The European Convention on Human Rights was drawn up after WW2 in the Hague in order to ensure a framework of legal protections designed to prevent the rise of fascist regimes like those which had only a few years previously torn the world apart and led to the deaths of millions at the hands of the Nazis and their allies. A British lawyer, the Edinburgh born David Maxwell Fyfe, played a key role in drafting the Convention, which was and is entirely distinct from the European Union. United only by their hatred of Europe and their willingness to pander to the most base scaremongering in the right wing gutter press about migrants, the Conservatives are now seeking to take Britain out of the ECHR despite having no mandate to do so. The ECHR is a fundamental pillar of the European democratic political order, part and parcel of being a member of the Council of Europe.
The Tories and their allies like to conflate the ECHR with the EU-only European Court of Justice based in Luxembourg. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is based in Strasbourg. International law scholars consider the ECtHR to be the most effective international human rights court in the world. the court interprets and rules on the ECHR. Judges are elected to the court by the Council of Europe in respect of each member state although the judges sit as individuals not as representatives of each state. A British judge, Tim Eicke KC, sits on the ECtHR.
After attacking real wages, and introducing repressive laws to crack down on the right to strike and the right to peaceful protest, the Tories are now targeting human rights. They want the UK to join Russia and Belarus as the only European countries which ignore the ECHR. The Tories and their right wing allies used hatred and prejudice against migrants in order to take the UK out of the EU, then they used that to attack everyone’s employment and consumer rights, despite vehemently denying that they planned to do any such thing. Now they are using hatred and prejudice against migrants in order to take the UK out of the ECHR, and they will absolutely use that to attack everyone’s human rights, to attack the rights to assembly and to protest, the right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of political expression. Of course they will deny that they intend to do any of these things, but if there is one thing that even the most obtuse voter ought to have learned about the Conservatives by now it’s that they lie. It’s the classic power play of the authoritarian bully to scapegoat a minority as an excuse to remove everyone’s rights. However either we all have human rights or no one does. If human rights are taken away from any group of people, they’re not human rights at all. They’re just privileges granted by the powerful, which can just as easily be taken away by the powerful. the Tories say that they need to extinguish rights so they can do vile things to immigrants that a convention on human rights would prevent. Okay… But who would be next? Because it never stops there. The homeless? The unemployed? The vulnerable? How rich must you be to have rights?
Once the Conservatives have given themselves the power to override fundamental human rights, they will use it, and they will not just use it against undocumented migrants, they will use it against climate change protestors, they will use it against Black Lives Matter campaigners, they will use it against trade unions, they will use it against Scottish independence campaigners. They must be resisted.
The fundamental truth that the Conservatives hope we do not notice is that if you can only introduce the measures that you want to combat undocumented migration by trashing an international treaty guaranteeing basic human rights, it’s not the treaty on human rights that is the problem, it’s your immigration policy. For all the Conservative cant about tackling the people traffickers who trade in human misery, exiting the ECHR will not punish the people traffickers, it merely heaps more misery on their victims. It’s like claiming to help the victims of a violent assault by punching them in what is left of their teeth.
The Conservatives bleat that Canada and New Zealand are also outside the European Convention on Human Rights, they are also outside of Europe even in its most extended geographical sense. Canada has a written constitution which codifies and enshrines the human rights of Canadian citizens and individuals under Canadian jurisdiction, New Zealand has a Bill of Rights which is considered to be a fundamental part of the constitution of New Zealand, a constitution which also ensures checks and balances between the various branches of government which are entirely lacking in the UK where there is little effective check on the absolute power of a Prime Minister who like Rishi Sunak can occupy the post without being elected by anyone at all. New Zealand also has a proportional system of voting which ensures that a party which fails to win a majority of votes cast cannot win a majority of seats in the Parliament. None of these guarantees and checks and balances exist in the UK meaning that outwith the ECHR our human rights are hostage to whatever party manages to win a majority of seats at Westminster, even though that party is highly unlikely to have won a majority of the popular vote.
The so-called migrant crisis is in any event an artificial problem manufactured by the far right press and the likes of Nigel Farage. The truth is that the UK receives fewer migrants and asylum seekers than most other European states. There were 72,027 asylum applications (relating to 85,902 people) in the UK in the year ending September 2022. In the same period, a total of 244,132 asylum applications were filed in Germany and 96,510 in France. In 2021 Sweden (which has a population of 10.5 million compared to the 67.5 million population of the UK), accepted 240,854 refugees and asylum seekers. None of these countries feel the need to exit the ECHR in order to cope with migration.
However having aired the idea, Sunak was quick to insist he had no plans to leave the ECHR after a number of Conservative MPs went public with their opposition to leaving. We may have been saved, this time, by Sunak’s weakness and his inability to ensure that his warring back benchers comply, but next time we may not be so lucky. We can be sure that the right wing of the Tory party and the frothing right wing media will keep agitating until they get a Prime Minister who will do their bidding. There are reports that the Conservatives intend to campaign at the next General Election on a platform of taking the UK out of the ECHR. They may lose that election but the Anglo-British nationalist right wing will eventually see the electoral pendulum swing back its way, and then there will be a bonfire of human rights in the name of ‘British patriotism’. Democracy and human rights in Scotland cannot be safe until Scotland is an independent nation.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Since Labour are little better than the cons, it’s entirely possible Labour would adopt the policy of withdrawing from the ECHR just to get elected, their current record provides scant comfort.
Sorry, Paul, but did you mean:
“The Tories and their allies like to conflate the ECHR with the European Court of Justice (ECJ), based in Luxembourg.”
ECHR/ECtHR – based in Strasbourg deals which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights, includes UK.
ECJ – based in Luxembourg, interprets EU for the Members of the European Union, does not include UK.
sorry, yes
OT. This is amateur hour stuff.
(McDonald): ““Unfortunately the hackers managed to breach the private email address of one of my staff team as well”
but
“ “The NCSC regularly provides security briefings and guidance to parliamentarians to help them defend against the latest cyber threats.
“This includes expert advice for MPs and their staff available on the NCSC website.””
How about some advice from the NCSC to parliamentarians, that their staff don’t use private email addresses to communicate with MPs, private email addresses they use for other purposes as well?
It appears the NCSC are complete amateurs. “Spear-phishing” is as old as ‘tinternet, as any online business could tell them:
“Dear website owner, pleaz send products and bank as I make big order for your luvly jubbly”.
They don’t have to “breach” email addresses then, they just put the one you reply with as the from / reply-to in the email they send normally, once you give then one that is “trusted”.
Parliamentarians should be using certificates.
You do appear to have developed a habit of going Totally OT very early on in comments on Paul’s articles of late.
If MPs and Westminsters IT dont follow/enforce NCSC advice then its not their (NCSC’s) fault.
To be honest NCSC tend to get involved when an attack is reported to them.
I think that quote is unsuprisingly someone trying to shift blame away from themself.
It should not need NCSC to remind MP’s thats the job of local IT.
Using personal email for non personal business content is poor education on the part of the IT administrators who are responsible for the westminster estate and using it for confidential content is against rules and regs.
Teachers, Police, NHS, MOD and other public sector staff face disciplinary proceedings including termination, for doing just that.
And by now everyone and their dug (wee ginger ones too) 😉 should know never click on links in an email.
If they (westminster IT) used office 360 defender as a security tool to investigate users and malware and will even assess a users risk level to the organisation
Or even put users who dont follow rules on the naughty step by the nuclear option of account suspension.
Everything done by users is logged, if IT can be bothered to check the logs. That is if they are using office 360 and its associated tools like defender.
The weakest point in any IT system is the feckwit in the chair using it!
Indeed.
Businesses too – as well as PCI/DSS for those taking cards, there’s the basic ICO registration all businesses handling personal data require. Some email software even automatically opens enclosures. Sigh.
You can never relax with data security.
Former Defence spokesperson, thankfully.
”parliamentarians should be using certificates ” … or be certified ?
I don’t think enough people have even an inkling of what these kinds of changes to the law could mean for them personally.
I’m sure the majority think that somehow it doesn’t affect them as it’s the immigrants they’re after or it’s the protesters needing put back in their box, or it’s the bad strikers doing bad things to the general public.
The real problem is ignorance, maybe even wilful ignorance because for some and typically Tory voters, they see the immigrants as a problem just as they see the protesters and strikers as being a problem.
They fail to understand that it was the right to protest and the right to strike that improved the living and working conditions for the vast majority of people, many of whom across the UK lived in overcrowded squalid conditions. Many of whom being hungry was normal, ill health and an early death were to be expected.
There are those that long to return to those days, you’ll find many of them sitting on the Tory benches at Westminster. The people who remain ignorant will be the first to start shouting from the rooftops if they personally find themselves on the wrong side of the new laws. But by then it will be too late to do anything about it.
That’s why we mustn’t allow it to get that far in Scotland, we need to support Independence and remain a party to the ECHR and the ECJ.
The thought has crossed my mind that the furore stirred up by the Tories and their fellow travellers over the GRR Bill and the supposed loss of women’s rights has been used as a distraction/smoke screen so that people don’t notice where the real attack on their rights is coming from. This will in fact lead to a loss of hard won rights across many areas affecting both men and women.
