Sin Bin

In the summer of 2014, my Twitter account was, over a period of four months, 'locked' by Twitter seven times.

I couldn't post, I couldn't access. I was in the sin bin.

The reasons for my being locked out varied from: "suspected spam" to "suspicious behaviour from your account" and one happened just after a complaint from someone who took umbrage at me calling them a "big fibber". 

To find yourself locked out of a social media platform is annoying and perplexing in equal measure. Your 'Grrrr meter' goes off the scale and righteous indignation is your default emotion. 

Sometimes it took me minutes to unlock, other times it was days. Every time it was:

I have never actually had my account suspended, so when I woke up to the news this morning that one of the top 3 political bloggers in the whole of the UK http://wingsoverscotland.com/ was suspended, I was pretty shocked on his behalf. What had it taken to warrant a suspension?

I often report porn accounts to twitter.

I report racists.

There is nothing on the Wings timeline that I could see that has ever warranted a suspension for Rev Stu.

One thing I do know: The person who instigated the complaint is one of the nastiest members of the NUJ I have ever come across. Far from keeping the values of journalism in her heart, this one tells whoppers for the Daily Express. She's appeared from nowhere. No-one has heard of her. But she has been pouring out anti-Scottish propaganda for the Express for some months.

She has accused 'Wings' of orchestrating a hate attack against her and that she has received death threats. The woman publishes lies every other day in the Express and these are just more lies.

I hope that 'Wings' gets up and running again soon.
Without the "Wee Blue Book" from Rev Stu, we'd be still in the 30% for Yes in Scotland and the MSM would reign supreme. He has taught us to call out the liars. This Express liar must not be allowed to prevail.

The truth will out.

They didn't sin bin Wings. They suspended the account on the request of a freelance journalist with 1700 followers who has been gigging for the Express.

It all sounds a bit dodgy.

Four years ago

Four years ago, I was probably like most people: comfortably attuned to my usual radio station and habitually picking up the same newspapers I'd read since the age of 14. 

That was until I heard a Radio 4 "Today" Programme interview that painted Scotland as a "One Party State". It was the then Secretary of State for Scotland (the now disgraced liar) Alistair Carmichael. The phrase "one Party State" popped up four times in a seven minute piece and that was just the interviewer. There was a narrative of hatred towards the SNP that didn't match up with my experience of the SNP.

Four years ago I'd have taken time to look at the headlines on the Newsagent's paper stand. That was until I started noticing the anti-immigrant themes appearing across multiple titles.

I challenged my local Newsagent (who's a Scot from Pakistan) why he was putting these racist papers up for sale? I held up a copy of the Daily Express and said:

 "Ahmed you are selling racists more racism! This paper supports UKIP!" 

He shrugged and smiled sheepishly: 

"They keep sending them". 

Since that conversation, Ahmed now just sets them aside as returns.

Four years ago I bought the Guardian, the Herald, a few copies of the P&J, and Scotland on Sunday.

I was saddened as these titles began debasing their brands by punting out anti-Scottish BritNat propaganda and I ditched them. Their language had become offensive towards anyone that wanted Independence.

Four years ago I would have watched BBC News and let it waft over me.

Now I find myself like the little girl watching the news in the film V for Vendetta

She has a one word reaction to the BBC: "bollocks".

Four years ago, I was like most people: unaware of how biased and anti-Scottish the media were.

I am awake now.

The Day Job

The Scottish Parliament is only just back from the summer hols and my tolerance of unionist ‘whataboutery‘ is non-existent.

The first First Minister’s question time of the season, and the opposition (there is no formal opposition in the Scottish Parliament. It's not like Westminster, so if you are not in charge, you are part of the opposition) parties are woefully unprepared for the business at hand. 

The opposition unionists went straight in with pre-prepared soundbite attacks specifically designed to catch the ear of BBC News Editor Sarah Smith. Sound bites destined for inclusion in the “news where you are” at lunchtime and teatime.

Ruth Davidson wanted to know why Scotland wanted to incorporate the British Transport Police in Scotland into Police Scotland implying that they should be left alone to be a Great British Transport Police. 

This was an inexplicable question because during the Smith Commission and throughout the Scotland Bill discussions, it was agreed that the responsibility for Police was devolved to Scotland and that the Transport Police would be incorporated into Police Scotland. 

Nicola said this would have to be legislated for and that Ruth could bring up any of her concerns during the relevant debates.

Ms Davidson pressed on telling the Parliament that 300 police officers from the British Transport Police had written to her and that the British Federation of Transport Police had said that they were not being consulted:

 "this could leave the whole network unguarded"

Nicola easily defused Ruth with quotes from the Federation of British Transport Police saying they were:

"working constructively with the Scottish Government".

Kezia asked about mental health provision for young people and told the Parliament that 900 young people had called the Childline charity with thoughts of suicide - hoping that the Parliament would see a causal connection. 

She asked about referral times and when pushed on the question of how many young people had waited 52 weeks for a referral, Nicola replied: "One".

Nicola said there was much to do in this area of health and that the Scottish Government were the only part of the UK to set targets for mental health treatment.

The two main opposition party bosses could nary land a blow on Nicola.

BBC Scotland coverage provided a post-match discussion from Brian Taylor with his hand-picked unionist journalist pundits. And it was all very chummy and complimentary of Ruth and Kezia. They relish the scraps of today's skirmishes like hungry dogs.

The business of running Scotland is a serious thing. The business of the BBC seems to be #SNPBad and salivating at which unionist opposition MSP got the better of Nicola - not the running of Scotland.

You can avoid the BBC version of events by watching First Minister's Questions on Scotland's dedicated Scottish Parliament Channel where you'll get no commentary, just coverage. 

Here's the link to Parly TV:

http://www.scottishparliament.tv/

The question time runs for 45 minutes and the Presiding Officer, our version of the Speaker, has made sure the back-benchers get airtime and to that end managed to fit in lots of topical questions:

• Oliver Mundell gained assurances that everything was being done to help Penman Engineering.
• Sandra Whyte gained a promise that the Scottish Government will do everything to help the Clutha families.
• Patrick Harvie got confirmation that the Scottish Government will not give grant funding or taxpayer guarantee schemes to the tax dodgers that are setting up shell companies in Scotland.

The big 'stooshie' of the day came from the SNP and went unreported by the BBC.

James Dornan called for an apology for the disgraceful treatment of Christian Allard at the hands of the Tories – and the First Minister spotlighted Ruth Davidson and said she expected an apology. This is not going to go away.

Murdo Fraser got to his feet to lie about a fictional £6000 union dividend and dodgy GERS figures and got booed like a pantomime villian when he said "why do you want to take that away from people?"

• Liam McArthur asked for decommissioning work to go to his patch.
• Jenny Gilruth got an update on the International Council of Educational Advisors and Liz Smith said she wanted more autonomy for schools.

Sticking with education, Iain Gray asked about standard assessments. Nicola wondered why he was asking as Labour MSPs had already agreed to standardised assessments. Doh! Have a drink of water Iain!

Gordon Lindhurst asked what the FM was going to do about a reported decline in inward investment (A single report). Nicola said 2015 was a record year for inward investment and that there were plenty of other assessments that said Scotland was viewed as a great place to do business. 

Lindhurst then blamed a:

"threat of a dark cloud of a further independence referendum" 

(and got heckled).

"The people of Scotland have spoken in plain English. No means no. When is she going to accept that" he persisted checking his soundbite had been delivered as planned, he looked up at the gallery for approval.

Nicola pointed out the only threat was uncertainty over Brexit and that the Tories were now like:

“An arsonist trying to blame the Fire Brigade”!

Jackie Baillie rose to her feet to join Gordon Lindhurst in Better Together camaraderie blaming both a threat of Independence and Brexit for a reported drop in inward investment.

Nicola remarked that she remembered Jackie had toured the country with the Tories telling people we'd be kicked out of the EU if we voted Yes and that, given the mess Labour had got themselves into, she would just leave her to "stew in her own juices".

Liz Smith asked about train services and asked for a special commission into train safety. She had a delegation of RMT union peeps in the gallery with an important message about driver only trains. 

The first FMQs managed to hear a lot of topical questions from back-benchers. Kudos to the Presiding Officer for tweaking the format.

"I want indy but...."

No 'ifs' no 'buts' no monkey nuts. You either want independence for Scotland or you don't.

There is no half-way house. You are either committed to Scotland being free of London rule or you are committed to hanging around in a union of unequal nations being ruled by a never-ending succession of Tory Governments.

Today I want to look at "Yes buts". Those people who want independence, but feel they have a reason why not.

The 'buts' I come across, even among some Yessers, are manufactured doubts that the mainstream media and UK Government have been throwing at you since day one of the union. You'll be: "Too Wee Too Poor".

If you have a 'but' when it comes to Scottish independence, it is but a construct of their making, not yours. It is a seed planted to make you doubt your ability to run your own affairs. A Lawyer would always seek to introduce doubts in the minds of a jury to secure their client's acquittal. The same has been done to you.

This time we start the race at 50/50 Yes/No. The last time we started the push it was 20/80 and, if everyone that voted yes last time votes yes this time, then we are free of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 


'But' me no 'buts'. 

Most 'buts' start off as defensive shields, like the excuses wee kids use when they get caught doing a naughty thing:

"Did you draw on the wall?""Yes, but, but ,but, but....." 

Then we learn the deflection 'but':

"But Andrew threw my teddy in the bin!"

As kids we learn to justify and explain away our actions and absolve ourselves of blame by using the qualifier 'but'. We use it to get out of apologising. We use it to cut off conversations as if what comes after the 'but' is the 'end of'. Ahhh 'but'....

We all laugh at the incoherent torrent of defensive "Yeah 'but' no 'but'..." that spews forth from 'Vicky Pollard' in Little Britain. But have a listen out for the 'buts' that we all use day in and day out to prevent ourselves from taking positive action. 

"I would do that 'but'..."

The more we take charge of our responsibility, the less we use the word 'but'.  When you add a 'but', it turns an explanation into an excuse. Keep adding 'buts' and you've got yourself a reason and you've convinced yourself.

"I am late for work... but: the bus didn't come." 

(it's not my fault, don't blame me).

You are late for work. Apologise and take it on the chin. Nobody wants to hear the long drawn out explanation of why. 

"I would vote yes... but"

When you squeeze in this 'but' you are shutting down the possibility of an independent Scotland in your own mind. You create a conflict that probably has no bearing in fact and has more to do with fear.

Most 'but's are financial. Project Fear tapped into this to motivate people to vote No.

Let's look at some of the 'buts' Project Fear used.  
What about:

Currency?
Value of currency?
Pensions?
Trade?
Investments?
Debt?

These 'but's need answering. 
Key to the getting the 'yes buts..' into yes is having an answer. 

This time, politicians and activists must have a clear answer for these concerns. If we don't sort these worries out for voters, they are not excuses, they become reasons not to vote yes.

There was wholesale lying and fear-mongering done to pensioners in Scotland. All we had in our arsenal to counter their lies was a 3rd hand photocopy of a letter sent to a pensioner in Westhill from the Department of Work & Pensions telling said pensioner what their pension would be secure in an Independent Scotland. This time we can do better.

This time, we kick those 'buts'.

Now's the time and now's the hour...

When the Article 50 button has been pushed and people realise the clock is ticking, then it's going to look like Mike Reid's 70's TV show "Runaround" as everyone finally decides where they stand on Scottish independence.

Never has there been a better opportunity to ask the "You Yes Yet?" question to those in your communities who voted no.

English Party politics is filling the Scottish airwaves...

In the 'blue' camp, the Tory Party are hoisting May aloft as the next Maggie Thatcher. The election fraud they are accused of in 22 seats in England and Wales seem to have dropped off the radar. The BBC admit that 70% of their editorial comes from Tory Press Officers.

In the 'red' camp, the Labour Party seem hell bent on suicide. The Blairites and the Corbynites slug it out to the death. It is now apparent that even if Corbyn wins, the Blairites are intent on making the party unelectable in England.

Scotland looks on at this bampottery and says: 
"Why are we still attached to this red/blue Westminster? Why are we having to endure Tory Government after Tory Government? And why does it fill up our news programmes 24/7?"

Today we see the publication of poverty maps that show Scotland is surviving, not thriving, in the union. That far from being the equal society that we all want to live in, our nation is doing very badly out of the union. The latest GERS figures confirm that the union is dreadful for Scotland.

We have been taken out of the EU against our will and everything that we were promised on the lead up to the first independence referendum was a lie.

What's is it going to take to make those No voters that believed all the promises turn yes?

What is it going to take to get our people to realise that no matter how much they promise us, they will never deliver on those promises and that Scotland will be better off as an independent nation?

Get your people to start noticing the anti-Scottish independence propaganda. Get them to read past the headline of the newspaper story. Better still, get them to give up the unionist newspapers that are punting out anti-Scottish pap day in, day out.

There are lots of different types of No voters.They all arrived at their particular no from a different part of the compass. Therefore, we have to keep asking the "You Yes yet?" or the "What's it gonna take for you to vote yes?". 

Once you have found out why they voted no, you can start to make some movement on their compass. Never assume they were just too feart.

What you've got to do is get no voters away from the mindset that this is party political, it isn't. The struggle other countries went through to become free of London rule was never done in a party politics way.
We've been corralled like cattle by the mainstream media into taking a party political stance on independence. So loosen up the party chat and open up the possibility chat. Another Scotland is possible.

We can do this. There will be times when you don't have an answer to one of their questions, but make the time to find out and get back to them. And do get back to them. 

Invite them along to your Yes meetings. Let them hear your speakers. Listen to their questions. Let them be heard. 

I truly believe now that the only thing standing between Scotland and her independence is (and in this order): 

• BBC TV news
• BBC Scotland Radio
• Unionist newspapers
• Local newspapers
• BBC drip feeding propaganda through prime-time shows (Great British blah blah)

I wish you all the very best with your talks with No voters. Strike up those conversations. You might even get a hug.

Remember: 

It's not about Party Politics. 

It's about what's best for their Scotland.

[insert group name] for Indy

The Summer of Independence seems to be doing just fine without any assistance from party politics. In every village and town, city and shire of Scotland, the grassroots organisations that rose up in 2014 are getting their groups back together with the aim of further increasing support for Scottish Independence. Far from having voter fatigue from what seems like never-ending elections in Scotland since the first independence referendum, there is a definite spring in their step.

This time they are wiser, bolder, more experienced, better networked and much more media savvy. They are a force to be reckoned with. They are not bound by convention, by rules and regulations. They are independent.

The task ahead of the membership of these groups is fairly straightforward. Each yes voter from 2014 has to convince just one no voter to change their mind. They will not waste their energies on those who are solidly no. They will focus on those whose no vote was based on fear and on lies. The real aim is to bring voters over to yes by reaching out to those whose mind can be changed.

Brexit has given them an unexpected boost. They have already moved to capitalise on the fact that there are now those no voters who take the view, that the UK they voted to stay part of, is no longer planning to be in the EU. The welcome to the 'yes' side for these switchers has been warm and encouraging. Everybody knows someone who has changed their mind on Scottish independence because of Brexit. This has become the top 'material change' that has re-ignited the desire for Indyref 2.

The reason why there are so many different types of yes groups forming up is because this is not, and never was, about party politics. No-one voted yes for a political party. They voted yes for Scottish independence, for their nation to be free to decide what is best for Scotland.

Yes groups are reforming because there is work to do to change hearts and minds to yes and political parties don't have the reach to achieve that.

When Nicola Sturgeon is asked "when will you call Indyref2"? she always replies "That is a decision for the People of Scotland". 

That's you that is.

• The job of the grassroots is to connect and reconnect with Scots of independent mind.

• The job of the grassroots is to reach those whose only sources of information are the unionist broadcasters and unionist newspapers.

• The job of the grassroots is to bust unionist myths and scare tactics in our own communities.

• The job of the grassroots is to include no voters in their everyday discussions and to widen the sphere of 'yes' influence.

