Opinion
Does Scottish gov’t turmoil signal the end of the ‘green’ agenda’s stranglehold on Europe?
Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf
From LifeSiteNews
By Frank Wright
‘Green’ politics is now understood as a campaign for electoral and national suicide. With the coming European elections the writing is on the wall for globalist ‘progressives’ across the continent.
The First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf, quit on live television on April 29, following the collapse of his left/Green Party coalition government. A power sharing agreement between his bizarrely named Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Greens was broken over the SNP’s retreat on Net Zero commitments.
Despite his camera savvy assertions, Yousaf’s departure has nothing to do with either duty or principle, which he stressed in the speech announcing his resignation. It is the result of a feared public backlash against higher taxes, over-regulation, and the madness of progressive “green” policies which prefigures a European political realignment.
READ: Net Zero’s days are numbered? Why Europeans are souring on the climate agenda
Yousaf’s coalition with the Greens fell apart because his SNP had recognized that the extreme Net Zero agenda was unrealistic, and could deliver only electoral suicide. The SNP under Yousaf had abandoned its “decarbonization targets” in early April, with Green co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie describing Yousaf’s attempts to ditch extremely unpopular policies as “an act of political cowardice” and a “betrayal.”
As a result, the Greens withdrew support from the SNP, which fell one seat short of a majority in 2021. A new deal with a new leader is unlikely, and the chaos spells doom for the SNP with an election coming this year. The SNP remains in power – for the time being – albeit in a minority government.
Wider lessons for globalist ‘greens’
The lesson from Scotland is that the liberal parties of Europe face electoral meltdown. A recent report from the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) warned of a “sharp right turn” following EU elections in June:
Inside the European Parliament, a populist right coalition of Christian democrats, conservatives, and radical right MEPs could emerge with a majority for the first time.
The future spells doom for the doomsayers, it seems, with the globalist agenda under severe threat. The existence of the globalist EU itself may be threatened, with Unherd saying in December that this decade may be the EU’s last.
The ECFR report continued:
This ‘sharp right turn’ is likely to have significant consequences for European-level policies, which will affect the foreign policy choices that the EU can make, particularly on environmental issues, where the new majority is likely to oppose ambitious EU action to tackle climate change.
The attempt of the SNP to avoid electoral oblivion has only made it fall faster. It is an example which will be nervously observed from the once-dominant power in Europe.
Germany next?
The SNP’s partnership in power with the “green” zealots mirrors that of the government of Europe’s former economic and industrial powerhouse, Germany.
The crisis-hit Scholz administration relies on the support of a Green party whose policies have not only devastated the economy with deindustrialization, lockdown debt, and soaring energy prices, but have also, as in Scotland, advanced a raft of extremist “progressive” issues, such as the promotion of the “trans” movement, opposition to border and immigration control, with both Green parties pursuing policies strongly resented by the public.
Scotland’s Greens sought to ban wood-burning stoves, and Germany’s Greens were met with similar outrage with their decision to ban gas-fired central heating, and mandate the use of heat pumps. Yet the money for the subsidies required has run out – as “green” policies have helped to destroy the economy.
The Greens succeeded in closing the last of Germany’s nuclear power stations in August 2023, but the policy of replacing home heating which works with an expensive alternative that does not, was met with widespread opposition.
As a result, it is not just heat pump sales that have plummeted in Germany, but the sales pitch of the international “green” lobby.
Faced with defeat in the European elections, which the ECFR blames on “national parties start[ing] to respond to the changing opinions of their voters,” many parties of the liberal establishment are rowing back on Net Zero commitments – as well as on other issues beloved of the shock-haired shock troops of “progress.”
The face of globalist progressives
The co-leader of the Scottish Greens is Patrick Harvie, whose social media accounts notify readers that his pronouns are he/him.

The causes he supports are an object lesson in how Net Zero is not the only crazy agenda aggressively pushed by the Greens, whose policy platform is increasingly seen as electorally toxic. He is a self-described member of the so-called “LGBTQ+ community,” identifying as “bisexual.”
