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Has Sturgeon filleted Scottish Independence? – politicalbetting.com
Has Sturgeon filleted Scottish Independence? – politicalbetting.com
SNP Westminster leader hints at major rethink of Sturgeon independence plan https://t.co/QOiSfVzDOK
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FPT but on topic
I recognise that but for me the bigger problem was her total lack of interest in the Scottish economy. Her eyes famously glazed over when economic matters came up and there have been a series of calamities on her watch, the ferries, Prestwick, the discouragement of investment in the North Sea, BiFab, these are just recent examples. The sad fact is that Scotland as an independent nation is a lot less viable than it looked in 2014 and much more dependent on UK money and cross subsidy. As a Unionist I deeply regret that. I can only hope that her successor pays more attention.
Biden live press conference on shot-down UFOs… “ The latest assessment is that they were private balloons”, Biden says.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-us-canada-64670366
Why is a political party defining who it wants to represent it unreasonable? Is that not the whole point of a party, that they can filter down the mass of the public into those with the views and policies they want as their representatives?
If the wacky characters and cranks want to join parliament they have other options, they are not required to be included anymore than utter cretins should be properly represented.
There are sound reasons for being wary of parties easing or forcing out those its leadreship don't like. Being unrepresentative is not one of them I think.
It's not properly cautioning if it is raising a scenario which is exceedingly unlikely, and even if it wasn't, is a very long way off.
That's like someone cautioning me against causing water damage to their house if I seek to spray some on mine, which is currently on fire.
I really don't know why people overthink Corbyn's views when whatever else one can say about them they are straightforward. He thinks it is wrong to fight, even in one's own defence.
If Prestwick is a "calamity", there are no words in the English language to describe the cataclysm of Rhoose. Prestwick cost the Scottish Govt £1.
Rhoose cost the Welsh Govt £52 million, then received a grant of up to £42.6m and separately £42.6m of the airport's debt was written off.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/cardiff-airport-welsh-government-debt-19955141
The thing about the SNP "calamities" is that there are still minuscule compared to the daily disasters of Llafur. Here they are simultaneously cancelling all road projects and reducing bus services.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64640215
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-64650058
Wales should be back at the Stone Age by the time the Drake has gone.
Llafur in Wales has gone from failing to improve the Welsh economy to actively sabotaging it - ensuring that more and more jobs and opportunities will be going to England
The SNP look absolutely bloody brilliant from Wales.
The last thing he wants during the election campaign is for Labour's message to be hijacked by endless vitriolic debate on the Labour candidate for Islington North and his stance on Israel, Ukraine, Russia etc. Not many votes in that, and the media will love it. Even PB can't resist resuscitating it.
I agree with much of your second paragraph (other than the comparison with the 2011 riots - having been resident in both cities at the times in question that strikes me as hyperbole). However, I do find my view of the Colston statue destruction is changing as I see the cultural impact of the act. That's not to say Mogwai were right to say what they did, but the fact that the statue being torn down is, for them, a defining feature of visiting Bristol (well, Bath!) shows, I think, that the act had a cultural value that starts to raise its status above mere criminal damage.
Wasn't their best gig, though. Some real highlights (first time I've heard Mogwai Fear Satan live, Remurdered is always incredible) but a bit too much noodling in between. Though Mogwai on an off day are still an excellent night out.
The thing about wars is they are un-fucking-predictable. Nobody knows how this war will end.
You describe something as "exceedingly unlikely" .
How have you reckoned the probabiity ? Let's see how you have estimated this.
So, if Prestwick is a calamity, can you find a word to describe the monumental fuck-up at Rhoose?
You don't know how lucky you are to have the SNP.
We'll swap you Drake and the gang for some competent nationalist politicians.
Because we will never need her...
We spoke to Mrs Stodge's mother in flood-ravaged Hawkes Bay yesterday evening. Plenty of community spirit in the retirement village and given she has survived doodlebugs, skiffle and me marrying her daughter, I suspected a little bit of wind and rain wouldn't bother her but the notion of no electricity for perhaps a fortnight certainly made me realise how dependent we are on power.
The main house at the retirement village has a diesel generator so they are providing hot food and drinks for the residents as well as a place to meet that's light and warm. They have also had visit from the Defence Force which as you can imagine was a bit of a treat.
Unfortunately, the death toll is rising slowly - now six dead and many still missing.
I think many ordinary people see their bills going up because of this war and would like it stopped.
If the war is still going on by 2024, then a politician who breaks ranks and calls for it to be ended will find the policy a vote winner.
Whatever his political views and his impact on the Labour Party, the first job of any MP must be to work hard for their constituents and Corbyn has always done that.
The fact is, as we've seen elsewhere, however, all the local work counts for very little if the Party disowns you and you end up as an independent - will Corbyn suffer the same electoral fate as Dave Nellist?
