The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic.
The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right.
FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012.
The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'
But that is more or less the point of these 'courts' isn't it? Why would they exist except to try to impose another set of values than those which English or Scottish law enshrine?
There are a great many extra-judicial courts in existence in the UK (the vast majority of which are non-religious in nature), where people contractually agree that arbitration will be handled, and that such arbitration will be be binding.
If you gamble, the T&Cs of your contract with your bookmaker - when you open your account - will require you to renounce all ability to use the UK legal system to pursue claims. Instead, you need to use IBAS. (Or whatever it's called.)
The Beth Din and Sharia courts are similar. They have no juristiction over people who do not sign their rights over to them. (And if you are happy to accept binding arbitration of IBAS or a Beth Din or a Sharia court, surely that's your concern.)
More fundamentally, there are two separate issues here:
1. Are people being pressured into accepting the jurisdiction of these institutions?
2. Is there anything specifically about religious "courts" that makes them more onerous than civil ones?
You are, with great respect, missing the point.
Arbitration has been available for civil commercial contracts e.g. for an English company entering into a building contract with an overseas firm where both parties, advised by lawyers, decide how disputes arising out their contract are settled. Those clauses are themselves justiciable by the courts and there is much law on arbitration, on having a dispute determined in accordance with the substantive law of country X but according to the procedural rules of country Y, together with conflict of laws cases. In such cases, the civil courts can ultimately intervene. The authority of the judicial and legal authorities of the country are not ousted or bypassed.
Sharia courts are very different. These are "courts" recognised by no authority, inhabited by people who claim to be judges but who have no recognised legal training, who may not have any religious training or authority, which seek to oust totally the jurisdiction of the authorities (legal/judicial and policing) over matters such as family law and, in some cases, criminal law (particularly in relation to domestic violence, including rape) on the basis of religious injunction.
We do not live in a theocracy in this country and we should not accept British citizens in some communities being required (whether through moral, religious or cultural pressure) to live in a theocracy either.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).
Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.
The money was available for any and all maintenance required. FETA chose not to spend it. Indeed they had reserves of their own if required without needing to get money from the Scottish Government.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
"The money was available for any and all maintenance required."
Source please, because it's fairly clear it was not: the maintenance was made to fit the budget, not vice versa.
You've even linked these reports yourself, check back your own posts.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed. FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area). FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right.
Yet the bridge is closed and remains closed for the longest time in it's history - all on the SNP's watch - despite repeated warnings from engineers that faults needed fixed.
SNP - can't be trusted with critical infrastructure.
The Tories are much better off leaving Osborne in No 11
Pains me to say it but he is either a genius or very lucky, more likely both
He is capable, astute and knows his brief. He has been a political chancellor rather than one tied to his econometrics text book, as his embrace of austerity illustrated.
He is seen as the brains behind the operation, whether rightly or wrongly (there's your luck), perhaps even a geek.
He has been excellent by all these measures.
But or perhaps because of this, Prime Minister material he ain't.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).
Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.
The money was available for any and all maintenance required. FETA chose not to spend it. Indeed they had reserves of their own if required without needing to get money from the Scottish Government.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
"The money was available for any and all maintenance required."
Source please, because it's fairly clear it was not: the maintenance was made to fit the budget, not vice versa.
You've even linked these reports yourself, check back your own posts.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed. FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area). FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
Dearie dearie me - the lack of responsibility is utterly pathetic.
Sounds like the SNP aren't up to it - perhaps they should abdicate and call an election.
The decision stated that a "sharia-based regime was incompatible with the Convention, in particular, as regards the rules of criminal law and procedure, the place given to women in the legal order and its interference in all spheres of private and public life in accordance with religious precepts."
You've even linked these reports yourself, check back your own posts.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed. FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area). FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
Yes, I read my own posts and the links within. It's odd then that we come to such radically different conclusions. I'd say that because you're speaking total rubbish.
FETA had to work within the budget handed to it by the SNP government. It was not enough, so compromises were made. They nearly got away with it. But in engineering, such gambles can be very expensive, both monetarily and politically.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
Except that the SNP have become the establishment from the opposition in Scotland, step by step. There was no actual single tsunami in Scotland though we like to imagine one. In 2007 the SNP went from the second party to first part on a plurality of just a single seat.
From the position of incumbency they won a decade ago the SNP have built themselves as the new Scottish establishment. It isn't anti-establishment politics, it is just a change in establishment.
When the history is written about the end of the United Kingdom, what time will be spent on that decision. A joint decision by the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Parties. A decision to "let them run it".
With a minority of one.
It seems so stupid today. So full of hubris and a marked underestimation of the ability of the SNP to do (at least) a reasonable job. Or perhaps they genuinely over-estimated their own abilities and Labour thought they actually did a good job which could not be matched.
For want of a vote**, a seat was lost, For want of a seat, an election was lost, For want of an election, a parliament was lost, For want of a parliament, a nation was lost.
** technically, IIRC, it was 72 votes in the closest seat.
It may not be the dumbest decision of all time. But for extinguishing of the United Kingdom, it was certainly the most important. 37 people, decided the fate of the UK.
Indeed that plurality of one is what it all traces back to.
Frankly even with the benefit of hindsight I don't see why the Scottish Tories should have done anything different. The idea of the Tories teaming up with Labour is a complete non-starter. I don't think the Tories have done too badly with the rise of the SNP.
Labour and the Lib Dems were already in coalition though, they could have continued to tie themselves together in knots and insist that combined they had more MPs than the SNP (with the Tories abstaining).
Just imagine in that counter-factual universe there would have been a Labour+Lib Dem Scottish government blocking out the largest party of the SNP in 2010 when a Tory+Lib Dem national government was the only plausible answer. How could the Lib Dems have been in both governments simultaneously?
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
George Osborne is not a people person, that's for sure. That may not stop him becoming Prime Minister, however, since that is within the gift of the Conservative party rather than the electorate.
I've been told by someone who worked in his office that Osborne is extremely shy. Being in the public eye is very difficult for him.
Crap career choice then, George!
I don't hold that against him. I too have been told by someone who works for him that he is genuinely nice and funny, which rather improves him in my eyes.
You've even linked these reports yourself, check back your own posts.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed. FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area). FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
Yes, I read my own posts and the links within. It's odd then that we come to such radically different conclusions. I'd say that because you're speaking total rubbish.
FETA had to work within the budget handed to it by the SNP government. It was not enough, so compromises were made. They nearly got away with it. But in engineering, such gambles can be very expensive, both monetarily and politically.
What's your view on the view that to do the work in question 'early' would have required the bridge t be closed in any case?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
It's not - its just typical deflecting "whataboutery"
Crystallises the difference between leadership and administration - the SNP are mediocre administrators with aggressive PR.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
It's also rubbish, given the Labour government at Holyrood set in place the process for the new bridge (the final report choosing a bridge over a tunnel was released a month after the SNP minority government was formed, with interims before).
There's another foul wind going to rock the SNP over this: they chose to cost-reduce the new bridge in a number of ways, with the idea the old bridge would remain open. That's rather a gamble in the medium and long term.
You've even linked these reports yourself, check back your own posts.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed. FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area). FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
Yes, I read my own posts and the links within. It's odd then that we come to such radically different conclusions. I'd say that because you're speaking total rubbish.
FETA had to work within the budget handed to it by the SNP government. It was not enough, so compromises were made. They nearly got away with it. But in engineering, such gambles can be very expensive, both monetarily and politically.
FETA had access to their own reserves and could ask for additional funds for work which was necessary, this was clear from all the information available. It chose to work inside the budget set but it was not compelled to.
Also, the posts you've linked about the potential to do work on the truss ends all indicate that the work required closure of the bridge for a number of weeks. That makes it clear that running down the asset in the manner that's been done was the best option.
Any private business that does not run down retiring (or semi-retiring) assets would be failing in their fiduciary duty to shareholders. I prefer governments that work on the same prudent basis.
It seems the PB Tories on here prefer extravagant and lavish government spending even on assets at the end of their working life.
The basic precepts of sharia law are fundamentally at odds with the basic rights and concepts of most Western European legal systems as exemplified in the ECHR. It is untenable, in my view, that European citizens should be deprived of the rights under the ECHR and our legal systems or excused their obligations on the basis of some informal so-called religious "court". We do not live in a theocracy and I see no reason at all to subject some of our fellow citizens to a theocracy within our country.
There it is.
The Tories want to scrap ECHR so they can IMPOSE SHARIA LAW!
Grow up. Women and children are the ones who suffer from such courts. Of course, we can't expect lefties to worry about such things. Women's rights are just for white Western women and not if they interfere with more important things.
Perhaps you might look at how Canadian Muslim women reacted when the Canadian government tried to permit sharia law there.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
You've even linked these reports yourself, check back your own posts.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed. FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area). FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
Yes, I read my own posts and the links within. It's odd then that we come to such radically different conclusions. I'd say that because you're speaking total rubbish.
FETA had to work within the budget handed to it by the SNP government. It was not enough, so compromises were made. They nearly got away with it. But in engineering, such gambles can be very expensive, both monetarily and politically.
What's your view on the view that to do the work in question 'early' would have required the bridge t be closed in any case?
Quite possibly; it wouldn't be the first time it (or similar bridges) have been closed for maintenance. But there may have been options to keep it partially open, and even if not, the work can be planned in advance: extra trains can be hired, roadworks on alternative routes scrapped, the work scheduled for holidays etc. It also probably would not take as long, as components and access could be made and placed beforehand.
There's another issue in that failed parts often increase stress on other components. Having bits fail is really, really bad.
Except that the SNP have become the establishment from the opposition in Scotland, step by step. There was no actual single tsunami in Scotland though we like to imagine one. In 2007 the SNP went from the second party to first part on a plurality of just a single seat.
From the position of incumbency they won a decade ago the SNP have built themselves as the new Scottish establishment. It isn't anti-establishment politics, it is just a change in establishment.
When the history is written about the end of the United Kingdom, what time will be spent on that decision. A joint decision by the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Parties. A decision to "let them run it".
With a minority of one.
