I am genuinely stunned that, following the competitive racism-fest that was the Tory Party conference, the Tories have gone up in the opinion polls.
I quite admit my judgement was completely wrong. I was feeling happily that the Tories had finally overreached themselves, and the implications of employers drawing up lists of foreign employees, or primary schools writing to parents demanding birth certificates, would be met with popular revulsion from the inherently decent British people.
Well, I was wrong. Racism pays, at least in England. After their Conference the Tories are up to 43%. The Tories and UKIP combined are up to 54%. I am afraid it is intellectually dishonest to avoid the grim truth. At present, you cannot be too racist for popular English taste. The underlying theme of the Labour Party conference was Blairite calls for Labour to join in the mood of xenophobia. Of the existence of that mood there can now be no doubt.
That Scotland has an entirely different political culture to England is now undeniable. I think the map of the EU vote by voting district is crystal clear.
The problem is, “Devolution” does not protect Scotland from implementation of this tide of xenophobia. As immigration is a reserved matter, the refusal of visas to attend non-Russell Group universities will impact harshly on some Scottish universities, even though University policy is theoretically with Holyrood. Similarly Holyrood cannot stop Scottish employers being ordered to draw up lists of foreigners by the Home Office, nor Scottish primary schools carrying out new immigrant checks ordered by Amber Rudd.
Theresa May has already sought to rub Scottish subservience in our faces by making plain Scotland will have no place in Brexit negotiations and Holyrood no veto on any outcome. Now we see the true limitations of our defences against Tory rule.
In the Independence referendum campaign Gordon Brown vowed that, if Scotland voted No to Independence, it would within two years be “as close to a federal state as you can be”. Instead it is as close to a fascist state as you can be.
There is a huge gulf between what is happening in the UK and what a great many No voters in the Indyref, particularly Labour No voters, believed would happen. The political circumstances are now entirely different to those prevailing or promised in 2014.
It is therefore very legitimate, indeed necessary, now to call a second Independence referendum to sort out the mutually conflicting votes of Scots in the Independence and EU referenda. Scots voted, democratically, to be both in the Union and in the EU. But they cannot be in both. It is vital, now, to discover which they want as a matter of democratic legitimacy.
The SNP really must stop havering. Now is the time for Indyref2. we must break free from the toxic culture of jingoism that has swept much of the UK. It is both a political and a moral imperative.
It’s good enough for you, me and thousands of others Craig but unfortunately, thousands more are driven by self-interest and need the reassurance of a positive economic outcome. That will be easier to present as the fallout of Brexit on the UK economy becomes more apparent in the months ahead.
Everyone is driven by self interest. Why do eat? Why do you not become homeless? The simple answer is that it is in your self interest to eat and to have somewhere warm and dry to sleep.
Why do you think there is a migrant/refugee crisis? The answer is that the migrants/refugees consider migration to be in their self interest.
Those promises were counter-manded prior to delivery by other promises given to others in black satin tights.
Mrs May sits with the same satin-tighted confidantes and makes the same prior promises before delivering the totally obsolete, defunct verbiage which is known as speech.
Brexit has exposed that very ingrained British strain of racism that you find in Equal Opportunity questionnaires. Are you White? which means Do you commit yourself to British Imperial hegemony as lost but retained in the gothic imaginations of the Far Right? What a ridiculous question.
In the literal sense many Scots are extremely white. But it’s not a literal question, is it mate?
“I quite admit my judgement was completely wrong. I was feeling happily that the Tories had finally overreached themselves, and the implications of employers drawing up lists of foreign employees, or primary schools writing to parents demanding birth certificates, would be met with popular revulsion from the inherently decent British people.”
Back in the reality based world there never was any proposal at the Tory party conference to draw up lists of foreign employees. Listen to the Amber Rudd speech if you don’t believe me. What there was was a press release with a suggestion that firms should declare the numbers, not the names, of foreign employees.
However after Brexit the SNP sent out letters to foreign nationals in Scotland which means they must already have a list of every foreign national in Scotland or they broke the law and used the extended electoral register.
It’s not only “our nationalism good their nationalism bad” but now it’s “our list good their list bad”.
“….which means they must already have a list of every foreign national in Scotland or they broke the law and used the extended electoral register……”
This has already been explained in simple terms on a previous thread. Is it too much to expect an explanation as to why reassuring EU citizens on the part of the Devolved Scottish Government is being labeled as bad whilst the Government using those same EU nationals as bargaining chips and collecting information on them via a school census is being given a free pass and portrayed as benign?
Anyone would think their is an agenda being pushed here?
No. It hasn’t been explained.
“Their list bad, our list good” is not an explanation.
Amber Rudd at no time suggested a list of names and addresses of foreign nationals yet the Nationalists were screaming “Nazis and racists”. The SNP either already has a list, or broke the law to get access to one, and the Nationalists defend it.
What a bunch of fucking hypocrites.
I agree. The screeches of racism have been hysterical and irrational. Ed Milliband called for the same thing several years ago and it was criticised by some but not seen as inaugurating a new era of creeping fascism and Mein Kampf.
It’s not really worth replying to brain dead fucking morons like you, but for the truth about your “lists”, go and look at the Wings post today.
Is that the best you can do, you apology for a human being? Off you go and play with all the other intellectually challenged Express readers, cretin.
“Their list bad, our list good” is not an explanation.”…..
….is the very basis of your position.
The fact that you choose to not to recognise the difference in purpose between actions suggests you are either incapable or unwilling to do so because it does not suit your own narrative purposes. Moreover, you constantly seek to ignore the evidence presented to you of the objective of the Conservative and Unionist Party in Government to collect information which seeks to identify EU Nationals with a view to using them as bargaining chips in the Brexit negotiations and to eventually replace those employed here with British workers, regardless of easily identifiable practicalities.
At the same time you seek to project the purpose, objectives and approach of the UK Government towards EU nationals living and working here onto a Devolved Scottish Government exercise designed to reassure those EU citizens living in Scotland.
