Holyrood election – seats to watch – politicalbetting.com
Holyrood election – seats to watch – politicalbetting.com
With less than a week until polls open for the elections on 7th May, now is a good time to take a more detailed look at some of the seats to look out for during the Election Day count in Scotland.
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Which is why it is very dangerous to make interoperate statements and ones that are political untruths.
Years back, Shell was going to decommission a floating storage tank in the North Sea - the Brent Spar. It had been clean out and was going to be sunk. Greenpeace was very opposed to this. So they mounted a campaign that went over the top - even claiming that the Brent Spar was radioactive.
A guy with a few screws loose took this as the spur to plant a bomb near a Shell petrol station in Germany. Fortunately no one was hurt.
When asked, Greenpeace were very defensive about the rhetoric they'd used. It was curious to see how they couldn't understand that their intemperate language could be (mis)interpreted as a call to... action. "But the cause is right, so we were justified in..."
Words can kill.
"Seven Days in May", to discuss the plotting against the PM.
Let kids run riot with it until they are 16. Then they will understand why it should be taken away from all adults.
The PM’s plan for 8 May
There is no coming back. He simply has to go.
Interesting analysis. I am being very circumspect with bets on this election - with massive apparent support for the challenger parties, the polling is much more risky than normal.
Not Theresa. No. That would be just wrong...
DONALD Trump’s White House staff referred to Theresa May as a veteran porn star after spelling her name wrong THREE TIMES in official documents.
The dropping of that all important ‘h’ meant glamour model ‘Teresa May’ was due to take part in a ‘bilateral meeting’ instead.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2722238/who-is-teresa-may-porn-actress-who-starred-in-the-prodigys-smack-my-b-up-video-all-you-need-to-know/
Oh no. It is going to be a punch in the face.
Then a knee in the bollocks.
And then in many places, a trip to Madame Guillotine.
"So, lads, after the beheading, my fightback begins! Lads? LADS???"
The former Conservative prime minister accused today's focus-group obsessed politicians of thinking their job was to "provide fodder for the media and project your own career" while delaying action on complex issues like healthcare, pensions and climate change.'
He also regrets the growth in the professional political clash 'ir John also criticised the growing number of professional politicians in all parties.
He said Labour MPs used to be "people without money, without privilege, working class people who really knew their constituents" but now "they're much younger, much better educated, and in my judgement, much less close to their constituents than their predecessors were".
"And you can see on the Conservative side, where are the businessmen? Where are the soldiers?
"Where are the people who would have been a staple part of the party in the 1950s, 60s and 70s? They're very sparse now on the Conservative benches."
Sir John, the last prime minister not to go to university, was inspired to enter politics after a chance meeting at the age of 13 with his local MP, Marcus Lipton, who arranged a visit to the Commons.
He hopes others will still be willing to follow.
"Well, I would say to young people, we need you in politics. If all the talent in this country concentrates on how can I earn more money, how can I avoid public service like the plague because I don't like the idea of it, then we are in deep doodah."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgepy0xw1nzo
https://www.catholicregister.org/item/3851-suspect-arrested-for-assault-against-french-nun-in-jerusalem
The one I am watching for? Meaty goodness. Several analysts warning that there will be culls of herds due to lack of feed which will create an initial cratering of prices as meat is dumped wholesale, followed by skyrocketing prices due to lack of product.
Fun fun fun.
Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
🚨 LMFAO! SEN. JOHN KENNEDY just DROPPED this hilarious line:
"My Democratic colleagues really like Keir Starmer...who is just to the left of Lenin. He's very unpopular with the people of the UK. He's polling right up there with gonorrhea!"
"I don't know how much longer he can last, but this guy, he would give Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez a run for her money in terms of his loony woke ideas!" 😭
https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2049961728314589207?s=20
Which raises the should be obvious question. Either they can reduce bills, so why hasn't the party in power done so already? Or they can't reduce bills, so why are they making false promises? The SNP are trying to pull the trick of being the natural party of government and insurgents at the same time. I would think that trick is wearing thin by now, but presumably they have done the focus groups.
In terms of results, most of the parties in Scotland have problems of different kinds so I expect the SNP to stay about the same by default. Wildcard is how well Reform does.
Bills go down: the brave Sots
Mind you, he's a cricket fan, so I was always more willing to give him the time of day.
Please invest in me.
If there isn't significant rain soon, this year's harvest will be well down again.
Trump sons take stake in Kazakh miner that won $1.6bn US contract
https://x.com/FT/status/2049939056256012735
Kirsty Blackman looked pretty down-in-the-mouth during it - not surprising given the anger of the audience. Michael Marra for Labour did a much better job even though he didn't have much to shout about either. Think he must be a strong contender to take over from Anas.
Still, given the moveable feast that is your poltical allegiance, I can't say I would be surprised to see you touting for the evil Natz down the line (though I wouldn't be terribly reassured by that support).
Christianophobia is a word I've not seen before. What happened to live and let live?
Reform's Scottish leader says he owns six houses, six boats and five cars
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0pl271kzyo
After record rains in recent months & storage efforts in late-2025, #Syria's Grain Authority has assessed that the country won't require *any* wheat imports in 2026.
