As Starmer and Reeves subject the UK economy to yet more austerity and deregulation, the Scottish Government takes the blame for cutbacks caused by an economic policy in which they have zero say.
That has always been the problem with devolution: it is responsibility without power – an invidious position to be in.
That is not to say the Scottish government does not make plenty of mistakes of its own – the absurdly large sums of money thrown at the “third sector”, often to further pet causes, is one example.
Angus Robertson has just imposed cuts on Creative Scotland programmes, when the arts are a powerful economic driver for Scotland. What he has not done is cut the bloated Creative Scotland itself. Scotland spends considerably more on the administration of the arts than the creation of art.
The SNP has embraced the entire Freeport scam, which is deregulation gone wild and a recipe for human and environmental exploitation.
All this is a reminder that in an Independent Scotland, life will not be perfect and we will still have some appalling politicians. But it also shows that devolution is an effective weapon against Independence because the Scottish Government faces almost inevitable unpopularity from implementing Westminster-enforced policy.
The pretendy “parliament” at Holyrood is a jumped up regional council, no more than that. As we look back on ten years since the Independence referendum, we can mourn the gradual decline in governmental competence at Holyrood.
Still more can we mourn the undeniable fact that for the SNP leadership devolution was enough. They like pretending to be a government and in the last decade have done nothing to advance Independence (other than a Supreme Court hearing for the power to hold a referendum, which they were always going to lose but still deliberately threw, to make sure).
The truth of the conspiracy by Sturgeon to jail Alex Salmond continues to leak out bit by bit. I would add this thought:
When I first (before the Salmond trial) saw the WhatsApp messages between the conspirators plotting the allegations, I could not understand at all why the police were not investigating conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
I realised that in fact the conspiracy stretched beyond Sturgeon’s office and SNP HQ, and the police and the Crown Office had to be corruptly involved too. I remain absolutely convinced of that.
I have written recently of the revolutionary atmosphere that pervaded the Independence campaign ten years ago – the feeling that a new nation could be built that was radically fairer and more equal.
For me, the most significant date in Scottish history in my lifetime was 31 January 2020. On that night the UK left the EU, and Sturgeon assembled the SNP MPs and MSPs for an announcement. There was widespread anticipation she would announce a referendum, given massive public opinion on Scotland against leaving the EU. Independence had established a sustained polling lead.
Instead Sturgeon climbed down completely and said that there were “no tricks or clever wheezes” that could bring Independence. That was the Rubicon moment for the SNP, the day that they became a unionist party and not an Independence party.
I also want to make an observation about the 2014 Referendum. While I was making myself ill, dashing all over Scotland giving numerous speeches, I noticed the almost total absence of both Sturgeon and Robertson from the street campaign. Neither was frequently in broadcasting studios either, especially in the crucial last week. I have been told Sturgeon experienced a medical event, but that does not fully explain it.
This Labour government is going to become very unpopular, very quickly. Starmer achieved the second lowest ever percentage of votes cast for his party of any Prime Minister in British history.
Only Ramsay MacDonald’s 1923 minority government had a narrower base of support:
1923 MacDonald 30.7%
2024 Starmer 33.7%
2005 Blair 35.2%
2010 Cameron 36.1%
If you look not at percentage of voters but percentage of the total electorate, the result is even more stark:
2024 Starmer 20.2%
2005 Blair 21.8%
1923 MacDonald 21.8%
2010 Cameron 26.7%
One in five eligible voters cast their votes for Starmer. If you look at the other lowest examples, MacDonald led a minority government, Cameron a coalition, and Blair had to resign after two years.
Do not allow the fluke first past the post result to fool you. A Labour victory in the next Holyrood election is not inevitable. And yes, I do intend to stand for Alba.
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SNP and Labour are centrist ideological bedfellows. Sturgeon openly admitted as much last week when reviewing Blair’s latest book, where she revealed she thinks Sir Tony is great and should be more respected.
Aye Nicola, we knew.
Not centrist, rightist.
@Squeeth
Not entirely or completely rightist, politically.
Both entirely neoliberal.
Far right, then.
Craig wrote – “I have written recently of the revolutionary atmosphere that pervaded the Independence campaign ten years ago, the feeling that a new nation could be built that was radically fairer and more equal.”
