Two opinion polls published over the past few days had important information for the Scottish independence campaign, the first showed that a substantial majority of the Scottish population believe that the Scottish Parliament should have the power to hold an independence referendum without the permission of the Westminster government 57.5% of Scots believe that the decision on whether to hold an independence referendum should be one for the Scottish Parliament.
The same poll also showed that support for independence enjoys a 4% lead over opposition to independence. This poll also confirmed the long standing pattern that a clear majority of younger people in Scotland prefer independence. Only amongst the oldest generation is there a substantial majority in favour of Scotland remaining under Westminster rule.
The poll, by Find Out Now for the Alba party, placed support for independence at 52% compared to 48% against, once don’t knows were removed, or at 48.6% in favour, 45.2% against, and 6.2% unsure. The poll also gave Yes an easy lead among younger voters, with all age groups between 18 and 44 showing majority support for independence, however there was a large anti independence lead amongst voters over the age of 65, who backed No by 68.9% including those undecided. The poll showed that support for independence is strongest in Glasgow and the West of Scotland, 68.5% of Glaswegians back independence, heavily outnumbering those opposed and don’t knows.
The poll also found that 12.5% of those who voted No in 2014 would now vote Yes, and 28% of those who plan to vote Labour at the next election would also vote Yes in an independence referendum.
Another poll showed that Labour could overtake the SNP in terms of vote share in Scotland at the next Westminster general election, thanks in no small measure to Scottish independence supporters voting for the centre right British nationalist party of Keir Starmer. It also showed that by a narrow majority of 1% (well within the margin of error) opposition to independence was in the lead. You don’t need to be a genius to know which of these two polls was loudly trumpeted by the media in Scotland.
Labour’s shtick is a promise of change, but like so much of what Keir Starmer promises, it is a lie. Keir Starmer has indeed changed the Labour party, but he has changed it from a social democratic party which is tolerant of a range of views into a centre right British nationalist party in which Starmer exercises complete control and where dissent, particularly dissent from the left, is immediately silenced, purged, or marginalised.
A recent article in The Sunday Times revealed that Starmer’s ascension to the Labour leadership was not only characterised by a series of blatant lies about the policies Starmer would espouse once in power, it was also financed by a slush fund of more than £730,000 in undeclared, and unregulated dark money, most of which came from multi-millionaire venture capitalists and businessmen. Instrumental in organising this funding was Starmer’s campaign manager Morgan McSweeney who led campaigning group called Labour Together, which was later fined by the electoral commission for only declaring £165,000 of the £970,492 donated between October 2015 and January 2021. Starmer refused to reveal the donors to his leadership campaign until after the ballot when it was too late. McSweeney had previously been the campaign manager for the arch Blairite Liz Kendall in 2015.
Labour has been captured by the right wing and is not the left of centre liberal party that many voters in Scotland imagine it to be
One of the original founding members of Labour Together, the veteran Labour MP Jon Cruddas resigned from Labour Together in July 2023, claiming that Keir Starmer’s party had fallen under the control of a “right-wing, illiberal” faction that is embarking on a “witch-hunt” not only against the Corbynite left but also against anyone with an independent voice who dares to speak out against Starmer and his constant stream of right wing U turns.
Since becoming leader Starmer has established an iron grip on the Labour party through rule changes, purges, and dictatorial party management. All of the promises that Starmer made when campaigning for the party leadership have been abandoned. It was one of the most deceitful political campaigns this century, way down in the depths of dishonesty with the Better Together campaign of 2014 and the Leave campaign of 2016. Starmer has not changed the mould of dishonest British nationalist politics, he is very much a creature of it.
Just today (Monday 29 January), a major Conservative donor, Richard Walker the CEO of Iceland, has switched his support from the Conservatives to Labour, saying Starmer’s party is “the right choice” for his customers.
There’s a good reason wealthy donors to the Tory party are now happy to support Labour under Keir Starmer. It’s because they know that Starmer poses no threat to their wealth and privilege. Indeed Starmer is their guarantee of the continuation of the current unjust status quo in which the rich grow ever richer at the expense of the poor. Under Starmer Labour has abandoned any pretence of making the rich pay more in taxes, insisting that it seeks economic growth as the solution to Britain’s problems while rejecting the redistribution of wealth in the form of increased taxes on the wealthy, wealth taxes, or structural changes to the economy such as the nationalisation of the power, water or rail companies. This is nothing less than the discredited trickle down economics which have led to the burgeoning of inequality and the impoverishment of the public sector while the rich sit on their ever increasing piles of cash. No wonder Richard Walker wants his customers to vote Labour.
The reality is that if you are an independence supporter who is unhappy about the lack of progress on independence under the SNP, abstaining or voting Labour is deeply counterproductive. It’s like being unhappy with the slow progress on renovations to your house and because of that you pour petrol all over the living room and set fire to it, burning the house down. You’re left with no renovations and no house.
Keir Starmer’s Labour party will gleefully kick any talk of independence off the political table, proclaim that it has defeated nationalism and double down on attacks on the Scottish Parliament, even as it wraps any vestige of socialism in a union flag shroud and embarks on the quixotic British nationalist delusion of ‘making Brexit work’. All Scotland will get is Starmer’s brand of Tory-lite policies and the meaningful change that voters in Scotland seek will remain as elusive as ever.
___________________________________________________
My Gaelic maps of Scotland are still available, a perfect gift for any Gaelic learner or just for anyone who likes maps. The maps cost £15 each plus £7 P&P within the UK. You can order by sending a PayPal payment of £22 to weegingerbook@yahoo.com (Please remember to include the postal address where you want the map sent to).
I am now writing the daily newsletter for The National, published every day from Monday to Friday in the late afternoon. So if you’d like a daily dose of dug you can subscribe to The National, Scotland’s only pro-independence newspaper, here: Subscriptions from The National
This is your reminder that the purpose of this blog is to promote Scottish independence. If the comment you want to make will not assist with that goal then don’t post it. 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.
You can help to support this blog with a PayPal donation. Please log into Paypal.com and send a payment to the email address weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Or alternatively click the donate button below. If you don’t have a PayPal account, just select “donate with card” after clicking the button. You can also donate by PayPal by using my PayPal.me link PayPal.Me/weegingerdug
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/weegingerdug
Wee Ginger Dug 
Makes you wonder how desperate the actual Labour party is to win something when they’re tolerating this level of Toryism with Starmer
10 months to go yet, chickens and all that
Labour voters must be suffering from delusions of honesty. Have they not watched Keir Starmer ditch promise after promise, policy after policy whenever the electoral wind suggests a change would be expedient in capturing the right wing red wall vote. What is the point of voting Labour? Only the prospect that Tory greed and graft will plunge the UK into utter chaos. A vote for Labour may bring less terrifying chaos. But it’s still chaos.
Well articulated, Paul.
I simply cannot get my head around anyone in Scotland who believes we’ll be better off by exiting the UK thinking that the way to get there is by voting for a British party that will have no truck with such desires.
If you’re an indy supporter, then voting British Labour is never going to get you there. It just won’t–ever! Indy supporters must keep up the pressure, keep voting for indy parties. That way the Britnat media cannot claim “indy has been defeated” because that is precisely what they will claim if we do not keep up the pressure.
Keep WM on its heels. Vote INDY.
The poll also found that 12.5% of those who voted No in 2014 would now vote Yes, and 28% of those who plan to vote Labour at the next election would also vote Yes in an independence referendum.
Were are seeing record levels here. And as I keep saying, this is not SNP to Labour showing up as Lab 2024 Yes. Zero SNP voters have moved to Lab/Con/Lib NET at all. What’s happening is Yes is rising rapidly in Lab/Lib and even Con 2019/2021. The UKSC case +/- Sturgeon opened the floodgates. Unionists are turning on the union that turned on them, taking away their voting rights and attacking their devolved parliament.
The surge in support for independence amongst the Labour loyal in the face of a Starmer led right-wing English labour government is truly something to behold.
We know the headline VI numbers are screaming ‘mid term guff due to poor sampling’, but such sub trends must be real as they cannot be explained other than by what is seen. There is no evidence Lab voters are being under sampled, just back foot incumbent SNP and Con. Lab etc are moving to Yes in big numbers, pushing Yes up while, perplexingly, the SNP seem to be down.
The link between Yes and SNP is breaking. It is becoming cross party at a voter level. This is really amazing to see, and as I have said before, would be what you’d expect as the end of the union approaches. It stops being about ‘Yes parties’ and becomes about Scotland. Apolitical. Voters of all our parties moving to indy. The Scottish unionists are leaving the union. Only the British nationalists will be left to defend the union and they are far too few in number.
As I noted at the end of the last thread, polls show no movement from SNP to unionist in terms of total voters, but they do show unionist to SNP. This might seem totally contradictory due to apparent low SNP, but they are on the slow rise from a sampling issue induced low back in Q1, and this is not due to improved response rates, but Lab to SNP/Yes swing. Certain to vote levels remain low, so SNP voters are still not engaging at the moment, it’s all coming from previously loyal unionist voters. You see it again in the fact that SNP for Holyrood 2026 is consistently higher than for UK2024. This must be 2019/21 Lab/Con/Lib saying they are still tending to unionist for the coming election, but a lot are moving to SNP / indy for 2026. My guess is these think Labour in No 10 is slightly less bad for the remining 2 years of the union.
And no wonder. The union is falling apart. Incompetent, corrupt, economically ruinous, civil rights suppressing (particularly for Scots), warmongering, genocide backing… No party is offering any change, just more of the same cost of living, poor and refugee bashing misery. Change can only come with independence. A route back into the EU too, which the UK parties are not countenancing even though public want it.
https://archive.is/XC5d1
UK perceived as more corrupt, falling to its lowest score on global index
Transparency International chief says fall to 20th place should act as ‘a wake-up call’ for the government
Patience with polls folks. If I’m even half right, you are going to love them in 6 months time, and you should really, really like them now, even though that seems a bit counter-intuitive. But all is not what it seems, as pretty much always the case outside of campaign / voter engaged periods. Behind the scenes, a lot is going on, and it’s all good for Yes.
Keir Starmer is more right wing than former Tory Prime Ministers Ted Heath and John Major, he hasn’t yet quite moved as far to the right as Thatcher but as he is an admirer of hers so there is time enough to do so yet.
It was just over a month ago that he was keen to tell us how he admired Thatcher for her “sense of mission”. That would be her mission to destroy the Trade Union movement along with all industry in Scotland that he was praising.
He told Radio 4 that Thatcher was 1 of 3 former Prime Ministers he would like to emulate if he got the job, he actually said that, he wants to be like Thatcher, Blair and Atlee.
People in Scotland thinking of voting for Starmer’s Labour party need to realise exactly what they are voting for and it is not what they might have thought Labour is or was.
Labour are a right wing British Nationalist party with a leader who admires Thatcher and seeks to emulate her when in power. If you support Independence the last person you should be getting behind is Blair and Thatcher’s political love child, Keir Starmer!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/03/keir-starmer-praises-margaret-thatcher-in-bid-to-woo-tory-voters
Starmer got rid of Corbyn by accusing him of anti-semetism. He’s in hock to the board of deputies who were only too happy to help bring down anyone supporting Palestine.
I read that the Tories have changed the rules allowing British people living abroad to vote in a general election (and possibly a referendum). Previously, they had to have lived in Britain in the 15 years prior to the vote. Now there is no limit.
Tories and Lib Dems are busy registering ex pats and encouraging members to register as proxy voters. We are all allowed two proxy votes for overseas voters.
I’m sure most Scots know of at least two friends or relatives who live abroad. Maybe we need to accumulate proxy votes asap so that the tsunami of overseas Tories (who else has a second home in the Algarve) can be watered down.
Details in The National
https://archive.is/iwNKw
This seems total nonsense.
Voting in a binary referendum from overseas is all well and good, but since you can’t vote for a party in the UK per se, you’ll need to pick a constituency you don’t live in to vote in to… erm not be represented the MP you voted for if they win because you don’t live there.
This is desperate stuff and will end up in court. It could only work if the UK had a fully PR system with e.g. a manufactured ‘overseas’ constituency. I guess they could do FPTP for such a constituency too. Either way, this presents way too many problems, it will be challenged.
Looks like it’s pretty easy to register at your last address in the UK.
British citizens living abroad will need to provide details of the address and time they were last registered or resident in the UK. Local authorities, which are responsible for the electoral roll in their area, must be able to verify an applicant’s identity and past connection to the area.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/all-abroad-more-brits-overseas-can-now-register-vote-0
But this is idiotic nonsense. How can you register someone else’s house as your address? They are making it up as they go along.
If you still own a property, then ok, but if you don’t live in a town, nor own any property there, nor e.g. even have a family member’s address give with their permission, it’s total nonsense to be able to register to vote there.
By this current logic, some ex-pats could cause a seat to be won by a Tory multiple times while the people in the constituency wanted Labour, then they never move back to the UK, or when they do, they move somewhere other than the consistency they were registered in. It’s total English Brexiter deluded nonsense.
The only possible way this could be done fair is to have one or more ‘MPs for expats’ who have virtual constituencies and represent expats parliament that way.
I bet you hardly anyone takes it up anyway given voting in England is becoming utterly pointless. You don’t even have a choice of different manifestos now; Lab and Con are the same. If you are in Spain, you’d be better becoming Spanish for a nice choice of parties, including left to right, liberal to authoritarian, green…
On this I do agree with you ;o)
I think they can submit their votes by proxy. Saw something about it in the paper today. Did not read it – too busy being a domestic goddess.
I’m allowed to vote, but I won’t be voting, as the last place I lived was, unfortunately, in england. If we’d moved directly from Scotland, then I would vote and I’d vote SNP.
On the very small sample of british in and around the towns and villages where I live in Extremadura, (and amounts to maybe 20-30 max in a 60km radius), the vast majority won’t even register to vote. I have no idea what the british on the costas will do, but I reckon the ones that have lived in Spain for more than 15 years are really not that bothered about politics in Britain (the ones who were living under the radar/illegally/brexiteers have mostly left I believe)
I’m not certain whether this does apply to referendums. If there is a unionist advantage then it will. If not then not.
The Scots diaspora, forced from their homeland in search of a better life by the union, notably to England in search of work back pre-devolution, would absolutely vote Yes.
I almost ended up in England as a graduate. Degrees from two top Scots unis and the smoking ruin Thatcherism had left Scotland in meant I faced having to fine word in the south of England where all the Scots oil money was being spent.
Just in time I landed a job as a production chemist researcher in Edinburgh and the rest is history.
But that sick horrible feeling that economic migrants face really turned me to indy. Nobody wants to leave their home, family and friends behind to live in a foreign country they didn’t want to live in, especially if they then face racist abuse as I’ve had from the usual suspects most times I’ve been to England (was called ‘banter’).
Eh ?
When did this happen ?
It happened two weeks ago.
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/all-abroad-more-brits-overseas-can-now-register-vote-0
Sounds like a nice little earner for the Tory boys.
Golfnut
Want a proxy vote Bob? We can all have two overseas proxy customers.
Only two ?
Given Alex’s explanation, I’ve taken the liberty of spreading the word….
Have you the faintest idea just how HUGE the Scots diaspora has been ?
Yup. I think we may see some amendments introduced such as “except in Scotland”.
In a poll with Labour at a high they’ve not been at since they got their asses thoroughly whipped in 2015, we have this nugget.
How much do you trust…X…former first minster etc
32% Nicola Sturgeon
25% Yousaf
23% Starmer
21% Sarwar
16% Ross
16% Sunak
Now the trust question is a tricky one as people will say they don’t trust politicians from other parties / movements, even if that’s not necessarily true, distorting that. Also, as a rule, people are told not to trust politicians, so hesitate to openly admitting this. So if someone says they do trust one, this should be really true and they really rate the person concerned, ergo it’s the best measure of how a politician is doing rather than net trust-distrust values.
The above is therefore remarkable. In a poll Labour are slapping each others backs about, Sturgeon – who the English media tells us e.g. killed loads of OAPs during covid and hid messages to this effect, while having her hands in the SNP donations till with the police now closing in amongst other heinous activities – is 1.4 times as trusted as Keir Starmer. That’s f’n glorious.
What this says is Scots don’t believe she’s been up to no good, and won’t unless that’s proven to their satisfaction. So the both the media taking her out and the UKSC case have failed in their goals. God help the union if Police Scotland wind up and clear everyone of any wrongdoing.
And of course, Yousaf is in second place, leading Starmer and Sarwar. I told you unionist voters were warming to him. It’s the only way to explain this nonsensical polar opposite of VI versus leader ratings. It also explains why SNP is higher for Holyrood. Labour 2019/21 voters are stepping away from Labour to SNP/Yes, if not in the coming election, then for Holyrood 2026.
And remember, there are too few SNP in this poll most likely; Yousaf and Sturgeon could be 10% higher each, with the others lower by the same amount.
Polling is really, really bad for the union right now.
Yousaf needs to keep doing what he’s doing and the ratings will keep ticking up. Due to British nationalist racism (all racist parties are pro-UK), he’ll never match white non-Muslim Sturgeon, but could get up into the 50’s sat. Starmer and Sarwar need also to keep doing what they are doing so their ratings will keep ticking down.
“to Scottish independence supporters voting for”
Just taking this phrase out of context, there’s a difference between independence supporters such as us, and others who would vote YES for Independence.
That of course is the problem for the SNP, why people like me get irate when they don’t focus enough on Independence. They may – or may not – know what they’re doing but hence why support for the SNP is less than Indy.
It’s those who are voters not supporters of indy, but also those who are supporters of indy getting frustrated.
And yes, I’m stating the flaming obvious. Or at least, it should be.
support for the SNP is less than Indy
We don’t actually know this is the case at all. The polls are saying this at face value, but also saying they are not accurate right now. Too many normal Scottish correlations went out the window overnight Q1 2023 to conclude there has been movement away from the SNP.
Polling-wise, we have numbers that you need to make up all sorts of stupidities to explain if you want to insist SNP support has actually fallen. Or you can use the simple and super common polling phenomenon have suggested – one that occurs all the time mid term and notably to an incumbent perceived to be on the back foot – to explain it all perfectly logically with everything completely sensible. Then you wait for this to go away as it always does ahead of elections, creating ‘swings’ where nobody changes their VI at all, they just start answering that email from Yougov.
It went away ahead of 2011, 2015/16, 2017 (reverse effect due to unionism on the back foot post 15/16 and SNP riding too high), 2019/21 for example, so probability is it will go away. It’s that or we face a mass boycott of the election UK-wide, and most notably in Scotland with unionist parties falling to their lowest share of the total electorate ever. Either outcome is a loss for the union.
A real revival of unionism needs:
– Labour to win a landslide
– On a record turnout
– Yes to retreat back towards the low 30’s
What we have at face value:
– Labour polling worse than 2011/2015 and predicted to lose again
– On a low turnout / due to a mass boycott
– Yes in permanent majority (most likely)
[…] Source […]
“28% of those who plan to vote Labour at the next election would also vote Yes in an independence referendum.”
Only if we are “allowed” a referendum though! When is this referendum happening? So it doesn’t matter if they say in some poll they’d vote yes, as they’ll be unlikely to be ever tested on this
Starmer , Sarwar , Baillie , Streeting , Reeves , … spot the socialist !
Sorry , that was a trick question !
Really incredible to watch an Irish republican about to become the FM of Northern Ireland. The tectonic plates are shifting either side of Cairnryan to Larne.
Sinn Féin are right, reunification is within touching distance, and the British in the N. of Ireland know it, so are now grudgingly accepting their fate as an increasing minority in what will soon be one Ireland again.
The UK is so, so close to the end. When it comes, it will happen very quickly. Probably Scotland first, then N. Ireland won’t be in union anymore as it’s in union with the UKoGB, which will no longer exist. It will then need to decide if it wants to be in union with England (+Wales), the answer will be no. That will just leave Wales watching N. Ireland and Scotland successfully going their own ways into Europe while an increasingly isolated, parochial and economically ruined ‘Britain’ turns in on itself. So Wales leaves too, and Britain is no more. England becomes just England and re-enters the EEA with its tail between its legs. All good.
Surely the unionist population in NI has fallen, while the number of nationalists has risen, so unionists will be a decreasing minority in any All-Ireland state. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson will have a job selling his deal to the unionist population, given that he has failed to achieve any of the objectives he set himself and appears reluctant to reveal any hard facts about his deal. He will be furious that Sinn Fein have portrayed the deal (whatever it is) as speeding up the transition to a UI. I would imagine it will be a transition to a period of dysfunctional government over here, leading to another collapse of the Executive, etc. Sinn Fein collapsed everything from 2107-20 and got what they wanted, but the DUP’s collapse has been less successful from their point of view, a bit of peripheral tinkering with the previous “Windsor Agreement” tinkering.
Yes, what has been happening there is due to the same forces which have driven Scotland towards indy.
It’s not that Irish people in the province have been pumping out weans like there’s no tomorrow then teaching them to hate British while the British have been sticking to just a bairn or two… it’s simply a generational decline in Protestantism, British identity, and the unionism that comes with that, all as the UK itself declines as a state.
There is no empire. The church has declined as an influence (notably the protestant church). The post-war consensus which united the peoples of the UK in a social-democratic solidarity state built on British industries and institutions for the post-war re-build is gone.
The GFA has slowly but surely brought down the division – and the actual walls that England had built to keep communities divided (so conquered). Younger generations don’t see themselves as ‘proud protestant & British’ vs ‘Irish’ in the way generations before did. They see themselves as increasingly Irish or an emerging ‘N. Irish’ rather than British. And, most importantly, European. Young folks from both sides and not divided like their parents / grandparents were.
As the Irish and N. Irish identities start to dominate, so the people of the province gravitate towards the ‘Irish’ republic where catholic and protest, ‘former unionist’ and republican live peacefully alongside each other in a modern European country. A border in the Irish sea is better than one through people’s back gardens. The EU offers benefits while the UK offers none. the longer the peace goes on and the more communities integrate, the more the unionist fear of being ‘ruled the the Irish diminishes’.
The division of Britishness with its sectarianism and partitioning is not an attractive thing for young people in the province in the same way young Scots are not attracted to it.
Devolution has accelerated this decline in Britishness. In the latest poll, people under 34 are like 75% Yes in Scotland. This is incredible. They don’t identify as British at all, never will, and the same thing is happening in the north of Ireland thankfully, as it will ensure no return to the troubles and the final berlin wall in Europe will fall.
—
Graphs from:
Is a middle force emerging in Northern Ireland?
Irish Political Studies, Volume 36, 2021
As a friend of mine commented to me about Starmer. “He’ll keep a white flag flying here” !!!
As a wee caution by the way, the return of Stormont is not something Indy supporters should seek to exploit – it’s enough that Sinn Fein and the DUP are working together.
The Alba goons really are working overtime aiding Starmer’s Labour party
It seems along with Labour’s hatred of all things SNP, Salmond has the perfect ally
Will the Tories Labour Alba and the media between them succeed in making Nicola Sturgeon Scotland’s Imran Khan?
Nope!
As someone of north of irish (before Anglo partitionig) extraction with passport to boot, i’ll post freely on the subject if I like thanks ( subject to blog modding and not the self appointed internet police).
And any suggestions that what people post in the btl comments of a Scottish blog might adversely affect the power sharing agreement would be one of the silliest things I’ve heard in a long time . 🙂
It wasn’t aimed at you. It was aimed at any pro-indy politicians, journos, columnists, influencers who might read the comments, and will inevitably commentate on it.
It’s big news, and it’s important that people in the public eye not only see it first through the prism of the Norn Irish, but be SEEN to do so.
Fair enough!
🙂
Nicola on now at the Covid Inquiry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAETVEcHn3Q
BBC has a ‘Sturgeon’s reputation on the line’ headline this morning.
Very hopeful from them, particularly considering the very best polling you can find for the union right now* has Sturgeon the most trusted leader / former in leader in Scotland by a country mile, and that’s with a supposed ‘cloud hanging over her’ regarding operation Branchform.
It’s so funny to see Starmer backslapping Sarwar over polls which show Sturgeon is trusted 40% more than them in the circumstances.
—-
*The last time it was this ‘good’, Labour went on to suffer their worst losses in the history of Scotland, i.e. 2011 and 2015.
Don’t think about Nicola Sturgeon as the FM who stood at a podium every day trying to save lives in Scotland and succeeded at it better than any other political figure in the UK, says ambulance chasing lawyer and reality TVs Aamer Anwar, think about her as a person who deleted a WhatsApp, because we’re all out to get her now
Never a person to shy away from making it obvious who she does and doesn’t like, Nicola Sturgeon’s enemies have joined together in what they think is their payback moment
This is political Covid enquiry day specifically tasked to attempt to criminalize the FFM featuring Aamer Anwar standing on the steps of an enquiry venue not calling for the jailing of Boris Johnson and his cronies who actually were proven to have committed criminal acts? but the FFM of Scotland
Hell hath no fury like a pretendy ex independence supporter spurned eh
Oh and just another wee point BTW, why would you have the Scottish finance minister with zero power to alter financial outcomes attending *clinical* meetings?
It’s like asking the school Janny to attend curriculum decision making
I know almost everything about how a motor vehicle works, but I can’t fix one if it breaks
People who support Independence need to vote for it. A higher turnout. Or stop complaining. Use it or lose it.
Why people who support Independence vote for a unionist Party is a mystery?
NI and Stormont getting special concessions and consideration. While Scotland get none.
Scotland did not vote for Brexit but got Brexit imposed. Ruining the economy and losing £Billions.
The Labour Party stands for whatever doesn’t frighten the horses and they have multiple focus groups constantly checking with the horses on how frightened they are.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so cynical before. I have no idea what a Labour government would actually do as they ditch positions so easily they could just as easily ditch their current position on everything. Their biggest selling point being they aren’t the Tory Party, which obviously is a big selling point. Assuming an October election, we have another 8 months of this nonsense.
I read this morning they are about to start furiously polling ‘the Muslim vote’ due to worries they’ll lose this over Gaza.
This is of course deeply racist as it assumes:
– Muslims are not like other people in the UK, so can be neatly grouped and evaluated separately from the non-Muslim population
– Muslims automatically care about other Muslims more than they do other humans, such as other peoples of the UK, which by inference suggests that the former are ‘different’ and so something of a threat to the latter, and…
– Other peoples of the UK such as Scots don’t care about the lives being lost in Gaza as much as any randomly selected Muslim would, which is derogatory towards the former as a people, and couldn’t be more wrong as we can see on the streets UK-wide, comments blogs such as this etc
On top of this, such polling shows that policy is not formed on moral principles such as concerns over the genocide in Gaza, and sound logic about how to stop this (2 state solution, ceasefire calls etc), but on trying to work out what people want to hear, then telling them that (only to backtrack later) with the sole aim of pocket-lining via No. 10.
But that’s British / English Labour for you.
This the latest from today’s Guardian:
Labour has no intention of reinstating cap on bankers’ bonuses, says Reeves
Shadow chancellor says party aims to be champion of a thriving financial sector if it wins election
Labour will not reinstate a cap on bankers’ bonuses if it wins the next election, the shadow chancellor has said.
Rachel Reeves said she had “no intention” of bringing back the cap, saying she wanted to be the “champion of a thriving financial services industry”.
The regulations, which limited annual bonus payouts to twice a banker’s salary, were introduced by the EU in 2014, in a move aimed at preventing excessive risk-taking after the 2008 financial crisis.
[…]
Well an immaculate performance this morning from Nicola Sturgeon at the Covid Inquiry. How petty the questions seem, obsessing about WhatsApp messages. The press today has a shock headline about Nicola buying burner phones. She swiftly kicked that accusation into touch and explained that her constituency office bought them so that they could keep in touch with constituents who were, of course, under lockdown.
They’re off for a coffee break. Back at 11:30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAETVEcHn3Q
Pretty clear from the KC’S questions that he has an agenda and that it has very little to do with getting info about how the SG’s decisions, implemented them and how effective they were. Maybe the next part will deal with that. So far it seems he is out to get quotes that can make headlines eg insisting NS deleted WhatsApps and getting her to say the word ‘delete’ or say yes whereas she had said she did not retain them which is the same thing but ‘NS deleted messages’ is the headline MSM want and he got it for them.
She has been very good.
I got the impression that Aamer Anwer might have supplied some of his questions. He has a posse of bereaved families to manage.
Nevertheless, I thought NS was fit for him and gave the inquiry the answers which they requested. The fact that the KC seems displeased with the answers is not relevant.
Link to article: https://archive.ph/CmGZu
Jeez.
Makes you think about Branchform and who had that idea.
How revealing. Looks like the inquiry has some questions to answer too.
Back to the Covid enquiry where the judge tells the lawyer and the FFM to slow down and change their accents because the stenographer is having difficulty doing their job
There are a whole ton of things I could say about that exchange, but how about just this one
This enquiry is taking place in Scotland so get a stenographer that understands the language instead of this one who clearly doesn’t, and how dare anyone in Scotland be asked to change their pattern of speech to suit England, we’re already speaking their imposed damn foreign language as it is, now they want us to sound like them?
I could give a hundred examples of English pronunciation of words that isn’t any language whatsoever
What would they have done if Kate Forbes had decided to give her evidence in Gaelic?
Makes me think of a recent story about an English parking firm demanding payments from Welsh people for infringements in Wales in a foreign language – English – then, when they asked for a copy in Welsh – the language of Welsh people – they were literally told to ‘speak English’ in Wales!
W_S probably came across this.
You mean this one, S_S?
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/man-in-welsh-language-parking-penalty-battle-claims-company-harassed-him
A Welsh-language campaigner embroiled in a three-year legal battle after refusing to pay a car park fine written in English has claimed the management firm is “threatening” him with a £10,000 legal bill.
Toni Schiavone was given the £70 penalty notice in a car park managed by One Parking Solution in the seaside town of Llangrannog, west Wales, in September 2020.
He has said he is happy to pay the penalty notice, but only if the parking company, which is based in south-east England, translated it into Welsh, which he estimates would cost them about £60.
At a hearing on Friday, the judge, Gareth Humphreys, said it was unfortunate the case, which has become a cause celebre among Welsh language champions, had dragged on for so long and asked the company to consider whether it was worth pursuing. Otherwise, a county court hearing to decide the case will take place at a later date.
[…]
_____________________
Footnote: W_S was involved as the proof reader of a colleague’s translation of the appropriate signage (ENGLISH > WELSH) for One Parking Solution.
(I’ve also been involved as a Welsh Language Officer in regard to many cases of linguistic discrimination – “Speak English, damn you!” – previously.)
These sorts of cases are still unfortunately par for the course, despite CYM being an official language in Wales since 2011.
Dear England I don’t know what a *drawring* is or when the word *floor* is used to reference *the ground* the road *the pavement* or any surface below foot level
Pedantic English speaker, Scotland
I did not hear any reference to ‘changing their accents’ but did hear on a couple of occasions this morning the KC state that the stenographer had asked him and Ms Sturgeon to slow down a bit because they were going too fast.
The same request was made a few days ago when Prof Sridhar was giving evidence.
As my daughter usually says when confronted by this behaviour “listen faster”
This Covid inquiry trip to Scotland is obviously a stich up and an attempt to discredit the decisions of the Scottish Government and of the FM who led them.
There’s no doubt that todays questioning of Nicola Sturgeon is all about getting some headlines for the Unionist media to use against her and accuse her of all sorts of misdeeds and underhand goings on when she was in charge during Covid.
Unfortunately for them their cunning plan has totally failed, the only exposing being done here is the Unionist determination to discredit Nicola Sturgeon with any old shite they can throw at her. She’s a true professional that puts the lot of them to shame.
That we stop them printing more shite tonight and tomorrow but there will be no damage done other than the damage on show daily to trust in the media. They will pay the price for spinning such crap.
They fear her because she remains the single most trusted and admired politician in Scotland, and might yet step forward to take a key campaigning role for the next vote on indy.
But even the attempts to discredit her with Branchform have failed based on polling. Remains the most trusted of leaders / former leaders by a country mile.
The Covid Inquiry lawyer currently prosecuting Nicola Sturgeon because that’s what it sounds like on live Tv is obnoxious and clearly has an agenda that is not about learning better ways to cope with future pandemics. Scottish Government being asleep at the wheel re COVID preparedness he says. Pathetic. Now he is banging on about Scottish Government announcing stopping large gatherings whilst Cobra advice was for a cross UK approach. The fact he is now questioning why she made announcements re that before Bojo is also pathetic. Her duty as she has pointed out is to the Scottish people not to Bojo, the Tories or the UK government
The English do not like to be ignored by those they believe to be their ‘lessers’.
I posted this tale once before but will repeat it again. There was a ‘TV doctor’ who appeared many times during the pandemic telling us from the great metropolis that we must be responsible, take all precautions, follow the rules and treat this pandemic with respect as it had serious implications if we didn’t. Came the time when England began to ease its restrictions, but then there was another wave. Someone, don’t know who, suggested that maybe Scotland should temporarily close its border to avoid further escalation. Said Doctor was questioned about this ‘shock horror’ suggestion and their whole demeanour changed to ‘Who do they think they are? They need our tourists.’ It seems we have some nerve contradicting edicts from the great metropolis no matter how serious the situation. Said doctor still pops up on radio and television dispensing their wisdom on matters medical.
”Sturgeon in tears as she is confronted with the deaths caused by her and her Scottish Government during Covid !”
or
”Sturgeon unrepentant over the deaths caused by her and her Scottish Government during Covid !”
or
Sturgeon finally admits her actions in deleting vital WhatsApp messages during Covid cover up ! ”
or
” Former First Minister , Nicola Sturgeon , explains in detail the actions taken by her Government during Covid .”
I wonder which headlines the unionist media will promote following Nicola Sturgeon’s appearance today at the ”Down with the SNP” Inquiry in Edinburgh ?
You’re good at this, the Express, the Mail and the BBC are looking for “good” journalists with such skills as this LOL
Well James Cook (hopeful MBE) has gone with “LiveSturgeon: I did not take Covid decisions for political reasons” on the Scotland page and “LiveSturgeon: Part of me wishes I had not been first minister during Covid” on the Scotland/Politics page, same “LIVE”, but two different versions, another PQ Tardis feature we didn’t know about…
At least we should be grateful the latest ‘news’ shunted his irrelevant Gaza funding, feel sorry for Mone/Barrowboy, and what ‘Jeremy Rhyming-Slang-tax will do’, crap off the page, but the Gove piece lingers, much as it does on the soles of shoes…
Not being a person ever to support or normally quote Tories but maybe today might be an exception as a Tory MP pointed out in the Commons this AM that the Horizon computer system was introduced to the British Post Office and hailed as wonderful by Tony Blair
Dear Scottish Unionists,
This is what successive Westminster Governments have done for you with regard to the Horizon-Post Office scandal.
Introduced and endorsed by Tony Blair (Labour)
Problems dismissed as unimportant by Vince Cable (Liberal Democrat)
Issues involved by Conservative Governments
You YES yet?
Sorry, there was an “ignored” between “issues” and “involved”.
(I got distracted).
Baroness Hallett chair of the Covid inquiry is clearly sticking to the terms of reference agreed with Boris Johnson after her appointment. She just want’s to get to the bottom of it and has no political opinion at all. That much is not completely obvious when looking in, but it’s there, somewhere I’m sure.
To be this far into the inquiry and not know the difference between elimination and eradication is not to the Baroness’ credit. Neither is it to her credit that she, and others to be fair, are not wearing masks when they have a cough. Some sound as if it is a productive cough.
Remember when you watch the enquiry that the BBC don’t consider Scottish people human, hence they can be so incredibly unpleasant to Sturgeon.
The effect of the interrogation of Nicola Sturgeon today at the Covid inquiry will be to highlight the bias of the interrogators against the Scottish government and in particular Nicola Sturgeon.
It also makes plain what the agenda is of those that persecute her and at the same time will make her more popular. I’ll give them 1 out of 10 for trying but they all really need to have a good long hard look at themselves. It was pathetic.
Think todays COVID Inquiry was more like like the trial of Nicola Sturgeon in my opinion. The KCs over emphasis and ascertaining that NS instincts re Indy were always prevalent in her decision making is ludicrous. Instinct may be part of decision making but knowledge and fact also inform decision making. For example if a child ran out in front of me when I am driving my car my instinct would be to quickly apply the brake and that instinct is informed by what would happen if I did not brake – death of a child . I know that due to driving training and experience. The KC seemed to imply NS instinct for life long support for Independence effected every decision she made in regard to COVID which is BS. He also implied that the Scottish Government should have done exactly the same as UK govt and always at the same time
https://archive.is/kr79A
UK minister: Brexit checks ‘price Scots must pay for not being allowed iref 2′
Having followed the ‘arguments’ of the latest Covid Inquiry series, it was obvious a clear agenda was in play early doors from HMS James Cook’s prequel ‘Sturgeon’s reputation on the line’ as SS posted earlier, https://archive.ph/5q8wM, not merely suggesting inside knowledge but orchestration
– I’d felt discomfort previously over Mr Dawson’s line of enquiry over WhatsApps in SG on foot of #10’s disgraceful behaviour, but had largely accepted it as a legitimate line of enquiry.
Not to put too fine a point on it, the article contrived by James Cook personally and published 31st January 2024, 06:19 UTC is not the usual SoSS nonsense masquerading as Mr Invisible, but James earning brownie points for his long sought after gong.
Yet what appalled me most over the Inquiry is it flagging up yet again a singular mention of “consideration” over Indy mentioned in Minutes, reinforced by Michael Snake’s evidence session in advance of the hearing, it does have that distinct pungency of ‘Eau de Latrine, made in London’ – As evidence of SG not concentrating on ‘the day job’ of trying to save lives rather than ‘let the bodies pile high….” a la HMG, it’s beyond being pathetic.
I lost power before the ‘live’ session had concluded, so will have to wait two days to complete the session, meanwhile in Scotland, you have James Cook’s “impartial reporting with the ‘King James version’, I shan’t be watching….
The KC considered the ‘evidence’ he had highlighted showed beyond doubt that SG and NS in particular were prioritising independence and politicising the pandemic to bolster case for independence. The ‘evidence’ he produced amounted to 4 sentences, 5 or so phrases and 2 WhatsApp messages spread over 5-6 documents none of which were substantive policy documents. No evidence of Civil Servants being withdrawn from Covid work to work on Independence Ref.
That is what the KC thought ‘proved’ the SG was working on Indy Ref
Compare and contrast with the very substantial report that was part of the Gove evidence.
Quite an obvious attempt at a stitch up by the KC.
From what I saw it is almost impossible to conclude otherwise…
Covid absolutely proved the case for indy. SNP didn’t have to even hint at that subtly, never mind try to openly use it to their advantage; hence 2020 saw our first sustained clear majority Yes wave on the rising tide. That’s what put the wind up Gove.
It passed and a long trough followed, but here we are at the base of that trough and Yes is 51%. Next wave is going to all sorts of fun. Coming soon!
Sarwar complaining about Nicola Sturgeon’s tears at the inquiry . She should NOT be showing emotion at the deaths of so many people – that’s NOT what the relatives of the deceased need or want , he says .
This from the Ambulance-chaser who shamelessly and repeatedly raised the death of a wee girl in the Scottish Parliament for his own naked political advantage . As my dear departed auntie Jeanie used to say about sh*ts like him – ”Hingin’s too good for him – it’s a good kick in the ar*e he needs !”
”Hingin’s too good for him – it’s a good kick in the ar*e he needs !” – From the front….
From the National:
“Scottish Government has ‘no plans for referendum on Holyrood powers’”
in reply to Ash Regan.
I think in my uninformed opinionative way, that this is good, the ScotGov should NOT support Regan’s Bill.
But the Scottish Parliament can, to support the right to self-determination, which is outside the Scotland Act.
Free vote please. Then all SNP MSPs and Greens, voted for by the People of Scotland, can support the right for Holyrood to hold a referendum on Independence.
IANAL
OT
This would bring a tear to a glass e’e, but it no real surprise to anyone who spends any time there each year.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24063472.sutherland-facing-rapid-decline-population/
Noticeable how anywhere within A9 reach of Inverness has the larger birth rate, even including Bonar Bridge which has a direct beautiful road over the hill and far away.
I have absolutely no idea how the decline could be halted.
I think Nicola acquitted herself with dignity. This is, of course, a disappointment to the likes of Sarwar and Ross. If anything I think Nicola’s appearance at the inquiry has perhaps reignited a fondness for her.
The opposition will bray like donkeys and wave their pitchforks but they will be dismayed at the lack of support behind them. I think they would find Nicola still commands more affection in voters hearts than they do.
So imagine there was a high profile police investigation into a political party’s finances. The 3 of those with access to the money were under intense scrutiny, and even taken in for questioning / arrested. The opposition media were all over the case like a rash, camped outside the ‘suspects’ houses etc, and had basically found them guilty in trial by media.
The normal reaction of any party would be to suspend those under the spotlight pending the outcome of the investigation, especially if there were concerns that their might just be some truth to the allegations. I mean if you had even the slightest inkling one of more had been up to no good yet protected them… career over and party in serious trouble.
The only way a party would not suspend the relevant people, is if, after working with them for many years, including all through the time when they were supposed to be committing fraud… then carrying out a full internal investigation which concluded that everyone else in the party was totally and utterly sure, without a shadow of a doubt, that there was nothing to the allegations at all.
And if that were true, then who was really behind the investigation into a crime that nobody could find in e.g. 2.5 years and why?
30 months on and still not a single penny reported by the police as missing.
I thought the “Trial of Nicola Sturgeon” was a farce masquerading as an inquiry. KC Dawson read out a long list of questions at the end of his interrogation asserting that NS made all her decisions according to instinct. Her instinct for Scottish independence is her most heinous crime.
I thought NS handled them with great skill. She did get emotional on two occasions and struggled to spell out that she had done her best to protect the people of Scotland from harm to the best of her ability. Anyone who listened to her daily briefings over the two years of the Covid pandemic can attest to that. That means almost everyone in Scotland.
I have no doubt that the MSM and the deeply hostile Real Independence Supporters will reframe every answer to prove that NS is evil incarnate. But they will be in a minority.
Anniversary of Brexit. How’s that going then?
Has there, say, been record support for Yes parties in a Scottish election on a record turnout on a record number of folk signed up to vote in the most recent election?
Maybe there’s a permanent (the evidence suggests) majority for independence now in Scotland?
What about unionist parties on their lowest projected support amongst the Scottish electorate in history, and for this for their own union parliament in London?
Then on top, maybe unionist parties now in permanent minority in the North of Ireland, and the first ever Irish / pro-reunification FM there?
And I only note some of the positives, not the negatives.
Salmond putting the boot in, sounds like a very disgruntled chappie though he insists there was no policy for deleting messages or WhatsApp’s – doubt Swinney and Sturgeon would make it up so who is behind the scenes in the SG muddying the waters
Another one wakes up and smells the coffee like Jeffrey Donaldson has.
One domino falls and the rest will tumble.
2/3 are teetering.
https://archive.is/EbNYY
We are still paying the price of Boris’s Brexit blunders – and now the union is in peril…
Sinn Fein is right, writes Andrew Grice, a united Ireland is in touching distance as the party’s vice-president Michelle O’Neill prepares to become Northern Ireland’s first minister
#UnionismRevival
Not lawful but I would love to see the WhatsApp messages of various mainstream journalists leaked because I am sure there would be lots of stuff about their real agenda which is maintaining the establishment and getting a wee gig in the house of Lords. The Inquiry KC was wholeheartedly biased today in his questioning of NS. As for AS muddying the waters what a surprise. I would be careful if I was him pretty sure NS has a lot of juicy/sleazy stuff on him. I hope she puts it all in her book. Sadly these days I would not trust a word Salmond says. They say WhatsApp messages can’t be hacked. I doubt that is true and I am sure that is another reason why NS and others deleted them
The inquiry is, unsurprisingly, missing WhatsApp’s / testimony from the opposition parties who were an integral part of Scottish law making during covid, being key committee members, involved in debates, and voting through legislation.
Maybe Glenn Campbell’s e-mail messages should be made public under FOI? Public money after all…
In 2014 the Tory government admitted SNP phones were tapped for *security reasons*
The SNP managed to *eliminate* the damage on that occasion but being as it was in the control of the English government they couldn’t *eradicate* it
Just a wee analogy there for any English legal folk that don’t know what words mean
They’re so used to redefining the English language they’ve forgotten or never learned the actual definitions of words
As I’ve already said, Tory Labour Liberal Democrat Alba, you couldnae slide a cash card between any of them
But we could eliminate them, although I’d prefer the other word
The BBC were claiming this morning that Nicola Sturgeon’s “reputation was on the line” today. After witnessing the state of todays interrogation, her reputation remains intact while that of the official covid inquiry, the officials and those at the BBC lie in tatters.
“Integrity”
Another word the opposition to Nicola Sturgeon cannot remove from her, because she has it in barrow loads
Aye, and another Angus Cochrane special with “Analysis by James Cook Scotland Editor BBC News” hot off the presses an hour ago, https://archive.ph/KOOmR 31st January 2024, 07:13 UTC….
As you observed, it’s not her reputation in tatters, that is with the bespoke suits…
Cook is just another Unionist lackey with an agenda. His wittering’s are tripe.
Don’t suppose we’ll ever see this in any inquiry report and never in the media.
Nicola Sturgeon and her team were unquestionably the most capable government in these Islands even with the millstones round there neck, westminster and Johnston.
Office of National statistics figures.
Infections rate comparison.
Northern Ireland 1 in 50.
England 1 in 55
Cymru 1 in 70
Scotland. 1 in 110
Golfnut
Her shoes, her hair, her choice of suit, dress, her dark eyes when she was tired, her confident walk
One minute they demanded and objected simultaneously to their own desires for some sort of page 3 Samantha Fox figure to criticize, then opposed their own argument demanding a more dowdy non noticeable appearance
But always all of this shit spat out by the *men* that wanted rid of her because they didn’t know how to compete with her politically, and they’re still doing it using every piece of garbage they can twist and misrepresent
None of Nicola Sturgeon’s opponents agree on anything with each other except for one thing, she must be Diana’d, Prince Harry’d or Meghan Markle’d
Even though their own King Charles was receiving masses of cash in gym bags from foreign sources, that’s fine, even though their own Prime Ministers have been proven to be crooks charlatans thieves, sexual abusers, that’s fine, but bring us the head of Nicola Sturgeon
Tonight’s BBC national news had less harsh words for Vladimir Putin, why? he’s not interested in removing Scotland from English control
Every leader in Europe heaped praise on Nicola Sturgeon on her political and professional approach in all that she did except England and their drones and media in Scotland
We had better get behind this lady and begin defending our country by attacking her opponents before something horrible happens, they’re trying to kill us by killing her
It’s disgraceful that the official enquiry account on Twitter followed an anti-SNP account
Well Labour mouthpiece Kevin Maguire and some Tory supporting female just been banging on in the Sky Press Preview about how far NS and the Snp have obviously fallen because of her testimony today. They really are detestable scumbags. Everyone with half a brain could see that KC was doing a hatchet job on NS at the Inquiry today. I have nothing but contempt for the vast majority of the mainstream media. Most of the people in Scotland saw exactly what happened at the Inquiry with N S and how her questioning by the KC was so much more adversarial than any Tory including Bojo got.
I have listened to almost all of the Covid enquiry. Why did they let all the southerners off the hook and then have a go at our Nicola. Oh, sorry. Firstly she’s a competent and capable woman. Secondly she’s Scottish. Just worked it out for myself. Nicola we still love you.
It’s because she is Scottish. If our current FM was not Scottish, but British, e.g. Sarwar, they’d have had an easy time of it.
Remember, the BBC openly says Scots politicians are ‘not human’ so don’t need to be treated like you should treat people normally.
A local power outage abruptly ended the live feed of the Inquiry session with NS, but by then it was clear this was a ‘show trial’ of the individual, not an exercise in learning anything for a future pandemic.
What had struck me in the early sessions with civil servants, was from among the massive volume of evidence the Inquiry had accumulated, they unearthed in questioning a page from a notebook which had IIRC an orphaned entry of “INDY ?” scrawled within the notes – They grilled the author on it, and the alarm was patently obvious from Lady Hallet.
From that point on my suspicions only grew that the Inquiry was more interested in revealing a conspiracy over the constitution, than learning anything of Covid.
For reasons Scots might be mulling independence in a time of crisis, you only need look across the border at the omnishambles of government, and a media obsessed with attacking SG than informing the public during a pandemic.
I vividly recall the number of English folk confirming on forums their preference for the clarity of SG Covid Updates to that of the bumbling incumbent of #10.
The Establishment wanted the then FM’s head on a plate, and still do to this day – But if they believe for a second this ‘show trial’ or James Cook’s relentless propaganda will rescue the dying Union from it’s overdue burial, they are deluded….
Or as wonderfully summarised by one hero…
I was offended, that a licensed broadcaster gave this egjit a platform to lie unchallenged to the public.
Golfnut
That clip amusingly sums up how Scots will feel about coverage of the inquiry in terms of pro-indy vs pro-union camps.
British Tory and British Labour parties both refuse IndyRef2 and thus both subvert our democracy.
But hey – it’s 2024! Let’s forget all that and reward our jailers by voting for them in GE24. You know you want to.
What about the behaviour of the MSM during COVID – it was despicable, will the inquiries investigate them? Wonder what slopy shoulder testimony we will get from the head antagonist today
Indeed, almost every day Nicola Sturgeon refused to answer set up questions regarding politics from every single branch of the media both Scotland and England even though they hounded and laboured the point, and now they try to turn the truth around claiming it was her
We have BBC Scotland’s chief dug up Bryan Taylor only this AM misquoting Nicola Sturgeon’s replies from the *trial* by Joan of Arc burning press
Bryan Taylor a man who gave a seminar to BBC staff on “How to *get* the SNP”, there’s even a video of him pointer in hand explaining how to twist words to mean the opposite of what is said
I believe Scotland is now at a turning point, are we going to go quietly into the night and accept what the British state and its allies in Scotland are doing, or are we as a nation going to do something about it?
There are Top European politicians right at this moment expressing their horror at what is happening to former FM Nicola Sturgeon but you will see none of it in the British press, they will not print it or report it
We cannot depend on anyone doing it for us, not the politicians or the law, it’s time for us to end this before we see their next step, which will be an Aung San Suu Kyi style criminal show trial
They aren’t going to stop unless we stop them
This makes interesting reading about the High Inquisitor Jamie Dawson KC of Nicola Sturgeon at the COVID Inquiry yesterday . His legal career seems to have considerable focus on medical negligence cases https://ampersandadvocates.com/people/jamie-dawson/
Maybe in expectation of the outcome of Branchform, they are desperately looking around for something else to take her out with.
This is the British/English state we are dealing with. Not nice people at all and no friends of the Scots. Ask the e.g. Irish.
Just who exactly are among Aamer Anwar’s clients, and why would his barrister be trying to include a question about Alex Salmond in this so called Covid enquiry?
Think that question was really on behalf of Aemer Anwar and nothing to do with his clients. I did read a while ago he is an Indy supporter. If so he is definitely on the Alba side of the force
And therein lies your answer as to the sole purpose of Alba, and it’s not by a million miles anything to do with independence, it’s the destruction of Nicola Sturgeon, the only politician the British have ever feared, hence this level of attack upon her
Alex Salmond is not a fool, he knows he can never be elected to any position ever again in Scotland, so who and what is he working for?
How does an over age unelectable in Scotland ex politician continue a career in politics?
There’s only one place to go
I used to have respect for Alex Salmond back in the day because he was a good orator and could bat away comments by the usual suspects plus he raised Scotland’s and the SNP’s standing. However, I ask myself a lot these days about why he took us into a referendum when it appeared from the polls (if they can ever be relied upon) that support at that time was just in the 30%’s. Someone who is a poll person might know more. I don’t pay much attention to them but it was only at the last minute that the %age rose significantly.
But the bottom line is, he failed and for that he has to take the blame. He didn’t rally enough Scots behind him. He allowed the Anglo-British State to get the upper hand and we are paying the price now. Playing the revenge game at this stage is so pathetic and makes you wonder what is really going on with him and a few others.
I predict the outcome of the inquiry will be a boost for the SNP and a hit for unionists. The unionist parties and their British media have been predicting this too, hence they have way overplayed their hand in an attempt to achieve the opposite.
People don’t listen to politicians attacking other politicians and believe what they say. They look into the matter and decide for themselves. Most are like this.
The people you have repeating what a politician says have not looked into the issue, but just dislike the person / party under attack, so rabbit the same. You can totally tell when they are doing this. I find the best approach is to look puzzled and innocently point out a major flaw in what they just said. Like you are listening to them and want to understand their point, but what they are saying doesn’t add up and you are perplexed.
I never try to persuade people to vote Yes or SNP. I entice them to try and persuade me to vote for the union / Labour in a friendly way, like I am listening. Then as they go through their reasons they grabbed from the papers, I am, as noted, all innocent and puzzled, saying ‘but I looked at the data for that, and it says the opposite’. You find they quickly move to the next argument as they don’t know the facts, and you just crush each one in turn with ‘But that makes no sense either, because…’. You also send them e.g. Labour stuff, not SNP, asking if they can point out what’s on offer for Scotland (clue, there’s nothing), which they can’t do, making them feel pretty stupid trying to persuade you to vote Labour like they have been doing.
It’s actually pretty effective for non-rabid British nationalists, as they slowly find themselves questioning everything they thought about voting unionist, and unable to defend their position. If they can’t defend it to you, then they can’t defend it to themselves either, which is the starting point of the journey to Yes.
I told my ‘Yes but Labour’ (not sure I believe the Yes) former neighbour that I could never vote Labour because I am Scottish + Irish and it’s an English party opposed to self-determination for Scots / Welsh / Irish, but not for English / British, ergo is both anti-democratic, and racist towards me / my people. I said this factually and politely, but making it clear I really, really did not like Labour due to this. There was no argument back. How could there be, it’s factually correct.
So he now cannot even try to persuade me to vote Labour, and needs to defend his own choice to me in discussions. I said ‘Well, my choices, as a Scottish person who backs indy, are SNP/Green/Alba, and the SNP are the best fit for me, so that’s the reason I vote for them’. I don’t need to defend this any further, unless he wants to argue I vote for another indy party over the SNP’. 🙂
Labour are going to introduce a cap on corporation tax at 25% if they win the next election. That’s right up there with refusing to keep the cap on bankers bonuses and refusing to scrap the two child cap.
I recently said that Starmer was not yet as right wing as Thatcher was but he’s definitely getting there.
The evidence today is beyond the pale what a shit show
Just watched a short section of it. Alistair Jack is woeful & clearly had little if any role in management of the pandemic. . Noticed 9000 were watching compared to 25,000 for NS at points yesterday.
As we speak GB news has launched an all out attack on Nicola Sturgeon based on information they say they have received from, guess who? Alex Salmond
Alastair Jack tells the Covid inquiry that he deleted ALL his WhatsApp messages, every single message over that period. He tells us he needed the space on his phone as he only had 64Gb of memory.
That was it, he got nothing like the grilling Nicola Sturgeon did despite admitting he was part of a WhatsApp group with Matt Hancock and other ministers where they did discuss Covid issues.
Just posted this reply to your post at 11.29 above so hope yourself and the mods don’t mind if I repeat it here:
I used to have respect for Alex Salmond back in the day because he was a good orator and could bat away comments by the usual suspects plus he raised Scotland’s and the SNP’s standing. However, I ask myself a lot these days about why he took us into a referendum when it appeared from the polls (if they can ever be relied upon) that support at that time was just in the 30%’s. Someone who is a poll person might know more. I don’t pay much attention to them but it was only at the last minute that the %age rose significantly.
But the bottom line is, he failed and for that he has to take the blame. He didn’t rally enough Scots behind him. He allowed the Anglo-British State to get the upper hand and we are paying the price now. Playing the revenge game at this stage is so pathetic and makes you wonder what is really going on with him and a few others.
Sorry. This was meant to be a response to Dr Jim @ 11.37 above.
Alex Salmond was never for what folk think of as outright independence, he was for independence within a British state which is no independence at all
Nicola Sturgeon was and is full and total independence separate from the British state, and why they fear her far more than they ever did Alex Salmond, and why at no time would they ever grant the same referendum to her that Cameron knew he was going to win in 2014
Even if Yes had won in 2014 we’d still have lost and Alex Salmond would be sitting in the House of Lords at this moment instead of working with the British to stop Nicola Sturgeon now for his belated reward of a peerage
My understanding is he wanted devo max on the ballot and Cameron said no of course. That left the party little choice but to go ahead with what was a clear manifesto commitment, even though there was, in retrospect, no chance a referendum could be won. When we were down in 30%’s in 2012, I did see evidence for underestimation and tried to remain as hopeful as possible while doing my best to to keep peoples spirits up re polling numbers. In the end, 45% on an 85% turnout was really something. More Scots (as a share of the total electorate) voted for independence than UK citizens voted for Brexit.
Very little credit to Salmond though. TBH, I don’t remember much of him from the campaign, which shows you how relatively uninfluential he was (I did have decent deal of respect for him them). It was the unionists that drove the Yes campaign. It was England telling Scots we were ‘racist anti-English’, that they’d close the border… stop paying pensions to our elderly (even though these had paid into the pot their whole lives)… would stop us using our Scots pounds and lobby the EU to keep us out etc that took Yes from 30 to 45% on the day. And unionist campaigning since now has us over 50% Yes at a low point / trough. But then the union belongs to unionists. If it fails, it can only fail by their own actions. They control everything, the SNP nothing basically. The unionists have all the levers to show Scots the supposed benefits… to accommodate what Scots desire etc…. a media to persuade Scots of all this… yet all the do is use these levers to push Scots towards indy. Attacking unionist devo and removing the right of Scots unionists to vote for the government they choose are obviously examples here.
We can also see that while Sturgeon was/is an asset to the SNP, people don’t tie her to independence. Since she resigned, Yes has climbed into majority according to polls, suggesting that she was a hinderance if anything! 😉 Of course I jest – the reality is Scots understand the SNP and indy are not the same thing. the SNP are just the main vehicle that takes Scotland to indy.
This is why no matter how much the British establishment assaults the SNP, they fail to impact Yes. If anything, they boost indy support by overplaying their hands here. Polls suggest the best they achieve by such things as forcing the FM to stand down and finding the previously leadership guilty by media trial, is to get SNP voters to go quiet and not tell pollsters what they plan to do, as happened ahead of 2011, 2015 and to a lesser extent 2019. If I was a unionist, I’d absolutely not want to use tactics that created the impression of unionist gains ahead elections, only for these to vanish like snaw aff a dyke as voting day approaches. But hey ho, no interrupting enemies making a mistake and whatnot.
But without the SNP there is not a cats chance of ever achieving independence
There is no Green Alba SSP ISP or any other party of any interest to the English government, these are just fragmented nobodies to be ignored by them and their media instructed never to report on either
The British intent to destroy all notions of democracy in Scotland is total, their fear of it is massive, and Nicola Sturgeon couldn’t be bought so she is Princess Diana, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Aung San Suu Kyi, Joan of Arc, or anybody else that challenges the authority of a state
Nobody fears Alex Salmond, if they did he wouldn’t be appearing on every TV radio station and British newspaper condemning Nicola Sturgeon
And yet he is and does, they just luurve the guy these days don’t they
What do we hear these days from news outlets? Nicola Sturgeon should just leave and take a job in the EU and good riddance
Funny how this is the sort of propagandised language used against everybody who shows what they consider to be any disrespect to the control of the British state, *if you don’t like it leave*
Very ugly stuff. Straight of Labour’s ‘British jobs for British workers’ playbook.
Not you furriners, Scots, Welsh nor Irish N. Irish.
And it’s only getting started. Going to be the most ugly right-wing racist fest in England you have ever seen folks. Labour’s anti-immigrant mugs of days gone by will appear positively liberal and outward looking by comparison.
Archived for posterity.
https://archive.ph/jJeaP
Lab and Con: National Front without the good bits*.
—
*Stopping property speculation, fighting government corruption and raising pensions to 2/3 of the average wage.
What “British” politics looks like to the rest of the world.
Clearly , anyone viewing the questioning at the Covid Inquiry ( UK ) , whether in London or Edinburgh , could not fail to discern the difference in the ferocity directed at the Scottish Government witnesses compared to the criminal clique from Westminster.
A visitor from Mars could be forgiven for thinking that ALL the blame for the Covid deaths , the failure to prepare , the lack of PPE , the belated Lockdowns , the illegal Partying , the Eat Out to Help Out ( the virus ? ), the horrendously expensive and almost useless Test and Trace … ALL can be laid at the door of Nicola Sturgeon and her Nationalist Government which defied the sensible actions advocated by the principled and completely selfless Westminster Government .
The Nom-Dom owned Unionist media together with the anti-SNP broadcast media in Scotland with have twisted and distorted the Scottish Government evidence to such a degree that , by the end of this Inquiry , Nicola Sturgeon and the SG will likely be reported to the Court in The Hague for Crimes Against Humanity , while Boris Johnson , Michael Gove , Matt Hancock and Alister Jack will have their names put forward for sainthood !
At the risk of being unpopular yet again, we’re lucky to have in Scotland the likes of Ampersand Advocates and its people. As a citizen, I expect and demand that if involved in a public inquiry, they pursue that inquiry with full and total diligence. Like it or not, Dawson KC is doing precisely the job he’s supposed to do.
https://ampersandadvocates.com/our-people/
Also worth remembering that all covid deaths in Scotland are the responsibility of the UK government, as Holyrood is just a department of the UK government managed by it. Might be a hands off approach for many aspects, but at any moment London can step in to overrule or amend Holyrood government decisions, just like the big boss in any organisation can. And it readily does this, as we have seen with GRR and iref2.
I just realised that one of my team has used the wrong data in making graphs I need for client meeting tomorrow. Happens easily, but FS, need this fixed first thing. However it’s my fault ultimately, and I am responsible for sorting this problem. If I can’t on time, I need to explain to the clients, sorry the electorate, why. I am Johnson as the guy on my Team was Sturgeon at the time of covid. I carry the can the team I have devolved tasks to. They mess up, the fault is mine as the one managing them.
Devolution is power and responsibility retained by Westminster. They wanted Holyrood to have the responsibility but not the power. It has neither as there’s no having your cake and eating it. Westminster carries the can for everything Holyrood does.
If sending the elderly back from hospitals to care homes caused deaths, then this is England’s responsibility. London was boss, saw this a happening, and ok’d it as the manager. England’s fault.
Independence and it becomes our over government that carries the can. I look forward to this.
Anyhoo, Dawson KC is not doing is job unless he makes this totally clear in his approach and findings. If e.g. deleting Whatsapps was wrong for MSPs, why did the UK government fail Scots in not stopping this for example? They knew it was happening and did nothing? Why did unionist MSPs not demand the policy was changed? Anyone skipping around this factual reality is being unprofessional and politically biased. 🙂
KCs in any Public Inquiry should not show blatant bias towards a witness as he did yesterday towards NS. Completely different attitude with him towards Alistair Union Jack today.
Well, I haven’t listened to them at all. But this is from the opening remarks of Hallett:
“In these hearings, which, as I say, are taking place
in Edinburgh, we will examine the political response to
the pandemic in Scotland, in the period between
January 2020 and April 2022, when the last restrictions
were lifted in Scotland. We will do so with the benefit
of being able to assess, at this relatively short, but
significant, distance from the events of that period,
the decisions which were taken by government in
Scotland, predominantly those of the
Scottish Government, in the discharge of its most
fundamental responsibility, to protect the people of
Scotland from harm and ultimately from death”
https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/16204239/2024-01-16-Module-2A-Day-1-Transcript. pdf
Sorry posted the thing by mistake before reformatting the stupid pdf.
“In these hearings, which, as I say, are taking place in Edinburgh, we will examine the political response to the pandemic in Scotland, in the period between January 2020 and April 2022, when the last restrictions were lifted in Scotland. We will do so with the benefit of being able to assess, at this relatively short, but significant, distance from the events the decisions which were taken by government in Scotland, predominantly those of the Scottish Government, in the discharge of its most fundamental responsibility, to protectthe people of Scotland from harm and ultimately from death”
(my bold)
So its remit is mostly ScotGov in this module, not UKGov.
Yes, decisions of the UK Gov clearly totally affect those of the ScotGov.
Yes, but the UK government could have overruled the Scottish government at any point, so the UK goverment gave the green light for all Scottish government decisions as the ‘manager’ of the Scottish government.
Just a pity for England the UK government didn’t ok the same approach down there. Maybe more lives would have been saved.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24091132.believe-scotland-announces-date-glasgow-independence-march/
I might go to that. Bus to Braehead and I think, the 77 from there though I doubt it’d go up Kelvin Way that day!
I might go too if circumstances permit.
Tories pushing for criminal proceedings against Nicola for deleting WhatsApp’s they will try anything to smear her. Where is the money coming from to support all these groups that are gunning for her?
I guess Branchform isn’t going to work out well for them then.
Anybody remember this ? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/12/cabinet-policy-ministers-delete-whatsapp-messages
Anybody else remember when the instruction went out from the Covid Inquiry to retain messages, 2 years too late ?
Interesting, that article is from 12 Oct 2021, today Alastair Jack said he deleted ALL his messages in November 2021.
Probably after the Court declared it lawful – IIRC it was in one of the early London Inquiry hearings where the PPS or whomever confirmed to the delete instruction had gone out to all Ministers and Civil Servants UK wide ca May 2020.
The order from the Inquiry reversing that went out I think 2022.
The only reason for the WhatsApp focus is because that was Johnson’s preferred conduit for info in and decisions out.
That certainly does not appear to be how SG operated despite the best attempts of some to portray it as such
Essentially SG have been hung out to dry in the Inquiry because of what #10 did, not because of the process.
I think it was Yousaf himself likened WhatsApp to a conversation, you would only put the salient points of the conversation on record, not every single detail and nuance.
Bob, I know you keep an eye on what’s happening online down south, what’s the gossip like on line.
Loose Women, tv programme , panel despite the whitterings of a news reader having a go a Nicola where absolutely on the side of Nicola, acknowledging that she did a great job despite being hampered by the westminster muppets.
This is a very popular program across the uk.
Golfnut
That’s pretty much what I’ve been reading, “witch-hunt” is regularly being referred to…..
Thanks 👍
Golfnut
Witch-hunt! from QT in Glasgow tonight.
Just casting a quick e’e about, and this quick written presentation thing is good:
https://dglegal.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/How-To-Be-An-Effective-Advocate-At-A-Public-Inquiry-Webinar-Slides. pdf (remove space before pdf)
e.g. “… is committed to defending the rights of individuals and holding public and private sector
organisations to account”
Basically speaking, for a Public Inquiry, we’re the clients.
Anyways, the more Sturgeon is in the hot seat, the better. She got massive appreciation for her briefings from NO voters as well, and the more the media try to drag her down the more people will think “Well, I’m alive, I survived. And perhaps that’s thanks to her.”.
It’s one of the reasons I didn’t bother watching it.
How things went if you were not a deluded racist British/English nationalist nut-job that hates Scottish people.
… but every time the Prof . was in the midst of praising either Nicola Sturgeon or the Scottish G. , the Scottish (?) interviewer interrupted to witter on about WhatsApp messages being deleted . Good on the Prof . though , he kept at it and gave a very unbiased and inteligent summation of the failings of this Inquiry .
Yes but what about the WhatsApps repeats unionist interviewer from Ayrshire making his bones in the big London
The things Stephen Reicher didn’t say or he would have been chopped off earlier in the interview were, the public are morons that require leading, if you tell them too much their concentration level drops like a stone because they get bored listening and cease to pay attention, all people want to know are the bullet points of any topic, detail is a barrier to compliance
All aspects of life to a politician are weapons to attack other politicians
Why is the Labour party not coming in for any of this unwanted attention? because they were and are responsible for nothing so their level of criticism of everything other politicians did or did not do is a fee pass to complicate the level of usage they put the public stupidity to
The average person finds it impossible to digest too many distasteful facts in one go, that’s meat and drink for the politician or the media who then twist and rephrase every sentence and word uttered to appear to mean something entirely different to the original intent
That why we all know the phrases such as *Ambulance chasing lawyers* *corrupt politicians* biased media*
These are all common tags used by the populace of every country in the world when referring to information being pumped at them on a 24 hour rolling media basis to force a population into a particular mindset “propaganda”
The trick is to employ this tactic on a public that knows their government, their media, their financial leaders are doing that very thing but still get away with sounding truthful
In the case against the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon their is a consensus between all the powers of England that Scotland in the shape of the SNP must be attacked collectively by them to save England’s property (Scotland) from being taken from them, so every facet under the control of England and any allies it can garner must be employed to that single purpose
Populist politics in this case are the easy low hanging fruit to use, just stick *ordinary people* who support your point of view on the TV call them bereaved relatives, which they are, but arm them with the support of the political opposition with which they agree and you’ve got yourself unattackable members of the public that you righteously elevate to the highest aggrieved status, and bingo you have you’re political army
And because the public en masse are easily politically offended sheep when they’re told they should be they walk willingly in front of the nice wolf that isn’t biting their ankles straight into the pen
Other countries have worked this shit out and there’s a damn good reason they have, most other countries are far freer to express themselves than right here in propaganda land Britain
God save the King and we won the war
Apologies for my spelling and grammar, I’m in an infuriated state at the people who use people’s gullibility to do their fighting for them
And that’s the entire British establishment
There will be people who will argue vociferously they are not stupid, those are the people that politically don’t agree because they’re the morons being used for the aforementioned purposes
That last sentence is an application of political populism in constant use by the British establishment, keep the people stupid then tell them they’re not when it’s time to buy whatever shit they’re selling them next
Well said. Big applause from me.
If all the WhatsApp messages had been kept the phones would not have worked. Overloaded.
There are thousands of documents providing information of decision making.
A recording of information and statistics given every day. BBC recordings. Were they kept? Where did the BBC store them? They give all the information broadcast every day and an analysis of the decision making in Scotland.
Not one single iota of this enquiry has anything to do with WhatsApps Ken
I missed this – it wasn’t on long enough for me to register, so I was too late to tune in. Did the refugee from a bad B&W court case B-film do any of the following:
– Commiserate with the poor man (no, sorry, politicians aren’t people ae they? Entity?) for the loss of his family pictures. But…
– What was they silly thing doing using his work phone for personal contacts?
Or alternatively…
– Why was he using his personal phone to conduct business?
I mean, all that fuss about Mr Matheson’s boys…
If you’re driving to work and have your radio on tuned to BBC radio Scotland right now, you’ll hear a discussion about how the SNP promised to deliver tree planting to a certain level, but because of budget cuts by the government in England the SNP has had to divert money to public services that are more pressingly immediate
Now that’s not good enough for BBC Radio Scotland so they see an opportunity to engage in the latest SNP bashing propaganda campaign to encourage Scots to vote Labour (who have BTW promised nothing on tree planting whatsoever) but here’s how insidious the BBC are in planting the seed (see what I did there) in folks minds that the SNP are duplicitous in their desire to plant trees to tackle climate change
The BBC bring on to interview two journalists from the Daily Mail and The Times both newspapers vociferously opposed to democracy in Scotland
So how does this work? the journalists complain the SNP should have done something to anticipate these budget cuts (sounds a wee bit reasonable) then they argue that it’s not the fault of the government in England that the SNP made promises they couldn’t keep (hmm? a wee bit dodgy now) then comes the kicker, the journalists say maybe if it wasn’t a SNP government in Scotland the English government that controls all of our money in Scotland might look more favourably upon us if we voted for someone else….Kaboom! and there it is
That’s called punishment by England for not voting for an English political party, and the BBC and all the journalists in the world know it, but they took so long to work up to the punchline folk in Scotland didn’t realise they were being led up the garden path with this party political broadcast for unionism presented as a topic of SNP failure to plant trees
Now here comes the teeny weeny caveat at the end the BBC use to get away with this propaganda, “Of course Scotland does plant more trees than England Wales and Northern Ireland put together even after the budget cuts”
Of course by this time dear listener you probably don’t care, you’ve heard enough and you’re angry because the SNP are making the Scottish people disliked by our lovely cousins in England, and they’re withholding our money because of them, so I’m gonna vote Labour that’ll fix em
Eh? naw it won’t, remember the part about Labour promising nothing on trees?
forget that did you? of course you did, because by now you’re thinking “see that SNP? bastirts int they? and Kaboom! that’s how propaganda works, and off you’ll go ready to vote for an English political party that promised you nothing, so you’ll get exactly what you voted for, Nothing! and the BBC will announce with great joy that Scotland no longer wants democracy and we all just love the status quo of voting for nothing like we’ve successfully had for 300 years
Mind and don’t mention the free prescriptions that Labour are promising to *consider* keeping in Scotland, oh! that’s a tax Scotland doesn’t have to pay that England does BTW
Talking of WhatsApp I got an email from the SNP about independence and one paragraph says
“The new SNP WhatsApp channel is also helping to deliver the latest updates directly to your mobile phone and empower you to get the key messages about independence out there.”
Has anyone else had this and have they managed to find the SNP channel ? Because I can’t. Thanks
Me neither
Here is the link https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaFFEy1K5cD8Db4Lsr0B
I have it – just used the link in the email
I was notified by email from the Snp about their new WhatsApp channel towards beginning of December and joined it the next day. I am presuming the email was only sent to party members
Just remember folks, while the English SC case… Sturgeon being forced from office… now the English covid kangaroo court trying to find her guilty of ‘piling the bodies high’ might seem very infuriating, it is all this that is driving Scot towards indy.
When the SC case ruled, the polls still said baseline Yes was a good 2-3 points less than 50% and slipping a bit apparently. Who knows, maybe we’d have lost iref2 on like 49.9%. If we’d not that nor the blue tent on Sturgeon’s law, I can’t help but feel we’d not have seen the same movement to Yes as we have in response over 2023. After all, when I’ve talked about this with ‘soft no’, they have invariably shown increasing concern that #financegate has been concocted by the British state. I mean 2.5 years and nothing found, right ahead of a key election when yes at record sustained highs? And that’s on the back of an attempt to jail an innocent man in the form of the previous pro-indy FM openly orchestrated by the English civil service in Scotland. It is understandable in the circumstances. You don’t need a tinfoil bunnet to start asking questions here.
So we can expect it will be very obvious to Scots that the English covid enquiry had come north with the goal of finding Sturgeon guilty because she’s Scottish. Ideally, they can get something criminal on her given Branchform seemingly isn’t going well. I jest not. The right in Spain – good mates with the English Tories – did exactly this in Spain to the leaders of Catalonia, so we can ability expect this from the English imperial state. Labour have suggested the UK takes a similar approach to Scots. After all, England has not done far worse before in its attempts to put down uppity natives in the colonies. Ask Ireland, Kenya, India… England tried to kill my other country’s leader when I was 9. That was only 1985 when we were watching back to the future in the cinema.
My in-depth studies of the polls has actually meant I’m no longer frustrated and angry, but really happy about the way things are going. That mass movement of loyal 2019/21 unionist party voters to Yes is truly a sight to behold. These people are Scottish; they are not British. We differ from NoI in that we have traditionally had both ‘British nationalists’ and ‘Scottish unionists’ backing the UK. Our Scottish unionists self-id as Scottish first and foremost (or wholly), backed devo, then devo max.
Devo max was never delivered; with the vow unfulfilled. Now they have been forced out of the EU against the will of their countryfolk while their devo is being undermined / attacked. On top of this, their right to freely choose the union has been stripped from them by England. If that was not enough to see them back Yes, now the party they most traditionally associated with – labour – has completely abandoned any pretence of being centre-left social democratic. It now now longer backs the devo it created, denying unionists the vote, while it advocates ugly right wing kid starving, warmongering, banker bonus bonanza Brexiter policies that would make Thatcher and the National Front blush.
England and the British nationalists are destroying the union. Leave them to it as they are almost done. Just hold tight, for I doubt the union has more than 2 years to go. Let’s just see if we beat NoI to it.
“England tried to kill my other country’s leader… . Who was this? In relation to an earlier post the GFA didn’t put an end to the building of “Peace Walls” in Belfast. More have, in fact, been constructed since the GFA was signed and polling shows that people , on both sides, don’t want them removed.
I meant this:
https://archive.is/jcnhI
UVF claimed MI5 urged it to kill former Irish PM, state papers reveal
Message from UVF to former taoiseach Charles Haughey claims British intelligence supplied details of his home and cars
Was widely reported.
You get to the channel via the updates icon on bottom left
Speaking of WhatApps, apparently Alister Jack is just fine and dandy now because he apologised for his deletions whereas the evil queen of the SNP did not, and that as far as the BBC in Scotland is concerned is a far greater sin
Of course had Nicola Sturgeon apologised for this nonsense the BBC and other would’ve jumped for joy at her admitting her incredible and knowing guilt about deletions in the first place
If we look at what’s really happening with the Covid witch trials what we’re seeing is Jaws the Movie
“This is not a boating accident this is a shark attack” and Nicola Sturgeon is chief Brodie bearing the brunt of the blame from the entire town for something the ruling body, the Mayor and the council demanded be kept quiet so the tourists would still swim in the sea and keep the economy going
Chief Brodie had no power to close the beaches but he still received blame and the slap in the face from the bereaved mother
The people with the real power always avoid fronting up, so much so we had umpteen shark attack Jaws movies pointing this very fact out over and over, and still Chief Brodie got blamed then sacked by public demand, but the Mayor and the council still kept their jobs
There’s a lesson in there somewhere about the stupid gullibility of mass human nature
Nicola Sturgeon saved approximately 25.000 lives in Scotland by her actions according to the World Health Organisation, and demonstrated clearly she has been the best FM Scotland has ever had, but the media in Scotland wants her to apologise for a completely unimportant piece of propaganda they’ve created over an App on a phone that she barely used
Basically if the BBC and all English controlled media in Scotland convince you to vote Labour at the next election they’ve manipulated you into believing an App on a phone is more important than the woman you listened to who worked tirelessly every day to save your life
And if you’re reading this in Scotland you’re alive, but in England Wales or Northern Ireland who knows because per head of the population more of them are dead
“Hitch! private Hitch! you’re alive, I saw you” the Sgt Major’s roll call at the end of Zulu
Hitch listened and did what his Sgt Major told him
We’re all private Hitch, thanks Sgt Major Nicola
Indeed, DR Jim, we are basically sheep being led by the English government to believe that nobody Scottish is capable of running anything, and so all decision making must be from south of the Border.
My only hope is that with this covid ‘enquiry’, they will have tried too hard to blacken our Scots indy leaders, and it will, as the furore eases and folk see what’s actually happening, come back and explode in their English faces.
