Wings Over Scotland

A cracker!

I believe that Norway is going to stop producing oil as its just too much hassle and you just never know the minute when it will run out.
 
 

The name Vitol bears an uncanny resemblance to “Vitriol” Are they in any way related? Perhaps we should be told? 
 

“Good Oil”= diluted (taken apart)
“BAD Oil”=undiluted(still retaining it`s core ingredients)  
 
 

Do we actually print our own notes or do we have our own notes printed somewhere else? Not that it matters much either way, except that if they’re printed elsewhere Johann will want to know why they’re not made in Scotland from Scottish steel.

A  simple guide to currency union.
Whichever currency Scotland adopts depends on who is negotiating . What is Labour’s or Tory’s preferred currency.  Sterling no doubt.
The rest of UK needs a currency union because the UK balance of payments deficit is £38 billion but if you remove oil and whisky revenues from the UK figures then the UK deficit becomes £88 billion and valuable collateral would be lost to help support sterling if Scotland adopts a different currency.

Treasury figures cannot be trusted
 On 11 April the Public Accounts Committee report calls the whole UK government  accounting  system into disrepute. It lays out in clear terms that the public finances are not being managed effectively. Having examined the way Treasury accounts are presented it comes to the conclusion that the government’s financial books are ‘an elaborate accounting exercise’, that figures provided are not ‘a meaningful tool’  and that government accounting is not transparent, and when eventually presented still has to be qualified and revised.

The words of the Public Accounts Committee should be ringing in our ears next week. It is even more clear after this report  that only by voting Yes in September 2014 can we have responsible management of Scotland’s economy.

@Alan Gerrish – Aye I watched that Alan, McFall only out for his own gravy train. I have to confess I think that Jim Cuthbert has a point and that eventually an independent Scotland will have its own currency. However, post independence it makes sense to keep the pound in the immediate future. One thing for sure, Britain is approaching bankruptcy sooner rather than later.

@Bill C
 
Hope you watched Scotland Tonight pa, George Kerevan absolutely destroyed Alf Young on the currency debate. Brilliant!
 
Good.  Alf Young is another Arthur Midwinter type character.  Has Scottish Labour connections, but that is never referred to in the MSM (or by himself for that matter).

Excellent cartoon, as always. Speaking of bad/good dichotomies,  has anyone else noticed Labour types going on about “good politics” and “bad politics” recently? The best was Anas Sarwar on Newsnicht last week – it reminded me of the “Good AIDS/Bad AIDS” thing from the legendary Brasseye.
 
Chris Morris would have had so much fun with Sarwar on Brasseye – I can just imagine him saying “I’m talking Nonce Sense.”

O/T but I see NNS have a story on the SNP putting the ginger minger on the spot about vitol and EBT payments….. get’s more interesting by the day.

On the Topic of why Ed will not be prime minister and Labour have little hope of winning the next UKGE.
link to ipsos-mori.com
 
 
 

@ ianbrotherhood
 
I’ll happily give you 50 – 1 that no-one but no-one will ask the blubber about vitol’s EBT during his state visit today! Nor will he be asked to explain why corporations decide how much they’re taxed by negotiation with HMRC and not by demand as we mere plebs.

At present, the Scottish Parliament controls just seven per cent of Scotland’s revenue base, and that would only increase to 15 per cent under the terms of the Scotland Act. With independence, Scotland will control 100 per cent of our revenues, which is what it needs to be to build a stronger economy and fairer society.?”The combination – which only comes with independence – of keeping the pound, accessing Scotland’s abundant resources, and taking decisions on tax and other economic policies that are right for Scotland, is the best way to boost jobs and growth. “Scotland’s finances are consistently stronger than the UK’s – generating more revenue per head than the rest of the UK in each one of the past 30 years – and Scotland has had a lower fiscal deficit than the UK over the past five years. With the additional economic levers that independence will provide, and the up to £1.5 trillion asset base provided by Scotland’s   oil and gas reserves, an independent Scotland will stand on a strong financial footing.
link to newsnetscotland.com

@Major Bloodnok-
 
Aye. 
 
Barter Together.
 
Oil for panda semen.

It really makes you wonder about the common sense of Better Together and the Greater Tory Party. Visiting Scotland on St George’s day to lecture us! I mean, come on! Either Danny the Fanny is supremely arrogant or he’s lacking in common sense. He should be having a word in the ear of his boss Gideon. His comic timing is actually pretty good and he’s probably in the wrong job!

@Norsewarrior-
 
Hi. Hope you had a nice weekend.
 
I asked for your thoughts on Taylorgate over at Quarantine last Friday (at 10.55 am), but to save you finding it, here it is:
 
‘NW, you’re reading this. You are cordially invited to visit Quarantine and give us your thoughts on Taylorgate. I’m not ‘demanding’ anything. I’m not asking any questions. I’m simply requesting that, as a frequent contributor to this site, and one who is clearly abreast of unfolding news, you state your position on Ian Taylor’s donation, BT’s handling of it, and Lamont’s performance this morning. I’m sure many of us are keen to hear your take on this stuff. So, can you please have a go at it sometime today?’
 
Clearly you were busy, but would you like to address the above before before moving on?
 
Cheers.

NW: the economic argument 
Was won long ago. That’s why 7 in 10 are willing to vote for full fiscal autonomy/Devo Max and only a minority think Scotland would be financially worse off if it was independent. Unsurprisingly, that’s around 3 in 10, i.e. those that are not up for devo max / FFA. The rest think Scotland would be better off or no worse. Been the same in polls for years now.

