Verminous Scot
LightNews LightNews
banner
etkwebster.bsky.social
Verminous Scot
@etkwebster.bsky.social
5K followers 5.9K following 3K posts
Passionate about Scottish Independence, left wing socialist and apparently an extremist,humanist who is sick of corruption, war and poverty.
No DMs please, I block liberally.
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
#ScottishIndependence
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Verminous Scot
radiojammor.bsky.social
Former Tory MSP & Prof of Public Law, Adam Tomkins, recently stated this to a Holyrood Committee (and was agreed with by the other experts present) that "It is political rhetoric and not a constitutional convention."
Professor Tomkins It is political rhetoric and not a constitutional convention. I do not mean to demean that—indeed, I have engaged in plenty of political rhetoric myself in the past—but that is what it is. It is certainly not a rule of constitutional law—subject to one exception, which I will come to in a minute. It is not even a constitutional convention. The statements that were offered in the 2014 campaign about the referendum happening once in a generation, if not once in a lifetime, were political statements, and they should be taken as such, in my view. 09:45 It is self-evidently not the case in the United Kingdom that, once you have had a referendum on an issue, you cannot have another referendum on the same issue some time later. There have been two referendums on the UK’s membership of the European Union, in 1975 and 2016. I am not very good at maths, but I think that that means that they were 41 years apart. There have also been two referendums on Scottish devolution, and they were 18 years apart. The only statutory reference to anything pertaining to this—and it is not a reference that uses the term “generation”—is in section 1 and schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which provides that there cannot be what that legislation refers to as a border poll within seven years of the previous one. There is no legal answer to the question, “How long is a generation?”, because it is not a question of law. However, there are precedents with a small p, if you will, that we can point to and which suggest a period of somewhere between 7, 18 and 41 years. That might give you some sense of an answer to how long a generation might be. Professor McHarg I completely agree. Under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973, the minimum period between border polls was 10 years. Therefore, if we are talking about statutory ideas of what generations are, they are actually quite short. I think that it was just an opportunistic interpretation of campaign rhetoric that, to me, seemed to be about encouraging people to vote because they might not get another chance, rather than any sort of intention to promise not to seek another referendum for a generation, whatever that might be. Of course, the once-in-a-generation argument loses force the further we get from 2014, and we might expect other types of argument to be made. Indeed, other reasons have been used for rejecting a second independence referendum. For Theresa May, it was simply that “Now is not the time.” For others, it has been that public support was not high enough or that there are higher priorities, such as dealing with the pandemic, climate change or whatever. This highlights one of the features of our lack of legal regulation. There are no trigger conditions and no limiting conditions. It is simply a question of when the time is right. Professor Tierney The thing about constitutional conventions is that they are important. Because our system is so fluid, and because the UK Parliament is able to do what it wants, conventions take on a particular significance. They are rules—they are not just political claims—and they are rules that the people who are subject to them feel bound by, not just politically but constitutionally. They think, “I must behave in this way to act in conformity with the constitution.” That is really important, and it means that we cannot find new conventions easily, because they have to emerge over time through precedent and through clear evidence that the people who are subject to them feel bound by them. That is quite a high hurdle and, like Adam Tomkins and Aileen McHarg, I see no evidence to suggest that a political claim of this nature could in any way be considered to be a constitutional convention. Even if it was so, we now know that constitutional conventions would not be enforced by the courts. However, that is not to say that they are not important. I would say that, were there such a convention, it would be very important, but I cannot see the structure of a convention in that political claim. Keith Brown (questioner) Thank you.
November 27, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
joymacnaughton.bsky.social
www.believeinscotland.org/march_and_ra...
Let's End London Rule - March and Rally For Independence
www.believeinscotland.org
November 27, 2025 at 5:10 PM
etkwebster.bsky.social
"But, but, but I didn't think.the leopards would eat my face"
November 27, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
weegingerdug.bsky.social
My latest blog piece, the lie that the rich deploy as a shield to protect themselves from tax rises and the politicians they buy to promote it

weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/t...
The lie that protects the rich from tax rises
Better late than never, Rachel Reeves finally followed the lead of the SNP Government in Holyrood and announced that the heinous two child cap on benefits will finally be abolished from May next ye…
weegingerdug.wordpress.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
believeinscotland.bsky.social
🟥 If Scotland were an independent country, we would have our own Treasury. We could make our own decisions, instead of waiting for an afterthought from a neighbouring country.

🟪 Here are 3 ways the UK budget is just another FAIL for Scottish business: www.businessforscotland.com/the_uk_budge...
November 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
wullieforindy.bsky.social
If we already had #Scottishindependence

What would convince you to give it up, and let people like this take control of our finances and our land and waters?

