I don't often do a post like this, but then I don't think that highly of many think tanks and I do of Common Weal, which I think is the most forward-thinking organisation in Scotland.
Common Weal has a new book out this weekend. Entitled 'Sorted', they say of it on the fundraising page from which it can be purchased:
They add:
I should add that I am not entirely without hope for the book. In a separate blog post, Robin McAlpine, who has been responsible for drafting the collective thinking that went into the book said:
I have yet to see the result. My copy will be in the post to me on Monday, I hope.
In my column for The National yesterday I called on Scotland to tell better stories about why independence was important. I had forgotten when writing that column that this book was coming out so soon. I am hoping it is one of the answers to what I was calling for.
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I imagine Common Weal might be scathing about the increasingly centralised politics we are seeing. Whilst in some respects we look to the SNP/ScotGreen ScotGov to lead, they (as you have said yourself, in some respects) seem to be more transmit than receive.
I am currently hitting a brick wall in trying to get these people to support a petition that essentially demands what we want from the UKGov, following the SC ruling a week or so ago – a S30 order to enable a referendum.
Can I get these big accounts to support and share it? Pfft! I’ve already resorted to shaming them for not doing so.
That said, I would also shamelessly ask you to support and share it. Don’t let me down, Richard.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/628746
It would help if you said who you are
I ave posted this with relucatnce
You cannot make political demands unaccountably
This is what makes social media contemptible. We are lectured and hectored by someone advocating a petition. A petition requires a signature. The perpetrator (the only word I can use) uses a pseudonym, in order to retain anonymity. Ignorance, fatuity and comic absurdity wrapped in one. And it happens day and daily on social media; people who believe they can cheaply display their delusional authority – by hiding.
The petitioner’s name is on the petition. “Created by Andrew Moran”
So why use a pseudonym here?
Petitions are exactly what is not needed. The Yes movement needs to do some rethinking on tactics and strategy and work out how to do things differently. Present methods have given us 8 years of sfa
There is currently a very sensible 3 part blog by Robin McAlpine worth reading.
Dear Richard,
Thank you for sharing my petition. I do however find this thread a little bizarre. My name is on the petition and some people have been sharing it for me through their social media and contacts. Although many of those who you would expect to have not bothered, which I find even more bizarre.
As for ‘this is not needed’, what a strange assertion. It demands exactly what Scottish Independence needs to have a referendum. To not support it is to effectively tell Parliament that we don’t care.
It is therefore exactly what the movement needs. You should be asking why no one else did it, why ‘the big guns’ won’t share it, instead of undermining it.
I’m increasingly coming to the view that these interested parties are more interested in the power and the money that comes from the fight, rather than actually winning the battle.
Anyway, thank you again for sharing the petition. But perhaps Common Weal could also get behind it, too.
Regards,
Andrew J Moran
I have to admit that right now we do nit need a referendum
We need a better case for independence
This week Believe in Scotland launched the second edition of “Scotland the Brief”. The pocket-sized book sets out sourced facts on Scotland’s economy, including Brexit, missing from mainstream media. The first edition sold 50,000 copies.
Believe in Scotland is party neutral, does not accept funds from any political party, and is mostly funded by individual donations.
https://www.believeinscotland.org/
Thanks
A useful resource
The last petition that I signed was “Call an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government”, following the multiple farces and incompetence perpetrated by the Tories on the British public. The petition reached the required number of signatures and so it was debated on 17 October, in Westminster Hall. Only a handful of MP’s turned up (one of whom was my local MP, Owen Thompson). The debate was concluded within 1.5 hours and the final resolution was:
” Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered e-petition 619781, relating to an early general election.
5.57pm
Sitting adjourned.”
And what happened after that? Nothing. Nada. Zip. What is the point of getting Parliament to debate petitions if fewer than 10 MP’s turn up and there is no consequence to the petition being agreed? You can find the transcript at this link (https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-10-17/debates/78F30897-47A0-4D21-9135-DF1CD19E3AE4/EarlyGeneralElection) and watch the proceedings here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMHQNKdbu-Q&list=PLj3mInRJqIemzke3yWcmPaR5ZTW4S4bur&index=2).
You don’t need to watch the debate – but just look at the empty room!
By the way, I meant to thank you for posting the details of the Common Weal report. I follow them closely and they appear to be the only group making sensible proposals for Scotland’s future. Like you, I’m looking forward to receiving my copy of the book.
8 am assumed they are being posted on Monday