Despite numerous requests no explanation is offered up as to why it is presented as beyond the pale for a Government to reassure its citizens whilst at the same time the collection of data through various means – the latest being pregnant women – by another Government with the express purpose of using them as a bargaining tool and reallocating their employment to British workers is presented as nothing to worry about.
In other words, their (Devolved Scottish Government) list and actions bad; our(UK Westminster Government) list and actions good.
At least have the honesty and common decency to be open about the agenda you have here rather than coming out with all this evidence free bullshit fed to you by the comics you read because it suits your tribelist mindset.
So how did the SNP know the names and addresses of foreign nationals living in Scotland?
Do they have a list of did the access the extended electoral register?
In the words of the old film: ‘Why you no listen?’
From Post: October 11 14:54
“To put you out of your misery, because clearly you are unable to work it out yourself and have to rely on direction from a comic book passing itself off as a newspaper, its not that difficult to work out. The only section of the immigrant population within Scotland likely to be be affected by the Brexit vote are EU Nationals living in Scotland. Whilst that section of the electorate within Scotland received a vote in the Independence Referendum of September 2014, courtesy of the Scottish Devolved Government, they did not receive a vote in the EU Referendum. In order to ensure that ballot papers sent out to EU nationals in 2014 were not sent out to EU nationals during the EU Referendum it will have been necessary for the administrators acting for the devolved Scottish Government to identify those electors as sending them a ballot paper for the EU Referendum would have been an illegal act. Its not rocket science. All that is required is to try thinking for oneself instead of allowing someone else to do it for you.”
Also try conducting at least a bit of basic research by ploughing through the various RotPA acts and subsequent amendments – hint; non UK nationals have to be legally, by Parliamentary Statute, pre-identified in some way in order to ensure they are not issued a vote in elections or referendum in which Westminster decrees they should not, such as the EU referendum. This ensures that in such cases they do not receive a ballot paper through the post. On the showing so far it well within the bounds of reasonable speculation to envisage that somewhere in a wine bar near Canary Wharf some hack working for the Mail the Express, the Grauniad, or the Sun will be trying to concoct some spurious hit piece bollocks about the Scottish Devolved Government failing miserably to send out ballot papers to EU Nationals for the EU Referendum.
And when such a story is published there will be people operating on automatic pilot who will jump up and down in righteous anger like some remote controlled tonka toy unthinkingly agreeing with every word and demanding the SAS be sent in
Invoking the police to get involved here is bizarre. What should the Devolved Scottish Government be charged with? Reassurance Aforethought? Grievous Mental Kindness? Deviant Solidarity with Johnny Foreigner?
I don’t pay attention to “opinion polls”. We were told Brexit was unlikely. Elections are what matters.
In my opinion, Scotland should wait until the next election before pushing again for independance. Scotland should wait to see what England really thinks of this Tory government. Scotland should wait to see if Brexit is an economic disaster, or the opposite.
I’m English, and respect the Scots a great deal more than my own countrymen. If Scotland left the Union, it would be a disaster for British politics. I fear we’d be stuck with perpetual Tory rule. Is that what Scotland wants for a neighbour? Britain will not become a better place if the Union breaks. Scotland might, but Britian won’t, and Scotland will always remain politically and economically close to whatever is left of Britain.
If Scotland vote to leave, I would respect that decision. But I’d be concerned about the future. I hope the Scottish give us a little more time, because leaving know would seem like a knee-jerk reaction to Brexit.
The conesquences of Brexit need to be properly analysed, and that takes years.
ugh
*independence
I can’t help agreeing with this. However unlike Craig I do not believe an independent Scotland will ever ever happen. Any freedom from Westminster would be curtailed immediately through the work of Mi5&6.
Britain will happily over through the government of any country within the common market if it steps out of line – what on earth makes independence dreamers think that the same wouldn’t be true of Scotland. The USA/Britain have got Scotland exactly where they want them – decided from the British and away from voting for labour.
The SNP are an Estsblishment Westminster party now, and probably always were. With the scots voting for them as a reaction against the Mcternans and Murphys they have played into Tory hands. The combination of that and election rigging is what put the tories back in power.
I doubt the SNP can keep a lid on their establishmentitus for much longer which may give Corbyn enough ammo to start winning seats back, but only if he removes the old SLP I think we can expect to see this over the next 18 months.
There is only one major anti-Neoliberal party in the U.K. And that’s Corbyn’s Labour Party.
I’m quite happy to be proved wrong, but it is a matter of political ignorance that people think that the SNP is their best route to independence, just as it’s a Mayer of political ignorance to think the SNP and Labour would ever buddy up to beat the Tories the SNPs biggest enemy in Scotland is Corbyn’s Labour, many Scottish voters voted for the SNP because Corbyn’s labour had yet to exist, and Corbyn’s labour is still yet to exist in Scotland. Until it or something similar does expect to see never ending Torie governments winning on a smaller and smaller rump and the right wing working class baby boomers that vote for them die off. They are the single largest voting block in the U.K. And the only block the Tories have chosen not to attack.
*Overthrow
That would likely be too late, our European partners, the EC and the EU Parliament have all said that if we want to stay in the EU we will have to have voted Yes to Independence BEFORE the Brexit happens. If Article 50 is enacted early next year then the UK will leave the EU on or about April 2019. We are not due another Holyrood election until 2021.
Also the SNP explicitly stood on a promise to hold another referendum ‘if circumstances change sufficiently’ and are the government as a result. So they already have a mandate to introduce another referendum bill. With the 6 Green votes (they stood as an avowedly Yes party) it will pass the parliament.
Opinion polls are becoming increasingly unreliable.
Everywhere there is growing pressure against the status quo and opinion polls are statistically biased toward status quo outcomes. This is especially relevant with regard to Brexit in the UK and Trump in the US.
Also the chattering classes have taken to pouring increasing vitriol on all those who would dare to hold views contrary to their own. For example anyone that raises even the mildest query as to the wisdom of ongoing large scale immigration is branded a xenophobe and a racist. This has the effect that people are less likely to offer their opinions – although it does not change their opinions. This results in outcomes that are not predicted and are not predictable by those charged with keeping the opinions of the masses under surveillance.
