I had originally planned to write a proper blog piece on Sunday about my experience being on a panel with Lesley Riddoch and Gordon Macintyre Kemp at the SNP independence convention in Dundee on Saturday 24 June but the day wiped me out and I needed time to rest and recuperate hence this piece is being published on Monday instead. First things first. I would like to give my enormous and heartfelt thanks to Paige Paterson of the SNP Maybole and North Carrick branch who very kindly gave me a lift to Dundee and then got me home afterwards. Without her door to door service I would never have been able to get there. As regular readers know, I can no longer drive or walk any distance and public transport is very challenging. There is absolutely no way I could have got to the venue without Paige’s kind offer of a lift.
This was the first big speaking event I’ve done since I had the stroke, and truth be told I found it difficult and physically and mentally challenging in a way I never used to experience before. Although I am told no one else noticed, I was very aware that the muscles in my mouth and tongue no longer work as well as they used to and articulating speech clearly for an audience was a lot more difficult and took more effort. Additionally I no longer have the same breath support and cannot project my voice like I once did. I also find that I am no longer as quick mentally as I used to be. However the biggest problem was a lack of stamina, and by the time that the panel session drew to an end I was running on empty. I was completely wiped out by the time I got home, and was still very fatigued the following day.
However I am very pleased that I managed to get there and was able to participate. On a human level, irrespective of any of the politics, it was a huge personal achievement and an important milestone on the road to recovering key aspects of my pre-stroke life. I would certainly be prepared to do other events in future, as long as door to door transportation can be organised, and I can do the event while sitting down. The next year will be critical for building support for independence, and I am determined to do all I can to help that and to help bring about an SNP victory in the next General Election.
Anyway, the most important thing to come out of Saturday is not my personal challenges post-stroke, but the First Minister’s announcement that independence will be front and foremost in the SNP campaign for the next UK General Election. If the SNP win the next General Election in Scotland, that will be taken as a mandate to open independence negotiations with the Westminster Government. Winning that election will be judged by the normal metric for winning elections, taking the largest number of seats and the largest share of the votes. Humza Yousaf declared that it is for the Labour and Conservative parties to prove that the United Kingdom is the voluntary union that they keep insisting it is. The First Minister said: “Everybody knows the rules of a General Election. The party that wins the most seats wins the General Election.” The British nationalists do not get to invent a special set of rules that only apply in Scotland.
Crucially, there will be no more asking for a Section 30 order, the anti-independence parties had their chance. They blew it when they trashed Scottish democracy and denied the outcome of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, in the process blowing up the years long understanding that it was up to the people of Scotland to decide whether Scotland should have another independence referendum and the democratic mechanism for doing so was to elect a Scottish Parliament with a majority of MSPs in favour of holding an independence referendum. Yet as we saw, when that condition was fulfilled, the Westminster parties moved the goalposts and are now refusing to say what the democratic route to another independence referendum actually might be, even as they insist that such a route exists.
A legally binding referendum on independence remains the Scottish Government’s preferred option, but we must recognise reality, the Westminster parties know that they made a big mistake by consenting to the 2014 referendum, and agreed to a Section 30 order because they mistakenly believed that support for independence would struggle to win more than 30% of the vote and that a victory for No was nailed on. They won’t make that mistake again. Scotland has repeatedly voted for another referendum only for the anti-independence parties to Britsplain it away. The First Minister pointed this out during a hostile interview with Trevor Phillips on Sky News. Phillips was formerly a Labour candidate for Mayor of London and remains closely aligned to the Blairite right of the Labour party. Humza Yousaf said: “It’s worth reminding people that, of course, our preferred option, the option for which we have multiple mandates for is of course for that legally binding referendum and that has been denied time and time again by the UK Government.”
There’s no point continuing to bang our heads against the brick wall of Westminster intransigence. Another route is necessary. The truth is that we were naive in 2014, running an independence campaign on the basis that our opponents are operating in good faith. It is now abundantly clear, with the benefit of the hindsight of the past nine years, that they are not. In fact we can no longer have any confidence that Westminster would have respected the result of the 2014 referendum had the outcome been reversed and it was the Yes campaign which had won 55% of the vote.
What the First Minister put forward is a multi-pronged strategy. As well as demanding that Westminster should open independence negotiations with the Scottish Government, the Scottish Government would send an envoy to Brussels and begin drafting a withdrawal agreement to end this so-called Union. Work would also start on drafting a new interim constitution.
The opening statement in the manifesto will make it absolutely crystal clear that a majority of Seats will give the Scottish Government a cast iron mandate to open negotiations with Westminster. This is radically new. There has never been such a definitive, unarguable position from the SNP before.
Further details on how the plan will be implemented will be thrashed out in the series of regional independence conventions that the SNP is organising over the coming months, but at the moment we have the outlines of the way ahead, a way that does not involve going cap in hand for a Section 30 order and being rebuffed, and that is to be welcomed.
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fantastic. this is brilliant. i dont know what else to say. i am so very very pleased.
Yip. Glad you participated.
Let’s move forward. If Englands politicians and a few toom tambards here in Scotland are wanting to block democracy let’s go around them.
Of course they may try and stop a General Election and declare a unionist win.
As we know the best people to govern Scotland are patriotic Scots. 🏴 New Scots, old Scots together.
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female and commented:
I’m confused. What’s the difference between a Section 30 and “open independence negotiations with the Westminster Government”?
As I see it the S30 was for agreement to hold a referendum this new approach removes that and leads directly to negotiations on independence
Thanks. I get it now.
Section 30 is a request for an indyref, while the other simply skips that and effectively begins the actual independence process.
I suspect the UK response might be to grant the indyref, which may be what the SNP’s primary goal is.
In terms of international law both are fine, however going via an indyref makes it undeniable force within the UK scope of the discussion.
You really think that Westminster will agree to an indyref?
If they are value the one last ditch chance they have, yes. The alternative is “independence negotiations” or in other words UDI.
They could refuse to acknowledge it but it’s a highly risky move with a low chance of success once there’s a mandate based on an official election manifesto statement. The only effective counter would be to get the entire international community to refuse to acknowledge it, but given their weak negotiation position these days they don’t have much to offer the world in return.
I hope you’re right.
Great to see you there Paul. You looked and came across very well. I understand it took a lot out of you afterwards but I hope to see and hear you more often. Thank you for taking the time to take part in the discussion at Caird Hall on Saturday. X
Perfidious Albion was a phrase first heard in the 1700s and originally coined by the Marquis de Ximenes, it referred to the treacherous nature of England in any and all dealings, that phrase sustains today and is still in use by Europeans
England’s reputation for bad faith is legendary and not without foundation, as every country of their previous empire would readily attest
England’s governments have been, and are still proven liars and renowned for the breeching of agreements, they have never been proven to have told the truth or upheld the principles of any legal document or agreement they have entered into with any country in the world
They have not and will not in the future change that habit, it’s how they created
THEIR “most successful union in the world” to advantage England and only England
England will lie, threaten, apologise, promise, lie threaten and apologise again and again until what they consider opposition to them has been broken, diverted, disillusioned or destroyed
Even to this day following their own decision to Brexit they blame the EU for their own failures, even down to personal insults of the Europeans hating England so they’re preventing England from exercising their sovereignty over their country the UK
Scotland Wales Northern Ireland? we do not exist in terms of the way any English government thinks, as it brainwashes its own citizens into believing everything is everyone else’s fault, so hate the foreigner
It’s what they do, it’s what they’ve always done
In respect of England, if you can’t beat them leave them, there’s no other way, ask our cousins in Ireland
Agreed.
The unionist parties declared that Holyrood does not have the competence to hold a referendum. Holyrood is a proportional system and there they had the best opportunities to win.
As they have closed off this route then the rules of Westminster come back into play and a majority of SNP MP’s representing Scotland is a mandate for Scotland. They have dug their own hole.
I still hope to see Scotland independent before my demise.
The BBC and the rest of the media will now be tasked to portray the SNP winning a Westminster election in Scotland as not legitimate. The BBC is already on the case.
Boris Johnson stood on a single manifesto proposition to “get Brexit done”
Humza Yousaf can use the same precedent to “get Scotland independent”
The BBC have had to apologise twice in the last two weeks after being caught lying about the SNP and Humza Yousaf, the BBC say these were *mistakes*
I remember Microsoft used the same tactics to prevent people from installing someone else’s software on their PC. A little warning window would pop up threatening dire consequences – do you wish to proceed?
A three letter acronym FUD described the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt that they created. I would extend the British malicious media practice to DUFF = Doubt, Uncertainty and Fear of the Future.
But hey – are we not famous for being intrepid?
lol….I remember those days of “performing an illegal operation” and the Beethoven type sound that came with it!
Thank you Paul for taking the time and expending the effort to go along to Dundee on Saturday and take part in that convention. I’m sure it has, as you sa,taken a fair bit out of you but I’m also sure that in a short time you will have more strength as a result.
Thank you too for such a succinct and unbiased reporting of the event. The usual media reporting is both underwhelming and untruthful from the various headlines that I’ve seen.
There is no one better than your goodself to give us the honest truth in a straightforward manner.
Onwards!
Tories Labour Lib Dems and Alba go apenuts after it appears Police Scotland are in support of Scottish independence by retweeting a pro independence post
This of course all ties in with the blue tent ootside Sturgeon’s hoose, arrests etc in the world of Bath based tinfoil Morris dancing hat conspiracy theorist groups.
Well said you 👍
WOS 👎doing Scotland down at every turn. But shame on the Bathman’s acolytes for believing all his anti Scottish and pro UK propaganda crap.
Bring it on!!
Hi Paul, It was so good to see and hear you on Saturday. So pleased you are regaining more of your old life again…onwards and upwards! I’ve made a modest donation – if I could afford more I’d gladly give it. Take care, Kindest regards, Laura Dunbar x
Sent from my Galaxy
Is it just me or are things starting to ramp up wrt our Indy campaign.
The convention at the weekend appears to have pissed off the Unionists and as you rightly point out has laid down a marker as to attaining Independence.
A number of recent marches have attracted healthy attendedancies.
Yes is sitting at circa 50% or higher.
I get the feeling that things are starting to gain momentum..
Or maybe it’s just me.?
No it’s not just you and it’s not just the unionists. The REAL independence supporters are frantically trying to delegitimise Humza Yousaf and the SNP via twitter. Alex Salmond is demanding that the SNP stand aside in Kirkcaldy and Cowndenbeath and East Lothian to allow Neale Hanvey and Kenny MacAskill a clear run in the next GE.
Fasten your seat belts, we’re in for a bumpy ride.
Perhaps the current abracadabra MPs / MSPs and councillors could demonstrate to Scotland their love of and belief in Scotland by standing down and contesting by -elections between say Sep 4th and Oct 13th this year. I for one would whole-heartedly back Alex plan for a Scotland United. And vote for the East Lothian candidate. Should they make that commitment.
(Remember folks after Independence Day the most likely scenario is that all the independence parties will for one reason or another fragment (over time or quickly) and coalesce into the parties which will form and reform our executive for decades to come).
Any politician who by adherence to the first paragraphs requirements. Has been elected, deserves and should have earned our trust. And should be given that position.
Anyone who attempts to make or point out any excuses why the first paragraph cannot be carried out. (WTAW,TAW. look how quickly and effectively things were done during Covid).
Deserves our contempt, and should never be in the position they claim for themselves. Or that others try to connive for them.
To return to Keaton’s query on the previous thread about Margaret Thatcher saying that all we had to do was elect a majority of pro independence MPs. I looked it up and in Quora a student said:
https://tinyurl.com/yy4f7kff
David Torrance – Tory who now works in the HoC Library – says the above quote is from p 624 of Thatcher’s 1993 memoirs “The Downing Street Years”.
Now I’m not going to read Thatcher’s memoirs to find out if this is true. It may be that she said the other quote on some other occasion.
But perhaps we can say that Leon Brittan said it. As a barrister, Home Secretary and European Commissioner he should have known the law. If the SNP win a majority of Scottish sets in general elections then they can go independent. I say those conditions have been met.
sets = seats
David Torrance, excuse my laughter.
I know. He’s a librarian now though so should be good at looking things up. Whether he tells the truth about what he’s looked up is another question. 🙂
Thanks for checking.
It’s pretty clear that Brittan was talking about what he thought would constitute a moral mandate for independence, not making a legal judgement. And it would’ve been preferable if it had been Thatcher who said it, which I guess is why the memes “creatively” attribute it to her. Still, it’s better than nothing.
Indeed. But if Brittan had known of a legal impediment to independence surely he would have mentioned it, or at least not said what he did say, which is in itself a legal judgement.
On the matter of what Thatcher did or did not say, on 22 June 2022 I wrote at length on this topic for Talking Up Scotland, including reproducing well-sourced evidence that had been assembled previously by Wings Over Scotland.
See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/06/29/democracy-in-this-union-and-the-convenient-fluidity-of-tory-party-principles/
Among the many relevant references to statements by Tory politicians – by Tebbit, Major, Thatcher – there is even a remarkable statement from David McLetchie former Tory leader in Scotland. The significance of gaining a majority of seats for pro-independence parties at a UK General Election is clearly stated, if not explicitly by Thatcher certainly by other senior Tories in the recent past.
However, I also refer to what has been said by Professor Ciaran Martin who helped negotiate the terms of the 2014 referendum on behalf of Cameron’s government: “The UK Government is under no obligation to set out under what circumstances Scotland might become independent.”
“So at the moment, while in principle Scotland can become independent, in practice it can’t, no matter how it votes at elections, or how often it does so.”
In seeking to map out a credible ‘theory of change’ – the steps to get us from where we are now to independence – we face considerable difficulties IMHO in predicting what might be termed the ‘second bounce’. For example, if pro-indy parties do win a majority of seat at the next GE, we can state what SHOULD follow but that is far from being in a position to be certain about what WILL follow. This is the case because of various factors upon which later steps towards achieving our desired outcome depend, including ones over which we have limited control but others (including potentially bad faith actors) do!
”Perfidious Albion ” has to be reckoned with !
Good article. Shows how mendacious unionist politicians are. They can drop their principles in a heartbeat.
I am sure that Thatcher said it long before her memoirs!!
‘If the SNP win the next General Election in Scotland, that will be taken as a mandate to open independence negotiations with the Westminster Government.’
9 years of inactivity. Unless of course include our coalition Government making a mess of almost everything they have touched.
Get your fresh juicy carrots here is the cry……………..again!
As a staunch Independence supporter I regret to advise that there is no chance of Independence with the current SNP/Green politicians!! in charge. The electorate have had enough of them.
What would be your solution?
Baxters soup!
🦆
Only unionists suggest that independence is something the SNP are in responsible for delivering.
Staunch unionists would appear to disagree with you. According to them and I include the media in this, Nicola was always banging on about independence instead of getting on with the day job.
Clearly I’m not going to vote Labour, Tory or Lib Dem so what are you selling? Alba?
I’m totally turned off by the almost rabid inventive of Alba posters.
Not voting is damned near as suicidal as voting for one of the Unionist parties.
Armed insurrection?
I’m not seeing a viable alternative to sticking with the SNP.
Staunch? Interesting word that. Usually applied to the other side. Yes supporters might be fervent or enthusiastic etc. Staunch has connotations. No? Maybe just me.
I’ve never known a supporter of Scottish independence that described themselves as a ‘staunch indy supporter’. It’s in the same language category as ‘proud Scot’ etc. I’m neither proud nor staunch, just Scottish as my wife is French, or like I’m Irish too. It’s only British nationalists that have told me they are ‘proud, staunch Scots’ while attacking Scottish political parties in favour of English HQ’d ones offering vows of carrots at the end of sticks.
I think it has something to do with the clear tartan water, my bonnets and me and I’ll get Sturgeon one way or another
The Nuremberg trials were shorter than the length of time being taken to think up something to charge Nicola Sturgeon with
It’s from NI. Protestants are “staunch” and Catholics are “devout”.
I’ll just leave this here:
https://archive.is/K3r6n
The Staunch List 2022 – the 20 people who have done most for the Union in the last year
The Scottish Daily Express website is one year old today so to mark the occasion we pay tribute to all the people who have stood firm against the SNP’s bid to break up the UK
🙄
Is BBCScorchedland at the top of that list ? If not , why not ?
Well done on managing to make it along to Dundee and take part in something that was obviously very tiring for you. I’m sure those that turned up to listen to Leslie Riddoch, GMK and yourself were pleased that you did.
The conference itself seems to have annoyed pretty well everyone who is not a supporter of Independence as well as some of those that are but who are constantly on the SNP leaderships backs which must be a good thing. Unionists obviously just want the SNP to shut up about Independence and go away, especially those Labour hopefuls that want to win SNP seats. I think they are going to remian as hopefuls after the next election.
Being realistic, I know that winning a majority of seats will not be enough to bring Westminster to the negotiating table to discuss Independence with a Scottish Government. We all know that, but what it can do and is meant to do is bring more pressure to bear on Westminster to recognise the legitimacy of it being the people of Scotland who have the right to determine their own political future.
We will need friends in high places to support us if push comes to shove and we need public support not only in Scotland but just as importantly I think in the rest of the UK, the EU and overseas. We now need to make sure that the voters in Scotland go out and vote for Independence supporting parties in the next General election, we need to win and we need to win big if we are to be taken seriously.
Anything other than that will be a failure and I fear it will take a long time to recover from such a defeat. So chin up, flags out and lets get a campaign started!
It was heartening that every point raised by yourself, Lesley Riddoch, and Gordon McIntyre-Kemp chimed with an audience entirely of SNP members https://youtu.be/D0p29O28tmA, even if at times the applause overwhelmed the delivery.
What was vital at this conference was that the logjam of S30 was cleared out of the way, as perfectly expressed, “they had their chance”.
All the legal gymnastics proved was Holyrood did not have the power to call a referendum, it did not prove Scots had no right to express their opinion in one.
If the only legal way the opinion of Scots on Independence can be expressed numerically is by a GE, so be it.
I understand Yousaf could only speak for the SNP at this conference, but I hope it concentrates minds at other Indy supporting parties to follow suit with page one, line one, and as FM he includes them in this strategy.
What follows the result will of course become a nightmare of legalese, but at least it will take support for independence out of the shadows of 2014 and polls, for all the world to see.
That is what the Unionists fear most.
Thanks for the link to the event, well worth a watch.
My last post was deleted which confirms that this is an SNP supporting site and NOT one which favours Independence first and foremost.
I suppose this keeps the cult happy.
I expect this post to be deleted as well
MODS: Please note Paul’s message on comments (temporarily replaced by crowdfunder message)
If you want to mouth off about how much you dislike the SNP leadership there are other forums where you can do that. You’re not welcome to do it here.
Spot on Mods…
Well there’s always Alba. They’re really going down a treat, eh
Stuart- do really support independence? It seems to me you side with unionist parties first and foremost
A staunch post if I ever saw one.
Stuart I am not an SNP member and have only started voting for them post 2014 independence and 2016 Brexit referendums.
I now support independence and the SNP are as they have been for last 50 years the political wing of independence movement. More importantly they are recognised by Westminster and union supporting parties as such.
There are no realist alternative political parties to lead independence movement. Alba continue to barely register any significant support and all they achieve is reducing support for SNP and in a FPTP reduce the chance of an independence supporting MP being elected. In short they are the Scottish equivalent of Judean Peoples Front and are child of one man’s understandable bitterness post his legal experience. What all Alba supporters must understand is that in upcoming elections a vote for Alba reduces SNP support and is in effect a vote for the Union and status quo. Vote Alba and you are doing Westminster parties dirty work for them and they are both lapping it up and laughing at all Independence supporters.This seems so self evident to me that I am staggered that Alba supporters cannot see it through their self righteousness.
I do not agree with all SNP MP, MSP’s or policies but as long as I support independence to improve democracy, economy any social conditions in Scotland I can see no sensible alternative other than voting SNP at Westminster General Election and as first preference at the next Holyrood election.
Talk about this being said through gritted teeth by the BBC.
https://archive.is/MmoVK
Call to raise ‘life-saving’ minimum alcohol price in Scotland
Scotland should increase its minimum unit price for alcohol from 50p to 65p, campaigners have said.
