Author: bobsblog.scot

I posted on Facebook to the effect that I thought the SNP should make an offer to support the latest Brexit plan in exchange for a clear run at another independence referendum. this was met with the usual hate the Tories and don’t you dare suggest anything different than our glorious leader suggested the other day So instead of answering them individually, I will say this And I will break it down so that the more intellectually challenged among you might be able to absorb it

What I am suggesting is that every country in the UK gets what they want.

England and Wales voted to leave the EU.

Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain

We in Scotland have no business trying to force England and Wales to do something they did not vote for.

If the SNP backed this latest plan and agreed to vote with the Tories, then every country will get what they wanted except Scotland.

However, if the SNP backed this UK government plan but with the proviso that schedule 5 of the Scotland act 1998 and in particular the item relating to section 30 was amended so that the right to hold a referendum ( any referendum at any time) of which the result would be honoured on all sides was made the remit of the Scottish government in perpetuity. Then that would mean that all the countries in the UK union would then get all that they wanted.

Now as the more awake of you will see, that shortcuts exactly what Nicola Sturgeon was kicking into the long grass the other day in her speech. Not only that but it guarantees an affirmative answer ( something that Nicola Sturgeon’s plan absolutely did not) for what otherwise would be a matter for the British government and remember two prime ministers have said at least five times that they will not allow this to happen.,

Now you will have noticed that legislation can be passed in the British Parliament at a days notice, therefore there is absolutely no reason to doubt that this legislation could be in place before a vote on the latest Brexit plan

Now, is there anyone out there who would sacrifice a chance as we have now to have an agreed referendum simply because they do not like the tory party?
This is a credible road map to independence and should be seriously explored .

Trip to the Outer Hebrides October 2018

Bob Costello

8 October 2018 ·

Day 2, trip to the Hebrides.

Pleasant surprise when I woke this morning to see that the wind had dropped, and the rain had stopped. Nice to walk down to the harbour in Portree and watch the Sun trying to break through the low cloud base. Nice walk along the harbor

A nice breakfast and then on the road heading to Uig and hopefully the ferry but ever watchful of the weather front, once more coming in from the Minch with rain blowing through and ever aware of the change in Ferries necessitated by Laura’s abject failure to book the proper ones (she being a woman of course blamed me)

So, with the weather once again changing we stopped at the fairy Glen, beautiful and mysterious place dedicated to the fairies embedded in Scottish folklore. The old Scots word for Fairies (the mysterious people) is the Shee, prominent in many Scottish place names like Glenshee, the glen of the Fairies.

The rain starting to be persistent we explored the glen and climbed to the top of the most prominent feature, Paddy being difficult to keep under control on the precipitous climb and even more difficult decent. On the way down a fairy did indeed appear (see photo below).

I remember, visiting the Fairy Glen with the production crew of the film Brave and it indeed did leave its mark on them. The film was the idea of Brenda Chapmen who directed it together with Mark Andrews and they were both on the trip around Scotland to research the film plot. I had the most wonderful 15 days with that group of extremely talented individuals, together with my good friend Ian Stewart taking them around Scotland and the islands researching the film and assisting them with the history of the period, the culture and the humour of the Scottish people.

Some years later I had the pleasure to be a guest at the premier of the film in Edinburgh and took my daughter Laura, it was something special to actually recognise my humour in the film and extra special to see my name in the credits (all be it at the very end )
A few days after the premier I took Brenda and her daughter Emma, on a trip around Scotland visiting some of the places depicted in the film and we spent a very pleasant few hours on a gloriously sunny day in the Fairy glen. The film was all about the relationship between a Mother and Daughter and I remember Brenda telling me that she had in fact based the story on her own relationship with Emma, so it was indeed a special trip.

I write this on the ferry from Uig to Tarbert on Harris then there is a drive to Leverborgh , hopefully to get another Ferry to Bernery at North Uist, then a drive down North Uist Benbecula and South Uist to Lochboisdale and the hotel for tonight ( hopefully).

Well, here we are at the Lochboisdale Hotel after quite a day traveling and two ferries later, together with a drive in the dark from Bernary to Lochboisdale, quite a day and Paddy is tired, poor wee thing.

So, a few photos of today’s travels, including the fairy, you will notice that she is a very well-endowed fairy and I am not sure, but I have the feeling she was being photographed for some rather adult, publication or film.

Day two in, and hopefully and more relaxed day tomorrow when we take a ferry from Eriskay to Barra, the jewel in the crown of the Hebrides. So, a couple of pints of Guinness after dinner tonight, looking forward to the trip to Bara tomorrow.

I Have felt I had to do a blog this week but when I thought of it, what could I say that would be new and indeed interesting to the people who read my blogs. My blogs consist of travel, General politics and in the main, issues which relate to a subject very close to my heart and that is the fight for the independence of my country Scotland. I decided to simply copy a link to a blog I did on the 6 June this year , it contains links to earlier blogs and indeed to the problems I and others have had with the SNP in trying to get a road map to independence, which is what I thought the SNP were there for .

Throughout the last 5 years since we lost a referendum on independence I have kept a close watch on how our chances were of another attempt to gain our independence and indeed of the performance of the SNP in relation to this task we had given them in successive elections. I am afraid the conclusion I have come to is that they are not up to the task, If you read through the blog a attach below and indeed the attachments contained within that blog you will see a trail of obstruction and incompetence on the part of the SNP and in particular the SNP in Dundee .

Dundee , you will remember was the Yes City , the City that turned in the highest percentage of votes for Yes in the country. I and others in the yes Bus team played a big part in that result and at the time I began to have my reservations regarding the commitment and abilities of the Dundee SNP politicians in regard to the cause of independence. My reservations are well documented in the blogs I have written since then and in deed in the one I have attached below . But it was the attitude of the local SNP after the referendum that gave me most cause for concern and indeed alarm .

Since Nicola sturgeon was crowned Queen of the SNP things have went from bad to worse. Her stated position was that elections were nothing to do with independence and were everything to do with showing that Scotland could be governed well UNDER THE UNION, yes her theory was that people who voted no could be persuaded to vote yes if it could be shown that they could be governed well UNDER THE BLOODY UNION. An act of the highest level of stupidity. Or was it, could it have been deliberate ?

