Wings Over Scotland

Simply brilliant, as usual!

Haw Davie boy! Yer Teas Oot!

Brilliant.

Braw Chris. One of your best.

Love it, great cartoon.

Yea!!

Hamish is back.

Was he on a prolonged visit to family in the Serengeti?

Anyway, nice to see him.

🙂

Nice one Chris 🙂

They’ll have to take it from his ‘cold dead paws’

Absolutely fantastic!

Just heard a BBC Scotland Sarah Smith stand-in saying they will be holding a Scottish Labour Leadership hustings and want ex-Labour Party members to come along and join in the debate.

Jeez, that a lot.

Where are they holding these hustings, in the Hydro.

Fantastic Mr Fox, protected by the lion of liberty.

Fir Fox sake!

Mhairi Black’s maiden speech is gettin’ loads of commendations amongst Labour supporting mates down here in engerland, as is the stance taken by the SNP MPs over the the repeal of the hunting act……

Great blog this, haven’t posted here since stayin’ up late on election night, dancin’ with glee at the SNP landslide in Scotland!

Mair power to all yer elbows……

Hi cas-m

The Hydro ?
Get a grip there’s a perfectly good phone box in Pennan

Makes my heart swell with pride. Hamish represents decency, honesty, integrity and courage, the qualities we value in our SNP MPs! And not a little foxiness……One to print off and frame, definitely!

Brilliant, just wow! I want a t shirt with that on.

Spot on!

I wonder what Oscar Wilde would make of it all.

Aye, Tackety Beets. I noticed your lack of ‘banner’ but decided not to type a mention, in case it was a personal snafu.

You know, the sheer hate, entitlement and outrage issuing as a result of English Votes for English Foxes has compelled me to act.

The Devo Files… are returning.

*watch this space*

In the Herald won’t archive…
———————————————————-
Major concessions on extra powers for the Scottish Parliament will be unveiled in the autumn, David Cameron’s government has signalled.
—————————————————————-
Aye George’s longest finger featured prominently last week…compulsory prostrate check for Scotland! Ouch! 🙁

I’ve been cheated, been mistreated
When will I be loved.

1960 Everly Bros.

What a FOX that GUY is

It might come back to bite. Chose your battles wisely

Do not protect the Tories, that’s what they vote for. Protect Scotland.

The LibDems made policies Tory light. Look what happened to them. The rest of the UK voted Tory again. Let them have the full force of Tory power, Msybe that will change their minds.

Eliza 1, married an immigrant had four kids, which costs the public purse a fortune. Lives in a house on public benefit which is too big, even before the UK joined the EU. When is she going to kicked out or lives within her means. William doesn’t want any pay because he gets enough already, putting someone out of a job. Gets a pay rise every year on £40Million. The Pram and the nanny. Tory double standards and the right wing Press.

The Tories are going to cut Doctors pay and conditions in England. Hope they don’t get sick. They will be terminal. Everyone loves the NHS much better than the Tories.

Brilliant!!!

I love the way the duplicitous Scottish lion has convinced the particularly stupid Scottish fox that he is safer in Scotland – when we all know the truth is that he will be chased by a whole pack of hounds in Scotland – rather than just two in England.

Absolutely brilliant – and sums up the whole stunning hypocrisy of the Scottish lion in one brilliantly drawn and perceptive cartoon.

“Absolutely brilliant – and sums up the whole stunning hypocrisy of the Scottish lion in one brilliantly drawn and perceptive cartoon.”

Which sensibledave are you?
the day shift back shift or night shift?

SD: sums up the whole stunning hypocrisy of the Scottish lion

Insensitivedave lowering the standard of discussion as fast as his sticky fingers can type.

Ian Brotherhood 7.19am

Had a chuckle at your summing up of “Ming the Marvelous”

He still doesn’t get how “finished” the Lib/Dems are in Scotland does he?

Scottish Labour and BBC Scotland have a similar problem.

@Dr Jim

PTHRRRRRRRRRRRPPP!

Although it does lose a wee bit in translation.

Oh yes Chris 🙂

Great Chris sums up what’s happened beautifully.

hehe brilliant Chris,nice to see oor Hamish back and looking after his animal friends 🙂

Aye they were so worried about oor Eck and Nicola they overlooked another wee Scottish lion and jings whit a roar she has got they might need to add a few more million to fix up that dead beat piece of rubble they call parliament after that you could see the building shaking lol

sensibledave says:
16 July, 2015 at 7:40 am
“duplicitous Scottish”, “particularly stupid Scottish fox”

Are you still hurting there Dave ?, would “bitterdave” not be a more sensible name ?

I particularly like your suggestion the fox is Scottish since the cartoon only works if its a resident in England or Wales.

Do you post in order to make the other posters feel better about themselves ?

I have just been looking back through old Hamish cartoons. They are all brilliant.

I like this older one …..

link to wingsoverscotland.com

Wee sensibledave there might be full of bitterness, but the fact of the matter is that, much as it pains me to admit it, he’s partially right. We need to amend the laws on fox hunting and hounds here in Scotland, tout de suite, if for no other reason than it removes the possible charge of hypocrisy. But mostly because it’s the right thing to do.

Perhaps those who support the SNPs stance on this issue in England not just for the political machinations (and that includes me, for any who would question my stance) should start pressuring Scottish Parliament MPs. After all, if we are going to argue we are no longer the small c conservative Calvinists the country is often portrayed as, and are instead a left leaning modern progressive nation, we need to keep ahead of the curve on things like this.

Heh, never thought that this is how it would come about, but its a twist right enough.

Almost bizzarely at the moment, the only thing standing between the concept of Westminster as parliament of a UK and the ultimate betrayal by the Tories of all the partners involved, are the efforts of our own 56. ‘Course the whole issue of the fox hunting vote was a trap to catch a lion. It was to be used to inflame a vote on EVEL and see it rushed through without scrutiny.

That went well for Dave. 😀

Almost certainly its going to come back though. Its like the weeble from hell. You knock it over and it’ll swing right back up eventually. Still the Tories have shown their hand and their strategy. They’ll throw as many contentious issues at the 56 as they can and tempt them into morality votes to trigger the right wing press charge. Eventually it’ll succeed too. Unless Scotland heads it off at the pass by itself and opts for independence before those lunatics have a chance to turn us into second class citizens, with second class representation.

They could see the writing on the wall a long time back for the political union. They’ve been working on this for a long time, since well before even the referendum. The ramping up of anti Scottish racism throughout the press, our culture, history, economy dragged through the mud. The belittling and sidelining of the Scottish parliament, and our representatives. Its no rocket science.

It is after all what the Tories and indeed the rest of the establishment want… the end of the Union as we know it, but on their terms with the paperwork intact as it were. All nation partners locked out of an entitled establishment voting arena, yet still bound to the one parliament. All satellite assemblies powerless to act or intervene, their electorates effectively not required, utterly disenfranchised.

There is only one answer to EVEL that would honour and retain the current union, an English assembly working from the Barnett formula and given the same powers as the other assemblies, but that’s not the Tory game plan and never was.

There is only one thing that will put the mockers on their cunning wheeze and believe me, they will eventually succeed if given the time and room to do it. They have the numbers, all they require is the consensus. Only one action that will ensure we retain a decent social union, (which is the only damn union that counts), going forward and that is a rapid movement toward Scottish independence.

O/T

Austerity cuts, trying to decimate the Unions and coming out with one hellish plan after another now such as HMRC being able to raid your bank account. Looks as though this is going to be a very, very long …. five years. Let’s hope we get out of this ASAP.

I know of one man (and a number of his colleagues) who was working on a zero hour contract and was hit with a tax bill for around £1000 earlier this year. He had a terrible time trying to prove that they had got it wrong for example not being able to contact them at all. This draggged on for 5 months and they eventually just sent him a cheque for £100. No explanation, no apology just a cheque for what THEY actually owed him.

Why is HMRC not focusing on tax avoiding Corporations and so on? Daft question I know.

Another article from yahoo site: ‘Taxman’s power to raid bank accounts ‘flies in the face of Magna Carta.’

‘George Osborne’s decision to allow tax inspectors to raid people’s personal bank accounts “flies in the face” of Magna Carta, Francis Hoar, a senior barrister, has warned. Mr Hoar, a prominent human rights lawyer and lecturer, said there are “significant flaws” in the new plans, which would enable HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to take money from accounts to resolve unpaid tax bills.

MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, as well as legal experts, have expressed their horror at the proposals which HMRC says are necessary to recover tax from 17,000 “recalcitrant debtors”.

Under new “Direct Recovery of Debt” powers confirmed in last week’s Budget, HMRC can sieze funds directly from current accounts, savings accounts and Isas. Debtors will be left with just £5,000 of assets. The proposals are currently under consultation until the end of July.

“Such powers fly directly in the face of the principles of Magna Carta, property rights and due process,” Mr Hoar said in his legal briefing published by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. “Most dangerously, it treats individual property as the property of the state once the state has determined it so.”

The announcement comes as HMRC is beginning to flex new powers to demand that people pay tax within 90 days of receiving an “accelerated payment notice”, even before they have a chance to appeal the sum. This could involve paying back taxes, late payment interest and penalties to HMRC.

Under the new proposals, HMRC could raid bank accounts before debtors have a chance to appeal the amount of unpaid tax in court, or before court judgment is issued.
As a result, the proposals are said to flout centuries-old rights protecting citizens’ property from plundering kings, as well as the right to a fair trial, set out in the 800-year-old Charter.

Mr Hoar said: “Taxpayers may be unable to pay their rents, mortgages, credit card bills and so on before they have an opportunity to challenge HMRC’s decision.”

John Thurso, Liberal Democrat member of the Treasury Select Committee, warned last week that the new powers would override existing law. He said: “We are talking about the ability of one organ of the state to have the unique right to go against the Magna Carta charter and go in and seize – without judicial process or review – a bank account.

Couple of points here;

Petra’s post @10.26 am got me thinking. Isn’t this nothing but a half-arsed Tory proposal, aimed at getting us warmed to the notion of US-style health insurance.

Cameron and IDS dare not come right out and say: “You will have to start taking-out health insurance”, given this would be a direct challenge to our free-at-the-point-of-use NHS, which is, of course: “safe in the hands of the Conservative Party”. I reckon they are getting us all ready for the moment we will need to take out health insurance, and in the process enrich their friends in that business. This is the longer-term goal.

Second point – a wee bit O/T – One of the failings in the generally good overhaul of the Herald website is, in the Opinion section – the authors of the opinion pieces are no longer identified. As one posted said: “I can no longer easily avoid David Torrance” – since you don’t know until you read the thing, you are looking at some Torrance shite.

Today, when I logged-on before 7am, what is now the featured opinion piece – suggesting that Nicola should take a lesson from Cameron and look after business – had the by-line “Barclay McBain” on it. Now Barclay is a thoroughly nice chap, it clearly wasn’t by him.

That much was obvious one-third of the way down. By half-way it was clear, this was a Jenny Hujl “SNP Bad” rant. The piece later had the by-line “columnists”; the by-line now reads: “Opinion”.

I know the Herald is having production problems just now, but, hopefully they will quickly and clearly identify Mrs Cochrane as the author of his terrible piece of shite – so we can avoid it.

I know we should treasure Freedom of Speech, but, there are surely limits. Even if I was a No-voting, pro-Unionist, Scottish Conservative – I would wish to keep well away from Mr and Mrs Cochrane, the haemorrhoid and pile on the arse of the body politic.

Another take on the Greek debacle from Karen Hudes Former Senior Counsel to the World Bank now turned whistle-blower (friend and colleague of Scot Elaine Colville World Bank whistleblower). ‘Karen Hudes spent 20 years with the World Bank as an Attorney and Economist, before being “let-go” after reporting internal fraud and corruption.’ Hear what she’s got to say about the Network of Global Corporate Control.

link to youtube.com

Anyone else get the feeling that Germany (Merkel) has never given up its desire to conquer and rule Europe following losing the two World Wars?

‘German media reacts angrily to Greek bailout deal.’ link to europe.newsweek.com

This is what the corrupt, greedy blaggards want to get their claws in to.

link to youtube.com

@ Cod at 10.16

“Wee sensibledave there might be full of bitterness, but the fact of the matter is that, much as it pains me to admit it, he’s partially right. We need to amend the laws on fox hunting and hounds here in Scotland, tout de suite, if for no other reason than it removes the possible charge of hypocrisy. But mostly because it’s the right thing to do”

In Cod we trust!

At least someone has the integrity to acknowledge the preposterousness of the stance being portrayed by the SNP. I fear for you though Cod. You have dropped the “party” line and the robot apparatchiks will be looking to “re-educate” you in the very near future.

@sensibledave

I read your comment at 11:13 with a modicum of sympathy. Then I read your comment at 11:20 and thought Nah you are still an arsehole!

because my contributions are so intelligent and full of insight

No offence there sensibledave, but you couldn’t even spot the fact the fox in the cartoon was English, not Scottish. I wouldn’t go trumpeting your intelligence just yet…

As for the stupidity of the Scottish lion – did it in fact occur to you that the reaction from the Conservatives and the Unionist press was exactly the one the SNP were looking for? The rush to EVEL plays right into the hands of those seeking independence, particularly when juxtaposed against the positions taken by the Unionists before and during the referendum debate. The two positions boil down to this:

Pre-referendum: Scotland, we love you, you’re part of a family, you have an equal voice, you can’t leave, please stay – we’re four nations equally part of one country.

Post-referendum: Shut your mouth and do as you’re told. You have no voice other than the one we give you, and don’t even think about taking part in Westminster governance. It might say UK on the door, but you don’t get to play in that room. Now go to your room, you annoying little upstarts. We’re one nation, ruled by Westminster, for England, god save the queen.

And if you think that’s wrong, you clearly don’t have your finger on the pulse of Scotland.

@ heedtracker 11:00 am

Heedtracker, on the one hand, you take the line, and accept, that politics in Scotland and England are on different trajectories where Scotland is moving left and England is moving right (and I agree with you) – but then you seem to totally incapable of actually taking that on board when you start on about the Tories and the centre right in England.

If you lump the two centre right parties together, you get 55% of the popular vote.

Whilst you may not be able to comprehend why this is, and you may despise the different political leanings of the majority of the English – your understanding of the situation and ideas of how to move forward may be improved – if you least accept those facts.

Based upon your writings, being a Tory is an incomprensible admission tantamount to declaring that you believe in fairies or you think Scotland might win the World Cup.

And yet, 14 million English voters voted Tory?!?!?

That are less than 350,000 people, in the whole of the UK that constitute the top 1% of tax payers. That means that at 13.7 million people in England are not “rich” – but still voted right of centre. Try thinking things through having taken that on board.

When some sort of EVEL is eventually introduced – the majority of people in England will be absolutely delighted that they wont ever have to work under a Labour Government again, and wont have to deal with coalitions like the last one – and wont have to rely on Ms Sturgeon’s word again.

@caz-m says: 16 July, 2015 at 8:40 am:

” … Scottish Labour and BBC Scotland have a similar problem.”

Not surprising caz-m, BBC, (Scotland), are a branch office of the Establishment London Propaganda wing as are the London Labour in Scotland a branch office of the Establishment Labour Party head office.

@ Brian Powell says at 11:24 am ”Careful of the anti-German rhetoric going around in relation to Greece …. We know just how compliant the press is in putting the Government agenda and the Government, although wanting Germany (Merkel) as an ally, doesn’t want EU banking regulation to touch the city.”

Following up my comment about Germany with the media article, I admit, wasn’t the best of ideas Brian. Rather my opinion is based on an interest in history, a great deal of reading and observations.

@Cod –

I see no real impediment to having the laws amended in Scotland, particularly since the 56 SNPs in Westminster have now voted the way they have down there

Eh, they didn’t vote on anything Cod as there wasn’t a vote 🙂

Were missing the point, folks. This is a chess game being played out.

Some people see cute and cuddly dog-like animals that need protection.

I see political footballs with bushy tails.

Robert Peffers says:

I believe you may find that the matter has long been on the SNP led SG, “todo”, list but the list is rather long and, like the SNP SG, I believe they find it is far more important to deal with such things as supporting the human’s in need comes before that of animals. Such as dealing with the poll Council Tax, effects of the Labour PPI funding, homecare of the elderly, sick and disabled, neglected Scottish infrastructure, Prescription charges, preventing hospital closures and building new hospitals, schools, homes to rent, rail links to sadly neglected Scottish areas, duelling Scottish death roads, ad infinite.

I fully agree, Robert, but I do think that Holyrood now has to prioritise and deal with the fox legislation pronto, for obvious resons.

I heard on the radio this morning that the Scottish Government are supporting the formation of an alternative company to the big six energy companies , it is to be called Our Power and will be run on a cooperative basis , it aims to reduce power bills for the participating housing association and councils tenants by 10% and redistribute any profits back to users.

This is a brilliant initiative which I hope we can all get behind , Alex Neill is heading it up , so we can expect a good battle with the parasites.

Getting ordinary folks out of the hands of revenue seeking exploiters is exactly what government is about. Let’s see more of it.

Lol, Croompenstein, fair point – but it’s semantics, as I’m sure you know what I meant. But, just to be clear, the SNP MPs at Westminster revealed an intention to vote in a certain manner, which, as it happens, made the vote not happen at all.

@Robert Peffers:

are you also one of those people who put animal welfare before those of starving children, the sick and the aged

I work for Citizens Advice, money unit, and on the frontline dealing with every issue you can imagine. I regularly flag up social policy issues for cases that would make you weep. So, the answer to your question, is no. None of which means I can’t want fox hunting banned, or at least restricted more, as well. Just “because one” does not mean “not the other”. I’m perfectly capable of wanting multiple changes at the same time, as are many others.

Trust me when I say all the issues you mentioned are high on my list of things I want sorted. They are, in fact, the reasons I got into advocacy work in the first place. And unpaid to begin with, I may add. That’s how much I care about those issues. How about you?

@ Doug McG and others interested-

link to news.scotland.gov.uk

@ Socrates MacSporran says at 11:04 am ”Petra’s post @10.26 am got me thinking. Isn’t this nothing but a half-arsed Tory proposal, aimed at getting us warmed to the notion of US-style health insurance. Cameron and IDS dare not come right out and say: “You will have to start taking-out health insurance”, given this would be a direct challenge to our free-at-the-point-of-use NHS, which is, of course: “safe in the hands of the Conservative Party”. I reckon they are getting us all ready for the moment we will need to take out health insurance, and in the process enrich their friends in that business. This is the longer-term goal.”

Spot on Socrates. I think that’s exactly what they’re getting up to. Short term aims to achieve their long term objectives and they’ve had many years to formulate their plans. God only knows what they will come up with next but you can take it that this country will be totally unrecognisable in 5 years time.

Some of the most worrying aspects, I think, relate to their plans to scrap the Human Rights Act in conjunction with introducing a Snoopers Charter; pushing through their sinister Gagging Bill (affording access to union membership records and so on); misusing GCHQ and JTRIG (such as infiltration of agents to manipulate and control online discourse) and their proposals for Legal Aid reforms. Now I see that HMRC can basically raid your bank account if and when they feel like it. All very conducive for a Government that wants to target individuals or associations deemed to be anti-establishment.

They’ve also no doubt been making plans in relation to quelling the masses when things get too hot for them by using the Police, Armed Forces and Private Armies such as G45 Security Services.

”In June 2014, Desmond Tutu and others protested at G4S’s involvement with Israeli prisons. They also penned an open letter to the security firm, calling for it to “end its complicity in Israel’s abuse of child prisoners.”

link to en.wikipedia.org

Well said and drawn Chris!

Is that lion gaining strength and resolve?

You betcha…:-)

Paula Rose @ 12.43pm

Your link does not work!

Did you mean this one.

sensibledave:

“That means that at 13.7 million people in England are not “rich” – but still voted right of centre.”

And probably spend their time shouting through the wall at them bladdy Millwall fans.

Same self-defeating stupidity as unionist voters up here, in thrall to an establishment that doesn’t care if they live or die.

@ Brian Powell says at 11:49 am ”David Cameron excludes his constituency from fracking.” link to davidsmythe.org

No surprise there Brian just as Queenies estates are exempt too. I notice that the guy who wrote that article is named David Smythe. I’m sure that’s the Scottish Professor who helped block fracking in Lancashire recently …. another of Scotlands main exports … tramps … to England.

@ Robert Peffers says at 12:35 pm ”Hi! Petra, IDS is a total crook. He has absolutely no academic achievements whatsoever and has been a total failure at everything he ever became involved in and only got where he is today by fraud. I kid you not. Read the details on this link and note the crook has never sued the BBC, and many others, for their claims on air, on the net or print : –

link to bbc.co.uk

This doesn’t suprise me Robert. Another ill-educated conman with the power to make millions of peoples lives an absolute misery. Reminiscent of the Hitler entourage. I’ve also heard that he’s been on the dole at different points in time, married a wealthy women and now lives in a rented house on her father’s estate. I can just imagine that he’ll be held in utter disdain by the Bullingdon Club boys and has therefore been given the worst post in Government …. made the scapegoat.

@ sensibledave says at 7:40 am ”Absolutely brilliant – and sums up the whole stunning hypocrisy of the Scottish lion in one brilliantly drawn and perceptive cartoon.”

I agree with the point that you’re making sensibledave. The SNP has to do it’s utmost now to at least bring its Law in relation to foxhunting in line with Englands. I’ve actually wondered if many of the anti-foxhunting brigade are aware of the fact that foxhunting in Scotland is actually more barbaric than it is in England.

@ G 1.12

You wrote: “And probably spend their time shouting through the wall at them bladdy Millwall fans.”

.. I don’t know, but you may have some racial stereotype in your head that I am not familiar with. I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

@Cod says: 16 July, 2015 at 11:31 am:

… in. I see no real impediment to having the laws amended in Scotland, particularly since the 56 SNPs in Westminster have now voted the way they have down there.”

As I have commented up-thread, Cod, the tightening up of anti-hunting act has long been on the SNP SG todo list.

I’ve been anti-fox hunting since a child living on a farm in the early 1940s but, like the SG, I have my priorities right and the time short to deal with, for example, the children being fed by food banks, the care of the sick, disabled and old in our country.

Are you sure you have your priorities right?

@ crazycat says at 1:11 pm ”Petra Re: your post at 10.48 about HMRC access to bank accounts. When I read this, it seemed familiar. Then, in your last paragraph, John Thurso is mentioned as being a Liberal Democrat member of the select committee. I have checked that he has not somehow found his way onto the committee from the Lords (to which he has presumably returned as a non-voting hereditary peer, after losing his seat in May), and he has not. The discussion you have described must therefore have taken place during the last parliament; which is not to say that the idea has been abandoned.”

Hi Crazycat thanks for checking that out. I’d hate to think that I’ve misinformed people on here. I found the article on yahoo today. I’ve had another look at it and see that it’s been published in The Telegraph dated 13/07/2015. So don’t know how current it may be or not, now! We’ll surely know soon enough … when I go to lift some money from the Bank and find that the cupboard is bare, lol.

@ Roll_On_2015 says at 1:10 pm ”Paula Rose @ 12.43pm Your link does not work! Did you mean this one.

That’s very interesting. Think I may sign up to that.

snigger

link to facebook.com!/photo.php?fbid=970793546285475&set=p.970793546285475&type=1&theater

@Cod says: 16 July, 2015 at 12:38 pm:

” … I regularly flag up social policy issues for cases that would make you weep.”,

So I’m all for banning cruel hunting for pleasure but can see the SG’s point that there are far more urgent things needing pushed through Holyrood that the public want done. For example the improvements to the several, “killer”, roads particularly in the north and south of Scotland. Hardly a day passes that some poor person dies on those roads, Two ladies died yesterday on the A7 in the Borders.

@ Petra

I’ve now looked at the Parliament website to see if Thurso might be on some sort of Lords Select Committee – there isn’t a Treasury one, he’s not on the Economic Affairs committee, and I can’t see anything else which might be appropriate. (There are some splendid committees, though, such as one about the Arctic – are they still searching for the North-West Passage? – and of course Refreshments.)

Since he was definitely a member of the Commons committee in the last parliament, I think the Telegraph must be rehashing old news. Quelle surprise.

@ schrodingers cat says at 2:54 pm ”On Tue morning, Alex Salmond walked into the commons and shouted “Tally Ho” at very unamused Tories sitting on the benches.”

I heard another witty quip being made in the Commons yesterday schrodingers cat. Some Labour politician made a comment about EVEL being debated, it supposedly being a major issue for English constituents however few Tories were in attendance (less than ten!).

Someone shouted out, quick as you like, from the SNP ranks that ‘they’ll all be away foxhunting’. It went down like a lead balloon. I’ve got a feeling that the Tories really don’t have the same sense of humour as the SNP politicians.

Brian Powell,

“Careful of the anti-German rhetoric going around in relation to Greece.The UK is against the diminishing of its financial position and dominance and would like to see Germany reduced.”

Agreed.

German bashing is a well established British Nationalist tactic and it works every single time.

I think you may have not quite grasped what I’m getting at.

@Robert Peffers – I understood exactly what you were saying the first time: lots of issues, not enough time, prioritise and triage.

Which still doesn’t mean I have to accept that we cannot push through many changes. After all, if we can’t do it now with a parliamentary majority then when can we? Would you prefer we wait until the tides of time turn and the SNP no longer have a majority (hopefully that won’t happen for a good amount of time yet, but it could)?

Our politics should be aspirational, not conditional. And to be quite honest, changing the law in Scotland on foxhunting to match the law in England needn’t take up very much in the way of Parliamentary time – after all, it only needs one revision, and the SNP have a majority to vote it through.

And, yes, it may well be the case that it simply hasn’t been a priority before now, and for good reason (i.e. there are a ton of more pressing issues to deal with, and nobody thought much about this one), but with the situation regarding the SNP position on the same issue in Westminster now able to be used as an example of “SNP hypocrisy”, it has become a political necessity to make it one.

@sensibledave

how do you “know” its an English Fox?

Really?

It is hard to see how Ms Sturgeon could come to the conclusion that trashing her reputation in England and with Scottish No voters

Her reputation in England is irrelevant – she leads a party in Scotland, unconcerned with English voters. Her reputation with No voters in Scotland is a more complex situation, given that many No voters appear to have voted SNP in the General Election.

However, I would imagine the majority of those No voters (assuming they would still like to be called No voters, given the progression of events since the referendum) would be unlikely to have changed their opinion based on this event, particularly given the majority of people polled in every opinion poll, across the UK, are against fox hunting. Probably, like me, they now hope that the SNP will tighten up the law in Scotland, as they have intimated they would.

Certainly, looking at the latest voting intentions poll from TNS, this little rammy appears to have had precisely zero effect on the popularity of the SNP, so I guess that answers the question of whether this would trash Sturgeon’s (and by extension the SNP) reputation:

link to scotgoespop.blogspot.com