sturgeon can play their part in this by extending the olive branch , by imploring the Labour party in Scotland to get on board and join us on our journey as we claim our inalienable right to decide our own destiny , our right to make our own mistakes and to benefit from our bountiful assets.

It is time to think out of the box

Our road.

17 January 2015

Well folks , we had another food bank collection today this time in the city square in Dundee. it was great to be back in the Square. The plan was to have the dragon there but the old girl had a problem with her water works. ( problem seem familiar to some ) so she had to stay at home for a bit of R and R and Jamie was working to get her back on the road.
We had one of the smaller buses there instead. It felt like being back home, being in the Square and we had visits from a lot of old friends some I hadn’t seen since we were on the streets during the referendum campaign. So some good chats today. We also had a visit from Jim McGovern, who stayed for a wee chat, nice to see a politician stop by for a chat, even although he is from the opposition. Funny thing though, there will be a few Dundonians going home and saying that when they were “doon the toon the day” they saw a labour politician asking how the food bank collection and on-going campaigning was going but didn’t notice any SNP politicians about . Ah well I suppose that’s politics today.
I asked Jim if he would like a photo with me in front of the stall but he gracefully declined saying that he remembers getting his fingers burned the last time he posed with me beside the Dragon during the campaign when I surreptitiously produced a YES poster in front of the two of us. The other thing that might have put him off was the message on our banners that proclaims. YES TEAM SCOTLANDS DRAGON FOR INDEPENDENCE FOOD BANK COLLECTION MADE NECCESSARY BACAUSE OF WESTMINSTER POLICIES.
Spoke to a Labour activist who is at the heart of their political campaign who conformed that Jim Murphy is coming to Dundee on Monday but even though I pressed him he would not reveal either the time or the place. It is strange that Murphy is saying in the press that he wants to talk to yes supporters and here is me offering my services only to discover that his whereabouts on Monday are top secret. Well if anyone knows where he is to be and when, can they let me know , just so we can give him a good Dundee welcome as there are a few questions I would like to ask him regarding the nonsense he was spouting the last time he visited Dundee.
So a good day for the food bank collection in conjunction with “Taught By Mohamed Charity” and good to see friends from the campaign but bloody freezing. Time for a quiet pint I think.

Another wee step in our road to independence.
This is our journey

Well last weekend showed a definite change  in the SNP’s recent attitude to independence when Nicola Sturgeon made two speeches seemingly setting out a new take on the independence issue. This was followed all week by postings and tweets on social media from Yes supporters in their new found state of euphoria. Many of them announcing Nicolas secret plan was now coming to fruition.

 

Well I would caution as to what was actually promised because nothing was in effect put forward as anything which could be considered as a road map to independence.

Basicly,what was stated is what is in the SNP constitution and that is that the propose of the SNP is to take the country towards independence.

Now this might very well be a change of heart, from being terrified of the dreaded word independence being mentioned anywhere near an election, to a reassessment of the wishes of the members of the party. If it is, then that in itself is to be welcomed, but that will not in itself get us any nearer independence without action to go along with the new found bravado.

Now ,there is understandably many people who are now starting to campaign through social media for the SNP to include a date for a referendum in the elections. I do not think they will and I do not think it is necessary, if they properly pave the way for another referendum at a time  of our choosing.  To be able to do this we must firstly have the power to call a referendum at a time of our choosing and this will require a commitment to pursue this goal the manifesto. This is something that should have been included in the manifesto for the Westminster elections, if it had been then we could very well have had this power now.

 

There should be a concerted effort to address the issues that lost us the last referendum, such as pensions and the currency , plan B issue. To do these things the grass roots organisations must once again be activated and campaigned on a lower level with materials supplied centrally, through the SNP.

It is only if these basic things are done that we are ever going to get near the magical 60% of comfort that the SNP see as a possible trigger point for another referendum. Another way is of course to actually set a date in the manifesto and then work towards converting the no voters to yes and I am sure there are many now who have made that change. It should be remembered that when Alex Salmon set the train in motion for a referendum the yes vote was standing at only 27% and it went up to 45% if the results were in fact accurate .

On this point ,there is something that yes campaigners can do themselves to help in this conversion  and that is to treat people who voted no in the last referendum with some respect and consideration. These people were as entitled to their opinion as we were to ours and there were in fact a great many of them who voted in the way they did because  of some of the mistakes that we made in properly informing them of the various issues like pensions. So there must be no more calling them Naw Bags etcetera. If you cant coherently debate with opposite views without resorting to name calling than stay out of the debate and leave it to people who can. There is also of course the ongoing problem with SNP supporters who immediately jump on people who dare constructively criticise the SNP, and the SNP should be reigning in these unpleasant people.

 

There will never be a better time to get the independence movement going again after this unnecessary 15 months of hibernation. The Tories are now as unpopular in Scotland as they were when Thatcher was the Prim Minister and Labour in Scotland are in self destruct mode , to the point where I feel they are now actually realising this and I have a feeling that before long there will be Labour MSP members jumping ship  rather than be ignominiously given their marching orders  in May. I have said it many times that the only hope for Labour in Scotland is to separate completely from London Labour and embrace independence. I would like to think that they are considering this option as only then, can they rebuild a once proud party.

 

So it is over to the SNP , they need to be more open with the Scottish people and they need to do more than talk about independence . The Army is ready to march , we lost a battle 15  Months ago  but .there is still a War to be won.

“So open the West Port and let us gang free”

We are still on that road to independence .

Our Journey

 

 

 

I was just looking at Nicolas speech made( yesterday I believe) regarding the upcoming elections and the forthcoming year . She did actually mention independence, which was a pleasant surprise and this may well be down to the various voices advocating actions in an independence vein. However , I note that as in the past Nicola has made the point that the Scottish people will make it clear when another referendum will take place, she is now concentrating on  an exceptional event having  to take place and sitting the referendum on exit from Europe as the kind of exceptional event she has in mind. This or the opinion polls showing a significant increase in support for independence.

 

Now a couple of points here. I feel that the change of tact regarding the Scottish people telling her that they want independence might just have something to do with the fact that there has been several rally’s to tell her exactly that and have been ignored by the SNP to the point of no SNP politicians even speaking at them.

 

As far as the exceptional event goes , and that being the EU in/out vote , Well I have the feeling that this vote in Scotland  might not be the clear cut decider that some people expect. Lets say there was a 10% difference of people who wanted to stay in as opposed to the people who wanted to come out ,in Scotland and a very small majority in England who wanted to leave the Union. Well that would be about the same percentage that we had at the referendum for staying in the union, so it would be reasonable to say that the will of the Scottish people was being ignored by leaving the EU and it would be reasonable in these circumstances to hold a referendum on independence .

 

OK so what if the majority for staying in  was much lower, say two or three percent? that would quite possibly present a problem.

So given the two scenarios that Nicola has presented for a move towards independence of the possible EU exit or the support for independence rising sufficiently to warrant another referendum and I have  good reason to believe that the trigger point being put about SNP circles is 60%, there are several things that have to be in place before either of these scenarios would be successful and they all need the same actions to take place and the same time-scale.

 

This is what they are , and some of you will have heard me saying this before , many times .

We need the mistakes made in the referendum campaign of 2014 to be corrected ,such as the confusion on pensions and monitory union and in this respect this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. This to my mind will require the restarting up of the fantastic grass roots groups that were so effective during the referendum campaign. This would have again to be done in conjunction with the SNP as was the case with the Yes set up. I am sure the grass roots groups could manage to self finance as there would be literature etc which could be produced and coordinated through the SNP. That way every household  in the country could be in position of all the relevant information concerning the unanswered questions of the last referendum.

Perhaps Wings over Scotland could be persuaded to produce the “Wee Blue Book” mark two . That was a fantastic publication and would be the very thing we are needing.

 

OK so that takes care of the unanswered questions and now to the actual referendum . Well we need to have in place , the right to hold one and this needs a commitment in the manifesto to be produced for the forthcoming election in May to demand that right be passed from the Westminster government to the Scottish government. Now this should be in every independence minded party’s manifesto.

Now we need , not only the right to hold a referendum at a time of our choosing but we have to be able to regulate it as well and that means stopping the automatic right to a postal vote with special exceptions. We must ensure that there is proper international scrutiny and of course , this time there must be exit polls allowed. I cannot for the life of me understand why the Scottish government agreed to no exit polls in the last referendum as the only people that ,that could assist was people who intended cheating.

 

 

So that is my take on where we are on the road to independence, in other words we need a proper road map to independence . We need to energise the grass roots groups once more. We have an army out there ,willing to do what they can to move towards our common goal and the worst thing you can do with an Army is to let it idle.

We need to be on the streets once more with hope ,hope for the future of our children and our Grandchildren and indeed our country.

This is our road to a better future and we must grasp it with both hands .