It is that final leap into the big bad world – foreign affairs and defense – that has traditionally been the sticking point.
The dodgy donation will not be forgotten. It may stop being mentioned in the papers all the time but e.g. everyone remembers the MPs expenses scandal. These things slip from the limelight, but the electorate don’t forget them. Unionist political parties treat the electorate like they are stupid because they can. What choice do people have; it’s Tory Labour or Lib. When given an alternative, look what happens. In this case, the potential end of Britain…

Out of interest, following on from our discussion on Westminster VI before. Things are looking bad for Labour. All the polls now showing a narrowing gap with the Tories and Ed not seen as PM material with lower positive rankings than Dave. I can’t see how Ed can win in 2015; he needs to be 20 points ahead at least by mid next year.

Some interesting stuff on this from MORI here:

link to ipsos-mori.com
link to ipsos-mori.com

Ooch. Ed is way behind Tony ahead of 1997 and Dave ahead of 2010. Same applies for Labour as a whole. Only 23% think Labour are ready for government and  24% Ed ready for PM. That’s really not good for Ed. Tory mess or not, the electorate don’t think Ed et al. can do better so they’ll vote the Tories back in; at least they have a plan.

Labour losing ground being picked up by the MSM now:
link to guardian.co.uk
link to newstatesman.com

You can see it in Scots VI too. They made a slight recovery after the disaster that was 2011 but that has stalled or is being lost according to the latest polls for both Westminster and Holyrood VI.

“BT accepted the donation – should they now return it?”

Yes. 

“What about Lamont’s performance versus David Millar (I assume you heard it, or have seen transcripts)” 

I didn’t. 

“Speaking as a member of the ‘general public at large’ who, like you, happens to favour independence, don’t you think the Yes campaign should demand full transparency”

Neither of us are the ‘general public’ I was referring to. We are both interested enough in politics and independence that we regularly read and comment on a political blog, most of the general public aren’t. 

But yes, as I said, obviously the Yes Campaign should highlight any dodgy donations and ask for transparancy, although not at the expense of other issues that I believe will have far more impact on winning the referendum.

“the economic argument was won long ago”

So why are both sides still arguing about the currency then? As polls suggest that most Scots will vote for or against independence based on economic issues (i.e a majority would vote against if it meant them being £500 worse off), if the economic argument had indeed been won then presumably the yes vote should be leading in the polls by a large margin? 

“Things are looking bad for Labour. All the polls now showing a narrowing gap with the Tories”

Yes I saw those polls the other day. I still can’t see the Tories winning a majority though, I think Labour will probably be the biggest party and then presumably form some sort of rainbow coalition.

Nice piece of work and so on the mark.
 
Slightly o/t, the Guardian is in full carpet bombing mode again over Osborne’s report on a sterling zone currency union. You know they don’t have to shout. One scary story is enough to get their skewed message across. We’re not deaf you know. 🙁

“The dodgy donation will not be forgotten. It may stop being mentioned in the papers all the time but e.g. everyone remembers the MPs expenses scandal”

Yes but which party had the most MPs who wrongly claimed expenses? The same party that still won the 2010 election just a few months later! 

Perhaps a few people will vote based on political donations (or expenses) but the vast majority of the general public have no real interest in such things when it comes to who or what they vote for.

“Would you mind, when you quote a previous poster, if you would identify who it is you are quoting”

Sorry I’ll do that in future. My post at 10.49 am was quoting ‘ianbrotherhood’, and the one at 10.44 am was quoting ‘Scottish_skier’

As polls suggest that most Scots will vote for or against independence based on economic issues.

I have all the polls for the last 15 years and don’t worry – that’s just not true. Hence 7 in 10 Scots willing to raise and spend all their own taxes. That’s why a recent poll on motivations said ‘a fairer society’ was the top ranker.

As Rev as posted about before, Scots want independence unless you call it that. It’s that leap from almost complete autonomy within the UK to the big bad world – hence FA and defense sticking points – that is holding things back.

As I said before, polls consistently show only a minority believe Scotland could be worse off if independent. You can understand why; it would be difficult to be worse off than the UK.

Currency is a waste of time for the pro-union campaign. Jeez many who support independence want a different currency as do many who might vote Yes. Saying ‘you’ll have to have a different currency’ could actually encourage a Yes; probably more so than encouraging a No.

Oh and I see the Sun has picked up on Labour’s falling lead too:

link to thesun.co.uk

Yougov tend to have high figures for Labour so the fact they are now showing the falling lead in line with all the others must be very worrying for Labour. Good news if you support independence I guess though.
 

“I have all the polls for the last 15 years and don’t worry – that’s just not true”

Clearly you don’t have this poll then: 
link to bbc.co.uk
Only 21% of Scots would vote for independence if it meant them being £500 a year worse off, whereas 66% would vote for it if it meant them being £500 a year better off.

Aye Norsewarrior, chin up, laddie!
 
Also, you’re doing that thing again.  You know what I mean.

Manic Monday says:
 
22 April, 2013 at 11:06 pm
 

Treasury figures cannot be trusted
 On 11 April the Public Accounts Committee report calls the whole UK government  accounting  system into disrepute….

The UK government, the DM readership shriek that the EU hasn’t published accounts for years. They conveniently forget that it’s because EU member state governments, such as the UK government, haven’t supplied the data.
 
 
You cannot make this up. George Orwell was soooo right in 1948. Doublespeak and now the  Party (Labour) Truth Team (Ministry of Truth, anyone?) are taking over.
 
Run, Scotland, run! While you still can!