As to blaming immigrants for all ills real or imagined I was speaking to a friend before Christmas and the subject came up. She lives in the NE of England. The subject of the nurses’ strikes came up. She said in all seriousness that we could not afford to pay them because the ‘illegal immigrants’ were costing the country so much!!! Where do you even start with that? I started with Track & Trace £37 Bn, Faulty PPE costs + storage & disposal, furlough fraud £4.5 Bn and anded with Michelle Mone and her ilk. My friend is hot unintelligent but how do you become brainwashed to that extent and many, too many in England, and elsewhere, are in that state. Weeks later I’m still trying to get over her blaming it on immigrants in small boats.
Yep.
Having lived in England I would say its down to a combination of toxic right wing newspapers (anything with Daily in title), a bit of English exceptionalism and group think. Not everyone was like this but they tended to be the quiet ones.
I should add there are less but still plenty people like this in Scotland too. They tend to be quieter about their prejudices because their are less of them but they are around let’s not kid ourselves. Try golf clubhouses and Tory clubs, Orange Lodges etc and I am sure you will hear these views in Scotland.
Other Ipsos results. Favourability.
Scottish National Party
42% Favourable
42% Unfavourable
= 0% NET
Scottish Labour
32% Favourable
32% Unfavourable
= 0% NET
Scottish Greens
31% Favourable
39% Unfavourable
= -8% NET
Scottish Lib Dems
17% Favourable
35% Unfavourable
= -18% NET
Scottish Conservatives
17% Favourable
61% Unfavourable
= -45% NET
That’s a very good score for the Greens, even if the net is negative. 31% Favourable is good going for a small party with quite a radical agenda (hence the high negative).
Blow for SNP as party favourability unchanged following hit by unionist kitchen sink.
Graphic with changes on October 2022.
As noted about VI the other day, the wider pattern in the past few polls is maybe a slight uptick for the Tories in response to Sunak steadying the sinking ship, but otherwise, everything says ‘static picture’.
One of the problems the British media face with making things ‘all about Sturgeon’, is that leader popularity isn’t directly tied to party popularity. Sunak is actually seen quite favourably in England, but his party is not for example.
So if you go all out for Sturgeon, pretending stuff like GRR is all her personal pet project, then you might, at least initially (until people read up and learn more, including what they’re being lied to about) take some points off Sturgeon’s personal popularity, but that doesn’t mean the SNP loses support. This will be especially the case if you give airtime to the likes of Joanna Cherry, which helpfully shows the public that there are different views in the party. Making damn sure the public knows some SNP MSPs voted against GRR and were not expelled for that is particularly helpful in building public trust in the SNP.
This is the problem with lying. You need to build an increasing complex web of these, and they all start contradicting each other. ‘SNP is a Sturgeon cult where everyone follows the leaders orders without question!’, but then you come out with ‘MSPs defy Sturgeon and nothing happens to them!’… And so forth. British media ties itself in knots. It’s why Scots don’t trust the BBC.
If you tell the truth, as Sturgeon seems to appreciate, you never have these issues as you don’t trip yourself up.
Couldn’t get more static looking like this. GRR ≠ country going to hell.
Pity we don’t have the same rights as MP’s, scam our taxes without going to prison, scam expenses, subsidised food, electricity and gas bills paid by the state, great state pension as well as the right to claim a crap state pension, subsidised bar bills, champagne for the lords obviously. It’s a long list of Rights they awarded to themselves and no question of asking the plebs if that was ok. Westminster”is’ the problem.
On the topic of ECHR
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2023/02/07/ce218/1
Surely I’m not included in that?
England has a long and proud tradition on human rights
They have a talk about it then decide that certain people are not human, invade their country and kill as many of them as they possibly can, but democratically decided
They used to do it in the name of God at that time, now they label them terrorists
In mitigation though they only killed brown people black people and people of different religions, so y’know, not everybody, well mostly not everybody, and not themselves of course, well only some of themselves, the different ones
The great apathy will apply here that folk will just accept they couldn’t possibly be in one of the categories that will be decided is less worthy of possessing the right to be human
Many countries of the world decided these rights together following the horrors of what the powerful will do to others less powerful or different
The government of England and by default Scotland Wales and the North of Ireland have a purpose and agenda contrary to the rest of the world by trying to scrap laws and rights designed to protect all of humanity from what is essentially evil intent
The world should be questioning England what their intent is then condemning them for doing it
Brits in northern Ireland will join us Scots in raging at the English Supreme court. Oh the glorious irony of this.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-64558530
Northern Ireland Protocol is lawful, Supreme Court rules
Which Acts of Union are they talking about?
the Act of Union (Ireland) Act 1800 – enacted by the Irish Parliament
and
the Union with Ireland Act 1800 – enacted by Westminster
Both Acts “making provision for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland”.
Full judgement in this case on the Supreme Court’s website and via this .pdf:
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2022-0089-0093-judgment. pdf (Close up the space before ‘pdf’)>
Thanks WS, 👍
On a lighter note, you may like to know (if you didn’t already) David Maxwell-Fyfe (see above) the first UK Minister to have some portfolio regarding Cymru/Wales. Along with his ‘proper’ job of Home Secretary he was the first ‘Minister of Welsh Affairs,’ (1951-1954).
Inevitably, as the Welsh give everyone nicknames, he was known in the home country as ‘Dai Bananas’ – although there was no link with the banana exporter, Fyffes.
The full-time Cabinet post of Secretary of State for Wales (aka Minister Responsible for Western Colonies) only came about in 1964 under the Harold Wilson Government.
Ireland was illegally Partitioned. 1922/3. Easter Rising 1916. There was a self rule Law going through 1914. Held up by 1WW.
Universal Suffrage 1928. Ireland could vote ton reunite, Demographically. The Masons prevented the Catholic’s voting up until the 1960’s in Belfast. Bernadette Devlin.
DUP sstill preventing a return to power sharing, Stormont Gov, The Masonic secret society. Bigoted, unequal, racist and misogynist. The flat earthed, 95% of public jobs. 95% of public housing. Total police Force of bigotry.Unequal and unfair, For unionist votes in Westminster. £Billions going up,in smoke. The Troubles. Thatcher. 20% unemployment in NI and discontent. Riots and protest put down with brutal violence. Illegal murders. British troops. M15. The Black and Tans, before that. Nationalist rebel’s hanged. After the Easter Rising. A difficult period in Irish history. Still not forgot or the aftermath. Still on going. Westminster breaking UK Laws with impunity.
The Tories are running out of time. ECHR any negative legislation with be blocked by HoL,the Courts and Scottish Gov. Devolution is intertwined by ECHR. Devolution is guaranteed by human rights. Self determination and self governance when people vote for it. UN principles in of human rights. The laws are being upheld, against the Tories by the Courts. Sent them out to think again. Time is running out. Back and forwards between the Courts, HoL and government. Wasting £Billions of public monies.
The Tories have lost £Billions wasted on strikes. It would have been less expense to give the public essential workers proper remuneration. Simple, easier and more productive. To keep the economy moving. Tory time and money wasters. Wasting public monies like there is no tomorrow. There will be no tomorrow for them. Out into oblivion. The Tory useless incompetents beyond belief. Wasting monies disappearing into the pockets of associates who fund the Tory Party. Totally illegal non scrutinised public contracts. Now engaging in another Earl Do they not get sick of it, Everybody else does. People are sick of it.
Support for EU membership growing, young people in favour. 74% and rising according to the Polls. Even more in Scotland. The Tories against the tide again and floundering, Flapping fish out of water. They will not get in again. The UK will end up in the EU again. Esoecially Scotland in some capacity. Scotland has lost £Billions but did not vote it. The rest of Britain has lost as well. The Tories have lost support entirely.
Council elections in the South in May. Might see some form of resistance. A backlash?
The unionists will encourage independence supporters to vote labour in Scotland.
It ultimately suits their aim of continuous control of Scotlands resources. They are happy with a labour/ Tory power share at Westminster as it ensures English control for ever.
There are virtually no actual Tory or Labour supporters in Scotland, only voters who tactically select the party most likely to defeat the SNP.
Independence supporters 50%+ are not voting for unionists Parties. They are voting SNP/Green/Alba according to their preference. Tory vote is falling. Independence support increasing, More Independence supporting voters need to go out and vote at every election. To vote out the opposition. A higher turnout would do it. To bring Ibdependence even closer. Another Ref should do it, A majority of people are now realising and campaigning for it. The Tories will be out. Along with Labour/unionists in Scotland. The unionist parties in Scotland cannot support Independence. They are funded from Westminster central office. Trade unions and corporate interests. Banks fund the Tory Party. Illegal donations from tax evaded public monies. For illegal non scrutinised Gov contracts. Unionist political parties illegally fund. An abuse of public funds. The SNP etc are funded by their members. To have impartial, decision funding and better policies. Without the proper powers. Retained by Westminster, To mismanage and misused Scotland’s revenues and resources. Kept secret under the Official Secrets Act, To limit Democracy in Scotland. Not taxation without representation, International UN Law. The right to self determination and self governance when people vote for it. Cannot be denied. .
The blows for Sturgeon just keep coming.
https://archive.is/PgGLX
SNP ‘would overtake Tories’ in snap General Election, poll finds
A NEW poll has found that the Conservatives would become Westminster’s third party behind the SNP in a snap election.
A poll of 28,000 people for The Telegraph found that if there were an imminent General Election then the Tories would be left with fewer seats than the SNP.
This would mean that Stephen Flynn would become the leader of the opposition.
The figures, from pollsters Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus, report Labour winning 49 per cent of the vote while the Tories would win just 23 per cent.
The style of polling used means results could be calculated in individual seats.
READ MORE: US Congress members tell SNP MPs they are ‘aghast’ at state of UK
The SNP would win 50 MPs according to results while the Tories would have just 45, down from 365.
This looks like so for Scotland:
43% SNP
26% Lab
13% Con
9% Lib
6% Other
3% Grn
Grn + Oth too high under FPTP. Proportionally reallocating to give 2% ‘others’ total, as normal in elections outcomes, gives:
47% SNP
29% Lab
14% Con
10% Lib
2% Other
All looking normal.
#blowsforsturgeon
Parliament isn’t sovereign far less absolutely sovereign according to English Constitutional law.
I thought I would share this because it’s pertinent to Paul’s article and to our own situation regards indy.
It’s youtube, so quite long and I hope it links.
Important to view this in light of the recent pronouncements, and I use that in place judgements since they could be knowingly unlawful, of the Supreme Court and also the removing of Rights under the ECHR without actual permission of the electorate. There obvious ramifications regards Scotland. I haven’t listened to all of it yet but so far no mention of the Scottish tradition of popular sovereignty.
England’s present right wing government is on the fringes of mainstream European thinking which is why,of course,they are so desperate to cut themselves off from all that.
It is only a matter of time before the SNP is branded a terrorist organisation whose members will be either locked up or made stateless and transported to Rwanda.
Och lol I was spot on. The Spectator is already raging. This story is funny as.
https://web.archive.org/web/20230209103854/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-problem-with-a-gender-neutral-god/
The problem with a gender-neutral God
…But that’s what some reports are suggesting, whether through clumsiness or a mischievous glee at the prospect of further Anglican division. According to the Guardian, ‘The Church of England is considering whether to stop referring to God as “he”, after priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead…
And now the Deputy Chairman of the Tories is keen on the reinstating of the death penalty.
https://nation.cymru/news/new-tory-deputy-chairman-lee-anderson-says-he-would-support-death-penalty-return/
For the death penalty, I think if folk want it, they need to register this on a database. If someone is put to death wrongly, a lottery is held, and say 100 people from the database are selected to be put to death for the collective murder of the person wrongly killed. All fair, and if the death penalty is only ever applied to the guilty, nae problems, right?
The thing is, if you suggest this, and make death penalty supporters take responsibility for the fact it invariably results in innocent people being murdered, they are suddenly way less keen on it for some reason. But that’s right wingers for you.
I had the same idea, but with the entire jury that provided the wrong verdict getting the chop.
They would need to be 100% sure and willing to stake their own life on such a verdict.
Interesting thought experiment. Should the same apply to people who support, say, the right of the state to kill people during a war?
I don’t think the situations are comparable. We can chose not to use the death penalty. There is no need. We dispensed with it for this reason. It’s not even a deterrent.
Sometimes war however, is unavoidable, and that means people will get killed, including civilians, even if armies try super hard to avoid that. I say that as a pacifist.
Of course those that deliberately target civilians should be put on trial if it can be done, for they are murderers. I don’t believe in executing them though, after all, new evidence might come to light… 🙂
Word for word what our old friend “The Reverend” said in February 2015.
Yes, it’s a commonly used thought experiment on the death penalty, with plenty of variations around it out there. Anonymousey’s is another one I’ve seen.
Excuse the black humour but, “Have I got noose for you”.
I think you should let this subject drop.
A long drop…?
A welcome injection of humour.
Stop it…. you’re killing me!
At the end of your rope, Tam?
Mmm, I guess this is an example of gallows humour …
“E”
Basically speaking, I don’t have anything to say.
Frankly, you should be a politician.
Help me Rona!
Frank Lee runs my local Chinese Takeaway – he doesn’t want to be a politician.
Is that the Wu Flung Dung?
Whit a surprise! It’s like the brits liars that are not to be trusted, eh!
https://archive.is/AJ69i
Isla Bryson case review finds women were ‘at no point at risk of harm’
AN urgent review into the handling of rapist Isla Bryson by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has found that “at no point were any women in the care of the prison service at risk of harm”.
How was this even ever news?