I experienced this in 2013 and 2014; it pervaded everything, it was unmistakable.
On the Wednesday night before the Indyref I got a bad feeling about the result. The Thursday of the vote was a dull rainy day in Glasgow, the first in quite a while, and my pessimism deepened. Friday the result was announced, and the city seemed dead. It was one of the saddest experiences I have ever had.
I expected the English-driven Brexit Leave result, and I expected Scotland would rebel. I reckoned without the treachery of Sturgeon and her clique.
I Know what you mean Clark.. It was so Heartbreaking..I was in tears.
It seemed pretty clear to me from the start of this year that political leaders of every colour were all either standing down or ramping up to ensure Starmer was installed. I hadn’t known about Sturgeon’s inactivity on the campaign trail, but look at how Davey clowned around during the campaign, Sunak made ridiculous suggestions about National Service, and Farage was suddenly bankrolled so generously that his non-party could fight many seats in the country. Also, note how even the right-wing media gave Starmer a far more easy ride than any other Labour leader, except possibly Blair in 1997, and the pollsters kept telling us that a landslide was inevitable (so don’t even think of spoiling the Starmer party, as there is no point). Now, weeks later, it’s reverse ferret in the media and suddenly we’re being told that Starmer’s Labour aren’t that popular after all! Starmer’s body language since he supposedly won an almost unprecedented electoral triumph also suggests he is uncomfortable about something.
Art shouldn’t be constrained by diversity clauses, art should be free to shock or inspire.
He who pays the piper…. bureaucratic art is death.
Good for you Craig, standing for the Alba party – the ISP is a party worth standing for as well – who knows the elections might come sooner than 2026 – if the Scottish governments budget doesn’t pass in the Holyrood chamber – the Greens have been making noises on not supporting it.
On Brexit; yes Sturgeon, made out that she wouldn’t allow Scotland to be dragged out of the EU – she toured Scotland in her yellow battle bus, but little did we know – that she was battling to keep Scotland tied to the union. The now, unionist SNP has squandered millions of pounds of Scottish taxpayers cash, an example is of course the two-ferries – which are five years late, and hundreds of millions of pounds over budget.
As for the millionaire knight of the realm – and leader of the Labour party Sir Keir Starmer – he has shown how ruthless he will be – and we know, his affiliations with the Zionists, Nato, and the Neo-Nazi regime running Ukraine – Starmer has said of the latter that he, (meaning us) will back this vile regime until the very end – which ultimately we will pay for – whilst our standard of living will fall – as cost continue to skyrocket – and public services are greatly reduced.
Good Luck Craig with getting elected to Holyrood – it badly needs a sensible voice – a voice, in the shape of Clare Daly or Mick Wallace – who are now both missing from the EU Parliament.
Do you remember how in the Tan War, some people fought for a new Ireland where landlords, superstition merchants and bankers wouldn’t run the show and others were doing deals with them so that they wouldn’t have to worry about paying back the money that they stole? That’s what the real power in the Snats was intending, hence the failure adequately to answer questions about a sovereign currency, the EU and NATO.
Squeeth.
Snats, interesting, and a revealing choice name for Scottish nationalist, it has me wondering what you call English, Welsh and NI nationalists – the latter seeking reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
Prior to the 2014 indyref – Alex Salmond outlined the answers to subjects you mentioned in a White Paper, for the benefit of the Scottish public, this was complimented, by the mass production of the Wee Blue Book – which also highlighted – those topics – I doubt any other nation seeking to dissolve what is in effect and illegal union – provided such detailed information – on what steps it would take after it shook loose it chains.
On the fictional kingdom that is the UK.
https://yoursforscotlandcom.wordpress.com/2024/06/02/fictional-kingdom-fraudulent-state-2/
If you’re really that interested, I want Britain out of Ireland, what the Irish do about that is up to them. I haven’t thought about the other nationalists, having rather too much of a life to bother. As for Salmond, blather isn’t the same thing as an independent currency, out of Nato and out of the EU.
Squeeth.
Well – as you want Britain out of Ireland, I – and many other Scots, want Scotland out of the illegal union – it shows in your comment above – that you haven’t bothered, to give it too much thought; as it wasn’t “Salmond’s Blather” the White Paper – was created after consulting experts on the matters and discussed in government.