Like many progressive fanatics, he strongly supports the futile and avoidable destruction of the population and nation of Ukraine.
Here he is in 2020, championing the prescription of hormones and surgery to sexualized children as “trans healthcare.”
I wish I could say it was shocking that an MSP today called on the First Minister to instruct the NHS to withdraw trans healthcare from young people.
Trans healthcare already suffers from unacceptably long waits, even for referral. Greens will continue to push for improvement. https://t.co/9iXwQ8zmUz
— Patrick Harvie 🇪🇺🌈 (@patrickharvie) December 10, 2020
Naturally, he repeatedly describes Christians with disdain, labelling the Christian Institute as a “hate group.” The institute “campaigns for “the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.”
The NSS recently agreed that after his latest outburst the racist historian David Starkey had to be removed as an Honorary Associate. They accepted that his racism was a red line. Why should homophobia, transphobia and misogyny be treated any differently?
— Patrick Harvie 🇪🇺🌈 (@patrickharvie) July 31, 2020
As Britain’s Telegraph reported, explaining the background to the collapse of Yousaf’s SNP-Green coalition:
Harvie’s determination to indulge his permanently-angry purple-haired activists even at the expense of the Scottish Government’s credibility was probably the last straw for many senior SNP ministers, if not for Yousaf himself.
Harvie is a strong advocate of abortion. He and his party describe the reminder that the lives of unborn children have value as “misinformation and intimidation,” as they seek to afford “dignity and privacy” to women killing their children, “as they are at every other medical procedure.”
SPUC, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, pointed out that the measure to legally enforce “buffer zones” around abortion facilities was “opposed by 70 percent” of the Scottish public.
The Greens in Scotland, as in Germany, vehemently oppose any attempt to control mass migration – however weak and belated.
The Greens have also refused to alter their stance on the now discredited notion of “gender affirming care” for children.
Against scientific advice, the Greens prefer to support the views of the “trans community,” saying “lived experience” is a better guide to reality than the clinical evidence that prescribing hormones and surgery to confused children is wrong, and causes irreversible harm.
The U.K.’s Cass Review, published in mid-April, cited a lack of “evidence based guidelines,” noting that pro-transgender organizations such as WPATH had exerted considerable influence in the adoption of the Dutch Pathway – a template which resulted in rapid access to hormones and surgery including for children.
Cass said in her introduction, “Although some think the clinical approach should be based on a social justice model, the NHS works in an evidence-based way.”
The rejection of the fast track to “puberty blockers” mirrors a similar preference for evidence-based decisions in Western electorates.
The Godless, nation-wrecking policies of national suicide have produced enough evidence of the motives, methods, and monumental disaster of the globalist Green agenda. It is anti-natalist, pro-open borders, anti-family, and seeks to promote the sexual distortion of the lives of what few children we still have. In a final irony, is also destroying the economic prosperity on whose subsidies it relies for its own survival.
Happily, “green” politics is now understood as a campaign for electoral as well as national suicide. This realization has spelled the end of the appalling Scottish coalition government, and with the coming European elections the writing is on the wall for globalist “progressives” across the continent.
Humza Yousaf’s left/Green government was just the first Green-backed coalition which has ended in disaster. It will not be the last. For the reality based community, the best news is yet to come.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Elbows Down For The Not-So-Magnificent Seven: Canada’s Wilting NHL Septet
The week after Grey Cup is always a good time to look in for our first serious analysis at how Canada’s NHL teams are doing. So let’s take a quick… WHOA… what’s happening here?
If the playoffs were to begin next week (we wish) then it would be a cold breakfast for teams in Elbows Up. Just two clubs—Winnipeg and Montreal— would even qualify for the postseason. And the Jets have just found out their star goalie Connor Hellybuyck is unlikely to play much before mid-January.
The two putative Canadian hopes for a first Stanley cup since 1993— Toronto and Edmonton— are sucking on vapour trails. After being raked 5-2 by Montreal, the Leafs have just a 24.9 percent chance of making the playoffs. Conor McDavid’s Oilers have a better percentage but their same old goaltending woes and a ticking clock on McDavid’s back.
