A theme begins to emerge
Continuing our trawl through the “Devo Nano” report. No squirrels this time.
Labour, of course, immediately trumpets any anti-independence opinion from big business, but suddenly treats anything welcomed by industry with great suspicion if it’s in line with SNP policy, so no shocks on that front. But not for the first time, the party seems to have rather misunderstood the entire concept of devolution.
Because if the possibility of “tax competition” is a reason not to devolve things, then clearly you shouldn’t devolve ANY taxes ever. Devolution means being able to make decisions different from those made at Westminster. If you can’t diverge from UK policy, then you’re not devolved at all.
(The line about the environment, incidentally, is a tacked-on figleaf. Scotland is a tiny country of 5m people. Even if reducing APD led to an increase in the number of flights, the difference it would make to the environment would be infinitesimally small. If you added the total traffic from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen together, Scotland would account for around 20 million passenger journeys a year, and wouldn’t even amount to 1% of journeys from the world’s top 50 airports alone.)
As with income tax rates, the fundamental character of devolution Labour-style is that you’re only allowed to devolve powers that can never be used. If there’s a danger that they might be, if they could conceivably be deployed to actually make anything different, they’re off the table.
THERE ARE NO SQUIRRELS. NOTHING TO SEE HERE. MOVE ON.
Feels like a group of people speaking but not saying what they truly believe. Or perhaps speaking the words which have been put in their mouth? Ya think?
“we are not now convinced that devolution should be progressed”
Not devolution of APD, just devolution.
Good to know then, eh?
Maybe the policy only applies to flying squirrels?
I’ll condense it even further; “Devolution Nano is a scam!”
The environmental line is so obviously a figleaf. It does not follow theme or logic from the first part of the sentence.
If the topic under discussion was the environment it may have been justified, but the way it’s tacked on to a sentence about the risk of tax competition blows the cover completely.
But, but, but, but Labour are “Devolutionists” aren’t they?
…and sorry, but I definitely saw a squirrel.
Congratulations Scots, you are helping the environment by having more expensive flights than ‘more central’ bits of the UK. Or by having to take two flights instead of one direct flight – that sounds environmentally friendly doesn’t it?
In fact by being poorer you spend less money on ‘stuff’ in general, making you greener. Congratulations 🙂
Wee dugs and sausage rolls pale in comparison to this union dividend.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7x3xb8zkkca50v/Labour%20Devo%20Commission%20-%20Reform%20Scotland%20workings%20-%2020.3.14.jpg
“Labour’s proposals increase the Scottish Parliament’s tax-raising powers by less than 5%, and represent only 26% of Scottish Government expenditure, which falls well short of the 40% they are claiming.” Reform Scotland
Check out the graphic.
“Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”,it’s a monumental document two years in labour (sri) and voila! Scotland your new baby ………
Two years to produce this waffle!
I did not understand one word of it, I lost the will to live after one paragraph. So grateful to you Rev. for having the guts to trawl through it and actually produce a summary in language I can read and understand.
There can only be a few more nails to go for the Labour Party in Scotland after this debaucle.
These people really aren’t very bright, are they?
“If there’s a danger that they might be, if they could conceivably be deployed to actually make anything different, they’re off the table.”
Well of course. I mean there’s a danger you might get a government in Scotland which isn’t a Labour one obviously, which might want to make things better, deliberately. Can’t run that risk.
It seems that the two years has been spent figuring out how to produce a document that sounds like it’s offering something, but does not actually offering anything. This is another example of SLAB’s utter contempt and insulting the intelligence of the Scottish electorate.
Despite everything they and ALL of their Unionist friends say, we will NEVER be offered anything that is likely to cause any problem with Westminster rule.
Whatever say they say might apply,however they spin it, if you just forget it and just remember the fact,that they are called Unionists for a reason.
That is to keep a tight grip over Scotland and any aspirations we have. Always to maintain Westminster rule.Remember this, it is all you need to know about them, and their sneaky ways.