It seems so stupid today. So full of hubris and a marked underestimation of the ability of the SNP to do (at least) a reasonable job. Or perhaps they genuinely over-estimated their own abilities and Labour thought they actually did a good job which could not be matched.
For want of a vote**, a seat was lost, For want of a seat, an election was lost, For want of an election, a parliament was lost, For want of a parliament, a nation was lost.
** technically, IIRC, it was 72 votes in the closest seat.
It may not be the dumbest decision of all time. But for extinguishing of the United Kingdom, it was certainly the most important. 37 people, decided the fate of the UK.
Alas, the Liberal Party had no part in that decision - and when it came to the fate of the UK 3,623,174 Scots made a decision that settled that.
'Perhaps you might look at how Canadian Muslim women reacted when the Canadian government tried to permit sharia law there.'
With a slightly longer timeframe we can also cast our minds back to the days when the church in this country bypassed the king's law by having its own courts and demanding the right to try 'clerics' (aka anyone with a vague church connection) in them including for the most serious offences. That was a bad system which we got rid of and we should not be recreating its iniquities now.
Oh good, an Osborne is crap thread! I don't think he would be a good PM at all. He would be Brown all over again. Hopefully someone like Priti Patel can barge in on the leadership election. She is a bit unsteady at times, but with some decent coaching she could be a really good leader/PM.
If you need coaching on leadership by middle age you're not PM material.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
It's not - its just typical deflecting "whataboutery"
Crystallises the difference between leadership and administration - the SNP are mediocre administrators with aggressive PR.
There's no "whataboutery" about it.
The choice was : -
1. Close the bridge for maintenance you have no idea would be needed. 2a. Keep the bridge open and possibly close it for a similar amount of time. 2b. Keep the bridge open and possibly avoid the need for closure till the new bridge opens.
Only a drooling idiot would choose option 1. Option 2 is by far the superior cost. It has an Opportunity Cost of ZERO. It is the only rational choice.
Even if the chance of avoiding a closure for repair, Option 2 is STILL the best option.
Quite possibly; it wouldn't be the first time it (or similar bridges) have been closed for maintenance. But there may have been options to keep it partially open, and even if not, the work can be planned in advance: extra trains can be hired, roadworks on alternative routes scrapped, the work scheduled for holidays etc. It also probably would not take as long, as components and access could be made and placed beforehand.
There's another issue in that failed parts often increase stress on other components. Having bits fail is really, really bad.
It's a completely fatuous argument.
"I won't get my car serviced because it would be off the road for a day. I'll wait until the engine seizes instead. Maybe that won't happen until after I buy a new one. Oh, shit..."
'Perhaps you might look at how Canadian Muslim women reacted when the Canadian government tried to permit sharia law there.'
With a slightly longer timeframe we can also cast our minds back to the days when the church in this country bypassed the king's law by having its own courts and demanding the right to try 'clerics' (aka anyone with a vague church connection) in them including for the most serious offences. That was a bad system which we got rid of and we should not be recreating its iniquities now.
Indeed not.
And yet in recent years we have permitted precisely this to happen through blind eye turning and misplaced "respect" (more accurately described, to my mind, as fear and contempt for the rights of women who are not PLU). See this - http://equalandfree.org/timeline/.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
You certainly make me laugh. Never mind Shadwell, Tommy Cooper has nothing on you.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
It's not - its just typical deflecting "whataboutery"
Crystallises the difference between leadership and administration - the SNP are mediocre administrators with aggressive PR.
There's no "whataboutery" about it.
The choice was : -
1. Close the bridge for maintenance you have no idea would be needed. 2a. Keep the bridge open and if needed close it for a similar amount of time. 2b. Keep the bridge open and you avoid the need for closure till the new bridge opens.
Only a drooling idiot would choose option 1. Option 2 is by far the superior cost. It has an Opportunity Cost of ZERO. It is the only rational choice.
Mr. Runnymede, read about that in The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England recently. Anyone who could recite a bible verse, I think, could be tried as clergy.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
It's not - its just typical deflecting "whataboutery"
Crystallises the difference between leadership and administration - the SNP are mediocre administrators with aggressive PR.
There's no "whataboutery" about it.
The choice was : -
1. Close the bridge for maintenance you have no idea would be needed. 2a. Keep the bridge open and possibly close it for a similar amount of time. 2b. Keep the bridge open and possibly avoid the need for closure till the new bridge opens.
Only a drooling idiot would choose option 1. Option 2 is by far the superior cost. It has an Opportunity Cost of ZERO. It is the only rational choice.
Even if the chance of avoiding a closure for repair, Option 2 is STILL the best option.
What about option 3 - Maintenance work while keeping the bridge open. Its done all the time elsewhere.
It's not at the end. It needs to stay open cos the new bridge doesn't have the same features.
Due, AIUI, to SNP cost-cutting.
That was, in general, a time when the transport budget was very badly disrupted by the Unionists imposing the Edinburgh Trams. Whether that was a factor in the bridge I don't know, but it certainly hit the programme of road improvement on the northern trunk roads very badly.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
Your argument is in short that the problem is everyone's fault except the people were actually in charge. A remarkable philosophy and I wonder if you carry it over into other aspects of life.
Oh good, an Osborne is crap thread! I don't think he would be a good PM at all. He would be Brown all over again. Hopefully someone like Priti Patel can barge in on the leadership election. She is a bit unsteady at times, but with some decent coaching she could be a really good leader/PM.
If you need coaching on leadership by middle age you're not PM material.
Margaret Thatcher needed it, I hardly think she wasn't PM material given that she was our greatest peace time PM.
Your argument is in short that the problem is everyone's fault except the people were actually in charge. A remarkable philosophy and I wonder if you carry it over into other aspects of life.
It's not at the end. It needs to stay open cos the new bridge doesn't have the same features.
Due, AIUI, to SNP cost-cutting.
We already went over this before.
The cost of a ferry for foot and cycle passengers would likely be zero if not profitable given the likely number of users, the tourist trade and the minimal cost of such a ferry.
The Renfrew Ferry costs £480k a year to run and I use it regularly on my bike. I'm often the only person on it, the most I've ever seen where 5 other users.
But in any case, the old bridge is likely to be kept for architectural and engineering reasons for at least a few decades and that outcome probably hasn't changed.
@BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.
Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).
SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.
How relevant is that to the cancellation of planned maintenance on the existing bridge?
It's not - its just typical deflecting "whataboutery"
Crystallises the difference between leadership and administration - the SNP are mediocre administrators with aggressive PR.
There's no "whataboutery" about it.
The choice was : -
1. Close the bridge for maintenance you have no idea would be needed. 2a. Keep the bridge open and possibly close it for a similar amount of time. 2b. Keep the bridge open and possibly avoid the need for closure till the new bridge opens.
Only a drooling idiot would choose option 1. Option 2 is by far the superior cost. It has an Opportunity Cost of ZERO. It is the only rational choice.
Even if the chance of avoiding a closure for repair, Option 2 is STILL the best option.
They knew the work was needed: critical components had not been manufactured to modern standards (AIUI the thickness of the steel), and was reaching its fatigue life. The bits that failed are apparently not the bits that had been of concern, but were part of the same subsystem, and would have been replaced / rejuvenated under the contract. I believe an SNP minister has now admitted as much.
As I said before, having bits fail is really, really bad, and potentially lethal, as the Americans found a few years back.
I've been through this before with you - and you know that that is diametrically opposite to what actually happened.
Except it's not
Edinburgh's trams project looks set to get back on track after SNP councillors said they would support moves to build a line into the city centre.
The SNP group abstained last week when councillors voted to end the line at Haymarket, in the west of the city.
But now the party says it will back its Lib Dem coalition partners in a new vote at a special meeting on Friday.
That support should enable them to pass a motion to bring the trams to St Andrew Square.
Last week Labour and Conservative councillors joined forces to reject plans to borrow an extra £230m to run the line from Edinburgh Airport to the city centre.
'Perhaps you might look at how Canadian Muslim women reacted when the Canadian government tried to permit sharia law there.'
With a slightly longer timeframe we can also cast our minds back to the days when the church in this country bypassed the king's law by having its own courts and demanding the right to try 'clerics' (aka anyone with a vague church connection) in them including for the most serious offences. That was a bad system which we got rid of and we should not be recreating its iniquities now.
I would add that the key point is not that having separate church courts was a bad system (it may have been or it may have been better) but that it was a power struggle between who had ultimate authority in the kingdom: the king or the church. It was about power.
In a similar way this issue is about who has ultimate authority and power over our citizens, including those who are Muslim: the British state or Muslim clerics. The answer has to be the same as it has been for centuries: the state.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
Your argument is in short that the problem is everyone's fault except the people were actually in charge. A remarkable philosophy and I wonder if you carry it over into other aspects of life.
It's a remarkable philosophy which has been followed for many years by many senior bankers.
It's not at the end. It needs to stay open cos the new bridge doesn't have the same features.
Due, AIUI, to SNP cost-cutting.
We already went over this before.
The cost of a ferry for foot and cycle passengers would likely be zero if not profitable given the likely number of users, the tourist trade and the minimal cost of such a ferry.
The Renfrew Ferry costs £480k a year to run and I use it regularly on my bike. I'm often the only person on it, the most I've ever seen where 5 other users.
But in any case, the old bridge is likely to be kept for architectural and engineering reasons for at least a few decades and that outcome probably hasn't changed.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
Cutting the cash might have looked sensible at the time, but the evidence probes that it wasn't.
And maintenance on the existing bridge is independent of building the new bridge. This is pretty simple to understand.
He has the haunted look of a man who is nearly at the pinnacle of his profession and ambition, and finds himself being asked to smile and look happy when surrounded by singing children in blue Santa hats. Who can blame him!?
I've been through this before with you - and you know that that is diametrically opposite to what actually happened.
Except it's not
Edinburgh's trams project looks set to get back on track after SNP councillors said they would support moves to build a line into the city centre.
The SNP group abstained last week when councillors voted to end the line at Haymarket, in the west of the city.
But now the party says it will back its Lib Dem coalition partners in a new vote at a special meeting on Friday.
