The Expert Guide on How to Play the Devo Game

In the political jungle, “Men in Grey Kilts” are the kingmakers, whispering in hushed tones as they orchestrate the grand chessboard of leadership. With a flick of their sgian dubh, they anoint leaders, their poker faces revealing nothing but the faintest smirk of bureaucratic satisfaction. With special guest Derek Kerr

through a Scottish prism the program that is unapologetically pro Scottish independence and anti Westminster rule everything we say here is viewed through a Scottish prism brought to you by barhead [Music] Boy hi folks welcome back to th scor prism uh lovely to be with you again I hope you and yours are well I’m sick of saying this but it’s been a hell of a week I mean we have an absolute what a Humdinger of a week this week um and so we’ve got lots to talk about lots to discuss um and you know you’ve all been social media’s been a on fire um I’m sure there’s discussions in pubs everywhere and whatnot in at the bus stop because it’s a hell of a mess and let’s see if we can get some sense out of it or we can get some direction out anything out of it um that improve Scotland’s position so to help me out I should say right away Mr Boswell is unable to join us tonight which is regretable but he will be back as he always is he’s like the bad Penny he keeps coming back um but we’ve got our favorite lawyer as always Eva how are you hi Ry it’s been some week it’s been a week of bookmarks and no marks and cheeky remarks and I I don’t know what’s going on in Scottish political life just now you you can’t imagine from one day to the next what all the different twists and turns will be but hopefully we’ll be able to have some indepth rational sensible and rather cheeky analysis tonight looking forward to absolutely and we’ve got our man for edra it’s our Lloyd Mr Quinn how heck are you where are we Groundhog Day Deja Vu Back to the Future it’s just it’s Insanity just Insanity indeed but thankfully Branch form didn’t make any arrest this week if they could do that if you could do that next week Lads that would be next week’s program taken care of b a couple of weeks um be great but have lots to do and I’ve also got with joining us Derek K the independent for Independence candidate in Edinburgh East Derek welcome back we only had you for a short time last time so we were determined to get back as soon as possible welcome good to be here again can’t wait to um discuss the shenanigans of the past week or so because there’s a fair but to get through oh for sure well I would say that we also I put an invite out to the to the alipa party to see that obviously they have been a be bit Center Stage this week and I thought it would be fair to one of their someone that they represent one of their representatives sent on here want someone of their choice to speak up or for them or explain their position they declined they ignored they ignored the request I know they read the request because those of you who were whatsa at the two blue ticks and it went to someone who could have replied but didn’t give me the courtesy of a reply even a f off already I didn’t even get that I feel hot I wasn’t even worth a f off but there you go what can I say either we’ve lost the first Minister we’ve got a new one coming that we’ve had before um we’ve had someone who we thought was going to who ran for it before but didn’t run for it this time um it’s quite a week and another one who ran for it who voted with the opposition where to start I think we’ll start with whom resignation um when he resigned I I mean he had a we heard that he tried to do a deal with aliper um and when that didn’t go through um but but who rejected it him or the people the puppeteers who do you think well I was actually quite offended that humza said one of the reasons for his resignation was that you realized that he’d hurt the feelings of the greens oh yeah and their hurt feeling are as of nothing in comparison to the damage and the chaos that the greens as a party have wrought in Scotland over the course of the past few years when they’ve been given Powers control and financial um spending abilities far beyond the wildest imagination of most of the population they were elected from the list on a handful of votes and the influence that they’ve had over Scotland in the last couple of years has been beyond recognition um they are responsible for most of the mistakes that have been made in government and they’re responsible for hurting the feelings H to a pretty dramatic extent of 51% of the population being the women that they discounted I know we’ll got into that particular matter later but certainly I was offended that the greens were offended at being sacked from jobs that they should never have in the first place and it was a Pity that that they had I think gone to but house by car because it left them having to leave on foot but I’m looking forward to seeing Patrick touring about edenor on his bike again as opposed to in a chauffeur driven limousine um however um you were asking particularly about Alba and Ashan I wonder if she regrets leaving the SNP and joining Alba because the indications seem to be that Joanna Cherry is supportive of Kate Forbes who in turn is supportive of John swinny and I wonder if that suggests that some of the principal reasons leaving the SNP and join in Alba are matters that will be Revisited by the SNP over the course of the next couple of years prior to the next Hollywood election in a way I’d like to think so but the C can we suggests otherwise um and who are who are the puppeteers the greens will continue uh to dictate and influence outcomes because by no stretch of the imagination can I see that John SNY if he does become the leader and the first minister in a coronation will actually have the ability to run run a minority government the way that his pressor Alex salmon did Lloyd I mean as an ex alipa member I can only say I know that I can only imagine because I say we couldn’t get them on here to see it but the deal must have been to want you to uh PRI prioritize Independence protect women’s rights and to protect children from harm Safeguard children what possible part of that could whomes are not agree to I think uh I think immediately it became known uh to certain elements of the SNP leadership that Hamza was even going to speak to the alopa party then a series of events were put in train to make sure that he uh he was finished um I find it extraordinary that the offer being good government moving on Independence and the protection of women and girls are not priorities for the incoming potential leader uh because that’s what that’s what killed the deal John s’s hands are not clean on killing the deal I I very firmly believe that Nicholas ston had a major part in in killing any deal as well but in in real terms what difference would it have made uh humza was a dead man walking he proved his inaptitude as a first minister uh in the fact that he had to apologize for having hurt the feelings of the greens having not perceived in actual fact doing what he did to them would result in them having hurty feelings because hty feelings are the most important thing in politics in the world of the greens uh it showed his inability but also I think I think Hamza had had his shot and things were going to hell in a handcut and I think powers beyond our borders decided that uh his tenure was over and it was time to retake the Reigns and that’s clearly what has happened because if you if you even suggested in the year 2004 or five that John swiny would return as the as the leader of the Scottish