Canteen Mythology v.2

Keeping this simple. Polis piece times and locations have reared their heads again over on Twitter.

I have written about this before, but I welcome this corroboration.

© McNoddy
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Park Life

Over on the Twitters a debate has opened about the upcoming #AUOB march in Edinburgh and the 'use' of Holyrood Park.

I'd quite like to add my two penny worth. 

Firstly, it's clear by my political party membership that I endorse the general theme of promoting self-determination and independence for Scotland.

Secondly, marches, demonstrations, and meetings are the life blood of political movements and a part of open democracy, even if the participants are in your view a collection of.... (add your own epithets). 

But, some observations. 

Whilst the anticipated attendance may be considerable, it is unlikely that the marchers will constitute in themselves any challenge to the authorities other than traffic management and the monitoring of those undemocratic few who vehemently oppose these marches. If previous city marches are anything to go by, it will be the content of the banners at the front of the parade that will upset some and I get it. Calling Tories 'scum' is almost as bad as Ian Lavery calling for all 'Nationalists' to be killed off. It does nothing to further your cause because believe it or not we still have to live amongst those who disagree with us and those who don't give a flying fig.

Historic Environment Scotland, a public body, have decreed the march as 'political' and as such have imposed conditions on the 'assembly' of walkers on 'their' territory.

I will start by throwing in a curve ball to the shadowy organisers of the march and ask 1) Is/was an alternative assembly/'debrief' locus considered? 2) How much notice was given to HES?

Now onto HES.

'Political'?  An interesting distinction made here given all the other events held in the park, some which others might call 'political' in nature.  Also somewhat bizarre given the proximity to two pillars of political establishment in Scotland/UK in the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace. I could argue, and indeed have, that such expressions of nationhood or constitutional aspiration is natural and that preventing or restricting same is tantamount to supporting the status quo, which in itself is a political position. I'll leave that there.

HES have 'allowed' the march to use its road and path network. I should hope so as they have no right to prevent such access unless damage is caused. Just because folk arrive in thousands, waving banners and making a noise does not trump the right of access guaranteed under Scots Law. Imagine a collection of ramblers being told to foxtrot oscar. Would not happen. Rightly so.

HES have denied the installation of stalls, portaloos etc. Fair do as this is technically encampment and covered under some very old Trespass and some not so old Land Reform legislation. However, some rethink about loos might be welcome. 

If the stalls etc. remain banned under the 'political' reasoning, be sure the future use of the park will come under intense scrutiny and let's remember who actually 'owns' the park.

As a footnote many will remember the caravan and tent 'Yes' encampment at Holyrood. Again a shadowy group, with a lot less endorsement, and I wonder if their protest was a vote winner in all honesty.  It looked shabby to me. The Holyrood Park 'furore' looks similarly manufactured to me. If HES want to win support, approval for loos might be the way forward, because otherwise civil disobedience may be the only way to resolve the matter and that will not be a good look for anyone.

Yours Aye,

McNoddy

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.
Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today. 
Saor Alba. 

© McNoddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Nuts, whole hazelnuts....

During a debate about the Polis hierarchy on Twitter, the High Priestess of the controversial SIU came out with a blinder, which I took a screen-shot of.

Not long afterwards, the originator of this debate tweeted this equally befuddling 'update'. 

But then his job description is just print/tweet anything #snpbad.

Better Together my posterior. That 'precious Union' seems to be an inconvenient state of affairs to this pair. They wish only subjugation.

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.

Saor Alba. 

© McNoddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Alternative viewing

http://www.trulyscottishtv.com/

I can think of 100,000 reasons not to watch the Beeb's distorted Britnat news. 

The problem is there's no real alternative in Scotland's media churniverse.

Or is there?

You could give this start up a try - TSTV.

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.

Saor Alba.

© McNoddy
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Paradise & Paupers

I should have written this blog in April on my return from a glorious week in Barcelona.  

Much has happened since, not least in Catalonia's Capital.

However, my observation then is even more pertinent in the wake* of the issue of the #paradisepapers.

So just what did I observe?

On a pleasantly warm day, Mrs McNoddy and I promenaded down by the marina in Barcelona. The 'yachts' were resplendent in the sunshine each, and everyone, flying their port of registration flag denoting a puzzling 'home port' in the British West Indies. Well, it's not really puzzling if you follow the money. 

