Tuesday 27 November 2012

IT'S TIME TO GET A GRIP

It is worrying that at Scottish Question in the London House of Commons the Labour MPs from Scotland seemed reluctant to hold Michael Moore and  David Mundell to account (as they are supposed to), on deprivation,  high fuel costs, lack of financial investment (there are currently 43 projects "shovel ready" to create thousands of jobs, but which London will not sanction).

Instead they preferred to join with the Home County Tories (why are they even there?) to ridicule the SNP government and ask Moore and Mundell about the iniquities of "separation". Some even, à la Lamont, refused to face reality and argue that despite Cameron and the First Minister signing the Edinburgh Agreement, the Scottish government does not have the right to call a referendum.

Meanwhile Jim Murphy seems to be doing his best to close down shipbuilding on the Clyde, which is under threat because of a tightening of London's Defence budgets: 

"The Tory government plans are adding to the worries but there is one certainty which is that the SNP proposals would sink Scottish shipbuilding.

"The rest of UK would become a foreign country to Scotland and the UK Royal Navy has not built a warship in a foreign land in living memory.
"The Royal Navy order book keeps Scottish yards afloat but independence would see orders dry up. Thousands of jobs are put at risk by Nationalists' plans."
As a Scottish MP should he not be talking up the yards, at a time when at least one yard will have to close, pointing out that there are many other places to go for orders. Scottish shipbuilding is amongst the best in the world and there is no reason why we could not build ships for, for example, Gulf states. After all England builds planes for them!
But no, as in Holyrood where you would have thought there were many real problems waiting for the attention of our MSPs, hatred and division has become before real politics.
I remember the first time I attended a debate in Holyrood. I left the chamber walking on air and proud as punch that discussions in our parliament were so civilised, and yet relatively informal, without any of the (patently untrue, indeed laughable) "honourable/learned/gallant/reverend gentleman/lady" of the brawling of the London parliament. 
Now Holyrood has turned into a hate fest. The modus operandi appears to be: never mind the problems besetting the country, let's  talk for as long as we can, all the time putting down Alex Salmond, before putting a question. Let's get our hatred for the government on the BBC and in the papers never mind if we have to bend the truth to do it. And who the hell cares about the constituency questions that actually matter to real people: people who are not overly interested in the independence question 2 years before the date of the referendum?
Lamont's inability to get past her script doesn't help, of course, but her insistence on asking 4 questions which seem to fail to take into account answers previously given is an embarrassment:
"Why isn't Alex Salmond's government using Scottish steel to build the Forth crossing?"
"Because we don't make steel in Scotland."
"Alex Salmond says that we don't make steel, but why is his government going to China for its steel instead of using home made steel?"
"Because we don't make steel in Scotland."
"Has the First Minister thought about the number of jobs that would be created if he had chosen to use steel made in Scotland."
"As I've said before Presiding Officer, Johann Lamont knows that the London government shut down the steel making industry in Scotland and Labour did nothing to revive it. We have no suitable steel making facility in Scotland."
OK, the words are mine and I've used considerable licence, but that was a rough outline of how the argument went, although both Lamont and Salmond talked at length. But months after this point was made, Joanne Lamont still refers to the dreadfulness of buying steel from China.
She's not thick enough not to take in the fact that we didn't have the facility to make that steel in Scotland. She just thinks that its a good line that people will pick up on and hate Alex Salmond for; that jobless youngsters will be able to say..."If only Alex Salmond had bought Scottish steel, I could have got a job making it."
The trouble with all this is that it is not only causing division in the country, it is also putting people off politics. And I think it may be polluting the way that other people debate politics. After all, if the leader of the opposition or the Conservative party doesn't bother to try to make any constructive criticism of the government, why would Jock down the pub?
A definite plus once upon a time, for an independent parliament would have been a raised standard of debate. Unfortunately that is no longer so.

72 comments:

  1. I've had the misfortune to cast an eye over Scottish Questions in Westminster, it was a waste of time.

    As you say, its just an opportunity to deride anything the Scottish Government is doing and the SNP or Alex Salmond generally.