That support should enable them to pass a motion to bring the trams to St Andrew Square.
Last week Labour and Conservative councillors joined forces to reject plans to borrow an extra £230m to run the line from Edinburgh Airport to the city centre.
You've done it again - deliberately picking a much later news report on a relatively minor adjustment (which was necessary to get the trams into Princes Street, to get a reasonable degree of benefit from them). And also deliberately picking a completely different organization. I was talking about the original Parliamentary votes for the trams, as you know perfectly well (or ought to). And I'm not going to waste my time looking it up for you yet again.
That was, in general, a time when the transport budget was very badly disrupted by the Unionists imposing the Edinburgh Trams.
The SNP voted through the funds for the trams. Unionist Parties opposed...
What the hell.
You're now stating the exact opposite of the truth.
The SNP Minority Government voted AGAINST continuing to fund the trams. The Tories, Labour and Liberals voted down the SNP Minority Government to keep the tram running.
Mr. Runnymede, read about that in The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England recently. Anyone who could recite a bible verse, I think, could be tried as clergy. ...
Known as the neck verse, but as you say it got the suspect out of the scope of the secular courts but only to be tried under canon law by the Church Courts (which didn't do capital punishment). The conflict between the power of the state, well Monarch really, and the Church went back a very long way (Thomas A'Beckett was just one victim) and the haggle over who could punish offending clergymen was just one small part of a much bigger argument, which boiled down to money and power.
As a fine point of interest the Benefit of Clergy, of which the neck verse was one part, was not finally abolished in England until the early nineteenth century (1820s from memory).
We really need an independent investigation into the police / CPS. It appears they have spent a huge amount of money and police time bringing innocent celebs to trial and / or are totally incompetent in putting together cases. And how many journos have been taken to court for phone hacking and their cases fallen apart.
The William Roache investigation one was just jaw dropping the incompetence. Witness stories didn't stack up at all and the defence pulled them apart with ease. Things like claims of which houses they were taken to, when they were taken there, in which cars, all of which was found to be incorrect with mostly information in public records.
Also remember that Rolf Harris only went down because a member of the public came forward late in the trial with new evidence, the police / CPS lawyers hadn't checked things out properly and Harris was claiming he had watertight alibi for one of the major allegations and the CPS case was actually shafted until the new evidence was allowed to be admitted right towards the end.
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
Your argument is in short that the problem is everyone's fault except the people were actually in charge. A remarkable philosophy and I wonder if you carry it over into other aspects of life.
No, the point is that a number of DIFFERENT decisions were made.
The decisions the SNP got to make, they made correctly. The decisions FETA got to make, they made correctly.
The decisions Labour got to make. They have chosen... poorly.
He has the haunted look of a man who is nearly at the pinnacle of his profession and ambition, and finds himself being asked to smile and look happy when surrounded by singing children in blue Santa hats. Who can blame him!?
I think you need to lie down in a darkened room for an hour or two.
He has the haunted look of a man who is nearly at the pinnacle of his profession and ambition, and finds himself being asked to smile and look happy when surrounded by singing children in blue Santa hats. Who can blame him!?
I think you need to lie down in a darkened room for an hour or two.
Oh good, an Osborne is crap thread! I don't think he would be a good PM at all. He would be Brown all over again. Hopefully someone like Priti Patel can barge in on the leadership election. She is a bit unsteady at times, but with some decent coaching she could be a really good leader/PM.
If you need coaching on leadership by middle age you're not PM material.
Margaret Thatcher needed it, I hardly think she wasn't PM material given that she was our greatest peace time PM.
Ed didn't lose GE2015, Labour did. Osborne can win easily. He would always be in Cameron's shadow though, and that rules him out I think.
Corbyn gives the Tories all the space they need. It's a little bit unfortunate that they seem entirely unprepared to deal with that. Heathrow for example should be allowed to build as many runways as they like.
It's a little bit sad that we seem to have a generation of Conservative politicians that have grown up entirely fighting the line. When there are open fields ahead of them they hesitate and squabble amongst themselves.
George Osborne is not a people person, that's for sure. That may not stop him becoming Prime Minister, however, since that is within the gift of the Conservative party rather than the electorate.
I've been told by someone who worked in his office that Osborne is extremely shy. Being in the public eye is very difficult for him.
Crap career choice then, George!
I don't hold that against him. I too have been told by someone who works for him that he is genuinely nice and funny, which rather improves him in my eyes.
Mr. Runnymede, read about that in The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England recently. Anyone who could recite a bible verse, I think, could be tried as clergy. ...
Known as the neck verse, but as you say it got the suspect out of the scope of the secular courts but only to be tried under canon law by the Church Courts (which didn't do capital punishment). The conflict between the power of the state, well Monarch really, and the Church went back a very long way (Thomas A'Beckett was just one victim) and the haggle over who could punish offending clergymen was just one small part of a much bigger argument, which boiled down to money and power.
As a fine point of interest the Benefit of Clergy, of which the neck verse was one part, was not finally abolished in England until the early nineteenth century (1820s from memory).
Church courts were generally far more lenient than secular medieval courts, whose guiding philosophy was "Tough on Crime. A Whole Lot tougher on Criminals."
