Archive for the ‘Scotland’ Category
Good Election News from Cymru(Wales) – Caerffili – Victory For Plaid Cymru But Defeat for both Labour and Reform UK
Most recent election news from the British state has been very depressing. A labour party government led by Keir Starmer regularly responds to the electoral rise of the far-right Reform outfit led by Nigel Farage by attempting to be more racist and right-wing than the racists themselves.
This political instability is damaging ancient foundations of the British state – Scottish politics in the 21st century has been dominated by the rise of political separatism – and now Cymru/Wales is following that trend.
This will have, and is having, important side-effects in Ireland.
How do we explain an extremely welcome Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) electoral triumph in Caerffili?
Geoff Ryan’s interesting report is below – one of the factors he highlights is
The women of the small Ukrainian community played an important role in combatting the lies of Reform.
Link :
Caerffili victory for Plaid Cymru but defeat for both Labour and Reform UK
Caerffili – Victory For Plaid Cymru But Defeat for both Labour and Reform UK.
Geoff Ryan reports from Wales/Cymru on the Caerffili byelection result
Read the rest of this entry »Keir Starmer’s Cops Arrest Screenwriter Paul Laverty in Edinburgh for wearing a Pro-Palestine T Shirt – “The most important court in the world is the court of public opinion”
The screenwriter of many Ken Loach films – including The Wind That Shakes the Barley – Paul Laverty – has been arrested in Edinburgh for wearing a Pro-Palestine T Shirt.
Link :
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Wikipedia)
Update : Paul Laverty Released and charged with a terrorism offence
The most important court in the world is the court of public opinion
Paul Laverty : https://bsky.app/profile/dmcguirecfc67.bsky.social/post/3lxap5nwebc2s
British Supreme Court Quashes a progressive Scottish Law protecting human rights of Transgender People- Sinn Féin Confusion
David Cullinane TD (Sinn Féin, Waterford), his party’s health spokesperson, seems to believe that bigoted legal discrimination against transgender people, a tiny vulnerable minority, is OK – in his own words it is “common sense”.
Cullinane’s statement below is senseless in more ways than one. A bluesky correspondent observes :
When Sinn Féin in the 6 threw trans people under the British terf(*) bus recently there may have still been some doubt where they’re at. This removes any doubt.
This is a Sinn Féin TD arguing for the removal of Irish citizen’s rights using a British court decision in aid of that position. #Ireland
Link :
https://bsky.app/profile/uilliammac.bsky.social/post/3lmxfqzprjc2r
- terf = (Trans Exclusionary Reactionary Feminist or Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist)
It’s remarkably embarrassing that Cullinane, as a republican, has no idea how the British state is constituted. A Brit court delivered this judgment. It overturned a Scottish High Court decision. That said, many Scottish independence supporters, for example around the reactionary Alba Party founded by the late Alex Salmond after he was accused of rape and sexual assault, are also cheering this decision – brought to us by the same Brit court that killed off the prospect of a second independence referendum in Scotland.
Transphobia is destroying progressive movements everywhere.
Luckily, transphobia is unpopular in many parts of Ireland.
Read the rest of this entry »Rishi Sunak’s Westminster Parliament Blocks Scottish Parliament Transgender Law Reform – British Labour Leader Keir Starmer Surrenders to the Union-Jack Far-Right
Rishi Sunak’s governing Tories at Westminster have blocked a minor administrative human rights reform adopted by the Scottish Parliament which protects the rights of a very small minority, transgender people. It is an easy-peasy issue for all people on the liberal/social-democratic spectrum in Ireland – ranging from the entire left into significant sectors of the big right wing parties Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
In Scotland a similar liberal/social-democratic spectrum includes the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP), the SNP’s government coalition partner the Greens, and the Scottish Labour Party.
The Scottish Parliament voted for this minor reform – which is less favourable to transgender people than the existing law in the 26 county bit of Ireland – by 86 votes to 39. This huge majority followed a very long drawn-out debate.
Rishi Sunak’s Westminster Government Blocks the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform legislation – A “constitutional nuclear ☢️ option”
Rishi Sunak’s Westminster government is using a “constitutional nuclear ☢️ option” (see Financial Times report below) to block a Scottish parliament gender recognition reform.