The English left continues to marginalise Scotland and Wales just as much as the English right does. What creates this xenophobia is this post imperial imperialist attitude which infects the English left (Labour and Liberal both). Even when England’s Labour and Liberal politicians fancy themselves taking a friendly interest in the poor and disposed of Africa, Asia and Latin America the middle class and political class lack of empathy is unmistakable ; the postimperialist inability to grasp how minorities are marginalised and their story distorted or airbrushed and how the large Western countries have been the ones to write history.
It’s this attitude which has ensured that the English working classes haven’t received enough political education from the left for decades and the neoliberal right have successfully colonised that space to a greater degree than the neoliberal ideology has captured the working classes in other countries . The result is mass working class Ukip support and Brexit.
Scots, having been subjected for long to so many forms of marginalisation have a greater affinity with the marginalised abroad and we are not infected generally by neoliberal neoimperialism. English Blairites and English Liberal Democrats are. And even the Corbynites are influenced even though they don’t know it. The fact that Corbyn has no conception of the democratic deficit Scotland suffers from and has nothing to offer Scotland other than saying a Labour government in Westminster is what Scots need is evidence of this inability of the English left to move past the neocolonial era.
Perpetual Tory rule is what England will get if Scotland and Wales don’t get proper self government. Since it’s the perpetuation of the British nationalist sense of superiority and entitlement and the English left’s analogue inability to drop their own unconscious sense of superiority and entitlement that has created the political situation.
Green nation, that seems extremely fanciful. The problem is not “the English left” the problem is the establishment – the establishment that now believes it no longer has to provide a modern democracy to it citizenry. Just remember it wasn’t the English left that were campaigning with Tories against the SNP it was Scottish Labour and it’s why they lost. We’ve just witnessed the same demented logic applied to a thousand attempted coups against Corbyn.
I never said the Corbynite English left were the problem. I said they have a problem which feeds into the overall problem of the deficit of democratic accountability. Until the English strong left as well as the English New Labour and Liberal Democrats can overcome their habits of viewing Scotland and Wales as internal English colonies then real democracy makes no progress and the Tories and Ukip dictate the framework of debates.
Scotland wants its neighbour to get the government it democratically elects. That’s what Scotland wants. Why can’t you understand that?
We are already starting to see the consequences of Brexit. And it horrifies most of us.
What you are asking is for us to sacrifice ourselves in the hope that one day you may finally come to your senses. We did that during 2014 at the last Referendum, aided and abetted by Vows that you never intended to keep. If you don’t want a Tory government, then the simple answer is don’t vote for them. Scotland are only 8% of the population. We can’t save you from yourselves.
Why Labour doesn’t need Scotland http://wingsoverscotland.com/why-labour-doesnt-need-scotland/
Teresa’s popularity has risen because she appeals to the lowest common denominator in the electorate and also because the Labour party is still in disarray.
It is probably a temporary phenomenon!
Afraid jingoism is in the driver’s seat everywhere now, even in Scotland,
Fascism knows no boundaries.
Why are Scots Nats supporting Heathrow expansion and a £20+ billion subsidy from Westminster ?
Because Heathrow is having a commercial venue and has taken out a full page advert in the agenda at the SNP party conference.
Because the new runway is being sold as enabling more local flights to and from Heathrow. Which means for foreign visitors flying into Heathrow it will be cheaper and easier to get on a connecting flight to Scotland or for Scots businesspeople to reach their markets.
Mind you there are competitors, recently a service from here in small Dundee to Schiphol has been a roaring success. From home to a major European hub airport is attractive. Once the V&A Extension and the rest of our Waterfront is finished more tourists will want to come here too. Hotel provision in Dundee recently has boomed with more in the pipeline.
Heathrow will not provide empty flights to and from Dundee.
Any expansion will be used to enable more flights for prosperous Londoners to luxury holiday destinations.
Strange that the Scots Nats wish to spend Scottish taxation on infrastructure to help Westminster.
The hope is also that we receive Barnet consequentials of £1.9 billion from it.
If that’s so then that’s reason #94 for sending the Barnett formula down into the dustbin of history.
When I first heard of the SNP pontificating on their support for LHR expansion I assumed it was just a bad joke- WTF has it got to do with them ?
Craig’s entire post here is built on a syllogism as slippery as a farmed Scotch salmon, and goes along the lines of-
1 The Brexit referendum was actually a referendum about immigration, from both inside and outside the EU, and not about our relationship with the EU
2 The Tories have recently announced a number of measures for monitoring the size of the foreign workforce in individual firms (akin to the monitoring of the ethnicity of the workforce, which firms have been required to collate for some time)- their level of support appears to have risen in England , according to the polls, as a direct result of this announcement- and nothing more
3 The fact that the Brexit vote, and the recent Tory opinion poll score, were both much higher in England than in Scotland, demonstrates how the English are small minded racist little Englanders, whereas the Scots are open minded, generous hearted anti racist peace loving hobbits
I have to agree, however grudgingly, I am by nature an internationalist. I’m not a Marxist but I believe fervently that the workers of the world should unite; it’s the only way to tackle globalization and neoliberalism. However, I for one can have no truck with the firmly institutionnalised racism that is gripping what must now laughingly be called the United Kingdom.
Ah the old slogan “workers of the world unite” What workers do you have in mind?
It is now acknowledged that China alone is capable of providing the entire global demand for all manufactured products. That leaves the rest of the world to cut each others hair and serve each other coffee.
Look around you – wherever you are, and you will see vast swathes of people of all colors and all cultures who are essentially unwanted, who are left to rot in public housing projects and kept docile with welfare payments and the consumption of ultra strong alcohol and industrial quantities of cannabis.
Druggies of the world unite?
You’re up against the idiocy of many people in Scotland (at the last count, a little over 50%) who are completely comfortable knowing it’s not their end of the boat that is sinking. I know only one person who has moved from No to Yes. It’s because his personal job security will be affected by Brexit. His workaday indifference to war, poverty, colonialism, planetary catastrophe and endless cooking shows on the BBC all remain virginally intact.
