It’s all over bar the weeping and wailing and gnashing of Tory teeth – Rishi Sunak can afford to go to a private dentist and has never needed to worry about the struggles involved in getting registered with an NHS dentist – so as he ruminates upon the magnitude of the well deserved electoral humiliation which awaits his miserable party, he can gnash his teeth to his heart’s content without having to worry about losing a filing.
On Wednesday evening Sky News hosted a debate between Sunak and Starmer, yet again Scotland was ignored. Well, it was billed as a debate but the two leading proponents of centre-right Anglo-British nationalism did not actually debate one another, rather they were each individually questioned by host Beth Rigby before taking questions from the audience in the auditorium of the town hall in Grimsby, a town in which almost 70% of the population voted to leave the EU, so you knew that neither Tweedledee nor Tweedledum was going to be asked hard questions about the immense damage that Brexit is causing to the British economy.
Rishi Sunak had previously given us a cringeworthy moment during an interview broadcast earlier on ITV, this was the interview that he’d buggered off early from the D-Day commemorations to get to. As it turned out, the interview merely compounded his D-Day woes, as he began it by apologising for showing up a bit late, claiming that the D-Day events had overrun. The interview contained just one moment of note, the multimillionaire Sunak’s bid to blag himself some relatability by telling us that he had to do without Sky TV when he was a kid, opinions are divided over whether this was because – as Sunak would have us believe, his mum and dad were scrimping and saving in order to send him to an expensive private school – or because middle class social climbers in the late 1980s and early 1990s thought that having a big satellite dish bolted to the side of your house merely advertised how common you were.
This is what he left the D-Day ceremonies early for, the reason he’s so apologetic about that now is because he realises how little it was worth it.
Still, young Rishi would have been spared the humiliation he suffered during the Sky News Not Actually a Debate where in another doomed bid to appear relatable he told Beth Rigby that he ate far too many Haribo sweets. He couldn’t have been more embarrassing if he’d done the child voice that characterises that company’s adverts.
But then it was on to the more usual political embarrassment. Sunak at times appeared genuinely lost and crestfallen as he was grilled on his failure to fulfill the five pledges that he’d told us to judge him by. You’d almost feel sorry for him if he wasn’t such a lying entitled bastert. He was genuinely discomfited as he was booed by the studio audience after he blamed striking junior doctors for the lengthening waiting lists in the NHS. Sunak had pretty much mentally checked out by this point, wishing he was sipping a Mexican Coca Cola on a private executive jet en route to his luxury beachfront apartment in Malibu.
Starmer was his usual glib and evasive self, stammering a bit when asked by an audience member why he was such a political robot, there was a glitch in his programming. He gave a singularly unconvincing non answer when asked why he’d wanted Jeremy Corbyn to be Prime Minister in 2019. Beth Rigby asked him: “You said, ‘I do think Jeremy Corbyn would make a great prime minister’, did you mean that?” But all that weasel words Starmer would say in reply was : “I was certain that we would lose the 2019 election.” That would be in no small measure due to the fact that Starmer and his allies on the right of the Labour party were doing their utmost to undermine Corbyn from within.
It wasn’t that Starmer did well in the debate but that Sunak did appallingly. In that respect the programme encapsulated the general election campaign in miniature. The post debate poll found that 64% thought Starmer did best while 36% opted for Sunak, proving only that 36% of people are idiots. There’s no love or enthusiasm for Starmer’s Tory-lite Labour party, but the actual Tories are just so hideously appalling that everyone except that 36% are actively repelled by them. And even many of that 36% won’t vote for them.
The Tories know the game is up. Earlier this week the Minister for multiple personalities Grant Shapps warned of the danger of allowing Starmer to win a supermajority. That’s not the sort of thing that a man who is convinced his party is going to do well would say.
At First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood, Douglas Ross was a shadow of his normally obnoxious self. His heart just wasn’t in it, he couldn’t work up the energy or enthusiasm for his usual snide interjections. He knows he’s yesterday’s linesman, he’s lost the trust of his own party due to his nasty carpet bagging, stabbing a sick colleague in the back in order to get himself a seat in which he stands a better chance of getting himself back into the Commons, which is where he really wants to be, not in some devolved parliament whose very existence he most likely secretly despises. But he overreached himself and discovered to his chagrin that there’s a level of despicable behaviour that’s too much even for the Tories. Now it’s him who is facing allegations of misuse of parliamentary expenses . The anger generated over his disgusting treatment of sitting Tory MP David Duguid means that he faces an uphill battle to get back into Westminster. Hell mend him.
Meanwhile The Guardian reports that the Tory campaign on the ground is descending into disarray with a chronic lack of staff and volunteers and a rising sense of panic even in seats which were once considered so safe that the party had never had to campaign to keep them.
The original Tory strategy was the so called 80:20 approach, mounting a spirited defence in their 80 most marginal seats while trying to win the 20 most marginal seats held by other parties. But this strategy has disappeared as Tory MPs struggle for political survival. One party official told The Guardian: “The 80:20 plan no longer exists, if it ever did. We are diverting resources to safer and safer seats. People in seats which have been Conservative forever are basically shitting themselves. There is no strategy – it’s pretty much disarray.”