That'd be the first time in many, many years.
https://x.com/Charles_Lister/status/2049911878739013809
#Syria jumped 36 places on the Press Freedom Index in the past year — the single biggest climb on record.
It now stands higher than most of its regional neighbors — #Saudi, #Bahrain, #Egypt, #Yemen, #Turkey, #Iraq, #Sudan, #UAE, #Palestine, #Algeria & #Jordan.
https://x.com/Charles_Lister/status/2049806487178916245
Thanks for the article. I presume that essentially all of the constituencies not mentioned are uninteresting because they're assumed to be safe SNP holds?
Commitment to public service, big tick.
Cricket, big tick.
Absolutely wedded to the declinist mantra of the early 90s, big cross.
Bizaarely pro-EU, big cross.
And his constant sniping from the sidelines during the Brexit tumult was particularly offputting.
Beginning to think; if Starmer's only supporter is Major, he's an absolute goner after the locals.
https://x.com/Malcolm_Offord/status/2049765029650522373?s=20
Note that Major has a significant dissonance; he is both calling for young people to enter politics and for the back benches to be full of people with previous (presumably successful) occupations - 'working class' Labour - white van man and industrial workers - and Tory soldiers and businesspeople.
Three reasons to avoid parliamentary politics:
1) MPs are disregarded by their own leadership and have almost no interesting powers.
2) Political discourse is mostly a tiring and tiresome dishonest exercise in dead words.
3) Social media and the aggressive minority of loonies and single issue fanatics, with the occasional murderer set loose on you.
Finally, its insecurity may have been fun once upon a time, but the sort of stability you need now to occupy and retain even a modest place on the housing ladder makes politics a tough ask for the young and not rich.
if you are idealistic what is the point of sitting for years on the back benches watching government kick everything into the future?
Where have these people been?
"This seat was previously held by Nicola Sturgeon, whom some of you may be able to recall."
I LOL'd
Ex-PM proposes overhaul to save £66bn by 2070, but critics warn it is ‘complex and highly intrusive’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensions/state-pensions/tony-blair-abolish-state-pension/ (£££)
Anyway, I don't agree with the screwy idea that a northern European country has 3 equal length seasons. As far as I am concerned it starts in February when the days are getting obviously longer and plants start budding/flowering, and summer starts on 1 May.
Back when Major was coming up in politics, young people got involved in politics as activists. The expectation was that they would build a part time, volunteer "career" in politics. Until (generally) they achieved a level of success and stature in their real world jobs/occupations that made getting elected a practical possibility.
The fact to acknowledge is that most people must, will or should stop working at some point. The upper limit from the state provision point of view can't possibly be much over about 69/70 (which is a bit high anyway). They are going to be paid somehow to be retired. I am one of them.
A simple and comprehensive start to this is a non means tested state pension, more or less universal. This needs to be enough so that those with little else don't starve. If cut to starvation levels, it just increases the means tested benefits bill The billions that need to be saved from the current bill should be through properly taxing pensioners, on the same basis as workers, abolishing the triple lock, and being realistic about the contribution future pensioners need to make through tax and NI.
I wish one could add 'return to proper defined benefit work pensions' but I fear that ship has sailed.
An Indian friend, who I worked with for some years, told me that his church in India was burned moderately frequently. When the RSS types get all anti-muslim and head out to start a riot, they used to set fire to it, on the way.
So his fellow worshippers rebuilt the church with a substantial set of walls, and a thin straw thatch roof on a metal frame. So now, the roof burns. Which makes the RSS lads happy. But it burns very quickly and doesn't do much damage to the building.
I'm amused by the idea that the Tories could effect a self-decapitation by performing well in Eastwood. It's a circumstance that would almost tempt a tactical vote if you lived there.
In the same way, I've never tried to disguise my identity here, and I can't remember anyone being rude (except for one poster who is rude to everyone). One or two people are scornful, but that's normal democracy.
Ultimately the test is whether you think that being part of a smallish group affecting things is worthwhile, even if you don't star yourself. Given the interest in everyone here in taking part in elections at all, where the probability of making a difference is small, I assume most of us would agree it's worthwhile. Would we suffer seriously under an autocracy if we kept our heads down? Probably not, but it'd be a rubbish way to help run society around us.
So I do think it's worth getting involved, and encourage everyone to do so. A life spent entirely indifferent to ytour surroundings is missing something important.
We are now in a world where it could be Reform on current polls who are the only party who can parachute in the high flyers to safe seats, alongside maybe the SNP in Scotland
People can do stuff at desks until they drop - an architect I know has retired about 3 times and now does volunteer architecture for charity, way into his 80s.
Not sure I can see too many people working laying railway track at 70+ years old,
manytwo tunes – Pictures of Matchstick Men, and all the rest.Exclusive: Reform UK leader convinced party will win Havering - and could seize Bexley, Bromley, and Barking and Dagenham
...
“My first press call on the morning of May 8 is going to be outside Havering Town Hall at about 7.30 in the morning.
“I look forward to seeing you there.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage-local-elections-london-reform-win-havering-councils-b1280565.html
No red flags, those people are never completely dismissive of rules and the law in order to make a quick buck.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/gavin-newsoms-fox-news-defamation-lawsuit-moves-forward
Fucker Carlson is a case in point.
That pond clearly needs a bus in it ""!!