Sorry, but there won’t be a new blog post today or for a couple of days. Unfortunately I have had a major tech disaster. My laptop has died and I am going to have to buy a new one. There’s nothing sinister going on, it was just an elderly machine and it has finally given up the ghost. I have borrowed my husband’s work laptop to write this. I had hoped that the old laptop would last out until the next annual crowdfunder in the summer, but the machine would not boot up at all this morning and my resident tech expert tells me it is a gonner.
This is a big expense I have not budgeted for. I hate to ask, but if readers could help by making a donation to my PayPal account I will be able to get up and running much more quickly. Thank you very much.
______________________________________________________
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Let me know if you need any help transfering the files from your old machine to your new one
I know what a disaster it is when this happens – my own refurbished desktop is beginning to creak and I don’t know WHAT I shall do when the inevitable happens. I sincerely wish I could help, Paul.
Ooft, well it was about time you got off Windows 95 anyway. 😉
Happy enough to pre-empt the crowd-funder Paul but it would be direct to account as previously. Is that an issue ?
That’s fine, thank you very much. Same account details as before.
Understood, having already missed today’s transfer window will fire it through this evening.
Done
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Sorry to hear about your laptop and I’ve made a donation towards its replacement. May I ask what you mean by “nothing sinister going on”? Why would there be?
Because often people leap to the assumption that it’s hacking or something malicious. It wasn’t, just an elderly laptop that had reached the end of its useful life.
I have an excellent condition, half decent laptop which I don’t use and you are welcome to it.
I’m in East kilbride if you’d like to pick it up drop me a message
Russ
Thank you. That’s very kind of you but unfortunately I can’t drive and public transport is challenging for me. I have already ordered a new one on Amazon.
Sorry to hear that Paul. Small donation sent. Best of luck and thanks for all the brilliant writing.
Sorry to hear that, wee donation made, hope you can get your new laptop soon.
My tuppenceworth in. Good luck with rescuing your data. You deserve some time off anyway after a great run of articles.
John Swinney budget statement now:
https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/meeting-of-the-parliament-december-15-2022
Small donation made. Mind and avoid Windows 3.1 machines going cheap though..
3.1 I’m just old enough to have used that. Consider myself of the W95 generation though.
Och the good old days of buying a box, motherboard, CPU, graphics card, memory, HDD… floppy disk that will load the CD-Rom drivers to get the Windows install CD working…
Press the on button with fingers crossed!
Always happens at the wrong time! I’ve a nice mini form HP slice desktop I bought renewed a few of years ago at a bargain price that’s gonnae give up the ghost soon. Fan keeps going bananas and it BSOD’d me the other week. Got another renewed machine coming to replace it, but seems the postal strikes are slowing things down with DPD.
No probs as I have nice wee laptop too for when I’m mobile.
I definitely recommend folks look at renewed machines, such as on Amazon. You can get a very powerful desktop (box only) for £100. Often in perfect nick as they’re ex-office and never been moved around. If you are not a gamer and just using office, desktop publishing etc, and not processing loads of high-res video, there’s no need for the kind of specs you see in the latest laptops. Peeps certainly don’t need a 9 core CPU for Word, Netflix and ranting about indy on the internet!
Good for the environment too to re-use!
Anyway, chipped in as I know how painful it is to be PC less, and of course for the cause! 🙂
Wee drop in the ocean donated. Keyboard must’ve ‘burnt out’ with the ‘on fire’ blogs being well-fired out of recent days…thank you Paul for your hard work and inspirational writing
{laugh}
Yes, as if simultaneously assaulted by blowtorch and hammer!
😂☺️
Just made a wee donation to try help you out Paul. Good luck with the fundraiser and Merry Christmas. 🏴🏴🏴🏴
Donation made Paul
All the best
Scottish Daily Mail front page:
“Why did Nicola’s husband lend SNP £107,000?”
So basically speaking they’ve made it headline news that the guy is honest, a decent person, and dedicated to the SNP of which he is their generous and personally supportive Chief Executive.
Nice one SDM, I always knew you were YES voters.
Why does Dr Jim *give* money every week to the SNP direct from his bank account? I don’t even ask for it back
I am guilty
Dr j, alias Nicola— you’re covers blown.
Dammit! me and my big gub
It’s quite sad really, if the “forensic journalist” and his unionist media followers had checked the HMRC section of the UK Gov website, and perhaps followed on from there to business advice sites, a lot of blushes could have been avoided.
https://www.gov.uk/directors-loans
“Your personal and company tax responsibilities depend on whether the director’s loan account is:
overdrawn – you owe the company
in credit – the company owes you”
Directors loan accounts are probably particularly the friend of micro-entities, too busy trying to do business to keep track through the year until the y/e accounts are prepared, so either being underpaid or overpaid, and effectively paying it off very shortly after that accounting.
And yes, it does involve at times actually transferring money TO the business account to pay for supplies – specially with slow payers who you give credit to for some daft reason like marketplace competition – and let the accounting catch up laterzzz.
The articles have been good for a laugh all the same 🙂
You have to laugh
Thing is, to make sure ScotGov doesn’t overspend in a financial year it has to plan to underspend, hence why extra funds are nearly always found near year end – or before at need. £20m is not a lot – perhaps “the Murrells” could kindly lend the money to them 🙂
It’s also how relatively small last minute budget changes can happen – just reduce the planned cushion (underspend). But more generally, why extra funds are allocated in the last few months, to various projects. Actually the budget for an Indy Ref was there at need in the last budget, and the one before, for those who can do figures. Weaved through the budget – genuinely.
I daresay some people who are complaining actually know that and are being disengenuous, but others genuinely don’t know.
I’ve given hundreds of ‘grubby’ donations myself.
I’m married to another member too!
In other words anything rather than report on what seems to have been a very reasonable budget. That donation and the ‘leak’ providing squirrels in abundance
I think it was the French Ambassador up to his tricks again!!
Who benefits from the allegations are probably the perpetrators-
I read the BBC and National reports on this and I still don’t see what the accusation is supposed to be.
There isn’t an accusation, it’s the “no smoke without fire” gambit to feed the gammons.
– In the HMS James Cook’s case there was inference by parking the article alongside the Natalie McGarry Appeal story with “embezzlement” included prominently in the headline – Both stories are still there on the Scotland/Politics page despite having nothing to do with Scotland’s politics in reality.
They’ve now shifted to milking the Scottish Budget for all it’s worth with 3 articles(2 with comments open to allow the “Nicola ate my hamster” brigade to froth), and a 4th from James Cook himself.