With the Tories in this much of a mess, Labour absolutely does not need Scottish seats to depose the Conservatives. Don’t fall for the lies, Starmer wants to trounce the SNP not to defeat the Tories but to shut Scotland firmly back into the Union flag themed Great British shortbread tin.
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Wee Ginger Dug 
Old Scottish Tories like Jackson Carlaw have their pitchforks sharpened and aimed at the centre of DRoss’s back
I thought John Swinney was a model of restraint at FMQs. It must have been so tempting to have the whole chamber rolling in their seats at a few well sharpened jibes. Douglas Ross is lucky. For now.
Labour are going down too though, so maybe there’ll be a late TV head to head between Farage and that LibDem dude whatever his or her name is.
Meanwhile apparently Gordon Brown is in line for a top honour. It’ll probably be the GBE – the Gordon Brown of the Empire.
Watching the ITV debate (I wearied of Bruce’s interruptions on QT), the thing that really strikes me is that Farage is to the right of Attila the Hun and yet ordinary English working people still have seem to think he wonderful. It beggars belief.
Centre right? Centre right!! Are you mad? Far right and looney right is more like it.
When are some Scots going to realise that Westminster is and always has been England’s Parliament.This election is about electing England’s government.
Scottish representatives are ignored unless they are there as part of an English political party when they are tolerated but expected to toe the line.
Not our parliament.
The SNP should wear a placard around the neck:
“Please don’t interrupt”.
Sorry, that reply was to barpe. Don’t know what happened!
BBC Question time from Scotland – well, Edinburgh (that famous suburb of Engerland!). Felt like a roomful of upper-class Tories as a ‘selected audience’.
Bruce, true to form, didn’t even let the SNP answer without constant interruptions.
Until we refuse to be on their ‘shows’, we will forever be their fall guys.
You never hear Americans say they’d rather be British than American, or Indians or Pakistani or any of the other 65 or so countries that kicked the renamed England British out of their countries, and yet here in Scotland there are folk who insist all those other independent countries were wrong
The never mention the country next door, the Republic of Ireland a country financially better off per person that the entire UK, in fact they even avoid them in the weather forecast as though they don’t exist altogether, and weather just misses those folks out and magically appears over on this lump of land without explanation
They often show the weather in Europe, you know why? they never used to own that, but shush don’t mention the Irish because they’re better off now and we British don’t want anybody looking at them
The British would say oh but the Irish can’t defend themselves with big bombs like wot we’ve got, but, but the only people that ever attacked and murdered the Irish were the British, oh and those same British attacked the Americans the Indians the Pakistanis and all those other countries that got rid of England’s enforced Britain UK, including very importantly to us Scotland
So the only real lasting threat that’s really ever been to most of us is England’s Britain, they can’t threaten to murder us anymore but they do continue to impoverish us when they need cash, then they threaten to impoverish us even more if we decide to do what those other 65 countries did and leave them
Why is it again that some folk who call themselves Scots want to be known as a part of those people?
BTW I’m still scouring world maps to find this mystical *country* of Britain to which these *British* people refer
There was a German guy in the 1930s who tried to invent a new order of country, what’s the difference between that and British? he failed where the British succeeded
Question time:
They own the TV that Scotland invented and use it against us to deny our right to speak because they own their own broadcast network
If you have to ask for fairness and equality then you’ve already lost an argument before you’ve even had one
All of Scotland’s football matches will not be shown on free to air TV
All of England’s matches will be shown in Scotland on free to air TV
England’s 3 group matches are on BBC/BBC/ITV.
Scotland’s 3 group matches are on ITV/BBC/BBC.
Equal in terms of channels & no clashes – viewers in both England & Scotland can watch all six matches.
Enjoy 🙂
According to the National, that’s not happening
The National is wrong then – all the Euro games are on either BBC or ITV
The opening game, Scotland vs Germany, is on STV tonight starting at 6.30pm.
The National article quotes Brown about the qualifying matches which weren’t shown whereas England’s were.
Stupid timing, people will be saying “WTF – all 3 matches are on TV”.
The National was reporting Keith Brown’s remarks about the qualifiers, with a misleading summary (‘WESTMINSTER has “failed” Scotland fans by not ensuring the national team’s football matches are all shown on free-to-air TV, SNP depute leader Keith Brown has said.’)
Found the full statement elsewhere, & he actually went on to say:
”The whole country will be able to enjoy Steve Clarke and his players taking to the field at Euro 2024 this summer, with every game on free-to-air TV. But the Tartan Army shouldn’t just get to watch these games for free – just like in England and Wales, all of our national team games including qualifiers should be free to view.”
(https://archive.ph/wip/xXQs1)
Labour has never needed Scottish seats to depose Conservatives, 533 english seats beats 59 every time. They had decades to prove their worth in Scotland, the only good they did was justify the rise in SNP popularity and increase aspirations of independence from the thoroughly corrupt London circus.
