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For the latest news from Scotland see our ScotNews feed at:
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
The Westminster establishment seem blind to the political earthquake Nigel Farage is causing
Written by Michael Brown [Michael Brown was a Conservative MP between 1979 and 1997, initially representing Brigg and Scunthorpe, then Brigg and Cleethorpes.]
Last night, as a registered supporter of the Brexit Party, I went to London’s Olympia for Nigel Farage’s final European election campaign rally. He was on fire and I suspect that his predicted victory in Thursday’s election is but the appetizer for his presence on the domestic political stage for years to come – and which may shortly sound the death knell for both our main political parties.
Yes, for the first time it is not fanciful for me to imagine that Farage might yet be the next Prime Minister but one. A political earthquake of seismic proportions is taking place before our eyes but our media and political establishment is blindly unable to take even the basic precautions necessary to avert being buried alive in the earthquake he is about to cause.
Thousands – both young and middle-aged (hardly any old – apart from me) – stood, chanted and cheered as the 70 Brexit Party candidates marched onto the stage in preparation for a gathering, the like of which I only previously experienced forty years ago when Margaret Thatcher addressed the Tory conference for the first time as Prime Minister after her election win in 1979. Like Thatcher, Farage has a magnetic appeal to an audience like no other. His physical appearance and style appeals beyond old-school party politics and the more the Tory and Labour parties sneer at him, the more his poll ratings increase.
The warm-up act was provided by my former parliamentary colleague, Ann Widdecombe. “Warm up” was an understatement; she and Farage set the gathering alight as they both apologised for her description last month that Theresa May is “the worst Prime Minister since Anthony Eden”. This time they both agreed, following May’s incendiary offer of a second referendum only hours earlier, that “May is the worst Prime Minister ever”. The audience went wild. Even I could not contain my anger at May and her hapless Tories.
May’s ridiculous speech, just three hours earlier, of appeasement and surrender to Corbyn’s Labour Party combined with her determination to send scores of Tory MPs to their political death at the next general election, could not have been better timed to guarantee a triumph for the Brexit Party tomorrow. But Farage is already looking to 6th June for the by-election in Peterborough – and beyond.
Tory bozos in CCHQ will be engaging the daftest of clever-clogs minds in preparing the banal excuses for the James Cleverlys and Brandon Lewises to spew out onto the media. But no Tory spin doctor or aspirant Tory Prime Minister will be able to halt this Brexit tsunami which is about to drown the SS Tory Party and all who sail aboard her.
Note: YouGov’s final poll of the European election campaign for The Times has the Brexit Party way out in front on 37%, up 3% since last Friday. The Lib Dems are in second place on 19% (+2%) and Labour trail in third on 13% (-2%), remaining just ahead of the Greens on 12% (+1%). As for the Conservatives, the poll puts them in fifth place on 7%, down 2% since last Friday - and given that the sampling took place between Sunday and yesterday, it most likely takes no account of reaction to Theresa May’s “bold offer”. Also, 179 states trade successfully with the EU with no customs union or single market membership.
-------
You can view a video introduction to this newsletter at:
Scottish News from this weeks newspapers
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
Philip Hammond has arguably done more to scupper Brexit than the Lib Dems or Change UK
In the past three years there have been two constants in the Conservative Party through the Brexit process and the entire political landscape. Those are Theresa May and Philip Hammond
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/philip-ham...-or-change-uk/
Boris Johnson clear favourite among Conservative members to succeed May
Johnson is the first choice among 39 percent of party members, followed by former Brexit minister Dominic Raab in second place on 13 percent, according to the survey by YouGov for The Times newspaper.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-br...-idUKKCN1SN24A
More women should toss the caber
In Canada, a country that has imported the Highland Games tradition, female participation has been on the rise for a number of years.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...lands-48254658
New Moderator of Church of Scotland’s General Assembly installed in Edinburgh
At the General Assembly in Edinburgh, the Rt Rev Colin Sinclair took up the role of chairing the week-long event and representing the church throughout the year.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/new-mo...urgh-1-4929954
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party surges into second place in Scotland
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has surged into second place in Scotland, threatening to wipe out the Conservatives and Labour north of the Border in this week’s European elections.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politi...land-1-4930282
Scotland drug death rate highest in Europe and still on rise
The Scottish government spent more than £740m on tackling problem drug and alcohol use between 2008 and 2018 but Audit Scotland said there is still much to do to reduce deaths.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-48358404
Sir Michael Palin salutes legend of Scottish mountaineering as movie tribute recounts astonishing feats of Hamish MacInnes
The renowned mountain rescue expert, whose bravery and inventions have saved thousands of lives, is the subject of a new documentary, The Final Ascent, narrated by Palin.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/two-bo...hails-another/
World Cup star Lana Clelland hails Rose Reilly, the Scots football legend who blazed a trail for women from Ayrshire to Italy
The trailblazing Rose Reilly, who defied convention in the 70s to move to Italy to become a professional footballer, win the golden boot goal-scoring award and lift the World Cup while representing the Italians.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/world-...shire-to-italy
Jim Sillars says it's impossible to vote for pro-EU SNP
Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars has said he won't vote for the SNP in next week's European elections because of its stance against Brexit.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politi...-snp-1-4930093
Electric Canadian
The Canadian Horticulturist
Volume 27 (1904) can be read at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...culturirst.htm
Wentworth Historical Society.
