In sickness and in health
We couldn’t help but notice Labour peer, Stalin-moustache enthusiast and celebrity Bobby Ball lookalike Lord/Baron Robert Winston standing at the front of the party’s boorish stag-party gathering of MPs and MSPs in Glasgow yesterday, as Ed Miliband railed against the dastardly SNP and insisted that the NHS wasn’t under threat.
(We didn’t see Andy Burnham among the MPs in the footage, so we assume he was still down in London telling anyone who’ll listen that the NHS is under threat.)
And we couldn’t help wondering whether the peer’s presence was a tacit endorsement by Miliband of his proposal to charge people £120 a year to visit their GP.
There have been claims in parts of the Yes camp that Lord Winston actually wants to charge people £200 for a single GP visit, on the basis of this story in the Daily Mail. However, in the interests of fairness (and as people with experience of being lied about by the Mail) we must note that he sort-of denied the claim on his Twitter account:
Now, the comment above isn’t exactly a full-on rebuttal, and Lord Winston wouldn’t be drawn to clarify his position despite several users of the social-media service asking him to. But we dug a little further, and found that while he indeed has never called for a £200-per-visit charge, the truth is barely any less disturbing.
In a 2011 interview with the more sympathetic left-leaning New Statesman, the source of the £200 figure cited by the Mail became clear:
Saying something costs £200 is, of course, NOT the same as saying people should be made to pay £200 for it. Quite apart from anything else, such a scheme would inescapably shatter the core founding principle of the NHS – which is that the service should be free at the point of use – and be politically toxic.
It would also act as a huge disincentive to the poor (and indeed the not-so-poor) to seek treatment, and we’re sure that Lord Winston wouldn’t wish to create a situation where the vulnerable found themselves unable to seek treatment. The average person visits their GP somewhere in the region of six times a year, which would mean an alarming bill of £1200, or more than twice that for the elderly.
(It would of course also result in INCREASED costs to the NHS, as easily curable minor ailments escalated through neglect until the person needed much more serious and expensive treatment.)
But the NS didn’t press him for clarity on the statement that “some people” should pay for “parts of” the NHS, so we had to look elsewhere. And we found the answer in an article in The Sun from just last month (5th August 2014, to be precise).
It repeated the Mail’s error of claiming that he wanted a £200 charge for a GP visit, but then – seemingly by accident – revealed what Lord Winston actually DID want:
The IVF pioneer added: “I suggested that to Tony Blair. He said, ‘do you know what? That’s a great idea, but you could never do it as the party would never agree to it’.”
If you actually read that properly, what Winston is calling for is not a £200 charge but a £10 NHS “membership fee” as proposed by Lord Warner. That would protect the principle of the NHS being free at the point of use, while still actually charging people for it. And sure enough, Labour is reported to be actively considering a similar plan, with many voices in the party and the Labour-friendly media backing it.
Of course, if the 1p-on-National-Insurance model were to be adopted, that would apply to people in Scotland too. The same would presumably apply to a specific healthcare tax, unless that tax were to be devolved to Holyrood, which seems unlikely. We can’t be sure, because Labour characteristically refuses to discuss the matter in public, but none of the reporting to date suggests that the party has thought to consider the implications for Scotland and its completely independent NHS.
Under such a plan, the NHS would no longer be a universal public service – it would have to become means-tested if Winston’s desire that “poorer people are not left out of pocket” was to be honoured, and that would inevitably mean that some would suffer and ultimately die due to the stigma associated with claiming means-tested benefits.
(A stigma which has, horrifically, seen over 200,000 people physically assaulted in the past year for being welfare recipients as the government and right-wing media continue a decades-long programme of demonisation.)
All of this fits neatly into current Labour ideology, in which welfare is openly scorned as “something for nothing”, a begrudging charity to the feckless. Perhaps the ill poor would, as with unemployment benefits, be made to work in return for their treatment.
So as Lord Winston stood alongside Ed Miliband yesterday telling Scots that they had nothing to worry about and the NHS was safe in the United Kingdom, it appears very much as though he was leaving out rather a lot of quite important small print. Readers must decide for themselves whether they wish to gamble on waiting until after the referendum before they find out what sort of future NHS they’re voting for.
And there is already an additional 2p on NIC ring-fenced for NHS, and without upper limit
It did occur to me that one of the reasons the Together politicians have become so furious about the Scottish NHS becoming an issue in the referendum, is not because they really believe it is safe but because it could be worth sacrificing.
The danger to SNHS is likely to sway many people in the vote.
A Yes vote would cut off Westminster from further centuries of access to the sea; fishing, mineral rights, shipping rights, the land; agriculture, sport, tourism, minerals, and the people, workers, education, ideas, army and forces recruits.
All of that could be worth the lose of part or most of the SNHS to private companies.
A new low for the Better Together campaign. Workers for McAlpine Plumbing, based in Hillington face sack if they vote No.
link to heraldscotland.com
Don’t expect BBC or supine Scottish press headlines for Labour’s endorsement for NHS charging.
Just as they didn’t report the UK Treasury took the EU to court, at taxpayers expense, to prevent a cap on Bankers bonuses of only twice their annual salary or that it was confirmed that Westminster MPs are getting 10% pay rise at a time when other public sector employees such as nurses are limited to one per cent.
BBC and some of the press claim to be fair but its what they don’t report such as Galloway’s outrageous remarks as the Better Together spokesperson on TV yet try to distance themselves from Nigel Farage and the Orange Order.
It’s bizarre the lengths folk will go to in order to avoid suggesting the obvious: raise taxes. After all, that’s effectively what this would be, a stealth tax.
Of course, what would happen here is rich folk and those with private health plans would say “well I’m not paying an NHS membership fee, I have my own health care arrangements.” Then the NHS becomes poorly funded and goes downhill.
No, this idea could only stand a chance of working if you banned private health care – and I think we all know THAT won’t happen.
So how do McAlpine Plumbing expect to find out just exactly how their workforce voted? Or is that more of the dark arts of this great country of ours?
Common Rev. He’s a Mario lookalike surely?
Is that the Baroness Liddell just to his lower left hand side?
I wonder if she’ll try and visit Coatdyke while she’s up.
Definitely saw Tom Clarke almost directly behind his head to his right on the Video version.
Aye, they’re coming out of the woodwork right enough.
@gillie
Do you mean they face the sack for voting Yes?
Yes, it looks like a mini-version of Baroness Lidl between Miliband’s and Flipper’s shoulders. Either that, or someone has photoshopped her into that weird position. They must have raked in a bucket-load of expenses on their awayday trip.
Actually that photie looks like a fake tan competition, or is that a trick of the settings.
Rev – I watched a bit of Newsnight last night (with Wark adopting a sort of wry smirk as a way of inject a bit of balance, at least at the start) and Andy Burnham was being interviewed on the train with the other Labour MPs, so I assume he was there, unless he sneaked off at Birmingham or somewhere.
“A Yes vote would cut off Westminster from further centuries of access to the sea; fishing, mineral rights, shipping rights, the land; agriculture, sport, tourism, minerals, and the people, workers, education, ideas, army and forces recruits.
All of that could be worth the lose of part or most of the SNHS to private companies.”
You’re missing something critical:
If they sell off the NHS to private companies, they *aren’t* losing it, because the MPs and Lords who organise the sell-off are the same people who own the private companies that it’s being sold to.
So if there is a No vote, then not only do they get to keep spending Scotland’s money on London, but they also get to make massive *personal* profits at the cost of the public health.
Sorry O/T but in light of the hate feast from some business leaders, Labour should seriously consider who their partners in Better Together really are. Alex Salmond should be reminding the Scottish Electorate who it is that is spreading all the “leaving Scotland propaganda”!
link to telegraph.co.uk
Lots of familiar names signed this letter back in 2010.
Why does nobody ask the leading no campaign how much they would personally lose financially if Scotland votes yes.
O / Fresh warning of plague and locusts coming along this weekend with B&Q saying prices will go up in Scotland after independence.
Fact is that prices will go up if we remain in UK. Not least energy prices due to the UK’s deal with China to build new nuclear power station with a guaranteed price of double the current market price.
This is something of an understatement. The UK has run a deficit on its trade in goods every single year since 1983.
Ruk have imported many more goods than RuK has exported every year for three decades. Including services and overseas earnings (the “current account”), the UK has run a deficit since the mid-1990s. Today, that deficit is close to record levels, at 4.4% of GDP.
UK has an economy that has been extremely effective at covering for its deficit by borrowing from the rest of the world. Today, the UK holds the world’s second-largest external debt, behind only the US. The UK, collectively, owes 406% of its GDP to its overseas creditors.
I see the wee numpty who runs the WOS twitter feed is having a go at Scottish rugby players who support no and claiming they therefore don’t believe Scotland is a nation.
David Sole and the rest of the players from 1990 have done far more in one day for Scotland’s status as a nation, national pride and the promotion of Scotland across the world, than the wee numpty has done in his entire life.
And far more than Salmond too for that matter, or anyone from the yes campaign.
Sole and the other players unified the whole of Scotland behind their team and created an outpouring of national pride and celebration – Salmond and the SNP followers have ripped Scotland apart, divided families and communities, and created an outpouring of hatred, bile and abuse.
look at them..like a scene from the muppet show..waldorf n statler with the muppet master in the middle pulling the strings..makes me sick…there lies will come back to haunt them no matter what the result
Rev, when you mention means testing so that ‘the poor aren’t left out of pocket’, that in itself will cost money to set up.
It’s most probable that a large chunk of the funds collected through NHS membership would then be spent on administrating means testing and not on patient care.
You can buy one of those dodgy mustaches from Amazon.
link to amazon.co.uk
Cheaper than a visit to your GP at £1.50
Sandy, time for your afternoon nap lad, close the door on your way out.
ot , interesting article in Canberra times ,re the referendum and media bias , world media starting to catch on, this could almost be written by WOS , good to see that some journos can do the job. A few more internationals putting pieces like this out would be good , might make them think before lying to much , but I dount it , lies are so fundamental to the no campaign they cant change now.
link to canberratimes.com.au
Just had an email from Holly Hynd, Executive Assistant of the Scottish Building Society, confirming that they have no plans to move their HQ out of Scotland.
So guess who is going to be moving his money out of what used to be the Dunfermline Building Society (and is now the ‘Nationwide’ Building Society) and transferring it into the Scottish Building Society. Me!
And their rates are excellent.
Troll alert.
If Scotland votes not to be an independent nation, why should it have a separate rugby team?
@Sandy
The rugby team of 1990 were great. However, they do not want Scotland to run its own affairs, like any other nation. That is the long and short of it.
Hi Sandy! Wrong department. Anger Control Management can be found at the Telegraph. Good luck, and toodle pip!
gerry parker at 1:48pm—-Yes,that is the Labour Peer,Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke in the photo.
Haven’t seen or heard anything from her for ages.
@Sandy
We get it, unionists and Brit nats think playing for Scotland at rugby and football is more important than the nation running its own affairs.
if @ least 20% of people don’t turn up, well that would be a norm then!
which means people are taking money under false pretenses!
to add this insult to injury they want to charge an attendance fee of what ever they deem this should be, for a service that we already pay for.
where are the howls of “we must end the draining burden of PFI’s,” tied round the neck of the NHS to weigh it down in exorbitant interest charges.
link to diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk
£200p.a. * 55m people in England = £11bn p.a. of revenue from a charge which allows government funding to NHS England to be cut by £11bn p.a. Health spending has Barnett Consequentials. Assume ~ 10% to Scotland i.e. this £11bn cut in spending means a £1.1bn cut in block grant.
That’s a great photo Stu but I have to say Newsnet have a slightly better one. You’ll see what I mean when you look at it cause not only is Milliband standing next to Lord Winston but on the right hand side of this Lord is non other than the greatest leader of our time, the one, the only Herald debater of the year, Johann Lamont! 😛
link to newsnetscotland.com
If you actually read that properly, what Winston is calling for is not a £200 charge but a £10 NHS “membership fee” as proposed by Lord Warner. That would protect the principle of the NHS being free at the point of use, while still actually charging people for it.
I think I get the jist of what you’re saying here Stu but sitting here with my “village idiot crown” on the fact that they are talking about us paying £10 a month kind of negates this free at the point of use idea doesn’t it? I mean we are paying £10 a month so therefore it is not free it is costing me £10 a month to cover whatever visit(s) I may make to the docs.
This wasn’t meant to get your blood pressure up Stu it’s just my warped way of looking at stuff. 😉
1 of the Scotland rugby greats john Jeffrey was asked once that if he hates England so much why does he live so close to the border…his reply was…it takes a strong man to defend the border…its in the book called the grudge
New poll in guardian 51 no 49 yes given margin off error yes could still be leading , BT only crapping themselves i reckon cos the gap is wider more like yes 55 plus and no around 45
@Sandy
In what Universe did the Scottish Rugby players give us free University education, free eye tests, a huge increase in the money going into catatact operations, and the opportunity to vote for our country’s freedom etc, etc?
‘Pon my Sole…they never did and they never will.
Sandy – Alex Salmond and the SNP and many others have now brought Scotland in to the eyes of the watching world showing that many Scots people still have a get up and go and pride about them which could make Scotland a beacon of light amongst first world economies. Only through the myopic eye of a rugby fan ( no offence to rugby and sports lovers as I am one myself ) could it be seen that a rugby teams success on one day never mind over many years could be seen to have done so much good for this country.
People of Scotland – Bow down !!
Remember your Imperial Masters are returning on Monday for a 2nd visit. What a laugh !!!!
link to youtube.com
Have a listen to this if you have not received it before.
BBC interview which will not be given much coverage I believe.
m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=YkZmxWX-JtE
link to youtube.com for luck, Anerican luck!
Oh dearie me our wee pet grumpy Troll seems to have got out of his bed on the wrong side of the bed AND forgotten to take his meds to boot! 😛
Meanwhile back in the REAL world folks it appears our favourite taxi driver is off on one again! 😀
link to tinyurl.com
Dover Sole and his rugger hearties are the tory party in shorts —-perhaps Ruth—
this was a livestream at the CCA about economics link to new.livestream.com
Worth watching to get all or most myths busted
Strange “patriot”as Sole describes himself ,who doesn`t want his nation to be politically independent .
So if I refuse on principle to pay the £10 a month NHS fee, like I refuse to pay the TV license, what happens then? Will I get harassed by the NHS’s corporate enforcers asking me why I haven’t paid?
I don’t use a TV, so not paying the TV license doesn’t have any consequentials really. I don’t as a rule visit the doctor, but sometimes it’s not “optional” like TV watching is. What happesn when I suffer a serious injury, or catch a dangerous disease? Will I be turned away from the local surgery? Will I be on a “do not offer treatment” blacklist? If I am in a train crash and the ambulances arrive to take away the injured will they leave me lying beside the tracks to die? Will they slap a sticker on me, like the bin men do when your wheelie bin has the wrong rubbish in it?
I’m sure our Imperial masters have worked all these details out and that there is no need to worry because their personal wealth will not be harmed by any of these proposals.
It is deplorable that Baroness Liddell should be criticised for trotting around behind Milliband.Fair does! If she was in Glasgow she was depriving herself of her HOL daily attendance allowance and the grateful nation of the expertise she gained from governing Australia.
Could the 100 Labour MPs claim expenses for visiting us?
@The Rough Bounds – I don’t know if you are aware of the despicable selling off of the then Dunferlmine BS to Nationwide which GB did over a holiday weekend despite protest from AS, and even wee Wullie.
link to theguardian.com
”Jim Faulds- the chairman – said that if the £26m write-down in its commercial property investments was put to one side, the society was due to make a modest profit this year and it was still a healthy, viable business. Instead, the society’s 550 staff were now “worried sick” because of this “needless” decision to break the business up”.
That’s before the guardian went all establishment on us.
Better Together politics of fear memo –
People on workfare will be sacked if they vote YES.
PM phoned British Telecom to come out against independence
must be desperate
O/T some credit due to Robert Peston?
“Analysis: Robert Peston, BBC business editor
Some of the fuss and furore about whether prices in an independent Scotland would be higher than in the rest of the UK is bonkers.
When retailers – food and non food – say they might have to push up their prices if Scotland were to introduce higher taxes or rates or if it were to change employment and planning laws, this is simply to remind Scots why they are voting for or against independence.
The whole point of Scotland becoming a separate nation, for its proponents, is to give Scots the ability to make different choices about the nature of the society they inhabit from what prevails in the rest of the UK.
Inevitably those choices would have an impact on businesses. And frequently they would have an impact on the level of prices.
So talking about the emergence of inevitable price differentials between Scotland and an independent UK is to say something stunningly obvious and uninteresting.
For example we don’t expect prices to be the same in UK and France, because the UK and France make different choices about the structure of their respective economies, and these choices have an impact on the productivity and pricing policies of their respective businesses”.
I wish I could trot around various countries on expenses and get my picture taken with Johann Lamont, Jackie Baillie, Baroness Lidl and other world-class political thinkers.
I find the NHS “not being under any threat” story possibly the most ridiculous position from better together no thanks.
Anyone in Scotland who thinks that must not watch/read the British/English news or have access to the internet. Alternatively, they may have their head stuck somewhere and be in a state of denial.
I may have answered that question.
Would small to medium sized businesses in Scotland really want the extra financial burden of factoring in the cost of their employees private health insurance.
