Wednesday, May 6, 2015
What Nats Want
Not the title of an underwhelming romantic comedy starring Mel Gibson, but rather a quick note to let you know that I have a new article at the International Business Times, on the subject of the concessions the SNP are likely to be looking for if they get involved in post-election negotiations from Friday onwards. You can read it HERE. (It's also on Yahoo HERE.)
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I will settle for a lithe 18 year old red head who doesn't want me to put up any shelves for her afterwards :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck to everybody tomorrow!
Whoever designed the IBT website should hang his head in shame. It's rubbish, but then I suppose most of the newspapers' are.
ReplyDeleteWhoever writes the photo captions is particularly bad.
DeleteDespite the highbrow title, International Business Times not actually a newspaper. It only exists online. It's a content farm, producing as much clickbait churanlism as possible for as cheaply as possible. Though that's not to say that everything on there is crap. James' articles are always worth a read.
Delete"Online only" is not the same thing as "not a newspaper". Think of the Caledonian Mercury (actually, that's not the best example, but you know what I mean). I've written for genuine content farms, and I can assure you there's a big difference between those and the IBTimes!
DeleteFair enough. Actually, looking at IBT now, I can see that their content has improved markedly over the past few years.
DeleteProbably the most incisive piece I've read during the whole campaign.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a win-win situation, but it doesn't mean it doesn't have to be handled very carefully. But the solution is easy - same as I said for the Referendum. It's the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth.
ReplyDeleteWhat the f*** is this stupid picture "prove you're not a robot" nonsense about? I've never eaten sushi, how the f*** would I know?
Finally - someone else with my problem. I thought I was the only person in the world whose lack of knowledge of sushi was preventing him from leaving comments on blogs.
DeleteYes, I've nothing against fish, byt my wife not only doesn't like it, she doesn;t like to take any chance whatever she eats has been cooked anywhere near too much fish.
DeleteI guess people are too polite and appeciative of good blog writers, but I guess I know from a previous comment, the captcha isn't controlled by them (you), it's forced. Anyway, I had to peer at the screen even to get the steak question right, and there are some inventive chefs who would happily make a birthday cake out of steak!
It used to be possible to switch the captchas off, but not anymore.
DeleteI never have to answer any questions in order to post here - it just gets me to tick a box to confirm I'm not a robot. I must have a trustworthy face.
DeleteI love reading your contributions to the IBTimes James, they're always excellent. Are you considering doing a final Poll of Polls for the election?
ReplyDeleteErm......is it just me, or is this the most blatant piece of anti-Nat expectation management in British political history?
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/04/new-poll-suggests-snp-will-win-all-59-seats-in-scotland/
"Either the SNP are going to face a disappointment next Thursday, or Scotland is on course to turn into a one party country."
Riiiiiight.......so anything other than winning all or virtually all Scottish seats will be a *disappointment*!!
Gotta love the Specthater
Funny sort of 'one party state' where the party in question is excluded from the government.
DeleteSoz if this is off topic but it's been grating on my nerves and I'm hoping you good people on here might be able to shed some light.
ReplyDeleteYou know that unionist argument to the effect that borders are always bad (except the current UK borders which are fine, but they never talk about them except to defend them in an anti-EU kind of way) AND of course that cuddly stuff about welders in Glesga having more in common with welders in Manchester blah blah blah.
Right, well, on that basis, why have any devolution at all?
Why is that not an argument for killing off the border between Sco n rUK altogether?
I just don't get the likes of G Galloway with this "this far and no further" attitude towards Scottish self-government.
Indeed, why not put the troubled history behind us and call for a new union between the Irish Republic and UK?
Isn't that not the unionist logic?
Or is there some subtle point here that I'm missing?
Skinner, you've basically hit the nail on the head - something every single journalist in Scotland has utterly failed to challenge the so-called "Socialist" Unionists on. I remember laughing out loud at how idiotic the argument was when I first heard it, then it went unchallenged... then I heard it again, and again, and again...
DeleteLabour have a habit of forgetting they're supposed to support devolution.
DeleteBritain Thinks focus group of nine "undecided" voters in Glasgow East finds that all of those who have decided will vote SNP.
ReplyDeleteOnly positive for Labour is that they think Miliband has done well, but he then scuppered that by firmly ruling out a Lab / SNP deal.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/62j6hhdlgsgkqp6/BritainThinks_Guardian%20Battleground%20Britain%20Glasgow%20East%20Wave%203.pdf?dl=0
OT
ReplyDeleteIt has struck me that on the morning of Friday, 08/05/15 Kezia Dugdale will be the most important member of Slab in the country.
Even if a few of the "big beasts" of Westminster like Murphy, Curran or Alexander survive they will be utterly discredited and left carrying the can for the disaster they brought upon themselves.
Ms Dugdale and the Holyrood Slab contingent will have relatively clean hands in all this and will be all too aware that the same fate awaits them next year if they do not take action now.
She could put together a new team, giving prominent places to a few of the new faces - Marra, Findlay and and a few others and getting rid of the odious Baillie and Kelly, as well as persuading some of the dead wood like Hanzala Malik, Elaine Murray and daft Duncy MacNeil to take a hike.
This is Ms Dugdale's big opportunity - does she have what it takes to make a move?
There may be a final YouGov Scotland poll coming, I just completed a poll which included Westminster/Holyrood/Independence questions.
ReplyDeleteMe too Calum
DeleteAthough the SNP are still on 51 seats on the YouGov Nowcast, there seems to be a lot more seats on the 'too close to call' category. Aberdeen South is actually leaning Labour alongside Dunfermline & West Fife.
ReplyDeleteCoatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill / Kilmarnock & Loudoun / Central Ayrshire / Paisley & Renfrewshire North / Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk / East Lothian / Edinburgh South / Edinburgh East / Edinburgh North & Leith / East Renfrewshire / Linlithgow & East Falkirk / Glasgow North East / Rutherglen & Hamilton West / Lanark & Hamilton East / Aberdeen North / Glenrothes / Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath / are all too close to
Although Labour will probably not win all of these, it does show that they might be competitive and with a shot of getting up to 19 seats.
If Lab held 19 it would still be ~38-39 SNP which would be utterly amazing. A really big majority of Scots MPs (66%) with the SNP sextupling+ their seats!
DeleteA disaster for Labour - I'd take that in a second!
I reckon the SNP will win Edinburgh East, Edinburgh North and Leith, seemingly the polling has gone well in Aberdeen, to be honest I think they will win quite a lot of those seats you have listed.
Delete"YouGov also looked at three nations on the UK mainland separately, to reveal:
ReplyDeleteIn Scotland, the SNP still have a huge 20 point lead over Labour by 48% to 28% – confirming Labour’s worst fears that they face near wipe out in their strongest traditional heartlands."
That would be SNP 48 (-1), Lab 28 (+2), compared to their last poll.
http://www.sunnation.co.uk/every-vote-counts-as-major-sun-poll-shows-labour-and-tories-tied/
Tables
Deletehttp://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/k7juya7b2u/Scotland_Tables_Website.pdf
It's 48-27 when asked to think of your constituency. Hence confusion with Sam Coates figures.
DeleteNot showing referendum or Holyrood VI (yet?)
There's also a Survation / Daily Record poll coming...
ReplyDelete