I’ve caught snippets of the ‘debates’ despite diminishing enthusiasm, but suspect that has been true for most of the country – British politics has become a soap opera with wooden actors and a predictable script which no amount of fancy lighting, poses or sets can rescue from indifference.
Brilliant description of these “debates”, I suspect that creating boredom amongst us plebs is the overriding intention of the Wastemonster representatives. “Let Buggins have his term”, being the sole object of Lab/Con.
And the voters will say, ‘it’s not worth voting’. Had this from a work colleague, but who will, because she is a woman, and many women suffered to get ‘the vote’. She will also vote with Scotland in mind.
As I was saying on the other thread, the polls are showing both cheeks apparently tanking. The deep unpopularity of both seems to be coming home to roost now those 50% odd of ‘may change mind’ voters plus the undecided are being forced to decide.
Starmer’s Ming vase – a No. 10 housewarming gift from Blair – is wobbling wildly as he slips and slides across the polished floor.
This keeps up and Labour will shortly be on less actual votes than they got in 2019, which was ‘their worst defeat since 1935’ to quote the British / English press.
Now that would be amazing. It would eliminate any mandate completely, no matter the number of seats. The right wing press would relentlessly hound labour for it. We could even have Farage attacking him at every PMQ’s! You want the end of the UK? This would guarantee it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I want Starmer in No. 10. I 100% want him there. I want him there with no mandate for Scotland.
Swinney can then quote the Labour manifesto which says the latter will ‘reset relations with Holyrood and work constructively with the Scottish government’. That means respecting the outcome of the 2021 election so iref2 please. It’s that or a defacto iref in Holyrood 2026.
Aye, fingers crossed and touch wood folks, but it’s all coming together nicely. Any SNP bounce back in the polls a bonus.
Would be good, but still think the tories have something stuck up their sleeves as well as their arses, and slime their way through the polls.
All I am seeing is the Tories tanking. It’s showing up in Scotland too now, after mid term unionist oversampling was showing them still on silly numbers like 17%, even 20%. That’s rapidly falling away, and now they’re luckily to be getting double digits.
In that sense, unionist Scotland is mirroring England. If we are lucky, we might even see Lab and Con lose a bit to reform here, copying their fellow brits in England. Let’s hope that bandwagon keeps rolling.
Labour do clearly seem to be falling UK-wide. It looks like it’s accelerating. Only time will tell though.
If they do go down UK-wide, we can expect them to fall in Scotland too as our Brits copy their English brethren, and tentatively, that seems to be happening. Both the most recent Scottish polls point to a vanishing of any lead they previously held, panel and telephone concurring. Data is scant and old now though. Almost 10 days since the last fieldwork was done here, and that is a super long time ago. If the same rate of change in England is happening here, things could look very different.
From UK-wide polls, a steady SNP climb continues to show up, but this only indicates their potential support here; we can’t get info on other parties. I tried averaging subsamples in the past, but it’s a total mess given the huge MoE. Just not worth the effort. The % SNP UK-wide corrected for population share has generally been a decent indicator when smoothed out for SNP support. It agrees well with scant full Scottish polls right now. If trends kept up, a 2019 repeat can’t be ruled out. If turnout shoots up, well that could change everything very rapidly. Probably in the SNP’s favour.
I say if because I don’t have a crystal ball and I’m not arrogant like Labour have been over their VI recently. All I can say is what seems to be happening, and what might happen if such trends are real and continued.
Yet another load of LibDem stuff popped through my letter box this morning, ‘reminding’ me of just how rubbish the SNP are and we in this part of Scotland deserve better, so lots of big pics of the recently ‘dissolved’ LibDem MP and ‘send me to Westminster again and I’ll sort everything out for you’ because, of course, down there the English Parliament really, really knows what it’s doing. And still the poor guy hasn’t noticed what a nonentity he was in it the last time around. Still, dozens of glossy leaflets courtesy of HQ London recently is something of a boost, I suppose.
Pass. Next.
i haven’t had a single leaflet from anyone yet. Our SNP branch has conducted a couple of street stalls and are planning a leaflet drop this weekend but so far no one else has done anything. I don’t even know who any of the other candidates are. Long gone are days of placards on lamp posts and posters in windows.
I suppose all these leader debates on TV have substituted much of the old campaigning and it is so much cheaper. I get my postal vote next week so I’ll have that back in the post the next day. I’ll see the other candidates names then I suppose.
Latest UK poll again shows Labour dropping. Could fall below 40% on average within the next 5 days on current trends. I have them down to 21.8% of the total electorate now, and that’s with turnout edging up (52.2(+1.4)%, change on 22 May). If that drops below 21.6% on the day, Labour will have officially gone backwards on ‘their worst defeat since 1935’ back in 2019. Anyone who thinks that will not have profound implications for the UK constitutionally is living in la-la land.