I am not one for conspiracy theories , in fact I fight against them all the time but this whole situation and the amount of glaring opportunities for going for independence that have been wasted have made me to look for a logical explanation., An explanation of why after 5 years we are in effect no nearer independence than we were in 2014 and the small increase in voting intentions since have been down to the actions of the tory party and absolutely nothing to do with the SNP. Yes they have had 5 years and not a single initiative or act of preperation that could be said to take us any nearer independence.

So let us take a totally hypothetical plot where we have a country which controls a smaller country and that smaller country has vast natural resources, resources that financed the de industrialization and monetarism of the larger country. The smaller country has became fed up with the exploitation of the larger country and is beginning to realize that for many years the larger country has been keeping the smaller country down both by force of arms and a relentless misinformation program of indoctrination that the smaller country is subsidized, and there is a fear in the larger country that there could be a case for independence .

So what does the larger country do ? Well it gets its very able security services to infiltrate the smaller countries political system . Now at this point , if there is anyone out there who thinks this is fantasy then I would ask you to look at what happened in Iraq, Libya and Syria .

So what do you think the larger country would do? They would look for people in the political system and recruit them, especially up and coming stars and they would make them sleepers. If by chance these sleepers attained a position of notoriety they would start to work them behind the scenes to undermine the efforts of the people to go for independence . If by chance there was to be a figure head who would take the fight forward then he would have to be neutered and made ineffective. Leaving the chosen ones to string out the process for as long as possible, possibly to the point where people became disillusioned and fell away from the idea of independence or the rules could be changed to make it very difficult or impossible to actually gain that independence that the people so clearly want.

Now this may seem far fetched but I can assure you this kind of thing is going on in different countries all over the planet. What has happened over the last 5 years makes no sense to me and the situation at the moment where it looks as though Nicola Sturgeon will simply ask the British government once again for a section 30 alteration to schedule 5 of the Scotland act 1998, an action she has already been told in parliament that will be refused again., thereby wasting a god given opportunity to use an almost certain mandate in the forthcoming general election. She has blocked a motion by Angus McNeil to have this debated at the party conference . The party of independence being prevented by the leader of the party of independence from discussing a way forward to independence. This is an incredible situation and must be reversed by the membership.

We are in very troubling times and I for one do not get a good feeling. I attach a blog I wrote in June of this year which contains attachments to previous blogs which formed my thinking to date.

https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/bobsblog.scot/3393

Here is a blog I did exactly 4 years ago where I warned that the forthcoming Scottish elections should be used as a mandate for independence, just as I had warned that this should have been done in the General Election which was held a few months previously. Had we done this at that GE then there would have been no need to have written this blog as we would have been independent at that time, as we returned 56 MP’s to Westminster which would have been an overwhelming mandate to begin independence negotiations with the British government. As it turned out the SNP also failed to make the 2016 Scottish elections anything to do with independence, not only that but they committed a massive fraud on their supporters by insisting on both votes going to them. Between sweeping independence under the carpet and the idiotic instruction to cast both votes to them, they lost their overall majority in Holyrood and in effect facilitated a large number of unionist members to be elected.

If the above wasn’t bad enough, only a few weeks after I wrote the blog attached, I and others in the yes bus team were attacked, vilified and abused in the most awful manner in a campaign led by members of the SNP and in particular employees and officers in the Dundee West office, for having the temerity to organise a rally naming it a Road Map To independence. A rally we opened up to speakers and politicians to talk on their particular ideas of a road map. The rally went ahead despite the efforts of the SNP and was a great success without any input by way of speakers from the SNP. I will be writing in more detail about this incident in the next few weeks.

So why am I bringing this up now? well simply because they are about to make the same mistake ( if indeed it was a mistake) again. We are almost surely heading for a general election and the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon are not only refusing to make the GE a mandate for independence but they are also refusing to even have independence debated at their party conference, incredible. Let us hope that some sense can be injected into the hierarchy of the SNP, hopefully by way of Angus McNeil’s motion to conference regarding a plan B
I for one am not holding my breath.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206133630713786&set=a.3031249214260&type=3&eid=ARCYj-v659W345pqNhWqnqUWrCVcQYl__JZm3nhOjoNEc3dHAhQqzLeLz41y3D7w61WG1O3CFkGjgozx

Sorry to say it but that is exactly what the SNP are taking us for, Over the last 5 years we have had one promise after the next with regard to independence and none of them have even reached the edge of the long grass. Now it is even worse as the SNP under pressure from the faithful are about as far into the corner as it is possible to go and we have speeches from Ian Blackford and Nicola sturgeon desperately trying contain descent by a play on words designed to get stupid people to believe that there is a referendum imminent. Well, what I would ask you all to do is look at the speeches again because none of them say anything about when a referendum will happen or even that it will happen because the SNP are still going along that nonsensical rout of the “Gold Standard” of a section 30.,

A five year old child will realize that if we ever managed to attain independence through the granting of a section 30, we would be the only country in the World to have done so, so where do they get this absolutely ridiculous “Gold Standard “That is simply a sound bite for the feeble minded.

Still we have this “Nicola has a cleaver plan” and ” why do you think the leadership should tell you their plans” bind faith, which is positively pathetic and I would like to give you a practical analogy of this which happened just a few hours ago .

I am on a cruise at the moment and this Morning we docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Now the ship I am on is huge and there was another two of these giant cruise ships in harbor at the same time., So that meant that there was literally thousands of people getting off the ships at the same time., Now unfortunately there was no signs directing people to the town Centre as there is normally at cruise ports, therefor people had to find their own way to the Centre. So what do you think the majority of them did? They followed the person in front of them, Just like the faithful in the ranks of the SNP. What they did was put all of their faith in the leader, the guy in the front. Now they had no way of knowing that the guy in the front had the same agenda as they did but they hoped he did, so because they did not have faith in their own ability they placed all their hope and trust in one person , the guy at the front of the parade . I didn’t do that, I looked for evidence which would lead me to the town center, such as returning local tour busses, and the fact that there was a historic citadel I had read about and as Halifax is built on a hill it seemed logical that the citadel would be at the top of it and the town built around it. So I headed off the main road and up hill and guess what ? I found the city Centre without much bother and looking back towards the harbor I saw a steady line of people following some guy home for his lunch.

