This week I’m delighted to be joined by one of Scotland’s best known actors and a stalwart of the independence movement – Elaine C Smith. Elaine talks about the effects of the pandemic on the performing arts, the woeful support that is being given to this vital sector by the Conservative Govt, and the mental health effects on performers of no longer being able to perform. We also chat about how this crisis has boosted support for independence and how the SNP needs the wider Yes movement and the wider Yes movement needs the SNP.
And of course, much more besides.
If you are unable to use the embedded link, you can download the podcast by clicking on this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-291670852/dugcast-9-10-2020-with-elaine-c-smith
The purpose of this blog is to make a positive case for independence, to attack the pretensions of British nationalism, and to formulate arguments which will help to persuade no voters, undecideds, and soft yes voters to support independence. It’s also to boost the morale of those of us who are already involved in this campaign. I do not provide this platform to allow people to attack others in the movement with whom they disagree. Other people might choose to use their platforms to do so, I don’t.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
I enjoyed that wee conversation, nice to hear a woman’s opinion on other women’s opinions
Interesting points , I agree with Elaine that society treats successful women different from successful men and it’s a negative difference .
That has to change , I think Nicola Sturgeon will help to change it.
Today great discussion on what is a Cafe and what is a Restaurant .
Restaurants and Cafes in some parts of Scotland were to be told to close to reduce the number of places where covid19 spreads.
But then the Scottish government said they would allow Cafes to stay open during the day so people who were perhaps a bit lonely could meet.
Instead of Cafe owners being happy with that what we see are Restaurants saying they are confused because they don’t understand why they cannot call themselves a Cafe.
We even see one of the journalists asking Nicola Sturgeon today in her daily covid address
“ why can’t a sushi restaurant or a tapas restaurant stay open “ he knows of such restaurants who’s owners are confused !!
Ahh yes….such confusion, we are a sushi RESTAURANT a big sign outside a restaurant says we are a sushi RESTAURANT but what I want to know is
“ AM I A CAFE OR A RESTAURANT “…….idiots
You are A RESTAURANT the clue is there in what you refer yourself as and what the journalist referred to you as…A RESTAURANT
Then you get the journalist on a bad line ( can’t hear him – because he’s sat in a restaurant )
Turns out it’s a Restaurant in Nicola Sturgeons constituency
This restaurant owner is confused they say they operate as a cafe in the daytime then at 6pm operate as a restaurant because they start to sell alcohol at 6pm
No confusion then is there ? You are a restaurant with restricted hours selling alcohol
The whole idea of allowing cafes to stay open was to allow people who might be lonely to go somewhere for a coffee that was what NS said it’s clear as day , places where alcohol is sold are the risky places just like pubs , if they sell alcohol generally they are a restaurant but NS said that in some small villages there may be cafes that sell alcohol too who can stay open and be classed as a cafe rather than a restaurant but f you really are a confused restaurant owner the local authority in your area will clarify for you.
I foresee a rush of restaurants wanting to be called a cafe taking down their shop signs changing their website description and other advertising …..NAH not really
It’s a confection spearheaded by a singular lawyer as I understand it, John Robertson gave it an enema earlier as you know yet they (PQ) think they’re on a roll, without realising it is downhill…
I particularly enjoyed stewardb’s excellent summation….
Superb choice of guest, and an excellent conversation with some heartening anecdotes and observations, most enjoyable and heartening even if the theatrical trade are struggling.
The Sunak fumble over re-training was wonderfully sent up, these people really haven’t a clue but are the ones in charge.
I must echo Elaine’s driver, concerns for kids and grandkids. We must break this London led vicious cycle suffered for so long, not for us but for the next generations…
The DRoss, Baronless, Lady Sarah, Lord McConnels and the assembled choirs of the media will chunter in unison to stall it but they know damned well what’s coming, and hell mend them when it lands, which it most assuredly will soon.
Positive about Independence. No we don’t need to sack people over something over folk may or may not have done. We don’t have to believe Davidson. Leonard, Johnson and co of how sh***e we are.
Just positivity- we can have our nhs, a caring society, no nuclear weapons, work with other Like minded countries, better housing, – we all have a dream.
Labour have ruled out ever returning to the EU even should they win a general election, so there you have it and the truth shall set you free, if Labour supporters ever had any hope it’s just been knocked on the head by the Tory B team
Oh by the way the other main party in Westminster the Liberal Democrats agree with them
What was wrong with that sentence? Well the other main party at Westminster is actually the SNP with far more representation that the Lib Dems
But then again the SNP aren’t Bringlish are they because Scotland is apparently micro we’re told
That’s fair enough, as far as it goes. They’re democrats, and presumably are responding to perceived public attitudes, since everyone in England, whatever their past view, has put the EU question behind them now.
Everyone in England.
But that’s not us. We haven’t bought into that settled view at all, so there is no “British” consensus, only (as you nicely put it) a “Bringlish” one.
It’s high time that everyone, on both sides of the border, just finally recognised and accepted that we’re increasingly going in separate directions, and to hold on to us regardless and force “Bringlish” identities upon us is morally unconscionable. We’re no longer in the 18th century and accepting of being made renewed victims of ruthless cultural suppression.
And maybe we even hold out a bright hope for some in England of a better personal investment for a future up here too.
I enjoyed the chat with Elaine, sometimes listening to other voices makes you appreciate the problems others face that you never generally think about. I never thought of all the theatres being closed meant that actors would be taking work as delivery drivers for Amazon.
It’s these little things that help you gain a broader picture of what is going on and how it affects others. It is natural to only see the effect of such a crisis as we are living through now in how it affects just you and yours.
It made me think of the asylum seekers locked up by the Home Office in Glasgow and what they must be going through as well as the poorest in our own towns and cities, what help are they getting? For a great many, the furlough scheme would have made no difference to their lives at all. Increased stress and a feeling of helplessness must be affecting many, I genuinely believe that an Independent Scotland would know where it’s priorities lay in such a time of crisis.
You can be absolutely certain it would not be in taking care of big business or the banks, our concern lies in the health and welfare of the people that live here. It does with me anyway and I know many of you fell the same.
This is why an Independent Scotland could do so much better than it has done because we are tied to Westminster support schemes. If we had all the financial powers at our disposal as other Independent small EU countries do we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now.
https://archive.vn/EZs8Q
For sure, Scotland is doing better at controlling the virus than England but not by a great amount, as the FM has said more than once this week “if she had the power over borrowing” she would have gone a lot further than she has chosen to do now. We need to be Independent before we can make these vital decisions that keep us safe.
We can do things differently, and we will, we just need to say Yes.
People who aren’t keen on following the rules in the first place are an easy target for Media to keep finding them loopholes to exploit, then you have a deliberately incompetent Prime Minister adding to the poorly communicated instructions, then you cross the pond to America where you have an overtly racist right wing president intent on disrupting the instructions altogether for his obvious agenda then mix together at gas mark media remove from the oven and success! you have achieved the Great British American Covid response flavoured pie
In Scotland the FM bends over backwards to combat the entire crapshit of garbage flooding the TV Radio and newspapers every day but even she can’t make people not see it and the UK of America media power wins by killing off as many of the old, weak, and health vulnerable that costs money to keep alive
And the media will report it all as the most terrible awful tragedy to happen to our *country* that ever was and we must learn the lessons so that it can never be repeated and nobody will mention the £billions that were actually saved due to the deaths because they’ll still be too busy talking about the £billions that was spent trying to help which when counted up will amount to the same amount of money, and Boris Johnson and Trump and the rest of them will not care one jot because it was only the plebs and that’s what we’re here for, to serve
In the words of Randolph Churchill father of Winston, “the Tory party must always be in power so the commoners can never be allowed to think about governing themselves”
Alex Clark
Per thousand population calculations
Scotland has 35% fewer infections than England
Scotland has 45% fewer deaths than England
You are wrong to say
“Scotland is doing better at controlling the virus than England but not by a great amount, “
Check out prof Robertson’s website he has provided proof of this quite recently
Talking up Scotland II
Terence, it’s all relative.
Look at the performance of small Independent countries like Finland, Denmark and Norway for a real comparison of how we should be doing. Doing better than England by 35% or 45% is no measure of success at all as you are measuring ourselves with one of the worst performing contries in the world.
We are undoubtably doing better but it could have been much much better.
Of course it is wholly unreasonable to compare Scotland with independent nation states except in the context of pointing to exemplars which illustrate how much more and better Scotland could potentially have performed IF independent.
And the reasons for this are numerous, including but not limited to:
– control over borders
– access to funds deemed necessary to invest in public health infrastructure and activity – both in terms of amount and timing of its availability
– access to funds deemed necessary to enable economic mitigation measures – both in terms of amount and timing of its availability
– clarity/certainty in advance over availability of finance overall necessary to deal with the ’emergency’ and thus to be able to plan a longer term intervention strategy in the knowledge that funding was secure – rather than have to wait until additional necessary finance is made available at an amount and at a time chosen by a neighbouring country. (And of course made available by a neighbouring country with a government holding key monetary and fiscal levers that has NO incentive to be supportive of Scotland’s government)
– having a population served by a public service broadcaster and wider corporate media that are NOT driven by an agenda to undermine the credentials of Scotland’s government for constitutional reasons – even in a public health emergency.
