Mark

Claude Monet, el bosque de Saint-Germain

There is nothing John Swinney can do after the election that he cannot do before the election. But clearly he ain't planning independence - this👇 would suggest begging for a little more devolution. A Tragic mindset for Scotland. 🙈

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"The UK Supreme Court already ruled that Scotland is definitely *not* a colony! So the matter is settled!" Ah, well that's that then I guess. However, interestingly, the French "Supreme Court" gave *exactly* the same ruling as the UK Supreme Court gave Scotland, using *exactly* the same justifications, when it declared that Algeria *definitely* wasn't a colony in the 1950's. However, it was a colony. The UN eventually recognised that and Algeria was decolonised in 1962. So, don't be fooled by the whole "but the Supreme Court says!" thing. It really means absolutely nothing. The highest courts in the State always protect the State - not the truth.

Despite generating enough⚡️to power all Scotlands homes & even cable a surplus to England (for free) this is the energy poverty map in Europe. Look at Scotland folks, look at Scotland. 😡😡😡

@DavidMcHutchon @separatescot Believe in Scotland are fronting the SNP drive to win votes in May to hold on to power and to continue with devolution. They have no interest in self-determination, liberation or independence

I guarantee you the anti Gàidhlig Gaelic language and Scots language cultish religious sect will saying next to f---- all about the expense of this despite their cultish mantra about "how much do these languages cost the taxpayer" because their ideologically driven.

'Saguaro Dusk' by contemporary US Impressionist style painter Erin Hanson #WomensArt #LandscapeArtWeek

The British State Brigade don't like the 'Scotland is a Colony' line. And for that reason, it needs pushed harder. x.com/SSalyers2/stat…

Indictment at the United Nations: A Report Submitted Directly to the UN Secretary-General Now Entered into the UN System Exposes Scotland as a Colony and Places the English Colonial State in the Dock documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/…

Warning: high levels of funk detected. Commodores with “Machine Gun”

A lot of "mental health issues" disappear when bills are paid, rent is secure, and the fridge is full. Peace is expensive. And pretending money doesn't affect mental health is privilege.

Indictment at the United Nations: A Report Submitted Directly to the UN Secretary-General Now Entered into the UN System Exposes Scotland as a Colony and Places the English Colonial State in the Dock Read the full report by Liberation Scotland & Co. on the official UN website: documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/… 3/ A Strategic Turning Point This document must be understood for what it is: -a legal articulation of Scotland’s colonial condition -a bridge between Scottish claims and UN decolonisation mechanisms -a tool capable of mobilising international opinion and institutional action Its presence within the UN system matters. It creates a record and introduces language; establishing precedent while inviting response. For Scotland as an English colony, it opens a pathway. For the English colonial state, it signals exposure. The entry of this report into the United Nations system marks a moment of rupture for Scotland. The English colonial narrative is no longer uncontested. The legal framing has shifted and the international arena is now engaged. The question is no longer whether Scotland can be described as a colony. The question is how long the international community will tolerate a situation that increasingly bears all the legal, political, ethical and moral characteristics of one. As an English colony, Scotland's decolonisation & liberation from the English colonial state have started. Saor Alba 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @UN @UNGeneva @UN_HRC @UNHumanRights @antonioguterres

Assisted dying Bill falls Yes 57 No 69 1 abstention

The right wing papers are saying the pension age needs to be raised to 75. I counter, the number of billionaires needs to be reduced to 0. That will affect 0.00006% of people, and they will still be far too rich. But it will pay for pensions, healthcare, housing and much more.

As an Edinburgh doctor working in elderly care medicine, I have written to my Members of the Scottish Parliament urging them to vote against the Assisted Dying Bill. I can understand why people say they want this choice. But my central concern is the risk to vulnerable older people: some would choose this not because of unbearable suffering, but because they feel they are a burden on family. I do not believe safeguards can solve that. The bill would then mean the state authorising medical participation in the deliberate ending of the lives of patients who, in some cases, do not actually want to die - but feel pressure from others, or feel a duty not to burden their families. It would be a moral disaster if even one person chose assisted dying for that reason.

As an English colony, Scotland must bring an end to the English colonial state "United Kingdom" by holding it accountable on the international stage through United Nations decolonisation mechanisms. Every Scot and every citizen of the world must know that England has misled the international community by claiming that Scotland is in a “voluntary union”, when Scotland should have been reported to the United Nations as a colony in the 1950s in accordance with international law and UN obligations of colonial powers. Annexation is a supreme crime in international law. Under international law, Scotland has the right to seek judgment and reparations for colonial theft and crimes from the English coloniser.

I don't have "deep insights" about Americans as a species. I have memory. And I have pattern recognition sharpened by what it means to live under the consequences of decisions Americans call "foreign policy." You grow up Vietnamese, you learn early that there are two parallel realities: The one you live through. And the one narrated about you on American television, in speeches, in films, in history books. My family lived through the moment when American abstractions like "credibility" and "containing communism" stopped sounding strategic and became physical: Bomb craters. Refugee boats. Bodies. You watch villages renamed "collateral." You watch coups renamed "restoring democracy." You watch blockades renamed "pressure for reform." You watch your dead filed away as "tragedy" so that no one has to call them what they were: crimes. After a while, you stop getting angry at every sentence. You start studying the grammar. Who gets to remain human in the story. Who gets turned into an adjective. Whose violence is "regrettable," and whose resistance is "terrorism." Which lives are allowed complexity, and which lives are flattened into body counts, talking points, and background noise. Then you hear Americans speak about entirely different places, entirely different wars, entirely different enemies, and the same grammar is still there: "Intervention" instead of invasion. "Stability" instead of control. "Responsibility" instead of domination. "Sanctions" instead of siege. If you grow up with that long enough, you learn that what empire calls "responsibility" usually means someone far away is about to bleed. That's where my "insight" comes from. From watching the same software run on different hardware. From listening closely to the metaphors they don't even notice they're using anymore. From realizing that, for a lot of good, ordinary people, this isn't malice. It's the water they were raised in. The story is always written from the cockpit, never from the crater. So when I write about American exceptionalism, I'm not claiming mystical access to "your people." I am describing the hallucination I've been forced to survive under since I was born. And once you see the pattern from outside the blast radius, it becomes almost impossible not to see it everywhere.

BREAKING - Big Story A memo from Keir Starmer to all members of the UK Gov Cabinet has been leaked. In it the Prime Minister says “each of us will maintain a professional and respectful working relationship with our counterparts in devolved governments” but that “an overly deferential or laissez-faire approach to devolved government engagement almost inevitably creates political challenges or misses positive opportunities”. He then adds: “We should be confident in our ability to deliver directly in those nations, including through direct spending, even when devolved governments may oppose this.” This memo was just 10 days after my newsletter exclusively broke the story that more than a third of Welsh Labour MSs had accused the Prime Minister of undermining devolution. Plaid Cymru have just raised this with the First Minister in the Senedd. More updates to follow The UK Gov has been approached for comment.

"You can't play blues on a violin." Clarence Brown in the meantime: