Huifs Ower Scotland

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  • Chokey

    Just dropping by this afternoon to say that, of course, I want to see everybody involved in the genocide in Gaza in prison, along with those responsible for the outrages in Ukraine and all the other parts of the world where terror is being inflicted on the innocent.

    Also hoping that Donald Trump lives long enough – preferably after being impeached before winter sets in again – to spend a few years inside a prison cell. He could share with P Diddy and Harvey Weinstein.

    Then there’s Michelle Mone, who is in the media again following this week’s BBC documentary. Again, she deserves to go to prison for a long stretch; stealing 29 million pounds is a serious offence, especially when it was only possible because of the Covid pandemic. I do believe, though, that she is singled out for being a woman – a blonde woman at that – when men in suits commit similar offences, and have done for generations, without attracting the same amount of hatred and ridicule. There’s a fair bit of hypocrisy and male chauvinism to be seen here, and the fact that she built her fortune on selling padded bras adds that necessary frisson of kinky sex to make her a perfect target for snobs and incels.

    Meanwhile, there will be no Galloway National Park. The landowners win again. Flamingo Land at Loch Lomond is acceptable to the Scottish government, a National Park in Wigtownshire & the Stewartry is not. In all honesty, we knew the way the wind was blowing long before this week, didn’t we?

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  • Mania

    I’ve moved house 7 times in 10 years, from one part of Sheffield to another, twice, to Annan, the North Rhinns, Ayrshire, Darlington and now Stranraer. During those years I’ve also joined 3 different political parties, signed up for CND numerous times before leaving in a huff, bought a second car during lockdown when we weren’t allowed to drive anywhere and written 4 books, all of which I self-published. I had several copies of all 4 printed and then threw them all away because I decided they were no good and didn’t deserve to be read by anybody else. I’ve also been self-employed as a bookseller (twice), freelance welfare rights worker and badge maker. Luckily, I’m now in receipt of a state pension so there’s no need to throw away yet more money on such daft projects, but the crazes, crushes and restless nights continue as ever.

    Hypomania is the excitable side of bipolar disorder. I’ve had the suicidal depressions before as well, but medication has more or less kept them at bay for the last 16 years. Truthfully, the biggest fear in all of those house moves was that a new GP would take me off my pills and cause the depression to return; it would be madness to take that risk again. Besides, I think my long-suffering partner would put her foot down very firmly if I suggested doing so, and rightly so – she cried quietly for weeks when we left Scotland the last time. Being over-stimulated can be difficult but it’s a breeze compared to being in such extreme misery that you get as far as planning your own death.

    Mental illness isn’t something to brag about, but it’s not been anything that’s needed to be hidden either. People have tended to be much more open about their diagnoses, till now, that is. I’m fortunate enough to be past working age so I don’t need to worry about out-of-work benefits, unlike millions of other poor souls who are now being targeted for criticism and punishment. Taking benefit entitlement away has been described by the British Prime Minister as a moral thing to do, which is just the same as saying that truth = lies, up = down, kindness = evil and all the other shite that’s become the new normal in the Age of Twitter & Right Wing Madness. The mentally ill are – according to the government – trapped in a circle of dependency. What they need, so we’re told, is to be trained up and mentored so they can fill all those jobs out there that are somehow magically going to be provided by employers who aren’t worried about their new staff having to take months off with depression, anxiety or psychiatric disorders.

    This is bullshit, obviously. The point of the new policy isn’t to be kind or supportive but to save lots of money by taking it away from sick claimants and pushing them onto the dole instead. Aye, I know “dole” doesn’t officially exist anymore but there’s no point in dressing things up. Losing the disability element in their benefits won’t help anybody with a mental illness; on the contrary, they’ll become worse off and consequently have more financial stresses on top of all the other fears and anxieties that made them unfit for work in the first place.