The amount it seems is £107,620 and the question some ask is:
“Why such a specific amount?”
the clue is in the odd specific amount. Only the clueless would ask such a clueless question.
Trying to donate but no luck with one off payment section ….a circle keeps rotating without moving on to payment section …regards Alice
Sent from my iPad
>
I hope you can get a new laptop soo Paul. You can get really good refurbished ones as well, my son bought me one and it’s been great. He knew what to look for though to get a good laptop that would last and has all that solid state hard drive stuff I know little about. Good to get advice if you can. Try ‘Simply fix it’ shops, there are a couple in Edinburgh and maybe Glasgow? Also recycled, there will be community run places in Glasgow I’m sure, can’t remember the name of the ones in Edinburgh…
An early Merry Christmas Paul. I’ve donated, nothing worse than having no laptop and I would miss your writing
Paul. Is a new laptop not a legitimate business expense? I would have thought so, having been self employed myself. You can’t do your job without it, so I’m fairly sure you could buy a new one and write off the cost against tax.
Yes, I can write it off against tax – but I still have to buy it first. I won’t actually be able to write it off until I do my tax return next year, but I need one now! I already bought one on Amazon yesterday. I paid extra for next day delivery but I got an email today saying that it won’t be delivered until tomorrow. I can borrow my husband’s when he is not using it, but he needs it for work.
O/T but why is the BBC not frothing at the mouth over the budget leaks, surely prime territory for bringing the SNP and SG into disrepute – could it be it wasn’t the SNP that leaked it? Mmmm
The Westminster and Tory corruption is massive. On a massive scale. Illegal donations, through tax havens. Wasted £Billions of taxpayers monies,public money with their appalling corruption. Westmibster lie and cheats and kills people. On an unprecedented scale. They will be vote out after causing death and misery.
The 3rd list unionists will have leaked the Budget to the corrupt BBC without any doubt.
Illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion. Illegally taking revenues and funds from Scotland. Westminster keeping it secret under the Official Secrets Sct.Breaking International Law with impunity.
Paul, don´t “hate to ask” just ask F.F.S.
John Swinney’s budget speech was impressive. One surprise was:
Independence referendum budget to be diverted to fuel poverty scheme
https://archive.vn/gi09N
A very clever move to follow the UKSC case, and aimed at winning more votes than any shiny campaign brochure could.
UK government takes the vote away from Scots then tries to freeze them to death. Scottish government does the total opposite. Fights for their right to vote, then keeps them warm through the winter of brexit discontent, ready to renew the fight in the spring with polls having shifted even more to yes as a result.
We are fighting a battle of attrition. A harsh winter is upon us. Time to keep the troops warm and fed and not make silly maneuvers. Let the chumps in London do this.
Guess which section of the vote fears the cold the most while are the most reluctant on indy? Aye. Bingo. England is trying to freeze Scots unionists, Swinney is going to help them put the heating on.
I also note that an election plebiscite referendum needs no extra cash as it’s already paid for by the UK. If a referendum does come back into play, £20 m is easy found (0.05% of block grant).
It is a very good thing for the Scotgov to do for people in need, but it’s also seriously shrewd politically too.
“also note that an election plebiscite referendum needs no extra cash as it’s already paid for by the UK.”
Yes, a shrewd move but more importantly confirmation at least to my mind that this was the purpose of seeking the UKSC ruling.
Yes, I am pretty convinced now that the Scotgov totally knew that the UKSC would say no, and so deliberately took it to court to have the English government openly challenge the bill, then hide behind the ruling. This, as predicted, has got Scots hackles up and pushed yes into majority.
6 polls in a row now (including that election plebisittic one) now Yes, including two from no-friendly Yougov show it was extremely shrewd.
I keep saying to people the SNP can’t deliver independence, we need Scots to want it. Getting them to want it isn’t so easy as it’s driven by many factors beyond Scotland’s / the Scot gov’s control, brexit and Westminster included. This was a way of turning the English government’s own weapon on them, so winning votes from something outwith the Scotgov’s control.
The fuel poverty move is doing exactly the same thing. Just like the denial of democracy, the cause is Westminster and pairing the two in this way is politically very clever, in addition to the support for those in need being very welcome.
Hamish Morrison sets out the key elements in the budget.
Scottish Budget: The six key announcements you need to know
https://archive.vn/McjDj
I’m not entirely sure using language like “A *raid* on the earnings of Scotland’s best-off taxpayers” is designed to be helpful when it’s a one pence in the £ increase
That’s hardly a “raid”, but I guess journalists are what they are and can’t resist the use of inflammatory rhetoric
John Swinney unusually animated by the gross stupidity of the Tories.
Liz Smith has no idea what sacrifice means let alone that of Scots facing energy bills and a cost of living crisis entirely due to Tory policy and dogma – Her myopia was such that she walked straight into the trap set by Swinney…
In her world it’s all about scoring political points much as HMS James Cook.
Not so the Scots, they never forget who their friends are…
So true… and it’s great to hear John channel our outrage so precisely. Tories obsess about specks of dust while massive planks in their own policies pass them by completely.
Pretty much, yet to be fair to the Tories, Labour (cough) and let’s not forget ACH-him, they do appear to have more than their fair share of planks and umbrellas at their disposal as well as glenn campbell over on HMS James Cook, that bast…. of democracy and honest journalism
😂
I was amuzes by her comment on the ‘Leak’.
Wasn’t she chastised by the parliament for releasing confidential information?
Short memory tory.
As the NHS descends into total collapse in England both Tories and Labour ministers can be heard worrying over the Covid backlog and blaming the strikers for contributing to the worsening of waiting times and release times of patients
Meanwhile in Scotland the representatives of both Labour and Tories cannot be heard complaining of these same things, as here Covid apparently was a devolved issue and therefore had and has no backlog so the SNP should’ve fixed all that by now to make the SNHS more betterer than everywhere else in the world
Maybe Labour and Tory don’t realise that people in Scotland also watch *the news where they are* in England, and have worked out that Sarwar and DRoss are very naughty wee boys who tell very big fat lies to Scottish people just to get folks to vote for them
Mick Lynch the union guy says the SNP demonstrate more of what Labour values were than Starmers new Tory Labour party, when he also says the SNP are what the Labour party should have been
Sir Keir Thatcher and PM Rishi Thatcher don’t agree with Mr Lynch
I think we’ve all noticed that
To my fellow-ABE supporters and Duggers.
