I’m stepping out on a limb here, not having the full facts at my disposal, but that’s a nice media metaphor for Scotland’s supposed claims to the island of Rockall, ‘only’ 187 miles west of uninhabited St Kilda and 263 miles from Tory (!) Island in Ireland. The UK claimed it as recently as 1955 and made it part of Scotland in 1972. The fishing waters around the island are disputed and were yesterday at the centre of a media feeding frenzy:
The headlines are misleading in that the threats of fighting come from Bertie Armstrong of the SFF and not from the Scottish Government. Strangely, the arch-Unionist does not invoke the power of the Royal Navy but calls on the Scottish Government ‘to put its money where its mouth is’ and enforce control of its waters. Scotland does not have an armed fishery protection vessel. I can find no quote from any Scottish Government minister and I gather the FM didn’t raise the issue in Dublin last week. The Scottish Conservatives have not barged in waving the Royal Ensign so far.
So, I might well be misreading this and maybe even being a bit paranoid but there is something not quite right here.
Why is the UK establishment in the form of a Tory minister, a Royal Navy senior officer, Ruth Davidson or Andrew Neil, not barging in here to stand between too-wee powerless Scotland and Ireland to illustrate just how much we need the broad shoulders and warships of the Union? Are they waiting and hoping that any SG response can be portrayed as weak?
Why does Bertie Armstrong want Scotland to deal with this? Same reason?
Why are the Scottish opposition parties so quiet? Same reason?
Where is Colonel Davidson?
Why is the Scottish Government, if it really is, getting drawn into the kind of post-imperial posturing it surely cannot identify with? Why has it not issued the kind of statement suggesting negotiation you’d expect of a progressive regime?
Why do I think there’s something fishy going on?
Talking-up Scotland 
Presumsbly brcsuse they believe it is part of England and holds the jrw to the territorisl claim to the Atlantic oil deposits.
Denmark advanced the Faroes claim,. I believe that geologically it is part of Scotlsnd, an outcrop .
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Not drink just having problems with my kryboard
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Eyekino
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I think you sent this post too soon John. Here’s how I see this situation from my many years of total lack of knowledge in these matters, but that hasn’t stopped a baker’s dozen of Tories no-hopers wanting to be PM has it? So then.
The rock called Rockall appears to sit comfortably in Scottish waters. Nicola says to Ireland, sorry folks, you’ve gone adrift a wee bit here. Note your own comments John – not a cheep from Yookay Guv sources, just from one of their local mouthpieces. There’s the clue. Scotland – nae gunboats. To chase away Irish fishers needs a gunboat. So the next step is – PM, there’s an Irish boat off Rockall, send one of the type 26 boats you never built on the Clyde and see them off the premises.. Thanks.
Next step is total silence apart from that local mouthpiece. And an Irish fishermen’s co-op. No one ‘official’. Hmm…
Not a word from HMG. A word from HMG means a response from Irish G. Timing is everything John, including when to ‘use the mandate for a referendum on independence’, a wee thought worth keeping in mind. The timing of this Scottish non-action? No PM in Number 10, so less decisive action than usual (if possible). A stupid reaction from No 10 would be to send in a gunboat. An immediate complaint from Irish G via EU ‘that’s foul play, freedom of movement and all that’. EU, this does not assist negotiations for a deal in any way. HMG, ‘damn that Nicola’. Timing is everything, timing is perfect. Yet again. Nice one Nicola.
And while you’re there, you might have notice a well known American golfer was in London this last week. Is this the same attention-seeker that broke off from a round of golf a wee while back to say to the strong and stable one herself, “Your plan for the deal with the EU means no chance of a deal with me”. Is that why he spent more time with the No-Dealers than with the strong and stable one? Just wondering.
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Irish Times are quoting Fergus Ewing ‘https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/rockall-scottish-will-board-irish-boats-if-they-refuse-to-leave-minister-1.3919838’
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Fergus Ewing was making noises about this late last year.
Anything to do with Sturgeon’s meeting with Tusk and Juncker this week?
Look how much sea we control,
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Course our Irish pals could be in on this and planning a fine ceilidh on board boarded vessels 🙂
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Does Rockall “belong” as part of Scotland’s territorial waters?
If YES, then we have the right to protect our fishing interest there.
Should we?
If YES, then this achieves two goals. It enhances our SCOTTISH claim (future oil reserves etc), both intenationally and within the UK.
“Within the UK” is as important as internationally, because it forces London to accept OUR claim, and also forces London to defend OUR rights, internationally.
Why is Ruthie/Fluffy silent on this?
Fluffy is ALWAYS silent.
Davidson does not recognise any “Scottish” dimension at all. She has hardened her stance over the years and is now an out-and-out British Nationalist. When she says “more Union” is her goal, she is not bluffing.
She is a serial failure at elections, but she knows, as do her media backers, she only has to win ONCE to destroy devolved government ( the precursor to independence).
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I didn’t know anything about this until I read your article, John. So, a bit of digging later, it turns out that it is very much a Scottish Government thing (in the form of Fiona Hyslop) & not the mad Scottish fishermen at it again.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/scotland-warns-ireland-it-will-force-fishing-boats-to-leave-rockall-waters-1.3918588
Why now, why this issue, I wouldn’t begin to hazard a guess at.
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Poor little Scotland, no army, no navy, no maritime policing, ( reserved powers), all defenseless eh, against little bitty Ireland, now what if you had a bigger enemy eh, eh?
HMG, ‘ we Mighhttt help you’s, if you stop your fancy notions of independence right now lolz!’ Stinking rotten to the core imperialist, bullying, stealing barstrds.
Just a few Britnat nukes parked down the road, against the will of most of the people of Scotland, yet the Britnats sit back sip their champagne and allow a few fish to be stolen from Scottish waters. Except, Scottish ‘waters’ are controlled by the HMG Britnats, hell the sea off of Scotland’s NE coast is called, ‘The North sea’, not the ‘Scottish channel’ or whatever it should or could really be called. OIL, ‘North Sea’ oil, British oil’ definitely NOT Scottland’s oil and has never been allowed to be Scotland’s oil from actual Scottish waters it’s been siphoned away and squandered by the london elite in HMG.
Perfect, get Scotland and Ireland arguing, stand back and watch and laugh ha ha ha! The HMG are not going to ‘help’ Scotland they would see blood spilled before they did that, Scottish blood that is.
It stinks, you are correct on this.
On the subject of Scottish waters, I see that a couple of brave activists were blocking an Oil rig being launched out of Cromarty yesterday, to the ‘North sea’ where BP plc expects to take 30 MILLION barrels of Scotland’s oil…I think we can double that and ‘expects’ means they WILL TAKE, they know it’s there otherwise no oil rig would even be built. Anyone remember 2014, Britnats, ‘no oil left, it’s worth nothing’. The HMG in London started to dismantle viable fields in the ‘North Sea’ as soon as Alex Salmond got the go ahead for the indy ref. Osbourne taxed oil to the hilt, put smaller companies off doing business, the Torys’ big pals like BP took a wee back seat saying ‘nah, nothing doing here’ let’s go home! Some laid oil workers off on full pay! ‘Go home take a wee holiday until this whole damn independence thing is done and dusted, then we can tale the rest of their oil ha ha ha !”
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Did you notice the quality of the phone line the greenpeace activist had when being interviewed by ” The BBC’s radio station in Scotland” wonder how that occured.
After EU elections heard that the gains made by the Greens in Germany were the result of school children striking / demonstrating. Expecting our media will talk up environmental issues aiming to transfer SNP vites to the Greens.
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