You know that the performative cruelty and downright nastiness of this government has really gone over the top when it’s too cruel and nasty even for Conservative MPs. The Criminal Justice Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, seeks to replace the 1824 Vagrancy Act. Although the bill supposedly repeals the English legal provisions that make begging and rough sleeping criminal offences, it gives the police a whole slew of new powers to use against homeless people which effectively amount to the criminalisation of rough sleeping by the back door.
These new measures would allow police to move on rough sleepers deemed to be causing a “nuisance” and if they do not comply, the police could issue a fine or arrest them. However concerns have been raised that the definition of nuisance is far too broad, as the bill stands, nuisance could be defined as being smelly or talking loudly. This could give police the power to criminalise a homeless person simply for the ‘crime’ of being homeless and not having access to a shower or clean clothing, or simply for existing in a public space and being aesthetically displeasing to people who have had their empathy surgically removed, such as GB News commentators.
It’s a very Tory solution to a problem created by Tory policies. Over the course of the past decade the Conservatives have decimated the social housing stock, and have made affordable housing an impossible dream for millions. Meanwhile they have presided over a ballooning in the private rental sector, while many private landlords are responsible and ensure that their properties are well maintained, others are not and cram as many tenants as they can into substandard properties in order to extract as much profit as they possibly can. The cost of buying a home has soared.
An analysis by the Halifax building society has revealed that the average price of a home in the UK has risen by an incredible 207 percent over the last 20 years. UK house prices have more than trebled since the start of the 21st century. According to the Halifax, the average price of a UK home at the end of 1999 was £91,199. By November 2019, the average price of a home had risen to £279,997. By December 2023 it had risen further to £285,000.
House price inflation has greatly exceeded wage rises. In 1999 the average annual salary in the UK was £17,800 a year, just under 20% of the average cost of a home. By 2023 the average annual salary of £34,963 was just 12% of the average cost of a home. The possibility of home ownership has become an impossible dream for millions, particularly young people who now often enter the labour market saddled with tens of thousands of pounds in student debt – something which was far less of an issue in 1999. Additionally they face the problem of the near impossibility of finding stable well paid work, having to rely on poorly paid jobs in the gig economy. If that was not enough the almost total dearth of social housing means that they have to pay out a far larger share of their income in rental costs, further eating into their already constrained ability to save for a deposit on a home of their own.
But one of the greatest drivers of homelessness is the changes made by the Tories to a social security system which is now neither social nor secure. The benefits system no longer prevents people from falling into destitution, it makes people destitute as deliberate policy, because we have a government which believes that the poor must be castigated in order to make them productive, but the wealthy must be cossetted and rewarded. The benefits system is punitive by default, even without the capricious misuse of sanctions, claimants are all too often left having to choose between putting food on the table or paying the rent. For families with more than two children it’s even worse, the two child benefit cap which Keir Starmer will not abolish is a powerful engine for the creation of child poverty.
Back in the 1980s it was rare to see a rough sleeper on our streets, now it is tragically commonplace, and it is not even unusual to see a person with disabilities begging on the streets. That is a shameful indictment of government policy in what we keep getting told is one of the most developed and wealthiest economies in the world. Such a surge in homelessness is not due to a concomitant rise in fecklessness amongst the poor, it is a direct consequence of the policy decisions of successive governments.
But according to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, rough sleeping is a ‘lifestyle choice’ moreover a ‘lifestyle choice’ practiced by ‘people with foreign accents. Braverman, the darling of the Tory right who makes no secret of her leadership ambitions doesn’t even bother dog-whistling to British nationalist racists who ‘want their country back’, she bellows it with a megaphone.
According to Braverman and the Tory right the real victims of a housing and homelessness crisis which is a direct product of Conservative policies are not the people who are forced to freeze in the driving rain, huddled in a doorway while the luckier pass by on their way to hot showers and warm and dry beds. No, the real victims are the likes of Suella Braverman, the empathy dead whose noses and ears are offended by the plight of those who suffer the brunt of the callous disdain of a government that is supposed to protect the vulnerable, but which has failed in its duty for many years.
The new bill heaps punishment upon those who have lost out due to government maladministration is too much, even for a significant number of Tory MPs who have signalled their intention to rebel unless some of the more egregious provisions of this bill are struck out. These Tories, who pose as the ‘reasonable and moderate’ wing of the Tories, say that they only want police action against begging, not rough sleeping. So that’s OK then, reduce people to penury, deprive them of any income, and then criminalise them when they ask for help. Don’t expect anything more compassionate from Keir Starmer either. He too is a practitioner of Tory solutions to Tory problems.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
This bill is simply more red meat for the right wing Gammon faced Tory voters. The want to get across the idea that “cracking down” on the workshy, scroungers and great unwashed is the way to make Britannia great again!
It gives the right wing Tory rags exactly what they want to print so as to hide the real scroungers and thieves who disguise themselves as hard working citizens doing their best on “modest salaries” and meager bonuses as CEO’s running the likes of Thames Water and the Post Office into the ground.
The latest wheeze is that this week the DWP is advertising jobs for “surveillance operatives” who will be employed to spy on people claiming benefits in the hope of building a case against them for benefit fraud. They won’t need any evidence of actual fraud before they start spying on people, a simple anonymous letter from “worried of Essex” will be enough to attract their attention.
There’s also another bill going through Westminster that gives the DWP the right to access everyone’s bank accounts if they receive benefits to check for any transactions that might indicate fraud. This is EVERYONE who receives benefits including the largest benefit recipients of all, the pensioner.
See when the Gammon become alert to the fact that the DWP will have the right to stick their noses into their financial affairs without their knowledge then their heads really will explode hahaha.
“This wasn’t meant to apply to me, only to THEM!” Just like Brexit and expats voting to end freedom of movement, it’s OK if it’s the others (foreigners) that get discriminated against but surely not me a, Proud Brit but…
They create a problem then try to police imprison or military their way out of it, it’s positively Victorian in their approach to removing what they consider unsightly
If you’re unlucky enough to be average, you’re a prime candidate for falling into the category of being amongst the unwanted
What Starmer and Labour are offering the electorate at the GE , if I read the runes correctly , is ”Compassionate Conservatism ”.
That means Starmer and his cronies will STILL run down the NHS , STILL allow the totally compromised Energy Companies to continue sucking money hand over fist from the public , STILL penalise the Poor with miserly Welfare payments , STILL give The City of London money launderers free rein , STILL retain the completely dysfunctional FPTP election system that puts HIM into power , STILL continue throwing gazilions at the corrupt Nuclear Industry , STILL support genocide ( when done by a democratic ”friendly ”nation ), STILL pledge to get rid of the House Of Horrors but squeeze even more of his backers and cronies into it ,
… BUT , he and his clique will do it with a friendly smile !
What’s not to like ?
Apropos of nothing, but after a year of the media relentlessly telling Scots that Sturgeon:
Guess what, Sturgeon remains the most favoured of all current / former leaders in Scotland!
https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/ipsos-scotland-political-pulse-march-2024
Other takeaways:
I imagine they’ll have some VI numbers out soon. The full tables with certain to vote numbers will come with these, and only then can we judge the level of engagement ergo how reliable results are.
When Nicola Sturgeon steps up and asks, Scotland will vote
Oh man. Nicely dealt with. Total respect. I like him more and more as FM, in line with polling.
Meanwhile total beamer for the bigot ‘from England’ (as she absolutely wanted us to know). Really showed herself up.
If there’s one thing money can’t buy you, it’s knowing when you are making a total ‘bigot aunt* at the Christmas dinner table‘ erse of yourself with everyone in the country watching on.
https://archive.is/PA34Z
Yousaf ‘not surprised’ JK Rowling posts are not criminal
Mr Yousaf told BBC Scotland News: “Those new offenses that have been created by the act have a very high threshold for criminality.
“The behaviour has to be threatening or abusive and intends to stir up hatred.
“So it doesn’t deal with people just being offended or upset or insulted.”
He said Ms Rowling’s posts on X were a “perfect example of that”.
The first minister added: “Anybody who read the act will not have been surprised at all that there’s no arrests made.
“JK Rowling’s tweets may well be offensive, upsetting and insulting to trans people.
“But it doesn’t mean that they meet a threshold of criminality of being threatening or abusive and intending to stir up hatred.”
Mr Yousaf said it was up to Police Scotland to decide how to deal with hate incidents.
—
*Formerly know as the ‘racist uncle’.
Glad to see the “Anybody who read the act…..” remark included in that article – Much of the confected furore in the media relies upon distortions in the public domain as to what the legislation says, relying on public ignorance.
You only need look at the voting figures for the Act in Holyrood to figure the Tories with 1 FOR and 28 AGAINST are behind this propaganda campaign.
The opening paragraphs to the article inadvertently highlights the orchestration with ” BBC understands the national force has received more than 3,000 hate crime reports since the new law was introduced on Monday. A large number were about a 2020 speech by Mr Yousaf – then justice secretary – highlighting white people in prominent public roles “
1,000 a day ? About a speech from 4 years ago ? And no mention of Sarwar’s speech making precisely the same points… ?
I could not help noting the article attempts to link the legislation to the ‘trans’ issue in a desperate bid to rescue this latest failing propaganda campaign.
The Tories are running out of time. No time to get legislation through. A lame duck government. On their way out.
A clipboard propaganda that can be challenged in Court. Totally unworkable , impossible to enforce.
How on earth can a homeless person pay £2,500 fines. A complete nonsense. Many will end up in prison. They already do because of Westminster inane policies. Costing even more public monies. Instead of building affordable housing. Another Westminster failing.
Tories raising £731Billion. Spending £1090Billion. Wasting £Billions. Diverting monies into the hands of Tories and their associates. Out into oblivion. An absolute disgrace.
Muslim 7% of the UK population. 40% live in deprived areas. 2% of the Scottish population. They are more Law abiding. They do not drink alcohol. Hardly taking over. White people will be more represented there are more by proportion.
White/brown/black wealthy middle class men in power. Same old, same old.
Unequal. Women 50%+ of the population. 30% of the representational.
Women who cohabit do not have equal rights. They have to put in a claim within a year 1/3. There is little legal aid. It can cost £thousands. Women have to stay in abusive unsafe places because they do not have equal rights.
Letting agencies demand 6months up front rent plus deposit. Illegally. Leading to more homelessness and abuse.
So if you happen to be in England and see a homeless person the best thing to do now is give them a bottle of Cologne or Aftershave so the police can’t arrest them for being smelly, yes smelly, because that’s a part of the powers the police in England now have, if they detect an unpleasant odour from the homeless person they must arrest them
So make that Aftershave daisy fresh to keep homeless folk safe on English streets at night
Beggars belief doesn’t it?
I’d guess close to 99% of Scots know it’s not PS holding this up but the Crown Office.
The CC may not even say theit investigation is concluded (even for now) until given permission to do so…
By attacking one party you don’t make others popular. Just another key takeaway from the horse’s (IPSOS) mouth:
‘However the other parties also face challenges – the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak are much more unpopular [than the SNP], whilst views towards Labour are less negative but the results suggest they haven’t as yet generated much enthusiasm among the public.‘
As noted in a recent post, Sturgeon remains the most ‘favoured’ politician of all by a clear, beyond MoE, margin. That is incredible in the circumstances, especially since the stats clearly point to more unionist leaning voters disproportionately answering polls right now.
Labour are not popular, and have been going backwards here in Scotland / UK-wide, with them / Starmer down again in terms of favourability. No amount of attacks in the SNP, arrests of their politicians etc will make Scots look favourably on unionist parties / the union. Nope, the unionists / UK needs to make itself attractive. The opposite is happening, hence even if the public are, at face value, not entirely happy with the SNP, they really don’t like the union any more, so now back independence. As each day passes with the average >50%, based on the trend going back to 2011, it seems Yes is now the settled will.
And always take care with ‘good job as leader’, ‘favourable’ etc polling as it’s very subjective. We know a lot of SNP voters think their preferred party needs to get its finger out and stop beating about the bush when it comes to the fight for indy. That would make many of these say to pollsters they are not looking ‘favourably’ on the SNP right now. So unionists may end up being happy about a poll result (‘SNP more unfavourable’) which is actually very bad for the union!
I personally think Starmer is a good leader for Labour. I thought Davidson was too for the Scots Tories, and told IPSOS that many years ago. Starmer is damaging the union and putting Scots off it like Davidson did previously. That for me makes them a good leader from my perspective. Many Yes Scots will rate these in the same way.
Ruth Davidson was never a leader, she was an employee who did exactly as she was ordered
…as a ”Colonel” in the Home Guard she had to follow orders ! She was told – do not pass Go but go straight to the House of Horrors – and she did !
As noted in a recent post, Sturgeon remains the most ‘favoured’ politician of all by a clear, beyond MoE, margin. That is incredible in the circumstances, especially since the stats clearly point to more unionist leaning voters disproportionately answering polls right now.
….
I personally think Starmer is a good leader for Labour. I thought Davidson was too for the Scots Tories, and told IPSOS that many years ago. Starmer is damaging the union and putting Scots off it like Davidson did previously. That for me makes them a good leader from my perspective. Many Yes Scots will rate these in the same way.
So should we “take care” with leadership polling or not? If you’re right that Unionists are replying disproportionately, Nicola Sturgeon’s rating could be due to their assessment that she’s harming independence and is therefore a good leader, no?
Forgive me, but I understood Sturgeon is no longer a leader, and has not been for over a year. That means people are rating her in a non-leadership capacity. So rating her positively in the hope ‘her leadership continued to damage the SNP’ would be nonsense. Admittedly it’s all a bit apples and pears given she isn’t a leader.
But yes, you can’t rule out the effect highlighted when she was FM and SNP leader, and loads of unionists were maybe rating her positively in the hope of harming indy. The issue applies to any leader ratings.
Such questions are subjective as noted. Hence trends are better than absolute numbers, although of course you’d rather be more positive than negative, and here Sturgeon remains on top, even with all that’s happened.
But Scotland has moved on from Sturgeon. While unionists – and those on the Yes side that didn’t like her – hero worshipped her in an obsessively weird way (and still do), your average Scot / SNP voter did not.