Alex Clark….saying “ it is all relative “
Is meaningless in this context
Your statement compared England’s figures with Scotland’s figures and you said there isn’t much difference
That is wrong
There is a big difference between England and Scotland’s covid19 infection rate and the death rate
A difference of 35% and 45% as I’ve said, I point this out to you
and then you jump to Finland Denmark and Norway compared to Scotland .?
Finland Denmark and Norway have got nothing whatsoever to do with your comparison of figures between Scotland and England
Alex Clark…
Pardon me Alex, but how can you have “ WARNED” that someone is or isn’t doing something ?
Surely WARNED” is past tense ? and “ WERE SELF ISOLATING “ is past tense !
Isn’t it ?
“ Newly released papers reveal that behavioral science experts warned that only 18%-25% of people who needed to were self-isolating.”
Coincidently on Nicola sturgeons covid19 update yesterday they gave figures showing most people say they ARE self isolating…
So who are the behavioural science experts referred to and where are they and who did they ask ? Was it even in U.K. !
Where did you quote that from Alex, it appears to cherry-pick different elements of various publications over the last 7 months ?
The initial paragraph troubles me as the only “Corsair” study found was on England’s Track and Trace using self-reported responses currently in “pre-print”. It was still to be peer-reviewed in September, and has a recent footnote noting a data flaw, so is to be re-worked…
This would appear to be the one the media have seized on prematurely, but crucially it has ZERO relevance to Scotland, begging the question why journos are basing questions on it?
Disinformation from the media has become increasingly desperate in Scotland of late…
Bob, it was from the Guardian, the link I gave above went to a page that had the same address but was for a different article, I’ve re-archived the article that the except came from, this is the new link.
https://archive.vn/V3aQ8
Obliged Alex.
Thought as much, “Most people in the UK who have Covid-19 or are a contact of somebody who has tested positive fail to fully self-isolate”. When you consider England’s Track & Trace success rate is 50-70% contacts it is entirely possible the statement is true for England, but certainly NOT the entirety of the UK.
As noted earlier, the Corsair analysis (18 Sept) from which that conclusion is drawn does not appear to have been published, and indeed is being re-worked.
The rest at least makes clear it is about England in isolation, they are in deep trouble and convincing themselves everything is fine.
Superb. *thumbs up*
O/T
Do some establishments in the hospitality sector in Scotland have a death wish, a wish to alienate in excess of at least 55% of the voting public?
See this on twitter regarding the OYO Richmond Hotel in Tomintoul:
https://twitter.com/search?q=richmond%20arms%20hotel%20tomintoul&src=typeahead_click
There doesn’t seem to be anyone in the usual whiny foot-stamping media with the basic conceptual grasp and courage to spell out the inevitable consequences of doing nothing as matters stood: 100,000+ in hospital by Christmas, with the usual proportion of them in ICUs and ultimately leaving “feet first”.
I just wish we had some grown-ups in charge in more places than just the Scottish Government.
Update: just re-ran the analysis by including today’s figures, and if the current trend were to continue unmitigated, we would have nearly 140,000 in hospital by Christmas.
(That’s assuming of course an infinite supply of people vulnerable enough to end up in hospital. There has to be an eventual limit to the dead and damaged somewhere. But is anyone, for all the mealy-mouthed endorsement of so-called “herd immunity”, willing to come out in public as being fully prepared to accept the consequent toll? For the sake of businessness which wouldn’t be able to function anyway, in that scenario?)
Based on their ‘coverage’ in Twitter, I await the inevitable exposé from the unionist media, accusing the vile nats of hounding them, and being ‘anti-business’.
Yes the usual insults including the juvenile ones. The hotel in question is up for sale. Maybe it only attracted 40% of the population?
stewartb….looks like they do, I for one won’t ever use the Richmond arms hotel tomintoul now.
I’m sure I read that several months ago when it caused a rumpus…
I suspect that was the BOOM! before the BUST!
A colleague told me this week that her son moved to the Netherlands just before lockdown in March, he and a friend are living & working over there
He says that things are fine – people social distance, wear masks, do what they are asked to do without the blood crazed feeding frenzy we get here. Shops, cafes/restaurants (I can never tell the difference 😉) were open although hairdressers, nailbars etc were closed initially. He told his mum how much healthier & relaxed people were, cycling to work, or families cycling to go out for meal together then cycling home again. He loves it.
