Another day, another Labour U turn. It has got extremely tiresome to write that sentence, and no doubt equally tiresome to read it. Keir Starmer’s right wing U turns have become drearily predictable. At this point the only question is how many more can Starmer squeeze in before the general election. Probably quite a few is the answer to that question. Starmer and his team are going through every Labour policy and promise with a fine tooth Tory comb and are carefully weeding out anything that seems even vaguely left wing or social democratish. If it’s going to annoy the Daily Mail or the Telegraph then it’s got to go. If it doesn’t meet with the approval of the right wing British nationalist flag shaggers then it’s far too dangerously subversive for Keir Starmer, who keeps telling us how he has changed the Labour party. And that would be true. He’s changed it into a slightly less insane version of the Tory party.
The reality is, if you construct your party’s policies, promises, and presentation with the sole aim of putting forward a manifesto that is palatable to the right wing press and which will be attractive to Conservative voters, then what you are offering is a Conservative manifesto. That is precisely what Starmer is offering.
The latest U turn involves Labour’s prior commitment to financial compensation for women who lost out due to the changes to the age at which women become eligible for a state pension, or Waspi women (from Women Against State Pension Injustice.) In its 2019 manifesto Labour promised to ensure that these women would receive full compensation. However following last week’s publication of a report from the Parliamentary and Health Standards Ombudsman (PHSO) which found that those women who lost out should receive financial compensation the airwaves have been filled with the screeching sound of senior Labour figures desperately pulling on the handbrake. Except for viewers in Scotland that is, where the branch office is equally desperately trying to keep out of the public eye until the entire embarrassing story goes away and Anas Sarwar can find a pensioner in a wheelchair whose long delayed hospital appointment was cancelled due to a broken down ferry.
Incidentally, is is just me who finds it odd that there’s an ombudsman who specialises in Parliamentary and Health standards as those are two areas which do not naturally seem to go together. Unless it’s because Westminster is the sickest institution in the UK, which is quite the achievement in a state which also includes the BBC, the royal family, and the privatised railways and water companies. But I digress.
Appearing on the Laura Kuenssberg Show on BBC 1 on Sunday, Labour and party chair MP Annaliese Dodds U-turned when confronted with her own party’s 2019 pledge to compensate the women. That pledge has never officially been rescinded and the Labour branch office in particular has heavily dined out on it over the past few years, hence the current media blackout from Anas Sarwar. On the same show the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt refused to commit the government to paying Waspi women the compensation they are due, saying only that the government would ‘consider’ the PHSO report, then after an interminable period of ‘consideration’ the government will say no when public attention is safely elsewhere. Tories gonna Tory, and Labour gonna Tory as well.
Dodds denied that it was Labour policy to compensate Waspi women, and would only say that Waspi women deserved ‘respect’. But not so much respect that it would involve compensating them for what the PHSO found in a preliminary report published in 2021 to be ‘maladministration’ on the part of the Department of Work and Pensions. Dodds said that Labour’s 2019 manifesto had been put to the electorate in that year’s general election which Labour had lost, so the manifesto had been rejected by the voters. It was a gobsmackingly asinine attempt by Dodds to shift the blame for Starmer’s mean spirited U turn on to the electorate.
Equally mean spirited was Sam Taylor, the prickly and thin skinned director of anti Scottish independence frothathon These Islands, who took to Twitter to say: “Principled and correct from Labour. The government should not be paying compensation to women simply because they were too feckless to look up their own state pension age.”
Imagine a) thinking that then b) typing it out, then c) publishing it for all the world to see just what a nasty and unpleasant empathy free individual you are without at any point in the process pausing to wonder if tweeting that out was going to make you look like a dick for calling hard working women “feckless” just because they didn’t expect or realise the government was going to rip them off.
Oh Sam, Sam. What a little ray of sunshine you are. You’re supposed to be trying to stop people wanting Scottish independence, not making them think: “The further away we can get from this guy the better.” The only feckless people here are the ones who were running the DWP.
The real reason that the only thing Labour wants to pay Waspi women is ‘respect’, which of course costs nothing is because the cost of compensating the women properly is thought to exceed £10 billion.
Dodds was joined by former right wing Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett who warned that a future Labour government may struggle to afford the potential of over £10bn in compensation for the millions of women hit by changes to the state pension. Actually we can just dispense with the phrase ‘right wing’ when it is followed by Home Secretary as being intolerant and right wing is an essential part of the job description.
But what Blunkett said is not entirely true, a future Labour government could afford to pay adequate compensation to women affected by the DWP’s fecklessness if it was not so in thrall to the right wing press and committed to a proper programme of progressive taxation and abandoned its commitment to abiding by Conservative party fiscal constraints. That however is the very last thing that Keir Starmer is going to do. Vote Tory, get Tory policies and contempt, vote Labour, get Tory policies and contempt too.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
You’re getting none of what you’re owed, not one penny, not a single red cent, but goodness gracious me we do respect you
That’s the pitch from Labour, we’re the same as the Tories but we will be nicer to you as we behave in exactly the same way
Oh well better vote Labour then because we’re stupid, they must believe we are because they just got away with telling us that to our faces
I switched radio shortbread on driving back up the road there, the main topic was the shipping tanker that had crashed into the bridge in Baltimore. On comes a ‘British’ posh voice that has sat on its laurels for some time, stating, ‘definitely human error’. Another speaker with a Scots accent who used to work with such large lumps of metal and knew about bridge construction, was far more coherent and not making any claims to culpability. In pops another ‘british’ voice saying how he constructed British bridges and they were built to withstand collisions – in fact, it all turned out to be about ‘British this and British that’.
For gawd’s sake radio shortbread…
They had the big bad China for a while to distract us, this bridge has come along just in time to keep our minds off what’s going on
There’ll be a much loved celebrity passing or Royal news right around the corner
Do Labour have any policies left that belong to them and not the Tory party?
I genuinely don’t know the answer to that and if there is something that differentiates them from the Tories then I’m sure there will be another U-Turn along anytime soon.
It looks like the electorate in England are being offered the choice between two Tory manifesto’s at the next election from the two main parties. Fortunately here in Scotland the electorate can vote for the largest party on a left of centre manifesto and choose something different.
I doubt that Starmer’s U-turns are going by unnoticed in Scotland despite the best efforts of the UK media to do just that, keep it hidden and downplay it. I am certain that Labour are losing potential voters in Scotland with these U-turns.
I can only hope that Starmer keeps delivering and working for Independence!
I have a state and superannuated pension, and incredibly thankful for the latter despite having only wasted half my life in public service, hence half the pension – The other half of my life bought a house outright and retirement has given me opportunity to ‘play’ at energy efficiency, however I digress.
Superann as it was known is not (as yet) subject to the vagaries of politicians pontificating about a ‘money tree’ or a ‘maxxed credit card’ etc., but my ‘superann’ compared to the state pension should be embarrassing politicians who insist on talking total bollox about pensions and feigning to run a business.
