What Did You Expect? 693


I have no sympathy at all for anybody who voted No on the grounds of the pledges by Brown, Miliband, Cameron and Clegg about constitutional change, and is now whingeing about the blatant dishonour of those pledges. I cannot understand how anybody could be so stupid as to have believed them, and yet have a brain capable of sparking respiration.

Labour is interested in losing no influence of Scottish Labour MPs on any UK or English matters. It wants greater powers to English metropolitan councils which are controlled by Labour – because that will give Labour careerists more jobs and access to contracts. Those are Labours “constitutional reform” goals. The Conservatives “constitutional reform” goals are to keep Scotland’s tax on oil revenues and tax on whisky coming to Westminster, while loading greater responsibilities but no more money on the Scottish parliament, and stopping Scottish MPs voting on English matters thus guaranteeing conservative apparatchiks continued jobs and access to contracts.

Both Tories and Labour want to keep the appalling corrupt and undemocratic House of Lords for its jobs for apparatchiks, access to contracts etc.

Nobody cares what the Lib Dems think anyway.

I ask again – what did you expect?

This is the collective wisdom of Andy Myles and myself, over an excellent mackerel breakfast at Nom De Plume.


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693 thoughts on “What Did You Expect?

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  • Ba'al Zevul

    When the dust has settled the pro-independence movement will need to take a long, hard look at the SNP…etc

    It will do a lot better to concentrate on producing a better agenda which will attract a wider support. To do so it will have to work with the SNP, not antagonise it. It needs the existing base, which was largely recruited by the SNP. Perhaps the non-SNP faction could take a long hard look at itself and ask whether its own appeal was equal to the challenge.

  • John Goss

    Ba’al, I reserve comment except to say that Global Research (based in Canada) has a much better reputation for speaking the truth than the MSM outlets. Each author is responsible for what is written and most of the writers, Felicity Arbuthnot, Craig Murray and others have very good reputations for research and accuracy.

    I do think you should have read to the foot of the article.

    “Die ukrainische Regierung und die Rebellen im Osten haben sich auf die Einrichtung einer Pufferzone im Osten des Landes geeinigt, um Verstöße gegen die Waffenruhe zu verhindern. Beide Seiten hätten bei einem Treffen der sogenannten Kontaktgruppe im weißrussischen Minsk zugesagt, schwere Waffen von der Front jeweils um 15 Kilometer zurückzusetzen, sagte der ehemalige ukrainische Präsident Leonid Kutschma am Samstag. Die so entstehende 30 Kilometer breite Pufferzone entlang der Front werde von Beobachter der Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa (OSZE) überwacht werden. Kutschma vertritt die Regierung in Kiew bei der Kontaktgruppe.”

  • Peacewisher

    @Ba’al: Well, if you get cancer early enough e.g. when the first unethical news items appear or the first unethical practices appear on TV, you could probably stop it spreading. The same with a corrupt society. Cancer cells are a bit like “corrupt” cells, I suppose.

    I get the impression that the cancer has been out of control for awhile now. See Scotland as a potential new baby…

    Gosh what a morbid subject.

  • MJ

    “nothing about the OSCE, and the inserted comment – Moreover, “Americans and Russians agreed behind the scenes on a division of the Ukraine. – is just that. Inserted without attribution”

    Untrue. All the attributed comments are there in the original. They’re to be found in different parts of the article. That’s why the GR author separates them with elipses.

    http://deutsche-wirtschafts-nachrichten.de/2014/09/20/ende-der-isolation-russland-bei-g20-gipfel-willkommen/

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Well, if you get cancer early enough e.g. when the first unethical news items appear or the first unethical practices appear on TV, you could probably stop it spreading.

    I have to admit the possibility that the neoplasm originated in the late 60’s and 70’s, when my rising generation were extremely dismissive of the old socio-ethical standards and the boring old people who enforced them. It’s come back to bite us now, and no mistake.

  • Adam

    I know it’s all a bit ‘after the fact’ but I thought it a bit rich when I heard Westminster politicians referring to Scotland seeking a ‘divorce’. It was never a ‘marriage’ to start with, unless you accept it was based on abduction & rape.

    It like 55% of the Scots are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome !

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Sorry, MJ & John, missed a quote there. But I am still struggling to find the reference in the GEN article to Russia and the US agreeing anything behind the scenes. Still, not important. Give it a month or so and see if it holds.

  • Ba'al Zevul

    accept it was based on abduction & rape.

    More of a case of the Scottish Establishment whores flogging their – do I need to continue? To that extent, it was consensual.

  • ------------·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node

    Clark 22 Sep, 2014 – 7:29 am

    “The Gravatar to display is identified by the screen-name and e-mail address submitted with the comment. Your screen-name has to be displayed, of course, so to protect your Gravatar you need to register it under an e-mail address that you never publish.”

    Clark, I’ve taken the liberty of copying your avatar to demonstrate that all you need to do is copy someone’s avatar and add it to your existing gravatar account (what I’ve done) , or create a new gravatar account for it.