I don’t much care for the union but I do care about democracy. As a citizen of the UK, a change in its constitutional basis affects us all; where was my vote? Had the independence referendum been democratic, Scotland would be going past Pluto by now.
Are you enjoying my condescension as much as me? ;O)
RoS
Craig posts on Scotland and Independence.
A welcome change of focus to the home front.
And you revert to “the Neo-Nazi regime running Ukraine … this vile regime…”.
Have you any evidence that the Ukrainian government is neo-Nazi or “vile”?
Any evidence at all?
Didn’t think so.
Can’t see the problem. Azov frequently use Nazi symbols; it’s been well demonstrated. They hide it more now, as they’ve been told to stop showing off. Zelensky’s is an undemocratic regime, now unelected, and having banned most opposition. Seems to me RoS is quite right.
Laguerre
The claim that the Ukrainian government is unelected has been responded to many times here.
Ukraine is under existential attack, an election would be impossible under those circumstances.
The country is in a state of emergency which I understand allows for elections to be delayed.
And of course (for example) Britain did not have a GE during WW2 till July 1945 and the USSR till 1946.
But you know all that.
You say that the Ukrainian government (let’s reserve the word regime for Russia) is undemocratic. What’s the basis for that assertion?
The accusation that the Ukrainian government is neo-Nazi is just absurd. Maybe a symptom of frustration with the slow pace of the Russian invasion.
I think the UK had quite a few by-elections during WW2 among MPs a few (in)famous names, and seemingly in the grand British quasi-Constitutional manner of fudge and party horsetrading. I mean, the whole concept is of fundamental importance to electoral government. Might an unpopular leadership try to hold onto power by starting or prolonging conflicts, or boosting existing conflicts to ‘existential’ levels, in propaganda terms at least? Use wartime powers to oppress opposition parties and bring in emergency legislation whose powers have ulterior goals? This is presumably where a robustly-drafted constitution (and the elimination of Royal prerogative) comes in.
On British WW2 democracy, Vera Brittain (Humiliation with Honour – 1942; Seeds of Chaos: What Mass Bombing Really Means – 1944) has some really interesting and pertinent things to say.
“The accusation that the Ukrainian government is neo-Nazi is just absurd.”
JK redux.
“Volodymyr Zelensky: So Azov was one of those many battalions. They are what they are. They were defending our country.”
“Volodymyr Zelensky: The Azov battalion are not volunteers, but are part of the National Guard. They are the official army of our state.”
As is the Kraken Battalion – and the Aidar Battalion – the Azov Battalion – has changed its name to the 3rd Assault Brigade – in an attempt to hide what it is.
What does it say about a government – that its okay with using Neo-Nazi battalions – birds of a feather and all that.
interestingly.
“The much-vaunted Pandora Papers revealed the patriotic President Zelensky was storing payments from his top funder, Israeli Igor Kolomoysky, in offshore accounts. Kolomoysky is also a funder of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion & the Aidar Battalion”
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelensky
“Ukraine is under existential attack,”
That’s not what Russia says. If it is under existential attack it is because they have put themselves in that situation. They could have negotiated, but under Johnson’s insistence, they refused to do so.
So you agree that Ukraine is an undemocratic regime; it’s evidently the case. dictator president, other parties suppressed. The regime attacked and killed their own people from 2014 onwards. I’d have thought that was enough to demonstrate the point.
There hasn’t been a free election in Ukraine since 2014; mustn’t grumble though, there hasn’t been a free election in Britain since it was invented in 1922.
“A welcome change of focus to the home front”
certainly welcome for neocons who want to ignore the fact a whole people is being destroyed before our eyes.
Zoot
Gaza isn’t the only genocide being conducted in the world at present.
The war in Sudan, funded by the UAE, Turkey and Egypt among others is even more destructive of lives and property.
The ongoing war in the DRC, backed by Rwanda and no doubt other States has killed hundreds of thousands.
Not to mention Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine which has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties, military and civilian, Russian and Ukrainian.
So yes, Scottish domestic politics comes as light relief.
sure, someone who deemed Joe Biden “a decent guy” after months of genocide is greatly troubled by mass murder and in need of light relief.
difficult to imagine a more credible humanitarian and model of compassion than yourself. who could possibly doubt you?
Zoot
Play the ball not the man.
I agree that Biden, like (almost) all US political leaders, is wholly wrong in supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
I also believe that, absent that moral blindness, he is a decent guy.
Putin, Xi, the UAE kleptocracy,the Rwanda President etc don’t even have that limited positive imo.
JK redux.
South Sudan was hewn off from Sudan, by the US – the new country is asset rich – George Clooney a CIA asset, (he paid to task a satellite) was involved in the process. The breaking up of Sudan by the US – into two -nations North and South, has been very much kept under wraps for the most part.
Of course US General Wesley Clark, was the man with the classified Pentagon memo in (2001) – a memo- that stated the seven countries that the US would look to – invade, regime change etc.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Document:A_Brief_History_of_the_CIA%E2%80%99s_Dirty_War_in_South_Sudan
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Sudan
do you people hear yourselves?
even if you were totally unaware of Biden’s long career of segregationism, warmongering, mass incarceration, serving predatory capital, of his parting attempt to inflict famine in Afghanistan. even if you genuinely believed his career had hitherto been a model of decency, what sort of person could insist Biden is *still* “a decent guy” in the midst of this pitiless, no-limits, livestreamed slaughter of tens of thousands of innocents — babies, toddlers, pregnant women, old folks?
are you also one of these who thinks Cromwell was a decent guy, notwithstanding what he did to the Irish?
LOL war of choice. the US torpedoed peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
“Have you any evidence that the Ukrainian government is neo-Nazi or “vile”?”
Yes, plenty
Spitfire
Please do tell.
Why should they bother? You’ll deny it, ignore it, and immediately forget it.
glenn_nl
Claiming that a government (other than Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy) is neo-Nazi or “vile” is an extraordinary claim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_claims_require_extraordinary_evidence
Though I’d settle for well-documented evidence.
glenn_nl
Correct.
https://forward.com/news/462916/nazi-collaborator-monuments-in-ukraine/
JDR: “Though I’d settle for well-documented evidence. ”
No you wouldn’t. You never have.
RoS
I’ll have a look at that list.
I do notice though that the site has links to Nazi/Nazi collab monuments in the USA, Serbia, Hungary, etc..
https://forward.com/news/462648/how-many-monuments-honor-fascists-nazis-and-murderers-of-jews-youll-be/
Do you claim that the countries listed are neo-Nazi states because they have not (as they should have) destroyed all such commemorations/memorials?
JK redux
September 10, 2024 at 11:45
“Spitfire
Please do tell.”
Why? You have no interest in anything that opposes your blinkered view. If you were, you would not need me to provide evidence for you.
There’s plenty of evidence, you just need to take off your blinkers. The BBC produced this episode on Newsnight ten years ago:
BBC Newsnight: Neo-Nazi threat in new Ukraine (6m 48s)
That was back in the day when the BBC still had some integrity, you’d never see something to contrary to the official narrative today.
A few dozen thugs running about with baseball bats and cardboard shields, yes fairly typical of the BBC, or the media generally, to try and sensationalise that as a major threat. Of course it came to nothing. In the 2019 elections they pulled about 5,000 votes and lost the one seat they had. The neo-Nazi threat that never was.
Aidar, Azov, Right Sector…. satisfied?
On the arts in Scotland – Alasdair Gray spoke and wrote about its lacking – its lacking of any Scottish content.
“When Gray cites the “exclusion policy” of Giles Havergal in his 34 year tenure as director of Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre; where he staged just two plays by Scots with Scottish settings, he has a point. When Gray criticises Creative Scotland for appointing a Chief Executive who wasn’t Scottish and “knew nothing of Scottish culture” who can disagree with that.”
Thirty-four years in charge and only two-Scottish plays – and things haven’t gotten any better; of course the ever unionist media, especially the SoS and the Herald – attacked not just Gray on the subject.
“Liz Lochhead and Alasdair Gray have been subject to predictable abuse for raising the question of the number of Scots in leadership positions in the arts. Others have met the same response for questioning the social class background of elites and the gender and ethnicity distribution of those in top jobs. It is not only legitimate to raise these questions, it is irresponsible to avoid them because they are socially significant.””
As for Freeport – lets never forget that the SNP’s Kate Forbes – worked hand-in-hand with the Tory Michael Gove, to force Freeports on Scots – Freeports, will have low paid staff, from God knows where, with very little if any, workers rights, there will be fewer regulations as well – on what comes and goes from these Freeports – and most of all, they’ll be very little if any benefits to the locals – also these Freeports cover huge swathes of Scotland, and are not just confined to the ports.
Sinn Fein had seen what had become of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
“When Gray cites the “exclusion policy” of Giles Havergal in his 34 year tenure as director of Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre; where he staged just two plays by Scots with Scottish settings, he has a point. When Gray criticises Creative Scotland for appointing a Chief Executive who wasn’t Scottish and “knew nothing of Scottish culture” who can disagree with that.”
That come across as being a bit racist.
the shamelessness.
Maybe it does to you, Pears, but I suggest you may need to read up on the subject.
It is not “racist” to comment on the colonial domination of one country by another – it is a realistic appraisal of that dire situation.
The real racism resides in colonialism – involving the neglect or eradication of the home culture (for that is what ‘Scottish’ ‘cultural’ bureaucracies are about).
Resisting colonialism is therefore the very antithesis of the racism it is countering. To do so, the reality of English colonialism in Scotland has to be identified and named.
Yes John, colonialism is indeed ‘hateful racism’ (Cesaire). Our political leaders still need to explain to the people what independence means – decolonization – and why it is necessary – liberation from oppression:
https://salvo-cor.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/THEORETICAL+CASE+FOR+SCOTTISH+INDEPENDENCE.pdf
“That come across as being a bit racist.”
Pears Morgaine.
Racist to whom?
Giles Havergal is Scottish – he was born in Edinburgh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Havergal
Why the emphasis on plays by Scots in Scottish settings when we’re being urged to be inclusive all the time? ‘Plays by whites in white settings’ doesn’t sound so cosy does it?
You only see it as racist when using your own racism against Scotland
Pears
Scotland isn’t a race, try chauvinist.
@Republicofscotland I recall Alasdair Gray saying something about the falsity of art. Aside from the economic and cultural arguments pro funding art, isn’t Art rather the problem when we want an accurate picture of the world? Isn’t that why the CIA secretly funded post-WW2 European and African art? If you want truth, independent philosophy should help uncover falsehoods and global science test hypotheses. But Art? Aren’t artists the scene-shifters in the Cave of Shadows, the hordes of advertisers conditioning us to world-devouring consumer-capitalism, the court-party propagandists painting real politics out of the picture? Why does Poor Things the Movie hide the British bombardment of Alexandria from its audience?
It is not only the Arts that are top heavy with english people in Scotland all agencies in Scotland are so
@Terence Callachan, I thought the bigger problem was elitism/social class in the Arts? Wasn’t that the theme of the just-past Edinburgh Television Festival?
Alba MPs will need to abstain from Westminster like Sinn Féin did and do. Otherwise Alba will turn into the same charade the SNP became, and waste another 30 years. Westminster has a corrupting effect on parties and that lesson should be learned, if not from Ireland’s road to freedom, then from the SNP’s recent collapse.
Also, to think England will just let Scotland vote its way out of the union at the next election, as proposed by some, is not realistic anymore. England is fascist, authoritarian, imperialistic and theocratic, and has been for many hundreds of years. Few descendants of those conquered, colonised and bombed by it are under any illusion to the contrary.
Upper classes of the nations that were conquered and colonised by England during the late medieval or early modern period delude themselves, as do the English, into believing that British justice, education and governance are the best in the world. They absolutely are not.
The empire is slow to die, and will still bite rabidly at those it can. The last nations to leave the empire, those nearest England, are also those the English feel most entitled to rule. They are also the most colonised by English settlers who will make the final break away even more difficult.
Unfortunately, I have yet to be convinced there will be an end to the union before British army tanks have crushed a few sculls on the streets of Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast… again.
Duine
Unfortunately I believe that you are right.
Ireland (most of it) got out of the Union with great difficulty and many deaths.
I see no reason to believe that Scotland or eventually Wales will be allowed leave easily.