This is what is happening with the SNP at the moment and has been since the last referendum. People flocked to them on the disappointment of the referendum result , and what did the SNP do with this new and eager Army ? nothing , and as I warned at the time the worst thing you can do with an Army is let it remain idle. many of these people are still there clinging on to the forlorn hope that their glorious leader knows what she is doing., When people question why nothing has happened since 2014 they attack them , sometimes in the most vile manner. This because they have either never had the ability or have became incapable of, making their own decisions based on evidence and instead flock around the bunker the SNP got themselves into when Nicola Sturgeon was crowned the Queen of the independence movement.

Now over the years since the referendum I have voiced my concerns, whilst the SNP have been the beneficiary of circumstance, as they were in the 2015 General election. Make no doubt about it we won that despite the SNP not because of it, as under Nicola Sturgeon, independence has been deliberately swept under the carpet in every election since and we have paid for it by a loss of seats in every election since , with the loss of over half a million votes in the 2017 snap general election.

Incredibly , the reason for this sweeping independence under the carpet was to allow people to see that the SNP could govern well and people would then come over to support independence, Now just think for a minute at how stupid that was. You have people who voted Yes and people who voted no, The people who voted Yes are ,in the main going to vote Yes again . It is the people who voted no who we have to convince . Now these people voted no for various reasons the main one being that they believed that being governed under the Union was in their best interest. Now how on earth are you going to convince them to vote yes if you show them that they can actually be governed better under the union. This is the infantile thinking of the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon, it is simply stupid.

New recently I have had experience of the mindset of the cult followers of Saint Nicola, as I have made my intention clear that I will be standing against the current SNP MP Chris Law out if sheer exasperation at the SNP refusal to take advantage of the present chaos in the ranks of the Tory government together with the prospect of Scotland being torn out of the EU against our expressed will. I have had quite a selection of mindless and vile comments regarding my democratic decision to stand against something I feel is not in the interest of my country and that is the stupid waste of a general election ( with voting intentions showing a wipe out of Tory and Labour seats in Scotland) to not go for a victory on a manifesto of declaring independence on a majority. The same way as most other countries do when becoming independent.

Scotland has a long history of fighting against vested interests . Both William Wallace and Robert the Bruce had to defeat the Scots before they could start on the English occupiers. We have forever had traitors in our ranks. Even Bruce was a favorite of Edward before he turned against him. So we have the same problem today. We have two problems as I see it . We have Nicola Sturgeon who , it would seem has been working to save the union for some considerable time now and indeed working against the democratically expressed will of the English people as they voted to leave the EU. But there is more in it than that and I honestly feel it is a lot to do with the Alex Salmond affair. I believe Nicola and her husband could be responsible for the set up of Salmond. I am of the opinion that Nicola has very difficult questions to answer surrounding her previous statements regarding meetings which took place at her home and indeed in connections with some of the complainants in the case. If there were to be a campaign for independence and these issues aired then perhaps this would present difficulties , but if that is the case then she should leave now and clear the way for someone new to take the fight forward.

OK still on the theme of traitors in the ranks. One of Bruce’s problems was that he had properties in England granted by Edward so stood to loose if he went against him and this could have been why he never gave full support to Wallace. Ok, so we have much the same situation here, as we have 35 MP’s in Westminster getting around £78,000 + per year some of which probably owning properties which are receiving substantial assistance with mortgages from Westminster. So here we have it the Turkeys voting for Christmas analogy, and that is quite possibly where we have the modern-day traitors that Wallace and Bruce had to defeat before they started on the real enemy.

I had a debate on Facebook regarding my intention to stand against Chris Law, with a couple of SNP acolyte’s who misguidedly think of themselves as intellectuals, the other day. It was a debate punctuated by accusations of vanity and just not knowing what I am taking about, as my betters with all the political experience obviously know better. It was actually quite humorous. I made the point that I have known Chris for many years and like him , in fact I had a big hand in having him selected and then elected to parliament but I am concerned that he has not been doing what we sent him down there for and that is why I will stand against him. They made great play over what they saw as the fact that he has done well as an MP. I asked them to give me a list of the initiatives he has instituted in the cause of independence and after asking the same question several times I asked for only one initiative they could name in regard to independence., Needless to say I am still waiting on the answer and wont get one because there is no answer to that question. These people were sent down to settle up and instead they have settled in. If by some chance I am elected I will cause as much chaos in the interests if independence as one person can possibly cause, and that is a promise.

Another analogy that presented itself today was that when I was on my way back to the ship and entered the harbor area, I came across a large store which was sited right along side where the cruise liners dock , This was called “The Farmers Market” now looking around I could see that as this was right in the dock area and there was really no way that this could be readily accessible to the general public , so why would you get a traditional “Farmers Market” next to cruise liners that it is forbidden to take foodstuffs back on board . Well the answer is simple , it is a marketing exercise as when on say, Caribbean islands Farmers markets are popular with cruise guests , not for what they can take back on board but just for local color and interest. So that is what the SNP are they are a marketing trap, Scottish National Party, the party of independence, right? Well no actually, as the tens of thousands of people who joined the party after the referendum are beginning to realize . The truth is that they are no longer the party of independence they are a unionist party , nothing less

I remember after Chris was elected and I was standing in Mennies having a pint with him before he went down to Westminster. He asked me what I thought . I told him that it would change him, but it was up to him as to just how much of a change it would be ( he is living in a Castle now). I quoted from Wallace’s address to his men before the battle of Falkirk. I said ” I have brought you to the ring now dance best you can” I fully intend giving Chris some dancing lessons in the forthcoming tussle. The coming weeks will tell whether Nicola sturgeon will address the unrest that is growing by the day within the independence movement as she plays with words and attempts to quell dissent by half promises, which amount to yet another mandate for a section 30 groveling acceptance without an ultimatum of what will happen if the answer is yet again no.

