Politics

ScotTalk Mailing List: An email mailing list focused on Scottish nationalist issues, especially politics and culture.

Free Scots eList: "FreeScots is a social/political/economic/historical discussion list covering many subjects of potential interest to anyone with a tie to Scotland, or residing there. A very active and controversial list exploring the idea of an Independent Scotland; and the route to get there..across the political spectrum, and the world. (It is busy and occasionally rude in argument, sometimes emotion filled, but well moderated in language and conduct, interested but busy people should consider digest or no mail options. 8,000 messages the first year, and 116 active members and growing)."

Political Parties/Nationalist Organizations

Scottish National Party (SNP): The major nationalist party in Scotland. The SNP has enjoyed considerable support throughout Scotland, though especially among younger voters. The SNP focuses on "economic" arguments for Scotland's independence and has gained considerable support with slogans such as "It's Scotland's Oil." The SNP won its first Parliamentary seat in 1967 and has never had more than 11 seats at any given time.

Scottish Liberal Democratic Party: The Scottish wing of the Liberal Party. This group has done fairly well in Scotland and tends to pick up votes from those who are unwilling to vote SNP (for whatever reason) or Labour. The Lib-Dems have done much to forward calls for Devolution for Scotland.

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party: After the last election, the Unionists have no seats in Scotland for the first time in history. They are British, as opposed to Scottish, nationalists as implied by the name Unionist. Formally conservative districts have frequently swung to the SNP (as seen in Perth-Kinross).

Scottish Green Party: Similar to other European Green parties. The Green's have not made a major impact on the Scottish political scene to this point.

Siol nan Gaidheal. The Scottish Cultural & Fraternal Organization:  This is the third incarnation of this organization.  Initially formed in 1979, the group proved popular with right of center nationalists.  When an arm of the group spun off to form Arm nan Gaidheal and became involved in a number of petrol bombings, the group was banned from the SNP and disbanded shortly thereafter.  Siol enjoyed a second incarnation in the 1980s and then was revived again in the mid-1990s.  This is a graphics heavy website and contains a fair bit of java so expect slow load times.

Scottish Seperatist Group: "The Scottish Separatist Group (SSG) was formed in October 1995 by former members and supporters of the Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA). The SSG is a legal political organization which functions openly and non-violently, while giving political support to the SNLA. . . . The SSG has three main aims. These are: 1) To halt and reverse mass English Immigration into Scotland; 2) To restore Gaelic as the national language of all Scotland; 3) To establish and maintain a totally independent Scottish Republic." While the SSG is a legal organization, the SNLA is a banned terrorist organization that was originally formed in the early 1980s. In the beginning, they were responsible for a variety of bombings and mailed letter bombs. Since that time, they have evolved towards what they call a "strategy of disruption" or "strategic disruption," which involves planting hoax bombs in major shopping areas, then calling in bomb threats. This forces authorities to shut down shopping areas and results in lost revenue. The idea is that, eventually, Scotland will become an expensive liability.

Scottish People's Mission (SPM): A "clearing house" for nationalist information established by the pressure group Pictish Free State in 1995.

Scots for Independence: "This site is run by a group of like-minded Scots dedicated to the cause of Scottish Independence." The group argues that "Our sovereign nationality of well over a thousand years is being eroded more and more each day. We are taught that we are 'British', not Scottish, whatever that means. We view the progress so far of our "devolved parliament" as a pathetic talking shop, with severe limitations upon its independent actions." Among other features, the site includes a collection of intensely nationalist articles, links and several historical documents.

Priority Independence: This site is dedicated to Scottish independence. The site includes links to numerous articles listed under the headings: "History," "Political Articles," "Outside Articles," "Re-Issues," "SNP web sites," and "Other links." The publishers write: "The views expressed in the various articles here are derived from a variety of sources, and must be viewed as a whole. They represent a spectrum of the ideas on Scottish Independence, and are not all necessarily comprehensively representative of the personal views of the group."

Nationalism

Scottish Politics Page: A pro-SNP site which provides opinion poll information and an interesting look at the Nationalist argument.

The Development of Scottish Nationalism: This is a very well-received 2nd term university project in social history, on the development of Scottish nationalism. The project was finished at the 21st of May 1997 at Aalborg University, Denmark, under the (perfunctory) supervision of Robert Chr. Thomsen, by the following people: Carsten Hammer Andersen, Lars Christensen, Marianne Stig Nielsen, Mads Orbesen Troest.

Scottish Issues, The Internet-ional Forum for the Discussion of Scottish Nationalism and Identity: Web-site dedicated to the study of Scottish culture, history, politics, nationalism and national identity. This site contains a very useful bibliography and an impressive list of links.

Scottish Nationalism: A brief introduction to the Scottish National Party. Focuses on reasons for SNP support (or lack thereof), ethnic dimension of Scottish nationalism, etc.

The Scots Independence Tour (c): The personal homepage of one of the Web's more outspoken Scottish Nationalists. Provides a useful account of the nationalist argument for Scottish independence.

Tom Brownrigg's Scotland Page: Website by the founder of the ScotTalk mailing list. Contains a brief commentary on Scottish nationalism/history, an update (as of 1997) and a number of links to similar pages.

Our Scottish Crown: Site makes the case for constitutional monarchy for Scotland "once it achives independence."

Tourism/Heritage

Scottish Tourist Board: One of the major organizations promoting Scottish tourism. The site provides a clear look at how Scotland is being sold.

Historic Scotland: Another of the major organizations promoting Scottish tourism and heritage. Again, this site provides a clear look at how Scotland is being sold. (Requires Shockwave for a complete viewing experience.)

New Lanark Conservation Trust: A heritage center focused on the industrial revolution as it impacted Scotland's Central Belt.

Scotland in Photographs: A collection of photos of Scotland.

History

Scottish Economic History Database: An excellent resource for those doing Scottish history. Contains: Crop Yields, Demographic Data, Price Series, Wage Series, and Weather Statistics for the years between 1550 and 1780.

Anti-English Activity on the Rise: Since 1992 anti-English violence has been increasing in Scotland. This is an article from The Scotsman which quotes a Scottish historian concerned with the trend.

Culture

Irn-Bru: Scotland is the only country in the world where Coke is not the number one soft drink. Instead, that title is held by Irn-Bru and orange colored beverage which targets the central-belt Scottish hard-man image with the slogan: "Made from Gerders."

Scottish Literature at University of South Carolina: Link to literature program focusing on Scottish literature. (A rare program in US universities!)

Stuart Titles LTD.: Scotland's tartan myths and history is big business in Scotland. Here is one of many businesses trying to capitalize on it.

News organizations

The Scotsman Online: One of Scotland's oldest and most respected daily papers. Based in Edinburgh. (Complete online version.)

Welcome to the Electronic Herald: The Glasgow-based competitor to The Scotsman. (The online version of this site is incomplete.)

Shetland News - Shetland News, Main Index Page: A local paper focusing on Shetland island news.

The Press & Journal - Serving Scotland: One of Scotland's oldest local papers. This paper covers the Northeast and is based in Aberdeen.

The Sunday Post: A more respectable tabloid-style paper.

Scottish Internet Radio: A Scottish radio station broadcast over the Internet. Includes various talk shows and some Gaelic programming.