CS68

That's London covered. What about Rwanda?!

Says it all:
 

Hearing Strachan's i - Pad getting interviewed for the job

Good to see him following the rules of 'sometimes, always, never'.

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘What can reasonable people do about the SNP?’
(Second of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Mark Smith, Herald, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd.
Full story:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19306700.mark-smith-can-reasonable-people-snp/
TODAY’s column begins with me going to the pub and drinking Guinness, but bear with me because the pub I visited, and where it is, and the people I was with, all of it does matter. And there’s truth to be found in pubs. Even late on Friday night. Especially late on Friday night. And it raises a big question: what are reasonable people to do about the state of Scotland's government?
Just so you know, I was at the pub for a good reason: it was open, or at least the pub garden was, and it was raucous and controversial like I remember it. A group of Rangers fans were in doing the groundwork for their march on Saturday and were clearly in no mood to be told they shouldn’t be gathering in groups. The landlady of the pub also told me how hard the crisis had been on her and about a face-to-face confrontation she’d had with the First Minister. And in the middle of it all - the chat, the arguing, the noise - was me, looking at my pint of Guinness like it was a miracle.
But let me tell you about one of the friends I was with. She also runs a pub, not far from Hampden, and before Friday she was ordering in food and organising staff and all the rest of it to prepare for opening indoors on Monday. But no: late on Friday, the First Minister said the reopening would be delayed for a week at least. Suddenly, my friend had to cancel her plans and throw food in the bin and tell people she had no work for them, and the pub will lose thousands and the situation is multiplied hundreds of times all over the city.
So I have a few questions. Is it reasonable to change the plans at the 11th hour? Is it reasonable when the pubs have taken all the necessary precautions? Is it reasonable when the data shows the vaccine remains effective against the Indian variant and most vulnerable adults have been vaccinated? It is disproportionate. Is it unreasonable.
Similar issues apply at the pub I was in on Friday. It’s just up the road from Ibrox and near Pollokshields, where the Indian variant has been found, but the pub has all the required procedures in place. The landlady also feels the reopening of businesses is lagging way behind the vaccination programme and that the compensation has been woeful. She told Nicola Sturgeon this when she met her recently. “First Minister,” she said, “could you run a business on £70 a day? Because that’s what I’m expected to do.” The landlady didn’t get an answer. The pubs who’ve been told they must stay shut this week will get 750 quid by the way. It is not enough. It is unreasonable.
So what about the bunch of Rangers fans who were in the pub on Friday? Some of them had come over from Ireland for the weekend and on Saturday they marched from Ibrox. There’s no doubt it was breaking the virus rules, and in amongst it all there was some criminal violence and vandalism. Humza Yousaf, who the records show is the Scottish Justice Secretary, said the fans were irresponsible. The First Minister also said she was “disgusted by the Rangers fans who rampaged through the city mid-pandemic, in a city with cases on the rise, it was selfish beyond belief.”
But I have some more questions. Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd. There should be a progressive alliance, he said, to resist the UK’s draconian immigration policies. “Let me be clear,” he said, “the hostile environment created by the UK Government is not welcome here.”
I have to say I find all of that pretty depressing and I’m sorry (not sorry) to keep using the word but you also have to ask if it’s reasonable. The immigration status of the people targeted by the Home Office was not clear, but wouldn’t it have been reasonable for those speaking for the government of Scotland to ask the crowd in Pollokshields to disperse in line with the rules? And wouldn’t it be reasonable for the justice secretary to uphold the law? And would it be reasonable to assume Mr Yousaf would support the policing of an independent Scotland’s borders and - as every other state does - the exclusion of people who are found to have broken the rules? I’m asking for a friend.
Time and time again, it is this test - the test of reasonableness - that strikes me when I talk to people about the SNP. Many people think it’s unreasonable to keep pubs shut, and to condemn some gatherings and not others, and to propose a referendum in the near future. And yet pubs are shut, and the Government is condemning some gatherings and not others, and is proposing a referendum. It is also reasonable for people to worry about what will happen to their money and the border with England if Scotland was independent and yet there are no answers to those questions.
So what on earth are reasonable people to do about it all? Given that the SNP has just been re-elected, not much for now. But perhaps there is some hope for the longer term. You may have seen the recent opinion poll by Survation which showed 57% of independence supporters thought the GERS figures were made up by the UK Government to hide Scotland’s true wealth. That is an unreasonable opinion. Worse: it is a wrong opinion. But, if there is another referendum, at least it will be a chance to expose those opinions for what they are. At least it will be a chance for the reasonable people to have their say.