national party never mind first Minister uh people would have laugh their socks off that’s simply a fact John was a terrible leader the party was was damaged enormously in the election he was in charge of and then when challenged the leadership uh Alex amond had to come back from Westminster and and effectively save the party and give us good government which which we had what I see here is the the dark hands of others but there is a kind of uh Silver Lining to This Cloud there is uh I’ll make an appeal now there’s a guy called gr McCormack a very fine Scottish nationalist from from the helbor branch of the Scottish national party who is currently Gathering signatures so it will make it possible for him to create a proper contest and that the party membership will have an ability and the power to choose the next the next leader if he gets sufficient signatures uh and I would just say to people if you can contact me or gam on social media let us know if you wish to sign those papers to allow gram to go ahead as a candidate in the SNP leadership race then please please do that the only possibility of saving the party at this stage uh would be for someone else to become the leader of the party uh not John swinny John made a terrible job of it the last time and I think you know when you when you jug suppose John’s presentation to an extreme rightwing Tory think tank in London uh at the beginning of the week and then suddenly his announcement that he was going to return not only to Frontline politics which he had decided he wasn’t to do anymore uh it gives you gives you a pretty clear understanding of uh where John takes his orders from yeah yeah and if you haven’t already read Campbell Martin’s book folks I would do that um I forgotten the title of it what is it again Lloyd do you remember was it something that I said was it something that I said exactly that’s what it is um but that was the things you said he was he was a right-wing unionist think tank when he made his announcement about running what was he doing down there he was talking about enhancing Devolution folks not Independence now you know this is Sunday the the nominations closing Monday so you’re going to have to move quick if you’re going to support gr now gr’s been on this show had a long discussion with him about floor roof tax um which led to a a motion at passed at the alipa conference he’s a very clever man um and he’s if nothing else it will get a and people can ask questions of the of John swinny like for example the one that he dodged when he was asked yesterday what is a woman couldn’t answer that one um on on all of this what was expected Derek was that Kate fors would make a competition of it that she would uh throw her hat in the ring but she quickly backed away her capitulation was it the or you know people the puppeteers came to and said the greens have said will pull us down if you become leader so you can and we’ll give you this that in the next thing do you think there was something on offer or this could there be another reason why she suddenly now not want to run for the leadership of the party when she did only a year ago yeah um you mean Kate Forbes yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah um I mean she’s she’s got a family going on the background so there is a bit of that pulling her back and that kind of thing um but then I I just don’t think she wants to grab the beast at the moment because um I mean she was in a situation where she’s failed as a as a potential leader you know just recently and for her to politically or a career-wise you know entertain that possibility that she might fail to take leadership again it’ be too many failures to too close together and maybe that’s a it’s maybe just too big a risk for a a you know a pol a career politici to take um but I mean beyond that the whole the whole lot of them you know if I had to pick anyone from the SNP to to to bleed or anything like that it would have to be someone that knows the truth behind free ports and somebody that um that that’s got the the courage to stand up and there you go Lloyd Quinn exactly Lloyd’s my man I’ll vote for him all right so yeah but I think that’s the kind of situation we’re in so there all this kind of background with them all it’s squabbles it’s it’s it’s playground squabbles it’s it’s personal stuff stuff and to be honest eyes on the price we need to get Indie done and we need to get free ports out the road so we can do it and anybody that stands in that that top job in the in the driver’s seat that can bring us anywhere closer to that is the person I want on that Podium so what wait what you waiting for Lloyd Derek can I just say on your point about you know maybe she didn’t want to be seen you know failing again because she would never become leader but surely on this occasion where she’s not she’s not stepped up to the plate she’s actually probably ended any chances she’s ever got to been leader because she’s lacked the courage to step forward so surely she’s now by her actions finished out her future chances as well yeah whatever whichever way should jumped really I think unless she jumped and was elected then yeah I think I think it was she was down whichever we should should jump because um you know how much of a chance would you had against John S I i’ probably put it about 40 60 in John’s favor I think we’ll talk on that because I think you know I don’t think John there’s a chance John might not last very long I don’t I think there’s a chance John might not actually become leader but as the program goes on WE explain that because it’s an anointing obviously either it’s not really there’s not going to you know I hope gam can get his his 100 100 sign in in time but it’s looking like an anointing but here’s there’s two or three things that have come out this week swinny himself was meant to be standing down he said a few months back he was not going to stand in 26 he’s now told us that for seven years he’s been trying to leave the government and sturgeon said to him no you’re not he couldn’t stand up to sturgeon so how the hell can you expect him to stand up to the unions and get his independence look this is just game playing and role playing and it’s kicking the can further down the road um we knew last year that John swiny ruled himself out from the contest that led to Hamza becoming elected because John said at that stage that he was already too old and it was time for young blood in a different generation so I want to know his secret and how he’s been able to be rejuvenated in the course of the past year and where he’s getting his newly found longevity from um if what he’s really saying is that he’s sacrificing himself and his family life for the sake of the party I have grave reservation as to whether that’s a wise move particularly in the light of his own tweet when he said he was ready to serve he has quite a lengthy tweet explaining about the work that he’s done in government and what he looks forward to doing and throughout that tweet there is no mention whatsoever of the word independence and that’s very very telling and I think that that gives Credence to the problems that there would have been for the SNP to enter even some sort of informal aligned with the Alba party because there are strong indications that Independence is not presently the the resong Detra or the priority or the primary purpose of the SNP has seen most obviously in their constant rejection of the notion of the Scotland United plan for the general election so I have a a very major difficulty in accepting that John swinny intends to drive