The world of Politics is without doubt a place where visual perception appears to differ from reality. We see this nearly everyday when we listen to Westminster Politicians and lately we’ve seen it in Scotland.

The Tories have had no less than three Leaders in the last year and not one of them seemed to live in the real world, to be honest none of them do. They live in a world where money means everything and everything they do is about money. The more they amass the more out of touch with reality they become.

Here in Scotland, we have always expected more of our Politicians and to be fair as far as money is concerned they have stood the test but when it came to living in the real world on other matters they failed.

All things GRA became a hill too far! A Leader must always accept the blame for the failure but let us not forget she had people around her to guide her. It has been that collective failure that has reduced the membership of 100.000 to 75000 and still dropping. Every member of her Cabinet is equally tarnished with regard to this Bill. Therefore nothing will change for the SNP until the whole cabal go.

Someone with a new broom, someone to appeal to all. Who knows what could happen, members may even return if the focus went back to Independence.

This is a God-given chance for the SNP to refresh, refocus and bring all Indy Parties together, “ All under one banner” would truly mean something again!

No more ‘one trick pony’ Politics.

We all have an important part to play, different branches of the same tree!

Democracy does not have to be an illusion. IT CAN GROW GIVEN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT.

So, the Lady is going!

For those of us with a keen ear to the ground, this will not have been a great surprise. I said to someone only yesterday it would be sooner than later in order to give the SNP time to rebuild and focus before the next GE.

Although I welcome this, I do so because of the failures of her Party over the past 4-5 yrs, it was never personal for me unlike members of another Party who’s hate oozed out of every word they wrote on SM. Which incidentally was returned in equal measure by some SNP members.

Unfortunately, those words will only intensify in my opinion because it is only human nature to lay the blame for her demise on someone.

But what is done is done and there is no point in looking back, I think a new battle will commence, one within the SNP itself. We on the outside can only speculate on who the runners and the riders will be in this race because the one thing we do know is the Party is deeply divided on several issues none more so than the GRA.

The question I now ask myself is, will those who were whipped into silence on the GRA now be free to speak?

Would it even matter if they did?

Integrity is not about the ‘afterwords,’ it’s about the present. You don’t put your head above the parapet after the battle is over!

Showing you have integrity means taking a risk, speaking out where there is wrong. Some did, Ash Denham had courage and integrity on this matter.

Of course, some of the runners will be those who feel ‘entitled’ and there are a few. Some with a few blemishes of their own going as far back as the Salmond fiasco.

Let battle commence in the Bear Pit that is Scottish Politics!

https://twitter.com/bmaryindy/status/1621849058208874496?s=61&t=nZyD-EuOf-rP0m5u8wah0g

What on earth is happening to this Country and who must take responsibility?

https://twitter.com/aja02537920/status/1617143941111123968?s=61&t=rSev-5j-8DYjnlLL13RzcA

The Police are obviously taking the previous threats seriously but as yet we have heard nothing from our First Minister.

Maybe that is because some if not all of the blame lies at her feet. At no point have any women who oppose only a couple of points in the GRA Bill have they ever crashed Trans Activist’s Rallies.

All of this could have been avoided had the SNP/Greens accepted a couple of Amendments, but no, the Boss, who by the way in this instance was not Nicola but Maggie Chapman blocked everyone!

I won’t refer you to certain articles that have appeared on SM this week about the close relationship between certain Parties and the Trans Activists which is very worrying, I say Activists to separate them from the normal Trans movement who are horrified by events.

Please do not turn your anger against Trans people in general, they have become collateral damage because of this Bad Bill.

For the Police to take these actions has moved everything on to another level. A level that makes my heart cry.

Do women really have to die due to male violence before the Scot Gov step in?

They say Bloggers can be very influential people, especially Political bloggers.

May I first say I do not see myself as a ‘blogger’, I see myself as a very small fish in a very big sea! I rant, my words are few. I don’t see the point in writing 1000 words when I can say what I want to in a 100. That takes nothing away from the serious Bloggers who manage to draw us in on a daily basis. They are the gifted ones, I am not!!