    All the stuff I write here is subject to change according to my mood. I might go to bed tonight, wake up in the small hours, decide it’s all shite and delete everything. I’ve had more forums and websites than I could possibly remember, and every time it’s occurred to me at some point that nobody is interested in any of the rubbish I write, at which point it all gets scrapped – only for the whole process to start again a few weeks later.

    So, if you’ve just dropped by for a quick read (in which case thanks and I love you), and think you might want to have another look in the future because you or somebody you care for or support is having a crisis, the best thing is to copy this post and save it somewhere. It might not be here tomorrow.

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  • Birthday

    My mum is 97 next month and having a party, which I’ll be travelling down for even though she tries to start an argument with me every time we speak. However, A won’t be going – which means that B, C and D can’t be there either, because A isn’t on speaking terms with E or F. A used to be shunning G as well but he seems to have been forgiven for whatever the offence was that caused him to join the others in Coventry.

    H isn’t on speaking terms with F or B, so she’ll not be attending even though B is going to be absent as well. H is angry with F because A wouldn’t let H’s mum attend F’s father’s funeral, for which she blames F even though it really wasn’t her fault. G will probably not talk to me, because he rarely does, and he’ll be snarky with F – as he has been ever since their divorce. I hope J doesn’t turn up, because since K stopped speaking to L and M, he seems to have cut me off. I’ve not had so much as a text from him since last year.

    N and O will be at the party, although they might not stay for long because my mum and O don’t get on. Their son P rarely leaves the house and will almost certainly not turn up. When L and M had their wedding party, O was in such a foul mood with N that it was a relief when they left. When I remonstrated with my mum over the fact that she unfairly criticises mild-mannered N while allowing G to bully her, she accused me of thinking I was God.

    F has made the arrangements for the day. I expect she’s been trying to reconcile everybody so that the party is a special one, but there’s no chance of that happening. 10 out of 10 to her for effort, though.

    I’d probably stay over afterwards with L & M, but their house isn’t suitable for somebody that needs to get up 2 or 3 times a night so I’ll spending Saturday night in a cheap hotel in Carlisle, relieved that it’s all over and looking forward to arriving home. It might take me a week or two to recover, mind.

  • Identity

    There’s a reason why Nick Griffin used “Identity” as the title of the BNP magazine. The word is a major force in fascism because the notion that a national, regional, cultural or religious identity is under threat from traitors and outsiders is really all they’ve got. Some call it patriotism, some nationalism, but it’s the Road to Hell no matter what it’s called.

    My neighbour is a nice guy, but the first question he asked me when we moved into our house was I support Celtic or Rangers. The obvious real matter was whether I’m Catholic or Protestant. In fact I’m neither, and was able to tell him I have no time for either of the Old Firm, but the very fact that this is such an important question for so many people living in Scotland is evidence that there’s no such thing as a Scottish identity. Sure, there are lots of clichés, usually involving whisky, kilts and bagpipes, but there’s no common principle linking all the people together. There’s no reason why anybody should care whether I’m a Billy, a Dan or an auld tin can, but folk certainly do care, and many will put others into either the “friend” or “foe” category as a consequence.

    On social media, some claim that Scottish values are different from English ones. I certainly hope that Reform UK don’t do as well in Scotland as they did the other week in the Soothron, but opinion polls tell us that – in terms of voting intentions – they are the third most popular party in Scotland at present behind the SNP and Labour. Since Labour and the Conservatives are vying with Reform to try to attract racist votes, it’s arguable that 50% of voters here are planning to put an X next to the name of a candidate who is relying on racial prejudice – and very probably other prejudices as well – in next year’s Holyrood election.

    If we accept – and I for one don’t – that Labour is a left wing Party -Scotland returns more left wingers – or at least fewer right wing extremists – than England, but it’s not because of anything in the water or the blood. England’s population is much more multicultural, which gives rise to more racism among the terminally gullible among the white working class, who are prepared to give credence to the myth that non-white immigrants get preferential treatment with regard to jobs, housing etc.

