To absolutely no one’s surprise Liz Truss has been elected by the predominantly white, elderly, middle class and Southern English membership of the Conservative party, and on Tuesday she will travel to Balmoral to be appointed by the other Liz as the next Worst Prime Minister of the increasingly Disunited Kingdom. Truss won by a far narrower margin than had been forecast, because it seems that even Conservative party members took a dislike to her the more that they saw of her, a pattern which will assuredly be repeated across the entire population.
Truss managed to win just 57% of votes cast on a turnout of 83%, a lower percentage than any Conservative leader who was elected by a ballot of party members, even the terminally dismal Iain Duncan Smith did better. Truss obtained the backing of just 47% of Conservative party members meaning that she herself falls well short of the standards of at least 50% of the entire electorate that Truss reportedly plans to demand of voters in Scotland in a second independence referendum.
Truss inherits a bitterly divided Conservative party where a majority of her back benchers preferred her rival Sunak. She also has a former Prime Minister who is returning to the back benches and who has made no secret of the fact that he wants his old job back. Yet Truss shows little sign of being interested in bridging the divisions within her own party, never mind reaching out to those who don’t support the Conservatives and have never been reconciled to Brexit. As soon as the result was announced she shot to the stage without so much as glancing at her defeated rival never mind having the good grace to shake his hand.
She began what we are supposed to call a speech, with her strange monotone robotic delivery by noting that during the leadership contest, “We have shown the depth and breadth of talent in the Conservative party.” It was a rare moment of candour and insight. The Conservatives had shown that they have no depth and are bereft of talent. In a vacuous collection of content free slogans she went on to promise her government would deliver, deliver, deliver. They’ve certainly succeeded at delivering raw sewage into rivers and onto beaches. She has known for two months that she was going to win. Two months in which to prepare for a five minute speech which would set the stage for her leadership. She couldn’t even manage that.
Over the next couple of days we will see the revealing of the horror show that will be Truss’s cabinet. Shortly after Truss’s victory was announced Home Secretary Priti Patel submitted a letter of resignation and said that she intended to return to the back benches. The move came after a number of briefings by the Truss campaign which strongly suggested that Patel would lose her job in Truss’s new cabinet. Patel was an unspeakably cruel Home Secretary and won’t be missed by anyone with a shred of decency. The news caused widespread rejoicing, right up until the realisation sank in that the new Home Secretary is likely to be Suella Braverman. Just when you think that the Hellmouth has closed it opens up again and an even worse demon comes crawling out. The next Worst British Prime Minister in modern times is set to appoint the next Worst Home Secretary in modern times. Remember when we were all horrified about how nasty Jack Straw and Theresa May were? How naive we were.
That’s where British politics is now, Priti Patel resigned because if she hadn’t she’d have been sacked for not being right wing enough. Everyone thought that there could never be a worse Home Secretary than Priti Patel, architect of the despicable Rwanda policy, but along comes Suella Braverman saying, “Hold my eh, whatever this is… I think it might be some sort of law book, but I’ve only ever used it to prop up a wonky kitchen table.”
Braverman is the Attorney General whose big idea for dealing with government policies which are found to be unlawful is to prohibit government lawyers from telling ministers that their policies are unlawful. You don’t have to be a lawyer to know that ignorance of the law is no defence, but ignorance of the law is Suella Braverman’s operating principle. Braverman has consistently voted against laws to promote equality and human rights, voted against equal marriage for same sex couples, and wants to take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights. Before she was eliminated as a candidate in the Conservative leadership contest, Braverman said that article 3 of the ECHR was ‘tying the government’s hands’. Article 3 stipulates: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
If you feel that your government is being prevented from implementing its policies because of an international treaty prohibition on torture or inhuman and degrading treatment, it might just be your government’s policies which are the problem, not the human rights legislation that makes the policies unlawful.
To have Suella Braverman holding one of the great offices of state is possibly the grimmest indictment imaginable of contemporary British politics. God help us all. The only way it could get any worse would be to have Jacob Rees-Mogg as the business secretary and put in charge of employment rights and environmental protections. Oh, wait.
The right wing British nationalist extremists of the European Research Group are now in charge of the UK. The Tories have completed their transformation into Ukip. We got into this position thanks to a combination of a sclerotic British constitution which is utterly incapable of holding power to account or putting limits on the power of the occupant of Downing Street, a system operating on privilege and patronage which perpetuates inequality and rewards greed. These shortcomings have been magnified and exacerbated by a media which sees its primary job as defending the status quo. If the BBC was actually doing the job we expect of it – to hold power to account, it shouldn’t be necessary for Led by Donkeys to spell out the realities of Johnson’s legacy. But the BBC thinks that the only power which needs to be held to account is the power held by the Scottish Government.
There are reports that Truss will be making a big announcement within the first few days of her leadership about the steps her government will be taking to tackle the frightening rise in energy bills. There are rumours of a price cap, which will be the very least that is required, although as always with the Tories the devil is in the small print. Nevertheless it may win Truss some short term plaudits, especially with the right wing press, but it won’t last, no amount of gilding on this turd of a government can disguise its repellent nature. Truss and her ERG allies will soon be picking fights with Brussels, they will be coming for your employment rights and for environmental protections, and they will be attacking democracy itself in Scotland and undermining the devolution settlement. Truss’s political honeymoon will be as short lived as the relief of everyone with a sense of decency and humanity when they heard that Priti Patel had resigned as Home Secretary.
Truss has won this election, and everyone else has lost. The Conservatives excel at mediocrity. Please make it stop.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Well said.
…. And the bbc toe the political line. It’s all to do with the Ukraine or covid but not Brexit or austerity. It is everyones but the greedy unionist tories and their greedy energy and financial backers.
Noticed that comments on the Beeb were permitted for the SNP’s plan to mitigate some of the cost of living issues, and the majority of comments were anything from “Communism”, to “Give England the Vote And We’ll Get Rid”, and so on.
They really don’t stop and check the mirror often, do they?
Grimmer than mogg, overloaded with cruella cheesy smugness of trussness.
Clearly the ex-pm is not just coveting the gold wallpaper he didn’t pay for…wonder if it’s laced with ears, maybe maggots festering their bloatedness as he gloats his butcher’s shreddies back under the table in a flurry of media attention-seeking.
What a bloody mess it all is.
Well said Paul. The fact that Truss is to be crowned in Scotland is an insult and they know that. The world media will hopefully see that for what it is, a massive two fingers being displayed to Scotland and an attempt to out do Nicola Sturgeon, as if Truss is even fit to shine the FM’s shoes lol!
A bit O/T but relevant.
Hmm, as for the ECHR, scary. I was just looking up the pros and many cons of smart meters. My supplier BritNat gas (not by choice) insists they send someone round to chat about it when I have not given them consent to do so. So reading the bit at wikipedia about smart meters re the UK roll out, where there has been serious criticism especially re the £billions being spent that we are all paying for via our fuel bills, and the last paragraph is very scary indeed. Apparently an economist at OFGEM raised concerns and was threatened with imprisonment on the grounds of breaching ‘national security’. The employment appeal tribunal found that the ‘law’ was ‘in contravention of the EHCR’. If that had been removed then as the Tories are planning to do now (does red Tory Starmer approve of that as well?) the person could have ended up in prison for a long time. So of course, they could use ‘national security’ as a way to remove free speech on so many levels, it’s absolutely terrifying.
Scotland get the heck away before they can do that!
I meant the ECHR, European Convention on Human Rights.
A little cautionary tale from the mid-1980s – *before* these scare stories started appearing and water had been re-nationalised in Cymru.
A family in North West Wales discovered one day that the water coming out of their taps was an odd brown colour. Obviously, untreated and suitable for drinking or any other use. Consequently, a daily visit to a local spring was called for in order to fill buckets. In such a way washing, washing up and cups of tea could still (safely) be done and made.
Complaints were made to Welsh Water/Dŵr Cymru by letter were made (this is before the internet, of course), and being a family reliant on Income Support (as was), no phone had been installed in the house as the bills would have been too expensive. Replies came there none.
However, at the appointed time, the annual water bill duly arrived. The head of the household promptly declared the family would only pay half (6 months’ worth) of the said bill – the only period of time when the water was actually fit for consumption.
Within a couple of weeks a letter from Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water arrived informing the head of the household that he had been found guilty of non-payment of the Water Rate at a specially convened court in Cardiff (almost 200 miles to the south), where, without warning of said court case or the right to legal representation, said head of household would be obliged to pay the bill in full AND the court fine AND the company’s costs. Failure to do so, said the letter, would result in imprisonment for non-payment.
