The Nike kilts were fitted two days BEFORE the virus is thought to have arrived in Edinburgh

Some additional information (you might say facts) which might have an impact on the Scottish Tories’ (including Ian Murray) attempt to call the Nike conference a cover-up.

Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel

Image Sky News

By Brenda Steele:

Ian Murray is getting a lot of press mileage out of the  Nike Conference “Cover-up”

https://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2020/05/murray-continues-to-probe-over-nike-conference-in-edinburgh/

Murray continues to probe over Nike conference in Edinburgh

More than 70 Nike employees from around the world attended the conference in Edinburgh on 26 and 27 February 2020, and a BBC investigation found that at least 25 people linked to the event contracted Covid-19, including 8 in Scotland.At the weekend, in the Mail on Sunday, it was reported that several workers who came into contact with delegates, including kilt-fitters in Edinburgh and staff who shared a building with Nike in Glasgow, who also became unwell with flu-like symptoms a short while later – but were not contacted by health officials or told about the Nike link.

Mr Murray is concerned about the case of Gillian Russell whose concerns are described here and in several other…

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All for one?

There was a story going round, a fairy story some might say, that the United Kingdom was a union of four equal countries.  The story was started more than 300 years ago, and though the members have changed, with bits of Ireland coming and going over the years, the story has remained pretty much unchanged since then.

The story reached fresh prominence about nine years ago, when the Scottish National Party gained an overall majority in the Scottish Parliamentary election and the Scottish Government promised the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose their own future.  For the next three years, the media was full of reasons why Scotland should not become independent.  Some of the reasons were negative; too wee, too poor, too stupid; we’d have to drive on the righthand side of the road, we’ll be unable to protect ourselves from invasion, whether from the Russians or from aliens; some were threats, we won’t get into the EU, Spain would veto EU membership, rUK would bomb all our airports; but some were promises of good times to come, don’t leave us, lead us, they said.

Well, we all know where that led.  I say all, but unfortunately, there were those amongst us who didn’t seem to be paying attention, mainly those who were supporters of foreign political parties  which somehow managed to wield influence in Scotland.  But those who paid attention saw that it led to EVEL, the defacto exclusion of Scottish MPs from the UK parliamentary process.  It led to the stream of insults from English MPs and ministers, both inside and outside parliament.  It’s just a bit of fun, they said.  It led to Brexit, the removal of Scotland from the EU, the exact opposite to what had been promised in 2014.  It led to Theresa May and Boris Johnson being in charge, Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber.  But most of all, it led to the disaster that is the current UK government’s failed attempt to control the spread of arguably the most serious disease to reach the UK since the Spanish Flu of 1918.

I say their attempt to control, but there is a fairly plausible case to be made for the UK government simply adopting a herd immunity policy, involving maximising the spread of the disease among the population, with the consequent greater impact on the elderly, the ill and the disabled, all of whom are a drain on the UK’s finances.  “Who cares if a few pensioners die” seemed to be their opinion.  This has led to the UK having the world’s worst record for Coronavirus deaths with the one exception of the US.  Second behind Donald Trump, that’s some accolade.  For those who think that is a statement too far, you have to decide if the UK government are only driven by financial concerns or are simply so stupid that they really don’t know what they are doing.  Tough choice?

However, to get back to the original point, what has happened during the coronavirus outbreak to convince anyone that we are indeed a union of equals?  Is it that the supporters of the aforementioned foreign political parties are telling lies about what is happening in Scotland?  It seems they did.  Is it the equal distribution of PPE to all parts of the UK?  But did the UK government not tell UK PPE suppliers to prioritise supplies to English hospitals and care homes and even refuse to fulfil orders from Scotland?  It seems they did.  Is it that the UK government told their agents abroad not to help the Scottish government source PPE from foreign suppliers?  It seems they did.  Is this the “union of equals” we were told about?

But today came what many would consider as the final insult, the last straw.  The UK government promised the Scottish government £60m as Barnett consequentials from an additional sum being spent to support businesses in England.  Based on this, the Scottish Government spent the money to support Scottish businesses, only to find that the UK government changed their mind, apparently on a whim, so no money would be forthcoming, meaning that the Scottish government had spent £60m it didn’t have, with the consequent impact on other budgets.

Is it reasonable for the Scottish government in this “union of equals” to be in a position that its funding is subject to the whim of the Westminster government, to be promised and withdrawn when Westminster feels like it.  Does the Westminster government have any reason for this action?  Certainly not one they have shared with the rest of us, so it is not unreasonable to assume that it was for purely political advantage, because that’s what’s behind so many of their other decisions.

What should the Scottish government do about it?  Should they just accept it and adjust the other budgets to cope?  Should they tell the UK government that they are being unfair, but do nothing when the UK government ignores them?  Or should they realise the relationship with the rest of the UK is now completely dead and it’s time to go?

I guess it’s time for the Scottish Government to decide.  Is it stay and be destroyed or is it go and make your own choices?  What do you think?

