We stuck this short clip up on YouTube yesterday as a throwaway while watching the Labour conference in slack-jawed astonishment (a visitor from an alien planet would have concluded it was the gathering of a party that had just won a landslide victory, not lost its third general election in a row), but on reflection it deserves a proper post.
If you know anything at all about the story of how female Glasgow City Council employees have fought for equal pay, you’ll probably be as outraged as we are at Baxter’s bulletproof brass neck. But the video actually demonstrates what appears to be Scottish Labour’s master strategy for winning back Scotland.
Labour will start their autumn conference in Brighton properly today, but the comrades have already been at the seaside over the weekend. We thought we’d see how the UK’s official alternative to the Tories was getting along.
We struggled to summon up much more than a weary sigh about a story in a couple of the minor papers today (the Herald and Express), about a micro-scuffle at Saturday’s pro-indy rally in Glasgow. The most interesting thing about it appeared to be that the Express had written its article several hours before the event took place.
Three years ago today, Scotland bottled it. Almost uniquely in world history, its people turned down the chance to take control of their own affairs forever without a drop of blood being shed. They did so on the back of a package of vague promises, not least one of “extensive new powers”, almost all of which have subsequently been broken.
The Secretary of State for Scotland has chosen the anniversary of the referendum to let it be known that on top of that, the most fundamental building block of devolution – the premise that any power not explicitly reserved to Westminster in the Scotland Act 1998 would belong to Holyrood – will now be torn up, in the light of the exit from the EU that Scots were promised a No vote would protect them from.
This was Scottish Tory uberdunce Jamie Greene a few weeks ago, bitterly attacking the SNP for spending £22,000 on consulting the public over a policy on which the party won a landslide victory in the 2016 Holyrood election.
You might think that a government pursuing the manifesto policies it was elected on was a pretty legitimate thing to do, especially when it was asking voters for their views in order to shape that policy. Perhaps Greene was confused because the Tories have been acting as if they, not the SNP, won the election. But that raises another question.
A story from the Financial Times this week revealed the UK government’s latest act of sabotage against the Scottish renewable energy industry. It’s just one more in a long line stretching back to just after the independence referendum, when a string of “Better Together” promises were broken almost the minute the No vote was secured.
It was a particularly weak argument in the first place – if there’s a market in the rUK for Scottish energy, it’ll be there whether Scotland is independent or not. But it unravelled faster than most as soon as it had done its job.
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “Naw, Spartan, I think “white feathering” is to accuse somebody of being feart. I’m not doing that. I’m accusing you…” Sep 28, 09:28
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “I’m assuming ‘Yoons’ refers to independence supporters who happen to disagree with the pissed low-IQ ramblings of the more loony…” Sep 28, 08:46
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Cowering From Destiny: “Bill Browder’s backstory is engaging and informative. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlF0ZzH6C9s” Sep 27, 22:24
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “THEY’RE BEHIND YOU, JAMES!!! Oh dear, I shouldn’t have startled you like that. My bad. I’ll put some sand doon,…” Sep 27, 21:45
James on Cowering From Destiny: “Oh, the fucking irony!!! This site’s btl is being take over by warmongering TurboTory Yoons.” Sep 27, 20:19
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “If only there was some way to get £5 from every delusional who really believes that Scottish Independence is synonymous…” Sep 27, 19:48
Chris Downie on Cowering From Destiny: “Even if the conspiracy theories were incorrect, the SNP stance is completely undemocratic – and thus guilty of the same…” Sep 27, 19:07
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “Have you tried popping across to explain that to them face to face? Could be that it has never occurred…” Sep 27, 18:33
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “Guantanamo is still open. Should be a cinch to organise a direct flight from Fairford. The Yanks will have no…” Sep 27, 18:28
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “The usual masterful insights from Confused. His conviction that R can’t do force projection gives us hope that when everybody…” Sep 27, 18:22
Hatey McHateface on Cowering From Destiny: “Loving how English colonialism supposedly made them the world’s most hated nation, whereas Scottish colonialism supposedly gained us many international…” Sep 27, 18:03
Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: ““Factual post” No one is denying the accuracy of Lavrov’s quote, Shit-for-Brains, merely the act of quoting him at all,…” Sep 27, 17:45
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Nowt wrang wi the Mail, Star and Beano. All are hilarious comics. I’d recommend The Viz as well but it’s…” Sep 27, 17:44
willie on Cowering From Destiny: “Read this week that the Ira-ni-an man arrested for apparently trying to gain access and attack the submarine base at…” Sep 27, 17:36
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “I expect behinds will be felt for this one, especially if the guardroom call going unanswered has any truth to…” Sep 27, 17:32
James on Cowering From Destiny: “LOLZ. Alf posts a factual post and as usual gets half-witted responses from The Daily Mail The Daily Star and…” Sep 27, 17:21
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Indeed. NI is a warning to us all of the consequences of people keeping ancient irrelevant grudges festering instead of…” Sep 27, 17:20
Alf Baird on Cowering From Destiny: “England-as-UK Foreign Minister Miliband sure as hell won’t help liberate us Scots, he’s there to keep us ‘doun-hauden’ and to…” Sep 27, 17:18
Mark Beggan on Cowering From Destiny: “Trumpy just said to the press that the US was investigating the group from the start. The UK media are…” Sep 27, 16:39
Dan on Cowering From Destiny: “A “Compromise” might have been to not hold the highly contentious march in that particular area in the first place……” Sep 27, 16:33
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “This morning’s event seems to have been an extremely lucky escape instigated by the vigilance of a good citizen (who…” Sep 27, 16:20
Spartan 117 on Cowering From Destiny: “Quoting Lavrov has to be an academic’s nadir. I’ll respect your democratic right to your views but sorry, you’ve lost…” Sep 27, 16:04
Captain Caveman on Cowering From Destiny: ““Foreign Minister Lavrov” Ah, the “R” guy at the UN. Figures, eh Alf. Hilarious to see you being a fawning…” Sep 27, 15:16
Dan on Cowering From Destiny: “Had a quick search and aye, the boiler issue was mentioned in the following article; Which also points out the…” Sep 27, 15:11
Alf Baird on Cowering From Destiny: ““Don’t be attached to it when it goes down” Foreign Minister Lavrov can also see it coming. Evidence here that…” Sep 27, 14:38
lothianlad on Cowering From Destiny: “Thats an anger i can relate to!! truly” Sep 27, 14:29
Willie on Cowering From Destiny: “Interesting comments Dan. Seems that there is a major issue with gas boiler tubes. But the plant has been beset…” Sep 27, 14:03
Mark Beggan on Cowering From Destiny: “Todays threat level in Scotland is at level 4. Severe attack is highly likely. Make sure you have batteries for…” Sep 27, 13:29
Dan on Cowering From Destiny: “That’s far from an ideal situation. Viridor are a big company that run many ERF sites across the UK so…” Sep 27, 13:10
Mark Beggan on Cowering From Destiny: “Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear. Alcohol does such damage to the brain.” Sep 27, 12:49