This Changes Everything
Mike Small reports on the Scottish Bella Caledonia blog : https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2023/01/16/this-changes-everything-2/
Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, has confirmed that the British government is using article 35 to block the Scottish government gender recognition reform bill. This is unprecedented and represents a full-on attack on the devolution settlement. It’s a desperate escalation and dramatically ups the stakes for not just the British government but also the Labour and Scottish Labour party. Will Anas Arwar simply over-turn his parties own position? It is billed as an attack on the SNP but it is actually an attack on the Scottish Parliament where the legislation received cross-party support after years of delays, amendments and debate.
Read the rest of this entry »Transgender Rights – “Scotland is now ahead of the rest of the UK – though still behind Ireland” – Michael Farrell
Veteran human rights activist Michael Farrell has campaigned in favour of transgender people for many decades. He publicly posted this comment in support of a recent Scottish Parliament Law reform:
Congratulations to the Scottish Parliament for taking a big step to protect transgender rights and resisting a bitter campaign by anti-trans groups to prevent them from making it easier for trans persons to get legal recognition. The new law, passed by 86 votes to 39, means trans people won’t have to get a medical diagnosis and wait for two yeas to register their gender. Scotland is now ahead of the rest of the UK – though still behind Ireland. A good day for a small community of people who have been abused and discriminated against for generations.
Michael Farrell, a founding member of People’s Democracy, was a revolutionary socialist activist in the six counties of Northern Ireland during the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Read the rest of this entry »Diary of a Corbyn Foot Soldier (February, 2020)
Diary of a Corbyn Foot Soldier (February, 2020)
https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/diary-of-a-corbyn-foot-soldier-february-2020/
— Read on cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/diary-of-a-corbyn-foot-soldier-february-2020/
I highly recommend Michael Murray’s account – Days of Hope Started when Jeremy Corbyn was elected to the job of leading the British Labour Party.
The foot-soldier’s trek through a gloomy British political landscape ends on April 4 2020 when Jeremy Corbyn officially resigns from his leadership job, and Tony Blair style right-wingers take over the British Labour Party again.
Doctor Strangeloves are lining to press a nuclear button, and prepare the funeral rites of the British Labour Party, which has already lost its one-time electoral fortress in Scotland.
Dictionary definition of “foot soldier”: “…a dedicated low level follower…”
Contents:
*The Labour leadership election;
*The Trump “Plan” – the end of the 2 State solution to the Israel-Palestine question?;
*2020: 100 years of the Jewish Labour Movement/ Poele Zion.
*The Labour leadership election Read the rest of this entry »
Brexit in Trouble “EU fishing deal ‘far from acceptable’ to Scottish industry”
The question is : can the British Tory Government hold its competing factions together?
Douglas Ross, the Conservative MP for Moray, said no matter what the UK government claimed, it had delivered “far less than I hoped and expected”.
He tweeted: “There is no spinning this as a good outcome, it would be easier to get someone to drink a pint of cold sick than try to sell this as a success.”
Skip Twitter post by @NicolaSturgeon
This is shaping up to be a massive sellout of the Scottish fishing industry by the Tories. The promises that were made to them during #EUref and since are already being broken – as many of us warned they would be. https://t.co/TzPdwfFlQA
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 19, 2018
Report
End of Twitter post by @NicolaSturgeon
The Scottish government accused the Conservatives of “a massive sell-out” of the Scottish fishing industry.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “The promises that were made to them (Scottish fishermen) during #EUref and since are already being broke – as many of us warned they would be.”
Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said: “Ruth Davidson should be shame-faced for her fastest broken Brexit promise yet.
“Just last week she said Britain will leave the CFP as of March 2019.
“Now we know not only will the UK have to abide by CFP rules during the transition period, it will lose the voting rights it has now. The Tories have delivered the worst possible outcome for Scotland’s fishing industry.
“It is outrageous that Ruth Davidson and Michael Gove could have issued such a misleading statement last weekend when they must have known what was about to happen – and they must both now apologise for their broken promise.
Mr Ewing added: “The Tories have demonstrated once again that for them Scottish interests are expendable.”
Environmental coalition, Greener UK, said continuing to co-operate with the EU during the implementation period “does not have to be seen as a capitulation”.
Dr Lyndsey Dodds, of WWF and Greener UK, added: “Having longer to negotiate the sharing of over 100 stocks can reduce the risk of rash quota setting, and heightens our chances of achieving thriving coastal communities and sustainable fisheries in the longer run.”
— Read on www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-43458081
Tomás Ó Flatharta 