Not a damned thing, so why accept being ruled from another country?🤔
scotnational.bsky.social The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 15h
NEW: Rachel Reeves has been accused of showing an 'astonishing level of arrogance' after she dismissed a second independence referendum if the SNP win a majority in next May's Holyrood election

👉 www.thenational.scot/news/2...
November 27, 2025 at 9:03 AM
etkwebster.bsky.social
Reeves basically says Scottish votes don't matter if we vote an SNP majority in 2026 it will be ignored, so I hope JS has his cunning plan ready to roll then.
#ScottishIndependence
#LabourDictators
November 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
wee-jordi.bsky.social
As chancellor of the exchequer, she knows exactly where the money comes from that she needs to implement her policies so obviously she's totally against the possibility of a second Indy referendum.
#YouYesYet
#EndLondonRule
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Alba saor s'an Aonaidh Eorpach 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
November 27, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
chickyholic.bsky.social
a) "Once in a generation" wasn't said by the SNP and wasn't their policy - it was a campaign comment by Alex Salmond to encourage people to get out and vote.
b) Reeves comments play straight into UN case - i.e. denial of any right to decide Scotland's future.
c) She's only too aware of polling.
scotnational.bsky.social The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 15h
Rachel Reeves has been accused of showing an 'astonishing level of arrogance' after she dismissed a second independence referendum if the SNP win a majority at next year's Holyrood election
'Astonishingly arrogant': Rachel Reeves panned after dismissing second referendum
www.thenational.scot
November 27, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
maureenpickering.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/angrypic... The last colony and exploding imperial myths.
Scotland: The Empire's Last Colony
How Scotland’s Elite Sold Scotland, Helped Build Britain’s Empire, and then Lost It
open.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
johnjakson19.bsky.social
The SNP need to tackle this WM attitude head on & not accept it with a shrug of the shoulders; make it an issue at HR26.
We need WM to recognise there is a democratic deficit in Scotland & ask them, ad infinitum, what is the legal mechanism to gaining an indyref in the UK.
November 27, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
mc1yde.bsky.social
Reeves has ruled out a Scottish independence vote - ever. There starts to be an international law case for secession from the UK if democracy is constantly denied Scotland &UK policies repeatedly diminish Scotland’s wellbeing, for instance in closing Grangemouth refinery whilst supporting English.
November 27, 2025 at 1:12 PM
etkwebster.bsky.social
Our imperial overlords have spoken.
#ScottishIndependenceNow
November 27, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
richardjmurphy.bsky.social
Rachel Reeves says her budget delivers stability. The Office for Budget Responsibility's charts tell a very different story. High interest rates, low investment, falling profitability, rising unemployment and no improvement in household incomes.

youtu.be/oAN7e3-yryE?...
Rachel Reeves’ budget: a tale of disaster hidden in the detail
YouTube video by Richard J Murphy
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
markrich68.bsky.social
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🍀🇮🇪🇵🇸🍉
November 27, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
elemjay.bsky.social
#FreePalestine 🇵🇸 from both Israel and the USA, in particular the Trumplethinskin regime.
November 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
andrew.sharpe.scot
"The overall tax burden is going up another £26bn, including via income tax and NI threshold freezes, on the very 'working people' Labour promised in its manifesto to protect. The freezes will also see people whose sole income is the state pension dragged into tax"

www.politico.eu/newsletter/l...
London Playbook PM: Chancer chancellor
Presented by The London P&I Club By EMILIO CASALICCHIO with NOAH KEATE PRESENTED BY Send tips here | Subscribe for free | Listen to Playbook and view in your browser Good afternoon. This is Em…
www.politico.eu
November 26, 2025 at 9:21 PM
etkwebster.bsky.social
Exactly this 👏
scottishgreens.org Scottish Greens @scottishgreens.org · 1d
Today's UK budget could have delivered for people and planet by taking on the rich and powerful.

But that's not what it did. 👇
November 26, 2025 at 9:59 PM
etkwebster.bsky.social
Ffs these semaglutide tablets are making me feel ill, nausea, headaches, full of wind and bloating, hope this doesn't last too long and in 2 wks my dose gets doubled so it will probably be the same result.😱
#DiabetesSucks
Disney Pua GIF
ALT: Disney Pua GIF
media.tenor.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:34 PM
etkwebster.bsky.social
Ireland had to fight for their independence from the Brits, they're now reaping the benefits of making their own decisions without the interference of WM, it's time Scotland did the same.
#ScottishIndependenceNow
scotnational.bsky.social The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 1d
John Swinney has said he 'admires' Ireland’s journey to independence after meeting with the new Irish president
John Swinney 'admires Ireland's journey to independence' as he meets new president
www.thenational.scot
November 26, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
radiojammor.bsky.social
How terrible for him that his accusers are not hypocrites with the same views as him, whilst accusing him of having "racist and neo-fascist views".
November 26, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
mikerrobo.bsky.social
Boris Johnson Russia report into allegations of Russian interference in British politics, including alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum and 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The committee completed the report in March 2019 and it has never been published, now is the time
November 26, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
adamjschwarz.bsky.social
Lib Dem leader Edward Davey calls for a national investigation into Russian political interference in British politics:

"Given Reform won't, he must. So will he know launch a national investigation into Russian infiltration into our politics?"

Starmer: "Reform is riddled with pro-Putin propaganda"
November 26, 2025 at 12:27 PM
etkwebster.bsky.social
Time for Scotland to go for independence and put our energy(pun intended) into developing our renewables and providing the people of Scotland with the cheapest electricity in Europe instead of the most expensive and polluting the planet less.
#ScottishIndependenceNow
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Verminous Scot
bylines.scot
Previously on Bylines Scotland ...

#Podcast
#Currency
#Scotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
The Scottish Currency Group – Ian Stewart - Bylines Scotland
Ronnie and Ian Stewart from the Scottish Currency Group not only talk about a life in banking counting money but also the fundamental need for plans to be in place, post independence, for Scotland to ...
bylines.scot
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM