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Wings Over Scotland


Another tragic victim

Posted on December 18, 2017 by

Yesterday we brought you news of the Scottish Mail On Sunday’s deep concern that the new Scottish budget might cost wealthy old people cashing in a £600,000 pension pot as one lump sum as much as £3,000 in extra tax. It was a heart-rending tale, but today we have one even more harrowing.

That’s our old Scotland In Union pal Merryn Somerset Webb writing in “the UK’s best-selling financial magazine” Money Week, and she was furious.

She started off with a tear-choked plea on behalf of people who were barely making ends meet on just six times the national average full-time wage – people like the Prime Minister, who currently gets only £150,402 (plus perks):

But then she decided the seriousness of the situation needed more emphasis, so she doubled up just to really drive the point home.

In case you’re not quite sure what you just read, that was someone claiming that a family on an annual income of £300,000 might leave Scotland in a fit of piqued injustice because their earnings were no longer enough to afford a nice holiday.

And the reason they’d do so is that two successive years of vile SNP tax changes have left them in a situation where that level of income had been effectively reduced to the barren pittance of just £296,452 a year (or a barely-survivable £5,701 a week).

(Heavens, just imagine how hard they must work, unlike some useless scrounging layabout nurse, teacher, firefighter or train driver on less than £33,000 pa, let alone a minimum-wage cleaner or shop assistant or office worker that barely even bothers getting out of bed for their two-hour commute.)

We hope readers aren’t too traumatised to carry on. We should probably have issued a trigger warning at the start of the article. But the weird thing is that not too long ago Somerset Webb was urging the Scottish Government to do exactly what she’s just attacked it for – use its new tax powers to raise extra money for public spending.

It’s a puzzler. But in a week when the Guardian related the tale of a family who’d only been able to eat because they’d been invited to a funeral, and as Universal Credit rolls out across more and more of the UK, bringing Victorian levels of destitution with it, we hope readers will spare a thought for the poor skiers.

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Croompenstein

Oh the humanity! why is Sturgeon doing next to fuck all to support winter sport.

Bill Glen

Please feel free to join the rest of us on our Skiing Holiday Merryn, And realy at not much cost, All you require is an auld pair of Trainers and Snow sloped Hills (We have many of those in Scotland)And go for it,, A Couple of Small branches may come in Handy for Ski Poles 😀

handclapping

Whats worse is that a skiing holiday in Scotland is so expensive for the poor dears. I mean the cost of petrol in the Range Rover from Great King Street to Aviemore is more than a couple of Ryanair tickets to Davos.

Alex Monaghan

What is the world coming to when a couple earning 300 grand is expected to fork out a little bit more for the needy. It’s not as if they CREATED the needy by, say, voting Tory, or not paying their employees a living wage. No, the needy just sprout out of the earth to suck the lifeblood from poor hardworking millionaires – well millionaires anyway. Bastards – let them starve! Oh wait – that’s exactly what the UK government is doing, isn’t it? Merry Christmas, Mr and Mrs Scrooge!

Old Pete

Ms. Webb a total arse, enough said ?

Dan Huil

Britnat bile. Just when you think these Britnats can’t get any more pathetic…

Ian McCubbin

This is well put Stu you speak for tge many. As a retired teacher I worked hard saved hard and managed 3 ski holidays in 20 years for a family of 5.
I have no sympathy for such scare mongering press.
Scotland could do fine withoit sone of those £290k plus a year people.
If they chose to stay well and good paying for there priviledgea is a duty.

Marie Clark

Well stap me vitals old chap. Dashed bad show what. Can’t afford the skiing holiday, bad form indeed.

Well madam Somerset Webb, welcome to the real world where some poor souls are unable to afford to eat, never mind skiing holidays. What a sad, sad person you are. So boo feckin hoo to you and all your ilk, you sefish, arrogant pillock.

I think I’d better just stop now as the steam is just about to come oot o’ ma lugs.GRRRRRR>

Morgatron

I cant believe the shitty SNP wont guarantee to ring fence these trips to Valdeser & Cortina , dirty rotten bastards. These poor hard working folk on 5k a week lives will just disintegrate. Honestly Merryn Nottingham Pleb is just an arsehole.

Croompenstein

They could always flee doon Stoorie Brae on a Younger’s Tartan Special beer tray 🙂

HandandShrimp

The woman is off her trolley. Why the feck would one move to Newcastle? The cost of commuting would wipe out any tax savings and make life a misery of eternal trains and cars to boot.

If this is the level of her understanding of human needs and nature then her advice is not worth the paper it is written on. A classic Tory that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Work, family, schooling, a home are all part of the life’s deal. Simply upping sticks and moving to God know’s where to save tuppence when it would take a life time to regain all losses associated with the move is just insanity. I suspect those on £300,000 are not as foolish as she is. They will weigh up the home, the free university tuition and other soft benefits and say “you know what, moving is not worth it”.

Vestas

I’m surely not the only one who thinks :

“Good, if you’re that selfish then you vote Tory and would vote No in #indyref2 anyway so domicile yourself in England then”

If you are on the electoral roll in Scotland then you pay tax in Scotland…..

scottieDog

But she conveniently ignores the bumper effects of QE on the same type of people.
That saw the government pump money into the stock exchange raising the value of their assets by around 20%.

Cath Ferguson

I didn’t think Somerset-Webb actually lived in Scotland. If she does, and this makes her move away, I’ll try not to cry too much. Next on the list, make sure wealthy second home owners who don’t actually live and pay tax here are taxed until the pip’s squeak on those. Oh, and bar anyone who’s registered as “an English taxpayer” from being allowed to vote in Scotland, especially in the next referendum.

Helpmaboab

Can I play the devil’s advocate?

Merryn might not be the shallow, grasping, callous, reactionary, over-privileged, Scrooge-in-A-Barbour-Jacket suggested by today’s article. (And every other article in her career.)

She may, perhaps, just be putting on an act. Trying to please the shallow, grasping, callous, reactionary, low-rent speculators who read her magazine. (And so pay her salary and keep her in regular trips to Chamonix.)

Yes. That’s a much better explanation.

Oh. Haud on. Wasn’t she also a director of Scotland In Union…?

galamcennalath

Youse lot just dinnae get it!

This poor family on an annual income of £300,000 have got school fees to pay, private health care AND that mortgage on the second home on Skye. Making ends meet is such a challenge these day.

Capella

Surely this is a spoof account. Nobody could be that divorced from reality.
Or is this tumbril talk.
Signed

Madame Defarge.

Graham Ballantyne

What kind of world does she inhabit? How utterly remote from the experience of most peoples’ lives you’d have to be to even consider using that “one less skiing holiday” argument? May she bugger off back to England pronto: one less Edinburgh English Tory colonist.

mike cassidy

She’ll soon be claiming that only evidence of an annual skiing holiday is sufficient ID proof that you are entitled to vote.

link to archive.is

Craig P

What kind of absolute scruff goes on a family skiing holiday that only costs three grand?

Anyway Mackay may have stolen hedge fund Henry’s skiing holiday but progressive taxation gives him something more valuable – the right to walk down the street and look people in the eye.

Reticent Bob

Even if they don’t have to give up all of their skiing holidays they’ll certainly need to cut the number down by one. Sad!

Elmac

Stupidity knows no bounds, especially if it is steeped in the tory ethos. The extremely fortunate family with a combined income of £300k would be worse off south of the border once they took into account free university tuition fees, free subscriptions and the like. Is she for real or just an idiot?

A complaint to ofcom on the basis of factual inaccuracy would be justified, but why bother, there are a multitude of such inaccuracies, lies and omissions in our garbage press and media on a daily basis. Wake up Scotland. Lets get out of here!!!

David Mills

Thanks Rev
For pointing out the hypocrisy of the unionist horde for year crying why don’t the Scottish government us it powers and when they do condemning that action

pacman

I doubt very much that the people whom the article mentioned above is aimed at would waste their time reading such rubbish due to their financial advisers advising against it 🙂

Adrian B

I do hope that an interviewing ‘journalist’ might one day ask Merryn why 99% of the population should pay for skiing holidays for the top 1%.

Anyone on Twitter may wish to ask Merryn similar question. *Odd Priorities*

geeo

How to get the rich to pay…

Scotsgov…”Here is your tax bill, non negotiable, WE DECIDE what you are paying, no special advisors etc…”!!

Big business (starbucks etc)…..”if you make us pay tax we will move our HQ out of Scotland..then you won’t get..errr…ANYTHING”

Scotsgov….”fine, but no tax = no EARNING money in Scotland, shut ALL your shops and get tae fuck.

Big business….”but what about our workers..ha”!!

Scotsgov…”we will encourage small independents to fill the clear gap in the market after you leave, or invite big business who WILL pay our tax bill”

These fuckers need to remember they actually SELL STUFF to make profits.

No tax, not allowed to operate.

Hamish100

Dear ms m s Webb ( what no hyphens?- what’s the world coming too?)

Have you heard of terms like
Greedy
Selfish
Self-centered
Avarice
Grabbing
Guzzling
Grasping
Or just a greedy Tory b**sterd!

Willie Hogg

I use to have a subscription to money week but during the run up to the referendum I had discussions whith Merryn regarding Scottish independence and decided that as she was clearly pontificating on subjects she had no understanding of, I cancelled my subscription.

mike cassidy

Further thoughts of Chairwoman Merryn

Same day –same magazine

link to archive.is

Now it might be easy to laugh at the appeal to her of violent, criminal entrepreneur, Magwitch!

But Ayn Rand says it all.

link to archive.is

Her support of Scotland In Union is really a fear that an independent Scotland would expose all the economic bollocks being inflicted on the English and Welsh by her kind.

Brian Doonthetoon

Merryn Somerset Webb is one of the ‘default’ unionist ‘experts’ that the BBBC hauls out of the troll cupboard when an episode of ‘Question Time’ is lacking a unionist ‘fount of all knowledge.

From Wikipedia:-
“Merryn Somerset Webb (born 1969/1970) is the Editor in chief of UK personal finance magazine MoneyWeek, writes for the Financial Times, the Sunday Post and Saga Magazine and is a radio and television commentator on financial matters.”

link to en.wikipedia.org

Her political viewpoint can be seen from the clip at this page (I won’t archive, because archive.is won’t capture the video).
The headline is,
Peerage for ‘committed’ Nigel Farage is ‘an EXCELLENT idea’ admits Question Time panellist

link to express.co.uk

Gfaetheblock

More odd framing of financials in this article. The Rev seems unaware that there is £120k+ of tax being paid by this scenario. Surely disincentiving these jobs ( through folk leaving, but more likely through less job creation) is a genuine worry and downside risk of this tax policy. Inverse snobbery re ski holidays is still snobbery

“And the reason they’d do so is that two successive years of vile SNP tax changes have left them in a situation where that level of income had been effectively reduced to the barren pittance of just £296,452 a year (or a barely-survivable £5,701 a week).”