Granted that, going into the weekend, no team in the East was more than four points out of the wild-card spot while all but three teams were within three points of a playoff spot in the West. But the Canadian teams are stuck behind some premium teams and need lotsa’ luck so they end up like Max Verstappen not Lance Stroll.
Maybe a Canadian men’s Olympic gold medal can reduce the sting of no Cup, no future for another season. But it won’t save the jobs of coaches in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver unlikely to survive also-ran status. Let’s take a close look at the not-so-magnificent seven starting west to east.
Vancouver: The Nucks have a sterling 4 percent chance of making the postseason as of this writing. In the powerful Western Conference that’s still an insult to a franchise that hasn’t recovered from the hasty 2013 firing of GM Mike Gillis—who won… let us us see… two Presidents Trophies and six Western Conference titles in a row. Since then? Uh, bagel.
It’s nice that Elias Petterson has come back from the morgue this season. But it will come down to goalie Thatcher Demko staying healthy and whether ownership wants to go full tank or just a quarter-tank for a draft pick. Hard to see Adam Foote surviving as coach.
Calgary: Speaking of tanking, everyone in Calgary wants the Flames to do a teardown for the top picks in the 2026 Draft. Everyone, except, for the Flames absentee owner Murray Edwards and his robo-spokesman Don Maloney. They want the five percent chance at a playoff spot and a mid-round first draft pick. The Flames missed the chance to restructure in 2023 when Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk departed. But again, denialism in the management suite tried to make it an even trade with Florida, sign huge new contracts and keep pushing. Bad decision.
Only question here is when does the purge begin and what can they get to help Dustin Wolf— signed for seven more years— in net?
Edmonton: We’ve written at length here and here about the McDavid saga. He and the management team halved the baby with a short-term deal to pretend he’s staying in the Chuck. Their healthy chance of making the playoffs (75.5 percent) says one thing. Their play in the putrid Pacific— they’re given up six-goals-plus five times in just 24 games— says another. But as long as McDavid and Leon Draisaitl stay healthy they might still finesse a ticket to a their third straight Finals ride.
But if they get near the trading deadline and the postseason is a mirage the noise to trade McDavid will be deafening. And the offers staggering for a capped-out team.
Winnipeg: Last year was supposed to be the Jets big year. Okay, that didn’t work out so well. The Jets kept their core together for another chance at finally making a serious playoff run. So it will all come down, as it has in the past, to the health and playoff juju of Hellybuyck. Their ticket out of the Central Division lies in beating powerful Colorado and Dallas and, if that happens, staying healthy.
The Jets would probably just as well their stars didn’t go get beat up in the Olympics, but that’s unlikely. There’s always been a karma about Winnipeg breaking the Canada Cup jinx. Still a long shot.

EAST
Toronto: So you’re saying Mitch Marner wasn’t the problem with the highly rated Maple Leafs never getting as far as the Conference Finals? They’re 3-5-2 in their last ten, their captain is still a sulky figure— only now his output doesn’t make it worthwhile. And the Toronto media is trying to do the players’ will to get coach Craig Berube fired for them. The same problems remain from years previous: dubious goaltending and a shallow talent pool on defence.
The biggest problem for the Leafs is their closing window for success. They’re old, have few tradeable assets in the system and have traded top picks away for short-term gains that never appeared. Expect fireworks after the Olympics if this crate doesn’t get moving. New MLSE boss Keith Pelley has no ties to the current administration and will sweep clean.
Ottawa: The Sens have managed to survive the loss of captain Brad Tkachuck to a broken finger. How? Ottawa have gotten goals from 17 different players which means they have balance. And so far they are above average 5-on-5. All good. They’ve also taken advantage of the mediocrity of the Leafs and other Eastern teams to stay afloat.
Their Achilles heel? Between the pipes. Both goalies have a save percentage under .875 and that ain’t going to cut it come spring. As always finances will limit their trades and manoeuvrability.