    That said, I don't imagine anyone would be taking directions in terms of how to vote from it, its innaccessable bilge, even for the politically informed.

    The hatred, disdain and derision on display for Scotland and any sense of aspiration we have I think would persuade the undecideds to cut the Westminster slackers loose.

    Other than that, Mundell is a useless article. His job description has one line and it is: Read out pre-prepared statements on why seperation is bad and avoid putting clothes on back-to-front in the morning.

    The man has the gravitas and dynamics of a binbag filled with yoghurt.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is obvious from the simpering Mundell's answers that the "opposition" has already told him the questions that were going to be asked. To be fair, hardly anyone watches Scottish questions any more.

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  3. tris

    We scottish Labour did not choose Alex salmond as our manager and will boo him till the end of the season.

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  4. tris

    you haven't told brownlie what i said have............

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  5. Niko

    Scottish Labour got GUBBED and were not able to elect anyone.

    The Scottish electorate, remember them? the people who vote, elected Alex Salmond.

    The three Scottish tory partys have nothing to offer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pa.. I'm still laughing at Muddle's job description. How often do you reckon he manages the clothes bit?

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  7. No, John, I don't suppose they do. It is quite clearly manufactured. I mean what the hell are all these Tories doing there. They can have no legitimate interest in Scotland.

    They must have be told to show up to make it look like there is more than Muddle ...which of course there isn't.

    Must be some sort of punishment they get for being caught with their trousers down.

    The Chief Whip makes them turn up and ask idiotic questions to which the answer is "It's all Alex Salmond's fault" or "Ooops, I'm sorry, I put my trousers on back to front".

    ReplyDelete
  8. Erm, right Niko, except you're not in Labour and there's no such thing as Scottish Labour...

    Double fail.

    But don't worry Pet, I haven't told him anything shhhhhh....

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  9. Three Tory parties, Dubs?

    Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the Liberals Dums....

    You're right there. They have nothing positive to put forwards, and it seems to me that they want the Scottish government to fail in its efforts to make things better for the Scottish people.

    Great aspiration for political parties to have.

    Things can only get worse!

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  10. Tris

    How could you forget the Lib Dems? The party who do not have any principles?

    At least any principles that can be discarded at a moments notice when there is a ministerial car on offer.

    Maybe they will sign a pledge never to sign a pledge again. It just makes them look stupid and thats Willie Rennies job after all.

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  11. Caption competition.

    In order.

    "G... Ga... B... Guh... Wibble... I DRESS MYSELF!"

    "AHHH!!! THE SUNLIGHT!!! I'M ME------ELTING..."

    "Is that a turnip hedgehog? Pass me a cheese and pickle cocktail stick, it'll make up for loosing that vol a vent earlier..."

    "EH MACARENA! AYEH."

    My incisinve political discourse knows no beginning.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The photo of Johann today looks as if she has had to borrow someone elses false teeth

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  13. She probably has to wear Ed's old set, fairfor!

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  14. LoL Dubs, how could I forget the LibDems?

    Erm dead easy.

    They are, after all, very small!

    Willie Rennie... Ohhhhh yeah. I remember him didn't he used to be Nick Clegg...?

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  15. LOL LOL LOL Pa...

    Brilliant !

    :)

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  16. I got a leaflet from Labour at the last election bemoaning the fact that we weren't using Scottish Steel for the new bridge. The guy was away down the road before I had a chance to talk to him.

    Jim Murphy seems unaware that the Royal Navy gave an order for 4 ships worth £400m to South Korea just a few months ago. What's his job again ? I thought it was defence ?

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  17. Why dont you cybernats do one positive thing in yer whole lives
    sign this asap

    https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/members-of-the-house-of-lords-support-an-interest-cap-on-pay-day-loans



    Petitioning Lord Kirkham CVO
    Members of the House of Lords: Support an interest cap on pay day loans



    Our foster daughter Karen (not her real name) is a hard worker. She has been ever since she left school at 16. Despite having special educational needs, she set her mind to getting a job and working to support herself.

    But things have not always been easy for Karen. When she left our care she slipped into a cycle of debt that she couldn't afford to support.

    That was when she turned to a so-called pay day lender.

    The sky-high interest rates mean that while it is possible to borrow to pay off debts it becomes quite impossible in turn to repay those loans. Karen used up to eight companies in an unrelenting chain of borrowing. £100 quickly became £1000 and Karen could no longer track who she owed money to. When the threatening letters and phone calls started she was forced to leave home and started sleeping at friends houses - moving from sofa to sofa. This means she’s sometimes late for work and the job she’s worked so hard for is at risk. All for a loan of £100.

    ReplyDelete
  18. MOnty...either they are thick, or they think we are thick.

    If they can name us one maker of steel in Scotland who can provide the quality of steel in any kind of quantity, I'll bet the First Minister would be delighted to hear from them.

    However, in all this time Ms Lamont has not been able to come up with one single soul who is complaining that his company was left out of the bidding process.

    Let's be honest she wouldn't hesitate to read out a letter at PMQs if she'd had one... possibly even if she hadn't.

    But not a word. Now I wonder why that is. Don't tell me she hasn't been looking for a company that even makes enough steel to make a steel comb...

    And as for Murphy... again either he is as thick as muck or he assumes that most of us won't know that the RN has any ship that it can (anything without secret functions, I guess) built abroad where it is cheaper. I don't mind being treated like a fool by really clever people, but it's so insulting to be treated like morons by these people.

    Curren recently told the TUC that it was shameful that the SNP was going to waste the G4 Barnet money...which would have been quite interesting had there BEEN any G4 money...but as it was a big fat £0 : 0P that Scotland got for that, she was out of line. Now if she didn't know she should have, because her job is Scotland. And if she did know, then she wasn't going to let the truth get in the way of a good slagging for the SNP.

    One of the troubles about all this is that because everything, according to them, has been mishandled by the SNP, and we know that it hasn't, you end up not really listening to, or taking seriously, anything they say.

    Some Labour bloke was on the news tonight saying that the new policing bill was a shambles (I thought they voted for it). Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. I don't know, but I've got to the stage where I assume they are just lying again. If I do that, mostly I'll be right.

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  19. Totally shameless these people.

    They prey on people who are desperate, or who won't understand the consequences of what they are doing.

    There are of course, among them close friends and advisers of David Cameron, which might explain why he is so reluctant to deal with what is an outrage and a disgrace.

    it's signed, Niko.

    Mind you, when you are asking people to do something it might be an idea not to start off with:

    "Why don't you cybernats do one positive thing in yer whole lives!"

    Just sayin'!

    ReplyDelete



  20. "Thanks to those cybernats who have done positive thing in!"

    As I have

    ReplyDelete
  21. BAE is a UK firm. Due to MOD contracting, they must produce UK warships inside the UK.

    Therefore, they are posed with a decision. Choose to close down Portsmouth (their only bankable UK dockyard)

    OR

    Close down one of the Clyde ones.

    Why is Scotland getting the raw end of the deal? Simple: SNP separatism will cost Glasgow chaps jobs.

    This is a perfect example of how the uncertainties of separatism will cost Scotland economic chances.

    The jobless of the Clyde will surely blame the SNP executive for this. And they would be correct to do so. Separation is a giant distraction from the issues which matter.

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  22. You were obviously taught how to pass exams but not how to think for yourself Dean.

    BAE is a PRIVATE company and owns the shipyards.

    A company spokeswoman said the decision on where it will build the Type 26s won’t be finalised until 2014. But a Westminster source said: ‘At a meeting last week, BAE said the first Type 26 will be made in Glasgow. From what BAE said, there would have to be investment in its facilities to accommodate the Type 26 in Portsmouth, so the first one will be done in Scotland.’

    But since you wish for one world government then no yard will be foreign in your utopia!

    Another thing the ships can be built anywhere in the world that is most economic but the sensitive fitting out and equipment will be done behind closed doors within the UK which is normal practice.

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  23. Oh dear Niko. All that money we spent sending you to that finishing school in Switzerland was sadly wasted.

    Never mind. I hope the UK government has the nerve to tackle this issue.

