Anas Sarwar, the branch manager of the Labour party’s Scottish accounting unit, gave a speech over the weekend which was breathtakingly hypocritical and mendacious even by the standards of a party for whom breathtaking mendacious hypocrisy is very much its USP.
Speaking ahead of the STUC congress which is being held in Dundee this week, Sarwar promised that under a future Labour government the UK would see the greatest ever transfer of power and wealth to working people that has ever occurred in the UK. That smells a bit like a Vow, doesn’t it, and we all know how seriously the Labour party takes ensuring that it delivers on its vows.
Under Labour’s New Deal for Working People, which has been championed by deputy leader Angela Rayner and which was worked out with trade unions , the party has pledged to end zero hours contracts, repeal anti-strike laws, expand sick pay and employment rights and end fire and rehire. It all sounds too good to be true, and that’s because it is. Like so many of Labour’s fine sounding pledges before it, this New Deal for Working People will never see the light of day in any recognisable form.
With Sir Keir Starmer all but certain to be the next Prime Minister, there has been some pushback from businesses on the plans, leading to fears they could be watered down. Keir Starmer never ever U turns on his promises in order to placate corporate interests and the right wing, so we have absolutely nothing to worry about on that score just as we need not worry our little heads that Anas Sarwar might yet again be pontificating far above his pay grade on topics that he has no influence on.
What will happen is that this New Deal for Working People will be kicked to committees, the most progessive thing about it will be how it will be progressively watered down, its key planks stripped out, and absolutely nothing which might provoke the ire of the right wing press will remain intact. During its progress through Parliament it will be further diluted, exemptions will be introduced at the behest of Starmer’s corporate donors and what eventually reaches the statute book will be an unrecognisable travesty of what Sarwar has just anounced. Then he’ll hide from the press and not take any responsibility for his party’s deceit.
Sarwar voted against the SNP’s plan for a progressive tax policy, ensuring that the wealthy pay more. So much for his ‘commitment’ to redistribution. Sarwar also took a pop at the Scottish Government over the high levels of zero hours contracts in Scotland, but he and his party have refused to countenance the devolution of employment law. It takes a very special kind of brass neck to criticise the Scottish Government for a situation which you yourself are refusing to allow the Scottish Government the powers to address.
We all know what is really going to happen. Sarwar can ‘pledge’ all he likes, but he has no power to make any of it happen. We have very clearly seen that Labour MPs elected in Scotland pay no heed to the dictates of the branch manager, Michael Shanks is a case in point, most recently the Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West was defending his party’s refusal to consider a halt to arms exports to Israel, despite Sarwar’s calls for one.
Shanks resigned from the Labour party in 2019 over Brexit, denouncing Labour on social media as “a party that has a bankrupt approach to our membership of the EU and is complacent about the impact it will have on the poorest people across the UK.” How times change. It’s amazing what being offered a junior shadowministerial position will do for a man’s convictions. Now Shanks is an enthusiastic supporter of Starmer’s morally bankrupt support for the hardline Brexit bequeathed to us by the Tories.
Earlier this month Sarwar said: “A failure to properly access humanitarian aid into Gaza, the targeting of infrastructure like hospitals and schools, innocent civilians losing their lives on such a huge scale in Gaza, and the death of aid workers killed because of IDF [Israeli Defence Force] attacks.These are clear breaches, in my view, of international law and therefore we should not be selling arms to Israel.”
However appearing on the BBC on Sunday, Shanks refused to back Sarwar’s position and instead insisted it was “right” that the UK Labour Party has declined to call for an end to Israeli weapons exports without seeing the UK Government’s legal advice on the matter. Shanks also misleadingly claimed that Sarwar and UK leader Keir Starmer shared a position on the issue although they patently do not. Lying comes so easily to the Labour party.
In the same interview Shanks also refused to back anything other than a one-size-fits-all approach to UK immigration – despite experts saying the challenges from such a policy were more acute in Scotland and Scotland has particular challenges that could be addressed by devolving aspects of immigration policy to Holyrood.
Asked: “Why not devolve it to Holyrood? Scotland’s got this unique crisis, this absolutely specific need for more people that’s unpopular in key electoral areas south of the Border. One-size-fits-all isn’t working at the moment. Why not just give it to Holyrood?”
Shanks responded: “Because we’re part of a United Kingdom and immigration is a reserved issue, and when you think about where the UK border is, it’s right that that’s a one-system approach.”
What an asinine non answer. Unpacked, that ‘answer’ boils down to ‘just because’. It’s the response given by a man who thinks he’s speaking to morons. There are other non-independent self-governing territories which do have control over aspects of immigration policy. This is the case in Quebec in Canada and the autonomous Portuguese territories of Madeira and the Azores. There is no reason that it cannot be the case for Scotland too, other than the fact that Michael Shanks doesn’t want it to. The geographical location of the UK border is meaningless, all the more so because the vast majority of people entering Scotland directly from outwith the UK enter via airports where border controls are physically located on Scottish territory.
The truth is that the Labour party of Keir Starmer has no interest in offering a radical political alternative or a meanigful redisribution of wealth and power, no matter what Anas Sarwar might ‘pledge’ while he is seeking Scottish votes for Starmer’s right wing British nationalist project. Labour’s Scottish branch office is the most dishonest party in Scottish politics, but that is only to be expected, its very name ‘Scottish Labour’ is a lie. It lies about being distinct in organisation, leadership and policies from The Keir Starmer right wing British nationalist flag shagging project of which it is a wholly owned and controlled accounting unit. You cannot trust a party which is dishonest about its very identity.
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It wouldn’t matter if every single power that exists were devolved to Holyrood when the government at Westminster can overrule all or any of them at a whim
Scotland has an elected management, not a government, and that was the biggest mistake ever in changing the appeared function of the Scottish executive to the false claim of government, it lead the public to believe that decisions made in Scotland are absolute like normal governments around the world, when they’re not, then when the Westminster government overrules or promises or changes anything to suit them that leaves the Scottish executive with the thin and weak argument that power can be removed and changed at will by England
An ego driven mistake to make Scotland look like it had muscles has exposed us as the nine stone weaklings that get sand kicked in our faces by any colour of government England’s population decides to choose to rule over us, leaving us in a position where a party from England with barely any representation in Scotland is paid far more attention to than the elected *government*
So whatever Sarwar or DRoss (who cannot get a majority to vote for them) say at any given time becomes more important than the actual elected party of Scotland because everyone knows that our Scottish Executive or Government can and will be overruled by the bosses of these two politicians that represent the ruling regime of England
Our own parliament in Scotland is disrespected and denigrated as a non entity by the entire media, so non elected representatives of England’s political parties in Scotland are given more credence even when they lie
Without independence for our country this cannot ever change
Vote Labour vote Tory vote Liberal Democrat, it makes no difference to what Scotland gets when the country of England holds the ultimate power over all, and designed in such a way as to make any vote not for a Scottish party (SNP) a vote for England control
Voting SNP isn’t about policies, those really don’t matter when they can be overturned at will by England anyway, it’s about removing control from England, then Scotland can get on with joining in with the world, instead of being stuck with a vision of an Edwardian England cut off from the world but chock full of politicians with desires to be rich Americans every chance they get
A fair question but I think the Lib Dems pip them to the post. The Tories are horrible but they don’t try to hide it so much…whereas Reform use their horribleness as a selling point.
That said, Shanks is such an embarrassment. He stood claiming to support so many issues and has turned into an obsequious Yes Man for Starmer. He stands for nothing.
The Tories are horrible but they don’t try to hide it so much…whereas Reform use their horribleness as a selling point.
This is why Labour are failing to attract voters in Scotland, being up from 18% of the total electorate in 2019 to 20% now. They have managed to win over some tactical unionists mini-budget, but they’ve failed to win over any Tories nor SNP.
In England, they’ve lost their left vote to win over some Tories, but a lot of these have now left them for Rerform. So as share of the electorate saying they’ll defo vote, Labour are back to where they were in 2019.
