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#Angus MacNeil
realpeterabell · 5 months
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It's those polls again!
So, here we have a single poll being interpreted as validating three quite distinct proposals...
With all the usual caveats about the dangers of reading too much into a single poll, the one conducted by FindOutNow on behalf of the Alba Party is interesting. It is interesting both for the issue it addresses – legislative competence – and for the reaction to it from various quarters. The headline finding of the survey is that 57.5%, excluding don’t knows, agree or strongly agree with the…
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peterabell · 11 months
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What kind of fools are we?
As published in the Sunday National today. https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23658271.scottish-independence-requires-snp-alba-offer/
First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, Humza Yousaf said in his recent address to the party’s much-vaunted ‘Independence Convention at the Caird Hall in Dundee, We will seek negotiations with the UK Government on how we give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent nation. Humza Yousaf’s speech at the Convention on Independence The Alba Party website says, Thus,…
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stairnaheireann · 10 months
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Roger Casement | A Man of Mystery
In the week after Roger Casement’s execution, on 3 August 1916, newsreel footage of the nationalist leader was shown in cinemas across America. At a conservative estimate, some 15 million US citizens saw the moving pictures. A century on, this fragment of film provides a fascinating insight. Casement is glimpsed at his desk writing: The daily activity he performed above any other. He used the pen…
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scotianostra · 2 years
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On November 15th 1746, James Reid was executed at York for being a part of the Jacobite uprising.
Reid, a native of Angus, was among many Jacobites captured at Carlisle  and as per usual dates are a bit iffy with this post.
The following is an extract from Grattan Flood’s Story of the Bagpipe. “So powerful a factor was the Scotch bagpipe in working up enthusiasm for the Stuart cause that it was regarded as an instrument of war. This point is amply proved by the fact that James Reid, a Scotch piper, was tried at York for high treason, the capital offence being that as no Highland Regiment ever marched without a piper; therefore, his bagpipe in the eye of the law was an instrument of war.
“Reid suffered death at York on November 6, 1746, as is reported in the contemporary Caledonian Mercury.”
On checking this information in the National Library [in Edinburgh] it was noted that this information was given in the Caledonian Mercury of November 25, 1746. The following is the extract:
“On Saturday 15th James Reid was executed for high treason at York. He was of the Shire of Angus and a private man in Lord Ogilvy’s regiment”.
Lord Ogilvy was only 21 years old and commanded two battalions. He had held a commission in the French Army and was very popular with his men. The Angus men were supposed to be the best equipped and according to some accounts the best disciplined in the Prince’s army. They kept the retreating right wing at Culloden from being cut to pieces. Lord Ogilvy escaped to France via Norway and became a general in the French army. He eventually regained his estates. He died in 1803.
In the three volumes of Prisoners of The ’45 by Sir Bruce Seton and Jean Gordon Arnot (published in 1929) there are several hundred names of soldiers of Charles Edward Stuart. Some of the pipers listed are as follows:
John Sinclair. Piper in Ogilvy’s regiment. Town piper of Arbroath. Discharged March 4, 1747.
John Ballantyne. Piper in Lord George Murray’s regiment. Taken at Carlisle. Tried at York on October 2, 1746 and acquitted.
Nicholas Carr. Piper in Glenbucket’s regiment; acquitted October 1746.
Robert Jamieson. Piper in the Duke of Perth’s regiment; captured at Carlisle and transported.
Allan MacDougall of Duke of Atholl’s and Lord Nairn’s regiments; served as a blind Highland piper and was taken at Falkirk. He was pardoned in 1747. What a blind man could do in an army had only one reason. He must have been an exceptionally talented and well known piper. Could this have been Blind MacDougall mentioned in Angus MacKay’s MS? His name is associated with the following tunes: The King’s Taxes, Farewell Donald, Lament For Captain MacDougall, the Nameless tune (Book 4 of the Piobaireachd Society Collection (three Nameless tunes are shown but which one is MacDougalls is not clear), Cumha Iain Cheir, The Duke of Perth’s Lament and Lachlan MacNeill of Kintarbert. Angus MacKay states that this MacDougall is Ronald MacDougall and it is not likely that there are two blind MacDougalls. It could be reasonable to assume that this blind MacDougall piper is the same man.