Scotland anywhere closer to Independence than we currently are and in fact he contradicted Hamza yusf in his speech when he announced his his contesting um for the leadership you remember hza said that he thought Independence was frustratingly close John said that he didn’t agree with this and he wanted to conduct over the next couple of years a persuasion exercise now I’m scratching my head here because I can understand that the current and the would be first ministers can be so very many pools apart on as we’ve said what is supposed to be the priority of their part so what ought to be happening as Derek has alluded to is a drive towards independence where we have Independence for Independence we have candidates from all party and no party and we have real unity in the movement now John sny’s um motto I think at his launch was something along the lines of unity for Independence and he spoke about uniting his party and he spoke about uniting the movement he isn’t going to unite the movement if he he rejects other independent supporting parties and again for the life of me I cannot understand why he would pay attention to or his predecessors would pay attention to the greens and their views when they the greens are going to stand against the SNP for the general election and the greens have often said Independence is not a red line for them and yet Alba whose res onra is Independence offered them a leg up and they knocked it back it makes no sense except that they want to keep Alex salmon out of the road and the joke the joke unfortunately is on John because for the last few years since Alba launched and everybody here knows I’m no longer a member of Alba but I still maintain a huge amount of admiration for Alec and Kenny and Neil in particular people in the SNP have constantly referred to Alex salmon as yesterday’s man what is John swinny but yesterday’s man but Alex is the man that got the referendum Alex Ammond is the man that Westminster feared they don’t fear John swinny and that may be the reason why John swinny has lined up for the job and has been talking about a persuasion exercise over the next two years when everybody and the dogs in the street know there is a majority in Scotland desirous of Independence and desirous of an electoral event when we can vote for it well it’s quite the reason why I said earlier Lloyd there’s a chance she might not even become first minister or not last very long there was an article I meant to keep the article but I haven’t done it I was just checking with te I didn’t I thought I thought I had sent it to Tey and it was one that come out all beit it from the express but they were bringing up the GTA and they were they were smearing uh John S with that so they’re already getting ready to attack him and how long we’ve also seen coming out um the one of his when he was education sect he was in Perth and they were talking about the the stuff that John had approved his education secretary to go into to schools so the unionist media are warming up but here’s aan you were there at the time Tey can you stick up the one that’s another one that’s reappeared from from go yesterday you’ll remember this one um the one with Dorothy Grace Elder when she Reed him a Sly sleek and wheat man Honest John um really is um you were around at that time was Dorothy Grace Elder exaggerating absolutely not but everything that Dorothy says is absolutely true and in some ways John gets off lightly because she doesn’t go into detail but what happened when Alex stood down and and John took over as leader he was supported by all of those who later bigy went on to become the lieutenants of uh Mrs ml my time then was uh I would say I would I was pretty semi detached from the Parliamentary group group primarily because of John’s behavior and John’s actions um the marginalization of Dorothy was one thing but the vicious and brutal margin marginalization of margel McDonald to me was it was a crime against the country it was the actions of Craven cowards who feared an intellect they feared someone who had the mass as she proved when she stood as a an independent at the following election who had the mass of the people behind her in actual fact when when Margo stood in as an independent on the loans list if there had been two Margo McDonald’s they both would have been elected that’s the fact and the vast majority of the votes that went to Margo on the second ballot paper were SNP votes because for real members of the Scottish national party Margo was a hero and it disgusted me to have to walk the corridors with people who were barely able to laer shoes who who said things against her to the Press who carried out a vicious and brutal Whispering campaign and even leaked details of our medical condition all of this was in John’s knowledge at the time John will Brook no challenge whatsoever but John’s so politically illiterate he didn’t realize that the people who were his lieutenants were the ones that were primarily primarily they were the ones who were briefing against him and that’s why John failed as a leader and it paved the way for Miss sturgeon after Alec John is a John is a desperately desperately weak man and his only way that he can show what he believes is strength is by the total marginalization of anyone who doesn’t think like John John is a direct product of the Standard Life Management training organizations he he believes that when you have status everyone else should bout it he never ever believes there’s a requirement to win respect John thinks when you get a title respect comes with it and that is the sign of a desperately desperately weak individual the terrible the Terrible situation we have here now is there are Pages Pages files and files of John’s ineptitude from his period as leader the last time the unionist Press are going to have a total and complete field day with John he’s going to get very little sleep and I feel sorry for his family but I would say this it’s interesting Hamza Yousef product of the international visitor visiting leaders program of the US state department was our first Minister for a year and made a complete cack of it then when he announces he’s going he’s he’s going to be stepping away the first name that came into the frame was another ivlp graduate Jenny Gil Ruth it’s interesting now though that what we have is a contest where she will take no part but those who are part of the British American partnership namely John swinny and Kate Forbes they have emerged into the light is this the as I would see it is this the British State reasserting itself after allowing the Americans to run our country for about a year now I know that will sound strange to a lot of people but you tell me anybody out there tell me why is it why is it that members of the Scottish Parliament members of the Scottish national party are deliberately recruited by the British American partnership and the international visiting leaders program of the United States state department unless they wish to interfere in our politics John you’re not the answer and you know you’re not the answer and what I fear is this is all being set up for a move away which I’ve been saying for a while the current leadership are a evolutionist leadership they just haven’t got the courage yet to tell the people it is the worry um do you think Derek that uh John has been put in place by those who are working behind the scenes to keep things sticking over to whoever the selection is is brought forward maybe after the H after the Westminster debacle that’s coming our way or do you genuine you think that’s what it is yeah I