It's "Bah-Humbug" time

At this time of year when the vast majority of folk are "Fou tae kitty's bow" with drink, food and bonhomie you possibly wonder about those folks who do not seem to be that bothered or are indeed "Bah-Humbugers"; folk for good reason who hate this time of year. More likely you do not give a shit - given food, drink and bonhomie.

For those with depressive illnesses, the enforced season to be happy takes a massive toll on their coping energy levels, reducing their own abilities to keep the black dog of depression under control. You see, it takes folk with depressive illness a lot of effort and energy to be "normal" at the best of times and when the festive "normal" rises to new levels of enforced happiness, it becomes just too much for many and tips them over the edge into "Bah-Humbug" territory. A territory where being alone is far preferable to being cajoled into being "happy", by folk, in disbelief asking,  "Why can't you just cheer up, it's Christmas?" every half an hour. Worse are those well meaning folk who think a few drams are all you need to sort you out. Sorry, all you well meaning drink pushers, if you are depressed, alcohol makes things far worse, not better.

The coping strategy becomes one of seeking isolation where ever possible just to give you a chance of surviving the "Season to be jolly" with out a full blown collapse. You become selective of those Christmas events either social or familial you attend, carefully planning your escape route for when it gets too much, as on most occasions it will. No one understands your need to become a Christmas introvert, you are called anti-social or worse. Comments which really help you on your way down the slippery slip to a full blown collapse.

I am lucky, my close family understand my need to be alone with a book on Christmas Day and make sure I know I can just bail out when it gets too much. I enjoy seeing my grandchildren opening their presents, I will help build the Lego or whatever toy needs building, I will sit on the floor with them and play Christmas games like "Smelly Wellies" but there comes a point where Granddad needs his space, time on his own to recharge his batteries. Kid's naturally understand this, they need the same space themselves -  it is adults who have forgotten this in their rush to be "happy", for a few short days.

This year I am on my own for Christmas, I do not feel isolated, I will talk to my son and his family in Japan by Skype, probably in a two or three way conversation with my daughter and family in Northern Ireland and my ex-wife in Oban. Then take the dog for a long walk and come home to duck breast and trimmings. Later I will have a small dram of the new malt my ex-wife has sent me, Ailsa Bay, and settle down to a serial watching of Star Wars.

Selfish, you say, most certainly, but also the best way to keep myself in mental balance.

To my fellow "Bah-Humbugers" I send you a big dose of empathy, to the the vast majority, "Season's Greetings" and to all a "Guid an hansome New Year an lang may yer lum reek."

ZOMBIE POLITICS

In the House of the 'Living Dead' at Westminster the red and blue zombie tribes circle each other around the carcase of the UK Parliamentary Union, seeking to find the best advantage for their own self interest. They poke the carcase from time to time just in case there is still life left in it; but there it sits inert, dead, decaying, stinking away in a pool of its own shit and pish.

They appear surprised the UK Parliamentary Union carcase is dead, they can not comprehend why that can be, "Well", they grunt to each other, "We only took small bites out of it when it was alive, it can't be our fault its dead." There, in nutshell, you have the problem with the zombies at Westminster, they can not understand they have only left the bare bones. The red and blue zombies continue to circle the carcase in an ineffective game of pin the Brexit blame on the donkey. Sadly they forget they have eaten that as well and only have themselves to pin it on. Yet it does not stop them from trying.

There are some brave folks trying to stop the rampant zombieism at Westminster but what can they do against such a tide of dead men and women walking, stumbling around saying "Brexit" in ever decreasing circles until the zombies start disappearing up each others arseholes until you can not tell which is of the red zombie tribe and which are blue zombies.

The UK media is still trying to spin the lies these zombies offer the best hope for Britain (aka England) while ignoring bits are falling off both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition leaving a trail of digits and useless internal organs in their wake. The May zombie's ears must have fallen off, it is the only explanation for her extreme deafness over the issue of Brexit renegotiation. The EU 27 have made it very clear the deal on the table is Hobson's Choice; take it or leave it. There is no other option.

Some where else in the zombie circle Corbozombie zigs and zags, then forgets whether he had zagged or zigged as he dreams of becoming Prime Zombie. It will never happen of course because he goes to pieces like a chocolate hand grenade when the slightest of pressure is applied.

This is how UK democracy has died, eaten to a shell by the red and blue zombies of Westminister.

Next, they will be after you - wait, they have already started; as the austerity so beloved of the zombies has already killed twice as many UK citizens as Hitler managed in the 1940 / 41 Blitz according to the zombies own figures.

I ask: just how long before the zombies move on Scotland, the SNP can only keep them away for so long. Time for Scots to take preventative action and isolate ourselves from Westminster's zombie politics.

Catch 2.2

Lord Major-Major had a problem, his problem was this; two of his squadrons were asking permission to bomb each other in a deal with UKIP. The argument was this was a cost effective way to continue the Tory Party Civil War over Europe and kept UKIP on the side-lines.

His subordinate and aide Colonel Grey sat sipping the rather second rate Cyprus sherry his Lordship was so fond of while trying not to hear the rattle of three dried peas being manipulated in his Lordship's left hand.

Lord Major-Major leaned forward as if to speak, opened his mouth like a gaping fish then, just as suddenly, closed and leaned back again in his chair. His lordship closed his eyes and sighed leaned forward and engaged Colonel Grey's eyes.

"So the "Tory: Utter Bastards" group want my support over Ms May's deal so they can bomb the "Utter Bastard Tories" and vice-versa for the "no deal" group. Hhmmm!  A tricky one, Grey, don't you think?"

"As both are utter bastards, sir, I don't see the problem?"

"It is a matter of degree, Grey, of degree! My problem is, I know they are all utter bastards after what they did to me. Yet I have the integrity of the Conservative Party to consider."

"Bit of an oxymoron there, sir, Conservative Party and integrity in the same sentence."

"What? Oh! Very droll, Grey, vey droll. I need to think how to keep overall party unity so there are some survivors to keep our mighty UK Parliamentary Union under our singular control as the natural party of government."

"Don't think the Jocks see the Conservatives as the natural party of Government, given the popularity of the SNP over the other side of Hadrian's Wall. Not even the Corbynator can claim Scotland as a Labour fiefdom any longer. Time to get real. sir, we need to shorten our battle lines and let the Jocks go before they walk any way."

"I can not allow that to happen because if I do both the "Tory: Utter Bastards" and the "Utter Bastard Tories" will turn on me and claim it is all my fault because I undermined May or the idiot savant Boris Johnson's by breaking our glorious United Kingdom with my dithering. Apart from that; if the Jock's take away, with them, physical and fiscal control of the oil, the gas and the electricity supply we are truly screwed. London's lights go off with out Jock electricity. The hike in petrol prices alone in the SE will make Paris' current rioting look like a picnic, chuck in the hike in gas and electricity costs in England and the SE in particular ... see what I mean?"

"Surely someone in the Conservative Party's leadership saw this coming, the warning was there in 2014, squeeze the Jocks any further and they will say "Stuff the UK for a game of soldiers". The less polite Jocks will be slightly more robust in their comment, especially now the Conservative Party have actually done all the things to Scotland they said would not happen, if they stayed in the UK Union."

"But Grey, the Jock's know their place - under the English thumb. Why would they get in a fuss, never have before in 300 odd years, after all they said "NO" in 2014. My problem is not the Jocks. they are always whining, it is the Conservative Party is too big and important to go bust; if it does, it will be a disaster for Queen and Country. Who will protect the Windsor tax dodgers and bludgers? Who will preserve our tax havens? The City of London Ponzi scams? All the other things that make us British! I can not allow this to happen, it will not happen on my watch."

A lackey enters bearing gifts, Grey opens the message envelops and reads:

"First message reads, "The Tory Government has just been found guilty of contempt of Parliament and must release all legal advice it has received on Brexit". The second message reads "The Jock's have won their advisory case in the European Court of Justice on the ability to stop Brexit dead in the water by a simple vote of the UK Parliament."

"Utter bastards!"

Let Pauline Know Your Priorities for Dee and Glenkens

So I let the prospective Tory candidate know these were:

Simple, to:

1. Ensure a Tory candidate from the party of Brexit economic and social carnage does not get elected
2. Ensure the Tory Party which is now responsible for the deaths of over 120,000 UK citizens since 2010, according to the ONS, due to its cruel and degrading welfare policies is not elected
3. Ensure a candidate whose only pitch appears to be “Vote for me, if you hate Nicola Sturgeon” does not get elected
4. Ensure a candidate who must have the backing of MP’s of the calibre of spine free, “Jellyfish" Mundell and Alistair “I’m alright” Jack does not get elected.
5. Ensure a candidate who will support excessive Tory and Labour cuts to local services in Dumfries and Galloway does not get elected
6. Ensure a candidate who clearly does not know the problem of rural bus services is directly related to Tory Privatisation of public bus services does not get elected

Then there is the farce of DG1 perpetrated your Tory colleagues in collusion with Labour councillors and the sneaky agreement to avoid potential fiscal responsibility when the report is formally submitted to consider when casting my vote, so that will be another reason to vote for anyone else.

I have not come anywhere near the bottom of my reasons not to vote Tory, the lies told by Better Together on the EU and everything else in 2014, Scotland’s Oil Reserves running out (but on the basis of the recent industry oil and gas field estimates, that will not be to 2050 at the earliest), the illegally run and funded Tory Brexit Campaign, Tory Dirty Money in Scotland, Theresa May, Reese-Mogg, Dumbo Johnston, Minime Gove and the rest of the Brexit numbskulls in the UK Government Cabinet, Tory rampant misogeny, paedophile Lords and MP’s still in the Tory party (140 according to independent reports), the £1 Billion Tory bung to the DUP, the House of Windsor - the UK’s biggest benefit scroungers  ….  

See what I mean?

Yours faithfully,

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

So what did we learn about the Tory Government today?

After last night's Treasury Bill Ammendments from the SNP and Labour going through unopposed there is a sense of a Government in name only, powerless and even more ineffectual today than it has been since the Brexit debacle started.

The DUP sat on their hands and left the Tory Government in the lurch as they went in a huff about the NI Brexit backstop agreement which they see, correctly, as the defacto unification of Ireland and the end of their Unionist enclave in Belfast.

Labour for once stopped sitting on their hands and came together with the other opposition parties to heap humiliation after humiliation on the Tory Government's financial plans. I wonder just what Ms Sturgeon said to Jeremy when they met, maybe she gave him an "Acme" external spine as a present, along with one each for the rest of his shadow cabinet.

We learned that Ms May remains stubbornly stuck to the Brexit refrain of "Her deal is the only deal in Town" even though no one is listening to her either on the Tory benches or across the floor in Westminster.

Another "Better Together" lie bit the dust as Spain made clear they would not oppose any application from an independent Scotland to join the EU, so that means Scotland would be fast tracked to full membership if we wished as Gert Verstohaven has repeatedly said in the EU Parliament.

So where now for the Tory Government?

If they can somehow force May's worst of all worlds Brexit deal through the house they lose the DUP suport 'sine die' and increase the likelihood of an out right civil war in the Tory Party and the break up of the current Tory party. If they fail to get May's Brexit deal through she is a busted flush as the opposition look as if they will force a vote of no confidence which will attract the support of Tory remainers who have been abused by the Brexit Tories and their pals in the press and media.

In the background the Tory Government are also aware of a pending judgement of the Court of Session, after receiving advice from the European Court of Justice on Article 50, which could completely derail the Tory's Brexit wet dream. The Tories have spent a lot of UK taxpayer's money in an attempt to block this important bit of case law seeing light of day, including a failed appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The indications are the Tory Government are increasingly worried they will lose the case in the Court of Session, the ramifications - if they do - are massive as they would give the MP's the last say on May's flawed Brexit deal, preventing the Tory Government from ramming it through using some ancient decree of Henry the VIIIth which has no legitimacy in Scots Law or constitutional practice.

The Tory Government's advisors will be well aware the recent 'British is best' by the BBC and others, including their attempts to bury Scottish produce with "Union Flegs" by the likes of Tesco and Morrisons has failed and back fired badly with "Union Flegged" produce sticking like limpets to the supermarket shelves. The political attempt to turn Scotland into a "British region" has fared little better and in fact helped move even more from "aye maybees" to "aye YES". Scotland in Union's attempt to muddy the waters back fired badly and it would seem the new owners of the "Scotsman" have as much of a scooby of what is happening in Scotland as the previous owners who reduced Scotsman sales to the 10,000 mark in the first place.

In the background the Scottish First Minister has been meeting the players in the Brexit stramash in an attempt to save not just Scotland but the rest of the UK from Tory crass stupidity. In otherwords seeking to look after the interests of all UK citizens while Labour and Tory politicians manouver for political advantage in a future election. I am sure there will be a price to pay for Labour and the Libdems at Westminster for SNP backing as the Brexit disaster unfolds in the next week or so, my best guess is that a section 30 bill for a second independence referendum will face no problems from the Palace of Westminster.

This would be my price for saving the English politicians and electorate from themselves and the ever increasing UK economic disaster which is gathering pace as more international businesses close down their UK factories and international financial houses take their jobs and assets out of the City of London, some £342 billion of assets last week, alone. Add on the volatility of Sterling as May's Brexit deal increasingly unravels and you have impending stagflation in the UK. The BBC and other UK outlets are suspiciously quiet on news of the exiting of jobs and assets but that does not mean they have not already gone or are going.

We are in the end game of the UK Parliamentary Union whether the end is negotiated or not now depends on English MPs. Ms Sturgeon's preference would be for a negotiated end to the Parliamentary Union, to ensure its demise would be as seamless and painless as possible for both sides. The UDI option is bringing a bill to repeal the Act of Union (Scotland) of 1707 to the current Scottish Parliament, claiming it is the considered will of the people of Scotland so to do. In doing so the question of where Scottish sovereignty really lies would be made clear as by terminating the Treaty in this way the current UK Parliament would cease to exist in any legal form as 'overlord' of Scotland which it has claimed for itself contrary to Scots Law and constitutional practice.

To the legal beagles I say this, no matter what has been cooked up as a British Constitution, Lord Cooper in his commentary on McCormack (1953) made clear it is all based on a fundamental lie, as Scotland was never subsumed by England or English Law and constitutional practice, the current 'understanding' on where sovereignty lies is just the latest of a long line of constitutional fudges based on an incorrect premise which has sought to entrap Scottish Sovereignty under the control of a Westminster Parliament dominated by English MPs since 1707. It is a legal and constitutional Gordian Knot which lies ready to be undone to the benefit of the people of Scotland.

Instead of Alexander the Great's sword, a 2019 Scottish Parliament Act of Union (Scotland) repeal bill will do the same, if needs must.

Tory Legitimacy in Dee Ward

Being a constituent in the Dee ward, I have just received the first “flier” from the prospective Tory Candidate.

The first item that caught my eye was promising small businesses something they already had in zero business rates, no mention of the impact on their costs, courtesy of Brexit which she must support as an official Tory candidate.

The A75 is part of Euro Route 1 and as such the UK Government in London receives money from the EU to help maintain this key route part of which it is supposed to transfer on to Traffic Scotland. Maybe Mr Carson MSP or Mr Jack MP can tell us how much of the EU funding provided for the A75 as part of Euro route 1 actually comes to Scotland, if any at all, given the recent Tory record on EU Scottish Farm grants at DEFRA. 

Ms Drysdale will soon get her wish for lower traffic loading on the A75 as with Brexit, the current usage will drop rapidly as the UK economy shrinks ever further and especially here in Kirkcudbright with our high reliance on exports of cattle, food products and shellfish to EU markets. The fixed border in the middle of the North Channel and Irish Sea will kill what is left of Stranrear's ferry business as sailing will be cut back as hauliers look at more custom friendly routes.