Squeaky bum time for Starmer. At least the media is starting to talk about how unpopular Labour are as they engage with the electorate on the streets, in the studios etc. The scene is being set for ‘Starmer wins, but without any popular mandate!’. ‘UK in crisis as Starmer wins but democracy loses’.
I remember watching with dismay the SNP vote doing the same fall as the campaign heated up for 2017. 47% mid march = cool. Then 44% mid April = hmm. Dropped to 42% into May = ok, bum squeaking. Final week or so was 40% with one 39% = Oh s**t, it’s going to be lower than this by the golden rule. On the day it was even lower at 37%. Yessers stayed at home thinking the SNP would win comfortably and change could not be affected. Too soon after 2014 and Brexit could not be stopped.
This time it is because Tory lite are almost as unappealing as Tory proper.
I see wiki has Labour down 4% to 41% in their election period averaging, with this accelerating (slope steepening). Very similar to my numbers. They have Lab heading for less than 40% VI by Monday.
Kate Forbes was interrupted multiple times by every panel member including Fiona Bruce and the complaints are into the thousands now by all sides, even those who do not support the SNP
Many folk have been calling for Scottish representatives not to take part or to just walk out when this happens, as it does every single time there are debates of this nature
Can I just point out that Scotland’s elected SNP government and politicians tolerate this so we the public can see very clearly how England/Britain feels about us, and it’s up to us the country to walk out, that’s what being independent means
Whether folk like it or not nationalism is tribal and because England thinks it’s the holder of the titles Britain British and the UK and any criticism from other countries especially the country they believe they own, *Scotland* is met with hostility from all those who support that cause, like a gang they join together and attack Scotland even if they agree with the SNP
Y’see you can call your brother or sister a big fat stupit balloon but you won’t stand for anybody else doing it
There’s no union in a tribe unless all are equal, and no Scot Welsh or Irishman or any other nationality will ever be equal to a British Englishman/woman
They can’t help it, DNA dictates animals bond with their own kind, and we’re no different to any other animal, we defend and protect our own first last and always
England’s Britain has engaged in wars all over the world to protect and defend themselves from criticism of their behaviour
Just last week, Farage was demanding an apology from Bruce and the BBC for interrupting him ‘with incorrect facts’. Wonder if he got one? Since then he’s never been off the telly.
Ms Bruce is supposed to be the referee surely, not a ‘striker’ on that show. She should content herself with issuing red and yellow cards should panellists get out of hand not insert herself as the fifth and very much Anglo Nationalist panellist where the SNP are involved. Maybe D Ross could lend her his whistle. The two would get along like a house on fire.
Here in Hamilton I’ve only had one leaflet through the door, from Labour. The content seemed to be vote for us to stop the SNP. Then I got a letter through the post, addressed to myself and my ‘better half’, from Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor. Its content seemed to be vote Labour to get rid of the Tories. Scotland didn’t get a mention. I also note lots of annoying Labour ads. Interrupting my ‘YouTube’ browsing featuring Jackie Bailie and Anas Sarwar. I wonder who is funding all this? Nothing at all yet from anyone else!
On YouTube if you press the three wee dots next to a video l and select not interested you should get less of that type of video although won’t work straight away. It has certainly cut down political videos I get . I do get the SNP ones as am subscribed to their channel. Last General Election I was plagued with videos from Jo Swinson my then LibDem Mp
I didn’t know that. Thanks for the tip.
Re. the BBC’s Question Time (or the Nigel Farage Hour as it is soon to be renamed ) :
I remember when Robin day hosted the show . I think that , were he to see what the program has morphed into today, he would be appalled !
When he was the host he seldom interrupted quests as they spoke – but could insert a killer point/question after they had had their say . That was far more effective in making a point than the present format which requires a lesser intellect , such as Fiona Bruce , to bombard those she has been told to target with constant interruptions . Her interruptions do not even pertain to what has been said but are clearly preselected in order to show the party in question ( invariably the SNP ) in a poor light . She does not have the skills to ”debate” properly so is protected by the biased format of the show which puts her in the position to dictate HER points over those of the speaker .
This ”show” has been , for years , nothing more than a propaganda vehicle for those the BBC deems worthy of support – overwhelmingly right-wing politicians , right-wing commentators and strange beings from far-right Think Tanks .
My wee village is now bedecked with Scottish flags and bunting. Mine is going up today above the garage door.
Perfect timing for the election.
Scotland. The country. In Europe. A nation among nations. An equal among equals. Scots welcomed and respected by the peoples of Europe. Totally the opposite to how Scots are treated by England’s ‘union’ politicians.
Not seen any union jacks. All saltires and lion rampants. 😉
Reading Labour’s manifesto is a bit like reading or listening to news and current affairs output from the BBC. It gets a bit mixed up over what the UK actually is and how it is structured.
(See https://labour.org.uk/change/my-plan-for-change/)
From the Labour leader’s ‘My plan for change’: ’Every great nation is held together by shared beliefs. To outsiders they may not seem exceptional or distinctive, but they are essential for a sense of collective national purpose. Britain is no different, ….’
