Alert readers may recall a few weeks ago, when this was a thing:
The SNP standing for seats in England, of course, is an idea that’s been put forward before by some of the nation’s sharper and more insightful political commentators, but the party has for obvious and understandable reasons shown no inclination thus far to undertake the experiment.
But as we realised after chatting to a left-wing English chum this week (a successful creative and businessman), such a party actually already exists, and has dozens of MPs. It’s just that it’s currently trapped inside a corpse.
These pages from the 14 March 1998 issue of NME (just 10 months after the election of Tony Blair’s first Labour government) are a fascinating historical document.
They needed saving. So we found them and we saved them.
Alert readers may have noticed something of a glut of articles in the press recently by right-wing commentators angrily challenging the SNP to prove its left-wing credentials if and when the new Scotland Bill ever becomes law and grants Holyrood more powers over taxation, some minor aspects of welfare and – of course – road signs.
The zenith of the phenomenon must surely be today’s eye-rubbingly bizarre Scotsman story in which the Scottish Tories urge the SNP to increase tax in order to reverse, er, Tory cuts. But there’s method behind the seeming madness.
The battle-cry of right-wing Labour apologists all this week has been “realism”. It’s all very well people like Jeremy Corbyn having crazy old principles about what Labour is supposed to stand for, runs the argument, but you can’t argue with public opinion and public opinion is desperate for Labour to become Tories with a slightly softer edge.
We’re sorry to keep going on about this, readers, but we’ve been going over and over it in our heads and we just can’t get it to make sense.
Below is the failed Labour amendment to the Welfare Reform And Work Bill:
As you can see, its sole intended purpose was to refuse a second reading to the Bill. Labour voted for their own amendment (an achievement, we suppose), which means they didn’t want to see the bill get a second reading.
After last night’s debacle in the House Of Commons, various Labour activists and cheerleaders have been scrambled on social and print media to firefight the appalled reaction from voters on the left to the party’s abstention on the Tory welfare bill.
The government’s brutal, monstrous welfare reform bill passed its second reading in the Commons tonight by 308 votes to 124, meaning that somewhere in the region of 80% of Labour MPs abstained on it.
Confused on Push The Button: “WTF is this “Prisoners Dilemma” for the r3t4rded? do we need to draw the payoff matrix? You could do that…” Apr 25, 17:56
Mark Beggan on Push The Button: “This is another example of Colonial suppression of the mass body. A clear indication of the manipulation of colour against…” Apr 25, 16:44
GM on Push The Button: “Aye. Well, I suppose I could bring in as man of my own conditions as I like and take a…” Apr 25, 15:59
Effijy on Push The Button: “With food, energy, housing all short of supply governments will find a way to reduce the population. It already has…” Apr 25, 15:54
Blackhack on Push The Button: ““There is no spoon”” Apr 25, 15:02
Dan on Push The Button: “All a bit too binary and simplistic, but that is seemingly the new standard with the all to prevalent internet…” Apr 25, 14:56
David on Push The Button: “Keza Dugale cannot even push a button .” Apr 25, 14:45
Mark Beggan on Push The Button: “The buttons should be black or white.” Apr 25, 14:40
Phil on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Certainly! OK, off the top of my head… Significant transfers every year (the rUK supports Scotland financially to the tune…” Apr 25, 14:39
Northcode on Push The Button: ““…there’s no cost to pressing red.” God might take a different view… His intelligence being infinite, and His logic somewhat…” Apr 25, 14:39
Rev. Stuart Campbell on Push The Button: ““accepting that everyone staying alive is a good thing without question” Why would you accept that?” Apr 25, 14:23
Andy Wiltshire on Push The Button: “Is it August?” Apr 25, 14:18
GM on Push The Button: “I am more interested in the motivation here. The fact there is a condition set on the blue button, 50%,…” Apr 25, 14:09
Northcode on How To Get Away With Crimes: ““…it is not ‘normal’ for ‘a people’ to ‘crave dependence’ on another supposedly ‘superior’ culture…” There can be no rational…” Apr 25, 13:40
Alf Baird on How To Get Away With Crimes: ““Under UK law criminal activity, including threats against individuals or groups, motivated by ideology is terrorism.” Indeed, and British identity…” Apr 25, 13:17
LondonScot on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Under UK law criminal activity, including threats against individuals or groups, motivated by ideology is terrorism. Perhaps a report to…” Apr 25, 10:37
Alf Baird on How To Get Away With Crimes: ““it thinks like a nutter” Indeed, which explains why the colonial mindset is considered ‘a disease of the mind’ (Memmi).…” Apr 25, 10:35
Chas on How To Get Away With Crimes: “If it thinks like a nutter and writes like a nutter, there is an excellent chance that it actually is…” Apr 25, 09:31
Aidan on How To Get Away With Crimes: “@CC – you’ve got your own company, you got anything going for him?” Apr 25, 07:01
Phil on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “My heart and head both say NO Insider. For I am a ‘yoon’. I think the Union is a great…” Apr 25, 00:57
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on How To Get Away With Crimes: “‘CONSIDERING A SEX SWAP? THINK AGAIN’, WARNS DETRANSITIONER A detranstioner who once took male hormones and had a double mastectomy,…” Apr 24, 22:26
Grace Green on How To Get Away With Crimes: “If men like the subject of this article were genuine they would have had surgery. In reality they are actors,…” Apr 24, 20:41
Aidan on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Fuck me that’s some shame for the Alliance, having someone like “James” associated with them. Ouch – I’ve been critical…” Apr 24, 20:30
James on How To Get Away With Crimes: “Two clowns looking for a circus. That’s right, Scotch folk; vote English Nationalist! Numbskulls. Alliance to Liberate Scotland. Bring it…” Apr 24, 19:26
Insider on The Narcissism Of No Differences: “Phil, Seems an accurate summary of the situation ! The heart says YES !…why shouldn’t we be independent and run…” Apr 24, 18:03