Let’s have a smile for the weekend.
https://nation.cymru/sport/company-left-with-18000-useless-england-world-cup-winners-t-shirts/
There’s optimism, blind optimism and then there’s stupidity.
We’ll let you consider which category Karl Baxter falls into.
The businessman has been left with 18,000 useless T-shirts proclaiming England as World Cup champions.
The football fan was so convinced the Three Lions were going to return home from Qatar as winners that he had the shirts printed ahead of the quarter-final clash with France, with the words ‘England, Cup Winners 2022, It’s Finally Home’ and ‘The Day It Came Home’.
[…]
____________
You can’t help but note – yet again – the chutzpah of some of our neighbours.
The word “businessman” very loosely used in the context of this, should we say *drunk optimist*
He could probably offload a few in Scotland and Wales and novelty gifts.
Shades of Eddie the Eagle.
At least Eddie did manage to do the jumps, maybe he’ll sell them off as historic.
Back (reluctantly) to politics:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/16/traces-of-suspected-cocaine-found-after-parties-in-liz-truss-grace-and-favour-house-say-staff
Traces of suspected cocaine found after parties in Liz Truss’s grace-and-favour house, say staff
Exclusive: White powder residue found after events held at Chevening and Downing Street, say sources
Work email to all staff.
Dear all
The National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) has recently stated that there could potentially be planned power outages in January/February 2023 across the UK through a system known as rota disconnection. This would result in three-hour localised power outages (most likely between 16.00 – 19.00GMT) with around twenty-four hours advance notice. It should be noted that the UK Government and NGESO state that such power outages are currently unlikely to happen and have approximately a 10% chance of occurring…
This Brexit Britain. Welcome to the sunlit uplands.
And of course there’s no shortage of power in Scotland. We net export. However, the lights would have to go out here to keep them on in England as it’s the priority for the English government, obviously.
It’s nuts. A ‘union dividend’ is now a plan to have Scots shivering in the dark so power can be sent to England.
My neighbour has solar panels, he gets 7p a kWhr for lunchtime generation onto the grid, about 2 hours output.
He , like the rest of us, pays 34p a unit, a third of which is a subsidy to the londoners.
Last week it was reported that around dusk a gas turbine generator was getting £6k a MWhr for coverage.
I don’t mind helping out England with our excess, but the idea that we have the wind turbines covering our hillsides but have to sit in the dark so nimby Tory areas of England can keep the lights on is nuts.
Tonights report says we are exporting 4,000,000,000 Watts to englandland.
Ireland delivering 600 MW as well.
France only sending them 300MW instead of the 2GW possible.
That must be close to capacity.
England 54% from gas generation.
And southwest using over 87% gas generated energy.
Scotland 11.9% from gas generation.
Watching over the last few days, we are really getting piss taken out of us with energy prices, given we mostly hardly use electricty generated from fossil fuels.
This needs to be highlighted in the future campaign that Scotland is self suffient in gas and mostly low carbon & renewable electricity. And that independence would see cheaper bills.
We could help out England by replacing ourselves with sheep so the poor souls don’t go hungry, Oh aye they did that already
This helps explain why Truss and her close colleagues thought their budget that crashed the economy was a good idea.
Writing a budget on columbian marching powder is not a good idea.
“Say hello to my leeetle friend”, brings a whole new meaning
https://images.app.goo.gl/vf5NE4T39GfEMkxi7
They say dont take drugs whilst driving or operating machinery, running the UK economy should be added to the list.
“Sources also said there was evidence of a smudged line of powder and a discarded Boots Advantage card on the same table. It is not known who the card belonged to.” … perhaps the card said Mr M Gove on it?
Or Mr Big Dog.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/16/traces-of-suspected-cocaine-found-after-parties-in-liz-truss-grace-and-favour-house-say-staff
Maybe whilst writing the budget that crashed the economy, they thought GDP meant Great Drugs Party
As the British media like to remind us…
https://archive.vn/ZRBjb
Britain is cocaine capital of Europe
The media are reporting inflation ratehasfallen.
One item that was used for the calculation was the fall in price of second hand cars.
The price of petrol has reduced from the risein the pound’s value against the dollar.
Food inflation is reported at upwards of 16%.
Got a lot of time for Ken Loach. ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ is a must amongst others.
https://archive.vn/QPXKZ
Absolutely shameless’: Ken Loach says BBC helped ‘destroy’ Jeremy Corbyn
Director says media has ‘rewritten history’ to expunge ex-Labour leader and attacks Starmer regime for ‘manipulating the rules’
Corybn is a decent man and he backs iref2 / Scottish self-determination, even if he was wishy-washy as hell on this when Labour leader. But then the right-wing English media would have crucified him for the slightest whiff of support here as they have for every other trumped up charge they’ve pinned on the guy for actually being a left of centre Labour leader.
Not for us to intrude on Labour’s domestic grief, surely, but Corbyn was no Michael Foot, and I for one don’t weep at his political demise.
More to the point, the time for depending on any Labour leader to “give Scotland a fair deal” is long past. ‘Sakes! We should all have learnt that by now.
This Labour leader is not remotely like Michael Foot, more like Liz Truss.
I would say his predecessor was more a comparison with Truss, actually. And at least with Sir Alternate Establishment Cheek at the helm we’re no longer plagued by self-declared indy waverers wanting to give Labour “one more chance”.
Not in dress sense ;o)
WTF is he wearing?
No wonder the guy with the white hair is p*ing himself.
Ah, I’ve got it.
He IS the bring and buy sale.
Corbyn went down without much of a fight on all the big issues for me.
Scotland, Trident,HoL, even the allegations of anti semitism levied on he and his party.
A latter day Tony Benn imo
Sorry to hear about your laptop woes Paul have sent a small donation. Hope your new laptop arrives OK.In these turbulent times your articles are one of the few things that make me feel positive about the hope of Independence
Don’t how my comment ended up as a reply to Dakk. Weird!!
Labour’s purging of the left / rightwards pro-brexit shift is one of the things driving support for indy that is entirely outwith the SNP’s control. These factors I often mention as key but the SNP can’t actually control them, hence can’t ‘just deliver independence right now!’ as some demand. They can only encourage as best they can, then deliver when Scots finally demand it. And Britain will buckle when Scots do. The whole blocking the vote approach is based on polls not being clearly in favour, so Scots are less likely to cause a fuss. It’s a desperately fragile position being used to buy time. But once the Rubicon is crossed, so the anger grows if Scots know they collectively want indy, but England is deliberately stopping it. Then the Yes vote starts to grow strongly out of anger and the UK becomes beyond saving. We may just have crossed the rubicon after an 11+ year March from that fateful election in 2011.
