Profile for Moridura
Retired negotiating skills consultant (commercial and employeee relations) - background in human resources, jazz and rock&roll - saxes, clarinet, EWI and a little bit of guitar.
Core beliefs - anti-nuclear, pro Scottish independence, anti-racist, pro democracy. Pro Cragganmore in moderation and Coca Cola to excess - not indifferent to Bushmills.
Ancient but active ...
Latest comments from Moridura (see all)
Moridura has commented 4 times (0 in the last month).
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Books
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A Political History of the Two Irelands competition…
It’s not often we get free things to give away to our readers, but courtesy of Palgrave Macmillan we have a nice paperback copy of Brian M Walker’s excellent history of partition of the island and how identities shifted in both the north east and the south and west: as most of the territory that [...] read our review »
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The peace process not such a good model after all
Which reminds me…. Platform for Change’s driving force Robin Wilson has produced a corrective to the notion that the lessons of the NI conflict are easily exportable. Like myself, Robin is associated with the Constitution Unit. He introduced his new book in a CU blog which I here reproduce. The water crisis in Northern Ireland [...] read our review »
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Eamon Nancarrow’s misadventures in Rock…
It’s the quiet ones you have to watch, they say. When I last saw Eamonn Namcarrow, back in the mid 1980s he was a congenial, good-natured and highly sociable young lad. The next time was 26 years later, in Lavery’s Gin Palace in Bradbury Place. He’d just brought out his first book, Holywood Star about [...] read our review »
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Comment on David Cameron has transformed the SNP’s long game of Scottish independence into a penalty shootout
on 9 January 2012 at 11:35 pm
What is left of Cameron’s bullying tactics is an offer to “legally legitimise” a consultative referendum. It is already legal, and the response to his ‘offer’? – no thanks, mate. Beware of the British Empire, even the sad rump of it, bearing gifts.
Read or listen to Tom Paulin’s “All the Way to the Empire Room” to get the feel of what the UK are capable of.
Saor Alba!
Peter Curran
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Comment on David Cameron has transformed the SNP’s long game of Scottish independence into a penalty shootout
on 9 January 2012 at 11:30 pm
Cameron has already abandoned half his ultimatum – the timescale – and who know what volte face awaits us tomorrow from the deeply divided and confused Unionist camp.
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Comment on David Cameron has transformed the SNP’s long game of Scottish independence into a penalty shootout
on 9 January 2012 at 10:16 pm
Cameron’s intervention has been a media disaster for him and unionist supporters today, and has catalysed Scottish support for independence. If only IpsosMORI could poll right now!
Why are there no senior Scottish figures willing to front the ant-independence campaign? Because no one wants to go into the history books as the Scot who opposed the indpendence of his country – and lost.
Her are the key facts, as I see them -
A significant number of Scottish voters want to be independent of the political system called the UK. The political party committed to Scotland’s independence, the SNP, was re-elected as the government of Scotland last May with a massive, decisive majority.
In that election campaign, the SNP made it clear that, if elected, they would call a referendum in the second half of the Parliamentary term, i.e. in the period November 2013 to May 2016. The indications have been probably mid-2014.
Only registered voters in Scotland at the time of the referendum, i.e. those on the voters roll, will be eligible to vote in that referendum. The referendum ballot paper will have a a YES/NO question on independence. It may have one or more other questions, e.g. a question on maximum devolved powers to Scotland while remaining in the UK.
The Scottish electorate understood clearly the position of the SNP on these matters and re-elected them with a decisive mandate to structure the referendum on this basis, including the number of questions, the formulation of questions and the timing of the referendum.
The referendum will determine the will of the Scottish people, and will either result in no action if there is a NO vote to the question or questions, or will deliver a mandate to the Scottish Government to negotiate with the UK Government, based on a YES vote to one or more questions.
The UK Government has already accepted that, although the referendum outcome is not regarded by them as constitutionally binding, they will accept it as the settled will of the Scottish people.
There are historical precedents for nations achieving their independence by various means, ranging from violent revolution and war (American independence), negotiated independence after a period of either violence or passive resistance (India and Pakistan) and velvet revolution, i.e. unilateral secession without violence (Slovenia).
Independence has never required the consent of both parties, only the determination of one party to leave a political union or empire. The details of the settlement may be negotiated, but the fact of independence depends not on law, treaty or contract but on the will of the people.
Saor Alba
Peter Curran
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Comment on Political Innovation, Edinburgh and ‘disciplined crankery’?
on 16 November 2010 at 11:07 am
I’ve had an extended (3100 words, I’m afraid!) crack at reporting and commenting on the opening plenary session, but I wasn’t able to cover Pat Kane’s input because I don’t have a recording of it. A strictly personal view -
http://moridura.blogspot.com/
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