A secret squirrel this time.
Squirrels and Trident,eh. What a combination. 🙂
Rev, is that a Squirrel in your pocket or you just ferreting about?
Ah hope there,s somebody in Slab with a wee bit of
intelegence & has a pre_payment funeral package in place
the Co-op should be handy fur them,they,ll get mates rates
ah wouln,nt want them stinking oor Independent Parliament
oot.
It’s Labour’s Scottish branch conference this week coming, right?
Presumably there will be all sorts of meetings about this document, and the authors/consultants will be lining-up to explain it all, answer questions.
Won’t they?
There hasnt been any mention of George Osbornes pension changes…where many a wise wee Squirrel might well take a lump sum out their pension nest egg and lump it on a YES victory*.
*The value of nuts can go down as well as up.
I’ve gone off Labour. They can’t even commit to providing sufficient squirrels……
“But not for the first time, the party seems to have rather misunderstood the entire concept of devolution.”
No, we misunderstand devolution.
We think devolution is about transferring powers to the Scottish Parliament, powers that the Scottish Parliament can use to take a different course from Westminster in devolved areas if that is of benefit to the Scottish People.
The true purpose of devolution is to provide a redoubt for Labour in Scotland to shelter in during terms of Conservative government in Westminster and to give more Labour party members a salary.
“These people really aren’t very bright, are they?”
Its actually becoming quite frightening just HOW not very bright they are!
Be honest, there isn’t actually any devolution worth a damn in the whole document. Now is there? You can’t fool me with cunningly positioned images of cute rodents. 😀
Wondering at this point how this is going down with the devo max vote or the undecided? The latest panelbase has some good news in the face the past two months anti independence assault. Next month will hopefully widen a few eyes once this guff has a chance to sink in.
O/T – ironic fall out from yesterdays budget statement is that the Scottish life and pensions providers (including Standard Life) have just had their business model smashed to pieces with the removal of mandatory Annuity products.
The result is that staff will need to be re-deployed or let go in the annuity servicing areas as volumes drop by a projected 50%. The phones at the life providers are ringing red-hot with customers deferring their annuities – despite G Osbourne saying that most would remain with proper annuity-style products.
Whilst, in my view, there was perhaps too much product provider tie-in in the market, the only winner is the HM treasury who will get a windfall in income tax. Pensioners think they’ve won; but they are basically screwed now because many will now have to pay an adviser charge to convert to another product or indeed will blow the money on holidays etc leaving the state to pick up the pieces in future years.
Perhaps their official policy should now be renamed De-Evolution.
If you are in Scotland and you do happen to spot any squirrels please act responsibly and report here:
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/what-we-do/scotlands-red-squirrels/squirrel-sightings/
For all other enquiries:
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/1056/recycling-collection_sites/185/recycling_centres_and_points/2
More Good news….the Security Squirrels see no problem if a YES vote comes in. Looks like someone at BT forgot to tell the Police to get on-message
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-26651783
So anyway,
why would you name a squirrel Low Cloud?
This is just another “Better services provision in Scotland on purpose” quote that we saw from that nugget Foulkes.
Labour’s devolution was supposed to be a facade. SNP winning a majority meant its grown to be a monster.
Its that simple.
I’ve seen quite a few Reds on Mull, but that was years ago.
O/T – ironic fall out from yesterdays budget statement is that the Scottish life and pensions providers (including Standard Life) have just had their business model smashed to pieces with the removal of mandatory Annuity products.
That’s that future uncertainty thing….surely under the union there are no surprises….who could have known. Imagine how pleased the board of Standard life will be now…lol
I find it interesting that none of the ‘Scottish’ Press are really analysing these proposals unlike the White Paper.
It may be that they all require more time to get to grips with the complex concepts contained in it and intend to furnish us with an in depth analysis and simplified summary, or…
SLAB are in thrall to Westminster Labour who authored this document and they will never allow any other part of Britain to endanger London supremacy in all and any other spheres.