Montreal: The Habs were the fashionable pick before the season as the Canadian team most likely to get to the Cup they last won in 1993. Defenceman Laine Hutson is all that he promised last year. The dynamic top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky have cast back to the days of the Flying Frenchmen. Managing expectations in Montreal’s rabid hockey culture— where a misplaced apostrophe can cause chaos—means never taking anything for granted.
Now if only goaltender Jacob Dobes can keep up his play long enough for Sam Montembault to regain his form the Habs could be a thing in the spring. At this rate they might be the only thing.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Opinion
Landmark 2025 Study Says Near-Death Experiences Can’t Be Explained Away
The assumption that every mystery of existence can be mechanistically explained away risks distorting science into a heavily biased scientism. The article below is fascinating reading for anyone who senses that the magnificent and elusive concept of “consciousness” might not be fully comprehensible within the narrow framework of “brain-as-machine.”
If you’ve ever heard a near-death experience (NDE) story—the tunnel of light, the life review, the profound peace—you’ve probably also heard the standard scientific rebuttal.
“It’s just a brain starved of oxygen.”
“It’s a final dream caused by a flood of DMT.”
“It’s just random neurons firing as the system shuts down.”
For decades, this has been the dominant, materialistic narrative. NDEs are fascinating, the story goes, but they’re ultimately illusions—the brain’s last, desperate fireworks display before the permanent blackout.
But what if that story is wrong? What if the data we’ve been collecting for 50 years points in a completely different direction?
A powerful new paper published in October 2025 is forcing the scientific community to do a double-take. The study, “A Neuroscientific Model of Near-Death Experiences Reconsidered” by Dr. Bruce Greyson and Marieta Pehlivanova from the University of Virginia, systematically dismantles the argument that NDEs are mere brain malfunctions.
And the implications are, frankly, mind-blowing.
The Challenger: The “Comprehensive” NEPTUNE Model
Earlier in 2025, a large multinational team published a paper in Nature Reviews Neurology proposing a new, all-encompassing theory called NEPTUNE (the Neurophysiological Evolutionary Psychological Theory Understanding Near-Death Experience). It was a grand unified theory of skepticism, pulling together every conceivable brain-based explanation:
- Low oxygen/High CO₂
- Temporal lobe seizures
- Stimulation of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ) – thought to cause out-of-body illusions
- REM sleep intrusion
- Ketamine/DMT-like chemistry
- Electrical “surges” in the dying brain
Skeptics pointed to NEPTUNE as the final word. Finally, a model that explained away the mystery! But Greyson and Pehlivanova, with decades of NDE research under their belts, looked at the model and saw a house of cards. Their paper is a meticulous, point-by-point deconstruction.
The Takedown: 8 Reasons Why “Just the Brain” Isn’t Enough
Here’s how Greyson and Pehlivanova challenge the core arguments of the NEPTUNE model:
- The Oxygen Problem: If low oxygen causes NDEs, then why do studies of cardiac arrest survivors show that many who report profound NDEs had normal oxygen and CO₂ levels? And why are these experiences so lucid and structured, while true hypoxia typically causes confused, garbled, and amnesic states?
- The Seizure Mismatch: While temporal lobe epilepsy can cause odd feelings or hallucinations, they are almost always described as frightening, fragmented, and bizarre. They don’t resemble the coherent, narrative, and deeply peaceful story of a typical NDE. As one prominent epileptologist admitted, “In spite of having seen hundreds of patients with temporal lobe seizures… I have never come across that symptomatology [of NDEs] as part of a seizure” (Rodin, 1989, as cited in Greyson & Pehlivanova, 2025).
- The Out-of-Body Illusion: Stimulating the TPJ can create a sense of dissociation or the “impression” of a shadowy figure. But this is a far cry from the detailed, veridical Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) reported in NDEs, where people accurately describe surgical procedures, conversations, and specific details in other rooms—details they could not have perceived with their physical senses. These verified perceptions are a thorn in the side of any purely neurological model (Holden, 2009).
