The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, as a result of a merger between the left-leaning Pro-Independence National Party of Scotland, and the Scottish Party, (a group of former Conservatives preferring home rule), with the aim of uniting the nationalist movement in Scotland. At the time of the merger, the home rulers' views prevailed, and the SNP rejected the goal of full independence.
The Scotland Act of 1978 made provision for a referendum on devolution, and in 1979 a referendum was held. Although the majority of those who voted, voted for devolution, those figures did not achieve the 40% of the overall electorate threshold, which would have been required to enable the result to stand.
The failure of the referendum saw the start of a period of decline for the SNP, as it fell victim to factionalism, with the expulsion of members of Siol nan Gaidheal and the radical leftwing 79 Group.
Under successive Conservative governments, led by Margaret Thatcher, and John Major, there was little impetus to revive the devolution project. It did however, remain part of the Labour party's agenda, and the late Labour party leader John Smith famously described it as Labour's "unfinished business". In 1988, a Scottish Constitutional Convention was formed, bringing together MPs, MEPS, local authorities, the STUC, business, church and civic groups, which produced its final report, 'Scotland's Parliament. Scotland's Right' calling for a Scottish Parliament in 1995.
On its return to power in 1997, Labour; under pro-republican Tony Blair set out its plans for a Scottish devolved assembly and a referendum was held in September that year. The majority of voters voted for devolution, and the devolved Scottish Assembly was established in 1999.
That wasn't enough for Tony Blair, the Labour Party, and the SNP.
During his time as PM for the United Kingdom, Tony Blair took the UK to war in the Middle East unlawfully. This led to the loss of lives of hundreds of British lives, in conflicts in Kuwait and Iraq.
The SNP seized the opportunity to exploit the deaths of UK servicemen and women in order to try and gain popularity with the electorate, and in 2007, the SNP won a historic victory in the Scottish parliamentary elections. Labour: which had long been the majority political party in Scotland and the cornerstone of Labour general election wins in the United Kingdom, had been consigned to second place among the electorate in Scotland. Following those results, Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP, stated: "Scotland has changed for good and forever. There may be Labour governments and First Ministers in decades still to come, but never again will the Labour Party think it has a divine right to government."
In my opinion, that was a defining moment: a moment when the Labour party in Scotland sold its Unionist soul to that of a republican agenda. Without the Labour vote in Scotland, the Labour vote within the United Kingdom will never be enough to return the Labour party to Government in the United Kingdom. It was then that Scottish members of the Labour Party started to plan for an Independent Scottish Labour Party: a party which could contest for seats in an Independent Scotland.
Unionism in Scotland then became the target of all of those opposed to the United Kingdom, and all that it stands for. Laws were passed by the Scottish Assembly: laws which were conceived by, and pushed through by, the Republican/Nationalist coalition of the SNP and the Scottish Labour Party. Those Laws saw Unionists ostracised, and criminalised for singing songs supporting the Union, and celebrating the history which brought the United Kingdom to where it is today. Those laws were pushed through with only one aim: to marginalise and suppress the Unionist voters within Scotland.
While it is deemed lawful for republican supporters to parade through the streets of Scotland singing songs which support the Irish Republican Army (an illegal terrorist organisation, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent British men, women and children), and hold fundraising events for the Irish Republican movement: anything organised by the likes of the Orange Order, or any Unionist group within Scotland, is automatically condemned as being bigoted or sectarian by the SNP/Labour coalition.
On the 18th of September 2014, the people of Scotland voted to remain a part of the United Kingdom, in what was described as a once in a lifetime vote on Scottish independence.
Prior to the vote, I had noticed an increased level of abuse aimed towards anyone who could have been perceived to be pro-unionist. This was all part of a coordinated and approved agenda, driven by the SNP and its supporters.