And the main subject of this post;
James Reid. Piper in Ogilvy’s regiment. Executed York on November 15, 1746. The relevant entry is:
2800. Reid, James. Piper, Ogilvy’s. 30.12.45 Carlisle; Lancaster Castle, York. Executed York 15/11/46. Angus. Taken at capture of Carlisle. It was pointed out at his trial at York on 2nd Oct. that he was only a piper, but he was found guilty but recommended to mercy. Nevertheless he was executed. The Court ruled that ‘no regiment ever marched without musical instruments such as drums, trumpets and the like; and that a Highland regiment never marched without a piper; and therefore his bagpipe, in the eye of the law, was an instrument of war.” – Baga, lxix. 193; S.P.D., 79-26, 91-77.
Also listed were several drummers and fiddlers.
Manson, in his book The Highland Bagpipe, states that Charles Edward had 32 pipers playing before his tent at meal times. The relevant papers a decisions about hanging Reid have been checked up in the [National] Library in Edinburgh and in London and I have yet to find any government decision to hang rebel pipers. James Reid was not the only piper – he was just the unlucky one as the rest got off or were transported.
It would appear that the decision to hang Reid was made by the court at York in isolation and not under any official directive. There is little record of pipers being harassed, imprisoned, or hanged for playing the pipes after the ’45 and we know that Joseph MacDonald compiled his Compleat Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe in 1760, 14 years after the troubles. It would be reasonable to assume that piping did not suffer unduly.
James Reid must be unique in piping history as the only one who lost his life because he was a piper.
Black Watch museum in Perth also hold information on Jacobite prisoners, including James Reid, they appear to records taken directly from the hearings;
“John Porteous was tried next, who appeared to be Deferter from one of our Regiments: He alledged, in Excufe of his Offence, and as a Plea to ftop Sentence, that he had the Promife of his Royal Highnefs the Duke of Cumberland for his Pardon – Guilty.
“James Reid was then tried, whom the Witneffes for the Crown plainly proved to have engaged with the Rebels, and to have acted as a Piper to a Rebel Regiment, tho’ it did not appear that he had ever carried any Arms; upon which he was recommended to Mercy by the Jury. The Court obferved upon this, that every Perfon who joined any Set of People engaged in an open Rebellion, tho’ they did not bear Arms, they were guilty of High Treafon; that no Regiments ever marched without Mufical Inftruments, as Drums, Trumpets, or the like; and that in an Highland Regiment there was no Moving without a Piper, and therefore his Bagpipe, in the Eye of the Law, was an Inftrument of War. The Jury upon this would have retracted their Recommendation, but the Court told them, it muft not now be permitted — Guilty. Then the Court adjourned to Saturday.
“On Saturday, James Main was firft brought to the Bar; but his Counfel moving for farther Time, upon Account of fome of his Witneffes being on the Road, the Court was fo favourable, as to poftpone his Trial.
“Then John Long was brought upon his Trial, and fix Witneffes were examined for the Crown, to prove that he had acted as a Surgeon’s mate in the Rebel Army; but the Proof not coming up to the Species of High Treafon laid in the Indictment, he was acquitted on the Motion of the King’s Counfel.
“James McColley was tried next, and was proved by four Witneffes to have appeared in Arms at feveral Places: He did not attempt to contradict this in his Defence, but examined fome Witneffes to fhew that his Cafe was the fame with Charles Robinfon’s — Guilty.”
In total there were 22 Jacobites executed at York in the wake of the ‘45 Crann Tara held a commemorate event in York in their memory ib 2007, a simple stones marks where they met their end.  You can watch the commemoration on Youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a05QSzs_u60
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qudachuk · 10 months
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Move follows refusal to join to rejoin Westminster group after suspension over clash with Brendan O’HaraThe MP Angus MacNeil has announced he has been expelled from the Scottish Nationalist party (SNP).He was suspended from the party’s Westminster group last...
