Lord Dunderheid

Just a few days after I published my post on Ulva and Gometra I saw a BBC TV programme (Designing The Hebrides) about the renovation of an old bothy on the south coast of Ulva. My post said that there were no buildings on the south coast of Ulva - or any paths in that direction. This, clearly, was not the case - but, in my defence, none of the articles I’d read, prior to my visit to Ulva, mentioned this bothy even existed. Having said that, I need to hold my hand up to failing to examine my maps more carefully and at a magnification level which will clearly show such features. Near the start of this programme there was a map which indicated the location of this bothy so I was able to use the map apps on my phone to focus on only this area. My Google Maps indicated nothing - and at first my free version of OS maps also indicated nothing - but, still on my OS phone map, I zoomed in on the area and there indeed was a small building shown (a small rectangle). I then used the map applicatio...

Ulva and Gometra are, most usually, described as lying off the west coast of Mull. I would argue that this is not totally true. As pointed out in my post about Mull, that island is so indented that it is not easy to find bits of it’s convoluted coast that line up with any of the four cardinal points of the compass - and that applies to the location of Ulva and Gometra. These two Islands are located in what I would call the northern side of Outer Loch na Keel (with Loch na Keel being a small section at the head of the loch). If, however, a line is drawn between Rudha nan Cearc (at the north western tip of the Ross Of Mull) and Rudh a Chaoil (at the western tip of the area known as Treshnish) then that line will run pretty much north to south - so the entrance to Loch na Keel does, I accept, look westward, but that is not the same as claiming that the coast contained within Outer Loch na Keel faces westward: some sections do - but some other sections face north and some face sou...

Foreword: The post that follows goes over an issue already addressed in my previous post on Scottish Politics - namely rejoining the EU, or not, after independence. This post attempts to expand on my argument with a few more observations. On Monday 27th March 2023, the SNP announced that Humza Yousaf had won the battle to be the party’s new leader and, over the next couple of days, he was confirmed as the new First Minister of Scotland, replacing Nicola Sturgeon in both positions. During the campaign all three SNP leadership candidates seemed to be making clear that a priority would be to get a consistent majority in favour of independence (while, at the same time, looking after the immediate problems of running the country). The figure of 51% was mentioned but I believe that at least 55% will be required, over an extended period of time, before Westminster might buckle and either permit a section 30 order or enter into independence negotiations. But what must the SNP, and wider YES mo...

On Wednesday the 15th of February 2023, just after eleven in the morning, Nicola Sturgeon sent shock wave through Scottish and UK politics when she announced she was stepping down, after over eight years, as SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland. I have decided that it would be a good idea to take a look at her successes and her failures - along with a look at how I think the SNP and the independence movement is going to progress support for independence from this point onwards. The first thing to say is that my phone has presented me with many articles addressing this. I have deliberately not read any to avoid taking on board the thoughts of others (although I’ve not been able to avoid several TV programmes which also considered this topic). On the negative side, she was unable to advance support for independence, with most polling indicating support the same as immediately after the 2014 referendum (and if Ashcroft’s latest poll was accurate then we’ve actually lost ground since ...

 This post covers two islands, Erraid and Iona, rather than just the usual one. This is because both are quite small and both are inhabited satellites of Mull. The next post will also cover two of Mull’s four inhabited, satellite islands; Ulva and Geometra, but for this post I will start with Erraid as it is the southern most of all four islands. Located at the south western tip of the Ross of Mull, Erraid is a small, tidal island that is almost square in shape, about a mile in length on all four coasts. Erraid’s main claim to fame is, in fact, as a tidal island in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped where this aspect of it’s geography is of importance to a section of the story (David Balfour, the hero of the story, thinks he is stuck on the island before he discovers he can walk over to Mull when the tide is out). It is separated from Mull by a narrow channel of water wrapped around the north and east coasts of the island - when the tide is in. When the tide is out then that chann...

As we approach the end of 2022 I thought an update about what’s being happening in the USA was in order. US gun laws (or the lack of them). Firstly, throughout the past year there has been a continuation of gun massacres - some in shopping malls and churches and others, once again, in schools. In the aftermath of those crimes we continue to have some in the NRA, while also (usually) preaching Christian values, spout disgusting and evil lies in order that their fun continues to come before the lives of innocent children. Some of those evil people continue to claim that restricting access to guns is not the answer. They claim that guns don’t kill but it’s people who do. They even claim that the answer is even more guns and that teachers should be armed to protect their students. The evil insanity of those claims are so obvious it is difficult to understand why those mouthpieces of the NRA are not locked up. If more guns was the answer then why are there so few gun massacres in countries ...

Following the Supreme Court judgment (that the Scottish government could not run it’s own independence referendum) there have been wild celebrations from unionists - as if they had defeated the struggle for Scottish independence in a single blow. I think they are badly mistaken in that. I mean, what do they expect independence supporters to do? Simply say “well, that’s it then - we may as well forget about this”. I very much doubt it - and this Supreme Court judgment might well have increased support for Scotland breaking away from the UK as it becomes clearer that our union of equals, with any country free to leave if it wants to, is nothing but a huge lie. It has also exposed the democratic deficit that the SNP has long complained about. In addition to that I suspect that Nicola Sturgeon might be quite happy about the judgment. I suspect that even she doubted if October 2023 was the right time to go for it - what with COVID still with us (to some extent), the war in Ukraine and infla...