Those who attacked anything and everything Unionist online, are known as CyberNats. The SNP did not care though; because it suited their pro-independence agenda. Some of the vile rhetoric they spewed was abhorrent, and yet the SNP did nothing. We, as Rangers supporters are criminalised for singing a song, and yet supporters of other clubs, predominantly Celtic, escape prosecution. They can hang effigies of Rangers supporters and Orangemen from the rafters at Celtic Park, and it is categorised as banter or in poor taste.
If a Rangers supporter posts a picture of the Pope hanging from a rope on social media, then they will likely face a custodial sentence. Anything remotely Unionist is attacked by Scottish Nationalists. Even paedophilia, when highlighted by Rangers supporters, is trivialised by those who oppose us as 'point scoring'. What kind of normal person chooses to ignore child molestation, and instead labels those who raise concerns, as merely people trying to 'point score'. Really? I mean really?
Ignoring the democratic will of the Scottish people; Nicola Sturgeon continues her assault on the Union. You see: nothing will ever be enough for the SNP, or the republicans in Scotland. Sturgeon latched onto the democratic vote which saw the British electorate choose to leave the EU, and she uses that as an excuse to try and bring about a second Scottish independence referendum in just a few years. She ignores the fact that there is no appetite in the Scottish electorate for a second independence referendum, but she ignores us. If it hadn't been Brexit, it would have been any other excuse, because the SNP only exist to create division and hatred. If Sturgeon had spent only a small fraction of her time in office as Scotlands' First Minister on ensuring that education standards were improving, the National Health Service in Scotland was working, the criminal justice system was working etc. instead of relentlessly pushing her divisive Indy2 agenda, then Scotland may be in a better position than it is right now, with rising unemployment, falling educational standards, a broken NHS, a Police service which is in crisis, and an economy with one of the worst deficits in Europe.
It's a bit like when someone said that singing the song, '˜The Billy Boys' was banned because it was sectarian. The Billy Boys is not a sectarian song, it is a football song, and for any Rangers supporters who think that those who hate us will stop at banning The Billy Boys, I'll say this: it will not stop there. Nothing will ever be enough for the republicans who infest Scotland at this time. They have already tried to ban Simply the Best, The Bouncy, and Penny Arcade. Why? Because they will try to find any kind of tenuous link which fits into their sectarian agenda, in order to ban them, and to silence the Unionist voice. We sing, '˜no-one likes us, we don't care, but we should. They hate us and want us eradicated from Scotland. When will the penny drop?
Nothing will ever be enough for them.
When challenged on her failures, Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP will fall back to petty insults, shouting, and blaming Westminster. We, as Unionists and Rangers supporters are their primary target in Scotland. We prevented her from achieving her dream of being the first president of a republic of Scotland, and she will not stop until she has eradicated us. The SNP work closely with Irish republicans, and share many of the same objectives. Many SNP MSP's are IRA sympathisers, and are happy to be openly seen with prominent former IRA members, in a show of support.
How low has this once proud country sunk, when a SNP MSP, John Fingland Mason, can happily go to social media, to support the murderers of three Scottish soldiers, John McCaig, Joseph McCaig, and Dougald McCaughey, murdered by the IRA in 1971? This disgusting reptile purports to be a representative of the Scottish people, and yet, he refuses to condemn the murders of Scottish soldiers, and instead describes their murderers as '˜freedom fighters'.
Just when you think that the SNP could not sink any further in their desperation to try and justify anything in order to achieve their dreams of a republic of Scotland, the likes of this disgrace of a human being, does it. He's not alone though. The SNP want total control in Scotland. They control the Police, the criminal justice system, and our schools. I've seen SNP activists and members in Scottish schools. Do you honestly think that they are not pursuing an agenda? The SNP want to control our children, with their attempts to bring in the named persons scheme. This would see a Scottish Assembly chosen nominated person being made responsible for our children. Not us, as parents, but someone of their choosing. Think about that for a minute.
I look at Scotland in 2017, and it mirrors Germany of the 1930's. While the world worries about Donald Trump, I worry more about matters closer to home.
The beating heart of the SNP is driven by bigotry, division, and hatred to anyone who opposes their agenda. We as Rangers supporters are clearly in their sights.