They are happy to give us Devolution… That is the word devolution, only the word. Not the concept, structure or policies that might be useful.
The theme is, if it might be useful, if it might improve lives, if it might provide competition for London and the South East Hegemony you cannot have it, will not get it in any meaningful, useful, logical or understandable version if we can possibly influence it in any fashion.
They might as well have spent the two years burning Scottish History Books and then telling us that we do not exist… Oh wait!
@Cameron B
Still bags of red squirrels round my way. Live on the edge of wood and see the wee chaps running along the fence and through the garden.
The squirrels at BEA have said being part of the union gives certainty to the shipbuilding in their annual report.
BBC Radio Scotland. & London Evening News
BAE Systems fires warning shot over vote on Scotland
http://archive.is/QWb7t
I don’t think any of this comes close to the value of voting yes and its resulting powers,surely they cannot be so blinkered that they cannot see this. It’s not even remotely competitive.
Will the next version of the WOS icon be a Squirrel with Wings rather than the Lion?
Macart
They are cute. I think bats are better though. Whooooo. 😉
Hark, is that the sound of membership cards in the shredder?
Or squirrels in the leaf litter?
Vote No; get what you deserve – shafted
On the deteriorating thinking powers of such politicians, along side this, I think we are witnessing the disintegration and meltdown of the British state.
For example Alistair Carmichael has just announced that Scotland will not be allowed to negotiate with the EU, the UK Government will do that and they are refusing to accept an easy route for Scotland remaining in the EU.
Of course there are small things like the UN Carter relating to Independence:
“5. Immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom.”
Squirrel and ale pie
Ingredients
2 fresh squirrels (bought from a reputable source).
25g plain flour.
4 rashers streaky bacon, chopped.
2 tbsp sunflower oil.
3 tbsp butter.
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped.
2 cloves of garlic cloves, peeled and crushed.
2 medium carrots, peeled and thickly sliced.
2 sprigs fresh thyme.
1 bay leaf.
500ml good beef stock.
400ml real ale.
1-2 tbsp cornflour.
300g ready-made puff pastry.
1 medium free-range egg, beaten.
…
METHOD
1. Clean, skin and cut two squirrels into small pieces. Soak in salted water, or water with a little vinegar added, for several hours. Change the water every couple of hours. Drain the squirrel then pat dry with kitchen paper. Put the flour in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Toss the squirrel pieces in the flour until lightly coated.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Fry the bacon with the oil until lightly coloured. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and place in a flame-proof casserole dish. Return the pan to the heat and fry the squirrel until lightly browned on all sides. Add to the bacon. Return the pan to the heat once more and add the butter. Cook the onion with the garlic and carrots gently until softened, stirring often. Stir into the squirrel.
3. Pour over the stock and ale. Add the thyme and bay leaf. Cover with a lid and cook in the centre of the oven for 1½ -2 hours until the squirrel is very tender. Remove from the oven and place on the hob. Take off the lid.
4. Mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp cold water and stir into the casserole. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat and cook for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Season to taste and transfer to a 1 litre pie dish. Leave to cool for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured board. Brush the edge of the pie dish with the egg. Gently lift the pastry over the filling and press firmly. Trim the edges neatly. Make a criss cross pattern over the pastry with a sharp knife. Make a small hole with a skewer to allow the steam to escape. Brush the pastry all over with beaten egg. Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is well risen and golden brown and the filling is hot throughout.
Carmichael has just announced what???
@Morag says:
“These people really aren’t very bright, are they”?
Have you only just realised that, Morag? I came to that conclusion way back in the late 1960s.
Oooh, got a fair dose of those too flitting round the place during the summer. Great for keeping the bugs down. 🙂
Jeez, better get back on topic before the Rev gets grumpy. Its become a runaway joke now. 😀
Fruit Bat Soup
3 Fruit bats, well washed but neither skinned nor eviscerated.
Water
1 tb Finely sliced fresh ginger.
1 lg Onion, quartered.
I knew if we were patient, this would become available. For all of you who have been waiting patiently to make your fruit bats into fruit bat soup, here’s a recipe.
The following is a genuine recipe from Micronesia. Fruit bats, or flying foxes, are furry, fruit and nectar eating bats about the size of small rabbits. The make very affectionate pets.
Sea salt to taste, Chopped scallions, Soy sauce and/or coconut cream.
1. Place the bats in a large kettle and add water to cover, the ginger, onion, and salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 40 minutes. Strain broth into a second kettle.
2. Take the bats, skin them and discard the skin. Remove meat from the bones and return meat, and any of the viscera you fancy, to the broth. Heat.
3. Serve liberally sprinkled with scallions and further seasoned with soy sauce and/or coconut cream.
Yield: 4 servings.
(From “The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook” by Jean Hewitt (c) 1971,
Quadrangle Books, Inc. NY.
NOTE: A final word about the Jean Hewitt cookbook. It is now out of print
so I don’t feel too bad about swiping a recipe from it. Despite the above it is an excellent cookbook made up from recipes sent in by readers to the New York Times, and tested by Ms Hewitt herself. It comes from the days when “Natural Foods” did not just mean salt free veggie fare, (although there are plenty of first rate, mostly simple vegetarian recipes included).
If you can get hold of a copy from a public library, say, I recommend it.
Bill Venables, Dept. of Statistics, Univ. of Adelaide, South Australia.
Posted by Ted Taylor. Courtesy of Fred Peters.
Collected by Bert Christensen
Toronto, Ontario
You know, I feel a quote from “Foundation” by Isaac Azimov is most appropriate here:
“And where is this analysis?”
“That,” replyed Hardin, “is the interesting thing. The analysis was the most difficult of the three by all odds. When Holk, after two days of steady work, succeeded in eliminating meaningless statements, vauge gibberish, useless qualification–in short, all the goo and dribble–he found he had nothing left. Everything cancelled out.”
“Lord Dorwin, gentlemen, in five days of discussion didn’t say one damned thing, and said it so you never noticed. There are the assurances you had from your precious Empire.”
Nothing here to see, that’s Labour in a nutshell, a prime example occured in FMQ’s today when Johann Lamont, asked Alex Salmond to endorse Labour’s add on to the living wage. Alex said, “You’ve had years to implement a living wage,but Labour never did, it took an SNP government to do it.”
So the document is really saying, ‘here’s a lot of big words that promises nothing, and we hope you are stupid enough to swallow it’?
How could anyone try to con their fellow citizens like this?
Evil bastards.
Weird, one moment the Carmichael announcement was on the Herald, next it was gone!
Does that mean the SNP EU position is no longer “riddled with bullets”?
http://bertc.com/subfive/recipes/index.htm
In case this has been missed
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/pro-scottish-independence-news-website-wings-over-scotland-raises-%C2%A3100k-crowdfunding
We need tae huv an hoanest debate aboot the squirrels…. ur they devolved? can we tax thum? wid they no be better left for the broad shoulder o’ the UK to handle?
call me dave
Quite strange attitude from BAE Systems
Actual report here http://bae-systems-investor-relations-v2.production.investis.com/~/media/Files/B/BAE-Systems-Investor-Relations-V2/Annual%20Reports/BAE-annual-report-2013.pdf Page 21
Quote ‘In the event that Scotland voted to
become independent, we would need to
discuss the way forward with the Ministry of
Defence and UK government, and work with
them to deliver the best solution in those
circumstances’
So what IS missing? Quite simply BAE Systems, despite having yards in Scotland, don’t appear to want to talk to a future Scottish Government. After all a future Scottish Government in an independent Scotland would want to have ships built for its own naval requirements.
Or is it that BAE Systems want to ensure that there is continuity moving forward. Frankly what choice would a future English government have, if they don’t have proper facilities within England?
