I’ve been steering clear of blogging about Caledonia (stern and wild) for nigh on far too long. It’s been too painful. But, enough is enough.
In today’s Scotland, we do not discuss Independence with anybody else until we have established that we are on the same side. There is very little opportunity for any sort of civilised discussion between ‘us’ and ‘them’.
The Separatists believe that they were cheated in 2014 and have never accepted the fact that they lost the referendum. They now claim that they are entitled to another vote because 62% of Scottish residents voted ‘Remain’ in 2016.
For the avoidance of doubt, I was part of that 62% but I accept the result and do not want a ‘People’s Vote’. ‘Brexit means Brexit’ works for me. The Separatists should, in like manner, accept that they lost their referendum. In my opinion.
Anyhow, they are marching on Embra tomorrow. Google ‘All Under One Banner’ and you will find that they have been infesting various Scottish cities over the last year in their continued clamour for Independence. It’s our turn tomorrow.
They started off by claiming that more than 100,000 would be on the streets of the Capital. They now seem to be suggesting about 50,000.
They will be marching along Princes Street to Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament. They asked for permission to finish up in Holyrood Park but were refused because Historic Enterprises Scotland, who control the Park, cannot allow political events there under their constitution.
So, the Separatists are calling for civil disobedience and occupation of said Holyrood Park. They’re claiming that Police Scotland have informally indicated that they will allow them to do this to avoid any public unrest.
If this happens, the baw’s on the slates * big time. They can insult us as much as they want by calling us British Nats, or ‘Yoons’ (slang for Unionists), or Quislings, or ‘Uncle Tams’ or whatever. The truth is that we are proud Britons of Scottish stock and we can only be pushed so far.
*Equivalent to ‘the game’s a bogey.’ **
**Similar to ‘It’ll all end in tears’ or ‘It’s all gone pear-shaped’.
Boadicea's Chariot 
It is indeed sad that those who found themselves in the minority of voters after both referendums are now attempting the “we wuz robbed” strategy. What is really annoying is that they so often insist that those who voted against Scottish independence or in favour of Brexit are stupid/uneducated/racist/etc. In my own family in Scotland cousins on my father’s side are very anti-Sturgeon while one cousin on my mother’s side agrees with her. There are moments when I wish that Sturgeon would win the next referendum and that Scots would then see the devastating results. That would be very sad of course and would probably involve me in sending food parcels to various relatives while Sturgeon tries to find a currency she could use to enter the eurozone, at the end of the queue behind Albania and other impoverished states.
I can only hope that the heavens open in Edinburgh tomorrow and the demonstrators all get drookit.
As a mere Sassenach I can of course only half feel your passion for affairs in North Britain. Meanwhile darn sarf I’m similarly disdainful of bad losers who now seem to want a ‘best-of-three’ referendum rule. I think I’ll pray to the Deus ex Machina to intervene this month or next and deliver us from Brussels.
The various headlines I’ve read say that “Tens of Thousands” marched through Edinburgh for Independence…
As “Our Man on the Spot, how accurate is this?
Unfortunately, as far as I’m concerned, the ‘Best of however many referenda, etc it takes to get the answer you want’ emanates from the EU – and its determination to make countries vote again and again until they, the EU, got the answer it wanted. There’s a whole generation (or maybe even two generations) who need to learn what the word ‘Democracy’ means – I’ve always thought that Scottish Education was superior to that offered ‘down sarf’ – but clearly I’m well out of date.
Having read a lot of comments from ‘Separatists’ at the time of the 2014 referendum, it seemed to me to be quite clear that very few understood the consequences of what they were demanding. Everything was England’s fault, and it would be unbelievably mean of the RUK to withdraw support for Scotland’s currency… and for whatever the ‘Independent Country’ of Scotland wanted to spend.
The problem is that the call for ‘Independence’ comes from the heart – and not from the head.