[…] Wings Over Scotland Another tragic victim Yesterday we brought you news of the Scottish Mail On Sunday’s deep concern that the […]

Gary45%

Cancel the skiing holiday or move to Newcastle?
Neither just go to Fort Bill, they are doing cracking deals in some of the hotels, season ski pass x 2 adults still way cheaper than abroad. If the snow is lean there’s plenty more things to do, like supporting the local economy. Perhaps she could ski at London’s premier ski resort at their “mighty mountain” Primrose Hill.
Oh Dear Nae Snaw.
So Ms Webb can go and do one. Smile and “mind the gap”

Morgatron@7.05 she can’t be an ar*ehole, as ar*eholes are useful.

geeo

Last i checked, the rich get one vote in elections, just like the poorest.

That must really annoy them (the rich)…especially in a country which has roundly rejected WM unionist policies aimed at the rich.

Trouble is, that was alright when we still got those unionist policies, but now the penny is finally dropping, we can get rid of them, and all it costs is one wee ‘X’ in the Box marked YES.

Scotland may have poor people, they may be vulnerable and they may be downtrodden, after centuries of oppression by the WM elite, but with one simple act of democracy, they can be uplifted from poverty, shake off the yoke of forced servitude and roar like proud Scottish lions.

Vote Yes, let your Scottish lion roar proudly.

Gfaetheblock

The surprising thing about debates on Scottish tax policy is that lessons do not appear to have been learned from the devolution of stamp duty. Much of the same ‘tax the rich, they have thousands of pounds lying around’ rhetoric was getting chucked around two years ago, but the actual impact of the policy was the reduce tax take and have a neagative impact across the market.

link to rsmuk.com

Capella

A tweet I saw the other day:
1d may not seem like very much to you and me, but to a millionaire it’s a very great deal indeed.

How true.

Brian Doonthetoon

I’ll just type that my last (and only) “skiing holiday” was in early 1968, when, as a component of a weekend spent at Bearfaulds Lodge, with the paramilitary wing of the church of Scotland (the BB), my Saturday was spent skiing down the nuresy slope at Glenshee, then clambering back up to repeat the process; all day…

No’ as much fun as sledgin’ doon an icy pavement, to be honest. But different – and gave me a taste for ‘the high life’, to which I still aspire.

shiregirl

My heart is bleeding for her.

How will she survive without her skiing beano to Val d’isere?…

Bless.

Gary45%

Sorry folks a wee serious O/T
Commiserations to our southern cousins for getting TOTALLY PUMPED at the cwicket. HAAAAA HAAAAA
Christmas came early ya dancer.

sandra

If they can’t afford to ski they can always visit the private island her husband owns.
link to ft.com
Sounds as if the poor soul has had a hard life!

Andy-B

It really isn’t about the Scottish governments policies, it’s all about finding ludicrous ways of attacking the Scottish government, anyway they can.

It wouldn’t matter how good the policies were, SNPBAD, is all that matters.

Pacman

There are a lots of Scots who have emotional ties to the United Kingdom even though it doesn’t or ever will benefit them financially.

I wonder how many of these individuals feel when their UK ‘fellow travelers’ go on like this, which really boils down to reverse class-envy, especially when most of the benefits from these tax-raises will help them in their day to day lives?

johnj

Bloody Hell, I’m going skiing in January as it happens, Easyjet Geneva under a 100 quid then self catering. I’ll send her some advice.
But seriously, move from Edinburgh or Glasgow or just about anywhere in Scotland to Newcastle just to save enough to go skiing. She’s bloody bonkers.

And her kids can find 9 grand a year for university fees. This woman is seriously stupid.

G

Cath Ferguson:
“Oh, and bar anyone who’s registered as “an English taxpayer” from being allowed to vote in Scotland, especially in the next referendum.”

Excellent point.

And to anyone threatening to move away because of this, don’t let the door hit your arse on the way out.

Scot Finlayson

People like her have lived their lives in a privileged bubble,
through elite private early schooling then up to Oxford or Cambridge,
then straight on to a media/academic/political career surrounded by the same privileged types they grew up with,

these people have no conception of hunger,fear,struggle,lack of basic amenities,they are the establishment born to lord it over us plebs,

she cannot help her nature,the same as a tapeworm,both must follow their natural calling.

Valerie

Incredibly distasteful and insulting from this smug, posh lady.

Disabled benefits cut, growth in foodbanks, rough sleeping and folk actually dying trying to exist.

She should be ashamed of herself.

People with any class never flaunt what they earn in order to score points, or makes others feel inadequate.

Skiing is the last thing on the mind of majority of Scots.

Artyhetty

Wow. You have to laugh or you would cry. I laughed at the skiing bit, how terribly unfair of Nicola Sturgeon to clip the wings of the rich like this! I know what I would do with their ski’s and it would not be pretty.

Newcastle? Really? Really? Has she been there lately? I have family there, and they tell me that crime is huge, unemployment is huge and my cousin just had their wages cut by the Labour council by er, 40%! The council leader took a 20% pay RISE, nice. So as care workers they might just be er, looking to move to Scotland in fact.

Some people need to watch a modern day scrooge, on a loop, eyes kept open forcibly. Sorry I know it’s condoning torture, but these people are happy to see our poorest and most vulnerable really suffer, really go hungry and have nothing to fall back on. The UK media, Britnats and their dodgy pals are a load of squalid, parasitic, inhuman swillers.

They make me sick. Watch you don’t choke on your turkey, gits.

Bill McLean

My God! Are we really in a union with people like this????

exile

This is my first post,
off, but close, to topic.

The following article appeared in the Harrogate Advertiser edition of 14 December 2017.

“Local democracy reporters appointed

The owner of the Harrogate Advertiser Series of newspapers, Johnston Press has been announced as one of the media organisations to employ local democracy reporters as part of the Local News Partnerships.

The BBC’s Local News Partnerships have created a pool of reporters to cover council and public meetings across the UK.

Johnston Press is among a number of media organisations to now receive funding from the BBC to cover the reporters’ employment costs.

Once recruited, stories written by the democracy reporters will be shared with more than 700 media organisations that have signed up to be part of the Local News Partnerships scheme.

The landmark partnership between the BBC and the News Media Association also includes a Shared Data Unit, and a facility allowing local news providers access to relevant regional BBC video and audio content.

Ashley Highfield, chair of the News Media Association, said: ‘The ground-breaking Local News Partnership between the NMA and the BBC is now becoming a reality which will benefit the BBC, local media and, most importantly, local communities.

The initiative has moved the whole relationship between the BBC and the local media sector from confrontation to collaboration, and key benefits will include 150 new journalists on the ground holding public institutions to account on behalf of their readers. Managed by local media and funded by the BBC, the Local Democracy Reporters are just a part of a slew of collaborative initiatives that will see local media get access to BBC’s local video and data journalism.’

A total of 150 local democracy reporters will eventually be employed across the country once all contracts have been awarded.”

Robert Graham

f/m and the best bit is she really believes her heart rendering tale resonates with the rest of us.

Different planet dear ,your so detached from ordinary people they must have to make an appointment to look at you .

The French had the right idea off with the feckers heads . that confused Google spell check no end .

yesindyref2

What’s as much to the point, is how many of those £150,000 + jobs in Scotland, just can NOT move down south to escape a realtively trivial tax increase? Would they seek another job – and leave vacant a job which could perhaps be offered to someone at a lower salary?

Everybody would win – apart from the clowns moving away for the sake of a measly to them, £1,174, probably about the same as the annaul saving living in Scotland on on the water bill for their sprinklers if you’ll pardon the expression, paying by the cubic metre. I’d say if it means that mauch to them, well, sprinkle or tinkle off.

Mmm, that told them.

lee sullivan

In this mess of figures don’t forget the so called JAMS people who like me work very hard
For less than the living wage and have to look for more hours to survive there people on 150k plus need to seriously take a hike if they’re not happy about paying a couple of pence more to take a few bricks more of our shoulders

Highland Wifie

Just posted on the previous page about this.
Lady in her seventies sits in front of halogen heater in sleeping bag to keep warm and won’t use central heating because she’s frightened of the cost. And this creature, Merryn double barrelled heartless waste of space, has the audacity to accuse Nicola Sturgeon of theft.
Give me one minute in a room with her. (Merryn that is!)

Bob Mack

Skiing holiday ? I just need to step out my front door just now to have all the skiing I want. Ice everywhere.

Council refuse to grit our road as it is not adopted. I have to do it myself. We just get on with it, though I am not getting any younger.

The lady sounds rather vile and self obsessed. There are too many like her and Katie Hopkins for my comfort.

Jason Smoothpiece

Evil ridiculous Unionists totally detached from the huge amount of suffering being heaped on ordinary, usually fully employed folk.

That’s it I’m off to get my pitchfork.

Pacman

yesindyref2 says: 18 December, 2017 at 8:44 pm

What’s as much to the point, is how many of those £150,000 + jobs in Scotland, just can NOT move down south to escape a realtively trivial tax increase? Would they seek another job – and leave vacant a job which could perhaps be offered to someone at a lower salary?

Going a bit o/t.

There are instances where £150+K renumeration is justified for a job position. However, in certain circumstances like managerial type ones, couldn’t the responsibility for a £150+K be split between two or more individuals and obviously the £150+k salary split between them?

Obviously this will create more jobs as well as progression opportunities but it could also help get rid of the macho personality driven culture we have in our society where too much decision making is held in a few hands that results in bad decision making?

Lady Muck o' Lochay (@Mae_Carson2)

Very simple, Merryn is terrified the SNP tax scheme catches on in England.

Andrew Mott

If anything this episode had been good for exposing just how much some people earn and just how grasping your average Tory is.

geeo

Lets be brutally honest here.

Anyone able to command a six figure salary is not stupid enough to fall for the utter guff spouted by the ridiculous Somerset-webb types.

Say what you like about the wealthy, but they like staying wealthy.

Her pish is aimed at more…simple types, types who earn rather less than ever being in the position to move away to “save” themselves from the SNP tax policy.

George Drever

This hypocrisy and propaganda is unbearable. Suggestion – every time a piece-of-keech article like this is highlighted by WoS we bombard the Twitter feed of the ‘journalist’ with the link to the Rev’s expose.

Macart

Door swings both ways. If such folk wanted to leave to enjoy the benefits of living elsewhere in the UK…

… oh wait.

Ms Webb is trolling and not very well.

dakk

Thank Christ I earn below the average Scottish wage so I won’t be taxed out of going on that skiing holiday I was considering next year.

Do feel a bit sorry for the hugely well remunerated though.

Will the erudite lady have to miss out on the odd safari as well?

SNP Scottish rotters.

Liz g

Pacman @ 8.18
I am thinking along the same line’s Pacman.
And the bit that hasn’t been said yet….
What if Scotland didn’t or COULDN’T address the income inequality?
Make enough people desperate enough and they will have no choice but to do whatever they can to feed their kid’s.
The social contract is a two way street…this Countries wealth must be shared to meet everyone’s needs.
Otherwise it could break down.

And the first to feel the effects will be the “just about managing” when it’s their kid who can’t leave their new bike down,when they return home to a ransacked home,when you need a pair of attack dog’s just to use a cash machine!!

Now the affluent may eventually!! have their gated communities but would it be at less cost than a wee tax rise???……Do these so called educated people no see this!!
It’s { The Prince } 101.

Most people just want,a home,to be fed, reasonable health care, a holiday in the summer and a half decent Christmas.
Most are not the so called “go getters” and no Country or society could function if everyone were!

This is actually fortunate,infact, for the very wealthy.
Because it is entirely doable in a Country like Scotland.
When even they …the very wealthy…could remain so!
What exactly is their problem,and why do they seem to have support from people who could benefit from curtailing their greed?

Doesn’t it just sometimes make ye wonder where their (the ordinary people who just identify with the UK) head is at?
Can they no see that they don’t have to take this kind of life…..the kind that Westminster are offering?
Everything is there and available to build something better.
Right here and right now!
All we have to do is make sure that we don’t stick with this system.

Somerset, sumthin and her kind are only defending the right to steal all the resources,and then some!
But let the hungry or the dispossessed attempt to take from the pot!!!!and THEN it’s a crime!!

There is a great deal of wisdom in the concept (canny mind from where)….them that divvies up the food eats last.
Because right now it’s them that divvies up that are eating first.
And this has to change…. which is exactly the whole point of bringing your Government within Slapping distance!

But we’ll get there, and right soon… and when we do…
I’m betting
Mrs Smallaxe will Unbann the computer,for an hour or two

So shoulders to the wheel then Wingers…!

John Jones

I thought that you paid tax on your earnings from your employer no matter where you stayed, from the way it is being protrayed if I’m employed in England & stay here I’ll get the best of both worlds,
lower tax & all the benefit of this wonderfull country if I’m at the top end of earnings. so taking it further of I’m employed here I’ll pay tax here no matter if I ( God forbid) move down south. Why on earth would anyone thnk that is a way to do anything.

Clootie

…what kind of accountant has this couple got…an honest one?

On a serious note…how can people like Webb be so oblivious to the reality of life in 21st century UK.

Oh for the good old days when you could put it all in a pension pot tax free, then they cut it to 40k pounds a year limit and then reduced it even further to 10k/year for those earning over 150k a year and then limited the lifetime pension pot to one million pounds. Compare this to the new pension pot for kids who after a lifetime of contribution will have a pot of 60k which will cancel out the current benefits leaving them not ONE PENNY better off.

I fortunately will be OK and don’t mind paying extra tax…but why are more than half my fellow Scots still supporting Webb’s rotten Union?

Robert Peffers

@Bill Glen says: 18 December, 2017 at 6:47 pm:

“Please feel free to join the rest of us on our Skiing Holiday Merryn, And realy at not much cost … “

Seems the gyte wumman, (I hesitate to use the term silly lady), in case it offends her obviously rather tender feelings), has never heard about the several rather good ski resorts in the Scottish Highlands. Several of which can now guarantee to have snow on the slopes as announced last week.

link to j2ski.com

link to thetimes.co.uk

link to scotsman.com

And here’s a video for all you DIY experts on how to make your very own version:-

link to youtube.com

Bobp

Valerie 8.38pm. This “thing” is anything but a lady.

Gordon

Jockeying for a place in the Tory cabinet me thinks?!

HandandShrimp

Gordon

I think she is vying to take Katie Hopkins place as the Mail’s purveyor of tasteless, insensitive drivel.

Jockanese Wind Talker

Aye that is the real reason for the likes of MSW being a Scotland in Union BritNat @sandra says at 8:14 pm

“If they can’t afford to ski they can always visit the private island her husband owns.”

link to archive.is

Like Dan ‘The BritNat History Man’ Snow they are shit scared that their vested financial interests may end up being taxed appropriately for the benefit of the people of our country.

Offshoring their assets, investing tax free in land/forestry and paying a small fortune annually to Tax Accountants to minimise what they contribute to society via personal tax.

Parasites who fear paying their dues, especially if a Land Tax is introduced.

ian murray

About 7 or 8 comments on the original article and I am pleased to report that nobody had a good word to say about her or her story

potter

This woman moved to Scotland around 10 years ago from London with her stockbroker husband, a former Tory candidate for Shetland. Is she contemplating buggering off back down south so she can afford her holiday?

Ken MacColl

Look out Tom Gordon!

There is a crazy woman out there after your job for what it’s worth

Proud Cybernat

But here’s the thing – Somerset Webb will totally and truly believe she has suffered a great injustice.

She just doesn’t ‘get’ it.

When she reaches the Hall of Ma’at and her heart is weighed by Osiris she can always console herself in thinking she will be admitted into the Afterllife because it might not be lighter than a feather but it’s a bit lighter from having left those skis behind.

What a truly despicable human being. And yes, Somerset Webb – in spite of what you may have haerd about BTL commentators n Wings Over Scotland, I do actually see you as a human being. And that is why I feel so very sad for you.

potters

Maybe nae, 7 bedroom Georgian Townhouses tend to be a bit more expensive.

SOG

She says…

Everyone earning over £33,000 will now pay more tax in Scotland than in England. That’s 45% of the working population…

… is it really?

Arbroath1320

Think I have sussed out why this “journalist” is so upset and it has nothing to do with the fact that her “friends” are only earning £300,00 (combined) per year. It is in fact all to with the fact that her £300,000 “friends” in Scotland have to pay for:

1) all medication at £8 per item
2) student fees at around £9,000 per year
3) all bus travel for their elderly relatives
4) all personal care for their elderly and disabled relatives
5) all bridge tolls
6) all eye tests
7) all dental check ups
8) school meals for their P1 – P3 kids
9) child care for their 2 – 4 year old kids

Oops!

I got confused there for a second. I thought she was bitching about her “friends” problems because they live OUTSIDE of Scotland! 😀

ScottieDog

These folk won’t move away, well not back t the SE. They simply couldn’t achieve the style of love no they can up here. It’s simply cheaper to live here.
That’s the point

David Caledonia

I remember many years ago, John Lennon was asked, is it true the beatles are skint, yes he said, its awful, i’m down to my last 50 thousand…. heh heh heh

ScottieDog

*love no * – living!

pacman

Liz g @ at 9:34 pm

Staying on topic with what I originally said. It has occurred to me for a while that the only way to stop tax evasion in todays global economy is to decrease wages at the top to the point where it isn’t feasible to do it.

This could be done with what I had mentioned of decentralising power structures and the associated wage structures so both power and wealth is shared by more. Rather than having a top 10% in society who can spread their wealth around the world to avoid tax, that top 10% could become the top 20% or 25% where it is a lot more difficult to do the same thing.

The other thing is to encourage co-operatives and even flat management structures like Suma where everybody in the company gets paid the same wage and have to work in every function of the company both at the top and at the bottom.

With these things, it is easier for governments to manage and maintain their tax bases. It isn’t a moral thing to do but a necessary thing that governments may seriously need to look at.

The status quo simply isn’t sustainable. As I had previously mentioned, wealth is more concentrated and easier to avoid tax. Those who can’t move their earnings about or aren’t mobile to move from country to country will find themselves trapped with ever increasing crime and other social ills.

The idea of fencing oneselves off from this in gated communities is appealing to some and may be sustainable for a while but what life is it when you have to keep watching your back?

An independent Scotland could result in a carbon copy of Westminster but it could inspire changes that not only creates a more fairer society but also a more efficiently run one.

Of course this needs to be looked upon with a pragmatic realism but it doesn’t mean you can also hope that something better can happen.

David Caledonia

Its absolutely awful, i just don’t know how i can possibly afford my 12 holidays to florida next year, i think there is only one solution to this, could some kind person please look after two kids for me, i actually have 16, but i can only afford to take 14 of them with me, well, some of us have to make sacrifices, no point in everyone losing out on a nice holiday, now how much spending money will i personally need, i think 10 grand a day should be enough to get bye on
beans on toast for 14 kids for a week, yes i can just manage that ( own brand beans btw ) do you think i’m made of money . heh heh heh

Another Union Dividend

Unfortunately Scotland doesn’t have the full economic levers of Ireland and can only use its limited Income Tax powers.

link to irishtimes.com

O/T Does anyone have Virgin Media TV. It seems their new “on the Go” App only gives BBC London and ITV London programs and no Scottish “opt outs”.

I have complained before but, as in parcel deliveries,we should get same level of service as those living in South East of England.

Is any MP going to embarrass them in Parliament.

Pacman

It will be interesting to see if there is more articles like this.

It may be that people like MSW are scared that a more progressive tax regime seen in the budget could work and it will cause more south of the border to want the same there.

If that happens, then their tax dodging days are numbered.

Ferncake

Show me these folk who are prepared to up sticks because they are unwilling to stop the social fabric of the nation unravelling further and I’ll happily carry their monogrammed luggage to the border.

Capella

Meant to post this earlier. Tumbril talk – when people self identify as a member of an aristocratic class and make insensitive observations on their petty suffering and minor inconveniences while others starve.

A lot of what Noel Coward used to call “tumbril talk” went on in those days. Tumbril talk is what rich and/or aristocratic folk might say on the way to the guillotine. It usually reflects a rather startling unawareness about how anyone else lives. Marie Antoinette was reputed to be very good at it.

link to christopherbellew.com

Gerry Gribbons

These people amaze me…..they should be transported to some place where their hypocrisy is better spent….like england

Truth

@Gary45%
You’re quite right Gary. She’s not an arsehole.

More of an arsehalf in my book.

dakk

I am unable to stop fretting about her ability to safari.

Will Merryn still be able to safari?

If not, I shall require next time to vote Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party through guilt and solidarity.

Scot Finlayson

@exile

`Local authorities will be held to account by a team of 150 “local democracy reporters” created under a landmark deal between the BBC and regional news organisations.

The BBC will make £8m a year for 9 years (£72 million) available for local newspapers to hire journalists to cover council meetings and scrutinise public services,`

seems Scotland gets more than its fair share of BBC paid local democracy journalists 22 out of 149 ,wonder why ?

The State run BBC controlling the hiring of local journalists for the local rags does not sound very democratic in fact it sounds close to totalitarianism.

link to tinyurl.com

call me dave

Folk like her are just pretending suffering a cash grab, they are not going to really miss the price of a few coffees every week.

They have a political agenda and push the SNP bad mantra at every possibility along with their like minded associates.

Even if independence comes very few will leave Scotland to take on the financial burden of Housing costs , tuition fees and the rest.

Are we worried? Thought not!

————————————————————-
PS:
Radio 5 Live:

Just hearing that ‘Britain First’ has had it’s twitter account suspended / deleted / banned being one of a number of right wing groups. Trumps tweets on there all gone now!

Dr Jim

One hopes when next Miss Somerset Webb and friends visit any Ski resorts in Scotland the largely but diminishing since Brexit immigrant waiting and bar staff on low wages will welcome her accordingly in the usual manner that bar and waiting staff do when confronted by abnoxious guests and that our taxi drivers offer the service renowned in Scotland when presented with attitudes of this type

Do enjoy your soup coffee and other refreshments at our wonderful Scottish Ski resorts miss Somerset Webb and friends

Haste ye back

Always excellent welcoming service in the licenced trade for all people who are pleasant and civil

Coffee Miss Webb?

dakk

The upshot of her MoneyWeek article is that it moves me towards agreement with The Times’ Kenny Farters Son that maybe the Scottish Government didn’t go far enough in their fiscal redistribution.

We’re getting there though.

Cadogan Enright

So, most people in Scotland now pay less income tax and less rates than most people in Tory England.

Surely that was reported on the BBC?

Tam the Bam.

O/T

According to Sky News Press Review…..The new aircraft-carrier is leaking….oh dear.
Abandon ship!

dakk

@ Dr Jim

Is that no incitement?

Scot Finlayson

I`m sure there are many if not thousands of the 400,000 English white settlers living the good life here in Scotland who are embarrassed by Webb`s comments,

to make your nest and be welcomed in a foreign country then attack that country,is an immoral abomination,

Scotland is an open country accepting of all immigrants and refugees whether posh red trousered English or war torn Syrian

and in return we should hope for some acceptance of our unique culture and our inherent willingness to help those less fortunate.

PhilM

Merryn Somerset Webb, well-known QT heidbanger, is not like us Scottish scum. There are no words in God’s own language to itemise her effortless superiority. Yet she tries to do this frequently in her pisspoor articles, even outside the hallowed portals of MoneyWank.
I invite you to read her article on moving to Edinburgh at ft.com (dated 30 Jul 2010, “Nesting not Investing”) as well as her Spectator article (dated 2 Nov 2013, “How to Make Money from the Scottish Referendum”). If you can get to the end of them you’ll need to take a shower to clean yourself of upper-class condescension. It’s never a great look to find yourself sounding like some tattooed bovver-boy (remember them!) but I really wish she would fuck off back to wherever she came from…

Street Andrew

I’m afraid Merrilegs writes utter shite sometimes.

Shame really she seems such a nice ‘gal’ but she’s got in with some seriously bad company.

Brian McHugh

If everyone earning over £150,000 is really that stupid, then the quicker they leave, the quicker the void left will be filled with competent aspirational up and coming fresh talent.

Good.

Clarinda

Ms Webb and her husband apparently own a house and farm on Shetland – for holiday rental – and an island off the west coast of Shetland – Vementry. She warns others of the perils of owning a Scottish island – the major gripe is that Scotland has a right to roam legislation and that means a scruff just might wander on to your ‘property’. Nice. She suggests a starter island for those who saved their ski-ing money for offers over £450,000 off the coast of Argyll.

heedtracker

She is on BBC Question Time a lot when they come to their Scotland region, probably to show us that we get exactly the tory zoomers Dimbelby thinks we deserve up here.

Anyway, three grand’s peanuts in the cost of conveyancing, tax, even removal van and man charges, the wealthy pay of their lovely big houses all over Scotland, at over a million quid and up, well up. Maybe if the wealthy hate Scotland that much with SNP Scots gov, it is worth it. Lucky old Newcastle!

CameronB Brodie

@Merryn Somerset Webb
Are you so wedded to neo-liberal spivery and greed, that you are unable to comprehend the damage your team has done to civil society? Do you care?

Critical realism is concerned with the nature of causation, agency, structure, and relations, and the implicit or explicit ontologies we are operating with. It asks what we mean by realism in the social world? Whether there are social kinds? Do capitalism, or classes, or the state, or empires exist as social entities? What constitutes a social entity? Are there consistent traits of fascism? Are there consistent traits of any social entity? These are not only questions which need to be the subject of empirical investigation, they are investigations undergirded by deeply philosophical ones. These meta-theoretical investigations have a bearing upon our accounts of the social world, but do not necessarily determine or legitimate any particular approach, or empirical investigation. While our models need to be answerable to empirical investigations, we need to be sufficiently “ontologically reflexive” and “vigilant” about our investigations.

?We need to examine our presuppositions about the nature of the social world and the ontological baggage behind the terms we use (structure, causation), and, in general, we need to have a means by which we can reflexively attend to what our accounts are claiming about the world (Rutzou 2016).?

link to asatheory.org

link to centreforcriticalrealism.com

link to understandingsociety.blogspot.co.uk

Capella

Tip for MSM journalists such as Tom Gordon or Merryn Somerset Webb, RT is running a journalism boot camp in Moscow from 29th Jan to 16th Feb. Opportunity to hone your skills, or even acquire some.

Don’t know if Mr Putin will be presenting a module but the chance to visit the Kremlin will surely be on the curriculum. Catch some winter skiing too.

link to school.rt.com

Thepnr

Some ARSEHOLE moaning about not being able to afford a skiing holiday if a couple earn £150,000 each per year is an arsehole when much of the public are relying on foodbanks and even committing suicide.

People like MWS don’t care about that, they love to Ski!

You know what we’re lucky to have Wings, maybe now not enough read it and the message isn’t getting through but it will eventually.

Your the messenger so get it out there cos I’m sick of their bile.

heedtracker

The frightfully wealthy of Scotland, trying to raise their crushing nattax,

link to youtube.com

This doesn’t work at all but its still funny.

Still Positive

The pnr @ 12.45

Could not agree more.

The UK is going down the tubes so we HAVE to get out of this ‘so called Union’ to save Scotland. ASAP.

Still Positive

The pnr @ 12.45
Totally agree.

Kat hamilton

This woman is seriously deluded…been on question time more times than I’ve had hot dinners to peddle the ‘Scotchland in Poverty’ myth….Her condescending tone and ‘one nation’ rhetoric gives me the heave….well done joanna cherry on outing her on qt as a better together/Scotland in union advocate , loved that….maybe the irn brew snowman will scoop her up and drop her by the angel of the north or the Tyne bridge and take the hint…

Thepnr

@Still Positive

Thanks, I realise you understand how angry this guff makes me feel. Your response is appreciated despite my poor grammer 🙂

CameronB Brodie

heedtracker
I don’t know Heed, I thought that was pitch-perfect social commentry.

Social justice and criminal justice

10
Social harm and social policy in Britain
Professor Danny Dorling

Introduction

’The distinction’, Dupuy says, ‘between a killing by an intentional individual act’ and killing as a result of ‘the egoistic citizens of rich countries focussing their concerns on their own well-being while others die of hunger’ is becoming less and less tenable.’ (Bauman’s 2006, page 100, translation of Jean-Pierre Dupuy)

In Britain, France, and no doubt almost everywhere, part of the understanding and study of crime is slowly refocusing on studying social harms more widely defined and often more damaging than those acts we currently choose to criminalise. The most devastating acts of social harm concern the preventable deaths of one hundred million children under the age of five globally that occur every decade. Locally, premature deaths that could be prevented if we cared can be counted each decade in Britain in only hundreds and thousands by area – but still the vast majority who die even in this country due to the callousness of others do not die directly at their hands. It is not murder that accounts for the ten fold ‘variations’ in infant mortality between areas at the extremes.

In practise much of the harm is institutionalised. Welfare spending in Britain is set so that those reliant on it live in poverty. The government aims to abolish poverty by getting folk ‘who can’ into work and one way they do this is by making life outside of work very hard to live for those the government thinks should work. One effect of this is to damage the bodies of, (and subsequent survival chances of the babies of) those who become pregnant while living in
poverty. Eating, resting and living well while pregnant is not possible when living in poverty. However, what matters more than physically damaging their bodies though such treatment is damaging young adult minds. If the government tells you through your own welfare payments how little you are worth a week why have much respect for yourself?

link to crimeandjustice.org.uk

cearc

The desperation of appearance over reality Westminster style.

From FT. link to archive.is

‘…British negotiators wanted to announce a low headline estimate for the net cost: around €40bn-€45bn, rather than the commission’s €50bn-€60bn. … using front-loaded payments in January-April 2019, the last three months of Britain’s membership, to lower the headline exit bill. That alone reduced the EU estimates of the bill by €4bn-€5bn, according to officials involved in the talks. “We don’t mind if they pay early,” joked one senior EU diplomat.

Just pathetic.

Ghillie

Aww, clever Merryn.

What an asset to the Indy campaign =)

Ghillie

Scot Finlayson @ 11.52 pm

Excellent comment.

Merryn might even embarass some of her SIU pals too.

What a gem she is.

Still Positive

The pnr @ 1.23

Thank you for your support.

As a retired English teacher I have read many pupils’ work mis-spelled and with poor grammar and I have understood it.

I’m not in the least bothered about yours or anybody else who has poor grammar or spelling. The most important thing is that we understand what you are saying.

Still Positive

I should also have said in my last post that I did not detect any poor grammar.

CameronB Brodie

Re. the change in culture that New Labour introduced into UKOK social policy. A bit paternalistic and discriminatory, IMHO. Well, they were targeting Tory voters in key marginals in the south of England, New Labour’s “southern discomfort”….

CREEPING CONDITIONALITY IN THE UK: FROM WELFARE RIGHTS TO CONDITIONAL ENTITLEMENTS?1

Abstract

A widely recognised central tenet of New Labour’s ‘Third Way’ is no rights without responsibilities. The extent to which this idea underpins the British government’s approach to welfare reform has been extensively commented upon. Initially, the article places the UK reforms in the context of wider theoretical debates about welfare reform in Western states. It then highlights the ways in which a principle of conditionality is being practically applied in a wide range of sectors in the UK including; social security, housing, education, and health. The details and impact of recent relevant legislation and initiatives are discussed. It is argued that as policies based on conditional entitlement become central to the ongoing process of welfare reform the very idea of ‘welfare rights’ is systematically undermined.

Conclusion

….The wider shift towards ‘active/Third Way’ welfare states is an attempt by Western governments to renegotiate the welfare deal between citizen and the state. Rights are conditional on the acceptance of attendant individual responsibilities. This represents a significant qualitative shift away from the public welfare envisaged in the PWWS, built around notions of need and entitlement. On one level the changes outlined in the paper may be seen as incremental (hence the title of ‘creeping conditionality’); but such changes are significant. They illustrate a more substantial shift in the principles that underpin state welfare provision (Cox, 1998; Taylor-Gooby, 2002).

link to usir.salford.ac.uk

Paul Wilson

For those poor impoverished people on £150,000 a year if alone or £300,000 a year if a couple a great saving can be made by no longer purchasing Right wing rags like these there money saved for holiday Simples.

Breeks

OT. Michel Barnier being horrible to London again. No privileges. No cherry picking.

“There is no place [for financial services]. There is not a single trade agreement that is open to financial services. It doesn’t exist.”

It’s not a complicated formula for Brexit negotiations; the EU says what’s going to happen, then the UK nods its head. But man alive, the UK’s ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) really pads out the process and makes it needlessly complicated and tiresome.

I’m off to Ladbrokes to bet next years skiing holiday money that the UK will be outraged anew when Michel Barnier suddenly asserts there will be no Trade Deal for the UK which doesn’t respect all of the Four Freedoms and which the EUCJ cannot legislate over.

Wullie B

Maybe we will get shot of some of those no voters who moved to Scotland when selling up their three bedroom ex council houses in London for £350k and buying up old croft houses driving up house prices in the Highlands to the point locals can’t afford to get on housing market, of course we will miss any no voter who chooses to return south because this SNP fellows are hitting them in the pocket now ?????

Stephen Gell

Move to Newcastle? Where property is more expensive, prescriptions are not free, tuition fees are £9000, care for the elderly is not free, council tax is 15%+ higher… yeah… makes sense hen! And she writes for a financial paper? Surely the editor will have read that and thought “Did you do maths at school ya torn faced bint?”

gus1940

Merryn S W is an EOS.