    If Scottish values were really a thing, would they be represented by the Wee Wee Frees? By TERFs? By Wings Over Scotland?

    The values that many folk like to claim as Scottish are the ones that see Steven Yaxley-Lennon getting a face full of milk shake, or Trump being called a cunt by Janey Godley, but they are no more representative of Scotland than Orange marches, kids fighting on the beach at Irvine or footballers being hit with flying plastic seats. I’ve seen claims that the organised crime groups currently in the news for burning houses down in Glasgow, East Kilbride and Edinburgh are really English. I know it’s not unknown for England to get the blame – often justifiably – for Scotland’s woes, but we do have to accept that – if there were such a thing as Scottish identity – it wouldn’t necessarily be represented by open-mindedness, kindness, inclusion and all the other values that we love and admire.

    In summary, there’s no Scottish identity just as there’s no English, French, Welsh, American or African identity, which means that there’s also no reason to try and defend something that doesn’t actually exist from anybody not trying to threaten or change it. That way fascism, pogroms, ethnic cleansing and genocide lie.

  • Skleff Yird

    An English criminal jury consists of 12 randomly chosen adult members of the public; in Scotland it’s 15. Either way, the possibility of a fair trial is only as great as the capacity of those adults to think logically and unemotionally. That all 15 should do so is highly unlikely, because people’s logic and emotions are very fallible.

    In the recent English county council elections, around a third of people voted, and about 40% of those voted for the Faragists. A few folk will have had valid reasons for boycotting the elections or have been unable to take part for other reasons, but around two thirds of the electorate couldn’t be bothered. The Apathy Party triumphed, as it usually does at local level. In a jury of 12, then, on average 8 might well be less than committed to achieving the goal of providing the correct decision.

    Of the other 4, it’s likely that at least 1, probably 2, are either simple-minded, racists or both. Their lack of resistance to logical argument, and desire to be on the winning side no matter what, mean that they are likely to along with whatever is the opinion of the jury’s dominant member. That person’s dominance will probably arise from having a loud voice, bullying manner and lack of inhibition. People with these characteristics used to be looked down upon; now they are not just celebrated but are being elected into government, most noticeably in the USA.

    A committed racist will hold the view that a non-white person is intellectually and morally inferior and consequently much more likely to be a criminal or a liar. Others will take the same approach if a defendant or witness is gay, or on benefits, or has expressed opinions that differ from the mainstream.

    Then there are people who are simply unable to recognise a fact when they see or hear it. An average jury will be likely to include one or more people that think Covid 19 was a hoax, that 9/11 was an inside job and/or that the world is flat. If you can bring yourself to do it, try reading the stuff on Twitter, where conspiracies abound; from mind-altering drugs in the water supply to underground tunnels where paedophiles in the Democrat Party hold their victims captive. One doing the rounds just now says that there is a conspiracy to block out the sun’s rays, run by the very same people that are installing solar panels on British farmland. That is, proponents of solar power are deliberately sabotaging their own work and leaving the people of the so-called Western World short of electricity.

    It’s impossible to convince a deluded person that his/her conspiracy theory is false or illogical, so a juror whose mind is made up, regardless of the evidence, that the accused’s alibi is made up, or that the police have fitted him/her up, will stick firmly to that position no matter what.

    I have a confession to make. I have not ticked the box to allow my organs to be harvested after my death, because I don’t want there to be any possibility that my liver, kidneys or corneas might vote for Reform UK. I don’t trust the average human being not to be a gomeril or a bam. Those election results came as a nasty shock to me; even my mum’s new local county councillor is a racist. A virus – as deadly in its own way as Covid – is sweeping the world from its base in the USA and spreading on the internet and in the media. Symptoms include stupidity, gullibility, inability or unwillingness to empathise, laziness, moral cowardice and a raging superiority complex.

    It’s called fascism.