Some UK ministers believe PM should force a new independence referendum fast amid pandemic job losses & economic turmoil to try to emphasise risks of Scotland going it alone. One said: "The time to do it would be in the middle of economic chaos" https://t.co/Ai1HcOz90K
Comments
1 - How are we doing with the Football Fandango? Have the Fatcats reverse-ferreted yet?
2 - Not sure if the Mercer thing is very important. He does slightly sound as if he has a mirror on a selfie-stick so he can admire himself in a socially distanced manner. Perhaps that is a touch harsh. The problem of an activist as Minister?
Times of economic chaos are when people listen to dishonest demagogues proposing easy solutions to intractable problems.
When everything is rosy, people are less likely to vote for radical change in case they bugger everything up.
The SNP should have their referendum if they win a majority because of democratic self-determination. No other reason.
The fact the SNP under Sturgeon make Cummings and Farage look like honest, competent and intelligent anti-racists is a detail but is Scotland’s problem only if they listen to these nutcases.
The topic of another referendum in Scotland, if requested formally by the new Scottish Parliament, will likely be defeated on a free vote.
At a time of such polarisation and division in society, it's great to have everyone agree that these scumbag club chairmen trying to sell out the fans - then failing miserably when they underestimated the reaction - is the most brilliant story of the year so far!
https://twitter.com/JoeTrippi/status/1384533738441355264
https://twitter.com/classiclib3ral/status/1384692683382329350?s=21
Shame our entire government including the civil service is incapable of thinking beyond the next tweet.
http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=307448
Liar considers himself leader Uber alles. Immaculate. Untouchable. I wholly expect him to go down the tone deaf "I am the PM with a big majority and I am in charge" route. Which only guarantees not only Scotland's departure but almost certainly NI as well.
Once democracy is the tyranny of the masses in another country it ceases to be democracy at all.
https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1384735522556362755?s=21
What a waste of time, energy and money flogging this dead horse is. The Government won't just let them go, of course. But it should.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56800763
‘They create a wilderness and call it peace’ would be a pretty fair summary of Sturgeon’s administration over the last three years.
Is it working?
Where it goes from there I do not know
However, I suspect our PM isn't likely to support the idea of a free vote. he and those around him don't seem to like contrary, or even different views. And certainly not interpretations of situations which differ from his.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/tees-valley-mayoral-candidate-tests-20430726
No matter your politics why celebrate someone catching covid
I think it's one of the most absurdly hyperbolic reactions to a report I've ever seen.
On the strategy for one I've seen two suggestions. One, that the exit terms should be pre-negotiated so Scots know what they'd be voting on as a condition of a vote and, two, that the benefits of the Union should be made loud & clear - rather than going full Project Fear.
I think they are good ones.
I'm pointing out that (a) it's her latest calamity on an awful campaign and (b) the cancelled events will be a relief to the activists who no longer have to go through the pretence of making excuses.
That doesn’t mean they made the right decision for good governance. Indeed, a strong case could be made that the SNP are a far worse government than even Westminster has produced.
But as with Johnson, the issue is however bad they are, they are probably still better than the opppostion.
And on that cheerful note, have a good morning.
If you want to hide behind it then feel free.
Mr. B2 is correct.
It should be Heraclean.
Which is a pity as there are some good proposals in there that do attempt to address institutional racism while refusing to use the term.
Sadly for them, they use the same crap tech as the Telegraph and Spectator, loading the whole article in the background then trying to hide most of it at the end of the page load process.
On the first, the answer to BoZo will always be "like Brexit?"
On the second, you can't say being in the Union is great without also saying not being in the union will be shit.
Which is palpable nonsense. The desire to avert that was part of the reason for leaving. In addition, power had flowed from nation states to the EU, whereas power has been devolved to Scotland within the UK.
In short, the comparison is silly.
BoZo can't demand a detailed manifesto after all his bullshit for Brexit
For me... and them...
To be honest I don't think the reaction has been strong enough. People should lose their jobs for that fraudulent piece of propaganda.
