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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » It’s inevitable under FPTP that many will vote AGAINST a p

SystemSystem Posts: 12,290
edited March 2015 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » It’s inevitable under FPTP that many will vote AGAINST a party not FOR a likely loser

Scotland clearly is a special situation and you can understand why those that voted NO should be worried about the SNP picking up 40+ of the 59 Scottish seats and being able to lever their position in a hung parliament.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,296
    Psst, no one there...I must be first (and not among equals)
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 63,807
    everyone watching rugby?
  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382

    everyone watching rugby?

    Go Wales

  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    JohnO said:

    Psst, no one there...I must be first (and not among equals)

    Nobody would be presumptuous enough to regard themselves as equal to you John

  • MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    Fine piece of work by SNPOut. First I've heard of this promising movement.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,131
    Bloody curse of the new thread.

    Betting Post
    Backed Massa at 3.1 for a podium with Betfair. Reasoning and other cunning thoughts here:
    http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/australia-pre-race.html
  • DairDair Posts: 6,108
    MikeK said:

    Alistair said:
    I notice that muslims seem to be well entrenched in Scotland. I don't trust any of them, and thats not racism for those ignorant to think so, but on the muslim majority in the UK response to terrorism in the world perpetrated by Jihadists and Islamists. Good luck to Coburn; UKIP tells it like it is. This is the modern world, for those with eyes to see. Unhappily many don't wish to see whats staring them in the face.
    Perhaps there is just a better level of integration. While not perfect what I see is a community that is not generally enclaved into ghettos like appears to be the case with parts of England.

    Yousaf himself has wife of white Scottish heritage and like most Asians in Scotland takes part in wider civic society.
  • EasterrossEasterross Posts: 1,915
    Afternoon all and I saw a young woman from SNPOut being chewed up on STV news the other evening. Many of its leading figures appear to have come from the Labour team in the referendum but as I have said many times, you will struggle to find many Scots Tories who would piss on a Labour figure on fire. They have demonised us for too long so if the SNP can help us toss most of the 41 of them out, all to the good.
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,302
    If The Greens who are starting from a very low base, take the seat it would be headline news, but what would it say about Labour's inability to move up from a poor 2nd place to displace Williams?
  • DairDair Posts: 6,108
    The thing with Scotland and tactical voting is that most of the likely SNP gains are beyond the level that tactical voting can address. In some cases in absolute terms but even when not over 50% vote share, anything north of 40% is very hard to beat with tactical voting where there are 4 parties (and two much smaller but not insignificant parties)
  • MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    Dair said:

    The thing with Scotland and tactical voting is that most of the likely SNP gains are beyond the level that tactical voting can address. In some cases in absolute terms but even when not over 50% vote share, anything north of 40% is very hard to beat with tactical voting where there are 4 parties (and two much smaller but not insignificant parties)

    Well known incumbents are going to be a tougher nut to crack than you think.

  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    edited March 2015
    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:

    A strong economic foundation
    Higher living standards for working families
    An NHS with the time to care
    Controls on immigration
    A country where the next generation can do better than the last

    ---------------------------

    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Not Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different
  • EasterrossEasterross Posts: 1,915
    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    The writer and commentator Brooke Magnanti – better known as the former high class call girl Belle de Jour – is reportedly suing her former boyfriend for libel on the grounds that he has suggested she was not a prostitute at the time of their relationship.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/11472374/Belle-de-Jour-author-Brooke-Magnanti-insists-she-was-a-call-girl.html

    Most people threatened to sue for any suggestion that they were a prozzie or anything to do with one !!!!
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    Who woke me from my siesta?
    ...........goes back to sleep.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    Gerry Adams has long denied being a member of the I.R.A. But his former compatriots claim that he authorized murder.

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/16/where-the-bodies-are-buried

    So many questions...
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    edited March 2015
    Wakes up to deliver a little tip.

    The strong buzz is that Bibi will be out of power while we PBers will be drinking (and eating?) in The Shooting Star, on the evening of 17th March.

    .....goes back to sleep again
  • MTimTMTimT Posts: 7,034
    @ Flightpath We are clearly in different worlds. Neocons were always on the right wing of the GOP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143
    The collapse of the Lib Dems and the rise of UKIP complicates this in England. In my seat of Newton Abbot you would think that the anti-Tory tactical vote would be to vote Lib Dem, who were less than 1000 votes behind in 2010. Yet, with their collapse, they may not even come second this time.

    There are also, I think, many more seats which become three-way marginals because of the rise of UKIP.

    I tend to think that this election will see the lowest level of tactical voting for some time, and it will be the election afterwards, when the dust has settled on the upheaval, that will see a resurgence of tactical voting.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,281
    In 1997 it was reckoned that the Tories failed to win up to 30 sears because of anti-CON tactical voting.

    As my tutor would have observed 'source'?

    In any case, a 5 year coalition is hardly analogous to over three times as long single party rule.

    The vast majority of the electorate are not as tuned into politics as we are - insofar as they think about the election, it is likely to be nearer the time and largely based on general impressions...

    OT, just caught up with a deeply unimpressive 'The Great European Disaster Movie' - there is an intelligent film to be made about the risks of leaving the EU (a bit like Scotland leaving the Union, probably a bad idea, but they'd muddle through, poorer but wiser) - this wasn't it. If this is the best the pro-EU camp can mount, the game is up.
  • OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:

    A strong economic foundation
    Higher living standards for working families
    An NHS with the time to care
    Controls on immigration
    A country where the next generation can do better than the last

    ---------------------------

    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Not Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    What's striking is that 1, 2 and 5 are in many respects the same problem, and it's a bit of a big one. It would also be nice to have something measurable to judge them on - how are they going to measure what success looks like?
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,302
    Another amazing speech from Ed, such a wonderful opening, such familiar lines, such imagination, such insight, such an unusual name check - Leaf Petrides,,,

    http://labourlist.org/2015/03/full-text-milibands-speech-to-labours-spring-event/

    Reads like the last 20 relaunches, big speeches.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    edited March 2015

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:

    A strong economic foundation
    Higher living standards for working families
    An NHS with the time to care
    Controls on immigration
    A country where the next generation can do better than the last

    ---------------------------

    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Not Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    What's striking is that 1, 2 and 5 are in many respects the same problem, and it's a bit of a big one. It would also be nice to have something measurable to judge them on - how are they going to measure what success looks like?
    Well some would argue all are interrelated. But you are right about there is nothing concrete, it is just unmeasurable waffle. To me if you want this pledge card to work you have to offer something simple and concrete e.g. If I was Labour, I would have put "we will raise minimum wage to £8 / hr" as one.