I asked her why he thought it was so different to here – “I DON’T KNOW IF I’M A CAFE OR NOT – TIP THE ICE OUTSIDE THE CITY CHAMBERS” – and she said it’s because COVID isn’t politicised there . Health professionals give the advice & people follow it without the media strangulating itself in it’s own Y-Fronts with headlines screaming “Sturgeon KILLS the HOSPITALITY sector MASSIVE ice mountain DUMPED IN Glasgow”
It just reminded me of your anecdote WGD about being in a part of the Netherlands “relaxing”, watching well fed, happy families, children playing and the man you were with telling you not to hang around because “it’s a, really rough area”
Why are some folk in Scotland so feckin’ pathetic?
It’s the britnat media that’s sick.
Wait until the ‘journalists’/media start to get it. They think they are immune. Never get anything. A complete bunch of dunces. Out of touch. No wonder they are tanking.
Unionist can’t even touch the SNP no matter the controversy. No matter how they try. Complete hypocrites. It must be very annoying for them. Despite the opportunities. People see right through them.
MP’s to get a massive rise. In the middle of a pandemic, when people are struggling. Never have so many people been promoted about their capabilities. Killing off people. Disgusting. The SNP never took the last rise. They gave it to charity.
Good points Ken2
England’s Westminster propaganda war against Scotland continues aided and abetted by the newspapers , the BBC , STV and SKY , they have it all tied up in a nice wee bundle with well placed people planted and ready to tell lies on their behalf.
BUT , covid19 has hugely affected the lives of ordinary people
it hasn’t affected the lives of the very rich so much,
they can move country more freely have the money to do so
you see the attitude is different because they also have access to specialist healthcare .
They choose what they do each day,
they are not forced to go to work for need of money to pay the bills and feed themselves
nothing much has changed for them other than the risk to their business interests
or golf clubs and restaurants where they lunch every day closing
which for some means their easy work free life isn’t the same…boohoo what a shame
Self isolation for them when their restaurants , golf club, gym etc closes
is staying at home ordering a dozen bottles of fine wine or champagne online
get fine food fresh vegetables and fruit and the best bread and bakery goods butcher goods all delivered to their door at great cost
It’s what you can do when you are rich
Next day delivery cost £25 ? No problem
Ordinary people who do have to work to pay the bills and feed their families
have been shocked at the uncaring attitude of the people and organisations they used to look up to
People have been shocked to see the BBC , the prime minister of the U.K. and the president of the USA telling bare faced lies and joking about people dying or getting seriously ill from covid
or denying it’s happening , they jump from one lie to the other
desperately trying to find the line that works
the lie that is believed by the masses
then they can as they say “ go back to normal “
The problem with that is
If someone you have trusted all your life lies to you about something really serious
something life threatening
something that could kill you , or kill your children or parents etc
you can’t go back to normal with them
because you won’t be able to believe them ever again
BUT, the BBC, STV, SKY , the newspapers , the prime minister of the UK the president of the USA don’t see it
They’re still lying
6 months down the road of this covid19 journey they are still lying
It is patently obvious now the media has either taken the collective decision or been instructed to undermine the message from the Scottish government, it has from the beginning but in the last few weeks it has upped the anti. Now they are trying to portray the message as confused and no better than Westminster.
Ably displayed when a journalist uses jaffa cakes as an example and sees this type of comparison is as valid during a pandemic. Then tweets out his anger when it is pointed out how pathetic this equivalence is, he sees the public as thick compared to his gargantuan intellect. Of course the proof of the pudding is in the fact that ‘jaffa cakes’ became a twitter trend not the Scottish governments rules.
Just to add, isn’t it strange the media just managed to have live camera footage and a reporter in George Square at exactly the same time as the ‘ice demonstration’, who warned them, did they organise it themselves, had they been tipped of by the restaurant/pub owners. If doesn’t seem to have been a chance encounter. After all they can’t get a unit to George square for a AUOB march even when they know months in advance.
Concur with both posts.
I believe the Scots public have grown increasingly aware of the media propaganda war being prosecuted to sway their opinion, and are beginning to resent it… Turning the heat up may do the media more harm than SG…
I think more and more people are simply switching off mis-reporting Scotland and not buying the dead tree media.
What is truly pathetic is the way they scour any announcement looking for a point to twist into a grievance. The cafe/restaurant issue a good example.
Their lives are now consumed by how to write a story, any story, around the words “confusion”, “lack of clarity”, “no detail” etc etc
They repeat the same question the previous half dozen “journalists” have asked. They ask questions in volleys of four and scream out additional questions when their attack fails.
This is not journalism. This is an organised little coven of bitter twisted individuals determined to portray a negative vision of the FM and Scotland. Their bosses have to be obeyed.
