Pat Kane
@thoughtland
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Eco-soc #indy. Writer @scotnational. Editor @alterglobal21. Singer @hueandcry. Ideas https://t.co/WsFU1Jogoo Semi-bio: https://t.co/7HY8WYGWrG #AdAstra
Joined August 2010
All here at But pushing my E2 writers’ site, at - weekly trends-letters & columns, new book & archives. Please support independent writers, in an age of corporate and propagandist media, and consider a paid subscription. RT, thanx!
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Sorry, but I completely admire her for this position (& her eloquence). The kind of feminist that schooled me in the 80s, for which I am forever grateful. Bravo, Nicola:
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Perth on the glorious royaltastic day. Any other excruciatingly empty Jubilation scenes, please post them below
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The wee yin—who is, in truth, a titan—doing really well, under a major US media spotlight. And what a champ @trevornoah is too. @gretathunberg
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I’ll vote eco-socialist in an Indy Scotland. *But we need Indy first*. If you are SNP swithering to Labour, think again. Scotland’s agenda will be steam-rolled over if SNP seats are lost in a Starmer landslide. Jings, they’re FAR from perfect… but keep the heid. Vote @theSNP
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“Is there a universe in which the United States could afford to lose its nuclear base in Scotland?” “No”. The basic plot mechanism of Netflix’s The Diplomat. You may now understand the media-political lock-out of a nuke-free Scots Indy
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We’d love Billy Connolly anyway: a Scottish working class life lived to the fullest. But he expresses his shift to indy beautifully: “If Scotland would like it, I would like it”. Millions more behind that sentiment, I hope 💙🏴:
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A scunner. But it’s been evident for a while that @NicolaSturgeon wants to do good works globally, based on high principles. Being a Scots indy politician, battling choobs day in day out, maybe not her best pathway for that. I wish her all the very best
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How does Kaye Adams get away with trailing her show on a second indyref in exclusively negative terms? “Critics have said it is a reckless move, it is out of touch, & the FM should be concentrating on other matters… what do you think?” I think 50% of your lines are missing….
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I am increasingly embarrassed by & ashamed of public life on these islands
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Very human moment here. The strain and responsibility must be overwhelming:
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Not quite the police enforcement you expect, in a locked-down Mallorca.
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How can this actually happen? Do Reporting Scotland think we’re all thick?.
One minute you're helping Douglas Ross with his local election campaign and the next you're appearing on BBC Scotland as an 'ordinary member of the public' concerned about the Scottish NHS. Joyce Young won't be happy that Reporting Scotland left off her OBE from the title.
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This person is a complete and utter chancer.
Ruth Davidson says she accepted her life peerage in the House of Lords to make it more democratic. Shameless.
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Never happier than when Holyrood expresses its collective moral force. What a Parliament can do.
🏴 BREAKING: The Scottish Parliament overwhelmingly votes to call for a ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. YES: 90.NO: 28. All parties, apart from the Scottish Tories, back a ceasefire.
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For a politician who was first politicised by the second Gulf War, Yousaf’s adamancy for a peace that respects all human rights in Israel/Palestine isn’t surprising. But it is admirable. And truly global. Well done.
30 days of bombing, over 10,000 dead, including 4,000 children. If you are not calling for an immediate ceasefire, you are frankly enabling the suffering of so many innocent people. Scotland will be on the right side of history and of humanity. 📹 @ginadavidsonlbc @LBC
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Please god, let me be a Scottish European, before I pass away
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Where were you when… condolences to Alex’s family and friends. A key figure in my own journey to Scottish independence. Abrasive, often brilliant and brave, in pursuit of The Cause. Really, the end of an era:
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Jaw-dropping on @afneil from @lisanandy, asked about SNP/#indyref2: we will learn from how socialists have defeated divisive nationalists - in places like Catalonia. 😱 This has to be playing to focus-group results on Northern marginals. How else could you be so inflammatory?
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Now *that’s* withdrawing your labour. Striking ballerinas at the Opéra de Paris:
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Every time someone I admire accepts one of these gore-encrusted, British-imperial gongs… I am amazed at the power of sheer vanity, over context and history.
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It’s going to be brutal out there. @Dr_PhilippaW’s informed, authoritative smeddum is to be emulated
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CHILD-POWERED SCHOOL BUSES IN HOLLAND, LOOK.
Rush hour in the Netherlands: traffic made up of child-powered school buses (ht^ @dirkjanjanssen & @MartijnLi) .
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I’m not the hugest fan of Flower Of Scotland. But given the ba’-heid and bampot quality of those ranged against it, I have suddenly become its stalwart defender
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We so need to get this young woman up the road.
It took us 300 years to get our Scottish Parliament and 20 years for Westminster to put a bulldozer right through it. #InternalMarketBill
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Noted. Tone of this only goes public with what Labour leaders voice in private. Worth remembering when you hear the siren calls for “progressive unity across the UK”. Imagine ANY SNP rep standing up in public and snarling, “I hate Labour, I *hate* Labour”
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Deep into a McIlvanney/Glasgow mood now: Windows in the West by Avril Paton
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Will any Scots voter with the merest pulse of political memory do anything but double over in laughter?
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It is outrageous. that Scotland is talked about in these debates like some imperial possession—entirely absent from, and unable to challenge, the actual discussion. Yet when will the penny fully drop, with those Scots it needs to?.
📺 @theSNP were the talk of #ITVdebate, yet we were unable to respond. 📣 Mentions:.Nicola Sturgeon - 10 .The SNP - 7 .#IndyRef - 12 . 🏴 This is complete disservice to voters in Scotland.
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It’s not a Scots word, Lancashire or Yorkshire I think, but it is ontologically exact. Wazzock.
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Such regression—the old “four nations” nostrums thoroughly abandoned. & Brexiteers lecturing us on the limits of nationalism…🤪 Do all of the 50% No’s really want live under such endless condescension? Can’t 10-15% be persuaded on Scots #Indy?
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What a great, exuberant commentator @fotoole is. Insight, erudition and gags, yet! On Truss:
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Certainly does the domestic collective consciousness no harm to see Nicola remain poised & mandate-secure, as that weird angry baby-man shouts all over her.
‘I don’t want to see my country, I don’t want to see the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal.’. @NicolaSturgeon SNP says it’s ‘crazy’ if Britain plans to leave the European Union without a deal.
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A gentle video of a Scots granny, but it may drive you to fury. How the immigration politics of this Brexit govt degrades our everyday decencies. Scotland, FFS: the door’s over there 👉🚪🚀🏴
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Good. There’s a version of the Scottish future I can live with
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Every age group under 60 supports Indy—54% overall. Pleasing and in the right direction
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Here’s hoping, the next time I publicly rip my reputation to shreds, I get 41 pristine and uninterrupted seconds to stitch it back together—from my beloved state broadcaster, in handy viral form. And why not, taxpayers—you too!.
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The more you look at this picture, the more iconic, even revolutionary, it gets. Amazing political times. #BBCDebate
http://t.co/BXHSbdB2V1.
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I really, really don’t want to be living on an island that glories in its distance and distinction from Europe. It feels clammy, stuffy, cranky. Hopefully Scotland will rejoin. Otherwise, for the first time ever, starting to consider a European chapter to my later life.
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All ideology off today. My eldest wean got mairret. Two soulmates, an inspiration to us all
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You’re an embarrassing idiot.
I have ordered this new face mask. I have to obey the law but I don't agree with the law. I'm thinking of bulk buying and selling these online and giving the proceeds to charity. Would you buy one? Retweet to show interest.
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Bravo @GreenpeaceUK. Let more brilliant creative minds apply themselves to such messages:.
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Kenneth Williams’ intellect simmering away in this clip of him defending membership of Europe:
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So much blocking today. Reminds me of the decades of abuse you get as an Indy supporter, and why—for all her manifest faults—I’d always defend Sturgeon, the person & her political identity, if pushed to the wall.
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Truly something crazed about this. These people think that a national military day of celebration trumps any virological safety measures. I look upon this, and much else these days, with a Martian eye.
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The staff culture of the London Tube can be beautiful. Someone was reciting poetry over the tannoy the other day:
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Pretty secure, I’d have thought (unless the oncoming legalities go against her). She’s a figure of global stature and respect, & would take Scotland into Indy in a modern, progressive way. Also, utterly in the prime of her political career.
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What an undignified spectacle. You wonder why she’d trash the legitimacy of the party process she’s involved in? Unless she’s operating under the agenda of another party, to which she will eventually be a spectacular defection….
“To not even be told how many people are voting is highly unusual”. @AshReganSNP says her team have given the SNP until 3pm to provide all the candidates with “some very basic levels of information”
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“The UK Govt is back in Scotland. Get used to it.” What is this macho, intimidating crap?.
'Our vision is for a country united and prosperous, sharing in the advantages and creative dynamism provided by our being one, United Kingdom. And this Internal Market Bill, is just the start. The UK Govt is back in Scotland. Get used to it.'.
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RIP John Byrne. He muttered mysteriously a few times at me in real life. But his art and drama were sumptuously enjoyable. A true Scots bohemian, forever escaping the Calvinist clutches
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Vaccinated. Place is swarming with solicitous, yellow-jacketed volunteers, in a rickety but efficient health centre. Doctor was tiny, sparky, salty. A rubicund, greying raver bade me farewell with a muffled “take care”. And then, walking down the road, I finally lost it.
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Is anyone else feeling trapped on Brexit Island at the moment? A real sense of “I am slowly drifting in the completely wrong direction”. It can’t be Scotland back in EU at any cost. But I feel more Scots-European than ever. Something Indy gotta give in 2021.
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Well, there you go. As foaming libertarians prepare to turn the UK into a deregulated, chaotic sandpit, @NicolaSturgeon stands on TED’s world stage & makes the case that govts should promote “collective wellbeing”. FFS, let’s get on with this #indy 🏴🚀💙
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Scotland’s atoms to be removed at the very point of Indy. Only a “formless and howling void” left, says geopolitical expert
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I hope ScotGov's careful yet committed legal dance to maintain fracking ban is someday recognised for the skilful act of governance it is
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Feeling for Humza and family at this time. But just to say: a Scottish FM that is so implicitly connected to the deep troubles of this world has the potential for profound leadership of this small country, as this chaotic century proceeds.