Matters proceeded apace with all evidence being lodged with the local MP, Plaid Cymru President at the time, Dafydd Wigley. He then set the appropriate wheels in motion and almost at once a truckload of Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water arrived to clean out the water pipes and make the water useable again. The court’s verdict was quashed – again, in absentia of the head of the household.
Dafydd Wigley was the hero of the hour and the moneygrubbers at Dŵr Cymru/Welsh Water would forever be consigned the rôle of pantomime villains.
Astute Duggers will know where this story is heading …
Yes, the family in question is mine.
And the head of the household who took on the water company after they had initially intended to fine and/or incarcerate him for non-payment was my late, beloved Father.
Great to read this I’m so glad your late father fought against the nasty greedy grubbing water company. Great result, and easy to forget days of having no internet, and no phone.
Superb WS. A big well done to yer dearly departed dad
And to Dafydd Wigley! 🙂
I agree, these are desperate times with desperate idiots in charge. The problem with despots is they can’t tolerate dissent. The ballot box is supposed to be the place where we elect our leaders to carry out our wishes. But the Tories have now chosen yet another leader than nobody in Scotland voted for. n no way could this be described as a democracy.
Some say Truss may have difficulty implementing some of her (policies *notions*) because there are still some human beings within the Tory party who would oppose her, but do not be surprised if one of the first things she does in order to forge ahead with her broomstick of fire is to declare a national emergency crisis which instantly gives her and her *team* ultimate authority to override not only the will of parliament, but the will of anybody who gets in her way, she can in effect sweep all law constitution and human rights aside, and guess who’s idea that one was? well it was the DUP who proposed this because with power like that Truss can sweep aside all opposition in Northern Ireland to the throwing out of the NI protocols, plus she can put a halt to all devolution processes in each of our countries of this misbegotten UK , basically declaring total cold frozen war on Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland at a stroke
Wait for it
I really think if she tried that there would be riots in the streets in England and up here too. I think it more likely she will order our army to invade Russia and I am only half kidding with that remark
I don’t think she’d do that, the UK is set to make so much more money from selling weapons to Ukraine so why would she want to spend the UKs own money fighting Putin when she’s got a good going business selling other people the bang bang stuff
She might think it’s Romania by mistake?
Oi, behave – Leave Romania out of this United Queendom screw-up, even if Dizzy Liz doesn’t know her Baltics from her Blacks, nor does her Prime Charlatan. 😉
Ok, ruritania 😀
Many people (myself included) are in favour of the UK (and other countries) supporting Ukraine resist the Russian invasion of their country.
Maintaining public support will be a challenge over the coming months as the economic outlook worsens.
If the government wish to maintain public support for Ukraine they must avoid using it as a smokescreen for their own failures and need to implement policies which will minimise the financial impact of maintaining support for Ukraine on public.
Appropriate cloudburst over PMs Truss and Johnston
So Lizz Truss is apparently a ‘libertarian’ a gushing BBC reporter told me on world service as I drove home:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism
She was keen to emphasise the importance of ‘freedom and democracy’ in her [absolutely pants] maiden speech…
…Except, of course, if you are not English/British. If you are Scottish, Irish, Welsh… or other maybe some sort of non-English/British type, such as a migrant, then freedom and democracy don’t apply to you.
I think my favourite bit of the programme was the interview with the American journalist who, after the BBC guy positively gushed about Biden mentioning the ‘special relationship’ in the same way Douglas Ross would react to an English Tory MP remembering his name, went on to be at paints to point out how nobody in the US had a clue who Truss was, that Biden is more Irish than Mrs Doyle, and so won’t stand for any messing with the protocol. That quickly terminated requests for more input from our American friend.
Much being made by BBC Scotland of residential landlords’ outrage at the temporary freezing of rents in Scotland until next March. Interesting context on the rental market is available from Rightmove’s Rental Trends Tracker, last updated for April-June 2022.
See https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/content/uploads/2022/07/Rental-Trends-Tracker-Q2-2022-Final.pdf
Headline: ‘Rents grow at fastest annual rate in 16 years’.