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘What can reasonable people do about the SNP?’
(Second of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Mark Smith, Herald, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd.
Full story:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19306700.mark-smith-can-reasonable-people-snp/
TODAY’s column begins with me going to the pub and drinking Guinness, but bear with me because the pub I visited, and where it is, and the people I was with, all of it does matter. And there’s truth to be found in pubs. Even late on Friday night. Especially late on Friday night. And it raises a big question: what are reasonable people to do about the state of Scotland's government?
Just so you know, I was at the pub for a good reason: it was open, or at least the pub garden was, and it was raucous and controversial like I remember it. A group of Rangers fans were in doing the groundwork for their march on Saturday and were clearly in no mood to be told they shouldn’t be gathering in groups. The landlady of the pub also told me how hard the crisis had been on her and about a face-to-face confrontation she’d had with the First Minister. And in the middle of it all - the chat, the arguing, the noise - was me, looking at my pint of Guinness like it was a miracle.
But let me tell you about one of the friends I was with. She also runs a pub, not far from Hampden, and before Friday she was ordering in food and organising staff and all the rest of it to prepare for opening indoors on Monday. But no: late on Friday, the First Minister said the reopening would be delayed for a week at least. Suddenly, my friend had to cancel her plans and throw food in the bin and tell people she had no work for them, and the pub will lose thousands and the situation is multiplied hundreds of times all over the city.
So I have a few questions. Is it reasonable to change the plans at the 11th hour? Is it reasonable when the pubs have taken all the necessary precautions? Is it reasonable when the data shows the vaccine remains effective against the Indian variant and most vulnerable adults have been vaccinated? It is disproportionate. Is it unreasonable.
Similar issues apply at the pub I was in on Friday. It’s just up the road from Ibrox and near Pollokshields, where the Indian variant has been found, but the pub has all the required procedures in place. The landlady also feels the reopening of businesses is lagging way behind the vaccination programme and that the compensation has been woeful. She told Nicola Sturgeon this when she met her recently. “First Minister,” she said, “could you run a business on £70 a day? Because that’s what I’m expected to do.” The landlady didn’t get an answer. The pubs who’ve been told they must stay shut this week will get 750 quid by the way. It is not enough. It is unreasonable.
So what about the bunch of Rangers fans who were in the pub on Friday? Some of them had come over from Ireland for the weekend and on Saturday they marched from Ibrox. There’s no doubt it was breaking the virus rules, and in amongst it all there was some criminal violence and vandalism. Humza Yousaf, who the records show is the Scottish Justice Secretary, said the fans were irresponsible. The First Minister also said she was “disgusted by the Rangers fans who rampaged through the city mid-pandemic, in a city with cases on the rise, it was selfish beyond belief.”
But I have some more questions. Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd. There should be a progressive alliance, he said, to resist the UK’s draconian immigration policies. “Let me be clear,” he said, “the hostile environment created by the UK Government is not welcome here.”
I have to say I find all of that pretty depressing and I’m sorry (not sorry) to keep using the word but you also have to ask if it’s reasonable. The immigration status of the people targeted by the Home Office was not clear, but wouldn’t it have been reasonable for those speaking for the government of Scotland to ask the crowd in Pollokshields to disperse in line with the rules? And wouldn’t it be reasonable for the justice secretary to uphold the law? And would it be reasonable to assume Mr Yousaf would support the policing of an independent Scotland’s borders and - as every other state does - the exclusion of people who are found to have broken the rules? I’m asking for a friend.
Time and time again, it is this test - the test of reasonableness - that strikes me when I talk to people about the SNP. Many people think it’s unreasonable to keep pubs shut, and to condemn some gatherings and not others, and to propose a referendum in the near future. And yet pubs are shut, and the Government is condemning some gatherings and not others, and is proposing a referendum. It is also reasonable for people to worry about what will happen to their money and the border with England if Scotland was independent and yet there are no answers to those questions.
So what on earth are reasonable people to do about it all? Given that the SNP has just been re-elected, not much for now. But perhaps there is some hope for the longer term. You may have seen the recent opinion poll by Survation which showed 57% of independence supporters thought the GERS figures were made up by the UK Government to hide Scotland’s true wealth. That is an unreasonable opinion. Worse: it is a wrong opinion. But, if there is another referendum, at least it will be a chance to expose those opinions for what they are. At least it will be a chance for the reasonable people to have their say.