Gillie, Cameron,
Mmm… Cybernat recipes, tasty and rather more interesting that BT brownies.
” Imagine how pleased the board of Standard life will be now…lol”
Perhaps their “warning” wasn’t dire enough and this is their punishment?
@Edward @Call Me Dave
So the same day a Poll shows the gap down to 5 points, BAE release a statement that will get maximum scare coverage from Scotlands Media. I expect Ian Davidson will be on telly soon with his bayonet out.
Its enough to make a squirrel yawn.
Squirrels and Bats that appalling. I’m going to set up a commission it might take a few years I will report back in 2 years with an interim report as to which is better squirrels or bats. As for Devo it’s a dead Dodo. (By the way anyone got a recipe for Dodo.)
Brian Powell
The Carmichael statement is still on the Herald.
I have not mastered using ‘archive’, so I won’t give a link, but here is an incomplete address:
.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendum-news/alistair-carmichael-snps-iscotland-eu-plans-riddled-with-bullet-holes.1395324227
On the subject of transport just look at what the pooling and sharing was at the end of the last Labour Government.
Transport Spending IPPR analysis 2011
£2731 per head in London
£792 per head in the South East
£311 per head in the East Midlands
£269 per head in the West Midlands
£201 per head in Yorkshire & Humber
£134 per head in the North West
£43 per head in the East
£19 per head in the South West
£5 per head in the North East
As you can see, the further away you get from London the less you get, so if The North-East only gets a fiver, presumably we wouldn’t even get that?.
Funny, if profane. Relevant to both devo-nano and the budget yesterday.
http://longtermplan.org.uk/
A good piece by economist Michael Burke, in the Morning Star.
The people not Trident,report states the cost of replacing Trident missiles,would also fully fund all hospitals and A&E services for 40 years,build 180 new hospitals,fit 15 million homes with solar panels,or pay for 4 million students to go to university.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-92a8-Axe-Trident-for-millions-of-jobs
@Cameron
Here in Dundee is squirrel front line. There are reds in the woods at the NW of the city but here in the Ferry and the central area there are only greys. Not many, but they are there. So no need to go all the way to Mull.
I’ve had limited dealings with BAE subsidiaries, and if it’s reflective of the rest of the group, they are considered a bit of a dinosaur. Lots of managers and heirarchy, an archaic legacy like any old company and an aging, comfortable staff being cajoled into competing outside of the money-no-object defence realm. They sure don’t want change.
DE-VOID-LUTION!
When under threat by the concept of National Independence tell everyone you will review your offer of Devolution, lead them to believe you will offer more powers, then, when the whole Nation, MSM and Global Media have been fore-warned of the launch, alter the deal to offer much less, useless, pointless, meaningless powers, confuse everyone with newspeak gobbledygook and then run away under cover of a Westminster Budget Announcement!
Brilliant idea, I love it, let’s go with that plan!
Sure to get the result we want in the Referendum and boost our chances of getting back into power in Westminster!
Baldrick Lamont, you are so cunning!
I thought Bae were keen on just having 1 site for building complex warships and it would be in Scotland
Remember a squirrel’s not just for a pie it’s also a hat
muscleguy,
Well get using your free Wings recipe on the greys and you might get some reds back.
It’s all fine kidding folks, but remember a squirrel has feelings too.
bjsalba
I don’t have current figures for Scotland, but if you think about your figures, that’s millions of passengers in London @ the per head rate, against considerably fewer passengers at considerably lower investment levels, elsewhere. That is why London has all the infrastructure and we have the A9.
I actually worked in the SO Roads Directorate many years ago, and all I will say is that certain expenditure was not reported unless given a vigorous massage. We were going to be a car-based economy according to Mrs. T, right kids!
