Best Of

A great piece @Garethofthevale

Putting it bluntly the SNP have run out of ideas. In the 2024 General Election their manifesto was FOR SCOTLAND - if you weren't for the SNP you were against Scotland. They actually deployed that line that aggressively on the doorstep!

Our problems north of the wall are practically the same as south of the wall - a broken country where the economy means jobs struggle to pay soaring bills, and services crumbling due to a lack of cash.

The SNP solution to not being able to see a dentist or no investment into roads or a lack of teachers? Independence! From what I saw last year punters have largely stopped listening to this guff - they want solutions that are little more tangible than Independence or being told you're a traitor to the flag.

My gut instinct is that they are going to struggle - a very tired incumbent party riven deeply on most issues presiding over a mess. It should be party time for challenging parties - oh yeah Labour are also a very tired incumbent party.

I think we're going to get a chaos result. SNP losing a stack of seats, Labour not gaining as many as they demand by right, Reform picking up scores, the Tories reduced back into redoubts, LD and Green and likely others doing decently well.

I look forward to giving you updates as a candidate.

The wall?

Isn't Hadrian's Wall entirely in England, and the Antonine Wall entirely in Scotland?

Yes. I live north of Hadrian’s Wall and there’s still about 100 miles of England north of me.

I once met an englishman at the Mull of Galloway who had moved south from England to live in Scotland. He had been living in Northumberland, and had moved to the Mull - south of his old home.

Also, Newcastle is further west than Southampton.

Yes, the Mull is as far south as Hartlepool

And here's a road where you can drive due South into Scotland (or vice versa, according to taste):

Another excellent article, thanks Gareth.

Reasonable article but definitely of the glass half full type, re-iterating all the bogus London reasons to allow them to keep milking us and ignoring any of the positives , ie biggest one is how on earth could we be worse off than we are under the English parliament. Lots of small countries doing much better than the basket case UK and they have little or no resources compared to Scotland.
We will just see the usual "London" responses here from bigoted people with no clue about Scotland other than it is a nice piggy bank that has lots of collateral to back up their loans.

malcolmg - some fair points. TBH - my connections are to England and Wales so am less dialled in to Scotland. Have you thought about writing a header yourself? Would be interested in hearing the assessment of someone pro-Indy

FPT

Well done Rachel pt 94.

Spending like a drunken sailor on payday.

Cowed by nonentity backbenchers trying to reduce spending by even a small amount.

‘ BREAKING NEWS: More pressure on Chancellor Reeves to raise taxes/repair public finances/‘fix the foundations’ (still a work in progress, contrary to ministerial claims):
UK government borrowing rose to almost £21 billion last month, £6.6bn higher than June 2024 and the second-highest June borrowing figure since monthly records began in 1993.
City economists had forecast borrowing to increase to £16.5bn. These days when it comes to inflation, growth, borrowing and pretty much every other economic indicator ‘City economists’ are invariably over-optimistic about Labour economic policy.’

https://x.com/afneil/status/1947541763582808142?s=61

Borrowing fiscal year to date (April-June) is exactly in line with the OBR's March forecast.

This is true. But is it possible to describe how this government is communicating to the interested public what their plan is over the annual, 5 year and 10 year period to reduce that debt we are still increasing and to run the current account without relying on the never never? I listen but have no idea.

The silence suggests that a sovereign debt/inflation crisis can't be off the table. And as Reform are the only likely alternative government at the moment, they could but don't steal a march on Labour by letting us, and the IFS, into their secret and cunning plan on the same question.

FPT

Well done Rachel pt 94.

Spending like a drunken sailor on payday.

Cowed by nonentity backbenchers trying to reduce spending by even a small amount.

‘ BREAKING NEWS: More pressure on Chancellor Reeves to raise taxes/repair public finances/‘fix the foundations’ (still a work in progress, contrary to ministerial claims):
UK government borrowing rose to almost £21 billion last month, £6.6bn higher than June 2024 and the second-highest June borrowing figure since monthly records began in 1993.
City economists had forecast borrowing to increase to £16.5bn. These days when it comes to inflation, growth, borrowing and pretty much every other economic indicator ‘City economists’ are invariably over-optimistic about Labour economic policy.’

https://x.com/afneil/status/1947541763582808142?s=61

Borrowing fiscal year to date (April-June) is exactly in line with the OBR's March forecast.

Indeed it is, at £58 billion in the three months. If you spread that liability out across the million highest tax paying UK institutions and individuals that would be an extra £58,000 each. And again in the next three months. And then again......

A great piece @Garethofthevale

Putting it bluntly the SNP have run out of ideas. In the 2024 General Election their manifesto was FOR SCOTLAND - if you weren't for the SNP you were against Scotland. They actually deployed that line that aggressively on the doorstep!

Our problems north of the wall are practically the same as south of the wall - a broken country where the economy means jobs struggle to pay soaring bills, and services crumbling due to a lack of cash.

The SNP solution to not being able to see a dentist or no investment into roads or a lack of teachers? Independence! From what I saw last year punters have largely stopped listening to this guff - they want solutions that are little more tangible than Independence or being told you're a traitor to the flag.

My gut instinct is that they are going to struggle - a very tired incumbent party riven deeply on most issues presiding over a mess. It should be party time for challenging parties - oh yeah Labour are also a very tired incumbent party.

I think we're going to get a chaos result. SNP losing a stack of seats, Labour not gaining as many as they demand by right, Reform picking up scores, the Tories reduced back into redoubts, LD and Green and likely others doing decently well.

I look forward to giving you updates as a candidate.

The wall?

Isn't Hadrian's Wall entirely in England, and the Antonine Wall entirely in Scotland?

Yes. I live north of Hadrian’s Wall and there’s still about 100 miles of England north of me.

I once met an englishman at the Mull of Galloway who had moved south from England to live in Scotland. He had been living in Northumberland, and had moved to the Mull - south of his old home.

Also, Newcastle is further west than Southampton.

I’ve always liked the Edinburgh is further west than Bristol stat