BY EFFIE DEANS I have no interest in going abroad so long as I might have to follow Covid regulations in a language I understand poorly if at all. I don’t see the point in going to a Spanish café while I have to wear a face mask. I don’t want to have to find whoever might give me a Covid test before I fly … Continue reading Dependent Independence
BY EFFIE DEANS I haven’t been writing much about the Scottish Parliament election lately. This is for a number of reasons. I am not very interested in election campaigning. I’m better at political argument. I have minimal interest in the peculiarities of the electoral system where we have one vote for the constituency and one vote for the list. It strikes me as overly complex … Continue reading How to Beat the SNP on Thursday
BY EFFIE DEANS It’s 2025 and I’m about to begin my latest journey to Berwick upon Tweed. Every month or so since independence I’ve had to get up early so that I can get to a giant hypermarket that has been built just over the border. But it would be unfair to suggest that the hard border between England and Scotland has only created jobs … Continue reading The Boon of Independence
BY EFFIE DEANS Since coming to power, the SNP have been continually giving us free things. We got free prescriptions, then free university tuition. Now the SNP is promising us a four-day week, a universal basic income whether we work or not and even free bicycles. But these things that are free in Scotland are not free in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland. Perhaps this … Continue reading The SNP’s False Promises
BY EFFIE DEANS Alex Salmond apparently wants the Scottish Government to begin immediate negotiations for independence with the British Government if his Alba Party helps Scottish nationalists to gain a super majority. It would be amusing if Boris Johnson replied, there’s no need for negotiations you can have your independence immediately starting today. The conditions for separation could be remarkably simple. Scotland would receive a … Continue reading An IMF-Run Scotland?
BY EFFIE DEANS During an election campaign, the last thing the SNP wants to talk about is independence. The core SNP vote is obsessed with this and it is the primary motivation for these voters to choose the SNP. These people will overlook the SNP’s performance in Government. Indeed, they don’t appear to care if the SNP rules well or poorly. If only the SNP … Continue reading The Deteriorating SNP Argument
BY EFFIE DEANS In theory Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party is good news for independence supporters. Let’s assume that support for independence is 45%. Well if the SNP wins 45% of the vote in the constituency seats, it will win nearly all of them. But this means that it will win few if any list seats, because the number of constituencies you win is part … Continue reading Alba
BY EFFIE DEANS In Scotland there are a group of people who want Scotland to be an independent country. But who are they and why do they want this? They are frequently supporters of the SNP though some also support the Scottish Greens or other less well-known parties. Some don’t support any party but have decided that they would vote for Scottish independence at any future … Continue reading Not More Scottish Than Me
BY EFFIE DEANS Nicola Sturgeon compared the legal case which the Scottish Government lost to Alex Salmond paying him more than half a million, with the case about minimum unit pricing for alcohol. She said that in every such case there is negative legal advice and if a Government ceased every case whenever a lawyer suggested it might lose it would never be able to … Continue reading Teflon Nicola?
BY EFFIE DEANS Nicola Sturgeon thinks that Alex Salmond is a fantasist living in an alternative reality. It was his behaviour towards women that led to his going to court rather than a conspiracy orchestrated by her. She thinks there is no evidence whatsoever that she did anything wrong. It is quite clear that she believes that Salmond is a liar lucky to be acquitted as … Continue reading Resign, Sturgeon
BY EFFIE DEANS We don’t know when the next Scottish Parliament Election will be. It might be in May as scheduled or it might be delayed. Polls suggest that the SNP will win an overall majority. Each of us gets two votes for the Scottish Parliament. The first is for 73 constituencies elected by First Past the Post. The second is for 8 regions elected … Continue reading All for Unity
BY EFFIE DEANS I talked to someone who lives in England the other day who wanted to know about the latest developments in Scottish politics. I mentioned the scandal surrounding the Alex Salmond Inquiry and the possibility that Nicola Sturgeon was involved in a conspiracy against Mr Salmond. This was the first time my friend had heard anything about it. Sturgeon remains popular in Scotland … Continue reading Sturgeon Surrounded
BY EFFIE DEANS The latest developments in the Alex Salmond Scandal remind me of the famous David Low cartoon Rendezvous from 1939. Just like then it is tempting to hope that both sides lose. Just like then it is impossible to trust what either side says. On the one side we have Nicola Sturgeon, her husband Peter Murrell and probably still the majority of SNP … Continue reading SNP V SNP
BY EFFIE DEANS If it turns out to be true that the Scottish Government paid £55,000 pounds to coach civil servants before they gave testimony to the Salmond Inquiry and if it also turns out to be true that these same civil servants met each other prior to testifying, then it will be impossible to avoid the conclusion that the whole system of Government in … Continue reading And Nothing but the Truth
BY EFFIE DEANS My initial reaction to Alex Salmond’s revelations was to be underwhelmed. The rather long, boring legalistic text that he intends to submit to the Inquiry has nothing juicy. We don’t find out that Nicola Sturgeon knew about Alex Salmond’s behaviour in 2014. We don’t find out that she has been leading a rather scandalous double life. We don’t find out that she … Continue reading Salmond V Sturgeon