Three Private Helicopters just landed at Aberdeen is that DC EM and NC up to make sure the oil is running out perhaps they don’t believe the scaremongers.
Sighh, I already pay a membership fee, it’s called National Insurance (or part of it).
And there is already a model that makes sure that ‘poorer people are not left out of pocket’, it’s called the minimum NI threshold.
So all Prof Winston is proposing that the NHS membership should be more like a poll tax – Prince Charles paying the same as his servants.
That bastion of all that is good about UK journalism, the (Scottish) Daily Mail, is so full of anger, lies, scare- and fear-mongering the nearer we get to the 18th that it should come with a health-warning – ‘Beware! This newspaper may self-combust at any moment!’
Today’s edition has nine full pages of vote No right-wing, British Establishment madness. It truly is a sight to behold.
Headlines include: “Families face cost of living crisis if UK splits”, “Vote Yes and get economic crisis”, “How Salmond ‘lost the plot’ in front of the world’s media” (LOL!), “Seperate Scotland may miss out on Olympics”, “Savings stampede”, “Bruiser Brown promises to take fight to Holyrood as he goes to war for NHS” (LOL!), “”Republicans will howl, but if the Queen doesn’t speak out, she may have no United Kingdom to reign over” by Stephen Glover” (ROFL!)…
This has to get its own line, though: “North Korea boost for SNP as Kim Jong-Un backs split”… You heard it here first, folks!
The dirtiest one, though, is: “A vote that could fan the flames of global division”, which goes on to say Scottish independence would be a fillip for “seperatists” in other countries. Example: “[Ukraine] Alex Salmond praised Mr. Putin for restoring Russian pride in an interview with GQ magazine earlier this year. Seperatists in Ukraine, agitating for closer ties with the Kremlin, have attempted to repay the favour by backing Alex Salmond”…
Nice, eh. Can’t you just feeeeel the luuuurve…!
That’s the kind of organisations and their representatives they say we in Scotland are better together with…..
Vote Yes for the return of democracy and civility and the end of hatred.
Bit O/T and apologies to all, but i have only had a 5 min look around the media online and it seems there has indeed been a cataclysm, no banks, no businesses, anything left in the barren north will be too expensive for plebs, no medical treatment, nada nil zilch !
The question is NOT do i want to live in a Scotland like that, the question is, if we vote No, do i want to live in a country that ALLOWED and actively ENCOURAGED these things to happen ?
I know MY answer to that.
YES VOTE FOR Scotland to be free of these hypocritical liars.
If they want to leave the profits of the Scottish markets, to hell with them.
On a side note i see Ian Paisley has died, now that is some timing just before a OO “peaceful” No march !!!!!
Sandy
Played against all of them and with some of them. Great rugby players. Most went to public school or Merchant schools were born into the empire mind set. Had they been born a hundred years ago they would have been out there managing the empire.They are entitled to thier opinion as is everyone but playing rugby for your country only means you are good at rugby.
bookie from hell says:
12 September, 2014 at 2:37 pm
PM phoned British Telecom to come out against independence
must be desperate
How long was he on hold for?
Imagine losing your job then getting sick with no money to pay for the Doctor. It’s as if England’s phoney left are determined to go back to the Victorian era.
An old fool in a hat ranted at Scots teens last night how Labour had built the NHS after WW2, what the BetterTogether UK won too he shouted. The money must be there, they just have other priorities.
link to navytimes.com
FYI
Financial Times has removed its pay/firewall for copy related to independence …
link to ft.com
Isn’t ‘National Insurance’ the ‘membership scheme’ we all pay into?
O/T, new telephone poll from ICM shows dramatic surge in Yes vote to 49%.
See Mr Kelly’s Scot goes pop.
I think the fact that BUPA have endorsed No Better Thanks tells you all you need to know about just exactly how safe the NHS is if we vote no.
Interesting article highlighted by Ian Fraser re banks.
Headline is ‘Ignore the scaremongers – banks will not be leaving Scotland if the Yes vote wins‘
Read here – link to theconversation.com
A short, excellent expose of BBC bias when reporting about supermarket prices and jobs in an independent Scotland
link to facebook.com
Crash Gordon bought the 2 new aircraft carriers but only wanted to commission the one. Cameron’s decided England actually needs 2 now and announced
“On the eve of the summit, Cameron announced a £3.5 billion deal with General Dynamics UK to build a new generation of specialist armored vehicles for the British Army.”
Specialist armoured cars sound great and what’s a couple of hundred quid to get treatment for your bunions granny? Crash also wanted to spend over £12 bn on ID cards for everyone in teamGB which was stark staring insanity and they have no money left either. Crash probably is insane but look at how Labour wants to squander billions.
link to theguardian.com
I thought he was wanting to charge £200 for any no-show to encourage people to make their appointments. Same principle may already be in place at the Dentist ( why do we have plethora of private dentists btw? – didnt they want to be in NHS?)
Labour…it must be sad standing on that deck waiting for the boat to finally sink. Theres a Downfall bunker video waiting to happen this weekend thats for sure!
Off Topic but drunbken tweet of the week must go to Murdo Fraser last night.
Took great delight in regaling a chat with a No voter who was calling Alex Salmond a “F****** C**T”
Deary me. That Waitrose wine must be going right cheap these days.
Sorry for going O/T but it appears that the BBC BIG lie machine continues on unabated. 😛
link to twitter.com
Fantasy Bob, along with many of the Whitehall medical-welfare mandarin British elite, have been using claims of abuse for quite some time now to silence patients and disabled people who are complaining about their abusive treatment and neglect at the hands of his beloved mandarin establishment.
Atos medical ethics are just a harbinger of what is still to come for anyone who dares suffer periods of ill health and disability or whom, unfortunately, fall into such a state of affairs on a permanent basis.
desimond says:
12 September, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Off Topic but drunbken tweet of the week must go to Murdo Fraser last night.
Took great delight in regaling a chat with a No voter who was calling Alex Salmond a “F****** C**T”
bfh—federalist small talk
It seems like an awful long time since Brian’s Blog was regularly closed off for comments when it suited BBC Scotland.
At the same time, every other BBC blog on the BBC was open for comments.
BBC Scotland’s excuse was that editorial matters were decided locally.
We have come a long road in this independence debate and I have the impression these days that Brian seems somewhat subdued in his presentations. I often wonder if he is struggling with his conscience about the spreading of lies and misinformation. He was always ready to tell us again and again that his Alma Mater was St Andrews University, as if that imbued and guaranteed moral certainty in it’s luminaries.
If that is what he thinks then he has let the University down badly by his collusion with the BBC.
@muttley79
O/T Correction to campaigning activities previously stated – the Major will be at Cameron Toll (one or other of the entrances) from 1030-1230 Saturday (tomorrow) with some of the AyeMarchmont crew.
The campaign had me worried when the lovebombing started. Now the No side are back to shock and awe, i’m quietly confident.
O/T but there is a despicable article by Fraser Nelson in The Spectator.
link to blogs.spectator.co.uk
Trying to portray Yes supporters as a mob.
This is being seen in a number of MSM articles which is why I would urge everyone to be very careful re OO and BBC protest.
They are looking for something to happen to discredit all of us.
I note from an earlier comment that the FT has removed its paywall. I was hoping that The Herald would have done the same by now.
Surprisingly today, Andrew Neil on the Politics show, gave Alistair Darling a torrid time of it, and at one point Mr Darling, almost succumbed to Andrew Neil’s inquisition style questioning technique.
The line of questioning was aimed specifically on new powers if Scotland said no. Andrew Neil asked several times if Ed Balls had signed off on Scotland’s new powers, and the reply each time from Mr Darling was an incoherent mumble of independence is bad.
Spectating the debacle were two journalists,one from the Telegraph and,one from the Scotsman, who could only look away in dismay, at Alistair Darling’s indecisive replies.
@bookie from hell
I was taken aback. I had actually admired his suggestion ** of a new Scottish Tory party before Ruthie took the leadership but now i just see him as a horrible sad wee bitter man.
** My views on his political suggestion in no way endorse having a Scottish Tory party
It was Fantasy Bob’s mates in the then Labour Government who invented the unethical and unscientific DWP ESA regime in order to specifically disappear 100,000 sick and disabled people a year from the welfare rolls for 10 years. All the Tories are doing at the present time is speeding that process up.
So it should come as no surprise that, as Labour support trying to put the welfare state beyond the reach of patients with long term medical conditions, so they are trying to put it beyond the reach of patients with short-term medical conditions too.