Onywise, I don’t always agree with Lesley Riddoch, but totally go along with this:
https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23309070.lesley-riddoch-stewart-mcdonalds-miasma-indyref2-strategy/
With any luck the luckily sacked spokesperson for defence has totally peeved off most everybody, bar a few diddys. Imagine him if the Russians invaded “Wait till they occupy more than 60% of Scotland”. No. Where’s my trusty musket? Get out of my hills and glens.
And as Lesley says – the SNP are very very good at elections, remember 2015?
In fact remember how depressed everybody was on 19th September 2014, barring a few who said:
“Righty, General Election next year, let’s get rid of ALL unionist MPs”. And the Indy Movement united in its despair and sacked just about all the Westminster poodles (no offence to poodles). Curran no more, Alexander no more, Bayonets no more, just 1 left from each of the 3 parties which was very very very funny ha ha ha ha ha as they looked so forlorn and pathetic next to the 56 SNP MPs.
We’re here again, if the SNP have the sphericals to unite us once again, and send the Unionists homewards not to think again, but forever ella, with their precious sordid sleazy dishonest corrupt meaningless bankrupt Union.
GTF Westminster and your useless heartless Governments.
Interesting, obviously something big and painful coming for the Conservatives. Rumors are that its some big scandal or MPs / High profile former MPs quitting the party.
I see Starmers in Scotland promising changes to the ‘outdated gender’ recognition laws. Mm?
Strange since he supported Alister Jack and it’s still a devolved issue.
Labour in Scotland obviously doesn’t have a problem with hypocrisy but they should have a problem with a man who ditched everyone the promises he made during his leadership election campaign.
Maybe a GE where Labour take so many seats the UK becomes a one party state and Scotland votes for independence immediately as a result?
It’s really ironic, but a big Labour win is what would likely actually finish the UK.
After all, it was 10 years of them in power that gave us the 2011 landslide which led to iref1. There are too many Scots who’ve forgotten New Labour. A rude (re)awakening to reality is maybe what’s needed to get things done and dusted.
Labour mouth off about themselves being the party of devolution when it’s a complete and total lie
Labour are the party of dereliction, at least the Tories are upfront about their contempt for Scotland, when Labour owned Scotland there was never a week went by without at least one of them embroiled in grubby financial theft of taxpayers money being passed around in brown envelopes to build themselves new houses and funding flash holidays around the globe, all the way up to former Labour FMs and party leaders, some now happily ensconced in the House of Lords as a reward and free living for carrying out the Tories instructions in Scotland
The list is long on Labour
Well … my next door neighbour MP – Mad Nad – is standing down at the next election apparently (news in 2 hours ago). I guess she wants to spend more time with her TV family at “Friday Evening with Nadine” or whatever her prog. is called.
Mind you, Johnson is rumoured to want to give her the ermine and stand in her constituency.
Government Procurement Card misuse anybody? 🤔
The end of the money tree? GPC scandal hits the tories?
30p Lee is a blowhard and a thug who makes Tebbit look like a Sunday school teacher.
Utterly despicable individual who’s only there to appeal to their base and try to stave off Tice’s Reform party, aka Farage’s bastard offspring.
From the National:
“… launching and running a determined campaign to push independence support over 60%”
What is it with this 60% arrant nonsense?
Unless a ref or election is actually on the go, nobody but nobody reads leaflets or gives a brass monkey about politics – apart from about 1% of the population.
Are people so blinded by politics themselves, that they can’t see that 99% of the population has higher priorities – like eating, not freezing to death and keeping some sort of roof over the heads?
Give me strength 😦
Agree.
Brexit was 51.9% to leave carried by the English population. That is enough for me.
The 60% is not required. Do some MSPs/ MPs not recognise that 62% + of Scotland were totally ignored in this vote.
A majority for independence is enough. Time our “representatives” recognised this fact or step down.
Should have added this in https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results
Brexit was consultative only.
Jings Hamish, we agree.
That means we’re definitely right 🙂
This is how low the BBC has fallen. You could not get more right-wing barrel scraping than this.
Bryson is a transwoman, or at least says she identifies as such. That’s it. We all know what this means.
https://archive.is/OiNvM
Is Isla Bryson a woman? Nicola Sturgeon’s gender conundrum
What next, will the demand the FM make the call on my nephew formerly niece live on TV?
This is why I say the UK is making me physically sick. It’s a revolting sh*thole of a racist / bigoted right-wing country. Trump has won here.
It’s not for the FM to decide Bryson’s identity. That’s the very definition of racism / bigotry. What next, we ask Sturgeon if certain people are ‘really Scots’ as only these should be allowed to vote in iref2? Maybe we set up a force dressed in black to decide who qualifies as Jewish so they can be added to a list? Even if they claim they’re not, we decide that for them? We can do this based on bodily characteristics, measurements etc. We can get the FM on the telly and demand she decide who’s Scots/Foreign/Jewish/gay/lesbian at FMQ? These are all protected ‘self-identified’ characteristics, like gender identity, for a reason.