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ianchisnall · 1 year
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Some EDMs Angus MacNeil set for Harris and Lewis
A significant number of MPs use the Early Day Motions to express their views and indeed the SNP MPs do use these items along with a number of other MPs. The MP for Harris and Lewis is Angus MacNeil who has been their MP since 2005 and he has set out three EDMs that focus specifically on the Na h-Eileanan an Iar area that he represents. So here are those specific Early Day Motions and clicking on…
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warningsine · 1 year
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Nicola Sturgeon has been arrested and questioned by detectives investigating allegations of financial misconduct by the Scottish National party.
Sturgeon, who quit as first minister and SNP leader in March, is the third person to be arrested as part of Operation Branchform, the Police Scotland investigation into allegations that the party misspent more than £600,000 in donations for an independence campaign.
The force said that Police Scotland detectives were interviewing Sturgeon “as a suspect”.
A spokesperson for Sturgeon said she had met the police by arrangement, in the knowledge that she would be arrested and interviewed.
“Nicola Sturgeon has today, Sunday 11 June, by arrangement with Police Scotland, attended an interview where she was to be arrested and questioned in relation to Operation Branchform,” the spokesperson said. “Nicola has consistently said she would cooperate with the investigation if asked, and continues to do so.”
Her husband, Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, was arrested at their home in Uddingston near Glasgow on 5 April after plainclothes officers arrived without warning. He was interviewed under caution for nearly 12 hours before being released without charge.
The police searched their home and back garden, and also the SNP’s headquarters, under warrant, taking out boxes of documents and computers. A luxury motorhome parked outside Murrell’s mother’s house in Fife was also seized and impounded by police, as part of their investigation.
Colin Beattie MSP, then the party’s treasurer, was arrested and questioned as part of the same inquiry on 18 April and also released later without charge, pending further investigation.
In a statement issued at 2.28pm on Sunday, Police Scotland said: “A 52-year-old woman has today, Sunday 11 June 2023, been arrested as a suspect in connection with the ongoing investigation into the funding and finances of the Scottish National party.
“The woman is in custody and is being questioned by Police Scotland detectives. A report will be sent to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
“The matter is active for the purposes of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and the public are therefore advised to exercise caution if discussing it on social media.
“As the investigation is ongoing we are unable to comment further.”
Sturgeon has repeatedly said she did not know of any wrongdoing with the SNP’s finances and has insisted that the £600,000 in donations it received for a future independence referendum were dealt with correctly.
Speaking to reporters at Holyrood in late April, Sturgeon also denied that the police inquiry had played a part in her decision to step down in February, after eight years as SNP leader and first minister.
Describing her husband’s arrest as “traumatic” and “very difficult”, she said: “I understand the view that some people might have, that I knew this was all about to unfold and that’s why I walked away. Nothing could be further from the truth. I could not have anticipated in my worst nightmares what would have unfolded over the past few weeks.”
Speaking earlier on Sunday morning on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Humza Yousaf, Sturgeon’s successor as first minister and SNP leader, said he could not comment on the police inquiry. “I understand why you ask the question, [but] as first minister I’ve got a really important duty not to be seen to prejudice or interfere in the live police investigation,” he said.
Opposition leaders and an SNP MP, Angus MacNeil, the MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, said Yousaf should now follow previous precedent by suspending Sturgeon from the party. Yousaf refused to suspend Murrell and Beattie after they were arrested, on the grounds that neither had been charged or convicted.
MacNeil, an ally of Sturgeon’s predecessor, Alex Salmond, tweeted: “This soap opera has gone far enough, Nicola Sturgeon suspended others from the SNP for an awful lot less! Time for political distance until the investigation ends either way.”
Craig Hoy, the chair of the Scottish Conservatives, said the SNP had suspended other MPs under police investigation. “The SNP continue to be engulfed in murkiness and chaos. Humza Yousaf must now show some leadership and suspend his predecessor from the SNP,” Hoy said.
Earlier this month, Scotland’s chief constable, Sir Iain Livingstone, defended the police investigation after Sturgeon’s allies attacked the force for erecting large forensic tents outside the couple’s home after Murrell’s arrest.