It came as a final evaluation of the policy found that it reduced alcohol-related deaths and hospital admissions, and lowered alcohol consumption.
However, Public Health Scotland also said it had a limited impact on the most harmful drinkers.
Health experts said ministers should consider increasing the unit price to build on the “life-saving policy”.
The Scottish government said it would consider the report’s findings.
Course it’s not going to do much for the heavily addicted, problem drinkers, but the idea is to lessen the number of these being produced in the longer term, obviously. It was the same with the knife crime initiative, i.e. redirect young folks down the good, knife free path before they went down the bad one.
And the contrast with public health policies for England is stark – but of course unreported:
See: ‘Westminster’s Public Accounts Committee blasts Tory record on alcohol treatment services in England and learns benefit of Minimum Unit Pricing in Scotland’ (24 June, 2023)
(https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/06/24/westminsters-public-accounts-committee-blasts-tory-record-on-alcohol-treatment-services-in-england-and-learns-benefit-of-minimum-unit-pricing-in-scotland/ )
Excellent stuff Paul. Thank you. Rest up for now.
Minimum unit pricing is working in Scotland, but it’s also not working says *expert* on BBC Scotland
Apparently Scotland is doing better than England but not by enough to warrant MUP at the level it is, because Scots have switched to drinking hand sanitizer because it’s cheaper, so MSPs will have to have to demonstrate more wisdom to foresee the consequences of their actions, says BBC Scotland expert from *Gzorninplat research institute of think tank things* in England
*Thou shalt not get above thy selves Scotch serfs*
I can’t remember which commandment that was, must be my under developed Scotch memory
Westminster could tax alcohol higher and restrict consumption. Blair’s 24/7 drinking culture. Made matters worse. People can drink wine every night. More women are drinking. Alcohol price as a proportion of income is much lower than before.
Scottish Gov has funded total abstinence rehab facilities £250million over five years.
MUP has cut deaths and related illness. MUP should be increased. The SNP fought for years to introduce MUP.
Labour opposed MUP and the smoking ban. Scotland historically had higher alcohol consumption. Now lowered. Saving public monies. Alcohol consumption is related to crime and prison.
Reducing consumption saves lives and public monies on police, health, social care, prison etc.
Wasn’t it the brexiters “ Lord” frost and Johnson’s pal with the no border in the Irish Sea, heading up the drinks industry at the time when they fought the Democratically elected on the manifesto to try and tackle Scotlands drink problems?
Do they believe they probably caused some deaths as a result? Didn’t the tories back big foreign business interests over the well-being of the people of Scotland
I owned the lease on a bar and restaurant in Spain for years, my parents owned bars in Scotland for many years, so I know a fair amount about drinking culture, and I can tell you England’s drinking habits begin at 9am along with the cheapest breakfast they can find and continue casually until around 5 or 6pm until what the Spanish call menu del dia (that’s like tea time) where they look for the cheapest 3 course dinner they can find including a bottle of wine
Then they proceed to whichever bar might have some form of entertainment and continue drinking there for a couple of hours, by which time they’re ready to move on to the nearest bar to their house and finish off the evening by drinking in that place until as late as the bar remains open
My premises was not a holidaymakers teenage disco bar, most of my customers were retired people from England and maybe some relatives over for a visit
My first year of owning the bar restaurant I made £250.000 profit, the second year £200.000, I was open 6 days per week, then the recession hit and I began losing money like a drain because my English customers told me in no uncertain terms that they could not drink or eat in my restaurant at the moment because they had to do the right thing and only support English bars, they said it ever so nicely as though I was just as foreign to them as the Spanish restaurants
I sold my place immediately at a loss after 3 years without a backward glance
Two morals to that story:
One: English folk drink a lot, Two: When they say they’re British they mean English
There is no such animal as British except in the minds of the mindless drones in Scotland who fall for that English propaganda
We are not considered equal, we never were and we never will be, just like every other nationality on the planet we are foreigners occupying their English territorial universe and only tolerated if we provide for them
Don’t get me wrong on this, it’s not their fault, they just don’t know any different, and why arguing discussing and negotiating with them is pointless
Everything they do and say is based on who and what they think they are
They will not change, they don’t know how, and they cannot understand what’s wrong with everybody else
Just watched the bbc Scotland article on minimum pricing
I hoped I have misinterpreted it but it seemed to suggest that an alcoholic who died since a previous bbc programme would have had an easier time in his last days if only the price was lower.
If my interpretation is correct it is an absolute disgrace for the bbc to push such a line.
If only we feed those with obesity with more carbs and sugars at least they would die happy.
A new low by any standard.
A bit like Scot Squad’s Police chief Cameron Miekleson saying the best way to cut reoffending was to feed prisoners more and make them fat so the bams are easier for the polis to catch
👍 Aye
It was good to see you on Saturday albeit from a distance. Yes, we could see the toll your stroke has had on you physically but your voice and thinking seemed strong. Wishing you all the best.
They blew it when they trashed Scottish democracy and denied the outcome of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election
There is an easy way to tell if someone from Scotland claiming to be Scottish (in nationality) is actually that or not. If they support the people of Scotland’s right to self-determine freely, they are Scottish, and if they don’t, they are not, but British (in terms of one vs the other), with Scottish at most a regional identity to them.
It is perfectly possible to be Scottish in nationality (national identity in the absence of passports) and back the UK, but nobody who’s nationality is Scottish would ever oppose their own right, as a Scot, to freely self-determine. The reason people like Douglass Ross don’t see blocking the referendum as stopping his right to self-determination is because he’s not Scottish, but British. When he says he’s Scottish, it like someone from Newcastle saying they are a Geordie. He supports his own right to self-determination by e.g. backing the right of Brits to vote freely for brexit if they wanted, even if he might have opposed himself. People don’t subjugate themselves, but they’ll do it to other peoples; in this case Brits doing it to Scots.
Scotland is unusual in that it gives birth to people of two national identities and these live alongside one another in two parallel, partly overlapping worlds. Some people have both, and will say they share them equally, but invariably one holds sway over the other. 3/4 of Scots will back Scottish if it comes to it, hence the 1997 result for example.
The reason Brits give themselves away when they try to pretend they are Scottish is the same reason I’d struggle to pretend I was of another nationality to people of that nationality. I’d slip up with language, culture etc. Nobody Scottish is ‘proudly’ or ‘staunchly’ so for heaven sake – that’s the language of British nationalism slipping in. I’ve been proud of Scottish people / our government at times. Proud of our sports teams, but never ‘proudly Scottish’ as it’s just what I am. If my wife went around insisting to other French people that she was ‘proud French’ but didn’t think they should have the right to independence, they’d start wondering if she was really French. 🙂
British was only ever an invention by the English to con others into believing they were a part of of something greater than themselves, also patronisingly insulting to whomever accepts the invitation to give up their own nationality to accept an invented bestowed lesser status of *not English* but owned by
Spot on Dr J,
The English are no more British than we are.
They are English through and through.
British is a myth as exemplified by Lord Nelson at Trafalgar.
“England expects that every man will do his duty”
Almost 100 years after the union of 1707.
It has never been Britain and never will be.
Some news today which show a major reason that the British Nationalist governments in Westminster will not under any circumstances “allow” Scotland to become an Independent country who can elect the type of governments we want and who will do things very differently from how the UK Nationalists governments do.
The news today I’m talking of is that the nurses strike in England is now over, not because they have reached a settlement with the Tory government but becuase not enough nurses took part in the Union ballot. Nurses in Scotland were already paid more than their counterparts in England even before the latest disputes began and that gap can only get even wider now.
In Scotland there is no doubt that we value our public sector workers more and want people to be paid a fair wage for the jobs they do. This applies more generally across the board and is simply down to the type of government we elect in Scotland doing the best with the limited powers they already have.
The second news story is that Labour have ruled out free meals for all primary school children as an election pledge. Currently only P1 and P2 children in England receive them regardless of income, in Scotland right now free school meals are available to all P1 to P5 pupils and that will be extended to P6 and P7 in 2024.
So, once more with the limited powers and money available Scotland is going much further withy social policies than England are doing. The main parties in Westminster, Labour and Tory want to carry on with the policies that benefit the rich and not the average family.
People in the rest of the UK are starting to notice these differences and that could lead to them demanding that they have the same. This separation of policy between Scotland and England is something that would be seen to full effect only when Scotland becomes an Independent country with all the powers of any other Independent rich country.
The British Nationalists can’t “allow” that, for that might mean the end of the gravy train for them and their paymasters who make it possible for them to govern.
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/nurses-strikes-end-england-rcn-pay-2437986
https://labourlist.org/2023/06/labour-free-school-meals-policy-free-universal-poverty/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-65479990
Prof Murphy is calling it class war. Claims that it is wages that cause inflation and that people like nurses, doctors, train drivers, teachers and so on must not get enough money to cover inflation is tosh.
The Bank of England wants to frighten workers into submission
https://archive.fo/LMtFz
[…] Source […]
The English politicians will just tell England that Scotland’s been using up English people’s hard earned taxes spending them on the Scots, and as a result England will be forced to *take back control* of Scotland
There’s always an excuse
Why aren’t the current 45 seats out of 59 a mandate for Independence?Why wait till the next election when the likelihood is the SNP may actually LOSE seats?Why isnt Humza opening Independence negotiations NOW?
What mandate? There’s nothing in the manifesto about doing that, and those seats were won on that manifesto.
It’s because in 2019 they were not elected on a mandate to open Independence negotiations if they won the majority of Westminster seats. The mandate they were elected on had many “key pledges”. The top of this and number one on that list was this:
We need a new mandate from the Scottish people that specifically supports their 2024 manifesto commitment to start Independence negotiations if they win the largest number of seats. That’s the democratic route and the only route that the watching world will recognise..
OT. Firstly I apologise but I’ve just read a Guardian article 😱. It’s talking about voter ID and at one point says
” In power, Labour could instantly restore the Lords’ proposal for almost any ID to be acceptable. At the same time, it could bring in automatic registration of all voters so none are excluded, such as private renters. Wales is already planning a pilot scheme to do this.”
My question is, is this a good idea, is it something Scotland is thinking about, and if not, should they? Thanks
The Welsh government voter registration pilot scheme would only cover elections for local government and the Welsh parliament.
