Nine years on

Calton has wanted to leave the EU for years, long before he started this blog 9 years ago. There were times when he seemed like a lone voice, howling at the moon. Even when Nigel Farage founded UKIP it seemed impossible that the UK would leave the EU. Now, at time of writing, we have already left and are less than 2 hours from exiting the resulting transition period, with a deal in place, which is something else which seemed impossible until Christmas Eve. Truly 2020 has been a year of miracles as well as disasters.

Some things haven't changed, for instance the SNP's love-affair with the EU. This has led them into the ridiculous position of voting against the deal which Boris Johnson has agreed with the EU, in spite of months of warning against a no-deal Brexit. It also means that most of the items on Calton's 2012 wishlist are still valid - just replace Alex Salmond with Nicola Sturgeon and redefining marriage with trans rights.

What has changed is the mood within Scotland. The hitherto silent majority who voted NO in 2014 have now found a voice and a party to vote for in 2021 - Alliance for Unity, headed by George Galloway. The iron grip of the Murrells on the SNP has also loosened and cracks are appearing in what was once a united party. Nicola Sturgeon's pursuance of a highly woke agenda has won her enemies including Joanna Cherry and Stuart Campbell. The former fired a shot across Sturgeon's bows after being elected to the SNP NEC and the latter continues to bombard Sturgeon on an almost daily basis via his blog Wings Over Scotland, which talks so much sense that Calton has decided to add it to his blogroll.

Many still think that an SNP victory next May is inevitable. Hopefully the SNP are among that number because complacency comes before a fall in votes. Defeating the SNP may seem impossible but so did Brexit. It just needs enough people to turn out and make their voice heard. May 2021 be the year that sees the end of nationalist rule in Scotland! Slainte!

And it came to pass ...

This Christmas, with travel restrictions imposed on us by what sometimes seems to be an increasingly imperial government, let's take time to remember a family who were forced to travel at Christmas by the emperor of the time, because he wanted to do a census for tax purposes. So Joseph had to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem with his heavily pregnant wife, only to find that all the hotels were full when they got there. Talk about a lack of planning on the part of the Roman Empire!

Then, about 2 years later, when the little family seem to have got a house at last, they had to do a moonlight flit to Egypt to avoid the murderous intentions of the local despot, Herod. It was a while before they could return and even then, not to their house in Bethlehem because the despot's son was now on the throne and they didn't feel safe. So it was back to Nazareth.

Fast forward nearly 30 years and the baby born in the manger was bringing light to the people who lived in darkness - the people of Galilee, near where he had been brought up. He healed their diseases and their minds. He brought good news - God in man, reconciling man to God. That didn't go down well with the ruling political/religious class so they had him crucified by the Romans on a trumped-up charge. The local tyrant and the Roman ruler became best friends over a job well done, or so they thought.

But the story is not over, even now. Rulers, empires, kings and politicians may rise but they also fall and through it all God's purpose is worked out. We see a part of the picture he is painting but he sees the whole. So take heart, this Christmas may not be what you had planned or wanted but God is still in charge and his love, embodied in a tiny baby, never fails.