Latest News & Articles
Daily Mail's incoherent attack on Believe in Scotland is a dishonest muddled misfire
The Daily Mail today tried to have a go at Believe in Scotland's campaign to end pensioner poverty, but their incredibly muddled attack produced a factually incorrect headline and an article that is incoherent and contradictory.Let’s be clear, they tried to write an article about Believe in Scotland, but we supplied them with the facts about pensions and they then...
The UK's post-Brexit vision will be imposed on Scotland without consent
The UK Government published a Brexit Benefits Policies Document this week. It sets out a vision for the whole UK post-Brexit - which will not take account of Scotland’s unique situation or separate democratic voice. The glossy brochure mentions Scotland only in passing. The UK Government plans to legislate over the UK’s post-Brexit direction without consulting with, or gaining the consent...
Crisis over, so Alex Massie gets back to putting Scotland down
One wonders if Alex Massie, a Scot, enjoys talking down his country. But then again, as a Spectator and Times journo, he’s paid to do so. It’s his confusion that’s more concerning. He writes “the present economic case for independence is non-existent” but in the next sentence says “Scotland is certainly not too poor to be independent.” According to...
We are not all in this together
In 2018, the UN Poverty Rapporteur Philip Alston issued a damning report on the UK. Then, a fifth of the population was living in poverty and 1.5 million were unable to afford basic essentials. Since then, the combined impacts of Brexit and Covid have significantly worsened the picture. Rocketing energy bills, soaring food prices and regressive tax increases have...
A vote for independence must be a vote for Scotland rejoining the EU
In January, we polled 5,943 Scottish independence supporters to seek their opinions on a range of issues impacting the movement. We recruited respondents through Twitter and Yes supporting Facebook pages, generating a wide cross-section of the Yes movement. When we research public opinion, we use Panelbase to generate representative samples but that was not our intention here. In our last...
Five Reasons Why Independence is the Best Way to Protect Scotland's NHS
Fears Are Growing for England’s NHSFormer Conservative PM John Major famously said that the NHS would be as “safe as a pet hamster in the presence of a hungry python” if Boris Johnson and Michael Gove rose to power after Brexit. New developments are causing many to fear that he was right and that bars are being bent on...
Brian Wilson's Herald column demonstrates Labour's confused thinking on independence
Brian Wilson is right that gas and electricity are natural monopolies and at least some of that belongs in state, not private, hands. There are great examples across Europe of publicly owned and partially publicly owned energy companies, often working in parallel with public sector providers.However, when serving as UK energy minister in Blair’s Labour government, he had his...
The Times embarrasses itself with cack-handed attack on Believe in Scotland
The Times, a deeply Conservative and Unionist newspaper has today launched an incompetent and completely self-defeating attack on the nonpartisan Believe in Scotland campaign, in a blatant attempt to provide political and legal cover for a plethora of fake unionist campaigning groups who have been accused of dark money funding.Why is it "Incompetent and completely self-defeating"? Well, all the evidence...
HOL report says “Anglocentric British nationalism” could end the union - We agree
A House of Lords report on the Union published last week has gone further than any before in recognising the possibility of Scotland gaining independence. It also criticises the UK Government's “Anglocentric British nationalism”, which it says is undermining the UK’s legitimacy. The report says the UK Government has “undermined trust” by continually legislating without the consent of the...
Fuel Poverty vs Fuel Security: A story of two countries
The headlines are dominated by the soaring price of energy that will impact all UK citizens, especially those who are already struggling to survive. Even before the current crisis, over 3 million households were having to choose between heating and eating.What they are not telling us is that across the Channel, it’s a different story. French President Macron just...
Nuclear Energy Financing Bill to force consumers to pay for expensive and dangerous nuclear power
For the last few weeks the media has been transfixed by a series of sensational easy headline stories - 'partygate', Douglas Ross being outed as a lightweight, Prince Andrew losing his titles and court battle - and it's hard to blame them. However they have, for the most part, taken their eye off the ball when it comes to the Nuclear...
Mainstream media ignores Scottish health service patient safety success story
It should come as no surprise that the mainstream media failed to cover another Scottish health service success - its outstanding patient safety record. In testimony before Westminster's Health Committee last week, Dr. Pelle Gustafson, leading European expert on patient safety and CMO at Swedish Patient Insurer, was asked which country he would hold up as an example on...
Devo Max won't be on the indyref2 ballot paper - here are five reasons why
Why are we even talking about devo max again? In Scotland today, a vote for Labour is first and foremost a vote against self-determination for the people of Scotland. As the demographic trend towards independence continues, the Labour Party in Scotland finds itself battling the Conservatives for a dwindling hard Unionist vote, largely in older age groups. They...
Believe in Scotland's independence campaign aims to be carbon positive
Planting trees to offset your carbon footprint is easier than you might think and it’s just one of the ways we can all make our own contribution to combatting climate change. You can find Believe in Scotland’s Corporate Grove here.Back in November, Scotland, specifically Glasgow, hosted COP26. At the end of the conference some progress was announced to great...
There are still reasons to be cheerful this Christmas
It’s fair to say that 2021 has not been the most uplifting year. The emergence from Covid restrictions has been difficult and now delayed by the dominance of the Omicron variant; Brexit has brought serious economic damage in its wake and undermined our relationship with our European neighbours; fuel bills have gone though the roof; Scotland is still waiting for...