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘What can reasonable people do about the SNP?’
(Second of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Mark Smith, Herald, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd.
Full story:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19306700.mark-smith-can-reasonable-people-snp/
TODAY’s column begins with me going to the pub and drinking Guinness, but bear with me because the pub I visited, and where it is, and the people I was with, all of it does matter. And there’s truth to be found in pubs. Even late on Friday night. Especially late on Friday night. And it raises a big question: what are reasonable people to do about the state of Scotland's government?
Just so you know, I was at the pub for a good reason: it was open, or at least the pub garden was, and it was raucous and controversial like I remember it. A group of Rangers fans were in doing the groundwork for their march on Saturday and were clearly in no mood to be told they shouldn’t be gathering in groups. The landlady of the pub also told me how hard the crisis had been on her and about a face-to-face confrontation she’d had with the First Minister. And in the middle of it all - the chat, the arguing, the noise - was me, looking at my pint of Guinness like it was a miracle.
But let me tell you about one of the friends I was with. She also runs a pub, not far from Hampden, and before Friday she was ordering in food and organising staff and all the rest of it to prepare for opening indoors on Monday. But no: late on Friday, the First Minister said the reopening would be delayed for a week at least. Suddenly, my friend had to cancel her plans and throw food in the bin and tell people she had no work for them, and the pub will lose thousands and the situation is multiplied hundreds of times all over the city.
So I have a few questions. Is it reasonable to change the plans at the 11th hour? Is it reasonable when the pubs have taken all the necessary precautions? Is it reasonable when the data shows the vaccine remains effective against the Indian variant and most vulnerable adults have been vaccinated? It is disproportionate. Is it unreasonable.
Similar issues apply at the pub I was in on Friday. It’s just up the road from Ibrox and near Pollokshields, where the Indian variant has been found, but the pub has all the required procedures in place. The landlady also feels the reopening of businesses is lagging way behind the vaccination programme and that the compensation has been woeful. She told Nicola Sturgeon this when she met her recently. “First Minister,” she said, “could you run a business on £70 a day? Because that’s what I’m expected to do.” The landlady didn’t get an answer. The pubs who’ve been told they must stay shut this week will get 750 quid by the way. It is not enough. It is unreasonable.
So what about the bunch of Rangers fans who were in the pub on Friday? Some of them had come over from Ireland for the weekend and on Saturday they marched from Ibrox. There’s no doubt it was breaking the virus rules, and in amongst it all there was some criminal violence and vandalism. Humza Yousaf, who the records show is the Scottish Justice Secretary, said the fans were irresponsible. The First Minister also said she was “disgusted by the Rangers fans who rampaged through the city mid-pandemic, in a city with cases on the rise, it was selfish beyond belief.”
But I have some more questions. Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd. There should be a progressive alliance, he said, to resist the UK’s draconian immigration policies. “Let me be clear,” he said, “the hostile environment created by the UK Government is not welcome here.”
I have to say I find all of that pretty depressing and I’m sorry (not sorry) to keep using the word but you also have to ask if it’s reasonable. The immigration status of the people targeted by the Home Office was not clear, but wouldn’t it have been reasonable for those speaking for the government of Scotland to ask the crowd in Pollokshields to disperse in line with the rules? And wouldn’t it be reasonable for the justice secretary to uphold the law? And would it be reasonable to assume Mr Yousaf would support the policing of an independent Scotland’s borders and - as every other state does - the exclusion of people who are found to have broken the rules? I’m asking for a friend.
Time and time again, it is this test - the test of reasonableness - that strikes me when I talk to people about the SNP. Many people think it’s unreasonable to keep pubs shut, and to condemn some gatherings and not others, and to propose a referendum in the near future. And yet pubs are shut, and the Government is condemning some gatherings and not others, and is proposing a referendum. It is also reasonable for people to worry about what will happen to their money and the border with England if Scotland was independent and yet there are no answers to those questions.
So what on earth are reasonable people to do about it all? Given that the SNP has just been re-elected, not much for now. But perhaps there is some hope for the longer term. You may have seen the recent opinion poll by Survation which showed 57% of independence supporters thought the GERS figures were made up by the UK Government to hide Scotland’s true wealth. That is an unreasonable opinion. Worse: it is a wrong opinion. But, if there is another referendum, at least it will be a chance to expose those opinions for what they are. At least it will be a chance for the reasonable people to have their say.