“It would not affect elections for MPs, which are decided in Westminster.”
https://archive.ph/wip/1w7av
So Yes, I do think it is a good idea for Scotland even though it wouldn’t prevent the current Tory gerrymandering of the General Election registration. It’s not a Labour Welsh government idea either and it has been pushed for by the electoral reform society for a number of years.
https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/why-its-time-for-automatic-voter-registration/
Thank you
An excerpt from Scotonomic’s weekly newsletter. They accuse the Bank of England of engineering higher unemployment to squeeze the disposable incomes of us all.
The BoE’s desire to create unemployment should make us uncomfortable
https://archive.fo/uZcTL
Meanwhile Scottish oil revenues are siphoned off from an “Unknown Region” to conceal the size of our economy:
Well I should get a medal for my intrepid effort in discovery, because I know exactly where that unknown place is, and I’m happy to draw a map for anyone that wants to know, with an X marks the very spot and everything
An ahm no even a pirate
They don’t even know where the gas comes from that actually lands at Peterhead and Sullom Voe, just comes out the pipes like in the house.
They manage to sell it though on the world market and buy it back at world prices.
Ding dong battle in Holyrood today as the Tories try to belittle the SNP’s plans for a constitution and a de facto referendum. The motion was carried 64 votes to 47.
Independent Scotland should have constitution, MSPs say
https://archive.fo/PAclU
“Turbo charged” version of Nicola Sturgeon’s de facto referendum plan
Sounds good to me, turbo charged eh, gotta be better than the 2014 BBC devo max Jackie Bird Alistair Darling Daily Record version then
Sounds like we stand a chance of actually winning this time
Yes! I was buoyed up by the turbo charging too. 🚀
I’m looking forward to a even more souped up, fuel injected, 500 bhp, as quick as s**t off a stick version! 🙂
O/T
Now that the annual stockbrokers weekend is over (Glastonbury)… just thought I’d let you know I attended the 2nd (second) Glasto circa 1971……David Bowie…Terry Reid…Linda Lewis… Curved Air (drummer Stewart Copeland…later of The Police)
The film is on Amazon Prime:
The opinion of McCorquodale obtained by Neale Hanvey is very interesting, but there needs to be more work in my opinion.
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/albaparty/pages/659/attachments/original/1687279203/OPINION_ON_MATTERS_RELATING_TO_INTERNATIONAL_LEGAL_ISSUES_CONCERNING_THE_RIGHT_TO_SELF-DETERMINATION_FOR_THE_PEOPLE_OF_SCOTLAND. pdf?1687279203 (remove space)
From 44 where it quotes the Quebec case:
“In all three situations, the people in question are entitled to a right to external self-determination because they have been denied the ability to exert internally their right to self-determination. Such exceptional circumstances are manifestly inapplicable to Quebec under existing conditions.”
The third of these was just before it:
“or where a definable group is denied meaningful access to government to pursue their political, economic, social and cultural development“.
I think the UK state overruling Holyrood on issues does meet that third internal denial of self-determination, and also there’s a fourth which was not applicable in Quebec as that was about secession itself, not holding a referendum:
“fourthly where a definable group [Scotland the Nation] is denied the right internally [in the UK state] to establish the support of its people for Independence by the internationally accepted means, a referendum of its people”.
Basically speaking what’s needed is more opinion about “internal denial of self-determination”, and a formalised list of when that has happened. That would be neccessary for any external seeking of self-determination such as the ICJ, or even UDI.
I didn’t put this very well, but to me it all hinges on this:
“internal denial of self-determination”
which as far as I’m concerned has 100% happened the last few years, and is still continuing. Utimately if it continues, it makes UDI inevitable.
Well they could start with the fact that there is no law that prevents one partner to a Treaty from withdrawing from a Treaty of it wished to do so, domestic law has absolutely no jurisdiction in this matter, yet the courts and the Parliament of the UK( created by that treaty) use English Constitutional law( domestic) to deny the people of Scotland the right to determine whether they wish to withdraw from the Treaty which created the union.
Well, in that opinion, there’s this:
“Treaties and the Right to Self-Determination
[124 – 130]”
this bit from 127:
“It made clear that an international document – which includes a treaty- should be interpreted and applied within the framework of the current international rules on the right to self-determination.”
which takes care of this from 124:
“There are no provisions in that treaty [Treaty of Union and Acts] for a means to withdraw from it by either State or to allow for a vote by the people of those territories in the future.”
perhaps leading to this:
“130. There is, though, one possible additional value of the Articles of Union treaty in relation to this matter. If the claim by the people of Scotland reaches an international legal body, then an argument based on this interpretation of the treaty could be made, in addition to the arguments set out above. This would be bolstered by a comparison being made with the Good Friday Agreement, where a vote was expressly provided for the people of Northern Ireland. It could then be argued that, by not allowing this vote for the people of Scotland, it could be a form of systemic mistreatment of the people of Scotland within the UK, which, as discussed in para 27, is a basis for seeking to exercise the right to self-determination by secession/independence.“.
I think the opinion is important for a number of opinions, specially that’s it’s external rather than directly involved, though it was Hanvey who commissioned it.
I also happen to agree with it, and think that those in the likes of the Herald that deride the work of Salvo and Salyers don’t realise that the internet is not a write-only medium as they use it, but they could read a bit before spouting like beached whales.
To summarise – those who say there are no legal routes for Scotland without Westminster are talking garbage.
There are few certainties in Law but a lot of Opinions.
Good stuff and thanks for posting, I haven’t as yet read the opinion and look forward to doing so. However my comment comes from the other side of the argument, namely that there is no law which prevents withdrawal from a treaty, Scotland’s arguments rest on the breaches of the Treaty by the other signatory which invoked justifies withdrawal.
The contract was broken and therefore invalidated. We are not by a Treaty nor ndeed law but by brute force and threat of violence.
The thing that would glut inflation is stopping tax evasion. That would stop inflation and government borrowing. The wealthy paying their taxes. Instead of squeezing the income of people who cannot afford it putting up interest rates. The total Westminster useless ,incompetents. The sooner Scotland get out of this unionist mess the better. Back in the EU gaining £Billions.
The Tories will be out. Especially in Scotland. Independence supporters need to vote with a higher turnout. To vote out the opposition. Use it or lose it. On to Independence. March to the Polling station.
The Westminster Treasury has had half of Oil production. Plus all the taxes. Equivalent of £12Billion a year. For over 50 years. 20 years = £240Billion. Thatcher kept it secret under the Official Secrets Act and lied. Cut the Scottish budget. Left Scotland in poverty. Funded Canary Wharf and Tilbury Docks 26 miles. Funded the bankers who fund the Tory Party. To make her and the associates wealthy. Founded tax havens used to evade tax. Unemployment in Scotland was 15%. Interest rates 17%. Inflation 15%. Over 3 million unemployed. In a lower population number.
Devolution 2000. Scotland has done better. Even better with Independence.
OT
Funding the Future , Murphy, has two interesting articles this morning.
The big 4 auditors are shedding staff as companies requiring their services decline.
The ebc does a ‘Happy Birthday’ article on the NHS but fails to mention strikes and lack of funding. The gaslighting goes on.
Brexit was the tory’s priority, covid we just have to pile the bodies.
Report says we are in 23,000 excess deaths so far this year, media seems to miss this.
Covid is not going away soon, maybe a new variant is in the brew, ready for winter.
This is the true cost of voting to remain a part of the UK.
One in seven people in UK going hungry because they can’t afford to eat
https://archive.ph/rQIWJ
It’s only with Independence that Scotland can begin to tackle this disgrace of people going hungry in one of the richest countries in the world. A British Nationalist government isn’t going to do anything to tackle these issues. In fact they deliberately introduce policies such as the bedroom tax that cause these issues in the first place for the most vulnerable people in our society.
We can only begin to change that by supporting Independence and not voting for British Nationalists.
I see the BBC’s version of this buried in UK/Science & Environment and linked as first on UK/Politics, whilst the
National https://archive.ph/MKpJp reports it on the front page.
Having listened to Steve Keen on a recent Scotonomics podcast being brutally frank about the climate crisis, it was horrifying to realise his example could easily become reality – Only when a US State, or European state, or London succumbs to the disastrous effects of climate change will politicians and economists treat it seriously…
I can’t remember how many years ago I first read an estimate that insulation of homes could more than halve greenhouse gases in the UK, potentially within a year.
This latest report repeats much the same message, and will in all likelihood be greeted with the same faux concern by HMG and accompanying platitudes and excuses for doing nothing.
I expected a small benefit from adding insulation to my fairly modern home, but set a benchmark of 2016 consumption for comparison, doing it in annual phases to quantify the difference. 45% gas saved after year one. 58% last year. This year’s final closing of the envelope will with certainty exceed 60%.
Meanwhile HMG – It’s about money isn’t it, life isn’t everything.
Ot,
poor Prince William . Flies up to scotchland to pursue his lifelong passion of dealing with homelessness across the U.K. No doubt visited his old grannies wee hoose at Balmoral as well. He doesnt get the inequalities of housing and health policy in rip off Britain. How many empty building and bedrooms in Balmoral, Crathie, Windsor, Buckie palace and the rest?
No one was interested – apart from the press core of his great initiative. How embarrassing is the front page of the herald showing his great day out!
Maybe I am too cynical. He got a return bus pass back to his Engerland of land and plenty.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23618744.prince-williams-aberdeen-visit-sees-empty-space-instead-crowds/
Just read that Charles and Camilla will be visiting Galashiels next week as well. Looks like the Royals are keen to get their faces in the local papers and on TV in Scotland these days.
And more bias . Nicky Campbell programme on R5 and bbc news etc has a Tory a labour and Jardine from the Lib Dem’s.
When did the Lib Dem’s have more MP’s than the SNP?
Scottish Liberal Democrat Christine Jardine was discussing *our water* and how it should be looked after better, but of course she wasn’t talking about Scotland’s water, *our water* in this discussion was about England’s water
That’s England’s water in a country in which she does not live represent or even have a say in how the system works in that country
Nicky Campbell might as well have been talking to my dog
Of course Jardine was an ex bbc employee from memory along with the Tory who is now a Dame. Apparently was to be our next FM!
