by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider I’ve just returned from a short break in Germany where I visited the Munich Oktoberfest. Copious amounts of beer were drunk, and I ate far too much schnitzel, but thanks to my sighted friends, I survived the event. It was a magnificent party. What this trip also gave me were a few...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider There can be no doubt that there is a split in the Yes movement. While I can understand why people may hold different views, I can only reiterate my disappointment that this is playing into the hands of the Unionists. The UK has always operated on a divide and conquer basis, and I fear it is...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider I will admit that I have not read a great deal about the trial of former Nurse Lucy Letby. That anyone could consider harming a child, let alone killing several, is so appalling that I could not bring myself to read any of the horrendous details. I can only imagine the heartache and grief...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider So the Tories managed to cling on to the Uxbridge constituency in the By-election, and most commentators seem to think it is because they turned it into a single issue campaign, with voters urged to show their displeasure at the proposed expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone. Since many...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider The other week, I was discussing the shocking state of the mainstream media with an English relative of mine. We were both bemoaning the biases, and he has even come to agree that the BBC are not impartial as he had once believed. I managed to recommend some alternative news websites and...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider I’m old enough to remember the days of Margaret Thatcher’s Government. I was a young lad in a decent job, and I do recall that the Tories were swept in on a wave of expectation after the many disasters of the 1970s. Three day working weeks, regular power cuts and endless strikes had left...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider I’m glad I wasn’t the only person who was a bit confused by Humza Yousaf’s speech about the way forward for turning Scotland into a normal, self-governing country. Although there is some debate over his plan, it seems that the bar he is setting is quite low, simply requiring a majority...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider It was nice to hear Humza Yousaf state his determination to see Scotland become a normal, self-governing country within the next five years. I really hope he is able to deliver because some of the recent pronouncements from other SNP politicians on the topic of independence have been worrying...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider So the SNP have decided not to decide anything for a few more months. It’s not an entirely unsurprising move since many in the Yes community are convinced that the SNP have no real intentions of ever attempting to make Scotland a normal, self-governing country. I’m not entirely convinced...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider Unsurprisingly, the House of Commons voted to suspend Margaret Ferrier MP for 30 days, thus almost certainly triggering a by-election in the constituency of Rutherglen & Hamilton West. I can’t say I have a great deal of sympathy for her, but it is interesting to note who voted in the...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider It’s been yet another Brownhog Day, with Gordon Brown once again promising us something or other which he isn’t able to deliver. Not only is Labour not in power, but even if they do form the next UK Government, Sir Keir (Knight of the Realm) starmer has already said that reform of the...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider Do you remember how, back in 2014, author J K Rowling, a Labour diehard supporter, assured Scots that, if we voted No in the IndyRef, we would be in a very strong position and could ask for virtually anything we wanted from the UK Government? How did that turn out, I wonder? Another author,...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider There’s a great article in The National today about GDP and how ineffective it is at providing any detail on the health and wellbeing of an economy. It reminded me that the UK boosted its own GDP recently by including an estimate of the amount of money spent on prostitution and illegal...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider I managed not to see a single moment of the coronation yesterday but, while social media was full of comments on how ridiculous the pageantry was, my newsfeeds were full of headlines proclaiming what a superb spectacle the event was, what a wonderful, benevolent, caring person Charles is, and...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider A lot has been written and said about the farce of the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, so I thought I might as well get in on the act. One interesting poll suggested that a majority of Scots view the monarchy as very much an English institution, and the reaction to the event in ...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider The UK media in Scotland are certainly ramping up the pressure on the SNP, with more and more revelations about murky goings on being reported every day. It will be interesting to see whether any of these propaganda outlets are prosecuted for contempt of Court, but I suspect they’ll get away...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider To the surprise of nobody at all, Humza yousaf’s decision to challenge the use of a section 35 Order by the UK Government has stoked up all the debate about Trans rights once again. It is, unfortunately, the role of the UK media in Scotland to bash the SNP as often and as hard as possible,...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider I have not written anything much about the SNP leadership contest because I’m not a member of the Party, so had no input to the contest. I do feel that it was an unedifying spectacle seeing the contenders gift arguments to the unionists by slating each other rather than promoting themselves,...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider As I am not a member of the SNP, I haven’t spent a great deal of time watching the leadership debates. From what I can gather, the Hustings have been well received, with sensible debate and answers to audience questions. It has, though, been a very different affair on the televised debates....

by Rab Bruce’s Spider Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.ScotTwitter: @RabBrucesSpider Like most Yessers, I am fully aware of the BBC’s bias when it comes to reporting news and current affairs. The latest furore over a tweet sent out by Gary Lineker has, however, reinforced my views even further. In the aftermath, with huge amounts of BBC airtime being given over to this...