‘What can reasonable people do about the SNP?’
(Second of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Mark Smith, Herald, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd.
Full story:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19306700.mark-smith-can-reasonable-people-snp/
TODAY’s column begins with me going to the pub and drinking Guinness, but bear with me because the pub I visited, and where it is, and the people I was with, all of it does matter. And there’s truth to be found in pubs. Even late on Friday night. Especially late on Friday night. And it raises a big question: what are reasonable people to do about the state of Scotland's government?
Just so you know, I was at the pub for a good reason: it was open, or at least the pub garden was, and it was raucous and controversial like I remember it. A group of Rangers fans were in doing the groundwork for their march on Saturday and were clearly in no mood to be told they shouldn’t be gathering in groups. The landlady of the pub also told me how hard the crisis had been on her and about a face-to-face confrontation she’d had with the First Minister. And in the middle of it all - the chat, the arguing, the noise - was me, looking at my pint of Guinness like it was a miracle.
But let me tell you about one of the friends I was with. She also runs a pub, not far from Hampden, and before Friday she was ordering in food and organising staff and all the rest of it to prepare for opening indoors on Monday. But no: late on Friday, the First Minister said the reopening would be delayed for a week at least. Suddenly, my friend had to cancel her plans and throw food in the bin and tell people she had no work for them, and the pub will lose thousands and the situation is multiplied hundreds of times all over the city.
So I have a few questions. Is it reasonable to change the plans at the 11th hour? Is it reasonable when the pubs have taken all the necessary precautions? Is it reasonable when the data shows the vaccine remains effective against the Indian variant and most vulnerable adults have been vaccinated? It is disproportionate. Is it unreasonable.
Similar issues apply at the pub I was in on Friday. It’s just up the road from Ibrox and near Pollokshields, where the Indian variant has been found, but the pub has all the required procedures in place. The landlady also feels the reopening of businesses is lagging way behind the vaccination programme and that the compensation has been woeful. She told Nicola Sturgeon this when she met her recently. “First Minister,” she said, “could you run a business on £70 a day? Because that’s what I’m expected to do.” The landlady didn’t get an answer. The pubs who’ve been told they must stay shut this week will get 750 quid by the way. It is not enough. It is unreasonable.
So what about the bunch of Rangers fans who were in the pub on Friday? Some of them had come over from Ireland for the weekend and on Saturday they marched from Ibrox. There’s no doubt it was breaking the virus rules, and in amongst it all there was some criminal violence and vandalism. Humza Yousaf, who the records show is the Scottish Justice Secretary, said the fans were irresponsible. The First Minister also said she was “disgusted by the Rangers fans who rampaged through the city mid-pandemic, in a city with cases on the rise, it was selfish beyond belief.”
But I have some more questions. Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd. There should be a progressive alliance, he said, to resist the UK’s draconian immigration policies. “Let me be clear,” he said, “the hostile environment created by the UK Government is not welcome here.”
I have to say I find all of that pretty depressing and I’m sorry (not sorry) to keep using the word but you also have to ask if it’s reasonable. The immigration status of the people targeted by the Home Office was not clear, but wouldn’t it have been reasonable for those speaking for the government of Scotland to ask the crowd in Pollokshields to disperse in line with the rules? And wouldn’t it be reasonable for the justice secretary to uphold the law? And would it be reasonable to assume Mr Yousaf would support the policing of an independent Scotland’s borders and - as every other state does - the exclusion of people who are found to have broken the rules? I’m asking for a friend.
Time and time again, it is this test - the test of reasonableness - that strikes me when I talk to people about the SNP. Many people think it’s unreasonable to keep pubs shut, and to condemn some gatherings and not others, and to propose a referendum in the near future. And yet pubs are shut, and the Government is condemning some gatherings and not others, and is proposing a referendum. It is also reasonable for people to worry about what will happen to their money and the border with England if Scotland was independent and yet there are no answers to those questions.
So what on earth are reasonable people to do about it all? Given that the SNP has just been re-elected, not much for now. But perhaps there is some hope for the longer term. You may have seen the recent opinion poll by Survation which showed 57% of independence supporters thought the GERS figures were made up by the UK Government to hide Scotland’s true wealth. That is an unreasonable opinion. Worse: it is a wrong opinion. But, if there is another referendum, at least it will be a chance to expose those opinions for what they are. At least it will be a chance for the reasonable people to have their say.