Anyway, here is what is on the books for Scotland now. I’ve not taken a good look myself as I need to get some kip. 🙂
http://www.spt.co.uk/corporate/about/strategy/regional-transport-strategy/
Muscleguy
My folks are still in Dundee though I haven’t seen any squirrels near where they stay. They live near the center of town, where I haven’t really seen any of either hue, and there is a Sparrowhawk that hunts locally. Frightened the life out of me the first time I spotted it as it nearly took my nose off.
Cameron B “Frightened the life out of me the first time I spotted it as it nearly took my nose off.”
You shouldn’t go out in your squirrel hat then
Cmon rev time to WAKE UP climate change is not MANMADE,its time to put the global warming hoaxers in jail for all the billions they have cost us.
🙂 🙂 🙂
oh sorry climate change cant call it global warming now as its scirntifically proven the planet has been cooling for the last 15 years
O/T Just received a panelbase poll for BBC Radio Adverts.
Looks like as well as making non payment of licence fee a civil offence, they are strongly looking at Adverts on the Beeb. They must be hurting I heard it reported on Manx Radio that there were about 180.000 prosecutions in the UK in 2012 for non payment, that’s over 10% of all criminal prosecutions!!! Bearing in mind that it takes a while perhaps years to get to the stage where court proceedings start, there must be a massive non payment.
Why are comments closed for “a slight exageration”?
AND still no beavers!
Gillie@CameronB, yous nearly gid me a heart attack,am in the prosess of trying my new laptop,kliking on Wings,only to find
Im in loony tunes site,its getting sent back tae Argos, canny get the quality nooadays lol.is that road kill meats you,s ur useing.
All this talk of squirrels, apart from making me hungry, is probably an accurate reflection of the political significance of the Labour Devo offer(sic)
Sorry ladies, but lets go back to the mid-60s just for Mosstrooper.
The Wylde Knights – Beaver patrol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72DqNsl_CL0
OT but some bloke has just been jailed for a year for shouting abuse at Mgt Curran.
I am astonished – anyone know any more about it?
Rev,Awe your hard works gonna be a waste of time, the site,s gonna get shut doon by the RSPCA,their frying & friqushayin the Squirrels, are you pair Gillie CameronB spachcocking them 1st.
Anyone else missing the comment box from the new thread?
Yes, me.
They don’t even seem to be embarrassed by this either.
still not there even after a few refreshes.
“Anyone else missing the comment box from the new thread?”
YES
cynicalHighlander – yes – on the ‘A small Exaggeration’ article, the comment box seems to have disappeared, or maybe it’s squirreled away somewhere?
Must be a squirrel in the works.
I don’t have the comment box for the next thread either…
Have you all seen this? A new Better Together song, lol. Released next week.
The yes campaign does Lady Alba, the no campaign do this naffery. It is supposed to pull your heart strings. Cheese strings more like.
The no voters on twitter are expressing a bit of anxiety about it, they are worried it will help the yes vote, ha.
Labour will repeal anti bigotry laws should it regain power in Holyrood (stop sniggering at the back there)I wonder if it has anything to do with the FACT that they are the most bigoted group in Scotland?
it wouldn’t look good if the entire front bench we banged up in the pokey would it?
Or the Separats wreaking havoc on Stu’s keyboard.
“Have you all seen this? A new Better Together song, lol. Released next week.”
has someone got three day old sock on in here I smell cheese!
Comments box missing here too.
Couldn’t help noticing Labours latest attempt to bribe the undecided. ‘Vote no and we’ll let you carry on with whatever brand of sectarian nastiness you subscribe to.
Quite apt our situation on this thread.
Are you be a separatist if it is the circumstances that have resulted in your withdrawal? 🙂
“The Wylde Knights – Beaver patrol”
Boo boo boo we want our money back
NOT ONE BEAVER 🙁
“The Wylde Knights – Beaver patrol”
thats not a beaver
Now THIS is a beaver
The comment box is now back.
Family site John, family site. And there was me thinking I was pushing the boundaries of taste and decency.