Public transport; Ms Drysdale, you know who made a mess of this when bus routes were privatised and sold off, hint - it was a Tory policy.

Anti-social behaviour in Kirkcudbright, aye right, turns out it was one drunken 20 year old who, courtesy of the local police force, was quickly caught, well done our police.

Bleating about a windfarm near Twynholm that has yet to get planning approval, let alone ever be built, if ever.

No mention of what she will do if Brexit causes the closure of West Coast Fish or Castle MacLennan due to loss of EU markets, the job losses and the massive impact this will have on our community. 

No mention of the impact of Brexit on crewing the current boats running out of Kirkcudbright with the loss of Senegalese and Polish crew members or the knock on impact on local fishery support and supply companies in Kirkcudbright as boats will inevitably be laid up.

If I was really concerned about the local community and local businesses, the issues of potential loss employment in Kirkcudbright would be top of my list as a councillor, not the least as it will have an impact on future council finances.

Their big problem is the demise of Johnston Press and their free propaganda in the local weeklies, I wonder if the new owners will continue our local papers pro-Tory stance. Then again, when have people who are not “Tories" ever interested the Scottish Tory and Unionist Party or their supporters.

In support of this contention: I give you the meal the Tory father (MP) and son (MSP) combo made of the Youngs closure at Annan.

The "Poppy" is dead: long live the "Poppy"!

At last the season of moralistic presumptuousness and conflict is over for another year. The politicisation of what is - in the red poppy -  a way of raising funds for the UK Military's biggest charities In Scotland and rest of UK, will be all that is remembered while the actual reason for its existence is forgotten. Sadly, what should be a way of helping support all the ex-service personnel and their dependents who the UK Government fail to support adequately, if at all, has been turned, by UK politicians and vested interest, peace groups, into a symbol of cant and hypocrisy.

I, for one, do not need "Remembrance Day" as I live with the impact of the Tory colonial skirmish in 1982 on a daily basis. I could do with a "Forget it Day" if it was at all possible. I can not abide the whole palaver and bullshit that surrounds Remembrance Day as a UK public event and all the oleaginous - how bad it was and how stupid the generals were in the First World War - programs and interviews.

By 1918 the UK had one of the best prepared and trained armies in the world, at that time, with the most advanced, effective tactics utilising tanks, aircraft, infantry and planned artillery as one. For many of the men, joining the army was the first time they had new clothes of their own, a guaranteed three square meals a day and money in their pockets. 60% of the UK Army in France never saw the front lines. Those who did were rotated in and out the front lines on a regular basis so in at least one week in four they were well away from danger. Yet the myth that front line soldiers were uncared for by their officers continues on, by 1917 many of their officers were ex-rankers themselves so knew and empathised with the men they commanded. Another myth which continues is based on the first day of the Somme in 1916, the one which tells us it was a total disaster. It was a disaster, in only one sector, on the right flank the UK soldiers made all their first day targets along with the French on their flank for lower than expected casualties due to better tactics in the use of artillery in support of the infantry.

My Grandad was at the Somme as a sixteen year old, his view was this: they carried on fighting because not to do so would have made the sacrifice of those who were already maimed or killed a waste. He was pulled off the front line in 1917 when his age was discovered and as he had been a cooper's apprentice, before signing up, the Army employed him refurbishing stores barrels and crates in back areas.

In 1914 the "company" was the core of fighting and manoeuvring as it had been since Napoleonic times, by 1916 it had become the platoon and by 1918 the core of any operation was the squad of ten men, a light machine gunner, an officer or an NCO using shoot and scoot tactics. It is useful to compare the casualties on the Somme in 1916 with Stalingrad in 1942; a comparison which makes the former look like a picnic by comparison to the latter. 

The first war in Europe in the 20th Century was the first industrial war ever fought, everyone involved had to learn how best to fight it, on all sides. The UK military made mistakes in 1915 but it learned, improved the quality and production rate of artillery shells and changed tactics. In 1916, the Somme was fought to take the pressure off the French at Verdun, it was a battle the UK general staff did not want, in a place they did not want it, at a time they were not prepared for with the bulk of their troops, the "Pals Battalions", not fully trained to make the assault but were forced into the battle by the politicians at Westminster, against the UK General Staff's wishes, Haig threatened to resign but was talked out of it by Robertson, the UK Chief of Staff.

Yet the real tragedy and comparison no one appears to see, is the comparison between the conduct of the current Tory UK Government in November 2018 and the German General Staff in October 1918.

By mid October the German Staff knew they had lost, they were only looking to continue the fight in an attempt to get the best armistice terms they could, to prevent the Allies from entering Germany and keep the Kaiser on the throne. The actions of the current Tory Government, on Brexit, are strikingly similar to the German Staff in October 1918. The first is the Tories can not believe Europe will not play ball and give them what they want, the German Staff's blind spot was wishing to keep the Kaiser and tried negotiating directly with the USA, only to find the Kaiser's abdication was core to any US acceptance of an armistice. Instead of the German's Staff "Kaiser's abdication problem", the Tories have the "Irish Border problem".

When the German sailors refused to take their ships to sea in October 1918, in what they believed was a suicide mission, the German Staff could no longer ignore the growing dissent amongst the German population. I believe we have already reached, if not passed, this point of dissent in Scotland, as reflected in the ever growing support for Scottish independence in Scotland only polls. After the London anti-Brexit march, English folk are getting ever closer to the tipping point. The UK government are so worried about the increasing likelihood of civil disturbance in UK cities, in the aftermath of Brexit, they are talking about using the army to keep control if the police fail.The German's tried that in 1918 with a result ever more civilians joined the anti-government / anti-war groups which sprung up across the country, including many of the police and soldiers sent against them.

In an nutshell we have UK leaders and a UK Government in the same place the German Government and leaders found themselves in October 1918; they have lost the war, they have lost the people and are now looking for ways to save their own skins under cover of doing the best for Britain before the UK sinks into an economic, social morass and civil strife their Tory policies have created while simultaneously succeeding in turning long term European allies into enemies.

The UK has become the sick man of Europe, Scotland needs to cut itself free from the rotting corpse of the UK Parliamentary Union before the gas gangrene of Tory ineptitude, self interest and greed takes us down with them.

An Autumn's Walk

A tap on the shoulder from a small paw accompanied by a small terrier grump; Dillon, the 47 varities dog, was reminding me it was "walkies" time.

It was a bright afternoon and warm for the time of year and, as I dressed accordingly, Dillon's excitement and squeaks of delight increased with every layer I put on. Collar and lead on, pooh bags in the pocket, out the door and we were off.

At the bottom of the path Dillon went right which meant he wanted to go down to the Dee. The next decision he faced was to head back towards Kirkcudbright Harbour or out towards Tongland - it is, after all, his walk. Tongland was the next decision.

So off we went in the late Autumn sun; him sniffing to see which of his pals had been about since we last walked this way or ears twitching for any chance of a vole or field mouse about to break cover so he could do his terrier "thing" and break its neck with a quick snap and shake; then spend five minutes throwing the corpse this way and that while chasing after it.

I spent my time while Dillon is off sniffing, watching curlew and red shank foraging on the mudflat edge, a shy dunnock bobbing around amongst fallen crab apples whilst in the nearby hedge, their noisy spruggy relatives were already shouting the odds at each other about who was sleeping where that night and with whom. Under the same hedgerow, on a late summer evening, Dillon and I once met one of the local hedgehogs who at first went into a defensive ball but slowly reassured neither me nor Dillon offered any harm, shyly came out to see us. Dillon was more interested in checking this new creature out to decide whether friend or foe, rather than mount any sort of attack. The hedgehog then sauntered off to where ever they had been going in the first place, after having a nose to nose sniff with Dillon as if in a polite nice meeting you but you are a dog, so I am off.

Meanwhile Dillon carried on checking the state of health and fecundity of other dogs who had passed by way of the base of a tree or tussock of wrack grass. I observed a heron on the far bank, fishing the falling tide for spawning mullet, watching their success with a quick dart and then the head well back as they swallowed their good fortune.