Added volume 2 which you can download at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/history/wentworth.htm
Osgoode Hall
Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar by James Cleland Hamilton (1904) (pdf)
You can download this book at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/lif...sgoodehall.pdf
The African in Canada.
The Maroons of Jamaica and Nova Scotia by J. C. Hamilton (1890) (pdf) which can be downloaded at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...anincanada.pdf
The Canadian contingent
Patriotic speech by Canada's French nobleman Sir Wilfrid Laurier, premier of the Dominion of Canada, delivered in the Canadian house of Parliament, in reply to Mr. Bourassa's dissenting motion, March 13th, 1900 (pdf)
You can download this book at; https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...contingent.pdf
Six Years in the Canadian North-West
By Mons. Jean D-Artigue (1882) (pdf) which can be downloaded at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/for...nnorthwest.pdf
Electric Scotland
The Live-Stock of the Farm
By Robert Oliphant Pringle, Third Edition edited and reised by James MacDonald (1886) (pdf)
You can download this at: https://electricscotland.com/agricul...-Farm-1886.pdf
Lives of Simon Lord Lovat, and Duncan Forbes of Culloden
By John Hill Burton (1847) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electricscotland.com/boo...f-Culloden.pdf
MacDuffee Clan Society of America
Got in their Spring 2019 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ffee/index.htm
The Little Minister
By James Barrie. Barrie worked a new and rich vein of Scottish humour. You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...leminister.pdf
The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde
Illustrated by Extracts from his Diary and Correspondence by Lieut-General Shadwell in two volumes (1881) (pdf) Added this to the foot of our page about him at: https://electricscotland.com/history/colin_campbell.htm
The Gunns
By Robert R. Gunn (1925) (pdf) which can be read at: https://www.electricscotland.com/web...dtog/gunn.html
The Story
The SNP’s anti-Brexit antics create an awful precedent for those of us who want Scottish independence
Written by William Ross [William Ross is the nom de plume of an oilman living in Aberdeenshire.]
When the Scottish Independence referendum happened on 18th September 2014, I had spent nearly fifty years supporting the cause of Scottish Independence. I put heart and soul into the campaign and my garden has hardly recovered since. But our people voted to preserve the British Union. Disappointed, I knew what the rules were. No independence for now at least. My intense efforts in 2014 were wholly based on my perception that if Yes were to win by, for example, 52% to 48%, then the result would be respected. Tragically, that now sounds naive.
Two years later, another great referendum was called. A close friend of mine in the SNP asked me if I would campaign with him for Leave. After some thought, I agreed. In a short campaign, Vote Leave worked miracles in Scotland, with little organisation, no supportive press, no supportive parties, few known leaders and very little money. Remain was in fact saved by the bell. Against all expectations, more than one million Scots voted Leave. Leave actually did better in my home county of Aberdeenshire than had Yes two years before.
Shortly after the referendum, Lord Ashcroft’s polls showed that in Scotland, some 36% of Yes supporters had voted Leave. SNP supporters were more likely to vote to Leave than Conservatives! But the SNP is now seen as one of the most pro-Remain parties in Britain. Only one single SNP parliamentarian, Alex Neil, has admitted to voting Leave. The fifteen per cent of Scots who voted Yes/Leave are political orphans. No party and not a single newspaper or website espouse our cause.
So how should Yes/Leave supporters assess the upcoming EU election? The fundamental approach must be that we commit to upholding democracy. This is our most precious inheritance for which our fathers and mothers fought. In 2015/16 the UK Government went to “we the people” and told us that we would be given the high privilege of deciding whether the UK should Leave the EU or Remain. Our decision would be implemented – “no ifs, no buts”.
