2020 is a year which will historically be remembered as the year of Covid, and as we enter on through 2021, we will still be impacted with its repercussions.
2020 was also the year that Brexit got done, or that we in Scotland were well and truly Done and sold down the river over something we never voted for or wanted.
2020 was also the year where the SNP went well and truly mental and were found to be at the root of the Salmond prosecution debacle, the results of that clusterbourach are still unfolding.
It was also the year where various factions within the SNP went on full scale assault against each other over something called Trans rights v Womens rights, and I awoke to a new word Woke and promptly wished I could go back to sleep again.
2020 was also the year where the leadership of the SNP downright refused to even countenance a murmur of debate over a plan B route to Independence. Section 30 or nothing was the response.
So here we are 2021, Is there anything better to look forwards to?
Well we do have vaccines against Covid now, but that is balanced by a faster transmitting strain.
We have seen a case go to the Court of Session taken forward by a private individual backed by 10,000 other Scots, testing whether section 30 really is the only way we can be allowed another Independence referendum, or whether we can choose to have one without seeking permission from Westminster? Surprisingly the case was originally opposed by both Scottish and British governments , although the Scottish government has subsequently removed itself officially, but still somehow present in it.
One certainly is surprised why the Scottish government should have opposed it at all?
One way or another I don’t see that case being settled any time soon, it will in all probability end up in the Supreme Court.
The Holyrood committee investigating the Salmond affair finds itself blocked at every turn with more unsettling revelations being revealed all the time. It appears that very senior officials in the SNP and the Scottish government, possibly Including, or with the knowledge of Nicola Sturgeon in going after Alex Salmond to prevent him returning into the political arena.
What the results of this inquiry are remains to be seen, but one thing for sure is none of it bodes well for the SNP or for a referendum on Independence.
All of which brings us up to looking forwards to Mays Holyrood election, if Covid permits?
At present the SNP are flying high in the polls and seemingly heading for an outright majority in the parliament, but as we all know polls are fickle things and only give snapshots of periods in time,and they can change very quickly depending on intervening circumstances.
If the election were to be held tomorrow I am quite sure the SNP would be resounding winners, particularly given the state that both main Unionist parties are in, and with the double whammy of chaos in their responses to both Covid and Brexit.
May however is politically a long way off and if Nicola Sturgeon finds herself in bother for having mislead parliament, despite her handling of the Covid crisis, she will be forced to resign.
Even if it doesn’t quite come to that, the damage could still be enormous. The crazy thing is that the whole Salmond debacle could very easily have been avoided, and they have brought the whole mess down on their own heads at a time when all should have been going their way.
All of which brings us to the voting conundrum.
The SNP are going with the both votes for the SNP which from their perspective makes absolute sense as they dont want us voting for anyone else.
The question being from an Independence perspective, is this the right way to go?
I think it is fairly clear by now that if the SNP continue to hoover up the constituency vote , they will get very few if any onto the List, and these will be hoovered up by the Unionist parties.
The Greens of course will be looking for the 2nd vote too, but their support of Independence is a fragile thing, not all of the Green party are Independence supporters, and their main reason for being is Green Issues first and foremost.
Which leaves the door open for a purely Independence party such as ISP.
Looking at previous Holyrood elections , there are only a very few areas that giving the SNP the 2nd vote makes any sense and these are – Aberdeenshire West,Ayr, Dumbarton,Dumfrieshire, East Lothian,Eastwood, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Southern,Edinburgh West, Etterick and Roxburgh, Galloway and West Dumfries,North East Fife,Orkney,Shetland . For all the rest it makes no sense at all… You would just be handing the Unionist parties your vote for most part.
However by giving your second vote to the ISP there is a fair chance of reaching a clear Independence majority in the parliament, and also the chance to keep the SNP honest in pushing for independence.
All of that fails however, if the Independence vote is split between a number of smaller Independence parties, as the vote is then diluted to a much greater extent than for the established Unionist parties… So time for us all to decide which way we will go in 2021.
I hope everyone looks at this very carefully indeed… It is time to stop pussy footing around…. We all need to push hard to get Scotland out of this disaster of a Union.
Auld Acquaintance 