Just a quick note to let you know that I have an article at The National about whether Rachel Reeves' first Budget today will help to arrest Labour's tumble in popularity. You can read it HERE.
Just a quick note to let you know that I have an article at The National about whether Rachel Reeves' first Budget today will help to arrest Labour's tumble in popularity. You can read it HERE.
It's a pity she was not able to reduce the tax burden. Many Scottish people that i talk to feel over taxed.
ReplyDeleteAye, Scotland has the highest income tax rates in the UK!
DeleteCourtesy of the SNP SG!!
Poor little Tories.
DeleteIfS mentioned the Barnett consequentials increasing Scotland's block grant. (Woo, more pocket money, thanks dad!) By enough to reverse the Winter Fuel Allowance howler and gain a lot of Scots relief?
ReplyDeleteHere's the link:
Deletehttps://scotgoespop.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-find-out-now-poll-showed-yes.html?showComment=1730303291982#c3054350202600369268
It's an open goal for Scotgov to do the right thing, which is also the popular thing. If they can afford it, it's absolutely what Salmond would have done, like reversing prescription charges.
Are pensioners the right group to spend on? With their triple lock?
DeleteI seem to recall the WFP being in the order of a few hundred million pounds, plus the £500 million in other cuts that were announced of late. Either way, the sum of the two comes to less than the extra £3.6 Bn.
DeleteAnon 8.02 I'll think about that, after I consider how much heating I can afford.
DeleteMoney is money - the triple-locked pension can be used for heating.
DeleteThe spending should go to other things not pensioners.
DeleteMoney into the NHS to get them heal etc pensioners suffering from hypothermia.
DeleteAgeists and Tories on this thread.
DeleteLast December over 900 people over 50 years of age were hospitalised with hypothermia. Just in one month in Scotland. Ignorant Britnat comments at 8.30pm 8.23pm 8.02pm - probably all by KC. Not surprising the guy disnae care who dies - burning alive Palestinian children or freezing pensioners to death all the same for him as long as he has his precious union.
DeleteYet another ridiculous post by IFS@9:08.
DeleteOh, and the posts you refer to weren’t KC, so wrong once again!
Aye fine KC at 9.27pm - ok maybe you are a different Britnat - happy now.
DeleteNo
ReplyDeleteOk Nicola we know you voted no. No need to rub it in.
DeleteJust watched the BBCs ( the home for paedophiles ), hopefully, final instalment of the three part hit job on Salmond.
ReplyDeleteThe only decent thing about it was that there was nothing directly from the selfie Queen or her charged with embezzlement husband. Not that the BBC mentioned this. Yousaf was also thankfully missing this time.
Offsetting that was the appearance of a load of Britnats. The worse being Libby Brooks, Kenny Farquarson, Blackford. Lord hee haw McConnell, FM of cover ups John REDACTOR MAN Swinney and a clip of Sturgeon the Great Betrayer playing the victim at the Parliament Inquiry known as the Fabiani farce. The BBC, the Britnat media and the named above all hounded Salmond to an early death. I am sure they are proud of themselves. Many others contributed to this conniving ( as McAskill described it ) and other cowards remained silent.
Mc Askill also said that those who inflicted it should be held to account.
Others like Brooks/Farquarson ignored that the alphabetties were proven liars and seemed to think they were victims - wee innocent lassies. Aye right, there was probably at least one MI5 agent among them. The BBC and Brooks/Farquarson also forgot to mention that one of the betties is currently being investigated for perjury and a senior Scotgov official is also being investigated by the polis for perjury.
Most disappointing was Elaine C Smith sticking the boot in at the end.
In Sturgeon's Britnat Scotland you win two court cases but you are still guilty.
Libby Brooks? Probably the worse one there. She’s the most ignorant.
DeleteYes it was disappointing to see them allowed to put the boot in at the end - it seems their hatred of AS knows no limits.
DeleteLike IFS for NS and SNP?
DeleteA serious question. Is Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh's husband Zulfikar a card-carrying member of the Alba Party? If he's a member, he's surely in breach of the party code of conduct, which requires members to treat both fellow members and non-members with respect. He posted this shameful tweet today about John Swinney, simply because Swinney had offered his condolences about Alex Salmond's death:
ReplyDelete"This man has no shame no compassion for the man that he talks about, without Alex, swinney & his wee gang would be nobody’s. We haven’t forgotten what you & your pals try to do to him, just will be done very very soon. It will take centuries to have another GREAT MAN like Alex"
Note the "wee gang" reference yet again.
It's a joke that someone like James who is generally known for his courtesy is suspended by Alba while Sheikh can constantly post this highly offensive material with impunity, because of who he is or who his wife is.
Maybe Mr Ahmed-Sheikh is Independence for Scotland ?
DeleteAy some prick like you anon at 9.03pm also said previously I was Donald Trump. .
DeleteAnon at 8.59pm - I disagree with that tweet. It is not a WEE gang it's a bloody great big gang. Sturgeon Swinney et al working with the Britnat media and British state. The greatest betrayers of Scotland since that last Parliament of betrayers.
DeleteWell, I don't do social media, but if that's the tweet then I think you'll find it has more to do with Swinney's recent statement on the FOI revelations - that is that he will not act on it. He's fine with the duplicity and his actions on redaction to mislead the public. Don't forget the public is you and I no matter what side we come from. There's more than just Sturgeonites and Salmondites - there's everyone else and our government purposefully misled us - it's not healthy in a so called democracy. And it was Swinney's hand that redacted and his government that was duplicitous - so that's maybe why.
DeleteNo, you're quite wrong, Sheikh was quote-tweeting Swinney's condolences for Salmond's death. Nothing to do with FOI. A really horrible juxtaposition, and you won't be getting him off the hook for it.
DeleteAnon 10.14pm - was Swinney invited to the funeral yesterday - no. There was a reason for that - he and the rest of Sturgeon's gang tried to send him to prison. They failed but they continued to hound him to an early death. Despicable Britnats that's what they are and Swinney the First Minister for cover ups deserves to be called out.
DeleteLook, rant all you want, but my point is that Skeikh's tweet is in breach of the Alba code of conduct. That point stands, and your bluster makes no difference to it.
DeleteAssuming he's a member wouldn't the usual practice be for a formal complaint to be made and then an investigation to determine whether or not it's in breach of the code and if so what action to be taken?
DeleteYou seem to want a few steps to be skipped over.
Skeikh's tweet is not in breach of the Alba code of conduct. He's making an important point.
DeleteAnon at 10.33pm - I’m not a member of Alba so I ain't that bothered about your point. But I do want independence and I do want to see people held responsible for their wrongdoing. Are you a " card-carrying member of the Alba party"?
Delete"You seem to want a few steps to be skipped over."
DeleteThat's the norm, let's be honest.
"Skeikh's tweet is not in breach of the Alba code of conduct."
Don't be ridiculous, of course it is. My guess is you haven't even read the code of conduct.
You have to laugh at people like anon at 10.33pm. He is all exercised sbout a tweet but an attempt to send an innocent man to prison on false charges is not even worthy of a breaching an SNP code of conduct mention. Not surprised mind you, this is the party that sent Sturgeon flowers for being arrested by the polis. Are they going to chip in and buy her a holiday home if she is convicted of a crime.
DeleteAnd I suppose you're fine with what's happening to James, are you. You "have to laugh about that" too, do you?
DeleteNope but happy to laugh at you anon at 11.47pm and your pathetic attempt at deflection.
DeleteThe above exchange started with me pointing out that Sheikh has broken Alba's code of conduct. The only person who has deflected from that original topic, at enormous and tedious length, is yourself.
DeleteIsn't this whole conversation meaningless when we don't even know if he's an Alba member?
DeleteDoes it seem particularly likely to you that the husband of Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh and the producer of 'Scotland Speaks With Alex Salmond' is not an Alba member? Come on now.
DeleteHe is an Alba member.