The racism card is always popular. It appeals to the primal ‘us vs them’ in human nature. I think everyone is a little bit afraid and wary of those who are different. You can see why in evolutionary terms this makes sense.
The Tories seem to be riding high but their support is quite low really, given how many are just disgusted with politics in general. They know, but will never admit it publicly, that if a genuinely left wing, populist platform was put before the electorate they would be swept from office never to return. This is why they fear Corbyn so much.
So often things must get worse before they can get better. I no longer live in the UK and am not inclined to return. Less so every day.
I agree on Scottish independence. It may not be the only hope but it is the best. I would consider returning if I could be Scottish – my mother was so maybe I could claim nationality based on that.
I think you’ll find that anyone will be allowed to go and live in Scotland after independence. No need for any Scots forebears.
Is that not so, Craig? Anyone?
The Donald?
The time for The SNP to “stop havering” is long since past and it is abundantly clear that Nicola Sturgeon was simply mugged when Theresa May hot-footed it up to Scotland immediately after the referendum in what will go down as the most astute piece of political skulduggery in history and removed in one fell swoop the best possible point ever to call referendum when she convinced Nicola that she was actually a big player on the World stage and had an actual veto over EU negotiations.
I cannot for the life of me understand why the SNP still refuse to address the issues we lost the last referendum on and now there is the question of the people who still think the EU is undemocratic to address also.
For goodness sake SNP stop messing Scotland about and get on with the job which your constitution quite clearly states is your function in life and that is to gain independence for Scotland.
“Scotland Must Leave the Union Now”
Off you go then, no-one’s stopping you. You know where the door is.
Xenophobia comes to the fore in the US as it does in England because it is a convenient reference point when economic times are hard.
As in the US so too the other side of the pond.
Not that there are any easy economic solutions given all the considerations; the world’s reserve currency=$US; Sterling v. Euro; free trade v. protectionism; lower costs of product by way of industries utilising Third World or overseas cheap labour for higher profits ( as has happened significantly in the US – over the border to Mexico for example; and so on.
No easy challenges – but racism does have its political appeal by contrast to finding hard answers to difficult challenges a country faces.
Statistically, you may be right that 54% of those polled support racist parties, but that leaves 47% of the English population that you are tarring with the same brush, in a way that, dare I say it, borders on racist.
Why do you dignify this drivel by agreeing that “Statistically, you may be right that 54% of those polled support racist parties”?
The 54% figure is derived by aggregating support for UKIP and the Conservative Party. Neither are racist but both have have pretensions to Nationalism. Nationalism and racism are different concepts – but conflating the two has long served the purpose of cultural anarchists.
Presumably this entire post is some form of satire that is too difficult for the ordinary mind to grasp.
What we have for entertainment is a wholly bogus comparison of racist English people with the glorious munificence of the EU.
It is not the English who are infected with an atavistic hatred of Greeks in particular and southern Europeans in general – no that particular trait can be found within those who call the shots in the EU.
Ah but look at the Germans: OK they may stand by and watch Southern Europeans starve, but contrast that with their welcoming generosity toward people from foreign lands about which the Germans know little and certainly care less.Well over 1 million of these people have been welcomed into Germany. Out of this million plus figure no less than 54 people have gained employment in the 30 largest commercial enterprises in Germany. Does it not make you proud to import such a large number of people and immediately throw them on the social and economic scrapheap.
How can people in Scotland want to remain part of something as literally deranged as the EU. What proportion of Deutsche Banks $47 trillion is derivatives is the average Scotsman volunteering to be responsible for – Or don’t you mention this looming catastrophe to the average voter in Scotland? How many refugees does Scotland want? It is not hard to find several hundred million of likely candidates. Do you really think Scotland could prosper and thrive with a population of say 250 million? At what point do you say no. and by your logic become a rampant racist.
Don’t try and kid us Scotland doesn’t have a problem with racism. It’s also important to remember that people in the UK vote against governements not for them. Apparent support for the Tories is really rejection of a Labour party currently seen to be in disarray.
The racists of Scotland display union jacks, not Saltires.
The blond buffoon is stirring up hatred against Putin and Russia, I think he and his cohort fancy a rerun of a world war.
Boris calls for protests at Russian embassy over Syria bombing
11 October 2016
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called for “demonstrations outside the Russian embassy” over its bombing of targets in Syria.
Britain’s most senior diplomat was talking in an emergency debate in Parliament over the crisis engulfing Syria, and in particular Aleppo.
Russia has been accused of attacking civilians in the city, the ancient part of which is said to have just weeks left if the bombing continues.
Mr Johnson told MPs that he believed the Government was doing all it could to highlight what was happening but he believed people could do more to show how angry they were.
He said: “It is the UK, week after week, that is taking the lead, together with our allies… in highlighting what is happening in Syria to a world where, I’m afraid, the wells of outrage are growing exhausted…
“There is no commensurate horror, it seems to me, among those anti-war groups. I would certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy.
“It’s up to us in the Government to show a lead.”
He described what was happening in Syria by saying: “In Aleppo… rebel held districts have come under furious attack from the Assad regime, from Russia, with the help of Iranian-backed militias.
“At this moment the 235,000 inhabitants of eastern Aleppo are under siege, they are isolated… subjected to constant bombardment and prevented from receiving humanitarian aid.
“Every hospital in eastern Aleppo is believed to have been bombed. some more than once. Hospitals have been targeted with such precision that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this must be deliberate policy.
“The house will know that intentionally attacking a hospital amounts to a war crime. It is time for all these incidents to be properly and fully investigated…. to ensure that justice is done.
More follows…
http://news.sky.com/story/boris-calls-for-protests-at-russian-embassy-over-syria-bombing-10613638
Mitchell has been all over the printed and audio visual media today putting out his propaganda.
This is the start of the Hansard on the debate. No opposition noticed. Even Caroline Lucas went along with it and Bradshaw had to let everyone know that he wanted military action against Assad in August 2013.
