🧵It's broadly true that people who are, or have been, LEGAL immigrants RESENT illegal immigrants. Anyone who comes to the UK illegally should be deported (the clue is in the word illegal). By contrast, here's our experience of immigration in Japan and the US... We lived in Japan for 18 years. It is EXTREMELY difficult to get Japanese citizenship, and even permanent residence is a major challenge, which includes a language test. We stayed the whole time on a WORKING VISA, that could have been revoked at any time.

Check out @WingsScotland's DELUSIONAL UDI plan: How much MAGICAL THINKING can you find in these two paragraphs? 1. 'Should a vote of 50%+1 ever be achieved...' This completely arbitrary target is based on those who vote, not on the total electorate. So, if the turnout is 50% and they get 50%+1 of this, then Wings would 'declare independence' based on 25% of Scottish voters? No chance.

Ipsos POLL SCANDAL DEEPENS: Page 39 tables show that (Base: All, weighted results, excluding those who didn't vote) 479/(1065-157) = 52.8% of respondents voted YES in 2014. The actual percentage was 44.7%, a difference of 8.1 percentage points. @benatipsos @KellyIpsosUK 1/13 In the Likely to Vote results page (pg. 42, weighted results, excluding those who didn't vote) we get 451/(924-98) = 54.6% of respondents voted YES, a difference of 9.9 percentage points. 2/13

Hi @benatipsos! No reply from @KellyIpsosUK, so perhaps you could enlighten us on the AMAZING COINCIDENCE that Ipsos Mori's polls on Scottish Independence are higher than any other pollster AND are the only ones that have EVER shown greater than 50% for YES. Why is that, Ben? And we still haven't had a reply from @EmilyIpsosScot about why this apparent Code of Conduct breach ON THE SAME POLL happened. We, and 55,000 of our folowers, would appreciate an answer.

The Times, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that comments on its website will no longer be allowed to be anonymous. Which means that anyone commenting on Scottish nationalism will now be a target. Thanks Tony Gallacher and @EmmaTuckerST! It should also be noted that you have to be a paying subscriber to leave comments on The Times website. So, we're paying for anonymity to be taken away AND for the potential to be abused offline. Great customer service!

In no particular order: A Guide To Scottish Politics for journalists...
1. Nicola Sturgeon is not a world leader. She's the leader of a devolved administration.
2. Nicola Sturgeon has no influence on UK reserved matters, such as UK economic policy. Stop asking her about it. 3. The Scottish National Party are nationalists. Before you put pen to paper, think about how you'd write about English Nationalists that want to break up the UK. Or Serbian nationalists. Or Russian nationalists. Not so cuddly now.

You think Sturgeon saying she 'detests Tories' was a slip up or a revealing mistake? No, it's all part of her CYNICAL PLAN to make the SNP appear more ANTI-TORY than Labour. 1/14 With no chance of a referendum, Sturgeon is SCARED that her core anti-Tory vote is going to go to a resurgent Labour, which, as of this moment, actually has a chance to get the Tories out of power in Westminster (and to gain seats in Scotland). 2/14

Nicola Sturgeon is not only exceeding the powers given to her by Scots in The Scotland Act, she's now trying to SUBVERT the democratic process by FORCING Scots to treat the next General Election as a referendum. She's ANTI-DEMOCRATIC to the core. 1/9 #BoycottThePretendyRef Regarding a 'plebiscite' or proxy referendum: Do we really want the situation where pro-UK Scottish voters feel they might have to boycott the General Election? 2/9

STURGEON'S CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SCAM: Sturgeon said that Dorothy Bain, The Lord Advocate, will ask the Supreme Court whether her proposed referendum would be legal. But that's not how the process works. The Supreme Court isn't a place where you go for legal advice. 1/5 The Supreme Court, like any court, doesn't deal in hypotheticals. Martin 'Claim of Right' Keatings asked the Court of Session whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to hold an independence referendum without requiring the consent of the UK Government. 2/5

Using an election as a referendum, a so-called 'plebicite election' is completely unenforceable. The SNP already has 44 of 59 Scottish MPs in Westminster and can do nothing. A Unilateral Declaration of Independence is a non-starter, after a free and fair referendum. 1/4 It's also a perversion of democracy. Elections are NOT referendums. The purpose of the General Election is to determine who forms the UK government, not to act as a proxy referendum for breaking up the UK. 2/4

Jeez, Claim of Right already Levers!

