You may say this is very undemocratic, and it is, yet it happens all the time here in Scotland, albeit on a smaller scale.

For years, the government of the day has favoured councils that have voted for it and align with them.

We have to stop being so hypocritical, put our own house in order and admit that the kind of democracy we have is not is not functioning as real democracy. It is open to corruption and misuse of power.

Change does not come easily, nothing good ever does. But without change, Scotland will die a slow death, stripped of its resources and dignity.

Is that what we really want?

Perfection is not what we seek, but authenticity is essential. If we cannot be true to ourselves, who can we be true to? We must keep our dignity even when dealing with Westminster. If they want to keep playing dirty, let them, the world is watching.

Very often, it is not what we do that is deemed offensive, but what we say and how we say it. Truth is truth, and if people find it offensive, that is their problem, but we don’t have to dress it up and antagonise people. When we do that, we demean ourselves.

We are better than that.

When we look at politicians at the moment, all we see is egos on the march! Not policies…just egos.

We change the world by our examples, not our opinions. Voting for something that is not working all of the time is not leading by example, but furthering our opinions…that’s our egos at play!

Change must first come from within us, and if Independence is still the dream, then a change of direction should not be so hard...but is it still the dream? I do wonder at times. When people start to come out of their own ‘small corners’, I might start believing in them again. We must use the mistakes of the past as a springboard, not a defensive wall.

£700,000… and you are paying for it!

Grotesqueness is the quality of being bizarre, distorted, or absurdly unnatural.

I think everyone of those words fits this situation, do they not?

Dabbling with nature, will one day backfire on this generation’s fantasies. “Queer milk” is not natural milk, it is made of chemicals. Medically and psychologically, there will be repercussions somewhere down the line.

Babies are not human guinea pigs to be used to feed someone’s fetish.

What have we become that we think it’s okay for our government to use our taxes in this way, as we sit back and say nothing, not even to our local MSPs?

…and we think we are intelligent enough to run a country?!? Something has to change and soon!!

This whole Woke culture has taken on a mind of its own. Many may mumble in the background about how bad things are, but won’t put their heads above the parapet, afraid of the flak. Who can blame them when our politicians support the bazzar rather than the norm?

Today’s SNP is more about Trans than plans. I do wish their members would take back control of their party and focus on their mandate for independence. Today our FM complained because the PM is not including them in the Care plans… What happened to your Care plans?

Which shelf are they on John?

I admit, at my age, I have a vested interest in this issue, but the fact is they have seen this train coming down the track for the last 25+ years and run away from it. And by ‘they’ I mean both governments.

The transition from LA to Private was beginning when I retired. The legal standards of Care within LA Care Homes were higher than the Private ones, and it was noticeable.

Keep an eye on this, because whilst Burnham is talking about Care in England, he is going to tax us all to pay for it!!

And now this…

Let’s have more Care and less Queer! More money should be put into the why’s not the wants!

I say it, as I see it, one day there will be a knock on the door😂

What is a word salad?

According to Google, it means a random mix up of words that have no clear or logical meaning, and are often attributed to people who have neurological difficulties.

Politicians on the other hand use this method when they don’t want to answer hard questions. They say a lot, but their words have no actual meaning. This can be very confusing, but then it’s meant to be.

It’s not that they can’t answer the question, but rather, they don’t want you to know the answer! So much for democracy. They actually go on courses to learn how to do this, paid for by our taxes!!

The ‘pen’ erected in Holyrood to keep the press at bay was to protect the newbies from the press until they learned how to handle them and produce ‘word salads’!

Brand new, shiny MSPs, still wet behind the ears were likely to tell the truth and that could not be allowed.

But then it’s been a long time since Holyrood was the parliament of the People. The ‘entitled’ hijacked it and have, at times, locked us out.

What does that say about Scottish democracy?… It is even more surprising just how many folks are okay with that.

Usually, at this time of year, the political scene is very quiet, but not this year. Call it ‘ego’ or call it what you like, there are certain politicians who just love to hog the limelight. They don’t realise the honeymoon is over, and the press are merciless.

But in the background the ‘sma folk’ keep chipping away, determined to counter every lie. These are the real heroes of our country, not dead billionaires who lied through their teeth.

