Posts relating to the Westminster general election on 4 July 2024 are promoted by James K Puchowski, Scottish Green Party, 19b Graham Street, Edinburgh, EH6 5QN.
For voter and media enquries, write to james.puchowski
@scottishgreens
.org.uk - do not use other e-mail addresses.
Hola Catalunya. Sóc en James. No sóc català però si catalanoparlant. Avui he decidit d’anar a la mani per mostrar la meva solidaritat. Votar no és un delicte. Organitzar referèndums no és un delicte. Expressar-se al carrer no és delicte. Tot plegat - és democràcia.
#usvolemacasa
Sóc anglès, sóc catalanoparlant, i no sé parlar castellà. No me’n recordo quantes vegades algú m’ha adreçat o atès en castellà només perquè sóc foraster a Catalunya. Sí, tinc la pell molt blanca amb ulls clars, un guiri, i parlo català. Existim. No em canviïs de llengua.
🎥 La alcaldesa de Vic y diputada de JxCat, Anna Erra, ha instado este martes a los "catalanes autóctonos" a que no hablen en castellano a personas que "por su acento o aspecto no parecen catalanas".
I am sorry. I am so bloody tired of people refusing to understand how a bottle deposit return scheme works. Refusing to accept that other countries have implemented it. Refusing to accept that it can be implemented in a European country of 5 million people. This is ridiculous.
Hola, un altre cop. He decidit escriure una resposta als rumors de compra. Vaig ser un dels visitants internacionals el dia 1-O i voldria subratllar que no vàrem ser pagats pel govern català. De cap manera. Podeu llegir-la a:
#1O
#subvencions
#subvenciones
Avui he fet un discurs al centre d’Edimburg durant la nostra demostració per reivindicar la llibertat de les preses i presos polítics catalans, i per a emfasitzar el nostre compromís amb l’autodeterminació dels catalans. Fes m’agrada i comparteix.
@Foreign_Cat
@assemblea_int
@cfustepe
Here, I’ll shout so that
@guardiacivil
can hear me from Scotland.
I WAS NOT PAID A CENT TO BE IN CATALONIA ON 1 OCTOBER. I WILL SEND YOU MY BANK STATEMENTS IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME.
NO VAIG REBRE NI UN SOL CÈNTIM. GRÀCIES.
One man -- that the people of Scotland as a whole did not elect -- can just veto anything the Scottish Parliament passes with no need to produce the evidence or grounds for doing so. Just has to say that there are reasons, and that's that. What is the point of devolution, then?
This is the most depressing story I’ve seen in a while. We international observers and visitors witnessed the police violence, the smashed glass, the blood on the floor, bruises, ripped clothing. We were also scared Spanish police would attack us for observing the referendum.
The Spanish Supreme Court suggests Germany would be more inclined to extradite
@KRLS
if Spain's police had "massacred" voters on 1 October instead of just beating them and shooting them with rubber bullets. This is an alarmingly reckless statement.
Artur Mas puts things in context:
37% of all UK voters voted for Brexit. The UK will leave the EU.
38% of all Catalan voters voted for independence in 2017. Now elected politicians and grassroots activists are behind bars and face 30+ years of prison.
#ArturMasEdinburgh
#MAS
There we go. Scotland doesn’t have the right to self-determination by its own accord. The United Kingdom is not a voluntary union; the Supreme Court makes it clear it is a fully unitary state, and Scotland’s status as a devolved nation is at the behest of Westminster. Tragic.
Scottish independence in reality has less to do with nationalism, and more with rationalism. The support for independence since 2014 has been motivated by a pro-immigration, pro-welfare state and pro-progressive taxation stance. You have to be blind to not see that. 1/
I was born in Hounslow. My children were born in Hounslow. My grandchildren will be born in Hounslow. I'd do anything for the London Borough of Hounslow. I'm Hounslow til I die. I mean: Hounslow for the Hounslowsians! Hounslow means Hounslow! Death to Ealing! Death to Hillingdon!