Until then I am afraid she is indeed treating honest hard working activists like bunch of mugs.

I apend below a piece I wrote in September 2015, and yes I did tell you so . I warned of SNP complacency and their fear of promoting independence. You will see it covers two main events the run up to the war in Syria ( which came about) and the bunker mentality of the SNP ( which still exists), Now we find ourselves on the cusp of yet another exceptional event as the Tory government implode and resort to the most devious tactics ever employed in the parliament of the UK. We will know on Monday if their latest attempt to force a general election before the 31 October will be successful. This simply for the propose of winding down the clock to Brexit day so that we will leave without a deal. This ,hopefully has been forestalled by the opposition parties who managed to bring in legislation to take away the option of a no deal Brexit but this of course does not hold a future Government to the same strictures and could be overturned by a majority government.

We are on the verge of a general election , the prime oportunity for the SNP to go for it on an independence ticket and use the result to ascertain the peoples will in relation to independence. Surely after all the promises , the marching of the troops to the top of the hill and down again, the constant affirmation that we have a triple lock mandate for a referendum. Surely Nicola Sturgeon will grasp this god given opportunity to move towards independence.

I fear not, as from the utterings that have been coming from her she seemes to still be banging on about ” the gold standard” a section 30 order, which temporarily sets aside schedule 5 of the Scotland act. Now any one listening to her speaking about this “gold standard” method of legitimizing a referendum might just think that this is standard practice on a countries road to independence, but in fact it is nothing of the sort because if by some chance we were to achieve independence by this manner ,we would be the only country on the planet ever to have done so. No, all of the rest of the countries who have achieved their independence have either had to fight for it or they have simply ascertained the will of the people and declared independence. This ” gold standard” is a figment of Nicolas overactive imagination.

It is now time for, either the SNP to do their job ( which is gain independence) and stop trying to save the UK, which is what they have been trying to do for the last three years since the Brexit referendum or for a new party to be formed which will concentrate on independence.

In this respect, two weeks ago I declared my intention to stand as an independent, independence candidate in a possible forthcoming General election. I would go a step further and encourage Stuart Campbell of Wings over Scotland ( who has suggested fielding candidate in the next Scottish elections for list seats only) to start his new party now and field candidates in this forthcoming General election if the SNP will not use it as a mandate for independence. It is way past the ridiculous stage when the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon continually go cap in hand to successive incompetent Tory governments to ASK permission to hold a referendum. She is demeaning the Scottish people and should be ashamed of herself.

I have had it said ( not by too many people) that if I stood in this election I could split the vote. My answer is this. No, because there would be two completely different issues. A vote for the SNP would be a vote to remain in the UK for an indeterminate time, whereas a vote for me would be a vote to leave the UK at the very first opportunity which, if Nicola Sturgeon was to get her act together could be within the next couple of Months.

The time for prevarication is past ,it is time for action now. We are on our road to independence Nicola, if you don’t like it, then leave and let someone else take over.

Bob Costello‎ toYES BUS… SCOTLAND’S DRAGON FOR INDY 6 September 2015 at 16:13 · Dundee

THE ROAD

The drums of war are a beating once again and this time the perpetrators of another incursion into the affairs of the Middle East, the Tories , have an outright majority in parliament, so buckle up your kit Lads and Lasses because you could very well be on your way to Syria.

Yet again we seem to be on the brink of another disastrous incursion in the affairs of another nation . A nation which by Middle East standards was being run reasonable well until we decided to encourage an uprising for the purpose of regime change , ostensibly because it was being run by a dictator , similar to other countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman etc .
So why you might ask are we not attempting regime change in these other countries? Well simply because we are the best of buddies with these countries so we turn a blind eye to the governance of these dictatorships.
So why are we not so happy with Assad of Syria? Well it’s complicated but to be truthful, we don’t really have much of a problem with him but our best buddies the Israelis do, and that is alł to do with the Golan heights which is where Syria borders on Israel and has been occupied by Israel since the Six day war in 1967. Now the complication there is believe it or not , Oil. Yes there is oil in the Golan heights and Israel has started drilling for it , an action which is against all international accords which relate to occupied territories.
Now if we could just get rid of Assad and install a nice friendly and compliant government ,then I am sure they could come to some accommodation with Israel to annex the Golan heights to Israel, this time legally because it has been done before ,in around 1983 if my memory serves me well.

So here we go again , the West doing Israel’s dirty work for them. Now can anyone hazard a guess why we have a terrorist problem? Yes you are right ” Israel”

So let’s get back to this country and when I say ” this country” I mean Scotland. Now you might have noticed that we have at present a wee independence situation here , in as much as it would appear the majority of Scots would like to see this country independent , according to the Ipsos Mori poll taken the week before last. Now it is only one poll but it forms a pattern since the referendum. In fact it follows a pattern for over two years as when the last referendum was announced polling was standing at around 25% ,over the referendum campaign it rose to a high to 51% then dropped back to 45% at the actual referendum ( if the polling figures were accurate) since the referendum they have steadily risen and now stand at 54% for independence. Now this may or may not be a blimp but the direction has at least been all in the one direction and that is towards independence .

Ok so what relevance has all this to do with what’s going on in the Middle East ? Well quite a lot actually ,because Nicola Sturgeon who is the leader of the SNP has on several occasions alluded to the scenario of ” an exceptional event” triggering another referendum. Such an exceptional event could in fact be about to happen and that could be the Tory Government taking us to war again and this is going to be the granddaddy of them all because we are going to have a hell of a job choosing the enemy. We could choose Assad because he owns the Golan Hight’s which have all that lovely oil that Israel wants or we could choose ISIS or Al quida who are sworn enemies of both us and Assad , because we put them up to it in the first place and us, because of our support for Israel. Complicated? Yes very and that is why there will not be a good outcome , unless you think that another half a million refugees is a good thing.

Now getting back to independence, yes we might actually be on the brink of ” an exceptional event” and with the polls going in our favour you might think that hey, we are on our way. But you would be wrong and the reason for this is that we are not ready for a snap referendum. Why? You might ask is that. Well during the last referendum we made several big mistakes , mistakes such as not explaining properly that there would be no adverse effect on pensions in the event of independence. also there was huge concern regarding monetary union and the No campaign latched on to this and because of certain people’s stubbornness it was thought that we did not have a plan B.

