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Happy first anniversay First Minister – politicalbetting.com
Happy first anniversay First Minister – politicalbetting.com
Humza Yousaf receives a ‘net’ negative rating of -15 from the public (29% favourable and 45% unfavourable). He's viewed a little more positively now than when he was running to be leader. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar remains more popular with a ‘net’ rating of -7. (2/6) pic.twitter.com/3IsyR0cK6B
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https://x.com/DarranMarshall/status/1773633959332585638?s=20
https://x.com/AmandaFBelfast/status/1773504067718766756?s=20
Going off the leaflets received so far, that message is:
Everything brilliant in Scotland is thanks to the SNP
Everything awful in Scotland is thanks to the Tory government in Westminster
If Scotland was independent we'd all be millionaires
Will that resonate? After 17 years in office? Or will there be a protest vote against BOTH governments? Hard for the SNP to complain about the government when they are the other government. Both in office. Both failing the Scottish people...
Taliban edict to resume stoning women to death met with horror
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/mar/28/taliban-edict-to-resume-stoning-women-to-death-met-with-horror
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/29/mega-extra-chunky-luxurious-specia-easter-eggs-2024
(And very best wishes to those of us commemorating and celebrating Easter in their churches and chapels.)
Tory MP faces lobbying questions over Treasury committee role
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/29/tory-mp-john-baron-faces-lobbying-questions-over-use-of-treasury-committee-role
A senior Tory MP is facing questions over whether he used his Commons Treasury committee role to lobby for post-Brexit changes to City rules, which stand to benefit the industry where he has a second job.
John Baron, who in addition to his role as an MP is co-owner and chief investment officer of Baron and Grant Investment Management, used at least three meetings of the influential committee to request “urgent” changes to rules covering investment trusts, which his firm specialises in managing.
This includes two hearings with Jeremy Hunt on the chancellor’s autumn statement and spring budget. At one hearing this month, Baron called for “immediate action” and “fast-track legislation” to support the UK’s £260bn investment trust sector as part of the chancellor’s “Edinburgh reforms” deregulation package.
He also used a December committee meeting with Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), to ask for “assurance” that rapid action would be taken to “iron out these problems”.
Baron declares his financial interests in the parliamentary register, including a stake of at least 15% in Baron and Grant, and a £500 payment for five hours’ work a month as chair of its investment committee.
The MP told the chancellor that investors were “shunning” investment trusts and withdrawing money from the sector because of “overzealous regulation” that the government needed to change.
Industry figures show that investment trust fundraising has collapsed from more than £70bn between 2014 and 2021 to less than £7bn in the past three years.
Baron said he “always declared” his interests when raising this issue, which he said had “never been for personal gain”. His questions on the Treasury committee were in the interests of “the sector and investors alike, in the public interest”, he added...
*startled*
Doctrinally, I understand very much not.
Jesus gave up his weekend for our sins, not much of a sacrifice if you ask me.
What has happened on Yousaf's watch is a collapse in funding and donations which leaves the SNP pretty much insolvent (the central party is but continues to operate because the branches are not claiming the money that they are due). In recent elections, under Nicola, the SNP spent heavily on elections with bill boards and liveried mini buses getting out both the activists and the voters. They will not be doing that this time.
In the last published accounts short money received by the SNP MPs amounted to roughly 10% of the parties' income. If they lose those MPs many of the fairly extravagant offices they have around Scotland will close making campaigning more difficult.
The SNP government shares many of the same traits as the Tories at Westminster. They are tired, they are very short of ideas, they have no plans to address a multitude of problems such as the performance of the Health Service, Education, Social Services, the Police and Justice system, infrastructure, housing and, in Scotland's case, ferries. They are being dragged down by both the incompetence and dishonesty of those who have now reached the top. They obsess about relatively trivial things whilst the too hard pile grows ever higher. It is well past time for a change but Yousaf is safe until 2026.
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Wonder what became of him?