The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?
Yes. Jack McConnell's oversight was indeed catatrophic. The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right. FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012. The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Is this satire?
The SNP been in power since 2007. SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009 SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity. But its everybody's fault except the SNP! You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
The SNP have been in power since 2007. FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010. The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible. It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
Your argument is in short that the problem is everyone's fault except the people were actually in charge. A remarkable philosophy and I wonder if you carry it over into other aspects of life.
No, the point is that a number of DIFFERENT decisions were made.
The decisions the SNP got to make, they made correctly. The decisions FETA got to make, they made correctly.
The decisions Labour got to make. They have chosen... poorly.
Oh I see. The fact that this bridge has suddenly had to be closed because it is in a dangerous state is the result of people making correct decisions. Forgive me, I am not used to the Scottish way of doing things
We really need an independent investigation into the police / CPS. It appears they have spent a huge amount of money and police time bringing innocent celebs to trial and / or are totally incompetent in putting together cases. And how many journos have been taken to court for phone hacking and their cases fallen apart.
The William Roache investigation one was just jaw dropping the incompetence. Witness stories didn't stack up at all and the defence pulled them apart with ease. Things like claims of which houses they were taken to, when they were taken there, in which cars, all of which was found to be incorrect with mostly information in public records.
Also remember that Rolf Harris only went down because a member of the public came forward late in the trial with new evidence, the police / CPS lawyers hadn't checked things out properly and Harris was claiming he had watertight alibi for one of the major allegations and the CPS case was actually shafted until the new evidence was allowed to be admitted right towards the end.
Cliff Richard, Freddie Starr, the list goes on. A witness in the Ken Barlow trial said he raped her at his house and when she went back 3 days later he raped her again.
The damage done to careers is inestimable, driven by greed by lawyers and attention seekers. Of course it now makes the prosecution in genuine assault cases more difficult.
We really need an independent investigation into the police / CPS. It appears they have spent a huge amount of money and police time bringing innocent celebs to trial and / or are totally incompetent in putting together cases. And how many journos have been taken to court for phone hacking and their cases fallen apart.
The William Roache investigation one was just jaw dropping the incompetence. Witness stories didn't stack up at all and the defence pulled them apart with ease. Things like claims of which houses they were taken to, when they were taken there, in which cars, all of which was found to be incorrect with mostly information in public records.
Also remember that Rolf Harris only went down because a member of the public came forward late in the trial with new evidence, the police / CPS lawyers hadn't checked things out properly and Harris was claiming he had watertight alibi for one of the major allegations and the CPS case was actually shafted until the new evidence was allowed to be admitted right towards the end.
Cliff Richard, Freddie Starr, the list goes on. A witness in the Ken Barlow trial said he raped her at his house and when she went back 3 days later he raped her again.
The damage done to careers is inestimable, driven by greed by lawyers and attention seekers. Of course it now makes the prosecution in genuine assault cases more difficult.
Also in the William Roche trial, they interviewed a witness who had her currently partner sitting in on the interview who answered questions for her.
We really need an independent investigation into the police / CPS. It appears they have spent a huge amount of money and police time bringing innocent celebs to trial and / or are totally incompetent in putting together cases. And how many journos have been taken to court for phone hacking and their cases fallen apart.
The William Roache investigation one was just jaw dropping the incompetence. Witness stories didn't stack up at all and the defence pulled them apart with ease. Things like claims of which houses they were taken to, when they were taken there, in which cars, all of which was found to be incorrect with mostly information in public records.
Also remember that Rolf Harris only went down because a member of the public came forward late in the trial with new evidence, the police / CPS lawyers hadn't checked things out properly and Harris was claiming he had watertight alibi for one of the major allegations and the CPS case was actually shafted until the new evidence was allowed to be admitted right towards the end.
Cliff Richard, Freddie Starr, the list goes on. A witness in the Ken Barlow trial said he raped her at his house and when she went back 3 days later he raped her again.
The damage done to careers is inestimable, driven by greed by lawyers and attention seekers. Of course it now makes the prosecution in genuine assault cases more difficult.
"and when she went back 3 days later" - The case should be thrown out on that.
I have some vague knowledge, but not up on the details of what happens next. What is quite apparent, however, is that John is an unattractive mixture of stupid, incompetent and treacherous.
Richard the Lionheart is quite interesting. Forgave Marshal for killing his horse (whilst Richard was riding it...), but he seems to have an approach to warfare similar to the Black Prince (without the battlefield spectaculars, but with greater strategic competence, from what I've read so far).
We really need an independent investigation into the police / CPS. It appears they have spent a huge amount of money and police time bringing innocent celebs to trial and / or are totally incompetent in putting together cases. And how many journos have been taken to court for phone hacking and their cases fallen apart.
The William Roache investigation one was just jaw dropping the incompetence. Witness stories didn't stack up at all and the defence pulled them apart with ease. Things like claims of which houses they were taken to, when they were taken there, in which cars, all of which was found to be incorrect with mostly information in public records.