The link to Hansard
Aleppo and Syria
11 October 2016
http://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-10-11/debates/F9DCC666-4E96-4F13-A37A-8D51120B8594/AleppoAndSyria
Likewise, Plaid Cymru said that Russia and Syria should face a war crimes investigation at the international criminal court.
It’s quite frightening just how many of these MPs believe the total bullshit pumped out by the mainstream media.
They say the first casulty of war is the truth, here’s some interesting stuff from Syria by someone who has actually gone there.
Free Western woman goes by herself to Syria, says everything western media tells you is wrong
i
Part of channel(s): Syria (current event)
What’s really going on in Aleppo? Are Assad and Putin exterminating the population for sport? Is it a war against US-backed “moderates”? That is what the mainstream media would have us believe. Vanessa Beeley, an independent investigative journalist who just returned from Aleppo has the real story: the US backed “moderates” are the terrorists.
Journey To Aleppo Part I: Exposing The Truth
Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=347_1475273143#CQpqCowA5j7U57Ae.99
Frau May’s Fatherland, must be a very frightening place for a immigrant or EU national, at this moment in time. What I find utterly astonishing, is that the Goosesteppers have increased their lead over Labour. It’s as if their conference, has somehow met with great approval in the polls.
I wonder just how far to the right Frau May’s party will go, I mean we haven’t even triggered Brexit yet, and the Goosesteppers are drawing up lists, god only knows, what the other EU nations think of us now. No one will want to visit Der Fatherland, for a holiday, knowning it’s moving in a fascist direction.
Scotland must gain independence, or we could be tarred with the same brush.
Take your passport with you when your contractions start and you are heading for the maternity department.
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/could-bristol-be-next-in-getting-mums-to-be-to-show-their-passports-on-maternity-wards/story-29798317-detail/story.html
A trial is starting at St George’s. A wheeze thought up by ^Unt and Rudd.
Sharp Ears.
What on earth is going on in England, are people really that disillusioned by immigrants and EU citizens? or is it mainly a Westminster driven agenda? I hope it’s the latter.
Anyway I read yesterday in here I can’t recall who posted the comment, that Russia is moving nukes around the country, in preparation for what I asked myself, knowning fine well the answer.
Today my local newspaper has a picture of US subs sailing into Faslane, STRATCOM a US command department, claims the visit is a routine one to bolster support for its allies.
It reminded me that of Scotland 59 MP’s, only one voted to renew Trident, and he was the Goosesteppers governor general to Scotland, Herr Mundell.
Don’t worry. This is a totally innocent and benign exercise on the part of the UK Westminster Government. Nothing to see here. What you should be worried about is the secret nefarious list that the Devolved Scottish Government has of EU Nationals in Scotland which it has blatantly and illegally used to threaten those citizens with the dastardly and unprincipled act of reassurance.
Black is White
White is Black
2+2 = 3.142
Westminster Good, Holyrood Bad.
Welcome to the new Hollywood blockbuster, FredWorld.
Frau May’s Fatherland, must be a very frightening place for a immigrant or EU national, at this moment in time.
Yes of course RoS- that is why these ‘frightened immigrants’ are stacking up by the thousands in the Calais jungle, in their attempts clandestinely to enter this racist Fatherland!
With this latest ‘opinion poll’, with any luck Theresa *psycho* May will go for a general election, which I predict the tories will lose.
I won’t repeat my views on the EU.
And the Syria debate today, in the House of Commons, after listening to that I’m going to join George on the southern tip of the south island of New Zealand.
Meanwhile the Goosestepper in charge of the Brexiteers, David Davis, has had the sheer audacity, to blame French President François Hollande for the collapse of Sterling.
Davis was asked by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, why had Sterling gone through the floor, Cherry added isn’t it due to Brexit uncertainty. Davis who could’ve blamed its collapse on the untermensch, a favourite line rolled by the Goosesteppers, but no he blamed Hollande, because Hollande, urged the dis- United Kingdom to leave the EU as soon as possible, in a speech last week.
Geez, if Sterling’s in freefall because Hollande opened his mouth and asked the dis-United Kingdom to leave, what state will it be in when the EU kicks our arses back across La Manche.
Still I’m sure jack boot sales, will keep the economy buoyant in the dis- United Kingdom.
The Couldenhove Kalergi doctrine is a useful search
The English are one of the least racist people in the world, which is quite amazing considering the racist particularly anti-Muslim propaganda that the British Government and all The Mainstream Media have been drowning us with for the last 15 years. The Truth about almost everything has been completely inverted into some kind of Matrix / Orwell / Huxley artificial non-reality, which if you take seriously can be really depressing.
Unfortunately the reality for Millions of people in the Middle East, The Ukraine and much of The World is grim indeed, and this is entirely down to the lunatic policies of American neocons, which our European Governments and media slavishly adhere to as if they are worshipping at the altar of Satan.
A sustainable future cannot be built when virtually all policy is built on lies and outright evil.
There will inevitably be a “Reckoning” and it could be – and will be our worst possible nightmare – unless we change course.
Glad I was born when I was. The future looks absolutely terrible, and I guess it must be all our generation’s fault for allowing such evil people to gain control of our destinies.
“The West” has become like the very worst aspects of NAZI Germany and Trotskyist / Bolshevic Russia. The Neocons are their direct political descendants that have completely infiltrated Western institutions whilst hardly anyone noticed.
They will when all hell breaks loose…that’s if there is anyone left.
Tony
We need a general election and to stick together.
The current Westminster have arrived there as a consequence of Cameron’s resignation. Since he left the nation has had an opportunity to consider Brexit, to hear the new administration at conference and Syria / the new cold war has ratcheted up in intensity and danger.
Now it is time for a vote. Parties and voters can decide upon the key issues. Some might say Brexit, a future for labour and the possibility of war in Syria are more pressing than the potential for government in Scotland.
In relation to Scotland and independence I would encourage everyone to think again as to how rarely plans for new regimes, revolution and self determination turn out even remotely according to plan. In practice they tend to create opportunities for the opportunistic. The well intentioned and idealistic are soon displaced. If you are practical, pragmatic, intelligent and well intentioned work within not without.