Westminster controls 50% of Scotland’s revenues. Scotland raises £87Billion in revenues. Gets back £40Billion Block Grant. Scotland has to pay for Hickley Point, HS2, Trident, illegal wars, £4Billion+ for Defence. Too much. 180,000 military personnel. 10,000 based in Scotland. Too low. No navy to patrol the shores. £50Billion UK Defence spending on illegal wars and redundant weaponry. Illegally selling arms worldwide. Breaking International war.
£Billions wasted by Westminster that could be better spent. Scotland pays for Westminster bureaucracy. Highly paid civil service jobs and H/Q’s in London. Not Edinburgh.
£5Billion in debt repayments on monies not borrowed or spent in Scotland. £25Billion in (UK) pensions/benefits.
UK Gov raises £731Billion in tax revenues (including Scotland). UK Gov spends. £1090Billion. Spends more in the rest of the UK pro rata and gives Scotland the debt repayment bill. Not borrowed or spent in Scotland. UK Gov funding Covid £270Billion over two years. Much of it wasted. £370Billion over a life time.
Westminster Gov spending £13Billion a year on nuclear decommissioning over 10 years.£130Billion ever increasing. Scotland 25% in surplus in fuel and energy and near the source pays more. Not parity.
Brexit losing Scotland £Billions. Scotland did not vote for it. NI getting concessions, considerations and £Billions of extra funding. Scotland does not get.
Westminster spending Scottish revenues and mismanaging Scotland resources. Illegally. The UN principles of self government and self determination when people vote for it. There should be another Referendum.
Scotland would be much better off, more prosperous, equal and cohesive with Independence. Outvoted 10 to 1 at Westminster.
The BBC are like a dog with a bone. When Nicola Sturgeon bought a new mobile she gave her old one to a relative. That’s it, that’s the big news and according to the BBC this is a big deal because that was in December 2020 and she had that phone during Covid!
I am really getting sick of this crap, boycott all Unionist media, do not pay to be lied to and in particular dump the BBC as they are the biggest enemy of democracy in Scotland.
Well said, Alex.
When questioning Ms Sturgeon the KC made much of the fact that she only had one mobile phone and was using it for personal calls and Gov business.
Alistair Jack just had the one mobile but noting was made of it. Strange that. You might be forgiven for thinking there was one rule for one and one for the other would you not?
Yes, well spotted. The difference in questioning was very apparent and we know which politician got the raw deal from him.
Yup, and this blatant ‘establishment’ stitchup has infuriated a lot of folks north AND south of the border, not because they were SNP lackeys but recognised integrity when the saw it, a rarity in modern Britain…
The deflection by James Cook is ” ‘We’ll have to burn millions of trees after cuts’ ” https://archive.ph/k8Kok a typical propaganda tactic when there’s public pushback – “Oh look, a squirrel”, only a ‘in a burning tree’ variant – You can almost hear Nick Robinson say “and it squeaked nothing” – This time it’s under the “By Kevin Keane BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent’ tag, but composed 2nd February 2024, 06:22 UTC…..
Note that for added emphasis James enlisted reinforcement from the “Nicola ate my hamster” brigade again by opening comments…
The only other article which James has promoted with comments open is “What are Edinburgh’s bold new plans for congestion? “, with not a solitary mention of Vicks…
I exampled this before Alex so my apologies for repetition
– When BBC Scotland can essentially dictate what is in the ‘news pool’ for Scotland’s media, and thereby divert them from true journalism, it is incumbent on them to take a view on whether honest journalism is possible in the UK let alone Scotland.
– I well recall on Indy marches, foreign journalists having realised they were being fed ‘shite’ via normally ‘trusted’ networks, and sent their own correspondents to report honestly rather than regurgitate HMS James Cook’s preferred version of nothing happened, even CNN ultimately.
Let us never forget that the world is no longer blinded by the UK’s propaganda machine, it is only the residents of these isles…
The main lesson that we have learned from these enquiries is that people in public office should stay away from social media.
It can be a useful platform for sharing information but as we have seen can have unintended consequences in the wrong hands.
TRUMP’S TRUTH SOCIAL (Trump keyboard) is an example of how easy it is to manipulate some people and create assumptions which are completely false.
As far as the Anglo establishment and it’s press pack operating here in Scotland are concerned,they will use any opportunity to undermine our democratically elected government.
The SNP,more than anyone else,should know this and not allow themselves to fall into their political traps.
Whatsapp,Twitter/X and all the other social media platforms should be banned from use by public officers unless disseminating information for public consumption.
That,unfortunately,seems to be the main conclusion from these enquiries,so far.
Whatever happened to Covid?
Could someone tell me what the last two sentences here mean?
“The next British government should start by tearing up the Barnett formula and devolving real power – fiscal power – in Scotland. Otherwise we should welcome the future Denmark of the British Isles.”
Otherwise, it’s the usual piece of guff that you’d expect from Simon Jenkins in today’s Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/02/cardiff-edinburgh-devolved-labour-leadership-union) referencing how we in the peripherary [of London, natch.] are subsidised by England … and still have appalling schools, health services etc.
It’s the usual mess of cobbled together half truths and omissions. He notes that Scotland gets billions from the UK Treasury but omits to mention the twice as many billions Scotland pays into the UK Treasury.
It was Simon Jenkins who, decades ago, wondered out loud in his column if it was really wise for the UK to spend vast revenues on London while ignoring almost everywhere else. This was at the time when the per head expenditure on transport in London was over £7,000 while everywhere else it was a pittance.
Eurotunnel, Crossrail, the Jubilee Line, the London City airport, the refurbishing of the tube, the refurbishing of the Railway Stations, Tilbury docks etc etc all largely paid for by the taxpayer because these are “national” priorities like the Olympic Stadium infrastructure while all ours are “regional” so we pay for them ourselves.
So he is comparing an independent Scotland to Denmark (perhaps he has watched Lesley Riddoch’s new film) but not to Norway, oh no, that would be just too painful.
Factors increasing the baseline lost to the union’ Yes vote in no particular order:
– Brexit
– Undermining of devolution / no delivery of vow promises
– Labour moving to the right
– Operation Branchform
– Sturgeon being forced from office by the English media
– English SC ruling on iref2
We can now add:
– English kangaroo court covid inquiry
Notice something about said factors? Who is it driving up the Yes vote? The SNP? Greens? Nope. 🙂
Which is why we should not interfere. Let them believe they are winning while, as the polls show, those loyal to unionist parties right up to 2019/21 are now moving steadily to Yes. The UKSC case, Branchform / Sturgeon forced from office now Labour hurtling right has finally broken the union.
I doubt there is any going back now. It is not wave movement, but baseline trough. This is over 50% now.
Which is why the desperation from the British nationalists is reaching fever pitch. Any semblance of ‘impartiality’ is going oot the windae, and all this will do is accelerate the shift to Yes.
The public, ordinary people, aren’t buying it. This clip form last night’s Question Time – which I don’t watch – shows audience reaction to someone defending Nicola Sturgeon.
Yup.
It’s funny, but the likes of Douglas Ross go on and on about how ‘The SNP are trying to break up our country’* (pretty sure he said it again in the interview were he was called an ‘anchor’), yet it’s the unionist parties and British establishment doing pretty much all the leg work here, as per my list. I mean nobody would seriously try to argue that the factors I put would help the unionist cause?
But then the words of Douglas Ross highlight something key. His country isn’t Scotland / he isn’t Scottish in nationality. He’s British*; Britain is his country. Scottish is at most a regional identity to him, like Liverpudlian or Geordie. Ergo, he and his Ilk are as ill attuned to the average Scot as the average German is to the French when it comes to political thinking.
British nationalism is notoriously bigoted / racist (hence the racist parties all wave the union flag), and hates Scottish people. It also holds the tools to batter us. So it uses these and bludgeons Scottish unionists too, while only the British nationalists in Scotland rejoice. It’s the same as the Brits did to the Irish in N. Ireland as they tried to put down that civil rights movement.
They are unable to understand the damage they cause as they don’t realise that Scottish unionists are not British nationalists, but Scottish people whose county is Scotland. It was only the British nationalists that voted No in 1997. The Scottish nationalists and unionists all voted Yes.
The union managed to keep a 30% Scottish unionist vote on side in 2014 to give them their 55%. But that 30% has been dwindling ever since, and over the past 6-9 months has suddenly started really breaking to independence. The polls say they stuck it out right up to 2019/21, but now have had enough it seems. The English SC case, Sturgeon being forced from office etc, broke the camel’s back.
The interview you show is what Scots are feeling, including unionists. How else could you find, in a poll ostensibly better than the unionists have had in quite some time, that NS remained the most trusted of all leaders / former leaders by a country mile.
I think, the National should run a headline like:
“Who would you prefer to have been in charge during Covid?”
and then pictures of these, with the captions:
Alec “Who he haw” Cole-Hamilton
Anas “No tears we’re British” Sarwar
Douglas “Blow my whistle” Ross
Boris “Clown” Johnson
Nicola “Big Nicky” Sturgeon
I rest my case.
I read this morning about Labour’s so called massive lead over the Tories, and it turns out that in London the lead is around 20%, but by the time you move further up the English country it lessens, and by the time you get to the Newcastle area the massive Labour lead drops to around 13%, which makes me wonder about this massive surge for Labour that appears to be surging downwards the further away from London you get
So maybe by the time you get to say Glasgow, which is in Scotland, it looks like Labour’s massive lead is probably in reality a minus
And that was from GB news, no friend to Scotland or our people, and positive haters of all things Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP, in fact GB news would rather the Monster raving loony party won in Scotland rather than the foreign Humza Yousaf’s Muslim loving party the SNP
Remember folks GB news claims to represent the erm, real voters of Britain
According to John Curtice, Labour does have a massive lead over the Tories in Scotland. Labour 34% to Tory 16%. However, they are still behind the SNP 36%.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24092171.john-curtice-general-election-poll-shows-close-contest-supremacy/
The closer we get the more people will realise that Labour are the Tories now
Nice man Sir John Curtice but he didn’t get knighted for doing nothing, you have to do something for England to get a gong, and he did didn’t he
Great to see both Starmer and Sarwar’s ratings consistently falling in Survation over the past year, and in polls which favour them due to high levels of unionist respondents. Yousaf is staying steady by contrast.
Odd that nobody mentions this elephant in the room. Falling leader ratings ahead of an election is really, really bad news. That means your VI is almost positive to tank as the day draws close. If your own engaged voters don’t rank the leadership, then those who engage in the campaign certainly won’t.
I note that the poll cannot be relied on for VI as Survation is, like all the other polls, showing too low a projected turnout. Just ahead of 2019, 76% of Survation’s panel was saying they planned to vote (panels always tend to have higher values than the electorate as a whole, if they are lower, it means panellists are most likely not responding).
In the poll before this one it had dropped 13% lower to 63%, which is huge (will the similar in this recent one when the tables are out). The missing 13% ‘always vote voters’ not apparently answering Survation’s requests are all SNP. If you add them back in, the SNP share would be normal. As things stand, it’s another ‘Lab/Lib/Con no further forward on 2019 for their own British parliament’ in terms to real live voters backing them once turnout is factored in, and backwards when you consider how many of their previous voters are now planning Yes.
Bad polling for the union continues, with no sign of any unionist revival.
If only the Covid enquiry were actually about the prevention of another Covid style pandemic, but it’s not is it, It’s not even remotely connected to solving any future anything, it’s a bought and paid for Judge and lawyer show trial to boost the English government’s Salem trial of the politician they most feared, Nicola Sturgeon
And you know what they’ve succeeded in doing? making allegiances even stronger on both sides, now we have open hatred where before there was only contempt
So Yaay for England eh, the world’s biggest most famous democracy denying dividers of nations, and you know what? England has eventually lost every single one of those battles
Bring it on
The Jouker has counted the number of times Fiona Bruce interrupted Kate Forbes on QT last night.
BBC Question Time: How many times did Fiona Bruce interrupt the panel?
https://archive.is/aHMJx
BTW Fraser Nelson is the Labour candidate for the Western Isles constituency at the next GE.
I’m laughing like a drain at the very notion that rabid right wing Tory Fraser Nelson is trying to pass himself off as a Labour? candidate
It kinda demonstrates how little regard Sir Kier Starmer has for the intelligence of Scottish voters that they won’t know what Fraser Nelson is
Maybe he’ll leave off his armband and boots while he’s campaigning
It does sound perfectly credible though that Labour could take on Fraser Nelson as a candidate!
But see Eilidh’s correction 👇
Not sure if your last bit was a joke Capella It’s Torcuil Crichton that is Labour Candidate for the Western Isles in GE although he is practically as bad as Fraser Nelson
Oops- sorry – my mistake. I’m getting my right wing marbles-in-the-mouth scribblers mixed up. Apologies to Na h-Eileanan Siar too for using the English version.
Easy mistake to make it is hard to tell right wing bampots apart these days My apologies too for not calling the constituency it’s correct name Na h-Eileanan Siar
Fiona Bruce and the entire QT construct was outed years ago – Offord, Nelson and Bruce embody all that is what is wrong with Britain, that they are our betters despite contributing nothing to the common good.
They are not and never can be other than leeches on common sense…
As to FN, he will finish FN last, as Offord did before he ‘bought’ his way into the HOL to bypass all democratic scrutiny and join the “Hi-Jack” conspiracy company…
Fraser Nelson is a Tory through and through. You’re getting your Unionist lackey “journalists” mixed up. It’s ex-Daily Redcoat London based spinner Torcuil Crichton who will be trying to win the seat from Angus MacNeil.
https://archive.ph/sjthv
Jeez I was a bit slow there LOL
It might now be time for the SNP to boycott all invitations from the BBC and make it plain why they are doing so. This will not hurt the SNP at all in my opinion, in fact it might gain them more respect for taking a stance against the blatant political bias of the BBC.
I think the BBC will just say “We asked the SNP to appear but they have declined”, or some form of put down. It may be good that they appear and show up the aggressive haranguing they are subjected to whenever trying to answer a question.
I’ll never forget the phone-in chap in 2014 who apologised to Kaye Adams for carrying on speaking while she was interrupting him. Classic.
Alex Salmond is back in show business again fronting yet another TV channel, this time Turkish, and claims to have popular actor and well known independence supporter Brian Cox as his first guest
Not so long ago Brian knocked Salmond back from appearing in Edinburgh with him
One hopes the very popular actor Brian Cox will be minded to give Salmond who is a very unpopular actor a body swerve this time too
Aroma of coffee getting pretty strong now. Folk waking up to it across the isles.
https://archive.is/AnzHH
Northern Ireland will leave the union, and Scotland could too. True devolution is the only way to save it
Why would we want to save it? Nostalgia?
But Jenkins still finds time to slag off our Scottish leader and says she used Covid for nationalist purposes!
He just wants the ploy of ‘more devo’ – hell mend him!
Apparently Scotland’s an addictive nation, we just love the bowing and scraping,,,, allegedly
DO catch up, S_S!
I already posted this link @11.15 am this morning … 😀
In other news … I will be in purdah for Scottish events for 80 minutes tomorrow. Yes, it’s that time of year for watching egg-chasers.
PS Sir Simple Simon is of course … ahem … of the same ethnic nationality as me, but I doubt if we share the same political thoughts.
Sorry, busy day and missed that!
Not for the first time, news output from BBC Scotland today has caused me to pause, shake head and hover between despair and hilarity. But today’s output on the BBC News website reaches a new level: candidly, I did wonder if I had landed on a spoof website!
Headline: ‘Sturgeon gave phone used during Covid to relative’.
We learn in the first few paragraphs: ‘Nicola Sturgeon gifted a phone used during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic to a relative.
‘The former first minister has been criticised for failing to retain WhatsApp messages to ministers and officials amid the initial response to the outbreak.’ (- don’t you love this non-sequitor?)