DeleteSalmond fostered it and now you have IFS
ReplyDeleteNow we have Dr Jim at 9.14pm back on the Salmond trolling again. I thought you had moved on to Cherry Jimbo. I bet you want to grab Cherry by the neck Jimbo.
Deletehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/why-thousands-are-fleeing-to-scotland-you-should-too/#:~:text=Scottish%20people%20benefit%20from%20lower,2%2C229%20more%20than%20in%20England.
ReplyDeleteSo the tax thing isn't that much of a disincentive. However, there's a lot of movement up here, where I live in Sutherland it's like living in England. All my friends and neighbours are English - none are YES voters, all are retired.
ReplyDeleteMost moved here for abetter life and love it. But they don't want the UK broken up - mostly for sentimental reasons. Devolution' suits them - and like the elderly, they worry about their pensions if the UK broke up. We have a lot of work to do and we've got to do it quickly
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Pensions are one of the very important issues that have never been addressed in a positive way by the independence movement.
DeleteCurrency and border with England being another two, of course.
Absolutely
DeleteSo obviously if you want to promote independence amongst pensioners you pay the Winter Fuel Payment in Scotland. £150 million. Additional Barnett consequentials on its way from the budget numbered in billions. So will the Scotgov do it? If not why not!
DeleteOld people don't need it as much as young.
DeleteIt's not means tested so poorly targeted.
DeleteKC speaks again at 10.08pm and 10.08pm. Means testing is poorly targeted. Old people feel the cold more than young people.
DeleteOK boomer.
DeleteIFS@10:31pm once again wrongly accusing KC. Not having a good night are you!
DeleteOk you are a different Britnat troll at 11.08pm. Happy now.
DeleteIf the SNP/Scottish Government did not believe in the Winter Fuel Payment then why did they accept it being devolved to Holyrood?
DeleteNo and no
ReplyDeleteNone of this will be in the minds of voters by 2026
The SNP’s Fiona Hyslop says Labour’s Budget is a “step in the right direction”, but wants to see more certainty for future public sector investment.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how SNP spend it. On universal payments to pensioners?
DeleteAlba’s desire for independence comes third
ReplyDelete1: Hatred of Nicola Sturgeon
2: Hatred of the SNP.
Proof?
DeleteAnon at 11.09pm - I'll let Alba members speak for their own party but in the SNP Independence disnae even come in third. In fact not sure if it is on a priority list at all. Not an acceptable situation for the only vehicle for independence.
DeleteAs in SGP's article in the National, Reeves gives more money for the Holocaust education but fails to condemn Gaza.
ReplyDeletePerhaps some of that extra holocaust funding could be spent on reeducating Labour MPs, starting with their stupid leader.
I think Starmer has been reeducated by his wife and all the freebies he gets.
DeleteThere's a lot of propaganda going about just now about the young needing 'it' more than the elderly. This is absolute nonsence you are repeating crap put into your mouth by politicos and some in the media. Have a think, how does that work? Physiologically it is nonsense. health wise it is nonsense. The pension is £153 a week for the poorest who top up with pension credit, and £220 for the new pension. The minimum wage is £434 per week. Try and think before you repeat the rubbish out there.
ReplyDeleteYoung people have more costs.
DeleteAnon at 10:14 PM I can't believe you are equating some guy breaking the rules of a party with a minister misleading the country! You say yourself you don't know if Zulfikar is a member of ALBA neither do I. Man, you need to loosen up a bit.
ReplyDeleteDo you or do you not think the disciplinary action against the owner of this blog should be dropped? If you do, then maaaaan, it's Chris McEleny that needs to loosen up, not me. If you don't, you would appear to be a raging hyoocrite. It's one or the other.
DeleteDifferent Anon here: why is WT repeatedly pushing the bogus line that the other Anon is drawing a comparison between Zulfikar Sheikh and John Swinney "misleading the country"? Anon didn't even mention the latter, let alone draw that comparison.
DeleteA cynical but transparent debating tactic, WT. Pack it in.