As I waited for the end of one particular scent research with added Dillon, a small glint of yellow caught my eye in the hedge row. Goldfinch, yellow hammer? No, the body was far too small. I watched the silhouette dance around next year's leaf buds - prodding here, poking there.

Then suddenly, the little bird appeared in the open, looking straight at me as I looked at him with his jaunty yellow mohican hair do, bright button eyes and olive green head. We looked at each other for what seemed like minutes but was only a few seconds. Mr Goldcrest decided neither me nor Dillon was a threat to him garnering his last meal of the day to get him throught the night and hopped back into the hawthorn bush without a "bye your leave" to continue his search for a good meal.

I stood at first numb, then joyous that such a shy, little bird would have stood a few feet away, in the open, on a twig, apparently checking me over as much as I was him.

The dashing flight of a red kite across our path, the bickering of black birds, the harsh cry of herring gulls, the shag drying its wings nor the calming chuckle of crows reassuring each other matched the encounter with Mr Goldcrest; all lost their usual glow.

Even a flight of fieldfares bursting like a silver firework from a hawthorn tree paled into insignificance, that day, against the fifteen seconds I spent with Mr Goldcrest, face to face, as Dillon sniffed and snuffled around the base of a damson tree.

Tesco - a little bit of sense

Dear Mr Tarry (CEO Tesco UK)

Your organisation will have no doubt had a large number of ‘claimhor' rattling e.mails on the rather ignorant comments on Scotland’s status as a “region” of Britain.  Unlike others, I beleive the comments were made within the Tesco view of the UK rather than some deliberate political slight on Scotland.

With Scottish sensitivities shifting towards ending the UK Parliamentary Union, on Brexit, maybe you could help your future sales in Scotland by ensuring senior management understand the constitutional and legal reality of the UK as opposed to the London centric view they are routinely exposed to.

The UK is a parliamentary union; of two nation states, Scotland and England, by treaty (1707) and law by seperate Acts of Union. Both nation states as part of the 1707 Treaty of Union retain their own head of state (there never has been any “Union of the Crowns”), legal and constitutional system, educational system, health system, public owned water supply (for example) and in Scotland the national church is dis-established. Scotland is not legally or constitutionally a region of the UK, it is a nation state which is central to the existence of the UK Parliamentary Union. The UK in its current form does not exist without Scotland.

Wales and Northern Ireland are regions of England, governed by English law and constitutional practice and can be considered regions of England.

The UK Parliamentary Union, unless the current government does a massive U-turn on the custom’s union, is in its death throws. 

I am certain you have plans for this eventuality as it, along with Brexit, will cause massive stress on your just in time delivery system - without continuing membership of at least the custom’s union with the EU. WTO tariffs will hit your organisation hard, as will the problems with supply, via air, of perishables; given the short to long term disruption caused by pulling out of EU agreed flight transfer arrangements. Throw in Scotland ending the UK Parliamentary Union, remaining in the EU Custom’s Union, a hard border between Berwick and Carlisle and you will have serious problems for supply in England and Wales.

I understand with the day to day operations you are involved with, this may seem "small beer” - versus the multi-million pound operation you front - but having worked as a quality consultant and certification auditor with DNV, for two decades, across Europe; it would be remiss of me not to bring the potential commercial and political impact of one ignorant and ill judged pronouncement, to your attention.


(As of 13:44 Facebook has prevented me from promotoing this post, whether it is simply a Facebok F'up or something more sinister I do not know but please share the heck out of it)

Worried of Kirkcudbright

Like many across Scotland the increasing stupidity of the Conservative Government has me worried, nay scared, maybe even frightened.

I have waited three days for the scabrous Tory Party to behead itself but even in this they are clearly incompetent and ineffectual. If they can not do a hatchet job on Ms May's premiership, just how can anyone trust them to make any decision such as whether to put milk in their tea or not; deciding whether the milk goes in first is beyond their ken.

The EU has made its position clear on Ireland as much else and yet May's yapping dog, Rabb, keeps barking there must be a cherry picking deal to suit the Tory Party's own prejudices. Just how many variants of "Non, Ils ne passeront pas" does the Minister for Brexit have to hear to get the message the only offer the EU is willing to make, in order to allow Rabb to protect Tory protectionism, is stay in the customs union and free trade area; including keeping all the current EU customs and trading rules. This is all that is on the table no matter what attempts Rabb, May and the rest of her venal crew try to tell us otherwise or cry the EU "Is nae playin fair, yon bastarts."

It appears, as more and more multinationals plan to exit Brexit Britain or are in the process of moving out, the Tory Party can not see past its own bubble of denial while squealing the companies are just trying to scare the Tory Government into an EFTA style compromise, its blackmail the Tory MP's cry (into their own venerial soup of corruption and self interest). It is not "blackmail" when Jaguar Landrover's plant in the UK is being rundown in favour of a new plant in Croatia. Nor that Honda Swindon are already laying off workers in preparation of moving engine production to Belgium. Nissan have told the UK Government they will cease operating in the North East unless some customs deal is done to ensure "just in time" supply provision from across the EU. The "City" has already seen the exodus of over 60,000 finance related jobs to Dublin and Frankfurt since Brexit was announced. For heaven's sake even the Reese-Dog's finance and hedge fund company has opened an office in Dublin to protect its EU trading interests. Meanwhile, in the midst of this ever enlarging shit storm of economic malfeasance on the part of the Tory Government, the BBC tells us some tax dodging, taxpayer funded moron is "Having a baby!" Talk about MP's fiddling their expenses while the UK burns while, if not doing that, sexually harassing and bullying their work force at Westminster.

What I am really scared about is all the ordinary people who are walking around with their heads up their arses thinking it will be "all right", "It won't be that bad" and "We'll just muddle through." Their is no realisation that the fiscal collapse of the pound after Brexit will threaten their state pensions, welfare support and access to an ever increasingly privatised NHS which a post Brexit Scotland, remaining in the Union, will not be able to prevent. The current Tory Welfare policy has been estimated, by research carried out at Oxford University, to be directly causing 60,000 unnecessary deaths, among UK citizens, every year since 2012. That approximates to Dundee being reduced to a ghost town between 2010 and today. This figure is higher than the Nazi's average annual cull of children and adults with mental incapacities and disabilities between 1937 and 1945. If you can not find this comparison to be scary, dear readers, I do not know what will alert you to the cruel intentions of the ever more right wing, Tory Party the English electorate continue to support, according to the latest opinion polls.

 As for a recent Tory MP's comment "Why not leave the "Mick's" just to shoot each other." as a solution to the UK border in Ireland problem sums up why I am increasingly scared of any outcome that sees Scotland as a part of the UK come Brexit Day.

I will continue to support the First Minister's, "Slowly, slowly; catchee monkey" approach on the best time to call for an independence referendum in Scotland but, as we sidle ever closer to the Brexit cliff edge, my nerves are starting to feel like an over wound guitar string and I do not know just how much more Tory Party ignorance, hostility and bullying of Scotland I can take.

Update: Just checking news feeds, seems I have to add Ford to the list of manufacturers exiting the UK on Brexit.

Sleep Walking to disaster

I am in Northern Ireland at present with my daughter, grandson and her partner.

All I can say is: they are increasingly scared of the violence that will be unleashed on ordinary people as the PIRA and UDVF fight to control the cross border rackets and act in "protection" of their respective Catholic and Protestant communities, violence that is the inevitable outcome of a no deal Brexit and a hard border between the North and the South of this island of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Police Force is already returning to pre "Good Friday" precautions for both their stations and their own safety. Irish Sea Ferry security checks are once again more stringent with mirror and boot checks the norm. Families once again wondering if their loved ones will come home safe accompanied by the marital stress and fear that will effect yet another generation of children growing up in Northern Ireland and not just in the police force.