Murray Foote, the SNP’s former head of communications at Holyrood, told the Daily Record in early May the use of tents was a “grotesque circus”.
Livingstone said they were erected partly to protect the couple’s privacy. He said the use of search warrants was “proportionate and necessary”, and that the arrest warrants had been cleared by a judge.
“When we carry out the search, we will put processes in place that are proportionate and necessary to the action being carried out, and to the inquiry and its terms, and I am satisfied that the steps we have taken are proportionate and necessary,” Livingstone told the Sunday Times.
“Stating opinion or speculation without having the knowledge and information that exists is damaging … because it infringes the rights of individuals. Operation Branchform has integrity, it is expected to have rigour. If the operation had not been pursued, I would rightly have been accused of neglect of duty.”
Senior police sources had earlier told the BBC that the force had consulted the National Crime Agency, a UK-wide agency in charge of investigating serious and organised crime, about its investigation as a form of external peer review of its lines of inquiry.
According to one senior police source, such external reviews are generally carried out “to check on the status, strategy and direction of an investigation”. The source added: “The review checks that the lines of inquiry are correct, that nothing has been missed, and that the rationale is proportionate and necessary.”
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cathygeha · 1 year
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REVIEW
The Unforgiven Dead by Fulton Ross
 The blurb for this book drew me in as it seemed to have a lead character with second sight that he was having difficulty embracing. The introduction was gripping but within that first chapter or two I found my mind wandering, not sure where the story was heading and, as I usually do, I ended up reading the ending to see what the outcome would be. At that point I decided that I would not finish the book even though the writing was clear and well edited it just did not feel a good fit for me at this time. I am sure others will enjoy and even love this book, though.
 Thank you to NetGalley and Inkshares for the ARC – This is my honest review.
 2-3 Stars
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    BLURB
 You could have saved her. Sure as the tide against his Highland shores, the refrain beats into Constable Angus ‘Dubh’ MacNeil’s mind. For years it has haunted him, accompanied by the faces of those he could not save—the Burned Man, the Strangled Woman, the Drowned Boy. All witnesses to a secret he cannot share and a gift he now refuses to embrace. Until everything changes one October, on Samhain, the liminal time when the ancients awaken and the Otherworld creeps in. The refrain drives Angus to the seashore at dawn, where a girl lies on the unblemished sand. She wears a green cloak and cradles a corps creadha, a Highland voodoo doll. She has suffered a ritualistic, three-fold death—her head bludgeoned, her throat cut, and symbolically drowned. It is Faye Chichester, daughter of an American billionaire whose mission to reintroduce wolves to the Highlands has embroiled the village of Glenuig. But even as media and national police swarm the area, that refrain—you could have saved her—echoes in all Angus’s thoughts. For he carries a burden, a blessing, a curse, a secret—dà-shealladh, the second sight of Gaelic lore. Gilleasbuig ‘Gills’ MacMurdo, noted folklorist, academic, and Angus’s oldest friend, confirms what the dà-shealladh is warning. Just as Faye’s death was three-fold, so must the murder victims fulfil the ancient pattern. More will die, unless Angus does what he must—close his eyes and see.
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petnews2day · 1 year
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Politics latest: Rishi Sunak defends home secretary's use of term 'invasion' to describe small boat crossings as he faces senior MPs | Politics News
New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/eHogA
Politics latest: Rishi Sunak defends home secretary's use of term 'invasion' to describe small boat crossings as he faces senior MPs | Politics News
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The face of the inscrutable Nicholas Howard, the civil servant sitting behind Rishi Sunak, finally breaks into a beaming smile and he almost – only almost – chuckles. The reason: some typically knockabout banter between the SNP MP Angus MacNeil and Mr Sunak about Scottish independence Brexit, in which – it’s fair to say – […]
See full article at https://petn.ws/eHogA #OtherNews
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atlanticcanada · 1 year
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Private clinic opens in Halifax as health-care debate continues
It hasn’t officially seen any patients yet, but Monday was the first day open for Halifax’s new private medical clinic, called Bluenose Health Primary Care Clinic.
