64 thoughts on “STRUTH (or rather, well, goodness me!)”

    1. Well people must vote for what they think best, I guess. For what suits them.

      If they believe, really believe that teh Tories think of anyone but themselves, and will make THEIR lives better, then that is how they must vote.

      If they believe that Theresa May is the strong and stable leader that England needs, then that is what they should vote for.

      I’m of the opinion that there isn’t one of her cabinet that I would trust to make a pot of coffee.

      Additionally, if anyone thinks that she is going to get the best possible deal from Europe, then that is what they should vote for. I personally think that that woman, a charisma free zone, could cause trouble in an empty house.

      We must accept that having won 92% of the seats last time round, it was highly unlikely that we could ever hope to do that again.

      I’d rather we lost seats to Labour than to the Tories, but if Labour insissts on spending its time fighting its leader, and at the same time is incapable of getting a new leader, we must accept that party that gains will be the Tories.

      A huge number of them HATE May with passion, but they are better disciplined, and maybe they want power and what it can do for them, even more than Labour.

      If we end up with a big Tory majority, hell mend us.

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      1. “That woman could start a fight in an empty house”. A phrase that could be applied equally to both May, and Davidson.
        Of course, supported by an unquestioning M.S.M, these intellectually challenged lightweights are purported to be ” the greatest thing since sliced bread”.
        But I believe it goes further. I think that both are extremely dangerous. They, and the tory party, are the ones causing real division in the U.K.
        It is becoming more evident that while the real culprits of the previous decade’s economic catastrophe escape any censure, the real people of the U.K will have to suffer more austerity, and that’s before the shambles that is Brexit takes effect.
        And in Scotland the effect will be even more pronounced. We already have had our pocket money cut by £3 billion. Along with the fact that Davidson is now campaigning along blatant sectarian lines, which is a policy designed to inflame the actions of the more unstable in our society.
        I really fear what May and Davidson could unleash, not just in Scotland, but throughout the U.K with their rhetoric, and all for what? A completely unnecessary General Election, called for only one reason. To consolidate the tories grip on power.
        The present day tory party doesn’t have one ounce of compassion for the less fortunate in our society, so how anyone in Scotland could vote for this shower of vacuous idiots is, to me, unbelievable.
        And all this before the campaign for the second Scottish Independence Referendum begins in earnest.
        I shudder to think of the opprobrium coming our way once that gets under way. And that’s being optimistic that all that is thrown at us are insults.

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        1. I agree.

          I think both of them are rather stupid people. In May’s case this is pretty worrying. Surrounded by the tactless nut job Boris, the useless Davis, and the completely useless Fox, they are responsible for Britain’s future outside Europe.

          Davidson just parrots what May says.

          In the referendum campaign last year the Tory right wing/UKIP used the right wing press to lie about foreigners and to blame every ill on the EU and refugees, and they threw in gays, the sick and disabled, unemployed and even the elderly.

          There’s nothing like a pile of hatred against others to make people forget who is REALLY hurting them.

          And, in my opinion, as a direct result of this, there has been a massive rise in hate crime as reported by the English police forces.

          People should be very careful how much hate they stir up. Davidson is in the middle of that just now with her lies about Corbyn and the IRA. Not to mention her lies about Scottish education.

          (I’m not sure that she’s getting teachers on side with that.)

          They seem hellbent on reusing a referendum. Altogether I think that is a foolish step, but they seem to be people who don’t think of the consequences of anything. The ends justifies the means, regardless of who or what gets hurt.

          The British Empire, in short.

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    2. What accounts would those be Niko? I can’t see anyone who voted for independence voting for those skelpielimmers. I can and do see “staunch” Labourites tactically voting for their precious union.

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      1. Yes. The irony is that genuinely British nationalism is often unpleasant and divisive. All that the SNP wants is not to be ruled by a Westminster parliament in which the whole of Scotland is represented by fewer than 10% of the members, and where (as we have recently seen), every single proposal put forward by between 90 and 95% of Scottish members, can be overturned by English/Welsh and Irish MPs.