The grassroots people, irrespective of colour or creed. These are the real people of Scotland, and these are the people who, one day, will take it back.

We say it as it is, no holds barred, and we won’t wheest for anyone!

And on that subject of not holding back, there was an interesting news article on Monday night saying the ‘UKGovernment’ [just quoting!!] were going to step in and support the Coalsnaughton residents. I did wonder why them and not the Scot Gov. Then I got a message saying the Council had refused permission to build on that site and the Scot Gov over-ruled them! So did Swinney get his pals down south to save his skin?

He gets his rewards.

One day we will get ours!!

On the LK programme on Sunday, our new PM said, when asked about a GE, that we have a Parliamentary Democracy. It is important that people understand what that means as it is often shortened to Democracy and the two are not the same!

Note to words above, ‘ a democractic FORM of Government’.

This particular form means we vote for a party which best??? represents our views. And once we put our X in the box, we have no more say for 5 years! We have handed our power to people who, at the drop of a hat, can change their priorities. Note I said, ‘their priorities’… not necessarily ours.

Now, I accept the world is changing and that the government of the day must adapt to those changes, but I am not talking about world events here, I am talking about domestic events. The ones that don’t change immediately when one becomes PM.

The rise and fall of Starmer did not happen overnight, or even in weeks, it was well planned over the months, giving Andy Cap plenty of time to survey the fiscal landscape. And by the way, the changes within Scottish Labour were also moving along in tandem! It was no accident that Monica Lennon was rolled out a few weeks back onto a political programme, and one person who reads the room as no other, noticed it. That person was Colette Walker [ISP]. Nothing gets past her.😂

Take a look at this party, it does things differently.

https://www.isp.scot/

For Labour, the impression of swapping one policy for another may look and sound good, but those opportunities are rare and minor.

What they fail to understand is, people are not looking for freebies…only fairness.

Scotland could have a different kind of democracy, one that works for the people and holds politicians to account. Direct Democracy does that. But we have to get there first, and from what I saw and experienced in Glasgow yesterday, we have a long way to go!

If Glasgow is meant to give the impression of a modern Scotland, then Scotland is in deep trouble.

I will, however, praise the Police, having seen firsthand what they have to deal with.

Direct Democracy is about people, not politicians, and that is their fear. Fewer of them, for a start, and no gravy train!

Over the next 24 months, things could change in Scotland; a civil court case could very well upset the apple cart! 🙏🙏

We have a strange kind of democracy in this country, and for this post, ‘country’ means Britain!

It may look ‘democratic’, but it feels ‘class-driven’.

Once elected, many MPs feel and act as if they are above everyone else. And the culture within Westminster feeds into that delusion. Personal aims change, the plan…to end up a Lord or Lady in the upper House! [Why not, nearly £400 quid for an afternoon kip!!]

As they travel onwards on that journey, the meaning of democracy seems to dissipate. Promises made at the beginning are quietly forgotten, replaced by Party loyalty. It is, after all, their bosses who, one day may reward their faithfulness with a nudge up the class ladder!

And we, yes we, have a bad habit of helping them on that journey.

How?

We keep re-electing them in spite of their failures!

Only in politics does one get promoted for failure, and only in British politics do we have a system where the perceived elite can crush the voices of the people who disagree with the establishment.

We have no recourse apart from a GE. And the U-turns on having one when the ruling party changes leader are astounding! Everything changes when you are in power!!

What little Democracy we do have flies out of the window.

This will only change when people start voting for parties that offer Direct Democracy.

So don’t blame the politicians for wanting to stay on the gravy train, the problem is US!

We are the only ones who can change the system, especially here in Scotland, but once again our end-of-year school report shows failure. In May we voted for of the same.

Could someone explain to me why we did this?

We are like the wee hamster, afraid to come off the wheel. We know the wheel, and it’s safer to stick with what we know, even if that means we are going nowhere fast!

Our FM is eager to talk to the new PM about further powers! Another one happy to stay on the wheel, albeit a bigger one, but it’s still a wheel going nowhere.

Devolution is not Democracy!