‘We are still a great nation. We can still achieve great things.’
Then later in a section entitled ‘Strategic partnership through industrial strategy’, we find this: ‘We will ensure representation on the Council from all nations and regions, business and trade unions, to drive economic growth in all parts of the country.
And elsewhere: ‘Our industrial strategy will support successful industries across all nations of the UK.’
Also noteworthy is this in a section entitled ‘Defending the UK’s security’:
‘Defending our security also means protecting the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, including the Falklands and Gibraltar. Labour will always defend their sovereignty and right to self-determination.’
My brother lives in Galloway and it’s open warfare of opposing flags down there
Britain failed to qualify for Europe, so I guess it’s St. George’s crosses flying?
What kind of idiot would bring a union jack to e.g. an England match. How would that even work if they were playing Scotland / Wales / North of Ireland?
I remember the days when Scotland always qualified for the world cup but our closest neighbours did not. they were the hosts in 66 in 70 they were the holders so automatic entry, by 74 they had become a seeded nation in the new (then) format then they were repeatedly eliminated in the knocked out stages for a bit while Scotland qualified 5 or 6 times on the Stott no changing the rules and sneaking in the side door. In all that time and at the “home internationals” which engerland scrapped for a bit cos they kept losing (still think we should have gone with the Celtic nations internationals).
All that time I rarely saw a George Cross it was always butchers aprons they waved. This was back in the days when the goal post were made of wood, and they broke if you sat on them.
Incidentally, that 37% low for Labour UK-wide in the latest Yougov is in part caused by the lowest Labour since march in the Scottish subsample. They have dropped below the SNP here, which has only happened once since march.
Now it’s a tiny sample, so all the usual caveats apply, but might be considered another straw in the wind.
Labour are falling. If they are falling UK-wide, then you’d expect them to in Scotland too as previously alluded to. After all, British / unionist Scotland is something of a microcosm of Britain / England.
Scots (nationally identifying) vote differently to English / British people (who live in England) do, which is what makes Scotland overall vote differently. However, the British in Scotland do vote very like their counterparts on the other side of the border.
If the British are going off Con/Lab in England, expect the same here.
A further set of data that supports Labour losing it’s apparent lead over the SNP by a week ago was Holyrood VI data.
Labour did actually just go ahead of the SNP here in May, but only by a point. They went behind again just as GE polls showed gap closure.
Meanwhile, anyone ken if Sarwar and Ross are going to the Euros? Is Starmer going over to support England? I hope so. Not patriotic enough to be PM if he doesn’t. It would we way worse than sneaking out of D-day commemorations early.
Is Starmer going over to support England
I’m sure he will be there for the final to watch England lift the cup 😉
The Scottish equivalent of the final is getting to the group stages! 🙂
Prince William (the Prince of Wales and future King of England and Britain apparently) is going to attend the England football game against Denmark in Germany next week.
Is that moron trying to destroy any support in the rUK for the monarchy?
He’s patron of both the ENGLISH Football Association (EFA) and the WELSH Rugby Union (WRU).
Go figure!
#NotMyPrince
Will he attend Scotland games and support the team or does he not want to be King of Scots in the future?
I had a letter to my unit back in May from Kenneth Gibson MSP. About non-domestic rates and the Small Business Bonus which I receive – I pay no rates on the Unit, as up to £12,000 rateable value total for all properties you get 100% rates relief.
It’s been a life (or at least, business and livelihood) saver.
Back of the letter is info about other support available for business.
Even if I became incredibly anti-SNP for some odd reason I’d be forced to vote for Gibson as he’s one of the good guys. And not afraid to be critical, either. A mini-rebel at times.
Scotland’s tartan ambassadors are going down very well in Germanee
For skier:
Rise of Reform could be ‘utter disaster’ for Tories, warns polling expert (nation.cymru)
https://archive.is/WYmh4
“Scotland fans have been told to disperse from Munich’s main square and avoid the fan park as the Tartan Army invasion of Euro 2024 continues.”
“By some estimates up to 200,000 Scots have travelled to Germany for the first major tournament overseas since 1998.”
Win lose or draw, the Glenlivet is getting hit tonite.
My husband’s sister and her husband (he’s a huge footie fan) live in Munich (they’re English and have lived there since 1998) and they said the atmosphere with all the Scottish fans has been great. Although some German reporter asked a guy what he was wearing under his kilt and was shocked when shown 😱🤣
Labour liar in chief for Scotland Anas Sarwar forced to admit EU money meant for Scotland, renamed levelling up fund, won’t be forthcoming under his Labour bosses
guardian doing a proper history of Farage
even at school he was thought to be a racist and not a nice person
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2024/jun/14/he-was-a-deeply-unembarrassed-racist-nigel-farage-by-those-who-have-known-him
pity help us all if he ever gets near the levers of power before we are independent.
Mostly wasted effort as there are so many mini-Farages around ”the country” ( mostly in Engerland ! ) who think he’s the bees knees !
He has even been given his own BBC TV prog – It’s Called Question Time !