mean I did think you know we’re looking at a placeholder here I mean who’s going to come along in the background just they just don’t have the talent there’s no one there that can come in the background so um you know a placeholder probably but I’m just thinking that he might be around for a little bit longer than we expect unless of course he’s hacked down because as you say he’s going to get a really hard time from the um the cucko in the nest all of them are going to just give him an absolute kicking and I I I I really hope he’s strong enough to stand up and take that and then and and if he’s strong enough he could probably actually use it to throw it back in their face and um and talk about the company that they keep um the everything that they you know everything they say you know he’s got to he’s got to be saying how you going to fund it and and and and really put the ball back in their court and hopefully he’s got the the strength and the wit to do that otherwise that placeholder is not going to be around for very long so that’s my very you top level overview on the situation because I you guys have got a lot of a lot more um knowledge about the real nitty-gritty depth of it than I than I do um you know I’m I’m more a person looking forward I mean all that Shenanigans has gone on on the side it’s a sidh um you know let’s get Indie done really um and hopefully this whole side show will blow over eventually and um you know what John does or doesn’t do um really the the politicians have had their day you know it’s he’s a dead man walking I think yeah what what I find quite I mean one of the big problems is that a lot of the people are running the SNP now the ones that arrived post 2014 and as we’ve spoken about often in this show they don’t have any knowledge or history of the the pre of this party going back to those of us who like Eva myself Lloyd here who have tramped the streets over decades ago and know what happened but the one that surprising to me is Angus Robertson when he arrived at Hollywood we all thought it was because he was been lined up to to succeed the the despot sturgeon but he’s going kind of quiet maybe we should have a chat about him later if I could move on just slightly e um one of the we all left when you and I left and a few others left the SNP after Decades of loyal service um we we’ve taken some amount of abuse particularly from these newbies from these Johnny come L who um have abused us and they’ve abused Alex salmon they’ve abused the Alaba party they they’ve refused when we off when the Alba party said Alba one snp2 no beta when they said the council the following year you know SNP first and then all the other independent candidates they went no just snp12 the when they said Scotland United come on let’s all get together Scotland United for Scotland no we’re not doing it and then when Ash rean votes against them they’re all going oh how can you do that to us the hypocrisy is absolutely mindblowing and they don’t understand the policy of the Alaba party I think that those in the SNP who are gning about Ash voting the way that she did simply don’t understand what Independence is all about and they don’t grasp the Urgent necessity of an independence campaign they’re not capable of running an independence campaign they’ve proven that over the course of the last what nine and a half 10 years or so we should have had an independence campaign in 2015 when we 56 out of 59 MPS from Scotland were SNP but now that we strongly suspect that Devolution or Devo Max is probably John sn’s priority and the priority of those around him then we have to look over more carefully at what can be done with the people who actually do prioritize Independence and those are folk like Derek here and me and Sally Hughes who are independent for Independence candidates and it’s important to look to see what’s happened recently in by elections here as well as South of the Border relative to the popularity of independent candidates particularly those who live and work in the area or the constituency where they intend to stand I’m one of those understand Eric is and I know that Sally Hughes is too and I think that that used to be the beauty of the SNP that they generally had candidates who were local who knew their area who worked in their area and who were on first name terms were an awful lot of the people whose votes they were asking for that changed over the period of time and it’s actually most marked with some of those who are currently in the Scottish cabinet I mean h youf in particular he’s cons he glasgo lives and Bry fery and I was laughing the other day when they said that he had traveled to Dundee for a press conference he could have jumped on a bus and been traveled for his home to the press conference in the space of five minutes um however I digress slightly what we should be doing is we should be talking within the movement about how to invigorate and Inspire the movement again and and I’m hoping that by the time this goes out on Sunday people will have enjoyed a a great day at the all under one banner and March and rally in Glasgow and what we should have is a touch of what Jim sers talks about competent government on the one hand with a party leading the government holding things together and promoting and prioritizing the bread and butter issues of the people of the country and separately an invigorated energized determined movement of people who are likeminded who are able to put their differences behind them and talk sensibly about how to prioritize Scotland’s need to drive towards independence and the way to do that is to look at this general election in a holistic fashion and in a positive fashion and really encourage the electorate to to stand up and be counted This Time by actually saying let’s vote for folk who do want independence because it runs through them like you know a strock of eding but a rock um and I I hope that that is able to be gained over this summer and that we will have more independent candidates standing up because we cannot wait for a couple of years for the SNP to get the act together for a Hollywood election or for Alba or the ISP to be able to get more of their candidates elected in 2026 we should be doing it now in 24 four and setting a marker down setting the standard down and electing 29 independent supporting MPS to Westminster and that gives us as we’ve said before a majority of MPS and a majority of the popular vote and these two aspects take us to the International Community who will recognize our right to then negotiate the terms of the independent settlement nothing less will do and the only thing that’s preventing that happening this year are the interests of partis an party politicians who refuse to look at Unity for our country yeah is it’s always that it’s always putting the party before the country Lloyd but here’s two things on Ash has vote the thing is at the SNP the alipa party policy um which I don’t think has changed since I left um was that was to collapse the Hollywood Parliament you know for the the first minister to resign as happened and then not to elect a new and to have a ple have a Scotland United a Scot a constitutional convention and have a pley Independence election because the polls unlike what John when he saying this week oh we need to convert more soft nose it’s there and so that was one of the reasons why I should no no alternative but here’s the other one just a few days before the the vote those of you following on social media Stu Campbell of Wings Over Scotland made it very clear that what’s the point he he put money his tweet