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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Turning on taxes. The tectonic plates of Scotland’s politic
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Turning on taxes. The tectonic plates of Scotland’s politics are moving
We have heard a lot in the last few years about the desire for Scottish independence. This has often been couched in general terms as a desire for a fairer and more prosperous Scotland based around a social democratic consensus. Specific large scale points of difference from current UK policy, however, have been largely elusive. While the Scottish Parliament has substantial powers, so far the Sc…
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Titter ....
FMQs will be interesting....
Q Does zero tolerance of tax avoidance extend to SNP MPs?
A Look at the polls!
Q Is your Transport Minister a knave or a fool?
A Look at the polls!
Q What did the FM know about the Forth Road Bridge when she was Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure?
A Look at the polls!
Q Will there be a second referendum commitment in the SNP manifesto?
A Look at the polls!
Q Has the Scottish Govt redone their sums reflecting $40/oil
A Look at the polls!
Q Why did the former FM say in 2013 that Sindy would support Syrian air strikes?
A Look at the polls!
http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/12/the-left-is-to-blame-for-the-creation-of-donald-trump/
What am I talking about? Labour was tolerated for decades and could still give a masterclass to the SNP about piss-poor management and pocket-lining. The Scots people may have hoped for better from the SNP, but I suspect those decades of Labour fiefdoms have left them with ridiculously low expectations of their government.... The SNP are safe until they sink lower than the Scots have known in recent history.
I think the first crack in this has been national policing, the administration of which has been an unmitigated disaster and caused considerable irritation everywhere except Strathclyde (whose model has been imposed on the rest of us).
It will be interesting to see if the fiasco of the Bridge and the terrible price being paid for the populist policy of abolishing the tolls strikes home. At this point it is the closely linked decision to postpone what turned out to be essential maintenance that is getting the attention. There is also considerable hostility to the absurd idea of having a named employee of the State responsible for every child, a truly ridiculous waste of scarce resources.
The failure to modernise or reduce administration costs in the NHS gets less attention and the fact that several cancer drugs available in England are not available here, once again because of the lost income of free prescriptions, seems to have little traction except with those affected.
Although there is a general perception that all is not well in our education system, an awareness that the number of funded places for Scots at University is falling (the result of yet another "free" policy) and that there have been severe cut backs in college education the SNP have largely been successful in blaming Westminster for the cuts rather than their own policies.
As I know quite a number of people who are earning considerably more than average tax is an increasing concern but Alastair is right that so far it is a dog that hasn't barked in that the SNP line has been we can have all those goodies for free and without additional taxation. That cannot continue. How can the SNP be anti austerity and yet not want to increase the taxes required to pay for it?
At least 2 generations of Scottish politicians have been focussed on constitutional issues and have addressed almost every other question, to the extent that they have, through that lens. It really is time they got back to the day job and politics in Scotland got somewhere near normal. But I am not holding my breath.
No bet for me.
On the other hand, illegitimate discussion can be racist and/or Islamophobic. A problem is that what is 'legitimate' and 'illegitimate' varies depending on your viewpoint.
Peak Nat? If Labour was not in such disarray then I might believe it. The SNP will have to accrue far more scandals before they get chucked out.
Mike Smithson has asked you before and is now telling you, you are no longer permitted to post anything to do with Islam or Muslims on here.
You've posted graphic, inaccurate stuff, and you've in the past admitted you despise Islam, so on that basis no more as it derails PB threads.
I expect the Lib Dems to lose more seats, the Tories to make 4 or 5 gains, Labour to lose quite a few seats (but probably stay just ahead of the Tories) and the SNP, if anything, to slightly increase their current majority.
The problem with HRA is that it doesn't force concomitant responsibilities on individuals.
'The Gresham’s law of extremism, that the more extreme drives out the less extreme, is one of the basic rules of political mechanics which operate in this field: it is a corollary of the general principle that no political power exists without being used.