Government was never a business, it is not tied to profit and loss to survive, this is “the Grantham housewife” bullshit recycled for the umpteenth time for a generation who never experienced Thatcherism, but are now fed ‘upsides’ over the decimation wreaked by a Labour party which lost it’s moral compass in it’s greed for power.
The Waspi women could be compensated tomorrow and paid their proper pension without the slightest pain to the Treasury, it simply lowers the syphoning off of public taxes to the richest in society by a few percent, what price greed….?
I apologise to moderators for the early if slight diversion, but as highlighted over on TuS, how far has Labour fallen when this bullshit is tolerated ?https://skwawkbox.org/2024/03/26/exclusive-listen-to-paul-masons-pro-starmer-israel-meltdown-in-full/
Journalists LIE, they LIE a lot especially the right wing journalists like Mason who LIE all the time, especially about where their true allegiances LIE.
Don’t start me. Oh, too late.
The stupidity of the likes of IFS is that they consider pensions only from the point of view of cost. But people receiving pensions are presumably less likely to save, and hence more likely to spend the money in the economy. Definition of GDP (first I found it doesn’t matter):
“GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services—that is, those that are bought by the final user—produced in a country in a given period of time (say a quarter or a year). It counts all of the output generated within the borders of a country.”
So increase the pension, increase the GDP, which decreases the percentage of debt to GDP. And hence offsets any potential increase in inflation or currency devaluation.
Yes I did some economics and financial stuff in a previous life. IFS are thick as two short dividends laid end to end.
Yes of course the stupid UK Government could pay the WASPI women, it’s almost a cost-free sum.
I didn’t get a letter telling me about any changes. My husband is six years older than me and we had planned our retirement around us both getting our pensions together! I still have 18 months to wait. In the end he kept working until the end of last year so that we could help our children and grandchildren. Luckily he has always had a good job and was in demand. I do however get my very small NHS pension, which kicked in when I turned 60
The very worst thing that can happen to both ‘Scottish’ Labour, and unionism in general, is an English Labour government.
Beats me how they all can’t see this out of control train hurtling down the tracks towards the broken Brexit Britain bridge.
Right now, Labour can point to and blame the Tories for everything (‘SNP’s fault’ in Scotland). But that’s seeming all about to change. It will be Labour slashing the block grant, Labour putting Scots out of work, Labour pushing on with disastrous Brexit, Labour paying for bombs not bairns…
The last time Scots faced a new English Labour government, they voted 74% for semi-independence from that very government. They then elected the SNP and have not looked back in 17 years.
But throughout that time, the myth that a return of Labour to No 10 would save the UK has continued to persist in unionist circles… That it was the Tories damaging the union, and this problem would go away when the (English) public finally got sick of them and re-elected Labour.
Except that’s not what’s going to happen at all. The English public can’t stand Labour or the Tories, and the Scots hate both. At least Blair courted Scots with gifts of devo in the EU. In that sense, he was a ‘British’ PM with something to offer Scotland, and Scottish unionists had some influence here (Dewar etc). Starmer is 100% English nationalist, and could have slotted right into the One Nation Tories, which is what he wants Labour to now emulate. This why he’s not going to put a single thing for Scotland in his manifesto. Nope, it’s all going to be take, and take more than the Tories. Thatcherism without the oil jobs nor the EU.
Sarwar should pray that the Tories come back to win the keys to No 10 again, for if Starmer gets in, the only hope for Scottish Labour will be independence.
Folk should remember Labour controlled Glasgow City Council who spent huge sums of money to take their female employees to court in order not to pay them equally with male employees, so the WASPI women have no chance
That’s the Labour party
Very true Dr J. I am a WASPI woman who worked for that council for many years until they encouraged me and countless others to take voluntary redundancy. I was lucky I was able to access my Superan Pension and worked in several other jobs until mentally I had enough of working last year. I am due to get my state pension next year but I will believe it when I see it. I would not put it past a Labour or Tory government to stop state pensions for those who receive funds from a Private or Superannuated Pension Scheme. If I do get it it will be on the 3rd date I have been given to receive State Pension. For many years I was told I would get it when I was 60 then it was I was 65. However they even reneged on that now it is when I am 66. I have been luckier than most women my age but with the pension age increasing again two friend not much younger than me will be be 67 when they get theirs I have to wonder have we all been subject of a government con and if men had their pension age changed from 60 to 65 and above would they have been treated so shoddily.
We shouldn’t forget either which government it was that raised the retirement age for all pensioners, male and female.
It was the last Labour government led by Tony Blair and I’m certain we can all look forward to more of the same if Labour ever take back control with Starmer at the helm.
Just one real life example of Labour robbing the poor to give tax cuts to the rich.
They should also remember that the Nazis started as the German equivalent of the Labour Party, the Socialist Workers Party and that Mosely in England was a Labour party politician before he headed up the British Fashists.
[…] Source […]
And in other news, two more rodents jump from a sinking ship. (Maybe a little in bad taste considering the news in Baltimore, but these things happen.)
Two ministers quit in double blow to Rishi Sunak (nation.cymru)
Two ministers quit in double blow to Rishi Sunak
26 Mar 2024 3 minute read
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/right-wingers-reminded-of-all-the-times-right-wingers-have-changed-st-georges-cross-colours-370970/
Right-wingers reminded of all the times right-wingers have changed St George’s Cross colours
Just heard a blatantly biased report on Channel 4 News about Ferries in Scotland. That pathetic excuse for a journalist Kathryn Sampson interviewed a distillery owner on Islay who may have been English about how bad the ferry service there has been in recent years. The main point this distillery owner seemed to want to make was this would not be allowed to happen anywhere else. Really!!. We then moved on to the bolshy Kathleen interviewing a guest house owner. The finale was Kathleen haranguing Scottish Government Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop for no Scottish Minister resigning or being sacked for the delays and cost overruns of the two ferries for Calmac that Ferguson’s are building . Tell me Kathleen who in the Tory government was held responsible for the delays and cost overruns of HS2 or the Elizabeth Line in London. No one that’s who. Kathleen clearly does not get there is a difference between Scottish Government owning a company and physically running it. Congratulations Kathleen you have just replaced Iain McWhirter as top of my daily most despised journalists list. That interview was proof positive Channel 4 are just as bad as every other channel in UK as far as news in Scotland is concerned .
I saw that report. I thought the Guest House owner made some very good points about the constant negativity about the ferries putting people off coming to Islay and in making that point she was also making a criticism of the media’s reporting of the ferries issue. That of course was ignored by the Ch4 reporter who is clearly instructed to put a negative spin on any story related to Scotland.
Agree with you re the Guest House owner.
Indeed, just watched the awful Kathryn reel off all the usual tropes in the latest iteration of this well funded and orchestrated propaganda campaign, but it was the private distillery owner (est 2005) who maxxed out the hyperbole with ‘crisis’ and the almost laughable mis-presentation of “in June last year the whisky industry on Islay was 3 days from shutting down because of not being able to guarantee getting our supplies onto the island..” – Now anybody who knows about distilling would hear that and chuckle, it’s as far removed from a speedy production process as you’re likely to get..