almost verb if I bet it wrong I’m sure Mr Campbell will let me know um what’s the point of Alba if they support and keep the SNP and government and don’t do carry through their policy um and it would seem I don’t know what whether they were carrying the policy or they were scared of the backlash from Su Campbell um but that’s the fact the policy dictated that she had to vote against the SNP government and try and bring down the parliament absolutely and and what did she do wrong we have an incompetent government that’s just a fact that’s why there is a 13 or 14% gap between those who support Independence and those who support the Scottish national party it’s because they become incompetent and the motion was about the competence of the government in in all conscience she could only vote in one particular way but this is the world we’re living in where these these these amateur politicians put their fingers in the ears whenever their party is criticized rather than doing what used to happen in real political parties like the Scottish national party used to be that would result in soul searching you would actually have a debate internal debate about what went wrong and how to get it fixed but let me go back to to to something that Eva just said now look it has become the common kind of parlance that it’s 5050 for Independence right we went to the country when support for Independence was at 27% and we took it up by over 20 points in a Year’s campaign does anybody genuinely believe that the 50% that say they’re Pro Union at this very second supposedly will not shift in that position that we will not be able to make 50 60 or 65% said if we had a proper campaign I mean the press and to some degree I hear it from SNP politicians all the time oh it’s 5050 we have to wait until we at 60 well see the way you get to 60 is you have a campaign and we had a campaign for nine years and the simple fact of the matter is anyone who’s in politics who thinks that a party for 70 odd years has been telling the people that they support and they want and they aim for Independence that those people will not go out and vote when the SNP actually campaigns for Independence they are idiots but then again you know if if if you do not if you do not understand your history either as a political party as a football team as a country as a family then you’re going to make the same mistakes over and over and over again and at the moment amongst the pre professional political class in Scotland there is a absolute desire to reject all his history history began with a alarm clock this morning hence when you go on to the Scottish national party’s website as a member apparently the Scottish national party didn’t have a leader between 2007 and 2014 there was no leader at that time nobody built the Queens fairy Crossing nobody built the the motorway in Glasgow nobody built the Ring Road in AB none of these things happened nobody got rid of tuition fees nobody brought in free dental and ey checks nobody brought in prescription charges because [ __ ] sure it wasn’t the bunch that are in there now now any party any organization that tries to deny its own history when the reality is the population out there the people that you want to go and vote for you they know very well who your leader was between 2007 and 2014 and no matter how often you put your head in the hand or your fingers and your ears it’s a reality and the Kelly giv of this world and the Alister Heathers of this world can get back in their wee boxes absolutely I mean that is the problem Derek isn’t it they do live in a wee bubble I mean when I listen to John S talking about oh we have to convince more soft nose it’s not there yet I thought absolute boulder dash every week on here we talking about you know every poll has been showing Independence over 50% for well over a year now in fact we must be heading on 18 months and meanwhile the snps dropp and Dro and dropping there can be no better way for them to bring their support back up again surely than having an independence campaign absolutely it’s a campaign it’s something to fight for and then and and and run towards that everyone needs um this running about in circles just in case something might happen is just it’s just it’s just wearing people out and wearing people down um I mean the SNP the bubble I mean they’re talking to themselves about themsel and that’s more at the upper levels with the SNP I mean until recently I’d been I’d been going to Branch me tanks and um one of the reasons I had to step back from the SNP was because of the absolute blind follow my leader sheep approach to free ports um I for months and months and months months have been going on at my Branch level at my Branch to say I need some time on the agenda to really get into the weeds of the detail of what was not been told about free ports and um one month went on the the minutes were were watered down and um I was told that you know I’d have my slot the following month never happened and then what I was going to say was then rolled into a um a little slot that was attached to the economy a little a little side issue to which I said no no no no no this issue is so big that the SNP needs an egm just on this topic and you’re pushing me into a side show to do with a small talk about economics economically literate people talking about economics what can I say uh and then so the next month rolled on and then the people that were going to come and debate it run away and um now what was his name Douglas Chapman Chapman yeah he has been invited to so many of the meetings I have been involved in setting up and he’s not come and he was all enthusiastic at one point but I think maybe on his desk was this little bullet point said free ports or green ports whatever they want to call them and um I I don’t think that you actually realized the enormity of just that little bullet point until people started asking I’m saying listen come along and chat to us about free ports and let’s um let’s get into the weeds of these things um it just never happened and then he was all en as I say all enthusiastic and all of a sudden he just completely backed off I think somebody in the party got to him and started say no no no you can’t be talking to these people about that because we’ve gone all in with this and we’re going to be looking really silly if we but you know the people will forgive if they were to put their hands up and say we’ve never really looked at the detail of this and we really need to do that and we need to have a discussion about it um with the people of Scotland and the and the Grassroots people in SNP CU there’s so many people in the Grassroots that beginning to understand this and really really want to say something and they’re getting slapped down at Branch level so that’s been my recent experience ump and why yeah why I’ve now left yeah I mean that’s two I mean the other things they always about oh we’re going to get free ports are great we’re going to get back into the EU and we’re going to use the pound sterling I just can I just come right in in there about the bit that says we’ll get into the EU and all the rest of it there is a fundamental flaw right there and yes of course there is there’s two fundamental flaws one’s free ports and the other one’s the pound stering exactly yeah so the free ports that we’re given are owned by private Enterprises and a lot of those private Enterprises have came in bank accounts and you know they’re they’re set up as llps and things like that um and they’re faceless um and that is in direct contravention Ion with the anti-money