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘What can reasonable people do about the SNP?’
(Second of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Mark Smith, Herald, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd.
Full story:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19306700.mark-smith-can-reasonable-people-snp/
TODAY’s column begins with me going to the pub and drinking Guinness, but bear with me because the pub I visited, and where it is, and the people I was with, all of it does matter. And there’s truth to be found in pubs. Even late on Friday night. Especially late on Friday night. And it raises a big question: what are reasonable people to do about the state of Scotland's government?
Just so you know, I was at the pub for a good reason: it was open, or at least the pub garden was, and it was raucous and controversial like I remember it. A group of Rangers fans were in doing the groundwork for their march on Saturday and were clearly in no mood to be told they shouldn’t be gathering in groups. The landlady of the pub also told me how hard the crisis had been on her and about a face-to-face confrontation she’d had with the First Minister. And in the middle of it all - the chat, the arguing, the noise - was me, looking at my pint of Guinness like it was a miracle.
But let me tell you about one of the friends I was with. She also runs a pub, not far from Hampden, and before Friday she was ordering in food and organising staff and all the rest of it to prepare for opening indoors on Monday. But no: late on Friday, the First Minister said the reopening would be delayed for a week at least. Suddenly, my friend had to cancel her plans and throw food in the bin and tell people she had no work for them, and the pub will lose thousands and the situation is multiplied hundreds of times all over the city.
So I have a few questions. Is it reasonable to change the plans at the 11th hour? Is it reasonable when the pubs have taken all the necessary precautions? Is it reasonable when the data shows the vaccine remains effective against the Indian variant and most vulnerable adults have been vaccinated? It is disproportionate. Is it unreasonable.
Similar issues apply at the pub I was in on Friday. It’s just up the road from Ibrox and near Pollokshields, where the Indian variant has been found, but the pub has all the required procedures in place. The landlady also feels the reopening of businesses is lagging way behind the vaccination programme and that the compensation has been woeful. She told Nicola Sturgeon this when she met her recently. “First Minister,” she said, “could you run a business on £70 a day? Because that’s what I’m expected to do.” The landlady didn’t get an answer. The pubs who’ve been told they must stay shut this week will get 750 quid by the way. It is not enough. It is unreasonable.
