'Whisper it, you are allowed to – trust me, you can talk about it without fear. You should shout it from the rooftops: “Independence – it's about identity, it's about values, and it's about culture".' @believeinscotland.bsky.social www.believeinscotlan...

75% of Finland is a forest owned by huge cooperatives & that's key to equality. Last century Finnish pulp powered the European newspaper industry & all benefited - not one laird. It's one story we hope to tell in a new film this September. Crowdfunder live now www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/finland---...

There were a couple of very good talks about basic income at the recent @indyforumscot.bsky.social event. One by Craig Dalzell @thecommongreen.scot and one by Annie Miller champion of Basic Income @basicincomeaction.bsky.social They’ll be out soon on @scottishindypod.bsky.social

'The appalling rates of child poverty in Scotland, as in the UK as a whole, are the result of political choices, They are choices Scotland’s people did not make and are not inevitable. An independent Scotland will be free to make different choices.' @weegingerdug.bsky.social weegingerdug.wordpre...

'We’d be mad to fall for Michael Gove’s gobbledygook on indyref route.' @richardwalker5.bsky.social, via The National archive.is/7IriX

'One has to wonder how many of those exposed to constant negativity from BBC Scotland and others in the media about Calmac – and also politicians opposed to the Scottish Government – have any notion of the scale of the price differentials?' @talking-upscotland.bsky.social talkingupscotlandtwo...

'STV's new radio station could be the jolt Scottish music culture needs.' Pat Kane, via the National archive.is/hz97i

Scotland’s fishing industry has been undermined by the UK government - again. Like the Tories, Labour didn’t even consult the Scottish Government and treated our fishing communities as expendable. Only independence would give us the seat at the EU table to defend Scotland’s interests.

You're invited to Independence Forum's Summer Convention on Scotland's Future on Saturday 14 June in Perth. We'll discuss what it is to be a Scot (born here or not), land reform, energy, direct democracy, poverty and the Wellbeing Economy. Free tickets here: independenceforum.sc...

'The value of the trade deals concluded since Brexit pale compared to what the UK has lost in trade, business investment and freedom of movement by foolishly leaving its largest and nearest market of 450 million consumers - the EU.' Leah Gunn Barrett, via 'Dear Scotland' dearscotland.substac...

How far down the far-right drain will Anas Sarwar follow his UK boss, asks @weegingerdug? We think you're going to need a pretty long probe... via The National archive.is/X3U9n

A flyer for the latest Independence Forum Convention on Scotland's Future, which will be at one of my local stamping grounds, the Salutation Hotel, Perth, on Saturday 14 June. Their Spring Convention in Edinburgh was pretty good, and this looks like another cracker. Book now! (QR code in image)

'From the BBC Wales and BBC Scotland inserts in BBC Breakfast, two very different editorial judgements of what folk need to know as they rise to face the new day.' You'll not be surprised at the results of the @talking-upscotland.bsky.social comparison... talkingupscotlandtwo...

'Politically, Great Britain is already a long, long way from the open, inclusive, outward-looking vision that we were all invited to “lead, not leave” more than a decade ago.' Seamus Logan, via The National. archive.is/T1CS6

'A Bag of Spanners' - new podcast from Lesley Riddoch and Pat Joyce. An island of strangers. Is this the nail in Labour's coffin? When will any Scottish MP bar Brian Leishman push back? Will Indy be page 1 line 1 of the SNP's Holyrood manifesto? If not, why not? And more... www.lesleyriddoch.co...

Latest Independence Live TNT Show, with host John Drummond speaking to Lynn Hastie and Jason Baird of IFS member organisation National Yes Registry about its #GetCounted campaign. www.youtube.com/watc...

Places are now available at the IFS Summer Convention on Scotland's Future on Saturday 14 June from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Salutation Hotel, Perth. It's free to attend, but booking is essential. Read the draft programme for the day and find the booking form here: independenceforum.sc...

'A hard-right English nationalist government would be on a collision course with Scotland, and a Stephen Flynn-led SNP clashing with a Farage PM would be an entirely different dynamic than a Swinney-Starmer one.' Mike Small, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social bellacaledonia.org.u...

Anas Sarwar, June 2024: "We need migration around the health and social care system, of course we do." Another U-turn coming your way in 3...2...1...

As the Daily Record lets Anas Sarwar campaign with lies about NHS Scotland, the facts 2: talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/02/10/t...

'If an opinion poll weights by the outcome of the 2014 referendum, then you can be certain that it is under-reporting the Yes figures and they are most likely to be higher. It will also be overstating the No figures, which in reality will be lower.' @weegingerdug.bsky.social weegingerdug.wordpre...

Not scientific, but a fairly conclusive vote in our mini-poll on today's Perth High Street stall.

'In the midst of clear dissatisfaction with UK Government austerity policies, and collapsing support for Labour and Cons, Survation manages still to pluck a predicted majority for No in an independence referendum. How do they do it?' @talking-upscotland.bsky.social explains. talkingupscotlandtwo...

'The EU is not a rescue project. But it can be part of a wider context in which that work becomes more possible. There’s scope for real co-operation, even within current limits – but it needs political will and a clearer sense of purpose.' Assa Samake-Roman via The National archive.is/EQRKX

On VE Day, once more, Scotland's 63% higher WW2 army war death rate than the rest of the UK, confirmed by research, but never Mentioned: talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/06/05/r...

'There's a hideous prospect of a Westminster with a large contingent of anti EU Little England fundamentalists driving the bus. Independence for Scotland may once have seemed the risky choice. Now staying in the UK seems the most unsafe.' @believeinscotland.bsky.social www.believeinscotlan...