However the bold Kathryn made no mention of why the hiccup occurred – You may recall May/June 2023 as when the ‘Heb Isles’ as it’s known and the ‘Finlaggan’ both ended up out of service, one planned the other unplanned. Sheer coincidence and unfortunate, but Calmac ended up juggling to provide a skeleton service whilst repairs got done, it’s not as if Calmac have loads of spare boats and crews just hanging around, any more than suppliers have spare trucks and drivers…
All of this was fabricated as extension to the FMEL saga – Anybody else get the feeling we might know who with deep pockets and business connections has been funding this propaganda campaign ?
I find so much to disagree with in this video I am utterly stunned. The procurement and design of these ferries did not come from Civil Servants but from CMAL. That organisation was created in a split from Caledonian McBrayne in 2006 to comply with EU rules on State Aid and to ensure a level playing field in tendering process. If this YouTuber has proof that CMAL were dictated to by Civil Servants in terms of the design of the ferries he needs to proof it. Additionally the catamaran design has not been as successful as the author states . The one on loan from Pentland Ferries to CALMAC MV Alfred and used on one of the Clyde routes has broken down on at least one occasion and was out of action for 4 weeks . It also failed berthing trials at Stornoway so can’t be used on that route.To be brutally honest there is no way in hell I would want to be on a catamaran going across to there in winter. I have been on Loch Seaforth crossing to Lewis in July that was bad enough. Moreover there are times when more passenger capacity is needed especially during the summer when there are many more tourists visiting the Clyde and Hebridean islands. There is plenty I would blame the Edinburgh based civil service for but they cannot be entirely blamed for the mess about the two new ferries. The primary blame for that is with CMAL, exceedingly poor management at Ferguson’s particularly in the early years of the contract and Scottish government naivety about newly designed ferries and the difficulties of making these ferries comply with the Green Agenda. I too have my suspicions about Senior Civil Servants in Edinburgh but I don’t think they are all bad
Watching Scotland play Northern Ireland and who would have thought that the Northern Ireland supporters would be belting out Rule Brittania for all they are worth, I guess they must be boosted by the Church of Rangers supporters for this match who traditionally despise all things Scottish, and by the sound of it they’re certainly worried about Scotland becoming independent or why would it bother them so much
There is very much green on display for the NI team so I’m again guessing that it must be the heavy infiltration of the Church of the poisoned mind crowd, it’ll be renditions of God save the King before the end I’m sure
Bad advert for football, but then again it isn’t about football with these types is it
The Masons. DUP. Bigoted, misogynist, racist, unequal and secret. They blackball people. NI shame. Shameless and ruthless. Caused years of trouble and death.
Support Westminster unionists and the Crown. An absolute disgrace supported by Westminster for votes and bungs. The Crown at the top. Totally corrupt. Discrimination.
The Labour Party manifesto will take a riff from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ask for nothing for you shall have it in abundance.
It’s the Time Warp but not as you know it.
Novara media ( on YouTube ) reporting the investigation of some Labour Party Constituencies for ”rigging” their selection process for the GE .
Not surprisingly under the Stalini- sorry Starmer leadership , there appears to be little chance of Left Wing leaning candidates being selected in these constituencies .Starmer has purged ( and is purging ) the Party of anyone who is not happy to waive any possible connection with Labour Party Values .
The leadership of Jeremy Corbyn was , and is still, condemned for being too Socialist BUT no one from the Left , Right or Centre of the Party was ever purged . Starmer and his coterie of Red Tories were all tolerated within Corbyn’s Labour Party . Starmer was happy to accept the Party Manifesto in 2019 and defend it during the GE campaign . Now , like an echo of Orwell’s 1984 , he is busy rewriting history . Soon it will be a crime to associate Starmer with Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet or the Labour Party of that era .
Compare Corbyn’s liberal approach to the many differing views of party members , like Starmer and the Blairites , with the strict authoritarianism of Starmer . He has turned a broad church party into a narrow , intolerant Tory-lite Tribute Act in which only ONE view is acceptable .
Starmer is not a man to be trusted .He has turned U-turns into Labour ‘s only Policy !
“I have changed the Labour party” says Starmer
The question for Starmer should be *why*? if you thought Labour party principles were great for all these years does that mean you’ve changed principles? never had faith in them anyway? or could it be you don’t have any actual principles at all because winning with lies is preferable to losing with actual real principles?
If it’s any of the above reasons, not a single person should ever vote for this man who has apparently zero values except to be Prime Minister with any values he can sell to the public at any given time
With every day that passes Kier Starmer is pointing out publicly that he is a man who stands for nothing and cannot even be trusted to tell the truth about the nothing he’s trying to sell to people
“I have changed the Labour party” says Starmer
It’s now the “we will say anything” party
Today, 58 MP’s have signed a parliamentary motion calling for Starmer to be referred to the privileges committee to investigate if “undue pressure” was applied to the speaker over the SNP’s Gaza debate.
The signatories are mostly SNP but of the 6 sponsors, the main sponsor is a Tory and he has support from Sir Graham Brady the chair of the Tory parties 1922 committee.
Starmer looks like a man without principles of any kind, he shows that clearly for those that are looking and soon enough the general public will see it too.
As per my comment on the national, I rated Yousaf a 6/10 when I voted for him in the leadership contest. Forbes 5 and whatsername the defector, 1. It’s not that I disliked the top two, it’s just I wasn’t sure if they really were the best candidates.
One year on, and, like the wider Scottish public, I’ve steadily upgraded my Yousaf rating. He’s treading his own path as FM, and I think I like it. Has towered above the competition as a human being / on international affairs, and is showing muscle on indy bit by bit. I now give him an 8/10, compared to Sturgeons 9/10 and Salmond’s 7/10 (back in 2014, now a 2).
In terms of the UK, Starmer had me a bit worried when he won the English Labour leadership given all the moderate social democratic centre to left goodies he was on about. I was concerned that might draw some Scots back to Labour. Thankfully, I need not have worried at all, as he’s dumped the lot, ergo he’s not won over a single Scot as leader, just few Tories in these parts post mini-budget. So he’s down from say a 4 to a 2 along with Sarwar, which is likewise me following the Scotland-wide trend on his ratings.
This is one for you Skier
The *British* social attitudes survey, which must be the biggest con on the public ever devised
How on earth can a measure of public opinion on issues devolved be lumped together to create percentages as a whole is an outrageous way to measure anything
The latest survey is on the NHS and our opinions on it, now if say for the sake of argument 100% of people in Scotland and or Wales say they just love our NHS but only 20% of those in England love it, when counted as a whole it shoves the numbers up in England but drastically down in Scotland and Wales
And the news just called this “the gold standard” way of measuring
Ofgem have approved £3.4 billion of funding for a project to install a new electricity cable between Scotland and England that can power around 2 million homes. This is on top of another £2 billion project that was approved earlier this month.
https://archive.ph/TCe4u
The existing interconnector cables have been delivering Scottish produced electricity to English homes and business for a good few years now but still Scottish consumers have some of the highest daily standing charges and rates per kWh of any other part of the UK.
