With Alba likely to be a sideshow at best, the Greens could move front and centre. If that means coalition, the question will be, have they really thought it through?
independence movement
I share the anxiety that this unprecedented peacetime crisis of the British state may pass without a firm conclusion. For this reason, I have campaigned for years for an early referendum. But I am also wary of a potentially sadistic dynamic between leadership and base.
Source Direct: Indy Shoegazers
The prospects for farce were highlighted by Peter Murrell’s evidence yesterday: when Labour MSP Jackie Baillie implied he was being coached off camera, Murrell answered that his eye was distracted by a rogue magpie. You could almost see Malcolm Tucker off camera, stamping his foot with rage.
Source Direct: Two Tribes Go to War
You can’t really argue with twenty polls in a row for independence. And those same polls show the SNP sweeping May’s planned elections. Yet dig deeper and the Scottish independence movement is filled with dread and acrimony.
Source Direct: Scotland – Now?
The prospect of state collapse, whether orderly or disorderly, remains very real. That said, theoretical possibilities are one thing. Making it happen is quite another. States of Britain’s standing don’t just topple of their own accord. Any breakup of a venerable old imperial power requires concerted political agency – a plan, in short.
Source Direct: Roadmap to Nowhere?
It’s tempting to ignore the Scottish Labour leadership election. Here will be two career politicians with milquetoast opinions fighting for the soul of a party that long ceased to matter in Scotland’s real power stakes.
Source Direct: On the Slab
There is a rumbling debate about the timing of a proposed Scottish independence referendum, highlighted by remarks from Labour’s Keir Starmer and the SNP’s John Swinney.
Source Direct: One More Time
“Contrary to received wisdom, in many ways Sturgeon needs independence more than the independence movement needs her.”
The meaning of Freeman’s gaffe
No deus ex machina is coming to rescue the independence movement. We’re on our own. Thankfully, our movement represents an entire cast of actors waiting backstage for their cue. Perhaps now it may finally come.
Robin McAlpine: The divide over independence strategy is artificial – here’s how to get rid of it
“By putting energy into fighting in unison, this deeply unequal Union might yet die a peaceful death that enables each nation to rise from the ashes strengthened, able to shake off the soot of medieval power-hoarding and class conflict in favour of progressive, local democracy.”