A cock and ball story
It’s all about the D, readers.
If you’re talking about “transwomen”, you’re almost always talking about people with a fully intact and functional penis. More than 95% of people who identify as trans have NOT undergone any genital surgery, and that’s a fact that’s still not widely understood.
So in our most recent and double-size Panelbase poll we made it explicit that we were referring to people with a full set of man-junk, and the results speak for themselves.
What surprised us most was that the place where people were MOST willing to accept trans-identifying males were rape crisis centres – precisely the places you might imagine where it was LEAST appropriate to confront women with unexpected penises. But even then, only one in five Scots found the idea acceptable.
At the other end, just one in 16 respondents backed the Scottish Government and Scottish Prison Service’s policy that there are ever cases where penis-toting rapists (or other violent criminals) identifying as women should be held in women’s prisons.
Counter-intuitively, but consistent with most polling on the issue, there were almost no differences in the opinions of men and women.
As usual young people and SNP voters were the least protective of women’s rights, but the contenders for the SNP leadership should perhaps note that 43% of young voters and 61% of SNP voters still backed a blanket ban on anyone with male genitalia being granted access to ANY women’s spaces, whatever they identified as.
(Even in the youngest demographic, the opposition to trans inclusion in each individual scenario polled ran at between 3:1 and 9:1. Not even the youth want penises in any women’s spaces if you ask the question clearly.)
And they might also heed this:
Because if Humza Yousaf wins, becomes the next First Minister and spends the next year or more fighting the UK government in court over the Gender Recognition Reform bill – keeping such a wildly unpopular policy firmly in the news and in the public eye – the damage that’s already been done to the independence cause over the cases of Isla Bryson and others could very well become catastrophic and irreversible.
Very soon now, SNP members will have to choose their priorities.
Although Isla Bryson wasn’t the first male sex offender to be put in a women’s prison, there was such a huge, public outcry because his male genitalia was so obviously visible through his leggings. That a transwoman wasn’t a transsexual came as a big shock to many. This message needs to be better understood if we’re to win this cultural war.
I wish the Rev had asked about blokes with penises getting access to women’s hospital wards, as Humza Yousaf as Health Secretary has been busy trying to get self-ID introduced there too. I’m sure if the public understood this better he’d have no chance at becoming the next FM.
.
Stuart my friend, this is the whole point or electing Humza Yousaf. To extinguish the NuSNP by appointing/annoiting such a massively incompetent individual as NuSNP First minister that the NuSNP will become UNELECTABLE for as long as and in the same way as SLAB.
So it seems SNP voters aren’t quite as stupid as it would appear though still seem happy to vote for gender ideologue SNP. Of course I disagree with allowing men in any female space and I intend to vote for a sex realist at the next election irrespective of their independence views. Some things are just too important to wheesht for.
There will never be a better chance to put Useless on the spot re the GRRB
Just ask him outright does he support the bill going forward during leader debate and get his answers broadcast and recorded because until now he has been vague
Brilliant, thanks. Hope Kate is listening. She keeps talking about “reforming” the GRR Bill, whatever that means. Clear from this Scots don’t want anything like the current bill. I know Ash gets it. Humza is lost.
I know old school transexuals who thanks to drugs and surgery look very, very much like women but they only use women’s toilets if they go in with a woman friend. The current Transwomen should not even be indulged in this way. All of them should not be near women or girls in a vulnerable area.
I peaked around 2019 when it was clear to me that all my leftish views on the entire Trans thing (which was still relatively new) was built on not just sexual deviants gaining access to women’s spaces, but unlike old school transexuals, these people wanted not to integrate and live a normal life but colonise and abuse. Around 2016 to 2017 I helped a friend’s daughter on her advice to help them transition thinking as I did then that blockers were fine and that all ‘affirmative therapy’ was proven and tested. That is until I started to see major issues with the child who was 13 at the time, binding and taking testosterone. They developed skeletal issues, walking issues and their mental health got worse and worse. It was also clear her mental development was stuck at the age of a 12/13 year old as they got older. Yes, they were intelligent but still remained childish.
I’d go with them to visits to the Sandyford and meet others who were there for treatment and once I started to meet current Transwomen (men) I just realised that these were AGP men mixed with incels and a load of younger kids with issues like autism and learning difficulties. The worse were seeing young feminine and/or gay boys being groomed by the likes of the Sandyford.
So I decided to stop accepting what the accepted line was and did some research where I found that the entire school of ‘Trans healthcare’ was built on lies and bad science. My heart completely sank when I dug into Queer Theory (which I’d discovered was driving this) to find it was riddled with paedophilia. It was then I’d realised my friend’s daughter had been groomed online, mainly on Tumblr, when I did some research and found her posts there.
It was also at this point that I realised the influence of Anime on Trans culture and how adults were grooming children to look like asexual Anime characters so looking young but of a legal age. The horror of all of this (and more) caused me to bring this up with my friend and the father of their daughter who accused me of making it up which led to them cutting me off. Last I heard the daughter was now legally living as a male having got a GRC and was waiting for a double mastectomy (never use the phrase ‘top surgery’) which I assume has happened now.