It’s time something was done about this rip off of Scotland’s electricity users especially those in North Scotland who cannot access gas because there are no distribution pipes.
Independence is the only way to really sort this out and if the SNP are looking for a new slogan it should be “It’s Scotland’s WIND!”.
We’re probably still paying higher charges to connect the power to the grid.
The Belfast Telegraph has another article about poor old Scotland. All that oil and gas is ruining our economy and, if we became independent we would be poverty stricken. The faster England can siphon it off the better.
Poor Norway, obviously totally unaware of the predicament they’ve landed themselves in. Saudi is even worse with revenue around £259 billion from oil, nigh on 70% of their income is seriously screwed.
Golfnut
‘ It’s Scotland’s Wind ‘, aye and it’s no running out anytime soon, eh Sir Wood.
That one new cable will be able to export enough “electricity to power 2 million homes.”
Scotland only has 2.5 million homes and when you add in the existing cables and others already planned it is clear that Scotland is the richest country in Europe if not the world in energy security for the foreseeable future and that is only going to increase.
It’s time for the Unionist supporting Scots to wake up and smell the wealth and opportunities available in an Independent Scotland.
Windy no more, Rainy no more, fishes no more
Since it’s Yousaf’s first anniversary as FM, I thought I’d post a plot of how support for indy has changed in these ‘dark days for the Yes movement’.
This will disappoint a lot of people. Another elephant in the room.
It’s why the SNP are, with little fanfare, applying to put ‘SNP – for an independent Scotland’ or suchlike on the ballot paper. This means we get a new bite at the cherry in every election going forward. Elections quietly become defacto referendums henceforth.
But unionists – look over there, a poll which shows Labour ‘doing well’ in Scotland! If, that is ~70% voting against them even with a mass Yes supporter boycott against the British regime rule would count as ‘doing well’.
It’s getting hard to move for elephants in this British political polling room. Yet the deluded rulers of Britannia refuse to see them.
But, but the BBC and STV news keeps telling us every night that things are really bad for Humza and the SNP, and they keep showing us people on their news programmes saying the same thing
They couldn’t possibly be lying Bastirts could they?
This evening STV in their desperation to make the SNP look bad put up their one and only ship jumping Alba MSP to insist the same thing so she could get in some Sturgeon bad into the bargain
Perhaps the Tories Labour Lib Dems and Alba would rather have somebody more charismatic and exciting as leader of the SNP so we could replace Humza Yousaf with of their own charismatic exciting losers and angry wee men that they have now, Sunak Starmer that other guy and Salmond
Anybody notice the difference between Tory and Alba rhetoric these days?
DRoss and Regan are sharing the exact same script, if you don’t know who Regan is btw she’s another one of those Alba folk that refused to stand for a by election after they stole SNP voters time effort and money, and I don’t see no murder tents outside their houses for thieving from the entire electorate in those constituencies
In 1997, Scots voted 74% Yes to semi-independence at the prospect of direct English Labour rule.
This time it appears they want full independence.
VisitScotland announces plans to close all information offices over the next two years . The UK Government has immediately criticised this move despite ALL of their centres having already been closed ( Wales too ! )-according to the report in The National .
STV News did a report on this and included the UK’s criticism – but did NOT provide the information that England /Wales has none of these facilities .
Poor reporting or deliberate omission ?
I couldn’t possibly comment !
Tourists from England apparently want paper maps people to shout at and free brochures, because looking at their phones and reading stuff online is so difficult when they’re on holiday in foreign countries
Pith helmets red uniforms and Ostrich feathers will be made available for sale to these particular owners, I mean tourists
Tourist information centers have always either been run either indepeindently or, predominatly, by the local authority / local tourist organistation to the area in England
At one time Visit England did have some sort of parnership scheme, which seems to of ended, but the centers still remain.
https://www.letsgobritain.co.uk/information-centres
I suspect that the age of the internet – and particularly the smartphone – has sounded the death knell for physical tourist information centres.
You have all the information you could possibly need about local accommodation and attractions at your fingertips these days.
Plus of course there’s the old way of communicating that our ancestors used, SPEECH !
Plenty of tourists from all around the world come on holiday to Scotland and amazingly they all use this form of information gathering regularly, and it works quite well, plus we indigenous Scots get to chat with those people and in my experience we quite enjoy it
I know I do
Whoops! Starmer does it again
Remember when Sir Kier Starmer said “Labour will renegotiate the Brexit deal” guess what he’s saying now? go on guess, bingo “Labour will not renegotiate the Brexit deal”
Are we shocked? are we gobsmacked by this uturn? are we even just the least wee bit surprised? Nope of course we’re not, Sir Kier Starmer just needs tae stick on a wummins wig and he’s Margaret Thatcher reincarnated
This guy definitely doesn’t want to win any election, he’s doing his level best to lose, and not even doing it gracefully
In other news the same as the rest of the news, Anas Sarwar disnae waant tae talk aboot the WASPI women, gosh! another shocker
Continuing with elephants in the room.
Things continue to get worse for Starmer across the UK. Here for Scotland. Updated based on the latest numbers.
At the time we are told it ‘all went wrong for the SNP’, what we see is Labour’s leadership rankings tanking, and Yes moving to majority. And in polls favouring unionists.
All is not what it seems, and I will keep reiterating that.
All we know is that Scots are no longer interested in taking part in UK elections. They now want independence, with this being pushed over the finish line by the UKSC case, then the prospect of an English Labour government in Westminster.
Which is why I say Sarwar should be praying that Labour don’t win, but the Tories do. Scottish Labour going to fact a massive crisis if the ‘hated English Westminster government that Scots didn’t vote for’ is now, well, them.
Righty. From the visitscotland website about us:
“VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourist board. We provide advice, information and inspiration to visitors who are planning a trip to Scotland.”
What they used to do, and back in the days of the STB, was arrange accomodation for people either there or on the move. It was easier in those days, in peak season for years many places are full.
So they charged a fee for that service to the accomodation registered with them, and for smaller places, those fees were high, too high. And of course with the likes of the internet and booking dot com, less need for it. So in no particular order:
VS would tell people there was no accommodation on X island, so don’t go there (Calmac did the same at times).
VS in such as Inverness would tell people to stay in Inverness and make day trips to Skye and the West.
VS would sell, not just maps, but souvenirs, food, drink, outdoor clothing, coffee, other stuff. Competition for the local businesses. That included a certain then new site in Glencoe.
Shops and cafes had visitor information, possibly to start with via visitscotland though I forget now. That’s mostly if not all, independent now.
Increasingly local places set up their own visitor information which would of course, encourage people to stay there not Inverness or Edinburgh.
So are these VS sites needed? I think a lot of people who are in tourism would say – no. Stick to this:
“VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourist board. We provide advice, information and inspiration to visitors who are planning a trip to Scotland.”
Reading btl comments I failed to properly point out that a better alternative is locally controlled and oriented tourist information centres, such as exist in quite a few places already.