The arrogant and offensive truth twisters

Another from Wee Ginger Dug which expresses what we should all be feeling at the news about Dominic Cummings’ wee trip to take Covid-19 to Durham. There’s an old Roger Whittaker song about Durham with a chorus which goes something like this:
I’m gonna go to Durham Town
I’m gonna go to Durham Town
I’m gonna go to Durham Town
And the complainers won’t get me down

Wee Ginger Dug

The Prime Minister actually managed to turn up for work today and presented the daily British Government press conference. This is not unconnected to the fact that the only thing that anyone was wanting to hear from the British Government today was that Dominic Cummings had got his jotters for driving a coach and horses to Durham all the way through the lockdown regulations, and none of the spineless wonders in the British Conservative party are brave enough to stand up to Dominic. And neither, it has transpired, is the Prime Minister.

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson took to the podium to deliver the news that Dominic Cummings is going nowhere – except Durham. In the process he set a new UK record for the number of people shouting “Oh fuck off” simultaneously at the TV screen as he announced that Dominic Cummings had in his view acted entirely responsibly…

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Could this be the beginning of the end for the SNP as we knew it?

Today (as I write) a group of SNP members, many occupying important positions in the party, are openly boasting that they succeeded in getting Twitter to remove Stuart Campbell’s (Wings over Scotland) accounts.  This was not the first time they have done this.  But Stuart Campbell is a known supporter of Scottish independence, his efforts being arguably responsible for the result in the first referendum being so close.  He is also a known supporter of women’s rights, defending them against attacks by the so-called women with penises.  So why would they do this?  Surely not because of his support for independence, because that is the party’s raison d’etre.  Could it be that the group feel there is something more important than independence?  Could it be that the group believe that no one is allowed to express support for the basic biological fact that women don’t have a penis and that they are determined to silence anyone doing so?  Is the suppression of dissent not characteristic of fascism?

First, let’s think where we came from.

There was a time when everyone knew what the Scottish National Party was all about.  The party were formed to bring together all those with an interest in Scotland becoming an independent country.  Through the years, there were a number of ups and downs, a number of false starts, but everything changed in 2007 when the party, under the leadership of Alex Salmond gained control of the Scottish Executive, which they quickly renamed the Scottish Parliament, giving some advance notice of their intentions.  They wanted Holyrood to be a proper Scottish government, not the glorified county council that Tony Blair expected when he agreed to the devolution referendum in 1997.

The downside of their victory was that they were obliged to think more about running the country than just independence, but much to the surprise of the opposition, they proved to be quite good at it.  In fact, they were so good, that, at the 2011 election, the SNP gained an absolute majority, something that the designers of the electoral system had planned could never happen.  With the absolute majority came the promise of the referendum, a promise which was delivered.  We all know what happened after that, so I won’t go into it any further.

But with that electoral success came a new and extremely troubling development.

A group of strange people joined (I could have said infiltrated) the party.  These people were supporters of trans rights, not in itself a reason for thinking them strange.  However, it was how they demonstrated their support that was troubling.  Using a slogan “trans women are women”, they set out to get the SNP to accept that trans women should be accorded all the rights of biological women, including access to women only spaces, such as women’s toilets and changing rooms and women’s refuges.  Bad enough in itself, the message soon developed into the only real women are trans women.  Anyone expressing the obvious fact that women don’t have a penis would be subject to abuse and sometimes exclusion from groups or even from employment.

The first sign that the woke minority were having an effect on SNP policy came when the Scottish Government introduced a bill to reform the Gender Recognition Act.  Among others, it included proposals to allow self-id, letting men simply state they are women with zero medical intervention and little if any psychological assessment.  In opinion polls, there was a huge majority of both men and women against the proposals, but despite that, the Government carried on.  A public consultation was organised.  We can only guess what the responses were, as no result was ever released, but shortly after the closing date, the bill was shelved, allegedly because of the Coronavirus crisis (an excuse perhaps?).

But you must never underestimate the determination of the woke minority to champion the cause of women haters.  Shortly after the shelving of the GRA Reform Bill, a new bill has been introduced to make it illegal to say something which another person thinks is abusive.  The bill is expressed in such general terms that it only needs one person to say they’re upset by what has been said.  Let me guess what the first case could be.   Could it be someone (or a group of someones) upset that a hairy, muscular penis-bearer is being referred to as a man?  It is worth mentioning that no public consultation is planned for this bill as the Scottish Government say they already have a mandate as opinion polls have shown widespread public support for measures preventing the abuse of minorities.  I doubt very much that the polls asked about hairy, muscular penis-bearers.

So the woke minority have managed to remove Stuart Campbell from Twitter.  How many in the party are pleased that Wings has been excluded?  How many have said he shouldn’t be allowed an opinion?   How many are saying he’s only got himself to blame?  But how many more are going to suffer the same fate?  The woke minority have a list.  Their list includes other members of the party who don’t agree with their definition of women and they have already had a go.  But surprisingly, though the party’s disciplinary committee have taken action against other party members for minor breaches of party rules, often based on complaints from political opponents no action has been taken against any of the woke minority.  They seem to be immune to criticism.  Is that because party bosses are too frightened to act against them, or because they agree with them, or because they are using the woke minority as a convenient vehicle to get rid of some members they don’t like.