Just yards (sorry metres) away numerous presumably migrant individuals were dodging the local Guardia Urbana and Mossos patrols as they laid out their pitiful wares onto their flattened swag bags on the sidewalk leading to the beach area.

The contrast was jarring and sobering.

(* apologies for the 'unintentional' nautical pun) 

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.  

Saor Alba. 

© McNoddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Now is not the time

A couple of thoughts.....

It would appear that material changes have occurred. I mean why else would we have another General Election after just two years?

I take it Ruth Davidson's bunch will be asking themselves, "How's that day job going?" I also take it the 'walk out' is cancelled.

If I was cynical, I might suggest the dawning true consequences of an inevitable 'hard' Brexit might have destroyed any potential for a Conservative & Unionist Party General Election win in 2020.

"Now is not the time."

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today.

Saor Alba

© McNoddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

The 3rd option

Not everything is a binary choice.

Fàilte to another convert to Yes.

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today.

Saor Alba. 




© McNoddy
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Styx

Back in April our companion of nigh on 16 years bowed out.

Our regular reader will have known her only as Bumpy, but she preferred her true name of Ellie.

Can Seo

Over on Twitter the low oxygen level up yon munros has clearly got to Muriel Gray.

I like Muriel Gray.  I bought her books.

Can I refer all involved in the resultant furore to this evidential work.

Back in the very early eighties, following Varsity, I worked as a Field Researcher and Analyst for a very similar and indeed the first National Opinion Survey on Scots Gaelic under the auspices of An Comunn Gaidhealach. I can only say read the research and findings there. 

I also found this article to sum up what needs saying. 

Am I a native Gaelic speaker? Chan eil. 
Do I speak Gaelic? Tha, beagan.

But back to the hyperventilation over at Twitter.

Some observations:

• Many countries have bilingual road signs where there is a significant linguistic rationale for doing so. Off the top of my head I recall Magyar script on Eastern Austrian road/village signs. This pleases me because my family name is Hungarian, although admittedly our lot emigrated back circa early 18th century and well before UKIP!
• Gaelic was, and indeed is, spoken well past (i.e. south) Inbhir Nis agus An Gearasdan for the information of a few so called intelligenti of the SNPout coven. 
• My recollection and the stats confirmed that the attitude to Gaelic was surprisingly favourable even in the most unlikely spots such as Kirkcaldy and East Kilbride!
• The comments on Muriel's tweet, and the significant follow up blog by Paul Kavanagh, have now become a political football with #SNPbad and rabid nationalism attributes being flung about in relation to the well intentioned actions to reverse the decline in the language due to the linguistic colonialism of English. This is all the more disappointing as it was George Younger, aye him, Thatcher's Secretary of State for Scotland, that was at the forefront of pushing Gaelic to the forefront as he had a deep affinity to, and what I like described as, the Gaelic Community. (Jen Topping was deceptively close with her assertion that it was The Iron Lady herself that was the promoter of Gaelic back in the early eighties).  Language has no direct political hue.
• My forebears on three sides were undoubtedly Gaelic speakers (from Rothes, Strathdon and Scalpay, Harris), the late MiL was a downtrodden native speaker and I have a significant past supporting what I liked to jokingly call the Gaelic mafia. My view was simply that the language, and the cultural strings attached, were being trampled on by the Beurla stampede and some significant positive discrimination was needed. 

Finally, the author of our 1981 survey had this to say to the Leveson Enquiry about Gaelic. If you've ever heard Ken speak in depth about Gaelic, his Rayleigh accent knocks you right off your stot! More fun even than that was myself and his loon (nepotism alert!), whilst surveying in Castlebay, entering a local hostelry and abidy hearing our accents (mine is a Heinz 57 mix of mainly Buckinghamshire and a few other RAF airbase twangs coupled with couthy Doric and his; piercing Essex) and the patrons yapping to each other in Gaelic clearly believing we hadn't a scooby what they were saying.  Like I say, I speak a little Gaelic, but wasn't letting on. My cohort, however, despite the foregoing is fluent. He timed the reveal to perfection. Oh and we both have a particularly appropriate first name for that particular island. Mine is the standard English spelling. Unsurprisingly, Ken's loon is the Gaelic version. The jungle drums went feel thereafter........