I used to do B&B in the mid to late 90s. If the Scottish Tourist Board sent guests to me, they took commission. I always preferred it if visitors saw my B&B sign outside the house, that way I got the full amount. I imagine it is all so much easier now with the internet. Back then all I had was a landline and one of the first brick mobile phones!
“Labour: Keir Starmer pledges ‘full-fat devolution’ – for England”
https://archive.is/7fyun#selection-1525.0-1525.64
If England was devolved and had its own equivalent of GERS, let’s just call it GERE, they’d find for 2022-2023 that they had a deficit excluding North Sea of £290 billion and 15.1% of GDP.
Including North Sea it would be £289 billion and 15.07% of GDP.
That would set the cat amongst the pigeons in the dove cot. Coo!
That was just based on the figures in Table S.1 by the way:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-expenditure-revenue-scotland-2022-23/
and relative populations and per capita GDP including geographical oil, where England and Scotland were virtually the same.
I’d really really really like England to be devolved and have similar accounts, and see them bridle at the figure of whatever, UK spending on behalf of England – about £460 billion by proportion (as well as their block grant).
“But it’s not real money it’s MMT and QE.”
Quite.
I forgot to add:
“The name’s Bond, Shuffle Bond”.
The rest of the UK raises £644Billion. Scotland raises £87Billion. Total raised in UK. £731Billion. Down on the year before £817Billion. Westminster spends £1090Billion. Scotland spends £54Billion +
Block Grant £40Billion. £20Billion Pensions/benefits. UK spend £250Billion Pensions/benefit.
Westminster spends £13Billion a year, decommissioning nuclear. Over ten years £130Billion. Ever increasing but wants to spend more. Wasted. £Billions wasted on illegal wars and redundant military. 180,000 military personal. 10,000 based in Scotland. Scotland has to pay £5Billion for the military and Trident. £1Billion too much, not based in Scotland.
£Billions on Hickley Point, HS2 Trident, etc. £Billions wasted. Brexit £Billions wasted.Scotland has to make repayments on Westminster debt. Not borrowed or spent in Scotland. Westminster controls £50Billion of Scotlands spending. Poor, bad decisions. Then claims Scotland is in debt. Debt created by poor, bad Westminster decisions.
To improve rail times throughout Britain. Monies should have been invested in the North and Scotland. To decrease rail times. Journeys in the North and Scotland take longer (same distance) because of lack of investment.
Westminster spent £270Billion over two years funding Covid. Much of it wasted on non scrutinised contracts. The Tories and their associates.
UK Gov whole accounts. 2020/21. Last published accounts. June. Scottish Gov accounts.
Quite possibly a outlier, but that’s a substantial Labour drop from Yougov. Outside regular MoE.
As I mentioned before, they have been losing to Reform; more so than the Tories since the post-mini budget peak.
Tables not out yet so I can’t judge any relationship to certain to vote levels for now.
That’s a crazy percentage figure for Reform, I find it very hard to believe they would come close to that in an election.
Combined, Reform plus Tory vote would have them neck and neck with Labour and a deal between the two might sound very tempting to many Tories as well as Rice and Farage.
It may be we are starting to see some electoral engagement ahead of the English local elections. Campaigns are beginning now. This poll isn’t entirely isolated; there is some evidence over the past week or so of Labour’s share moving down at an increased pace, but more data needed to be sure.
In the Yougov plot, you can see ahead of May 2023 a drop Labour’s share, and a rise in Con at that time. The lowest Labour share from Yougov previous to today’s 40%, was 41% on the 27th April 2023, just a week before last year’s locals.
Labour got 35% on the day, well below their national polling average of 44% at that time. If they are dropping already here, with the locals still over a month away, May 2nd could be bruising for Starmer. If Labour are down in terms of share on last year, that would not bode well for them.
I note the Tories went up / stayed steady while Labour dropped sharply here. So Labour’s problem does increasingly look like Reform. The Tories have already lost what they can to Reform already.
So how would Starmer respond to a loss of voters to Reform? That and/or a Tory-Reform pact? Move left? No, I don’t think so.
These locals are going to be an interesting litmus test of the supposed ‘1997 historic Labour victory’ that the media is deluding itself over re the UKGE this year.
EDIT. Tables out.
Worryingly for Labour, that drop doesn’t seem to be the result of some surge in certain to vote levels. At 53% CTV, it’s very much in line with the 52% average here for Yougov this year.
So it suggests movement of Labours ‘core’ away from them, and seemingly others, notably Reform.
That would be even worse than them going down because of an increased turnout.
At the moment, they only look good because of the historic low turnouts CTV levels suggest favouring them. They’ve not won over any voters since 2019, losing any they gained briefly post mini-budget. To start losing what little they still have (just over 20% of eligible voters, as per 2019) would not be good at all for Starmer.
My guess is he would respond by jettisoning any remotely left looking still in the proposed manifesto, while starting to ape reform in terms of new policies. Which would lose him more voters….
It seems to me that Starmer is contriving to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And there’s still time until the general election, but on this trajectory I can see Sunak manage to stay in 10 Downing Street thanks to an alliance with Reform, which would be quite the setback for a Starmer who was promised the post of PM and an overwhelming majority in the Commons not one year ago.
The headline should read “As yet unelected PM Kier Starmer offers the Independent country of England devolution if he’s ever elected”
England must be independent, they said so following Brexit, not Scotland Wales or Northern Ireland though, because two of those countries did not vote for Brexit yet are still not independent, so that means that independent England does not recognise independence for anyone else but itself, because it now admits that the Brexit vote was only of importance to England or Scotland and Northern Ireland votes would have been recognised as those countries voted against Brexit, but we are not recognised as countries, we are nothing
The Brexit vote by England should prove to every voter in Scotland that England has zero consideration for anybody’s opinion but its own, Scotland does not count nor is our existence even considered by England
We are nothing to England except a cash machine subsidising them
Coal, shipbuilding, oil, gas, electricity, and now fresh water, businesses closed, shops closed in Scotland all because England said they wanted to be separated from Europe, they blamed war in Ukraine, that’s a lie, trade with Russia has not altered one iota since Russia invaded Ukraine, England is sending the exact same amount of trade with Russia by way of Azerbaijan, including arms sales
England’s government is benefitting from the war in Ukraine by selling arms to both sides
Starmer’s ”full fat devolution ” for England will be no such thing . He is NOT going to enter No.10 then immediately divest himself of all the power that goes with that position .
This is just a sop to those who might want to see some power moved away from the Centre . So he will relinquish control of those things , like with Scottish devo , that give the illusion of devolution BUT retain ALL the major levers of power for himself and Westminster . It will be more along the lines of Blair’s idea for Scotland’s Devo when he compared it to a local council , or some such neutered body .
But , of course , that was a ”pledge ” just the other day – has he U-turned on that yet ?
That was exactly what I thought as soon as I saw this story. He’s just lying through his teeth as the local elections in England are coming.
Soon as these are over, the idea / policy will be jettisoned. He’d not want to devolve power to Labour councils (Blair watered down devo heavily even though Scotland / Wales were seen as a safe Labour power bases) never mind those controlled by other parties. No chance. He’s a centralising control freak.