There is no point in the SNP arguing that Scotland voted to Remain. What Scottish people did on 23rd June 2016 was to decide that they wished the UK to Remain in the EU. But this was a British question and a British decision. A UK general election followed in 2017 when an enormous majority of the British people – and a handy majority of the Scottish people – voted for parties (Conservative, Labour and DUP) who stood on a platform of respecting the Brexit vote. Parliament decided to trigger our Article 50 notification by a huge majority. What must happen is clear. In the words of Donald Tusk our “stuuuuuupid referendum” must be respected.
While Labour and Tory parties have betrayed the electors of this country and their own manifestos, the SNP have simply gone crazy. After all, the purpose of the SNP, like them or loathe them, is to achieve Scottish Independence through a referendum of the Scottish people. Nicola Sturgeon has now thrown herself behind a so-called “People’s Vote” and the SNP have even supported revoking Article 50 in Westminster indicative votes.
What do these people think will happen when Indyref2 is won by 52% to 48%? Won’t our Unionist enemies simply argue that the poor thick people of Dundee just got it wrong, listened to populist lies and were taken in by slogans on a bus? Will Dominic Grieve not be calling a for a “confirmatory vote”? You cannot have one rule for the goose and another for the gander. The SNP have created an awful precedent. They have become the Great EU Unionist Party.
The vitally important thing is that we deliver the strongest possible message to our elites in Edinburgh, London and Brussels that we will uphold democracy. There is and will be democracy against the EU treaties! That means voting for the one credible party which unambiguously supports Leave. I have already marked the box of the Brexit Party with the cross of St. Andrew. Here’s hoping for at least 20% for the Brexit Party in Scotland and a couple of MEPs.
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
https://electricscotland.com/scotnews.htm
Electric Scotland News
The Westminster establishment seem blind to the political earthquake Nigel Farage is causing
Written by Michael Brown [Michael Brown was a Conservative MP between 1979 and 1997, initially representing Brigg and Scunthorpe, then Brigg and Cleethorpes.]
Last night, as a registered supporter of the Brexit Party, I went to London’s Olympia for Nigel Farage’s final European election campaign rally. He was on fire and I suspect that his predicted victory in Thursday’s election is but the appetizer for his presence on the domestic political stage for years to come – and which may shortly sound the death knell for both our main political parties.
Yes, for the first time it is not fanciful for me to imagine that Farage might yet be the next Prime Minister but one. A political earthquake of seismic proportions is taking place before our eyes but our media and political establishment is blindly unable to take even the basic precautions necessary to avert being buried alive in the earthquake he is about to cause.
Thousands – both young and middle-aged (hardly any old – apart from me) – stood, chanted and cheered as the 70 Brexit Party candidates marched onto the stage in preparation for a gathering, the like of which I only previously experienced forty years ago when Margaret Thatcher addressed the Tory conference for the first time as Prime Minister after her election win in 1979. Like Thatcher, Farage has a magnetic appeal to an audience like no other. His physical appearance and style appeals beyond old-school party politics and the more the Tory and Labour parties sneer at him, the more his poll ratings increase.
The warm-up act was provided by my former parliamentary colleague, Ann Widdecombe. “Warm up” was an understatement; she and Farage set the gathering alight as they both apologised for her description last month that Theresa May is “the worst Prime Minister since Anthony Eden”. This time they both agreed, following May’s incendiary offer of a second referendum only hours earlier, that “May is the worst Prime Minister ever”. The audience went wild. Even I could not contain my anger at May and her hapless Tories.
May’s ridiculous speech, just three hours earlier, of appeasement and surrender to Corbyn’s Labour Party combined with her determination to send scores of Tory MPs to their political death at the next general election, could not have been better timed to guarantee a triumph for the Brexit Party tomorrow. But Farage is already looking to 6th June for the by-election in Peterborough – and beyond.
Tory bozos in CCHQ will be engaging the daftest of clever-clogs minds in preparing the banal excuses for the James Cleverlys and Brandon Lewises to spew out onto the media. But no Tory spin doctor or aspirant Tory Prime Minister will be able to halt this Brexit tsunami which is about to drown the SS Tory Party and all who sail aboard her.