Since then I’ve discovered just how even more awful the Trans movement is, what it is doing to children who are being transformed for adults to abuse, and how adult males who despise women have a once in a lifetime chance to put women back in a place they were in a century ago. Hence zero tolerance for any males in toilets, sports or anything that infringes upon women/girls or hurts children.
We’re seeing now a massive wave of young people who were the first wave of transitioners in the late 2000s/early 2010s realising their bodies and minds have been mutilated by a cult and are trying to live as best as they can. Lawsuits are piling up. Whistleblowers are coming forward. Countries are moving away from the affirmation model. There’s a tide turning but it’ll be a decade at least for this to end and that’ll be because the sheer numbers of people in a decade who’ll realise they’ve been groomed and abused turning on the Trans cult, and those who groomed them, will be a scandal larger than that of the Catholic Church abuse scandal.
I hate how LGB people are being caught in the reaction to this, and I hate how old school transexuals who just want to get on with life are caught up in this. I despise the Katy Mongomerie types who are drooling with excitement at a generation of mutilated children as it helps ‘validate’ them. I despise the Mhairi Black types who refuse to engage the intelligence they have on this subject and are happy seeing LGB people being thrown under the bus by the Queer movement. I despise Eddie Izzard wearing women as a flesh suit and the sheer overpowering sexism of ‘girl mode’.
Most of all though I despise the people calling themselves ‘progressive’ on all spectrums of politics who’ve let this happen and are happy with the situation. They’re possibly homophobes or abusers themselves (take your kid to Drag Queen Story Hour and you need to be investigated) but are seen as ‘kind’ by others who see all of the Trans thing as the next civil rights movement. A movement which is hurting every single other minority out there as now disabled people are being dragged into this.
So, not one male in female spaces. Ever.
“Not one male in female spaces ever”
ABSOLUTELY
get stuffed greenie people and other deviants
Stu, I was just wondering where the 95% of trans people haven’t had any surgery stat comes from?
A pompous reminder that, amidst the shitshow taking place, there are some genuinely gender dysphoric young people.
A tiny number.
Most have other issues including autism which, as a processing disorder, may have influenced their development.
They do exist.
In tiny numbers.
They deserve a bit of respect and intellectually-informed understanding.
The suicide rate in this population is very high.
Wild smears against All trans people does not help.
As best I can decipher from this, the most positive thing that can be extracted is that-in the vast majority- men are just as sane and protective of ‘female spaces’ as are the ladies themselves; and quite rightly.
It is of note that the SNP supporters appear more supportive of the ‘trans’ lobby
All of this dangerous nonsense will do no good to females, to society and-I suspect- to the cause of independence
And yes, for all the difference it makes- I am for the Union
John C says:
7 March, 2023 at 6:41 pm
I know old school transexuals who thanks to drugs and surgery look very, very much like women.
The only ones who look like that are Ladys Of Bangkok types with the money to do so.
99% of m2f trannies look like Marina from Last Of The Summer Wine if they’re lucky.
Great poll and it clearly shows that men with their junk are not welcome in women’s safe spaces by the majority of the Scottish public, and as you rightly say when Murrell fixes it for Yousaf to win, the Scottish taxpayer will be forced to fork out thousands of pounds of their taxes fighting in the courts against the Section 35, even though the Scottish public don’t want the unamended GRRB.
Of course this leadership contest has been condensed into such a short time frame so as to leave enough time for the continuity candidate and next FM Humza Yousaf to challenge the S35, Murrell and Sturgeon have planned it to work out this way.
Meanwhile.
This all you need to know about Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf.
“Although some of her campaign team are understood to share Ms Cherry’s concerns about the party leadership weighing in behind Mr Yousaf, Ms Forbes said: “I don’t think there are any conspiracies or otherwise. I think this is a transparent process.”
Mr Yousaf poured scorn on Ms Cherry’s claims, saying: “It sounds pretty desperate to me I have to say. I’ve got no other advantage than any other candidate in this race.””
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/snp-party-machine-working-to-elect-humza-yousaf-warns-joanna-cherry/ar-AA18ihC6?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c821dde646804995b878d9f361ba5b30&ei=8
@Viscount Enui,
Autistic individuals are nine times more likely to die by suicide. The Trans movement clearly offers them a welcome mat for their own ends by giving them some sense of identity of proposing an alternative sense of identity which they often lack.
More intensive services for autism are definitely reqd.
I would add that most of the population mentioned in my post above are not part of the ‘trans lobby’, nor would they choose to be.
John C @ 6.41
Superb post . You got it all . The whole sick , psychotic , malignant lot of it .
Hope * well-meaning * advocates ( apologists , in most cases ) of this sanctioned insanity will reflect on the things you say , the examples you give – from personal experience – and grasp the truly appalling present and future consequences for humanity if this * thing * is allowed to spread it’s poison even further
The SNP focus should have been on ONE issue…..Independence.
Every other area should have been parked until the People of Scotland had been asked. From GRR to EU membership the SNP dictate instead of consulting.
The SNP membership are not Scotland…they keep forgetting that!
Gav says:
7 March, 2023 at 7:10 pm
Stu, I was just wondering where the 95% of trans people haven’t had any surgery stat comes from?