So what about the bunch of Rangers fans who were in the pub on Friday? Some of them had come over from Ireland for the weekend and on Saturday they marched from Ibrox. There’s no doubt it was breaking the virus rules, and in amongst it all there was some criminal violence and vandalism. Humza Yousaf, who the records show is the Scottish Justice Secretary, said the fans were irresponsible. The First Minister also said she was “disgusted by the Rangers fans who rampaged through the city mid-pandemic, in a city with cases on the rise, it was selfish beyond belief.”
But I have some more questions. Is it reasonable to condemn Rangers fans gathering, but not to condemn the other gatherings that happened at the weekend? How about the protest marches against Israel for example in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and elsewhere? You may have sympathy with the cause; you may not have sympathy with Rangers fans, but the same rules should apply to them both. I think reasonable people would agree with that.
The same problems apply to the SNP response to the immigration protests in Pollokshields. Humza Yousaf didn’t hold back in condemning the Rangers fans, but his response to the Pollokshields incident was entirely different - indeed, the justice secretary appeared to align himself with the crowd. There should be a progressive alliance, he said, to resist the UK’s draconian immigration policies. “Let me be clear,” he said, “the hostile environment created by the UK Government is not welcome here.”
I have to say I find all of that pretty depressing and I’m sorry (not sorry) to keep using the word but you also have to ask if it’s reasonable. The immigration status of the people targeted by the Home Office was not clear, but wouldn’t it have been reasonable for those speaking for the government of Scotland to ask the crowd in Pollokshields to disperse in line with the rules? And wouldn’t it be reasonable for the justice secretary to uphold the law? And would it be reasonable to assume Mr Yousaf would support the policing of an independent Scotland’s borders and - as every other state does - the exclusion of people who are found to have broken the rules? I’m asking for a friend.
Time and time again, it is this test - the test of reasonableness - that strikes me when I talk to people about the SNP. Many people think it’s unreasonable to keep pubs shut, and to condemn some gatherings and not others, and to propose a referendum in the near future. And yet pubs are shut, and the Government is condemning some gatherings and not others, and is proposing a referendum. It is also reasonable for people to worry about what will happen to their money and the border with England if Scotland was independent and yet there are no answers to those questions.
So what on earth are reasonable people to do about it all? Given that the SNP has just been re-elected, not much for now. But perhaps there is some hope for the longer term. You may have seen the recent opinion poll by Survation which showed 57% of independence supporters thought the GERS figures were made up by the UK Government to hide Scotland’s true wealth. That is an unreasonable opinion. Worse: it is a wrong opinion. But, if there is another referendum, at least it will be a chance to expose those opinions for what they are. At least it will be a chance for the reasonable people to have their say.