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  24. Dean: There is nothing to stop the shipyards on the Clyde bidding for other contracts. Ships built on the Clyde have long been considered the Rolls Royces of the boatie world.

    And ...all the things that CH says.

    There are British boats being built in Korea as we speak/type...er whatever.

    When we gain independence, we won't suddenly become Warsaw Pact members (I know, it doesn't exist any more). We won't be in the pay of the Chinese, or who ever is supposed to be the enemy of America at the moment.

    They will be able to trust us to build their boats. In all likelihood we will still have our men sailing on them, along with the French, Americans etc.

    You shouldn't use use every spurious argument that falls from the sky against independence. It undermines any proper ones that you might have.

    I know the idiots Murphy and Lamont do this, I thought you were above it.

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  25. it is a point, CH, that as a going concern, and with a reputation for great ship building the company will be unlikely to want to close their Clyde yards.

    It would represent a huge loss to them to have to do so.

    Maybe they would be taken over by another company which would be proud to build ships on the Clyde, with all the kudos that attaches.

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  26. Let's be honest there's only one defence job that Jim Murphy is bothered about. His own!

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  27. Tris,

    The Clyde yards are no longer competitive at all. The average worker working their demands and receives pay in excess of 30% above the industry average in the world.

    With numbers like that, it isn't a surprise the yards fail to win private contracts.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Pa Broon

    Other than that, Mundell is a useless article. His job description has one line and it is: Read out pre-prepared statements on why seperation is bad and avoid putting clothes on back-to-front in the morning.

    The man has the gravitas and dynamics of a binbag filled with yoghurt.

    At ;least he would a culture?

    Boom Boom!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Tris

    One of the things that really saddens me with our current crop of politicians, and some comments on here is the total lack of decency and in some ways honesty. Forgive me for being a romantic but we elect politicians from which ever party to represent our own interests and the wider interest of the UK and Scotland.

    How people like Murphy, Lamont, Mundell, Rennie can consistently talk down Scotland and make decisions based on party dogma and hatred and not what's decent, honest and in our best interests saddens me.

    Housing Benefit being a prime example, rather than deal with the profiterring of private sector landlords and the lack of decent available social housing we are allowing our politicians to penalise the poorest. Rather than talk up the skills and professionalism of the men and women of the Clyde we have politicians gleefully happy to consign another generation to the scrapheap in Scotland to pursue petty party political gain. Every job lost is a tragedy to the family and person concerned, I find nothing good to celebrate about that either on the Clyde or in Portsmouth.

    Politicians often wonder why people in the main appear to hate them and above are some of the reason why. Expenses announced yesterday is another reason, Lamont and the other tories claim more that Salmond ( how does that work ) but then how can it be proper that our very own in Dundee Shona Robinson can claim for cleaning. Give me a break, politicians and some of the commentors on here I am sorry are lower than toilet bugs as far as I am concerned.

    At the very least we should be able to expect a bit of decency in human beings, a bit of concern for a person because they are a person. I was going to watch Hagues statement on the abstention in the UN on palestine but just could not bring myself to watch ashamed of yet another party political statement based on the needs of the Conservatives and Right Wing America and not what is in the interests of the people.

    What a sad political world we have allowed these people to create, we should be angered and ashamed this past week.

    Bruce

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  30. The averages, Dean, are much affected by the fact that much of the ship building is done in countries where wages are subsistence.

    The Clyde workers get no more than their English counterparts.

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  31. Ha ha Wolfie... is there a "grow" missing from that line!!

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  32. Bruce:

    The rent issue is a big one. I'm pushed at the moment, but I'll write more in reply to your post when I get home this evening.

    ReplyDelete
  33. tris

    Yes

    It is a [pity that you have no edit fscility.

    I type, make a mistake and when I re-read it I "read" what I thought I had written.

    I really cannot read anything off a screen beyond cartoons, your blog excepted, where can spot other's mistakes a mile off.

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  34. tris

    I see Alex has decide to take control of the Media throughout Scotland...........