But it’s becoming pretty clear to the UK-wide electorate that you can’t trust anything he says, as he’ll just say what you want to hear to get elected with no intention of following through.
Here you go. This is the slippage from Labour in the past 3 weeks on Yougov. It’s mainly 2019 Con who moved to Lab post mini-budget moving on, and to Reform.
Date LabVI% %Con19->Lab
27 Mar 40% 9%
20 Mar 44% 12%
13 Mar 44% 13%
7 Mar 47% 19%
Yougov have half of Con 2019 backing lab 7 March having moved away, mainly to Reform as noted. This is the route the 8% or so Lab have lost since their post-mini budget peak have taken, which is why I am saying Reform is a threat to Lab more than Con now.
I said previously this was a big danger to Starmer. He’s lost a lot of his left-wing base already (e.g. 9% of Lab 2019 have gone Green), and has been relying on a super low turnout with support from 2019 Tory voters to win him his desired keys to personal power. That’s a foundation built on sand. One that has been slipping, and might be doing so even faster now.
40% of 53% CTV is just 17.2% of the total electorate certain to vote Lab in that latest Yougov. That’s markedly down on the 21.6% achieved in May 2019’s election.
Labour need to pray this is a total outlier and not a straw in the wind.
my boo boo. 0.4 x 53 = 21.2 d-oh. Must have typoed in excel.
It’s all going really badly for the SNP and Humza Yousaf according to the BBC and it’s tame *journalists*, in fact they’re doing it right now post FMQs even though Humza Yousaf won every argument posed to him by both DRoss and Sarwar, which kinda confirms that even if what these people say was true then not very many people actually watches FMQs on the BBC
Which brings me on to STV news and their *journalists* who are complaining that STV pays them less than primary school teachers, and yet news at 6PM with John McKay is apparently the most viewed channel on Scottish television with more viewers than the Scotland Northern Ireland football match attracted. I should point out that STV did not televise that match, but the BBC apparently did on their channel 9, again perhaps proving that very few people are actually watching the BBC in Scotland because I was completely unaware they showed that match and streamed it on another non terrestrial channel
At every opportunity both of these channels in Scotland are misreporting and under reporting the facts and figures of the actual news in our country and both seem hell bent on this better together political campaign to get *anyone but the SNP* elected, which this year is the English Labour party, and it’s pretty insulting of these TV broadcasters to insult the people of Scotland’s intelligence in this way
Sure some people are bound to fall for the BBC and STV campaign but I’m not convinced that as many are of that opinion will say Aye to voting Labour in the coming general election, as Anas Sarwar’s smirky smug face is beginning to demonstrate as that particular smug smirk is morphing into more of an angry frowning snarl now
It does seem clear that many in Scotland are so fed up with the political system as controlled by England they may just have no desire to take part in it anymore, may I suggest to them this is exactly what unionists in Scotland want our people to do so they can declare Scotland has no further interest in the cause of independence or voting SNP to help protect us from the ruinations that England continues to force upon us
Vote SNP at the general election, not to do so will see whoever wins the general election systematically dismantle our parliament and we will be returned to direct rule from Westminster no matter what fake promises they make
And again remember England decides who wins because they outnumber Scotland by a factor of ten to one and Scotland’s vote have made no difference to that in over 60 years. So if England wants Labour that’s what it will be, but if it wants Tory that will also be the result, Scotland’s votes only affect Scotland, they have zero bearing on England where they outnumber us ten to one
Be aware of what you think you’re voting for, or indeed against
As we know the STV journalists are out on strike for some more cash and they say that the Scottish public is right behind them, well I’m the Scottish public (not all of them of course) and I can tell them I don’t give a monkey’s, and the reason I don’t care is number 1 the obvious bias they have against Scottish independence and number 2 they’re complaining the some of them are *only* paid as much as primary school teachers for what they seem to be insisting is a far more important job in Scottish society than being a primary school teacher
Well, what can we say about that then, if only to insist right back atcha that primary school education is the most important beginning to education of all children anywhere, primary school is where teachers teach children how to learn, read write and behave, where they learn right from wrong and how to behave as they grow, and once a child is taught how to read and learn, that then is the entire basis and foundation of all further education, the rest of any young person’s education is an absolute breeze if those primary school teachers do their job as they should, so STV journalists who think they’re more important than any teacher at any level might consider that a primary school teacher is responsible for their ability to learn the words that come out of these Journalists mouths but maybe some of them didn’t remember the lessons in behaviour and manners in doing a job that certainly is not vital to any community whatsoever
So on that basis I’d give them nothing, nada zilch, for their sheer arrogance and self importance
I’m Dr Jim and this has been my news of today
The sheer irony of HMS James Cook’s promoting on the BBC, “Could assisted dying be coming to Scotland?”, as if he and his predecessor over decades not been actively encouraging hara-kiri by TV, radio and script, with Tokyo Kay with an E etc 24/7 reminders why your life is shit in Scotland because of ‘that SNP’…
I’m not in the least attempting to make light of assisted dying, and I do wish Liam well with the Bill but a James Cook piece on the subject has got to ring alarm bells https://archive.ph/LXXbl and instigate a search for what UK news item he has been instructed to obscure….
Could it be the “Thames Water boss says bills need to rise by 40%” story currently prime on BBC/UK as readable to furrners, or perhaps “Beckenham: Train passengers pleaded with knifeman during attack” or “DPD driver murder: Five guilty of Shrewsbury ambush killing” or “George Gilbey: Arrest in connection with death of Gogglebox star” on the UK page ? – FYI James’s diversion features way down the UK page, and assisted dying is no less supported south of the border…
Nobody, and I do mean nobody is unaware of James Cook and his entourage’s mission, the entirety of the Spanish diplomatic corps still remember “Hymie el Cookie”…
Folks, with the new hate crime laws in the public eye, I would use the opportunity to start reporting any anti-Scottish hate crimes / incidents you witness to the police. Particularly important are comments made by politicians which are derogatory towards Scots.
For too long, the institutional racism of the British state has made Scots feel that they could do nothing about this. It’s time to change things, and now is a good time.
If you self-id as Scots, that is your ‘race’ under equality laws. If you or other Scots are abused for it, then report it.
https://www.scotland.police.uk/advice-and-information/hate-crime/what-is-hate-crime/
Let’s get stories in the papers about this and the stats building. It’s not ‘banter’ and no, we are not ‘all British, so it can’t be racist’.
Given the insane number of U-turns Starmer is doing before even getting into government, how can anyone vote for him as PM? I mean, no matter what one likes in his programme, he’ll renege on it on a dime so what’s the point? The more he’s doing that, the more I suspect his advisors to be moles for the Conservative Party…
Got my polling card for the local elections this morning.
Which is why we might look out for poll movements after a long lull of disengagement in England + Wales. People now need to decide on what they plan to do.