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    1. He was right there.

      When you think about it. People are stirred by scoundrels into all sorts of actions based on a threat of being though unpatriotic if they don;t support their country’s stance on… Trident, wars, etc…

      If you can’t persuade them to do something willingly, make it a matter of patriotism.

      It’s something that has never troubled me in any way at all. Not for Britain; not for Scotland.

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    1. Jeeeez…

      Didn’t Churchill once say (of Mesopotamia) that he didn’t care how many “heathens” had to be killed, as long as the orders of HM Government were obeyed.

      And that was in his Liberals days.

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      1. Aye. Poison gas dropped from the air, and armoured cars on the ground. Bombing and machine gunning villages. Cheap and efficient.

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  6. Being given a free pass by the Tory press gives her complete freedom to contradict herself and exhibit astonishing double standards with impunity because Joe Public doesn’t keep track. The conniving, brass neck and pure old fashioned devious Tory lying, beggars belief.

    It’s a, has her cake and eat it too scenario. A lovely big cake with many layers and ingredients with a great big f*****g cherry on top presented on a silver platter courtesy of the MSM.

    It’s a fairly simple recipe which is breathtakingly dishonest.

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    2. Yep. I wish the press was a little less ridiculous.

      The Guardian, The Independent, The National, are really the only papers worth a read.

      The lower end tabloids are dangerous, but the middle end ones are much more so. People actually vote based on what the mail, Express and Telegraph say.

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  8. I write to chide you, not as a Rangers’ supporter: my claim on that front is: “I used to be a Rangers’ supporter, but, I am better now”; but, as a football historian.

    In many people’s eyes, the word “Struth” refers to the late William “Bill” Struth, manager of Rangers from 1920 until 1954.

    Mr Struth was, by common consent – politically a Unionist. I would suggest he was certainly a supporter, probably a member of the Scottish Unionist Party. He was, however, in football terms – a winner: 18 Scottish League titles, 10 Scottish Cups and 2 League Cups – plus various war-time trophies.

    Might I respectfully suggest, therefore: you do not associate “Struth”, even in what I believe is its Australian usage, with a loser such as Ms Ruth Davidson.

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      1. Good response, that’s what I am doing.

        I’d hate to think of Ruthless setting her sash-wearing stormtroopers on you – a Lambeg drum, heard from closer than half-a-mile away, can seriously damage your health.

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  9. “Nationalism”… we are ill served by the English language, because really the word encompasses two concepts that are pretty much polar opposites. Other examples are “sanction”, “cleave”, “grog”, “sententious”, “theory”, and so on. If a politician – which Ruth Davidson claims to be – can’t tell the difference between blood-and-soil, right-wing, xenophobic, exclusive nationalism and civic, rights-based, tolerant and inclusive nationalism – “independentism” – it doesn’t reflect well on their education in such matters. Or possibly, dare I say it, their honesty, integrity and sincerity.

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      1. I think it’s just burning ambition. She will want a safe seat in England one day so that she can be prime minister.

        And let’s face it, if someone as utterly appalling, incompetent and useless as May can be prime minister, I see no reason why Davidson can’t be. But she needs to be in England, because no Celtic seat holder can ever be prime minister, now that Scots, Welsh and NI MPs are banned from much of the work of the Westminster assembly.

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    2. I have a feeling that Ruth simply says what Theresa tells her to say.

      I’m not sure she is THAT stupid. She just wants to be important, and that means keeping in with who ever is in charge in England.

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    3. If the Mays and the Davidsons were ever to admit what our civic nationalism really meant then what would they be left with? They would be the side opposing it, they would in their own eyes become the bad guys because the logic is inescapable. The shame would bury any one with even a shred of decency so these greedy and self serving people must continue wielding their power to reinforce their sense of righteousness. They must forever search for reasons to justify their greed and this is done by encouraging others to be greedy too while using blame as a diversion.