I’m glad that gay sex has been reduced to analogies of bananas and Nutella. This is very progressive. Now I know why I’ve had troubles dating — I keep on forgetting to bring fruits and assorted confectionary spreads. It all makes sense now.
Advice for Douglas Ross, although I’m not an MSP but what do I know:
If I didn’t want Tuesday’s order of business to flow over to Wednesday, I would not have spend the entirety of Tuesday trying to delay Tuesday’s order of business.
Can’t believe I’m hearing Rachael Hamilton MSP compare short term let regulations to the highland clearances. What a horrible, deeply misplaced, historically inaccurate and offensive statement.
It’s a uniquely Norwegian experience for me to go to the supermarket with a bag full of empty cans and bottles, and to buy something for lunch too. I hand over the coupons, lunch ends up on costing me 2kr. 20 pence for a box of mixed salad, the rest paid for in metal and plastic.
The SNP is not the only party in favour of independence, Christ alive. We have a majority in Parliament already. There is a mandate.
This is just exhausting.
Rishi Sunak’s new Scotland Office minister has indicated that an SNP majority in a Holyrood election would be a mandate for a second independence referendum.
An independent Scotland would not have its democratically passed laws revoked by a government it did not elect. That's it. That's why Scotland should be independent. If you think democracy means anything, there is no other opinion to be had.
Regardless of the conclusions of the committee's report and any decisions taken by the First Minister, it's surreal that Ruth Davidson talks about "integrity" when she's about to take a seat in the House of Lords, completely unelected, with no mandate from the people to be there.
Living in Scotland on an income of £100,000 means you are doing incredibly well for yourself. The average salary in Scotland is just under £28,000. Higher earners paying more means we have more money for prescriptions and transport — things we all benefit from collectively.
Horrifying stat from Reddit - on the SNP's new tax bands, if you went to Uni in England and then get a job in Scotland earning over £100,000, your marginal top rate of tax is 78.5%
For postgrads that goes up to 84.5%
I think the biggest victory tonight was that we’ve now made sure that over 1/3 of all songs in Saturday’s final are in a language that is not English. Wonderful news.
#eurovision
Look at him. The bastard. That Norwegian wants to ruin your small business. Smirking as he gets his 2 kroner from a bottle he could have found on the street. Makes you want to throw up.
Top tip from the Scottish Conservatives: make family gatherings and long romantic walks on the beach much longer by shouting “point of order” at random intervals. You won’t regret it.
If you’re in a Scots language discussion & folk are getting angry about which forms of words are correct and which ones are wrong/too English, just show them that there are 16(!!) ways of writing “we welcome you (plural)” in one of the two(!!) official written forms of Norwegian:
If I were in Scottish Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, or in the Jamie Greene wing of the Scottish Conservatives, I'd be making A LOT of noise right now. Silence whilst devolution and Scottish democracy is being openly attacked is close to complicity in all of this.
“We are for a feminist Scotland, where trans rights and non-binary rights are human rights.”
Overwhelming applause for
@lornaslater
at
#sgpconf
in Dundee
Forskningsparken in Oslo now has the new flashy English name "Oslo Science City" with no Norwegian equivalent.
As someone with English as a first language, it's all a bit silly. English for English's sake.
It's also not a city. It's a handful of buildings next to a tram stop.
Sjølv etter mykje kritikk ligg Oslo Science City fast som namn på det nye innovasjonsdistriktet i Oslo.
Dei offentlege aktørane som er med på prosjektet, m.a.
@oslokommune
, har eit stort (lovpålagt) språkleg ansvar, men har likevel gått inn for namnet. Det er for dårleg.
Personal opinion: I would not be comfortable if my party continued in an political agreement with an SNP under the helm of someone who thinks (and votes accordingly for that) I shouldn’t be able to marry someone I love or that people don’t have the right to terminate a pregnancy.
Shooting in Oslo early this morning on LGBT-friendly bars, resulting in 2 deaths & several critically injured. Pride parade was meant to happen today, but everything now cancelled. Am okay; was in one of the pubs next door until late last night, so a little taken aback.
Horrendous comments.
There are grown adults in Scotland who are calling the use of Scots in school “indoctrination”.
Whereas in Norway, speaking your local language is otherwise known as ... speaking Norwegian.
Scots is a language. If it isn’t, neither is Norwegian.
No, the Scottish Green Party is not going to recognise the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk.
We're just not. I can't believe I have to even state that.
Norwegian authorities have killed Freya the walrus, who spent her summer capsizing boats and sunbathing in the glorious sunshine. I hope Norway is visited by several more walruses in the future to avenge her.
And Scotland is normal. It’s a country of 5 million people-or-so with modest industrial, natural and tourism wealth. Like other independent states in Europe. No-one is arguing that Scotland should be independent because of a flag, a particular historical figure or bloodline. 4/4
I can’t think of another Green Party in the entire world that has so readily ditched its environmentalism for nationalism.
Literally no aspect of the climate emergency will be made better by a border or a flag.
I have been very lucky. Today I had my PhD graduation, ultimately ending what has been 10 years at the University of Edinburgh. All my adult life has been in Edinburgh, and as such, it is home. Nevertheless, I know that I wouldn’t have gotten this far without the luck I’ve had 1/
Once again, the UK media struggle to make a distinction between the Scottish Greens and the Green Party of England and Wales.
Separate parties. Different logos. Different manifestos, too…
It’s 2023. I walk into the polling station to vote for independence. I’m very drunk. I scream “no blood for the Anglos” as I cross my box. The place erupts in cheers and hurrahs. The staff wink and give me 2 more ballot papers “on the house”.
We regain our freedom. Beautiful.
Privileged and honoured to announce that I will be the
@scottishgreens
candidate for Edinburgh West at the next UK general election. Many thanks to those who voted to select me! Looking toward to the campaign and the debates that follow!
Today, with
@epaluzie
, I visited Jaume
@vagadefam
in Vic, who is on hunger strike. Spanish courts are trying to impose a senseless 25% quota on Catalan public schools where classes must be given in Castilian. This goes against the very principle of Catalan language immersion. 1/
I am
⚪️ straight
⚪️ gay
🔘 Anne Knutsdotter, Kari er mi mor,
og Truls han er min bror, me bur oppå ein plass der som ingen skulle tru at nokon kunne bu og plassen heiter Uren, Luren, Himmelturen, Steinrøys, Steinrøys, Sveltihel!! Ja plassen ligg så høgt, høgt oppe i ei ur t
I'm sorry, Edinburgh. Enough. I don't understand how you can justify so many low-level flyovers by high speed military aircraft, especially at 21:30 when some folks are in bed, it's dark outside, and you don't have time to check whether it's actually a plane about to crash.
This is not a family of nations. Scotland is not a member of some sort of club. It’s been absorbed into the political apparatus of Westminster, and the electorate of England with 85% of the voting power has the ability to overrule decisions we make in our own parliament.
Norwegian has two standardised orthographies, and each gives users a variety of spelling and aesthetic choices to choose from, reflecting the broad dialect variety in Norway.
This is the same sentence spelled 12 different ways in 1 of the 2 official written forms of Norwegian:
Hi Peter,
Correct, Scots hasn’t got standardised orthography. Neither did English until the 18th century, so I suppose Shakespeare only wrote in ‘dialect slang’ rather than a language.
Oh, and Scots is a recognised language.
Norway was part of Denmark until 1814 & then in a union with Sweden until 1905.
I’ve just heard Jo Swinson & Richard Leonard; I’m in Oslo, so I’m now going to go tell everyone they’re divisive nationalists & splitters.
If only they just believed in a socialist Nordic Union...
“Experts” who compare Scottish independence support with Orban’s Hungary or the rise of the nostalgic British right, stoking Brexit, are intentionally ignoring liberal young people, grassroots campaigns and those living in Scotland from the rest of the EU who vote with us. 2/
Herregud, I teach my first Norwegian classes tomorrow.