    Still it had to come no doubt the Gulags will soon start to fill.

    https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRbjXJWw-yAmp9dSFjcTr8Kw1lwUOq3hPRiGuNtEB6NvuAj90X6Dw


    Order of the Reich President for the Protection of People and State

    On the basis of Article 48 paragraph 2 of the Constitution of the German Reich, the following is ordered in defense against Communist state-endangering acts of violence:




    § 1. Articles 114, 115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153 of the Constitution of the German Reich are suspended until further notice. It is therefore permissible to restrict the rights of personal freedom [habeas corpus], freedom of (opinion) expression, including the freedom of the press, the freedom to organize and assemble, the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. Warrants for House searches, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are also permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.

    Next will be the enabling act and then the terror will start.......


    God help us all

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  35. God has heard my earnest prayer


    UK Supreme Court overrules Scottish judges on two human rights cases

    The UK Supreme Court has today over-ruled Scotland’s highest appeal court in two important human rights cases.

    http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/uk-supreme-court-overrules-scottish-judges-on-two-human-rights-cases.1354106825

    We can rely on the UK supreme court to keep us free

    ReplyDelete
  36. tris

    this is even better than finishing school in England (a wery posh one)


    Park Avenue - Money, Power and the American Dream

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010jx3m

    absolutely must watch these billionaire republicans could teach the Torys a thing or three.

    1 in 7 Americans on food vouchers
    400 Americans own 50% of the entire wealth of the usa.

    Ayn Rand doyen of the neo cons Atlas shrugged made me laugh!

    ended her life claiming welfare.

    ReplyDelete
  37. tris

    for you and other not many i admit thinking Nats

    Poverty in Scotland
    2011
    Towards a more equal Scotland?



    http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/file.php/3753/!via/oucontent/course/555/povertyinscotland.pdf


    only 250 pages


    A central theme running through this book is that we must challenge the
    view that people experiencing poverty are in some way ‘deviant’. The distinction
    between a ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor has a long his tory.
    Echoing nineteenth-century poor laws and policies towards people in
    poverty, these continue to permeate and influence the representations of
    poor populations today, and are also evident at times in policy outcomes.
    Disadvantaged populations have long been seen as distinctive from
    ‘the rest of society’. In this way, we can talk of ‘the poor’ being ‘other’.
    ‘Othering’ refers to the construction and categorisation of ‘the poor’ and
    other populations (eg, some migrant groups and single parents) as ‘undeserving’,
    as ‘a problem’ and as lacking or deficient in some way or another.
    17 Othering works to stigmatise and to stereotype such groups as distinct,
    as distant from normal society/‘us’ and underpins how some among the
    non-poor and, in particular, politicians, policy makers and the media think,
    talk and act towards ‘the poor’. As Ruth Lister has argued, such processes
    help to make it easier for poor people to be blamed for both their own and
    society’s problems, while also acting as a ‘warning’ to others.

    Hmm will be busy reading this for a while

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  38. Wolfie: That's entirely natural. Everyone else's mistakes leap off the page, but your own are so difficult to see.

    If I didn't have spell check, this lot would be unreadable!!

    ReplyDelete
  39. In other news the SNP crusade to destroy Glasgow continues:

    First the SNP threaten our Clyde shipyards, now they squeeze city funds. They just hate west coast Scotland don't they? They want to punish us for rejecting their narrow separatism in last locals.

    "Finance Secretary John Swinney revealed how much each council will receive from his £9.9billion budget for local authorities, which he said was a rise of £35.2m.

    Gordon Matheson, however, said Glasgow's share means the city has seen a cut of £75m.

    Mr Matheson said: "I'm saddened that Alex Salmond's squeeze on Glasgow has continued.

    "We know that times are tough and we have always been prepared to take our share of the pain.

    "But the decision by the SNP to systematically reduce Glasgow's share of the local government budget is making it ever more difficult to protect services."

    VOTE NO, PROTECT YOUR COUNTRY
    VOTE LABOUR, REJECT THESE TARTAN TORIES!

    ReplyDelete
  40. Well Bruce, I'm not sure that it is romanticism to expect people that you pay £66,000 a year, and give damned good pension to, to actually do what they have been paid to do.