If you want to vote left, Labour are no good. If you want centre, Labour are no good as they are saying lots of centre-right stuff. If you want to vote right though, well Labour are not real right. They don’t genuinely deeply hate migrants, minorities, the low paid, those who’ve lost their jobs etc, they just say they do by ‘right wing virtue (hate?) signalling‘. So if you want to drown the desperate folk the channel boats… have the disabled, folk who’ve lost their jobs starve in the dark etc, then Labour are not for you. You want a genuine right wing party like Reform for this. if you want rampant selfish capitalists, then Labour still has too many decent folk in it’s wider ranks; best go traditional Tory.
‘I’ll be what you want me to me and everything to everyone’ doesn’t win votes. You need to stand for something which voters are absolutely sure you stand for, and something they want.
Well said Paul – Just as probably 80% of England’s Labour support is frantically scrambling for Independents to unseat Starmer’s “chosen”, Sarwar attempts to breathe life into a pledge he will never have authority to carry out, with the failsafe of Gordiesaur’s “Look at the small print…” – Aside his J&J pledge at a bargain price of 33.85 a case inc VAT from his “arm’s length” cash&carry ( where they apparently seek a skilled forklift driver at 60p over minimum wage ) perhaps he should put his own money where his very big mouth is ?
As to Shanks and his solid yet flexible ‘principles’, he’ll never see re-election and knows it – Just as Never Hurry a Murray’s had a good run, but his scam has most definitely come off the rails, so the last of Labour are toast at the next GE..
An independent Scotland can do so much more than play the “look at the small print” game so beloved of those who have serially failed us. We can do nothing about England nor should we. It’s their battle….
Backing arms sales to a state committing genocide in plain sight is unforgivable. Sarwar obviously understands that the Scottish people are disgusted by this cruel hypocrisy. So he pretends to have a will of his own and a policy to match. I do hope people refuse to be taken in.
[…] Source […]
What an incredibly successful policy! That’s an enormous drop in people reporting they’ve been subject to a hate crime. Clearly the law is having the effect intended!
https://archive.ph/yD0I3
Hate crime complaints drop by almost 75% in second week of new laws, Police Scotland confirms
The number of hate crime complaints made to Police Scotland has dropped by almost 75% in the second week of new legislation coming into force.
🙂
🤣 ‘ an stats the way of de world…. ‘
How much of a union is Scotland supposed to be a part of when the Prime Minister of the UK refuses to brief the First Minister of Scotland on the latest war situation ?
Unionists would say it’s none of Scotland’s business, but if we’re in a union where Scotland houses the nuclear arsenal of the UK and as such would be a first strike target of any hostile country with similar weapons, then the FM of Scotland should be amongst the first in the briefing loop to be informed of if and or when threats of hostilities may manifest
The fact that the PM of the UK is only interested in England demonstrates more than clearly just how little Scotland is ever considered at any time if we can’t be informed on the possibilities of hostile acts by countries armed with nuclear weapons that would definitely target the UK nuclear assets located in Scotland
One nuke fired by any country at any other country makes Scotland vulnerable to attack by anybody else that decides to become involved
Scotland deserves to be informed, England’s Prime Minister says we don’t
Those whose function it is to represent Westminster’s interests in Scotland frequently use the excuse that Scotland cannot decide on matters because it is “reserved” to Westminster.
Westminster “reserves” matters to itself because they use devolution is a means to devolve accountability without the actual means to diverge from Westminster policies.
This scam,implemented by “British” Labour,was simply put in place to placate Scots who wanted to separate themselves from an English imperial culture and decide matters for ourselves.
Those who support this scam deserve our full and unwavering contempt.
I honestly can’t believe bigots are up in arms that the proposed law to protect people from hate crimes on the basis of sex, would apply in the case of misogynistic hate crimes directed at a transwoman. Erm, obviously this would apply! Stirring up misogynistic hate is crime no matter who is on the receiving end. People mistake others for the opposite sex often enough even when these are not trans!
I mean what next, people can stir up homophobic hatred towards someone as long as the victim is actually straight?
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that bigots are not very bright.
… yet that those who promote those perspectives are almost guaranteed a gong… Arise Sir James Mageddon, for services to broadcasting…
“… up in arms that the proposed law to protect people from hate crimes on the basis of sex, would apply in the case of misogynistic hate crimes directed at a transwoman.”