With four exam rooms, the nurse practitioner in charge of the primary care facility on Young Street says the phones have already been busy.
“There has been a lot of interest, we have a lot of people who are wanting to sign up,” says Lori Anne Peckford, a nurse practitioner at the new clinic.
The ongoing debate over whether privatization should fill gaps in public health care means Peckford is aware of the many questions and concerns Maritimers may have about the service.
Adult patients signing up at the clinic first pay a monthly subscription fee of $27.50 plus tax, while the monthly fee for children is $9.50 plus tax.
After that, clients then also pay for individual services, such as $29 for medication refills, according to Bluenose Health's website.
“We understand that not everyone is going to want to join this type of clinic, but this is an option for people who do want to have a different type of health-care experience and are okay with spending their own money to do that,” says Peckford.
The clinic’s opening comes on the same day as an Angus Reid survey finds a clear divide on the issue amongst Canadians, with 39 per cent of respondents seeing no place for privatization in health care.
Thirty-three per cent said they see both sides of the debate, while 28 per cent said they believe privatization is necessary.
In Halifax’s north end, residents have differing views themselves.
“Certainly I worry about it, I think providing health care, taking care of each other, is one of the most fundamental things,” says John Shimeld.
“In broad terms, keeping it public is probably the best course of option for the time being, that doesn't mean we don't explore potential other avenues though,” says Andrew Brown.
“I am somewhere in the middle,” says Jenn Durrette. “I like the idea of health care being free, but I still feel like with the free health care, people don't have access to it.”
Former emergency department nurse and department manager Cathy MacNeil says Canadians need to understand the true price of private health care.
She recently published a book about the crisis facing the public health-care system, called “Dying to be Seen.”
“We should fund the public system,” says MacNeil, who adds that funding needs to come with a clear accounting from the provinces on how every health-care dollar is spent.
She blames governments for deliberately underfunding the system to let private interests in “through the back door."
MacNeil says Canadians need to have equitable and timely access to the health care they pay taxes for.
“Do we really want to pay those taxes and start paying out of pocket? “ she asks. “Because you absolutely know when that starts, nobody's going to stand up and say, "Ok, we’ll roll all your taxes back.' That's not going to happen.”
Peckford has concerns about ensuring quality in the private system and with private health services recruiting staff from the public sector, putting even more pressure on the system.
At Bluenose Health, Peckford says the clinic has not taken staff from the public system, adding she herself found barriers finding employment in public health care after moving to Nova Scotia from Newfoundland more than a year ago.
For her, the clinic is just one option for Maritimers.
“All Canadians deserve good primary health care,” she says.
That, a point those on all sides of the debate, likely agree on.
For full coverage of Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated page.
from CTV News - Atlantic https://ift.tt/gnM5UeW
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jhamazamnews-blog · 1 year
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Rebel MSP Ash Regan has 'thrown hat into the ring' for SNP leadership | UK News
A rebel SNP MSP has reportedly “thrown her hat into the ring” to replace Nicola Sturgeon as first minister. Ash Regan, who last year resigned as community safety minister over the Gender Recognition Reform bill, has reportedly revealed her intention to enter the leadership race. Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, SNP MP Angus MacNeil said the party has a number of options to choose from following…
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realpeterabell · 11 months
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What kind of fools are we?
As published in the Sunday National today. https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23658271.scottish-independence-requires-snp-alba-offer/
First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, Humza Yousaf said in his recent address to the party’s much-vaunted ‘Independence Convention at the Caird Hall in Dundee, We will seek negotiations with the UK Government on how we give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent nation. Humza Yousaf’s speech at the Convention on Independence The Alba Party website says, Thus,…
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peterabell · 11 months
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Primary aim?