Trouble is that living like that is blooming difficult. The difference between those who act holier than thou and those who actually are is partly how scrupulous they are about applying that principle to themselves.
I agree with him however that it's about abuse of power. The point however is that having people going around claiming there's an all-powerful being on their side, particularly if they are given positions of social and cultural power rather than being more sensibly shunned as deluded nutters, tends toward such abuse.
It was the shedding of blood on the cross that was the sacrifice - so that sinful man could enter the Kingdom of Heaven through faith in him and his sacrifice.
The Vicar offers sherry or whisky. The Bishop accepts a whisky.
The vicar then turns to the Archdeacon, who snaps, 'Alcohol! Why, I'd rather commit adultery.'
The Bishop hands back his glass. 'I didn't know that was the third option,' he says.
A Briton, a Frenchman and a Russian are viewing a painting of Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden.
"Look at their reserve, their calm," muses the Brit. "They must be British."
"Nonsense," the Frenchman disagrees. "They're naked, and so beautiful. Clearly, they are French."
"No clothes, no shelter," the Russian points out, "they have only an apple to eat, and they're being told this is paradise. They are Russian."
If you want Dave Allen and priests, here's a good one.
https://youtu.be/S5w8D5JamAo?si=oFKV-Hu3uijQlz9o
They are one of several aspects which make Holyrood look cheap and tacky. And given that it was horribly expensive, that is quite an achievement
The most catastrophic modern building in the UK? I’d say probably yes. London has many utter horrors - the Walkie Talkie, Hayward Gallery, 22 Bishopsgate, that hotel by Tower Bridge - but London also has modern jewels - the Gherkin, the Lloyd’s Building, the Shard - and besides it is so huge and diverse it doesn’t matter. It absorbs the blows and moves on
Edinburgh is much smaller and more delicate, a precious vase next to a grand old house like London. And the vase has been cracked several times recently - Holyrood, the Jobbie building, the Scotland museum. Pull them all down
But the main problem is that the framework is nebulous, as there are things that I haven't needed to give too much thought to. But in general I'm a fairly cautious person, and when asking: "Should I do this?" it is easy to slip in a little morality meter onto the question. But that has disadvantages too... It is all very messy, as many questions of morality and sin are.
In addition, my 'framework' has lots of edge and corner cases that do not get much consideration as I don't encounter them.
I make mistakes. Sometimes I 'sin' - in that I do something that is against my own moral framework. When I do, I try to either ask myself if it really was a 'sin' - if my framework requires fettling - or try to improve my behaviour and/or make amends. And I daresay sometimes I 'sin' without even realising I've 'sinned'.
And as @Leon might say: "One man's sin is another man's joy."
Chapeau to @BartholomewRoberts who might be into something. If they extend it to some of the big housing developers, supermarkets etc...
A bit like legislating for gay marriage, attacks on the private sector work better if they come from the right rather than the left.
Loving the UK-media-panic about Sausage Dogs being banned in Germany.
ISTM the only place sausage dogs should be banned is in sausages.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68689823
Because it means I find myself in agreement with Jacob Rees-Mogg.
And I bet there's no real ale. Probably just Madri lager. At £6 a pint.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/mar/29/telegraph-newspaper-redbird-imi-conservatives-britain
Has the Reform rise plateaued?
Take an aged relative of mine. She married fairly young, had kids, and then her husband died whilst their kids were young. She eventually remarried, and has been with her second husband for four or five decades.
So the first husband will (presumably!) be up there waiting for her. Which would be blooming boring. But when she turns up, there'll be a second husband coming along soon (if he doesn't die first - that would be awkward (*)). People are what would make Heaven for me - having some of the people I love around me (hopefully!). But what if they want to spend eternity with another love, or other friends?
I cannot see a way around this without theological hand-waving, or changing our characters in Heaven so we won't be 'us' any more, or having Heaven as a boring non-place.
Perhaps 'The Good Place' had the right idea...
