I Think I May Have It! – Teaser

Back in September 2012 when the first episode came out, podcasts weren’t so big in Scotland, Scottish politics podcasts certainly weren’t, and anything in favour of Scottish independence was rarer than an honest Tory, so it wasn’t massively difficult to provide new and refreshing content, even if a lot of work had to go into it, and it was done on a budget of near zero.

However, in the intervening period, and particularly in the last few years, everyone and his dug has started a podcast this is one major reason why the show has been on hiatus for so long – I didn’t want to come back and just do the same thing.

Another factor is that in the last few years I’ve been very busy with a young child, lots of work and moving house and some other very important things in life.

For the last 6 months however, I’ve been looking to get back into it, waiting for the right idea to come along. I had a few bad ones that I rejected in the meantime, but now I think I’ve got it.

I hope to start back soon with a kind of interview based series on a very specific theme. Scottish politics people should be interested, pro-indy people should definitely be interested, but this time, we’ll be going quite worldwide with it too.

Watch this space, more specifics to come soon, and hopefully the first couple of episodes in the next few weeks.

For the record, I am still not a member of any political party, and have no intention of joining one. My intention is to help independence along any way I can. The fact that I seem to have got back into this at the same time as various announcements are being made (whether they come to something or not), is possibly just because given the fact that there has been a lot of chat, I sat down and had a think about it.

Some People Saw This Coming

This is from 1994. It’s Carl Sagan giving a warning about some of what we are living through now.

A Fun New Game

The UK government has recently brought back an old idea about plastering “Funded by the UK government” on lots of things in Scotland, with a big Union flag somewhere.

This is supposed to make us forget about the various disasters that the UK govt seem to be hoping will just miraculously disappear by themselves.

However, sticking “Funded by the UK government” on lots of things does seem like a fun idea. Anyone can play, it’s free and it doesn’t take up much of your time.

For example, here are 11 of them I managed to knock out in lunch break. Feel free to download.

The Scottish Independence Podcast 187 – Odes To Our Adversaries

Just occasionally in all the years I’ve been doing this, mostly for laughs, I’ve made a few little, ahem, tributes, to some of our political adversaries.

The 187th episode of The Scottish Independence Podcast is a run through of some of the best of these, because I think most of us are in need of a laugh at the moment.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download the show directly if you click THIS LINK.

You can listen online at the show’s spreaker webpage, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

We are also now available on Spotify, Podcast Addict, iHeartRadio and GooglePodcasts.

These podcasts are independently minded and independently funded, you can help to keep them going by making a donation.

Now Why Would These Seem Familiar?

I can’t put my finger on it…

The Scottish Independence Podcast 186 – Tory Lies, Trump, Empire

The 186th episode of the Scottish Independence Podcast is amongst other things, a mix of some bad excuses.

There’s a bad excuse for a Prime Minister, a bad excuse for a President of the United States, and a few bad excuses for the behaviour of the British Empire.

Along with that, there are people trying to expose those excuses, and how they got on with it.

Hope you enjoy.

You can download the show directly if you click THIS LINK.

You can listen online at the show’s spreaker webpage, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

We are also now available on Spotify, Podcast Addict, iHeartRadio and GooglePodcasts.

These podcasts are independently minded and independently funded, you can help to keep them going by making a donation.

Sometimes It’s Too Blatant To Let It Go

Last night the story came out that the US Department of Justice would rather like a wee word or two with Prince Andrew regarding his connections with Jeffrey Epstein. Well, they have wanted to have a little chat with him for a while, but they actually filed a ‘Mutual Legal Assistance’ request. This “moves Andrew into the realms of a criminal investigation”.

Someone posted it on twitter last night and I asked for a source. Apparently The Sun broke the story (I’m not linking to them here) and it was later covered by the Metro, Sky News and others.

So I kept looking at the BBC website. Nothing.

And again this morning, nothing.

This potentially enormous story. Nothing.

Then I looked at the BBC page that covers the daily headlines in the newspapers. That link is the one for 8th June. Even though they normally cover The Sun and occasionally The Metro, there is nothing from them on the page. They preferred to mention something about Bugs Bunny in the Daily Mail.

Later on, a BBC story about it did come online. If you decide to read it, you may want to note that it is more or less ENTIRELY from the point of view of Andrew and his lawyers.

Why the initial silence? Then why would they have decided to publish an article on it from that angle?

Do you think the BBC would do that for everyone? Or is it more likely that the defence of the British State is interwoven into the fabric of the BBC?

Here is an interesting little clip in that regard, a different situation, definitely, but a similar theme…

One Thing Doesn’t Negate The Other

Whatever you think about the very current activities with regard to defacing or pulling down statues, what was written on the Churchill statue is a statement of fact.

Let’s have a look at some of Churchill’s statements (not the we will fight them on the beaches stuff).

You may have seen most of them before but it seems like it might be the right moment for a little refresher…

 

 

 

“I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”

Or…

“I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.”

Or…

“Relief would do no good. Indians breed like rabbits and will outstrip any available food supply.”

Or when he remarked about

“a lot of jolly little wars against barbarous peoples,”

Or when he said

“Aryan stock is bound to triumph.”  

The last word goes to his doctor, Lord Moran, who said that when Churchill thought of other races “Winston thinks only of the colour of their skin.”

 

The Scottish Independence Podcast 185 – Billy Kay on Scotland and Identity

The 185th episode of the Scottish Independence Podcast is a talk by Broadcaster, writer and activist and former guest on the show, Billy Kay, about Scottish identity.

Have you ever noticed when you go abroad that the locals always seem to know what happened in 1437 in every wee nook and cranny of their town. Have you also noticed that this often isn’t the case in Scotland? Why would that be? Kay explores this idea in the talk, but also provides some great stories from Scottish history, and there are a few revelations as well. For example, which UK Prime Minister may well have supported Scottish Independence?  Which SNP MSP alledges that she was followed around the Houses of Parliament in the dark by Scottish Labour MPs.

Also, there’s something about the special branch meddling in the Scottish Independence Movement.

All that and more, hope you enjoy.

You can download the show directly if you click THIS LINK.

You can listen online at the show’s spreaker webpage, or you can subscribe with itunes. We can also be found on youtube and on facebook.

We are also now available on Spotify, Podcast Addict, iHeartRadio and GooglePodcasts.

These podcasts are independently minded and independently funded, you can help to keep them going by making a donation.

The Times Handed Its Arse by Football Club

The Times, or at least The Sunday Times, has a history of getting things wrong about Hitler.

And it seems to have happened again. This was the response by Schalke 04, a German football team, to the latest mistake…