"A victim who lost his post office, house and marriage in the IT scandal is set to *hand back* £322,000 in compensation."
https://twitter.com/TomWitherow/status/1626277288164704257
If he fought and won as an independent sure he'd be upset at losing the link to Labour which has been a big part of his life, but he'd still be able to work hard for his residents and go on all the rallies for all the causes he wants, so really it sounds pretty good for him. No compromises necessary. With a good night predicted for Labour as a whole it's not like it would undermine their chance of victory overall.
So he really should go for it. Not easy to win without party backing, definitely, but worth a go.
Nobody been banged up yet, apart from the innocent postmasters?
From a few days ago.
https://twitter.com/Fyrishsunset/status/1625993800576299012/photo/1
Problem is we are not in the era of mass memberships (SNP aside perhaps), even with the rise in Labour membership under Corbyn (though it was closer to that at least), and giving members the vote has not really returned to that era.
So you end up without any benefit of some kind of representative membership, but gain a large unruly mass that is much more entitled than it used to be - we've seen on here people speculate what's the point of being a member if you don't have a leadership vote - and who even if the MPs don't mess up, no easy task, might mess up for them.
https://twitter.com/alexmassie/status/1626311133488418816
In any case, it's not the fish that do filleting, but the other way round. So there is a moment of dissonance.
Would that claim be undermined if the next leader also led the SNP to thumping electoral victories and huge poll leads, that those were more the result of other factors and not the leader herself, or would it be taken as a sign of the enduring good work of Sturgeon?
'It's AJOCKALYPSE NOW for Labour.'
Of unsubtlety.
George Gardiner got deselected and despite having been MP for 23 years won just 7% in 1997.
So much depends on churn in the electorate and a whole series of other factors.
People frequently criticise/disagree with me, it's fine.
How many Slab and ScoTory leaders has she seen off? (Not to mention the odd SNP one, it must be admitted.)
How many Tory PMs has she outlasted?
How many Tory PMs can claim to have her electoral record, per 100 constituencies?
Like Blaenau Gwent, it is not as though the seat will fall to the Tories.
The winner will either be Corby as Independent Labour, or Wulfrun_LobbyFodder with the Very Pale Red Rosette.
Major infrastructure projects are often places when rhetoric bumps up against reality in an expensive way.
AIUI the contract for the QC was written in such a way that costs were controlled for the public purse.
https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/08/30/queensferry-crossing-opens-245m-below-budget/
This is a mixture of luck, politics, geography and reality.
The nonsense that ended with the SC's inevitable judgement was pure playacting for delay; the GRR fiasco will never fit any rational analysis; the ploy that a GE could be a proxy referendum meant that she had to go in time for the impossible policy to be changed before the election happened. Again, all it bought was limited time.
To achieve independence once Ref1 was lost required only one thing, and that is still the case. That one thing is the settled will of 60%+ of the Scottish voting population that they truly deeply want it having taken account of the realities involved including the hardest issues.
This has failed, and will continue to do so until something unforeseen changes.
My own view is that this fails because on balance it is impossible to make the case for it.
It doesn't like fowl language.
EXCLUSIVE. DUP's Nigel Dodds warns all: "Northern Ireland is colonised by the EU. That is intolerable for every unionist"
"If the Brexit Protocol and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) are still there, we won’t go back into the executive in Belfast"
https://twitter.com/antoguerrera/status/1626212825298239488?cxt=HHwWgICw0dr8u5EtAAAA
Also, if this admittedly pro-development author has it right there are some NIMBY Tories actually opposed to easy building on Brownfield as well as Greenfield.
https://capx.co/does-theresa-villiers-accept-there-is-a-housing-shortage/
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/man-finds-mum-and-teen-sister-dead-in-burger-van-birthday-ho-282198/
EDIT his reply later in the thread is even better
Is a quick Sindyref really in the best interests of the cause of Scottish Independence?
The long view of the polls (go back to 2000 or so) is a trend towards independence, but it's not yet decisive. The polling since 2014 looks like a bit of a coin toss;
And a second defeat really would kill Sindy stone dead for a generation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holborn_and_St_Pancras_(UK_Parliament_constituency)
Is he aware there is a National Curriculum at all?
So many seem to think what is to be taught is devised by teachers.
I wish.
But in the sense that Scottish politics is generally going a bit stale and rancid on all sides whilst the constitutional log jam basically dominates all other elements of the political discourse, probably sooner rather than later is more desirable.
After Brexit we will never hold referendums with so many unexamined assumptions again. The closer you look, the harder independence is to justify. This time there would have to be a detailed document to work to about what it meant. It would not survive scrutiny.
I suppose at least there a different rancid breeze wafted through after the referendum. Or something.
The issue isn't Momentum loons flooding one seat and taking some votes (while failing to win) - it's the optics across several hundred seats.
The report summarises a two-year grand jury probe into their conduct after Mr Trump narrowly lost the state in 2020.
It says the grand jury believes some witnesses - who weren't named - committed perjury in their evidence to the panel.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64656296
Shame that if anything comes from any of these various probes it'll probably just cement GOP support for Trump, then try to get him into office in time.