(*) "Hi, I'm Matthew." "Hi, I'm Neil. I'm waiting for Joyce. I want to spend eternity with her." "Oh, so am I." "I'm not really into threesomes." "No, neither am I" Cue an eternity of awkwardness...
Crossover?
What is all the stupid white crap on the top? Again it looks cheap and tacky. At least here you can see what the architect was TRYING to achieve, a certain dour military quality, hints of Scottish castles and Hadrian’s wall, of border abbeys and Kirkwall cathedral
It is still a failure tho, and Edinburgh can only take so many failures before the whole thing is irrevocably damaged
The cloud angel, country club view of heaven was invented by priests to control the actions of King and Cotter down here.
That's if you believe in continuing existence. Which I personally do.
That's a type of architecture I like to call 'blockhouse chic'...
And deep inside, the Chessmen...
We can do beautiful modern civic buildings; an example is the Senedd in Cardiff. Went over budget but still only cost £60m compared to Holyrood’s insane £400m. The Senedd has a light, serene quality
https://twitter.com/Jacob_Rees_Mogg/status/1772601259658191300?t=4JWBNPaxnk0gbmtzo3qRYQ&s=19
Through the looking glass indeed.
The problem is the second 'you'. I am me; my essence is my life. But what comes after is better and purer - if you go to Heaven, that is. If I don't have that essence, then I'm not me. I'm something else.
Funny how Nationalists' wish for Independence never extends to refusing English cash.
I just can't get my head around it.
I know personal incredulity is a fallacy, but it's where I'm at.
Not looking good for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Red hit in a span of the last 7 days and damaged, in many cases badly.
Blue won't be hit due to them being nuclear power plants.
Black Zaporozhye nuclear one is controlled by Russia.
Right corner are Donetsk and Lugansk regions also controlled by Russia.
https://x.com/talkrealopinion/status/1773477349415170098?s=20
It's another case where religious bigots are causing immense suffering.
Created out of what? And kicked off by what? Or by whom?
The answer, essentially, was "Who lit the Big Bang's fuse?'
There is always room for faith and belief in the unknown.
(*) Perhaps Wolfe's 'The Right Stuff', but probably misremembering.
Ukraine now lacking air defense, Russians were able to target power plants all over the country last night, leaving millions without electricity and water.
Russians are making Ukraine uninhabitable with the complicity of a US Congress captured by Russian interests.
Thanks to one man
@SpeakerJohnson
5:01 AM · Mar 29, 2024
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57.1K
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https://x.com/JayinKyiv/status/1773576069775278412?s=20
But science is very faith based too. 'Dark matter' 'strong nuclear force' 'unifying theory' etc
Edit - Darwinian Evolution is definitely bollocks!
(Extra geek points if you get the connection...)
eg “dark matter”. That was some dubious shit science invented to explain away the fact their sums didn’t add up. Now they’ve simply chucked it in the bin
https://www.earth.com/news/dark-matter-does-not-exist-universe-27-billion-years-old-study/
The more we learn and explore the more we realise how little we know. Maybe there is a multiverse. Maybe it’s all a simulation. Maybe the physicists haven’t got a clue
Percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in private residential households in England and Scotland, including regional, age and sex breakdowns and corresponding confidence intervals.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/winter-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-study-england-and-scotland-28-march-2024
(*) Does God have fingerprints?
There are dozens of monasteries making beer. Some examples:
https://monasticorder.co.uk/
Including the oldest continuously operating brewery in Europe. Since at least 1040:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weihenstephan_Abbey
(I'm not accepting technical quibbles about the details of "real ale". If it's been going for that long I suggest it is definitive in itself.)
Its inhumane that we treat terminally ill pets, who can't disclose their choices, with more humanity than we do terminally ill humans.
Are you getting paid to work a day early because of the Bank Holiday here?
Even without Captain Jack.
Only 5x the original "quoted" budget, too.
Though I suspect the original number was pulled out of someone's backside to make sure it went ahead.
However I can't get into it now because I'm off to spend some good Friday time with Papa Woolie, be back later today! Have a nice day off all.