    In contrast, here is the 97 one,

    http://cache.martintod.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/1997_pledge_card_back.jpg

    It is much more direct. Not oh look waffle waffle big picture waffle, no solution. It is cut class size to x, get 250,000 into work, etc.
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,302
    edited March 2015
    Another gem from Ed - "And we will build a world leading physical health, mental health and social care service."


    "With 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more doctors, 5,000 more care workers, and 3,000 more midwives. Paid for by a mansion tax on properties worth over £2 million to support our time to care fund."

    Thought Murphy had laid claim to the cash.

    Wasn't the NHS with its wonderful dancing, lovely dancing nurses, the lovely dancing Labour voting nurses the envy of the world then?
  • anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746
    Dair said:

    MikeK said:

    Alistair said:
    I notice that muslims seem to be well entrenched in Scotland. I don't trust any of them, and thats not racism for those ignorant to think so, but on the muslim majority in the UK response to terrorism in the world perpetrated by Jihadists and Islamists. Good luck to Coburn; UKIP tells it like it is. This is the modern world, for those with eyes to see. Unhappily many don't wish to see whats staring them in the face.
    Perhaps there is just a better level of integration. While not perfect what I see is a community that is not generally enclaved into ghettos like appears to be the case with parts of England.

    Yousaf himself has wife of white Scottish heritage and like most Asians in Scotland takes part in wider civic society.
    Immigration to Scotland has been much lower than England, so the immigrant communities are presumably not large enough to form ghettos.

    "Despite the rise over the past decade Scotland still has a relatively small immigrant population relative to England, especially London.

    About 7% of Scots were born outside the UK, whereas the figure for the rest of the UK is almost 14%."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25910947
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    edited March 2015
    dr_spyn said:

    Another gem from Ed - "And we will build a world leading physical health, mental health and social care service."


    "With 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more doctors, 5,000 more care workers, and 3,000 more midwives. Paid for by a mansion tax on properties worth over £2 million to support our time to care fund."

    Thought Murphy had laid claim to the cash.

    Wasn't the NHS with its wonderful dancing, lovely dancing nurses, the lovely dancing Labour voting nurses the envy of the world then?

    He is promising the 5000 care workers he can't provide again I see. Also, the mansion tax wont even touch the sides of that pledge. Do the back of a fag packet calcs and it doesn't work when you start to have to add in pension contributions, NI, etc.
  • TCPoliticalBettingTCPoliticalBetting Posts: 10,819
    edited March 2015
    To put this into context. Bristol West was the 11th strongest seat of the LDs from GE2010. There are 46 seats weaker than Bristol West. Yet within the LDs strongest top ten are seats where the LDs are having to fight hard just to retain.
    48. Leeds North West
    49. Ceredigion
    50. North East Fife
    51. Yeovil
    52. North Norfolk
    53. Westmorland & Lonsdale
    54. Bath
    55. Sheffield, Hallam
    56. Ross, Skye & Lochaber
    57. Orkney & Shetland

  • dr_spyn said:

    Another amazing speech from Ed, such a wonderful opening, such familiar lines, such imagination, such insight, such an unusual name check - Leaf Petrides,,,

    http://labourlist.org/2015/03/full-text-milibands-speech-to-labours-spring-event/

    Reads like the last 20 relaunches, big speeches.

    "Because the Britain I believe in ...."
    Has two kitchens for all?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,100

    Fine piece of work by SNPOut. First I've heard of this promising movement.

    If I may, I'm (honestly) surprised you haven't heard of it - the same diagram has been out for some time. I don't know who created it, but for sure it featured heavily in the story of a Labour activist who, it was realised, was in so doing urging people to vote Tory, with the inevitable consequences.

    The basics of the story are here, as well as some pointed comment, by no means all from Rev. Campbell:

    http://wingsoverscotland.com/scottish-labours-new-policy-vote-tory/
    http://wingsoverscotland.com/to-thine-own-self-be-true/
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,302
    edited March 2015
    Frank Field in Heart Unit for treatment.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-31887193

    Is Field standing in May or not?
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738
    51. Yeovil
    52. North Norfolk
    53. Westmorland & Lonsdale

    Are the safest three I reckon
  • TCPoliticalBettingTCPoliticalBetting Posts: 10,819
    edited March 2015
    How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,739
    dr_spyn said:

    Frank Field in Heart Unit for treatment.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-31887193

    Is Field standing in May or not?

    Hope he is okay. One of the best Parliamentarians of any party. One of the very few who would lead me to vote Labour if he were my MP.
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    Ann Sheridan ‏@bernerlap 8m8 minutes ago
    BBC News -Birkenhead MP Frank Field in hospital after collapse http://bbc.in/1DkheOx sad to hear, hope he soon recovers - man of integrity

    One of the decent ones.
  • rural_voterrural_voter Posts: 2,038
    Field is standing in May according to this
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

    Hope he gets well soon; the HofC needs more MPs who speak their mind.
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,302
    edited March 2015
    A random word generator might produce something more inspiring than this.

    "And we will never sacrifice our tolerance, our openness, who we are as a country."

    Ed should sack his speechwriter. I'm still trying to work this one out.
  • anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746

    How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?

    Eastleigh? UKIP failed to perform in the 2014 locals.

  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738
    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    edited March 2015
    Hope Frank makes a full recovery. One of Blair's biggest mistakes, telling him to think the unthinkable, then to sacking him when he did. Welfare could have taken a huge turn for the better if that hadn't occurred.

    HoC would be a much better place with all parties having people like him, rather than yet another "placeman".
  • MP_SEMP_SE Posts: 3,642
    Dair said:

    MikeK said:

    Alistair said:
    I notice that muslims seem to be well entrenched in Scotland. I don't trust any of them, and thats not racism for those ignorant to think so, but on the muslim majority in the UK response to terrorism in the world perpetrated by Jihadists and Islamists. Good luck to Coburn; UKIP tells it like it is. This is the modern world, for those with eyes to see. Unhappily many don't wish to see whats staring them in the face.
    Perhaps there is just a better level of integration. While not perfect what I see is a community that is not generally enclaved into ghettos like appears to be the case with parts of England.

    Yousaf himself has wife of white Scottish heritage and like most Asians in Scotland takes part in wider civic society.
    Interesting comments on integration. Are there any ghettos comparable to Tower Hamlets, Bradford, Luton, etc., in Scotland?