UK Labour fall again with Whitestone Insight.
Pollster on English Sky news earlier was mentioning Labour edging down. Said it wasn’t much change, yet…
Turnout still desperately low at 52.3% UK-wide, but the teeny rise here has hit Labour measurably, it seems both in Scotland and England.
The demise of Con is bad for Labour because Labour are very unpopular, just less so than Con. With the media telling the public Con are totally screwed, people may start voting Lib / Green / Reform / SNP etc as they know the Tories are not coming back, that’s for sure, so no need to try and stop them. Instead, they can happily vote for alternatives. Hence the pollster on Sky saying it may yet be like 2015, but with Labour winning.
A close race between the red and blue erse cheeks is what favours people voting for these on the day.
What would be really funny is if Labour failed to get a majority even with the Libs. That would be glorious.
If turnout goes up, the whole thing could turn on its head. Like the 2011 Scottish reversal, but with less than two weeks notice. The levels of ‘DK’ and may change mind are incredibly high for less than 3 weeks out.
It’s great being able to fast forward past Pugwash and all the rest of the waffle.
This one’s taking social media by storm, including in Argentina, where the original song came from.
Turned on STV to get some of the build up to the ‘big game’.
The panel – two Englishmen, an Irishman and a Graeme Souness. Where have all the sports journalists and football pundits working in Scotland gone? STV?
Will the England game have a panel of two Scots, one Irishman and one Englishman who has spent a large part of his career living and working in Scotland?
And then over to the pitch – and McCoist! Bring on the game, quickly please!
Everything Scottish ends up claimed by the British as theirs
Now because our football is doing well they dig up the British Scots to suck the life out of us
McCoist is the biggest BritScot fraud of the lot, a sectarian bigoted womanizing shyster
Have to ask did anyone else notice that everything was in english even the spelling of the german citys. The question is where did this originate, in STV’s editing suite or at the euro’s themselves. Scary level of technology.
Anyway ma flag is hingin oot the windae and ma snacks sweeties and beer are a ready fir guzzlin
This is the kind of leader I want. A human one, and one that actually lives in my country and supports it through thick and thin.
https://archive.is/lpUg2
John Swinney drinks beer with Tartan Army ahead of Euros opener
Not the best first half ever 🤔
No wwonder we take a drink
In the spirit of true pan European cooperation German players are now scoring goals for Scotland – very commendable 🙂
Just don’t take your cooperation to be mutual in the next one!
I hope we don’t play them again till the final.
It’s not about the winning. It’s about getting there, then getting drunk and watching Scotland lose!
🙂
The fact that you qualified and are in the tournament is a form of winning in itself.
Love from
Cymru
XXX
Doesn’t the home team always win? Germany will probably win the Euros. Scotland were just *lucky* to have played them in the opening match.
Oh, bless, Capella!
Who hosted the previous Euro Final in 2020 and lost to Italy, at home?
Clue: E*g*a*d
Hahaha – well the exception proves the rule 😂
Shame though.
‘cos when England won the world cup in 1966, and about which they remind us ad nauseum, it was played at Wembley and was the first (and only) time they won the world cup.
I rest my case.
As if the game wasn’t bad enough, did I just see a TV advert for SCOTTISH Gas during the coverage – all about the Olympics and bedecked in Union Flags – tell me about living in good old ‘blighty’?
I have NEVER considered living in Scotland as living in ‘blighty’.
I had to check what the word actually meant. Courtesy of Wikipedia: ‘”Blighty” is a British English slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England.’ (Indeed!)
‘Though it was used throughout the 1800s in the Indian subcontinent to mean an English or British visitor, it was first used during the Boer War in the specific meaning of homeland for the English or British, and it was not until World War I that use of the term became widespread.’
Just love this ‘British’ a synonym of ‘English’ that’s been around apparently for centuries!
‘Blighty’ in widespread use in and for Scotland – not in the Scotland I have known for many years! SCOTTISH Gas – really? I suspect this was made for British Gas and modified for broadcasting in Scotland with zero concern for customers in Scotland.
i thought Germany in Germany, opening game might be a tall order but that really was not great. Hope they pick themselves up for the next two games.
Win or lose I’m sure the fans in Germany will still have a song or two to sing.
Scottish Gas is part of British Gas it’s the same company. Sounds like cynical marketing to me. Didn’t watch the football. It doesn’t interest me at all. Wish some people would pay more attention to political future of Scotland than football or rugby. Used to watch Scotland games when I was younger but too much trauma involved re Scotland team results so haven’t watched for years.
I have no interest in football and know absolutely nothing about it, although i did play street football as a child (along with a guy who went on to play for Stirling Albion). I am loving all the Scottish fans in Germany, I think they’re great ambassadors for our country and reminds people that Sdotland is indeed a country on its own
apologies for any typos…I’m full of the cold 🤒🤧🥱
Thought the tartan army were a force of nature tonight though.Good on them and hope the team can make some amends in Koln and Stuttgart.