I spotted a tweet from Joanna Cherry MP in response to a Scots lawyer who argued that inclusion of a transwoman subjected to an alleged mysogynistic hate crime was logical and compatible with pre-exitsing legal practice. The nature of the ‘motivation’ of the perpetrator is the key determinant for inclusion or not.
Ms Cherry tweeted: ”While this is legally correct, it is understandable, given recent legislation & the tenor of political debate in Scotland, that many women FEEL their rights are considered less important than & subordinate to the rights of those with a transgender identity.’ (my emphasis)
So ‘feeling’ something is enough to justify it as ‘understandable’, at least sometimes. But how legislation that seeks to tackle crimes motivated by mysogyny sustains feelings of ‘subordination’ …..?
This tweet in the context of a proposed mysogyny Bill seems rather ironic. Not only has separate legislation here been proposed in line with the independent commission led by Dame Helena Kennedy, it accords with public statements made prior to the Kennedy commission by several women’s rights charities in Scotland.
Way back in May 2018, Scottish Women’s Aid, Engender and Rape Crisis Scotland issued the following joint statement immediately following the publication of Lord Bracadale’s report on legal reforms to address hate crime in Scotland.
Source: https://womensaid.scot/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Response-to-Hate-Crime-Statement-SWA-Engender-RCS.pdf
(For background see also: See Bracadale (May 2018) Independent Review of Hate Crime Legislation in Scotland – Final Report. Scottish Government.)
The statement includes the following: ‘Women’s organisations disappointed by Lord Bracadale’s recommendations, seek further dialogue with Scottish Government:
‘Engender, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Scottish Women’s Aid are disappointed by the recommendations in the inquiry’s report. The question of how to tackle misogynistic online abuse, sexual harassment in public spaces, and incitement to misogyny is one being raised worldwide. Women and girls face epidemic levels of misogynistic hate in schools, in the workplace, on city streets, and online. WE CALLED FOR A STANDALONE MISOGYNISTIC HATE CRIME TO BE CREATED IN SCOTLAND AS a way of disrupting this epidemic.
‘We think the recommendations put forward in this (i.e. Bracadale’s) report do not pay enough attention to international experience and evidence. Other nations and states have found that SIMPLY ADDING GENDER TO A LAUNDRY-LIST OF GROUPS PROTECTED BY HATE CRIME LEGISLATION LEADS TO UNDERREPORTING, UNDER-INVESTIGATION, AND UNDER-PROSECUTION. We don’t want a law that languishes unused, giving impunity to perpetrators.’
And: ‘Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said: “Women and girls are facing epidemic levels of misogynistic abuse, online, in the streets, on public transport and in our schools. We think there is A NEED FOR A BOLDER APPROACH TO CONSIDERING HOW THE LAW CAN BETTER PROTECT WOMEN’S RIGHTS.”
Recall, the above statement pre-dates Baroness Kennedy’s working group and its own report which indeed came out in support of separate legislation. It is likely that the response of these women’s rights groups in 2018 to Bracadale’s recommendations were instrumental in the Scottish Government commissioning the Kennedy investigation into how best to tackle misogyny. Subordinated?
Toxic masculinity, toxic femininity misogyny, homophobia and a hundred other names of things that folk make up to make laws to protect us from
What about a law to protect us from the internet? or just invent a time machine and go back and don’t invent the damn thing so that todays society don’t sit around all day searching online for stuff to offend people that are far too ready and willing to be offended by
Maybe it’s my age or something but the world seems chock full of people with a readiness to be cruel to other folk who spend their time investigating what they feel is being done cruelly to them
Ach, I’m so tired of shit, I want a lawyer
A law to protect us from having to suffer the nonsense sprouted by prize idiots would be nice, but sadly being a prize idiot spouting nonsense isn’t criminal. Instead, it’s a key qualification in some professions such as unionist politics, BBC presenting, and surprisingly, English children’s fantasy book authoring.