'The choice facing Scotland has never been starker. It’s independence in Europe or the far right corrupt authoritarian of Farage, forced to bend a knee to the whims of the man baby emperor in the White House.' @weegingerdug.bsky.social weegingerdug.wordpre...

'At heart, land reform is about empowering our communities.' Ariane Burgess, via The National archive.is/eFx58

On Friday 9 May, Europe Day, Yes For EU is organising an event showing how an Independent Scotland would be welcome back into the EU family of nations. Free tickets are available on Eventbrite for the live event at Augustine United Church in Edinburgh, or for live-streaming. www.eventbrite.co.uk...

'I’ve never witnessed a new government, moreover one elected with a landslide Commons majority, become so unpopular so quickly. It’s as if Starmer set out deliberately to alienate everyone who voted Labour in July in the hope of getting change from the Tories.' Wee Ginger Dug weegingerdug.wordpre...

'Political independence follows a nation's culture and values, not its politics, because politics is temporary (you can vote them out). Culture and values run deeper.' @believeinscotland.bsky.social www.believeinscotlan...

'Muzzled Passion': new Lesley Riddoch podcast with Pat Joyce. Is the SNP's passion for Indy being muzzled? The Supreme Court decision on what is a woman. Has anything really been resolved? What is Pope Francis's legacy? Latest polls. Are we heading for a Farage premiership? lesleyriddoch.com/po...

'The UK Government is reiterating that it will put £200 million into an alternative future for Grangemouth. Even if that materialises, it's a drop in the ocean; it will take billions to build a green facility to take the oil refinery's place.' @believeinscotland.bsky.social www.believeinscotlan...

'Young people still believe in independence and have not lost commitment. Recent YouGov polling estimates 59% of 16 to 24-year-olds would vote Yes ina referendum, showing support for independence is still alive over 10 years on.' Tommy Kelly, via The National. archive.is/Z6MJA

'a brand new independence poll, conducted by Find Out Now, found that 52% of Scots said they would vote Yes to leave the Union in a rerun of the 2014 vote, an 11-point lead over the 41% of Scots who would back No.' via The National archive.is/U7Bla

'In a wellbeing economy the focus of fiscal policy would not be on delivering arbitrarily fixed levels of government deficit.' Jim Osborne of the Scottish Currency Group, via The National www.thenational.scot...

A great example by Yes Prestwick of how to keep the independence movement visible, captured on video by The Scotland Channel (@thescotlandchannel.bsky.social‬). www.youtube.com/watc...

'This is not the first time Sarwar has called for closer alignment with MAGA. At Labour's Scottish conference he called for a Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency in Scotland, a call received in stunned silence even by that tame audience.' @weegingerdug.bsky.social weegingerdug.wordpre...

'The National Audit Office report on the ongoing implications of Labour and the Conservatives’ disastrous PFI adventure is a timely reminder of what no government should consider again at any time under any circumstances, and certainly not now.' Seamus Logan via The National www.thenational.scot...

A not-to-be-missed Independence Live TNT Show from last Wednesday, with host John Drummond in conversation with Prof Alf Baird, discussing amongst other things the Salvo/Liberation Scotland project to decolonize Scotland via the mevchanisms of the United Nations. www.youtube.com/watc...

'The politicising of NHS Scotland is made abundantly clear just by comparison with the work of BBC England and BBC Wales.' @talking-upscotland.bsky.social talkingupscotlandtwo...

'Why is Scottish Water still - largely - in public ownership, while water companies in the rest of the UK are privatised? The answer is solidarity.' @believeinscotland.bsky.social remembers the 1994 Strathclyde water privatisation referendum. www.believeinscotlan...

'You might have thought that after its compulsive years-long focus on the ferry saga that BBC Scotland might have been happy to announce that the new £150m Tay Crossing was delivered on time and on budget. Of course, you’d be wrong.' @weegingerdug.bsky.social weegingerdug.wordpre...

As BBC Scotland highlights stories about Scots having to travel to England for NHS care, here are some stories about English NHS patients travelling in the opposite direction. Needless to say, BBC Scotland isn't interested in those. via @talking-upscotland.bsky.social talkingupscotlandtwo...

IRVINE WELSH ‘Swedes, Norwegians and Danes remain on amicable terms; they trade, co-operate and visit each other socially any time they like. They don’t need a pompous, blustering state called Scandinavia, informing them from Stockholm how wonderful they all are’ #YouYesYet

'The profits energy companies make are directly from the pockets of Scots families and businesses. It's the price Scotland pays for letting another country take decisions about our natural resources against our political will.' @believeinscotland.bsky.social www.believeinscotland.org/not_the_pric...

A huge loss for the Yes movement: Dr Willie Wilson, lifelong campaigner, co-founder of the Scottish Independence Foundation and NHSforYES, and much, much more besides, has died. Our condolences to his family and his many friends, who will miss him greatly. www.thenational.scot/news/2503942...

A wee bit of history for you: Historian, author and broadcaster Stuart McHardy provides evidence of the military occupation of Scotland by the British Army for a decade after the Jacobite Risings. via The Scotland Channel www.youtube.com/watc...

'I did not have high expectations of Keir Starmer, but I did think that as a disabled person at least I'd no longer live in terror of disability benefit cuts as I did under the Tories. How wrong was that fond hope.' @weegingerdug.bsky.social, via @scotnational.bsky.social www.thenational.scot...

'Women have always been at the forefront of the independence movement, and that is because we understand how independence offers a stronger, fairer, more equal future to us and our families.' @believeinscotland.bsky.social www.believeinscotlan...