- The Drug Disconnect: Experiences on ketamine or DMT might share superficial similarities with NDEs, like visual patterns. But the profound, life-altering quality, the hyper-real clarity, the encounter with deceased loved ones, and the permanent personality changes are largely absent from drug-induced states.
- The REM Intrusion Red Herring: This theory suggests NDEs are like dream states intruding on wakefulness. But research shows NDE experiencers don’t have more REM intrusion than the general population. Furthermore, NDEs often occur under general anesthesia, which suppresses REM sleep.
- The “Dying Brain Surge” That Wasn’t: Recent headlines have trumpeted studies showing electrical surges in the dying brain. But Greyson and Pehlivanova point out a critical flaw: these studies were on patients whose hearts were still beating. They were not clinically dead. More importantly, none of the patients in these studies who showed these surges reported any conscious experience, let alone an NDE.
- The Unexplained Core: The NEPTUNE model conveniently ignores the most challenging aspects of NDEs: verified OBEs, encounters with deceased relatives the person didn’t know had died, and the profound, lasting aftereffects like the complete loss of fear of death and a radical shift toward altruism.
- The Philosophical Bias: The authors of the NEPTUNE model explicitly state they excluded any “dualistic” theories (the idea that consciousness might be more than the brain) because it contradicts a “fundamental tenet of neuroscience.” Greyson and Pehlivanova call this out as circular reasoning: assuming the brain produces consciousness, and then ignoring any evidence that challenges that assumption.
The Bigger Picture: What Else Does the Research Show?
Greyson and Pehlivanova are not lone voices. They stand on the shoulders of a robust field of research.
- How Common Are NDEs? It’s estimated that 5-10% of the population has reported an NDE following a close brush with death. With millions of cardiac arrests and other life-threatening events worldwide each year, we are talking about a significant and recurring human experience.
- Pioneers in the Field: Dr. Greyson himself created the Greyson NDE Scale, a standardized tool to identify and measure the phenomenon. Other key figures include:
- Raymond Moody, who coined the term “Near-Death Experience” in his 1975 book Life After Life.
- Kenneth Ring, a pioneering researcher who documented the common patterns of NDEs.
- Pim van Lommel, a Dutch cardiologist whose 2001 prospective study on NDEs in cardiac arrest survivors in The Lancet was a landmark in the field.
The Takeaway: A Mystery That Refuses to Die
The Greyson and Pehlivanova paper doesn’t claim to have all the answers. But it does something crucial: it demonstrates that the old, comfortable materialistic explanations are scientifically inadequate. They fail to account for the data.
This forces a humbling and exciting conclusion: The relationship between consciousness and the brain is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time. Near-death experiences, far from being simple glitches, may be our most compelling clue that there is far more to this story.
The next time someone tells you an NDE is “just the brain dying,” you can tell them the science has evolved. The conversation is no longer about if these experiences are real, but what they are telling us about the fundamental nature of mind, life, and death.
Until next time,
Christof
MILLIVITAL ACADEMY
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References:
1. Greyson, B., & Pehlivanova, M. (2025). A neuroscientific model of near-death experiences reconsidered. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/
2. Holden, J. M. (2009). Veridical perception in near-death experiences. In J. M. Holden, B. Greyson, & D. James (Eds.), The handbook of near-death experiences: Thirty years of investigation (pp. 185–212). Praeger/ABC-CLIO.
3. Martial, C., Fritz, P., Gosseries, O., Bonhomme, V., Kondziella, D., Nelson, K., & Lejeune, N. (2025). A neuroscientific model of near-death experiences. Nature Reviews Neurology, 21(6), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1038/
4. Moody, R. A. (1975). Life after life. Mockingbird Books.
5. Ring, K. (1980). Life at death: A scientific investigation of the near-death experience. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.
6. van Lommel, P., van Wees, R., Meyers, V., & Elfferich, I. (2001). Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: A prospective study in the Netherlands. The Lancet, 358(9298), 2039–2045. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-
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