As I’ve said many times, support for Yes was never due to her nor the SNP. Same applies to Yousaf. He’s just got lucky that Yes continued it’s long term steady rise and went into majority in November 2023.
Sturgeon saw a temporary wave in 2020, but that was a ‘taking back control’ reaction in the face of the uncertainty of covid I venture and nothing to do with her as it receded as life returned to normal. Yousaf has overseen Yes moving into majority, likely permanently, with the final trigger most probably the UKSC case, possibly with the arrest of senior SNP – again – contributing. Forbes would have seen the same.
Contrary to what the clueless think, no party leader can somehow inspire no voters to suddenly back indy. That’s delusional myth primarily pushed by unionists and, as noted, those that don’t like the current SNP leader. People don’t worship politicians; they have a healthy suspicion of them.
Statistically, nobody will ever vote Yes or No ’cause [insert current SNP leader]’ just as Boris didn’t send Scots running to Yes. That’s just not how the world works. Leaders come and go with parties of government along with them. Independence is for life by contrast.
Greens now make up ~20% of the total Yes party backers (10 out of 50 or so). Alba are steady at 2%, meaning they make up 4% or so based on the last Holyrood election. The number of tents is increasing.
While the SNP might not like the idea they are not getting all the Yes support, it’s a very good sign for indy. Yes is becoming cross-party and cross-spectrum (Alba are e.g. increasingly more socially conservative, and are shaping up to be a Yes centre-right party). That’s exactly as you’d expect towards the end.
But I do hope the union keeps focusing on Sturgeon. Good to have it distracted with things that will have no impact on Yes.
Unless, that is, no charges are brought over financegate. That has the potential to damage the union a lot as people will feel lied to by it. Maybe even smell a rat.
There is no democracy in Scotland. Arguably Scotland has never voted Tory because the party we voted for in 1955 was a different party to the current Tory Party. I regard the Tory party as the English National Party. England has every right to elect representatives who reflect their political aspirations. So do we. We don’t want to be governed by them.
The Labour Party is no solution because they have morphed into a Tory Party and abandoned their socialist values which we in Scotland have always voted for.
There is no possibility of democratic representation for Scotland in the British political system.
A sidenote to 1955 is they were very different Unionists to what know by the name now… They must be birlin’ in their graves….
Likewise the likes of Manny Shinwell et al over Labour…
…who , good Socialist that he was , accepted a Peerage !
The Unionist Party (Scotland) was an independent, Scottish registered party which existed until 1965, when what remained was taken over by the English Conservatives to form the modern day Conservative & Unionist Party.
So aye, Scotland has never elected a Conservative / Tory government. Never.
Happy 3rd birthday Branchform!
3 years and still no evidence of a crime being found has been reported. 1 year since PM was released without charge.
This is starting to smack of total incompetence at best. If money is missing, it’s missing. You can’t hide the fact money has gone missing from people looking for missing money. It’s only while people are not looking for missing money that you can get away with it not being spotted. Invariably in fraud cases, the fraud is found the moment someone is instructed to check the books add up properly / suspicion has been aroused. That was 3 bloody years ago now.
And Police Scotland, please return the battle bus I and others who donated to the SNP paid for. Give us back our ‘missing money’ that you have in your pocket. Even if PM / NS had actually used party funds to by themselves a shiny campervan for their personal use – which isn’t the case as it was a party purchase for party campaign purposes – it belongs to the party / members so give it f’n back! If my car is stolen and you find it in good working order, you don’t keep it for months on end, you return it to me immediately as it’s my property. So what possible justification is there here for holding onto the SNP’s campaign bus other than to harm their political campaign?
Ok, sorry, it’s not quite 3 years, but ~2.8! It is the anniversary of PMs release without charge.
The Campervan , allegedly , has had 100,000 miles added since it was ”arrested” ! LoL !
The people who must be the most annoyed about the battle bus still being in police custody have to be the unionists politicians with a bit of sense. Because that’s a nice line of attack that Police Scotland is offering to any SNP campaign here. Even worst if people from Queen Elizabeth House influenced that particular decision: “Whitehall leaned on Police Scotland to have them steal a bus from our party” would be a disaster for unionist candidates.
Tory MSP Graham Simpson and other Unionists in Scotland are complaining that there may be certain other unionists losing their jobs in high profile positions in Scotland that may be responsible for using delaying tactics in producing and running certain services in Scotland
I hope that’s ambiguous enough but easily enough understood by anyone queuing up to say, catch a ferry to somewhere in Scotland
No taxation without representation.
We should not be chained to a system which is anti-democratic. The feudal monarchical way of organising things is alien to us in Scotland. We have rejected neo-liberalism at every election and yet we are saddled with an alien politics which creates gross inequality. Inequality on the scale which now exists in the UK is bound to lead to social collapse. It always does. We are much more aligned with the northern European countries where social democracy still prevails (although under threat there too).
… but you soon will be granted a wee peep at Balmoral ! WOW ! The Plebs will be queueing up to put their hard-earned into Chic’s wee , sweaty , grasping hands .
Balmoral was always open to the public when the queen wasn’t there. Not all of it but the public bits and the gardens. You couldn’t buy a cup of tea and a tour for £150 though!
Charles needs the money. Cost of living crisis and whatnot. Affecting even the Royals you know! Those Range Rovers, sprawling mansions and luxury holidays don’t pay for themselves!
Regarding ‘MEGA POLLS’, of which there have been a few around of late, showing wildly different numbers for Scotland in terms of seat outcomes…
Remember, these are UK polls, not Scottish. They may have a larger Scottish subsample, but like regular UK polls, they will not be properly weighted to the Scottish demographic. This is why they show decent consistency for the UK in terms of outcomes for Lab/Con/Lib right now, but are all over the shop for seat numbers in Scotland.
The reality is that full, properly weighted Scottish polling has been very static since the drop in apparent SNP share between Sturgeon resigning and Yousaf taking the reins.
Plug current numbers in with the historic tactical patterns (most of the current unfeasibly high Green share goes SNP so they get 1% or so because of FPTP and/or the lack of a Green candidate standing) and things look like this in terms of seats:
SNP ~40
Lab ~12
Lib ~3
Con ~2
So SNP to possibly lose a few seats due to historically low projected turnouts as Scotland no longer wants to be part of the UK / send MPs to London, but still a massive landslide up there with the biggest in UK electoral history. Labour to win some deckchairs on the titanic as Scots don’t really want these, but only if Tory voters hold their noses and back them given the increasing loss of their left of centre vote to Yes / won’t vote / SNP.
And the Tories are looking like being on a very shoogly peg, particularly as their VI average of 16.6% looks way too high to be real when compared with UK share in terms of the historical correlation between the two (low teens is more realistic). If the Tories are facing massive destruction in England, under FPTP there should be completely wiped out here. 16.6%? Na, that looks about as real as Labour’s 45% in March 2011. Only possible way for that to happen would be an uber low turnout in Scotland, completely undermining British regime rule.
More on the ferries
It now appears that the islanders (according to the BBC) want what Norway has, (which is probably the best ferry service in the world BTW) the BBC is working very hard on this false attack on the Scottish government by comparing Scotland to Norway, but if any of this is true it may have escaped the islanders notice that Scotland isn’t an independent country with the resources and facilities of Norway and our country and government is only allowed to manage the economy on the basis of being a colony of England
But there’s even more and more behind the ferries story
What happens in England when the government there can’t be bothered running a company on behalf of the population? they privatise it, and there we have it folks, these supposed complaining voices on behalf of the islanders want private ferry companies to tender for the job therefore removing control of ferry transport in Scotland and placing it the hands of commercial big business, and do we know what happens when the commercial companies get their way on that? of course we do, just take a tiny wee look at every water company in England, or rail company and so on and so on
Big business big profit big stink and big bad service, every single time, and none of it controlled by or even in Scotland
If the islanders really want better, this is in no way the way to get it, but independence for our country is, Ooh! just like Norway who can afford to do whatever the hell they like with their own money and own resources, much of it from the oil money that they built a fund with instead of having England steal the lot and pissing it up against a wall for English politicians profit and votes in England
There never was a union with England, Scotland was conquered stolen and sold and they’re still doing it
We must stop them
Not sure how they can compare Norwegian and Scottish ferry services. If TUS Professor Robertson can find comparable stats I’m pretty certain the BBC won’t be able to. A quick perusal on line appears to suggest long que’s in summer and reduced services in winter. Calmac produce daily stars and frankly they look pretty good for a service in supposed crisis. The SG should be using those stats daily to hammer the media in Parliament.
Golfnut.
What the islanders, at least the ones the BBC interviews, fail to mention, and the BBC too, is the SG rolling out the Road Equivalent Tarrif (RET) which resulted in a significant reduction in fares on the ferries and a significant increase in visitors. As a B&B owner on Islay noted recently when interviewed on Ch4 news all the negative publicity will result in potential visitors being put off visiting the Islands.
They interviewed a woman a couple of weeks ago who was complaining bitterly about her four day a week commute to London from Arran and how inconvenient it all was
Why? who in the hell? why would you live on Arran and have a daily commute to London? and if she actually does then the transport service ain’t really half bad if you can do that
I reckon they just dig up as many unionists as they can and interview them, Arran to London 4 days a week? whit? really? just total insanity
It’s that kind of commute that’s causing global warming. I live near Insch but the office is just outside Aberdeen and I only go in for key meetings with clients etc.
An Independent Scotland would have the best ferry service in the world. Instead of a Westminster Gov wasting all Scotland revenues and resources on bad, useless projects of no value.
Trident, HS2, Hickley Point, Brexit, Covid funds wasted, Royalty, tax evasion, illegal wars, redundant weaponry. Financial fraud etc, etc. The list is endless. Costing Scotland £Billions. Half of Scottish revenues £50Billion decided by Westminster. Paying interest on loans not borrowed or spent in Scotland.
4 Ferries are being built. Two will be economical with fuel. Saving £Billions. Subsidised fares and flights for the islands. The unionists only built one ferry a year.
More visitors after Covid. Staycations have put pressure on ferry travelling. Most people are patient and do not mind waiting. Flights are emergencies. Or helicopters, many are ferrying workers.
Balmoral was always open to the public. Cheap rates. Not when the Royals were there. August till September. The ballroom etc. Horrible draughty place. Not very impressive. Acres of grounds. There is a small golf course. P. Philip. Now deceased. Pony treks. Endurance races. All the cattle, highland breed, have been taken south.
Gillies and game keepers. Cottages.
Security. Bedded in with the Royal visits. They all look the same. Ex Army. Short haircuts. Shiny shoes. Same suits. Spotted anywhere. Supposed to be secret. In the pizza restaurant and the tea rooms, shops at Ballater. Snipers in disguise on the estate. Hiding in the undergrowth.
Lands receiving public subsidies. Overcharging the gullible public. Royal already costing £400million a year. . Pay no corporation, capital gains or tax. 10% on £20Million. KC.
Murdo Fraser claims the SNP have *captured* and control Police Scotland, who are biased in favour of the SNP
If that were the case there wouldnae hae been murder tents ootside Nicola’s front door, and operation stick up their arse would never have happened
This is the police Scotland who have stretched out an investigation into the SNP for coming on three years, while impounding their campaign transport ahead of an election? The Police Scotland that have literally taken 100k or so of donations from members of the public, and deprived the SNP of this… albeit appears to be HM’s UK Crown office pulling the strings.
This is same police Scotland that interviewed any women who had ever come within half a mile of Alex Salmond over the course of his life, in case he had looked at them in the wrong way, so he could be taken to court on sex assault charges ahead of the key 2021 Holyrood election? …Albeit, again, in this case it was the English civil service who had gone after Salmond, with the UK Crown office playing ball.
Ask yourself, isn’t it somewhat coincidental that Branchform was suddenly started in July 2021, just after the SNP / Yes parties won the biggest share of the vote – and the first majority – in a Scottish national election, on a record turnout on a record signed up electorate? It’s not like the accusations hadn’t been around for ages; these being particularly pushed by a Tory blogger from the south of England. Police showed no interest in the supposedly missing money missing from independently audited (twice) accounts that was all over the papers, until suddenly it was #iref2 time, then just weeks later…
Could be all just coincidence. After all, the British / English state is a friend of Scots and respects democracy right?
What Scots have learned in the past week or so:
Funny thing about JK Rowling is she claims it’s her right to insult and offend, but then whines like a child that she’s offended if someone confirms that’s what she did
Maybe her oceans of lawyers will explain how this works
Oh man, what a beamer for Yougov’s MRP
They predict Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross as a ‘Lib Dem gain from SNP’.
Or maybe the prediction is Jamie Stone will defect from the Lib Dems to the SNP before the election and then the Libs will win it back?
Not only that, but Reform are going to get 6% in Scotland, with the Greens 3%! 11% for smaller (than the lib Dems) parties. Oki doki!
When UKIP got 12.6% UK-wide in 2015, they got 1.6% here
Told you this was a pile of shite.
It turns out that in following up Murdo Fraser’s allegation that the police broke the law when they recorded his personal details in relation to a non-crime hate incident that they never recorded his details at all.
In fact, he was told back on the 26th March before he wrote the letter of complaint that his details had not been recorded by a police officer who called him to discuss this matter.
As to his other complaints that a breach of the Human Rights Act and the Equality Act took place the police have said they have appointed an officer to look into these allegations.
Does anyone know what the maximum sentence is for wasting police time?
Does anyone know what the maximum sentence is for wasting police time?
_________
Wasting Police Time is a summary only offence. This means that it is heard at the Magistrates Court. If found guilty at court the maximum sentence is imprisonment of up to six months and/or a fine. Instead of taking you to court, the police might issue you with a fixed penalty notice under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 (CJPA 2001).
I thought these Tories were against Human Rights and were for removing us from the ‘foreign court’ known as the European Court of Human Rights – which has nothing to do with the EU, but has the dreaded ‘E-word’ in its title.
Still, not the first time that we acknowledge the Tories as stinking hypocrites, is it?