The best the can do when the attack plan fails is resort to “…it’s just as bad as England”
It doesn’t matter if the CovidApp works 99.9% of the time find the one annecdotal case it didn’t and make it a headline.
Send out thousands of FOI and troll through them looking for a figure that has risen. It may have gone from 3 cases to 4 but that is “A 50% rise headline”
If all else fails just post a story on a Labour/LibDem/Tory press release.
We are too wee, too poor and to stupid…look at the state of us!
Repeat repeat repeat.
I wonder which of the people busy sneering at the sad idiots who don’t know whether they’re a cafe or a restaurant, and the pathetic fools who are dumping ice in the streets, face the loss of their livelihoods, or the destruction of businesses that they might have invested years in building up.
None, would be my guess.
The dugcast with Elaine C Smith was great.
Whilst I have a lot of sympathy re difficulties hospitality sector are encountering the ridiculous behaviour of some of them trying to say they should be able to call themselves a cafe was pathetic. It is blatantly obvious what constitutes a cafe they are small venues with simple menus where the most complicated thing often you can buy is a toastie. There are 2 restaurants in Glasgow calle Cafe Andaluz they sell 3 course meals so clearly are restaurants-end of. Dumping the ice outside Glasgow City Chambers was political and stupid as whilst Glasgow is run by an Snp council it had nothing to do with the decision to shut pubs etc that was the Scottish government. Just more Snp bad by those who really do not care people are dying or become really ill with this virus. These venues do not have a god given to risk peoples lives no matter how difficult restrictions cause for their businesses
You would have thought, hoped even, that the news yesterday of the Covid-19 outbreak and related deaths in the Oncology ward at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh would have given them pause for thought. But no. Not a good look when the situation in the hospital lays bare in the starkest terms why steps need to be taken to bring the virus back under control. We all have a part to play in that endeavour.
The job of the media in Scotland is to encourage the population to **Shoot the messenger** and who’s the messenger? it’s that terrible woman who’s trying her damndest to save everybody’s life
It’s a slimy rotten wee tactic but it works so they’ll use it
I would imagine many of us will have seen the mentally irregular zoomers on social media and other places practically laying the blame that Covid 19 exists on to Nicola Sturgeon and if she didn’t create the damn thing then she’s secretly using its effects to cover up something else that she evilly did
The internet and the media is chock full of idiots clowns and people downright dedicated to the destruction of the FM, and the slimy little toads would use a shower of rain in their pathetic attempts to accuse her of deliberately trying to get people wet
I’ll vote for Independence they say but I won’t vote for the SNP or the evil Sturgeon, well how do they expect to vote for Independence without the SNP, and the answer comes from the slimy wee toads sitting in their pants in front of their computers munching Haribos and rubbing their hands together gleefully manipulating a bunch of brain dead internet warriors to day after day pour out bile copied and pasted from the Daily Mail then go even further and invent their own
These are the same people who would assault the nurse the paramedic the doctor and turn up drunk in A&E if they had the bottle, but most of them don’t, but they do know that out in the world their are people even more stupid than them who’ll go along with the idea and hopefully that’ll get them what they want while the man in his pants munching the Haribos rubs his grubby wee hands together and awaits his next brown envelope stuffed with readies from a shady guy in a hat who got it from a Tory politician who passed it to the Daily Mail
All the while Scotland’s FM takes all this shit knowing perfectly well what’s behind it and holds her temper because she knows the last thing she must do right now is start the fight they want that’ll throw the country into even bigger confusion than it already is
It’s easy to sit behind a computer or a news desk or a TV camera and pump out shit to cause a problem but none of them would have the guts to stand up every day and take it to try and save the lives of even the Arseholes who engage in this, and in the middle of all of this the elitest of the elite doles out honours for so called celebrities who furthered their careers and hoisted the banners of Unionism on behalf of the political party who foisted the biggest Arsehole of the century upon us and who’s whole existence is driven by how much money they can remove from Scotland to have in their bank accounts
Great post, Dr Jim.
I sometimes wonder if she would prefer to say ‘ Stuff this for a game of soldiers – do what you please , just go out there and infect everyone you care about and many you don’t even know , diddlydie, die ,die, die, – Frank get the door I’m moving to Vietnam , New Zealand , South Korea anywhere but here’.
She really surprises me with her patience for idiot journalists – I do wish she wouldn’t thank them for their idiocy.
At least they try to maintain a sense of humour despite it all the nonsense…
https://mobile.twitter.com/DrGregorSmith/status/1314605911739109378
I’m fizzin, My wife bought me a French Cake and it turned oot it wiz face Greenock!