What you mean is that we should all just give us this voting for the SNP malarkey and go back to voting Labour like good little sheep. Not going to happen. They have betrayed us for decades. Indeed, they have spent the past 4 years denigrating and misrepresenting us to the rest of the UK, to the extent that we are routinely denounced as lazy subsidy junkies. Too poor, eh?
I also find it illuminating that you assume that Scotland would turn into a basket case the minute the Scots decided to run it. That we somehow need the allegedly paternalistic hand of Westminster to guide us. Too stupid, eh?
I see that Labour have not, and obviously will never, learn their lesson. It is apparent that they remain totally arrogant and blinkered. Keep up the good work. There is nothing we enjoy more than to be condescended to and blatantly insulted.
Why vote labour. Vote SNP and continue to rule the Assembly. Over time seek further devolved powers, but stay within one country comprised of this island.
I was thinking perhaps I am wrong and I should look for positive examples of idealistic change taking root without the original founders being entirely usurped and where the people within the borders have on balance not fared so badly (perhaps nonetheless at the expense of others).
Ironically I thought of Israel, which has maintained its democracy notwithstanding irs location albeit at a price for the Palestinians and neighbours. And then I thought of Britain and 1688, which was an outstanding success within albeit more for some than others and again the downside was the external world and the negative consequences of colonialism.
Another example is the PRC. Mao was a succes in preventing the Balkanisation if China, and that was pretty amazing, but it came at a terrible cost for the Chinese. They are best placed to weigh up whether the end, which was a very significant and important objective justified the means.
Scotland is nor in that position. I understand Craig’s position to be that the UK has travelled so far down the wrong road that it must be broken up.I understand where he us coming from, but disagree.
Anyway I wait to see how Plaid, the SNP, the liberals, Jeremy Corbyn and David Davies are responding to Syria. Perhaps some made their position clear yesterday – I’m not up to speed in this. Are there enough Welsh and Scottish nationalists, Corbyn allied MPs and Tory dissidents to oppose an escalation if violence in Syria, or to form a united voice? What is Merkel’s position at present? What worries me is that the Philippine leader is being put up to bait the US – why? Who us tanking whose chain? I don’t have the answer.
The mostly empty Commons chamber in yesterday’s debate says all that needs to be said. Watching the proceedings it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that this was just going through the motions for the generation of specific headlines and talking points on the evening news.
Certainly there was a distinct absence of the blood and thunder of almost twelve months ago, which is hardly surprising given that the much lauded UK air strikes voted for in that debate resulted in a grand total of around 65 sorties in about 10 months according to the recent Commons report which also noted that around 30 of these were in the first three months. A most surprising statistic given that we were promised for definite, cross our hearts and hope for a Peerage, that there were 70,000 moderate fighting troops requiring air support. One wonders where in the excel spreadsheet they all disappeared to?
Not that this was the deciding factor yesterday. Despite the bellicose noises coming out of parts of Washington, echoed by too many of the mini-me’s in Westminster, Obama seems, for the time being at least, to have signaled he is not going to go down the road of trying to impose a no fly zone in Syria given the obvious implications. Hilary, given her track record and stated position, is likely to take a different approach. However, the context will have changed by the New Year. The much trumpeted Independence to act in these matters is not, as usual, going to take any position different to Washington.
Thanks Harry I take some comfort in what you say.
A relative attended a church (pre WWII) at which the new vicar was thought to have a hand in the collection and the congregation dropped off. I have no idea as to the veracity of the rumour, but the relative kept going as they were not there to worship or even endorse the incumbent.
In a similar, albeit non-secular way, we should not leave the UK because we disapprove of the incumbent office holder at no 10.
Why the hell did they keep going to Church if they weren’t there to worship?
And yes, we should leave the UK. Not only because we disapprove of the incumbent office holder now – but because we have disapproved of most of them for the past 40 years. The incumbents have either ignored, deliberately stolen from us or abused us.
Sorry that was not clearly expressed. What I meant was that they did not go to worship the vicar nor ti even endorse him.
I agree that the incumbents have not treated Scotland or Wales as well as they should (and arguably more so Wales than Scotland}., There have been a few Scottish incumbents (only one Welsh). Blair however (a Scottish elite incumbent) flawed in so many ways did do several important things in the Celtic world: 1 peace agreement 2 Scottish Assembly and 3 Welsh Assembly. Another Scottish elite Jacobite descendant incumbent allowed the referendum on Scottish independence, and whilst he then campaigned hard against it the fact he allowed it opened the door, which perhaps not surprisingly you seek to keep open.
Fred
October 11, 2016 at 18:08
“So how did the SNP know the names and addresses of foreign nationals living in Scotland?”
“Do they have a list or did they access the extended electoral register?”
………………………………………………………………………….
Fred, foreign nationals are not on the electoral register because they are not allowed to vote in the UK.
I thought, if you were a citizen of the European Union, you were allowed to vote in the United Kingdom
but not in the recent Referendum.
Irish people have been allowed to vote in the United Kingdom for a long while.
Not exactly. In the UK you are allowed to vote in a General Election if you are a British, Irish or Commonwealth citizen. That definition would encompass quite a lot of potential foreign nationals.
Additionally EU citizens residing in the UK can also vote in local elections or elections to the European Parliament. This definition encompasses quite a lot more potential foreign nationals.
How Strange, I recall Mozambique
was allowed to join the British Commonwealth, yet never having been part of the |British Empire,
yet these people would be allowed to vote in the United Kingdom?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations
Presumably the citizen of Mozambique would have to have right to remain in the U.K.?
Citizens of Mozambique did,amazingly, acquire the right to vote in the UK on that country’s accession to the Commonwealth.
On the same say, that country’s Ambassador was transubstantiated inro a ‘High Commissioner’ and with that transformation acquired the right to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph each year in Memoriam to Britains’ war dead.(At the time of both of the last world wars, Mozambique was an overseas province of Portugal- a non combatant in both of these wars)
I assure you I’m not making up this post colonial guilt trip shit, crossed with royalist sentimentality
Incorrect.
Portugal declared war on the Central Powers and there were even Portuguese troops fighting on the Western Front.