We already know how they’ll vote in Scotland when the general election comes Tories will vote Labour and the other way round if they think they can beat the SNP
There are no politics in Scotland except freedom or continued imprisonment
#Keepingalowprofile
Or something like that supposedly.
https://archive.is/HJIIJ
Nicola Sturgeon responds as Aye Write Scottish book festival cancelled
NICOLA Sturgeon has responded to the news that a top Scottish festival has been cancelled.
The former first minister spoke out after Aye Write, a book festival held in Glasgow every spring, was pulled for 2024 due to funding issues.
The Scotsman reported that the festival had applied for £77,500 from Creative Scotland, but has been cancelled after the bid was rejected.
Sturgeon had appeared at the 2023 edition of the festival alongside Scots comic Janey Godley.
Responding to the news of the cancellation, Sturgeon said she hoped a route forward for the festival could be found.
Maybe ‘hot saltire buns’ would sell better. 🙂
You heard the one about the “hot tick buns” which had the gammons frothing?
Now here’s an idea… Hot dragon buns! 😉
No kidding – referencing previous:
Iceland criticised for selling hot cross buns with tick instead of Christian symbol (msn.com)
How can you “not know” whether or not you’ve eaten a hot cross bun?!
Maybe the symbol was not a perfect (St George’s) cross, or heaven help us, had been ‘wokeified’ and you hadn’t noticed!
In America they’re just cinnamon buns, and they sell them all year round
Hearing that Keir Starmer told his audience today in Dudley that “There is no magic money tree”. He can’t decide if he’s Margaret Thatcher or Theresa May. But he’s definitely not Keir Hardie.
Keir Starmer tells cash-strapped councils: ‘There is no magic money tree’
https://archive.is/xDmyG
But there is a magic money tree, It’s Scotland, they shake us down and more money falls out
O/T You may have heard many times the counter to those who oppose austerity: ‘government debt is a burden on future generations and must be reduced’. Those espousing this view push the importance of inter-generational ethics. So why no similar ‘ethical’ concerns on certain other matters?
Following on from orkneystirling’s post @6.01, HM Treasury has just published ‘Whole of Government Accounts – year ended 31 March 2022’. It contains a section with financial statistics on the UK government’s financial provisions for meeting the costs of nuclear decommissioning:
Page 201: ‘The nuclear decommissioning provision represents the best estimate of the costs of decommissioning plant and equipment on each of the designated nuclear licensed sites in future. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) expect that THE PROGRAMME OF DECOMMISSIONING WORK WILL TAKE UNTIL 2137. (my emphasis)’ And 2137 is not a typographical error!
‘The decommissioning program is projected to extend until 2137. The estimate primarily focuses on the initial 20 years, constituting £73 billion of THE OVERALL £237 BILLION PROVISION (2020-21: £60 billion out of £135 billion).’
Page 203: ‘Ministry of Defence (MOD) £25.0 billion (2020-21: £13.2 billion) – Provisions have been allocated to cover the expenses associated with treating, storing, and disposing of nuclear materials, irradiated fuel, and radioactive waste stemming from the Defence Nuclear Programme. Additionally, provisions have been set up for the decommissioning of sites, facilities, and 31 submarines that are no longer in service, but for which the MOD bears ultimate responsibility.
‘The totality of nuclear provisions addresses a programme of work which is CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO EXTEND OVER THE NEXT 116 YEARS. In estimating the value of the provision required to settle the Department’s obligations, there remains a SIGNIFICANT DEGREE OF INHERENT UNCERTAINTY in the future cost estimates and the assumptions that underpin them.’
‘As of the conclusion of the fiscal year 2020-21, THE DISCOUNTED NUCLEAR PROVISION STOOD AT £13.2 BILLION. …. The adjustments made to the 2021-22 MOD estimate for nuclear decommissioning BRING THE DISCOUNTED AMOUNT TO £25.0 BILLION as of the balance sheet date.’
What an appalling legacy – in every sense.
I’ll be 76 this year, I’ve never seen the good times under any English government that keeps telling us *the country* can’t afford the same stuff that every other Western civilised country can
The free republic of Ireland has less GDP than Scotland and they’re all financially better off than Scottish citizens
How did they do it? Freedom from England and joined the EU
Nobody steals from the Irish anymore
An excellent contrast to the hypocrisy of ” ‘government debt is a burden on future generations and must be reduced’ “, and these are just the decommissioning estimates, which include the original Hinkley reactors.
Yet infuriatingly, Labour and Tory both have been promoting new nuclear as essential for the future – Hinkley Point C was licensed in 2012, and will have cost well over 30 billion by the time it produces 3GW of the most expensive power in the UK sometime between 2027 and 2031.
Yet together with Sizewell C it will theoretically only meet 13 % of UK power requirements.
Estonia, small and independent, shows what can be done with regard to education when a country cares about its children and their future
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/27/free-lunches-brain-breaks-and-happy-teachers-why-estonia-has-the-best-schools-in-europe
I remember the Soviet Union – which was really a greater Russiashire – was telling the Eastern European countries they couldn’t be independent right up to the moment it suddenly collapsed.
Keep in mind Welsh and NoI friends, once one domino falls, the whole lot may come with it.
Welsh people would not need to be consulted on indy as the UK would be over. They’d need a referendum on handing over rule to England.
That is why a Yes vote in any nation is feared so much, particularly the second largest that is Scotland.
All the Soviet Republics had the right to independence written into their constitutions. When the Soviet Union dissolved most republics who had a referendum voted to remain in the CIS, including Ukraine.
I was aware of what constitutions said. It’s a bit like us thinking we had the right to vote for indy from the UK any time we wanted. 🙂
However it’s not like the people of the soviet satellite states actually lived in free democracies where they could vote for the governments of their choosing. That only came by them increasingly resisting their regimes / the USSR as a whole, culminating in declarations of independence.
The CIS is just like the British commonwealth, ergo no reflection of a member’s desire to be ruled by Russia – far from it – just keep trading etc. If the eastern European states liked being ruled from Moscow, they still would be. It’s not as if Russia would say no if they asked.
The subsequent gravitation of former states away from Russia, and e.g. towards Europe, is a product of Russia’s actions alone. It’s the same here in Scotland. We are moving away from the UK towards Europe, not because the latter is ‘interfering in our politics… trying to break us away from our British brethren’, but because we are being treated appallingly by Britain/England’s government. The unionists are destroying the UK as the ‘soviets’ destroyed the USSR and put former members off being in the CIS.
Case in point is Ukraine, which doesn’t want to be ruled by Moscow, but Putin has other ideas. This isn’t going to be making Russia’s neighbouring, former USSR states, more keen on closer ties to the former ‘motherland’ (England uses similar language such as ‘mother of all parliaments’), but the opposite.
Anyway, this is diverging…
My point was that the end of such repressive unions tends build for a long time, yet nobody really expects how quickly it all comes tumbling down when it finally does. And it does tend to all come tumbling down rather than slowly fragment bit by bit. At least the core of it does.