Must be the sherbet…
Thought you might like to see the front cover of the Spectator:
And accompanying commentary from Cymru:
https://nation.cymru/opinion/the-spectator-cover-shows-us-the-uk-as-the-establishment-sees-it-and-wales-is-finally-being-noticed/
Good cartoon but I think the commentary has perhaps been misinterpreted because it looks more like the leaders of Scotland Wales and the other guy are actually signalling to Johnson to keep his Corona virus out of their countries and areas while Johnson displays his sceptre of power in one hand with the readiness to heave a virus towards the rest of us
OT. Interesting opposing view on coronavirus https://youtu.be/kr04gHbP5MQ
Another conspiracy theorist Covid-19 denier. His statement beginning at 4:09 is a complete falsehood.
Excess mortality for many EU countries can be found here, the figures from Scotland, England, Wales are all official figures from the respective countries.
https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps/
It is true that Germany along with many other countries did not suffer from excess mortality much different from normal, this is not true of all countries in the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, and others. It is certainly not true either of many South American countries and the US itself.
To believe the conspiracy theory spouted in this video then you would have to believe that every EU country including the UK was falsifying their excess mortality official statistics in collusion with one another?
All of these people do the same thing when they set out on this behaviour, they lead folk in with a bit of factual stuff then filter in their agenda of drivel to make it all sound substantial, include a few names and dates of mostly inconsequential information and the gullible the uninformed or downright lapper uppers of this sort of thing get carried away with themselves and begin spouting the same stuff as though every word is fact
Spot on and we’ve got first hand knowledge of that form of brainwashing, Dr Jim. You forgot to add however that ”the gullible, the uninformed or downright lapper uppers” not only start spouting the same stuff as though every word is fact they then get carried away with themselves, their own importance, and exaggerate what they’ve read to the point that it leads everyone into cloud-cuckoo-land. And round and round it goes to the satisfaction, and amusement no doubt, of the original ”gaslighter.”
Do you think we can’t see what you’re up to, spreading this kind of insidious stuff, stranger?
Obviously the ‘ Rohaan ‘ management in Aberdeen didn’t get the message that they were supposed to be confused, or maybe they just ignored the media.
OT A friend just sent me this disturbing piece,
https://m.facebook.com/scientistsforeu/videos/1968585189949146/
Oh, it must be quite a surprise to all those folks weary from Brexit fatigue that it still ain’t over yet. This misery will grind on and on and on…
…until we finally get free of these morons who are running England
(running it into the ground).
He is correct, this covid response is not agreed with world wide by scientists, there have been many whom have lost jobs or been threatened with losing their jobs if they speak out, as have nurses and ordinary doctors, they are treated by MSM as conspiracy theorists. These are scientists also.
So we only have the covid narrative from government chosen scientists whom are funded for their opinions, so yes a cliche of scientists paid to support government agendas,
Doctors and lawyers consider it so wrong, that they are now joining together around the world from many countries to try correct this imbalance of scientists.
Another important factor for death rates was the policy world wide of place hospital covid patients in old people’s homes, this was followed in Australia, Britain, America, Germany, etc,
It is scary to think, scaremongering with the backing of MSM, that governments around the world were practicing eugenics.
common sense says that this is the last place you would put them, unless of corse in practicing eugenics they thought that older were a drain on society, it certainly cuts down on having to pay pensions.
Meanwhile where are the honest figures for the patients that have died of heart attacks, cancer of the bowel, gullet, breast cancer, aneurism, accidents, choking, suicides, poverty, homelessness, patients going undiagnosed and not able to see doctors.
Everything else is being ignored for the sake of an illness that almost parallels influenza death statistics.
And while we give up our sovereign right to governments across the world, for our freedom and liberty, more laws are passed in dark rooms not being scrutinised.
I deleted the double post.
OMG, you are giving yourself away here with another dose of false equivalencing. A sorry handful of medics and scientists, many like Trump’s pet medical poodle Atlas without any expertise in epidemiology, are “balanced” against the vast majority, including those who really do know. Take a good look at the promoters of this fallacy and they’re all loony right-wingers whose idea of liberty is to allow everybody the “freedom” to die painfully and alone.
Zoomers like you should take a good hard look at the escalating figures for those in hospital here, instead of all this vacuous theorising. Take a serious look and come back here to say you’re quite happy to see 150,000 people “exercising their freedom” in the Louisa Jordan by the end of the year.
Or better still, just f-off.
You really need to get out more, that padded cell really can’t be good for your health.
The farmers are all complaining now but many of them supported the Tories and voted for Brexit. Some people never learn. They were warned time and time again.