More turbo charging – Humza Yousaf on a state visit to Brussels. Union Jack will be furious.
Humza Yousaf tells EU leaders: Scotland is a European nation
https://archive.fo/DpFLk
Apparently all the usual suspects were *fuming*
The Royals should sell the estate and pay the taxes. The Scottish Gov should increase the rates on the estate.
Land is exempt from tax to keep farms together. Larger farms make are more productive. Wind turbines produce more fuel and energy and produce taxes for the Scottish Gov.
Homelessness is due to other factors. Mental health issues, addiction. Women who co habit (the majority) do not have equal rights. They have to put in a claim within a year and do not getkegal aid. They do in England. To stop abuse.
The Royals support illegal wars,, financial fraud and tax evasion. Hypocrites, A total waste of space and energy, The biggest consumers in the world lecturing others. Hypocrites. Not welcome in Scotland. Less support.
£250million Ofer five years funding for proper total abstinence rehab will help end homelessness. More diversity and mental health support will end homelessness. The £25 child payment will help end homelessness. Scottish Gov renovation or building 6,000 affordable homes a year will help end homelessness. Hundreds of Gov funded affordable houses are being built in Aberdeen. There is a need for a new school. The schools are getting overcrowded where new houses are being built. The unionist Councils do nothing about it. Letting the feeder school get over crowded. In Bridge of Don and Westhills. The councils are the problem.
Scotland makes £Billions from food and drink etc. The sheep farmers need some help no so viable. Brexit is a disaster. EU membership cost Scotland nothing. Nearest biggest market. CAP payments, shared Defence costs, and Investment and loans in renewables etc. Scotland has lost £Billions because of Brexit. Putting up food prices etc. Whisky companies tax evade headquarters elsewhere.
Consumers in england to face 40% water chargee increase to fix sewerage problems.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/water-firms-push-for-bills-in-england-to-rise-by-up-to-40-per-cent-say-reports-sewage-climate
Speaking of water, we are about to witness the collapse of another privatised utility company with masses of debt that has been used to pay huge saleries and huge dividends to shareholders instead of being spent on investment on infrastructure
https://archive.ph/oH2OW
Once this company collapses the UK Nationalist government will take on all it’s debt which will be added to the UK debt pile and it is us who will pay the interest on it. Once free of debt that will give it away for next to nothing, just like they did with energy company Bulb and the cycle will start all over again.
Tory incompetence, greed and corruption run right through all of this and we pick up the bill.
Aye, the dominoes are beginning to fall because the public are finally cottoning on to a danger highlighted in the 1980s before this privatisation lark began – London and the south are now finally and rather more rapidly than anticipated running out of water.
I predict concerned faces and rhetoric from HMG despite more than 40 years warning…
Just to be clear about Referendums. There is no such thing as a legally binding referendum. They are advisory – even the Brexit referendum. It did not have to be implemented. And as one of the comments above says if Scotland had voted Yes, Westminster would have blocked it.
Just to highlight how important Scotland is to England I lifted this from Munguin’s Republic which I printed out and leave copies on bus seats.
Murdo Fraser, Conservative and Unionist MSP
a year ago in an interview with GB News
“If Scotland leaves the UK, we lose roughly a third of the land mass of Great Britain, half of our territorial waters, we lose the magnificent resource that is Scottish fishing waters, we lose the opportunities from North Sea oil and gas, we lose the potential for renewable energy from Scotland’s coasts in the North Sea and the Atlantic, we lose access to free trade for Scottish whisky and Scottish salmon, all these fantastic exports, the opportunity to study at the some of the world’s greatest universities in Scotland and the joy of having Scots as part of the British nation – why would you want to throw that away?”
Murdo says ‘we lose,’ over and over again. That’s because he’s speaking on behalf of the British State, not Scotland.
This deserves the widest possible audience.
“We” is bizarre in that context. Is Murdo schizophrenic? One Murdo is lives in Scotland and sits in the Holyrood parliament. The other Murdo lives erm.. somewhere else?
This is from months ago IIRC on GB-News – Turdo is now we’ing himself, even the Viceroy’s sighs have diminished and he’s put on a proper flounce, hence the “Send in the Royals” gambit…
Phase one with Will didn’t go down too well, and frankly I suspect Ph.2 with Cherly Boy will fare little better…
“And as one of the comments above says if Scotland had voted Yes, Westminster would have blocked it.”
This is a common assertion with no evidence ever being offered, and absolutely no foundation in fact.
Well this is all a bit embarrassing. People, erm, jostling for position in Aberdeen.
His family could end homelessness overnight with the spare change they have in the Rolls Royce glove box.
Tillydrone in Aberdeen, the oil capital of Europe, needs the help of a prince to end homelessness. Speaks volumes.
Warms your heart, doesn’t it
The Royals pay no corporation tax, capital gains or inheritance tax. The Aberdeen visit is just an embarrassment. Scottish Gov funded affordable houses are being built in the City. Hundreds at the Bridge of Don. The schools are over crowded in Bridge of Don – Westhills. The unionist councils do nothing about it. They have known for years. The Aberdeenshire Tory led Council. Leader (once Educatuon) shut all the additional needs facilities and has difficulties with reading and writing. An ignoramus who was mates with Thatcher. Unbelievable. Independence supporters should vote them out.
Labour build a £300Million conference centre sitting empty most of the time, Not enough market to fill it. Spent £200Million on a Muse grotesque debarked. £7Million interest over 30 years. Refused a £80million gift UTG to renovate the city centre. An absolute disgrace. Spent £30Million on a mud pit.
£30Million on an Art Gallery extension. Aberdeen Artists cannot hold their annual exhibition there. The reason why the Art Gallery was built in the first place. Graffitied the town with murals, Shut off the beach causing traffic chaos. All over the City.
Independence Scotland gains. £3Billion lost on tax evasion. £Billions lost making repayment on UK debt not borrowed or spent in Scotland. £1Billion+ on Trident and redundant weaponry. Scotland cannot borrow £6Billion paid for with growth. Brexit costs Scotland £Billions. Adds up to £13Billion+. Scotland raises £73Billion. Scotland could be like Norway and raise £80Billion+.
Illegal wars costing £Trillions. Scotland could stop,Westminster illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion. Make the world a better place. More equal and fair.
The Scottish Gov is funding hundreds of affordable homes being built in Aberdeen. Bridge of Don.
The Daily Express claims the English government have an envoy shadowing Humza Yousaf to make sure he doesn’t speak out of turn
What’s so funny about that is the English government by their performance is proving Scotland’s point for us, they can’t claim anybody is equal and in a voluntary union if they’re policing your freedom of speech
Humza and the Europeans must be laughing their heads off at the English, and who wants to be the wee Tory lackey handed the job of being England’s figure of humiliation
Does the English envoy wander behind the FM with a roll of “scotch tape” to avoid any English embarrassment? The idea of free speech and being “ Scot free” worries the Tory press and the English backed news media.
I know what I would say!
Scotland’s FM should be treated the same way as Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and the IRA insists one btl comment
Bring it on I say, the more England loses the plot over this the better it gets
Prince William on a ”crusade ” to end homelessness .
As the late Michael Jackson said , start with ”the man in the mirror !”
Willie and his fellow Royals could use all those ”Grace and Favour ” apartments that are usually dished out by them to deserving sycophants , more often than not fellow Royals who could easily afford to pay their way elsewhere .
It’s a bit rich being lectured to about societies ills by a man whose family has historically had the power to influence Government policy , including his late , ”beloved ” grandmother , but used it only to benefit themselves with favourable tax exemptions .
Clearly just another PR opportunity by the Royals to cement their position at a time when many , many people are struggling with their daily existence and might be questioning why THEY should be supporting the richest family in the land .
When Buckingham Palace is opened up to take London’s homeless off the streets then we might believe that William is serious about his latest ”cause ”.
I see the Tories in Scotland are having their own internal difficulties. DRoss this morning has sacked Stephen Kerr as education spokesperson and Jamie Greens as Justice spokesperson. Both are now without any job for the Tories in Holyrood.
The knives are said to be out for DRoss himself, but he’s said to be safe at the minute as no one is willing to take on the job while they are gong downhill in the polls!
Alex,
Surely Jackie Baillie could take over. A seamless move.
She’d fit right in, just as Starmer will fill Sunak’s shoes with ease. Tory policies are a comfortable fit for Labour.
Peter Stefanovich keeps up his brilliant videos pointing out Sunak’s lies. Here he tries to smear Stephen Flynn as economically illiterate when in fact it is Rishi Sunak who is economical with the truth as well as illiterate. https://twitter.com/PeterStefanovi2/status/1674047656383991816
As usual this was pretty good from PS.
Essentially, the PM is lying when he says public sector workers can’t be paid a real increase because that will cause inflation. In fact, there are no prices charged in most public services at the point of access so no inflation is created.
William of Scotonomics has a short video making the point that the BoE as well as other central banks, deliberately create unemployment to keep demand down as a tool of tackling inflation. The poor must pay for inflation they did not cause. Inflation is, of course, the result of sanctions on Russian energy and wheat, and corporations increasing prices for increased profits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qp-SqGuUME
Yet another Sunak interview….with a difference..
😂
That is funny whereas the real Rishi Sunak is – not. 😱
Surely then all the Tory MP’s should accept a living wage to ensure inflationary pressures reduce. While we are at it all the English water company directors, bankers,and their bonuses.
No?
I see we aren’t in it all together. So Sunak and co lied- again.
Jim Sillars wants to know if Police Scotland tipped off Nicola Sturgeon about her husband’s arrest. Livingstone said this was outrageous.
😂😂😂😂
Somebody please tell me the bbc reported this.
Sillars and co wish to undermine and snide at every turn, then get affronted when the majority says we ain’t voting for ALBA.
🦆
Was Sillars always an agent for the britnats since he was with labour?
Easy to undermine isn’t it? Sow doubt.
I know that Sillars was once the depute leader of the snp in 1991 for a short time.
Just weird that the National seems to think this is of note after 30+ years. Was he not a fireman for longer ? Or his fated Scottish Labour Party……. National thing change. Please stop sounding like the Herald.