laundering laws that the European Union have brought in so under those circumstances now the free ports in Europe they are publicly owned for the People by the people essentially and um as long as we have these private entities and these free um special economic zones that are basically just hoovering up taxpayers money and pushing it down Westminster we don’t have a snowball chance in hell of even getting to after never mind Europe so that’s the bottom line on that one correct the two questions you should the questions you should never be asking SNP people is what is a free port and what is a woman that they run away from those two questions as quick as they bloody can um there’s also coming out this week I go back to I think it’s going to build up on John when he strs go on either but apparently he produced a paper while he was in when he was finance minister or cabinet secret whatever the hell they call it where um he was going to sell off Caledonian mcbrain and Scottish water and it was rejected um there’s noding an agreement um so now that he’s the first Minister he can push that through how will the Scottish people take it if he sells off Scottish water um I hesitate to state to say this but I would like to think that there would be demonstrations and riots in the streets if he tries to introduce that that one but when I look back over the course of the last few years and see all the other crazy policies that he’s had a hand in I he a dos and but I’m just thinking there from what what Derek was talking about in terms of the people would be forgiving if the politicians apologized and admitted that they’d made mistakes that’s actually the Road to Redemption and Rehabilitation for the SNP as if they did put their hands up and admit their mistakes but there’s a very very long line of them um and only a few would be the named person legislation gender recognition reform obviously deposit the hate the carry on with wood burning stoves green free court issues about the EU and aftera transgender guidance for schools um men and women’s prisons men and Women’s Hospital WS um guidance to social workers children’s panel reporters and teachers about affirming um trans children as opposed to other watchful waiting resources Etc um gr mouth the Scottish government has known for at least a year of plans that there are there in relation to keeping the refinery closed and not repairing or reopening or renewing it and they seem to have done absolutely nothing about it um it’s obviously to Kenny mccal and Alba’s credit that they’ve been very vifer about this but it is well beyond time that the SNP actually stood up for the majority of the people of Scotland and considered what their priorities are we’re in the midst of that cost of living crisis a cost of fuel crisis we had that reverse wind auction if greenmouth closes we’re watching oil and you know going south to be refined we’re looking at the issues that come from wind and wave power being in essence exported to England as opposed to coming on Shore here these are all areas that the Scottish government the SNP in particular should be addressing and they’re not instead they’re talking constantly about how one of the great things that they’ve achieved in the last few years is to remove 100,000 Scottish children from poverty that is a good thing but nobody in Scotland should be living in poverty given that we’re a Land of Plenty and the only way that we address po poverty properly is by becoming independent and there are people in our country who do not have the luxury of waiting for two or five or 10 years for the SNP or other IAL parties to get their act together and create the circumstances that they think are ideal to make a move sometimes you’ve got to take the circumstances that are delivered to you and you make the best of them and you go for it because you’re flexible and you’re Fly and you’ve got a vision and you’re focused and you’re determined to do something good for your country these conditions are upon us now in the context of fighting a general election on the ground of Independence on our ground on Scottish ground where we say collectively to the Scottish people as a movement thus far have we come and we will go further when we unite and we vote for our independence in large numbers which will do if all parties and no parties come together like they can do at all under one banner and the likes here here well said EV um of course when this as soon as hums announced his his his resignation Lloyd RI sh um the the overlord down in London put me well I hope he successor just stops talking or focusing on Independence yeah well I didn’t know I didn’t know he was focusing anyone’s been focusing on it for 10 years Ry but never mind but the best thing for me was a TI gonna stick up the video of starmer um and him talking about what should happen next there’s a an unelected to the UK economy why do you support us continuing to stay outside the EU we took a decision on leaving the EU in 2016 and we have now left there is no case for returning to the EU because it was the will of the people we had a vote on it see here’s the problem with that argument that there’s there’s a a party that stood with another vote on Scottish independence at the center of its Manifesto in the last Scottish elections and they won at an absolute caner it was the will of the people to have a referendum on Independence within the term of this Parliament up here and you say that shouldn’t happen why do you protect democracy across the UK but deny it to the people of Scotland choice will be carry on with this utter chaos and damage under the Tory party or usher in a labor government that binary argument might wash South of the Border SEC but up here there is a third choice which is break away from the union do you think the people of Scotland should have the right to determine their own future or not well look I’m talking about priorities and what is the priority at the moment and for me the priority is the eony tell the El the way to solve that is to vote for Independence and people are backing that in their droves I fundamentally uh reject the Argent do you do you think the union is a voluntary organization or are we stuck in it well of course it’s a voluntary organization what’s the Democratic grp I asked you if it was a voluntary Union and you said you thought it was so what is the Democratic route out of that Union well look if one nation doesn’t want to be part of it anymore what if people don’t agree with you and they want out are they stuck in it well of course they’re not stuck in it how what’s the Democratic they’re not stuck in it but this is about priorities % of Scot might disagree with that fundamentally and think the priority is Independence what do you say to them this this the SNP have won every single election at every level in Scotland for 15 years what do you say to the voter who has voted for them in every election because they want independence and are now being told we know better than you I I’ll tell you what I would say I I just don’t accept that I just don’t accept that it’s not I mean I was shocked Lloyd that the BBC hats off Mr Geisler absolutely roasted him and exposed him for the L the lack of De democracy you know it doesn’t matter what you vote you’ll get what we give you just an absolute reason why we need to get to out of this Union absolutely no the hats off to Martin Geisler uh I worked with Martin on a a number of quite documentaries in the the mid 90s and Martin’s a a bloody good correspondent and a very very good journalist which is why he spent a lot of time