Apologies to anyone who thought from the title of this post that it's a completely new poll - it was in fact published on Monday, so you may have already seen it. I was up to my neck that day due to an Alba committee meeting and a few other things, but I thought I'd better bring the numbers to you belatedly.
SCOT goes POP!
A pro-independence blog by James Kelly - voted one of Scotland's top 10 political websites.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Keir Starmer reels in HORROR as Labour loses its outright lead in Scotland, according to shock new Norstat poll
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
More on Craig Murray and dual party loyalties
Monday, April 15, 2024
A prescription for the Alba Party
I'm sure you'll all understand why I have to be cagey about my exact reasons for feeling moved to write this short blogpost, but I am becoming increasingly concerned - bordering on distressed - about the direction of travel of the Alba Party. Being "no worse than the SNP" just isn't going to cut it. In fact it would render the party pointless, because people don't defect from a large party to a small one unless they can be assured of a marked improvement. Alba does have very different policies from the SNP, but the SNP's woke, indy-lite authoritarianism is not necessarily any worse than a more radical indy authoritarianism.
This would be my prescription -
* Alba must be, as promised at its outset, member-led. The reality should match the words.
* Alba must be, as promised at its outset, the "best of Yes". It should not be a curated niche fraction of Yes.
* Alba should be a party in which members are free to speak their minds on social media.
* Alba should be a party in which members are free to blog, to write articles, and to speak to the media.
* Alba should not be a secret society in which the only freedom of speech permitted is behind closed doors.
* Alba should be a party in which members are free to criticise the leadership or even poke gentle fun at it.
And there endeth the lesson.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Poll of Polls: Support for independence stands at 49.6% so far this year
Friday, April 12, 2024
A red letter day as Neil MacKay may not be completely wrong about absolutely everything
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Bombshell Redfield & Wilton poll shows a clear majority for independence, but the SNP slip to second place in YouGov poll, posing the question for SNP members: is factional Humza rule REALLY worth losing the general election for?
Friday, April 5, 2024
Two queries
Someone claimed on the previous thread that there was a new poll out today showing the SNP on 49 seats. That seemed highly unlikely, and having checked I couldn't see anything. I then made five or six attempts to respond to the comment by asking if people were just inventing numbers at this point in the hope that no-one would bother checking. But I couldn't get my comment published. I don't know if the bug is at my end or if it's affecting everyone. I was going to ask people to let me know if they were having the same problem, but of course if they are, it would be difficult to tell me! You could always email me. And if anyone has seen this mysterious poll, please let me know about that too.
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
YouGov MRP poll shows SNP on course to lose almost thirty seats, piling pressure on Yousaf to go, or to end factional rule, or to change strategy on independence
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Fresh despair for Labour as Anas Sarwar finishes third behind Humza Yousaf *and Douglas Ross* in a "who would be the best First Minister" poll
It's more than a touch ironic that the closest thing Humza Yousaf has had to a good personal showing in an opinion poll has just arrived courtesy of a poll commissioned by the Alba Party. The reason that Alba have decided to release the numbers is presumably that they're also reasonably good for Alex Salmond.
Monday, April 1, 2024
Let's get the awkwardness out of the way - I have a new title
Not everything in life makes sense, and one example is that Scottish political bloggers seem to be judged by their clerical titles, or lack thereof. Stuart Campbell has styled himself a "Reverend" since entering the fray a decade ago, and although he's always insisted that's a genuine title, he's nevertheless been coy about how he acquired it. A Google search suggests the answer may be the "Universal Life Church", which bills itself as "the world's leading online church" (whatever that means), and which allows anyone to be ordained as a priest within minutes simply by filling in a form. No fee is even required.
The suggestion that Campbell's title comes from this rather dubious source was made several years ago by a well-known Brit Nat troublemaker. But I can't find anything that contradicts it, and it has the ring of truth to it, because it's hard to think of any other religious denomination that wouldn't have cast Campbell out of the priesthood long before now due to his repeated foul-mouthed tirades. The Universal Life Church has no standing whatever in the UK, but it does have limited recognition in the US, and there are a few US states that for some reason even recognise marriages conducted by its "Reverends". So if you want to live in wedded bliss but only in Texas or South Carolina, Stu is your man.
Naturally I couldn't allow myself to be outdone by this, so I had a look to see if the Universal Life Church also offer titles that outrank a Reverend, such as Bishop, Cardinal or Pope. I couldn't see any sign that they do, so I looked elsewhere. There actually are plenty of "online churches" out there that offer an array of ranks, but most of them have no legal standing anywhere in the world. What I was looking for was a church that allows its clergy to officiate at legally recognised weddings, even if only within a very limited jurisdiction.
As is often the case in situations like this, the answer was to be found in the South Pacific. There is a small church, consisting of little more than a webpage, called the Pirate Mercator Communion. It nominally worships the sea, and it seems to have a cosy financial arrangement with the government of the Cook Islands. Anyone it ordains can indeed conduct weddings, but only in the Cook Islands. Crucially it also allows anyone to become a Bishop for a nominal fee of 17 New Zealand dollars.
Reader, the deed is already done. On Wednesday, I was ordained as a priest (by email) and on Thursday I was consecrated as a Bishop (by Zoom call, but it only took three minutes). The fantastic thing is that I was able to select my own Bishopric, and although most of Scotland had already been nabbed, I was able to put together a distinctly squiggly looking and non-contiguous Bishopric consisting of Speyside, Tranent, Yetts o' Muckhart, Milngavie and approximately five-eighths of Benbecula.
I am advised that the correct form of address for a Bishop is "Your Excellency" or "Your Grace". Suck it up, Stu.