Jack Collatin

The woman’s quite right.
If I were English from the ‘Home’ Counties, I’d sell my gaff in Surbiton for three or four million, move up to the Northern colony, where we Londoners have managed to produce through good Imperial Brit Nat policies a peasant stock of three or four million. Lots of nannies, housekeepers and stable boys.
You can buy and Edinburgh Townhouse for the ridiculously give away price of a million, million and a half tops, and lord it over the Scotch scruff on an income as little as £150k pa.
Beats being a white settler in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe any day.
You couldn’t even get a First Time Buyer mortgage back in the City on £150k a year.
One Bed Flats Back Home start at half a mill, after all.
Tumbril talk, right enough.
Well, sorry to disappoint, but we Scots are a patient and peaceful lot.
We do it through the ballot.
We shall be free of this woman and her hundreds of thousands of insurgents soon enough.
So that this breed of rentiers/ smug self satisfied exceptionalist SE can spout such rubbish ,hundreds of thousands of Scottish citizens will starve and/or freeze this winter. Meanwhile this woman will use her appearance money from BBC to get her Xmas Bevvy in.
They really are the most heartless bunch of over privileged Bar Stewards.
She knows what she’s doing of course.
A talentless air-head who has an opinion on everything and knowledge about nothing.

The more folks on here who threaten her with tar and feathering, the more her public persona rises.
Some may call her a no talent hack.
I couldn’t possibly comment.

Come the Revolution, I bags the display cabinet in her plush Edinburgh pad as we, the Great Unwashed storm Holyrood and begin the Reign of Terror proper.
Aye, right.
The usual load of shit from one of the particularly annoying Brit Shit Stirrers in our midst.
She won’t be missed when she joins the 400,000 of refugee Colonists and Settlers trudging back down the A1 pushing their handcarts and Grandfather Clocks.
Aye, right.
What an odious little woman.
People are dying of English Parliament engineered poverty to maintain this inbred class of Yoon debauchery.
She is a dung beetle feeding of the pile of festering crap forced upon us Scots by her pals in London.
May the hairs on her head turn to drum sticks and beat some sense into her.
While even one child dies of state engineered poverty, this horrible woman considers this attempt at whimsy a right laugh.
Fuck off.

Ken500

In the rest of the UK they do not raise enough for public services. They spend £Billions on the Tory slush fund. HS2, Hinkley Point, Heathrow and Trident. Cutting £Billions from NHS, Education and welfare. Starving vulnerable people to death. Taking £Billions from Scotland because of Westminster mismanagement. On Illegal wars, financial fraud and tax evasion.

According to the zoomer Press putting up taxes will stop immigration. Instead of Brexit. A disaster. They should have just put up taxes in the south.

There is no mention of the 70% who will be paying less taxes. More important.

Breeks

When Merryn Somerset Webb writes an article, I’m already bored by the time I’ve reached the end of her name.

exile

Scott Finlayson @ 11.13 pm

Thank you for picking up my post at 8.42 pm, and for your link. It’s the word “collaboration” which worries me most, and prompted me to post for the first time.

Your link makes me even more concerned about BBC Local Democracy Reporters. The YES movement and the SNP should be extremely concerned too.

Your link has “BBC Local Democracy Reporter Allocation” pdf. Pages 12 and 13 give details for Scotland – media group name, relevant councils, number of reporters. Can’t link, but basic information is

Aberdeen Journals 3
P & Journal 1
Stornoway Gazette 0.5
Unallocated (Orkney Islands Council) 0.5
Shetland News 0.5
Helensburgh Advertiser 1
Fife Free Press 3
Herald & Times 4
Edinburgh Evening News 4
Ayrshire Post 4

I’m a non-tech-y pensioner Scot living in England. So, please YES-ers, spread the word on BBC Local “Democracy” Reporters and share Scott’s link!

call me dave

Always good to hear Jeane Freeman even on radio shortbread.

Concise and confident and putting the record straight here and there regarding the next batch of the 11 new powers starting next year.

Were moving on now, Scotland distinctly different in their approach to social care compared to the rUK.

Won’t be a doddle but worth it in the long run as more folk affected will see fairer and just system supporting them.

The usual suspects will quibble it’s not enough or it’s taken to long etc but that’s hard they do. 🙂

Brian Powell

The article there does show the complete failure of the 4th Estate, they don’t check the constitutional position of Scotland, they would only need to do it once, but that would leave them with nothing to write.

Or they do know it but are making up stories, straightforward propaganda.

My grandad used to buy the Reveille magazine and Titbits for the jokes and funny stories as there was nothing worth reading in the papers, I think it was the right approach and he was ahead of his time.

call me dave

Jings… What they do. Mobile ???

Les Wilson

Well we can expect propaganda from someone who is a regular pick on Question time. Especially Scottish editions.

Prior to 2014 I had a subscription to money week, until they were taking an anti Indy line, they started slipping a number of comments in that we would suffer if we said YES, a sneaky drip drip.

I particularly remember that they predicted that houses in the Edinburgh New Town had already started to fall dramatically on the lead up to the Indy vote. Their point was obvious, people with money were already leaving.
On checking I found the opposite, they were rapidly rising in value.
So it was a Unionist hope rather than a fact, what is known as a lie.

I revoked my membership telling them in strong manner just why.
I have never renewed and never will, they are anti Scottish, and like many from down south they want to hold us tight never to see the sunshine of Independence.

They look on us as their possession, what’s new!

Juteman

@ exile
So the BBC are paying the running costs of unionist rags in Scotland? They will never go under if subsidised by the British State. This is an amazing move by the BBC and needs to be shared as widely as possible!

gus1940

I have been a supporter of The National through a subscription to the on-line edition since Day 1 but was surprised and disappointed to read an absolute howler in today’s edition where Andrew Learmonth states that ‘62% of VOTERS supported Leave in the 2016 Referendum’.

Croompenstein

Anybody got some spare gaffa tape and blue tac to plug some holes in the yooncraft carrier 😀

Nana

Links

Scottish companies say Brexit already making it hard to find staff
link to archive.is

Scottish Affairs Committee meeting on Immigration and Scotland
link to youtube.com

link to angusmacneilsnp.com

link to thoughtcontrolscotland.com

Ali

There aren’t enough people who’ll pay more tax being heard. Everyone I know who’ll pay more tax is fully supportive of the changes. Like most cases the Unionist press “stands up for” people by warping the situation of those they claim to represent to their own ends

Nana

Theresa May Accused Of Refusing To Explicitly Rule Out Scrapping Paid Holidays Right
link to archive.is

link to theneweuropean.co.uk

Trident may be removed from MoD budget, MPs told
link to archive.is

Comes with a health warning – Blood pressure may rise considerably watching this
Scotland in Union Dinner in London – with Dan Snow & Tom Holland
link to youtube.com

Nana

link to foreignpolicy.com

link to thelondoneconomic.com

Britain faces Brexit dilemma over ties with rest of the world
link to ft.com

link to theneweuropean.co.uk

Nana

Good morning Croompenstein, I might have some polyfilla in the shed. Do you think that would help?

Croompenstein

Morning Nana every little helps 🙂

Breeks

OT Queen Elizabeth holed below the waterline…

Navy spokesman said the ship is scheduled for repair and the fault does not prevent it from sailing again early in the new year.
According to the Sun newspaper, HMS Queen Elizabeth has been taking on up to 200 litres of sea water every hour because of the fault.

@ Royal Navy.
Save yourselves a few quid shipmates, and send a helicopter to Machinemart for a Clarke PSP 125-puddle water pump. £105.59 including the VAT, and pumps 125 litres a minute. In fact, get two. Then you have a spare, and can keep the clean one for inspections.

Peter McCulloch

The Tories have always been good at demanding the Scottish government use the powers it already has.

But when the Scottish government does dare to use those powers, it gives the Tories their opportunity to condemn it for making the better off pay a little bit more in tax than their counterparts in England are paying.

Of course as they see it is a win, win situation for them, provided no mention is made of how they have made the low paid, vulnerable and disabled pay the price for their austerity measures while the rich enjoy tax cuts.

galamcennalath

Nana says:

link to thelondoneconomic.com

This caught my attention …
“One in five Leave voters said they no longer believed that the contribution given by the UK to the EU – estimated to be £350m – would be given to the NHS after Brexit, having believed it when they voted.”

Which means that four out of five, the overwhelming majority of Leave voters STILL believe that vast sums will be sunk into the NHS from Brexit ‘savings’.

That is very very scary! It shows huge swathes of UK voters still don’t have a scoobie about what Brexit actually means.

starlaw

Rancid despicably mean Tories taking a hammering on Call K withan E this morning re. Baby Boxes

Breeks

Nana says:
19 December, 2017 at 9:18 am
link to theneweuropean.co.uk

Thanks Nana!

Been tellin’ ya for ages. Once the UK drops EU standards for US standards, and it will as part of a US Trade Deal and associated deregulation, the UK economy will set itself on a divergent path from the EU food standards and the EU will not countenance a Trade Deal on foodstuffs. Not just the foodstuffs themselves, but processed foodstuffs which may contain traces of GM or contaminated product. Not only will there be no Trade Deal, but you will have given yourselves a major obstacle with a Customs Union being able to function too.

Be afraid Scotland, be very afraid. Unionists and Brexiteers everywhere, please wake up.

Tinto Chiel

“When Merryn Somerset Webb writes an article, I’m already bored by the time I’ve reached the end of her name.”

I laughed at that one, Breeks.

She’ll be one of those who tell you YOU have an accent but SHE doesn’t. There was a whole excruciating discussion on accents on Pravdasound4 yesterday with A.L. Kennedy (whose mammy wouldn’t let her have a Dundee accent) and others. They love their little markers of class, don’t they, ablow the dyke?

Simply gwoosome, my dear.

Proud Cybernat

This Morning from Pravda Quay
with Jackie Kim Ono

link to imgur.com
link to imgur.com

G H Graham

I moved house, family & job from the Isle of Scalpay to Greenock just so I could save £4.95 on shipping two pillow cases from Manchester.

dave Stewart

OT
Just listened to R4 reporting on HMS QE2 leakage of seawater.
Started off at 6am as 100 tonnes per hour, at 7am it had reduced to 100 litres per hour, just ONE tonne per hour, by 8 am they had on the engineering expert telling about the problems of the Seven Metre diameter seals.
A quick search on the web tells me , from RollsRoyce, the maufacturer of the whole package that the propellers are 7 metre diameter, 2 per ship. but the hollow shafts are in fact only One metre diameter.
Accurate reporting from the BBBc, I don’t think.
Shades of the QE bridge but without the negatives, no mention of the 2 ships being a French design, or that the aircraft for them will be £100million each as delivered, plus the installation of UK systems, and not available until 2021.
Talk about sending the boys into harms way with no bullets.
You couldn’t make it up and sell it to the BBBc as a script for a comedy.

mike cassidy

My baby box has a leak.

Proud Cybernat

BREAKING MoD statement from Pravda Quay
with Jackie Kim Ono

link to imgur.com

Proud Cybernat

“My baby box has a leak.”

You sure is the box and no’ the baby?

Tinto Chiel

“You couldn’t make it up and sell it to the BBBc as a script for a comedy.”

In my day they had “The Navy Lark”, dave.

I’m sure Yon Sturgeon will have had a hand in this chaos.

Dave McEwan Hill

O/T but super and right on the money

link to youtube.com

For those of a sturdy disposition the same outfits “D*gging” presentation is hilarious

Thepnr

@Nana

What have you done? I now feel sick, a serious case of the boak. That Scotland In Union yew choob video was horrendous, I couldn’t take my eyes off it and couldn’t turn it off either.