My thoughts are my own and if perchance I am able to pass on some information, good.

So, back to the big beasts, the ones that genuinely pass on the messages we need to hear, the Independent ones and by that I mean those not tied to any Political Party, they may also do Podcasts with a variety of guests across the divide.

We look to them for impartial comment.

Comment not to be found on mainstream blogs or podcasts like the BBC which have become the political arm of the Tory Party.

But what happens if any of those bloggers get swept up by a Political Party, even elevated to a position on the Board?

Can they still call themselves Independent?

Political Parties are on manoeuvres all the time, planning for the next event, so they build their arsenal. What better person can you have in your army than a well-known blogger? A person with perceived influence. So you reel them in like a fish on a hook! Once caught and given a position they are now owned!

No more broad–based articles, no more interviews with those with other ideas if you also have a Podcast.

Their new job would be to reel you in, yes you! At first reading or listening to the blogger may seem no different than before, only the keen ear will notice the difference between then and now.

There is only one agenda now and it’s the Party agenda.

Could that happen in Scotland? Would any of our bloggers even contemplate giving up their autonomy?

Politics is a funny old game where people never think twice about giving up their integrity for ego!

I pray our bloggers are above that in Scotland.

I have always believed that the truth about any situation will always eventually come out. Today’s Politics proves that, both North and South of the Border.

Politics only become toxic when Politicians become toxic!

Today’s Politics seem only to be about Power and Money, the people they represent are just collateral damage as they climb the greasy pole to further their ambitions. The further up that pole they climb the more lies are told.

But there’s a problem with lies!

You have to have a good memory other wise you end up looking like a rabbit in headlights! We have seen a lot of that over the weekend. Politicians who are usually very articulate flustered and Tongue-tied to the point where it is embarrassing to watch.

I wonder if those involved with all this GRR stuff will look back after a few months and ask themselves was it really worth it ?

A fight for perhaps 1% of a very low percentage group of people who in themselves never wanted all this attention, I still find myself asking the question WHY?

Why hang your coat on such a shooglie peg?……….or was there as some have suggested something more sinister going on here?

I do not pretend to know the answer to that question but I do know this, the outcome of this debacle can only be the death of our current campaign for Independence. Around 51% of the population in Scotland are women and Nicola has just referred to us as Homophobic and Transphobic Bigots!

Quite a large proportion of those women have publically said they will never vote SNP again, in any Election.

It is going to take year’s for Independence minded Politicians to come back from this.

Instead of using The Claim of Right to further our cause, the SNP chose the fight for the ‘so-called’ rights of a few activists intent on violating women’s rights!……and lost!

I used to think Nicola was playing a great game of Chess when it came to Independence. Making sure all her pieces were in the right place to strike.

But now she is playing a different game, one that she is losing! Her Chess pieces are falling, maybe that’s because she is no longer calling the shots! There is another controller.

The numbers calling for her to go are multiplying and membership is on a slippery slope with income disappearing down the drain. The coffers are very low, not even enough for another campaign I hear.

Maybe Mr Murrell will have to dig into his pockets again, if he does I hope he remembers to register it this time with the Electoral Commission!

Nicolas Political Nuance has disappeared causing her to choose the wrong battles with the wrong people. To choose a battle deliberately or otherwise with Westminster is one thing but to choose that same battle with her own people is quite another.

The marriage between the SNP and the Greens was certainly not one made in heaven and she is now paying the price. The Nicola I went along to the Hydro to see is not the Nicola we now see. I am genually sorry about that, because, like many of you my dreams have been shattered.

But it has been a salutary lesson, if you seek Power for Power’s sake it will change you as a person.

History is full of people who rose above themselves thinking they were indestructible but they all fell, some out of hatred and others who had too many skeletons in the cupboard!

I will leave it up to you to decide which one will bring her down!!

Politics is a funny old game.

Remember this slogan?

My apologies for reminding you of this person but his slogan is very appropriate in Scotland just now.

First of all, let us look at what is happening here and now in Scotland, this land that had in the 1500s the best Education system in Europe and up until very recently still had. On many subjects, we are still leading but recently one subject, in particular, has taken an ominous direction. Sex Education!