If the SNP created a cure for cancer tomorrow JK Rowling would find some way to object to it, but applaud Rishi Sunak if he ate the legs off a small boat immigrant live on TV
The woman’s a British nationalist, a female Murdo Fraser, and that’s it
As you do when the polis are closing in on you.
https://archive.ph/v02Tn
Cancelled Glasgow book festival Aye Write receives lifeline donation
Aye Write, the Glasgow literary festival that was cancelled last month after its funding application was turned down by Creative Scotland has announced that it will present a slimmed programme after an “unexpected, but very welcome” £65,000 donation.
The donation, from a foundation set up by the late lottery winner Colin Weir, will help fund a series of pop-up events throughout 2024, featuring authors including David Nicholls, Val McDermid and Lionel Shriver…
...Along with Nicholls, McDermid and Shriver, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and the actors Alan Cumming, Kieran Hodgson, Forbes Masson and Doon Mackichan will feature at the pop-up events
#keepingalowprofile
I bet you:
(1) No blue tent will appear outside his house
(2) The media won’t report from that location*
(3) He won’t be arrested then released without charge
(4) The investigation won’t take at least 3 years
https://archive.ph/fz85p
Mark Menzies: Tory MP suspended over claims of paying off ‘bad people’
Mark Menzies, who represents Fylde in Lancashire for the Tories, is alleged to have used thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and to have made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release.
The MP disputes the allegations, first reported by The Times, but the Conservative Party is looking into the claims and taking them seriously…
…According to the The Times, £14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities was transferred to Menzies’ personal bank accounts and used for private medical expenses.
Because missing money is missing. It’s not there. And if it’s not there, but has been taken by e.g. an employee from the company accounts, there’s basically no hiding that once people start looking. Just like in pretty much every ‘fingers in the till’ case, the moment someone rings the warning bell, it’s all over for the perpetrator. Will be caught red handed. Money missing from the company accounts… but there it is winging its way to a personal account when you sift through the paperwork. And in a high profile Scottish case, you’d need at least 3 people to be colluding, which would be very unusual if it was the case. The more involved, the higher the risk, exponentially higher, as it only takes 1 to mess up or feel guilty and blab. No honour among thieves, and the more thieves there are in on the job…
—
*Incidentally, is it not illegal to gather outside someone’s house with the purpose of intimidating them / breaching their right to privacy in their own home / putting them and family at risk by giving away the location of their home? If protestors should not be doing this, then surely journalists should not be doing so either? Someone is innocent until proven guilty, so should be left alone surely? Seems it’s wrong for protestors to put (symbolically) dead children’s shoes outside an ‘innocent’ Starmer’s home, but the entire country can gather outside an innocent (until proven otherwise) Sturgeon’s with the help of British / English journalists.
We have just had Mr Wragg MP mixed up in a sexting scandal now this one in a similar scandal. How many more are there?
Scottish Labour ( sic ) appear to heading for a bit of a f*ck-up ( to use a political reference ) in the looming GE with the content of their election literature .
On the one hand we have Sarwar attempting to pretend that there actually is a Scottish Labour Party by diverging from Starmer’s official line on Arms Sales to the despicable Benjamin Netanyahu’s murderous regime and , belatedly , demanding no more .
On the other , we have Murray-mint in his Edinburgh Tory enclave licking the a*se of Starmer at every opporchancity and the newly elected prefect from Rutherglen , Shanks , doing exactly as he is told by his English Boss , including contradicting his Scottish Boss .
So , come the election it appears that a decision has to be made by Scottish Labour ( sic ) or whoever makes the decisions for them . What line do we take on arms sales ( and whatever else Sarwar decides is best for him in Scotland ) ?
The Scottish Bosses line or his English Bosses line ?
To be fair to Sarwar , this will not be an issue as his ”principles” on doing something against the wishes of the English Boss will last as long as a ”Starmer Pledge” , which Physicists are now using to describe as a period shorter than a Nanosecond .
But , principles aside , Sarwar will NOT be able to influence Labour’s election material as it is funded and published outwith Scotland , so Scotland’s Labour ”leader” or members have NO influence in what goes in – there is not even likely to be a mention of Scotland in it , which reflects the importance Scotland has in Starmer’s planning for his tenure in No.10 .
Another reason why it would be nonsensically stupid to think the election outcome will definitely be as polls suggest right now.
From IPSOS UK.
Look at how big the ‘may change mind’ is far ahead of elections, e.g. mid 2014 vs 2015. You can also see how it starts to drop as the day draws closer, but often only a matter of weeks ahead.
These drops are where you see big VI changes as the electorate engages, starts to look that what’s on offer and make a decision, including tatically.
English centre right voters will try and move to stop Starmer in time.
In Scotland, die hard unionist voters are already engaged in force and have been since they sensed blood with Sturgeon’s resignation. The silent majority are not though, and they have become SNP over the past decade or so. As we know certain to vote directly correlates with SNP share. If it goes up from historic lows, it should be to SNP. Polls say this is the best it gets for the union right now, and that’s Labour losing badly (3/10 votes on a low turnout), SNP still ahead, and Yes in majority.
In England, any CTV rise will go to parties which people think can stop Starmer getting a huge majority. Just because you are sick of the Tories doesn’t mean you like Starmer’s Labour. Nope, if you don’t want him to win either, you’ll try to stop this. Blair lost 10% of his VI lead to this, falling from ~53% to 43% on the day. Starmer is starting from 10% lower.
May English locals will give us a good idea how his position really is. Will he get less than the 35% of last year? Given he’s lost 1-2% since then nationally, he could fall into the low 30’s this time, giving a more realistic GE outcome for a party as unpopular in terms of the total electorate as it was in 2019.
Oh dear. Also from IPSOS UK. His worst since he took over. This is what comes of being a pretendy right-wing fraud that lies about everything with the aim of personal advancement.
Keir Starmer’s ratings have also fallen since February. 25% are satisfied with his performance as Labour leader (-4) and 56% are dissatisfied (+1). His net score of -31 is his worst as Labour leader since he recorded a -29 in May 2021. Among Labour supporters, satisfaction with his performance has also dropped from 58% to 51%.
Has never close to Tony Blair as leader of the opposition, at least not past his first few months. Doing as badly as Milliband and behind Kinnock.
How’d things go for Milliband in the 2015 election? How many seats did he win in Scotland?
And Labour were signed up to more powers from the vow…
A 2015 type narrow win is more likely IMO that Labour getting a big UK majority.
I don’t know what it is about the above photo of Starmer but I am instantly reminded of Orwell’s 1984 !
A sure sign that someone is doing something wrong when the National newspaper is nominated for Scottish press awards
Nominated…. So was Dame whats’er reface, likely a brand thing…
Just picked up an online news item that Peter Murrell was ‘re-arrested’ this morning and is being questioned by Detectives.
…and STV immediately asked those impartial politicians Hoy ( Tory ) and Baillie( (Labouring ) about an ongoing Police Investigation and they found him and the SNP guilty .Does his not prejudice proceedings IF a trial was to follow ?
Getting Déjà vu, and for the third time!
Was it explained who PM was?
I see all the papers have their ‘who is PM’ articles up to try and do this.
This is because he’s nobody of any significance to either the independence movement nor the SNP as a political party.
He’s a former HQ employee, that’s it. A private individual previously paid a salary to run the party’s operations. Pretty much nobody new who he was until his first arrest.
Sturgeon being found guilty of a crime would be of minor note politically, having no impact on SNP/Yes support, as that’s already been factored in by the public due to the British media’s insistence she is guilty.
Yousaf being arrested and charged, well that would actually be big news ahead of a GE. That or Sturgeon not being charged, ergo cleared. This would really set a cat amongst the unionist pigeons. No good seeing e.g. Alfred jailed when your arch enemy is Batman.