I can be a bit of prude perhaps, stuck in my old fashioned ways. 😉
O/T BUT WELL INTO THE THREAD
A wee, longish, post to Iain Brotherhood AND ANDY B
And now our government
a bird with two right wings
flies on from zone to zone
while we go on having our little fun & games
at each election
as if it really mattered who the pilot is
of Air Force One
(They’re interchangeable, stupid!)
While this bird with two right wings
flies right on with its corporate flight crew
And this year its the Great Movie Cowboy in the cockpit
And next year its the great Bush pilot
And now its the Chameleon Kid
and he keeps changing the logo on his captains cap
and now its a donkey and now an elephant
and now some kind of donkephant
And now we recognize two of the crew
who took out a contract on America
and one is a certain gringo wretch
who’s busy monkeywrenching
crucial parts of the engine
and its life-support systems
and they got a big fat hose
to siphon off the fuel to privatized tanks
And all the while we just sit there
in the passenger seats
without parachutes
listening to all the news that’s fit to air
over the one-way PA system
about how the contract on America
is really good for us etcetera
As all the while the plane lumbers on
into its postmodern
manifest destiny
CameronB
Sorry, second bottle.
The comment box is back on new thread and it’s appeared with my details too.
Cheers TJ.
Now I am a separatist.
Bugger (the Panda)
You didn’t go down the rabbit hole I drew folks attention to last night? 😉
Aikenheed
I prefer fox hats myself, as in where/what the:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YNHXFviVb8I
john king
That is one industrious animal.Sorry, I must have picked things up wrong, earlier. 🙂
The theme is greater devolved powers,not to Holyrood but,to the UKOK controlled councils.An emasculation process is being touted by,first Tavish Scott and then,the Scottish aristocracy.An admirable and desirable goal of independence is to take our powers and gravitate them down to not just regional councils but to community ones as well.If these powers are granted without the full oversight of a national[Scottish]government then they amount to no more than string pulling by which ever unionist party is in power.
The Romano/Germans in westminster practice divide and conquer to the [devo?] max.
“Still bags of red squirrels round my way. Live on the edge of wood and see the wee chaps running along the fence and through the garden.”
Yea we have hoards of em running along our fence and through our garden,
only we call em little bas…,
oh look a squirrel!
I like squirrels too. Let’s exchange recipes.
And this is one of the questions that shows the flaws in this so called union of nations.
How can you compete with the countries of the world if you cannot even compete with the country next door.
Down here our Labour AMs tell us they want APD devolved but they can say that knowing full well their MPs will never allow it.
O/T
Two important announcements have taken place in the last week that we should really keep an eye on.
1) OFGEM delay the reduction in energy transmission charges yet again, which sees energy generators in Scotland being hit with hit with higher fees than England. The original reduction, meant to take place in April 2012 was put back to April this year. Now it’s April 2015 at the very earliest.
http://utilitiesscotland.com/2014/03/16/yet-another-ofgem-delay-on-transmission-charge-review/
2) Taxes in North sea drilling operations have been hiked up.
‘Oil & Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb said: “This can only increase costs on the UKCS where operating costs have increased sharply in recent years and last year saw a rise of 15.5% to an all-time record of £8.9bn. New developments are facing similar cost pressures.
“In addition, we fear that this move will drive drilling rigs, already in short supply, out of the UKCS.
“Exploration over the last three years has been at its lowest in the entire history of the industry in the UK, with only 15 exploration wells drilled in 2013.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-26667079
Is this the start of Westminster’s tax raid on Scotland ?
Has the decision been made to get as much out of Scotland while they can in case we vote Yes ?
Makes you wonder what we can expect in those 18 months after a Yes vote and our independence.
@BTP –
Cheers for that – not too why it’s for me, but I appreciated it all the same, well, a lot more than bat and squirrel recipes.
I B and CamB
you will
@BTP –
Okay. That’s cryptic, and sinister.
It’s a coded message, right? The bastards are on to us – at the next SSP street-stall in Irvine they’re going to take me and the comrades out with a Predator drone.
