Month: June 2017

A Lesson Too Late In The learning ?

Read this attachment from Kevin McKenna this actually sums up the present situation very well. Well to be honest it sums up what has happened, or more to the point what has not happened since the independence referendum in 2014.
It is strange though that only now, commentators are lining up to give opinions from on high ,like this article from Kevin McKenna, Gerry Hassan, Bella Caledonia and even Stuart Campbell from Wings over Scotland has been offering a few criticisms.
Many of these commentators, although correct in what they are saying now are the very ones who were sucked into the vortex that was the popularity of the SNP immediately after the independence referendum. So in part, they were instrumental in creating the pigmy race that Kevin accuses the SNP of being.
I have resisted blogging since the SNP’s creeping disaster that was the General election, because I am becoming fed up saying the same things, over and over again.
The difference between what I have been saying all along and these commentators who have suddenly found their voices is that I have been consistent.
Because of this consistency I have been vilified by some of the unthinking masses of SNP acolytes and accused of some rather distasteful motives.
To save going over everything that has come to pass and if by chance anyone is interested in correcting the mistakes that the SNP have constantly made then have a read of my blogs on bobsblog.scot because almost every single thing I have predicted has now come to pass.
The strategic abilities of the SNP are simply awful and it is time for a change at the top and I mean Nicola Sturgeon and her Husband Peter Murrel.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15354011.Kevin_McKenna__Cowed_pygmies_of_the_SNP_are_putting_independence_at_risk/?ref=mrb&lp=1

 

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Time To Think The Unthinkable?

Ok, so politics in the UK and indeed in Scotland are all over the place. Theresa May is in deep trouble because of her disastrous decision to try to take advantage of a perceived weakness in the Labour leader. This was only matched by her awful campaign where she hid from the public

She is about to compound this disaster by forming an alliance with a bunch of knuckle draggers who amongst them are anti women’s rights, anti-gay marriage and believers in creationism. They are a party with distinct links to terrorism.

I somehow do not think that is going to come out too well, and when you add to that the fact that this motley crew will not even be able to vote on England only, legislation along with the newly elected Scottish contingent of Tory MPs so in any English only legislation they will start off with a 20-seat handicap. Add to this the impending Brexit negotiation and I cannot foresee this government lasting any more than 6 months possibly a lot less.

Now as to Scotland, I am sure the SNP are having wee huddles and deciding that it was anyone’s fault except them and I have already had a comment from one of their less able to think ,Dundee West constituency office embedded acolytes, actually trying to apportion blame to me   for some of their misfortune. If they think one insignificant blogger of constructive criticism can affect an election result to this extent then they must feel very insecure indeed.

The facts are as I have been saying for quite some time and that is the SNP have veered away from their day job which is the attainment of independence for Scotland, and the Jeremy Corbin campaign shows just that . He nailed his colours to the mast and went for it, as opposed to the SNP’s disastrous campaign with yet again keeping independence in a locked cupboard. This was displayed in the awful manifesto they produced.

OK so where do we go from here? Well there is a couple of options both of which will bring a storm of criticism from some of the less able to think SNP worshipers, and before I go any further I would like to make it plain that I did in fact vote SNP as being the only way to keep the Tories out, not because I thought it would take us any nearer independence because the manifesto actually put another referendum further away than it was a few weeks ago.

So here goes. I feel that if we are to continue to allow the SNP to pursue independence I think it should be under new leadership as the Man and Wife team there at present have presided over a steady diminution of support since the 2015 General election.

Another option is to start a new party named something along the lines of “The Scottish Independence Party” whose sole purpose would be to attain independence for Scotland.

So now to the more controversial option and at this point I must pass on some of the responsibility for this to Rudy Cajka who is a politician from Texas deeply involved in the Republican movement and a guy I have had some very intense debates with regarding their daft president and also my views on Israel. He does however closely follow our fight for independence and corresponds ;, and criticises my efforts regularly.

The SNP form an alliance with the Tories, (yes you heard right ) and this is the reasoning and strategy behind this.

From Scotland position and indeed the independence movement 

We have a hand in the Brexit negotiations.

The Tories would agree to a referendum in two years.

The Tories would agree not to campaign against independence ( a requirement any way from the UN)

The Tories agree that we can use the pound until a separate currency is decided on ( not that they can stop it any way but that was one of the main problems the last time.)

Tories guarantee a smooth transition to independence if it is carried in the referendum.

Tories agree on a program for removal of Trident from Scotland ( which would happen anyway if we were independent)

There is a clear cut definition of any effect on pensions in an independent Scotland.

There would be pre-independence negotiations on sharing of assets, share of the national debt etc.

SNP would get a number of cabinet positions thus protecting Scotland from any prospective harmful legislation.

We can pull out at any time triggering a General Election.

 

Benefits to the Tories

354 members of Parliament = a stable government.

A guaranteed 5 year term.

A strong hand in the Brexit negotiations

The Tories could consolidate their hold on power for a longer time

Tories could negotiate an extended period to remove trident from Scotland

An arrangement like this would remove the possibility of restarting the troubles in Ireland.

If the Tories are forced to have another election they will lose it.

 

So just a few thoughts from the point of view of Scotland becoming an independent country which is supposed to be what the SNP are all about.

 

SNP, The Manifesto And The Day Job

Day jobOK so now that the euphoria over the SNP manifesto has died down, I would like to get my two bits worth in. Firstly, let me say that a standing ovation before people had even heard what was contained in the manifesto is not healthy as it gives the impression that these people were about to accept whatever was contained in the manifesto unquestioningly.

As to the manifesto itself, it was abysmal, the document and introduction was detailed only in as much as it was a regurgitation of existing policies mixed in with a good sprinkling of devolved issues together with un-costed policies.

None of the main Westminster related issues are ever likely to be implemented because the SNP will not form a Westminster government. Now I qualify that statement by saying that at the time this manifesto was formed, the polls were not reflecting the Tory melt down that is apparent now together with the rise in popularity of Jeremy corbin, so there is now a slim possibility that the SNP could act as king maker in a hung parliament.

As to the manifesto and the sole purpose of the SNP, (which is to gain independence for Scotland) the manifesto puts independence actualy further away as it now seems the policy of the SNP to wait until Brexit negotiations have been completed and not within the period, Autumn 2018 to Spring 2019, which was the latest SNP policy until the release of the manifesto. Anyone who believes that Brexit negotiations will be completed within two years is delusional.

The SNP have a problem in as much as they are trying to be all things to all people and it is not working. They say they (as the Scottish government) are governing for all. Well that is an intrinsic impossibility. You cannot govern for all. You govern according to your party constitution (which is there for everyone to see) together with the manifesto you produce in the run up to the election you gain power in. You have a duty to CONSIDER everyone but that is completely different from governing for everyone.

The SNP have been the beneficiaries of the actions ( or inaction’s) of other parties in the independence equation and they have ridden the crest of the wave generated by the people of Scotland who were disappointed by the result in the independence referendum in 2014. I think it is fair to say that not a single person who voted for them in all the elections since 2014 would not have realised that their vote could result in independence for Scotland. The SNP chose to ignore this obvious fact and instead of getting on with their day job, which was attaining independence for Scotland they decided to try to be all things to all people and it has not worked because in all elections since the 2015 Westminster election they have lost ground.

There has been an awful neglect of the addressing of the issues we lost the last independence referendum on. There has been a succession of promises and half promises of a start to another independence campaign and a continual marching of the troops up to the top of the hill, only to be marched down again. There has been a succession of missed opportunities for independence , the main one being the day after the EU referendum when Theresa May hot footed it up to Scotland and persuaded Nicola Sturgeon that she would have a veto in EU negotiations. At that point Nicola was responsible for throwing away the best opportunity ever for a promised few pieces of silver.

We have had the will of the Scottish people who voted for full inclusion in the EU diluted to some tenuous attachment to the single market or worse still to the European economic area. Nicola Sturgeon has absolutely no mandate for this position as the people of Scotland voted for full membership of the EU with all the social and legal advantages that this confers upon us.

This manifesto is in the same category as the paper presented to the British government as a compromise document towards the end of last year. Both are road maps to unionism and can you imagine, even if there was to be some sort of attachment to the single market, and under a Tory government how this would benefit Scotland?  Anyone who thinks it would is simply delusional.

Ok now let me address where we are in the independence cause in relation to the SNP. That is quite easy, “nowhere” The basic principal of conflict is that you attack the enemy when they are weakest and never hope for a better opportunity to present itself if it means giving up a god sent situation because one thing is sure and that is that circumstance change and that is exactly what is happening now.

The Tories are in melt down and the SNP have not prepared the ground to take advantage of it. Jeremy Corbin is reaping the benefits of the present Tory difficulties and the reason he is doing this is that he has a simple strategy. He is a socialist and he has a socialist agenda. He has nailed his colours to the mast. People know what they are voting for as opposed to the SNP who are trying to all things to all people. So, Jeremy has two means of gaining votes. People know what they are voting for and the Tories are in melt down whereas the SNP can only depend on the Tory melt down as they have once again done everything to hide the word independence in their manifesto, to the point that some people are probably being confused that the referendum they mention a few times without the prefix of independence is possible another EU referendum.

My preference (as I have said in the past) would have been to go for independence on the back of a simple majority in this election. As predicted this is not going to happen, neither is the inclusion of an intention to wrest control of section 30 powers from Westminster, which would legitimise any future referendum. People are under the misapprehension that we need Westminster’s permission to hold a referendum, we don’t, we only need the agreement that the result would be accepted by the British Government.

So, where are we? well more or less where we have been since the independence referendum. We are no nearer independence than we were on the 19th September 2014 and the reason is that the SNP have absolutely no strategic abilities. Depending on the extent of Tory meltdown I predict that once again the SNP will lose support and they will do so because of the failure to get on with their day job as I have explained. Their job is to attain independence not cower away from the press every time independence is mentioned. The governess of Scotland is a by-product of their main purpose in life. If their main purpose has changed they will have to either change their constitution or form a new party.

I for one am heartily sick of the prevarication of the SNP and I suspect I am not alone in this. The vote next Thursday will tell a tale.

Having said that , In order to keep the Tories out in Scotland and in fact in the whole of the UK. The only logical strategy according to the present and prospective seats situation is to vote SNP in Scotland and Labour in England. Any one whose main hope is eventual independence is deluding themselves by thinking of voting Labour in Scotland except in perhaps a couple of seats. In  the case of Dundee that thinking is simply delusional. In general, voting Labour in Scotland  will mean a split in the voting and that could conceivably allow Tories into seats.