When Tom Holland said that “Scotland in Union has actually put a smile on the faces of people in Scotland that want to stick up for the Union” I almost threw up.

Dan Snow & Tom Holland are the very definition of the cringe, they certainly had me cringing. Every ordinary No voting or doubtful Scot should be strapped to a chair and forced to watch that. Yes would get 80% support in any future referendum.

I can’t read any more links right now in case there is something even more horrible lurking there. I feel for those that will be shelling out £40 a head for their “Robbie Burns” night.

On reflection I don’t feel for them at all, they deserve everything they get. I need to go lie down before I fall down.

link to youtube.com

Lenny Hartley

Just posted this on my fb page.
Is the UK turning into a Fascist State?, according to a Dr. Lawrence Britt who has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. There are 14 defining characteristics common to each.
IMO The UK has several characteristics which could be construed Fascist, another one came to my attention today.

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
link to bbc.co.uk

Nana

Ah Pnr I’m so sorry [not really lol]

I mean why should I be alone in my misery!
As you know I like to share.

I believe ginger is very good for the boak xx

ronnie anderson

The Donald will send a load of Gorilla tape to patch the leak the bestest tape in the world of tape lol.

@ Thepnr Uve a stronger constitution than me i lasted all of 3 mins .

Liam

Pathetic!

They’re not scraping the bottom of the barrel any more.

They’re all the way through and poking about underneath it.

K1

There’s nae barrel left, they’re sooking on the stain where the barrel used tae be.

Thepnr

Ironic!

“Theresa May’s former advisor urges Tories to tax rich MORE to fund poor”

Health warning, it’s from the Express.

link to archive.is

Robert Graham

Pathetic

Whats Truly Pathetic is low life being allowed access to the Media

Says more about the media than the twisted ones who contribute to the chipping away at society in general everything’s for sale if it dosent return a profit its discarded , post office . library’s , local banks , swimming pools , local sports centres.

A future in hands of a tory party really dosent bear thinking about , its like darkness gradually enveloping everything and sapping peoples souls , Gloom and food banks everywhere .

Merry f/n Christmas everyone .

John H.

Merryn Somerset Webb and people like her disgust me. Selfish, arrogant, unaware and uncaring. I know it’s wrong to paint an entire nation with the same brush, but she and others like her are among the less desirable of our imports from England.

We have all met them. They think they own our country, and us too. I have a neighbour like that, albeit with less money than Somerset Webb, and the sooner we, hopefully, get independence, then the better the chance we will have of getting rid of them.

I should add, that I have another neighbour who is English, and she couldn’t be nicer. We do need to get rid of the Somerset Webb types though, so that we can make a fresh start with our country.

Jockanese Wind Talker

In regards to Barnier saying “no privileges or cherry picking” @Breeks says at 5:47am

See if you can catch BritNat Propagandist John Humphrys on iPlayer BBC R4 approximately 07:35hrs this a.m.

I didn’t catch who he was speaking to but he was practically begging the Irish over Financial Services having Single Market access post Brexit.

Lines like Ireland should “help its old friend” and “you have a veto” delivered completely irony free by old John.

Red,White and Blue pigeons coming home to roost.

😉

Golfnut

@ Lenny Hartley,

14 pointers to Fascism.

Came across that during indyref1, have to say that britnatdom ticks all those boxes, and is frighteningly, seems to revel in it.

geeo

Trumpet ain’t giving out good trade deals no more..no sirreee…yee-ha…’mur’ca first yeeawwl.

The orange one said yesterday…

“Previous US leaders “negotiated disastrous trade deals” that brought “massive profits” to foreign nations” says @realDonaldTrump
………
Oh dear…special relationship indeed !!

Proud Cybernat

The horror…

link to imgur.com

gus1940

Over the last week we have had well publicised examples of horrific threats being made on-line to those Tories who voted against the government.

Surprise Surprise – we are now getting reports of even more disgusting threats being made against Leave supporting politicians.

Can I suggest, although I cannot personally prove it, that the latter are a classic example of Fake News probably originated by certain obvious contenders in the metropolitan media or the Security Services. There is definitely a suspicious smell around these.

Robert Peffers

@Croompenstein says: 19 December, 2017 at 9:13 am:

“Anybody got some spare gaffa tape and blue tac to plug some holes in the yooncraft carrier ?”

Och! Croompenstein, Don’t be sucked in by the Westminster Establishment propaganda. This, “leakage”, is quite a normal occurrence when new-build ships are on, “shaking-down”, time.

I don’t know the present situation since the Royal Dockyards are now privatised but I long ago lost track of the number of sea-trials I took part in that the main Prop shaft needed attention. Granted that it was more usual the attention was because the main-Shaft bearings were of too close a tolerance, too tight, and were getting over hot. Thus they needed the soft metal bearings scraped down to size.

It was not unusual for the ship to heave to and the Dockyard Engine Fitters use engineers blue to find high spots and scrape them down to a better fit before the ship got underway again to continued with sea trials. The only real way to detect and bed down such tight bearings is under actual sea going conditions.

Apparently this particular leakage is due to a main prop shaft bearing with a too wide tolerance. This, during shake-down, is at a cost to the contractors – it is a fairly normal occurrence but trust the propaganda merchants to point an accusing finger at the competence of Rosyth Dockyard workers.

If these so called journalists were 1/1,000 as bright as they imagine themselves to be they would know that new-build ships on shakedown, more often than not, need on site adjustments to things that cannot be properly tested except under sea-going conditions.

They probably have no idea of the sheer severity of the shocks and vibrations an RN vessel suffers under even normal sea-going conditions.

Put it this way, there is very good reason why they have sea-trials with both the RN crew and the builders of the vessel on board and it isn’t to give the builders a freeware jolly little holiday trip. Believe me such sea trials are sometimes very miserable and hard working events.

On one such sea-trial I had to climb the ship’s main mast because the main RADAR antenna had developed a problem. Unfortunately for me the destroyer then hove-to in order to scrape an overheating main prop shaft bearing while I was still up that mast. The already very hazardous job up that mast became instantly very much more dangerous.

A slim naval ship that has to heave-to in heavy weather develops a strange sort of wallowing motion and I found myself, (equipped with safety belts and harness), on top of the main mast, that due to the wallowing of the ship, actually swung far enough to port and starboard to dip me into the freezing cold North Sea as the mast hit the high waves to both port and starboard as it wallowed up and down the peaks and troughs of some very rough seas.

When I eventually got down, (still at least alive), I had to report to the Ships Surgeon Commander who had me wrapper in shiny heat reflective stuff and put in sick-bay in a sleeping bag. He also prescribed a generous tot of Naval Rum, (The rum didn’t cure the hypothermia but it did make me much happier to suffer it).

Such were sea-trials – sometimes they were relatively uneventful but sometimes you worked your socks off in not too great working environs.

Spencean

People like webb do not surprise me in the least, you see people like her actually think they are worth the money they are paid, they never seem to realise that they don’t actually contribute anything to society, in fact they leech off of society, i mean a man who works in a shipyard is earning his money, her kind sit and write a few words here and there and really think they are something, imagine if this parasite was sent out to do a job on the minimum wage, how would she keep her big house and fancy car going then, she is a greedy bitch and allways will be, how do we combat people like her, its so easy, never pay good money to anything she is involved in, if she writes for money week, don’t buy the bugger, its a load of crap anyway, telling people with money how to make more or how best to invest what they have allready, there are a lot of great financial mags for ordinary people, good common sense mags for the real workers, you know the people i mean, yes the people who do make the wealth of any country instead of people like webb who live off the sweat of the real workers

gus1940

Over the last week we have had well publicised examples of horrific threats being made on-line to those Tories who voted against the government.

Surprise Surprise – we are now getting reports of even more disgusting threats being made against Leave supporting politicians.

Can I suggest, although I cannot personally prove it, that the latter are a classic example of Fake News probably originated by certain obvious contenders in the metropolitan media or the Security Services. There is definitely a suspicious smell around these.

The reason for my suspicion is the fact that it was only 2 or 3 days after the threats to the rebels were publiciised that we now now get the alleged counter threats.

Chick McGregor

DMH

Funnily enough I just watched the d—ing one yesterday and the even ruder but seasonally appropriate (sort of) Christmas Song.

Caution, contains swear words.

link to youtube.com

Meg merrilees

Commented on Ms Somerset Webb on the previous thread so apologies but going O/T

Hope someone in the SNP gets mileage out of the leak in our new aircraft-less aircraft carrier that’s cost many, many ski-ing holidays!!!

Something mentioning the word ‘snagging’ and asking for a statement as to how long it will take to repair 5 days, 10 months or more and at such a cost to the taxpayer… plus how do we protect ourselves from a Russian attack without out this great vessel patrolling our waters!

At least we still had the old bridge to use and the work was completed in 4 days, not 10 months… charlatans.

Anyway, i hope there is a huge stooshie in the media about it and the government is duly roasted – unlikely.

I also notice that the Lib Dem’s have been fined for breaching electoral spending during the EU referendum but still no public announcement where the huge donation to the DUP Brexit spending came from and and no judgement on it’s legality.

Twisted system.

Chick McGregor

Aargh! Sorry Rev. forgot the http: removal on that last link.

CameronB Brodie

Dan Snow
You are a rich white guy complaining about loosing his privilege. Do you support the principle of universal human rights? It doesn’t appear so.

@Tom Holland
Your ontology is mince ya colonialist dick.

wull2

Vote YES.
A tip that was told to me, a lot of people read only the first lines.
So if you have something important to say, say it at the start and keep it as short as you can to get the point noticed.

Jockanese Wind Talker

Very worrying development you have highlighted @exile says 18 December at 8:42pm regarding “Local Democracy Reporters Appointed” as @Scot Finlayson points out 18 December at 11:13pm this stinks of a totalitarian move and as @Lenny Hartley confirms 11:12 am “controlled mass media” is a keystone of a Fascist State.

link to tinyurl.com

This is a real move against democracy in the UK as a whole never mind just here in Scotland.

They obviously plan locally targeted propaganda campaigns (like the ones which removed Salmond and Robertson) for every election, referendum and in general to gently massage acceptance of Brexit and NeoFacist BritNat views/policy as well as their favourite of EssEnnPeeBaad.

£72 Million over 9 years (£8 Million a year) of UK taxpayers money to prop up the dead tree press while 120,000 people in England and Wales alone have died as a result of Tory Austerity enabled by the FibDems and Labstainers.

This if anything proves they have lost the online propaganda war and are doubling down on control of and message delivery by the old media which is still the go to source for news for many.