    I really need to visit Scotland at some point as I am ashamed to admit I have never been...
  • How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?

    Eastleigh? UKIP failed to perform in the 2014 locals.

    Would you put £1,000 on it and be absolutely certain that you would get your money back?
  • anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746
    edited March 2015
    Pulpstar said:

    51. Yeovil
    52. North Norfolk
    53. Westmorland & Lonsdale

    Are the safest three I reckon

    I don't see North Norfolk as safe.

    2011 Conservatives won North Norfolk district council.
    2013 three way tie in the county council elections.
    2014 LDs placed third locally in the EU election .(LD 4000 vs Green 2000)

    The local greens fought almost every ward in 2011, so they should be well placed to benefit from the surge shown in the national polls.
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 18,013
    Tactical voting is probably the area where I disagree with Mike most. I'd expect a significant reduction in it this time. Why?

    1. Experience. There is clearly a large group of voters who felt conned in 2010, having voted Lib Dem in order to keep the Tories out, only to then see the Lib Dems usher the Conservatives in. Why do it again this time?

    2. Polling. This is ambiguous as constituency-level voting suggests the Lib Dems are holding up ok in many seats but there are clearly some where they aren't and the national vote shares are not picking up either any recovery or the kind of levels consistent with a decent performance in their strongest seats; if anything, they're still heading south.

    3. The rise of UKIP, the SNP and Greens. None of these parties would be experiencing any rise if voters were voting tactically based on the 2010 outcome, and rather than second-guess how the land might lie now, if the figures are contentious, I'd expect most voters to go with their first choice.

    4. "They're all the same". If they're all the same, it doesn't really matter which one wins, so why not express support for your favoured party? After all, the party approval ratings are poor and Clegg and Miliband - potentially the biggest beneficiaries of tactical voting - have relatively poor scores with their own voters, never mind those of the other party.

    I simply don't think there's the level of interest or motivation among most voters to care enough to vote X in order to stop Y when what they really would like is Z, and Z has a candidate.
  • anotherDaveanotherDave Posts: 6,746
    edited March 2015

    How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?

    Eastleigh? UKIP failed to perform in the 2014 locals.

    Would you put £1,000 on it and be absolutely certain that you would get your money back?
    Well, I put £200 on UKIP and I'm regretting it.

    EDIT
    I'm expecting the LDs to have a worse election result than their worst fears, so I would prefer to bet against LDs rather than for them.

    I would not bet against them in Eastleigh.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,739

    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.

    Without making any defence of Coburn - who strikes me as a bit of an idiot in this instance - I am afraid your claims that there have never been race problems in Scotland is just fanciful. The official reported incidents of racist attacks - either physical or verbal - run at around 5000 a year and have been increasing in recent years.

    The numbers for 2011/12 were

    Scotland

    5,389 reported incidents for a population of 3.1 million. That is 1.7 incidents per 1000 people.

    England and Wales

    51,187 reported incidents for a population of 55.7 million. That is 0.92 incidents per 1000 people.

    So the rate of racist incidents as a proportion of the population in Scotland is nearly twice that of England and Wales.
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 18,013

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:

    A strong economic foundation
    Higher living standards for working families
    An NHS with the time to care
    Controls on immigration
    A country where the next generation can do better than the last

    ---------------------------

    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Not Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    What's striking is that 1, 2 and 5 are in many respects the same problem, and it's a bit of a big one. It would also be nice to have something measurable to judge them on - how are they going to measure what success looks like?
    Well some would argue all are interrelated. But you are right about there is nothing concrete, it is just unmeasurable waffle. To me if you want this pledge card to work you have to offer something simple and concrete e.g. If I was Labour, I would have put "we will raise minimum wage to £8 / hr" as one.

    [snip]

    I wouldn't be entirely surprised if Osborne pledges to raise the minimum wage to £8/hr by 2020 given a Tory majority government as part of the Conservative manifesto. Particularly now that Labour's bottled it. It's actually very deliverable at 4.25% pa, which is pretty much the inflation target + a normal growth rate.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754

    Fine piece of work by SNPOut. First I've heard of this promising movement.

    consists of a couple of nutjobs like yourself Monica
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754
    edited March 2015

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:

    A strong economic foundation
    Higher living standards for working families
    An NHS with the time to care
    Controls on immigration
    A country where the next generation can do better than the last

    ---------------------------

    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Not Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    Usual drivel from Labour , not one of them means anything , just verbal merde tout le monde from a loser.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,100

    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.

    Without making any defence of Coburn - who strikes me as a bit of an idiot in this instance - I am afraid your claims that there have never been race problems in Scotland is just fanciful. The official reported incidents of racist attacks - either physical or verbal - run at around 5000 a year and have been increasing in recent years.

    The numbers for 2011/12 were

    Scotland

    5,389 reported incidents for a population of 3.1 million. That is 1.7 incidents per 1000 people.

    England and Wales

    51,187 reported incidents for a population of 55.7 million. That is 0.92 incidents per 1000 people.

    So the rate of racist incidents as a proportion of the population in Scotland is nearly twice that of England and Wales.
    Or they are better reported thanks to a different political climate.

    Or that the data in fact it include race as a surrogate for religion in specific terms of the Irish dimension which you do mention in a different context. So, for instance, one woiuld get a spike every time Rangers play Celtic.

    Or some combination.

    Yet the political narrative is very different north and south: vide UKIP, vide SNP - very different levels of support.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754

    Field is standing in May according to this
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

    Hope he gets well soon; the HofC needs more MPs who speak their mind.

    When was last time he ever said anything, must be nearly 10 years since I heard anything from him
  • HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098
    O/T Something is going on in Russia. As noted in the Telegraph yesterday, Putin has not been seen in public for sometime and has missed engagements that he would normally have been expected to attend. Now the media is being put on standby for a major announcement/press conference. Trouble at t'Mill, perhaps.
  • RobDRobD Posts: 60,232
    Coburn is a total idiot. Yousaf is an example of when integration works - although it looks like the Nats got to him first ;) I have no idea how you could make a comparison between the two.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754
    MP_SE said:

    Dair said:

    MikeK said:

    Alistair said:
    I notice that muslims seem to be well entrenched in Scotland. I don't trust any of them, and thats not racism for those ignorant to think so, but on the muslim majority in the UK response to terrorism in the world perpetrated by Jihadists and Islamists. Good luck to Coburn; UKIP tells it like it is. This is the modern world, for those with eyes to see. Unhappily many don't wish to see whats staring them in the face.
    Perhaps there is just a better level of integration. While not perfect what I see is a community that is not generally enclaved into ghettos like appears to be the case with parts of England.