Also remember that Rolf Harris only went down because a member of the public came forward late in the trial with new evidence, the police / CPS lawyers hadn't checked things out properly and Harris was claiming he had watertight alibi for one of the major allegations and the CPS case was actually shafted until the new evidence was allowed to be admitted right towards the end.
Cliff Richard, Freddie Starr, the list goes on. A witness in the Ken Barlow trial said he raped her at his house and when she went back 3 days later he raped her again.
The damage done to careers is inestimable, driven by greed by lawyers and attention seekers. Of course it now makes the prosecution in genuine assault cases more difficult.
"and when she went back 3 days later" - The case should be thrown out on that.
Comments
The SNP Scottish Government has done everything right.
FETA have probably done everything right. Instead of close the bridge for maintenance that may not have been needed, they kept it open. All that happened now is something that would have happened in 2011 or 2012.
The Labour Scottish Executive have harmed Scotland badly, by failing to build a bridge even though it had the money available and indeed returned it to Westminster to waste.
Arbitration has been available for civil commercial contracts e.g. for an English company entering into a building contract with an overseas firm where both parties, advised by lawyers, decide how disputes arising out their contract are settled. Those clauses are themselves justiciable by the courts and there is much law on arbitration, on having a dispute determined in accordance with the substantive law of country X but according to the procedural rules of country Y, together with conflict of laws cases. In such cases, the civil courts can ultimately intervene. The authority of the judicial and legal authorities of the country are not ousted or bypassed.
Sharia courts are very different. These are "courts" recognised by no authority, inhabited by people who claim to be judges but who have no recognised legal training, who may not have any religious training or authority, which seek to oust totally the jurisdiction of the authorities (legal/judicial and policing) over matters such as family law and, in some cases, criminal law (particularly in relation to domestic violence, including rape) on the basis of religious injunction.
We do not live in a theocracy in this country and we should not accept British citizens in some communities being required (whether through moral, religious or cultural pressure) to live in a theocracy either.
FETA had the money in its reserves if needed.
FETA cancelled the proposal to do work in the general area (but not according to it's Liberal councillor chairman that exact area).
FETA could have asked and would have gotten the money if required.
FETA isn't an SNP puppet, it was run by three councils, none of which the SNP controlled. If there was a need for work and that work was not done AND there was no public outcry, then that is FETA's responsibily.
As it stands, there is still no indication of any demands for work which was not done.
SNP - can't be trusted with critical infrastructure.
He is seen as the brains behind the operation, whether rightly or wrongly (there's your luck), perhaps even a geek.
He has been excellent by all these measures.
But or perhaps because of this, Prime Minister material he ain't.
Sounds like the SNP aren't up to it - perhaps they should abdicate and call an election.
@paulwaugh: .@chrisshipitv has found orig bikes-in-snow photo on which Jez Xmas card is based. Naturally, he added the red light
https://t.co/Uj1IXGYwTo
The ECHR decision on sharia law being incompatible with the Convention was taken in 2001 and upheld in 2003.
The report can be found here - http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Annual_report_2003_ENG.pdf.
The decision stated that a "sharia-based regime was incompatible with the Convention, in particular, as regards the rules of criminal law and procedure, the place given to women in the legal order and its interference in all spheres of private and public life in accordance with religious precepts."
FETA had to work within the budget handed to it by the SNP government. It was not enough, so compromises were made. They nearly got away with it. But in engineering, such gambles can be very expensive, both monetarily and politically.
Frankly even with the benefit of hindsight I don't see why the Scottish Tories should have done anything different. The idea of the Tories teaming up with Labour is a complete non-starter. I don't think the Tories have done too badly with the rise of the SNP.
Labour and the Lib Dems were already in coalition though, they could have continued to tie themselves together in knots and insist that combined they had more MPs than the SNP (with the Tories abstaining).
Just imagine in that counter-factual universe there would have been a Labour+Lib Dem Scottish government blocking out the largest party of the SNP in 2010 when a Tory+Lib Dem national government was the only plausible answer. How could the Lib Dems have been in both governments simultaneously?
The SNP been in power since 2007.
SNP had news of need for maintenance in 2009
SNP govt have been underspending in a time of alleged austerity.
But its everybody's fault except the SNP!
You are the new Defoe , a veritable Shadwell amongst posters.
Crystallises the difference between leadership and administration - the SNP are mediocre administrators with aggressive PR.
There's another foul wind going to rock the SNP over this: they chose to cost-reduce the new bridge in a number of ways, with the idea the old bridge would remain open. That's rather a gamble in the medium and long term.
Also, the posts you've linked about the potential to do work on the truss ends all indicate that the work required closure of the bridge for a number of weeks. That makes it clear that running down the asset in the manner that's been done was the best option.
Any private business that does not run down retiring (or semi-retiring) assets would be failing in their fiduciary duty to shareholders. I prefer governments that work on the same prudent basis.
It seems the PB Tories on here prefer extravagant and lavish government spending even on assets at the end of their working life.
Perhaps you might look at how Canadian Muslim women reacted when the Canadian government tried to permit sharia law there.
Nadir Syed, 22, from Southall in west London, was arrested hours after buying a chef's knife in November 2014, days before Remembrance Sunday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35095998
FETA had an opportunity to close the bridge for maintenance in 2010.