There was a Bill before Parliament in 1914 which would’ve given Ireland home rule without bloodshed and provided a stepping stone to full independence but it was suspended because of WW1. Three to four thousand lives, most of them Irish, could’ve been saved had they just been prepared to wait a couple more years.
trust in British ‘constitutionalism’, yeah?
do you know how the British responded to Sinn Fein’s landslide victory in the last all-Ireland election of 1918?
The thing is, Pears, that the British claim to rule Ireland was never founded on anything other than military force.
The 1916 Uprising and the execution of its leaders fatally undermined the residual toleration of British rule.
Sinn Féin gained an overwhelming majority in the HoC election in 1918 and established Dáil Éireann in Dublin.
The British government recognised reality in 1922 after 4 years of refusing to negotiate.
The SNP might have done well to withdraw from Westminster when at their zenith but that ship has probably sailed.
Crap Pears and you know it , gee , get a life
What part of it is ‘crap’?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Ireland_Act_1914#:~:text=The%20Government%20of%20Ireland%20Act,for%20Ireland.
“England is fascist, authoritarian, imperialistic and theocratic….”
The boss class, not society espouses these ideologies when it is expedient. This is why they did not worry when small numbers of fascist toe-rags attacked migrants and minorities but wet their pants when lots ordinary decent English people demonstrated against them.
Few in English society truly understand and acknowledge the destruction inflicted by the British Empire on its colonies. Indeed, most believe the world’s populations and cultures ultimately benefited from it. Even amongst the most progressive sections of English society you’ll find multiculturalism is dogmatically praised without any sense of it being a direct consequence of conquest, rape, plunder and death.
Imperialist societies must be fascist and authoritarian in order to rule over the colonised. If it is only becoming apparent to English people now that their society is authoritarian, it’s because the standard of living in the falling empire has fallen so low that those who once benefited from English policies abroad are now left with little option but to find a way to resist them at home.
The underlying theocratic streak of English society becomes evident to the entire world as soon as anything of note happens around the monarchy. Any society that performs religious rituals for their head of state and has a cult for them and their family is fundamentally theocratic. The widespread worship of the chief aristocrat of England enshrines and preserves the inequality and fundamental injustices of English society at every class level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_English_Constitution
Yet every American and Canadian who has visited England and spoken to me about it says that it’s the most irreligious place they’ve ever been. I think that you confuse form with substance. Read yer Bagehot,
“What was crucial, he insisted, was to understand the difference between the ‘dignified parts’ of the constitution and the ‘efficient parts’ (admitting that they were not ‘separable with microscopic accuracy’). The former ‘excite and preserve the reverence of the population’, the latter are ‘those by which it, in fact, works and rules’.”
The Green Party of England and Wales has just voted that the actions of Israel in Gaza constitute genocide. Will the Green Party of Scotland follow suit?
“Sturgeon experienced a medical event” – she had the shits, she was so scared Indy would go through.
Ronny
First; I mean no disrespect to women who have had a miscarriage.
Second; didn’t Sturgeon claim to have suffered one?
Third; was that round the time of the independence referendum?
Fourth; if the rumours about her marriage are true……
Sturgeon had a miscarriage in the early hours of 2011 – so a few years before the referendum.
Hi Craig,
I asked this before but you didn’t reply: If there is another referendum, and if the answer is the same, will you then give up campaigning for Scottish independence ?
Regards,
David
Hi David,
Craig probably didn’t reply because it’s such a dim-witted question.
Regards,
John
Apart from the insult, your reply seems devoid of content. Any partucular reason for that, John?
David
“I realised that in fact the conspiracy stretched beyond Sturgeon’s office and SNP HQ, and the police and the Crown Office had to be corruptly involved too…”
And, I’ve always found it rather curious – and far too ‘cosy’ – for Police Scotland, the COPFS and the UK secret intelligence services to share the same office building at Gartcosh…
“As Starmer and Reeves subject the UK economy to yet more austerity “
The MSM is yet to comment on the lack of originality in Reeves’ pronouncements about the 22 billion black hole which is a cut and paste from Cameron’s excuse for austerity. Reeves has just announced Austerity V2 thereby confirming that labour is no longer a socialist party.
Labour was not and will never be socialist party.
Liarbour hasn’t been socialist since the early 20s (the 1920s).
O/T
I read this morning (Jonathan Cook) that you are in Greece for fear of being arrested again. Did you take my advice last week!