    Yousaf himself has wife of white Scottish heritage and like most Asians in Scotland takes part in wider civic society.
    Interesting comments on integration. Are there any ghettos comparable to Tower Hamlets, Bradford, Luton, etc., in Scotland?

    I really need to visit Scotland at some point as I am ashamed to admit I have never been...
    Going by the crass comments we see on here and in the London press you are far from alone , but sound extremely less rude and ignorant
  • malcolmg said:

    Field is standing in May according to this
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

    Hope he gets well soon; the HofC needs more MPs who speak their mind.

    When was last time he ever said anything, must be nearly 10 years since I heard anything from him
    Does he have your contact details, Malc?
  • logical_songlogical_song Posts: 9,956

    How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?

    Eastleigh? UKIP failed to perform in the 2014 locals.

    Would you put £1,000 on it and be absolutely certain that you would get your money back?
    Well, I put £200 on UKIP and I'm regretting it.

    EDIT
    I'm expecting the LDs to have a worse election result than their worst fears, so I would prefer to bet against LDs rather than for them.

    I would not bet against them in Eastleigh.
    I'll put £50 on Libdems beating UKIP in Eastleigh at the GE. Any Takers?
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754
    edited March 2015

    malcolmg said:

    Field is standing in May according to this
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

    Hope he gets well soon; the HofC needs more MPs who speak their mind.

    When was last time he ever said anything, must be nearly 10 years since I heard anything from him
    Does he have your contact details, Malc?
    LOL, very droll Peter. For the idiots I of course meant in the media , news etc. Invisible man as far as political actions , though I hope he is OK and gets well soon.

    PS how did you do at Cheltenham this year, I actually came out just ahead so not bad at all.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 53,353
    edited March 2015

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:


    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Note Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    A strong economic foundation - a promise all parties will make (well, maybe not the Greens); but Labour has a mountain to climb to persuade on their economic capability - especially with so many of the same team in place who royally fecked the economy last time;

    Higher living standards for working families - is the same as point one. They are inextricably linked. Unless Labour want to tax families where people aren't working?

    An NHS with time to care - probably just means a new clock on every ward...

    Controls on immigration - well, that will make a fecking change guys! There is a reason why your workers aren't to talk about immigration on the doorstep. Or in their leader's conference speech.

    A country where the next generation can do better than the last. Hmmm...that is going to require a Labour government to take on globalisation. And win. Ain't going to happen without a drastic change - a drastic reduction in the role of the state, with more falling through the cracks. And Labour doesn't have the stomach to do that.

    So yeah - it's bollocks, Ed.
  • Paul_Mid_BedsPaul_Mid_Beds Posts: 1,409

    Tactical voting is probably the area where I disagree with Mike most. I'd expect a significant reduction in it this time. Why?

    1. Experience. There is clearly a large group of voters who felt conned in 2010, having voted Lib Dem in order to keep the Tories out, only to then see the Lib Dems usher the Conservatives in. Why do it again this time?

    2. Polling. This is ambiguous as constituency-level voting suggests the Lib Dems are holding up ok in many seats but there are clearly some where they aren't and the national vote shares are not picking up either any recovery or the kind of levels consistent with a decent performance in their strongest seats; if anything, they're still heading south.

    3. The rise of UKIP, the SNP and Greens. None of these parties would be experiencing any rise if voters were voting tactically based on the 2010 outcome, and rather than second-guess how the land might lie now, if the figures are contentious, I'd expect most voters to go with their first choice.

    4. "They're all the same". If they're all the same, it doesn't really matter which one wins, so why not express support for your favoured party? After all, the party approval ratings are poor and Clegg and Miliband - potentially the biggest beneficiaries of tactical voting - have relatively poor scores with their own voters, never mind those of the other party.

    I simply don't think there's the level of interest or motivation among most voters to care enough to vote X in order to stop Y when what they really would like is Z, and Z has a candidate.

    I think OGH bangs on about it, along with the constituency polling purporting to show that Libdem incumbents are not subject to gravity as it is the only hope the Libdems have of avoiding minibus time in May.

    What stopped the Tories winning a Majoresque majority in the last election was Libdems winning in historically safe Tory seats across the south due to the left uniting behind them. The reds & trots didn't vote tactically for the Libdems to put the Tories in power and won't be back, and no pointing out that the electoral arithmetic gave the Libdems little choice will make any difference, as far as such people are concerned Libdem = Yellow Tories.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:


    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Note Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    A strong economic foundation - a promise all parties will make (well, maybe not the Greens); but Labour has a mountain to climb to persuade on their economic capability - especially with so many of the same team in place who royally fecked the economy last time;

    Higher living standards for working families - is the same as point one. They are inextricably linked. Unless Labour want to tax families where people aren't working?

    An NHS with time to care - probably just means a new clock on every ward...

    Controls on immigration - well, that will make a fecking change guys! There is a reason why your workers aren't to talk about immigration on the doorstep. Or in their leader's conference speech.

    A country where the next generation can do better than the last. Hmmm...that is going to require a Labour government to take on globalisation. And win. Ain't going to happen without a drastic change - a drastic reduction in the role of the state, with more falling through the cracks. And Labour doesn't have the stomach to do that.

    So yeah - it's bollocks, Ed.
    It is not even that
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    On topic, Michael Moore can't be too pleased with this voting wheel.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    O/T Something is going on in Russia. As noted in the Telegraph yesterday, Putin has not been seen in public for sometime and has missed engagements that he would normally have been expected to attend. Now the media is being put on standby for a major announcement/press conference. Trouble at t'Mill, perhaps.

    My guess is he's had a stroke (God's reminder that with hubris comes nemesis) and the last 48 hours has been about succession planning.

    And that within 15 minutes of announcement @FalseFlag and @luckyguy are speculating that he was poisoned by the Americans or the Ukranians or both
  • DairDair Posts: 6,108

    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.

    Without making any defence of Coburn - who strikes me as a bit of an idiot in this instance - I am afraid your claims that there have never been race problems in Scotland is just fanciful. The official reported incidents of racist attacks - either physical or verbal - run at around 5000 a year and have been increasing in recent years.

    The numbers for 2011/12 were

    Scotland

    5,389 reported incidents for a population of 3.1 million. That is 1.7 incidents per 1000 people.