I reckon Sunak’s telling big porkie fibs over his hints at withdrawing from the ECHR just to feed some red meat to the rabid right wingers and mad mentals in his party, although it would leave Red Starmer in the awkward position of having yet another decision to make before he has to make yet another Uturn on not making that decision
If a court in another country is a foreign court and Scotland is a country, then England’s supreme court is foreign, is it not?
At present 23 years hardly labouring at the Scottish Parliament
Maybe his details were added to the ‘time wasting idiots’ database?
Because something might be recorded as a “non-crime hate incident” doesn’t mean it is recorded as being committed by whoever done it. It is simply a means by which the level of hatred directed at any particular group over a period of time can be recorded.
It appears that all this was explained to Fraser on the 26th March and as someone who is qualified in law he must have known exactly what he was being told and that his personal details weren’t recorded. Yet still he went seeking headlines for the sake of using it as propaganda against the Scottish government, that is wasting police time.
If the offender is traced, mark the report as detected and create a perpetrator to the incident.
Surely the police in the Murdo Fraser case are not following their own guidance?
https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/policies-and-procedures/guidance-documents/guidance-documents-g-i/
I understand he did not commit a crime, ergo, there is no perpetrator.
I believe the quoted paragraph applies only to recorded “hate crimes” where a criminal offence is believed to have taken place and not to “hate incidents” which are not a crime and are recorded mainly for statistical purposes.
Yes, that’s right. The police should absolutely keep records of reported incidents, even there’s not evidence a crime can be proven / has occurred. It’s called keeping a finger on the pulse.
I find it truly nuts in face of e.g. the GRR debate, that opponents of the latter are suggesting otherwise!
For example, I believe 100% that if a woman feels they have been put in threatening situations in nominally women’s spaces by e.g. a transwomen, this should be recorded, even if there’s not evidence of a crime. How the f’k could anyone argue otherwise? Is JK saying this should not be recorded? That ‘trans abuse incidents’ should not be kept on record to monitor? WTF?
Abuse, hate etc should always be reported, whether it’s racism, bigotry, ‘me too’ sexual abuse, ‘dangerous fake trans in the ladies’ incidents…
The police look into it and keep an eye on things from the incoming stats. Charges if there’s evidence of a crime.
Women are not protected by the Hate Crime Act. The protected characteristic “sex” was deliberately excluded from the legislation. Therefore the police would not record threats against women as hate crimes or incidents.
Reading again the police response to Murdo Fraser’s complaint against them I can see why it is important that all “hate incidents” are recorded even though no crime is committed.
The response from the police tells us that such incidents are recorded on “Police Scotland’s Interim Vulnerable Persons Database”, this makes a lot of sense as before any crime is committed if more than a single incident is recorded as being committed against the same person then that person might be at risk.
This database would be able to flag us such risks and any action taken if it was felt necessary, it’s purpose then is not just about recording statistics but in offering further protection to vulnerable people who may be being harassed simply for being part of a protected group.
It would be great if we didn’t need such laws but it’s been made quite clear this week by people who should know better why we do need them.
It’s not clear to me that the advice to record the perpetrator is any different whether it is a hate crime, a hate incident or a hate concern.
It is the responsibility of the enquiry officer to ensure that all relevant information is contained within the hate concern form. Once the concern form is complete, it should be sent on to a supervising officer to ensure all relevant information is contained within the iVPD. If all local checks have been completed, the supervising officer should forward the hate concern form to the Concern Hub to be triaged.
The words that matter here are “offender” and “perpetrator”, it seems clear enough to me that before there can be an offender then you have to have an offence that has been committed.
This is why the two items are being treated separately, one is a recorded as a criminal offence and the other is recorded as an “incident” and where there has been no offence it is then recorded as a “non-crime hate incident”.
I agree though that both can have a perpetrator, one committing an offence and the other creating an incident. This is why Murdo Fraser was specifically told in his call of 26th March from the police that his personal details had not been recorded, presumably because he had committed no offence.
How did he know that something he said had been recorded at all?
Many gender critical people are now submitting Subject Access Requests to find out whether they have been reported for saying something somebody deems offensive. There is no obligation on the police to tell you whether a record has been set up in your name. However, if you apply for certain jobs, a disclosure request from an employer will contain this information.
It is advisable to submit a subject access request every three months or so.
https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/data-protection/subject-access-requests/
He claimed that his personal details had been recorded and that this breached the Data Protection Act.
It has now been pointed out to him that his details weren’t recorded at the time and he was informed of this on the 26th March as well as again today in the police response to his complaint.
The word “offender” in the police guidance you linked to literally means “a person who is guilty of a crime” according to the Cambridge Dictionary. There was therefore no requirement to record his personal details as being a perpetrator of an offence since there was no offence.
So, it looks very much like the police did follow their own guidance in recording the non-crime hate incident that he has admitted tweeting.
I find it very odd that there are people out there who are taking advice “to submit subject access requests every three months or so”. They must lead lives very different to mine as I can’t imagine any possible reason i might submit a subject access request even a single time.
So Murdo Fraser got himself on the BBC and lied to the journalists? why aren’t the BBC *JOURNALISTS* annoyed at being lied to, and why aren’t they reporting Murdo Fraser as a liar?
The second part was tongue in cheek, we know the BBC know that Murdo Fraser is a liar, they probably asked him to do it
People are submitting subject access requests when they accidentally discover that they have acquired a record for expressing gender critical opinions.
Sarah Phillimore KC is one prominent example. Google it.
If you haven’t expressed gender critical opinions you are not likely to have a record.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/the-police-recorded-me-as-hate/
I googled it and find that no personal details of Sarah Phillimore KC were recorded by the police. Her subject access request showed all the information they had was twelve pages of tweets made by her on Twitter.
She does not have a “record” as in criminal record, there is absolutely no information held by Wiltshire police that could identify her from one Sarah Phillimore to any other Sarah Pillimore. No address, dob, distinguishing features or criminal record.
There is a record of a “hate incident” having been reported to the police, nothing more and unless there is evidence of an actual crime the identity of the person being accused of hate is irrelevant as far as the recording of the “incident” is concerned.
Tweets contain the name of the person tweeting with a link to their home page.
The police have refused to delete the recording and refused to tell me who gets to see this information. It is recorded against my full name, my date of birth, my home address and my email address. They have agreed to record alongside it the fact that I strongly dispute it is fair – but that only makes me more worried that they never told me they had recorded it in the first place.
None of that is in the actual subject access request that she links to online.
https://www.faircop.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/S-Phillimore-Tweets.pdf
If they have it now maybe it’s because she has given it to them so they knew what she was talking about when she made her subject access request. How else could they have gotten these details if they had never contacted her in the first place?
If someone reports @joe90 for a hate crime and sends the police lots of screenshots of tweets that @joe90 made. How would they get the name address, dob and email of that person?
Would twitter give those details without a court order? Would they even know these details? I wouldn’t think so.
Would police spend hours tracking down the details (dob) of every anonymous poster on twitter accused of hate even though they recorded it as a hate incident and a non-crime? I wouldn’t think so, the person being accused might not even live in the UK so it would be a bit of a waste of time.
I think that what would happen if the police wanted all your personal details such as dob then they would likely ask you first and have to tell you why.
A few Welsh stats for Skier to play about with if he’s so minded …
David TC Davies faces tightest election battle in Wales, says new poll (nation.cymru)
Murdo Fraser, JK Rowling and Humza Yousaf, are doing us all a favour – by forcing clarification of scope and detail of police actions over the HCA (Scotland) 2021. There does seem to be a little inconsistency at the moment.
To be fair, it’s very unusual for such clarification to be catalysed so soon in the life of a newly implemented act, but considering its potential to damage reputations and perhaps even careers at the whim of any malicious miscreant, the sooner the better.
As for the “trivial” clarification happening because of action in a court in England and Wales – good. That too could save time and cost in Scottish Courts.
Ah for the days when the Polis just took folk roon the back courts or intae the Polis box and beat you where it didnae show
Now they need Doctors lines for a week off and a psychiatrist to confirm PTSD then phone the newspapers and blame the Scottish government for not giving them enough money for training, trauma sessions and help groups for being over stressed
I grew up in an era when machete’s chains knives and hammers were more commonly used than pencils, and the Polis dealt with that, now they’re traumatised over bad name calling
It must be starting to snow, I can see the flakes, Oops! now I have to apologise in case feelings were hurtit
It was never better when I was young, but it seems now that everything is better everybody complains that it’s worse
More internet anyone?
these days mental health is sadly misused. Back in the day as a teenager I had “mental health” issues which were really down to growing up and needing to grow a pair! Now I would be on a waiting list for a mental health appointment.
From the National:
Independent Scotland ‘could broker new Oslo Accords for peace in Gaza’
It would be a good role for the future, but in this respect I think Scotland is too biased towards Palestinians to be able to be seen as impartial.
“AN independent Scotland could play a key role in brokering peace in Gaza – just as Norway did with the Oslo Accords, Humza Yousaf has said as he spoke about the “horrendous” ordeals his family in Palestine are going through.“
And that is a clear though understandable, example.
So every time someone expresses a concern or opinion on any subject under the sun, including those of us who post here, are therefore biased and of no use in negotiations? It’s a normal human condition otherwise we’d all have to keep our thoughts to ourselves and say nothing about anything and nothing would ever get done. In the great scheme of things people can be mature enough to say that they are willing to help reach a workable solution that is satisfactory for all sides.
Because Yousaf spoke quite understandably about his family’s ordeals and ordinary folk are expressing their concerns, too, doesn’t mean Scotland is too biased to be of use. That’s ridiculous. There have been pro-Palestinian protests in Oslo!
I recently heard an interview with an expert on international affairs being asked why the Americans shouldn’t be more involved in trying to reach diplomatic solutions in the Gaza and Ukraine conflicts. He very astutely, in my opinion, responded that Americans are not the ideal negotiators in such situations because they ‘tend to take sides’, presumably hinting that they will always favour one side over the other based on their own very definite biases and agenda. That’s a whole different thing and as we know America is a military powerhouse with influences worldwide. They have a naïve outlook that there are only good guys and bad guys and friends and enemies. Hopefully, Scotland could be above that.
Well said. What Humza Yousaf expressed on our behalf. was compassion and a plea for a ceasefire, an end to the suffering. That is what all Western leadership should have done at the start of this war. Instead, the US, UK and EU backed Israel unequivocally and sent them weapons.
Ireland is much more vocal on behalf of the Palestinians than we are. They remember what it’s like to live as second class citizens in their own land. They are not in NATO and can speak out as neutrals. That’s what I would like Scotland to do.
Agreed.
As ‘biased’ as e.g. Ireland? Maybe as ‘biased’ as Norway?
As ‘biased’ as the UN?
https://tinyurl.com/4mda5ncu
It would be a good role for the future, but in this respect I think Scotland is PERCEIVED AS BEING too biased towards Palestinians to be able to be seen as impartial, IN PRECISELY THE SAME WAY AS ENGLAND’S PEOPLE ARE – There, fixed it for you.
The majority of people of ALL countries are horrified by what is happening in Gaza, and repulsed by what has been happening in Palestine for a very long time now – If neither principal political party of the UK nor it’s attached media circus have the backbone to acknowledge they are fighting the majority of the public on this, but ‘a wee lad fae Dunday’ can, it says more of him than it does of them.
Yes, and that’s exactly why Scotland can’t be the “honest broker”. Nor can Ireland or South Africa.
The UK couldn’t even be an honest broker if it was about how many eggs are in a box of a dozen.
Not looking good for Labour. So very far from 1997. Ok mid-term polling for the incumbent SNP main coalition partner considering current electorate disengagement which favours unionists.
https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/scots-agree-its-time-for-a-change-but-are-unsure-if-labour-can-make-changes-they-want
Scots agree it’s time for a change, but are unsure if Labour can make the changes they want
‘…the public are divided on whether Labour can make a real positive difference means it is not yet certain Labour can rely on maximising their electoral advantage from this appetite for change at the Scottish ballot box’.
But what’s that change Scots want then IPSOS? The change that they can’t get in the UK? The change that all polls are showing on average? Think… Come on… you’ve surely also asked about it!
Meanwhile, 41% ex DK think the SNP deserve to be ‘re-elected as the Scottish government’, which is +1% up compared to those that thought that last time when they had the free choice of all parties, and no FPFP wasted vote to be worried about, i.e. the PR list vote in 2021 (40% SNP)*.
In terms of the above and Scottish government performance No.’s, take care here as IPSOS keep lying to voters that they have an ‘SNP Scottish government‘ when they don’t, they have a SNP-Green coalition. Around 1/5 of the 48.4% of voters that put that government in office don’t support the SNP, but the Greens. Those Green voters want the SNP out of cabinet and a Green government in place ultimately, although they’d accept the SNP as a junior partner. Their campaign will go around telling people it’s ‘time for a change from the SNP to Green‘.
So the Scottish government performance numbers are largely useless. All we know is slightly more think the SNP deserve to be re-elected than did so in 2021. IPSOS would need to say the ‘SNP-Green coalition Scottish government‘ to reflect true government performance as Green voters would then have to take partial responsibility. That said, even with this, only a minority of respondents are opposed to the SNP being re-elected, with again only a minority thinking they are incompetent. That is incredible after 17 years in office.
And as for ‘Scotland needs a fresh team of leaders‘. Again, caution. What does that mean? A change of UK leadership? An end to UK leadership? Scots want that for sure! Maybe a change of all leaders of all parties? Maybe that except the SNP? Maybe a change of cabinet? What?
It’s a nonsense question, as the respondent has to decide what’s being asked. Everyone tends to want some form leadership change, either for their own party or for others. I’d love it if Lab/Con/Lib had decent, principled leaders that supported Scotland’s right to iref2. I think we should dispense with all leaders of Scotland’s reserved matters down in London, so yes, a fresh team is needed here…
Anyhow, the picture is consistent, even if we accept that we do have accurate sampling – which is unusual mid-term and there’s a lot of evidence we don’t – Scotland is not coming home to Labour in any way. They remain unpopular and are only looking slightly better in polls due to low projected turnouts.
Scots want change. They want this in the form of independence. It’s not about the SNP or any party. And this is why the UK is sleepwalking towards breakup; it’s media and pollsters keep focussing on what it isn’t about – the SNP – rather than what it is. The fact that a massive 1/5 or so of the Yes vote and Scottish government support in the form of coalition partner the Greens are totally overlooked says it all.