It might have been an attempt to look like it, but Westminster holds all the important levers. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens without their say-so.

…and the new messiah isn’t going to change anything. He knows the value of Scotlands assets, and he’s about to use them.

We made a mistake in May, let’s learn from it!

Only 5 days in, and we are already saying, ‘if only’!

Big ideas are only ideas if they are workable, as our new PM is finding out the hard way. Being at the top does not mean you can wave a magic wand, because those who have gone before you have already sown the seed. Only ‘time’ and a lot of it can reverse the damage.

The majority of policies mentioned so far stop at the border, apart from pinching Sarwar, but then, that’s no great loss. They are welcome to him.

Baillie says this will be good for Scotland; I agree…but not in the same way she does!!

He has made it clear that the Constitution is not up for discussion, so where now, John, as you bow before the King & Queen again today? And in case you have forgotten, John, bowing signifies submission, just as singing the English National Anthem shows adoration!!

Our destiny is not fixed; we have the power to rewrite what Westminster would have it be. The pens are in our hands, and the paper is blank. What is happening at the UN is our lifeline but without our backing, the work being done will be futile.

The political will to move in parallel must begin now, we are already a little late to the party, but we can catch up.

The ‘if only’ just needs to change to ‘I will’!

Stop overthinking everything, there are people out there doing what is required, all we have to do is support them.

I don’t have the brains to work out things like currency, so I’m not going to have a nervous breakdown trying to; instead, I will let the professionals do it. In the tendency of overthinking , we, forget our perimeters of control!

I know my perimeters…do you?

Our new PM is just learning his!! He is learning that he is not God, after all!

Just because Scotland has to work to a budget, does not mean Scotland as a country is broke!

That budget is set by Westminster and has no bearing on Scottish assets.

We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet we are the only ones in the world who cannot touch our own assets.

Think about that for a moment!

All of our resources are stolen by Westminster, and we only get a small fraction back through the budget.

Even our Common Good Funds end up in England!

When are we going to wake up?

When does enough become enough?

Are we really all that stupid?

Are we ready to jump for UDI the minute we get the required ruling from the UN, are enough of us even taking those routes serious enough?

Wait and see won’t cut it, we either believe it’s going to happen or we hang up our boots now!

I will believe the words ‘we believe ’ when I see people getting together and planning, not just talking.

The FM got a ‘No’ again, so what’s he going to do about it

…ponder?

But thinking of things from a purely English stance for a moment, if you want to save money, why not get rid of the biggest financial burden…that would be Scotland, according to what our friends south of the border are told…except it’s not!

The myth that Scotland is subsidised has long run out of steam, but don’t tell the natives down south, some truths are just too hard to bear! They do, after all, need someone to blame.

It’s a bit strange, is it not, that England sees all Scottish assets as theirs, yet blames us for their financial woes! Talk about screwed-up thinking.

Today, a lot of people are complaining that Rayner is not handing back her £17k severance money, yet they forget that this is the system we signed up for, again! This is how the government works and always has done.

One name sums up Labour today, and that is Sarwar!

Everything in government, on both sides of the border, will continue to work as it does until the day comes when we change it.

Until we change, nothing will change!

We need to start thinking differently.

I can think of a few who will be rubbing their hands with glee, seeing those headlines.

His gift is not freedom, just a bigger cage!

Another PM who knows the truth, and that truth is, they can’t afford to let us go! But soon they will have no choice, if, and it’s a big ‘if’…we, the people, dare to take the necessary steps forward.

Are our feet pointing in the right direction?

Are we prepared to push the cage door open, or is it a case of ‘you in your small corner, and I in mine’?

They say there is strength in numbers, but that’s only true if those numbers are prepared to get to their feet and act. We can’t afford to be ‘couch potatoes’!

We cannot reap a harvest without sowing the seed. A conversation needs to happen, people need to know there is a road and it is open!

And those who do know need to prepare. We need two plans, one to get over the line and another to build the foundations, because we cannot do ‘rinse and repeat’!

Any semblance of a Westminster-type democracy will bring disaster.

In Scotland, we the people are sovereign, and we must take that responsibity seriously, not hand it to others.