– ‘National average asking rents outside London hit another new record of £1,126 per calendar month (pcm), rising 3.5% from last quarter and 11.8% higher than last year
– ‘Average asking rents outside London have now jumped by 19% (+£177) in the two years since the pandemic started, the same growth in rents that took eight years pre-pandemic to reach
– ‘This quarter’s 3.5% jump in asking rents is the second highest in ten years
– ‘Rightmove revises forecast upwards from 5% to 8% growth in asking rents by the end of the year’
– ‘Average monthly rental payments are now 40% higher than they were ten years ago, while average mortgage payments for the same properties are up 13%
– ‘Despite challenges, more landlords are planning to expand their portfolios in the coming 12 months (34%) than reduce them (11%)’.
A relevant context in which to place any outrage, one that viewers and listeners will of course never be helped by BBC Scotland to gain!
Just digesting (but not stomaching) the fact that Therese Coffey is Deputy Prime Minister.
Ye Gods!
A fine bunch of Hogarthian grotesques. (Tony Hancock)
OT, but last night I watched the Ch5 documentary about the English riots of 11 years ago. Pretty frightening, the conditions were similar to present day, austerity and poverty – and the event causing it was the shooting of a Mr Duggan ( a young black man) by the police, in the street.
Today, on the news a man ( a young black man) has been shot by police in a street in London!!
When Johnson was in trouble the current new Depute prime minister🤣. Cleverly etcetera all appeared on bbc tv with Marr and co and lied on his behalf.
They are back in charge but with promotions.
How I detest the tories and those who keep them in power to attack Scotland.
Are ye wi us or agin us?🏴
Today the much demonized FM of Scotland announced that there would be no rent rises between now and March 2023, she also banned evictions and the extra child benefit raised to £25 would now also include up to 16 year olds. She does this within a limited budget set by Westminster. Truss on the other hand with an unlimited access to funds suspends further increases to utility bills but you’ll have to pay it back over the next 10 or 20 yrs, oh and the right wing nutter who presided over the DWP is now put in charge of the NHS.
Debt and death the Tory trademark.
Why do I feel it’s not going to go well?
And it’s not even their first day
Even professor poultice says no matter what they do about or to Scotland it’s too late, they just keep turning more and more Scots against them
I nearly forgot, Professor Poultice also said even if the supreme court rules in favour of the Scottish government it’s probable that Truss will just make a new law and dismiss the judgement of the Supreme court
There’s a strange acceptance now in people who speak casually and openly about the UK government’s fascism as though it’s something normal and to be expected in this so called voluntary union
Except, as I keep pointing out, making voting illegal doesn’t work. Not unless you are prepared to put boots on the ground to enforce it. Democracy trumps all; if a vote represents the will of the people expressed freely without duress, then it stands, even if declared illegal by those that would try to suppress self-determination.
The Spanish Supreme Court failed utterly to prevent the Catalan referendum. Declaring it illegal made no difference at all. Another nation / people declaring it illegal would have carried no weight internationally (which is what matters) if a clear majority had voted Yes on a strong turnout. So in went the federal troops to stop people voting, steal ballot boxes, close down the Catalan parliament, take control of policing and arrest Catalan politicians. There was no other choice open to Spain if they wanted to ‘win’ and take control of the situation. A Yes vote of any margin on a decent turnout could not simply be declared ‘illegal’. The political pressure would have been immense to acknowledge what had happened and enter negotiations of some form, even for more autonomy.
Our independence cannot be stopped if we want it. The only way is to stop us voting at all. Hell, we don’t need Holyrood; we can just hold our own referendum like Brian Souter if we want. Nor do we need to wait for a UKGE for a plebiscite. Our MSPs can do what those in NI are doing by stepping down and forcing a new Holyrood election on an indy plebiscite. Or our 48/59 (81%) of MPs could step down and trigger by-elections to stand on an indy ticket or to completely withdraw SF style, so removing any mandate for Westminster to govern Scotland under its own electorate rules. The people can keep speaking unless you stop them speaking completely. Which is why dictators rig elections or stop them completely, using boots on the ground to enforce that. Simply declaring votes illegal just doesn’t work.
The outcome of the SC finding will not change whether we become independent or not. It will just influence the route by which that will happen; if that is, it is the will of the people. Which it is for at least 50%, with more giving it serious thought (hence we have previously peaked clearly at over 50%). Each time, time is eating away at the union, with British / English nationalists doing everything to further erode support for Scottish unionism.
The very worst outcome for unionism would be the SC ruling we need England’s permission. It would be a nail in he coffin of unionism; probably the final one. Unionism is based on the premise that we are Scots and we are freely choosing to be part of the UK. If we are not in the union by free choice, then there is no union so no such thing as unionism nor unionist parties. There are no arguments for the union as if we have no choice, such things are nullified. How can their be a campaign for the union if are not free to choose? All we are left with is enforced (by violence*) English [sic British] nationalism.
The union can only be saved by convincing Scots to support it. There is ultimately no other way.
That said, remember that English nationalist politicians are clueless about Scotland. They don’t understand it at all. Previously, we (broadly) had British unionists in charge in London (pro-EU), and they sought the opinion of Scottish unionists (likewise pro-EU) in making decisions. That led to acceptance of devolution and a degree of engagement. Now we have English nationalists seeking the thoughts, if they do at all, of British nationalists in Scotland; people who don’t understand Scots at all either because they literally are of another nationality, i.e. British (not Scottish). So every moved made is becoming a wrong one.
—
*Making something illegal means you must use violence to enforce it. Ultimately, jailing people against their will is what must be used to make a law enforceable, and that is a form of physical violence. Ask opposition politicians and protesters in dictatorships…
Liz Truss busy assembling the Cabinet of all the talentless !
Johnson’s lot were poor but Liz is determined to show him that there is no depth she will not plumb to find even more useless creatures than Rabb , Shapps and Eustice.
However , she has had to admit defeat when it came to appointing a Scottish Secretary – there was no one worse than Alister Jack so he retains his job as the most anonymous SoSS since Mundell .
Poor David Mundell ! His monumental a*se licking over the Leadership campaign has not seen him rewarded – yet ! He may yet attain a position commensurate with his ability if there is a need for someone to wring out cloths for a one armed window cleaner .
The NHS in England has a boozy , cigar smoking heartless Therese Coffey as its new leader , a woman who mocked the poor when Universal Benefit was cut by £20 by the Billionaire Chancellor , Richi Cynic ( where is he now ? ) – what could possibly go wrong ?
Priti Patel has been replaced by a wannabe Priti Patel in Suella Braverman , a lawyer who is so inept she makes Dominic Rabb look like Perry Mason !
The Foreign Office has James Cleverly , who is anything but , although he won’t be as inept as his predecessor if he knows the difference between the Baltic and the Black Seas.
New Chancellor , Kwasi Kwarteng , is a breath of fresh air for the Tories , having a background of Eton , Daily Telegraph , J P Morgan and was an outspoken supporter of Owen Paterson when accused of lobbying for the measly sum of £400,000 . So he will inject a dose of much needed integrity to that Office .
A new post of Cheese Minister is soon to be announced with two candidates vieing for the position . The clever money is on the outsider , Gromit , although do not be surprised if Mr Wallace wins in what would be a close shave .
It hasn’t been confirmed as yet but Lord Voldemort has been whispered as the new Minister for Muggles with special responsibility for The N.I. Protocol . It is thought that it would take a bit of magic to sort that one out .
ERG: “In the period leading up to the EU referendum ten members of ERG acted in an official capacity for Vote Leave:
Michael Gove
Iain Duncan Smith
Liam Fox
Chris Grayling
Priti Patel
John Whittingdale
Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Bernard Jenkin”
The Atlantic Bridge: “ The Atlantic Bridge Research and Education Scheme was an educational charity founded in 1997 with Margaret Thatcher as its president to promote Atlanticism, an ideology of cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States regarding political, economic, and defence issues. It was set up by Liam Fox, former Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom.[1] Cabinet ministers Michael Gove, George Osborne and William Hague,[2] and Chris Grayling have previously sat on its advisory panel, as have American senators Jon Kyl, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman. The organisation’s principal staff included Catherine Bray (US Executive Director), Adam Werritty (UK Executive Director) and Kara Watt (Operations Director).[2]
It was dissolved in September 2011, following a critical report from the Charity Commission the previous year.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Bridge
The Guardian is one of the few that have reported on that, e.g.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/02/corporate-dark-money-power-atlantic-lobbyists-brexit
And one more for luck and some dot-joining:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
Stop the planet, I want to get off.
Surely he should be writing about neofascism – nothing liberal about this lot
Neofacism is a political ideology based on facism,I think we could rightly attribute that to the Thatcher era although commonly revered to as Thatcherism, we’re all the way there now, the UK is a racist state.
Should read uk is a fascist state.
This comment needs to go straight to moderation.
And will possibly never see the light of day.