A final point is to remember is that the moment we vote Yes, it ceases to be about the SNP at all. This is why it actually becomes increasingly less about them as we get closer to indy. When they are the only party that supports indy, with Yes at 30%, it’s all about them. But Yes has spread to the Greens, now Alba have popped up… and support is growing within Labour, the Libs, even Con… That means it is becoming less and less about the SNP, exactly as it should. Which unionism is failing to understand, and so is outflanking itself by targeting the SNP, not independence.
It’s also why I am not concerned about polling ‘for the SNP’ because it’s not about them. Yes support continues to steadily rise because the unionists are wasting all their ammunition on the SNP.
If there is one party that is leading Scotland to indy right now, it’s actually English Labour. That’s the final ingredient we need; the kid Starver in No. 10. Blair put the SNP in office; Starmer will finish the work he started.
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*People who vote 1. Green on the most important PR list then 2. SNP tactically for the constituency under FPTP are Green voters, not the other way around. This is why the unionists have been so keen for the SNP to dump the coalition with the Greens.
The poll hardly reflects public opinion when only 45% appear at this stage to want to vote. People who want change, vote, not the other way round.
Golfnut
Yes, the have not put VI numbers up yet so I can’t get the tables on certain to vote levels, so judge level of engagement / poll reliability*.
While IPSOS (telephone) are getting better reach than panel pollsters now, they are still facing the problem of low response rates.
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On this topic, on Tuesday was explaining to a client how the more diluted a sample was, the lower the accuracy if the analysis would be. They have been dutifully sampling their produced water for 10 years, but out of around 60 samples, only 10 were fit for purpose, so erm, 1 per year. Yet they wanted to spot a problem that can develop in a few weeks!
It is the same problem in polling. The more your sample is diluted with ‘Not planning to vote / not interested / don’t normally vote’, the more inaccurate it becomes in predicting the outcome. In an ideal world, your sample would be entirely comprised of those certain to vote. At the moment, UK polls are showing just 50% certain to vote, making for a much larger error.
A 1000 sample is supposed to be good precision wise. However, if half of them are not voting, your sample is 500, so your MoE is actually larger than what you’d normally expect.
It’s also before we get to disproportionate response rates, which are normal mid term. The rule of thumb here is that when a party is publicly perceived as being on the back foot (SNP, Con), you’ll get a lower response rate from its voters, skewing your poll. The opposite applies for a party being sold as preparing itself for big gains (Lab); it’s supporters will be more keenly answering. This cannot be weighted out as I’ve explained before.
Here is a classic example of pre-election engagement occurring. Low certain to vote (CTV) levels and lack of voter engagement meant UK polls in early 2019 looked absolutely nothing like the final result. Again. Lab and con were both tanking with Brexit and the Libs on the rise. The total opposite of the outcome.
The low certain to vote levels meant the error / variance was much higher; polls were up to 9% different from each other in the late summer and before. Once the campaign began, the electorate engaged and polls started moving towards the real outcome. As the CTV levels rose, so did the accuracy, and the difference between polls reduced to 6% at most, so +/-3% from the mean.
Polling wise, across the UK we are are sort of in a June 2019 place CTV levels suggest, with associated implications for VI number reliability. We are seeing 10% differences between polls for Labour; a result of sample dilution by those not certain to vote. It’s worse than early 2019. If you want to put money on something, then put it on the outcome of the election not looking much like polls right now.
In Scotland, the lack of polls makes the range harder to pin down, but we have had a 40% SNP following a 32%, so 8% different. That and nonsense variation in SNP seats in UK-wide ‘MEGA POLLS’. All consistent with low accuracy / low CTV levels.
You can also see the electorate, as per Theresa May’s 2017 facepalm, attempting to stop the Tory majority that the press was telling them was on the horizon. However, they only started doing this once it was time to engage. Tory voters, buoyant at Bozo planning to ‘get Brexit done’, started engaging with pollsters earlier, and they won out in the end.
Starmer is very unpopular across the UK. Tory voters in England will try to stop him getting a majority when the time comes. They are not at all happy with the Tory party, and don’t want it to win. But they don’t want Labour to win either. So we can expect the English public may very well try and achieve exactly that; a stalemate. This could mean some voting reform, some Lib, some con, all to stop Labour. Without the popularity and record starting VI levels of Blair (53%), Labour may have a very tough time. Starmer should not measure up the No 10 curtains yet.
In Scotland, polls point to a large SNP victory (~40/57) seats, with a possible historic win for Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, which would end Westminster’s mandate to rule province as their MPs withdraw. I don’t know about NoI CTV levels, but Scotland has low numbers, so expect movement here at least. Given Scots want indy now, any movement would be expected to be in that direction rather than towards the union, for which Scots are showing the least enthusiasm ever.
Labour should fear greatly the ballot papers starting to fall through doors. I am not sure for the SNP, but the signs are very good for independence, at least over the next few years.
Only 45% certain to vote in the latest Techne UK poll, putting Labour’s definite support on 20.3% of the total electorate, down on 2019’s 21.6%.
All that’s happening here is the media is making the most concerted effort it has ever made to help England hold on to Scotland by skewing all news against the SNP and Greens, there’s no Alba ever hardly being mentioned because the only value Alba has is to help remove votes from the SNP thus handing them to Labour, that’s why the media remain shtum about them and whatever their opinions are
Anas Sarwar continues to get the kid glove treatment from the media over his deliberate hiding until he’s told to emerge and repeat the words his boss in England has told him to repeat
Until the hopeful idiots in Scotland fully understand that there really is no Scottish Labour party and that Anas Sarwar is barely a real person and they go out and vote for this lie, the struggle with England will continue
Voting for the SNP doesn’t mean you support every policy or decision, it means your vote becomes a vote AGAINST England rule, a marker, a standpoint if you will
Vote Scotland vote SNP
Scotland’s problem is England and always has been, as long as they’re allowed to take, they’ll keep taking then insist you want them to take because you voted for them to do it
Labour is England Tory is England, they’re one and the same, England has to vote Labour to get the Tories out because they have no choices, Scotland doesn’t have to do that, Scotland has the choice of not voting for England
Very bad things are coming to England in the very near future, let’s not be a part of it when it comes
”War is Peace , Freedom is Slavery , Ignorance is Strength , Labour is Tory ! ”
Starmer/Sunak slogan for the coming GE .
The Tories look like they’re preparing for war going by Sunak’s latest campaign poster, they have a picture of him and a fighter jet blasting through the sky behind him
Surprised it wasn’t a Spitfire …
Members of Labour in Scotland forced to resign after being caught out supporting racist tweets aimed at Humza Yousaf by far right group Britain First
BTW these people were not pulled up by their own Labour party who so far have said nothing, hiding awaiting instructions again!
Why have they resigned? Were they not just exercising their right to free speech?
Is the Labour party cracking down on free speech now?
That’s that settled then. Mon the Welsh.
The don’t knows just point and say *wanny thame”
Fills me with pride that Scotland has the lowest per capita share of people who don’t know how they say the word ‘scone’.
Maybe the highest share in Wales is because these say ‘sgon’*.
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*W_S blame google if this wrong.
‘Sgon’ (pronounced as written) or ‘Sgonsen’ (with an ‘-en’ or ‘-an’ pronunciation st the end, depending on which part of Cymru you come from) are perfectly acceptable Welsh words for ‘scone’.
depends on if its something you eat or the largest village in Scotland, near Perth.
Indeed.
And where Kenneth McAlpin took the Lia Fáil. But that’s another story.
Or if one were paying £50 for efternoon tea at Belmoral, it would, of course, be ‘skewn’.
Only 17% of people in Scotland were born elsewhere. So at least some folk who were born here pronounce it “scoan”. Wtf
Lorna Slater gets it right as she criticises the media for inflating JK Rowling’s big mouthed brainless comments
I added the big mouthed brainless bit, I don’t reckon Lorna will complain about that
We need more describing the media for what they are
I work with people who develop predictive models. For much of my career, I generated the data for them to tune their models and/or validate their predictions. Generating accurate data is very hard, particularly when you are sampling systems. Sampling simple systems is a minefield never mind complex systems.
We had the saying ‘we can only predict with any certainty what we already know‘. Which is true and of course negates the need for the prediction if it is known to be accurate.
Nobody has a model that can predict the future, so nobody can predict the outcomes of elections many months in advance. That’s utter horse dung.
https://archive.is/QyyHw
How accurate are MRP polls predicting huge Tory losses in next general election?
A far enough article.
The reality is thus. Yougov got lucky by doing that MRP in February 2019. If they’d have done it in the summer, it would have been even worse given the huge changes over the time periods involved. Still was wildly inaccurate.
And their summer polls… That’s just embarrassing. But then all the polls were this bad and pretty much always are that far out.
Polls are absolute rubbish most of the time outside of the final week or so before a vote. People not responding, not engaging, not sure what they plan as they need to have a think… Parties don’t have manifestos yet, have not made that u-turn that infuriates the public / proposed that new policy that has people flocking to them…
The weirdest thing that I have never understood is why 5 minutes on wiki teaches you this, yet people are still fixated with the latest poll(s) like it tells them the future.
It is trends that matter until the movements begin as the electorate engages. Absolute numbers such as VI to be treated with buckets of salt.
Back to the hot tub time machine via the quantum realm
Or the study of the rewritten past to predict the future as incorrectly as the rewritten past
A Scottish example to mark us likely 6 months from an October British unionist parliament election.
Panelbase Scotland, 20 June 2019, with absolute error on outcome.
18(-8)% Con
17(-2)% Lab
13(+3)% Lib
38(-8)% SNP
9(+9)% Brx
And they were within +/-3% of all the others at the time. Not an outlier as almost identical to their May poll. Utter guff though in terms of the final outcome.
However, it’s not like we shouldn’t look at polls and see what they might be able to tell us. It’s just we should never assume they are even correct for a snap election held ‘tomorrow’, which is what they try to predict, not one 6 months away.
Even then they don’t account for tactical as there’s no need for tactics in a poll. You can say who you really support. Tactical emerges in polls in the final run up when people start saying that’s what they plan.
So in Scotland right now, Green voters are saying Green, giving unfeasibly high Green (5%) at the expense of SNP, which hands seats to unionists when numbers are put into predictors. But these people are aware the British establishment don’t want Scots nor little parties (especially left liberals!) having a say in parliament, hence FPTP and the tens of millions of wasted votes, of which theirs will be on the day if they vote Green. So most vote SNP in that situation (inc. Holyrood constituency) as the party closest to them politically.
Another clue is the silly levels of Reform in Scottish polls right now (similar to Green at times). That’s a dead giveaway that samples are not representative. It was the same 2017-19. The media narrative was all about Brexit, and Yes Scots were licking their wounds over the disaster that had befallen them as a result of the No vote in 2014. With 2017 far too soon after iref1 to realistically go for indy again, and the hoped for groundswell of support for this on the back of Brexit not yet emerging, they had gone quiet in their despondency. This diluted the sample with more pro-Brexit types, giving low SNP and silly levels for the Brexit party, the voters of which were crying out to be polled.
In a Yougov a few months later, it was 6% Brexit. Nonsense numbers. They got less than 0.5% (ergo 0% when rounded), on the day because they never really existed / were just a polling protest. They were just shouting loudly while yessers were quiet.
This cannot be weighted out. For example, right now, evidence suggests that SNP->Labour, of which there are a small number, are answering polls while SNP->SNP are not. But to a pollster, they are all SNP 2019. There is no way to tell the difference, even though they are totally different groups. Such behaviour will make polls show SNP apparently coming home to Labour when it’s not occurring at all. An polls show it’s not if you look at absolute support for Labour, taking into account turnout. Prof Curtice agrees.
Supporters of Starmer’s Labour are shouting loudly across the UK right now as they smell victory. That and Reform UK backers, who are out for blood. That is why these seem to be doing well, even thought their real support is much less than half of their VI. But with 50% turnouts predicted, 22% of the electorate certain to vote Labour – the same as the disaster of 2019 for them – becomes 44% VI.
As noted in past posts, when the ballot papers arrive, voters across the UK will start deciding the best way to prevent a Labour landslide. After all, they don’t want Starmer in No. 10. Folks across the UK want neither Lab nor Con to win, so that’s what I suggest they’ll likely try to do; stop both. If Labour wins, nothing changes, and Lab wiping out con is a very dangerous place. Governments need opposition. A one party Starmer state will frighten the electorate into trying to stop that.
Change is possible by another route in Scotland, but independence needs to be on the ballot paper for that route to be opened up again in earnest post-UKSC case. That likely broke the union, tipping Yes into settled will territory. However, the lack of a clear route to that and Sturgeon’s resignation has Yes voters unsure of what to do and whether the SNP are able to make progress here.
Once the date is set it’ll be all about the negativity and how far each of the British parties is prepared to go to attack the other, and that I think will be flat out unseemly to watch, once again making Scotland recoil in disgust at the low level of English politics
In Scotland the *neg* campaign will be based on the FFMs record and evil guilt, because there’s no way Police Scotland and the British powers that be are going to let their Operation Branchform conclude before the election with a positive outcome, *Nicola Sturgeon bad* is their banker in the *neg* campaign, but a bit like the Brexit vote Scotland doesn’t respond well to that kind of style, mainly because we’re not daft and know what the Brits are up to when they do this (past experience) Sarwar won’t come out of this looking good following Starmer’s instructions
The predictors of SNP doom are going to be biting their fingernails and wasting their time, because Humza Yousaf is not likely to be going down anytime soon, in fact I reckon he’s probably going to stand up rather well, as will the SNP vote irrespective of what the Scottish British media throw at him
Scotland hasn’t had an effect on a general election in over 60 years, England’s population decides who will be the government of the UK so why on earth would Scotland want to go out and vote for a British party to help England impose even more austerity upon us in Scotland than we already have?