Michael Russell presents a brazenly dishonest portrayal of Angus Brendan MacNeil’s actions and their intent. In the first place, I have seen no evidence of him “attacking” party members. Other, that is, than those party members who have been elevated to the self-satisfied leadership clique which Mr Russell so ably represents. But the patent falsehood that caused my jaw to drop in my porridge…
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stairnaheireann · 2 years
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Roger Casement | A Man of Mystery
Roger Casement | A Man of Mystery
In the week after Roger Casement’s execution, on 3 August 1916, newsreel footage of the nationalist leader was shown in cinemas across America. At a conservative estimate, some 15 million US citizens saw the moving pictures. A century on, this fragment of film provides a fascinating insight. Casement is glimpsed at his desk writing: The daily activity he performed above any other. He used the pen…
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irnbraw · 5 years
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Another SNP Ex-MP Goes Down
Some might say ‘ ‘Whit - ANOTHER SNP turns out tae be a crook?!? This is too far!’, some may say ‘Is this a record, the number of top SNatsis that end up in custody/under investigation/under arrest or forced out!?!’..?  I say - no. - its no record and its not far enough.
Demagogues Swindlers Cheats Hypocrites Liars Crooks Abusers Bigots - and Rapists?
Fact is the SNP is cobbled together from some of the (if not quite ALL of the) worst elements - the bottom dregs of Scotland.  Lumbering pro-IRA morons who can barely conceal their support for the murder of British servicemen - even if they are Scots soldiers; low level swindlers, opportunist con-merchants who stalk the elderly and the vulnerable to bilk them from their homes and savings; wanton lawyers, milking their public status while Deacon Brodie’ing their clients money behind the scenes; grab-ass perverts, under the cover of high office stalking, harassing and demeaning women - all as preludes to their ‘Droit du seigneur’ dominion over their victims; expense padding £ junkies, living high on the public purse, using First Class as their daily travel out of the impoverished areas they claim to represent; menacing bullies - online and in person - who not only run with the mob, they incite it; practiced liars, pretending to be one person to one audience while in fact being a completely different person (a MUCH more viscous, untruthful and unprincipled person) in reality; Unprofessional ‘professionals’, like doctors who will concoct complete fabrications about patients, treatments or hospitals, just to further a political agenda; the tricksters who set up charities, either to con the public or milk the state, either way the money never goes where it was supposed to;  the deranged who will physically attack that with which they disagree - be it a building, a monument, a flag, private property or even a private person - but always under cover of darkness, of course; race-baiters, experts at the dog-whistle who expend their breath on Goebbels-esque twists of the English language to call anyone who stands apart from them, stands up to them or stands in their way “traitor”; the phony moralizers, proclaiming a ‘new, clean’ politics - a new moral order’ all from their three-in-the-sack-teenager sex romp or from the cozy bedroom of their journalist-tryst shared with fellow SNatsi adulterers; the hyper-hypocrites who rail against tax avoiders while they perfect their own tax avoidance, or rail against sales of weapons, while raking in weapon-sales dividends; or the bigots who set themselves upon a high place to offer judgment upon others, while the banners of their own bigotry literally hang upon the wall behind them throughout; etc. etc....  
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You know who they are: you know each and every one of them.  You see them daily on your television, in your newspaper and your social media feed.  You have become used to their double-talking, duplicity.  To their say one thing - do something entirely different.  From the long litany of ‘New Fund’ announcements, heralding all sorts of new benefits (that NEVER materialize) to the endless declarations of ‘my TOP priority’ by top liars - who instead spend their time in meditation on their all-consuming transcendental obsession.
You know them - and your know their calumnies - yet you have grown tolernt of them.  Just because politicians elsewhere also lie, because ‘lying politician’ is a cliché - none of that means we Scots have to put up with being governed like a backwater ex-Soviet satellite, in the hands of a strongman regime with ugly crooked henchmen.
Remember - we used to be envied in the UK and elsewhere - for our education, our caring civil society, our health care, our culture, our traditions... Now all of those have been tainted or wrecked - and all by the SNatsis.  A SNatsi party that is willing to see Scotland in ashes - so long as they get to rule the rubble.
So I say NO - not enough of these cheap-mafioso are yet in jail or under investigation or out of office.  Let them have NO MORE of Scotland to ruin.  No.  lets have more of them in jail...!
No, more...
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qudachuk · 10 months
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The Western Isles MP was suspended from the party's Westminster group last month.
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