History teaches us that those who don’t challenge fascism when it starts can themselves become the targets as it grows stronger.  The SNP have now become a party which supports independence and encourages the suppression of dissent.  How long will it take before the search for independence is watered down and it becomes the party of suppression of dissent only?

Pandemic, pandemonium or politics?

A medieval tale of events that took place in times gone by

Once upon a time, in Wiseland (think about it), a country not far from here, terrible disease-spreading invaders were threatening to enter the country.  It would take a huge concerted effort by the people to resist the invasion.  It was feared that, as people battled against the invading hordes, many might die.  It was known what had happened in other countries they had invaded; the number of people attacked by the invaders; the number of serious injuries; the number of deaths.  The people were fearful of what might happen to them when the invaders arrived.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth (for those with a full set of gnashers).

As they were wont to do at times of trouble, the people turned to their ruler, the great King Buffo the Bountiful, for reassurance.  “King Buffo will save us”, they said.  “King Buffo will know what to do”, they said.  “King Buffo will have a plan”, they said.  And indeed, King Buffo did have a plan.

“Do not worry, my children”, said the King, “for you know that no foreign force can be strong enough to defeat our wonderful Wiseland people, for we are the greatest people in the world.  When the invaders arrive, we need have no fear of them, because we will show them who’s boss.  Unlike other weaker countries who have succumbed to the invaders, this can never happen in Wiseland.  We need no assistance or advice from countries who have shown themselves incapable of withstanding an attack by puny invaders.  We will stand alone and show the world how it is done.  Veni. Vidi. Vici” (the King was keen on the classics, though, unfortunately, not very good at them).

The King’s words comforted many in Wiseland, though there were those who were not convinced.  They thought that the king’s plan effectively meant doing nothing: letting the invasion run its course: letting the invader attack individual villages with no plan to get the whole population to work together to resist the invasion.  The King appeared to expect that the people would eventually learn how to better resist the invaders and would then defeat them, but how many would die before that happened.

Many called the King’s plan herd immunity, but surely (they thought) that only worked on cattle.  They believed that the country was ill-prepared for the oncoming battles because it was known that the country’s stocks of personal protection armour (PPA), chain mail, helmets, gauntlets and other items, had been much reduced because the King had diverted much royal funding from the armourers to bail out the money lenders.  It was known that the King had borrowed a great deal of cash from the money lenders to fund the development of his pet project, the Buffobang, what would be the world’s biggest cannon, able to fire 36″ iron projectiles for up to 2000 yards.  With such a weapon, the King believed, he would become the greatest ruler in the world, a position he believed was always rightfully his.

The first skirmishes were relatively small affairs with only a few invaders and only small numbers of casualties, but, as the invaders became bolder, there were more and more attacks, spreading throughout the land, and the number of casualties started mounting up.  These were often non-combatants, because the invader did not respect the status of those it attacked.  Ironically, as the invasion progressed, it turned out that people in Croydon were not worth any more than people in Strathclyde after all.  As the casualties mounted, the people grew more concerned.  How many of them would survive?  How many would be left when that final victory was achieved?  Would there be a final victory at all?

As the attacks affected more and more of the land, the lack of PPA for the fighters on the front line was becoming a more obvious problem.  More and more of the fighters were asking why the King had failed to ensure there were adequate supplies of PPA.  Much of what did get delivered wasn’t fit for purpose.  In one example, supplies of what was supposed to be chain mail turned out to be second hand woollen tunics.

Trust in the King’s plan was ebbing away, not helped by his failure to answer the questions being asked, particularly questions about the absence of PPA.  He was also less seen on the battlefield, more often leaving his senior courtiers in charge while he attended feasts celebrating minor historical deities.  It was rumoured that these events involved more than just eating and drinking and that the King had already fathered a number of unacknowledged offspring.

Then came a serious blow for those who still trusted the King to deliver victory.  A single invader had somehow managed to sneak into the Royal palace at Westminster and had attacked the King, injuring him.  There has always been some dispute about the seriousness of the injury, but, in any event, he was taken to hospital.  Daily bulletins were issued telling of the treatment he was receiving, seemingly for serious injuries, but after only a few days, he was on the mend and was released from hospital.  His remaining supporters hailed this as a miracle, claiming that it proved the King was appointed by God, but others said it only showed how minor the injury must have been.  Serious injury or not, the King took himself off to his summer residence with his current favourite concubine for a spell of “recuperation”.

Despite the King’s absence and despite the obvious weaknesses in the King’s plan (or lack of plan), after about 6 weeks, the tide of battle began to turn.  The front line fighters started to understand the invaders tactics and they were gradually gaining the upper hand.  The invaders were being driven back and the number of Wiseland casualties was decreasing.  Only then did the King reappear, and in a speech tried to claim the victory had come as a result of his plan, but by then not many of the people believed him.  It looked like the beginning of the end for King Buffo.

Despite the odds being stacked against him, could the king survive or would abdication be the only option before he was torn to pieces by a mob of his former supporters?  Only time would tell.

Do you think he will survive?