      They all no doubt think they are good people and maybe that’s the truly evil bit.

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      1. I think the maxim seems to be… we are utter rubbish. We must make anyone who is not us look much worse…

        Call them traitors and saboteurs. Call them skivers and not strivers. Call them foreigners.

        I’m not sure that they could manage to persuade themselves that they are good.

        It would be a hard task. You’d have to be pretty delusional to believe that what they have done, are doing and are going to do, was anything other than pretty wicked.

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  10. I like your reference to “blood-and-soil”, Blut und Boden, of course in the original German. It chimes well with the Tories’ current mantra, “strong and stable” or should we keep that in the original too, “stärkster und stetiger” as in Mein Kampf? Soon we’ll probably start hearing “One people, one Empire, one leader” (Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer). Interesting stuff language. Maybe Ruth doesn’t know that patriotism derives from Latin patria (native land), itself from pater – father (Fatherland!). Nationalism, again from Latin, natio, meaning birth, hence nation = native land. It’s not the English language, or the Latin that ill-serves us: it’s the use that people (I use the term loosely when referring to politicians) put it to. So, let’s not be harsh on the English language. After all, it can let us describe someone as a self-serving, mendacious, uncaring, arrogant, two-faced arsehole. Such accuracy in a simple sentence!

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    1. Lovely, witty and learned too…

      I have to say that the “stärkster und stetiger” used over and over again is worrying.

      Plus the lesser use of the party, and more of the leader. Davidson did it to great effect in our elections last year. The Conservative and Unionist Party was nowhere to be seen, but Ruth Davidson’s name was everywhere.

      This time there is a lot more “Theresa May for Strong and Stable Government” than there is Conservative Party.

      it’s a worrying trend, and with withdrawal from the steadying force of the EU, I feel a little uncertain about a future in the British Empire.

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      1. Thanks, trispw – my smatterings of languages were picked up at a big, rough, all-boys, secondary school in the days when parents could even get bursaries to allow kids to stay on at school and get a better (free, of course) education. You could even be paid grants to go to university. I didn’t though – too much of the rebel without a clue.
        We should all be worried and uncertain about the future, because at present there are many disturbing parallels with the past, in particular with the rise of fascism. To those who would pooh pooh that as hyperbole, just think about a few aspects. Blame your economic woes/unemployment on a handy scapegoat – immigrants, foreigners, Jews (untermenschen), or maybe nowadays the E.U. Trumpet patriotism as the highest civic virtue – “My country, right or wrong”. Describe those who oppose you, even just disagree with you, as “the enemies of the people”, “the enemy within”. Idolise “the military” as heroic defenders of “national freedom” and security. And, of course, constantly stress the need above all else for a strong leader. When Hitler used the phrase “stärkster und stetiger” in Mein Kampf, he was referring not to government but to “Kraft” – power.
        As George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

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        1. Absolutely. I agree.

          I’m genuinely worried by the gradual rise of what I see a “fascism” in the UK.

          When people describe me as a “nationalist” I always argue that I am not. Neither do I think that Scotland is the best place in the world, nor do I consider for a moment that Scots are in some way superior to other people.

          I’m seriously uncomfortable with anyone who thinks that “we” (whether “we” means Scottish, British or European), are in any way superior to other people.

          For years governments have tried to blame “foreigners” or “skivers”, and later the sick and the old, for the ills of the country… when, in fact, these ills are the fault of crap government and greedy, corrupt and often seriously disturbed “top people”.

          Mrs May’s attitude… one that she is getting away with, aided and abetted by the BBC and the tabloid press, seriously worries me.

          I wish we could persuade the young people in England to get out and vote… whatever young people vote. Green, Labour… and take away this awful government’s mandate.