In my experience it’s also mainly older Trans people who haven’t had surgery as a vast number of people calling themselves ‘Trans’ are autogynophiles who want some ‘female’ characteristics but don’t want to lose their genitals. It’s younger people being funnelled into surgery partly because that’s now ‘best practise’ from the likes of WPATH, and partly as kids are groomed online into thinking their genitals are ‘wrong’.
Surgery is hellish. Even the best surgery means for Trans Indetifying Men that they have to dilate for the rest of their lives to ensure their neo-vagina (which is an open wound lined with tissue taken from elsewhere on the body or in the case of younger boys, from the intestine hence why they often end up stinking of faeces) stays open. Not dilating means the wound heals. For females going through Trans surgery the effects are equally horrific. Skin is harvested from the arm to build a stump grafted to the lower abdomen to try to mimic a penis, but please, if you search for images be warned. It isn’t nice.
Surgery mixed with drugs can lead to a reduced lifespan, and although there’s no firm studies yet, there’s some suggestion that surgery increases mental health issues and sadly, leads to suicides. The problem is these surgeries aren’t even experimental as that’d involve following up patients but they don’t. Even the NHS leaves people to hang as places like the Sandyford are now so captured by Queer Theorists that basic science and aftercare isn’t done.
“Very soon now, SNP members will have to choose their priorities.”
IMHO, the vast majority of those voting SNP members are the wokest of the woke and do not want independence.
Most genuine independence supporting members have been hounded out of the party.
The SNP has been hijacked by Sturgeon, Murrell and their fellow corrupt criminals.
We don’t need to wait for the declaration to know that Yousaf has been “elected” leader.
ALBA is the only hope.
But it took the genuine SNP decades to come to a position where it could achieve 45% support in an independence referendum.
It will be a wonder if ALBA can do it faster than that.
ClanDonald says:
7 March, 2023 at 6:11 pm
“Although Isla Bryson wasn’t the first male sex offender to be put in a women’s prison, there was such a huge, public outcry”
The public outcry has been ignored and “Isla Bryson”, the rapist with a penis, has been quietly put back in a female prison.
Public outcry counts for nothing in Sturgeon-Murrell’s rotten to core State of Scotland.
Scotland Ambient (2018): Cock O’ The North:
(Civilization – Rise & Fall: Cultural theme for Scotland):
https://tinyurl.com/yjz5ma2p
The disparity between the views of the general population and the young is striking. It would seem that the poisoning of minds has been targeted at that group for quite some time. This has been done by vested interests who have been playing the long game. Since we well know that there are paedophile rings at high levels of governments operating in plain sight, viz Savile and Harris, it is obvious what we are dealing with. Have we become aware too late?
The SNP used to receive criticism from unionists about it being a single issue party. Not that it ever was. However that single issue tag referred of course to independence. Irony of ironies, the SNP under Sturgeon has become, if not a single issue party, then a single issue obsessed party. And that issue is not independence.
Half the SNP has developed Murrell’s troughing disease and the other half has caught Sturgeon’s nasty identity politics mania.
Useless would make it worse if installed as FM – and it would be an installation rather than an election, given the HQ chicanery – and he would maybe even outdo the Murrells for narcissistic spite and craziness.
Alba is the way forwards.
gregor says:
7 March, 2023 at 8:18 pm
Cock O’ The North
Cultural theme Scotland
https://www.facebook.com/Cockofthenorth/?locale=en_GB
Geoff Anderson says:
7 March, 2023 at 7:58 pm
The SNP focus should have been on ONE issue…..Independence.
Perhaps governance should take precedence. The SNP seem to be none too good at it.
“I’ll do it” and ” my government”. Kate Forbes matching Sturgeon in the personal pronoun department.
OT
Anyone watching these 3 tearing lumps out of each other??
I thought under party rules no criticism was aloud
Mmmmm
“Allowed” even
Watching this debate… Man, Humza is nauseatingly arrogant, really condescending. He is a total empty suit as well. If he gets the gig Scotland is in real trouble.
Ash Regan for me. She is the only one who applies logical thinking to come up with a real plan. And she is no nonsense.
Oi, Humbug Useless:
1. No one cares a shit about Canon Kenyon Wright, who was a self-important old fanny and Westminster patsy who was roundly told to f**k off by the Scottish electorate every time he stood.
2. No one cares a shit about “progressive policies” when they’ve a home to heat first. It’s only cosseted middle class wonks like you that care about gender gymnastics and fringe freaks – and for that matter neither does a Glasgow Central Mosque regular like you.
3. Your clenched fists when having your arse handed to you by Kate Forbes and Ash Regan was duly noted.
Kate Forbes touched a nerve in Ash Regan when she said 1 in 4 children are hungry well the answer is simples stop westminster taking our resources & giving us a pittance back .
@James Barr Gardner
Scotland’s cultural heritage is magnificent.
Keep ‘em cumin…
Mac. Humza is an act. Everything about him shouts fake! He is like someone desperate to get a job just because he thinks he can.
Its an ego trip for him, pure and simple. He is a machine politcion devoid of warmth , originality or depth. What you see is what we will get. A man who is out for himself and has nothing to offer the people.
If the members are stupid enough to elect him. Then Scotland will fracture into minority parties. The Unionists will form a grand coalition.