Turkey’s voting for Christmas?
Vote them out.
The whisky industry being compromised. Tory London HQ. Evading tax. Scottish resources and revenues being undermined,
Great conversation with Elaine C Smith, Paul. She’s so down to earth. Interesting, too, to hear her talk about misogynistic women and when you think about it the Scots are renowned for holding out a helping hand to those who are down and out and then when they get on and do well some Scots go hell for leather to drag them down again 🙄.
I would like to have heard more about the work being done by the Scottish Independence Convention (SIC) … ”the umbrella organisation for all those who wish to see Scotland be an independent country.” Maybe for the next time that you invite Elaine onto the Dugcast?
‘Elaine C Smith first president of Scottish Independence Convention.’
http://www.thenational.scot/news/17844225.elaine-c-smith-first-president-scottish-independence-convention/
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‘SIC NEWSLETTER, AUGUST 2020.’
https://independenceconvention.scot/sic-newsletter-august-2020
And embedded on the SIC link.
https://constitutionforscotland.scot/constitution/
”Everything else is being ignored for the sake of an illness that almost parallels influenza death statistics.”
Eh? Do you have evidence to support that view James?
https://archive.vn/h5fO7
The gigantic fraud.
Richard Murphy:- ‘The Great Barrington Declaration isn’t too worried about who makes the declaration.’
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/10/09/the-great-barrington-declaration-isnt-too-worried-about-who-makes-the-declaration/
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It’s high time that we had something along those lines here. Being tested BEFORE you’re allowed to hold public office.
‘Democrats introduce bill creating commission to rule on president’s fitness for office.’ https://mobile.twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1314585060012707847
The ones dumping ice will get a frosted reception. Lose business. Be dumped. It is only for two weeks. To stop people dying. The businesses who handle it with responsibility will be rewarded with increased business. They will benefit and get more custom to make up any deficit.
All these businesses can apply for generous loans to tide them over. More than they could get before. The banks are obliged to give advice and consideration.
Most trades are really busy. After the layoff work has built up. It will be the same in the hospitality trade. Once the two weeks is up there will be more trade or take away. Delivery. Restaurants and bars make money from the food not the drink.
Rentals, Airbnb, hotels and caravans are charging higher prices. Extortionate. They are making up for any lose in customers booking. Charging more. It is difficult to get a booking.
Great to hear Elaine C Smith again. She used to star in the panto every year at His Majesty’s in Aberdeen. Great comic actress.
The problem of actors and dancers falling through the Westminster job support scheme net was part of the discussion with Peter Arnott, playwright, on Broadcasting Scotland’s Full Scottish on 29th September. He quotes Dominic Cummings at 34mins 35 secs:
“When it comes to government funding, the ballerinas can get to the back of the f***ing queue”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYg_L1aQNds
Reminiscent of “When I hear the word ‘culture’ I reach for my gun” (trad. Goering).
The rest of the conversation on the Full Scottish is also excellent and worth listening too dealing as it does with the end the furlough scheme and the return of students to halls of residence. Alison Thewliss and Peter Arnott contribute a lot.
I think more to the point do you have enough evidence to discredit it,
I do know that if you research hard enough and follow the money, lobbyist, funding and beneficiaries you find mr gates name cropping up time and again in Westminster government, in Scottish government, in America government, and governments around the world, he has his fingers in many pies,
But one of his latest favourites is vaccines, he has funded or donated to nearly every government. Meanwhile he is being sued for vaccines he backed that have damaged humanity,
Amazing Polly on you tube makes a lot of the connections on background research into funding and lobbyists, paedophilia among the governments politicians, etc etc.
You’re going deep into David Ickesque territory here James. “Amazing Polly” is a right wing QAnon conspiracy theory nutjob who amongst other nonsense has alleged that a popular US furniture and soft furnishings company, Wayfair, is involved in child trafficking and paedophilia.
https://www.insider.com/wayfair-human-trafficking-conspiracy-theory-tied-to-qanon-2020-7
The claim that Bill Gates is being sued for vaccines which are allegedly damaging is false
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-gates-india/false-claim-bill-gates-faces-trial-in-india-for-testing-vaccines-on-children-idUSKBN22V27F
https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check/story/conspiracy-theory-bill-gates-backed-polio-vaccine-disabled-kids-1707666-2020-08-04
https://infotagion.com/factcheck-did-the-gates-foundation-just-lose-a-big-vaccination-court-case/
I suggest you take your conspiracy theories elsewhere. They’re not welcome here. I won’t be telling you again.