Vote against England’s decisions by voting FOR Scotland, and SNP is the only way to do that, do it not and we lose not just an election, we lose every free prescription, bus travel, free tuition and on and on, because Starmer is English British and will make Scotland exactly the same
Every vote not SNP is a vote for England’s Labour party, and why would we do that? we don’t need to because England is going to vote them in anyway
The last two emails I got from the SNP, (last Monday and 28 March), were about being able to watch Scottish football matches on the TV for free and celebrating SNPs 90th birthday with a cèilidh.
Nothing about independence
My last two were about local campaign activities from my branch.
On this point though… if someone in Scotland is unaware the SNP support independence, they have led a very sheltered life. Must never read / watch the news… never read manifestos to decide how to vote… ergo likely never vote…
Ergo, writing the word ‘independence‘ everywhere does nothing to progress the cause of independence, nor does the number of times a party says this word make them more supportive of it. In fact, if someone insists they support something incessantly, it’s normally because they don’t; ‘Doth protest too much’ as the saying goes. If someone keeps telling you they support indy, it will be because they don’t. If they tell you once, maybe reminding you every so often if you seem to have forgotten, then they do.
However, there is one place that the SNP can put the word independence that really can change things, and that is on election ballot papers going forward. Following the conference member’s vote to do exactly this, their application is with the electoral commission.
Since independence is the sole political goal of the SNP would you not expect to hear about plans, manifestos, meetings, reports, marches or rallies to progress that aim?
If a “socialist” party had nothing to say about promoting equality and banishing austerity, poverty and social deprivation but instead aimed to broadcast football would you not question their interest in equality?
Bread and circuses are fine but circuses with no bread are a recipe for failure.
Since independence is the sole political goal of the SNP would you not expect to hear about plans, manifestos, meetings, reports, marches or rallies to progress that aim?
They email me this stuff all the time. If I want more details, go to the branch meetings or the larger party conferences.
An thankfully, the SNP is about far more than independence, otherwise they’d not have been in government, and I’d not have a centre-left social democratic, socially liberal party to vote for. We might also not be that close to indy. Them in office has shown Scots we can govern ourselves just as well or better than Britain does. A one trick pony would never have gotten near office.
I notice you don’t actually argue with my substantive point – i.e. that writing the word independence everywhere doesn’t help the cause. As for marches and rallies; that’s for the Yes movement to organise, and they do a good job. SNP rallies are not Yes rallies; Yes rallies are cross-party. Why would Green, Alba or Labour yes supporters to go SNP events?
The Scottish Government have been releasing a series of white papers on independence. Thankfully, the SNP are not arrogant as to act like they get to decide what independence looks like. Rather, they are taking the ‘what’s possible’ approach.
They definitely have a future post-indy. they will be Scotland’s yellow flag liberal democrats, which is where they have their routes.
I am a SNP member. I would have thought what with an election, a pretty important election, coming up this year, a few more mentions of independence would go a long way.
I don’t think the white papers really hit home with the average, voter, too detailed and lengthy. Some billboards pointing out what would be lost under tory OR lab … free prescriptions, free education, free school meals, care of the elderly etc. Big billboards.
I donate on top of my membership and I am happy to donate more, but I’d like them to spend it on something that reaches out to everyone. Keep it simple and to the point
You should also have received/receive a letter from the Chief Exec along with the Spring Draw which has the following quotes,
“By taking part you will be helping us further the campaign for independence as we fight the General Election. Only the SNP is on Scotland’s side and only the SNP will stand up for Scotland.
[…]
“Independence offers a better alternative to Broken Britain. So, at this election, Scotland’s democratic right to make a choice about our own future is at stake. That’s why your support is crucial.”
<i>a few more mentions of independence would go a long way.</i>
In what sense? Do you think the SNP saying independence persuades people of independence? How so?
Independence is right there on the front page of their website, with a link to the Yes site which isn’t SNP branded intentionally, as Yes isn’t about the SNP.
The factors driving independence are very deep and fundamental, concerning identity, a declining empire, end of the post-war consensus, Brexit, Europe, and above all democracy…
The primary driver for independence is unionism; that is what has driven Yes to over 50%. If you want to thank anyone for the fact we are at 50% Yes, it’s unionists. We needed them to push Scots away from the union. Only then can we Yes folks and parties say ‘So, hi, want to join us?’. But by this stage people are already pretty much there on Yes. The SNP / Greens are the product of unionist pushing Scots away from the union. They are not the cause, something unionists fail to understand. It wasn’t Sturgeon that got Scots behind indy. That’s why Yes went up even when she was no longer around and under a cloud of possible scandal. In fact Yes has steadily risen under Yousaf to reach majority for 4+ months now, but it’s not him that caused this; unionists have. Labour are pushing their own voters towards independence. Starmer is driving indy forward the most right now.
Think of it like this…
A couple are happily married. How much chance do you think you have of persuading one of the couple to end the marriage and join you on a new adventure? Ok, now let’s say one partner is increasingly unpleasant towards the other. They ruin the couple’s finances, are controlling and abusive. They embarrass the couple publicly, make stupid business decisions, are racist, bigoted and mean to vulnerable people. They make threats like ‘I’ll ruin you if you leave me!’, and even resort to locking the other up in a room when they say they want to leave.
Now you come along and say ‘How about you leave them? You would be better off in the long term. It might seem scary but you can do it!’ They already want to leave – you just need to help them swallow hard and pack their bags. It was not you that persuaded them to leave, it was their partner. You just helped a little at the end of the decision process at most. Gave them the number of a taxi firm to come pick them up and a place to stay while they found their feet.
In terms of who has damaged the cause; well that would be people who attack the SNP on the Yes side without bothering to offer anything themselves. If people don’t like what the SNP are doing, then offer alternatives, vote for someone else… become active and voice criticisms internally. People can start their own campaign groups, parties. If Margo could get elected, anyone can. So stop moaning and do something instead I say to such people.
The Greens are offering a different vision without constantly berating the SNP. They now form a 1/5 of the Yes movement.
Alba by contrast are on 2%. If Alba didn’t attack the SNP as their raison d’etre, it’s very likely they could be gaining popularity. However, as they have set out to be a negative party just berating the SNP and not a positive force, they will go nowhere.
How many billboards do you think there are in Scotland? How many people see them on a daily basis?
Yes the papers on various aspects of independence, which are part of a yet to be completed series, are weighty and detailed as they should be. The case for Independence cannot be reduced to a 3 word slogan. People, especially the Scots, had enough of that with Brexit. They want some meat on the bones. The papers have been published in advance so that they can be read closely then debated and discussed extensively. Something perhaps that should be happening in the branches so the members can take their contents out to the wider public.
The front page of the National today was very simple and to the point but it needs substance behind it too and the various white papers provide that.
Here is the make-up of the Yes movement based January’s IPSOS in terms of voting intention:
1.3% Con
12.5% Lab
1.7% Lib
58.7% SNP
25.7% Green/Alba/Other plus no election voting intention
Which is, incidentally, why it’s pointless and stupid to be inclusive to hard right English Tory backers. They will never vote Yes.
Also shows that the SNP very much isn’t the Yes movement, and shouldn’t try to be. It’s a centre-left social democratic party that has support for Scottish independence as a core goal. It’s the same as all the pro-Yes Catalan parties who have a political stance in addition to backing indy. Or the Greens / Alba / SSP here. We don’t have any one trick indy parties as they’d be a flop. So the SNP manifesto needs to include stuff on indy alongside the social democratic stuff. It should not try to own indy nor be just about that. There lies failure.
The Yes movement is us Scots. It’s very lazy for people to expect the SNP to ‘deliver’ independence while their critics sit around in their armchairs moaning about them on the national BTL comments rather than campaigning, which is what you see there!
From the Herald:
‘Scotland used to feel sorry for itself and blame the English. I think that’s gone‘
https://archive.is/YhaTS
Nice interview. Reminds me of a wry interview of William McIlvanney by Alan Taylor which comments on his sartorial elegance – “dressed in a symphony of blacks and greys”.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/13201652.interview-william-mcilvanney-talks-alan-taylor-life-work/
Hmm, Yougov’s latest does point to that last poll not being an outlier and they are picking up a sharp little drop of some form in Labour’s VI. From consistent mid down to low 40’s…
Maybe, as noted, ballot papers arriving for the English local elections. A good time to give both Lab and Con a bloody nose if you are an English person seeing both as two cheeks of the same erse. The last time Labour were this low was last years locals where they got a worryingly low for Starmer 35%.
Unfortunately Scotland has no media of its own to promote the SNP like the Brits have control of all media everywhere in the UK. The SNP cannot combat this, Scotland cannot combat this, we have not the numbers to do this so are subject to every single piece of info and misinformation that England decides to project
It was hoped the National would be a help to the cause of independence for Scotland, but that has proven with time to be wrong, because even with some folk having the best of intentions this publication is just bland Herald Budgie cage lining, with the online version comments section filled with anti independence griping mostly from Alba supporters prepared to pay a subscription solely to attack the SNP with the same rhetoric that Labour and the Tories use, turning the paper into an anti SNP paper instead of an independence supporting publication
The SNP can’t sell or give away Knighthoods and Lordships for big donations of tons of £moolah like the English can, for all the obvious reasons, the main one being the Scottish government isn’t a government, it’s still an executive manager with no power and just an ego driven name change that Alex Salmond came up with to make Holyrood seem more important than it really is, if he’d left the Executive name tag up then we could still proclaim loud and clear that Scotland has no powers, but he shot himself and the party in the foot with that one, I for one was furious when he did that, the word government makes folks think you have the same powers as the other lot in England and Scotland has nothing like that authority as we know
Every law passed in Scotland can be overturned by the will of the English parliament in the name of the Crown, we do not have a government in Scotland, we have an office of responsibility run politically by the people for whom we vote, plus a whole pile of English/British opposition people that don’t even need to win a local election to sit there and who’s job is to thwart every decision the elected people try to take
How on earth can Holyrood be a parliament of government if folk who have never been elected to any position whatsoever, but be placed there by England’s parliament in a system of government where they don’t need to have the people of Scotland’s approval or consent to sit there?
It’s as stupid as calling Labour Lib Dems and Tories in Scotland Scottish, they’re not, they are representatives of England’s parliament planted in our lack of democracy building that incorrectly and stupidly now calls itself a government
That’s not to say we wouldn’t like to have our own government, but we simply do not
It’s the anniversary of the Declaration of Arbroath. Here’s a wee video about it:
It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom from Westminster – for that alone, which no honest Scotsman or Scotswoman gives up but with life itself.
– Declaration of Arbroath
Revised, 2024
All Rights Reserved
👍
It hangs in a frame in my hall opposite the front door for all to see when the door is open
It’s just a pity that some don’t understand the meaning of the word freedom and allow the dishonest to blind them
Boris Johnston says it would be shameful to call for UK to end arms sales to Israel. Psychopath.
But don’t worry, we’re not the biggest bullies on this block.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68748251
Did he have to look that word up in the dictionary? He sure as hell didn’t recognise it when he stood in front of a mirror.
I think the word “shameful” came to fame after an episode of the Apprentice years ago: “It was shameful, shameful” or something like that.
Forgive me, but if 1000’s of people have been suffering hateful abuse for being part of a minority group, and now they have a means to report it, isn’t it an absolutely brilliant thing that this is happening?
It’s like a ‘me too’ moment for those who’ve not felt they could do anything to stop the abuse they’ve suffered all their lives. It’s great!
Once the backlog settles, the numbers will settle naturally.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-68746512
If the minister had a torrid week so too did Police Scotland which, as senior officers had predicted, was flooded with thousands of complaints under the new legislation.
Both the force and Humza Yousaf’s government had engaged in a widespread publicity campaign, with billboards encouraging people to report hate crimes.
The fact that the British media / establishment hate the fact people suffering abuse at the hands of right-wing brits now have a way to fight back tells you all you need to know.
As for this prize idiot:
“On the doorsteps,” wrote Joanna Cherry in the National this week, “I hear real anger from [pro-union Tory] constituents who think too much time is spent on virtue-signalling and not enough on the issues they care most about, such as health, transport, housing, and education.”
“I wish the post-2014 leadership of the SNP had spent half as much time on advancing the cause of independence as they have on identity politics,” she added.
‘Virtue signalling’ is a term used by right-wing conservative politicians. They also use ‘w*ke’ – a term coined by the African American civil rights movement – pejoratively. No centre-left liberal would ever call trying to make society equal and inclusive ‘virtue signalling’. Nope, that is 100% right-wing conservative language. Cherry is very much in the wrong party, but she’s on a good earner so….
‘identity politics‘
Says woman who does nothing but tell us how she self-identifies (like we give a shit) and campaign on identity politics. I have lost count of the times Cherry has insisted on telling the world she ‘self-identifies’ as a lesbian, emphasising the importance of this in her politics. She’s never provided a shred of evidence to back this up of course. Nope, only trans folks like my transman nephew need to do that in her opinion.
And wait… what was the 2021 election result Cherry? Was it not the highest ever SNP share on the highest ever turnout on the highest ever number of people signed up to vote? And how is support for indy looking under Yousaf? In majority now maybe?
What happened to it after GRR was struck down by England? I understand Yes started climbing steadily in response, moving into majority? Maybe coincidence, but there’s not shred of evidence it has harmed support for independence, that’s for sure. If anything England stopping GRR pushed Scots over the line to indy. Certainly didn’t stop this!
Cheery – darling of right wing conservatives and the BBC.
You seem quite obsessed by Joanna Cherry. However, you have misquoted her above. She did not say:
“I hear real anger from [pro-union Tory] constituents who think too much time is spent on virtue-signalling and not enough on the issues they care most about, such as health, transport, housing, and education.
Not a good idea to misquote a KC and human rights lawyer. It brings into question the veracity of whatever else you say on this subject.
I believe it is true though that Joanna Cherry became an MP to serve and represent her own desires and ambitions rather than those of her so called constituents, or practically every last one of them would be a Lesbian, as it seems it’s all we ever hear from this individual representative of herself
On another note, Perhaps for a moment some folk on the independence side might realise that the hate crime law actually applies to us
When delivering leaflets have you ever been abused spat at sworn at because you support independence for your country?
Have you read in the media abuse directed towards supporters of independence?
Have you ever been called abusive or racist names because you are a supporter of independence?