What’s the preoccupation with ‘growing the economy’?
If we’re all employed, and having a reasonable quality of life, What’s wrong with the economy remaining static?
I have an O Level in Economic Organisation but would not claim to be an expert.
So, can somebody explain why ‘economic growth’ is so desirable?
(My inspiration for this question was taken from comments in the STV debate tonight.)
Well Forbes and Yousaf showed their utter capitulation on Scottish independence tonight, with only Ash Regan having a credible plan to exit this union.
The viewers question were very weak and uninteresting, possibly hand picked such was the lack of substance in them.
The three commentators discussing the candidates performances seemed to plump for Forbes who has no plan for independence.
Forbes and Yousaf along with the three commentators did their best to discredit Regan’s indy plans.
I thought Ash Regan performed best, a highlight for me was when she was asked if she had cabinet post for Yousaf or Forbes if she became FM, Regan wouldn’t be drawn into saying yes thank god for that.
Forbes and Yousaf just a couple of hot air machines that want to be in Bute House for their own personal ambition.
Regan does come across as genuine and committed to indy and with some understanding of what needs to be done in regard to getting it.
Hiya Brian Doonthetoon
Laurence Fox (07/03/2023): Twitter:
“Last Christmas I asked an old actor friend to read at a carol service for kids in a hospice. He said he couldn’t, because of the optics of being associated with me. Even though I was not even remotely involved. That’s why showbiz is dying. No one has any balls anymore.”:
https://tinyurl.com/t67cr5h5
If you want to see the SNP crash and burn, for whatever reason, then you’ve got to support Hamza Yousaf for Leader, he will destroy them from the top.
@ John C
Your male “female impersonator” friends need to Stay. The. F*#%. out of women’s spaces. Women DO NOT consent. Even if his stupid gullible female friends are too scared to stand up to him and let him walk all over them, the rest of us so NOT want him there. He and his penis are intruding, and only an extremely perverse sexual deviant would do such a thing.
And no. He doesn’t pass. They NEVER do.
ZUBY (07/03/2023): Twitter:
“The biggest problem in the West right now is many people no longer believe the future will be better than the past. This demoralisation leads to cultural malaise. And then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Shame people didn’t inject themselves with optimism instead.”:
https://archive.ph/0W47w
John C: If I hear that sentence, they just want to get on with their lives, once more, I’ll scream. These older transsexuals kept the door to women’s spaces open for this new generation, without invite or permission, and they have also ensured that not one ‘trans’/transsexual that I have ever heard of, unless he has detransitioned, has advocated for third spaces. Why not? Because they are more or less, all autogynephiles, even the transsexuals.
Anne Lawrence, a ‘trans woman’ who has written extensively on the subject has stated as much. All of it is sexually-motivated. They just do not want to admit it because it destroys the delusion and the power over others to march in tune with their control commands. The other thing, John, is that many of these older transsexuals insist that they knew from an impossibly early age that they were ‘trans’. Why do you think the push to ‘trans’ children has come about?
Also, it is many of these older transsexuals who have damaged their wives and children. Read up on ‘trans widows and trans orphans’. It is a catalogue of horrendous abuse, with some using their daughters’ underwear to masturbate into. It really is quite disturbing. Even the avuncular Jan Morris, who worked for the BBC alienated his daughter, although I am not suggesting he did anything like that.
One final thing: I have read of some of these older transsexuals who are beginning to suffer from age-related dementia or Alzheimer’s, and they have been found to have no recollection of their ‘transition’ and are deeply distressed by their loss of external sexual organs, which must be traumatic. There is no gendered soul or being born in the wrong body – just autogynephilia and sundry other paraphilias. People really need to get their heads round this, too. That is not to say that cross-dressing men cannot exist; it just means that they cannot exist in female spaces, rights, healthcare, services, sports, etc.
If any of them, older transsexuals or young ‘trans women’, cared a hoot about females and children, they would be campaigning for third spaces instead of invading women’s, even to pee – except that the paraphilia is like an addiction and takes precedence over everything, even families, and must be acted out. The sexual feelz are everything. You might think that appropriating the ‘female – woman facing – is A-OK – but many, many females do not. We find it grossly insulting and unforgivable, and view it in the same light as black facing. If anyone finds the appropriation of black experience unforgivably crass, then why do they continue to look leniently on these woman facing men? The situation is precisely parallel.
Hello Ronnie!
Briandoonthetoon…. good point regarding ‘growing the economy’. It is a euphemism for ‘more profits to the corporates’ and of course cheap labour.
We need to focus on a more rounded measure of ‘progress’ such as wellbeing which encapsulates mental and physical health. GDP is a false god and is there only to legitimise our slavery to Mammon.
Sturgeon understood some of this thinking but rejected in in favour of Andrew Wilson’s Growth Commission which is essentially a resource grab by international corporates. He made a lot of money out of massaging that entry to Scot Gov.
@ Big Jock who said
Big Jock says:
7 March, 2023 at 10:09 pm
Mac. Humza is an act. Everything about him shouts fake! He is like someone desperate to get a job just because he thinks he can.