The SNP are running down a retiring asset. Cutting the cash is sensible.
It's SLAB's fault, entirely, for failing to replace the bridge in 2006 with £1.5bn of money it had sitting in its bank account.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Day
There's another issue in that failed parts often increase stress on other components. Having bits fail is really, really bad.
With a slightly longer timeframe we can also cast our minds back to the days when the church in this country bypassed the king's law by having its own courts and demanding the right to try 'clerics' (aka anyone with a vague church connection) in them including for the most serious offences. That was a bad system which we got rid of and we should not be recreating its iniquities now.
I see nothing remarkable in the festive photo.
The choice was : -
1. Close the bridge for maintenance you have no idea would be needed.
2a. Keep the bridge open and possibly close it for a similar amount of time.
2b. Keep the bridge open and possibly avoid the need for closure till the new bridge opens.
Only a drooling idiot would choose option 1. Option 2 is by far the superior cost. It has an Opportunity Cost of ZERO. It is the only rational choice.
Even if the chance of avoiding a closure for repair, Option 2 is STILL the best option.
"I won't get my car serviced because it would be off the road for a day. I'll wait until the engine seizes instead. Maybe that won't happen until after I buy a new one. Oh, shit..."
And yet in recent years we have permitted precisely this to happen through blind eye turning and misplaced "respect" (more accurately described, to my mind, as fear and contempt for the rights of women who are not PLU). See this - http://equalandfree.org/timeline/.
We hear and see a lot of the violence and depravity of ISIS, but we forget just how bad it is in many central American countries these days.
http://thaddeusthesixth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/review-time-travellers-guide-to.html
Mr. Eagles, did he injure himself? The claim was he got stabbed in the side and the neck.
Ed sitting mournfully thinking "I stabbed my own brother in the back to become leader and I did worse than Brown"
Whilst David is thinking "Ed what a flipping knob, I told you I would have done better"
The cost of a ferry for foot and cycle passengers would likely be zero if not profitable given the likely number of users, the tourist trade and the minimal cost of such a ferry.
The Renfrew Ferry costs £480k a year to run and I use it regularly on my bike. I'm often the only person on it, the most I've ever seen where 5 other users.
But in any case, the old bridge is likely to be kept for architectural and engineering reasons for at least a few decades and that outcome probably hasn't changed.
As I said before, having bits fail is really, really bad, and potentially lethal, as the Americans found a few years back.
In a similar way this issue is about who has ultimate authority and power over our citizens, including those who are Muslim: the British state or Muslim clerics. The answer has to be the same as it has been for centuries: the state.
And maintenance on the existing bridge is independent of building the new bridge. This is pretty simple to understand.
There are few things crueller than enforced happiness.
You're welcome.
You're now stating the exact opposite of the truth.
The SNP Minority Government voted AGAINST continuing to fund the trams. The Tories, Labour and Liberals voted down the SNP Minority Government to keep the tram running.
Your drooling delusions are getting worse.
As a fine point of interest the Benefit of Clergy, of which the neck verse was one part, was not finally abolished in England until the early nineteenth century (1820s from memory).
We really need an independent investigation into the police / CPS. It appears they have spent a huge amount of money and police time bringing innocent celebs to trial and / or are totally incompetent in putting together cases. And how many journos have been taken to court for phone hacking and their cases fallen apart.
The William Roache investigation one was just jaw dropping the incompetence. Witness stories didn't stack up at all and the defence pulled them apart with ease. Things like claims of which houses they were taken to, when they were taken there, in which cars, all of which was found to be incorrect with mostly information in public records.
Also remember that Rolf Harris only went down because a member of the public came forward late in the trial with new evidence, the police / CPS lawyers hadn't checked things out properly and Harris was claiming he had watertight alibi for one of the major allegations and the CPS case was actually shafted until the new evidence was allowed to be admitted right towards the end.
The decisions the SNP got to make, they made correctly. The decisions FETA got to make, they made correctly.
The decisions Labour got to make. They have chosen... poorly.
I think Henry II's approach to succession was fantastically incompetent. Up to about 1194. John isn't even king yet, but he's already a total arse.
Corbyn gives the Tories all the space they need. It's a little bit unfortunate that they seem entirely unprepared to deal with that. Heathrow for example should be allowed to build as many runways as they like.
It's a little bit sad that we seem to have a generation of Conservative politicians that have grown up entirely fighting the line. When there are open fields ahead of them they hesitate and squabble amongst themselves.
http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/modevents/item/margaret-thatcher-everything-she-wants-charles-moore-in-conversation-with-george-osborne
The damage done to careers is inestimable, driven by greed by lawyers and attention seekers. Of course it now makes the prosecution in genuine assault cases more difficult.
I have some vague knowledge, but not up on the details of what happens next. What is quite apparent, however, is that John is an unattractive mixture of stupid, incompetent and treacherous.
Richard the Lionheart is quite interesting. Forgave Marshal for killing his horse (whilst Richard was riding it...), but he seems to have an approach to warfare similar to the Black Prince (without the battlefield spectaculars, but with greater strategic competence, from what I've read so far).