The Gurn happened across the website and twitter page of Independent candidate Ritchie Cunningham this morning during the usual scrutiny of everything on Twitter that mentions Nairn. There's a lot of reading material on Ritchie's Wiki and fair play to him for providing the electorate with information on his background and opinions. One strong thread running through that is his support for the Union. He entitles his thoughts on Independence with "Patriotism comes in many forms." He continues:
"I am most definitely in favour of retaining the union and remaining a part of the United Kingdom and at the same time I am proud to be Scottish. I have no difficulty supporting a UK team in the Olympics and a Scottish team in the Commonwealth Games. It isn’t a matter of choosing to be British or Scottish but choosing to be both. Despite the three hundred years of union and attempts to quash Scottishness after the Jacobite uprising the Scottish identity is alive and strong and I see no danger in our identity being diminished by the union. The greater danger in diluting any national identity comes from the media and the dominance of American culture on the rest of the world."
Gurnites can browse Ritchie Cunningham's musings here and follow his tweets on this page. Liz and Colin are already out there on Facebook and twitter and now an independent candidate has joined them. Will any more of the contestants step forward with a digital presence?
I like the cut of his Jib, he points out some very sensible arguments regarding the Union and other issues. Sounds like a good man to have on the Council.
ReplyDeleteBet there aren't many Rectors that can be referred to as RC!
ReplyDeleteI found his Independence Debate a scrape at a rather empty barrel, the SNP are on a very big roll with huge support. I suspect he may gain a few votes for those who like flying the Unionist jib. However, today's news suggests that even the likes of Milliband and Clegg really don't understand the feelings of the majority in Scotland
ReplyDeleteIn the absence of a Tory candidate this fine fellow will do for me.
ReplyDelete@Floating Tory vota
ReplyDeleteWell done. Your post should kill what chances Mr Cunningham had for election. I can see he will now be consigned to the political dustbin
It'll be interesting when all the nominations are official registered for the Highland Council election. The Gurn can then have an unscientific poll to see where Gurnshire will be putting their first choice on the ballot paper.
ReplyDeleteHere's a reminder of another little unscientific poll we held back in September.
Obviously it would seem that our Graham has got to make some ground up but anything could happen now that Sandy has dropped out. There is a Labour candidate too. This observer would put Labour at the bottom of the poll at the moment if there were an election in Nairnshire tomorrow. Predicting that Liz, Colin and Laurie would get in with Oor Graham and Ritchie slugging it out for the final prize. Of course other candidates may emerge yet. Hearing rumours centred around a couple of the usual suspects but there usually are such rumours every time the council elections come around.
Update:
ReplyDeleteWe hear this evening from one of our regular readers that a local businessman intends to stand for the Council in May.
The Gurn will contact this individual for confirmation.