Note: YouGov’s final poll of the European election campaign for The Times has the Brexit Party way out in front on 37%, up 3% since last Friday. The Lib Dems are in second place on 19% (+2%) and Labour trail in third on 13% (-2%), remaining just ahead of the Greens on 12% (+1%). As for the Conservatives, the poll puts them in fifth place on 7%, down 2% since last Friday - and given that the sampling took place between Sunday and yesterday, it most likely takes no account of reaction to Theresa May’s “bold offer”. Also, 179 states trade successfully with the EU with no customs union or single market membership.
-------
You can view a video introduction to this newsletter at:
Note that this is a selection and more can be read in our ScotNews feed on our index page where we list news from the past 1-2 weeks. I am partly doing this to build an archive of modern news from and about Scotland as all the newsletters are archived and also indexed on Google and other search engines. I might also add that in newspapers such as the Guardian, Scotsman, Courier, etc. you will find many comments which can be just as interesting as the news story itself and of course you can also add your own comments if you wish.
Philip Hammond has arguably done more to scupper Brexit than the Lib Dems or Change UK
In the past three years there have been two constants in the Conservative Party through the Brexit process and the entire political landscape. Those are Theresa May and Philip Hammond
Read more at:
https://brexitcentral.com/philip-ham...-or-change-uk/
Boris Johnson clear favourite among Conservative members to succeed May
Johnson is the first choice among 39 percent of party members, followed by former Brexit minister Dominic Raab in second place on 13 percent, according to the survey by YouGov for The Times newspaper.
Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-br...-idUKKCN1SN24A
More women should toss the caber
In Canada, a country that has imported the Highland Games tradition, female participation has been on the rise for a number of years.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland...lands-48254658
New Moderator of Church of Scotland’s General Assembly installed in Edinburgh
At the General Assembly in Edinburgh, the Rt Rev Colin Sinclair took up the role of chairing the week-long event and representing the church throughout the year.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/new-mo...urgh-1-4929954
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party surges into second place in Scotland
Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party has surged into second place in Scotland, threatening to wipe out the Conservatives and Labour north of the Border in this week’s European elections.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politi...land-1-4930282
Scotland drug death rate highest in Europe and still on rise
The Scottish government spent more than £740m on tackling problem drug and alcohol use between 2008 and 2018 but Audit Scotland said there is still much to do to reduce deaths.
Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-48358404
Sir Michael Palin salutes legend of Scottish mountaineering as movie tribute recounts astonishing feats of Hamish MacInnes
The renowned mountain rescue expert, whose bravery and inventions have saved thousands of lives, is the subject of a new documentary, The Final Ascent, narrated by Palin.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/two-bo...hails-another/
World Cup star Lana Clelland hails Rose Reilly, the Scots football legend who blazed a trail for women from Ayrshire to Italy
The trailblazing Rose Reilly, who defied convention in the 70s to move to Italy to become a professional footballer, win the golden boot goal-scoring award and lift the World Cup while representing the Italians.
Read more at:
https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/world-...shire-to-italy
Jim Sillars says it's impossible to vote for pro-EU SNP
Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars has said he won't vote for the SNP in next week's European elections because of its stance against Brexit.
Read more at:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politi...-snp-1-4930093
Electric Canadian
The Canadian Horticulturist
Volume 27 (1904) can be read at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/tra...culturirst.htm
Wentworth Historical Society.
Added volume 2 which you can download at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/history/wentworth.htm
Osgoode Hall
Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar by James Cleland Hamilton (1904) (pdf)
You can download this book at: https://www.electriccanadian.com/lif...sgoodehall.pdf
The African in Canada.