STV reported their version of events in a Ponsonby accusatory interview with Livingstone, and it was outrageous in both tone and tenor
IC: “Our Vision is a fair, just and progressive Scotland”
UV: “Well …”
IC: “Our Mission is to make Scotland fair and just”
UV: “Errr …”
IC: “Our Objectives are to sell our Vision and Mission”
UV: “But what about my mortgage or savings?”
UV: “And what about the price of a loaf of bread?”
IC: “Errrr …”
IC = Independence Campaigner
UV = Undecided Voter
IC- Ask the Brit nats. They are responsible for Brexit, pricing, vat.
UV – ehhhh?
IC- stop reading the daily record and Mail.
UV- but…
IC- ask the Brit nats.
UV: Put me down as a NO. Thanks for the help.
Try not to fall for it Hamish, you know what he’s at
I don’t think that’s going to help any undecided voters turn to YES for Independence, do you?
Yip, if quakes it’s a 🦆
I think the two of you have lost track of what it’s supposed to be about – Independence.
With the base rate going up a full 0.5% it has shocked a lot of people. So now IS a good time to talk about mortgages. And of course, long-term debt, or even short.
Borrowing rates have also gone up for businesses which isn’t good news for cash-flow, survival or growth.
Everybody has one vote and the people living on the breadline and who are suffering most from the unjust policies of successive Westminster policies will also have their share of undecided voters.
People with mortgages and struggling to pay bills can also lay the blame for their predicament at the feet of successive Westminster governments who have let them down badly due to their bad policies and incompetence at governing.
Why is food inflation so much higher in the UK than elsewhere in Europe? It is double that of mainland Europe. Why are our energy bills so much higher than our neighbours? Tory policies and incompetence are where the finger should be being pointed.
UV: “What are you going to do about my mortgage, savings and the price of a loaf of bread?
RS: “Errr…Uhmm..,”
But they’re not asking Sunak, they’re asking you, an Independence Campaigner. Is “Westminster” the answer to life, the universe and all that?
42. Stop the Galaxy I want to get on. Have towel …
An Independent Scotland will do more for the ordinary person in this country than any Westminster government ever will do. That’s what I’ll tell the undecided voter and I won’t Hum and haw either.
Well, yes, there’s no answer to that.
People with mortgages will be glad that they don’t have student debt of £40K each to pay off as well as their mortgage.
People with mortgages will be glad that they don’t have to pay for Janet and John’s school dinners every day saving them £35 every week.
People with mortgages will be glad that granny didn’t have to sell her two bedroom bungalow and move in with them when grandad went into a care home.
I’s tell people being ripped off with poor savings rates that a National Bank of Scotland would pay interest rates no worse than 1% below the base rate set by the National Bank of Scotland.
I’d tell people worried about the price of a loaf that they would never have to visit a foodbank.
No great insight or special knowledge required to read out a long list of why people with mortgages or worried about the price of a loaf of bread will be better off in a more “just and progressive Scotland”.
That’s pretty good. Could be worth saying the Bank of England at 5% is like the US Fed which is at 5.25%, whereas the EU ECB is at 4%. So the likes of Ireland has a lower interest rate for mortgages than the UK (I think). So people in the EU are better off than the UK.
An interesting follow up piece from Richard Murphy https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/06/28/inflation-is-mainly-down-to-profiteering-any-other-suggestion-is-misinformation/ further to the IMF’s take that corporate profiteering is the single greatest cause of current inflation.
And what is Sunak, who is supposed to be a finance whizz doing ? Nothing.
The BoE in hiking interest rates, is adding to the existing inflation they claim they are trying to control, whilst the PM offers platitudes and blames pay rises for fanning it.
Madness….
Indeed.
I think inflation is used by governments to reduce their overall debt burden at the expense of their own population who pay for it. If a government owes bond holders a hypothetical £100 billion that is to be paid in full say in 5 years time, Currently they have to pay an interest rate of 1% on this bond, well that interest rate becomes easier to pay if government revenue is increasing.
If the UK government borrowed £35 billion to spend on test and trace, £10 billion on useless PPE, £100 billion for trident replacement then it does all have to be paid for eventually.
This is where inflation comes in.
Inflation increases everything, food prices, bills, etc. but it also increase wages, company profits and government revenues at the exact same rate without them needing to increase taxes or do anything else. Their income rises in line with inflation while we all pay more for the stuff we need to buy to live on such as food and electricity.
The government’s “old” debt though remains the same, a bond sold at 1% interest to be paid in 5 or 10 years does not change so as inflation rises the cost of old debt falls and when that £100 billion is paid back in 5 years time, inflation means it’s just equivalent to paying back say £50 billion as everything has doubled in price since the original loan was given as so has government income.
There is a cost of course and it’s the population that bear the burden of that cost through higher prices and a falling standard of living during the rising cost of living. Then it all starts again on another cycle and the 5% at the top of the pile cream off all the money while the other 95% fund it.
On and on it goes, that is how it works in the world of bankers and corporate finance. The rich look after their own and who cares the rest of society?
That’s Tory ideology in a nutshell.
One additional point I should have made. The bond holders lose out too, that’s the pension funds that your money is invested in.
It’s why when Truss and Kwarteng did their mini budget the Bank of England had to intervene to stop many pension funds going bust overnight when they all panicked and started selling all their bond holdings at huge losses as prices collapsed to the carpet baggers.
That’s who govern us, carpet baggers. I believe we can do better.
Yep
England’s governmental system is based on class money and privilege just like the ancient Romans, even now they’re twisting plotting and stabbing each other, and not over how they want to solve the problems of people, but who they want to lead their particular faction
Labour pretend they’re different but just look back only virtually moments ago when Starmer was slaughtering Corbyn and all who supported him in order to enforce his regime of more disciplined lying to the people, but it’s beginning to show cracks now with some of the actual original style Labour party showing their displeasure at his Tory style leadership to get enough votes to win the top job under false pretences
As long as England has this system it’ll never be able to change to a democracy, because the class of people who feel entitled to govern don’t understand. and don’t want to understand such a concept as democracy, it’s alien to them, and there’s not enough money status or privilege in it for them, which is the only way people like that know how to live, and cannot live without in the manner they have been educated to expect
The Prime Minister, the House of Lords, the so called Commons is all just a monarchial transfer from one organisation to another, but with both of them reaping the benefits that only the monarchy did previously
Just bigger mafia families that own the judges the courts and all they survey by virtue of the biggest corruption tools, class money and privilege, and the rewards they can dole out to those who’ll be loyal to whoever the latest Caesar mafia Don’s turn it is to be Capo dei Capi, (boss of all bosses)
Elections? Aye right
Are Tories congenital liars? I listened this morning to Nick Robinson interviewing Philip Dunne, Tory and Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee. The issue is the privatised English water companies who took over debt free monopolies in 1989, selling a commodity everyone must have and then ran up debts of £60 B.
Thames Water went from £0 debt to £10 B debt under its previous owner the Australian bank McQuarrie.
New word “juicing” where the company borrows billions then pays it out in shareholder dividends and massive salaries to the managers.
Philip Dunne said that we have an example of a government owned company, Scottish Water, where the performance e.g. monitoring of sewage overflow is far less good than it has been in England.
Really?
So there’s no point in renationalising the water companies like that nasty Jeremy Corbyn planned to do. Perhaps the tax payer will have to bail them out. Thames Water, after all, supplies 16 million customers in London and flushes their sewage into the rivers and seas.
There’s a short intro at 31:38 but the full discussion at 2:10 to 2:20.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001n8ms
Sure we’ve got some dirty water from time to time, doesn’t every country but:: Scotland has the most blue flag clean beaches and waterways in the UK
No government can hide or disguise these facts, the English lie and keep on lying and the morons believe it because they’re used to being lied to by their own government so they expect it from others, and their false pride in their own ruined country refuses to allow them to accept the truth even if it hit them in the face
The English literally are brain *washed* with dirty water
“Are Tories congenital liars? ” -Increasingly that appears to be so.
(Thames Water’s debt is not 10 B but 50 B – Hence England’s privatised water companies have a lot more than 60 B on their books)
Was Dunne’s lying over Scottish Water’s performance challenged by Nick Robertson ? I suggest not as DEFRA is up in court for failing to police, SEPA aren’t, they’ll want that hushed up.
I finally listened to the segment, and as thought, no challenge.
Philip Dunne was actually criticising SEPA for lack of ‘regulation’, despite SEPA’s annual published reports proving precisely the opposite – It was a smokescreen to the DEFRA problem in the High Court.
By that lie he was implying SW were just as bad as Thames (patently untrue) whilst dodging the obvious question on why SW have no debt to juggle.
Scandalous that they get away with it, but it explains why so much of England don’t understand the truth any more.
I agree. It is a clever form of lie which he no doubt learnt in his Uni debating socs.
Of course, Nick Robinson could have corrected the lie but chose not to do that. The main objective is to prevent any talk of nationalising public services which are clearly failing. Second objective is to claim that Scotland is no better, in fact worse.
That’s my take also.
What aggravates more is that despite the “he said nothing” exposee, Robinson still facilitates total bunkum as “impartial journalist” and has the nerve to criticise Putin’s propaganda…
Robinson is a proven liar himself. Why would he correct a partner in crime?
I don’t have the https: Capella: This must be out there and the reason Scottish Water chose to not monitor everything was because we have too much water and the over flows would be caused mostly by this! Also they wanted to invest the extra funds saved in improving the systems that required fixing using all the early profits. The latest is we monitor a minimum of 80 beaches for the Blue Flag and this year it was the highest ever given a Blue Flag of 86! It is a pure lie about us being poor monitors therefore our beaches and water would be poor as a result just fabricated nonsense that has to be told for what it is by everyone who can please!
It’s a smokescreen to problems in England arising from privatisation, pure and simple.
SW and SEPA and the farming community have been working cooperatively together to improve the water environment for the last 30 odd years – Having worked with NOSWA up until 2000, I saw firsthand how monitoring was coordinated and prioritised via SEPA, it will be little different today.
What is NOT headlined in England is the extent of political interference in what the regulator and water companies did – The Tories were obsessed with keeping water bills low for short term political advantage, without consideration of the future, many of whom profited from dividends – That strategy has now caught them up, with an increasingly angry populace.