    They are paid to represent us; they are paid to take up our problems with government departments, ministers, and the prime minister if necessary.

    That is why they get the money.

    Of course Labour wants the YES campaign to fail. They don't care what they say, or apparently, what harm they do, as long as we nasty nats don't get in the way of their fabulous conditions and future seats in the ever expanding House of Gravy, erm I mean Lords.

    I haven't seen the expenses, but I have no idea why Lamont claims more than the FM, nor have I any idea why Shona gets a cleaner. Of course people working at her level probably don't have time to do all the cleaning, but I'm not at all sure why we are paying for the cleaner. You would think that that could be afforded out of the extremely generous salary that these people get.

    And yet, we have had claims for gardens, trees, moats, heliports...

    No wonder, as you say, that they are unpopular.

    I've long since given up listening to anything wither this or the last Westminster government says. I came in tonight to Hague on the radio and immediately turned him off. As you say, when it comes to foreign affairs this lot just echo whatever America has said.

    I can't see Hague without thinking of him drinking 10 pints a day when he was 14 or whatever... Horrible little man.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Niko first comment.

    My goodness, you have a vivid imagination. I note that it is the Westminster government which will (or will not) legislate for control of the press.

    I believe the hon prime minister will give his opinions on that tomorrow.

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  42. Niko No 2:

    I notice, Niko, that in both these cases, it was under the Labour/Liberal executive that the alleged offences occurred. One in 2006 and one in 2004.

    I rest my case.

    But it will be a sad day if the counts in London are going to consistently overrule the Edinburgh courts.

    It is more likely that this will be good for the Yes campaign than the NO, pretty much regardless of the merit of the case.

    It is tantamount to... Look you Scotch people can have your strange tin pot little law, but when it comes to anything serious, you must let proper legal people trained at Oxford and with the benefits of and English Public school education deal with the matters.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Niko No 3.

    I'll watch that later Niko.

    Like Britain, America seems to think that society works best if there are a smattering of rich people and a pile of plebs.

    They, like the Brits genuinely hate the European ideal that people are all more or less equal and that the difference between the wealth of the rich and the poor should be FAR less than it is here.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Niko 4:

    Well, it sounds interesting, Niko,

    Wasn't it for this that the Old Labour Party wanted universal benefits?

    Look, I know there are more people who need more these days, and I'm not suggesting that the welfare system isn't broken, but means testing is not the answer.

    It demeans poor people. It often means that the "proud poor" won't claim. They would rather freeze than be seen to beg for help; to eat at the soup kitchen; to have the big ticket that says "FREE BUS BECAUSE I'M A PAUPER"...

    And besides that it costs a fortune to administer, and people cheat.

    I'm really surprised an Old Labour man cannot see that.

    If times are hard, and more and more people need welfare, the way to deal with that is to make sure that there is more money in the pot. Charge the rich more.

    There's some sort of taboo about doing that here, but, hey, it's the most obvious way.

    But no, Cameron won't do anything like that. He reduces tax on the rich and makes up for it by cutting back on welfare.

    And then he tells us that the extra tax wan't bringing anything in, because people simply moved their money abroad.

    So make them bring it back, or tell them to sod off with their money.

    Yeah Fat chance. Just cut 10% off the housing benefit budget, and if the landlords don't bring down the rent (at which time we will reduce the benefit further), the poor will have to move somewhere else, or onto the street. Who gives a toss. Certainly not them..

    ReplyDelete
  45. tris

    Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream

    One of the commentators Jane Mayer has a wicked sense of humour I confess I fell in love with her

    ReplyDelete
  46. Dean:

    The SNP does not hate Glasgow. That is a stupid statement unworthy of you.

    Glasgow has had a fortune spent on it since the SNP have been in power. It is currently receiving a further fortune for the Commonwealth Games.

    I'd be interested to know how much money Glasgow Council wastes on a wide range of benefits for its councillors for which it is legend.

    It could start by saving some of that instead of expecting the rest of Scotland to carry on subsidising it.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Niko...Does Mrs Niko know?