I totally agree , so much so that I felt outrage and revulsion watching him unashamedly deliberately facing the camera and LYING right into the lens
Ash Regan missed a trick when Useless was repeatedly saying that WM would ignore ANY electoral vote for independence, she should have responded that it is wholly the responsibility of SCOTS to determine their future and the united nations would be approached to RATIFY the conditions of an international treaty
TBQH I felt Kate Forbes was more tory than the scum that infests HR
No idea what Humza Yousaf was on about. The wellbeing economy, what the hell is that? He’s not growing my self esteem that’s for sure. He was like an angry wee child banging his hands on the high chair and throwing away his dummy.
Ash Regan has the plan for Independence. She’s incredible. She’s getting better every time I hear her. Love her. Stood up to Sturgeon and the rest!
The TransCult will silence you, threaten you,……
https://archive.ph/Lkekv
Well said Lorna Campbell. Tired of these anecdotal stories of “nice” transsexuals. They are still men
Regan by a country mile.
Lorna C @ 11.16
Points taken re John C’s post eg the questionable distinction he makes between ” old school ” * Transexuals * and the new mob who * identify * as such .
Nonetheless , he also makes good points about the damage he’s witnessed , the types of people who are vulnerable to the insidious pressure from the promoters & panderers , Stonewall Missionaries and assorted clueless wannabe * progressive * drones and the rising tide of regret , depression , suicide , of which we’re just at the beginning . He also clearly states ” no * trans * * women * in female spaces ”
If the * Trans * lobby are so confident in their promotion of this ideology , so affirming , so * kind * let the public see what is actually involved in * Transitioning * , make a film which * bravely * graphically shows the horror of sliced penises attempting to be facsimiles of the REAL thing ie vaginas – and failing totally/miserably ( and be honest about the bizarre results and * maintenance * required to perpetuate the fiction ) ; show the young women having double mastectomies , the psychical and psychological impacts of * binding * . Show it in all it’s demented , gory horror .
Let’s see how * brave * the advocates & apologists are when the public are FULLY aware just what is involved in this * stunning * process of wilful bodily mutilation and psychological contortion
The public should be made fully aware of Humza’s efforts to push on with Trans policies.
Not sure how he could be happy with his mother having to share a ward, toilet,changing room et al with an Isla Byron but people need to know his continuity policy.
A dead duck first minister if the gerrymandering machine installs him, he and the SNP will be utterly gone come the next election.
@Brian Doonthetoon says:7 March, 2023 at 10:14 pm
What’s the preoccupation with ‘growing the economy’?
It’s a euphemism for growing the population, AKA immigration.
It’s an easy idea for our rulers to sell – most voters like the idea of more jobs, more opportunities, more dosh, more wonga, more folding. Certainly I do.
But if you support the idea, the next thing you will find is that as we aren’t breeding enough, the “solution” adopted by our rulers is to grow the population instead.
And if you then say “haud oan, I’m not happy with this”, the answer is “you did say you wanted to grow the economy, that’s what we’re doing”.
And if you continue to push back, because you don’t want to see your culture diluted to insignificance, your kids priced out of houses, your countryside built over, your doctor unavailable, etc. etc, then the ‘R’, ‘T’ and ‘F’ words are deployed.
Even on here.
The key facts to understand are that even though the UK economy has been growing unsteadily for the past 20 years, the population has been growing faster. So the proportion of GDP for the average citizen has been reducing. Scotland is no exception.
In other words, we are all getting poorer, apart from those with assets such as land, buildings and certain businesses.
But you knew that already.
Somebody will be along in a minute to claim the only reasons we are getting poorer are Brexit, the war, Covid, etc. and of course, these are factors very much in play too.
But, bottom line, a slowly growing pie is being divvied up between faster growing numbers of people. It’s not hard to understand that each person’s slice gets smaller.
Innarestin article on Unherd about Eddie Izzard. Here’s a wee quote:
“But the comedian has entered one of the great debates in Scotland at the moment, advising that it is not transphobic to oppose the Gender Recognition Reform Bill. Phew! It will come as a great relief to all of us who opposed the proposed law to discover that we’re not bigots after all.”
Defo some evidence to be found here and there that we have passed peak trans and peak woke.
Then again, Eddie is looking to get his fingers in the till as a Labour MP. A dose of reality will be needed. Let’s hope it’s not just a lie to get the gig.
There is evidence also that Labour may have rediscovered what a woman is. That could make the next election very interesting if Yousaf gets the top job in Scotland.
John Main @8:01am
Amen. The social safety net is falling to bits so young immigrants are needed to provide the money to pay off the people nearing retirement i.e. the ones who vote. That’s so much cheaper than the policies needed, like decent child care, education and health services needed to encourage the local, breeding-age population to step up and do their duty.
At the same time you can’t have the immigrants acquiring too many expectations of a better life otherwise you’ll end up back where you started in a few decades. Besides, who will do the jobs that that the locals don’t want because the pay is crap. Nobody built profitable businesses by writing lots of cheques to the employees.
It’s a long slide to the bottom for everyone, except the very well-off, who profit the most from immigration.
Achnababan says:
8 March, 2023 at 12:54 am
Briandoonthetoon…. good point regarding ‘growing the economy’. It is a euphemism for ‘more profits to the corporates’ and of course cheap labour…
Is it possible to agree with you and disagree at the same time?
I absolutely deplore the Neoliberal definition of growth, for the reasons stated. It is invariably maximum out for minimum in, and it has absolutely devastated traditional trades and craftsmanship across the whole spectrum. In a few decades, once the globe tires of purchasing garbage and suffers the nostalgia of properly “built to last” produce that is no longer available, the damage of Neoliberalism will be revealed too late.
There was once a BBC Hard Talk program featuring the bosses of Neoliberal DIY chains, I think Kingfisher was one, but I forget the other. Anyway, their market research indicated that the average customer might buy a tool, say a drill, take it home, use it once or twice, but then put it away in a drawer and rarely use it again. They theorised from that, that the design and construction of that drill only had to cater for a few hours of use, and the vast bulk of their customers would be satisfied with the product.
For Professional tool users, for whom the drill was totally inadequate, had to source tools elsewhere, and for a while that was possible, but “proper” tool manufacturers were penalised for producing good quality tools which could not be sold in economically sustain numbers, and many of these excellent tool producers went to the wall, and in many cases it became impossible to source professional equipment.
You can apply that same philosophy to the whole spectrum, tools in a DIY superstore, the shoes on your feet, and especially the matchstick houses many people now live in. It’s all trash, it’s not even “cheap” trash, it hasn’t saved you money, but it has lowered the benchmark standards for quality and durability in production.
The mass production of so much throwaway trash which has its own inbuilt obsolescence is a big contributor to Environmental devastation, whether it’s virgin forest plundered to make chipboard, or support palm oil, or the arguments about “sustainable” sources which actually translates as a mature ecological system devastated, but replaced with so many saplings planted like managed forestry for harvest… the trees might be replaced, but the environmental diversity is gone.
Unfortunately, Neoliberalism is a global phenomenon, and a great curse upon all of us and our planet.
I’m not sure how sustainable it is for any nation, big or small, to opt out of the Global Neoliberal Cartels, and plough it’s own furrow which actually values the traditions and genuine values of “properly” designed and built products manufactured by credited craftspeople and trades.
Maybe it’s a pipe dream, but I would love to see Scotland dedicating it’s recovery after 300 years of economic plunder and deprivation, to a “post-Neoliberal” ideal, and find a way to return economic production in Scotland to “Clyde Built” type values and standards, and have housing returned to us that has the combination of grace, elegance, durability, and robustness which was the norm before the First World War.
We should celebrate the richness of bespoke “local vernacular” expression in our Architecture, and somehow reverse this damaging abuse of our towns and cities which frequently witnesses the wanton destruction of high caliber buildings bulldozed to make way for utter trash.
Our towns and cities are now served by Corporate house building monsters, where once upon a time, our towns and cities had their own local firms and specialist tradespeople.
Coming back to growth… Neoliberal style growth is synonymous with insatiable plunder of finite resources. It is the Road to Hell. But there is a different type of growth, inward investment, keeping money circulating in our local communities and allowing cottage industries to thrive, and allowing small family businesses to make a decent living and be rewarded for bespoke high quality manufacturing, rather than have some ruthless corporation flood the market with cheap crap which will be landfill in a couple of decades.
Humanity must find a way to defeat the monster Corporations and return the stewardship of our planet to those determined to protect it.
It’s strange how we recognise this in our science fictional movies about a dystopian future, but yet exist in the time where these monster corporations were on the rise but do nothing to defeat them.
Shell Profits in one year greater than £100,000 per day, every day, since the Battle of Bannockburn while our people cannot put food on the table. That statistic just blew me away.
Breeks superb comment @ 09:30, can i share it on my Social Media?, obviously credited to you.
Geoff Anderson 07.25.
These people that are threatening need to be brought to book How do they know its a hate speech , surely the council can’t stop this on a spurious accusation
These surveys you commission and analyse are very useful and insightful, and I applaud your sterling work on this topic.
However, you’ve also highlighted in your analyses a consistent result in the SNP supporter category of greater support for these transgender policies, and I think you should focus on this aspect if you wish to improve the prospects for Scottish independence (which I myself don’t support).
The SNP needs to broaden its support in the electorate to achieve independence and that means dropping the obsession with being ‘progressive’, which seems to be at the core of its identity for the last 20 years. Stop trying to be Scandinavian in culture and just be Scottish – which is common sense, socially conservative but fair minded.
In the current leadership race, the best candidate to achieve independence would be one who doesn’t just drop the transgender nonsense, but goes further and stops the ‘progressive’ identity that undermines broader support for the party and independence. The transgender thing is merely a leitmotif for demonstrating a ‘progressive’ identity. Stop pursuing this progressive identity – once independent the country can do whatever it wants on the progressive front. Right now this progressive obsession just alienates socially conservative voters of all stripes.
An article on Unherd: “The SNP Has Become A Strange And Eccentric Sect”.
Here’s a couple of wee quotes about last night:
For what it’s worth, Yousaf was the clear winner.
I’d say Yousaf’s odds on becoming leader have shortened considerably as a result.
Ouch! That smarts.
Few Scots will like the background of the article’s author, but that doesn’t mean he makes no valid points.
Myself, I still think that if Yousaf wins, it’s game over for Indy, and for Scotland as a nation.
Growth? Here goes…
Growth masks the siphoning-off of wealth obtained by charging interest, so banks and capital investors depend on it to keep us placid. Economic culture has it that pension funds are capital investors and depend on it too. Which is true, but they could buy services like energy generation and care homes and Iand instead, distributing those goods and services around all contributors (everybody).
Transactions for goods and services still carry on during a recession – i.e. negative growth, the system still works. At least it does until the banks and investors and property owners collapse it because it isn’t funding them anymore, they “lose confidence”. It also becomes much more obvious who is suffering and who is benefitting from the interest and rent system sharpening social division and unrest.
If you look at the system in terms of ecology – the physical actions needed to feed and shelter people, instead of at the economics – a partial view focusing mainly on the money flows, you get a better analysis of what’s going on. You can easily see, for instance, that restructuring a landscape to produce one crop “efficiently”, then sending it hundreds of miles to “consumers” destroys the previous ecosystems at both ends along with communities and livelihoods that developed to use them. But it makes money for the investors so what can you do.
The (pre-marxist) Greens had the only political outlook that believed in an alternative to the orthodox drive for economic growth which did bring billions of people into dependence on a corporate-controlled global economy. They then claim these people “have been lifted out of poverty”. But at the same time that system has brought us up against finite energy and natural resource limits. Goods and services become harder to source and prices rise, pushing billions in to poverty or preventing their escape. These current problems are proving impossible for our political system to sort.
I think both Regan and Forbes missed opportunities to take Useless to task on
His “progressive” policies. Did he mean male rapists in women’s jails? Male trans blow-in
Ideologues in charge of rape crisis centres? When the Huthcie Halfwit tried ti commit
Them on the Green coalition they should have attacked the half baked bottle return scheme, as well as their trans obsession. Finally they should have questioned the electoral system which gives us lists of tories and rainbow roasters. The polling shows they would be in sure ground with the Yet to be convinced YTBC over LGBTzzzz.
Briandoonthetoon,
Growth is necessary because capitalism requires it. It is absolutely essential for capitalism to work. People with capital invest it in the hope of getting a return, and mostly, on average, they do. If they did not, they would not invest. This model, which is really a sort of giant Ponzi scheme, has operated for the last several hundred years and is now global.
It has created the modern world we live in, both the good bits and the bad. The problem is, growth cannot be infinite. The population cannot grow indefinitely. Mineral extraction cannot grow indefinitely. Mountains of waste cannot grow indefinitely.
We are approaching the point where a transition to some other form of economy is required, but this will be painful for all, especially those at the top, the ones with the capital.
That’s a very simplified summary.
A good intro to the subject is ‘Limits To Growth’ by Donella et al, 1972.
With regards to last nights leadership contest, was Kate Forbes questions (grilling your opponents) staged to garner sympathy for Humza Yousaf, via online bots etc.
“The entire SNP establishment coming out with tweets this morning saying “How very dare Kate Forbes point out that Humza is a rubbish Minister”.
All the Twitter accounts saying they have changed their minds to vote Humza, are not identifiable people and joined twitter in Nov 19.”
https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1633395692142993408?cxt=HHwWgICx_cqu_qotAAAA
John Main @ 10:24 am
It probably game over in the short term, at least.
So let’s change tack.
Don’t talk about independence. Talk about a renegotiation of the Treaty of Union instead. Three scenarios:
1 Happy with the status quo and we carry on as we have done for the last three centuries.
2 Unhappy about certain aspects, so we change them and carry on for a specified amount of years, then renegotiate again.
3 Or unhappy about the way it’s going and drop the Treaty. Independence.
Nothing about independence here. It’s a negotiation, nothing more.
I’m probably talking a lot of rubbish. But, to me, independence as a word that has become so “toxic”. Perhaps we need to stop using it.
Breeks – that is a sustainable Green economy you are describing also known as the future.
Lenny Hartley says:
8 March, 2023 at 10:05 am
Breeks superb comment @ 09:30, can i share it on my Social Media?, obviously credited to you.
Share away Lenny. Anything I say is “out there” once I’ve said it, so I don’t credited with anything. I’m glad you liked it.
KT Lorimer says:
8 March, 2023 at 11:05 am
Breeks – that is a sustainable Green economy you are describing also known as the future.
Green future? Or green past?
Take a look at the traditional Scottish / Irish Blackhouse, which was the product of centuries of evolution; 100% of the materials were sourced locally, the technology was primitive in some respects, but also durable in the face of fierce North Atlantic gales, driving rain and storms.
The communities could grow (or shrink) their townships organically according to demand, and arguably, their husbandry of livestock and crofting was far more ethical and sustainable than battery farming or factory farming of caged livestock.
I’m NOT saying Scotland should turn it’s back on modernity and resurrect Scotland according to 18th and 19th Century Dickensian values, sharing your living space with grice which occassional bit the kids, but it’s more that I resent modern Construction methods claiming to be green and environmentally sound, when in actual fact, throughout it’s history, Construction has never been less green, nor less sustainable than it currently is.