Reference –
Welfare reforms at-a-glance
BBC
24 Jan 2006
That Graun report on Labour ID card plan says
“Brown has set up a taskforce, under former HBOS bank chief executive Sir James Crosby, on identity management, and a broader review of public services, led by Sir David Varney, on optimising use of existing identity information. He is considering a fundamental redesign of the ID project to fight a wider range of crime. He believes that, as private companies acquire biometric security systems, their spread in daily life is inevitable.”
But James Crosby Task force leader also had another job, running HBOS into oblivion
link to telegraph.co.uk
Yet same labour catastrophic incompetents or worse, are currently pumping UKOK Project Fear into every Scottish household
“Mr Crosby was dubbed Gordon Brown’s favourite banker. He was appointed by Mr Brown to the board of the Financial Services Authority in 2003. He is calculated to have received bonuses worth £3.1million between 2001 and 2005, calculated at 2009/10 prices”
“James Crosby’s close relationship with Ed Balls and Ed Miliband’s Labour Party illustrates their failure to regulate the banking system – a failure which led to the taxpayer forking out £20.5 billion to bail out HBOS.”
“Ed Balls has yet to answer the serious questions that I put to him about his role in James Crosby’s government appointments under Labour.”
There still no banking regulation and why would they, there’s always the sucker tax payer.
I remember dateline London about a year ago
frazer nelson was the Scotland expert
he said the union was safe,and Cameron played a blinder keeping devo + off ballot
Scots are installed in every nook and cranny of English business which proves that Scotland has something they want. This alone would be a reason for banks and financial services organizations not moving businesses out of Scotland or for investors moving their money where they would not get as good a deal, merely for revenge motives.
BBC say NHS is safe in UKOK hands but now they have a letter to tell you to vote NO
link to bbc.co.uk
I’ve just got off the ‘phone to Bupa and I really wish they didn’t exist. Half an hour being passed about various departments checking if I was covered or not for some follow-up physio, then them trying to sell me stuff, then finding out I have to go back to my physio for him to contact them… I’d rather my work paid the value of my health insurance into the NHS and I didn’t have to go through that palaver – I’d be treated no matter what.
O/T 4 days to go for Friends of Wings Over Scotland fundraiser. As always, please support if you can. Thank you 🙂
link to indiegogo.com
Again O/T sorry but there is a very scary tweet on the Rev’s twitter from a guy saying that he is in Japan and BT came to his mother’s door and asked for his polling card.
I can’t verify if this is true or not but the response to him is report it to the police.
slightly O/T
It’s sunny this weekend so…Take yer granny, take yer dug, take yersel, along to help out the YES campaign. Make history, and be part of that team. Every volunteer helps, no matter how little. Don’t assume ‘others’ will make it happen.
The big push is on. 5 days to go. This is our time. 🙂
Find local events here;
link to events.yesscotland.net
Or via Radical independence campaign
link to radicalindependence.org
Lots on this weekend. Every single vote counts.
Scot Goes Pop:
Yes vote surges to 49% in earth-shaking new TELEPHONE poll from “gold standard” ICM
ICM poll also in The Hootsmon.
I added the Hootsmon because it adds this bit of information: that those voting YES include 42 per cent of people who voted Labour in 2010 voting Yes
1% swing required. Prepare for the soft landing on the other side of the referendum, and as victors get ready to start writing Scotland’s history.
.
If anybody starts anything on Sunday use your phone to tape them, then give the evedence to the police, but dont expect anything to happen about it as it would be a false flag event.
Well I suppose if Stalin’s Granny was there then it would only be fitting if his moustache turned up on a carrier.
link to theguardian.com
Vote NO for a timetable. UKOK Desperation, Graun style.
Oops!
Looks like the idea of BIASED reporting has not reached Eire yet, thankfully. 😉
link to facebook.com
I do wish all those folks with all the power in the world would please STOP making promises to us here in Scotland we all know they will NOT be able to keep. 😛
link to pressgazette.co.uk
O/T, an interesting “poll” in the local paper:
link to fifetoday.co.uk
Initially, in Methil, the best selling biscuits had carried a no, while in Buckhaven it was a yes and in Leven also yes, said Stuart’s.
However, by the start of this week, the Buckhaven and Methil areas were showing a clear yes, while that opinion was also reflected in Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes.
Lundin Links, too, was delivering a yes verdict, along with parts of Leven – but not the High Street, where the most popular response was don’t know.
The only place where no seemed the prevalent response was Kennoway.
“Imagine a world in which Australia wasn’t an independent country. Your daily news comes from England, but the London news desk graciously gives you 20 minutes at the end of the bulletin to update you on Australian news. All Australian place names are explained by the presenters in order to disguise British ignorance. Tax revenue from Australian companies is sent to London and then your government is given some money back to spend on local initiatives. While Britain doesn’t have any natural resources, its media – which dominates Australia – tells you that you are “subsidy junkies” for receiving higher spending levels. Any attempt on your part to argue that your country should be independent leads to Crocodile Dundee references, suggestions that you hate British people and a reply that despite Australia’s resources, educated workforce and strong exports, your country could never survive on its own.”
link to canberratimes.com.au
“Imagine a world in which Australia wasn’t an independent country. Your daily news comes from England, but the London news desk graciously gives you 20 minutes at the end of the bulletin to update you on Australian news. All Australian place names are explained by the presenters in order to disguise British ignorance. Tax revenue from Australian companies is sent to London and then your government is given some money back to spend on local initiatives. While Britain doesn’t have any natural resources, its media – which dominates Australia – tells you that you are “subsidy junkies” for receiving higher spending levels. Any attempt on your part to argue that your country should be independent leads to Crocodile Dundee references, suggestions that you hate British people and a reply that despite Australia’s resources, educated workforce and strong exports, your country could never survive on its own.”
link to canberratimes.com.au
Fraser Nelson was interviewed by the Guardian a few months ago said he would put money on Scotland voting yes and Labour winning the next general election
An enquiring mind wonders how many shares in private healthcare companies and/or directorships/advisory roles are represented in that photograph. Surely that is a form of insider trading? Sorry, for a moment there I thought a consistent rule of law existed in the UK, silly me.
Look out Stu, it appears you may be next to be the recipient of the grand order of the begging e-mail. 😛
link to facebook.com
There is a letter in the Herald today preaching doom and gloom about Scotland undermining the UKs world status.
Henry Kissinger was interviewed on Newsnight last night, mainly about Middle East matters, but he was also asked about Scottish independence. He said it would be hardly be noticed if England handled it the right way. He was not at all animated about Scotland having its independence.
‘The working class can kiss my arse,
I’ve got the foreman’s job at last so stick yer Red Flag up yer……….”
Never was that more appropriate than for the leeches of the present day calling themselves Labour.
Drove through Clarkston earlier this afternoon. Magnificent display from the local Yes team. Well done guys. Has Mr Murphy been down to chat with his constituents?
O/T This week’s Hamilton Vote No Advertiser has a story, briefly mentioned on the front page and in depth on page 3, of an incident that took place in Larkhall on Tuesday of this week. A group of Yes canvassers were unlucky to encounter a very belligerent pensioner who apparently said he would “shoot the fucking lot of you”. Alarm was caused and the police were called. I don’t buy that rag so unfortunately couldn’t help Rev with a pic but if anyone reading this buys that paper could they forward a pic of the article? A story like this would normally appear the following day in the record, being from the same stable as the Hammy Ad.
Woman in the background on Sky right now in George Square holding a placard “BBC Scotland, impartial my ass” with a donkey cartoon. Brilliant. And Adam Boulton slagging of the Yes supporters, trying to say they are the worst when it comes to intimidation. Don’t know how the Yes guy kept his cool.
Slightly O/T
Just watched the local lifeboat being launched, apparently theres
a group of wasteminsters mps who are way out of their depth
BUPA says vote NO, suppose that means the NHS will be privatised in the event of a NO vote. +Andy Burnhams gibbering warnings of the dismantling of the NHS IN Engerland. And Lordy Robert Winston looking after the charging for NHS services. And Darling and Broon up to their armpits in out and out deceit and lies.
THIS IS THE LABOUR PARTY THAT LOOKS AFTER THE POOR AND NHS. GOD HELP US.
YES TO SAVE US FROM OUR “friends” total lies and deceit with malice. Scum. Broadcast by the EBC and friends? Totally corrupt and poisonous system.
O/T- Here is yesterday’s hilarious ‘Empire Strikes Back’ in Glasgow as featured on Russian TV:-
link to youtube.com
Yesterday’s full-length extravaganza (again) here:-
link to youtube.com
Interesting lawyer on BBC explaining multiple ways Westminster could prevent a yes vote from getting independence if it’s a close yes.
Guy on BBC news saying, the Edinburgh agreement says the outcome of a YES may not allow Independence. Due to the wording of the agreement which says both countries would work for the best arrangements for Scotland and rUK.
So Westminster could weasel out( my words) and say they will appply the actual wording to a YES vote. Let me remind you they have 60Million or so, to our 5+.