A couple of days after the referendum and realising that although we had just lost a battle ,we had not lost the war .I approached the SNP and asked the question, ” OK what’s the plan”. This question was met by ” the plan”? There WAS no plan and a year later these questions ,pensions and monetary union have not been answered , and that is way we are not prepared for a referendum.

Wake up SNP for goodness sake and get us back on the road to independence .

We through the Yes Bus for independence ,campaigned hard throughout the referendum campaign ( as did all other grass roots campaigns and SNP activists) and then we supported Chris Law in his selection to stand for Dundee West. We then campaigned for Chris to be sent down to Westminster .
A few days before he went down there I spoke to him in Menies over a pint I warned him against getting too comfortable in Westminster because he might be back sooner than he thought. I expressed my concern that the SNP might wander off the road to independence.I gave him a quote from William Wallace spoken before the battle of Falkirk , I said ” we have brought you to the ring , now dance best you can” ( he said he might use it in his Maiden speech) .
I told him that the Yes bus team has sweated blood for the cause of independence and that I had had enough, and was retiring from the ring. But there would be one exception and that was if I thought that perhaps the party had in some way veered of the well trodden track of independence and their commitment had in some way wained then we would be back and the big blue bus would be once again on our City Square and this time it would be there to get them back on the track.

Well this has come to pass and we will be there in our City Square on October the 4th and we will be there to call the SNP to account . We the people want a road map to independence and we expect the SNP to provide one. We would like our politicians to speak to the people in Dundee on the 4th October to tell us of the road map to independence. That road map doesn’t have to have a date but it has to have the preparation attached to it and the SNP must stop being terrified of the word independence and terrified of the press.

And one more thing , I personally am fed up of having to say I told you so.

We are still on the road to independence
This is our unfinished journey.
Bob

A memory of a trip I did one year ago when I was persuaded to once more get out on the road to take a tour to the outer Hebrides with a group of Swedish people. This was day five of the trip

Bob Costello

27 August 2018 ·

Trip to the Hebrides day 5.
Well second last day and last full day on the islands .
Day started at 7.30 loading luggage then taking the guys from
Loch Boisdale Hotel to the Askernish Golf course then back again for some breakfast then load up the ladies luggage and on the road to Eriskay, a trip of about half an hour.

Having told them about the “Whisky Galore” incident where the ship Politician, ran aground in the shallows off the island of Eriskay with a cargo of Whisky which was subsequently claimed by the locals, they were interested to see the pub of the same name built in the 1980,s.
We headed there only to find that it was shut and did not open till 11 o’clock. The Outer Hebrides are fantastic islands but they do themselves no favours with their crazy opening hours, or to be more exact, their closed hours.

Last night after dinner ( which took far too long) I had my, now costomery, debate with the owner of the Lochboisdale hotel, on independence. These debates generally range into the night with copious amounts of beer and wine being consumed in the process and the rest of the bar customers becoming alarmed at times. Last night I had to be careful with the beer as I was driving today, but I am beginning to see chinks in his Unionist armour. His piece de resistance last night was.” Ah but you see I am actually for independence, but I would like to see a border drawn along the highland line, which would give the highlands and the islands, the oil” ” it wouldn’t work” I quickly retorted. “Why” he said ” because you would want to close the rigs on a sunday” I said. Game set and match. We always part the best of friends, agreeing to take up the debate on my next visit.

I digress, so after our visit to the closed, Politician and realising that a closed Politician Pub is about as useful as our real Politicians, I took the ladies a walk along the beach under strict condition that they were not to tear off their clothes and throw themselves into the sea as they did the other day on Lewis. They wandered off along the beach whilst I sat and pondered the meaning of life and the mysteries of the universe. Coming out of my trance I realised that they had disappeared from view around a headland and realising that we had to return to Askernish to collect the men and get to the ferry by one o’clock, I set off after them. When I reached the headland, they were nowhere to be seen. OOps lost four clients. How was I going to explain this to their husbands? My first thought was that they had indeed decided to go for a swim after all and been swept out to sea or been eaten by a sea monster. I headed back to the bus intending driving further along the road that ran parallel with the shore and there they were, waiting at the bus. Hmm , they had decided not to walk back along the beach to where I was waiting for them, in the full realisation that my mind reading abilities would kick in and I would of course deduce that they had taken another rout back, women!!

So back to Askernish where I locked the Women in the bus whilst I went to collect the men and set off to the ferry, getting there in plenty of time where, to kill time I engaged two Jehovah’s Witnesses ( who had set up a stall at the slipway) in a debate about religion in a blatant attempt to convert them to Atheism., I think it was a draw, as they did not convince me of the advantages of their way of life and when I left them, they still had the stall and were handing out leaflets.

Really nice trip over to Barra on the ferry in brilliant Sunshine, with the cocelshell beach used as a landing runway for the airport coming into sight from about half way over. After docking we headed straight for the Airport for some lunch and to watch the plane landing , perfect timing.

A nice lunch at the Airport Cafe and then a walk over the Machre and onto the beach on the west side of the island ( see photos below). Sten , (the group leader) went in for a swim but was pretty hyperthermic when he crawled out of the water., I had a paddle. The Women ,unfortunately did not take their clothes off to have a swim. So after we managed to get some life into Sten and get his circulation going again the group went for a long walk along the beach and I fell asleep in the sun.

Back in the bus and a drive down the west side of the island ,stopping at the 9 hole golf course for a wee look. Must be the only golf course in the World to have an honesty box for the £10 fee for as many rounds as you like.

Then on to the Craigard Hotel which sits above Castlebay overlooking Kismul Castle in the bay. Looking forward to dinner tonight as the seafood on Barra is second to none.
Have a good monday evening folks

Slainte

Wednesday 28 August 2019 will go down in history as the day democracy died in the UK. Thursday 29 August 2019 should have been the day that Nicola Sturgeon announced either a new referendum or the intention of the SNP to use a possible forthcoming General Election to secure a majority for independence in the manner I spoke about in my blog of last Saturday. It was the day that the British government asked the queen to confirm the proroguing of parliament , effectively shutting off any feasible opportunity to have legislation in place to stop or put off Brexit until a deal or another referendum can be put in place.