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

‘Why Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding law’
(First of two MSM pieces today criticising SNP hypocrisy.)
By Brian Monteith, Scotsman, 17.5.21
Key paragraphs:
By supporting this one mob [in Kenmure Street], the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
Full story:
https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-nicola-sturgeon-and-humza-yousaf-have-put-mob-rule-and-insurrection-before-upholding-law-brian-monteith-3238724
Last Thursday Scotland was made a fool of by none other than its own First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon and her justice secretary Humza Yousaf. How so?
By the hugely troubling instance of these lawmakers telling people it’s OK to break the law.
Their comments last week have the potential to not only destabilise the peace and safety on our streets we should expect to enjoy – it also, ironically, makes any possibility of Scotland seceding from the UK even more unlikely – although that was obviously not their intention.
An attempt to take into custody for deportation two illegal immigrants was thwarted by politicians from the SNP and Labour giving encouragement and support to demonstrators mobbing a vehicle so it could not depart without causing injury to those blocking its way.
It just so happened that Kenmure Street in Pollokshields, where the men were living, is in Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency and the detention happened on the day of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
The call to action included Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who issued a tweet that even included a map of how to get to Kenmure Street where the stand-off was happening.
There are other facts that are not so well known. The two immigrants involved were overstayers, having previously been granted time-limited access to study in our country, but who had remained on beyond that period without permission and were therefore subject to being sent home.
There were various rights of appeal and consideration of their case with legal representation for the men, but these had been exhausted over ten years and the standard process of collection and transfer back to their country of origin – which happens somewhere across the UK every day of the week – was initiated.
Despite inflammatory insinuations the men were Muslim and detaining them during Eid was insulting and inflammatory, they were in fact both Sikhs from India.
By supporting the appearance of a mob in Pollokshields – an area where a localised rise in Covid is enough of a concern that the same SNP Government abandoned at the last minute its plans for the opening of hospitality in Glasgow – Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put Glaswegians in harm’s way.
An additional spread of Covid through the gathering of demonstrators – with consequential casualties drawn from people not even on the streets – cannot be ruled out.
By supporting this one mob, the First Minister and Mr Yousaf gave licence for any other mob to gather. Legislators cannot pick and choose the existing laws that should be obeyed, nor can they rule that the treatment of one mob should be different from another, whatever its moral, political or religious virtues.
Needless to say within two days another gathering, this time of Rangers supporters celebrating their league title win on Saturday, was roundly condemned by the justice secretary, lacking the self-awareness that by his own earlier actions he had normalised that gathering.
By supporting the obstruction of justice, derived from due legal process in the Scottish courts, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf gave succour and encouragement to organised crime; those human traffickers of economic migrants who, at great financial and sometimes physical cost to their victims, smuggle people into our country.
If we cannot deport through fair process illegal immigrants, then the traffickers can make the pitch that so long as they can get their victims inside the UK they will then be able to stay forever. That is a charter to support appalling crimes where people lose their savings and often their lives.
Looking at it from the perspective of anyone who supports Scottish independence, possibly the most amazing consequence is that by encouraging and justifying the prevention of detaining or deporting of illegal immigrants who have gone through the due process of law, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have ensured that were Scotland to ever secede from the UK then the possibility of there being a Common Travel Agreement between Scotland and the rest of the UK is now impossible.
How could the UK even consider entering into an agreement – such as that enjoyed by citizens of the Republic of Ireland – whereby Scots are able to cross the English border, or enter the UK at any other point, without first having a visa?
If the current SNP Government chooses to not uphold the UK’s legal immigration processes now – which, if anything, are relatively liberal compared to most other countries – then how could the UK trust Scotland in future to not allow illegal immigrants to remain in Scotland and then travel to more economically attractive areas in England?
The prospect means not only would England have a legitimate need for a hard border at Scottish roads and railway lines entering it to check for visas, there would need to be a proper security fence erected across the border too to prevent people smuggling.
Further, even the EU will not be able to trust a Scottish Government to administer an immigration process where Scotland’s points of entry – and exit – would also become those of every other 27 EU member states.
Membership of the EU thus becomes even more problematic, if not impossible.
Given the loss of freedom of movement is a significant factor for many people in wishing to rejoin the EU (and thus vote SNP), making freedom of movement more difficult to obtain and ruling it out with England is the mother of own goals.
Ms Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf have put mob rule and insurrection before upholding the law. It must become their political undoing or Scotland shall become lawless.
- Brian Monteith is editor of ThinkScotland.org and served in the Scottish and European Parliaments for the Conservative and Brexit Parties respectively.
 

Says a lot with the career Defoe has had that goal clearly meant a lot to him 

Not sure mate but I’ve just had my new socks delivered.