If it survives the process, and goes on the thread……
here’s my updated take on the current and future course of events…
1) Miss Truss will announce and implement an extensive package to assist with the cost of living and energy. Thereby achieving a boost and growing public acceptance and support for her new government over the next 3 to 4 months, thereby extending the ‘honeymoon period’ of the new government.
2a) The SC rules in favour of Holyrood and the referendum.
Westminster announces a snap election which pushes the referendum date on significantly. And they use the strap “your referendum is coming so you can’t use this election as a plebiscite”
2b) The SC rules against Holyrood and the referendum.
Westminster offers a S30 with strings attached, a week to 10 days later a snap election is announced which pushes the referendum date on significantly. And they use the strap “your referendum is guaranteed so you can’t use this election as a plebiscite”
3) The general election goes ahead in late November, early December or early 2023 when the maximum boost from the support package is calculated to occur during the extended honeymoon period of the new westminster government. Giving the tories an unchallengeable majority for the next 5 years. They then proceed to roll back and or eliminate anything which limits or impinges on their total authority. This could well be the last general election for westminster in a very, very long time.
4) ‘Referendum’ “you’ve had that”.
The Devolution experiment is over and will now be dismantled, Holyrood is to be rented out for use as an international hotel.
5) Westminster MPs start fighting like cats and dogs (what’s new) over the most lucrative position in the westminster government
“Secretary General/Governor of Scotland”
Irrespective of what they say or do, Scotland’s future.
Is not their decision to make. It is ours and ours alone.
At the first opportunity we must register our will with the international community.
Whatever comes first election or referendum. The terms of how we use our voice must not be limited or dictated by the colonial power.
Bampot Truss wont call an election, like broon she is now a hostage to fortune, or johnson returning within the next12 months.
She has pissed off majority backbench of mps with her cabinet of erg members.
Businesses are failing.
She faces the energy crisis, the markets are watching closely and if she borrows to hilt to pay for tax cuts, the market will react. Already bond prices are rising and will rise more if she does the tax cuts. This matters because it increases the cost of UK gov borrowing.
I would not be suprised if we see an IMF intervention very soon for the UK.
Think 1970s, but worse for UK economy.
In addition, unions have complained to UN and are loking at joined up strikes over the winter. The NHS is collapsing in England.
On top of that she is threatening the NI agreement with EU reaction being ending the trade agreement with collapse of UK economy as a result.
Bampot Truss is going to be too busy spinning plates and reacting to the shitbombs going off all around her to call an election and have any chance of winning.
What the UK is currently facing would challenge even a competent PM like Blair or (i dont like her but she was competent) Thatcher.
Bampot Truss is just an imbecile, unable to strategise on anything.
There is more chance , of the UK collapsing USSR style, of her winning an election.
If you watched the BBC, I switched most of it off but seen enough to get the gist of it, you would think the Tories had just been swept to power in a democratic vote. A new government replacing 12 years of failure rather than mostly the same people being shuffled around.
What we have now is the party of government with is members/donors in control of pretty much all the media, even to the extent they work against Scotland’s main party then laugh it off when questioned.
In Scotland the BBC now reporting what a mate has told him regarding the rent freeze, what next ‘in a discussion with my taxi driver’. According to them, and of course Alba supporters, the rent freeze is a con as rents only go up in April, this might be true for social housing but is pish about the private sector. The March date is probably linked to the Scottish budget, we haven’t been told how much pocket money we are to be given yet.
You are on the money.
Just listened to coffey say that the problem is that the last labour government has left truss with a huge task to fix.
The last 12 years haven’t happened then.
As expected we are now witnessing a very unsubtle emergence of a supposed NEW Dawn via Truss as the NEW Leader of a party where we see many of her NEW cabinet members are NEW ministers to the cabinet…… apparently they were appointed by her because of their loyalty to her in the leadership contest….the one or two who have KEPT their positions as members in the NEW cabinet ,who were also formally in the OLD cabinet , did so because of they willingness to serve TWO masters at the same time as in their support and loyalty for both the OLD leader and the NEW (anticipated) leader…..ministers which includes Alister Jack who is WM man in Scotland.