If you want help on finding a permanent location to go and enjoy the rest of your life with your family, just let me know.
Creative Scotland is a cosy wee clique, jobs for the boys, niiice if you’re connected.
Follow the money as always.
Creative Scotland is a job creation scheme for middle class humanities graduates. This statement, I am confident covers all Scottish Government, “third sector” entities. In the case of Creative Scotland, the employment of humanities graduates may be appropriate, the issue being that my assertion is universal regardless of circumstances.
An amusing / infuriating tale (depending on your perspective). Some years ago, I applied for the position of Industrial Consultant at Zero Waste Scotland. I am after all a scientist and engineer with decades of experience of management in manufacturing industry (oh, and Zero Waste Scotland’s head office is walking distance from O’Blivion Towers).
In preparation for the interview, I read up on their website. One of the resource saving initiatives they recommended was; “Why not share a stapler in your office?”. I shit you not, saving the planet one stapler at a time.
Regardless, I prepared a presentation of the services I could render in acting as a technical consultant to industrial concerns. Variable Speed Drives, Rotor encoders, Waste heat pumps, multi ring-main compressed air systems, substitution of compressed air with blown air, etc., etc.. It was like showing magic tricks to a dog. Total incomprehension. Not a single member of the interview panel had even the remotest knowledge of science or engineering.
Lorna Slater of the Khmer Vert has made it clear that their support for passing the Scottish Government’s much reduced budget is contingent on maintaining funding to Zero Waste Scotland. Don’t trouble to ask what proof of efficacy that body can offer in terms of demonstrable evidence that resource utilisation efficiency has been delivered, for none exists. From bitter experience, I can however attest that they are terribly keen on claiming credit for initiatives in which they had no involvement.
@Vivian O’Blivion, hey, I got a dead-cheap home composter from Zero Waste Scotland that’s working great many years on, full of worms and weevils and slugs turning my brown and green household waste into crumbly black soil for my garden. Multiply that upscale and maybe they did something right. But your larger point echoes the views of Ben Goldacre of Bad Science.
No jobs for working class hums grads? Scandalous! ;O)
Robin McAlpine heard from two senior Civil Servants that before the first post Brexit vote meeting between Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon, May had a document prepared with a series of compromise positions. At the outset of the meeting, tartan Imelda stamped her wee Jimmy Choo’s and squeemed “No Brexit!” The proposals went unopened.
As Jim Bowen used to say on Bullseye, “Let’s see what you could have won.”.
An EU / UK Customs border on the Solway / Tweed line as opposed to the Irish Sea was always a viable option.
Northern Ireland has four designated Customs, Points Of Entry, notionally created to handle UK to NI goods transfer; Belfast port, Larne ferry terminal, Warrenpoint container terminal and one of the Belfast airports (clearly at least some of these locations already had Customs staff present). That’s 2.1 POE per million people. A combined Scotland / Northern Ireland entity would merit 15 Points Of Entry. Minus the four Scottish international airports, Grangemouth docks, and one rail freight terminal this leaves 6 POE along the Tweed / Solway (Customs at Larne would be redundant). There ain’t that many HGV suitable crossings along the Tweed / Solway.
Trying to break this down as a technical issue (as I have just done) is largely a false proposition, it’s really a political exercise. A few additional Customs officers more or less at Belfast or Gretna matters not a jot in practical terms. If Sturgeon had the will to further independence, she most certainly had the leverage. It was a no lose scenario, if Theresa May refused this compromise Sturgeon could have used that as ammunition to further increase Yes in the polls.
I don’t attribute Sturgeon’s timidity and wrongheadedness to some grand, UK Permanent State conspiracy. She was a provincial, failed lawyer content to exercise authority, limited in Geopolitical scope but absolute in its dictatorial application.
Sturgeon could have helped May get a soft Brexit and all that went with it. Wouldn’t a customs union have negated the need for customs checks?
Re: ‘The pretendy “parliament” at Holyrood is a jumped up regional council, no more than that.’
How many regional councils can set the rates of (non-savings/dividends) income tax at pretty much whatever levels they want, and spend however much, or however little, on health and education as they wish, thus being able to turn their regions into either Scandinavian-style social democracies or lower-tax versions of Alabama – or anything in between?