If the answer to these questions is Yes and the opposition to independence claim the UK is all one country, are we not a minority group in the opposition’s falsely claimed one country under the law of the country of Scotland in which we live?
This list could go on
In fact, she goes on to say after that misquote above:
I agree with Joanna Cherry on that point.
As for her constituents IIRC she has the highest percentage of SNP votes in any Edinburgh constituency with a majority of nearly 12,000. So she must be representing them well enough.
Yes, you are right to point out that people in the constituency support the SNP, not her.
As evidenced by the big fall in support for the SNP in Edinburgh SW in 2017 as turnout fell; just like the national picture.
Nope, SNP voters there are voting SNP, not Cherry based on the stats.
Edinburgh is not a good representation of Scotland Capella and it will be interesting to see how much support she retains at the next election. 2019 seems so long ago when since then we have had a pandemic, 3 Prime Ministers a new FM/ Snp leader, a war in Ukraine and Gaza etc. Most people I talk to have a focus on the cost of Living crisis and the hope of Independence. The GRR and Hate Crime Bills are not something that most folk focus on. Certainly I don’t think it is the biggest concern of those who live in Gorgie or Wester Hailes in JCs constituency.
That’s exactly Joanna Cherry’s point:
If that is what she is hearing on the doorstep then does she put them right by pointing out for example:
Health There have not been any strikes in the NHS in Scotland because the SG negotiated settlements with each health group such that they are now best paid nurses, Doctors in UK. That the NHS Scotland workforce has increased.
Transport: No strikes on Scotrail. Negotiated settlement. Nationalised Scotrail. Off-peak fares across the service – pilot ends June. Free Bus passes for under-22 year olds.
Housing: Affordable homes and Social housing being built in greater numbers than down south. Abolished right to buy on new build social rent homes.
Education: Teachers reached a settlement on pay. Higher paid than rUK. School estate in good order overall. Free University Tuition helping less advantaged go to Uni in ever greater numbers. Free school meals P1-5 helping children to study and benefit in so many ways from their time at school. Child payment too.
I could go on but you get the picture. If she is covering all that she must be on the doorstep for ages.
Certainly gives the lie to any suggestion that the SG are concentrating on virtue signalling to the exclusion of all else.
Results –
https://members.parliament.uk/member/4419/electionresult
If obsession is 1 post every few months because she’s on the BBC attacking the SNP again, erm, ok. If I read about her mouthing off on the BBC, I’ll post about it.
I didn’t mis-quote her. I linked to the article and the [ ]’s indicate that she did not say what was between, but this has been inserted by the person quoting, i.e. me. So it could not be more obvious that I am suggesting which of her constituents were ‘angry’ about ‘virtue signalling’. I wonder why she didn’t say? Trying to hide something? Her constituency was 25% Tory in 2019, so yes, 1 in 4 were likely saying exactly what she said they were.
Given this is right-wing ‘war on w*ke’ Trump language, we can make an educated guess it was not centre left liberal voters, ergo not SNP / Lab / Lib.
I don’t need to be a lawyer to ask ask Cherry this:
Public Order Act 1986 – Racial Hatred = ‘virtue signalling?’
Decriminalisation of homosexuality = ‘virtue signalling?’
Legalisation of same sex marriage = ‘virtue signalling?’
Proposed hate crime on the basis of sex bill = ‘virtue signalling?’
I await Cherry’s opposition to protecting women from hate on the basis of their sex because it’s ‘virtue signalling’. Bet you she doesn’t, and in fact she’s all for this.
She’s a total hypocrite*. She got her protection for her protected characteristic, but she wants to stop others having the same.
And Cherry isn’t particularly qualified. No more so than myself in my own field. She has absolutely zero qualifications when it comes to the topic of why some people are transgender. None whatsoever, not a jot. Northing. Zero. And this really comes across.
—-
*She also doesn’t even seem to know what the word means:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling
Virtue signalling is a pejorative neologism for the idea that an expression of a moral viewpoint is being done disingenuously, with the intent of communicating good character.
It’s pretending you are virtuous when that’s not the case. Ergo, the GRR bill is the polar f’n opposite.
This is because right-wingers virtue signal, but don’t mean what they say. So when Cherry says she ‘Likes and respect trans people’ she is virtue signalling. When e.g. Sturgeon says it, she means it, and acts upon it, hence the GRR bill.
That is the reality.
Actually Joanna Cherry in Edinburgh South West did better than the SNP overall in all 3 elections.
2015 SNP +30.1%, JC +30.8%
2017 SNP -13%, JC -7.4%
2019 SNP +8%, JC +12.0%
And she’s one of the easiest to find the surgeries for:
https://joannacherry.scot/surgeries
But hey, why bother with the truth?
Who cares. I am just glad she is not my MP as there is no way in hell I would vote for that woman. She takes every opportunity to have a go at the Snp leadership past and present particularly Nicola Sturgeon. She is a very intelligent woman but is also a selfish hypocrite and obviously does not understand there is no I in Team. If I was trans and lived in her constituency how could I seek help when I needed it from her. She is meant to represent all her constituents not other some if they happen to be trans. I think the only people she is likely to have influenced about Independence is the Albanistas and pretendy Indy supporters that hang around the Nationals comment section like a bad smell. It is also very easy to find where my own MP Amy Callaghan has her surgeries too and I am sure that applies to most Snp MPs and Msp’s.
What I don’t like is when people totally misquote other people, continually pretend opinion is fact, and make things up to support some fell opinion.
How about you?
I expressed my opinion which I am free to have here. I see you have gone back to cause a fight in an empty house mode.
Dearie dearie me.
Can’t help himself
Totally misquoting/ As in ?
What YIR2 is pointing out is that the vote for Joanna Cherry is a personal vote to some extent and not just a vote for the SNP as Skier was trying to assert above.
You might not vote for her but many other independence supporters do, even in Edinburgh. Why alienate voters? I would vote for her if she was standing in my constituency.
Most people vote for a party not the person. Joanna as an individual may be popular with some right wing voters in her constituency but I doubt they support Scottish Independence . Joanna is a maverick that is blatantly obvious. I am not sure she would fit well in any political party.
And yet you, who claim to be an SNP member, say you would not vote for her if she was the SNP candidate in your constituency.
Smearing everybody who disagrees with you as “right-wing”, “far right” or “Trumpian” etc has been over-used. It is childish name calling.
i consider some of her views right wing. If I don’t like a candidate or there views I will not vote for them. I am not an Snp drone. I would not vote for John Mason Msp as I don’t like his views either
Cherry uses right-wing language and opposes centre-left liberal policies. I don’t have to ‘smear’, just quote.
Smearing involves false accusations. Since she’s on record as using right-wing language and attacking centre-left liberal polices, it’s not smearing, it’s a statement of fact. I am actually promoting her views for people to see. She should be pleased.
What has she said that you consider “right wing” ?
Yes, because of her opposition to centre-left liberal policies, and the use of right-wing language.
If she was not doing this, then there would not be grounds for calling her right wing.
I am entitled to my opinions here. You seem to be suggesting I can’t have these, but must hold the same opinions as you on Cherry?
I note that Cherry supports me having the right to be offensive towards her if wanted. Not that stating someone holds conservative right-wing stances and/or uses righty-wing language is offensive; it’s merely factual.
But enough wasting time on a time waster like Cherry. Life is too short.
You haven’t told me what Joanna Cherry has said that you consider right wing. Is that because you can’t find anything?
From Scot Goes Pop (2nd last article):
“This underscores the point I made the other day about how there’s a very narrow band of results in popular vote terms that could see the SNP winning anything between 12 and 45 seats.”
Current prediction on Electoral Calculus with the SNP at 36% gives 28 seats.
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/area_scot.html
Drop that to 30% you get 11, 32% is 18, 34% is 20.
Raise that to 38% is 40, 40% is 47.
Very quick and dirty, nominal proportionate changes on their userpoll page to Lab and Con. But it shows that basically, SGP is correct (as you’d expect), it’s a very narrow band of results. The good news for the SNP is that just a 4% increase from the current prediction sees them pretty safe.
Suggestions on the back of an INDEPENDENCE NOW envelope as to how they can achieve that …
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/userpoll_scot.html
also
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/polls_scot.html
to show the peak in 2020 of 54% to the nadir (hopefully) of 33% in 2024.
Meanwhile from the excellent article 48 hours with Yousaf in the national:
https://archive.is/fWzlr
a dose of realism from Yousaf after his “Make Scotland Tory Free” red herring:
“Labour are on our heels [across Scotland] and we need to make clear what our offer is and it is clear for me. You don’t need to vote to Labour to get rid of the Tories, they’re finished.”
So it seems, but things can change in the blink of a blinking Starmer.
Anyways, back to Independence matters – which is sound advice from me, to the SNP. Yousaf has everything to play for. But neither the Tories nor Labour are his real problem, or solution.
The Hate Crime Act (Scotland) 2021 started in force on Monday – Easter Monday and April Fools Day. That seemed to be a bad date, but perhaps the date itself deflected from the Act. In addition, it may have been essential to get the start date well out of the way before the General Election to give time to let the dust settle. So either a lucky coincidence or well planned. Who knows?
Yousaf has sensibly agreed that there was not enough Government guidance. Well, there is time for that to happen, just as long as meantime there is no permanent damage with unneccessary criminal records. As for freedom of speech, it does come, or should come, with a sense of responsibility and indeed, humanity. Some times new Acts are given an “immunity” period where only warnings are given. Perhaps that would be a sensible compromise.
It’s still windy oot.
re Capellas comment at 9.21am (thread now too narrow) The Scottish government and parliament spend plenty of times on issues like Housing and Education etc. How do you think the eviction ban happened and all the work to help education during the pandemic Joanna had an opportunity to influence the work of the Scottish parliament and stand as an Msp but was not willing to resign as an MP first whilst a colleague of hers did and he is now an Msp. She and some other Snp MPs live in a very remote world as compared to Hollyrood. I simply do not believe GRR and Hate Crime Bill is something raised on the doorstep all that often
We are 10 years on from 2014. It seems Cherry spent too much time obsessing over 2 bills that have been passed in the last 10 years, so much so she didn’t notice all the rest. That and pursing court cases on great British issues.
I note that not once in all my chats about politics in recent years with Yes, maybe and No, has anyone ever mentioned GRR nor the hate crime bill, certainly not in any negative way. Why would they? They’re not trans (and are not e.g. being accosted by ‘fake trans’ in the loos), nor committing hate crimes. That said, I have not been speaking to any right-wing Tories, but SNP/Green/Lab/Lib voters. If I’d been chatting to the Tories, I imagine they would have obsessively centred on these two bills.
Had a look. Taking just the last quarter of 2014, so post ref, and therefore dividing 2014’s acts by 4, we have 136 acts passed by the Scottish parliament over the period Cherry is concerned about.
The 2 she flagged as ‘the SNP (led) government spending too much time virtue signalling’ comprise 1.4% of these.
I have no idea how she managed to become a lawyer with such a poor grasp of basic facts.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp
OT – For any interested, Lesley Riddoch’s latest ‘Denmark’ film is now on Youtube https://youtu.be/UTJnu6lAhvM
I went to a screening of “Denmark” locally. Great night with a good turnout and Lesley was totally on the ball. She’s a rel asset to the YES cause.
Well worth watching.
All the right people not liking the hate crime act.
In this case British far right groups.
https://archive.is/8VM8j
Police spammed with complaints by neo-Nazis under new Scottish hate crime law
The leader of a far-right group – one of several fringe organisations being assessed by the UK government under its new extremism definition – promoted a private channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram that includes a “call to action” urging members to “mass report”.
“At the very least, we want to overwhelm them with reports to waste their time [so that] they eventually give up the whole system,” they wrote…
SNP 90 years old. Scotland still not independent. Why?
Because the SNP cannot get people to support independence. That’s impossible. They can neither lead the horse to water, nor get it to drink. Ultimately, they can only make sure there is water in the trough. They are a product of rising support for independence, not the cause of it.
Nope, it is British unionists that have led the horse to water, and are now making it want to drink. Starmer will soon be taking the reins here.
It’s true, Scotland doesn’t *appear* to want independence mainly because we don’t do anything about it except keep blaming the SNP for not magically doing some sort of Svengali mind trick on those who oppose it
The internet is chock full of folk who enjoy moaning and blaming, it’s the football team who’s supporters boo them if they’re not winning and cheer them when they do
The so called YES movement that really doesn’t exist except in the minds of some claim they are separate from the SNP but moan like hell about the SNP because in truth they’re nothing without them
As long as there’s no media and no big corporate money in favour of independence for Scotland it will always be up to the people, and people are lousy organisers and lousy activists without backing, but you can’t have politicians in government backing one half of the country and opposing the other half, so independence for our country cannot proceed without a properly funded and people backed force which should be the so called YES movement, but that barely exists
If enough people in Scotland really want independence the only way to get it is by breaking some eggs, no other country has done it any other way
It’s nice and lovely to talk, exchange of views, dialogue, let’s do lunch
It won’t happen with this attitude
I agree, although for over 4 months now, the polls, on average, say Scots do want independence.
This is while we have some good evidence that they may be oversampling unionists. If that goes away, say as we approach voting day and engagement increases, well squeaky bum time for the union.
While the SNP can’t win people to independence, we can. The best way is, at opportune times, to tell your friends, family and colleagues that you support independence, and the basics as to why. The simplest argument is that are Scottish (if applicable), and that you believe Scotland, like other countries, would be best governed by its own government. It is impossible to argue against this.
You never tell people they are wrong to back the union, just what you support and why. If they ask sensible questions, give sensible answers. But the oil is running out! So what – will be making billions for some time yet and renewables are already bringing in big bucks. Also, Scotland would be one of only two countries in Europe with significant recourses etc.
People have a healthy suspicion of politicians. They don’t have that around their friends and family. This is why the SNP should not campaign on the doors for indy like indy = them, but for the SNP, a party that supports indy as others do. Yes campaigners should campaign on the doorsteps for Yes. Not politicians, just other Scots of all parties and none.