The hiatus at forming a new devolved government at Stormont increases the tensions between two communities slowly coming to terms with the troubles, the tit for tat violence, the trust between the two groups is fragile at best, no ordinary person wants a return to the 70's and 80's, the Northern Ireland economy and employment is recovering, the under forties by and large simply want to live normal lives and see their kids grow up in a safe environment.

UK Service personnel from Catholic families once again fear the advisory wrap on their door from the PIRA to tell them to either leave their employer or get out of their community to the mainland, or else. The PIRA knock will be better welcomed than the UDVF one which will be accompanied by a shooting of the person dead.

There are few in Northern Ireland who want this to happen but this is what Tory intransigence over Brexit will bring to the North of the Emerald Ilse. Putting over stretched squaddies back on the streets will simply pour petrol on the flames but as Tory after Tory stands at their conference to defend a "Britain" which does not exist - except in their fevered imaginations - I am listening to people, who are now friends over here, telling me of their fears and why they are justified. It is open knowledge that both the UDVF and PIRA are re-arming courtesy of funds from the Irish community in the USA and US right wing. The general feeling is the DUP are skimming NI funding and dark money donations to help the UDVF.

You can cut the growing paranoia with a knife. I was here in the 1980's during the troubles and among the 40+ age group there is a return to the same caginess, care with what they say to whom depending where they are which was the norm then, in conversations. There are once again taboo subjects in public, especially around religion, allegiances and where you live.

It will take one bomb in Belfast's booming shopping centre to destroy the last twenty years of healing to an open wound which is still sore for many in Northern Ireland, whose families and relations knew the death of loved ones first hand during the "Troubles", but it will be the Tory Party who will stand accused as as good as priming and setting off the device and returning Northern Ireland to its darkest days and nightmares.

Scotland may well become independent on Brexit but a new civil war is on the verge of going live in Northern Ireland. The Tory Conference has lighted the fuse for many over here with its complete misreading of the situation in Northern Ireland and violence returning to the streets is the real price the people of Northern will end up paying for a "Brexit" debacle which was meant to stop a Tory Civil War but has made things worse within the Tory Party as well as for all folk in the UK in all manners of ways.

The ignorance and stupidity of the Tory Government and Party on Northern Ireland, as on much else, is sleep walking the UK to disaster.

Is It Just Me?

I have followed different Facebook, normal media and blogger trails today and I am left just wonder how stupid Unionists are?

On BBC I watched as a hostile BBC interviewer tried to tell an expert on trade deal that he was wrong because the "British People" had voted to leave the EU. He pointed out the easiest trade deal would take two years if Canada or Australia played ball. He made it clear, outside of the Commonwealth, trade deals would take a minimum of ten years with all the penalties of trade surcharges and add on costs UK SME's and multinationals will incur simply to deal with customers in the EU, let alone the rest of the world. Instead of stopping and asking real questions on the real cost of Brexit, the stupid interviewer carried on on their inane Tory scripted questions on the "democratic will of the people of Britain". The expert continued to tell her in a calm voice that the UK Government's promise on a post Brexit trade was total bullshit, like Teresa May she was unable to change her view, it was totaly cringe worthy.

I then followed Richard Leonard's attempt to to make Labour's fastest U-turn on a future Scottish referendum vote with him telling reporters he was going to make the "SNP Toxic" at the Labour Conference, a Labour conference where he is so insignificant he does not even have a platform.

I listened with interest as Tory MP and gook after Tory MP and gook tried to tell us the Brexiteers had the EU on the ropes and they would come to see "Tory sense on the issue " as opposed to the reality that the Tories and their Brexit supporters are the laughing stock of Europe and are now in a hole so deep they will not see day light until they hit New Zealand.

Then I found an article on the parlous state of the armed service close to my heart, the Royal Navy, which since 1977, when I joined as a Sub Lieutenant, has been hollowed out to the point there can be only two Type 45 Destroyers at sea at any time, if all six are actually operational. This means the new carriers will not have an effective close anti surface or air protection, given there are only potentially five frigates operational for anti-submarine close protection at any one time. Please tell me, just how can the Tories and their Unionist supporters claim Scotland is better defended by staying in the UK Union when the reality is the Spanish Fishing fleet could strip UK waters of all white fish with no naval presence available nor air surveillance, thanks to other Tory cuts on maritime aviation assets. Yep, after Brexit I am certain the Tories will not be able to protect the UK fishing industry from predation by the rest of Europe's and Russia's fishing fleets. I just do not know how with out ships or air surveillance. Maybe they will bring back privateers and "letters of marke" to do the job the Royal Navy Fishery Patrol used to do.

Then there is the small issue of major employers like Jaguar, Honda, Nissan getting ready to bugger off and the inevitable destruction to their UK suppliers and the knock on effect on ordinary people, many who bought the anti-EU / immigrant crap in the first place from their Sun, Mirror or Daily Mail.

Then there is the small problem of the growing exodus of financial companies from the "City of London", the continuing drop in value of the pound sterling, the 12% reduction in the UK's GDP and the reduction of UK wages by 15% in real terms since 2010. There is the worse state pension in the EU to consider and yet Scotland is "better off in the UK Union" according to the Leonard's, Davidson's and "What's his name?" of the "What are they called again?" party.

Is it just me but how long can any thinking individual in Scotland believe the shite we are being fed from Westminster from the Tory, Etonian clique who are robbing Scotland and the rest of the UK's taxpayers blind while running up a massive Trillion pound national debt as they go, that the UK is the best deal for Scotland?

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend.

For some reason I found myself humming the "Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel when the following words just popped into my head:

".. for a pockets full of mumbles; such are promises.
All lies and jest;
But a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"

Then I thought, Peter, that describes the Brexiteers and the hapless Tory Government's present position. All they have left to offer the UK as a whole and Scotland, in particular, is a pocketful of 'mumbles' - 'all lies and jest'.

The problem remains in Scotland is while fewer and fewer are listening to the 'mumbles' there are still too many hearing only what they 'want to hear', many have a big hurdle to cross as to agree the promises have no foundation means they have to give up on their certainty of the "Union" being best for Scotland, give up on long held beliefs based on their view of Westminster as a kindly hand, looking out for Scotland's best interests as Scotland could never manage to look out for itself.

They cling to the belief the EU is the bogeyman who wrecked farming, fishing, closed down UK manufacturing and caused the collapse of their pension funds with all its red tape. Now all that is left is the financial sector in the 'City of London' and now even that is under threat from EU regulations on tax havens.

It is this intense isolationism in the face of all the evidence which stuns me. It was Thatcher's government which destroyed the UK's industrial base, Ted Heath's Tories sold the fishing industry down the river, as did Thatcher and Major's Tory Governments for behind the scenes "deals" in Brussels. It is the current Tory Government of Ms May which as skimmed off EU funding which was supposed to come to support Scottish Farmers on marginal lands. £160 million has been pissed against the wall by Mr Gove and his chums at DEFRA for no apparent benefit to farming, full stop. Then there is the most, I struggle for a word to define the criminality of successive Westminster Governments since 1972, appalling robbery of all. Just why is Scotland (which produces more oil and gas than Bahrain or Qatar) seeing such levels of poverty in what is a very rich, small nation. Just why is Scotland being made to pay for Crossrail, London's new sewers, HS2 or the Heathrow extension, all of which have negligible, if any, economic benefit for Scotland?

Why are we paying for a nuclear weapon the Scottish people have rejected and want out of Scotland? Not only our supposed "share" of the new weapon's estimated costs but what ever the actual build and operating cost comes out at. The project is already in difficulties because the launch tubes so far delivered have been found to be faulty and returned to Lockheed-Martin delaying the build. Let alone the fact the USA stops any up dating of the Trident system the UK is "purchasing" in 2025 to concentrate on its joint services nuclear program. The USA expects all its Trident systems, currently embarked, to be decommissioned by 2050. This leaves the question of whether the USA will keep the current Trident targeting satellites in orbit after this date. More "pockets full of mumbles".

Even the most Brexiteer, isolationist Unionists can see the fundamental truth that Scotland is being robbed and ruined to prop up Westminster's failed state but they just can not let go of the idea that an independent Scotland would do no better,  in their view, Scotland would do worse. 