The fate of Jeremy Corbyn illustrates the power of oligarchs to use the media at their disposal – they own most of it – to destroy the reputation and public standing of anyone who threatens their power. Ken Loach, like Jeremy Corbyn, has been thrown out of the Labour Party run by Keir Starmer. Tells us all we need to know.
That was basically my point. Corbyn’s a decent enough man, if not really PM material. But still they slaughtered him for not toeing the establishment line / espousing left of centre policies.
I don’t know how you assess Corbyn as prime minister material. The media trashed his reputation in every way, including the infamous Newsnight item showing Corbyn in a Trotsy cap against a Kremlin style red background. This type of crude propaganda can be seen in the 1984 film of Orwell’s classic.
The newspapers printed lurid front page scare stories, those owned by Rupert Murdoch, Lord Rothermere, the Barclay Brothers and fellow robber barons and the BBC was chaired by Rona Fairhead, Director of HSBC Holdings, and Roger Carr, Chair of BAE Systems, was Vice Chair of the BBC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rona_Fairhead,_Baroness_
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Carr_(businessman)
Current Chair of the BBC is Richard Sharp:
I felt Corbyn was a bit wishy-washy and indecisive. Also tended to give his enemies opportunities to attack him to easily.
This didn’t impress me:
https://archive.vn/knRSk
Jeremy Corbyn says he won’t grant Scottish independence referendum in ‘early years’ of Labour government
Which I can only take as some sort of attempt to seem tough enough to be PM, but it just make him look like a man without principles as he then was ‘Indy for everywhere but Scotland’. Deep down he must have known that such a position was fundamentally wrong and saying ‘maybe in a few years’ didn’t make it right.
I’d absolutely have preferred him over all the alternatives, but for me he’s not hard headed enough to lead a country. A decent man, but a bit bumbling. He and Sturgeon face the same foes but she handles them better.
So we could have had a referendum in 2021 if Jeremy Corbyn had won the 2019 election.
My point, however, is that the media will attempt to destroy anyone who threatens the status quo. Nicola Sturgeon will not be exempt. We spend every day on this blog pointing out the devious methods they use. It will become industrial strength once a campaign is underway.
Also, I recall clips of Jeremy Corbyn addressing football stadium crowds and thousands of cheering, enthusiastic festival goers at Glastonbury in the 2019 campaign. The membership of the Labour Party soared to over 400,000 making it the largest political party in Europe.
It takes industrial scale propaganda to overturn that level of popular support and then to erase all memory from the public domain leaving only a vague sense of “not quite right for the job”.
Contrast that with media support for Boris Johnston, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak!
We’re obsessed with trying to “fix England”, it seems. Whereas the only practicable answer for us is to fix Scotland, by making a new country that is (and stays) oligarch-free. (Not least in the media.)
The long term problems with the English Labour party – notably its shift to right wing New Labour then full on extreme right brexiteer – have helped bring many Scots to supporting indy, so it’s well worth keeping abreast of developments here.
Corbyn and McDonnell were probably going to be the best thing to happen to England since Thatcher, their readiness to adopt SNP policies was a clear indication at least on paper of their leftist credentials. The anti Semitic accusations would have meant very little to your average English voter, they were in reality false, mirroring the anti English accusation levelled at Scotland. The anti Semitic bile made little if any difference to their popularity with the Labour membership.
However Corbyn and McDonnell’s anti Scottish, anti independence, anti SNP, anti democracy and anti truth credentials were on full and open display during their tenure leading the English Labour party. No question, they were as rabid as any Tory with the added hypocrisy of promoting self determination for everywhere but Scotland, and it was to Scotland they presented the greatest threat.
Good riddance says I.
Been trying to donate to the laptop fund but it won’t let me give more than 20p?
From the National:
“SNP announce date for independence strategy conference next year … Sunday, March 19 next year”
That’s not going to go down well with those who say the SNP are kicking the can down the road, and I agree with them.
It should have been January, early February at the absolute latest.
Archive link for that story:
https://archive.vn/FY12x
It’s certainly not what was expected, but there may be method in it given the dialogue only began a couple of weeks ago.
Just think about a month being knocked out for Christmas & New Year, that 3 months shrinks to 2.
Politically it’s actually very astute, convened as the shitstorm over UK energy policy has reached a hiatus – You need to have public opinion with you, and I believe it will be and the public will be furious…
Agreed, it looks far away at first glance but when you consider the cost of living mess is only going to get worse and the Tories have absolutely no intention of squandering their majority at this moment to waste it on benefitting Kier Whatsisname and the Tory B group by calling general elections before they’re ready to crush him, there’s absolutely no need for the SNP to mount attacks only to be fizzled out on a Tory timetable
Let the Tories keep right on causing the havoc they’re causing, that and trade union strikes will make folk even more enraged at Westminster as they pay more and more attention to the fact it’s them who’re creating all the trouble and the only way out for us is Independence
The shit is really going to hit the fan over the next 2 months with energy bills. This cold snap is hitting those with prepayment meters the hardest as they need to find the money every day in advance to put their gas and electricity on.
I suspect that there will be large numbers of people who simply cannot find the money and will end up freezing at home or being forced to move out. The energy companies will have no qualms about cutting people off so there will be anger all right.
On a pre-payment meter, once you’ve used the emergency button you disconnect yourself.
No money in -no electricity.
I suspect there will be a lot of meter by-passing.
Conference means contributions to debate from the membership, democracy in action, probably something similar happening with the Greens.
It also gives the SNP time to publish more of their papers relating to various aspects of Independence. I forget how many they said they were going to produce and how many of those they have actually produced. The UKSC effect/debate may have moved into the background by the time Christmas etc has passed so that would keep the pot boiling.
👍
Well, the conference is scheduled for Sunday, March 19, and the very next day is the first day of spring, so perhaps we’ll be getting our Alba Spring (country not party).
At the same time, I endorse SGP on this:
https://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2022/12/red-lines-for-snps-special-conference.html
SGP isn’t a political party and the blogger is a former member of ALBA’s executive committee or something similar. Kelly forgets it was Salmond that said “one in a generation” in a throwaway comment.
As a SNP member I do get annoyed of those sitting on the sidelines of another party trying to dictate policy of another. After all 2 MP’s changed sides without the courage of their convictions to force an election to be re-elected under the ALBA banner.
If you wish to change SNP policy you need to be in it.
It is bemusing that non-members of the SNP, including Con / Lab / Lib (‘You can’t make a UKGE about indy as we say so!’) and Alba (‘These are our red lines that we’ve put together for you to adopt!’) seem to think they get to decide SNP policy.
I always thought parties decided their own policies.
The red line is for support for their plans for Indy supporting activists, and is precisely important for those like SGP who are members of another party, and me who is a member of none.
If for instance the SNP changed their number 1 constitution priority to putting someone on the moon before 2030, they’d not get my vote!
A lot of people “lend” the SNP their vote. SGP for instance was a firece advocate of SNP 1, Alba 2, the relevant bit being SNP 1, for the Holyrood election.
In the run up to the Conference in March the SG will continue to publish the series of White Papers on Independence.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23198293.white-papers-scottish-independence-still-set-published/?ref=twtrec
Well it looks like they are serious about independence whatever ‘red lines’ anyone else draws
3 months notice is of course about the absolute minimum if you want to ensure a good turnout / organise a large conference type event. After all, folk need to book time off with work etc. I’d expect, given the nature of the this one, demand will be very high for tickets, much more so than your average spring party conference.
If you are a wee party like Alba, you probably can get away with a one day event organised with just a few weeks notice. However, for a party the size of the SNP with 100k+ members, 44 MPs, 64 MSPs and 453 councilors, some notice and organisation is required!
I remember when I was secretary to the organising committee of an international scientific conference for 650 people. Never again!
Also holding it in March may mean it is not disrupted by bad weather – like the 6 inches of snow we had on Friday that are still lying because we have had sub- zero temperatures day and night for the past week or so
After reading comments about getting international people involved, other groups. I agree. The proof will be in the pudding, along with the lucky sixpence.
Tories and Labour are selling the politics of unachievable aspiration using the ideology of the poorest in society being the drain that is causing all the woes of those who are buying into this non existent aspiration
The Tories know it as does Labour, you cannot have in any shape or form any kind of equality based on the notion that creating poverty for one group feeds the prosperity of another, thus both these English nationalist parties are not selling a society, they’re selling a hierarchical system but pretending to some with a conscience that they’re aiming for ultimate social fairness and cohesion
If you say a country has a maximum number, say 10 for example, and you promise your population a rise in living standards from number 6 to number 7 knowing that the rest of the folk from 1 to 5 must drop to 0 and 4 to achieve that you don’t just blurt that out as your intention, you promise *provision* for those below the aspiration level while never intending to deliver that, because you can’t, it’s a lie based on the intention of increasing the wealth of the folk who are 8 to 10 because these are the population you’re really interested in but the 0 to 7 people don’t know that they only see self elevation
English nationalist politics like American Republican politics is the tricky art of conning and dividing the majority of populations against themselves in order to achieve the ongoing and ever increasing prosperity of the minority of the 8 to 10s where the big money is
England has fallen for it hook line and sinker, they like the idea and now hate everyone else who doesn’t
When the next general election comes around the Tories will have formulated their strategy to rid England of Starmer just as they did Corbyn, and their media will join with them to wage war on the Labour party using the same tactics they did with Corbyn, they’ll threaten England with the terrors of Nicola Sturgeon and no matter how many times Starmer denies there’s a deal he’s doomed, England will not believe him and may the best English Nationalist party win, and that’s always the Tories, especially if they manufacture themselves a war like Boris Johnson tried to get going every other day by poking and threatening Vladimir Putin regularly, unfortunately for Boris Putin wasn’t biting
The poor whites were the problem, then it became the poor blacks, then the poor immigrants, then the thieving Europeans, now we’re back to the *illegal* immigrants again, but in all that time England has been constantly reminded to fear the bolshie Scots who might turn up and have something to do with making laws in *their* country of *their* UK and for God sake England must never tolerate that sort of thing
Racism and exceptionalism isn’t about colour, it’s about othering
“Peter Cruddas, the peer who has given the party more than £3.5m, said the Conservatives were “no longer a centre-right party” under Sunak, adding that he refused to back it financially until it changed course.”
“So long as the party is a centre-left party, then I don’t consider it a Conservative party”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/17/tories-at-risk-from-rightwing-insurgency-warns-donor-lord-cruddas
I would not in any way call Sunak’s tory part left of centre, more like far right.
Crudas must want the 4th reich in westminster.
Political compass agrees with torys at extreme far right authoritarian.
https://www.politicalcompass.org/uk2019 (link is 2019 election, so shows labour left of centre, pre starmer)
And in holyrood SNP left of centre liberarian.
https://www.politicalcompass.org/scotland2021
(Greens are slight further to left than SNP, scottish branch office- labour right of centre authoritarian and as we always thought fib dems are yellow tories)
Simple Independence supporting people should come out and vote SNP at every election. To vote out the opposition. Instead of complaining. A higher turnout at every election. To achieve self governance and Independence. Instead of sitting on their hands and then complaining. Use it or lose it. Take someone else to vote too. A higher turnout will voteoutth3 opposition to victory. More people should join the SNP and donate to achieve Independence. Apathy is the threat to Democracy.
I agree Ken, a big surge in membership for all of the Indy party’s would be a terrific boost to the movement, a clear message to the naysayers and westminster.
Would not take much to reach the magic 3.5%.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
I was always unaligned, until Sep 2014 when I joinded the SNP for 3 years (even went to the Hydro), and didn’t renew then because I’m not a party animal, not that sort anyway!
BUT – if there was a massive surge and it was heading for 200,00 or more, I would join again, just for the numbers. Back in 2014 the Greens trebled or more, as did SSP. The SNP went from 25,500 to 125,000. The dream was still alive.
Looks like the bbc are giving the last comments on the budget to the tories.
Step up SNP. Convention is the party in power has the final say so they can respond to any points raised by groups or other parties.
Why does the SNP never resolve this matter giving the state broadcaster the free reign to news manage?
Per Nick Robinson’s “He said nothing…”, the framing and editing of programmes and articles are totally under BBC control, and there’s not a damned thing the SNP can do about it…
What WE can do is keep pointing it out…
Panelbase poll:
52(+4)% Yes
48(-4%) No
Changes on October.
https://archive.vn/sFqaW
Merry Christmas fae the UKSC and English government.
Well, since it’s Sunday and I’m not resting, I hope this goes down well, though I hae ma doots.
There’s an increase of the use of the word “troll” nearly everywhere you look, and it’s used merely in the context:
“I don’t agree with what you said, therefore you are a troll”
It’s just about always Indy supporters using it, to describe:
1). Fellow Indy supporters with a different view
2). Unionists who are openly unionists, entering into debate – something many shied away from in Indy Ref 1
3). Undecideds asking simple questions, even if in a slightly aggressive way.