Nana

A few more links

Scottish electoral reform proposals set out
link to archive.is

link to ukdefencejournal.org.uk

MoD failure to provide F-35 cost estimate is unacceptable, say MPs
link to archive.is

Britain’s problem is not with Europe, but with England
link to archive.is

dave Stewart

Just read the “Sun’s” report on HMS QE2 leak, seawater pouring in at 200 litres an hour, wow, did a quick Stu arithmetic check on this, it works out at 0.06 litres a second, now that’s a big pour, or 3.6 litres a minute.
Since the ship weight is 65,000 tonnes, and displacing the same , it might take some time to sink if the water isn’t pumped out of the bilges, say around 5 years to get unstable.
The wetted surface of the hull at 280 metres by 60 metres is around 17000 square metres, sitting in water at 5 degrees centigrade, the inside will be sweating much more than 4 litres a minute, my single glazed windows produce condensate at a similar rate per square metre.
The crew produce more urine in a day into the heads.
If you remember the ship in Glasgow, City of Adelaide, she just sat on the bottom at her berth.
So no real story, oh look there’s a squirrel.
So to help out the media, It’s the Scottish owned 10% of the ship that’s leaking, not the englandland part.
Laugh

jfngw

BBC Impartiality, a number of programmes have been reported to Ofcom but they only report on one of them because it has a SNP bad connotation.

But the programme is not specifically about Scotland, don’t know if it is even physically made in Scotland and is not broadcast by a Scottish broadcaster. So what motivation would they have to report this and not other Ofcom investigations, including ones about BBC Scotland.

Bill McDermott

Forgive me if I have missed anyone posting a link but can someone give me a link to the debate between Stephen Paton and that fellow Clews of Scotland in Union last night. I would love to hear the embarrassing contortions of ‘Proud Scot Buts’.

CameronB Brodie

From a critical realist perspective, Dan and Tom appear to represent the interests of counter-evolutionary metastasis. They seem to be wholesome and reasonable but are, in fact, a couple of reactionary Tories, IMHO.

starlaw

during ww2 American Peanut Farmers decided to do something to help the poor starving British children.
The packed the worst of their crop, which usually went for pig food into jars and sent it to Britain where the children fed it to their pet pigs. After the war these same farmers thought they would be on a bonanza and put tons of the same rubbish on the market thinking that British kids loved the stuff.
Peanut butter never really took off in Britain because the kids hated it. After Brexit are we going to rely on this type of farmer for our food.

Free Scotland

One of my mates was telling me about his old dad, who was all packed and ready to go off on a caravan holiday, but wanted to fill up with fuel before setting off. There was a petrol station about 50 yards from his house, but it was charging about 1.5 pence per litre more than the one at the other end of town. So, given his Somerset Webb mentality, he drove to the other end of town and, while attempting to manoeuvre into the forecourt, he scraped and dented his caravan against an innocent-looking brick wall and landed himself a £470 repair bill.

Nana

@Bill McDermott

you should find it here, just scroll down the page

link to facebook.com

mr thms

Beat me to it. This link takes you straight to the discussion.

link to m.facebook.com

Alastair

I haven’t read all of the above comments so it’s possible it has already been said, but this country missed a trick back in the 18th century when the oppressed people of France decided enough was enough. It’s not too late of course, and I can’t for the life of me imagine a hell that would be hellish enough for the likes of Ms Somerset-Webb and her ilk in the form of Reece-Mogg and the tory establishment. Heads on spikes time methinks.

Dan Huil

Now we know why the report on royal navy recruitment being down was leaked.

Thepnr

Pro Independence supporters are not having an easy time of it in getting the message across in Catalonia. From the National.

Diary from Catalonia link to archive.is

Jack Murphy

jfngw began his post at 12:57 pm:
“BBC Impartiality, a number of programmes have been reported to Ofcom but they only report on one of them because it has a SNP bad connotation……….”

EXACTLY,it’s BBC Scotland rubbish news.

This is from STV on-line yesterday:

“……A spokesman for Slainte Media said: “This is an investigation by Ofcom into a single complaint in relation to tweets and messages used on the first edition of The Alex Salmond Show.

“It is worth noting that the same Ofcom bulletin, which includes this investigation also lists nine other investigations into other broadcasting organisations in a two-week period, including into BBC and ITV programmes.”

He added: “In addition, there are 18 other specific complaints to Ofcom listed concerning the BBC which have yet to complete the BBC’s internal complaints process.”……..”

Robert Peffers

@Tinto Chiel says: 19 December, 2017 at 10:00 am:

“I laughed at that one, Breeks.
She’ll be one of those who tell you YOU have an accent but SHE doesn’t.”

Somewhere in my vast collection of video clips I have one in which a Cockney stallholder in a London Market tells my late wife that she spoke, “funny English”. My late wife who spoke excellent, and grammatically correct, English replied to him in her best Cockney impression, (she was also a very good mimic but the guy was far too dim to realise she was taking the Michael), and he told her she could speak good English if she really tried.

These people really are not aware of how stupid and English/British nationalistic they are. He also, BTW, tried to give her only 19 shillings in the pound for her Bank of Scotland notes and was surprised when he got her would be purchases back on his stall. I also noted the volume of his voice went up when he spoke to non-Englanders. The thing is they don’t even realise they are doing so.

He seemed rather taken aback when I explained to him where the term, “Cockney”, was derived from or perhaps he just didn’t believe me.

Thepnr

The media wouldn’t be bias would they? Short video on the Catalan elections this Thursday.

link to bloomberg.com

geeo

@proud cybernat.

Loving your Imgur posts..brilliant stuff!!

Nana, re your link to Scottish electoral reform..

If Holyrood 2016 were ALL FPTP the SNP would have won 104 seats out of 129.

Based on % of constituency seats won, extrapolated over 129 seats.

SNP won 81% of constituency seats (59/73)

81% of 129 = 104 (rounded down from 104.45)

Would be a bit harder claiming Scots support for the SNP is ‘waning’….

Now, i am not saying we should use FPTP, as it IS NOT a democratic relection of the electorate voting.

However, if it is good enough for Unionists in England to lock out smaller parties…it is good enough to shaft Scotlands small parties ..like the tories..labour…lib dems…!!

Even the suggestion wouldn’t half put the wind up them.

How could they scream “unfair” when the same system suits them in Elections down south ?

Worth it just for the entertainment value alone..

mr thms

Listened to the discussion.

He was irked that Transport Police was devolved.

Pointing to the border on his organisations logo he said it was ridiculous there would need to be a handover.

He constantly said he could only see things in a UK spectrum.

Which probably explains why he could not see that by devolving Transport Police from a Scottish spectrum, Police Scotland would be ready for when Scotland becomes INDEPENDENT.

galamcennalath

“Cabinet agrees to push ahead with demands for bespoke Brexit deal”

Laugh or cry?

Either, the Tories genuinely don’t understand that the UK is in no position to demand anything, or …. they are talking nonsense just to save face in front of the millions of voters they have been lying to over what Brexit actually means.

Now I’m wondering, just how long before they realise/admit that the best they can get is an off the shelf ‘Canada’ deal covering trade in goods only, if they continue to insist single market membership is out?

The answer should be days. I suspect however it will be about six months.

The other scenario, which must always be considered. It’s all a ruse to crash out and blame EU intransigence!

I have no real worries about Brexit, or what the final outcome is.

However, I am deeply worried that Scotland won’t escape from the madness!

galamcennalath

starlaw says:

After Brexit are we going to rely on this type of farmer for our food.

England will! Let’s just hope we manage to bail out first and get strict border controls on food imports from England in place!

I’m making a serious point. It has oft been said that our Achilles Heel in IndyRef2 will be a hard border with England. The more I hear about US food standards and talk of a UK/US Trade Deal which dumps EU food regulations, the more I think a hard border will be a positive policy for Indy!

Robert Graham

Thanks Nana -for the link to the unionist persons view of the world .

I think after about 2 or 3 minutes i started to get a buzz in my head , Christ what a bloody depressing f/kr hes is .

The main post headline suites this character perfectly .

Another Tragic Victim .

Az

Merryn Somerset Webb-Of-Deceit

Thepnr

This is truly gross, we need some of these figures for the Tory leading lights, Johnson, Gove, Davis, Rees-Mogg and May for starters.

Definitely a best seller, crowdfunder anyone LOL.

link to archive.is

jfngw

@geeeo

The SNP proposing a uniform voting system across the UK hence cementing the Britishness of the UK, how could the Lab/Cons vote against it. It would be worthwhile having the vote, it would currently be defeated, just to have the these parties vote against a system they approve of at WM.

Dr Jim

Evil-ution

If the powerful don’t take from the passive how are the powerful to survive

jfngw

Just to add, the current voting system was devised so that no party ever had outright control. But its most important aspect was that the SNP would never be in control as Lab/Cons/LibDems would always be the largest parties. The Scots voters screwed up their cunning plan.

haudonthenoo

She gives fruit-loops a bad name…elkie.

galamcennalath

” Brexit Britain faces a reality check on trade “

Good overview of potential trade deals.

link to edition.cnn.com

geeo

@jfngw 4.41pm.They would not even notice the utter hypocracy.

geeo

Jaiky Burd telling us the leaky bit or the non aircraft carrier was built in Scotland..!!

What a surprise huh ?

Dan Huil

@geeo 6:58pm

“Jaiky Burd telling us the leaky bit or the non aircraft carrier was built in Scotland..!!”

If correct then good! Shows what the Scottish workforce thinks of QE and the royal navy.

TheItalianJob

@Geeo at 6.58pm

Doesn’t surprise me with Jacky Burd. We all knew it would be reported as Scottish built by BBBC.

That’s why I stopped watching BBBC Misreporting Scotland.

Hell mend them.

TheItalianJob

@Geeo at 6.58 pm

Doesn’t surprise me that Jacky Burd and BBC misreporting Scotland would come out with this nonsense.

It’s what we have come to expect. That’s why I stopped watching Misreporting Scotland.

No truth comes out of any of them.

Hell mend them.

CameronB Brodie

Talking about another tragic victim, are Scottish farmers really backing Brexit? What about the loss of the Scottish brand? Do Scottish farmers still support the Yoonion?


A ‘soft Brexit’ is the only viable strategy in a post-liberal world

An economically successful Brexit strategy relies on securing a ‘soft Brexit’, one that enshrines the uniqueness of the UK, permits a political discourse that revives the Anglo-American relationship, albeit allowing the UK to continue being a meaningful player in the European system. Politically, this process can be sold as a protraction of the Churchill / Thatcher / Major policies of the uniqueness of British participation in the European system. A soft Brexit could be perceived as a success by moderate Brexiters if properly presented. It would entail highlighting exit of the EU itself in a short timeframe, the end of formal direct ECJ jurisdiction over Britain, a unilateral ‘veto power’ over excessive unskilled EU immigration, opt-in options to some EU policies perceived as beneficial to specific groups of constituents and, going forward, a formally intergovernmental UK-EU relationship based on voluntary cooperation….

link to blogs.lse.ac.uk

Brexit

Average farm profitability could drop from £38,000 to £15,000 a year in the worst-case scenario as a result of policy and performance challenges that come from Brexit, modelling work has revealed….

….But while results differ on a sector-by-sector basis, the top 25 per cent of businesses, regardless of sector, remained profitable under every scenario….

link to cereals.ahdb.org.uk

Brexit Scenarios: an impact assessment

Conclusion

Across UK agriculture, cereals and upland beef and sheep producers account for a large share of producers and land use. The results show that it is these producers who, on average, will be most impacted by drops to farm business income. Indeed, under Scenario 3: Fortress UK, these sectors see their average farm become loss-making….

link to ahdb.org.uk

Dan Huil

Good news from the Irish Times:

Unionist politicians have accused Tánaiste Simon Coveney of being “clumsy”, “unhelpful” and “aggressive” in his handling of Northern Ireland issues.