"Hello darkness, my old friend.." indeed.

That Unionist Gump momment.

Unionist Gump, "Resign from the SNP, you nasty (alleged) bum groper!"

Salmond does.

"No Fair! You should have been expelled by wee nippy, she's protecting you, she should go as well."

Ms Sturgeon explains no complaint has been made directly to the SNP Party of any form of harrassment by Mr Salmond of anybody. On Good Morning Scotland even the BBC presenter, for once, would not buy this banning 'sine die' line from Unionist Gump and left him with a new arsehole.

"How stupid independistas are" say umpteen Unionist Gumps, "funding Salmond's defence against the harrassment charges." (no criminal charge has actual been made, Police Scotland are just assessing the evidence to see if any criminality took place but, "Hey!", that's Unionist Gumpism for you)

Independence supporters point out the funding is for the judicial review at the Court of Session to see if the due process that brought about all this stramash is in 'procedure', 'fact' and 'law' equitable and sustainable under Scots Law and not simply the Unionist Gump witch hunt many independence supporters now believe it to be, triggered by the British Establishment to try and disrupt the independence movement in Scotland.

So as the Unionist Forrest Gump's wail, throw ash in their hair, rend their garments (it's OK they will charge the new hairdoo and clothing to expenses which you me and every other taxpayer has to cough up for) the stench of hypocrisy wafts high into the air to create a choking, deadly cloud of hubris and double standards which is hovering, waiting to reach critical mass before it collapses back on the whole boiling.

Questions will need to be asked of Ms and Messers Unionist Gump in the Holyrood Parliament to explain why so many identified sex pests and racial discriminators remain in their parties as MSPs or councillors, should they not be forced to resign?

At Westminster Mr Robertson should ask the Prime Minister why Conservative MPs who have been found to have actually sexually abused their interns are still in the party and have not been forced to resign from the Party and their seats, this apparently includes at least four ex or serving ministers in her cabinet.

Then there is the issue of the paedophile tendency within the Houses of Parliament at Westminster which has been covered up by Tory Whips and the Home Office since Ted Heath's day. Ms May as Home Secretary managed to 'lose' all the files of evidence on MPs who had been accused of being part of the peadophile ring. She also refused to release an unredacted copy of the Jillings Report on the paedophile ring operating out of a North Wales children home which supplied parties at the Westminster Parliament's favourite accommodation around Dolphin Square with girls and boys.

In November 2012, Anne Clwyd MP called for the legal archive copy of the report to be published, claiming that she was shown a copy in 1994: "I would say please get the Jillings report published because it shows... rape, bestiality, violent assaults and torture, and the effects on those young boys at that time cannot be under-estimated."  Channel 4 News reported that Sir Peter Morrison, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher and MP for Chester, who died in 1995, had been 'seen' driving a boy away from the Bryn Estyn home in North Wales. The Conservative Party said that they were investigating the claims nothing much has been heard since. See this Millflats Mercury article for more information

I await for the Tory Party Chairman to invite Ms May to resign from the Tory Party and leave parliament in disgrace for her part in the cover up of this disgusting crime, I am not holding my breath.

So against this comparison of the actual litany of sexual abuse and sexual criminality conducted by members of the Unionist Gump coterie across the UK, Mr Salmond's as yet unproven case of harassment, if indeed it ever had happened, should be balanced.

There is also the legal issue of why, at this particular point, what was confidential information, therefore information supposedly not to be released into the public domain, leaked to the Scottish Press?

If Wee Eck did not release the information and I believe him when he says he did not, then it has to have been some one high up in the Scottish Civil Service who fed the information to the Daily Record, as I hae ma doots the file would be let out of the grips of very senior management at Ocean House, given its sensitivity. Then the question becomes why was the confidential file leaked. The most likely answer is an attempt to destroy Mr Salmond's image and the only reason therefore is political. It is also interesting to note how close the leak to the Record was in relation to the embarrassing humbling of the BBC by Mr Salmond over the 'Wings over Scotland' copyright issue.

The only other suggestion I have is the actual complaint could not be sustained and the leak was to ensure Mr Salmond was covered in the same innuendo and contempt as the known, actual abusers amongst parliamentarians across the UK.

The problem for Unionist Gumps across the UK is the ordinary people of Scotland are not buying this latest dark arts operation as the rapid meeting of Mr Salmond's £50k crowd funding request for the Court of Session case has clearly shown.

We may end up being wrong on Mr Salmond, yet given the track record of the British Establishment's dodgy, dirty tricks campaigns against folk who threaten their wealth or position, whether it was Willie McCrae's or Dr Kelly's supposed suicides, I think we, on the ground in Scotland have the Unionist Gumps rumbled on this one.

Oh Look! A squirrel

Usually I have the title sorted before I start writing, this time I have not. I am struggling to put a headline to what is going on in my head at present.

Take something I know a bit about, PTSD. It appears some know it all Tory MP in Plymouth is saying it is just a scam on UK taxpayers by armed forces members trying to get a better pension. This on a day when all the armed forces charities are up in arms at the recent spate of suicides amongst a range of veterans due to Tory Government benefit cuts. This Tory thinks he has credibility because he is a doctor. Clearly he is totally shit doctor, lacking empathy, consideration or care for his fellow citizens, let alone service personnel, given what his party is doing to the NHS in England.

As all this is going on, Netanyahu apologists across the UK are trying to say that any criticism of Israel is "anti-Semitism", making up fake news claims about a Palestinian Wreath laying event where the great bumbler, Corbyn, was supposed to lay a wreath on Munich Terrorist Graves. The problem here being the Munich Terrorists are buried in a completely different country to the one where Corbyn laid his supposed "anti-Semitic" wreath. Let me be clear, there is a world of difference between the anti-Semitic, right wing loud mouths of the Tory Party and the far right in the UK and "anti-ZIonism", especially the ever more extreme Zionism of Netanyahu, a Zionism which been condemned from the start of Israel's journey by Semites such as Albert Einstein amongst many of the Jewish persuation including Rabbi's as well as secular Israelites protesting in Tel Aviv against Netanyahu's latest definiton of who is an "official" Israelite, only this week. The big problem for the Zionists is they are historically linked to this form of "apartheid". Many Zionists in the USA and in Germany in the 1930's agreed with Hitler that Jews were non-German. German Zionists even did a deal with Hitler where anyone who joined the Zionist program to emigrate to Palestine from Germany received goods and materials in lieu of their financial holdings retained by the Nazi German State.  It is a matter of record Hitler believed the millions of Reich Marks it cost in preferential trading agreements with Zionist settlers in Palestine was worth it, if it solved the "Jewish problem". The arrangement fell apart as the cost of the war began to bite on Germany's reserves and the alternative "solution" was put in place by Heidrich and Himmler. Even then the Zionists in Israel, like Begin, tried to do a deal to keep the program operating. The Irgun Terror Group, run by Begin, offered to hit crucial Allied targets across the Middle East on Hitler's behalf, if the emigration pipeline could be kept open. Zionists were only interested in saving their own adherents and it seems the defence of the illegal settlements on Palestinian owned land is simply a continuation of the same project. Let us be clear it is not just Arabs or Palestinian Christians that could be deemed non-Israelites but non white Jews from other parts of the Middle East who are already under pressure from the more extreme wings of the Zionist Organisation in Israel to "go back to their own countries".Israel, in Zionist thinking, is increasingly only for white, American, Zionist Jews.

Then there is the fake news about Scotch Labour claims to have built more new "social' homes and that if returned to  power in Scotland they will do so again. A quick look on Wings over Scotland confirms that between 1999 and 2010 there were six new council homes built. Compared to the numbers of 'social' and council housing built since 2010, under SNP direction, they are clearly deranged. How about the 1% rise in homelessness Labour have stated in their BBC press release (aka Reporting Scotland). Statistically it is with the range of error on any such Government data collection but again a quick check with Wings and since 2010 homelessness in Scotland has seen a steep drop from a high under Labour.