    I’ll change back to my old gravatar in an hour or so when I’ve made my point.

  • ------------·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node

    ….. and, of course, there was nothing preventing me typing “Clark” instead of “Node” in the ‘name’ field.

  • Mary

    Voting fraud in leafy Surrey or rather leafless Woking, which is now a soulless collection of tower blocks of buy-to-let flats centred on the railway station.

    29 July 2013
    Woking election candidate used illegal practices, judge rules
    A by election will now be held The winning candidate in elections in Surrey committed corrupt and illegal practices by himself and with agents, a judge has ruled.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-23494179

    This is a good clear speaking judge. The Woking and Birmingham cases are relevant to Scotland.

    ‘The judgement, by Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC, said Labour candidate Mr Ali had alleged Bashir and his electoral team had caused false names to be entered on the electoral register, using the names of people who did not live at the stated address, or never existed at all.

    Mr Mawrey said there had been an “abnormally high” number of late registrations, multiple registrations in the same property, and abnormally high turnout figures.

    “Sadly, therefore, this is yet another case where the United Kingdom’s shambolic electoral system has led to an election being challenged on the ground of widespread fraud,” the judgement said.

    Mr Mawrey said Ray Morgan, Woking Borough Council’s returning officer, ran a “tight ship”.

    “It is not his fault that he is an honest man called on to run a dishonest system,” he said.’

    and

    ‘In 2005 Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey upheld allegations of postal fraud in Birmingham, relating to seats won by Labour. And then in 2008, a Conservative councillor in Slough was found guilty of using bogus postal votes.

    In the past he has accused the government of being “in denial” about the problem and said by drawing attention to it, something might be done.

    Now in this case in Woking involving a Liberal Democrat councillor, Mr Mawrey has repeated his criticisms of the UK’s “shambolic electoral system” and described a sense of “deja vu”.

    He says the system has always been insecure, that it still is and that there are many ways in which it could be defrauded.

    Once again he has called for action.’

  • doug scorgie

    Ангрысоба
    21 Sep, 2014 – 7:11 am

    “And by bonkers I mean the kind of far-left, conspiratorial, “anti-Zionist”, terminally malcontented miserablism that passes for “analysis” around these cheerful parts.”

    ——————————————–

    Well at least you admit to being a Zionist troll Angrysoba, unlike your colleague Habbabkuk who lies about it.

  • Mary

    Formal complaint against BBC Scotland and Current affairs
    Posted by Medialens Editors on September 22, 2014

    To: [email protected]
    Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2014 2:53 PM
    Subject: Formal complaint against BBC Scotland and Current affairs.

    Dear Mr MacQuarrie

    I would like to register my complaint with you as Director of BBC Scotland.

    I have held the BBC in high regard for many years but my belief in the nature of unbiased reporting from your organization on news and current affairs has been shattered.

    The reporting from Mr Nick Robinson following the news conference to the international media was outrageous.

    Your editors at the very least should have prevented Mr Robinson from transmitting such (a) misleading and inaccurate report.

    The simple matter of fact is that Mr Salmond did reply to Mr Robinson’s questions, however he decided to report that Mr Salmond did not reply.

    This simple fact lead me to dig further into the question if there was biased reporting within BBC Scotland News and Current affairs.

    I am astonished to find that the internet has far far too many examples of biased reporting for this to be some other group with an axe to grind.

    I believe that you are at the head of an organization that has let down the common values and principles of public service broadcasting in Scotland at a time when this nation most needed the service.

    As a sample can I cite to you the 12 points that were raised within the website located at

    http://newsnetscotland.com/index.php/affairs-scotland/8932-the-dirty-dozen-the-case-against-bbc-scotland-part-1

    or indeed the evidence located at the site.

    http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/759-scotlandshire-bbc-scotland-coverage-of-the-independence-referendum.html

    This leads me to the central point of my complaint, I believe there is enough evidence to suggest that there has been an deliberate attempt by BBC Scotland News and current affairs to paint as bad a picture as is possible against the case for Scottish Independence.

    Can you please acknowledge my complaint and give me your response by email or at the address below.

    If this complaint fails to meet your corporations guidelines in any respect then please let me know as soon as possible.

    Kevin B

  • MJ

    “But I am still struggling to find the reference in the GEN article to Russia and the US agreeing anything behind the scenes”

    It’s there. Para 4:

    “Diese Pläne sind nun wieder vom Tisch. Doch seit US-Präsident Barack Obama den Krieg gegen den Terror als oberstes Ziel der US-Außenpolitik ausgerufen hat, haben sich Amerikaner und Russen hinter den Kulissen über eine Aufteilung der Ukraine geeinigt”

  • John Goss

    ————·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node 22 Sep, 2014 – 11:12 am

    Thanks for demonstrating how it was done. Now all I need to know is who did it and for what purpose. For those who do not comment under their own names it is more difficult to prove since, with the exception of Clark, and one or two others, nobody knows their true identities.

  • fred

    “This is a good clear speaking judge. The Woking and Birmingham cases are relevant to Scotland.”