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      2. Yes – witty and learned – I wasn’t aware of “stärkster und stetiger”, but I have to say that it allays my fears not one tiny little bit. “Blood and soil” goes back even further than the Nazi propaganda, I believe, to Latin, and Roman law – and if you’re hearing echoes of Imperial Rome and the Third Reich, you’re not imagining things.

        Ius soli and ius sanguinis, the law of the soil and the law of blood – in matters of nationality, when you follow ius soli, you take the nationality of the place you were born; if it’s ius sanguinis, you take it from your parent(s). Complications naturally abound…

        I suppose that rather nails the difference between the two nationalisms: blood-and-soil is exclusive; civic nationalism is inclusive – you get to be Scottish whether you were born here or not, and regardless of your ancestry. And a very fine thing it is too.

        My opposition to the Westminster regime is not just a political conviction, it delves deep into morality and philosophy, and probably more -isms than you can shake a stick at – but I can sum it up: the regime is soulless and sadistic, and immoral and illegitimate. The lack of legitimacy is glaring in Scotland, and its mandate in England etc. is remarkably weak. It is laughable, really, that they quack on about oor Nicola having no mandate – but it’s that well-known propaganda ploy, the Big Lie, and you can bundle it with the “no appetite for a second referendum”, “divisive”, “day job”, “failing education”, “Scottish NHS in crisis” tropes so beloved of our Unionist meeja. In German, the Big Lie is “die große Lüge”, and as the name of a propaganda technique it was coined by one A. Hitler back in the 1920s in his book Mein Kampf…

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        1. I never cease to be impressed by how much I learn on this blog…

          Thanks for that.

          It is rather remarkable, not to say disturbing, the number of times we see things coming back to Mein Kampf

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  12. I think we can all see where this is going should the Tories under May be returned to power in England.
    The only way they can pretend to be one nation under Westminster is to eliminate Scotland as an entity.
    Someone with a broader and longer view of things might take a different tack but not this person who will brook no opposition to her will.
    Scots are going to have to decide whether Scotland is an entity and whether it is worth preserving.

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    1. It seems from what I read today, that Corbyn has taken much the same attitude.

      I think it would be unwise to refuse a referendum, but it seems that both major parties are doing that. I don’t suppose anyone is in the least interested, but that Liberal blokey is probably of the same mind.

      So, what do we have to do? break the law? Have a referendum anyway, and appeal to the UN to have it ratified?

      Or do we knuckle down to our masters?

      And how will the outcome of the Irish border question resolve itself.. and affect Scottish thinking?

      I think a couple of years into Brexit, and super austerity, while parliament and Buck house have money lavished on them, might concentrate some minds…

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      1. Law is what a community are prepared to accept as agreeable activity.
        I am reminded of a story from Bara where the local bobby would go round the pubs near closing time and remove car keys from those who were a bit worse for the wear.
        They would get them back next day,saving everyone a load of grief.
        Accepted as “legal activity” by the locals
        Law which is imposed on communities against their wishes has no standing and can only be enforced by external forces through violence.
        I think that is where England’s Tories are going.

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      2. They’ve always had their own ideas of what constituted ‘law’ on the islands, as far as I can make out. Clever to do that.

        So what happens when they make laws that are unpopular or inappropriate? What happens when there is no course in law left?

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  13. Tris

    To think she sits in the cabinet. If there was a tie in pushing the button she vote button as she runs into the shelter. She is a disgusting human being and I use human being lightly, I cannot stomach the women, she is just Murdo Fraser in female form, total plank but a dangerous one.

    Bruce

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    1. I didn’t know that she sat in the UK Cabinet. I though that was Fluffy’s job. But it seems that we pay Fluffy to look decorative…

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  14. dear Tris:

    This is the link:

    “http://terryentoure.blogspot.co.uk/”

    You and I and Terry have a good ding dong, it is fun, friendly and fascinating.

    Unfortunately we never disagree!

    Liked by 1 person

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