Chan eil aon chànan gu leòr.

UPDATE: Auntie and the PnJ have now had their say too.

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration. 

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today. 

Saor Alba. 

© McNoddy
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Canteen mythology

There has been a wee bit of a kerfuffle recently over at Twitter in regards to Polis eating habits and canteens.

Ever prescient, I offer you this piece (sic) from 2008. 



BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration. 

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today. 

Saor Alba. 

© McNoddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Jockalypse

Jim Murphy wisnae best pleased fan he had a wee keek at 'his' Daily Ranger.

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today. 

Saor Alba. 

© McNoddy
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Election Eve Message from Toy Town™

#voteSNP projection @HyperlapseApp #GE15 pic.twitter.com/wEuPywKoFq

— Ross Colquhoun (@rosscolquhoun) May 6, 2015

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration. 

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today. 

Saor Alba. 



© McNoddy 
 Published by Toy Town™ Times

Complete Mayhem

Combining two of my least favourite things gives you this ludicrous apocalyptic vision of the future.

There's democracy for you.

Funnily enough we Scots ain't feeling the love anymore......

You may wish to check out the Twitter hashtag #WorstCrisisSinceAbdication

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today.

Saor Alba.

© McNoddy
Published by Toy Town™ 

Sea change

I apologise, well no I don't actually, to my usual reader as I am about to get all Political.

I can imagine reader that you have just planted your forehead firmly on your desk schoolgirl stylee as I suggest this, but.....

I have had an enforced 30 years away from open and public politicking and even more so from an open allegiance and membership of the SNP.  I have lot of catching up to do and sooooooooooo much to say.

Stay with me!

There will be plenty musings to follow in the run up to the General Election and next year's Holyrood elections, but a wee tale to start us off.

I live in WAK (or Toyland if you prefer) and this has been a FibDem / Conservative and Unionist marginal for all the time I have known.  Liebour and the SNP have never really had a shout, such that many (including myself) voted tactically to keep the least worst option out. 

Recently in the Euros and Local elections the SNP have made patient and gradual progress into a challenging position, but I am now told it's a two horse race here in #GE2015. Literature delivered by the FibDems and Tories confirm this as so and that it is the FibDems that are the inferred and 'preferred' challenger for those voting tactically. 

Two observations follow on from this:

I voted partly to keep a party out of this constituency/government last time and then the turncoats entered into an unholy alliance - you can call it a coalition if you wish.  I also voted partly for the individual as he was an old classmate at Varsity and thus a decent enough chap you'd have thunk.  My cautionary tale for tactical voters is - you don't always get what you vote for with second choices.  Stay true, whatever your leanings are.  

Secondly, and much more importantly, I was sat aside a gent some maybe 10 years older than me in the local barbers this morn, when I overheard his conversation with the not overly stretched stylist regarding the forthcoming vote.  He was regaling the lassie with what he appeared to suggest was an awakening to him (and may I suggest the nation) that "that Nicola Sturgeon came over really well and she seems to have some good policies." This was clearly a surprise to him and not the statement of a paid up member of the SNP, but the one next to him was fair chuffed, especially when the lassie agreed. 

There is a sea change happening......

BTW - Trident renewal is an anachronistic and abhorrent aberration.

Feel free to spread the joy by joining the SNP today. 

Saor Alba.

© McNoddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Endex

Dinna fash yersel.  No finished on here, jist being a bobbie.

Busy daen naithin a noo, bit fan I'm ready tae yap, look oot. Nae holds barred ye ken.

© Noddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Catastrophe

This must not happen. 

© Bumpy the Dug

n.b. Ed. It gets worse.

Published by Toy Town™ Times

Essence of Ecosse

Essence of Ecosse from Mo Thomson on Vimeo.

© Noddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Local Geography

Toyland his sim affa tricky place names. 

© Noddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

Freedom shackled

Being forced to accept the status quo without comment is NOT neutrality.

© Noddy 
Published by Toy Town™ Times

A Life to Give

A Life to Give from Stirling University Production on Vimeo.

I might just ken a loon involved in helping put a' this agither. 

© Noddy
Published by Toy Town™ Times