This is, of course, trying to get her to break the law. They are way, way, way overplaying their hand here. People concerned about the GRR as they don’t understand it is very far from people being grotesquely bigoted against trans folk like the British media is becoming.
And contrary to what the BBC say, the FM never claimed Bryson was ‘definitely lying’ about being trans. That was selective misquoting from a repose to series of questions. She was absolutely clear about why she understood Bryson is being housed in the male estate and it was about the danger posed due to criminal history. That was the deciding factor.
Sure some people who know Bryson are saying it’s all a lie, and the SPS will listen to that and take it into account potentially. But first and foremost it’s the danger the person is perceived as posing that deems where they’ll be housed.
I remain of the belief this issue is the straw that’s breaking the camel’s back. They have nothing left in support of Scotland remaining in the union, so it’s down to right-wing war on woke barrel scraping.
This self-penned attempt by James Cook to keep their propaganda game alive on conflating the Equalities Act, GRA and Reforms, was in top spot on the BBC/Scotland webpage this morning at 6 hours old, 6 hours later it’s still there in top spot at purportedly 4 hours old. 🤣
The vast majority of Scots didn’t give a damn about the GRA Reforms despite 2+ years of propaganda from the BBC in Scotland.
Their rapist concoction to divert from anger over Alister Jack’s flounce is seen for exactly what it is, another Pacific Quay incontinent pigeon with “made in London” stamped on it’s skittery tail-feathers.
The trick to successful propaganda is credibility with the public – Shot to pieces under Sarah Smith’s tenure, James Cook seems determined to finish the job. 🙄
I’ve complained. Not that it will make any difference.
But people should remember to not break the law and by doing so, risk public safety.
In terms of the Equality Act, the headlines might as well be:
FM’s nationalist conundrum: Is John McDoe a real Scot or actually British?
FM’s ethnic conundrum: Is Jane McDoe really white or actually black?
The FM doesn’t get to decide. Nobody does but the individuals concerned.
People do fake protected characteristics for malicious reasons. They might pretend to be Scottish to concern troll Scottish indy supporters… even infiltrate Yes groups (you can bet there are MI5 doing this). They might pretend to be homosexual to win the affections of another LGB person in an attempt to blackmail them, e.g. by getting compromising photos. They might pretend to be Christian to look after a Sunday school group, giving them trusted access to young children…
Just as with gender identity, it’s impossible to prove people are lying about these characteristics in the first instance. So we either fairly make everyone prove they are who the say they are over 2 years and have a GP + clinical psychologist sign it off, or we fairly accept self-id for all protected characterisitcs, and punish if that’s abused.
Is James Cook heterosexual? I demand to know. Why , well because? I think it is relevant to the debate? Why? Well because I need to know.
Scotsman savanta poll Feb 2022 recorded support at 57% to changes to Gender ID reform. That’s high when you consider nigh on 5yrs of negative campaigning by the media.
Most gender reform polls are utterly meaningless. It’s why I never bother with them. Both sides can achieve the answer they want.
If a poll needs a long preamble to explain the origins of a policy, what it involves, who supports opposes it etc, then the answer can’t be taken as reflecting public opinion. Instead, you have the opinion of around 1000 people who have been led towards a particular answer based on a very small amount of information you’ve given them. You can get them to say anything, including getting them to oppose, then support by giving them new information (like subsequently telling them only the Tories oppose and it’s backed by the BMA, CoE, UN etc).
Also, if you want to ask people if e.g. a diagnosis of gender dysphoria should be required for a GRC, you need to first ask them if they are a suitably qualified medical expert in the field. If not, then forget it. You might as well ask them how to treat a complex form of cancer.
If you wanted to roughly gauge public opinion on the GRR bill, you at most ask:
Do Support the Scottish Government’s Gender Reform Bill?
No further qualifications should be added to lead either way.
That’s the only question that might actually give you an idea. At the same time, the media frenzy will have likely tainted answers right now and you’d be best waiting for a quiet period where that doesn’t play a role responses. Right now, you’ll have tory voters suddenly opposed as they try to hurt the SNP, when they previously had never heard of it or supported it because May did.
Even then being opposed doesn’t mean people are in a faff about something. If it doesn’t affect them then they say they are opposed, but ultimately don’t give a crap. That’s why we are not going to see any effects – at least medium to longer term – over it. That concept is just British nationalist pipe dreaming.