Let me be clear, once more. The Scottish government do not need the “permission” of the Westminster government or any one else to hold a referendum. There is absolutely nothing in the Devolution Settlement which excludes a referendum . There is however , what is called a section 30 order which refers directly to Schedule 4 and 5 of the Scotland act 1998, Schedule 5 contains the reserved powers including the Union. Using a section 30 order in effect changes one of the items in either Schedule, in this case the reserved item, the union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England. It has the effect of temporarily ( or finally if thought best) removing this ( or any other) reserved matter. In this case for the propose of recognizing the result of a referendum, but not for actually allowing or refusing the holding of a referendum. Now in the case of a referendum being held without a section 30 . The process would be that either the Westminster parliament would accept the result( unlikely) or the matter would go before the courts . There could also be a declaration of independence based on the results whereby countries would be invited to accept the sovereignty of an independent Scotland in the same manner that Kosovo became independent and Britain was one of the first countries to recognize them as an independent country. Quite simply a majority gained through an election ( General or Scottish) would fulfill the requirements UN charter of human rights as far as determining the will of the people to become an independent country.

Now another red hearing that has been going about for a while is that the British Government could dissolve the Scottish parliament. I do not think this is the case. In fact it would seem that the only way the Scottish Parliament or indeed the Scottish government could be dissolved is through a referendum of the Scottish people and here from the Scotland act s the item that deals with this issue.

Permanence of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government

(1)The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are a permanent part of the United Kingdom’s constitutional arrangements.

(2)The purpose of this section is, with due regard to the other provisions of this Act, to signify the commitment of the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government.

(3)In view of that commitment it is declared that the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government are not to be abolished except on the basis of a decision of the people of Scotland voting in a referendum.]

So all this is my way of saying , why on earth is Nicola Sturgeon Fiddling While Westminster burns and not taking advantage of the best and most advantages set of circumstance ever likely to present themselves?

Every day that goes on seems to throw up more and more questions regarding Nicola Sturgeons leadership and suitability to lead the so called party of independence which is why I am intending standing for Dundee west against an established SNP MP. It is my hope that other people will do this in their constituency’s an just perhaps the SNP will get the message and change tact. For the good of the country it has to, or the cancer of complacently ( or worse) will have to be cut out to save the rest of the body.

After my blog of last week which had ( for me) a good readership and I would say 99% positivity, I had some people saying that one of the attachments I had included in my assessment of how I arrived at the decision to stand against the party I had been a member of for over 30 years, was not showing up when clicked on. It was the attachment of a blog I did with my resignation letter to Peter Murrel , chief Executive of the SNP and husband of Nicola Sturgeon. So I have copied it and Pasted it below. Just in case there is any one out there afflicted by insomnia as my blogs are guaranteed to put the most ardent insomniac to sleep pretty quickly.

Letter of resignation SNP

Peter Murrell

Dear Peter

It is with much regret and very much soul searching that I must cancel my membership of the SNP. A party that I have supported for many years both financially and indeed a vast amount of my time.

To give you an idea of my commitment to the party and indeed the fight for independence which is what, up to recently I have always thought that the SNP were all about, I list below some of the input I have had to the independence cause and therefore the party.

Going back to 2013 and the wonderful march and rally in Edinburgh I supplied two coaches free of charge at a worth of £***

I also supplied a minibus for disabled people free of charge at a worth of £***

Over the years I have allowed free storage and parking at our depot for SNP vehicles

In the run up to the referendum I took in Chris Law’s 50 year old fire engine and turned it into The Spirit of Independence, in our workshops this involved completely stripping the paint by hand and repainting it , refurbishing the brass work and completely overhauling the mechanical elements of it . The value of this was £*,***

I made available the Yes Bus Scotland’s dragon for independence to any grass roots organisation to campaign in their own particular manner. A 20-year-old double decker bus with a history of service in two countries which had gained their independence from the UK. The value of this could be conservatively assessed at £**,***

This bus then went on to actively campaign throughout Dundee Angus and fife with the Yes bus team, a group of committed volunteers from all parties and none. This yes bus has continued to promote independence mainly in the City square both during and since the referendum.

The value of this could conservatively be put at £**,***

During the campaign I supplied vans and minibuses to collect yes materials from Edinburgh and distribute these materials throughout the area and convey SNP campaigners throughout Dundee.  A conservative estimation of a worth of £*,***

During the referendum campaign I supplied for a whole 2 months, a coach and driver for Business for Scotland who worked very closely with the SNP, **********************************************************************************the worth of this is £**,*** with a contribution from business for Scotland of £*,***

There have been many other areas of assistance which I have given.

So the forgoing plus the direct donations that I have made to the party I feel shows that I have had unstinting commitment both to the party and to the cause of independence.

I have since the referendum mainly through social media and discussions with SNP politicians sought to offer suggestions regarding the ongoing fight for independence. Sometimes this has been taken as being anti SNP by some of the less able to think members of the party instead of constructive criticism.

A couple of days after the referendum I approached a local SNP politician and said “well we have lost a battle but not the war so what is the plan. The response I got was “what plan”. I said that we had made mistakes during the campaign such as muddle on plan B and we failed to convince pensioners that their pensions were not at risk in an independent Scotland and before any further referendum we must at the very least answer these questions and we should continue at a lower level the grass roots campaign to make people aware of these and many other issues that they were obviously uncomfortable with. Again, the equivalent of a blank look. In short, we have not made any preparation for a future referendum and it is still that situation today.

During the referendum campaign   we, the yes Bus team were on the streets of Dundee almost every day talking to thousands of undecided and hard no voters explaining the positive side of independence. We had a fantastic mix of people from all walks of life and political persuasions including people from business for Scotland of which I am a member. We had people out on the periphery and the streets surrounding the city square handing out merchandise and leaflets (when we could prise the material from the SNP run Yes Hub in St Andrews Street. And most important was that all these people sometimes 20 to 30 (far more than the SNP could muster to deliver leaflets and 10 times more than the amount of people who manned the occasional SNP stall including the politicians who huddled ineffectually around their stall in the Nethergate.