Bob

 

 

So we say goodbye to 2015, an eventful year by any standards. A year in which we sent 56 out of a possible 59 MP’s down to London under the SNP banner. A year also in which we yet again sent our military to war.
Our 56 MP’s although with good intentions have not been able to make much of a difference because the forces of the establishment, Tory, Labour and the lib Dems have been collectively stacked against them.
I feel it could have been made easier for them with some forethought, in as much as the manifesto for that election could have been structured in a manner which could have made it very difficult for the Westminster cabal to have resisted many of the policies which in effect the Scottish people would have voted for.
In particular there could have been a commitment to pursue the right to determine exactly when and in what manner another referendum could have been held. If this had been a manifesto commitment then the British Government would have had difficulty in refusing this and if they did then there would have been a strong case for taking the matter to the United Nations.
Instead, we had the half-hearted and late in the day attempt to have this debated during the farce that was the Scotland Bill. It was of course dismissed during that very comical event.
Following on from that we had the debate to decide whether we went to war in Syria. Labour were as usual ,all over the place in this and their loyalties were divided between voting as their constituents would have wished them to vote and attempting to defeat their own leader and it was sad to see one of their number, Hillary Benn receiving an ovation from the Tories after delivering the longest suicide note in Labour history.
Now these two issues I am highlighting here are very much connected, because if we had a manifesto and therefore a mandate which insisted on wresting the right to hold a referendum from Westminster and had that issue been diligently pursued as soon as the 56 SNP PM’s had went down to London, then this could very well have had an impact on the vote of whether or not to go to go to war in Syria. The reason being that it could very well have been seen as one of these illusive trigger points that Nicola Sturgeon has mentioned in connection with setting off another referendum.
I still feel that we have lost a prime opportunity to simply go for the election in May on the basis of every independence minded party presenting a manifesto of independence. It is too late now because we would have had to have prepared the ground by addressing the mistakes we made during the referendum campaign, such as the pensions issue and the monitory union or plan B and since the referendum there has been no attempt by the SNP to address any of these issues. It is also difficult to imagine Labour being in a worse position to again be the front for the Tories in the NO campaign as they are virtually an irrelevance in Scotland now. It would also have put them on the spot as to whether they again opposed independence or did what any right thinking person would advise them to do and that would be to separate completely from London Labour and go wholeheartedly for independence.
As I say, it is too late to consider this scenario and I again have to wonder at the thinking of the SNP as far as the road to independence is concerned. They are at present riding a wave of popularity, brought about by the perception that they are the best conduit to independence. I keep hearing that they have achieved this residency of the ivory tower they, at present inhabit through what they have done, but to be very honest I cannot find one single thing that they as a party have done since the referendum to be where they are except for replacing Alex Salmond by Nicola Sturgeon. The rest was done by Labour, the Tories and media outlets like the BBC, all of whom acted abominably.
I have had people giving me lists of achievements of the Scottish Government who have administered Scotland very well in comparison to the clownish attempts at administrations in the past by Labour and the Lib Dems but these achievements have in the main been carried out or planned before the referendum so have nothing to do with the present SNP’s ( as opposed to the Scottish Government) rise in popularity which is almost exclusively a reaction to how the other parties conducted themselves during the referendum campaign.
I would add a note of caution here to anyone looking to use the Scottish government’s achievements, as a reason for the SNP’s popularity, because it could be said that all these achievements have been made under the Union and not with independence.
So as we go into another year what should we be looking for from the SNP? Well we should be looking for a road map to independence, not necessarily a date for a referendum but at the very least a rout laid out with all the potential obstacles on the way, mapped out and addressed. Now that would give the people something to attach themselves to and it might somewhat allay the unease that is surfacing in loyal campaigners who are beginning to have misgivings. The grass roots organisations should again be encouraged to campaign at a much lower level than in the referendum but to get the messages out on the issues that I have discussed such as pensions and what the monitory system will be in an independent country and whether for instance we should consider taking on a voluntary share of the UK debt.
The other thing which has to happen is that the SNP must get a grip of their supporters who immediately jump on anyone who comes forward with constructive criticism as there are actually many commentators who actually shy away from offering alternatives because they know that they will immediately be descended on by people who will accuse them of SNP hating or attempting to split the vote etc. etc. Now these people are generally un- thinking people whose only answer is that the SNP know what they are doing and have a master plan. Now if they had a master plan that they were not telling anyone about, then it would not be very cleaver to tell everyone, as Nicola Sturgeon has that “the people will decide when the time is right for another referendum” That is a contradiction in terms.

There also needs to be a change of attitude to the people who voted no because if we cannot convert them we are not going to win the next time so stop calling them silly names like Naw bags etc.
Let’s hope that 2016 will be a year of clarity and the SNP will once again work with the people of Scotland to attain the goal that is written very clearly in their own constitution and that is the attainment of independence. Because if there is not that clarity then people will start to suspect that the main focus of the SNP is power as opposed to independence and if that was to be the opinion of the people of Scotland then it would be time for a party of independence to emerge.
I feel we are still on that road to independence but we have stalled somewhat unnecessarily.
Fifteen Months ago we were on the streets of our Cities full of hope and we made a distinct difference to the politics of Scotland which has changed for the good. We need to be back on these same streets once more.
A happy new year to every one.
We are still on the road to independence
Our Journey.

Bob