There are several examples of Direct Democracy to look at, and the best thing is, we can create our own unique type. The central point being, everything reverts to the people…that is us!

Power is best served in the hands of those who don’t want it!

It is humility that makes the greatest leaders, not egos.

The biggest lesson we need to learn in Scotland is, we don’t need to like the people we work with, but we must work with them! That is the starting point.

We need to be resilient, not picky!

Collectively, we are living with the consequences of the choices we made 2 years ago.

The incoming PM has promised to bring back ‘hope’! He may tinker around the edges on some policies, but the reality is, his hands are tied fiscally. Too many deals have been made, ones that cannot be undone, leaving very little wriggle room.

He has, however, reversed one bad policy, digital ID. But something tells me it will creep in via the back door affecting some part of our lives.

We now live in a world that will not accommodate ‘old Labour’ ideology. Nobody, not even Burnham, can turn the clock back that far. There are no quick fixes, the oracle [Truss] has spoken, move too fast and he will cause a financial crisis…she should know!! Move too slow, and the people will lose faith and turn against him. What he does and where he does it will matter. Can he come up with a plan that will at least give a semblance of order and settle the maddening crowd?

I won’t hold my breath! The stars are not aligning, nor are his ducks all in a row!

As for Swinney, well, I think all of his ducks have gone walkabout, and a tsunami is on the way. If he thought everything would go away with Murrell in jail, he must know by now that it’s just not going to happen. I think things are going to get very messy, and when things get messy at one end of the room, the other end gets neglected. To run a country, one has to be 100% focused. I don’t think he can be.

I think he needs to have a wee word with his former boss, because every time she makes a statement through her very expensive Lawyer, she makes things worse for herself and the whole Party.

There appears to be some kind of ‘baiting’ game going on just now; the penny has dropped and people are becoming very vocal when it comes to accusing NS of just about everything. They know she won’t dare sue them, because a courtroom is her nightmare.

All this seems trivial with the man in the Oval Office, dropping bombs again at the behest of Israel. America certainly lives with its choices.

But her friends are diminishing in the gulf for fear of being annihilated by Iran.

This can’t last long as the bodies pile high.

Some cry, ‘where is God?’… that’s a very good question!

‘The logical conclusion to the new debate about devolution is to move the UK towards federalism with equal powers amongst the UK nations. It could break the constitutional deadlock without compromising deeply held positions. It is a way forward for all.’[Pete Wishart. 2 days ago on X]

We didn’t really need confirmation, did we, but we certainly have it now!

A ‘Freudian slip’ happens apparently when you release “an unconscious desire”.

Freudiant or otherwise, the truth is out…independence as we want it, ain’t going to happen under the SNP, even if Salvo gets their desired ruling, it will not be acted upon.

The SNP are, as many of us have believed for some time now, a Devolutionist Party. This is not something to gloat about, many of its members will be shocked hearing Pete’s words and will need time to process them. Now is the time for the hand of friendship, not laughing.

It is not a laughing matter when the Party who governs us does so under a false flag!

Why such a huge change, one might ask.

As I see it, there could be a number of reasons for this change, and I humbly admit that I could be wrong on every one😉

1. They know a gold standard Referendum will never happen.
2. They think a kind of Federalism would enhance Devolution, saying ‘we tried’!
3. They can’t or won’t go down the UN route, mostly out of pride or they just don’t get it!
4. The gravy train would stop!
5. It’s easier to follow than lead!

I am sure you could think of a few more reasons, so what is the answer to this conundrum?

Can, the SNP members stop this leaning towards Devolution/Fedralism.[the latter is still a cage, just a bigger one!]

The answer is, of course, to have the courage to change our voting habits… have we collectively got that courage?

That is the key, and that key is in the hands of every voter, so there is no excuse next time.

However, I have a feeling that Independence is the last thing on the minds of the leadership today after David Davies speech in Westminster. Which will no doubt be a precursor to a full judicial inquiry.

The gutter press is having a heyday!

Soon, they will have no place to hide and as always, the truth will out!

A sad ending will come to a once-great party; the whys and wherefores will be lessons for all.

Give, what’s coming down the road, we may not have to wait 5 years for another Scottish Election!