The charges came after Mr Coveney, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, raised the prospect of the British and Irish governments making decisions for Northern Ireland in the absence of a functioning powersharing system.

Mr Coveney, who has repeatedly said London-only direct rule would not be acceptable to the Government, said on Sunday that the Belfast Agreement “is where the rules are set”.

Noting that the Democratic Unionist Party “looks forward” to meeting Mr Coveney in due course, DUP MP Gregory Campbell said: “There is a lot of straight talking to be done. It has been regrettable that the positive relationship which existed under the Enda Kenny and Charlie Flanagan administration has been undermined in recent times.”

Mr Campbell rejected Mr Coveney’s declarations that Dublin and London were required to hold inter-governmental conferences on Northern Ireland if the Stormont institutions were not restored. “For the [Republic’s] Foreign Minister to suggest some role for his Government in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland ignores the constitutional reality.”
Honeymoon period

Mr Campbell said that despite a lengthy honeymoon period, Mr Coveney’s time in office as Minister for Foreign Affairs has been marked by “unhelpful comments which have been totally counter-productive”.

He said the DUP wanted to have a good relationship “with our nearest neighbour”, but the North’s place within the United Kingdom must also be respected.

“If Simon Coveney is so clumsy with diplomacy relating to his nearest neighbour, one wonders how he handles diplomatic matters in countries with which he is even less familiar.”

He also said the Government needed to repair its damaged relationship with the DUP following last week’s Brexit deal.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Robin Swann MLA urged Mr Coveney to “step away from the microphone if he wants to repair relationships with unionists”.

“This is the season of goodwill and we would like to show some goodwill towards Simon Coveney, but every time he claims he wants to repair relationships with unionists he puts his foot in it.

“Let’s be very clear. There is nowhere in the Belfast Agreement that permits joint authority or joint stewardship. As much as he and others may wish it to be different, it is simply not catered for.”

Mr Swann said Mr Coveney’s remarks, including that he hoped for a united Ireland during his political lifetime, undermined “the very basis of the Belfast Agreement – the consent principle”.

“The sooner he realises what he is messing about with and gets back to basics, then the easier it will be to repair the relationships which he claims he wants to mend.”

TUV leader Jim Allister MLA said Mr Coveney’s comments were “another manifestation of the aggressive attitude of his Government towards unionists and go well beyond the scope of the Belfast Agreement”.
Direct rule

However, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood agreed with Mr Coveney’s intervention, saying that “there can be no return to British direct rule”.

His intervention was “entirely consistent with the logic and the spirit of the Good Friday agreement”, Mr Eastwood said.

“In the absence of local institutions the only way to achieve that balance means a structure in which both the Irish and British governments hold joint authority.”

Sinn Féin MLA and national chairman Declan Kearney said his party was committed to getting the political institutions back up and running .

“This requires the British government to implement previous agreements and to end its support for the DUP’s blockade on rights which citizens enjoy everywhere else in these islands.

“In the face of the continued failure of the British government and the DUP to meet their commitments and agreements it is essential that the Irish Government acts decisively.”

Free Scotland

Reading that article by Somerset Webb reminded me of a story one of my mates told me about his old dad, who was about to set off on a caravan holiday but was keen to make sure he had a full tank of petrol before starting his journey.

There was a petrol station about 50 metres from the old guy’s house, but the price was about 1.5 pence per litre more expensive than at the other end of the town, so he headed up to the other end of town to get the cheaper petrol. However, as he was manoeuvering his vehicle into the forecourt, he scratched and dented one side of his caravan on an innocent-looking brick wall, causing over £450 worth of damage.

Unionists seem to measure the value of everything in terms of money: they don’t seem to realise that there are people here in Scotland who would gladly live on bread and cheese for the rest of their natural life rather than bow to the political insanity of UKIP and the tories.

heedtracker

It’s what we have come to expect. That’s why I stopped watching Misreporting Scotland.

No truth comes out of any of them.”

Try BBC r4 Today show, now 6am to 9am vote tory chat, no opposition lefty progressive stuff at all. Since Nic Robinson’s taken over that beeb gimp vote tory farce, its got rather scary to listen to very hard core right propaganda.

Beeb Today show tory propaganda spectacular, Brexit’s great, Mrs May’s a hero, Irish are to blame if/when City crashes out of Brexit EU and Orange Hitler’s are really great world leader, all just some of Today’s vote tory running order today.

If we cant get anything like balanced radio and tv news from practically the only broadcaster in tory teamGB, there’s nowhere else. Brainwashing doesn’t come anywhere close to this level of tory propaganda. And there’s not a thing anyone can do about it.

Dr Jim

Poor Scottish shipbuilding

Now I wonder why they’re saying that

Penny dropping yet?

heedtracker

Poor Scottish shipbuilding

If that giant hulk of Labour party/Gordon Brown wildly insane borrowing frenzy sank tonight, I’d probably have my first heart attack laughing, all the way to the Tower for UKOK treason, treasonable laughing at spectacular and great, teamGB warmonger hubris.

ronnie anderson

link to facebook.com Where’s they navy seal when they’re needed LoL.

ben madigan

@ free Scotland who wrote “Unionists seem to measure the value of everything in terms of money”

That’s the effects of 30-40 years neo-liberalism. Everything in life has been reduced to “economics”, “finance” and “banking” and “the bottom line” – which no ordinary person knows anything about or is remotely interested in learning anything about beyond managing personal finances.

Anything that moves or doesn’t move has been nailed down and commodified, with a price put on everything. Yet even the mastercard ad says there are some things that are beyond price!

Besides neo-liberalist faux economics there is nothing else to support Unionism as a political philosophy.

I’ve yet to hear “a positive case for the Union” – no matter how hard I listen.

All free Scots know something more is out there, just waiting for us to stretch out out hands and seize it!

Scott

SNP New Year resolution don’t take anymore crap from BBC MSM start fighting back and call out Tories,Lab and libs they have been to soft for to long.

PS The Liberal Democrats have been fined £18,000 for breaking spending rules in last year’s EU referendum.

Will they pay up and have they paid the Scottish Police yet.

David Caledonia

It seems that free speech is now a criminal offence in Northern Ireland, welcome to Britain Today, the land where people can kill and murder your children but its illegal to say it

gus1940

Poor Jackie Turd – tonight’s Misreporting Scotland had to lead on the Cameron House fire meaning that today’s SNPbad attack on the NHS was demoted in the running order.

Still, they will have something else lined up for tomorrow while the dead tree scrolls continue with their sensational reporting on the Great Alex Salmond Show Tweets Scandal Inquiry by OFCOM following a SINGLE complaint.

Just imagine if every single complaint against The BBC had similar hysterical coverage – there would no no room for anything else in the papers.

manandboy

link to parliamentlive.tv

This Committee debate was ostensibly about the need for transparency about the election donations given to the DUP to promote Brexit in London. But in fact, it was about preserving the £1billion Tory-DUP alliance.
The Tories won 9 votes to 8 in favour of keeping the details secret.
In the Tory world, transparency is achieved through secrecy.

gus1940

And Another Thing – Jackie Turd EOS couldn’t help but mention that the part of the white elephant which is leaking was built at Govan.

While that may be true I would suggest that the prop shaft, gland etc will have been installed after assembly and installation of the engines at Rosyth.

CameronB Brodie

Re. Brexit. Here’s a thread giving a graphic representation of the British government’s “red lines” and subsequent and ‘evolving’ Brexit ‘strategy’. Don’t worry peeps, English cultural exceptionalism will see you right. 😉

link to twitter.com

John H.

There are always teething problems with any new ship. OK they’re having problems with the stern gland leaking around 200 litres per hour. 200 litres is about a bath full of water. They will repack the gland with new seals and that should do it. The media are making a big thing of very little as usual.

Bob Mack

We built them a boat
It just would nae float,
It leaked like a sieve so they say
Wi nae planes to fly
The news folk on Sky
Declared this a very sad day
Those Scots they have failed
This new boats not sailed
It’s lasted for less than a week
Perhaps they don’t know
Because they are slow
The chief engineer is to blame
He’s rough and he’s gruff
Incredibly tough
And Hamish we call him by name

galamcennalath

CameronB Brodie says:

English cultural exceptionalism will see you right. ?

Yup, that is exactly what millions believe – it will be all just fine in the end because good old Blighty holds a special place in the hearts of the Gods.

Read a poll the other day which implies 4 out of every 5 leave supporters still believe the NHS will get its £350m a week. The reality is taking a long time to filter though all that exceptionalism!

Meg merrilees

Well O didn’t think they would twist the leaking ship story round to blame the Scottish bit for the leak – and there was me thinking T May and co. would get a rare roasting over essential snagging…

Of course, someone could have made some minor alterations to the Scottish work when they were fitting out other, later bits.

Seems the firm responsible will have to pay for the repairs – so, discredit Scots shipbuilding and try and bankrupt the yard at the same time – It’s getting nasty now.

defo

John H
It’s not quite water that’s the prob here, but would repacking Jabbas stern gland be that easy too ?
—————————————
Saw someone up thread yesterday mention being orf to Geneva for the powder. Snap. First week of the year, up yer actual French Alps, courtesy of well off, hard working friends owning a gaff that I went over to project manage and fit out for them. Booking flights well ahead made it affordable for me +3. Just.
Happen to know they pay shed loads of tax, and would happily cough the extra it would take to start building a fairer, warmer society. Clever peeps, who take the long view & know a win/win when they see it.
—————————————

Seen a lot of unflipped Daily Heils, Express and Hootsmons on news stands when out and about recently. Not good enough peeps.
You know the drill.
1. Cover offending headline with The National, which will be on the bottom shelf,flat and tucked behind the Morning Star, which is tucked behind the Racing Post.
2. No National = Flip to Sport.

No excuses. My hammer is real, not virtual like Stu’s. 😉

Sinky

Oh dear bad news for wealthy emigtants as Council Tax in England going up by 6% next year.

Scot Finlayson

Just looking again at the BBC infiltrating local news papers,

`As part of its Charter commitment, the BBC is investing up to £8 million annually in the Local News Partnerships during the next nine years to the end of the Charter in 2026.`

the BBC are providing 150 Local Democracy Reporters to the likes of Johnston Press who get 30 reporters,

that is a yearly salary of £54,000 per reporter guaranteed for 9 years,

apart from the whole thing stinking of State control of the media,is £54,000 normal for a local hack ?

link to tinyurl.com

Tam the Bam.

John H…..10-23pm
“…having problems with the stern gland leaking!”

How awful! Nothing worse than an outbreak of haemorrhoids at Christmas.

jfngw

Another day another Rep Scot SNHS is rubbish story. As Scotland has some of the best figures in the UK I was expecting to see the same daily coverage of NHS England on the news, but strangely I don’t.

The weekly percentage figures are useless without some context, I need to know the totals also. 86% of 10,000 is more people than 95% of 5000, without this info it’s just a number, no idea of how many are being seen within timescale.

Meanwhile MSM are hoping that anyone working on the carrier is or has been a SNP member. The headline is just waiting.

mike cassidy

BBC’s support for the Dead Tree Scrolls in action.

link to archive.is

Lenny Hartley