JO LAMONTS BIG DAY OOT PART 3. Independence referendum: Legendary political commentator Tom Brown explains why he fears for his family's future should Scotland vote Yes. OF THE hundreds of thousands of words I have written about politics, these are the most crucial: I fear for my family, my friends and my country.
If independence happens, my grandchildren will become outsiders and friends over decades will become foreigners. To me and many with cross-border connections that is unthinkable. When the needless folly of a referendum was announced, I decided to stay out of it. Let the kneejerk nationalists have their fling; sensible Scots will see us right.
As the mind-numbing, name-calling campaign has dragged on, I was glad to be spared the boredom and exasperation of covering and commenting on it. Of all political events I have recorded – general elections, party conferences, domestic and international disputes, industrial rundown, destruction of trade unions, nuclear arms, devolution – this so-called debate is the most mediocre, tedious and certainly the nastiest. BBC Scotland has hit a new low and become Banal Broadcasting for Cretins. Daily Record. Smear ‘em young. At the weekend, hundreds of people (estimates of the actual number, as is traditional, varied wildly according to who was counting) protested against BBC bias at the state broadcaster’s Pacific Quay headquarters in Glasgow.
There was a very great amount of sneering on social media among No campaigners and journalists at the peaceful, good-natured gathering, for such is the character of No campaigners and journalists. The Kings Of The South. Why Ed Miliband is Alex Salmond's biggest foe in the fight for Scottish independence. After the UK cabinet's recent foray to Aberdeen, Alex Salmond will enter the belly of the Westminster beast today.
The Scottish First Minister will deliver the New Statesman lecture (sold out) on "Scotland's Future in Scotland's Hands" at 6:30pm. In the address, which is trailed in today's papers, he will urge the English centre-left to embrace Scottish independence as a "progressive" cause. As he said when the lecture was announced, he believes an independent Scotland would act as "a progressive beacon and a powerful economic counterweight to the pull of London", helping to "rebalance the social and economic structure across these islands which has seen the UK become one of the most unequal societies in the developed world".
Scotland: Foolish ‘No’ campaign is morphing into the ‘Nasty’ campaign. 15 Mar 2014 March 15, 2014 Theresa May, The UK Home Secretary, has said that a ‘Yes’ vote in the Scottish referendum would see the UK government putting up passport and immigration controls at the border.
Really? Rather than accept a common travel area, as exists with Ireland, the UK government would instigate full international border arrangements – arrangements which exist nowhere else in Europe – on the UK mainland? Scottish independence: Leading academic explains why he would rather risk independence than see his party lurch to the right. DAVID Donnison, Glasgow University's professor emeritus in Urban Studies and member of the Labour Party for 67 years, says he is worried that his party is too concerned with attracting middle England votes.
IN politics as in religion, honest doubt is often more interesting than dogmatic certainty. Labour MP calls for independence supporters to be barred from debates. General Thursday, 23 January 2014 22:25.
Scotland's Labour traditions are the real battleground for the yes vote. This week's Scottish Social Attitudes survey shows a strong correlation between support for independence and social class.
Some 40% of households earning under £14,300 are likely to vote yes, while wealthy Scots are resolutely hostile, and 72% of business leaders are hostile to independence. Contrary to the views of many Labour supporters and liberals, the referendum is not about blood and soil separatism. It reflects longstanding societal divisions about the British state's direction. These trends began before the poll tax, before Thatcher consigned Scottish industries to oblivion. For decades, the poorest voters, those most dependent on government aid, have seen constitutional change as a better guarantee of living standards than a Labour vote. In Westminster elections, working class voters are drilled by fear of Tory rule. ‘Cybernat’ is a Loser’s Word. Today’s (Glasgow) Herald has a story about ‘cybernats’ posting rude messages on social media about Olympic champion cyclist Sir Chris Hoy’s opposition to Scottish independence.
For the uninitiated, ‘cybernat’ is the term used in Scottish politics to refer, ostensibly, to slightly mad old-school nationalists who post vile, personalised attacks on their political opponents. Some politicos in Scotland don’t seem to understand, though, that this attack doesn’t really work as a political device as it seeks to apply a pejorative to the SNP when everyone knows it can be applied to some supporters of all political parties. Vote No, close Holyrood. Projectfearprojectsmear. A huge thank you to everyone who donated or shared our fundraiser.
We managed to raise over £2000 more than our target. All funds will go towards promoting the Labour case for independence. Thank you again. Henry McLeish: Unionists sunk by a perfect storm? - News. The rise of the political right south of the Border coupled with complacency among the unionist parties may sink the Better Together campaign, warns Henry McLeish.
Michael Kelly: McLeish outburst lacks impact - News. THE former first minister lacks the political clout for his attack on the Better Together campaign to carry much weight, writes Michael Kelly. Labouring a point. The long campaign to 2014 is negative, acrimonious, partisan and uninspiring. Humanisthothersall1.jpg (JPEG Image, 2092 × 860 pixels) Labour’s Parliamentary Malfunction. At the Durham Miners’ Rally Len McLusky said the Labour leadership has ‘become adrift from ordinary people and has failed to offer an alternative to austerity’.
Bob Crow echoed this, characterising Miliband’s reforms as an attempt to ‘hack away at the last remaining shreds of influence held by those who created the party’. The union leaders say Labour is constrained because, in order to achieve middle class votes, its leadership are willing to erode its commitment and connections to working people. The price is labour solidarity, the key to an effective social and political movement. Bob Crow’s solution is a new party; but Labour is, in spite of everything, the party of working people, with the people, history, infrastructure and above all loyalty to win power and use it successfully. Labour for Independence. A huge thank you to everyone who donated or shared our fundraiser. We managed to raise over £2000 more than our target. All funds will go towards promoting the Labour case for independence. Thank you again. Dennis Canavan says Scots independence would mean new lease of life for former party.
DENNIS CANAVAN said that a Yes vote in 2014 would see Labour swing radically to the left. Scottish Independence. This is the speech delivered by the Prime Minister in Edinburgh on 16 February 2012. PRIME MINISTER Good afternoon everyone and thank you very much for coming. Scottish independence would damage 'soul of our nation' says Ed Miliband. Kevin McKenna: I wrote a piece on Scottish independence and hit 'send'. Then the floodgates opened. Labour For Independence? Essay for The Scotsman - Thoughtland. This is an essay the Scotsman commissioned me to do on the crazy-maybe-not-so crazy idea of a “Labour for Independence” campaign at the coming Independence Referendum in 2014.
A bit of miscommunication meant that I originally wrote a much longer piece than has eventually appeared - the unedited version runs below, the edited version is here. I also received some excellent pre-publication responses from political commentator Gerry Hassan, and a new voice to Thoughtland - Cailean Gallagher, the young editor of the Oxford Left Review, who is (as far as I know) the only “out” Labour party member supporting independence. These are printed below the main piece. Just a normal weekend of campaigning. Except not quite… Should disagreement between parties prevent their activists from uniting to campaign for a common cause? Labour voters: Help wanted. Labour rebrands: new logo and slogan.
Now here is a Labour politician that was worth listening to. Mustn't grumble: Ed Miliband on Englishness. Asked by presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy what he would say if asked by somebody abroad what country he was from Ed Miliband said: "I think I’d say Britain…my first top of mind answer would be Britain…but I consider myself English as well" Elaborating on his initial answer, he said "I think I’m English because I was born in London, I lived in Leeds, I represent Doncaster as a member of parliament and… I feel there are certain English qualities. Ed Miliband's Englishness speech in full. - The Scottish Labour Party. Labour Hame. Poor wee Scotland. The Unionist parties aren’t completely stupid.