The media , as expected, are focusing ALL of our attention on this political circus while the unsavoury fact of how this came about is now being flushed doon the proverbial lavvy pan and thus the public are being asked to erase their memories of past times via the SAME party of the NEW leader and her NEW cabinet members and thus we all should try to sustain ourselves, as the public, with aspirations (false ones naturally) as Boris is now to be consigned to bad history and thus best forgotten….(though the NEW leader has tried to do her part in rewriting the history of the OLD leader….purely to keep those voters still supportive of him onboard)
Or so they hope……also just forget that the NEW leader of SAME party was formally a member of HIS cabinet and thus an enabler of his bad politics…..a mere minor point of little significance in the NEW dawn of the NEW party led by the NEW leader formally aligned with the OLD leader….cue the media to do their REAL job (as in continue to try to gaslight us all with glaring omissions, fake news , conflicting (non) facts and contentious and misleading headlines to enable further Tory support)
(False) Hope and (Fake) aspirations as dictated by the NEW leader of the SAME party that ousted the OLD leader of that SAME party….for reasons (valid ones but not worth further scrutiny or condemnation by the MSM and alternate NEW media ).
JR Mogg supported both the OLD leader and the NEW leader….thus keeping a position in the NEW leader’s cabinet albeit a different position.
When JR Mogg was still supporting the OLD leader he maintained that :
a) He would NOT serve as a cabinet minister under any NEW leader.
b) If the party CHOSE a NEW leader they would have to hold a GE.
This he did to try and SAVE the OLD leader….BUT…..that position like all of JR Mogg’s OTHER previous supposed principled positions did not last long…..and thus he proceeded to act in a very predictable Tory way in that he adopted the self preservation mode to enhance HIS own career via the NEW leader of the SAME party as the OLD leader….
If any media person tries to hold Mogg to account for this supposed previous position(s) he will deploy his usual flippant response with a touch of bad Latin…..expecting as always that as a Tory he need NEVER be truly held to account in the same way he has held OUR FM to account for any previous remarks she has made…….where they as remarks from her apparently must stand until the end of time as opposed to Mogg’s supposed principled position being so flexible to the extent that they can change dependent on how beneficial it is for him and his career and THE party……
I despair at how some of the public are seemingly so willing to MOVE ON as if the OLD leader’s time in office was but a bad dream ……..and those SAME politicians who previously had starring roles in that BAD dream via the OLD leader are still around to have starring roles in the NIGHTMARE of this NEW leader’s time in office……UK politics truly is but just a vicious circle……
And apparently tis a circle it appears that we in Scotland are not ALLOWED to leave…..even though it s clear that the circle is now not just a vicious one but also one that is doomed…..with the NEW leader of the SAME party as the OLD leader trying to STEAL powers away from us and the NEW leader of the so called opposition party trying to also keep us in the circle by yet again promising to GIVE us NEW powers…
( The same NEW powers that we supposedly had via ‘promises’ made in 2014 that THEY said were already GIVEN to us then…..confused ?…..you should be….as that is their speciality and weapon of choice in saving THEIR (non) Union….as they too are fully paid members and contributors to the vicious circle within UK politics)…..
If any of the above makes no sense then apologies….I have Covid and I feel utterly miserable and lousy but hopefully I will be over it soon….mind you when do I EVER make sense in my comments on here…..LOL
Have a nice day everyone……
Can’t really disagree with him on this.
https://archive.ph/OVJN7
Putin says Truss victory in Tory leadership vote ‘far from democratic’
Vladimir Putin has said the way Britain chooses its leaders is “far from democratic”, a day after Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as prime minister.
In his first public comments on Truss’s appointment, the Russian president alluded to the fact she was chosen in a leadership ballot by members of the Conservative party, not by the whole country.
“The people of Great Britain don’t take part, in this instance, in the change of government. The ruling elites there have their arrangements,” he told an economic forum in Vladivostok.
Pot and kettle
Absolutely, but the fact Putin can correctly point out how undemocratic the UK is [too], says a lot about our situation.
It’s not the political systems which are just the problem, it’s mostly the people who become politician’s. It seems the greedy, despotic and corrupt will ooze their way to positions of power no matter what system is in place.
The more the reward the worse the characters become, that’s why Scotland currently is fairly clean, you can’t rifle a system based on just pocket money. No doubt when we become independent the same charlatans will appear, I think I’ve spotted a few potentials in the unionist seats.
Gauleiter Union Jack is still in post as if anyone would notice.
Liz Truss Cabinet sees Alister Jack stay on as Scottish Secretary
https://archive.ph/mdXiS
This is Luke Graham who was parachuted in from Swindon in 2017.