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  48. Isn't Glasgow squandering £15 million on some vanity project in the square so they must be awash with spare cash.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Of course, CH, they are awash with cash.

    And they've had a huge amount of government money spent on them.

    This is just rubbish from Dean. I thought better of him.

    Yes. It is an interesting thread all in all.

    Good comment too.

    If, heaven forbid, we have to make our future for the next ten years with England, they really will have to sort out the West Lothian situation.

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  50. Anon... somehow I missed your comment on first reading... Sorry. :)

    You are BANG on with that answer though.

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  51. As Dean doesn't know his left from his right (last blog) he better hadn't get a suit made to measure, uncomfortable. I believe Matheson has failed on 5 of his 100 election promises already according to his constituents.

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  52. This is no more than I expected at this stage.

    He has plenty of time to fail on the other 95.

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  53. If, heaven forbid, we have to make our future for the next ten years with England,I'm going to emigrate to China.

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  54. I think Dean was speaking tongue in cheek or maybe he was reporting what Mathewson actually said?

    Either way, it is a parody.

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  55. I looked at that too, Deewal, but then I was talking to my Chinese friend about the language and he was explaining the tonal system, and then he showed me how to write a short message....

    ....and my immediate thought was, Norway.

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  56. Ha ha...if only, Wolfie!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Niko the very pleasedNovember 29, 2012 4:15 pm

    More Mayhem at Holyrood for Alex Salmond I confidently predict
    pp 1407-1413

    The history of Mr Salmond’s readiness to intervene in the bid, on News Corp’s behalf, is of real interest. He stood ready to lobby first Dr Cable and later Mr Hunt, prepared to argue that it would be good for Scotland and Scottish jobs.

    Had he done so he would have been seeking to persuade a quasi-judicial decision maker to take into account a factor which was irrelevant to the statutory plurality test. Plurality was the only consideration which could legitimately have been taken into account by the Secretary of State. Acceding to Mr Salmond’s argument would have rendered the decision unlawful.

    Oh Dearie me Alex Fecks up again the great butter finger of Scottish Politics.

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  58. Niko the helpful and kindNovember 29, 2012 4:16 pm

    read here cybernats


    http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc1213/hc07/0780/0780_iii.pdf

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  59. never thought Id see the Day when David Cameron..David Cameron! takes the high moral ground over Alex Salmond and win too


    I recommend that the honorable gentleman might want to have a look at what the report says about the first minister”

    Prime Minister David Cameron responding to SNP MP Angus Robertson
    ( Alex Salmond personal butt kisser in chief at Westminster)

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  60. Niko according to Leveson about Salmond.

    "He cannot be criticised"

    but don't let the facts get in your way.

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  61. ch

    you have the psychological make up of a Joseph Goebbels with the same blind devotion no matter or indeed whatever your master does right or wrong.

    "He cannot be criticised" for what he did but for what he was prepared to do. Which if the Takeover had not fallen through Alex would of on his own admission carried out and which would of been a UNLAWFUL act.

    He was in fact committing a conspiracy and no amount of Nat spinning will change that fact.


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  62. Leveson said Salmond, who insisted throughout his inquiry evidence that he had a duty to protect Scottish jobs, was saved from criticism for acting improperly essentially because he failed to carry through with his promised lobbying of either Vince Cable, the business secretary, or Jeremy Hunt, then culture secretary.

    Even so, it was wrong for Salmond to make that offer because it breached the ministerial code's rules forbidding partisan activity to support a specific firm's business interests. It was wrong for Salmond, Leveson ruled, to lobby UK ministers who were acting in a quasi-judicial capacity on the Sky bid.

    Even if Salmond had no legal duties on the bid, "it does not follow that he was entirely at liberty to seek to persuade the secretary of state into error (particularly, if successful, it could potentially have had the effect of giving rise to grounds for challenge) …

    "Mr Salmond's duty to promote the Scottish economy and Scottish jobs cannot sensibly be understood as requiring irrelevant submissions to be made to a quasi-judicial decision maker."

