Monty McMonagle

Musician, marketing guy, husband, dad, brother. Happy to be still here after all this time with some hair and several guitars.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@IanMurrayMP Independence wouldn’t end political disagreement. Conservative would still be Conservatives, Labour Labour, SNP SNP. But the constitutional question would be settled, allowing every party to put its energy into what should unite them all: making Scotland a better country.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@DavidVance Independence wouldn’t mean permanent SNP rule.
Quite the opposite: once independence was achieved, the SNP’s defining purpose would disappear. New parties would emerge, old ones would evolve, and the Scottish people would decide who governs them.

[Ika Ferrer Gotić @IkaFerrerGotic]

Glasgow deserves better than periodic ritual condemnation.

If I hadn’t spent real time in Glasgow; walking those streets at 3am feeling safer than in most European cities; I might have swallowed the latest BBC framing wholesale.

But I have been there. I’ve seen the city at night, felt its pulse, and known its people. So when pieces like this reduce Glasgow to drugs, violence and racism, it lands as something more than journalism. It feels like a selective, recurring campaign that shows little regard for the community it claims to examine.

Every city has problems that demand honest attention and real solutions. Pretending otherwise helps no one. Glasgow is no exception. But painting an entire city and its people through the darkest lens available, while treating occasional disorder as defining character, is not balance. It is disregard.

Glaswegians have long punched above their weight. The “People Make Glasgow” ethos is not empty branding; it is lived reality.

Problems exist and should be confronted without denial. But reducing a complex, resilient city to a weekly dossier of its worst moments, while soft-pedalling the everyday dignity, creativity and solidarity of its people, is not serious analysis. It is a narrative that erodes more than it illuminates. Again, Glasgow deserves better than periodic ritual condemnation.

| #Glasgow #Scotland #PeopleMakeGlasgow

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@LiberationScot @jim_muchan36407 I agree… he also has a lot of interested followers, many of whom are genuinely seeking answers to the big independence questions.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@JasonSmithyIII @afneil Scotland could negotiate a £ support package (eg Malta, Kenya, Cyprus, etc) over an extended period to ease EU membership criteria. Its strategic position on the N.Atlantic, Faslane, Lossiemouth, energy and trade, gives it assets that will protect both Scotland and UK interests.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@afneil Scotland holds MANY cards - and wouldn’t simply walk away: its strategic position on the N.Atlantic approaches, plus Faslane, Lossiemouth, energy and trade, gives it real leverage to negotiate a 15–20 year financial and defence transition that protects both Scotland and the UK.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@afneil UK repeatedly warned that colonies face economic/security disaster if independent. Some struggled, but others - India, Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius - achieved great transformations. Independence didn’t guarantee success; nor did remaining under British control guarantee it.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@afneil GERS estimates Scot finances within UK, not potential as an independent country, which could mean sovereign borrowing to invest in ports, energy, infrastructure & industry; a pro-growth immigration policy; and savings from UK-wide functions such as defence, debt interest, etc.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@BBCWorld Why does the media (inc BBC) call these people “settlers”? It makes them sound innocent. They could use land grabber, terrorist, violent disposesser (actual legal term), genocidest, or thug. There appears to be tacit collusion in the media that they will be called ‘settlers’.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@QudsNen @jazz_strider Why does the media call these people “settlers”? It makes them sound innocent. They could use land grabber, terrorist, violent disposesser (actual legal term), genocidest, thug or desperado. There appears to be tacit collusion in the media that they will be called ‘settlers’.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@GeorgeFoulkes We can all cherry pick. Scotland compares favourably with other parts of UK:
* Free university tuition for Scots
* Free personal care for older people
* Free prescriptions.
* Better A&E scores than England & Wales
* Lower child poverty than predicted
* Many reductions in crime

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@heraldscotland Whatever happened to Kevin McKenna?
He went from influential independence sympathiser to deeply disillusioned critic of the SNP, to a writer of nasty, personal and vindictive attacks on Nicola Sturgeon.
This has become petty, excessive, repetitive - and boring. Time to move on.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@heraldscotland Whatever happened to Kevin McKenna?
He went from influential independence sympathiser to deeply disillusioned critic of the SNP, to a writer of nasty, personal and vindictive attacks on Nicola Sturgeon.
This has become petty, excessive, repetitive - and boring. Time to move on.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@heraldscotland @kmckenna63 Whatever happened to Kevin McKenna?
He went from influential independence sympathiser to deeply disillusioned critic of the SNP, to a writer of nasty, personal and vindictive attacks on Nicola Sturgeon.
This has become petty, excessive, repetitive and boring. Time to move on.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@SymbolStones Current roadblock is UK Gov. One of the tactics to dismantle blockage will be international law - in combination with good governance, popular support for independence and a convincing plan re economics (esp pensions/currency).
We need all the factions working together somehow.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@Douglas_Haribo @bilbo815 UK blocks referendums, baiting the independence movement into divisive infighting over strategy. Instead of falling for this old trick, the various factions must somehow unite as Team Independence. Every group has a vital role to play in achieving sovereignty.

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@PeteWishart Rather than taking Westminster’s bait of division through structural blocks, Scotland’s independence factions must cease internal strategic infighting, unify under one leader as Team Independence, and acknowledge that every group has an essential part to play. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@PeteWishart Rather than taking Westminster’s bait of division through structural blocks, Scotland’s independence factions must cease internal strategic infighting, unify under one leader as ‘Team Independence’, and acknowledge that every group has an essential part to play. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

@SSalyers2 Rather than taking Westminster’s bait of division through structural blocks, Scotland’s independence factions must cease internal strategic infighting, unify under one leader as Team Independence, and acknowledge that every group has an essential part to play. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[Monty McMonagle @monty_mc]

Anyone heard yet what Elon Musk, the Pope or Boutros Boutros-Ghali thought of the Celtic v Hearts match?
@CelticFC @JamTarts @BBCScotland