But EU citizens who live and work in Der Fatherland who go on to have families and contribute greatly to the economy, cannot, vote in a dis-United Kingdom GE. Which is in my book discrimination.
Now with Frau May frightening the living daylights out of them, I doubt many more will want to live and work in Der Fatherland, and who could blame them.
It is “Das Vaterland” (“Land” is a neuter noun).
Careful Doug, I asked Fred if he admired the Goosesteppers on a earlier thread, he didn’t reply no.
Ve haf vays of making you talk, is a Goosesteppers favourite, watch out for it.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/ve_haf_vays_of_making_you_talk
“Fred, foreign nationals are not on the electoral register because they are not allowed to vote in the UK.”
They vote in the Scottish Parliament elections.
We don’t hear the jack boot admirer mention the “list” anymore, the Der Fatherland acolyte must’ve read this today.
http://wingsoverscotland.com/galaxy-class-stupid/#more-88717
Of course the scheisse, is still coming from Der Express newspaper, I wonder if Herr Norton, has read his bible today?
Here is a list of reasons the electoral register may be used.
https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council/local-democracy-and-elections/reg-vote/there-are-two-registers-why
Which one were you claiming this was?
Use of the register for non declared reasons is not only a criminal offence but also contravenes the data protection act.
Do you think that UKIP MPs should be allowed to use the electoral register to target mail at foreign residents?
The Electoral Commission allows all elected representatives access.
I understand that Ian Murray (Labour) also recently wrote to all identified EU nationals in his constituency.
Then he was clearly breaking the law too.
Royal Bank of Scotland cleared of ripping off business customers
Bank says independent review found no evidence of systematic fraud! ( note date 2014)
https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2014/apr/17/embattled-co-op-group-unveil-losses
Royal Bank of Scotland systematically destroyed its customers’ businesses for profit, leaked files show
New documents show bank gave bonuses to staff who could identify firms to be ‘restructured’. ( 12 hours ago)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-leak-leaked-files-bank-destroyed-customers-businesses-for-profit-project-dash-for-cash-a7353906.html
Scottish Banksters
Royal Bank of Scotland crushed thousands of businesses during the financial crisis to increase its own profits, leaked documents show.
Internal emails handed to BuzzFeed News and the BBC show the bank implemented a plan to squeeze customers facing financial difficulty and gave bonuses to staff for identifying struggling firms.
Royal Bank of Scotland then bought assets at rock-bottom prices once companies hit difficulties, often selling them at a profit. It also hit them with LARGE fees, driving many into the ground and boosting its own bottom line, the documents confirm. Many of the owners affected say they suffered mental and physical health problems as a result of their treatment. The Rt. Hon Andrew Tyrie, MP, Chairman of the Trasury Committee labelled the documents “shocking”, and demanded the Financial Conduct Authority publish all information it has as quickly as possible
O/T, but rather interesting.
Foreign secretary Boris Johnson, has ramped up the calls, to create a no fly zone over Aleppo, and blames Russia and Syria (wrongly ) for deaths through heavy bombing. One could easily, pass this latest attempt of demonising Russia and Assad, as the usual guff.
However whilst Kerry and Johnson have been, bewailing, how bad Russia is, Russia has signed a deal with Turkey, to run a gas pipeline to supply gas to Turkey’s 74 million residents. It’s a deal that might not have went through, if the failed coup hadn’t left Erdogan feeling rather dubious over his US ally, in my opinion, though reports have suggested, that the pipeline was already on the cards.
Maybe this is why the propaganda war against Russia and Syria, is reaching a higher level.
The Great Satan, and its ally Qatar, will be wondering when they’ll get their pipeline up and running.
RoS I agree.
Qatar is a horribly corrupt place.
They are part of the coalition bombing the shit out of Yemen.
Did Johnson mention the Americans bombing Syrian troops in his analysis
Michael.
I saw the excerpt on the BBC, so it was about as well balanced as Amber Rudd’s speech, at the Tory conference.
Qatar deploys 1,000 ground troops to fight in Yemen
Qatar Armed Forces soldiers, backed by 200 armoured vehicles and 30 Apache helicopters, head to Yemen’s Maareb province.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/qatar-deploys-1000-ground-troops-fight-yemen-150907043020594.html
I was screaming from the roof tops that the rampant xenophobia and racism are reaching critical levels, and I recollect Craig deleting my comments and the links I had forwarded, and sanguinely stating; “we know there are racists”!
Well it does not need government legislation for the xenophobia industry promoted by the very self interests of the *ionists*, is taking even more grotesque forms; A pilot scheme backed by the Home Office will see every mother-to-be told to prove their right to use the health service when their labour is booked in.!
That is whilst pound is being exchanged for less than a Euro in some of the airports, after it has suffered the losses of seventeen percent magnitude. Also whilst Amnesty Internationals’ report goes unnoticed and when mentioned is largely discounted by pointing to “immigrants” not getting legal aid! This of course is overlooking that many victims of the current injustices in the courts are left to fend for themselves because they cannot have access to any legal representations; hence they all are pleading guilty for fear of ending up in the hot water and in a worse situation post a crown court trial.
Finally what makes you so sure that any dreams of independence can be realised, with the current Fascio in charge? The notion of having a legal discourse with a bunch of lawless brigands somehow does not bode well for any measure of success!
* the freedom of speech only extends so far even on this “free” blog
Fedup.
Yip Sharp Ears, already linked to the story, which is already being piloted in London, on orders from Der Home Office.
The Goosesteppers are doing their best to, turn people away from England, the jack booters want to revel, in splendid isolation.
What I would like a answer to is, how will they be able (morally that is ) to turn a woman away, who’s in the process of giving birth?
You said;
how will they be able (morally that is ) to turn a woman away, who’s in the process of giving birth?
Pretty easy really, as this proves;
“Londoners did nothing to stop my attacker or check if I was okay”
“A young Muslim student today said she fears leaving home alone after her hijab was torn from her face by two men in a “sickening” racist attack on a busy London high street.
Scotland Yard is investigating the incident in Tottenham High Road at 7.30pm on September 28.
