Golf Tango Foxtrot

Ruth Davidson has gone as Tory leader in Scotland.  The shower of has-beens, never was-es and non-entities (Fraser, Tomkins and Carlaw respectively) who seek to replace her are casting about to see where the land lies.  The Westminster shit-storm over a Brexit that Scotland rejected and the fear of an early General Election which will wipe out the Tory party in Scotland (again ) has been vexing them sorely.  We can expect the idea of a "separate" Tory Party for Scotland which is not just a branch office will rise again from the grave where someone forgot to drive a stake through its heart.  A bit like Gordon Brown's "vow" this one gets trotted out as a "new" idea whenever it looks like the Jocks are getting restless. What form might such a party take? A clue comes from the shameless pandering of Fraser and Tomkins to the Orange vote.   Before the Labour Party won the working class Orange vote in Scotland in the 1950s Scottish municipal politics...

Karl Marx famously observed that history repeats itself. The first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. The coronation of Boris Johnson as the Westminster Prime Minister, brings Karl's quip to mind.  Listening to this corrupt, practised liar, bought and sold by whichever plutocrat has his ear this week makes one want to throw up. Simply to hear Johnson self-consciously ape the speech patterns of his idol Winston Churchill brings the realisation that this is the farce.  The dog returning to his vomit. The recycling of the bombast that characterised Winston Churchill and his brandy-soaked cigar-chomping reactionary politics. Policy that promised the world to his listeners and ultimately (by the most delicious of ironies) delivered the demise of his beloved empire. The members of a party which hasn't had a majority in Scottish seats at Westminster for more than 60 years have inflicted on us the most right-wing cabinet that has been seen in living memory. The smirk...

Here ah sit, masell alane, washed up an failin wi fadit memories ae a life thit his bin full ae hope. "If we dinna live in hope wull dee in despair". Its warm oot though.  The air is fullae blossom and scents ae thi flooers i the gairdens.  Thi first time ah passed by this foontain years ago ah met a refugee fella wha wis livin rough here in the Larribal Gairdins.   He was haein a morning wash. Wi passed the time ae day in a sortae English, sortae French sortae Catalan wye is thi nearest spik wi hid thi githir.  Ah gied im a couplae Euros.  He looked like he cid yais thim. Back up thi hull ahint is is the Miro Foundation.  It still his Alexander Calder's Mercury Fountain.  A wee bit ae Scottish art in this finest ae cities. Ah widna tak a wash in it though.. The toon itsell lies alow mi. Ahm nae quite king ae aw I survey.  Truly ah dinna own a handful ae this hale earth. Its stull thi foreneen. Ah cin see Tibidabo awa ower on thi ...

. ..update on my last post.. Theresa May, yet again, makes a "statement" which says nothing...

Theresa May's Government is once more sucking up to the bigots of the "Democratic Unionist Party".  There will be a third attempt to pass the meaningless "Meaningful Vote" to get her Withdrawal Agreement over the line. Despite (or rather because of) Chancellor Phillip Hammond's denial everybody knows there will be another bung to keep the DUP onside.  They will demand (and get) a seat at the table to negotiate the post-brexit trade deal with the EU. A seat that has already been denied to the Scottish Government. No-one in Scotland (or the EU for that matter) can have any faith in the bona fides of British negotiators and their government. Devoid of any principle other than clinging on to government at (literally) any price. A byword for dishonesty and bad faith. Liars, Cheats, Thieves and self-promoters every one. That's the government.  It's hard to say anything good about the "opposition" either. Without a compliant media and a ...

...readers can expect a bittae mair action on this Blog...these are interesting times as they say...

Apologies for the length of time since the last post on GTF but life gets in the wye yi ken...? I wis reading an article in the Guardian HERE thi ithir day..(well tae be fair I dinna BUY thi Guardian, I follow links that folk post on Twitter)   It purports to say that the First Minister of Scotland will not call another Independence Referendum in Scotland without the "permission" of the Westminster Government granting a "Section 30 Order". I'm pretty sure the First Minister (and I'm not an uncritical believer) said no such thing. Its worth looking at what a Section 30 Order actually IS. It's not "permission" for Scotland to hold an Independence Referendum.  Its an agreement by both governments (Westminster and Holyrood) to respect the result.  That's what happened with the last Section 30 Order in 2012 which kicked off the campaign for the 2014 Referendum.   David Cameron's Tory Government supported a  Section 30 Order in 2...