Heraclean is probably a Landrette in Oxford.
https://twitter.com/andrewrosindell/status/1384445405287616512?s=21
The tax rate is 50% for the vast majority of it.
A free vote in Parliament is just about the only way you could do that...
I don't think that would work here.
If it's already lost, his key aim is to be out of Downing Street before it happens
He will wear that badge with pride
Boris 2 - Europe 0
The sensible way to run things would be to say "we have learned the lessons from Brexit, lets agree a shape for how Scotland will work post-independence and then you have your vote". However I can't see why Scotland would accept anything less than a rerun of the Brexit stupid and a rerun of a straight yes / no question with no answers as to what next.
Meanwhile in America...
https://youtu.be/SKsLK_Na7iw
News bulletin from NBC last week, further softening up of the US public for the biggest story of all time.
paging @Leon
I would be more embarrassed to be a BoZo fanbois
Which is why I get irritated when England National sporting teams don't know the words
@REWearmouth: “I am first lord of the Treasury,” Boris Johnson tells James Dyson in text convo mid-pandemic about what tax Dyson… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1384762048408604674
We are commenting on an obscure internet blog, not texting Cabinet Ministers...
Would such action within membership of the single market have been possible and lawful?
is Boris Johnson now the most influential and powerful head of government in Europe?
Will we hear fans chanting "we love boris johnson" from the Anfield Kop?
Will his actions over the last few days have any short to medium term political impact?
I enjoyed going to school in the US. In stark contrast to my previous school in Brussels I didn't really learn anything in an academic sense but the sports facilities were first rate.
We are going to lose or shit. Be a good time to bury bad news though...
It must be very annoying
We *have* to have tax transparency where foreign-based companies pay due taxes in the UK. Whether they are Tory donors or not.
So the people of Scotland, even those who find politics tedious in the extreme, really should know what they are voting for. Those who are actually interested in how Scotland is governed, how its economy recovers from Covid and the heavy handed Nicola and how its once vaunted education system is falling apart making young Scots less employable are in something approaching despair, at least if those I speak to are typical in any way (and in fairness they may not be). Our political class has done almost nothing but play political games about constitutional matters for more than 20 years. It's a disgrace.
If the majority of the people of Scotland vote for Indyref 2 then that is what must happen. We are voluntary members of one of the most successful unions in the history of the world. We are a part of this great, democratic country. I am proud to be a part of that country and that union. A part of that greatness is that the will of the people has to be respected. This is not in Boris's gift, it is in the hands of the people and they must choose.
As I said it won't win him any votes above the border...
That would require metals or compounds no one has a clue how to make or organic matter that has little to do with us.
https://twitter.com/gabyhinsliff/status/1384766194239016961
At the time, other manufacturers felt that in the key March 16th meeting the PM was especially keen to involve Dyson and JCB, as manufacturer-supporters of Brexit, rather than carmakers and aerospace (who succeeded) https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/1384759633957511172
https://twitter.com/mammothwhale/status/1384757842004037638?s=21
I wonder if they're really thought through whether highlighting massive economic problems in the UK in order to get people to vote not to leave the UK would really be the best way to go about that.
When you see what you consider to be errors or waste or wrongdoing with Mark Drakeford you shriek endlessly about it. You are a massive hypocrite in not applying the same standards to the PM.
If Labour were doing it, the usual suspects would be shrieking to high heaven about it.
I wish the ESL story hadn't been killed last night at least that was interesting.
I have no problem with this. Both Boris and Dyson were trying to do the right thing and didn't want to be caught out by rules not intended for these special circumstances.
I have campaigned for a defence against against penalties for breaking laws that have unforeseen consequences. We must of all come across 'jobs worths' who have applied rules correctly no matter how irrational they were in the circumstances.
The only criticism here is it is one rule for Dyson and another for the rest of us because there isn't a defence for the rest of us.
One rule for the little people, another rule for Tory donors. Yet you insist your friends and party are above reproach when it comes to financial standards.
It is no surprise that the usual suspects are trying to say that Tory donors getting the Chancellor and PM to waive them paying tax is a non-story. There is no Tory sleaze, no no no. All entirely above board.