Scots will deliver Scottish indy after unionists pushed them away from unionism. The SNP and other Yes parties will organise the departure, as is the role of government.
While I drink the last of my cup of tea – removing the extreme arguments used by either side, what the HCA does is roll-up previous legislation and modernise it.
It also gives the Police once it’s in accustomed use a single act to quote by name and section – I’ve already heard that being done in a “what if” conversation. There was talk (not by PS) of a special unit for HCA. Which fails to realise that the frontline polis are daily in contact with what is actually “hate speech”, even by old standards. Even if against them themselves.
The clue is in the full name of the Act which is “Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021″. HCA is an unfortunate and unhelpful abbreviation.
As for the English and Welsh legislation it is NOT the same as the errr, HCA. As it does not contain the special group “transgender”. But that should have been part every since the GRC was available which I think is 2004. So it’s oout of date, and in that respect as well as rolling up various bits of old legislation, the HCA actually correctly handles that omission.
The extremes on both sides do not help – but then it’s really the point of free speech in that extremes can be explored to improve past and future legislation.
IANAL
“….what the HCA does is roll-up previous legislation and modernise it” – Correct – That’s why it was passed by majority in Holyrood.
However, Tories MSPs were “agin it” save one, and that’s what caused “the row about this Act in Scotland”, to quote James “This is the news where we are” Cook to paraphrase James Robertson…
I’m less worried about the HCA 2024 than I am over the power over media afforded the likes of Forres Gump and ‘Juan’s teeth flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ Kerr, etc…
To listen to the media, you would be led to believe that some “woke” group within the SNP sat down and drew up the Hate Crime legislation by them selves then passed it in Holyrood. They are totally ignoring the fact that 95% of this is existing laws and the changes made were part of the recommendations of the Independent Review body themselves.
Review of hate crime legislation
They also refuse to provide any comparison between the existing law in England and are determined to act as if there is no such thing in England and Wales as “Hate Crime Law”.
Not quite. Lord Bracadale recommended that women should be protected by the Hate Crime Act. However, the protected characteristic “sex”, which is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, was deliberately excluded from the bill.
The categories “transgender identity” and “variations in sex characteristics” were included although those are not protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
So Lord Bracadale’s recommendations were not implemented.
However, as you say, most of the other characteristics were already protected under legislation – race or ethnic identity, religious belief, sexual orientation and disability.
I believe you are mistaken Capella, in Lord Bracadale’s final report he explains why it was his choice to use the term “gender” rather than “sex”.
He then goes on to give his recommendation.
My understanding is that the Scottish government are following his recommendation and that a new bill specifically addressing “gender hostility” is planned.
The link above is to Chapter 4 of his report and I have quoted just a little of what is relevant. There are 95 clauses which together have 4 recommendations. My point is that there has been much discussion, consultation and debate on every aspect of this law which is as it should be.
The problem is the amount of misinformation being propagated by the media and then used on social media to attack and put down the Scottish Government.
All of this is pure propaganda solely because the Government happens to be made up of the SNP and Green parties who advocate Independence. The facts are that back in 2017 before Lord Bracadale even began his review even Ruth Davidson was in support of bringing all the various laws together into one new set of legislation.
As far as making law goes, everyone had a chance to contribute to the debate and the end result will never satisfy every group or individual. That goes for most things in life too.
I know he used the term “gender” but he meant the same thing as the term “sex”. By including it as an aggravator he was including it in the same way as the other characteristics which are aggravators in a hate crime under the HCA.
The Scottish Government chose not to include it. They commissioned Helena Kennedy to write a report and recommend whether to write a new law on “misogyny” or whether to include “sex” as a aggravator in the HCA (9which cold have been done in the first place). She was to report back in a year but took two years to recommend a new law. The Scottish Government have said they will have a bill drawn up by the end of this parliamentary session i.e. 2026. It will then be for the next government to progress it or not.
BTW the report by Engender which the committee relied on was not worth the paper it was anonymously written on. It used a small sample study from New York to argue that including sex in the HCA wouldn’t work.
You know as well as I do that the review committee did not “rely” on the submissions of a single group such as Engender.
If you are interested the full list of Groups he and his team had meetings with are here:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-review-hate-crime-legislation-scotland-final-report/pages/12/
There is also an additional list of consultations and conferences that the review committee attended or contributed to.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-review-hate-crime-legislation-scotland-final-report/pages/13/
Over and above that, any individual or group could make a written submission which I’m sure were fully accepted as part of the consultation process.
I know. I participated in the consultation, watched all the proceedings online and read the reports and consultation results. I also wrote to all the MSPs with my comments.
Incidentally, a similar problem arose in 2009 with the Offences (Aggravation by Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009. That act introduced the category “transgender” as an aggravator. It was deemed then that including “sex” as an aggravator would be too difficult but the Scottish government promised to draw up a misogyny act to protect women.
Still waiting.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2009/8/section/2
I hope Lord Bracadale wasn’t discriminating on the grounds of sex! 🙂 Equality requires protection for both men and women in terms of hatred. Also safe spaces etc when it comes to GRR stuff.
But I understand this is planned in due course, i.e. a new law for protection against hatred on the basis of sex, be that male or female (and maybe intersex?).
Not sure of the reasons for separating this protected characteristic from the others. Maybe because it doesn’t concern minorities and is the one that isn’t in whole or in some part ‘self-identified’?
Is race “self identified” ? Can I just identify as African or Chinese?
Is age self identified? Can I just identify as 25?
Is sex self identified? Can I just identify as male or female?
Yes, race is self-identified. Only racists believe otherwise, and that they decide a person’s race, not the person themselves. This is why you are never asked for proof when you fill out forms asking this, and never will be. If you put down ‘African’, people would assume you had some heritage here, maybe had been born there. I note also that Africans come in all shapes, sizes and colours, as do people with some Chinese heritage.
Age is not self-id most of the time. However, often age is unknown, certainly globally and for older people in less developed countries. Here self-id comes in. Short of detailed medical testing – which in itself my not be conclusive, just giving an approximation – self-id is all there is.
Gender is self-identified, but not sex. A woman can be come a ‘transman’ through self-id. It’s not possible to change physical sex as that’s genetic. However, it is possible to change the way people politely address you with respect to societal gender norms (name, title, pronouns etc), and trans people are as old as the human race. You can’t make bigots accept them though sadly.
Here you go:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/measuringequality/ethnicgroupnationalidentityandreligion
Membership to each of the concepts is something that is self-defined and subjectively meaningful to an individual...
…Ethnic group, religion and national identity are self-identification measures reflecting how people define themselves. Therefore, a response to a question should be answered by the respondent directly, particularly if the respondent is an adult.
Same in the US and other countries:
https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html
The 1997 OMB standards permit the reporting of more than one race. An individual’s response to the race question is based upon self-identification.
Yep, spot on..
Some politicians present as being hated and needing protection. Despite being massively privileged, with rights and favours.
They should be grateful people are voting for them in massive numbers. Instead of trying to criminalise them. For extra protection from an extremely small minority. They are in a minimum of danger. Turn the other cheek and rationalise. Less conceit. More humility.
Privileged middle class male, will all the advantages. Trying to deprive the poorer, with much less advantages. Unequal and unfair.
Some politicians lie to get elected. Liars always get found out.
Forget about laws passed or legislation going through here or there, it’s all meaningless, only the opposition will keep dragging up reasons and excuses to talk about this stuff endlessly, it’s their way of keeping the focus off what’s important
England’s parliament passes bad to horrendous laws every day, some even through the night so nobody notices, for example not one media outlet in Scotland reported on the fact that in England you can now be arrested for smelling bad, what other media in the world would not report such ludicrous draconian laws by a government, and yet the England rule supporting media in Scotland says nothing
All laws in Scotland can be overturned at any time by the government in England, that’s why they didn’t overturn the Hate crime law, because they saw it as giving their media the opportunity to waste people’s time and twist their melons over something they could have stopped if they’d wanted to
If Independence is the goal you’re after, then you ignore everything and anything the Scottish government says or does except for one thing, your vote, because a vote for the SNP is a vote against English rule, it’s that simple
If we don’t keep telling them to get stuffed by voting against them they’ll just keep stating how much we want the bastirts to rule us
I personally do not care who the FM is of the SNP, I only care about voting against England, make the campaign solely about one thing, England rule out of Scotland and nothing else
Policies? who the hell really cares? because every and any policy by an independent Scotland can be reversed changed dumped reinvented and new ones by whoever is voted in as the government of the day, until that time nothing else matters but ridding ourselves of having no power to do anything
Arguing over this or that is the tool of the opposition designed to distract from the purpose, it’s their job and we don’t want nor need these people
For the cause of Scottish independence how we get there is unimportant as long as we do, only then are discussions about policies and laws actually valid because we’ll have the power to make these happen without English opposition interference media bribery and misinformation
A little thing perhaps we seem to be missing for today, 7 April 2024:
“Happy Birthday, First Minister Yousaf!”
39 Today. 🙂
And what does he want for his B-day? Independence (as per national article).
FFM Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet to be investigated as part of the police Scotland Crown office fit up
First it was an accountant, then her husband the CEO, then her, then the staff, now her colleagues who worked there at the time, just as well she doesn’t have a dog to to get taken away to be euthanised or an uncle Tom Cobley
And the real story is, FFM Nicola Sturgeon still refuses to play ball with the UK government and do what she’s told, so now they will investigate her, her friends, her colleagues, and her family until the end of time
! exterminate exterminate exterminate !
Isn’t this a clear case of years of delay after delay to a conclusion and even more taxpayers money being spent ? why aren’t the Tories and Labour complaining about all this waste of public money on this project?
Haven’t police Scotland and the Crown office missed their target of solving crimes? who’s fault is this? don’t we have two governments in charge of public spending for Scotland? why isn’t the Sec of State Alister Jack not speaking up?
If this were a road? or “a ferry”?
or we are the Borg you will be assimilated
it seems that the British establishment have taken a leaf from Putin’s book and are using the police and prosecution to undermine and harass political opponents. Or did Putin take a leaf from the British establishment book, I think they did this sort of thing to Wilson in the 70s.
Ok, seems suspicious were correct. If the source is speaking the truth, the UK Crown Office are factoring in the general election, ergo the investigation is not free, fair and apolitical.
https://archive.is/sy11o
Operation Branchform: Nicola Sturgeon’s ministers quizzed by police
A source said: “A new senior investigating officer was put in charge about three or four months ago to have a proper read across everything.
“There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the police and the Crown Office.
“There have been interviews done with former Cabinet ministers who were in position when Ms Sturgeon took over.”
Another source told the paper the Crown Office would have to make a decision “sooner rather than later” with a General Election on the horizon.
If a representative of the Crown office or police Scotland were to make a public statement saying “I’m going to lie to you now” we wouldn’t believe them
That’s how stupid they now look, political puppets for the Brits much
It is self-evident that if a decision to press ahead with prosecution is being influenced by the fact a general election is coming, the system is totally corrupt.
The only consideration that should be made is the human rights of those deemed under suspicion, and democratic implications. As long as these remain under that cloud, while presumed innocent, their reputations, work and family lives are being damaged, as potentially is the political party they are associated with, ergo democracy. Therefore, investigations should be working to conclude on the case as fast as humanly possible and that’s it. Specific election dates should not factor at all. If the investigation must run on it must run on. If it can be sped up, it should be sped up. The election must not factor in.
And prosecutors should take care. They have already taken one innocent former pro-indy FM to court. Two would have the country up in arms. The UK is supposed to be a free and fair democracy. Nope, they can’t fuck up this time like they did with Salmond. They need to be 100% sure the jury would convict. Rock solid evidence of fraud. No doubts at all. Case over in a few days due to the weight of evidence. Trust in the UK establishment would be destroyed by another case of senior SNP in the UK dock only to be found innocent.
If Nicola had a wee dug the Polis would have probably interviewed that as well by now just in case she had spent the 600k on doggie treats. This investigation of nigh on three years is beyond the pale. I have absolutely no trust in Police Scotland or the Crown Office because of it. Everyone with half a brain and some sense of morality knows this investigation is bent as a nine bob note and politically motivated probably by Westminster/MI5. Even the people who originally complained consider it dragging on far too long. My money is on them charging Nicola Sturgeon with stealing a clicky pen the day after the GE is announced which the scumbag media will spin into a similar crime to the Great Train Robbery . I know for a fact Police Scotland are short of funds and officers yet over a million pounds has been spent on this farce. It is now over a year since Nicolas house and Snp headquarters were searched. That took place on 6 April last year. The Snp is the only Scottish political party with a large amount of members. It is very very likely that both the Tories and Labour parties have been involved in dodgy funding/ financial dealings for years but the Met Police have never got involved in investigating that or Police Scotland investigating their Scottish accounting units laughingly called Scottish Labour and Conservatives who are not even registered with the Electoral Commission as separate from their UK parties.
Think I’ll reserve judgement on PS for a while.
It’s quite possible that they too are getting frustrated by the amount of funds and manhours they’re having to expend on this. I’m sure many of them can think of far more pressing matters. (Of course, it’s also quite possible that they’re not.)
The Crown Office though…?
So why interview Cabinet Ministers from the time Nicola first became FM .That makes absolutely no sense. The funding appeal for the £600k did not take place until years after Nicola became FM in late 2014. What the heck are the Polis actually investigating. 😡The utter corruption that took place with the Tory government and their pals during COVID and Bojo got a £50 fine.
We live in a country (Scotland) controlled by another country (England) where you can buy a position in that government who control our country (Scotland)
Now that really is bought and sold for English gold, and their new law is they can arrest you for being smelly, you don’t have to say anything bad, you just have to be homeless but smell unpleasant to the arresting officer, if that criteria is met then you’re in the bad smell poky
One presumes if you don’t smell bad you just get moved on to be homeless somewhere else until you eventually do smell bad, then you’re nicked buddy
I’m falling about laughing now at the news there’s another poll been conducted but this time on public opinions of the hate crime law, and I’m laughing because the only people who would be opposed to this law are the people who would commission a poll following weeks of misinformation about the thing they want misinformed opinions about
What’s worse is that people are daft enough or biased to take part in such nonsense
Once again Police Scotland and the media do not come out of this looking truthful or competent
I watched a couple of raving lunatic presenters on Talk TV news screaming their heads of to the viewing public that people could be arrested at their breakfasts for saying they don’t like something, total and complete deliberate misinformation politically driven to achieve a desired result
Like the accountants say, garbage in garbage out, you’ll always get a stupid answer if you ask a stupid question of a stupid person, or an uniformed willing dupe that you just created
This is yet another example of the National newspaper running the same garbage as the English papers instead of exposing it for the crap it is
I cannot find the question anywhere. I suspect it’s a multiple liner, ergo meaningless drivel.