Next paragraph: ‘Written evidence to the UK Covid inquiry revealed that she upgraded her device in December 2020.’ (- omits to report it was Ms Sturgeon who ‘revealed’ this in her written response to questions posed.)
And then the big reveal, the political scandal: ‘But the old handset was passed on to a “family member whose phone had broken”.
This has been the most prominent news item on the Scotland Politics section of the BBC News website throughout today, Friday and also appearing on the main Scotland page.
And for those that missed it, in the evidence hearing and repeated in the BBC article, we learn that Ms Sturgeon only used a phone which she herself had purchased. So this old phone she ‘gifted’ would not even have been a government-purchased handset! Now that would have been a hanging offence!
The nation will also be most grateful to BBC Scotland for sharing with us – in this its most prominent political news article of the day – that ‘The new phone she has used since December 2020 is still in her possession.’ Must be an implied negative in there somewhere I guess!
“Nicola Sturgeon is so fake she could cry with one eye” says Tory sec of state Alister Jack, a man who’s never experienced pain because he’s never had the burden of responsibility or the conscience to care about it
He can come along to my house anytime and I’ll help him to understand pain, then he’ll cry out of every orifice in his body
A chance for some feedback from some people about the Covid Inquiry. Not interested, except they got a laugh out of Big Nicky calling BoJo “a ****ing clown”.
Unionist media and politicians lament, another day’s useless energy spent.
It’s truly nuts that 71% of people in Scotland have to pay for a national broadcaster that is not from their country.
Only 29% identified in whole or in part as British and/or English in the 2011 census, yet the 71% have to pay for their country’s propaganda on pain of fines / jail like we live in Russia. And polling since supports ‘Britishness’ in Scotland to have declined markedly in the past 13 years. We shall see soon enough when the most recent census data appears.
The twist in the tale is that when Scotland becomes independent, it won’t shut Pacific Quay. How could it, it’s Britain / England’s national broadcaster, so only they can shut it. Which they will, as the propaganda it produces will not longer be of any use.
https://archive.is/cJcw3
Scotland should ‘have new public broadcaster after independence’
Post independence there’ll be little point in the BBC maintaining the same attitude towards Scotland, because independence once achieved is never given away again, so they can’t win the propaganda war, especially as they would have to have a new Scottish regulator judging their behaviour
My guess is the Scottish government will make a yearly payment to London for programming like the Republic of Ireland used to do, but of course there will be no pretendy TV licence tax for anyone to pay, after all the BBC broadcasts to foreign countries across the world and they don’t pay any TV tax, we pay the English government to fund the BBC while other countries pay nada because they’re not stupid gullible twits like us that pay Lord Haw Haw to lie to us
Survation UK just got the lowest Labour share in a Year.
They also get this:
Which can only mean even engages loyal labour voters don’t rate Starmer at all. After all the crap the Tories have put the UK through and Sunak is biting Starmer’s heels. Jeezo. So, as per Scottish polling, when the wider electorate engage, Labour can only go downhill. They artificially peaked late 2022 and 1997 is so very far away.
Tony Blair was riding high on 53%, so could afford the 11% he lost. Such a loss would take Starmer to the low 30s and could cost him a majority. Blair was a knight in shining armour by comparison to the kid starver.
These polls do not look good for Labour. Do not believe the press. They look terrible for Labour, the Tories, the libs and the whole British union establishment. And that’s why Starmer is dumping every pledge, because he knows it too, but will do anything to get into No 10 so he can line his pockets. He’d not have to dump stuff desperately if polling was good for Labour.
The “don’t knows” could have been replaced by Teapot Mc Teaface and the result would have been much the same
https://www.facebook.com/reel/300708422998075?s=yWDuG2&fs=e
Golfnut.
Now I know many of you won’t be able to open this but if one of you with more skill than me can grab this and post it properly, it’s well worth it, attached is a video of Chris Whitty telling a commons committee that Scotland pioneered many aspects of healthcare during the pandemic, no idea if it’s still there.
Golfnut
Golfnut,
Just to let you know. I don’t have an account on FB, but clicking on the X in the top right hand corner when prompting you to “See more on Facebook” will still take you to the link you have supplied. (You don’t need the reference after the ?, either.)
You can also find it on instagram, even if (like me) you don’t belong to instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/tsldop/reel/C2soLwSiPEC/
Thanks sionees.
Whitty was my original target, wasn’t sure if I’d managed to get both.
Thanks
Golfnut
Ha … mine cuts out after a few seconds. Seems you have to be registered on Instagram to get it. (I just followed the link – perhaps others who are Instagrammed can hear it.)
Sorry, Golfnut. (You know sioness is W_S in drag, don’t you? 😀 )
I do sionees , bit of
a drag for you now the panto seasons over.🙂
Golfnut
I would have you know that in the Christmas Season of 1987 I played Margaret Thatcher as the Wicked Witch in an undergraduate production of the Wizardess of Oz.
My appearance unleashed a torrent of rotten fruit in my direction … I’ve always thought since that I missed my vacation as an ACTohr …
Watching some of the Covid Inquiry and the resultant coverage by the Media , it struck me that had Franz Kafka been an observer then he would have abandoned his own work on The Trial as he would have concluded that his fiction was a pale imitation of the absurdity on show in Edinburgh and its resultant ”reporting ” in the media .
And James Cook’s personal latest “Could the Covid inquiry reshape the UK?” https://archive.ph/FVYuS 3rd February 2024, 09:34 UTC which according to the front page was 10h old…
I doubt any who have been following what BBC Scotland have published since before the Covid Inquiry convened in Edinburgh and followed the actual sessions, have any reason to credit James with any pretence to journalism or the BBC’s pretence to ‘impartiality’…
All that’s left is passing interest in the propaganda game’s latest ploy…
Ok, tables out and the projected turnout in the latest Scottish Survation poll was 59%, down 4% on their last poll. This is the only reason Labour are anywhere near (losing to, again) the SNP; it’s only their voters who are responding and saying they plan to vote with any enthusiasm. Not a single SNP 19/21 has moved to Lab in this poll NET, consistent with all the others. Zero, zip, zilch. This is right there in the tables. No amount of imaginary Yes/SNPers being welcomed to the fold by Sarwar will change this fact.
The projected total Lab/Lib/Con share of the electorate is 34%, down 2% on 2019, consistent with unionist voters having moved to independence.
And this is optimistic for the unionists. Polling, notably panel polling, often overestimates turnout as people who vote are more likely to be signed up to a panel. So the panel votes too much compared to the electorate as a whole. This is however good for accuracy; if your panel was everyone actually intending to vote and nobody else, your VI numbers should be really good.
Survation projected 76% were certain to vote in their final Scottish poll conducted just 2 days before the 2019 election. The actual turnout was 68%. If we down-weight the recent 59% by the same ‘overestimation factor’, then we have a projected Scottish turnout of 53%. Jeezo. I mean holy guacamole that is some projected rejection of British politics / the union. Such a low turnout – matching those currently projected UK-wide – would put the combined Lab/Con/Lib support in Scotland on 31(-5)% compared to 2019.
This turd cannot be polished for the union. There is nothing in these polls to be positive about if you back the union. Yes cannot lose this election, only the union can based on face value numbers.
The SNP could ‘lose’ if turnouts remain this ridiculously low, but the unionists would lose too, and in a much bigger way as they need Scots to desire titanic deckchairs for sitting on. As things stand, the vast majority of Scots are either not interested in trying to get a crappy deckchair, or they plan to queue for one so they can throw it overboard as I’ve said before. Unionists could big up seat gains as much as they liked, but there’d be no changing the fact that they’d just got the lowest ever combined support of Scottish voters in the history of UK elections. They’d have no mandate and Scots would know this, as it was them that made sure this was the case. This would be a very bad place for the union to be ahead of 2026, particularly as the SNP would have realised the only way to be sure Scots will come out and back them is to make the election an defacto indyref. This would lead to a very comfortable win for Yes.
The alternative scenario is one where the union loses because SNP voters are doing what they did ahead of 2011, 2015-16 and 2019, namely not answering pollsters in sufficient numbers, resulting in wholly inaccurate projections; massive labour landslides in 2011/15 and a repeat of 2017 in 2019. As the election approaches, these do what they did before and start answering, causing the polls to correct. If this happens, the SNP win like they did in 2019 or even 2017.
We shall have to wait and see.
I know I am repeating myself, but I will keep regularly doing so as long as the delusion around current polling continues.
The panelbase out the other day shows the exact same as Survation in terms of record low projected turnouts and Lab/Con/Lib no further forward on 2019.
As an indy/SNP voter I’ve responded ‘Don’t Know’ when asked by a couple of pollsters. I want them to think they’re winning because it then absolutely decks them when they lose. Keep your enemy guessing.
Also, latest UK Yougov has a 52% projected turnout with Labour having the backing of 23% of the electorate. That’s up 1% on their ‘worst defeat since 1935’ in 2019, although it’s probably just random variance as they are no further forward on average.
Interesting, my ‘oversampling of Labour’ also holds true when you look at the unweighted vs weighted bases. Polls right now have too many Labour in unweighted base pretty consistently, and too few SNP. This indicates Labour voters are responding in much greater numbers than voters of other parties, notably SNP. It would also support those SNP 2019 answering will have too many SNP to Lab in the sample, giving the impression of movement when none has occurred NET.
Previously, SNP were more oversampled, particularly in ‘honeymoon’ periods. This wasn’t honeymoon, it was oversampling due to Lab/Lib/Con despondency. It’s now SNP voters who can’t be bothered answering pollsters since the UKSC case / sturgeon resigned giving Labour a honeymoon mirage; one where they lose again to the SNP.
Very pleasing to see. It matches 2011 and 2015 patterns when Labour had large leads over the SNP.
I’ve been on John Curtice’s role of voters for a few years now and used to receive regular asks by email and pigeon post, for the last two years I’ve received nothing, been asked nothing, and filled in nothing, so wherever figures and numbers are coming from none of them have been coming from me
How many more like me I wonder?
Can’t comment here other than to say Curtice is aware of the low projected turnouts right now, hence he is not telling people Labour are on for a 1997 win. Quite the opposite.
His latest comments on Scottish polling are cautious and he leaves the door open for changes when campaigning begins. I don’t think he knows quite what to make of things, and is clearly puzzled by the fact Yes has gone up while SNP seems to have gone down. It makes no sense unless you understand what I’ve worked out.
Oh! Now this is really interesting. Previous oversampling of Yes 2014 correlated with oversampling of SNP, unsurprisingly. But now, Yes is still oversampled even though SNP are under sampled and unionists oversampled.
That’s not good news at all for unionists and supports there voters moving to Yes as the polls show.
Every rule of thumb in Scottish polling is being broken right now, indicating serious sampling issues, ergo VI numbers must be considered total nonsense like they were variably in advance of 2011, 2015/16, 2017 and 2019.
This is the case in all polls. So I am right, SNP 2019/21 are currently being under sampled. No doubt about it.
That doesn’t mean there will be some surge to them ahead of the election, but what we can confidently say is that polling is currently not representative of Scottish public opinion. We are missing the opinions of a large chunk of people who voted SNP in 2019/21, and that is only reason unionists appear to be doing better. It’s not even that previous SNP are saying they plan to boycott / not vote, they are just not answering. It has happened before as it has happened with the voters of other parties. A common problem when it comes to voters of parties perceived to be on the back foot.
We are talking about 13% of the electorate in this Survation. If we assume the missing 13% are SNP and did go out to vote like have done previously, this would make the recent Survation look like this:
13% Con
27% Lab
6% Lib
49% SNP
5% Oth
Immediately we’d no longer need to explain why Scots had moved to the Tories while England had moved away and other such stupidities required (while simultaneously denying the reality of turnout numbers). Reality is that the Con vote appears higher in Scotland than it should be simply because we are missing the voting intention of a large number of SNP voters. Take away a chunk of SNP and everyone else goes up when you normalise to 100 again.
Yes would be in majority too of course. Would be at least 54% rather than 48%.
This is even better than I thought!
Scots have two choices in the upcoming UK GE – vote for the Blue Tories / Red Tories or vote for Scotland !
If the unionist parties won one seat from the SNP their propaganda media would hail this as a triumph for The Union . Independence voters NEED to get out and vote SNP if they really believe in it .
A vote for ANY other party in this GE would enable ( not that they need any encouragement )to gleefully pronounce the death of Independence .
I couldn’t agree more, now is the time to show you are serious about wanting Independence, that means getting behind the SNP and NOT voting for any Unionist party.
Voting for one of them is the opposite of supporting Independence.
One thing is absolutely sure, and that is no previous SNP voters have moved to unionist parties NET. That has only happened in the imagination of unionist parties, as polling shows. They’ve not gained a single voter since 2019/21, but have lost some to Yes based on all recent polling.
I can’t be sure what’s going to happen, but this much is true.
% share / 100 x turnout (certain to vote) = real support % as a share of the electorate. Lab Con Lib are on less than the 36% they got combined here in 2019.
This needs to be understood by Yessers and the SNP. The SNP don’t need to ‘win back support’, they need to make sure their support turns out. The polls don’t even say the ‘missing’ SNP won’t turn out; we don’t know what they plan to do because they’re not telling pollsters. Not even answering. This is true as pollsters are not getting the SNP 2019/21 quotas they need like they were previously, so are having to ‘invent’ SNP responses based on who is answering. SNP voters have form here.
In 2011, we went from 45% Lab / 32% SNP not because there was a swing, but because another 13% of the electorate came out of the woodwork for SNP along with a couple for Con. Turned the polls upside down in 6-8 weeks.
The movement from Lab to SNP had been underway since 2005 (2010 was a dead cat last desperate tactical bounce). Libs were moving too, with this complete once Clegg signed on the dotted line. We didn’t see the real picture until the 13% started responding and saying what they planned; something most had decided a long time ago.
People talk about the huge Lab to SNP swing ahead of 2011, but there was no swing at all. It was just sampling becoming accurate.
See you all on the other side, friends – Win, Lose or Draw.
Amity towards Scotland suspended for 80 minutes.
I have Ireland as a back-up.
Why isn’t that news?! 😉
Well that must have been an exciting match – I’ve just seen the score.
I hope we can be friends again WS 🙏
Of course, Capella – it’s only a bloody game (as Magnus used to say about something else). And we lost to you – not to you-know-who …
We have more important victories we have to win (together).
However, savour tonight. Perhaps you won’t beat us again for another 22 years in Caerdydd/Cardiff!
🙂
I’m knackered.
Were you playing YIR2?
In my heart I was.
It’s strange. You win by 1 point but feel like you lost.
Likewise, I’m drained. I think if you are behind and come back to win by one point you feel lifted but to be 27-0 up and only win by one point as you watch your team have 20 minutes of madness was excruciating.
Hopefully the Welsh lads will be buoyed for next week 🙂
I had to laugh at the BBC Scotland news version of the rugby game
Apparently Scotland only just managed to hang on for a win against a second half powerful comeback by Wales and that shows the weaknesses in Scottish rugby
Wales powerful, Scottish weaknesses
The BBC just never stop do they
About time we got stuck in about them!
Yes, but they are our Massa’s and they live in Candyland where all the Massa’s live, we live in the barn that they own on their land
So suck it up and dig Jocks
We have a country full of trades unions, what about striking on behalf of the country they live in, instead of their *I’m alright Jack* personal wage increases that see them wait until the next time they’re affected by the Massa’s cuts
Why do Scotland’s trades unions conveniently stay out of fighting for their own country and people?
They’re either sucker Labour tools used to get their party elected in England
or they’re selfish Scots dirty dealing on their own country
Strike for something that really matters instead of begging the English to blackmail you over what’s yours in return for a vote against your next door neighbour
An interesting post of BiS’s FB page
“Warning: link is a download and from a centre-right source
Here’s ’The State of the Union’ document that the U.K. government commissioned during the pandemic and that Michael Gove tried to hide. It shows 82% support for independence amongst young voters. It’s an interesting read.”