This time, 8 years ago, I knew no Norwegian. Just lyrics from Eurovision songs. La det swinge. Mil etter mil. Oi oi oi så glad jeg skal bli.
Og så har ting endra seg, og raskt!
We need to take a radical turn. We are sovereign because we say so and because we believe in democracy as a matter of popular will. This is a frustrating day for those of us who see the UK as an antiquated backwater which refuses to modernise and decentralise its grip on power.
Very peak Lib Dem of Alex Cole Hamilton at the trans rights rally in Edinburgh right now to tell a crowd of mostly young Scots to clap for some Conservative MSPs.
Come on. Read the room.
As one of the 100 or so accredited international visitors during the Catalan referendum, I can confirm that none of us were paid to be there.
We were there simply to defend a democratic vote (that was later hijacked by authoritarian policing) and to make sure there was no fraud
@TriciaMarwick
@TJeffersonCAT1
@Zhhicks
I see, so Tricia Marwick was one of those "international observers" drafted in by the organisers of the
#CatalanFakeReferendum
to witness that pantomime 😩
I wonder how much she got paid and who funded it 🤔
Any chance of transparency Ms. Marwick?
There is no such thing as the “UK Single Market”. That would infer equal political power and status between its members, which is just not how the UK is designed to work. It’s a centralised mess.
We can only continue to assert that the people of Scotland are sovereign. The courts and British Parliament might disagree. But organically, in the true sense of the word, sovereignty and self-determination ultimately are not matters for what a piece of paper says.
Important that we look at how the Israeli broadcaster & government host
#Eurovision
2019. A very sensitive issue if Jerusalem is selected & the current international conflict can't be ignored. We shouldn't criticise Netta - we should criticise whoever profits from her victory.
Renters deserve housing that operates with at least the bare minimum of some regulation.
Landlords need to accept that their ‘investments’ are liable to risk, that houses are *homes* for *people*, and if they are going to run their ‘businesses’ there have to be rules in place.
At the moment it remains prohibitively expensive to travel to Scandinavia from Scotland by train or other non-airborne transport. A ferry link to Norway and Denmark from the Scottish east coast would be a welcome alternative, connecting communities on both sides of the North Sea.
Rather surreal and exciting that I’ve been offered the role of Lecturer in Norwegian at University College London, starting in September. Some really good news.
(Eg skal undervisa i norsk, folkens! Ved eit universitet! Som jobb, altså, med fancy tittel, og fast lønn!)
Correction for
@thetimes
: no "UK party" has existed since 1990.
@scottishgreens
have been a completely independent party since that point, and the Green Party of England and Wales is not a party to which the Scottish Greens ever belonged; we're not "their Scottish party".
I just… 🤷♂️
Scottish Green grassroots activists had been preparing for an opportunity for some dialogue. The chance to sit down and have a constructive chat. I feel short-changed. Was the whole arrangement based on bad faith this entire time?
The UK has become a very alienating place. The rural, midlands / city, university urban divide is not really being addressed by any mainstream party. If the Scottish independence movement was more concerned with flag-waving identitarianism, we wouldn’t be at this stage. 3/
Happy Burns’ Night to those of us remember when the Scottish Government translated the greeting into Gaelic in a way that meant actual physical injuries caused by heat or chemicals, and not the surname of our national poet.
This morning I had the pleasure of meeting
@epaluzie
from
@assemblea
to speak about
@scottishgreens
& Catalan independence. Aquest matí em vaig trobar amb l’Elisenda Paluzie de l’Assemblea. Vàrem xerrar sobre la feina del meu partit i el moviment independentista català 🏴 🐉 🌹
Okey doke. Here's the 'low down':
(1) Scottish Green branches selected their regional candidates in 2020
(2)
@lornaslater
was chosen as a lead candidate
(3) Lothian gave enough list votes to elect Lorna and Alison in 2021
(4) The minority SNP govt. offered us co-operation talks
As a former beneficiary of the eccentricities of the Holyrood election system, even I am perplexed how Lorna Slater managed to get selected and elected and may even be joining the Scottish Government. I would welcome hearing the low down on the process.