The Tories don’t think long term, it will always be somebody else’s problem.
eg In the late 1970s it was recommended to HMG they begin building RO plants and plug mains leaks as England (particularly the south) was running out of water. Even after privatisation IIRC Yorkshire had leakage of over 40%.
– They would need ca 60 ROs, they built ONE, at Beckton.
To put that in in context now, they have 59 RO plants to build rapidly but have no power to run them, without which London will be out of water within 20 years.
Fun fact – The south of England has not only the highest domestic consumption of water in all of Europe, but the highest water mains leakage.
Kemi Badenoch was asked by a SNP MP if Brexit was good bad or made no difference to Scottish business? she replied “Scottish business has welcomed Brexit, it’s what they all wanted”
Another SNP MP asked Kemi Badenoch to name one Scottish business, just one, that has said they welcomed Brexit? Kemi Badenoch replied “It’s not my business to memorise the names of Scottish businesses”
Those in Scotland who support the English government’s behaviour rather than having a free country of their own should be the most thoroughly ashamed human beings on the planet
Talking of bad enough.
She is reported to have sain on DRS that companies are worried at the cost and that she would raise the companies worries at a cabinet meeting.
I thought she was elected as an mp to look after the interests of her constituents not her money bags.
The Rwanda policy is declared ‘Unlawful’.
Indeed
It’ll wend its way to the Supreme court where everything will be ruled as legal lawful just lovely and what’s all the fuss about
The Rwandan government as expected has replied to the judgement by insisting how very dare anyone insinuate such an awful thing, life is wonderful here and when’s the cheque arriving
Okey-me-dokey. First DRS has been scrapped / delayed, and now the HPMA won’t be implemented by 2026. Both of these highly controversial and unpopular with any but the huge drink makers and a highly grossly overpaid YAQ – Yet Another Quango.
GRB will wend its way through Court of Session and presumably then the UKSC so for those strongly against it, it’s a delay, and there may be some valuable spin-offs from the outer / inner houses as to what can be expected from the “so-called” Scottish Legal System – do they stand up for it, or do they cravenly cave?
It may be totally nothing to do with Yousaf but that’s unlikely. In my mind anyway, the scrapping of the first two is totally correct. This may increase Yousaf’s popularity ratings which could certainly do with a boost as they’re in minus figures unlike Forbes. But it may also, with his speech at the convention, once possible ambiguities are firmly removed, actually make him popular with the Indy Movement. Seems to me the lad is doing OK so far, and shows promise.
When Sturgeon resigned the first thing I posted here was about how good Yousaf’s speech was at the National / Sturgeon rally in Freedom Square (2019?). But then as a candidate he did seem to blot his copybook to the extent I would have put Forbes 1, Regan 2 and no 3.
If he lives up to that speech, he may well bring us to Independence sooner than anyone could dare to hope. A new hope indeed.
Yes, I am an optimist. Unlike some I actually have mirrors in the house.
2026 was always the target date for the decision/implementation of the HPMA. The process to consult/ identify/decide on these protected areas started this year and is scheduled to take 3 years i.e. 2026 for completion of the process.
But it’s not going to be be implemented by 2026. From the National:
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23622471.hpmas-scrapped-current-form-major-policy-change-snp-minister-reveals/
‘MAIRI McAllan … “This means we will no longer seek to implement HMPAs across 10% of Scotland’s seas by 2026.”‘
2026 was the original date but the consultation uncovered opposition to the
draft proposals. The SG has, correctly, taken note of the points raised during the initial consultation and decided to take these into account in a redraft of the proposals & of course further consultations on the new draft. So a delay but not a
Complete stop as the MSM are trying to portray it.
I also have to say when I made my original comment I had not heard the news about the change of plans.
It’s Government that responds to public feedback – how refreshing 🙂
Today the FM was asked his opinion on the result of the court ruling on the Rwanda plan, this question was ruled out of order by the presiding officer as the Rwanda issue is not within the competence of the Scottish government
Those who watched FMQs may have not noticed this as important but what happened in this instance is very significant, as many times in the past issues discussed and laws made by the UK parliament are and have been discussed and opinions offered on them, but today all of a sudden this issue was ruled out of order
Scotland’s parliament has no authority when it comes to immigration law but the result of it however does affect our country, so our political representatives have every right to make comment and give their opinion on every law passed that affects Scotland, anyone and everyone in the UK parliament renders us their opinions on all events in Scotland whether devolved issues or not, are we in Scotland silenced from commenting on all things English government now
Presiding officer Alison Johnsone should be removed immediately, she has no control over the chamber and todays action by her was what was out of order
I may not have had huge faith in Alison Johnstone’s role as PO in Scotland, but to be fair she has been fair. and was doing so now if you listen carefully to the question posed by Maggie Chapman ending in “….. must resign” https://youtu.be/KsasDHXp__8
I agree that is wrong, but those are the constraints SG must operate within
We have no control over nuclear weapons or the Scotland office or Boris Johnson’s misconduct or broadcasting yet all of that has been permissible discussion, and the Rwanda situation has been spoken about in the chamber several times before by others, Nicola Sturgeon even described it as an abhorrent idea both in and out of the chamber
There’s something different going on, maybe like Tory/Labour envoys sitting silently three feet away from Humza Yousaf checking his words as he discusses affairs of state with the Germans in Brussels the other day
I don’t like it and I don’t like it a lot
Agreed.
I’m maybe going out on a bit of limb here but this at least to my mind looked somewhat choreographed. Chapman was allowed her question, point made in our parliament and it does now draw a line in the same which some MSP’s better take note of.
Same = sand.
True
I’m with Bob on this and wash my mouth out with soap! Tow reasons
1). If you decide to start cracking down on wrong behaviour it’s best to start on your own as that heads off any complaints about favouritism. Ross and Sarwar now can’t complain when it’s done to them.
2). It sends a message to the totally biassed Speaker of the House of Comments “This is how to do it”.
D.J.: The Presiding Officer has been out of order since the beginning of her reign and been getting worse as each month has past. Repeatedly interrupting SNP and Green Ministers when it suits her purpose to cut them off. Abysmal and very biased behaviour and it seems she is covered by ancient rules that even restricts MSP’s from complaining about her? A Royalist, Worshipper of the term British, which we know in reality does not exist except in the minds of “The English Nationalist” Government! We in Scotland must bow down to them as they have lied through the Centuries. In my opinion it is imperative that Alison Johnson is removed in the 1st session in early September! Even earlier why not recall parliament for a half day session? Under the present feelings in the Country for an Independence Referendum the train is racing this position needs to be 100% on the Scottish Governments side and to be seen as “Totally Neutral” with full control. 2nd: “The First Ministers Questions” cut number to: 3 Con/Party: 2 Lab/Party: 1 Lib/Party: Thus giving much more time for Constituency Questions which benefits the Democratic System. Cons alloyed to waste 19 minutes of lies on Thursday the last day of this session!
Agree. We have no control over the weather but are allowed to discuss this. Is Johnstone going to instruct Westminster to stop discussing issues subject to Holyrood? Of course not.
She is a week PO
The PO, Johnstone , has to get to grips with what is happening in the Chamber .
There are daily instances of interference in Scottish affairs/debates from people who represent political parties who have no accreditation with the Electoral Commission in that they are branches of parties funded and regulated outwith Scotland .
What right have they to participate in Scottish affairs when they are seemingly funded by effectively foreign ( to Scotland ) political parties ?
How do we ascertain where their funding originates ?
Are they secretly funded by people / organisations who have no love of Scotland ?
Are they pursuing an agenda (s) which are opposed to that of the legitimately elected Government of Scotland ?
Are they being promised rewards by their Motherland if they sow division in our Parliament ?
Do they accept honours from a colonial benefactor if they can demonstrate that they have halted or diminished laws passed by the SG which were intended to improve the lives of the Scottish people ?
Come on , Presiding Officer , do your job !
These saboteurs are easily identified .
They are generally found in a group , as if they were Better Together , and speak non-stop about pigeon droppings , Ferries and Independence !
I hear the shoogly peg Ash Regan hangs her coat on is getting shooglier
… Cherry MP holds her coat in times of trouble.
Your political leanings are not a protected characteristic, so banks are fine to say they don’t want the custom of the KKK, UKIP etc.
Support for indy is a protected characteristic as it’s apolitical and is fundamentally centred on ‘national identity’ and not political leanings. I support indy because I’m Scottish, that’s it. That doesn’t apply in the case of ‘British’ Farage as the UK is already a sovereign state and freely walked away from the EU because it was that.
Incidentally, Alba keep appearing with UKIP, on GB news etc. It’s not a good look.
Another year, another set of accounts independently audited and signed off.
Who was in charge of SNP finances in 2022? Must have been the former CEO, leader and treasurer right?
https://archive.is/M70PA
Stuart McDonald, the SNP’s treasurer, said: “I’m pleased to confirm that the Scottish National Party’s accounts have been approved by NEC for the year 2022 and we are in a position to meet our statutory obligations.
“The SNP’s main source of income remains our membership – which we are immensely grateful for.
“The audit process is an important part of transparency in the political sphere and I am grateful to colleagues in party HQ and our auditors for delivering these accounts in a timely manner.
“the party’s failure to keep original documentation in respect to some items of cash and cheques received for the current and prior financial year for membership, donations, and raffle income.”
A visit I had from the VAT inspector 20 years ago.
“Can you show me how you calculated these inputs [expenditures] on your return?”
“No, sorry, I literally did them on the back of an envelope which I threw away of course”.
“Next time please keep the envelope”.
A pretty standard qualification that every party will have in accounts at times, if not every year. Invariably in an organisation of that size some donations will have been received but someone forgot to log who made it, lost the envelope etc. And some undocumented small amounts coming in is obviously not fraud. Fraud is when it goes missing. 🙂
You mean you didn’t have auditors going through the books then signing off on income/ expenditure each year and approved by your governance arrangements?
Are you suggesting the snp used a used envelope and if so where’s your evidence?
I suspect that was a bit of a whooosh to you.
No- but I can buy you an envelope if you need one.