Gordon Brown claims he ”was slightly embarrassed ” to receive ”the highest honour in King Charles’ Birthday Honours ” for his charitable work here and abroad . He claimed that having the opportunity to serve was an honour in itself .
As a Labour Party (sic) member he should be more embarrassed that his ”opportunity to serve ” gave us PFI , which saddled Councils with more debt than you could shake a Labour Party Manifesto at , the Iraq War , which killed untold numbers of innocent people and has been the direct cause of so much terrorism , conflict and suffering ever since , and his lies and misinformation helped sway so many people in 2014 to vote NO which has had such profound and disastrous consequences for Scotland .
Yes , Gordon , you should be embarrassed – but not as much as many Scots who have to live in poverty with the consequences of your actions .
Did he not also sell all the gold reserves and raid £billions from pension schemes?
Yes and in his last budget as Chancellor he removed the 10p tax band. This doubled the tax for some of the lowest paid whose income was just enough to tip them into the 10p band. Pensioners, particularly single women, were one of the groups hit by this. Their tax doubled.
He then went the rounds of media interviews saying no one would be worse off because he had removed the 10p tax band!!!
It was also clear when he announced it at the end of his budget that he had not told Tony Blair what he was going to do because TB nearly jumped out of his seat with surprise. He at least grasped what this meant for those just over the tax threshold.
All the Masons.
Scotland just need to win the next two games.
We probably will come close, but lose out on goal difference from our first game. It’s the Scotland way! 🙂
DRoss quickly exonerated by Westminster – there’s an election campaign to be won. I don’t think their standards body cares about using the public purse for private business much.
Westminster standards body dismisses Douglas Ross expenses complaint
https://archive.ph/e38SD
Years to investigate FFM Nicola Sturgeon but five minutes to exonerate one of their own
IPSA.
Please explain in words of one syllable or less how all the football matches Dross WORKED at (in one of his other jobs) were held in his constituency.
Kindly refer to FIFA & SFA records of match officials and match locations before answering. Perjury is a serious charge in Scotland.
Or did the investigation go like this:-
ISPA We’ve had a complaint regarding your travel expenses claims.
Dross Ooh!
ISPA Yes, were these journeys to attend party events, (shows list to Dross)
Dross Yes.
ISPA That’s OK then investigation closed. Thanks for your time mr ross. Remember to use form XYA1 when claiming expenses for this meeting.
Huge march for Scottish independence taking place today in Munich with the co-operation and assistance of the German authorities
I guess the British nationalist Scots like McCoist and Souness will not be attending, (running away) especially in light of honours being bestowed upon them by their English King
The Germans do like to embarrass the English by supporting Scotland’s freedom from tyrannical dictators
Prof Robertson once more on the ball in spotting opposition lies and mendacity.
NHS England spends ‘whopping’ 45 times as much on private providers
https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/06/15/nhs-england-spends-whopping-45-times-as-much-on-private-providers/
Ok, to lift the spirits, my UK-Scotland integrated PoP.
The bulk of the data is UK-wide, apart from SNP, which is for Scotland. Note for all polling, the date stamp I use is when the bulk of the fieldwork would have been carried out, which is the first day or two of the survey period; this is key in a rapidly changing election campaign. The averaging method gives equal weight to every pollster. It is not like what some media PoP’s do and just average the last weeks polls or stick trendlines through all data. This is wrong as it gives bias to pollsters that poll more frequently.
We get so few Scotland-wide polls (‘Sco, Sco’) that averaging is statically pretty meaningless. However, this can be done on UK-wide polls converting SNP share to % in Scotland based on population share (‘Sco, UK’). I’ve found this works well, and agrees closely with full Scotland polls in the past. It can only be done for SNP, obviously.
As you can see, it’s working well again for this election; a perfect match (clear outliers excluded), as evidenced by trendlines being basically identical. It is now 8 days since the last fieldwork was conducted in Scotland by IPSOS. Averages of that and Opinium suggested SNP crossover may have been occurring. This is certainly supported by UK-wide polls, which show a steady rise in SNP from a low point (just over 30%) just before the GE was announced; something also seen in Scottish polling, where some outliers at the end of MOE were giving Labour a lead of up to 10 points, albeit on crushingly low turnout projections. Yougov UK subsamples, which are partly Scotland weighted, are now showing this too.
A few days ago, data point to SNP + Alb + Green = 43%, which is just 3% shy of 2019 in terms of total Yes share. If we have just 3% silent SNP that will never appear, as we did in 2019, then the total Yes share would be the same as 2019 already, and before turnout has even risen from historic lows measurably.
We are still sitting on a record low 57% turnout based on Scottish polls, up just half a point from the lows that were delivering Labour 10 point leads. Our 11% of the electorate silent SNP 2019 are / were still so. Or at least were 8 days ago. Don’t know what is the case today. However, the 0.5% rise to T= -27 days was enough to close the gap on Labour in Scotland, and as per my previous cross-plot, is remarkable if true, as it would imply the SNP are far stronger than they were in 2019, with much smaller rises in turnout pushing up their vote sharply.
