<div>It's that time of the year again. I always approach the annual crowdfunder for this blog with considerable trepidation. Although I have a part time side gig with The National, this blog is my main full time job, one which I rely on more than ever since the stroke I suffered in 2020 has robbed me of the ability to do most of the other things I used to do to generate a living wage, such as my Gaelic maps and giving talks about place names in Scotland and the complex and fascinating history of Scotland's languages or the artistic and model making work I used to do.
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<div>Sadly I have had to come to terms with the fact that I am now permanently disabled. Following an NHS driving assessment I was told that I will never be able to drive again, even with a specially adapted car, and my mobility issues make using public transport challenging. I will not regain much in the way of meaningful use of my left hand and arm - which is especially difficult as I was very dominantly left handed before the stroke. I have also been left with a permanent lack of sensation and weakness in the entire left hand side of my body and bouts of debilitating fatigue. But I can still write and maintain this blog.
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<div>It's more important than ever now that someone continues to make the case for Scottish independence and focuses on the positive reasons for independence and attacks the pro Brexit parties of British nationalism. The SNP is far from perfect but it and the Greens remain the only pro independence parties in Scotland which have a proven ability to get their candidates elected.
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<div>Given everything that has happened in the wider independence movement over the past two years or so, it is all the more important that someone continues to focus on making the case for independence and attacking the parties of British nationalism.  I sometimes feel that this blog is ploughing a lonely furrow. We already have an overwhelmingly anti-independence media which delights in attacking the Scottish Government and the SNP. That's their job, not mine.
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<div>It is crucial that we continue to highlight the hypocrisies and failures of British nationalism, the Conservative Government and the Westminster system, this is all the more important given the Conservatives' alarming attacks on democratic oversight. The UK is gravely in danger of descending into a British nationalist authoritarianism, from which Scotland must escape.
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John Low

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Wee Ginger Annual Crowd funder 2023

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