    England and Wales

    51,187 reported incidents for a population of 55.7 million. That is 0.92 incidents per 1000 people.

    So the rate of racist incidents as a proportion of the population in Scotland is nearly twice that of England and Wales.
    The population of Scotland is 5.3 million, so the figure for 11/12 is 1.02 per 1000.

    In 2012/13 this fell to 4,628 or 0.87 per 1000.

    It is not this figure which matters. A higher number could indicate a more serious attitude to racist incidents and a lower number mean the problem is being ignored.

    I'm not Asian so I can't comment on the experience for a Scottish Asian person, racism needs to be dealt with, it may or may not be. However, the higher level of integration and lack of ghettos is quite significant and easily apparent even to a non-Asian Scot.
  • Paul_Mid_BedsPaul_Mid_Beds Posts: 1,409

    Pulpstar said:

    51. Yeovil
    52. North Norfolk
    53. Westmorland & Lonsdale

    Are the safest three I reckon

    I don't see North Norfolk as safe.

    2011 Conservatives won North Norfolk district council.
    2013 three way tie in the county council elections.
    2014 LDs placed third locally in the EU election .(LD 4000 vs Green 2000)

    The local greens fought almost every ward in 2011, so they should be well placed to benefit from the surge shown in the national polls.
    Yeovil is not so safe either. Libdems came third in the Euro elections there too, they have borrowed virtually the entire Labour vote in Yeovil Town, the Greens are standing this time (they didn't in 2010) and the tories won the area in the 2013 County Council Elections
  • DairDair Posts: 6,108
    MP_SE said:

    Dair said:

    MikeK said:

    Alistair said:
    I notice that muslims seem to be well entrenched in Scotland. I don't trust any of them, and thats not racism for those ignorant to think so, but on the muslim majority in the UK response to terrorism in the world perpetrated by Jihadists and Islamists. Good luck to Coburn; UKIP tells it like it is. This is the modern world, for those with eyes to see. Unhappily many don't wish to see whats staring them in the face.
    Perhaps there is just a better level of integration. While not perfect what I see is a community that is not generally enclaved into ghettos like appears to be the case with parts of England.

    Yousaf himself has wife of white Scottish heritage and like most Asians in Scotland takes part in wider civic society.
    Interesting comments on integration. Are there any ghettos comparable to Tower Hamlets, Bradford, Luton, etc., in Scotland?

    I really need to visit Scotland at some point as I am ashamed to admit I have never been...
    There is nothing like Tower Hamlets. While it would be wrong to pretend its a huge love in with no problems, there does appear to be a far better situation in Scotland than there is down South. But I think it would be best to find out from an Asian who has lived in both countries to give the best idea.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738

    How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?

    Eastleigh? UKIP failed to perform in the 2014 locals.

    Would you put £1,000 on it and be absolutely certain that you would get your money back?
    £1000 on Farron to hold Westmorland and Lonsdale at 1-12 with Betfair Sportsbook would produce a return of £80 at the GE, though I don't have that to spare right now and wouldn't be able to get a grand on with them anyway.

    But if you want a dead cert banker cert with the yellow peril, that would be it.
  • scotslassscotslass Posts: 912
    Richard_Tyndall

    The basis for the aggrevated crime stats collection is very different Scotland and RoUK and the Scottish figures since the advent of Police Scotland and Croiwn Office reporting on a national basis generally regarded as more comprehensive by a factor of three or more. Another project I worked on recently.
  • Paul_Mid_BedsPaul_Mid_Beds Posts: 1,409
    Charles said:

    O/T Something is going on in Russia. As noted in the Telegraph yesterday, Putin has not been seen in public for sometime and has missed engagements that he would normally have been expected to attend. Now the media is being put on standby for a major announcement/press conference. Trouble at t'Mill, perhaps.

    My guess is he's had a stroke (God's reminder that with hubris comes nemesis) and the last 48 hours has been about succession planning.

    And that within 15 minutes of announcement @FalseFlag and @luckyguy are speculating that he was poisoned by the Americans or the Ukranians or both
    Flu if the CIA are to be believed

    http://gawker.com/cia-source-putin-has-the-flu-1691376175
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    Pulpstar said:



    How many LD seats are cast iron certain holds for them?
    Less than 10?
    I would agree with Pulpstar on Yeovil, North Norfolk and Westmorland & Lonsdale, but then what?

    Eastleigh? UKIP failed to perform in the 2014 locals.

    Would you put £1,000 on it and be absolutely certain that you would get your money back?
    £1000 on Farron to hold Westmorland and Lonsdale at 1-12 with Betfair Sportsbook would produce a return of £80 at the GE, though I don't have that to spare right now and wouldn't be able to get a grand on with them anyway.

    But if you want a dead cert banker cert with the yellow peril, that would be it.
    I wouldn't take the bet at those odds. No way.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 53,353
    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Someone was on here recently suggesting otherwise. Although to be honest, the LibDems losing here wasn't on my radar until that. Yeovil is interesting. There used to be a very large Labour vote here in the 70's, which Paddy Ashdown turned almost entirely yellow. If that starts reverting, then it could go blue. But probably not until the next time out. Probably.

    That said...out canvassing in Torbay today and found a former LibDem activist who is now viscerally against them.
  • DairDair Posts: 6,108
    edited March 2015
    RobD said:

    Coburn is a total idiot. Yousaf is an example of when integration works - although it looks like the Nats got to him first ;) I have no idea how you could make a comparison between the two.

    The Labour Party do not and never have stood for Integration. They have always championed a "separate but equal" policy of multiculturalism which would be perfectly acceptable in the American South under Jim Crow.

    So rather than the Nats "getting" to Humza first, it is most likely he just found his natural political home.
  • MonikerDiCanioMonikerDiCanio Posts: 5,792
    malcolmg said:

    Fine piece of work by SNPOut. First I've heard of this promising movement.

    consists of a couple of nutjobs like yourself Monica
    Spirited performance by your 15 against Wales but it wasn't to be.
    Incidentally, how are the emigration plans progressing ?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,624
    Charles said:

    O/T Something is going on in Russia. As noted in the Telegraph yesterday, Putin has not been seen in public for sometime and has missed engagements that he would normally have been expected to attend. Now the media is being put on standby for a major announcement/press conference. Trouble at t'Mill, perhaps.

    My guess is he's had a stroke (God's reminder that with hubris comes nemesis) and the last 48 hours has been about succession planning.