What’s the point? Does calling someone a “troll” make them more interested in voting YES? Do people think any lurkers will be impressed in the slightest, and converted to YES?
Does trying to suppress a point of view people don’t agree with make it any less debatable, or even dare I say, “right”, whatever that means?
Campbell banned the use of the word “troll” on his blog basically, and even though guilty myself of using the world “troll”, I totally agree with him on that.
This is well put elsewhere by someone I disagree with on some things, I too was stopped from posting on Wings, yfs, Bell, Murphy, Vague, These Islands / Scotland in Union (I forget which) just for disagreeing with them. How pathetically insecure in their own opinions can they be, that they can’t allow disagreement? From a “troll” like me I daresay.
https://peterabell.scot/2022/12/14/bolder-but-wiser/#comment-68677
I don’t see anyone using the term on this site, certainly in the way you describe. Google site search confirms this. Maybe you meant to post this elsewhere, i.e. on the sites concerning you?
Also, you’d need to properly count all posts using the term and know the exact stance of everyone to be able to substantiate your claim, which you really should do before making it. Otherwise, it is just an unsubstantiated one seeming to attack Yes supporters, and people will see it as that. Ultimately, you can’t know who people actually are if you don’t really know them well, especially on the interweb. So, saying it’s ‘indy supporters using the term’ is just your opinion. They might not be even be that at all.
How do you know I’m really an indy supporter? I could love brexit England and actually live in the south of England, say Somerset, preferring lower tax Tory governed life there to Scotland. My past talk about N. Ireland might be a secret ploy to try and link the SNP with the IRA for example. 😉
Other than that, I agree calling people trolls left right and centre is silly. Trolls should be ignored, or at least teased a bit for fun if you must engage.
And I might finally add that with 6 Yes polls in a row, I would absolutely predict an increase in trolling, but not from the side that’s very happy at this news. Rather those in a panic about it!
Well unless you have a website based on trolling, you don’t want the average troll commenting on your website when you want to be the only troll in the village by encouraging the sack Nicola Sturgeon party to go out and repeat what you said
Some just call people they disagree with “trolls”.
Others reply in a far better way, for instance:
“I sense a nerve has been touched here.” …
🙂
Still wrong I guess, it addresses the person not what they say, an ad hominem. It should say perhaps:
“Opinion polls can be influential, people want to be on the winning side, there can be a tipping point and from that there’s often no way back”. Similar to that false remembered vote thing where people feel guilty. I know people who were definitely NO voters who said they voted “YES of course”.
On the other hand, at least it’s funnier than “troll” 🙂
It was a simple statement of fact. 🙂
Totally OT but for those with GCH perhaps it may help some reduce their bills over winter, and I hope the moderators will indulge the departure.
We’ve all been told how efficient condensing boilers are (relative to their predecessors) as they scavenge heat from the exhaust – It’s completely true but boilers are only one part of the heating system, check out “weather-compensation” for what follows –
Habitually for 3 years (after increasing internal insulation) I’d run the heating at the displayed 50, and when it went all Siberian here, I’d increased in to 55, but was chuffed to bits on almost halving my gas bill anyway through insulation.
A recurring puzzle was why at 55 under “normal” outside temperatures hovering around zero for a “normal” boiler run of 18 minutes (my house and my balanced radiators) gas consumed was ca 0.5m3, boiler runs of 30 and 40 minutes per cycle were hitting up to 1.3 m3 in gas when outside was -10.
Curiosity finally got the better of me mid January last and I stuck a couple of temperature sensors on my boiler’s feed and return (I’ve a home monitoring system) and was horrified to realise my displayed 50 was actually 45, the 55 actually 50, and by the end of the experiment, 75 displayed was actually 65.
My objective became to increase boiler temperature to pull the heating cycle back to an 18-20 minute window and was surprised to see gas consumption reduced by 25% at -5, and 45% at -12 respectively on separate tests.
Ultimately I ran out of time as Siberian winds “warmed” up to -3 🙄 sheesh.
I’m re-running the experiment this year in finer detail to an 18 minute hydraulic target (my system), but one thing I’ve learned from last year is I can run a REAL 65c into my radiators at -11 and save 45% on gas.
Does it not seem strange that such pertinent information was not available to an entire government “concerned” with the welfare of it’s citizens in an energy “crisis” ? Unless of course you were more focussed on “business” or supplier, shareholder returns ?
Just my -45% thoughts 😉
I’ve said to a few folk, but actually the type of weather we’ve had recently makes it easier to heat your house than less cold (say 0-10 C), wet and windy.
It’s not the outside temperature that’s the main factor, but the ability of the air outside to sap heat from your home. Think wind / rain chill effects.
Air is actually a poor conductor of heat, and cold, dry, still air, such as we’ve been getting a lot of, is very poor. No wind, and you’ll mainly warm the air just around the outside of your house. Snow on the roof will insulate further if the air is below zero as snow in contact with your house will stay at zero (its melting temperature) just as the walls of an Eskimo’s igloo will when they light a fire. Also why it’s better to be in a snow hole in the mountains than out in the cold wind.
Air moving past your house as wind will strip more heat as it carries this away, rather than it hanging around your house. So you need to crank up the heating to make up for the loss. You are heating all the air blowing past, not just your wee pocket. That’s wind chill.
If the air is wet and cold, that’s really going to strip the heat as water has a much higher heat capacity (can hold and transport heat) far better than air (which is why we use it for central heating). It gets even worse if the air is so saturated it starts raining. That’s like your house standing under a freezing waterfall.
The worse of all is it blawin a hoolie in addition to raining at 5C. That will have you cranking up the heating way more than if it’s -10 C, frosty and completely still outside, even though the it’s 15 C colder outside.
Insulation is the best thing of all. The more the better. Like putting a North Face puffer jacket on your house.
Not quite – These results are from my own relatively modern and extraordinarily airtight home, eternal insulation is 5cm – Granted that additional internal insulation reduced my gas consumption by 53% to the original, but these observations are in addition to doing so.
Static external temperatures play a considerably greater role than you appear to grasp on high thermal mass walls, although winters in Romania are a tad harsher than Edinburgh.
Wind has little impact unless you have draughts, wind-chill has minimal effect, northern permashade is far greater.
I could double the external insulation and replace remaining double glazing with triple, but I’m a cheapskate I guess.