The whole thing, the entire industry is a racket, and together with it’s accomplices in Banking, mortgages and Finance, add in Governmental complicity too, the gaslighting we are all exposed to is unchecked and off the scale.
I used a Highland Blackhouse as an example, but before you ridicule the construction which has been derided as a hovel, just remember the examples and photographs we have of traditional blackhouses are seen without 150-200 years of advancement and modern evolution. Show me a timber framed house from the 19th Century, and before you pass judgement, allow a traditional Blackhouse comparable advancement and modernisation.
Gary Lineker’s comments on this fascist Tory Government are well earned and justified.
In 1930’s Germany the targeted the weak and disabled and of course foreigners and Jews.
They removed hundreds of thousands which gave more for the so called elite.
Hitler prorogued Parliament to ensure he had total authority.
They silenced by many means those who would speak against them.
The poor workers had promises of great things so money that could have improved their lives went to the military.
If you were a member of the party you could receive contracts and jump queues.
The media was taken over as supporters or closed down.
The Tories introduced the Bedroom tax were 81% of those affected disabled.
Many thousands were forced out by Brexit and that included NHS staff who supported the sick. With the NHS driven to its knees the week are now dying in great numbers waiting on treatment.
Boris tried to prorogue parliament to copy this same route to total control.
The BBC as they did with Indy ref 1 will not employ anyone against the Union or the government. Although Indy was at 50% I never heard one commentator pro Indy.
Their job depended on it as does Gary Linakers now.
The U.K. workers have become poorer and poorer with millions fighting heat or eat.
Money the government is to be now focused on the military when the enemy lies within.
If you are a member of the Tory Party or Donor you can have the Emergency contracts and PPE Contracts and all sorts of breaks like the Banker’s bonus cap removed and reduced tax levels in the last budget and no problem not passing rate rises on to savers.
People who hate the BBC and don’t watch it but do want the other channels must have their propaganda forced on them for £159.00 per annum.
Let’s blame not the Tory policies but those from nations who were robbed by the Empire
Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Palestine, etc
The Tories are immoral and cruel and deserve Gary’s comments as their softer words do not mask fascism.
I heard about this Michael Rosen poem on James O’Brian’s show and it’s exactly where we are.
I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.
Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will restore your honour,
make you feel proud,
protect your house,
give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood,
remind you of how great you once were,
clear out the venal and the corrupt,
remove anything you feel is unlike you…
It doesn’t walk in saying,
“Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution.”
@ Breeks
Aye, humans are an odd bunch as can be seen by their often conflicting priorities. Some will spend money on a gym membership to tone up their bingo wing arms, but they’ll buy a car specced up with leccy windaes… FFS, what was wrong with environmentally friendly keep fit wind up handles!
100%
The latest post was quite interesting. A popular film a few years ago, depicted Eddie Redmayne as a transwoman. The film was set in the Ist half of the 20th c. and the hero/heroine was the first man to undergo elective surgery with a view to a sex change. Of course there were other surgeries prior to this event involving castration with a view to creating individuals (Eunuchs or castrati) who would not be troubled or distracted by carnal inclinations or voice box changes. These individuals were employed as administrators, or as officials in all female groups/harems to monitor sexual activities for some anxious patriarch, or sing in a certain way.
Ironically the surgery was not always effective and occasionally a ‘Eunuch’ would retain their penetrative and ejaculatory capacity (while being sterile) which I imagine was an unexpected bonus for the ladies in the room. The surgery needs to occur before the onset of puberty to suppress the male behaviour. Post puberty, the male sexual behaviour persists despite surgery.
I understand there was also a tradition of’ castrati’ in Italy to provide an additional; musical option for composers. The male soprano voice is qualitatively different to the female soprano voice.
It is still possible to visit Italy and hear ‘ boy’ sopranos at (often) religious gatherings although these are no longer ‘elective castrati’, as far as I know. For anyone interested, go to Loreto In the Abruzzo region of Italy where they often wheel out young boy singers to entertain the religious tourists.
There and also accidents or war/violence injuries involving castration.
For some reasonI can’t fully explain I associate the increase in interest in transgenderism with the Eddy Redmayne film. The film presented a very sympathetic view of sex change although the Eddy Redmayne character did not survive the surgery.
The surgery , while much improved from the time depicted in the film, is still quite risky with some undesirable risks to the urinary system.
Anyway to get to the point,I understand that one of the rights sought by the transgender lobby is the ‘right to surgery’. My guess is that the medical fraternity are somewhat reluctant to carry out an irreversible procedure with potentially serious side effects to a pre pubertal child. I think that means that the trans activists are agitating for a higher priority or greater access for genital surgery in the NHS.
The thought then came to me that, if surgery was to be a precondition for a gender change certificate, the result might be a sharp reduction in the campaign for the ‘right’ to self identify.
DGP
As i said at the start & throughout this GRA the costs to our SNHS will run into £££££££ billions Gender reassignment + the ongoing medication for life / ill thought out bill .
If men identifying as women want to join the long queues for the ladies’ toilets more fool them. My wife got around the problem at an airport recently by going to the gents’ toilet. She decided not to wait in line and said that if she was challenged she’d say she was identifying as a man. Goose and gander comes to mind.
Breeks thanks