There is silence over the latest figures which shows Scotland as the only part of the UK holding its own economically in the international money market's Brexit feeding frenzy or Shell's recent declaration of at least another 50 years of oil and gas from their new discovery in Scottish waters, the silence over the Exxon finds west of the Shetlands is also rarely mentioned even though in 2010 David Cameron snuck up to Shetland to pump the first gas from the field.

The car crashing into the anti terrorist screen at Westminster or the bridge failure in Genoa are screaming out of the airwaves of establishment truth while the silence over Israel's continuing genocide in Gaza or the murder of children by the Saudi's by bomb or starvation in Yemen, is swept under the UK news carpet.

Meanwhile the same British Establishment news are all het up about the forth coming blood bath that is to be the Tory Conference between Mayhem and Tweedledum rather than addressing the serious issue the Mayhem's Brexit Plan is dead in the water as the EU Brexit negotiators have given it a big fat "NON!" The UK is on a cliff edge of fiscal disaster which is seeing all the multimillionaire Brexiteers shifting their money not just out of the UK but into other currencies. Yet where are the news headlines about the Brexit rats leaving the sinking ship?

Over in the US of A Trump is either calling out evidence of his ineptitude, double dealing and corruption as "fake news" as he seeks to persuade everyone in the US they should only believe what they see on Fox News, a service renowned across the US of A as a right wing mouth piece for Trump and his wealthy backers.

Yet according to the same, self serving journalists and broadcasters who fail to hold any Westminster politician (except SNP) to account, the real worry for the people of the UK is "fake news" from blogs such as this.

Well they should know, I suppose, they peddle fake news on a daily basis:

"Oh Look! A squirrel"  (My headline at last.)

Brexit, that's going well - isn't it Ms May

So "Maggie" May comes to Scotland, runs in, runs out, gets boo-ed and disappears back to Englandshire without saying a word about Scotland's Brexit benefit, except there will be one. This is in spite of the reality that the economists and actuaries, across the world, are saying it is going to cost the average UK citizen the loss of thousands of pounds in terms of earning power, increased unemployment, SME bankruptcies and in general set the ordinary UK citizen back to the 1930's in terms of levels of poverty. This apparently is a "good deal" for Scotland.

As an aside, her apologists keep on about how reliant Scotland is on exporting goods to England and what a disaster it would be if this trade volume was cut and England looks elsewhere for these products, services and energy provision on "Scotch" independence.

Oh that's scary you think, at first, then your second self tells you "tae hud oan a minit" while your logical self suddenly realises that is a lot of product, services and energy supply England are going to have to find instantaneously from somewhere else than Scotland.

To keep it simple: just think about how much energy Scotland provides England to keep its lights on, gas cookers operating and vehicles on the move. Now imagine if an independent Scotland says its OK England, go off in a huff, we will use the North Sea HVDC links to export our excess electrical generation to the EU market, because being in EFTA/ EU means we can. Where will "Little Britain" (aka England) make up the deficit from?

They are outside the EU, will Ireland export to them via the HVDC link in the Southern Irish Sea or France continue via the current English Channel HVDC link, a link that is working at full capacity on a daily basis.

Let's say this new Little Britain of the Tories fevered imagination starts constructing gas powered generating stations as if there is no tomorrow they will remain dependent on gas which will come from fracking England stupid or external sources, such as Russia, via the Euro-pipeline as the North Sea, where the majority of the gas fields now lie in an independent Scotland's waters, with whom they will not deal - according to Ms May - is not available.

So now this Tory Little Britain has not just electrical power to find from elsewhere than Scotland but gas as well; to power all the gas turbine generating plants they will have to build in a hurry to stop the lights going out.

Around six years ago the failure of Longannet to come on line due to a boiler flare out caused a national grid surge which tripped out the current nuclear power stations down south. The end result was lights going off all over London and the South East of England, multi-frame computers over heating and catching fire as far west as Oxford which cost millions to fix, the "City's" trading system for shares and financial transfers went down for 24 hours costing firms millions, sections of the tube and overland rail system stopped, transformers blew and, in general, mayhem ensued. Now imagine on day one of a Little Britain Scotch Trade blockade what would happen to the Little Britian's National Grid with the current range of Scottish Hydro plants unavailable to balance demand in an instant, as happens at present. Then throw in Scottish wind power and the growth in tidal power that is starting in Scotland that will not be available to the Tory Little Britain's electrical supply. Now think back to what happened when just Longannet failed to come on in time, six or so years ago, and multiply the effect of that failure many times over.

All this is without even considering the impact of the reduction in gas and crude oil supply from the Scottish North Sea not coming ashore on Tee-side to the Tory's Little Britain.

Throw in the food shortages which will ensue in Little Britain with out Scottish beef imports, for example, and you realise just how empty the "biggest trade is with England" Unionist line becomes. A newly independent Scotland will still trade with the EU and through the EU, with the rest of the world via either EFTA or as a full EU member, in an advantageous way for the Scottish economy in a way Brexit, Tory Little Britain will not be able to.

So Ms May and the rest of the Unionists bring on your trade war with an independent Scotland as, just like Brexit, there will only be one loser - Tory Little Britain.

Light the Saltire Blue touch paper

The UK Supreme court has a problem by its own admission its English judges can not rule on issues pertaining to Scots Law and this was why, as an after thought, Blair and Derry Irvine had to invite Scottish Law Lords to join the UK Supreme Court. This was never Blair's intention.

The big problem here is in AXA et al vs The Scottish Parliament (Asbestos Plaques) the judges, in part of their judgement, stated they could not set aside a bill of the Scottish Parliament which reflected the sovereign will of the people of Scotland, as voted on by their representatives at Holyrood. The Brexit Bill of the Holyrood parliament has exactly this majority backing from its elected representatives.

Lord Cooper in his 1953 review of McCormack vs the Lord Advocate made clear that the claim for Westminster's sovereignty based on the "Crown in parliament" had no equivalent in Scots Law or constitutional practice as the Scottish people are sovereign and the claims that Scotland had been subsumed by England were based on a fundamental error regarding what the 1707 Treaty of Union stated and established.

Further he predicted at some point in the future all the fudges over where the sovereignty of the people of Scotland was enacted and exercised, fudges which had held the Parliamentary Union together ever since 1707 would ultimately fail and give rise to a massive constitutional headache which would have the potential to end the UK Parlimentary Union.

As of today we are at that point, the UK Parliament upheld the reality of the sovereignty of the Scottish people in a SNP debate on the issue, it is clear the Tories already believe they are heading for another defeat in the UK Supreme Court and are already talking about how they are going to subvert the very court which was supposed to prevent this from happening, if Blair and Derry Irvine had got their way.

We were told, by experts in the media and BBC, Holyrood would lose the AXA case and Holyrood would be a laughing stock. A lot of legal experts then claimed AXA would have won but the used the wrong legal argument. It appears the same "experts" are being trundled out by the same media mouthpieces of the British Establishment this time around, as well.

This time the stakes are even higher, the British Establishment knows this, and what ever the outcome I will be ready for a rapid independence referendum within a few months.

48 Blue Bottles Standing on the wall

I am confused about the Tory Party's present position. According to the Torygraph; the 1922 Committee has the 48 blue bottles required to trigger a party leadership contest. Yet there seems to be major hesitation of the said 1922 Committee to announce this officially. The Tory civil war would be almost childish, given the temper tantrums of the right wingers in the party, but what ever occurs it will be a disaster for the UK as a whole and for Scotland in particular.

Theresa may hang on as a lame duck prime minister holding little control over her UK Government Ministers or party for the remains of this UK Parliamentary electoral session, until the next GE is called, demonstrating no leadership to the civil service and with a Brexit negotiating position which is despised by the right of her party and continues to be deemed inoperable and unacceptable by the EU. In reality a "no change" to the current dysfunctional, out of their depth UK Government.

