ARTICLE OF THE WEEK.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NATIONAL. MY ARTICLE OF THE WEEK.

A WEEK is a long time in politics. The past fortnight feels like an eternity. Two weeks ago, the SNP leadership produced an 11-point plan conceding the need for a plan B if the British Government continues to refuse a Section 30 order and embracing the legal route for a second independence referendum for which I have long advocated.

I cannot pretend I’m completely satisfied with the detail of the plan but it’s a step in the right direction.

One week ago, the Justice Secretary introduced an amendment to the Hate Crime Bill to address concerns raised by a wide range of civic society bodies, MSPs and others. The amendment was designed to ensure that women who wish to discuss women’s sex-based rights would be protected from charges of transphobic hate crime. This seemed reasonable in…

Anon:

Peter Geoghegan’s excellent “Democracy for Sale” lifts the lid on the £435,000 “dark money” that was funnelled via the DUP to circumnavigate the Brexit referendum spending limits by former Scottish Tory Vice Chair Richard Cook’s Constitutional Research Council. Cook has also boasted of huge sums being available to make a “new and positive campaign for the Union” during any indyref2 and the leading anti self-government campaigning group Scotland in Union is building up a war chest for campaigning in the run up to May’s Holyrood elections.

In 2017, William Ramsay, then deputy chair of Scotland in Union, boasted to diners at an exclusive fundraising dinner in London that the pro-union group had been in talks with Cambridge Analytica.

In December 2017 a huge tranche of information regarding Scotland in Union’s networks, secret letter writing groups and it’s big business and land owner…

WHAT CAN I SAY?

Other than thank you from the bottom of my heart. For the first time in many months I have genuine faith in the SNP. I am hugely impressed by the good sense displayed by the collective wisdom of the Conference delegates.

Before I go further I want to highlight the bravery and dedication of Dot Jessiman. If she had not had the courage to speak out from within the NEC and spell out what was really happening none of this could possibly have happened so spectacularly. Ordinary members owe Dot a great deal. She made their victory possible.

They were aware things had been going wrong, they were concerned with the lack of urgency in driving Independence forward, they were incensed at the selfish and destructive minority interests that were elbowing the rest of the Party and moderate members of the NEC aside, the attempted bullying…

Is Scotland portrayed at all in that cover? Killing Eve’s psychokiller did visit a horrific baronial castle and golf course with guys in kilts for her too say ‘ooo!’ at, so that’d help.

In Ofcom’s annual report, we see:

However, people in Scotland continue to rate the BBC’s delivery of the range of content representing Scotland (41% Scotland vs. 49% UK average) and the
portrayal of Scotland (38% Scotland vs. 50% UK average) below average. (P67)

The BBC has identified some ‘less satisfied’ audience groups, which are largely in line with those we have highlighted in each of our annual reports on the BBC, including those in lower socio-economic groups, audiences in Scotland and disabled people. (P33)

Scotland: The proportion of qualifying spend (10.4% to 9.1%) and hours (16.7% to 15.1%) both fell but remain above the quota. Qualifying programmes made in Scotland included…

CONTROL AND THE CONSTITUTION

A guest post from Dot Jessiman.

Thoughts ona Yearon the NEC

I came to the NEC with highhopes . I believedthe initiative of introducing regional representatives to the NEC as a direct link between leadership and grassrootswould inputdoorstep experience directly into campaign strategy,producingdifferent emphases in organising for rural and urban areas,supply appropriate campaignmaterial, andimprovetheappalling communication between the campaign strategists, HQ and the constituencies which had cost the northeast almost all of its rural seats in the 2016 General Election.

I hoped I could contribute my experience as a Programmer totackle the tardy organisation, particularly of candidate selection. However,it never crossed my mindthat more was needed than a thorough overhaul of campaign thinking to ensure we couldsupplythefocus and efficiencyrequiredbyTHE campaign we were assured was coming. I was concerned, but not seriously,by the lack of a strategic framework for IndyRef2 which reliedtoo heavilyon our opponents’mistakes to make our…