Our Scottish Education Secretary seems to be taking her advice on the curriculum from Stonewall.

A couple of years ago we had Secondary Schools filling in a questionnaire about their ‘Sex Lives’ now we have Primary School children as young as 6yrs being asked if they see themselves as, Female, Male, Gay or Trans!… and your not supposed to tell your parents about this!

They call it being progressive. If you ask a child of 6yrs about ‘ being gay or trans’ they are naturally going to ask what this means, and so the conversation begins, I call it grooming!

Are we really all okay with this?

Education does not stop when you leave school, we never stop learning even as adults.

…..and the more we keep our minds open the more we learn!

Why is it important to do this? Because knowledge is power, power to change the status quo and we certainly need to do this in Scotland right now!

The subject of Independence has been dropped and been replaced by an ideology that is foreign to most over 60, but it is incumbent upon us to learn because what is being forced down our throats is not true in fact most of what is being said on the subject by our Holyrood Politicians is nothing but lies and they have been caught out!

In 2017 we were promised an update on amongst other things a report regarding Trans Prisoners in Female Prisons. 6yrs on we are still waiting! I wonder why?

Read this and weep!

Read the whole thread!

https://twitter.com/ispsafe/status/1619137482448314372?s=61&t=-cHvGP7pgwdpHtcYCO2HTQ

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the Independence we all seek will never be delivered by the Politicians we have in power today, indeed it might never be delivered by any Political Party but it could be by the people walking a different road.

Even that requires us to relearn!

To relearn our history and where the real Power lies In Scotland, Power lies with the People.

…..and no, I am not talking about self-flagellation!!

Ever since the GRA Bill was passed at Holyrood certain MSPs kept repeating the phrase ‘ there was an overwhelming majority from across Parliament supporting this Bill ‘ with Monica leading the fore!

Technically that is correct, but what would have been the reality had members not been whipped by both SNP and Labour?

What does ‘whipped’ even mean?

This is what Party Politics is all about and it can get very dirty indeed. But not all succumb to these threats, there are a few who we saw who are willing to stand by their conscience.

You might be saying that there has to be Party discipline, in the main I would agree but there also has to be in some circumstance room for individual conscience.

Or have we come to the place in Scotland where for instance Faith, whatever Faith has been dumped for the sake of Party Politics and bad Law?

If you have to be ‘whipped’ into doing something against your will then the result of that vote can never be an overwhelming majority in favour of it.

The four SNPs in this picture have caused quite a stir, not because they attended a Rally but because of the hatred and violence projected towards ordinary women who only want to feel safe when they enter a lady’s Loo.

But those with an eagle eye will notice something else very disturbing, Alison Thewlis [second from the right] has her child on her back.

Now, these rallies are not in themselves violent but their banners and their words exude violence and hatred towards everyone who disagrees with them and believe me some of those words are words no child should ever hear.

So, my question is, what kind of a mother thinks it’s okay to bring a young child into this kind of environment where all they learn is hatred and foul language?

These are four SNP MPs who supposedly represent us!

Well, they don’t represent me and by the outcry on SM, they now don’t represent many others. I am fairly sure voters will be saving these photos for the next GE.

One of them had the cheek to say she was horrified by the posters calling for ‘Terfs to be beheaded’ and said she wasn’t aware! ……. wasn’t aware? That young man and others with banners must have been immediately behind them for at least 30mins and they weren’t aware?

These four Politicians are very aware of people and everything that goes on.

So, Kirsten we don’t believe you, you looked as if you were enjoying every minute.

If there is one saying that describes the friendliness of Scots it is this.

In spite of all the acrimony in Scottish Politics at the moment, for me it is still the best place in the world to live and the best people to live with. From to my own home area, Langholm….

…..to the North Coast…….

And the Islands..

Colonsay and Skye below.

It is the people of Scotland who make Scotland, both past and present. We have a rich heritage to draw upon and present riches to live upon.

Our food is like no other!

So let us start to celebrate the Country we live in!