🦆
No need thanks. I put it into a spreadsheet which meant when I finally was forced to go MTD I was able to use bridging software though I had to get a device with a newer operating system than XP to use it, and it only costs £9 including VAT per quarter to make my life easier by making it harder and taking longer and costing me more money than the previous free online entry of the long simplified online VAT form.
From the Herald:
“The SNP’s audit of accounts has been limited after documents relating to cash and cheques for membership payments and donations “were not kept by the party”. ”
WHAT, ALL OF THEM? THAT’S TERRIBLE!
“During the course of our audit, we identified that original documentation in respect to some items of cash and cheques…”
oh right. “SOME ITEMS”, that’s different.
The Herald trying to exaggerate the qualification is just as bad as those who try to say there’s no problem at all. Speak the Truth and let people make their own minds up, as I did in my first posting.
It’s a minor transgression by the look of it. Some original papers went missing. Whooppee-doopetty doo-dah.
However, in the interests of full disclosure was the total:
a) £53.12
b) £5,312
c) £531,200
d) 531 million
or whatever.
Maybe PM, NS etc were ‘defrauding the SNP’ by donating to the indy fighting fund but keeping it secret?
When can we expect the met police to open an investigation into Thames water where for years they have charged people for their waste water and sewage to be treated and disposed of properly? Where has that money gone?
Was the £14 billion that was borrowed over the years used to spend on infrastructure improvements to improve the quality of the water and improves sewage treatment as a means of reducing pollution? If not, then what other purpose/s was the money used?
If Thames Water goes bust this week will the UK taxpayer have to foot the bill for all this debt? Will the public have to pay for the cost fixing the broken infrastructure when they have already paid for this through their bills.
These are questions worth asking, will they ever be asked?
The answer is partly answered in that R4 Today programme I linked to above. The money was “juiced”. They borrow it and use much of it to pay shareholder dividends and CEOs salaries. Most of the debt was accrued while the Australian Bank Macquarrie owned the company.
It’s a general question and relates not just to Thames Water. Here though is Thames water’s Customer Charter. Their promises if you like.
The question is and it applies more generally to all companies and businesses.
If a business “promise” to use the money given to them by their customers to “improve our services for you, year on year.” such as promising to “work hard to look after our rivers, prevent sewer flooding”.
If it then turns out that services have actually gotten worse year on year due to lack of investment, if it turns out that billions have been borrowed and used not to improve services “year on year” but instead to pay billions on dividends and huge multi million £ salaries to CEO’s and others on the boards of these companies.
Then is that not something that merits a police investigation?
It is certainly immoral but I doubt it is illegal. If only it was. We will probably find that “commercial confidentiality” prevents the truth from being broadcast.
Going forward, I will only consider voting for parties which have had their accounts forensically examined by the police. Sorry unionists, that rules you out.
It’s pretty much a win-win for the SNP. If the police conclude nothing is amiss, then the SNP go into future elections as the only party you can truly trust. The squeaky clean party which you know are not committing fraud. Same can’t be said of unionist parties and their dodgy donations etc.
If some folk did get done for fiddling the books (which is looking less likely as every day passes), the same still applies as these will have been weeded out, meaning everyone left is squeaky clean. However, unionist parties have not been through this process, so cannot be trusted. I mean you never know right? Anas Sarwar could be helping himself. Only way to be sure would be a full forensic investigation. 🙂
Another Vow- where did the billions go?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60145909
I’ve had this, it’s like an advisory on your MOT nothing more
The media will make their usual fuss though
I see it was a U.K. person that put graffiti on one of the ancient monument in Rome.
Not English of course in case you wonder.
Anyone know why Alba is not getting its accounts examined forensically? What about that WoS site. Why’s he so against having his books looked at? Something to hide?
Tory voter in Bath, the model of integrity !
Personally the tories, Lib Dem’s and labour should be first along with the unionists Dark Money from Northern Ireland.
Maybe the police need to order more tents from the SOS of Scotland first?
Richard Murphy has done a report on the spending and income of the water and sewage companies that was covered by the Guardian yesterday. You can read about his report here:
https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2023/06/29/englands-water-industry-is-environmentally-insolvent/
The Guardian story of which this is a snippet:
https://archive.ph/zwBzU
Basically his report says that they spent all profit from income (customer bills) and spent it on dividends and in order to run the business they just borrowed the money but obviously not enough to actually “improve services year on year”.
The Tory way it seems, one rule for them and another for everyone else.
Here’s a part of an editorial rom the Times yesterday:
When will the Met police begin their investigation into the goings on of the privatised water companies? Will the National Crime Agency be consulted?
So many questions.
The whole thing is worth a read, I would barely believe it was the Times writing it unless I seen it with my own eyes.
https://archive.ph/mY3lA
Yes it is remarkable. Perhaps Rupert has decided that Rishi has to go and that Sir Keir must take the reins for a while. I believe the Labour top brass were at a Murdoch summer party recently.
Ah, good point. I forgot about Starmer accepting an invite to a Murdoch party. That’s that then, safe to conclude the Murdoch empire is now working for Labour to be the next government.
If they do then become the next government, Murdoch will be expecting his payback.
Quid pro Quo.
I’ll read the full article you kindly posted shortly Alex, but one aspect of that excerpt leapt off the page immediately “On Ofwat’s watch the water industry has been allowed to pollute the country’s rivers, streams and beaches for years with uncontrolled overflows of sewage…” when it was DEFRA’s role to police and report.
The Times would appear to be going along with the Tory gambit of “Wisnae me” when it “wis” – To be clear, HMG controlled DEFRA totally, Ofwat less so.
Now that the ‘shit’ has hit the fan in England, the Tories are attempting to bury the one aspect they do not exert total control over, Ofwat.
Yeah, you could just imagine how the SNP government would be being attacked if it was happening here.
Talking about Daniel Defoe, from the Herald:
“Neil Mackay: SNP is a deflating balloon – its future is bleak”
should be:
“SNP: Neil Mackay is a deflating balloon – its future is bleak”
Not even worth being called a modern day “Pickle”.
Neil McKay is a deflating balloon and he’s starting to leak.
I suspect he was a helium balloon, which is why he’s so squeaky.
Didnae notice this one:
Yes: 48%
No: 45%
I don’t know: 7.1%
=52% Yes ex DK.
https://findoutnow.co.uk/blog/yes-would-win-in-hypothetical-scottish-independence-referendum/
So much for the wheels coming of the indy bus. Seems they are coming of the union one.
SGP mentioned this poll on 23rd June. He says that Find Out Now have started weighting by 2014 recall which is a backward step and that 16 – 18 year olds were excluded. So it may be an underestimate of the true YES figure.
I read this and at face value, it should be ok.
The survey asked 5,300 Scottish adults how they would vote, and how likely they would be to vote, before outputting a representative sample size of 1,035 based on ONS’s 2021 population estimates for age, gender, Scottish region, social economic group, EU 2016 vote, GE 2019 vote, Indyref 2014 vote, and turnout likelihood. The past vote quotas were also adjusted for an ageing population, namely increasing the “could not vote” quotas, and decreasing the other quotas accordingly.
The key is past vote quotas being adjusted for an aging population. That’s where 2014 weighting is a serious problem, notably because young people are so pro-indy while older are not. Also that young people are more pro-SNP/Green while older are not.
Of course this doesn’t account for migration, which also changes the electorate. It’s hard to know if those leaving are any different to those coming in. And this includes ‘Scots’ going elsewhere and coming home, hence the ‘born in Scotland’ % hasn’t been changing much; it was mainly influenced by European born.
It’s glorious that we have gone from £600k apparently missing to the SNP now being accused of reverse embezzlement due to their being slightly more in the indy campaign donation pot than they have original records for.
Evil Sturgeon must have been selling her jewelry to secretly put some extra cash into the donation tin when nobody was looking. 🙂
That’s where we are now. Totally farcical. UK’s utterly fecked.
Compare and contrast.
Man from England commits crime:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66063405
Colosseum: Man who carved names on ancient Rome amphitheatre is UK tourist, Italian police say
Several UK media outlets say the pair are a couple who live in Bristol. They are believed to have left Italy.
Man from Scotland commits crimes:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-66066453
Scots fugitive convicted over drugs and firearms offences
What sort of cretin carves his and partners name on a 2000 year old unisef building.
Im starting to think we live in a computer generated reality where some of us are real and some are really bad AI bots
No edit meant UNESCO
And badly programed ai bots
Nuts. But it’s amazing how much Andy Murraying goes on. English people can do no wrong. They are always ‘British’ or ‘UK citizen’ when they’ve committed a crime, which means their ‘nationality’ is undefined. Like French news calling a French criminal ‘European’ in, erm ‘nationality’ as a get out clause to dissociate themselves. But when someone from Scotland commits a crime overseas, they are ‘Scots/Scottish’ in the British media.
Plenty of folk born and bred in Glasgow are not Scottish but British. They march with stupid looking orange shit on, spitting on actual Scots they pass. Calling someone like that ‘Scots’ could not be more of a big fat lie.
The BBC has not provided a shred of evidence the criminal in question is Scots. I mean does the guy have a Scots passport? Does he at least identify as Scots? Seems he lived in this ‘devolved region’ at some point. That’s it. But he’s a criminal from the UK that can be linked to Scotland so he’s ‘Scots’. There is no other obvious explanation. The same happens with people from Wales. They could be English, but if they commit a crime they are ‘Welsh’, not an ‘English immigrant to Wales’.
Brexit sunlit uplands.
https://archive.is/mVqvW
Eurozone inflation falls to 5.5% in sharp contrast to UK
The eurozone’s annual inflation rate fell by more than expected in June to 5.5% amid sharp falls in the cost of energy, highlighting an increasingly stark divide with stubbornly high price growth in the UK.
Yeah but stop the boats and eh, other stuff
Ferries!
The Very British Broadcasting Corporation used to post almost daily stories dissing the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (aka the Death Star as absolutely no one else called it). Now it is “but ferries” almost every day.
What happens when the 6 new ferries are in service? What will be the daily attack on behalf of the useless opposition. Perhaps we should have a sweepstake on the replacement moan de jour. There definitely will be one.
Congestion in The Minch perhaps? Or ‘we need more harbours’?
😁
That almost certainly will get a mention in some form or other.