• The job of the grassroots is to recognise that people voted no for lots of different reasons and we need to find out what those reasons were (or are) before we can address them as individuals.

• The job of the grassroots is to paint a picture of an independent Scotland that the majority of Scots can buy into.

Branch meetings of political parties don't do that - they're not designed to do that. Branch meetings of yes groups are free to.

When you go along to a yes group meeting, you'll hear people talk of "the first independence referendum" like it was just their first attempt at independence. They are not going to give up after their first try. They are deliciously determined to see Scotland flourish as an independent nation. They are not just talking shops or echo chambers, they are hubs where you can gain the confidence to speak to no voters with the knowledge you need to get them to yes.

We don't get to be independent without switching no voters. We do that by starting the conversation "are you YES yet?" 

                              Print by Stewart Bremner      
                              http://www.stewartbremner.co.uk/


Some stuff to be getting on with:

Start by wearing your yes badge every day.
Find your local yes group on Facebook and Twitter and make contact with them.
Be ready.
Get connected to the National Yes Registry.

Click here

http://nationalyesregistry.scot/accessible/

Silly Season

It's the silly season and in the spirit of silliness, the Labour Party have gone absolutely batshitmental. Democracy... pah! They don't do democracy! They're using the huge pot of cash new Labour members have given them in membership fees to stop the new membership from voting in their leadership election.

And they have loads of cash to splash. From a worrying debt situation in 2015, Labour are now £55m in the black. And that's down to new members cash.

Heads I win tails you lose

Five new members have taken the Labour Party to court. Having won the right to vote in a High Court ruling, the membership now have the added cost of fighting Labour's appeal against their win. They appealed! Using membership money! Again! You couldn't make this stuff up. It's fascinating and cringeworthy in equal measure. 


Sticks and stones

Labour have started calling their new members "Jihadists", "Trots", "Dogs", "Rabble" and an "arm-twisting mob" and to add insult to injury, Labour have now grabbed a big brush and are furiously attempting to tar 350,000 new members as the "militant tendency" that Labour threw out in the 1980's.

Elementary my dear Watson

Tom Watson the deputy leader of the party has gone off on a tirade about Corbyn's street meetings as "weaponising boredom". Whit? What does that even mean? Watson has also gone off half-cocked with a ridiculous tale of a letter that Labour members are sending out to people to tell them how to infiltrate the party to ensure it's destruction. Trouble is, Watson used a letter from the 1980's that appeared in Michael Crick's book on the Militant tendency... from the 1980's. Do your homework Tom! Due diligence Tom!
The plotters are racking up a roll call of people who have ruled agianst them: The Speaker, the High Court, the Information Commissioner, the Royal Courts and the ASA. The incompetence is breath-taking.

Bite the hand that feeds

One of Labour's master election strategists, John McTernan, has called upon the Tory Govt (whom he occasionally does gigs for) to crush the RMT. The Labour Party! The Labour Party that was founded by the Trade Union movement as their political arm! This guy is a card carrying member of the Party... and a Blairite.

Caveat Emptor

The Advertising Standards Authority has just ruled that Labour are in breach of their Advertising Standards code by offering membership which offered a vote and then denied a vote for the leadership contest. Look out for the ASA's announcement on their website.

Gie's a go

You're sitting down right? 

Owen Smith has asked Corbyn if he can come along to his rallies and address the crowd cos he canny get people to come along to his public speaking events without laying on free ice-cream.... 

Meanwhile.... in "Special Branch"

The remnants of 'Scattish' Labour have gone off into the red corner and the blue corner and are not talking to each other.... so there! The hapless Ms Dugdale who leads the Accounting Unit is diametrically opposed to her deputy Alex Rowley. She's a Blairite, he's a Corbynista. It's messy. Ice cream and jelly all over the place.

The Banning Blair Affair

Labour's NEC have banned the word "Blairite" and you now can get kicked out of the Labour Party for calling a fellow member a Blairite. 

Instead of appointing QCs and Barristers to stop the membership from voting in the leadership election, they should appoint divorce specialists because Labour isn't a big tent... unless you mean a circus.