The GGR barrel bottom stuff is now the ‘positive case for the union’. It’s all they have left.
Neither the Scotsman or Savanta are Indy friendly, neither does the poll reflect, because it’s Feb22, what’s happened over the last month, rather I think it reflects the lack of traction the media negativity and scaremongering has had up to that pointi.
I’d commented on Stewartb’s excellent post over on TuS https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/02/09/a-must-read-gender-recognition-pouring-facts-on-flames/ “…the sort of analysis which was once the pride of UK journalism before the media mafia took over”.
It’s not so much the GRA instance which grinds my gears but the total absence of journalistic (and political) integrity in the media of the UK today in conveying facts and considered analysis to a public audience in order to inform, with a few exceptions who quickly become re-acquainted with the concept of vulnerability.
Propaganda is a dangerous game, look to Brexit for the perfect example…
I’m currently waiting for J. K. to announce she’s disabling the option of playing as a character of a different gender to your birth sex in Hogwart’s Legacy, unless, that is, you’ve obtained a GRC by the current process.
This seems to be about where we are now.
But aye, the standard of media reporting is utterly appalling, and not just on this issue as you say. British reporting is going the same way as Brexit Britain.
The aircraft carrier (which can’t carry aircraft when I last checked) trumps our ferry problems by several billion.
Rosyth: Royal Navy admit HMS Prince of Wales warship has another fault
https://archive.fo/qA0me
Aye, we could have bought a couple of shiny new top of the range ferries using our share of this particular England willie extension.
British nationalists and their media think once again they can have us all dance to their tune in them dictating and promoting what we, here in Scotland, should all be totally focused upon and be totally absorbed with…..
Amidst all of the constant coordinated British Nationalist political and media attacks and contrived Hoo-Ha’s aka stooshies we end up letting ourselves be dragged into their many deflection tactics where we appear (but are not) to be always on the back foot and needing to defend our position on what THEY dictate is really really bad , currently really really relevant and really really significant in their UK politically…..
The REAL truth and reality is that amidst all of these coordinated and contrived attacks on our government the actual REAL scandals which are really really bad, currently really really relevant and too really really significant in their UK are being lost among the stories that they, media and British nationalists, generate and then (over) promote to try and deflect OUR attention away from ALL of these scandals involving the UK government….
Michelle Mone – what is happening re this ? where is she ? Is she still being investigated and if so by whom ? What punishment will she incur should she be found guilty of charges made against her ? Lots of questions but currently NO publicity or information on what is happening NOW re this scandal. Is this TORY scandal already in MOVE ON terriTORY.
Nadhim Zawahi – the only punishment but not REALLY a punishment is his demotion within the Tory party as in dismissed as Chairman of CONservative party but STILL an MP…..his actions has seen similar cases serve jail time…some on Twitter cited examples of Lester Piggott and Boris Becker both jailed for tax evasion …..now this is yet another TORY scandal consigned to MOVE ON terriTORY.
Dominic Raab – What is happening re bullying allegations via not just from ONE source but many….will the conclusion of this mirror that of the Priti Patel case where a payment(s) is eventually made to those who have made the allegations….to shut them up and stop this TORY scandal dead in it’s tracks…..thus once more we are all then expected to accept this TORY scandal and are thus once again in MOVE ON terriTORY.
Boris Johnson & Richard Sharp – What is happening re this story ?….Will this also end up with no real punishment being applied to either individual thus once again be consigned, like #PartyGate, as another TORY scandal to be filed under MOVE ON terriTORY.
Now we have Lee Anderson promoted to Deputy Chairman of the CONservative party…a walking PR disaster….yet somehow this appointment is so fitting for the party he is in….is his appointment a way to keep onboard those Red wall voters who were conned in 2019 to vote FOR the Tories in the GE….his seat was formally held by GB NEWS presenter Gloria De Piero (Ex Labour MP) and he, Lee, was her former office manager…YEP he used to be Labour and defected to the Tories….not sure why he bothered as tis same party really…. NOW that it, as a party, is under Starmer……
Trust me OUR arguments for independence are justified, legitimate and currently are THE ONLY arguments that are THE winning ones against all of the current mess and scandal that infects their UK ,who under the Tories, has seen us all suffer financially , morally and culturally…… and indeed also suffer the shame of being associated with it as a so called but NOT… ONE country….and too tis one that is in it’s final death throes which has been brought closer BECAUSE of British nationalists and not BECAUSE of us who they love to label as so called separatists.. and thus the media try desperately to constantly resuscitate it within Scotland when it should be filed under the same status as a Dodo….Extinct and thus no more. …
(Way past) Time we MOVED ON from the UK and became INDEPENDENT….