The Fringe Meeting at which I am speaking will be livestreamed on Saturday from 12.30 on IndependenceLive.
Meanwhile, Emily has started her own blog.
I had a busy day today moving a lot of stuff to move into my new home in Edinburgh tomorrow. But I must briefly comment on a fascinating opinion poll by IPSOS/Mori tonight, which puts the Tories on 32 and Labour on 29 UK wide – and astonishingly the Lib Dems UK score of 9% only just ahead of the SNP’s UK wide score of 8%, even though the latter is concentrated entirely in Scotland. One reason that SNP figure is so high is that IPSOS MORI weight by certainty to vote, and are predicting a much higher turnout in Scotland than England at the next election.
The scenario leading straight to independence – a Tory/UKIP coalition at Westminster and a crushing SNP victory in Scotland – is looking increasingly probable. One thing I do not rule out at all is a unionist Con/Lab coalition in Westminster after the next general election. There are almost no real policy differences between them, and if coalition becomes the swiftest way to satisfy personal ambition for power and money on both sides (the only thing that drives both parties), I so not think it is in the least improbable. We have seen Lab/Con coalitions against the SNP in Dundee and Stirling Councils, and they were extremely happy together during the referendum campaign. I do not yet see a Lab/Con coalition as the most probable outcome of the next Westminster election. But it is entirely possible.
http://new.livestream.com/IndependenceLive/events/3589902/videos/68194661
Speech at 13 mins 30 secs in
http://new.livestream.com/IndependenceLive/events/3589902/videos/68196705
http://new.livestream.com/IndependenceLive/events/3589902/videos/68197880
Interview at 9 mins 30 secs in.
UKIP would never do a deal with the Tories their contempt of them is real and visceral,and they’d be finished if they did.
UKIP would much prefer to deals with Labour though Labour probably would only do so as a very last resort.
Habbabkuk to Republicofscotland (or was it “Robert Crawford):
“Just as a matter of interest, does the individual trade union member have any say on whether his trade union makes political donations?”
DonnyDarkSide to Habbabkuk (thanks for answering on RoS’s behalf):
“No Habba,your Union member does not.”
Habbabkuk to DonnyDarkThoughts:
Thank you for that clarification, Donny. As you’ve been most helpful, could you be even more helpful and enlighten me as to whether “the 32 people who pay a minimum of £50,000 a year for access to the Prime Minister himself, along with a host of other senior Conservative ministers” do so of their own volition or are they obliged to do so because it is Amalgamated Union of Rich Men policy?
Habbabkuk.
No shift change. Iam who I say I am. No unusual names for me, unless you want to show us the inner workings of your mind.
What does Robert Crawford think?
I think Tony would have a better love life if he had “birth control”, and did not need to get off at the cross and then get back on at the shops (coitis interuptis) If my spelling is correct.
With Tony’s vivid imagination he could have a great time with masterbation, if it was not a “sin”.
Mary, what about “depleted uranium shells” being “placed” (not dumped) in the Solway, allegedly?
Anything specific you would like to rubbish Habbabkuk, or is that enough for you to get on with?
Habbabkuk.
I would love to see my own face when I am over eighty.
What about you?
Habba, I’m still waiting on answers to my questions. How many Israelis’s have died at the hands of Hamas, and how many died from choking on Palestinian olives?
Is that why they are ripping up the olive trees?
“Bob Crowe stopped donations from his union,and then he died mysteriously.”
What was mysterious about how he died?
There is no end to the war propaganda. Now Sainsbury’s and the British Legion to make this Christmas ad.
Sainsbury’s Christmas ad is a dangerous and disrespectful masterpiece
In making the first world war beautiful to flog groceries the film-makers have disrespected the millions who suffered in the trenches
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/13/sainsburys-christmas-ad-first-world-war
Just lower the shelf prices and cut out all this crap. I read that John Lewis spent £1m making their boy and penguin ad and £7m on the campaign.
John Lewis unveils Christmas ad starring Monty the penguin
£1m festive ad features a young boy playing with a CGI animated penguin to the tune of John Lennon’s Real Love
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/06/john-lewis-unveils-christmas-ad-starring-monty-the-penguin
Obscene.
PS There are many others from other retailers.
Robert Crawford
“I would love to see my own face when I am over eighty.”
___________________
That’s good. Do you think you’ll have droopier or less droopy chops than Her Majesty?
Feel free to answer the same question on behalf of Repunlicofscotland as well!
If you don’t have the answer then a guess will be accepted Habbatry
DonnyDarkNess
“How many Israelis’s {sic}have died at the hands of Hamas..”
__________________
Probably fewer than the number of Palestinians killed by Mamas?
Just guessin’, of course.