Now I should have realized at the time but this reluctance to have much to do with the grass roots groups was actually apparent even then, because the only time we saw the politicians at the Yes Bus was when the press were there and they disappeared along with the press, so they did absolutely no campaigning in Dundee with the grass roots groups that I was associated with.

After the referendum the yes organization was disbanded and I can only wonder at the wisdom of this as it was a catalyst for the grass roots groups and to my mind would have been a logical way of keeping the independence movement alive.

We sent 56 MP’s down to London out of a possible 59. A massive majority and I cannot for the life of me understand why they were not tasked with attempting to wrest the power to hold a referendum at a time of our choosing from Westminster to Holyrood. You will be aware that with a majority of one in Holyrood we managed to persuade the British Government to grant temporary power to hold a referendum after the last Scottish elections.

So I have over the last few months began to have an uneasy feeling regarding the actual commitment of the SNP to actually commit themselves wholeheartedly to the cause of independence.

I keep receiving messages and postings from unthinking people with the well-worn message of “ the SNP knows what they are doing they have a plan “ well with half a century of business behind me I have found that blind allegiance and faith generally leads to disaster.

So I have had misgivings as to the commitment or lack of strategic planning exhibited by the SNP with regards to a future referendum for some time, but what has brought this to a head is recent events in connection with a rally  myself and others organized in Dundee on Sunday 4^th October.

This rally was a “road map to independence” misconstrued by some of the mindless SNP trolls to be pressure for an imminent referendum. I realized for the reasons previously mentioned that we are not ready for a referendum should the opportunity present itself and taking into consideration the remarks from Nicola Sturgeon that “the Scottish people will decide  when we are ready for another referendum” and also realizing that many people in Scotland , a great many SNP members among them are becoming restless because of the inability or reluctance of the SNP to present a reasonable way forward (a road map) I reasoned that a sensible approach and opportunity for the SNP would be to present a road map , not necessarily with a date but showing that proper preparations had been put in place . I feel that this would have been a good compromise and would have placated the unrest which is brewing.

Now we had asked Tommy Sheridan (being a prominent pro-independence campaigner) to talk together with several other speakers. We had a great line up of top class bands to entertain the crowds. The problem was that we could not get any SNP speakers. Eventually the top brass put forward Jimmy Black who is not a parliamentarian but a councilor, who made it clear that he had been “put forward.” Now he promptly   did a posting on Facebook asking all and sundry (not necessarily his constituents) if he should appear at the same event as Tommy Sheridan. I have never in my life seen anything so transparent, immature and incompetent being initiated by anyone let alone a politician. As if that was not bad enough he actually made reference to why he thought he should not appear siting Sheridan’s conviction for perjury (which he has served his punishment for ) and inexplicably reference to a book about Sheridan which made unsubstantiated allegations about his past. So we had an SNP politician “on Facebook” indicating that a punishment handed down in court was not sufficient and the person should continue to be ostracized presumably for the rest of his life and more incredibly acting as judge and jury on unsubstantiated allegations that for some reason have never come to court.

Now this started a torrent of abuse, mainly from insiders within the close confines of the SNP in Dundee, mainly Dundee West, both to me and another person (a woman) who was involved in the organization of this event.

Now we had properly applied within the time constraints for permission to hold the rally but because of a misunderstanding concerning the parade element of the day we had not applied separately (despite the staff in the council offices stating that only the one form was needed) for the parade and therefore we applied as soon as we realized this. Now late applications are very commonplace and happen all the time and the Convener of the Licensing committee has discretion in this. This man is Stewart Hunter an SNP councilor. Now despite all the necessary departments being happy with the parade including the police who I had detailed discussions with and in an apparent attempt to harm the rally he decided not to use his discretionary power to allow the parade to go ahead. He used the excuse that the last time I organized a rally in May it was chaotic, and he only gave permission on the morning of that rally.

So, I will go on now to explain what actually happened to the last rally, again a grass roots rally organized by Yes We Care and not me. I was in fact nothing to do with the application.

This rally was to take place on the weekend before the general election. Several days before the rally was to take place, I had a visit from Chris Law (now Chris Law MP) at my office. He asked me if I could use my influence to stop the rally (a yes rally) and have it postponed to the week end after the general election as he did not want people filling up the City Square waving saltires and having yes signs all over the place. Yes, incredibly the SNP did not want any mention or sign of independence before a general election. I at first expressed my disbelief at this and found it difficult to comprehend what he had just said. I firstly explained that I had not applied for the permission so he was speaking to the wrong person, although I had agreed to put the Yes Bus there on the day as a focal point and to use as a changing room for the Highland dancers. I however agreed to have a word with the organizers to see what could be done however I did mention that as the event had been booked for that particular weekend, there was no permission in place for the following weekend. He assured me that this would be sorted!   Now apparently and before I had had the chance to speak to the organizers he had asked them to go to the Dundee west office and again asked them to postpone the event until after the General election and again I believe stated both by him and another person employed by the SNP that the short notice application would be sorted. In the event the rally went ahead without, as far as I can ascertain even an application being submitted and was only passed by Councilor (SNP) Stewart Hunter on the very Morning of the Rally.

So for this councillor to try to use my late application for an event that I had nothing to do with and was in fact the internal machinations and political maneuvering of local politicians (which in itself throws up questions of probity) that caused the late (if any) application to prevent a yes parade going ahead is nothing short of a disgrace.

The event on 4^th October minus the walk around the town went ahead and was a huge success with over a thousand yes supporters present. This engendered extreme sour grapes on the part of the SNP and Stewart Hunter through the Dundee Courier (a staunchly unionist paper) tried to put a negative spin on the event calling it a shambles and stating the there was only 300 at the event. Negativity I have not witnessed since the referendum and all by unionist papers and project fear. It would seem that the Dundee SNP have taken that mantle for themselves.