‘Sinister’ call for Liz Truss to ‘use Scottish education to promote Union’
https://archive.ph/GUAIa
D-oh. Didn’t refresh before posting below! Still, I’ve added my thoughts!
Next it will be Chinese style ‘re-education’ camps.
‘Sinister’ call for Liz Truss to ‘use Scottish education to promote Union’
THE former head of Boris Johnson’s “Union Unit” has called on Liz Truss to intervene in the Scottish education system and use it to “fortify the foundations” of the Union.
In a bizarre intervention after her premiership was confirmed, Luke Graham, the former member for Ochil and South Perthshire (now John Nicolson, SNP), urged Truss to use Scottish schools and universities to actively promote the Union.
As education is a devolved policy area, Graham, who ran Downing Street’s Union Unit for three years after losing his seat, claimed the curriculum had been “weaponised”.
Graham, in a joint opinion piece in The Times with Ed McGuinness, London-based chairman of Islington Conservatives, also claimed that Scots getting free university tuition encourages students to remain in the country and “not expand their cultural and educational horizons”.
Say unionists who ended Erasmus and the freedom of young Scots to go to uni for free (or for the tiniest token fees) in 33 other countries, including England, Wales and N. Ireland.
I personally think it would be a great idea to educate young Scots about what British / English politicians have done to severely curtail their ability to ‘expand their cultural and educational horizons’ while lumping their fellow young folk in the other nations of the UK with eye-watering levels of debt.
Oops. Link: https://archive.ph/GUAIa
Typical Tory tactic, accuse others of doing something they themselves intend to do, as in attempting to have the curriculum “weaponised”?
It seems to me that the sanest and easiest solution to his complaint is to make universities in England free instead of railing that Scots students don’t want to be saddled with insane levels of debt.
Because of my age I was in school when the Union style indoctrination of the *nation* was in full force, everything taught was in the context of Britishness which as we all know is Englishness, no Scottish history or geography, the enforcement of correct English language use on pain of the Tawse (remember that?) thou shalt not use Scots words (then referred to as *slang*) because in schools teachings then there was no such language as Scots, there was no such *country* as Scotland, only a satellite constituent of the UK
The Labour party were the political power in Scotland throughout that time, they controlled the councils, they controlled the unions, they controlled every aspect of Scottish life, they controlled the identity of Scottish people, those were the days when hospital upgrades meant the council sent in mates who were painters then went on holiday with the money they saved on actual infrastructure and equipment
The Labour days of the infamous brown envelope, now we have the infamous days of the Tories and the corporate backhander and a peerage for the CEO
These people don’t change, there’s a great deal of money available for them not to
When i was was at primary, many many many years ago, Scottish history was taught.
We got the romans, picts, kenneth mcalpine, william wallace, robert the bruce, stewarts, asasignation of James I, the gowrie plot, union of crowns…
I wonder if what was taught in schools depended upon where in Scotland you grew up and went to School?
As you sound like you had a very different experience to the one I had at School.
I think it depended very much on your school and whether teachers (notably the head) were Scottish or British. Likely influenced by the local council too.
I grew up in the Highlands with a Scottish primary head teacher who ensured we learned about the history of our country. I then moved to East Lothian and all that stopped in my school there.
Primary school in Stenhousemuir 1950s. Scottish history was taught not in any great depth but that was true of most subjects at Primary level because they had/have a lot of subjects to teach. But at least you knew the subject existed and, being taught to read, meant you could pursue it for yourself if so minded probably at that age via fiction novels. Also School trip to Stirling Castle and Wallace Monument.
Then Scots language via Burns and the annual Burns Poetry competition where you learned then recited a Burns poem and got a certificate. How many of you can get through the 1st verse of ‘To a Mouse’ and which of you was the class swot who recited ‘Tam o’Shanter’? Still going strong if schools want to take part.
Then the class reader. Friday afternoons when the teacher would read a book over several Fridays. I remember the ‘Drover’s Lad’ and another one was ‘The Wee McGreegor’. Years later I managed to find copies of them and bought them.
Yes there was likely to be variation in part depending on the teacher’s own interest and in part because the curriculum was perhaps less prescriptive.
As a wee warning; Truss might surprise people -including herself.
One + years people can vote. UK GE. Get rid of the Tories. Scotland can have an Indy Vote. Get rid of the unionists. A ref soon.