Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Ed Miliband doesn't even seem to want your vote
A second "quick note" of the day (I'm really going to have to dream up a different phrase), this time to let you know that I have a new article at the International Business Times, about the way in which Labour are treating the Scottish voters they need to win back with contempt. You can read it HERE.
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James,have you any views on the article from Craig Paterson in Commonspace.scot regarding the recent polls.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do, I think it's highly misleading. I've explained why in the previous post.
DeleteI think Ed is acutely aware that he will probably need the cooperation of the SNP. JM's recent humiliation(s) may signal the start of a new realism. Are Scottish Labour about to be cut adrift, in order to pave the way for an "arrangement" with the SNP?
ReplyDeleteCould it be Scotland is about to be cut adrift ?
DeleteJohn.
Excellent article. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteApropos of nothing.
ReplyDeleteJust doing a standard UK yougov.
Asked VI for Westminster, then how 'proud I was' of non existent stuff such as a British NHS, British legal system etc, before moving on to my opinions on Sky TV, boots products and stuff.
At the end, when 'checking a few details for their records', it asked me the country I was in. UK tops the immediate select list, but then if you scroll down...
Scotland!
Not sure how new that is.
I'll not moan about the non-existent 'British Law' etc as result.
The Tories are so absolutley sneeky and corrupt. Just worked out what their new "Right To buy" really means.
ReplyDeleteThey state that Housing associations will be forced to sell at a significant discount if requested by tenant. After Thatcher allowing council HOUSES to be lost to the private sector, now its the remaining Association HOUSES that they are trying to privatise.
But that is NOT the sneaky part. The Associations will be subsidised for their capital loss from the FORCED sale of "high value" council houses (aka: newly built or rarely remaining FAMILY HOMES - expect 3 bedrooms+, gardens etc.) when the existing tenants leave. The remaining portion of the sale is meant to provide the local authority with a means to build "Low cost" homes (i.e - flats) - probably no gardens). So in other words moving ALL TRADITIONAL FAMILY HOUSES into the private sector. After all how dare the poor, the vulnerable and everyone who cant afford to buy even consider living in a house with a garden and its own front and back door. The Tory message "Lets PRIVATISE ALL REMAINING COUNCIL HOUSES". I just hope people in England looking for a council house and considering voting Tory are aware of what they are really proposing to do!
I always enjoy your articles James, but that one is particularly fine.
ReplyDeleteThis is well off topic, but I'll tell y'all anyway. Apparently David Mundell is going round the doors with a camera interviewing voters and taking pictures of them. (I think he has a cameraman to do the actual picture-taking.) He spoke to one lady in such an interview, and in the course of conversation she said something about him that wasn't entirely negative or condemnatory. She has now found herself featured in his latest "In Touch" propaganda sheet, complete with effusive quote praising his performance as an MP.
ReplyDeleteThe lady is said to be spitting carpet tacks. She's an SNP member.
I don't know how this stacks up legally to be honest. Can he actually do that without the permission of the people involved?
I suspect it is legal, in England anyway, as members of the paparazzi habitually doorstep celebrities.
DeleteHer best recourse is to write to the local paper describing her disappointment at being used this way by Mundell and detailing the reasons she *won't* be voting for him despite appearing on his election literature without her knowledge.
I think you need to sign a release form to give them the legal right to transmit your image and spoken word. I know when my daughter was married the reception was filmed by CH4 and everybody had to sign a release. Maybe something about performance rights which could be different to Vox Pop. But to film the lady without asking permission is low.
DeleteI think it's the twisting of what the woman had said that could be the issue, but just try taking a Westminster MP to court anywhere in the UK!
ReplyDeleteI can't see how anyone can be filmed without their permission, I mean if your talking to Mundel on camera and giving a statement, it wouldn't be a 'from behind a hedge' shot, so she must have known she was being filmed ( implied agreement by behaviour)
Her problem is one of who holds the 'editing rights' and this is often the problem when people are filmed. (we see this with some terrible BBC News editing)
I think the advice, to write to her local Newspapers is good.
She could also contact the SNP campaigning teams, who can warn people that Mundel and his team are doing this, (makes them look very dishonest & deceitful)
She might also write to Ruth Davidson, who is very keen to engage with Scotland as the new trustworthy face of Conservatism (stop laughing)
She can also write to Wullie Rennie if she wants, but that would probably be a waste of time...he's the LibDem leader in case you've never heard of the wee Keech.
Well, obviously she contacted the local SNP campaigning team, that's how I knew about it! It was brought up at a meeting last night.
DeleteWriting to the Peeblesshire News is a very good idea though. I hope she's doing that.
See the Lib Dems have leaked one of their internal polls, for East Dunbartonshire, to a local newspaper.
ReplyDelete"The results were: Lib Dem 34.5%, SNP 32.1%, Lab 16.2%, Con 13.1%, Green 2%, Ukip 0.7%. A total of 413 people took part in the telephone poll with seven questions, carried out on April 9."
I think the SNP will be quite happy with this, because the methodology used by the Lib Dems is usually pretty biased towards them.
http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/libdem-poll-predicts-neck-and-neck-race-1-3744775
James -No way on heavens earth are the Libs polling 34% locally. Nationally they are polling about 5%. Nutcases!
ReplyDeleteThe Lib Dems are going to fight hard in the seats they are defending, but that poll isn't particularly good for them. Their surveys ramp up the candidate (do you think s/he is a good MP? sort of thing) before asking how people are going to vote.
Deletee.g. Ashcroft found that they were in third place in Aberdeenshire on 20%, way behind the SNP (39%) and the Tories (25%). Yet the Lib Dem poll magically put the Lib Dems in first place (30%), ahead of both the SNP (25%) and the Tories (27%).
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2015/03/aberdeenshire-west-kincardine/
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/aberdeen/517422/polling-suggests-lib-dems-can-retain-north-east-seat/
Lib Dems can be surprisingly resilient in the seats they hold. Their national vote share (Both Scotland and UK-wide) is obviously going to plummet, but it won't be as pronounced in their current seats. Just because they won't have much of the popular vote doesn't mean they can't hold onto seats. Bear in mind that in 2010 the SNP won more votes in Scotland than the Lib Dems, but ended up with nearly half as many seats.
DeleteTrue Stoat - How unfair FPTP is when you come second and the 4th place get double your MP'S. This time it will work to our advantage.
ReplyDeleteLib Dems weren't fourth place in the popular vote in Scotland, they were third. Tories were fourth. It was a pretty narrow gap in the popular vote between the SNP and Lib Dems at exactly 1%. But yeah, the point still stands.
Delete