The Scottish Green Party has unanimously passed my motion on Catalonia, political prisoners and the judicialisation of self-determination in Spain
#SGPConf
Voldríem mostrar la nostra solidaritat amb les preses. No hi ha llibertat sense democràcia radical
#LliberatPresosPol
ítics
"It is surprising therefore to hear the Catalan pro-independence movement being described as racist when for instance [...] it has unanimously supported the largest European demonstration in favour of opening borders to refugees"
My PhD thesis - 'Intervention, participation, perception: case studies of language activism in Catalonia, Norway & Scotland' - is now available to read (and critique, condemn and/or print) at this link:
I’m standing to represent
@scottishgreens
in an Edinburgh constituency at the next UK general election. I have been an active member of our party since the independence referendum. With the support of
@susan4leithwalk
and
@faerielightss
, I will be an experienced candidate. 1/
Teaching Norwegian sometimes feels like an eternal headache; going through basic grammar this morning and I was confident that you could write 'skorne' (the shoes) and 'spurde' (asked) in Bokmål, but I realised I was inadvertently teaching Nynorsk to my first years.
Catalan is spoken in Catalonia, in the Valencian Country, on the Balearic Islands, in Sardinia, in Andorra and in France. It is not a regional language. It is a vast linguistic community of several nations. It has just as much the same right to the same domains as Castillian.
“Si vives en Cataluña, y vas a un establecimiento, no te atienden si hablas castellano”
Cada cop quan viatjo a Catalunya, he de fer servir un gran establiment anomenat “l’aeroport” i sovint em costa ser atès en català. També als supermercats i als cafès
Independence is generational -- the longer the UK government decides to not devolve powers for a referendum to Edinburgh, the harder it will be to defend the union in the coming years:
'Yes' support by age bracket:
16-24: 64%
25-34: 61%
35-44: 55%
45-54: 51%
55-64: 53%
65+: 39%
He notat que la meva actitud pot crear molta frustració per a algunes persones. No sóc ciutadà espanyol, sense el deure de conèixer el castellà. Sorry. És així. Apreneu el català perquè és una llengua per si mateix — abandonem la idea que el castellà sigui prerequisit. (5/5)
At this rate, I'm hoping my Catalan tweets about
#1O
get so famous and viral I become a character on
@poloniatv3
and someone impersonates me with a foreign Catalan accent.
I can only dream...
If you haven’t heard me speak Norwegian 🇳🇴 before, here’s me explaining why I’m involved in the
@scottishgreens
— subtitled for those who haven’t (yet) learnt their Norwegian (there’s always time!)
I just want someone to ask Keir Starmer whether the end of the Sweden-Norway union in 1905 was a clear demonstration of anti-Nordic solidarity and divisive nationalism. Or if Iceland's unilateral independence from Denmark in 1944 was an awful thing that never should have happened
Llavors. Catalanoparlants. Veieu.
Uns amics i jo som a Suïssa, i avui hem visitat uns bars per a fer unes copes. Dins d’un d’aquests vam observar que la carta de vins feia una distinció entre Catalunya i Espanya pel que fa a l’origen dels vins. Això em va agradar moltííííssim.
Student of mine mistakenly translated today the Norwegian word “rørlegger” (plumber, lit. pipe-layer) as “pipe doctor” after misreading the latter-half of the word as “doctor” (lege). I was genujnely amazed and impressed.
I am in Norway this weekend, in part, to be awarded a stipend of 50,000 kroner (approx. £4,300) for my first post-doctoral project: a book(!)
@noregsmallag
has very kindly awarded a Nynorsk stipend to me as I embark on a guide to Norwegian Nynorsk for an English-speaking audience