    And that within 15 minutes of announcement @FalseFlag and @luckyguy are speculating that he was poisoned by the Americans or the Ukranians or both
    When was the last time Castro was seen in public?
  • FlightpathFlightpath Posts: 4,012
    Carnyx said:

    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.

    Without making any defence of Coburn - who strikes me as a bit of an idiot in this instance - I am afraid your claims that there have never been race problems in Scotland is just fanciful. The official reported incidents of racist attacks - either physical or verbal - run at around 5000 a year and have been increasing in recent years.

    The numbers for 2011/12 were

    Scotland

    5,389 reported incidents for a population of 3.1 million. That is 1.7 incidents per 1000 people.

    England and Wales

    51,187 reported incidents for a population of 55.7 million. That is 0.92 incidents per 1000 people.

    So the rate of racist incidents as a proportion of the population in Scotland is nearly twice that of England and Wales.
    Or they are better reported thanks to a different political climate.

    Or that the data in fact it include race as a surrogate for religion in specific terms of the Irish dimension which you do mention in a different context. So, for instance, one woiuld get a spike every time Rangers play Celtic.

    Or some combination.

    Yet the political narrative is very different north and south: vide UKIP, vide SNP - very different levels of support.
    I remember a few years ago (10?) driving down a wide but quiet road in the Govan area and stopping at a newsagents for a sandwich. The 60ish proprietor was it seemed to me Pakistani and dressed like he was still there. However he talked in the broadest Glaswegian.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,100
    malcolmg said:

    Fine piece of work by SNPOut. First I've heard of this promising movement.

    consists of a couple of nutjobs like yourself Monica
    Just had another look at their website. Significantly -

    1. Doesn't say who they are

    2. Is pretty amateurish - so if it is an astroturf it's pretty miserable growth

    3. Still 'under construction' getting on a month later ...

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 43,754

    malcolmg said:

    Fine piece of work by SNPOut. First I've heard of this promising movement.

    consists of a couple of nutjobs like yourself Monica
    Spirited performance by your 15 against Wales but it wasn't to be.
    Incidentally, how are the emigration plans progressing ?
    Monster pay increase on promotion means I will work a few more years to let it filter through to my final salary pension , so no emigrating for a few years you will be pleased to hear and wife would not leave grandchildren so I have no say in it anyway.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.

  • A strong economic foundation.

    Even if it wasn't Labour with £100 billion pa deficit and £1.5trillion debt such a claim is hard to justify

    Improve living standards for working families.

    A foolish commitment given we currently have abnormally low oil prices and at some point interest rates will have to rise. Both will fuel inflation WIth uncontrolled immigrant labour still flooding the employment market there will be little pressure for earnings to rise.

    Using a "mansion tax" to add 20,000 nurses, 8,000 doctors, 5,000 care workers and 3,000 midwives to NHS staff.

    They do say Labour are economically innumerate and here's the proof

    Immigration control.

    A brazen lie. They propose welfare control in the guise of immigration control. As many have pointed out cutting benefits will not deter the vast majority of immigrants. They are coming here looking for work not just handouts

    Reducing university tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000.

    Presumably Labour want to see the reduction in the number of university places for British kids?
  • FlightpathFlightpath Posts: 4,012
    edited March 2015
    MTimT said:

    @ Flightpath We are clearly in different worlds. Neocons were always on the right wing of the GOP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

    Maybe
    However your link itself points out
    ''In another (2004) article, Michael Lind also wrote [45]
    Neoconservatism... originated in the 1970s as a movement of anti-Soviet liberals and social democrats in the tradition of Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey and Henry ('Scoop') Jackson, many of whom preferred to call themselves 'paleoliberals.' [After the end of the Cold War]... many 'paleoliberals' drifted back to the Democratic center... Today's neocons are a shrunken remnant of the original broad neocon coalition. Nevertheless, the origins of their ideology on the left are still apparent. The fact that most of the younger neocons were never on the left is irrelevant; they are the intellectual (and, in the case of William Kristol and John Podhoretz, the literal) heirs of older ex-leftists.''

    In terms of for instance Bush, well all the Bushes, they are not particularly on the right of the GOP when it comes to social issues. Thats why Bush Snr lost the nomination to Reagan.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738

    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.
    You should back 0 seats for the Lib Dems at 50-1 with Ladbrokes if you don't believe they have a 93+% chance of holding Westmorland.

    If they don't hold Westmorland it means there is no personal vote for anyone anywhere and the related contingency is big enough that they won't hold ANY seats.
  • SmarmeronSmarmeron Posts: 5,099
    @malcolmg
    Just a question, and don't take it personally, but why would anyone so committed to an independent Scotland want to emigrate?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    Bristol West will be held by Williams - just.

    I was there when I was a student. It's not Brighton Pavilion, and the students of Bristol University are not as left-wing.

    It's a demographically diverse seat, with plenty of professionals and wealthy homeowners, and I expect that whilst the Greens will do will, enough Tories will vote Lib Dem to keep Williams ahead. He'll probably hold by around 1,000 (over Labour) on 32-34% of the vote.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 53,353
    malcolmg said:

    Labour's pledge card detailed by Mr Miliband on Saturday sets out five promises to voters:


    Hmmm.....

    1) Built on sand like Gordo-nomics*?

    2) How you going to achieve that...magic?

    3) Like Stafford?

    4) Like last time? And of course he can't, because he wants to be even more signed up to EU and the pros / cons of that, which includes free movement of labour.

    5) Again, how are you going to achieve that...magic?

    * Note Osborne-onomics isn't exactly that much different

    A strong economic foundation - a promise all parties will make (well, maybe not the Greens); but Labour has a mountain to climb to persuade on their economic capability - especially with so many of the same team in place who royally fecked the economy last time;

    Higher living standards for working families - is the same as point one. They are inextricably linked. Unless Labour want to tax families where people aren't working?

    An NHS with time to care - probably just means a new clock on every ward...

    Controls on immigration - well, that will make a fecking change guys! There is a reason why your workers aren't to talk about immigration on the doorstep. Or in their leader's conference speech.

    A country where the next generation can do better than the last. Hmmm...that is going to require a Labour government to take on globalisation. And win. Ain't going to happen without a drastic change - a drastic reduction in the role of the state, with more falling through the cracks. And Labour doesn't have the stomach to do that.

    So yeah - it's bollocks, Ed.
    It is not even that
    "Labour policy. It's not even fit to be called bollocks."