Both the general law and its Gresham’s corollary point, in contemporary circumstances, towards the resort to physical violence, in the form of firearms or high explosive, as being so probable as to be predicted with virtual certainty. The experience of the last decade and more, all round the world, shows that acts of violence, however apparently irrational or inappropriate their targets, precipitate a frenzied search on the part of the society attacked to discover and remedy more and more grievances, real or imaginary, among those from the violence is supposed to emanate or on whose behalf it is supposed to be exercised. Those commanding a position of political leverage would then be superhuman if they could refrain from pointing to the acts of terrorism and, while condemning them, declaring that further and faster concessions and grants of privilege are the only means to avoid such acts being repeated on a rising scale. We know that those who thus argue will always find a ready hearing. This is what produces the gearing effect of terrorism in the contemporary world, yielding huge results from acts of violence perpetrated by minimal numbers. It is not, I repeat again and again, that the mass of a particular population are violently or criminally disposed. Far from it; that population soon becomes itself the prisoner of the violence and machinations of an infinitely small minority among it. Just a few thugs, a few shots, a few bombs at the right place and time—and that is enough for disproportionate consequences to
follow.'
http://traditionalbritain.org/blog/road-national-suicide/
Oh I suspect there is lots of mileage in that yet. And the next position will be 'we can have all those goodies paid for by a handful of the super-rich paying their fair share' or similar. Labour has been running with that line for many years.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/114907
The Bridge is key. It's highly visible, massively disruptive, and has SNP fingerprints all over it. There is a direct correlation between abolishing the tolls (which the SNP have been trumpeting for years) and cancelling the maintenance (which the SNP have admitted) and the closure
If it opens in January, maybe limited fallout. But it might not.
"Why is the bridge shut?"
Slap a Saltire on it!
Ummm...
I read this today
"Over the last few decades, the dietary composition and total calorie intake in most Western countries has changed dramatically. Based on the data from US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the adult total calorie intake has increased 6.9 % in men and 21.7 % in women from 1970 to 2000"
and found it somewhat astounding.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11882-015-0538-9
"Cane and beet sugar, plant-derived unsaturated fat, dietary fibers, and resistant starches have been replaced by corn-derived sweeteners, animal-based saturated fats, and simple sugars"
I sort of knew this part, but didn't guess that the overall calorie intake would be different
I'm trying to get a handle on the scale of the problem - like closing the Dartford Crossing? Closing that has a massive impact, fortunately - it's never been more than a couple of days for weather IIRC.
I hadn't realised that you claim to be Scottish. Though the repetitive bleating about how everyone is so beastly to Dave/George/the Tories certainly fits in with your victim mentality proposition.
Trump rose in a world with Fox News. There is no "suppression" of discussion about immigration or Islam in the media in the Unities States. Which makes his - otherwise interesting article - completely wrong.
11 mile tailback the day it closed
Oh well, the toll-free crossing was fun while it lasted!
Was it worth it?
120 year life expectancy cut by 70 years?
While never mentioning the things he said that were batshit crazy. Like his view that, after the British Empire had rid the world of the Nazis, then it would have to do the same with the United States.
(I realise this is the view of Lovinputin1983)
There has been no suppression in the United States.
I think mass immigration is the biggest problem of our time, and there is a man who forecast the damage it would do / has done, 40 years before it happened, so I tend to quote him
Station inundated with racists who covered their nefarious activities by wearing santa hats and collecting for charity.
I knew they were all racists when I heard them singing "white Xmas" - shameless the lot of them! :-)
I imagine others will do the same if the bridge remains closed for an extended period. Would an eff-up make me change my vote? I doubt it.
What am I saying, that's your modus operandi!
Anyone from Cameron to Carmichael will be in the frame for their own failure to maintain the crossing. Twas ever thus.
My header could be summed up in one question: "what do the SNP actually want independence for?". It's the question that the Better Together campaign never got round to asking properly.
SCOTS who are not registered as organ donors could be refused a transplant under plans being considered by the government.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14132991.Scots_not_registered_as_organ_donors_could_be_refused_transplants/
http://www.scotsman.com/news/commuting-in-scotland-who-is-on-the-move-and-where-to-1-3970714
I lolled at Mr Nabavi claiming not to be "tribal".
This matter has been resolved for a generation by the sovereign democratic will of the Scottish people.
I'm not Scottish, I have sympathy with the Nats even if I disapprove of their boorish behaviour. I've always thought Ukip's stance hypocritical, didn't want Scottish independence but want to leave the EU
That's why I suppose the SNP schtick worked at the GE, they sold the romantic dream. It mirrors many romance films where people root for the unhappy partner to give it a go
If you look at what the SNP have done with their powers to date, the devolution settlement seems to give them all the freedom they need. What are these things that they cannot manage for themselves under existing arrangements?
I'm not hostile to the idea of Scottish independence, but it seems rather purposeless at present.
They would not for instance be able to reduce either a "flat tax", or a UBI ^_^'';