It's natural with Sturgeon's milestone this week to think back on the past decade in Scotland.
I've been looking back at my own archive of memes & visualisations from over the years- and it's a sorry tale of a region gripped by stagnation and waste.
Short thread...🧵
August 2014. Just after the first debate between Darling and Salmond (- Just before the panicked YES campaign weaponised the fully devolved NHS.)
Look at the options & issues: How far we've failed to come any closer to clarity on currency!
This was only a year or two after the No vote; with agitation already beginning for #indyref2
As the SNP were forced, in negotiations and limited refreshing of the case, to let slip time after time that the claims of the NO campaign, of #BetterTogether were in fact correct...
If 2014 case for indy had been honest and credible, the SNP wouldn't need to rely on the grievance of brexit, they could have just published "where we'd be now if we'd voted yes".
Impossible for them, because their own figures issue a damning verdict on their own predictions
This front page from 6 yrs ago could be printed again tomorrow with no changes. In fact it might be!
An Anglophobic tax exile Nationalist celeb, a flag waving nationalist launching a new referendum push for summer, and is that a political obsession with gender & sex in schools?
This pastiche of Sturgeon's opportunistic posturing turns her arguments back on her by showing how a stronger case is made for the UK, even with Brexit. If anything point 4 has been made stronger.
As I look back at these, some I'm just dumbfounded how Scotland has stagnated under Sturgeon.
I get some like the appeal of independence, but it's time to accept, the SNP are not going to provide credible answers. I'm not sure they are even trying to.
How long has Scotland been British?
A look across over 2,000 years of history referencing archaeology, etymology, place names and historical records to address this question...
National identities are, by their nature, often politicised but in an era where some claim they are #ScottishNotBritish there is a case for a historical examination...
The very word 'British' comes from the Brythonic term 'Pritani' or painted / tattooed people, and was described the tribes in Scotland who had been here from around 800BC
1) if Scotland did become independent I would want it to be in the EU, I just a) don't think that's feasible and b) it doesn't offset damage of leaving UK
Many times when I point out the process and problems of EU membership, and someone realised they can't wish away issues (like keeping the pound and closing Chapter 17) they just dismiss it with "we'll just join EFTA in the meantime"
First: even if that was a trade equivalent of low tarrif EU membership it might be the least of bad options but it's still much worse than the status quo for trade
@LADYRAMPANT you claim "of course Scotland could be in the EU" and to have a master's in EU law; I'm hoping you can clarify some points?
Nicola Sturgeon claims we can keep the pound ( pegged or Sterlingised) and join the EU.
How could we close chapter 17 of the Acquis on Monetary Policy without Governance of Monetary policies such as quantitative easing and interest rates?
Can you outline if, when and how we would meet the Copenhagen Criteria for EU membership application?
Hi @MairiMcAllan got your leaflet and I have some questions...
1. You show an EU flag; can you confirm or deny that the SNP have a feasibility study into how long it would take an independent Scotland to join, and it makes a direct comparison to Montenegro (19 years)
2. You say "once the pandemic is behind us... ...from Boris Johnson"
So logically - if, by the time the pandemic is fully gone, Boris is no longer PM, then you will withdraw the threat of a referendum?
3. You claim we reject Nuclear Weapons - can you confirm you want an independent Scotland to be a Denmark style NATO member- allowing all NATO nuclear armed ships including rUK subs full and free access to all Scottish ports and waters?
This is a lengthy, but very worthwhile article. It's as relevant to the UK including Scotland as well as the USA.
You can listen to it as well. I recommend it.