    I like that....
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,100

    Carnyx said:

    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.

    Without making any defence of Coburn - who strikes me as a bit of an idiot in this instance - I am afraid your claims that there have never been race problems in Scotland is just fanciful. The official reported incidents of racist attacks - either physical or verbal - run at around 5000 a year and have been increasing in recent years.

    The numbers for 2011/12 were

    Scotland

    5,389 reported incidents for a population of 3.1 million. That is 1.7 incidents per 1000 people.

    England and Wales

    51,187 reported incidents for a population of 55.7 million. That is 0.92 incidents per 1000 people.

    So the rate of racist incidents as a proportion of the population in Scotland is nearly twice that of England and Wales.
    Or they are better reported thanks to a different political climate.

    Or that the data in fact it include race as a surrogate for religion in specific terms of the Irish dimension which you do mention in a different context. So, for instance, one woiuld get a spike every time Rangers play Celtic.

    Or some combination.

    Yet the political narrative is very different north and south: vide UKIP, vide SNP - very different levels of support.
    I remember a few years ago (10?) driving down a wide but quiet road in the Govan area and stopping at a newsagents for a sandwich. The 60ish proprietor was it seemed to me Pakistani and dressed like he was still there. However he talked in the broadest Glaswegian.
    No idea what they do in Eastenders (etc.), but Still Game has precisely such a character in it.

  • PurseybearPurseybear Posts: 766
    Bit of Lab price drift and tightening on tories today but not enough to shake the tree.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    edited March 2015
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.
    You should back 0 seats for the Lib Dems at 50-1 with Ladbrokes if you don't believe they have a 93+% chance of holding Westmorland.

    If they don't hold Westmorland it means there is no personal vote for anyone anywhere and the related contingency is big enough that they won't hold ANY seats.
    No, I won't be taking that bet; I don't think they will get zero seats. I just don't think anything is 100% certain with them this time, and the odds you are citing aren't value IMHO.

    We have had no Westmorland constituency polls to my knowledge. Just because Tim Farron has a high-profile, and is locally popular, doesn't make him a dead cert.

    This constituency was Conservative up until 2005. It could become so again. Winchester was just as "safe" for the Lib Dems from 1997-2005, and they still lost it heavily in the 2010GE. And that was with the Cleggasm. Oxford West & Abingdon, Newbury, Montgomeryshire, Guildford.. they almost lost St. Ives. Plenty more have reverted back to the blues.

    Don't get me wrong: I think he will hold by 4,000-5,000. Maybe even 6,000. But I wouldn't dream of putting the mortgage on it. I just don't know (for sure) how the Lib Dems will perform this year.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738
    edited March 2015

    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.
    You should back 0 seats for the Lib Dems at 50-1 with Ladbrokes if you don't believe they have a 93+% chance of holding Westmorland.

    If they don't hold Westmorland it means there is no personal vote for anyone anywhere and the related contingency is big enough that they won't hold ANY seats.
    No, I won't be taking that bet; I don't think they will get zero seats. I just don't think anything is 100% certain with them this time, and the odds you are citing aren't value IMHO.

    We have had no Westmorland constituency polls to my knowledge. Just because Tim Farron has a high-profile, and is locally popular, doesn't make him a dead cert.

    This constituency was Conservative up until 2005. It could become so again. Winchester was just as "safe" for the Lib Dems from 1997-2005, and they still lost it heavily in the 2010GE. And that was with the Cleggasm. Oxford West & Abingdon, Newbury, Montgomeryshire, Guildford.. they almost lost St. Ives. Plenty more have reverted back to the blues.

    Don't get me wrong: I think he will hold by 4,000-5,000. Maybe even 6,000. But I wouldn't dream of putting the mortgage on it. I just don't know (for sure) how the Lib Dems will perform this year.
    Winchester didn't have an incumbent. My main point is I think that Westmorland is the safest Lib Dem seat in the whole of the UK, more so than Eastleigh, Yeovil, Orkney, Thornbury, Nofolk North.
  • geoffwgeoffw Posts: 8,838
    edited March 2015
    Charles said:

    O/T Something is going on in Russia. As noted in the Telegraph yesterday, Putin has not been seen in public for sometime and has missed engagements that he would normally have been expected to attend. Now the media is being put on standby for a major announcement/press conference. Trouble at t'Mill, perhaps.

    My guess is he's had a stroke (God's reminder that with hubris comes nemesis) and the last 48 hours has been about succession planning.

    And that within 15 minutes of announcement @FalseFlag and @luckyguy are speculating that he was poisoned by the Americans or the Ukranians or both
    In Switzerland to see his baby mother and their lovechild, rumour has it (DT)
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/vladimir-putin/11471579/Vladimir-Putins-girlfriend-has-given-birth.html

    (edit) story seems to be a couple of days old, so maybe already discredited.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,739
    Dair said:

    In answer to Mike K, people of South Asian origins are an integral part of Scottish society and have been since most arrived as part of the exodus from Uganda when Idi Amin expelled them all in the 1970s. They are not simply muslim. A great many are Sikh or from other religious groups including Roman Catholicism.

    There have never been race problems in Scotland. Indeed in large parts of Glasgow, the Asian community members were more acceptable to the locals than those white British who happened to come from the other side of the religious divide (Rangers v Celtic).

    The SNP boy Yousaf is one of the most popular and prominent Asian politicians in Scotland and only the other day was filmed larking about with Kazia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson to promote red nose day. The UKIP MEP Coburn is totally out of line and deserves all the criticism being heaped upon him.

    Without making any defence of Coburn - who strikes me as a bit of an idiot in this instance - I am afraid your claims that there have never been race problems in Scotland is just fanciful. The official reported incidents of racist attacks - either physical or verbal - run at around 5000 a year and have been increasing in recent years.

    The numbers for 2011/12 were

    Scotland

    5,389 reported incidents for a population of 3.1 million. That is 1.7 incidents per 1000 people.

    England and Wales

    51,187 reported incidents for a population of 55.7 million. That is 0.92 incidents per 1000 people.

    So the rate of racist incidents as a proportion of the population in Scotland is nearly twice that of England and Wales.
    The population of Scotland is 5.3 million, so the figure for 11/12 is 1.02 per 1000.

    In 2012/13 this fell to 4,628 or 0.87 per 1000.

    It is not this figure which matters. A higher number could indicate a more serious attitude to racist incidents and a lower number mean the problem is being ignored.