Said there would be a political firestorm, but they could do it.
Went on to say, the Union would have to be dissolved and Westminster would not have the power to dissolve it.
WOW, just WOW, there is no end to their deceit.Go figure!
Harry, I should find the HamAd at granny’s tomorrow; will see what I can do.
Could try the website but that’s just a Daily Retard front these days
Press and Journal focusing on the big issues, because they’re so UKOK neutral n shit
link to pressandjournal.co.uk
BBC has Scotsman reports of Jim Sillars stating BP would be nationalised in the event of a Yes vote – in a “Day of Reckoning”
To be honest, if anyone did intend to part-nationalise the oil industry, I reckon it would be a HUGE vote-winner.
Plenty of countries have clauses where the state company has the right to farm in to, say, 10% of new discoveries.
Just look how wealthy Norway became with public control of its resources.
Setting up a national energy company seems like a no-brainer.
A quote from Andy Nicol, former Scottish rugby international in the Scotsman:
Nicol also suggested a Yes vote could mean a change to the British and Irish Lions as he claimed the future of the test side was one of the “many unknowns” of the SNP’s plans for independence.
The former Scotland Scrum-half said that the Lions teams, which is made up of players from the UK and Ireland and tours the Southern Hemisphere every four years, was the “epitome” of Better Together”.
Go down a street in Dublin and Cork and tell the people that Nicol! Tell the people that the Republic of Ireland is part of the British state!
I would imagine Westminster would accept a Yes vote,could you imagine the turmoil it would cause if they refused
Just don’t mention their fackin NHS
link to bbc.co.uk
Another online poll but no result link to pinknews.co.uk
I would LOVE to see Westminster even TRY and stop us going independent after Thursday’s YES win. If they think they have had problems in the past with riots and what not they have seen NOTHING compared to what will erupt if they renege on us gaining our independence!
@onwards Nationalise BP? Oh yes please. Oh how wonderful it would be to hear Bob whatsisface spluttering on the BBC about that one.
Should be worth a few hundred thousand Yes votes from the proletariat I reckon.
With all the goings on of late, i wondered if Stuart and Wings contributors had seen this on Craig Murray’s blog
‘If independence is achieved it will be down to a popular movement and not to any politician. Indeed, if one person has to be singled out, I would say the Rev Stuart Campbell has made the most decisive individual contribution in the campaign. If Social media has beaten the mainstream media, the central rock around which millions of flowers have bloomed has been the Wings over Scotland website. This has a significantly larger daily readership than any newspaper in Scotland. The Wee Blue Book I found everywhere, including copies already available in pretty well every pub I entered, as I toured the East Coast. Over 400,000 downloads of the PDF have been made and 250,000 copies centrally printed, as well as a number of private initiatives which had already obtained professional printings from the PDF. Conservatively, there are over half a million hard copies out there, as well as all the reads online. In a population of 5.2 million, that is a major impact.’
The full article is here
link to craigmurray.org.uk
On a few more days to go,keep up the good work, you’re nearly there!
@Les Wilson
That is not going to happen. If Yes get over 50 per cent and the result is accepted as fair and correct, then they will not have any choice but to accept it. We need to be concerned about getting as large a Yes vote as possible. The BBC are talking bollocks again. Scotland’s independence would only need to be accepted by one nation, and then others would follow.
One thing abut BP is that there’s at least two parts to its operations. They could split of the petrol station side and set up a local branch in the rUK claiming that’s BP in order to scare us. On the other hand the part that explores and extracts oil in EEZ is reliant in the first instance on having a license to do so and it’s not exactly clear that any of the current licenses will necessarily be valid post independence. In fact at a minimum Scotland would be due a proportion of any fee paid for them still running after independence.The part that extracts the oil can’t simply shift to the rUK and avoid paying anything for operatinf in Scottish waters.
Chancellor cancels his trip due to Yes vote ‘risks’
Aw dear does that mean Georgie boy won’t get to pad out his expenses.
With regards to grassroots social media versus corporate mass media, the “Empire strikes back” video was just at 301+ views when I watched it yesterday. It’s now up to nearly 200,000.
Empire strikes back
Empire biscuits
Is it true that after we gain our independence in 2016 there are plans to erect a statue of Stu outside Hollyrood in recognition of what he helped achieve? 😛
In the interests of balance and good old fashioned fair play, I have come up with an olive branch for the Unionists post referendum.
link to whitefeatherclub.wordpress.com
YES is a broad church! Sorry:D
link to facebook.com
SHOCK & AWE: Apparently the British Government are labelling their present strategy in Scotland “shock and awe”; a wave of co-ordinated attacks procured from their friends in high places and aimed at destabilising our economy in the short term and damaging our collective confidence in the long term.
We should all take a deep breath, keep calm, stand tall and remain brave. Nothing worthwhile in this world was ever born without a degree of suffering. Only six days to go. What is more, let us never forget the last time a British Government deployed the term “shock and awe”.
It too was a wave of attacks fuelled by dodgy dossiers, politicising spinning and downright deceit. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice….
Oops!
It would appear that the dear old BBC and SKY etc have been found out to be LYING again folks. 😉
link to twitter.com
I knew Mr Winston ( gynaecologists like me got the Mr in England, but were Dr in Scotland ) when he was persisting with futile tubal surgery at Hammersmith while others were making waves in IVF. He didn’t bother to reply to colleagues’ requests for information if a patient transferred.
Speak about opportunist, he latched on, did virtually no original IVF work, and hey ho was suddenly a professor. Keen to be in Institutional England, what better than to toady up to the Labour party and suddenly you’re also a BBC star !
muttley79 says
The “expert” ( they always find on eh!) did not say the would, he said they could. As far as the dissolving of the Act of Union, he said that it was an International agreement and they do not have the power to dissolve such an agreement.
He also said, that Westminster could not have the power to dissolve an agreement with brought it into existence.
Needs a greater legal mind than mine.
However, I fear any consequences of attempting such a thing.
Slightly O/T but i’ve just heard yet another legal expert on BBC news saying that even if we win the vote David Cameron may not allow Independence to happen if he considers it not to be in the interests of UK or Scotland due to some strange clause in the law to do with the act of union
Any legal guys out there know something?
Not my area..
I noticed Prof Winston and thought he looked embarassed.
Andy Burnham was there somewhere, but I’m sure he was mortified as well.
I’m inclined to agree with Winston that people don’t value what they don’t pay for.
I can’t fathom the ‘1p on National Insurance’ idea. National Insurance is not lifted to fund the NHS. It never has and was not put in place to fund the NHS. NI is to provide you with an income if you hit hard times, and to provide your ever dwindling State Pension.
heedtracker
Shock and Awe?
Their lies are shocking and the shine on their brass necks is awesome but other than that my respect for the establishment has never been lower
Revolt and Disgust would be a more accurate description.
muttley79 says
Last line of my last post was meaning if they go ahead with such deceit against a democratic descision made by Scotland.
Also the world is watching, where would their credability be if they tried such a thing. They would be seen Internationally for what they are, totally corrupt.
One Treaty of Union and two Acts of Union. Governments signs treaties and can break them. Parliaments make Acts and can repeal them. Seems odd for someone to state that previous treaties or acts are somehow irreversible…
O/T:
I’ve loaded up a video on YouTube. It shows the later BBC edited Newscast claiming Nick Robinson did not get an answer to his question to the First Minister. That short news item is then followed by a full unedited version of Wee Nickie getting filleted and served up to the collected international media representatives as a real numptie.
Now I’m not on Facebook or Twitter so I hope those who are will get this out on the twitterspere and show Robinson and the BBC for exactly what they are. Come on folks tell the World how we are being treated as mugs by the Establishment’s propaganda machine. If nothing else it may come in handy if there are cases of cheating to be made afterwards.
The YouTube link is : –
youtu.be/Ug5q0jfRz68
MajorBloodnok says:
I agree, but that is what their legal guy suggested.(they always find one don’t they!)
So much bad feeling would ensue, it does not bear thinking about. All due to a corrupt Westminster who can’t let go of Imperialism.
O/T but interesting to note the picture of the Orange Lodger among the followers of the Nob Orders website. Surprised not to see Catwoman Galloway in there too.
Les, lets just concentrate on getting as large a Yes vote as possible. These kinds of hypothetical situations are irrelevant with less than a week to go. The larger the Yes vote the harder it gets to deny us statehood.
@Les Wilson
The Edinburgh Agreement is worth a read. It is pretty clear that if there is a YES vote Scottish independence follows. The joint statement issued a few months ago confirmed that. However, Perfidious Albion didn’t get that name by accident…
Oops!