STV and BBC spokespersons for the opposition to Scottish independence warn the public once again about contempt of court transgressions if we the public talk about this latest development that do not apply to the media
The biggest general election in the Labour party’s recent history and the Scottish media and opposition to independence is now into full swing campaign mode with their new voting slogan * vote anybody but the SNP* and don’t mention the shit that England’s Westminster has caused in any further news items, just like they never mention Brexit
Them’s the rules now you dirty Scottish independence supporting rabble
The National newspaper has helpfully reminded us of what we can and cannot talk about to avoid contempt of court, and goes on to inform us of *UK law* in that regard
I won’t bore you with the details of this, just to say that eh, *UK LAW?* says they can imprison us for up to two years in jail for discussing the party of elected government of Scotland in this regard
Isn’t the UK government the organisation that insists they refuse to be subject to foreign courts? yet Scotland is a country with our own courts and legal system they admit, yet we are subject to English law that the UK government calls UK law, I’m confused again, one minute England says we’re a union? then they say we’re one country? then they say we’re a separate country with our own laws but must obey the laws of the foreign country of England which they admit to being
So if I speak out of turn do I get an English Bobbie with a poky hat up on the train from London to take me away, or do I get Scottish murder tents erected outside my front door by flat capped Scottish cops who’ll nick my coffee machine and milk before they arrest me?
I’m only an ignorant punter confused about which and whose country I live in and who I must tug my forelock to as I bow my head and grovel to whomever is my appointed overlord of the day
As noted in a past post, IPSOS, who use fully random sampling and directly target voters rather than hoping these come to them for a teeny financial reward, find that Yes parties in Scotland are on exactly the same level of support as in 2019. Also that Yes is solidly in majority.
Their UK-wide polls show exactly the same thing as full Scots ones:
They had the SNP share exactly spot on ahead of 2019, both in their Scottish polls and UK ones. The panel pollsters consistently underestimated SNP.
That ‘honeymoon’ peak is classic for overrepresentation of SNP. Their opponent’s voters are licking their wounds and not answering as much, SNP voters are keen to. This is really common. The SNP have never been on 55% like polls have shown post election, it’s just sampling effects. It’s really common. It’s not people who voted against the SNP suddenly cheering for the party they just opposed; what nonsense.
As this fades away, they settle back at more realistic levels. The blows of Sturgeon’s resignation and the UKSC case cause numbers to drop to pre-2019 election levels as despondency sets in and the reverse honeymoon effect takes over. Now it’s SNP not responding while unionist voters are.
This isn’t rocket science. Just think crowds at a football match when their team is winning vs losing. Which can you hear more when you ask them to give their team a cheer? If the same for polling. You are more likely to get a cheer by going over and asking them than send a spam like email which might ask them to do this or it could be about their preferred brand of shampoo. The latter sort of stuff is what 99/100 polls from yougov ask you about if you sign up. You don’t know until you start.
Peter Murrell has been charged.
Which puts the SNP in the clear.
Any talk of the ‘The SNP’s murky finances’ ends today. They are cleared (short of mass arrests of the entire party :-))
Now it’s about whether one man – one that nobody’s ever heard of, who previously managed the office – was up to no good behind his colleagues’ backs or not.
This might not seem like a blow for the union, but it actually is.
If just one man (or maybe 2 people?) is charged, 99.999% of the party is exonerated. They took donations in good faith. They used these for the purpose intended etc. They can be trusted.
They are the victims of the crime the police say has happened.
Just like that, the SNP turn from the alleged perpetrator (according to the media), to the victim (according to Police Scotland).
Which I’ve said is exactly what would happen if anyone was ever charged.
The SNP trial on this ends when the police finish charging people. Which may well be today.
So they actually released a statement to that font of Truth and Knowledge X aka Twitter. How very convenient.
Presumably the police were faced with making a charge or looking foolish. Punting it to the Prosecution will take the pressure off the police. It will now be the Prosecution’s problem. They may take it to court or they may not. Unfortunately this will now likely drag on for months more.
I can’t but help feel that this has the hallmark of MI5 black ops.
I can’t but help feel that this has the hallmark of MI5 black ops.
If so, they’ve just cleared the SNP of wrongdoing just ahead of key election. That would be their kind of level of total incompetence.
I’ll let the jury decide, but I won’t be surprised if they basically throw the case out like they did with Salmond.
Somewhat ironically the unionists were all primed to go mega over climate targets and Peter has kicked that all into touch.
Ok, so PM’s been charged with embezzlement.