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I’m Greener than I ever was. But I believe 1 of the most direct ways to address the climate crisis is 2 marshall the genius & resources of Scotland in that direction. Which needs indy. Which means, sometimes, maximising the SNP vote. Which is what I’ll do tomorrow. 🏴, then 💚.
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I can’t yet find a thing about this Women’s World Cup that isn’t just amazing:.
Nobody, nobody enters a stadium like South Africans at a World Cup. AMANDLA!! 💪🏾
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“We canny dae it, it’s too risky, it’s no’ fur the likes ae us”, distilled here to its centuries-old cringessence. Nothing weirder, or sadder, than the Scottish political journalist who argues against the natural advance of his own polity. And believe me, I’ve met a few 🙄🤷🏻♂️
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You know what (at the end of a’ that)? If the free spirit that is Billy Connolly finally wants an “independent utopian socialist Scottish republic”. Shouldn’t we oblige him? 💙
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Really, sling yir hook. It’s inconceivable that such a religious conservative would be elected SNP First Minister. Isn’t it?! All these progressive WM SNPers need to speak up, and one of them pitch into battle.
NEW: Kate Forbes tells @Channel4News she would have voted against equal marriage. But as First Minister she will not 'row back on rights that already exist.'
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Fife. Where Gordon Broon is strapped to a gurney, raised to the skies,.receiving one last charge to Save The Union.
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Not very tall, but very strong & mighty indeed.
"You're a fascist and a racist." 👏👏👏. Massive kudos to @NicolaSturgeon for facing down these far right thugs.
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Dreadful, empty, self-loathing wee man.
Douglas Murray: Humza Yousaf, 'The First Minister of Gaza', has 'infiltrated our system' and 'does not seem to be bothered by the situation of the Scottish people'. @DouglasKMurray
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I know it's all a shitshow at the moment. But it pleases me inordinately that a left-green and a social-Democratic party come to a parliamentary agreement on a national budget. With both supporting indy. More remarkable than we often give credit for:
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“Very well done the Scotch. Setting us all an example—98% of your power from renewables. Now sit down, shut the Jock up, and we’ll take it from here”:
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You could watch it a hundred times.
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Don’t let them tell you we all mimed on #totp. @hueandcry on @BBCFOUR tonite (I seem to be wearing the hull of an entire Merchant Navy schooner. but it was #1989. )
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Familiar, depressing stuff. Why not have ambition to play your part in a sovereign political economy that you might be able to shape, in the society you actually LIVE IN, to remedy this? It’s like a cult, defying the end of its world.
Me on BBC Scotland: .I'm not convinced that the majority of Scots actually want a second independence referendum right now and I don't believe that an independent Scotland would make the majority of people better off. These points matter. 250000 Scottish kids live in poverty.
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Yes, contemporary Scotland is just like a totalitarian state, how did I not notice? In the eyes of those who (under oligarchs and regimes) have actual memories of doors kicked in, people disappeared, & real thought-control, this is hysterical, embarrassing pish.
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But also: WTF are we doing down there? In a system which has (understandably) no regard for a party of Scottish independence? Fury upon indifference.
🚨 BREAKING: Stephen Flynn angrily eviscerates Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who is absent as MPs debate his move to accept Labour's Gaza motion. “Where on earth is the Speaker of the Commons and how can we bring him to this House?”
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All the best lines on anyone, as ever, from @frankieboyle. I won’t quote, it’ll spoil the rollercoaster. But there’s a rather large heart beating out these nails, as you’ll see by the end.
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Egregious. Starmer’s rightward drift seems to be his path to victory. But really, in Scotland, too? C’mon folks!
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The true patriot, kicking seven shades of shite out of his beloved country. So that it may truly walk its talk. Gaun yirsel, @frankieboyle:
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She can be supa-cool, can Nicola. Big man, compressed like a tin:
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Loving the dreich-defying exuberance of the pics from #AUOBGlasgow march. NOT the whole campaign story. But so important to show signs of enthusiasm & vigour, particularly to the indy base itself.
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“Unionists should have put the boot in after 2014 referendum, says Ruth Davidson” I can’t believe she’s unaware of how inciteful of social unrest this language is. Party-political culture turns doubtless loving mums into toxic eejits.
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Now, we mustn't RT citizen-journalist video of May's limo being howled out of an estate in Brislington, must we?
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“We are for working people, not protest”. So robotic, so managerial, so lacking in feel for her own party. Fellow Scots in a swithering mode for Holyrood ‘26: really. *This* bunch?.
'We are still selling arms to Israel'. Heckler bundled out of @RachelReevesMP's speech at @UKLabour conference after interrupting to protest about Israel
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RT like crazy. Why shouldn’t kids be taught in Scots language? Defy the cringeoiserie.
P1/2 were following some instructions in Scots language today 🖐🏻🙆♂️🙆🏻🦶🏻🦶🏻🏴
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Correct. I hope Humza wins.
Wow! What a forceful statement about human rights! Well done Humza!
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