I’m betting ASDA is leaping for joy at all this free advertising they are getting about their prices going UP!
link to twitter.com
Perhaps ASDA had better come out with a statement similar to this one on the national news.
link to twitter.com
Either their prices are going up in which case they will be overjoyed at Lamont and co advertising that ASDA have higher costs or their prices are NOT going up in which case they will be rather unhappy with Lamont and co. making that suggestion their prices are higher.
Lets just go to UDI now saves all the bother of fighting them if they try to contest the vote me thinks.
“And we are unable to speculate what future prices may be” says ASDA to customers but right the now, BBC news is writing massive headlines like, “price rise shock say ASDA if you vote Yes” over and over again on everywhere.
Its quite easy being a BBC teamGB propagandist.
@Sandy
I remember how the 1990 game was handled. England were coming up here to complete their Grand Slam.
Grandstand interviewed the player’s wives. They played speeches from Henry V
Wogan had Will Carling booked
But those dastardly Scots spoiled it and, oddly enough, they were also potential winners of a grand slam
So the BBC news did not tell us who had one, and a sick looking Will Carling was on Wogan with David Sole
That’s how you are viewed. An afterthought at best
@heedtracker
Misleading headlines are typical BBC BritNat tactics. Robert Peston seems a bit exasperated though with:
“The whole point of Scotland becoming a separate nation, for its proponents, is to give Scots the ability to make different choices about the nature of the society they inhabit from what prevails in the rest of the UK.
Inevitably those choices would have an impact on businesses. And frequently they would have an impact on the level of prices.
So talking about the emergence of inevitable price differentials between Scotland and an independent UK is to say something stunningly obvious and uninteresting.”
link to bbc.com
Here’s me thinking paying my National Insurance was my membership fee…
muttley79 says:
You are right Muttley, we need to raise above all this and put the nose to the grinstone.
I posted just because I could not believe the deceit it entails. Just shows what this Union really means to them, and the lenghts they could go to by involking them.
All the more reason for us to say cherio!
@Erchie
I remember 1990 very well. The look on Des Lynham’s face at FT…
So BBC in Scotland have this fraud of their vote NO or else day. Do ASDA just say anything they like to anyone asking?
What have other retailers been saying?
John Lewis, Asda, Marks and Spencer, the Kingfisher Group and the former boss of Sainsbury’s have all said they believe their prices will rise if Scotland votes for independence, but Tesco last week played down suggestions in a Better Together leaflet that its prices would go up.
“And we are unable to speculate what future prices may be”
Thats ASDA!
Anyone else feeling like we are getting hit with nothing less than media terrorism, if anyone done these headlines in America there would public and financial chaos, but it seems okay to do it to the yessers, and still all the polls keep us at 48-49 % , when thye going to start dropping yes down in the polls , maybe a point or 2 at a time , then they could claim they are winning, the more they lie and deceive the more yes votes we can get , hopefully we get a result over 60% to make a clear statement , independence is ours.
I’ve been a big customer of ASDA and B&Q for many years but I will not darken their automatic doors again. The market will dictate prices and there are plenty of alternatives in just about every area of Scotland,
Anyway I’ve put up a video on YouTube of Nick Robinson’s edited BBC lies. It gives the Newscast lie and is then followed by Wee Nick getting filleted and hung out to dry.
The link is : –
youtu.be/Ug5q0jfRz68
I’m not on Facebook or Twitter so please get this out to the twitersphere folks. Mind you I don’t think the numptie has any shame abd the BBC certainly doesn’t.
To be fair to the ASDA tweeter, if he was asked on BBC camera and said ASDA can’t speculate on future prices, they would dub over the actual words spoken, BBC is that corrupt.
I’ve gladly tweeted your link to BBC News, BBC Scotland News, STV News, Channel 4 News, Channel 5 News, SKY News, Scotland 2014, Scotland Tonight, RT and Aljazeera Robert. 😉 😛
Found this on Yes – NHS site scary stuff.
“So much for hoping Labour will win in 2015, thelatest ipsos-mori poll.
CON 34 (+1); LAB 33 (nc); LIB DEM 7 (nc); UKIP 15 (+2)
Ipsos MORI’s last Political Monitor before party conference season and the Clacton by-election shows that UKIP’s popularity has risen by two percentage points, as other parties’ remain stable.
The survey also finds that, since May of this year, the proportion of people who think that a vote for UKIP is a wasted vote has declined from 57% to 50%, and over half (53%) believe that the party is raising important issues that other parties are not taking seriously. Yet only 14% say they would like their local MP to leave his or her party and join UKIP”
yerkitbreeks,
Fantasy Bob turned up at a Lords’ debate on the ongoing medical fraud known as the PACE trial study. Much of the unethical unscientific bullshit behind this Labour Government £5 million iatrogenic psuedo-scientific medical study is the same unethical pseudo-science behind the DWP-Atos ESA regime. Needless to say, like the rest of the pro-DWP stooges in the rigged Lords debate, he hadn’t actually read the published study and talked a load of utter crap.
The PACE study is unique as being the only piece of medical scientific research to win DWP funding which ought to tell most people what it is about ie Atos-style neoliberal disability denial ideology attacking the human rights of patients and disabled people, so right up Bob’s New Labour street.
Any anti-DWP, anti-Atos bores like me who are interested in following this up just google House of Lords and “PACE Trial: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis”.
A couple of new posters have asked what will we do if Westminster doesn’t accept a Yes vote.
I’m not accusing them of being trolls, but the last thing we need is some hothead giving a ‘stupid’ answer. Remember that everything said by Indy supporters could and would be twisted.
Onwards
Did Jim Sillars actually state that or is the msm being ‘colourful’
I’m seeing the same story on the Scotsman and that story is being repeated in the Huffington Post, by someone called Asa Bennett, who uses the catch all ‘reportedly said’
This might sound good in some quarters but the nay-sayers are getting all lathered
link to scotsman.com
Hard to know what the hootsmans on here but if some Scottish voters do actually “bottle it” the BBC etc shock and awe will have merely done its job.
“Eddie Bone, from the Campaign for an English Parliament, said “English resentment” was being openly expressed across the country on issues such as higher public spending in Scotland.
“If and when the Scots ‘bottle it’ on 18 September and vote no, they will see a stronger English voice because the people of England have had enough of Scottish self-indulgence,” he said.
I think this falls under the category of “When a BBC interview goes horribly WRONG!” 😛
link to tinyurl.com
@ Lesley-Anne. CUT!
Heedtracker.
Vorsrung durch technik as they say in the best two of my local supermarkets.
@Robert Peffers
The Nick Robinson fiasco is already up and running on FB..first thing I saw this morning when I logged on..
The Scottish Government have obtained lower prices for desktop and laptop computers for public bodies in Scotland, in comparison with those available to rUK public bodies, since 2007.
This lower pricing has been obtained by running regular all-Scotland collaborative procurements led by Scottish Procurement.
A number of attempts have been made by Crown Commercial Services (and its predecessor bodies) over the last seven years to emulate in rUK these lower-prices achieved by Scottish Procurement, without success.
The current desktop and laptop contracts are held by HP and Misco.
link to scotland.gov.uk
Just sayin’
O/T the latest on renewable energy in Scotland
link to energy-pedia.com
@Lesley-Anne says:
12 September, 2014 at 4:23 pm
I think the statue should be in Helix park with the Kelpies and Falkirk wheel.(plenty of visitors – which is appropriate). A WBB in on hand and a part of Darling’s anatomy in the other.
“Strange “patriot”as Sole describes himself ,who doesn`t want his nation to be politically independent”
Sole and these others can get tae fuck.
If they don’t want Scotland to be an independent nation they don’t have any right to represent Scotland. After the yes vote we should pass a law banning anyone who voted no from representing Scotland in any capacity.
Well more bull and scares.
Think we all need the weekend with the telly off or on sports.
Scares , smears and a disgraceful MSM can be avoided . Just switch off folks.
The amount of propaganda is just overwhelming .
They must be shitting themselves.
Got fed up with it all so put a couple of large flags up. Getting waves from everyone as they pass. Funny thing , No voters are a dour lot, they see it and look away, sadly older generation. YESSERS have a smile and wave. And there so many too. 90% .
keep safe over the weekend and hit the ground running on Monday. Watch yourselves in Edinburgh with the marches going on.
I am tingling . It’s finally here and all the media can do is tell us “we can’t”. Oh the joy to see their faces when it’s over and YES trounces a Bitter, negative No .
Keep the faith folks we are winning.
One wonders how they managed to disentangle Ireland then? wasn’t that all Acts ad Treaties and stuff?
Would you believe it, good old Michelle Moan has said she will once again leave Scotland if their is a YES vote, she’s the one person we would really like to piss-off and she never bloody go’s.
Could somebody give her a hint that she can go regardless of what the vote is. She’s a serial go’er who never bloody actualy leaves.