    I'm not Asian so I can't comment on the experience for a Scottish Asian person, racism needs to be dealt with, it may or may not be. However, the higher level of integration and lack of ghettos is quite significant and easily apparent even to a non-Asian Scot.
    Apologies Dair you are quite right. I had a brainwave when I looked up the Scots population.

    The point of my posting was to counter Eastersoss's claims that there 'have never been race problems in Scotland'. This is clearly untrue as the numbers - even when you quite rightly corrected them - are still comparable with England and Wales.

    Racism is a problem equally in all parts of the UK. Trying to claim that one nation doesn't have a problem seems to me to be entirely the wrong way to handle it.
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,739
    Dair said:

    RobD said:

    Coburn is a total idiot. Yousaf is an example of when integration works - although it looks like the Nats got to him first ;) I have no idea how you could make a comparison between the two.

    The Labour Party do not and never have stood for Integration. They have always championed a "separate but equal" policy of multiculturalism which would be perfectly acceptable in the American South under Jim Crow.

    So rather than the Nats "getting" to Humza first, it is most likely he just found his natural political home.
    Please stop making postings like this Dair. It bothers me when I agree with you :-)
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 32,739
    scotslass said:

    Richard_Tyndall

    The basis for the aggrevated crime stats collection is very different Scotland and RoUK and the Scottish figures since the advent of Police Scotland and Croiwn Office reporting on a national basis generally regarded as more comprehensive by a factor of three or more. Another project I worked on recently.

    Appreciate the inside knowledge but that doesn't really tally with the fact that reported incidents of racism in Scotland have hardly changed in over a decade, remaining at around 5000 a year plus or minus 10 %
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738
    @Casino_Royale Where would you set the under/over line for Farron's majority ?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.
    You should back 0 seats for the Lib Dems at 50-1 with Ladbrokes if you don't believe they have a 93+% chance of holding Westmorland.

    If they don't hold Westmorland it means there is no personal vote for anyone anywhere and the related contingency is big enough that they won't hold ANY seats.
    No, I won't be taking that bet; I don't think they will get zero seats. I just don't think anything is 100% certain with them this time, and the odds you are citing aren't value IMHO.

    We have had no Westmorland constituency polls to my knowledge. Just because Tim Farron has a high-profile, and is locally popular, doesn't make him a dead cert.

    This constituency was Conservative up until 2005. It could become so again. Winchester was just as "safe" for the Lib Dems from 1997-2005, and they still lost it heavily in the 2010GE. And that was with the Cleggasm. Oxford West & Abingdon, Newbury, Montgomeryshire, Guildford.. they almost lost St. Ives. Plenty more have reverted back to the blues.

    Don't get me wrong: I think he will hold by 4,000-5,000. Maybe even 6,000. But I wouldn't dream of putting the mortgage on it. I just don't know (for sure) how the Lib Dems will perform this year.
    Winchester didn't have an incumbent. My main point is I think that Westmorland is the safest Lib Dem seat in the whole of the UK, more so than Eastleigh, Yeovil, Orkney, Thornbury, Nofolk North.
    Yes, but that shouldn't have mattered in a year when everyone thought the Lib Dems were going to clean-up their marginals. It taught me a lesson.

    Your call, but you said it yourself: you "think". But we just don't know.

    (P.S. That's not to say I wouldn't bet some on the LDs retaining this seat. Just not at 1/12 on)
  • malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    Field is standing in May according to this
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

    Hope he gets well soon; the HofC needs more MPs who speak their mind.

    When was last time he ever said anything, must be nearly 10 years since I heard anything from him
    Does he have your contact details, Malc?
    LOL, very droll Peter. For the idiots I of course meant in the media , news etc. Invisible man as far as political actions , though I hope he is OK and gets well soon.

    PS how did you do at Cheltenham this year, I actually came out just ahead so not bad at all.
    Discussion of my Cheltenham results will be very brief this year, Malcolm.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 61,449
    Pulpstar said:

    @Casino_Royale Where would you set the under/over line for Farron's majority ?

    Pulpstar said:

    @Casino_Royale Where would you set the under/over line for Farron's majority ?

    Hmm.. probably 6,000 on current betting markets.

    Sorry... have to head out. Catch you later.
  • Paul_Mid_BedsPaul_Mid_Beds Posts: 1,409
    edited March 2015
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.
    You should back 0 seats for the Lib Dems at 50-1 with Ladbrokes if you don't believe they have a 93+% chance of holding Westmorland.

    If they don't hold Westmorland it means there is no personal vote for anyone anywhere and the related contingency is big enough that they won't hold ANY seats.
    But for the fact that Cambridge has enough sanctimonious priggs to ensure Huppert keeps his seat that might have been worth £10 at 50-1, even then still better value than £10 of lottery tickets.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738

    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Thornbury & Yate seems to be 100% certain

    Nothing is 100% certain with the Lib Dems. Not this time.

    I have them holding both seats, but by under 5,000 votes each.
    You should back 0 seats for the Lib Dems at 50-1 with Ladbrokes if you don't believe they have a 93+% chance of holding Westmorland.

    If they don't hold Westmorland it means there is no personal vote for anyone anywhere and the related contingency is big enough that they won't hold ANY seats.
    But for the fact that Cambridge has enough sanctimonious priggs to ensure Huppert keeps his seat that might have been worth £10 at 50-1, even then still better value than £10 of lottery tickets.
    Hah Yes I've backed Huppert myself but if Westmorland drops he is toast.
  • CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    Charles said:

    O/T Something is going on in Russia. As noted in the Telegraph yesterday, Putin has not been seen in public for sometime and has missed engagements that he would normally have been expected to attend. Now the media is being put on standby for a major announcement/press conference. Trouble at t'Mill, perhaps.

    My guess is he's had a stroke (God's reminder that with hubris comes nemesis) and the last 48 hours has been about succession planning.

    And that within 15 minutes of announcement @FalseFlag and @luckyguy are speculating that he was poisoned by the Americans or the Ukranians or both
    When was the last time Castro was seen in public?
    They've done a complete handover to Raoul, though. Fidel is widely know to be in a vegative state, even if not officially announced
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,738
    edited March 2015

    Pulpstar said:

    @Casino_Royale Where would you set the under/over line for Farron's majority ?

    Pulpstar said:

    @Casino_Royale Where would you set the under/over line for Farron's majority ?

    Hmm.. probably 6,000 on current betting markets.

    Sorry... have to head out. Catch you later.
    Buy at 6000 ;)
This discussion has been closed.