working for ITN in Europe and in the United States you know Martin’s got his own his own politics but he’s not a stupid guy and if you stick somebody in front of him a bit like with Bernard Pon be as well if you stick somebody in front of him who tries to flannel them and tries to talk about things that Martin knows more about then you ain’t going to get far that’s just a fact but as far as st’s concerned we give him too much air time the fact of the matter is this is the man who put Juliana Sange in jail this is the man who fully supports the genocidal behavior of the Israeli government in Gaza right I’m sorry those two things alone preclude that man from Frontline politics but not in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland because he’s a safe Pair of Hands for the city of London and the British establishment that’s what’s been done here we’re being played again I mean in reality has Boris Johnson told more lies than Kier starmer or is Kier starmer told more lies than Boris Johnson I think you probably find that they’re both equal at the top of the top of the the charts on that one a Despicable individual who knows little or nothing about this country he can barely remember because he lies so much he can barely remember what you said yesterday but he has that in some ways he’s got elements of John swinny about him you know that look that tells you the L he supposedly supposedly honest the labor party are going to win seats in Scotland that’s a fact but they’re not winning them because K stammer is a great leader and that they’re producing great policies it will be done by the default of people staying at home because they are no longer believe that going out and voting for the political parties and and this has become true in Scot because primarily of the actions of the Scottish national party not anybody else but let’s hope they go out and they vote for Independence for Independence but any gains that labor makes if they start cro for the rooftops and people need to remind them they’re coming from effectively having run this country for nearly 80 years before the creation of the Scottish Parliament you know they’ve been reduced to nothing and they were reduced to nothing by being unprincipled and showing to the the people that they were unprincipled and the people went n we’re not having it anymore any blip for labor this time round is a direct result of the incompetence of the Scottish national party government and what they have to understand and learn from the circumstances they need to get back to competent government but it’s not going to happen under John swinny that’s that’s that’s that’s just a a fact he’s owned by too many people he owes too many people and more importantly than that 25 years after the creation of the Scottish Parliament we have come to the boundaries of what is possible within Devolution it is not possible to deliver more that’s the problem that has all that has been the problem from day one because we should have seen this coming as people in other devolved administrations or in other areas that were devolved before us they realized when they came to the point where you can go no further now if there is no one in the Scottish national party that that actually understands that to address the social problems that are all around you you can see them look out of any wind of any town in any town city Village in the country the problems are out there if you don’t have the tools to address those problems then you got to find where the tools are and ultimately as we know the tools can only be got by controlling our own natural resources and our human resources to deliver for the people of the country and that requires Independence and anybody but anybody that’s in politics who says well we could do more with Devolution you will come to a point where you can do no more and I would suggest we are at that point now and most importantly this is part of the apathy of the voters out there the voters know that too yeah um the one thing you did miss out um was that he didn’t he didn’t prosecute Jimmy Sabo that was another one of Mr stammer you missed that one out um we should have put I’m just checking Tey we do have I’m sure another one the Joanna Cherry um a tweet this week which I kept which a cracker because starmer was demanding Derek that we have a we have an election um in Scotland because he put it and it was necessary in will but in Scotland because we changed the leader funly enough labor changed the leader on Wales we didn’t think it was necessary then to have a a general election in Wales funny that isn’t it there you go I knew we had it there we should choose a new when the Scotland should choose and we should have an election but they didn’t want one in Wales just the continuing hypocrisy we get from the unionist isn’t it Derek absolutely is yeah continuing um hypocrisy from unionists absolutely yeah I mean um I I made a comment earlier that the politicians have had their day and what I should have said is the Pol the political parties have had their day with probably with the exception of the ISP um because the people that are now standing in politics the the independence and that I I would probably bring the ISP into this particular comment as well none of them are actually politicians none of them even want to be politicians but is until they become one Derek that’s the exactly this is this is true you have to be yeah you have to be careful you don’t get sucked in um yeah I could get I could get dragged into another conversation about getting Dragged In and getting the old um concrete boots put down around your feet in Westminster that’s another show entirely but um Kier stor and that mob wow they they’re just wereing the same it’s one homogeneous lump down there and none of them are in none of them are actually interested in the the common good they the the good of the people um none of it where do you start with it all it’s just a total mess and we need new Direction I mean you just got to look at what Kier starmer did to Jeremy Corbin that was an assassination of character and all all sorts the you know the anti was anti you know Zionism and all that they change they changed the definition to suit themsel I mean you just got to take a look at some of the the things that out there’s a really good documentary that’s just actually um been out the last few weeks and it’s and it’s very much in the same vein as labor files Al jazer and it’s so you know I can’t stress enough for people to take a look back at that and you’ll really see the corruption and the horror that’s actually underneath the Cure sters of this world um and all the all the politics that’s going on down there and um yeah Scotland just needs to run as fast as their legs will carry them in the opposite direction and then the people are looking for a vehicle to do that indeed um we’re running at a time a couple things I want to get in and the first one is techy could you stick up that I think sent you this definitely the Scottish parliament in Friday voted for full compensation for the WASP quite rightly so except labor abstained the same labor party that stopped the women in glasow getting their money they abstained and compensating and fool the wasby women quite disgusting and I think the the labor vote is kind of soft and I think if the SNP could only get the act together with the rest of the independence movement Eva with D I say your favorite tune a Scottish Constitutional Convention we could absolutely wipe them out couldn’t we we would be able to I mean the wasy stuff is just another disgrace um