Your turn now to answer mine – which was:
“Thank you for that clarification, Donny. As you’ve been most helpful, could you be even more helpful and enlighten me as to whether “the 32 people who pay a minimum of £50,000 a year for access to the Prime Minister himself, along with a host of other senior Conservative ministers” do so of their own volition or are they obliged to do so because it is Amalgamated Union of Rich Men policy?”
Thanks.
“Probably fewer than the number of Palestinians killed by Hamas?”
Habbabkuk.
It woul not be drooping chops that would concern me.
Mary.
If you only knew what these stores pay for goods produced overseas.
A friend is/was a buyer for a retail chain, and he went to China to buy clothes mainly. He told me a story about buying women’s knickers for 3 cents a pair, brought them back and put 3 pairs in a clear bag and sold them for 99 cents. Sold out almost immediately.
Mary
Wow I’ve just watched the Sainsburys Christmas TV commercial you linked to. I’m staggered. I mentioned to someone the other day that the First World War had been turned into a Hovis commercial but I didn’t mean it quite so literally. Am I being unduly sensitive or is the sight of Sainsburys sticking their logo on to the 1914 Christmas Truce simply grotesque?
This is in the wrong thread, sorry – but thought you’d like to see if it you hadn’t noticed already: London Review of Books calls the Guardian to account (about time someone did!) http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/11/11/bernard-porter/assange-and-the-european-arrest-warrant/
Mary.
Why do shops in Scotland pay their rent every three months?
That is how long it took a horse drawn carriage to get here from London to collect the rent.
Come on Dick Turpin, “stand and deliver”.
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
13 Nov, 2014 – 3:19 pm
“He probably isn’t doing it to divert…”
……………
I suggest Habbabkuk, that he isn’t “doing it” at all (well not with a partner).
He is probably a fantasist wanker with a sticky keyboard.
” Sainsbury’s Christmas ad is a dangerous and disrespectful masterpiece ”
Oh dear. Better chuck away my Blackadder DVDs; and I suppose my copy of Wipers Times better go in the bin too.
I really don’t understand Muslims, first they kick up a stink when the Jews declare they want to demolish a mosque.
But when it comes to demolishing Muhammed’s Tomb and several very important building linked to the birth of Islam to build hotels, well it appears its going to happen.
It seems Islam has found a way to cash in on the holy site, what next the Wailing Wall to become a roller coaster ride, or the Vatican to become Disney World at the weekends, big bucks and religion go hand in hand.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mecca-under-threat-outrage-at-plan-to-destroy-the-birthplace-of-the-prophet-mohamed-and-replace-it-with-a-new-palace-and-luxury-malls-9857098.html
Just heard that Asda’s turnover and profits have gone South just as they promised a future Independent Scotland they would.Some vow’s are being kept.
Ooh what a f’n shame !
What are the names of the 32 people Habba ? You cant expect an accurate answer without some accurate information.This is what you are good at Habba.Names please.Go for it.
2Just heard that Asda’s turnover and profits have gone South just as they promised a future Independent Scotland they would.Some vow’s are being kept.
Ooh what a f’n shame ”
______________________________
Donny
Can’t say I’m upset, others are already in freefall, like the Canary Wharf owned Daily Record, Baxters Soup, Audrey will be upset, the Scotsman newspaper, which has merged with the Edinburgh Evening Times at the cost of 45 jobs, and a few others who are at tipping point.
It serves them right, this may seem callous, but I hope Westminster sends the £4 billion frigate order overseas, France has been mentioned as a likely builder.
Surely such an action would be a catalyst for some form of further democratic action.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the West against striking a deal with Iran on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.
Netanyahu claimed on Monday that a hasty nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Russia, China, France, Britain and the US — plus Germany would allow Tehran “to rush to the bomb”.
“There are reports that the P5+1 countries are close to a deal with Iran on Iran’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu said, adding, “I call on the P5+1 countries – don’t rush into a deal that would let Iran rush to the bomb…Iran must not be allowed to become a nuclear threshold power,” Bibi said.
Israel as the sole-possessor of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, with 200-400 nuclear warheads in its arsenals, refuses to either allow inspections of its nuclear facilities or join the nuclear(NPT).
Iran is a signatory to the NPT, and its nuclear activities are under surveillance by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Furthermore, numerous inspections by the IAEA have never found any evidence supporting the allegation that its nuclear activities have non-civilian purposes.
________________________________________________
Ah yes the old Iran will kill us all story, if they get the bomb, how many Israeli Prime Minister’s have wheeled that old chestnut out over the years.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/11/11/bibi-tries-the-iran-bomb-scare-one-more-time/
“Robert Crawford”
“Habbabkuk.
It woul not be drooping chops that would concern me.”
______________________
That’s good to hear as well, “Robert”.
But Her Majesty’s “drooping chops” do seem to worry your alter ego “Republicofscotland”, don’t they.
Schizophrenia?
UK politics now precisely mirrors US politics. There are two parties, indistinguishable in their policies, but voters are required to imagine that they are different. A Labour/Tory coalition in 2015 might be a joyous merging of like minds, but it would damage the popular illusion that they are different. Witness the instant and extensive damage to ‘Labour’ in Scotland through their overt alliance with the Tories in the referendum – the Tribunes of the People won’t be in a hurry to repeat that mistake.
If the polls continue as at present, my tip (hope?) would be a tory minority government (Labour tory or Tory tory) pinioned by a nasty little SNP group who want some sensible stuff and have to be given it. You might be one of them, Craig!
PS: My own coldly unemotional spreadsheets say that the SNP, even on present trends, would only win 13 Westminster seats. And that’s downhill with a following wind. A more optimistic colleague suggests 15, but that’s as far as objective optimism goes.
PPS: @BrianFujisan 12 Nov 11:33
Yeah, reminds me of the Spanish Steps in Rome. What needs to disappear is the statue of Dewar.
PPPS: On coalitions, Nicola has just said that she rules nothing out.
PPPPS: Failte, Craig.
Mr Scorgie (re Tony Opmoc)
“I suggest Habbabkuk, that he isn’t “doing it” at all (well not with a partner).
He is probably a fantasist wanker with a sticky keyboard.”
_____________________
I think you may well have a point there, Doug.
The thing is France is acting like a nice little US poodle with 3 completed ships for the Russian Navy which have been over-long under construction and handover to the Russians is long overdue, but the French are using them as a lever against Russia and stalling, either that or the ships are grossly defective and unfit for purpose. The message is clear that the French cannot be trusted to observe even commerical obligations, or demonstrate technical competence and if given any such orders, as they will do with nuke power contracts too, the price will rise and rise and rUK will have to pay a heavy political price, over and above the uncharted financial penalties, oh how the once mighty have fallen. I suppose the work from the English Navy and MoD is the French being rewarded for toeing the line over NATO’s blatant criminality, provocations and brinkmanship, and the bonus to boot for Westminster is that the Clyde yards get shafted.
Frankly BAE should be told to f.r.o and have their Scottish assets nationalised by the Scottish Government, with minimal or no compensation, as you can be certain that they will destroy any plant and facilities they cannot take with them when they pack up and leave. Better to pre-empt this utterly corrupt integral part of the rUK’s arms dealers and proliferators, scorched earth policies, typical of all departed industries branch operations and boot them out as the first step in rebuilding Scotland’s independent shipbuilding industries and defence forces. Sabotage and scuttle what we can too, of the RN’s present and future fleet, while we can, before they’re turned against us. Mutiny is in the air, government and the pretend ‘opposition’ haven’t seen it coming, but sleepless nights for the forseeable future in the corridors and torture-chambers of power are coming fast for all who would presume to rule us. Westminster’s constant state of economic warfare waged against Scotland is becoming ever more intense and like the cheat and the bully the Britnat establishment and elite has always been it must demonstrate and reassert its tyranny having lost face in the overt and desperate measures they took to dispel any foolish notions of democracy once and for all in their interference in the referendum campign, with the smear and the fear campaign -the iron fist now exposed must be wielded continuously hereafter or quickly rust away. We’re ready for anything, any dirty trick any blow, nothing they can do will halt the inevitable dissolution of the dissipated and despised artificial British state, and England will never live down the scourge and the shame of all the horrors and iniquities conducted in their irrevocably eternally tarnished name.
DonnyDarkThoughts
“What are the names of the 32 people Habba ? You cant expect an accurate answer without some accurate information.This is what you are good at Habba.Names please.Go for it.”
_______________________
You could try asking “Republicofscotland”, who first raised this issue on here. Alternatively, you could follow the link he provided, which gives a number of the names. If you want all the names, they appear on the Conservative Party website (linked to in RoS’s link).
Once you’ve satisfied your entirely justifiable curiosity you might have a stab at answering the question, which was as follows:
“whether “the 32 people who pay a minimum of £50,000 a year for access to the Prime Minister himself, along with a host of other senior Conservative ministers” do so of their own volition or are they obliged to do so because it is Amalgamated Union of Rich Men policy?””
Off you go, laddie!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now I’ve answered your question about how many Israelis have been killed by Hamas (my answer: probably fewer than the Palestinians who have been killed by Hamas), please satisfy my curiosity and tell me how many Israelis have died by choking on Palestinian olives.
Thanks.
Tony M
PARAGRAPHS PLEASE !!
This site is starting to look like generic chat rooms from the early 2000’s. I don’t mean the content. It’s the software.
I’ve just read through youre sh**e Habbacrap and there is not one answer.Please try.
Oblique and close don’t count.