This puts the SNP in the clear in terms of any wrongdoing, unless that is, the current leadership are all charged too!
The question is now whether the former office manager is guilty of helping himself or not, with the SNP the biggest victim if he was.
As it stands, the police are saying they believe I, and all the other members / donators have been defrauded, not by the SNP, but by one of their former employees. The party itself is innocent, and faces no charges.
Unless Sturgeon is charged too, expect any hit from Branchform on the SNP politically to start unwinding fast. If she is, then it may be a bit slower.
It’s now no longer about the SNP. They are in the clear.
I’ll let the jury decide on PM like they did with Salmond.
I am still wondering whether anyone else will be charged.
Another thought is there legal precedent under Scots Law for someone to be convicted of Embezzlement if money given to an organisation for a purpose was then used to fund other aspects of the organisation?. It would take someone like Andrew Tickell to answer that.
There you have it. The BBC squirms as it is forced to name the alleged victim. Just like that. The whole thing is turned on its head.
This is the problem when you lie and mislead, it will come back to haunt you.
https://archive.ph/9cSyi
The husband of former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been charged in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the Scottish National Party.
I won’t pre-judge PM’s case, but that is where we are now. The SNP are cleared ahead of the election.
More nonsense and propaganda. Unionists agents trying to make more trouble again.
More people could vote SNP.
A crowdfund for donations? Or legal expenses.
I just donated to the SNP. If the charges have any basis, the wider party are my fellow victims and I will do my bit to help.
Without doubt , regardless of the facts , the unionist media will STILL attempt to blacken the SNP/Scottish Government with all sorts of veiled (and not so veiled ) hints of skullduggery by Sturgeon / Yousaf /Me /You /anyone associated with the SNP/Independence .
Headlines tomorrow in the poisonous rags which masquerade as newspapers will emphasise STURGEON and SNP and attempt to convince the poor saps who buy this soon to be toilet paper that this is proof positive that , not only is Sturgeon guilty , the SNP complicit and the Independence movement tainted , but that she was on the Grassy Knoll in Dallas , Yousaf was her getaway driver using the infamous SNP Campervan and Independence supporters are responsible for the Great Depression , the sinking of the Titanic and England not winning the World Cup since 1966 !
Damn Jackie Balliol of the Labouring Party couldn’t keep the smirk off her coupon on the STV News as she waxed lyrical about the ”murky” SNP finances , while the Tory nonentity that is ….somebody I’ve never heard of…. urged the SNP to come clean and stop hindering the Police Investigation . Whit ? And people vote for these toerags ?
The Scottish media will be convulsed and in paroxysms of glee for weeks . GMS and Call me Kay with an ‘E’ will have a special phone-in where callers will have a dispensation from the laws governing contempt to throw as many made-up allegations against PM , Nicola Sturgeon , the SNP , the Scottish Government and Independence as they can cram into a specially extended edition, which will finish the day before the GE .
You have been warned !
So the man who as late as last year was reported to be owed money by the Snp for loans he gave them has been charged with embezzling Snp funds. How bizarre .
In other news I have just heard from a friend that Sky News has reported that the newly suspended Tory MP Mark Menzies in an incident prior to recent one, got a dog drunk. Yes you read that last bit correctly. I think I have finally fell through the Looking Glass.
At some point the reason and alleged evidence for the embezzlement charge will be made public then the embarrassment for the judiciary will hit the roof at just how thin this case is going to be, they’ll have to pick jurors from another planet to stitch this one up
I don’t reckon just pointing at a campervan and screaming guilty is going to do it
I forgot to mention in this time of nuclear threat and war from around the world that Rishi Sunak the Prime Minister of the UK still thinks it’s none of Scotland’s First Minister’s business to bother briefing him on the state of Scotland’s defense seeing as the UK’s nuclear deterrent’s are located around the corner from the majority of the population of Scotland and our people would be the first to disappear in a large flash and puff of smoke even worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together
Just sayin
Albanian gangster flogging crack in night clubs. Easy to spot. Murderers not apprehended for twenty years.
£Millions being wasted on malicious complain of innocent people. Too many innocent people on remand losing jobs.