Atlas-branded leaflets are being distributed in the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth constituency pushing blatantly far-right policies and conspiracy theories: will Tommy Sheridan and the others finally disown this?

I was astounded at the leaflet I received through the door of my Cumbernauld home yesterday from the notorious Dr Alan McManus, who has regularly spoken at far-right rallies organised by the holocaust denier and Brit Nat Ultra Alistair McConnachie (of "Independent Green Voice" fame), and who is standing in the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth constituency on a joint ticket of his own "Sovereignty" party and Barrhead Boy's "Alliance to Liberate Scotland" party (aka "the Atlas").  The leaflet is prominently branded with the logos of both parties, and also with the Atlas slogan: "Independence.  Nothing Else.  Nothing Less."  With no apparent sense of irony, one side of the leaflet then goes on to set out a variety of extremely controversial - and in some cases downright offensive - policies that have got absolutely nothing whatever to do with independence, and which on the basis of the branding it's reasonable to conclude the entirety of Atlas must endorse.  Tommy Sheridan, Eva Comrie, Craig Murray, Marjorie Thompson, et al: this guy claims to be speaking on behalf of you.  Do you disown him?  Do you disown these policies he's putting out under the branding of your party?

Alliance to Liberate Scotland policies, as revealed by Dr Alan McManus in his election leaflets:

* That there should NEVER be another lockdown.  That's right, even if a deadly and highly infectious pathogen (potentially one with a far higher mortality rate than Covid) is wiping out the population, we shouldn't take even temporary steps to check its progress and to save lives.

* The existence of vaccines against Covid is a problem that must be "tackled" (in some unspecified way, but we can probably guess).

* Immigration is implied to be a leading cause of "predatory" behaviour by men, and *deportation* is proposed as a solution.

* Climate change is a "scam" and all action to tackle it should be discontinued.

* Cities and towns in which it is possible to walk to useful places within fifteen minutes are EVIL.

* Non-white people (the euphemism used is people who are not "indigenous") should be discriminated against in the provision of housing.

Great company you're keeping there, Tommy and the gang.  When you get round to telling us whether you disown McManus and his policies, could you also maybe talk us through the meaning, as you see it, of the phrase "Independence, nothing else"?  Because I'm beginning to think this is some kind of sister language to English in which the words mean the exact polar opposite of what we think they mean.

As so many people have pointed out, the most logical explanation for what is happening would appear to be that the far-right nutters in Sovereignty agreed to bankroll the Atlas campaign, and that the Atlas crew knowingly did a deal with the devil simply so they could contest this election.  One might almost say that Atlas has lost its moral compass.

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