THE BIG LIST OF NATIONALIST MYTHS...
Scotland subsides the UK - FALSE
It's Scotland's oil - FALSE
Scotland found oil, became poorer - FALSE
Secret oil fields! - FALSE
Scots will be wealthier after indy - FALSE
Scotland has no deficit - FALSE
Scotland cannot borrow - FALSE 1/10 Scotland pays for HS2 - FALSE
Scotland pays for Crossrail - FALSE
Scots Whisky Tax is counted in England - FALSE
GERS is made up by Westminster - FALSE
GERS isn't accurate - FALSE
UK would still pay pensions - FALSE
UK has developed world's worst pensions - FALSE
2/10

What do Nationalists mean when they say they should get a second referendum because Brexit is a 'material change'? It means NOTHING, because UK constitutional law doesn't include conditions. Nicola Sturgeon made it up. It's self-serving BS. 1/4 gov.scot/publications/s… There is no law, convention or guidance that has ever said that nationalists could get a second chance due to Brexit or any other circumstance. The Scotland Act is clear: constitutional referendums are reserved to the UK Parliament IN ALL CONDITIONS. 2/4

A thread of extracts from Wings Over Scotland's suicide note... 1/19 'There is no "independence movement" any more, just an independence industry. It provides a very lucrative living for perhaps a couple of hundred people – SNP MPs, MSPs, party staff and apparatchiks...' 2/19

NEW: The National prints a sickening letter accusing @thecoastguy of being an 'anti-Scot'. Why is Newsquest funding this disgusting blood-and-soil Nationalism? RETWEET if you think this is NOT ACCEPTABLE. @FaureWalker @TheHeraldEditor @Gannett archive.is/O8XFh Imagine funding a platform for these views. Vile. Absolutely vile. Shame on you all. @FaureWalker @TheHeraldEditor @Gannett

IPSO PRESS COMPLAINT UPHELD: The National newspaper FABRICATED TWEETS and BREACHED THE EDITORS' CODE in a video called 'Indy Myths 3' 1/15 The video featured @LesleyRiddoch (again), journalist Pat Kane (@thoughtland), Drag Queen Lady Rampant (@LADYRAMPANT), @MairiMcAllan MSP and Professor @RichardJMurphy reading and responding to the fake tweets. thenational.scot/news/19240758.… 2/15

Why do Nationalists like Janey Godley and IRA terrorist supporter Amanda Brown think they can get away with weak and insincere apologies? 1/11 Firstly, when you apologise, you need to do it to the people you have hurt, not to your fans. Godley apologised to her adoring fans for her offensive tweets, but still has not apologised to people like me, who were victims of her online bullying. 2/11 themajority.scot/2021/09/08/whe…

The greatest trick Nationalists have pulled is to fool Scots that they are progressive and for social justice. 1/ Rhiannon Spear, Ruth Wishart, Bella Caledonia, Patrick Harvie and other Nationalists are simply anti-English bigots masquerading as bold progressives. 2/

Apparently, if you read the Telegraph or are a Tory, you won't be allowed into Wishart's Scotland. #UglyNationalism

https://twitter.com/ruth_wishart/status/1398913746777612288

What a sad place Scotland has become under these losers. When are we going to stop treating this as a joke and banish these bigots from normal society?

The woeful performance of the opposition in the 2021 election, and the Scottish Tories in particular, can be condensed into a single theme: They always fight the SNP on the SNP’s terms... 1/10 They call you a branch office: So you don’t deploy UK resources. You don't mention UK successes. In fact, you criticise the UK party. They win. 2/10

Alex Salmond's Alba party highlights that the only way to win in May is to vote for different parties on the constituencies and on the lists. Salmond's plan would result in a huge Separatist majority. So what can we do about it...? On our side, if ordinary people are prepared to vote tactically to get rid of the SNP, why aren't the parties that are supposed to represent them not doing it? @DouglasRoss @AnasSarwar @WillieRennie need to STAND DOWN candidates that cannot win.