The Maroons of Jamaica and Nova Scotia by J. C. Hamilton (1890) (pdf) which can be downloaded at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...anincanada.pdf
The Canadian contingent
Patriotic speech by Canada's French nobleman Sir Wilfrid Laurier, premier of the Dominion of Canada, delivered in the Canadian house of Parliament, in reply to Mr. Bourassa's dissenting motion, March 13th, 1900 (pdf)
You can download this book at; https://www.electriccanadian.com/his...contingent.pdf
Six Years in the Canadian North-West
By Mons. Jean D-Artigue (1882) (pdf) which can be downloaded at:
https://www.electriccanadian.com/for...nnorthwest.pdf
Electric Scotland
The Live-Stock of the Farm
By Robert Oliphant Pringle, Third Edition edited and reised by James MacDonald (1886) (pdf)
You can download this at: https://electricscotland.com/agricul...-Farm-1886.pdf
Lives of Simon Lord Lovat, and Duncan Forbes of Culloden
By John Hill Burton (1847) (pdf)
You can read this book at:
https://www.electricscotland.com/boo...f-Culloden.pdf
MacDuffee Clan Society of America
Got in their Spring 2019 newsletter which you can read at:
https://electricscotland.com/familyt...ffee/index.htm
The Little Minister
By James Barrie. Barrie worked a new and rich vein of Scottish humour. You can read this at:
https://electricscotland.com/history...leminister.pdf
The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde
Illustrated by Extracts from his Diary and Correspondence by Lieut-General Shadwell in two volumes (1881) (pdf) Added this to the foot of our page about him at: https://electricscotland.com/history/colin_campbell.htm
The Gunns
By Robert R. Gunn (1925) (pdf) which can be read at: https://www.electricscotland.com/web...dtog/gunn.html
The Story
The SNP’s anti-Brexit antics create an awful precedent for those of us who want Scottish independence
Written by William Ross [William Ross is the nom de plume of an oilman living in Aberdeenshire.]
When the Scottish Independence referendum happened on 18th September 2014, I had spent nearly fifty years supporting the cause of Scottish Independence. I put heart and soul into the campaign and my garden has hardly recovered since. But our people voted to preserve the British Union. Disappointed, I knew what the rules were. No independence for now at least. My intense efforts in 2014 were wholly based on my perception that if Yes were to win by, for example, 52% to 48%, then the result would be respected. Tragically, that now sounds naive.
Two years later, another great referendum was called. A close friend of mine in the SNP asked me if I would campaign with him for Leave. After some thought, I agreed. In a short campaign, Vote Leave worked miracles in Scotland, with little organisation, no supportive press, no supportive parties, few known leaders and very little money. Remain was in fact saved by the bell. Against all expectations, more than one million Scots voted Leave. Leave actually did better in my home county of Aberdeenshire than had Yes two years before.
Shortly after the referendum, Lord Ashcroft’s polls showed that in Scotland, some 36% of Yes supporters had voted Leave. SNP supporters were more likely to vote to Leave than Conservatives! But the SNP is now seen as one of the most pro-Remain parties in Britain. Only one single SNP parliamentarian, Alex Neil, has admitted to voting Leave. The fifteen per cent of Scots who voted Yes/Leave are political orphans. No party and not a single newspaper or website espouse our cause.
So how should Yes/Leave supporters assess the upcoming EU election? The fundamental approach must be that we commit to upholding democracy. This is our most precious inheritance for which our fathers and mothers fought. In 2015/16 the UK Government went to “we the people” and told us that we would be given the high privilege of deciding whether the UK should Leave the EU or Remain. Our decision would be implemented – “no ifs, no buts”.
There is no point in the SNP arguing that Scotland voted to Remain. What Scottish people did on 23rd June 2016 was to decide that they wished the UK to Remain in the EU. But this was a British question and a British decision. A UK general election followed in 2017 when an enormous majority of the British people – and a handy majority of the Scottish people – voted for parties (Conservative, Labour and DUP) who stood on a platform of respecting the Brexit vote. Parliament decided to trigger our Article 50 notification by a huge majority. What must happen is clear. In the words of Donald Tusk our “stuuuuuupid referendum” must be respected.
While Labour and Tory parties have betrayed the electors of this country and their own manifestos, the SNP have simply gone crazy. After all, the purpose of the SNP, like them or loathe them, is to achieve Scottish Independence through a referendum of the Scottish people. Nicola Sturgeon has now thrown herself behind a so-called “People’s Vote” and the SNP have even supported revoking Article 50 in Westminster indicative votes.
What do these people think will happen when Indyref2 is won by 52% to 48%? Won’t our Unionist enemies simply argue that the poor thick people of Dundee just got it wrong, listened to populist lies and were taken in by slogans on a bus? Will Dominic Grieve not be calling a for a “confirmatory vote”? You cannot have one rule for the goose and another for the gander. The SNP have created an awful precedent. They have become the Great EU Unionist Party.
The vitally important thing is that we deliver the strongest possible message to our elites in Edinburgh, London and Brussels that we will uphold democracy. There is and will be democracy against the EU treaties! That means voting for the one credible party which unambiguously supports Leave. I have already marked the box of the Brexit Party with the cross of St. Andrew. Here’s hoping for at least 20% for the Brexit Party in Scotland and a couple of MEPs.
And that's it for this week and hope you all have a great weekend.
Alastair
Comment