Pedantic note: Starmzy actually achieved the third lowest ever percentage of votes cast for his party of any prime minister since the title became official, as Lloyd George’s coupon liberals only got 12.6% of the vote in the 1918 election (or 25.6% if you include Asquith’s non-coupon liberals as well since at that point the party hadn’t officially separated):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_United_Kingdom_general_election
Lapsed in more than agnosticism , they can only set tax rates 3% up or down , income tax only NOT business or corporation tax or any of the dozens of other taxes that every other country on this planet can decide for itself , the english control it all
Thanks for your reply Terence. It was the Scotland Act 1998 that allowed the Scottish Government to only change non-savings/dividends income tax rates by up to 3 pence in the pound. Things have changed a bit since then. The Scotland Act 2012 modified it to 10p in the pound, and then the Scotland Act 2016 to pretty much whatever it wants. Since much of Scotland’s public spending comes from income tax, a basic rate of 40% and a higher rate of 60% would lead to Scandinavian levels of government revenue, whereas 0% rates would lead to an overall tax take lower than Alabama. I note too that, according to the latest GERS figures, Scotland was given a net £22 billion by the rest of the UK (for which read: London and the South-East) last year. Nice if you can get it.
“And yes, I do intend to stand for Alba.”
Best mind your Ps and Qs. The Gang of Three (Salmond, McEleny & Ahmed-Sheikh) are pathologically sensitive to anything even remotely adjacent to dissent.
Perhaps the ISP with its abstentionist position would be a more welcome berth?
For my part, I discontinued my subscription to Alba some months back.
Party politics is a cul-de-sac posing as a Shining Path.
Letsnot be rats in a sack
Craig, writing as someone who has been expelled from Alba in 2024 for contributing to a National article ludicrously deemed “harmful to the party” I’d strongly advise you against standing for that party in 2026 as there is no way it could tolerate your outspoken nature.
Can I ask whether you have any evidence of postal vote fraud managed by Dominic Cummings, DG? Because if not, that will be libel.
Cannot quite understand why Mr Murray is so desperate to jump into bed with these political parties. To my mind, he does quite well and has a better standing as an independent commentator than compromising his position and ideals just for a place at the trough.
One day soon hopefully we will be able to have access to the full electoral data.
Hard now since it is subject to commercial confidentiality or whatever especially for postal votes.
So to keep on the right side of the draconian LA’s LAW 😉
There was zero chance of a fair referendum in 2014, just as there was zero chance of a fair Brexit referendum 2 years later both had a massive increase in postal votes and associated suspicious ‘high turnouts’.
The befuddled looks that agit prop commentators put on to cover up these facts are in a few years going to ‘shine’ so bright as soon as genuine AI systems start tracking down the real people posting or it becomes obvious the management behind them. Call it sock puppetry for short.
‘Call me ‘Your Lordship’ Cameroon the ham prodding prick, even exclaimed about having worried lizzy enough hat she had to phone him ‘purring with delight’ at not having to give up her Hice, and Grice shooting moors and castles.
It was done using postal vote fraud.
Nicola was chosen as a tool of the Crown from a young age and managed by the Crown agents including arch mossiethug Alistair Campbell.
They needed to be spooky to get into his court.
Photos of her being besties with Campbell exist.
The only way Scotland achieves independence is as many colonial territories of the Imperialist Anglo Europeans have – mass revolution and if necessary armed insurrection; as the methods of ultra violence are used to keep them in control.
India did it, Rhodesia disappeared, Eire achieved it, Algeria and many others are well on the way.
Unfortunately for Scot’s they had such a huge role to play in the AngloEuropean imperialism as the willing colonisers and abusers of natives – they have to face that and accept their role in it first – If they want the free worlds support in achieving their ancient sovereignty.
All my personal opinion of course. So don’t blame CM.
I see what you did there DG, but it’s not my law; it’s the law of England & Wales (plus Scotland) – and it’s generally best to stay on the right side of it I find. I’m sure that no one here would blame our host for what you or anyone else writes on his blog but, if commenters don’t provide their real names & addresses on their comments, he’s still legally liable for them.
No worries LA – keep up the good work and chill 😉
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/world/greece
Not bad considering what Assange had to endure. Perhaps we should all go?