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 There is a tower near where I live. It was built in honour of some now forgotten landowner. The tower itself is almost forgotten and must attract few if any visitors. Yet when I turned up for the first time in many years, I discovered that it was locked by a chain and padlock. At the beginning of the pandemic, I imagine … Continue reading The Bin Elections
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 IAN MITCHELL Kamila Valieva and Vladimir Putin – the link between ice-dancing and killing. Here are three apparently unrelated questions which are connected and explained by a simple story: First, why Kamila Valieva (the teenage Russian ice-skater who has been in the news at the Beijing Winter Olympics) was given performance-enhancing drugs, probably without her knowledge? Secondly, why her coach treated her with such … Continue reading Valieva & Vladimir
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 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 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
BY EFFIE DEANS The Scottish Greens will not save the world, though if given the chance they might wreck Scotland. The deal they have made with the SNP changes nothing whatsoever. It was unnecessary for Sturgeon to form a coalition with the Greens, because she knows that they always vote with the SNP anyway. We are no closer to a second independence referendum because Sturgeon … Continue reading Sickly Shade of Yellow
BY EFFIE DEANS What’s the worst thing the SNP could do to you personally? Many Pro UK people would assume that it would be if Sturgeon achieved her goal of Scottish independence. But this is not true. Whatever we might think about the economic consequences of the breakup of the UK these would not necessarily affect us personally. We would still have choices. We could … Continue reading The Worst Thing the SNP Can Do to You
BY EFFIE DEANS About a year ago I described a trip to the Highlands and my difficulties with Gaelic road signs. Faced with a roundabout with multiple place names in a language I could neither understand nor pronounce I unjustly blamed my getting lost on the signs rather than on my own poor ability at navigation. I received some sympathetic responses from other road users, … Continue reading Gaelic Road Signs: Atonement
BY EFFIE DEANS I have been writing less since the Scottish Parliament election. The mood has changed. It is partly because it is summer. I have been more interested in using the sunshine to travel around Scotland than write about Scottish politics. But it’s not just me. Both sides of the constitutional divide spent the year or so before the election building up to the … Continue reading Summer Stasis
BY EFFIE DEANS An acquaintance of mine called John Bull moved to Scotland as a student from Bulford in Wiltshire. He loved Scotland so much he decided to stay. He met a Scottish woman and because she was an SNP supporter, he began to move in Scottish nationalist circles. He campaigned for Scottish independence in 2014 and has voted SNP since. Like many English people … Continue reading Scots’ Anglophobia Stirred by SNP
BY EFFIE DEANS A woman studying at Abertay University has been disciplined for saying that women were born with female genitals and that it was a fact that women were generally less strong than men. This means that she has been disciplined for telling the truth. It would be interesting to find out about the political views of those who complained and those who judged … Continue reading Punished For Truth Telling
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 IAN MITCHELL As a responsible democrat I thought, when this election was called, that I would write to the candidates to ask them a few questions before deciding how to vote. We had no hustings this time, even in Campbeltown, and our MSP has not visited the town for ages. So election time seems to be the only opportunity to enter into dialogue with … Continue reading Hustings by Email in Scotland
BY NIGEL BEAN & PAUL READ Attempts by the animal rights extremists and their supporters in both the Scottish Parliament and Police force to secure a hunting prosecution ahead of the Scottish elections – to be used for propaganda purposes – ended in dismal failure on Thursday 29th April. The Scottish Greens’ manifesto commitment is to ban pest controlling with packs of dogs, driven grouse … Continue reading Huntsman Lee Peters Show Trial Fail
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 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