where labor totally talk but they don’t walk the walk um the warpy women have been in effect they’ve been stolen from and that just don’t know what to have happened and their funds should be reinstated there is no doubt about that um there’s always plenty of money for Wars Etc in the United Kingdom but there’s enough money for the people that deserve it um but what would say in relation to to the SNP and the independent movement there is that Nicholas sturon just actually hammered another nail into the coffin of the unity that we need when she commented I think it was yesterday about how misogyny is on the rise and there’s a push back against women’s rights this is an area that quite correctly Ash rean brought up in the context of her attempted negotiations Yousef you cannot as a former first Minister and a female suggest that you are blameless in the context of they’ been pushed back relative to women’s rights when Miss sturon as the first Minister was responsible for handing women’s rights over to men you know there’s a clue there um she was responsible for the gender recognition reform legislation and she was responsible for instructing solicitors to argue in court that a gender recognition certificate changed your sex for all lawful purposes she’s responsible for rewriting history she’s responsible for guidance as we touched on earlier and often on many other programs about guidance for schools prisons hospitals you name it you cannot allow men to muscle in on women’s issues without expecting there to be a push back she’s the woman who said that women’s views at times were not valid she supported a man working in a Rape Crisis Center and she was supported by a cohort of her colleagues many of whom remain in ministerial positions in the Scottish government who were happy to repeat like demented parrots trans women are women trans women are not women trans women are men who might choose to identify as women female they are not and they never will be so if anybody can be singled out as being responsible for a push back against women’s rights or for misogyny it’s Nicola sturon because it was her government that refused to include misogyny in the hate crime legislation and we’re still waiting for the promised misogyny legislation which is long overdue but which unfortunately will include within the definition of victim a trans identifying male that blame again lies fairly and squarely at M’s feet and the problem with her and all the other women round about her that support her is they are entirely out of touch with a vast majority of the women of Scotland who are working class women who will see the inside of the refugees in the NHS Wards and the prisons that Miss sturon and her cronies never ever will unless like the late Queen there’s a red carpet laid down in front of them and everywh smells a fresh paint um we’re at the end of our show there’s a couple of things I want to go quickly um Tey can you stick up the picture of the English election results because I want to bring this specially for you and Eva and Derek as some encouragement you’ll see there that 78 independent increased votes 78 new independent candidates um labor get 99 but the point was that the the liberal Democrats and the greens together didn’t get as many as Independents now I know there’s a lot of independent St in local elections but 78 there seems to be you know a movement towards independence for Independence so that should be encouraging for you and the last thing I want to go now Scotland’s kind of screwed up Lloyd it’s a bit of a mess we know that we’ve got problems over there in America they’re about to lose their first amendment rights because they’ve brought in a new law that says if you see any criticism you can be as critical as you like of Biden or Trump but if you’re critical of Netanyahu that’s anti-Semitism you can say what you like about America but if you say Israel is anti-Semitism but the best one yet I’ve got is V could you get that video ready um Tey this is the chief economic advisor now America is the the the global Powerhouse the financial center of the world for the Western World this is who we depend upon to look after our financial well-being Lloyd hit that video for us this remember is Mr Biden’s chief economic advisor the US government can’t go bankrupt because we can print our own money it obviously begs the question why exactly are we borrowing in a currency that we print ourselves I’m waiting for someone to stand up and say why do we borrow our own currency in the first place like you said they print the dollar so why why does the government even borrow well um the uh so the I mean again some of this stuff gets some of the language that the M some of the language and concepts are just confusing I mean the government definitely prints money and it definitely lends that money which is why the government definitely prints money and then it lends that money by uh by selling bonds is that what they do they they um they yeah they they um they sell bonds yeah they sell bonds right because they sell bonds and people buy the bonds and lend them the money yeah so a lot of times a lot of times at least to my year with with mmt the the language and the concepts can be kind of unnecessarily confusing but there is no question that the government prints money and then it uses that money to um uh uh so um yeah I I guess I’m just I don’t I can’t really talk I don’t I don’t get it I don’t know what they’re talking about like because it’s like the government clearly prints money it does it all the time and it clearly borrows otherwise we wouldn’t be having this de andde conversation so I don’t think there’s anything confusing there the chief ecomic advisor Lloyd you feeling better now I mean the worldon safe hands have you ever seen in that in your life it’s p it’s America what do you expect as a you know welcome to the monkey house um why should we be surprised you know the great gval told us many many many years ago that the the the Zionist military industrial complex runs America and uh no one can say anything against it what’s horrifying is that we as people in other parts of the world seem to think that there’s something nice and cuddly about America and that just simply isn’t true as we’ve seen from the behavior of the police forces across the campuses of the United States over the past few days um you have to laugh or you cry but honestly anybody and everybody that’s uh a voting citizen in a country that’s an ally of the United States should watch that very video and maybe uh inform themselves that uh Uncle Sam ain’t your friend but then again col L right Colonel L right told us that in the program over seven months ago Uncle Sam is not your friend so remember that folks that um the government prints money yeah yeah it does that and it it it lends the money and um yeah B and and prints money definitely prints money yep that’s all you need to know economics I was the chief economic advisor fantastic you’ll rest you’ll sleep better now folks we’ve come to the end of today’s show uh I want to thank you for your input um it’s been fabulous as usual Derek I hope you’ll not be a stranger um and uh we’ll see you as the campaign grows ET on on the UK general election Eva Lloyd as always thank you so much and to you folks for watching and putting up with us thank you very much and until we see you again please please take care goodbye through a Scottish prism the program that is unapologetically pro Scottish independence and anti Westminster rule everything we say here is viewed through a Scottish prism brought to you by barhead Boy