Anything going any way beyond this:
Do you think the Hate Crime Act, Scotland (2024) should be retained or scrapped?
….would be into the realms of ‘explaining’, or more correctly, leading towards a desired answer, so not worth a jot. It’s that or you give the respondent the entire act to read over, with an impartial expert on hand to answer questions. Given very unpopular populist weather vanes Alba commissioned it, I can’t help but be a bit suspicious the former will be the case!
Their twitter says only a minority of respondents (45%) want the act scrapped. I wish this was ‘a majority’ as they claim. If it was, we’d have been independent since 2014.
Ship jumping Alba MSP Ash Regan is dead against the bill but voted for it in 2021 which she now claims she was duped into by the SNP, I’m inclined to accept her admission that she’s easily led, it’s why she’s in the Alba party
Salmond may have been found not guilty and not proven of certain crimes, but an innocent man he certainly is not, his ongoing obsession with the destruction of those he is using for his wedge grudge shenanigans sticks out on him like a Prince Charles carbuncle, and why his vote share is as it is
If she’s so easily led, thank goodness she isn’t trying to lead either the government or anything to do with independence!
Just think if she’d won the leadership contest of the SNP, Alex Salmond would’ve been employed as her top advisor
I’ll bet not a lot of people thought of that
Except him
Now you’re just trying to scare me…
(Good try, but I’m made of sterner stuff!)
“This is yet another example of the National newspaper running the same garbage as the English papers instead of exposing it for the crap it is“
Anyone catch the National headline yesterday?
Really ambiguous, especially if you haven’t read the story.
I’d like to think it was phrased like that so that non-believers would think “Aha!” then read the article and see the refutation. But that wouldn’t be ‘benefit of the doubt’ that’d be trying to fill the empty space between my ears with a turnip.
What are these people playing at?
If there is one thing you can be absolutely sure of, I will never, ever vote Alba.
They want to repeal all Scotland’s hate crime laws, including even with regard to racism. These are all bundled into the Hate Crime Act.
That’s crazy.
I would say that we do now have a right-wing pro-indy party, except I don’t see any credible evidence they really support independence. Alba certainly don’t support ‘Scots getting the government (= MSPs, MPs) they voted for‘, that’s for sure.
I am looking forward to the coming GE where Alba MPs will vanish like snaw aff a dyke.
Just to say that if Sturgeon really had her fingers in the till, I still support indy 100%. That’s because I’m a just normal, average Scot. One of the 51%+ that all think like this.
I’ve never supported indy ‘cos sturgeon’ nor any other politician. Only a brainless idiot would ever tie the two together. I support indy because I’m Scottish and there is no question at all that Scotland, my country, will be better governed by governments its people actually elect. Will not be plain sailing, never is for any country, but still far better than being plundered and misruled by England.
I fully expect that under indy we shall have some politicians getting their ears felt for dodgy deals. It’s in the UK that they do this but don’t get in trouble for it. Well, at least if they’re not a pro-Yes politician.
If the British establishment has been up to no good here, interfering with free democracy, it could not have been a more stupid thing to try for the above reasons. If you want more Scots to support indy, this is how you do it. That and blocking iref2.
And the British establishment, in its determination to get rid of people whom they see as a threat to its control and hegemony (in our case, over Scotland), and in its determination to sow seeds of doubt and to damage trust in the minds of the population with regards to a particular political party, is not beyond arranging the planting of evidence and the dissemination of fake news. It’s what their ‘Secret Services’ are paid to do.
The British Secret Service has its origins at the start of the 20th C in an effective campaign of fake news.
Yes, and the success of MI5 in it’s operations aimed at maintaining the Great British empire are there for all to see.
Totally ineffective at best, very counterproductive at worst (for the UK). Pretty much everyone has left, and Scots want to do so too now. North of Ireland is close to deciding this too, with Wales about Scotland in 2012 based on polling.
If the UK is not attractive, Scots will support leaving it. You could plant evidence in the home of every Yes politician and Scots would just vote for their replacements, even if they believed such a charade. Which they would not, because people are already, unsurprisingly thinking two SNP FMs in a row is rather coincidental, particularly given the same is not happening to unionist heads of government.
The SNP in trouble was supposed to get people behind Labour. But what thicko thought that would work? Scots don’t like Labour so won’t support them, end of. You don’t start liking someone you don’t like because you are unhappy with someone else. What kind of brainless nonsense is that? It’s the same stupidity that Starmer thought would seen him ride into No 10 on a white stallion. Erm no, that’s not how it works. His popularity has not benefited one bit from the Tory demise. Labour are on exactly the same level of support amongst the total electorate as ‘their worst defeat since 1935’ in 2019. That kind of total incompetence takes the very best of English Oxbridge education.
The British state, like most things, is also totally shite at statecraft. England is, after all, a country that puts like likes of Johnson, Truss and Sunak in No. 10.
Protests against the hated Starmer government continue to mount. Not even got the keys to No. 10 yet either!
https://archive.is/uDKax
Labour HQ drenched in red paint by pro-Palestine protesters
More and more resignations.
I sense big change coming, and it’s not in the form of a popular Labour government that’s for sure.
Good start to Labour’s local election campaign anyway. Maybe Starmer needs to campaign to win his councillors back then voters? As things stand, he’s calling for people to vote for councillors that are resigning from the Labour party in protest at the Labour party.
I can’t see last years low share of 35% – 9% lower than national polls suggested – being repeated.
https://archive.is/XEfJ8
Twenty councillors resign from Labour in row over leadership
TWENTY councillors in Lancashire have resigned their Labour memberships in protest over the party’s leadership.
The councillors each sit on Pendle Borough Council, Nelson Town Council or Brierfield Town Council.
They have claimed that Keir Starmer’s leadership no longer reflects their views and say they will now serve as independents.
https://archive.is/FbJXT
Councillors quit Labour sharing brutal statements on party’s direction
A PAIR of councillors in England have quit the Labour Party in protest over Keir Starmer vowing to continue Tory fiscal policies and “inaction” on Gaza.
Councillors Sean Halsall and Natasha Carlin – who both represent Sefton in Merseyside – have announced on Twitter/X they will be ditching their membership with the former insisting that change “will not come through the Labour Party” in a brutal indictment of the party’s direction just months away from a General Election.
Halsall insisted he no longer wanted to be “tied to an outdated whip system that holds us to ransom to toe the party line”, while Carlin slated the party for carrying on the “fiscal policies of the Tory Party” as well as “inaction” over Palestine.
It comes after 20 councillors in Lancashire resigned their membership in protest over the party’s leadership. It is understood this mass resignation was the largest defection under Starmer.
BBC Scotland and STV news dig up Glasgow voters with short memories as to what’s happened in recent years with Brexit, the Pandemic, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak as these *news*? broadcasters continue their campaign for a Labour party that once turned Scotland and Glasgow’s buildings black and Ghettoized the poorer population, not even counting the Gordon Brown debt from PFI the SNP Scottish government is still paying for with our current taxes
How about the £half £billion FFM Labour’s Jack McConnell returned to the English treasury because he couldn’t think of anything to spend it on
Well the Ghetto’s Labour created might have been a start
Flash Savile row Jack is a Lord in England now y’know, that’s what £half a £billion gets you
Middle class lefties won’t stop Labour using private hospitals to clear backlog says Streeting.
The NHS has always used private health care where appropriate. So all that has changed is the rhetoric from Labour. It sounds like the sort of thing Thatcher would have said.
I worry about the future. Trump winning concerns me but increasingly a Starmer government also troubles me. Never has it felt more like merely a change of government not party. England really has become permanently Tory regardless of party. Perhaps that is what they want but we have to decouple our train from theirs. We can’t go down this line again.
Aye, Starmer and co are determined that centre left folks will not stand in their way, be they Labour members or voters.
…and Starmer was using the old Tory perennial when asked if he would increase taxes to increase funding for the NHS –
” There’s too much waste in the NHS ” in stated , just like a Tory !
‘A black boy holding up a basket of fruit’ for his colonial English / British masters. This is how England / Britain stills sees itself.
https://archive.is/e2v9v
Foreign Office: Former diplomats lead call to replace ‘elitist’ department
The Foreign Office should be abolished and replaced by a new Department for International Affairs with “fewer colonial era pictures on the wall”.
That is the conclusion of a group of senior former diplomats and officials in a pamphlet proposing a radical reform of Britain’s foreign policy.
They say the Foreign Office is elitist, “rooted in the past” and “struggling to deliver a clear mandate”…
…The authors include former cabinet secretary Lord Sedwill, former director general at the Foreign Office Moazzam Malik, and Tom Fletcher, former ambassador and foreign affairs adviser to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron…
…The authors are scathing of the Foreign Office, known officially as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). They say it is “struggling to deliver a clear mandate, prioritisation and resource allocation”…
They say “the very name of the Foreign, Commonwealth (formerly ‘Colonial’) and Development Office is anchored in the past”…
…”Modernising premises – perhaps with fewer colonial era pictures on the walls – might help create a more open working culture and send a clear signal about Britain’s future.”…
…The Foreign Office – based in King Charles Street in Whitehall – was built in the 1860s in a grand classical Victorian style to impress foreign visitors at the height of the British empire.
Many paintings there tell the story of Britain’s imperial past, including one – next to the foreign secretary’s office – in which Africa is portrayed by a black boy holding up a basket of fruit…
They don’t teach the end of empire at England’s public schools.
The NHS funded £125Billion has not increased since 2015. The Tories cut it in real terms despite an increase in the elderly % population. The Tories are spending £1090Billion.
Westminster funding Covid £270Billion over two years. Much of it was wasted in fraudulent schemes. Mone etc. Instead of funding the NHS.
The Scottish Gov has to mitigate the cuts. SNHS funded £13Billion + social care. To help keep the elderly in their own homes. Residential care £1000+ a week. Hospital care £1000 a day for operations etc. Specialist treatment.
The elderly 20% use 80% of the NHS. The frail human body. Women outlive men. People are voting for unionist parties that are impoverishing their mothers, who gave them birth.
Private schools brutalised many of the pupils. Traumatised.
The BBC is obsessed by the CalMac ferry story. So why have they bounced the fantastic news of the launch of Glen Rosa today off the top spot in their BBC Scotland news page? Instead they have an old story about the Celtic Boys Club scandal.
I expect them to be down at the slipway today filming the historic event.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scotland
If they thought it was going to sink they’d be down there with wide lenses and panavision technicolour supersonic scopes recording every dramatic failure of the “many long years delayed massively over over budget ferries”
Every time the mention the word ferries that line precedes it
I’m still waiting for BBC Scotland reporting on the new law in England that says you can be arrested for smelling badly, as determined by any arresting officer
I’m still waiting for BBC Scotland reporting on the new law in England that says you can be arrested for smelling badly, as determined by any arresting officer
You will be waiting a while since no such law has been passed. But sums up the state the Conservatives are in. The purpose of the bill was to repeal the Vagrancy Act 1824 which is still on the staute book in England & Wales meaning that Sleeping rough and begging is still illegal in England & Wales.
It should of been the easiest bill in the world to pass; it had cross party support and would of sailed through Parliament – until the right wing of the Conservative party got involved and started calling homelessness a ‘lifestyle choice’ and wanted to put clauses in it about people smelling etc.
Now instead of being a bill that would been easy to pass and generated positive headlines – its become a toxic bin fire (so much so that the Government has stopped its progression through Parliament) with Conservative MPs threatening to rebel if the wording is not changed.
Hence why polling is showing the Conservatives loosing badly in the next General Election. If you cant pass a bill the nobody aside from a wing of your own party objects to people are not going to trust you to run the country.
archive version for posterity https://archive.is/9Spyd
Genuine question, but does anyone support independence for the following reasons, including combinations?
No takers? OK, how about, in a good part at least, one or more of the following?
Thanks, that makes sense. So we can see what’s ‘delivering independence’ bit by bit. Yet to counter this, what/who are unionists focussing on?
Let’s not interrupt them.
I support independence because I believe Scotland should be governed by a party, or parties (and no foreign parties would be allowed to stand), chosen by the people of Scotland.
Personally I would choose SNP, but when independent, and the government is run by some other party/parties chosen democratically, then I would accept that.
I do however think leaders can put people off. For instance Alba, even if they suddenly were genuinely for independence, I would not vote for them purely because of Salmond, and I reckon there are many women who would agree. And after Nicola took over many more woman supported the SNP than before (though I acknowledge some women, sadly, don’t like her, my sister for one!)
Yes, the can put people off a party temporarily, but not independence, and as you note, independence is the goal.
Men and women voted equally for the SNP in 2011 under Salmond. Sturgeon was certainly a popular leader with women, but I’ve never seen any evidence that people have moved to Yes because of her. If they had, we’d see Yes declining now she’s resigned under something of a shadow (pending outcome). The two are just not linked.
In post 2014 polling, absolutely nobody mentioned either parties nor leaders in polling as to why they voted when given a free choice. Unless these fall into the 4% none of the above.
Nope, two reasons came out on top by a country mile as to why people voted Yes.
The first did centre on something inspiring them to vote Yes. That was Westminster politics. Britain must be thanked deeply for the role it played and continues to play in converting people to Yes. It is ‘delivering independence’ for us. Britain / unionists start conversion process by putting people off the UK. Once these are sufficiently put off Britain, then the second reason comes into play.
And it is that Scots should govern Scotland, because while that might not be a sunlit uplands all the time, it will be better overall. It’s the reason why the peoples of all countries choose independence.
At this point, the voter may start seeking a means to an end in the form of a party that aims for independence. They have a growing choice now.