I would put money on the UK collapsing constitutionally rather suddenly when it does. I do not expect e.g. Scotland to leave, then maybe 10 years later NoI to unify, then 20 years later Wales to go it’s own way. No, it will all most likely happen at once. Scotland votes Yes, N. Ireland then decides it’s off as a result, with Wales then going ‘Well, with no UK, we are not going to be an English province, so we are off too!’. You can even expect calls in England for attempts to keep the UK going to stop, not least because Europe would be receptive to an independent England joining the EU, just not the UK re-joining. That and the end of the UK is the perfect time for England to adopt modern, multi-party PR democracy. Westminster can become a museum.
Which is why the UK establishment is so fearful. It’s not just about us, it’s about the final end of the deeply corrupt British empire. The sun is starting to dip below the horizon on it. The epic constitutional crisis building as we approach the UKGE is a symptom of this.
We don’t have the right to independence written into our constitution. We don’t even have a written constitution. We are in a far worse constitutional situation than the former Soviet states which are all as independent now as they choose to be.
There were 15 states in the USSR of which 12 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan chose to remain in the CIS.
The 3 Baltic states, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania chose to leave.
The elected president of Ukraine was overthrown in a CIA coup in 2014 after which the installed government tried to join NATO and wrote that into its constitution. The Donbass republics then voted for their independence from Ukraine but were attacked militarily by government troops. If anyone is denied their independence here it is the Donbass republics.
But we are now in danger of talking about the war in Ukraine which Paul has asked us not to do.
Let’s stick to talking about independence and constitutional means of securing it.
Having worked in 3 of those countries between 1999 and 2017 at various times. I can say that in none of the 3 were the people given the choice of joining the CIS or not.
All 3 have dictators remaining in charge to this day and there have never been free and fair elections in any of them.
It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to find that in none of them were the people given a choice of being part of the CIS on the collapse of the Soviet Union.
I don’t know which countries you are talking about but certainly in Ukraine there were free and fair elections overseen by the OCSE.
The former republics were all in a better constitutional position than we are. That may not have been realised democratically but then neither is our position.
I doubt that our 2014 referendum would have passed the test either.
You have listed a series of countries which don’t, as a general rule, don’t feature highly on the free and fair, democratic, human rights respecting list of states.
Also, are you suggesting areas of Scotland have the right to go declare themselves republics, choose independence, leave, and align with England / the rUK? If Ukraine can be partitioned, why not Scotland? Why not regions of Scotland? Why not towns? Why can’t I declare a republic for my land?
Because this would be illegal under international law, which protects the territorial extent of states.
Scotland has the right to indy, because the Scots are a recognised distinct national/ethnic people living on what nobody disputes is their ancient, very well defined homeland. Iref1 laid to rest any doubts here.
By contrast, e.g. areas of England with a majority of people who are not English/British don’t have the right to just secede, and neither do areas of countries where most might feel e.g. Russia. If such moves were legal, it would be anarchy. If the Donbass can leave, why not suburbs of Kyiv with a majority of Russians? Why not areas of Russia with a majority of Ukrainians? Where does it stop?
This is why the partitioning of Ireland is protected by a peace treaty, and the world (UN) does not recognise the partitioning of eastern Ukraine, even if we did have evidence referenda were free and fair. The people there are not ‘Donbassian’ in national identity, living in the ancient kingdom of Donbassia as far as I’m aware. Instead we had a higher number of Russians per captia, just like we have more British / English identifying in some areas of Scotland.
Same applies for the areas of England that voted remain. These people even see themselves as EU union citizens, but they can’t partition off and align with the EU as they live in part of England, just as the Donbass and Crimea are part of Ukraine. So it’s not simple and any area which wants to can just declare itself a republic.
I am not getting into CIA stuff, but any foreign interference failed in Ukraine, as the current government was freely elected as you note. Ergo, Ukraine is moving to align with Europe because that’s what people want, end of. Russia interference has largely failed too, and it’s worse off than before the invasion.
The reason why Ukraine wants to align with the Europe not Russia is because of Russia. All because of Russia. Russia is 100% to blame. Nothing to do with the west. The annexing of the Donbass / Crimea and invasion will have ensured Ukraine has never felt so non-Russian in its entire existence.
I don’t think the Ukrainian people weak willed and not able to make their own minds up as some do. I respect their choices. They are choosing Europe and it’s nothing to do with the CIA, but the fact Russia is bombing the hell out of them etc. That’s not going to make them feel all warm inside towards Russia.
If England took the full Russian approach to Ukraine on Scotland, we’d not be looking hopefully for a Yes majority in polls, that’s for sure. The census would also be showing an almost total collapse in Britishness amongst the Scottish identify population. You’d not be arguing the South of Scotland could form an England aligned republic either, not unless you were a British nationalist.
But again, this is way off on a tangent re my original point about the speed at which massive change happens, and how it can be triggered so suddenly after building for decades.
BBC Radio Scotland Stephen Jardine hosts yet another *phone in for unionists to tell us how much you hate the SNP* as British nationalists throughout Scotland reinforce each others bitterness over the fact that the SNP keep winning elections, and it’s not right because they “arra peepul” and not anyone else
Scotland can’t do this or that because this or that, over and over the unionists rehearse the same level of bitterness, because bitterness is what it is, no sensible argument, no facts, just hatred as thinly disguised as the BBC allows them
This morning we were treated to the too wee too poor naw ye cannae, because, then comes the hatred again disguised so thinly it’s embarrassing
England could pass a law tomorrow that eating Scottish children was acceptable and the unionists would find a way to support it
We can cite a hundred reasons a day as to why Scotland would be a better country being independent, it won’t matter and won’t change their minds because their minds are completely closed and they like it that way
Unless Scotland’s young people come out and vote this situation will not change
No longer can our young people sit in student unions and cafes and pubs complaining about what’s happening, they must get up in the morning and vote SNP when the time comes or they’ll be sitting in those same places forever complaining, and their children after them
Hmm, why that Yougov is not looking like a clear outlier.
Changes in Labour’s VI in the past week’s polling:
28/02 -3% We Think
27/02 -4% Yougov
27/02 +1% Savanta
24/03 -1% More in Common
25/03 -2% Deltapoll
24/03 -5% Redfield & Winton
22/03 0% Opinium
Stats:
5/7 Down
1/7 No change
1/7 Up (by 1%)
English local election campaign Launches dates:
28/03 Labour
22/02 Conservatives
20/03 Liberal Democrats
Coincidence or staws in the wind? Ballot papers are dropping through doors mind.
To be fair, Labour up +1% in the latest Techne, but only because certain to vote is lower (46%!). As a function of the total electorate, no change.
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Britain is the greatest country in the world say the unionists, but then they say the Scots Welsh and Northern Irish are useless and can’t succeed at anything themselves
Very good hearted of unionists trying so hard to keep us Nationalists safe under the rule of the greatness of England?
An admittance by unionists in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland that they are stupid and useless?
If the answer is Yes to question 1 then they agree with question 2
*The family of nations* argument is always good for a laugh, which family on the face of this earth lives together until the end of time controlled by their Mommy or Daddy?
As I was saying about things happening very suddenly…
Life can come at you fast sometimes.
https://archive.is/POF86
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson steps down as DUP’s leader after being charged with historical sexual offences