Or, maybe it is more the SNP are stronger, but unionism is also much weaker; a product of the deep unpopularity of the 2 cheeks UK-wide.
UK wide, Labour are definitely heading down as turnout edges up. If the trend continues, they will be on a lower share of the total electorate than they got in 2019 within days. I don’t see how Labour could ‘win’ on that. They desperately need more votes than last time as the whole democratic process would be completely undermined by them winning on the same or less votes than their ‘worst defeat since 1935’.
Libs also edging up along with Reform in England. This is something the media has started talking about as well.
It’s now around 3 days since the last lot of UK poll fieldwork was taken. Labour could be dropping below 40% in the coming week. Don’t rule out them only managing mid-30’s as, in the end, that’s what they got in May’s locals. The fact that the Tories are complete toast should make voters believe it’s safe to vote for smaller parties rather than tactically Labour, which tentatively appears to be occurring. So far it is only the smaller parties going up while the two cheeks go down.
I’ve probably tempted fate now, and the next lot of polls will show the SNP losing 5-1 to Labour, but hey ho! What will be will be.
Oh, and MRP / 2019 polling trends of seats vs % SNP yields 33/57 seats for the above 37% SNP; a whopping 58% majority. That is where things stood 8 days ago, without any tactical Green / Alba to SNP, and for a super low turnout that’s been favouring unionist parties.
Oh, and MRP / 2019 polling trends of seats vs % SNP yields 33/57 seats for the above 37% SNP; a whopping 58% majority. That is where things stood 8 days ago, without any tactical Green / Alba to SNP, and for a super low turnout that’s been favouring unionist parties.
Weird. Happened again. I didn’t post this twice!
Makes you wonder if the polls were accurate honest and conducted without bias there wouldn’t be the need for so many people analysing them to get some truth out of them
I reckon it kinda cements the idea that if you have plenty of money to pay for a poll to be conducted, you get exactly what *you* paid for
Or ex Tory ministers wouldn’t own polling companies and maybe there wouldn’t be so many of them if they were regulated by another body that was owned by another think tank that wasn’t ……. does it ever end?
I think I do look forward to the day when the AI machines rule the world programmed to destroy all human parasites that have no purpose other than to misinform human kind for cash
Union Labour activist Roz Foyer bemoans the rise of the far right, and takes to the *newspapers* to warn us all of the horrors , yet continues to work her socks of for a new far right Labour party under a man (Starmer) who refuses to explain a single word that he carefully never utters in public , and a man that other union leaders warn the rest of us about him being a danger to us all no different to Farage and co
Roz Foyer: A big supporter of “Just get us elected first then we’ll tell you what’s happening” Aye right Rozzy baby, Duh
Sectarianism: Britain’s shame.
https://archive.is/X3yHb
Liverpool Football Club investigating loyalist flute band parade in Anfield grounds
LIVERPOOL Football Club has launched an investigation into how a loyalist flute band paraded through the grounds of Anfield.
Video footage emerged of Glendermott Valley Flute Band, based in the Tullyally area near Derry, passing through the gates of the venue while playing an instrumental version of the ‘Billy Boys’.
The song has been previously banned at Scottish football grounds and Linfield matches in Northern Ireland due to sectarian associations, with versions including the lyrics “up to our knees in fenian blood”.
British Royal family sanctioned hatred
Divide and conquer
See their trooping of the colour, see their Arse
Those who want to be up to their knees in the blood of Irish people like me and my family from that side are ‘loyal’ to the king of England.
They are not loyal to Scotland; could not be further from it.
But England / Britain tries to pass this shame off as ‘Scottish’ and (northern) ‘Irish’ when it’s 100% British / English.
The Labour Party are about as relevant to and supportive of Trade Unionism, as Stephen Noon and Pat Kane are to Independence.
All mooth and nae troosers.
Just looking back to 2011.
It was t-26 days out before polling showed apparent crossover, so exactly the same time frame as our two recent full Scottish that suggest this may have occurred.
The final PoP average was 42.5% SNP to 33.8% Lab; a gap of 9 points, which was 5 lower than reality. As talked about previously, it was the English pollsters that dragged things down, insisting Labour were doing better than was the case. Yougov even predicted the SNP’s lead falling from 13 to 8 then 7 points in their final poll. Talk about a beamer.
Panel – ‘I got the SNP wrong in 2019 by 7 points’ – base predicted a draw just 1 month before. Total facepalm back then, total facepalm in 2019. The English Times uses them for this reason; good at showing nice fantasy Labour numbers which make for a good ‘SNP on the slide’ headline.
Oh, and using the same pollsters we have now as then, the SNP were at 37% 20 days out, which is what polls say they were yesterday, i.e. 20 days out this time around.
This is the danger in looking at mid term polls and imagining this will translate to what happens. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. 2011 began with labour way ahead and on for a majority in several polls. Not long after the campaign began, crossover occurred. In the final week the SNP topped 40% on average and the rest is history.
It was all just the electorate engaging.
Or the commissioners of the polls influencing