    Leveson said the email evidence from News Corp about Salmond's talks with the Murdochs did not prove there was a deal to trade political favours for Murdoch's media influence, but he added: "Mr Salmond's readiness, when the subject was first raised in November 2010 and thereafter, to stand ready to assist News Corp is striking."

    The judge said he had "absolutely no doubt" Salmond was motivated by his desire to protect Scottish jobs with Sky. That was entirely laudable, he said.

    But Leveson cautioned: "How far that should be taken, however, is another matter. He appreciated that employment whether in Scotland or elsewhere was not a relevant consideration for the minister and, in fact, he never contacted either Dr Cable or Mr Hunt to argue the contrary.

    "Judged by what he did, as opposed to what he said he was prepared to do, therefore, he cannot be criticised."


    "Judged by what he did,

    as opposed

    to what he said

    he was prepared to do,

    prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do prepared to do

    A fitting epitaph for

    Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond

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  63. Niko the very pleased...

    Pertinent words...

    "Had he done so...."

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  64. Niko ()1) In what way did Cameron have the high moral ground over this. His relationship with Brookes and Coulson leaves him so sunk in the moral lowground as to be only recognisable by his wrinkleless botox airbrushed forehead.

    What a haver Niko.

    Behave or I'll tell Mr Brownlie you've been a pratt, and then you'll be Niko the Very Scared.

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  65. Niko the Numpty:

    "The judge said he had "absolutely no doubt" Salmond was motivated by his desire to protect Scottish jobs with Sky. That was entirely laudable, he said."

    It is right that the First Minister of Scotland, and every other member of the Scottish parliament be motivated by the desire to do their best for Scotland.

    I wonder if Mr Salmond had indicated that he would speak to Mr Hunt or Dr Cable, then did not do so, because, having taken legal advice, he had been made aware that it would be wrong to do so.

    Truth is that I'm proud of a man who will do whatever it takes to get extra jobs for Scotland.

    TBH Niko, if that's the worst criticism you have of Salmond over this, well... I mean it's a bit pathetic.

    You'd think that the man had offered a job to his trusted assistant without having him checked by MI5 ... or even worse to be godfather to one of his kids or something equally creepy and ridiculous...

    I mean no one would do that....Oh wait...

    LOL... Lots of Love

    Tris.

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  66. No point CH. Niko the haybag is on a high.

    From his perverted viewpoint he thinks that there has almost been a word of criticism of the first minister... in THOUSANDS of pages of criticism of everyone else...

    Let him bask in some perceived moment of relief. After all his leaders were all at the man's summer parties, went off to the other side of the world to meet the old man on his private island, and of course worst of all, actually became part of the family. (Although I'm not sure that having a war criminal as your godfather is that much of an advantage).

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  67. Niko and his fellow dwindling band of unionists lost the argument a long time ago and now all they have are smears and innuendo, their smirk will be wiped off in 2014.

    Comment

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  68. Good comment there CH.

    I was also struck by one later on, talking about the debate on Scottish independence at Westminster.

    The vote that Scotland was better in teh union was unsurprisingly three hundred and odds to five.

    The SNP put forward a counter motion that an independent Scotland would have a special relationship with the UK like Canada, Australia, etc. However that was beaten by teh same odds.

    It appears that rather like a spurned partner, the rUK is going to be in the huff with us and isn't going to speak to us.

    It's a pity. We have a lot of common heritage, like it or not, good or bad, it exists.

    But it shows how the rUK eels about Scotland. Loathing, I guess, but tehy want the oil money.

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  69. "I have absolutely no doubt that Mr Salmond was motivated by an
    anxiety to help Scottish
    employment and to benefit Scotland generally: that is entirely
    laudable and exactly what is the
    expectation and proper function of the First Minister".

    That is what Labour call a drubbing from Brian Leveson.

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  70. Niko the neocon -

    After that collection of selective, spinning bullshit, why don't you just admit that you are really now a New Labour clone and rejoin the party as Harriet wants you to?

    Socialist my arse!

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  71. tris -

    Hansard report of the "Shut up you naughty Scottish plebs" debate -

    http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/hansard/commons/todays-commons-debates/read/unknown/458/

    Comedy gold!

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