Operation of the gas boiler against what has become almost a mantra is what I sought to highlight – An efficient boiler does not necessarily make for the MOST efficient use of it in a REAL home if shackled by mistaken preconceptions 😉
It’s the first law of thermodynamics. That of energy conservation.
Insulation is about preventing energy transfer (loss), not about temperature. That’s just part of the equation. Insulation doesn’t ‘keep you warm’ it keeps you cold too. In the summer, shut the curtains / windows on a hot day and it works in reverse.
Sure lower temperatures drives heat loss, but it’s air movement (wind) and rain that make heat loss much more efficient. I’d rather be in a sheltered frost hollow out of the wind than on an exposed hillside where a hoolie is constantly sucking the heat away, if the goal is to stay warm.
You’ll survive much longer naked on a frosty, still cold night at -10 C than you will plunged into a loch at 0 C. This is why ‘wind chill’ ‘feels like’ temps are reported for hillwalkers etc, and why not to play on ice. The water underneath the ice is at most 0 C as it’s not frozen. The air above might be -10 C. But if you fall in, you’re in real trouble suddenly. You’ve entered an environment 10 C ‘warmer’, but are now in deep do-do as it will drain your heat so much more efficiently.
Anyway, don’t want to derail, but in the recent cold snap we have not adjusted the heating and the house has stayed the same temp. That’s simply because it’s been freezing cold by dry and still, rather than cold (<10 C), wet and windy, so our the heat loss has remained about the same even if it's been 'colder'.
I wasn't contradicting you, just noting there's a silver lining to the lack of clouds.
Our house is old 1860's whinstone, but with mineral wool on the inside behind the plasterboard all round (gutted and replastered in 2006). On the extension (2012), it's kingspan + foam backed plasterboard. Roof is mineral wool + a layer of kingspan.
All of these prevent heat transfer, keeping the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer (if you shut the windows and curtains to stop hot air entering during the day).
Insulation is what people should look at before doing anything else like you say. Makes a massive difference.
Agreed on the latter, but you totally miss the point of my original post – My place barely shifts +/- 0.5 even down to -12 outside WITH or WITHOUT a wind and has maintained much the same gas consumption for the previous three years, ca 1,150m3.
– What had intrigued me last january was the reduction in gas consumption by increasing the circulation temperature of the boiler, up to 40% in one example.
I’m going to experiment further this winter, but simply thought others might benefit given recent circumstance over energy.
The gas consumption is interesting. Is your boiler having to cycle on and off at the lower set temperatures ? At 65 flow hopefully the rads would take enough output to let the boiler burn continuously with a return temp (>=55) that could keep the boiler condensing. That might not be so at lower flow temperatures, if the immediate heat demand drops below the boiler’s minimum output and it gets forced into short cycling.
My apologies for the derail Paul.
My heating system is fully balanced with correctly sized (and slightly over-sized) rads, it takes 18 minutes to fill them hot on both floors, the pump is set correctly, there is no short cycling, everything works in synchrony to a main thermostat running 24/7 at a fixed temp of 21 as this place is a high thermal mass.
On Condensing, return temps on the 19-20 minute cycles varied from 29 at 50c to 33 at 61c but always in the last minutes of the cycle. VIZ – Max energy recovery on condensation.
This is where “running the boiler at 50c is the most efficient” obscures the role of the radiator system – They are essentially heat batteries, charge them, let them release energy, recharge.
You won’t get any more heat out of the radiator by running the boiler longer than it takes to charge the “batteries”, been there, done that, and have the humungous bills to prove it.
Raising the temperature increases the heat output at ALL the rads if correctly sized and balanced, with potential gas savings at the system’s normal cycle.
Bear in mind that is what I’ve found for MY system, YMMV.
Eh? 🤓
I think you’re right about the Tories being “laser focused” on business, suppliers and shareholder returns i.e. themselves. But I’m afraid the technical detail of gas boilers is way above my head.
Insulation, however, is a good idea and it is a pity that more help isn’t available to people to do this, especially in these latitudes. It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone in Scandinavia has a well insulated triple glazed house.
As I suggested, Google “weather compensation” to getter grasp the idea, it’s equivalent to throwing a few more logs in the burner to kick the heat up a tad.
The problem most consumers have is understanding it is your house and heating system which does the job not just the boiler and it’s theoretical “efficiency”.
In context for a gas user, the heat output of a radiator at 60c is 25% higher than at 50c, and the return temperature to the boiler at the very end of the normal heating cycle from my own tests in January is not miles apart – At 61 real output with -12c outside it was 31 at my cycle’s 18 minutes, as opposed to 29 when it was a real 50 output at ZERO centigrade, the difference in gas consumption was -45% despite marginal decrease in boiler efficiency, marginally higher gas consumption for the heating cycle, and 1 or two more heating cycles.
By next Spring I’ll have more definitive comparisons but with UK energy pricing such as it is thought to share it. 😉
Will do and study the info with interest. Meanwhile, I’ve thrown another log on the stove and room is cosy for our -6 night temperatures. The rest of your comment might as well have been in Romanian. Pretend I’m really stupid. 😂
Har, har – It’s simple maths really, at the time I had live gas meter readings to the system so could tinker and see what the result was in real time.. eg purely for comparative –
0.5m3 for the main heating cycle of 18 minutes at 50c plus 0.1m3 every 3 minutes of 20 minutes thereafter, total 0.5+0.7, 10 cycles/day, 12m3.
0.6m3 for the main and only cycle at 65c, 12 cycles/day, 7.2m3.
40% reduction in gas… 😉 Simples….
Now you’re taking the p***s. Baffling 😂
A massive disconnect between the UK and our nearest neighbours.
I don’t know how up to date this is but come January, I think, the gap between us looks set to widen.
Stunning illustration of the obscene greed of the UK leadership.
What exactly is to be gained by raising doubt over the decisions of the leadership of the party you are elected to represent and in doing so resulting in your actions encouraging others to do the same?
The comments to this tweet from those claiming they support Independence will not help Scotland become an Independent country. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with their hatred of the First Minister of Scotland.
If there is a point to these constant attacks on the FM then it totally eludes me.
And there we are again, encouragement to the sack Nicola Sturgeon party designed specifically to discourage folk to vote for the SNP on anything
Demonise the leader, how very Tory
It seems he’s never had a real job where you need to book hols in advance, nor organised a conference before.
Perhaps he’s just frustrated, as we all are, and not able to channel it into more productive tweets? Anyway, it’s the writer of the National article who is calling it an “emergency” meeting. Perhaps Angus hasn’t realised that journalists are lazy and use cliches.