The 21-year-old British-born woman, who the Standard has agreed not to name, described how the pair flanked her on either side as she waited to cross the busy road outside the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (Chenel).”
It is far too easy for the seeds of hatred to be sown and harvested. Don’t you find the strange lack of any comparisons between the ***ish refugees of WWII and their rejection by the various European countries and the current batch of war refugees albeit following a different religion?
The fact that our very own “chaperones” * here, are but an example of the clear overlap of The undeniable overlap: right-wing **onism and Islamophobia
As already the various “contributions” have yet again reiterated.
Never mind the crashing pound, the totally unrealistic attacks on the poor, for the sake of cutting the taxes for the rich, the destruction of a once cherished NHS, the pitiful state of the infrastructure that with any rain, or wind, or even spell of cold comes to a crashing halt. Forget about university graduates taking on the school leavers jobs, a successful service economy won’t you agree?
It is all because of; immigrants what done it!
Then you go and invoke morality?
* As claimed and noted/gone on record by the very operative/s themselves that have taken over this blog’s comments section
** only a reflection of the extent of “freedom of expression” on a “free” blog! (subject to approval of moderators and owner of course.)
Fedup-
Here’s a report of the Tottenham Islamophobic attack that gives rather more details about the assailants-
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/14793034.Goldsmiths_student__living_in_fear__after_hijab_ripped_off_in_Islamophobic_attack/
you’ll note that one of the assailants addressed the woman ‘in broken English’ and is of ‘Meditteranean appearance- in other words at least one of her assailants was almost certainly a fellow immigrant and not, as you and Craig would have us believe, a younger incarnation of a white English Alf Garnett . The other one, just described as ‘white’, and who didn’t address the victim, could just as easily be of Polish/Baltic origin, and not white English origin, the ‘white English, BTW, being very much in the minority in Tottenham these days.
Not that the facts have ever stopped Fedup from going into rant mode at the drop of the hat.
Very impressive from an emotive perspective.
There are over 130 million births in the world each year. How many of these 130 million do you propose should have unfettered access to the British NHS (where the N stands for National). If, in your opinion, the answer is less than 100% of the total then on what basis do you propose rejecting those that are denied access to the NHS.
“on what basis do you propose rejecting those that are denied access to the NHS.”
_________
Firstly Looney you know fine well, only a small proportion of the worldwide births per year occur in the dis-United Kingdom, and even less are tourism.
Secondly and more importantly, you legally can’t be refused maternity care in the dis-United Kingdom. Unless the Goosesteppers change it, and I wouldn’t bet against it.
http://www.expatica.com/uk/healthcare/Giving-birth-in-the-United-Kingdom_107707.html
Finally beginning your comment, with a faux sentimental, understanding, doesn’t show your humanitarian side, in a very good light.
In any given year more children are born in Africa than in the the US, EU, and Japan combined.
In the UK there are 26 children’s hospitals. In Africa there are 2 (both in RSA).
How many Africans do you think would be economically better off in the UK. The answer is likely most of them – and the population of Africa is increasing by about 80 million per year.
How many of these people do you propose should be allowed access to the UK and the public services provided by the UK. If your answer is less than all of them then on what basis do you propose rejecting people?
A refusal to address such questions is not evidence of humanitarianism. It is evidence of delusional thinking infused with narcissistic but otherwise pointless virtue signalling..
Loony – I asked about this a week or so ago.
For any enthusiast about mass migration to the UK, it’s only fair to ask what the upper limit would (or should) be for the population of this country.
If they have no answer, or don’t even want to discuss it, it’s clear they’re not being realistic. Full marks for humanitarian idealism, zero for any practicality whatsoever.
A refusal to address such questions is not evidence of humanitarianism. It is evidence of delusional thinking infused with narcissistic but otherwise pointless virtue signalling..
Loony- you have RoS down to a t there !
At the present moment Mr. Musk is having built the largest battery building facility in the world, in America, the batteries will mostly be constucted robotically.
Car plants are being made, ever more robotically “efficient@
Farms are being made more robotically efficient.
People are not needed to dig coal, run coal fired power stations, shovel coal in to steam engines, make match boxes, man light houses and so on.
A smaller population would be an advantage, all round, less pressure on the dwindling environment, reduce the knife edge effect of collapse.
So, in Europe, we do not need any extra people.
Every African moving into Europe leaves an African sized gap in Africa, this gap will be filled with another person.
By allowing more and more people to move in to Europe, we are taking the world up on to and ever sharper knife edge of impending ecological catastrophe.
Scotland can achieve independence the way Ireland did: through massive refusal to have anything to do with the institutions of the British state.
Not so long ago I replied here at CM, agreeing with a comment made by Tobias Smollett. After a few moments, both disappeared, thus again demonstrating the degree of freedom.
The issues at hand are indeed, more serious than most wish to admit.
My comment was intended reply to fedup @19.14
This is relevant…
“email sent by Hillary means she knew Clinton Found. donors Saudi Arabia & Qatar support ISIS & other terrorists”
https://twitter.com/snarwani/status/785492974302003200
… because the EU is just as complicit as the US in these crimes against humanity.
I know Michael likes bashing the garlic ridden French, so here’s one…
http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/10/11/syria-french-sponsored-terrorist-media-sites-smear-russia-in-attempt-to-impose-no-fly-zone/
A no-fly zone, which UK MPs have been screaming for in today’s debate, will in all probability lead to an all-out war with Russia.
These people are completely, totally and utterly insane.
Rob, I think Hollande is very keen for FRANCE to join Fives Eyes.
You’re quite correct, but the French people want none of it, methinks (I won’t bore you with the latest riots that are taking place in France).
Isn’t one of the requirements for FVEY that English is the primary language? Can’t see the French liking that one much.
Having seen this outline of the vote for the first time i cant help but feel there is a direct correlation in the North of Ireland and Wales where English colonisation was greatest with the leave vote. The correlation of course extends to the birders of Scotland where the leave vite was greatest. This clearly demonstrates the electoral dangers associated with unfettered internal migration.