Only part read it, then downloaded in case the link disappeared… To think that this was HMG’s focus during a pandemic is bad enough, but when you can see connection between the content and what has since transpired, it’s rather chilling.
The pdf is 892kb
Click to access stateoftheunion-5.pdf
Its an interesting read, but its not the document that the UK Gov commissioned.
Its a publicly available report that Unward published in the spring of 2021:
https://www.ukonward.com/reports/state-of-the-union/
the pdfs, on the state of the Union report are identical on my laptop.
The opening statement about “devolved nations” expresses the core of the issue.
When these Anglo centric views are expressed,those so doing cannot help themselves by thinking of England as the UK.
They never consider the nation of England as a devolved nation because it isn’t.
England decides what happens in the UK state and no amount of so called devolution is going to change that fact.
The fact that they are very worried about Scotland (not NI) leaving them shows how great their need of our resources is.
We are only being held in this so called union by an occupying army of Anglo centric media outlets who try to fool us into believing that our constitutional arrangements are normal and beneficial.
The opposite is true and young people who haven’t had the same exposure to this malevolent force know better.
It does not have any of the text that was shown as evidence during Gove’s appearance at the inquiry last week. It looks like a different paper with the same title.
The extract from Gove’s “State of the Union” paper can be read here:
https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/inq000089054__0005-extract-of-paper-titled-state-of-the-union-presented-at-a-meeting-of-the-cabinet-office-held-on-21-07-2020/
Yea its not the same thing. The one in the inquiry is from 2020, the one linked is from spring 2021. Probably both produced by the same firm though.
I’m not disputing that Alex – What caught my eye initially was the publication date, but the opening statement in the ‘Summary of the argument’ most curiously stated –
“The issue was meant to have been settled for at least a generation. But, six years on from the Scottish Independence referendum, the future of the Union is once again in doubt.”
This places composition in 2020…
I wasn’t aware and I’m sure the author of the report is aware that there was any commitment nor condition included in the Edinburgh agreement.
Golfnut
Not much of an extract, is there? No criticism of you intended, Alex. More the amount they actually uploaded.
Two things struck me immediately.
1 – They want to alter the perception of what they’re doing. It never seems to occur to them that the figures may be too high because it isn’t a perception that their actions are inadequate. The actions aren’t suitable.
2 – “Building on the work of the Treasury, we need to generate further, tangible examples of where we have acted in the interests of citizens across all four nations”
There’s absolutely no awareness that there are 4 nations with different requirements, which their chosen governments know AND THEY DON’T. If they had this awareness and the precious union was structured to allow each nation full autonomy, they wouldn’t have to waste time, energy and money that could be spent elsewhere on this sort of rubbish. If only there was a Union, somewhere in Europe, which broadly succeeded in doing this, which could at least provide a model for WM to follow…
Incidentally, I hope the 3 Celtic Nations aren’t expected to pay for a paper aimed at “altering perceptions”
So I see England is giving the Houthis another clear message. The first one wasn’t clear enough, so a second was clearly required. It too clearly wasn’t sufficiently clear, so England being super clear this time. It means business. Houthis must be bricking it at big strong England. Quaking in their boots.
The UK’s decision maker -in-chief , the USA , after bombing over 80 separate targets in three countries has warned Iran to be wary of ”escalating ” this conflict ! Jeez !
Talk TV wants your views on Northern Ireland, well except if your views are that Northern Ireland should vote to do whatever they want to do, because those views are wrong, and Talk TV will tell you that because *We are Bruuttish and so is Norn Ireland, and that Sturgeon *woman* tried it in Scotland and we’ve put an end to that”
Now to boast that “we’ve” put an end to that” means what exactly, and how did *they* do that?
I’d be interested in this information about who “they” are
When you consider the stellar cast of TalkTV, I don’t think we’re missing much. The following presenters are not listed in any particular order.
Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne, Julia Hartley Brewer, Jeremy Kyle, Mike Graham (aka the concrete farmer).
Well, no doubt about it, the reason SNP are down in polls is because SNP voters are disproportionately not answering pollsters. I was correct.
The % of unweighted samples saying they voted SNP2019 has fallen directly in line with SNP share. At the same time, the number of people saying they voted Labour 2019 has been rising with Labour share.
There is only one way to explain this, and it’s SNP voters disproportionately not responding. Pollsters are readily filling their Labour 2019 quota, but not their SNP one. When England punched them in the face twice, a large section of the Scots electorate went quiet. They did not move to English parties. Which is hardly unexpected.
That means polls are wrong. Likewise it means we cannot compare polls pre and post drop, as they are not sampling the same people. So its an apples and pears comparison. It’s quite possible the SNP are exactly where they were before or even higher. We can’t know until the ‘silent majority’ start speaking again.
Will see if I can graph if up. Takes a bit of time to go and extract the data table by table.
Could it be simply that Independence supporters pay zero attention to polls anymore so just do not respond believing them to be tools of manipulation rather than information
Quite possibly some do. We can’t know because they won’t talk to pollsters! 🙂
The most likely explanation is the normal pattern of voters whose party is perceived to be on the back foot going quiet, while the voters of the party the press insists is on the up are eager to be polled. It’s not just SNP under sampling you can see in the tables, but very strong labour oversampling that wasn’t present before.
It’s ironic that the unionists are the cause of the mirage they are now fooled by. There is no revival of unionism. Sarwar is welcoming an empty room to Labour, thinking it’s full of Yes / former SNP supporters.
We already know folks are sick of Westminster politics generally, so possibly the same disdain of polling by extension.
I think the question I would like to know is who gets asked to take part in political polling. I never have nor has anyone I know. Unless you are registered with these polling companies or get a phone call from a phone number you do not recognise and answer it how can they contact a lot of the population. Do they actually do any street polling these days? As someone whose data has been hacked in the past I would never share my data to register with a polling company and I never answer calls from numbers I do not know. I think most people who take part in polling have a significant interest in politics and are not the average members of the electorate and that effects poll results.
Panel polling requires you to sign up, then respond when they send a request to you. Pretty much all pollsters do this now apart from IPSOS.
IPSOS phone people old school style. Their number should not be random, but show as ‘IPSOS polling’ or suchlike, and not as spam from databases of the latter. If you pick up, they will explain who they are (noting they are ‘IPSOS Scotland’ from the one time they did call me many years ago) and ask if you are willing to give your opinions. They seem to get better response rates by this approach outside of election engagement / campaign periods, which makes sense as it’s easier to ignore an email than a call, especially if you have answered said call. They’ve been polling Scotland the longest, and have as good a track record as you could get. Called 2019 where the rest were under-predicting SNP right up to the last weeks. For example, Panebase got 38(-7)% SNP in their final poll. That’s who just suggested SNP were 3 points ahead of Labour…
You are correct that people who sign up to panels tend to be those more politically engaged. So ahead of elections, when there is engagement, they over-predict turnout. However, they’d get the most accuracy if their based was a sample of everyone intending to vote. People who don’t plan to vote are no use here. So panels do tend to work well in the final weeks, but not far out from votes like now.
That said, the pollsters pay people to complete surveys on politics and all sorts of other topics, so you get a lot of non-political respondents too answering for quick and easy cash.
That is the problem for panel pollsters right now. They should have much higher levels of regular voters answering, but they don’t, so are getting too low projected turnouts. In Scotland, this is because SNP 2019/21 are not answering, hence they are the only party affected (appear to be low).
The share of the total electorate backing Lab/Con/Lib is unchanged or down on 2019, meaning the people that regularly vote for these and respond to pollsters are continuing to do so. Since these are ‘British / English’ elections, this isn’t a surprise. Scots are not interested in foreign elections, which is what UKGEs are, especially when they cannot affect meaningful change by them. However, when the time comes to vote, if they think they can make an impact – even if that’s denying unionists the seats they crave – then they engage and answer.
What we see is that when polls have high projected turnouts, they predict outcomes accurately. When these are low mid term etc, they predict utter rubbish which can totally reverse as the electorate engages. Right now we have super low turnout predictions UK-wide, hence VI numbers should be utter rubbish like they were when Labour had double digit leads in Scotland ahead of 2011 and 2015. Or e.g. like May discovered when she triggered the 2017 vote.
Right now Labour are behind the SNP; they’ve never manged to go ahead on average, even with very low SNP response rates. They are polling far worse than they did ahead of 2011 and 2015 which, weirdly, they think is great. People don’t learn the lesson of counting chickens before they are hatched though!
Well knock me down with a feather.
https://archive.is/8WNcw
Keir Starmer’s Labour ‘set to ditch plans to abolish House of Lords’
LABOUR have been slammed for dumping another key promise to voters after reports suggested the party is set to row back on plans to abolish the House of Lords.
In December last year, Keir Starmer insisted that the unelected chamber was “indefensible” and his party would replace it with an Assembly of the Nations and Regions.
The plans were first published in a report on the UK’s constitutional future, penned by former prime minister Gordon Brown.
READ MORE: Tories accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over Alister Jack’s WhatsApp messages
But just a few months later, the Guardian reports that Labour will take a more cautious approach and water down the pledge, and instead only commit to limited changes.
It’s so funny that people think SNP voters are moving to Labour.
Every general election for 100 years Labour promise to abolish the House of Lords then never do
Personally I’m shocked at yet the same Uturn over and over and over, then again not surprised at all really, because Labour never change, never have never will
Maybe they just announce policies so they can get to withdraw them the next day, two bits of press for the price of one
Who knew Scotland’s *information commissioner* could *commission* yet even more enquiries into informative ways of destroying Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP
Are you now or have you ever been a supporter of the SNP?
Anybody got a spare attic they can hide us in? Do we need to send our kids away in a *weans transport*?
Still, electricity might be cheaper in the camps they *house* us in
Coincidence of course that Humza and John Swinney had spats with the guy, mainly it seems over information retention, Humza wasn’t best pleased that he was not allowed to keep info which enabled transparency…. Looks like Humza didn’t want to delete his Whatsapp messages in 2020, which apparently the information commissioner insisted on but is now going to investigate deletion of WhatsApp messages.
😂
Golfnut
“Nicola Sturgeon caused Covid says expert”
Now that made you look didn’t it? and here’s what’s wrong with it
Whenever newspapers or TV press print garbage like this on their front pages or shout it from our TV screens and radios at us, and we’ve all seen and heard nonsense like this, they don’t have to show any evidence of where or how or who they got such information from, it’s called freedom of the press to protect their sources
Yet these same British press in Scotland demand to know every word spoken, every word written by any means of verbal or digital communication that the Scottish government makes, and they claim that it’s all on behalf of the Scottish public
Just as an aside, why don’t the British press demand the same of the three unionist parties? I’d kinda like to know who they’re talking to and what they say, wouldn’t you?
The British press in Scotland claim it all went secret since the SNP under Alex Salmond was elected, yet Alex Salmond said he was as open and clear with all and sundry but Nicola Sturgeon wasn’t, she was a wee rascal hiding all sorts according to Salmond
Ahem, cough!
So who do you believe and do you really care to know about conversations on phones about what time somebody is on a train or going for their tea or even going up to Tesco’s for a loaf? according to the British press in Scotland the Scottish people are all Gung Ho and desperate to know about all the crossed Ts and every dotted I, but when it comes to the British media in Scotland apparently the Scottish public don’t want them to be accountable in any shape or form
Because friends, as we all know the British media in Scotland are as pure as the driven snow good guys and we don’t need to know who they talk to or communicate with, because friends, the British media in Scotland only print and report stories that are 100% true and verifiable, honest they do, they say they do, heavens to Murgatroid they insist it even
Well then maybe they won’t mind if the government we vote for asks them to reveal their sources to us on behalf of the people who vote for the government we choose to represent us
Y’see none of us votes for the Media to represent us do we?
But we kinda know who they do work for, and it sure as shit aint us
BTW When Alister Jack or Sunak or the English supreme Court makes any decision regarding Scotland, the reply to the question why is to answer, “I’m in charge suck it up”
Not a lot of freedom of information there eh? but don’t ask the British media in Scotland for an answer, they just repeat what they’re ordered to repeat, and then suck that right up their bosses bleep bleep bleep, well you know where don’t you
Why haven’t unionists supplied all their whatsapps? They are involved in Holyrood cross-party committees and debates. Their thoughts / input will have influenced decision making.
I’d like to know what Sarwar was thinking in terms of how to deal with pandemic. He must have talked to Sturgeon about Labour’s thoughts and so influenced decision making. The parliament is not just one party; the SNP don’t even have a majority and Sturgeon has no executive powers.
Folk are beginning to notice the desperation of the English executive
They’re trying so hard it’s looking uncomfortable for them
Unionist parties don’t need to supply WhatsApp messages. They were never in government during Covid so cannot be held legally responsible for the COVID response. What happened in committees is irrelevant as are conversations Sarwar may have had with NS
What happened in committees is irrelevant as are conversations Sarwar may have had with NS
So are WhatsApp’s then as a these are just informal conversations that influence decision making as much as Yousaf physically chatting to Sturgeon informally does. Only formal communications matter, where decisions are made with reasons given. It’s that or every conversation an MSP has needs to be recorded and stored lest these ‘influence decision making’.
My point is that if we agree that informal messaging should be retained as this is key to understanding decision making, then all conversations between cabinet MSPs and anyone else at work should be recorded. Doesn’t matter where these are held. They should have a mike recording recording all their words with a camera following them around in case they use hand gestures to try and ger around this.
Nobody would seriously argue that e.g. conservations between cabinet members in the office.. over lunch… at the water cooler… which were not formal meetings ergo not minuted, would obviously be far more important to the decision making process than whatsapps FHS. Also, if you want to say something ‘off the record’ that you’d not want ever coming out, you say it face to face in private; you don’t send it to someone so they can keep a physical to use against you in the future.
I am absolutely sure Sturgeon would have been listening to what the other leaders were saying about what to do and taking that into account. So while the others are not responsible as they were not in office, the still influenced the decision making process so we still need to see their whatsapps if we are to see the SNPs under the premise that we need to full understand the decision making process. How do we know Sarwar didn’t threaten to hold a vote against SNP decisions or something, forcing Sturgeon to compromise? Maybe he was trying to get Harvie on side? The SNP don’t / did not have a majority so any proper inquiry would have looked into the actions of all.
But we have an another English kangaroo court like the UKSC out to jail our leaders if they can to subvert the democratic process and keep Scotland occupied against the will of her people.
Yup, it sure as shit ain’t us, and the US aren’t even US via the media – You can see the US appear every time James Cook select an article on which to open comments or a Sky News piece on anything politically scottish appears on Youtube – The US who appear would portray 99% of us despising the SNP, or the Greens despite democratically electing them into power, whilst List MSPs over which we have no control in the election process, represent true democracy.
Kezia Dugdale latest:
Kezia Dugdale, the former Scottish Labour leader, has admitted she voted for the Scottish National party in a protest against Brexit in May 2019, in the last European elections involving the UK.
Dugdale, who was Scottish party leader from 2015 to 2017 and was still a Labour MSP at the time, has long made clear her opposition to the UK leaving the EU. She has told a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Labour’s Scottish Challenge, she was “so mad about Brexit.”
[…]
She said:
I voted SNP once in my life and that was in the European Union elections immediately after Brexit, where I was so mad about Brexit.
I felt I could vote for the SNP in that European Union election, because that in no way could be construed as a vote for independence.
That’s indeed true, Kezia has always been against independence, but underlying that she is a democrat and despises the Union system of England dictatorship just as much as the rest of us, while in office she did what she was told and what she had to do or she’d have been out, she believes if the politics were played fairly in the UK there would have been no need for the independence argument at all, that’s another question though
You’ll have noticed no elevation to upper houses for Kezia, she didn’t get an English reward of £350 day plus expences
Also, Kezia’s Dad is a SNP member
Kezia supports Brexit. That’s what you endorse if you vote for a party such as Lab/Con who back Brexit.