I have some audio commentary on YouTube for you about the SNP's impressive win in the Stirling East by-election - plus also I make reference to the bizarre lengths the mainstream media are going to in order to protect the reputation of the late Queen Elizabeth now that the scale of her misjudgement over Andrew is beyond dispute. And I comment on Iain Macwhirter's bizarre tweet implying that only North Korean style isolationism would be enough to qualify Scotland as "independent".
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Last two polls (YouGov & Find Out Now) have Tories, Labour & Greens in a statistical tie (with LibDems trailing only slightly).
ReplyDeleteRemarkably, Labour have further to fall. The next GE could see Labour in a close run contest for fifth place with the Tories. From the party of government, to irrelevance, and extinction in one Parliamentary term, quite an achievement.
Starmer will have retired to sunnier climes to watch his beloved, Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Actually punched the air when I seen this result. IFS your weekend has been ruined lol
ReplyDeleteThe Labour candidate maximised her exposure as a shop steward (UNISON), to the exclusion of much else. Not a bad strategy given the size of the Public Sector, and the usually pitiful turnout at Local Elections. She’s bound to have garnered a few votes on the basis of having represented folk at disputes, and tribunals.
ReplyDeleteIain MacWhirter seems to have turned into an Annie Wells type. character Are he and Stewart Campbell the same person, or are they both going through pre-retirement identity crises at the same time?
ReplyDeleteIf your interpretation is correct and Iain Macwhirter means that joining the EU is incompatible with Scotland being a sovereign nation, I agree with him. I see serious suggestions from SNP senior voices that we should join the Euro to give credibility to Scottish independence. This supports the idea that the SNP don't understand what it means to have your own currency. Even if we managed to steer clear of the Euro, being in the EU means compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact, and Scotonomics has shown how that would hamstring us.
ReplyDeleteAdding that to the poor economic performance and immoral foreign policy stance of the EU means it's hardly something we should seek to join.
I'm more ambivalent about the EU than I used to be, largely because of Ursula von der Leyen's and Kaja Kallas' genocide apologism. But Macwhirter's comment would imply that EU countries like France and Germany are not independent, which is obviously ludicrous.
DeleteEU treats Ireland better than England in this equal union of nations
DeleteI agree about those the behaviour of those two horrors on Gaza, but Ursula von der Leyen has other questions to answer.
DeleteFrance and especially Germany have only been allowed to escape the rules on financing because of their size.
Different rules apply to other countries. Brexit was a lie.
DeleteThe "New European Project" is pushing centralisation and trying to remove the veto that countries have by right of joining the club, this is an attempt to remove members sovereignty just look at Hungary Slovakia or Serbia Hungary and Slovakia who are land locked have been ordered to stop buying cheap Russian gas and oil and start using expensive American oil and lpg even although they have nowhere to land the tankers, and the unelected head of the eu is holding back billions of moneys due to those countrys and using her "tool box" to force them to comply, so tell me again that the eu does not remove a countrys sovereignty
DeleteI don't give to figs what currency we use. I just want independence. If it means joining the Euro , who cares. Arguing about these things before independence is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteIndependence includes having your own currency, full stop!
DeleteWhy would you want to leave one Union that constrains your finances and political choices, only to join another Union that does the same?
"Independence includes having your own currency, full stop!"
DeleteNot for France it doesn't. A bit pointless to pretend France isn't an independent country.
The Euro, handy as ever if you're traveling on the continent. Bloody Brown going through his Uber British period rejected it.
DeleteIn France, the EU rules are used by the opposition and media to criticise what they consider to be profligate spending, and resulted in very unpopular policies such as on pensions.
DeleteIn Germany, the government uses the EU rules as a backstop when their "debt brake" has to be modified. Political choices are constrained in a meaningful way - so perhaps I should have used Germany as the example.
In any case, my concern is with those in the SNP (and some on here) who see the EU as a comfort blanket to be tied tightly to our independence. The reality is that it has members states that don't align with 'our values' (as expressed by the SNP) and economies which are struggling.
We should first achieve independence, sort everything out which will take years, and only then think about it - thinking should involve discussion on what kind of association with the EU is appropriate and achievable rather than how handy the Euro might be for your hols.
This was my Ward and reform were desperate to win. They put so many leaflets and letters through my door, most of them, curiously, never really mentioning immigration. They were distributed by a familiar face, Alistair Majury, who long time independence supporters might remember from twitter as a very high profile troll account called Mulder1981.
ReplyDeleteSaid troll was also a former Tory councillor a few years back:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-40999001
So reform have an active operation in Stirling, but it is literally the exact same Tories in a slightly different coloured jacket. Reform had high expectations here.
Labour were also canvassing during the campaign, and the SNP put a few leaflets through the door too. This was an active election.
Additionally, James, you might also want to use the next door ward, Bannockburn as a comparison point, because they also had a by election in January, and reform got around the same percentage.
Obvious position with regards EU membership would be to let the people of Scotland decide by referendum after independence. This would mean though that we'd need currency sorted out in advance. Personally, I would go for a Norway type of relationship with Europe.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Majury one. He was the poor soul who needed to boast in public about the size of his penis. It's funny how these angry inadequates always gravitate to right wing outfits to make themselves seem tough.
ReplyDeleteHe was one of those who liked being photographed with Colonel Baroness Davidson, another misfit who got promoted where she couldn't cause any more damage. Let's not forget that at the zenith of her powers she managed to get fewer votes for the Rape Clause Party than Thatcher.
Good luck to the Scottish cup semi finalists today. You wouldn’t know as bbc ms Irons are discussing Celtic Rangers non stop who are actually playing tomorrow. Football who needs it let’s keep to the Irish Brit rivalry.
ReplyDeleteI'd call all of that lot the Old Wheels.
DeleteThis from the National could so with a bit more publicity:
ReplyDeletehttps://archive.is/CNnYu
"Scottish independence convention is a week away. Here's what to expect"
It has Aileen McHarg (a constitutional and legal expert) presenting "an academic analysis of Scotland’s constitutional place in the Union, and perhaps how we might extricate ourselves".
I see Reform remains a repulsive extreme right fascist supporter of Netanyahu's murderous and genocidal Israeli State and a denier of Palestinian statehood, on Tice's visit to Israel this year;
ReplyDelete'Reform’s deputy leader also met with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and foreign affairs minister Gideon Sa’ar (below) during his 4 day visit, which started on September 26 – a day in which at least 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks.
Good to welcome @TiceRichard, Deputy Leader of @ReformParty_UK, on his first visit to Israel. He expressed the position of Reform UK, opposing the British government's recognition of a Palestinian state. I thanked him for standing by Israel.
I said that we're aware of the… pic.twitter.com/SjLy9QFVmD
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) September 28, 2025
Afterwards, he falsely claimed that the famine in Gaza is “a blatant lie”.'
Reform are genocide supporting and excusing filth and so is anyone supporting them.
I see on bbc kuenssberg we had the “Scottish” trade union leader Christina McAnea of UNISON who admits to be a Labour member and promotes her one nation stance. Is there any Trades Unions based HQ’d in Scotland for Scotland or are they all Labour toadies? I remember in the early 80’s Labour Councillors and NALGO leaders shafting their members over a pay dispute. Some NALGO rose to the heady heights of becoming Labour politicians as a Thankyou.
ReplyDelete