BY EFFIE DEANS Nicola Sturgeon thinks that If Scots could have predicted what would happen after 2014, we would have voted for independence. In that case we would indeed have been wealthier, happier and fairer, but not for the reason she thinks. We could have bought Bitcoin when each one cost less than a pound. We could have predicted the winner of the Derby and … Continue reading O Brave New Scotland
BY CAPTAIN ED SWALES The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act was passed in 2002 and whilst the title of this legislation sounds admirable enough, in fact its real aim was to do nothing other than ban hunting with dogs. At least this time around in the Scottish Government’s ‘salami slicing’ process of eroding our civil and rural liberties quietly and over a period of … Continue reading Hunting With Dogs (Scotland) Bill
BY EFFIE DEANS It is expected that soon Nicola Sturgeon will announce her latest attempt to have a second independence referendum. Lots will be written about this, but it is not the most important issue facing Scotland. The most important issue is demographics, but almost nothing will be written about that. Alastair Allan SNP MSP for the Western Isles has admitted the importance of demographics. … Continue reading Voting with Our Feet
BY EFFIE DEANS If there were a Scottish independence referendum tomorrow who would win? I genuinely have no idea. I don’t think anyone does. You might as well toss a coin. But let’s ask a different question. If you asked 1000 Scottish nationalists who would win an independence referendum, 999 or more would answer that their side would win. If you asked 1000 Pro UK … Continue reading Nationalists’ Misplaced Confidence
BY EFFIE DEANS Why are there so many tales of corruption and scandal involving Scottish nationalists? Former SNP MP Natalie McGarry has just been convicted of embezzlement and will most likely be jailed. It is a sad story and each of us ought to regret the disgrace and ruin that this individual faces. She could have had a long career as an MP, instead it … Continue reading SNP Corruption Comes from the Top
BY EFFIE DEANS Any measure that could conceivably be made to limit illegal immigration would be condemned by various people on the Left as godless or evil. Sending migrants to Rwanda has Ian Blackford, Nicola Sturgeon and various Scottish nationalist commentators tutting about wicked Tories showing once more why virtuous Scotland has to leave the UK. But so too would doing anything else. It might … Continue reading The SNP Rwanda Hypocrisy
BY EFFIE DEANS The war between Russia and Ukraine is essentially about different forms of nationalism. It is for this reason that it is relevant to Scotland. This is why the SNP is trying to create a narrative which it hopes will be helpful to its goal. After all Ukraine is the result of a successful secession movement. But it is also the victim of … Continue reading What Ukraine Teaches Us About Scottish & Irish Nationalism
BY EFFIE DEANS There is a moment in the Godfather when Vito Corleone tells his rather dense son Sonny “Never tell anybody outside the family what you’re thinking again.” He was right. The fact that Sonny revealed his opinion leads directly to an assassination attempt on Don Corleone and indirectly to Sonny’s death. I was reminded of this when Nicola Sturgeon chose to reveal her … Continue reading Having a Mayor
BY ROGER WATSON I was born in rural Scotland where people from the next village, about three miles away, were considered foreigners. The Black gangstas of South London had nothing on our territoriality. In North East Scotland, anyone from a smaller town was referred to as a ‘teuchter’. Thus, people from Aberdeen referred to us as teuchters and we—who lived in Banchory—referred in turn to … Continue reading At Last, I Found the Courage to Come Out!
BY EFFIE DEANS Scottish nationalism depends on the idea that nothing much would change if Scotland left the UK. It would merely involve Scottish MPs ceasing to sit on green benches in Westminster, instead of which they would go to Holyrood. Instead of being First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon would be Prime Minster, perhaps President or even Tsarina of all the Scotlands. We would no longer … Continue reading Leaving Шотландия (Scotland) Defenceless
BY EFFIE DEANS What is the greatest strategic threat facing the UK? Is it the next letter of the Greek alphabet Π [Pi] giving us a new more deadly variant of Covid? Well assuming that Π doesn’t offend the Chinese masters of the World Health Organisation like Ξ [Xi] did, it would still be no threat to the UK. An illness would have to be … Continue reading The SNP Variant
BY EFFIE DEANS When I read that Nicola Sturgeon wants to chop off the bottom of all the classroom doors in Scotland to increase ventilation my first thought was why don’t they open the windows instead? Decades from now as people wander through Scottish schools with doors like no others in the world, they might be curious about the phenomenon of the Scottish door. It … Continue reading Cutting off the Branch on Which She Sits
BY EFFIE DEANS The next General Election could be as far away as May 2nd 2024. We have all assumed that it would be sooner, but that was before the collapse in support for the Conservatives. Two and a half years ago we knew nothing about the pandemic, but instead were stuck in a Brexit stalemate with talk of a “people’s vote” and the prospect … Continue reading Will Scots Tire of Obeying Her?
BY EFFIE DEANS There is a difference between how we judge the taste of carrots and how we judge the effectiveness of face masks, the likelihood of Covid spreading and the performance of the economy. The statement “carrots taste great” can be both true if I say it and false if you say it. It is a matter of taste. It is subjective. But there … Continue reading Scottish Nationalism is not Truth
BY EFFIE DEANS What’s the real level of support for Scottish independence? We don’t know. What’s the real level of support for Scottish separation? This might be a different number, but we still don’t know it. What’s the real level of support for Scotland leaving the UK rather than remaining in the UK? This would probably be a different number again. But we have no … Continue reading Elusive Numbers
BY EFFIE DEANS And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Sturgeon’s wonder when she first picked out the green light at the end of Covid’s dock. Her popularity was rising as the disease spread throughout Scotland. But we at least had a deliverer who could save us all from this sickness. We could be comforted by her daily … Continue reading The Great Sturgeon
BY EFFIE DEANS Nicola Sturgeon thinks time is on her side. Every year the SNP’s control of education pumps out mini nationalists who have grown up since primary school with tartan theme days and the impression that the First World War was fought only by Scottish regiments. Meanwhile the Nat reaper sweeps through the care homes cleansing Scotland of its No voters. Every day Nicola … Continue reading Time is Running Out for Sturgeon
BY IAN MITCHELL Sad and tragic as the murder of a good man always is—and Sir David Amess seems to have been an exceptionally good and likeable man—Scotland can congratulate itself on the fact that such an atrocity is unlikely to happen here. Under the iron heel of Ms Sturgeon, most MSPs have largely stopped giving surgeries as far as I can see. At least, … Continue reading Pit & Gallows
BY EFFIE DEANS I used to write something on the anniversary of the independence referendum as a sort of parody of Scott’s “Waverley; or, ‘tis sixty years since”. Indyref; or, ‘tis seven years since. The idea was to compare grieving Jacobites toasting their lost cause and their king oer the water with the Scottish nationalists celebrating the fact that they got 45 (actually 44.7) and … Continue reading Tis Seven Years Since
BY EFFIE DEANS Until relatively recently the UK Government was planning similar changes to the Gender Recognition Act that are now being proposed by the SNP. But after listening to the concerns of women it decided to reverse course. At present it is necessary to obtain a medical diagnosis and to wait at least two years before being allowed to legally change gender. That situation … Continue reading Shame on You