I’m more concerned with the reactions to his tweet, have a read of them and then come back and explain to me how the position they take will increase the likelihood of Scotland becoming an Independent country.
Impatient folk always know better when they don’t have to make decisions, which feeds the opposition strategy of screeching about indecision to create conspiracy
I wouldn’t care a jot if it takes a little longer to win the game rather than be pushed too soon to lose it
The simple truth is Dr Jim we are not only still in the game because of the strategy Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP have chosen to play, but we are also actually better placed than we ever were to win our Independence in any coming vote.
Having a referendum anytime soon after the June 2017 General Election where the SNP went from 56 MP’s to 35 Mp’s would have been absolute madness. Yes, things looked much better after the 2019 GE and we could have had one in 2020 but oh something else.
Now is the time and the strategy chosen has been the right one in my book, we have never been closer to winning Independence than we are right NOW!
I had a read and there was a mix of obvious trolls, unionists, Albanians and SNP more rational responses. I rarely read the replies on twitter as there is an army of bots ready to click into action. Maybe Elon Musk will clean it up! (Hope is the last to go).
Keep calm and carry on 😱
For those who are employed, could they get a few days off at short notice for conference held in January? What about February?
March could be possible for me at a push, but all my hols are already allocated for the next few months. TBH, I don’t think I can even make a March event due to work commitments.
Also, what about budgets? Christmas is not a cheap month and with bills through the roof, can people cost in a conference at short notice easily? Transport, hotel etc.
If you want an event where MPs (in particular as they are just opposition) and some MSPs can turn up quickly ok, but if you want the max membership to turn up, it’s a very different prospect.
And the absolute last thing we need is the BBC filming a half empty hall and muttering about ‘even members not being that upset about the UKSC decision’. No, what we want is the place packed to the rafters, and that needs time.
Thankfully Sturgeon and co have made a sensible decision and gone for early spring.
Well, he does express the view of some Indy supporters, includng some SNP members. An MP expresses disatisfaction and it helps “I’m not the only one”. Meanwhile:
” The first sighting of the kite” – anti-Flynn / SNP
” Newspeak For Independence” – anti-Flynn / SNP
” Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul” – anti-Murrell / SNP
” The Land Of Make-Believe” – anti-GRA / SNP
” Buying class” – anti-Murrell / SNP
” Pete’s Big Win” – anti-Wishart / SNP
” On the run” – anti-Sturgeon / SNP
” The Invalid Women” – anti-GRA / Robison / SNP
” Sugar Daddy” – anti-Murrell / SNP
” The Nine-Month Emergency” – anti-Sturgeon / SNP
” Lies without end” – anti-Sturgeon / SNP
” True faith” – anti-Macintyre-Kemp / WGD / SNP
Mmm, that’s the way to increase support for Indy 🙃
All sounds very ‘the 2%’ to me.
Personally,
I would live stream and leave stv and bbc at the door.
Jeremy Clarkson heavily criticized and chastised over his blatant uninformed hatred of Meghan Markle in an article he wrote, funny thing is he also expressed his hatred for Scotland’s FM Nicola Sturgeon for whom the people of Scotland vote in the highest percentage numbers of any politician ever in the history of the British Isles, he also compared the FM to murderer Rose West
Nobody complained in England about that, not a Dicky bird, silence, tumbleweed
This is how much Scotland is respected
Correct dr Jim
As I previously stated the EU has treated Ireland, Wales and Scotland with more respect than the britnats from england who we are supposed to call a partner.
Abuse of power by England and tinged with their perception of superiority over all nations. They are getting worse as they slide more right wing. Moseley would be smiling in his grave at the behaviour of the tories and compliant labour.
Disaster all round for all.
Jk of SGP- not a coward nor a defeatist. Just don’t think I should give credence to an ex junior office bearer of 2 percenters, a party for which even the Lib Dems can beat. Lol.
Mmm, I see what that’s about, and it does him absolutely no credit at all. What a plonker.
What’s even sadder is that instead of checking for himself he believes every word wormtongue slithers into his ear.
‘Independence for Scotland’ needs a course in anger management. I don’t think he’s recovered from the colossal electoral flop that Alba is. He spends more time attacking the SNP than the Tories. I reckon he’s a closet yoon, like his buddy down i Bath.
Maybe it is the Bather. He’s not happy with SGP pointing out the many many flaws in Wings articles.
So – wormtongue has managed to mislead JK again, by claiming my posts in reply to your comment here, are about another comment 14 hours before. And JK hasn’t even checked for himself, but believes the unionist bot. And all JK has to do is get this article and search for the word “plonker” used in the correct context, to see for himself how he’s being led around like a fool, and why, because of that and the self-defeating abusive invitation to a podcast, he is a plonker.
Clarkson’s daughter called him out for his misogyny.. His own flesh and blood does not Agee with him. Neither does anyone else who does not approve of misogynist bullies, it led to his demise. A failure as a farmer as well. Total failure looking for a bit of cheap publicity. An abject failure. Ignorant and arrogant. Behaving like a complete fool to his own deprement.
IF people want Independence at every election. Vote SNP. Take another to vote too. To vote ou5 th3 opposition. Support the SNP an£ donate. Get out and vote every election. Plain and simple. A higher turnout. Use it or lose it. Pure and simple. Too many people complaining and not going out to vote.
If people want Independence they need to suppor5 and vote every el£cation. Council, Holyrood, GE Ref. A high turnout.
Getting rid of the opposition. On3 if the easiest way to Independence. People have a right to self governance and self determination. If they vote for it. UN principles members have to abide byInternational Law.
typos gremlin in the system. Need a new appliance Technology going oot.
Ken Gibson is on the case of the missing billions in tax avoidance which, let’s face it, is only the tip of the iceberg.
Scotland loses out on £3bn due to Westminster failure on tax dodgers
https://archive.vn/CxAqA
Link to Holyrood Finance committee meeting which you can’t play in the archive version. The OBR evidence is first on the agenda.
https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/finance-and-public-administration-committee-december-13-2022
Richard Murphy’s blog has much to say about that, none of it complimentary in the slightest to HMRC’s “estimate”…
I just signed up to the BylineTimes newsletter so I could read it. Richard Murphy is always excellent on the subject of tax!
https://bylinesnetwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/The-waste-we-should-be-looking-at. pdf
(remove space before pdf – but you may need to sign up to the newsletter before you can access this article)
Strange if not revealing use of the word ‘ discretion ‘
I think he meant to say “where robbers lie about how much they earn and where they stash the loot”.