Because of the success of the event, there appeared on Facebook yesterday a posting by Tom Thompson (a parliamentary assistant to both Joe Fitzpatrick and Chris Law, showing the front page of the unionist paper the Courier with a totally false impression of how the event had gone and a very negative slant on it.  This was closely followed by negative comments by several people who are either employees of the SNP or in a close cabal that can be seen regularly inhabiting the Dundee West offices, in a blatant attempt at character assassination of which I was the subject. I never thought that I would see the day when the SNP used a unionist paper to attack one of their own.

One of these people I mention is already the subject of a complaint to you in regard to libellous statements in reference to me on social media and of which I took great exception to especially as he was an officer of the SNP. A complaint by the way that you yourself have for some two months failed to address.

Well Peter I have had enough, I have supported the SNP through thick and thin for many years I have walked the streets of Dundee for months during the referendum I have engaged with people from all walks of life and convinced them to vote for independence or in the case of the General election, to vote for Chris Law .I have offered honest constructive criticism when I thought that they were straying off the road to independence. I have lived and breathed independence for the last two years and more during the campaign and after it.

During this last two weeks I have been sickened by the vile comments posted about myself and the other organizer of this Yes event by members of the SNP including staff members and I will say it again in case you missed it A YES EVENT.

I feel the SNP have indeed strayed of the road we are all going down I feel they are side-lining the grass roots organizations that did so much good work. I feel that the SNP are more interested in retaining power , power they see diminishing after a yes vote when we will have in Scotland a Labour part of Scotland , Conservative party of Scotland , a Lib Dem party of Scotland and all the smaller parties ,all off Scotland.

It is with a heavy heart that I must leave the SNP but my loyalty is to Scotland above any political party. Scotland, the place that gets me excited every time I come home to it. Scotland, the only place on the World I would ever live in and lastly Scotland, the country that belongs to the Scots

Regards

Bob Costello

Days two and three trip to the Outer Hebrides.

Once upon a time I carried out tours of Scotland . I have not done anything like that for quite a time but one of our clients from Sweden was setting up a tour of the outer Hebrides for a group of his friends and he managed to persuade me to take the tour myself. I was a bit apprehensive but it turned out a great tour and I enjoyed it very much. Here is a couple of days of that tour, from September 2018. it brought back many great memories.

Good dinner and some traditional music at the Ceilidh Place on Thursday and a decent breakfast before heading for the ferry to board at 10.30 . Brand new ferry called the Loch Seaforth. Some great views heading down Loch Broom and into the Minch en-route to Stornoway. Got the computer out and did quite a lengthy travel journal tried to save it and can’t find the bloody thing now, therefore the reason for this one consisting of days two and three.
Nice smooth crossing and managed to get a wee nap in one of the reclining chairs then went to the cafe for a coffee.

Disembarkation went smoothly, collected the group and headed the short distance to the Hebridean Guest house. Checked in the group and off loaded the luggage, mine being the last , then, disaster, no computer. I had left it in the cafe on the ferry and it was heading straight back to Ullapool. Quick about turn in the bus and headed back to the terminal where the receptionist informed me that the gangway was about to be sealed but I could try to get back on board., I ran up the stairs and along the passageway to the doorway to be informed by the crew member that the ship sailed in two minutes whether I was on board or not, ran to the cafe to discover it was not the cafe I had left the computer in so again ran the length of the ship and there it was right where I had left it. Got back to the entrance as the guy was about to close it and just managed to get on to the gangway in time, saving myself a six hour two way trip to Ullapool and back again.

So panic over , back to the Guest house collected the people and walked them into town as though nothing had happened, let them loose in Stornaway and headed to the Harris Tweed display centre which is a bit like the yard in Steptoe and Son. Nice guy though and tweed jackets etc at very good prices saving around £80 compared to high street prices.

Next job was to arrange someplace to have dinner for last night and tonight, which was rather difficult, but managed it eventually then off to Lews Castle with the group which involved about a mile walk and the main reason I took them there was to confirm that the Castle had been partially turned into a hotel and there was a Starbucks cafe there too. Yes indeed , civilisation as we know it is doomed as we now have a Starbucks Cafe on the outer Hebrides. Dinner was nice in a hotel on the other side of the town and afterwards, on the way back I excused myself and went into a wee Irish pub in the town centre, which had live music and had a very well earned pint, which went down exceedingly well.

Leisurely breakfast this morning and we headed off South and then West towards the standing stones at Callanish , always a good visit and brought back memories of when I was taking the production crew of the film Brave around the country when the film was in the production phase. If you watch the film you will recognise the Callanish stones, although it is an animated film and also Dunnottar castle. If you go to the verry, verry, verry end of the credits you will also see my name there.

So after Callanish it was off to the Black houses at Grerrinish , wonderful place and a great situation by the shore. We had a walk along the shore before heading for Dun Carloway and the broch. I remember a previous visit there over 20 years ago. I was at the Broch and telling the people about it when I looked towards the sea and there was the masts of the Royal Yacht Britannia close into the shore. Now the royal family at one time would take a trip around the coast of Scotland each Summer, to have a look at their subjects from a safe distance and at the same time make the peasants feel proud that their hard earned cash was being spent wisely keeping that privileged family in the manner they seem to think they deserve. So it looked like they had come ashore for a picnic. Being the ultimate tour guide and realizing that the Queen would be delighted to see her most loyal subject, me) and a group of Jonnie foreigners,. I decided to join the picnic and prove once and for all that the Royal family are good for tourism. So I put this to the group and although the majority of them were all for it , there was an English couple who were horrified, I therefore decided against it , pitty.

I digress. So after the Broch we had lunch at the hotel nearby. Then off north to the lighthouse at Ness point and a visit to the beach nearby where the ladies in the group immediately divested themselves of any unnecessary clothing and plunged into the water. I of course looked the other way. So coffee followed at the harbour at Ness to warm the ladies up and a cold drink to cool me down.

A drive back to Stornaway with an explanation of the Highland clearances to keep the group awake and my mind off the mermaids from Sweden. Dinner tonight at 8.30 so time to get ready. Another good day in, I could get used to this again.