Along those lines? Hmmm…best look out me Kevlar thermals.
But hey, what’s CameronB done?!
Ian Brotherhood
I’ve been vegetarian for more than half my life. Can you no take a joke. 😉
Ian Brotherhood
I’m afraid I went off on one last night, to shine a little light on Milner’s Kindergarten, who essentially shaped the British empire through the 20th century. It tied up with the Fabians, Carroll Quigley and it all got a bit messy. 🙂
@CameronB –
That’s a rum bunch altogether – no wonder you’re in trouble.
Don’t know much about Milner and the Fabians, but Carroll Quigley? Put it this way – you have a son and you give him a girl’s first-name to go with a surname that rhymes with ‘squiggly’? Eh? What’s that all about?
I do hope you are spared whatever is headed our way – in the hope that it is a proper ‘precision’ strike, and to spare innocent punters, I will be wearing my big red ‘FUKUKPLC’ badge, and to make it easier for them, I will pin it to the top of my bunnet, thereby rendering it only fully visible from the air.
Ian Brotherhood
Check out Lionel Curtis, if you are interested. He pulled all the strings.
The wiki page is pretty slim, but he set up the Round Table movement with Milner in 1909, the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), The New York Council on Foreign Relations, was responsible for changing the British Empire to British Commonwealth to prevent independence movement, and provide government structures for all the colonies.
Basically his task was to ensure the permanence of the British Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Curtis
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Lionel_Curtis.htm
OK he shaped the formation of the Indian government, not the rest.
@CameronB –
Cheers for that.
Yet another ‘interesting dude’ to fill a gap in the big Panini book of Imperialist Belters Who Created The Glorious Anglo-American Universe.
Oh dear, ‘ow sad, that their ‘vision’ of the future relied upon the treatment of fellow humans as disposable chattels.
Never mind – the ‘chattels’ had different ideas. Oor ain wee referendum helps obliterate the stage they’d have us dance upon at their whim.
Not that we should forget these people, and their rancid world-view – we see and hear their heirs every day: Tories, Lib-Dems, New Labourites – many varieties of the same vanilla-scented free-market de’il-tak-the-hin’most shite, all available in your nearest ‘Democracy’.
Ian Brotherhood
Oor ain wee referendum helps obliterate the stage they’d have us dance upon at their whim.
Bring it on and lets at least provide ourselves with the basic protection of a written constitution. One that works though, nothing like the USofA’s. 🙂
@CameronB –
The Calton Hill Declaration (2004) still does it for me. I know you’ve seen it, but here’s a version with some debate.
I’m fond of it because I was there with my son that day, and it was the last big event before the SSP imploded. Despite it, we’re back, and I dare say, if we had to re-present that Declaration, it wouldn’t be much different.
http://scot.tk/caltonhilldeclaration.htm#top
Ian Brotherhood
Cheers for that. Now don’t get upset, but that is the first for me. To be honest though I think I’ll leave it until tomorrow, as my eyes are knackered. TBH I think the site needs a bit of a re-think about defining the background and text better, ’cause I could hardly read that.
Or perhaps now I know I do need to get glasses.
Tomorrow is another day. Till then.
The squirrels round my area are greys, they must be tories
Labour are trying to turn Holyrood into an empty shell of a parliament. Our original devolution settlement was little more than a power grab by Labour. All that settlement really did was concentrate the power of the regional councils into one big giant super council dominated by Labour. And they were happy with that arrangement so long as they held most of the power with their junior partners the Liberals tagging a long for a ministerial pay cheque.
However now that Labour no longer control Holyrood, the SNP have proven their safe guards put in place to prevent an SNP majority don’t work. Labour are pulling out. They want to roll the clock back. They’ve lost interest in devolution.
So now Holyrood will be hamstrung while power will be transferred back to the local councils where Labour is still in control. Which is what all this COSLA nonsense is really about. Labour councils can’t stomach having to go cap in hand to an SNP government.