The politics show. Darling being interviewed for the interested he’s under pressure.
From 16mins in.
The whole first half of the programme is worth a look.
link to bbc.co.uk
heedtracker says:
@ Lesley-Anne. CUT!
I remember watching the clip yesterday heedtracker. What was just as funny was when they went back to the lassie in Edinburgh she was lost for words cause she said the BBC guy in Glasgow had interviewed voters plural. Funny I only recall seeing him interview ONE voter. 😛
Don’t you just love it when the all conquering BBC get stuck in a position with their own petard hoisted so high they are seen as a bunch of incompetent ignorant nobodies. 😀
chancellor canels trip to his Aussie mate in Austrailia
walofs
Cassandra Lee says:
12 September, 2014 at 3:03 pm
I think the fact that BUPA have endorsed No Better Thanks tells you all you need to know about just exactly how safe the NHS is if we vote no.
That’s interesting to know, if not exactly surprising. Would you happen to know if BUPA have given any money to Better Together?
I’ve said this before & I’ll say it again; it’s the media I detest. Without their complicity in the outright lies spewing forth on a daily basis we’d be looking at 90% Yes. I’m serious. They’re should be criminal charges brought to bare on them. I mean, we all know politicians lie, it’s become part of the job description, sadly. But journalism is a trade & as such it brings go the baggage of being g exacting, precise. Nowadays watching a TV journalist – and particularly a Scottish one, sorry to say – has become just like that moment when you walk into Currys & instantly remember that you already know far more than any of the low paid fuckwits who are employed there. Not that it matters as they can’t see because they’re on their phones. Clueless.
Oh, and if Currys happen to be reading this, good, fuck off!
YMMV. Yes!
Oops!
Looks like wee Smackdown Nicky had better stay clear of reading RT website for a wee while. 😛
link to rt.com
Robert Winston was a luminary in the world of IVF treatment now he is a second rater in his allegiance to Labour. Why would he want to degrade himself like that?
Lesley-Anne
i’m watching neil/darling now, he’ll make JCB’s redundant. 🙂
@Major
Hopefully I will see you in the Meadows next week (sounds a bit camp to be honest).
I’d like to congratulate the brave people of the community who ran into to rescue the dogs at the dog home in England that went on fire – well done.
Daughter is just back from work trip in Birmingham, says folks were most unfriendly and questioning why Scots are so ungreatful to England.
Says TV news reports in England are even worse than ours – totally Britannia orientated. Media seem to be stirring it into afrenzy of anti Scottish feelings and touting that Scots should get zip if there is a NO vote. not the love bombing we are seeing up here.
No voters beware – NO new powers for Scotland. Media is stirring it up for Westminster to block this.
Its a complete con folks !!! BEWARE.
Michelle Mone OBE @MichelleMone · 43m
My new exclusive collection for Dunnes Stores,launched today.Billboards all over Ireland @RTELateLateShow tonight
So Ireland is fine, Scotland cant f off. I’ll never understand the world of fashion.
Is everyone getting ready for the six oclock lie fest wonder how much bullshit will be on offer today
Had another ‘staunch No’ come to the good side today.
Had given up with him but he actually thought himself that he loves his country and couldn’t face voting No as he said he couldn’t live with himself. Once he opened his eyes to it he said he can’t believe how stupid he was to be on the dark ‘Imperial Masters’ side.
Also he has persuaded his sister and mother to switch as well.
Happy days!!
@Harry McAye
Here you go:
link to dailyrecord.co.uk
Sorry if already posted.
NUS has declared for YES.
link to yesscotland.net
Re price rises.
There is as always an element of truth in these comments. If the SG tell WM to take a hike re the pound and go for our own currency, the pound will fall quickly making it much more expensive to buy Scottish produce, well any produce really. Prices will go up, but that will be England.
RBS has to move south, how else could they do a Royalmail.
fred blogger says:
Lesley-Anne
i’m watching neil/darling now, he’ll make JCB’s redundant. 🙂
I just hope for the sake of everyone he is fully qualified to get behind the wheel and controls of a JCB Fred. 😛
‘Had another ‘staunch No’ come to the good side today’
What convinced him to switch?
Andy
Yeah but I think to be honest it isn’t upsetting us as much.. because it ain’t working!!
I spoke with a soft No today also who even said himself it was all scaremongering and bullshit and no-one will take notice.
Isn’t it great how the people are reclaiming the power in Scotland and making the difference through social media and emailing and threatening to boycott companies.. ‘mon the people!!!
Dismissing Robertson’s paper, a BBC spokeswoman told RIA Novosti news agency: “Our coverage of the referendum story is fair and impartial in line with the editorial guidelines.”
Is what the biggest, most corrupt public broadcaster in the world today told Russia. How bad is it going to get.
‘NUS has declared for YES’
Ach I was excited there hoping it would convince more students to switch, but it turns out its just the head of the NUS, not the whole organisation:
“Speaking in a personal capacity, Gordon Maloney said…”
OT but some good news – my 2 elderly parents, who were definite Nos a few months (weeks even!) ago, are now Yes! Then this morning, my 2 retired, English neighbours, who I had down as definite Nos, said they were voting Yes!
However, I’m now off to my parents & my No voting siblings will be there. I need help convincing them (and stopping them putting the fear back into my parents!). Their reasons: banks leaving, no jobs, no R&D, companies won’t invest etc etc
I’m sure they’ll also bring up this week’s scare stories re banks leaving and prices increasing – any quick points on how to counter this?
🙂
gillie says:
A new low for the Better Together campaign. Workers for McAlpine Plumbing, based in Hillington face sack if they vote No.
link to heraldscotland.com
What I can’t understand is how any of the bosses at McAlpine Plumbing could possibly know whether any of its employees voted Yes or No given that the ballot is secret? The only way they could know whether someone had voted Yes or No is if the person concerned actually divulged the information!
These firms can threaten as much as they like but there is actually no way they can carry out their threat! Unless of course they plan to sack their entire workforce in the event of a Yes result the threat is best just ignored!
Couldnt agree more stevie
Leither
It was my daughter’s uncle (my ex’s brother).
He was in Germany with the tartan army and just suddenly thought ‘what am I doing?’
I think surrounded with thousands of passionate Scots (which he said he is as well) with all these Yes badges and flags he realised he can’t vote No!
I never had him down as a Yes.
Last night I watched a London born Englishman claiming he was Scottish not only that but he said. It 3 times over the course of the night and the b.b.c. Interviewer never corrected him once, he was of course A. darling telling more lies as usual but hey what do we always get from him lies and more lies O.T. But if the private companies who want to take over the health service in England also take over the P.F,I.payments? I mean it would only be right for them to do so ,my wife who is not political has just said to me you know David Cameron has done every thing bar declare war on Scotland Vote Yes
Not much Scottish reporting today on BBC – think it has something to do with UKIP in scotland?
‘What I can’t understand is how any of the bosses at McAlpine Plumbing could possibly know whether any of its employees voted Yes or No given that the ballot is secret?’
They can’t. You’ve misunderstood the story. They’re not saying they’ll sack anyone who votes yes, they’re saying they hope their workers vote no because they’re worried that if there’s a yes vote they’ll have to cut jobs.
Scare stories getting people worried don’t help our campaign.
Mr Bateman predicts in public, and he’s sorry!
My sister changed her mind after reading the blue book and wings
Iveneverseenbraveheart
Yeah.. they are all talking shite 🙂
brown hinted moving Westminster to Scottish parliament
darling has done it today
Darling, chairman of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, also hinted for the first time he could consider switching his political career from Westminster – where he spent 13 years in the Labour cabinet – to the Scottish parliament after the referendum is over.
yeah–panic stations
McAlpines bosses should also explain why they think that the reason why their customers buy from them will suddenly disappear upon Independence.
Actually, McAlpines bosses don’t sound like very nice people.
‘He was in Germany with the tartan army and just suddenly thought ‘what am I doing?’’
Hopefully after independence we’ll have a football (and rugby) team whose players are just as proud to represent an independent nation as the fans are of that nation and team.
I think anyone who votes no is basically showing they don’t believe in Scotland as a nation and therefore shouldn’t be allowed to represent Scotland in any capacity, sporting or otherwise.
JBS – Thanks. That’s the Record website but the body of the article makes it clear it’s taken from the Advertiser, does anyone know if the story appeared in the Record? Quite often a story important enough will appear one day after it’s been in the Hammy Ad, which comes out on a Thursday.
O/T Bet365 bizarrely now back up to an incredibly generous 9/1 for over 55%. It had fallen to 4/1 earlier in the week. Strange after a very good poll result for us today from ICM.