Here you are again, trying it on. But I already said all that’s needed upthread:
Take your insidious right-wingery elsewhere, you will no doubt find some gullible fools somewhere who might believe it.
Phantom Power:- ”Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have ignored and neglected the day job for far too long’ Baroness Ruth Davidson @ScotTories @Douglas4Moray.” https://mobile.twitter.com/PhantomPower14/status/1314594364073693186
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Faisal Islam:- ”Ross down on uefa website as linesman for Luxembourg-cyprus nations league on Saturday too – which is interesting as Lux not on exempt list & Govt advises against all but essential travel because of Covid, so ordinarily would require isolation on return.” https://mobile.twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1314318992882925568
No mention of this on the BBC et al.
‘Expanding dialogue with Arctic nations.’
..”Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new series of conferences involving Scottish Government ministers will be staged online between October 2020 and early 2021.”..
http://www.gov.scot/news/expanding-dialogue-with-arctic-nations/
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No mention of this either. The Scots as usual getting treated like mushrooms.
ScotGov Education:- ”Nine out of ten headteachers (91%) say the Attainment Scotland Fund is helping to close the poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland. That’s according to a pre-COVID-19 evaluation of the £750 million fund from @scotgov.” https://mobile.twitter.com/ScotGovEdu/status/1314205648016470020
.
Hahaha. That’ll apply to English waters as we were an independent nation in 1666.
‘Flanders will use charter from 1666 to guarantee post-Brexit fishing rights.’
..”In that case, the government of Flanders plans to fall back on a treaty issued by England’s King Charles II in 1666 that grants 50 fishermen from the Flemish city of Bruges “eternal access” to British waters.”..
..”After seeking legal guidance, the government of Flanders has sent a copy of the charter to the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.”
http://www.politico.eu/article/flanders-waives-century-old-charter-to-guarantee-post-brexit-fishing-rights/
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‘Little England’s Big COVID Problem.’
..”But the UK’s spiraling infection and death rates can best be understood as part of a tragic, and distinctly English, set of failures and delusions.”..
..”In April, a massive tent was temporarily erected in a park near an east London school, just out of sight of the children. It was a makeshift morgue. Johnson and his ministers have continually sought to shift the blame for the COVID-19 crisis, not least onto young people. But if such tents reappear, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/boris-johnson-english-covid19-crisis-by-mary-fitzgerald-and-peter-geoghegan-2020-10
Heh, heh. My first thought too about it being England only, but he was a (not-quite) absolute monarch and King of the Scots also, so I suppose it all depends on whose behalf he signed it.
But this ancient treaty-resurrecting business could be quite catching, no…? {grin}
‘Lorries ‘could back up in Scotland’ because of a Brexit paperwork glitch.’
http://www.insider.co.uk/news/lorries-could-back-up-scotland-22813179
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No mention of Cairnryan.
”Government about to announce new facilities for inland customs, regulatory veterinary checks in Kent at Ebbsfleet, at Holyhead and north Weald. A transit facility in Warrington, and further sites sought too.” https://mobile.twitter.com/faisalislam/status/1314179739205201920
Alex Cole-Hamilton telling lies again 😎.
‘Jeane Freeman corrects Alex Cole-Hamilton on Covid strategy claim.’
http://www.thenational.scot/news/18785425.jeane-freeman-corrects-alex-cole-hamilton-covid-strategy-claim/
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Check out Ann’s links on the Indyref2 site.
https://indyref2.space/forum/topic/links-saturday-10-october-2020/
I was in Parliament for the passing of the motion three years ago in favour of a second referendum, and during the debate the numpty Cole-Hamilton tried in vain to regurgitate a speech he had evidently attempted to learn by heart beforehand, and when he totally ran aground with it, had to be rescued by a merciful Tory intervention. He evidently doesn’t have enough original thought and engagement to even be able to address live the issue at the very heart of public life in Scotland.
Just another Edinburgh “plastic Tory” like Murray. I hope the voters there wise up by next May. The FibDems are an even more endangered species than NorthBritLab, and justifiably so.
He has a double-barrelled name though. That’s got to be worth a few thousand votes from those upwardly mobile folk, with ideas of grandeur.
Every time I hear the name ‘cole-hamilton’, all I can think of is calamitous hole.
Unsuccessful attempts to get a seat in Holyrood 2003, Westminster 2005, Holyrood 2007, and again in 2011.
It only took him 13 years to get elected, with the highest election costs of any Edinburgh candidate. He was barely out of Uni, and aiming for electoral success. So he effectively spun his wheels from graduation for almost 20 years before getting a ‘safe job’ in a party that has no position other than to prop up other parties (at least the Greens have strong, if debatable views on things).