The other option is for there to be a "night of the long knives" as the likes of Boris or Rees the Emperor Ming fight over the leadership of the increasingly rotten corpse which is the Tory Party; where party cohesion has gone and the likes of the small fry players like Gove, Hammond and Hunt, who have little traction with the main Tory backers (they are, after all, just new money "oiks"), are thrown to the lions.

If the latter is the case the blood letting, personal attacks and general off the record briefings against other potential leadership contenders will start when the UK Parliament rises for summer. The problem for the party overall is they have no real contender to put forward from the old "One Nation (as long as it is England)" wing of the Party. This then leaves the Tories with a choice of right wing or extremely right wing party leaders who will then cause even more trauma to the UK GDP as they push ever more extreme conditions, they claim to require from the EU negotiations, simply so they can have a "no deal" outcome and bugger off out of it, all just to save their tax free, accumulated dosh in British Virgin Islands Banks from EU fiscal strictures.

The blame shifting game has already started. For example: a Tory list MSP complains the Scottish Minister for Rural Affairs does not have a plan for Scottish Farming post Brexit. He claims it is intolerable for Scottish farmers not to know what will happen to current levels of farming subsidies until just prior to Brexit.

Think about that for a minute.

In the first place the Scottish Minister can not begin to plan until the outcome of the Brexit Bill of the Scottish Parliament at the UK Supreme Court is decided and only then if the court decides in favour of the Scottish Parliamentary bill. A bill being opposed by a Tory Government who sees this bill going forward as a danger to their increasingly sell off public assets, pro-oligarch, fascist policies they wish to enforce on the UK as a whole. The most obvious example of this sell off cheap policy is seen daily in the piece meal sell off of NHS England and the fact, the new Health Minister for England is sponsored as an MP by one of the multinational, private health companies - who he is also is on the UK board of.

If the UK Supreme Court agree to set aside the Brexit Bill of the Scottish Parliament then the reality is the Rural Affairs Minister will have no say on what happens to farming subsidies in Scotland and any subsides will be controlled by Whitehall and focused, as at present, towards Tory Land owners in England.

Proof you say?

Let us start with the £160 million of EU support grant for Scottish Farmers which never has and never will come to Scotland and according to Mr Gove has already been spent elsewhere. I wonder if this particular Tory MSP has written to either "Fluffy" or Gove to ask what happened to his list farming constituents, EU grant support money; me, I doubt it and will not be holding my breath.

I mostly disagree with Micheal Fry's 'let the market decide' economic trope but he has pointed out the Scottish Tory high heid yins still think they can turn the clock back to the 1950's in Scotland and things will be just "tickety-bhoo". To some extent this belief they are "The true Scottish Governance in waiting" explains why they are surprised and upset that their black money, slush fund has been exposed. " Well, for goodness sake, obeying the law is just for the 'oiks' and not the likes of us." remains their position. No wonder they are increasingly frightened of an independent Scotland where their ability to manipulate will be curtailed along with their land holdings, currently held outside the UK Tax system in British Virgin ghost companies and other tax dodging vehicles, being properly rated and taxed.

Clearly 'Rees the Emperor Ming' agrees with the "Lord Snooty" Scottish Grandees opinion on the applications of the Law of England and Scots Law on him and his pals is; they do not apply to him and especially EU fiscal law which would rip his portfolio of tax dodging schemes to shreds. Tough for the plebs, if his plans cause ever increasing poverty among his constituents, they are not rich so do not deserve his sympathy or concern, they are after all just "oiks", folk to be worked into the ground for his benefit. The truly frightening thing is this; he could end up as UK Prime Minister.

It is not surprising that amongst the politically aware and informed in Scotland there is a rising cry to have the referendum sooner than later. Nor is it much of a surprise the Westminster controlled media is doing everything it can to hide the increasing support for Scottish independence with topsy turvy headlines such as 48% of Scots do not want a referendum yet 47% of Scots want independence never saw much light in the aftermath of 2014, did it.

Are we seeing a gradual realisation among the owners of Scotland's "big titles", with the editorial support for the average Scots and SNP's position on Trump, that like it or not Scotland will soon be independent. The Record could just about get away with their leaders, given Scotch Labour's position on Trump but the Scotsman, the Conservatives' pal in Scotland, I find harder to swallow. Unless the Scotsman Editor is getting in some preparation and practise for an imminent take over by Alex Salmond and his backers. Over the weekend BBC News in Scotland stood isolated, trying to pursue the Tory Party line on Trump that the protesters were just embarrassing their country. In psychological terms this is called 'projection' and reflects their own embarrassment at sucking up to Trump and their attempts to hide it.

You know what happens in the bottle song, one by one the bottles crash to the ground until there are none left, that I predict is what is about to happen to the Tory party, just as soon as the 49th blue bottle takes the hint and accidentally falls or maybe she will be pushed - but watch out for all the broken glass in the inevitable fall out.

May's Resignation Blues

Well Ms May's cabinet unity on Brexit lasted long, didn't it.

Even Bojo's giant tin of turd polish could not keep the shine on Ms May's Friday claims of cabinet cohesion for long, 48 hours and then Brexit mangling David Davis falls on his sword, swiftly followed by the Bojo clown, the British Emperor elect "Reese the Mong" sends out his battalion's of Tory fascist monkeys to attack Downing Street while, in Scotland, some second hand, second rate Labour non entity who the Labour NEC does not knows exist, calls for a new general election when his party lags some 15% behind the Tories in England.

I mean; what could possibly go wrong over the next few days?

All is clearly well in the Unionist world, things are just tickety bhoo, aren't they?

Well, maybees aye, maybees naw.

Reuters world are running a piece on Lloyds of London Stock Exchange applying for a license to conduct their European business out of Rotterdam - so there is another few thousand jobs and and few billion pounds exiting the City of London, fairly promptish, to go along with the tens of thousands of "City" jobs already departed these shores for Frankfurt, Dublin and other EU financial hubs.

If all the commercial and stock market banking rats are running from London just where does the Tory wish for the self same sector to be "outside EU regulation" come from?

Clearly international commercial banking and trading sector does not see the need or the benefit, in fact the fiscal sector sees it as a major reason to get out of its UK Dodgy City.

Proto British Emperor "Reese the Mong's" own hedge fund has just taken a license to set up business in Dublin to protect their EU interests, according to the Irish Times.

OK, none of this is being covered by the UK media but that does not mean it is happening.

Now throw in all the pan EU manufacturers who are stating they will pull the plug on their UK operations on Brexit; Airbus, BMW, Nissan, Honda and you have to start asking just why, in a Brexit Britain of low wages and a government policy of "laisse faire" in terms of employee contractual terms and conditions, these firms are not champing at the bit to stay.

To understand this you need to have an idea of these business' supply chain. Honda in Swindon use what is called "Just in time" logistics. This means they do not hold massive stocks of parts as they did of old. In turn this system reduces the costs of operating in a high wage EU zone country. These stocks come "just in time" from across Europe from other Honda sub assembly plants and sub contractors within the EU zone, mostly through Dover. Now throw in the delay factor at Dover, even three hours, and the cost to UK Honda of covering that with extra stock. An operation which was profitable for Honda becomes borderline even before you start on the increased costs to Honda of exporting their product and the cost penalties being outside the EU and its trade agreements create.

Going the other way the delays will be even greater for all UK based exporters whether it is Scottish shellfish, cheese manufacturers or woollen products, potentially we are talking over a day stuck at any port clearing EU customs. Not a big deal for Harris Tweed but fatal to the transportation of live shellfish but not including the increased transportation costs of a lorry sitting still, going nowhere to the exporters.

This is supposedly good for the UK, a new deal, better than we have right now?

Given how dysfunctional the Westminster Parliament has now become, with Labour hiding under their seats and the Tory Party devouring itself, it beggars belief the present solution to Scotland being dragged out of the EU against the will of the sovereign people of Scotland is to continue to sit on our collective hands. I have been very patient so far with respect to calling for an independence referendum but given today's events within the UK Government, my patience is now on a very short leash.

Westminster and its system of government is in melt down, surely the time to strike is now.