    No they aren’t. They are relevant to Woking and Birmingham. Some dishonest people there attempted fraud, their fraud was easily detected and they were prosecuted.

    If you are saying the good people of Orkney and Shetland are dishonest, if you are saying the good people of the Highlands are crooks, if you claim the good people of the Western Isles are liars and cheats then you had better have some pretty good evidence to back it up.

  • Peacewisher

    @Ba’al: Yes. Roger Waters verbal assault on Mary Whitehouse in the “Animals” album comes to mind. I’m sure he’d be ashamed of it now.

  • Clark

    Mary, 11:41 am: the examples you linked are “Identicons”, generated from the e-mail address the comment was submitted from. “Gravatars” are “Globally Recognised Avatars” – you need to register at gravatar.com to get them.

    The change of the Identicon on RD’s comments indicates that RD must have commented under a different e-mail address.

  • Clark

    Clark, 12:19 pm:

    “generated from the e-mail address the comment was submitted from”

    I mean it’s generated from the e-mail address entered into the comment form.

    Sorry, I failed to be accurate, probably due to recent lack of practice.

  • OldMark

    ‘I have to admit the possibility that the neoplasm originated in the late 60′s and 70′s, when my rising generation were extremely dismissive of the old socio-ethical standards and the boring old people who enforced them’

    Or, as Mr Daltrey sang back in the day ‘the morals that they worshipped will be gone..’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Which Google translates as (unusually clearly)

    “These plans are now off the table. But has declared a war on terror as a primary goal of American foreign policy since U.S. President Barack Obama, Americans and Russians have agreed behind the scenes on a division of Ukraine ”

    Regardless of where the verbs go, this is a bald assertion, and I would welcome information on when and where this agreement was made. I’m not taking GEN’s word for it, and neither should anyone else. Despite its impressive name, and the high regard GR holds it in, GEN’s credentials are not readily visible.

    Anyway, I imagine events will overtake this report in the not-too-distant future. If I know Putin. The show ain’t over till the dissident gets poisoned…

  • Ba'al Zevul

    Old Mark…

    That was a particularly painful reminder of one of my all time favourite tracks. Thanks (wryly). Good catch.

  • mark golding

    Rita Katz’s SITE also the source of those BUK missile photos/video the separatists used on MH17 from which the WEST provided no evidence other than prejudice and conjecture.

    Maybe during the coffee break we can scan the surface of the ‘SITE Intelligence Group’ in the US Mossad outpost at Bethesda, Maryland, home to cover up artist par excellence, Kenneth Feinberg.

    Mr Feinburg is the mouth of Zionist power-house, Diane Shaff Feinberg, executive member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency – the parent organization of the Mossad and the most potent Zionist organism in America.

    Of late many JA minds are engaged with RAND in the preliminaries associated with ‘Game Theory’ and the idea of a “winnable” nuclear exchange including the role of ‘terrorism’ with crisis management and disaster preparation bolted on to infuse confidence.

    The work is highly classified and huge risks are involved in laying bare RAND’s work for defense and intelligence agencies.

    I am nonetheless willing to confront the perils.

    .

  • ------------·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node

    John Goss 22 Sep, 2014 – 11:53 am

    “Now all I need to know is who did it and for what purpose. For those who do not comment under their own names it is more difficult to prove since, with the exception of Clark, and one or two others, nobody knows their true identities.”

    Anybody could have done it, even someone who posts here using their own name.
    They undoubtedly created a disposable email address to do it because if they’d used their regular one in the Gravatar account, every post they’ve ever made on this or any other blog would have displayed your stolen avatar.

  • ------------·´`·.¸¸.¸¸.··.¸¸Node

    mike 21 Sep, 2014 – 8:39 pm

    “If someone can answer this for me, I’ll be grateful. Apologies if it has already be explored.

    At 10.25 pm on Referendum Day, on the BBC, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said some “sample ballots” had been opened before the close of voting and that this had indicated a clear lead for No. “We have had people there for a few days,” she said.

    Is this standard practice, to open postal votes before 10pm? I simply do not know the answer and have never heard of this before. Thanks.”

    I saw that interview too and was also intrigued. Presumably the practice is legal otherwise Ruth Davidson and Malcolm Bruce (below) wouldn’t have been bragging about it, but at the very least, it proves that the postal ballot was opened and handled long before the actual official count. Very peculiar.

    “Sir Malcolm Bruce, Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon, put the outcome at 60-40 for a No vote from early samples he had seen at the Aberdeenshire count.

    He said: “We’ve only had the early samples but they were pretty good. I never understood this argument that there was a movement from No to Yes. We’ve been saying for the last few weeks, this isn’t what we’re getting, we’re getting clear, strong, consistent No. They’re not buying the independence case , they’re telling us all the time.

    “All I can say is that the boxes we’ve been sampling in the parts of the shire which are in the reasonable vicinity of the city here, 60-40, maybe better than that. Some of them have been two to one.”
    http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/scottish-independence-referendum-live-updates-7790319

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