O/T again. My Dad sent his postal vote this week and it was a Yes. A couple of years ago he said our votes would cancel each others out! I think I’ve opened his eyes to the disgraceful media bias. He doesn’t even mind missing his regular Record.
On the subject of employers.
Just passed Balmoral group site in Altens Aberdeen and they have up one if those bizarre proud to be Scottish delighted to be British banners. Thank feck I work for myself, must be a nightmare working in a place like that
Leither
Yeah plus when we tell the BBC to do one.. we might even get to watch our national team on our own tv screens as well!
@Kevin Evans
Aye nothing happening in Scotland today almost all foreign news and a dish-washing robot called Boris. (Boris)
Supermarkets of course but that was yesterday..Oh! as I word process Lamont quote appears and Sillars is a ‘communist’ “a day of reckoning for BP & the banks”. Er the BBC says but no actual quote on tape.
Job done then.
Good old auntie, now adjust your kilt, Rangers v Raith Rovers is due on soon. Opium for us masses.
Harry McAye
I know 9/1 for 55%+ to Yes.. unbelievable price. Best price out there.
I think even the bookies are trying to make it look like a one horse race.. we know differently 😉
INSB, re scare stories, price rises, there is a price war between all supermarkets just now, that is good news for consumers. If Asda put up prices we just go elsewhere, there is a massive choice now. John Lewis, there is nothing you can buy there that you can’t buy cheaper elsewhere. All these companies are being badly advised. A small percent of Scotland’s customers lost to them means millions of £s going to their rivals. The biggest gaff by far was from Darling. Scottish companies shares fell due to poll, Darling insisted pensions will be affected by that one days price change. Next day they went up again as speculators and traders seen an opportunity as they knew the price was false. So by Darlings reckoning pensions on the second day are fine, showing how little he knows or rather chooses to lie about market forces. The price drop was all over the FTSE not just the couple of Scottish companies. The amount of money involved adds up to less than Warren Buffet trades before he’s had his breakfast.
Where is Scottish Skier these days?
His insight is invaluable.
Why are the bookies all so odds-on towards a no vote when the polls are so close?
Do they know something we don’t regarding the postal votes?
Just to make it clear I was trying to point out UKIP is a negative story for the union so BBC are going to avoid reporting this stuff today. They don’t wanna risk exposing the fact the union is a pro exclusive union – there’s nothing inclusive about them.
Seasick Dave
You will find him at Scot Goes Pop.
Leither,
Aside from all the economic and social arguments for Yes, can you imagine attending a Scottish Rugby “International” against England and the shame of the crowd singing “Flower of Scotland”, “we can still rise now and be a nation again”?
I have felt the surge of pride when that has been sung en-masse at such an event, but Gavin Hastings and David Sole should hang their heads in shame.
They are fraudulent representatives of this country.
I should have added an “International” post No vote in the first paragraph.
Marcia
Thanks.
Does he not hang out with us any more?
After 18th September I shall be frequenting..
Tesco
Homebase
Weatherspoons
Airdrie Savings Bank
Any furniture store (bar John Lewis)
.. oh and a big f*ck off to the BBC!!
@heraldomore 3:46
I was also down through Clarkston earlier. Great to see all the Yes folk out.Plenty of tooting horns as cars went by and lots of the local school kids waving saltires.
All looked to be having great fun.
Johann Lamont
“narrow nationalism replacing patriotism”
Leather
Regarding the bookies.. I think they think Yes has just about peaked and they are waiting on it sliding further. Most bookies seem to be favouring a Yes percentage between 40% to 49%
They either think the Scots are going to bottle it at the end or they just don’t believe it’s gonna happen.. a bit like Westminster (more like hoping for them tho haha)
Sorry, Leither
Love it!
link to telegraph.co.uk
This is a hoot too. Neocon ligger hits that Braveheart switch first sentence now.
@leither
Why are the bookies all so odds-on towards a no vote when the polls are so close?
Because there have been some huge bets placed on a No vote from ‘someone’ or ‘some organisation’ which have shortened the odds considerably. For example there was a bet just a couple of weeks ago of £800,000 on a No vote. It’s more skullduggery I’m afraid to make it look like No will win but in actual fact many more bets have been placed on Yes, but of smaller amounts.
heraldnomore – if you can get a look at the Hammy Ad, check out the four street interviews about voting intentions next week. An elderly lady and a young guy both say they’ll be voting No and give a reason. The woman at the top of the column and the woman at the bottom, give almost exactly the same answer, almost word for word. And guess what, neither one says which way she’ll be voting!
They also find room for another letter from a chap from Blantyre who once again states that the NHS as we know it will end if we vote Yes, as he did several months ago. I’ve written in, making good points, don’t get published but they print nonsense from the spectacularly ill-informed every week. That’s why I go to the library to read it, will not give them a sale.
Reporting Scotland has just shown the No campaign represented by Ed Miliband sitting travelling backwards on a bus.
No more need be said.
Seasick Dave
He does but he finds that his comments here would be lost in the multiple threads we have per day. As he is a polling geek he is in his element at James Kelly’s site.
scunnered says:
1 of the Scotland rugby greats john Jeffrey was asked once that if he hates England so much why does he live so close to the border…his reply was…it takes a strong man to defend the border…its in the book called the grudge.
______
Jeffrey’s “day job” was his Borders farm, of which he had only one regret: “If I stand on a hill I can see England.”
Why haven’t we heard anything from Nigel Farage today? Is this the state s TV and media not reporting him?
These Rugby players are scum, rich scum.
Andy Nicol what a tube, says British and Irish Lions, does independence magically make Scotland invisible.
Just back from Derek Bateman.
Have a wee peek folks.
I’ve felt like this for over a month now.
I am not jumping the gun. But my gut feeling was job done. The momentum will do the rest.
If you haven’t been on his site before then your missing something brilliant. Lots of Wings commenters.
Still tingling.
We are going to win this -YES YES YES
Now they sayin the post office will cost 200mil in scotland even tho the post office made a profit of over 600 mil last year,and they also refused to release the figures for scotland the lie fest contiues
OT, and for what it is worth, here in St Andrews, having interacted over the past few days with both yes and no campaigners, the yes are positive and enthusiastic, and the nos defensive and negative, on first encounter, when they don’t know where you stand. The response I got from a no campaigner, when I said that getting rid of Trident was important to me, was resignation rather that a thoughtful rebuttal
A welcome to newcomers & undecided voters, in 7 days time..
Scotland could forever be “in sickness and in sickness” if voters choose to continue with this present Westminster political set-up.
This really is a sliding-doors moment in time.. so gerr on that Scotland Central train baby! The Independence Express is good to go, let’s bring Scotland home.. and here’s to all your healths!
I believe that when our YES majority result is delivered next Friday, the poignant part will be when ‘Auld Tam the Gun’ is fired at 1pm in Scotlands capital city of Edinburgh 🙂
By this time next week, Scotland will..
(ps, the war is over, give peace a fricking chance)
X V X
@Andy
The bigger the basket case they make us out to be the question every No voter should be asking is
Why oh why are you trying so hard to persuade us to stay?
Would you try every trick in the book to get an unwanted parasitic relative to stay at your house forever?
I think not 😀
@James.
Oor Nige might make a fool of British Nationalism, so he will be ignored by the media.
I agree with Jim Sillars and I think he was right to say that there will be a day of reckoning. I have just called John Lewis and informed tham I will not set foot in their store again and that 1.3 million people in Scotland has sign a declaration to vote yes a few weeks ago. I went on we are all talking on social media. I asked him to pass that message up to his CEO.
The guy (from somewhere in NE England from his accent) was quite flippant.
I think something should boycott these companies. We have seen how the YES campaign has been so successful. So why not carry on with our movement and make poor companies pay.
@juteman – agree with that but surely we have some of our people in attendance to get it on you tube, twitter or facebook.
@Lesley-Anne
Thanks for the Twitter link regarding the statement by the ASDA Service Team. I’ve just phoned them up and informed them politely that I’ll never shop in any of their stores ever again and will be encouraging all my family and friends to do likewise.
If other people use ASDA and have decided not to shop in their stores in future because of their threats and scaremongering then they can be called on:
ASDA Service Team
0800 952 0101
Two can play at this game.
If there is a NO vote, although I think we will do it.
They will denegrate Scotland over time, and as the oil runs out they will create the need for another referendum.
They will then let us go, our assets decimated and we will not have a pot to piss in.
That is the choice that faces us now, we MUST win.
Aye I phoned ASDA and told them they had lost a loyal customer.
I won’t be back
Les Wilson
i agree.
Good old BBC double standards.
Just watched “businessman” Daniel Johnson defending Tory big business threats on BBC Scotland TV who failed to point out that he is in fact a prospective Labour candidate and merely works for his rich daddies firm but BBC always quick to point out that economics expert George Kerevan once stood for the SNP.